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this morning to the second epistle of Peter, chapter 1 and 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 and our Saviour Jesus Christ. And I want to focus predominantly this morning upon that phrase in the middle of this verse, like precious faith. Peter here speaks of a certain kind of faith which is precious. But what is that faith? And why is it so precious? But I also want to look at the other detail of this opening verse. Every word of Scripture has a purpose. All is inspired by the Lord. And the first question we could ask concerning this verse is, why does the apostle here address himself or style himself as Simon Peter? If you go back to the first epistle, he's plain Peter, but here, He uses this fuller name, Simon Peter. Now, some have suggested, and they may be right, that Peter wrote this at the very end of his life. Indeed, in verse 12, he speaks of his decease. and how he will shortly put off his tabernacle, his body, in verse 14. And so he is thinking that this is perhaps his last message to many of these early Christian believers. And so he uses this full title, this is who I am, Simon. It reminds all but himself particularly of his former life. He was Simon before the Lord appeared to him and dealt with him. And he was given that new name, Peter, by the Lord Jesus himself. We should keep in mind continually that although we perhaps only have one name and that name isn't changed, when we come to the Lord Yet we have two lives, as it were, our former life and our new life. And we should always remember, if we have been dealt with graciously by the Lord, that we are still carrying the old nature. He is reminding himself, perhaps, I'm still old Simon, in heart, even though the Lord gave me that new name, Peter. as a indication of what I would be by grace. And then he addresses us as a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. It's interesting the order that he gives in this description of who he is. First a servant, And if we are disciples of Christ, we are all the servants of Jesus Christ. It speaks of devotion, of loyalty, and also, and perhaps most importantly, dependence. Although he was a mighty apostle, he was utterly dependent upon his master. He was a mere servant. and the master would order the policy of the church. It would be through the master's power and resources that the church in which he served advanced. He was dependent for daily help, for wisdom, for grace. Is that how you and I, if we are Christians, see ourselves? We are servants, loyal servants, but dependent too upon a mighty God and heavenly master. And then he speaks of himself as an apostle. And this is not in any sense whatsoever an expression of arrogance. He was not saying to his readers and his hearers here, remember I'm the apostle here. It was not in that sense. He uses this title at the beginning of his letter, as the Apostle Paul and others do too, above all to remind us that he has a God-given authority and that what he writes is inspired scripture. It was an authoritative letter, and we must recognize that as we read it. Do we acknowledge that when the apostle speaks to us, though he speaks as a man, and a man who, humanly speaking, still had his old Simon nature, as well as that new Peter nature, Yet, because inspired as an apostle, his words carry inerrant authority. We can trust every word. We must believe every sentiment, every sentence. We cannot be true Christians unless we regard the authority of Christ and his apostles. The word apostle, it literally means one who is sent, one who is sent from. And so Peter is reminding us here, he comes, he writes, he preaches as one anointed, appointed, and sent forth by the Savior himself, Jesus Christ. Let's look at this phrase, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I want to give you some statistics, but I hope you'll bear with me. This is not with a dry academic approach in any way. If you go through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we read the title of the Savior as Jesus alone 600 times, more than 600 times. He is just, and I'm not being disrespectful, He is just plain Jesus. Only once in those Gospels do we read the Lord Jesus. And that's after his resurrection in the book of Luke where the disciples now begin to recognize in a fullness that they didn't have before his deity and his majesty and authority. In the Gospels, We read the title Jesus Christ only five times, and there's always a theological reason behind it. But when we come to the Acts and then the Epistles, the way in which the Savior's name is presented to us is changed. It's altered completely. I'll come to the reason I'm telling you this in a moment. In the book of Acts, The title the Lord Jesus Christ first appears and in the book of Acts we read it I think 11 times. But then if you carry on through the epistles over 100 times when the Savior is referred to he's referred to as the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that here in The letter that we're looking at, look at verse eight, the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then again in verse 11, the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 14, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Verse 16, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so on. In the epistles, The name Jesus appears 280 times plus, but on 91% of those references it is a fuller title. The Lord Jesus, or Christ Jesus, or Jesus Christ. And only a few times do we read, plain Jesus in the epistles. And then you can see if you look that there is almost always an obvious theological reason the humanity of the Lord is being focused upon. Now why am I telling you this? Well some of you will know. because I've mentioned it before. There is a great dumbing down in our generation in the way the Savior is referred to. You get the car bumper stickers with just Jesus loves you on and so on and so forth. We need to recognize the guidance of Scripture on this matter. And after the resurrection, The Apostles referred to their Savior with a far more exalted and lofty and glorious title, always, always, almost always. Why is that? Well, the Apostle Peter makes that very clear when he preached on the day of Pentecost. When he drew to the end of his sermon and he exhorted the multitudes to repent of their sin, he said, He says this, God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He is exalting in their minds. They knew him as the man of sorrows. They knew him as a man amongst men, in weakness, in suffering, criticized, baited, scoffed, abused. But now he is raised all-glorious, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the God of all the earth, made man. There is a very real danger today that in our presentation of the gospel, we are weakening its clarity. when we simply speak of, well, Jesus has come, and through Jesus we can be forgiven. I'm not saying we should never use that title. We can. But we ought to be careful because the apostles so often lifted in the minds of the people something of the glorious majesty and authority of the Savior. And that's why I believe they gave this fuller title to the Savior so often in their writing. We want the Sunday school children to sense that the one of whom they are learning as the Savior is the Lord of heaven himself. We want them to appreciate that his word is inerrant and authoritative. We want them to understand that he will come again in the clouds of heaven with all the holy angels with him and every eye shall see him and every tongue confess that he is Lord of glory. And therefore, let me exhort you, speak of the Saviour so much more often by a fuller title. Own Him as the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, let me move on. What is this faith that is referred to here. The apostle says he writes to those who have obtained like precious faith with us, in other words with himself and his fellow apostles. It is a like faith. It is the same faith that the apostles held, not necessarily in its measure, in its strength, but in its nature. And we have to ask ourselves the question this morning, do I have the faith of which the apostle is speaking here? If I do, let me cherish it as precious. If I don't, then let me crave it as something infinitely valuable. able to save my soul because it is the instrument by which Christ and his salvation is secured. So what is this faith of which the apostles speak? The word faith, if you like, can be distilled down to this. It is belief in a testimony. And of course, in this case, it is belief in the testimony of God himself. It is to hear what the scriptures have declared and embrace them and believe them with all our heart. It is to be so thoroughly convinced of the testimony of God's word as revealed to us by the prophets and apostles as to rest our soul upon its truth and build our life upon its instructions. Do you have such faith? Can you pick up the word of God and say, I believe this to be the message of my God to my soul? It reveals to me the only Saviour. It claims my obedience, my submission, my confidence. That's the faith of which the Apostle speaks here. But something more. Look at the end of this verse. He says, The word through here can be translated as through or in. If you think of it and you translate it in, this is how many of the older commentators understand this phrase. The faith that is precious is that faith which is in the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. If you read the book of Romans, It declares there that there are two kinds of righteousness in this world. There is first that righteousness which we seek to manufacture ourselves, good works, by which we claim before God to be acceptable before him. But there is another kind of righteousness which God has revealed. And it is that righteousness which is provided through the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. Having lived a righteous life of perfect obedience to God's holy law, he gave up that life that it may be imputed, reckoned to our account. And at Calvary he takes upon himself the sins of all that should trust in him, all his people. the righteousness of God provided to clothe our souls, it's part of this faith. Whether this is the first and the primary meaning of this final phrase, some think it is, some take a slightly different view which I'll mention later, but the theology is in Scripture, whether it's referred to here or elsewhere. The faith that the apostles had was a faith in which they renounced all hope in themselves and cast all their confidence in the righteousness that Christ himself has provided as our Savior. Do you have that kind of faith? Last Lord's Day evening, I spoke about the Apostle Paul and how, as a young man called Saul, he was arrested by the Lord, apprehended, and brought to follow a different course in life. He was arrested as a self-righteous man. And what I mean by that, and you can read it there in Philippians chapter 3, he believed that he ticked all the boxes. of what God required. He was a Jew. He was a Pharisee. He followed the law in an outward sense impeccably. But when the Lord laid hold upon him, he saw that all his efforts to be righteous before God by his own strength were nothing more than dung. They fell short. They were worthless. And he said, now At that point, he says, I count them but done that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, my law keeping, but rather having that righteousness, which is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what is part of this like precious faith spoken of here. Ask yourself the question, Do I have this particular kind of faith? A faith that renounces all confidence in myself and has trusted fully, believingly, the provision of righteousness that God has made in His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Well, why is this faith precious? And I suggest to you this morning seven reasons why the apostle describes this faith as precious faith. Firstly, because it is rare. It is rare. Anything that is rare tends to be precious. There were many in the days of Christ who made a profession But they didn't have the saving faith that the apostle speaks of here. The Lord himself said, there will be many on that last day who say, Lord, Lord, and I will say unto them, depart from me, I never knew you. And the apostles often had to warn with weeping that there were those who did not have true faith. And so it is in our day. There are many who wear the badge of a Christian but they do not have that faith that has moved them to cast their souls upon the Lord Jesus Christ and wholeheartedly submit to his ways in service and obedience as the Lord of their life. Do you have this faith? It's rare in some senses. Secondly, one old writer says this, this faith is precious. We have it freely, but Christ bought it dearly. It's precious because it was at tremendous cost that the Lord Jesus Christ purchased this gift. We're going to think a little later of how the apostle refers to this faith as being something we obtained. We didn't work it up in ourselves. Yes, we actively believed, but it was the gift of God. And faith is precious because that gift of faith was purchased at great cost by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the other way in which we can interpret this final phrase in verse one. Faith through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. We have obtained this faith This phrase can be saying, through the righteousness of God, because God is righteous and because he is faithful to the promise that he made to his son Jesus Christ in the covenant of redemption. that on account of his life's blood he would grant faith to the whole elect of God. It was because God keeps his word because he is a righteous God that he imparts faith to those whom Christ has purchased. It's a wonderful truth set before us here and it confirms the preciousness of faith because it is secured by the righteousness of Christ himself. And it is provided because God, who is righteous, must keep his word of promise to his own Son, to grant faith to the elect for whom Christ has died. Well, whether that is the sense of this final phrase, as I say, there is a difference of opinion amongst the worthy commentators. It's certainly true because it's taught elsewhere. Faith is precious, purchased dearly by a loving Savior. Thirdly, faith is precious because it unites us to Christ and so secures the benefit of salvation. Faith is not itself our savior, and yet scripture says we are saved by faith. The reason, think of it like this, someone who is drowning in the midst of the sea, if someone throws them a rope and holds the end of that rope, If you lay hold of that rope, you can't say, well, my hands saved me. And yet, if you don't lay hold of that rope, you cannot be saved. In the same way, faith is like the hands. Christ is the one who has provided the rope, and he, in his love and mercy, extends that rope of salvation to our drowning souls. But faith is the hand that must lay hold of him. And that makes faith precious. You could say that person that is delivered from peril in the sea, they would look at their hands and say, I'm so thankful that I was given strength to hold onto that rope until I was pulled home to safety. And we must look at faith and say, that faith that has been given to me, I'm so thankful for it because without it, I could never have hold on to Jesus Christ, the Savior. Fourthly, faith is precious because it is powerful. I read this week about a man called Patrick Hamilton, perhaps the first Protestant martyr in Scotland. Before John Knox, a man who He came to Scotland, he'd been to Switzerland, I think, and he came home to Scotland persuaded of the truth of the gospel, and he preached it. He didn't last long. The authorities soon tried him as a heretic, delivered him to the sheriff or whoever was the authority, same day, burned at the stake. They tried to get him to denounce his convictions, but he would not, because he had this faith. It sustained him to the point of that awful suffering. It was said that he burned from midday until six in the evening. and yet he would not denounce his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is a powerful thing, but not only did Patrick Hamilton's faith sustain him, that conviction that he displayed through his faith was a means to convict at least one of those who was appointed to accuse him and expose him as a heretic. That man thought to persuade him and he couldn't. And so he himself was brought to faith through the means, the witness of this martyr to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Faith overcomes the world. Faith is the means that the Lord has given to us above all other means to resist the devil. No wonder Peter would say in the previous chapter, in his previous letter, chapter 5 verse 9, whom resist steadfast in the faith. Faith is precious because it grants us power over the ideas of the world and over the suggestions of the evil one. It is written, says the Lord Jesus Christ, when Satan tempts him and it's our faith in the testimony of God that overcomes all those suggestions of doubt that Satan hurls into our minds. Fifthly, faith is precious because it is as a result or on the foundation of faith that our lives are transformed. We're going to look, God willing, another week at verse 5. Look here, the apostle says, beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, knowledge, and so on. Faith is the very foundation stone upon which are built all these traits of Christian character that the Lord has given. and imparts within us. First, he grants faith, and then on account of that faith, he begins to work in us all these graces as they are often called. That makes faith so precious. Sixthly, faith is precious because it leads to so many other blessings. Pastor John Brown, Wrote this, the faith in the truth concerning the righteousness of our God and Savior is exceeding precious. It calms the tempest of the awakened mind. It satisfies the demands of conscience. It quells the fears of conscience guilt, conscious guilt. When first the Lord lays upon us a sense of our own guilt and sin and lostness, the fact that we are an enemy of God, that we are on the road to ruin and our conscience accuses us powerfully of so many sins that we have committed and things that we have neglected to do and the great displeasure of God towards us on account of it. What do we need? We need faith. That faith that lays hold of the salvation that is provided through Jesus Christ, it calms the awakened mind, the tempest there, the turmoil, the trouble that we feel. Do you have such a faith? He goes on. It creates joy in God, which is the strength of the soul. It aids in the mortifying of sin. It is light in darkness, consolation in sorrow. Had we the same measure of it as the apostles had, it would make us as holy and as happy as they were. That's why faith is precious. But lastly, faith is precious. And on that account, we can be sure that faith, that Satan will seek to rob us of our faith. How often as the Lord's people we know times when we doubt and we fear and we falter and we lose the clarity of thought and the comfort of assurance that the Lord has given to us in past times. Well why is that? It is because Satan knows that faith is precious. and he will do all he can to rob us of it. We live in a world of fake news, of propaganda, where so often at a state level, particularly those who are on a war footing, they misinterpret the facts. They put out in the media stories and explanations to confuse the minds of multitudes as to what really is the truth. And that's what Satan loves to do amongst the people of God. He loves to bring to our minds all manner of doubts, not just doubts about the reality of God, of heaven, and Jesus Christ, but doubts about the worthwhile nature of being a servant of Jesus Christ, of being a disciple of the Lord, doubts about doctrine, And often those doctrines designed to comfort us above all else. Doubts about whether we should trust the Lord. Isn't that what happened in the Garden of Eden? God is unreasonable. God is severe. God's justice is too awful. I cannot trust this God. Don't believe Satan's suggestions. That's his attempt to rob us of faith. Well, where do we get this faith? The Apostle tells us this faith is an obtained faith. It's obtained. And that word obtained means that it excludes all personal agency and merit. This faith is not something that we decided to ourselves to have. It's something that the Lord in his grace has imparted to us. from the very small beginning to that faith which can sustain the heaviest trials and the most bitter persecutions. It is a work of God within our soul. The Apostle Paul says, by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. How humbling. to realize that if the Lord has given us conviction concerning his truth and that persuasion that we can trust our souls to the ever-blessed Savior, it is he who has given us that precious conviction and persuasion. It is the gift of God. We could never believe on our own and in our own strength how privileged We are. Perhaps some of us here this morning, we're troubled because we say, well, I don't have this faith. Or, at best, I'm struggling to believe that this is the Word of God. I struggle to believe in the reality of God, the sufficiency of Christ, the importance of eternal things. What must I do, you say? My answer is simply this. You must go to the Lord and plead with him to work that faith within your heart. The apostles said to the Saviour, increase our faith. Can you not do that? Can you not pray such a prayer? There was one who came to the Saviour and said with tears, I believe, help thou my unbelief. He understood that he could not strengthen his own faith, the Lord must give it to him. And yet at the same time, if we are sincere and we desire faith, that faith that imparts joy and comfort and peace, then we must use the means that the Lord has given to us. And the means of faith is his word. It's given, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God, read, preached. It's no use crying out to the Lord and saying, Lord, give me faith, but then you never read the scriptures. Read them because that's how the Lord will impart strength to our souls. Now, whilst faith is the gift of God, unbelief is our fault. We cannot lay that fully straight in our minds, and yet that is what Scripture plainly teaches. John chapter 3 verse 18, He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. You can read from Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 12 where we are warned Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. How can this be, that on the one hand God must give me faith, and yet if I do not believe, the fault is my own? The only answer I can give is this, that it is a great mystery. But a helpful answer may be this, that the Lord has given us a capacity to believe, to believe certain things. But because of our fallen hearts, we choose to believe falsehood rather than truth. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. I heard this week that Richard Dawkins has now said he is a believer in aliens. He can believe in aliens, as fanciful as they may appear to be, the evidence of which appears to be almost non-existent, but to believe in a God who has revealed himself in inspired scripture and demonstrated his wisdom and power in the detail of this creation in which we are a part is beyond him. That may be why. Well, how is it then that we must gain faith? It is through the Lord. He must impart it to us. As we draw to conclusion, I want us to ask this question of ourselves. Do I have this faith? Do I have the faith that the apostles had? Do I understand that salvation is not in my own strengths, but by the person and work of Jesus Christ alone? Liz and I received many cards over the Christmas and New Year period. I want to share with you my favorite one, not the picture on the front, but the words that were written. We received this card from a young lady in Holland. She's known to some of you. She struggled for a long time to come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But this is what she wrote. Above all the things of this life, the Lord Jesus Christ is everything for me. He is my daily bread, my savior of all my sins, my prophet, priest, and king. And through him, I have peace with God. It is my daily prayer that the Lord will fill my soul with the Holy Spirit to live holy and to honour his precious name. Thy kingdom come. Here is one who has obtained this like precious faith. Can you say what she said? Could you declare that now Christ is your prophet? and you honour him and all that he teaches in his word. He is your priest who represents you before heaven's high court, who has offered the sacrifice of himself on your behalf, and you say he is your king. You've yielded your life to him, and now you're willing that he should hold sway in all the thoughts that you have, in all the decisions that you make, you say, not my will, Lord, but thine be done. Whether it means being a husband, according to Scripture, or a wife, as the Scriptures declare, submissive to her husband, or whether it means being a submissive child to parents, or whether it means faithfully serving the Lord in his church, he is my king. Well, I trust the Lord will give to us all this faith which the Apostle celebrates here. I write, he says, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. May he bless these things to us. Amen.
What is Saving Faith and why is it Precious?
讲道编号 | 112201217186645 |
期间 | 40:22 |
日期 | |
类别 | 周日服务 |
圣经文本 | 使徒彼多羅之第二公書 1 |
语言 | 英语 |