You can turn with me to Acts
chapter 24. And I'll ask you to excuse my
voice. I'm glad to have a voice. I lost
it at the beginning of the week. Last night, I was thinking that
if I was in show business, I'd have to cancel the show. Thank
God we're not in show business. And it's not by man's might,
it's by his spirit. I'm so thankful to Brother John
for asking me to come. I consider it such a high honor. And I'm thankful that Hannah
and the girls were able to come this time. Thankful to Johnny
and Rhonda for having us and treating us so well. Our sincere
condolence goes to Vicki. Honestly, many of us here know
what it's like to lose a mother, a parent, and I pray our Lord
will comfort her heart. I know that usually when you
have a gathering like this, you have some who belong to the Lord
and some who don't. And you have some who don't think
they belong to the Lord who do. And you have some who think they
belong to the Lord who don't. And that's a critical thing for
us to really know one way or the other. That's a critical
thing to know. And I have something for us to
look at this morning. I felt very, very led to look
at this message and this subject. And I just want to kind of talk
to you. I don't, I'm not standing up here in strength. I don't,
I don't feel loud. Maybe I am. I don't know. But
about all I can do is just talk to you. And there's something
that I want to talk to you about that is so, so important. And I want to start by acknowledging
this truth and this fact right here. The scripture, the word
of God is very specific. It's very, very specific. But mankind has a way of generalizing
things. God's true people do not want
a general understanding of the scripture. They don't want a
general knowledge of the things concerning God. It's very, very
dangerous to have a general understanding of these things. God's people want to know specifically
This world is fine, completely fine. And it's amazing to me,
the more I think about it. You know, you give somebody a
little bit of money and they invest it in a retirement account.
They got it on their, they got the app on their phone and they're
checking that app every day to see how is the end looking? You
know, how we do, specifically. Now, we're all, give me to the
penny. Don't tell me generally. But
when it comes to the things of eternity, people are fine with
just a general, well, you know what I'm saying? God's people want to know specifically,
number one, who it is they're worshiping. Who it is they're
worshiping. The four of us attended a wedding
one time, and the man who was officiating ended that wedding
with a prayer, and he ended his prayer, unto God, whoever he
or she may be. That's how he ended his prayer.
You remember that? That's awful. God's people want to know specifically
who they're worshiping. They want to know specifically
what he has to say. And they want to know if he is
specifically saying it to them. They want to know that. All of
God's people are this way. He puts that desire, that heart
in every one of them. They search for the details.
They want the truth at all cost. Can we not say that? We want
the truth. Give me the truth at all cost. No matter how condemning it is
to the flesh, no matter how exposing it is of my sin, no matter how much it causes me
to decrease, no matter how much it exposes my pride and my inability, no matter how much
it strips me, no matter how much the honesty
of this word strips us of all credit concerning anything in regard
to our salvation. all credit, all glory. No matter how contrary the truth
of God's word is to the flesh of man, God's people want it. They want the truth. They're
not satisfied to have a general understanding of God and a general
understanding of what saved them. They're not satisfied with general
religion. They want to get to the heart
of these things. And there's a particular subject matter that
I want to do that with right here. There's something that
is very generalized in religion, and I want to look at it specifically.
And it's this right here, Acts 24. I want to ask the question,
what is it to be a believer? What is it to be A believer that
the general acknowledgement of whether or not a person is religious. Depends on whether that person
is a believer. You know, you ask a person, do you? You believe
that if that person says no, I don't believe that at all.
Well, that person is not religious. Not a believer. Most people. I believe would say, I'm a believer. I think most, you go ask a lot
of people, are you religious? Are you a believer? I believe
they would say, yes. God's people would say, oh, I'm
a believer. But a child of God will not be
satisfied with a general understanding of what that means. That's what
I'm trying to get to. You know, people just say, are
you a believer? Well, a child of God is going to want to know
a believer of what? A believer of who? A believer
in who? A believer on what? Is a general belief of God enough? A child of God is going to want
to know, is what I believe correct? You ever ask yourself that? Is
what, you know, because we, you know, we say, well, they're,
you know, they got it wrong. They're in error. Have you ever
asked yourself now, wait a minute, is what I believe correct? What is it to truly be a believer?
What does a believer believe? Am I one of them? How can I know
if I'm a believer? How can I know if I'm a believer?
A child of God will specifically want to know the answer to that
question. Am I a believer? Well, I'm gonna go ahead, let's
answer it, okay, right now. I won't build up anymore. We're
gonna answer it and then we'll prove the answer, okay? The Apostle
Paul is on trial right here for preaching the gospel. and they
gave him an opportunity to speak on his own behalf to defend himself. And this is what he said, all
right? Acts 24, verse 10. Then Paul, after that the governor
had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, for as much as I know
that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do
the more cheerfully answer for myself. because that thou mayest
understand that there are yet but 12 days since I went up to
Jerusalem for the worship. And they neither found me in
the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people,
neither in the synagogues nor in the city." What he's saying
is they were accusing me of all these things and I didn't do
that. I was not, they're lying. Verse 13, neither can they prove
the things whereof they now accuse me. Verse 14, he said, but this
I confess unto thee. He said, I'm gonna lay it all
out there, okay? I'm gonna confess to you. This I confess unto thee
that after the way, which they call heresy, and that means division, They said, why are you preaching
this? You're causing division. Everybody else gets along. But what you're saying is causing
everybody to divide. You're dividing people. This
is separating people. Verse 14, this I confess unto
thee that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I the God of my fathers. believing all things which are written
in the law and in the prophets. He said, why am I preaching this?
It's because I have to. I'm a believer. I'm a believer. And what does a believer believe?
all things which are written in the law and in the prophets."
Don't you wish that men and women believed the Word of God? That's
our only desire in doing this, is that men and women would hear
the Word of God And believe it. It's like they think that we're
out in outer space somewhere with our doctrine. We're not. It's been in everybody's Bible
since there have been Bibles. You don't have this issue with
any other book on this earth. You tell somebody, this is what
Shakespeare wrote. And they say, that's it. That's
exactly right. Every word, all things which
are written in the law and the prophets, we talk about believing
on Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way we can believe on
Christ is by believing the word of Christ. what has been declared concerning
him, believing this particular person as he has been declared
in his holy word. The only way you can know this
person is by knowing his word. That's what determines whether
or not a person is a true believer. You know, you show a man something.
You show a man something in here. And if he says, I don't believe
that, he's not a believer. There's a dear brother in our
congregation who, about eight or nine years ago, he came out
of his false congregation. He heard Brother Henry on the
internet, and that led him to Tom Harding. And they had just
lost a pastor, and they needed a new pastor. And he said, would
you send men who preach this? And so Tom lined up nine of us.
I think you were one of them. Probably you were one of them.
Tom was number one. Dad was number two. I was number
three. And then there were six more
after me. I never got to go. After number
two, they said, no more. Don't send any more of those
men. We don't want to hear this. And William is his name. He stayed there because he wanted,
he loved those people and he wanted them to believe with him.
And he stayed a little while and he was showing them, you
know, what the brother said. It was, he was just quoting the
Bible. He said, it's right there. And
the man looked at it and he said, I don't care what it says. I
don't believe it. Okay. Well, that man is not a
believer. That man is not a believer. That's what determines whether
a person is a believer. If you show a man something,
if you show a woman something, by the grace of God, that person
says, huh, well, it does say that, doesn't it? And it actually says it all over
the place. You know, the Lord only has to say something one
time, but it says it all over the place. Well, there it is. Amen. All right. That person
is a believer. That's a believer. A believer
believes all things which are written in the word of God. And
this is critical right here. A believer does not believe part
of the things that are written in the word of God. A believer believes all things.
A believer does not believe most of the things that are written
in the word of God. A believer believes all things. A believer does not just believe
the things that he or she can understand in the Word of God.
A believer believes all things. If God wrote it in His Word,
amen, a believer believes it, all of it, all of it. Turn with
me to Matthew 4. This is when our Lord was tempted
in the wilderness and he was hungry and the adversary said,
why don't you turn those stones into bread? Verse four, Matthew
four, verse four. But he answered and said, it
is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. That is so true,
isn't it? Every word. Every word. Every word. Somebody says, well, I don't
understand that. Well, it doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter. I just don't know if I can go
along with that. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter, does it? This
is God we're talking about. This is God. God almighty in
a true believer will believe his word no matter what. All
right. Now here's our foundation. There's
our platform or however you want to say it. Let's jump off. Okay.
Are we believers? Are we believers? Let's see what he has said in
his word and then let's see if we believe it, okay? Turn with
me to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2 verse 8 says, For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Believing
is faith. And the Word of God says, faith
is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Many people believe
that they have faith in themselves to, you know, bring up and exercise
and all of that stuff. A long time ago, I was watching
a celebrity being interviewed who had just come out of drug
addiction and rehab in just a bad way, and this interviewer asked
her, you know, what got you through all that in your darkest moments?
And she said, faith. My faith got me through it. Now,
if she had true faith, she would have said, Jesus Christ got me
through it. Because faith looks to Jesus
Christ alone. When faith is exercised, it always
sounds like this, Christ, always. Anything that turns me to me
is not faith. But faith is the ability to believe
God. And the word of God says that
ability to believe is not of ourselves, that's his gift to
us. Hebrews 12 verse 2 says, He is
the author and the finisher of our faith. What that means is it's in His
hands. It is in His hands and it means
we are at His mercy. Think about that, we're at His
mercy. We're standing here at His mercy. The scripture says, whoever believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Doesn't it say that?
Whoever believes on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved,
period. But the scripture also says that
we do not have that ability of faith in ourselves to do that
naturally. God must give that faith to us
and God must perform that faith in us. If we end up being true believers,
God did it. God did it. And He gets the credit
for that. He gets the glory, even for our
ability to believe on Him. We can't even brag about the
fact that we're believers. Well, at least we're believers. He made us to be that way. Being
a believer is his decision. Us being believers is his work. It is his doing. We can't even
decide whether or not we're going to be a believer. All of that
is in his hands. All of that is in his hands.
Verse eight, for by grace are you safe through faith and that
not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast for we are his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. That's what the scripture says.
Here's our question. Do we believe it? Do we believe
it? Faith is not of ourselves, it's
the gift of God. Do we believe that? The whole
thing starts with Him. Do we believe that? A true believer
will. He or she will say, it is God
which worketh in me, both to will and do of His good pleasure.
Turn with me to Psalm 14. Psalm 14 verse 1 says, the fool
hath said in his heart, there is no God. And that's a true
fool. An atheist is a real fool. But
the words there is are in italics. They were added by the translators
to make it more readable. The fool hath said in his heart,
no God. And that's what people do when
they don't believe his word. And they say, I don't care what
it says. I don't believe it. What they're saying is no. He goes on to say, they are corrupt. They have done abominable works.
There is none that doeth good. Now, who is he talking about
right here? He's talking about everybody. He's talking about
all of mankind from all generations. He's talking about me and He
is talking about you. Verse two, the Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand and seek God. People say, well, here's
what happened. God looked down through time to see who would
choose him. And God did look down through
time, but do you know what he saw? Verse three, they are all
gone aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Not one. Do we believe that? There's a country song on the
radio, used to be on the radio, that says something to the effect
of, you know, I believe all people are good. Most everybody believes
that, naturally. There's a little bit of good
in everybody. That's what most people believe. But here's the
only problem with that. That's not what God says. That's
not what he said. If I look at that and say, I
don't know about that, you mean none? I don't know if I can believe that
there's none that doeth good. If I say that, I am not a believer
and I need to be aware of that. I'm not a believer. If I do not
believe what God has to say about me in my sinful, wicked flesh,
I'm not a believer. A true believer will cry, amen,
amen. And again, you say, well, that's
just one verse of scripture. It's everywhere. That's everywhere. That's Romans 3, Romans 5, Romans
7, Romans 4, Romans 6. Oh, wretched man that I am. Turn
with me to 1 Timothy 3. 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, it says, And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. That says God is the one who
came down. I was just talking with a dear
brother about this this week. Oh, if men and women could only
realize this. Everybody speaks of this man,
Jesus. Thank God, God became flesh. Thank God he became a man. Our
salvation is in the fact that God became a man. 100% man. That's hard for me
to wrap my brain around. 100% man. 100% God. How can he be both? I don't know, but that's what
makes him God and me not God. It was not just, and I want to
try to be as clear as I can about this. When people think about
God, they think about this, you know, this big entity in the
sky. It was not just God's son separate,
as though Christ is separate from the entity of God. You know,
come to Jesus Christ now. He's the one who can show you
how to get to God. No, no, no. You come to Jesus
Christ, you have come to God. He's not God's helper. He's not
God's representative. He's God. He's God. What does a believer believe
when they think of God? Who does a believer think of?
Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the fullness of
the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit. You want to see the Father?
Look at Jesus Christ. You want to see the Spirit? Look
at Jesus Christ. You want to see the Son? Look
at Jesus Christ. All the fullness of God. As poor,
wretched sinners, no God and no hope, it seemed there was
no one to help. But God, in his mercy, salvation
supplied, emptied heaven and came down himself. That's how
a ransom was found. All the fullness of God. All
the fullness of the Godhead is in that man who walked this earth.
Do we believe that? A true believer will. Look with
me at Hebrews 1. Verse 1 says, God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by son,
that word his is in italics, whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who being the brightness
of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding
all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself
purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
on High." Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, by Himself, purged
the sin of his people completely. They did not help him. They did not give him permission
to do it. They did not accept it. God's
people did not accept the salvation that Christ accomplished for
them. Thank God they could not reject it. They had no role in the matter. God's people had no role in the
matter. By His own blood, that precious,
spotless, priceless blood, the life was in the blood. By his own blood, the Lord Jesus
Christ entered into the holy place of God. You think about
a high priest going into that holy place, bringing blood. Brother
Paul was talking about that hymn last night. That's what he was doing, he
was bringing blood. Please forgive us, forgive the sins of your
people. Can you just envision Jesus Christ
entering into the holy of holies with his own blood? Here, here,
forgive the sins of your people. He went into that holy place
and by offering one sacrifice for sin, all sin, I am still just as much
a sinner as I ever was. I'm no better than I was when
I was a teenager. And I think about that all the
time. It was that one same sacrifice that covers me now, that covered
me then, and will cover me until he delivers me from the body
of this death. All my hope is in one sacrifice. All my hope is in one sacrifice. Are you saved? Oh yeah, I'm saved.
How do you know? It's because I was baptized 27
years ago. That's not where a believer's
hope is. That's not what a believer believes. I was sprinkled as an infant.
I dedicated and rededicated. I've already rededicated four
times after my dedication. That's not what a believer believes. By one sacrifice, he purged the sin of all of his
people throughout all generations of time till the end of the world. And by that one sacrifice of
himself, the sin is gone forever. It is gone forever. There is
nothing for his people to do because Christ already did it. by himself. He purged our sins
and it is finished. You know, our Lord from the cross
cried, it is finished. What was finished? The purging
of the sins of my people, the work you gave me to do, the salvation
of every soul you placed in my hand before the foundation of
the world. It's finished. You know what a believer believes?
I tell you what a believer doesn't believe. A believer does not
believe it's not finished. You got to put your stamp of
approval on it. You got to put that final, you know, now, what
are you going to do now? People are standing in pulpits
all over the place asking people now, what are you going to do
here? What are you going to do with it? It's laid out here.
It's up to you now. Now, come on now. That's not
what a believer believes. That's an unbeliever because
God said it's finished. So a believer says, yes, sir. It's finished. We're not going to turn it on
man to do anything. It's finished. Christ finished it. It's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done according to his mercy. He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. All
right, one more. Go to John 11. John 11. Verse 23. Lazarus just died right here
and the Lord has come and he's speaking to Martha. Verse 23,
Jesus said unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha said
unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection
at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? He said, Martha, are you a true
believer? Believest thou this? Verse 27,
she said unto him, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ,
the Son of God, which should come into the world. She said,
I most certainly am. Are you a believer? She said,
I most certainly am. I believe you're the Christ.
I believe all life is in you. I believe the man or woman who
has you has life. All my hope is in you. I believe
you're the savior. I believe you're the redeemer.
I believe you're the mediator. All my hope is in you. This is what it is to be a true
believer. It is to agree with and say amen
to the word of the Lord our God. That's what it is. Every word
that has proceeded out of the mouth of God, it's to cling to
every single word that he has recorded in his scripture. This
scripture says God is holy and God is just and God is sovereign. And a believer will say, I believe
it. The scripture says, man is sinful,
wretched and helpless. And a believer will say, I believe
it. The scripture says, salvation
is of the Lord. And a believer will say, I believe
that. The scripture says, even my faith
to believe is of him. The Scripture says, I am completely
secure in Him. All work concerning me is done.
And a believer will say, I believe it. I believe Him, I believe
in Him, I believe on Him. I don't believe in my belief. I'm not looking to my faith,
I'm looking to Him. I trust him. I trust his word. Let God be true and every man
a liar. That's what a believer will say. Lord, we believe. help our unbelief. As we continue to study this
word, Lord, send more faith. The apostle said, Lord, increase
our faith. And that's our prayer. Increase
our faith. Cause us to believe your word
more and trust your word more. And I pray that the Lord will
send faith to every person here. I pray every person here. God
will give that soul the ability to look at this word and say,
you know what? I believe it. That's what it says, and I believe
it. If we say that God did it, then
he'll get the glory. Amen. Thank you, brother.