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. I want us to consider a verse
found in Hebrews chapter 11. It's a scripture concerning faith. I am convinced that most folks
today have no true understanding at all of what faith is. Hebrews 11, 6. But without faith,
it's impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Now the word faith means complete
trust and confidence in someone or something. True faith, well
that's having confidence and reliance and dependence and hope
and expectation in, on, and from the God with whom we have to
do. Faith in God is not too appealing to one who doesn't know the sovereign
God of the scriptures. Men have made God to be altogether
such a one as they are. We trust in men and women, and
men and women let us down. Preaching today declares God
so low that men think that God will let them down. But when
the God of the Bible reveals himself to you, There's no reason
for us not to believe anything and everything that he says and
promises. No reason for you not to believe
God. There's nothing too hard for
the Lord. Oh, Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and
the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there
is nothing too hard for thee. Jeremiah 32, 17. the Lord of hosts, has sworn,
Isaiah said, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come
to pass. And as I have purposed, so shall
it stand. Isaiah 14, 24. Everything is
predestinated, predetermined according to the purpose of Him,
that being God, who worketh all things after the counsel of His
own will. Ephesians 1, 11. Our God is in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Psalm 115, 3. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth and in the
seas and all deep places. Psalm 135, 6. Well, preacher,
tell us something about us. I will. And all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he, God Almighty, doeth according
to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? Now, this is what God's word
says. This is what God says about himself. Is there any reason for sinners,
men and women, not to believe or have faith and trust in God? Why do men and women doubt God
when He has no limits or lack of ability? Whatsoever the Lord
pleased, that did He. The Lord of hosts has sworn,
saying, Surely as I have thought, it shall come to pass. as I have
purposed it shall stand." I don't see any reason for doubt there. There's no reason at all not
to have faith in God Almighty. The Lord of hosts hath purpose.
Who's going to disannul it? His hand is stretched out and
who shall turn it back? God is able to do anything and
everything that He pleases, that He desires, and He is out to
do His people good. Nothing short of eternal good.
And this is so true and so worthy of believing that without faith
in God, it's impossible to please Him. Now, it's not hard to please
Him. It's not difficult to please
Him. It's impossible to please Him.
For he or she that cometh to God must believe that He is. Believe that He's what? Believe
that He's God. Do you believe God is sovereign?
We call God almighty, but we don't think He's too almighty,
do we? We think we have to help Him. believe that he is God,
able to do whatsoever he is pleased, able to bring to pass his thoughts,
able to accomplish his purpose in all things, able to stretch
his hand out without it being turned, able to save to the uttermost
those who come to Christ by him. We see that faith in God has
something to do with coming to God. For he that cometh to God
whether for mercy, for comfort, for salvation, for healing, for
help, for any reason, we must come believing. We must come
in faith. For without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. Faith is essential. We must believe,
not half-heartedly, not in a careless fashion, but believe that God
is a rewarder. He's a giver to them that diligently
seek Him. The Lord Jesus said, if thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mark 9.23. That woman with the issue of
blood, she touched the hem of Christ's garment and she was
made whole. Do you remember what our Lord
told her? And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith, your faith
hath made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy
plague. Blind Bartimaeus. Can you see
him sitting there by the highway side begging? Bartimaeus cried,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Do you know what? He did. He had mercy on him and
he restored his sight. And the Lord said, go thy way,
thy faith hath made thee whole. Now, was it Bartimaeus' faith
that healed him? No, it was their faith in Christ
that did. It was his faith in Christ. All
things are possible to a sinner that believes. The Lord healed
ten lepers, and one of them, just one out of the ten, saw
that he was healed and turned back, and with a loud voice he
glorified God. The Lord said, Were there not
ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? And
the Lord said unto that one that returned, Arise, go thy way,
thy faith hath made thee whole. To one whom much is forgiven,
there is much love, there is much faith. And our Lord asked
the blind man, do you believe that I'm able to do this? And
the answer of faith is always, yea, Lord, yea, Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. Now I
want to give you four things about true faith, which without
is impossible to please God. In 1 Corinthians chapter 13,
Paul wrote, and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but
the greatest of these three is charity. Charity, love, it's
the greatest, but I'd have you notice that faith is the first
one mentioned. You see, faith is the foundation. Without faith, there can be no
hope or love. All other graces come from faith.
He that believes on the Son of God hath life. But you've got
to have faith in Christ. You've got to believe on the
Lord Jesus even to have life. You've got to believe on Christ
to love God or be loved by God. You've got to trust in Christ
the God-man to have any hope of eternity. So I know this much
about faith. It's the foundation of every
grace. Christ is the foundation. Believing
who Christ is, believing what Christ has done, that's the footer. That's the foundation that the
whole building is built upon. And our Lord went on to say there
in John chapter 3, he that believeth not on the Son of God, he or
she that is without faith shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abideth on them. John 3, 36. And I'm convinced,
I'm convinced that most church-going people really don't believe that.
They believe that God is too good to punish sin. No, no, no,
God is too holy not to. These are the words of the Lord
Himself, the sinner that believes not on Christ, the sinner that
has not, possesses not the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the Son of
God, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on them. Our Lord said to Peter, Satan
hath desired thee that he may sip thee as wheat. But I prayed,
I've prayed for you, that your faith fail not. Now Peter's love
got a little shaky and weak, and Peter's hope got a little
unsteady and staggered, but the Lord prayed that his faith would
not fail. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Yet all men and women have not
faith. Second thing, I know from the
word of God that faith is the gift of God. It's always been
the gift of God. True faith is not the product
of the human heart. True faith is the gift of God,
for by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it's a gift of God. What is the gift of God? Faith
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Philippians
1 verse 29 says this, it is given unto you to believe on Christ
and to suffer for his sake. Faith's not the product of the
human heart nor the human will. It's impossible for any man or
woman apart from the power of the Holy Spirit to believe anything
about the Bible. All men boast of their great
faith. Why? It's not something that they
produced. Why boast? face the gift of God. If we boast,
it must be in the God who gave us life. Paul said in Galatians
1, verse 15, it pleased God who separated me from my mother's
womb to reveal His Son in me. How did Paul get knowledge of
Christ? Christ was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. How did
Paul come to have faith in one whom he had before hated? How
did Paul go from imprisoning and killing Christians to preaching
the gospel of Christ that he once denounced? The Holy Spirit
gave him faith to believe. And if you're ever to have it,
that's how you'll get it. So I know this, faith is the
gift of God, and without it, it's impossible to please God. Third thing, I know that believing
men and women are justified by faith alone. Four times in God's
word, we're told that the just shall live by faith. If you have
your Bible and can turn with me, look at Romans chapter four.
In verse 19, Romans chapter four, speaking of Abraham, Paul wrote,
and Abraham be not weak in faith, 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, who was 90 by
the way, and he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief. but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, and being fully persuaded. You know what that
is? Faith. fully persuaded that what
he had promised, what God had promised, he, God, was able to
perform. Now that's faith. And therefore
it was imputed, it was charged to him for righteousness. Abraham
believed God and it was counted to him. He believed God. It was imputed to him. He believed
what God said. He did what God said. And then
Paul says in verse 23, Now it was not written for his sake
alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom
it shall be imputed, if we believe on him. that raised up Jesus
our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and
was raised again for our justification. Now, there shouldn't be any chapter
division here. Keep on reading Romans 5, verse
1. Therefore, being justified, how? By faith. That's how we're justified. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access. How? How do we have access? By
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. Listen to Galatians 2, 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 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. When Martin Luther was a younger
man, he was in a monastery studying to be a priest. And he, like
every man there, was trying to gain acceptance with God in,
by, and through his own works and by their own self-righteousness.
And Martin Luther was so zealous that when he had thoughts of
lust and thoughts of sin, he would get thorns and beat his
body until he bled. He was trying to appease a holy
God. You can't do it. God requires
perfection. You can't provide it. And one
day Martin Luther was reading his Bible. You know, the common
people then didn't have the Bible. The only people that had a Bible
were the priests in the monastery and the nuns in the convent.
And Martin Luther was reading his Bible and he came to that
scripture that said, the just shall live by faith. The just
shall live by faith, not by works, not by repentance, not by body
beating, not by fasting, not by making penance. No, the just
shall live by faith. And that verse kept piercing
his heart, but he went on trying to make himself holy by his own
efforts, not knowing that the root of sin was in him. Sin is
what we are, not just what we do. We sin because of what we
are. We're great sinners. The principle
of sin was in him. The nature of sin was in Martin
Luther. Sin was not what he did. Sin
was what he was. And when he finally went to Rome,
he was climbing those stairs at St. Peter's Basilica. It was believed by the Roman
Catholics that these were the stairs up which Christ walked
to Pilate's Hall. They had those steps covered
with glass. Probably still do. For under
the glass there were some red spots that they claimed to be
Christ's blood. I would say just tradition. You
were supposed to climb up those stairs on your knees, counting
your beads, and you were required to kiss each of those red spots
under the glass while reciting memorized quotes. And all Martin
Luther could think of was the verses of scripture that read,
the just shall live by faith, the just shall live by faith. Faith in Christ, faith in his
blood, faith in his finished work, faith in Christ's merit. And the story is that Martin
Luther jumped up off those steps and ran out of that place, and
God made him one of the greatest preachers of the gospel that
ever lived on earth. God set him free and made him
free with one verse of Scripture, justified by faith, justified
by faith. We need to learn that. Not by
works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being
justified by his grace, And I might add, through faith, that we should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3,
verses 5, 6, and 7. Now, if you and I are justified
by works, no one's going to be saved. Our works must be perfect
to be accepted, and we cannot provide a perfect work, making
ourselves clean. And then, fourthly and lastly,
Faith is a growing grace. Only things that are alive grow.
The pulpit doesn't grow, it has no life, it's a piece of wood.
Faith is life and life is faith. Paul said, your faith groweth
exceedingly, 2 Thessalonians 1.3. Peter said, but grow in
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. How do we grow in faith? How
do we? So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God, Romans 10, 18. Peter said, desire
the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby. And
as our faith grows, our love for Christ will grow. and our
love for one another will grow, and our rest and our peace and
our hope will grow. Why? Because faith is the foundation
of all grace. Faith is the gift of God. It's not by works. We are justified by faith alone. And faith grows, and it's God
that makes it grow. As our faith grows in Christ,
our concern for the flesh, it lessens. Our concern for the
world grows less. Our interest in the things of
the world diminish. The fretting of trials become
less and less. But hear me when I say, there
is a false faith. Men have faith in their bank,
and in their doctor, and in their druggist. They have faith in
their decision. They have faith in their baptism. They even have faith in their
prayers. Our faith is not in our prayers. Our faith is in
the one that we pray to. False faith will excite the emotions. False faith will reform the outward
man. Well, it did Martin Luther. but reformation won't save you. Like the Pharisees, you can make
yourself clean on the outside of the cup, but within is still
nothing but death. On that day of judgment, those
men stood and said, Lord, Lord, haven't we done? Oh, it's not
about what you do. Haven't we done many wonderful
works? They're nothing but works of iniquity. That's what Christ
said, depart from me that work iniquity. You're preaching, you're
casting out devils, all these things you call good works, works
of iniquity. True faith is in Christ finished
work. But understand this, true faith
comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And it's
by preaching, that which the world calls foolishness, the
foolishness of preaching, that God is pleased to save those
who believe. It was God of His own will who
beget us, who born us, through the Word of Truth. We are born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible seed,
which is the Word of God. Saving faith consists of knowledge. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. Salvation is knowing Christ,
not knowing some things about him, knowing him. A man cannot
believe what he does not know. And you've got to know some things
about yourself, something about your own condition, something
about your own character, something about your own sin. When the
publican came to Christ for mercy, he knew that he needed mercy
because he was a sinner. That thief on the cross pleaded
for mercy, for he knew that he was getting what he deserved.
Now, I don't want what I deserve. I want mercy. To get what I deserve
is justice, but I want mercy. Justice is that Christ died in
my room instead. He who was perfect, he who was
without sin, took my sin upon himself and he paid the debt
in full. And God was fully satisfied. Without believing that, without
faith, it's impossible, impossible to please God. Faith in the one
who loved me and gave himself for me. Faith in the one who
died the just for the unjust that he might bring me to God.
That's where my faith must be. In the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
is to know whom you have believed. You cannot trust an unrevealed
Savior. True faith is to know Christ. how He is revealed in the Scriptures,
in God's Word. And it's to be persuaded that
God is able to do all that He has promised. It's to believe
that God is God, and that God is able to do exceedingly and
abundantly above all that we could think or ask, and that
He is a rewarder. a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him. Now let me let you in on this. Christ is our reward. If you're
looking for rewards up in heaven, you'll be disappointed. Matter
of fact, if you're looking for rewards up in heaven, you probably
won't be there. Christ is our reward. Heaven
is heaven because the Lord Jesus Christ will be there. I'm not
going to be looking for mansions and streets of gold and gates
of pearl. I'm going to be looking for scars
in the hand of a man, and that man is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There's a man sitting on God's
throne, and his name is Jesus Christ. And listen to me when
I tell you, this is the only thing that will bring about life
eternal to you. There's no life apart from this. If thou shalt believe, have faith. That's what we're talking about.
Without this faith, it's impossible to please God. If thou shalt
believe, have faith in thine heart that God raised him from
the dead, and confess with thy mouth Jesus Christ be Lord, he's
Lord, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart, now listen,
for with the heart, a man believeth under righteousness. It's with
the heart. It's by faith. That's what faith
is. It's believing from the heart.
Under righteousness, that Christ provided that perfect righteousness
that I need in order to be accepted of God. My righteousness, filthy
rags. Non-existent. God won't accept
it. It's not perfect. My righteousness,
filthy rags. His righteousness, perfect. He
was made to be sin that I might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. It all comes back to Him, Jesus
Christ. For with the heart, man believes
unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made
unto salvation. Oh, I pray today that the Lord
has shown you that. That the Lord has shown you Himself. The Lord has divinely intervened
and revealed to you that there is no life apart from Jesus Christ. If you have the Son, you've got
life. And if you have not the Son,
you don't have life. It's just that simple. Believe
on Christ and thou shalt be saved. And the child of God will tell
you, Lord, I believe, I believe, but help thou my unbelief. 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.