Acts chapter 6, I don't think I'd ever really considered
the significance of what is being said in this verse of scripture
before preparing this message. Verse 7, and the word of God
increased. Now what that means is it spread.
It spread. The word of God does not increase
in the sense that there's anything added to him or it, but the word
of God spread. There were more and more people
believing the gospel. I pray that happens today. Next
it says the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. I pray that happens today as
well. I hope this will be in our minds
for this to take place. And then he made this statement
that I had not really considered before. A great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith that these were the Levites, the priests,
and they made their living, their jobs were in the Jewish religion. And when they became obedient
to the faith, they either lost their jobs or they quit their
jobs because they could no longer be what they were. And their
entire lives were turned upside down because of their obedience
to the faith. Now you think of these men. These
are the men who offered up the sacrifice, burned the incense,
and when they became obedient to the faith, that was all over. a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith. There we have it. Now, Lord willing,
I'll be preaching no longer than usual, but I have a lot to say.
So I want to say quick, fast, ask the Lord to give me the grace
to say what needs to be said and ask the Lord to give you
grace to have hearing ears. The priests, obedient to the
faith. Notice the definite article,
the faith. What is the faith that the priests
were obedient to and it caused their whole life to be turned
upside down? They actually lost their livelihood. because they were obedient to
the faith. First, what does faith mean? Before we consider the faith,
the definite article, the faith, what does faith mean? Here's
a very simple definition. Faith is belief with the predominant
idea of trust. Belief. You believe something. You believe something to be true.
And in that belief, there is trust. That's what faith is. I love what Paul said in 2 Timothy
1 12. I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded. that he is
able. I'm persuaded. I believe. I've
been persuaded. That's why I believe. I believe
that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. And he's talking about the day
of judgment. I know whom I have believed. Everything we believe is dependent
upon who we believe. Salvation is a person and what
we believe is totally dependent upon who we believe. I know whom
I have believed. There's faith and I'm persuaded. Here's where the trust comes
in. I'm persuaded. I'm convinced that he is able. that which I've committed to
Him. Now, what have you committed
to Him, Paul? The entire salvation of my soul. I'm out of the equation.
I'm persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed
to Him. I've committed to Him the salvation of my soul. If
He doesn't do it all, I will not be saved. That's belief. That's trust. I'm trusting him
for that great day when he's going to stand for me and say,
he's mine. I did it all for him. Nothing
else needs to be said. Same thing the thief meant when
he said, Lord, he knew who he was. Remember me when you come
in your kingdom. If you just remember me, I will
be saved. Now that is faith. It's belief
that leads to trust. Now, the faith is everything
from Genesis 1-1 to Revelation 22-21. God used the whole Bible
to declare the faith. I'd like to read a verse from
Galatians 3, if you'll turn with me there. But before, verse 23, Galatians
3 verse 23, but before faith came. Now there was a before
when we didn't have any faith. And I think it's glorious the
way it says faith came to us. It came to us. That's my experience.
There was a time when I didn't believe and faith came to me. God gave it to me. Now before
faith came we were kept under the law shut up unto the faith
which should afterward be revealed. The faith is the faith that God
has revealed. It's revelation. It's something
we would have never known had not God been pleased to make
it known. in his word. Paul spoke to Timothy
of the mystery of the faith. Oh, the mysteries of the faith,
the glorious God exalting truth concerning the faith that we
would have never known. You would have never known God
is one God and three distinct persons. You would have never
known that you could be saved by the righteousness of somebody
else. You would never have known of free grace. You would have
never known of blood atonement. You would have never known of
the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit had not God been
pleased to make it known. You would have never known God
manifest in the flesh had not God been pleased to make it known. So the faith is a revelation. It's a mystery revealed by God
that we would have never known had not God made it known. And
when Paul was brought to preach before Felix, Felix heard him
concerning the faith in Christ. The faith in Christ. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ. This is one of my many favorite
scriptures. I love this one. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Remember, it's the faith in Christ. Jesus is the
Christ. He's God's prophet. He's the
word of God. He's God's priest. If he brings
me into God's presence, I must be saved. He's God's king. He's
the Christ. If you believe that, The Bible
says, you're born of God. You've been born again. You've
been given a new nature. Well, what about, just forget
all the whatabouts. Forget about the whatabouts. Do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ? Then you are born of God. That's what God's word says. I believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, not a son, but the only begotten and well-beloved
Son of God, the uncreated creator, the only savior of sinners. Whom say men that I am? Well,
they say good things. They say you're Jeremiah, one
of the prophets. Whom say ye that I am? What Peter
said, thou art what? the Christ, the son of the living God. Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah.
Flesh and blood didn't reveal this to thee, but my Father which
is in heaven. Now the faith is called in Acts
chapter 3 verse 16, the faith which is by him. I love the simplicity
of that. The faith which is by him. If you look at a book and at
the end of it it says by so and so, that means the author of
it was that person. Faith is by him. Christ is called the author and
the finisher of our faith. Now if you have faith, you dead
sure know that he's the author of it, don't you? It didn't come
from you. He's the author of it and he's
the finisher of it. It's the faith that is by him. Now that's what these priests
heard of. They heard of the faith in Christ. They heard of the
faith which is by him. And then in Galatians chapter
2 verse 16 we read where Paul said, knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, but by the faith, there's
the definite article, the faith of Jesus Christ. You know, in
every other version, New International, New King James, whatever version
you want, none of them say this but King James. We're justified
by the faith of Christ. I'm justified by the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ to his covenant engagements with the
Father gave him to do. He came to save a people, and
I'm justified by his faithfulness. Not only that, I'm justified
by his faith. You know, somebody, I love thinking
about this, somebody had to believe God personally. And when Christ
was on the cross, he had no comfort. He had no sense of his father's
presence because he didn't have it. He was forsaken by God. He said, my God, my God, why
has thou forsaken me? He was cut off. He was in utter
darkness. And he never quit believing God. You reckon me and you quit believing?
Oh, you know you would. But not Him. Though He slay me,
yet will I trust Him. We're justified by the faith
of Jesus Christ. You know when people talk about
being justified by faith in Christ? They really proved by that they
don't know what it means. I'm not justified by my faith in
Christ. I'm justified by the faith of
Christ. And the evidence of that is my
faith in Christ. But it's not my faith that justifies
me. It's his faithfulness, it's his obedience, it's his perfection
before the law. And then we read in Romans chapter
three, verse three, and this is the only time we find this
in the Bible, the faith of God. The faith of God, shall their
unbelief make the faith of God without effect? The faith of
God. Now, a term everybody uses a
lot is self-confidence. Self-confidence. And in some
ways, I guess it's good to have confidence that you can do something.
I think that of all the, I have confidence that I can change
a fluid master in a commode. I've done it a bunch of times.
I know how to do it. I can get that fluid master in
there. I've done that 50 times. That's the one thing that I can
do in just 10 minutes. Anything else, it takes me hours,
but I've got confidence I can do that. Boy, what a thing to
have confidence in, yeah? Well, okay, there's my self-confidence.
Now, think of the self-confidence of God. How confident is he? He never has a doubt about anything
with regard to his own ability, does he? The faith, the confidence
of God. And we have confidence in his
confidence, don't we? We have faith in his faith, the
faith of God. And then faith is called in Philippians
127, the faith of the gospel. Now, you know, as well as I do,
the word gospel means good news. The faith of the gospel. The faith is only the faith when
it's good news. Not something you just agree
with. It's good news to you. You know, when I was preaching
this morning, One of the points that I left out, I didn't mean
to leave it out, it just somehow slipped by me, but I thought,
well, I'm gonna bring it out because it's very appropriate right here.
When we're talking about being saved, things that you do to
be saved, it says in 2 Thessalonians 2, I think it's verse 10, they
received not the love of the truth that they might be saved.
If you're saved, you receive the love of the truth, where
it's good news to you. It's good news to you that Christ
became flesh to represent the elect and actually accomplish
their salvation and went back to heaven as their interceder.
It's good news to you, their intercessor rather. It's good
news to you that God the Holy Spirit comes in invincible and
irresistible grace and gives life and causes you to believe
and repent and causes you to persevere. It's good news. It's
gospel. The faith. Is the faith of the
gospel the good news? Is the gospel good news to you
or is it something you agree with? Oh, it's good news to me. I'm so thankful that Christ is
all in salvation. That's good news. And then we
read in Titus 1.1 of the faith of God's elect. The acknowledging
of the truth, the acknowledgement of the truth, which is after
godliness. Now here's the faith. The faith
is the faith of God's elect. Seen in the acknowledgement,
the recognition, the full embracing of the truth. The truth of who
God is, the truth of who I am, the truth of how he saves sinners
by his grace. It's the acknowledgement of the
truth which is after godliness. What that means is it comes from
godliness and it leads to godliness. It does both of those things.
It comes from godliness, a new nature. That's what causes you
to embrace the truth and it leads to godliness. It is the result
of godliness and it results in godliness. the acknowledging
of the truth which is after godliness. And then we read in Titus 1.4
of the common faith. I like that title, the common
faith. The word common is that which
is general to all as opposed to that which is peculiar to
the few. It's the faith that every believer has. Now remember
believers believe the same thing. They believe the same thing.
Well, they all believe, they just believe different stuff.
No, they don't. No, they don't. Every believer believes the precise
same thing. It's called the common faith.
Now, well, aren't there different denominations and different beliefs? Yeah, but they're not faith.
They're not faith. There's the common faith, that
which every believer possesses. If you're a believer and if I'm
a believer, we believe the same thing, don't we? It's the common
faith. And then we read in Ephesians
4.13, and this is the same thing, of the unity of the faith. The
unity of faith, that we all come into the unity of faith, the
oneness of the faith. And we read of the righteousness
of faith. You know what that is, don't
you? That's the righteousness of Jesus Christ that faith relies
on. We read of the word of faith.
That's the gospel message. We read of the work of faith.
Faith works. Faith works. Works don't. Works
for failure. Faith works in every way. There's
so much we could say about that, but faith works. Now, these priests,
were obedient to the faith. Now, let me give you five words
in the New Testament about people who appeared to receive the faith
and didn't. Now, I find these scriptures
very sobering. In Acts chapter 13, verse 8,
we read of one who sought to turn away one from the faith. to turn away from the faith. And then we read in 1 Timothy
4, 1 of those who depart from the faith. They were in the faith. Apparently, they believed, they
said they did, but they depart from the faith. And then we read
in 1 Timothy 5, 8 of those who deny the faith. If a man provide not for his
own, especially they of his own household, he hath denied the
faith and is worse than an infidel. You can deny the faith by that. And then we read in First Timothy
6.10, of those who have erred from the faith and pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. And the reason was the love of
money or the love of anything else. Because of the love of
money, they erred, they wandered off from the faith. Their love
for something other than that they got involved in something
else and they erred from the faith. And we read of those who
are reprobate concerning the faith. Now, all of these people
at one time seemed to have faith, but I think of what John said,
they went out from us. First John 2, 19, they went out
from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us,
they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out, that
they all might be made manifest, that they were not of us. And
if you have any self-awareness, you know how easily this could
be you. So with this in mind, let's think
of these scriptures concerning the faith. I've got several of
them, and I'm going to give them quick. May the Lord give us grace
to have these things sink in. First scripture concerning the
faith is examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. And the first thing that comes
to my mind is don't examine somebody else. I wonder if so-and-so is
really in the faith. You don't need to worry about
so-and-so. Examine yourselves. That's the only person to be
put on trial right now. Examine yourself. Whether you
be holy, do you have victory over
sin in your life? Do you see sufficient evidence
in your life that God has done a work of grace in you? Do you
see yourself becoming more holy and less sinful, more like Christ? Examine yourselves. How are you
doing? Somebody in the past has written
me and said, how's your walk with the Lord? I'm not going
to tell you how I want to respond to that. But if you gain assurance because
of how you are, you're not in the faith. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. Are you looking to Christ only
right now as everything in your salvation? Do you really believe
that Christ is all? Is he all that you have? Is he all that you want? Is he
all that you need? And you have nothing else. Examine yourselves whether you
be in the faith. In Galatians chapter 2 verse
20, Paul said, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And
the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith. Not by faith, but by the faith
of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Now what my mind was led to in
thinking about that verse of scripture, I live by the faith
of the Son of God. Four times in the Bible, it's
quoted, the just shall live by faith. By his faith. By his faithfulness, by faith,
the just shall live by faith. The first time it's quoted is
in Habakkuk 2.4. Behold the soul that is lifted
up. I looked up that word lifted
up and it's swollen, puffed up, proud. The soul that's lifted
up. is not upright within him. What
is swollen? It's a high opinion of yourself. It's that simple. And might I
add an unwarranted and unjustified high opinion of yourself. If
a man thinks himself to be something when he's nothing, He deceives
himself. That's what Paul said. Now he
that soul is lifted up is not up right within him but the just
shall live by faith. So faith is the opposite of a
high opinion of yourself. Where does that leave you? And then in Romans 1, verses
16 and 17, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it's the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed. From faith to faith, as it's
written, the just shall live by faith. Now there's the word
the faith, and it has to do with the righteousness of God. This
is what faith always has to do with. It has to do with a proper
view of yourself, not swollen up, I'm nothing but sin in and
of myself, but faith embraces the righteousness of God. That's
my personal righteousness, the very righteousness of God, the
Lord our righteousness. That's how the just live. They see that they have no personal
righteousness. God pops that balloon and they
see that they have no reason to be swollen and only then can
you look to the righteousness of Christ as the only righteousness
you have because you don't have any personal righteousness. In Galatians chapter 3 verse
11 we read that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. It is evident for the just shall
live by faith. Faith is opposed. to righteousness
by law, which means righteousness by anything you do, by your works. And then we read in Hebrews 10,
38, now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him. The just persevere by
faith. You know how I persevere? By
looking to Christ. That's it. That's how you persevere. By looking to Christ only. The
only way you're going to hold out to the end, the only way
I'm going to persevere to the end is by looking to Christ only. We're made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence. What's the beginning
of our confidence? Christ. steadfast to the end. And Paul said in Colossians 2,
7, he spoke of being established in the faith, rooted and grounded,
established in the faith. Now, what established faith is,
it's opposed to weak faith. You know, Paul did say he that's
weak in the faith. There's a lot of folks who are
weak in the faith. You probably believe yourself to be one of
those people. He that's weak in the faith, receive ye, but
not to doubtful disputations, not to questioning everything
about him. Oh, I'd rather be established
in the faith, wouldn't you, than be weak in the faith. And then in 1 Corinthians chapter
16, verse 13, we read of being steadfast in the faith. You know
what that means? Stationary. Stationary. You can't be moved by the grace
of God. You can't be moved. You stand
fast. You will not be moved in the
faith. And then in Colossians chapter
two, verse 23, I told you I was going to tell you all a lot of
stuff. I mean, this is a lot of scripture, but I hope the Lord will cause
us to lay hold of this. Paul spoke of us being presented
holy and unblameable. and unapprovable in the very
sight of God in Colossians chapter 2 verse 20. Chapter 1 verse 20,
holy and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight if you hold the
beginning of the confidence. If you be not moved from the
hope of the gospel. Continue grounded and settled
and be not moved from the hope." What is the hope of the gospel?
What's your hope of being saved? My hope of being saved is that
Christ died for me. Period. Don't be moved from that
hope. That's the only hope. And then
in Titus 2.2, we read of being sound in the faith. And the word
sound actually means whole. Whole. unmixed. You look to Christ only,
nothing else. You know, I'm saying the same
thing with every one of these verses, aren't I? Really, basically the same
thing. And then we read in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 9, your adversary,
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he
may devour, whom resist. steadfast in the faith. The only way you can resist this
roaring lion is steadfast in the faith, looking to Christ. That's simplistic, isn't it?
You know, if a doctor said, I've got a pill that'll cure every
ill, no matter what it is. Everybody'd want it. I mean,
it cures cancer, heart disease. Well, we've got in the gospel
the pill that cures every ill, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only way Satan can be resisted is by faith in Christ. In Galatians chapter one, verse
23, it was said of Paul that he preached the faith. which
he once labored to destroy, may we be enabled by the grace of
God to preach the faith." Oh, I want to preach the faith, don't
you? The faith. And then in Jude 123, or Jude
1-3, earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. It is the responsibility of everybody
who's in the faith to earnestly contend for the faith. When you hear the faith denied,
when you hear the faith watered down, it is my job and your job
as loyal subjects of the Lord Jesus Christ, as believers in
him, to earnestly contend for the faith. Don't keep your mouth
shut. earnestly contend, by the grace of God, earnestly contend
for the faith. Be content to be misunderstood
and spoken harshly of, but the faith is to be earnestly contended
for. Now here's something else. James chapter 2, verse 1, he
says, Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ Have not the
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect
of persons. I don't think I've ever really
thought of this in this light, but faith should cause us to
not have respect of persons, to not show favoritism for people
because of what we think we can get out of them. to not manipulate
situations. That's what a respective person
is. This person can do something for me. Therefore, I'm going
to be really careful what I say to him. This person can't help
me any. They can't add anything. I don't
have any reason to. I'll go ahead and say everything to them. No, no. Everybody needs the same
thing. You know, all men are the same.
There's no difference. All men are the same. Men are
different, but really not. All men are the same and they
have the same need, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have
not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons. Not showing anybody favoritism
in any way. Now turn to 2 Timothy chapter
4. This is the last one I want to look at. Paul says in verse six, for I'm
now ready to be offered. I'm ready to be poured out as
a drink offering is what that word means. And the time of my
departure is at hand. Now, I love death being called
a departure. You know, when you fly somewhere,
your vacation destination, your departure time, it's called a
departure. And for the believer, death is
the departure into glory. That's the only way it should
be thought of. The best day of our life is the
day of our death. It's our departure date. And
at that time, I'm going to see the Lord Jesus Christ face to
face and behold his glory and be perfectly conformed to his
image. What a departure. The time of
my departure is at hand. Paul says in verse seven, I have
fought a good fight. I sure want to be able to say
this. Well, Paul, what was the good
fight you fought? I finished my course. Everybody here is given a course. It's only those who endure to
the end that finish. What do you mean you finished
your course? He puts it down to this very
simple statement. I've kept the faith. I've kept the faith. I have continued
to believe the gospel, that which is entrusted to me. I didn't
let it go. I didn't water it down. I believed
it. I've kept the faith. Verse eight. Henceforth, there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord
the righteous judge shall give me at that day." Now that's what
Paul's getting, a crown of righteousness in keeping the faith, in finishing
his course. A crown of righteousness. Now
I love the last part of this verse, and not to me only. I'm not the only one who's going
to get this crown of righteousness. Well, Paul, your apostle, Yeah,
that's true. But here's who's going to get
this crown of righteousness. Unto all them also that love
his appearing. Now, I love his appearing for
me as my surety before time began. I love his appearing for me when
he became flesh and worked out a perfect righteousness for me.
I love his appearing on the cross when he put away my sin. I love He is appearing for me
right now in heaven as my great high priest and intercessor representing
me. I love his appearing. And oh,
how I love his appearing when he comes again. And every eye shall see him.
Everybody's going to know exactly who he is. And I love his appearing. Even so come Lord Jesus. Now these priests on a human
level ruined their lives by being obedient to the faith. These priests gained infinitely
in being obedient to the faith and May you and I be just like
these priests, obedient, and the faith is something to be
obeyed, obedient to the faith. Where do I begin? Believe the
gospel. Let's pray.