All right, back to 2 Peter chapter
1. I want you to read the first
verse with me again. 2 Peter chapter 1. Read the first verse again, 2
Peter 1, verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus
Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God or the righteousness of our God and
Savior. Jesus Christ, like precious faith. The other day I received in the
mail a notification that I was the grand prize winner of two
million dollars. Publishers Clearing House, you
know, refined print. said that I was not the winner,
that if I was selected, that I would be the winner. It's been
a long time since I'd received one of those, and I filled that
thing out. And as I was filling that thing
out, I thought, now wait a minute. What if I did win this? What
would I do with it? Honestly, I was asking myself
that. Do I really want this? It would be a great trial. You know, God tries more people
with prosperity than anything. I thought, do I want this? One
time a woman came to Spurgeon and said, "'Brother Spurgeon,
rejoice with me. I've won 10,000 pounds.'" He
said, "'I'll pay for it.'" I thought, do I really want this?
Do I need it? Do I need this? What do I need? What do I need? Well, I don't remember mailing
it. It's somewhere. But here's the point I want us
to consider this morning. Every believer is in fact the
recipient of the greatest prize known to man. Paul said in Philippians, He
talked about the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Every believer is a recipient
of this prize. Paul said in that same chapter,
to win Christ. Now, I'm going to fill out the
application, Paul said. I haven't arrived yet and I'm
going to fill out the application because I do want to win Christ
and be found in Him. I do need Him. So I'm going to press for the
mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. Is that too simple of an illustration?
That's exactly what that means. Peter here calls it the obtaining
of like precious faith. The word obtain here, look at
it again, to them that have obtained like precious faith. Now, the
word obtain doesn't mean what you think it does. Obtain, we
usually think that means it's something you go out to get and
you obtain it. Right? That's what you think
of. Paul did say, now, I lay hold on. Didn't he? In that same chapter. Maybe you
ought to preach from that. Philippians 3. He said, I do
lay hold on that which I have been apprehended. I apprehend.
I lay hold on. I go after that which I've been
apprehended. But that's not what this word
mean. This word, it's going to shock you. This word's only used
twice in the New Testament. It doesn't mean what Hebrews
9, 12 mean, having obtained. It's a different word. The only
other time this word's used is when the disciples were choosing
lots to try to find a successor for Judas. Remember that? And the word is The lot fell
on Matthias. That's the word. He obtained
part with us. The lot fell on us. That's what
this word means here. The lot fell on us. That's what it meant. The lot
fell on us. Who chose the lot? He said, You didn't choose me.
You didn't choose me. I like what David said, something
similar. David said, The lions have fallen
unto me in pleasant places. He said, Thou maintainest my
lot. The lot fell on me. It was his
hap. Who was that said about? That
fellow, who was that? I forget, but one of those whom
Christ saved said it was his habit. It just so happened that
the Lord crossed his path. The lot fell on up. That's what
this means. The lot is cast into the lap. Can you quote the rest of that?
But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. He decides who
gets this precious faith. Turn over to Ephesians 1 with
me. Ephesians chapter 1. That's what the word obtained
means. To those who have obtained, the lot fell on you. God chose
some to get this like precious faith, this grand prize, to be called, chosen, given faith. The lot fell on you. No man decides to believe God. No man decides to believe God.
Faith is not an act of human will or decision. Faith is a gift, isn't it? Look
at Ephesians 1, verses 18 and 19. He says, "...the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of his calling." This is what it means to be enlightened. Do you know who called you? Right? You see your calling, don't you,
brother? You see who did the calling, don't you? Huh? Your
eyes have been opened. But you know what the hope of
His calling, that your only hope was that He called you? Huh?
Weren't your eyes open to see that? Read on. And what the riches
of the glory of his inheritance. It's an inheritance. Your eyes
have been opened. Your understanding has been opened
to see that everything you've got is a gift. It's an inheritance. You don't
earn it. That the Father started this
business of salvation. and made His Son the heir of
all things, and put all things in His hands, and we're joint
heirs with Him. He decides who gets it. Aren't
your eyes open to see that? Read on. In verse 19, you know
what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe
according to the working of His mighty power. Man doesn't decide
to believe God. God decides he'll believe God.
That's according to the working of his mighty power. The same
power it took to raise Lazarus from the dead it takes to raise
a dead sinner to life and faith. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sin. By grace, you say, quicken us
together with Christ. and raised us up together, made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the
ages to come He might show us the exceeding riches of His grace
and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are
you saved through faith, and that is not
of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's the
working of His mighty power. You have obtained. The lot has
fallen on you. You have obtained light, precious
thing. This message is for me. If no
one in here this morning gets a thing, this is my favorite passage of
Scripture. You have obtained the light that's
falling on you. Look at it here in our text.
He said it's like precious faith. Those who have obtained by the
sovereign choosing of God, gift of God, you have received, the
lot has fallen on you to get this precious faith, this like
precious faith. Let's take these three words
and break them down a little bit, okay? Like precious faith. Like precious faith. All believers believe alike. There are not many different
faiths. Ephesians 4 says this, there's
one body, that is, there's one family, one body of believers,
and they're taught by one spirit. even as they're called. They're
called by the same Spirit. One hope of their calling is
one hope of our calling, and that's that he calls us. And
there's one Lord. They have one Lord and one faith. One baptism, not a second baptism, One God and one Father of them
all. This is like precious faith. Are you with me? All believers
believe alike. There's not many different faiths
because they're all taught by the same God. This is what our
Lord said in John 6. And he's quoting Isaiah 54. Listen
to me. The Lord says, they shall all
be taught of God. And every man that hath learned
and heard and learned of the Father cometh to me." Nowhere
else. Comes to me. Doesn't come to
the preacher, doesn't come to the church, it comes to me. And
they're all taught by God. Well, they're taught. Well, we're
going to look at that in a minute, what this faith is. What this
faith is. They're all taught by the same
Father. All right? He says, May all believers
believe alike. Yes. Yes. Everything. They believe just
alike. Is that right? That's what Peter
said here. They have like-fresh faith. Whenever you hear somebody talk
about a man, someone of different faith, they're not a believer. That's one faith. All believers
believe just alike. concerning who God is, who Christ
is, what man is, what salvation is. Singing the same song? Salvation is our God. Well, look
at it here. He says, he calls it like precious
faith. Oh boy, only the Holy Spirit
can make this sound precious. The word precious means One of a kind. Gold, silver, precious stone. One of a kind. Precious. The word precious means it's
rare. The word precious means it's invaluable. Very costly. And he says, Some of you have
obtained this precious faith. Rare, one-of-a-kind faith. Yeah,
there are many different faiths. There are. There really are.
Many people believe a lot of different ways, but there's really
only one faith that saves. One saving faith. And it's given by God. It's precious. It's always been a rare thing.
You know this? When you look at Hebrews 11,
the chapter of faith in Scripture, think about each one of those
individuals, the names of people that he brought up. Think about
them. They stood alone. How many people believe God in
those days? Noah found grace. Noah obtained
this precious faith. Noah had this rare, one-of-a-kind
faith. Abraham. Abraham. Keep going. Enoch. Enoch. Walked with God, you see, shortly
right after O'Ena, God destroyed the world. O'Ena walked right on in the
closet. O'Ena, Rahab, what about that story? One woman in a harlot's van, living in a wall, a hole in the
wall, obtained the light. It was just her hand. that two
prophets came her way, two spies came her way, and told her the good news. Joshua
was coming, Joshua was coming. Put out the line. Rahab. Precious, just precious faith.
The city was destroyed, but one woman. Precious faith. Precious, my,
my, my. For those of you who are not
here in the Bible study, I told the folks about the Reader's
Digest had a, had a, on the most recent article, or most recent
issue, had this, right at the top of the cover. in the next millennium. Will faith survive in the next
millennium? What they mean by that, Debra,
is that, you know, like Peter said in this same book, he said,
in the last day, scoffers will come. Where's the promise of
his coming? See the millenniums past and
And as the years go by, people are going to say, see, he's not
coming. Everything's continuing just
as it was from the beginning. See, see, see. And even those
who claim to have faith, believers, are going to say, well, maybe,
you know, maybe there isn't anything to this. And they're going to
fall away, and they're going to go back to the world, you
know. And Christ said, when the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on the earth? That's exactly what the Reader's
Digest said. Will there be faith on the earth, this precious faith? It's going to be so precious
it's going to be hard to find. But bless God, there's going
to be some. There's going to be a Noah, there's
going to be a Rahab, there's going to be an Abraham saying, Mike Jones is going to be in
Abraham and say the exact same thing that he said, let Lot have
it. I want you. Huh? Is that you, Lot? Is that you, Lot, Lot? Have you
obtained this, my precious faith? Precious. I remember sitting,
talking to Brother Nyberg. This precious faith means value.
What do you hold dear in this life? What's precious to you,
valuable, you're not willing to part with? I asked Brother
Nyberg this. I said, Todd, answer me honestly. What are you willing? Are you willing to give up this
gospel for anybody or anything? What really? Really now, examine
your heart, see whether you be of the faith. And he quoted to me, he said,
you know, Paul said he was about to die. The Apostle Paul was
sitting in a prison. And he knew he was about to be
beheaded. Whack. Cut his head off. Die. He was going to die. He knew
it. You know what the Apostle Paul
said? He said, I count not my life
dear. He said, I have a desire to depart
and be with the Lord, which is far better. Say, I don't count my
life here unto thee. Let them have my head. They can't
have my head. Let them have this head. That's what he said. That's rare, isn't it? Precious. Our Lord said, what will a man
give in exchange for his soul? Well, what is this faith? What
is it? Life. Precious. It's rare, isn't
it? You know, it's so precious, it's
so valuable, it's so invaluable. That is, you can't do without
it. You know, nobody's going to be saved without it. Nobody's going to be saved without
it. By grace you're saved through faith. We're justified by it. Without it, everything's sin.
Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Pressure shouldn't be. It's valuable. It's invaluable.
The just shall live by faith. This is why Paul said, examine
yourself, see whether you be of the faith. This is what Peter
said, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.
See if you've obtained this precious faith. Have you obtained it?
Are you a recipient of this grand prize? All right, let's see what
this faith is, all right? Now, the word faith, the word
faith has been so used and abused, hasn't it? You hear this all
the time in reference to, well, he has faith. He has faith. He
has faith in this or that. She believes. She has faith.
Right? I have faith. Faith in what? Faith in who? What is faith?
What are you talking about? Well, three things make up this
saving faith. Hebrews 11, 6 says this, He that
cometh to God must believe that he is. All right, this is where
faith starts. True, saving faith begins with
believing God. Not believing in God. not believing
there is a God, but believing God. Oh yes, we believe that God is
God. You won't believe God if you
don't believe God is God. In other words, everybody, am
I confusing anyone? Everyone that believes God knows
God is God. Let me, we mean that God's a
creator. Everyone that believes God, believes
that in the beginning God created the heavens and earth. Right?
You believe God, you believe he wrote this book, you believe
he created all things, you believe he's a creator. If you believe
he's a creator, you believe everything's in his hands. Isn't that absurd
to think that God created everything, yet there's something Running around here acting of
its own accord, isn't that ridiculous? Huh? That's ridiculous. Everybody believes God, believes
God is God. Men don't let Him be God. No. Come on. God's Creator. What
does that mean? That means creatures are in His
hands. That means he owns everything.
Everybody believes God, believes he owns everything, and he can
do with what he owns what he will. Yeah, everybody believes God
believes that. He said it. Cannot I do with
my own what I will? Cannot I choose, raise and test
down and kill and make alive and save and damn? Cannot I? Yes, he can, and he does. He's
God. Don't you believe God? I don't want to dwell on
this too much, but you know that there are some people who don't
even believe that God is God. They really don't. They call
Him God, but they say, You let Him be God. Now that is absolute
foolishness. The fool hath said there is no
God. You can't let, if God's God,
you can't let Him be God. My daughter let me be Father?
What difference does it make if she regards me as Father?
I am! That I am! The creature is going to say, well,
I believe, yeah, okay, I'll let you be. Is it a mute point, Ben? It's a mute point. They shall all be taught of God. All right? Secondly, man's deity. Now, you've heard all these things
before. I'm telling you, this is precious. This is rare. This
is one-of-a-kind faith. Now, very few people, John, believe
God's God. And when I say we believe God,
we mean we believe God. Not in God, that there is a God. We believe the record, what God
has said. We believe God. Abraham believed
God. Not in God. Believe God. Do you understand the difference
between believing in a God and believing God? Anyone who doesn't
believe everything God has said doesn't believe God. So God says all the way through
his word, he keeps saying, I am the Lord, there's none else.
I am the Lord, I am God. Inside me there is no God. I
am God, capital G, inside me there is no God. And he, Nancy,
he said, I've chosen you that you may know and understand that
I am he. Nancy, you have obtained this
precious, rare, one of a kind. He didn't give it to everybody
else. He gave it to you. Who? Nancy, who? Have the lions fallen unto you
in pleasant places? Huh? It's precious, man. Very few
people have it. Man is dead. You have to be quickened
who were dead. You know who believes man is
dead? Only those that are alive. Barbara, you know that? Only
those that are alive, been quickened, believe man's dead. Man's so
dead he doesn't believe he's dead. You know, you can't smell your
own body odor. Why is that? Why is that? Everybody else smells you. Why is that? That's a picture
of man's depravity. Man thinks he smells all right,
he looks all right, he is all right, when God says you're stinking.
Stinking dead in trespasses and sins. And the first sign of life
is Isn't that what he said in John? That's exactly what he said in
Psalm 38, wasn't it, John? I stink. I smell something. It's my sin.
Life, that's life. I see something in my dark heart. Dead in sin. Dead in sin. Here's the next thing. It's very
simple. God is God. Man is dead. Jesus Christ is
salvation. Exclamation point. I mean, there's nothing
added to that. Period. exclamation point, exclamation
point, exclamation point, Jesus Christ is salvation. He said, I am come that they
might have life. And you have to be quick. It would be quicken us together
with Christ. Oh, it's by grace you say. Salvation's in Jesus Christ. Look at our text there. It says,
through the righteousness. You see that, verse 1? Through
the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. How many times have we heard
this? You know, I get tired of telling
it without it meaning something. At one time, this one really
hit me, that Jesus Christ came down to
this earth, God was manifest in the flesh, and lived thirty-three
and a half years. He didn't have to, but he did
it, in mercy and grace to me. He came down here and did everything
he did. Because that's what God demanded
of me. God demands that I be holy, that I be righteous as
he's righteous. Because God loves righteousness.
He hates iniquity. God is holy. Be ye holy. I can't. I'm altogether undone, unclean,
unholy, unrighteous. The wrath of God abides upon
the ungodly. Well, that's me. But now wait.
Christ came down here from me and lived 33 and a half years
fulfilling every jot and tittle of that law perfectly for me,
for me. Working out as it were an absolutely
perfect righteousness or standing as a man before God and then
imputed or charged that to, reckoned it to, put it on, absolutely
covered me with immersed me in this righteousness so that God
now looks at me and says, you're righteous, you're holy. But no
guts about it. You're righteous because you're
in Him. You're covered with Him. And
then He took my sin that deserved hell and made Him to be sin for
me. Him who knew no sin was made
sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. And then Christ went to the cross and God killed Him. as if he were mad. And now I
have obtained this light, precious man. God gives me the credit. I'm going to get the credit for
something I have not done. I'm going to get the credit for
righteousness. And he took the blame for something
he didn't do. We've obtained by precious faith.
And this is why one son of Adam that appears before God Almighty
and says he's done one thing, God's going to say, get this
stinking sinner out of my face. Because we obtain it through the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the blood of God's Son cleanses
us from all sin. Not repentance, not tears, not
good works, not anything any son of Adam does, but only the
second Adam, what he has done. Puts away sin, and only the righteousness
of Jesus Christ makes anybody holy before God. I'd like to tell it one time, so that it might mean something
to me. See, that's the faith. You believe
that? You believe everything I just
said? You can't believe one variance
from that. See, I don't understand it. Nobody
said fully understand it. You've got to believe it. We've obtained precious faith
through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And verse 2, and I'll hurry.
Verse 2, he says, Grace and peace is multiplied unto you. Grace
and peace is multiplied unto you. I tell you, my favorite
verse is Isaiah 23, 26-3, which says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. That just may be my favorite
verse. I tell you, if we keep our minds
on that verse, we'd have peace. Peace would be multiplied unto
us. Grace and peace is multiplied unto you through this knowledge.
This is more than doctrine. This is our salvation. Christ
is our salvation. Our brother preached from 1 John
1, it says, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. He talked about past, present,
and future. Past sin. What have you done
in the past? Some in here have just been despicable,
wretched, vile creatures. And God just says, go. It's gone. Well, what about now? Yourself sinned against love. How could I do that and be a
sinner? It's gone. You know, we begin every morning, and you need to consider this,
we begin every morning with a clean sleep. Listen, sinner, we begin every
morning with a clean slate, as if yesterday never happened. His mercies are new every morning. Oh, sin. You sin in your sleep
and you wake up in the morning. You know why? His mercies are
right there. A clean slate. So forget it. You get it. But you're going
to need this mercy in the future. You're going to need it this
afternoon. Tomorrow. You're going to need
it tomorrow morning. Clean sleep. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you. Grace. When you grow old, will
you grow more gracious? If you're a believer, you will. You say, he's getting mean and
cantankerous in his old age. Well, he ain't one of God's children
then. He's the son of Adam. He just gets sweeter as the days
go. He must be one of God's son then. Only God can do that. Grace and peace. Grace to live
by. Peace to die by. I've never seen
a believer die in anguish. I've seen some believers die.
I've never seen one go kicking and screaming and weeping and
howling and hanging on. Not one. Our Lord said they won't
even taste death. Grace and peace. Grace to live
by, peace to die by. Verse 3, it says they've given
us power. all things that pertain unto
life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called
us to glory and virtue." Ah, boy. And it's given us exceeding
precious promises that by these you might be partakers of this
divine nature, having escaped the corruptions in the world
through love. Partakers of the divine nature.
You and I both say this, believer, we say this. I don't feel like
I don't feel better. I don't feel better. Well, you know, the rest of that
chapter, Peter says. Add to these things, add to your
faith. Virtue. Virtue, praise, praise,
so on and so forth. We may not feel it, but he said
now, through these precious promises, we might be partakers of the
divine nature that is created in the image of Christ, that
by these, you will escape the corruption that's in the world
through love. That's a good description of this world, corrupt. The corruption
that's in this world is getting worse and worse and worse, isn't
it? I grew up in the, born in the
50s and grew up in the 60s and 70s. And some of you older folks that were
too old to be a whatever, did you think, you thought then,
it can't, this is, it can't get any worse than this. Didn't you? Did you think that, William?
Looking back at the 60s, Charles, you think, boy, the times aren't
they awful, wicked, corrupt, 60s and 70s. Can't get any worse
than that. It just did. Didn't it? Look around you. Man. Well, let
me ask you true feelings about it all. What's your opinion about this
work? Does it appeal to you? Do you think like it thinks?
Huh? Is your mind running in a direction
since everybody's accepting this? Are you now accepting? Partaker of the divine nature.
God says, my thoughts, my ways, I'm going to put in you. And
the more corrupt this world gets, the more vexed You are like locked,
just locked, vexed with the conversation until God comes. Now, there are
times when we resemble a lot, don't we, John? There are times
when we seem as mockers. You look just like the world.
But no, you're not. No, you're not. You're just locked,
been justified by faith, precious faith, until God comes and grabs
us by the hand and pulls us out of this mess. corrupt world. Lust describes this world. Lust. Not just sexual, but lust after
the world. Until he pulls us out of it and
destroys this corrupt life. We have obtained. It was our
lot. Does faith mean more to you now? We've obtained this Do you believe? Yes, Lord. Help my unbelief. Do you love
me? Yea, Lord. Thou knowest. You know, I just denied you,
but I do love you. You do? Examine yourself.
All right. Add to your faith. All right, Joe, what number do
you got picked at? Two hundred thirty-five. Number 235. Stand with me. Sing the first and second stanza.
First and second. And ask me nothing. Bless me, God, oh dear Savior,
hear my humble cry. While others now are calling,
do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, Let me at the throne of mercy.