Going back to 2 Timothy chapter
1, we are going to look at verse 12. Saving faith. Saving faith. Paul said, for this, for the witch cause,
referring back to verse 11, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and
an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which cause
I also suffer these things, these troubles and heartaches. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
I preach. He was not embarrassed or ashamed
of Christ. If anything, he had a right to
be ashamed of us. But Paul said, I'm not ashamed.
One time he was. There was a work of grace. At
one time he persecuted the church and despised this gospel. Ashamed
of it. Then he says here, here's the
reason I'm not ashamed. And here is peace. This gives real peace and confidence. For I know whom I have believed. I know Him. In Philippians he
said, Oh, that I might know Him. He wanted to know Him more. He
says, I know Him. I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded, totally convinced,
without a doubt, that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, is able to
keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. commit
unto Him everything, absolutely everything. Paul said, He's able
to keep everything, my soul, everything that concerns me,
He's able to take care of. He's able to deliver me. And
old King said to Daniel, Daniel, he said, is thy God able to deliver
thee? Daniel answered, yes. He's able. He's able to deliver me from
the lions. The Lord Jesus Christ is able to deliver me from sin,
from death. That's something every one of
us has to face. That's something, unless the
Lord comes right now, that's something that every one of us
has to taste. He's able to deliver me from
that. He's able to deliver me from the grave That grave is
not a prison. It's just a bed. It's just a
bed. It's just a resting place for
the body until he's pleased to raise it. He's able to deliver
me from the curse of the law? That's a real curse. You know,
these voodoo curses you see on TV, they put on somebody, a pincushion
doll, that's not curses. No curse in that, but the law
curse. That's real. That is a real curse. And he's able, I'm persuaded,
totally confident, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son
of Man, is able to deliver me from that curse. When I stand
before God, that curse will not be on me. Because He was made
a curse for us. A curse fell on Him. It did not
just fall on Him. It says He was made a curse. Just as it says He was made to
be saved. And it was taken away. So the
message this morning has to do with This saving faith, this
real faith now that's in the Lord Jesus Christ that lays hold
of him. Our Lord said in Luke 18, 8,
when the Son of Man comes, this is a sobering statement. When
the Son of Man comes, shall he find faith on the earth? If the Son of Man came this morning,
shall he find faith on the earth? I heard Henry say this one time,
and I like it. I've always remembered it. He'll
find it where he's given it. If he's given you faith, he'll
find it. That's where he'll find it, where
he's given it. But I know this. I don't want to miss faith. I
mean, real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trusting Him for
everything. I don't want to miss that. A faith that's not real. Or a
faith like the devils have. They believe there's one God,
and you know that they tremble, but they go no further. They
believe there's one God, but they go no further. I don't want
that kind of faith. I know there's many who have
that, and they're lost. I pray God, give me that genuine
faith. That's what I want. I often pray,
I often pray, myself, for my own family, and this church,
Lord, grant us genuine faith. I often pray that. I pray that
our faith is genuine, that we really, truly believe
you and follow you. I want that justifying faith,
that faith by which righteousness is imputed. The kind that lays
hold of Jesus Christ, just like He spoke of Jesus. Laying hold,
I'll not let you go. Like Enoch. Don't you want that
faith like Enoch? We speak of Abraham's faith,
and that was great faith. And David, and not much is said
of Enoch except this, God took him. He pleased God. He walked
with God. It doesn't talk about his exploits.
We don't have much at all written about Enoch, but this, he walked
with God. That's what I want. That's what
I want for us. To walk with God until we one
day walk right into glory. But I want to be careful and not make a Savior out of
my faith. Faith is not my Savior. Jesus
Christ is. But He speaks much of faith.
You just read the Gospel. Son, thy faith hath saved thee.
O thou little faith! He speaks much of it. Life is
found in Christ, so I do want to be careful that I don't make
a Savior out of it, or look upon it, as one writer said, look
upon it as an independent source of my salvation. It's not. It's not Christ plus. No, it's
Christ and Christ alone. But I want that faith that lays
hold of Christ. that laid hold of him. That's what I want. Let me read you some scriptures.
I've got them written down. I wrote them down. I just read
you in 2 Timothy 1, 12. Hebrews 11, it says this. Without
faith, it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, that he is who he says he is, that
he is as he has revealed himself in the scriptures. And that He
is a rewarder, a mercy giver. He is a mercy giver, a rewarder
of them that diligently, not half-heartedly, this matter of
knowing Christ and salvation is a real diligent search of
the heart after Him. Them that diligently seek Him. It says in John 1, 12, to as
many as received him, that's faith, that's faith, faith receives
him. To as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God, the right to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
In Romans 4 it says, Abraham believed God and it was accounted
to him for righteousness. There is no greater blessing
than for God to give you and me, to give our grandchildren
and children, faith, true, saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this saving faith is the gift of God. It's not something
you talk a person into, you convince them and persuade them into it,
or you logically talk them into it. It is the gift of God. God has to give. We teach our
children back here in Bible classes, and as they come out here and
sit and they listen to us, our hope is that someday God will
grant faith. just like he did Timothy. Let
me read this to you again in verse 5. When I call to remembrance
the unfamed, the genuine, what's he speak of? Faith. That is,
in thee, who is dwelt first, the same type of faith, because
it's of God. God only gives one faith. There are many different false
faiths, but there's only one that saves. Who is dwelt first
in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Unicy, and I am persuaded
that in thee also. And in one place, I didn't read
your scripture, I didn't write it down. He talked about the
scriptures. Timothy has made you wise unto
salvation. But I tell you this, they're
not salvation. Christ is. But they make you wise. The knowledge.
I'll get to this in a minute. I'm getting a little ahead of
myself. But there's no greater blessing than for God to give
you and me and our children saving faith. And let me say this, there is
only one faith that saves. There's one Lord, one faith,
and one baptism. One. Many false faiths exist,
but only one saves. That's being dogmatic, isn't
it? But that's so. That's the way God is. He didn't
give us a buffet of faiths that saved. He gave one. One. Only one. And it's in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the object of faith. And
He's the one that set us. There are three things that make
up this saving faith. First of all, knowledge. You cannot, you cannot believe
in someone you don't know. You can't do it. Paul said, when
it pleased God to reveal His Son in me. You cannot believe someone you
don't know. There must be, listen, a measure. I'm not going to say
how much. I'm not going to put a measure on it. But there must
be a measure of knowledge given in order to have true faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It must be. Paul says, I know
whom. I know whom I have believed.
Look over in Philippians chapter 3. Philippians 3. Paul says in verse 7, But what things were gained to
me, those I counted lost for Christ, yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, of whom I have suffered the loss of all
things and do count them done that I may win Christ." But he
calls it an excellent knowledge. It's written over in Romans 10,
14, how shall they believe in him? of whom they've not heard. You can't believe someone you
haven't heard about. There must be a measure of knowledge. I know there are many who claim
to be saved and cannot tell you anything about Jesus Christ. I've told this story before,
but I talked to a lady years ago. She told me she got saved. And I started talking to her
about the starts talking to her about the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him being God. She said, I didn't know that. She said, I didn't know He was
God. That's not faith. Paul said, I'm persuaded. What
was part of that? What's part of that persuasion? Who He is. I'm persuaded He's able to keep
that which I committed unto Him because of who He is. An ordinary
man cannot keep that. An ordinary man cannot enable
me to stand before God Almighty. But God can. God can. Oh, there's many who can't tell
you about, they really cannot sit down and have an intelligent
conversation with you about the Lord Jesus Christ. They cannot
tell you what happened at Calvary. They cannot tell you the purpose
of the cross other than this, that He made salvation possible.
And that's a lie. That's an absolute lie. He died
on the cross, you know this, and thank God we've been well
taught. He died there to save sinners. And that's what he did. And that's what he's doing. He's
saving sinners. Saving faith is born in light
and knowledge. Ignorance, the ignorance I was
born in, the darkness I was born in, must be removed. God must remove my ignorance. Men must hear and learn of the
Father before they can and will come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me show you that over in John chapter 6, the Gospel of
John. The Gospel of John. John chapter 6. Look in verse 44. No man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I
will raise him up at the last day." It is written in the prophets
over in Isaiah 54, 13, and they shall be all taught of God. Every
man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father,
God has taught him, listen, here's what happens. He comes to me. Now if the Father has taken you
under His wing, chosen you in Christ, called you by His grace,
He's going to instruct you. And when He instructs you, you
know what's going to happen? You are going to come to Christ.
You're going to come to His Son. You're going to kiss the Son.
That's what's going to happen. You're going to kiss the Son.
Look over in 2 Corinthians. They shall all be taught of God.
Over in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, let me read here in verse
3, But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
The light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord." He's our message, and ourselves your
service for Jesus' sake. For God, I said there must be
a measure of light and knowledge given. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts. He's
removed that darkness and that ignorance. God has done that. That's the work of God. He has
shined in our hearts to give the light, listen, of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, in the face
of a person, not creation, but His Son. Saving faith is born, as I said,
in light and knowledge. There is no coming to Christ
apart from the operation of God in the heart. Our Lord said, You will not come
to me that you might have life. Not as you are. Not as you were
born. God must do something. He did
something for us at Calvary, and He must do something in us
by the work of the Holy Spirit. to bring us to Christ. There
must be a divine teaching. Light must be given. God must
command the light, the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He must command
that light into the heart. He must command that light to
shine into the heart. We must have some understanding
of who He is that we are commanded to believe on. The Lord our righteousness,
not the Lord who wants to save me. I'm talking about the Lord
of our righteousness, the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel. God teaches His children who
this One is, who He is. A person who looks at Christ
as a good man or only a prophet, sin of God, has not yet had the
light commanded to shine into his heart. The Lord said, Who
do you say that I am? Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. He said, Peter, flesh and blood
didn't reveal this to you. Who revealed this to you, Peter?
My Father, which is in heaven. My Father. We must have some measure of
knowledge in knowing Him, who He is. Who is this? He said,
Who do men say that I am? And Peter gave the right answer.
The Lord said, you said right. Know this Peter, the Father revealed
this to you. That's how come you know it.
That's why you know it. Now how much knowledge must one
have? I don't know. I don't know. But this I do know. Now listen to me. This I do know. There must be enough like given
to convict of sin and show the sufficiency and
ability of the Lord Jesus Christ to save from sin." That much love. How much? That
much. There also must be a heart agreement
with the Word of God. A person can know a thing and
not really believe in it. Trust it. Rest your soul upon
it. There's a lot of things, there
are a lot of things I do not rest my soul upon. A lot of things. The scripture says this, with
the heart man believes unto righteousness. A man told me one time that I
worked with years ago, He did not make a profession. He didn't
even pretend to make a profession. He was just a rotten rascal. He was an ornery cuss. But he
and I got along. We had a kinship there somewhere.
He had something in him that just kind of, yeah, okay. But he told me, he told me, he said, I believe
every word in that Bible. He said, I believe every word
of it. If he did, he'd be saved. Because he would believe that
he is the sinner, God says he is, and that Christ is a sufficient
Savior, and he'd be looking to Christ. He couldn't even, this
is what's strange, he said, I believe every word of it. He couldn't
quote one word of it. That's not the faith I want. That's not the faith you want.
The faith I want, I want God to give me and you, and I hope
we possess. Now, is that which lays hold
of Him. Makes Him real. He's real. You
know, faith is a substance of things hoped for. It gives substance
to what you hope for. Faith gives substance to cry.
I've never seen Him. Have you ever seen Jesus Christ?
No. I'm telling you this, my faith,
that God-given faith that's of God, He's as real to me as you
are sitting there. But He's not that real to everyone.
There's a lot of people who believe He lived, and there's a few who
believe He lives. See that God's right hand. My
Lord and my God. True faith agrees with the Word
of God. When it reads, there is none
righteous, no, not one, it believes it. You feel that, don't you?
You say, it's talking to me. I know you have. I know you have. Over the years when I've listened
to Henrik preach, I felt like I was the only one in the room
he was talking to. I mean, it was just like you
look on the edge of your seat and he's got my number. How did
he know that? You ever feel like that? How
did he know that? It agrees with the Word of God.
When a man finds out that he's guilty, that he is a wretch,
as God says he is, he wholeheartedly agrees with it. He stands up,
he may not stand up physically, but in his heart He stands up
and says, Amen. He just described me. Oh, wretched man that I am, can
you not say, Move over, Paul? I get a part on this. He's describing
me. When he finds out that Jesus
Christ is the only Savior, and that it is only through His blood
and righteousness that he can be saved, He wholeheartedly agrees
with it because He knows in Himself there is no other way. If Jesus Christ did not die for
me, I have no hope. When I stand before God Almighty,
the only hope I have is Jesus Christ Himself. That's it. That's it. When He died, He died
for me. When His blood was shed, His
blood was shed for me. There's going to be many standing
there saying, we've preached in your name, we've cast out devils in your
name, we have done many mighty works in your name. And he's
going to say, depart from me, I never knew you. But not one
of them said, Lord, didn't you die for me? No, they just brought up their
works. But my only hope, I'm telling you, my only hope and
your only hope was when he died, he died for me. And the heart agrees with the
Word of God. When he finds out that God is
sovereign in salvation, in everything. I thought Paul brought one of
the best messages I ever heard on that subject two Sundays ago
now, I guess. Man, I'm telling you, I was on
the edge of my seat. I just want to stand up and just,
man, that's right. That's right. God is sovereign,
and we're glad that it's so. Glad that it's so. Whatever truth
that sinner meets with in the Scriptures, he bows to it, and
he receives it as the Word of God, even though most of it he
doesn't understand. But he understands who he is.
He understands that. And this agreement of faith is
called in the Scriptures, our receiving the witness of God.
Over in 1 John 5, 9, it's the receiving of the witness of God.
It's said in our seal that God is true. That's what it's doing. And the third thing that makes
up faith is the actual receiving of Christ, my Lord and my God. As Spurgeon said, it's appropriating
Him to yourself. It will not save me just to know
that Christ is a Savior. But it is by faith to reach out
from the heart and receive Him, lay hold of Him. It's to receive
Him as He is. To as many as what? Received
Him. Everyone whom God saves truly
receives Christ in you. Just like a glass of water, which
I forgot, I wish I had one right now. But just like a glass of water
receives the water, the glass didn't put water in itself. I've
never seen a glass in my life go to the sink and put water
in itself. You took it to the sink, you
turned the water on, and you filled the glass up. But that
glass received it, didn't it? And that glass holds it. I didn't
put faith in me. I didn't put Christ in me. That
was an operation of God by the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit. But
I tell you this, He's in me. And I've received it. I've received
it. It's not just to believe that
His atonement is sufficient, but it's to receive and trust
His atonement as all that I need. It is to really, really lean
on Him. It's to really cast your whole
being... Paul said, I'm persuaded He's
able to keep that which I've committed unto Him, and I've
committed everything to Him. It's to receive Him as my wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It is to embrace
Him. It's to embrace Him as my Lord
and my God. Like that woman with the issue
of blood. She said, if I can just but touch
the hem of His garment, I know I'll be made whole. I know. Now, how do we come to possess
this? How do we come to possess this faith that's of God, this
saving faith? Well, first of all, according
to the Scriptures, it's the gift of God. It is the gift of God,
and I'm glad it is. Because if He didn't give it
to us, we wouldn't have it. It is the gift of God. Saving
faith is not something we can do. It's not something we can
work up by the flesh. First of all, listen, it is by
grace. It says in Ephesians 2.8, For
by grace are ye saved through faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. But grace is the root of it. not of works, lest any man should
boast. True faith is the result of the operation of God in the
heart." It says in Colossians 2.12, listen,
"... buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God." A man who believes God is a man whose heart has been
operated on. Heart surgery. God has performed
an operation in you. And because of that operation,
because of that work of God, the result is this. You believe
God. You believe God. It is through this work of God
in the heart that we see ourselves as sinners. He convicts of sin. It's through this operation that
we also see ourselves as crucified, buried, and risen with Christ.
It's through this operation of God. And until this operation
is performed, a man is dead in trespasses and sins. But by when God performs this
operation, He gives life. Life. And then thirdly, it comes
by hearing. Hearing. The Jews were so used
to doing. Do this and live. Do this, do
that. Go back and read those laws and
all those. It's always doing, doing, doing. And the Scripture teaches us,
it says this in Romans 10, 17, So then faith, That faith by
which God saves, that faith, that justifying faith, cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. God gives you hearing
by the hearing of the gospel. It comes by hearing, and hearing
the gospel. Faith does not come by human
logic, and I really believe this is what's going on throughout
religion. Religion without Christ. Preachers
are logically talking people into a profession. That's not faith. Faith does
not come by human logic. Human logic says this. That's
foolish. That's just foolish. And so what they do, they give
you a lot of different translations to try to make it sound more
logical. More understandable. That's not the way faith comes.
Faith doesn't come that way. It comes by hearing the Word
of God. It doesn't come by looking at
creation. Creation will never create faith in you. Ever. It comes by hearing the Word
of God. I had a person tell me one time that they would like
to be saved. This lady was talking to me.
She said, I'd like to be. She said, I've prayed and I've
tried to get saved. But not one time, not one time,
I can say not one time that this woman has ever sat under the
gospel. She's never gone to where the
gospel is preached and yet to say, I want to be saved. I want to get saved. You know
what it is? I know her upbringing. She just
doesn't want to go to hell. That's her ideal of being saved.
I just don't want to go to hell. I want to go to heaven when life's
over. But that's not what salvation's
about. Salvation is being made one with God. Salvation is having
my sin put away so that I can stand before God and have fellowship
with Him. That salvation, I tell you this, a person who
truly wants to be saved will go where the gospel is preached. It must be the gospel that is
preached, not another gospel, not another Jesus. God will not
honor a lie. He's not going to save men and
women under another gospel. That does not happen. It does
not happen. It must be the gospel of God's
glory. It's got to be the gospel of
God's glory, which is the gospel concerning the Son of God, which
Paul speaks of there in Romans chapter 1. Not a lie. A lie leads to presumption. Presumption is what it leads
to. So I suggest this to anyone who
desires faith or to have an increase in faith. Sit under the gospel. Be under the gospel as much as
possible. Read the Word of God. He said,
there they which testify of me. Word of God. Seek to know more
of Christ. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. Make Christ a study of your life. We learn and study a lot of things
in this life. But if we never learn Christ,
Paul calls it excellent knowledge. If we never learn Him, all other
knowledge winds up being useless. And actually adds to my condemnation,
really. And then last of all, do I have this faith? Do I have
this faith? Well, I ask you this, and I asked
myself this, and I looked at this. Do you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Not that He is or was, not that
He was, but that He is. You believe wholeheartedly on
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Christ truly to you and
to me, the Lord our righteousness. Have I forsaken? Have I forsaken
all of my righteousness? I know we like to forsake our
sins and things we've done. We say, I wouldn't want to bite
into that. Wish I hadn't done that. But
what about the things we've done we wished everybody knew about?
And we published it and tried to say to it that somebody knew
about it. Can we throw that away? That's just as wicked, that's
just as wicked as any rotten thing you've ever done. Self-righteousness. Henry had a take on that, on
self-righteousness. And I let a Mormon listen to
it. It made him so mad he didn't talk to me for two hours on the
way home. He would have agreed to it if
he would have talked about not drinking beer or even coffee. They weren't supposed to drink
coffee. If Henry had preached on those
things, he would have agreed to it. He would have said, boy,
that was a good message. But that whole message was on self-righteousness
and slavery. That's what the name was. Self-righteousness
and slavery. And I played that tape to him coming back from
Pittsburgh. And for two hours, he didn't talk to me. It made
him mad. I mean, it really made him mad. It made Ken mad. But that's the gospel. Except your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no
wise enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, how's that going to happen?
His righteousness. Do you receive Him as He is revealed
in the Scriptures? To as many as receive Him as
the Sovereign Christ, as the reigning Christ, as the conquering
Christ? I know everybody wants the Savior.
Everybody wants to be saved from going to hell. You know when they had to pass
over land before going out of Egypt? They were to roast the
lamb, and then they were to what? Eat all of it. He didn't say,
give me the leg part. That's what I like. That's what
we do when we eat the house chicken. I like the legs. I said, I just
want the legs. I don't want anything else. He said, you eat all of it. You
don't pick and choose what you like about Christ. It's the whole
Christ. As He revealed in the Scriptures,
Is he altogether lovely to you, the fairest among ten thousand? I remember this. This is back
in 1978, 79. First time I'd heard Henry, I
preached on television, and he asked this question. And I'd
never ever thought about it, and it just hit me. He says, do you love him? I never
thought about that. I thought about it. I accepted
Him. I accepted Him as my personal Savior because I was religious
back then. But it just hit me between the
eyes. You know what it is to love someone? I mean to really
love someone? I'm telling you this, if you
really love someone, you're sold out to them. I promise you this,
you worship that which you love. That's what you worship, what
you love. And he said, do you, Peter? He didn't ask Peter if he believed
him, he knew that. He said, Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? What else did he say to that?
More than this. Whatever these are, with you,
whatever these are with me. Do you love me more than these? And do you obey his command?
He that believes and is baptized, he said, shall be saved. Well, I pray. I do. I pray and I pray often. Lord,
I pray that to have this genuine faith, that the faith I have
is genuine. If it's not, make it genuine. Give me that faith.
If it's not, I don't want to be fooled. I don't want to be
fooled. And I don't want you to be fooled
either. Lord, give us this faith that
lays hold of you, that loves you. that commits everything
to you.