Luke 18. Our Lord here talks about a judge and
a widow. A judge and a widow. That widow
just, she meant to have her way. She meant she had somebody that
she didn't like. It was in any of hers, an enemy,
and she said, I'm not going to let this go until this judge
does what I want. Well, God says that this is what
I mean by that. That judge said, I'm going to
give this woman what she wants because she's just going to wear
me out if I don't. She's not going to let me alone
until I don't, until I take care of her enemy for her. And the
Lord says, what I mean by that is, is that widower cried day
and night unto that judge. He said, God's elect cry unto
me day and night. And I'm going to, I'm going to
avenge them. I'm going to avenge them. Everyone
that mistreated them. Everyone that accused them. Everyone
who thought that they was heretics everyone who thought they were
false believers Everyone who thought there's the only ones
that knew something about God in the gospel. I'm gonna avenge
I'm gonna avenge And there is an elect he says shall God verse
7 shall not God avenge his own elect There is an elect people
in this world There's a people a remnant a Paul called it a
remnant according to the election of grace. And one of the marks
of this election is that they cry day and night unto the Lord.
They do. They do. They cry over the state
of the world. This world's in a mess. There's
no doubt about it. It's in a mess. Always has been
and always will be. There's nothing new about that. We cry over the state of the
church. We cry over The discouragement that some people give us because
they are not faithful to the gospel. And we cry over the lost
in our midst. We cry out to God for the lost
in our midst. And we cry unto God over our
hearts, that coldness of our hearts. Coldness of our hearts. The stubbornness of our hearts. The lack of love that we have,
the lack of zeal that we have, the lack of commitment that we
have toward our Lord Jesus Christ. But they do cry. They do cry. Now, when we're talking about
crying, we're talking about just asking, calling out, looking
to. And God's going to revenge them. And one of these days we're going
to shout hallelujah. the Lord God omnipotent reigneth
and reigneth forever which is why we're going to cry one of
these days and when he says speedily that means it's going to happen
we don't know when but it's going to happen like that just like
that but then look what he says here in verse 8 nevertheless
nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith
on the earth And then he gave us two illustrations of faith. False faith and real faith. Two men are in church. Two men
are in the church. Two men are in the church and
they're praying. One is praying with himself and the other is
praying under God. One is lost and one is saved.
One is justified and one goes home condemned. And he said,
when they come, shall he find faith on this earth? We was on
our way this morning, and places where they preach works for salvation,
works. Now I'm telling you, if it's
not grace, it's works. If it's not pure grace, free
grace, all of grace, all of Christ, then it's the works. And the
places where they preach works, I mean, they're busting at the
seams. I mean they're busting at the
seams having two services a Sunday. And then wherever the gospel
is preached, that's what he's talking about. When he comes
to this earth, is he going to find faith? Will he find people
who really believe? Is he going to find people like
his publican, who smote his breast and cried out, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. Is there anybody here that cries
out, God be merciful to me, a sinner? I know that they cry out, oh listen
Lord I've done this wonderful things, I've been this way and
I've been that way and I've been this good and I've been that
good and I ain't been this bad. And they go on like that. But I tell you what, will he
find faith on this earth? Huh? The question is not what
God will do. We know that He does according
to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth. And there ain't nobody going
to stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? But what
men going to do? Are they going to believe this
God? Are they going to trust this God? God speaks and He speaks
in His Word. Our part is to believe His Word
and to believe Him. So it's the child's part to trust
his father. It's the believer's part to trust
his master, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he asked this question himself. When Christ shall come, shall
he find faith on the earth? God is true. Do we believe him? Will he find faith? Evidently
he's coming to look for it. He's going to be looking for
it. And I tell you why He looks for
it. Because it's precious. Faith is precious. True faith
in Christ, true faith in God is precious. And it's rare. It's
rare. You can't find it everywhere.
I can't find it in my family. I can't find it in my children. It's a rare thing. It's a jewel.
It's precious. Christ said it's precious. And
here's why it's precious, because it's a gift. God gives it. And if God gives you something,
how precious is it that God gives it to you? Oh my. And here's the thing about it.
And He paid for it with His own precious blood so God can give
it to us justly. Christ paid for it with His blessed
blood so that God could give us this faith and do it justly.
And then here's another thing about it that the Holy Ghost
brought it to us. We didn't find it. We didn't
find it. We didn't stumble on it. We wasn't
born with it. It's not natural to us. But here
the Holy Ghost brought this faith to us. Gave this faith to us. Put this faith in us. And I'll
tell you what else makes it precious. Because it's what justifies us
before God. Let me ask this question. What would justify God in accepting
you? What would cause God to justify
accepting you? God's up there, holy and righteous
and glorious in His being. Infinite in His power. Infinitely
righteous. In heaven's eternity, thrice
holy. And He looks at you or me, or
anybody in this service, or anybody on this earth and said, what
would justify me letting them into my presence? You know the only thing that
will do it? Faith. Oh, and I'll tell you this, it's
the only thing that pleases God. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. And I'll tell you what, and it's
so precious that our Lord marveled over men having it and over men
not having it. He said in Mark 6 and 6, he said
this, he marveled at their unbelief. He could not do many mighty works
because of their unbelief. And he marveled at their unbelief.
And then there was a centurion one time that the Lord Jesus
was going to come in his home and do something for his child.
And he says, Master, you don't need to come to my house. He
said, I'm a man of a great authority, and if I tell a man to do something,
he does it. If I say come, he comes. If I
say go, he goes. If I put him to do something,
he does it. So all you got to do is just say it, and it'll
happen. And I, Lord, said, I've seen
not so great a faith in all of Israel. I marveled at that faith,
not having it and having it. And faith is what unites us to
our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's faith where we inherit
the promises of God in Christ. And one of the great mysteries
of godliness is this, that He is actually believed on in this
world. They sang it, I'd rather have
Jesus. I'd rather have Him. And the only way God will allow
us to live in this world is by faith. He says the just shall
live one way. By faith. By faith. Now I know,
I know that there are some kinds of faith that he'll find. He'll
find. He'll find the faith like that
Pharisee had. A historical dogmatic faith. This Pharisee had that historical
faith. I thank you that I'm not Lafaitize. I fast twice in the week. I'm
a dedicated person. And you talked about people,
you know, believing Jesus Christ is the Savior. Well, I believed
that all my life. People will tell you. I believed
that since I was a child. Well, I believe the Bible. I've
always believed the Bible. Well you believed longer than
I did because I didn't believe the Bible when I was up in my
twenties. I didn't believe the Bible when
I was up and I didn't know anything about Jesus Christ being Savior
till God taught me the gospel. I believed a lot of things about
Him but I didn't believe Him. Huh? Listen, you know what I'm
talking about? Historical faith. Everybody's
got a little of that. Dogmatic faith. I know exactly
when I was saved. I know where I saved. I got saved
as a young person. But I forgot about Christ. I
forgot about God. And I went back to the world.
I went back to my sin. I went back to a dog, to its
vomit. I went back like a hog to its swallowing. And then I
had grown up a little bit, got a little age on me, and I decided,
well, I was going to start going to church. But I saved back there. And then I heard grace, and I
see grace as just a deeper way, and a deeper way than something
else over here. Grace is not a deeper way. Grace
is the only way. Christ is not another way. He's
the only way. And I didn't believe the Bible
really until God saved me. I found everything in it to teach
me how to live but not how to trust Christ. I found ways in
it how to work my way to heaven but not how to trust Christ.
I found in it how I was supposed to live but not how to trust
Christ. So people have this dogmatic faith, oh yes I know I'm saved. Have you trusted Christ? And then there's the faith of
tradition. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he told a bunch, he said, you
know, they come to him, they saw his disciples eating one
time, and they didn't stop to wash their hands. They come in
from working and doing whatever they was doing, they was hungry,
they went to eat. They said, why do your disciples
transgress the traditions of the fathers and eat with unmortioned
hands? Oh, that'd be the awfulest thing
in the world, eat with unmortioned hands. You've done messed up. You've
done messed up your faith. You've done messed up your relationship
with God. And they talk about, give me
that old time religion. Give me that old time religion.
Just sing and dance and have a big time preaching that and
singing that and carrying on. Give me that old time religion.
It's what I've always believed. It's what my mama did, my grandpa
did. And if it's good enough for them,
it's good enough for me. And you know my mom and daddy,
they helped build that building over there. Now that's got to
count for something. They're charter members. And if what my mother and daddy
believed is not true, then I tell you what, I'm going to hell,
I reckon. You'll perish if you don't trust Christ. It's not
what mama believed, it's what God said. It's not what grandpa
or grandma believed, they're dead and gone. But you're here. The gospel and Christ. Not what
grandma says, what God says. Not what grandma believed, it's
what Christ said we are to believe. And that's what they're saying
is, is that I'm like this Pharisee. I'm not like these other people
over here. I got what I need over here. That old publican,
he looked at his self and couldn't even lift up his eyes. That's
how sorry he felt he was. That's how sinful he felt he
was. I can't even lift up my eyes to heaven. Oh God, God sees
me and I can't look. Like Job said, I heard about
you with the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you and I'm
whore myself. And I tell you another faith
he's gonna come and find. He's gonna find the faith in
devils. Do you know the devils believe, James says, the devils
believe and they tremble. They tremble. They tremble. And then there's the temporary
faith. You'll find plenty of that. Plenty
of that temporary faith. You know what temporary faith
is? That's a faith that's born when trouble comes. That's a
faith that comes when a storm comes. And just as quick as the storm
goes away, and the sun comes back out and the troubles gone,
their faith is gone with it. Oh my. And then there's that
temporary faith that's born of resolution. This is one that
I tried years ago when I was a very young man. I was born
of resolution. I resolved I was going to read
the Bible and I was going to start living right. I'm gonna
I'm gonna I'm gonna you know I'm gonna read the Bible and
I'm gonna please my mother I'm gonna please my dad and I'm gonna
please God and I'm gonna be good I'm gonna be good And I tell you, that's that one
that's born, beloved, strike a bargain with the Lord. Strike
a bargain with the Lord. I tell you, people, I don't think
there's ever anybody in the military that was ever in a war or a combat
situation that didn't strike a bargain with God. Lord, if
you'll let me live and get back home, I'll promise you. But you
know how long your promise lasts? Till you get home. Oh my. And then there's that
miracle work in faith. Oh Lord, we've cast out devils.
We've done many wonderful works. All the works that we've done,
we've won souls to Jesus. We got them saved all by the
church bus loads. We got them saved. We baptized
them from four years old to 40. Oh my. done all these wonderful
works Judas had this miracle work in faith yet he was the
son of perdition a devil from the beginning but oh my here's
the question will he find that faith that justifies a man's
person before God Almighty the faith that justifies now listen
to me a man's perfection before man. Now here let me get to it. He'll be searching for that faith
alone. That faith alone which rests
and trusts the Lord Jesus Christ alone for righteousness and acceptance
with God himself. That's the only faith that he'll
be looking for. Does your faith rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ alone for righteousness? You're not, Mr. Spurgeon said
one time, if there's the tiniest thread in your righteousness
of your own making, it'll ruin the rest of it. No righteousness of our own. Huh? No righteousness of our
own. And I'll tell you what, how's
our acceptance with God? Look down here in verse 26 and
27 of Luke 18. Our Lord Jesus Christ, this rich
rung ruler came to Christ. The same another fellow that
had faith, but his faith was in his money. And our Lord told
them, it's hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God. And when they heard it, they said, who then can be saved?
And this is what he said, the things which are impossible with
men are possible with God. And I tell you what, the only
way in the world God can save a man, everything that you'd
ever do is impossible with man. But oh my, it's impossible with
man. And we're only justified before
God by faith. You know, for by grace are you
saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. It's not of works. You know,
if any man's justified by the law, he must continue in that
law. The scriptures tells us. And I'm going to tell you something,
look over here, if you keep Luke 18, look over here in Romans,
I think it's chapter 3. I want to show you something
here. Chapter 3 and verse 24. You know
a man honors and magnifies God's law more by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ than any other way. Any other way. You know, people want to talk
about, well, you know, I've done that, those fellows that talk
about all the things that we've done. Now, beloved, I'm going
to tell you, we've never done one work in our life. Not one. Not one. Not anything that we've
ever done that God would accept. Not one. From the day we are
born to the day we die, we will never do anything in this flesh
that God would accept. Not one thing. Not one good thing.
There is none good, no not one. There is none that understands
it. There is none that seeks after God. That's what he said.
Isn't that right? But how in the world then, here's
God's law. And this law demands obedience,
and if you don't obey it, then you go to suffrage penalty. So
how in the world can a believer who's justified by faith, how
in the world can he look at that law and say, I've honored that
law, I've magnified that law, and I've kept that law. How can
I say that I've done that? Well, right here, the apostle
tells us. Look here in verse 24. Romans 3, being justified
freely by his grace, that's your free grace for you, through the
redemption, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
sent him forth, sent him into this world to be an appreciation,
an atoning sacrifice, a mercy seat. through faith in his blood
and God then when we believe Christ and God's given us life
God declares that he's righteous and he remits or forgives the
sins that are past through the forbearance of God. To declare
I say at this time that he is righteous and that
he might be just. Stay just. A holy and just God. And then he turns around and
justifies him that does what? Believes. Who? The Lord Jesus
Christ. Not what? Who? Did you see that? Well, we're just boasting then.
What are we going to brag about? What are we going to boast about?
What are we going to pop our galluses about? Well, it's excluded. You can't boast about anything.
Boasting is excluded. By what law then? By what principle? By works? No, no. No, no, not works. But by the
law, by the principle of faith. Now watch this. Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith, now listen to this,
without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only?
Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles too. Seeing
it is one God which shall justify the circumcision, the Jew, by
faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Now watch this. Do we
then make void the law through faith? Do we say no, the law
don't even exist because we believe? No. God forbid, through faith
in Christ, what do we do? We establish the law. We say
that law is just, holy, and good, and I've kept it. I've obeyed
it. I've fulfilled it. How? Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. When I'm in Christ, everything
that God required, God give us. Every work that God wanted us
and will for us to do. It has to be perfect. Christ
did. We're complete in Him. And perfect
in Him. Oh my. And I tell you, coming
to our Lord Jesus Christ, that's why He says, There's thou no
condemnation to them that are in Christ. And those that are
in Christ, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. The righteousness of it is. The righteousness of the law
is fulfilled in us, who? That are in Christ. Oh my, God
declares His righteousness. And I tell you what, is a man
being justified not in hope, not by worth? How about his worth?
What about his worth? Is he justified by his worth,
by his merit? If you had some, yeah, you could
be, but you ain't got no worth. Old Scott used to say, you know,
you're like a donut hole. He said, what's a donut hole?
Nothing. I heard him say one time, and
I'm telling you what, you talk about a shocking a bunch of people.
He was preaching at Henry's conference years ago. He got up and he said,
you know what you're worth? I'm going to tell you what you're
worth. You're worth a warm pitcher's
spit. You remember him saying that,
Brad? If you had any merit, you had
any worth, it might make you acceptable. But if you ain't
got no worth, and you ain't got none, I ain't got none. I may be worth something to my
wife. May be worth something to you. But when it comes before
God, I ain't got no worse that I can say, Lord, here I am. I'm
worthy. I've done this and I've done
that. And I, you know, I gave a little money. I stopped and
gave some fellas some gas one time. I bought a fella his lunch
one time when he was hungry. Oh my, look over in Isaiah 64. We quote this, but look at it.
Look at it with me in Isaiah 64. You would not believe the things
that people, and I never will forget, and I believe I've told
you this, that there's a man lived up from
us, Mary's great uncle. He told me and a fellow of his
and we were down there sitting on his porch one day and he said,
I've read the Bible 52 times in my life. Read it through 52
times. First thing we said to him said,
and yet you're not a believer? You know why he wasn't a believer?
Because he hadn't been baptized. When he got old, getting ready
to die, took him and put him in a bathtub and baptized him.
He was alright. Read the Bible 52 times. And still not a believer. And
then there's people who are believers that ain't never read the Bible
through. It's not reading the Bible through that saves you,
it's Christ that saves you. Read the Bible until your eyes
go blind. But if you don't know who the
Bible is talking about, it won't do you any good. Is that not
right? Look here in Isaiah 64, 6. Talking
about man's worth. We are all as an unclean thing. Now listen to this. And all of
our righteousnesses, all of our righteousnesses, not just our
righteous, but all of our righteousness, all our righteous things we've
done are as filthy rags. And oh, not only that, but we're
as a leaf. We fade as a leaf. You know that
thing, green, it just starts fading away. And our iniquities,
like the wind, have taken us away. But oh my, you see we all
come out of the same lump. We all come out of the same lump. And all inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. And here for man, here's what
I'm going to tell you. Man, God being immutably righteous
and immutably holy, must have for man a worth, a merit equal
to God's. You want to be good? You've got
to be as good as God. You want to be accepted of God
on your worth? You've got to be as worthy as
God. You've got to be as holy as God. You've got to have a
righteousness equal to God. Now where in the world are we
going to find that at? I ain't got it. I ain't got it. I can't buy it. Oh my, where's it to be found?
Not in Adam, but it's found in a man. It's found in a holy man,
a righteous man, a glorious man. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where it's found. Oh,
Christ. Christ is worthy. Christ did
a work. Christ was good enough to be
accepted of God. And the only man ever on this
earth that God accepted in his own worth and own merit was Christ. The only man that God ever accepted
for his work was the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, here's
the situation. If a man does not have Christ,
he's going to have to face God in his own self. And I wouldn't
want to do that. Ooh, I wouldn't want to do that.
But here's the situation. God cannot die, but man can. Here's how God saves a sinner.
God cannot die, but man can. So God prepared a man, his son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He became a man. and man cannot satisfy God only
God can satisfy God and God did in the man Christ Jesus God and
man in one undivided person and he's the only one who ever came
and accomplished the will of God by his own will by his own
will we are sanctified By his own will, by the witch will.
What will? The will that satisfied God.
The will that kept God's will. And all by it. And we must believe
this. And listen to me now. Listen
to me. Put ourselves in the hands of
the person. Just give ourselves over to Christ. To make us acceptable to God. And until that happens, you cannot
never have peace in this world. If you do, it'll be a false one.
Lord, here I am, I give myself to you. And God will accept the
man who has Christ. Here's my soul, take it. Here's
my heart, take it. Here's my mind, take it. Here's
my understanding, take it. Here's my soul, take it. Take everything that there is
of me, please take it. The only way I'll ever be acceptable
for you is if you take it. And if you don't take it, oh
Lord Jesus, I will not have anything. Take me Lord Jesus, take me.
Make me acceptable. And oh my, I'm telling you, God's
holy person, His holy being is satisfied with Him. And all of
God's blessings and all that God gives is in Him. And I tell you, beloved, it's
easier to set a man against the world than against himself. And that's what you've got to
do. You're against yourself in the sight of God. What? Well, I know you. You're a good
feller. Well, no, you don't know me then if you say you're a good
feller. So, no. Oh, my. You got to, not just
your sinful self, but you got to be against your righteous
self. It's easy to be against the sinful
self, but how about the righteous self? Huh? And it's not your bad works that
you're trying to be against, but you've got to get rid of
all your good works, because you never had any. People trust
in those. And here's what you have to do.
Write the sentence of death on everything you are, everything
you did, and everything you hope to be. And say, Lord, I find
you to be my all. Like Pasquale Paul did, he said,
I count everything but done. that I may win Christ, that I
may know Christ and be found in Christ. Huh? Oh my! I tell you, beloved, people say,
get right with God. How do you do that? Next time
somebody tells you that, say, tell me how you do that. I never
will forget it. There was a fellow out in Elon
College. What was his name? An old primitive Baptist. What
was his name? He put out the old faith contender
years and years ago. I can't remember his name, but
I do remember him saying this. Somebody mentioned to him, you
know, that he had accepted Jesus and that he had faith. And that fellow got right up
in his face and said, How in the world? Tell me how you did
that. Tell me how that happened to you. I want to know how you did it.
How did you accept him? How did that happen? How did
you, what was that experience like? And then Phil said, well, you
know, he said, no, no, no, that's not the way it works. It's not
the way it works. And so when he finds faith that
justifies us before God, that trusts Christ's righteousness
alone and their acceptance with God in Christ alone. Will he
find that faith? Yes he will. Yes he will. You know where he's going to
find it at? Those that he shed his own blessed
blood for. You know what he said? He's elect.
I'm going to avenge him. He's elect. Then let me hurry
up and give you this real quick. Will he find a faith that not
only justifies our person before God, But will he find a faith
that justifies, now listen to me now, our profession before
men. Now I profess faith in Christ.
I profess that Christ is my all, that Christ is my righteous,
and I profess that, that I'm only accepted in the beloved.
Now will he find a faith that justifies my profession before
you? Look over in James with me real
quick. I'll hurry right through this one. I'll hurry through
this. James, right after the book of
Hebrews. James chapter 2. You know, God's going to issue
a search warrant. I can say it that way. God's
going to issue a search warrant for our homes, for our hearts, And the question is going to
be, where is your faith? Did you honor Christ by trusting
Him, His blood and His word? Did you glorify God by believing
His testimony and depending upon His promises? He'll be looking for that faith
that looked to God alone, looked to Christ alone, that had Christ
as its sole object. And look what James says down
here at verse 18. Yeah, a man may say, we got,
we can ask this question. Say, you got faith? Oh yeah,
I got faith. I have works. Well, show me thy
faith. Let me see your faith without
your works. And I'll show you thee my faith
by my works. You believe verse one, God? Yeah,
I do. Well, that's a good thing. The
devil's also believing simple. Oh my. Now I'll tell you what,
if a man professes faith in Christ in the gospel, we have the right,
now listen to me now, we have the right to expect from them
a living faith, an obedient faith, and a purifying faith. I personally, I'm going to tell
you my opinion, and I think the Bible back this up. I personally
think that if a person really has faith in Christ, that they're
going to be a faithful, loving, attendant of the gospel of Christ. I believe that with all my heart.
I mean, you know, this is God's work. If it's a man's work, I
believe that you can go on and do whatever you want to. But
if God justifies you, I believe that we have the right
to expect a living faith. Not a faith that shows up every
three months. Not a faith that says, well,
you know, I know I'm saved, but I'm just not living right. I'm
just not interested as I used to be. Well, I tell you something,
the older I get, the more interested I get. I've got to be interested. Time's running out for me. Oh
my. Let me give you some notes. Abraham
believed God. What did he do? He went out.
What did he go out for? Looking for a city. Looking for a city whose builder
and maker is God. What did Abraham do? He offered
up his son Isaac. When God told Noah he was going
to send a flood, what did Noah do? He moved with fear. Enoch,
back in the day, he's 300 years old, he was one of the first
men and Enoch walked with God. Moses refused to be called the
son of Pharaoh's daughter. That's what we call a living
faith. Now God knew they had faith, but when you see Abraham
go out, you say, well that man believes God. You see Moses saying
like this on this morning, I'd rather have Jesus in silver and
gold. That's what Abraham, that's what
Moses did. He'd rather have Christ than
all the riches in Egypt. Oh my. And let me show you this
and I'll be done. Look here in James 2. James uses
two comparisons to make us abhor a false faith, a false profession.
First of all, he compares it to a faith of devils. Ain't that
what he says in verse 19? James 2.19, Thou believest that
there is one God. That's a wonderful thing. That's
a wonderful thing. The devils also believe in triple. You see, the devil believes everything
that we do and probably has a better knowledge But it does him no
good. Do you know why? It's not his
lack of knowledge, not his lack of not knowing God, but a lack
of love and obedience to God that makes him a devil. And then
down here in verse 26, he compares it to a dead body, a dead carcass. For as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead. And you know what a
dead carcass is? A dead faith is? It's loathsome. It stinks. It's rotten. It's
corrupt. It's offensive. And that's what
false faith and a false profession is in the sight of God. And I
tell you, I hope that God will someday show everyone who has
an obnoxious profession, has a false faith that God shows
them how obnoxious their profession is in His sight. Will he find
faith on the earth? The Son of Man is searching.
But I do know this. He said one time, Oh, you have
little faith. He didn't say you have great
faith. He said, Oh, you have little faith. He said if he finds
a Bruce Reed, a Bruce Reed, you know if it's Bruce, You know,
you came straight in the back. He said, He won't. He said, He
won't hinder it. He finds a smoking flax. Just
smoke on it. Got no flame on it. He said,
He would not hinder it. And Beloved, sometimes our faith
feels like it's just got, just smoke. That's all it is. Sometimes
it feels like a bruised reed. It just, wind just blows it in. But He said, You know what? I
might quench that faith. You don't have to have a lot.
Just got to be in the right person. Amen. Amen. Will he find faith? He will.
He will. He will. And I'm going to go, I'm going
to face God with what I preached this morning. I'm going to face
God with it. And I look forward to it. I'm going to tell you something
and I'll quit. Gary was down at the house the
other evening and made supper with us, Gary Spracker. He started
telling us about how he's done got prepared for his funeral.
He said, you know, I've done got my outline made out. I want
you to preach. I wrote a poem, told him what
the poem was, and I said to him, and rejoiced with him, I said,
you know, only believers would talk that way, you know, prepare, you know, this is what
I want to say, this is what I want to say, this is what I want to
say. When He comes, you are going
to find faith? Yes, He is. Yes, He is. He is. Our Father, O our Father,
blessed be Your holy, glorious, righteous name. Thank You for
Your grace. Thank You for Your mercy. Thank
You for the faith that You give. It is so precious. It is precious
to us that believe. Oh, it is so precious to us.
We're so thankful for it. We understand you gave it to
us. We understand that you bought it for us. We understand, and
Lord, we're like that publican today. God, be merciful to me,
the sinner. Oh, be merciful to me, the sinner.
I'm the one who needs you. I'm the one who God, you put
in my heart, put in their hearts to want you. Lord, we look to
you and you alone. Help us to never, never by your
grace look anywhere but to our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name
we pray. Amen. Amen.