I'll be speaking to you today
on the subject, the Word of Faith, the Word of Faith. I'd like for
you to take your Bibles. I'll be reading from the book
of Romans. I'm going to read first of all
from the 10th chapter of Romans, and then we're going to turn
to a very important scripture in the 3rd chapter of Romans.
But I think you'll be blessed more by the message if you'll
take your Bibles and follow along with me as I read the Scripture
and speak from these verses. First of all, in Romans chapter
10, I'm going to begin reading with a portion of verse 8. Now,
this is what it says in verse 8, considering the work or the
word of faith. Now, what does it say, the word
of faith which we preach? What does this word of faith
say? Here's what it says. that if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and most translators
interpret that Jesus to be Lord. This is a better translation.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. Now verse 10. For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation." Now, that's the word of faith. Before
I speak from these verses, I want to make a statement, and I want
you to listen carefully to it. Will you consider this important
truth? This is most important. And consider
it. I believe if you will, if you
will receive this truth that I'm about to give you, that it'll
prepare your heart to receive the word of faith through grace.
If you'll receive this truth, it'll prepare your heart to receive
the message of salvation by the free grace of God. Now, here's
the statement. Listen to it carefully. The creature,
I'm talking about angels and men, the creature, is disobedient
to God and rebellious against God under any dispensation. the creature, angels and men.
The creature is disobedient to God and rebellious against God
under any dispensation. Now, one of the strongest evidences
we have of the fall of man and the depravity of the human heart
and the sin of men is that men will not obey God whatever the
environment, whatever the circumstances. Man is a disobedient creature
regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the environment,
regardless of where he is. Now, I'll make good on that.
Consider the state of the angels when God created all things in
the original creation. The angels lived in perfect holiness,
perfect harmony, perfect glory. And yet their hearts were lifted
up to rebel against God. If you'll read Isaiah chapter
14, you'll read Lucifer, the leader of that great host of
heavenly beings, who said, I will be like God. I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God. I will ascend into the heights
of the clouds. Five times in that passage of
Scripture in Isaiah 14, he used two words, I will. I will. I will be like God. I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds. I will put my throne above God's
throne. So even under these circumstances,
in these conditions, the angels rebelled against God. Then consider
the state of Adam and Eve, our father and mother. In a perfect
garden, Adam was a king. Adam had dominion, dominion.
God gave him dominion over all the fish of the sea and the fowl
of the air and the creeping things on the earth. He told Adam to
subdue the earth. It was his. There was only one
commandment, not to eat of a certain tree. And yet in this holiness,
in this righteous state, in this beautiful fellowship with God,
in this perfect garden, everything was perfect. His environment
was perfect. Everything around him was perfect.
And yet Adam rebelled against God. Consider Noah and his sons. God said he saw that the that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that every imagination
of man's heart was evil continually. And God determined to destroy
the world. That's what Scripture said. And
He chose to save one man and his family, Noah, his wife, his
three sons, and their wives. And after 120 years of preaching,
Noah preached to the people, warned of the coming flood, Noah
being warned of God of things not seen, moved with fear and
prepared an ark for the saving of his house. And these boys
and Noah saw this miraculous deliverance. They were miraculously
delivered by the hand of God. They saw the destruction of the
whole world. And after the ark sat back down
on the earth, it was only a short time. Here this man and his family,
miraculously, supernaturally delivered by the grace of God.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. While the whole
earth was under the judgment of God and the wrath of God,
this man and his family found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
And yet they weren't on the ground any time at all till he planted
a vineyard and gotten drunk and caused his son to sin a great
sin. And under these conditions, this
man still rebelled against God. Consider the state of Israel.
Israel, the nation Israel had been down in Egypt 400 years,
oppressed in bondage and slavery, and God came by the hand of Moses
and delivered these people out of Egypt in a most supernatural
way. They saw the plagues that God
brought upon Egypt and finally that great, terrible plague,
the death of the firstborn. And their homes were spared,
their children were spared, their lives were spared as God saw
the blood, the Passover lamb was slain and the blood on the
doorpost and the And God passed over them, and Pharaoh allowed
them to go out. They left Egypt. Not a hook nor
a hair was left behind. They took everything with them.
And then God miraculously delivered them at the Red Sea and drowned
the host of Pharaoh's army. They saw bread from heaven. They
saw the smitten rock. They saw all these miracles.
And yet it was no time at all till they were building a golden
calf and worshiping a false god. Even under these circumstances,
And then consider, if you will, David's glory. God gave David
glory like He gave no other man. And yet David's sin and adultery
and murder against God. Consider Solomon. God gave Solomon
wisdom like He'd given to no other man. And yet Solomon married
many wives and even built false images and shrines for them to
worship their gods. Consider this. Consider the very
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ on this earth. The very presence
of the Son of God and the miracles which He performed. He gave sight
to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He fed thousands. He healed
the sick. He even brought people from the
grave, and yet men did not believe Him. And then consider the early
church. Here's the early church. Our
Lord has died on the cross, been buried and rose again, ascended
back to the Father. And he left these 12 apostles
on the earth, the 11, and then Paul was chosen by the Lord to
take Judas' place. And these men ministered personally
to these churches, the church at Galatia, the church at Philippi,
the church at Colossae, the church at all the other places, Thessalonica. And we read just 15 or 20 years,
this is a matter of 15 or 20 years after Christ's personal
walk on this earth, after his death, and many of these The
people in these churches were witnesses of his death and his
resurrection. And yet we find these people
engaged in the most indescribable things. We find them even departing
from the Gospel. We find them returning to circumcision
and returning to rituals and ceremonies and all these things.
And what I'm saying is this, and I hope you understand what
I'm saying, the creature is disobedient to God. It's a sign and an evidence
of our depravity, of our fallen nature. We say improve man's
environment, you'll improve the man. No, sir. Improve his surroundings
and you'll improve the man. Educating You can take any circumstance,
any environment, any surroundings, and man by nature, because of
the sin in his heart and the sin in his very soul, will rebel
against holiness, against righteousness, and against God. And you see
that all the way through the Word. Even the angels, Adam and
Eve in perfect circumstances, and Noah miraculously delivered,
Israel, David, Solomon, Peter, the apostle Peter, walked with
our Lord three and a half years, and then at the end of that time,
he openly denied that he even knew Christ. And in these early
churches, read the book of Corinthians, and you'll find these difficult
things occurring in the churches. It just shows, in the flesh dwelleth
no good thing. In the flesh, no man can please
God. And the natural man receiveth not the things of God, their
foolishness to him, neither can he know them, their spirits to
discern." Now, every prophet, every prophet of God has bemoaned
the fact that men will not hear the Word of the Lord. They have
bemoaned that fact. They have wept over that fact,
grieved over it. Isaiah said in Isaiah 53, who
hath believed our doctrine? Who hath believed our report,
our doctrine? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Listen to what God said through Ezekiel. They come
to you, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your
words, but they'll not do them. With their mouths they show great
love, but with their hearts they go after covetousness. They hear
your words, but they will not do them. And then listen to our
Master in John 5, 40. You will not come to me that
you might have life. Let another come in his own name,
and him you will receive. I come in my Father's name, and
you will receive me not. But let another come in his own
name, and him you will receive." Whether God speaks in love, whether
God speaks in judgment, man is the same disobedient, fallen,
depraved, rebellious creature under any dispensation, under
any circumstances, in any environment. He is a rebel against God Almighty. But the true ambassador of Christ
neither trims his message, nor ceases to proclaim the good news
of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And this is so evident
here in the writings of the Apostle Paul from Romans 10. Now I want
you to look back there again with me. Let's go back to verse
1. The Apostle Paul, he neither trimmed his message, though he
knew these things, though he knew the condition of men, he
neither trimmed his message, nor did he cease to proclaim
the good news. with the prayer and the hope
that somebody, somewhere would be enabled of the Spirit of God
to hear with a hearing ear and to see with a seeing eye and
to believe with a regenerated heart. Now, notice three things
I'm going to give you briefly. First of all, the Apostle's great
desire, his great desire. He said in verse 1 of Romans
10, Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for Israel
is, these rebellious people, My prayer to God for Israel is,
these disobedient people, my prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved, that they might come to know God. Now,
no man can question Paul's motive. You could never question the
motive of the Apostle Paul. He never sought personal glory.
He had all the personal glory a man could ever want before
he met God. He didn't desire personal fame.
That wasn't his objective. That wasn't his motive. He didn't
promote himself. He didn't just seek a platform
to express his views. He had a platform. He was not
promoting a denomination. He was not promoting a sect or
a cult. He has one desire and his one
prayer. He said, Brethren, my heart's
desire and my sincere prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. If you'll go back to chapter
9 and read verse 2 and 3, you'll hear Paul say this, I have great
heaviness of heart. and continual sorrow for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh, I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for these brethren." Moses said something
like that. Moses was a man who had a heart
broken for his people. Moses was a man who wanted to
see the people of God walk in obedience to God. He was a man
who wanted, who did not want the judgment and wrath of God
to fall upon his people. He stood one day between an angry
God and the nation of Israel, and he said, God, if you don't
spare the people, just blot me out of your book. And that's
similar to what Paul is saying right here. I have such a desire
to see people come to know God that I could wish myself were
cast away from Christ for my brethren. Now, I do know this. God will not bless hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy sometimes is successful, but not God's blessings upon
it. God does not bless insincerity. God does not bless hypocrisy. A man's motive will determine
his message and his methods. And Paul's motive was clear.
And Paul's motive was a good motive. He said, My desire and
my prayer to God for my people is that they might be saved.
That is his desire. All right? Notice, secondly,
the apostles discernment. Now, this apostle had discernment,
he had understanding. He says in Romans 10, 2, I bear
them record, I bear them record, this is true, I know this is
true, that these people whom I desire to see saved come to
know God, my people, my kinsmen according to the flesh. He said
they have a zeal of God. The word zeal is interest, they
have an enthusiasm, They have a religious tradition. They have
a zeal for God. These people were not without
religion. They had the ceremonies. They had the feast days. They
had the holy days. They had the sacrifices. But
it was zeal alone. He said, they have a zeal of
God. I bear them record. I know this is true because I
was one of them. He said, I was born a Hebrew of Hebrews. I was
born of the tribe of Benjamin. He said, I was a Pharisee. Considering
the law, I was blameless. He said, I know these people,
they have a zeal, they have, for God, an interest in God,
an enthusiasm for God, but they don't have the true knowledge
of God. They're ignorant. It's not according to knowledge.
In other words, they had the form without the heart. They had the letter without the
light. They were ever learning, ever
learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Our
Lord Jesus Christ looked at the most religious men of His day,
and He made this declaration. He said, You neither know Me
nor My Father. You have the zeal, you have the
interest, you have the enthusiasm, you have the religious tradition,
but you neither know Me nor My Father. Now, my friends, look
at verse 3. Now, here's what Paul is saying.
You hear his desire. My heart's desire, my prayer
to God, For my people is that they might be saved, that they
might come to know God. I bear them record. They have
a zeal, an interest, an enthusiasm. They have a religious tradition,
but it's not according to knowledge. Now, here's how I know that.
Number one, he said, well, it's verse three. They're ignorant
of God's righteousness. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. Now, what I'm saying about this
generation here in Paul's day, I'm saying about our generation.
We have a zeal of God, we have an interest in God, we have an
enthusiasm for the things of God, we have our religious traditions
and our denominations and programs. But he said it's not according
to knowledge. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. Now what's
that talking about? They were ignorant of God's own
personal essential righteousness. Now that's not the full meaning
here, but that's part of it. They're ignorant of God's personal
essential righteousness. Isaiah said, when King Uzziah
died, I saw the Lord. High and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple. And the seraphims cried, holy,
holy, holy Lord God Almighty. God is holy. God is holy. The Lord our God is a holy God. Yes, God is love, and God is
grace, and God is mercy, and God is truth, and God is just.
But the primary and principal attribute of the living God is
holiness. And these people were ignorant
of God's immaculate, infinite, unchangeable holiness. The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before
Him. The Spirit of God is called the
Holy Spirit. The priest who went before the
Lord in the Old Testament had written on his forehead, Holiness
to the Lord. Even our Bibles are called the
Holy Bible. God is holy. Now watch this. They have a zeal for God, but
they're ignorant of God's holiness. Secondly, men are ignorant of
the holiness which God requires of the creature. Are you with
me? Not only are they ignorant of His infinite, unchangeable
holiness, but they're ignorant of the holiness which He demands,
which He must demand, which His holiness makes it necessary for
Him to demand. Almighty God is holy, and any
man who stands in His presence must be as holy as God. Who shall
stand in His presence? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. O Israel, what doth the Lord
thy God require thee? To love God with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. That's
perfect, immaculate holiness. You see that? They're going about
to establish a righteousness of their own. Why? Because they
do not know God is holy, they do not understand the holiness
of God, nor the holiness which He requires. And being ignorant
of His immaculate holiness, and being ignorant of the holiness
which His law demands, and which God requires, then they go about
to establish a righteousness of their own. Based on their
works, based on their profession, based on their prayers, based
on the keeping of holy days, based on the abstinence from
certain sins, they go about to establish their own righteousness.
That's the reason. Oh, Paul said, my desire, my
heart's desire is that men might be saved. I bear them record. I know, I discern this. They
have a zeal for God. They have an enthusiasm and interest
for God. They got their religious tradition,
but it's not according to knowledge. And the reason I know that is
this, they're ignorant of God's holiness. They're ignorant of
the holiness which He must demand and which His law must require
and which they cannot produce. And being ignorant of His holiness
and ignorant of what He demands and that with which you'll be
satisfied, which is perfection. They're going about through their
religious works and professions and programs and holy days and
observances and Sabbaths and works and tithes and all these
things to make themselves acceptable to God. And it won't do. Look
at verse 4. They will not submit themselves
to the righteousness of God in Christ. For Christ is the end
of the lawful righteousness to everyone that believeth. Christ
is the goal of the law. Christ is the consummation of
the law. In Romans 5, verse 19, listen
to this scripture. By one man, sin entered the world,
and death by sin, so death passed upon all men. That's Romans 5,
12. Then 5, 19 says this. By one man's disobedience, we
were made sinners. By the obedience of one, shall
we be made righteous. That's Christ's obedience and
Christ's righteousness. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, 21.
He was made sin for us, who knew no sin. that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Listen to Galatians 4, 4. In
the fullness of time, God sent His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were born under the law.
Galatians 3, 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. So you see, the
law does Still does, always will, require perfect obedience. God's
holiness demands perfect obedience. We're unable to produce it. Christ,
our substitute, anointed, sent of God, came into this world
as our representative. And as a man, he fulfilled and
obeyed all that the law required, all that justice demanded, all
that God Almighty commanded. He fulfilled it, imputing unto
us a perfect standing before God. And all who believe in him
have his righteousness. And Romans 4 verse 20 talks about
Abraham. It says Abraham, whether he lived
in the Old Testament or New Testament, whether he lived in the first
century or this century, Abraham believed God. And it was counted
to him for righteousness. Now, it was written not for his
sake alone that his faith was imputed to him for righteousness,
but for us also. to whom this righteousness, this
holiness will be imputed if we believe on him that raised our
Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Now here's the third thing, the
apostles' message to us all. Apostles' desire, I want people
to be saved. I want to know God. And apostles'
discernment, I know they do not know God. They do not know His
holiness, nor the holiness He requires. And therefore, they're
going about through their programs and religious doings to establish
a righteousness, hoping God will accept it, but He won't. Now,
here's His message. It's twofold. Verse 5. He said,
Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law. This is
what Moses said. This is what the law says. It
can't say anything else. That the man which doeth these
things perfectly, without flaw, shall live by them. In other
words, it's clear and simple. If you would stand before God
on the basis of your works, if you would stand before God on
the basis of your deeds, if you would stand before God on the
basis of His law, if you would stand before God on the basis
of your religious observances, you must keep the whole law perfectly. Not offend in one point, not
in thought, not in word, not in deed, not in attitude, not
in motive, not in spirit, not in any way. To offend in one
point is to be guilty of the whole law. You that would be
under the law. Don't you hear the law? You hear
what it requires? Absolute, immaculate, infinite perfection. Just like
God himself. In character, in word, in thought,
in attitude, in motive, in deed, in everything. It must be a perfect
love. A perfect righteousness. If you want to stand on that
ground, you'll be permitted to. And God will meet you on that
ground and judge you. But I tell you this, even your
best deeds, in the sight of God, compared to His holiness, your
best deeds are filthy rags." Now, here's the other statement. The message of the gospel is
this, it's the word of faith. Not a work to do, but a work
that's done. Not a righteousness to be fulfilled,
but a righteousness already perfectly fulfilled by Christ. Now, turn
to Romans 3, the scripture I mentioned a moment ago. Now, listen to
this, Romans 3, 19. It says, Now we know that what saying
soever the law saith, God's holy, infinite law, God's perfect law,
which springs from His perfect character, His perfect holiness,
what that law saith, it saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, no alibis, no excuses, and all
the world become guilty, guilty before God. Therefore, since
the law pronounces every man, every woman of every generation
guilty before God, Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified, saved, redeemed in his sight." Now,
we may justify ourselves and ourselves in the sight of others,
but not in God's sight. But now, the righteousness of
God without the law, without your obedience to the law, is
clearly manifested and revealed, being witnessed in the law and
the prophets. It's the righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus
Christ upon all and unto all that believe it, for all have
seen it. There is no difference. Now,
if you'll confess, what is this word of faith? It's in your mouth.
It's near to you. If you'll confess with your mouth,
Jesus to be Lord, and believe in your heart, God raised Him,
our righteousness, Him, our justifier from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth,
not with the hands work is done, with the heart man believeth,
under righteousness with a mouth confession is made under salvation. That is the word of faith.