Now I'm going to speak to you
today on this subject, a good look at saving faith, a good
look at saving faith. And I've selected as my text
a passage of scripture from the book of Mark. If you want to
follow in your Bible, you can open it to the ninth chapter
of Mark. I'm going to read two verses,
verse 23 and 24, Mark chapter nine. And Jesus said unto him, if thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out, Lord, I believe, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Now, these are the words of a
father who had brought his poor, sick, demon-possessed son to
the Lord Jesus Christ and asked him to heal him. And that's when
the master said to the father, if you can believe, if you can
believe, everything is possible to them that believe. And that's
when he said, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Now I can truthfully say before
our blessed Lord, I do believe. Can you say that? I do believe. I also have to say with this
man in Mark chapter 9, Lord help mine unbelief. I feel so often
my imperfect faith. I cry with the disciples of old,
Lord increase my faith. And I must constantly examine
my faith in the light of God's Word. Don't you know what Paul
said in 2 Corinthians? He said, examine yourselves.
This is not a once-for-all thing. This is a continual investigation,
a continual inventory. He said, examine yourselves whether
you be in the faith. There's one Lord and one faith.
and one baptism, one body, one father and God of all. And he
said, you examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Know you not your own selves?
How that Christ dwelleth in you, except you be reprobate. And
Paul in the book of first Corinthians chapter 11 said, when the church
comes together to observe the Lord's table, before eating the
bread and drinking the wine, let a man examine himself. Examine
himself for what? To discern whether or not he
has saving faith, whether or not he does truly discern the
Lord's broken body and shed blood. I'll tell you this, death is
just too certain. It's appointed unto me and wants
to die. And judgment is too sure. After that, the judgment. And
eternity is just too long to be presumptuous about this matter
of saving faith. I like what John Newton said.
He's the author of the song Amazing Grace that everybody claims to
love so much. John Newton said, when I get
to heaven, I'm sure that three things are going to amaze me. First of all, he said, I'm confident
that I'm going to be amazed, amazed. because there's going
to be some people there, there are going to be people there
that I never expected to see in the presence of God. And secondly,
he said, I know that I'll be amazed by the fact there's some
people, there's some people who will be missing that I thought
would be there. But he said, as he humbly spoke,
the greatest, most wonderful, amazing thing of all will be
to find this old sinner standing in the presence of a holy God. Do you believe and can you say,
Lord, help thou mine unbelief? Well, I want us to take a good
look at this subject, this matter of saving faith today. Now, everything
that goes by the name of faith is not saving faith. Throughout
the Word of God, religionists Have had much that looked like
faith. It was not faith at all You see
Satan is a great imitator He's a counterfeiter and there's a
lot of things that go under the name of faith that does not faith
at all for example these religious Pharisees acknowledged God to
be their father and They said to the Lord Jesus Christ in John
the 8th chapter, we be not born of fornication. That is, we're
not Gentiles. We're not pagans. We're not heathen.
We're not born in sin. We have one father, even God. What did our Lord say to them?
Why, you are of your father, the devil. His works will you
do. If you were of God, you'd love
me. I came from God. But they still insisted. that
God was their father. And then they not only acknowledged
God to be their father, but these religionists in the New Testament
spoke well of Christ. Nicodemus, who served on the
Sanhedrin, Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, Nicodemus, who was
a ruler of the Jews, said, We know that you've come from God.
No man could do the miracles you do except God be with him.
He acknowledged that Christ was some great man. And when our
Lord asked the disciples, whom do men say that I the son of
man am? They replied, well, some say
you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah, some say you're
one of the prophets, you're a great teacher. Even Pilate said, I
find no fault in him. And the soldiers who came back
one day having been sent to arrest him said this, no man's ever
spake like this man. So these people spake well of
Christ, but that's not saving faith. And these people reformed
the outward man. The Pharisee stood in the temple
and said, I thank your God that I'm not like other men. I fast,
I tithe, I give alms to the poor. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not
an extortioner. I'm not unjust. I'm not even
like that publican." And our Lord said he went home unsaved,
unjustified, not knowing God, though he had carefully cleaned
up the outside of the cup. And then they get excited. These
religionists get excited over a kingdom, over a Messianic kingdom. over good times and the rule
of God on the earth. In fact, when our Lord rode into
Jerusalem, you remember when he rode into Jerusalem on the
donkey and the people laid palm branches before him and took
off their coats and laid them on the ground in front of him
and bowed to him and waved the palm branches and said, Hosanna,
blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. They thought
he was gonna set up a kingdom. Jewish kingdom in Jerusalem and
reign and their people today that insists this is the thing
they're interested in there's in the second coming and the
Millennium and the Jewish kingdom and the Messianic kingdom in
Jerusalem these folks got excited about that, too They got excited
about that but the very few days later they were crying crucify
him will not have this man reign over us and We'll have good time,
Charlie, but he's not gonna reign over us. He's not gonna be our
Lord. And then these folks also, this, see, saving faith. This
is not saving faith. There's a lot that goes by the
name of faith that's not saving faith. These people experience
sorrow over sin. They experience a form of repentance. Esau, the scripture says, sought
repentance with tears. He did a lot of crying. A lot
of crying. Judas, who betrayed the Lord
and sold him for 18 pieces of silver, came back and cast it
on the floor. He said, I've done wrong. I've
betrayed innocent blood. But then he went out and hanged
himself. And then these people also, this faith that's not saving
faith, they give large gifts to the church, write big checks,
give large sums of money. Ananias and Sapphira did. They
went down and sold their property and came and laid a part of it
at the disciples' feet. And Peter said, You're a liar
before God. You've lied to the Holy Ghost.
And God carried them. God killed them both. They carried
them out of the church feet first. Though they gave large gifts
to the church, you can't buy God's favor. And then sometimes
they're baptized and join the church. Simon Magus did. He was
baptized. And after he was baptized, tried
to buy what they call the gift of the Holy Ghost, bestowing
power upon men as God had given to the disciples. And Peter said,
your heart's not right with God. You're in the gall of bitterness,
though he'd been baptized and joined the church. And then these
people, They can also walk with preachers. Demas was a companion
of the Apostle Paul, but he left him, having loved the present
world. And they reform, and not only
reform, but perform great works in the name of Christ, at the
judgment, at the very judgment of God. They stood there and
said, Lord, we've done many wonderful works in your name, and in your
name cast out devils, In your name we prophesied, but I never
knew you, he said. Depart from me, ye that work,
not great works, ye that work iniquity. You see, all of this
was a shame and hypocrisy. And Christ said of them, he said,
you, they was justify yourselves and justify yourselves before
men. And he said, but God knows your
heart and that which is highly esteemed among men. This sort
of thing is highly esteemed among men. Talking about the fatherhood
of God and the brotherhood of man and what a great prophet
Jesus Christ was and how important it is to reform the outward man,
how important it is to have a Great messianic kingdom and and this
thing of giving sending money to the television sending money
to the church and giving large gifts and being baptized and
baptized with the Holy Ghost and I'm a friend of the preacher
and I'm a lifetime partner and Performing all the building these
mighty buildings and we're doing great things in the name of God
Well I'll tell you this This thing of saving faith is not
doing. It's believing in the heart.
Now, I know that saving faith does involve the mind. No question
about that. It doesn't bypass the mind by
any means. Saving faith involves the understanding. There are some facts that I have
heard and facts that I believe. In fact, how can they believe
on Him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? So there's some things that I know and things that I
believe mentally. I have an understanding of these
things as I've read them in the Word. Some of you do. I believe
God's Word. I believe this is God's Word.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I believe
God's Word. Secondly, I believe that God is. That He is and that
He's the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. God is. And God is merciful and God is
plenteous in redemption. And I believe that in Adam all
die. That's what scripture says. By
one man sin entered this world and death by sin. So death passed
upon all men. I'm a sinner. You're a sinner.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's
none that doeth good. No, not one. There's none that seeketh
after God. There's none that understandeth.
Oh, we like sheep have gone astray. I don't have a problem with that.
You shouldn't have. We're sinners. And by birth,
by practice, by nature, by choice and imagination, word, thought,
deed, I could go on and on. And I believe that God eternal
almighty living God in mercy and grace from all eternity in
a covenant of grace has purpose to save a people. He set out
of every tribe, kindred, nation and tongue unto heaven. He has
a people. He has a people. He has not left
himself without a people. Heaven's gonna be populated,
the new heaven and the new earth. God's gonna have a people like
Christ. And I do believe that redemption,
this thing of salvation and redemption is pictured and patterned in
the Old Testament in time. in sacrifice, in promise, in
prophecy. From Genesis 3, 15 to Malachi,
you have all the types and patterns and pictures and sacrifices and
feast days and Sabbath days which foreshadow Christ and reveal
Christ and preach Christ. And then in the New Testament,
all of those promises and pictures and patterns are fulfilled in
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. I believe
that. I know that to be true. God so loved the world he gave
his only begotten son God sent his son into this world Christ
came Christ came and Fulfilled in his coming and in his obedience
and death all the Old Testament scriptures He died for our sins
according to the scriptures. I do believe I know this in my
head and with my understanding I do believe that Christ was
born of woman and And he lived a perfect life and he wrought
out and accomplished a perfect holiness and perfect obedience
for all whom he represented. And he went to the cross of Calvary
and there he died under the wrath of God to bring us to God, to
put away our sins. It's a blood of Christ that maketh
atonement for the soul, that he was buried and rose again,
and he ascended up to the right hand of the majesty in heaven.
I believe those things. And those things must be preached.
Those are facts that must be heard. God doesn't bypass the
mind. You can't call on him in whom
you hadn't believed. You can't believe in him of whom
you haven't heard. And you can't hear with the heart
till you hear with the ear. That's just so. But saving faith
not only involves the mind and the understanding, but saving
faith is a heart work. It's a heart work. It's deeper
than the mind and deeper than the understanding. It reaches
to the heart of hearts. It reaches to the soul, to the
affection. Not affections, the primary affection. For the scripture says, if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus to be Lord. Now I can confess
what I've heard and what I mentally understand. But, and believe
in thine heart, God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.
It's a heart faith. Saving faith involves the mind
and the understanding Delaying whole mentally of facts that
God has given in the record concerning his son but Saving faith goes
deeper than that. It believes God it lays hold
of God It seeks the Lord with the inner
self you see he said my son give me your heart I Don't want you
gifts and your time and talents. I want your heart when I have
you I have all those things and The love of God is shed abroad
in the heart by the Holy Ghost. The Lord save us such as be of
a contrite heart and a broken heart. Keep thy heart out of
it of the issues of life. And the people that are on this
earth when our Lord came down to the world, he said of them,
all those religious folks, he said, they call me Lord with
their lips. but their hearts are far from
me. That's what I'm talking about.
It's not lip worship. It's not bodily exercise. It's
a saving, living, personal, intimate, vital union with a living God
in the heart and soul. That's saving faith. You see,
it's heart faith that brings a man into a living union with
Christ. It is heart faith that makes
a person a new creature in Christ Jesus. It is heart faith that
causes a person to forsake all and follow Christ. It is a heart
faith that makes a person love God and love others more than
himself. It is a heart faith that produces
the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
gentleness, humility. That's a heart faith that produces
that. This mental ascent. That's the reason you've got
so many ornery religious folks. That's the reason you got so
much trouble in religious homes and trouble in religious organizations
and trouble in churches and trouble in these schools and all these
other places is because it takes a hard faith to produce the fruit
of the Spirit. Mental agreement with facts will
never do it. It is a hard faith that makes
a submissive wife. A loving husband, an obedient
child, a good workman, and a generous boss takes heart faith. It is heart faith that rejoices
in Christ Jesus and has no confidence in this flesh. It is heart faith
that makes a person a giving person, a forgiving person, a
generous, merciful person. That's heart faith. It is heart
faith that says not my will but thy will be done. It is a heart
faith that continues in the faith in spite of the heaviest trial,
trouble, affliction, and difficulty. Head faith quits. You got any
folks quitting down at your church? Always quit. always getting mad,
always resigning. Heart faith never quits. It believeth
all things, beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all
things. That's heart faith. It's heart
faith that worships God faithfully and identifies with his people.
It is heart faith that looks on the things of others more
than on your own welfare. It is a heart faith that counts
all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. It is a heart faith that cries,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. It is a heart
faith that cries, oh, that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection. It is a heart faith that says
for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. It is a heart
faith that says I'm in a straight betwixt the two, having a desire
to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. It is a
heart faith that lives and speaks and prays and walks and works
for the glory of God in all things. That's heart faith. And that's
the reason the scripture insists that saving faith is a work in
the heart. God doesn't bypass the mind.
I insisted on that a moment ago. A man can't believe what he hadn't
heard. A man can't believe what he doesn't know. A man can't
rest in what he hadn't received. You can't tell what you don't
know. And I know that God reveals. He gives the record concerning
his son to the ear, to the ear. But the Holy Ghost makes it real
to the heart. And when that divine miracle
of grace and that operation of the Spirit of God takes place,
you've got on your hands a new creature in Christ Jesus. Oh,
he has conflicts, battles, toils and troubles and trials, but
he set his face like our Lord, like a flint. And I shall not
be moved by the grace of God. Now, whatever, I can tell you
this, something else I want to impress upon you before I leave
you. I can tell you this, whatever outward experience, feeling,
and works a religionist can produce, and I'll tell you they can produce,
they can produce some amazing things. Our Lord said in the
last days, false Christ shall arise and shall deceive many. They say, here's Christ and there's
Christ, lo, here's Christ and deceive many. If it were possible,
they would deceive the very elect. So Satan's a great imitator and
counterfeiter, but there are four things, four things he cannot
imitate. There are four things that the
false religionist cannot experience, he cannot produce. because this
is involved in saving faith. First of all, I'll give you the
four of them. A false religionist cannot produce a heart genuinely
broken toward God over my sin, over that person's own sin. Listen
to David in Psalm 51. This is the man after God's own
heart. Have mercy upon me, O God. According to thy loving-kindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out
my transgressions. Wash me throughly. Cleanse me
from my sin. My sin. Oh, men may talk about
sin in general. Oh, everybody's a sinner. Preacher,
everybody. Wait a minute now. I'm not talking about everybody.
I'm talking about you. We're not talking about everybody.
We're talking about you. And me. David said, I acknowledge
my transgressions, my sin is ever before me. Men may acknowledge
their faults, but not their sins. And they may acknowledge their
faults before men, but not before God. And David said, Lord, I've
sinned against thee, and thee only. And then David said, Lord,
you're just when you condemn me. Listen to this in verse four,
Psalm 51. Thou art just when thou speakest
and clear when you condemn me. You ever been there? Why? Only
the Spirit of God can bring a man to that place. A false religionist
run around talking about his works and deeds and duties, but
he never talks about his sins. And he never pleads for mercy.
Secondly, the religionist will never acknowledge that he has
no goodness of his own. He thinks he has a goodness.
He thinks he has a righteousness. He goes about to establish a
righteousness in the face of the fact that God said man at
his best state is altogether vanity. And Isaiah said, we all
do fade as the leaf. Our righteousness is a filthy
rags. And Paul said, in the flesh dwelleth
no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. The very best work that any human
being has ever performed, apart from the cleansing blood of Christ,
is an abomination in the sight of God. Even the plowing of the
wicked is sin, even plowing. And we haven't repented until
we've repented over our sin That was which we were born, that
principle in nature, over our sins, that which we have done,
and over our righteousnesses. For there's enough sin in the
best deed that you've ever done, enough self in it, enough sin
in it, enough pride in it, to damn your soul. Because to offend
in one point of the law is to be guilty of all of it. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Our righteousnesses
are no good. They must be cleansed too. Even
my tears need to be bathed in the blood of Christ. Even my
repentance needs to be repented of. A false religionist thirdly
will never bow to God's absolute sovereignty and salvation. He
won't do it. He believes God's got something
to do with salvation, but not everything the Bible says salvation
is of the Lord The Word of God says the Son quickeneth maketh
alive whom he will The Bible says it's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy The
Bible says I'll be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. And fourthly, the false
religionists will never receive Jesus Christ alone as his total,
complete acceptance before God Almighty. In my hands, no price
I bring. Simply to the Christ of the cross,
I cling. Christ is all. and we're complete
in Him. This message is on a cassette
tape, A Good Look at Saving Faith. On the other side, a message
I'll bring next week. If you want it, send $2. We'll
mail it to you. Till next week, God bless you.