Thank you, Maggie. That's my
favorite hymn. My favorite hymn. I never get
tired of hearing that second verse. That dying thief rejoiced
to see that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. That's a blessing. Thank you. The title of the message this
morning is the foundation of faith. I have a very important
subject, faith. Scripture says without faith
it's impossible to please God. Well, that ought to tell us faith
is pretty important. Well, where does this faith come
from? Scripture tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that faith is the gift
of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Well, then
where is this gift found? It's found in God's Word. The
foundation of faith is God's Word. And I say this often, we
make much of God's Word here. Because first of all, it's the
Word of God. What other word do you want to
hear? What other word do you need to hear other than the Word
of God? Second, we make much of God's
Word because my constant prayer is that God in His mercy would
save sinners and that God in His mercy would establish and
strengthen His people. Well, the only way either of
those two things will ever happen is through the preaching of God's
Word. Your faith will only be established
and strengthened through the preaching of God's Word. And
faith is found, it's founded upon, it's born from God's Word. The foundation of faith is the
Word of God. Saving faith is not founded upon
what our fathers have always believed. You know, we don't
believe what we believe. Well, that's what we've always
believed. That's what my family's always believed. That's what
my church has always believed. That's what I believe. That's
not a very good foundation of faith. Faith is founded upon
God's Word. Saving faith is. Saving faith
is not founded upon what I think. Anything that I think with the
natural mind is automatically wrong. Faith is not founded upon
what I can understand or what seems logical to me. Saving faith
is completely and solely founded upon God's Word. And when I say
that, I mean this. The only way a person will ever
be saved is by believing God's Word. It's the only way. There
cannot be any salvation apart from belief in God's Word, believing
the Lord Jesus Christ. God's Word says it, that settles
it. Now, by God's grace, I believe
it, but whether I believe it or not influences the truth of
it in no way. God's Word says it, that settles
it. And salvation is believing that Word. And then that faith
grows and it's established by hearing more of God's Word. Now
let's look at this story that I read to you a minute ago in
John chapter 4 verse 43. And let's see if we don't see
that truth illustrated in this story. In John 4 verse 43, Now after
two days he departed thence and went into Galilee. For Jesus
himself testified that a prophet hath no honor in his own country.
Then when he was coming into Galilee, the Galileans received
him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the
feast. For they also went unto the feast. Now our Lord has been
in Samaria, and he returned to Galilee. But while he was in
that region of Galilee, he did not go to Nazareth, his hometown. Because the people there, they
had seen our Lord grow up. And they wouldn't accept him.
They wouldn't accept him as a prophet. They certainly wouldn't accept
him as the Messiah. And that's human nature. People
generally will accept the leadership of a pastor or preacher who's
come from a faraway place a whole lot sooner than they'll accept
a man who comes from their own backyard. Regardless of the message,
it's just the way human nature is. That's our fallen human nature.
And the people of Nazareth were no different. But the other Galileans,
the people from the surrounding area, they accepted the Lord. But they accepted him as a miracle
worker. They don't see that they accept him here as a prophet.
They accepted him because they saw the miracles that he did
at Jerusalem. And that's a theme that runs
through this passage, and it's a theme that runs through this
passage because it's a theme that runs through our nature.
We all want to see signs and wonders. We all do. That's the
flesh. That's our flesh. The flesh needs
to see these things in order to believe. To the flesh, seeing
is believing. To the spirit, hearing is believing. And we'll see that as we go through
here. It's very important. Verse 46, So Jesus came again
into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there
was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When
he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he
went unto him. And besotting, they would come
down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death." Now,
the Holy Spirit points out to us here that this is the same
place where the Lord performed his first miracle, where he turned
the water into wine. And I believe that's pointed
out to us because there's a connection between these two miracles. There's
a connection, first of all, because both miracles are performed by
the Word of God only. The Lord never touched anything.
He didn't wave his hands. He didn't do anything. Both miracles
are performed by the word of God only. And second, there's
a connection here, because after believers, after God's people
hear the word, they believed. And that's what we're going to
see here. Now, a certain nobleman comes to the Lord, a certain
nobleman. Now, it's no accident that this nobleman came to this
place at this exact moment in time. Anytime you read in Scripture
of a certain man or a certain woman, pay attention, because
the Lord's getting ready to do something. He's going to do something
by His eternal, sovereign will and purpose. Whenever you read
of a certain man or a certain woman, this is a person that's
part of God's eternal electing love, His eternal electing person. A certain nobleman came. And
this certain man was nobility. Now, he's part of the ruling
class. I mean, he is some body. But notice this. Every human
being is equal before God. All of his money, all of his
position in society didn't help him one whit. He was a nobody
before the Lord. All of his position did not protect
him from trouble and trial. It found him, touched him close
to his heart, his son, maybe his only son. And no matter who
you are, whether you're a somebody in the world or you're a nobody
in the world, no matter who you are, if you're going to come
before the Lord, you're going to come before him as a nobody,
as a needy mercy beggar. And that's the way this man comes.
And this is my first point. Salvation, saving faith, is born
from hearing God's Word. Now, I told you, saving faith
is founded upon God's Word. And that's what we see here.
Why did this man come? Because he believed the Word
that he heard about this man, Jesus. Now, this thrills me. This man's a Gentile nobleman. He's probably some sort of royal
officer in Herod's court. How in this world is that man
could ever hear the word of God? Even Herod couldn't stop God's
word from reaching this man's ears. Somehow he heard of Christ
and he believed what he heard. God's word is not bound. Saving faith is founded upon
God's Word. You can rest assured of this.
God's Word is going to find every one of His elect. Somehow, they're
going to hear God's Word. And when they hear it, they're
going to believe it. Somehow, this man heard of the Lord Jesus
and His power, and he believed what he heard. That's why he
came. He wouldn't have come if he didn't believe it. Now, no
doubt, this nobleman's got financial resources, and he used them. to find the best doctors, the
best treatment he could find for his son. But just like the
woman with the issue of blood, he just got worse. He just kept
getting worse and worse, and now he's at death's doorstep. Now that's a hard trial. Every
parent in this room, when you read about this, it frightens you to think about
your child lying at death's doorstep. It's a hard trial. But it's good. I'll show you that. By the time
we get to the end of this, you'll see this. This is for good. It's
for the good of this man, and it's for the good of others.
This man had heard of the Lord Jesus, and he believed that the
Lord could heal his son. But he didn't come until all
of the hope was gone. When everything else he tried
failed, that was the only time, the first time he would ever
come to Christ. when all of his other hope is
gone. And that's the point we have to come to. We have to be
shut up to Christ. And whatever it is that shuts
us up to Christ, that leaves us no hope except the Lord Jesus
Christ is good. I don't care how painful it is.
It's good if it shuts us up to Christ and draws us to him. And
I'm telling you, it will always be painful. Always. Sin. And the conviction of sin and
the removal of all other hope is painful. It always is. That's
why David said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted.
Why? Because I learned something.
I learned something about God's word. I learned something about
his statutes. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted because it removed more hope for the flesh. It made
me lean more, trust more, depend more upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This man had the beginning of
saving faith. He'd heard of Christ and he came
to Christ because he believed. And he believed that the Lord
could heal his son. He believed that Christ was the
great physician. Well, that faith is still in
its infancy. It's still awful weak faith, the weak faith of
a baby. Because look what he tells the
Lord. He tells the Lord he's got a problem. Now, that's good.
Lord, I've got a problem. I need your help. But then he tells the Lord how
and when to fix his problem. He had faith, didn't he? He believed
the Lord could heal his son. But his weak faith tried to limit
the Lord. Aren't you glad the Lord is able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think? I'm
so thankful. The Lord's not limited to what
I can think of. Because I'm telling you, I think
far too small. He's not limited to what we think. The Lord knew
how to fix this problem, but now this man's not going to tell
him how or when to do it. The Lord's not going to be dictated
to. This man thought the Lord would have to be there to lay
hands on his son or, you know, say some magic words, do some,
you know, religious motion over his son to heal him. And he limited
the Lord. But far too hard on this fella.
How often have we done the same thing? Martha did, didn't she? Lord, my brother would have died
if he had been here. She just seemed to insinuate you couldn't
help him when you were far away. But if he had been here, he would
have died. Jairus, he wanted the Lord to
come lay his hand on his little daughter so he'd heal her. And
we're the same way. Now, we have faith. If you know
him, you know Christ. You have faith in him. But boy,
our faith's small. I mean, it's so small. But this
trial, even though his faith is small, now it's for good.
It's for good of this nobleman and the good of others. This
nobleman's request is made in very weak faith. But now he's
going to learn something. It could be he helped somebody
else by what he learned. Look over Matthew chapter 8.
It could be somebody else benefited from what this man learned. In Matthew 8, verse 5, And when Jesus was entered into
Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him, and
saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously
tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will
come healing. The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come unto my But speak
the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man
under authority, I understand authority, having soldiers under
me. I say to this man, Go, and he
goeth. And to another, Come, and he cometh. And to my servant,
Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled,
and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have
not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Now where was
this man from? He was from Capernaum, the same
town that this nobleman was from. Could be, I don't know this,
but could be. That nobleman ran into this centurion in Harris
Court one day and he told him what happened. He told him about
his son and the Lord spoke and he was healed. Maybe some of
the men under the command of this centurion, maybe they went
with the nobleman, kind of as protection or whatever. They
saw what happened. And they told their boss, they
told the centurion, you won't believe what I saw happen today.
And he learned from it. He benefited from this trial
that someone else went through. Could be, I don't know. But when
we witness to people, don't try to sound like a theologian. Just
tell people what great things the Lord's done for you. If this
man, this nobleman told the centurion what happened, he didn't use
flowery language. He just told him it was the Lord's
Word that healed my son. And that's ensured he learned
from it. That's why he said, Lord, I'm not worthy. I'm not
worthy. You just speak the Word only.
He believed in the power of the Word of God. But right now, this
nobleman, he's got the beginning of saving faith. But it needs
to grow. It needs to mature. Right now,
he wants signs. He wants tangible things that
he can see. But faith's not going to walk
that way. We don't walk by sight. We don't walk by tangible things.
We walk by faith. And the Lord calls him on it.
He rebukes him. The Lord always calls things
as they are. Look at verse 48 in our text.
The Lord calls him on this, needing these tangible signs and evidences.
Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye
will not believe. Now, our Lord gives this kind
of a gentle rebuke. And it sounds like the Lord is
mourning over this spiritual baby faith that's in front of
Him. Just like the Lord told Thomas, Blessed are they that
have not seen and have yet believed. And our Lord does not offer this
man any encouragement whatsoever. But what did the nobleman do?
He stayed put. He doesn't say, well, this is
a hard saying, who can hear it? And leave. He stayed put. He doesn't say, doesn't he know
I'm somebody? He wouldn't talk to me this way
and storm off. He didn't do that, did he? He
stayed put. Well, he may as well. The only
place he's got any hope for his son is at the feet of this man,
Jesus of Nazareth. And you and I are the same way.
See, before the Lord's going to do anything for this man,
he's going to reveal to him his human nature. He's going to reveal
to him how sinful and weak he is. You will not believe this,
except you see signs and wonders the flesh will not believe. And
that's not saving faith if you believe because you see something.
He's going to bring this man down. He reveals our fallen,
depraved nature. And when that's revealed to us,
our fallen, depraved, enabled, dead nature, then we're left
with no place to go other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the
gospel is preached here every week, every Sunday, every Wednesday
the gospel is preached from this pulpit. And if you do not know
the Lord, my advice to you is keep coming to hear the gospel.
Keep coming to hear God's Word preached. Because faith cometh
by hearing. If you don't know the Lord, fall
at His feet and beg Him for mercy. And keep begging. I don't care
how long it takes. Keep begging Him for mercy. That's
right in HB. I don't care how long it takes
you. Keep begging Him for mercy. Where else are you going to go?
Where else are you going to go? Salvation is only found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know about you, but as
for me, if I'm going to perish, I'm going to perish at the feet
of Christ because there's no hope anywhere else. None whatsoever. And that's exactly what this
nobleman does. Now, he may have weak faith,
but it's not the strength of his faith that saves. It's the
object of his faith. He's got weak faith without question.
But even that weak faith kept him tied to the Lord Jesus Christ,
because Christ is the object of his faith. He knew he had
no other hope. He says in verse 49, bless his
heart, I just see his voice just breaking, his heart just breaking.
The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. I don't know what else to say.
Please help me. I don't know. You're my only
hope. Everything you said about me is true. But would you have
mercy on me anyway? That's what he's saying. Would
you have mercy on me anyway? His faith may have been weak,
but he continued to beg mercy for his son. Lord, I don't have
any other plea. I don't have any other hope.
I don't have any place else to go. Please help me. Boy, that's a good plea. That's
the cry of a helpless, hopeless sinner to the Savior. And this
is kind of an aside, but this is all for such encouragement
to parents. I don't think I have to motivate
you to pray for your children. But let's pray for our children.
The Lord's able and he's able to say he and he's the only one
who's able to say. I went up Friday evening. Spent
the evening with my two daughters. We went out on a date and spent
the evening with them and went to the preacher school Saturday
morning. And I just visited with them and listened to them and
watched them and seen the things that they've accomplished in
their young life. And I thought about all the things
that Janet and I wanted for them when they were born. Probably
the same things you all want for your children. You want your
children to get a good education. Good education. Send them to
school. Get a good education. I'm a fan
of education. Go get you an education. But
you want your children to be educated, point them to Christ
through His wisdom. Constantly keep bringing them
to Christ. Constantly. You want your children
to wear some nice clothes? You want them to look good when
they go out? Point them to Christ and His robe of righteousness.
You want your children to be healthy? Point them to Christ. He's the great physician. You
want your children to have a good life? I mean, that's what parents
always want. We want it better for our children than we have
it. You want your children to have a good life? Point them
to Christ, whom to know is life eternal. Keep begging for mercy. I don't care how long it takes.
Be like Job. Beg for mercy in case they don't.
Just keep begging for mercy for him. Keep bringing them to Christ.
Keep pointing them to Christ at every opportunity. That's
what this man did. He kept begging for mercy because
he believed God. He had no other hope. He believed
the word that he heard about God. He believed Christ was able. His faith was founded upon the
word that he heard. Second, faith grows by hearing
the word of God. Look at verse 50. Jesus saith
unto him, Go thy way. Thy son lives. And the man believed
the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. Now, the Lord didn't use any
magic words. He just healed the son by his word. The nobleman
had nothing else left to do. He'd have to go do something
to make this healing effectual. The Lord just healed him with
his word. And all it took to give life and health to that
dying son was the Word of God. The Word of God is that powerful. And all it took for that nobleman
to believe, all it took for his faith to be strengthened and
grow was to hear the exact same Word of God. The exact same Word
of God that gave life to his son caused the nobleman's faith
to be strengthened. He didn't see a vision. He didn't
get some vision of his son, you know, sick at home in bed and
suddenly getting up. He didn't hear a voice from heaven.
He just heard the incarnate Word speak. And he believed. It may not seem logical to the
human mind, but he believed. And his weak faith had grown. And all it took was hearing the
Word of God. He didn't ask the Lord for a
sign. Can you give me some confirmation that he's healed? He didn't need
one. He just went on his way rejoicing.
He believed because the Word was spirit and the Word was life. He believed the voice of God
who healeth all thy diseases and redeemeth thy life from destruction.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, Romans 10,
17. And faith grows by hearing that Word of God. The Samaritans. Our Lord just spent those days
in Samaria. And they believed. That woman
came out and said that Christ is sitting out there at Jacob's
well. They believed. And they went out there to Him.
In verse 41, many more believed because of His own Word. It must
be founded on His Word. And they said unto the woman,
now we believe. Now, we believed you before. But now we believe. Our faith, our belief is strengthened.
Why? Not because of thy saying, for
we've heard him ourselves. They heard the word of God and
their faith was strengthened. It grew stronger, more secure. And I want you to notice here. God's grace, this is God's grace,
giving this gift of faith. This is the only recorded time
in scripture a nobleman's healed. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
1. I read this to you at the start
of the service. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 26. For you see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty,
not many noble. It doesn't say not any. I know
of one. There was a nobleman who was
saved by God's grace. He was given this gift of faith
by God's grace. But now before God saves anyone,
they're going to be humbled. This flesh must be brought to
the dust. They have to see themselves as
a dead, hopeless sinner. They've got to be humbled before
God saves them. So that when God saves them,
there's no doubt God did all the saving. They couldn't contribute
anything to it. God did all the saving. And God's grace can humble even
a nobleman. It did here. Now, that's hard
to do, but God's grace can do it. And he believed God. Now his faith had grown. Look
at verse 51. I'll show you, I know his faith had grown. As he was
now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying,
Thy son liveth. Then inquired he of them the
hour when he began to amend, and they said unto him, Yesterday
at the seventh hour the fever left him. The nobleman did not
meet his servants till the next day, and they told him, Your
son was healed yesterday. Now, this man had gone by horse
or mule or chariot. He could have made the trip back
to Capernaum in less than four hours. He could have walked it
and been there that day. But I'm sure he wasn't walking, he
wasn't hoofing it. He probably had a horse or mule
or something. He could have been back home in time for supper.
But he didn't go. He could have gone and verified,
is my son healed or not? But he didn't. There was no need. He knew his son was healed. He
didn't have to see it. He knew. His son was healed because
he believed the Word of God. He probably just stayed there
in town, maybe took care of some business. He enjoyed a nice meal
at a restaurant out of town. He got him a hotel room, had
a good night's sleep, and he traveled back in the morning
when travel would be cooler. And he found a servant. The servants
were coming to meet him. They were coming to tell him,
no need to find some doctor or something. He's already healed.
You don't have to spend time looking for him. He's healed.
And he didn't ask his servants what time was he healed so that
he could have proof. He wasn't looking for evidence
anymore. He already knew the exact moment his son was healed.
You know why he asked? When was my son healed? What
hour? You know why he asked that? He wanted to hear the story again. He loved to hear the story how
God in his mercy and power with his word, healed his son. He
loved the story. He wanted to hear it again. However
old this man got, he never got tired of hearing and telling
the story how God had mercy on him and healed his son. Never
got tired of hearing it. You who believe the gospel, now
you know the gospel. You know it. You've been hearing
it a long time. You know the gospel. If you believe
Christ, you know him. Do you ever get tired of hearing
how God saved you from your sin? How Christ died for you when
you were yet His enemy? Do you ever get tired of hearing
that? Can you ever get tired of hearing of God's electing
love? That God chose you out of the
mass of fallen humanity just because He would. Just because
of His electing love. Do you ever get tired of hearing
of your sinful nature? How dependent you are upon God?
I think it was Ken a few weeks ago asked me, he said, how come
I get so happy hearing you all the time tell me how rotten I
am? You know why? Because a child
of God loves to hear I'm dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. That
gives me hope. If I'm dependent on myself, I've
got no hope. But if I'm worthless and helpless
and incapable of doing anything, I have hope. Because now I'm
dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I never get tired of
hearing my dependence on him. Do you ever get tired of hearing
about God's grace to sinners? God's merciful to sinners. Can
you get tired of that? Can you get tired of hearing
of the sacrifice of Christ? The blood of his sacrifice that
cleanses you from all sin? Do you get tired of hearing how
he rose? Does that just wear you out? Are you tired of hearing
that? Are you tired of hearing he's coming back? He's coming
back to bring his people home with him. Well, of course you're
not. If you know Christ, your attitude is tell me again. Tell
me again. I'll sit on the edge of my seat
when you tell me again how God chose me, how Christ died for
me, how the Spirit gave me life. He's coming back to receive me
to himself. Tell me again. That's the way this father was.
That's what this healing is. It's a picture of salvation.
You'll notice this fever left this boy suddenly. The father
said, when did he begin to amend? He said he didn't begin nothing. At the seventh hour, the fever
left him. He was healed in a moment. And
immediately his son was better. That's salvation. Salvation is
immediate. The moment you believe Christ,
You're plumb saved. Now, we grow in grace. We grow
in knowledge. We grow in faith. We do not grow
in life. We don't grow in eternal life.
Look back here a page or two of John chapter 3. Verse 36. He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life. You have it right now. You don't
grow in life. If you believe Christ, you have
eternal life. It's instant. And third, faith
is established by hearing the Word of God. Hearing the old,
old story, hearing the same old story this nobleman already knew,
made his faith grow and become established. And the same thing
is true of you and me. Look at verse 53. So the father
knew that it was at that same hour. in which Jesus had said
unto him, Thy son liveth, and himself believed in his whole
house." Telling the same old story made the nobleman's faith
grow and become established. And that exact same story that
caused the nobleman's faith to be established gave unbelievers
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They never heard, and they believed
when they heard the same story that established his faith and
made it stronger in Christ. That's why we preach the same
old story over and over and over and over again. It's the same
old gospel that gives the oldest believer in this room strength
and faith. It gives the unbeliever faith
and life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, faith grows. When this man
came to Christ, he had weak faith, didn't he? He didn't know much.
But he knew enough to come to Christ, that's faith. And he
didn't seek the Lord until he had a need. But when no one else
could help him, he came to Christ. Now, faith in Christ will not
be born until you're shut up to Christ. You've got to lose
all hope and all confidence in your flesh and see that Christ
is the Savior. Then and only then will you come
to Him. But his faith grew. His faith was completely founded
on God's Word and it grew because of God's Word, not miracles,
not signs, not wonders, God's Word. Now look back in Luke chapter
16. This applies to you and me today. In Luke 16, this is the story
of the rich man in hell, Lazarus is in He is crying out to Abraham,
and he says in verse 27 of Luke 16, Then he said, I pray thee
therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him, send Lazarus,
to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify
unto them, lest they come into this place of torment. Abraham
saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets. They have the
first five books of the Old Testament that Moses wrote. They have the
prophets. Old Testament Scriptures, let them hear them. Let them
hear that Word of God. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham,
but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. Now,
they won't repent. They won't believe they hear
the Word. But boy, if they see somebody raised from the dead,
they'll repent. And Abraham said unto him, If they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead. Seeing a miracle will never give
saving faith. If Lazarus could come back from
the dead and speak to you this morning, he couldn't tell you
anything I haven't already told you. He couldn't tell you anything
other than God's Word that I tried to preach to you this morning.
He couldn't tell you about the details of heaven any more than
the Apostle Paul could. Paul was there. He said, I can't
tell you. Human words don't exist. I can't tell you. And that's
just fine because it's not the details of heaven that makes
a man repent. It's not the details of heaven
that draws a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ. The only thing
that will draw a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ is seeing their
worthlessness, their sinfulness, their filthiness, and being drawn
to Him as their only Savior, their only hope. The only way
they'll ever be drawn to Christ that way is by His Word, the
message of His Word. The glories of heaven won't do
it now. It's His Word. Saving faith is
not born from seeing a miracle. It's born from the word of God.
Look at First Peter, chapter one. We're going to get to this
here in a week or two in our studies midweek service. But let's read it now. You won't
be tired of it Wednesday. We hear it again. First Peter one, verse twenty
three. Being born again, not a corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you." Faith is born from the word of God. Faith is established and strengthened
by hearing more of God's Word. The more we learn of God's Word,
the more our faith will be established. In God's Word, we'll learn more
of the character of God. The more we learn of God's sovereignty,
the more faith we'll have, the more we'll rest in Him, this
thing not spinning out of control. God's sovereignty, that gives
His people rest and confidence through faith in Him. The more
we learn of God's character, his holiness and his justice,
the more our faith will be strengthened and established in him. The more
I learn God's holy, God's just, he's inflexibly just. The more I'll trust he'll not
punish me for my sin if he punished Christ as my substitute, because
God's holy and God's just. That would be unholy. God won't
do that. The more I learn of His holiness, the more I'll rest
in Him. The more we learn of the character of Christ, the
more faith we'll have. The stronger our faith will be.
He's the God-Man. God Almighty in human flesh. He's got the power of God to
keep God's law and to satisfy God's justice. And He can do
it for me as my substitute because He became a man. He's touched
with the feeling of mind-firmity. I can trust that man. He's the
God-man. The more I learn of His righteousness
and His obedience, the more faith I have in Him, the more I'll
hope and trust and rest in His perfect righteousness, which
is imputed to me. That's the only way I can ever
be righteous, is in His righteousness. The more I learn of it, the more
I'll trust Him. The more I learn that Christ,
in His infinite, unsearchable love for sinners, would die for
the ungodly, the more hope I have. That describes me. My faith will
grow the more I learn the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. May
God make it to be so this morning. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father,
We do thank Thee for this Thy Word. And Father, I beg of Thee
that Your Word would go forth in power this morning. That by
Thy Word, by Your power, by Your grace, You give life to a dead
sinner who's here this morning. A certain sinner that You brought
to a certain place to hear the gospel of Thy Son. You promised
your word would not return unto you void, but it will accomplish
the purpose for until you send it. And we beg that you may send
it forth this morning on a mission of mercy. And Father, for those
whom you've already called, those who believe you, trust you, love
you, may you use this message, the word of truth, to strengthen,
establish, settle our hearts on the Lord Jesus Christ. To
Him be all the glory, power, dominion, both now and ever. Amen.