Let's read this 13th verse once
again and notice the words Paul uses. Now the God of hope. What a name for God. God of hope. Fill you with all joy and peace
in believing that you may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost. I've entitled this message, Believing. Believing. Now we read in this
one verse of three wonderful feelings, joy, peace, and hope. And these are feelings that I
would like to have all the time. I'd rather have joy than depression. I would rather have peace than
being at unrest and disquieted and uncomfortable, wondering
about things. And I would rather have hope
than despair, wouldn't you? Joy, peace, and hope. Wouldn't you like these words
to characterize you? Someone who is joyous, someone
who has peace, someone who has Now, if I make these things, joy, peace and hope, the focus
of my message, how to obtain these things, I will not be true
to the text. And I will either be a discouragement
to you, or I'll cause you to try to have these things artificially.
Oh, I need joy. I need peace. I need hope. So the focus of this message
is not on joy and peace and hope. The focus of this message is
on believing. Joy, peace, and hope are the
products of It is only in believing that we will have genuine peace,
not man-made peace. You know, the Lord said, my peace
I give you, not as the world gives peace, give I unto you. I mean a genuine peace and a
genuine joy. You know, somebody called me
up not all that long ago and said, I've got joy in my life.
Oh, okay. Do you really? You wouldn't be
telling me something like that if you did. Hope. The hope of the gospel. All these things are had in believing. Now, what is this thing of Wouldn't
it be a blessing if we left this place believing? Did you know that it is impossible
to believe without having a measure, and notice I use the word measure,
without having a measure of joy and a measure of peace and a
measure of hope? If I believe, I will have a measure
of these things. And I said a measure because
there are degrees of faith. There's great faith. The Lord said to that woman,
great is thy faith. He said to the Roman centurion,
I've not found some great faith. No, not in Israel. And there's
also little faith. The Lord said, O ye of little
faith. minute faith, wherefore didst
thou doubt? And the measure of peace and
joy and hope we will experience will be in direct relation to
the strength or weakness of our faith. But more on that in a
moment. Now, we learn some important
things about believing in our text. First, its source. Its
source, the God of hope. Phil, you. with all joy and peace
in believing. Now there's the source of believing. There's the source of faith.
God pouring it into you. The God of hope pouring it into
you. Now faith, this thing of believing
the gospel, it's not something you decide to do. It's not something
you pull yourself up by the bootstraps and say, I'm just not going to
give in to this unbelief. I'm going to start believing God.
I'm going to start having faith. I'm going to believe. No, you
won't. You might believe something,
but it won't be the faith that's spoken of in this passage. It's
the God of hope who fills you. with all joy and peace in believing. Now, if you believe, it's because
God caused you to believe. He poured His Spirit within you.
He gave you a new nature. He gave you a heart to believe.
It's not something you decided to do. It's not because of an
act of your free will you decided, I'm gonna believe. I've been
in unbelief too long. I'm going to believe. Doesn't
work that way at all. The only way you're ever gonna
have faith is if God pours it into you and fills you with it. And there's the source of faith,
the God of hope. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8
and 9 says, for by grace are you saved through faith. And that faith, it's not of yourselves. It didn't come because you decided
to believe. It's not the product of anything
in you. It's the gift of God. The gift of God. Lord, give me this gift. I can't
come up with faith any more than I can create a universe. Give
me this gift that I might believe the gospel. The God of hope fill
you. with all joy and peace in believing. Now, not only is this thing of
believing the gift of God, it's the work of God. The Lord said
in John chapter 6 verse 29, this is the work of God, that you
believe on him whom he hath sent. Faith is actually the work of
God. If you have faith, God has worked in you. Faith is the evidence
of divine election. Listen to this scripture from
Acts chapter 13, verse 48. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. They believed. Now, more particularly,
the source of faith, yes, it's the God of hope filling you with
it. but more particularly it's the
power of the Holy Spirit. Look once again in our text.
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing
that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. I love that scripture in Zechariah
chapter 4 verse 6. Not by might, but by men getting
together and saying we're going to have a revival not by power,
not because of the power of any one particular person, some powerful
preacher, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. John chapter 1, verses
12 and verse 13, we just read it. We just read it. But as many
as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them which believe on his name, which were born
which were birthed, not of blood. You're not born again because
your mom and dad are born again, not of the will of the flesh,
not because a bunch of men got together and said, we're going
to pray them through, not of the will of man, not of an act
of your own free will, but of God. Psalm 110.3, thy people
shall be willing. in the day of thy power." Now,
this thing of believing is a result of the power of God the Holy
Spirit. It's because He birthed you into
His kingdom. They which are born of the flesh
are flesh. He which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The wind blows where it wills.
You hear the sound thereof. You can't tell whither it cometh
or whither it goeth, even so is everyone that is born of the
Spirit. Now, this thing of faith, this
thing of believing, it's the actual work of God the Holy Spirit
in a man. Now, we see something of the
source of believing. It's because God poured it into
you. It's because of the work of God in you. It didn't come
from you. This isn't exotic. This thing of believing doesn't
come from the flesh, from the natural heart. It's a divine
work of grace. Now, what is this thing of believing?
What is it somebody does when they're in this state of believing? Well, turn with me to Romans
chapter 4. I never get tired of this passage of Scripture. You know, before I read this,
no man ought to despair of believing. You know why? Because it's a free gift. Because it's the work of the
power of God. Why not you? If it's a free gift, you can
have it. If it's caused by God and not your efforts, you can
have it. Everybody in this room ought
to be saying, Lord, give me this gift of believing. Let me enter
into this thing of believing. He gives it. Ephesians 2, 1,
and you have he quickened. Who's he? The Holy Spirit, God
the Holy Spirit. You have he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Now look in Romans chapter 4. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. He
could say, I did this, but not before God. For what saith the
scripture? Abraham believed God, and it
was counted unto him for righteousness. Now, to him that worketh is the
reward, heavenly glory, salvation, heaven, likeness to Christ. To
him that worketh is the reward, he said, I am thy exceeding great
reward, is not reckoned of grace, but of debt. It's God paying
you what he owes you if you believe salvation is by your works in
any way. It's God paying you. But to him
that worketh not, he sees salvation is altogether without his works. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Now we read of two kinds of people here.
Those who work and those who believe. And you
and I are in one of those two groups right now. Those who work
and those who believe. Now notice it says Abraham believed
God. It doesn't say Abraham believed
in God. Satan believes in God. Most unbelievers believe in God. There's a few atheists here and
there, but most unbelievers believe in God. They believe in some
kind of higher power or supreme being, but it doesn't say he
believed in God. It says he believed God. When
God spoke to him and said something to him, he believed what God
said. God said to Abraham, Abraham,
this is when he didn't have any children. You see the stars,
can you count them? No, you can't. Even so shall
thy seed be. He didn't have anything but what
God said, and he believed God. And it was cavities for righteousness. He believed what God said. Some
25 years later, still hadn't taken place, or no, he had the
child. And the promise to Abraham was,
so shall thy seed be. In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. He believed
God. And then, when he was an old man, God said, take now thy
son, thy only son, Isaac, the one who I promised the Messiah
would come through. Take him and offer him up as a burnt offering
to me. Now, what did Abraham do? How
many times have you thought about that? And you thought, if God
asked me to do that to my child, I don't think I could do it.
I bet there's not anybody in here that hadn't thought that.
Well, here's the thing with Abraham. Abraham believed God. And he
believed that even if he did slay his child, God would most
certainly raise him from the dead because God said the Messiah
was going to come through that boy. And when he said, you all
wait for us, I and the lad will go yonder and worship at Mount
Moriah and come again to you. He believed even then when he
killed that boy, God would raise him from the dead. Why? Because
he believed what God said. Now that's what faith is. It's
believing what God said. To him that worketh not, God
said we can't be saved by works. But believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, You believe that what Christ did actually justified
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Paul said
in 2 Timothy 1.12, I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded. I'm convinced that He is able. Now, He didn't say I'm persuaded
that I'm saved. He didn't say I'm persuaded that
I'm one of the elect. He didn't say I'm persuaded that
I'm regenerate. He didn't say I'm persuaded that
I'm justified. He didn't say any of those things.
He said this, I'm persuaded that He is able. That's what my persuasion is,
His ability. He is able to keep that which
I've committed to Him against that day. That's what faith is. It's committing the entire salvation
of your soul to Him. My hands are off. If He doesn't
do it all, I won't be saved. That's what faith is. Now, do
you remember what I said about degrees of faith? Woman, great
is thy faith, and O ye of little faith. I want to ask you a question.
What is more important, the strength of your faith or the object of
your faith? What is more important? I want
to have strong faith, but what's more important, the strength
of your faith or the object of your faith. Now, weak faith, the weakest
faith in the world, saves just as surely as the greatest faith
in the world. Because it's not the faith that
saves, it's the object of the faith that saves, Christ Jesus
the Lord. I'm not saved because I believe.
I'm saved because Jesus Christ represented me and stood as my
surety before time began and guaranteed my salvation. I'm
not saved because I believe. I'm saved because Jesus Christ
kept God's law for me perfectly. I'm not saved because I believe.
I'm saved because Christ Jesus the Lord paid for my sins. We
just sang that song. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. I'm not saved because I believe.
I'm saved because Christ raised from the dead, having accomplished
my salvation. And He's right now seated at
the right hand of the Father as my representative. And I believe
that. I believe that. That's what faith is. It's not
the strength of your faith that saves you, it's the object of
your faith that saves you. Do you believe that he is able?
Now, if you have a thousand dollars that you can't get to the bank
with, and you say, well, I'm gonna give it to Todd, and I'm
gonna trust him, cash, cash, and I'm gonna trust him, You
give it to the bank. I'm not talking about a check.
I'm talking about cash. What would that be? $50, $20 bills.
You give it to me and say, put it in the bank. Now, some of
you would believe for sure I wouldn't take any of it. I hope all of
you believe that. But some of you would. But there
might be somebody who thinks, I wonder if he's a little off
for himself. I mean, it would be a temptation.
I remember, well, as far as that goes, I was a teller. I've said
this before, it's the only job I've ever been fired from. I
was a teller for a year and a half, out of balance constantly, and
there wasn't a day that went by when I'd look at all these
tens of thousands of dollars and think, what if I just went
out into the blue? You know, I wouldn't have done it by the
grace of God, but I thought about it, until I thought what a good
wife Lynn was, and then I thought, no, I won't do anything like
that. But the point is, If you have perfect faith that I'll
get it there, or if you have misgivings, it has absolutely
nothing to do with whether it'll get there. The only thing that's
important is whether I'm faithful enough and have the ability to
get it into the bank. Not your faith in me, my ability. I was thinking of, I might be wrong, but I thought
the youngest child in the church is Els Wamsley. Maybe I'm wrong,
but that's the one who I thought of as the youngest child. And
I thought of, I've got it written down, Michael
Phelps, Michael Phelps, the swimmer who has won more gold medals
than anybody else, the most decorated swimmer. You've got Els Wamsley
and Michael Phelps. Put them before the Atlantic
Ocean. Which one has the best chance of swimming across the
Atlantic Ocean? Neither one of them. It's impossible. Put them in a boat, a big ship.
Which one has the best chance of getting across the Atlantic
Ocean? Well, if the ship gets there, both of them will get
there. If the ship sinks, they'll both die. But if the ship gets
there, they'll both get there. If Christ gets there, I'll get
there. The man with strong faith, the
man with weak faith. They'll both get there if the
ship gets there. You see, faith relies on Christ
only. I rely 100% only on who He is. and what he did as my only ground
of acceptance before God. His doing, his dying, and his
rising. My only hope is that Christ died
for me. It's the only hope I have. You
know, if you tell me that he can die for somebody and they
wind up in hell anyway, You've taken away the only hope I have. Now, with regard to this hope,
my reliance may be weak. I may fear that I'll prove to
be a hypocrite after all and at last be lost. I may question
if I have any faith at all. But this I know. He's the only
hope I have. And I lay at the foot of his
cross. That's it. Sink or swim, I go
to Him. I may tremblingly cry, Lord,
I believe, help thou mine unbelief. I may say with Paul, I believe
God, that it'll be even as he told me. Whether my faith is
weak or strong doesn't really matter. Here's what matters.
It is finished. During the Passover, can you
imagine the screams that were going forth when someone lost
their child and you could hear those screams? My child's gone! Can you imagine people in the
house hearing those screams where God had gone through and killed
the firstborn? Now there were some people, no
doubt, in those houses who were nervous as they could be. They
thought about their sin. They thought about their unbelief.
They thought, what if God gets me anyway? And I just feel quite
sure that Moses was just as calm and he, we're safe. We're in the house with the blood
over the door. Now, he wasn't any more secure than the one
who was scared. The one who was scared wasn't any less secure
than him because the security was in the house with the blood
over the door. God said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you. Now, this thing of believing,
if the ground of your belief is anything other than Christ
alone, and let me emphasize that, Christ alone, not Christ and,
but Christ alone, if the ground of your Faith is anything other
than Christ alone and somehow you get some joy and some peace
and some hope. I hope I'm saved. It's a false
joy. It's a false peace and it's an
ill-grounded hope because the only hope that any sinner has
is Christ alone. Now let me give you some things
that are clearly set forth in our text. Joy, peace, and hope
don't come from self. I want to be happy. Well, congratulations. Hope it works out for you. Don't
anybody say anything like that. I want to be happy. Well, I want
to be happy too, but I want to be found in Christ. And I want
to, by the grace of God, may He give me the grace to do what's
right. But as far as seeking to be happy, I want to be happy.
Well, watch out. What's going to happen next?
I'm not happy. Watch out. Happiness, joy, peace are not
the products of anything in you, even if you get what you wanted.
I could just be happy if I had this, or I could be happy if
I did that, or I could be happy if this took place. You might
have it all and I guarantee you it won't make you happy. I double
guarantee it. It won't. You'll have it and
you'll think, huh, big deal. This isn't what I thought it
was. It doesn't come from self. This thing of joy, peace, and hope. Believing doesn't come
from joy, peace, and hope. I have joy, I have peace, I have
hope, therefore I must believe. No. No. You can have an artificial
joy, peace, and hope and still not believe. I mean, you can
get those things from a pill and not really believe. So what is
this thing of believing? Somebody says, well, I could
believe I was really saved. I could believe God had really
done something for me. if I had more joy, peace, and
hope in my life. I could believe I was saved if
I felt more sorrow and conviction over my sin, if my sin bothered
me more. I could believe I was saved if
I had a deeper repentance in my life. I could believe I was
saved if I had more victory in my life and more power over my
besetting sins. If I could see more victory in
my life, then I'd believe I was saved. Then I would believe I
believe. Well, you believe, that's right,
but that's not believing in Christ. That's believing in yourself.
That's all it is. Believing in yourself. Do you believe that He is able? to save you with absolutely,
positively no contribution or help from you. Here's the scripture
that I want you to think about. Hebrews 1, 3 says, When he by
himself, when he by himself purged us of our sins. You know what
by himself means? by himself. It means you didn't
have anything to do with it. I mean your sins were purged
with no contribution from you. When He had by Himself purged
us of our sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Why did
He sit down? Because the work was finished.
The sins were purged and you had nothing to do with it. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Any other
answer? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
the truth is again at the right hand of God. The Lord said in
John chapter 16 verse 33, These things have I spoken unto you,
that in me you might have peace. In the world you'll have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. The only joy, peace and hope
any sinner will ever have is because of what Christ has done
for them. Period. Period. But what about when I sin? What about when I sin with my
eyes wide open? What about when I sin when my
conscience is screaming in my very ear and very heart? What about when I commit premeditated
sins? What about when I commit oft-repeated
sins? Can I believe in? This is a sad subject, and the
fact of the matter is, we ought not sin. Amen? These things write I unto you
that you sin not. There's never an excuse for our
sin. We ought not sin. We should never sin again. You will. You will. I'm not excusing it, nor am I
encouraging it, but I'm stating a fact. You will. But listen to this. Listen to
Scripture. Romans chapter 5, verse 6 says,
When we were yet without strength, In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Do you know it's only as you
are without strength and ungodly that you can believe that Christ
died for you? Because that's who he died for.
The Bible says that. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. The only way you can
trust Christ is as a sinner. The only way you can trust Him
as your righteousness before God is when you have absolutely
no righteousness. The only way you can trust Him
as all is when you are nothing. It's only as a sinner that you
can trust the Savior. Does that excuse your sin? No.
No. But I know this, it's my sin
that makes me see my need of the Lord Jesus Christ, and my
need of his grace, and my need of a righteousness infinitely
better than I can come up with, and my need of his precious blood. Sin's a horrible thing, but thank
God he is the friend of who? Sinners. He's the sinner's friend. He's the Savior of sinners. Now, believing is everything
in the believer's life. It's everything. It's all we
have. Now, let me ask you a question.
I'm making this Question, I'm making this appeal to every single
believer in this room. Do you believe you're saved because
of some mastery and victory you've achieved over sin? Do you believe you're saved because
of some higher plane you've reached to? Do you believe you're saved
because you're so different and you're so holy now and you're
so righteous now? Do you believe you're saved by
looking at anything about you that makes you think, yep, I'm
saved? I gotta be. All I have is Christ. That's what faith is. That's
what believing is. Jesus Christ is made to me all
I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power,
holiness forevermore. My redemption full and sure. He is all I need. Are you willing to stand before
God in judgment with nothing but Christ? That's the only way I want to
stand. Now, are you saying that seeking to
obey God is useless? You can take it that way if you
want, but I'm not saying that. And I am saying this, the only
ground of assurance and acceptance I have is Christ only. And my sin drives me to that
conclusion. And in that sense, my sin, as
evil as it is, it serves me. You see, the elder, my old nature,
shall serve the younger, the new nature. Now, how can I believe
and it not be an act of presumption? I believe the great doctrines
of election and predestination. I believe the Bible teaches that
Christ bore the sins of the elect and accomplished their salvation.
I believe that. But how can I believe it isn't
for me? How can I have some assurance? How can I believe And it not
be an act of presumption on my part, because I don't want to
do that. I don't want to simply take something like that for
granted. How can I believe? I John chapter 3, verse 23, and this is his What? Commandment. Commandment. Not this is his
invitation. You know, if you're invited to
something, it's not necessarily wrong if you don't turn up. Not
this is his offer, but this is his commandment. Now, if God
commands you to believe, do you have a right to believe? If he commands you, if he says,
Todd, believe, do I have a right to believe without it being presumptuous?
It's never presumptuous to do something that he commands you
to do. This is His commandment that
we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, you are commanded by God
to believe that His name is all that's needed to make you perfect
before God, nothing else. And we're commanded to love one
another as He gave us commandment. Now, with regard to this thing
of believing, there's weak faith and there's strong faith, great
faith. And I want us to look, in closing,
at what the Lord called the greatest faith in all of Israel. And I want to see what it's made
of. So would you turn with me for a moment to Matthew chapter
8? This is what we're going to close with. Verse 5, Matthew chapter 8. And when Jesus was entered into
Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion beseeching him, and
saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy grievously
tormented. Now, I see such wisdom in the
way this man came into the Lord's presence. He didn't come telling
the Lord what to do, did he? He just came before the Lord
and stated his case. My servant lieth at grievously
tormented with a palsy. He stated his case. Lord, I'm sick. I'm paralyzed grievously. Verse 7, And Jesus saith unto
him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered
and said, now here's the first point I want to see about great
faith. Lord, I'm not worthy that thou
should come under my roof. He had a very low opinion of
himself. I'll come and heal him. You don't
need to do that. I'm not worthy for you to even
come under my roof. But look at the high opinion
he had of the Word of Christ. But speak the Word only. You don't need to come down.
All you got to do is will it. Speak the Word only. and my servant shall be healed."
You see, I understand authority. Having soldiers under me, and
I say to this man, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and
he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it. I know
you have all authority. I understand what authority is.
I know all you have to do is will it, and it takes place. Now there's two things that I
see about this man. He had a very low opinion of
himself and he had a very high opinion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Would that be you? You know what you are before
God and you know what he is before God. Verse 10, When Jesus heard, he marveled, and he said to them
that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel. Now what is great faith? It's
a low view of yourself. and it's a high and exalted view
of the Lord Jesus Christ that all he's got to do is say it
and it takes place. Believing that in Jesus Christ I'm perfect
without sin, justified, accepted in the Beloved. Makes me happy. Makes me at peace. Knowing all that God requires
of me, I've got peace. All God requires of me, He looks
to His Son for. That gives me peace. Peace. You tell me that
anything God requires of me, I lose, I don't have any peace.
But I have peace knowing that all I have is Christ. That's all God wants is Christ. Peace. Joy. And what hope? I have a hope
that on Judgment Day, when my name is called, Christ is going
to answer for me. And God's going to say to me,
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. And the reason he's
going to say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, is
because he says to Christ, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. And what he says to Christ, he
says to me, what a hope. And this thing of joy, peace
and hope come only in believing. May the Lord cause us all to
be The highest place you can be
is to be a believer. Let's pray. Lord, will you fill us with all
joy and peace in believing that we may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
What do you got, Matt? 272. My hope is built. Okay, team number 272. What joy
and peace