at particular times than others,
and I feel like today is one of those days. I feel like I
have something to say that God's given me, and I pray that it's
an examining message. It's an examining message. And
I pray that we all, as we listen to it, will examine and see whether
we have faith or not, because our Lord said here in Luke 18, And shall not God avenge his
own elect which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long
with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless,
when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?"
That's what I want to look at. Nevertheless, when the Son of
Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Searching for faith. Looking
for faith. Now, He's coming again. And He's
looking right now. He searches men's heart right
now. Searches men's profession right now. And that's what we want to talk
about. Now, the Lord used this unjust judge. This man, this
judge, he didn't fear God. He had no fear of God before
him at all. And he knew the regarded man's person. You couldn't bribe
him. He didn't care who you was when you came before Him, whether
you had power or prestige, money, or whether you was poor. It made
no difference to Him. He never paid any attention to
men's persons. That's the way God is. God doesn't
interest in men's persons. He's only interested in His Son
and your relationship with Him. And if that widow kept coming
to Him, And she just kept coming and kept coming and kept coming.
Somebody had mistreated her, and she wanted her case heard.
She wanted this judge to hear her case. And he says, kept putting
her off and putting her off, and finally, because she just
would not be put off, he says, well, I'm going to hear your
case. I'm going to go ahead and avenge you. I'm going to hear
your case. Your adversary has done you wrong, so I'm going
to hear your case. And our Lord Jesus said here, now you hear
what that unjust judge said. And if that judge, that unjust
judge, that don't fear God or regard man, if he just, he avenged
that widow because she just kept coming and kept coming, shall
not God, if that unjust judge would avenge, will not God avenge
his own elect? If somebody in this world will
not God avenge his own elect, which crime to him day and night?
And that's what he's saying. But nevertheless, Will He find
people crying unto Him day and night when He comes again? Does
He find anybody crying unto Him day and night right now? Does
He find somebody in their heart and soul crying out to Him right
now? Huh? You know, there's a people, there's
a people God's got on this earth, a remnant according to the election
of grace. And one of the marks of this
election, one of the marks of the grace of God in a man or
a woman is this, they cry unto God day and night, as shall not
God avenge His own elect, which cry unto Him day and night. And
He bears long with them, bears long with them. And oh, that's
one of the marks of God's elect, they cry unto Him day and night.
What do they cry over? What do they cry out to God about?
Well, they cry about the state of this world, this world and
the sin that's in it, the world and its impact upon their lives,
the world as it encroaches upon their heart and on their mind.
They cry over the condition of the church, of people's lack
of interest and lack of commitment to the church and the gospel.
They cry over the lost in their midst. They cry over the lost. of their children, they cry over
the loss of their grandchildren. And they especially cry over
their own hearts, and the coldness of their own hearts, the stubbornness
of their wheels. They're murmuring, they're complaining
over their lack of love, their lack of zeal, their lack of commitment
that they have toward their Master, the Lord Jesus Christ. But they
do cry. Does that sound familiar to you? crying out, groaning, moaning,
crying, tearing your hearts day and night. I mean, you know it's
not continual, but I mean we're crying day and night, middle
of the night, middle of the day, morning, evening, noon, and night.
We're crying. And I tell you, God will avenge
them. He will avenge them. He'll avenge
them of all their adversaries. Everybody says, our Lord says,
woe unto them. Offenses must come. But woe unto
the man by whom they do come. And one of these days when He
reigns, all the saints of God will gather around Him, and they'll
start singing, shouting, hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth,
and He hath wrought salvation in the earth. And yet it says
here, nevertheless, One of these days you're going to fiddle just
that quick. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall
he find faith on the earth? Shall he find it? Shall he find it? Faith? When Christ comes, if
He comes in our midst right now, He's here right now. If our Lord
was walking here in our midst right now, and our Lord's talking
here, He's the one saying this. It's not somebody else saying,
this is what our Lord said Himself. He says if He comes looking right
now, and He's in our midst right now, will He find faith? Will
He find faith in you? Will He find faith in me? Will
He find faith in some of you sitting here today? God is faithful. God is faithful, but are men
faithful? God is true, but do we believe
Him? Do we believe Him? Well, he finds faith. He's coming
to look for it. And you know why he's looking
for it? Because it's so precious. And it's so rare. It's a rare
thing, faith is, on this earth. And it's precious. You know,
the Scripture says that all men have not faith. A multitude profess
it, but all over have it. And I tell you why it's so rare
and why it's so precious. First of all, it's the gift of
God. Men do not have it by nature. Only God can give it to a man.
And if He don't give it to you, you ain't got it. For by grace
are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. It's the gift of God. And I tell you what, not only
is it the gift of God, but it was paid for by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He paid for this faith. He bought
this faith. He redeemed us with His own precious
blood. Every gift that God gives us,
He gives it to us for Christ's sake. Christ who bought it and
paid for it with His own precious blood. God said, I'll give them
faith, but it's got to be paid for. I can't let you know that.
It's a gift of God. The beloved Christ paid for it
with His own blood. And I'll tell you why it's so
rare and precious. It's what justifies us before God. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. You have
peace with God? You have peace in your heart?
Faith that justifies you before God? When God looks at you and
you stand before God, can you say, God, I'm innocent, I'm clear
of all guilt, I stand before you without spot and without
blemish? Faith brings you to that place.
And all faith is so rare and precious that Christ looking
for it because it's the only thing that pleases God. Nothing that we say, nothing
we do, no works we accomplish, nothing we do, nothing pleases
God until you have faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. I want to please God. Believe
Him! You want to honor God? Believe
Him! And it's so precious and so rare
that our Lord marveled over two things. that you find in the
Scriptures, marveled over two things. First was, he marveled
when that centurion was told about his sick servant. The Lord
came and he says, listen, you don't have to come under my roof.
I know what it is to be under authority and have men do what
I tell them to do. He said, all you have to do is
speak the word and my servant will be healed. You don't have
to move a muscle. You don't have to go anywhere.
Just tell it. Because that's what I do to people,
and they obey me. And I'll tell you what, when
you just speak, it's done. And our Lord said, He marveled. He said, I've not seen such great
faith, no, not in all of Israel. And this was a Gentile that believed
that. It was a centurion, a Roman. And then over in Mark, chapter
6, I believe it is, our Lord Jesus Christ could do no mighty
works because of their unbelief. And He marveled, marveled. that they had no faith for their
lack of faith. Marvel at it. Marvel at faith,
marvel at unbelief. And I marvel. I marvel that I'm
a believer. And at the same time, I marvel
that you don't believe in light of what we hear and what we've
been preached to. And I tell you what, not only
is faith rare and precious in what Christ's looking for, faith
is what unites us to Christ. Faith joins us to Christ. Faith is what unites us to Him.
Faith is what says Christ is mine and I am His and He is mine.
Faith says I've got to have Christ. Faith says I want to be joined
to Him. And faith is what joins us to
Christ and unites us to Christ and makes us one with Christ.
And it's by faith we inherit the promise. If you don't have
faith, you can't inherit a promise. God made a promise to Abraham
that in his seed should all his elect be saved.
And that seed was Christ. And one of the mysteries of godliness,
without controversy, Paul said, great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, and this is the One
of the mysteries of it, and believed on in this world. And I'll tell
you something else about what makes faith so rare and so precious
that Christ's looking for it. It's the only way, it's the only
way that God allows us to live in this world. The just shall
live by faith. We don't walk by sight, we walk
by faith. And God will not let His people
do live any other way than by faith. He'll keep the props knocked
out from under them. I don't care what they have in
this world. He'll do whatever is necessary to keep them looking,
cleaving and believing is what He'll do. Is that not right?
Now, I know that when He comes, and right now as He looks among
us and walks among us, I know there are some kinds of faith
that He's going to find, that He'll find. There's the historical
faith, the dogmatic faith that people have. They've believed all their life,
been taught Sunday school, believe when there's a little bitty children.
Believe that Jesus is the Savior. They believe the Bible. They're
fundamentalists. And they believe they got a whole
list of things that they believe, and you couldn't talk them out
of it. And they'll go back to history and say, this is history,
this is historical fact, and they have this dogmatic faith.
And I'll tell you, they may believe that Jesus is the Savior, but
have they ever come to Him as Savior? It's one thing to believe
He's the Savior, but have you ever trusted Him as your Savior? Have you ever, to whom, come
Him? And then there's the faith of tradition. You know, our Lord,
in whose parishes, asked the Lord Jesus, why do your disciples
transgress the traditions of the fathers? They had faith,
but it was based on tradition. And you know, they said, you
know, that Christ saved us from the traditions of our fathers. And everybody, you know, they
sang that old song, give me that old time religion. Oh, listen,
beloved, it's always what we believed. It's what Mama did. I believe what Mama did. Grandpa believed, and my grandpop
was an old-time Baptist preacher. If it's good enough for them,
it's good enough for me. The only old-time religion there
is, it started in the Garden of Eden. It started when God
clothed Adam and Eve. It started with Abel, and he
slayed a lamb and shed his blood to cover his sin before God.
If you ain't got that religion, beloved, it's too new for you.
And it's too new for God. And then there's the faith of
devils. He'll find this faith, and a lot of people's got this
faith. He says, you do well if you believe that there's one
God. The devils also believe. And they got something on you.
At least they tremble. A lot of folks got the faith
of devils and they don't tremble. They don't know what it is to
stand before God. They don't know what it is to see the holiness
of God and the righteousness of God and the sovereignty of
God. They don't tremble before God. God's a good God. God's a loving God. God would
not dare punish sin. He's too merciful. And they don't
even tremble. They just presumptuous, yes,
of course I'm saved. What do you think, I'm a heathen? And then there's this temporary
faith. You know, it's like that seed that fell among the stony
ground. It sprung up just like that.
Boy, I mean just like that. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus. I got
saved today. After a while, tribulation comes.
by and by because of the Word. And he withered away. And, beloved,
I tell you, they tell you, you know, if your faith is born in
a storm, when the storm's passed, your faith goes with it. If you build your refuge when
the storm's coming, when the storm's gone, you get out of
your refuge. I'm telling you now, Oh, I'm
going to do better. How many times have men struck
up... When those tornadoes went through Mississippi last night,
I wonder how many people struck a bargain with God. I wonder how many people made
a resolution, Lord, if you save me from this, I'm going to go
to church in the morning. I'm going to change the way I
live. And then there's the miracle
working faith. And lots of people have got this
faith. Oh my, we see it every day, we see it on the television,
we hear about it. You know, they told the Lord
Jesus, they said, Lord, we've cast out devils in your name.
We've done many wonderful works in your name. I mean, we have
really been busy. And I tell you, you can find
people that believe in miracles. They believe that God can heal
the sick, raise the dead, open blinded eyes, and they're laying
hands on people all over the world. And right here, right
today in Covington County, there's some fool standing up, somebody
standing in front of him, oh, God can do a miracle for you.
Believe it? Wow! Slap him on the head. And our Lord said, Depart from
me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. You can talk
about miracles all you want to, and what you've done, it don't
mean nothing to me. Judas had this miracle-working
faith, and yet he was a child of the devil, the son of perdition.
But oh, two faiths, I won't talk about it. Christ, we'll find
Him when He comes. If you've got this faith this
morning, Two faiths, two kinds of faith. The faith, will he
find that faith that justifies our person before God? Justifies
our person before God. And will he find that faith that
justifies our profession before men? If you ain't got that faith
that justifies your person, then you ain't got that faith that
justifies your profession. And let's deal with those two
things. And he'll be searching, searching for that faith alone,
which rests in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That rests in Christ
alone for righteousness and acceptance with the thrice holy God. You
know, here's two men, and our Lord showed you two men that
had religion. One of them was a Pharisee, and that other was
that rich young ruler. And one talked about what he
did, and the other talked about what he did and how he wanted
to be saved, but he couldn't be saved. And that's why it says
down there in verse 26, look here in Luke 18. And oh, beloved,
when they heard that, they said, who then can be saved? Who then
can be saved? And he said, the things which
are impossible with men are possible with God. Oh, that faith, that
faith. Do you have that faith which
rests alone in the Lord Jesus Christ for your righteousness
and exempt us with God? You see, we're only justified
before God by faith. We're only justified by faith.
I mean, without faith, there's no way in the world we can be
justified. We can talk about all the things
that we do. The gospel comes, and the Scripture
says the gospel is the power of God. For therein, in that
gospel, God reveals His righteousness, His demands, and His righteous
character, and His righteous nature, and His demands for righteousness.
And to him that believes it, from faith to faith, the faith
that you have when you hear it, the faith that you'll have tomorrow,
and the faith always to the end of time, that gospel will always
be the gospel of your faith, the gospel of your righteousness,
and the gospel that will keep you in the faith. And then that's not by works.
Oh my, look over with me in Galatians 3. I want you to see this. You
know, it won't be by works. It won't be by works in Galatians
3. The Pharisee, he started talking
about his works, and our Lord said he wasn't justified. The
rich young ruler said that he'd kept all these things from his
youth up. And yet he couldn't be saved. Couldn't be saved. Why couldn't
he? Because they looked to their works. They looked to what they
did, instead of looking to Christ. They looked to what they... They
trusted in their own righteousness, is what our Lord said. They trusted
in their own righteousness. And look here in Galatians 3.10.
Or verse... Yeah, 3.10. For as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse, People put up the
Ten Commandments everywhere, but, beloved, every time they
look at them, it says, "...are under the curse for it is written,
Cursing is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." Now, I mean, if you don't
do it all, you're cursed. Who curses you? God curses you.
God curses you. I don't curse you. The Baptist
church don't curse you. The world don't curse you. God
saves you under the curse. Now watch this. But that no man
is justified. By the law, and here's where
it counts, in the sight of God, it's evident, it's clear and
plain. If you was in a court of law, the law would say, you're
not justified here. And here's the evidence that
you're not, because you haven't continued in all things written
in the book of the law to do it. So I'm going to send you
to hell and damnation and condemnation forever. But oh, here's what
the righteous do, the just. What he does, he lives. By faith. That's how he lives. He gets
up in the morning. How does he live? By faith. He
goes to bed at night. How does he live? By faith. And
I'll tell you how he lived this last week. He lived by faith.
He never once looked to something he died. A man honors and magnifies
God's law more by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ than any other
way. That's why people say, you folks don't believe in the law,
so how in the world, who keeps you disciplined? Who keeps you
in line? God's the shepherd's responsible
for his sheep, and I'll show you that. Look over here in Romans
3. I'm going to show you something. How that people who believe in
Christ, Romans 3 and verse 25. No, excuse me, verse 24. You know, How in the world does somebody,
through faith in Christ, how does he fulfill the righteousness
of God's law? How does he fulfill the righteousness
of the law? By faith in Christ, how does
he fulfill that righteousness of the law? Well, let me show
you. It says here, being justified freely, all the same people as
the ones who are justified freely, by His grace, through the payment
of Christ, the blood of Christ, whom God set forth as a redemption. God set him forth, setting forth
in his words, setting forth in the gospel, setting forth in
types and shadows to be a propitiation, an atoning victim, to appease
the wrath of God through faith in his blood. And doing that,
God declares his righteousness for putting away your sins, even
all the past sins, through the forbearance of God. God declares
at this time his righteousness. That that man who believes in
Christ, he can be just and justify him that believes in Christ.
Now what? Where's boasting then? What's
our part in this thing? What about our part? What about
our works? What about our choice? What about
our will? What about our decision? What about our walking out? Where
is boasting then? What are we going to say about
it? It's excluded. There's no boasting. Well, what
law? By what law don't you boast?
Of works? Oh, no, no, no. If you had some
works, you could boast. No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is He the
God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles?
He's the God of every man. Yes, He's the God of the Gentiles
also, seeing in His one God Which shall justify the circumcision
by faith and uncircumcision through faith. Now watch this. Do we
then make void the law through faith? Do we nullify the law? Do we just like to have a check
and say I want this check voided and you write void across it
so nobody can ever use it? Do we take the law when we believe
we write void over it? No, no. No, we say it's wholly
adjusted goods. No, no, God forbid, again we
establish the law. How do we establish it? By saying
Christ fulfilled it. God sent him forth to be our
atoning victim, to appease the wrath of God, to be our righteousness,
to fulfill the law in our room and stay. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. To everyone in what? Beliefs. And oh, we submit to its precepts. We submit to its penalties. And
it's justice, it's demand for perfection. And how do we do
it? By faith in Christ, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is our substitute and representative. I can look
at the law and say, law, who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's Christ that died. Who in
the world is going to condemn us? God justified us. Come on, law. Find a flaw in
me if you can. Can't do it. Why? That's just
my justification for it's the right hand of God. Now, I'm telling
you, if you've got that faith that looks outside yourself,
looks completely outside of yourself, anything you've ever done, and
rests in Christ alone, that's what faith does. Faith doesn't
do, it believes. Faith doesn't work, it rests. Oh, let me show you Romans 8
here real quick. Let me show you something. Faith. God declares His righteousness
by this man, the Lord Jesus, life and death. Look what it
says here in Romans 8.1. There is therefore now. Oh, every
time you read that, it's now. I love them right nows in the
Bible. Right now. There's therefore now. Every
time I open that up, that's what it's going to say. Now. Not yesterday,
not tomorrow. Now. We read it tonight, it'll
still say now. There's therefore now. No condemnation
to them. Who? Which are in Christ Jesus. Who walk not after the flesh.
And what that after the flesh means, trying to be justified
by works we do. by our own righteousness. That's
what he means by after the flesh. But we walk after the Spirit.
The Spirit of God taught us of Christ, and we walk after Him
and what He teaches us of Christ. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, that Spirit that brought us life in Christ,
hath made me free from the law of sin that hath dominion over
me, and death. For what the law could not do,
This is what the law couldn't do, that it was weak through
the flesh. The flesh couldn't keep it. God
sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sacrifice
for sin, judged sin in that flesh that He had on the cross. Now
watch this, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. Not by us doing, but by us, the
righteousness of the Lord fulfilled in us who walk not after our
flesh, trusting our flesh, and our flesh dwells in no good thing,
but we walk after the Spirit. Harriet had a colonoscopy this
week, and she's, you know, all day long, she can't eat nothing,
you know, got to take all this old junk in there, and she is
hungry all day. She said, oh my, she said, you
know, lady, nice, I'm on the fence, I won't think about eating.
She says, you know, you don't get hungry and want nothing to
eat until you find out you can't get nothing to eat. I said, that's
exactly the way the law is. When you can't have something,
and they say you can't have it, that just makes you want it that
much more. And that's the way the law does to us. Whenever
you try to live by the law, you find out that you just won't.
You can't do it. You can't do it. Lay down the
law to you, and you say, oh, I can't. And that's what people
try to do, be justified by the law. It tells them they can't.
And they say, well, I can. Oh, no, you can't do it. Not only
not by worth, but it's not by merit either. I'll tell you,
some people, now, you know, merit means it has some worth. I know
that the Boy Scouts give merit badges. And people ought to own
jobs and things like that. When you're working on a job,
you ought to get, you know, if you're a better worker than somebody
else, by your work and by your merit, you ought to get promoted
above somebody else. Other than class or race or something
like that. There's merit as far as this
world is concerned, but not before God. Huh? All have sinned, there's
none righteous, no not one, and we all come from the same lump.
What lump's that? Adam. Look with me in Isaiah
64. We've quoted this so many times
that I tell you we need to look right at it. We just need to
see it with our own eyes. No man has any merit, not before
God. God said all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Look here in Isaiah 64, look
down in verse 6. But we are all as an unclean, and all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. All of your righteousnesses.
God said, filthy, filthy rags. And oh, we fade like a leaf.
You know, you watch these leaves start fading, you know, in the
spring, they're all green and all that. They're coming out,
and in the fall, they all just start fading. They lose their
life, they lose their color, they lose their shape, and they
come off in trees. He said, just like those leaves
that fade. That's the way we're fading away. Withering up. and like the wind, and our iniquities
like the wind have taken us away, taken us away from God. Oh, beloved, God is immutably
righteous and holy, and He must have for man, now listen to me,
He must have for man a merit, a goodness, a righteousness equal
to His own that meets His demands. And if
you ain't got that, you can't be accepted of God. God won't
accept you. Well, where in the world is that
going to be found? Where are we going to get that merit? Where
are we going to get that righteousness? Where are we going to get that
holiness? Where are we going to get that? Before God. If we
can't have it and we don't have it, He's dead. Still, because
we don't have it, that means He's going to lessen His demands.
Well, I tell you where it's going to be found. In the Lord Jesus
Christ. But we seek Jesus. who was made
a little Lord of the angels, that by suffering death, he is
crowned with glory and honor. And, beloved, that's who we're
looking at, Him. And, oh, beloved, and I tell
you, we find this in a man, but not just any man. We find this
righteousness, this merit, equal to God, only in the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I've said this before, but
it's worth repeating. You know, God cannot die. He
can't. God cannot die. He's eternal. But man can die. Man can die. Man cannot satisfy God, even
though he can die. Only God can satisfy God and
honor God. Now how in the world are you
going to find a man that can die and God that can satisfy
God? Only one place, in the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. As a man, he was able to die. And as a man, he had enough merit
for all his elect. As a man, he was obedient. As a man, he loved God with all
his heart. As a man, he fulfilled the law.
As a man, he is good as God. As a man, he is the very righteousness
of God. And he could die. And as God,
He could satisfy the justice and holiness and righteousness
of God and give us everything that God demanded. Oh my! He said, I'm delighted to do
thy will, O God, and I've just written of thee in the book.
And, Lord, I come to do thy will. And you prepared me a body to
do that will in. And the scripture says that He
offered that body without spot, without blemish, and poured out
His soul unto them. And by that one offering, He
has protected forever them that are sanctified. So God now looks
at us and says, this is the covenant that I'm going to make with them,
that I will remember their sins and iniquities no more. Why? Because there's a new and a living
way through the blood of the Lord and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, we must believe this and put ourselves, put ourselves
in the hands, in the person, in the soul of the Lord Jesus
Christ to make us acceptable to God. And only through Him,
oh, we're accepted in the Beloved. God's holy person, His whole
being is satisfied with His. And let me tell you this, beloved,
it's easier, it's easier to set a man against the world than
against himself. That's why so many people, you
know, get right with God, get right with God. You know what
people will do to get right with God? They'll handle snakes. They'll walk the streets and
pass out traps. They'll carry crosses on their
back. They'll walk through fire. They'll
stand on the street corners holding up signs. They'll change the
way they dress. They'll change their bad habits. They'll throw out televisions.
They'll, oh my soul, what people will do to get right with God.
You set a man against the world. Oh, fight the world. Fight sin. Fight the devil. Oh, to set him against himself,
to get him to turn against himself. That's another story. Oh, not just his sinful self,
but to get him to go against his righteous self. Oh, my. Not just to get him to quit his
bad works, but get him to turn against his good works. Whoo! That's a horse of another color.
You know, I preach about your bad works, and you'll say, oh,
I feel so bad about it. I'm going to change my way. I'm
going to stop. I'm going to quit my sin. I'm
just so bad. But boy, what about your good works? Will you count
them done? What about your righteous self?
Will you say that's nothing but garbage? and I'm a worm and not
a man, that I'm a filthy grasshopper with no hope before God? Oh, my. Pass the sentence of
death on yourself. That's what Paul said, I put
the sentence of death on me. Death to everything I've ever
thought, said, or done that I thought would make me acceptable to God.
It's all done. Whatever's not a faith is a sin.
Let me quickly. I'll show you this over in Rome
at the James, excuse me. Not only will he find that faith,
James chapter 2, will he find that faith that rests in Christ
alone, that trusts Christ alone, that has his righteousness alone,
that has his blood as the only cleanser of sins, only accepted
in the blood. When he comes to you and looks
in your heart right now, if he looks at you right now, does
he find that faith that says, In my hands no price I bring,
simply to Christ my Lord Jesus I cling. I have no hope, no righteousness,
no nothing. All I've got's you, and I cast
myself on you. I need you. I look to you. I
throw myself at your feet. Will you smoke your heart and
say, Oh God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And then here's the second thing,
and I won't take us long on it. Will he find that faith that
not only justifies our person before God, but will he find
that faith that justifies our profession before men? I profess
before you that I'm a believer. I profess before my neighbors
I'm a believer. I profess to my children I'm
a believer. I profess to my brothers and
sisters I'm a believer. Not a preacher, first and foremost,
a believer. And I tell you, I wrote this
down, a search warrant will be issued. God will issue it for
our homes and for our hearts. And the question will be on that
when he starts looking through there. I've got a search warrant.
I'm going to go in your house. I've got a search warrant. I'm
going to get in your heart. And this is what I'm looking for
with this search warrant. Faith in your home, faith in your heart. Because if there ain't faith
in your heart, there certainly won't be any faith in your home.
Huh? Did you honor Christ by trusting
His blood, trusting His Word? Did you glorify God by believing
His testimony and depending upon His promises? You see, beloved,
he'll be looking for that faith that looked to him and him alone,
that had Christ as his sole object. That faith that was head over
heels in love with the Lord Jesus Christ at work by love. Now look
here in James 2, verse 18. That faith that justifies our
profession before men. Oh, beloved. It says here, Yea,
a man may say, a man may ask you, he has the
right to say to you, you have faith, I have works, show me
your faith. Show me your faith. Without your works. And I'll
show you my faith by my works. Oh my! Thou believest there is
one God you do well. The devils also believe and tremble.
Wilt thou not know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Dead! Was not Abraham our father
justified by works when he offered up to Isaac his son upon the
altar? See how that faith was with his
works, and by works was his faith made perfect. And the scripture
was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and God counted
him righteous, and he is called the friend of God. You see then
how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise
also is not Rahab the harlot justified by works. Do you know
what she done? She received two messengers that said, Oh, please,
I know what you all are going to do when you get here. There
is no hope for us. Will you have pleased unheard
about your God? Will you save me and my family?
Hang a rostrum rare, thread out your wind and we'll do it. And
oh, for the body without the spirit is dead, so also is faith
without works. Oh, a man may say, if a man professes
faith in Christ, faith in the gospel, we have the right, we
all do, you have the right to expect from me a living faith. an obedient faith, a purifying
faith. We have the right to expect that.
We have a right to expect people who profess this faith in the
gospel, faith in Christ, to live like they've got faith in Christ.
To be obedient to the Word. To have a faith that purifies
them. Abraham believed God. How do
you know he believed God? He went out! Where you going
Abraham? I have no idea. But I'm looking. What are you
looking for? I'm looking for a city. What
city? A city that God built. And I'm
not going to stop looking until I find it. That's what faith
does. It keeps looking and looking
and looking until that day that, oh, when my raptured soul shall
find rest beyond the river. And Noah, he moved with fear,
being warned of things he had never even seen yet. He had never
seen rain. He had never seen a flood. He
had never seen the judgment of God. But he moved with fear. And Enoch,
the scripture said, he walked with God. How did he walk with
God? He walked with God for 300 years. How else did he walk with
God but faith? And Moses refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God. And you all remember the story.
You know, in Luke 7, when that woman, Mary, came, and Christ
was in Simon the Pharisee's house, and he was having supper there.
He'd been invited over for supper, been invited for dinner that
night. And he was sitting there, and they ain't reclining. You've
probably seen them there, rather than people over there. You know,
they sit down around the table, and they reach and get things,
you know, different bowls, and they reach and get it. Well,
they're sitting there. And our Lord Jesus' feet was out there,
and Mary came in, and she got down at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and she was weeping so profusely, and so strongly,
and so greatly, that tears just covered our Savior's feet. They
were soaking wet with her tears. And then she took her hair, and
pulled it down there, and began to drown. And old Simon sat there. He said, Oh my. My, my, if this
man was a prophet, he'd have no way in the world he'd let
her do this. He wouldn't let a sinner touch
him for nothing if he was a prophet. Us Pharisees, we won't let sinners
touch us. No, no, we ain't gonna touch
nothing unclean. And you know what the Lord Jesus
said? He said, Now, her faith in her heart caused
her to come to Christ. She had those tears in Gideon's
feet dry. And I, Lord Jesus, pointed. He said, Simon, you
didn't give me no water when I come in here to wash my feet.
This woman washed them with her tears. You didn't give me no
oil. You never kissed my head. You never done anything for me. And here's this woman. She's
come here and she's washed my feet. And when Christ wanted
to point to her faith and justify her faith, He pointed to what
she did. And she justified her, you know, He knew she had faith. She wouldn't have been there
if she didn't have faith. And her faith worked by love for
the Master. But Simon pointed, our Lord pointed
to her doings to justify her faith before those that was in
the house. She had faith, but it was pointed to her. She said,
now, this woman here, which is a great sinner. Oh, she's a sinner. But her faith, her faith made
her whole. And I tell you, son, just faith
works by love. And let's be like that woman.
Let's be like that woman, that widow. Let's do like she did.
Let's just keep crying, keep crying, keep crying. Let's be
like that publican. Let's come smite on our branch
and say, Oh God, be merciful to me. Let's never cease crying.
Let's never cease looking. Let's never cease hollering out
to God and groaning and moaning for mercy for ourselves, for
our children, for our hearts, for our church, for those we
love, for the condition of the world, for our nation, for our
soldiers. Oh, never cease. See, she never
ceased. She staked all her results on
pleading with that judge. Stake all you are and all you
have and all your hopes on God and His Word and what He promised
to send Christ. And James over here, let me show
you this, and then I'm through. James uses two comparisons to
make us abhor a false faith and a false profession. Two comparisons. First of all, there in verse
19, He compares it to the faith of devils. He says, Thou believest
there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe
in trembling. He compares it to the faith of devils. The devils
believe everything we do. They really do. They believe
Christ is the Savior. They believe Christ is the Son
of God. They believe Christ is God manifested in the flesh.
They believe that He put away sin on the cross. They believe
all those things. But it doesn't do the devils
any good. Why not? It's not a lack of knowing, but
it's a lack of love. It's a lack of obedience. It's
a lack of submission. Who then can be saved with men?
This is impossible. It's not a lack of knowing. He
didn't have no love. And then he compares it to a
dead carcass, down in verse 26. This is why, oh God, I don't
want the faith of devils. Then he compares it to a dead
carcass. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith
without works is dead." Now you know a dead carcass is unprofitable? It's loathsome, it's offensive,
it stinks, it's rotten, it ain't worth nothing. And this is what
false faith is, a false profession is in the sight of God. An old,
loathsome, dead carcass. And oh, we don't want an obnoxious
profession in the sight of God. So, when the Son of Man cometh,
shall he find faith? Shall he find faith? Uh-huh. And I tell you who's searching
for it, he is. And you know what he said? If he comes, he didn't
say strong faith, he didn't say weak faith, just faith. And he
says that if he found broken flax or a bruised wreath, He
wouldn't hurt you in the morning. And your faith may be like smoking
flax. It may be like a bruised reed. And He'll treat it so tenderly
until it's rest in Him. In other words,
it may be weak. It may be like a bruised reed.
It may be like smoking flax. But He'll take care of it. He'll treat it. He'll be tender
with you. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing us this
time to preach, to be with your people, to hear the Gospel, to
hear the Word of God. I pray you would bless the message
to the heart, to the understanding, to the soul. Oh Lord, I pray
that what they heard was beyond my voice. I pray that what we
heard today was just with the Spirit of God speaking to us.
Take the things of Christ and apply them to our hearts and
to our souls. God please open hearts here for Christ's sake,
who has committed His name. Amen.