What is the end or the goal of
your faith? What is the goal of our faith? We have faith. We've been given
faith. Faith is not natural to us. Faith is a gift. For by grace
are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. We do have faith in the Lord
Jesus. We do believe Him. The Philippian
jailer, he said to the servants of the Lord, he said, what must
I do to be saved? And the answer came back, believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved and thy house." That is, if your house
believes, if the occupants of your house believe, they'll be
saved as well. Here's faith. Receiving the goal
of your faith. We do believe the Son of God. We believe some things about
Him. Yes, we do. We believe the doctrines of the
Word of God as God reveals them to us? Yes, we do. But we understand
salvation is in Christ Jesus. And we believe Him. We believe
the Word of God, all that it says about Christ. We believe
what it says about who He is, of His identity. Indeed, He is
God, a very God. And He is Man, bone of our bone
and flesh of our flesh. We believe Him, we have faith
in Him. This One who came into this world,
who joined His deity with humanity. in order to establish a righteousness
for His people by His substitutionary death on the cross. By that death,
He enabled God to be both just and the justifier of all who
believe on the Lord Jesus. We believe Him. We have faith
in Him. We rest in Him. He is our confidence. I hope that as you listen to
these words, you're reflecting now upon the fact that God has
given you faith to believe Christ Jesus, to rest all of your everlasting
welfare in Him, to believe Him, to lay hold of Him, to embrace
Him as your all in all. What is faith? Faith is to rest
in Christ Jesus. It is to cease from your labor. Indeed, He is our Sabbath. And the law of the Sabbath was
simply this. Thou shalt do no work. Rest. Rest. And in this matter of salvation,
I know it is natural for us to work. It is natural for us to
think that the more I do for God, the more God will do for
me. We believe the adage of the world
that says, God helps those who help themselves. But bless the
name of God, He helps those who cannot help themselves, who have
no ability to do anything for Him. This salvation is of the
Lord and He gives us faith to believe Christ Jesus, to cease
from our labors. Stop trying to please God by
your works and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart. Believe He's the Lord, believe
that He's Jesus, believe that He's the Christ. And rest all
the concerns of your soul upon Christ Jesus, that saving faith. Stop your labors. Stop thinking
that God is going to take notice of you because of something you
do. God takes notice of His Son. This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. God is well pleased with His
Son. May we find in Christ Jesus our
all in all. He says, receiving the end of
your faith. What is the goal of our faith?
What is the end of our faith? What is it that faith wants in
the end? What is the destiny of faith?
What is it that faith looks for? What is it that faith longs for? What is it that faith wants more
than anything for itself? Faith wants the salvation of
the soul. And we receive that in Christ
Jesus. And so if I were giving a kind
of a summation of the chapter, I would say it's about the salvation
of the soul. Receiving the end of your faith,
which is the salvation of the soul. Now when he says the salvation
of the soul, he doesn't mean that there's no salvation of
the body. There will be a salvation of
the body. We will experience the salvation
of the body even as we have experienced the salvation of the soul. But
the salvation of the body is not going to be realized, it
is not going to be experienced until our Lord comes back the
second time in great glory. When every eye shall see Him.
And our bodies that have died have been laid to rest, many
of them for hundreds and thousands of years. The bodies will be
raised and then the body will experience salvation. The body will experience a restoration. And we shall be raised in the
likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But we experience
in this life the salvation of the soul. Salvation. What a wonderful word. What a
glorious word. Salvation. No wonder the apostle
says in Hebrews, the second chapter, it's a great salvation. What
does the word salvation mean? Well, it means restoration. It
means rescue. The word salvation means deliverance. Deliverance from sin. Deliverance
from Satan. Deliverance from every enemy
of the soul. Deliverance from yourself. You
need to be saved from yourself. Oh, you have many enemies. There's
no question about that. The devil is your enemy. The
world is your enemy. But you are your greatest enemy.
And you must be overcome by the grace of God. You must be delivered
from, rescued from, yes, saved from yourself. Thank God He does
that. He does that by His grace. This
is a great salvation. A great salvation. It has a great
author. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. It's a great author. He had saved
us. The Lord saved us. He's the author
of salvation. And He's the finisher of salvation. It's a great salvation because
it has a great author. It's a great salvation because
it was devised in great wisdom. Oh, here's the dilemma. If ever
there was a divine dilemma, if I could put it that way, it was
this. How can God remain who He is,
just and holy and righteous in all of His ways, uncompromisingly
so? How can God remain just and holy
and righteous and yet at the same time reach down and embrace
a wiggling maggot who is in the mire and the filth of sin, and
not compromise his own law and justice that says the sins of
the sinner must be punished. The soul that sinneth, it must
die. How can God do that? Oh, what
great wisdom in this great salvation. God ordained a substitute to
die in the stead of his people. A worthy, a suitable sacrifice. He had to lay down His life in
order that our guilt and our sins and our transgressions and
our iniquities be all put away. Washed away in His blood. Thank
God for the gospel of substitution. It was in this way that God honored
Himself. He honored His law. He honored
His justice in the punishment of His Son in the stead of all
of His chosen people. Oh, this is a great salvation.
It has a great author, God Himself. It was devised in great wisdom. Oh, the wisdom of God. Oh, the
wisdom of the Lord in designing, in devising such a wonderful
salvation that gives all the glory to God and does wonderful
things for us. And He gets the glory. It's a
great author, devised in great wisdom. Oh, it's accomplished
by a great Savior. A great Savior. Our great God
and Savior. Great in His majesty. Great in
His glory. Great in His person. Great in
His work. Great in His worth. Great in
His bloody sacrifice. Great in His righteousness. He's
great no matter how you look at Him. He is always great. He's the great God and Savior,
Jesus Christ our Lord. And He's the one who accomplished
this redemption and this reconciliation. You see that, don't you? He's
great. This great salvation got a great
author, devised in great wisdom, accomplished by a great Savior.
And it was accomplished by a great Savior at great cost. Oh, the
cost. You were redeemed. You read it.
You were redeemed. Christ's precious blood. What
did it cost God to make the world? You ever think about that? What did it cost God to make
the world? Nothing. Nothing. He spake and
it was done. All He had to do was say the
Word. All He had to do was will it. And everything came into existence
as He willed it into existence. God can speak and create the
world, but God can't say it that way. God can't say, well, sins
be gone. No. No. Oh, what a great cost. What a
great cost. Not to us, because the price
is too steep. You can't pay, you could never
pay the price. I know people say, oh, they've
gone to hell and they're going to pay for their sins. No. No. Nobody's ever paying for their
sins. Hell is not about people going
there to pay for their sins. That's a debt that can never
be paid. Not by man's punishment. The
only blood that will put away sin, the only death that will
put away the iniquities of God's people is the bloody death, the
sacrifice, the substitutionary atoning work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what it took. Oh, what
a great cost. Oh, this is a great author. His
salvation's got a great author. This great salvation was devised
in great wisdom. All the wisdom of God. And a
great Savior came! And He paid a great price. It
took His death. Don't you think for a moment
that you can, by your works, put yourself into good standing
before God, because now you're in competition with the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God'll damn you for that. God'll
put you in a hell for that. The only blood, the only way
that sins could be put away is for Christ Jesus to suffer and
bleed and die. And then some worm of the earth
stands up on its hind legs and says, well, I think by my baptism
I can wash my sins away. God will put you in hell for
that. put nothing in competition with
the bloody atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ the Lord. It
means everything to God. And bless your heart, I hope
it means everything to you. It's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. Oh, it's paid for at great price. What a great cost. And it comes
to us in great power. What kind of power? Life-giving
power. Resurrecting power. Therefore, we read in the Scriptures
that the very same resurrecting power that raised our Lord from
the dead, that's what raised us up from our spiritual graves. What's it going to take to raise
the dead? What's it going to take to wake up those who are
in the sleep of death, like we all are by nature? Oh, it's going
to take great power. Lazarus was dead. Mary and Martha
weeping at the tomb. Martha said, if you had been
here, my brother hadn't have died. Everybody's weeping. They go
to the tomb. Roll away the stone. Martha says,
you don't want to do that. He's been dead four days. Corruption
has set in. He's defiled. Oh, there's no
hope. There's no hope. And all the
tears. Everybody's weeping. Everybody
said, poor Mary, poor Martha. Oh, it's a sad time for the family. The sovereign life-giving Savior
stands before that tomb. There is no hope for the resurrection
of Lazarus to be found in anybody else or anywhere else except
in the life-giving Savior who had already said to Martha, I
am the resurrection and the life. And our Lord spoke those words
and He said, Lazarus, come forth. What do you think happened? He didn't say, Lazarus, are you
willing to live? Lazarus, if you'll just exercise
your free will, you'll live, you'll walk out of that tomb.
Wow, what foolishness. And what foolishness to think
that a sinner who is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins could
exercise his free will and then he'd be raised from a spiritual
grave. That's utter nonsense. Why don't
you exercise your will to get rid of your headache? Why don't
you exercise your will to get better when you get the flu?
Why don't you exercise your so-called free will when you want to get
to feeling better? Well, preacher, don't be funny
now. You know I can't do that. Well,
I know you can't. And it's about a thousand times
more foolish to think that you can, by your free will, supposed
free will, raise yourself to new life in Christ Jesus. That's
utter nonsense. It's going to take the will of
God. It's going to take the Word of God. It's going to take the
power of God. I'm not begging you to let God
do something for you. I'm begging God. I'm pleading
with God. Oh, God, do something for helpless
sinners. Do something for all these Lazaruses
that are listening to the sound of my voice. Do something for
all the dead. Speak the Word. If you speak
the Word, they'll live. Lazarus, come forth. Oh, he lived. He who was bound came forth.
The Lord said, unbind him. Let him go. He lived to the glory
of God. This is a great salvation. It
comes to us in great power. What kind of power? Life-giving
power. Life-giving power. And you know
what I mean. Those of you who really believe,
you know exactly what I'm talking about. You are going along through life.
And maybe you had some interest in the Bible, But then one day, you found yourself
really listening. It wasn't because you had made
up your mind to do it, you just, something got your attention. And then you found yourself believing
this gospel. And you kind of said to yourself,
where have I been all my life? Why, this is the most wonderful
news I've ever heard in my life, but I hadn't seemed to have heard
it before. What has happened to me? Well, I'll tell you what
happened to you, Lazarus. Somebody spoke to you in life-giving
power, and you came forth from the tomb. You're alive to the
glory of God. You're quickened by His power.
This is great power. And this great salvation, it
has a great result. A great result. The salvation
of your soul. The salvation of your soul. Listen,
what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and
loses his own soul? I know you're busy making a living.
You're struggling. You're trying. Working, you're
laboring, it's okay. That's okay. But that's just take care of
your physical needs. What about the needs of your
soul? How's it between you and God?
Is your soul safe? There's no safety anywhere else
except in Christ Jesus. And you can gain the entire world. You can gain all the riches.
You can have everything that you ever dreamed of. That's the
American dream. You get it all, and you don't
have Christ? Well, you're the poorest of the
poor. You don't have anything. You don't have anything. And
you're going to leave this world just the way you came in. Like
Job said, naked came I into the world, naked I'm going to leave
too. I didn't bring anything in, I'm not taking anything out. Here's what we want. And this
is the end, this is the goal of faith. The salvation of the
soul. The salvation of the soul. Now there are a lot of people
who are interested in some sort of salvation for the body. So
they go to the faith healers. Oh, I got rheumatism, I got arthritis,
I got an ache in my shoulder, I got an ache in my head, whatever
it is. And you go and you give some money to these religious
charlatans, these crooks. You give them some money. And
then maybe you'll be one of the ones that's called up on stage,
and they'll knock you in the head, and you'll fall over and
say, wow, something really happened to me. Yeah, I guess it did.
You just got knocked in the head. And they take their money, and
they're gone. You're saying, you know, it's like, you say,
well, I think I feel better. Then after a little bit, you
say, boy, I don't think I feel better. I wish I hadn't given
him all that money, and then he's gone to another town. I say, if a man's got the power
to heal the sick, go down here to the hospitals. There's lots
of people in there. They'd love for you to come and
heal them. Oh, but you can't take up an
offering down there, though. See, there are lots of people
interested in the salvation of the body. but the body's going
to age, and it's going to deteriorate, and it's going to die. That's
just the way it is. And I know. I try to take a few
vitamins, and I drink my key for every morning. Thanks to
these folks over here. And you know, I had reasonable
care, and my doctor told me to start walking every morning.
I'm walking every morning. And, you know, I'm doing all
these things, not to excess, but just trying to do them because
I know it's not going to extend my life, I just want to die healthy. And that's what you want. You
want to die, I want to die healthy. I want to die feeling good anyway. The fact of the matter is we're
going to die. The body is destined for the grave. Do what you want
to, but you're going to die. You've got so many years, so
many months, so many days that God has already willed for you
to live. And when you reach that boundary
that nobody can move, that's an immovable boundary. When you
reach that, your life's going to end. What then? What then? Well, for those who have believed,
we will reach the goal of our faith, which is to be with Christ
Jesus. Why, that's ultimate salvation.
This is ultimate deliverance. This is the ultimate rescue.
This is what we long for. This is what we preach about.
This is what we hope for. This is what we believe. When
we breathe our last breath, it's absent from the body, present
with the Lord, like she sang a while ago, I'm only going home. I'm going home. Because in this world, I'm a
stranger. I'm a pilgrim. You know who Peter
writes this to? Look at the first verse. It says,
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers that are scattered. The strangers that are scattered. We're scattered strangers. Look over in chapter 2 verse
11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims. That's us. We're strangers and
pilgrims. We're strangers to the world.
Now, we're not strange. Let's don't be strange. But we
are strangers. We're strangers to the world
and we're just pilgrims. Pilgrims passing through. Go
back to Hebrews chapter 11. Let me read you a few verses
back here. Hebrews chapter 11. Look at verse 13. Hebrews chapter
11 verse 13. These all died in faith. These. These saints of God that
are made. These all died in faith. Would you die in faith, then
live in faith? Believe in God. These all died
in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and
confessed they were strangers and pilgrims. We're strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. We're foreigners. We are pilgrims,
we are sojourners. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. You see a stranger
in a pilgrim, somebody who is a foreigner, well that is somebody
who is not from this country. This is not our country. This
world is not our home. We are going home. Our country
is over yonder. Our citizenship is not in this
world. Our citizenship is in glory. Look at verse 15. And truly... Look at verse 15 of chapter 11
of Hebrews. Well, verse 14 even. For they
that say such things declare that they seek a country. Verse
15. And truly... If they had been
mindful of that country from which they came out, why, they
might have opportunity to have returned. But now they seek a
better country. We seek something better. Surely
there's something better. I'm thankful to live in this
country. I'm thankful for the liberty we have, liberties that
I'm afraid that are eroding. But the liberties that we have
to worship God as we feel that He ought to be worshipped, to
meet in here together without fear that the government's going
to shut us down? I'm thankful this country, with
all the problems that's going on in this country, still it's
the greatest country in the world. For out of this country the Gospel
goes forth. And that's the reason God, I
believe, has raised up this country so that the Gospel go forth from
here. But now they desire a better
country. I'm looking for something better, aren't you? That isn't
heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed
to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city.
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, he offered up Isaac. He
that received the promises offered up his only begotten son. And
this man, he was looking for a city? that hath foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. These people were strangers in
pilgrims. Strangers in pilgrims. We're
not citizens of this world. Go back to 1 Peter chapter 1
again. And our brother read this verse
to us. Look at verse 17. And if you call, or since you
call really is the word, And since you call on the Father,
who without respect to persons, judgeth according to every man's
work, here's what he says, do, past the time of your sojourning,
your sojourning in fear. We're just sojourners. We're
just pilgrims. We're just strangers. We're just
passing through. Listen, don't get wrapped up
with the mindset of those who are citizens of this world. Do
you know what the mindset of the citizens of this world is?
It's all about self. They don't have the same values
we have. They don't have the same loves
that we have. They don't have the same desires that we have.
They don't have the same interests that we have. They don't have
the same goals. ...of this world are self-centered,
self-righteous, self-absorbed, self-complacent, self-deceiving,
self-devoted, self-glorifying, self-loving, self-pleasing, self-praising,
self-taught, and self-willed. The man of this world is really
a self-worshipper. It's all about self. And you
know that's the truth. Those who have been born of God,
those who know the Lord Jesus Christ, for us it's not all about
self, it's all about Him. It's all about Him. We say like John the Baptist,
he must increase. I must decrease. Listen, we're
strangers. So don't get too attached to
things down here. You know, Nancy and I, we've
been to Japan. Several of you have been out
of the country as well. Go to a foreign country. We were in
Japan back in the early springtime. We got over there. We didn't
speak the language. We spoke a different language.
And you know, whatever went on in Tokyo, whatever went on in
their government, whatever their prime minister did, that was
of no real concern to us. You know, why not? I'm not a
citizen. I'm not a citizen there. Whatever happens in this world,
whatever happens in this country, let's don't get It's so easy,
and I can get on my soapbox on some things if I go too far,
but I have to remember, I'm not a citizen of this world. I'm
just passing through. Don't get too wrapped up in what's
going on down here. Our home is over yonder. I'm
a citizen over yonder. I'm going home. Home is where
my father is. Home is where my elder brother
is. Home is where my brothers and
sisters who had departed this world, that's where they are.
I'm just going home. This is not my home. Don't get
too settled here. Don't sink your roots too deep
here. Brother Scott Richardson said
one time, he said, don't hold on to the things of this world
so tight that God has to break your fingers when He breaks them
loose from you. Don't hold on too tight. You're
just a pilgrim. You're just a stranger. You're
just passing through. You're just a sojourner. We're
like the Israelites when they were down in Egypt. They were
just sojourned. They sojourned for over 400 years. But still, they were just sojourners. We're just going to be in this
world a short time. The land of our real birth is
up yonder. It's in glory. That's the land
where our family dwells. And we speak a different language.
It's like when we were in Japan, different language. My goodness.
You get over there, and we got to the Hiroshima airport, and
nobody speaks our language. And back when we left the airport
in Tokyo, I didn't understand what the
flight attendant or whoever it was said some kind of mumbo-jumbo
about coming up and bringing your seating pass. And so Nancy
just stepped up there and, oh, no, no, no. Well, I didn't understand. She didn't understand what she
said. I didn't understand anything. They speak a different language.
And we who are citizens of glory, we speak a different language
than people in this world speak. The language of this world is
works, works, works. The language of glory is grace,
grace, grace. We speak a different language.
We don't speak the same language. You listen to somebody who's
wrapped up with the religion of this world. Here's the way
they talk. I decided to believe on Jesus.
The Lord. I came to the Lord. I changed
my life. I decided that I needed to change. I said yes to Jesus. I said yes
with God. Everything is centered around
I. I, I, I. That's the religion of the world. Whereas the people of God say,
look what the Lord has done. Listen to the Apostle Paul, he
said, by the grace of God I am what I am. I heard a preacher
one time quote that. He said, I am what I am by the
grace of God. And I pulled him right out at
the surface. I said, that's not what that
verse says. It doesn't start with I. It doesn't say, I am what I am
by the grace of God. It says, by the grace of God.
Let's start with the grace of God. But we're so programmed
to begin everything with I. It's not about I. It's not about
me. It's not about mine. It's about
Christ. We're strangers. We're pilgrims. We're sojourners. We're just making our way through
this world. So let's pass the time of our
sojourn in fear. Not in fear of condemnation because
Christ has been condemned for us. Christ has died for us. Let's
don't pass the days of our sojourn in fear that God will send us
to hell. That won't happen. Christ has
suffered for us. That will never happen. Rather, let's pass the time of
our sojourn in the fear of God, that is, reverencing God and
believing God. Well, what's the reason for that? Go back to 1 Peter 1, it says
in verse 17, you pass the time of your sojourning here in fear,
for as much as you know, you've been redeemed. You've been bought. bought with a price. So as sojourners,
as fellow sojourners, as fellow strangers, as fellow pilgrims,
let's pass the time of our sojourn in the fear of the Lord, reverencing
and worshiping the Lord. And let's remember that. Don't
get so upset with the things of the world. I tell you, those
fools up in Washington, well, they're fools, all right. But they're of the world. All
right. They're of the world. This is
not our home down here. And I know people ought to do
right. People ought to make wise decisions.
We're instructed in the Bible, pray for those that have the
rule over us. I pray that God give us wisdom. But what they
do, what the leaders of this nation or any other nation, what
they do really should not overly concern me because who rules
over them and over all things? That's the Lord. Is that right? Well, then let's not get so upset
then. Take your shoe off and throw
it through the television. Look what those guys are doing.
Don't do that. Just turn it off. That's why
I gave you a remote. Don't get sad. I remember my dad used to say,
some people get so upset they lose their religion. You know
what that means? I'm not exactly sure what that
means either, but that was his saying, is lose your religion.
Don't get upset. Past the time you're sojourning
in fear. You're just a sojourner. Just worship the Lord. Enjoy
God's people. Remember, whatever happens, our Savior's on the throne. He
does all things well. He never makes any mistakes.
He's governing everything. That's right, isn't it? Well,
let's believe Him then. Alright, let's sing.