The title of our message this
morning is Unfeigned Faith. In verse 1, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, he is writing this from a prison cell at Rome. This is believed to be the last
of Paul's epistles, just before he's executed. And I'm glad he never began by
saying, this is Paul, your old buddy. Looks like it might be
the end of the road. No, he didn't say that. But he
begins, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. I am who I am, where I am, what
I am, because of Him. and his choice for my life. Paul would testify, and did often,
that this is not my doing. I didn't get myself where I am.
This is God's doing. And this is the basic introduction
in all Paul's epistles. To the Romans, he wrote, I'm
called to be an apostle and separated Unto the gospel of God. That's my business. The gospel
of God. About all you hear about separation
nowadays is separated from something. Quit this. Quit that. Paul said,
I'm separated unto something. It's the gospel of God. It's
not religion. It's not entertainment. But my
business is the gospel of God. And then to the Corinthians he
wrote, similar to this in Timothy, an apostle of Jesus Christ by
the will of God. To the Galatians he wrote, Paul
an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and
God the Father. And when it pleased God, who
set me apart from my mother's womb and call me by His grace,
to reveal His Son in me." He testifies over and over and over,
this is God's doing. He wrote to the Ephesians, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. He wrote to
the Philippians, it is God who worketh in us, both to will and
to do of His good pleasure. Again, he wrote to the Colossians,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. He wrote
to the Thessalonians, we are bound to give thanks always to
God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because He hath
from the beginning chosen us and chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit. That is the separating work,
the setting apart work of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. To Titus he wrote, Paul, a servant
of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith
of God's elect. And here to Timothy he says,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. So it's a
consistent testimony. In all these epistles I referred
to, Paul's writings, half of the New Testament, not once did
he assert that I am who I am because of what I chose to do
with my life. No. I made that decision in this... No. He consistently testifies
as did Jonah of old, salvation is of the Lord. And he's not
saying it's that the Lord hit me over the head with a ball
bat and dragged me in to his family. No, not at all. And forced me into being a preacher
against my will. That's not what he's saying at
all. But he's saying he changed my will. God broke my heart. He broke my stubborn will, melted
my heart, changed my heart, made me a lover of Christ when I had
been a hater of Christ. And he certainly had. Only the
Lord could do that. Only the Lord could do that. And so I'm pretty blunt about
that. If you walk down an aisle and
made a profession before people. I don't really care if you did
or didn't. But I'll tell you this, if it's real, you didn't do it
to back God in a corner to get Him to save you. No. If it's real, it was an expression,
it was an outflow of that which God was already doing in your
heart. He is the initiator. He surely
is. If you choose to be baptized,
and I believe believers ought to be baptized, to be identified
with Christ our Lord in His death, burial, and resurrection, but
you don't need to do it to improve on the work of grace which God
did in bringing you to Him. No, no. So the important thing
is the work of God, having been quickened and made a conscious
and a convinced believer that God is who He says He is, that
Christ did what He says He did, and justified us, reconciled
us, made us accepted with God. We don't worship God To get Him to do something for
us, we worship Him because of what He's done for us. Oh, yes. I'm interested in verse 5 in
that word, unfeigned. Unfeigned faith. When I call to remembrance, the
unfeigned faith that is in me. It's found four times in the
New Testament. Twice. as descriptive of love,
unfeigned love, and twice descriptive of faith, unfeigned faith. And it means genuine. It means
without hypocrisy. It means the real thing. The Greek word is A-N-U-P-O-K-R-I-T-O-S,
Anupokratos. I guess. And it's also translated
in our English Bible without dissimilation. Romans 12, 9. That is, without pretense. It's also translated without
hypocrisy. James 3, 17. So it means genuine,
real, sincere. When I call to remembrance the
unfeigned faith that is in thee." And he goes on to say, it dwelt
in your grandmother and your mother, and I'm persuaded it's
in you also. Notice he didn't say they had
it, but he says it had them. It dwelt in them. It wasn't something they possessed,
it was something that possessed them. Unfeigned faith. Ephesians 2.8 tells us that this
genuine faith is the gift of God. It's not the product of
some worked up emotion, some persuasion of men, but it is
divinely given. It is the implant of heaven.
from God Himself deposited into the hearts of men. Of all men? No. 2 Thessalonians 3, 2, For
all men have not faith. This gift of faith, this faith
of God's elect, he called it in writing to Titus, it brings
me to believe from the heart. on Jesus Christ. And it's given
to those and only to those chosen in Christ and given to Christ
before the foundation of the world. The rest of Adam's race
may play religion. They may pump this and that and
create all kinds of excitement and entertainment and make a
circus out of God's business. But Titus 1.1 calls it the faith
of God's elect. It's genuine. It's unfeigned. It's lasting. The heathen world
does not have it. The religious world does not
have it. God's people have it. Or rather,
it has us. And it is this genuine faith,
unfeigned faith, that makes believers out of us. And with this unfeigned
faith working in the heart, God's grace changes us. Now if you're
here this morning and you don't know what all this is about,
all this Bible study and preaching and singing, you don't know what
all this is about. It's the work of God having done
something in our heart, having changed our lives. God's grace breaks down all the
barriers of our rebellion against God. It conquers self-will. It breaks through all the strongholds
of self-confidence and self-sufficiency. I know a lot of religious folk
that still just absolutely eat up with self-confidence and self-sufficiency. And of course, that's the liberal
thinking nowadays. It's supposed to be religious
and supposed to be spiritual. You need more self-image. No,
most of us think way too much of ourselves now. See? It is this God-given faith, this
unfeigned faith that brings us to see ourselves as the subjects
of God's mercy. And without Him, we'd perish.
What men call faith today is surely, surely, surely to be
tried by fire. And I promise you, if the faith
you have, or whatever you call faith, whatever you choose to
call it, the religion you have, the so-called salvation you have,
the faith you have, I promise if it didn't come from heaven,
it'll never get you to heaven. Only that which came from heaven
will survive in heaven. Only that which had its origin
in eternity will survive in eternity. Now this gift of unfeigned faith,
genuine faith, given to dwell in God's children, is to see
us safely all the way home. This faith we're talking about
is not an offer to be accepted or rejected. And it's not something that came
to stay a day or two. Look at verse 5, that word dwelt. I call remembrance the unfeigned
faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother. Lois. Dwelt. Dwelt there means to move into
for a dwelling place. Same thing the Lord told Zacchaeus
in Luke 19. I must abide at thy house today. Abide means to stay. Now we know
that the Lord left Zacchaeus' house later in the evening probably. physically, but the faith he
had planted in Zacchaeus' heart never left. He abides. It dwelt in him, stayed. That's the work of faith. True
faith abides in us, in the person of the Holy Spirit. John 14,
16, Christ said before He died to the disciples, I will pray
the Father, And He shall give you another Comforter, that He
may abide with you forever." He dwells. He abides. Now what does this unfeigned
faith, this genuine faith, what does it do in the hearts of God's
people? And do you have it this morning?
That's the question. What does it do? Does it make
me feel like a child of God all the time? No. Does it make me act like a child
of God all the time? No. Now it would, except for the
fact that sin in our nature causes us to fight against faith rather
than for it. There's something in this old
flesh, sinful flesh, that fights against the good gift God gives
us. What about that? But this faith, here's the blessed
thing, it is more than a match for this sinful flesh. It is
more than a match for this unbelieving heart. Faith is a living principle. It is a seed planted in my heart
by God whose roots extend all the way back to eternity past
and reach into eternity future to feed me continuously. And this principle living in
me says that God is God all the time, regardless of how I feel,
regardless of what I think, regardless of how things look. He is God
all the time, everywhere, with everybody. And nothing that goes
on in this world or in any man's heart conquers God. but rather cooperates with God.
You say, I don't believe that. Well, hold on. Pharaoh cooperated
with God and never even knew he was doing it. Romans 9.17, God raised Pharaoh
up to do exactly what he did. John 6.70, Judas Iscariot cooperated
with God. Our Lord had said, have I not
chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil. And that from
the beginning, Christ knew that when He chose him to fill the place He filled. Barack Obama is cooperating with
God and don't know it and don't want to. But he is. Proverbs 21.1, the
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water,
he turneth it whithersoever he wills. We don't need to cuss the president.
We need to be crying to the Lord. The Lord is the one really in
charge. Isaiah 45.7, the Lord said, I form the light and create
darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. So it's the Lord's hand that's
to be traced. back to life's victories and
defeats. Some say, oh, all our defeats
are of the devil. You see, God is in everything. This God-wrought faith, genuine
faith, lives and breathes in us upon divine testimony. What saith God? And this faith brings home to
our hearts the glorious truth that God alone forms the light.
God alone creates darkness. He may use the devil or a whole
bunch of people full of devil to bring it to pass. But you've
got to take the origin back to God. Got to. I don't like everything that
happens in my life and in my family. And I'm sure I wouldn't
like everything that happens in your life and in your family. But we don't control things.
We're no match for this world. We're no match for our own flesh. We're no match for the devil.
But this God-wrought faith in our heart has taught us that
Jesus Christ is Lord over all. He's Lord over all that's around
us. And greater still, He's Lord over all. I think of a crisis in King David's
life. 2 Samuel 16. Now we're talking to you about
what this unfeigned faith does, how it operates. It's not always
jumping benches and swinging from the chandeliers, no. There was a crisis in David's
life. He's left the throne. He's fleeing the palace for his
life. And his own son Absalom has revolted. He has won the hearts of the
people. And so David leaves the palace
with his head hung low in shame. And those who loved David and
honored David are going with him, some of them. And one of
his enemies, a man named Shimei of the house of Saul, he's standing
over on the sidelines watching the procession. And
he's cursing David. And he's throwing rocks at David.
in the midst of David's grief. Some people will do that. And one of David's right-hand
men, a man by the name of Abishai, he said to the king, we don't
have to listen to that. You don't have to take that. Why should this dead dog curse
my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee,
and take his head off. Let me handle this." Now you'd think, here David is
at a low point, defeated, shamed, full of grief. You'd think this would be a weak
moment. And he might say, alright, go
ahead and deal with it. The devil deserves it. But no, faith, genuine, unfeigned
faith is alive and well. David sees all that's happening
as coming from God. He said to his servant Abishai,
let him alone. Let him cuss. the Lord hath bidden him to do
it or else he couldn't do it. And David said it could be the
Lord will look on my affliction and do me good for his cursing
this day. That's what faith does. That's
what faith does. Most folk are so busy Fighting
their own battles. We're so diligent defending our own respectability. So much
so that we don't even need the Lord. And that's what most people's
religion is about today. And that's what most preaching
will be about on this very day. Telling folks, you live good
enough to prove you don't even need the Lord that much. Well, that's not the case. That's
not the case. And there's a great many self-righteous
religionists would have us believe they're getting it done. Pharisees of our day. But see,
with God's little children, it goes beyond our control. It'll get beyond your control.
People will lie on you. People will misrepresent you.
People will misunderstand you. And the more that hatred toward
God's people comes in this country, and it's getting growing every
day, people will be jealous of you.
You won't be able to keep your name honorable. always with men. You'll be labeled a failure,
a hypocrite, everything imaginable, people say. But it's then, it
is then, that this unfeigned faith will do in your heart what
it did for David. As long as everybody likes you
and everything's going great, you don't need any faith. But oh, to have God do a work
in here. Let him talk. Let him cuss. Let him throw rocks. If God wants
it turned around, He'll turn it around. And if He don't, I
sure can't. The Bible says about another
great man, Job. The Bible said that Job was the
greatest of all the men of the East. And one day in Job's life, messengers
started coming, one right after the other. The Sabians came, killed the
servants, took all the oxen and the asses, they're gone. And
before he was done speaking, another messenger came and said,
the Sabians came, or Chaldeans came, killed the servants, took
all your camels, they're gone. While he was speaking, another
one came, said the winds came, the storms came, and blew down
the house all your children were in. They're all dead. It is time,
Mr. Job, if your religion is just
fleshly, if your religion is just something you cooked up,
It's about time you curse God, boy, and forget it. Because things
aren't going so good. But you know what Job did? He
rent his mantle. He shaved his head. He fell on
the ground and worshipped. And here's what he said. Naked
came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither.
I came here with nothing, I'll leave with nothing. Everybody
does. The hearse won't pull a U-Haul. So you don't have to worry about
somebody else getting what you've got because God's going to get
it. It's His anyway. I've known some people, oh boy,
so proud and so financially well off and I still know some. So fight and scheme and might
near kill to hold on to what they've got and get more. And they'll do it till they die.
And then give it to their young'uns to cuss and fight over till they
die. Same old, same old. But it's all God's and He's going
to get it. I won't tell you God's children,
go ahead and give Him everything while you're living. That's the
thing. It's the way to do. Job said, the Lord gave and the
Lord has taken away. It's all right. All this has
happened to me. It was His to give when He gave it to me. I
didn't deserve it then. I don't deserve it now. It's
His to take. And He did. He did. Faith did that. He didn't say
the Sabians have done it. He didn't say the Chaldeans have
done it. He didn't say the devil has done
it. The devil has really caused all this mess. No, he said the
Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. It's His right to do with me All that I possess, all that
I think is mine, it's His right to do as He wills. Some of you this morning credit
the devil for depriving you of something you really wanted so
badly. No, if you're that stuck on it,
the devil would love for you to have it. He would. But we have a God, the children
of faith, a Savior, a Heavenly Father that will not give us
comfort at the expense of character. He would make us holy, not happy. He will not give us comfort at
the expense of character. A person one time stuck on a
particular thing said, I'm going to do this if it kills me. And a wise bystander answered,
I foresee both of those things happening very soon. You will
do it and it will kill you. Way back in the book of Samuel,
there was an old man named Eli. We mentioned this in the Bible
class, the high priest. He was blind, had one foot in
the grave. I mean, he was about a goner.
And he had two sons who were wicked. And he hadn't disciplined
them when they were young. He hadn't done perfect. He knew
it was about over for him and his entire house. And the Lord
revealed to Samuel that he was going to judge Eli's house. And
Samuel told Eli everything the Lord said. I'm going to judge
your house, your history, your boy's history. It's over. And
you know what the old man said? He didn't go into a rage and
say, well, the Lord knows I've tried. I've done my best. No. This principle of genuine, unfeigned
faith spoke and said this, the old man Eli said, it is of the
Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Folks defend themselves right
into hell. Without this gift of faith, that's
exactly what we all do. I've got a worse deal than I
deserve. This and that. No, no. One of the most profound
things you ever read. The king of the wicked city of
Nineveh. He heard a message from a preacher
named Jonah. who didn't even want to be there. And the king believed God. Go back and read the book of
Jonah. Don't say he believed Jonah. Say he believed God. They
believed God. Believe the message was from
God. God worked in the man's heart.
And he agreed with the Lord that none of us should be destroyed. He never argued with God's judgment
in the matter. You'll never have any peace in
this life without agreeing with the Lord. You'll always contend that you're
having it worse than you deserve. But when God puts this genuine,
unfeigned faith, you'll agree with Him. that you have it and have had
it better than you deserve. The old king said, God's right, we're wrong. Let's repent. Turn from our evil ways. Proclaim a fast, he said, let
every man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily
to God. Who can tell what God will do. Who can tell? He had more sense
than we do today. Let's repent and cry to God. Who can tell what He might do? The Bible tells us God is rich
in mercy, but it's God Himself that tells you you need that
mercy. And it's this gift of God-given faith that brings you
to cry to Him for mercy. This faith we're talking about
in the heart is working out what God has mapped
out from eternity. Faith is doing in time what God
decreed before time. Paul's not bashful about this
principle of faith and how it's a certain thing, a fixed thing,
a powerful thing. And he instructs Timothy on down
in verse 8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord. Everybody else may be turning
to everything imaginable, but you hang on to this gospel, this
testimony of our Lord. Don't be afraid. Don't be ashamed
of Him. Don't be ashamed of me, His prisoner. But be thou partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel. I want to tell you, a so-called
gospel without afflictions is a false gospel. Be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God, the same God who
hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. I'll say this and I'm through.
Old Brother Kirkendall used to say, the greatest thing wrong
with the church is we've forgotten who God is. We whine, we cry
about this and that. We wish this, we want that, we
hope the other. But he's exactly right. We've
forgotten who God is. He's bigger than. He's bigger
than all you face and all you're going
to face. Thank God for genuine, unfeigned
faith that not only changes hearts, but keeps those same hearts seeking
after God long as we live. I bless His wonderful name for
it. Amen. Let's stand together.