Okay, we are in Matthew 12, the
last of Matthew 12. And other than our text, everything
else is in the handout. That's why there's 10 pages.
But we'll go through it pretty quick tonight. I don't think
it'll go too long. Let's begin with the handout
in front of us before we read our text in Matthew 12. I brought
a verse out, Ephesians 3, verses 14 through 21. And this is a
prayer that I have Always. I pray for our brothers and sisters
in San Diego in this manner. I pray for the brothers and sisters
here. This is the way I pray for our family, the family of
God. It says in Ephesians 3 verse
14, for this cause I bow my knees, writes Paul, unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and
in earth is named. So he's bowing unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, that he would grant you, this is the one Paul's
praying to, that he, God Almighty, would grant you according to
the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by His
Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be
able to comprehend with all saints, and that's another word for family,
all saints, what is the breadth, and the length, and the depth,
and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us unto
him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages
world without end. And that word church there, glory
in the church by Christ Jesus, that again is referencing to
that whole family or the saints. Now, this is the love. We're in mid page one. This is
the love that brethren in Christ have one for another. That Christ would fulfill you
with himself and be glorified in it. That's what Paul was talking
about. They're filling you with Christ
and being glorified in doing so. Now look with me if you would
in Matthew chapter 12. Our text reading is 46 through
50. While he yet talked to the people,
behold, his mother and his brethren stood without desiring to speak
with him. Then one said unto him, Behold,
thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with
thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is
my mother, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand
toward his disciples and said, behold, my mother and my brother,
for whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven,
the same is my brother and my sister and my mother. Now, families
have one thing in common. You can have several members
in a family. One would be this way, and you
can even have twins, and one will be one way and one will
be another way. But they still have one thing in common, and
that's their seed. That's where they're from. I
remember with Kathy and I, when we were bikers riding across
the country, we would give the family wave, the biker wave,
which you can't really see because my hand's not on camera here,
but we'd put our hands down to our left-hand side, and wave
at the bikes coming on. Brothers. Or we would meet up
somewhere with our brothers, our Harley riders, our brother
friends, and so on. And we would ride with them wherever
we were going to go for a day or so. So we had different groups
that we would call brethren. And that's kind of what we're
talking about here. We're talking about the whole family, those
who have something in common with each other. We may be different
in this way or that way, but we have one thing in common,
and that's who our Father is. Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed holy is thy name. Each and every one of those for
whom Christ laid down his life, each and every one for whom Christ
shed his own blood, is in the family of God, whether we know
it or not. In our handout again, Don Fortner
wrote in regards to these texts at the bottom of page one, sometimes
the church of God is called by one name and sometimes by another
to show various aspects of our relationship to God and to one
another. It is called the church, the
body of Christ, the bride, the fold, and holy nation, a royal
priesthood, Jerusalem, the church of the firstborn, the kingdom
of heaven, the kingdom of God, and the family of God. Now in
this passage, our Lord teaches us that all true believers are
one in Him, and that we are the family of God, according to Ephesians
3.15, which we just read a moment ago. All believers are counted
by the Son of God as His relatives. He loves them. He feels for them. He cares for them as members
of His own family, bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh. He
provides for His family. He protects His family. He prays
for His family. Some of his family have already
gone home. Some of his family are yet in
their pilgrimage. But all who do the will of his
Father, all who trust him are members of his family, page two. Another writer, good writer,
I like to refer to occasionally, J.C. Ryle, his observations on
this passage are precious and encouraging as they are instructive. He says, mark how he speaks of
everyone who does the will of his Father in heaven. He says,
he is my brother and sister and mother. What gracious words these
are, writes J.C. Ryle, who can conceive the depth
of our dear Lord's love towards his relations according to the
flesh. It was a pure, unselfish love. It must have been a mighty love,
a love that passeth man's understanding. Yet here we see that all his
believing people are counted as his family. He loves them,
feels for them, cares for them as members of his family, bone
of his bone and flesh of his flesh, as he states the same
as Don Fortner there. There is a solemn warning, he
goes on to say here, to all who mock and persecute true Christians
on account of their religion. They consider not what they are
doing. They are persecuting the near
relations of the king of kings. They will find at the last day
that they have mocked those whom the judge of all regards as his
brother and sister and mother." We saw a warning just like that
in the text of the Psalms that we wrote a moment ago. There
is a rich encouragement here as well for all believers, goes
on J.C. Ryle. They are far more precious
in the Lord's eyes than they are in their own. Their faith
may be feeble, their repentance weak, but their strength small. They may be poor and needy in
this world, but there is a glorious whoever, in the last verse of
this chapter, which ought to cheer them, whoever believes,
is a near relation of Christ. The elderly brother will provide
for him in time and eternity and never let him be cast away.
There is not one little sister in the family of the redeemed
whom Jesus does not remember. You can read that in Song of
Solomon 8 verse 8. Joseph provided richly for all
of his relations and Jesus will provide for his. In the last
verse of this text, verse 50, we read these words. Whosoever
shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same
is my brother and sister and mother. Lord, how do we do thy
will, the will of the Father? The religious of this world put
the question this way, page 3. Then said they unto them in John
6 verse 28, what shall we do that we might work the works
of God? And that's the same statement
right there, that we might work the will of God, that we might
know what to do the work of God. We sure love works, don't we?
Give us something to do and we'll do it, won't we? That is the
religion of man, the religion of the world, your religion and
my religion by nature. We all want to weave a web of
righteousness of our own, a thread from our own works by which we
might climb up to heaven. No man seeks salvation God's
way, free of cost to them, yet this is the way of God, is it
not? Listen to the words of John 14, 6. Jesus saith unto them,
I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto
the Father but by me." There's only one way, folks. There's
only one gospel. There's only one good news. There's
only one salvation, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by Him. Christ came in the body of a
man, a body prepared by the Father as we read in Hebrews 10 verse
5, a body prepared in holiness, a body conceived of the Holy
Spirit, born of a virgin, a body that knew no sin, a body prepared
for death, a body prepared for sacrifice, a body prepared for
the saving of his people, and a man has nothing to add nor
take away from that salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Martin Luther was exactly right
when he called works religion the devil's feces. Those who
seek to be saved by the works he called the devil's martyrs.
because they take great pains to go to hell. Our Lord answers
the self-righteous, He says this, He says, He said unto them, this
is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. When those religious people ask
in verse 28 that we read up there at the top of page 3, when they
ask, what might that we might work the works of God, that we
might know and do the will of God, our Lord answered down here,
and this is where we're gonna spend most of our time looking
at here, Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of
God, this is the will of God. that ye believe on Him whom He
hath sent." Not only is it the will of God, it's the work of
God. Only God can cause one to believe
upon Him. Did you read that right? This
is the work of God, the one and only work that God requires of
you and me, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. This is
the work of God that He requires? the work of God that He performs,
and the work of God that He accepts. When we read 1 John 3 verse 23,
this is His commandment that we should believe on the name
of the Son of His Son. Jesus Christ. Folks, faith in
Christ is what God requires of men. He requires that of us. The Word of God has a lot to
say about faith. Our Lord said, If thou can't
believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And that's
in Mark 9 verse 23. Page 4, if ye had faith as a
grain of a mustard seed, you might say to this sycamore tree,
be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea,
and it should obey you. That's in Luke 17. So even if
your faith was the size of a mustard seed, God could use it to do
what he wants done. It goes on, if thou wouldest
believe, he says, to Mary, thou shouldest see the glory of God.
That's in John 11, verse 40. The Lord once said to a harlot,
he said, Thy faith hath saved thee. That's in Luke 7 verse
50. When he saw the faith of four
men who brought a sick friend to him, he said to the one they
brought to him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. That's in
Luke 5.20. He says this as well, whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's
John 3.16. The Apostle Paul wrote this,
he said, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Romans
5, 1. He also said this, by grace are
you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians
2, 8-9. Can we not say the Word of God
highly exalts faith? Well, it's a gift from Him. Of
course He exalts it. He raises it above. It's faith
in His Son. It's to believe His Son. Whosoever
believeth in Me shall have everlasting life, is what John 3.16 said.
Going on now, mid-page 4. We are talking about the family
of God who do the will of the Father. And the will of the Father
is just this. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. We're talking about the family
of God doing the will of the Father. What's the Father's commandment? This is the commandment, that
we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. That's in John 3.23. That's His
commandment. We're talking about the family
of God who do the will of the Father, and the will of the Father
is just this. All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me, and
him that cometh to Me I will no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him
that sent Me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent Me, that all which He hath given Me I should
lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day." John 6, 37-40. I want to consider five things
revealed in the Word of God about faith in Christ. The first one,
faith is the foundation grace. It's the foundation given to
you and I by the grace of God. While love is the greatest of
all graces, and hope is the grace of comfort and expectation, faith
is the foundation grace from which both love and hope spring
from. Listen to these words of John
3, verse 36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth in him. Do you see
that? Do you see how the love of God
is based, is the foundation, or comes to us through the foundation
of faith, through the foundation of believing? Also, page five,
and he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. That's Mark 16, verse 15 and
16. And here as well, over here in
Romans 10, 11 through 15, for the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they
call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace? and bring glad tidings
of good things. Mid-page 5, the first evidence
of life in the soul is faith. I want to stop there a moment.
I thought about that as I was putting this together. What was
it that caught John Reeves that first day when I sat there next
to Lee and Shirley and heard the gospel of a God who rules
all things. That was the first time I can
say I truly heard about the Lord Jesus. I've heard about a guy
named Jesus all my life. I've been around religious people.
My stepdad was a preacher. My real father was a preacher
before he went to prison. All my uncles, my aunts were
all very steeped in religion down there in Riverside, California. I grew up around the religious
people, but I never heard about a Jesus who rules. I never heard
about a God who rules. I don't know what I heard, but
I didn't hear that. So what was it that grabbed a hold of John
Reeves? Here's something I can believe
in. That's what got a hold of me. Here's something I can believe
in, a God who truly deserves to be called God. One who truly
rules is God. And that grabbed a hold of me.
It was the first evidence of life in my soul, and that was
faith, believing God. Faith in Christ is the proof
that we have life. Believing on Christ, we've been
delivered from the penalty of death, and justification, and
spiritual death, and regeneration. No form of works, no religious
profession, no amount of knowledge, no feelings, no emotions can
assure me that I am both absolved of guilt and born of God, but
faith does. Nothing in me, but my belief
in the one who did is. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Isn't that what it says over
there in 1 John 5, 1 through 5? And it goes on, it says, and
everyone that loveth him, that begat loveth him also that is
begotten of him. By this we know that we love
the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments,
and His commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born
of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that
overcometh the world. Even our faith, who is He that overcometh
the world, but He that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.
Do you see where faith comes in on that? It doesn't save us,
but you can't be saved without it. You must believe on the Son
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. As faith is the evidence of life
in the soul, so all true spiritual life is sustained by faith, it's
kept by faith, it's held up. The child of God does not trust
his emotions, or his devotions, his feelings, or his doings.
He looks to Christ. It says, the just shall live
by his faith. Spurgeon wrote this, he said,
hearty belief in God, His Son, His promises, His grace is the
soul's life. Neither can anything take its
place. Believe and live is the standing precept both for saint
and sinner. John Flattle wrote these words,
he says, the soul is the life of the body, faith is the life
of the soul, Christ is the life of faith. I thought that was
well said. Page six. Faith is the foundation
of grace. If you do not have faith in Christ,
you do not have life. You are yet in your sins. The
wrath of God is yet upon you. Secondly, this faith is the gift
of God. You may believe many things,
and there may be many types of faith in men, but saving faith,
faith that unites a sinner to Christ in a living union, is
the gift of God. That's what we read in Ephesians
2, chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. We are saved by grace through
faith, which is a gift of God. not of works, lest any man should
boast. It is not the product of the
flesh, as we read in John 1, verses 12 and 13, but as many
as received him. To them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name which
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God." You see how God gets all the
glory, folks? Folks, He gets the glory for
everything! Everything! Let me stress that
again. Everything! Our Lord gets all
the glory. He will not share it with another.
I leave you with these verses as well, on top of what I just
read for you from John. Some words you can look up in
your own time. Philippians 1.29, Ephesians 1.19, Colossians 2.12. Thirdly, sinners are justified
by faith alone. Faith is not the cause of justification,
that is the grace of God. Faith is not the basis of justification,
that is the blood of Christ. But faith is the voice of justification. Because I'm justified, I can
speak that I believe. Faith is the means by which we
receive justification and by which God declares justification
in the heart. Listen to these words from Romans
4, 24 and 25. But for us also, to whom it shall
be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. Did you notice that? To whom
it shall be imputed, the whosoever believeth. If we believe on Him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
Now I give you some other verses as well. Romans 5 verses 1-11,
Galatians 2 verse 16. You can look those two up as
well in your own time. But fourthly, I want to get to
the next. True saving faith is growing grace. Now, I want to
stop there. That does not mean progressive
sanctification. Progressive sanctification is
now being taught that we will get better, we will grow and
be more gracious as we learn more about Christ. And that is
true, we will. But that's not what this is talking
about. Growing in grace is growing in
the grace of God. Growing in His grace, it says,
and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Back in our handout,
everything that is alive grows. If our faith is dead faith, is
the dead faith of religious profession and doctrinal orthodoxy, it does
not grow, nor does it increase. But if our faith is a living
thing, it grows. Listen to these words, 2 Thessalonians
1, 3. Your faith groweth exceedingly. Another one, how about over in
2 Peter 2, chapter 3, verse 18. Believers grow in grace in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We just mentioned that a moment
ago. As faith grows, assurance grows. As faith grows, love for
Christ in one another grows. As faith grows, rest and peace
increase. Even when we're in deep trials,
our faith in God brings rest and peace to us. The more we
grow in faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the less concern we have
for this life, the less interest we have in the world, and the
less fretful we are in trials of the flesh. Fifthly, bottom
of page six, there are many imitators of faith, many kinds of false
faith that cannot save page seven. False faith can do much to impress
men and to impress us with ourselves. Listen to James 2.19. Thou believest
that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe
and tremble. Even a casual reading of holy
scriptures reveals that false faith may be greatly enlightened
and have great knowledge. You can read that in Hebrews
6.4. False faith excites the affections of the stony ground
here. False faith reforms the outward
life and makes people religious Pharisees. False faith speaks
well of Christ as Nicodemus did in John 3. False faith confesses
sin with great sorrow just like Judas did. False faith may humble
itself in sackcloth and ashes, as it did with Ahab. False faith
may repent, like Esau did. False faith may do religious
works with diligence. It may be generous, as Ananias
and Sapphira were. It may tremble at the word of
God, as it did with Felix. It may experience much in religion. You can read about that in Hebrews
6, 1 through 4. It may enjoy great religious
privileges, like Lot's wife did. Remember, she was saved from
the burning of Gomorrah, Sodom and Gomorrah, only to turn up
looking back at it, desiring for it, and turning into a pillar
of salt. False faith may preach and perform
miracles and cast out demons, as we read in Matthew 7, verse
23 already. It may obtain high office in the church, as Dietrichus
did. It may walk with the great preachers,
as Demas walked with Paul. It may be peaceful and secure,
like the five foolish virgins. It may even persevere and hold
out until the day of judgment, as we read in Matthew 7, 22,
23. You've got to ask yourself three
questions. What is saving faith? No man
of this world, we're in the last paragraph of page 7, no man of
this world can give you a plan or blueprint to say follow this,
do that, say the other and you'll have faith. Anyone who tells
you how you can obtain faith knows nothing about it. The gift
of faith is God's sovereign prerogative. God the Holy Spirit gives faith
to his chosen, redeemed sinners through the preaching of the
gospel. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Isn't that what it says in Romans
10, 17? Or how about this, being born
again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. by the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh
is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falls away. But
the Word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the Word
which by the Gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter 1, 23-25.
Page 8. And saving faith has three characteristics
given to us in 2 Timothy 1 verse 12. The first one is knowledge. It says in 2 Timothy 1 verse
12, I know whom I have believed. A man cannot believe what he
does not know. You cannot trust an unknown,
unrevealed Savior. We read that in John 20 verse
30 through 31. No one has faith in Christ until he knows something
of the Bible, something about the character of God, something
about his own depravity, something about guilt and sin, and something
about the person and the work of Christ. You cannot trust Christ
until you know who he is, what he has accomplished at Calvary,
and where he is right now. Saving faith is not a leap in
the dark. Saving faith is based upon revealed
truth and knowledge. It says, for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? Romans 10 verse 13 and 14 as
we once read already. But there's more to faith than
knowledge. There must also be a persuasion. It says, I know whom I have believed,
I am persuaded. Paul is saying, I know what God
has revealed, and I am persuaded that it is true. That's what
he's saying here. He says, I know what I believe,
and I am persuaded. I not only read the Scriptures
and understand what they say about the person and work of
Christ, but I give full consent and agreement to them. It's impossible
for anyone to have saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who
puts a question mark on the Word of God. Now let me explain what
I mean by that. I'm not saying, well, I don't
understand what that means. I'm saying, I don't believe that's
true. If we have a thought in our head
or in our mind that what we read in the Word of God could not
be true, then we don't have faith. Saving faith is faith to believe
all that God says is true. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto me, unto the
Father, but by me. Anyone who puts a question mark
on the Word of God, yet still there is something
more to saving faith than knowledge, or even persuasion. Many, I fear,
are persuaded of the gospel truth who do not have faith in Christ. This third vital element of faith
is missing in them, and that is commitment. Let's read that
verse all together now. I know whom I have believed,
I am persuaded, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I've committed. There's the commitment. Paul commits. He commits to the
Lord Jesus Christ as His Lord. He commits to the Lord Jesus
Christ as God Almighty in the flesh. He commits to the Lord
Jesus Christ being His Savior. He commits to the One who is
able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that
day. Paul committed himself to Christ. Last paragraph, page
8. He trusted to Christ all the
affairs of his life and trusted Christ alone for his everlasting
acceptance with God. He didn't look to anything within
himself. He didn't look to his feelings.
He didn't look to his works. He didn't look to whatever it
was that was in him. He looked to the to Christ and
Christ alone for his everlasting acceptance with God. He says,
My life, my love I give to thee, thou Lamb of God who died for
me. O may I ever faithful be my Savior
and my God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16 31. He that believeth
on the Son of God have everlasting life, and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth in him."
John 3, verse 36. Page 9. Why is faith in Christ
necessary? Much, much could and should be
said in this regard. But for time, let me just give
you three reasons for the necessity of faith. Three reasons why we
must trust the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way fallen men and women
can ever please the Holy Lord God is by faith in Christ. You read that in Hebrews 11 verse
6. Romans 3, 31. Romans 8, 1-4. No sinner has ever pleased God
except by faith in Christ, and every sinner who trusts the Lord
Jesus pleases God and fulfills all the law of God. Every sinner,
I'm repeating what I just read, who trusts the Lord Jesus, who
believes the Lord Jesus, pleases God and fulfills all the law
of God, all the commandments, all the things that God commands
us to do. Secondly, there's no true humility
apart from faith. Grace is for the humble. God
gives grace to the humble and resists the proud. But the only
humble person in the world is the one who believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everyone else has something to
claim as a ground of merit before God or imagines that they do. Believers are truly humble. We need a Savior and we know
it. We come to Christ with empty
hands, trusting Him for everything. We receive Christ and the grace
of God in Him as a gift, not as a wage or a reward. We trust Christ alone for our
total everlasting acceptance with God. We sing, nothing in
my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come thee
for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. And then thirdly,
Faith in Christ Jesus is necessary because there's no other way
for a sinner to come to God and be saved. Read Romans 4, verse
16 in your time alone. Christ alone is the way, as we
read in John 14, verse 6. Christ alone is the door. You can read that in John 10,
9. We cannot be saved any other way as we read in Acts 4, verse
12. Do you have this saving faith
in Christ? Do I? This question is vital. It must not be passed over lightly. Our Lord warns us in 2 Corinthians
13, 5, in the letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, examine
yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye not for yourselves how
that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? Let
me tell you how I know that Jesus Christ be in me. I believe God. And that's my only, that's my
only thing I can stand on. I believe Him. I believe His
Word. I believe what He's done. I believe in the message Christ
in Him crucified. And that's all I've got. I've
got nothing else. And that is a gift that God has
given to me. Find this answer. Find the answer
to this question and you'll make your calling and election sure. Do you have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ? No one can answer that for you.
You must answer it for yourself. But this much I know. He who
has saving faith experiences the power and the grace of God
in his son. Faith is more than doctrine.
It's more than just teaching. Faith involves personal experience. I can't tell you that you believe,
no more than I can tell you that you don't believe. Only you can
answer that question, and it can only be answered by the experience
of grace that God works within you. Faith is more than a doctrine,
it's more than a teaching. It involves personal experience,
and the experience is a growing experience. We grow in faith,
in belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. He who has faith in Christ has
great, high esteem for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It says in 1 Peter 2 verse 7, unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. Page 10. His blood is precious. His righteousness is precious
to all who have no other righteousness but His. All who have faith in
Christ renounce and continue to renounce all personal righteousness
knowing that our that all our righteousness are as filthy rags. I recently brought up before
you folks about the holier than thou, those who believe that
they're better now that they've come to Christ, they're better
now that they committed themselves to the Lord. They're better now
than this. And that includes those who believe
that Christ is, they're being, they're growing and getting better
as they go along walking with God. God's people know this. In this flesh there is no good
thing. In this flesh, I will be a sinner until the Lord takes
me out of this world. If I grow in anything, it's not
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, yes, but it's also teaching
me how low I truly am, how depraved I truly am before God, and how
much I need, I need a Savior. Who are the family of God? Our
Lord says, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which
is in heaven, the same as my brother and sister and mother.
We read these words. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe
on him whom he hath sent. This is the work, this work This
is the work God requires, the work God performs, and the work
God gives. This is the work of God that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. Well, thank you folks for
joining us this evening once again. I am so thankful that
the Lord still has brothers and sisters in Christ who desire
to hear about Him as much as I desire to tell about Him.