Good morning. Let's turn, if
you would, in your Bibles to Romans chapter 14. We're going
to read the last few verses. I'm going to start reading in
verse 22. Romans 14 verse 22. Hast thou
faith? Have it to thyself before God.
Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he
alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned
if he eat, because he eateth not of faith. And this is our
subject here this morning. For whatsoever is not of faith
is sin. Very short statement, very simple,
but yet very profound. That which is not of faith is
sin. How far do you take that? How
far can you take that which is not of faith is sin? Well, we
don't take it one step beyond diminishing or adding to the
way that God takes it. Because it really doesn't matter
how I take it, and it doesn't matter how you take it. It only
matters how God takes it. That which is not of faith is
sin. Has God left his word for men
to discern? as to how we take it, what our interpretation of
is it, what we believe important or what we believe is necessary.
So you can certainly say that there are many differences in
the way that people believe and meet in the different church
houses around this nation. Can't say they're saying all
the same thing. So clearly there is some difference
in which the way some take it. Which one's right? Because they
certainly do not say the same thing. And at some point you
have to say there is a right and there is a wrong. So perhaps
we adopt the common spirit of commonality. We try to find a
common thread. We're all coming from different
roads, just going to the same place. That's the message of
today. Well, maybe we all agree to disagree. Different roads to the same destination.
Well, why don't we ask King Uzziah how that worked out for him?
King Uzziah decided that one day he was going to bring the
incense into the temple, and he was going to burn it before
the Lord. This was something that was commanded to be done
only by the priests, but yet he was trying to get to the same
place. He was saying, I'm going to do something good here by
bringing the incense in and burning it before the Lord, but yet the
Lord didn't see it that way. He struck him with leprosy on
the spot for doing that. How about Uzzah and King David?
The ark had been taken by the Philistines, and King David decided,
and they had all these problems with the Philistines while they
had it, and the Philistines said, get it out of here. And they
found the ark, and King David said, we're going to bring it
back. We're going to have a huge celebration in bringing this
back. This is a wonderful thing. We're bringing the ark back.
And what happened was he sent a cart and two men to bring it
back. But yet the Lord prescribed that
the ark had to be wrapped back only through the big wooden sticks
that went through the rings on the side and carried on the shoulders
of the priests. But yet in this, Uzzah and the
man that were with him were taking the cart, the cart started rocking,
and the whole ark was getting ready to tip off. And you can
imagine how bad that would be. the ark falling off this wagon,
busting into pieces, this would be awful. It was a good thing. He reached up to steady the ark,
and as soon as he did, God struck him dead. They did not seek the
Lord after the right order, and so the way that we see things
and the way we might do things, even though we're trying to get
to the same place in our own mind, are not the same way that
God sees things. These things are not so with
God. There's no scriptural evidence. These are man-made things that
we interject because that's the way that we think. God's Word
is to be declared. It says that the Lord made bare
His holy arm. That's all we're doing. We're
laying it out, presenting it as it is. We're not adding anything
to it. We're not trying to twist it. We just present it as it
is. It's to be declared and not to be proved. You see, I might
not be smart enough really to understand what is trying to
be proved to me, and so therefore does that make it not true? No.
Not at all. So it's not to be proved. God's
Word is true. And so if it's not, why are we
even here in the first place? There's a lot of other places
we could be. If it's true, then all Scripture must say the same
thing. Scripture doesn't contradict
itself in one place or another or else we're looking at it wrong.
Part of the truth won't save you. If part of it's removed,
what if you were never told of election? you would probably
be trying to make yourself to be one of those whom God showed
favor upon. That would make sense had you
not known of election, but yet the scripture teaches election
so you can know something about your sinfulness. That's the only
way you can be saved is through election, that God would choose
you, because if he had to look upon what you did in order to
choose you, there's no way he would choose you. So we can't
leave out part of the truth. That which is not of faith is
sin. So what I would like us to examine
this morning are three different points. First is, why is sin
so bad? I do it all the time. Why is
sin so bad? Secondly, what is not of faith? Sometimes in order to understand
something, we need to understand what it's not. And then lastly,
what is then saving faith? So first, why is sin so bad? You know, we really have no concept
of the severity of sin. Sin is something that we do and
that we say that we do, and we have some knowledge of it, but
we really don't understand the severity of it, because first,
sin is against God. And if it's against God, what
does that mean? The scripture says in Proverbs, this is the
Lord speaking, he said that he that sinneth against me wrongeth
his own soul. So sin is against him and the
Lord sees it as a wronging of your own soul. David said in
the Psalms, against thee and thee only have I sinned, that
thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when
thou judgest. He's saying, if there's any condemnation
that is going to come upon me, it's not going to be because
I'm trying to say, well, God's sovereign, so therefore I'm sinning.
So he's saying that you're clear of all that. I am guilty, and
it's all my fault. I've sinned against you. Sin
is against God. Adam, don't eat of the tree.
Adam, you can do anything else you want to. You can go where
you want to go. You can drink the water you want
to drink. You've got a hundred different things here you can
eat. Adam, I'm going to provide everything for you. You're not
going to have to work to provide for yourself. You think about
that, you that work. We go out and it's hard to provide
for ourselves and our families, but yet Adam didn't have any
of this. Everything was provided for him, and yet he was told,
Adam, just don't do this one thing and everything else is
taken care of. You've got nothing to worry about.
But yet, Adam ate of the fruit. So what does that say? He says
it's a willful action against God because after all the grace,
after all the generosity, after everything that the Lord provided
for him, yet he still ate of the fruit. Sin is against God. It's in opposition to him. It's
in rejection to his being over us. Why did it say that we ate? What did Satan say to Eve? He
said, basically, that you can become like God. So we didn't
want to be what we were, we wanted to be like Him. We're not okay
with Him being over us. So sin is against God first.
Second, we can't gauge the severity of sin. We have no idea. If you'll
turn with me over to Matthew chapter 11, I believe there's
a scripture that illustrates this pretty well. Let's start reading in verse
20. Then began he to upbraid the
cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they
repented not. Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe
unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which
were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
have repented long ago and sackclothed the ashes. But I say unto you,
it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of
judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell. For if
the mighty works which had been done in me had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained unto this day. But I say unto you, that
it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day
of judgment than for thee. You think about what that is
saying there. That's saying, why did Sodom fare better? I
mean, when we all think of Sodom, we think of a lot of wicked,
vile, under-strained activity and sin that went on there. Sodom
is pictured as a very bad place, and the Lord, the stench of it
came all the way up to heaven. He said, I'm gonna look down
and see if it's true, what's going on there. That's what he
was, when he was talking to Abraham before he came down to destroy
it. So Sodom had a very wicked place, but yet it said it's going
to be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom than it
was for Capernaum. Capernaum, exalted unto heaven,
many mighty works, most of the Lord's mighty works and miracles
were done in Capernaum. The gospel was preached there.
What was their crime? Crime was unbelief. That's what
God says in his word. Now, when we look at the two
things, we would say unbelief. You look at all these horrible,
terrible things that happened here and you say this one's just
because of unbelief is going to be punished worst? Doesn't
matter what you or I think. This is what God thinks. And
so he says that unbelief is worse. So consider the most unholy,
wicked, abomination that has seared your soul, that you personally
have committed, that maybe nobody else knows, the thing you can
never forget, that sin. It's worse here this morning
to have a heart of apathy than that sin that you committed,
to just say, I just don't get it. I don't care. God views that
as worse. He said it's more tolerable for
Sodom than it is for Capernaum in that day. The severity of
sin is something that we don't even understand. We ask the blind
man how blind he really is. You see, we can't really see
how blind we are, except we are able to see. And so when we say
that one looks more severe than the other, we don't see it the
way God sees it, unless He opens our eyes. Our view doesn't matter. It's all that matters is God's
view in this. He's the one I have to stand before. You may be okay
with me. You may not, but I have to stand
before Him. So that's where my judgment comes
from. I find it, and I'm not even sure
interesting is the right word, but I always seem perplexed,
I guess, with those who find God is too harsh, too rigid,
too unbending, but yet they want into His heaven. It's His heaven,
but yet you find fault with Him? They say the God of the Old Testament,
you know, when they look at him, they say, we don't like him.
He's too big. He's too mean. He's too angry.
We don't like him. But yet they want into his heaven.
And so when the children of Israel saw that God of the Old Testament,
they told Moses, we don't want anything to do with him. We don't
want to come near to him. You go talk to him for us. Because
if we come near him, we're afraid we're going to die. So he's saying,
you step in between us. But yet, that's the same God
as the New Testament. We look at the Lord Jesus and
because in the form that he came as meek and lowly, he's still
the intermediary between that same God. The same God of the
New Testament is the same as the old. If we don't love Christ
here, how would we ever love him there? That's all heaven's
going to be. That heaven that we want to get
in, that's the one where Christ is going to be there. So we must
love him here or else we'd hate it there. We're not going to
be there. So we can't gauge the severity of sin. The next thing
I want to say about sin is sin goes deeper than just what you've
done. We think of sin as our actions,
what we've done. I want us to look at a few scriptures
here. Turn over to Matthew chapter 15 and verse 17. We'll start in verse
16. The Lord said, Are you also yet
with that understanding? Do you not understand that whatsoever
entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out
into the drought? With those things which proceed
out of the mouth, they come forth from the heart, and they defile
the man. For out of the heart proceed
evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
blasphemies. These are the things which defile
a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man." So
what the Lord's saying here is it's not what you're doing. He's
saying it's what comes from the source. That's the problem. Turn
with me back to Jeremiah chapter 13. Verse 22, and if thou say in
thine heart, wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness
of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made
bare. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard, his
spots? Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. He's saying, just as the leopard
can't change his spots, and the Ethiopian can't change his skin,
You can't do good that are accustomed to doing evil. You can't change
yourself even if you wanted to. And that's kind of what Mark
presented this morning in our Sunday school lesson, whether
you're dealing with a double-minded man or whether you're dealing
with two natures. The double-minded man, he doesn't see it that way. He sees one thing and then the
other the next. The new nature still has the
old man, and you have all of one and all of the other. There's
not a switching back and forth. So this passage here is saying
you can't change yourself even if you wanted to. You are what
you are. Turn with me over to James chapter 3. Verse 11, doth a fountain send
forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig
tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? Either a vine, can it
make figs? So can no fountain yield both
salt water and fresh. And this is what's saying the
same thing. It's another way of saying the
same thing. If you've got salt water, you know, if you go to
the ocean and there's a, you know, that water source is salt
water. Even if you put fresh water in
it, even if it's 99% fresh water, it's still got salt in it. So
you can't have this, this mixing does not occur. Our God requires
purity in all things. You are what you are and that
is your nature. You can't be anything but that.
When Adam ate of the fruit, Adam died because he sinned, and death
came by sin. So Adam didn't physically die. He probably ate of it and didn't
realize what happened at all. He was still alive and said,
I wonder what was supposed to happen maybe. But his spiritual
nature died. So if you have the ability to
choose God, let's say that you do. This is the spiritual nature.
It gives you the ability to see God, an ability to hear God,
to receive his word. But yet we're told we're spiritually
dead. But let's say that there's people that say they do have
the ability to choose. What need have they then of the
Holy Spirit? When somebody says that, they
rob God the Holy Spirit of his work. They say that I can choose
if I want to. I have a free will. Well, no
you don't. because then you rob God the Holy Spirit of his work.
Could Lazarus have come forth out of the tomb as he did without
the Lord giving him life and calling him forth? Lazarus can
come forth out of the tomb as soon as the Ethiopian can change
his skin and the leopard can change his spots. Then may you
also be able to choose that which you've not been given life for.
This is the work of God the Holy Spirit. Whatsoever is not of
faith is sin. So now let's look at what is
not of faith. We've looked at why sin is so
bad. Sin encompasses everything, is against God, it's more than
just what I do, it's what I am, and I don't even understand how
bad it is. That which is not of faith, your most selfless
act, it's sin, and it's sin because you did it. Your intentions. You may have had good intentions
when you went into something, but yet it's still sin because
it's infected with vanity. It's infected with self-righteousness
and with covetousness. Everything I do, if I'm modest
with myself, those three fit into anything that I do. If I
look at my works, have I kept the law perfectly? Look over
at Romans chapter 9. In verse 31, he says, but Israel,
which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained
to the law of righteousness. Why? The law is what you do.
Because they sought it not by faith, but as by it were the
works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. The
world still lives under the mixing of law and grace. There's some
grace over here, and it might be a lot of grace, but this world
still lives with some law. The law could be your good deeds,
the things that you would say that God could look upon you
favorably for. That's law. It's not just the
Ten Commandments. It's not just the eat this and
not that, go here and do this on this day. The law is anything
we make it that we have to do that God requires from us. It
could be your choice and that you say your free will. It could
be your personal faith. Do you ever doubt? Do you ever
find fault with God? Do you really want to present
your personal faith before God, being what you are and what you
know you are in your heart? No. God requires perfection. He won't allow anything that's
not impure. To mingle the two is an offense
to God. Doing the law says this, the
one in whom the Father is well pleased, who stood for us, the
elect, before the foundation of the world, who came in the
course of time, who came and took on all their sins, suffered
and died for them, is risen again, seated on the right hand of God.
It's to say, that's not enough for me. I've got to do my part
and add something to it. How does God look upon that?
Upon the slaughter of his son, he would say, that's not enough
for me. That's what doing the law is. It says to him, who by
himself purged our sins, it's not enough. Your death was ineffectual,
and I must do something, whether it be choose to believe, or whether
it be do some sort of work, or choose to accept this for me.
It's an offense to God. It's glorifying me, the creature,
and not him. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
3. We're going to stay here for a while, so you may want to put
a marker in your Bible here. Galatians chapter 3 verse 10,
pay particular attention to this verse, for as many as are of
the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. So a little or a lot of
works, or a little or a lot of law, you're under the curse. That couldn't be any more plain.
Look in verse 11, but that no man is justified or no man is
declared righteous by the law in the sight of God, for it is
evident the just shall live by faith. There is none declared
righteous by the law, key here, in the sight of God. Going back
to it doesn't matter what I think. It's all down to in the sight
of God. He's the one that's gonna be
our judge, not me. So whatsoever is not of faith
is sin, verse 12. The law is not of faith. You couldn't have three verses
in a row more clear that explode this whole idea of the law, doing
anything, faith. The law is not of faith. The
law is due and faith is what I look to expectantly. The law
says, a different way of saying what the law is, it's anything
that I believe that God will have regard to favorably had
I not done it. So I have to do it in order for
God to look upon me favorably, that's law. Whether it be a life of morality,
and we should live a life of morality, but yet if I'm looking
to God to look favorably upon me and my actions because I did
it, that's law. What about giving, how much you
give? You're able to give a lot. That's
wonderful, and you should give. A heart that won't give doesn't
love Christ. But yet, if I'm looking to God to bless me or
to do something for me because I give, that's law. How about
how much you know? And you should know about this
book. This is what our final exam's on. This is our book here,
and we should know it. But yet, if I'm looking to God
to say, show favor upon me because I know more about it than somebody
else, that's law. Or perhaps law is God knew that
I would believe and so therefore he showed favor upon me and made
me one of his children. He looked down through time and
knew I believe and so therefore made me one of the elect. That
is law and it's not in this book. The scripture says that God hath
from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. How did he do
it? Through sanctification of the
Spirit, He created in you a new spirit, which thereby enabled
you to believe the truth. You didn't choose to believe
anything that you weren't already chosen to by God. You didn't
choose me, I've chosen you. These are the words of the Lord.
How can we find anything different than that? That which is not
of faith is sin. And lastly, I'd like us to look
at what is of faith. Well, let's keep back reading
in Galatians 3. And we'll read verse 12 again.
And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall
live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. that the blessing
of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might believe that the promise of the Spirit through
faith." See, this should be the best news that you've ever heard.
There's no more law for you. There's no more what you have
to do. That's been removed. If you'll
turn, hold your finger here and go over to Romans chapter 7,
Paul gives a really good illustration of this in the picture of having
a new and an old husband. We'll look at the first four
verses. Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know
the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as
he liveth. You're never gonna get underneath
it. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law
to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be
dead, she is loose from the law of her husband, so then, if while
her husband liveth, she be married to another man. This is the mixing
of law and grace. She shall be called an adulteress.
That's sin. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no more an adulteress,
though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren,
You also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that
you should be married to another, even him who is raised from the
dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." So you see here,
we are dead to the law. My husband, my previous husband,
he's dead. And that was the law. But if
there's a marrying of the two, he's saying that she's an adulteress,
and that's sin, and that can't be. God will punish sin. So there
has to be, the first testament has to be dead. The law has to
be dead if you want grace. If you pick back up in Galatians
chapter three, pick up reading verse 21. Is the law then against
the promises of God? Does it nullify them? God forbid. For if there had been a law given
which could have been given life, Fairly, righteousness would have
been by the law. If there had been a law that
you could accomplish in order to achieve salvation, then righteousness
certainly would have been by the law. But, verse 22, that
the scripture hath concluded all are under sin, that the promise
by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
So, what we have here is the faith of Jesus Christ, not justified
by the works of the law. Turn back to Galatians 2.16,
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. So what we have here is in verse
20, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now live,
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and who gave himself for me. The faith that I have, that's
His faith. The life I have, that's by His
faith. So, what I want us to look at
right here, because that's a mystery to us. So, we do have faith,
but our faith is based on His faith. My faith is that He is
faithful, because I know I'm not, so my faith has an object. What I look at is seven evidences
of saving faith, and we're going to turn and give you a scripture
for each of these. First one, turn with me over to Ephesians
chapter 2. First evidence of saving faith?
Faith is the gift of God. Ephesians 2.8, for by grace are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the
gift of God. Where did it come from? Turn
back to 1 Corinthians chapter 4. in verse 7, for who, who maketh
thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if you had not received it? If you have
faith, it's not because you did anything. It's because you received
it, just like everyone else who's been given the gift of God. I
can't glory in it. So, faith first is the gift of
God. It's not rooted in me. It's rooted
in Him. He's planting that seed in me. Second evidence of seven faith
is faith believes God. I'll read you this one. 1 John 5 says, Who is he that overcometh
the world? It is he that believeth that
Jesus is the Son of God. So you see, saving faith believes. Otherwise, what is the faith
for? Faith must believe. Believes what? Jesus is the Son
of God. And in believing that Jesus is
God Himself and the Son of God, You overcome the world. That's
what that scripture is saying. The next evidence of saving faith
is faith, believing faith, does the works of God. That scripture
would be John 6, 28. It says, what shall we do? These people came to the Lord
and asked Him, what shall we do that we might work the works
of God? His response to them was, this is the work of God,
that you believe on Him who He has sent. What is it to believe
on him because that's working the works of God? Well, what
did those people believe on that were bitten by the snake set
in the desert? They were dying. They had no means to cure themselves. At that point, they had some
realization that they were dying. You do have to have that. The
Lord has to show you that, that you are dying and that you can't
help yourself. But to believe upon the Son of God, you have
to look to that serpent upon that pole. and believe that that's
the only way that you can be cured. It's the only way that
you can be saved. You have no ability to influence
it. You have no ability to do anything other than look to that
serpent upon the pole, to that one who hangs upon the tree as
enough to purge you from all your sins and to give you righteousness
before God. That is to believe upon God and
to do the works of God. If you or I do any work that's
acceptable to God, It's only the new spirit that's within
us. And if it is the new spirit which was given unto us, I don't
glory in it. It's not a me. I'm His workmanship. Turn with me back to Romans chapter
12. Verse 1, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. Be not confirmed of this world, but be you transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you might prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say
through the grace given unto me and to every man that is among
you, not to thank himself more highly than he ought to thank.
but to thank soberly according as God had dealt to every man
the measure of faith." See right there? God has dealt to every
man who has faith his own measure. God's the one dealing it. We
don't think of ourselves higher than what we are. We're his workmanship.
And if we're created unto good works in Christ Jesus, we have
nothing to glory in. He's to be glorified for his
own workmanship. The fourth evidence of saving
faith. Faith has an object. Turn with
me over to Luke chapter 18, verse 35. And it came to pass
that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man
sat by the wayside begging. And hearing the multitude pass
by, he asked what it meant. And they told him, Jesus of Nazareth,
path is by. And he cried, saying, Jesus,
thou son of David, have mercy upon me. And they which went
before him rebuked him that he should hold his peace. But he
cried so much the more, thou son of David, have mercy upon
me. And Jesus stood and commanded
him to be brought unto him. And when he was come unto him,
he asked him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And
he said, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto
him, Receive thy sight, thy faith hath saved thee. And immediately
he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God. And all
the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. He said,
Thy faith hath saved thee. So was it his faith, his personal
faith? Who was he crying out to? Who
did his faith touch his heart to cause him to cry out to? It
caused him to cry out to Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
upon me. It was the Lord Jesus' ability
to do for him. That's what saved him. His faith
had an object. The object of his faith was the
Lord Jesus Christ and his ability, the man. So faith has an object. Faith also, as our number five,
faileth not. The Lord said unto Peter, Peter,
Satan hath desired thee that he might sift thee as wheat.
Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith fail not. Let
not your heart be troubled. Peter failed, didn't he? It's
not that his faith wasn't rattled, it wasn't shaken, it was. Peter
fell. He denied the Lord, but yet he
didn't stay down. The Lord caused his faith to
fail not. If he could choose me in election,
if he could birth me by his Holy Spirit, if he could wash away
all my sins in his blood and give me his righteousness, can
he not also give me faith that faileth not? He can. What concerns me is why someone
would not want a perfect faith. You can have the faith of Jesus
Christ, a perfect faith, spotless, clean, acceptable to God, or
bring something of your own that's not that. Why somebody would
want that? I want that perfect faith, the
faith of Jesus Christ that He causes that faith to fail not
because He failed not. The object of the faith never
failed. The object of the faith was able to be successful in
all he did. It is finished. That object of
our faith faileth not. Number six, turn with me to 1
Peter chapter 7. 1 Peter 1, sorry. Faith is a trial. Verse 7, that
the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found
unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
whom having not seen, you love. in whom, though now you seem
not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full
of glory. And this is key here, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, how
would we ever see our need for Christ apart from faith being
of trial? What would you know of that which is sweet except
you've tasted the bitter? What would you know of rest except
you've labored and are weary? And what would you know of peace
except that you wage war daily with that old man that is your
flesh? Faith is a trial, but where do you rejoice in this?
Faith is not working towards getting to an eventual expectation,
an unrealized expectation, trying to get to the end. You see, we
receive the end at the beginning. And that's what verse 9 here
is saying, receiving the end of your faith. the salvation
of your souls." In the same manner, we don't understand why God is
the way He is. How do we receive the end, the
prize, what you have to work for at the beginning? But that's
the way God is. He gives you the salvation of
your souls in the beginning because that's who God is. If you've
seen Him, you can't not believe. That's the beauty of this. If
He's revealed His face unto you, and you've seen your need of
salvation, you've seen that your sin is everything that gives
God every reason to cast you away, you will believe, and you
will trust Him, and we will know that our faith won't fail because
He's given us that. Faith is a trial, but one thing
I want to add is there's no suspense in the halls of eternity. When
you're given this reward in the beginning, this receiving the
end of your faith, the salvation of your souls, there's no suspense
in the halls of eternity. I wonder if he's going to make
it. This one's got faith. Will he make it to the end? No. If you've been given it in the
beginning, you will make it to the end, and you have that confidence.
Our last evidence of saving faith is faith waits. The expectation of our hope doesn't
come immediately in terms of our experience. Galatians 5.5
says, we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. There may be a few more settings
of the sun for us, but then there'll be a day when our faith is made
sight. Revelation 16, 15 says, Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed
is he that watcheth, and you can also say waiteth, and keepeth
his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. David
said in the Psalms, my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that
watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch
for the morning. His soul waits. Faith endures
to the end. Faith is not birthed in you.
Faith faileth not. Faith is birthed in you. And
faith is brought forth by the gift of God. I'm not asking you
if you believe this, but I am telling you you will before you
enter heaven. This is the gospel. This is the
Lord's gospel. And this is what a saving faith
is. And whatsoever is not of faith is sin. If you'll look
at one last scripture, and we'll close, Mark chapter 11. Start in verse 12, and on the
morrow when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry, this
is the Lord. And seeing a fig tree far off
having leaves, he came, if happily he might find anything thereon.
And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time
of figs was not. And Jesus answered and said unto
it, no man eat fruit on thee hereafter forever." And his disciples
heard it, down to verse 19. And when evening was come, he
went out of the city. And in the morning they passed
by and they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And
Peter calling to remembrance, saying unto him, Master, behold,
the fig tree which thou cursed is withered away. And Jesus answering,
saith unto him, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you,
that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed,
and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart,
but shall believe those things which he saith shall come to
pass. He shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, when you pray, believe that you will
receive them, and you shall have them." Lackest thou faith? Ask. This is the Lord's promise
to you right here in His Word. Ask, believing that you will
receive exactly what you ask for. So whatsoever is not of
faith is sin. Is faith enough? It is if it's
all you've got. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. Thank you. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you for your word. We thank you for the faith which
you have that is the faith of Christ Jesus. Lord, give us this
faith. Allow us to look away from the
law. Allow us to look away from anything that we would do or
look to for you to see us do. Lord, allow us to look to what
he's already done. Lord, we rejoice in this completed
and finished salvation. We pray that you'd root in us
this gift of faith which we've seen in your word. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.