The Bible Baptist Church located
at 2015 Beulah Road in Madisonville, Kentucky would like to invite
you to listen to a message of the sovereign grace of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ by their pastor, David Edmondson. We live in a day where we hear
a lot about faith. Some men and women claim to have
great faith. And some men and women seem to
have no faith. And there are some faith healers
and some faith teachers, and there are even some faith bashers. But what is faith? I know that
faith is necessary for Hebrews 11, six says, for without faith,
it's impossible, impossible to please God. Webster's Dictionary
defines faith as complete trust or confidence in someone or something. But trusting or having confidence
in just any someone or any something will not save you. So maybe the
real question to ask is, what is saving faith? What is the
faith that saves sinners? Who must I trust in order to
be saved? Not just anyone, not just anything. Saving faith is in a person. Now listen to me, and that person
is the Lord Jesus Christ. How does faith come? Well, there
are many who claim to have faith, but they don't believe in Christ.
Saving faith is believing and trusting in Christ. Saving faith
is knowing who Jesus Christ is. Saving faith is believing what
Christ has done for sinners. There's no salvation apart from
faith in Jesus Christ. Now in Romans chapter 10, verse
eight, we read, and Paul here, speaking of faith, writes, but
what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith which we
preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
Christ, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved." If you confess with your
mouth and believe in your heart, you shall be saved. For with
the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. Jesus Christ is
our righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. Jesus Christ is our salvation.
And Paul confirms this in verse 11 when he says, for the scripture
sayeth, whosoever believeth, has faith in Christ shall not
be ashamed. And I can sum up the message,
the message, not just a message, not just a sermon, but the message,
the gospel that I preach in five things. Let me give them to you
briefly. First, all spiritual blessings,
every blessing, all spiritual blessings. which the living God
has purposed and provided for the sons of men are in Jesus
Christ our Lord. Every blessing, every spiritual
blessing that God has purposed and provided is for sinners,
and it's in Christ. Christ is where the blessings
are given, in Him. Nowhere else, it's all in Him.
And that's why our trust and confidence must be in Him. Jesus
Christ, who of God, has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Christ has made unto us all that
God requires of us. Secondly, these spiritual blessings
that we must have in order to be saved belong to us by a union
or a joining with Christ. That doesn't mean just to agree
with Him. That's not to just believe some
things about Christ. Salvation comes by being one
with Him. Why must we be made one with
Christ? Because the Father loved the
Son and hath given all things to Him. That's what the Lord
was teaching in John chapter 15 in the parable of the vine
and the branches. Christ is the vine, we are the
branches, and the branches draw all their nourishment, all its
life and its strength from the vine. Without the vine, we're
nothing and we can do nothing. All you cut the branch off from
the vine and the branch is dead. The life is in the vine. You ever notice when a storm
goes through and if some branches are fallen, knocked, blown out
of the tree, they're still green there for a day or two, but you
leave that branch there laying on the ground and soon it turns
brown. Why? Because it's been separated from
the vine. Christ is the head, we're the
body. You separate the head from the body, and that person dies. Christ is the heir, we're joint
heirs with Him. It's all about our union with
Christ. It's all about being one with
Him. You see, if Christ is in you, that's the hope of glory.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in Him. So we see that all spiritual
blessings, everything God has for a sinner is in Jesus Christ,
and it comes by a union, a joining, a becoming one with Him. He's
there, we're joiners. He's the true vine, we're the
branches. And then thirdly, this union with Christ is ours by
faith. The Word of God is so clear about
that. The Word of God makes it so simple
and plain. Listen to the words of John.
He said, he that believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life." Isn't that so plain and simple? You've got
to have the Son in order to have eternal life. And if you don't
have him, you won't even see it. That's what Paul said to
the Philippian jailer. He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved. That's
what the Lord told that faithful centurion. He said, all things,
all things are possible to them that believe. Remember now, without
faith, it's impossible to please the God with whom we have to
do. He that cometh to God, he that
comes to Christ, who is God, must believe, believe what? That
he's God. And He's a rewarder of them that
diligently seek Him. Now, are you diligently seeking
Christ? Oh, I sure hope and pray you
are. That's where eternal life is found. There's no life apart
from that. All the blessings that God has
for a sinner, all spiritual and eternal blessings are in the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're yours and they are mine
by union with Him. And that union is accomplished
by faith. You know, today, when folks talk
about receiving Christ, they don't really know what that is. They think receiving Christ is
letting go and letting God have his way in their life. They believe
that receiving Christ is lending their will to God's will and
giving Jesus their heart and making Jesus their Lord. That's
not receiving Christ. But I must receive Him if I'm
to have life. But receiving Him is not me giving
anything to Him. It's not by me doing anything
but believing. And I can't even believe until
God gives me life. That's what the beloved John
wrote in John 1.12. He said, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. We've got to believe in Christ.
Fourthly, this saving faith which unites us to Christ, in whom
are hid all the treasures of God, this faith that unites us
to Him, comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God. Now,
here in Romans chapter 10, did you notice that verse 17 begins
with those two words, so then? So then is like that word, therefore. You have to look back to what
was written before to see what it's there for, what he's talking
about. You have to see what the writer
has already said. So then. Faith, believing, complete
trust. Paul said, it comes, cometh by
hearing. That word cometh is italicized,
meaning it was added by the translators. But Paul here is very deliberate
in his speech. Faith is by hearing. Faith is not by our believing,
because faith is believing. Faith comes to us how? By the
gift of God, by the giving of God, and faith comes by hearing
the word of God. Isn't that so simple? That's
how faith comes, by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Not by hearing church creed,
not by hearing church doctrine, not by hearing denominational
politics, Denominations get together every year and make a bunch of
new rules, and none of them are in the Bible. Salvation comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, not by hearing some
sermonettes on how to live as a champion of faith. What God
says, most folks don't know. And sadly, most folks don't care.
But faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It
doesn't come by just hearing anything. It comes by hearing
God's word, the preaching of the gospel. It comes by hearing
the truth. In whom you believe after you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. It
pleased the Lord by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Now you're gonna have to hear
God's word and you're gonna have to hear it effectually. And fifthly,
unless God Almighty, by the power and the revelation of the Holy
Spirit and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, makes God's
word effectual, effective to you and me, we'll never have
faith and we'll never be saved. Now, I've been trying to preach
for about 31 years now. But one thing that I have come
to understand very well about preaching is this, unless God
takes my preaching, my words of Christ and him crucified and
enables a sinner to hear, really hear that sinner will never have
faith in Christ. Preaching must be anointed by
God, but our hearing must also be anointed by God. You know,
many heard the words of our Lord preached and they said, why is
this not Mary and Joseph's son where we know his sisters and
brothers? And our Lord looked them straight in the eye and
he said, no man can come to me except the Father which sent
me draw him. And they, that being ever believer,
shall be taught of God. He that hath heard and learned
of the Father cometh unto me. And that's what I'm trying to
say. The preacher and the hearer are shut up to the mercy of God. Why? Because salvation is of
the Lord. Why? Because God has to make
the gospel effectual to your heart. All spiritual blessings
are in Christ. They are ours by union, our oneness
with Christ. That union is by faith, and that
faith comes by hearing the word of God, and the spirit of God
has to make that hearing effectual. That's the five things. Look
at verse 12. For there is no difference, no difference between
the Jew and the Greek, but the difference that God makes. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But there's no difference in
the mercy of God, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all
that call upon him. He's rich in mercy to all who
admit and confess their sins. He's rich in mercy to all who
call upon him for redemption in Christ. He's able to save
a religious Pharisee like Saul of Tarsus, and he's able to save
great sinners like Mary Magdalene. God is able to save all who call
upon him. There is no difference. Will
you call upon the Lord Jesus Christ? If you do, you will be
saved. You have been listening to a
message by David Edmondson, the pastor of Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of God's free, sovereign grace
in Christ, you can write to our mailing address at P.O. Box 652
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. or log on to our website at FreeGraceRadio.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, we meet at 2015 Beulah Road, Madisonville, Kentucky,
and our service times are Sunday morning Bible study at 10 o'clock
a.m., worship services begin at 11 o'clock a.m., Wednesday
evening services at 7 o'clock p.m. Please tune in again next
Sunday morning at 10 o'clock AM for another message of God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ.