Faith - What? Why? How?

The text again, Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9. For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of
works, lest any man should boast." Now, what is faith? Why has God chosen faith to be
the channel of salvation? How is saving faith to be received,
to be obtained? I'm going to try to deal with
those three points, but before we get to faith, one thing needs
to be emphatically strongly emphasized, and that is, the fountainhead
of salvation is not faith. The fountainhead of salvation
is not faith, it's the grace of God. Now note this verse again
carefully, verse 8, look at it carefully. For by grace are you saved, through faith. The two words to note there,
by grace you're saved. It doesn't say by faith you're
saved. It says by grace are you saved, through faith. It is because
God is gracious that we're forgiven, not because we believe. It is
because God is gracious that we are heirs of eternal life.
It is because God is gracious that we're delivered from the
penalty and the power and the practice of sin, not because
of anything we do or because of anything in us. The river
of life flows from the throne of God. Christ said, I am the
bread of life. Faith is not the bread of life.
Christ is. Our Lord said, I am the water
of life. Faith is not the water of life.
Faith cannot quench the thirst. Christ can. And that is so important. And you must see that before
we go any further. It is because God is gracious
that we're forgiven, not because we believe. Faith is not the
fountainhead of salvation. We're not saved by faith. We're saved by grace through
faith. It is because Christ obeyed the
law that we're righteous. It is because Christ, our representative,
died as our substitute that we are redeemed. Peter said, we
know that we're not redeemed by corruptible things such as
silver and gold, what we produce or what we bring or what we give,
but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot. We're redeemed by the blood of
the lamb. We're not redeemed by faith, we're redeemed by Christ. Do you see what I'm saying? We
must not make a Savior out of faith. We must not make a Savior
out of faith. We do not look to our faith.
I hear people say that. Look to your faith. Well, you'll
totally fail if you do. The Scripture tells us to look
to Christ. Looking to Jesus, who is the
author and finisher of our faith. Not looking to our faith, looking
to Christ. He's the Redeemer. It is by His
work that we stand. It is by His grace that we can
come into the presence of the Heavenly Father. So this must
be emphatically emphasized before we can go any further, for by
grace are you saved. It is by the grace of God, it
is by the blood of Christ, it is by the righteousness of the
Redeemer, it is by the intercessory work of our Mediator, it is by
Christ that we stand, that we are saved, that we are forgiven.
But it's through faith. Now, let me see if I can illustrate
that. This grace of God by which we're
saved, this work of Christ by which we're redeemed, is conducted
to us through faith. Faith is essential. But we do
not crown the faith, we crown him. Now, electricity lights
our homes. It is the electricity that lights
the home. It comes to us through the wires.
It is not the wires in here that brings this light, it's the electricity
that brings the light, but the wires bring the light to us.
Water meets our needs. Water serves our needs. But that
water is conducted to us through pipes. That's how we get it here. The water is there, we want it
here, it's brought to us through pipes. Food builds and strengthens
our bodies, but it comes by the hand. It comes by the mouth,
the hand reaches for the water, reaches for the food. And even
so, all spiritual blessings come to us, salvation, eternal life,
healing, comfort, communion with God, all of these are because
of Christ. And yet the That which conducts
it to us is faith. The power is not in the faith,
but in God, upon whom the faith relies and to whom the faith
looks. Christ is our peace, but faith enters into that peace. Christ is our righteousness,
but faith lays hold on that righteousness. Christ is our atonement, but
faith looks to him. Christ is our redemption, But
faith clings to him. Christ is our Savior, but faith
believes on him. Do you see that? By grace you
are saved through faith. Saved by grace, by God the Father,
by Christ the Son, by the Holy Spirit, but saved through faith. Never without faith. Now let
me show you some scripture on that. First of all, in Mark 16.
Mark the 16th chapter, verse 15. And he said unto them, this
is the Master speaking. And he said unto them, Go ye
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall
be damned. It's the grace of God that saves.
But faith conducts that grace to us, and us to that grace.
And he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth
not shall be damned, never without faith. Turn to Hebrews 4, in
the fourth chapter of Hebrews, verse 1 and 2. Hebrews 4, 1 and
2, listen. Let us therefore fear lest a
promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should
seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them," talking about Israel and the wilderness. But the Word did not profit them. Why not? The Word is powerful. The Word of God is saving. The Word of God is effectual. The Word of God is sufficient.
But it didn't profit them, why not? Listen. Not being mixed
with faith in them that hurt. It's the word that heals. It's
the word that convicts. It's the word that reveals. It's
the word that gives assurance. It's the word that brings rest.
It's the word that gives confidence. But it does not give any of those
things unless it's received by faith. Turn to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Verse 6, but without faith, but without faith, it is impossible
to please God. He that cometh to God, whether
in prayer or whether in repentance or whether for mercy, must, must,
must believe that he is. And that he's the rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. Now Acts 13, 48. Acts 13, 48. Now these preparatory comments
are essential to the message. Acts 13, 48. And when the Gentiles
heard this. Acts 13, 48. And when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad. And they glorified the word of
the Lord. And as many were ordained alive, eternal life, they believed. So here's what we're saying,
here's what the Word of God is teaching, that faith is not the Savior.
The believer does not look to his faith. He longs for more
faith, he prays that God might increase his faith, he knows
the importance of faith, but he looks to Christ. We do not
crown faith, we crown Him. We rejoice in Him. We magnify
His grace and His glory. For it's by His grace that we're
saved. It's by His atonement, it's by
His work, by His sacrifice, by His blood that we're cleansed.
He is our peace. He is our righteousness. He is
our wisdom. He is our sanctification. He
is our redemption. But that communion and connection
is secured through faith, through faith. Now, so that makes these
next three questions interesting to me. Whether they are to you,
I don't know, but they are to me, because I see the importance
of faith. I see that prayer is a mockery
without faith. I see that mercy is impossible
out of reach without faith. I see that any spiritual blessing
is impossible without faith. Our Lord said to Peter, I've
prayed for you that your faith fail not. That your faith fail
not. Now what is it? What is saving
faith? Well, there are many definitions
of faith, and most of them personally leave me more confused than Edifier. I was reading about a preacher
the other day. He said he got his words mixed
up. Instead of saying he was going
to expound a passage of Scripture, he said, I'm going to confound
this passage of Scripture. Well, that's done too much. We hear men say, well, have faith,
have faith. Well, that's not sufficient.
Or someone else says, well, keep the faith. That doesn't help
me a whole lot. And I hear others say, well,
only believe, only believe. That doesn't help me a whole
lot either. In all of my studies in these past many years, I have
found no better definition of faith than the one given by Charles
Spurgeon, and one which he secured from the old writers. It's a threefold definition.
This is faith. I believe it's the best definition
I've ever come across in all of the reading that I've done
on the subject of faith. First of all, in faith there
must be knowledge. Now, you can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. It can't be done. Perhaps you feel like you can
believe what you don't know, but I fail to see how." And Paul
asked that question. Turn to Romans 10, and listen
to Paul here. He asked there, How can you believe
what you don't know? How can you trust a person with
whom you're not acquainted? I don't believe it's possible.
And that's what Paul is saying in Romans 10 and 13. He says
in verse 13, Romans 10, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord, that name there of the Lord, not just of any God, but
call upon Him whose name is Jehovah, whose name is Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness, whose name is the Lord our peace, whose
name is the Lord our Creator, whose name is the Lord our Sovereign.
Now that's who we call upon, the name of the Lord. If you
don't know Him, who he is, his attributes. How can you call
on him? That's what he said. How can
they call on him in whom they haven't believed, and how shall
they believe in him of whom they haven't heard? Of whom they haven't heard. Our
Lord said in John 5, 24, "...verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life, but he hears my word." There are two ways that we come
to know Christ. The first is through hearing
the gospel. Romans 10, 17 says, "...faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." And then
Ephesians 1, look here across from our text. It says in verse
13, Ephesians 1, in whom you trusted after you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. It's impossible to
have confidence in, it's impossible to believe in, it's impossible
to trust in, to commit to someone you do not know. Through the Word of God, we hear
ruin by the fall, and we come to an understanding of what that
ruin resulted in. Through the Word of God, we hear
of the incarnation of the Redeemer, of redemption by the cross. Through
the Word of God, we hear of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. We hear.
Paul, turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Listen to Paul here, the importance
of preaching the Word. In 1 Corinthians 1.17, Paul said,
Christ sent me not to baptize, just to perform religious ordinances,
but to preach the gospel. And not with wisdom of words,
wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ should be made of non-effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that are perishing foolishness, but unto us which
are saved or who are being saved, it's the power of God. Read verse
23. But we preach Christ crucified
to the Jew a stumbling block to the Greeks or Gentiles foolishness,
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Preaching. That's how
faith comes. Knowledge is first. Faith is
made up, first of all, of knowledge, and we hear the Word of God.
And then we see. Turn to John 6, verse 40. Our Lord said in John 6, 40, And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one that seeth the Son. And we're not
talking about seeing him with the natural eye, because many
saw him that way who rejected him, who denied him, who despised
him, who crucified him, but we're talking about seeing him with
eyes of faith, seeing Christ in his eternal glory. He said,
Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. Can you see him in his eternal glory? He was
in the beginning with God, and he was God, and all things were
made by him. Can you see him in his eternal
glory? And then it's to see him in his
incarnate glory. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The people of his day who saw
him said, well, we know him, he's the carpenter. But Peter
said, he's the Son of God. Now, they saw him differently,
didn't they? Our Lord said, they have eyes but can't see, they
have ears but can't hear, hearts but can't understand. Peter,
blessed are your eyes, they see. What do you see, Peter? He didn't
see the same thing those Pharisees saw. They said, well, this man's
a winebibber, he's a glutton, gluttonous man, he's an imposter. Peter said, he's the Son of God. Thomas bowed down and said, my
Lord and my God, while they cried, If you're the Son of God, come
down, we'll believe you. But these people, when they looked
at Christ, saw two totally different visions, revelations. These natural men saw as natural
men. They saw a human being that laid
claim to some supernatural things. These disciples saw, as their
eyes had been opened by the Holy Spirit, their Master, their Messiah,
their Redeemer, the promise Christ. Our Lord said, Whom do men, natural
men, say that I am? Well, some say you're a great
prophet, some say you're Elijah, some say you're this, that, and
the other. Whom do you say that I am? Well,
you only say what you have heard or what you have seen. And Peter
said, You're the Christ, the Son of God. He said, Blessed
art thou, Peter. Have you seen him in his incarnate
glory? Have you seen him in his redeeming
glory? The centurion, after he was crucified,
said, Surely this man was the Son of God. Have you seen him in his resurrected
glory? Stephen died as they stoned him,
and the Scripture said, He said, I see Christ on the right hand
of the Father. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Have you seen him on the right hand of the Father in his intercessory
glory, mediatorial glory? Have you seen him in his coming
glory? Even so come, Lord Jesus. A faith,
there can be no saving faith apart from knowledge. And knowledge
comes by hearing, not just hearing religious people talk, hearing
the word of God, he that heareth my word. Not hearing social essays
and book reviews and what's wrong with the world, it's hearing
his word. And those who preach his word
preach Christ. It's seeing the Lord Jesus in
his eternal glory, in his incarnate glory, in his redeeming glory,
in his resurrected glory, in his coming glory, it's seeing
him. That's the first part of faith.
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. It's not just
any God that can save, it's the one God. Eternal life is to know
the living God. Not any God, not some God, not
a God, the living God. And the living God is revealed
in his word. The living God revealed in his
Son, he that hath seen me, Christ said, hath seen the Father. And
no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son
will reveal him." That's so. The second part of faith is this,
confidence. Confidence follows knowledge.
Now what the ear hears and what the eye sees, the heart believes. what the spiritual ear hears,
what the spiritual eye sees, what God reveals to you. My Father
revealed it to you, Christ said to Peter. And what that ear hears
and what the eye sees, the heart believes. Paul said, I know whom
I have believed, and I am persuaded, I am confident that he is able
to keep that which I have committed to him. Now, why are we confident
that Christ is able to keep? Why do we have confidence in
him? We've heard who he is and what he did. Well, we're confident
that he can keep because of who he is. Turn to 1 Samuel. Here's
a question over here. I was listening to the radio
back years ago. Brother Lawrence Hicks and I
used to be on the radio station WCMI together. One of us was
on first, I think it was me, I'm not sure. One of us was first
and then the other one followed. We had a nice fellowship, Brother
Hicks and I did. And one day I either was coming
to the station or leaving the station, I heard him preaching
on 1 Samuel 2.25. And I'd never heard a sermon
on this text before. I thought it was one of the finest
texts and finest sermons I'd heard. Listen carefully to it.
1 Samuel 2, verse 25, "...if one man sin against another,
the judge shall judge him." Now, that's sensible. If you have
a conflict with your neighbor, they'll settle it down 17th Street and Greenup Avenue. But if a man sins against the
Lord, who's going to stand for him?
That's a pretty good question. If a man sins against the Lord,
who shall entreat for him? Who's going to do business between
you and God? Who's going to settle the matter? Pretty good question.
Well, there's no way in the world that your mama and daddy can
do it. They might be super-religious, and they might be hyper-religious,
and they might be super-pious, but there's no way that they
can do anything about your offense against God Almighty. There's
nothing they can do. And if you want to, you can adopt
their religion that they handed down to you, and that won't help
you either. And the preacher can't do it, and the Pope can't
do it, and the priest, you can go down and pay your bills and
count your beads and confess your sins through that little
door, but I guarantee you there's nothing that man can do for you
who have sinned against the Lord, for me. Who shall stand for it? I tell you, the only one who
can is the one that God Almighty has designated to be our mediator. You know what a mediator is?
One who stands between two who are in trouble. Almighty God,
who is sovereign and holy and against whom we've sinned, and
here we are. Now, who's going to handle this matter between
you and God? Who's going to mediate, intercede? Well, the Bible says,
now listen carefully, there is one God There's one mediator
between God and men. One. Not more than one, one. And that is the man Christ Jesus.
That's what's said. You've got to get to the Father
in order to be reconciled to the Father. In order for anything
to be fixed up between you and the Father, it's got to go between
this person right here, the Lord Jesus Christ. No man cometh to
the Father, he said, but by me. You can't get around Christ.
You can't push Christ aside. You can't ignore him. There's
no way to the Father but through the Son. And that's the reason
I have confidence in him. He's the only one. And he's the
sufficient one. And the reason I have confidence
in him is because of what he did. My sins were between me
and God. David said, your sins have separated
you from God. And Christ came down here and
removed my sins. He died for them, paid for them.
Suffered father and he moved on and Almighty God demanded
of me a perfect righteousness a perfect obedience and Christ
came and did that And then I'm confident I'm confident
I know whom I have believed this mediator this intercessor Because
of who he is. He's the Son of God. He's the
Christ because of what he did he took my sins and thirdly because
of where he is turn to Hebrews 10 and Now, this is important. Here, look at Hebrews 10 a moment,
verse 11. Hebrews 10, 11. Now, this scripture
is talking about the Old Testament priests, the men who ministered
about the tabernacle. And it says, every priest, Hebrews
10, verse 11, every priest, and there were many of them, standeth
daily. The reason they stand is they
never finished their work. There wasn't a chair in that
tabernacle. They stand daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down where? At the right
hand of God. from henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Where is he? At the right hand
of God. He's not in some little cubicle,
15 by 15 by 15. He's not down on the street corner
somewhere in a little stone church with a lot of idols around it
and stained-glass windows. He's on the right hand of God. That's where he is. So Paul says,
I know whom I have believed. I know, I've heard and I've seen.
And therefore I'm confident that he's able. Now, what's the third
part of faith? To keep that which I have committed. And the third part of faith is
trust. I know these things about Christ
and myself. I'm confident he's able to reconcile
me to the Father and put away my sins. I trust him. I trust him, I commit myself
to him. Now, there's a two-fold committal
to faith. There's a two-fold committal,
and really one is useless without the other. Turn to Romans 10. I'll show you this two-fold committal.
Romans chapter 10, verse 9 and 10. And as I read it, you'll
find it, you'll see it. Romans 10, 9 and 10, that if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, Jesus to be Lord,
and shall believe in thine heart, God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. What is the twofold committal?
You see it, the two words, the word heart and the word mouth. First of all, it's a heart committal.
Now this is something between me and God. You're not involved
in this. You're not involved in this. between me and God.
Over here, let me, don't turn and take your moment, let me
turn over here to 1 Kings and read you something. Chapter 20,
the king of Israel said to the king of Syria, in 1 Kings 20
verse 4, he surrendered. And this is what he said when
he surrendered. I am thine and all that I have is thine. Now that's a heart surrender.
That's everything. I am thine and all that I have."
Now, in true faith, that takes place between you and God. That's
with the heart. Look at verse 10. With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness. That's where the work is done.
Salvation is a hard work. It's a hard work. No need you
claiming, I'm a Christian, I'm a church member, I'm this, I'm
that, I'm the other, unless it's happened in here. That's mockery. Be not deceived, God's not mocked. God's not deceived. And this
saving work, this saving faith goes on in here. I've heard His
word, I've seen His glory, spiritually, and as far as I'm concerned,
I belong to Christ. I'm His and all that I have is
His. I believe this word. I believe in divine sovereignty.
I believe in the covenant of grace. I believe in the representative
work of Christ. I believe in his effectual particular
atonement. I believe in his intercessory
work. I believe those things in here. That's between me and
God. If you don't believe them, that's
your business. That's your business. If you don't believe the Scripture,
that's between you and God, too. But I believe it. I know whom
I have believed. the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm confident
he's able to keep. He's able. I'm not trusting a
church or a profession or a creed or a catechism or a denomination
or a sectarian position or an ordinance. Trusting a person.
I know he's able because of who he is and what he did and where
he is. And in my heart I've committed it to him. And now the second
part of that committal is a confession with our And that's a public
committal, that's a public confession. I come to confess Christ publicly
as my Lord and Savior before the congregation. How does one
do that? Well, if you'll read the New Testament, you'll find
they did it by baptism. That's how they confessed Christ.
Read your Bible. Our Lord said in Mark 16, 16,
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. You'll find in
the Book of Acts at Pentecost, all that received the Word were
baptized. You'll find in the 8th chapter
of the Book of Acts that the Ethiopian eunuch said, I believe
on Christ, what does hinder me from being baptized? And Philip
stopped the chariot and both went down into the water and
came forth out of the water. In Acts 16, Lydia was baptized. The Philippian jailer was baptized.
Cornelius was baptized. All the way through the Scripture.
They were baptized confessing what was done in here. Baptism
is for believers. You don't put water on infants
because they're not believers. There's no way possible. Nowhere
in the New Testament, Old Testament, from Genesis to Revelation, is
a single command to baptize an infant, is a single example of
one being baptized or sprinkled. It's not in the Word of God anywhere.
It's a concoction of men. And there isn't a living human
being who can find one single example in the scripture of anybody
being baptized who was not, first of all, a believer. It's just
not there. Because baptism is a confession
of faith. It's an identification. It is
saying, when Christ died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he rose again, I rose again. It's identification with a Christ.
That's faith. Faith is knowledge, which comes
by hearing and seeing spirits. Faith is confidence, which comes
because we know who he is and what he's done and where he is.
And it's trust. It's committal. It's first a
heart committal. Nobody can come back and take
you by the arm, bring you down to the front here, and accomplish
a heart relationship between you and God. That's got to be
done alone. And when that work is done, then
you confess what you believe. The building's on fire. Everybody
that believes it starts out the door. The man who sits there
and says, well, I believe it, but I'm not going to leave. Well, he doesn't believe it too
strongly. Why is faith chosen by God as the channel of salvation? For by grace he is saved through
faith." Why? Let me tell you something. Any
time you deal with why God does anything, you better be extremely
modest and extremely careful and extremely humble. Why did
God permit the fall? You better handle that very carefully.
Why has God chosen, why did God permit Cain to kill Abel? Why
does God permit Satan to continue to trouble this world when he
could cut him off in a moment and someday will? Why? You just
have to be real careful when you handle why does God do so-and-so. But I'm going to say this. God's
ways are not our ways, and God's ways are sometimes hard to understand.
Not always. Believe, yes, always. But as
far as I can tell, there are three reasons why faith has been
chosen of God to be the channel of blessing. The first is this.
It gives all the glory to God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now, natural flesh wants to boast. Natural flesh wants the glory.
But the scripture says, Of him are you in Christ Jesus, who
has made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
that is, as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. The hand that receives charity can't be very proud,
can it? The beggar that receives a handout
of mercy can't be very proud. So salvation is by grace through
faith that God might have all the glory. Think about it from
that standpoint. Secondly, salvation comes to
us by faith in order that God might have all the glory. Secondly,
in order that the door of salvation might be opened, the door of
mercy might be opened to all who will come. Now, I can't keep
God's perfect law, but I can believe. I can't satisfy God's
infinite justice, but I can believe. I can't write my name in the
Book of Life, but I can believe. There is no condition and there
is no position from which I cannot believe. You see what I'm saying? If you set up certain conditions
of salvation which man must meet, you rule out, every time you
establish a condition, you rule out another class of people.
So the only condition is faith. And there isn't a human being,
not a son of Adam, who cannot believe. So the door is open. The door
of mercy is open to all who will come. There's nothing for you
to do but believe. And thirdly, now this is important
here, why is faith the channel of blessing, the channel of salvation? Because it gives all the glory
to God because it opens the door of mercy to all who will come.
And thirdly, because it brings me into union with Christ and
thereby into security. Now listen to this illustration.
I've stood on the banks, both sides of Niagara Falls, the Niagara
River. It's a breathtaking sight. And as I stood over there on
the Canadian side, I just read a story about two children one
of which was saved and the other swept over the fall. And the
little boy lived, if I remember correctly. But anyway, suppose
a man's coming down that river, he's fallen out of a boat or
fallen off the shore, and he's coming down that river and he
clings to logs, but that doesn't save him because the logs are
going on down the river too, and he clings to boards and he
clings to even an inn or two. or just anything that's out there
floating, but he can't be saved because these things are going
down the river to destruction too. But suppose I take a strong,
heavy rope, and I throw it to him, and he grabs hold of that
rope. Now then, he can be saved. Why? Because there's a connection
between him and me. The reason the log couldn't save
him is the log had no connection with the shore. The log was in
the same shape he was in. I might trust my righteousness
and my church membership and my giving and my preaching and
my praying and my good works and all these things, but they're
flesh, too. They're in the sweeping, swift-flowing
river, too. I've got to maintain some kind
of communion or connection with that which is secure, and that
which is heavenly, and that which is sure. And this man's not going
to perish out there till I perish. I've got a hold of this end of
the rope, and he's got a hold of the other one, and there's
no way he's going to perish till I do. And I can bring him in. Now, I can cling to these other
things, and many people do. You say, yes, I've had an experience,
or I've joined the church, or I've been sprinkled, or I've
been baptized, come to the Lord's table, or I've taken the sacraments,
or I give, all these things are flesh too. They're all in the
area of flesh, and they're going down the river too. But if somehow
you can establish a connection between you and him who is secure,
you can't perish till he does. You can't fall till he does.
You can't be swept to destruction unless he is. And that's what
faith does. Faith clings to Christ and establishes
a connection, a union, between me and Him. All the logs around
can be swept on down the river, but not those who are joined
to Him. Now last of all, and I close,
faith, how is it obtained? Now let me say this, and let
me be perfectly frank. I don't, I like, I'm a person
who likes to have whatever relationship I have with people on top of
the table. Let's see what it looks like. Here it is. And in
preaching, it's vital and important that we be totally honest. I
know there are people, the majority of whom, are not interested in
obtaining this kind of faith. They're going to cling to their
sectarianism. They're going to cling to their
denominationalism. They're going to cling to their
religious tradition. There's no way you can move them.
They're going to cling to their custom. There's no way you can
shake them. The Pharisees were that way. Christ said, I've come
in my Father's name and you won't believe me. Let another come
in his own name and him you will believe. He looks good, he talks
good, he presents a good argument and human logic, and you're just
determined to hold on to these things that are nothing but sinking
sand. There's nothing we can do for
you if that's what you intend to do. But for those who are
interested in obtaining saving faith, for those who are not
set to defend a tradition or a custom or a denomination or
an old experience that stays old, I've got these words to
say, how can you obtain this saving faith? Note the authority upon which
you are commanded to believe. It's not my word, it's God's
word. It is not the word of the Church,
it is God's word. It's the word of Christ himself.
He said, come unto me and I'll give you rest. He said that. He said, He that believeth on
the Son hath life. He said that. That's the authority. You're commanded to believe on
that authority. Spurgeon said one time there
was a foreman who worked for a man in his church. The man
in his church was a businessman. He had a foreman who worked for
him, and this man in Spurgeon's church was always talking to
this foreman about salvation. Every opportunity he got, he
didn't wear him out with it, but every opportunity he got,
he'd mention something about the gospel and his pastor and church
and what he believed. And the foreman would say, well,
I'd like to be a Christian, but I just don't know whether the
Lord would receive me or not. I just don't know whether whether
the Lord had saved me, and he just kept giving excuses. And
finally, one day the foreman came in the office, and there
was a note on his desk from the boss. And the note was very brief,
but very pointed. It said, Be at my house immediately
after work. And the boss signed his name.
And the foreman picked it up, and it troubled him a little
bit. The boss had never talked to him that way before. Be at
my house immediately after work. So immediately when he shut down
the mill, he headed for the boss's house, and he walked up, knocked
on the door, and the boss came to the door and said, What do
you want, John? Well, he said, You sent for me. He said, You
mean to tell me that you came by my house simply because I
sent for you? Well, he said, Yes, sir. He said,
I got a note signed by you on my desk that told me to be at
your house immediately after work, and because you sent for
me, I've come. He said, come in a minute, John.
So they went in the house, and the boss got his Bible down and
turned to Matthew 11, verse 28. And he said, John, read that
verse right there. And John looked at it, and he said, come unto
me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you
rest. Now he said, John, you believe me. I'm a human being. I left a message for you on your
death, and I told you to come to my house And you came solely
because I invited you and because I commanded you and because I
told you you could come. And you obeyed. Now here's the
voice of the Son of God himself who says to you, come to me.
Why don't you obey him? Spurgeon said that that was blessed
to that man's salvation, those few words. That's the authority. Christ says come. Secondly, if
you want saving faith, note the experience of inspired men. Now note this carefully. It's
dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. to listen to and try to imitate
the experience of uninspired religionists. Now that's dangerous.
It's dangerous to build any hope on the testimony of an uninspired
religionist. And who is that? That's me. And
that's you. And that's any human being outside
of those who wrote this book. I'm serious about that. But you and I can trust the writers
of Holy Scripture, because they were moved by the Holy Ghost. You see, I'm very serious here
now. Don't you try to imitate, listen
to, copy the experience of any uninspired religionist. I don't
care who they are. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Huss,
Edwards, Spurgeon, Whitfield, Finley, Finney, or any of them. You don't know whether those
men knew the Lord or not. You hope they did, and they sound
like they did. They did, but you don't know for sure. But
these men you know. All Scripture is God-breathed. Holy men of God speak as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit. If you want faith, I seriously
say to you, lay aside the books that tell you how to obtain faith
and open this book. Lay aside all of the experiences
you read about other people, how they were baptized with the
Holy Ghost, how they came to faith, how they are uninspired
men, and take this book right here and read what God says,
read what His servants say, read what Paul said. He turned to
the Philippian jailer and said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Read what John said. These things are written that
you might believe, and that believing you might have life in His name. Now thirdly, how to obtain saving
faith. Number one, note the authority
that invites you to come. Secondly, follow the experience
of inspired men. Not uninspired men, inspired
men. Thirdly, think upon the alternatives
that are open to you. Now here's the alternative. Our
Lord one day preached and all these people left. And he turned
to his disciples and he said, will you go away? And they said,
now listen, Lord, to whom shall we go? And that's something for you
to consider now. You consider it carefully. Do I adopt my hope for eternity? Some kind of tradition, religious
tradition, that maybe has existed in some country? Do I follow
their plans and their religious tradition? What is the authority
for it? What is the basis for it? What
is the hope of it? Do I adopt some kind of denominational
custom or beliefs? I buy me a book on what Baptists
believe, or what Methodists believe, or what Presbyterians believe,
or what Catholics believe, and I read it and say, that sounds
good, I'll take that. Do you want to rest your soul
on that? Your hope in death and judgment and heaven and hell
and eternity? It's either Christ or all these
other things. Now you, to whom shall we go?
Where would you tell me to turn? I'm resting upon this book. I'm
resting upon the Christ of this book. I'm resting upon the cross
of that Christ. I'm resting upon the mediatorial
work of the Son of God. I'm resting upon His grace. And you have something else to
offer. You want me to rest in this water? You want me to rest
in a wafer of wine? You want me to rest in a tradition
of some old denomination? You want me to rest in some musty
spiderweb-covered, dust-covered books that were written by some
strange, weird old character back years ago? No, thank you.
I don't care for it. If you want to, that's your privilege.
To whom shall we go? That's the way I feel. I've got
no other alternative. It's Christ or chaos. It's Christ
or hell. I've got no other alternative.
And then here's the fourth thing. If you would have saving faith,
I would say this. Pray for faith. Pray for faith. Ask God to increase your faith.
The disciples did. They said, Lord, increase our
faith. And I'll tell you this, and this
is the premise upon which I operate in preparing these messages.
If you wrote a book, if Cecil, if you wrote a book, And you
gave it to me to read. And I found some things in that
book that you wrote that I didn't understand. You know what I'd
do? I'd come to you and I'd say,
now explain that to me. Now why don't you do that with
God's book? Lord, explain it to me. That's all. You have not because
you asked not. If any man would know the will
of God, Christ said he'll know it if he's sincere. God will
reveal it to him. That's what I'd do. I'd say,
Lord, my faith is weak. Help my unbelief. Lord, here's
my trouble. And get on your face before God.
Here's my whole trouble. I want to believe. I want my
faith increased. I want to rest in Christ. I reveal
Him to him. And if you ask, you'll receive.
If you knock, it shall be open. Now, I hope I won't preach this
long tonight. I try not to. We'll get on grace tonight. That's
faith. But, Lord, you come lead us in
a closing hymn, if you will.

Faith - What? Why? How?

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Faith - What? Why? How?

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