I've entitled the message for
tonight, The Faith. The Faith. Let's read verse 8 once again. I don't believe there's a more
sobering scripture in all of the Bible than this one. But if any provide not for his
own, and especially for those of his
own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." A man or a woman may be thoroughly
orthodox in their belief system, and you won't find any error
in it, and still deny the faith. Here's a man that believes the
doctrines of grace. He thoroughly believes total
depravity, man's inability to save himself, unconditional election. Christ's effectual redemption
for His elect. God's irresistible and invincible
grace. The perseverance of the saints.
He believes that. And understand this, you can't
preach a gospel and not believe that. It's impossible. And this
man can argue for this and believes grace. So far, so good. He won't
listen to anything else. So far, so good. But there's
someone that he should be responsible for providing for materially
and he neglects. and he fails to live up to that
responsibility, what does Paul say about that man? He has denied
the faith. No matter what else he professes,
he has denied the faith and he is worse than an infidel. That man who claims to believe
is actually more reprehensible than the man who does not believe
when he doesn't provide for his own. Now, how many different
ways are there to take that? If a man provide not for his
own, especially they of his own household, he's denied the faith. He's worse than an unbeliever.
He's in a more reprehensible position than an unbeliever. Aren't you glad the Lord provides
for his own? You know, one of His names is
Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. Abraham and Isaac are going up
the mountain. Isaac said, here's the wood,
here's the fire, where's the lamb for a burnt offering? He
didn't see a lamb. And Abraham said, my son, the
Lord will provide Himself a lamb. He's the one who provides the
Lamb. He provides the Lamb for Himself. For Him to do something
for me or you, He had to first do something for Himself. And
He provided Himself as the Lamb. Oh, how the Lord provides for
His own. Isn't it wonderful to know that
you have complete provision? What a provider He is! John 13,
1 says, Having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved
them to the end. What a provider He is. He provides
me with righteousness. He provides me with forgiveness.
He provides me with His grace, with His presence. Now that man
who claims he believes the gospel,
but fails to provide for himself, maybe even fails to provide him
the gospel, He is worse than an infidel and he's denied the
faith. Now what that tells me is the
faith is much more than giving assent to the truth. The faith. The faith. In Acts 24.14, Felix heard Paul
preach concerning the faith. Definite article. The faith in
Christ. in the Scriptures of by faith,
through faith, of faith, by faith, in faith, and the faith. And Paul preached to Felix concerning
the faith in Christ. Now understand this, it's not
faith in your faith. It's not faith in your experience.
It's not faith in your doctoral understanding. It's not faith
in your intuition. It's not faith in your feelings.
It's not faith in your works. It's the faith in Christ. Faith in Him as God's prophet,
the Word of God. Faith in Him as God's priest,
the One who represents me before God. Faith in Him as God's King. Oh, I need Him as my King to
rule and reign over me. The faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul spoke in 1 Timothy 3.9 of
the mystery of faith. The faith is made of mysteries. which we would have never known
unless God was pleased to make them known in His Word. The mystery
of the faith. We read of the mystery of His
will. I love thinking about this. I know His will. I can say, I
know the will of God. You mean you know what you're
supposed to do tomorrow? No, I don't know that part of
it. But I'll tell you the part I do know. This is the will of
Him that sent me, that of all which He hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone that seeth
the Son, and believeth on Him, should have everlasting life.
And I'll raise Him up again at the last day. I know the will
of God. We read in 1 Corinthians 15.51 of the mystery of the resurrection.
We read in Ephesians 5.32 of that great mystery concerning
Christ and the church union. The two shall be one flesh. I'm
one with Christ. That's the heritage of every
believer. In Colossians 1.27, we read of
the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory. We read of
the great mystery of godliness, the mystery of iniquity, the
mystery of Babylon, the great harlot, the mystery of the faith. We speak the wisdom of God in
a mystery, the mystery of the faith. Turn to Galatians chapter
2 for a moment. This is so important. Verse 16, knowing that a man
is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of Jesus Christ. Now do you hear what that says?
I'm not justified by my works, I'm justified by the faith of
Christ. Somebody had to believe God perfectly.
And it wasn't me or you. You know that. He did. Go on reading in this passage
of scripture. 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 there shall no flesh
be justified. I'm justified before God by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Peter put it this way in Acts
3.16. He spoke of the faith which is
by Him. Don't you love that? The faith which is by Him. Now, if it's by Him, that means
He's the author of it. That means He's the finisher
of it. That means He's the subject of it. That means He's the object
of it. That means He's the cause of
it. In Philippians 1.27, we read of the faith of the gospel. The faith Paul referred to when
he said there is one faith. In Romans 3.3, it's called the
faith of God. In Jude 3.3, we read of the faith
once delivered. That means there's no modifications
to it, there's no amendments, there's no disclaimers. It's
the faith, the faith, once delivered. We read in Titus 1.1 of the faith
of God's elect. It's the faith that all of God's
elect possess. You know, every believer believes
the exact same thing. I remember hearing a song once
that said, we all believe, but not the same thing. Oh no, oh
no. If we believe, we believe the
same thing. We read in Titus 1-4 of the common
faith. That which is general to all
of God's people, at which they all possess. The faith. And I
love this word, Colossians 2-12, the faith of the operation of
God. That's where we get the word
energy from. The faith of the energy. The power of God. Now, in Paul's epistles, He gives
us some exhortations and some warnings concerning the faith. He warned of that person who
denied the faith by his conduct. Not by what he said, but by what
he did. And he said that person who denied
the faith was worse. Worse than an unbeliever. Worse
than an infidel. Well, I don't want to be somebody
like that, do you? I don't want to do that. Now,
let me read you some warnings. I'm just going to spend a few
minutes on that, and then I'm going to get to the better part, which I consider
the exhortations concerning faith. But listen to this. He says in
1 Timothy 4.1 that some will depart from the faith. Some will depart from the faith. They'll be seemingly in the faith,
but they'll depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devil, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their
conscience seared by a hot iron. Now, what is my response to that?
Some will depart from the faith. I hope this is our response.
Lord, is it I? Is it I? I hope I'm not thinking
about anybody but myself. Am I the one? You remember when
the Lord said, one of you shall deny me. What did every one of
them say? Is it I? And then Judas, after he heard
them all say it, he said the same thing. He didn't mean it
though, did he? He knew he would do it. He said, I. We read in
1 Timothy 6.10 of those who have erred from the faith, strayed
from the faith, wandered off from the faith, following their
wanderlust. We read in 2 Timothy 2.18 of
those who overthrow. the faith of some. And in 2 Timothy
3.8 we read of those who are reprobate concerning the faith. And in Acts 13.8 of those who
seek to turn away from the faith. Turn to James chapter 2 for a
moment. James chapter 2. Verse 1. My brethren. James 2 verse 1. My brethren,
have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,
with respect of persons. Don't make allowances, fleshly
allowances for people because of fleshly distinctions and ties. Our Lord said, if any man loved
father or mother more than me, He is not worthy of me. It bothers me so much when somebody
says they believe grace, but mom and dad don't believe it,
but they're saved. Have not. the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. Paul said, we'll
know no man after the flesh. Our words, our actions, how we
treat people is to be consistent with the faith. Don't treat one
person differently from another because of fleshly ties. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 13,
5, examine yourselves. Not examine somebody else, but
examine yourself whether you be in the faith. Not examine yourself to see how
holy you are, how obedient you are, how good you are. Examine
yourselves whether you be in the faith. Now, those are sobering
warnings, aren't they? Warnings regarding the faith. Now I want to give what I've
been looking forward to. Exhortations concerning the faith. We read in Acts chapter 6 verse
7. You can write these down, I'm
not looking to them because I've got so many to give. You can write them
down, look at them in your leisure. But we read of obedience to the
faith. Obedience to the faith. The faith is something to be
obeyed. Now what does that mean? In Acts
chapter 16, verse 30, that man said to Paul and Silas, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? And Paul answered, Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And beloved,
that's not good advice. That's a command. And you're
right right now to believe the gospel is because He commands
you to. Obedience to the command. When
the Lord said, if any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. That is the Lord's command. If you're thirsty, He commands
you to come to Him and to drink. I love the obedience of the faith. And I know when somebody will
be obedient to the faith. I love this. It's when Paul says
that we're shut up to the faith. Galatians 3.23. Shut up to the
faith. You only believe when you're
shut up to it. and you don't have any other
options, and you don't have any other choice. I'm looking at
Mitch Brown right now. Mitch, I'm not choosing to believe
you're there. Someone says, I can choose to believe he's not there.
Well, I guess you can if you want, but he's still there. I don't
choose to believe you're there. I believe you're there because
you're there. That's why. It's not a choice. You shut up
to faith when you have no choice. You must believe because it's
so. You must believe because there's nowhere else to look.
You're shut up to the faith. Not a choice. And we read in
Ephesians 4.13, of the unity of the faith. The oneness of
the faith. If we believe, We believe the
same thing, the Gospel. We don't have different
beliefs. We don't have different views.
We believe the precise same thing, the faith of the Gospel, the
good news of who Christ is, what He did, and where He is now.
I love what John Chapman said during the conference, this is
not about an opinion. This is your opinion and this
is my opinion. We have different opinions, not
concerning the faith. Not concerning the faith. We
believe the same thing. The unity of the faith. Paul
said to the Corinthians, he wants them to speak all the same thing. And Paul spoke in 1 Timothy 3.13
of great boldness in the faith. Now the faith. The faith. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how God saves sinners
by Christ. Great boldness in the faith. What's that? That
means to speak without ambiguity. To speak with a cheerful confidence. To speak without restraint. To
not have our words guarded, but to speak the truth as it is in
Jesus. Whatever God's Word declares, I preach it. It doesn't matter
what it is. If God's Word declares it, we
preach it. And we preach it boldly. Seeing
that we have such hope, Paul said, we use great plainness,
great boldness of speech. Then we read in Acts 16.15 of
being established, made firm in the faith, as opposed to being
tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the slight of
men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive."
Turn to Colossians 1. Verse 20. And having made peace through
the blood of His cross, Oh, that makes me feel peace
right when I read that. He made peace. Have you made
your peace with God? No, I haven't. No, I haven't.
He made my peace with God. having made peace through the
blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself.
By Him, I say, whether they be things on earth or things in
heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body
of His flesh through death. to present you. And that could
just as easily read, having presented you. This is not a future occurrence. This is something that's already
been. Having presented you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight. If, verse 23, you continue in
the faith. Grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel. Turn with me to Acts chapter
14. Acts chapter 14. Beginning in verse 19, Paul had been preaching, and
there came there certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who
persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, Now picture this
in your mind. Paul is encircled. People are
throwing big rocks at him, cutting him, bruising him. He's got his
face covered. Finally, he falls to the ground, stoned for preaching
the gospel. And they drew him out of the
city, supposing that he'd been dead. They drug him out. Albeit,
as the disciples stood round about him. Can you imagine this
picture? I bet they're weeping, thinking,
we've lost Paul. He rose up. I'm sure he didn't
get up real quick. I'm sure he was sore and in pain.
He rose up and came into the city, and the
next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they preached
the gospel to that city and taught many, they were turned again
to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch, the place he'd been
stoned, confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting
them to continue End of faith. and that we must, through much
tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God." And I reckon when he
said that, he had black eyes, he had cuts all over his body,
he had been stoned. And I think that might have put
a little bit more weight to what he said when he said, we must,
through much tribulation, enter the kingdom of God. Now, continue
in the faith. You know what that means? That
means let your faith always be in the present. The only way
you continue in the faith, the only way I continue in the faith,
is if my faith is in the present. Don't look to yesterday's experience. Don't look to yesterday's teaching. May that be stricken from our
way of thinking. Now here's what I thought about
when I thought about this. Right now, right now, I'm the chief of sinners. Right now. And you know what
that does to me? It makes me know that the only
hope I have is Jesus Christ and His righteousness. So that's
a good thing. I don't glory in sin, and I hate
it when people talk about that in such a way. I want somebody to really mean
it, but when somebody does. If you're the chief of sinners,
if right now before God, you yourself are the chief of sinners,
what a blessing that is. Because you don't have anywhere
to look but Christ. Isn't that a blessing? You don't want anything else,
do you? Let your faith be in the present. In 1 Corinthians
16, 13, Paul said, stand fast in the faith. Don't be knocked. Don't be moved. Let this be your
posture. Stand fast in the faith. And
Jude said in Jude 3.3 that we are to earnestly contend. And this is every believer's
responsibility. We are to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered
to the saints. And if I do not earnestly contend
for the faith against those who oppose it, I'm not a loyal soldier
of Jesus Christ. He said to earnestly contend
for the faith, because Satan and all of his servants want
the faith destroyed. They don't want people even hear
the faith. So you and I are called upon to earnestly contend for
the faith once delivered to the saints. Now let me say this,
there's a very real sense in which salvation is a spectator
sport. Isn't there? We just look at
what He's done. We're cheering, cheering for
what he's done. I'm a big sports fan, and when
my team wins, I win. I'm just as happy as any of those
guys are. I know I wasn't playing, but I'm just as happy. I'm a
spectator, and I'm a happy spectator. If UK wins, I win. If the Cincinnati
Reds win, I win. I love that. That's a spectator
sport in that sense. But also, it's no spectator sport. I'm called upon to earnestly
contend for the faith once delivered to the saints." And all that
being said, Paul said in Romans 14, he that's weak in the faith. There's such a thing as being
weak in the faith. And what did he said regarding
that one who's weak in the faith? He that is weak in the faith,
receive ye." Receive ye. And not being a judge
of his doubtful thoughts. Not to doubtful disputations. That one who is weak in the faith,
receive. And Peter said in 1 Peter chapter
5 verse 9 regarding the devil who walked about as a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. That's real, isn't it? He said,
whom resist steadfast in the faith. That's the only way you
can resist Him. It's not by saying, no devil,
and all of a sudden you can hear those preachers. No. Whom resist
steadfast in the faith. Now here's the last one I want
us to look at. 2 Timothy chapter 4. I love this passage of Scripture. Paul knows that it's about over
for him. He knows he's soon going to die. He says in verse 6, for I am
now ready to be offered, to be poured out like a drink offering.
I'm ready to die. I'm ready to die. And he says,
the time of my departure I love death being called a departure,
because when I think of a departure, I think of a ship departing off
to sea to go to another place. I think of the departure of a
plane, going to another place, going to a better place. Let
me tell you this, the best day of your life, if you're a believer,
the best day of your life is your death. It's the best day. You're going to be ushered into
the very presence of Christ. You're not going to sin anymore. You're going to see His face. And you're going to be perfectly
conformed to His image. I love what George Whitefield
said about death. When's my time coming? When's my time coming? And I love what he put on his grave stone, his epitaph. Here
lies George Whitefield. What manner of man he was, that
great day will tell. I like that. Matter of fact,
I told Lynn I want that on my tombstone. Here lies Todd Knopper.
What manner of man he was. I mean, he might have said some
things. People said things about him, but you don't know the truth. What manner of man he was. That
great day will tell. The time of my departure. And what does he say next? He said, I fought, verse 7, I
fought a good fight. I want more than anything else
to be able to say that at my death. I fought a good fight. And how did he do it? He said,
I finished my course and I have kept the faith. Now to keep the faith, that means
two things. First, when you keep something,
you guard over it. Do you want any of the faith changed? Do
you want any of God's way of saving sinners changed? I don't.
I want it to be just as it's revealed in the Scripture, because
I find all my hope there. Do you want grace to be changed
in any way? No. We guard over His words. Because His words are words of
spirit and words of life. They're precious to us. They're
a treasure to us. He says, I've kept them. I've
guarded over them. He said, I've delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received. How that Christ
died for our sins according to Scripture. I didn't modify the
message in any way. I delivered unto you. Like a
mailman delivers a letter. That which I also received. I
wouldn't dare change it. I wouldn't dare add anything
to it. I wouldn't dare take anything from it. I guard over the faith. But not only that, I've kept
the faith. I've believed the gospel. I don't know what all I can say
about myself, but I can say this. I believe the gospel. I am relying only on Jesus Christ
as everything in my salvation. I'm relying on Him. I'm believing
Him. Paul said, I've kept the faith. Verse 8. Henceforth, there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord The righteous
judge shall give me at that day, that day of my departure when
I'm ushered into glory, I'm going to be given a crown. A crown
of righteousness. Now, there's been so much teaching
about believers and their crowns. There's the soul winner's crown,
there's the pastor's crown, all these different crowns. That's
a bunch of baloney. There's one crown. the crown
of righteousness. It's not a special crown which
only the apostles get. Look what else Paul says. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. I love His appearing as my surety. I will be surety for Him. Of mine hand shalt thou require
Him. If I bring Him not to thee, and
set Him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. That's what
Christ said to His Father with regard to me. I love His appearing, that's
my assurity. I love His appearing. When the angels announced His
birth, that holy thing, I love the way they call Him that holy
thing. They're like, angels couldn't even come up with something to
say. That holy thing which is in the Shabi of the Holy Ghost. And when the Holy Spirit conceived
and the infinite became an infant. Don't you love His appearing?
Don't you love His appearing as He kept the law for you? Don't you love His appearing
on the cross when He stood there as a sinner's substitute and
took upon my sin and put it away? And He died. And they put Him
in a tomb. But I love this appearing. I
love to think about this. What about when He appeared out
of that tomb? What about when He walked out, having accomplished
salvation? Oh, I love to think of His appearing
in heaven even now, seated at the right hand of the Father,
as the intercessor of God's people, as the great High Priest. I'm
going to persevere to the end. You know why? He keeps me. He
prays for me. I've prayed for you that your
faith fail not." And you know what? His faith didn't fail.
He failed. He needed to fail. It was good
for him. But his faith didn't fail because the Lord prayed
for him. He appears now in the presence
of God for us. And how I love to think of His
appearing when every eye... He's going to return. Every eye
is going to see Him. Everybody is going to know exactly
who He is. How we love His appearing. Now everybody that loves His
appearing, you know what? They're going to have the same
crown that Paul had. Same crown. Now, you know and I know, I don't
deserve to tie the shoes of the Apostle Paul. I don't think I've
got any argument with anybody in here over that. But also know
this, I'm going to have the same crown that he does. Because I
know this, I love his appearing the way he did. The faith. I believe the faith. Oh, for
grace that my actions would prove it. I don't want to be somebody
like Paul described, somebody who denied the faith by their
actions, and they were worse than an infidel. I want to prove
that I really believe the faith by my conduct, how I treat you. May God give us grace to not
deny the faith. Let's pray together.