Thank you for the song. Look
in the book of New Testament, the book of Tithes, Chapter 1,
if you would, the book of Tithes, Chapter 1. the Apostle to Titus. And we'll be looking at a verse
here in just a minute in the very first chapter. I want to
address a question to you today and I put it to each of you. To each of you who are gathered
in this congregation this morning. To those of you who are watching
by way of the internet, I want to address this question to you
also, and it is, what kind of faith do you have? That's the question that I want
us to consider. What kind of faith do you have? Now, let me say this. I'm always very concerned about
my soul's salvation. This is not something about which
I take for granted. I'm always examining the basis
of my faith. And, like you, I understand to
a degree that I'm a sinful man. And I want to be received, I
want to be accepted by a holy God. And I'm in earnest about
this. I don't want to be rejected.
I know there are going to be people at the judgment who will
be rejected, even though they've been religious. And our Lord
will say to a good many people in that day, depart from me,
I never knew you. I don't want to hear those words.
I don't want it said of me what will be said of so many in Matthew
chapter 25. These shall go away in everlasting
punishment. I don't want to hear those words.
I want to be accepted by God. I want to be received by God.
And so, as I look into the Word of God, I wonder, how can a sinful
man like myself? And I drink iniquity like water,
just like all the rest of mankind. And I'm in pursuit of the answer
of this question, on what basis will God receive me? Will God
accept me? Will God welcome me? Will God
embrace me? I'm an ungodly man by nature. I know that, not so much because
I feel it, but because that's what God says. And somebody says,
well, I don't think I feel my sin to that degree, preacher.
I don't think I understand the depths of my iniquity. It doesn't
matter whether you understand. In fact, you'll never understand
the depths of your iniquity. You're ungodly because God says
you're ungodly. I'm a sinful man because God
says I'm a sinful man. And I wonder on what basis, on
what foundation will a holy God, a God with whom the heavens aren't
even pure in His sight, on what foundation will He receive me? And the answer is found on virtually
every page of the Word of God. I'm so thankful to be able to
say to you that we don't have the answer to this question of
how can the ungodly be just with God? The answer is not found
in some remote part of the Word of God. You've got a search in
there and, wow, I know it's in here somewhere. No, it's stamped
on every page of Holy Scripture. God shows mercy. God shows grace. God receives those who are unworthy
of His presence in and of Himself. He receives them on the basis
of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's upon the foundation of His
work of redemption. But then there's something else
that I wonder about. There's another question that
I put to myself and I would put to you as well. It's also a heavy question. Okay,
preacher, you've told me that the foundation for the salvation
of sinners is in the Lord Jesus and His work of salvation, His
work of redemption, His work of reconciliation, His substitutionary
death upon the cross of Calvary, His obedience up to and including
His death. That's the basis, that's the
ground upon which God receives sinners because the just one
died for the unjust. The innocent one died in the
stead of the guilty. It's on that basis that God received
sinners. But here's another question.
I want to know, how does this become mine? That is, this great
salvation that is all of grace and all in Christ Jesus, in what
way does that come to me? And the answer is, by faith. By faith. In fact, we read in
Hebrews chapter 11, but without faith, it is impossible to please
God. Don't tell me faith isn't necessary. Don't tell me faith isn't required. Without faith, God's not going
to be pleased with you. You see, it is faith that connects
us to Jesus Christ. Not works. In fact, not even
repentance. And not even love for the Savior.
It's faith. The Bible is very clear about
that. It's believing the Son of God.
It's laying hold of Him. It's embracing Him. I know He's
the only basis of salvation. I know He's the only foundation
upon which a holy God will receive a sinful man like me. And by
faith, I reach out to Him with empty hands and I receive of
His fullness, the fullness of His grace. I embrace Him. I cast my soul upon Him. in this faith. But there are different kinds
of faith. There is, first of all, real
faith, true faith. And that's found here in the
book of Titus, the first chapter. Look at verse one. Here's true
faith. Very simple. It's going to be
easy for you to follow me this morning because I want to talk
about true faith first. Here it is, you're in Titus chapter
1, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according
to the faith of God's elect. And the acknowledging of the
truth, which is after godliness. You hear us speak about, quite
often, the elect of God. And rightfully so, because that
tells us of the origin of our salvation. Well, how is it that
the elect of God, who are unknown to us, because only God knows
who His people are, how is it that this salvation comes to
the elect of God? It is by faith. Therefore, the
apostle says, it's the faith of God's elect. This is real
faith. This is true faith. This is not
a false faith. This is not a fake faith. He
is very specific. He says, to the faith of God's
elect and the acknowledging of the truth. What is true faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ? It is to acknowledge from the
heart the very truth of God's Word and believe what God has
said. It's his true faith. Now I know
that when it says the faith of God's elect, that can also mean
the entire body of truth of God's gospel, and that's accurate to
say that. So when we say the faith of God's
elect, it means the whole thing. All of salvation in Christ by
the grace of God, received by faith, this salvation that originated
with God, that God preserves us in throughout our lifetime,
and this salvation which will be consummated in everlasting
glory, it's all of God. It's the whole body of God's
truth. I know that is one of the meanings
of the faith of God's elect. But here's another meaning of
this, the belief of, the reception of the truth of God's elect. And I'm asking you this morning,
have you received God's truth? God's truth. And that involves
a reception of the identity of God Himself, in His holiness. And in His justice, in His righteous
character, as the God who will not permit any kind of sin into
His presence. And this body of truth involves
believing what the Lord says about us. The Bible doesn't paint
a pretty picture of us. It's actually an awful picture. It sets us forth as being without
strength. Without strength. Romans chapter
six. That is, we're very infirmed. There's a weakness about us.
It's a sickness. It's a disease. You have a disease. It's called the leprosy of sin.
And we're ungodly. We're not like God at all. And
we're enemies against Him. The Bible paints a portrait of
us that is an ugly portrait. It's black. It's horrible. It
presents us as being detestable to God. Offensive to Him who
is pure and holy. And then it presents to us the
message of a savior, a savior, Christ the Lord, whom
God sent into this world to save sinners by his obedience, by
his bloody death, by his resurrection. This is the body of truth that
we receive. This is what we believe because
this is what God says. And then we reach out and we
take hold of the Lord Jesus. We embrace Him. We cast our souls
upon Him. His confidence in Christ is set
forth in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Isaiah
28, 16 says, Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion
for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone,
a sure foundation. There's the foundation. That's
what I began by saying. Here's the foundation upon which
God accepts and receives and makes sinners righteous. The
foundation of the Lord Jesus and His work. He that believeth
He that believeth shall not make haste. Oh, faith is vital. Faith is vital. That's why in
Isaiah chapter 53, here's where Isaiah began, it's the way he
began that chapter. Lord, who hath believed our report? You know what that says to me?
This report of the gospel? this glad tidings of Christ and
Him crucified, it must be believed. It must be. There's no salvation
without faith. Without faith, I've already quoted,
it's impossible to please God. Our Lord said to the Pharisees,
He said, John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and
you believed. Him not. But the publicans and
the harlots believed Him. They believed the message. And ye, when ye had seen it,
repented not afterward, that ye might believe Him. Our Lord Jesus said, after His
death, His burial, and His resurrection, and just before His ascension,
He said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but
he that believeth not shall be damned. That's the Savior's words. Those are not my words. I didn't
invent that. That's what he said. And you
get to the book of Hebrews chapter 11. And this statement is, it's
found so often in Hebrews chapter 11 by faith. By faith, Abel offered
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. By faith, Enoch. By faith, Noah. By faith, Abraham. By faith, Sarah. By faith, Moses. Faith, faith, faith. It's stressed
in the word of God. So, on what basis does God receive
and declare righteous and accept sinful people like us? Upon the
basis of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the firm foundation. There's the stone that God has
established. Well, how does this salvation,
how does it become mine? How do I enter into this? To
the blessings of this great salvation, of this acceptance with God,
how do I, a poor sinful person, how can I have a part in this?
By faith. By faith, not by working. But listen to the Word of God.
By grace, you say, through faith. through faith, not apart from
faith, through faith, which is the gift of God. Oh, how gracious and generous
God is to give us that which we do not by nature have. He gives us this wonderful gift
of faith to believe Him. And faith is always empty handed. Faith brings nothing to God. Faith doesn't bring Bible reading. Faith doesn't bring your tithing.
Faith doesn't bring your good works. Faith comes empty handed
to the Lord Jesus Christ saying, all I need in you I find. Oh Lamb of God, I come, I come
to you. That's true faith. We read in Romans chapter 10,
with the heart, with the heart, with the inner man, with the
heart, man believeth unto righteousness. This is the way we enter into
it. There is a foundation upon which God receives sinners, and
there is a way by which poor sinners enter into this salvation. It's by faith. It's called the faith of God's
elect. We read in John chapter one,
but as many as received him, to them God gave the authority
or the power. to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe, believe on His name. And His name identifies
Him as that specific, particular, only Savior of sinners. We must
believe Him. But there's another faith, okay,
this is true faith. And that's what we want. But
let me identify another faith for you. And I want you to go
now to the book of James. Look in the book of James and
go to the second chapter. There is another faith. And this
is a faith that does not save. But it is established in this
passage of scripture as being faith, belief. It's a most unusual
verse of Scripture. And I've been looking at it now
for several days. James chapter 2 and verse 19. James chapter 2 and verse 19. Thou believest that there is
one God Thou doest well. The devils also believe. That's startling. The devils also believe and go
further. They tremble. And the word tremble
means to shudder. It's like when you see something
that gives you such an affright that the hair stands up on the
back of your neck and on your arms. That's the meaning. The devils also believe. You
say you believe God? You say you believe there's one
God? That's orthodoxy when you say you believe there's one God.
You see, James is writing to the Jewish people. And they were
brought up from their earliest childhood to know the passage
of Scripture out of Deuteronomy, out of the Law of God, that says,
the Lord our God is one God. One God in the Trinity of His
persons. There are people in this world,
in religion, who do not believe in the Trinity, the Father, the
Son, and the Spirit. But the demons do. The devils
do. There are people who believe
they're a multitude of gods. Well, they're all kind of gods,
you know. Just take and pick whichever one you want. If you're
sincere, you're zealous, and you mean business, you're okay.
There are many gods. The demons know better than that. The Word of God, the inspired
Word of God, James says, the devils also believe. They know
there's just one God. They rebelled against him. I
think we can safely assume that the demons or the devils were
once angels who kept not their first estate. And in a confederation
of rebellion following Lucifer, This one third of the angelic
body, they fail in rebellion against God. They know who God
is. They believe there is one God. You say, well, preacher, I believe
in God. Well, congratulations. So do
the devils. You know better than devils.
And they go a step further than most people. They shudder in
his presence. This arrests my attention. It really does. These are believers
in God. The devils also believe. Now,
you might be sitting there thinking, yeah, but I bet you this is a
different word. I bet, preacher, if you go back
in the Greek, I bet you this is a different word for believe
than where it talks about he that believeth on the Son hath
eternal life. No, it isn't. It's identical. It's the same word. The devils or the demons also
believe, and they tremble. They're believers in God. And
in believing in God, that's orthodox, that's truthful, should believe
in God. We read, David said in the psalm,
the fool hath said in his heart, no God. You won't find devils
ever saying that. The atheist is a fool. The agnostic is a fool. The demons believe far more than
they do. They know there's a God. They
defied Him. They rebelled against Him. And
they felt in a measure His anger when He put them out of heaven.
They therefore know of His holy character. And that He will not
abide in His presence. Rebels. They know that. They believe that. That's very
factual to the devils. Look at that passage of Scripture
I asked our brother to read to us in Matthew chapter 8. Another
fascinating passage of Scripture. Matthew chapter 8. So the devils believe that there
is one God and their belief is accompanied by fear. By fear. Well, let's look at Matthew 8
and find a few more things about the faith of devils. And this
is the reason I'm approaching this subject today. I don't want us to merely have
the faith of devils. It won't do you any good. It
doesn't do them any good. It isn't enough for you to say,
oh preacher, I believe in God. will be. Do you shudder in His
presence? After all, the Bible says the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning
of knowledge. Well, I'm not afraid of God. You should be. You're
standing on the verge of eternity. He could take your breath away
from you just like that. You'd fall into hell. See, that's
the problem with the natural man. Romans chapter 3. There
is no fear of God before His eyes. The devil is fearing. They're
afraid of Him. Look here in Matthew chapter
8. Let's learn a few more things about the devils. Things that
they know and things that they believe. Look with me in Matthew
8. Look at verse... Verse 29, we've
already, here's a man who's possessed of demons or devils. The Lord
Jesus approaches him. And then these devils speak to
the Savior. Verse 29, and behold, and whenever
you see the word behold, you need to set up and take notice.
There's something, I mean, everything in the word of God is vital and
every word in this book of God is very important. But when you
read the word, behold, that should kind of grab you by the collar
and say, now listen up, listen up. And behold, they cried out. to Jesus. They said, What have
we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? They knew and believed Him to
be Jesus. You know who Jesus is? He's the
Savior of sinners. Matthew 1.21, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sin.
The devils know He's the Savior. Why, they have been, by this
mighty Savior, evicted from the hearts of many a poor sinner. They know He's the Savior of
sinners. Furthermore, watch this, secondly,
they know that He's the Son of God. He's the Son of God. On another occasion, we won't
take the time to look at these passages, but in Matthew chapter
14, the disciples are in a boat. The Lord Jesus has put them out
in this boat. He says, I'll meet you on the
other side. And a storm comes up, and then they see Jesus walking
on the water. And they're very afraid. And then Peter says, Lord, if
it's you, bid me come to you. And he did. And then he began
to sink. Lord, save me. And the Lord did. And you know what the disciples
said? They said, we believe thou art
the son of the living God. Two chapters later, Matthew chapter
16, when the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, who do men
say that I am the Son of Man am? And they said, well, some
say you're this prophet and some say you're another prophet. Who
do you say that I am? Simon Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon
Barjona. Flesh and blood didn't show you
that, didn't teach you that, my Father did. But before those
disciples identified Him as the Son of God, the demons do it
first. That's what I'm getting at. They
know who He is. You're Jesus. You're the Son
of God. There is no denial of His deity
by these demons. They know perfectly well who
He is. So often they have been cast
out of poor sinners who were deluded and deceived by doctrine
from hell, by satanic error. And He has cast them out. They
know very well, they believe very well He's the Jesus, He's
the Son of God. Furthermore, here's something
else. They believed and they knew that this one before whom
they appeared was their judge. Notice there in verse 29, the
last statement, the last question. Art thou come hither to torment
us before the time? We know you're the judge. We
know you're the one who's going to give out the torment, the
pain, the judgment. Have you come to torment us and
judge us now? And furthermore, they acknowledge
there is a final judgment before the time. They know there's a judgment.
Let me tell you, here's a lot of orthodoxy here. Here's a lot
of truth here that's believed by devils. They believe there's
one God. Check. They fear in His presence. They tremble in His presence.
Check. They know who Jesus is. Check. They know He's the Son of God.
Check. They know he's the judge, another
one checked off. They know there's a final judgment
when they will face the supreme judge check. They believed all
of this. But who among us would be so
foolish as to think they're converted? They're not converted. There's none of us would be,
have ignorance would be ignorant enough to stand and say, well,
they believe all this, they're going to heaven. Let me tell
you something. They believe more than most professing
Christians. That's the truth. That's what's
so scary about this. That's the reason I ask, do we
have the right kind of faith? And they believed He was the
governor of the universe. Look at verses 30 and 31. There was a good way out from them,
and a herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought Him, saying,
If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. They believed it was up to Him
as to what happened to them. In other words, they believe
He's the sovereign governor of all things. It's up to you. What
happens to us is in your hands. Well, that's the very thing that
most men and women fight against and argue against, the sovereign
authority of King Jesus. But the devils know better. They
know He has that kind of authority. They know He's the sovereign. And they know he has absolute
power. Because in verse 32, he says
unto them, go. And they were gone. Earlier in
this chapter, there was a centurion who had one of his servants who
was sick and he approaches the Lord Jesus to heal him. And the
centurion said, To the Savior he said, I understand authority
because I am also a man of authority and I say go and my servants
go. And our Lord Jesus, he shows
he has authority because he says to these demons, go. Go. And they go into a herd of swine. I say to you, these devils believed
a lot of truth, a lot of facts. In fact, I'll repeat again, they
believed quite a lot more than most so-called professing Christians,
but they have no hope. There's no possibility of everlasting
glory for them based upon this degree, this kind of faith. Now listen to me. You must have
a faith that far excels their faith. They acknowledge many
factual things, but they didn't know God. Which brings me to
address this. We talked about true faith. I've
talked about the faith of devils. Now I want to address this question. These demons believed, but what
was lacking in their faith? There's something lacking there,
obviously. Well, number one, they saw no beauty They saw no
glory in the object of their faith. They believed Jesus was
the Savior. They believed He's the Son of
God. They believed there's one God. They trembled in His presence.
They believed He's the Judge. They believed He's the one who
can torment them. He's the one before whom they'll
stand at the last day. They believed all of these things,
but they saw no beauty and no glory in the object of their
faith. And I'll show you that. Okay,
verse 29 again. And behold, they cried out, saying,
What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? You see, there was nothing in
Jesus the Son of God, there was no glory about Him, no beauty
about Him, to draw these demons to Him, but rather to repel them
from His presence. You see, true faith sees Jesus
as the Savior. It sees Him as the Son of God. It sees Him as God incarnate. And true faith is drawn to Him. And sees His glory. Sees His
beauty. Sees His magnificence. And that's
where people are missing out today. They have a belief in
facts, but they're not drawn to the Son of God to see in Him
all they need for time and eternity. They don't see any glory about
Him. They're not drawn to Him. There's no magnetic pull from
the Savior upon their hearts. What about your faith? Does it
draw you to the Savior? Is there an irresistible urge
within you when you hear of Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Is
there an irresistible effectual urge within you that says, I
must have this Savior. I must know Him. I must be found
in Him. I want His grace. I want His
salvation. I want to know Him and the power
of His resurrection. You see, that was absent with
the devils. They didn't have that. The Apostle Paul writes in 2
Corinthians chapter 4, he talks about the light of the glory
of God has shined in our hearts, he says, revealing Christ's glory. He says that light has shined
in our hearts. You know what, on the Damascus
road, you can read of Saul's conversion there when the Lord
approached him and interrupted him. And there was a light that
shined about him, a physical light. He doesn't even mention
that. He says the light has shined
in our hearts. It's more than seeing something
with these eyes. It's seeing the glories of Christ
Jesus with your heart and loving Him. and adoring Him, and resting
in Him. It shined in our hearts, but
it didn't shine in the hearts of the demons. It doesn't shine
in the hearts of unbelievers. You're Jesus, the Son of God,
but unlike Simon Peter, who made the same confession, and then
the Lord said, are you going to go away? He says, to whom
shall we go? Well, the demons, they want to go. We can't stand
His presence. We cannot abide who He is. He's
too holy for us. Send us away. Send us to the
swine. Send us to the pigs. We'd rather
be with the pigs than with you. Oh, true faith says I must have
Him. I must be with Him. Though they believed Jesus was
the Son of God, they didn't love Him. That's something else about
true faith. True faith loves Him. The Bible says if any man believe
not, the Lord Jesus Christ, or love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be anathema maranatha. Let them be condemned when Christ
comes back. The demons, they had some sort
of faith, they had some sort of belief, but they didn't love
him. And our Lord Jesus put this question
to Simon Peter there in the end of the Gospel of John. Simon,
thou son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? Not more than these other disciples,
but more than the things of the world? More than your fishing
nets? More than your fishing boat?
More than your family? Do you love me? You see, real
faith forsakes all and follows Christ. True faith loves Him
above all. If any man love not the Son of
God, if He doesn't love you more than father, mother, brother,
sister, husband, wife, go on down the line. He's not my disciple,
Christ says. They didn't love Him. And I'll tell you something else.
Though they acknowledged His sovereign authority, they didn't
love His Lordship. They didn't love His authority.
They saw no wonder and no glory about His Lordship. They don't say, Like that thief
who believed, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. No, they don't say that. It's
send us away. Send us away. They don't say like Thomas, my
Lord and my God. No. They're not comfortable in
his presence at all. They don't need him. Do you? They don't need him. They don't want him. They have
no use for Jesus Christ. And of course, though they believed,
yet there was obviously no growth in grace. No growth in faith,
no growth in love. They didn't have those things
or absent from them. And so now, let's bring it all
together. What about your faith? You believe,
don't you? I know you believe. Everybody
in here believes something. You believe something about God?
Are you orthodox? I believe there's one God. Wonderful. Do you tremble in His presence?
I believe Jesus is the Savior. I believe He's the Son of God. I believe that He has the power
to punish meet out judgment and torment to those who oppose him. I believe he's the judge before
whom I will stand someday. That's all well and good. That's
not enough. That's not enough. Do you adore
him? Do you worship him? Do you see in Him the very one
you need? Are you drawn toward, oh, that
the Spirit of Christ would send forth His great power and mercy
to draw us to the Savior? Oh, it'd be wonderful. For there
to be a magnetic, a magnetic pull on us. Because there has
to be that. And so we read in Psalm 110 in
verse three, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy
power. Oh Lord, draw us unto yourself
that we might have the right kind of faith. The faith of God's elect. Well, let's sing a song, shall
we?