I've entitled the message for
this evening, A Simple Message About Faith. Now I want to read
this verse of scripture, and I'm going to give you my outline,
and that way you can follow along as we consider this subject,
A Simple Message About Faith. You've got to begin with pre-faith. Verse 11, they believed them
not. That's pre-faith. Before there's
faith, there's gonna have to be unbelief. They believed them
not. The second point is then. That word is mostly translated
but, but. but God who is rich in mercy. There's got to be an intervention
of God before there can be faith. Then Peter arose. Same word that's used with the
reference to Christ being raised from the dead. Then Peter arose. Wherever there's faith, there's
going to be a resurrection from the dead that causes it. Then
Peter arose and ran. He didn't delay. He didn't wait for something
to happen. Immediately, having been intervened
with by God, having been raised from the dead, he ran. There was no waiting. He ran
into the sepulcher and stooping down, there is no faith without
stooping down. You cannot see into that sepulcher
and understand it unless you stoop down. And stooping down,
he beheld, he saw. And what was it he saw? The linen
clothes laid by themselves. He saw that Christ was not in
that tomb. The linen clothes had been removed
and Christ had left. And he departed. When you have
faith, there's something you're going to depart from. There's
something you're going to leave. Every time he departed, wondering
in himself, And that word wonder means admiration. He admired what was taking place. He wondered and admired in himself
at that which was come to pass. That which was done is the word. And faith wonders at, admires
at that which was done. what Christ actually accomplished,
a simple message concerning faith. Now, I want to give you a number
of scriptures. I'm not going to ask you to look
them up, but I want to read them that give us the importance of
faith. Thy faith that made thee whole. According to your faith, be it
unto you. Thy faith hath saved thee, the
just shall live by faith. We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Do we make void the
law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. To him that worketh not, but
believeth, On him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatsoever
is not a faith is sin. We walk by faith. and not by sight. You are all
children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. By grace are you saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of
God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We read of Christ presenting
us wholly unblameable and unreprovable in his sight if we continue in
the faith. We read of the faith of God's
elect. And we read of the common faith,
the faith that's common to all of God's people that everybody
possesses. Through faith, we understand,
the writer to the Hebrews said. There's no understanding without
faith. Through faith, we understand.
And without faith, it is impossible to please God. And there's one
faith. Not two, one. The importance
of Now, it's not required that I be able to give a perfect definition
of faith, but it is required that I have faith. And it's required
that you have faith or we will not be saved. Now, like I said,
I want to make this as simple as I possibly can and rely completely
on the Holy Spirit to bring this message, a simple message about
faith. Now, my first point is there
is pre-faith. Before there can be faith, There's
unbelief. Notice the last phrase of verse
11. They believed them not. There has never been faith where
there has not first been unbelief. Somebody says, well, I've always
believed. That's too long. That's too long. There's never
true faith until there's first this thing of unbelief. Now,
would you turn with me for a moment to John chapter 16? Verse eight. And when he is calm,
speaking of God, the Holy Spirit, when he is calm, he will reprove
or convince or convict the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment of sin. because they believe not on me."
Now here is the true conviction of sin. Now I realize that some
people feel very, they have very sensitive conscious, consciousness? I never can tell the difference
between conscious and conscience. I have a hard time with it, but
a conscience. Some people have very sensitive
conscience. You know the word I'm trying
to say. And they feel very guilty. They may do something and they
experience great remorse over it. And they're very sensitive
things that wouldn't bother somebody else. They're very sensitive
about and feel very guilty about and downtrodden and horrible.
And that's good. I'm not saying anything bad about
that. But that's not the conviction
of sin. The conviction of sin is when you're convicted of unbelief. You're convicted of sin when
you find out you're not a believer. And you're convicted of sin when
you find out you don't even know what it means to believe. And
faith is beyond your grasp. That's when you're convicted
of sin. When you find out that you cannot believe. You can't come up with the goods.
Now that's the true conviction of sin. You're convicted of unbelief.
This thing of faith. I can't believe. Now before you're
convicted of sin, you think you can believe whenever you want
to. I'm going to believe. I'm going to get this thing straightened
out. I'm going to accept Christ. I'm going to receive Christ.
I'm going to believe. You've never been convicted of sin.
You're blind. If that's where you're at right
now, you've never really believed. There's got to be a pre-faith
where you do not believe. And you don't even know what
it means to believe. I can remember so clearly a time thinking I
would believe if I knew what it meant. I would repent if I
knew what it meant. But I don't know. I can't know. Well, there's the conviction
of sin. When you find out that faith
is beyond your grasp, you cannot believe. The Lord tells us this.
This isn't my take on things. He'll convict the world of sin
of sin because they believe not on me. Faith has never began until there's
first unbelief. Now, back to our text in Luke
24. Pre-faith, unbelief. Have you
ever been an unbeliever? Have you ever been without God,
without Christ? Have you ever been without faith? Now that is, there's no faith
until this is first dealt with, this thing of unbelief. Now look
what it says in verse 12. Then arose Peter. Now Peter believed not. Peter
believed not. He didn't believe anything that
he was hearing. He was incredulous toward it. He didn't think that
Christ was actually raised from the dead. And then we have this
word then, Peter, and this word then is the same word that's
usually translated but. But God. You were dead in sins. You walked according to the course
of this world. You walked according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and the mind. And we were by nature the children
of wrath, just like everybody else. But God, God intervened. God did something. Same thing he did for Noah. God
saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now Peter would have remained
in unbelief And you and I will remain in unbelief unless there's
a but. But is the introduction of grace. But God. But Peter. The Lord did something for Peter.
He intervened. Now I've already quoted this
scripture. By grace are you saved. Through faith. And that not of
yourselves. It's the gift of God. And might I add the free. gift
of God. Now, if you can't come to Christ
with faith, come to Christ for faith. Ask him, Lord, give me
faith. I can't come up with it. I don't
even know what it means to believe. Give me faith for Christ's sake. You said ask and you shall receive.
I'm asking. Give me faith. I need faith. I know I won't be saved without
faith. Will you be pleased to give me this thing called faith?
Whatever it is. Now where there's true faith,
first there was unbelief, and then there's some kind of intervention
on God's part. But God. But then, something
happened to Peter, the Lord did something for him to change things. Then, Peter, and the next word
is arose. He arose. And that is the same
word that is used with reference to the resurrection of Christ
from the dead. If you're gonna have faith, you
start out in unbelief, God intervenes. God does something for you. You
know it's Him that did it. It didn't have anything to do
with you. He's going to raise you from the dead. It takes spiritual
life. It takes a resurrection of life
to believe. So in order to have faith, God's
gonna have to raise me and you from the dead if we're gonna
really believe. There's gonna have to be a true resurrection
from the dead. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live." Wherever there's faith, there's first
a resurrection from the dead. Now, life is the cause of faith. The life of God in the soul.
Him doing something for you. And the evidence of life is what?
Faith. That's the one evidence of life,
faith. Now, I heard Greg Elmquist gave
an illustration that I thought was so good. He said, every one
of us, at the door of our heart, we
have a lock against works and free will, and we won't hear
any of it, and we won't have anything to do with it. We've
got a lock, the door's bolted, it's not gonna get in, but we
don't guard our back door. and we let works in as evidences
of salvation rather than faith in Christ alone. And boy, there's
an element of truth to that because there's not a day that goes by
when at some point I don't think, how could I be saved because
I did this or I thought that or I didn't do that? And every
time I do that, what am I doing? I'm looking to myself. It's that
simple. Now, like I said, we put a guard
on the door against any kind of works or free will or anything
like that. We're not going to have it. But
our back door, we don't lock quite as tightly. And that's
where we get in trouble. Faith is the evidence of life. We're going to get to more to
what faith actually is. But we're talking about the things now
that lead up to faith, saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter arose. And what did Peter
do when he arose? Look in verse 12. Then arose
Peter and ran unto the sepulcher. He didn't wait. You know, when
the Lord said to Zacchaeus, Zacchaeus, make haste, come down. Today, I must abide at thy house.
Zacchaeus didn't say, well, let me wait an hour. He didn't say
wait till tomorrow. The scripture says He made haste. There was no delay. He made haste. He came down and He received
him joyfully. Now whenever God calls, you're
not going to wait around. You're not going to wait to do
something. You're not going to wait to be something. You're
not going to wait to improve. You're not going to hide in yesterday's
experience. You're not going to wait for tomorrow, what you
intend to do tomorrow. All that is is a false refuge.
That's worse. You believe right now. You look to Christ right
now. You don't wait for anything.
You don't wait for an experience. You don't wait to get better.
You don't wait till you know more. You don't wait till you
sin less. You look to Christ right now. When he was stood up, what did
he do? When he was raised, he ran. No delay, he ran to that sepulcher. Now when God intervenes and when
life is given, you don't wait to come to Christ, you run to
him. Just as I am and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark spot, to thee whose blood can cleanse
each spot, O Lamb of God, I come. And that's what happens when
you run. You run, there's no delay. And
notice what it says next. Then arose Peter, and he ran
into that sepulcher where those women had given that a message
that Christ was risen from the dead. And what's it say next? Stooping down. Stooping down. He couldn't see into that sepulcher
without stooping down. The way up in the kingdom of
heaven is down. The way to get north is to go
south. When you reach the bottom, you
haven't got there yet. It's still down, stooping down. Have low thoughts of yourself. Take your place as the chief
of sinners or you'll never see. Stooping down. He beheld. You're not going to see if you're
standing upright. You're only going to see when
you see yourself in what you really are. Stooping down. Nothing in my hands I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Stooping down. Not these high
thoughts of yourself. Not these... Somebody was Not to think of men. Whoever's
reading 1 Corinthians 4, that verse 6 says not to think of
men more highly than you ought to think. Low thoughts of yourselves
are not... Well, that's a bad self-image.
No, it's honesty. I'm nothing but sin. That's what
I am. In and of myself, I am nothing
but sin. Now, you can't see Christ as
all new. You're nothing. and you won't see yourself as
nothing until you see Christ as all. It really is that simple.
Isn't that simple? If you see Christ as all, you'll
see yourself as nothing. And the only way you'll see Christ
as all is if you see yourself as nothing. Those two, they go
together all the time, stooping down. And when you get to the
bottom, go a little bit lower, stooping down. There's no true
spiritual side without humility, without taking your place as
a sinner. That's stooping down. Oh, for grace to stoop down. It's only then that I can see.
There's no seeing without stooping down. And look what it says next.
Then arose Peter and ran into the sepulchre and stooping down,
he beheld The linen clothes laid by themselves. What did he see? What did he see? He saw a tomb
with nothing but a few evidences, the clothes, that Christ had
been there, but he's no longer there. He saw an empty tomb. Now, there is no faith, there's
no spiritual understanding, there's no sight without some understanding. This is what you see when you
have faith. You know, when Christ was raised from the dead, who
saw it? Who saw it? Nobody. The Father saw it, but nobody
else. All you're going to see, truly,
is an empty tomb and what that empty tomb means. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God has raised
Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made to salvation. Now I want you to Think about
what was just said. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth that you're saved. Nothing like that. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus. Now here's what saving
faith is. You believe he is the Lord. It doesn't have anything to do
with what you think about yourself. I wish we could just quit looking
to ourselves altogether because faith doesn't have anything to
do with what you believe about yourself. Somebody says, I believe
I'm saved. That doesn't mean you are. Somebody
says, I'm afraid I'm not saved. That doesn't mean you're not.
Saving faith has nothing to do with what you think about yourself.
It has wholly to do with what you think about Him. Do you believe
He's the Lord? Do you believe He's the Lord
of creation? The Lord of providence? He controls
everything. And you believe that? The only
thing that ever happens is His will being done. And you're glad
it's that way. And you believe He's the Lord
of salvation. You really believe your salvation is up to Him.
You really believe that. The only way you'll be saved
is if He as Lord saves you. You really believe that. If you'll
believe If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and look
what he says next in Romans 10, if you'll believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead. You believe he lived a perfect
life, you believe he died, and you know that when he died, Sin
was put away because you know that's why I died. The wages
of sin was death. He was made sin. He took my sins
and my sorrows. He made them His very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. That's
what my Savior did. That's why He died. He died because
of my sin. He died because of sin. That's
why He died. He took the sins of His people
and they became His sins. So that He literally became guilty
of committing those sins and that's why the Father's wrath
came upon Him. And I believe that. I believe
that. I believe that's how God can
be just and justify me because of the death, the burial, and
the resurrection of Christ. I believe God raised Him from
the dead. Now, I didn't see it. nor did anybody else. God was
the only one who witnessed the resurrection. One of the things
that I love thinking about, I love thinking about the Lord laying
there in that tomb, dead, and all of a sudden opening his eyes.
Don't you love to think about that? I love to think about him
taking off those grave clothes. He took the napkin that was over
his face and put it in a separate place and he just neatly folded
them up. Who moved the rock? I don't think
the rock had to be moved. I think he walked right through
it with his glorified body because there's scriptures that intimate
that he walked through doors and he just came. I don't know
what all was involved in a glorified body, but nobody, he didn't have
to have that stone moved. He just walked through it right
out. Did anybody witness this? No, but I believe that God raised
him from the dead because God was so completely satisfied with
what he did. Just complete satisfaction on
God's part. He's satisfied with everything
Christ did. This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.
When God raised Him from the dead, God was saying to Himself,
and He's saying to us, I'm satisfied with Him, and I'm satisfied with
everybody in Him. And faith in Christ doesn't have
anything to do with what you think about yourself, whether
or not you think you're saved, what you know, what you don't
know. It has to do with what you think concerning Him. Do
you believe He's Lord? Do you believe He's God the Son?
Do you believe God raised Him from the dead? Do you believe
God raised Him from the dead because God was satisfied with
what He did? And the same thing that God finds satisfaction in,
you find satisfaction in. The Lord Jesus Christ. You believe that God raised Him
from the dead. Now back to our text in Luke
chapter 24 verse 12. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulcher. And
stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves.
He saw an empty tomb. That's what he saw. An empty
tomb. This is the stuff of faith. It's
a belief in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. He saw
an empty tomb. And what did he do next? He departed. He departed. Now, whenever you
come to Christ, there's something else you leave. Whenever you believe on Christ,
you know what you depart from? Salvation by works. You leave
it. You depart from it. You see there's
no safety in it. You see there's no salvation
in it. You leave it. You depart. Whenever you come
to Christ, there's something you leave. When you believe on
Him for righteousness, you leave all hopes of being saved by your
own righteousness. You depart. This is what repentance is. Faith
is where you come. Repentance is where you leave.
You leave that. You leave it. All my eggs are
in this basket. I don't have a plan B. I don't
have an ace in the hole. All my eggs are in this basket.
I'm burning my bridges. Here's my hope. He did everything
for me and everything God requires of me, He looks to His Son for. And I depart from anything that's
contrary to that. And you know I've got to depart
from it every day because I've got an old man that will repent
of that. Repent of that. That's what repentance
is. There's a departure. You depart from that. And look
what it says next in verse 12. He departed wondering in himself. Now that word wondering is the
word that's generally translated admiring and it doesn't mean
an incredulous view of unbelief. It means there's an admiration
going on. There's an admiration going on.
It's like this. Amazing grace. How sweet the
sound. There's an admiration for what
he's done, who he is. And whenever there's saving faith,
there's an admiration for the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see him as altogether lovely. You admire what he did. Once
again, we're not talking about what you think about yourself.
It's what you think about Him. You admire the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is there anybody in here that admires the Lord Jesus Christ?
I know there is. I know there are a lot of people
in here that admire the Lord Jesus Christ. You see Him as
altogether glorious. You admire Him. You admire Him
in His life. You admire Him in His death.
You admire Him in His resurrection. You admire Him in His ascension.
You admire Him right now as intercession. And you can't wait to be able
to see Him when He returns. You're going to admire Him when
He returns. And your eternity is going to
be spent admiring the Lord Jesus Christ. That's heaven. beholding
his glory. Now that's what every believer
is waiting on. He was wondering, he had this
admiration going on in himself at that which came to pass. Now
how many times is this passage, this statement found in the scripture,
it came to pass? It came to pass. It came to pass.
I love that language of it. It came to pass. God purposed
it. It came to pass. Everything God decreed has come
to pass. Everything God willed has come
to pass. And it's the word that's literally,
it was done. It was done. Now here's the difference
between saving faith and false faith. Saving faith relies wholly
on what was done, not what will be done, not what
could be done, but what has been done. It is finished. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. When he had by himself purged,
eradicated, made purification, put away, cleansed, canceled,
made not to be, And I'm so thankful for these two words, when He
had by Himself. Don't you love that? Not your
thoughts, or your repentings, or your intentions, or your... We're just shut out! When He
had by Himself purged our sins. Now, the way of the world is
due Do. Here's what you need to do. The
way of the gospel is it is done. There's nothing for me to do.
It's already been done. There's a song that says, it
doesn't matter, it's not, what are you going to do for me? I
can't remember how the word goes. I remember I always hated that
song. It says, what you've done, it's all taken care of, but what
are you going to do for me? Well, what can I do for him?
I don't want to look on anything that I need to do. I just, you
give me something to do, you're going to make me miserable. The
only hope I have, and I find such confidence and joy in this,
is that it is done. I admire that which has come
to pass." So faith, faith. It's got to begin with the prefaith.
He didn't believe. He didn't believe. I've always
believed that's way too long. That's way too long. You've got
to begin with unbelief. When you're convicted of sin,
you're convicted of this thing of unbelief. You can't even believe
then. But, next point is but. God intervenes. But God does something. God makes
an intervention. And what is that intervention
he makes? Peter arose. You're spiritually raised from
the dead. You're given life. It takes spiritual
life to believe. He rose And he ran. There was
no delay. When God calls, men respond. Well, I'm waiting. Then God hadn't
called you. Because when God calls, you will respond immediately.
He doesn't accept waiting. He's not going to do that. And
you won't do it either if you ever hear from him. You'll run
to Christ. You'll have to get to him. He ran and stooped him
down. The only way you're going to
be able to see and behold is in stooping down and seeing yourself
as the chief of sinners." And what did he see? He saw the evidence
of the resurrection, an empty tomb. Now, I didn't see Christ
raised from the dead, but I believe he was raised from the dead.
And I know why he was raised from the dead. He rendered complete
satisfaction to God. And what did he do? He departed
wherever there's true faith, there's something you'll leave.
That's what repentance is. It's a change of mind about things.
He departed wondering, admiring in himself, admiring that which
was done, that which came to pass, that which was actually
accomplished by Christ Jesus. I admire that. Now, I hope that's
a simple message with regard to faith. And one of the things
I fear about anything you say about faith, I always fear that
I'll mess it up by throwing something in that shouldn't be in there.
And I hope that's a simple message concerning faith. Let's pray. Lord, take your word and bless
it and give us this faith. Lord,
we realize our inadequacy to even try to define what faith
is, but Lord, give us faith that is caused by you intervening
and giving us life and causing us to run to Christ and cause
us to stoop down and behold the glories of the empty tomb, the
resurrection of thy son, enable us to depart from everything
that's contrary to your gospel to admire the salvation of your
son, and to rest in that which has actually come to pass, what
he actually did. Lord, put that in us, in our
hearts, for the glory of thy name. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.