The Object of Faith, Part 2

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. Faith in the wrong object will always lead to disappointment, regardless of how strong that faith may be. The most important thing about faith is its object. Today, Rich shares three reasons that Christ is supremely and uniquely qualified to be the object of our faith.

Living by faith is liberating only if that faith is in Christ. Our text for today is 1 Peter 1, 18-21, in this message titled The Object of Faith. Let's listen in. This is part two of the sermon that was first preached August 14, 2022.

To hear part one, visit our website at www.delightingrace.com. God making himself known to us, and he came humbly in the form of a man as a servant who became obedient to the point of death. One way we can know this is true is that in our humanity, we would never make something like this up. This is God.

This is his doing. But it says in verse 20, at the end of verse 20, for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, for your sake, he says, meaning you are also foreknown. Again, a very powerfully comforting thought.

He chose us as Ephesians 1, 4 says, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. From eternity, God has known me in Christ. A powerfully comforting thought. But he says, as Peter calls us, we are aliens and strangers, we're sojourners and exiles in this world. And we experience that and we feel that.

We don't feel like we're at home. And it becomes more and more true every day as we go on in history. And yet, we must know and recognize and acknowledge that you and I, if we are in Christ, if you are in Christ, we are the objects of his loving concern from eternity. Find comfort in that, Christians. If any of you were in Adam's adult Bible fellowship, you would be thinking, we've been comparing notes, but it's the same Spirit of God who authors all the Word of God, right?

So this is good. But 2 Corinthians 4, 6, one of my favorite verses, for God who said, let light shine out of darkness, has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What's the significance of that? In the face of Jesus Christ, he came to us, we saw him. People saw him, God, in the face of Jesus Christ.

He walked among us. And then a verse that just blows my mind, 2 Corinthians 5, 19, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. He's a rescuing and reconciling God.

That's why he came to us. In 1 John 2, verse 23, no one who denies the Son has the Father, whoever confesses the Son has the Father. You confess Jesus Christ, you get God, because he is God. Jesus came to take us to the Father, whom he has known from eternity. This is why he is uniquely qualified to be your object of trust. Because he alone transcends history. Number two, the second reason why Jesus Christ is uniquely qualified to be your object of trust is he alone can remedy your unrighteousness. No one will deny their own unrighteousness.

We're all flawed, broken. But he speaks here of the precious blood of Christ, the precious blood of Christ. Verse 19, with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

What is he saying there, the context? You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. This person that I just described, the God-man who walked among us, he sacrificed himself for you.

Think about that. That's powerful. He sacrificed himself for you. And he uses the word blood, the precious blood of Christ, that is speaking of the forfeiture of life.

Physically, he died. But there was a theological reality to that too, a spiritual reality that when he was on the cross and he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It was in that moment that he experienced necessary holy wrath of God upon our sin because he took upon himself our sin and so he experienced the wrath of God, the separation from God.

That's what you and I deserve and he took it for us. This is why he says the precious blood of Christ. Here he's speaking of the unique qualification of this one who sacrificed himself. This is a word that means rare and costly, that's why we call them precious stones. They're rare and they're costly, right? The blood of Christ was precious.

Why? Because he was the only begotten son of God. He was the God-man in history. He is the one who lived a perfect, listen to me, perfect life. He did nothing wrong. He lived a perfect life. He had a perfect will and he lived in perfect obedience to his father. That's unique. No one in here can claim that.

He could. And he died willingly in your place and mine. The precious blood of Christ. So as we look at the cross, as we contemplate the cross of Jesus Christ, I want to quote a song here that we sing.

It's in our repertoire of music. Two wonders here that I confess, my worth and my unworthiness, my value fixed, my ransom paid at the cross. I rejoice in my redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will trust in him, no other. My soul is satisfied in him alone. We sing that.

I hope it's true. Jesus Christ is uniquely qualified to be my object of trust. It says the precious blood of Christ, it also says verse 21, we skip down to verse 21, it says he was raised from the dead. Who through him are believers in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, raised him from the dead. Jesus sacrificed himself in your place and mine. He died, but he didn't stay dead. That again is why he is uniquely qualified to be your object of trust, your object of faith. Only God can conquer death.

Only God can. And Jesus walked out of a tomb, another historic event, this is not myth, this is an historic event. He was raised, Paul says to the Romans, he was raised for our justification, the justification of his sacrifice. And we can now by faith in surrender to him, we are, I am, acceptable before holy God in Christ alone.

There's no other way. Not only was he raised, but God gave him glory. After Jesus was resurrected, now in his glorified body, he goes back home to where he came from. His birth 33 years earlier was not the beginning of his existence.

It's just the point when he took on a human body. And now that he is back home, he is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, Hebrews 1-3. He is God.

He is seated on the throne. And he is our advocate before his father. The whole point that Peter is making here in safety is that God, who is holy and good, has dealt with sin where it originates in the heart and mind of the creature that bears his image. Jesus took our sin and penalty so we could have his righteousness.

What a profound exchange that was. He took our sin and bore the penalty of it so that we can have his righteousness. That makes me acceptable before God.

That alone. Jesus is deeply qualified to be your object of trust because he alone transcends history. Secondly, he alone can remedy your unrighteousness. Thirdly, he alone can bring you from meaningless to ultimate good. All these other objects of trust, people, experts, things, ideologies, causes, even myself, none of that, none of that can bring you from meaningless to ultimate good. We're so glad you've joined us for Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. You can hear this message and others anytime by visiting our website, www.delightingrace.com. You can also check out Pastor Rich's book, Seven Words That Can Change Your Life, where he unpacks from God's word the very purpose for which you were designed. Seven Words That Can Change Your Life is available wherever books are sold. As always, tune in to Delight in Grace, weekdays at 10 a.m.