(2 Peter) Precious Faith — Willie Mullan

Precious Faith in 2 Peter

Coming to 2nd Peter this evening, 2nd Peter, and we're just commencing 2nd Peter this evening. And you can see that we've only taken two verses out of the first chapter. Two verses, and we'll read them through together.

2nd Peter, chapter 1, verse 1. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Just two simple verses this evening, and I want you to note that there are great truths buried in these two simple verses, and that's why we cannot take anything more in the chapter this evening.

You'll notice that he's talking here in this first one about precious faith. I think that you're remembering just now that this is a word that belongs to Peter, it seems, this word precious. Again and again and again through the first letter, and again and again through this second one, he uses this word precious, and he uses it very well.

Let's have a look at it all over again, it'll do the young ones good. Look at 1st Peter, chapter 1, and he's reminding these believers that he's writing to that the faith they have exercised in the Lord Jesus, that faith must be examined by God.

The Precious Trial of Faith

He talks in this first chapter about the great salvation, and he says in verse 6, wherein he gratefully rejoiced, and remember it's not all laughing on the way to heaven, he says, though now for a season it need be, ye are in heaviness, through manifold testing the word should be.

And then he explains this, he says, that the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perishes. You see, he uses that word precious there in connection with the trial of your faith.

You see, God tries your faith. When we were in the first chapter on that night, on the first epistle, you remember I showed you so many ways that God tries and tests your faith. And that very precious, you know, takes all the dross away.

And if you've been trying to put something over to come, folks, and it's not exactly right in your heart, God will take all the dross away when he tries you. And the purging of your faith is precious, it's what I would call a precious purging.

See down the chapter at verse 18, he says, for as much as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.

And he uses the word again, precious blood. You see, that was the price of our redemption. And if you want to make notes about it, you can call the first one precious purging, the trial of your faith.

You can call this one precious price of our redemption. And then if you go to the second chapter, watch this. He says, verse 3,. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious.

You see this one and only foundation that God laid, this elect, chosen foundation. This was very precious to God. And then he goes a bit further and he says in verse 6,. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief scorn of stone, elect, precious.

The Lord Jesus is precious to the Jewish nation, because only on Christ will this nation be brought back to where God desires it should be. And then he goes a bit further than that and he says, verse 7,.

Unto you therefore which believe he is precious. You see, he is precious to God, he is precious to Israel, and he is precious to you, to every believer. You see, if you want to say precious purging and precious price, then you can say precious prince, because he is exceedingly precious.

Precious Promises and Foundational Righteousness

And next week when we come to 2 Peter, and we are a little bit further down the chapter at verse 4, 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 4, he says,. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.

See how he uses it. Precious purging, he says, when you say it being tried. Precious price of our redemption, the blood of Jesus. Precious prince, because he is precious to God and precious to Israel and precious to me.

Precious promises. And there are great and exceeding precious promises in this book for us. And of course, in this first verse he is talking about precious faith. But he is not only talking about precious faith, he is talking about obtaining precious faith.

And he is talking about obtaining like precious faith. Like precious faith with us, he says. I am perfectly sure it is saving faith he is talking about. But we will go into that when we come to it. I am just underlining the doctrines that are here.

And he talks about precious faith. And watch exactly how he says this. He is writing here, to them, verse 1,. To them that have obtained like precious faith with us, through the righteousness of God. That is very important you know.

How is your saving faith linked with the righteousness of God? You know that is a great doctrine, and I will expound it for you very carefully this evening. That is a doctrine that can settle a great many doubts in people's minds.

If we only knew exactly how our saving precious faith is linked with the righteousness of God. This is foundational righteousness. And I will tell you when you get the hold of the doctrine, it will do you good for the rest of your life.

Multiplied Grace, Peace, and Knowledge of God

But he not only touches precious faith and the righteousness of God, but he prays this for them. He is praying here in verse 2, Let grace and peace be multiplied. You know when a fellow comes to talk about multiplied grace, he is in deep waters.

Because grace is a wonderful thing. For where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. But when you come to talk about multiplied grace, it is tremendous. He has got a little man in our meeting here, he is sitting way at the back yonder, and he prays sometimes, and he won't mind me saying this, he prays, Lord we are coming to the throne of grace, and we are coming to obtain grace.

We are coming to find grace to help in time of need. And then he always stops and usually says this, and Lord, there is tons of grace. That's a good word. He knows that well, you can't weigh it, but it's one of the ways of saying it.

And this word, multiplied, helps him out a bit. Yes, multiplied grace and multiplied peace is a wonderful thing. Yes. And the believers in us ought to know something about us. You don't need to go around quaking, you know.

Are you in the Lord's hands? Can you say tonight, my time, I am in thy hands? Or we'll get into this multiplied peace this evening. And then there is not only the doctrine of precious faith, and the righteousness of God, and multiplied grace and multiplied peace, but watch exactly what he says.

He says grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God. You know, the more and more you know your God, the more and more you get peace and strength, which is grace. Because the people that do know their God, shall be strong and do exploits.

Well, the doctrines in the two little verses are just underlining them for you. I haven't expounded them, but I'm underlining them. So you can note here, can't you, precious faith, foundational righteousness, multiplied grace, multiplied peace, growing knowledge.

Doesn't seem to pack a lot of things into just a couple of verses. But we want to do the verses properly, just to underline the doctrines and then expound them, wouldn't just do me at all. We'll have to deal with every word.

Simon Peter: Humility and the New Name

So there are some things I want you to note before we go back to deal with the doctrines. I want you to note some things about the man, the writer. See how he begins this letter, watch it very carefully, Simon Peter.

Puts his whole name on it. Simon Peter. Do you remember how he started his other letter? Well, let's have a look at that now. He began the first letter in the first chapter, in the first verse with the word Peter.

Now, I wonder what made him change at this time. Surely there's some significance in the fact that he puts Simon Peter on this one. There is one thing that's quite clear and obvious to us is this, it's the humility of the man with Peter.

He doesn't say the very reverend, doctor, sovereign, conscious, this or that or the other. Doesn't say things like that. That's how the Pope signs his name now. And some of the Protestant ministers are not far behind him.

I don't see why they should laugh at the Pope and fiddle about with him and stuff. I think that Peter was a way above all that. He just signed at once, Peter. Not doctor Peter, or pastor Peter either.

That's something I detest, I may as well tell you. I don't think you should put pastor in front of my name. I think that's a gift that God gives in the church. I don't think that's a title for me. You may blunder by doing it and I may put up with you at times.

But I assure you I detest it. If you want to be respectful, it's Mr. Molen that called me. And if you think you know me very well, it's Willie that called me. It doesn't fuck me, I assure you. Well, I think that these great servants of God were following very closely on their master.

And you know, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he came to this planet of ours, he made himself of no reputation. And that is the master we follow. And I think we should cut out all this ecclesiastical nonsense.

Now, let's see Peter in the first one, just saying Peter. And now in the second letter he's saying Simon Peter. I wonder what made them do that now. And I think there's a reason for that. Let's go back to John's Gospel to see if we could find the reason.

John's Gospel, and we're at the very first chapter. John's Gospel, chapter 1. Now, we need to read a little bit here just to get the proper connection. John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 35. John 1, verse 35.

Again, the next day after, John stood, that is, John the Baptist stood, and two of his disciples. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. John the Baptist looked on our Lord Jesus and said, Behold the Lamb of God.

And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. They're leaving John, and they're following Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said unto them, What think ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say being interpreted Master, said wellest thou.

He said unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew. I want you to watch how the next bit puts.

Simon Peter's brother, Andrew, was Simon's brother. He first found this, his own brother Simon, after he had spent this day with the Lord Jesus. He went searching for his own brother Simon, you'll notice his name is, and said unto him, We have found a Messiah, which is being interpreted as the Christ.

He just came to Simon and said, We have found the Christ. And he went a little bit further than preaching. He brought him to Jesus. And we must always remember for as long as we live down here, that it was Andrew who brought Peter to Christ.

And maybe if we had more Andrews in the church, we might have more Peters. Because it was Andrew that went and found Peter and brought him to Christ. And I want you to notice this. And he brought him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah.

Nobody needed to tell him who he was, he knew all about him. He said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas. And that's a Syriac word that our Lord used there. And it's a word that means a stone.

It says immediately behind it, which is by interpretation a stone. It also means the word Peter. Cephas, Peter, stone, it's all that. So that our Lord was giving him a new name. He was called Simon before this.

And the Lord knew all about him as Simon. He said, Thou art Simon. Thou shalt be called, and I think it means, Thou shalt be called from this moment forward. I'm giving you a new name, I'm calling you Cephas.

I'm making you a bit tougher than you used to be. A stone, Peter. And so his real name is Simon Peter. You know, it's very interesting to notice that the word Peter means a stone. And it's very interesting to know that the word Simon means healing.

And I think this big fisherman, because I always look at him as a big fisherman, I think he was one of those big fishermen who just stood in the cloud and listened all the time and said very little. He just held.

That was what his name was. I didn't say anything. You'll notice this. That when Andrew came to him and said, We have found the Christ. He never said a word. Who are you? Just one of those big men that stand in the cloud and listen and listen and listen.

Sometimes smile. Sometimes just shake their head. But they don't say anything. Stand there. And even when the Lord Jesus said to him, Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Peter. He never said anything.

Just listened. And I think this is the character of this fellow, you know. You've seen these men in the texture, haven't you? Big men. Just stand there. No matter what the argument's about, they never entered into it.

Just smile and nod their head. I can tell you, ladies, they're very hard to court. I was in the house not so long ago. Oh, they're a good while married now. They're both of them near sixty. And she was just ready for action when I was in.

She was all talk. You couldn't get the word in sight. Edgeways. He just sits in the corner. He's like that all the time. Just sits in the corner. Never says a word. Sometimes smile. Sometimes just nod the head.

I says, you know, John keeps very quiet, doesn't he? I says, he's always quiet. I says, was he like that when you were courting him? Maybe it wasn't a nice thing for the pastor to say. But she said to me without stopping.

She says, him? I had to do all the cuddling all the time. She says, you know, I cuddled and hugged him for about three weeks and he didn't even know what it was about. And I said to him, well, John, I'm sure you know what it's all about now.

But John just sat there. You know all these kind of men. Not with much to say. Sometimes they're called softies, but I'm not so sure that that's correct. I have a feeling that Peter lived up to his name.

Big man that listened. The word Simon means hearing. And I believe he had a lot of things and knew a lot of things but wouldn't stand up for anything. And I think that sometimes that old mistress came out after him.

At least that day when the little girl was talking to him. He didn't stand up the way he should. And in a fit of temper he cursed the Lord's name. I'm sure that one of these words might well cover his old nature.

And I'm sure that the other one might well cover his new one because it's the word the Lord gave to him. And I think that everybody here knows, or you ought to know if you're born again at all, that you have two natures.

And you know right well when the old man starts talking or doesn't talk. You know when he fails. And you know right well that the new man wants to take a stand all the time. And the spirit is willing but sometimes the flesh is weak.

And I think you know that he's big enough to put both words on the page now. He says, I'm not only Peter, you know. I'm Simon Peter. And I think that's a great thing. What a man he was. I think he was a great man.

Peter as Slave, Apostle, and Witness

But he went a little bit further than that. You know, let's get back to 2 Peter. He did this. He didn't only put the word Simon down there and the word Peter. He put the word slave down because that translation there is not altogether correct.

Simon Peter, a slave, is the word. It's the old Greek word for servant. But it could righteously be translated slave. You know, I think that's a great way to start a letter. To own up that you have an old nature but you're born again.

Never mind who I am, I'm a slave for Jesus Christ. Lovely way to write letters, isn't it? You know, I want you to note those things about the man, the writer. But I want you to note some things about the messenger, the apostle.

Because he not only says Simon Peter, a servant or slave, but he also says, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. That was the gift that the Lord gave to him. Of course, he had many gifts. He was an apostle.

He was one of the New Testament prophets and we'll find that out at the end of this letter. He was also a great evangelist. Because on the day of Pentecost he preached the gospel and 3 ,000 souls were saved.

You remember the Lord restoring him at the Sea of Galilee and he said, Feed my sheep and feed my lambs. He was one of the great shepherds of the flock. And of course, the man that reads these letters and carefully notes everything will know that Peter was one of the greatest teachers the church has ever seen.

So, but when the Lord ascended and gave gifts unto men and gave some apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers, he gave all these gifts to Peter. He just had them all. And he doesn't use them for titles for his name.

The great gift, the apostle, he puts very last here. Simon, Peter, a slave. Then he says an apostle of Jesus Christ. You know, the reason that I'm trying to take time to show you the messenger is because there are quite a number of modernists who say that 2 Peter was not written by Peter.

Well, if it was not written by Peter, Simon, Peter, maybe the Holy Ghost moved him to put that there to correct these fellows. If somebody else put Simon, Peter on it, they must be deceivers. You see, one of these modernistic, intelligentsia scholars thought to be called came to our door not so long ago.

Always come round to argue with me, because I'm a pastor. That's why they come round. And in the midst of his criticisms of the New Testament, he was dead wide and he was afraid to criticize the Old Testament.

Because one of his doctor friends had been in some time ago, and he came to criticize the Old Testament, and I was able to show him that Christ quoted from almost every part of the Old Testament. And when you ask them, do they know better than Christ, he denies it.

So the modernists moved from the Old Testament to the New. And they will not touch the Gospels because the teachings of Christ were there. But this is one of the things they do. They said, you know, we have this second letter put into a computer some time ago.

And after the computer went through all the details, the answer came out that it was not written by Simon, Peter at all. So I said, well, now you sit down on the couch, and I'll put the letter into the computer of your mind, and we'll see how you turn it out.

So this is what I did, you see. I first of all pointed out that whoever wrote it signed himself Simon, Peter, and then signed himself an apostle. And I asked him then the question, did he think it was one of the apostles, and he immediately said yes.

I think he didn't want two deceptions in the one verse. And then I went down the chapter a little bit and put this into his mind. Verse 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my bubble-neckle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.

So I said to him, it must be one of the apostles whom the Lord speaks to about his death. And he began to see the red light wavering in the middle of the road. I said, would you like to tell me which one of the apostles that the Lord speaks to and told him how he would die and when he would die?

And answering that, of course, the computer wasn't working. And then I went a little bit further than that because I said this to him. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my bubble-neckle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.

Moreover I will endeavour that he may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

For he received from God the power, honour and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, and this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mount.

So I said, sir, that cuts the twelve down to three, doesn't it? It was one of the three in the Holy Mount, Lord. Which one of the three did the Lord speak to and tell him he was going to die when he was old?

Because I'm grappling the chain now. And then I went a little bit further because I just looked at him between the eyes. I said, are you accepting the first epistle of Jesus? Yes, he said, we have no objection.

Well, I said, will you see what it says here? Have a look at this third chapter. It begins like this. This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you. May I confess to you that I get fed up with these fellows.

They come in and they profess to be coming through the university and some of them have degrees and they think they're the scholastic intelligentsia of this world and they're the greatest dukes on God's earth.

They can't even read. And that's the trouble, and that annoys me. When a fellow who is so stupid and can't see the things in the book comes along to prove it off that he's really clever. It annoys me.

I get fed up with this scholastic ignorance. Their damnable pride annoys me. I hope and enter a hide when I get a door. And they need it. He was a fool, he didn't even know the book he was coming to criticize.

And I thumped him once or twice. I just put that in for the young folks who might come against a fool like this one day. I want you to note not only some things about the man and some things about the messenger.

The Practical, Critical, and Prophetic Message of 2 Peter

I want you to note some things about the message. You know this second letter is in three chapters. And we're going to find as we go through the first chapter that it's intensely practical. It's very practical.

It talks about multiplying grace and peace. It talks about adding to your virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance. Multiplication and adding. And the whole first chapter is intensely practical teaching, and that we shall find.

Because when you come to the second chapter, you know, it seems that Peter takes his coat off and he's fiercely critical. It's one of the most critical chapters in the book. Have a look at the few phrases in it, the second chapter.

Peter says, but there were false prophets also among the people. Even as there shall be false teachers among you, we shall briefly shall bring in damnable heresies. It's such a strong language, isn't it?

Damnable heresies. There's a lot of them about now. Even denying the Lord's upbottom. It's a phrase we'll have to take time with when we come. Even denying the Lord, the bottom. Because if you want to pre-study it, you'll have to understand that Christ bought more Calvary than you think.

But I'll do it for you when you come. And it says, many shall follow their pernicious ways. Isn't he really through about his wit now? Damnable heresies. Pernicious ways. And through covetousness shall they, with keen words, make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

And he's really fiercely critical when he comes to the second chapter. See, one chapter is intensely practical, and the other is fiercely critical. And then the third one is amazingly prophetical. I think that this is one of the greatest prophetical touches, of course, in the whole Bible.

Keep chapter 3, verse 10, just to prove what we're up. Peter says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of person ought it to be? Verse 12, looking for and hastening on to the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

How did he know this? You know, 200 years ago, when the expositors and preachers were trying to do this, you know, they tried to symbolize this away, that you can't burn this world with fire, can you not now?

The kids going to school now can tell you they can't. And burned it will be burned. Make no mistakes about that. God said once he would cover it with a flood, and he did. And now he says he'll cover it with fire, and he will.

Peter is being amazingly prophetic. So it's a great book. It's practical, it's critical, it's prophetical. Now, just a word about the members that he was writing to. You can see in our first verse that he was writing to them that have obtained like precious faith with us.

Effectual Calling and the Blessed Hope

That's one thing they had, they had precious faith. And you can see this in verse 3. 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.

And I'm underlining the word called us. See verse 10 in that first chapter. Wherefore the God of brethren give diligence to make your calling and election sure. The people that he's writing to, they have precious faith.

And they have had the effectual call. They belong to the elect of God. And of course when you come to the third chapter, you'll find that in verse 12 it says, they're looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God.

And he says in verse 13, nevertheless we according to his promise looked for new heavens. They had the blessed look. So this is written no doubt by Simon Peter. One of the chapters is sceptical and one is critical and one is prophetical.

And he's writing to them that have precious faith and have been effectually called and are looking with a blessed look. Which is really the blessed hope of the new heavens and the new earth. Now I want to touch these doctrines that's in the two verses before we leave.

Three Dimensions of Faith

You know when he talks about precious faith. Whenever you find the word faith in this book, you must immediately think quickly in three directions. This is how I do it. You see I can go way back to a day 37 or 38 years ago when standing in rags with poor God and old sinner, I had a great revelation of God's love for me.

And I could see his son taking my place and paying my debt and dying my death. And that day by faith I made him mine. And let me tell you this, that was a nest of faith. That was a nest of faith. But you see faith goes on after I'm saved.

Oh there was a nest of faith when I took the cross. But these days I'm living by faith. I'm walking by faith. I overcome the world by faith. You know friend that's an attitude of faith. Because the act must become an attitude.

I'm no use you writing out your testimony for me and then living in the world for the last ten years because I don't believe you. Yes you know when you find faith in this book you must think is it the nest of faith or is it the attitude of faith that we're thinking about.

And then there is another aspect of faith because when we come to all the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 there is the gift of faith. And that's a different aspect of faith altogether. George Muir had this gift of faith.

You know it is said that he received over 6 million pounds in his lifetime for the work of God. And he never asked anyone at any time for a penny. He had the gift of faith. Hudson Taylor who was the founder of the China Inland Mission Hudson Taylor had this gift of faith.

He just trusted God and said nothing. Now I haven't got that gift of faith and if any one of you think that you can do this thing and you try to follow these men if you haven't got the gift of faith then you will make a fool of yourselves.

You'll eventually find out that you've been working nonsense. So that when you come to the word faith you've got to always think is this the attitude of faith? Or is this the aspect of faith? Or is this the act of faith?

Well here I'm pretty sure it's the act of faith that Peter's talking about. He says, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious faith with us. I think that's pretty wonderful.

They were believers in the Lord Jesus. They could go back to the time and the spot and the place and they could say it was there. I think that's pretty wonderful. They were believers in the Lord Jesus.

They could go back to the time and the spot and the place and they could say it was there. Maybe they didn't know the date exactly. I'm sure they didn't. Maybe they didn't know the time exactly, no watch on their arm in those days, no calendar on the wall, but they could go back and say it was there that I definitely, personally, wholeheartedly, intelligently, trusted Christ, that is very precious you know, that's precious faith.

Yes, I'm sure that's what he's talking about here, but notice how he puts it, he says I'm writing to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God. How is this actual faith of mine or yours related to the righteousness of God?

I want to do this for the young folks, this is their bit, and I want to do it well for you because I think this troubles young people sometimes, so all you older ones will bear with me. Young folks and old folks too, you turn with me to Romans, chapter three, the letters to the Romans, and that's the third chapter please, and just to save time and to keep the message clear, I'm reading from verse ten, Romans three, verse ten, as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one.

You know that's what God is saying about every person on the face of this earth, he's saying there is none righteous, no not one, when people start to talk to you about their righteousness, will you please tell them that God said that there is none righteous.

You see the righteousness of God first of all condemns every sinner, righteously condemns, he wouldn't be a righteous God if he raped and sinned, so he righteously condemns, the righteousness of God you know, condemns sinners, and he goes a bit further with this, he says there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they're all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not one.

So he condemns the world of sinners, lost. He paints a picture here, and somebody came to me not so very long ago and said do you see verse thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, it's a picture of the eye of age, have a look at it and see what you think about it, it says, verse thirteen, their throat is an open tetrarch, with their tongues they have used defeat, the poison of arse is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes, now let me tell you that bigoted protestantism might say that, I can tell you that God is not talking about the IRA, I can tell you that God is talking about you, this happens to be sinners that God is talking about, bigoted protestantism can find details that is not truth at all, God is talking about a world of sinners lost, that's what he's talking about, and protestants are among them.