Where Faith Is Found

Now, last week, I brought you
a message on peace with God. We have peace with God. A message of comfort, assurance,
and confidence. And I hope that you were blessed
by it. Now, today, I want to bring us a message. We need messages
like this. A message that we... It calls
upon us to examine ourselves whether we be in the faith. As
Peter said, give diligence, brethren, give diligence, great care, to
make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things,
you'll never fail. And believers don't mind examining
the scriptures and the promises of God and determining whether
or not they're in the faith. In fact, we're told to do that
every time we come to the Lord's table. It says, let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat. What's he examining himself for?
To find out if he's holy enough? No. If he's worthy? No. He's
examining himself to determine if he actually discerns the broken
body and shed blood of Christ. Is he really trusting Christ?
Is he really believing on Christ? Is he really looking to the Savior?
And that's what we're talking about. And my subject today,
my subject today is this, where faith is found, where faith is
found. And in Luke 18, verse 8, the
scripture says this, Luke 18, verse 8, nevertheless, when the
Son of Man cometh, that's the Lord Jesus, when the Son of God,
who is the Son of Man, when He comes, here's the question, Will
he find faith on this earth? When he comes, will he find faith
on this earth? Now, one day, a troubled father,
a troubled, heartbroken father, brought his desperately ill son
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what he said, this
son had been critically ill desperately ill for a long long time and
this Broken-hearted troubled father brought this young lad
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what he said. I Brought
my son to your disciples and they couldn't help him. They
could not do anything for him They couldn't help him then he
said this to the master, but if you can do anything I brought
him to your disciples and they could do nothing now if you can
do something have compassion on us and help us and our Lord
replied in this fashion if you can believe all things are possible
to him that believeth my friend the question the issue is not
what he can do That's not the issue, what He can do. This Father
said, if you can do anything, have compassion. Our Lord said,
if you can believe. If you can believe, all things
are possible to them who believe. He is able. He's able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God by Him. He's able to perform
all that He promised. That was the basis of Abraham's
faith. He said he believed God. Not
doubting. He believed God, that God was
able to do what He promised. He can. He's able to keep you
from falling. He's able to present you faultless
before His throne with exceeding glory. He's able to raise your
vile body and make it like His own. The issue is not what He
can do. The question is, can you believe?
Can you believe? This is what our Lord said to
this man. Can you believe? If you can believe, all things
are possible to them that believe. You know what the father replied?
You remember what he said? He said, Lord, I do believe. I do believe. And this is my
answer. And I trust it's yours. I do
believe. I do. Lord, help thou mine unbelief. You know, Look at that text again. When the Son of Man cometh, when
the Son of Man cometh, will He find faith on this earth? He
has come. He came into our world in the
flesh. The Scripture says, In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things
were made by Him. Without Him was not anything
made that was made, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth." He came. He came in the fullness of time.
God sent His Son into the world, made of a woman, made under the
law. to redeem them that were made
or born under the law. So He came. When the Son of Man
cometh, will He find faith? He came. And He not only came
in the flesh, but He came in the gospel. Romans 1.16 says,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for they're in, in the gospel. is the righteousness
of God revealed, the very holiness of God. Acceptance for sinners
is revealed in the gospel. He came, the Son of Man came
into the world in the flesh and He came in the gospel. Paul said
in Hebrews, the gospel was preached to those fellows back in the
wilderness, but it didn't profit them. Why? It wasn't mixed with
faith in them that heard it. So I'm asking this, When the
Son of Man comes, and He has come, will He find faith in me
and in you? When He comes to us in the Gospel,
is the Gospel heard? Is it received? Is it believed? And I'll tell you, He comes in
the person of His Spirit. He said, I'll send the Holy Spirit
into the world. I'll send my Spirit into the
world. And He'll convict this world of sin and of righteousness
and of unbelief. Sin, righteousness, and judgment
because they believe not on me. And then one day, I'll tell you
this, He's going to come. He's going to come for you and
He's going to come for me and take us out of this world. Just
like He came through the land of Egypt at midnight and struck
down the firstborn. He's coming. He's coming. He
said, I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place, I will come again and get you and receive you. When He comes, will He find faith? That's the question. When He
comes, He came in the flesh. He came in the Word. He came
in the power of His Spirit, and that's what I'm doing on this
program and have for 20 years now, preaching the gospel of
God's grace, preaching the gospel of the Savior who came into the
world that we might have life and have it more abundantly.
And it doesn't matter what you think of me. It doesn't matter
how I appear to you or how I look or whether we have different
settings here. It's not the setting, it's not
the preacher, it's not the impression I make, it's the gospel, it's
the message, it's the truth. He came, and I'll tell you this,
He's coming again to destroy this world. He's coming to establish a new
heaven and new earth, and to judge this world. God hath appointed
a day in which he's going to judge this world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he gave assurance to
the whole world in that he raised him from the dead. Christ was
crucified on that cross and buried by the hands of men and raised
by the power of God. And God said when he raised him,
here's my fellow, here's my man, Here's my righteousness. Here's
my Redeemer. Here's my Messiah. Here's my
King, Lord and Christ. Now, do you believe? When He
comes, will He find faith? Do you believe on the Son of
God? Our Lord healed a man of blindness. He'd been blind all
his life. And when He found him later, He said, Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? And the man said, Who is he,
Lord, that I might believe? Tell me who he is. Tell me. Well, I'm going to give you several
things about faith. Several things. I believe I can
help us with this matter of faith. Will he find faith? I'm going
to tell you where faith is found. What is the result? Where faith
is found. First of all, where true faith
is found, it's the gift of God. Did you know that? Where true
faith is found, it's the gift of God. It's the work of God. Listen to Ephesians 2. For by
grace have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Faith is not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast, for it's God who worketh in you, both to will,
to desire, to believe, and to do of His good pleasure. By grace
are you saved, by God's grace, by His free, sovereign grace
are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourself. Faith
is not the product of the natural heart. Faith is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast, because we're His workmanship. And we're created in Christ Jesus
on two good works. Philippians 1.29 says this, For
unto you it is given, in the behalf of Christ, not only to
believe on Him, but to suffer for His sake. Where do you find
faith? You find the work of God. You
find the gift of God. You find the power of God. This
is what Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica. He said, I know
you're God's elect because our gospel didn't come to you in
word only. It came to you in power. It came
to you in the Holy Ghost. It came to you in much assurance.
Hebrews 12 verse 2 says, Looking unto Jesus, the author of our
faith. What's an author? An author is
a person with whom the book originates. He's the writer. There'd be no
book without him. There'd be no book. What's an
author? It's a painter that painted a
picture. There'd be no picture without him. And Christ is the
author and finisher of our faith. It's His work, His workmanship. I can't take any credit or glory
for anything I am or know or have or ever hope to be. It's
the gift of God. Where you find faith, you find
God working in mighty power. Great, listen to I Timothy chapter
3. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
seen of the angels, justified in the Spirit, believed on in
the world. To find a person who believes
God is as great a miracle as the incarnation of God Almighty
in human flesh. That's what that verse says.
Ranking right along with the coming of Christ into this world
is the coming of the Spirit of God into a human heart. bringing
faith. That's the reason the disciples
said to our Lord one day, Lord, increase our faith. Increase
our faith. So where you find faith, it's
the gift of God, not of works. It's the work of God, not our
work. And secondly, where faith is
found, it's the mark and evidence of divine election. If a man
believes God and chooses God, it's because God chose him. Our
Lord said that to his own inner circle, to the 12 disciples.
He said, you didn't choose me. Which of you chose me? I chose
you. We love him because he first
loved us. Our love is in response to his. It's a product of his love. The
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts for the Holy Spirit.
Now listen to this statement. Where you find a person who loves
Christ, you find a person whom Christ loved first. Herein is
love, not that we love God, He loved us and gave His Son to
be the propitiation for our sin. We love Him because He first
loved us. He said in Jeremiah 31, the Lord said, I have loved
you with an everlasting love. How long have you loved God?
Well, not very long since he revealed himself to me. But he
said, I've loved you forever. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I've drawn you. Listen
to this statement. Where you find a person who comes
to Christ, and we do, to whom coming, we're continually coming
to Christ. We came to Him, we're still coming.
We shall come. We've repented, we shall repent.
We're still coming to Christ. And where you find a person who
comes to Christ, you find a person who was drawn to Christ by the
Father. Listen to John 6, 44. No man
cometh unto me, except my Father which sent me draw him. And I'll
raise him up at the last day. It's written in the Scripture.
And they're all taught of God. He that heareth my word, learneth
of me, cometh unto me." No man can come to me except my Father
draw him to Christ. So if you find one who has come
to Christ, it's because the Father drew him to Christ. All that
my Father giveth me, they'll come to me. Now listen to this
statement. And where you find a person who
continues in the faith and continues to believe, and this is something
that we experience throughout our lives is people leaving the
church and leaving the fellowship and like Demas of old, departing. Demas have forsaken us, having
loved this present world. And John said something in I
John about it. He said, they went out from us,
but they weren't of us. If they'd been of us, they wouldn't
have gone out from us. They would have stayed with us.
But where you find a person who continues in the faith, listen
to me now, Person that continues all his life or her life in in
Christ Continues in the faith you find a person who's kept
by the father The scripture says we are kept by the power of God
Not apart from faith. We're kept by the power of God
through faith and it says in Philippians He hath begun he
that hath begun a good work Paul says I'm confident of this He
that hath begun a good work in you will finish it in the day
of Christ Jesus. That's right. Where you find
faith, it's the work of God. Where you find faith, it's the
mark of God's elect, God's chosen. And thirdly, where you find faith,
you find life, spiritual life. Where you find faith, listen
to me, you find spiritual life. Now listen carefully, listen
carefully. You hear a lot of talk about
the new birth. Well, it's essential. You must be born again. But the
new birth is not something you do, something God does. We're
born of God. Born not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of a friend, and not of natural genealogy,
bloodlines. We're born of God. Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ, and isn't that what I'm talking
about? Believing God, believing Christ, trusting Christ. Well,
everybody who believes on Christ is born of God. He is born of
God. He's not alive because he believes.
He believes because he's alive. Where you find faith, where you
find a person believing God, you find a person who's been
born again. Here's a baby born into the world.
That baby sees, that baby hears, that baby cries. That baby seeks
the breast of its mother. and loves its mother. There has
to be life before there can be those things. The baby doesn't
have life. He's not born because he sees. He sees because he's
born. He doesn't hear. He's not born because he hears.
He hears because he's born. He doesn't seek his mother's
breast for nourishment. He's not born because he does
that. He does that because he's alive. And life is the gift of
God. So we're born again by the Spirit
of God. We're born again by the seed
of the Word of God. We're born again by the power
of God. And all who are born again seek
Christ, hear Christ, love Christ, believe Christ, and seek Christ
because they're alive. Where you find faith, you find
a person born of God. Everyone that loveth is born
of God, has already been born of God. Everyone that love it
is born of God and whosoever believe that Jesus is the Christ. He's born of God All right, fourthly
where faith is found. Listen to this where faith is
found true Israel is found As whole I'd talk about Israel Israel
Israel old Old Testament full of Israel, but that Israel is
a type of true Israel True Israel is the people who've been born
of God, who believe on Christ. Now listen, Romans 2. He's not
a Jew which is one outwardly. He is a Jew which is one inwardly. Circumcision is not of the flesh,
it's of the heart. Galatians 3, 7 says, Do you not
know that they which are of faith, they're the children of Abraham?
The people over in Lebanon, and Gaza and Jerusalem. They're not
the seed of Abraham. They're not the sons of Abraham.
They're not the children of Abraham. They're the descendants of Abraham
by flesh. I'm a son of Abraham. You're
a son of Abraham. Listen again. Do you not know
that they which are of faith, faith in Christ, they are the
children of Abraham? Galatians 3 16 says now to Abraham
and his seed where the promise is made I hear people talking
about God's promise the Holy Land and and the world to the
Jews through Abraham God promised the kingdom to the seed of Abraham
s e ed Singular not plural listen not to seeds as of many but to
seed which is Christ Galatians 3 16 never read it again Now
to Abraham and his seed who's that every believer? with children
of God by faith with children of Abraham by faith to Abraham
and his seed Singular where the promise is made all the promises
of life everlasting life inheritance Not to seeds as of many but to
seed which is one Christ And if you be Christ, then you're
Abraham's seed. Do you see that? Paul said, we're
true Israel who worship God in the Spirit, who rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That's Israel.
All Israel shall be saved. Folks across the sea who do not
believe the Word of God, who do not believe Christ, they may
be fleshly descendants of Abraham, but they're not children of Abraham,
not children of God, and they're not Israel. God's going to set
up a kingdom, but it's not some earthly kingdom down here where
Jerusalem's rebuilt, and the temple's rebuilt, and the sacrifice
is offered. Christ has already come and fulfilled
all of that. The new kingdom, the heavenly
kingdom, is the kingdom of true Israel. He's not a Jew which
is won outwardly. He's a Jew which is won inwardly
by faith in Christ. And all who believe and are of
faith, they're the children of Abraham. That's true Israel.
Now fifthly, where you find faith, obedience is found. Obedience
to Christ in heart and life. You can't separate faith and
conduct. You cannot separate belief and
obedience. If a man's in Christ Jesus, he's
a new creature. To love Christ is to love his
word. To love Christ is to love his law. To love Christ is to
love his people. To love his commandments. Paul
writing to that church at Thessalonica, he said he gave thanks for those
people. He thanked God for them. And
he said, I remember your works of faith. And faith, if it's
genuine, has works, good works, kind works. works of charity. And I remember
your labor of love. Can a man love God and not love
others? Can a man love Christ and not love his people? John
says he can't. How can he love God whom he hasn't
seen and not love his brother whom he has seen? To love is
to give. To love is to forgive. To love
is to serve. Paul says To this church at Thessalonica,
I know about your works of faith, I know about your labors of love,
and I know about your patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. They continue, true believers
continue, continue in faith, continue in obedience. Now listen,
and where true faith is found, there'll be a confession of Christ.
There'll be an open confession of Christ. I don't believe the
Lord has any secret disciples. Do you? I just don't believe
that. I don't believe. He said, if
you confess me before me, I'll confess you before the Father.
If you deny me, I'll deny you. I do not believe our Lord has
any secret disciples. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So faith is the gift
of God. Faith is the work of God. Faith
is the life of God. Faith is a characteristic of
the children of God. And faith is obedient and walks
in godliness. And faith confesses Christ. You
know, Abel confessed Christ by offering a true sacrifice. Enoch
confessed Christ, he walked with God. Noah confessed Christ, he
built the ark. Abraham confessed Christ, he
offered his son. That's confessing Christ. How
do you confess Christ? In the heart, to receive Him
as Lord, to identify with His people, to follow Him in believer's
baptism, and to confess Him daily in my walk and in my talk and
in my attitude, in my conversation, in my character. To be unkind
to others is not confessing Christ. To be selfish And not to forgive
others, that's not confessing Christ. Husbands and wives who
are unkind to one another, that's not confessing Christ. To confess
Christ is to walk with Him in obedience and love and holiness. When the Son of Man cometh, will
He find faith? Will He find faith? If you want
this message on tape, it's called Where Faith is Found. Where Faith
is Found. You write for it. Send $2. We'll
mail it to you. Now, I have another message on
the other side entitled, We Have Peace With God. So here's a message
on peace and on the other side, a message about faith. And you
send $2. We'll send you both of them.
Until next week, may God bless you, everyone.

Where Faith Is Found

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