Old me believed that faith was something that was a gift of God, but it wasn't considered a work because Ephesians 2 says it's not a work of God. And so I would always say, you guys, now me, new me, you guys, uh, are saying that we are wrong because we are saying that you're saying that our believing is works. You're considering what we believe as a system of works that whenever we believe that we make a decision or make a choice for God or we exercise free will to come to him or we put our faith, we change the object and remember we change the object of our faith from from this to this and everything that that whenever we do that, you're calling that works. But but old me would say, well, that's not works because the Bible says that faith is not a work. So you can't consider faith in Christ Jesus to be a work because it clearly says it. And look with me at Ephesians two. And I'll just read the verse that I used to always use to to to prove that Ephesians chapter two. Look with me at verse eight, if you would. Again, this is old Mike saying this. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And so old Mike used to preach and teach and try to explain to everybody and then argue with everybody like new Mike. that there you go. You can't consider faith as a work because it says right there, not of works and that it is a gift of God. Therefore it's not a work of man. Okay. And so that's what, that's what I believed and that's what I taught. That's what I preached whenever I preached from the pulpits and everything like that. But look with me if you would closely at eight and nine and let's kind of look at a few things here. as kind of a backdrop of what is being said. It says, for by grace are ye saved through faith and that now I preached a message and I've got an article out on the Internet somewhere of what is the what is the is the that in this verse, you know. What is that pointing to? And that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Well, the that in this verse actually refers back to because of the grammatical structure of this verse, it points back to both grace saved and faith. So grace is not of yourselves. Faith is not of yourselves. Salvation is not of yourselves. It is all a gift of God. OK, so that right there tells me faith is a gift of God truly is a gift of God. It's not something if it is a gift of God, then that means that it is not something that we inherently have. OK. These shoes that I got on today, I didn't have those a week ago, but when my birthday came around, my daughter give them to me. They're a gift to mine. Now they're mine. They're my shoes. and I'm walking in them, but I didn't do anything for them. They were given to me. It was a gift. Okay? So it says here that grace, faith, and salvation is all a gift of God. But the issue is here is through faith here has to be seen in the context for which this verse and other verses are talked about. The faith that is found in here, that for by grace are you saved through faith, the question is, is through whose faith? Through your faith? Or through someone else's faith? Well, old Mike would have said, well, naturally through my faith, through your faith. I mean, it's got to be right. It has to be for by grace or you say through faith and that not of yourselves. Well, wait a minute, if it's that not of myself, then it's not my faith. Well, no, it's the faith that God gives you. And old Mike is now in a conundrum because old Mike says that I can exercise faith because faith is natural within me, that everybody has faith. Old Mike said that faith is something that everybody has. They just have it put in the wrong object and it needs to be moved to another object. Old Mike would have said that faith is there in you. God give you faith. Remember the illustration I gave last week? I got faith in the chair, faith in the airplanes and faith in the cars and the motorcycles and all that stuff. I've got faith. But now my faith is not in my works. My faith is going to be put into Jesus Christ who died for me. So I just changed the object of that faith. So my old Mike is in a conundrum because now old Mike has now confessed that I can change my faith and put it in a faith that I already have, put it in something else. But right here, this says that faith is not of myself. It says faith is a gift of God. Therefore, it is something that I did not have until it's gifted to me. And that's basically what all of last week's message was about is faith is something that has to be given to us. If we are ordained of God, it will be given to us and it's given to us by the new birth. So, oh my conundrum even grows even more whenever you turn over into Romans and you find out in Romans 4 and 5 that the faith that is what grace saves you through is not your faith nor is it your God-given faith gifted to you. It's the faith of Jesus Christ. It's his faith that saved you, not yours, and not your exercising that God did in your heart to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That is not what saved you. What saved you was the faith of Christ. And we'll get into that here in just a few minutes, I hope. But back in Ephesians 2, 8, 9, it says, for by grace are ye saved. Now, Paul made that clear even right before he said this, but he didn't include through faith There, and I'll tell you the reason why, or at least I think the reason why. But if you look over in chapter 2, if you'll look over there in verse 4, it says, But God, who is rich in mercy for His great love, wherewith He loved us. Remember last week? That He has loved us with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, He hath drawn us And what was that drawing for? No man can come to me except the Father draw him. Okay? The Father has to draw him. Well, what does this word draw mean? If you look at the Greek word behind draw, the word actually means to drag. There are several verses where the word actually is to hail or to drag. There's references to where they would throw the net out to catch the fish and they would drag the fish in. There's references whenever Peter, the apostles, the disciples was dragged before the court. OK, but the word in and of itself, the word draw is to be an inward persuasion to come. That's what that word actually means, is an inward persuasion to come. So we see that God has loved us with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, he has put within us, instilled within us, an inward drawing to himself. Well, what is that? That's the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God is placed within us And what is the Holy Spirit working in us that's causing that? Faith. There's where your faith is. Faith, according to Hebrews, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Holy Spirit of God is working in us a hope on things that are not seen. What did Abraham have hope in? He had hope in is that seeds righteousness that was preached unto him. Christ was preached to Abraham. And when Abraham heard that, God had instilled within him and drew him by his spirit to look upon the seed and count that seed as his righteousness. He didn't look at his own self. He didn't look at the fact that he was going to do all these great things. Because every one of the great things that Abraham did, he did because of the instilled faith that was working in him. All those things in Hebrews, in that great chapter of faith there in Hebrews, every one of those people that did all that was not a faith that they had inherited in them. It was God working faith in them. Okay, so, but Paul here goes on to say, he says, But God, who is rich in love, rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are saved. He is explaining what this salvation, what this love is doing for us, how this love is working in us, how this love has saved us in the temporal sense of the word. The legal sense of the word salvation was because of the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf. His blood and righteousness is our justification, right? So this is speaking of how do we come to know this great salvation and that it's ours, that we have a hope in it, that we have an interest in Him. How do we know that? Because God has quickened us together with Christ. He has given us His Spirit. And by His Spirit, His Spirit works faith within the elect child of grace so that he might receive what was done for him and live in the enjoyment of it and then also hope in it. Meaning that I continue to walk by faith. You know, the Bible talks about all this stuff about walking in the walking in the spirit or walking in the light or not walking in the flesh after the flesh. Well, we think that means not sinning and sinning less. But that's not what the Bible is talking about. The Bible, whenever it talks about walking in light or walking in righteousness, is talking about walking by faith in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Paul even said it. He said, I've been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live, I live by what? How strong my faith is. How much of the Word of God I would read that builds up my faith? No, he said, the life that I now live, the life that I used to live, I lived by the law of Moses to try to gain a righteousness before God and thought that everything that I did that was pleasing to Him would be to my credit. But he said, it's no longer I that lives. I'm dead. No, but the life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. He lives by the faith of Jesus. What does that mean by living by the faith of Jesus? Well, reformers and Armenians are going to tell you. Well, that means the faith that we have in us, we live by the faith that we have been given and everything. No, Paul is saying, no, I live by the faith of him. What is counted as my walk of obedience before God? the walk of obedience that Jesus did when he was on this earth. That's what's counted as his righteousness. So for Paul to walk in righteousness means that Paul is considered or is in, uh, is, uh, uh, uh, re, um, what's the word that I'm trying to grasp here is, uh, reckoning himself in the work of Jesus Christ. I reckon my righteousness is from Christ. Just like Abraham did. He looked to Christ and said, He is my righteousness. So, it says, But God who is rich in mercy and for His great love wherewith He loves us, even when we are dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Notice, all through this Ephesian letter, whether it's in chapter one or in chapter two or in chapter three, before you get into the experiential things of chapter four. Do you see that it's all in Christ, it's in Christ, it's in Christ. So that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us through through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith. Through His faith. You're saved by grace through someone working something outside of you that you could not do. We talked about that last week. Something that you could not do, someone did for you as your substitute. And grace is giving you something that you did not do for yourself. It's unmerited favor. It's a gift. Grace is a gift of God to you that you didn't deserve. So what is it that you didn't deserve and that you didn't do on your own? You didn't believe. You didn't do any righteousness. God give it to you. So by grace, The gift of God, the unmerited favor of God, He has saved you through the faith of Jesus Christ. So now old Mike is now in a conundrum. Well, wait a minute. It says here that it's not of works lest any man should boast. So obviously, this faith has got to be tied to to me, because if I'm if I'm saved by grace through faith and that faith is not of myself, it's the gift of God in me, then I can't boast about it. Well, that that is somewhat true, but brethren, the reason that you can't boast of this is because every bit of that back there is by grace and it's by the Lord Jesus Christ who accomplished it for you. So, we are His workmanship for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in Him. Now, this faith that's up in here is tied to walking or being His workmanship, good works and walking in them. You notice that? For we are His workmanship. I remember a scripture verse here in the Bible that says, for it is God who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure. So the ordained works of God that you should walk in is not what you do. It is what God is doing. The legal aspect is what Christ has done. Anything that is being done in you is a gift of God and God is doing that in you. Therefore, you have no control over those. You can't turn it on and off. You can't initiate it. You can't just start it up and say, OK, this is what I'm going to do. I have decided to follow Jesus. OK. No, this is something that was ordained of God and that it is he himself by the quickening spirit of God who has caused you to believe and then to walk in that belief. So it's all a work of God. Now, so the question is, therefore, is faith a work? Get down to the brass tacks. Preacher, is faith a work? Faith is a work, but it is not a work you do. Faith is a work of God. It is a work. Faith is a work. We can't say that faith is a work. But the thing is, you don't have faith. faith that is ever found is the faith of Jesus Christ, his actual faithfulness when he was alive on this earth and doing it. And then what the Holy Spirit gifts within you and works himself in you to believe that testimony to be true. And anything else that God tells you to be true, That faith is worked in you to believe God, to believe the testimony of God, to believe the account of God, the record of God, the report of God, the admonitions of God. Faith is given to us by the Spirit and work by the Spirit to do those things. It's not something you can control. And so therefore, it is a work of God. If you remember, and I want to remind you of this again, it's not Mike Smith that says these, look at 2 Thessalonians 3.2 real quickly one more time so we can remind ourselves the principle that God has laid down in Scripture, the truth of all men and all women and all children. 2 Thessalonians 3.2 It says that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, and here's the principle, for all men have not faith. So, in any discussion about faith and how it works and who does it, this right here is true. Whatever your theology, whatever your doctrine, whatever your systematic way of looking at things, whatever your creed, confession, whatever your presupposition, whatever your thought about the purposes of God in man is, you've got to come to this where it says, all men have not faith. So that means that no man can come to me except the Father draws him, as we spoke about last week. If you haven't listened to last week's message, those who are not here, it's on YouTube and Sermon Audio and Facebook. So, no man, no one, has faith. Has the faith that we're talking about in the scriptures. The faith that is tied to believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith that is the actual work of Jesus Christ. We're not talking about all men have, you know, All men does not have that kind of faith. Spiritual faith, divine faith, heavenly faith. We don't have that. No one does. None of you here has it. I've never had it. It's a work of God in us. So if Mike ever does anything by faith, if Mike ever believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His faithfulness on my behalf, It's because the Holy Spirit is working that in me. And I didn't initiate it. I didn't cause Him to do that. He and His sovereign will give it to me when He decided to give it to me and ramps it up in me when He decides to ramp it up in me. So remember John 6. No man can come, no man can believe except to be drawn and except to be given. But look if you would with me at Romans chapter 8. The reasoning for this is because of your nature, not because of your free choice. Let me, I don't mean this in any kind of racial way, but why am I white? Did I choose to be white, Caucasian? No, I didn't choose that. Can I choose tomorrow to be Hispanic or to be black or to be Asian? Can I just tomorrow choose that? No. Why? Why am I white? Because that's my nature. That's who I am. That's how I was made. I can't change that. My dogs, can they change to be a cat tomorrow? No, they can't. The Bible says, can a leopard change its spots? Can it? No. Can the Ethiopian change who he is? The color of his skin? No. Can a good tree, or excuse me, can a bad tree become a good tree? No. Within its nature. The cheetah is what it is because its nature is a cat that has spots. The Ethiopian is who he is because that's his nature to be who he is. The bad tree is a bad tree because God made it that way and it cannot become a good tree on its own. And the reason that God uses those illustrations in the Bible is to show forth that there is nothing, because He says right after that, Neither can a wicked man do that which is good. A wicked man, which is all of us, cannot change our nature. So I can never change the nature of me being faithless. I can never change my nature of being a carnal man at enmity with God. Look with me at Romans 8 and verse 7. Well, let me back up. It says verse 5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." So that tells me the flesh and the Spirit are two things, right? And they're at opposition of each other, and they're at odds with each other. Paul's already told us that in chapter 7. But it says, For to be carnally minded is death. That is our natural state. The Bible says that we are dead in trespasses and sins. That we are spiritually dead with no ability of spiritual things. Faith is a spiritual thing. It's a spiritual gift. It's a spiritual working by the Spirit of God. So faith is a spiritual thing. It's not a natural thing. It's not a carnal thing. Now a lot of people, whenever they see the word carnal in the Bible, they're thinking about sinfulness. They're thinking about you doing something wicked. But carnal, a lot of times in the Scripture, is only referring to our natural man. The old man. The man that we are in Adam, our Adamic man. Our nature that we were born with is carnal. and to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. But why is that so? Verse seven, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. And I've heard people say, well, I'm not an enemy against God. I don't I didn't hate God before I was saved. Yeah, you did. Say, well, no, you don't know me. You don't know my thoughts. You don't know my feelings. I don't have to. I don't have to know those. The Word of God, who cannot lie and is truth, has said of you and me and everyone else that has ever lived, the carnal mind is enmity against God. That is our state of affairs. We are at enmity with God. That means that we are enemies. We are antagonistic against. We are hateful against. We are wrathful against the God of this Bible. Whenever faced with the God of this Bible, the truth of his salvation and the Christ that secured it, we don't like it. That's why whenever we preach the things we preach, there's so many people that are antagonistic against it and hate it. That's why I have friends and family that hate it, that don't like it, that spend all their time trying to come against it. Why? Because they are at enmity with this God and His gospel. And that's just by nature. All of us were. I was. Listen, I hated what I am saying and preaching and teaching. I hated. I didn't like it. I argued with my Uncle Tom for a long time. And said, I don't agree with that. Don't agree with that. He would send me stuff. Listen, I had a whole envelope of stuff that he sent me. I just refused to read any of it. Found it after whenever we were moving here to Joplin, we was cleaning out our garage and I found that thing. Went through it and said, wow, man, I wish I would have read all that back then. Big old envelope full of stuff. Why did I not read any of that? Because I hated the message that he was saying. I hated what he was saying about my God. and about the salvation that I thought was the true salvation. I didn't want to hear nothing about it. So what did I do? I just pushed it away. Why? Because I was at enmity with this God, but yet I was loving the God that I had created in my own mind. The God that I was zealous for was the God that Mike had constructed in his own mind, who had created for myself my own righteousness, my own way of righteousness, and I despised and was not subject to the righteousness of God. And it wasn't until Christ, as Paul said, it wasn't until Christ revealed His Son in me that I now, all the things that I counted as gain, All the things that I counted was zealous work for God, now I count as dumb. See, it wasn't until then. And so here we see that the mind is at enmity with God. So if the mind carnally or naturally is at enmity with God, is it going to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and love God and love the brethren? Is it going to come to Christ? The mind that is an enemy and a hater of this God is not going to come to Him or in His terms, which is by grace alone. The terms of our salvation is by grace alone. For by grace are ye saved. If it's by grace, then it is not of the law. And if it's not of the law, then it works. If it's not of works, then it is It's not of grace if it's of works. But God said it's not of works. So if it's not of works, it's all by grace. Well, grace is something outside of you that was given to you that you did not have. So faith cannot save you. Your faith cannot save you. Faith cannot be something that you initiate because it isn't anything that you can work. It's a work of the Spirit. Okay? So what is faith then? One definition of faith that we already read is in Hebrews 11, a biblical definition of that. But I would give a definition of it like this as well. It's the coming of the soul to God that is initiated by God. Faith is whenever we come to God, But it's initiated by God. Look with me if you would at Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and look at verse 2. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Who is the author of your faith? Anyone? Christ. This is an all play. Anybody can answer questions whenever I ask. All we see here is that Jesus Christ is the author of our faith. If he's the author of the faith, how can you initiate it? If he's the author of your faith, how can he initiate it? So if you're the one initiating faith, then that is not a biblical faith. That is a humanistic, carnal faith. Therefore, that is not the faith of the Bible. Because the faith of the Bible is authored by Jesus Christ. Again, I take you to John chapter 6 and verse 29. We mentioned this verse last week, but I want to reiterate it once again. Jesus having. Done some miracles before these people and. Fed on the five loaves and walked on water and all this kind of stuff. Verse 28 said, Then said they unto him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? But what does Jesus say? This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. Let me ask you, is faith a work? It's a work. It's a work, but it's not your work. It's the work of God. So yeah, you believe, you come, you have faith, you trust, but it's not your work. But it is a work. For sure. But it's the work of God. And we just read that we are His workmanship. Meaning that we're the ones He's working in. And the works that are being worked in us, the Bible says, are works that were what? Ordained. That we should walk in before the foundation of the world. Huh, kind of sounds like Acts 13, 48, where we started last week. All those who were ordained to eternal life believed. Why did they believe? Because they were ordained to eternal life. Well, what is being ordained to eternal life? That's a work that God has done in you so that He can accomplish the works of faith through you and in you. It's God's works, not yours. Romans 12. This is the verse I was talking to you about a while ago, Larry. Romans 12, look if you would at verse 3. It says, For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Why do you have the amount of faith that you have to believe upon Him? Or to do whatever He's directed you to do? Or to trust in whatever He has said to trust in? For one, it's the work of God in you, but it is also as He has dealt to you that measure of faith. So that means that He does that He doesn't do it once whenever at the very beginning of your life or your spiritual life. He doesn't just download it all into you. And now you have faith. And now it's up to you whether you build up that faith or whether you diminish in that faith or whether you strengthen that somehow by the means of grace. I remember hearing people that used to come to our church a long time ago. They talked about their faith is being built up whenever they they partake of the means of grace, meaning the preaching of God's Word, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper, particularly the Lord's Supper, that it confers grace to us and it builds up our faith. Brethren, I'm not denying that whenever we see these things and partake of these things in the Lord's Church, that those are not things that encourage and increase our faith as God designs it and determines it. But brethren, it isn't something that if I just do this, it's going to naturally happen. No, because right here we are told another principle of Scripture that not only is Christ the author of our faith and the spirit, the worker of our faith, but it is faith that is measured out to us in his specific portions. You ever look at somebody and you say, boy, I wish I was as faithful as they are. So what do you start doing? I'm going to start reading my Bible more. I'm going to start praying more. I'm going to start going to church more often. Well hey, do those things. I'm not hindering you. Them are great things to do and you ought to do those things. But brethren, that is not going to determine how spiritual of a person you become. Will it help? Absolutely it will help. But God is the one who deals the measure of faith. So there may be some that God has at a 10% faith, some that he might have at an 80% faith. You know, he's the one who is determining these things. Look with me, if you would, at 1 Thessalonians. On Thessalonians chapter 1, look at verse 1. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, under the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Here it is, verse 3. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith. Is faith a work? Old Mike used to say, faith's not a work. Is faith a work? Paul here is saying, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope. Faith, love, and hope. The Bible always kind of puts those together, don't they? Why? Why does the Bible always put together faith, hope, and love? Faith, hope, and love. Faith, hope, and love. Because all of these are impossible in the carnal man. But they're works of the Spirit of God. They're gifts of the Spirit of God. But someone might say, there you go, preacher, you just now You just now proved yourself wrong because it said, your work of faith. Well, notice if you would down there at that last phrase. Remembering your work of faith, your labor of love, your patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father. Now, whenever you look at that, it says, there you go. It's your faith in Jesus Christ, your faith, your work of faith in Jesus Christ. Now, here we are back to this conundrum. Oh, so now you're saying it is your work when Ephesians 2, 8, 9 that you used to prove that you are saved by your faith is not a work. What is it, Arminian? What is it, reformed person? Is it your work or is it not? If this right here is saying that this work of faith is your work of faith, then Ephesians 2, 8, 9 is wrong. Everything else that we've just read is wrong. Well, it says your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, have you ever considered that that word in there can mean more than what you're thinking it's meaning? I looked at this in some other passages where this word is found. And the word can also mean of. Matter of fact, the genitive that is in this verse and the textus receptus in which the King James Bible was translated from is of. It's of. So how does that read? What do you mean? What does that mean? Well, it means this. Without ceasing, remembering your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is of our Lord Jesus Christ. or from our Lord Jesus Christ. Meaning that the faith, the hope, and the love is what is found in the work of Jesus Christ in you. Not only what He did, His faith, His hope, His love, but also His working of that in you. See, because we just learned that every faith action that comes through us that is the work of God that has been ordained that we walked in, Every act of faith is a measured out act of the Holy Spirit giving us that and working that in us. So whenever he says your work of faith, he's not talking about something that he did in his carnal self that he had the ability to do and to strike up or to think of or to operate on his own. No, he's talking about his work, their particular works of faith that God was doing in them. The faith, the hope, The love was in Christ Jesus. Not in as far as my faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did, but my faith, my hope and love is found in His work in me. That's what that is, especially when the genitive of that word is of. It's the faith of Jesus Christ. It's the love of Jesus Christ. It's the hope of Jesus Christ. And all three of those things, the Bible is very clear, are gifts of the Spirit to us. We have been given a hope in Christ Jesus. We have love shed abroad in our hearts. We have been granted to believe. We have been given to come. These are all works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look if you would. Again, it reiterates this in 2 Thessalonians, in his second letter to the Thessalonians. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 11. Paul writes, Wherefore also we pray also for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling. Now I want to just sidetrack right there. That doesn't mean that you have something in and of yourself. that is worth the calling that God calls you to. That's not what that's talking about. This word, count you worthy of the calling, means that God would judge you as the recipient of this calling. Wherefore, we also pray also, always of you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling and, looky here, Fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power Faith of work absolutely, but how's it worked? It's fulfilled By his power Am I wrong to say that is that not what that phrase is actually saying and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness." Does the Bible also say that God works all things after the counsel of His will? That He will do all of His pleasure? Right? So the work of faith is a work of God that He does in you by His power to fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness. So He has called you by His grace and He is working in you by His grace to fulfill the good pleasure of His goodness by His power That's a sovereign work of God. It's a sovereign work of God. Faith is a sovereign work of God. A couple other verses here about this. Look if you would, 2 Peter. It's all over the scriptures, brethren. I don't know if you've begun to realize it, but it's all over the scriptures that faith is a spiritual act of God that comes from the spiritual man that has been born from heaven. You have to be born again before any of this can happen. But yet, old Mike was out there preaching to people, telling them that if you will do this, then you will be born again. Old Mike was telling everybody, hey, if you will come to me, come to Christ and believe upon Him, the salvation that He did 2,000 years ago will be given to you. And if you come to Him, He'll count you righteous. If you believe on Him, He'll count you righteous. But not until you do that. You have to do it. And you have to do it, and when you do it, you have to mean it. I used to not only hear preachers, but I used to say it myself. You've got to come to Him, trust in Him, and believe it, and mean it. Look at 2 Peter chapter 1. In verse 1, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, here it is, to them that have obtained. That means they didn't have it, right? They obtained it. Now someone's going to say, well, there you go, but they did obtain it. They obtained it. Well, let's read on. See if the Word of God is cohesive with itself that we've talked about and not contradictory to them that have obtained like precious faith with us. So Peter is saying, hey, this letter is going out to everybody who has obtained the same faith that we have. So obviously, as I read that and understand, Obviously, the faith that Peter is talking about is a category of faith that not everybody has. Because for one, it has to be obtained. And second of all, there are certain people that have it, meaning that there are certain people that don't have it. Can you derive that out of that also? I think that's what that can point to. He says, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us, but how? through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Where did your faith come from? How did you obtain it? Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's what I've been saying this whole entire time. How did you get this faith? How did Abraham get the faith? On that day that Christ came and talked to him and showed him the stars of heaven and told him that the sands of the sea are going to be like his children and all like that. And he told him all of the gospel. And the Bible says that Abraham believed God and he accounted it unto him as righteousness. Well, God didn't account Abraham's believing on him as Abraham's righteousness. It was Abraham, the subject, who accounted it, the seed, unto him, Abraham, the subject, for righteousness." The result. Abraham accounted the seed as his righteousness. This is what this is saying. The faith is given to us on behalf of Jesus Christ and what He has done. I just said, the only reason that you have faith is because God, before the foundation of the world, has chosen you, united you to Christ Jesus, and Christ, when He died because of your union with Him, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Well, faith is a spiritual blessing. Justification is a spiritual blessing. Glorification is a spiritual blessing. Righteousness is a spiritual blessing. Repentance is a spiritual blessing. These are spiritual things that the natural man cannot do. Therefore, they are spiritual blessings. Therefore, how did I get it? Christ died for me and the benefits of His death are then turned over to me by His Spirit. They become mine. to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22. Wait a minute, I don't think that's what I want. Although that's a very good verse. you wanna go ahead and read that. That's not the verse that I was talking about. What was I looking for? Well, let's go to Galatians chapter two while we're in Galatians. I don't know what I was looking for there in Galatians 5. But look if you would in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16. It says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law. Okay, so any command that the scripture has ever given, old or new, can never justify a man before God. So the command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ cannot justify you before God. The command to love the brethren and to love God cannot justify you before God. Okay? By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified, right? He says, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but we are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. So how are we justified? How are we saved? That's what justification is. Our saving. What saved us is that we were sinners before God, yet a substitute came who took our place. Therefore, His payment on our behalf is what justified us before God, made us be viewed as not guilty because God was satisfied with the payment that was made on our behalf. Right? If you were thrown in jail and someone came up and paid your debt for you, you're released to go, right? The judge accounts you as being not guilty. Why? Because someone else paid my debt for me. And so he says here that we are not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's not your faith in Jesus Christ. That is Christ's work of faith in his own experiential time in life that he did these things. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith. Aha! There you go, preacher. We have to believe on Jesus Christ so that we can be justified by the faith of Christ. Well, I don't doubt that that's what that says right there. I'm reading it. But brethren, if I look at the rest of Scripture, does it coincide with the rest of what Scripture says? Or does there seem to be a contradiction? Now I've got to wrestle with this verse and try to figure out how does that work whenever all the other scriptures has clearly told us that we can't believe on ourselves and that our justification can't come by anything that we do and that the work of faith is not a work that we do. So how can I be justified by believing upon? How can I be counted by God as not guilty and satisfy God's just justice by me believing on him? especially when I can't do it on my own. Can you notice there that there can be another way of looking at that verse and interpreting that? Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's the principle. That's the fact. We're justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. He's just telling you what the belief in Jesus Christ is about. What are we believing in Jesus Christ for? That we might be justified by the faith of Christ. What's Paul saying to the Galatians here? The whole entire letter to the Galatians is we're no longer under law. We're under grace. There is nothing for us to do. Salvation was a gift. that we are given salvation outside of ourselves by the work of Christ Jesus. I mean, he told us that. Fools of Galatians, who have bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, which is walking in faith, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has evidently been set forth, crucified among you? Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Have ye begun in the Spirit and are now made perfect by the flesh? No, what's Paul saying here in Galatians 2.16? He's saying that we walk by looking to Christ's faith as our righteousness. That's what he's saying there. that 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. That's what Abraham believed. Abraham, when Christ preached to him the gospel, he believed that Christ's faith was what justified him before God and not his works of the law. And so Paul reiterates that by saying, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. So, brethren, that you don't have to take that and say that even we believe in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified. There you go. Justification is that belief not at the cross or before the foundation of the world, as some of y'all are preaching. No, it's exactly what that's saying. It's saying that the reason that we believe Number one is because of Christ giving us that belief. But what is the belief that He gives us when we do believe? See, this is actually defining what biblical faith object is. The object is not our faith in our faith. That's what Old Mike used to preach, even though I didn't say that, although I didn't think that, but that's in essence what I was preaching. Whenever you preach that your faith is the hinge pin upon which your salvation is predicated, then that is faith in your faith. You are trusting that your faith is right, your faith is in the right place, and your faith is strong enough to endure to the end. Therefore God has declared you righteous because of you believing. God never predicates. God never accepts. God is not satisfied with anything that the carnal flesh of man does. He is only satisfied with what his son did. That's why Christ didn't come to indwell you so that you could show people what God is like. I was saying that last week. Christ didn't come to indwell us, God and the man, so that we could be the example of God before everybody so that they might know what God is like because they will never know what God is like through us. That's what Christ came for. Christ came to show us what God was like. Christ came to reveal who God was. He is the image of the invisible God. He is the face of God. He is the representation of God. The fullness of God is in Him. And we're only complete because we're in Christ Jesus. It's not our completion. We're never complete in this flesh. We're only complete because this spiritual man that lives in this corrupt body is the seed of that spiritual man, Christ Jesus. That's the only way that we're righteous. It's because we're united to Him and He lived out righteousness in our behalf. Therefore, we're credited with obtaining that same righteousness even though we didn't do it or never will do it. That's why we were talking a while ago about sin. Every sin that we'll ever commit, Christ died for, right? Well, if Christ died for every sin that I will ever commit, then according to Scripture, He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. That all my sins are wrapped up in a bag, then that means every sin that Christ has died for, I will commit those sins. I can't stop. I can't get any better. If the old man is perishing daily, and the new man is being renewed daily, then what is getting better? What is becoming less sinful and more holy? The old man, the fleshly man, the carnal man, the Adamic man can't do anything but sin. Therefore, he will never be justified before God unless a substitute takes his place and does what is required of justice on their behalf. And that's why Christ came. Christ came to live your obedience for you because you will never and can never work enough obedience to be pleasing to God. And He came to be your sacrifice on the cross because you would not be a worthy sacrifice because you cannot pay the full purchase price that God's justice demands. Therefore, Christ came and died for you in your place. He lived for you. He died for you. That is your justification before God. That's why God says, not guilty. That's why God says, well done, good and faithful servant. Not because you in this body has done something. Look at verse 20 down there again, I've already read this. Quoted this a while ago, but I am crucified with Christ nevertheless. I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and The life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God Who loved me and gave himself? For me he lives by the faith of the Son of God I don't live anymore looking to the law and the commands of God to be my justification I I don't look anymore that my acceptance before God comes from works that I do. Anything that I do, I look to the faith of the Son of God. What did Jesus do? That's what I look to and that's what I walk in. That's what I live by. I live the rest of my days now that I have been quickened of God and granted faith in Him, that faith looks to and looks to only, back to our verse above that, the faith of Christ. That we have been justified by the faith of Christ. I'm never seeking justification in any other way except for the finished faithfulness of Jesus Christ. That's it. And so Paul says then in verse 21, and because of that, I do not frustrate the grace of God. Those who preach to you law and grace are frustrating the grace of God. Not meaning that it's deterring or blocking or stopping the grace of God. It means it's confusing. You're confusing the grace of God. You are confusing in people's minds the grace of God. Preachers that preach law and grace, that you have all this accountability, responsibility, that you must do this or do that, do this before God will accept you or keep you or bless you or anything like that. Listen, if you're preaching that and you're preaching grace, you're confusing people. You're confusing and frustrating the grace of God. And Paul says, I do not frustrate the grace. I make a distinction between law and grace. There was a purpose for law. The purpose of the law was to show me that I was a sinner. The purpose of the law was to show me that there is no hope in myself. The purpose of the law was to drive me to the dust to see that there is nothing that I can do to keep this law. Therefore, it drove me to Jesus Christ who did the law on my behalf. And it keeps me looking to Christ Jesus. Anytime I look back to the law, there's condemnation. But whenever I look to Christ Jesus, it's all been finished, therefore there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. So Paul says, I don't frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain. So we can't be saved by anything that we do. Because number one, God has determined that he will never save anything, anybody, upon works. Upon things that we do. Any accomplishment in ourselves. Philippians 3.9. Just about there. Philippians 3.9. Paul wrote this, that he might be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is, what is that which is referring to? You see that? Follow along with me. And be found in him, this is Paul's desire, longing, hope, to be found in him, Not having my own righteousness. See, there are so many people out there that are preaching that you need to have your own righteousness. That you need to be obedient to God and follow the law of God and keep the law of God and walk the law of God. So that you can be righteous before God. But Paul said, I'm desiring to be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness. which is of the law, law keeping, right walking. But what does it say? But that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. What does he desire? He desires for His account not to be His righteousness that He tried to do in this flesh to keep God's law, but His desire is to be found in Him, whose righteousness is the righteousness of God, and that by His faith, I'm righteous. That's what that verse is meaning. but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by His faith." Not your faith. Our faith that is given to us only receives and believes and trusts and hopes on what Christ has done. All it does is view what Christ did and says, praise God. Thank you. I am glad that that satisfied all of God's justice. And my hope is what is on His done. I'm going to quit looking at myself to do anything to please God. Not that our heart ain't going to want to please God. Don't ever think that I'm saying that. OK, don't ever think that I'm saying that it doesn't matter how you live and that you can just do whatever you want and sin all you want and do whatever you want to do. that it doesn't really matter. No, because the heart that has been turned by grace will be governed by grace. And our heart and desires are going to be for God. He's going to shed His love abroad in our heart. We're not going to want to do a lot of these things because we love God. That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being made conformable unto His death. Which leads us lastly to Acts chapter 18. Acts chapter 18 and if you would look with me. Where does our faith come from? Is faith a work? That's kind of been the question through this whole thing. Is faith a work? Absolutely, faith is a work. But it's not your work. It's God's work. Therefore, you cannot control it. You cannot exercise it. You cannot strum it up. You don't choose it. It's something that is a gift that God gives you, a beautiful gift, an unmerited favored gift. But it is a gift that God has given you and He is the worker and you are the workmanship. He's working the faith and you're the one in whom faith is being worked. Look with me if you would here, verse 27. And when He was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive Him whom when He was come, help them much which had believed." How did they believe? Through grace. Now, what is this talking about? Well, this is Paul going through Antioch and what had happened. Paulus had been through that way, right? Paulus had been through that way and been preaching, but Paulus hadn't been called to preach, ordained to preach. and didn't even have the full facts of what he should be preaching. And so he was out preaching some things, unsent by the church. He was a fervent man, godly man, spiritual man, no doubt. But yet he needed to be instructed in the ways of the Lord more fervently, the Bible says. And so whenever he was taught more rightly, then he was sent down and began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And they found him to be not teaching things right, Quilla and Priscilla, right? And so they expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And then after that, he was disposed to pass into Achaia. That meant that the church recognized that and disposed him into Achaia. Seeing that God had called him and evidently had brought him to repentance and belief of the truth. Just like how any preacher that God calls, God calls that and then he also works within the congregation to see that God has called this man. And so the church, by the direction of the Holy Spirit, who only is the one that can call a man. A church can't call a man, by the way. Church can't call a man to be a preacher or pastor. They can't do that. They can only see what God has already done. and attest to the fact of that and follow the Lord's prescription for that. And that's what was done here. And so, Apollos went down in there and aided them. Says, who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed. But how did their believing come? Because Apollos was convincing to them? No, they believed through grace. God sent Apollos down there The church thought it good that Apollos go where God had sent him, disposed him to go. He went, faithfully preached now that he was taught more rightly the ways of Christ and the doctrine of Christ. And those people believed. But what was it that was the source of their belief? the grace of God. For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourself. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. But there are many who are boasting in their faith. Therefore, whenever you boast of your faith and you believe that faith is something that you have inherently in you, then now faith in you becomes a work. This whole time I've been saying faith is a work but it's a work of God. But when does faith become a work of you and therefore become a works salvation? When you think you're the one who has faith and you think you're the one who can control that faith. Now that faith is a work of you and that is not a biblical faith and God doesn't view that faith as nothing but sin. So, faith in all of its aspects is something that comes from God, worked in by God to the glory of God. And anyway, does anybody have any thoughts or questions or comments on it? Any corrections or rebukes? All right, great. Heavenly Father, we thank you today once again for all that you've done for us. We thank you for the word of God again. We thank you for grace and faith, salvation, all of which we know that doesn't come from within us, but is a gift of you. And we thank you for the quickening power of the Holy Spirit that being born from above gives us now the ability to enjoy and to experience the faith and love and hope that has been wrought out in us in Christ Jesus. Father, we just pray, Lord, that those who are listening and those who are here might be encouraged and that they might be edified by the preaching of your gospel, that whenever we hear these things of what you have done for us, especially in light of the fact that you have clearly in your testimony have told us that we have no ability to do the things that old Mike was preaching that we have to do. But yet, Father, I'm thankful that new Mike has been given the grace of God. If I be his and if I be not deceived and father, all those that are here that are hoping on you. Lord, we pray that that hope is not in vain, that your promise will be true as you have stated, you cannot lie. And so that our trust is not in ourselves and not in anything that we do, but as in what you have done for us. May you keep us and guide us and direct us this week as we leave this place, and that you may keep us safe as we travel home for those who are traveling. And Lord, that you might gather us together again that you might minister to us by your spirit throughout this week and that Christ might be glorified. It's in his name that we pray. Amen.