A lot of that song was a particular
blessing to me to think about was, none shall take thee from
the strength of Israel's hands. I thought of the Lord Jesus Christ
being the true Israel. The word means a prince having
power with God. And I thought of me being in
his hands. What a place to be. Turn back
to our text, if you would, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Tonight, I'm going to be speaking
out of Hebrews 13 once again on the third verse, and I've
entitled the message, Are you in the body? Are you in the body? I've entitled this message, The
Spirit of faith. I'd like us to read from verse
13 down to the end of the chapter. We, having the same spirit of faith,
according as it is written, I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe, and therefore
speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall
raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes,
that, or in order that, the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving
of many redound to the glory of God, for which cause we faint
not, we don't lose heart, but though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while
we look not at things which are seen, but at things which are
not seen. For the things which are seen
are temporal. They're temporary. They're only
for a while. But the things which are not
seen are eternal. The spirit of faith. Do I have the spirit of faith? Verse 13, we having the same
spirit of faith. Now when we think of the spirit
of a man, We think of his mental disposition, don't we? We think
of someone who's strong spirited. Or we think of someone who is
weak spirited or timid, or we may think of someone who is a
free spirit. We describe the mental disposition
of an individual by their spirit. Now, the word spirit in our text
is used to describe the mental disposition of the child of God.
And this word is used to describe a child of God. Quite often,
we read of being poor in spirit, in scriptures. Poor in spirit,
poverty of spirit, we read of being fervent in spirit, we read
of serving God in newness of spirit. I think of Paul speaking
to Timothy saying, God has not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Now, our text
speaks of the spirit of faith. And it's a quotation from Psalm
116, verse 10, where David, the man after God's own heart, said,
I believed, therefore, I have spoken. Now, we don't have to
guess. What Paul means by the spirit
of faith, because he tells us in this passage of Scripture,
he says in verse 13, we having the same spirit of faith, the
same spirit David had. Every believer has, and this
spirit is according as it is written. Now, here's where we
got to begin when we talk about the spirit of faith. It's according
as it is written. It comes from the book, the divine,
inspired, inerrant, authoritative word of God. That's where this spirit of faith
comes from. And if I have it, it comes from
this book we're looking at. Now, the Bible claims to be divinely
inspired. 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 says, all
scripture, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Now, that's what the Bible claims
for itself. Divine inspiration. And you know, this is not unbelievable. So how do you expect me to believe
something like that? That this book is divinely inspired
and authoritative? Well, if God created the universe, if God created the universe,
now if you don't believe God created the universe, I can see
why you would be very incredulous concerning the Bible being the
word of God. But you know, If you don't believe God created
the universe, what you believe is very unbelievable. It's just
unbelievable to believe the Bible is the word of God. I tell you
what's more unbelievable is to believe that things just happened,
you know, that God didn't create. Talking about a stretch of blind
faith, of believing something that's just unbelievable, that's
unbelievable. But the Bible being the word
of God, if God is able to create the universe, God is able to
preserve his word. Now, that's how it's preserved. He preserves it. But if we don't
have the Bible as being the divine authoritative word, what do we
have? We got my opinion. We got your opinion. We got,
well, here's what I think. Where's that got to place? What
difference does it make what I think or what you think? I
mean, it's all just conjecture. But thank God we haven't. It is written. You know, the
Lord Jesus Christ, when Satan tempted him those three times,
how did he answer him each time? This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, he could have just obliterated Satan, but he answered
him all three times. It is written. It is written. So whatever this
spirit of faith is, it has something to do with it is written. And we've got to begin there.
You know, I've been saying this a lot the last several weeks.
I don't know why, but the Bible is the Word of God. It's the
inspired Word of God. And if we don't have that, we
do not have anything. Just men's supposed educated
guesses and a lot of educated guesses end up being totally
wrong, don't they? We have the divine, authoritative
Word of God. Now, let me also say this. The
only reason somebody chooses not to believe it is written
is because they don't like what it says. That's really the only
reason. Somebody says, well, how do you
expect me to believe, you know, it's Inspired. It's not unbelievable.
If God is, he can preserve his word. And the only reason someone
would not believe what God's word says is they dislike what
it says. That's the only reason. It is
written. Now, notice in our text, it says
we having the same spirit of faith. It's talking about every
believer. Not just talking about Paul,
talking about every believer. We have the same spirit of faith. The spirit of faith is the same
in all who possess it. You know what believers believe? They believe the precise same
thing, don't they? I believe the Bible is the Word
of God. Do you believe that? I believe it's the divine, authoritative
Word of God. And I believe that God is as
the Bible presents Him to be. I believe this is the revelation
of who He is. I believe that, don't you? And I believe man
is, as the Bible describes him to be, unable to save himself,
dead in sin, completely dependent upon God to do something for
him. I believe that. I believe Christ is, who the
Bible says he is, the eternal Son of God, the God-man. I believe
he did what he came to do. He completely saved everybody
he came to save. I believe that. He must be successful.
We believe the same thing, don't we? We believe we're preserved,
but believers believe the same thing. We're all agreement, aren't
we? There's true. How can two walk together except
they be agreed? They can't. But oh, well, there's
agreement. There's agreement, isn't there?
We speak the spirit of faith. It's what every believer possesses.
And it's the same in every believer. Paul says we believe same way
David did. Same spirit of faith. And notice, When he's speaking
of the spirit of faith in verse 13, we having the same spirit
of faith, according as it's written, I believed. And therefore, have
I spoken, we also believe and therefore speak. Now, the spirit
of faith, this word belief, I believe, I believe, therefore, have I
spoken, it's I trust. I rely on. I have confidence
in. I believe. A man put a tightrope across
Niagara Falls. Just imagine this. A man puts
a tightrope across Niagara, right before the falls, and he starts
walking across that tightrope. Can you imagine? I mean, gets
all the way back, gets all the way over the river. Have you
ever seen the Niagara? I mean, it's a spectacular sight.
He walks all the way across and he walks back backwards. Everybody
looks at him. Wow. And then he takes a wheelbarrow
and he fills it up with dirt and he takes the rubber part
where you just use a groove, put it on the rope. He walks
across on a tightrope with that wheelbarrow. full of dirt, balancing
all the way across. And then he walks backwards all
the way back. Now picture in your mind somebody
doing that. And then he looked at the crowd.
They're all oohing and aahing. They can't believe he did it.
And he said, how many of you believe that I could wheel you
across? Everybody said, we all do. He said, first volunteer. Now if you believe the gospel,
you'll get in a wheelbarrow. And you know that the only way
you won't be destroyed is by His ability to get your cross. Not because of you. You really
believe that the only way you'll be brought into glory is by Him. You believe. Actually, the spirit
of faith believes. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. Now, this is totally necessary.
When whoever volunteered, he committed himself when he got
in that wheelbarrow, didn't he? He committed himself totally
to the ability of that one who walked across the tightrope.
Now, when I believe, I commit the salvation of my soul utterly
to Him. My hands are off. If I'm saved,
it's going to be because He saved me. There's a commitment involved.
You know, when someone believes works, they fail to commit, don't
they? They won't commit to Christ, don't they? But, oh, in this
spirit of faith, there is a... I believed. I believe. Paul says, we also believe. Now,
what is the next part of a spirit of faith? Notice, he says in
our text, we having the same spirit of faith, according as
it's written, I believed what comes next. Therefore, have I
spoken? Therefore, have I spoken, if
you believe you speak, you confess is the meaning. You confess one
who does not publicly confess what he believes does not really
believe. Let me show you that from Scripture.
Turn with me to John 12. John 12. Verse 42. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers. Also, many believed on him, but
because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him. They would not state publicly
that they believed him, because there would be consequences involved,
lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they love
the praise of men more than the praise of God. Now, this belief
we read up here. Was it the spirit of faith? Was it saving faith? No, because
they wouldn't confess. You see, to confess is to publicly
announce. You confess with your mouth.
You confess with your life. You confess by identifying with
the truth. You're confessing. If this is
the message you believe, you're confessing just being here and
identifying with this message. I mean, there's a confession
involved. I confess. And if I'm unwilling
to confess what I believe, And I can't even express my contempt
for a preacher who won't tell completely what he believes.
He stays away from that because of the trouble it would create.
That is contemptible. You don't really believe what
you're not willing to confess. What is it a man believes? What
is it a preacher believes? What he preaches. What he publicly
states. I love what the Lord said when
they came up to him. They asked Jesus of his doctrine. He said, why are you asking me?
Ask them that heard me. They'll tell you. If you want to know
what I believe, ask the people who attend here. That's what
I believe. You ask them. They'll know. What
a man doesn't confess, he doesn't really believe. Look in Acts
chapter 24. To confess means to speak the
same thing and you do it publicly, no matter what it's going to
cost you. Only the Lord give us grace to confess him in this
day. And look what Paul says. He says after they made these
accusations against him, he says in verse 13, neither can they
prove the things where they now accuse me, but this I confess
unto thee. I plead guilty to this. I confess
this, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and in the prophets. I confess that. Whatever, if
I get my head cut off, so be it. I confess this. Now, back to our text in 2 Corinthians
4. You know, if somebody is going
to confess something, I won't want them to be saying to be
the truth, something they know. If I'm going to listen to something,
I want to make sure they have the right message, the right
gospel. And I want to know that they
know it. And look what Paul says next. I love this. In verse 14,
he says, We also believe and therefore speak knowing. I love
that word knowing. Knowing, we know that he which
raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and
shall present us with you. This is not blind faith. We're
speaking of that which we know. Now, I want to say this in humility. I hope I'm saying this in humility.
If I'm not, it's evil. But you're listening to somebody
who knows something. I know. I'm not speaking as somebody
I know who I'm preaching. I know what I'm saying. I know
I'm preaching the truth. Now, that's the only way you
can speak is knowing, knowing. I love what the Lord said to
Nicodemus when he said, how can these things be? In John chapter
three, you can read it. He heard what the Lord said about
the new birth. He said, how can these things be? And the Lord
said, are thou a master in Israel, and you don't know these things?
Verily I say unto you, we speak what we know, and testify to
what we have seen. Now, the spirit of faith, the
spirit we're speaking of in the Scriptures, speaks from true
knowledge. We know. You see, When you know the Lord, you know
everything. That doesn't mean you know all
the data. You don't. But knowing Him, when you hear
something, you know if it's true because you know Him. And when
you hear something, you say, I know that. I agree with that.
That's the truth. When you hear the truth, you
know it's the truth because you know Him. Knowing. Now, in true, the spirit of faith,
there is a true knowing. And there's a lot of different
things we can say we know. For instance, I love the way
Paul says in Romans 8, 28, we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. We know that. They may not, but we do. We speak
from knowledge in that sense. We know. Now, in this, in the
context of this passage of scripture, when he's talking about knowing
What's he talking about? Look in verse 14, knowing that
he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall. Shall. It's going to happen for sure,
there's no doubt whatsoever about it. He that raised up the Lord
Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us
with you. Now, this knowledge that the
believer has has something to do with knowing that whatever
Christ did must be successful. You say that's awful simple.
It may be, but it's the truth always is simple. It's knowing
that whatever Jesus Christ did must be successful. You know,
the thief on the cross understood this. You think about it. Here he was nailed to a cross.
Beside of the Lord Jesus, he sees this one with the crown
of thorns pressed upon his head, his visage marred with the sons
of men dying, seemingly without a friend. Everybody had forsaken
him. And he looked at that one hanging on a tree and said, Lord,
he knew he was the Lord. He said, remember me when you
come in your kingdom. You're not going to stay on that
cross. You're going to rise from the dead. You're going to come
back as a conquering, reigning king because that's who you are.
He knew that. How did he know? The Lord made
himself known to him. That's how he knew. Same way
you'll know. If you know the Lord, it's because he made himself
known to you. And when he makes himself known to you, you know
who he is and you know what he did must be successful. Paul
said, knowing. that he which raised up the Lord
Jesus from the dead shall raise us up also by him. We know that
what he did must be successful and he's going to present us
with you. Oh, what a glorious presentation. Turn to Colossians
chapter one. Hold your finger there and turn
to Colossians one. Here's what this presentation is. Verse 20, this is what the Lord did by
His death, having made peace. Oh, there's a lot we can say
about that, isn't there? Oh, the peace. God's at peace with me. He doesn't
have anything to be mad at. There's no sin there for Him
to judge me for because Christ made my peace with God. Have
you made your peace with God? No, I haven't. Christ made my
peace with God. He made peace. 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 in 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. What are those next three words? Holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Now, that is what the Lord Jesus
Christ accomplished. And this is what we when Christ
died on Calvary Street, he didn't simply make salvation possible. He didn't make salvation available.
He didn't make salvation open to you if you do something. When
he said it is finished, the salvation of God's elect was accomplished. That's what he didn't simply
mean. Well, I did my part and it's
over now. You know, salvation was accomplished
by what he did. It is. Finished, we know that,
don't we? You know that, you know, that
whatever he did must be successful because of who he is. And let's
go and read it. Here's what else we know. Verse
15. And we speak this, we publicly
speak it, we confess it. For all things, 2 Corinthians
4, verse 15, for all things are for your sakes that the abundant
grace. Now that word abundant is not
an adjective describing grace. The word actually is a verb.
It's what grace does. The same word is translated in
Romans 521, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Super abound is the word. Now, he says, all things are
for your sakes, that or in order that grace might super abound. and cause through that superabounding
the thanksgiving of many to redound to the glory of God." Now turn
back to Romans chapter 5. I want you to look at this because
this is the same word. Romans chapter 5, verse 20. Moreover, the law entered, God's
holy law that the offense might abound, that the offense might
overflow. You know what God's law tells
me? It tells me that I've never kept it one time. That's what
it tells me. It tells me that the offense
abounds. That's what the law tells me. But where sin abounded. In that place where sin abounded
and overflowed in that very place. Here's the gospel. Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. Grace did super abound. Wherever I find a sinner where
sin abounds, oh, that's all he can say about himself before
God's holy law. That's the place where grace
abounds. Now you find me sinners, you
know, I at least partially kept the law. I mean, I've done my
best. I've been sincere. Okay. All right. You ain't gonna
have any grace, though. The only place grace abounds
is where sin abounds. And look in verse 21. That as
sin hath reigned unto death. How much does sin reign unto
death? Well, what can you do to prevent your death? Through
healthy living, eating perfectly, and never taking anything bad
into your body, in being in an environment where you get all
the right proper rest and sleep, if everything is perfect, how
will that help you in not dying? None at all. In this thing of
death, you've got no choice, do you? You're going to die.
You're going to die. You're going to get sick, and
you're going to die. You know, people talk about, well, the
Lord healed me. Well, maybe He did, but something
you're not going to be healed of. You're going to die. You
can just write that down. You're going to die. You don't
have any choice. And just as in this thing of death, in the
same manner, just as sin reigns unto death, grace reigns. God's grace reigns to this extent. If He gives you grace, you must
be saved. Nothing can prevent it. That's
the reign of grace. Grace reigns. He talks about
the reigning, the superabounding, the abundant grace. I love the
reign of grace. Oh, how grace reigns in election
when God chose to be saved. This choice He made didn't have
anything to do with their works, did it? He saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace. which were given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Grace reigns in every aspect
of salvation. When Christ died for me, oh,
how grace reigned that He'd do that for me and put away my sin.
When I was regenerated, when I was born again, how grace reigned
in that. That didn't have anything to do with my works. He gave
me life. The fact that I've been preserved up to this point, oh,
how grace reigns in that. I'll tell you when we'll really
understand the reign of grace, when we stand before God in judgment
and are accepted and may perfectly conform to the image of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, how grace reigns. Abundant grace. Superabounding
grace. We know that if we believe that,
don't we? And we speak it. I'm preaching
what I believe. I'm preaching from the Word of
God. I'm preaching what I know. Christ must be successful. Because
of who he is, and God's grace reigns. And that's what causes
the thanksgiving. I'm one of the people thanking
God for it right now. And how this glorifies God. Look
at the language back in our text in 2 Corinthians 4. Verse 15, For all things are
for your sakes that the abundant grace, the superabounding grace,
might through the thanksgiving of many And there's many thanking
God for His grace right now. Redound to the glory of God. This gives God all the glory. Now, because of this spirit of
faith, verse 16, for which cause? We thank not. We don't lose heart. We don't give up. We don't quit.
Because of Christ, He must be successful. Because of God's
super abounding grace, we do not lose heart. We believe. Therefore, we don't
lose heart, we don't grow discouraged, even though he says in verse
16, our outward man perish. Yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. Now, there's something about
Paul saying this. He says we don't get discouraged. We don't
lose heart, even though our outward man perish. And what he's talking
about was all the torture and the torment he experienced for
preaching the gospel. I wonder what Paul looked like.
Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Verse 23, are they ministers
of Christ? Now I'm speaking as a fool, 2
Corinthians 11, verse 23. Are they ministers of Christ?
I speak as a fool. I'm more. In labors more abundance, in
stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in debts off of
the Jews five times, received I 40 stripes, save one. What
do you reckon his back looked like? Thrice was I beaten with
rods. A bunch of people took rods and
beat me with them. Thrice I suffered shipwreck.
Once was I stoned. A night and a day have I been
in the deep. You know that stoning? You can read about it in Acts
chapter 14. I love thinking about that. Yes, Acts 14. He was stoned
in Lystra. He preached the gospel. And they
got so mad at him that a big crowd of people started throwing
rocks at him, stoning him to death until he just collapsed
down. And they just assumed he was dead. They left. The disciples
looked around at him, laying there, and all of a sudden he
moves, gets up. How sore was he after he'd been
stoned like that? Gets up, limps off, goes to another
town and preaches the gospel the very next day. What do you
reckon Paul looked like? You know what he meant when he
said, though our outward man perish. And his outward man did
perish. All the things he went through
in preaching the gospel. Yet the inner man, the new man,
the work of God is renewed day by day. Now, he says in verse 17, the spirit of faith sees life
as it should be seen. Look what he says in verse 17,
for our light affliction. It didn't sound too light to
me, that description I just read of what he went through. But
what does Paul call it? Our light affliction. Now, whatever
affliction you have and whatever affliction I have, and we have
afflictions, No doubt, I wouldn't take away from the reality or
the painfulness of those things. Disease. Betrayal. Hurt. Loneliness. There's all kinds
of afflictions people have to deal with. But a believer could
say this. They're light. In the grand scheme of things.
their light. Whatever affliction is you're
going through, if you're a believer, you know, it's light. Light compared to what others
go through? Well, yeah, yeah. Some of you
have been through a whole lot more difficulties than I've ever
been through. And my afflictions would be light, but that's not
really what he's saying. He's not saying, well, it's light
compared to you. We can always look at somebody who's going
through a harder time than us, and we can, can't we? I don't
care how bad it is. Somebody has it worse, don't
they? I mean, you've seen it. But that's not what Paul's talking
about when he says our light affliction. Look what he says
in verse 17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, it's
just temporary, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. Now, it's light compared to what
we have awaiting us. What if you are afflicted? You're
going to be perfectly conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That makes everything a lot,
doesn't it? And whatever it is you're going through, it's just
temporary. It's just circumstantial. It's
going to pass. I love I love those passages. How many times in the Bible does
it say it came to pass? It came to pass. It came. God ordered it and it passed.
It's temporary. Our light affliction, which is
but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. While we look, this is what the
spirit of faith sees. Remember, faith is not what you
see, it's what you don't see, isn't it? Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. While we look, while we consider,
while we, this is what we look at, not at the things which are
seen. But if the things which are not
seen, the things which are seen are temporal, they're temporary,
they're not going to last. But the things that are not seen
are eternal. Take a look at Lazarus, that
beggar laying outside of the rich man's house. Sores all over
his body. Didn't have a dime to his name.
Dogs coming up and licking his sores. What a miserable existence
that man had. And look at the rich man, clothed
in fine linen and purple, faring sumptuously every day. He had
it made. You look at these two men, and
by what you see, which one was blessed of God? By what you see. Would you say the rich man was
much more blessed of God than the poor man was? Who was blessed
of God? Lazarus was brought into eternal
glory, and that rich man went to hell. You can read about it
in Luke chapter 16. Now, if you go by what you see,
who's blessed? If you go by what you don't see,
who's blessed? Now, we look, consider, contemplate
things that are not seen. I cannot physically see the first
cause behind anything. I can't see the first cause.
But I know who the first cause is. God's first cause behind
everything. I can't see that. I can't prove
it to you. See, there it is. God did that.
I can't show you that. But I'm looking at that which
I can't see. I cannot see physically that
I'm justified before God. As a matter of fact, when I look
at myself, a sinner. I can't see physically that I'm
justified without guilt, perfect before God, holy and unblameable
and unapprovable. I can't look at that. But I'm looking at what I don't
see. I'm justified before God. The just shall live by faith. I cannot physically see my advocates.
I can't see the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't even know what He looks
like physically. I can't see Him whom having not seen, you
love. I can't see him at the right
hand of the Father representing me. But that's what I see as
my only hope right now is him representing me. I can't see
my union with Christ. I can't see how I've always had
personality before God and that there was never a time when he
began to love me and that I've always been one with the Lord.
I can't see that. Physically, but I can. It's eternal. You see, the things which we
see, what you say in verse 18, while we look not at things what
you're seeing, but things are not seen for the things which
you're seeing are temporal. They're temporary. They're passing.
God's going to burn everything here. It's all going to be gone.
All your possessions, you can't take them with you. God's going
to burn everything. Everything is temporary. We don't look at
things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. I'll tell you something I've
never seen is Lamb's Book of Life. I've never seen my name written in
the Lamb's Book of Life. I'm looking at it, though, and
it's eternal. It's always been there. I can't see my future likeness
to Christ, not physically, but I know I'm going to be just like
him. I look at things which are not
seen. The things which are seen are
temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Now, Paul says we have the same
spirit of faith. And here's the spirit of faith.
It's whatever believer has. It's the same in David, in me,
in every believer in this room. Same thing. We have the same
spirit of faith according as it's written. It's from the scriptures. What I preach is God's word.
I'm asking you to try what I preach with the word of God and see
if it's according to the scriptures. That's that's the only thing
that counts. Is it according to the divine inspired word of
God? What we believe is from the scriptures,
according as it's written. We believe. Therefore, we speak
and we speak what we know, don't we? Christ must be successful.
God's grace saves. We never have reason to be discouraged
because God's on the throne. This affliction we're going through
is light compared to the glory that's going to be revealed,
compared to the exceeding weight of glory we'll experience. And
in the spirit of faith, we're looking not at things that are
seen, but things that are not seen. For the things that are
seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. May God give us all. May God give everybody in this
room the spirit of faith. Let's pray together.