Now let's look at the 10th chapter
of Romans. Paul says in Romans 10, verse
1, My heart's desire, my sincere
desire, the deepest desire of my innermost
being, my heart's desire, and my petition and my plea and my
prayer to God for Israel. He's not talking about the pagan,
heathen, hot-and-tots out yonder somewhere. He's talking about
his kinsmen, his friends, religious people with whom he was surrounded,
Israel. The deep desire of my heart and
my petition to God is that they might be saved. Not that they might have religion,
that they might be saved. Not that they might understand
my doctrine, but that they might be saved. Not that they might
reform their lives and live more morally, but that they might
be saved. Saved. That's my desire. That's my prayer for you, that
you might be saved. What is it to be saved? Well,
our Lord said this is life eternal, that they might know God. know
God, the living God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. To be
saved, Paul said, is to worship God in spirit and to rejoice,
sincerely rejoice in Jesus Christ and have no confidence in the
flesh. That's to be saved. I may shock you, but I'd lot
rather one of my friends be a bartender than to be a preacher of a false
hope. I mean that. I mean that. There'd be greater possibilities
of his deliverance from sin than from a false refuge
of religion. That's exactly right. And Paul said, I want the religious
people to be saved. And then he said in verse 2,
I bear them record. They have a zeal of God. Our
generation, like every generation that's gone before, is religious. This is a religious generation.
You go across your radio dial, I guarantee you any time of day
or night, from 600 to to 1400, if you go across that dial and
not sometime, somewhere, find a preacher preaching, I'll almost
buy you a steak dinner. This is a religious world. And
they have an enthusiasm for God as they know God, as they picture
God, not the living Not the God of creation and providence and
salvation, but they have a zeal for God as they picture him.
And that's the way Israel was. They have a zeal for God, verse
2, but it's not according to knowledge. It's not according
to revelation. It's not according to spiritual
understanding. They have a zeal for God. God. They use the name God. They use
the name Jesus. They use the word cross in blood. church, love, all these names,
they use the same words that believers use, but they have
a different meaning. They have a different dictionary,
same word, different meaning, different definition. Who is
God? Ask the average man. Describe
your God. Describe Jesus Christ that you
claim to believe. He says in verse 3, they are
ignorant of God's righteousness And they're going about to establish
how, by their works and by their deeds, their own righteousness,
their own acceptance with God, and they will not submit themselves
unto the righteousness of God. They use the law as a standard,
and the law is not the standard of morality. God is the standard
of morality. Christ is. The law is not. And they're using this standard
to establish an acceptance with God, a platform on which God
will accept them. The Democrats are going to meet
this week in San Francisco and try to draw up a platform that
their party will accept. Isn't that right? Meaning by
that, some things that they believe and some things they intend to
do. And this is what the religious world is meeting together this
morning to do, to draw up a with which God Almighty will be pleased
and on which God will accept them. And they are using the
law as a standard. And he says in verse 4, But Christ
is the end of the law. Christ is the end of the law.
He is not the destruction of the law by any means. Will you
hold your finger there in Romans 10 and turn to Matthew 5? Please
understand this. In Matthew 5, our Lord said this
in verse 17, think not that I'm come to destroy the law, the
commandments of God, the word of God, the statutes of God,
or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy but to
fulfill, to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till
heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle," and they
tell me a jot or a tittle is just a little mark in the Greek
language, just one little mark. Not even a whole word or a phrase
or a syllable, but one little mark, one jot. One little accent
mark up there. Not one jot or one tittle shall
in no wise pass from the law till it all be fulfilled. And
I say this to you who are seeking to build a righteousness with
which God will be accepted, that's exactly the kind of righteousness
you've got to build. One so perfect that not one jot
or tittle is left out. You who would be under the law,
don't you hear it? Don't you hear it? Don't you
hear it? Christ said not one jot! When you read the whole commandment,
go back, you might have left out one jot or one tittle. It will be fulfilled perfectly. Look back at Romans 10. Christ
is the end of the law. What does he mean by the end?
He didn't come to destroy the law. He didn't come to do away
with the law. He didn't come to obliterate
the law, eradicate the law. Well, number one, the word end
means goal. What is your end? What's the end of your mission?
That's what's your goal. What's the goal of the law? What's
the goal of the law and the prophets? To him give all the prophets
witness. Everything in the law and the
prophets is to bring you to Christ. That's the goal of the law. Or
I take the next word, the consummation of the law. He's the consummation
of it. He's the fulfillment of it. In
Christ I have a perfect holiness and perfect standing before the
law because he perfectly fulfilled it in every jot and tittle. Perfectly. A man born of a woman who nursed
on a woman's breast and lay in her lap and worked with his dad
in the carpentry shop and probably raised barley and rye and earned
his living by the sweat of his brow and walked on this earth,
a public man, a personal man, a private man, a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief, a man who was tempted in all points
as I am, yet without sin, a man in the flesh For thirty-three
and a half years, totally, completely, absolutely fulfilled every jot
and tittle of God Almighty's holy law, and he did it for me.
I did it in him. That's my righteousness. He's the consummation of it,
the fulfillment of it, and then he's the flat end of it. Cut
off. As a covenant, it ain't no more.
That's exactly right. Don't be afraid the word Christ
is the end of the law. As a covenant, Todd, he is the
end of it. As a curse, there is no curse. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. Who can condemn thee, Paul said,
anybody in heaven, earth, and hell step forward who can lay
anything to the charge of God's elect. Christ is the end. The
law has no charges, none whatsoever. Now, Moses, in his writings,
he describes vividly, accurately, the righteousness which is of
the law. Lift up your ears now, you Methodists and Catholics
and Nazarenes and Pentecostals and Baptists and whoever, who
are trying to establish a holiness, a morality, a righteousness before
God on the basis of your praying, your devotions, your godliness,
your holiness, your morality, your cleanliness, your dress,
your mode of living, your kindness to your neighbor, all these things.
Listen to it. Moses is going to describe the
righteousness which you are trying to attain. What does Moses say
about it? He says the man that doeth these
things will live. Does them, now not admires and
not preaches them, and not agrees with them, and not tries to do
them, but the man that does them, does them. Turn to Galatians
chapter 3, Galatians the third chapter. You who are circumcised,
you are obligated to keep the whole law. You start out on this
path, you are obligated to go that way the whole way. That's
right. If you start out trying to find
acceptance with God on the basis of anything you are, do, say,
or give, you're obligated to go the whole way, the whole route.
It's all or nothing. It's all of grace or all of works.
There's no shift in between the two positions. You start out
towards grace, it's all of grace. You start out in works, it's
all of works. In Galatians 3.10, For as many
as are of the works of the law, They're under the curse. For
it's written, Cursed is every one that continueth not. And
I'm talking about 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, from conception
to death. Cursed is every one that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law. Wait
a minute, you've got to rest your feet on one year out of
every seven years. Your jubilee, everything's got
to go back to its original owner in 50 years. I'm talking about on the days
of purification, you ladies have got certain sacrifices you must
bring. I'm talking about loving God
with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Read that law now.
I'm talking about the law of God. I'm talking about the feast
of the firstfruits. I'm talking about the tithe of everything. Not the net, or the gross, or
whatever it is. I'm talking about everything,
even the firstborn, even the first mule, even the first goat,
even the first sheep. And this law is a pretty rigid
thing. Now, you read it lately? I'm
talking about if you've got a rebellious son, you bring him to the elders
and let them stone him. I was reading that the other
night. I'm talking about the law now.
That's what those old boys brought to Christ, and they brought that
woman and found adultery. They said, Moses said, stone
her. Now, this law is pretty tough.
That's the reason I say you who would be under the law, you better
listen to it, you better go back and read the first five books
of the Bible. You don't want under that law. Believe me, you don't want under
that law. And cursed is everyone that continues not in everything
written in it to do it, to do it. Boy, I tell you, perfection.
Look at verse 6. But, here's the sweet part now,
but the righteousness of God, the holiness, a perfect holiness,
not shot full of holes, not a holiness with a rent and a tare here,
that perfect righteousness which is by faith. It speaketh on this
way. Don't say in your heart, who
shall ascend into heaven to bring the Messiah down? He's already
come. There's nothing. The righteousness, holiness,
acceptance with God does not require any effort or work on
your part whatsoever. The work is done. He has come. It doesn't say, verse 7, who
shall descend into the deep, who shall do this mighty work
and bring up Christ again from the dead. Christ has already
come, died on the cross, fulfilled the law, satisfied justice, been
buried, rose again, ascended to heaven, intercedes for us,
it's done, the great transaction's done. I am my Lord's and he is
mine. What does it say, verse 8? Well,
it's so simple and so plain and yet so profound and yet so part
of us, it's in your mouth. It's in my mouth. The way to
God, the way of life, the way of righteousness, it's not go
and do and give and tithe and witness and sow in and knock
on doors and do all this and live perfect and keep the law
and do this and that and the other. No, it's in your mouth.
This whole thing, salvation, in your mouth. In your mouth. The other day you matched your
finger and said, Jesus Christ. That's salvation out there in
your mouth. You used it wrong. You profaned
that holy name, but that's who it is. It's Christ. That's right. Every time you
use his name, you're talking about salvation. That's right.
It's in your heart, in your mouth, in your heart. That's the word
of faith which we preach. This is the word of the gospel.
This is the word of salvation all the way through this book.
Salvation is in a name. Salvation is in a person. Salvation
is in the work of Christ. Salvation is not something I
do for God, or I do for myself, or I do in cooperation with God.
Salvation is something God does for me and in me through his
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's mine simply to receive.
God doesn't demand that I produce a righteousness, but that I receive
one. God doesn't demand that I produce
a holiness, but that I receive one. God doesn't demand that
I produce salvation and work out salvation. He demands and
commands me just to receive it by looking to Christ, by believing.
It's done. You want life? Look to Christ.
You want salvation? Look to Christ. Just look. Just
look. Just look. That's what he said.
This word is in your mouth. Let me show you a couple of scriptures.
Turn back to Romans 3. This is all the way through the
Bible. He says in verse 19, we're guilty. Verse 20, no one is going to
be justified by the law in his sight. Verse 21 says that the
righteousness manifested, and verse 22 says it's even the righteousness
of God, Romans 3.22, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, and
it's unto all and it's upon all that believe. There's no difference.
Believe. Look at Romans 4. Verse 3, what
sayeth the scriptures? Abraham believed God. It was
counted unto him for righteousness. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Look right up the page at Romans 3.28. Therefore,
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Look at Romans 4.20. Romans 4.20,
"...Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief,
but he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully
persuaded to what God had promised, God was able to perform, and
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness, holiness."
Now, it's not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
to him, but for us also. You mean me? Yeah, me! 1984?
Yeah! You mean me? I hear this fellow here, that's
right, for us, to whom is that righteousness which Abraham received,
that holiness by which Abraham was called a friend of God. But
it's for us also. to whom that righteousness shall
be imputed if we work and join the church and get baptized and
do the best we can and serve God and clean up the town and
dry up the saloons. If we believe, if we believe. Can you believe? I know you can
work. I know you can do that. Give
me something to do. Well, anything you could do would
be shabby by what he did, so you wouldn't want to fool with
it. You wouldn't want to fool with it. If we believe. Now wait a minute,
let's go back to our text. Here's what I'm looking at, here's
what I'm working toward. Read the text again, Romans 10,
9 and 10. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation." There is a prominent word in
regard to this faith that saves. Did you get it? I don't have
any doubt that salvation is by faith. By grace are you saved
through faith. Abraham believed God. He that
believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him."
I know salvation is by faith, but I know this word, heart,
here is a mighty important word in regard to faith. It goes all
the way through the scripture. Now, listen, let me just quote
so I don't waste our time slipping away. 34 says this, God is known
to them of a broken heart. In Psalm 51, David said this,
the sacrifices of God are a broken heart. Jeremiah 29, the scripture
says, You shall seek me and find me when you search for me with
all your heart. In 1 Samuel 16, when Samuel would
anoint a king for Israel, he tried to anoint five or six fellows,
and God said, Don't look on the outward countenance. I've rejected
them, because the Lord seeth not as man seeth. Man looketh
on the outward countenance, but God looks on the heart. Our Lord said in Luke 16, Ye
are they which justify yourselves before men. But God knows your
heart. And that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God, because he knows your heart. And old Simon Magus, he made
his decision for Jesus, and he was baptized and joined the Church,
and he wanted to buy some power. And one of the apostles said,
what did he say to him? Your heart's not right with God. That's your whole problem, your
heart. So then, the man's question the
other day, what's the difference in head faith and heart faith,
carries a tremendous impact, a tremendous impact. Because
a man can have head faith and miss Christ. This faith that
says, with the heart man believeth. All right, I'm going to give
you three things. I want you to get this, listen very carefully.
I solemnly, sincerely believe that God gave me these three
things through his word. He didn't give them to me privately.
They're there for anybody to see whose eyes are open. But I know this. Number one,
head faith has to do with the intellect. Our Lord said, you believe in
one God, you do well. The devil believes. The devil
knows all the intellect, mental facts about Jesus Christ, every
one of them. He knows a heap more than you
know in his head. Head faith has to do with the
intellect. has to do with mental facts.
And that's the reason a preacher who says, you believe that Jesus
Christ lived on this earth, was born of a virgin, died on the
cross and was buried and rose again and was saved, he doesn't
know what he's talking about. Because the devil believes that.
I've believed that ever since I was a foot and a half high.
I mean, I've believed it. If you ask me who the father
of our country was, I would have said George Washington when I
was that big. If you had asked me who the Savior was, I would
have said Jesus Christ just that quick. I believed it. But head
faith has to do with the intellect, heart faith has to do with the
affections, the affections of the heart. That's the reason Satan knows
the facts, but he doesn't love Christ. He doesn't love it. He doesn't love the glory of
it, Russell. That's the reason our Lord said,
My son, give me your heart. Give me your heart. Out of the
heart, out of the heart, the mouth speaketh. As a man thinketh
in his heart, that's what he is. Isn't that what he believes
up here, Charlie? That's what he is in his heart.
Now, you may have my body serving you. I know you're my master,
I know you're my boss, I know you're my king, my ruler. I know
all those facts. My intellect agrees with that
and submits to that. But you don't have me unless
you have my heart. You don't have me. You may have
my service and my body. You may have all those things,
but you don't have me. That's the reason the Lord Jesus
said, you call me Lord with your lips. They recognized, Nicodemus
said, you've got to be from God, no man can do these things except
God be with him. I've got that much sense. I've got that much
sense. You call me Lord with your lips,
but your hearts, they're up somewhere else. And I'll tell you this
about a marriage. You can have a license. You can
go through the ceremony, all these intellectual things, these
mental facts. These are facts, these are facts.
You folks are married. You've got a license, you've
got a ring. Sitting beside you this morning is a wife and down
the row some children. That which makes a relationship
between two people ain't no license, no ring, no children. It's love. That's exactly it. If you don't
have that, you ain't got no marriage. That's just so. It's love. That's the reason the Lord said,
though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have
not love, you might as well hit an old Chinese gong, boom! That's all it means. You might
as well rattle a tinkling cymbal. That's all that matters. so that I can remove mountains.
I understand the mysteries. I'm a D.D. and a L.L.D. and all
the rest of it. I know the mysteries. And have
not love, I'm nothing. Though I give my gifts, my tithes
and offerings, and yea, my gifts and alms to the poor, and I'll
even die for what I believe while I go down fighting mad. But I
have not love. If any man love not our Lord
Jesus Christ, he didn't say if anybody believes not he lived
and believes not he died and believes not he's on the right
hand of God. He said if any man doesn't love him, let him be
accursed. Let him be accursed. You got
to love him. I'd whole lot rather have more
love for Christ and a little less accuracy and orthodoxy,
if I've got to choose. There ain't no reason to have
to, but if I have to, if I have to. When our Lord asked Peter,
Do you love me? Huh? Do you? When all was said
and done, when all of the battling over who's going to be the greatest
in the kingdom of God And all the battling over, let's call
down fire from heaven, those fellows over there are getting
in on our territory. All that, you know. You're not
going to wash my feet. If I wash you not, you have no
part. Oh, Peter, bless his heart. Well, I'll die too, Lord, just
let's both go die. I'll never deny you, though they
all deny you, not me. I don't even know him. Never
heard of him. Jesus? I never. Who is that?"
After all that's done, he sat him down and said, Peter, he never went over any of that,
Bob. That's what we'd have done. Remember what you said and what
he said and what they said and what somebody else said. Hogwash.
He said, Peter, one thing I've got to know, do you love me? That's where it is. And I'll
tell you, if you want to decide the difference between a faith
that doesn't save and a faith that saves, I'll say this, it's
a heart faith. And that heart faith has to do
not with the, but wait a minute though, you get to the heart
through the, and that brings me to my next point. Head faith,
watch this, here's the second thing. Head faith has to do with
information. Heart faith has to do with experience. That's right. Head faith has
to do with the intellect. Heart faith has to do with love,
the affections. Head faith has to do with information. Heart faith has to do with experience. Let me show you a verse over
here in John 18. Would you look over here a minute? And I'll
tell you, when I started to come to church this morning looking
over my message, I thought, oh, this is corn-shelling preaching.
This is down where the rubber meets the road. This is where
we do business with God. This is it! Oh, that somebody
would be given an interest, a heart to believe. In John 18.33, Pilate
entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said
to him, Are thou the King of the Jews? Are ye? And Jesus answered him,
Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of
me?" Is this something you heard or something that came out of
you? What I want to know about your
faith. And like I say, information is
necessary to experience, but a man can have all the information
and not have the experience. And here's what I'm asking. Our
religion, mine was, generally, is that information we were taught
from our childhood. That's right, that information
that we received from our childhood. I said one time here, some of
us are so fortunate and so blessed that we weren't brought up in
Catholicism, because that's what we'd be if our parents had been
Catholic. Do you know that? If our parents had been atheists,
we'd have been brought up in that religion. Most of our religion
is what we were brought up in. And I was brought up in what
we call Southern Baptists, I was brought up in Fundamentalism
and Legalism and separationism and easy-believism and all these
other things, fundamentalism, as some of you were. And one
day right up here in Ashland, Kentucky at the Pollard Baptist
Church in 1950, I heard the gospel of God's grace. I had a lot of
information, most of which was wrong. But when I heard that gospel
of God's grace, and I'll never cease to give thanks for the
man whom God sent to preach it. Ralph Barnett, I'll always love
him, be grateful for him. Because I heard the gospel here,
not just here. And I entered by experience,
by personal experience, into a living relationship with Jesus
Christ by faith. Up to that time I had all kind
of information. I was raised in religion in the
church, been to school, pastor of the church, gone through the
motions. Some of you have the same testimony.
But I had an experience of grace. Christ said, Pilate, did you
just hear that? Did somebody tell you that? Did
somebody pass that information to you? Or is that from you? And that's what I'm asking you.
This thing of God is sovereign. Is that what you heard or is
that what you believe? You don't believe anything until you experience
it. That's so. You don't believe
anything until you experience it. You may give mental assent
to it, but you don't believe it. I believe fire is hot. You know what I'm saying? I believe
that needle is sharp. I've experienced it. I believe
Jesus Christ is the Redeemer and the giver of peace and rest
and joy and acceptance with God, I've experienced it. See what
I'm saying? That's the difference. That's
the difference. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. That's what our text says there,
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth. That's what's wrong with
us. I was watching a television preacher
the other day, and he had a horde of people up here, mass of people
around the front, hundreds of thousands out there, hundreds
down here. And he was saying, pray the sinners, pray our Father.
And they said, Our Father, be merciful, be merciful to me,
a sinner, to me, a sinner, and save me for Jesus' sake, and
save me for Jesus' sake. And Lord, help me get started
right, and help me get started right. And I do believe Jesus
died. That's not coming from them.
That's coming from Him. That's utter ritualism. That
borders on stupidity, to think that a holy man falls in the
river and drowns and says, I'm drowning, I'm drowning, I need
a life preserver, I need one bag. I can't swim with myself, I can't
swim with myself, I need some outside help, I need outside,
too late. How foolish is the God of this
generation. He's not worth worshiping. I
don't blame people for not going to church. I wouldn't go either. The junk they have to listen
to. Oh, have you experienced it? Dying hard. There's a difference in information.
I've got all the information. I've had all the information.
Listen to Robert Murray McShane. He wrote a poem, Jehovah said
can you, the Lord our righteousness. I once was a stranger to grace
and to God. I knew not my danger and felt
not my load. Though friends spoke in rapture
of Christ on the tree, the Lord our righteousness was nothing
to me. I ought read with pleasure, to soothe or engage Isaiah's
bold measure and John's simple page. But even when they pictured
the blood-sprinkled tree, the Lord our righteousness seemed
nothing to me. Like tears from the daughters
of Zion that roll, I wept when the waters went over my soul.
And yet, thought not, my sins had nailed to the tree the Lord
our righteousness. He was nothing to me. But when
free grace awoke me by light from on high, when legal fears
shook me, I trembled to die. No refuge, no safety in myself
could I see. The Lord, our righteousness,
my Savior, must be. My terrors all vanished before
that sweet name. My guilty fears vanished. With
boldness I came to drink at the fountain, life-giving and free.
Now Jehovah said, Kinu, the Lord, our righteousness, is all things
to me. The Lord, our righteousness,
my treasure and my boast, the Lord, our righteousness, I can
never be lost. In thee I shall conquer by flood
and by field, by cable, my anchor, my breastplate, my shield. And
even walking the valley, the shadow of death, this watchword
shall rally my faltering For while from life's fever my God
sets me free, Jehovah said, Canoe, the Lord our righteousness, my
death song shall be." That ain't information, that's experience. That's what I'm talking about.
And that's the difference in head faith and heart faith. There's
so much information and so little experience, there's so much doctrine
and so little Doctrine of grace and so little grace. It's not the doctrines of grace,
it's the grace of the doctrine. That's what it is, it's the grace
of the doctrine, the love of Christ. Our third point, and
I'll quit. Head faith has to do with personal
gain. Heart faith has to do with God's
glory, both now and forever. Now, you know and I know most
religion today is strictly commercial. You want to go to heaven? Believe
on Jesus. You don't want to go to hell,
do you? No? Well, believe on Jesus. Want God to prosper your
business, make a lot of money, have a big home, drive a big
car? Believe on Jesus. Don't want
your baby to die, do you? Don't want to get cancer and
get sick and lay in the hospital, do you? Believe on Jesus. God's
got a wonderful plan for your life here on earth, for your
flesh, materialism, success of your business. You want that,
don't you? Believe on Jesus. It's a commercial deal. Come
down to the front and your troubles will be over. Believe on Jesus. That's exactly what it is. It's
a rank loaves and fishes deal. Look at John 6, verse 25. That's where head faith will
take you. That's what motivates head faith. That's what motivates
this religion. A lot of people in church this
morning because they're scared not to be. That's right. Like a man here
in town told me one time, he said it's just good business
to be a church member. In town here, I can always tell
when the politicians are running for mayor, city commission, sheriff
or something, they'll show up in church. That's right. They'll come for a few Sundays
elections over and acquit. Ah, you know what I'm talking
about as well as I do. People are serving God for what
they expect to get out of God. That's the sole basis. John 6,
verse 25. And when they found him on the
other side of the sea, they ran to him. They said, Master, when
did you come over here? We've been looking everywhere
for you. We want to hear you some more. Jesus answered and
said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me not because
you saw the miracles. That was another crowd, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. You were filled.
Your cup was filled. Your bank account was filled.
Your desire for entertainment was filled. All these things
were filled. That's what you were looking
for, your bellies, your God's your belly. And when your belly's
gone, your God's gone. When your belly's dead, your
God's dead. That's all. Head faith has to do with personal
gain. Heart faith has to do with God's
glory. I'll tell you, this head faith,
as long as the blessings come, the faith is pumped up. And when
the blessings cease, faith stops. That's right. But God, they came
to Job, Russell, and they said, Job, you were a wealthy man,
and now you're poor as a church mouse. You had a lot of camels
and sheep and oxen, and they're all gone. And you were a father,
and you had a whole lot of children, and they're all dead. And you
had a lot of friends. You don't have any friends now.
And you had health, and now you got balls. And the few friends
you had are sitting around looking at you, wondering what you did
to bring all this on yourself. That old man was by himself.
But in all this, he sinned not, nor charged God
with foolishness, but he raised his voice, and he said, The Lord
gave it, and the Lord took it away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. That's heart faith. Old man Eli,
Samuel, came to him and said, You called me? And Eli said,
I didn't call you, son. Go back to bed. A little while
later he came back and said, Did you call me? And Eli said,
I didn't call you, boy. Go on back to bed. But he said,
Keep your ears open. Maybe God's speaking to you.
And he speaks again. You say, Lord, I'm here. Well,
a voice came again. Samuel said, I'm here. God said,
I have a message for Eli. He said, he's got two sons that
he has not disciplined, he has not controlled, and I'm going
to kill them. And Eli came to Samuel and said,
what did the Lord say to you? And Samuel said, I'd rather not
say. You can't much blame him, can you? It's tough to deliver
a message like that. Eli said, well, I'll tell you
what, boy, whatever God said to you, I want him to do the
same if you don't tell me." He said, I'll be much obliged to
tell you then. He said, Lord's going to kill
your sons. Now, here's heart faith. Well,
it's the Lord. Let him do what he will. I'm
going to love him in spite of all. Job said, though he slay
me, I'm going to trust him. Yes, Lord. Now take that son,
thine only son, whom thou lovest, to Mount Moriah, and offer him
up as a burnt offering." Abraham believed God. Brethren,
I'm saying with all my heart, I believe I have something here.
I believe I do. Head faith has to do with the
intellect of which every man has some. We're dead spiritually,
we're not dead mentally or emotionally or physically. I can think, don't
think straight, but I think. I can will, I don't will right,
but I will. I can love, I love self, not
God, but I can love. See what I'm talking about? So
the intellect, this faith's got to be a heart faith. Love for
Christ, I love Christ. And then head faith has to do
with information. Just give out the information,
agree with it, and keep going. But heart faith has to do with
experience. And when a man has experienced
Christ, he'll never leave Christ. When he's experienced Christ,
he believes Christ. And then head faith has to do
with personal gain. That's what I get out of it.
Heart faith has to do with his glory, his glory, his glory.