Believing God

Now, the title of my message
today is Believing God. Believing God. If you wish to
follow in the scriptures as I bring the message, I'll be speaking
from the book of I John, the epistle of I John, chapter 5. And our text will be taken from
verses 10 through 13. I John 5, 10 through 13. Now, my friends, if there's one
thing that is established, clearly established in the Word of God,
it is the importance of believing God. Believing God. I couldn't have a more important
subject. You go all the way back in the
earliest days of Scripture, go back to the 15th chapter of Genesis,
and it says this, Abraham believed God. And it was counted to him
for righteousness. Abraham believed God. When God called him out of his
father's house to go to a land that he would show him, Abraham
believed God. And he went out, not knowing
where he was going, but he believed God. When God told Abraham that
he would have a son, he was over 75 years of age when God first
made the promise. His wife was almost that That's
the age of barren children. But Abraham believed God. He
didn't know how, but he believed God. And when the Lord God came
to him and told him to take his son up on the mountain Moriah
and sacrifice him as a sin offering to God, he started to the mountain. He took his son up to the mountain,
not knowing why, but he believed God. You see, from the earliest
days of Scripture, this man whom God called, my friend, believed
God. And then David, who wrote most
of the 150 Psalms, David summed up all that he said and all that
he wrote with this statement, I believe God, therefore I've
spoken. That's the foundation, he said,
of my faith. That's the foundation of my hope.
That's the foundation of all that I have to say. I believe
God, therefore have I spoken. In Hebrews 11, verse 6, the Apostle
Paul wrote these words, He that cometh to God, he that cometh
to God for whatever reason, for salvation, for rest, for comfort,
for whatever, he that cometh to God must, must believe that
God is and that God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. He must believe. or not come. If any man comes
to God, he must believe that God is and that God is the rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him. One day a group of people
ask our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, this question, What shall
we do that we might work the works of God? What are the works
of God? Tell us what to do to work the
works of God. This is his reply. This is the
work of God that you believe on Him whom God has sent. This
is the work of God that you believe. Now, my friends, I want you to
listen to my text. I told you a moment ago, it's
I John 5, verses 10 through 13. And as I read it, I want you
to listen for the key word. There's a key word. It's the
word believe. Now, you listen carefully, I
John chapter 5, beginning with verse 10. He that believeth on
the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not the Son of God hath made God a liar, because he believes
not the record that God gave of his Son. This is the record
which God hath given. that he has given to us eternal
life, and that life's in his Son. And he that hath the Son
of God hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. And then he says, These things
have I written unto you that believe on the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe
on the Son of God. My friends, There's no greater
requirement, and there's no greater gift, and there's no greater
possession than faith to believe God. You see, believing God brings
life. Believing God brings peace. Believing
God brings comfort. Believing God brings obedience,
hope, and love, and joy. Believe in God. There's so much
emphasis today put on the healing of the body, the performing of
different what we call miracles. But we live in a miraculous world. When the sun comes up every morning,
it's a miracle. When it shines through the day,
it's a miracle. When it rains, it's a miracle.
When plants come up out of the ground, it's a miracle. When
this body continues to The heartbeat and the lungs pump air, it's
a miracle. Everything about God's world is a miracle. But believing
God brings all the time these precious, precious blessings
and benefits. To believe God is to have life
and joy and peace and comfort and hope and love and where you
find faith in God, you find these things. These are the fruit of
God's Spirit and the fruit of God's presence. Now, in plain
language, I want to talk to you for a little while, and I want
to answer four questions. These are four very critical,
very critical questions on this subject of believing God. You
see the importance of it. I said to you, if there's any
one thing, that's critical throughout the world, the Word of God, is
to believe God. Now here's four questions, and
I'm going to try to deal with them very simply. First of all,
what is it to believe God? Just what is it to believe God?
Then secondly, who, what, or who is the primary object of
faith? You know, one time our Lord said
to a man whom He had healed, a blind man, whom he had healed,
he said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And this was
the man's question. Who is he, Lord, that I may believe? Tell me who he is. I'm going
to answer that question. What is it to believe God? Whom
do we believe? It's a primary object of faith.
Thirdly, how does a person come to believe God? What's involved
in this thing of believing God? You haven't always believed God.
There was a time when you didn't. There's a time when you do. There's
a time when you didn't believe God. There's a time when you
did believe God. So what's involved in that passing
from death to life, from unbelief to belief? And then fourthly,
what enables this believing, this faith to continue? Is it
a fad? Is it a passing fancy? With some
people it is, soon disappears, but with some it grows. It increases. Faith increases. So let's look at those four things
in the time we have together here. First question is this. What is it to believe God? Now
this is very important. You read that Genesis 15. That's
the first time that this situation comes about. Abraham believed
God. Abraham believed God. He's the
father of the faithful. He's the pattern of faith. Did
you notice something in that phrase? It didn't say Abraham
believed in God. It didn't say Abraham believed
there is a God. People say, well, I believe there's
a God. That's not faith. It didn't say Abraham believed
that God was almighty. It didn't say Abraham believed
that all things were possible with God. It says he believed
God. He believed God. There's a difference,
you see. He believed God. He believed
what God said. He believed God was able to do
what He promised. How do you know that he believed
God? Abraham believed God. Well, he obeyed God. The reason
I know that Abraham believed God, God said, Abraham, you get
out of your father's house and go to a land I'll show you. He
believed God. Now, he could have believed there
was a God and stayed there. But when God told him, you get
out and go to the land I promised you and I'll make you of your
great nation, he believed God. He believed what God said. And
then God told him when Abraham and Lot and their herdsmen, their
workers got in a big squabble over land. There were so many
of them. They had so many sheep and goats and other animals that
they got in a conflict about where they were going to graze
them and so forth. And God told Abraham, let Lot
have the land he wants. And Abraham believed God. He
said to Lot, he said, pick out the land you want and I'll take
whatever's left. And Lot picked out the best land
possible, the plains by the water. And Abraham believed God. He
went to the mountains. Then when God told him that to
send Ishmael away, you remember he had the son Ishmael, 14, 15,
16 years of age when Isaac was born. And God said, Now Abraham,
the son of the bondwoman, cannot live with the son of promise.
The law cannot live with grace. Works cannot live with mercy
and grace. Ishmael's got to go. Send him
away. Abraham believed God. He didn't
just believe in God. He didn't just believe there
is a God. He believed Him. He believed when God said, Send
him away. I'll bless him. I'll make of
Ishmael a great nation. Now you trust me. I'll make of
him a great nation. You do what I say. Abraham believed
God. And then when he took Isaac to
that mountain to sacrifice him on an altar, he believed God. See, you can't separate faith
and obedience. And I'll give you an illustration
of this. Down in Egypt, God said, I'll pass through at midnight
and I'll slay the firstborn in every home. Now Moses, you tell
the people of Israel to slay a lamb and take the blood and
put it on the lintel and the side post. And when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. Who in that country believed
God? The people where the blood was on the door. They obeyed
God. They believed God. They believed God. And they did
what He told them to do. You see, that's what James has
written a whole book about that. You cannot separate faith and
obedience. If a man believes God, what is
it to believe God? It's to believe Him. And our
response reveals if we do. Do you believe God? I didn't
say do you believe there is a God. That's not faith. The fool has
said in his heart there's no God. Do you believe God? Do you believe God? Do you believe
what God says? Do you believe God is able to do what he says?
That every promise he'll fulfill, a promise with God is as good
as an act? It's done. It's done. That's, all right. Secondly,
now what or who is the primary object of faith? You see, there's
a lot about God to believe. I believe His greatness and His
power. I believe His sovereignty. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and He'll give it to whomsoever He will. I believe His majesty
and His glory. The Lord's in His holy temple,
that all the earth keep silence before Him. I believe His holiness.
Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. I believe His truth, His justice,
His righteousness, I believe His purpose, His providence.
I know that a sparrow doesn't fall to the ground without your
Father. The stars, He calls them by name. I believe His kingdom
and His reign. God reigns. The Lord God reigns. Say to Israel, Your God reigneth. The hymn writer put it like this,
I sing the almighty power of God that spread the flowing seas
abroad I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule by day. I sing the goodness of the Lord
that filled the earth with food. In heaven He shines with beams
of love, with wrath and hell beneath. Tis on His earth I stand
and move, and tis His air I breathe." I believe God. I believe there
is a God. I believe God created all things
by the word of His power, and for His glory they were and are
created. But the chief and primary object
of faith is not His power, it's not His creation, it's not His
providence. The chief object of faith, the
saving faith, is His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now listen to
my text again. Listen to it again. Did you hear
it a while ago? Hear it again. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not on the Son of God hath made God a liar, because he believes
not the record that God hath given concerning his Son. And
this is the record that God hath given us eternal life, and this
life's in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things I
have written unto you, that you might believe on the Son of God,
and believing you might have life in His name, and keep on
believing in the Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Now the Scripture says in Galatians
chapter 4, But when the fullness of time was come, 4,000 years after God made Adam, when
the fullness of time was come, when prophecies were fulfilled,
when the promises were all made, when the patterns and types were
all set forth, when it pleased the Lord in the fullness of time,
in the completion of time as God ordained it, God sent forth
His Son into the world. I and my Father are one, he said.
They said, Well, show us the Father. The Son said, He that
has seen me has seen the Father. They're inseparable, equal. The
Son is the exact image of the Father. He's the brightness of
the Father's glory. God sent His Son into this world
made of a woman. He who made woman was made of
a woman. Great is the mystery of godliness. I don't hope to explain it to
anybody's satisfaction. God was manifest in the flesh.
He was made of a woman. That holy thing which was conceived
in Mary's womb is the Son of God. God was manifest in human
flesh. I'll tell you why. He's the second
Adam. He's the redeeming man. He's
the God-man. You see, an Adam would die in
Christ's We're made alive. 1st Adam, by the 1st Adam came
death. By the 2nd Adam came life. The
1st Adam is of the earth, earthly. The 2nd Adam is the Lord from
heaven. And all men, all human beings of all races and nations,
colors, came from Adam. One man. God made one man. We
all stood in Him. We all sinned in Him. We all
fell in Him. We all died in Him. An original
sin passes through the whole human race. We came from the
loins of our father, Adam. Now, God sent the second Adam,
the Lord Jesus Christ, made of a woman. Made of a woman. Now, watch this. Made under the
law. Christ became obedient to His
own law, in subjection to His own law. Now, get this. When the fullness of time was
come, where all the prophecies and promises and pictures and
patterns and types were fulfilled. When God's time came, He sent
forth His Son into the world, made of a woman, made under His
law as a man, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, representative
man, federal head, Representing all who were in his loins all
who were given to him by the father all of his elect his sheep
He was their head their surety their representative And he did
that to redeem them That were under the law redeem them by
his obedience redeem them by his death redeem them by his
resurrection that we might receive the adoption of sons in Christ
The hymn writer said it this way, Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are my glorious dress. Mid flaming worlds in these arrayed
with joy shall I lift up my head. He's the object of faith. What is it to believe God? It's
to believe Him. It's to believe Him. Trust Him. is to believe God in Christ,
the revelation of God in Christ. No man has seen God, Elohim. We've seen His Son. We've seen
His Son. It's to believe Christ. No man
has seen God at any time. The Son reveals Him. The Son
declares Him. The Son manifests Him in the
flesh. See, that way we can look into
His face and see the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
Not recently, we had an eclipse of the sun. Everybody said, don't
look at it. I'd rather try to look at that sun than to look
at God in His brightness and glory. Can't be done. But I can
look and see Christ in my flesh. Now, how does one come to believe
God? Well, I tell you this, believing God, like any other grace or
any other spiritual gift, is the work of God. It's the work
of God in us. Faith is the gift of God. It's
the goodness of God that leads to repentance, and it's the goodness
of God that grants to us faith. Listen to this verse of Scripture.
For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. What's
the gift of God? Faith's the gift of God. It's
not of works, lest any man should boast, for we're his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus on two
good works you see It's not of him that will it nor of him that
run it. It's of God that showeth mercy Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord God gave him faith The disciples said to our
Lord one day Lord increase our faith It's given unto you not
only to believe on him, but to suffer for him You know, we can
look in the Scripture and see how that God is pleased to bring
His sheep to faith. Now watch this. All of you know
this story. There was an Ethiopian eunuch,
and he was troubled in his heart, troubled about God, troubled
about sin, troubled about eternity, troubled about death. He began
to seek the Lord. He didn't know God. He didn't
know the Gospel. He didn't know Christ. He didn't
know the way of life. And so he began to seek. And
he took a chariot and went all the way to Jerusalem. He heard
that people up there knew something about God. And he set out to
find some answers. And he journeyed to where he
thought he'd find God. Among some people he thought
knew God, but he found no answers. They had religion, but they didn't
know God. They didn't know Christ. They
didn't know the gospel. He found no answers. He found
no solution. And he turned around, got back
in his chariot and started home. But he searched the Scriptures.
He had a copy of the Scriptures with him, the book of Isaiah.
The New Testament wasn't written then. And he was reading the
Scriptures. And God sent him a preacher.
God sent him a true servant, a man who knew Christ, who knew
the Gospel, a man named Philip. He sent this man Philip to preach
to this Ethiopian eunuch who was seeking the Lord, who was
troubled in his heart, who wanted to know God. and reading the
scriptures. And Philip said, do you understand
what you're reading? He said, I can't except somebody show me. And
Philip got up in the chariot and began right there at those
scriptures and preached unto him Jesus Christ. Now this man
was aware of God, the creating God, the reigning God, the ruling
God, the holy God, but he didn't know that God in the person of
his son till this man preached Christ to him. And when he heard
this message, he said, here's water. I want to be baptized."
And Philip said, Well, you may, if you believe. Do you believe? If you believe, you may. And
this man looked at him and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Isn't that what my text said? He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not on the
Son of God hath made God alive." This man heard the gospel of
Christ. And I say this to you, every
one of you listening to my voice. John 7, 17, my Lord said this,
if any man will do his will, really wants to know his will,
really does now, he'll know of the doctrine whether it be of
God or whether I speak of myself. If he really wants to know God,
he will. Now, that's how God works faith.
There's a disturbing, there's a convicting, there's a troubling,
there's a revelation, there's a searching of the scriptures,
there's a preaching of the gospel, there's the hearing of the gospel,
and there's the commitment of the heart. I know whom I have
believed. I am persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him. I believe God. What enables
this faith to continue? Here's the fourth question. What's
the chief support of faith? What chiefly does faith stand
upon and build upon and rest upon? It looks to Christ. But listen. Now, the just shall live by faith.
But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But we're not of them that draw back unto petition. But
we're of them that continue to believe to the saving of the
soul. Faith continues where it begins,
believing God. We never look to our experience,
we look to Him. We never look to our profession,
we look to Him. We never look to our works, we
look to Him. We never look to our feelings,
Feelings come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. We
trust the ever-living Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing. We believe God. And faith continues
right where it starts. It never gets away from that
one point of beginning. That's what Paul said. We're
the house of Christ if we continue, if we hold fast our profession
firm unto the end. Abraham believed God that God
was able to do all that He says. And that's where he started,
and that's where he died. He died believing God. He left. Abraham left home, not knowing
where he was going. But he left home believing God.
When he came to die, he was looking for a city. He was going to another
home, and he hadn't seen that one either. The same faith that
brought him out of his father's house on earth took him to his
father's house in glory. That's it. And you talk about
faith continuing and faith persevering depends upon whom you believe. If you look into your experience,
you got real trouble. If you look into your feelings,
real trouble. But if you look into Him who
never moves, ever lives, never changes, your faith continues
and takes you home. Now, if you want this message,
Believe in God, send $2, we'll mail it to you. Till next week
at the same time, may God bless you, everyone.

Believing God

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Believing God

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book