Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Ephesians. The book of Ephesians, chapter
1. I'd like to deal with verses
15 and 16. Ephesians 1, 15. After I heard of your faith in
the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to
give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." Let's
pray together. Our Father, this evening, how
thankful we are. Oh, for your mercy and your grace
and your compassion. Lord, that for Christ's sake,
you have mercy on us. Forgive us. For Christ's sake,
we pray. Amen. The Apostle Paul set forth the
glorious truth of a believer's security in the Father's electing grace,
the Son's redeeming grace, and the Spirit of God's regenerating
and keeping and comforting grace. And Paul relates his joy and
his thanksgiving unto God for God's mercy that for Christ's sake, he keeps
us in spite of us, in spite of ourselves, in spite of our attitudes,
have mercy how thankful he is and he thanked the Lord for the
saints at Ephesus and for the faithful in Christ Jesus. That's
what he said in verse 1. Wherefore, the apostle said,
after I heard of your faith. You know, it is a joy to behold
the faith in God's people. But you know, I got to wondering
about that. He said, after I heard of your
faith, how do you know someone has faith? After I heard of your faith,
I can't see into your heart But he said, after I heard of your
faith, how is faith manifested? How do you hear of it? Well,
turn over, hold your place there in Ephesians. Turn over to James
chapter 2. James, the apostle, deals with
it. James chapter 2. I was looking
over this a moment ago and this was just so freshly brought back
to my mind. James chapter 2, verses 17 to
20. James says, even so faith, if
it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou
hast faith, I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Now listen
to this next verse. Thou believest that there is
one God. Thou doest well. The devils also
believe and tremble. Now I looked that word up. Do
you know that word right there, the devils believe and tremble?
is the exact same word when it says, when the Philippian jailer
asked the Apostle Paul, what must I do to be saved? And Paul said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You know this is the
same word. Same word. The devils believe. And they
tremble. But what's the difference? between
having an ascent to believe something. In the believer, there's a new
man there that reacts out of love, kindness, compassion toward
others, and love for Almighty God. But wilt thou know, O vain
man, that faith without works is dead? Paul said back in Ephesians,
he said, wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith, this is
what John said in 3rd John 1.4, he said, I have no greater joy
than to hear that my children, that is those that the Lord had
called out of darkness, under John's ministry, walk in truth. They're faithful. They're consistent. They walk in faith. They don't work for salvation. You know, we don't mean that.
But there is a consistency in their walk. I'm so thankful,
I was thinking about this today, how thankful I am for God's mercy
that we're still here. that we're still here. All these years, it comes to
my mind so often how merciful God has been to allow Katie Baptist
Church to still be here. I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, historically speaking, this is not the norm. This is not
the norm. That Almighty God would allow
the gospel to still be here after coming up on 60 years is a miracle. But I want you to notice what
Paul said, I want you to notice in whom their faith was found. Wherefore I also after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus. Their faith was not in their
decision. I can remember a time when I
was in false religion, and I tell you what, my faith, my faith
was in my decision. I made a decision for the Lord.
I gave my heart to Jesus. I went to confession. I went
to confession. I sure did. confess the only
sin, I can remember this so I can remember what I confessed. I
was about that big and I'd broken a boy's toy. I think I told you
that. I broke his toy, little old paddle
ball thing, you know, and it flew off and I went and got it
and laid it down, put the paddle on top of it and walked away. Only sin I could remember ever
committing, but I confessed it and felt good about it too. He
said, I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not in your decision, not in
your baptism, not in your own faithfulness, not even in your
heritage. Look, turn over, turn over to
Matthew 3, 9. Matthew 3, 9. You know how the Jews had so
much assurance that they were sons of Abraham. We're sons of
Abraham. We're from Abraham's land. Abraham's seed. Look at Matthew
3.9. The Lord is telling them something about their heritage.
He said, and think not to say within yourselves. We have Abraham
to our father. For I say unto you that God's
able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." He
said, you're putting all your confidence in the lineage that
you trace your heritage to Abraham. So what? He said, God could make these
rocks to be children of Abraham. Wherefore I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus." Everything else counts for nothing.
Nothing. Thanks be unto God, it's not
when He sees my consistency, because I'm telling you, I am
absolutely the most inconsistent person you'll ever meet. Wavering
in mind, wavering in prayer, wavering in study. Thanks be
unto God, he said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. I'm thankful. Paul heard that
the Lord was pleased to manifest himself unto these Ephesians,
to those saints, and that was a great joy. to the Apostle Paul. He said in Romans 1.8, First,
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your
faith, and it's the evidence of it. Here again, I cannot see
in your heart. Faith is given that gives you
assurance. Faith gives the believer assurance
because it's in his heart. But I can't see it. The only
thing somebody else can see is the manifestation of it. We evidence
what we do. Evidence is what's inside. He
said, I'm thankful that your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. That faith that looks to Christ
and away from everything else. A believer comes to him. A believer
rests in him, holds to him like Jacob. lives upon Him, hears
of Him, seeks Him, waits upon Him. And a believer wants to
know Him. I want to know Him. The one that
we know, we want to know. The one that we trust, we want
to trust. The one we love, we want to love.
So, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus,
and then he says, and love unto all the saints. Now this, this
is, according to the words of our Lord, this is the foundational
characteristic of a believer. Right here. Here's the acid test. Right here. Our Lord said in
John 13, 35, by this, by this, shall all men know that
you are my disciples if you have love one to another. Jew, Gentile, rich, poor, bond-free,
male, female, by this, believers love one another, period. Believers love one another and
others know it. By this shall all men know that
you're my disciples. You have love one to another,
faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, and love for the saints. Those
two graces, those two evidences are inseparable. John said in
1 John 4, 7 and 8, Let us love one another. For
love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not
God. For God is love. The importation
of the life of Christ within a believer manifests itself. It's there. It's there. A cat
acts like a cat because it's a cat. What's the characteristic
of a cat? Well, he's his own entity. Dogs are different. Dogs are
just different. He acts like a dog, a believer. The manifestation of a believer
is that he loves the Lord, he loves believers. By this, they'll
all know love. Love is the fruit of God's Spirit. And it is the evidence of regeneration. It's there. It's just there.
The nature of God in regeneration comes out. It just manifests
itself. Brother Henry, I read this. He
wrote this. He said, if the fruit of love
be absent, then God's not there. Because God is love. So the Apostle Paul gives then
that evidence. He said, I thank, I also, after
I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love, unto all
the saints. Then he gives another evidence
of regeneration. Thankfulness to God for the saints
and prayer on their behalf. This is what he says in verse
16. He said, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention
of you in my prayers. He said, I cease not to give
thanks for you. Let me ask you this, is there
ever a point that we reach where we've prayed enough for each
other? At what point do you say, I've
prayed enough for him, I've prayed enough for her, I'm not praying
for him anymore. It doesn't mean when he says,
I cease not, it doesn't mean that there's nothing else going
on during the day in his mind because you know there is. But
what he is, is there's no time when I cease to pray for you
when you come to my mind, when I'm seeking the Lord. Paul the
Apostle said in 1 Thessalonians 5, 16, 18, Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. We don't
stop believers. Pray. They pray. Here again, believers love and
believers pray. That's the heart of a believer. Pray without ceasing. In everything,
give thanks. Okay, there's a lot of us in
this room tonight. And all of you have been, you
know, many of you were at work, many of you just, things happened. Whatever happened today, and
I don't know, I was here all day, Sean, I don't know what
happened. But I'm going to tell you something, whatever happened
today, whatever crossed your path, whatever rubbed you the
wrong way, in everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you." Is it the Lord that worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will? Then, was it God Almighty that
ordered those things? You said, yeah, but you don't
know what happened. It doesn't matter. Yeah, but you don't know what
this one said to me. It doesn't matter. Yeah, but you don't realize
the attitude of those people I work with. It doesn't matter.
Rejoice evermore. That's going to take grace, isn't
it? Pray without ceasing. Thanking the Lord in everything. Give thanks. That's what it said
in 1 Thessalonians 5. In everything. Give thanks. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Paul said, I cease not to give
thanks for you. Thanking God for you. Then he
says, making mention of you in my prayers. Believers, when other
believers cross their minds, believers pray for one another. making mention of you in my prayers. I started looking at the scriptures
there where that verse, phrase was set forth. Romans 1-9, Paul
the apostle says, for God is my witness whom I serve with
or in my spirit in the gospel of his son. And he says that,
without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers. 1 Thessalonians 1-2, we give
thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in
our prayers. And then in Philemon, and he
had written this epistle to Apphia and Archippus, and this is what
he said. He said, I thank my God, making
mention of thee always in my prayers. Philippians chapter
1. I love this passage of scripture.
Many times I write a letter to someone and you know you'll write
a scripture at the bottom of it and something. This comes
to my mind so often when I'm writing to somebody that I truly
love and thank the Lord for. Philippians 1 verses 3 to 5.
The Apostle Paul says, I thank my God upon every remembrance.
If you have a margin, marginal. My margin there says that word
remembrance is mention. I thank my God upon every mention,
every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine
for you all, making request with joy for your fellowship in the
gospel. From the first day until now,
from the first day that you crossed my path, from the first day I
knew it, the first day that the Lord was pleased to call us out
of darkness, what did He mean? I don't know. But from the beginning,
when Paul began to know them, he said, I thank my God upon
every mention of you. We call each other's names before
the Lord. Pray for one another. This is
scriptural. This is, you know, I've said
before, if you want to know the right thing to do, what did the
Spirit of God direct? Now, there's times, you know,
that there's rebellion is brought out in Scripture and God exposes
rebellion. I'm talking about these faithful
exhortations on things to do. Let me tell you the right thing
to do. I'll tell you the right thing to do. When you pray, pray
for one another. Pray for me. Call my name. I ask. I request. Paul says,
I beseech you. Pray for us. I beseech you. Pray for me. Pray that God give
me wisdom as a pastor. Who's sufficient for these things?
Who am I? I've told you before, I'm just,
I'm dust. Fleeting, failing, dust, that
Almighty God has given the responsibility, the calling, and the willingness
to pastor, to watch for your souls, and given me a love for
you. And I can truthfully say, as
I've told you before, Paul said in Romans 1.8, God is my witness. that I make mention of you without
ceasing, calling your names individually. I'm just looking right here.
There's not one person that I'm looking at right here that I
don't, and I'm not, I'm just trying to be honest, just honest
with you. Pray for daily, calling your
name before the throne of grace, asking the Lord, have mercy.
Lord, knit our hearts together. calls us to behold you. Lord,
help us to hear. Praying for this assembly. Praying
God have mercy, keeping us faithful in Him. Those that we love, we
thank God for. And we pray for them. Call their
names before the Lord. I want you to turn over to 1
Samuel, if you want to, or you can just listen to me. This is
Samuel. 1 Samuel 12. Verse 20 to 24. 1 Samuel 12, verse 20. It says,
And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not, ye have done all this
wickedness. And we have, all of us. No one's
guiltless here. All wretched people that we all
are. You've done all this wickedness
yet. Turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord
with all your heart. And when it says that right there,
let me give you a suggestion. Just be honest with him. Lord, I've sinned. That's what
David said. Nathan came to him and said,
you're the man. You know, David penned Psalm
51. He said, my sin is ever before
me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned. I tell you, the most liberating
thought that you can have, just be honest with God. He knows. Just be honest. We just, I mean,
just nothing, nothing settles in the heart like just honesty. Lord, I've sinned against you.
I'm not going to hide it from him. Samuel said to the people,
fear not, you've done all this wickedness yet. Turn not aside
from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your
hearts and turn you not aside. For then should you go after
vain things, empty things, which cannot profit nor deliver. For they're vain, they're empty. For the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great name's sake. Because it's pleased the
Lord to make you His people. Now listen to this verse 23.
Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the
Lord in ceasing to pray for you. But I will teach you the good
and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve
Him in truth with all your heart. For consider how great things
He has done for you. William Mason wrote a little
article on that. He said, consider what great
things the Lord has done for you. He said, can you just imagine
trying to consider the great things that God's done for us.
I mean, we speak of His electing grace. His redeeming grace. regenerating grace, all these
things that we so easily think. Yesterday afternoon, I was over
at the house and I was going to kind of back up and check
out something, trying to line up something there and I tripped
over something right there by the driveway. I started going
backwards and failed. And when I hit, I hit pretty
hard. It wasn't the first thing it
hit. It was right there with it. It just hit the back of my
head right in the gravel right there. And the first thing I
thought was, I wonder if I'm getting up. After I got up and thought about
it for just a second, I thought, Lord, thank you that I got up. Thank you. Consider what great
things the Lord has done for you. I could have been right
there, right now, ready to you when you hurt your leg. What
great things the Lord has done for us. Our Lord, when he prayed,
Turn over to Luke, I'm going to wrap this up. Luke 22, Luke
chapter 22. I think about praying specifically,
calling specific names. Luke 22, verse 31-32, And the
Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you,
that he may sift you as wheat. But listen to this, I have prayed
for thee, that thy faith fail not. And when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren. Not converted in regeneration,
but brought to understand what you really are, Peter. After
the Spirit of God the Comforter fell on Peter, we considered
this a few weeks ago, Peter the Scriptures just bears out, he
was a different man. But after Pentecost, you go and
read some of those messages that Peter preached, the stand that
he took, the faithfulness. But that scripture right there,
I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. I think about
the mercy of God. If He prayed for Peter, He'll
pray for me. He'll pray for you. You know the Lord, He prays for
you. I know, I know He prays for you. You that know Him, you
that love Him, you that call, He's called out of darkness,
I know this, I have His word on that. In His high priestly
prayer, John 17, 9, speaking of those that the Father had
given Him, it's what He say, I pray for them. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, But
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. And then last verse, the merit. When we pray for one another,
and I do, I encourage you, scripturally, we're exhorted to pray for one
another, making mention of each other. Paul says, I cease not,
I cease not to pray for you, make mention of you. the merit,
the merit of our prayers. What I have to say with my feeble,
failing, fluttering attitude before God, I have no ability. I am so thankful to someone that
I know Now if it's just somebody that I don't know and they just
happen to know that I happen to be a preacher, or maybe they
don't know that, and they'll just say, you know, my thoughts
and prayers are with you. That's just so meaningless. That's meaningless. My thoughts
and prayers are with you. Well, but for a believer, one
that you have some confidence, when they tell me that, that
means something. But what is the merit? What's the substance of that? I told you about Doris Mahan
when I was going through that problem with my bladder. And
Doris told me, she said, Henry and I call your name daily before
our father's throne. And I told her, I said, Doris,
that means more to me than you'll ever know. But here's the merit
of it. Revelation chapter 8, verse 3. Revelation 8.3, and another angel
came and stood at the altar having a golden censer. Here's the Lord
Jesus Christ himself, the high priest himself. This is Christ
himself. And there was given unto him
much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints
upon the golden altar which was before the throne. When the Lord
Jesus Christ takes the prayers of his people
that he hears, miracle of miracles that he would hear, our feeble
pleas. If we're honest, we know that
that's what it is. Because the scripture says we
don't know what to pray for. I don't know what to say. I don't
know what to ask. I can call your name and ask
God to have mercy, but I don't know what to ask. I don't know
your need, but he does. But he takes, the scripture says,
with the prayers of the saints and with much incense, he offers
with his merit, with his intercession, the prayers of the saints. And
the prayers of God's people toward the Lord and for one another
are heard in heaven before God for Christ's sake. Paul says,
I thank God that I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ and your love one for another. And he said, I cease
not to give thanks unto God for you, making mention of you in
my prayers. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart.