I'd like for you to turn in your
Bibles with me to the book of Luke. I'm going to speak tonight on
the subject, Man's Need and God's Remedy. That's what I'm going to try
to talk about this evening. I enjoy natural life. I think
I enjoy living about as much as anybody I know, but I need
spiritual life. I enjoy the life God has given
me. I enjoy the friends God has given
me, but I need him. I enjoy your love and your affection,
but I, John, need his love. See, that's what our Lord is
saying. He's not saying that meals don't need to be prepared.
He's not saying that we're not to be concerned about anything.
We're not to be anxiously concerned or overly concerned. But He says
one thing is needful. And Martha, you're careful and
anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful.
And Mary hath chosen that one thing. And it shall not be taken
away from her. I enjoy fellowship. Fellowship
with you people of God. But I need God's fellowship.
You see what I'm saying? I enjoy God's common grace. But I need God's saving grace. That's what I must have. I've
got to have that. One thing is needful. While many
things are enjoyable, one thing is needful. While many things
are to be desired, one thing is necessary. And that one thing
is forgiveness. Like the Samaritan woman, I need
forgiveness. It's not an option. I must have
it. I must have it. I must have forgiveness. Like the publican, I need mercy. I must have mercy. Lord, be merciful
to me, a sinner. I must have it. It's not an option.
It's something I've got to have. Like the leper, I need cleansing.
My sins must be cleansed. They're filthy and wretched in
God's sight. I need, I must have cleansing. Like blind Bartimaeus, I need
to see. I need a miracle performed. I
need to see the beauty of Christ and the glory of Christ and the
redemptive mercy of Christ. I need to see. Like the centurion,
I need faith. not something I'd just like to
have, not something I ought to have, it's something I must have.
I must have faith. Without faith it's impossible
to please God. He that cometh to God must, must,
must, that none other name unto heaven given among men whereby
we must, must be saved. A man must be born again. Like Lazarus, I need to be raised
from my dead state like Saul of Tarsus, I need to know Christ,
oh, that I may know Him. While many things are to be desired,
this is what our Lord is saying here, and while many things are
to be attended to, and I'm not asking you to neglect those things,
but I'm saying this, one thing is needful, and that one thing
is a living, vital union with the Son of God. I'm dealing in
necessities tonight. We're not talking about things
that would be nice to have. We're talking about things we
must have. He that hath not the Son hath not life. Without Him,
I can do nothing. Without Him, I'd surely fail.
Without Him, I'd be drifting like a ship without a sail. Without
Him, I'd be dying. Without Him, I'd be enslaved. Without Him, life would be hopeless,
hopeless. But with Jesus, thank God, I'm
safe. One thing is needful. Someone said it's impossible.
It's impossible to find a remedy if you don't understand the problem. It's impossible to discuss the
cure if you don't understand the disease. Now the disease
is sin. The cure is salvation. The problem
is man's sin. The remedy is God's grace. If
a man realizes his sin, he realizes his need of God's grace. And
he doesn't realize his need of God's grace until he's made aware
of his sin. If a man understands his problem,
he'll have some understanding of the solution. For example,
if a man is nearsighted, he only needs glasses. But if he's blind,
he needs a miracle. You see that? If a man, if he's
nearsighted, he only needs a little help. He only needs a little
assistance. He needs a pair of glasses to make his sight better,
to improve it. But if he's stone blind, he's
in need of a miracle from above. He's in need of a miracle that
only God can accomplish. That's what I'm talking about.
That's the need I'm talking about. To understand this one thing
that's needful, we've got to understand that which causes
it to be needful. If a man's sick, he only needs
medicine. If he's sick, he only needs to
call a doctor in to prescribe a medicine, an antibiotic or
something to relieve his problem. But if a man's dead, you never call a physician. You
call an undertaker, because nothing more can be done. But if a man's
dead in sin, he needs a miracle of God. He needs God to come
and stand beside his grave and say, Lazarus! Come forth. And his voice is the only voice
that can raise the dead. He said, Verily I say unto you,
the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear my voice,
and they that hear shall live. You say, that's talking about
the resurrection. I beg your pardon. The next verse is talking
about the resurrection. That's talking about the resurrection
from the dead, and it's obscene. If a man is only straying, he
needs direction, and that's all he needs. If he's straying, he
needs direction, but if he's lost, plum lost, he needs to
be found. And that's what I need, and that's
what you need. We need a miracle. We need the miracle of sight,
we need the miracle of light, we need the miracle of grace,
we need to be found. One thing is neat. What happened
to this man God created? Let's turn over here in the book
of Genesis a moment. What happened to this man that
God created? Genesis chapter 2. God created
man, and it says he created man in his own image, he created
man upright, He created man without sin, he put him in the garden
of Eden, verse 15, Genesis 2, put him in the garden of Eden
to dress it and to keep it, and the Lord God commanded the man,
saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat,
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die. But we know what happened. A
man fell, a man ate of that tree. And the scripture says because
he disobeyed God, because he rebelled against God, and because
he disobeyed God's word, that sin and death passed upon all
men. Turn to Romans chapter 5. How'd
we get in the mess we're in? What happened to the man God
created? God didn't create us blind. God didn't create us dead
in sin. God didn't create us depraved
and corrupted. He created us in His image, holy,
upright. But we sought out many inventions.
And because our daddy Adam sinned and because he was the representative
of the whole human race, it says in Romans 5.12, wherefore as
by one man sin entered into the world and death. Not only physical
death, which came later, but spiritual death. Death by sin,
so death passed upon all men, for all sin. Sin means moral
depravity. It not only means death, judgment,
and condemnation, it means moral depravity. David said, why am
I like I am? Turn to Psalm 51. Why am I like
I am? in Psalm chapter 51, begging
for mercy. He cries, O Lord, have mercy
upon me according to thy lovingkindness and according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgressions. Wash
me throughly. from mine iniquity, cleanse me
from my sin, acknowledge my transgressions, my sin is ever before me against
thee, and thee only have I sinned, and none this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and clear
when thou judgest. Why am I like I am? I'll tell
you why, verse 5, because I was shapen in iniquity. In sin my
mother conceived me. The wicked are strained from
the womb, they go astray. as soon as they're born, speaking
lies. What happened to the man God
made? He fell. And as a result of that rebellion,
sin and death and judgment and condemnation passed upon all
men. And from father to son and from
father to son, that total moral depravity was passed down through
the years. And sin not only means death
and judgment and condemnation and moral depravity, But sin
means condemnation before God's law. Turn to Romans 3, 19. God's
holy, unchangeable law. God's holy, immaculate, perfect
law. What does the law say to you
and me? In Romans chapter 3, verse 19, Now we know that what
things soever the law sayeth. What does it say? Sayeth to them
who are under the law. That's every son of Adam. that
every mouth may be stopped. That is our alibis and excuses. Well, I'm not bad as so-and-so.
Well, you're not good as God either. Well, I haven't sinned
like so-and-so sinned. I know you haven't, but you would
if God let you go. The only thing that's kept you
from being a regular devil is the restraining hand of God.
It's not because of your righteousness or your morality. It's lack of
opportunity a whole lot of times. The law says to them who are
under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the alibis
and excuses and justification of self should be put aside and
all the world become guilty, guilty, guilty. Guilty. I've never been to very many
trials. But there's something about the ringing of the word
guilty. I attended some of the war crimes
trials in Japan back immediately after World War II. There was
a young Japanese lieutenant who was in charge of a prisoner of
war camp and had mistreated some of the American soldiers and
sailors, and he was on trial. We knew what the consequences
would be if he was judged guilty or found guilty. I was there
on the last day of the trial. There were six, I forget, six
or seven army colonels who were trying him. Wasn't any jury,
these six or seven colonels. And he had his lawyer, and they
had theirs, and they brought forth all the facts and so forth,
and then when the last day came, it didn't take long, I was sitting
there during the last day of the trial, and they called his
name and had him stand, and his family was there, too, sitting
behind him. different folks and so forth,
and it was an awesome time. It was a fearful time. It was
cold and clammy in that room. And I knew he'd be hanged if
he was found guilty, and everybody else knew it, and he knew. And
they told him to stand, and he stood. And one of those colonels
who sat in the middle was a spokesman, and he said something to the
effect that the evidence had been presented and considered
and weighed, and we find you guilty! And that color just drained from
that man's face. He was a dead man. He was a dead
man. Take him out and hang him. And
I'll tell you, the law of God comes down upon every one of
us tonight and it says, GUILTY! And that man wasn't allowed to
open his mouth. He wasn't allowed to make another
plea. He was not allowed to present
another argument. He wasn't allowed to present
another alibi. GUILTY! That's all! Next. Next. Wait a minute. Next. You're
guilty. That's what God says about it.
That's what His law says. Guilty. And sin not only means
death and judgment and condemnation and moral depravity and guilt
before the law, but I'll tell you this, this awful disease
that we got from Adam means moral inability. That's what's sad
about this thing. In Romans chapter 8, look over
here at verse 7. Moral inability. Romans 8, verse
7, it says, because the carnal, and that's the natural mind.
This word carnal, we've got this thing misplaced. The word carnal
means natural, inhuman. That's what scripture means.
It talks about you behaving like carnal men, unspiritual. It's
the opposite of spiritual, behaving like carnal men. And the carnal
mind, the natural mind, just the plain old human mind. is
enmity against God. It is enmity. Now, Charlie doesn't
say it's at enmity, he says it is enmity. There's a difference.
The whole human race and every carnal mind, the whole head is
sick, Isaiah said. Not parts of it, all of it. The
whole heart is faint. And the carnal mind is enmity.
The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. It cannot
be. That's what it says. In no possible
way. So preachers that are trying to get folks, trying to legislate
morality, and trying to get folks to act nice according to law,
they're wasting their time. Because folks by nature are rebels. Folks by nature hate the law,
they're not subject to the law, and there's no way in this world
for them to ever be subject to the law unless something happens,
unless a miracle of grace takes place, unless God gives them
a new heart and a new life. So then, they that are in the
flesh, it doesn't matter whether they're in the pulpit or the
pew, it doesn't matter whether they're in the church or the
world, they that are in the flesh, unregenerate, unsaved, unbelievers,
cannot Please God, no way. The plowing of the wicked is
evil in the sight of God. Moral inability. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. This is what happened to the
man God made. What kind of mess are we in?
I'll tell you, we don't have any idea what a mess we are in,
in the sight of God, before the holy law of God. It turn your
hair white as snow, it make you tremble like old Belshazzar of
old, before the handwriting on the wall, because it's there.
It's there. The handwriting is there. Weed
and found wanting. Guilty! It's there. You talk
about the color draining from your face, if you could just
dream of the condition that natural men are in as a result of the
fall, as a result of the imputation of guilt and the impartation
of sin. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14, the
natural man, carnal natural man, unborn again, unregenerate, unsaved,
unbeliever, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God. He won't receive them. Why? Their
foolishness to him, sheer nonsense. Neither can he know them. because
they're spiritually understood. They're mysteries he don't know
anything about. I was talking this morning about
the ape. There is animal life, there's
human life, and there's spiritual life. And as that human life
is above animal life, spiritual life is above human life. Now you can take that ape and
you can teach him that when the light comes on, his food's in
the tray. You can go through that so many
times till he can do it mechanically, but he doesn't understand. He
just knows there's some connection between the light and the food
being there. He knows there's some connection between him bumping
something and a drawer coming open. You can teach him to do
that. He doesn't know how it's done. He doesn't know who does
it. He doesn't understand the mechanics of it, but he associates
these things when you do it so many times. And the same thing
is true of religious people. You can teach them the mechanics
of religion, but not the mysteries of the gospel. You can teach
them to bow at a certain time, you can teach them to cross at
a certain time, you can teach them to give in a certain way,
you can teach them like dumb animals to follow a ritual or
tradition that's been done by papa and papa's papa and papa's
papa's papa All the way back yonder we associate it with a
light coming on, or with a just as I am being sung, or with a
candle being lit, or with the sun rays through a stained glass
window. We are responsive emotionally
to these things by tradition. But you can't teach him the mystery
of it. the ways of God, the will of
God, the glory of God, the beauty of the King, how God can be just
and justify, how God in his righteousness can put away our sins because
his son was righteous as our representative. That's the reason
all of these preachers are so taken up with the mechanics of
the tribulation, and the mechanics of prophecy, and the mechanics
of church government, and the mechanics of certain rituals.
That's the reason they can get so excited on Easter, and so
excited on Christmas, and so excited on certain All Saints
Day, or something like that. These are mechanical things that
they receive, John, by tradition. But they know nothing of a prayer
life, they know nothing of a walking with God, they know nothing of
a fellowship with God, they know nothing of a mourning over sin,
they know nothing of the glory of the Redeemer, they know nothing
of his substitutionary death, they know nothing of God's righteousness. You see what I'm saying? The mechanics of religion can
be taught if it's repeated often enough. But the mystery of salvation
has to be revealed. And before it can be revealed,
a man's got to be changed from an ape to a man. He's got to be changed from a
natural mind to a spiritual mind. That's right. That's why he says
here in 1 Corinthians 2, he says verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 2, as
it's written, I have not seen ear hath not heard, neither hath
entered into the heart of natural man the things that God hath
prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God revealed." You can't see unless you've got
eyes, and God creates eyes. You can't hear unless you've
got ears. And this sin not only means moral depravity and guilt
before the law and moral inability, but it means eternal condemnation. The wages of sin is death. Eternal death. Separation from
God. The Bible says man is without
God. He's without Christ. He's without hope. He's without
strength. It says, He that believeth not
on the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him. The Scripture
says in Luke 19, he's lost. The Scripture says in Revelation
21.8, he's in danger of hell. Unless somebody does something.
Unless a remedy is found. That brings me to my second question.
Now you see my need, don't you? I need help. Without God, I need
God. Without Christ, I need a revelation. Without life, I need to be born
again. I need something. Well, is man
worth saving? Let me ask that question. I've
been working on that this week. Is man worth saving? Is he? Well, Satan says no. He says,
no, he does all within his power to keep men from God. That's
what our Lord said, Peter, Satan hath desired you, not that he
may do you good, but that he may sift you as wheat. Oh, just
like you take the old folks that used to use those things to sift
wheat, that put the wheat and the chaff and everything in there
and sift it, you know, and throw the junk away. Well, Satan hath
desired thee that he might put you through the strainer through
the mill. He hates God. He's the enemy
of God. He's the enemy of your soul.
And there's no mercy for fallen angels. And he wants no mercy
to be extended to men. He says, No! Man's not worth
saving. If angels aren't worth saving,
men are not worth saving. God has decreed that no lost
fallen angel is going to be saved. Turn to Hebrews 2. Verse 16,
listen to this. I don't understand this, but
I just know it's in God's Word. I don't have the answer for it. I tell you, we'll grow in grace
when we find out. I was talking this morning, a
couple of us, and when we come to the place where we can leave
the secret things with the Lord and ask Him to Let us enjoy the
reveal thing, but listen to this, Hebrews 2.16, "...verily he took
not on him," Christ took not on him, "...the nature of angels,
but he took on him the seed of Abraham." The angels fell first. But God was pleased to lead them,
the scripture says, reserved in everlasting chains in darkness
to the dead gentlemen. I don't understand that. I just
know it's so, that's what the scripture says. But man, a man
fell and his sin was akin to Satan's sin. But God's been pleased
to take on him the seed of Abraham, to be identified with the seed
of Abraham. But Satan says no. And the law
says no. Turn to Galatians 2. Is man worth
saving? Is man worth saving? Well, the
law says no. In Galatians 2, 16. Now listen
to this. Galatians 2, 16. Knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law. He's not. But by the faith of Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus Christ. Notice that's not in, that's
of. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh, if it's left up to
the law, and no human being going to be saved. The law says no,
no. No. No, sir. Justice says no. Turn to Job
25. The justice of God, the righteous
justice of God says no, man's not worth saving. The justice
of God cannot help us. The law of God cannot help us.
The rules and regulations and statutes of religion cannot help
us. He said in Job 25 verse 4, how
then can man Be justified with God. How can he be clean that's
born of a woman? Behold, even to the moon, and
it shineth not, yea, the stars are not pure in God's sight.
How much less man that is a what? That Hebrew word is maggot. I hate to use that, but that's
what that word is right there. Look it up. A worm. A worm. The justice of God says
no. All right, hold on. I'm glad
there's another voice to be heard. Is man worth saving? Is this
creature, this rebel, who because of sin is morally depraved and
morally corrupt? Paul said, the things I would
do, I don't do. The things I would not do, I
do. Morally depraved. Incapable in the flesh of pleasing
God. with sin and judgment and condemnation
of the law, already standing over there saying, guilty, guilty,
guilty in justice, saying the soul that's in it must, must,
must die. Is there another voice to be
heard? Is man worth saving? God says yes. God says, yes,
for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. Now, let me give you several
reasons why I believe God says man's worth saving. Here's the
first one. Turn to Genesis 1. I'm going
all the way back here to Genesis 1. to find the first reason why
I believe that God says man is worth saving. Man is worth saving. There is something particular,
particularly special about man. And this is where it starts,
Genesis 1.26. God says, let us make man in
our image. Now whatever has happened, whatever
has marred and twisted that image, there is still in man who was
created in God's image the potential and the capability of fellowship
with God. That's right. I know that so. How do I know that so? Because
my Lord became a man. He became a man. There is not
in the animal any potential to walk with God or fellowship with
God, because that animal was not created in God's image. There's
not in the trees or the flower any potential capability of fellowshiping
with God, but there is in this man. Even though I've fallen
and even though I'm depraved and even though I'm a wretched,
miserable, corrupt, relic compared to what Adam was
in the garden. Still, there is in man the potential
fellowship with God because he once did. Adam walked with God. That's right, he once did before
he fell. And man's worth saving, first
of all, for that reason, because he was created in the image of
God. And secondly, 1 Timothy chapter
2. Man's worth saving, God says,
and proves it because the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
became a man. 1 Timothy 2 verse 5 says this,
there's one God, And there's one mediator between God and
men. Oh, I tell you, these next two
words are so important. There was a preacher spoke in
our conference and he says, there's a man, there's a man at God's
right hand. And because there's a man at
God's right hand, there's a real good possibility that this man
can one day be there. You see what I'm saying? Now,
brethren, let me tell you something. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men and that's the man, Christ Jesus. I know
that men can go to heaven because a man's there. A man is there. I know that men can walk with
God because men have walked with God. I know that men can have
fellowship with God because man was created in the image of God
and because God's Son became a man. But now in order for me
to have that fellowship with God, God's got to create a new
man. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4 verse
24. A new man in the likeness and
image of that man who does walk with God, Jesus Christ. A new
man in the image and likeness of that one who is one with God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 4 verse 24. and that he put on the new man
which after God or by the power of God is created in righteousness
and true holiness in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
I tell you, that's what I need. That's what I need. And 2 Peter,
look at 2 Peter chapter 1. He talks about here Not improving
the old nature, but giving us a new nature. He's not talking
about putting new wine in old bottles and patches on old garments.
He's talking about a new nature, a divine nature, a nature with
which we were not originally born. In 2 Peter 1 verse 4, "...whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature." That's how
I can walk with God. That's how I can know God. That's
how I can fellowship with God. If I can, by the power of God's
Spirit, by the work of God's grace, by the purpose of God's
counsel, by the power of God's Word, if I can be a partaker
of the divine nature, is man worth saving? Hmm? God says yes, because God said
I created him in my image. And God gave evidence of it when
his son came down here from heaven and didn't take on him the nature
of angels. He took on himself the nature of man. He became
a man. And when he died on that cross
and paid our sin debt and obeyed the law on our behalf, he ascended
to heaven and a man sat down at God's right hand, accepted,
and in him every man that God gave him by his grace. And He has given us a divine
nature. Now let me talk about something here in close. We know
the need, we know where the need is found. God's grace is the
remedy for man's need. When we talk about grace, now
the Bible talks about grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith. We are saved not according to
our own righteousness and works, but according to His grace. We
sing amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch
like me. Listen to me now. When we talk
about grace for the guilty and being saved by grace, we're not
talking, listen to me, this is important, we're not talking
about grace itself as a remedy for sin, or grace as a way in
itself to put away sin, But when we talk about grace being the
answer to man's need, we're talking about God acting in grace toward
the sinner. It's not grace that saves me.
Charlie, it's God acting in grace. It's God who saves me acting
in grace. You see what I'm saying? We're not saying that grace as
a separate entity as grace as a something in itself. When we say, well, I'm saved
by grace, I beg your pardon. There's a sense in which that's
so and which is not so. You're saved by God acting in
grace. That's why when our Lord says,
thy faith hath made thee whole, faith itself didn't make you
whole, but faith in God who's able to make you whole. Faith
didn't die for you, Christ did. It is not grace that saves of
itself, it is God acting in grace. It's God who saves. It's God
who forgives. It's God who justifies us. It's
God who chooses. It's God who redeems us. It's
God who justifies us. Acting in grace. You must understand
that. And it's not faith in itself
that saves. This is one of the greatest errors
of this day. My sins are forgiven because
I believe. Your sins are forgiven if you
believe and when you believe, but it's God that forgives sin
by the merits of His Son. It's the blood of Christ that
puts away sin. It is not faith that saves my
soul, but it's God in Christ who saves me Because I'm a believer. I don't know how to make that
any plainer. For by the grace of God are you saved through
faith. It says, Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Gideon said, if I found grace
in thy sight. Moses said, if I found grace
in thy sight. Turn to the little book of Micah.
Over here in Micah, Chapter 7. This is a verse of scripture
that I have circled in this Bible that I use. I think it's the
book of Micah, the last chapter of Micah, chapter 7. This is
what I'm talking about. The faith that saves is the grace
of God. The grace that saves is the grace
of God. God acting in grace chose me. According to the good pleasure
of his own will, God in grace justified me. God in grace called
me. God in grace accepted me. God
in grace molds me and makes me what He wants me to be. God in
grace perfects me. And God will show His exceeding
riches of His grace toward me throughout eternity. Micah 7, 18, look at it. Who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression
of the rendement of His heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities.
And thou wilt cast all their sin into the depths of the sea. Who does the saving? God does. God does. It's God's grace. It's
God acting in grace in Christ Jesus our Lord. The grace of
God provides the fountain. Christ is the fountain. The grace
of God provides the bread, Christ is the bread. The grace of God
provides redemption, Christ is the redemption. One of the greatest errors of
our religious day is that men teach that a believer is saved
or justified on account of his faith, as if faith was accepted
in the place of the righteousness that God demands. No, sir. Faith
is not accepted in the place of that perfect righteousness
demanded by the Lord. I don't have a perfect righteousness.
I can't fulfill a perfect righteousness, so God accepts faith in the place
of that righteousness. No, sir. Christ came and fulfilled
that righteousness, and I believe in Him. Faith is not accepted
in the place of the sentence of death. God's justice says
death to the rebel, death to the unbeliever, death to the
sinner. And my faith doesn't take the
place of justice, righteous demand. Christ met us. The justice of
God poured out its wrath on Christ. And therefore in Him I have a
perfect righteousness and a perfect standing before God's law and
God's justice. And I'm saved because He loved
me. and gave himself, pardon me, one other verse, and I'll
close the message. 2 Timothy 1, verse 12. 2 Timothy 1, verse 12. Here, right here, is I think
the best definition of faith in the Bible, if I'm allowed
to say that. Not pitting one scripture against
another, but I suppose, let me put it this way, this definition
helped me in regard to faith better than any I've found. And
it's used by many old-timers. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.12,
for the which cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I'm
not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. Now note this,
faith is knowledge. It's knowledge of a person. Paul
didn't say, I know what I believe. Now we better be careful here.
He didn't say, I know what I believe. And he didn't try to trace his
salvation to a time and a place. That's dangerous. I know people
who say, well, if you don't know the time and the place when you
were saved, it's because you're not saved. Well, That's not scriptural. The Bible doesn't teach that.
I tell you, the apostle Peter, when was he saved? I don't have
the faintest idea, Larry, when Peter was saved. I know this
after three and a half years with the Lord. Our Lord said,
now when you have converted, you strengthen your brethren.
But yet I know that Peter said when he was sitting by that fire,
Lord, you know I love you. You know, I love you. It's not
important. Let me tell you something. This
is something that occurred to me when I was talking to some
folks last week about... I was eating lunch with a man
and his wife down in Shreveport, Louisiana, and he said, Brother
May, he said, tell me what you think about about our religious
background. He said, now I was brought up
in a Southern Baptist church. And I'll have to tell you this.
He said, I never really heard the gospel of grace. I never
heard of God's sovereign grace and the merits of Christ in the
sense that he's a substitute and the effectual redeemer. But
he said, I was interested. He said, and I made a profession.
I was baptized and I went to church. And he said, then one
day about two years ago, I heard the grace of God, the gospel
of God's glory." And he said, now, what about this, the people
who are saved, was I saved, and just now came, now let me help
you a little bit here. There was a man called Cornelius,
remember, in the Scripture? The Bible says that Cornelius
was a devout man who prayed, who called on God, who had an
interest in God, who was seeking God. But he really, Darwin, didn't
know the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't know Christ until God
sent Peter to him to tell him about Christ. But now he's interested.
He was devout, and he was religious, and he was a man who prayed.
He was a man who gave his tithes. He was a man who went to the
places of worship. He was a man who traded his neighbor
right. He was a law-abiding man. He was a moral man, but he didn't
know who the Savior was until Peter came to him. Now, there
was a man named, there was an Ethiopian eunuch. Are you familiar
with him? He didn't just suddenly pick up a Bible and start reading
it. This Ethiopian eunuch was interested in God for a long
time. He had the copy of the Scriptures,
and he had made this long journey to Jerusalem. This man didn't
do that on impulse. They didn't, didn't somebody
invite him to be one of the thousand in Sunday school and get him
to go away to Jerusalem. That was a long ways. He wanted
to go. He was seeking God. Sincere,
devout, interested. Concerned? And he'd been to Jerusalem,
they hadn't helped him up there, and he'd come back and he was
reading the scriptures, and God made Philip to cross his path.
Now, he was one of God's own. Or he wouldn't have been reading
the scriptures to start with. God wouldn't have sent Philip
to him. Philip came because this man
was one of God's own. When was he saved? When did God
begin a work in his heart? Well, God began a work in Cornelius'
heart long before he met Peter. He began to work in the Ethiopian
unit long before he met Philip, or he never would have met him.
And the same thing is true of some of you, same thing is true
of me. I can remember back when I was nine years old being strongly
interested in the things of God. I read the Bible, went to church,
made a profession with that time. Energetic, enthusiastic, all
the way through high school, went in the Navy, 18 years old,
on board a ship, I preached every Sunday. But one day, this whole
thing came together when God sent me a messenger to tell me
what I was looking for, to tell me about Him whom I saw, to tell
me about Him whom my heart desired.