Okay, so if you would, turn with
me to Acts 26. Acts 26. Acts 26, and we're gonna begin reading
in verse 15. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom
thou persecutest. But rise and stand upon thy feet,
for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee
a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast
seen and of those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering
thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I
send thee. to open their eyes and to turn
them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan and the
God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among
them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. I know all of us are familiar
with this account here that we're talking about. This account is
when Saul, who is now Paul, was yet breathing out threatenings
on the church and wasting it. As Christ tells them here, he
was persecuting Jesus Christ. When doing the church of Jesus
Christ wrong, those ones who are called out by God Almighty,
when you're doing them wrong, then you are persecuting Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ is the head of the
body. Christ speaks of those in one
place who did not minister unto him. And of course, those he
is speaking to say, when did we not minister unto thee? And
then he answers them in Matthew 24, 25, 45. And this is kind
of in the negative, if you will. Then shall he answer them saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the
least of these, you did it not to me. The same can be said if
you do it to one of these, you're doing it to Jesus Christ. When
it comes to God's people, you touch them, you're touching Jesus
Christ. He loves his people so much so
that he came and gave his life for them. When you think about
persecution, we often think about someone physically hurting someone. Of course, that can be involved
in persecution. And for sure, certainly Christ
Jesus was physically persecuted. But we're talking about a God
who does all things right. A God who is far above anyone
or anything. This is one who has said of him,
Habakkuk 1.13, thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and
canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore lookest thou upon them
that deal treacherously and hold thy tongue when the wicked devoureth
the man that is more righteous than he. God has no pleasure
in iniquity, in sin. In fact, his wrath is against
sin or iniquity. Persecuting Jesus Christ can
be stated as simple as this. Unbelief is sin and it persecutes
Jesus Christ. Here in our text, Jesus Christ,
God, had a purpose in appearing to Saul, now Paul, to make him
a minister is what it says. The word means to be subordinate,
a servant, but also a witness. He could testify to these things
because he saw them literally. He saw these things, you know,
experienced these things that was happening to him right then,
of course, but also those things which Christ would tell him and
show him later. Christ appeared to Paul later at another time,
which Christ speaks of here. And I'm not going to go into
that right now, but it was the purpose of God to do these things
to make him a minister and a witness, it says. We are also ministers
and witnesses, but our witness is from the words of those who
were there at that time, the time when Christ came down to
this earth. We are told that the scripture
that we hold in our hands, this right here that we hold in our
hands, is a more sure word of prophecy. than seeing a vision. Sadly though, folks, just like
mankind always does, mankind gets it backwards. They look
to a vision over and above what God says in his word. In doing
so, they do not believe God, so they persecute Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ will use Paul as a minister and witness to turn
some, it says, from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan to God. And I said some, because here
it also defines those to whom he will do this for. Some will
receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance. And it says among
them, them who? Them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me, that is in Jesus Christ. And that's what
I want to talk about today. Faith of Jesus Christ and faith
in Jesus Christ. So I want to talk about faith
today. As I was preaching at Dingus, you know, they're on
Facebook and, you know, folks were listening. Paula happened
to be listening at the time because she was at home. And when I was
talking about a passage in Philippians 3, someone posted and I said,
this is the faith of Jesus. Let's just turn over there for
a minute. Philippians 3. Philippians 3. I want to read
that passage. Philippians 3. I didn't mark
this. Philippians 3. Philippians 3 and verse 9. This is Paul speaking. And he
says, And be found in him not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. It's talking about Jesus Christ's
faithfulness, especially there in Philippians, okay? It's talking
about his faithfulness. We certainly must and will have
faith in Jesus Christ. But if we do, it will be because
we have the faith of Jesus Christ given to us. Else we will not
believe him and in turn we will persecute him. So let's look
at a few passages which talk about the faith of Christ and
faith in Christ. And there's many of them out
there. I just picked a couple. So the
faith of Christ. Hebrews 12.2, I'm gonna start
here. This is not the passage, but this is on faith, and everybody
knows this. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of faith, who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the front throne of God. The word there for author
means chief leader, author, captain, or prince. He is in charge of
faith, you could say, because it is his faith, his faithfulness. And it's okay to say that too,
because he's not going to have faith without being faithful.
Because it goes on to say the finisher of faith. The word there
for finisher means a completer, a consummator, finisher. I like to say perfecter. You
can look at what he accomplished and see faith. Then it tells
us why this is so. And you can probably say how
this is so as well. For the joy that was set before
him, what joy is it speaking of? The joy of redeeming a people
for his name. Walker spoke on this last week.
But in doing that, he had to go through some things. He was
made a curse and sin for us. And what was involved in that?
The cross. He had to deal with that cross
that should have been meant for us. If you look at who we are
and what we are by nature, should have been meant for us. He hung
on that tree cursed of God. This was not joyous, it was shameful
and he despised the shame. To hang there as a guilty man
before all his enemies was shameful and he despised the shame. He had joy for what he would
accomplish, including pleasing the Father. But what came along
with this? Him being made a curse and sin
for us. He despised it because having
been made these things, they were not pleasing to the Father.
So much so, as some have said before many times, and the scriptures
teach, the Father turned his back on him. Yet he was faithful,
full of faith to complete the work of salvation. The work of
salvation being, as Walter said recently, redeeming a people
for his name. No one else could have done this,
only him, the man Christ Jesus. We know in scripture we are told
without faith it is impossible to please God. But Jesus Christ
was full of faith and did always please the Father. The Father
was also pleased with his sacrifice on that tree. So much so that
we read in Hebrews 12 too, it said that he, that is Jesus Christ,
sat down on the right hand of the throne of God. That is the
God we must believe and trust. That is, we must have faith in
Jesus Christ and what he accomplished. The problem is, we don't have
this faith by nature. And without it, it is impossible
to please God, is what scripture says. But Jesus Christ perfected
it. He finished it. That is faith. And let's look at the passage
that I wanna talk about that speaks of the faith of Christ,
just one of them. Romans 3.22, it says, even the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto
all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference. And
you can just tell by the sentence structure there that the word
should be of there, not in. We read here that the righteousness
of God comes by Jesus Christ's faith, not by my faith in him. What is that righteousness that
is by the faith of Jesus Christ? Dying the just for the unjust. This is not talking about a righteousness
being my faith in Jesus Christ, and I'm gonna say this probably
several times, I don't know. This is talking about Jesus Christ's
faith, which he is the author and completer of. That faith
which he gives us in measure, in measure. His faith accomplished
something that we could not have done ourselves. I know this is
not talking about my faith in him, although I must have faith
in him. This is talking about who Jesus
Christ is and what he has done. That's where my righteousness
is found is in Jesus Christ and what he has done. I know this
is talking about faith which is of Jesus Christ and not faith
in Jesus Christ because it says the righteousness of God by faith
of Jesus Christ. That's exactly what it says.
But then it adds something. It adds something and I kind
of I kind of put emphasis on it.
This faith has to be given, and it goes on to say, unto all and
upon all them that believe. We don't make it righteousness
by believing. God does count this faith as
righteousness when we believe, but that is not what makes me
righteous. Romans 4, 3 says, for what saith
the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. The faith of Christ being given
to us when we believe God counts what Christ has done in his faithfulness
as my righteousness. So believers only have been given
this, but it is unto them and upon them. Something outside
of them given to them, something they never had before. It is
something Christ has and it is given to some and they are described
as believers. Believing Jesus Christ and what
he has done is a true hallmark of those given the faith of Jesus
Christ. So next we have faith in Christ. So as we see faith, that is the
faith of Jesus Christ, it produces believing. Because of where or
who it comes from, it believes very specific things. What the faith of Christ believes
is Jesus Christ and what he has done, Romans 3.25. Whom God has
set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God. God has set forth, that's what
this verse is saying, he set forth, he places it out here. Before his people, he places
his only begotten son before them. And what is it that he
has set forth? It says it right there in that
verse that I read. A propitiator, a redeemer. How is this known? and I want
you to listen to me, it's not how this is so. Jesus Christ
is a redeemer whether anyone knows it or not. And he has propitiated
a people whether they know it or not or whether they believe
it or not. So faith does not make that so. But faith does make it known
to those he has done this for. God sets him forth through faith
in his blood. God enables us to see Jesus Christ
and Him crucified by that which He does, and that is giving us
His faith, which then sees Him. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of faith. The way we see this is through
faith. It is made known to those who
once did not know it before, but it does not make it so in
God's eyes. The channel, if you will, which
this comes through is faith. The end of this is seeing him
whose faith redeemed a Peabright. I find this word translated here
very interesting, the word in. It says, the words say, the English
words say, through faith. But that means position. But
it can also be said, a place of rest. We're not talking about
a man-made faith. A man-made faith does not believe
Christ of propitiation. A man-made faith believes God
has done all he can do and now I finally complete what Christ
has done. I choose to believe God and that
saved me rather than true faith. True faith does this. I totally
and solely rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ to be my
salvation in spite of what I choose. He saved me from myself and the
wrath of God. If you do not believe Jesus Christ
to be the propitiator, you will die in your sins. Right there's
an end I don't want no part of. that is dying in my sins. I don't want to die in my sins.
I don't want the place of my rest to be in my sins in something
I have done. Even our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags in God's sight. I want to rest in the righteousness
of God. That righteousness which is by
faith of Jesus Christ. We believe God, but it has nothing
to do with what we have done that causes this to be so. It
is always because of the faith of Jesus Christ. Even our believing,
we must give him credit for. Turn over with me to Mark 10,
Mark 10. Mark 10. I don't know that I can even
go to any passage that's not for me or to you all. God's been
pleased by His grace to let us hear this gospel for a long time.
But Mark 10, verses 20 through 27. Verse 20. And he answered and said unto
him, Master, all these have I observed from my years. Then Jesus, beholding
him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest,
go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and
thou shalt have treasure in heaven. and come, take up the cross,
and follow me.' And he was sad at that saying and went away
greed, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about
and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were
astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again and
said unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust
in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out
of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? That just
amazes me that they said that. And Jesus, looking upon them,
saith, With men, impossible, but not with God. For with God
all things are possible. Now I know here it doesn't mention
faith. I understand that. We're talking
about salvation here. And salvation does not come to
men and women who do not believe. Christ says here, with men, It
is impossible. What is impossible? Salvation. Men cannot save themselves. Yet it says here what is impossible
with men can be made possible by God, because with Him all
things are possible. But I have to say, if He is willing
to make it possible. We believe Him because of Him. Who then can be saved, they ask. Riches can be more than just
money. Anything that takes precedence
over Jesus Christ is your riches. But until you see the faith of
Jesus Christ in the gospel, you will never have faith in Jesus
Christ. Romans 1 verses 16 and 17 we
read, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. It says there in Romans 1, the
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. To be saved, you must believe. You must believe his gospel.
That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is God that makes things possible
when they were impossible with men. If he is pleased, he will
give you faith. else you will not and cannot
believe. Ephesians 2.8, Scripture tells
us all this. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, all of it is the gift of God. Jesus Christ did not create faith. He authored and perfected it. He defined what faith is. It is a part of who he is. He,
if he is pleased, will gift that to you. I heard someone recently
saying something like this. I don't remember who it was.
Could have been Walter or Joe or somebody else. I don't remember.
But when we think about a gift, it's not the receiving that is
important. It is the fact that a gift is
given. If no gift is given, there will
be no reception of it. Now we know that if God gives
the gifts, he does not offer you a gift. God does not say,
here's a gift and you can take it or leave it. We would leave
it every time. They have all gone out of the
way. They have turned everyone to their own will. We need a
gift that will turn us to God in the face of Jesus Christ,
seeing what he has done. If he is pleased, he will gift
that to you and you will gladly receive it. What a miracle, what
a miracle. What is the result? Galatians
2.16. knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. My faith in Jesus Christ is only
because of the faith of Jesus Christ. We are not justified
by anything else other than what he has done. The product of his
faith, if you will, is a propitiation for us and to us. God reveals this to us through
faith. He justified us being faithful
to go all the way, being made a curse and sin for us, and then
giving up the ghost. That is faith right there. We
are told, Hebrews 11 and 1, now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is the substance. That word means a setting under.
It's like placing something underneath of something to help support
it up. It is the support for God's people. It holds them up
by the power of God when they have no strength to do anything.
When they know, Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. Faith
holds them up because they see what Jesus Christ has done. That
is the evidence. What he has done has secured
my salvation forever. That's the evidence. Oh, to be
robed in the righteousness of God. To be enabled by God to
believe in Jesus Christ, his righteousness. The faithfulness
of Jesus Christ to be a propitiation for my soul. There's no doubt
in that. I can doubt myself. And thank God he does this for
me though. I do not want to rest in what
I've done. but there is a place of rest.
That is in the faithfulness of him. Acts 26, 18, our text, to
open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from
the power of Satan and the God that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me. I actually think this passage
is referring to both. Faith in Jesus Christ and that
faith which is of Jesus Christ, but be that as it may. This is
believing Jesus Christ, faith in him, and it is that gift given
us which is the faith of Jesus Christ. You can bank on that. You can bank on his faith because
of what his faith accomplished. Because he is the author and
the perfecter of faith. All the way to redeeming a people. If your faith sees anything other
than the finished work of Jesus Christ, then it is not the faith
of Jesus Christ and you do not have faith in Jesus Christ. I need the faith of Jesus Christ
as it is given by him so that I can see him who perfected it. We are left to pray daily, Lord
increase my faith. Reveal yourself to me through
your faith. when sending me the gospel that
I might believe on the only begotten of the Father, that one who has
saved me from my sin. Amen. Dear Lord God, we thank
you that you give us strength to gather together, dear Lord,
to hear your word proclaimed. Thank you, dear Lord. Cause us
to just See the joy, feel the joy, dear
Lord, of what you've done for us. Cause us to not look to anything
else. Keep us from ourselves. Forgive
us of our sins. All these things we ask in Christ's
name. Amen.