We hear, have we not, people
say things like, if your faith was just stronger, you wouldn't
have to go through that. Mostly when we hear about great
faith. I don't know about you, but I
think of Abraham. I've had this conversation with
Bill many a times. Do you think I could have that
faith, that strong, so great a faith? Folks, I'll tell you
today, right here, right now, and I want to speak to those
of you who feel that there's times when your faith is so,
so, so weak. How could the Lord save somebody
who can't even think for five seconds? Right now. I can't even get my mind to work
for five seconds. I'm the glory of my Savior. I'm
here to tell you right now, here, that if your faith is God-given
faith, it's all the strength you need. It's all the strength
you need. What great faith Abraham had
in offering up his son, and most people will stop right there
with that. pointing to Abraham. Because
see, that's what the world does. That's what the religious world
does. We point to ourselves in the religious world outside of
the truth of God Almighty. Outside of the truth of Christ's
sovereign rule over everything before God enlightened our hearts
of His truth. Our thoughts were this, I I mean. So it's natural for the
world to stop right there when they talk about the great faith
of Abraham. See how he gave up his son? See how great his faith
was? If you would just have that kind
of faith, these bad things wouldn't be happening to you in the world.
Isn't that what the friends of Job did? Didn't they come to
him and say, you know, if your faith was just a little stronger,
God wouldn't have done those things to you. They point to an act on His part
and they miss the whole point of God's faith, God's given faith. They miss the whole point of
where the true strength of His faith was. Strength of faith,
strength of God's given faith is not something that we do. It's not in what we can or will
do, it's the strength that is in the subject of our faith.
What does it say about Abraham's strength? What does it say about
his faith? He had faith in God. He had faith in God. It says in Romans chapter 2 verse
8, it says, you are saved by grace, or for by grace are you
saved through faith. through faith, and that not of
yourselves is a gift of God. We often feel like our faith
is weak. That's why, you know, give a side note here, that's
why we shouldn't... I know some who when their faith is weak,
that's when they feel unsaved the most. I don't feel like God
saved me, my faith is just so weak. I asked a question of this
of a brother, and I think I shared this with some of you just recently.
I'm going to do it again. I said, do you believe God? Oh yeah, I believe Him. Then
what's your problem? Well, I just feel like, oh there
you go, that's your problem right there. You just feel like I. Oh, we sure mess up when we start
doing that, don't we? We start thinking, aye, and that's
it. That's it. We fall so short of
what we expect of God's people, don't we? We often feel like
our faith is weak. Don't examine yourself, especially
when you think your faith is weak. I've had to watch a brother
in Christ on the roller coaster of his life for the last month. There were times during the last
month he felt like God was not with him at all. Yet every time
I heard him speak of that, the conversation always came back
around to this, my Lord sits on his throne. What was the subject of his faith? It wasn't in him. Was there trouble
with him? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. The trouble's
real. But his faith was still sure
in one thing, that Jesus Christ is Lord of everything. You see, that's where the strength
of God-given faith is. It's in who it is that your faith
is in. It's in Him who is able who is
able to do what he says he's going to promise to do, what
he says he will do. I'm so driven to the point. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Remove this cup from me. Nevertheless,
thy will be done. Isn't that what our Lord and
Savior did? Isn't that what he said? despite the pressures that
God has allowed to come upon us through this world. You think
Job didn't have any pressures? You think Job didn't have any
sorrows? If losing his children wasn't enough, God covered him
with boils. I can't imagine the pain that
that must have been in the flesh. You talk about feeling like maybe
God's not with you? Yet not once did he turn away
from who his Savior was. Not once did he turn away from
who the sovereignty of God is. Why? Because he had God-given
faith. That's not something you just
muster up out of your own flesh. People of the world crumble under
that. I watched this dear brother,
but yet his faith never wavered. His faith never wavered. What was that true faith? That
true faith is believing God. That's what Abraham's faith was.
He believed God. He believed God. He believed
God's word. He believed God's promise. God had promised Abraham
a son. And God gave him that son. Even
when it was impossible for his wife to have one. He said his son would be the
father of a great nation. Abraham believed God. I'm sharing
this with you because I want you to believe. I want you to
understand that believing God is our strength. Not something
you have done, but something God does in us, giving us the
strength to believe who He is at all times, even in the face
of our worst enemy, ourselves, our own sin. Abraham believed
the Word of God is the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13, we
read these words, but we are bound to give thanks always to
God for you, brethren. Brother, I say that to you. I
give thanks to my God always for you. Because I believe you are beloved
of the Lord. Because God has from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification through I'm setting
apart of the spirit and belief of the truth. I am sorrowed for him so much
to see him go through what he went through, but I'm so glad.
Does that make sense? Folks, I've seen the power of
God. I've seen the power of God in a brother. I can't tell you
how wonderful that is. I'm sad to see him go through
it, but I'm thankful to my Lord. And I know he is too. I plead
with you this morning. I beg of each of you. Avoid the
trap of measuring yourself by how strong you feel. How strong
you feel your faith is. As God's people, we know first
and foremost, I am weak, but thou art strong. Look here at
an example that is given us in Luke chapter 7. I'd like to read
the first nine verses. In Luke chapter 7 we read, Now
when he had ended all his sayings, when Christ had finished his
message, his preaching that he had done back in chapter 6, in
the audience of the people, he entered in Capernaum. And a certain centurion, isn't
that wonderful? Just one. Not all the centurions,
but there was one who God was going to pay attention to for
just a moment. Isn't that wonderful that he
pays attention to some? Certain ones, there was a certain
woman who came to the well. There was a certain man who came
to rescue one day. There was a certain woman who
came to rescue one day. Oh, to be one of God's certain
people. And a certain centurion servant
who was dear unto him was sick and ready to die. And when he
had heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching
him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came
to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for
whom he should do this. They sought the Lord Jesus Christ
about this centurion, this one who was outside of the camp of
Israel. The one who was not even a part
of the people of God. He was a heathen, but yet he
was good enough that the people of God would go to God and pray
for them. That he was worthy. whom he should
do this. Verse 5, For he loveth our nation,
and he hath built us a synagogue. And then Jesus went with them.
And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent
friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for
I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. Wherefore,
neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee. So we see
this centurion who had been brought to the point of knowing his worth
before God. But notice what's next in verse
7. But say in a word. Say in a word. Folks, when God speaks, he speaks
with power. Power, you and I can only imagine
the depth of. Speak the word, say in a word,
and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man set under
authority, having under me soldiers. And I say unto one, Go, and he
goeth. And to another, come, and he
cometh. And to my servant, doeth this, and doeth that, and he
doeth it. And when Jesus heard these things,
he marveled at him. and turned him about and said
unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I say unto
you folks that are following me now, I have not found so great
a faith, no, not in Israel. Now we're probably going to camp
on these nine verses for a little while. I've got two weeks to
think about it. Next week I'm off. Four preachers,
eight messages are going to take my place here in this pulpit.
There's a lot in these, but today I want to consider this. Great faith. Great faith. Here the Holy Spirit gives us
the account of a certain centurion. He gives us a picture of his
character. His faith. and the healing of
his sick servant by the mere will of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This Roman soldier said to the Lord Jesus, I am not worthy that
thou wouldest enter my roof. Neither thought I myself worthy
to come unto thee, but say in the word, and my servant shall
be healed. The strength in this centurion's
faith was not in him, It wasn't in himself and thinking, well,
I know who to believe in, I'll just believe in this guy over
here. He's been doing a whole bunch of good things around there.
No. What does it describe to us here?
It describes to us one who is unworthy. See, that's what God's
people always think of ourselves. We know we're unworthy. We know
there's no worth in this flesh that stands before God. We need
something worthy to be able to approach God. And we don't have
it in ourselves. We're not even worthy for God
to look upon us. But we also know that God has
the power to do what He has promised to do. To do what He says He
will do. To fulfill all that He has purposed
to come about. That's what it says here. But
say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. Just by your
word, Lord, I know whatever you say shall come to pass. The world
can't know that. I didn't know that. You didn't
know that until the Lord came to your heart and gave you the
gift of faith, Martin. The ability to believe. Amen? The strength was not in the centurion's
faith. It was not in him but whom he believed. This is that
beggar over in the corner, pounding his chest, crying unto the Lord,
Lord have mercy upon me. It says when he heard of Jesus
in verse 3. We're not told how the centurion
heard. Maybe he was brought to the point
as I was. Torn. from the things of this
world where I just burdened so badly. I can't say that I've
ever considered something like suicide, but I can tell you this.
The Lord brought me to a point where I thought my world had
ended. The world that I was in was gone forever. The world that
I love so much would be separated from me and I don't know where
I'm going to be after that. That's what we must be done.
That's what must be done so that we will hear of Jesus. Maybe
that's how the centurion heard about him. He went to the synagogue
and said, what about your God? All the gods of us, all the gods
of our Roman gods, they've done nothing for me. I need something
more. Maybe God drew him to the synagogue that day to hear the
truth of who Christ was. We don't know. It doesn't matter. When he had heard, Folks, a lot of people hear about
Christ. Many people have come into this building and heard
about Christ and got up and walked out. He had to hear with the heart. A new heart. A God-given heart. One that has faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord. One who believes, whosoever believeth,
shall have everlasting life. Isn't that what John 3,16 said?
I know everybody wants to focus on God to love the world, but
that's not the point. The point is this, that God loves
somebody in the world that whosoever believeth shall have everlasting
life. Our Lord sent his word into this
man. And God the Holy Spirit had given
him hearing ears, seeing eyes, and a believing heart. We have
no way of knowing how much knowledge this centurion had and that too
does not matter. The thing is that it was significant.
The thing that was significant is this, who he knew. He had heard who Jesus was and
he believed. He knew the Lord Jesus Christ.
He knew the one and true living God. Our Lord says over in John
chapter 17 verse 3, He says, And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent. Do you see why I told that dear
brother? Do you believe God? Do you believe who He is? Do
you believe everything in His Word? Oh, yeah. Then what's your
problem? Well, I'm just so weak. Stop
looking at your faith. And stop looking to who the one
the faith is in. Our Savior, Christ Jesus, that's
who our faith is in. That's who our belief is in.
That's who our trust is in. It's not in us. If you're looking
to yourself for strength and faith, you're going to miss it
every time. And I know because I've done this. I sit in that office every week
thinking, Lord, what am I doing here? Why would you pick me to
stand before your people? You talk about weak faith? If
I look at myself, I'm weaker than any of you are. But it's not me. It's not you. It's Him. That's where our faith
should be. That's where we need to look
for the strength of our faith. If we look to Him, we have all
the strength in all creation. Nothing can hinder His hand.
If God gave His only begotten Son for you, should He not give
you everything? Is that not the promise? I'm
speaking to me. I'm pointing my finger like that,
but three are pointing right back at me. Folks, the centurion was born
of God. The only way a sinner can ever know, can ever have
eternal life is by knowing God. That's what it says in John,
in the third verse there. And this is eternal life, that
they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. You can't have eternal life unless
you know who He is. You can't have eternal life unless
you know what He's done. You can't have eternal life unless
you know where He is right now. It says in Matthew 11 verse 27,
All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth
the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him. What a blessed hope. What a blessed,
blessed hope. For those who are presently outside
the people of God. Those who maybe are hearing today
for the first time of the true and living God, seen in the face
of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Many have heard the name of Jesus,
but few know Him in truth. In John chapter 4, verse 24,
God is Spirit, And they that worship Him must worship Him
in spirit and in truth. I've had family members come
to me and say, John, actually, I've said to them, how can you
go and pretend like you're worshiping with these other folks that are
preaching a false Christ? You tell me that they preach
a false Christ. You know they preach a false
Christ, but yet you go worship with them and act like your God
is the same God as theirs. How can you do that? Our Lord does not save under
the preaching of lies. He saves through the preaching
of Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is truth. Who is He? He's God in the flesh,
sovereign ruler of everything that is. He's my Lord because
He made Himself my Lord. John was his own Lord for a long
time, 40 years. And then in the day of His love,
He came to me and showed me who He was. What has He done? He laid down His life and shed
His blood for me. That's knowing who the Lord is.
That's believing. It's not easy to understand.
Believing that I am as wide as snow is one of the most difficult
things for me to understand. But so is my Lord being made
sin. So is the Lord being made flesh.
That's not easy to understand. Knowing the Lord and worshipping
Him in truth is worshipping Him where He is right now, sitting
on the throne of God in heaven, working everything out according
to His own purpose, according to His own will. You may have peace in what you
do on this earth, but my peace is with Him who sits on His throne.
And God's people will have no peace in this earth, but we have
all the peace there is in our Savior, Christ Jesus. This man had heard about the
Son of the Living God, and he heard about how the power He
had in healing and saving people, and by God's wonderful grace,
this man believed just as you and I have. That's what Romans chapter 10...
You know what? Turn over there real quick. I
know some of you just know these words by heart. We refer to it
so often. This is another one of those
pages where I think the ink is almost coming off the top. I've
turned to it so many times. But turn to it and read with
me if you would. Romans chapter 10. We're talking about believing
in the true and living God. We're talking about knowing who
He is, what He has done, and where He is right now. This is
what this man believed in. He believed by the power of God
to save a people. By God's wonderful grace, this
man believed. He believed this. Look at these
words in chapter 10, verse 11. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him, boy that's great faith. That's great faith,
believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. It says, for there is no difference,
oh I love this one too. There is no difference between
Jew and Greek. I'm Greek. I'm glad to know that
God looks upon me the same as he does the Jews. Oh, what joy
that brings. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him in whom they have not heard? When this man had
heard, when you had heard, when God had spoken to your heart
for the first time, how shall they hear without a
preacher? I used to wonder if people would
sit back and think, you know, when Gene would read those verses,
I'd say, I wonder if people are sitting there thinking, oh, he's
sure puffing up the position of a preacher, isn't he? God's people don't catch that.
No, no, we see what the truth of that verse is all about. It's
about how are you going to hear, how are you going to believe
unless you hear the truth. And God sends men, sinners, sinners
saved by grace, to talk to sinners, to save them by his grace. Hesham has been sent to Africa.
God sent him there to preach to sinners of the one who saves sinners
by his grace. How are you going to believe?
How are you going to believe if all you've heard about is
a Jesus who's waiting for you to do something? How are you
going to believe in the true and living God if the Jesus you've
heard about is just some Jesus who loves the whole world and
can't save it? Thank God that there are men
like Pastor Gene Don Fortner and many, many others, those
four men who are coming here Saturday, Friday, that there
are men like them who will preach to men like me, who need to have
the Word of the Lord preached. Do you need it? That's why you're here, isn't
it? Isn't that why God brought you here this morning so you
could hear the Word preached? This is not a once and then done
situation. Somehow someone was sent to preach
the truth to God's people and this is the message we desire
to hear. For we live in a world of death, a world of deceit,
a world of lies. The truth sets us free from the
world. Christ Jesus being the Lord is
our only peace. I tell you if I see the depth
of this sin, If I could see the depth of the sin that is in this
world as I do now, and not have the hope that is in my Savior
Christ Jesus, the hope of what He says He will do. If I could
see all the sin that is flooded all around us, and not have the hope that I
have in Him. I could understand why someone would consider suicide. What reason would there be to
live if we don't have God? If we don't have a Savior, one
to save us from all this gump that we live in. All the sin. Yet I do know of His sovereignty. I do know of His great love for
His people. I do know of His power I know
of His ability. Therefore, that is my peace.
That is my comfort. That is the object of my faith. Romans 8, 28, we read these words,
and we know that all things work together for the good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. But consider with me, if you
would, in closing, my greatest burden is the sin
that is within me. My greatest trial is the storm
of sin that dwells in my flesh. I tell you, my brethren, my consolation
to all of this is Jesus Christ paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed me white as snow. Isaiah 53 11, we read these words,
he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify me, for he shall bear their iniquities. That's our God's word to us. That's the word of God to you
and I. That's the promise He makes to
His people. Do you believe it? Do you believe it? Romans 8-1, There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. How does your spirit
walk this day? Are you burdened by it? Are you burdened by what you
have in this flesh? Let me tell you about this one
called Christ for just a moment. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we read
these words, that no flesh should glory in His presence. As we
saw in the Bible study earlier this morning, our God, Jesus Christ, the Lord, is above
all things. When He was manifest in the flesh,
you see the eternal God has always been eternal. Jesus Christ the
Son has always been Jesus Christ the Eternal Son. Yet for Him to die for you and
I, He had to become flesh. For Him
to bleed, and shed His blood for you and I, for Him to wash
us from our sins. He had to become flesh. We call
Him the God-Man. No flesh should glory in His
presence. Our Lord says this in verse 30,
but of Him, of Christ Jesus, of Him, of God, Ye are ye in
Christ Jesus. Notice it didn't say of you.
Notice it didn't say by your decision. Notice it didn't say
by you coming down to the front of the aisle and praying a Satan
prayer. Notice that it didn't say by you getting into the baptismal. It says of Him. Of God. are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us. This Christ Jesus, he's speaking
of the one he has put us in, the one that we have been seen
in Christ before the world was, has made his Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, unto us wisdom. That's great, because I'm not
a very smart guy, but I know that all I need to know is Him. Even a simple-minded man as me
can know the Lord Jesus, even the simple mind of Jim. You know the Jim I'm talking
about over in Wheatland? A young man who knows the Lord, though
his mind is simple. He knows who God is. He knows
that God is God, which is what you and me know. He's our wisdom. But it doesn't
stop there. It also tells us that this Jesus
Christ is made unto us righteousness. We see that we have none of our
own. We see that there's no way we can purchase it. We see there's
no way we can work it out. We need somebody to work it out
for us. Jesus Christ has provided it all. He's provided us with
the sanctification, making us holy, setting us apart. And He
also provided us with redemption. We're redeemed. Our sins have
been paid for. We've been redeemed to God. That according as it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. If God has given
you faith in His Son, then He will say to you, I say unto you, I have not found so great a faith, not in Israel. This centurion,
as all of God's people, do not put our trust in our faith. We
trust in whom it is our faith is pointed to. Christ Jesus our
Lord, Amen.