Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Galatians chapter 5 and reading
from our text verse 6. Galatians 5 and verse 6. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Galatians 5 and verse 6. In other words, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in the gospel, whether we are circumcised like the covenant,
the sign of the covenant with Abraham, or whether we are not,
That does not mean anything in the kingdom of God in the gospel. Those were types. They were shadows. They belonged to the ceremonial
law. They belonged to the law. They
belonged to the covenants given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They do not belong. To the Church
of God, they do not matter as to saving at all, whether one
or the other. It's not an issue at all. But in our text, it does say
what is, what does avail, what is important, and that is faith. which worketh by love. Not any
faith, but faith which worketh by love. And so what is on my
spirit this evening is the right type of faith. The right type of faith is vital
for us, that we have the true faith, not just any faith, the
faith of God's elect, a saving faith. Paul had been to these
Galatians, he'd preached to them, he'd set before them Christ,
they had received Christ, they had believed. Then they had teachers
come that were teaching another Gospel which the apostle says
is not a gospel. He says in chapter 1 and verse
6, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel which is
not another. that there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ." They're trying to
bring the Galatians under the law again. The apostle is very
clear, if you abound by one thing in the law and say that that
is necessary for salvation, then you abound to all parts of that
law. Before I look at the types of
faith or the faith that is needed and faith that shows what true
faith is, I want you to notice first what effect it is, and
it is a warning sign, with the churches when you get those that
are bringing in a different teaching. We sung in the first hymn in
strife and contention come in a church. And we see this, especially
with the Galatian church, a church that had received the gospel,
but then we find there are those that are bringing in another
teaching, another gospel. And you find that these things
always accompany, they're coming in something that is not right. It should be a warning sign,
really, to any congregation, any church. A church that, no
doubt for a time, the Galatians were going on quite well, receiving
the apostles' teaching and believing. And then along comes someone
else, and they've got greater light and greater understanding. They seem to know better than
the apostle. And you know, those that come
amongst our churches, and they say, well, we know better than
the Fathers, we have more light, and we can think that things
should be done in a different way, or believed in a different
way, held in a different way. And at first, when the Scriptures
speak about those having men in admiration because of advantage,
and those that are able to come to a congregation and say, I've
got a degree in theology, and I have a knowledge of Greek and
Hebrew, and actually your Bible doesn't really say what it says. If you only knew the original
languages, then you'd be able to follow me. And people have
such an admiration. Oh, what a wonderful man, how
great understanding, what depths he has. They go after him and
believing what he is saying and it always should be a real warning
sign to us. You know the simplest soul with
the least natural understanding that can read the word of God,
if that person has grace in their hearts, they're much better than
any with great degrees in theology without any grace and without
any humility. If there's knowledge that lifts
up and puffs up and it then comes into a church, there's many of
the letters that Paul said about people that, in the church, that
love to have their preeminence, that cast out the people of God. And then we have here, and the
first effect of it is here. He says, those that troubled
you in chapter 1 verse 7, which is not another, but there be
some that troubled you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Well, they weren't coming to
the Galatians and saying, now look here, we are going to pervert
the gospel of Christ. They're not coming direct out
like that. They're saying, oh, we're bringing
the truth. We're bringing the right things.
We're being kind to you. We're letting you know what is
the truth. And we so need to be able to
discern it. In our chapter here, we have,
when trouble comes in, in verse seven, ye did run well. When there's false teaching,
the trouble in the church, the church is not running well anymore.
The church is being hindered, individual members are being
hindered. And, in that verse 7, they're
not obeying the truth anymore. They were. What a sad influence
for someone to come in, misoppose fresh light and understanding
and teaching, and it's having this effect on the church. By
their fruits ye shall know them, and the effect that it is having
on the believers there. They're no longer obedient at
all. And the church is troubled in
verse 10. He says, I have confidence in
you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded,
but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever
he be. He said in verse 12, I would. They were even cut off which
trouble you. And so before we look at the
faith, the true faith, we are reminded that it is something
that will be assailed by Satan and it will be assailed by those
that cut them actually into assemblies. we have in the general epistle
of Jude. And in verse 3 we have, Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, that is the salvation, the gospel of our Lord, that
which goes around all the churches, it was needful for me to write
unto you and exhort you that he should earnestly contend for
the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. Is that faith
that was once delivered unto the saints that Paul was bringing
to the Galatians, that those who were troubling them were
countering? And then in verse four in Jude,
we read, for there are certain men crept in unawares who were
before of old ordained To this condemnation ungodly men turning
the grace of our God into lascivious and denying the only Lord God
and our Lord Jesus Christ. Some of the errors are more subtle
than others and some will be more in the open. But when we
hear things that over time in various churches in the land,
And you get some denying the divinity of Christ, some denying
the actual resurrection of Christ, and all sorts of things. So you
wonder, how is this tolerated in the churches? Those that are
neglecting the word of God. The word isn't read, it's not
preached. How is it tolerated? Why is it?
How does it get to such a low condition as that? The warnings
need to come when the church is strong, so they're watching.
Because once the enemy gets in, if he comes in unawares, the
seeds are already sown. Remember what is said in verse
9 in this chapter, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Those
of us who make homemade bread, you think of the yeast, the leaven,
little grains of that. You've got a bread maker, you
might put that in the bottom and just little sprinklings of
grain and all the flour that goes over it and that, and in
the end though, you get a nice raised loaf and you think, well,
what effect have those little grains had? And you get those
little grains, as it were, of error and doubt and pointing
in the wrong direction. in an assembly, and before you
know it, it's spread through, it's tainted so many, they've
taken up with it, they've gone along with it. You know, in the
letters to the churches, they were warned against those in
the revelation that were in their assemblies that were like this
leaven in Revelation 2 and verse 14. We have the Church of Pergamos,
and the Lord says, but I have a few things against thee, because
thou hast them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught
Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel,
to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. And then further, so hast thou
also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaeitons, which thing
I hate. And so he says to that church
that he knows there are those in that church that are holding
to these wrong doctrines. And it is like the leaven, and
they're exhorted to repent or to change. to turn from these
things. We have the Church at Thyatira,
which follows on after that, commended for some things, but
then, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, verse
20 in Revelation 2. And why is it? Because thou sufferest
that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess to teach
and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat
things sacrificed unto idols." In this case, it was not one
that had error only, but was actually teaching, and teaching
corrupt and false and evil ways. And the Church is constantly
warned of this. Really, many times you can look
and the greatest enemy to the Church is not from without, it's
from within. Greater damage has been done
to the professing Church of God from those that have got in and
done the damage from inside. Yes, we must watch out for the
world, but very often it is the world gets into the Church through
Pulse members, or those that are not truly converted, who
do not really know the faith of God, they're received as such,
they're followed, and their teaching is imbibed. And this is the warning
and the effect that Paul says will happen. And in our text,
the very thing that they are insisting upon, bringing them
into bondage in the law and in the particular instances regarding
whether one be circumcised or not, whether the ceremonial law
be kept or not. But the thing that does matter,
the thing that is important, is faith, not just any faith,
but faith which worketh by love. If we think of faith, faith is
trust. And may the Lord preserve England
if Charles comes to the throne who has said that he will be
a defender of faiths, in plural, not of the faith. We know that
in England there is many, many different sects and teachings
and you might say faiths. Because there are people that
are putting trust in something. This afternoon I was preaching
at Gravesend and overshadowing the little chapel there is the
great, I think it's the Sikh temple. Very massive structure
there. Many no doubt attend there. and
throughout the land. There are gatherings of people
that have a faith, but it's not the faith of the Bible, it's
not the faith of God's elect, it's not the faith that will
get them to heaven, it's not the faith in our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. The ones that are glaringly not,
maybe the people of God will never fall into that. But it's
where it comes very close, like it did here in the Church of
Galatia, that then it is the danger. Not the glaring errors,
but the subtle errors. Those things that seem to be
right, and yet they're vitally, as it were, wrong. We can have
a faith that is a blindfold, I remember years ago over in
Australia, the late deacon at Geelong telling me an account
when there was a church in the area and they had a Sunday school. They were going to have a Sunday
school outing. And he says they were going to have a good day
and the deacon said to him, but I think it's been forecast to
rain. No, he said, it certainly won't.
He said, I pray to God, God will prevent it from raining. And
it pelted with rain the whole day. And we can have a faith,
as it were, that just insists and is just blind. It's not based on anything. We support it. It doesn't support
us. Sometimes I think when I see
our DH friends in the homes, and I've seen some in Bethesda,
they might have a walking frame. But instead of pushing it along
and leaning on that frame and the frame supporting them, they're
walking down the corridor and they're carrying the frame. And
really, it's a liability to them. They'd be better off without
it. That's what faith, if we've got to support our faith, is
just a liability. If we've got a faith that God
has given, that will support us. And that is what is vital,
that we have that which the Lord gives. So I want to look at some
aspects of that which is vital, real faith, in the words of our
text here, but faith which worketh by love. that which is vital. So I want to begin just with
the very words of the text, a faith, a faith that works by love. There's
two aspects of this. One, it is a faith that is not
a dead faith, it actually works. In the epistle to James, James
speaks of a faith that does not have works. He says that, and
we might think, well, surely faith and works are opposite,
but James, he is very clear on this. He says, and he gives this
example of a working faith. He says, if there be a brother
or a sister naked and destitute of daily food, One of you say
unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding
ye give them not those things which are needful to the body,
what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not
works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works. And I will show thee my faith
by my works. And we have the example of Abraham
given in this same chapter. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought
with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture is fulfilled,
which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness, and he is called the friend of God. Ye see then how that by works
a man is justified, and not by faith only. When God told Abraham
to go and offer his son Isaac up in the place that he would
tell him of, If Abraham had stayed where he was and said to the
Lord, Lord, I believe that thou art able to raise up Isaac from
the dead, even if I was to kill him. And he stayed there. That faith would have been dead.
But Abraham, he went, he obeyed. He went as far as going to slay
Isaac, and then God stopped him. God then could really see that
he obeyed and that he really believed. And we have that in
Hebrews 11, that he was accounted that God, even if he had killed
him, he would raise him from the dead because the promises
were in Isaac and Abraham believed that. And so faith is true faith,
faith of God's elect, the faith that is set forth here is a faith
which worketh. It has an effect on that person. And we're told here that it worketh
by love. So with Abraham, again, it was
emphasized how much he loved Isaac, but he loved the Lord
as well. And that which he did was by
the constraints of love. All the offerings of the Old
Testament They were to be free offerings, all the offerings
of the New Testament are as well. The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. It's not by constraint. Ananias
and Sapphira, they wanted to be known as just like all of
the other disciples and selling lands and giving to the Lord. But they coveted, they still
wanted their goods. They could have said, we have
sold our land, we are giving half to the church. And we are
keeping the rest ourselves for our families and for our needs. And that would have been all
right, but they made out that actually they had sold the land
and gave the whole unto the church. Peter says they lied unto the
Holy Ghost. It was almost a faith, a servitude
one. They wanted to be like others.
They felt under a pressure. to just conform and to just do
as others did, and so they gave. I always think it's good with
our churches to just have a box, a collecting box at the back
of the chapel, always it means that giving can be done in that
kind of way. I always feel awkward really
in churches where the plate is passed around every single service,
sometimes several times in a service, Again, there's that thought,
oh, we can't be seen not to be giving. The person next to me
on either side is giving something I should give. And the temptation
just to give, not because of freely and out of love, but because
of just what others will see, can be a strong temptation. And
that which is the faith of God's elect, it works by love to the
Lord. In all that we do, The love of
Christ constraineth us, the faith which worketh by love. And it
works in love to the brethren as well. We know that we've passed
from death unto life because we love the brethren. And faith,
it views those brethren as the Lord's people. The Lord said, Whoso receiveth
you, receiveth me. And he that receiveth me, receiveth
him that sent me. And it's viewing the people of
God. You think of Ruth, the Moabites. When she was married to Boaz
and the inhabitants of the land, they said to Naomi how blessed
she was. For in daughter in law, which
loveth thee. And the love that she had, she
had to Naomi, she had to her God, she claimed to the people
of God, she claimed to their God as well. And these illustrations
of a simple yet real faith, thy people shall be my people, thy
God my God, where thou dwellest I will dwell. And where thou
diest, I will die, and there will I be buried. And they desire
not to be parted. It is a blessed thing being let
go, to go into our own people, and that faith, it views them. Faith is the evidence, we're
told in Hebrews, of things that are not seen as yet. It looks
past what is the outside and it sees what is not seen. But in this first evidence, this
what is in our text, that which is important, that which does
avail, that which is necessary, is a faith, a faith which worketh
by love. that is not just in word but
also is in deed, that which moves a person, that which brings forth
fruit to the honour and glory of God. The Lord gives the illustrations
of the ones with the talents and those that increase those
and one that just buried it in the earth. He gives the illustration
of Those that are hearers of the word are not doers of the
word. He says, those that are just
a hearer are like ones that build their house on the sand. The
doers are upon the rock. Be ye doers of the word and not
hearers only, deceiving your own sounds. And so the And you
might say it seems a strange way for the Apostle to put this,
because the temptation, the trial with the Galatians is works.
Their false teachers are saying the Gospel is not enough. A belief
in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, a trust in him alone is not enough. A trusting that he has finished
the work, that he has suffered, bled and died, fulfilled the
law. provided the remedy, the shedding
of blood, and brought in an everlasting righteousness, and that we may
trust his one sin-atoning sacrifice, and trust his righteousness,
and not our own, they are saying it's not enough,
you need some other works. But the Apostle encountering
that, as if he would say to them, all right, you want works, I'll
show you what those works should come, where they should come.
They don't come as the cause of salvation, they come as the
fruit of salvation. We're not saved because of our
works, but we work because we are saved. Because we have faith,
we work. We show forth that faith in what
we believe in a loving way, not a slavish way, not feeling, well,
if we don't do this, we'll be damned, we'll be lost. No. The works come in a right order. There might be two people and
they do the same things outwardly, you say, well, they're both doing
the same things at once. might be perhaps helping a brother
or sister in faith. Two people help that same person. Yet one is doing it because they
love the Lord and love His people and there's no thought of reward,
there's no thought of doing this to obtain salvation at all. The other is doing it with an
eye thinking that, well, with doing this, surely the Lord will
bless me. It is meriting salvation. It will go to my account. And
their eye is upon what the Lord will reward them for it. The Lord had those in his day. He said of those that were made
long prayers, standing in the marketplaces, To be seen in men,
he said, verily they have their reward. But when ye pray, the
same thing, but in a different context, one straight before
the Lord, praying for a desire of real fellowship, union, and
to come before the Lord, to praise Him, thank Him, seek His blessing. And that is done in secret, whereas
one is done just to be seen of men. And so, in one sense, we
see how applicable the apostle is, is joining works to faith
here. He is contending for the faith
of God's land. He's contending for the true
faith of God. But in effect, he's saying to
these Galatians, the true faith of God is not lacking in works. But it's not looking for those
works for salvation. And so this evidence of true
faith, but faith which worketh by love, that avails. That is
vital. And what is the other aspects
of true faith? We are told in the Word that
it is where it comes from is so important. How do we come
by faith? What is it based upon? Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. Paul tells the Romans that that
is the case. It's not just any faith, it's
based upon the holy, sacred word of God, and that as we read that,
that the Lord through that word brings faith, believing the word
of God. The Apostle says of the Thessalonians
that the Word came unto them, not in word only, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power. We read in another place that
the Word did not profit them, being not mixed with faith in
them that heard it. And you say, well, what comes
first, faith or the Word and the prophet? With the blessings
of God, everything must come really at once. We know a babe,
of course, grows gradually in the womb, but in the end, a babe,
a body, when it is functioning, everything must work. It can't just evolve, as it were,
part by part. When the Lord makes a believer,
when he passes by and bids them live, he gives them life, he
gives them faith, he gives them a hearing ear, and then through
the word that they hear comes that faith that strengthens them
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that points them as to what they trust
and how they trust. And this is, in one way, the
apostle is teaching the Galatians, writing to them, and to them,
he's writing to us, directing them of that faith that comes
through the word. So as part of the holy, sacred
word of God, we have this epistle to the Galatians, and the church
to the end of time. So this is one of the books which,
in reading it, the Lord is pleased to bless his people with faith. Faith to see, faith to see how
a soul is saved, what avails with God, what is important,
what is not important. So the faith that does avail,
the faith that is important, is that which comes through the
Word of God, hearing the Word of God. Another aspect of it
is that it is through a gift, God's gift. When Paul writes
to the Ephesians, and we have two aspects of this in Ephesians
2, the next book, and we have, for by grace, i.e. saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Faith,
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. All men do not have
faith. Faith is a gift. And though the Lord uses means,
the means of the word, yet, as the hymn writer says, we must
not learn God's truth as schoolboys learn their task. It's not a
matter of getting a book or getting the Word of God, and saying,
well, just read it through, and after you've read it, then you
can sign, and you can accept the Lord Jesus Christ, and you
should be able to believe, and if you can't, begin at the beginning
and start again. Now, in the church in Australia,
where we used to have one of our TBS meetings, actually, local
ones, and they had a booklet, and that is what it said. Do
you read through this booklet? And you sign at the end that
you're a Christian, you accept the Lord and you believe and
you are saved. And if you can't, then start
at the end. They literally had it written
down, you start at the beginning of the book and you read it again
until you can. No thought that it's a sovereign
gift of God, that faith is, yes, it comes by hearing, hearing
by the word of God, but it is God's gift. His hand is in it. It's not man just taking it.
But it is God giving it, and so he'll know about it at the
last day. He'll own those that he's given
this to. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ. I give unto them, says our Lord,
eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of mine hand. And that gift then
is identified here by Paul to the Ephesians as Faith is a gift
of God. He's also in that same verse,
a channel, a channel of grace. For by grace are ye saved through
faith. So it's through faith that the
grace of God is shown. Grace is the free, unmerited
favour of God. Again, there's the two aspects. Here is God, giving faith. Here is God showing His grace,
His mercy, His unmerited favor in causing a soul to receive
the Word, believe the Word, understand the Word. Those in the day of
Pentecost we read, those that were baptized, then they that
gladly received the Word were baptized. Why did they receive
it and others not? By the grace of God. When the
apostles preached, as many as were ordained unto eternal life
believed. Why did some believe and some
not? Some were bestowed the sovereign
free grace of God, others it was withheld from. And so faith is a channel for
God's grace to be shown. It is also a faith that looks
to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. In our text it says, for in Jesus
Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but
faith which worketh by love. And there is an object of faith,
and that is the Lord. Our trust is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They that look for him, he shall
appear the second time without sin unto salvation. The Old Testament
church, what did their faith when they offered the sacrifices? Was it in their doing the sacrifices? No, it was faith looking through
them, past them, to what they set forth. They could see Christ. They'd rancor that spiritual
rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. There's
no doubt many of the Israelites that never saw past those sacrifices,
that thought there was just a weariness, snuffed at the service of God.
And you were looking at it in a natural sense. You think, how
much bloodshed? How much toil, how much fruitless
work, but when you saw past it and what it was pointing to,
that makes all the difference. And in one way, it's the same
in the Church of God today. Looking at baptism, you just
see someone laid beneath the water and raised up again. Or
the Lord's Supper, you just see wine and bread and that's all
you see. Think, what means these things?
When you see past it to Christ, you do show forth the Lord's
death till he come. And you are buried with him by
baptism into death. Then that makes all the difference.
And it's faith that looks past these ceremonies. And again,
it is the context here. Those false teachers were taking
the glacians. You go back to the ceremonial
law. All right, says Paul, you go
back. What good is that going to do
you if you don't see Christ through those ceremonies? If you don't
see His offerings? Abraham with Isaac. Abraham,
says our Lord, saw my day and rejoiced at it. And so it looks, this faith looks
to Christ alone. It sees Him alone. He is the
object of our faith. He is the one thing needful.
He is the only name given among men whereby we must be saved.
He's been given a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow. And that is a very
good test of the true faith of God. Because you can be sure
that Satan will never direct a soul's soul into Christ. The
pride of man will never direct us all solely unto Christ, but
the Holy Spirit does. He shall receive of mine and
shall show it unto you. And the faith of God's elect,
it looks to Christ alone. And then faith is that which
the Lord uses to keep his people In the first epistle of Peter,
we read in chapter 1 and verse 5, of those that have reserved
in heaven an inheritance that is incorruptible, and he says,
who are kept by the power of God. But it's not just kept by
the power of God, it's power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Not only is faith saving
faith in viewing the Lord Jesus Christ as the only name given
among men whereby we must be saved and looking to Christ and
trusting in his precious blood alone, but it is the keeping
power of God From the time we are converted,
we might have many, many years pilgrimage here below. And the
people of God, like these Galatians, will have times, and in comes
an enemy. In comes some false teaching.
But we have, whoso endureth unto the end shall be saved. How shall
we endure? By being kept. How will we be
kept? By the power of God. How is the
power of God bestowed? by faith. And as we read the
word of God and faith lays hold upon that, it has an answer. To resist the devil, to resist
all false teachers and to keep in the narrow way, or as Jeremiah
says, the old paths and walk therein. Or as Jude says, the
faith once delivered unto the saints. And it is in that way
the people of God are kept. To the law and to the testimony
they speak not according to these things, it is there is no life
in them or no light in them at all. To that which is vital, is faith
a real faith, the right type of faith, is a faith that is
used by God to keep his people The right type of a faith is
a faith that looks to Christ alone. The right type of a faith
is one that comes by hearing and one that works by love. The right type of a faith is
the one that is a channel for the grace of God and the grace
of God bestowed upon his people. But there's one more that I've
mentioned before you. right type of faith is that which
looks above. Paul says we are to run the race
that is set before us looking unto Jesus. But we see him not
now. Our natural eyes do not see him. We walk by faith, not by sight. But that is how we are to run
the race. Paul says to the Corinthians,
In his first epistle, chapter 15, if in this life only we have
hope in Christ with all men most miserable, the Church of God
and the New Testament is looking for Christ's second coming. When
the Spirit is with the Church, the Spirit says, the Spirit and
the Bride, the Bride being the Church of Christ, the Spirit
and the Bride say, come, even so come, Lord Jesus. And there's
that desire for Christ, a looking for that eternal home, a looking
for an inheritance. A false faith will be one that
just dwells upon earth. It is earthbound, it looks for
that which is here. And even if it is professing
that which is above, it will try to have its hands full of
the things here. It'll be like a haze eye who
follows Elisha, and he sees all the miracles and he sees the
wonderful works of God, but he still wants Naaman's riches and
lands and gold and everything. It's the faith of Judas that
sees our Lord and sees his miracles and hears this gospel, but he
still loves silver and gold and will betray his Lord for 30 pieces
of silver. What a solemn thing to have a
faith It is like that, and does not realize and look upon the
Lord as the pearl of great price, the treasure hid in the field,
or esteem the riches of Christ more than all the treasures in
Egypt, like Moses did, who forsook Egypt and who walked that path
as a pilgrim. We have in Hebrews that beautiful
picture of those that all died in faith, having not received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, that is, seen
them by faith, the promises of Christ, the promises of heaven.
We're persuaded of them, that's real faith, and embrace them,
that's real faith. And confess that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth, That's an effect of real faith. For
they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. Yes, they desire a better country
that isn't heavenly. May we have that right type of
faith, that which is vital, that which is in our text, the faith
which worketh by love. May the Lord bless this word
to us. Amen.