My text this morning is going
to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 13 if you want to turn over there
and put a bookmark. But I want to read a few verses
to you this morning before I get to the text. So just put a bookmark
over there and I'll get to it in just a little while. I want to read to you first the
account Mark's account of the Great Commission as it was given
to us in Mark chapter 16. You can turn there if you want
to. You don't have to. And I want to pick this up right
after the resurrection of Christ here in Mark 16 and verse 9. Now when Jesus was risen early
the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom He had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that
had been with Him as they mourned and wept." Still weeping, still
mourning over His death. This woman, out of whom the Lord
had cast seven devils, saw Him. and went to these men who were
weeping and mourning. And when they had heard that
he was alive and had been seen of her, believed not. They didn't believe her. They
didn't believe her. After that, he appeared in another
form unto two of them as they walked. These are the two who
walked the road to Emmaus where he appeared to them. You remember
the account? You can read it a little later
on today over in Luke chapter 24. He walked along and they
told him what they thought and so on and all this went past. After that he appeared in another
form under the two of them as they walked and went into the
country. And they went and told it to the residue, the rest of
the people, mourning, weeping over his death. Neither believed they them. Afterward, he appeared unto the
eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief
and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which
had seen him after he was risen. They would not receive their
testimony." He said, no, we don't believe. Don't believe. These men and women were chosen
of God to be witnesses. I'm talking about these eleven
men. They were chosen. These women, Mary Magdalene,
chosen to be a witness. The first one He appeared to,
Mary Magdalene. And she wasn't told? No. No. Then Christ appeared Himself
to the two that walked along the road to Emmaus. And they
went and told the rest of them, and they said, no, we don't believe
you. We don't believe that. These men, Christ upbraided because
of their unbelief. And these men, He chose to be
witnesses of His resurrection, witnesses that God had raised
Him from the dead, accepted His work, justified His church, and
declared them righteous in Him. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, Paul refers to these same witnesses also as he talks about
the gospel he preached. And as he sets it forth as the
gospel that saves, and setting forth that necessity of that
resurrection, he says in verse 5, he was seen of Cephas first,
Peter, then of the twelve. After that, he was seen of above
five hundred brethren at one time, of whom the greater part
remain unto this present. But a few of them had fallen
asleep. They died. Now go back to Mark chapter sixteen,
look at verse fifteen. He said unto them, these men who were the same as
we were. You know, Paul said, when I was
among you, he said, I was the same as you. I was the same as
you. I was filled with the same weaknesses.
I was filled with the same problems that you had. That's what the
Lord... See, in the Lord's account, these men... He tells you about
their unbelief. He tells you about their doubts.
We write books about men and all they ever do is just pray
and walk with God and never do anything wrong. When God writes
the history, it's a different story. He tells it like it is.
These men He'd chosen to be witnesses were just like us. Just like
us. And He said unto them, Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Ain't that what that says? Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
2. Hebrews chapter 2. The beginning of verse 1, Therefore we ought to give the
most earnest heed to the things which we have heard. Now if you
take your time and read that first chapter, you'll find out
who they were and who sent them. Lest at any time, he said, you
should let them slip, for if the word spoken by angels was
steadfast. And every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompensive reward. How shall we escape if
we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him?
God also bearing them witness. Not only did He bear witness
of Christ with these miracles, but God also bearing them witness
with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy
Ghost according to His own will. I read all of this to you because
I want to establish something. The Gospel, my friend, is not
some traditional understanding accepted and approved by this
world. This world, you can't reason
these things with natural reason. You can't do it. You'll never,
ever, ever come to these conclusions. Never. And it's the very thing that
blinded them from the glory of the death and resurrection of
Christ was natural reasoning, traditional understanding. They
could not fit what the Lord was doing in with their understanding. They said this. Those two that
walked along the way, the Lord appeared to them. Here's what
they said. that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. That's what they say. Their traditional
understanding, natural reasoning, perceived the Messiah to be a
man who would appear out of the tribe of Judah and restore Israel
to its former place of glory and renown. Their traditional
understanding perceived that Jesus of Nazareth would eventually
win the hearts of all the people. They'd make Him king. and restore
that nation to its former glory. Their traditional understanding
did not perceive his obedience or the necessity of it. A perfect,
unblemished obedience to God's holy law that must be accomplished
to provide them with a righteousness acceptable to God. Their traditional understanding
did not perceive a substitutionary sacrifice that the Lamb of God
must come and be put to death in order to put away their sins.
They didn't perceive that. They had a sacrifice. They had
a Lamb. Their traditional understanding
did not perceive that the holy justice and perfect righteousness
of God must be satisfied to save their souls. It doesn't enter
into their thinking. Their traditional understanding
did not perceive themselves to be fallen and depraved, ignorant
and blind, guilty and condemned, dead in trespasses and sins.
When men argue with you over the gospel, when men contend
with you over the gospel, when they refuse to hear what you're
saying about the gospel, it's because they're blind. They're
blind. They're still in the natural. They're still thinking and reasoning
from the natural. And man will not naturally take
his place as a fallen, depraved sinner. He's not going to do
it. All their ideas of goodness,
all their concepts of holiness, all their imaginations of righteousness
in their persons, in their practices, and in their performances, filthy,
stinking rags. You're not going to come to that
conclusion. Brethren, I was raised in church and there come a time
when I didn't go anymore. And I was convicted over the
fact that I didn't go because I was raised believing that it
was necessary to go. I didn't have a clue why. It's
just a superstitious belief that I had to go. I knew it was right
to go, I needed to go. That's what I've been taught.
I was convicted over that. But now, I wouldn't know what
this is talking about. Huh? I didn't come to that conclusion. I didn't come to the conclusion
that everything I thought, everything I did, and everything I believed
were just filthy rags. I didn't come to that conclusion. God said of self-righteous Israel,
He said, you're a smoke in my nose. You know what He's talking
about? Back in that day, you didn't have landfills. They took
garbage outside the camp and they burned it. And that old
stinking burning garbage, he said, you're a smoke in my nose. That's what our good intentions,
that's what our, the best we can produce is a smoke in his
nose. You know, a natural man ain't
going up to that. The traditional understanding
did not perceive the necessity of a resurrection. Another must
come and appear as Adam did, a second Adam, a new man, not
linked to his fallen state, not subject to his ways, not under
the curse of his fall, a new man, a representative man, born
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law. who'd be delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Their traditional understanding
did not perceive the necessity of one going to the Father and
seated at His right hand, interceding for those for whom He died, pleading
their case to the Father, sending to them the necessary means to
be saved. He said to those disciples, it's
expedient for you that I go away. It's expedient. For if I don't
go away, the Comforter is not going to come. The Comforter, oh, that reproves of sin and
righteousness and judgment, who takes the things of mine and
shows them unto you, who unveils the saving glory of my name. Natural reasoning don't perceive
that, does it? Did you ever get involved in a conversation with
somebody who already knew that? I never have. Traditional understanding does
not perceive the necessity of a new birth or of hearing the
gospel preached or believing what they hear. Their hope rests
in decisions, agreements, The Bible tells you about Him. It
describes Him. If you just read the Word of
God, it describes Him. He said, you say to me, we've
made a covenant with death. That's an agreement. We come
to an agreement. We've got an agreement already.
With hell, we're at agreement. We've made our deal with God.
We've fixed things up. And there's some of you right
here this morning been baptized and didn't have a clue when they
buried you in that water why you'd been buried. The same way
as I was back was not going to church. It was just something
you knew you were supposed to do, so you did it. But you didn't confess
anything by it, did you? You know you didn't and I know
you didn't. Now turn with me to II Corinthians chapter 13. Faith perceives, it understands. what this world cannot see, what
it cannot understand, faith understands. It understands. Faith is an awakening
to truth. It sees the truth. I'm telling
you, when God convinces you of truth, all the devils in hell
couldn't persuade you otherwise. You're convinced of it. You know
it is. You know it's true. I don't care
how many kids come up to you and say, You're being deceived. No, I'm not being deceived. This
is what it says. It says it right here. It says it over here. It
says it over here. This is what it says. It's an awakening to truth. It's
a revelation of the hidden things of God. Now watch this here in
2 Corinthians 13, 5. He said, Examine yourselves,
whether you be in the faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. We're going to have to have faith. We're just dreaming. Now, John,
if we think that we read a book and we've come to an agreement
with some things and we've made our little covenant with death
and hell and all them things, we're fooling ourselves. We have
to have faith. Faith. Without faith, it's impossible,
impossible to please God. So Paul tells them, examine yourselves,
will you be in the faith? Prove your own selves. Know you
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be reprobate? Don't you know that? Has there
been no change? Is this whole thing just been
a continual, did I just, evolve into a Christian? Did I just
come along, there was no break, no turn, no nothing? This book
describes this whole work of salvation as a turn, 180 degrees. You go in this direction, you
turn, now you go in this direction. He said, you're not aware of
that? You're driving down 53 here and you're going up here
toward Mars Hill and you make a U-turn, you come back this
way, you're not aware of that? You still think you're just going
the same direction? Something happens. There's an
awakening. There's a revelation. There's
a new birth. It's an awakening to truth. It's not a feeling
like somebody pouring warm honey down your back. It's not some
emotional experience. It's coming to a knowledge of
the truth as it is in Christ. You shall know the truth and
the truth is what's going to set you free. The truth. I noticed this. He doesn't tell
me to examine you. He tells you to do it. Folks
come to me all the time. You believe I'm safe? It doesn't
matter. What do you believe? Examine yourselves. Ain't that
what he said? Examine yourselves. He doesn't tell me to do it.
He tells you to do it. He don't tell me to prove your faith.
He says you prove it. Prove your own self. He doesn't even ask me if I think
you're a believer. He asks you. He asks you. I tell you, this faith is a personal
business. It's required of us individually. And you wives and you children
that are sitting here this morning, you better listen to what I'm
telling you. It's not about what your husband or father or anybody
else believes. It's about what you believe.
What do you believe? One of my kids one day was telling
me about what somebody asked him, and she said, well, we believe.
And I told her, I said, no, we don't believe. You tell her what
you believe. What do you believe? Do you believe? Examine yourself. That's what
he said. It's a personal work, and faith is a present work. Somebody's always wanting to
know about what happened in the factory, especially mine. What happened down there? Why'd
you do this? Why'd you go there? Why'd you
leave this? Why'd you do that? Let me tell you what I know about
my past. For sure, 100% for sure, it's
past. That's what I know about it. I do, and you do, and everybody
else that I've ever met does. We want to go back somewhere
in the past, somewhere to an experience, somewhere to a place,
and we want to go back there, and we've got to make that sure.
We have to make that place sure. We've got to go back to that
place. That place is past. It's gone. Forget it. Paul said,
forgetting those things which are behind. What this examination
here about is not something that happened in the past, it's something
that's going on right now. What's happening now? That's
what he's asking. Consider these words. Whether you be. See that little
word? B-E. Whether you be. You know
what that word means? Being. Being. Faith is a state of being. It's
a new creature. It's a new creation. It's a new
man. It's got new principles. It's a new walk. It's a new foundation. A new revelation. It's a state
of being. You don't believe two years ago
and then today you don't believe. If you're a believer, that's
a state of being. It's the new creation in me.
I'm always going to believe. I believe continually. All the
time, believing. Do I have unbelief? You bet I
do. So did these men who preached
this gospel, whose testimony we rest our faith on. They were
filled with them. I read you two or three occasions
of it. Lord, we believe. Ain't that
what the apostle said? Help thou our unbelief. We believe.
We believe. They believe. If he told them
the moon was made out of green cheese, they'd have believed
it. They'd have believed it. Why? Because they're believers.
Believers. And then secondly, look at this
word, in. Faith is the common thread among
all believers. Peter refers to it this way,
like precious faith. Ain't that what he said? It's
all the same. It's all the same. I don't have to wonder about
what Kentucky faith is all about. It's the same as Arkansas faith.
It's a common faith. It's all the same. Paul calls
Titus his own son after the common faith. And we're called in 1 Corinthians
1-9 into the fellowship of God's son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
in faith. And there's only one faith, Ephesians
4, 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope of your calling. There's just one. And in that word faith, Abraham
believed God. He believed God. What's that mean? That means
if God has a witness, if he has a witness, faith believed God's
witness. You can read that over in 1 John
chapter 5. If God has a book, faith believes God's book, because
it believes God. If God has a promise, faith believes
God's promise, because it's His promise. Now let me give you three things
this morning that I know about real saving faith. I examine myself by these three
things. You examine yourself. First of
all, I know that this faith is a work brought to pass by the
purpose and power of God. I know that. It's not something
I've come up with on my own. It's not something I just said,
I've got to do this and did it. It's of God. Turn with me to
Philippians chapter 1. It's not in the realm of man's
ability to produce any more. This faith then the children
of Israel could divide the Red Sea. It's not in your ability. Did they walk across that sea?
Absolutely. Absolutely. Did they turn around
and watch their enemies drown on it? Absolutely. Did they produce
it? Uh-uh. Uh-uh. It's all of God. All of God. They wandered for 40 years in
a wilderness, no water, no food, no nothing. Their shoes didn't
even wear out. Ought not to have been any doubt
in any man's mind when he come to the border of Canaan that
this whole work was of God, this whole sustaining work. A huge
boulder of some kind followed them. Everywhere they went, here's
this rock. Huge rock. Moses struck the rock one time
water poured out. Everywhere they went, there was
a cloud that lighted their way and led them to the wilderness. When they got hungry, God rained
down manna. They ate bread. All these animals
furnished water for them, food, everything, out in the desert,
in the wilderness. It's given of God. It's not in
the realm of man's ability to produce. Faith must be given. And it's obvious that it's not
given to all men. So how is it that some believe
and some don't? How is it? Watch this, Philippians
1 verse 29. I want you to really think about
what this is saying. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe, but also to suffer for
His sake. It's given unto you on His behalf
to believe. That's how some believe and some
don't. It's given. It's given on the
behalf of Christ by virtue of His accomplishments, His death,
His resurrection, His ascension into glory, His lordship. On
His behalf, it's given unto you to believe. to believe. You think a preacher just wandered
in one day and started talking to you about the gospel. Is that
what you believe? How should they preach except they be sent?
That's what the Lord said. How come Him to send them to
you? Huh? That old Ethiopian eunuch out
there in the middle of nowhere, he done everything in his power
to know and understand the gospel and was as ignorant coming back
from natural religion as he was when he went. Heard everything
they had to say. Saw them at their best. Saw them
in the most solemn feast. Saw all those things, all those
pictures coming home ignorant. God takes Philip out of a revival. Sends him out into the middle
of the wilderness and runs along beside that chariot. And there's
a man reading the sacred scrolls of Isaiah. And he said, do you
understand what you're reading? No. He said, how can I understand
except somebody tell me what it means? He said, scoot over.
Go up there and preach the gospel to us. It's given unto us on the behalf
of Christ to believe. This power to become the sons
of God, this justifying faith is said to be the result of having
the gospel preached. Romans 1.16, For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation. Ain't that what that says? Oh,
I tell you, over in John chapter 1, He came into the world, the
world was made by Him, the world knew Him not, came unto His own,
His own received Him not, but as many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become, the right, the privilege to become
the sons of God. That's what Paul's talking about
here in Romans 1.16, this gospel. He said, I'm not ashamed of it,
it's the power. What power? The power that God
gave us to become sons of God. That power of the gospel, I'm
not ashamed of it. 1 Corinthians 1.18, preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto
us which is saved, it's the power of God. What power? That power given unto us on the
behalf of God. Over in Ephesians chapter 1,
Paul said, he said, I pray for you every time your name pops
in my head. I pray for you that you might
understand something about the exceeding greatness of His power. The same power that raised Christ
from the dead is exercised in you that believe. And it's given
to you because a sovereign God raised His Son, seated Him at
His right hand, and on His behalf gives you the power to believe.
That's why you believe. That's why I believe. And that's
why men don't believe. To the Jews, it's a stumbling
block. To the Greeks, it's foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom
of God. His saving faith is given to
all those for whom Christ came and lived and died and rose from
the dead and represents at the right hand of God. And it's given
to us by the means that God has purposed. Isn't that what he says? I've
quoted that thing to you so much on II Timothy 1-9, you ought
to know it by heart. He has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. And then thirdly, I know this
about saving faith. This faith, some of you in here
this morning, you're questioning, do I really have faith? Do I
want to have saving faith? Do I have it? Is this what I
have? True saving faith, I'm telling
you what I know, enters into rest. It enters into rest. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
4. That's what I want you to ask
yourself this morning. Do I believe that this book out
of which I'm reading to you this morning, do I believe that this
man standing here talking to me this morning is basing what
he's saying out of this book? Do you believe that? Do you believe I'm just up here
making this stuff up out of my head? You believe I went home
and just read some old writers and jotted down a few things
that they said and added a few things to them, or do you believe
I'm basing what I'm telling you out of this book? Do you believe
that this man standing before you this morning is a messenger
of God? Do you believe that? You won't
ever believe until you believe that. He has to convince you
of that. I can't do that. Do I believe
His testimony concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? Do I believe
that? Do I believe that this Christ is the electing Christ,
the sovereign Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ? Do I believe that? Do you believe that's who I preach?
The sovereign Christ. None can stay His hand or say
unto Him, what doest thou? He's sovereign. Do I believe this is how faith
comes? Do I believe that? Can I rest in the Christ this
man preaches? Can I rest in Him? Can I rest
the weight of my soul on the testimony that I'm giving you
here this morning? Can you do that? True faith can. But watch this here in Hebrews
chapter 4, verse 1. Let us therefore fear, lest a
promise being left to us of entering into His rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we
which have believed do enter into rest." You see that? I preach to you this morning
as clearly and plainly as I know how, both in the Sunday School
and in this message. I've showed you in the Scriptures
how Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and how that He was raised from the grave according to the Scriptures,
ascended into glory, and gave gifts to men. That God, on the
behalf of Christ, gives faith to all those for whom Christ
died. that this faith comes through preaching, the preaching of the
gospel through God's witnesses, ordained of God, decreed of God,
sent of God, providence ordered in their path, that the very
will and purpose of God is to send to His elect the gospel
and make it effectual by the power and presence of His Holy
Spirit. Does that bring you rest? Can you rest in that? Can you turn loose of all that
old junk, all that old religious paganism? Can you turn loose
of it and rest in that? Can you rest your present state,
your future state, and all your hopes and desires on Christ today? Back up there in chapter 3 of
Hebrews. I want you to see something. I never saw it before last night.
I was reading these things and talking to Caleb. He always calls
me and asks me what I'm preaching on and I'm talking to him about
it. And I never seen it until I sat there talking to him and
I looked up there. Do you know that word today in
Hebrews chapter 3 and Hebrews chapter 4 is capitalized? I never
saw that. Today, he said, if you hear his
voice. I'm telling you, he's bringing
this right up to the surface. This thing is a present work. It's a state of being. Today,
capital T-O-D-A-Y. See it back there in Hebrews
3.15? Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart.
We which have believed, who right now do believe, do enter into
rest. Look at Hebrews 4, verse 10.
For he that has entered into his rest, he also hath ceased
from his own works, as God did from his. Let me ask you something, and
I'll close with this. Six days God created this world. Six days. Be they literal days
or one day equaling a thousand, who knows? Six days God created
this world. On the seventh day, he rested. Did God know Adam was going to
fall? Was God aware that Satan was
still in the world? Was God aware that this world
would have to be destroyed with a flood because every imagination
of man's thoughts was only evil continually? Was He aware of
that? Was He aware of all these men who would come along and
set up kingdoms and tear down kingdoms and wars and rumors
of wars and hatred and starvation and drought and floods and all
of this? Was He aware of that? Was He aware of this nation of
Israel that He gave promises and covenants and His law and
His priesthood and all these beautiful pictures of Christ
that would reject Him in that? Was He aware of that? Then how
did He rest? How did He rest? Turn to Ephesians
chapter 1 and I'll show you. Ephesians chapter 1. This is what I am trying to preach
to you this morning. Back here in verse 8, Ephesians chapter
1. He talks about all these eternal
counsels of God, predestination, election, effectual redemption,
all of these things. He goes across those here in
Ephesians chapter 1. He comes down here to verse 8
and he says, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence. I told you that Christ was our
wisdom. God's wisdom is in Christ. having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, the eternal will and purpose of God. He makes
it known to you according to His good pleasure which He purposed
in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time He might
gather together in one all things that are in Christ. This is God's
eternal will, God's eternal purpose. And that day He's going to gather
everything into one. in Christ, both which are in
heaven, which are on earth, even in Him in whom we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.
Now watch this, that we should be to the praise of His glory
who first trusted in Christ. I'll tell you how He rested,
because He trusted everything into the hands of His Son. Now
watch that, in whom you also trusted after you heard that. I tell you, when you enter into
rest, when you understand that the living God trusted all these
things into his hand and rested, if he can rest, I can. If he
can rest in view of all that took place, all the curse, all
the war, all the evil, Satan himself, if God Almighty can
rest, these things have not even been done yet. And now they're
done. Now the victory's been won. Now
Christ is raised, seated at the right hand of God. I reckon I
can rest now. Huh? That's why He said, you
enter into His rest. And all those that believe do.
Can you rest in that? Then you're a believer. You're
a believer. Our Father, everything that we know and understand,
we've received as a gift of your sovereign grace, your mercy. Oh, how merciful you've been
to us. How great is your mercy and your
grace. We submit these things into your
hand and these people here this morning that heard them into
your hand. Be pleased. Be pleased. Open their hearts. Awaken them
to the glory of these things. I ask you for Christ's sake.
Amen. You're dismissed. Neither Walter
nor me have enough breath to sing a song. Okay, he's gonna
try.