WHO BELIEVES? I want to be one of those people. WHO BELIEVES? Now, Paul had brought this message
in Acts chapter 13 in the Antioch, and the content of Paul's sermon
is found in verses 16 through 39. And it seems as though he
sensed some opposition to what he had said, because he said
in verse 40, Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which
was spoken of in the prophets. Behold, you despisers, and wonder,
and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you." Now, I love the response of the Gentiles in verse
42. And when the Jews were gone out
of the synagogue, these are the people that had disproved of
the message, the Gentiles begged. That's a strong word. They besought that these words,
the very same message that they had just heard Paul preach, they
wanted to hear these words again the next Sabbath. Now, it is
my prayer that the Lord would make me to be someone who wants
to hear the gospel, that I would beg that these words might be
preached to me once again. Now, this is an attitude I pray
that all of us will have, this desire to hear the word. Verse 43, now when the congregation
was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed
Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue
in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath, that next
Sabbath where they besought that these words would be preached
to them again, the next Sabbath came almost the whole city. together to hear the Word of
God. Now what a sight that must have
been. I tried to look into how big
this city was and at this time the population of Antioch was
almost the size of Lexington. 250,000 people and almost the
whole city. came out to hear the word of
God. Can you imagine the excitement of that environment with so many
people desiring to hear the word of God? But, verse 45, when the
Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy. They saw that so many people
seemed to be interested in hearing this message, and they were filled
with envy. They didn't see themselves as
getting that kind of response, and they were filled with envy. This speaks of their depravity. I don't know of any emotion that
we have that is more base and that says more about us as individuals
than the sin of envy. Wishing bad on somebody else,
thinking it ought to be coming to us. They were filled with
envy. And what did they do? They spake
against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting
and blaspheming. And that's what people do when
they oppose the gospel. They contradict what's being
said. They find reasons to disagree
and they blaspheme, speaking harsh things against the gospel. Verse 46, then Paul and Barnabas
waxed bold and said, and they use some very strong sarcasm
here. And this lets us know that sarcasm
has its place. They use strong sarcasm to these
people who were contradicting and blaspheming their preaching. They said it was necessary that
the Word of God should have first been spoken to you. But seeing
you put it from you, you cast it off, you don't receive it. Seeing you put it from you and
judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. Lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. Verse 47. For so hath the Lord commanded
us saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I love this next statement,
that thou shouldest be for salvation. What a statement with regard
to the salvation of God that thou Shoulders be for salvation. He is salvation. Who are the
objects of this salvation? The ends of the earth, the lowest,
the last, the most unlikely. We've turned from the Jews and
now we've turned to the ends of the earth, verse 48. And when
the Gentiles heard this, they were glad. and they glorified
the word of the Lord. And then Luke gives us this editorial
comment. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Now today, it's just like it
was then, there are those who believe, and those who do not
believe. There's no intermediate. There's
no in between. There are those who believe and
there are those who do not believe. Turn with me to Acts chapter
28. Verse 23, after hearing Paul preach Verse 23, and when they had appointed
him a day, there came many to him in his lodging to whom he
expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning
Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets
from morning till evening. And some believed the things
which were spoken and some believed not. Now everybody in this room
and everybody outside of this room, that means everybody in
the world, every human being alive can be divided into one
of these two groups. Those who believe and those who do not believe. Those who believe and those who
do not believe. Now, I want to be in that group who
believes, don't you? There's one thing that I want
to be said about me. Whether anybody says it or not,
there's one thing I want to do. I want to believe the gospel.
Whatever that means, I want to believe the gospel. I repeat, there are only two
categories of people on this planet, those who believe and
those who do not believe. Now, before we can answer the
question of Who believes? I want to answer two other questions
first that I want us to consider. First, what is meant by believing? What's that mean? And secondly,
when somebody believes, what do they believe? And we really
can't determine who believes until those first two questions
are answered. What is meant by believing? What is meant by believing? Well, let me say this. It is
more than believing the truthfulness of proposition. I believe this
pulpit is made of solid oak. I believe it. I don't believe
it's made of particle board. I don't believe it's made of
fiberglass. I don't believe it's made of
plastic. It's made of solid oak. I believe
that. Is that faith? The answer is no. That is not
what is meant by believing. I believe that two plus two equals
four. I believe that. totally, is that faith? The answer is
no. It could be called believing
in a sense, but it is not saving faith. Turn with me for a moment
to John chapter 12. Verse 37, but though he had done
so many miracles before them, yet they believe not on him.
In spite of all the evidence, yet they believe not on him,
that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which
he spake, Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom hath
the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe. Because that Isaiah said again,
he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they
should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart
and be converted and I should heal them. Now these things said
Isaiah when he saw his glory. You can read these words in Isaiah
chapter six. And what did he do when he saw
his glory? He spake of him. Now let's go on reading another
couple of verses, nevertheless. Among the chief rulers also,
many believed on him. It does not say they did not
believe, it said they do. Many believed on him. But, now that's a very revealing
word. But. But because of the Pharisees,
They did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue. For they loved the praise of
men more than the praise of God. Now, these people believed on
him, but did they have saving faith? They had a type of faith. They had the same type of faith
that the devils have. James tells us about the devils
in James chapter two. You believe there's one God,
you do well. That's accurate, that's right.
You ought to believe in one God. And then he said, the devils
believe and tremble in fear. That's a type of faith, but it
is not saving faith. Now, James also speaks in that
passage of scripture of faith that is without works, that is
dead, being alone. Faith, let me repeat that, faith
without works is dead. There's no life in it. It's the
product of a natural man dead in sins. Faith without works
is dead being alone. And what is the first thing that
the Lord said to all seven of the churches in the book of Revelation?
First thing, I know your works. That's the way he introduced
each thing. He said, to all seven of the
churches, I know thy works. Now, I know with regard to that
faith that would not confess him, that's not saving faith.
They did not have the works that proved the reality of their faith. Now, let me say this. As soon
as I start saying this, somebody's thinking, well, do I have works
to prove my faith? Do I have works to prove my faith? And
of course you're gonna start thinking that way, and of course
you're gonna be afraid you don't. I understand that, as soon as
I start thinking of it in that light, this is not talking about
a life of good works that proves to you and buttresses your faith,
and you say, aha, I must have faith because look at the good
things I'm doing. That's not what that means at all. Here, I think, is the most powerful
example of the works that prove the reality of faith. Lot. Now you think of Lot and you
think of a weak man, a sinful man, I mean you could tear his
life apart without any problem at all. He lived in Sodom, he
lingered in Sodom, didn't want to leave. The only way he did
leave is because God took him by the hand through the angels
and yanked him out. And you say, where are the works
in Lot when all you can see is bad stuff? Where are the works
in Lot that makes you think he's got works that prove the reality
of his faith? He didn't look back. His wife did. She turned to a
pill or salt. He didn't look back. Now, I've
thought about that before. If the angel said, don't look
back, and I was running and I heard the thunder and the brimstone
and the fire and the explosions, you know what I'd wanna do? I
don't think I could resist looking back just to see it blown up.
But the point behind this is he didn't look back to his works. That's the point. You see, if
you have faith, there will be works that prove you really believed
what you said you did. Now, faith, if it doesn't have
works, the scripture says is dead being alone. Faith alone is always alone and
it's never alone. Faith in Christ is always alone.
It's not faith and, it's faith only. And it's never alone, like
Lot. Didn't look back. If you're a
believer, you will not look back to your works as the ground of
your salvation. You look to Christ only. Now, would you turn with me to
2 Timothy 1. In my mind, this verse is if somebody would ask me,
tell me what faith is. What does the Bible mean by faith?
Give me something that I can see. This is the scripture that
I would go to. Second Timothy chapter one. Now
here are the words of Paul in verse 12. He says, for the witch
cause, I also suffer these things because of my preaching, because
of the content of my preaching. Folks don't like it. Meet with
affliction everywhere I go. I meet with bonds and imprisonment.
I'm stoned for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed
and am persuaded. And that word persuaded is in
the passive, I've been persuaded. God has persuaded me of this.
The Holy Spirit has persuaded me of this. Christ has persuaded
me of this. I'm convinced. You see, when
the Lord teaches you, you're taught. You know, one thing,
if you ever say, Lord's trying to teach me something, don't
say that anymore. Lord doesn't try to teach, he teaches. If
he teaches you, you're taught. And he taught the Apostle Paul.
And he said, I've been persuaded. And what was he persuaded of? That he is able. That's what you're persuaded
of. Well, I'm persuaded I'm a Christian. That's meaningless. I'm persuaded, I've been persuaded
that he is able. You are persuaded of his ability
to save you with no help from you. I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him. against that day, the
day of judgment. Now here's the key word. All
these words are key words. I know, I know whom, I know whom
I believed, I'm persuaded, he's able to keep. Those are all important,
but here is the one that really hits me. All of them hit me,
but here's the one that hit me right now. I'm persuaded he's
able to keep that which I have committed. to him against that
day. Now, what does that mean? You're on the third or fourth
floor of a burning building. There's a bunch of firemen down
on the ground with a net saying, jump. Now, maybe there's eight or 10
people holding that net. And you believe they're able
to catch you if you jump out. You believe they're able to catch
you. But what good will that belief do to you if you don't
jump out? It won't do you any good at all.
When you jump, you know that if they don't catch you, you'll
be dashed to pieces. You know that you don't have
any hope of survival if they don't catch you. You know that
the only way you'll be saved is if they catch you. and you commit when you jump
out the window and just trust them to catch you. You know that
if they don't, you won't survive the jump. You'll be killed. You
know that it's not your committal that saves you, it's their ability
to catch you. You commit when you jump out
the window knowing that only they can do you any good. You
can't save yourself. It's totally up to them and their
ability. Now you commit yourself to Christ
when you have no other hope but that he catches you and presents
you faultless before the throne of God. Now that's what the act
of believing is. It's not just believing in the
truthfulness of something, it's this committal where you jump
out the window. You know if you stay, you'll
be destroyed. You know if he doesn't get you,
you'll be destroyed. You jump out the window knowing
that the only way you'll be saved is by what? HE HAS DONE HIS ABILITY
TO CATCH YOU. THAT'S WHAT'S MEANT BY BELIEVING
COMMITTAL. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT RELIANCE
ON HIM BEING ALL IN MY SALVATION. NOW, IF MY SALVATION IS DEPENDENT
UPON ME DOING ANYTHING, IF IT'S DEPENDENT UPON MY FAITH, IF IT'S
DEPENDENT ON MY ABILITY TO REPENT, IF IT'S DEPENDENT UPON MY HOLY
LIVING, If it's dependable on my ability to stop any sin, I
have no hope, none at all. My only hope is that when he
said, it is finished, my salvation was finished. so that is the
act of believing now when one does believe what is believed
what is the content of their faith now once again paul gives
us this in the verse of scripture i just read i know whom i have
believed Beloved, that's the content of the faith. I know
whom. What you believe is contingent
upon who you believe. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him for righteousness. Without faith, It's impossible
to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is. Not just believe in his existence.
Oh, I believe there's a God. Well, you ought to. It's plum
silly not to. But that's not faith. Faith is
believing His isness. He is, as He's revealed in this
book we call the Bible. All of His isness is revealed
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, who He really is. To believe God is to say, as
Paul said in Acts 24, 14, believing, believing, believing all things which are written in the
Law and in the Prophets. Well, what do you have to believe?
Everything God said. Everything God says without exception. Now in the immediate context,
Paul was, go back to Acts 13, Verse 38, be it known unto you,
therefore, all this message was brought to this place, be it
known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, this is what I'm
coming to, that through this man is preached unto you, the
forgiveness of sins. And by him, all that believe
are justified. from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now, when you want
to get to the actual content of the faith, you believe that
he justified you. The reason you're forgiven is
not because you asked to be forgiven. It's not because you were sorry
over your sin. It's not because you promised
to stop committing that sin or those sins. It's not because
of all the things you promise you're gonna do in the future.
The reason you're forgiven is he justified you. That's the great mystery of the
gospel. How God can take somebody like
me and make me to be sinless before him, and it really is. That's justification. I stand before God absolutely
just. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted
for righteousness. Now, think of this thing of believing. Now, I'm asking what the act
of believing is. It's committal to him, for him
to do it all. What do we believe? Well, I love
what the Ethiopian eunuch said. He said, what hinders me from
being baptized? And he said, if you believe with
all your heart, you may. And how did he answer? I love
this. He didn't say I believe with
all my heart I'm saved. He didn't say I believe with
all my heart I'm one of the elect. He didn't say I believe with
all my heart that all my sins are forgiven. He said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I do too, buddy. He's my friend, we believe the
same thing. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You
see, what think ye of Christ is the content of saving faith. Christ is his offices as prophet,
priest, and king. He doesn't simply tell the Word
of God, he is the Word of God. I think of his priesthood, he
doesn't come like a priest with the blood of a slain animal,
he comes living with his own blood that he shed on Calvary's
tree and presents it to the Father. He's truly the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ, is born of God. I John 5, 5, Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. In Acts chapter 15, verse 11,
Peter said, We believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we shall be saved. Now that's spoken of in the original
In a tense that says, we believe that by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we've been saved already. We're being saved, present
tense, and we shall be saved. In Acts chapter 16, verse 30,
the Philippian jailer said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord. I wish I could
speak as I ought to about this, but He's the Lord. When you're
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, you're believing on the absolute
sovereign of the universe, whose will is done always in all things. He's Jesus, the Savior. He's
God's Christ. Christ, Paul said in Romans 10,
4, is the end of the law. the goal of the law, the purpose
of the law, the end of the law, for righteousness to everyone
that believeth. Romans 10, nine, if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart
that God hath raised him from the dead. Not only believing
the physical fact of it, but his reason for doing it. Jesus
Christ, so satisfied God, so put away sin, that the very justice
of God demanded him to be raised and everybody in him. 1 John
3, verse 23 says, this is his commandment, that we believe
on the name of his son. And this is the same name that
we call upon, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. That doesn't mean just verbally,
audibly saying his name. His name is the attributes behind
the name. It's the person behind the name. We're calling upon
his justice, his sovereignty, his power, his wisdom to save
us. That's what we're doing. When
we're calling upon his name, Lord, save me by who you are. In John chapter three, verses
14 and 15, the Lord said, and as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that
whosoever believeth in him should have everlasting life. Now turn with me for a moment
to Numbers chapter 29. Let's look at the Lord's use
of this story in Numbers chapter 21. Verse four. And they journeyed from Manhor
by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Eden. And
the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. Now this is something that I
have no doubt that everybody in this room knows something
about. Discouragement. Disillusionment. Things had not been as you thought. You're disappointed with God's
providence. You're disappointed with what
is happening in your life and you're discouraged. You're discouraged. Every human being knows something
about this thing of being discouraged. It's a difficult thing, isn't
it? To be discouraged, to be disappointed, to be disillusioned. The people were discouraged. because of the way these times
we're living in are discouraging times, aren't they? All the stuff
that's going on, discouraging. And the people were much discouraged
because of the way. Verse five, and the people spake
against God. That's a bad place when discouragement
leads us there. The people spake against God
and against Moses, God's representative, God's spokesman. And look what
they said. Wherefore have you brought us
out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread. Well,
that manna fell that very day. There is no water. The water's
still coming from the rock. And our soul loatheth this light
bread. Now what once tasted like heavenly
manna, wafers, flavored with honey, the scripture says. It
was so good. Now it's insubstantial. It's not satisfying. We're not
getting anything out of this. We're tired of it. We're sick
of it. Our souls loathe this light bread
that the scripture called angel's food. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people and they bit the people. And much people of
Israel died, therefore the people came to Moses and said, we've
sinned, we're wrong. We've spoken against the Lord
and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
And the Lord said unto Moses, make thee a fiery serpent and
set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass that
everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it. Now note the clearness and the
simplicity of that. That's what faith is, looking. Everyone that is bitten when
he looketh upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass
and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent
had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. Now, faith has nothing to do
with what you think about yourself except for this. There is an
exception. It's impossible to exercise saving
faith if you don't see yourself to be a sinner. Now, that's necessary. Faith is impossible if you don't
see yourself to be a sinner. That means you see yourself.
We're not talking about how you see other people. You know, I'm
amazed how clearly I can see the sin in others. I can see
it good. I've got an eagle eye for that. But I'm sublime with
regard to myself. I know that. No ifs, ands, and
buts. I know this. I am, in and of
myself, nothing but sin. I cannot not sin. I'm nothing
but sin. And I'm not a victim in this
thing. My sin is my fault. I can't blame anybody else. I
can't blame my circumstances. I can't blame the Lord. I can't
blame my upbringing. It's all my fault. fault. And because of that, I'm totally
unqualified to sit in judgment upon anybody with regard to any
thing. And I have no claims on the mercy
of God. Now that is the person who is
a candidate for mercy. These people who were bitten
were the ones who believed. If you don't believe this about
yourself, it's impossible, not improbable, but impossible to
believe the gospel. Now here we have the first two
questions. What's believing mean? It's committal to Christ. You're
trusting him only to save you. What is believed? Him. Everything we believe is determined
by who he is. You can't believe him and not
believe him to be successful. It's impossible. He said to those
two blind men, do you believe that I'm able to do this? They
said, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Now, for the third
question. Who believes? Back to our text in Acts chapter
13. Verse 48, and when the Gentiles heard this,
they heard this glorious message. They were glad and they glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life, believe. That's who believes. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name that we might be enabled to believe and to be a believer. and to
actually trust thy son and reject anything but being saved by him. Lord, teach us to trust him alone. Oh, that we might be of that
number. who were ordained to eternal
life, and they gave us the evidence they believed. Oh, that we might
believe. And bless this message for your
glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Dwayne, come lead us in closing hymns.