That You May Believe

Q: What does the Bible say about believing in Jesus as the Messiah?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of believing that Jesus is the Christ, as eternal life is found in Him. The scriptures affirm that believing in Jesus as the Messiah is critical for salvation. 1 John 5:1 states, 'Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.' This belief signifies a transformation where one becomes a child of God, emphasized through the interconnected love of the Father and the Son. Believing in Jesus is intimately linked to having eternal life, as detailed in verses that follow, which declare, 'He that hath the Son hath life.' Therefore, faith in Christ is not merely intellectual assent but a life-altering commitment.

Q: How do we know that salvation is through faith alone?

Salvation is through faith alone, as it is a gift from God that can only be received by believing in Christ. The foundations of salvation through faith alone are found throughout Scripture. Ephesians 2:8-9 clarifies that 'by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.' This highlights that faith itself is a divine gift, ensuring that salvation is wholly dependent on God's grace and not on human efforts or merits. The narrative of the thief on the cross supports this doctrine, demonstrating that even in his last moments, faith in Christ brought him immediate salvation, affirming that belief and trust are the sole requirements.

Q: Why is it essential for Christians to believe in the sovereignty of God?

Believing in God's sovereignty is essential as it underpins the assurance and comfort for Christians in their faith journey. Understanding the sovereignty of God is crucial for Christians because it establishes God's absolute rule and authority over all creation, including salvation. His sovereignty assures believers that every event in their lives serves His purpose and ultimately contributes to their good and His glory, as affirmed in Romans 8:28. This belief provides comfort during trials and reinforces faith; when circumstances seem overwhelming, trusting in an all-powerful God who orchestrates every detail brings peace and confidence. Acknowledging God's sovereignty enables believers to worship Him fully, recognizing that they are not equal partners but rather humble recipients of His grace.

Q: How does God work faith within a person?

God works faith within a person through His Word and by convicting them of their sin and need for grace. The process by which God works faith in an individual is primarily through His Word, as indicated by Romans 10:17, which states that 'faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.' Additionally, this means that God first reveals a person's sinfulness, prompting a recognition of their need for mercy. The acknowledgment of guilt leads to a heart that cries out for grace, positioning them to receive the faith granted by God. Through preaching, reading scriptures, and the work of the Holy Spirit, individuals are awakened to trust in Christ for their salvation, illustrating that faith is a divine act rather than a human endeavor.

Q: Why is believing in Christ the primary object of faith?

Believing in Christ is the primary object of faith because He is the only mediator and source of righteousness for believers. The primary object of faith for Christians must always be Christ because He embodies the fullness of God's promise and grace toward humanity. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, it is declared that Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Believers look to Him not just for guidance but also for their very standing before God. Only through faith in Christ can we receive divine righteousness, as He took our place and bore our sins on the cross. This belief is foundational because while doctrines and teachings are important, they find their ultimate fulfillment and reality in Christ Himself, who is the cornerstone of our faith.

I'm going to speak tonight on the subject, Is Jesus of Nazareth
the Messiah? Is Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah? But this morning, let's read
1 John chapter 5, beginning with verse 1. And you'll see again that if
there's any one thing, one thing clearly established in these
scriptures, it is the importance of believing on the Lord Jesus
Christ, believing on his name. That's my subject, that you may
believe, that you may believe. If there's any one thing that's
established all the way through this, this reading that I'm going
to read here, it's the importance of believing. Verse 1 of 1 John
5, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, is
born of God. And every one that loveth him
that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. You love
the Father, you love the Son. By this we know that we love
the children of God, when we love God, keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments,
and his commandments are not grievous. For whosoever is born
of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith believing him. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three that
by record in heaven, the Father, the Word, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that bear
witness in earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and
these three agree in one. Now, if we receive or believe
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is
the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar, because he believeth not the record God gave of his
Son. And this is the record, that
God hath given us eternal life. God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life's in his Son. That's the record. Eternal
life's in Christ, of Christ, by Christ, through Christ. And
he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life." Now, here's the text. These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God.
These things are written to you that believe. These are family
letters. addressed to you who believe.
These things are written to you that believe on the name of the
Son of God. A man writes a letter to his
wife and children, grandchildren. You don't post it down in the
park on the bulletin board and say, look what he wrote to us.
He didn't write that to us, he wrote that to his family. It's only applicable to the family.
These things are written to you. that believe on the name of the
Son of God. Why? That you may know something.
Read on. That you may know that you have
eternal life. If you don't have the Son, you
don't have life, so this is not written to you. It's written
to you who believe on the name of the Son of God. He that hath
the Son hath life. And these things are written
that you might be encouraged, that you might be comforted,
that it might answer any doubts that are in your mind. You have
You're not going to have, you have eternal life. You see that? And these things
are written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God
that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may
keep on believing. And that you may believe, that
you may continue to believe, that you may keep on believing
on the name of the Son of God, Lord, I believe, help, I am in
unbelief. The disciples said to the Master,
Lord, increase our faith. Paul knew Christ, but he said
in the book of Philippians chapter 3, O that I may know Paul was in Christ, he said chosen
in Christ, accepted in Christ, loved in Christ, redeemed in
Christ, but he said, oh, that I may win Christ. So these things
are written to you that believe. I was riding down the street in
Alexander, Louisiana last week, and I saw a billboard downtown. as a religious group putting
billboards all over town with scripture on it. And as I rode by, I saw this
scripture, that it, uh, you ask anything in my name, it'll be
given you. Well, that's not addressed to
the town of Alexandria, Louisiana. That's addressed to believers. That's not applicable to the
whole town, and neither is this. It says, these things are written
to you that believe. on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know you have eternal life, and that you may keep on
believing on the name of the Son of God. Now, all for faith,
all for faith, a faith that will not shrink, though pressed by
many a foe, that will not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe,
all for faith that continues come to Christ, to believe on
Christ, to rest in Christ. Our Lord told Peter of his encounter
with Satan. He said, Satan hath desired thee
that he may sift thee, sift thee as wheat. But Peter, I prayed
for you that your faith fail not, that when this sifting is
over, when this trial is over, that you still believe, that
you still believe. Your cockiness is gone, and some
of your comfort's gone, but you still believe. That's like Job
sitting there on the dunghill, scratching his balls, you know,
sitting in ashes and scratching his balls. And his wife came
by and she said, well, she said, everything's gone. Everything's
gone. Why don't you just curse God and die? He said, no, he
slayed me. And Peter, when all this is over,
I pray that your faith fail not. Oh, the importance of faith.
Hebrews 11 says this, he that cometh to God must believe. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. He that cometh to God must, must,
must believe. He can't come any other way.
Must believe that he is. that he's the rewarder of them
that diligently seek him. Four times in the scripture it
says the just shall live by faith, by faith, by faith. And Abraham was called the friend
of God. Why? On what ground was he the friend
of God? God said something about the
promises he made to Abraham, and he calls him my friend. My
friend. I'll tell you why he was a friend
of God. He believed God. He believed God. I'll tell you
if there's anything I covet beyond any single thing in life, it's
to believe God. To believe God. Let me show you
something. Hold that scripture there and turn over to Luke 23
a moment. Luke chapter 23. Let me show
you something over here. Luke chapter 23. To believe God. To believe God. You young people
look at this with me. And there's a lot of religion
today and there's a lot of different ways to heaven and people talking
about eternal life in heaven, how to be saved and so forth.
Let me show you something here. In Luke chapter 23, let's begin
reading with verse 39. And one of the male factors,
one of the thieves which were hanged, crucified with Christ,
you remember he was crucified between two thieves, one on each
side. And one of those thieves which
were hanged railed on him, railed on him. And he said, now if you
believe in Christ, if you believe who you claim you are, save yourself
and us. But the other thief, answering,
rebuked his comrade in crime, and he says, don't you fear God?
Don't you fear God? Seeing that you're in the same
condemnation, in other words, this man on the center cross
is God. This is God. He believed him. He believed that Jesus Christ
is God. Don't you fear God, seeing you're
in the same condemnation with this one who is God. Read on. And we're in this condemnation
justly. We receive the due reward of
our deeds. We're getting what we deserve.
We're getting justice. But this man has done nothing
amiss. This man's without sin. He knew
no sin, had no sin, did no sin. This man's perfect. He hasn't
done anything. This man is dying for somebody
else's sins. I don't know how much he knew,
but he knew this man is God. He knew this man is holy. This
man is innocent. He knew he was getting what he
deserved. He admitted he was a sinner. He faced the truth
of his guilt and his companion. And he said to Jesus, Lord, Master,
Lord, thou shalt call on the name of the Lord, thou shalt
be saved. Remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. Would you show mercy? Would you
think on me? Would you remember me? Would you care? Would you recall
me to mine? And Jesus said unto him, Verily
I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Now just dismissing all of the arguments and the different things
about this. Let me ask you four questions
about this man. Four simple questions. Who was he? Well, he was a criminal,
wasn't he? He was a sinner, wasn't he? Must
have been a very wicked person. Crucifixion was reserved for
the worst kind of people. It was an ignominious, horrible,
horrible, shameful death. And this man was a great sinner,
a thief. a murderer. Second question,
did he go to heaven? Did this man go to heaven? What
was his destination? Well, according to the Savior,
he went to heaven that day. Our Lord said, today you'll be
with me, and I know where Christ went. He went to the Father,
to the right hand of the Father. And this man's going to enter
heaven with the Savior, with Christ himself, with the Lord
of Glory. He's never washed, he's never worked, he's never
witnessed, he's never walked, he's never done anything in the
kingdom of God for anybody. But he's going right into heaven.
Now that's right. He was a sinner, right? He went
to heaven. Thirdly, how? He wasn't baptized. He never paid a tithe. Never
won a soul. How'd he go to heaven? He believed God. He believed God. That's what
he said. He said, don't you fear God? Why are you talking like
you're talking? This man's God. And we're in the same condemnation,
but we're getting what we deserve. We deserve this. I deserve what
I'm getting. This man's done nothing wrong.
He's a holy man. He's God. Lord, you're not going
to stay dead. You come into the kingdom. Would
you, when you come into your kingdom, triumphantly, remember
this old thing. He believed God. Fourth question. Can you find any other reason
for taking him into glory? Can you? Come on. If you can't,
give it to me. No, sir. He believed God. And
that's what I'm saying that this scripture's teaching here. Salvation's in Christ, and it's
mine by believing Christ. Now, I want to turn back to the
text. If you care to, you can write
down these four things that I'm going to deal with on the subject
of believing God. Believing God. These things are
written to you that believe. Preacher, my faith's so weak.
It's not the strength of your faith, it's the strength of the
object of your faith, Christ Jesus. And these are my four points
in this message. If you care to write them down,
they're in the form of questions. I'm going to try to answer these
questions. What is it to believe God? Abraham believed God. Well, what is it to believe God?
Secondly, what's the primary object of faith? Faith's got
to have an object. What's the primary object of
faith? Thirdly, how does God ordinarily work faith in a person? How does He ordinarily work faith?
And fourthly, what's the chief support of faith? I'll go over
those. What is it to believe God? What is the object of faith,
primarily? What's the object of faith? Fourthly,
how does God, we know faith's the gift of God, I know that.
It's given to you not only to suffer for Him, but to believe
on Him. For by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourself, it's the gift of God, you know that. Faith,
well how does God work faith? For God works faith, He gives
faith. How does He ordinarily perform
this work of faith in a man's heart? Fourthly, what is the
support of faith, the chief support of faith? Let me take them one
at a time. What is it to believe God? Well, you know, Paul wrote
to young Timothy from prison, and he told him in 2 Timothy
chapter 1, he said, Timothy, he said, don't be ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord, don't be ashamed of the gospel, and
don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner. But Timothy, you be ready yourself
to partake of the afflictions of the gospel. For God hath called
us and chosen us and redeemed us by Christ Jesus. And then
he gave this definition of his faith. He said, I know whom I
have believed. And I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed to him. Charles Spurgeon once
said, of all the definitions of faith, this one's the best.
It's knowledge, I know whom I have believed. You see, faith is not
just to believe there is a God, it's to believe God. It's to
believe Him. It's to believe Him. I know whom
I have believed. I believe Him. And I'm confident
that he is able to do all that he promised. That was the basis
of Abraham's faith. He believed that God was able
to do all that he promised. And this is what Paul is saying.
I know whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded, I'm confident
that he will do what he says. I can trust him. And then the third part is, he's
able to keep that which I've committed. Faith is a committal. Faith is to know whom. Faith
is to be persuaded of His power. And faith is to cast my lot with
Him, to cast my soul upon Him. Faith is not just to give God
His day or His due or His part. It's to find all I need in Him
and all I want in Him. Turn with me to the book of Ruth
for a moment. Listen to this. In the book of
Ruth, chapter 1, this is what I'm talking about. In Ruth, chapter 1, verse 16. Ruth says to Naomi, verse 16
of Ruth 1, Don't make me leave you, entreat me not to leave
you, Don't keep me from following after you. Where you go, I go. Where you lodge, I lodge. Your
people be my people, your God my God. That's what I'm talking
about. Believe in God. I know whom I have believed.
I'm confident he's able, confident he's able to do everything he
said he'd do. And I've committed myself to
him. Lock, stock and barrel, sink
or swim, I go to Him. William Sleeper wrote it in 1850
in a song. He said, Out of my bondage, my
sorrow, my night, into thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus, I
come. Out of my sickness, into thy health. Out of my want, into
thy wealth. Out of my sin, into thyself,
Jesus, I come. To believe him is to receive
him. To believe him is to trust him. To believe him is to continue
to trust him. It's to rest in him. Paul stood
on the deck of that ship. The sailors were about ready
to abandon ship. They had already thrown everything
over the side, and he stood on the deck of that ship, the wind
blowing, the waves dashing against the ship, seemingly ready to
sink. And the fellows were about to
abandon ship and Paul stood on the deck that night and he cried
out, men and brethren, there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve. He said, Paul,
there will not be one life lost, but stay on board the ship. And
sirs, I believe God. I believe God. It will be exactly
as he said. stay on the ship. That's what
I'm talking about, is to believe Him. It's that night when Moses
told Israel to take a lamb and slay the lamb and roast its carcass
and take the blood and put it on the door and go in and sit
down. And God says, I'll pass over.
And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And faith is to
take the lamb and slay it and put it on the door and sit down
and rest in Him. to believe Him, to believe Him. All right. Secondly, what is
the primary object of faith, the primary object of my faith?
Now, I know that in general there are many things involved in faith,
in the redemption of a sinner. There's the purpose of God, the
covenant of God. Paul in Hebrews talked about
the blood of the everlasting covenant, that great shepherd
of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
I know that God made a covenant with Christ and gave us to Christ.
I know that, and I do believe that. And I know the mercy of
God is involved in this thing of redeeming us. Moses said,
Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord said, I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. And I know the Word of God. Let
me show you a scripture over here. Turn to Psalm 138. Psalm
138. The Word of God is so essential
in this matter of faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. In Psalm 138, look at verse 2. I will worship toward thy holy
temple. and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness
and for thy truth, for thou hast magnified thy word above thy
name." Thou hast magnified thy word above thy name. I was talking
to a contractor last week, a man about my age, and he said, nowadays
when you sign any kind of work agreement, you have to have All
kind of stacks of papers and signatures and affidavits and
all these things. He said, when I first started
business, most of my business was done on a handshake. He said,
a man would give me a job and I'd agree to do it and do it
right and he'd agree to pay me and we shook hands and that's
all we had, our word. And I'll tell you this about
the Word of God. If you receive the witness of men, the witness
of God is greater. His Word is an object of faith. I know that. His covenant, His
mercy, His Word. He's magnified His Word above
His name. Because His Word, when you lose
your Word, you've lost your name. Now, you tell somebody you'll
do something and you don't do it, you've lost your name. because you've lost your word.
Isn't that right? So his word is exalted above his name. And
I know that's essential in faith, and I know the promises of God
are essential in faith. Abraham believed God was able
to do what he promised. But here's my question. What's
the chief object of faith? And it's not the covenant. And it's not the mercy. And it's not the Word, it's Christ. And that's the chief object of
faith. It's Christ Jesus. Now, two scriptures I want to
look at. First, in 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Christ is the object of faith.
A man can have the doctrine, not have Christ. And not have Christ. But if a
man has Christ, he has the doctrine. The doctrine of Christ. Now,
He's our surety. He's our representative, he's
our righteousness, he's our mediator, he's our sin offering. And it's
him, he's the chief object of faith. Look at 2 Corinthians
5 verse 21. For he, here's three persons
here, he, the father, hath made him, the son, to be sin for us. He knew no sin. That we, might
be made the righteousness of God in him." There's the object
of faith. The Father hath made Him, the
Son, to be sin for us. He knew no sin. That we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. So I look to Him. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse 30. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. But
of him, of God, here we've got those three persons again, but
of God are you and I in Christ Jesus. I know we're in the covenant,
but the covenant is in Christ. It's of Christ. I know we're
in the mercy of God, but the mercy and love of God's in Christ.
I know the Word, but He's called the Word. Of Him, of the Father,
are you sinners in Christ, who of God is made unto us. Wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Jesus, thy blood
and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress. Midflaming
worlds, in these arrayed, With joy, I can lift up my head. What is it to believe God? It's to commit myself to Him.
It's to rest in Him. What's the object of faith? It's
Christ. God in Christ. He hath made Him
to be sin for us. Of Him are you in Him, Christ. who of God is made unto us, all
these things. You see that? Oh, here's the
third question. Old John Jasper, the black preacher in Richmond,
Virginia, during the Civil War, they called him greatest black
preacher who ever lived. They wrote a biography of him
called Rhapsody in Black. I read it. He preached to a lot
of people. Someone asked him a question
one time. John Jasper said, when you stand at the gates of
heaven and expect to enter, and they ask you, what right have
you got to be here? What right have you got to be
here? What are you going to say? He
said, I'm going to say I've got no right to be here. None whatsoever. I'm not here on my rights or
my righteousness. I'm here on the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, my Lord, who loved me and gave himself for
me. That's my faith. And I can't sum it up any better
than that. I've committed it to him. For
everybody who has one God, there's one mediator. That's Christ Jesus. All right. Here's the third question.
How does God ordinarily work faith? How is faith born? How does it come about? Turn
to Romans 3. Romans chapter 3. How does it
ordinarily come about? Now, while you're turning, let
me say this. Listen to this a moment. Our Lord will work. as he will. I know that. He'll work in the
heart of whom he will, and he'll work when he will,
as he will, when he will, upon whom he will, and he cannot be
cast into a mold. It's as sure as you try to make
a mold for God, for him to act and work, you're going out of
business as far as the gospel's concerned. You're out of business. That's right. I've shown you
that too many times in scripture. People who tried to... That's
what happens to what's called the great denominations. There
was a time when the Baptists and the Presbyterians and the
Dutch and all these people had their great... The Calvinistic Methodists had
great movements because they were out in the fields. And they
were preaching to people here and there and yonder. And their
catechisms, the true Westminster, Heidelberg, London Confession,
back when they were called dissenters, and anti-Baptists, and hated
and despised by the establishment, by state churches, but they were
free men, preaching a free gospel, and out in the lands, and out
among the people. Then they organized it. And then they got their catechisms,
and their creeds, and their confessions of faith, and their regimented
ministry, and their schools, and their seminaries, and they
made clones of all their preachers. Fixed them all up, saying the
same thing, doing the same work, expecting God to work in them
all, and the Lord went out in the field, and used a Whitefield who stood
on his daddy's grave and preached the gospel, because it wouldn't
let him in the church. John Bunyan wouldn't let him
in the building. The greatest preacher Bedford
ever saw, heard, kept him in jail 12 years, wouldn't let him
preach in the church. That's what happened. You can't
put God in a mold. And that's what these names and
denominations and organizations have done for us. We've got our
way, but it's not His way. But I'm telling you this, Romans
3 will tell you, How God ordinarily works faith, given as much latitude
as you want to give here. But in verse 19 of Romans 3,
now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world become guilty before God. That's where grace
starts, is guilt. In other words, a person's going
to be convicted of sin. That's where it starts. Why does
Steve call on Christ? He was in need, a sinner, a criminal,
a dying criminal. Why did the publican call on
God? God be merciful to me, the sinner. Why did David write Psalm
51? Lord be merciful unto me according
to thy loving kindness. Blot out my transgressions. All
my sins are ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned, and there is evil in thy sight. Be merciful. Why is
he calling for mercy? The miserable always call for
mercy. The guilty always call for grace.
So that's where it starts. Guilty. Alright, read on. Secondly,
every other door will be closed. Verse 20. Therefore, because
of my guilt, Because my mouth stopped, by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the laws
of knowledge of sin I realize that I'm not going to be justified
by what I do. What I do is wrong. Even the
plowing of the wicked is sin. In the flesh no man can please
God. In the flesh dwelleth no good thing. So I'm shut up to mercy. I'm
guilty, and I can't do anything about it. Not by works, not by
law, not by religion, not by deeds. Can't do anything about
it. Then, Christ Jesus is revealed. Look at verse 20, or verse 21.
But then, it's good news. The very righteousness of God,
without the law, without my obedience to the law, is manifested. Being witnessed by the law and
the prophets. I found out this is what the whole scriptures
always said. It's even the very holiness of God, which is by
the faith of Jesus Christ, by his faithfulness, by his obedience. And it's unto all and upon all
them that believe. For there's no difference. No
difference. Here we are. Here we are. Tall
and short. Irishman and Englishman, German
and Dutch. Whatever. And Heinz put seven
varieties. Men and women, boys and girls,
educated and uneducated. Here we are, all of us. There's
no difference. No difference. We've all sinned, come short
of God's glory. Huh? There's no difference. But we're freely justified by
His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. That's
how God works faith. He shuts my mouth. Everybody
I've ever seen God deal with in mercy, the first thing they
do is, I'm guilty. What you gonna do? It's like,
here's a criminal. I was in those war crimes trials
in Japan after World War II. I went to the trial of a young prison camp officer who mistreated
American soldiers, Philippines, and he was being tried. I sent
seven judges, army colonels, and they found him guilty and
he stood before those seven men awaiting sentence. They said
anything to say. What can he say? Guilty. That's where I am, for God, guilty.
What can you do? I cast myself on the mercy of
the Court. Well, there was no mercy for
him, because he didn't have a substitute. But there's mercy for me. I cast
myself on the mercy of God, and he says, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, who took your guilt, and took your blame, took your
shame, died your death, bore your sins, and put them away.
Therefore, I'm freely justified by His grace in Christ. That's the way God works things.
And then he gives us an understanding of this salvation, verse 25. Look at verse 25 of Romans 3.
He gives us some kind of understanding of what he's done. We appreciate
it more. Verse 25 says, whom God, Jesus
Christ, we're freely justified by his grace, whom God has set
forth. anointed, ordained, sent, set
forth in the promises, in the prophecies, in the patterns,
in the pictures, in person, to be a propitiation, a mercy seed,
a covering through faith in His blood to declare God's righteousness. That's what Christ came to do,
to honor God. to honor God's law, to honor
God's justice, to set forth the righteousness of God, even for
the remission of sins of the past, the Old Testament believers'
sins, through the longsuffering of God who waited the coming
of Christ, to declare, I say right now at this time, God's
holiness, that God may be just, and to justify of him who believes
in Jesus. You believe? I believe in Christ. And Christ is the only way that
God can be just and justify me. You see, God can't save me at
the expense of His law. The law's got to be kept. Christ
kept it. God can't save me at the expense of His justice. I've
sinned. The soul that sinned shall die. God said that. He can't take that back. The
soul that sinned shall die. God will by no means clear the
guilty. The just judge shall not the judge of the earth do
right. That's what it is. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? He's going to do right. He's
going to do right by you and me. Justice is what we're going
to get. I don't know a preacher. In Christ, God's justice has
been itself. See, I'm going to get mercy.
But it's because of Him. That's how God works faith. That's
why I'm preaching. And people say to me, you make
it simple. No reason not to. It's the simplicity of Christ.
It's substitution. These boys know about football.
They played a football game the other night, and they were out
there playing, and the coach sent a fellow in, and the fellow
came in and said, you go to the sideline. I'm going to take your
place. I'm your substitute. You go sit down. And that's what
Christ did. He came on this field of battle
and took my place. And he said, you go sit down.
I'm going to take care of everything. He's my substitute. That's the
way God works faith. Guilty? Unable? Nothing I can do about it. Look
to him for mercy in Christ, the righteousness of Christ. He did
it that God may be just and justified. The last thing, that brings me
to the chief support of faith. Where does faith get its chief
support? The great strength and support
of faith. Brother Henry, what actually,
you tell me now in your own words, what is your chief support of
faith? You know what it is? It's the power of God. The sovereignty
of God. That's right. Now, I know someone
might say, well, the Word of God is our chief support. Well,
let me ask you this. What is back of His Word that
makes it certain? His power to do what He says. You see what I'm saying, Sister?
I know the Word says this, but I've said some things I couldn't
carry out. Haven't you? I've made some promises I couldn't
keep. I promised to go a certain place and hold a meeting last
August, but I couldn't go. I was in the hospital. I told
that man I was coming, too. And he called and said, where
are you? I said, I'm sick. But I couldn't do anything about
it. But when God says something, He can do it. Abraham believed
that he was able to do what he said. That's the reason if you
don't believe in God's sovereignty, you don't have any basis for
faith. He's almighty. Is anything too hard for God?
He's unchangeable. I'm the Lord, I change not, therefore
your sons of Jacob are not consumed. The gifts and calling of God
are without repentance. I tell you this, you listen to
me now. Sovereign God. I don't preach the sovereignty
of God, I preach the God who's sovereign. There's a difference.
God is sovereign, reigns, almighty, does what He pleases, when He
pleases, with whom He pleases. And I tell you this, you remember
this now, if I don't preach it to you again, you remember this.
There's only one place a man will worship. He'll worship,
and that's before the throne of a sovereign God, almighty
God, who rules and reigns over heaven and earth. That's where
a man will worship. Now, he'll play games with an equal. He'll bargain and argue with
an equal. He'll swap with an equal. God, you do this, and
I'll do this. If you'll bless my little girl, make her well,
then I'll serve you. He'll bargain. But a sovereign,
he'll worship. He'll bow down and worship. Secondly,
only one place a man will find salvation, and that's before
the throne of grace of a sovereign God who is able to say. He's able to keep. He's able
to do everything he says. None can change his hand or turn
his head. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me, and I give them life. Thirdly, the only place a man
will find comfort, I don't care what happens, no
matter how severe the trial, if it takes place this day, the
only place you're going to find comfort is at the throne of a
sovereign God who works all things according to His will for His
glory and our good. Whatever comes into your life,
He willed it.

That You May Believe

What does the Bible say about believing in Jesus as the Messiah?

How do we know that salvation is through faith alone?

Why is it essential for Christians to believe in the sovereignty of God?

How does God work faith within a person?

Why is believing in Christ the primary object of faith?

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That You May Believe

What does the Bible say about believing in Jesus as the Messiah?

How do we know that salvation is through faith alone?

Why is it essential for Christians to believe in the sovereignty of God?

How does God work faith within a person?

Why is believing in Christ the primary object of faith?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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