The Faith of God's Elect

All right, I'm going to give
you this morning seven statements about faith. I would like very
much, if you will, if you have a pencil and paper, pen and paper,
write them down. I think they're solid enough
for you to write on one of the blank pages in your Bible, back
in the back or in the front. These are seven statements regarding
faith. which I have thought over carefully,
which I believe clearly define it, and which separate this faith
of God's elect from error and chaff, from all things. And here they are. There are
seven of them. I'll give them to you and try to be brief on
each one. But first of all, faith is indeed the gift of God. Now
that's where we begin. I didn't call him, he called
me. I didn't seek Him, He sought
me. It's not of Him that willeth nor of Him that runneth, it's
of God that showeth mercy. I want you to turn first to John
chapter 1. John 1 verse 12. Now listen to
this. Faith is not the product of free
will. It is the gift of God. Paul told
us that in Ephesians, didn't he? He says, for by grace are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift
of God. not of works, lest any man should
boast. But here in John 1, verse 10, it says, He was in this world,
and the world was made by Him, and the world didn't know Him.
The world doesn't know Christ, and He came unto His own. He
came to His own tabernacle, temple, people, and His own received
Him not. He was despised and rejected
of men. But as many as received Him, To them gave he the right, the
privilege, to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name." Which? Now this identifies these people. They were born. Which were born? These people believed because
they were born of God. Whosoever is born of God believes.
Whosoever believeth is born of God. And they were born. They
were born not of blood, that is, not of fleshly inheritance,
not of natural generation. They were not born of the will
of the flesh. They were not born of the will of man. They were
born of God. Brother Groover told us about a woman in the
Yucatan. Some of these people live far
out. You just can't describe where
they do live and how they live. And this woman lived in one of
the villages outside the village, and you take the the paved road
and get to the village, and then you turn on the dirt road. And
he was visiting this village, and then he saw a trail. It wasn't
a road at all. It was just a trail over the
rocks and winding around, going out to some little grass huts.
And he said, I just decided I was going to go out there and visit
those people. And he said, I got my truck started over that trail,
rocks, It wasn't even a road, it was just a trail. But he said,
I negotiated up there and I pulled up in front of this little grass
hut. And he said, I got out and I went up to the doorway and
he said, they came running out to meet me. And he said, they
just welcomed me with open arms. They were so glad to see me.
And they invited me into their little hut. And he said, I went
in and sat down. were just elated to see me. He
said, I hadn't received a welcome like that. He said, I couldn't
understand it. And he said, I sat there and I taught them the gospel. I taught them the gospel. I read
from God's Word and I told them about Christ. They hadn't heard
the gospel. And I taught them the gospel.
There was an elderly lady there and some more people. He said,
they invited me back. So he said, I went back. And
it wasn't until several trips later that that dear old lady
said to Walter, and God moves in strange, mysterious ways,
but she said to Walter, I had a dream. The reason we welcomed
you and were so glad to see you is I had told my family about
my dream, and I had dreamed that a North American, and that's
what she said, North American, would come to my house in a machine. and tell me about God." And she
said, you rode up in that machine, and I knew who you were. Now,
God doesn't always work that way. But I'll tell you this,
He always reveals Christ by the power of His Spirit and sends
a preacher to preach the gospel to His elect. Now, He will. Faith's a gift of God. You will
not come to me, but I'll come to you. It's the gift of God. Faith is not given because of
anything found in us. Before faith comes, there's nothing
in us but ignorance. There's nothing in us but enmity.
When we were enemies, Christ died for us. Nothing in us but
unbelief. That's all that's in us. Let
me show you something over in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Listen
to this. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. You didn't seek God. God sought
you. You called upon Him because He
called upon you. God sent Peter to Cornelius.
God sent Philip to the eunuch. God sent Paul to the Philippian
jailer. If you wanted God's elect, He'll
send the gospel to you. And here in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians
verse 6, it says, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness."
What's that to us talking about? The original creation when the
earth was without form and void and darkness on the face of the
deep and God said, let there be light. God initiated the light,
God sent the light, God gave the light. And that's what it's
saying here, the same God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness has shined in our hearts. to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ
Jesus. Faith is the gift of God. And all who have true faith give
God the glory. They give God all the glory.
He saved me. He sought me. He loved me. I
love Him because He loved me. You see that? We've got to start
there. The Apostle Paul, when he was
tracing his blessings, he said, God's blessed me with all spiritual
blessing because He chose me. And He chose me because He predestinated
me to be like Christ. And He predestinated me to be
like Christ because He willed it according to the good pleasure
of His will. It was not my will, it was His will. Do you see that?
All right, secondly, then you've got to see that for faith's the
gift of God. It's given unto you not only
to suffer for Him, but to believe on Him. It's a gift of God. It
didn't originate with you. Faith is not a flower that's
produced in the human heart. It's a gift of God, or it's secondary. Faith always has Jesus Christ
as its principal object. Faith always has Jesus Christ
as its principal object. Now get this, this is so important.
Faith and Christ are so much one that if you take away Christ,
there is no faith. There is no faith. It doesn't
even exist. Faith and Christ are so much
one that if you take away Christ, there is no such thing as faith.
Somebody says, well, I believe in God. How can you believe in
God if you don't believe in Christ? Have you never seen God? You've
never even heard God, and you don't know God. How can you believe? How can they believe in one of
whom they've not heard? He said no man had seen God at any time,
save the Son, He to whom the Son will reveal. He said no man
had seen God, no man knows the Father but the Son, and He to
whom the Son will reveal Him. You've never heard God speak.
God has spoken to us through His Son. Any man who has saving
faith has Christ. Apart from Christ, there is no
faith. 1 John 5, 11 says this, just jot
it down, let me quote it to you. This is the record. God hath
given us eternal life, this life's in His Son. And he that hath
the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. Hath not life. The Son of God
hath come and given us an understanding that we may know God that is
true. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. Apart from Christ, there is no
faith. Faith and Christ are one. Christ
is the sole object of faith, the principal object. You see,
this is an example. Christ is the bread. Faith is
the mouth that feeds upon it. Take away the bread. And the
mouth has no service. The mouth can't satisfy your
hunger. Take away the bread, there's no satisfaction. Christ
is the serpent lifted up. Faith is just the eye to look.
If there's nothing upon which to look, there's no need for
an eye. Christ is the foundation. Faith
stands on him. Remove him, there's no place
to stand. Christ is the mercy seat. Faith
comes to the mercy seat. If there's no mercy seat, there's
no place to come. Isn't that clear? Christ is the
bridegroom. Faith is the bride that takes
him by the hand. No bridegroom, no marriage. And that's what I'm saying. Faith
has Jesus Christ as its principal object. Who He is, what He did,
why He did it, where He is now. And all about Him, the person
and work of Christ. My faith is Christ. Remove Him, there's no faith. There's no such thing as faith. God's unrevealed. God's unknown.
We were standing out in Mexico. Looking at those stars, they
are absolutely indescribable down there. There's no smog,
there's no pollution. You that have been there know
what I'm talking about. On a dark night, they're just brilliant. There's billions of them. And
I stand out there and I marvel at the stars. The Scripture says
God calls them all by name. I was reading that in the psalm
last night. He calls them by name. Nature and stars and the universe
can tell me nothing of God except His power. Can't tell me anything
about His grace. Will God forgive sin? Hey, star,
will God forgive sin? I'm a guilty sinner. Will God
receive me? Is there salvation? Stars won't talk. I look at the trees and the oranges
and those banana trees I say, hey, I can see by that God's
powerful, but will He raise me from the dead? Will He take me
to glory? They don't speak. There's no way to know God. You
say, I believe in a God of creation. Well, a God of creation won't
reveal to you a God of salvation. You've got to know Christ. I
tell you, Christ is the principle and sole object of faith. Without
Christ, there's no faith. You can just rattle around all
you want to about believing God, but God has spoken to us by his
Son. He that heareth me, heareth him
who sent me. All right, thirdly, faith receives
Christ in the soul. He said, you eat my flesh and
drink my blood. You remember when I read that?
Turn back to John 6. Let's look at that a minute. I'll tell you,
I've read that so many times. I've tried to preach on it, I've
read commentaries on it, read and re-read it. Verse 35, John
6, I am the bread of life. And then verse 53, Jesus said,
Verily I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." What is it to eat his flesh
and drink his blood? I've read that over. I've never
read anybody that satisfied me on that. But I offer this, see
if this will help. This helped me. Believing Christ and receiving
Christ is not believing facts about Christ. I've believed these facts about
Christ since I was a small child. I was blessed to have a mother
and father who believed the Bible, who went to church. And they
taught me that Jesus Christ is God, the Bible is the Word of
God, that He came into the world, that He died on a cross and was
bared and rose again. And I believed those facts. And
I went to school and studied to be a preacher, and I learned
the doctrines of the Bible. I learned the doctrine of divine
inspiration. I learned the doctrine of the
virgin birth. I learned the doctrine of substitution. I learned the
doctrine of the resurrection. I learned the various doctrines. But salvation, receiving Christ,
is not believing facts about Him or doctrines about Him. But
it is literally and actually to take Christ by faith into
my soul. Now, here's my illustration. Have you ever been hungry? Really
hungry? Really hungry. Well, you don't chew on a leaf,
and you don't chew on a piece of wood. You can't even chew
on gum. You got to have bread. Bread. And when you take that bread,
that bread is the only thing that will satisfy my hunger.
And so I eat it. And I keep eating it. And as
I eat that bread, My hunger goes away. I'm satisfied. I'm content. I'm not hungry anymore.
And that's the way I receive Christ. My soul is hungry for
God. It's hungry for peace. It's hungry.
It's hungry for some assurance. And I see Christ, the fulfillment
of all that God has promised in purpose and pictured. And
I do receive Him. And do you know my hunger goes
away? I'm satisfied. He met my need. Have you ever
been thirsty? Really thirsty? I've been thirsty. Well, when you're thirsty, you
take this drink and you drink it. And after you've drunk enough
of it, you put it down. Satisfied. Christ is the water
of life. And I've drunk. And really, I've
found in Him all I need. I've found a rest. I found a
satisfaction. I found some comfort in Him that
I never found anywhere else. Have you ever been naked, cold,
naked, and you put your clothes on? You put on a shirt and pants
and a warm sweater, and in that warm coat, you're clothed now. You're not ashamed. Somebody
you heard of, you're naked, you got out of the shower and you
heard somebody rattle the door and you just went grabbing for
things, you're ashamed, afraid somebody's going to come in,
but you got your clothes, come on in. I'm clothed. I'm not naked anymore. And I
found in His righteousness a clothing and a robe that I'm not ashamed
anymore. I can stand here and say, Our
Father in Heaven, I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner in thought,
word, and deed, but I'm not ashamed because my sins are covered in
the righteousness of Christ. I'm not cold anymore. I'm not
ashamed. I'm not afraid. Have you ever
been afraid? I remember one time when I was
a little boy, about as afraid as I've ever been. Is that a
good English? As scared as I've ever been. I was about seven
or eight years old. And my mother told me to go over.
We lived on a railroad track. And the neighbor was about, oh,
a quarter of a mile. And so she told me one night
to go over next door to this lady's house, and she was making
something from a bar of sugar, flour or something. I don't remember
what it was. So I walked. I scared anyway.
And I walked up the trail to the path by the railroad track. on a hill, and I walked over
to that lady's house, and I knocked at the door, and she gave me
what I came for, and I started back. And I got up on the hill
halfway between her house and my house, and somebody jumped
out of the bushes at me. I don't know who it was, but
they jumped down and hollered, Hey boy! The reason I don't know
what I went after is because I didn't get on with it. I just
threw it. I broke out in cold chills. My
heart started pounding. I was scared. And my feet hardly
touched the ground. And I ran in my mother's kitchen
and shut the door. And I wasn't scared anymore.
I was home. I was home. My daddy was there
and my mother was there. I wasn't afraid. Well, I'll tell
you, Christ is my refuge. And all the devils and demons
and frightening things out there, don't scare me anymore because
I'm home. I'm home. You see what I'm saying? Christ
is a picture I won't comfort a person with. A fact won't satisfy bread will. A picture of a glass of water,
I don't care You can go to the well, you know how deep it is,
you know how high the railing, you know how far down the bucket
must drop, you know how many feet to the well, and die of
thirst. But when you drink the water,
you're satisfied. And that's what it means. That's
faith, it's receiving Christ. Fourthly, faith is not only receiving
Christ, but it's resting in Christ. I receive him, and I rest. My
Lord said in Matthew 11, 28, Come to me, and I'll give you
rest. It's resting. Now, while I was
down in Mexico, I was preaching out at Calcutta, and I pulled
a chair up, and I said, I want to illustrate to you what I mean
by resting in Christ. I said, you people watch me.
I said, there's a chair, and that chair, I believe, will
hold me. That chair looks strong enough
to hold me and all these things, but that chair's not going to
afford me any rest until I sit in it. So I walked over and I
sat down, and I held on to the banister, and I said, now, I'm
I'm believing somewhat in the chair, but not altogether because
I'm holding to something else. And then I turned that loose
and lifted up my feet, but I reached over and grabbed Brother Howard's
hand. He was translating for me, standing behind me. I said,
I'm almost trusting it, but I still got to hold Brother Howard just
in case. And I said, I turned loose with
Brother Howard, turned loose with him, lift my feet. I'm resting
on the chair. And I said to them, I said, you've
got to get rid of your pictures, get rid of your idols. You say
you believe on Jesus, you've still got your pictures. You
believe on Jesus, you've still got your cross. You believe on
Jesus, which you've still got the priest by the hand. You believe
on Jesus, which you've still got your beads. You believe on
Jesus, which you've still got your little profession of faith.
You're not resting in Christ till you rest in Christ. Turn
loose everything else. Is that right? That's resting
in Christ. Sink or swim, I go to Him. Sink
or swim, I go to Him. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Now
listen to this. This is very vital right here.
Hebrews 4. It's very important in reference to faith. In Hebrews
chapter 4, verse 9 and 10, In Hebrews 4 and 9, there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. A rest. R-E-S-T, rest. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from
his. Now let me show you this. When
God created the heavens and the earth, it's said in six days
He created the heavens and the earth and He rested. God wasn't
tired. It said He rested. He ceased
from His labors, satisfied with what He'd done, and rested. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world, fulfilled all that the law required, all that justice
demanded, all that God expected of all His people, and He sat
down and He rested. He ceased from His works. They
were finished. There's nothing else to be done.
Now, when you and I enter into his rest, our sabbatical, our
true Sabbath, will rest too. You'll quit fighting it. You'll quit saying, well, maybe
he can't hold me. Maybe I do need baptism. Maybe
I do need to tithe. Maybe I do need the preacher
to help me. Maybe I do need a priest. Maybe
some of these things are... No, you haven't ceased from your
works yet. He hasn't entered into His rest.
When you enter into His rest, you'll sit just like He's sitting.
Sit thou on my right hand. Our Lord finished. You think
Christ ought to come down here and do anything else? Why, no,
preacher. Then you think you ought to do
something else? It's finished. Now rest. That's faith. Rest in Him. You
say, well, don't you do anything? You travel all over this country
in the world preaching, I do it because I love Him, not in
order to gain His favor. I have His favor. I'm resting. I might be running about, but
I'm resting in here. I'm resting in here, aren't you?
I don't look like I'm resting, but I am. I'm satisfied. If I don't preach another sermon,
I'm satisfied. Don't give another dime, I'm
resting in Christ. That's faith. Resting. Don't bother me, I'm resting.
Not worried. All right, number five. Faith
receives Christ and rests in Christ alone. Alone for salvation. Christ alone for all of salvation. That's what I want to say. For
all of salvation. You know, the average person,
when you talk about salvation in Christ, they're thinking about
somebody keeping me out of hell. I don't want to go to hell. I
sure do. I believe in hell. I don't preach about it a lot,
but I believe in it. But, you know, it's more than
just keeping out of hell. It's more than just going to
heaven someday. That's only a part of it. But
Jesus Christ right now is my salvation. He's all of my salvation. There's an everlasting covenant. God talks about His covenant,
the sure mercies of David. Well, Christ is all, far as I'm
concerned, in that covenant. He's my surety. And then there
are sons of God. And Jesus Christ has made me
a son of God. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the right to be sons of God. And there's a sanctification. And Christ is my sanctification. He's my holiness. Let me show
you something in Colossians 1. Christ is my holiness. Yes, I
want to grow in grace. I want to grow in faith. I want
to grow in knowledge. I want to grow in patience. I
want to be more patient, don't you? I want to grow in love.
I want to love God more and love people more. But right now, in
Christ, He's all of my sanctification. I am perfectly holy in Christ. And that faith receives him as
all of my salvation. Colossians 1.21, And you that
were at one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now, right now hath he reconciled in the body of
his flesh through death to present you, holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in his sight. Brethren, now are we sons of
God. Right now. Holy sons of God. You're a holy nation. You're
holy. Christ is your holiness. Christ
is your sanctification. Christ is your wisdom. Christ
is my life. Christ is my hope. It's not Christ
plus anything. Christ is all of myself. Faith
rests on Him for everything. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. And then in the sixth place,
faith rests on Christ as He's presented in the gospel. Now, my friends, you can't get
beyond, it is written. It is written. Our Lord keeps
using the word, it is written. It is written. You can't get
beyond, it is written. I don't want to. My thoughts
are unreliable. My thoughts are unreliable. My
thoughts, God said, are not His thoughts. And my feelings are
subject to such trifles. My feelings change. And they
can't be trusted. And my vows and promises fail. I've made promises, I've made
vows, I've made determinations, but situations alter that. But
His Word is sure. And my faith can rest on the
promises of His Word. And faith rests upon Christ as
He's presented in the Word of God. Do you see that? Just like
he's presented in the Word of God. Not like I imagine him to
be, but as he's presented in the Word of God. I wish I could
emphasize this like it ought to be emphasized. Because my
generation doesn't know a great deal about God's Word. Oh, they don't hesitate to express
an opinion about God's Word, but they don't know much about
it. They don't hesitate to tell you what they think, or what
they feel, or what they've always believed. But I'll tell you this,
real saving faith rests upon what He says. That's right. One
day the disciples were out fishing one night. They fished all night,
didn't catch anything. These were qualified, capable,
experienced fishermen, and they'd fished all night, caught nothing.
And they came in. They were sitting there cleaning
their nets. Didn't have any fish. And the Lord walked up and He
said, children, have you any meat? They said, no. They said,
Lord, we fished all night and caught nothing. He said, get
back in your boat, get your nets, and go right out there and cast
your net over the side. And Peter looked up at him and
he said, Lord, I've toiled all night. I fished
out there. I fished over there, and I fished
over there. And I'm not new at this. I'm an old man, I've been
doing it a long time. But nevertheless, nevertheless, at your word, I
cast out the net. Now there you have it. I don't understand the mysteries
of election. I don't understand the mysteries
of God's sovereignty and predestinating purposes. I don't understand
them. I don't understand how God can become a man and come
forth from the womb of a little girl. I don't understand how
God can be clothed in a baby's body and nurse at a mother's
breast. I don't understand that, Mike.
I don't understand how God Almighty can work in a carpenter's shop,
sweat running off his head, trying to put two two-befores together.
He who made the world. with the Word. I don't understand
that. I don't understand how God can die on a cross and shed
His blood and rise from the grave. I don't
understand that. But nevertheless, at His Word, I believe. And you ain't got nothing else
now. Now, you bring your wisdom. Well, I'll tell you what I think.
People have been thinking a long time and hadn't thought anything
yet. But I tell you what I always heard. Don't believe it. Get your Bible. I dare you. Get
your Bible and see what He says. Because I promise you this, heaven
and earth will pass away, but His Word will never pass away.
And I told those preachers down in Mexico, I said, you get in
this Word, get this Word in your heart or you get out of the ministry. You get in this Word and get
this Word in your heart, or you get out of the business of claiming
to know God. Because here's where it is, Paul,
right here. It's not what you think or what your pastor thinks.
It's what God says. Nevertheless, it thy Word. And faith rests upon Christ as
He's presented in the Word. And in the seventh place, faith
receives an undivided Christ. Undivided. He is not going to
be your Savior unless He's your Lord. Now, sir, He's prophet,
priest, and king. You know what the word says?
Let me tell you something. Faith receives an undivided Christ. God has a threefold throne. The
God of the universe has a threefold throne. First, He has a throne
of glory. I don't know anything about that.
I've never seen it. Isaiah saw it, the seraphims
crying, holy, holy, holy. His glory filled the temple.
And Isaiah just melted into nothing. I don't know anything about that
throne of glory. And God, secondly, has a throne of justice. And
I don't want to know anything about that. And David said, Lord, don't bring
me into judgment with Thee. Don't do it. I don't want to
know anything about it. But thank God there's a throne
of grace. And Christ, our exalted Redeemer,
sits on that throne. Now I'm coming to the throne
of grace. Lord, do with me what You will.
But I'm coming to the throne of grace and looking to Christ as He is,
Prophet, Priest, and King. You think our thoughts are going
to change Him? Well, I just won't have it that
way. Oh, I want it just like He says it. I don't claim to
understand it, but I believe it. I can't explain it, but I
can proclaim it. Someday I'll understand. But
until then, I'm going to believe God.

The Faith of God's Elect

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