After this, our purpose in this
world is for one thing, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to
further the gospel through the preaching of it. To proclaim
the gospel is the mission of the church. And by the preaching
of the gospel, the saints of God are comforted, they're edified,
they're built up in the faith. And by the preaching of the gospel,
The dead are called to life by the preaching of the gospel.
God, the Holy Spirit, gives life and faith in Christ. And so we're
about this business. And I'm thankful for this medium
that we have, this ability now to convey the gospel over the
Internet. I know that I miss every one
of You that are at home, I miss you greatly. I miss our fellowship. But remember, our Lord is working
this as well as all things for our good. And if one thing this
does, I know this, it gives us the appreciation for worship,
doesn't it? That fellowship that we enjoyed
for so long, we take it for granted, and now that it's taken from
us, It causes us to see the importance of it, doesn't it? I miss you.
I miss them that are not with us. So we'll pray that God would
bless those who are sick, that God would raise up those that
He will, and that God will restore the worship service, that God
will restore our fellowship together. We might meet again. We'll pray
to that end. Remember, us in your prayers
uh... sheryl has not been feeling well
pray for her uh... pray for our family don't know
if she has any of the virus or anything we just she feels bad
so pray for her i pray that uh... above all that the gospel would
go out in power of the spirit and that's i'm confident this
the spirit of god will use his word he'll apply his word he
promised he will And as we meet even by this, I know that He
is still present among us as we worship Him. So let's pray
for these things. Let's go to Him in prayer. Our
gracious Father in heaven, we come before Thee in the name
of our blessed Redeemer, Thy Holy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We only come in His name. We only confess His blood and
righteousness as all our acceptance before You. The only reason you
should hear our prayers is the merits of His blood and righteousness,
and we give you praise and honor and glory for your hand of mercy
that has given us life and faith in Him. It is our desire, Father, that
you continue to bless us with life and faith, that you give
us, Father, the grace, the fruit of Thy Spirit. And I know that
you use your word. I know that you use the preaching
of your gospel to comfort your people. I do pray this morning
you would, wherever this gospel is preached, by whomever you
have sent, that you would use all of your men, that you would
use us for the furtherance of this gospel, for the comfort
and edification of your people. During this time of great trouble,
great fear, I pray that you would calm the hearts of your children
knowing this, you are in sovereign control of all things. When the heathen says, where
is thy God? We gladly confess our God is
in the heavens and hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. I pray this morning you would
bless the message, bless the ministry, bless your gospel.
Help those who are sick, Father, please. I do pray that this is
a passing pandemic. I pray, Father, that You would,
by Your mercy, give grace and healing, that You would give
the doctors wisdom. I know that they have no wisdom
except You give it. They have no knowledge or understanding
except You allow it. And there is no ability to overcome
this without Your hand of healing. You are to be praised. You are
to be honored. Christ is to be magnified. Man
is to be abased. Give us such grace to do so,
even through the preaching of your gospel and the power of
the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. Forgive us our sins, which are
many. Bless those who have need of
healing this morning. I think of Cheryl and Don and
others who are suffering great sickness. J.D. I pray for him,
I pray for Tony and Deborah, that you would bless them according
to your mercies. These things we ask in the name
of our blessed Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and for the glory
of Christ, I pray. Amen. All right, again, take
your Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews
chapter 11. Let's read again this verse 38
down through verse 1 of chapter 10. Now, after Paul has declared
the gospel of Jesus Christ, that Christ has offered Himself once, that Christ, our great High Priest,
has perfected forever them that are sanctified, now that God
has given us His covenant of grace, and by the power and demonstration
of the Spirit of God, they had believed on Him. The Apostle says, now, now that
faith has come, now that God the Spirit has given you the
ability to understand and to believe on Christ, he says, now
the just, those that are justified before God, those that are justified
shall live by faith. Faith. And that's the title of
our message this morning. Faith. Faith. These that Paul was dealing with,
these Hebrew believers that he was speaking to were persuaded,
were being pressured by their family, by their friends, by
their religious associates to turn back. They were pressured. They were being persecuted by
their own family members. They were being tempted to return
back to that old covenant, that old dispensation of worship. These early believers, they were
under much tribulation and suffering because of their faith in Christ. They were feeling confused. They were feeling the pull and
temptation of the flesh to ease their pain and suffering. But
remember that Christ had promised before this suffering. When a
man believes in Christ, we know this, that it does not get better
in the flesh. It does not get better. Things
do not all of a sudden Everything goes well for a believer. No,
it's just the opposite. Our Lord said this, Think not,
I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. For I am come to set a man at
variance against his father, and the daughter against her
mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foes shall be they of his own house. When a man believes
in Christ, you can bet this, if his family is not a believer
in Christ, they will oppose him in every way possible. He said this in John chapter
16. He said, I speak these things that you should not be offended.
Listen, believer, don't be offended by persecution, by trouble, by
difficulty. Don't be offended by these things,
Jesus said. He said, they're going to come
and take you out of the synagogues, and there's a time they're going
to kill you and think they're doing God a service. If you're a believer in Christ,
remember, you have this promise, not of peace in the world, but
persecution. Difficulty, troubles, sufferings. That's the promise given to every
believer in Christ. Jesus said in John 15, the world
shall hate you. Isn't that something? And I know this, we're surprised
when they hate us, aren't we? We're surprised. Why would anyone
hate this wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ? This wonderful
message of salvation accomplished, redemption applied, the salvations
of the Lord. Who would deny such a great Gospel
as this? And yet the world does. Jesus
said they would. He said in John 16, 33, in this
world you shall have what? Tribulation. Tribulation. Suffering. All believers in Christ
will deal with problems while we remain in this world. The
world and its system are set against us. It hates our Lord.
It hates His gospel. And it will hate you. And the fact is, we're suffering
this pandemic, this disease, this virus that is now spreading
all over the globe. Tell men this, God has done this. And see if you're not despised.
You make no mistake, God has done this. God does everything. God is ruling
over all things, and men hate this gospel. They hate this.
And every believer must remember that we are not exempt from suffering. None of us are exempt from any
suffering in this world. And therefore, Paul encourages
these believers. He said, listen, now, this is
how we who believe are to live. This is how we are to live. We
are to live not by law, But by faith, the just shall live by
faith. Just as you have begun this walk,
how did you begin this walk with Christ? How did you begin this
life of being a disciple of Christ? It was by faith. And he said,
that's how you're going to continue to live. Continue to live by
faith. That's how the justified live.
Paul is reminding all believers where their faith came from.
And if their faith is true faith, listen, if your faith this morning
is true faith, it will always continue. Why? The just shall
live by faith. Over in Colossians, I'll read
this, you don't have to turn there, but Colossians chapter 1, Paul
is talking about how Christ was made peace by the blood of His
cross. He says in verse 21, "...and you were sometimes alienated
to enemies in your mind by wicked works. Yet now He hath reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in His sight." Now what is the evidence that you
have been reconciled? How do we know we are reconciled?
Listen, one word, faith. Faith in Christ. Paul said in
verse 23, this is true of you, if you continue in faith, grounded
and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.
Isn't that what Paul says back in our text? The just shall live
by faith, and if any man go back, if any man leave the faith, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. What does Paul say of true
believers? He said, but we are not of them
that draw back to perdition. but of them that believe to the
saving of their soul." Spiritual life, friends. Spiritual life
is given to everyone that believes. What's that called in Scripture?
It's called the new birth, isn't it? The new birth. Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And no person
that has ever been born again is without faith in Christ. Isn't that right? And no person
that has faith in Christ is without spiritual life by the power of
the Holy Spirit. These two things come together.
When a man is born again, these two things come at once. Both
life and faith come together. This life that we now have in
the body, Paul says, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Be understanding of this. Your
faith actually did not obtain righteousness. Your faith does
not merit righteousness. It does not merit redemption.
Your faith simply receives what the faith of Christ has already
merited in our stead. Paul says, Romans 3, 22, "...even
the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ."
You see how righteousness is obtained? Righteousness is obtained
by the faith of Jesus Christ. "...unto all and upon all them
that believe." That righteousness then is received by faith. And this faith, this life, a
gift of God and His sovereign grace Ephesians 2 in verse 8
for by grace you are saved through faith and that faith is not of
yourself that salvation is not of yourself and that faith is
not of yourself it is a gift of God not of works lest any
man should boast so then if we have Life and faith,
it is generated in us. We did not generate this faith
by our will. Let that sink in. Your faith
was not generated by your will. Just as your spiritual life was
not generated by the will of man. You remember John chapter
1 and verse 12? As many as received Him. That's
faith, isn't it? Receiving Him. The just shall
live by faith, as many as received Him. To them gave He the right
to be called the sons of God, which were born, not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God." So this morning, do you believe
on Jesus Christ? Now what does Paul say about
those who believe on Christ, those who believe in Christ?
What does he say? Now the just, those who are justified, they live by faith, always by
faith in Christ. If you're here today and you're
without faith, I'm telling you, you're without Christ. You're without righteousness,
you're without hope. You have no merit before God.
You have no standing before God. You are lost in your sins. But
I have great news for those who have no faith. Listen. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. This is
an emphatic promise given by God Himself. And this word of faith requires
nothing from you. Isn't this an amazing thing?
This requires no merit. People say, well, I need to get
to a certain point before I believe. No, you don't. That doesn't require
anything. It doesn't require you to get
to a certain... You say, well, I just don't feel like I'm...
No, it requires nothing of feeling. No merit from you whatsoever.
It requires nothing. Simply to understand your need
of Christ. Simply to understand you are
a sinner without hope of ever saving yourself. And it is that
that moves us to faith in Christ alone. This is something the
Spirit of God does for everyone. You remember that brazen serpent
in the wilderness? Everyone was bitten by those
fiery serpents. That was a sentence of death.
You know, they didn't get... I'm sure a bunch of people got
together and got some snakeologists together. They started analyzing
this venom, trying to figure out how to make it. Just like
they're doing with this virus they're doing, getting all this...
Yeah, they got together and they tried to get a cure for this. But there was a cure. God sent
a cure, and God said to Moses, make a brazen serpent, stick
it on a pole, and everyone that looks lives. Very simple thing,
isn't it, to look? Look. The only thing it took was faith
in the Word of God. you would actually have to believe
God's Word to look. Otherwise, you would have been
looking to man, looking to the remedies of man. But those that
looked, what happened? They lived. That's faith, isn't
it? It's believing the Word of God
and looking to the Son of God to believe on Him. Well, if faith
is so necessary, and it is, If the just shall live by faith,
only those who believe are justified, and only those who are justified
live by faith. Faith is necessary. You must
believe. No one is going to believe for
you. You must believe. It's necessary for one to be
accepted and to be saved. The question then is this, what
is faith? What is faith? If I must believe,
then what is it? What does it mean? Well, Paul
doesn't leave us without an explanation of what faith is, and that's
founded in verse 1 of chapter 11. Look at that. Here's the
definition. And you know, before I begin
in this, I want you to understand, I'm talking to believers. I am
talking to you who don't believe, yes. But mainly this morning,
I want to talk to you who do believe, who profess faith in
Christ. I know this, we doubt. Believers know more than anybody
faith is necessary, don't we? We know faith in Christ is necessary.
Many times we doubt even if we have faith. We doubt our faith. The circumstances, the troubles
of life come in on us, and we begin to doubt and fear whether
we are believers at all. We've become like Asaph. He said,
look, I know God's good to Israel, but I don't know if He's good
to me. My sin is too great. How then could God, my unbelief
is so great, how can I even call it faith? And so we doubt and
we fear. To those who are tempted like
these people to draw back, I'll tell you what, faith in Christ
is a hard life, isn't it? It's a life of suffering. It's
a life of trouble. It's an isolated life, isn't
it? It's a life where everybody isolates you and disregards you. The world doesn't want you. It's
a lonely life. It's a life of temptation where
the flesh is constantly tempting us to go back to sin, constantly
tempting us to go away from Christ. I'm preaching to you. And my
purpose this morning in this message is to comfort you. I want you to know if your faith
is real. I do. I want every one of us
this morning to examine our faith. If faith is necessary and only
the just shall live by faith, then I desire to know this. Is
my faith real? Is it of God? Or am I just pretending? You know those disciples, they
questioned their faith, didn't they? When Jesus said, one of
you shall betray me, they all came to him and said, is it me?
Am I going away? Is my faith empty? Sometimes we feel that way. But I want God to comfort you
this morning. Now, Paul gives us a definition
then of faith. What is it? Faith is. Now faith
is. Here it is. Faith is the substance,
the ground, the foundation, and confidence. You want confidence? Faith is the confidence of what? Things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Faith is that which the justified
live by, and it is the grounds and foundation and proof of all
things not yet grasped. What is promised to you? You
who believe in Christ, what is promised to you? It's promised
this, that you are a holy people. You are a holy people. God hath
made you holy by giving you a new nature. Now then, let me know
if you've experienced holiness. Have you experienced holiness?
Have you yet grasped what real holiness is? Can you look in
the mirror and say, there's somebody holy? You can't. You can't because
that old nature is still with you. Things that are hoped for. Eternal life. I don't know what
it is to experience eternal life. Andrews asked me this, what is
heaven like? Son, I can't tell you I've never
experienced it. I can tell you what God says
about it, and I believe what God says about it. I'm anticipating
to receive everything that God has said I should receive, but
I've not yet received it. So what is then the grounds of
what you hope for? How do you expect to have holiness? How do you expect to have eternal
life, peace with God? How do you expect all these things?
You don't feel them, you don't experience them, they don't seem
to be grasped. How do we know that they're real?
Faith lays hold of them as grounds for my hope. Faith is the grounds of what
we are hoped for, what we expect, and the proof of things not yet
tangible. And only then the justified live
by faith. Therefore, faith is essential
to being just. You can't be justified if there's
no faith. If a man has faith in anything
that is seen, it's not faith. You see a man bow down to a statue,
you know what he has? He doesn't have faith. Not real
faith. Why? Faith is looking forward
to things hoped for, anticipated, not things seen. Paul says, look, if you hope
for something and you see it, why do you hope for it? I mean, Audrey's sitting right
here. Audrey, if I said, well, you know, I just hope you'd be
here. Well, that would be foolish. She's sitting right here. Now,
if she was coming from somewhere, then I could say, I hope to see
her, I anticipate to see her. That's future things. Faith looks
forward to future things. What God has promised and not
yet fully realized. And so this is how we live in
this world, by faith. the just shall live by faith
now god's word tells us this plainly in order for a man to
be accepted of god he must be holy he must be holy be ye holy
even as i am holy i was reading article of uh... uh... very prominent
woman that uh... they said that she's been Robert Kennedy's great-granddaughter.
She was lost out in the lake, her and her son. You know what
I read about her? She joined the Peace Corps, and
she had a whole bunch of good things that she did in her life.
Now that's good for us. We would say that's a good person,
right? Well, what does it do for her in relationship to God?
Nothing. If she is not as holy as God,
she will be cast into eternal darkness. If you are not as holy
as God, you will be cast out into eternal darkness. And hell,
if I am not as holy as God, then I would be cast out into eternal
darkness. The standard is perfection, friends. That's God. God demands it. Without a pure heart, no man
shall see God. What does this mean? What does
it say for us? It says this, all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All of us have. None of us are exempt from
sin. We all are born sinners. None righteous, no, not one. None that doeth good. There's none. So how then can
you say faith justifies or makes a man innocent? That's what justification
means. It means that a man is completely
without sin. That's what it is to be justified.
It is not to be as though you were without sin. It means that
you are without sin. If a man's justified... God's
not pretending, is He? When a man's justified, when
God says you're justified, He's not pretending that that man
is without sin. That man is without sin. He's justified before God.
How then could one unrighteous and unholy be justified? Made
holy. Go over to Romans chapter 4.
We use Abraham as an illustration. Paul does here in Romans chapter
4. He uses Abraham. Abraham was a sinner, just like
we are. Yet the Scripture is going to tell us that this man
was made righteous. Look at verse 21. Abraham being
fully persuaded that what God had promised He, God, was able to perform. And therefore, it, faith, being
fully persuaded in the promise of God, it was imputed to Him
for righteousness. This testimony of Abraham was
written for our learning as to how an unjust man may be just. And that comes by one means,
faith. Abraham, it said, he believed
God. He believed the Word of God. Now, what was the Word of
God? It was concerning Isaac. Isaac was to be the one by which
Christ would come. So his faith was not necessarily
in Isaac, but rather in the Word concerning Jesus Christ. He believed
in Christ. That's what Jesus said of Abraham.
Abraham rejoiced to see my day and saw it and was glad. He believed
in Christ. And what was the result of this?
The righteousness of God was charged to his account, imputed
to him. How? Only through faith. He believed God. He believed
the promise concerning God. We know this by verse 2 of chapter
4. If Abraham were justified by
works, he have whereof the glory, but not before God. What saith
the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted to him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted to him for righteousness." Abraham, listen,
he wasn't justified by works. Abraham's work was amazing. You
understand that? He took His only Son and was
willing to kill Him because God told Him to. Who of us can say that? Who of
us can say that we have that kind of faith? That was strong
faith, wasn't it? But it was not by His work
of offering His Son that He was righteous. It was simply by believing
on Christ, believing the Word of God. Now, if any of you would
be righteous before God, it must be by faith and not by works. If any man works for salvation,
it is not of grace but of debt. Man, because of what man is by
nature and what he does by nature, he could never do enough. You
understand that? You could never do enough to
be justified, whatever it is. Name what you think God requires
of you and then go do it and tell me if it's enough. It'll
never be enough. Because sin is mixed with all
we do. This is why righteousness does
not come by works, it comes by faith. There's nothing we can do to
pay the debt. You understand that? Nothing we can do to pay
the debt. Nothing you can do can pay the
debt. Sacrifice and offering, thou
wouldest not. Why? Because there is no sacrifice
you can make to make you acceptable with God. We are sinners by birth,
sinners by choice, and we love sin more than we love light. We love darkness more than we
love light, by nature. And it is only then through faith
that a man could be justified before God. And that faith then,
if it is faith, if faith is the grounds of all we hope for, then
listen, I want you to understand this, faith is not the end-all,
but rather the object of one's faith that is necessary. Many people have faith in their
faith. You realize that? Many people believe in their
faith. But what does that mean? That
means their faith has an object of their faith. The object of
their faith is their faith. Buddhists, they have faith, don't
they? They have faith in who? An object,
Buddha. Islamics have faith in Muhammad. Atheists have faith in themselves, in their science or whatever.
They have faith in what some man told them. They have faith. But none of these will obtain
righteousness. None of these whose object is
other than Jesus Christ has any righteousness. If your faith
does not end in the object of Jesus Christ, you have no hope.
If the object of your faith is not Christ, then I want you to
understand this, it is not of God. Your faith is not of God. Now listen, I also want you to
understand that if your faith is in Christ plus something,
it is not of God. True faith only has one object,
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That is the object of true God-given
faith. Back in Romans 4, 23, it says,
"...Now it is not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
to him, but also for us, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe
on him that raised up the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, who
hath delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our..."
what? "...justification." It is faith in the One that was
delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification.
It is faith in none other than Christ alone. For the Scriptures
are clear, there is none other name given among men whereby
we must be saved. Faith in Christ alone is the
only means by which a sinner may be justified before God.
Faith. And so now then we see the necessity
of faith, don't you? The just shall live by faith. But I want you to know that there are three types of faith
among professing Christians. Three types of faith. Two of which are not true faith. Well, pastor, you mean that a
person can believe on Christ and it not be of God? Yes. Yes. I'll give you an illustration
of this in John chapter 8. You remember, the Scripture says,
"...and many believed on him." And right next, Jesus begins
to tell them, He said, "...if you are my disciples,
Continue in My Word, and the truth shall set you free." And
you remember what they said? They were offended at that. They
were offended at that. They said, we're not in bondage
to any man. They rejected the Word of God.
Now, they had faith, but it was not of God. It was not of God. And so I'm talking to the physical
church, those who make professions of faith in Christ, And seeing faith as necessary
and essential to salvation, I pray this morning that we would all
examine our faith. Faith is necessary. And those
who truly believe, those who have faith given of God, they
are justified. But if faith is the grounds and
substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen,
I want to know this. Is my faith real and genuine? I'm going to give you three types
of faith. But first, I need you to go to Matthew chapter 13.
And this is a parable the Lord used that would illustrate these
three different types of faith. If you look in verse 3, And He
spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower
went forth to sow. And when he sowed, some seeds
fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them
up. Some fell on stony places, where
they had not much earth. And forthwith they sprang up,
because they had no deftness of earth." Now then, we understand
this. The sower is the man preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's
what I'm doing this morning. I'm preaching the gospel of Christ.
And I'm casting this seed, as it were, to venture. I don't
know where it's going to land. I don't know what God is going to do
with this Word when I preach it. I just cast it. Every time
I stand up, I just throw it out, and God the Spirit will direct
it. Now, some of it lands on people that are hard, and they
don't receive anything. They don't care for it, they
don't want it, and it bounces off of them. The fowl of the
air, Satan comes and devours it. Those people don't have any
faith at all. But here's another one. He said, Some fell on stony
places. didn't have much earth, and they
sprang up, and they had no deftness of earth." What does that mean?
Verse 6, "...and when the sun came up, they were scorched,
and because they had no root, they withered away." What does
this mean? Verse 20, look at this, Jesus tells us what it
means. Verse 20, He said, "...they that received the seed on stony
places, The same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth
it." He believes it. He hears the word of God, and
he receives it. He believes it. He said, yeah,
that's the truth. I believe what that man said. Yet he hath no
root in himself, but endureth for a while. For when tribulation
or persecution arises because of the word, he is by and by
offended. This is the first type of false
faith. It is temporal faith. Temporal faith. This kind of
faith springs up as though it would set the world on fire.
One receives the seed of the gospel in some kind of trouble. Go out and you take the hard
ground and you scratch a little bit of the earth there and you
put some grass seed In it and you know it it may spring up
you try to put a tree in in a little patch that's just barely broken
up and It won't grow because the roots won't make it down.
I And when the sun comes out, that tree is going to be burned
up because it can't receive any nourishment or life. This is
what it is with the man. He's in trouble. He has some
difficulties in his life, and the soul, the surface of his
heart is scratched up by these troubles. And he hears the Gospel
of Christ, and he likes it. Eternal life. Who doesn't want
to live forever? Who doesn't want to have peace?
Who doesn't want to have joy? Those things sound wonderful,
so he receives it. But his faith is self-generated. His faith is only in the old
nature. And what happens when the trouble
comes, when trials come? I told you when you believe in
Christ, it's going to be suffering, it's going to be hardships, it's
going to be trials and difficulties. And so when that comes to this
kind of believer, what ends up happening? He's offended by it. He said, I thought you said Christ
loved me. I thought you said that He's
going to do good for me, and here I am suffering. And they just go away.
They're like these Jews Paul was talking about in the text.
They received the Word. They loved the results of salvation,
but had no root, no life. And so it is in our day. Many
say they're born again, and yet it's not. long before they go
back into their old life. No change. No change. I remember a woman, she hated the gospel, despised the
gospel, didn't want to be here, didn't want to hear the word
of God. She got into an automobile accident. And as she was laying
there on the concrete, I heard others tell how she prayed and
cried out to God, knowing she would go to hell if she died.
And she was stared up. And then she said, you know,
I'm going back to church. I'm going to hear the Word of
God. And you know how long that lasted? A few weeks. And she's right back where she
was before the accident. What was this? This is one of
those stony ground hearers that hear it only for temporal and
benefits of the flesh. But all true faith is not temporal. Isn't that what Paul says? He
says we, the just, go back to your text. Look at verse 38 in the previous
chapter, "...the just shall live by faith, and if any man turn
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him." His faith is not real.
But we are not of them that turn back. Anyone that turns back,
I want you to understand this, is not a true believer. Their
faith was vain. It was a product of their own
will and determination and not of God. I want you to understand,
if you turn back, I want you to know your faith is not real.
Your faith is not of God. The second type of faith is what
one person called historical faith. This is found in verse
7. Look at Matthew 13 again in verse
7. This is the thorny ground here.
Matthew 13 in verse 7, it says, And some fell among thorns, and
the thorns sprang up, and choked them. And this is revealed in
what this means in verse 22. He also that receives seed among
thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of the world,
and the seedfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes
unfruitful. This person now is one who receives
this seed like into the ground, and it grows up. It starts to
grow up, and it looks just like a fruitful tree. He looks just
like a real believer. He goes to church. He acknowledges
the Gospel to be true. He acknowledges Christ's sacrifice
and death. He acknowledges even the accomplishment
of riches. He has good doctrine. He has
all the right words. But there's something wrong with
this man's faith because all of the cares of this life, he
sets above the Gospel of Jesus Christ. cares of riches, the
cares of family, the cares of friends, the cares of status,
the cares of fame. He said the thorns grow over
the seed and block out the sun of righteousness. It chokes the Word. The cares
of this life are more concerned to Him and the approval of men are His
aim. They long only to please their
flesh and fulfill their lusts rather than bow to Christ and
obey His Word and believe on Him." They choke the Word. And
now these people don't necessarily go away into wickedness, but
these people go away into false religion. The thorns of self-righteousness,
the thorns of the law, they choke the Word. The Word is simple,
isn't it? Paul said, I pray that you be not moved from the simplicity,
the singleness of Christ. But religion brings in the thorns
of works, the thorns of progressive sanctification, the thorns of
obeying the law. And what does that do? It chokes
the Word. I remember one man, a Catholic,
I was talking to him about the Word, and I just quoted the Scriptures,
and you know what he quoted? Traditions. The traditions of
the Father. What does that do? He would choke
the Word with his traditions. That's what these men do. It's
not real faith. You see, friends, it's not what
we believe about Jesus that saves us. The things we know, Historical faith trusts in what
they know about the Scriptures and about Christ, but do not
have a personal, intimate relationship with the living God. In John chapter 2 and verse 23,
it says, Now when he was at Jerusalem at Passover the feast day, many
believed in his name. When they saw the miracles. You
see, their faith was in what they saw. The experience they
had. How many people believe because of some experience? They
trust in some experience. But Jesus said He did not commit
Himself because He knew. He knew all men. He knew that
these weren't true believers. And this morning I want to ask
this. Is your faith in what you know about Christ or is your
faith in Christ? Is your faith in your knowledge
of doctrine or your faith is in Christ? Do you know about
Him or do you know Him? True believers know Him. He said, I know my sheep and
am known of them. His people know Him. Not just
something they heard about Him. They know Him. Do you know Him? Do you believe Him? Do you trust
Him? So then, the last one is this,
true saving faith. This last type of faith is true
saving faith. I have many things to say concerning
true faith, but I've got three things to say. I want you, this
is the meat of it right here. This is the bread and butter
of the message. True faith. What is true faith? I want you to know three things
about true faith. True faith is a gift of God. If you have
true faith, you recognize this to be true. It is a gift of God's
grace. The second thing you know is
that true faith has only one object, Jesus Christ and Him
crucified and nothing else. True faith sets all of his soul
on one person and his work alone. And thirdly, true faith always,
always continues and produces fruit. Always. First of all,
it is a gift of God. In that passage in Matthew, it
says this, "...there some seed fell on good ground and brought
forth fruit, some sixty and some thirtyfold." And you know this.
These are the people that God says who receive the seed on
good ground. He said, "...they receive the
seed on good ground. He is he that heareth the word, understandeth
it, which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth an hundred
and sixty and thirtyfold." Now, true saving faith is a gift of
God. Now, who prepared the soil? Did the soil prepare itself? The farmers sit out at home on
their porch drinking iced tea, saying, The ground will always
prepare itself and then I'll go cast a seed on it and it'll
just grow. No. It must be prepared. The ground
must be pulled. The thorns have to be pulled
up. The stones have to be pulled up. The hardness has to be broken.
This is the work of the Spirit of God. This is what we call
pervenient grace. That grace that goes before the
planting of life in the soul. God breaks up the soil. What
is this? He makes a man begin to understand
his need. Christ is sin. He breaks his
heart. He breaks his heart. This is a gift of God that he
breaks. You know, if you're brokenhearted
about sin, I want you to know that's a blessing. It's a gift. Joseph Hart said it wonderfully. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost hath made him one. Holy Ghost reveals who you are.
This is the breaking of the ground. And then God sends a man. God
sends a man to preach the Gospel to you, and He sends out that,
and that seed just happens to land at the right time and the
right place in your heart, and you receive it by faith, and
you have life in yourself. If you're here today and know
Jesus Christ your only Savior, it is only that by the grace
of God. This is the work of God. Faith
is the work of God. It is by the unmerited favor
of God. You and I did not earn favor
with God to look upon us with mercy or kindness. We did not
muster up spiritual life by our good works or obedience. But
one day, God came in mercy. And out of all the people that
heard that gospel that day, out of all the people that heard
that gospel and did not believe, you did. Why is that? You get a crowd
of people together, they all hear the same message and yet
not all of them believe. Why? Only those that believe
it is by the grace and power of God alone they believe. That the dead soul is quickened
by the Holy Spirit and applying the Word, and at that moment,
he is justified. That believer is justified before
God. And how does he live from that
moment on? He lives by faith. That is the
grounds of my hope of eternal life, is faith in Christ alone. This is the work of God. John
Flavel said this, the soul is the life of the body, and faith
is the life of the soul, and Christ is the life of faith. The spiritual life only comes
from God, and this life never comes without faith. There's no true saving faith
without both life and faith. These come together. If you're
without Christ, you're lost. And I tell you right now, cry
to God for mercy. Pray that God would give you
faith. You say, well, I have and He hasn't given me faith.
Well, keep asking. Keep asking. Keep pleading. When God gives you faith, I know
this, you'll look to Christ and you'll look to Him alone. And
you'll know this, that salvation is by His grace. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself. Any
man running around boasting in his will that gave him faith,
that man has no faith. His faith is a product of himself.
But our faith is a gift of God. Secondly, faith has one object,
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul said, "...there is neither
salvation in any other, for there is none other name given among
men whereby we must be saved." Faith looks only to Christ. This
morning I'm asking you, what's your object of faith? What is
your hope for eternal life? How do you anticipate to be accepted
with God? True faith has one object, and
that is Jesus Christ alone. Period. Nothing added. No works
of mine, no merits of my own. Only Christ. Only Christ is the object of my faith. This is the only name by which
we are saved. Jesus proclaimed Himself to be
the straight and narrow gate, meaning He is the only way. He
said that, didn't He? He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to God except by
how? But by Me. The Gospel's narrow, isn't it,
friends? It's narrow. There's only one way to God.
Men are offended by that. You recognize that? I'm not offended
by that at all. I think this is the most wonderful
thing in all the world. Christ being the way. That salvation
was something purposed of God, planned of God, accomplished
by Christ, and then by grace applied to me and is kept by
God and not by me. Christ is the object of our faith.
Man must have this object of Christ and Him crucified and
risen from the dead, sitting at the right hand. Doesn't this
give you, you who have faith, doesn't this give you comfort
that He's seated at the right hand of God ever living to make intercession
for you? Isn't that securing? Since you sin, John says, little
children, sin not. And you should do everything
within your power not to sin. everything in your power not
to sin. But when you do, He said, look,
I know you're going to trial. I know you're going to give every
effort, but you're going to sin. Even when we don't sin, guess
what we do? We sin. I like the way Todd Nyber put
it. He said, you cannot not sin. Even when you're not sinning,
you're sinning. Here's my comfort in this. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation
for our sins and not ours only. Isn't this wonderful? But the
sins of all His saints of all the world. He's a propitiation
of not just my sins. If He could just barely do mine,
then I'd be afraid. But He's not just mine. He's
the sins of all His people. So surely He can handle mine.
He's the advocate. And there's the object of your
faith. If you have that object alone, that's true faith. And lastly,
true faith always continues. That's what Paul said in our
text, isn't it? He said, if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw
back under perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. Believing in Christ is not a
one-time experience, but a lifelong experience, isn't it? The only thing that matters about
true faith is, do you believe now? Isn't that right? Now is the only time that matters
about faith. Faith is present tense in the
Scriptures for a very important reason. Faith now is what matters. Do you believe now? Not, did you believe ten minutes
ago? Not, will you believe ten minutes from now? Do you believe
now? True faith always believes now. And now, and now, and now. And I'll tell you this, I know
you believers, we're plagued with unbelief, aren't you? I'm
plagued by it. My faith, I cannot look at my
faith. My faith has, at best, it seems
to be unbelief. My faith is so weak and is easily
tempted, is easily moved. But again, faith is not my object,
is it? Christ is my object and He is
not moved. And I know this, He will give
me faith. I believe! Lord, what? Help thou my unbelief. And you know what? He has. I
still believe. Isn't that right? There are times
where I haven't. But yet, somehow faith always
comes up. It's always brought. This is
because He keeps us. We are not of them that draw
back. Why? Because He keeps His people. I'll close with this. Go to 1 John chapter 5. 1 John chapter 5, look at verse
1. Now again, remember my question
at the beginning, do you have true faith? Well, false faith
always goes away. False faith is offended by the
Gospel. False faith is easily done away
with. False faith is historical and
sets the world above Christ and sets the objects of self and
self-righteousness in the place of Christ and His righteousness.
But true faith is by grace. It has one object, Jesus Christ,
and is a product of God's grace. Look at verse 1, "...whosoever."
And I said, I don't care who you are. You got that? It doesn't
matter who you are. It says, whosoever believeth,
has believed, is believing, and will believe that Jesus is the
Christ, anointed of God, accomplished redemption. That's what this
word Christ means. It means that He was chosen of
God to save His people. As Christ, He did save His people
and is ascended to heaven. He that believeth Jesus is the
Christ. is born of God. Everyone that
loveth Him that is begotten loveth Him also that is begotten of
Him. By this we know we love the children of God. When we
love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God.
That we keep His commandments. His commandments are not grievous.
What are these commandments? There are two. Love and what? Faith. I'll tell you this, faith worketh
by love. These two go together. When I
believe in Him, what do I do? I love Him. I don't only love
Him, I love you. You who believe in Him, I love
you. I love you because I love Him. And I love Him because what? I believe in Him. I believe in
Him because I'm born of God. And listen to what he says, those
who are born of God. Whosoever is born of God overcometh the
world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world. What is it? Even our faith. So true faith overcomes the world.
True faith in Christ always overcomes this. When you're doubtful and
you want to leave, what happens? You believe, and it overcomes
the temptation to leave. When you're tempted to add any
of your works to Christ, what happens? You believe, and that
does away with all of your temptations to add any works of your own.
When you're tempted to sin, what keeps you from sinning is this,
the love of Christ constraineth us. By looking to Him by faith,
it is then we are constrained from sin, from falling away. And whose work is this? Whose
work it is that keeps you? That keeps you from drawing back?
It is the work of God. Peter said that. He said we are
kept by the power of God unto salvation. Listen, ready to be
revealed at the last time. When He comes again, it's going
to be given. That thing faith hopes for, the grounds of my
hope of ever receiving full salvation is faith. And faith, friends,
is what? The evidence of things not seen.
You know, the only evidence then of you being one of God's elect. of you being justified before
God. What is the evidence? It is faith. And that faith is by grace. That
faith has one object, Jesus Christ, whom He crucified, and that faith
will always endure to the end. Jesus said that, He that endureth
to the end, the same shall be saved. See the importance of
faith? See, the importance of examine
yourself right now. Is your faith real? Is it genuine? Is it of God? If it is, you have
every cause to rejoice and no cause to complain. Is that right? What do you got to complain about?
If you have everything, what do you got to complain about?
If this is the God that saves you, is the God ruling all things,
Paul said, what shall we say to these things? If God be for
us, who can be against us? Isn't that just reasonable? And
how do you grab that? By faith. Well, I can't see it. That's all right. I don't need
to. Faith is the substance. Faith is the ground of my confidence
and the evidence of things I've not yet seen. Thank God for faith. Thank God
for His faith that obtained righteousness, and thank God for faith that
He has given every one of us by giving us a new nature, willing
to believe Him. I'm willing to believe Him, aren't
you? Faith is willing to believe Him. But how'd that happen? He
gave us a new heart, a new life. Would to God we were more thankful.
Wouldn't we be happier people if we were more thankful? We would be. We would be. Would God even give us thankful
hearts for this simple grace of faith? Let's pray and be dismissed.
Gracious Father, that one word, gracious, I cannot
express how gracious You really are To send Your Son to suffer Your holy wrath in the
stead of such vile creatures set against You. Accomplishing our salvation and
then applying it to us through faith. And Lord, we do pray that You
give us faith. If we have faith, we long for
faith to increase. And I pray for those who have
no faith, that you would give them not the false faith of the
stony or the thorny ground here, but prepare their hearts to receive
the gospel of Christ that they should see their need and believe
on Him. And all of this is by grace.
All of this is for the glory of Christ. And we know this,
that even now you are carrying us home through faith. The just
shall live by faith. I'm thankful that you've given
us such grace to live by faith and will until Christ comes again.
Forgive us our sins and watch over us, we pray in Jesus' name
and for His glory. Amen.