Last Sunday, I was talking with
a couple of the men after the service concerning true saving
faith. We know that there is such a
thing as false faith. We know that there is such a
thing as no faith at all. But I know by the Scriptures
that there is a true saving faith. And some questions were asked about how much a man needed to
hear to have true saving faith. How
much does a man need to hear to be called a believer? What's
required of him to know? What exactly is it that he needs
to hear? What exactly? Is there a few
words? Can you take the Gospel and sum
it up? Can you get it up into a one-line
or a two-line witness? Can you sum up the Gospel? Can the Gospel be preached in
such a way that those who hear it can come to a saving knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ in one meeting. Can the gospel be summed
up into a short, compact form that will give them the knowledge
that they need to believe? I thought about these things
and prayed about it and gave them some study, and I titled
the message this morning, What and How Much? And before we get into these
questions, I want to establish the character of true saving
faith. I want to give you four things
that describe and generally sum up what true saving faith is. Now, it's not going to do us
any good to talk about what and how much faith needs to hear
if we're not on the same page concerning what faith is. And
you see, that's the problem when you preach the gospel. That's
the difficulty that you run into. We must define the terms we use
or else the message just goes to pieces. For instance, the
term gospel. I'm not the only one who uses
that term. But I'm careful to define when I use that term what
this gospel is. There's others who use that.
Paul said, they'll come preaching another gospel. That's what he
told the Corinthians. He said, you beware, they're
going to come preaching another gospel and another Jesus by another
spirit. Now he said, you better take
care. Better take care. Over in the
book of Galatians, he said, who hath bewitched you? What was their problem? He said,
though we are an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than the gospel we preach, let him be accursed. Says it
several times, don't it? So you see, we've got to define
these terms. And then, like this term salvation,
same thing. What's this salvation mean? Is
it just a fire escape? Is it an escape from hell? What
does this word salvation mean? It might mean one thing to me,
and I'll just use that term and just let it float and let it
go and let you... Well, the message has went to
pieces because we're not on the same page on the terms. Sinner. Same thing. Talk about a sinner.
I have to define the sinner. The Word of God defines him,
what it is, the sinner. And what most people call sinners
is just simply a transgressor of the law. So I'm going to give you four
things that the Word of God tells us plainly about the true character
of faith. And the first thing we learn
from the Word of God is that faith is not an isolated act. You see, this is what people
think. It's an isolated act. When they
go to talk about faith, they're going to go back 20 years. They're
going to go back 10 years, or 2 years, or whatever it was.
They're going to take you back to a time. I know the time. I
know the place. They'll take you back there,
and then they start talking about faith. Well, faith is not an
isolated act. Faith is a living, vital principle
of the heart. That's what this book teaches
about faith. You know, it's not going to do
any good for me to talk to you about faith when you're trying
to go back here to an experience somewhere and I'm over here talking
about a living, vital principle. We're not on the same page. You
follow what I'm saying? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. Let's just take our time this
morning. More than anything else, I want to be understood. I want
to get it in simple, plain language so that you can understand what
it is I'm saying. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1,
Paul writes, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein
you stand." Now listen, "...by which also you are saved if you
keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain." If this thing of believing is not a continual thing, if
this thing doesn't take root, if this thing is not applied,
if this thing is not something that works in you day to day
to day, You can't go back 20 years and say, now this was my
hope, and then I'm riding on that. No, that's not faith. Faith
is a living, vital principle of the heart. It doesn't disappear
after today. Tomorrow, it's new again. New again. And it's there. Faith
receives the Gospel. It stands in the Gospel. And
it perseveres in the Gospel to the grave. Listen to this, Hebrews
chapter 10. Verse 38, Now the just shall
live by faith. He's going to live by it. Live
by it. That's how He was born. That's how He lives each day
of His life. Faith dictates over all His affairs
and influences all His decisions and restrains Him from being
what the flesh would have Him to be. He lives. The just. That man justified
by the resurrection of Christ. Justified by Christ. He lives
by that, John. He lives every day. Every day. Every day. Verse 39, But we are
not of them that draw back. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, he said, my soul hath no pleasure
in it. Oh, I thought I could go I thought
I was secure back there. That's what they call eternal
security in the modern-day Baptist church. You make a profession
of faith and accept Jesus as your personal Savior. Now you've
got an insurance policy. You've got something to hang
on to now. And so these things come along.
And if your soul draws back, well, I've still got that old
insurance. No. He said, if your soul draws
back, I've got no pleasure in you. Got no pleasure in you.
But, he said, verse 39, we are not of them that draw back unto
perdition, but of them that believe, now listen, to the saving of
the soul. It's a continual, continual faith. Faith is not just mental assent
of a doctrine or creed or the acceptance of some facts and
then looked upon like a Most of us has played Monopoly like
a get-out-of-jail-free card. You just keep it over here, and
this is what I'm going to use. It's a living, vital principle
of the heart. Peter said, listen to this, he
said, we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed at the last day. That sounds continual to
me. Don't that to you? All right,
so that's the first thing. We're talking now, we're trying
to establish the character of true saving faith. It's not an
isolated act that I'm talking about this morning. I'm talking
about a living, vital principle of the heart. Something that
dictates what you are and what you say and how you live every
day of your life. The second thing I know about
true saving faith is that it comes to men and women by way
of regeneration. That's how it comes. I can stand
up here and talk until I'm blue in the face. I can sit down with
you and reason with you. Paul reasoned with Felix out
of this book. And he reasoned with him for
a long time. And he said, almost thou convinces
me to be a Christian. Almost thou persuades me to be
a Christian. But you can't persuade. You can
almost, but you can't do it. You can't do it. It comes by
regeneration. There's no faith without life,
and there's no life without faith. They come together in one package. One package. Paul told the Corinthian
church in his first letter 1 Corinthians 4, verse 15. He said that you
have many instructors in Christ. You've got a lot of instructors.
I've appointed men, left them there over the church. They're
elders and so on. They instruct you in the way.
But he said, you've just got one daddy. You've just got one
father. And he said, I have begotten
you through the gospel. through the gospel. That's what
he told. I have begotten you through the
gospel. The holy seed of the gospel must
be put within the believer, and if it is, it must bring forth
a living Son. Peter said again in 1 Peter 1,
being born again, he said, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible
by the Word of God. And then he follows it up in
verse 25 saying, this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached
unto you. Nicodemus came. You remember
him? He came at night. He didn't want to be seen of
those Pharisees. And he came at night and he said
to the Lord, we know Thou art a teacher sent from God. We know
that. Christ stopped him dead in his
tracks. Dead in his tracks. And he said, barely, barely I
say unto you, except you be born again, you cannot perceive the
kingdom of God. You don't know anything apart
from a new birth. You don't know anything. There's no life without faith
and no faith without life. They come together in one package.
The Lord said in John 5, verse 24, He that heareth My word and
believeth on Him that sent Me hath. He's already got it. He
has everlasting life. And He shall not come into condemnation,
but He's passed from death unto life. The true saving faith comes by
regeneration. A dead man can't believe anything.
He can't believe anything. You can't reason with him. You
can't talk to him. You can't do anything with a
dead man. A dead man will write you a letter like I got. That's
a dead man. The other letter is from one
who is alive. That's the difference. That's
the difference. True saving faith. It's a living
vital principle of the heart and it's the fruit of life in
the soul. The believer is a new creature.
Isn't that what the Scripture says? He's a new creature. He
doesn't become a new creature when he believes. His believing
is the evidence that God has raised him from the dead and
made him a new creature. It's the fruit of it. Actually,
if you go to the book of Galatians where he describes the fruit
of the Spirit, and you check me out on this, doesn't he say
faith is the fruit of the Spirit? I'm pretty sure he does. Faith. Faith. Love, joy, peace. Faith. Faith. A perfect example of this is
Lazarus. Did Lazarus lay in that tomb?
Did he believe and then come out of the tomb? Is that what
happened? Or did he respond to the voice of God who called him
out of the tomb? You see what I'm saying? That's
true saving faith. And then the third thing I know
about true saving faith is that it has a discernment. Faith understands. It understands. It's not constantly
scratching its head. Faith has a discernment. Now
you can't believe what you don't know. You can't do it. You can't believe what you don't
know. You can't just Call on Jesus, or accept Jesus as your
personal Savior, because the Bible says that some will come
preaching another Jesus. You'll wind up believing on a
false Jesus. Faith has a discernment. Listen
to this in Romans 10, verse 13. And I'm getting in somewhat into
the controversy now, into the heart of this thing of saving
faith, and what draws me at odds with free willism and universal
salvation and that type of thing that are many in preaching out
here in the world. In Romans 10, verse 13, it said,
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Do I have a problem with that?
None whatsoever. None whatsoever. That's the Word
of God. It's so. But if you'll read the
rest of that, there's some questions. How shall you call on Him in
whom you had not believed? Now, if you call on His name,
you're going to be saved. But how are you going to call
on Him in whom you had not believed? And how are you going to believe
in Him of whom you have not heard, and how are you going to hear
without a preacher? Ain't that what that says? That's what the
rest of that says. There's a hearing and an understanding
involved in faith. In 1 John 5.20 it said, And we
know that the Son of God is come, and hath given to us an understanding. An understanding. that we may
know Him that is true. We know who God is. We know He's
unchangeable. We know He's inflexibly just. We know who the true and living
God is. And that's eternal life. That's
eternal life. How do we know these things?
The Son of God has come and given us an understanding, manifested
the true character of God. The Word become flesh, John said
in his Gospel in chapter 1, I think it's verse 12. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And what did they see? We beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. In Matthew chapter 13, the Lord
said this of the unbelieving Pharisees, in them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah who said, by hearing you shall hear and
shall not understand. That's what those Pharisees said. They heard every word. You know
how often they heard Him? Every time He spoke. They were
either there themselves or they had a committee there. They had
some representatives there. They poured over His words. Just poured over his work. And
you know what happened after a while? After three and a half
years of listening to that? They said, if thou be the Christ,
tell us plainly. Hearing you shall hear, and shall
not understand. And seeing you shall see, and
shall not perceive. lest at any time they should
see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Faith
has as its teacher, I want you to listen to it, the Holy Spirit
of God. Faith has as its teacher, as
its guardian, and as its guide, the Holy Spirit of God. 1 John chapter 2, the apostle writes
about some folks who just bowed up and left, got mad. A controversy
had arisen over the doctrines of Christ. And they got mad. There was no compromise in the
apostles. They wouldn't compromise with
them. And they got mad and bowed up
and left. And the church was upset. They just walked out the
back door. And they were upset at the apostle,
and he responds to that, and he said, now here's what was
manifested when they left. They went out from us because
they were not of us. For had they been of us, they
no doubt would have continued with us. That's what he told
them. It was manifested, this false
profession of faith. But, he said, now listen to what
he tells them next, you have an unction from the Holy One
and know all things. You didn't go out the door. You
were in perfect agreement with us when we preached to you and
when we preached to them. You have an unction from the
Holy One and you know that. You know that. You read that
second letter I got and see what he said. He didn't know me from
Adam. He didn't know Don Fortner from
Adam. He listened to those messages and the Spirit bore witness with
his spirit. Now that's what John is telling
these apostles in chapter 2. You have an unction from the
Holy One. He doesn't come from time to
time. The believer has abiding in Him the Holy Spirit of God.
He abides in Him as His teacher and His guardian and His guide.
And when He's come, He'll guide you, that's what Christ said,
into all truth. He'll take the things of mine
and show them unto you. Who's going to do all this? The
Comforter. The Comforter. He'll convince of sin and righteousness
and judgment. The Lord was about to leave and
He comforted His disciples over in John 14. And He said, when
I'm gone, I'll pray the Father. And He'll give you another Comforter
that He may abide in you forever." Huh? Forever. Even the Spirit of Truth whom
the world cannot receive. And you know Him, for He dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. And then the Scripture said His
Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. And then fourthly, I know that
true saving faith is the common bond or union of the church. Peter wrote to those churches
scattered abroad throughout all Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, all
out in those areas there were strangers scattered abroad out
there. Little groups here, little groups there. And he wrote to
them and said that they had like precious faith. Isn't that what
he said? Like precious faith. That's the
bond. Somebody comes here, and they
listen to the gospel, and they rejoice in it, and they come
up here, and they tell you how much they love it, and they don't
know you from man and the moon, and all of a sudden there's a
bond. There's a bond there. Why? Because you have like precious
faith. You have the same Spirit abiding
in you that they have abiding in them. There's a communion of the Spirit,
Paul tells the Corinthian church. And that word communion means
common union. That's what it means. Common
union. And he said to the church at
Ephesus to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace. What is the unity of the Spirit?
Very simply, it's the faith of God's elect. It's the faith of
God's elect. And then he goes on to say, for
there is one body, one spirit, one hope of your calling, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all
who is above all and in you all. It's the same. You see what I'm
saying? That's the common union. It's the same. And how do I know
that? By faith. By faith. John said, we know that we have
passed from death unto life. because we love the brethren.
He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." Now, with
these things in mind, let me see if I can shed some light
on these questions. I want to deal, first of all,
with this question of how much. Is there a quota? Is there a
minimum? Is there something that a man
has to believe? He has to believe to be a believer. What is the minimum? What's the
quota? Is there a certain quota? Is there some limitation or degree
of truth that substantiates true saving faith? Well, I personally
can't find it. If it's in here, I can't find
it. I can't find it anywhere. I can't find anything in this
book to indicate any certain amount of truth to qualify a
person as a believer. And actually, the question is
not so much the amount that a man believes, it's if he believes. It's not so much what he hears,
it's can he hear. They having ears hear not. Hearing,
they have no understanding. They don't hear. They don't see.
They're dead in trespasses and sin. They're dead in nature. They can't hear anything. So
it's not so much a matter of how much you hear, but can you
hear? How often did our Lord present
a truth and then listen to these words? He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. Let him hear. My friend, faith is the gift
of God. He said, by grace are you saved
through faith. And that faith That faith, not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. It does not come as the result
of something he does. It does not come as a result
of something he accepts or agrees to. Faith is the gift of God. It's what enables him to receive. It's what causes him to be willing. My people shall be made willing,
he said, in the day of my power. Do I believe God's going to save
a man against his will? Absolutely not. I believe God's
going to make him willing. He's going to make him willing
in the day of his power. Faith is the gift of God and
it comes with all the means and power and ability that's required. Listen to this over here. You
can learn a lot over here in John's Gospel. John talks more
than any of the rest of them in the New Testament. He uses
this word, know. And we know. We know. You go
through 1 John, all the way through there, every chapter. We know.
We know. We know. Listen to this. He says this in his Gospel in
the first chapter. As many as received him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name." Those who believe on His name were given power
to become sons, power to become believers. And if you go on and
read the next verse, it will tell you that, which were born. Born. You remember we talked
about this thing as the result of a begatting, a begatting unto
life. which were born, not of the will
of man, not of the will of the flesh, not of blood, but of God. Becoming a son is not something
you will or something you decide or something you accept. It's
something received in a new birth. You take a newborn baby, he's
not very knowledgeable, is he? He don't know much. I'll tell
you what he knows. He knows when he hurts. He knows when he's wet, don't
he? He knows when he's hungry. I'm hungry. And he cries. He's wet and he cries. He's scared
and he cries. That's what a newborn baby in
Christ knows. He knows when he's hungry. He
don't understand all the particulars about it. He just knows this
is it. This is what I want to eat. This is where my appetite
is. This is what I want. Why? I don't know why. That'll
come a little later. Right now is the appetite. Now
I'm hungry. This is what I want. How do you
know the difference? You have an unction from the
Holy One. That's how you know the difference.
You see what I'm saying? This thing ain't about intellect. It ain't about that. Not about that at all. It doesn't come as a result of
something he does, or the result of something he accepts, or the
result of his will, or something he agrees to. It's the gift of
God. And that newborn baby, not very
knowledgeable, but he has all the faculties that he needs to
mature and become a full-grown man. In II Thessalonians 2, verse
13, Paul gives thanks unto the Father for these Thessalonians,
because he said, God has from the beginning chosen you unto
salvation. Now watch it. Through sanctification
of the Spirit, a setting apart of the Spirit of God, an enabling
of the Spirit of God, and belief of the truth. Whereunto? Because of this. He called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. How much does faith hear in the
new birth? Whatever is required of them
to trust in Christ. That's right. Whatever amount
that is, that's what they need to hear. And then secondly, what exactly
does faith need to hear? If you will, I'd like for you
to turn with me now back to 1 John chapter 5. I'm going to go through
a few verses here. This man must hear the testimony
of God concerning his son, Jesus Christ. That's what he tells us right
off the bat in verse 1 that I read to you a while ago. He believes
that Jesus is the Christ. Now, how does he do that? By the testimony of God. He believes
God's testimony concerning his Son, Jesus Christ. Now, let's
start down here in verse 9. 1 John chapter 5, verse 9. I'm just going to read these
a little at a time, and then I'm going to give you some explanation.
He begins with this statement, if we receive the witness of
men. What men? What's man got to do
with it? What's he talking about, if we
receive the witness of men? Any man, all men, who's he talking
about here? Is he talking about the prophets?
Is he talking about the apostles? What's he talking about, these
witnesses of men? Well, yes, he is talking about
the apostles. He is talking about the prophets.
They were God's witnesses. He's also talking about these
evangelists and missionaries and apostles that went out and
established these churches. who were yet writing the New
Testament. They were witnesses. They were God's witnesses. But
I believe he's talking here about His men, His men, ordained to
this office, set apart of God as His ambassadors, preachers,
pastors, missionaries, and evangelists, given to the church as the Lord's
gift to them after His resurrection and ascension back into glory.
If you're ever going to hear from God, you're going to hear
it through a man. If you hear it in here, you heard it from
a man. Holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. Just because you read it in a
book, that doesn't exempt the man. A man wrote it. Anybody
that's ever read the New Testament knows that these men's personalities
are penned in these books. A lot of controversy over who
wrote Hebrews and who wrote certain of these books. They say the
Apostle Paul didn't. You read the Apostle Paul's epistles,
you learn his character. His character comes right out
in the pen. And you don't have to have his
name at the end of the book. You know who wrote it by the
way he wrote. If you're ever going to hear
from God, you're going to hear through a man. He's God's witness,
God's messenger of goodwill, God's ambassador of peace. And when God's preacher speaks,
God speaks through him. He speaks through him. Now let
me see if I can make good on that. Look with me over here
at 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. We read 2 Thessalonians 2, verse
13. Now let's read 1 Thessalonians
2, verse 13. For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, Because when you received the Word of
God, now listen, which ye heard of us, you received it not as the Word
of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God, which affectionately
worketh also in you. You see that? God spoke through
them. You couldn't see them. If I'm
God's ambassador this morning, God's speaking to you. This is
all the warning, all the message, all the promise you're going
to get from God if I'm His messenger. Now the witness of man at best
is questionable because he's weak and faulty and he's easily
influenced, tricked and deceived. But if that man Has in Him the
Holy Spirit of God, then His words take on a whole different
nature. Now God's talking to you. And the same Spirit that gives
power and authority to the speaker, He works effectually also in
the hearts of them that believe. Are you with me so far? Paul
said my speech, he told them in 1 Corinthians 2, he said my
speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's
wisdom. He said I didn't worry about
whether or not I was able to conjugate a verb. You see what
I'm saying? It wasn't with enticing words
of man's wisdom. He said I didn't speak trying
to impress my audience. That wasn't my purpose. but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might
not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." You
see the difference? 1 John 5, verse 9, but he said,
"...if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is
greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son." Preaching is the testimony
of God to men. And when God works in the heart,
He reveals this to His hearers. Preaching is not lecturing, it's
not discussing, it's not expressing our opinions. Preaching is a
declaration of the gospel. You remember the old prophet
he took out there and he said, son of man, he said, what do
you see? He said, bones. Far as you could see, it looked
like a big battle taking place. Dead, dry bones, that's all I
could see. He said, son of man, he said,
can these bones live? He said, oh Lord, God thou knowest.
He said, preach to them. Preach to them. Preach to them. Dead, dry bones? Dead, dry bones.
Preach to them. Now he said, tell them to live.
And he did, and the sinews began to come on the bones, and stood
up a great army." A great army before the Lord. Dead, dry bones. That's a picture type of the
preaching of the gospel. This is the witness of God which
is testified of His Son. And then in 1 John 5 verse 10,
he said, he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness
in himself. He's got the witness. He got
it. You see what this is saying? He gets it. I can tell when a
man gets it. He's sitting, he's listening,
God moves in his heart, he begins to hang on your words, he begins
to be troubled inside, and slowly but surely, God begins cutting
off, cutting off, cutting off. Brother Barnard said he was traveling
up in West Virginia years ago, and he said he went in this little
country store, and he got some gas and different things, and
he looked up there on the shelf, A little hound dog, old dead,
clamped hound dog, big, long ears and everything. This guy
whittled out of a piece of wood. He said, I've never seen anything
as lifelike as that little statue about that big, about four inches
tall. And he said, where in the world did you get that? Oh, he
said, old Rufus makes them. He said, Rufus? He said, yeah,
he's sitting right there on the front porch. You passed him when
you come in. He said, he does this to make him a little extra
money. So Barnard paid him the money and got that thing. He
went outside and introduced himself. He said, you carved this? He
said, yeah. He said, how in the world can you take that old knot
off a piece of oak and come up with something as beautiful as
this? And the old Rufus just sat there chewing his tobacco
in his spit. And he said, well, I reckon,
he said, I just cut off everything that wasn't a hound dog. In true saving faith, God just
begins to chop and cut and whittle and take this off and take that
off and cut this down and eliminate until there's nothing left but
Christ. That's what's left when He gets
done is Christ. It's not this great burst of
intellect in a man or that He's been so finely taught. It's just
that Christ eliminates everything else but Himself. And He's there. And He's exactly what you need.
And you embrace Him. And you discover along the way
you didn't know anything. You couldn't produce anything.
I read that letter. He told me works to me was like
quicksand. He said, pulling me down. Pulling
me down. Oh, and then he discovered the
active obedience of Christ and that imputed righteousness and
that justification in Christ. And he said, now my heart rejoices.
You see what I'm saying? He cuts those things. He just
kept cutting, kept cutting. This man gets it. He believes
on the Son of God. He has the witness in himself.
He receives it as it is indeed God's testimony. And he rejoices
in it. He hopes in it. He finds rest
for his weary soul. He receives it as God's testimony,
the preacher's testimony, and now it's his testimony. It's
in him. It's in him. But he said, he
that believeth not God hath made him a liar. I thought about that
as I read that one letter. That man has no idea what he
said. He as much as looked God in the
eyes and said, you're a liar. You're a liar. Call God's Word the Judeo-Christian
book of mythology. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave
of his Son. Now, I don't care how God is
pleased to give you light. When He gives it, He holds you
accountable for it. Now you better understand that. I don't care where it is. Conscience and creation over
in Romans chapter 1 is sufficient to take away all man's excuses. He said, that which may be known
of God is manifest in them for God hath showed it unto them.
God did. God has a witness in creation,
and God has a witness in a man's conscience, and God has a witness
behind the pulpit. The same God who gives light through
conscience and creation testifies His gospel to men by way of preachers. Yes, but what do they preach,
and what must that man hear to believe? 1 John 5, verse 11. Here's the record. This is the record that God hath
given to us eternal life freely, His gift. It doesn't have anything
to do with what you do. It doesn't have anything to do
with what you thought. It has to do with God's sovereign
pleasure. It's His gift. This is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. hath the Son. What's that mean? You have God's testimony of His
Son. You embrace that. You believe
that. You hold that. You cherish that. You live by that. How do I know
if I believe? My whole life is going to get
rearranged around what you believe. You believe a limb is falling,
you're going to get out of the way. You believe there's a train
going to run over you, you're going to jump. You're going to
get off the track. You believe that God's Son came
into this world and is now seated on a throne in glory. He is the
only way of salvation, that there's a judgment coming and you don't
have what it takes to pass through that judgment. Only in Christ. You believe that, your whole
life will change when you do. Your whole life will change.
He that hath the Son, as God has testified of it, he's got
life. To have the Son is to have Him
as He's set forth in the Word of God in the preaching of the
Gospel. It's to have Him as He's testified by God in His eternal
offices and appointments, in the promises and types and prophecies
of the Old Testament, in His appearance as a man on this earth,
in His redemptive work, in His justifying resurrection, in His
present reign and glory. How much of that does a man have
to have? Enough to turn loose of this world and lay hold on
Him. Huh? How much is that? I don't know.
I don't know. It didn't take near as much for
John to embrace Him as it did for Thomas. Thomas said, I believe
when I see the holes in your hands, I'm going to take my fist
and run it into your side. And the Lord said, well, here
it is. Here it is. Here it is. How much does it
take? I don't know. But I know what it takes. It
takes Christ. As God has testified. Not this
manby-pamby Jesus. Mexico is full of Jesuses. They're called Jesus down there.
Every other boy down there is named Jesus. Jesus is everywhere. There's Jesuses everywhere here,
too. All you've got to do is go church to church and listen.
They'll talk to you about a whole other Jesus, but I'm talking
about as God has testified of His Son. And the man that God gives this
faith, freely gives it to him. Listen to what he says here.
He said, those Pharisees said, if thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Give us a two-liner. Give us a one-line definition.
Tell us plainly. He said, I told you, plainly. But you believe not, because
you're not My sheep. My sheep hear. They hear My voice. Now, what happens when they hear?
He said, I know them and they follow Me. What they do? They follow Me. He that heareth
You, Here is me. Let me read this in 1 John 4,
verse 6, and I'll wind this thing up. This is as simple as I can make
it. I can't get any more simple than what I brought this thing
to you this morning. And this verse here just kind of sums
this whole thing up. 1 John 4, verse 6. He said, we are of God. He that
knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of
truth and the Spirit of error. God shows it to you. And he that
is of God hears. He hears. As soon as he hears,
that's it. That's it. I know that. He knows
it. How does he know it? In here.
In here. I don't have to come back here
and pump you and try to get you to come down an aisle or lead
you down the Roman road or all these tricks and these things.
Paul said, I've denounced all those things. these things of
dishonesty. He said, we don't do that. We
don't use the Word of God deceitfully anymore. He said, I just preach
in the power of God's Spirit and submit what I say to your
conscience. And if God works in your heart,
just like He spoke light into creation, He'll speak light into
your soul. That's what will happen. That's
what will happen. And he said, we've got this treasure, this
wonderful treasure of the Gospel in an earthen vessel. And He
said the reason we do is that the excellency of that knowledge
will be of Him. The excellency of that glory
is going to be of Him. He's going to get all the glory.
I'm not going to get any. And that's alright with me.