To Those Who Have Obtained Like Precious Faith: Part 2

The Apostolic Greeting and the Danger of Apostasy

Well, we continue in our study through 2 Peter, 2 Peter. I'd like this to be the second part of looking just briefly at verse 1 to 4. We continue our study here in 2 Peter. Actually, the apostle Peter wrote two letters to the early church.

1 Peter deals with the problems from the outside, where 2 Peter deals with the problems from the inside. Both are severe, but I personally believe the inside is more severe. Like a Trojan horse, the Trojan horse comes within.

This second letter can be seen as the apostle Peter's final words as well. Like a last will and testament. He writes to the believers before he went into his martyrdom through crucifixion. Tradition says that him and his wife was crucified upside down.

He mentions it in 2 Peter 1 .14 saying, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent. Basically what he's saying, I'm shortly to die and leave this body. Just as our Lord Jesus showed me. Jesus knew it.

This second letter, his last will and testament, Peter warns, and you know as well as I do, those who warn you the most loves you the most. He warns the believers of the apostasy that will be coming to the church, and we are there.

And this was 2 ,000 years ago in which he saw the apostasy coming. So how much more severe is it today? Basically apostasy is a departure from the truth of the gospel. That simple. We can go in detail about it, but it's basically a departure from the truth of the gospel.

We're seeing this, we're witnessing this today in our day. Peter also warns against false teachers and their false teaching. He pulls no punches. The Spirit of God breathes upon him as he writes this, and no wonder he tells them and us as well in verse 12, chapter 1, for this reason I will not be negligent.

He was not negligent. I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. But you know he doesn't only warn them against the heresy and the false teaching, he also has a positive.

And the positive is that he also helps anchor their faith in the word of the living God. That's the positive. There's a warning, but there's also an exhortation. There's instruction and righteousness, but there's also a correction.

Beloved, this precious faith, as Peter calls it, is the only defense that we as believers have against the coming storm. It's our faith in Jesus. It's our faith in the truth. It's our faith in God. And that faith, as we've been looking at, is a gift from God.

So in this first foundational section of 2 Peter, that's why I'm taking another message here, because we need to see some things we probably didn't have a chance to cover last time. But as we continue to look at the apostle Peter's letter here by the Holy Spirit, he tells them to build up their like precious faith and their character.

And the only way we can build that up is through the word of God, by the Spirit of God. It's only done through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. That's through the word of God. That's where we get the knowledge of God.

But the Spirit of God must be upon us as well, and not only upon us, but in us. So once again, it is a glorious privilege, isn't it? It is a glorious privilege. We should never take this for granted. That we have a Bible and we can turn to this second epistle of Peter.

So turn with me please, if you're not already there. Starting at verse 1 through 4. Verse 1 through 4. Hear the word of the living God.

He says this.

Simon Peter, a bond servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to like and to godliness and through the knowledge of Him who called you by glory and virtue.

Verse 4.

By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Praise God.

Amen. May God richly bless His holy word to our hearts this morning. As we take this time, let's bow in prayer together. And let's seek God's grace and His help as we look into His word. Our Father and our God, our Savior.

What a wonderful and glorious privilege it is today that we have once again by Your grace and by Your grace alone and Your providence to bow in Your holy presence and to hear Your holy word. Lord, we ask help from You today, Lord.

We should be trembling before this word. We should honor it above all things. Above all things. Lord, we would pray that Your word would wash us and cleanse us as we have sung. May this be our prayer.

Sanctify us through Your word. By Your holy spirit. And Lord, may not one of us leave here unchanged. May we be changed forever from glory to glory, from faith to faith. And transform us, Lord, I pray, into the image and likeness of the One who gave Himself up for us as a holy sacrifice, pleasing to You at the cross of Calvary by shedding His precious blood for our redemption.

It's all at the cross. It's all at the cross. Because of His shed blood that we have access through Jesus Christ our Lord. And we pray this in His mighty name. Amen and amen. My outline is really simple today and I'm just taking it straight from Scripture.

I wish I could come up with an outline here that would help us remember. Brother Keith did an outstanding job on the outline last week. I had to write it in my Bible. But what a wonderful outline from one verse.

I'd like to point out in verse 1, a precious faith that has been received. A precious faith that has been received. Second point in verse 2, grace and peace that's been multiplied. Grace and peace that's been multiplied.

Third, God's divine power that has been given to us. Grace and divine power that has been given to us. And fourth and final, with along, we will look at personal application, great and precious promises that has been given to us as well.

Great and precious promises that has been given to us. That's our outline. So let's begin. Verse 1. Here the apostle Peter speaks of a precious faith that has been obtained or received. He begins and says, Simon Peter, a bondservant, an apostle of Jesus Christ, as we've already seen.

But it's important to bring out and be reminded once again that how Peter begins this second letter. He begins by saying a servant. Some translations, a servant and some a bondservant. I believe it's more accurate a bondservant because the literal translation to the original Greek language is bondslave.

That's doulos. He's saying I'm a bondslave of Jesus Christ. Doulos, I'm doulos. It seems as if Peter is really, he really does not like to take a lofty, dignified title or a position that he's the head apostle.

Which he was. But he doesn't begin this letter by saying I am the head apostle of Jesus Christ and then a servant of Christ. No, he begins by saying I am a bondservant. I'm a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ.

I think that's significant. It's very significant because what do we see here? We see Peter's humility. We see his lowliness that he's being like Christ. He is not taking a position, a high position. He's taking a low position.

That's a man of God. Opposite of that is not a man of God. And I don't care how well he preaches. Peter likes to think of himself, refer to himself as a bondslave. May we never forget that. First and foremost, he's a bondslave.

Then he does mention, I am an apostle. Apostle was one that was commissioned and sent. Apostle is one that received their commission and command by Jesus Christ. By the authority of Jesus Christ, none other.

And I've mentioned this before. There are no apostles today. None. These are the apostles. In this word. In this book. Like the prophets. The same with the prophets. They were commissioned and ordained of God.

They were handpicked. Peter's handpicked. And this is who he got his authority from. Jesus Christ. The head of the church. The Lord of the church. Lord of all. But notice he doesn't say, the apostle, I'm a apostle.

And why doesn't he say that? That's humility as well. Because he was lowly. He was humble to admit that he was not the only apostle. He says, I'm one apostle among many. Not a lot. But those whom God has picked.

God called to his service. Simon Peter, a bond slave. An apostle of Jesus Christ.

And then he says this.

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, that's a wonderful, glorious statement. It's glorious. What faith is he talking about?

Precious faith. Precious faith. That means that's a faith of the same value that Paul had. Apostle John had. Peter had. The same like faith. Isn't that wonderful? God has no respecters of persons whatsoever.

The same faith that saved them. We have. Now, they had a higher calling because of the apostleship. And by the way, I remember going to seminary and people that really wanted to take a high position as an evangelist or a pastor, but they had no idea of the sufferings that went behind it.

The higher and the greater the responsibility and the position, the more the suffering. I'm telling you. And look at the apostle Paul. And when he was first called, and before he knew it, and as the Lord Jesus speaks to Annias in a vision,.

He said,.

I will show Paul what great things he must suffer. He is called to suffer. That was the calling of an apostle. And we see that.

He suffered.

But this man was unmovable because he caught a glimpse of Jesus Christ. Nothing could move him from the faith. That's the way we should be. Same faith. Precious faith. Like precious faith. That is by the righteousness of God and Savior Jesus Christ.

And he seems to be saying, and I'm writing to all of you who share this same precious faith. We have, we have this faith given to us by Jesus Christ. We have this in common as a gift from our God and Savior who makes us right with God.

Isn't that glorious? Turn with me very quickly to Romans chapter 1. I want you to see this. Paul says the same thing in a different way. And just read a couple of verses in chapter 1. Look at verse 11 and 12.

Listen to the humility and the heart of Paul. He speaks to those as he begins this letter. And by the way, look at verse 1. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Right from the cuff. He does not speak, oh I'm an apostle.

The first thing he says, I'm a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Called to be an apostle. First, but I'm a bondservant. And then he says, separated to the gospel of God. In other words, God has me separated.

Separated for this calling. Separated to the gospel of God. But look at verse 11. And then he speaks to these believers in Rome. For I long to see you. What a heart. Listen to this. He had a longing to see them.

That I may impart to you some spiritual gift. I don't know exactly how, but by the Holy Spirit. He desired to impart to you some spiritual gift. So that you may be established. You see, he had a heart for them to be established in the truth of the gospel.

Be established in the gospel. That's everything. Who Jesus is. What he's done. But notice what he says in verse 12. That is, that I may be encouraged together with you. Listen, this is the apostle Paul.

That I may be encouraged together with you. By the mutual faith. Both of you and me. Did you see that? That like precious faith Peter was speaking of. But the apostle Paul says, so that you may be established.

That is, I may be encouraged together with you. By the mutual faith. Both of you and me. So it's like precious faith. The apostle Paul was speaking of the same thing. You've received, it's like precious faith.

From the Father of lights. Which there is no variableness. And shadow of turning. Precious faith. A gift from God. As we saw. By grace through faith. Is that if not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.

Later on. Peter tells us how to add to that faith. We're going to look at that. Very soon. Faith is that foundation. It's like. I think. So if I can use an analogy. Brother Keith loves these analogies.

And rightly so. The Lord uses them. And the apostles uses them. But it's almost like the foundation of a house. It's like the pouring of concrete.

That's the faith.

It's like the concrete. It's like the firmness. That's how firm our foundation. That faith is in. It's solid rock. Bedrock. And for the house to be built. With the lumber and everything else. It must have the concrete.

That faith is the concrete. It's the anchor of the soul. As the writer of Hebrews says.

So.

He tells us how that we would add to that faith. And how to build on it. To grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. We live by faith. And we grow by grace. Live by faith. Grow by grace. To grow in the grace and the knowledge of God.

Don't you want to grow in the grace and the knowledge of God. That's my desire. Grow more and more and more. In the grace of God. And in the knowledge of God. And what to do with it. To obey. That's what it comes down to.

That we are to put obedience to it. You take away obedience. You have taken away everything from the gospel. Because Jesus. When he came. He obeyed the father perfectly.

He obeyed.

He learned obedience. And he learned in suffering. All these things. Up until the point of the death of the cross. True faith. Genuine faith. Is always active. Is always obedient.

Always. Always.

So.

You take away obedience from faith. You have taken away. The heart of the gospel. This is the beauty of faith. Paul says the just shall live by faith. Basically those that have been justified by God.

Will live by faith.

It's those that have been righteous before God.

And that's what he's saying.

You've been righteous. You've been made righteous before God. In other words. Those that have been justified. Declared righteous before a holy God. Lives by this faith. They live by this faith. I cannot say that enough.

That is our life.

That is our living.

Our dying. Everything that we do. And believe in.

Is faith.

In Jesus Christ. Faith alone. In Christ. Not in. Not in government. Not in men. Not in preachers. In Jesus Christ alone. I like what J .C. Rowell says. We became Christians by faith in Jesus. We stay Christians by faith in Jesus.

We grow as Christians by faith in Jesus. And then he says. Well that's the end quote. How true that is. All in Jesus. All in Jesus. All in His person. All in His works. All in His sacrifice. All that He has done.

All that He's loved us with. All in Christ. Precious faith. No wonder Peter calls it precious faith. The message of the gospel is precious. And the faith that to believe in this message is precious. The blood is precious.

The promises are precious. The trials of faith is precious. They mean more than life. They are more valuable than silver or gold. Beyond all worth. Beyond all value. God is no respecter of persons. He is absolutely fair.

Is He not? He has given all of us the same precious faith. Peter does not differentiate between one faith to another does he? It's all given to us in the same light precious faith. Actually in Romans chapter 5.

Verse 1 and 2. Paul says this. Therefore having been justified by faith.

We. We. We.

Not me.

We.

We have peace with God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other peace that can be found but only in Jesus Christ. This sin sick world out there is trying to find peace. And every other unsatisfying lustful sin.

Even calling it good. But there is no peace outside of Jesus Christ. For He is our peace. We have peace with God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says this in verse 2. Through whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

We stand by it.

And then he says this.

We rejoice in it. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Romans chapter 12. Verse 3. Paul says this. For I say through the grace given to me. To everyone who is among you. I believe Brother Keith quoted this last week.

But Proverbs says. As a man thinketh so is he. Listen to what he says. Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But to think soberly. As God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

A measure of faith. So Peter calls it a precious faith. So how is this precious faith obtained? He tells us. Look at the text. Our text. Verse 1 tells us the answer.

Notice.

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us. And here is the answer. By the righteousness of our God. By the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. That is such a loaded statement.

Think about the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is so completely different than the righteousness of man. It is on a level. Beyond us. There is a perfect righteousness. Man cannot even get close to it.

Even our best works cannot even come close to it. This is the righteousness of God. The holy righteousness of God. And Savior Jesus Christ. The key word really here. And know we have to take a hold of this.

Is the word obtained. We receive it. Now this is what is wonderful. Jesus Christ received that righteousness. He was the perfect Lamb of God.

Who shed His blood.

He was without spot. Like a lamb without spot. But He obtained that righteousness from God. Because He was God. But there is like an obtaining. He obtained it. Now we come and receive it. And by the way we cannot even take a hold of it.

Unless the Spirit of God activates that within us. We can't do it. That is why the Spirit of God is in this. Cannot do it without the Spirit of God. Another translation like I said is received it. This word implies a believer's salvation is a sovereign free gift of God.

It is sovereignly given to us. Because out of God's goodness and His love. Freely given. John chapter 1. John chapter 1 verse 12 and 13. One of my favorite verses. I love this. John says this. But as many as received Him.

To them gave He power. Notice it is God's giving. How many times you have heard people say I gave Jesus my heart. Have you heard that? No. We are not saved by our giving. We are saved by His giving. No one can out give God.

But as many as received Him. To them gave He power.

There is another.

I love the word power here. It means in the original. He gives the right. The authority.

Or the privilege.

I love that. He gives us the privilege to become the sons of God. Even to them that believe on His name. Which were born.

Listen to this.

This knocks Armenianism between the eyes. Which were born not of blood. Nor of the will of the flesh. Nor of the will of man.

But of God.

It is not by man's will. It is not man's flesh.

It is by God. It is by God's will.

That we are in salvation. That we are in Christ.

Isn't it wonderful?

What you have today is God's. It is God the Father.

God the Son.

And God the Holy Spirit. As Brother Keith mentioned about our worship. We worship God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Our salvation is by God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. It's all of God's.

Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah said that. That was the last thing he said in his prayer. If you noticed when he was in the belly of the whale. And God spoke to the whale to spit him out.

That's what God wanted to hear.

Humbled him. You know it's wonderful isn't it? All of God. God alone. All for His glory. God's glory alone. Isn't that what the church is about? Through Jesus Christ. For Him to be the glorified. Jesus said if I be lifted up.

I would draw all men unto me. You know that lifting up. Yes we are to lift up His name. But actually what He is talking about is. The lifting up Him on the cross. I really believe. That is the reason why the church is in trouble today.

We have departed from Christ crucified. Jesus Christ must be lifted up in the sense. Preach Christ crucified.

We don't hear it.

That's the blood flow of the gospel.

That's the heart of the gospel.

Faith given by God's will. That is God's will. That was God's will. It all points to the cross. Everything points to the cross. All of God's attributes is just glowing at the cross. By the perfect Son of God.

The receiving of Jesus Christ. The power. The right. The privilege. To become sons of God. Only through Jesus Christ and His divine power. To receive Him. By faith alone. Trusting in Him alone. Nothing else.

No one else. Giving Him allegiance. And surrender to His lordship. Really in essence. This is the great exchange.

Isn't it?

The great exchange. Brother Keith didn't know I had this verse coming. I'm going to it. I got a few scriptures to go to it. The great exchange is given right there in 2 Corinthians 5.

21.

That's the great exchange. What's the great exchange? What do we have to offer to God? Our sin.

That's it.

Our sin. Then once we are in Christ we have obedience. We give our obedience to Him. But outside of when we first come to Him. All that we can offer to Him is our sin.

Our dirty rags.

Our dirty robes. We give Him our dirty rags. He gives us His righteousness. His clean pure robe. Isn't that glorious? All of this is provided in Jesus Christ. Ultimately it's God's giving that saves us.

Not man. Not man's will. Not ours. And it doesn't matter how many times we go to church. A person go to church. If they could live a thousand years. A thousand years would not save them to hear the best of sermons.

One must come to Jesus Christ as a humble child. Coming at the foot of the cross and saying. I am a sinner. Be merciful unto me oh God.

And repent.

And even that repentance is a gift from God. Because in and of ourselves we do not have the ability to turn from these sins. Because naturally within us is Adamic nature. I've been speaking to some of my family members about this.

Those that have been training children. I don't want to call any out by name by no means. But you take a guess. Most of my children have children. These little cute ones with little blue eyes and cute faces and angels.

They look like angels but they say no.

No.

Mommy and daddy didn't have to teach that little one to say that. It comes as a birthday gift. We all come with it. The problem is teaching them yes mommy.

Yes daddy.

And even being thankful. By the way little children are born in grades too. Am I right? I mean born in grades. We're born in grades. We say no.

I don't like this.

I want my way. Little ones. Cute little ones. God gives fathers and mothers to train them. To teach them. To love them patiently like God. God lovingly trains us. Teaches us. And when we have a balled up fist saying no.

God says no. I'm the master. And if we disobey. There's something God has.

A rod.

Makes me think. God says Moses what's that in your hand? It's a rod. Rod is a loving instrument of reproof. God lovingly reproves us.

Because we're his children.

That is such a simple thing. But how many parents depart from this? They don't even know it. They look at the rod as something terrible. Oh my goodness. If you lovingly know how to use and weld that instrument.

It loves them and corrects them and trains them. It teaches them what right and wrong is morally. It teaches them the ways of God. And this is the road map. This is everything right here. Aren't you glad that God disciplines us?

Listen to Hebrews chapter 9 and 12. Neither by the blood of goats or calves. But by his own blood he entered into once. Into the holy place. Having obtained eternal redemption for us. Listen to John Owen.

On his commentary on Hebrews. Puritan John Owen makes this observation from this text. He says this. The effect of this blood shedding was the obtained eternal redemption. He effectually obtained redemption by the price of his blood.

By the price of his blood. All redemption respects the state of bondage and captivity. With all the events that do attend it. This redemption is effected in two ways. By price and by power. By price and by power.

One.

By that which gave it its worth and value. That it might be a sufficient ransom for all.

Two.

By its special nature. As to the first. It is the person of Christ himself. He gave himself. He offered himself unto God. He gave himself a ransom for all. This was that which made the ransom of an infinite value.

Meet to redeem the whole church.

Ha.

I gave you a benediction. That would be well fed right there. That feeds my soul. By price and by power. You have been ransomed.

Think of that. Think of the love. Think of the grace.

That sent Jesus to die on a cross. For unworthy sinners like us. And now we are sons of the living God. All because of what Jesus did. Hallelujah. Now we see the apostle calls faith precious. And God made us righteous.

And here it is. Second Corinthians 521. You knew it was coming. Through this precious blood of his son. Bought us. He redeemed us. He purchased us. Made us his very own children. For he made him who knew no sin.

To be sin for us. That we might become the righteousness of God in him. I'm telling you. You put a sealer right there. And think about the righteousness of God.

That is given to us.

In Jesus Christ. And knowing how filthy and dirty we were. He takes the dirtiness. And gives us that robe of righteousness. I'm telling you. It's joy unspeakable. And it's full of glory.

Hallelujah.

This is what gets us into heaven. This is the ticket. This is the ransom. That Jesus gives us the righteousness of God. That's beyond my imagination.

Oh wow.

I can camp right there and preach. But I got to go on. Look at verse 2. Then he says this. I won't spend a lot of time right here. Because time goes quickly.

He says this.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you. In the knowledge of God. And of Jesus our Lord.

That's a sealer.

Think of that.

Grace and peace be multiplied. First he says. You obtain this light precious faith.

Then he says.

Grace and peace be multiplied.

How?

Again the text tells us. In the knowledge of God. And of Jesus our Lord. Grace and peace are always in this order.

Beloved.

You know when we say. It's not peace and grace. It's grace and peace. The Holy Spirit always has an order. Why is it like this? So in order to have peace. We must first have grace. There's no way we can experience the peace of God.

Unless God graces us.

Amen.

It is God's unmerited favor to the undeserving. That is a simple definition of God's grace. It is something we do not deserve.

Beloved.

We deserve hell. We deserve punishment. We deserve separation from God. But God says. I'm going to grace you. And I'm going to give you peace through that. And it's going to be multiplied. Don't you love that word multiplied?

Multiplication means over and over. There's just not one time. Two times. But a thousands of times. And thousands of times. We need grace. And we need peace. It's constant. The way I like to think of it is.

God is never out of commission. His resources never run dry. That you can't get to the bottom of it. His character is infinite. His grace is infinite. His peace is infinite. Be multiplied to you. Be multiplied to you.

Through in and the knowledge of God.

Now there it is.

Jesus our Lord. That's the key word.

Notice with us.

If we go through this book. We will see this word come up time and time again. The knowledge of God. The knowledge. The knowledge. And the grace of Him. Who called us. The knowledge of God and Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul talked about this. In Philippians. Chapter 3. He said a prayer. That I may know Him. There's the knowledge.

That I may.

It's not about God. He's not saying I don't.

Look.

He's not talking about knowing about God. The Pharisees knew that. And they had a wrong view of God. That I may know Him intimately.

That's what he's saying.

That I may know Him and who He is. And to do that we've got to spend time with Him. We've got to spend time with Him on our knees. And spend time in the word of God. You any wonder why the church is in trouble today?

People don't spend time before God.

And knowing Him in the book.

And I tell Teresa all the time. I said it's in the Bible. It's right there. That I may know Him. And what does he say? And the power of His resurrection. Paul had a desire to know Him personally. And His power of His resurrection.

And the fellowship of His sufferings. You're not going to get the power unless you get the fellowship of His sufferings. You're not going to get the power of God unless we have the purity. The cleansing.

That's where the power flows.

Makes me think of a drain. If a drain gets clogged up in a pipe. There's no flow.