J.C. Ryle once said regarding
his writing and preaching, Ryle was a faithful, faithful preacher
of the gospel, an Anglican who lived in the 1800s in Liverpool,
England. He said concerning his writing
and his preaching, my desire is to exalt the grace of God. to proclaim salvation alone through
the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, to declare
the sinfulness, helplessness, and hopelessness of man in his
state of nature, and to describe as far as I am able the living
experience of the saints of God in their trials, temptations
and sorrows and in their consolations and blessings. When I read that
earlier this week, I thought, Ryle's desire is my desire. I want to exalt God's free grace
in Jesus Christ in this generation. I want to proclaim salvation
alone. through the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every time I take my pen to write
an article, a hymn, or a book, I want to proclaim God's salvation
in Christ. I want to declare man's sinfulness,
helplessness, and hopelessness. If you're without Christ, without
God, without hope in Christ, You are nothing but a mass of
sin, dead in trespasses and in sins, helpless, hopeless, and
useless, except in your damnation. What a horrible state for man
to be in. And I want to describe, as far
as I am able, by the grace of God, the living experience of
God's saints in this world. in their trials, in their temptations,
in their sorrows, and in their consolations, in their joys,
in their blessings. So turn with me, if you will,
to Romans chapter 10 and verse 10. That will be my text. I wanna
talk to you, as God the Holy Ghost will enable me, about heart
faith. Heart faith. In true saving religion,
in true Christianity, the heart is the primary thing. The Lord
God says, my son, give me thine heart. What a wife wants in her
husband is his heart. What a man wants in his wife
is her heart. What God requires is the heart. The wise man said, keep thy heart
with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. You
remember the Lord told Samuel when he sent him to anoint a
king for Israel, the man looketh on the outward appearance, but
the Lord looketh on the heart. We're easily impressed and we
easily impress one another if we decide to do so. Because men
only look on the outward appearance. That's all you can see. That's
all I can see. So I know what's in your heart.
No, you don't. The only thing you know that's
in my heart is what's in yours and that's sin. No, you don't. All you can see is what I showed
you. All you can see is what's on
the outside. All men can see is the outward appearance. but
the Lord sees the heart. If that doesn't sober you, I
don't know what will. Israel's greatest provocation
of God's wrath is described in these words. They did flatter
him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues
for their heart was not right with him. They flattered him
with their mouth. Just read in Isaiah chapter seven
about Ahaz, the Lord God told him to seek a sign. And you know
how the king responded? That godless, reprobate, wicked,
vile king who compromised the worship of godless Samaritans.
You know how he responded? God said, now seek a sign. He told Isaiah, he said, tell
Ahaz to seek a sign. He said, I won't do that, I won't
tempt the Lord. I won't tempt the Lord. Pretending
to honor God, his heart was despising him. When the Ethiopian eunuch
desired to be baptized as all believers ought, Philip said
unto him, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. The apostle Peter pronounced
upon Simon Magus, everlasting condemnation, declaring thy heart
is not right in the sight of God. God looks on the heart. Christianity is a religion of
the heart. It's more than a profession of
faith. It's more than a creed. It's more than a doctrine. It's
more than a church association. Christianity is a religion of
the heart. It's a living union with the
living God. At least that's what Christianity
is. It's a living union with the living God. No man can produce
it. It's the work of God. Christianity
is a living union with the living God. Our text says, Romans 10,
verse 10, with the heart. Man believeth unto righteousness. To many, those are strange words. It's common for men to attribute
the act of faith to the understanding of the mind. The mind hears,
receives, and agrees to certain facts which appear to be credible
and worthy of acceptance. But our text says that saving
faith is an act of the heart. A work of the affections, not
of the mind. The head is not the principal
thing. You may know the whole truth as it is in Christ Jesus
and not know him who is true. You may be clear, correct, and
sound in your religious opinions and not know the Lord God. You
may be thoroughly orthodox in your doctrine and not believe
on the Son of God. walking in the broad way that
leads to destruction. Your heart is the principal thing. We live in a generation of folks,
many of whom have, they deem themselves intellectuals and
they deem themselves smart, real smart. And they're really Gnostics. They think that salvation is
just knowing facts and doctrines. just knowing truth. Salvation
is not knowing this truth or that truth, it is knowing Him
who is the truth. You can know all the truths concerning
Christ and never know Christ the truth. Salvation's a hard
work. I fear most professed Christians
make their outward life and conduct the principal thing. You may
be very moral and decent and respectable in the eyes of men,
your family, your pastor, your husband, your wife, your sons,
your daughter, your mother, your father, your friends, your neighbors,
may all see nothing at all wrong in your outward conduct and admire
you greatly and speak highly of you. But all the time, you're
hanging over the brink of hell because your heart is not right
with God. Romans chapter 10, look at verses
nine and 10 together. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the
heart, with the heart, with the heart, men believeth unto righteousness,
with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. We must not
be presumptuous here. One of Satan's most subtle devices
whereby he deceives the souls of men is this. He substitutes
an emotional decision or a doctrinal creed or a theological system
or a disciplined ascetic religious life for heart faith. There are
some things that all of us here believe to be true. I have no
question about that. No question about these things
clearly revealed in scripture. Our doctrine is very clear, thoroughly
orthodox in this place. We believe there is one true
and living God. We believe that God in heaven
is sovereign, holy, just, and good. We believe that this book,
is the very Word of God, the inspired written Word of God. We believe that Jesus Christ
is God in our nature, that he came here in human flesh. God the Son took on himself our
nature. He became one of us. He lived
in obedience to God as a perfect representative man. He died under
the wrath of God being made sin for sinners. And he did this
to save his people from their sins. He came here and was made
sin that he might save sinners and make them righteous by his
grace. We believe in eternity, heaven and hell, everlasting
heaven, everlasting hell, everlasting life, everlasting death. And
we believe in the resurrection and judgment. Soon, you and I
will meet God face to face in judgment. Soon. And we believe
in the wonderful, sweet, glorious, God-honoring doctrines of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ. In this place, We are not bashful,
your pastor is not bashful about proclaiming and you're not bashful
about letting folks know you believe the message of God's
free grace. Election, predestination, limited
atonement, irresistible grace are just like salt and pepper
on the table in this house. We never, never, never are embarrassed
to proclaim those things. But it's possible to believe
all those things and yet perish in your sin. There are multitudes in hell
today who, while they walked on this earth, were good, badness,
and thoroughly convinced Calvinists. Say, preacher, prove that to
me. I'll give you one fellow's name. His name was Judas, the
betrayer. He was, Lindsay, while he walked
on this earth, probably the most respected of all the apostles
by his peers. They trusted him with the bad.
When Judas saw that woman taken out of Bastobox and break it
and anoint the Savior for his burial and washed his feet with
her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head, Judas
said, why this waste? We could have taken that year's
salary and given it to feed the poor. And all the apostles followed
suit, all of them. Judas, I had no doubt at all,
believed all things truth. And yet this man didn't know
the truth. He didn't know God. There was
a fellow by the name of Simon Magus who came and professed
the truth. And yet he thought it could be
bought. As Peter made it plain, he didn't know God. Ananias and
Sapphira were well-respected. They came and brought half of
their goods and laid it at the apostles' feet, but their heart
was far from God. There was a man who walked with
the apostle Paul from place to place, from town to town, from
city to city, as he preached the gospel of God's grace, ministered
to him for years. His name was Demas, who at last
forsook him. There's a fellow who was in the
church that John wrote to in 2 John and 3 John who was a pillar
in the church outwardly, a leader in the church who loved to have
the preeminence, whose name was Deoctrathes. Hell is overflowing
with folks who know facts but not God, who knew truth but not
the truth. We must have heart faith. that
faith of which the apostle speaks here, or forever perish. Let's bring our faith to the
word of God and examine it. Examine yourselves, Paul said.
Dare you do so. Examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you
not your own selves how that Christ is in you, except you
be reprobate. I bring my faith again this day
to this book before God and I ask God to shine the light of his
word and his spirit upon my heart and reveal to me truth, Christ
the truth. If your faith is good, if it's
true, if it's sound, if it's heart faith, examination will
only do it good. If it is false, it's high time
you knew it and fled to Christ for refuge. I have faith, but do I have this
thing that Paul speaks of as heart faith, heart faith? where there is religion, there
is faith of some kind. And we see in the scriptures
example after example of false faith. Faith by which multitudes
are deceived. Turn back to the Gospel of John,
the second chapter. John chapter 2 and verse 23. When Jesus was in Jerusalem at
the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name. Many
believed in his name. He had turned water into wine,
I mean gallons of it. He had turned water into wine
at the marriage feast in Cana, where he began to show forth
his glory. And folks said, this is the man. This is he. This
must be the Christ. This must be that prophet. This
must be the Messiah. Many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which
Jesus did. But Jesus did not commit himself. Jesus did not believe himself
unto them. It's the same word. They believed on him, but he
didn't believe in them. How come? Because he knew all. Satan is a master deceiver. And
the faith by which he deceives the souls of men appears in many
ways to be genuine faith. It's very impressive. False faith
is very productive. It does a lot. It does a lot. Let me give you some examples.
False faith is often greatly enlightened and knowledgeable
of gospel truth. False faith can defend the five
points of Calvinism and not have any hard interest in them at
all. We read in Hebrews 6, four of some apostates, folks who
didn't know God, who were once enlightened. False faith excites
the affections. Our Lord told us of those who
receive the word of God with joy. Receive it with joy. Sometime ago, I read something
by Brother Clay Curtis. He said, those who jump in the
pool and make the biggest splash get out the quickest. And I have
often seen it to be so in the experience of pastoring. Folks
come in congregation, make a big splash, and then somebody looks
the wrong way at them and they're gone. Somebody doesn't have to do anything.
They're gone, out quickly. Because they received the word
of God like seed sown on stony ground. Little bit of dirt there,
it springs up, it's gone just that quick. They received the
word with joy, with excitement, but it's gone in a hurry. False
faith reforms the outward life. There were a whole generation
of folks called Pharisees who said, God, I thank you. I'm not
like other men are. Oh, I'm not like those fellas
down yonder, those folks over yonder, those women back there,
those women back there. Oh no, I'm not an extortioner, unjust,
an adulterer. I'm not even like this publican.
I fast twice in the week and give tithes of all I possess.
Very, very good man outwardly. Very good man outwardly. I can't
tell you how many times folks have come to me in anger because
they recognize that the gospel of God's grace declares plainly
who God is and what Christ has done, what man is and how men
are saved and must be saved. And they recognize, well, my
daddy didn't believe that, my mama didn't believe that, my
neighbor didn't believe that, my son doesn't believe that, my daughter
doesn't believe that, my wife, my husband, and they get mad.
Oh, you said my daddy's lost. No, I didn't, you did. I didn't
say you did. You just heard the truth said,
well, if that's the case, Daddy must be lost. But he was such
a good man. He's such a good man. That gal
they called Mother Teresa, I understand, was a very good woman. She made
lots of sacrifices and didn't know God from a billy goat. Outward
reformation is not faith. False faith may even speak well
of Christ and often does. The Jews said, never a man spake
like this man. Nicodemus, before he knew the
Lord, came to him one night and said, good master, we know thou
art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles
that thou doest except God be with him. We know you're a man
of God. We know you're a man sent from
God. You couldn't do these things
if God wasn't with you. False faith even confesses sin. Have you observed how many times,
as Linda's been teaching us through the book of Exodus, Pharaoh called
Moses in and said, I've sinned. This time I have sinned. This
time I and my people have sinned. False faith often confesses sin.
Sins. Sins. You see, false faith always
deals with the outward. Always deals with the outward.
Confessing sins. People have the idea that getting
saved, as they call it, what a horrible thing. Somebody say,
well, I went to church last night and got saved. No, you didn't.
You just got a dose of religion. That's all. That's all. It's
kind of like, they think it's like going to a papist confessional
booth and telling the priest, forgive me, Father, for I've
sinned. What have you done? Well, I cheated on a test. I cheated on my wife.
I robbed a bank, I shot somebody, and that's it. Well, you do this
and everything's all right. False faith deals with outward
things, and confesses sin. Saul said, I have sinned. Behold, I have played the fool.
I have greatly erred. But he didn't know God. He didn't
know God. He was just dealing with things on the outside. Nothing
else. Nothing else. False faith often
does that. False faith may humble itself
in sackcloth and ashes. Ahab did. False faith will even
repent, as men call repentance. I've heard a lot of folks, a
lot of preachers over the years, nobody talks much about repentance
anymore. What they're talking about is men doing penance. Well, false faith will repent,
like Esau did. Esau repented, read the scriptures,
he repented. He didn't turn to God, but he
repented. He greatly mourned the fact that he sold his birthright
for a bowl of beans. and it grieved him greatly. We
read in the scriptures that Judas repented. Now Judas, oh, he betrayed
innocent blood. He didn't turn to God, but he
repented of what he'd done and where it hung himself. False
faith often performs religious works. Like the nation of Israel,
for 2000 years, they retained the ceremonies and ordinances
and word of God They retained the genealogical records that
prove, that prove the Messiahship of our Lord Jesus Christ. They
maintained them for 2,000 years, but didn't know God. False faith
sometimes is very generous and charitable. Usually likes to
brag about it. Usually likes to brag about it.
Ananias and Sapphira, I told you earlier, others sold what
they had, brought it and laid it at the apostles' feet. Ananias
and Sapphira pretended to do so. They bought a huge gift,
but they pretended to bring more. False faith even trembles at
God's Word. Felix did. Here's the Word of
God and just scared to death of going to hell right now. False
faith may experience much in religion. Those apostates described
in Hebrews chapter 6 are described like this, they tasted the good
word of God and powers of the world to come. Mark, I don't
have any idea what all that includes, but that's talking about some
experience. False faith experiences much. False faith often enjoys
great religious privileges and depends on them. There was a
woman described in the book of Genesis, very slightly. She was in Ur the Chaldees when
God called Abraham. And she left Ur with Abraham. She was married to a fellow by
the name of Lot. And Lot was a righteous man.
Lot and his wife walked in Abraham's company for years. Worshipped
God at the same altar with Abraham. Lot and his wife heard Abraham
give direct record of the revelations God gave him. Abraham was their
instructor. Lot believed God. This woman
was in Sodom with her husband Lot. And the angels came and
hastened them to get out. They wouldn't leave. So the angel
took Lot and his wife by the hand. And another took his two
daughters by their hands. Now, try to imagine this. Bobby,
this is a woman who was brought out of Lot physically by the
hand of an angel. Tell me somebody else you know
who did that. You tell me somebody who's had an experience comparable
to that. You couldn't tell her an angel
didn't bring her out. You couldn't tell her the Lord
didn't deliver her from Sodom, and she died. Oh, she looked
back, because her heart wasn't in the matter. Her heart wasn't
in the matter. False faith experiences much
in religion, enjoys great religious privileges. False faith may even
preach perform miracles, cast out demons, and be greatly used
of God. Man doesn't have to be saved
to know God. Doesn't have to be saved, I'm sorry, to be used
of God. He doesn't have to know God to be used of God. Oh, no,
no, no, no, no, no. I had no question Judas performed
miracles. He went out with the disciples
as our Lord sent them out. I had no doubt at all that Judas
had all the gifts and talents that the other apostles did to
you. I had no question about those things. There were some
magicians in Pharaoh's court. Do you know those fellas? When
Aaron cast down his rods, he became a serpent. They said,
we can do that, and they did. And they did. False faith may even attain high office in
God's church. may stand among people as I stand
among you. Admired and loved as a pastor
faithfully serving them. Theatrophies, dear. False faith may be carnally secure
and peaceful. The scripture tells us, our Lord
did in one of his parables, About 10 virgins, five wise and five
foolish. And the foolish virgins were
just as comfortable and secure as the wise virgins were. They all slept peacefully. Everything's
all right. Me and Jesus got a good thing
going. I know I'm saved. I was there when it happened.
I can take you to the place and show you the time where God saved
me by his grace. I know all about that. And false
faith may even persevere to the day of judgment. In that day,
many will say to me, our Savior declares, Lord, Lord, have we
not prophesied in thy name? Have we not done many wonderful
works in thy name? Have we not cast out demons in
thy name? And I will say to them, depart
from me, you cursed, I never knew you. Will you be numbered
among them? Will I? Thomas Matten made this
statement. I think it's worth hearing. Though
thou pray with the Pharisee, pay thy vows with the harlot,
kiss Christ with Judas, offer sacrifice with Cain, fast with
Jezebel, Sell thine inheritance to give to the poor with Ananias
and Sapphira. All is vain without the heart. All is vain without the heart. Now let me ask you three questions,
and I'll wrap this up. Number one, what is this heart
faith? What is it? I won't attempt to
define faith, I know I can't. I won't attempt to explain it,
I know I can't. But I do know that true saving faith involves
at least these three things. They're worth remembering. True
saving faith cannot be divorced from knowledge. You've got to
have knowledge of God the Son You've got to have knowledge
of the gospel of God's grace. You've got to have knowledge
of God and his work, his character and his work, his character and
his accomplishments, or you can't believe it. The scriptures are
very plain and very clear. You've got to know Christ before
you can trust him. Brother Mahan used to say, we
traveled together, I guess I traveled somewhere with him at least once
a month for 20 years, preaching. And I believe everywhere we ever
went together preaching, I'd hear him say this sometime or
another during the meeting. You can't trust an unknown Christ
any more than you can come back from someplace you've never been.
You just can't come back from someplace you've never been.
And you can't trust Christ if you don't know him. The scriptures
are specific. How shall they believe on him
of whom they have not heard? You can't trust Christ if you
don't know him. You can look in the skies and
understand that God is, you can't avoid it. You have in your heart
and your conscience God's witness of himself within you, you can't
avoid knowing that God is, but you can't know him by nature.
You can't know him by nature. Somebody's got to tell you about
him. Somebody's got to proclaim the Gospel to you. This is what
the preaching of the Gospel is. It is dispersing abroad the knowledge
of God in Jesus Christ. Preaching the gospel, our responsibility,
our privilege, our work is to disperse to this generation the
knowledge of God in Jesus Christ the Lord. Before anyone believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ, he must know his need of Christ.
He must know his sin, his guilt, his depravity. He must know his
danger. You got to know your utter impotence
and inability in yourself. And before you can trust Christ,
you've got to know Christ's ability and willingness to save sinners.
You got to know him. who came here to redeem and save
sinners by his obedience unto death as the sinner's substitute,
him who brought in everlasting righteousness, him who put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself, him who sits in heaven with all
power in his hand. Able by his rule of the very
thoughts and intents of the heart by his rule of angels and devils
He's able by the merit of his blood and the power of his grace
to save to the uttermost all who come to God by him Before
anyone will ever trust Christ He's got to know Christ's ability
and his willingness to save the greatness of his person This
one we proclaim to you is himself God incarnate. God incarnate. In this generation
that means so little because folks have no idea who God is. But God incarnate is God almighty,
omnipotent, eternal. God irresistible. God, holy,
righteous, just, and true. God, incomprehensible. God, who is spirit in the flesh,
who accomplished righteousness. That's righteousness that's worth
something. It's worth God's approval. Righteousness that merits something,
it merits God's acceptance. He is God who by one sacrifice
is able to redeem the church with his own blood because this
man is God. This man is, that makes his blood
of infinite worth, of infinite value, of infinite efficacy. That means that every sinner
for whom he died is and must be saved, redeemed by his precious
blood. to know Christ, you got to know
Him as God, our Savior. God in the flesh, in whom resides
omnipotent grace. Omnipotent grace, isn't that
a wonderful term? Omnipotent grace. That's grace able to save
something like Larry Brown or Don Fortin. That's grace able
to save a wretch like you or me. That's grace able to save
to the uttermost all who come to God by him. And so a preacher,
surely everybody knows that, recognizes those things are involved.
You gotta know those things. Not many folks recognize that.
But knowing them isn't necessarily faith. Isn't necessarily faith. I told the folks in Ashland a
few weeks ago, I remember an incident that happened with Brother
Todd and I, but Sister Susan, she was attending Ashland Community
College. And some of you will remember her when she was in
college in Lexington, attending church here before they started
the work over in Lexington. But she was getting, Pretty good
bit of fuss. Folks arguing with her because
they found out she went to church there where Brother Mayhem was
a pastor, and they're known as being Calvinist, and folks were
just fussing, arguing, fussing, making fun of her. And the professor
got wind of it. I don't know who he was, but
one day in class he brought a Bible with him. And he said, it was
in a philosophy class of some kind, he said, now y'all been
talking a good bit about this book we have in this class. He
said, I've read this book several times. And he said, I know you
debate whether or not it teaches Calvinism. He said, this book
teaches Calvinism. There's just no question about
that. Besides that, I'd a whole lot rather be a Calvinist and
know I was going to hell than be an Armenian and not know where
in the hell I was going. He knew the facts, but knowing
facts is not knowing God. Saving faith involves more than
knowledge. It involves the ascent of the heart. It's the heart saying amen, that's
right. Amen, that's right. It's agreement with God. You've
often heard me and others say saving faith is taking sides
with God. That's what it is. It's giving
agreement to God. It's confessing that God is true,
I'm the liar. God is true, the preacher's the
liar. God is true, the church is the
liar. God is true, I take sides with
God. What he says is so. It's not
just mentally agreeing, it's the assent of the heart. And
that assent of the heart involves this third thing, trust. That's what trust is. Trust, Eric, is the commitment
of your life to the Son of God. That's what it is. Commitment
to Him. I tried to figure a way to illustrate what
I'm saying about this thing of trust. And I don't really know
a good way to illustrate it. I just have to use some poor
ways. When I was about to move to Danville,
I had gone through cancer treatments, radiation, chemotherapy, surgery,
the whole nine yards. I had just finished those things.
And I had a good family doctor at home, and I asked him, I said,
do you know a good doctor that you can recommend in Danville,
Kentucky? Church there's called me to be a pastor, and I need
to find a doctor. He said, let me go find my books.
And he went back and found one of his yearbooks. He went to
school here at UK, and he opened a picture, and he said, Finley
Hendrickson's in Danville. He was the best in our class.
And Dr. Hendrickson was my doctor for
37 years. And you know what I'd do whenever
I had trouble? Whatever he said do. I never looked up anything. I advise you not to, because
you don't know what you're looking up. I never looked up a thing.
Never looked up any sickness, disease, illness, anything. Just
didn't, how come? Because I got a good doctor.
Got a good doctor. And other folks would come and
give me some counsel, say, y'all do this, y'all take that, y'all
go there. I just said, well, thank you. And I'd go talk to
a doctor. Got a good doctor. And when he said, you need to
go over to Lexington, I said, you got a problem. You got a
problem. And he said, we're going to get
to the bottom of it. Other doctors said, no, that's not a problem.
They didn't disagree with him. But I got a good doctor. You
know what I did? I said, make the arrangements. Make the arrangements.
Went to Lexington. How come? Because I trusted him. Upon the credible word of another,
I had proved. And then he tells me, these surgeons
are going to have to cut me open. They're going to have to go work
on you. How do you handle that? Well,
you just say, give me something to make it easy. And you just
stretch out and lay down there and they cut you open. They cut
you open. How can you dare trust a man
to split your body in two? Take the parts out and examine
them, put stuff back in that wasn't in there before. How can
you do that? It's called commitment. Trust. I'm putting everything
in your hands. Putting everything in your hands.
I said to Dr. Sakella, Sheldon and I were busy
with him when he first came in consulting with me. I said, Dr.
Sakella, let me tell you something. I said, you do whatever you need
to do. I know your record, I know your
background as best I can, and I know how your peers speak of
you. And you do whatever you need to do, and you don't need
to be concerned at all. that my wife, my family, or I
gonna sue you if something happens. It won't happen. It won't happen.
I'm in your hands. I'm in your hands. That's what
I'm talking about. You reckon, you reckon that little
old chair right there, you reckon that would hold 275 pounds? You
reckon it would? I ain't so sure. Yeah, I believe it will. No,
that's not it. That's not it. I believe it will. No, that's
not it. It'll hold it. It'll hold it. Let me tell you something. Cast your soul on the Son of
God. He's able to save to the uttermost
all who come to God by Him. God help you to believe Him.
Amen.