We'll be in Acts 20. I want to show you five truths
about God-given faith. Five truths about God-given faith. Now, Paul had been refreshed
at Ephesus. He saw God work mightily at Ephesus. Paul preached the Gospel. That's
what he was sent to do. He held up Christ. And the Lord called out and gave
some faith to believe. He strengthened some who believed,
gave them gifts to minister with Paul. He overcame some evil spirits. worked some mighty works, and
Paul was refreshed by that. Refreshed in spirit, strengthened
in faith by all that. And he purposed in spirit to
go back to Macedonia, to all the churches and revisit them.
And then the Lord sent him to that trial. And we saw that riot. We spent a lot of time there.
We saw a lot of valuable lessons that the Lord taught Paul through
that trial. And it was a severe trial. When Paul wrote to the
Corinthians, he said, we had the sentence of death in ourselves.
We thought we were going to die. But it wasn't the first trial
that Paul had been through. In Philippi, you remember, he
was beaten severely for preaching the gospel. He was cast into
prison. Before that, we saw that in Lystra, the Jews came all
the way from Antioch and Iconium and found him. drug him out of
the city, stoned him, and left him for dead. But just like he
did after those trials, when this trial at Ephesus ended,
we read this about Paul, Acts 20 verse 1. And after the uproar
was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced
them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had
gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation,
he came to Greece, and there abode three months. And when
the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into
Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia. The first
thing we see here is that faith perseveres. Faith perseveres. After the uproar ceased, Paul
comforted his brethren, He departed as he purposed before that trial
came about, and he went on preaching the gospel just like he did before
that trial ever came about. He encountered some more God-hating
men, and he just went past them and went on preaching the gospel.
Faith perseveres. What does that mean? Faith perseveres. Perseverance. What is that? We
might call it preservation. What is it though? Well, James
said, the trying of your faith worketh patience. And the word
there is trials work perseverance. Endurance, that's the word. They
prove to us, to the believer, that God is able to save as He
promised. And that God will do it in the
way that He's pleased to do it. And perseverance is being content
for Him to do it just that way. Since God sent the trial, He
sends the trial, then we know that this work of perseverance
is the preservation of God. It's due to the preservation
of God. He keeps it and grows faith. It's continuing to trust
God to do as He will because we're persuaded He's able to.
He's able and what He does is best. And trials are God's way
of proving that it's so. It just proves to us that that's
what He's going to do. That's the entire subject of
the epistle of James. The man who believes God will
patiently endure Persevere in holding forth the word of life.
That's what God's given us to do. Witnesses tell what they
know. They tell what they've seen.
They tell what... We just sang that song, I love
to tell the story. Of unseen things above, that's
what a believer tells. Because he sees those things
by faith. And he knows them, he's a first-hand
witness and he tells what he knows. He's experienced how God's
grace works in his own heart, so he knows how it works, and
he tells men how it works, how God works. He's seen it work
amongst brethren in churches, and he tells folks, this is how
God does the work, because he knows it. He's seen it, and he's
convinced of it. And because we believe God's
able, and we're pleased for God to do what He will, this perseverance
is going to manifest itself. by continuance in that which
He's given us to do. Hold forth the word of life. Holding it forth rather than
becoming impatient and turning to our own way, to our own means
and our own methods and devising our own plan of action because
we grow impatient to wait on Him. We wait on Him. Perseverance waits on Him to
do what He says He'll do. Perseverance is manifest through
a tongue that's bridled because there's a new heart from which
that tongue is speaking, rather than a tongue that grows impatient
and begins to condemn and begins to deal harshly and begins to
speak things that's unbecoming to the gospel. It's manifest
in a quiet spirit rather than a spirit that exalts itself. That's how perseverance of faith
manifests itself. Faith without this perseverance,
faith without this patient waiting, this spirit of graciousness,
this spirit of expecting God to do as He said He pleased,
faith without this, This contentment that God will do what's best.
Faith without that is no faith at all. Abraham and Rahab are the illustrations
that James gives over there when he talks about faith without
this manifestation of this patient enduring. And that's what he's
talking about. Let's take Abraham for an example
of faith that manifests this perseverance. Let's see what
this is. The Lord made this everlasting covenant with Abraham. And he
told Abraham, he said, he took him out there and he showed him
the stars and he said, Abraham, I'm going to give you children
in more in number than all these stars that you see in the heavens.
And he was talking about true sons of Abraham, his spiritual
seed. He's elected a people in more
in number than a man can even count. multitude no man can number
and he said I'm gonna save this many you're gonna have this many
brethren Abraham and then he said in Abraham I'm gonna give
you a son Isaac and through that son Isaac through his lineage
years and years down the road I'm gonna give you a king and
a savior He's your surety right now, Abraham. He's the one that
I put you in before the world began. He's the one I put all
of these children that I'm going to bring about, create. I put them all in Christ. And
He's coming through this boy Isaac. And He's going to redeem
them with His blood. He's going to accomplish everything
I'm telling you. It's going to be by Him that
these children are going to be created and that you yourself
are going to be saved, Abraham. And this King and this Savior
is coming through your son, Isaac. Now, Abraham, take Isaac up to
the mountain and sacrifice him to me. It's not an example of faith
without morality, is it? It's an example of faith that
perseveres, trusting God's able, and that God will do what He
said He'll do, how it pleases God to do it. And Hebrews says,
and He did it, accounting that God was able Here's what it is,
to raise up even from the dead. That's what
perseverance of faith is. It's counting God able to raise
up even from the dead. Me and my brethren, me and those
He's purposed to save, me and those that he sent me to preach
this gospel to. If I know that, you know what
I'm going to go forth and do? I'm going to go forth and I'm
going to preach Christ and Him crucified. I'm going to persevere
in the one thing God's given me to do because I'm persuaded
God's able to raise up even from death. Rahab is the other illustration
he gave and she certainly can't be an example of faith without
morality. She was a harlot. She ran a house
of ill repute. but she's an example because
she risked her life to take in spies when they would take down
Jericho because she believed God was able to raise up even
from death. You know why she believed that?
You know why Abraham believed that? You know why Paul believed
that? You know why every believer perseveres in the faith and believes
that? because he's experienced God
raising him up, even from the dead. He knows it. It's not a question for him.
He knows it. And so that's what happened.
That's what happened. And Paul went forth, and he was
convinced of it, and so he just did what God gave him to do.
He wasn't afraid of anybody he faced. Faith perseveres. Now, here's the second thing. Faith has many brethren. Many brethren. Look at verse
4. And there accompanied him into
Asia, Sopater of Berea, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus. We saw him before, remember?
He was the one that was carried into the middle of the theater
during that riot. And there he is with Paul now.
Faith perseveres, don't it? He's traveling with Paul. "...and
Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus, and of Asia, Tychicus,
and Trophimus. These going before tarried for
us at Troas." And there's one more with them too, Luke's with
them. He's the one writing this. Saying, us, and for us, and counting
himself there. This is what Christ has taught
us in the Sermon on the Mount. He's taught us to believe on
Him. He's fulfilled the law. He is our complete and total
perfection, acceptance, satisfaction with God. We're saved through
faith by His grace. And He's taught us to walk after
Him, to listen to what He teaches us, and to bear this. It's a
light and easy yoke. It's what we delight in in the
inner man. It's to love, and to be merciful, and to be gracious,
and to declare this story of our full and complete redemption.
And not make a show of it, not try to attract folks to us, not
try to turn to some other means to get, but just simply go forth,
as he said, and declare these things we've experienced. And
he said, and I'll reward you openly, you know that Paul believed
on Christ. Paul did what Christ gave him
to do. He said, he's a chosen vessel unto me for this purpose,
to bear my name, to declare my name, to wear my name. Wearing his name, he was a witness.
He was a witness of a man that was once God-hating, self-righteous,
religious man who now believed God just wearing His name. He
believed Him. Bearing it. But he went forth
bearing it, preaching His name, declaring what Christ had done
for him. And the Lord said, and you do
this before Gentiles, and before the kings, and before the children
of Israel. In other words, it don't matter
if they're the highest station or the lowest station. If they're
Jews or the Gentiles, you're going forth for one purpose and
that's to bear my name. And Paul went forth and he did
what the Lord sent him forth to do. And the Lord rewarded
him openly. All these brethren right here,
all these brethren were men who the Spirit quickened through
the blood of Christ Jesus through Paul's preaching. And they're
all with him, company with him. He rewarded him. Told him he
would. Why are brethren such a valuable
treasure to the believer? Why are brethren so valuable
to the believer? Paul, like he was doing here
when he was traveling, we're traveling through this world.
We're pilgrims and strangers in this world. This world's not
our home. And this world is full of sin.
It's a cursed place. It's the valley of dry bones.
And we're traveling through it and we're looking for our home. We have our affection set somewhere
else. We have our sights set somewhere
else, not on this earth. But as strangers and pilgrims
in these bodies of flesh and surrounded by death and surrounded
by sin, we face many fleshly lusts. Peter said, dearly beloved,
I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly
lusts, which war against the soul. And he goes on down, he
goes through that list of teaching us to submit to one another,
to be peaceable with everybody we come in contact with. And
then he comes down to brethren and brethren, and he says this,
finally, be ye all of one mind. having compassion one of another,
love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil
for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise to that, render
blessings upon one another, knowing that ye are there unto called. That's what you were called to
do. You were called to speak peaceably to your brethren. You
were called to comfort your brethren. You were called to be courteous
to your brethren. You were called to be loving
to your brethren. You know why? Because that's
what's going to help you and help me to remember we're strangers
and pilgrims in this earth. That's what's going to help us
to stay away separate from the fleshly lusts of this earth.
Brethren, you know when the Spirit of God moved the Hebrew writer
to tell us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together,
he didn't say, he didn't say the reason for me not forsaking
this assembly is for my benefit. He didn't say that. He said,
the reason for me not forsaking this assembly, the reason for
you not forsaking this assembly is for your brethren. Listen,
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the
manner of some is, but exhorting one another so much the more
as you see the day approaching. It's not, we get a benefit, a
personal benefit from being here, but the reason for being here
is because your brother needs you to be here. Your sister needs
you to be here. You see that? Christ put the
body together, the head put the body together, and He supplies
every joint, every member with something. And he puts this body
together like you assemble a skeleton. He puts it together. And in every
part that he gives that supply to. You know, everybody here has something
different. There's some here who or women believers, female believers. You have an experience from that
vantage point that us men don't have. But we've got daughters, don't we? And a believing mother,
a believing female, a believing wife can help us men know how
to deal with believing or with our children. Teach them. There's
some here that are more mature in the faith. There's some here
that are brand new in the faith. You know, the mature believer
in the faith, he can forget what it's like to be a babe in Christ,
but when he talks to that babe in Christ, he can remember what
it's like to be a babe in Christ. He can remember that excitement
of just and he can remember those struggles.
And that babe in Christ can be edified by that mature believer.
He puts the body together, and we have many brethren. He gives
us believers for our own good. He gives us brethren for our
own good. So first of all, faith perseveres, and secondly, faith
has many brethren. Here's the third thing. Faith
cannot get enough of the gospel of Christ. Look here now in verse
6. We sailed away from Philippi
after the days of unleavened bread and came unto them to Troas
in five days. They traveled for five days to
get there. Where we abode for seven days
once we got there. And upon the first of the week,
the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to
break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the
morrow. And he continued his speech until
midnight." It says in verse 11, it says
that he spoke even to the break of day. He came there and preached the
gospel to them till midnight and stayed there preaching the
gospel to them till the break of day. The gospel, first of
all, we see here, it unites. It says they came together. Christ
Jesus brought separated sinners together with an offended God. The first man, Adam, sinned against
God and he separated us from God. And then when we came forth,
born with his nature, dead in trespasses and sins, our own
sins separated us from God, kept us separate from God. But Christ,
the second man, brought all those that he represented together
with God. He reconciled us to God. There's
one God. There's God, And there's man. How in the world
is a holy God and depraved, wretched, God-hating, God-despising, self-serving,
self-righteous sinners going to be brought together in one
mediator who's both God and man? the God-man Christ Jesus. That's
how they're going to be brought together. Before we ever knew
it, Christ made atonement for those He calls into this union
with Him. You know what atonement means?
Divide it. Divide the word. A-T, at. O-N-E, one. M-E-N-T, meant. At one, meant. He made atonement. He brought us together by putting
away the sin of His people, clothing them in His righteousness. So
now, God accepts us in Christ Jesus in the very righteousness
of His Son. And He brings every believer
together with our brethren. There was a wall between sinners,
between us sinners. We built that wall. We put that
wall there with the vanity of our sin. That's what Scott was
talking about. It can be race. We used that to separate ourselves. We used gender to separate ourselves. We used class to separate ourselves. We used our creeds to separate
ourselves. Our country to separate ourselves. We even use food to separate
ourselves. I was thinking about that today. You know, there's some food that's
real expensive and very rare that everybody else can't eat
it, can't afford it, can't eat it. We even use food to separate
it. There's some food that's so poor,
that's so just scraping to get by that folks eat, that came
about through depression days and through that certain classes
of people wouldn't dare eat it. We separate ourselves using food. But in Christ, there's neither
Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free. neither male nor female,
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. There's neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, but Christ is all and
in all. And He made this union by being
separated Himself from His Father. He brought us together with God
by He Himself willingly putting Himself in our place, being made
sin for us, and being cut off so that we could be brought together
with God. God is of two pure eyes to behold
iniquity. Our sin separated us from God. But when our sin was put on Christ,
our sin separated Christ from God. But like that scapegoat
illustrated in the wilderness, they put the sin on that scapegoat,
and that scapegoat went away into the wilderness. And so did all the sins. They're
gone. They're gone. That's why He came,
and it's by His faithfulness that God's righteousness is manifest,
His glory is seen in the person of Christ. You know, it says,
Paul said, we beheld His glory in all His works. We beheld His glory in everything
He did. That's not what Paul said, is it? You know where Paul
said we beheld His glory? In His face. We saw the person. We saw the person. The express
image of God. The fullness of the Godhead in
a body. We saw Christ. When we get to
glory, God is spirit. He's glorified. He's in a glorified
body. But when we get to heaven, we're
going to see God. And you know who we're going
to see? We're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
going to see God the Father, God the Son and Spirit when we
look at Christ Jesus, because it pleased God for it to be so.
We see it here in our text. This tie that bound them together.
Look at verse 7. Upon the first day of the week.
They didn't come on that old legal Sabbath day. Why? Because Christ is our Sabbath
rest. They came on the day that Christ
rose. We didn't know it, but on the
day that Christ rose from the dead was the first day of eternity
for you who believe. That's the first day of eternal
life for you. Verse 7, the disciples came together
to break bread. They came there to remember the
broken body and shed blood of Christ who gave us this precious
union with God and our brethren. That's why they were there. And
then Paul preached unto them. He preached the gospel to them. They came to hear one more time
of this great, gracious Redeemer. And they were eager to hear it.
Paul was eager for them to hear it. He was leaving the next morning,
so he just preached to them all night long. And they sat there
and heard it all night long. Now, while the world was going
about doing what the world was doing at that time, Probably
some real important things. Probably some things that were
pressing. Things that just had to get done. And while the world
was doing those things, God and the spirits of just men made
perfect. And a heavenly host of angels. And all those brethren gathered
there. were all gathered there together with all their eyes
and all their attention focused on the one that made God and
his saints one, Christ Jesus. I can't think of any other place
I'd rather be. Can you? Can you? Here's the fourth thing. Faith
is sometimes hindered by the flesh. Look at verse 8. And there
were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered
together. And there sat in a window a certain
young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep. And
as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep. And he
fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead." You know,
sometimes faith might appear dead. Sometimes faith might appear
dead. It's not the fault of the Holy
Spirit. We perish that thought. It's
not the fault of the Holy Spirit. Like the many lights in the upper
chamber there, the light's always shining. Christ, the light's
shining. The Spirit, the light's always
shining. The Word of Christ is going forth.
It's not the new man of the Spirit. The Spirit's willing. It's the
creation of God. God made it. God never made anything
bad. And all that first creation did,
anything He made, He went, well, it's not good. Everything He
made, He said, it's good. He made that Spirit. He supplies
that Spirit. He's the life of that Spirit.
He upholds that Spirit. It's not the Spirit's fault that
He's created. It's what we are in our flesh.
It's our own fault. This boy got sleepy and he sunk
down sleeping and he fell out because of his flesh. What hindered
Peter? Remember what hindered Peter?
I will, I will, I won't, I won't. That personal pronoun got so
big that he couldn't see Christ. He couldn't see Christ. His flesh
had made him slumber. And like this young fellow in
our text, he fell into a deep slumber. He fell into a deep
slumber. But who keeps our faith from
failing? Let's see Christ the shepherd
typified here in this under-shepherd, Paul. Look at verse 10. And Paul
went down and fell on him, praying over him. and embraced him. What
did the Lord tell Peter? Simon? Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. And if you
want to know what came in between Satan desiring to have him and
Satan actually being able to have him and sift him, It was
the same thing that came about when God said to Satan, have
you considered my servant Job? God said, you desire to sift
him? He needs to be sifted. Just what
he needs. And since you're my puppet, go
do the dirty work. Go sift him. And so Satan sifted
him. But why did Peter's faith not
fail? Verse 32. Luke 22, 32 says, I
have prayed for thee that thy faith fell not. Peter's flesh made him slumber
and it made him fall. And it made him look like he
was dead. How would we have treated Peter? You know what that perseverance
of faith is? Keep on preaching the word of life. That's all
your responsibility is, is comfort him. Preach the word of life
to him. And trust that God raises up even from the dead. But Christ
prayed for him. There wasn't a possibility his
faith could fail. There wasn't the remotest possibility
that Peter could fall from faith. Not a bit. because Christ ever liveth to
make intercession. Read verse 10 again. Paul went
down and fell on him and embracing him said, trouble not yourselves
for his life is in him. That's what Christ says of the
believer. Don't trouble yourself. When
we see our brethren stumble, don't trouble yourself. His life's
in him. I'm interceding for him. You
just hold forth the word of life. You comfort him. Who is he that
condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather
that's risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. I almost, I almost ended
this message with wounded for me. I can't believe you sung
that. I almost ended it with that. Go back and read that fourth
verse. He's living for me. He's living
for me. He's right now before God living
for me and praying for me. And because He's living for me,
I'm living perfectly before God. And because He's praying for
me, I can't fall away. And you can't either. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress,
persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword, and all these things
we're more than conquerors. through Him. You see that in
Paul? Paul went down there and prayed
over him and embraced him. That's what Christ does for His
people. Who do you think was most appreciative
of Paul after all that? It says there in verse 12, they
brought the young man alive and were not a little comforted.
They were just overjoyed with comfort. Who do you think was
most comforted? That young man, that one who
slumbered, he was most comforted. Who do we think was most comforted?
Out of everybody that was comforted when they saw Peter come back,
who do you think was most comforted? Peter. Peter. The Lord keeps
his people. And that's what makes us to see
he's able to raise up even from death. Here's the last part,
verse 13. We went before the ship and sailed
unto Assos there intending to take in Paul, for so had he appointed,
minding himself to go afoot. And when He met with us at Asos,
we took Him in and came to Middlin, and we sailed thence, and came
the next day over against Chios, and the next day we arrived at
Samos, and tarried at Troglium, and the next day we came to Miletus.
They're just traveling, aren't they? They're just making their
way, just going, going, going, going, going on this trip. Why? For Paul had determined
to sail by Ephesus, to just pass it by because he wouldn't spend
the time in Asia for he hasted, if it were possible for him,
to be at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Faith is sometimes
very active, surrounded with many brethren, rejoicing in the
gospel. It's sometimes greatly hindered
by the flesh. It might be running, it might be walking, might be
crawling, might look to those around us as dead. But faith is always, always,
always looking straight ahead with affection set on one place,
hastening to arrive at one place, our heavenly Jerusalem. That's
the fifth thing. Faith looks forward to the day
when faith will be no more. Are you looking forward to that?
You ever thought about that? My faith, I long for the day
when I won't need faith anymore. How is that? There shall be no more curse,
but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and
His servants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face."
See Him face to face. Paul knew when he got to Jerusalem
there would be a bunch of his kinsmen there, a bunch of his
own countrymen there. That's why he wanted to go there. We know when we get there, all
our kinsmen are going to be there, all our countrymen. None of these
countrymen will be there. We're strangers and pilgrims
here, but when we get there, all our countrymen will be there,
all our kinsmen. Paul hastened to get there because he wanted
to preach the gospel to them. We hasten to get there because
we want to see Him who is the gospel face to face. So I decided to end with this
hymn. Lord, haste the day when my faith
shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. The trump shall resound and the
Lord shall descend. Even so is well with my soul. Faith perseveres. Faith has many
brethren. Faith rejoices in the gospel.
Faith is sometimes hindered by the flesh. But faith's always
longing for the day. when we'll be with Christ face-to-face
and faith will be no more.