Let's turn our Bibles to 2nd
Peter. We'll be in 2nd Peter both hours this morning. We looked at this passage on
Wednesday in 2nd Peter chapter one, but we're going to look
at the same exact four verses because the Lord gave me a different
message from this portion. Wednesday night we looked at
the precious promises that he mentioned here in verse four.
But my subject I'd like to consider if the Lord would be our helper
this morning for this hour, is like precious faith. He says
those words to those who have obtained like precious faith.
Let's read our text. Second Peter chapter one verse
one says Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ
to them that have obtained like precious faith, which with us
through the righteousness of God and our savior Jesus Christ,
grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge
of God and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lusts. He tells us who he's writing
to and for what purpose he's writing. He says that it's unto
them that obtained like precious faith. I mentioned this, I believe,
about every time we've talked about Peter. And it's that if
you were to write a letter, it would be to a specific person
or to a specific audience. And this is who the specific
audience is, is those who have obtained like precious faith
with us, Peter says, through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. This tells us that faith can
only be obtained one way, through the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how faith is obtained. Faith is not obtained
by our working. Faith is not based upon our righteousness. Every child of God that's obtained
like precious faith knows that we don't have any righteousness
in and of ourself. There is no righteousness in
our flesh. Our righteousness is filthy rags. There's none
good but God. There's none good. Every child knows that we have
no righteousness. We have none. If you were to
ask the children that's in the other room, how much is none?
Well, if you have zero suckers, how many suckers do you have?
Zero. You have zero candy bars, how many candy bars do you have?
Have none, none, that's what I'm saying this morning about
our righteousness by nature, is we have none. We have zero,
not a little bit, not partial righteousness, no, we have none.
That's pretty simple, isn't it? Romans 3.11 says, there's none
that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
None, none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God.
There's none. He didn't say some, he said none. Now the self-righteous religious
Pharisees believed that they sought after God. They believed
that they had some righteousness because of what they did in keeping
the law. They had some righteousness in
what they didn't do in taste not, touch not, handle not. But
they didn't know who God was. Lord Jesus Christ, how many times
was He in their presence speaking to them just as I'm speaking
to you face to face? They couldn't see who He was,
who He is, the great God and Savior of His people. They couldn't
see that. They were talking to God. That's amazing, isn't it? It's evident the Lord has to
reveal because there's none that understandeth and there's none
that seeketh after God. This is why the Lord Jesus Christ
said, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
Pharisees, you shall in no wise inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Well, it's not possible. We have to have a righteousness
that's outside of ourself, don't we? We have to receive this like
precious faith that looks to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. If we can look to ourself, if
we can look at ourself and have hope, that's not faith, is it? That's not repentance that's
been given. No, that's hope within something
we're doing. It's not looking to him. It's not looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. It's looking to self,
and it's self-righteousness. It means we've never been made
a sinner, the sinner. You remember the Lord gave the
parable of the Pharisee and the publican in the temple. And the
Pharisee said these words, God, I thank thee that I am not as
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican is. But I tithe, I fast twice a week,
I do this, I don't do this, I do that, I don't do that. I thank
thee, God, that I am good, is what he was saying. What about
the publican? Well, he beat upon his chest,
didn't he? Would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, the
scripture says. He wouldn't lift up his eyes.
Why? Well, he tells us why. Lord,
have mercy on me, the sinner. He had been made a sinner and
therefore had been given repentance and had faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. Only those who are mercy beggars
will beg for mercy. Only those who are dead and trespasses
and sin, when it's revealed how dead we are as dead dog sinners,
we will cry out, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. I am the sinner.
We don't justify ourself by what others do or what others don't
do. No, our justification must be in Christ alone. And the Lord must give the like
precious faith that Peter's talking about here that just believes
him, that just believes him and rests in him and acknowledges,
Lord, you are my justification or I have none. You are my righteousness
or I have none. You are my sanctification or
I have none. This is what Peter is telling
us about. This is what like precious faith
believes. The Lord told his followers that
one of the men went home justified. Now, men would have you to think,
OK, so all I have to do is just say, Lord, be merciful to me,
the sinner. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.
Then I'll be justified. No. No, that's the cause and
effect backwards. If you're justified before God,
you will cry out, Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. That's
the evidence of justification, is you're crying out. Lord, I've
got no justification outside of you. We don't do to be justified.
We do because we are justified. Who cries for mercy, the mercy
beggar? Well, who made me a mercy beggar? I was dead in trespasses
and in sin. How did I arrive at being a mercy
beggar? God did that. God did that. How did he do that? He gave repentance.
And he gives this like precious faith that just believes him. Look in verse one with me again. Simon Peter, a servant and apostle
of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith
with us through the righteousness of God and our savior, Jesus
Christ. There's only one way. There's
only one way that the elect of God, the chosen people of God,
those whom he loves, obtain this like precious faith, and it's
through and by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. You and I can't
obtain it as if we go to a supermarket and we purchase it by monetary
means. We can't obtain it that way,
nor can we obtain it by doing something that would Calls God
to give it to us. We can't constrain him nor restrain
him. We can't obligate him to give us faith. Now this is a
gift. This is the gift of God. He chooses to give it. This is
how we obtain is by his righteousness alone, not our merits, but by
his righteousness. What did Paul say? Not by works
of righteousness that we have done, but according to his mercy,
according to his mercy. That's how he saved us. Faith
can only be obtained through and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is that your hope? Is that your hope? That it's
obtained by his righteousness, not your righteousness? If it
is, if you want to know do you have like precious faith, answer
these yes or no questions. Very simple, these are yes or
no. Is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ your only plea
before God for your righteousness? Is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ your only plea for righteousness before God? Yes. Yes, his righteousness
alone. I have none. I have no righteousness. Is his blood alone your only
hope for being redeemed? Is his blood alone your only
hope for salvation when he sees the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
that you would be covered in that blood? Is that your hope?
You would be covered? Yes. That you were washed? Who
did the washing? He did. He had to. I can't apply
the blood. He has to. Is that your hope?
Is that he applied the blood to you? Now this is one to carefully
consider. Carefully consider these words.
Have you left every notion? that there is any good in you
whatsoever before God. Have you left any notion, every
single notion, of pleasing God in the flesh for righteousness?
Have you left every notion? Is Christ all is what the question
is. It's simple, isn't it? It's a simple question. It's
a yes or no. Lord, search me and know me.
Know my heart. Lord, you know it's deceitful.
I'll deceive myself into the pit of hell if you let me. Lord,
search me and try me. Let it be revealed. If there's
anything that I'm clinging to right now, other than the Lord
Jesus Christ and his righteousness, I've got to have this like precious
faith. Can you examine yourself and
desperately need a substitute? Can you examine yourself and
desperately need a substitute? Can you examine yourself and
desperately, I mean life and death desperately need a surety,
someone that stood in your stead before God? Can you examine yourself,
do you need a substitute? Are you crying out for mercy
unto him? Lord, save me by the faith that
he gives. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Can you relate
to that? To that publican? Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.
It's Lord, have mercy on my family. Lord, have mercy on my friend.
But Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Is that your cry? Is
that your need is mercy? See, the basis for true faith
is never based on an experience, it's based on believing God.
It's based on believing God. Do you believe God or do you
believe yourself? It's that simple. Well, if Christ has been made
all to you and if you truly believe, if Christ has been made into
you, all of your wisdom, all of your righteousness, all of
your sanctification, all of your redemption, all of your justification
before God, you've been given like precious faith. If you can
say beyond a shadow of a doubt, if you know that you know that
you know, Lord, I believe that Jesus Christ saved his people
from their sin. And if I'm not his people, I
have no hope. If he didn't shed his blood for
me, I have no hope. Because that is salvation. The
precious blood, the offering that he offered on the cross
of Calvary for his people, there's my hope and only hope. If I'm
not in Him, if Lord sees us, you know it to be true if you've
been given like precious faith. If the Lord sees me, if He sees
my flesh, if He sees what I'm doing or what I'm not doing as
my justification, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. We're damned.
We're damned. That's all there is to it. There's
nothing we can do. Nothing good in this flesh, but if you're
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you've been declared as perfectly righteous
right now. You've been declared as sanctified
right now. You've been declared as glorified,
justified right now. Is that your hope? Yes. Then
you've been given like precious faith. Now what does Peter mean when
he says the word like? Like precious faith. Well, it's
the same faith as the men and women of old in the scripture.
It's the same faith going all the way back to Adam, going all
the way back to the very beginning. The faith that the Lord gave
Adam, the faith that the Lord gave Abel, the faith that the
Lord gave Abraham, the faith that the Lord gave Isaac and
Jacob, all the way to David, all the way till now, it's the
same exact faith. He's the Lord, he doesn't change.
He said, I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. I am the
Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
There's my hope, he's the same. Giving the same thing that he
requires from the very beginning, freely bestowed upon his people,
the faith that looks to Christ. Giving the righteousness of Christ
to his people and the faith to believe it. See, God requires
the same thing now as he always has. Now as a father, as a daddy,
and some of you will be able to relate to this being parents,
your standard can fluctuate. As you get older, you become
a little bit more passive towards your youngest, perhaps, but your
oldest certainly, remember, and they say, Dad, you would have
not let me get by with that, my standard. I become maybe softer
and realize, okay, I need to tighten up a little bit, or whatever
needs to happen. You understand what I'm saying? Not with God.
His standards the same yesterday, today, and forever. He demands
the same blood atonement for your sin as he always has. And he provided that atonement
on the cross of Calvary for his people. That's my hope. That's
my hope that I'm one of his, not what I've done, not in my
choosing, not in my accepting or rejecting, but in him choosing.
In him choosing, because if I'm chosen in Christ Jesus, who shall
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus?
Nothing or no one can. Our God is absolute. He requires
the exact same thing. He demands perfection. He demands
holiness. He demands righteousness. You
have to be as holy as God in order to go to his heaven. You
have to be as holy as God in order to not perish for eternity.
As holy as God is. How am I going to be as holy
as God is? Well, if you've obtained like precious faith, you already
are, because your hope in holiness is the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
Your hope in righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ alone. See, these things can only be
found in one place, the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 4 tells us,
neither is there salvation in any other. Any other what? Anything
else? Any other person? Any other thing?
There is no salvation in any other, for there is no other
name. Under heaven, given among men,
whereby we must be saved. See, if you're bearing the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, if he has given you his name, you're
declared as Jehovah sitkin you, the Lord, our righteousness. If you're bearing his name, there's
no other name given whereby you must be saved. You must. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
saved his people from their sin. Therefore, you must be saved.
God is only pleased with his Christ. And he gives like precious
faith that causes you and I to be pleased with the exact same
thing God is pleased with. Are you pleased with the blood?
Yes. Is your hope in that blood? Yes,
my only hope. Are you pleased with his righteousness
or do you have some righteousness? No, Lord, my righteousness is
filthy rags. I can't reach to the right. I
can't reach to the left. I can't look in myself. I can't
look around me for any hope. other than the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. If you can say that with all
certainty, the Lord's given you like precious faith to believe
that faith just believes that we don't, we don't explain it.
We don't, uh, we don't justify ourself. No, we look to Christ
as our justification. That's what faith does is it
looks to him. What did the Lord say about his
son? This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Aren't
you glad he's not pleased with your good lifestyle? Not pleased
with what you're doing or not doing? He's looking to Christ
for your justification. Who are you looking to? Who am
I looking to? I better be looking to Christ for my justification.
Well, how am I gonna do that if I'm dead in trespasses and
in sin? Lord's gonna have to quicken us, isn't he? He's gonna
have to make us alive. He's gonna have to give us the breath of
life, spiritually speaking. Birth us into his family and
calls us to flee to Christ over and over. Lord, save me now.
Lord, save me now. Calls us just to look to Christ
as our righteousness. He's not pleased with our good
lifestyle, what we do or don't do. If he sees me in any shape
or form, any way, then we're in trouble. But if he sees the
merits of the Lord Jesus Christ in you, it's Christ in you, the
hope of glory. There's our hope. There's our
rest. The Lord himself rested on his
Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is who his people rest
in. Is the Lord Jesus Christ our Sabbath? I remember in religion
people would say, you can't mow your yard on Sunday. That's the
Sabbath day. Number one, Saturday's the Sabbath
by the calendar, isn't it? Number two, it's a figure. It's
a figure of the Lord Jesus Christ being the Sabbath. We don't add
to or take away anything from the finished work of our Sabbath.
We rest on the Sabbath just as the Father did. And because we
do, the scripture says, there remaineth therefore a rest to
the people of God. The Lord ceased from his work.
He sat down. It's finished. You and I must cease from our
work and rest on the Lord Jesus Christ alone. See, the stars
are not even pure in his sight. He's holy. He's higher than the
heavens. We've got to be found in Christ.
We've got to be. You remember whenever Moses went
up on Mount Sinai, he told the children, the Lord told the children
of Israel, through Moses and the elders, he said, you tell
everybody not to come near this mountain whenever I come down.
Whoever touches this mountain, comes near into this mountain,
will surely be put to death. And we know that that's true
in that particular instance, but we know whenever the story
of Uzzah trying to sure up the ark that was on the cart, you
remember Uzzah thought, well, no one's supposed to touch the
ark. But Uzzah saw the ark about to fall, and he wanted to help
out, so he went up to, he touched it, and the Lord killed him right
there on the spot, didn't he? It would have been the same thing
at Mount Sinai. See, the Lord's presence is holy,
and we're allowed to add to the Lord. You can't touch the Lord
and live. But we had one, we have a mediator,
a go-between, one that can touch God and not be destroyed, and
one that can touch you and I and not be defiled. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that one. And that's what he does for his
people. He brought us back to perfect union and fellowship.
Even Moses couldn't look upon the face of God. What did the
Lord say? He that looks upon my face shall
surely die, but there is a place nigh unto me. He put him in the
cleft of the rock, didn't he? Cleft of the rock. And he said,
whenever my glory passes by, I'll let you see it. And he allowed
Moses to see his hinder parts being hid in that cleft of the
rock. What is that a picture of? If you and I have any hope,
we have to have this light, precious faith to believe we've got to
be found in the cleft of the rock if we want to see God's
glory. That is the only place to see God's glory is in the
cleft of the rock. Otherwise we will surely die.
We will surely die. A lot of men believe that, and
I believe about every error would come in religion and false religion
would come down to this. Men believe that it's you plus
the Lord Jesus Christ equals two. So it's one plus one equals
two, but that's not true. And then you can have those who
believe one plus one equals one. What do I mean by that? Well,
if the Lord demands one, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, understand
what I'm saying here. The Lord demands one, then if
I add to it, that's no longer one, is it? Well, in religion,
they say, yeah, well, it's still the Lord, but we have to do our
part. Well, that's still one plus one, and that doesn't equal
one, is it? No, he takes a bunch of zeros. His people are a bunch
of zeros. Can you say amen to that? I'm
a zero. I'm a nothing. I'm a nobody. The only way I
can be a somebody is if he causes me to be. You take a, I've mentioned
this, I can't say years, I haven't been your pastor years yet, but
a year and a few months ago, you can take a piece of paper
and draw zeros on it all day long. And those zeros don't amount
to anything, do they? But if you take one and you put
it at the front of all those zeros, that becomes a big number,
doesn't it? And that's what Christ did for his people. He made his
people into something. What did he make his people into?
The very righteousness of God in him. And by his mercy and
by his grace alone, he gives faith, this like precious faith
that believes that. He says, Lord, be my number one. Lord, you are my number one.
Faith believes God. Faith cries out for the one that
pleased the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one blood that
pleased the Father, the one that lived the perfect life. Faith
acknowledges I'm a nothing. Repentance acknowledges I'm a
zero. But oh, thank God for the one that made a bunch of nothings
into something, the very righteousness of God in him. If he doesn't make you a zero, you'll
never need a one. If he doesn't make you a zero, you'll never
need the one. Faith just believes the one,
the Lord Jesus Christ. What does the scripture say?
Well, marriage is a picture of this. They twain shall be one
flesh. That's what the husband and wife, Adam said, she's bone
of my bone, flesh of my flesh. What a glorious picture of the
union we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. And what did Christ say?
I in you, you in me, they in us. We're all one together with
the Father. We're a perfect union. because
of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. So now when the Father
looks upon you and I, he sees the blood of Christ. He sees
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in Christ Jesus. That's not figurative, that's
literal. We're in the Lord Jesus Christ, spiritually speaking. Now this like precious faith
believes God. And there's only one faith. Isn't
that what the scripture says? One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Men use the word faith as if
they, by definition, it's not something that you do. That's
definition. They say exercise your faith.
The word would be an oxymoron. It doesn't make any sense. You
can't exercise faith. Faith just believes the Lord
Jesus Christ. Faith is not exercised. Faith
believes God. Faith rests. That's what faith
does. So the moment that we do, it's
not a faith. Faith looks to Christ alone. Always looks to Christ. Even
the weakest believer holds in their hand all that the mightiest
believer ever possessed. Even the weakest believer, it's
the same faith. Even the weakest believer holds in their hand,
and you know that's figurative, we hold in our possession because
it's been bestowed the same exact faith that even the greatest
believer, if you want to put it that way. What do I mean by
that? Well, somebody might say, I wish I had the faith Abraham
did. You do. I wish I had the faith Noah did.
You do. If you're in Him, if He's given
you this like precious faith, you do. You really do. If He's
given you this like precious faith, you have the same faith
that David had, charging towards the giant. Same faith that Daniel
had in the lion's den, the same faith. Well, I don't know what
I would've done if they would've threw me into the fiery furnace.
Well, if the Lord Jesus Christ, if we're in Him, He's faithful.
And He'll cause you to be faithful. He'll cause you to look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He keeps His people. What would
you have done? Well, if you have this like precious
faith, you would have done the exact same thing they did. That's
the only explanation. That's the only explanation that
we can give. Why? Because the Lord just gives this one kind
of faith. Faith that looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Understand all those pictures
and types. You already not physically enduring the den of lions, but
your confession is when Christ was buried, you were buried with
him. Is that not true? When the lions would have lashed
upon you, they lashed upon him instead in your stead. Is that
not your hope? Whenever the stone was rolled
away and he was resurrected, you were resurrected in him.
Do you see all the pictures? That's what faith believes. Faith
knows that we can't conquer this giant, this Goliath of our flesh
and flees to Christ. At least our David that did that,
who conquered the bear and the lion, the law and Satan, he conquered
all of it. That's what faith does. Faith knows that offering up
our very firstborn child would not save our soul. God demands
perfection. He demands his son, his darling
son, And thanks be to God, just as Abraham said, and you believe
this to be so if he's given you like precious faith, the Lord
will provide himself a sacrifice. It's not my sacrifice. It's gotta
be him. It's gotta be his. And that's
what he done, what's what he did in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This faith is childlike faith.
This like precious faith, this childlike faith. What did the
Lord say? Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them
not. See, the disciples were shooing the children away. The
Lord said, suffer them to come unto me, forbid them not. For
of such is the kingdom of heaven. What is that? What is the Lord
talking about? Well, if you approach him, haughty
and high-minded, confident in yourself, that's not like a child. A child flees whenever they feel
danger. You know if you have children,
anytime that your child has had a nightmare, who do they come
to? They come to mom and dad. They're afraid. They need protection.
They need, even though the dream isn't real, to them it was. And that's the most amazing part
about this glorious salvation. As we approach the Lord, fear
of death, fear of hell, it's just a bad dream. It's not real
because we're in Christ Jesus. He's already put away the sin.
Think about that. No, we have to approach him just
as a child. Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. Lord, have
mercy on me, the dog. Lord, have mercy upon me. There's
nothing good in me. And when we come to Christ, it's
because he's made us to. He's given us faith to believe
it is finished. It is finished. All that we need
before God or ever will need is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith believes that. Now, a vast majority, in closing,
I'll tell us this, a vast majority, and in all false religion, men
are looking for something new. They're looking for more than
grace. They're looking for more than
just simple, childlike faith. They want something wowing, something
entertaining, something new. But if you've been called by
His grace, He's enough, isn't He? Oh, He's more than that.
He's sufficient for any need. It's in him we live, we move,
and we have our being. He is enough. And I think that might
even be the wrong word to say. He's more than enough, isn't
he? He's more than sufficient. I don't know what the right word
would be, but you know exactly what I'm talking about if he's
giving you the faith. It looks to him. I love Solomon's, and
I say this often, but he said, the Shulamite, he said, my beloved's
mine and I am his, precious unto me. He's precious. That's what
this faith is, is precious from the Lord to his people who declare,
Christ is precious to me. And the good news of the gospel
is if I'm his, I'm precious to him. I believe that. I've told this to some of the
men in the back already, but when you hear a man preaching,
you hear somebody talking about the Lord Jesus, whether they're
telling, if they're telling the truth. of the gospel. If a man is preaching and declaring
the truth of the gospel to you, do you, you, uh, oh, taste and
see that the Lord is good is what the scripture says. You're
eating, you're eating, you're feasting upon the honey, the
milk and the honey of the word, and you're digesting it for a
lack of better term. And it tastes good to your palate
and the, all the, I think Al, you're the one told me about
the, the sound that it makes in music and how that it's all
just, it's the right sound. It's still, that's the right
sound. But if it's not the right sound, you know it, don't you?
Somebody starts putting a little bit of law in there, or somebody
starts adding something here to the blood of Christ, or do
this also. And that's just got a funny sound
to it, doesn't it? I have a dog that... is, I guess, like any other dog,
it's a dog. So it does dog-like things. And one thing, I don't know if
you're having trouble with stink bugs, that we are. And this dog
decided it would partake of one of the stink bugs and did so.
And it didn't take very long for that dog to realize it wants
no part of the stink bug or any other stink bug for that matter.
As soon as she sees one now, she makes this horrible face
and like runs away from them. Is that not what it's like as
the Lord's dogs whenever you hear a false gospel? It's like
eating a stink bug, isn't it? It isn't it? It is. It doesn't
take you very long. Oh, I'm just going to make my
weird face and flee from that. I can't eat that. I can't digest. That's nauseating. No, Christ
is all. Christ is all. He finished the work. There's
nothing left for me to do. He did it all. This precious
faith just believes Christ is all. We've got to have it. We've got to have it. Look to
Christ with this light, precious faith. Cry out to him, Lord,
have mercy on me, the sinner. Rest in his finished work. Believe
that he successfully redeemed his people. That's what this
precious, this like precious faith believes. If you have Christ,
you have all you need. You have all the justification
you need, all the sanctification you need, all the wisdom you
need, all the anything. Christ is all to his people.
Christ is all. It's like precious faith believes
that. Amen. Let's pray. Father, if
we have never believed, cause us to believe right now. Give
us this light, precious faith. Cause us to forsake our work
and cleave only unto you. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
Let's take a break.