I'm especially interested in
the subject of saving faith. Saving faith. I think that I'm
more interested in the subject of saving faith than I ever have
been before. And when I find material on the
subject, saving faith, written by a reliable author, I read
it. I heartily recommend to you the
book by William Guthrie, I think it's the only book he wrote by
Guthrie, The Christian Saving Interest. I believe it was John
Owen who said that if he had two books, only two books to
carry with him, he'd carry his Bible and Guthrie's Saving Interest. I believe it's William, I'm not
certain, but it's Guthrie anyway, the Christian Saving Interest,
a book on faith. And when a preacher of the gospel
chooses as his subject saving faith, I listen, and I listen
carefully. And I hope that you'll listen
carefully tonight, because I believe I have something that God has
given to us on the subject saving faith or faith illustrated. And when someone talks about
his own experience in the matter of saving faith, I'm interested. We had a discussion a few nights
ago at someone's home. in which an individual was giving
us an account of God's dealings with him in the matter of faith,
the matter of a revelation of Christ to his heart. And I find
that most interesting. I don't mind what we call testimony
services if people would give real testimonies. I don't want
to hear a fellow brag on himself. But I would like to hear how
God brought you to saving faith. I'd be interested in that. Not
that I would require you to be a theologian. I don't think a
man has to be a theologian to be saved. Just a believer. But I would encourage, not for
the sake of exalting the flesh, but I would encourage you to
share with one another God's dealings with you in the matter
of revealing Christ. I'm not talking about seeing
lights and visions and dreams and hearing voices and feelings
and experiences. I'm talking about a revelation
to the heart of Christ Jesus. Paul did that. He told the people
how God dealt with him. He gave several accounts of his
experience on the road to Damascus, but he always exalted, magnified
Christ in that testimony. He magnified Christ. He said,
God who separated me from my mother's womb was pleased to
reveal his son in me. He said, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews,
and I was this, that, and the other, but I count these things
but lost for the excellency and the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. And I would urge you to visit
with one another in this area, because I don't know anything
in which I'm more interested. than knowing Christ, saving faith. Because without doubt or question,
I am absolutely positive of five or six things related to faith. Number one, I know this. There's
not a doubt in my mind or heart concerning this. If you'll turn
to Romans 3 verse 28. Now let this be established. If we're going to come to any
conclusion, we've got to first of all establish what we already
know. I think that's the way you solve
math problems. I think you determine what you
know and go from there. You can't go until you determine
what you know. And I know this, Romans 3.28,
therefore we conclude, this is a conclusion of God's own apostle. Paul, writing under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law. I made a statement to the Sunday
school class this morning, and one of the men asked me to repeat
it to him. I'll just repeat it to all of
you, and that is this. My relationship with the Almighty
God does in a great measure determine what I do. My relationship with
God through Christ determines in a great measure what I do. But what I do does not determine
my relationship with God, not in any way. Is that all right? Well, it's so anyhow. We're justified
by faith without the deeds of the It is faith that saves. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. The only way a man is saved is
by faith. That's the second thing I know.
I know we're justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
It's by the deeds of Christ, the works of Christ, the person
of Christ. And secondly, I know this, that
a man is saved by faith. For by grace, Ephesians 2, 8
and 9, by grace are you saved through faith and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God.
It's the goodness and mercy of God that leads us to repentance.
The goodness of God leads to repentance. God hath granted
repentance to the Gentiles. And thirdly, I know this, I know
that faith pleases God. And I know without faith it's
impossible to please God. The scripture says in Hebrews
11, 6, without faith it's impossible to please God. Impossible, for
he that cometh to God must, must believe, he must believe that
he is and that he's the rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. They came to our Lord one day and they said, what shall
we do that we might work the works of God? And he said, this
is the work of God. that you believe on him whom
God has sent. That's the work of God. I know
those things. I'm as positive, that's as clear
to me in the scriptures, as the very existence and power of God,
that men are justified by faith, they're saved by faith, that
faith pleases God. And fourthly, I'm certain of
this, that faith, that faith in Christ is the foundation grace
And everything flows from faith. Faith is the foundation grace.
Our Lord said to one man, to the centurion, he said, if you
can believe, if you can believe, all things are possible to them
that believe, if you can believe. Faith is the foundation grace.
Before he went to the cross, he told the apostle Peter, you'll
deny me. You will actually deny me three
times. You will actually deny three
times that you even know me. Said, Satan hath desired thee
that he might sift thee as wheat, but I prayed for you, Peter.
Not that you might bypass this trial or bypass this experience,
but that your faith fail not. All right? In the fifth place,
I know this. I know this. I know that faith
comes by the ear door. It comes by the ear door. Now
our little religious clichés are all fine and dandy as long
as you just don't believe them. We've got a poem that says, I'd
rather see a sermon than hear one any day. I'd rather one walk
beside me than merely show the way. That sounds beautiful, doesn't
it? But it's not so. It's not so. Faith doesn't come
by sight, it comes by hearing. Is that what the book says? Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I hear people say, we sing that
song, let others see Jesus in you. They can't see Jesus in
you. They didn't see Jesus in Jesus. Christ himself was on this earth
and they didn't see him. A man can only see Christ as
Christ is revealed to him through his heart by the Holy Spirit
through the Word. I'm telling you that. I know
little city sentimental emotional religion comes by visual aid,
but faith comes by hearing. Faith comes by hearing. I know
that. I know that as sure as I'm standing here. We walk not
by sight, but by faith. Don't tell men about yourself,
tell them about Christ. They're not going to be saved
hearing about you and me. They're going to be saved if
they hear about Christ. And faith comes by the ear door. Faith
comes by hearing. God has chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's the way it comes
now. It comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Another
little cliche we have, and folks used to have it hanging all over
their house nearly everywhere I went, I saw one of these silly
things. Only one life will soon be passed, and only what's done
for Christ will last. You believe that? Well, I don't
believe a word of it. I believe only what Christ did
for me is going to last. I don't believe what I'm doing
is going to last. Besides that, I'm not doing anything. It's
Christ that liveth in us. We don't do it. We don't produce
anything but sin. Everything we have is the gift
of God. Every good gift and perfect gift
comes from God, not from us. We're going to have to, like
I said, these little religious clichés are all fine and dandy,
but they're not worth a nickel if you're going to believe them.
We're going to have to get to the Word. Faith comes by the
ear door. I hear. I hear. I heard, I heard of Christ. All right, the sixth thing I
know this, I know that Abraham called in the Scripture a pattern,
called in the Scripture an example, called in the Scripture the father
of the seed of Christ, the father of all who believe. Isn't that
what Abraham is called? The father of all who believe. Well, that
man was declared righteous before God by faith. That's exactly
by faith. That's how Abraham was declared
righteous. Abraham was not made righteous
because he was circumcised, but because he believed. And he believed
before he was circumcised. And he was justified by faith
before he ever left his father's house, because he left because
he believed. He left because he believed.
He believed before he ever left. If he believed God, he wouldn't
have gone. justified by faith. And Romans, the 3rd chapter,
tells us this, or the 4th chapter, it says in chapter 4, that he
believed God and was imputed to him for righteousness. And
verse 23, look, now this was not written for his sake alone,
that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it, that
righteousness, shall be charged, reckoned, or imputed, if we believe
on him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the day who was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification Now then
go back to John chapter 4 and I want to illustrate this saving
faith And I pray much about this. I want so much For you to see
what what I'm gonna try to say tonight because I believe it'll
be helpful I believe it'll be helpful. Just open the Bible
there to John chapter 4 for just a moment. Let me tell you a story. The Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer,
had been to the feast in Jerusalem and other places, and the fame
of him had gone all over that part of the world. Canaan, Galilee,
Capernaum, Jerusalem, all these places. They'd heard about how
he'd healed the sick, how he'd made the blind to see and the
deaf to hear and the lame to walk. And there was a nobleman,
a ruler down in Capernaum, and he had a little boy, and this
little boy was very, very ill, sick unto death, pale, wasted, and almost dead. And this father
heard Jesus Christ he'd heard about him before I'm certain
of that and he heard that Jesus Christ was just 20 miles away
in Cana of Galilee now you know a little bit about travel in
those days they didn't have any automobiles they usually walk
the road of mule or or went by some kind of cart and so when
he heard that Jesus Christ was in Cana of Galilee that was about
20 miles from Capernaum He started, and they didn't travel at night,
so he got up that morning, that's about as far as Meredith Grayson,
and he set out with his friend to go to Christ. And so he got
there probably around noon or one o'clock, evidently, because
it was the seventh hour when the sun was healed. That's what's
at one o'clock in the afternoon. And so it said, it came to Christ.
Now look at verse 47. He heard that Jesus was come
out of Judea into Galilee, and he went to him. And he besought
him, he'd come down and heal his son, for he was at the point
of death. That's what he said to the Lord Jesus. He said, he
said, Master, my son is sick, sick unto death. Will you come
down and heal him? Now if you'll notice here that
our Lord didn't offer him any encouragement. Our Lord said
to him, except you see signs and wonders, you won't believe.
I tell you, you and I are so afraid we're going to offend
somebody. We walk around on eggshells, like Maurice Montgomery says,
we tiptoe through the tulips, you know, to keep from offending
people, to keep from running them away, this sort of thing.
But our Lord Jesus Christ dealt honestly with people. Not brutally,
not cruelly, but honestly. You remember that Canaanite woman
came to him, and she said she was a Gentile. And she came to
him and she said, Lord, my daughter is sick. Have mercy on me. And he just looked at her. The
Scripture says he didn't even answer her. He answered her not
a word. Isn't that what it says? And
then she cried again. She said, Master, have mercy
on me. And he said, I'm not sent but
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I've come to save
God's elect. That's what he was saying. That's
exactly what he was saying. I've come to save God's elect.
I came to redeem the seed of Abraham. And she said, have mercy
on me. He said, it's not fit to give
the children's bread to dogs. Now you talk about whittling
a person down. You talk about putting them in
the dust. And she said, that's true, Lord.
But the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
I'm a dog. You're my master. And I'll take
whatever you give me. He said, great is thy faith.
But he measured her. He measured her, and he tried
her, and he tested her, and he found out what she's made of.
And that's exactly what he did to this man. This man had come
20 miles. 20 miles. On foot, or on a horse. Four
or five hours. And he was a ruler. He wasn't
just anybody, he was somebody. And he'd come all this way, and
he said, Master, will you come down? My child's at the point
of death. The Lord said, except you see
signs and wonders, you won't believe. Well, he said, Lord,
come down. Sir, Master, come down or my
child dies. And our Lord said to him, go
your way. Your son lives. Your son lives. He didn't say any magic words.
He didn't give him a prayer cloth to rub. He didn't give him a
cross to hold up to the sun that gives you seven different directions
of light. He didn't give him a candle.
He didn't give him anything but a word. He said, your son lived.
Your son lived. That's all he gave him. And what that man did, he turned
and went his way. Got him a room at the inn. and
spent the night. Isn't that right? That's exactly
what he did. He got him a room and spent the
night. And the next day, he started home. And when he got almost home,
evidently the servants were waiting up on the hill or something.
They saw him, they ran to meet him. And they said to him here
in verse 51, his servants met him and said, your son lived.
is well. And then he inquired of them
the hour when he began to get well, and they said yesterday,
one o'clock. Fever left him. So the father
knew it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, your
son lives, and himself believed. And he believed. Now then, here's
my first point. I want to work on this a little
bit because I believe I have something here. I know a man
believes God or he doesn't believe God. I know that. I know a man
either believes God or he doesn't believe God. But God's children,
even those who believe, are not born grown men. I believe more today than I did
30 years ago. My faith has grown and developed
in a measure. I'm not the same person I was
20 years ago. You see, we're babes and we're
young men and we're elders in Christ. That's what the Word
says. I write unto you, I write unto
you babes in Christ and young men and elders in Christ. And faith grows. The disciples
even said to the Lord, increase our faith. increase our faith. And the faith of this nobleman
here, in a short time, is seen in three stages. I can see his
faith in three stages. First of all, the first stage
I see is this. I find a man who knows very little,
very little about Christ, seeking the Lord. I find a man who has
just heard the good news, he had heard about Christ, he had
never met He never talked with him. He never listened to him.
He never read his word. He just heard about it. He knew
such a person existed. And this man, this nobleman,
didn't seek the Lord till he had a need. Here was a man who
probably had one son, and that son was lying there dying. And
when anybody could help him, wasn't any help in his household
or outside of his household, he couldn't do anything for the
boy. His doctors couldn't do it, no one could do anything.
And he sat there and looked at that boy wasting away, and someone
said to him, Jesus Christ is 20 miles away. And that man knew
that Jesus Christ was the only one who could help him, the only
one. He knew that or he wouldn't have
gone. He knew that or he wouldn't have sought him out. He had a
need. He was desperate. He was in trouble. No one could help him. He didn't
have much knowledge, but he knew that Christ could help him, and
he went to see about it. He went to see him. And that's
where I'm saying that faith really begins for anybody. Faith is
born of trouble. Faith is born of spiritual trouble. Faith is born of spiritual trouble.
When a man realizes that he can't help himself and no one else
can help him, and Christ is the only one who can help him, he's
going to get serious about this Christ business and not to live. He's going to get serious about
it. And this man got serious and he went to the Lord. He went to Him. He put forth
an effort. He went 20 miles. He took a trip. He went to talk to Christ. All
right, here's the second stage. We find him, and the Lord put
him to a pretty severe test. He said to him, you won't believe.
You won't believe unless you see signs of what... The Lord
didn't roll out the red carpet and call his disciples and say,
look here, we got a ruler here this morning. The Lord Jesus
didn't give him a business card and tell him he'd come to see
him and have coffee with him next day. He ignored him. He said,
you're not going to believe. You're not going to believe except
you see miracles, wonders, and signs, and the man didn't budge,
he stayed right there. That's what I like, somebody
stays right there. If it takes a week or a month or a year,
but you just stay right there. Might as well stay there, that's
the only place you can have any help. He's the only one who can
help us, might as well stay there. All right. Our Lord Jesus Christ
said to him in verse 50, now here's the second stage of his
faith. We find him seeking. Secondly, we find him believing.
Believing what? The bare words. That's all, the
bare Word of God. And I'll tell you now, that's
where faith is born, believing the naked, bare Word of God without
any signs or wonders or miracles, just believing the Word of God.
Let me show you something over in Luke 16. Turn to Luke 16. I think this is illustrated as
well here as anywhere in the Bible. Luke 16. Listen to this. Luke 16. Verse 29. Well, you know the
story. You know how the rich man in
hell, he said, Father Abraham, I've got five brothers on the
earth. Send Lazarus. Lazarus was dead. He said, send
Lazarus. And Lazarus was in Abraham's
bosom. Send him back to the earth. And let him warn my five brothers
that they come not to this awful place. That's what it said. Well,
how's Abraham going to handle that? You know, I'll tell you,
the average one of us would think this. If Brother Barnard, suppose
I would announce in the paper next Saturday, Ralph Barnard,
who'd been dead 16 years, would preach, he died 16 years ago
this month, would preach next Sunday. You'd all have a feeling
in this place, we'd have to have the Putnam Stadium. Even though
folks didn't like him, they'd still come hear him. We say,
it looks like God would do something like that, because think of the
impact. Think of what it would mean for
the gospel of grace in our community. Think of the folks that would
hear him come back and tell them not to go to hell. Well, let
me ask you this. What more could he tell you,
and I haven't told you, that the Bible is the word of God,
that God's on the throne, that you're a sinner. Christ died
for sinners. Christ suffered on the cross
for the lost. They were saved by his grace, by his life, by
his death, by his resurrection. He's our only mediator. It's
all right here. It's all right here. And that's
what Abraham told that rich man. He said to him, verse 29, they
have the word of God, Moses and the prophets. That's the word
of God in it. Moses' first five books of the
Bible and Isaiah Jeremiah they have Moses in the prophet. He
said no father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the day
They would repent And he said if they hear not the scriptures
Neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.
I know I know my friends. That's difficult for us to comprehend
and and and the so-called charismatic people the Pentecostals And the
healers on television and Roberts, old Roberts, and the rest of
them haven't learned that right there. They haven't learned it,
Charlie. They don't know that faith comes
by hearing the Word of God. They don't know that faith is
a revelation of the Holy Spirit to the heart of Christ. They
still, these men, are just like, they don't know any more than
a rich man in hell. To think that anyone would be
persuaded to believe on Christ because somebody was healed of
a lame foot or a lame back. That's not what convinces men
of sin. It's the Word of God that convinces
men of sin. It's the Word of God that reveals
Christ. It's the Word of God that brings
people to faith. It's not traumatic experiences. It's not seeing strange sights. These people saw Christ crucified
and buried and saw him after he arose from the grave. And
they didn't believe back in the New Testament. In fact, those
soldiers that stood at the grave went back and told them, said,
that fellow's risen. They said, now, listen, you keep
quiet about this, and we'll go to the governor, and you fellas
won't be held responsible. We'll tell the governor somebody
came and stole his body away. We'll lie about it. But they
said, he's risen. That's all right, just keep it
quiet. He didn't convince them. I don't know when we're going
to learn this. I doubt if some of us will ever learn. But faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word. And they will not
believe though one roasts in the day. Now they'll believe
he arose, and they'll believe it's a miracle, and they'll believe
it's something they've never seen before, and they'll believe
it's strange, but they won't believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. They won't believe that they're
hopeless and helpless without Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
And they won't believe that their hope of eternal life rests in
Him and His righteousness and His obedience and His death.
That they won't believe. Now, they will believe they've
seen a miracle. They will believe something unusual has happened.
And they will believe there's life after death. But a man's
not saved by believing there's life after death. He's saved
by believing that Christ is the Son of God. He's saved by believing
the gospel now. He's not saved by believing there's
a hell to shun and a heaven to gain. He's not saved by believing
that God is. The devil believes God is. He's
saved by loving Christ, and receiving Christ, and bowing to Christ,
and believing Christ. You see what I'm saying? And
miracles do not put that love in the heart. The love of God
is shed or brought in the heart by the Holy Ghost through the
Word of God. I know what I'm saying seems
unstrange and unreal, but it's true. It's the mystery of the
grace of God of the Kingdom of God. And this man, Christ just
gave him a word. He just said, your son lives.
And I just imagined my Lord turned and did something else. The majesty of Christ, the glory
of Christ, the very character of our Lord, when this man came
and he said, come down and let my son die, he said, you won't
believe unless you see a miracle or a sign. Christ saw the sincerity
of his heart. He knew all men. He knew his
thoughts. Come down on my Sunday, you're my only hope." So I said,
your son lives. Went right on. And that man believed. That's the second stage of his
faith. He believed the Word, the naked Word of God. That's where you and I are going
to come to that same place. This no sign will be given but
the Word of God. All right? Next morning he got
up, packed his bags, and headed out home. And when he got a few
miles from home, some servants came out to meet him. And they
were just tickled to death. They were just leaping and singing
and probably ringing bells and beating drums. And they said,
your son lives. And he said, when did it happen?
They said 1 o'clock yesterday afternoon. And it says here. So the father knew, verse 53,
that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, your
son lives, and he believed. What does that mean, he believed?
I believe it means this. I believe he believed before
he left home, going to see Christ. I think he was too smart a man,
too intelligent. He wasn't a ruler, because he's
the dumbest man in the neighborhood. He believed, or he wouldn't have
made that journey. But it was faith in the bud.
It was faith because of a need. It was a faith with which all
men started, seeking faith. And when he got in the presence
of the Lord and in the presence of His glory, like the thief
on the cross, he believed Him. He believed His word. Our Lord
spoke. The Scripture says there's never man spake. He spake with
authority. He said, your son lives. That
man believed. Stronger. And he went his way. But then when those servants
came out there, leafing and rejoicing, and said, your son lives, his
faith was confirmed. His faith was established. Now
here's what I'm going to give you now. All of us walk by faith,
not by sight. But God confirms faith. God establishes
faith. Paul talked about being established. Paul talked about being established,
built on the rock. And Almighty God gives us, he
confirms our faith with so many evidences of his love and his
presence. Paul writing to the Thessalonians
said, I know, beloved, I know your election of God. Because
and he gives five or six reasons why he believes Five or six evidences
that confirmed faith. He said the gospel came to you
not in word only He said you became followers of the Lord
He said you became examples to people everywhere. He said you
became evangelists and missionaries telling the good news You turn
from your idols to serve the Living God and to wait for his
son from heaven And God confirms, this man's faith was confirmed
when he met those servants, and they said, your son lives. And
he said, I knew he was my Lord. I knew. I just knew it. I just
knew it. I believed him. I really believe
him now. And I sat down. I worked on this
message, and I was going to quit right there, because my time's
up. Every time I look at a clock,
my time's always up, it seems like. But I sat there and I thought
to myself, you talk about confirmed faith. What would you say, talking to
myself, what would you say are the things that have strengthened
your faith in Christ and led you, like this man himself, to
believe? To believe from faith to faith.
You know what I'm talking about? From faith to faith. What are
the things that confirm your faith? What are the things that
convince you that though he slay me, I'll trust him? What are
the things that are evidences to you that you're not going
to depart from Christ? Could I light seven candles?
Are there seven candles on the candlestick? How would you answer
that? How would you answer that? Well,
let me tell you how I answered it. There's seven things. That's the perfect number, so
we'll stay with that. You know the first evidence that
confirms my faith in Christ? Like this nobleman who said,
they said, your son lived. He lived, and he believed. He believed already, but oh,
he believed then. You know the first evidence is this right
here, the Word of God. That's the first thing. My faith
is confirmed daily, Charlie, by this book right here. By this
book. David said, thy word is a lamp
unto my feet and a light to my path. It lights, lightens my
path. It's a lamp unto my feet. It's
a source of strength. It's a source of comfort. It's
the word of God. I delight in the law of God.
Don't you? And that's the evidence to me
that I know Christ. That strengthens my faith. The
very fact that this word is so precious to me that I can truly
say, Cecil, it's the precious promise. That's the very first
evidence I give you that confirms my faith. The second one is this. The revelation of God's righteousness
and justice in Christ. The preaching of the cross. When
we talk about the preaching of the cross, we're not talking
about preaching a cross. We're talking about preaching
what was accomplished by Christ on that cross. The preaching
of the cross of God requiring a righteousness and God's justice
demanding to be satisfied, that's foolishness to the world because
they don't see God as righteous or having any justice or themselves
owing any debt. Do they? And so it's foolishness
to them. But I'm confirmed in faith because
it's not foolishness to me. I can see the holiness, and I
see it more all the time. I'm awed by it. I'm fearful of
it. I see the absolute perfection
and holiness and righteousness of God, which He demands, which
cannot be compromised in one jot or tittle. And I see that
unchangeable, infinite justice of God that would even put his
only beloved, well-beloved dear son through the most awful agonies
and shame of a criminal's death to satisfy that justice for somebody
else. And that's not foolishness to
me. That's the very wisdom and power of God. And I don't believe
I'd see that if I wasn't a believer. I know I wouldn't love it. But
I not only see it, I not only believe it, Tom, I understand
it. He hath come and given us an
understanding that we may know him that is true. And this is
the true God and this is eternal life. That's two things that
I see. That man saw his son live and
he believed. I see this and I believe. And
I see his immutable justice and righteousness totally met, perfectly
satisfied in the obedience and death of his Son, and I believe. Thirdly, the Lordship of Christ. The Lordship of Christ. The Bible
says no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Isn't
that what it says? He's my Lord. That's what Thomas said, my Lord
and my God. Peter said at Pentecost, God
hath made this same Jesus, whom you have crucified, Lord. And
I say that's fine. That's fine with me. I rejoice. I concur with God's decision. I concur with His design. I concur with His purpose. He's
Lord of heaven. He's Lord of creation. He's Lord
of earth. He's Lord of salvation. He's
Lord of glory. That's exactly the way I want
it. Exactly. That confirms my faith. I'm glad
he's Lord. And fourthly, the fruit of the
Spirit. Don't manifest it like an ought.
Don't manifest it like a want to. Don't manifest it like a
will. But I'll tell you this, our Lord
Jesus Christ said, by this shall all men know you're my disciples,
if you love one another. And I know, if you know that
I'm one of God's children because I love, then I certainly ought
to know it. You know whether or not you love
Christ and whether you love his people? And that confirms my
faith. And I may shock you a little
bit with this one, but in the fifth place, my constant warfare
between the flesh and the spirit confirmed me in the faith of
Christ. Turn to Galatians chapter 5,
a constant warfare between the flesh and the spirit. You know
what Paul said here in Galatians 5? He said in Galatians 5 verse
17, he said, the flesh wareth against the spirit. The flesh
lusteth against the spirit and the spirit wareth against the
flesh. And they're contrary one to the
other. You know, it encourages me that I've got two natures.
I'm glad I don't have just one. I'm glad I have a conflict. I'm
glad there's a war going on within me. If there's no war going on
within me, I'm either a hopeless Pharisee or a helpless lost man.
One of the two. Over here in Romans 7, listen
to the Apostle Paul. He's a good example for us. He
said in Romans chapter 7, he said, you're the first fellow
I ever heard that said his flesh confirmed his faith. Well, it
does. In Romans chapter 7, verse 18, Paul said, I know that in
me, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. But a will is
present with me, that will is there. How to perform that which
is perfect. I'm not talking about the standard
of the church. I'm talking about that which
is perfect. That which is perfect to God. I don't find my ability
to do that. But the good, the perfection
that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do. Down here in verse 22, he said,
I delight in the law of God. I delight in the word of God.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. Oh, wretched man that I am." Do you ever pray
that way? Do you ever feel that way? Oh, wretched man that I
am. Nobody but a believer prays that way. You'll never hear a
religious Pharisee call himself wretched. He won't even call
himself a sinner. He talks about when I was a sinner
man. You ever hear him talk that way? When I was a sinner man,
You're still a sinner, man. Man, you are a sinner. That's right. That's a confirmation
of faith. And in the sixth place, I'm confirmed
in faith because I find comfort and rest in the covenant of God's
grace. Brethren, let me tell you something.
This thing of my relationship with God is settled in Christ. That's where it's settled. One
day I hope to lie down on a deathbed like David of old, the sweet
psalmist of Israel, and say, although it be not so with whatever
house or organization or friendship or household or kingdom or whatever,
God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure, and this is my salvation, and this is my desire. That's
where it is. I believe that. I believe God
elected a people and gave them to Christ, and that second Adam
came into this world and perfectly performed and perfected all that
God requires of them, and paid the price. And that covenant
will not be defeated. I find my rest and comfort. I
cease from my labors and enter into His rest. Paul said in Philippians
chapter 1, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But
if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet
what I shall choose I know not, for I am in a strait betwixt
the two. I have a definite, sincere, personal
desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. That confirms my faith, genuinely,
genuinely. Now if you know, and I would
like for you to do that same thing. Sometimes if you feel
like you can add some to that seven I gave you, or feel like
you can come up with better ones than those, fine. But I'll tell
you this, in those seven reasons or evidences I never told you
one thing about walking down an aisle, or being baptized, or joining
the church, or shaking a preacher's hand, or hearing the choir sing
just as I am, or having any feelings, or seeing any lights. I just
don't believe any of those things would confirm anyone, because
Satan could give everyone of them. Here's where it is. In His Word, in His Son, in His
grace, in His covenant, in our hearts, in our hearts. I hope God will bless that. He
blessed it to my heart. I came to church tonight encouraged
in spirit that we found a place in His grace. I'm encouraged.