I enjoy being among friends,
don't you? Friends. I'm old enough now to
find out that old friends are best. And you folks have been
friends a long time. I was just talking to Sheila
before services this evening. I've been coming down here every
year. at least once a year for more than 23 years, and I cherish
you. Thank God for the privilege of
having you in my life. A man who just preached to you,
been a friend for a long, long time, I guess 22, 23 years, somewhere
in that vicinity. I've known David and Teresa and
their family, know them well. It was Laird Street back then.
The Sovereign Grace Church asked me to recommend someone. I didn't
have any hesitancy at all in recommending that they call you
or consider you. Thankful God put you there. And
your pastor, I've been his pastor a long time. I wasn't here on
earth before him, but just a little bit. But I've been his pastor
a long time, dear friend. So thankful to be here. I want
you to put your Bible marker somewhere in the book of Habakkuk,
and just leave it there for a few minutes. Habakkuk. If you have family or friends,
folks you talk to and they wonder, why on earth do you drive 50
miles to that little old church building out in the middle of
nowhere in Taylor, Arkansas. Go listen to that man preach
over there when there are churches all over the place. Why do y'all
meet down here, your little band of folks from their beautiful
cathedral-type church buildings all around? What's the difference? If you've got somebody that just
might come with you, I recommend you bring them tomorrow. And
I will show you five stark contrast between God and
what men call God. But tonight I want to answer
a question. What is faith? That's my subject. What is faith? I watched with great apprehension
and concern and delight Like many of you did, every time I
got a chance to flip the television on and talk about those miners
coming up in Chile, what a wonder. What a wonder. Every man coming
up, there's something going to collapse now. I didn't see them
bring but one or two out of that shaft, but I can just imagine
the apprehension while those things were going on on the ground. And then yesterday, early yesterday
morning on Fox News, somebody had somebody on giving counsel. He was a fellow who'd written
a book about survival. And I was interested to hear
what he said. One of those miners who was pulled
out of the earth after being stuck for 70 days, 2,000 feet, in the heart of the earth. He
said, I was suspended between heaven and hell. There was a
struggle between God and the devil. I chose God, and God won. And almost everybody talks about
faith, the incredible faith they had. Well, this counselor, he
said to whoever the interviewer was, he said, he said, nothing,
nothing, is more likely to call someone to survive terrible ordeal
than faith, whether it's sickness or the trial, great adversity. He said, in fact, There was a
naval study done, done by the U.S. Navy. This fellow is not
a chaplain or a priest or anything like that. He just did a study,
was commissioned to do a study. And he made this statement. He
asserted in this naval study. We paid for it. You ought to
know what they said. And he said, he said, the most powerful influence
in the world is faith. Faith. Faith. The thing that will most likely
cause prisoners of war to survive, whatever they have to survive,
is faith. The thing that will most likely
cause someone to survive in the midst of a terrible, terrible
sickness or disease when others don't, faith. The most powerful
influence in the world is faith. Well, what is faith? What is
faith? These days, most everybody talks
about faith. We often hear people refer to
themselves and others as people of faith. I'm 60 years old. Now, to me, that's beginning
to sound old. But when I get around you fellows,
I'm still just a pup. But in my 60 years, I've never
known us to have a president in the United States who didn't
profess some kind of faith. Have you? They all have faith. Almost all the politicians in
Washington have faith, and the ones wanting to go have faith.
All of them do. They talk about faith, talk about
being people of faith. The liberals and the conservatives,
the Republicans and the Democrats, the folks who try to act like
they have some kind of moral uprightness, and those who have
no moral conviction of any kind at all. We got Protestants and
Papists and we got Quakers and Queers, but they've all got faith.
Everybody got faith, some kind of faith, some kind of faith.
What is faith? When I hear a person say that
they have faith or she is a person of faith, I take that to mean
they believe something. They practice something, some
kind of religion, or more precisely, they believe in themselves. And
they're very careful not to allow religion to interfere with anything
they want or want to do. They just have some kind of faith,
some kind of faith. What is it? What is faith? Whenever
men and women speak of faith in this context, in just general,
ambiguous, undefined terms, Please understand that faith. Chelsea,
you understand this. When you hear people talking
about people of faith, you hear them at school. I'm sure when
you go back to school, they'll be talking about the minors and
what faith they had. I need you to talk about the
faith, the faith. That has nothing to do with faith
as it's revealed in this book. Nothing. The two things are not
even similar. That's nothing to do with what
this book speaks of when it talks about the faith that God gives
to sinners in Christ Jesus the Lord. What is faith? There is absolutely no subject
in all the world of greater importance and no subject about which there
is as much confusion as this matter of faith. I dare say that
men and women in our society are more ignorant and more confused
about faith than about any other subject that they presume they
understand. The word faith, as it is used
in the word of God, the word faith, as it is set forth in
Holy Scripture, refers to the God-given confidence believing
sinners have in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer. Faith
refers to the God-given confidence believing sinners have in Jesus
Christ our Lord and our Redeemer. Anything other than a God-given
confidence in Christ is not faith, but a damning delusion. Anything
else? Yet, even when we speak of faith,
and faith in Christ, few seem to understand what it is or how
it's obtained. Several weeks ago, Brother Todd
Nyberg called me. He and I and these other preachers
and I as well, we bounce things off each other a good bit. He
called to ask a question. He said, is there a difference
between believing in Christ and believing on Christ? I answered,
I'm sure there is. Many believe in Christ who never
believe on Christ. Many believe in Christ theoretically. They know the doctrine of Christ,
and they give assent to the doctrine of Christ. They wouldn't argue
with you about it, but they do not commit themselves to Christ. They don't trust him. Brother
Todd then said, Is it possible then for a person to believe
in Christ and not believe on Christ? I said, I'm sure it is.
That's exactly what I'm saying. Faith is not what we believe. You knew brother Paul Thacker,
didn't you? When I first met brother Paul Thacker, he's with
the Lord now. He was a builder in Pikeville, Kentucky. He made
a statement to me. I found out I can learn the most
a lot of times from just plain ordinary Joes who know something
about God. And he made a statement, I'll
never forget it. He said, faith is not what we
believe. Faith is acting on what we believe. He was just exactly right. You
can talk anybody into believing something. You can't talk them
into trusting Christ. You can talk most anybody into
accepting the creed. You can't talk them into trusting
Christ. Faith, saving faith is not just believing the doctrine
of Christ. Saving faith is acting upon what
we believe. It is trusting ourselves to Christ,
committing ourselves to Christ. Now let's see if I can make good
on that in the book. Turn to John chapter two. Leave
your bookmark in Habakkuk. We'll get there in a minute.
John Chapter 2. Here's a very clear example of what I'm showing
you. In this second chapter, John, our Lord, did that marvelous
miracle, the beginning of miracles before the marriage of Cain of
Galilee, when he began to show forth his glory as our Redeemer.
And then he came to Jerusalem during the feast of the Passover,
and he saw men in the house of God, in the temple at Jerusalem,
selling doves and things for sacrifice and exchanging money
at the table in the temple. And he was furious. And he drove
them out of the temple and purged the temple. And then he declared
that after his being put to death as our substitute, when this
body was destroyed, this temple in which he lived, he would be
raised again in three days. And after all those things, we
read about some folks who believed him. Look at verse 23. Now, when he was in Jerusalem
at the Passover in the feast day, watch this now, many believed
in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. They saw
him turn water into wine. And they saw him performing miracle
after miracle, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk,
women receive their dead back from the dead again. Well, that's
what Joel said. And I can just imagine if I'd
have been there, I'd have believed this is the Messiah. I'd have
said either that's the Messiah or he's a real fake, one of the
two. I'd have believed just like these folks did. I would have
decided to believe. Just like they did. Just like
they did. I would have believed in his name. That's the Messiah.
That's the Christ. But we don't. Many believed in
his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus, let
me read it to you just exactly the way an exact, precise translation
would be. But Jesus did not believe himself
unto them. Jesus did not commit himself
unto them because he knew all men. He knew they didn't trust
him. He knew they simply saw the miracles and said, this is
the Christ, and it's advantageous of us to say we believe him and
to follow him. We might get some more bread
and wine. We might have our children healed. We might make our lives
better. When the Holy Spirit tells us
many believed in his name and then tells us but Jesus did not
commit himself unto them, in the original language the words
are exactly the same. Exactly the same. The word believe
and the word commit are translated from exactly the same Greek word. They believed in him. But the Lord Jesus did not believe
himself to them. The word is exactly the same. So, what he's saying is this. He didn't commit himself to those
who said they believed in him. You see, you can't commit yourself
to Christ without believing in him. but you can sure believe
in him and never commit yourself to him. I know multitudes who
do. In the word of God, it's common
for us to have one word, exactly the same word, spelled the same,
pronounced the same, exactly the same word, translated differently. That's not at all unusual. Two
words come to mind immediately, eternal and everlasting. The
two words are exactly the same. Get any concordance. They're
exactly the same. Eternal and everlasting. But
anybody knows that eternal is that which is without beginning
and without end and without change. That's eternal. Everlasting is
something that begins at some point in time but never ends.
So that when the scripture speaks of us having eternal life as
the gift of God, the gift of God is eternal life. And whosoever
believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. Well, it's
talking about two different things. No, it's talking about the same
thing. Yes, it's talking about two different things. The same thing. It's talking
about that which God gives us was and is eternal life without
beginning and without end and with no change in between in
Christ Jesus who is life. But that which we experience
in the grace of God in time is everlasting life. There came
a time when God put life in me. And I have this everlasting life. Well, Brother Don, that's confusing.
Well, let me see if I can make it a little more confusing. Every
language there is has one word spelled the same and pronounced
the same. That has many words like this,
but they're spelled the same, pronounced the same, but they're
translated in many different ways. When I was preparing this
message, I thought, how can I illustrate this so folks get hold of it?
And I thought of the word light. What do you think of when you
think of light? I think of that. Is that what you think of? Or I think of sunshine. I think
of illumination. I think of brightness. I think of, well, y'all might
not know this, but I'm losing a little weight. I'm lighter
than I was last time I was here. That's light. That's light. Well,
he shed some light on that for me. I get some knowledge. That's
three different meanings of the word, L-I-G-H-T. So then I looked
it up. You got any idea how many different
meanings there are for the word light? I read in Webster's Dictionary
88 different meanings for one word. For you young Bible students,
the poorest way on this earth to study this book is word studies. It's the poorest way on this
earth to study this book. You folks around here, and some of
y'all have been involved with these landmark badness. They
spell badness with a big B. You know, they're the fellows
who think that they're going to spit while the rest of us
sit around in heaven and probably should spit too. But their whole confusion
is because of the misunderstanding they have of the teaching of
Scripture with regard to the word church. The word church,
ecclesia, it means a called out, visible assembly. That's what
it means here. Well, it's got to mean everywhere.
Oh, no, no, no. No, it might mean lots of things
with regard to some kind of an assembly, just as the word light
means different things. And the way you understand it
is the context in which it's used. Now, that's the only way
to honestly read this book. You find how something is used
in the book. And that's the reason translators
translate words differently. Sometimes they translate the
word eternal. Sometimes they translate the
word everlasting. And if you look and look at the
context every single time, Glenn, well, that's the reason. That's
just plain as a nose on your face. That's exactly the reason.
The same thing is true with regard to this matter of faith in Christ. After Brother Todd and I talked,
I looked up every single passage in the scriptures that speaks
of believing in and believing on, believeth in or believeth
on, with reference to our Lord Jesus. In every single case,
The two English prepositions, in and own, are identical in
the Greek in every single case. They're not an exception. Why'd they do that? Look in John
chapter 3. John chapter 3. You have a real
good picture right here in one passage. The translators determined
which word to use in our translation by looking at the context just
as we must. Here in John chapter 3 verse
14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Now watch this. That whosoever believeth in him, the Lord Jesus,
should not perish. You believe in Christ, you should
not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God
sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him
is not condemned. should not be condemned, is not
condemned. He that believeth on him is not
condemned. This preposition that's translated
in and own is a preposition, a primary preposition of direction. It's talking about one looking
to Christ or one leaning on Christ. It's talking about believing
with reference to Christ or it's talking about commitment to Christ.
Depends on how it's used. In this passage, he that believeth
on the Son of God is not condemned. There's two distinct aspects,
then, of saving faith. In John 3, 15, and 16, both indicate
assent, acknowledgment of revealed truth. But verse 18 suggests
commitment to Christ by which we receive, by which we experience
justification unto eternal life. So that when you believe, own
Christ, you receive witness of God in your soul that you're
justified. When you believe, own Christ,
you receive the witness of the Spirit that you're sanctified.
When you believe, own Christ, God the Holy Spirit declares
in your conscience, not guilty, I'm justified with God. Now,
with those things in mind, turn back to our text, Now back to chapter two. We live by faith as we believe
on, commit ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. The devils believe
in Christ. God's elect believe on Christ.
There's a huge difference. Most people believe in Christ,
at least around us. Few people believe on Christ.
Many, most people you know would believe in Christ. In fact, I
was a hellion growing up. I didn't go to church much, but
when I went, I started growing early. I was as young as these
kids are here. Do you ever remember when you didn't believe in Christ? Just always did, didn't you?
You were raised in a religious house, just always did. I don't
remember not believing in Christ. When I blasphemed His name, I
still believed in Him. When I mocked everything about
Him, I still believed in Him. I don't ever remember not believing
in Him. But there came a time when God Almighty conquered my
soul by His grace and caused me now to believe on Him. Caused me to cast my soul on
Him. and gave me witness that I'm
His, believing on Him. Here in Habakkuk 2, verse 3,
God's prophet is talking to us about the coming of our Lord
Jesus. He's talking about faith in Christ. For the vision is
yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and
not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Behold, His
soul which is lifted up in him is not upright in him. The one
who's proud and haughty, one who thinks he's somebody, his
soul's lifted up in him, his soul's not upright in him. No. Blessed are the poor, for they
shall inherit the kingdom of God. Theirs is the kingdom of
God. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled. But his soul that is lifted up
in him is not upright in him. To this man will I look, God
said, to him that's poor and a broken and contrite heart.
Is that what it said? But the man whose soul is lifted up,
the proud, arrogant man, the man who thinks he's something,
the man who thinks he's somebody before God, his soul not upright
in him. Before God saves the sinner,
Maybe I shouldn't say before, as God saves the sinner, when
God saves the sinner. Choose your words. He breaks
it. He breaks it. He'll break you. He'll break you. You're going
to hell. I live in horse country. And do you know what they never
do with those thoroughbred racehorses, those show horses? You know what
they never do? They never break them. They'd never break them. When I was a boy, I used to watch
you folks out west, out here, and watch fellas ride that horse
till they break him. Just break him. I had a man riding
a horse. He used to try to break him, didn't he? Ride that horse
till they break him. No, they don't want to do that.
They just want to gentle them. They just want to gentle them.
They want that wild spirit in them. If God Almighty ever puts
the saddle and bridle of His sovereign grace on you, He'll
ride you till he breaks you in the dust. He'll break you. He's not gonna general you, not
gonna tell you, he'll break you. All right, now what's that talking
about? Read on. Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Three times in the New Testament,
God the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to use this
statement by Habakkuk. In Romans chapter 1, where Paul
begins that marvelous epistle on free justification, in verse
17 of Romans 1, he says, the just shall live by faith. In
Galatians chapter 3. where Paul is dealing with the
Judaizers at Galatia who attempted to mix works and grace in justification
and in sanctification. In verse 11, Paul says, the just
shall live by faith. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
You want to live by your works? You want to live by law? The
just shall live by faith. I hear people talk about keeping
the law. If they act real serious, I laugh
at them. Oh, I can't do that. We observe
the Sabbath day at our house, hogwash. You don't do such thing.
You just pretend. You just pretend. Nobody keeps
the law except Christ our Redeemer who kept it for us. And the only
way we keep it is by trusting him. That's all there is to it.
Don't you understand what law says? Cursed is everyone that
continueth not in A-L-L all things written in the book of the law
to do them. That's how the legalist lives,
or hopes he does. But he brings curse on himself. But the just shall live by faith. The just look to somebody else. The just are justified and sanctified
in Christ Jesus, whom alone we trust. Then in Hebrews chapter
10, the Holy Spirit gives us his own commentary on this prophecy
of Habakkuk we just read. Hebrews chapter 10. Now keep
your mark in Habakkuk 2. We're gonna be going back there.
Hebrews 10 verse 35. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence. What a way to talk about faith. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence. Confidence. Oh, I have strong,
confident faith. That's not what he's talking
about. That's not what he's talking about. Oh, my soul. Brother Darvin, that's not what
he's talking about. He's not talking about confidence in your
faith. He's talking about confidence in Him you trust. There's nothing about my faith
to sing about, brag about, or think highly of. My faith, God
forgive me, my faith, I can hardly distinguish it from unbelief.
That's just fact. But I know whom I have believed.
And I have but one confidence before God. That confidence is
Christ crucified. That confidence is my blessed
redeemer. That's all. Cast not away your confidence,
which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience. Long as you live in this world,
you're going to need it. That after ye have done the will of
God. Oh, God. Let me serve my generation. according
to the will of God. After you've done the will of
God, when you've done everything God puts you here to do, after
you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
What promise? The promise of life, immortality,
glory with Christ. For yet a little while, and he
that shall come will come and will not tarry. Continue in the
faith confidently looking to Christ and you shall receive
the promise of life eternal with him in heaven in just a little
while The promise will be fulfilled the back in the back at chapter
1 Christ is coming in his glory.
And that's what this promise is all about a back at chapter
1 now this prophecy of a back at God told his prophet he's
going to send Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans to destroy
Jerusalem and the temple and take the Jews captive for 70
years in Babylon. And then he says in verse 5,
now this is what he says preceding Habakkuk said, Lord, why have
you shown me iniquity? Why do you cause me to see this
grievance? Why have you done all these things? And the Lord
says in verse 5, behold ye among the heathen and regard and wonder
marvelously I will work a work in your days, which you will
not believe, though it be told you. And the only time that's
referred to in the New Testament is in the book of Acts, where
it talks about Christ's coming. But then it goes on to talk about
judgment. You don't talk about judgment. Terrible judgment.
Judgment God brings in providence. Judgment God brings by the Chaldeans,
using wicked men to do it. Judgment God brings by heathen
idolaters, wicked men, and chastens his people, takes them into captivity
for 70 years. And in chapter 3, he calls it,
thy chariots of salvation. What's God doing in this world?
What's God doing in His world? He's riding upon His chariots
of salvation, bringing salvation to His elect in every corner
of the earth, gathering out His elect out of every nation, kindred,
tribe, and tongue. What's God doing? He's saving
His people. The promise then is talking about
the coming of our Lord. His coming in His first advent,
His coming in grace to save His people, and His coming in His
second advent in glory. Look at chapter 2, verse 3, Habakkuk
2, verse 3. For the vision is yet for an
appointed time, a set time. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. At the appointed time, Christ
is coming again. But at the end, it shall speak
and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come, it will not tarry." All right,
back here in Hebrews 10. Paul continues to explain Habakkuk's
words, verse 38. Remember, now he's talking about
what Habakkuk's been reading, what we've been reading in Habakkuk.
Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who
draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe unto the
saving of the soul. Paul's told us that the just
shall live by faith, and that those who have faith believe
unto the saving of the soul. Boy, I'd sure like to know what
he means by that, wouldn't you? Interested to know exactly what he means
by that? Well, let's see what Dr. Gill says. Let's see what
Mr. Philpott says. Let's see what
Dr. Owen says. Why don't we see what God said?
Let's just see what God said. Read the next verse. It always
helps. This stuns people. I can't tell
you how surprised folks are. But if you want to know what
the book says, boy, what did that verse mean? Just keep on
reading. Just keep on reading. God gives us his word, not his
puzzle. He gives us his word, not his
secrets. This is the revelation of God. All right? Here in chapter
11, it gives us illustrations. I think there's 17 of them. Let's
just read the first six verses. Now faith, now faith. The just
shall live by faith. If any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. But we're not of them that draw
back into perdition, but them that believe and do the saving
of the soul. What's that mean, now faith? Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it,
the elders obtained a good report. Through faith, we understand
that the worlds were framed by the word of God. so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By
faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying
of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith,
Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and was
not found because God translated him. For before his translation,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith,
it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek him." Now, what did we just read? The substance,
the ground, the foundation of our confident hope of eternal
salvation is faith in Christ. And that faith is the evidence
of our eternal justification, eternal redemption, eternal election,
eternal salvation in, with, and by Christ Jesus. I can't read
my name in the land's book of life. And I can't read yours
there. But I know my name's written
there. How do you know? Because I believe on the Son
of God. Faith's the substance. It's the
evidence of things not seen. I wasn't there when Christ died
for me. I didn't see my name written on his breastplate. I
couldn't see that. I don't know what's written on
his hands in heaven except believing him. And because I trust Christ,
I have this confidence. Christ died for me. Is that what
the book says? That's what the book says. I
had this confidence. Christ is my advocate on high.
I had this confidence. My name's written on his hands,
engraved on his breast. He's my plea before God. Faith
understands. Faith understands what the most
learned scientists can't fathom. Faith understands that the worlds
were framed by the word of God. Now, I'm not a brilliant fellow.
I'm just a man of average mental abilities, maybe not that. There
are a lot of folks a lot smarter than I am. I have doctors in
our congregation. I have engineers, teachers, a
lot smarter than I am. My granddaughter is 12 years
old, and she's taking geometry. If you ask me to explain what
geometry is, I ain't got a clue. I don't know. It's some kind
of a math science, I think. Something to do with mathematics.
But I don't know. I don't have a clue what it is.
Well, you're not very smart, are you? No. No. But I know everything
I need to know. I know this book. And I know what it teaches. I
know God Almighty. Do you? I know God Almighty. I know the
heavens were framed by the Word of God. Well, that takes a mighty
leap of faith. Well, let's try this one on.
Let's try this one. Millions and millions and millions
of years ago, there was a little ooh somewhere in the universe. And it started to spread and
decided to grow. and divide and multiply, and
then it exploded, and then things started to happen. And lookie
here. Wow, isn't that smart? Nobody on this earth would believe
that in his right mind, except because he hates God. That's
the only reason. That's the only reason, because
he refuses to bow to this book. Abel understood something his
brother couldn't understand. They both learned it from the
same man. Their daddy Adam taught them. Abel understood that the
only way a sinner can come to God is through blood atonement
of an innocent victim. called the seed of woman, the
son of God. You reckon Abel really understood
all that? I guarantee he understood a whole lot more than that. He
understood that. He understood what he was doing.
When he brought that lamb, he didn't. Abel wasn't so foolish
as to think, like the folks down in Mexico when you go to see
the Mayan ruins, think that God's going to receive some kind of
an animal sacrifice. He wasn't that foolish. He wasn't an ignorant
man. Abel knew the gospel. He knew that God Almighty, before
Adam and Eve were driven out of the garden, killed an innocent
victim, and took the skins off that victim, and put them on
Adam and Eve, and said, this is what I'm telling you. When
I sit at the seat, a woman will come and crush the serpent's
head. I'm going to take care of this mess. And Abel understood. This is how sinners come to God,
through faith in Jesus Christ. Come down to worship God. He
brought a sacrifice that God alone provided. He brought a
lamb. A sacrifice God alone provided. The very sacrifice God said he
had to bring. The very sacrifice his father
taught him God would accept and God had accepted. That sacrifice
is Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, represented in that lamb. Cain
heard the same sermon from his daddy. Heard it all his life
long. And it came time to worship.
Came, went out, got finest vegetables he could raise in his garden.
Brother Scott Richardson preached one time with me down in Rocky
Mountain, North Carolina. And I was sitting over there about
where our brother's sitting tonight. He looked at me and he said,
you know what kind of farmer Cain was, Brother Don? You know
what kind of farmer he was? You know what kind of farmer
Cain was? You've been as old as you are, Winston. You know
what kind of farmer Cain was? Why, he was a turnip farmer. You can't
get blood out of a turnip. But Cain brought the best he
had. He brought the best he had. The best he could do. And God
had no respect to it. God wouldn't have it. Now, I
don't have any idea for certain how God had respect to Abel and
his sacrifice, but I suspect it was the same thing that happened
later on when God instituted the law and they brought the
sacrifices to the graves and altar and God in fire came down
and consumed the sacrifice. But by some means known to Cain,
God accepted Abel and his sacrifice and God didn't accept him and
his sacrifice. And Abel, because he brought
this sacrifice, had testimony that he was righteous. That he
was right. He had witness that he was righteous. Wow. Abel's brother Cain said,
well, Abel's righteous. I don't think so. I don't think
so. Abel's brother Cain probably
looked at him and said, well, you cocky, arrogant thing. You think you're
the only one who knows God. I know God as good as you do.
No. Hadn't he had witness he was
righteous? His neighbors, they saw that he didn't smoke and
drink and cuss and chew, and he didn't go with the girls who
do. No. That wasn't it either. You see,
your neighbors don't have a clue what righteousness is. Let it settle in. I'm not looking
for words. Your neighbors don't have a clue what righteous is.
They don't have a clue what righteous is. He obtained witness that
he was righteous. He obtained witness from God
that he was righteous. Witness from God that he's righteous
in his conscience. You bring God what God requires. What does God require? Perfect
obedience unto death. The full satisfaction of divine
justice. Bring God his son and you go
home with witness that you're righteous before God. Righteous. Righteous. Russell,
God tells me I'm righteous. He said, now you reckon yourself
to be righteous unto God. You reckon that you're righteous
because God reckons you're righteous. And I reckon that God reckons
right. Don't you? That's exactly right. Read on.
We read about this fellow named Enoch. Enoch understood that
the only way a man could please God and be accepted of God was
by faith in Jesus Christ. So Enoch walked with God by faith. And before he left this world,
indeed, before he could be translated to heaven, before he could be
translated to heaven, he had this testimony from God in his
soul. He pleased God. He pleased God. Look up here
at this picture. Look here a minute. You're looking
at a man who pleases God Almighty. Oh, I'd love to do something before I draw my last breath
that would really please and honor God, wouldn't you? But I gave up hope of ever doing
so. Even my thoughts, Brother Bo,
of pleasing Him are shot full of sin. I wouldn't have just
told you about it. But you're looking at a man who
pleases God. The Lord God said, This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Not with whom, in whom. And I'm
in his son. I'm in his son. God Almighty
well pleased with me. No matter what I do, good or
bad, no matter how I feel, Spiritual or cognitive? Alive
or dead? I don't like that. I don't like
that, brother. If that's the case, that means
we've got nothing to do. You got it, and that's the reason
you don't like it. Or that's the reason you do. One of the
two. One of the two. Well, how on
earth Can I have such faith? Faith is the gift of God. It's the same power by which
we believe that God wrought in His Son when He raised Him from
the dead. You can't muster faith in yourself. You can't do it. You can't do
it. How many times have you had somebody come up to you and say,
I try to believe. I just can't believe. And I say, I know. I understand you can't. You can't
believe. Your pastor said from the beginning
of the services, we don't put any pressure on anybody. What's
the point? All I can do is pressure folks
into making a profession if something's not so. No. But if God Almighty saves you
by His grace, if He has saved you by His grace, you'll find
yourself doing something you just can't help doing. You'll find yourself believing
God. I went to bed last night begging
God for grace. Oh, God, help me. God, how can
I believe? And I woke up this morning drinking
my coffee and praying God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I do believe you. Oh, gift of
gifts. Oh, grace of faith. My God, how
can it be? that thou who hast discerning
love should give that gift to me. I believe, oh, the Son of God. Let's see if I can show it to
you. I've not tried it with this one. David, I weighed myself.
That's not, I'm working at this thing. I'm working at it. And
the scales said one of two figures. I can't see good. It either said
3,016 pounds or 301.6 pounds. I'm gonna go with 301. You reckon that'll hold 300 pounds?
What do you think? I believe it will. No. Let's see. I believe in the Holy Spirit. You reckon Christ can save a
sinner? I believe He does. I trust Him.