Okay, if you wish to turn along,
turn to Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter three. Now, I wanna just read one verse
for this morning. It's a verse right at the end
of where I left off. It's verse 26. It's what I want
to read and preach from this morning. It's right at the end
of where I left off with the schoolmaster Of course Paul was
continuing. He wrote these words to the churches
of Galatia And I have every reason to believe he worked wrote these
words for us as well where Paul wrote these words Galatians 3
26 for year all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus
My title for this morning is a child of God by faith in Christ
Jesus now such a simple statement and the reason I State it that
way is because this simple statement is right in the midst of great
throes against Antichrist legal religion as I have said over
and over I don't say it every message I thought once about
it, but then I just didn't just this Paul here in this letter
When it comes to combating legalism and standing up for nothing more
than the free reigning grace of God in Christ Paul is relentless
he just Once he starts in what is it chapter? We could say chapter
one And verse six, once he starts in chapter one in verse six,
other than a brief moment in chapter two, when he talks about
some historical details, Paul was relentless, relentless. Salvation
is by God's grace, start to finish. Start to finish. So again such
a simple statement amidst all of these great swelling throws
by Paul against this Antichrist legal religion that we're surrounded
by and yet Think about this For ye are all the children of God
and then there is this qualifier by faith in Christ Jesus these
are Gracious words, encouraging words, but they're encouraging
words only to those that believe Christ Jesus. They are only for
those who believe Christ Jesus. Now, I fully understand that
this world at large, at least that which is under the auspices
of so-called Christianity, believes that everybody is a child of
God, but it is not so. Paul says, for ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. But let me say this, because
of the testimony of Paul in this book, and of course the testimony
by all of the writers in the book, these words are encouraging
words to those who believe Christ Jesus and reject their efforts. and reject their merit, and reject
their law righteousness, whether it's considered ethical righteousness,
moral righteousness, religious righteousness, ecclesiastical
righteousness, or even Mosaic law righteousness. God does not
call his people simply to believe in Christ Jesus. He calls them
to believe in Christ Jesus and reject all that they are for
any merit before God. This is why most people think
that everyone who makes some profession of faith and believes
in Jesus is saved. But it is just not so. Let me give you three things
directly from the context. But then my subject is going
to be about this, as I said, this gracious, this encouraging,
this marvelous thing called faith. Faith, but from the direct context. I want to read this phrase and
emphasize actually three different words, just kind of as a foundation
to stand on. All who believe all who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? All who believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, all who believe him and reject their merit, whatever
that merit may be, it is all who believe on Jesus Christ are
children. There is no class differentiation
amongst believers. We all, according to Paul, right
here in the context, have equal status in faith. Now, do you
hear what I said? I must point this out. Because
of what I'm about to read, well, let me just read it. Verse 28
says this, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond
nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you're all one,
in Christ Jesus, right? But we can't leave the context
because of that verse. Jack, there are those who say,
well, even women can be preachers. It ain't so. It ain't so. Because God clearly forbids that
in the scriptures. It's based upon this. For ye
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
There, you see it? There is neither. Do you see it? Do you see the
word? It didn't say therefore there
is neither. It says there is neither. Faith in Christ. There are many
distinctions outside of that. But in Christ Jesus, we all have
equal status. None is more righteous than the
other. None is more accepted than the other. None has more
merit than the other because all of our standing, all of our
righteousness, none has more sanctification than another.
All of it is based upon the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We all have equal status in faith, not because of faith, but in
faith. Somebody said, well, if it's
because of faith, there can be no pastors, deacons. All of that
is to take the scripture and twist it to your own meaning.
If you try to take verse 28 to mean all barriers are broken
down altogether, they are not. And let me tell you, for those
who haven't been sent by God to be a pastor, thank God for
it. Thank God for it. Because that
means you don't have the responsibility to publicly teach God's people.
As I said, there was an individual, and that person had made some
off-color, not really off-color, we think of that as cursing or
swearing, but he had made some off statements to me, and it
had not been every week, It had kind of happened over and over
again. So I stood up here one Sunday morning and I said, if
you think you can do better, here, I'll let you stand behind
this podium. You come up here and you say the words and then
see how many mistakes you make. See, people don't get it. They
just don't get it. All who believe are children,
children. That means, of course, the word,
I've mentioned this, we probably will deal more with that when
I get to chapter four, but that means the word literally is sons.
Now the word children is not wrong. Tommy, it's not wrong
because a son is a child, okay? A daughter is a child, young
or old, but here's the whole point. This is speaking with
specific reference to the adoption, which is exactly what Paul goes
into in what we have chapter four, the adoption. What's the
difference? The difference in the Greek is
sons. That is, everyone had equal status. As a child of God, before he
converted you, you got no more status than the rebel against
God. And look at what it says here,
and I'll just read it. Now I say, this is going on from
the context of the last part of chapter three. Now I say that
the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant,
though he be Lord of all. Do you see that? Though he be
Lord of all, but we are adopted as sons, not sons. There's different
words in the Greek for infants, for babes, and for toddlers.
And when it comes to the adoption, it's the word sons. Just pointing
that out for this morning. All who believe are what? Children,
children. There is no class differentiation. Again, as I said, all who believe
are children. No class differentiation, but
here's another one. All who believe. Believe. What else is after that? For as many of you, no, I'm sorry,
wrong verse. For ye are all the children of
God, what's the next? By faith. By faith. In other words, all who believe
are children. Nothing less, but certainly nothing
more. No law, no kind of law. No free will, No merit, no works,
no rituals, no ceremonies. The one thing that declares us
to be the sons of God is what? Faith in Christ Jesus. That's
it. And Mac, I really think the rejecting
your merit and rejecting your righteousness kind of begins
to come a little later on after you believe on Christ. And God
begins to teach you who he really is and what he really did. And
the more you understand, the more you do what, Jack? The more
you reject your merit. We don't start off, as Earl used
to say, with a full set of teeth. But we are accepted as an individual
with a full set of teeth, if you understand my saying. It's
faith. Faith, for we are all the children
of God by faith. Consider this. glorious thing,
this beautiful thing, this marvel called faith. And I have eight
things to give you, and that's just scratching the surface,
as I often say. But before I give you even those
eight things, think about this. Our Lord said that faith as the
grain of mustard seed and what I've studied By of that is mustard
mustard seed is one of the one of the smallest Seeds that there
are he says faith as a grain of mustard seed can say unto
this mountain Be lifted up and what removed into the sea That
lets me know two things One, it lets me know my faith is not
near like God's is. Well, I can't do that. I can't
do that. But it lets me know this. If
I have even smaller faith than that, Tommy, I have something
that is outside the realm of human nature and human possibility. This faith is not something and
I don't want to jump ahead here. This faith is not something we
sing a song where we see about about a A new believer and the
song we sing has this fate phrase about the new believer And about
something God does to that believer. It says creating faith in him
God does not create faith Faith has existed as long as God has
existed because faith resides in God intrinsically alone. Alone, that is this faith that
declares us to be what the children of God men have all kinds of
faith But they don't have this kind of faith. So here's these
here's these eight things One according to the Apostle Paul
himself here in Galatians chapter 5 in verse 22 I want to spend
just a little bit of time on this because I know I know this
is Greatly misunderstood. Here's the here's number one.
As I said, there's far more than eight in Galatians 5 22 We read
this faith is the fruit of God That is this faith that Paul
talks about here faith is the fruit of God not humanity look
at verse 22 But the fruit of the do you see that next word
spirit and it's rightfully capitalized because it is none other than
God himself Remember these three are what? one God the Spirit
is not just Tommy he's not just some power that goes forth from
God. He is God himself and the fruit
of the Spirit is And then it gives a list love There is no
true love apart from who? God. The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, and then
I'll just stop. But what's the next one? Faith. You see, most people are under
the impression that when you become a Christian, when you,
let me put it this way, when you become a child of God, that
you muster up faith. But it's just not so if you muster
up faith that faith will not make you a child of God Because
that faith is of the flesh the flesh can believe many things
But it will not submit to Christ as everything That's it. That's
just the thing it will not and cannot submit to Christ as everything
faith is a fruit of the what? Spirit now notice one thing that
is conspicuously absent from these things called fruit. Repentance,
right? Repentance, why? Because God
never what? Repents. Repentance is not a
fruit of God, it is a gift of God to human beings upon whom
he works in grace. These things Paul mentioned reside
in God only intrinsically. And one of those things mentioned
is what? Faith. Now, I want to try to give you
an illustration. And I realize, I know I probably
shouldn't even have to say this, but there are a lot of other
people. I mean, it's amazing how many other people listen
to what's preached here in this local assembly. But I'm going
to try to give you an illustration. And I realize the illustration
has holes in it. So please don't come to me afterward
and say, but what about this? I've already thought about many,
maybe not all, of the what about this. Think of this. Do you know
that your lungs have never created, ever, ever created, not one part
per million of oxygen? You understand that? You don't
breathe in air and your lungs creates oxygen. What do you do?
You breathe in the air that has the oxygen in it. Your lungs
take the oxygen from the air. We've never made one ounce of
oxygen. Do you see it? Oxygen is a fruit
of what? Other processes. It is not something
we come up with. And even more to the point, think
of scuba gear. You're in an element in which
you cannot survive unless you have on that scuba gear, right?
Firefighters use it, emergency rescue people use it, divers
use it, right? Let me tell you, if it wasn't
for faith, we couldn't stay alive in this world. But where's that
faith come from? Now I'm speaking of the metaphor
now. Where's that? It comes from that tank on your
back. It's something you have. It's yours when you breathe it
in. It goes to the lungs and however the lungs works to take
that nitrogen and separate the oxygen from the nitrogen and
use only so much of the oxygen to actually oxygenate your blood. But Jack, it never ever originates
with us. Does that give you a little understand
the fruit of the spirit is? God doesn't create faith in us.
He gives it to us He gives it to us. And of course, that's
the second thing according to Paul and Ephesians 2 and you
know this well I'm sure according to Paul and Ephesians 2 faith
is a gift from God and And remember it's not I'll go, I don't want to get
ahead of myself. It's a gift from God. Ephesians 2 verse,
of course, 8, 9, and 10. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. Neither the grace, nor the salvation,
nor the faith comes from us. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
what human effort. And here it's not even in the
sense of merit. It's just human effort we Ellen,
we don't work up grace. We don't work up faith We don't
work up salvation. We can do nothing to cause God
to give us any of these three things They are in the truest
sense free sovereign gifts from God Most people are taught today
that if they'll at least In some places, come forward and pray
a sinner's prayer. God will give you faith, right?
You'll believe in Christ. If you'll go through some confession,
if you go through whatever, no, for 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. Do you see it? For, now notice,
we are his workmanship. God didn't work up grace, he's
always, Jack, been the God of grace. Salvation may not have
ever been ours personally up until God gave it to us, but
Tommy, salvation's always been a reality with God. Faith faith
resides only in God himself For we are his workmanship Created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in him. So that's to Faith is the fruit
of God not a fruit of humanity. I Think about this. I shudder to
say this because I know it could be misunderstood. In the garden,
Adam did not live by faith. Adam lived by sight. That's how
he lived. He had no faith. Now, I'm sure
he had faith that those animals would come to him when God said,
you know, name the animals. They came to him, he named them.
But that's not redeeming faith. That's not saving faith. That's
not securing faith. No, faith is not of humanity. It wasn't of us in our unfallen
state, and bless God, it certainly ain't from us in our fallen state. It's a gift of God, it's not
of humanity. Sorry, it is a fruit of God,
it's not of humanity. It is a gift from God. Now Romans
chapter four, turn to that if you're following along. Romans
chapter four, I'll give you the third one. Romans chapter four, God's power,
and these are in no particular order per se. God's power and
promises are magnified by faith. They are magnified. Look at what
Paul wrote in Romans chapter four, verse 19, and being not
weak in faith. Have you ever wondered about
that about yourself? And we make statements. I've
made the statement, you've probably made this, my faith is, we sing
a song, ain't it? My faith is so cold and weak.
We really don't know what we're saying. We really don't know
what we're saying. What is strong faith? We're going
to read it right here. And being not weak in faith.
He considered not his own body now dead when he was about a
hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
So faith looks beyond humanity and its ability. Abraham was
forced to look at a total lack of ability. He could not produce
semen. I don't mean to be too pointed
here, but he could not produce semen. His wife was barren from
the get-go and now was even too old to bear children. God said,
you go have a son. Oh, yeah, right. But what's the
answer? Faith, right? Look, and being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead. When
he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb,
he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith. Now here it is, giving glory
to God. Elizabeth, I would say that's
taking a mountain and saying being moved over here into the
sea. Wouldn't you? Maybe not literally, but God
in his faith can say to a mountain, be removed and moved over here
into the sea. Can he not? But even if we're
given faith as grain of a mustard seed, we believe God when everybody
else around us is saying, yeah, right. They may believe in God,
they may believe there is a God, but here's the believing. He
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, now here it is, and being
fully persuaded that what God had promised, God was able to
perform. That is strong faith. I don't
care if it's so small Jack. You can't even see it. Uh-huh
Because most people don't They'll they make statements like God's
done all he can do now. It's up to you Does that sound
Tommy like that past passage there that if God's promised
it God's able to perform it because God's not depending upon human
ability in Any way he proved that in Abraham and Sarah so
if my faith If your faith don't match up to this faith, it's
not the faith of God's elect. If your faith falls short of
this faith, of being able to give glory to God and being fully
persuaded that what God promised, God's able to perform, whatever
faith you lean on ain't the faith that God gives to his people.
It is not that faith that is a fruit of God himself. And then,
of course, this staggering statement right after that, and therefore
it was imputed to him for Righteousness. That word, I've heard many people,
all my years, say that means to account, of course to impute,
to all of these. It means to take, it literally
means to take an inventory of. When God looks at you and he
sees faith, he takes an inventory and says, that's righteousness.
But it's not a righteousness wrought by us, is it? It's not
a righteousness that comes from human ability. It's a righteousness,
Mac, that just comes down from God as a gift. And it's a, this
could be misunderstood, too. I know that, but it's a part
of God. It's a part of God. It says God
is love. I wanna say God is faith, too.
because no other true faith of this kind resides in all of the
universe or even if there's more out there than this universe
itself. There's three so far. Faith is a fruit of God, not
humanity. Faith is a gift from God. Faith,
God's power and promises are magnified by faith. Faith honors
God. anytime I do something or believe
something that does not honor God. Sandy, it's not that faith
that God gave me. It's something I've worked up
within myself and it's useless. As a matter of fact, I might
say it's even worse than useless. It may well be damning to me. It may well, because it can deceive
you. It can deceive you. All right, here's number four.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Now all of these you know. And
of course, I told the folk at Danville last Sunday, I said,
I'm not here to interpret the scripture for you. And I said,
I know I've said it. I know other preachers have probably stood
basically right here in this podium and talked to you about
interpreting the scriptures. We don't interpret the scriptures,
we proclaim the scriptures. They've already been interpreted
and translated into our English. The interpretation came when
God gave it to Peter, or God gave it to Paul, or God, it's
not, as Peter said, it's of no private interpretation. This
wasn't the author's take on what happened. It was God saying just
the facts. Just the facts. Now, hey, Jackie
may have used their own personalities, their own style of writing, that
someone that knew them could say, well, that's Paul's writing,
or that's Peter's writing, but God is the one that ordained
the facts. Do you see it? Do you see it?
God is, here's the third one, Hebrews 11, verse six. This is
amazing now, God is pleased with faith. He's pleased with it. Hebrews 11 verse six, think about
it. But without faith, it is impossible. Now that's, that's as strong as you can get,
right? I mean, there is no stronger
language than that. Like zero equals zero, you know? But without faith, it is impossible
to what? To please him. What's that let
me know? Faith does please Him. Faith
does please Him. And aren't you glad it's not
something you gotta work up? Because Tommy, even if it was,
even if God gave me some ability to work something up in myself,
I would distort it in some way or another. It could not be infallibly
dependable, but this gift, this little thing called faith in
us, which is as big as God in him, this thing that God gives
us, he's pleased with it. That boggles my mind, but it's
more. But without faith it is impossible
to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is. Not just exist, though that's
certainly a part, but he is what? Is who he says he is. Will do
what he said he'll do. Isn't that what we've already
kinda read? If you don't believe God is who he says he is, then
you certainly ain't gonna believe God'll do what he said he'll
do. Hmm for he that cometh to God must believe that he is but
here it is Here's what I can tell when it's just nothing but
pure rank rank unbelief or whether it's the faith of God's elect
and that he is a rewarder of them that Diligently seek him. I'd never doubt that My doubt
sometimes is am I diligently seeking him? because I have not
always diligently sought Him. Therein is the rub. The rubs,
I used to say it, my faith is weak, or my believing's weak.
You believe only in proportion to the faith God gave you. And
if He needs you, or that's the wrong word, if He wants you to
believe more, He'll give you the faith to believe it. Kind
of like what we were talking about, Tommy. Why didn't God just give us the
Greek itself and teach us all the Greek and just give us exact
copies? Mac of all the Greek why because
you don't understand God's truth in the flesh You only understand
it by the enlightenment of the Spirit of God God is pleased with a faith.
Here's number five turn to Romans 12 again as I pointed out, you
know all these things and My purpose is not to interpret this.
It's just to proclaim it, to preach it, maybe to find an illustration
or example to show where this truth is not just one truth in
the Bible or of one writer. It's all throughout the word.
Listen to what Paul wrote in Romans 12. Think about it. Let
me make sure I'm in the right spot. Yes, Romans chapter 12.
Beginning verse 1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies
of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy
Acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. This
is not He's not even calling on us to go above and beyond.
It's just the reasonable service God doesn't call us all to be
great Christians in this world just to live our lives simply
and honestly honoring him and doing good to others and As best
as he enabled, that's all it is. If you got a job, what do
you do, Jack? Go and give 100% for that day. Earn your pay. Do what the boss
hired you to do. And God tells us to respect that
boss even if he's what? Froward. Even if he don't pay
you as much as you think you ought to get paid. Look. Present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed
by the renewing of your mind. One thing that will sum up almost
all of the way the world is, is this word, and it's not even
an actual said word, it's called murmur. Murmur, it's just it's
more of a noise than it is even a word murmur That's what the
children of Israel did in their unbelief in the dark in the desert. What was it murmur? Murmur, so
when you start to complain when I start to complain when we start
to murmur We may have a million valid reasons But before God
we have how many Zero. Zero. That's hard to swallow. How sanctified do you feel then?
when you really consider such as that. That lets me know that
my only hope before God is Jesus Christ himself. I haven't even
got to where I was going. Be not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of
God. He doesn't say you'll do it, he said you'll prove God's
perfect will. That's a message in itself. For
I say, now here's where I'm going to. For I say, through the grace
given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think. And yet religion is
trying to say, we need to live and believe and act in such a
way that we can think the most high of ourselves. What does
Paul tell us to do? Don't think highly of yourself.
Isn't that what he says? This is a part of the command
of presenting my body, a living sacrifice, for goodness sake.
Huh? For I say through the grace given
unto me to every man among you, not to think of himself more
highly than I ought to think, but to think soberly according
as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Anybody here doubt God's measuring
cup? I'm trying, I'm illustrating
now. Anybody doubt God's measuring cup? Tom, if he gives me an ounce
or he gives me five ounces, he knows best. Right? If he gives me just one
part per million, or millions of parts per million, he knows
best. So again, faith is a fruit of
God, not humanity. Faith is a gift from God. God's
power and promises are magnified, glorified, honored, if you will,
by faith. God is pleased with faith, and
God's faith, God's faith, remember, faith is a fruit of the Spirit.
This is God in you, really. Truly, if you believe Christ,
it's God in you. It's Christ in you. It's the
Spirit of God in you, the hope of glory. But here's another
thing about it. God's faith given to the elect
in measure, turn to Romans 10 now, just back a few pages, Romans
chapter 10. Think about this. This faith
that God gives to his elect in measure, finds its object only
in God's Christ. the Lord Jesus, and not law. Romans chapter 10. Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved, for I bear them record that they have a zeal
of God, but not according to knowledge. That's true of countless
millions of people today. They got zeal for God, but they
really don't know God at all. but not according to knowledge.
Look, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. Now this is astounding in light
of what it goes on to say. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. But what does he mean, all right?
For Christ is the end of the, now he even makes it more particular. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So when someone
says, it's been said here before, well, the law shows the righteousness
of God. No, it does not. The law shows the righteousness
God demands of men. God tells us not to kill. God says I kill, I make alive. Tommy, Christ broke the Sabbath
day. from the traditional sense, not
in the true sense of what the law was meant to do. Christ broke
the law. And those Jews standing around
said, you broke the law. And he said, I'm the Lord of
the Sabbath. Now what is that? I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
You remember when David went in? and ate the showbread off
the table, which was forbidden for someone, even a king like
David, to do so. That was only for the Levitical
priest. And David was not of the tribe
of Levi. He was of the tribe of Judah.
Yet God did not destroy him. And yet two sons of Aaron, was
it Aaron? I believe it was Aaron, got strange
fire. That is, they did not get the
fire from off the brazen altar out front. They got it from somewhere
else. They said, but where? Anywhere
else. It don't matter. They brought
strange fire into that tabernacle and guess what God did? Killed
them two boys dead just like that. Now folks, that's how grace
works. That's how grace works. I've
heard people say, well, so-and-so did this, that don't mean God's
gonna let you. That doesn't mean God's got to
be merciful to you. David was guilty of murder, he
may damn me for it. The question is, will God be
merciful, not does somebody else. tip the scales, or can I tip
the scale? How often, but so and so did
this. That's the old argument for the Seventh-day Adventist,
I'm sorry, for the Church of Jesus, sorry, the Seventh-day
Adventists have got enough to be rebuked for, I don't need
to rebuke them for this one. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints believe in plural marriages, plus all those
Old Testament saints did it, and they were wrong. See, that's
the whole point. Just because they did it don't
make it right. Isn't that amazing? But we will
seek to justify ourselves by any means possible. Let's go
on. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness
which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. And as Tommy pointed out two
weeks ago to me, that's not once you realize what the law says,
now you start doing it. We were supposed to have been
doing it from the get-go. When we were like this, Tommy. Like this. In everything we were.
Flesh, everything. Like this. We started off, Mack,
on the negative of the scale. We were born into this world
sinners. Rebels against God. But let's
not stop there. That the man which doeth those
things shall live by them. But. Isn't that a glorious phrase? In other words, that word, Joe
pointed this out one time. Now, Joe's a big English man. And this old lad, you must really
think he is, don't you? But, you know what I mean? That
means the writer's about to say something totally opposite of
what he's just said. But, look, but the righteousness
which is of, what's our subject? Faith. Somebody says, but how
can both be the same? Faith is a fruit of God. Faith in us is a gift of God. Faith magnifies not ourselves,
it doesn't look to our efforts, it looks to who? God's promise
and God's ability. And you could go right on down
the line, even if it's in measure. even if it's in measure. Look,
but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise,
say not in thy heart who shall ascend up to heaven, that is
to bring Christ down from above, or who shall descend into the
deep, that is to bring up Christ from the dead. Somebody says,
what's that mean? It's not by our efforts. You don't find Christ,
he must find you. You don't give him your gift
of faith. He must give you the gift of
faith. That's what he's talking about.
And he's actually quoting there from the Old Testament. And go
on, but what sayeth it? What is this word of faith? The
word is by thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That
is the word of faith which we preach. And what is that? Here
it is. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus not just say the phrase not just
say the name Philip, but confess him as what Lord this man Jesus
is who? Lord Lord that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead Thou shalt be saved
for with the now again as it's not just a profession from this
for with the what? heart You see it? For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Isn't that exactly what our Lord
said? Out of the abundance of the heart, what happens? The
mouth speaks. So if you really believe Christ
is Lord, you're not going to, as we will see here, be ashamed
of the fact that he is Lord. Look, for the scripture saith,
whosoever believeth on him shall not Be ashamed. Now what's the context, Philip,
of him? I am so ashamed of me. I am so ashamed of myself. But I am not ashamed of him. Isn't that it? That's faith.
Think about it. That's faith. You find yourself ever just,
and again, remember, I know people, these soul winners will take
one passage of scripture and hammer at people. You need to
tell people about the Lord no matter what. Our Lord said, don't
cast your pearls before swine. When you start to talk to somebody
about the Lord and they start to just bad mouth Him and bad
mouth you, leave them alone. Don't argue with them. Just let
it go. But if you've ever had, by God's
grace, the ability just to talk to somebody about your Lord,
where does that come from? Him. Him. We don't have that kind of faith
in us, do we? I mean, us. It's not originating
in us. Remember, every part per million
of oxygen you ever breathed into your body, it come from out here.
It didn't start in here. Whatever measure of faith God's
given you, he's given you to get you through your journey.
And as we will see in a minute, I don't want to jump ahead. Here's
number six. Turn to Philippians 3. You know how I've used this
passage over and over in this series, but it's just so pertinent
to the whole book of Galatians. Here's the sixth one I want to
point out. Faith submits to Christ only as God's righteousness. You hear what I'm saying? Faith.
There's a lot of people out there that believe good, solid, sound
doctrine, but they believe after you're saved, then there's other
righteousness you're to attain unto. No. No, look at what Paul
said just one verse Philippians 3 verse 9 and be found in him
Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law. What's he
said? I reject my own legal righteousness
Paul's not saying Jack the law's bad. He said I'm back Well, that's
what he said and be found in Christ, not having, you see how
he's rejecting it? You see it? Not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith, and here he says it, the faith of Christ. It's not
even my faith in him. My faith in him has validity
only because it is his faith given to me. Do you see that? You didn't work it up, you didn't
muster it up. but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Somebody says, and I've said
it, I try not to say it anymore, Christ fulfilled the righteousness
of the law for us. That's true only in this sense,
that he was our representative, but he was not trying to establish
for us a legal righteousness. You hear me? He was establishing
God-righteousness. God help us to see that. The
righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, but it is never fulfilled
by us. And that's just the way it is. And because of that, I have been
called an antinomian. You know what I say? So be it.
I'll stamp it right here. Put it on my shirt Right there. I don't care It doesn't matter
All right. That was number six. Well, let's
wait about this on this Six point faith submits to Christ only
as God's righteousness. You remember this one Galatians
2 because this is so pertinent to this Galatians 2 and and verse
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we may be justified not by believing in Christ, but
by the faith of Christ, you see. My believing God doesn't give
me merit before God. It is God giving to me that which
I need to trust Christ wholly for my merit. Again, even we
have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Number seven. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter five. This will be just the statement
of the fact, then I'll show you a passage that shows more detail
of this fact. Here's number seven. Faith is
not only how we start. First of all, it's also how we
walk. 2 Corinthians five, verse seven. For we walk, how? By faith. He said that we walk by faith.
Ellen, any walk I do outside of faith is rebellion against
God, no matter how right it is. Because what is it that pleases
God? The one thing we know that pleases God, faith. So even my
walk must be in faith, by faith, of faith. I'm not saying we don't
have another side to our walk. We do. But it's all corrupt in
God's sight so much so that our brother Isaiah put it this way
to us that even our Righteousnesses are as filthy rags in God's sight
Mac no matter how orthodox that deed may have been If it's not
done in faith, it's sin against God, but there's another passage
back to our text Letter, chapter two, of the Apostle Paul, chapter
two, verse 20. Remember what I said, faith is
not only how we start, it's how we walk. I'm not finished with
it yet, but it's how we walk, verse 20 of chapter two. I am
crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. But, while this faith is, no,
strike that, not but, and, and. Faith is not only how we start,
it's how we walk, and it's how we will wind this thing up. Hebrews 11 and three, all of
these, as people say, great heroes of faith. I got no real problem
with that, but you know, it's bragging on me, and when faith
is not ours, what we do by faith, It's not of us. Who's it of?
God. But what does it say? These all
did what? They died in faith. I know, again, this can be misunderstood,
but you can have faith, you can put that in quotes, all the way
up, all the way up until your dying day, and you deny Jesus
Christ, you reject him, you'll perish. You deny the faith of
God's elect, the truth of God, you'll perish. That don't sit
too well with the folks that believe I made my decision and
once I'm saved, I'm always saved. No, once God saves you, you'll
always be saved because you'll always believe God right up until
the day you die. To the day that you die. Philip,
even if you can't articulate it right, even if your mind's
going and you can't say it right and don't even recognize it for
what it really is, you'll still believe God. Why? Because it's His faith after
all. It's not something you're mustering
up from the beginning to the end. Isn't that good news? How
many times have I failed concerning faith? Not in my faith. I've
never failed in faith. But everything outside of faith
has been what? Failure. Failure. Failure. And of course
I know this is what religion just wants to avoid, failure.
All they're doing is hiding theirs. They're not getting any better
at it. They're liars. Oh yeah, a man may be a drunk
and quit drinking, but you still got a lot of other problems too.
What do we do? We find ways to hide these things. And like old Clay Curtis says
one time, as we get older, we think we're getting more holy.
No, we're just getting too tired and sick to do the things we
used to do. I believe that's pretty much
a summary of a lot of it. That ain't our sanctification.
That's just old age getting to you. Just can't get out and kick
up your heels like you used to. You can't kick your heels up
anymore. Huh? We're not getting more holy,
we're just dying. day after day after day, but thank God that
faith that God gave us, it's of Him. It's a part of Him. It will never die. I believe I could say one of
these days, Ellen, it'll be fully accomplished when we see Christ
as He is. Then we'll be walking back by
sight. When we see Him as He is, what's
the book say? We're gonna be like Him. For
we'll see Him as He is. All right, here's number eight.
Turn to Ephesians chapter one. Here's the last one I'm gonna
give you for this morning. I've already went a little bit
too long. I've been past the allotted 45-minute
messages that you, you know, everything's supposed to be.
I don't wonder if that was based upon cassette tapes used to be
45 minutes long. Now we got CDs. I guess there
is no limit to the time, is there? Here's number eight, folks. Faith
in us, even as a gift, is not some mere giveaway by God. It is wrought by God, by the
same power God wrought in Christ's resurrection from the dead. Do you see that? He wrought it
in us. God don't need resurrection.
Do you understand what I'm saying? Faith is intrinsic to God alone. but God don't just give it to
us as some giveaway because of this. Ephesians 1 and verse 19,
Paul said he was praying for the Ephesian church that they
might understand certain things, and he continues in verse 19,
and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe? Now you see the next phrase?
According to, that's how we believe. According to the working of His
mighty power. See it wasn't just some little
piece of faith just kind of dropped off, Tommy. God wrought this
by sovereign mighty power. And what kind of power? Which
He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. Right? And let me put it this
way to you. What did he raise concerning
Christ from the dead? His body. Because he himself,
that is our Lord Jesus Christ himself, told the thief on the
cross who believed while he's on the cross, this day will I
be with you in paradise. Right? So it wasn't that Jesus
as God was dead, but he laid down that body. And God raised
that body from the dead. And according to scripture, Jackie,
it was different than the way it was before. Remember? It was
different than the way it was before. If it wasn't, it's still
like these. And we have no hope. But look
at the pertinent. that which is concertified, which
he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and
set him, not sit, he didn't sit, just sit, he set, that is, God
put him in this specific place for a specific purpose. And set
him at his own right hand. in the heavenly places, far above
all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and
every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come. Nothing shall defeat our Lord.
He raised, God the Father raised him under that. That's the same
power it took to bring me and you to believe. You see that?
to bring me and you to believe. And hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.
So to sum this all up. To reject faith only. Let me
find my spot here. To reject faith only. but faith
in Christ only, okay? It's not just faith. You've seen
it, you've watched TV and somebody says, this person's a man of
faith. And you realize the faith they're talking about has nothing
to do with what we talk about faith. They're just talking about
the religious person, or they're a spiritual. And I wish they
would say I'm a spiritualist, because they're not spiritual
people, they are spiritualists. They think everything comes from
within yourself. opinion. I've got a place right
up the road. If you ever want to go to one of them, you got
right up the road, pay them several hundred dollars a day. They'll
help you get in touch with yourself and nature. Now, that advertisement
wasn't for real. That was mockery. So don't go
do that. To reject faith only, and I mean
faith in Christ only, to add to faith only, to ignore faith
only, is to insult God's perfection concerning faith. God says, this
is what I'm pleased in, what else do I need? Right? What else do I need? It is to
malt Christ's fullness. It is to deceive God's people.
And it is, according to the Apostle Paul, when he first starts out
this letter of which we're studying right now, the first thing Paul
points out, it is another gospel, which Paul says is what? Not
another, but is a perversion of the gospel of God's grace
in Christ. And those who teach it and believe
it are what? To be damned forever. That's
what it says. But for us, we're all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Pam, that don't apply to us.
That condemnation over there in chapter one, Philip, that
don't apply to us. If we believe Christ and Him only, only, Heavenly
Father, these things are beyond us. And we realize that apart from
your gift of faith, we'd never receive them, never believe them,
never lay hold of them, certainly not walk in them or continue
in them. Lord, we thank you for your grace.
That grace that having been purposed for us and given to us in Christ
before the world began, that grace manifested itself in the
person of your son in the flesh and his substitutionary representation
of us on that tree. And Lord, we thank you that that
grace one day arrested us, laid hold of us, and gave us not only
the gift of faith, but many other gifts as well. Lord, we praise
you and thank you for all that you've done for us and will do
for us in Christ Jesus.