I enjoyed it, and I think the
Lord blessed it. And I appreciate everybody's hard work that went
into that. Tonight, I'm going to be speaking
on this subject, confidence. Confidence. It's out of Hebrews
chapter 10. And I want to remind you that
next week in Bible study, we're going to be considering what
the scripture has to say about marriage. And I don't know how
long that's going to take, but we're going to try to look at
everything the Bible has to say about this subject. And it's
got a lot to say. Marriage is hard work and everybody
knows that that's married. And there is a blessing in understanding
what the scripture has to say about it. Also, I just heard
that Jeff and Rachel Sullivan's child is doing well, and they've
taken him out of, his name's Charles Parker, I think that's
a good name, Charles Parker Sullivan, and they've taken him out of
intensive care. Is that right, Dave? Okay, so
I'm very grateful for that. Let's look at John 17 once again.
Verses 6 through 8. I've entitled this message, The
Substance of faith. And in this passage of scripture,
the Lord gives us five words that will help us to understand
just what faith is. Now look for these words as we
read this passage of scripture. John chapter 17, beginning in
verse six, he says, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, And thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. That's the first word. They've kept thy word. Now they
have known. That's the second word. They have known that all things
whatsoever thou has given me are thee. For I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them. There's the third word. And have
known surely, there's the fourth word, that I came out from thee,
and they have believed, there's the fifth word, that thou didst
send me. Five words. known, guarded, kept,
known, received, known surely, and believed. Faith keeps God's
words. Faith knows God's words. Faith receives God's words. Faith knows surely God's words,
and faith believes God's words. Now I want to show you some scriptures,
without making much comment on them, I'm just going to read
these scriptures to you, that show us the necessity of faith. I must believe. If I don't believe,
I won't be saved. I myself must believe. Now listen to these scriptures. The just shall live by faith. The Lord said, thy faith, thy
faith hath made thee whole. according unto your faith, be
it unto you. If you have faith as a grain
of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence
to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be
impossible to you. All things ye shall ask in prayer,
believing you shall receive. Thy faith hath saved thee. We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. To him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. By faith, you stand. The Lord said, he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. Those are the words of our Lord.
He that believeth not shall be damned. Ye are children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus. We walk by faith and not by sight. Above all things, take the shield
of faith. wherewith you shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Did you notice that?
By faith, you'll be able to quench. How empowering faith is to that
one who has it. It's a supernatural thing. It's
not the product of the flesh. You are holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight if you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved from the hope of the
gospel. The end of the commandment is
charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith,
unfeigned, real, and genuine. Through faith, we understand. And it's only through faith we
understand. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. Did you hear that? Without faith,
it is impossible to please God. This is the work of God. This
is what our Lord said in John 6, 29. They said, what should
we do that we might work the works of God? He said, this is
the work of God, that you believe on him whom he hath sent. All things are possible to him
that believeth. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. You believe not, our
Lord said. You believe not because you are
not of my sheep. Sheep believe. as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. What hinders me from being baptized?
If you believe with all your heart, you may. He that believeth
in him is not condemned. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith." Now that's a pretty impressive resume, isn't it? Regarding faith. Faith is vital. There's no salvation
without it. And what honor God puts on faith. Faith. Let me give you some things
the scripture says regarding faith that gives us some idea
of the importance of faith and the vitalness of it. Our Lord
is called the author and the finisher of faith. Wherever there's
real faith, He's the author of it. It came from Him and He's
the one who finishes it. Faith is the evidence of divine
election. Now, you've read with me in reading
that passage of scripture, the Lord talked about those the Father
gave him. God elected the people before
time began and gave them to the Son. And what is the evidence
that I'm one of the elect? Only one evidence. Faith. As many as were ordained to eternal
life. What? They believed. Faith is the means through which
Christ Himself is received. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. Faith is the gift of God. By
grace you save through faith, and that not of yourselves. Faith
doesn't come because of a decision you make. Faith doesn't come
as a result of your free will. Faith comes because God gave
it to you. And you know that if you believe. If you believe,
you know the reason you believe is because He caused you to.
You just know that. I don't have to prove that to
anybody. By grace you save through faith, and that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. is a command of God. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's a
command. That's not good advice. Your
right to believe is because God commands you to. God commands
all men everywhere to repent. Faith is the command of God and
faith actually pleases God. Now, without faith it's impossible
to please God, but faith actually pleases God. And faith in Christ
is the only proper ground of assurance. If you think, I'm
saved because I'm getting more holy, or I'm saved because I'm
more obedient, or I'm saved because I'm spending... I look at the
time I spend in prayer and all the good things I do. I'm saved
because of my deep conviction. I'm saved because of anything
to do with me. If you get any assurance from
anything other than Christ alone, it's a false assurance. Faith
in Christ is the only ground of assurance. Now, I want to
understand faith, don't you? Now, here are five words that
our Lord gives us. And He's commending His disciples
for these things. This is one of the glorious things
about the Lord. He gives us these things and He treats us as if
they just came from us. You know, He commends His disciples
for these things. He gave them to them. But I believe
these five words will help us to understand something about
what faith actually is. Because I want to be somebody
who believes. I want to be somebody who actually
believes the Gospel. Now, the first thing He says
in verse 6, He says, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou
gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. They've kept. That word is they've guarded
over. like the keeper of the prison.
What's the keeper of a prison? He's the guard. They have kept
thy word. Now, faith guards the word. And
here's the first thing I want to say. Faith is not blind. People talk about blind faith.
There's no such thing as blind faith. Faith believes the word
of God. You see, the scripture is authoritative. It's the word of God. It's the
final authority. And faith actually believes what
God says. It's intelligent. Now, that view
that probably most of our population has, that man somehow just happened.
Big bang and all of a sudden there's life and all the different
life forms evolved from that. Very many intelligent people
believe that, but that's plumb dumb. It really is. It doesn't
even make sense. I know very intelligent people
believe it, but you talk about blind faith. That's blind faith. Faith is intelligent. It believes
what God says. Faith believes everything God
says. It guards everything God says.
If there's anything God says in His Word, and you say, I don't
believe that, then you're not a believer. You see, believers
believe everything God says. Now let me give you an example
of this, what I'm talking about. For instance, in that 17th chapter
of John, Six times we read of those the Father gave Christ.
That's talking about election. Now here's a big word, election. God chose before time began who
would be saved. He made this choice of them simply
because He willed to do it, not because He foresaw they would
believe. But as His own free and sovereign will, He selected
before time began who would be saved. And every believer believes
that. There's no believers who do not
believe that. Now somebody says, how can you say that? What about
the thief on the cross? The thief on the cross didn't
believe election. He never heard election. Well, what about when the thief
said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. I
have no control in this thing. My salvation is utterly in your
hands. I have no control. The only way
I can be saved is if you remember me. That sounds a whole lot like
election to me. He knew salvation was totally
in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he might not have
known the term election, but he certainly believed the doctrine
of it. You see, if you believe, you believe everything God says.
If it's in the Word, you believe it. Everything. That's what believers
do. They believe. But notice he says
they've kept, they've guarded over your word. They'll not let them be modified.
They'll not let them be altered. They'll not let them be changed
in any way. They've guarded over your word.
Now, I, I got some, um, some, some personal investments in
this. I, what do I mean by that? The scripture says by grace,
you are saved. unmerited favor. I'm saved not
by my works in any way. Now listen to me, all my hope
is that that's true and I'm going to guard over it. And if you
modify that, if you change it in any way, you've taken away
the only hope I got. That's why I guard over the Word.
I'm not going to accept anybody modifying or changing anything.
We guard the Word of God because it's precious to us. Because
we find all of our hope in this. By grace, you are saved. If you
tell me salvation has anything to do with my works in any way,
in any respect dependent upon me, you've taken away my hope. My hope. in the grace of God. My hope is in the death of Christ. And that's why every believer
guards carefully over his words. Somebody that's sloppy with the
Word of God, they don't believe. They don't find their hope in
the Word of God. But a believer guards the Word
of God. All of our hope is in His Word
exactly as He stated it. Do you find that to be true? A believer guards the Word. Oh, His Word is precious. Now
look in verse 7. It says, Now they have known
that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. They have known this. Now this
word known is a beautiful word. It means more than knowing what
is correct. It means to understand. It means
to love. It means to approve of. It's even used in connection
with the intimate relationship between a man and a woman. It
speaks of a relationship with what is known. A love of what
is known. They have known your words. And you know, there are things
that we know can't be convinced. Otherwise
we know, and we know them by revelation. Our Lord said, it's
given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. The
reason you know these mysteries, things that could not have been
known unless God placed them in his word. They're mysteries
and they're mysterious too. It's not so much, we can't intellectually
comprehend them, but we believe them. the mysteries of the Kingdom
of Heaven. It's given to you to know, to
embrace, to love the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. Like,
look in verse 3 of chapter 17. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee. I don't mean know about you. I mean know thee. The only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I know Him. He knows
me. We've known. Think of so many scriptures that
deal with this thing of knowing. Knowing. For instance, Romans
8.28 says, And we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are thee called according
to His purpose. We know that. They may not, but
we do. Paul said, I know. that in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing." I know that. The Lord said, you shall
know the truth. And the truth, not your knowledge
of the truth, but the truth himself. The truth is a person. You shall
know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Paul said,
I know whom I have believed. not just knowing about him, I
prove of him. I love him as he's revealed in
his word. I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded, I'm
convinced that he is able to keep that which I've committed
to him against that day. Faith knows. You know that you
are not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ. You see, you can't believe
what you don't know. Now, do you hear me? You cannot
believe what you don't know. I've heard people talk about,
they said, well, their head's wrong, but their heart's right.
That's foolishness. That's all that is, is foolishness.
You can't believe in your head what you don't know in your heart. You can't know in your heart
what you don't believe in your head. I mean, the heart, the mind, it can't
be separated. You can't believe what you don't know. There's
some things believers know. Faith is made up of things we
know. Now, verse 8. Faith is made up of guarding
the word, of knowing, knowing the gospel, knowing how God saves
sinners. They have known that all things whatsoever thou hast
given me are thee. We know that. Verse eight, for
I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me and they
have received them. They've received them. They've
embraced them. They've welcomed them. They come
as good news to them. Now, understand this. I won't be saved if I don't receive
Christ. Personally, I must receive Him. I must receive His words. Now, let me give an explanation
to that because man's religion makes the act of reception the
act of salvation. Kind of like everybody has the same thing
done for him, but it's up to whether or not you receive him
as to whether or not it's going to work for you. Now, that's making the
act of reception salvation. You don't receive Christ to be
saved, you receive Christ because you are saved. That's why you
receive Christ, because of something he has done for you. Now, there's
no merit in receiving, but I'll tell you this, if you don't receive,
it's because he never gave. Because everybody He gives something
to, they receive it. If He gives you His Word, you
know what? You'll receive it. And if you don't receive it,
it's because He never gave it to you. Now, there is a reception,
a welcome reception of His Word. Freely you've received, freely
give. You know, it takes the grace
of God to receive. You know, the natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for their foolishness unto him,
neither indeed can he. He lacks the ability to. But
every believer receives. I love that scripture of His
fullness have we all received. And grace for grace, it takes
the grace of God to receive grace. You can't even receive grace
unless God gives you the grace to do it. But oh, when He gives
you the grace to do it, you receive His words. You welcome His words. You believe them. They come as
good news to you. It's not just man's opinion. It's the very Word of God and
you receive it and you embrace it. By grace are you saved. I receive it. I welcome it. It
comes as good news to me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. I call. Lord, I'm calling. And I receive what He says. If we walk in the light as He
in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. I receive that. I'm cleansed. I'm walking in
the light of how He saves. All sin, past, present and future
is washed away, put away. I receive that. I believe it. When He said it
is finished, I receive it. There's nothing
for me to do. I simply rest in what He has done. I receive everything
He says in His Word. If it condemns me, I receive
it. If it saves me, I receive it. Whatever, we receive His
Word, everything in it, and good news. We welcome it. We embrace
it. Now, if you believe, you receive
what God says. You rejoice in it. Verse 8, For
I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them, and have known surely that I came out
from thee." What's this thing of knowing
surely? Well, it can only be experienced.
I know surely that Jesus Christ is God. I do. I know surely that the Bible
is the Word of God. I know surely that Christ is
all in salvation. I know that surely. I know surely
that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I know that for sure. I know
surely that the nature given to me, the new nature and the
new birth, it didn't come from me. It came from God. I know
surely that faith is the gift of God. I know these things surely. The Lord looked to his disciples
after all these fellows were leaving him. And he said, will
you also go away? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life and we believe
and are sure. that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God. You know, I know for sure that
He's the Christ. He's God's prophet. He's the Word of God. He's God's
priest. He's the one who brings me into
God's presence. He's God's King, the one who
rules everything. And I need Him to rule and reign
in me and to subdue my iniquities for me. He's the Christ. And we believe and are sure that
He's the Christ. They know surely. And the only way you can know
surely is if He gives you assurance. Somebody says, do you think I'm
saved? I don't know. But if I did think you were saved,
that wouldn't make you saved, would it? And if I say, no, I
don't think you're saved, that wouldn't mean you're not saved.
Assurance doesn't come from me. But if He gives you assurance,
you've got assurance. You know He's the Christ. You know He's the only Savior.
You know He's everything in salvation. Now, I love these descriptions
of a believer. We keep God's Word. We know God's
Word. We don't believe something we
don't know. We receive God's Word. We know surely God's Word. And here's the last description,
and I think this is the one I can get hold of the most. Look what
it says in verse 8. And they have believed that thou didst send me. You know, I believe that. I believe
that. I believe God sent him. And I
believe that he did what God sent him to do. I believe that. Now, what is this thing of believing? Faith. Believing. You don't decide
to believe. You believe. You believe because
it's true. You don't make a decision to
believe, you just believe. Now, the first thing that came
to my mind is the first time the word believed is mentioned
in the scriptures. Would you turn with me to Genesis chapter
15? Genesis 15. Verse 1, After these things the word of
the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am
thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said,
Lord, God, what wilt thou give me? Seeing I go childless, and
the steward of mine own house is Eleazar of Damascus. And Abram
said, behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and no one born
in my house is mine heir, just a servant. And behold, the word
of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir,
but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall
be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad,
and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be
able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall
thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord. He didn't have any evidence.
All he saw was Sarah, barren, already in menopause. His old
body. He didn't have any evidence.
that what God said would be true, except this, God said it. And he believed. Nothing else
was needed. The naked word of God. And when Paul quotes this, turn
to Romans chapter four. Romans chapter four. Verse 1, What shall we say then
that Abraham, our father, is pertaining to the flesh, if found?
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to
glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God? And it was counted unto him for
righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of dead. In other words,
God would owe you salvation. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth, believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. Now, turn to a scripture in 1
John chapter 4. I think this will help. It helped
me to understand what this thing of believing is. 1 John chapter
4, verse 16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. We have known and believed the
love that God hath to us. Now, the New International Version reads like this. We have known
and relied upon. the love that God has to us.
We have known and relied upon. Faith is not believing that God
loves you. That's not faith. Faith is relying
upon the love of God. It's not just believing God loves
you. You know, if you ask anybody on the street, you believe God
loves you, they'd say, sure I do. He loves everybody, doesn't he? with no
understanding what the Bible teaches about the love of God.
Faith is not believing God loves you. You can believe God loves
you and split hell wide open. Faith is relying upon the love
of God in Christ Jesus. Faith is a reliance. I'm relying
on this, that God sent him and he did what the Father sent him
to do. I am relying on him keeping the
law for me. I am relying on him paying for
my sins. I am relying right now on Him
representing me before God. All my eggs are in that basket.
And if He didn't do it all, I'm doomed and I'm damned. I am relying on the love of God
in Christ Jesus. David said, although my house
be not so with God, and his house was fractured, his house was
a wreck. And I think he's also talking
about his own body. Although my house, this earthly
house, be not so with God, yet hath He made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And this is all my
salvation. And it's all my desire. I am
relying. All my eggs are in this basket. Every one of them. Bet he did
it all. I don't have mutual funds. It's
all right here. If he didn't do it all, there's
no hope for me. I'm totally relying on this.
In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in a body and
you are complete. Complete. Lacking nothing. I'm relying that that's so. Faith, this reliance, it's a
committal. As a matter of fact, it's quite
often translated in the New Testament, committed. Jesus did not commit
himself to them. That's to say, he didn't believe
in them because he knew all men. Need not that any should testify
of man. Paul said, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded
that he's able to keep that which I have committed to him against
that day. I have committed the entire salvation
of my soul to him. My hands are off. I'm out of
the equation. He must do it all. I've committed. You know, any belief in salvation
by works is failure to commit. You don't commit to Him if you
believe in works in any respect. I've committed all my salvation
to Him. And I'm persuaded that He is
able. Are you persuaded in His ability?
That was Abraham's faith. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to perform. You believe he's able? Well,
if you do, you will right this second commit the salvation of
your soul to him. Everybody in here, listen up. Right now, in your heart, commit
the salvation of your soul to Him. Trust Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. We guard His words. We know His
words. We receive His words. We know
them surely. And we believe. May God enable every one of us
to enter in to this thing of believing on Christ. Let's pray.