The title of this message is,
The Life of Faith. Now, I have two passages that
I want to read and use for a text on the subject, The Life of Faith. The first one is Galatians 2,
verse 20. Now, many of you probably are
familiar with this scripture, but listen to it again. Galatians
2, 20. Paul said, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live,
I live by faith. And the life which I now live,
I live by faith in the Son of God, and by the faith of the
Son of God. who loved me and gave himself
for me. I live by faith. And then the
second text is one which occurs in the scriptures four times.
That's right, four times. You heard me right. Four times
this phrase occurs in God's Word. It's in the book of Habakkuk
in the Old Testament. It's in the book of Romans, chapter
1, verse 17. It's in the book of Galatians.
Chapter 3, it's in the book of Hebrews. And in all four places,
this is what it declares, the just shall live by faith. I live by faith. Now the just,
we're talking about the justified, the believer, the child of God,
who has been made just by the blood and righteousness of Christ.
But the justified live by faith. What does this mean? I live by
faith. The just live by faith. Do we live by faith as a power? Faith itself as a power, as an
influence, as a feeling, or as an attitude, which causes things
to happen. And the more faith we have, the
more power we have. The more faith we have, the more
things that we can get done. Is that how we live? By or upon
faith? Certainly not. We don't live
upon faith at all. Paul didn't say to just live
upon faith. He didn't say in Galatians 2.20,
I live upon faith. He said, I live by faith upon
Christ. I live by faith upon Christ. Faith is not my hope. Christ
is my hope. Faith is not my peace with God.
Christ is my peace with God. I live upon Christ. I find my
peace in Him. My peace is not in my attitude.
My peace is not in my feeling. My peace is always the same.
It's in Christ. It's from Christ. He's my peace.
He made peace through the blood of His cross. He's my hope. Christ
in you is the hope of glory, not faith in you. It's Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Christ is my wisdom. Christ is
my righteousness. Christ is my holiness. Christ
is my redemption. Where'd you get that preacher?
1 Corinthians 1, Daddy. I Corinthians 1.30, "...of God
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, holiness, and redemption." You see, I don't
live upon faith. I don't feed upon faith. I don't
rest upon faith. I don't get my strength from
faith. I feed upon Christ. I live upon Christ. I get my
peace and joy and hope and confidence and comfort from Him by faith. Faith doesn't produce blessings.
It receives them. Faith, listen, does not produce
blessings. It receives them. Now, unless
Moses touches the rock, the water is not going to come forth to
quench the thirst of the children. But the water doesn't come from
the rod. The water comes from the rock. The rock supplies the
water. The rock provides the water,
not the rod. And Christ is my life, not faith. Christ is my peace, not faith. Christ is my redemption, not
faith. So, we don't live upon faith. We live by faith upon Christ.
Now, you stay with me. I know what I'm talking about,
and this is what the Scripture says. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I. It's Christ who lives in me.
And the life which I live by faith, the life which I live
in this flesh, it's by faith in Christ, in Christ, upon Christ. Let me show you something here.
Faith is not the Savior. It was not faith that was born
in Bethlehem. It was not faith that walked
up Calvary's mountain carrying the old cross. It was not faith
who died on Calvary. It was Christ. So I live by faith
upon Christ who loved me and gave himself for me. Faith is
not the physician. People talk about divine healing
as if faith got the job done. Faith doesn't heal anybody. Faith
looks to Christ who heals. He said, I wound and I heal. I kill and I make alive, I the
Lord do these things. Faith brings us to Him who heals
us. Faith doesn't heal anyone. We
don't live upon faith. We live by faith upon Christ.
We feed upon Him. Come thou fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy praise. Faith is not the Christ. Faith
is not the Mediator. Faith is not the altar, nor the
high priest, nor the blood, nor the mercy seed, nor the sacrifice. Christ is all those things. We
live by faith upon Christ. Do you see that? Let me show
it to you a little stronger. Faith does not cleanse us, but
faith brings us to the fountain open for sin and unclean. There is a fountain filled with
blood. drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunge beneath
that flood, whether their faith is weak, whether their faith
is strong, whether their faith is of long time or short term. Sinners plunge beneath that flood
lose all their guilty stains. Faith doesn't bring us to God.
Christ died just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. being put to death in the flesh
and quickened by the Spirit. He brings us to God. You see,
faith doesn't save us. Christ does. Faith doesn't cleanse
us. Christ does, His blood. Faith doesn't bring us to God.
Christ brings us to God. We look to Him. Faith doesn't
keep us in God. Now listen to me. We're kept
by the power of God through faith, but we're kept by the power of
God. Now unto Him that is able to
keep you from falling, to the only wise God our Savior be glory
and dominion and power both now and forever. Now unto Him that's
able to keep... I hope you see what I'm saying
because it is so vital. And what's being preached in
this day all over this country is people are feeding upon faith
And when they can't find it, they collapse. They're resting
upon their faith. They're trying to conjure up
more faith and force more faith, because preachers are telling
the more faith they have, the more they can get the job done,
and the more they can claim from God, and the more they can have,
and all these other things. It's all in Christ. Not in your
faith. I hope you see what I'm saying.
Because the Lord Jesus Christ will not share His glory. He'll
not share His redemptive glory. No, not even with such an essential
gift of God as faith. Faith is not going to rob Christ
of His glory. The life of faith is the life
of Christ. We live by faith upon Christ. Now then, let's stop right here
just a moment. I want to encourage some of you
who feel that your faith is so weak. And if everybody out there
was as honest as you ought to be, if everybody out there was
as honest as you ought to be, most of you, most of you would
say, my faith is so imperfect. My faith is so weak. My faith
is so small. If the disciples could be rebuked
for the Master because of their little faith, woe is me. I could be rebuked 10,000 times
10,000 because my faith is so weak. Well, now you listen to
me. It's not the strength of faith that saves, it's the strength
of the object of faith. If you have an iron post in the
ground and you've got some vines growing around that post, it's
not the size of the vine that holds it up, it's the post. You move the post, and the big
vine would fall, and the little vine would fall, and the tiny
vine would fall. But as long as the post stands,
all the vines, whether they're strong, big, little, weak, or
tiny, they're held by the post. And weak faith, weak faith, is
as genuine and true and saving, just as much as strong faith,
if it's in Christ. And if your faith is in Christ
alone, that's what I'm talking about, not in yourself, not in
your works, not in your church, not in your baptism, not in your
feeling, not in your profession, not in your mom or daddy, but
in Christ. If you look into Him and Him alone and resting in
Him and Him alone, His blood and His righteousness, your faith
may never be strong. It may never be great. But I'll
tell you this, it's saving faith if you look into Him. You're
looking to Him. And those folks over yonder in
the book of Numbers that were bitten by the fiery serpents,
they looked to the serpent lifted up. And it didn't matter whether
they could see good or not see good, or whether they looked
in that direction or were blind, looked in another direction,
but they were looking to Him. You're looking to Christ. Let
me illustrate that. In a few days, I'll be almost
70 years old. There was a time when I was young
and strong, and I'm older and I'm weak now. But I tell you
this, a weak, trembling hand, a weak, trembling hand can put
food in the mouth as well as a strong, young, vigorous hand. And the body's not nourished
by the hand, it's nourished by the food. And I'll tell you a
weak, trembling face and lay hold on Christ, and look to Christ,
and rest in Christ, just as confidently and certainly and saving as the
strongest faith that's ever come down the pipe. Because it's not
the strength of the faith that saves, it's Christ. And I'm going
to say that, if God gives me one more year, or 40 more years,
I'm going to say, it's not your faith, it's Christ. We live by
faith. upon Christ. And you just, you
folks, be encouraged. You honest people. Honest people. I wouldn't lie to God. Honest
people. Oh, I wish my faith, the disciples
said, Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith. Help us.
Help us. If they're sitting there and
say, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. If you start getting
honest, you'll start praying that way, too, and start talking
about how strong your faith is. Maybe it is yours. Maybe it's
not God-given at all. God-given faith is honest faith.
Well, let me give you several things about this life of faith
to encourage you who really believe in Christ, really believe. First
of all, saving faith, weak or strong, little or great, saving
faith lives, lives upon the name of Christ, upon the name of Christ. That's right. Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.
His name. Let me ask you a question. Did
you ever have a door open for you in somebody else's name?
You are nobody. A person didn't know you. Never
heard of you. But you used a name and a door
opened for you. We had a son killed in Vietnam.
Many of you knew about that. 1969. my oldest son. And just a short
time after that, months or a year or two, there was a doorbell
rang, my front door, and I went to the door and opened it, and
there stood a young man. I'd never seen him in my life. And he said, Are you Mr. Mahan? I said, Yes. Henry Mahan? Yes,
sir. He said, I knew your son Robbie. He said, I was in the
service with Robbie. And I always thought if I ever
came around here, I was going to look you up. And that's all
he needed to open my front door, spread my table, and give him
a place to sleep or anything else he wanted, the name of that
boy. And I'll tell you this, if you
want anything from Almighty God, you're going to get it only through
the name of Christ. Not your name. Your name won't
open heaven's door. Your name, the throne of God's
off limits to you and me and everybody else. But in the name
of Jesus Christ, whosoever shall call on the name of the Son of
God shall live. Seeing we have such a great High
Priest, Jesus Christ the Righteous, who is passed into the heavens,
let us come boldly before the throne of grace and call His
name. And whatsoever you ask the Father
in my name, He'll give it to you. My faith won't even get
me a hearing on earth, let alone in heaven. My name won't get
me a hearing, but I'll tell you Christ's name will. Jehovah Jireh,
the Lord will provide. Jehovah Shalem, the Lord my peace. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord my
righteousness. That'll open the door. That'll
open the door. You learn to call His name. You
learn to rest in His name. You learn to trust His name.
You learn to use His name honestly. God the Father loves the Son.
He loves the Son. And that love never changes.
And He loves us in Christ. And for Christ's sake. God has
forgiven us for Christ's sake. I open that door and let that
boy in for my son's sake. That's right. Then faith lives
upon the blood of Christ. You know the scripture says the
life of the flesh is in the blood. A lot of people don't like to
talk about blood. They get grilled. squeamish when you talk about
blood. I don't talk about blood. Hold on a minute now. I was in
a Bible conference one time in Arkansas. And there's some little
boys and girls running around through the church building.
And one of the little boys, about 12 or 13 years of age, ran through
a storm door. And it just cut him to shreds. And his blood was flowing out
like a fountain. And some of the men, knowing
where the main arteries were and a place to put pressure under
the arm and other places, got to him and held some of that
blood in check. And we took him to the hospital.
And you could just see life draining out of his body, his face getting
white and pale. And when they got him to the
hospital, one of the first things they did was hook up what? Blood. And that blood started flowing
into that boy's body, and the color came back. The life of
the flesh is in the blood. And I tell you, that father was
thankful for the blood. Well, the life of the flesh is
in the blood, and God said, I have given it to you upon the altar. The blood maketh atonement for
the soul. That's right. The spiritual life
is in the blood. Not our blood, His blood. Not
our blood, His blood. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. We're redeemed not by corruptible
things such as silver and gold, but with the precious, precious
blood of Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us, cleanseth us from all sin. Ha, ha, ha,
boy! We live by faith upon the blood,
upon His name, upon His blood. And then thirdly, faith lives
upon the righteousness of Christ, the life of Christ, not just
His death, His life. You've read Romans 5 verse 10,
I know, it talks about our being reconciled to God by the death
of His Son and being saved by the life of His Son, the life
and the death of Christ. You see, the death of Christ
on the cross was not an example. That's not why he died, as an
example, as a martyr, as a reformer. He died as a substitute. And most all of you are aware
of that. He died under the justice of God, under the wrath of God,
as a substitute for our sins. It's just like when Abraham took
Isaac off the altar and put the ram on the altar. The ram was
the substitute. The ram died, Isaac lived. Christ
died, I live. Christ bore my sins, I don't
bother. Christ paid my debt, I don't
owe it. Substitute. Well, in the same
manner, His life on earth for thirty-four years, thirty-three
and a half years, from the cradle to the cross. It wasn't an example,
although He certainly is an example. But that's not why He lived.
He lived as a substitute. He lived like He died, as a substitute. He was made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them born under the law. And here
on this earth, as our substitute, He was under the law, obligated
to fulfill it, to love God with all His heart, mind, soul, and
strength, and as neighbor as Himself, to keep God's law in
every jot and tittle. You see, God's righteous and
holy. And God demands of us the same
holiness. And we can't produce it. But
Christ did. He became a man and did for us
what we couldn't do for ourselves. Are you familiar with Romans
3, verse 19 through 22? You need to be. You just need
to be. Romans 3, start with verse 19
and read through verse 26 actually. It says, That what things whoever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that's
all of us, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now, but now, the righteousness
of God is manifest without the law. It's even the righteousness
of God which is by the faithfulness, obedience, and life of Jesus
Christ. So being justified freely by
His grace, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the old writers wrote
this hymn, Jesus, thy blood and thy righteousness, my beauty
are, my glorious dress. amid flaming worlds, in these
arrayed with joy shall I lift up my head." Faith lives on the
name of Christ. Faith lives on the blood of Christ.
Faith lives on the righteousness of Christ. And faith lives on
the Word of Christ. He's the Word of God. He said
this, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God. You know, my friends, that
was the very foundation of Abraham's faith. You talk about Abraham,
the man of faith, the friend of God, the father of the faithful. What was the foundation of his
faith? He believed God. That's what
it said. He believed God. He believed
God. He believed that God was able
to do all that He promised. It didn't matter how old he was,
or how helpless he was, or how weak he was, or how unworthy
he was, he believed that what God said, God would do. Now that was his faith. And it
was counted to him for righteousness. And that wasn't written for his
sake alone, but for me too, and for you, if we believe on Him
who raised Jesus Christ from the dead. He believed God. There's
nothing more precious to the believer than the Word of God.
In times of joy, in times of sorrow, in times of sickness,
in times of health, in times of success or in times of failure,
it's His Word. His Word teaches us. His Word
reduces us. His Word convicts us. His Word
corrects us. His Word comforts us. His Word
inspires us. His Word encourages us. His Word
gives faith, gives hope, gives love. His Word. We live on His Word. How can
you be without it? And then, in the fifth place,
the life of faith. Faith lives on the intercession
of Christ. John wrote this, My little children,
these things I write unto you, that you sin not. Wouldn't that
be wonderful? Never to sin. Impossible. But if any man sins, when any
man sins, We have an advocate with the Father. We have a lawyer. We have an intercessor. We have
a mediator who is Jesus Christ the righteous. One old writer said, I may be
condemned by the world. I may be condemned by the law.
I may be condemned by my conscience. Yet, I shall carry the day in
the court of heaven because of who my lawyer is. My advocate,
my advocate, my mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ. And He is
on the throne at the right hand of the Father. He is the Lamb
slain. He is the accepted sin offering.
He has the Father's ear. He's never lost a case. And His
will, His will, His will is the law of that court. of heaven, because He said, Father,
I will that those whom you've given me be with me where I am. And faith lives on that. So,
see what I'm talking about? It's not the strength of your
faith. It's the strength of the object of faith. It's the strength
and power of Christ. You look to Him. Believe on Him. Rest in Him. Faith lives upon
Christ.