Precious Faith!
In
II Peter 1:1, the apostle Peter addresses those he writes to as "them
that have obtained like precious faith." We know
that faith comes from God and is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8). The
faith that God gives never stands alone. Faith is only as good as its
object. What distinguishes this "precious faith" and makes
it precious? The faith of God's elect is precious for this reason:
"Unto you therefore
which believe HE is precious.." (I Pet. 2:7).
Faith in anyone or anything else is worthless! True faith believes
God. Like Abraham, we "believe
on Him that justifieth the ungodly" and the
object of this God-given faith, Christ, is counted for our
righteousness before God (Rom. 4:5).
Do
we get righteousness by faith? Through faith we are brought to
realize and see that God in grace has made us righteous by
imputing to us the very "righteousness
of God" in Christ. The truth is, we
don't "obtain" righteousness by faith, rather, we obtain
faith through righteousness. We receive it because of Jesus Christ
the Righteous whose work of righteousness is the only righteousness
any sinner can ever have. He is "the
LORD our Righteousness." Hear Peter out: "to
them that have obtained like precious faith through the righteousness
of God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (I Pet. 1:1).
Precious faith is not only in but also because of the precious
Christ!
-Gospel report by preacher Gary Shepard
-Gospel report by preacher Gary Shepard
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