I invite you to turn back with
me now to Ephesians chapter two. I wanna preach to you this morning
about a faith that's not of yourselves. It's your faith, but it's not
of yourselves. Whatever faith is, it's not the
product of fallen man. Whatever it is. Whatever faith is, it does not
originate with us. It doesn't grow out of something
that's in us. It does not evolve out of human
nature. Some of you may wonder why I
don't We get visitors in here from time to time, and sometimes
they'll come back two or three weeks, and then they're gone. And some of you may wonder why
I don't buttonhole some of these people back in the back, or some of our young men and
women, the way other churches do, and try to talk them into
a profession of faith, try to argue them and debate with them
and make them believe. As much as I want to, I understand
by the word of God that this is an impossibility. You see,
faith is not mine to give. It's His to give. By grace are you saved through
faith and that Not of yourselves, it's what? The gift of God. Only He can give you. Only He
can give you. There's just no use to do this,
nothing profitable can come from it. Anything I can talk you into,
somebody else can talk you out of. I have no ability to do anything,
so if I insist on talking them into a profession of faith, it
ceases to be the work of God and becomes my work. Years and
years ago, there was a man, we all referred to him as Dr. Magruder. He had a doctorate in theology,
and everybody called him Dr. Magruder, and he pastored a church
in Louisville, Kentucky, a grace church. And he invited Brother
Henry Mahan down to speak for him. And back then, there weren't
any motels. There were just hotels, these
big, tall, multi-storied buildings in the downtown. And Henry was
staying at the hotel there in Louisville. And Dr. Magruder
come by to get him. They were going out for supper
and then going to the meeting. And as they got on the elevator
to come down to the lobby, this drunk got on at the last second. And he's staggering around in
the elevator, and he looks at Henry, and he said, I know you. He said, you're that TV preacher. He said, you preach those collected
ones. And Henry didn't know what to
say. He was just standing there. And
he said, I sure hope I'm a collected one. And then he looked over
at Dr. Magruder, and he said, I know
you. He said, you saved me two years
ago. And Dr. McGruder looked at him,
he said, looks like some of my work. Now that's what I'm saying. If
I talk you into a profession of faith, it's going to look
like some of my work. It's going to come to naught.
It's going to come to naught. If it ain't his work, it's not
gonna stand the trials whereby he tries faith. If your faith
is not genuine, it's not gonna save your soul. It's gonna come
to nothing. Gonna come to nothing. And so
I just stopped doing it. I couldn't see any profit in
it for me or you. Now if you have questions, I'll
do my best to answer. If you're troubled with something
in the scriptures, I'll sit down with you and we'll go through
the scriptures and I'll try to help you. I was talking to a
couple of the young men out on the porch a while ago about spiritual
Israel. I'll gladly answer your questions. I'll gladly go into the word
of God and try to instruct you. But I'm not gonna go back here
in the back and try to talk you into a profession of faith. I'm
not gonna do it. Faith of God's elect, the scripture
said, is not of yourselves. There's not a spark in man that
you can blow on it and get a fire going. There's no spark in him. He says, in one place our beauty
is turned to ashes. You know what ashes means? It
means the fire went out. That's what ashes mean. This thing of saving faith does
not originate with man. It is the work of God. It's the
work of God that you believe on Him. You remember those people. He was up on the mountain, and
they were hungry, and nobody had enough money to feed all
these people. There was 5,000 men besides the
women and children. And they were up on the side
of this mountain, out in the middle of nowhere. And the Lord said, he had his
disciples look around, and he said, you know, we're not going
to be able to feed this crowd. We're just not going to be able
to do it. But he said, the only thing we could find was a little
lad here, and he had a few fishes and a few loaves. He said, bring
them to me. And he blessed them, and he fed
that whole outfit. And he took up seven basket loads
of leftovers after they fed them. Some 20,000 people, maybe more.
And then people saw what he did, and they wanted to take him right
that minute, and according to their traditional belief, they
believed God was going to raise up somebody like David, and he
was going to deliver Israel out from under their bondage, out
from under the Roman bondage, and they were going to literally
take him by force and make him their king. And the Lord just
disappeared out of their midst. And he went off to himself and
prayed, and he sent his disciples across the sea. You remember
the story. Then after they got on the other
side, here comes these same people. They found him. He's on the other
side of the Sea of Galilee, and they went around or took shipping
or something. They got over there where he
was at, and here they come to him. And he said, you're not
coming to me because you seek eternal life. You're coming to
me to feed your bellies. That's why you're coming to me. And they just kind of ignored
him. And they said, Master, what can we do to work the works of
God? We want to feed the multitudes.
We want to raise the dead. We want to cleanse the lepers.
We want to cast out demons. What must we do that we can do
the work of God? And here's what our Lord told
him. He said, this is the work of God. that you believe on Him
whom God has sent. That's the work of God. If you're here this morning and
you're a believer, God did that work. And you'll spend the rest
of your life thanking Him. Thank Him. It's the work of God. Now let
me give you a few things this morning that I see in this wonderful
passage of scripture here. First of all, in Ephesians 2.8,
Paul declares to us the way of salvation. He said, for by grace are you
saved through faith. How are you saved? by grace,
then I don't want to hear that word works. You're either saved by grace
or you're hoping to be saved by works, which is a useless
hope. It's an empty hope. I don't know
how many times in the scriptures he just keeps saying it, not
of works, lest any man should boast. Not of works, it's not of him
that willeth, it's not of him that runneth, it's of God that
showeth mercy. In 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
9 he said this, God hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, listen, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Salvation's by grace. Turn with
me over to Romans chapter 11. Let me show you something over
here. I want you to let this be established in your mind and
heart. Salvation is by grace. It began with a gracious election. You know, back in the days of
Elijah, and that's what Paul's talking about here in Romans
11, You remember, he confronted the 400 prophets of Baal, and
God just put them to shame. They were cutting themselves,
and they were dancing, all 400 of them around, and speaking
in gibberish, and Elijah laughed at him. He said, maybe you ought
to raise your voice a little bit. I don't think God's hearing
you. When he got done, he called for
the God, the living God. He put his sacrifices in a ditch.
He dug a big ditch, put all the sacrifices in the ditch and just
kept pouring water on it till the stuff was underwater. And
then he said, let the God, the living God, the real God, the
true God, let him answer with fire. And God sent fire down
from heaven, licked up all that water and the sacrifice. And
he stood that day and made an absolute fool out of Jezebel
and the king. just put him to shame and poor
Jezebel was hot and she sought after him and he took off running
for his life and went down and here he is now down in a cave
and God's feeding him with a raven. And he prays this prayer. He's praying this prayer. He said, Lord, look at here,
Romans 11 verse 3, Lord, they've killed thy prophets. and they've
digged down thine altars, and I'm left alone, and they seek
my life. But what saith the answer of
God to him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. You're
not the only one. Even so, verse five, even so
then, At this present time also, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. What kind of election? A gracious
election. And if by grace, then is it no
more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. And if it be of
works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. What then? What are we to take
from all this? What are we to say about all
this? Israel hath not obtained that
which it seeketh for, but the election obtained it, and the
rest were blinded. And there's a lot of second causes
to justify their blindness, but only the grace of God is owing
to their election. It's an election of grace. It
begins with a gracious election and then a gracious covenant
union. Our God is a covenant God. There
are two names given in the Old Testament, both ascribed to God. The first is Elohim. Whenever
you see that word God, he's talking about Elohim. Absolute God, creator
of all things. God Almighty, absolute, eternal,
self-existing, solitary God. And the second name you find
is Jehovah. You know what that means? Covenant
God. Covenant God. Elohim. He stood there and watched the
animals go on exactly as he purposed it. They went on. And the Lord, Jehovah, showed
them in. Who sealed them in that ark?
The covenant God. The last words of the psalmist
David. This is the only man that God
said he's a man after my own heart. The psalmist David. Here's
his last words on earth. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation and all my
desire. Jehovah. Yehovah, the covenant
God. And Christ is the surety of that
covenant. And that covenant is a covenant
of grace. And that covenant grace was given
to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. I just read it to you a few minutes
ago. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together
with Christ. He's talking about a union. Before
Christ died, he put us in union with him. We're one with him. And when he died, we died. When
he was buried, we were buried. When God raised him from the
dead, he raised us. He raised us up together with
him and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. According to that eternal covenant
union, I'm seated with Christ right now in glory if I'm a believer. When the ark was lifted upon
the waters, did the ark alone rise? Or did everything in it
rise? Everything God intended to save
rose with the ark, didn't it? When Christ raised, was he alone? Is he all that come out of the
tomb? No, everything was in him. Everything was in him. By grace
are you saved. Well, what about our acceptance?
Ephesians 1, 6, look over there. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved grace. You can't find anything else,
can you, Russell? Every time you look it up in the Bible,
there it is. What of our redemption? In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. The way of salvation is the way
of grace. By grace are you saved. When
he talked about being raised up with Christ, over there in
parenthesis there in Ephesians chapter two, it says, by grace
ye are saved. And because you're saved, because
you're seated with him, in the days to come, he's gonna show
The exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus, for by grace are you saved through faith. The way of salvation is the way
of grace. And then here's the second thing
I want you to see. I want to talk to you a little
bit about faith. What in the world is faith? What
is faith? I'll never forget being in Armenian
religion, but being under, I think God was working in me back then,
and I did everything they said to do. I come to the front, they
had a little mourner's bench, and I knelt down and prayed,
and the church gathered around the elders, and they prayed,
and I went back and sat down after a while, and the preacher
said, is everything all right? I said, uh-uh, no sir, everything
ain't all right. Well, he said, just believe,
and it'll be all right. What's that mean? Believe what? And everybody seemed to understand
it, but me, I thought, well, you're just ignorant. Everybody
in here understands exactly what he's saying. You don't understand
anything. What is faith? Faith, according
to Hebrews chapter 11, verse one, is the substance of things
hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. Now that word
substance, according to the dictionary, is the essence of what has been
said or written. The gift of it. The gist of it. It means that which is real. Through faith, he said, we understand
that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Scientists
today, you kids, you've been to school, you know exactly what
I'm saying. Scientists say, well, You know, this came from outer
space, some of them, and it fell into the ocean, and then where
the volcanic ash enters the ocean, it had a reaction, and it formed
a small paramecium, and it crawled out on the ground, and over millions
of years, it evolved and become a man. Real. You know what God said? God said
he made everything that is out of nothing. He didn't use anything that you
see here. Nothing. Not the salt water,
not the volcanic ash, not something from outer space. He spoke and it was done. He
commanded and it stood fast. And he did it. Faith understands
it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence
of things not seen. I wasn't there when the earth
was formed, was you? I don't know how he did it, so I might
have to take him at his word. Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed. I wasn't around in eternity when
this covenant of grace was agreed to. I wasn't in the garden when
Satan tempted Eve and when the woman went to the man and the
man voluntarily ate of the fruit for his wife's sake. I wasn't
around when the prophets wrote of Christ. I wasn't there to
see the Christ child when he was born. I wasn't there to hear him preach,
watch him suffer, or see him rise from the dead. I wasn't
there when he cleansed the lepers. I wasn't around to watch him
when he stepped onto the cloud and ascended into glory or take
his seat at the right hand of God, but I believe it. And I
believe in what was accomplished by him and through him and what's
going on under his present reign and glory. How? By faith. By faith. I've never seen the
glory of heaven. To my knowledge, I may have,
but to my knowledge, I've never seen an angel. I've never seen
that glorious place where God abides, but I believe it. I believe
it's a real place because he said it was. And here's the thing,
you either believe it or you don't. There's no vacuum. There's no gray area in there. You either believe or you don't. And that kind of faith that believes
is the gift of God. The natural man cannot do it. He cannot do it. He tries. Faith believes God. It believes
in God. It believes His declarations.
It believes His Word. It believes His witness of His
Son. And it is the supernatural gift
of God. God enables the unable. He does. He makes possible the
impossible. He gives an understanding. He
reasons with the sinner. He gives to him an understanding. And he does this through the
preaching of the gospel and the power of the Holy Ghost. Faith
cometh by hearing. Are you listening to me? Faith
cometh by hearing. I can't... Preacher, you harp
on that all the time. Well, I've always pictured saints
with harps. That's as good a thing to harp
on as any, isn't it? Faith cometh by hearing. And hearing. by the Word of God. And how? It's not me asking this
question, this is the Holy Ghost. Inspired these men to write this
book and here's what he says. How you gonna hear without a
preacher? And how's he gonna preach if I don't send him? He
can talk. He can entertain. He can be your
friend. But he can't save your soul.
But God can if he works through him. Listen to what Paul said. He said, I have begotten you
through the gospel. What a statement. He couldn't
beget anybody. But he did. He did because God
accompanied that message. Oh, my soul. Faith. God-given faith. is according
to Ephesians 2.7, God showing to us the exceeding riches of
His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. And
that faith, here's the third thing I want you to think about,
that faith is not of yourselves. The Scripture says these things
about fallen man. Now listen to me, here's what
the Scripture says about fallen man. His carnal mind is enmity
against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. And that's true concerning the
commandments of God, that's true concerning the whole law of God,
and that's true concerning every word of God. This book is not
a book of suggestions. If God says it, it's law. It's
law. Everything he says is backed
up by a curse. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Well, now wait a minute. Gospel's
not the law. It is when God says it. You'll
believe it or be damned. That's what he says. But the carnal mind is enmity
against God. It's not subject to the word
of God, to the law of God, to the gospel of God. It's not subject.
Not subject. It won't submit. And it says, neither indeed can be. The carnal mind is enmity. That
word is hostility. It's hostile toward God. And
then secondly, Romans 3.11, there's none that understandeth and none
that seeketh after God. He thinks he has a knowledge
of God, but his knowledge is contrary to the word of God.
He thinks God has rivals. Just look at Hollywood's depiction
of God if you don't believe what I'm saying. They think God has
rivals. I don't know how many movies
they produced about the Antichrist. And he's going against God and
the whole world is standing there until some Catholic priest steps
in and gets rid of the Antichrist. God doesn't have any rivals.
No enemies to threaten his throne. No enemies who threaten to thwart
his purpose and will. Listen to what he says. None
can stay his hand. You remember Abraham was commanded
by God to offer up his son and he took his son up and he put
the wood down and he tied his son up and he laid him down and
he drew that knife back. What does it say? God stayed
his hand. He killed that boy in his mind
and heart, he killed that boy in obedience to God. But God
stayed his hand. But I'm gonna tell you something
about God. None can stay his hand. None. No. He didn't have any enemies. He got men to jump up and down.
If they said, the Lord will laugh, he'll have them in the region. When Christ descended into glory,
religion has him like this. And he's pacing back and forth.
And then he looks down. Oh, I don't. Oh, my death's going
to be for nothing. Give me a break. Here's what the scripture said,
when he ascended into glory, he offered this one sacrifice
forever. He sat down on the right hand
of God, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. This world don't know God, they
talk about their God. And when you tell them about
the living God, they, oh my God, wouldn't do like that. He might
not, but the living God will. He will. He thinks he has a knowledge
of God. Oh, he thinks God loves everybody. Old gray-haired grandpa up there,
he's looking down on me and he just loves everybody. He loves
everybody. Boy, you better read in the word
of God what he says about that. Jacob have I loved. Esau hath
I hated. That's what he said. God loves everybody. No, don't.
If you take time to read Romans chapter eight from one end to
the other, just read that whole chapter, he gets down to the
end and he talks about the love of God. The love of God can't
fail. It cannot fail. If God loves
everybody, he's gonna save everybody. But it's obvious he don't love
everybody because he's not going to save everybody. Else there
wouldn't be a hell. And that's the next thing. This
world thinks they know God and they talk about a God that wants
to save everybody. Is there something God wants
to do that he can't do? Huh? He said, I'm God. I'll do all
my pleasure. all my pleasure they say god won't save everybody
and so he's willing to compromise his word, his justice, his righteousness,
his purpose and his own perfection that's not the guy of the bible
they're gods changeable, did you know that? They talk about
him being all wise and so on, but he changes. He changes at
the drop of a hat. He just changes. You quit going
to the bars and you start going to church, he changes his mind. Huh? Where'd you find that in
the scripture? God doesn't change. He said,
I'm the Lord, I change not. That's how come you're not condemned.
That's how come you're not going to be destroyed, because I change
not. Every good gift, every perfect
gift cometh down from the Father of lights, listen, with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He doesn't even indicate
some kind of turning. And then listen to this. Besides
his ignorance of God and Christ and salvation and sin, he has
an unwillingness to submit to God. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 14. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God convinces
of sin. Natural man won't receive it.
He convinces of righteousness. Natural man won't receive it.
He inspired this book. This book is written by the Holy
Ghost. He's the author of it. He won't
receive it. He brags and says he does until
you push him up against the wall. And then after a while, he gets
mad. We had a fellow that came for a while at the old church,
and he went home, took his family with him. And Russell was talking
to him one day, and he said, well, let's see what the Word
of God. He said, I don't care what the
Word of God says. That's what I'm talking about.
Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Our gospel, Paul said our gospels went out to the end of the world.
How come the end of the world didn't hear it? Because a natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Why? Why
won't he? Their foolishness unto him. Foolishness. You telling me I have to hear
a man preach before I'm saved? No, God said that. I didn't say
it, he did. Take it up with him. You mean I must be born again? Nicodemus, that old intellectual.
God started working him a little bit and the Lord started talking
to him and he said to the Lord, he said, you mean I gotta crawl
back in my mother's womb and be born again? He was looking
down his nose at Christ and trying to show him the foolishness of
his statement. He said, Nicodemus, I spoke to
you in human language. I used illustrations that you
can understand. What would you do if I spoke
to you in heavenly language? What you better do is shut up
and listen. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, so that we're kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Therefore be swift to hear, and slow to wrath, and slow to anger. Do you feel, by the word of God,
that you're empty? Empty. You ever felt like you
were just empty before God? Do you understand, at least in
part, something of your depravity, something of your fall and Adam,
your inabilities? Is what I'm preaching affecting
you, causing you to think about your standing with God? Is what
I'm preaching concerning the Son of God beginning to ring
clear in your mind and in your heart? Do you see Him high and
lifted up? His train fills the temple. You see Him as an able Savior, a loving Shepherd, a reigning
Lord and King. Are you seeing in Christ the
glory of God? If you are, there's God working
in you. That's God working in you. What's
he doing? Both to will and to do of his
good pleasure. Could be he gonna bring you to
saving faith in Christ. Could be. What I preach calls
you to come to Christ, to see him alone as an all-sufficient
Savior. You don't need anything, you
need Christ. You have him, you got everything God has for sinners. That's the work of the Spirit
in you. By grace are you saved through
faith. Now I want you to listen to me
and I'll wind this up. Faith is a work. It is a work. God's not gonna believe for you.
You're gonna believe. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. Faith is a work and this work
is done by you. You're gonna believe. But it's not of you. That make
sense? It does to the believer. I believe. It's my faith. Paul called it his faith. My
faith. Remember that man, he said, Lord,
if you can do anything, have mercy. He said, if I can do anything? He said, here's where the if
belong, if you can believe. All things are possible to him
that believeth. Ephesians 2.10, wherefore ye? All that receive this gift of
faith, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. Not every good work. He's talking
about these good works that other men can't do. He's talking about
the ability to believe, the ability to worship, the ability to love
God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. the ability to pray. They looked
over those solitarsis and said, wow, he prayeth. Huh? Well, didn't he pray as a Pharisee?
Uh-uh, he just muttered words. Now he's praying. Now he's praying. That's the breath of the believer.
We're his workmanship. He works in us, and we believe. We believe.