Mainly one verse. You and I have been slowly, and
I guess that's an understatement, working our way through this
book of Galatians. I hope I haven't gone so slow
that you've just lost all track of what the book is teaching. But sometimes I just want to
look at each verse See if there's a message there for us. And I
want mainly to look this evening at verse 6 of Galatians chapter
5. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. You did run well. Who did hinder
you that you should not obey the truth? This is one of Paul's
favorite little phrases. You know that. You've seen it
all through his epistles. In Christ Jesus. He's fond of that little phrase. In Paul's epistles you find that
or you find it's equivalent every place in his epistles. But this
is God's way of salvation in Christ Jesus. If God's going
to save a man, He saves him in Christ Jesus. That's His purpose
from all eternity. God's got an eternal purpose,
and that purpose is in Christ Jesus, Ephesians 3.11. That's
God's way of salvation. Men seek salvation in two ways,
don't they? We've often said this, there's
only two ways that men seek salvation. That's by works of righteousness,
which they have done, and that comes in many forms and many
fashions. It comes through different frames
of mind, if I'll just be sorry about it. If my mind will just
be in this frame or that frame, or if I'll just say what's right
or do what's right. Works of righteousness, that's
the way men seek to be saved. And then there's God's way. And
what's God's way? In Christ, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Of God are you in Christ Jesus. If He's going to save us, that's
where He's going to put us, in Christ to save us. As you look through Paul's epistles,
and I want to remind you of some of these places, I want to read
some of them to you because, like I said, this in Christ and
its equivalent is found And it deals with every aspect of our
salvation, from the beginning to the last. Now listen to this,
see if this ain't so. In Ephesians chapter 1, most
of you know where these are written, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. In Christ. Blessed in Christ. Ain't that
what he told Abraham? Ain't it amazing how all these
Scriptures begin to connect together? In thy seed shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. And here he comes and tells us
who that seed is. In Christ. God has blessed us
in Christ. The Gospel foreseeing, the Scriptures
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith. preach
the gospel unto Abraham. In thee shall all the nations
be blessed. And here we find out where those
blessings are. They're in Christ. In Christ.
And then he says this, according as he hath chosen us in him. Chosen us to salvation in Christ. And then he says this, in whom
we have redemption Through His blood, in Him, we have redemption. Redeemed from the curse of the
law, redeemed from all iniquity, redeemed from this present evil
world, redeemed from so great a death, in Christ we have redemption
through His blood. It does not cost us anything
to be redeemed, but it cost Him a lot, didn't it? His blood.
And then He says this about our acceptance. He chose us in Christ. He's redeemed us in Christ, and
listen to this, to the praise of the glory of God's grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted. That means He's received us in
the Beloved. In the Beloved. And how does
He receive us in the Beloved? Complete. You are complete in
Him. I don't feel complete, do you?
But we don't live by our feelings, do we? Our feelings does not
dictate our standing with the Father in Heaven. We're accepted
in the Beloved, and we're complete in Him, and we believe it because
He said it. He said it. We don't live by
our feelings. We live upon faith in what our
Father in Heaven has said. And listen to this. In whom?
In Jesus Christ. We also have obtained man's inheritance. And Peter says that inheritance
that's undefiled, that never fades away, incorruptible, incorruptible,
that inheritance in Christ. In my Father's house are many
mansions. And then he says this, that in
the fullness of time, God might gather together in one all things
in Christ, whether they be things in heaven or in earth, in Him. He's going to gather all His
people together. In Him. Gather them together
in Christ. In Christ shall all be made alive. That's the resurrection of the
body. So from the beginning to the ending, it's all in Him.
And you find all of these in Him through this Apostle's epistle. God's salvation is in Christ. It's in Christ. Justice is satisfied
in Him. The loss fulfilled in Him. In
Him, as far as our salvation is concerned, all nationalities
are gone. They're done away with. All cultures
are eliminated. All ceremonies means nothing.
In Christ, the Apostle said this, there's neither Jew, there's
neither Greek, slave or free. Male or female, but you are all
one in Christ. In Christ. He saves us the same
way. And we're all equal in Him. And equally saved. And there's
neither Jew nor Gentile. You're not saved because you're
a Jew. The Lord's never saved anybody because he's a Jew. And
you're not lost because you're a Gentile. In Christ, these things
mean nothing. A man's not justified because
he's circumcised, he's not condemned because he's not circumcised.
A man's saved because he's in Christ. A man's justified because
he's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what Paul teaches,
eh? Look here in Isaiah. Paul wasn't the only one that
was fond of this word. Look at whole Galatians 5. Look
in Isaiah chapter 45, closer to where Brother Glenn was reading.
I tell you, this is Isaiah, one of his favorite sayings too.
He used this often, in the Lord. And look here what he says about
it in Isaiah chapter 45. And look in verse 15. In Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ. Look in verse 15, Isaiah 45 and
verse 15. Verily, thou art a God that hideth
thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. They shall be ashamed
and also confounded, all of them. They shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved. How? How's Israel going to be
saved? How's spiritual Israel going
to be saved? How's the seed of Abraham going to be saved? How's
all God's elect going to be saved of all ages? Here it is, in the
Lord. That's how God saves a man. And
how long does He save them for? with an everlasting salvation
in the Lord, in the Lord. And look what he says in this
same chapter. Look over in verse 24. Look at this. Surely, shall one
say, surely, somebody's going to say. You sometimes we read
these prophecies and we wonder who that's talking about. Well,
here's a prophecy that I fit into. I know who this is talking
about. And this is a prophecy, Larry, you fit into. Surely,
one's going to say this, in the Lord have I righteousness and
strength. That's talking about me. I say
that, don't you? In the Lord Jesus Christ, in
Him, I have righteousness, perfect righteousness in Him and strength. And look at verse 25, in the
Lord, shall all the seed of Israel
be justified, and in the Lord they shall glory." In the Lord. How does God save a sinner? He
puts him in Christ. That's the only way to be saved,
brothers and sisters. There's no salvation outside
of Christ. There's not. No salvation in Moses. No salvation
in morality. Salvation's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now that's so, ain't it? That's
the testimony of God's Word. Look back over here with us.
Look back over here in Galatians chapter 5 and look at this. Paul mentions this phrase so
often in Christ, and here's another thing he talks about all through
this epistle, and that's faith. Believe it. For in Jesus Christ
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. But faith. But faith. This is
all the Apostle Paul's been talking about. Everything in this epistle
hinges on Jesus Christ and faith in Him. Let me remind you of
some of the verses that we've looked at in this epistle alone. Here's what he said, speaking
of faith and belief. We have believed in Jesus Christ
that we might be justified. That's one of the most comforting
truths of all the scriptures. How's a man justified? Paul said,
we believed in Christ that we might be justified. That's chapter
2 verse 16. Chapter 2 verse 20, the life
that I now live in this flesh, I live by faith of the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me. And then he says this,
this only would I learn of you, received you the Spirit by the
works of the law or by the hearing of faith. And then he says this
in the third chapter, Abraham believed God and it was counted
unto him for righteousness. He talks about this continually.
And he goes on to say this, know you therefore that they which
are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And he says
this, the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen
through faith. And he makes this statement about
faith. So then they which are of faith are blessed. Those who
believe are blessed. They're blessed to believe and
they're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Faith in Christ, what does Paul say? It justifies the sinner. Faith in Christ will do to live
by. The just shall live by faith.
We possess the Holy Spirit by believing. We have righteousness
given us by believing. We're all the children of God
by faith in Jesus Christ. In Christ, circumcision don't
profit you, and earned circumcision won't profit you. What profits?
Only faith in Christ. Believing in Christ. Nothing
else problems. Faith in Christ. Now I want us
to look at two things concerning faith in Christ. And Paul mentions
it here in the latter part of verse 6. I want to look at the
nature of faith. What's the nature of faith? It's
worketh. Faith, worketh. That's its nature. It works. If we had only one
scripture to go to and say, what's the nature of faith? Well, it
rests. We know it comes to Christ and finds rest, but the nature
of faith is to work. And what's the channel by which
it works? And that's what this word by
means. Strong says it means the channel. It's the pattern. By
which faith works. And what is that? Love. Faith
worketh by love. What does faith do? It reaches
out its empty hands, doesn't it? And receives Christ. Reaches out its empty hands and
embraces all the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ. In these
shall all nations be blessed, and faith reaches up its empty
hand and receives these blessings." Faith says, in the Lord I have
righteousness. Faith says, in the Lord I glory. That's what faith does. And the
nature of this faith is it works. It works. Faith in Christ saves
you, it justifies you, and this same faith that justifies a man
and saves a man, it works. It works. Somebody might say, and I think
we've all heard this. I've heard this so many times
in one form or another. Somebody said, well, if I believe
that faith in Jesus Christ justified me from all things, and believing
in Christ would save me, then I'd just believe in Him and be
justified and sit down and rest and do nothing the rest of my
life." Have you ever heard anybody make a statement sort of like
that? I've heard that so many times. Well, that's about half
right. That's about half right. When
a man finds out that faith in Christ will justify him from
everything, I'll tell you what he'll do. He'll sit down and
rest. His soul will rest. He'll rest from these self-righteous
attempts to justify his own self. But I'll tell you what he'll
begin to do then. He'll begin to work. He'll begin to work. Because that's the nature of
faith. It worketh. Faith worketh. That same faith in Jesus Christ
which justifies you will put you to working, it'll put you
to walking, it'll put you to witnessing for the glory of Him
that saved you. Faith worketh. That's its nature. James talks about a faith that's
unprofitable. It's the faith which people profess
to have, but it's not a justifying faith. It's not a justifying
faith. How do we know that? Because
of its nature. What did James say about the
faith he was talking about that could not save him? He said it
had no breath in it. It had no life. It had no movement.
He said that it's a dead corpse. Ain't that what he said about
it? Here's what the verse that I'm talking about. What doth
it profit, my brethren, though a man say he have faith, and
yet have not works? Can such a faith save him? Not
a faith like that can save him, can it? Because Paul says that's
not the nature of saving faith. If a man says, I believe in Christ,
and he doesn't work for Christ's glory, he's not prepped to do
deeds for God's glory, can such a faith save him? No. Because
a faith that justifies you is a working faith. It's a working
faith. Here's something else James said
about faith. For as the body without the spirit
is dead, So faith without works is dead also. Faith without works
is dead. Could you and I believe that
the Holy Spirit would give a man a precious gift like faith and
it'd be called a dead faith? If James called it a dead faith,
he means it's a wrong faith. They don't have the nature of
true saving faith. Justifying faith gives rest to
the soul and then it works. Now listen to this. Listen to
this. And see if this ain't so. What was it that possessed Abel
to go out in his flock of sheep and get a young, healthy sheep
and cut that lamb's throat and take it and offer that lamb to
God? And to stand right in the face
of his angry brother Cain, and not back up an inch. What
was it that caused him to do that? When Cain faced him and said,
you just wasted a good lamb. Your way is not the only way.
I can approach unto God through the works of my hands. And what
was it that made Abel stand right in his face and say, there's
one way to God, and that's through a sacrifice. You know what made
him stand there? Faith. Through faith. Why did no one leave his job? Why did he leave his work and
work his fingers to the bone, building an ark in the face of
mockery and opposition? What made him do that? Faith. Faith. Why did Moses' parents
hide that young baby even though Pharaoh threatened that all these
children must either be put to death or the parents must be
put to death. What made them have their baby
and didn't fear the commandment of the king? You know what that
was. Faith. Faith. Why did Moses leave the
ease and pleasure of Egypt and suffer in the wilderness with
God's people? Faith. Faith works, doesn't it? Why did the armies of Israel
march around Jericho for seven long, hot, dusty days? They believed God. Faith. Hebrews 11 tells us about men
and women who through faith subdued kingdoms. They brought kingdoms
down under their feet. Stopped the mouths of lions.
They quenched the violence of fire, wrought great and righteous
deeds, obtained precious promises, out of weakness was made strong,
turned to flight, fight the armies of the aliens. By faith they
endeared torture and trials of cruel mockings and whippings
and imprisonments, had their properties confiscated, their
homes sold, and some of them even lost their lives. That's the nature of faith. That's
the nature of faith. The whole eleventh chapter of
the book of Hebrews is to tell us the nature of faith. And what
do you find out about it? It's not a dead faith. It's a
working faith. It's a working faith. It may
be a weak faith. It may be a little faith. But
it's a working faith. Faith worketh. That's the nature
of it. It worketh. You and I have come here this
evening to worship the Lord. There are
so many things that we could be doing. We could be at home
resting our bodies. We could be out enjoying the
pleasures of this world. There's all kinds of things to
do in this generation. You can stay as busy as a bee
and enjoy yourself. We could have our hand in some
scheme to make some money. We could be overwhelmed with
the cures of this world. There's all sorts of things that
you and I could be doing this evening. Why are we here? Why
have we stopped everything that we was doing today and got ready
and came here to worship the Lord? Why did we do that? Because
we believe Him. We believe Him. That's what we're
doing here. It's faith. Faith has brought
you here. And that's the only thing. Faith. It works. In the morning, you
and I will get out of bed. We'll take the shield of faith
in one hand. We'll take the sword of the Spirit
in the other. And we'll go face the devil and
this world. And we'll quench his fiery darts
as he shoots it into our mind. And we'll overcome this world. Why? Through faith. Faith works. It works. Bruce,
how do you know that? Because the Bible says that's
the nature of it. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. Faith in Christ. Somebody say,
if I believe that, I stay home and do nothing. If I believed
what you folks believed, I'd stay home and do nothing. But
it ain't so much about what we believe, is it? Somebody come
up to you, what do you believe? Well, it's not so much about
what we believe. I may explain to you, and you
may explain to people what you believe, and they may misunderstand
what you believe. But it's not so much what we
believe. It's what the Bible says. It's
what God's Word says. And here's what God's Word says
about faith. It worketh. It worketh. That's the nature of it. Here's
a good defense against the enemies of faith being the rule of life
for all the children of God. Here's a good defense against
that. Faith works. Faith worketh. Some people believe
in the old carrot and stick, what we call it, the carrot and
stick approach. They believe the only way to
get the Lord's people to do anything is offer them a carrot. Tell
them about their rewards in heaven, how many stars are going to be
in their crown. Or take the stick of the law and whip them with
it. Or threaten them with the torments of hell. That's the
only way to get them to do anything. But let the Holy Spirit quicken
a poor dead soul and give him life in Jesus Christ. Let him
plant this holy faith in that sinner's heart. And from there
on through the rest of his life, you'll see a marked difference
in that man, in his attitude, in his thoughts, in his walk,
and in his words. And I'll tell you what will be
at the bottom of it all. This most holy, this heart-cleansing
faith. Faith worketh. That's the nature
of it. It's a gift of God. It's a holy
faith. When He gives it to us, He calls
it ours, and it works. It works. Look over here with
me in this passage. And second, 1 Thessalonians chapter
2. Just over to your right a little
bit. Just over to your right. Look at this. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2. This is an amazing verse. Look in verse 13. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 2 verse 13. For this cause, Also thank we
God without ceasing for this reason. We thank God for this
because when you received the Word of God, which you heard
of us, you received it not as the Word of men. You didn't receive
it as Paul's doctrine. How did you receive it then?
As it is in truth, the Word of God. And notice this, which affectionately
worketh also in you that believe." Do you believe God's Word? Boy,
it works in you. It works in you. Genuine faith
in the heart is seen in this way. You can
know it in this way, the effect God's Word has upon you. Have
you ever had a book in all your life that you could read and
hear it preached and teach from? that just worked on all your
emotions. I mean, sometimes you read it
or sometimes you hear it preached and it'll make you weep. Other
times it'll make you laugh. Sometimes it'll confuse you.
It'll bring you into such darkness. And other times it brings you
into such light. Sometimes it kicks the props
out and under you and leaves you almost without hope. And
the next time it gets under you, it lifts you up and just gives
you all kinds of assurance. The Word of God works in our
hearts when we believe it and stirs up these emotions in us
that we never dreamed that we had. It makes us rejoice. It makes us tremble. It gives
us hope. It makes us despair. It turns
us down and it lifts us up. David said, I rejoice at thy
word as they that findeth great spoil. What would you do this
evening if you found a bag and it had a million dollars in it?
And it had a sign in there that said, whoever finds this, it's
yours. You'd be jumping and shouting,
wouldn't you? They couldn't hold you down. You'd found a million
dollars. David said, I rejoice that way.
Oh, I rejoice when I read God's Word. I find these jewels. I
find these golden nuggets in it. I rejoice. And Isaiah said
this about the Lord. To this man will I look. To him
that is poor and of a contrite spirit. And he trembles at my
Word. That seems so contrary, doesn't
it? David said, I rejoiced at thy Word. And here's a man trembling
at His Word. That's what happens when we believe
His Word. It works in us. It works in us,
all these emotions. When you and I read in the Word
of God concerning His judgment upon sin, His wrath upon it,
oh, that's sobering to our hearts. That's so sobering to me. When
I thought of the message that I preached this morning about
the Lord looking upon sin and gathering the evidence, And Him
being there when men said and thanked evil, when they speak
evil and do evil, that He's watching all and everything's naked, that's
a sobering thing. When we consider the awful wrath
of God, the eternal wrath, the power of God's anger upon sin,
that's a sobering thing to me. Don't you feel that way? And
then when we turn right around and read in the Word of God that
Christ was punished for our sins, And God has put me in Him and
looks upon me now, no longer under His wrath, but a merciful
and tender and gracious Father to me. I tell you, that works
so much joy and peace and comfort in my soul that it's unbelievable,
unexplainable. But that's what the Word of God
does. That's what it does. Faith worker. And where does it work? In the
most vital part of an individual, in our hearts. In our hearts. You get a man's heart, you've
got him. Son, give me your heart. Keep your heart with all diligence
out of the end of the issues of life. And when faith gets
in the most vital part of a person, when a man believes in Christ
in the most vital part of his person, that'll change him. That'll
change you. It'll affect everything he says,
everything he thinks, everything he does. It'll affect you. I
tell you, when the Lord saved you, when God revealed His Son
to you, didn't it change every aspect of your life? Changed
every aspect of your life. You never thought like you used
to think. Any sins, you just thought like you used to think.
It's changed. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, he is born of God. And whosoever is born of
God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith." I wonder how many billions of people the
world has swallowed up. Swallowed up billions, but it
hasn't swallowed up you, has it? How in the world have you
overcome it? by faith. The devil's a roaring
lion walking about seeking him who may devour, but he can't
get the best of you. Ain't that amazing? You've overcome
the wicked one. Why? You believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God. Faith worketh. That's the true nature of it.
That's the nature of faith. It works. I look out over some
of you this evening. I see the evidence of faith in
your hearts. I see the evidence of it. It works. It changes you. It changes you. And here's the
channel by which it works. By love. Faith worketh by love. Now love don't justify. Catholics
believe that love justifies. Charity, they say justifies you.
Faith and love don't justify any man. Faith justifies a man. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. But this faith works by love.
Faith comes to us through this channel of love as water comes
out of our wells into our spigots and gets into our stomach through
a pipe. There's but one way to get water
out of your well into your spigot, and that's through pipes. There's
only one way to get this faith into your heart, and that's through
this channel of love, the piping of love. If you truly believe,
you truly love. As soon as you believe, that's
how soon you love, because faith worketh through this channel
of love. Let me give you a good example
of this. You remember in Luke 7? that sinful woman that came
to the Lord Jesus. Simon the Pharisee had invited
the Lord to dinner, and the Lord was sitting there eating with
Simon, and this woman came. The Bible calls her a sinner
that was in the town. I don't know what she was guilty
of. Probably some open and profane sin. But she came there where
the Lord was, and she got down behind Him, and she was weeping.
And she began to wash his feet with tears and wipe his feet
with the hairs of her head. And she had this alabaster box
of ointment and she broke it and poured it on his feet and
kissed his feet. And the Lord said to that woman,
He said to that woman, He said to that woman, He said to Solomon,
her sins are forgiven her. She loved much. She loved much. And he turned to her and he said
this, what means was it saved her? Remember what he told her?
Thy faith. Thy faith has made thee whole. She was saved by believing in
Christ. And what did that faith bring
to her? Forgiveness of sins. We preach
to you through this man the forgiveness of sins and by him All that believe,
all that believe in Him are forgiven of all your sins. And what happened
to that woman? What happened to that woman when
the Lord forgave all her sins? She loved Him. She loved Him. As soon as we believe in Christ,
we love Christ. And as soon as we believe in
Christ, we love one another. Why didn't Simon? Why didn't
Simon love the Lord? He didn't believe the Lord. He
didn't believe in the Lord. If you don't believe the Lord,
you don't love Him. Faith worketh by love. And in proportion as
we believe, that's probably the proportion in which we'll love.
If you've got a big stream of water coming into your faucet,
you've probably got a big pipe. You've got a little old pipe
that's stopped there, you've got a little stream of water. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
Do you believe Him? Do you believe Him? The more
you believe Him, the more you're going to love Him. The greater
faith, the greater love. And when the Apostle uses faith
and love here together, you notice here in this chapter. Turn back
over here to our text. He often uses faith and love
together. And when he does here in this,
he directs our faith towards God. Abraham believed God, and
it was counted to him for righteousness. Faith is towards God. But when
he speaks here of love, faith worketh by love, he directs that,
not only towards the Lord, but one another. Look what he says
up here in verse 13 of chapter 5. I would they were even cut
off with trouble, a year for brethren, We've been called unto
liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.
But look at this, but by love serve one another. You believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that faith works. And how does it
work? By loving one another. You can't believe Christ and
not love your brothers and sisters, can you? Look over here in Romans
chapter 13. In verse 8. Romans chapter 13 in verse 8. Look at this. Romans 13 in verse
8. Oh no man anything but to love
one another. For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. For this thou shalt not commit
adultery. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt
not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not
covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended
in this saying, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love
worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling
of the law. And where does man get this love?
It comes with faith. It comes with faith. As soon
as we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we love. Faith works
by love. A non-believer never loved God,
and he never loved his neighbor. I don't know what kind of love
he has, humanistic of some kind, but I tell you a non-believer
never loved the Lord. No man loves the Lord until he
first believes on Him. Now that's so. Faith worketh
by love through this channel of love. Now notice this. Notice
this. Back over here in Galatians.
Paul mentions this in Galatians chapter 5. He mentions these
three graces. He'd already mentioned one of
them in verse 5, but he mentions the other two in verse 6. And
look here, here it is, hope, faith, and love. For we through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Faith, love, and hope. Faith
comes first. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then what follows that? What
keeps company with faith? Love. And when faith believes
and when love comes, that puts the heart to hoping. It puts
a man to hoping. Not only does love for our Lord
Jesus and one another accompany faith, but the knowledge of God's
love For us, in Christ, accompanies faith. When you believe on the
Lord Jesus, it's just natural for you to love one another.
But as soon as you believe on the Lord Jesus, I'll tell you
something else that happens. It'll be just natural for you
to receive the knowledge of God's love for you. That comes right
with it. Listen to this. Our faith is
in a redeeming Christ. One who suffered and died for
our sins. And as soon as the heart is enabled
to believe in the Redeemer, faith begins instantly to see the cause
behind this redemption. And what is it? Love. For God so loved the world. For God so loved. As soon as
we believe in Christ, what happens? Oh, God loves me. God loves me. I never believed it a day in
my life. I couldn't believe that God loved me. Not wretched, miserable
me, until I believed in Christ. Then I begin to say with the
Apostle Paul, the life I now live, I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me. Who loved me. Paul never believed
God loved him. He never believed Christ loved
him until he believed on him. And that brought the knowledge
of this love, love. Listen to John 3.16. We have
all three of these things here in this one verse. For God so
loved the world, there's love, that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him, there's love, there's
faith, should not perish. But what? Here's our hope. How? Everlasting life. We live in
hope of life eternal. The heart believes into salvation,
and with the faith comes the knowledge of God's love in Christ
to some degree. To some degree. I tell you, it's
an amazing thing to believe that God loves a man. And sometimes I have some dark
days where I just can't hardly grasp that He can love me. You
don't go through situations like that. But to believe in Christ
brings this knowledge of God's love to some degree, and it dispels
this torment and fear and this doubt. God, for Christ's sake,
saves us. And He saves us because He loves
us. When these three graces get into
a person's heart, they begin to think then, things will be
well with my soul at last. Oh, I believe in this redeeming
Christ. I believe it. And God sent Him out of love,
great love. And that being so, it's going
to be well with me at last. I can face death. I can face
the judgment. I can face eternity. Why? This hope. This hope. Ain't it
a wonderful thing to have hope? A little difference between hope
and grace. But it's such a wonderful thing to have hope. Hope. And he says here in this last
verse 7, he did run well. He did run well. I tell you, this world looks
upon a believer, and he don't see much in you. The world looks
upon you and he don't see much in you. He don't see any great
things. He don't see much outward pomp.
You get that out of some of the other religions that has the
outward show. And because the world don't brag on us and pat
us on the back, you know what we get to thinking sometimes?
Boy, we're not running well at all. We're just crawling along. Crawling along. But we shouldn't
judge ourselves by the way we feel. Judge yourself by what
the Lord says. If a man is living by faith in
Christ, I mean you're living your life by faith in Christ.
He's your life. You get your strength from Him. And that faith is working by
love. You see some downtrodden brother or sister, And you know
their heart's breaking or you know they're struggling and you
take time out of love to stop and encourage or give a phone
call or pay a visit because you love them. You ain't doing great
things in the eyes of this world. The Lord reduced it right down
to this, just a cup of cold water in my name. That ain't much is
it? The world don't recognize that, but they did it out of
love. I was hungry, and you fed me out of love. That wasn't much. But the Lord said, when we live
by this faith that worketh by this love, and there's this hope
in our hearts of someday being like Christ. What's your goal? What's your aim? What's your
hope? Someday being just like Him who saved me. That's my hope. And I'm grown, and I have this
secret grown in my soul. I'll never be satisfied until
I awaken his likeness. The world can't see that. It's
in your heart. Sometimes you lay on your couch
or your bed and you think, oh Lord, oh Lord, how long, let
me be like you. On your job, while you're working,
you got this grown in your heart, oh for the day to get rid of
this body of death and never see him again, never see him
again. You're living by hope, aren't you? You know what the
Lord says about that attitude. You know what the Lord said about
your faith, and about your love, and about your hope? He said,
when these graces are lively in your heart, you're running
well. You're running well. Lord, I
feel like I'm crawling. Well, you may in your own eyes.
But the Lord says you're running well. You're running the race. You're running well. God bless
His Word.