I have entitled this message,
Faith, Believing His Ability. Now, I always feel a measure
of fear when I try to deal with what faith is, because it would
be so easy to darken counsel with words without knowledge,
and I don't want to do that. I want to bring as simple a message
as I can with regard to faith, faith, believing His ability. Now, Paul had been praying for
the Ephesians. We've looked at this for seven or eight weeks
now. Verse 14, for this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches
of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the
inner man. And that's a reference to the
new nature. The old nature can't be strengthened. It's nothing
but corrupt. but he's praying that the inner
man might be strengthened. That Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. That you, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all
the fullness of God." Now here's his comment upon that prayer. Now unto him that is able. Now unto him that is able. to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think. According to the power that worketh
in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout
all ages, world without end. Amen. Now, when Paul makes these requests,
what he reminds us of is the ability of the Lord. Now unto him that is able. And there is an inseparable connection
between faith and his glory. I hope you're going to understand
what I mean by that by the end of that, this message, but there
is an inseparable connection between faith and giving him
all the glory. Now the church is called, look
in Ephesians chapter two, verse 21, in whom all the building
fitly framed groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. Now the church is called his
temple. You had the tabernacle in the
Old Testament. You had the temple that Solomon
built. And that was where the Shekinah
dwell, glory of God actually dwelled. And now his glory dwells
in his temple, the church. And David makes this statement
in Psalm 29, verse 11. And I've just delighted thinking
about this. In His temple does everyone speak
of His glory. That is the conversation in His
temple. Everyone, without exception,
speaks of His glory. Faith is believing in His ability
And if you believe in his ability, you know that salvation is caused
wholly by his ability in every aspect. And he gets all the glory
in his temple. Does everyone speak of his glory? Now he said to two blind men
in Matthew chapter nine, do you believe that I am able? And think of this question being
posed to you. Do you believe that I am able
to do this? Do you believe in his ability? It was said of Abraham in Romans
4 21, after God told Abraham, you're going to become the heir
of the world, you're going to be the father of many nations.
You're going to have descendants as the sand of the seashore and
as the stars. And you know what the scripture
says Abraham did? He didn't have any physical evidence that it
would happen. None. But he believed God. And Romans
chapter four, verse 21 puts it this way. He staggered not at
the promise of God through unbelief. but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised, he
was able also to perform. Are you fully persuaded? And
the only way you will be is if God's persuaded you. But if he's
persuaded you, you're fully persuaded that he is able. I think of what Paul said in
2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed. And this goes with that. I'm
persuaded that he is able. That's what faith is. It really
is that simple. It's believing his ability. I'm persuaded that he is able. to keep that which I've committed
to Him against that day, that day of judgment. I'm persuaded
that as He represents me before the Father, He's able to keep
me and to present me faultless. I believe His ability to do that. Do you believe in His ability? Most people, most religious people,
they would say, well, faith is believing you're saved. No. Faith is believing His ability. Everything we hope for is founded
in His ability to do what He said He would do. Now I think
of the rich young ruler. He goes away sad, bereaved. He could not comply with the
command the Lord made. Go and sell all you have. Give
it to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven. Come and
follow me." You see, this man didn't realize that he was a
man eaten up with covetousness. He said, concerning the commandments,
all these have I kept for my youth up. And he had no idea
what the law of God really meant, so the Lord showed him. And he
saw that he could not comply with the commandments. He went
away grieved. And the Lord said, how hardly so they that have
riches enter the kingdom of heaven. It's more easy for a camel to
go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
into heaven. And the disciples were dumbfounded. And they said,
who then can be saved? With men, it is impossible. Who then can be saved? With men.
With regard to men, I don't care who they are. It is impossible,
but not with God. For with God, all things are
possible. And that word possible is the
word able. He is able. When Sarah was overcome
with unbelief, The Lord said to Abraham, you're going to have
a son a year from now. And she had already gone through
menopause and she started laughing. She said, shall I have a, as
old as I am, shall I have pleasure? My Lord being old also talking
about Abraham. And she laughed. And the Lord
said, why'd you laugh? She said, I didn't laugh. I always
think that's kind of amusing, you know, right in his presence.
I didn't laugh. He said, you did laugh. And then he posed
this question, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything beyond his ability? I'm gonna read several scriptures
that deal with the ability of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen
to these, you can jot them down, look at them if you want to,
but Hebrews chapter seven, verse 25 says, He is able to save them to the
uttermost. That's strong language. He is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. Now,
do you believe that he's able to save you to the uttermost? And that word means completely,
means perfectly. It means absolutely. I mean,
he's able to save you. You can't take that word too
far. He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him. Now, if you're a believer, you
understand that the only way you come to God is by him. And
that means more than you pleading his name. It means When He comes,
you come because you're in Him. And the only way you come into
God's presence is because you are in the Lord Jesus Christ,
united to Him. And you believe that He is able
to save you with no help from you. No help from you. Now remember,
this coming to God, yeah, we come to Him, but the only reason
we come to Him is because we're in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
when Christ comes, we do too. He said, I am the way, the truth
and the life. No man comes to the Father, but
by me, not by pleading me, not by believing me, but by me, by
me. And that's the way the believer
comes into the presence of the Father. And he believes that
Christ is able to save to the uttermost. A leper came to him. I refer to him, I imagine probably
once or a week, maybe, or at least a couple of times a month.
I love the leper. Behold, a leper came and worshipped. And I love that that's pointed
out first. Lord's to be worshipped, whether he does anything for
me or you or not. He's the Lord. He's the Lord, and if that's
not settled, he's not gonna do anything for you. Is that settled? He's the Lord, and he's to be
worshipped. Behold, there came a leper and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can. You have the ability is what
the word is. If you will, you have the ability to make me clean,
pure, undefiled, without guilt, perfectly righteous, if you will. Now there's nothing I can do
to make this happen, but if you will, you can make me clean. Do you believe that He is able
to make you clean? Hebrews 2.18 says, he is able
to succor, to help them that are tempted. Now, every believer
knows something about temptation. Trials, the trials the Lord brings
your way that can drive you to distraction. Being tempted to
sin, being tempted to quit, Temptation? He is able. He's able to succor,
to give aid, to help them that are tempted. Do you believe that
He is able to help you? In Romans chapter 16, verse 25,
Paul says, now unto him that is able, there's the word again,
now unto him that is able to establish you. That means set
you on the foundation so you can't be moved. Now you know
how easily you could be moved if he doesn't establish you,
you'll be moved right like that. But now unto him that's able
to establish you, according to my gospel. I love the way Paul
called the gospel, my gospel. You know, it's my gospel too.
It's my gospel just as much as it was Paul's gospel. You see,
I'm saved the same way Paul was, by the grace of God, by the blood
of Christ, by the righteousness of God. This is my gospel. Paul
said he's able to establish you. Do you believe that he is able
to establish you? That's a very simple question.
Do you believe? that He is able to establish
you. And then in Acts chapter 20,
verse 32, and now brethren, I commend you to God and the word of His
grace, which is able to build you up, to establish you upon
the foundation and to build you up that you might grow in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now
this is believing His ability. I'm not asking you to look at
yourself and say, how much have I grown? Oh boy, I've really
made progress. I'm not saying anything like
that, but I'm not asking you to try to measure out how much
you've grown, but I'm asking you this. Do you believe that
he is able, the word of his grace, do you believe that he is able
to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that
are sanctified? Listen to this scripture, Philippians
chapter three, verse 21. who shall change our vile body
that it may be fastened like unto his glorious body according
to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto
himself. And let me tell you the kind
of grace this sinner needs. I need subduing grace. I need
him to subdue me invincibly and irresistibly. And Paul ascribes praise to him
who is able to do this. Romans chapter five, verse 20,
Paul said, moreover, the law entered that the offense might
abound. Wherever the law is understood,
the offense abounds. If you're not a place where the
offense abounds in you, you have no understanding of the law.
Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but
where sin abounded, in that place where sin overflowed, grace did
much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death. Now
stop right there. How much power do you have to
prevent death? Absolutely none. As sin hath
reigned unto death, in the same manner grace reigns. How much
power do you have to prevent grace? No more power than you
have to prevent death. Grace reigns. It's a subduing,
reigning grace that he speaks of. Romans chapter 14 verse 4 says,
Who are thou that judgest another man's servant to his own master?
He stands or falls. You know, I don't have any business
judging you. You don't answer to me. And you
don't have any business judging me. I don't answer to you, to
his own master. He stands or falls. That's one
of the many reasons. we ought not judge one another. I can give you 10, 12, 15, 20,
100 reasons. I think the main reason the Lord
gave is you can't judge somebody because you've got beams in your
eyes. Until you get the beams out of your eyes, you can't judge
anybody else. But at any rate, Paul asks this question, why
do you judge another man's servant? To his own master, he stands
or falls. And then he makes this statement.
Yea, he shall be holding up for God is able to make him stand. Do you believe God is able to
make you stand? I'm not asking you anything about
yourself. I'm not asking you what you think about yourself
or what kind of progress you think you're making. What do
you believe concerning him and his ability? 2 Corinthians 9,
verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound toward you. Now, did you hear that? God is
able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always,
having all sufficiency in all things, might abound to every
good work, included in Christ as all, is Christ as all in our
sufficiency, we have every reason to be perfectly content, because
we have all things in Christ. All grace abound. Now, do you
believe God is able to make all grace abound toward you. You believe that? Jude 24, one of my favorite verses
of the scripture in the Bible. Now unto him that is able to present you faultless. before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. Do you believe He's able to present
you false? I love that scripture in Colossians
1, 22 of the presentation that Christ is going to make. He's
going to present every believer holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in God's sight. Do you believe He's able to do
that? You believe he's able to take somebody as sinful and weak
and contradictory as you and make you to stand before God's
presence without fault. Do you believe that? I do. I do. As a matter of fact, Paul
says he's able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or
even think. I love that poem by Newton. Come,
my soul, thy suit prepare. Jesus loves to answer prayer.
He himself has bid thee pray and therefore will not tell thee
nay. Thou art coming to a king. Large petitions with thee bring
for his grace and power such that none can ever ask too much. You believe that? You know, we ask far too little,
don't we? Our petitions are far too small. Now, let's go on reading Ephesians
1, 3, 20. Now unto him that is able to
do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us. Now, what is the power working
in us? We'll look at Ephesians one beginning
in verse 19. And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his
mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him
from the dead. Now that is the power working
in every believer. And that power is greater than
the power of creation. Now it took omnipotence to create
the universe from nothing. but to birth you into the kingdom
of God, and to make you a partaker of the divine nature, without guilt before God, to preserve you and keep you,
to make it to where you're going to stand among the inheritance
of the saints in light, perfect, that took action. There's more power involved in
that than in creation. And everybody that believes,
and believe this, everybody that believes, you're a testimony
to the mighty power of God. If you persevere, you're a testimony. It took the power of the resurrection
to cause you to do that. Now back to Ephesians chapter
three, verse 21. Unto him be glory, in the church by Jesus Christ
throughout all ages, world without end. Now, I hope this will explain what I'm trying to say
when I say there's a connection, an inseparable connection between
faith and the glory of Jesus Christ. Now, his ability equals
his glory. I love that scripture we sing,
holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, though the
eye of sinful man thy glory may not see. You know, there's a
lot of folks that care less about the glory of God. But there's
a group to whom the glory of God is more important than anything
else. And it's the people in the church. Unto him be glory in the church.
Remember, the church is his temple, and in his temple doth everyone
speak of his glory. Now let me give you two reasons
why this is so. Why the glory of God is so important
to every member of the church. Him getting all the glory. Here's
the first reason. Because he ought to get all the
glory. Salvation is of the Lord. He ought to get all the glory
and none go to man. That's the first reason this
is so important to us. But this second reason I'm afraid
I enter into a little bit more than the first reason. You see,
if he doesn't get all the glory and salvation, that means some
glory goes to man. And if some goes to man, that
means some part of my salvation is dependent upon something I
do. And that makes salvation by works when it comes right
down to it. I don't care what form, that makes salvation by
works. If man gets any glory, then there's
something man has to do to achieve that glory. And that's a burden
I can't bear. I know that if that's the case,
I will not be saved. That's why I want him to get
all the glory. That's the only way I'll be saved.
That's how important this is to me. Yes, it's important to
me that he gets all the glory because I love him and because
he deserves all the glory. No question about that. But my
dear friends, if he doesn't get all the glory, that means some
of it goes to the man. That means some part of salvation is dependent
upon me. That means I won't be saved. That's how important this
is. Now in the church, doth everyone
in his temple, doth everyone speak of his glory. Now what is the church? Unto
him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world, without end. Now, the word church means a
called out assembly. If you're in the church, that
means he's called you out. Look in verse one of chapter
four, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that
you are worthy of the vocation, the calling wherewith you're
called. I think of that passage of scripture,
under the Jews, we preach Christ crucified under the Jews, a stumbling
block under the Greeks, foolish, but unto them which are called.
Unto them which are called. I wanna be one of these people,
don't you? Part of this called out assembly where he has called
me by his invincible grace. That's what the church is. It's
a called out assembly where you've been called out of darkness into
his marvelous light. And look what Paul says about
the church in Ephesians chapter five. Turn with me there, verse
25. Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it to be. that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word that he might present
it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. You know what that means? When
Christ loves me, he's loving himself. I'm united to him. So real is this union, that when
he loved me, when he loves his church, he's loving himself. Verse 29, for no man ever yet
hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth even as the Lord
of the church. For we're members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and
they too shall be one flesh. Now this is a great mystery.
Would you ever have known without this revelation that marriage
is just given to reflect Christ and his church? If Briden would
have known this, I wouldn't have known this. This is a great mystery. And all this stuff I'm saying
about marriage, I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let every one of
you in particular so love his wife even as of himself, and
the wife see that you reverence her husband. Acts chapter 20
verse 28 says, feed the church of God which he hath purchased. The church are the people he
called. The church is his bride. The
church is his purchase. Every believer belongs to him
by purchase. You belong to him. You're not
your own. You're bought. with a price. That's the church. We read in
Ephesians 1, 22 and 23, that the church is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. And if I'm his body, I think
of what the Lord meant. The Lord wasn't speaking figuratively.
He was speaking literally when he says in as much as you've
done it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to
me. That's literal. Because I'm His
body. That's what the church is. It's
His body. The fullness of Him that filleth all in all. It's
called in 1 Timothy 3, the pillar and the ground of the truth.
The church is the pillar and the ground of the truth. In Hebrews
chapter 12, it's called the general assembly and church of the firstborn
whose names are written in heaven. Y'all have a church role? Why? There's nothing in the Bible
about that, but there is something in the Bible about this church
role. This is the role I want to be in, whose names are written
in heaven, in the Lamb's book of life, the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. The Lord Jesus sings praises
to his father in the midst of the church. He still walks amidst
the seven golden candlesticks. That means he's walking here
right now. He said, where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Lord, said to his disciples in
Matthew chapter 16, whom do men say that I am? And they gave
some pretty good answers. Well, some say you're Elijah,
some Elisha, some Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. They put
you in some good company. And they didn't realize how degrading
that was to the Lord. To compare the Lord to any man,
you can't compare him to anybody. He's utterly unique. There's
none like Him. And then He said to Peter, or
He said to the disciples, whom say ye that I am. And Peter acts as a spokesman
to the church. Thou art that Christ. You're God's prophet. You're
God's priest. You're God's king. Thou art that
Christ. the son of the living God. Now let me remind you something.
Faith, not only is believing his ability, but you believe
his ability because he's the son of God. That's why you believe
his ability. You believe his ability to do
all these things for you and to save you because he's the
Christ. God's anointed Messiah. And after Peter made that statement,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, the Lord said,
blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you, but my father, which is in heaven, and thou art Peter. And upon this rock, this confession
of me. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Upon this confession of me, I
will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. You know why they're not gonna
prevail against it? I'm gonna bust them down, and I'm gonna rescue all my people
from the gates of hell. Now, oh, to be a part of the
church. Now, I want to be a part of a
local assembly. I want to identify myself with
those people where the gospel is preached. But, you know, in
a local assembly, you always have wheat and tares. Yes, I
want to be part of a local assembly, but I want to be a part of the
church that he built, the church that he purchased with his own
blood, the church he gave himself That's the church of Jesus Christ. This is a great mystery. Now,
I love the way he ends this up in verse 21. Unto him be glory
in the church. There's going to be one group
of people that give him the glory. Only one. The folks who are in
the church. Unto him be glory in the church. And that word by Christ Jesus
is translated much more. It's the Greek in. It is usually translated in. The church is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yes, the church is by the Lord
Jesus Christ, but the church is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto him be glory in the church
in Christ Jesus. throughout all ages. This is
eternal world without end. Amen. And you know, I, I love,
uh, in Paul's writings where he's writing something and he
just thinks about how glorious it is. He says, amen, amen. So be it. Let it be. So this
is what I believe. That's what, that's where the
amen comes from. I mean, it comes from, that agreement,
agreement with what it said. Let it be so. This is what I
want. Amen. Let's pray together. Lord, we, by your grace, believe
that thy son is able to keep that which we've committed him
unto him against that day. And we believe that he will present
us faultless before your presence with exceeding joy. We believe
his ability to make us clean. We believe his ability to save
us to the utter most. We believe his ability to found
us and ground us on the foundation and to build us up and give us
an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Lord, cause our
minds and thoughts to be turned away from ourselves in every
respect and cause us to believe his ability. In his name, we
pray. Amen.