This message is entitled, True
Believers Never Quit. And the message will be divided
into four simple parts. The first part is this. There are plenty of preachers
all over the world today. They're almost, I would say,
more preachers in this country alone than there ever has been
in the world prior to this day. Preachers everywhere. But there
are some true God-called, God-sent, God-anointed messengers of the
Lord. And those men who are sent of
God are concerned for three things. Their main and genuine concern
is for the glory of God first. That's their honest concern and
care, the glory of God. Not their popularity, not their
possessions, not their own influence and accomplishments, their concern
for the glory of God Almighty. And secondly, their concern for
the well-being, the spiritual well-being of their heroes. They're
frightened that they should lead any man contrary to the gospel
of Christ. They want so desperately and
earnestly to be true to the gospel of Jesus Christ for the well-being
of their hero. They just must, must be true
to men's soul. And thirdly, as the Apostle Paul
said, I have nothing to glory of if I preach the gospel. There's
nothing for me to glory of. If I preach the gospel, God taught
me the gospel. God gave me the gift to preach
it. God gave me the hearers. I have nothing of which to glory.
necessity is laid upon me, I must preach the gospel. Woe is unto
me if I don't preach the gospel. They just must preach the gospel. They cannot be happy not preaching
the gospel. Now, as I say, there are some
true preachers. There are not a lot of them.
There are not a lot of them, but there are a few. And those
men know. They know that salvation Salvation,
true salvation is not, I repeat, is not an isolated religious
experience. They're not impressed when someone
comes up and says, well, I saved when I was 14 years old. That
doesn't impress one of God's preachers. Well, I know I'm saved
because I was there when it happened. That doesn't impress him either.
He's not the slightest bit impressed. Because he knows that true salvation
is not an old, isolated experience that you had long years ago.
And he knows also that conversion is not even a one-time profession
of faith. That's not conversion. He knows
that. And he's not impressed with it
at all. Conversion is not a one-time profession of faith. That's what's
being... We're being sold a bill of goods
today by preachers. You come down the aisle, pray
the sinner's prayer, shake my hand, make a profession of faith,
and you're saved. It's just not so. It's just not
so. Because those men know that faith
that does not keep on believing and actually grow in understanding
and grow in fervor is not faith at all. It's not faith at all. Faith is not an isolated experience. Faith is not an acceptance of
mental facts. Faith is not a one-time profession
of faith. is a state of being. I have believed,
I am believing, by God's grace I shall continue to believe if
I ever did believe. And those men know that repentance
is not an isolated act, that repentance, as does not keep
on repenting, is not repentance at all. I repented this morning,
I repent tonight, I'll be repenting tomorrow if I'm one of God's
If I'm not repenting tomorrow, I never did repent. And grace
that does not mature and does not grow is not of God. It's
not grace at all. Salvation is life. Salvation
is a living fountain of water. Salvation is a divine nature. Salvation is a new creation.
It's not just a profession of faith. Now let me just share
with you some verses. Don't turn. Let me go quickly
through these. The Apostle Paul says, you, speaking
to the Colossians, that were at one time alienated and enemies
in your mind by your wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in
the body of his flesh through death to present you holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in his sight, if you continue in the faith. if
you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved
away from the hope of the gospel. In the book of Hebrews, the Apostle
Paul writes, if he's the writer of Hebrews, this, Christ is a
son over his own house whose house we are if we've made a
profession of faith, no sir, if we've been converted, no sir,
if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of that hope firm
unto the end. Verse 14, we are made partakers
of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto
the end. In chapter 10 of Hebrews, he
says, Now the just shall live by faith. If any man quit, if
any man draw back, if any man quit, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. But we're not of them who quit,
who draw back under perdition, but of them that keep on believing
to the saving of the soul, that keep on believing. Yes, there's
a starting point because four things are true. Now here's the
second part of the message. That first part is piled away
in your mind. There's some true prophets and
preachers. God never left himself without a witness. And they are
aware for the glory of God and the good of their heroes and
the preaching of the gospel, they are aware that this thing
of conversion, of repentance, of faith, of grace is a state
of being. It's a new life. It's not just
religion. It's not just a reformation.
It's not just a turning over a new leaf. It's not just getting
religion or joining the church or getting fixed up for heaven.
If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a son of
God. He's a child of the King. Now,
here's the second thing. And these four things are of
vital importance. The Bible clearly states that
believers, and I'm not using the word Christian at all because
the word Christian has been driven in the ground and broken off.
It's been abused and misused and caused so much confusion.
The word Christian means nothing today. But true believers, number
one, have been regenerated and born again by the Spirit of God.
Now I want you to turn to John chapter 1. John, the first chapter. I'm saying this, that when I
was born into the world, in the flesh, that is, of my mother
and father, I was born, Henry Mahan, 58 years ago, of John
C. and Athalene Mahan. There was
a seed from the Father planted in the womb of my mother, it
developed, it was shapen, born in sin, conceived in sin, shapen
in sin, and brought forth, our Lord said, flesh. Flesh and bones
and blood, and that's all it is, flesh. The only thing I received
from my Father was a fallen nature. That flesh had in it no spiritual
life, no spiritual knowledge, no spiritual desires, no spiritual
concern, no spiritual understanding. Dead. Dust thou art, to dust
thou shalt return. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. Nothing but flesh. And that's
all. Now, the Lord talks about a new
birth. A new birth is called in the Bible, regeneration. It's
called a new life, it's called a new creation. And in that same
body or person, that's all flesh, the Lord God came upon that individual. And I know this about the new
birth. It's of God. Look at John 1, verse 11. He
came unto his own, his own received him not, his own nation, people,
tabernacle, sacrifice, temple. But as many as received him,
to them gave he the right, the privilege, the power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which
were born, not of blood, that is, not of family inheritance.
You're not a believer because your daddy was. Not of the will
of man, not of the will of the flesh, but born of God. In other
words, this regeneration, this new creation, This new birth
is by the purpose and will of God Almighty. We were born of
God, chosen of God, loved of God, and born of God. And this
new birth, according to our Master, is by the power of the Spirit
of God. Mary was told by the angel she
would have a son, and she said, it can't be, I don't know a man.
And the angel said, The power of God shall overshadow thee.
The power of God shall come upon thee, and that which is born
in thee shall be called the Son of God. And what I'm saying,
the new birth. And most preachers don't know
what it means. They think you come to church and get born again.
They think you make a decision for Jesus and get born again.
But this thing of the new birth is of God. And it's by the power
of His Spirit. And it's supernatural and miraculous
and mysterious. And our Lord said, Nicodemus
said, well, how can I be born again? Can I enter my mother's
womb and be born again? Christ said, that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
The wind blows out there. And you hear the sound, you see
the results, but you don't know whence it cometh or where it
goeth. Even so are those that are born of God. You don't know
when or where or who. That's exactly right. And He
gives divine life. Now, the new birth, the seed,
is the Word of God. Of His own will beget he us with
the Word of God. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, which is flesh, but of incorruptible seed by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And this is what I'm
saying. A true believer can never quit being a believer any more
than a child of flesh can quit being a child of flesh. There's
no way I can quit the human race. You say, kill yourself. Still
be a dead human. I'll still be a dead human. There's
no way that I can cease to be a man. Flesh and bones, they
go back to the dust, but God's going to bring it back up again.
And I'll tell you this, that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. And in no way, in time or eternity, it'll cease to be
the life of God. Born again. Now that's something. You say, if I thought that, I'd
cry before the throne of God, day and night, that I would be
regenerated by God's Spirit. That'd be a good idea. That'd
be an awful good idea. Awful good idea. Because I'll
tell you, salvation's of the Lord. And I'll tell you something
else. Believers never quit because
they've been born again. They've been regenerated. They
have the divine nature. If you're saved out there tonight,
you're more than just a religious fleshly man. You're more than
just a Reformed fleshly man. You're more than just a so-called
Baptist Christian. You are a child of God. You're
a son of God. You are a divine person with
a divine nature in you. That's right. If you've been
born again, if you hadn't, then you're not saved. Oh, and secondly,
every true believer has a living union with Christ. Christ said,
I am the vine, you are the branches. Now, there's trees out here.
The life is in the trunk. The branches have no life in
themselves, the branches have no nourishment of themselves,
the branches bear no fruit of themselves. Cut the branch from
off the trunk, it's withered and dies. Christ said, even so,
you cannot live unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are
the branches. He's the life, and I'm in him. I'm in Christ. Just like this
arm here, if you sever this arm, it's dead. It can't live. The
life's in here. And it furnishes life to this
arm. And we are one with Christ. We're part of Christ. You say,
and he's the head, and we're the body. That's what he said.
He's the head of the church, which is his body. You see this hand right here,
and you don't say, well, that's a hand. You say, that's Henry's
hand. See what I'm saying? Well, there's a foot up there.
No, that's his foot. And when you're out there, if
you're a child of God, you're not just an individual, you're
His hand, or His foot, or His ear, or His toe, or His finger,
you see what I'm saying? We're His body. And Christ is
not deformed. He won't lose a member. I guarantee
you, I guarantee you on the authority of God who sits in heaven, and
this Word which is His, no part of Christ's body will ever burn. Guaranteed! That's exactly right. And if you burned, you never
were part of his body. John said, if they had been of
us, no doubt they would have continued with us, because Christ
never lost a son, and never lost a part of his body. Let me tell
you something. If one person, given him by the Father, redeemed
by his blood, and regenerated by his Spirit, should ever wind
up in hell, Our Lord is defeated. His is a full, complete victory
and no victory at all. I'll tell you this, if all four
of your children or five were captured and off somewhere and
you went to save them, you brought back four, would you rejoice?
Not very much. You'd take all the joy out. One's
still gone. You've got to bring them all
home. He said, of all that the Father hath given me, I lose
nothing. That's so. They'll never quit.
Thirdly, the believer is a part of an eternal covenant. This
is what David was talking about when he lay down to die. He said,
The Father, God, hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, and this is all my salvation and all my
desire, though he make it not to grow. Turn with me to Jeremiah
32. Jeremiah chapter 32, I'm saying
that God will fulfill His everlasting covenant. He will fulfill that
covenant which He made with the Son in which He gave to the Son
of people as the stars of the heaven and the sands of the seashore.
He says in Jeremiah 32 verse 38, listen, and they shall be
my people and I'll be their God. I'll give them one heart and
one way. that they may fear me forever. For the good of them
and of their children after them, I will make a covenant, an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do
them good. I'll put my fear in their hearts,
and they shall not depart from me." True believers will never
quit. They've been born again. They're
sons of God. They have been, by the power
of God, made a part of the body of Jesus Christ. And thirdly,
they are a part of an everlasting covenant, a covenant of God's
grace in which he gave his son a people. And as Judah said,
I'll bring him back or I'll bear the blame forever. And Christ
will bring them back or he'll bear the blame, but he'll bring
them back and he'll get the glory. All right? Fourthly, these people
will never quit because they are devoted not to an experience,
they are devoted not to a denomination, that gets older than bad hay,
not to a feeling, not to a theological position, they are devoted to
a person, a person. Lock, stock and barrel, they're
in love with Jesus Christ. Turn to the Song of Solomon.
Let me show you something. This is something that Brother
Gary Shepherd preached on the other night. Song of Solomon,
chapter 5. Chapter 5, and beginning with
verse 8. This is the bridegroom, this
is the bride, the church. And she says in verse 8, She
said, I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my
beloved, O daughters of Jerusalem, that's the religious people,
daughters of Jerusalem, that's the Pharisees and the Sadducees
and all the other scribes and the religious men and women.
If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am lovesick,
I am so in love with him that it overcomes me. I'm sick because
of love, is what she said. I love him so much that without
him I am absolutely, totally unhappy. And here's what they
asked her. They said in verse 9, Well, what
is your beloved more than another beloved? Why are you so in love
with him? We've got our lovers. We're in
love with the Lord. Oh, I could never be in love
with the law. He's too strict and harsh and unkind and without
mercy. Well, we're in love with our
feeling. Oh, I could never, I could never trust feeling. Feeling's
too deceitful. It's high one moment and low
the next. Well, we're in love with experience. Oh, I could
never be in love with experience. Experiences, you can't trust
them. Well, we're in love with ordinances
or works or rituals. Well, what is your beloved more
than any other beloved? What is your beloved more than
another beloved that you charge yourself? Listen, she describes
him. My beloved is white. He's pure. He's without sin. See that? He's without sin. And my beloved is ruddy. That
is, he's a strong deliverer. And my beloved is the cheapest
among 10,000. He is greater than the angels
and greater than Moses and greater than the tabernacle and greater
than the priesthood. He is the chief of 10,000. My
beloved, his head is as the most fine gold. He wears a crown. He is the king. And his locks
are bushy and black as a raven. Eternal youth. He never changes. His eyes are as the eyes of a
dove, as doves by the river of water, gentle, nothing more gentle
than the eyes of a dove. Washed with milk, they're clear,
and they're fitly set, they never change. He says, I loved you
with an everlasting love. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore your sons of Jacob are not consumed. His compassions
fail not, they're new every morning. His eyes are gentle as a dove.
They are washed with milk. They are clear. They are not
deceitful and they are fitly set. They are unchanging. His
cheeks are as a bed of spice, so soft as a soft pillow for
a weary head. As sweet flowers, His lips are
like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. From His lips flows nothing
but grace, grace and forgiveness. What is He more than any other?
His hands are as gold rings set with myrrh. He's so generous,
His hands just, just from His hands flow His gifts of grace.
And He's altogether lovely. Go on and on and on. I'll tell
you this, true believers will never quit. I'm just, I'm sorry
to be so harsh and so firm, but as I said, I'm not going to be
any firmer than the book or any easier. True believers cannot
quit because they are regenerated and born again and will never
be unborn, because they are part of the body of Jesus Christ,
and that's a complete body, and because they are part of a covenant
of grace which was fashioned and formed and purposed and planned
in the mind of God before the world began. He declares the
end from the beginning. And because they've been brought
to find in Christ all they need, they're totally happy, totally
satisfied, totally content, and no substitute can take his place
because he's perfect. He's my riches. He's my joy. He's my life. He's my healing. He's my sanctification. He's my wisdom. He's all things. I find in him all I need. They
say, what's your beloved more than any other beloved? Well,
I don't know what you got to offer. Oh, no. Oh, no. She says,
I want him part of you. I found in him all I need. And if there's any doubt in your
mind about that, you've never seen his glory. Never, never,
never, never, never. Playing games. All right, here's
the third part of this message. In a world of religion, in which
we live, in a world of superstition, and there's more junk and superstition
and tradition and custom, and we'll praise the Lord, we'll
hallelujah, we'll praise the Lord, we'll do it for the glory
of God, amen and amen. I'm so weary of it, so nauseated,
I want to throw up. Don't you? It's so phony, it's
as phony as confederate money. It's not easy in this day of
religion, in this day of self-promotion, of denominational promotion,
of moral promotion, of reformation promotion, of all this terrible,
terrible junk that we have going on in the name of our holy God. It's far worse than the religion
of the Pharisees in the days that Christ walked this earth. It's hard to distinguish between
saving faith and false faith. Do you know that? It's hard to
distinguish. Awfully hard. Our Lord said in
the last days Antichrist shall arise and they shall perform
great miracles and wonders and shall deceive, shall deceive
if it were possible the very elect, the true believer, if
it were possible. It ain't possible. But they're
so cunning and crafty and subtle and deceitful and so religious
and they use the same Bible we use and the same words we use. They just define them differently.
I'll tell you this, false faith, it can excite the emotions. See,
people waving their hands and waving banners and jumping up
and down and shouting and running up and down the aisles. Paul's
faith can excite the emotions. Paul said in Romans 10, these
people have a zeal for God, a zeal for God, a zeal for God, but
not according to knowledge. And our Lord said, when he went
forth to sow, the sower went forth to sow, the seed fell on
the stony ground and sprang up But withered away, having no
root, and he said, these are people who receive the word with
what? Joy! Joy. Oh yeah, false faith can give
you emotion, passion, joy, zeal, enthusiasm. False faith can reform
the outward man. The Pharisees didn't have saving
faith, but they were some of the most moral men of their day.
One of them said, I'm not unjust, I'm not an adulterer, I'm not
an extortioner, I fast twice a week, I pray, I give alms of
all I possess. I stand on the straight corner
and read the scriptures. False faith can reform the outward
man. False faith can attain to the
highest religious offices. What do you suppose the highest
office in the church has ever known? The apostles. Right? The twelve apostles. Judas was
an apostle. False faith can become a theologian. False faith can be baptized with
Salmon, can give gifts with Ananas and Sapphira, can speak well
of Christ with Nicodemus, will persecute those who dispute and
disagree, and false faith will even persevere to the judgment
and stand before Christ and say, I preached in your name and cast
out devils and did many wonderful works. That's false faith. You
say it's frightening, preacher. It is frightening. I tell you
it's frightening. I tell you it's a disturbing
thing to stand here and think that we read the Bible and attend
church and make a profession and say we believe and get baptized
and join the church and pray and give our gifts and then wind
up in hell. It is disturbing, to say the
least. And there are going to be some
folks to experience that. Because our Lord said, Not everyone
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, have we not done this,
that and the other? Have we not done this? We did what we were
told to do. We did what we thought we ought
to do. We did what we were expected to do. We did the best we could. Depart from me, I never knew
you. Here's the fourth part of this message. There are four
things that false faith cannot produce. False faith can excite the emotions. It can reform the outward man.
It can attain high office. It can memorize theology. It
can be baptized. It can give gifts. It can persecute
those that don't agree with it. It can speak well of Christ and
persevere to the judgment. But there are four things that
false faith can never, never imitate. Never counterfeit! Never! Number one, false faith
can never, never produce a heart broken over sin. Can't do it. That's not Satan's
way. His way is, I'm pressing on the
high, I'm pressing on the upward way. New heights I'm gaining
every day. That's Satan's way. It can never produce a broken
heart. The sacrifices of God are a broken heart, a broken
and a contrite spirit, O God, thou wilt not despise. God save
us such as be of a broken heart. Turn to Psalm 51 and listen to
David. I can't give it to you, and Mama
can't give it to you, and no preacher can give it to you.
You can't give it to yourself. Only the Spirit of God can visit. with such convicting power that
he breaks the heart. Like Isaiah of old who cried,
I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips. Or Job who cried, I abhor
myself. Listen to David. Psalm 51, have
mercy upon me, O God, have mercy upon me. according to thy lovingkindness,
according to the multitude of thy mercies, blot out my transgressions."
Let's quit talking about everybody else's transgressions and start
talking about our own. That's a broken heart. Wash me
throughly for mine iniquity, iniquity. Don't be afraid of
those words. That's what it is. Cleanse me
from my sin. Acknowledge my transgressions.
My sin is ever before me. I've sinned against you, O God. I guarantee you. No false faith
ever talked that way. It might read it. It might preach
about it. But false faith didn't write
that. That's the writings of a broken heart. Purge me with
hyssop. Wash me and I'll be whiter than
the snow. Secondly, false faith can never
produce a broken heart. And I don't mean broken over
the death of a loved one. I don't mean broken over some
financial disaster. I'm not talking about a heart
broken because you got some kind of disease. I'm talking about
a heart broken over sin. My sin, my iniquity, my transgression,
my feeble, wicked, foolish heart. And secondly, false faith can
never, never bow to the absolute sovereignty of God and the Lordship
of Jesus Christ in all things. Won't do it. You can't do it.
False faith's too proud. No, sir. False faith will never
bow sincerely and humbly. I'll tell you an example. Our
Lord came down from the mountain, and there ran and met him a leper,
a man with leprosy. That's realizing he knew what
he was, wretched, unclean. And the Scripture said he fell
at his feet. He fell at his feet and worshipped
him and lifted up his eyes and probably his hand and said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. That's where it is, Tom,
if you will. I tell you, my friend, salvation
like creation is of the Lord. Salvation like providence is
of the Lord. It is of the Lord from Alpha
to Omega. Salvation is by the free will
of God, not by the free will of man. Salvation is God's decision. Salvation is God's operation.
Salvation is God's application. It pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb to reveal His Son in me. And Paul's faith
will never confess that. It will never confess that. It
will never bow to the absolute. Lord, David said, In Psalm 51,
verse 4, he said, "...against thee, and thee only have I sinned,
and none this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified
when you speak, and clear when you judge." He said, if you send
me to hell, you're doing just right. Just right. Alright, thirdly, false faith. And I made this statement in
a message here recently, the hardest thing that any man ever
had to do, It's impossible apart from the Spirit of God. False
faith can never, never look to Christ and Christ alone for salvation. No such can't do it. False faith
can never rest and trust and believe and commit and cast myself,
sink or swim on Him and Him alone. Can't do it. False faith says,
well, I believe in Jesus much. I made a profession. I trusted
Christ and I was baptized. It's not but, it's not and. It's
Christ. I mean He is my Redeemer just
exactly like He was the Redeemer of the thief on the cross. What
did the thief on the cross do? What contribution did he make?
Here was an unclean outcast hanging on a rugged cross. He never washed. He never worked, he never walked
a foot for Christ, and he never witnessed, and he never won a
soul. But my Lord said, today you'll be with me in paradise.
Salvation of that thief was as totally and completely and absolutely
the accomplishment and work of Jesus Christ the Lord, and it's
true of everyone who is saved. That's right, and a false faith
can't trust that. I'm saved if I never open my
mouth again as long as I live, if I know Christ. If I never
give a dime, if I never walk a step, if I never breathe a
prayer, if I never read a sentence, Christ is my righteousness. Now,
I do those things, John, because I love Him and because I'm saved,
because it's a natural response of a spiritual life. A man who
does not pray is not saved because Prayer is the spiritual breath
of a living being. A child that does not breathe
is not alive. And the same thing is true of
a child of God that doesn't pray. He's dead. That's right. But salvation is of the Lord.
And I'm resting totally and completely. Well, by the way, you made your
profession and you joined the Church. Those are just responses
to life. Christ is my Redeemer. He stands
before God. He's the author and finisher
of my faith. And all in between. And false faith cannot rest in
Christ. It cannot just believe in Christ. It's got to say, but I did this. But I did this. But, but. No but about. I'm a candidate
for hell if it's not for Christ. Worthily ought to go to hell.
Almighty God, with a telescope and microscope of sovereign piercing
eyes, cannot find in me one reason for salvation, not one reason
to take me to glory. With one glimpse at Christ, and
he'll take me with him. That's it. False faith can't
do it. Can't do it, last of all, and
I quit. False faith can never continue, continue to believe
God, regardless of the circumstances. I mean regardless of the circumstances.
I mean regardless. I mean regardless of the circumstances. Can't do it. You'll quit. There'll be a reason,
and it'll be a good one. And it'll be a justifying reason.
And you'll see clearly why you were right in doing it. Because
Satan's a crafty rascal. He's a subtle deceitful rascal. Somebody said he knows more about
human nature than anybody but God. He's been in the deceiving
business for 6,000 years, and he's whipped some folks a lot
stronger than you and I. Whipped them. Absolutely whipped
them. And he doesn't just make you
sick. He'll even bless you. He doesn't
care how he does it. He'll promote you. He'll make
you famous. He'll do this, that. He'll just
do anything to accomplish his purpose. But saving faith will
continue in Christ no matter what the test. Go through the
life of Abraham. Leave your father's house. Seventy-five
years old, he believed God. Give Lot the best land. Take
it. Go to the mountains. He believed
God. These fellas brought out all that gold and silver. Here,
give it! No, he said, I've lifted my hand
to God. Satan tried. God let these trials
take place to try his faith. Gonna have a son. I'm a hundred
years old. Now take your son Ishmael, fourteen
years old, put a bottle of water on his back, and send him out
in the wilderness. That's hard to do. But he believed
God. Now take your last son, your
only son whom you love, and take him up on a mountain and sacrifice
him to God. All right? All right. I believe
God. And false faith can't handle
those things. And our little old trials, our little old quitting
reasons are so inferior to any of those huge monumental tests
that this man of faith went through. But that's it. False faith, while
it can do many things, can never produce a broken heart over sin. Never. It can never bow to the
absolute, immutable, unquestionable sovereignty of Christ, whether
he saves you or damns you. Can't do it. False faith can
never, never rest in Christ alone for our wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And it can never persevere. It'll
quit. It'll quit. It'll find a reason to quit.
It'll find a good one. It'll find a justifiable reason
to lay down the banner. Lay it down. But not living faith. It'll go on. God give me saving faith. Don't
let me play games. Give me saving faith or get me
out of here. Get me out. Our Father, we're
thankful for your Word. Now bless this message. We feel desperately and deeply
and sincerely this is the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord, who loved us and gave himself for us. Own it, Father, for your
glory and our good, we pray. Amen.