Passage: 2nd Peter 1: 1 “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: 2  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3  as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 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.”

    When the apostle Peter wrote his second letter, it is immediately evident that he was not writing to everyone in the district. He was writing to those who have obtained “like precious faith with us”. At once certain things stand out for us as we read those words. First the people to whom he was writing were true Christians - they were people of faith. Then, even though these folk were not present when Jesus walked this earth, and even though they had never seen Him, nor heard Him speak, their faith was just as real as the faith of the disciples who walked with Him, who listened to Him for 3 years, who saw Him die on the cross, and who saw Him afer He had risen from the dead.

    That is important to us, because we weren’t there either; we never heard Him speak; we didn’t see Him on the cross. We weren’t there to see Him after He rose. We have to depend on the written record of His life and death, and resurrection but we can believe on Him just as truly as the first disciples, and our faith can be just as real and just as saving as theirs was.

    And then we can learn how valuable, how precious is our faith in Jesus Christ.

    Ah, this thing called faith. What is it, and how do we obtain it, and how do we know for sure when we have it? And how do we know that it is reliable and that it truly guarantees that our sins are forgiven and that we shall live with Him in heaven when we die?

    That is the question I want to explore with you this evening.

1. What is faith?

    It is easy to talk about faith. Everyone has faith in something.

    How often in visiting in the hospital, have I heard people say, Oh I’m sure I’ll be all right. I have faith. My that sounds good, but it may just be verbiage to cover up the fact that I am really afraid of what is coming and I must cover up my fear with a bold face.

    Dear ones the question that needs to be asked is, “I’m glad that you have faith. In what is your faith placed?”

    It may be that the faith is in the doctor.

    It may be that we just believe in n ourselves and in the hope that we’ll get better.

    It may even be faith in God, in a general sense without any real basis for that faith.

    In other words people talk about faith as though faith is some mysterious substance that is floating around somewhere, and if we just get hold of it we are fine. But a moment’s reflection will show the falsity of that view. Faith does not stand alone, it must be faith in something. You sit down on a chair with confidence because you believe that the chair is strong enough to hold you up. You drive across the bridge over the river because you believe that the ends of the bridge are resting on concrete supports and the girders are strong enough to carry the heavy traffic. You get unto a plane with confidence that it will carry to your destination because you believe that the plane is well constructed, that it is fitted for flight through the air, and that the air itself will hold that plane aloft. The astronauts climbed into that shuttle with the confidence that repeated experimentation, and improvement of equipment and the laws of the universe are so reliable that the shuttle will stay in the exact orbit they have chosen, and that they will be able to bring them back to earth safely.

    You see, when we use the word faith, we do not use it in a vacuum. We use the term faith to mean that we trust, that we believe, that we rely, on something. So there are some good words to explain what we mean by faith: believe, trust, rely;

    When Peter uses the statement “To those who have obtained like precious faith with us” he is not talking about a nebulous something but about “ saving faith” which will cleanse us from our sins and take us to heaven when we die.

2. But what is this about sin?

    Sin is not a very popular subject. If we are going to talk about sin, it must be time to change channels. Let’s turn to something that is fun, that is not so heavy. Ah, but we can’t do that, because deep down we all know that we are guilty of sin. Our conscience tells us that we have done things and said things and thought things that are wrong in God’s sight.

    But we may not really know what sin is. At its core sin does not refer to certain acts that we call sin. Everyone would agree that murder is an act of sin. We might agree that lying and stealing and adultery all involve sin. But what we may not understand is where these things come from in our lives. We don’t realize that sin is a basic rebellion against God that is rooted into our very being; we got it from our first parents, and that sin at its core is self. It is putting me at the centre of my universe. It is refusing to bow my knee to God or to anyone else. It is Me first. It is selfishness. It involves unbelief - that is - not really believing in God or His right to rule over me. It is an attempt to tear God off the throne or if there is a God, it is making Him serve me; certainly not me serve Him.

    And so sin is taking all the good gifts of God and using them selfishly for my pleasure. That is why we think the way we do. Everything must revolve around me. That is why we speak as we do. Our speech reflects our selfishness and our rebellion against God, and His rule. That is why we act as we do - because we are at the centre of the universe then every good gift that God has made must be used for my pleasure, for my benefit. And so we misuse God’s good gifts. We use substances and we use people for our personal satisfaction.

    Oh, dear ones, the root of sin in our hearts produces the fruit of sin in our lives and because much of it gives us pleasure we don’t want to give it up, even if it also causes pain in our hearts.

    And it does cause pain in our hearts, because our conscience tells us that it is wrong, and God’s Spirit works in our hearts to convict us of the fact that it is wrong. So, we fight against our conscience and against God. We try, by using substances to blot out the accusing finger of conscience, and to cast off the accusing finger of God. That’s why so many people don’t really want to go to church. The preacher may say things that adds to the conviction they already feel, and they don’t want that.

    But dear ones, that is why Jesus came.

    Jesus came to earth because sin had separated man from God. Sin was destroying the people whom God loves. Sin must be dealt with effectively. God’s righteousness would not allow sin to go unpunished. He had decreed that the soul that sins shall die, and He could not wink at sin. Sin is an offense to God. Sin must be paid for and there was only one in the universe who could pay for sin and that was God Himself.

    No unrighteous person could pay the penalty of sin. Only one who is completely righteous could pay the price of sin, and so Jesus came into this earth. He was born of the virgin, and He lived a sinless life, then He taught people about God and about God’s right to rule and to reign over us. He then allowed sinful men to put Him on the cross, and there He gave His righteous soul as an offering for our sin. He paid the full price, so that God could be just even in forgiving the sin of those who repented and turned to Jesus for salvation.

    Dear ones this is the reason for Christ’s death, and now you begin to see the reason for faith.

3. How do we get this like precious faith?

    It is the same faith as the apostles, and it is given “by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

    This faith does not come because we are “good people” or somehow deserving of some special favour from God. This faith is given by God n the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We have never satisfied the justice of God, but Christ did, by giving His life for us on the cross. On the cross, he paid the penalty on our behalf and became the Saviour and the surety of our salvation.

    Faith then is a gift of God given on the basis of our believing, trusting and relying on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

    It is on the basis of our faith in Christ that Peter expresses his desire that  2 “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

    Many people will tell you that they believe in God, and they are sure that that is all that they need to be sure that they will go to heaven, but the Bible clearly says that even the devils or demons believe in God and tremble. Of course they do, for they dwell in the spirit world where God is. They believe in God because they know He is real. They know that He is the sovereign ruler of the universe. But does that belief save them? Not at all, for their whole being is set against God. They follow Satan who is determined to overcome God and to rule in His place.

    As a young person, I too believed in God. I had no doubt about the reality of God. In fact I went further than just believing in God, I believed the Bible. I believed everything the Bible teaches. I believed that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I believed that. I believed that Jesus Christ came from heaven. I believed that He was God in human flesh. I believed that He was truly God and truly man all at the same time. I believed that He died on the cross. In fact I believed that He died to pay for our sins. I believed that He rose again from the dead. I believed that He went back to heaven. Yes, I even believed that He is coming back  to judge all men, to receive Christians to Himself and to send those who do not believe on Him to hell.

    But I had no peace in my heart. I had no assurance of salvation. I had no power over sin in my life. I tried at times to be ever so earnest in asking God for forgiveness of my sin, but I had no victory over sin. I have often said that “I hated myself because of my sin, but I still loved my sin.”           

    So I hope you can see that just believing, is not enough.

    But at least this establishes one truth - that our faith must be placed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

    There is one more word to be added to the ones above. Faith involves believing; faith involves receiving; as well as trusting and relying.

    John 1:12  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:

    There came a point when I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour, and by His grace, He brought me into His peace. Peace with God, leading to the peace of God.

4. Believing and receiving Christ must draw us into the knowledge of God.

    You notice that twice in these verses it speaks of the knowledge of God. 2  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3  as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

    Once again faith does not stand alone. Faith is dependent on growing in the knowledge of God. That is why we must read God’s Word fopr ourselves. That is why we must hear God’s Word through coming to church. That is why the church we attend needs to be one in which the Word of God is preached faithfully and truthfully and powerfully.

    Our pastor preached a wonderful message this morning about the value of being part of this church family. I am so thankful for our pastor and for his absolute commitment to the Word of God. His preaching will not make you comfortable. It wil require you to stretch to receive its full value, but if you pay attention, you will grow in your knowledge of God.

    You will learn that God’s  divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. You will learn that God has called us by glory and virtue, that is to a changed life,

    And you will learn that God has  given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,

which are utterly reliable.

    Through God’s promises you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Conclusion:

    Dear ones, if you have received the Precious Gift of Faith, you have received that which will change your life and give you the best life while you are here on earth, yes even in spite of the trials you face, and will take you home to heaven at last to enjoy your Lord and Saviour for ever.

    Amen