Hebrews chapter 11, and our text
will be found this morning in verses 8 and 9, regarding the
faith of Abraham. And the title of the message
this morning is, The Call and Obedience of Faith. The Call
and Obedience of Faith. The Scripture says, by faith,
Abraham, listen, when he was called, To go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance, listen, obeyed,
and went out not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned
in the land of promise as in a strange country, dwelling in
tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same
promise. Now, we've seen this in our study
of the book of Hebrews. We've seen that Jesus is the
fulfillment of all the scriptures. Of all the scriptures. That he
is both the high priest and the offering for sin, the sins of
God's people. He has by His own blood, by His
own work, obtained eternal redemption for us. He hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Those who are chosen of God,
Christ has redeemed. Those who are elect of God, Christ
has sanctified. He has perfected forever by His
one offering. Therefore, you, you who believe
on Christ, You are made righteous before God. All who trust our
souls to the salvation of Jesus Christ alone, you and I have
been washed thoroughly, thoroughly from all our sins. All our sins. sins past, sins present, and
sins future. all washed in the blood of the
Son of God. This is the eternal gospel, the
covenant of grace that God purposed before the world began, that
we, His holy people, should be holy and without blame before
Him, and that by Jesus Christ, we should be sons and heirs of
all heavenly blessings. By the means of His death, we
were bought, redeemed, perfected forever and yet. Yet, in the experience of time,
at the appointed time, God gave us a new birth. God gave us new life. We were born again. We, by nature, were born dead. But now, by the grace of God,
we are quickened by the Holy Spirit. We were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others, but God in grace, rich in mercy,
in love, quickened us from our spiritual death to spiritual
life. And what is the evidence of this
election, this redemption, this quickening? What is the evidence?
What is the evidence? It's important, isn't it? If
you desire to know you are washed, desire to know you are righteous,
listen, you are not going to be able to look at yourself and
figure that out. You're not going to wake up in the mirror one
day and say, oh yeah, look, there's a perfect man. That's not the
evidence. It'll never be the evidence. I know that's what
the old man keeps trying to look for, but it will never be the
evidence. The evidence according to the
Word of God is one thing, faith in Christ. That's the evidence. Look at that in the verse 1 of
11, now faith is. Here's what it is. It's the substance. It's the foundation of things
hoped for. Listen, the evidence, evidence
of things not faith is the grounds the evidence of our salvation
the object of true faith is the source of all our strength comfort
joy and peace it's not our faith that comforts us it is rather
the object of our faith that should comfort us faith itself
has an object And it is the object that is to give us the peace
of understanding and knowledge that we are saved. It is the
object that gives us comfort, not faith itself. We don't have
faith in faith. Faith is not the grounds of our
faith. Christ is the grounds of our
faith. Christ is the object of our faith.
And faith is the evidence that we are founded on Him. By faith,
we are justified. The object of our faith, not
our faith itself. The object of our faith justifies
us. Now, in our study of true faith,
and that's what we've been studying in Hebrews 11, the Apostle is
encouraging believers to continue in faith. You do not need that.
You and I need to be encouraged to continue in the faith. Now,
I know this, you are a true believer, you will not draw back. I understand
that. Yet, the Scriptures are clear
to give us encouragement to continue in it. Because we are oppressed,
we are afflicted, we are troubled on every side. And it doesn't
stop. How many of us think that, well,
if I can just get over this thing then... No, there's no then. There's going to be then another
wave. There's going to be then another
trouble. There's going to be then another
difficulty. There is no getting over this.
What gets us through this is faith in Christ. That's what
pulls us. That's what strengthens us against
the waves, against the trouble, against the difficulty, against
what we see and feel and think. Faith in Christ is the weapon,
is the shield that quenches all the darts of our enemy. Faith
in Christ. And so then in our study in true
faith, and that's what we've been studying, the apostle says
these elders look at that he said for by faith the elders
verse two obtained a good report these elders that went before
us are examples examples given to us in order to teach us something
about faith something about faith what true saving faith yes because
i have a desire to know i have true saving faith I don't want to just have any
old faith. There's a lot of faith running around in the world,
isn't there? A lot of different beliefs. But I don't want to
be deceived. I want to know if my faith is
genuine, if my faith is the real deal. Because my soul hangs in the
balance here. If my faith is not real, then
I have no hope. If your faith is not real, you
have no hope. I want to know. And so how can
I know? Because there's other men who
have obtained a good report. And this report is not of men,
but of God. Now that's a report I want to
know about. I want to know who obtained a good report concerning
faith according to God. Because that's really the only
one that counts. My opinion about your faith and your opinion about
my faith just don't matter. Matter of fact, I don't know.
I've had men ask me, well, am I a true believer? I don't know.
I can't tell you. Matter of fact,
I want to make sure my calling in election is sure. I can't
look into your heart and tell you what you are, what you're
not, but I can tell you by Scripture what it is. And then you take
your faith and compare it to Scripture. You compare it to
these men and see if your faith matches. Because they obtained
a good report of God. And if they obtained a good report
and my faith is identical to theirs, then I've got a good
report. And I've got true faith. So that's what he does with all
of these men. He's not highlighting the men.
He's highlighting their faith and the aspects, the different
aspects and benefits of true faith. Now Abel, he said, Abel
offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous. Who witnessed it? God testifying. You see that? God testifying that he was righteous. Abel offered
a more excellent sacrifice. Even so, we by faith who trust
in Christ, the perfect offering, are accepted of God, and we,
too, obtain a good report from God. If Christ is your offering,
then you have this. You're righteous. And I didn't
say it. Now, if I said it to you, it
don't matter. If God says it, then it matters. It's true. If Christ is your
offering, then you too, like Abel. Enoch, he said he walked
with God. He walked with God. He pleased
God. How? By faith. By faith, Enoch
was translated that he should not taste death, for he was not
found, because God translated him. For before his translation,
he had this testimony. Whose testimony? God's. He pleased
God. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. And then Noah, we read of him.
Noah by faith, Noah. Last week we did this one. Remember
it was the cause of Noah's faith. What was the cause of Noah's
faith? Noah found grace in the eyes of God. So what's the cause
of your faith? Is it grace or is it works? Noah obtained a
good report from God and his faith was by grace. So is that
yours? Then you got a good report. What
was the concern of Noah's faith? Judgment. Remember God warned
him of the judgment to come. Is that not the concern of your
faith? Were you not concerned about your sin and condemnation
before God? And what was the consequence
of this faith? He prepared an ark. What's the
consequence of true faith? We come to Christ. That's the
consequence of true faith. And what's the conclusion of
true faith? He was righteous. You see? This is our faith. Is that your faith? He obtained
a good report, and if that's your faith, you obtain a good
report. And so now we come down to this
one. We come down to this one. Abraham. Abraham. Now we know this, that Abraham,
he too obtained faith by the grace of God. We live in such a crooked and
perverse generation that believes faith is some product of man's
will. That God's grace is somehow common
to all men, and Christ's blood is commonly shed for all men,
and somehow man must exercise will in order to obtain faith. But God is very clear in His
speech that no man can come to Christ except God draw him. That's just plain Scripture.
If any man will come to Christ by faith, God Himself must draw
him. He must employ the same power
that it took to craze Christ from the dead. So your salvation,
this matter of your faith is no mere act of will. At least not your will. It is
an act of will, it's just not yours. It's God's. God's will. Faith in Christ is
a product of God's will, of Christ's blood, and of the Holy Spirit's
quickening power. So then, true faith in Christ
is always, always redounds to the glory of God. For the Scripture
has said this, Thy people shall be willing. You see, I was not willing to
believe on Christ alone. I was willing to believe Christ
plus something. I was always willing to do that.
I was always willing to be Christ plus my work, Christ plus my
will. I was always willing for that. But I was not willing to
see that I was totally, absolutely, and completely depraved without
hope. But in the day of His power. Thy people shall be willing when? In the day of Thy power. In the beauty of holiness. What
is that? That is the revelation of the
gospel. Christ is the beauty of holiness. From the womb of the morning,
that is the new birth. So now then, we'll see by Abraham's
faith, that though our salvation was purposed of God, our redemption
accomplished through Christ, and we were predestinated to
be conformed to the image of His Son, yet we all must experience
this. We all must believe. We all must come to Christ. This is not a ambiguous thing. This is not a thing that is a
perhaps or peradventure or maybe. Jesus said this, All that the
Father giveth me, you listen, shall, shall come to me. Shall come to me. They all will
come to Christ. But how? This matter of faith, this matter
of coming to Christ, we know it is by the power of God. But
how will God bring us to faith? How will this faith come? And
so as you examine your faith this morning, you want to look
at Abraham's faith and you want to see if your faith matches
his. How did you come to faith? To whom will this faith come? Look at your text. By faith, Abraham, when he was
what? Cold. There you go. Cold. This is how faith comes. By a calling. A calling. Our Lord, or the Apostle,
if you go over to Romans, you can read it with me, Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 28. We know this
very well. And we know that all things work
together for good. To them that love God, well,
who are those that love God? Here they are. To them who are
the called according to His purpose. The salvation of God's people
is not an accident, it's on purpose. God's purpose. And who are these
that God purposed? Listen. For whom He did foreknow,
He elected, He also did predestinate, He purposed to be conformed to
the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate
them, He also what? Called. Called. So everyone that God chose, everyone
that Christ died for, you listen, it is the purpose of God that
they all be called. Called. Abraham. Now Abraham, our example
here, was no different than any other man by nature. Matter of fact, he was probably
worse. He was a pagan. He was a pagan. He was raised in Ur of the Chaldees. He worshipped the gods of his
fathers. And he did not know the true
and living God until he was 75 years old. 75 years he had lived in paganism,
worshipping idols, statues of wood and stone, And yet we read this in his experience
in Genesis chapter 12, it says, now the Lord said unto Abram. Let me ask you, who called who? Who sought who in this scenario? We know this, the Lord called
Abram. Abraham did not seek after God,
he did not know God before God called him. And you pay close attention,
if God had never spoken to Abraham, he never would have known God. Is that ringing any bells? Is
that hitting close to home? If your faith is true faith,
you have this too. You understand this. Had God
not called me, I never would have called Him. Had He not revealed Himself to
me, I never would have sought Him. If God does not seek you
and reveal Himself to you, then you will never be able to know
Him and you will never be saved. You see, salvation comes by a
calling. It is not a human calling. It
is a divine calling. A divine calling. The Apostle
says, We are bound, brethren, to give thanks always to God
for you, beloved of the Lord, for God hath chosen you before
the foundation of the world. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth, which you were called by our
gospel. You were called by our gospel. Salvation, then, is by divine
calling. This surely is offensive to the
natural man, yet the Word of God is clear by this example
of Abraham, as well as the declaration of many scriptures. As it is
written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. The Scriptures are plain. Let a man be so brilliant, wise,
zealous, earnest, sincere as a man could possibly be in the
flesh. Let him desire as much as he
will by all his natural senses and abilities to know God. And he will never find out God
if God does not reveal Himself to man. This is because man is by nature
at enmity against God. Man hates God. And I tell you, the proof of
this is when men reject what I just said. You reject what
I just said, you reject Holy Scripture because you hate God. You despise God. I tell you of Christ, I tell
you of His perfect work, I tell you of His salvation, that it
is of God, and yet you still will not let go of your works,
your will, and your religion? Why? Because you are at enmity
against God. You won't let it go because God
hasn't spoken to you. It is a sobering thing, but it
is true. If God leaves a man alone, he
will die in his sins. But I tell you this, he is doing
exactly what a man wants him to do. Man says, God to God,
that kind of God leave me alone. I'll have nothing to do with
that man. I'll have nothing to do with an absolute God. I don't
want anything, I don't even want any part of Him. And God leaves
you to yourself. You'll die in your sins. Unless
God opens your eyes and speaks to you, speaks life into your
soul, you will never know Him nor will you know His salvation.
Now we know that God spoke to Abraham in a very unique way.
Audibly. That's all we've got. God spoke
to Abraham audibly. Now, at the very beginning of
the book of Hebrews in our study, we know this. God at sundry times
and in divers manners spake in time past to the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son.
He spake to them in many different ways. He used types and shadows
and pictures of the law and the testimony and the tabernacle
and the sacrifices and the priests. Those spoke. God spoke by that. That was the gospel. But He also
spoke to them in audible sense, in visions and in dreams. Some
of these old saints saw dreams and visions. They heard His voice. They saw the shadows and types. But now God speaks by different... He spoke by different experiences
then. But I tell you that there was
a common thread. to every time God spoke to a
man. Every time God called a man,
it was the same message. It was the same message and the
same means. It may have been a different
experience. In other words, like your experience and mine. God called
us. It was different than Paul's,
wasn't it? He had a different experience, an outward experience. He was actually writing and the
Lord actually appeared to him in person. But listen, when the
Lord came to you, you may not have saw Him physically, but
you may not have heard Him audibly, but I'll tell you this, you heard
the same message Paul heard. I am the Lord whom thou persecutest. I am the Lord. Isn't that the
message you heard from Christ? I am the Lord. I am the Son of
God. I am God manifest in the flesh. You hear the same message and
it's the same means you hear it. You hear it. Faith cometh
how? By hearing. And hearing by the
Word of God. Now the message that God speaks
in the hearts of all men is this, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Abraham
was told the gospel. He was spoken to when God called
him. He called him by promises. Isn't that what he said? He said,
get thee out from thy country and I will show thee a land.
I will make thee a great nation. And thy seed shall be a blessing
to all the earth. He made him a promise. A promise. Isn't that what the gospel is?
The promise of God? It is the promise of God. And here is the promise of God
to all that God reveals Himself. He said, I will show thee a land. You who have heard the gospel,
is that not what God showed you? This world and this flesh is
nothing but vanity. That's what God shows us. The pleasures of the flesh are
like chasing the wind. Like chasing the wind. There's
no fulfillment, there's no joy, no lasting peace, no satisfaction,
only an empty longing for more. That's what the Lord showed us.
He showed us the vanity of this land, of this flesh. And so men
try religion. He seeks to do better, live a
nobler and higher life. He changes his habits. He becomes
moral and religious. This too is vanity and vexation
of spirit. For how can a man who is a sinner
ever strive enough to please God? If God will ever speak to you,
He will first reveal to you something about your need. You see, Abraham, he revealed
that his land was not enough. And God said, I'm going to show
you a land that's enough. I'm going to show you a place
that's perfect. And not only show it to you,
I'm going to give it to you. I'm going to give it to you. Abraham's father had just died
when God called him. He saw that he too would soon
lie cold in the grave. He was made to know by the revelation
of God that his gods were not enough. Isn't that what God showed
you? That your gods were not enough?
That your works were not enough? That your ability was not enough?
Your religion was not enough? But here is the God of heaven and earth,
the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and He will show
you a land of promise. He will reveal to you how such
a sinner as you are may inherit a kingdom of eternal life and
glory. Is that what God showed you?
It's what He showed Abraham. He said, I'm going to show you
a land. A perfect land. Isn't that what the next few
scriptures are going to tell us? That Abraham looked for a
city. Why? Because God promised him
one. God promised him one. And He said, I'm going to make
of thee a great nation. See, sinner, God must make us
what we are not. When God calls you, He's going
to reveal to you a promise. I'm going to make you something
that you're not. Abraham was childless. His wife was barren. And he could
never make a great nation. He could never be a great nation. Yet this was the promise of God
in thee. thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed behold then the promise of God sinners
you in your own in yourself are only a great curse we are so wicked and vile that
all we could deserve is cursed that's all we could do But do you desire to be a blessing
instead of a curse? Do you long to be received and
accepted of God who is holy? Then God must make you something
that you are not. By nature, all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. God said in Isaiah 57, I will
declare thy righteousness and thy works. What is it? When God
declares your righteousness and your works, listen, this is what
God says, for they shall not profit thee. That's what I declare
about your righteousness and your works. God gives us a clear
view of what our righteousness does. Nothing but curse. Nothing but condemn. But see
how God will make the sinner something that is not by nature. He will create a new nature. This is what God
does when He calls a man. He shows him Christ. He promises him that he will
be a great nation. And we, like Abraham, are barren. We're fruitless. We can't be
a great nation in ourselves. We have no power, no ability
to be a great nation, God. How is it that You will make
us a blessing and not a curse? How is it that we shall be a
great people? Thy seed. in the seed, which is Christ. He must make us something that
we are not. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. This cannot be done,
for the day a righteous man sinneth,
he is forever a transgressor. But here is the hope for the
sinner, that whosoever God calls to life and faith in Christ,
He makes righteous. Makes righteous. The scripture
says we are created in Him. We are His workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. If God, this salvation, God doesn't
use the old man, isn't that wonderful? He doesn't use the old man in
any part of this. He doesn't make the old man better,
He creates a new man and imputes it and imparts it to us by His
power. God predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of his son who is the righteousness of God it stands
to reason and Especially concerning the promise of God that all he
had called to this state. He'll bring to it He'll bring
to it Behold the greatness then of
Christ's victory and of His righteousness, which He obtained by His faith
and obedience to the law of God as a man. This He did, so as
to obtain the righteousness of God as a representative for us. Therefore, God willing to make
His sons to be conformed to His image, He now through the calling of
grace to the sinner gives life and faith as he did Abraham. He called Abraham. He showed
Abraham. He made Abraham something he
wasn't. How? Through Christ. He called Abraham to faith in
Christ. When this word of God came to
Abraham, he said, I'm going to be thy shield and thy exceeding
great reward. The word of the Lord came to
him, and he said, this man that's in your house is not going to
be your heir, but there's one that's going to be your heir,
thy seed. Thy seed. He said, so shall thy
seed be as the stars of the heavens. And Abraham, listen, believed. in the Lord. And He counted it
to Him for righteousness. Have you been called of God like
Abraham? Have you been called to faith
in the seed? In the promise? To lay hold by
faith in something that you have not yet seen? Christ! That's a divine calling. That's
one who has true faith. And as sure as Abraham heard
the voice of God, even so does his word now speak to you. Behold the seed. You have no
righteousness. Behold, there is an heir, which
is Christ the Lord, the righteousness of God. And this righteousness
is imputed and imparted to all who believe. Abraham believed God and the
righteousness of Christ was given to him Even so it is with us
who are called of God This call of God by Abraham It was a direct
speaking of God to him, but I tell you this morning God is directly
speaking to you by his word God is directly speaking to you
by his word You see, when Abraham first received
this calling, Christ had not yet come. But now that Christ
has come, you have a clearer word than Abraham. You have a
clearer word than Abraham. Christ has come. Abraham only
had this, "...in thy seed." That's all he had. That was the message
God gave him. And Abraham, he cleaved to it
with all of his soul. Jesus said this. He said, Abraham
rejoiced to see my day and saw it and was glad. How did he see
it? By the hearing of faith. He heard God's Word. He heard
His promise of Christ and he believed. But I tell you, you've
got a more clear revelation than Abraham had. Jesus Christ the
seed has come he has already fulfilled all the promises of
God all the scriptures of God God has sent forth his son into
this world and now he sends forth his servants and and His servants
are His ambassadors. I am an ambassador of Christ. And do beseech you by Him, be
ye reconciled to God. For God hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him." Do you believe on the Son? Do you believe on
the Son? God has sent forth His men into
all the world to preach the gospel that he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned."
Do you believe the gospel? And we know that God has a people. I know God has an elect people. I know Christ has died for them.
And they are just as sure for glory as if they were already
there. But I also know this, there is
a means by which God will use to save them. And it is through
preaching this gospel. He will call you by our gospel. I know people say, well, there's
got to be some other way. No. Well, you're just too narrow-minded. So is the Word of God, so I think
I'll take that. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing not just by any means, but by the Word of God. This
is why God calls men to preach. This is why God has sent His
church into the world. If there was some other way,
God would have done it. This is the best way. This is
the only way. This is the way God calls His
people through the preaching of the Gospel. Our Gospel is
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The seed upon which Abraham believed. Jesus said, Abraham, rejoice
to see my day and saw it. How did he see it? By faith.
Now, I don't know who God's elect are. I don't know. I don't know how many God has
in this generation. Maybe this is it, maybe there
are more. I don't know. But I do know this, they will
be called by this means. They will be called by the Gospel.
The Apostle says, the Lord sent me not to baptize. He said that
in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. He said, For Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with the wisdom of
words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us it is the power which
are saved, it is the power of God. Why? Because this is what
we've experienced. This is the experience of our
grace, that the Word came to us, and it came not in Word only,
but in power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit. It quickened
us to life, and we believe on Christ. We believe on Christ. There is none called, none saved,
none blessed by any false gospel, but rather only the preaching
of the true gospel. God never uses false prophets. I know we get discouraged. You see the vastness of false
religion. You see how large it is. You
see how powerful it seems. It seems as though it's like
a steamroller. It just rolls over everything.
It just seems like it envelops everything and sucks everything
into it. Listen, that has nothing to do
with God's people. It does nothing for the salvation
of sinners. I don't care what they do. If
they don't preach the gospel of Christ and salvation by grace
through faith in Christ alone, they are not preaching the gospel
and no one saved by it. I don't care how big they are.
I don't care how much money they have, how much influence they
have in the world. God never uses a false prophet.
As a matter of fact, I told Jeremiah that in Jeremiah, I believe,
23. He says, they will not profit this people, listen, at all. At all. So how then does God call sinners?
Well, He seeks them out by divine calling. And then he calls them
through the means of preaching the gospel. This is how he calls... That's how he called Abraham. He called him by preaching to
him Christ. And Abraham, listen, secondly,
true faith then obeys. Obeys. Look at your text. Go back there. By faith, Abraham,
when he was called to go out of the place, which he should
hereafter receive for an inheritance, listen, obeyed. And he went out not knowing whither
he went. Abraham was called to an inheritance
and he obeyed. Friends, the gospel of Jesus
Christ is no offer but a command. I know when it comes to the sinner,
it is full of grace and love and power and and mercy. It is dripping with the love
of God. It is gushing from the heart
of God when it comes to us. But I tell you, it is no offer. It's a command. The Lord said
unto Abram, get thee out. Not Abraham, will you get out? Abraham Get thee out and I will
show thee and make thee and bless thee All that God is purposed to do
for his elect He will do Does not leave it up to them or their
power to perform it Our God is in the heavens and I've done whatsoever he had
pleased He said, remember, I am God and
there is none else. I am God and there's none like
me declaring the end from the beginning from ancient times,
the things that were not yet done, saying my counsel shall
stand and I will do all my pleasure. Now, then, when God calls a sinner
to Christ, is it an option? Let me ask you who believe, was
it an option for you? Absolutely not. I didn't know much and I still
don't know much. But I know this. I must have
Christ or I die. When God calls you, you'll understand
that. And you won't sit still either until you have Him. you have him, until you're in
him. Coming to Christ is not an option. Are you weighing out the pros
and cons of coming to Christ? That's what most people do in
it is well if I come to Jesus then I got eternal life. I got
heaven I got the golden brick road and I got the you know mansion
in the sky and then then oh but over here You know, I got a these
people. I love my sin. I Got a you know,
I I'm weighing it out Lord. Just give me a minute. Oh No,
God's never called you God's not calling you When God calls you you have no
option When God calls a sinner, he's empty. He has no hope. And he runs to Christ for his
very life. He flees to Christ. When we were
called, we were abased, we were ruined, we were vile, and we
could not even look up. We were so sick with sin and
self-loathing and no merit, and yet the Gospel came so sweetly
to our ears. Come sinner, come poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity joined with power. And we what? We came to Christ
ready, willing, able, bowing to Christ. That's a man called
of God, a man who obeys the gospel. What is the gospel? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Not an option. When Ezekiel preached
to those dry bones, were they given an option? No. When he preached, the Spirit
of God moved, the bones came together, flesh came upon them,
and breath came in them, without so much as one thing they could
do to either resist or help. That's true faith. true faith believes even before
it knows it's believing. Is that your faith? Oh, that's
mine. That's mine. I've been called. How do you know you've been called
of God? I obeyed the voice of the Son
of God. Paul says this, What things were
gained to me, I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless I
count presently all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. for whom I suffer the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ,
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through faith, the faith of
Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Now
I have you the faith of Abraham. I tell you of God's promise to
make you righteous. I tell you that faith in Christ
alone saves. But if God tells it to you, you will believe. You will believe. Sinner death
is coming. Death is coming. It is. It's
moving. It's moving at a steady pace.
Nothing stops it. It's coming, it's moving towards
you every second of every day. And only those in Christ will
live. If you will not obey the gospel, that's your fault. But if you ever obey the gospel,
that will be God's doing. And it is marvelous in our eyes. Marvelous. Have you fled to Christ? He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not
shall be damned. Abraham believed. And he went, I believe and I come to Christ. And I haven't stopped. I haven't
stopped. Why? Because I'm encouraged to continue
in the faith. Continue in the faith. And true
faith will continue. Firm to the end. Not trusting
faith, but trusting Christ, the object of our faith. God bless
this to you. Stand and be dismissed in prayer.