If you will, turn with me tonight
to Hebrews chapter 11. We have been going through the
book of Hebrews at a fairly rapid pace, at least for me. We're
going to slow down a little bit now. This 11th chapter of Hebrews
is so very, very, very important. It deals with one subject, just
one subject, and that subject is faith. Declaring to us what
faith is, what faith does and how faith is exemplified. Now,
nothing in this world, no subject in this world, is of more vital
concern to our souls than faith. And that's the title of my message
tonight. I don't know of anything about which there is more obvious
ignorance and confusion in our society particularly than this
matter of faith. Most everybody talks about it.
People use the word faith all the time, even in religious connections. But almost everything I hear
men say in connection with faith is not only wrong, but damning
to the souls of men if men believe what they hear or believe what
they speak. Now, faith is essential. Understand
this. No one in the world will ever
be saved without divine election, but election by itself saves
no one. No one will ever be saved except
those who are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
But redemption by itself saves no one. Chosen sinners must be
redeemed because that's God's purpose. Justice must be satisfied
because that's God's character. And none are saved. except those
who are effectually called from death to life by the irresistible
power and sovereign grace of God the Holy Spirit. Sinners
must be born again. God purposed from eternity that
men who are chosen of him, redeemed by his Son, must be called by
his Spirit. And faith in Christ is also essential. No man, no woman, will ever enter
into the kingdom of heaven just because God chose them, Christ
redeemed them, or the Spirit called them. They must also believe. Without faith, no man shall ever
come to God. So it is essential that we understand
what the scriptures teach concerning faith. Here in this 11th chapter
of Hebrews, the Apostle Paul is picking up what he told us
in the latter part of chapter 10. He's told us that the just
shall live by faith. And he tells us that we who have
faith believe unto the saving of our souls. In chapter 11,
verse 1, he declares that faith is the substance, the ground,
the foundation of our confident hope of eternal salvation in
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that faith is the evidence of our
eternal justification and everlasting salvation by the grace of God. In verse two, he tells us about
the elders. I presume by the elders, he is
referring to those elders who stood as examples in the Old
Testament, particularly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Elijah,
and such like. By this faith, they obtained
good report, a report for their own consciences, a report before
men, but most importantly, obtained a good report as men who pleased
God. In verse 3, it tells us that
faith understands what the most brilliant scientist in the world
can never fathom. Faith, taking God at his word,
understands that the worlds were framed by the word of God. All who believe God understand
that this world came into existence by the will, purpose, and power
of God Almighty, our sovereign creator. Now, don't be so foolish
as to suggest or imply that men must all agree about all the
details of creation. They don't. But all who believe
God understand that this world did not just evolve out of some
kind of cosmic ooze. It didn't just happen because
of some big bang. It came into existence by the
will of God, our Creator. And then in verse four we're
told that Abel, our great example of faith, our brother in the
grace of God, our fellow righteous companion in the kingdom of God,
he understood in the earliest days this second son of Adam. He understood clearly. that the
only way a guilty sinner could ever approach the Holy Lord God
was by blood atonement through a sacrifice substitute. His brother
Cain, his older brother, who should have known better, if
he had listened and heard and understood what he was taught
by his father, he would have known better, but he was a rebel.
And being a rebel, he refused to bow to the revelation of God.
Cain presumed in his self-righteous arrogance that he could come
before God and find acceptance with God on the basis of something
he did. Not Abel. Abel believed God. Cain did not. Abel was born of
God. Cain was not. Abel was redeemed. Cain was not. Abel was chosen. Cain was not. And then in verse
5, we read about Enoch. One of the most remarkable men
whose, that is to say, the scriptures speak of his faith in the most
remarkable way of almost any man in the Old Testament. Enoch
understood that the only way a man could please God and be
accepted of Him is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So how
can you say that? Jude tells us that he prophesied
not only concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, a person. He prophesied
that Christ was coming again with ten thousands of his saints.
These men were not groping in the dark. These men were not
walking around in ignorance. We sometimes get the idea that
the caveman mentality is true. The caveman mentality is a farce.
It's a myth. Man wasn't born groveling around
like a beast in the field, grunting like some kind of an ox. Man
was created in the image and likeness of God Almighty. And
we think sometimes that caveman mentality applies to spiritual
things. These men who walked with God,
walked with God by faith in Jesus Christ whom they knew just as
we do by divine revelation through the word that God had given in
Holy Scripture. Did they know everything we know?
Well, I think maybe they knew a whole lot we don't know. And
there are areas where clearly the revelation was not as full
to them as it is to us because the book of God had not been
completed, had not been written and put before them as it has
with us. But they certainly walked with God by faith. Now in verse
six, Paul is telling us that the only way a man or woman can
be saved, the only way we can be accepted of God, the only
way we can walk with God in this world, the only way we can please
God is by faith. Not just faith in faith, but
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's read our text together.
Hebrews 11 verse six. But without faith, Enoch walked
with God. Before it was translated, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith, that's
the key. Without faith, it is impossible.
It is impossible. It is impossible. It is impossible
to please him. For he that cometh to God, now
notice, he uses those two terms interchangeably, faith and cometh. For faith is exemplified, faith
is demonstrated, the act of faith is coming to God. It is not an
isolated act, it is an act of life. Like breathing is an act
of life. So long as we live spiritually,
we come to God. So long as we live physically,
we're breathing. So it says without faith, it's
impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God, he
that believes God, must believe that he is. and that He is the
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. All right, now I'm
not going to say anything new or profound or deep, and yet
all that I say will be new to some perhaps, and profound indeed
it is. But it is set forth in the simplest
of terms. I want to ask and answer four
questions from the Word of God. The first question is the most
needed. What is faith? What is faith? Is it some kind of a mystical
mists that we can't get hold of? Something we can't possibly
explain or understand? Something that can't possibly
be explained? Oh no, it is explained crystal clearly in the Word of
God. There are many forms of false
faith by which the souls of men are deluded and damned. We read
in the scriptures of men like Judas, Demas, and Diotrephes,
all who had faith. Saul, the king of Israel, who
had faith. Ananias and Sapphira, who had
faith. But all who had a faith that
did them no good, but rather did them positive harm, for it
was a false faith and brought them at last to hell. You see,
there is in the scripture evidence and example of men who have a
mere historic faith. And I suspect if I were to categorize
the faith that most people have, it is nothing but a historic
faith. It is believing historic facts concerning the person and
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Men talk about, well, he believes
in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. That's not faith. That's
a historic faith. That's receiving historic facts.
Multitudes believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus
who have no knowledge of who the Son of God is. The Pope of
Rome does. Your Mormon neighbor does. Everybody
who has any concept of Christianity as a historical religion understands
those facts. But that's not faith. Multitudes
in the scriptures believed because they saw the miracles. Isn't
that what our Lord said in John 6? He said you don't believe
because you know me. He said you believe me because
you've eaten the loaves. You've eaten the fishes. You've
seen the miracles and your faith stands in the miracle you saw.
Folks say, oh, I saw the Lord do this. Oh, you ought to have
been at church last Sunday. We had folks healed from polio.
We had folks healed from cancer. They saw miracles. They think
at least they saw miracles from God. And their faith stands in
the power of men, not in the power of God. Their faith stands
in what they perceive with their eyes, not what God revealed in
their hearts. Multitudes there are who have an intellectual
faith. They have learned and read and studied. They've read
the theology books. They've read the history books.
They've read the Bible. They are well grounded in the
languages, the historic languages and the historic creeds. And
because they have figured this thing out now, now I believe. If your faith stands on what
you figured out, you haven't got any faith. Your faith stands
in the word that you have received from a man. Others have a mere
emotional faith. I can speak somewhat to this.
When I was seven years old, I was sitting in a congregation and
folks made a big deal about various things and the preacher preached
and they sang a song and he told a telling story and folks began
to sob and cry, scared to death of going to hell and me too.
And they gave an invitation, and I came forward, made a profession
of faith. And don't tell me I didn't experience something. I experienced
something. I don't know what on earth it was, but I experienced
something. I had great feelings, sensational feelings. But no
faith. It was just emotion. Just emotion,
nothing else. I recall hearing my grandmother
speak of my dad. She had been praying for him. She was standing at the sink
washing dishes one day when he was 12 years old. I remember
it like it was yesterday. Not when he was 12 when she told
me the story. She said, I was praying for him and said, you
know, I saw a crown of thorns right in front of my eyes and
I knew he was alright. Just emotion. Just emotion. No credibility to it all. None
at all. That's not faith. There are multitudes
who have a false faith that's damning. It is damning. I'm telling
you, a false faith is not better than no faith at all, David.
A false faith is damning to the souls of men. Religion, any religion
is not better than no religion. Any religion is damning. Better
to have no religion than to have false religion. There's one true
faith, only one. The scriptures speak of it as
the faith, the way. There is a way that seems right
to a man, and that way has many ways. The ends thereof are the
ways of death. But true faith is one. We must examine ourselves
and prove ourselves whether we be in the faith, the faith of
God's elect. True saving faith consists of
three things. Now, I want you to write these
down if you haven't already done so in the past. I've given them
to you before, but I want you to get them. True faith must
possess these three things. Knowledge, assent, and trust. Those are three essential elements
to true faith. Knowledge, assent, and trust. If we would be pleasing to God,
if we would come to Him and be saved by Him, we must know the
revelation of God in the gospel, we must give a willing assent
to God's revelation as the truth, and we must trust Him who is
revealed in the gospel. The first aspect of true faith
then is knowledge. Now, this needs more time than
I'm going to give it tonight. I'm sure I'll come back to it
more. Knowledge is not faith. Knowledge is not faith. No matter
how precise and accurate the knowledge is, knowledge is not
faith. I think I told you I had received
a note from someone several weeks ago. I knew he was setting me
up, but that's all right. I'll just go ahead and feed the
goats a little bit once in a while. He said, would you say this is
an accurate statement? That in order to be saved, a
sinner must believe in the imputed righteousness of Christ? I said,
no sir, that's not an accurate statement. In order to be saved,
a sinner must believe in Christ, who is our righteousness. And
there is a huge difference. there is a huge difference. Knowledge
is not faith. And yet there is no faith without
knowledge. Paul says in our text, he that
cometh to God must believe that he is. He must believe something.
He must believe that God is. And that he is the rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. So our text clearly shows us
the necessity of knowledge. Faith in Christ is a heart work. But it is not a leap in the dark.
It's not someone's going, faith is a leap in the dark. No, it's
not. Faith is walking in the light. Faith involves knowledge. It's based upon knowledge. In
order for us to trust Christ, there must be someone, there
must be something about Him that we trust. These two things, according
to our text, must be known. We must know the Lord Jesus Christ. We must know God as he is revealed
in Christ. Hold your hands here and turn
to John 17. I won't ask you to look at a lot of scriptures.
I'll refer to more than I'll have you turn to. But look at
John 17. John 17, verse 3. Salvation is not believing there's
a God. Oh, he believes in God. I'm sure
he does. Well, who doesn't? Where did
you meet the fellow who didn't? He believes in Jesus. Just listen to him. He gets in
trouble and says, Oh Jesus! He believes in Jesus. That's
not faith. That's not faith. John 17 tells
us faith is knowing God. There's a big difference. John
17 verse 3. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee. The only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Bob Duff sitting here, you were
in religion all your life, knew all about God. Somebody's idea
of him anyway, all about Jesus. That's not life and that's not
faith. Faith is knowing God and knowing God's son whom he has
sent. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father,
He hath declared Him, so that those who are born of God know
God as He has made known in the person and work of His darling
Son. The scripture tells us here in our text, back in Hebrews
11.6, we must know that God is. Knowing that God is, we must
know that God is who he says he is and what he says he is. Somebody says he believes in
God. But he talks about God who wants to do what he can't do,
tries to do what he doesn't get done, wills what he doesn't have,
purposes what he doesn't accomplish. That's no God. Might as well
call that God. That's no God. That's nothing
but a superstitious idol carved out of your own dark forest.
The forest in your own depraved heart and mind. God declares
plainly who he is. Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. He said, alright, here's who I am. I will have mercy. on whom I will have mercy, I'll
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. He says I'll
be gracious, but I'll be gracious to whom I will. God declares
himself to be gracious, good, and sovereign. Gracious, but
altogether God. He is just as well. He's a just God and a Savior.
He said in Isaiah 45, come on, all you peoples of the nations,
come on, bring your gods and set them down here and let me
show you who God is. I'll tell you who I am, a just
God and a Savior. So that that one who is truly
God is gracious to whom he will be gracious. He's thoroughly
just so that He will not by any means clear the guilty, except
on the grounds of guilt being taken away by justice being satisfied
and righteousness being brought in. He's holy, holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty. That's who Isaiah saw when he
said, I saw the Lord. And if ever you see Him, you'll
see Him that way. So holy that you'll cry, woe is me! I'm a
man of unclean lips. I dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. and merciful. Merciful. Oh, our
God delights in mercy. The only way a man can know God. The only way. Now listen to me.
Now, I'll take that back. Don't listen to me. Turn to 2
Corinthians 4 and listen to God. The only way a man can know God,
the only way, the only way. You don't know him by him coming
down and tapping you on the shoulders. You don't know him by him coming
down and showing you a picture of a crown of thorns and some
kind of a vision. You don't know him by some angel coming and
sitting on your bedpost and showing you who Jesus is. I don't care
how exciting the experience is. I don't care if it causes your
skin to crawl off your back. You don't know God except by
God revealing himself to you in the person of his son by his
word in the gospel. There's no other way. 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 verse 5. We preach not ourselves. We don't
preach about ourselves, from ourselves, or for ourselves.
But Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's how men
come to know God. Is when God condescends an infinite
mercy by His word to open your dark heart and shine in the light
of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. The only way you'll ever
know God is by the revelation of Christ in you. And you must
know that God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. You turn to Isaiah 29. I'm sorry, Jeremiah 29. And listen
to what God says in Isaiah. You turn to Jeremiah 29. The
rewarder, them that diligently seek Him. Now. Seeking him as
an act of faith not working for him Seeking him is what we're
doing now Worshiping him seeking him is coming to him not endeavoring
to do something by which we can earn a good crown before him
When the scripture speaks of God being the rewarder of them
that diligently seek him He is that one who is our reward and
he rewards us graciously on the grounds of free grace through
the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ listen to what he says
Incline your ear and come unto me Here and your soul shall live
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure
mercies of David I'll give you all the mercy of the covenant
Your soul will live before me forever seek you the Lord while
he may be found call you upon him while he's near Let the wicked
forsake his way in the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him
return him to the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and
to our God for he will abundantly pardon Now then, look at Jeremiah
29. Verse 13. You shall seek me. You shall. Oh, thank God. With regard to every chosen redeemed
sinner, the Lord God declares there comes a day when you shall
seek me. And find me. Seek Him, you'll
find Him. When you shall search for me
with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord. He said, I said not to Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. Seek me and you'll find me. I
will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your
captivity. And I will gather you from all
the nations and from all the places whither I have driven
you, saith the Lord. And I will bring you again into
the place which I caused you to be carried away captive. In
other words, all who seek the Lord, all who come to God by
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be rewarded with eternal
life and everlasting salvation. This too must be known. But how
can we know? How can we know that God will
reward every believing sinner as he comes to entrusting the
Lord Jesus Christ? How can we know that God will
give the believing sinner eternal salvation? By the gospel. That's the reason he sends men
out to preach the gospel. People have the idea that somehow
men in New Guinea, those tribesmen, if they just try to be good and
do the best they can believing what light they have while they
worship their totem poles and eat their friends, they'd be
all right. God will have mercy on them.
Oh, what foolishness! What foolishness! The fact that
they worship sticks and stones, the fact that they have some
idea that by their deeds, no matter how cruel and barbaric,
they can attain righteousness before God, displays the depravity
of their hearts. That's not faith. That's not
faith. That's groping in darkness. How
do men then come to know who God is and the revelation that
God will reward sinners with eternal life by faith in Jesus
Christ? By somebody going and telling
them of the gospel. By somebody holding a flashlight
and asking God to turn it on in their hearts. Holding out
the light of divine revelation. The scripture tells us in the
gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ earned righteousness for his
people. Now there's no other way for a senator to know that,
except somebody come tell him. There's no other way. You'd never
figure that out on your own. Nobody would ever invent that
on his own. The Scripture tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the God-man mediator, not only earned righteousness
for us by His obedience, but having earned righteousness for
us, took on Himself our sin, and bared our sin in His own
body on the cursed tree, having put away sin then by the sacrifice
of Himself, by the satisfying of divine justice, by His blood,
He obtained eternal redemption for us. The gospel tells us that
God promises all who believe they'll live forever. Look unto
me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, beside
me there is none else. Now this is the point I'm making.
Gospel knowledge is essential to saving faith. And this matter
is a matter of paramount importance. The matter that must be understood
is who Christ is and what he did. The Lord Jesus Christ is
an able redeemer for he is God and man in one glorious person. He's a willing Redeemer. He came
here willingly as our covenant surety. And He's an effectual
Redeemer. What He put His hand to, He has
accomplished. Unless a person knows these things,
he cannot have faith. He cannot have faith. He cannot
please God. He cannot be saved. But merely
knowing these things is not faith. Knowledge is necessary, I repeat.
But knowledge alone is not faith. While the men were coming in,
I looked up something I happened to remember John Owen said, I
thought was pertinent, so I wanted to get it and read it to you.
John Owen, remember this fellow who lived in the 1600s, the Puritan, he said in those days, of all
the poison which at this day is diffused in the minds of men,
corrupting them from the mystery of the gospel, There is no part
that is more pernicious than this one perverse imagination
that to believe in Christ is nothing at all but to believe
the doctrine of the gospel. Nothing more poisonous than to
imagine that faith is nothing but believing doctrinal facts.
It's not. And yet the doctrinal facts must
be believed. No one, no one has faith who
denies the gospel. No one has faith in Christ who
denies the facts revealed in the gospel. No one has faith
who denies the revelation of Christ in the gospel. But along
with knowledge, our hearts must give a scent that these things
are true. Many who know the truth refuse to assent to it. They've
heard it all their lives. They've been catechized and trained
in the gospel from their infancy. But saving faith involves a willing,
voluntary, deliberate, considered consent. It involves a willing
assent to the truth of God. Faith simply embraces the revelation
of God as the revelation of God says God's true. That's just
right. God said it, that's right, and
I bow to it. I bow to it. Today, right now,
you've got your Bible open in your lap, and you're being confronted
with divine truth. What I have said to you thus
far, I have shown you plainly from the Word of God. No question
about that. God has spoken plainly by his
word, and you're going to make a decision. Everybody here who
hears me with their ears is going to make a decision before he
walks out those doors. And the decision will be either this,
I will bow and say God is true, and every man a liar, including
me. Or I'll say God's a liar, and I'll believe me. That's what
unbelief is. A man confronted with the truth
of God, who refuses to give assent to divine truth, declares that
God is a liar. Look in 1 John chapter 5, I'll
show you. 1 John 5. Verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God has the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. Has declared God to be a liar
because he believes not the record that God gave of his son. Now,
have you embraced the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
as the truth? If you have, I'll say to you
as our Lord did to the rich young ruler, you're not far from the
kingdom of God. But you're not there yet. You see, faith knows
the gospel. Faith gives a scent to the gospel,
but there's more. Saving faith comes to God. Saving faith trusts the Lord
Jesus Christ. You see, faith is not a notion
in the head. Faith is not something we just,
somehow we're convinced of it in our minds, like you'd be convinced
of the facts of history with regard to the life and work of
Abraham Lincoln. That's not faith. That's not
faith. Faith is not just acknowledging, well, I believe Don Fortner's
an honest man, I believe he believes what he's saying, so I believe
him. That's not it. That's not it.
Faith is the commitment of your life to God Almighty in His Son. Now that's faith. That's faith. Faith is trusting Christ. That
woman with the issue of blood, had wasted all of her living
on physicians of no value. And finally, in her desperation,
she heard about the Lord Jesus, and she said in her heart, if
I can but touch the hem of His garment, I'll be made whole.
But that's not faith. That's not faith. She crouches
down and calls through the crowd and the press and the throng,
and she's calling through that crowd, coming to Him. And she
touched Him. That's faith. That's faith. She cast everything on him and
came and told him everything. Faith is the publican crying,
God be merciful to me, the sinner. Faith is the leper coming to
him saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. He that
believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ, Thomas Brooks wrote, shall be
saved. Be his sins never so many. But
he that believeth not the Lord Jesus Christ must be damned,
be his sins never so few. Now, here's the second question.
I'll take less time with it. And I'll have to take less time.
Why is faith necessary? Why is it that faith in Christ
is necessary? Because no one ever pleased God
otherwise. Hebrews 11 records the names
of 17 men and women whose histories we know well. men and women who
pleased God, and that in every instant we're told that they
did so by faith. You see, repentance will not
save you. You've got to have repentance,
but it won't save you. Judas had repentance, but he
wasn't saved. Esau had repentance, but he wasn't saved. Confessing
your sin won't save you. Ahab did that. He didn't know
God. You've got to confess your sin, but confessing it won't
save you. Self-denial and sacrifice won't save you. Mother Teresa
did that, but she didn't know God from a gourd. Ananias and
Sapphira made great sacrifice, but they didn't know God. Only
faith pleases God. Because only faith looks to Christ
for everything, gives all praise and honor to God, and trusts
Christ alone for our entire acceptance with God. Look at Romans 4.16. Faith is necessary. Because without
faith there's no vital union to Christ. It's necessary because
God plainly declares that we're saved by grace through faith
without works. Somebody says, but faith is a
work. No! No, no, no. Faith works, but faith isn't
a work. Faith is that which God gives.
Faith is looking to Christ, whose work alone gives us acceptance
with God. Look at Romans chapter 4 verse
16. You see, faith declares salvation by grace. Faith doesn't bring
anything to God. Faith doesn't promise anything
to God. Faith doesn't make a bargain with God. Faith does nothing.
Therefore, Romans 4, 16, it is a faith that it might be by grace
to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not
to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is
a faith, the faith of Abraham, who's the father of us all. Alright,
one last question. Well, one more question and I'll
get to the last one. Here's the third thing. How can
I obtain this faith? How can I obtain it? Turn to
Romans chapter 10. Romans 10th chapter. You can't get it from your dad
or your mama. If I could give you faith, If I could give you faith, I
would, but I can't. I can take your sons and daughters
by the time they learn to walk and begin to talk a little bit
and talk them into religion. And if I did so, if I had what
I deserved, I'd go to hell before I got my next breath out. I can't think of anything, David
Coleman, I could have ever done to your two daughters more permanently
damaging to their souls than to talk them into a profession
of faith without knowing God. Nothing. Nothing. I hold the
religion of this world in utter contempt. in utter contempt. Trying to tell men and women
they know God when they don't. Trying to tell them they're saved
when they're not. Talking them into religion just so they put
their name on a tote board. I don't respect it at all. I
respect pimps and pushers more. And I chose my words deliberately.
Oh no. How does a man get faith? Not
because he's my son or daughter. Not because he's your son or
daughter. Our Lord said it doesn't come by flesh or blood. It doesn't
come by the will of man. Man doesn't get faith by deciding
to have it. You get faith by the gift of God through the preaching
of the gospel. Now, we don't have to believe
that. We got it lodged up here, but we don't have to believe
that. God saves sinners by the foolishness of preaching. Bobby, if we just had to believe
that, we'd do everything we could to get folks to hear the gospel,
wouldn't we? We wouldn't make any excuses for keeping our family
out of the house of God. We wouldn't do it. We wouldn't
do it. Look at Romans 10 verse 13. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's talking about worshiping
God. Worshiping God. Well, how shall
they call on Him in whom they've not believed? Can't worship Him
unless you believe Him. You can't worship an idea. You
can't worship a thought. You can't worship a doctrine.
How shall they call on Him whom they've not believed? But how
does man get to believe Him? How shall they believe in Him
of whom they've not heard? You can't possibly worship God
unless you believe Him. And you can't possibly believe
Him unless you hear about Him. And you can't possibly hear about
Him without a preacher. How shall they hear without a
preacher? And I can't possibly preach, except God send me with a message
to your soul. I can give you a lecture on religion
or a lecture on doctrine, but I can't preach. I suppose the greatest, most
constantly menacing fear I have It is the greatest, most constantly
menacing fear I have. Fear of standing here or somewhere
else in God's name, unprepared, without having sought and got
a message from God for you. If that's the case, then what's
done here is of no value to your soul. How shall they preach except
they be sent? Look at verse 17, so then faith
comes by hearing. and hearing by the Word of God. If you obtain faith, you'll get
it by divine revelation. If you obtain faith, you'll get
it by the regenerating grace and irresistible call of God
the Holy Spirit. Look at Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1. When I was in college, both colleges
I attended, as well as the correspondence work I've done since then. Everybody
talks about evangelism, how to do it, how to do it, tell you
how to preach. Folks who don't know God tell you how to do it.
Get folks to come to God. You got to tell the stories right.
You got to organize the sermon right. You got to come to a climax.
You got to strike while the iron's hot. You got to massage people
mentally and get them. I recall once when I was in high
school, I went over to the college, Shelby was in college before
me, and they had a Sword of the Lord conference. Big soul winner
got up, and I can remember his words like he's speaking them
right now. He said, what you do is you sneak up on their backside
and get them to come to Jesus before they realize what they're
doing. That's exactly what this world's doing to men. Oh, no,
no, no. No, we tell men the truth. Tell
them to count the cost and come to Christ giving everything over
to Him. How on earth can you expect a
man to do that? How can I expect anybody, anybody,
in their right mind, to give up their lives? Now, believing
in Jesus to keep you out of hell is one thing, but give up your
life? Give up your life to the rule
and dominion of Christ willingly? How on earth is that going to
come? Only if God Almighty who raised him from the dead raises
sinners from the dead. Look here, Ephesians 1 verse
18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may
know what is the hope of his calling. And what the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the
exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, look at
it now, according to, this is how we came to believe. According
to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ
when he raised him from the dead. That same power wrought in Christ
to raise him from the dead is the power it takes to raise sinners
from the dead and cause them to believe God. Now I've got one more question.
Do I have true saving faith in Christ? Let's turn to 1 John
chapter 5. Folks say, well you can't know
that. I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon. John says
in verse 13, these things have I written unto you, that believe
on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have
eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God. If I have faith in Christ, I
have renounced all personal righteousness. I trust Jesus Christ alone. my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Whatever it is that God requires,
I trust Christ for it. And I willingly surrender the
rule of my life to Jesus Christ, my rightful Lord and King. You
see, unbelief Lindsay, all the days of our
lives, all the days of our lives, we lived as rebels to God. You
lived as a religious rebel. I lived as a reprehensible piece of human
flesh. Both of us rebels to God. Rebels
to God. That's what unbelief is. Unbelief
says, I'll be my own God and to hell with God. That's what
unbelief is. That's what it is. What's faith? There came a time when he made
himself known to us. And from that day to this, we've
been coming to him, giving up our lives to him. Faith is the cessation of rebellion. It's the bowing of the rebel.
It's bowing to the king. It's bowing to the king. Yes,
this faith is mine. Look at verse 1, I mean verse
10 of 1 John 5. He that believeth on the Son,
the Son of God, hath to witness it himself. What witness? The witness of the Spirit and
the witness of the Word. Because the witness of the Spirit
and the witness of the Word says, he that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not God has
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record God gave of the
Son. Faith has something to do with the record God gave in this
book. And this is the record. That God hath given to us eternal
life. And this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. Let me tell you something. Listen now, other than the clothes on my
back, and I can't really say it to them because they won't
last very long, there's not anything on this earth I can touch and
say that's mine. She's my wife, but she will be
just a little while. Got my family, but just for a
little while. And they're not mine. The one
thing there is that's mine, mine, all mine, totally mine is the
Son of God. I've got the Son. I've got life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Oh, never was there a man so
rich as that man who has the sod, and never a man so poor
as he who hath not the sod.