If truly you care for your soul,
you will be wise to heed what we just sang and plead with the
Son of God, Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry, while on others
thou art calling, do not pass me by. Do not pass me by. You will be wise to make it your
business to seek the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe on the Son
of God. Do not vainly imagine that you
have found peace and refuge by saying, well, if I'm one of God's
elect, he'll save me. I have to wait on him to give
me faith. I will deal with this again in just a moment, truly.
Truly, truly, you will never have faith except God give it
you. And just as truly, you will never believe on the Son of God
except you seek him yourself. Faith in Christ is essential
to salvation. As essential to the saving of
your soul is election, redemption, Regeneration and effectual calling. Faith in Christ is essential
to the saving of your soul. You must believe on the Son of
God. I call you now to believe on
the Son of God, to trust Jesus Christ the Lord. We read in the
scripture of a woman with an issue of blood for 12 years who
had wasted all she had on physicians of no value. She had spent all
she had and was profited nothing. Until at last she heard of the
Lord Jesus and heard he was coming to town. And she said in her
soul, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, he'll make me whole. And convinced
that he could, if he would, She made her way through the crowd
and touched him and immediately was made whole. A leper came
to the Savior and he said to him, if thou wilt, thou canst
make me whole. And the Savior said, I will be
thou clean. And immediately he was cleansed
of his leprosy. There's a woman in scripture
of ill repute. of whom the Savior said, after
she had anointed his feet in anticipation of his death, his
burial and his resurrection, after she had anointed him and
kissed his feet and washed them with the hairs of her head, the
Savior said to that woman, thy faith hath saved thee. Thy faith hath saved thee. And if the Son of God doesn't
say to you, thy faith hath saved thee, Nothing else has. Thy faith hath saved thee. If
you're not saved by faith, you're not saved. Faith in Christ is
essential to salvation. The blind man, our Lord healed
by the power of his grace. And he said, thy faith hath saved
thee. Salvation through faith. That's
my subject this evening. Saved through faith. Let's open
our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2 and let's begin reading at
verse 1. Ephesians 2 verse 1. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein time past he walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace,
you're saved. and hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For
by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. And the title of my message you
find in verse eight, saved through faith. By grace are you saved
through faith. Saved through faith. Yes, the
scripture declares by grace you are saved. The grace of God is
the fountain, the source, the cause of salvation. It is because
God is gracious, the sinful men are chosen, redeemed, forgiven,
converted, justified, sanctified, and saved. It's not because of
anything in them or anything that ever can be in them that
they're saved, but because of God's boundless love, mercy,
goodness, and grace. Look for a moment at this great
source and cause of salvation. Grace. This is the rich fountain. Look at the pure river of the
water of life that flows from the throne of God and to the
land. who can comprehend it, like all
the rest of the divine attributes. God's grace is infinite. Infinite. God is full of love
because God is love. God is full of goodness because
God is good. God is full of grace for God
is gracious. Unbounded love. Unbounded goodness,
unbounded grace is the very essence of the triune God. It's because
His mercy endeareth forever that men are not consumed. It's because
His compassions fail not that sinners are drawn to Him and
forgiven. It's because He delighteth in
mercy that sinners obtain mercy. Get a firm hold on that statement.
By grace are you saved. Get a firm hold, I say, otherwise
you might fall into the horrible error of supposing, as most people
do, that your faith is the source and cause of salvation. Nothing
could be further from the truth. Faith is the work of God's grace
in us. No man can say that Jesus is
the Christ, but by the Holy Spirit. No man cometh to me, our Savior
says, except the Father which has sent me draw him. That faith
by which we come to God, that faith by which we believe on
the Lord Jesus, is the result of the creative, effectual, drawing,
omnipotent power of God Almighty in the exercise of His grace.
Grace is the first and last cause of our salvation and faith. Important
as it is is only a part of the machinery which grace employs. We're saved Through faith, but
it is by grace that sound those words forth with a clarion voice
by grace Are you saved? Faith is the channel the conduit
pipe of grace. I frequently stood at a dam and
watched as many of you have the huge pipes at the base of that
dam with water gushing through them. You can hardly speak to
someone standing beside you because of the noise. There's just the
huge pipes with water gushing through them with tremendous
force. You dare not step close lest you be consumed by it, lest
you just be swept away by it because there's such power, such
power coming forth out of those pipes with the water gushing
forth. It's almost frightening. And
I stood by those same dams and by those same pipes when there
was no water in them. Nothing coming out of them. There
was quietness, no great force, no power. And you realize if
you're just a child that the power is not in the pipes. The power is in that great reservoir
back on the other side of the dam. The power is in the reservoir
of God's grace, not the conduit pipe of faith by which that grace
comes into our souls. Grace is the great lake, the
great reservoir of salvation. Faith is only the pipe by which
we receive it. Grace is the fountain of life.
Faith is the channel by which we obtain mercy flowing to our
souls as the thirsty sons of men. How can I say this? We just sang one of Horatius
Bonar's great hymns. Bonar wrote a lengthy chapter
in one of his books on Christ our righteousness. And in the
course of that, he said something like this. Faith is not your
savior, Christ is. Faith is not your righteousness,
Christ is. Faith didn't put away sin, Christ
did. Faith didn't redeem, Christ did. Faith simply receives what Christ
has done, but faith must receive it. Faith is not the fountain
and source of salvation, I repeat, but only the channel through
which it flows to our souls. It is the gift of God's grace.
And we must never exalt faith so highly that we make faith
our savior, as most people do. The words of the apostle. Show
us the source of salvation. By grace are you saved. And they show us that salvation
comes to us through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, our great
Savior. Here is the word of God given
to us as plainly and as clearly as it could be given. Salvation
is by grace through faith. The doctrine of our text is clear.
Salvation bestowed on men by the grace of God. And salvation
is received by the hand of faith. Now, thus far as we've gone through
this epistle of Ephesians, I've tried as best I can to proclaim
to you this blessed, blessed gospel truth of God's free grace
giving us salvation. And I've just skimmed the edges,
I realize, of that great, great, deep, deep reservoir of God's
grace. But now let's look at this matter
of faith and its necessity. And as I try to preach on something
so simple as faith, I am always fearful of confusing things,
trying to make them clear. I think perhaps the best way
for me to handle the subject is to raise and answer questions
for you. So I want to raise four questions
and give you the answers to those questions directly from the word
of God. Here's the four questions. What
is faith? What is faith? Everybody talks
about faith, but few people know what faith is. Where does faith
come from? Third, how can I get faith? And
fourth, what's the result of faith? All right, here's the
first question. What is faith? This book never really gives
a clear definition of faith. It only shows us what faith is. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. That's not really a
definition. That's a picture of what faith
is. That defines something that faith does and gives us. Faith
is rather set before us in the Word of God in pictures. It's
set before us in the Word of God, in the words of our Savior,
and in the doctrine of the gospel. We hear much talk about faith.
People are urged to believe. People speak about others and
say, that's a man of faith. Men and women and children are
urged to make professions of faith. People place bumper stickers
on their cars, keep the faith. But what does all that mean?
Perhaps it would be helpful for me to make clear what faith is
not. Satan has substituted many things
for faith. Some people have the vain idea
that believing that God is his faith. The fact is no man has
faith by nature, but every man by nature believes that God is.
Every man believes that God is. Believing that God is and believing
God are two different things Believing that Jesus Christ came
into this world and suffered and died and believing the Son
of God are two different things Some people have what we might
call human faith. That is they they believe that
which is based upon the mere authority and testimony of men
they believe something because Someone has told them it's so
They believe something because there's someone they respect
greatly and they so highly esteem, they believe what they hear from
them. That's not faith. Many children are raised in homes
where the mom and dad believe the gospel of God's grace, and
they're raised with the presumption of faith. They presume they believe
because they agree with what their parents have taught them.
I recall some years ago, Young man come to my office, was attending
college. His dad was present. His dad and grandfather both
dear friends of mine. And he'd gotten in some conflict
at school, arguing about things with regard to the gospel of
God's grace and revelation of God. And his dad was asking me
about it. And he was asking me about it.
And I said to him, don't go to school. Don't sit in the class. and try to defend something you
don't believe. Don't do that. That's just arguing
for argument's sake. If God's given you faith in Christ,
you can defend it. Don't try to defend what you
don't have. And don't presume you have it when you don't. There
are men who make a profession of faith, a profession of religion,
intellectually, because they have What dr gill calls a historic
faith they they give mental ascent to the historic truths Revealed
in the scripture concerning christ and because they agree what the
scripture says and say that's so they think that's faith There
are others who have a faith that's produced because they've seen
something And many who saw our lord's miracles they saw the
loaves and fishes and they believed on him But the lord jesus didn't
believe this They saw the Lord turn the water into wine and
believed him, but he didn't believe them. They simply had a faith
based upon seeing miracles perform. Faith based upon something they
had observed. Others have a temporary faith. They're folks who received the
seed sown among thorns. Seed that's gradually choked
out by the cares of the world and their seatfulness of riches.
And they endure for a while, but after a while, the cares
of the world, the advantages of the world, the things they
want in this world push out the Word of God, and their faith
is just temporary. What we call saving faith is
something more than all this. Saving faith is faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, believing on the Son of God. It is wrought
in the heart by God, the Holy Ghost, who persuades us that
Christ is the Messiah, causes us to have expectation of all
the promises of grace in the gospel, trusting him. Saving
faith depends upon the person and the work, the blood and the
righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Lord. everything from God. It is the response of the heart
to the call of God in scripture. I read again this week a couple
of times the first proverb. God speaks and says, I stretched
out my hands. What a word. I stretched out
my hands and you've refused. I've called and you refuse to
hear. And the day's going to come when
you're going to stretch out your hands and I'll refuse you. You'll call on me and I'll laugh
when your calamity comes. Our Lord Jesus calls sinners
to himself. He says, he says, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
He says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Saving
faith has certain things about it that I think are clearly set
before us in scripture. First, you must know who Christ
is and what he did. Who Christ is and what he did. There is no faith in Christ apart
from knowing Christ. You cannot know an unknown savior. You cannot know an unknown God. And you cannot trust an unknown
Savior. You cannot trust an unknown God. I recall hearing Jerry Falwell
many, many years ago. Many years ago. He said, he said,
when I was saved, I didn't know anything about God or about Christ
or about redemption. All I knew is somebody told me
that there was somebody in heaven who loved me named Jesus and
he wanted to save me and I believed him. That's a delusion. That's not faith. That's a delusion. That's not faith. Faith involves
knowledge, but more than that, A man must be convinced of his
own sinfulness so that he'll know his need of Christ. He must
be made to know his own sinful, corrupt nature. Our Lord Jesus
met that woman at the well, and the very first thing he did as
he stirs up an interest in her is he kind of stuck his finger
in her conscience and showed her her sin. And she got a little
irritated and started talking about religion. And the Lord
just kept pressing the issue because you will never trust
Christ until you know your need of Christ. It will not happen.
It will not happen. You must be convinced of your
impotence, your inability to do anything pleasing to God,
or you will never find yourself in need of the son of God. You
must be taught and persuaded of your sin and impotence and
persuaded by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God of the
fullness and sufficiency of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the
sinner's Savior. Hold your hands in Ephesians
and turn back to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Look at verse 13. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now that's the declaration of
God's Word. The word call is not the word
that's used if you see an accident out here. I've had folks bring
this very issue up. They say if you ran upon a fellow
that had been in a car wreck and he's about to die and he's
never heard of the Lord Jesus, Could you tell him how to be
saved in a minute? What a stupid question. What
a stupid question. Folks say, well, if you'll just
call on Jesus, you'll be saved. Call on the Lord and he'll save
you. The word call means to worship. To worship. Worship the name
of the Lord. Worship God as He's revealed
in all His glorious attributes in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever shall worship the name
of the Lord shall be saved. But how is anyone going to worship
God? How then shall they call on Him
in whom they've not believed? You can't worship Him if you
don't trust Him. How shall they believe in Him
of whom they've not heard? You can't believe him if you've
never heard the gospel of his grace. You can't believe him
if you've never heard the gospel of his grace. Well, what did
the dying thief hear? Go back and read the gospels.
He saved others, himself he cannot save. This is Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews. He's the Son of God. What did
they hear? What did he hear? He heard everything
with regard to the person and work of our Redeemer. How shall
they believe in him of whom they've not heard? Faith in Christ is
impossible apart from the preaching of the gospel. Well, I just found
myself believing God, and I'd never heard anybody preach the
gospel. Then you didn't find yourself believing God? No. Faith
comes by hearing. We'll see that in a minute. And
how shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they hear unless somebody
comes and tells them? Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah
53 and he'd been up to Jerusalem. And by this time, the religion
of the Jews was anything but the religion of God. It was just
religious activity. And he came away as empty as
he went up there, and he's reading Isaiah 53, and God sent a preacher
to him by the name of Philip, an evangelist, a deacon. And
he heard him reading Isaiah 53. He said, mister, let me ask you
a question. I hear you're reading the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter
53. Do you understand what you're reading? And that eunuch said,
how can I except some man show me, except somebody tell me what
this is talking about. And Philip said, scoot over,
I'll tell you. and he jumped up in the wagon and began to
expound to him the things of God. How shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? How shall they preach except
they be sent? It's my responsibility three
times every week to stand here and preach to you. And I can't do it. I just can't
do it. I can talk to you and I can instruct
you about religious things, about the things of God and the scriptures.
I can't preach to you. I can't speak to your heart except
God send me to you. You will not hear what I say
this hour except God send me to you. How shall they preach?
except they be sent. As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they've not all obeyed the
gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
We preach and preach and preach, and folks come in and leave and
ignore us. Who hath believed our report? Verse 17, so then faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Knowledge is essential
to faith. But there must be something more
than just knowing facts. God must persuade you that these
things are so. God must persuade you that these
things are so. We preach the gospel and we reason
with men from the scriptures. but only God can persuade you
that Jesus is the Christ that he who came into this world in
human flesh 2000 years ago Jesus of Nazareth that man around whose
life all history all history is written that that one man
just 33 years all of history hinges on that man and me and
hear much, and study much, and talk much, and try to find out
much about him. But only God the Holy Ghost can
persuade you that this man is the Christ, that he actually
put away sin. that he actually made an end
to transgression, that he actually brought in everlasting righteousness,
that he actually brings salvation to his holy ones, the most holy,
his church, his temple, his kingdom, his chosen. And with that knowledge
and that persuasion comes trust. Trust. Trust. You've got to trust the
Savior. You've got to trust the Son of
God. Trust Him. Trust Him. Cast your soul on
Him. Believe on the Son of God and
thou shalt be saved. Saving faith is believing that
Jesus is the Christ. That He is what He is said to
be in this book. That he's done all that this
book declares Christ must do and that he will do all that
he has promised he will do. Believing Christ is expecting
him to fulfill his word. Believing Christ is expecting
him to be gracious. We believe that Christ is God
in human flesh. that he died, that he rose again
to save sinners. We believe that Christ will save
all who will come to him, all who believe in him, all who repent
of their sins. We expect, we expect, we expect
everlasting salvation by him. I expect, I expect heavenly glory. I expect resurrection. I expect
eternal bliss because God's promised it to all who believe his son.
Saving faith is described like this in the book of God. I said
it's not defined as described. Saving faith is looking to Christ.
Looking to Christ like a child looks to its father. Saving faith
is looking to Christ like the children of Israel look to the
brazen serpent. Saving faith is coming to Christ.
Coming to him like the prodigal came home. Saving faith is fleeing
to Christ, laying hold of Christ, clinging to Christ. It's described
as leaning on Christ. It's receiving Christ, receiving
Christ, reaching out and taking him. In a little bit, we're going
to observe the Lord's Supper. If you're not a believer, hang
around for the service and watch. You'll see an emblem not only
of redemption accomplished by the sacrifice of Christ, the
crushing of his body represented in bread, and the pouring out
of his blood represented in the wine, but you'll see how it is
sinners are saved. We eat his flesh and drink his
blood. You'll take the bread and you'll
eat it. I don't pass it out. You don't
walk up here and get it from me as this five-hour priest. You
reach into that tray and take the bread. You take the bread
for yourself. Nobody's handing it to you. You
take the bread. You put it in your mouth and
you eat it. And you know what? The bread's yours. Nobody can
ever get it. It's yours. And you will take
the wine and drink it. And when you've drunk the wine,
it's yours. yours forever everything of any
value in that bread and wine is yours permanently nobody can
get it so it is that we receive Christ we with the hand of faith
take him and Christ is mine all of Christ is mine all that he
is is mine forever we receive him by faith We receive him as
our prophet to teach us the will of God. We receive him as our
priest to make sacrifice to God for us and intercede for us.
We receive him as our king to rule over us, to guide us, to
protect us, to care for us. Saving faith is feeding on Christ,
the bread of life. It is drinking Christ, the water
of life. It's not an experience of yesterday,
but the present reality of every believer's life all the time. The just live by faith. The just live by faith. We are all, by religious tradition,
and it is purely religious tradition, far too much inclined to look
back, to look back to that time when
first we confessed Christ. Now, don't misunderstand me.
We, I confessed Christ in believers baptism when I was 16 years old. But that experience of grace
when God first revealed his son in me is not the basis of my
peace and assurance before God. I I haven't looked for it in
years. I haven't looked for it. I have
no idea where it is. I know I'll get a copy of it.
I'm sure we got it in our paper somewhere. But I haven't seen my birth certificate
in a long time. In a long time. I know I was
born in Bladen County, North Carolina because I read it on
my birth certificate. I know I was born in 1950 because I
read it on my birth certificate. I know I was born June 10, 1950
because I read it on my birth certificate. Well, I know those
facts, but I know I'm alive because here I stand. Do you understand
the difference? I know I'm alive because I'm
breathing. I know I trust Christ, not because
I trusted him yesterday or 49 years ago, but because I trust
him now. The just live by faith. live by faith. Enoch walked with God and he
was translated. God took him up to heaven. But
before he was translated, before God took him up to heaven, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. How did he do that? But without
faith, it's impossible to please God. Believing on his son. Believing the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Yes, Enoch believed the gospel
of Jesus Christ. He even spoke of the Lord's second
coming with 10,000 of his saints. He believed the gospel. And believing
Christ, God testified to him that he pleased God. Believing
on Christ, we receive testimony from God that we please him.
All right. Here's the second thing. Where
does faith come from? Answer that question. You must
find it only in the book of God and the book of God answers it
with utmost clarity. Let me just read the scriptures
to you. As many as received him. To them gave he power to become
the sons of God. I remember years ago, Brother
Darwin Pruitt walked back in my office one night before anybody
else got here. He'd been looking at that passage and he said that
word power. He said, does that mean right or authority? I suggested that's what it means.
To as many as received him, to them gave he the right and the
authority and the power to be the sons of God, to call God
their father. Here. Received him, just like I received
that water. To as many as received him, he
gave this power to become the sons of God. So that if you believe,
it's because God has given you power to be his son. Listen to
the book. This is the work of God, our
Savior said, that you believe on him whom he has sent. Faith
is God's work in you. Ye are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God. You mean, Brother Don, if
I believe that's God working in me? God working in you to
will and do of his good pleasure? God the Father must draw you
to Christ. or you'll have no faith in Him
and you'll not come to Him. God the Son is the author of
faith and He must give it or you'll never have it. God the
Spirit produces faith in chosen sinners, revealing Christ in
us, as Lindsay read in Galatians 1 just a little bit ago. Saving
faith is the revelation of Christ in you, causing you to believe
on the Son of God. It's the gift of God. Now God's
chosen to save sinners through faith that the whole work might
appear obviously to be of grace. Look in Romans chapter 4 verse
16. Therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace. To the end the promise might
be sure to all the seed. Not to that only which is of
the law, that is, not just to the Jews of the Old Testament,
but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, believing
God without works, who is the father of us all. It is of faith
that it might be by grace. To the end, the promise might
be sure to all the seed. What on earth does that mean?
What does that mean? Faith contributes nothing. Faith offers nothing. Faith performs
nothing. Faith simply receives, without
work, the gift of God, God's free salvation. Here's the third
question. How can I get it? How can I have
this faith? What must I do to believe? That's
the question the Philippian jailer asked. That's the wrong question.
You must do nothing. You must you must quit doing.
You must look for nothing in yourself. You must simply believe. Think much on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Seek the Lord. Seek him earnestly. Seek him earnestly. I recall
reading years ago A farmer back in the 1800s had gone to town
to take his crops in and sell them. And when he came back home,
he went to the barn and did some work before he came in. And he
came in and went and had supper with his wife. And then he started
to put things away. He started emptying his pockets
and realized, oh, I've lost my wallet. I've lost everything I got today. Lost his whole year's salary.
And he got up from the table in a hurry and all disturbed
and went right back to the barn and stayed there for hours raking
through the hay. And finally he found his wallet
and found all his money and found his living and came in, told
his wife about it and he's fine. And this man had no interest
in the gospel, no interest in things of God. And he put off
every urge his wife pressed upon him to go hear the gospel. And
finally, He went to hear the word with her and he was concerned. He said to his wife, said, how
can I have this salvation? And she said, seek the Lord.
He said, I've been seeking the Lord. She said, no, I mean, seek
it. Seek it. He said, what are you talking
about? She said, you remember when you lost your wallet and
lost your money and you had no rest until you could find it
and you turned the barn upside down to get it? You seek the
Lord like that, and you'll find him just like you found your
money. Seek him. This is not just a nonchalant,
meaningless thing. Seek the Lord in his word. Seek
him by prayer. Seek him under the sound of the
gospel. You come to hear the gospel, ask God, oh God, were
you sending that preacher to me today? Will you send your
word to me today? Cause me to hear your voice that
I may come to you. Yes, seek him, but you'll never
seek him until you're sought of him. You must believe, but
only God can give you faith. Yes, you must turn to Christ,
but only God can turn you. Listen to this hymn. I have no
idea who wrote it. I read this years ago. I sought
the Lord. And afterward, I knew he moved
my soul to seek him seeking me. It was not I that found old savior
true. No, I was found to the doubt
it's reached forth by hand and mine and fold. I walked and sank
not on the storm back. See, it was not so much. I don't need to cold as thou
dear Lord. Oh me. I find I walk, I love,
but all the whole of love is but my answer, Lord, to thee. For thou wert long beforehand
with my soul, always thou lovest me. Here's the fourth question. What's the result of faith? The result of faith is salvation,
eternal free, everlasting salvation by the grace of God. By grace
are you saved through faith. Faith receives justification. Faith receives adoption. Faith receives rediction. Faith
receives peace. Faith receives sanctification. Now hang on till you see. performs nothing. Faith performs nothing. Faith receives everything. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's not
a possibility. That's a fact. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The result of faith
is salvation by the grace of God. Oh may God give you faith
in his son. Amen.