Linda Farrell is taking Emma
to Knoxville for seven weeks. And they were not able to get
in the Ronald McDonald house. So they're going to have seven
weeks worth of hotel bills staying there in Knoxville. So if you
can help out any for that, I know that would be very appreciated
by them. And they're going this week. So it's something we ought
to take care of right away. Would you turn with me to 1 Samuel
17. 1 Samuel 17. Verse 30. And he turned from him toward
another, and spake after the same manner, David speaking.
And the people answered him again after the former matter. And
when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them
before Saul, and he sent for it." Now, what were the words
he spake? Verse 26, and David spake to the men that stood by
him, saying, what should be done to this man that killeth this
Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who
is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies
of the living God? And the people answered him after
this manner, saying, so shall it be done to the man that killeth
him. Now, these people heard this
speech by David, and they gave Saul this speech. Verse 32, he
was sent to Saul. And David said to Saul, let no
man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight
with this Philistine. Now how much that have sounded
to Saul when this teenager says, I'll take him on and I'm not
afraid of him. I'll fight him and I'll defeat
him. And he spoke with such confidence. He was not afraid at all. He
knew he'd win. That's where this young man was.
Verse 33. And Saul said to David, thou
were not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him
for you're but a youth and he a man of war from his youth.
And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep.
And there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock.
And I went out after him and smote him. and delivered it out
of his mouth. And when he arose against me,
I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him." Now
picture that in your mind. I love thinking about that. I
mean, he grabs a lion by the beard. And he knocks it out and
kills it. Supernatural power. That's all
we can call this. Supernatural ability. God enabled
him to do something in a supernatural way. Verse 36. Thy servant slew
both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them, seeing that he hath defied the armies
of the living God. David said, Moreover, the Lord
that delivered me out of the pawl of the lion and out of the
pawl of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.
And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee. Let's
pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. And Lord, we ask that we might
be divinely enabled. To hear the gospel. Lord, give us grace. To trust my ability to save us. Forgive us of our sins. For Christ's
sake and Lord, may your spirit be poured upon us. Lord, we pray
for your great grace upon us and Lord be with Emma as she
goes away. We ask that you would bless them
in this time and that you'd heal her according to your will. Lord
be with all your people, wherever they meet together. Lord grant
us a spirit of brethren dwelling together in unity. Bless us for
the Lord's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Saul is looking at a teenager
saying, I can defeat this Philistine. I'm not afraid of him. Now that's
remarkable in and of itself, isn't it? This was a teenager.
And you can see where Saul was incredulous concerning this.
You're just a youth. What makes you think you can
stand before this mighty giant? Where are you coming from? I
have no doubt that he just did not believe that this teenager
was able to fight. And I understand Saul saying
that, humanly speaking, although we're not speaking humanly, are
we? We're speaking divinely. We're speaking of the divine
word, but humanly speaking, David didn't have a chance against
this Philistine, but thank God we're not speaking humanly. He was given supernatural ability
and power. I love thinking of him slaying
a bear with his hands and he slew a lion with his hands to
deliver that little lamb from the lion's mouth. He demonstrated
supernatural power. That's the only way that this
can be explained. No man could do what this man
did. He had to be divinely enabled. And that's precisely what took
place. He was divinely enabled. David gives his credentials to
Saul. I killed a lion. and I killed
a bear with my bare hands. And this uncircumcised Philistine
will be as one of them." David didn't have any doubt that he
could destroy his foe. He knew that Goliath was no match
for him. Now, was this arrogance, misplaced
confidence, or was it faith? in the ability of God to defeat
his enemies. He knew this had nothing to do
with anything in him. He knew the Lord had divinely
enabled him to do this. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of
them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God." Verse
37, David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of
the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear. He knew
who did it. It was the Lord who did it. It had nothing to do
with his human strength. The Lord did this. He will deliver
me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go
and the Lord be with thee. Now, David knew that he had God
on his side. He knew that he had God divinely
enabling him to defeat the bear and the lion. What was David's
strength against this giant? The ability of God. That's what I'm going to talk
about the rest of this time. The very stuff of faith, I don't
know how else to put it, but the very stuff of faith is believing
the ability of God. 2 Timothy 1.12, this is, I think,
the clearest definition of faith in all the Word of God. Paul
put it this way, I know whom I have believed. Now what we
believe is determined by who we believe. And if we believe
him, all what becomes obvious. I mean, believers all see eye
to eye. They all believe the same thing. And it's because
of who they believe. Because of who we believe, that
determines what we believe. For instance, I believe in successful
redemption. I believe in limited atonement,
effectual redemption, and the reason I believe it is because
of who died. It's Christ that died. Could
He die and be a failure? Could He pay for my sins and
me have to pay for them all over again? Why, that's ridiculous
because of who died. I know whom I have believed,
and Paul said, I'm persuaded. I've been persuaded. God persuaded
me. You know, if God persuaded you
of something, you'll be persuaded. And you and I won't believe until
he persuades us. And when he persuades us, we
will believe. If God has taught me, I'm persuaded,
just like Paul was. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded that he is able. Now, there's the very stuff of
faith. I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I
have committed unto him against that day. People who save for retirement generally
put their money in Mutual funds and stocks and bonds, 40, 50
different things, and that way they're protected. If one goes
bad, you got another 40 maybe that are good and you're not
going to lose too much money. So they try to play it safe and
conservatively. A man would be foolish, generally
speaking, if he put all of his money in one thing that perhaps
paid high dividends but would fail or could fail. You know,
he's not protected. He'd lose everything. But you
know, when a believer trusts Christ, he commits the entire
salvation of his soul to him. I don't have plan B. I don't have things to cover
me in case this messes up. I've committed the entire salvation
of my soul to him. He must do it all. If you fail to commit, and that's
what commitment is, You commit the entire salvation of your
soul to Him. If He fails, it's over for me. But I know He won't fail. I'm
persuaded that He is able. I'm persuaded that He's able
to take me, sinful as I am, and make me perfect in the very sight
of God. I believe his ability. I'm persuaded, I'm convinced
that he's able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. I remember reading about the
Lord coming to Abraham and Sarah, and Sarah's listening, and the
Lord says to Abraham, a year from now, your wife's gonna have
a baby. And Sarah started laughing. She
said, sure, I have pleasure seeing I'm so old, my Lord's old and
so on. I just don't believe that. She
started laughing. And the Lord said, wherefore
did thou laugh? She said, I didn't laugh. I thought that's enough
to make you laugh. I mean, she's laughing right
to the, I mean, lying to the Lord, right to his face. But
he said this to her. He said, is anything too hard
for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Is the Lord able? Think of those blind men. They
came into the house where the Lord was. Both of them blind.
They must have followed his voice. They heard his voice. That's
how they got in there, because they were blind as bats. And
the Lord said to them, do you believe that I am able to do
this? What if the Lord said to you,
do you believe, he's speaking to you, do you believe that I'm
able to do this, to make you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in my sight to where you really are. Do you believe in his ability? Turn with me for a moment to
Daniel chapter three. This is one of the most thrilling
chapters in the Bible, I think. It's where Nebuchadnezzar made
this false god and said, whenever you hear the music, you've got
to bow down. and worship this false god. Now look and you remember
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they wouldn't do it. They wouldn't
do it. Verse 14. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said
unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do not
ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have
set up? Now if you be ready, that at that what time you hear
the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and
dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the
image which I have made, well, you'll be okay. But if you worship
not, You shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning,
fiery furnace, and who is that God that shall deliver you out
of my hand? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said
to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we're not careful to answer thee
in this matter. If it be so, if it's his will, our God whom
we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace.
And they weren't sure if he was gonna do it, but they knew he
was able. He was able. Our God is able. And that's really
the very heart of faith. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able. What do you believe about the
ability of God to save you? What does God see in your heart?
Does he see one who really believes in his ability to make you clean? Now, verse 17, if it be so, our
God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
But if not, if he decides to let us be thrown into the fiery
furnace, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve
thy gods nor worship the golden image which thou set up. Don't
you admire that? That faith, that courage. Then was Nebuchadnezzar
full of fury and the form of his visits changed against Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded
that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it
was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty
men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men
were bound in their coats, their hoes, and their hats, and their
other garments. and were cast into the midst of the burning,
fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king's
commandment was urgent and the furnace was exceeding hot, the
flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning,
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king
was astonished. And he rose up in haste and spake
and said to his counselors, did not we cast three men bound in
the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the
king, true, O king. He answered and said, lo, I see four men
loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. And the former of the fourth
is like unto the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near
to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth
and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
came forth of the midst of the fire, and the prince's governors,
captains, and the king's counselors, being gathered together, saw
these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power. What ability
the Son of God demonstrates. Nor was an hair of their head
singed, neither was their coat chained, nor the smell of fire.
They didn't even smell like smoke. That's how much they were delivered
because of the ability of their God. Look in Daniel chapter 6. This is when Daniel is thrown
into the lion's den. And the king didn't want Daniel
thrown into the lion's den, but the law couldn't be changed.
Verse 18. Daniel chapter six, and then the king went to his
palace and passed the night fasting. Neither was instruments and music
brought before him and his sleep went from him. Then the king
rose up very early in the morning. Daniel had been in the lion's
den all night and went in haste under the den of lions. And when
he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto
Daniel. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant
of the living God is thy God whom thou service continually
able to deliver thee. from the lions. Then said Daniel
unto the king, O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel and
has shut the lion's mouth that they not hurt me for as much
as before him innocence he was found in me. Now, this is God's
salvation. He makes it to where I'm innocent. Innocency is found by God in
me. He delivers me from the lions. Isn't that glorious? Is thy God
whom you serve able to deliver you? Is your God able to make
you innocent to where you have no guilt, where you're justified,
where you're sanctified, where you're glorified, where you're
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. in his sight. Do you believe
in Christ's ability to do that for you? Now, this is a glorious
thing to think about. We think about faith. Do you
know that the weakest faith in the world, and I'll take that,
I will. I mean, if I have any faith,
I'm glad, I'm thankful. But did you know the weakest
faith in the world saves just as surely as the strongest faith? You know why? It's not the faith
that saves, it's the object of the faith. It's the ability of
Him who is the object of faith, not the strength of your faith.
Now, we ought to all have strong faith. We got a strong God. We
got a strong Savior. We got a strong Redeemer. He's
almighty. We ought to have strong faith. We really should. No doubt
about that. But it's not the weakness or
the strength of our faith that saves. It's the object of our
faith that saves. And we believe that. We believe
that He is able. God said to Abraham, who was
an old man, and he'd never had a child. Sarah's womb had been
closed up. He said, do you see the stars?
Can you count them? So shall your seed be. And the scripture
says, Abraham believed God, with no other evidence but God's word. He couldn't look at himself or
Sarah and think, yeah, I can see where that would take place.
It was impossible. But he believed what God said. He believed God. 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. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
seven. I want to look at a few scriptures regarding his ability. David knew that that lion and
the bear were destroyed by the ability of God, and he knew beyond
the shadow of a doubt that Goliath didn't stand a chance against
him. He said, just the way I killed the lion and the bear, I'm going
to kill you. He wasn't a bit afraid. He knew that it was all
according to the ability of God. Now look here in Hebrews chapter
7, verse 25. He is able, Hebrews chapter 7
verse 25, He is able also to save them, and I love these next
three words, to the uttermost. To the uttermost that come to
God by Him. Now that word uttermost is somewhat
hard to define, But salvation from sin is so complete, when this man you're looking
at is perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, I know this,
I'll be a trophy of his ability. Ain't nobody gonna be thinking,
well, what a good guy he was. That's not gonna come into anybody's
mind regarding any of God's elect, anybody that's actually brought
into heaven. we will be a trophy of his ability to save to the
uttermost. Now there is an example of grace
to the uttermost. The salvation of this sinner,
that's mercy to the uttermost. That's his ability to save to
the uttermost. You believe he's able to save
you to the uttermost? That's faith. That's all it is. That is faith. You know, faith
is, in some respects, you think it's complicated, but it's also
awful simple. Faith is belief in His ability
to save me to the uttermost. All those that come to God by
Him. Would you dare come any other
way? I wouldn't dare come any other way. By the grace of God,
I wouldn't dare come any other way. He's able to save them to
the uttermost that come to God by him. And you know, this thing
of coming to God by him, that means when he comes to God, I
do too. When he ascended into glory, I did too. I came to God
by him, being united to him. And he ever liveth to make intercession. I love this. How many wills have
been made that have been contested? The person has a will, he dies,
and then all the lawsuits take place and all the fighting going
on. The people, they're just, horrible things happen after
that. And the man's will doesn't end up being done. Somebody's
able to contest it. When this man ever lives, he's
going to make sure his will is done. Nobody can contest it. And he is able to save them to
the uttermost that come to God by him. Turn to Jude, a little
book of Jude, right before the book of Revelation. Verse 24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling. What kind of ability would it
take to keep you from falling? You know only omnipotence can
keep you from falling. Don't you know that one You'd
fall in such a horrible way and make a mess of things and bring
reproach upon the name of Christ if God doesn't keep you from
it. You know it. And you'd fall away completely
if He didn't keep you from falling. You know. You know this. I don't have to convince any
believer of this. Now unto Him that is able to keep you from
falling. And look what else He's able
to do. To present you. What's that next word? Faultless. Now, I am conscious of so many
faults in myself. You are too, aren't you? Faults. Faults you're ashamed of. Faults
God knows about. Might be somebody else doesn't
know about them, but God does. Faults. Faulty. Many, many faults. And yet his ability is such that
he makes every believer faultless. That's the power of the gospel.
His blood is so powerful that it effectually put away all my
sin. Gives his righteousness to me
to where it's my personal righteousness before God. I did it. I did it. And he makes every believer faultless. Now what kind of ability does
that take? Only he is able to do something like that. Look
at Ephesians chapter 3. Verse 20. Now unto him that is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Look back to verse 19 where he
says, to know the love of Christ. Well, no, back to verse 16, that
he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to
be strengthened with might by spirit in the inner man, that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted
and grounded in love may be able to Comprehend with all the saints
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to
know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might
be filled with all the fullness of God." Well, those are big
things to say, aren't they? That you might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Now unto him that's able to do.
He's able to do this. Exceedingly abundantly above
all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in
us. That same power that raised Christ from the dead. Unto him
be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world
without end. Amen. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 14. First look at verse four. Who are you that judgest another
man's servant? Where did you get the authority
or the ability to think that you're in a position where you
can do that? Who are you to judge another man's servant? To his
own master he stands or falls, yea, he shall be holding up,
for God is able to make him stand. God's able to make him stand.
Look in verse 10. But why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set it not thy
brother? For we, that brother you're setting
a knot, everybody that he represents, for we shall all stand accepted,
justified, perfect before the judgment seat of Christ. Every believer will. God's able
to make every believer stand on judgment day. Hebrews chapter
two. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 18, for in that he himself
hath suffered being tempted. Now, I don't pretend to understand
the temptation of Christ. I know that he couldn't sin.
We believe in the impeccability of Jesus Christ. He could not
sin. He did not have the potential
to sin. He would lack the ability to
give in to temptation. But when he was tempted, he suffered. Do I understand that? No. Not
even close. Do I believe it? Yes. And I know
that on Calvary's tree, anything you've experienced as a sinner,
the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment, the humiliation, the feeling
of helplessness, the feeling of being forsaken, all those
things that you and I have experienced as sinners, he experienced when
he was made sin. Air, once again, is something
I don't understand, I just believe it. I don't understand it, it's
mysterious, but that's the glory of the gospel. And because of
that, for in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he
is able to succor, to help them that are tempted. Look in chapter
four of Hebrews, verse 14. Seeing then that we
have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for
we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. Oh, the feeling of our infirmities. I think this is remarkable. If you knew what was in my heart,
you wouldn't have anything to do with me. I know it. You wouldn't listen to me preach
anymore. You'd say, I've had it with that guy. I'm going somewhere
else. Also, if I knew what was in your
heart, I wouldn't have anything to do with you. No way. He knows what's in my
heart. Only he knows what's in my heart.
And he's touched. He's moved to sympathy with the
feelings of my infirmities. He is able to succor. He is able
to help them that are tempted. Look what it says in verse 15.
He was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly
under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. What a glorious Savior we have
who is able to help those that are tempted. Running out of time,
I wanted to look at Revelation 5 where Who's worthy to open the book
and open the seals there? No man was found that was worthy,
but there was one who was worthy, the lion of the tribe of Judah. He was able to open the book.
If you read that chapter this week, that's the Lord in English.
Okay.