Saved Through Faith

For by grace are you saved through
faith." Now, if there's any doctrine that is perfectly clear in the
Word of God and without question, it is that men are saved from
sin by faith or through faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. If
there's anything that's clear in the Bible, It is that we are
redeemed by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Now that's so. When our Lord
sent his disciples after his crucifixion, his resurrection,
when he sent his disciples to preach, he said to them, you
go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth
not shall be damned. That's what he said to them.
And then in John chapter 3, beginning with verse 14, the scripture
says, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And
then in John 5, verse 24, our Lord said this, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life. And Paul in Romans 10,
9 and 10 says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus
to be Lord, and believe in thine heart, believe that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Nothing is said
about church organizations or church ceremonies or church ordinances
or church traditions or even human obedience, just faith,
faith, believing on Him. And then 1 John 5, verse 11,
this is the record. God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. And these things have I written
unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life. So if there's anything
that's perfectly clear, And without question, in the Word of God,
it is that salvation from sin, cleansing from guilt, eternal
life, a relationship with God is by faith. Now that's so. And then secondly, faith is the
saving grace. Faith is the saving grace on
which everything else depends. This is it. to believe. He that
believeth shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. This is it. And when Peter, before
the crucifixion, when Peter said to our Lord, though everybody
denies you, I'll stay with you. I'll even die with you. And Christ
said, Peter, Satan hath desired thee that he might sift thee
as wheat. Now watch this. But I've prayed
for you. I've prayed for you. I've prayed
for you that your faith fail not." This is where it is, faith,
that your faith fail not. Your love may fail, your hope
may fail, your courage may fail, your strength may fail, but I've
prayed that your faith fail not. Saving faith, that's the foundation. Now, I want you to turn to several
scriptures. First of all, to Hebrews 11,
and this is what I'm saying. I'm saying that faith is the
grace upon which all other graces depend. In Hebrews 11, verse 6, look
at this, Hebrews 11, 6. But without faith, it is impossible
to please Him. Impossible. For he that cometh
to God must, must. You see these words, impossible
and must. Without faith, it's impossible.
It doesn't say it's difficult to please God. It's impossible.
For he that cometh to God, this is the first requirement. He
must believe. He must believe. You see that? That he is. And that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Whatever I may do,
whatever I may know, whatever I may give, whatever I may say
is empty if I don't believe. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. This is why it's so important.
This is why I say it's an inexhaustible thing. And then turn to Romans
10. Now watch this, Romans 10. Without
faith, it's impossible to please God, and without faith, there
will be no effectual call for mercy. Now you watch this Scripture
here. Verse 13, Romans 10, "...for
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
We know that, don't we? Our God's plenteous in mercy.
God delights to show mercy. If you, being evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall the Heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Call on Him. Ask Him. You have not because
you ask not. That's what Scripture says. Ask
and you shall receive. But, look at the next verse.
How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
So, it's impossible to please God without faith, and it's impossible
to rightly call on God without faith. You're not going to call
on Him unless you believe in Him. And then turn to John 6. Listen to this, John 6. Now much
is said about works, good works. Everybody talks about works.
Well, these people came to Christ in John 6, verse 28, and they
asked Him point blank. They asked Him straight forward
in verse 28. They said unto Him, What shall
we do that we might work the works of God? That's a good question. What shall I do that I might
work the works of God? All right, listen to the answer.
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God,
that you believe on him whom God hath sent. That's it. Works of faith. Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. Without faith, there can be no
effectual call for mercy. Without faith, I cannot work
the works of God. And then, without faith, and
we don't do a whole lot of praying. I get real discouraged with my
prayer life. But without faith, prayer is
a mockery. It's a mockery. It's sinful.
Turn to James. James, chapter 1. Without faith,
prayer is an absolute mockery. Our Lord said, What thing soever
you desire, when you pray, believe, believe, believe, believe, and
you shall have them. Do we pray in faith? Or do we pray to those about
us? Or do we pray out of necessity, or responsibility, or duty, or
ritualism? Do we really believe? In James
1, verse 5, listen to this, If any of you lack wisdom, let him
ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth
not. And it shall be given him. Let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering, not doubting, for he that wavereth is like a wave
of the sea driven with the wind and tossed, and let not that
man even suppose or think or assume that he shall receive
anything of the Lord. Without faith the blood of Christ
availed you nothing. Turn to John 3.36, listen to
this scripture, John 3.36, "...he that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."
Look to your faith. That's where you do business
with God. Look to your faith. That's the foundation. Look to
your faith. That's the saving grace. Look
to your faith. That's the rock on which the
whole building stands. Do I believe? Christ said to
that man, If you can believe, all things are possible to him
that believeth. Without faith, impossible to
please God. We must, he that cometh to God,
must believe. Without faith, there can be no
call for mercy, no effectual call. Without faith, I can't
work the works of God. My works are works of iniquity
if they're not works of faith. Without faith, prayer, it's more
than a ritual. Prayer is a mockery. And without
faith, the blood of Christ avails us nothing. Having faith, I can
have assurance. The Apostle said, I believe,
therefore I have spoken. With faith, I can have peace. Therefore, being justified by
faith, I have peace with God. By faith, I can have rest. I
can know that all things work together for good to them who
love God, who are called according to his purpose. I believe God. I'll tell you, when a man holds
up this Bible and says, I believe the Word of God, now he's saying
something. Do we really? When a man stands in the pulpit
or sits in the pew and says, I believe God, then you said
it all. Now the thing is to determine
whether or not you're telling the truth. Do you really believe
God? The third thing I want to say
by way of introducing this message is our saving faith and interest. You say, well, can a man really
know that he believes? Can we really determine whether
or not we're in the faith? God commands us to. Turn to 2
Corinthians 13. You look hard at this scripture.
I've quoted it many, many times. I want you to turn so you can
look at it yourself. 2 Corinthians 13.5. God commands
us to examine our faith and determine
whether or not we believe. I'm not asking you to determine
your religious credentials or your religious standing or your
reputation, your standing in the community. I want you, this
is what God is saying, to examine your faith. He says in 2 Corinthians
13, 5, examine yourselves. Well, what's the examination
to be about? Whether you be in the faith,
the faith, not a faith, the faith. Prove your own self. Know you
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be reprobates? And then over in 2 Peter 1, verse
10, listen to this, 2 Peter 1, verse 10, examine your faith,
and then Peter tells us, "...Wherefore, the rather brethren, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things,
you shall never fall." This is where it all takes place. Am
I in Christ? Do I know Christ? Not am I a
church member, not am I religious, not am I moral. Do I know the
Savior? Am I in Christ? Examine yourselves
whether you be in the faith. Know ye not your own selves how
that Jesus Christ is in you? Is Christ in you? That is, unless
you are reprobate. Well, the people of the Bible
were confident. That's right. Job said, I know
my Redeemer liveth. And though I am frail, and though
worms shall destroy this body, I'm going to see the Lord. I'm
going to see Him for myself, not another, because He's my
Redeemer. David said, the Lord is my shepherd,
the Lord is my refuge, the Lord is my strength. Paul said, I
know whom I have believed. John said, we know we have passed
from death unto life, so a man can know his fate. And I'll tell you this, and this
is where I'm troubled. The assurance of faith and the
real existence of faith, not the profession of faith, but
I mean the real existence of faith, the actual possession
of faith. When a man has this saving faith,
it encourages him, it leads him, It motivates him to leave all
for Christ's sake. Now, if you will turn with me
to Mark chapter 10, in Mark the 10th chapter. This is what the
disciples said in Mark chapter 10. I'm saying that a person
will come forward in church and make a profession. He'll walk
the aisle, shake the preacher's hand, be baptized, join the church.
In order to miss hell, in order to go to heaven when he dies, in
order to be identified with good people,
religious people, he'll do that. But that profession
will be a sideline. It'll be just a part of his general
existence. It'll be that which is tagged
on the end of each week. But when a man really professes
and possesses faith in Christ, it leads him to forsake all,
to surrender all, to consider everything in its relationship
with Christ. That's what the disciples said
in Mark 10, 28. Peter said, Lord, lo, we have
left all. and followed thee. And Jesus
answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that
hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother,
or wife, or children, or lands for my sake in the gospels, but
he shall receive a hundredfold. Now in this time, houses, and
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands with
persecution, and in the world to come eternal life. We've left
all. My relationship with Christ is
not a sideline, it's not an addition to my life, it is my life. Is it yours? Turn to Matthew
13.44. Listen to this scripture here,
Matthew 13.44. The Lord says here, "...the kingdom of heaven,"
Matthew 13.44, "...is like unto a treasure hid in a field." The
witch, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof
he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buys that field."
I found it. Life in Christ. He is our life. Turn to Luke
12, verse 16. Luke 12, verse 16. This kind of faith, this saving
faith, This assurance of an interest in Christ is that which encourages
a person to consider all in his relationship with Christ and
to forsake all for the glory of Christ. In Luke 12, verse
16, listen to this carefully. And he spake a parable unto them,
saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
And he thought within himself, saying, well, what shall I do?
I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this
will I do. I will pull down my barns. I'll build greater barns.
And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will
say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years.
Take thine ease. Eat, drink, and be merry. But
God said, thou fool, This night shalt thou so be required of
thee, and then who shall these things be which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich
toward God. And he said to his disciple,
Now I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall
eat, neither for your body, what ye shall put on. The life is
more than meat, the body is more than raiment, Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap, neither
have storehouses nor barns, and God feeds them. How much more
are you better than the fowls? And which of you, with taking
thought, can add to his statute one cubit, or to his life one
year? If ye then are not able to do
that which is least, why take ye thought for the rest? Consider
the lilies. of the field, how they grow.
They toil not, they spend not, and yet I say, Solomon, in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothed
the grass which is today in the field, and the marsh cast into
the oven, how much more will he clothe ye, O ye of little
faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink,
neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations
of the world seek after. Your Father knoweth that ye have
need of these things, but seek ye first the kingdom of God."
That's what true faith will lead a man to do, saving faith. I want to point out for you four
things that I think are vital concerning this saving faith,
four things that are vital. I wish you'd mentally at least
jot them down, if not actually somewhere in your Bible or on
a notebook. But here are four things about
faith that I've learned, that I believe God's taught me. I'm
not saying that by any stretch of the imagination that I know
a great deal about this subject, but I know a little bit about
it. And I feel like I know these
four things are vital. concerning this faith. Now, first
of all, saving faith, this faith that leads us to a vital union
with Christ, a personal relationship with Christ, a living knowledge
of Christ. First of all, this kind of faith
is born out of need. It's born out of need. Turn to
Matthew 9. Now, this is the scripture that
I wish to use as the proof of this statement. It's born out
of need. Our Lord, in Matthew 9, verse 10, it came to pass,
as he sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners
came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees,
that's the religious people, when they saw it, they said,
why does your master eat with people like that, publicans and
sinners? Why does he eat with them? When
Jesus heard it, he said, here it is, the well, they that behold,
they that be well, do not need a physician, but they that are
sick. Now you go, he said, and learn
what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
I'm come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The
well have no need. They don't call on the doctor,
they don't seek the doctor, because they don't need the doctor. And
if you'll go through the Bible, you'll find that every cry of
faith was a cry out of need. The Canaanite woman came to him
and said, Lord, my daughter is grievously ill. Have mercy on me. Blind Bartimaeus, sitting
by the wayside, cried, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
on me. A cry out of need. A blind man,
sitting in darkness, crying out of his need. The publican in
the temple would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but
smote on his breast and cried, God, be merciful to me. Neve, the thief on the cross,
dying, looked over at Christ and said, Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom. Neve, Peter sinking beneath the
waves. He had asked the Lord to let
him walk on water, and Christ said, well, come to me. He stepped
out of the boat and began to walk, and as he began to walk,
he began to doubt, and he saw the waves, and they were so heavy,
and so the water was so deep, and he felt the wind blowing,
and he began to doubt, and he began to sink, and that's when
he cried, Lord, save me, or I'll perish. Need. Need. This is where faith is born.
This is where saving faith is revealed, when we have nowhere
to turn. Will you also go away? To whom shall we go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. When we have no one to which
we can look but Christ. Turn to Psalm 107. Let me show
you just two or three verses here in Psalm 107. What I'm saying
is this, is this saving faith, this redeeming faith, This faith
that brings us to living, vital union with Christ is born out
of need. It says in Psalm 107, verse 2,
let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Verse 4 says, they wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary, lonely way. They found no city
to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. They cried unto the Lord in their
trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. So the
first thing, saving faith is born of need. Saving faith arises
out of need. When I have nowhere to turn,
no one to whom I can turn, I have no source of help, I have no
hope except the mercy of God. except the gracious hand of God,
except the forgiving blood of Christ. That's when I'll turn
to Him. When a man's naked, he'll cry
for a robe. When a man's sick, he'll cry
for medicine. When a man's a sinner, he'll
cry for forgiveness. All right, secondly, saving faith
first is born of need. You know when I can pray best?
When I'm in trouble. when I'm in trouble, when I'm
in desperate, desperate need. That's when I can pray. All right,
secondly, saving faith rests on the naked Word of God. Noah, there's going to be a flood,
build an ark. And by faith, Noah, being warned
of God, of things not seen, built an ark. Noah acted on the Word
of God. And that was called faith. Moses
said to the people of Israel, bring in your cattle, bring them
in off the hillside, bring them in out of the valley, put them
in the barns. There's going to be tonight a grievous hail like
you've never seen before. Thus saith the Lord. Those who
believed God brought their cattle in and they lived. Those who
didn't believe him left them out and they died. Moses tell the people of Israel
that I'm going to pass through the land of Egypt tonight at
midnight, and I'll slay the firstborn in every home where there's no
blood on the door. Now put the blood on the door
and live. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you." That faith, they acted on the Word of God. Paul said
to those people on the ship, stay on the ship. There stood
by me this night the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve,
and he said, Paul, fear not. There shall not be one life lost.
Wherefore, sirs, I believe, God, that it shall be exactly as he
told me." Faith rests on the Word of God. Faith requires no
sign, only his Word. Now, during the days of Christ,
some of them came and said, show us a sign, show us a miracle.
He said, no sign shall be given except the Word of God. Faith requires no evidence, only
His Word. The man with the withered hand,
twisted and gnarled, and our Lord spoke to him and said, Stretch
out your hand. He stretched it out and it was
made whole. It required no evidence. Faith requires no token, only
His Word. The disciples had fished all
night, one night, caught nothing. And our Lord stood on the shore
and He says, Children, have you no meat? They said, We've toiled
all night, caught nothing. He said, Push out from the shore
a little bit. And they did. He said, Now cast
your net on the right side. And Peter looked at Him and he
said, Lord, we've fished all night out here and caught nothing. Nevertheless, at your word, I
let down the net. That's it. That's faith. Not
asking for a sign, not asking for a token, not asking for evidence,
not even asking for an explanation. I get so weary of people saying,
well, why did God let that happen? Why does God do this? Why does
God do that? Faith does not ask why. Faith
believes His word. Abraham, leave your father's
house and go to the land I'll show thee. Why? That's not faith. Abraham left. Abraham, take your
son, your only son, whom thou lovest, and take him up to the
mountain and sacrifice him. Why? Faith doesn't ask why. Faith
asks for no explanation. Faith acts on the Word of God. Now that's faith. I'm telling
you the truth. Christ is God. Christ is my Redeemer,
Christ died on the cross for my sins, Christ shed His blood
for the remission of my sins, Christ was buried and rose again,
Christ ascended to the right hand of God where He reigns,
where He intercedes, from which He's coming again, and the Word
of God says, look to Him, rest in Him, trust in Him, believe
on Him, and I'm not asking why. C. H. Spurgeon once said this,
when I came to Christ, I had no assurance of any personal
or saving interest in the death of Christ. Do you hear these
preachers saying sometimes, come and profess Christ as your personal
Savior? Can you do that? Now, you think
about how enormous such a command is. You mean a worthless, miserable,
wretched, fallen, sinful son of Adam. can lay claim to the
perfect Son of God as His reproach, as His representative, as His
substitute? Do you think I have that kind
of boldness? He said, when I came to Christ,
I had no assurance that He died personally for me. I had no assurance
that I had any interest, any saving interest personally in
the death of Christ, but I knew this. This is what I knew and
this is what I rested in, this is what I believed. God said
in his word that he made Christ to be sin for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. He said in his word
that Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree. He said
in his word God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.
that Christ died, that God might be just and justifier, so I came
and I trusted myself to Him on the strength of that promise
on His Word. Sink or swim, Lord, I rest in
Him, and I dare not advance one foot beyond the Word of God.
This is what I'm saying, that faith rests on the naked Word
of God, not on my feeling, not on my experience, not on visions,
not on dreams. Faith, if it's saving faith,
rests on the Word of God. How do I know God will forgive
sin? How do you know it? Well, I feel it. The heart's
deceitful, desperately wicked, who can know it? How do I know
it? He said it right here. How do
I know that Jesus Christ came into this world to bear our sins
and our shame in his body on the tree? I read it in God's
Word. How do I know that God will receive
folks like me and folks like you and pardon us and redeem
us and cleanse us? How do I know that? Because he
said it in his Word, and that's all the authority I've got. Now,
if you want to rest on these passing fancies and super-revelations
by super-religionists and super-pious people who see visions and dream
dreams and hear voices, you go right ahead. That's your business.
This is my foundation of faith right here. I go not one word
beyond it. God said it. God said it. And I'm resting on that. That's
the foundation of faith. It rests on the naked Word of
God. I don't believe anything except what I read in here. I may not believe all that's in
here either. I want to. But here's the third thing now.
Turn to Romans 10. In the third place, and this
is important, is heart work. It's heart work. Faith is heart. Look at Romans
10, verse 9. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, God raised
him from the dead. Now, faith is not just mental
agreement with doctrines of theology. Faith is more than faith in miracles. Some people came to our Lord,
it said in John 2, when He was at Jerusalem in the Feast of
the Passover, and they saw Him give sight to the blind and hearing
to the deaf and strength to the lame. And it says they believed
on Him when they saw the miracles which He did. They were awed
by the miracles. They were awed by the power of
Christ. And they, like Nicodemus, saw
these things and they said, No man could do these things except
God be with him. And they mentally agreed that
what they saw was supernatural, and they accepted it. But that's
not faith. Now stay with me. Somebody says, well, I believe
there's a God because the sun and the moon and the stars and
the trees tell me there's a God. Well, that's not saving faith. These people saw these miracles.
Now listen, these people saw these miracles, they were supernaturally
performed, and they were awed, and they were astounded, they
were astonished, and because they saw these things that they
couldn't do, they said, well, he's somebody special. We believe.
But the Scripture says Christ did not commit himself to them. And that kind of faith is not
saved. Secondly, turn to John 6. John 6, verse 26. Now, we can help each other out
here if we look carefully at this now. Don't be in a hurry.
Look at this carefully. Saving faith, what I'm saying,
is not belief in miracles. It's not. Nor is it faith in
materialism. John 6, verse 26. Jesus answered
and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Seek me not because
you saw the miracles, that's not the foundation of your faith,
but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Now he
fed these people, two loaves and five fishies, or five loaves
and two fishies, and they were astounded. Man, I've never had
a better meal. I'm going to hang around with
this fellow Jesus because I got filled. Jesus can can satisfy
my hunger, and Jesus can give me a place to sleep, and Jesus
can give me a place to live, and Jesus can get me off drugs,
and Jesus can get me off of the bottle, and Jesus can do these
things. That's not faith. I beg your
pardon. Our Lord said these people sought
me because they were astounded and astonished at the miracles
I did, and they had to confess that it was unusual and supernatural.
But he didn't reveal himself to them. And this bunch of people
followed me because they wanted another meal. And there are people
today who are following Jesus because of the material changes
that he can bring to pass. That's not faith. And neither
is it faith in religious tradition. We have Abraham to our father.
We come from a long line of religious people. We're Baptists, we're
Methodists, we're Presbyterian, we're Catholic, we're Jews, we're
something else. We've got religious tradition
and we're upholding this religious tradition. We're in the main
line. That's not faith. Let's see what
it is then. Turn to 1 John 5. 1 John 5. Now this thing of faith is not
a head work. Although God does not bypass
the mind, you know that. The mind and the heart really
is the same. But here in 1 John 5, verse 20,
"...and we know," 1 John 5, verse 20, "...that the Son of God is
come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him." That is
true, and we are in him. That is true, even in his Son,
Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and this
is eternal life. What kind of understanding does
Christ bring? He gives us an understanding
of the depths of ruin. He gives us an understanding
of our sinful condition. He gives us an understanding
of our fallen atom. He gives us an understanding
of our flesh. He gives us an understanding
of our weakness. He gives us an understanding
of our need. He gives us an understanding
of the wisdom of redemption, how God can be just and holy
and yet justify the ungodly and yet show mercy and love. He gives
us an understanding of how the law can be honored in the representative
obedience of Christ and how the justice of God can be satisfied
through the blood of Christ. We have an understanding, not
only of the depths of our ruin, but we have an understanding
of the wisdom of God's righteousness and the wisdom of God's redemption
and the wisdom of Christ's sacrifice. who He is, and what He did, and
why He did it. And then we have an understanding
of the miracle of regeneration, that God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself, and God is in the Holy Spirit when He
comes and gives us a new nature, and a new heart, and a new spirit,
and makes of us a new creature. And we follow Him not because
of miracles, and not because of materialism, and not because
of tradition, but because we are one with Him. Christ in you,
that's the hope of glory. Saving faith is a hard work.
Tis done, the great transaction's done, I am my Lord's and he's
mine. He drew me and I followed on,
charmed to confess his voice divine. Now, the fourth thing. Saving faith is born of need. That's what it comes out of.
Need. Desperate need. Hopeless need. Helpless need. Need that only God can meet.
Saving faith rests on the naked Word of God. Saving faith is
a hard work. It's not joining a church and
getting mad and leaving next week. Not making a profession
of faith and deciding that you'll do something else next week.
It's a living, vital union and relationship with the Son of
God in which He becomes your life. And then last of all, saving
faith is a committal. Turn to 2 Timothy, chapter 1.
2 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 12. Paul is speaking here. 2 Timothy
1.12. For the witch cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I am not ashamed. I know whom I have believed.
I know Him. He's been revealed to me as my
Lord and my God, Prophet, Priest, and King. I know Him. And I am
persuaded, I am confident that He's able, able to save me, able
to forgive me, able to redeem me, able to keep me from falling,
able to change my vile body into the likeness of His glorious
body. He's able to keep that which I've What's that word? Faith is a committal, which I've
committed him. The farmer goes out, commits
the seed to the ground. He commits the seed to the ground,
covers it up, and walks away. He's committed it, trusted the
ground, waiting on the harvest. I've committed my soul, I've
committed my life, I've committed my home, my family, my job, I've
committed everything, it's Christ, it's His. I've committed it to
Him. I wait for the harvest. Just
as the patient lies there in the bed and they bring the table,
put her or him on the table, take him in the operating room,
and that patient commits himself into the hands of the surgeon,
here I am. I trust you, I believe you, I
wait upon you. I commit my soul, my life to
Christ. That's what it is. It's a committal,
without reservation. I hear preachers say, well, try
Jesus. You can't do it that way. You
can't do it that way. And a person doesn't know Christ
who even supposes that you can or proposes that you can. I commit
it to him. Sink or swim, I go to him. You
know, the Scripture talks of mounting up with wings like an
eagle, flying. But one old writer said, I know
something better than that. Paul spoke of running a race,
running. But he said, I know something
better than that. Enoch walked with God, walking. But he said, I know something
better than that. Moses says, stand still. and see the salvation
of the Lord standing. But he said, I know something
better than that. Mary sat at his feet. I'm sitting quietly,
completely committed to him, sitting at the feet of Jesus.
But he said, I know something better than that. He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures, and I'm just lying in his bosom,
resting, resting. It's a committal, a committal,
lying in his bosom, resting. What is faith? What is faith? Well, it's born out of need.
The well don't need a physician. It rests on the naked Word of
God, totally and completely. It's heart work. It's not doctrine
or theology or memorizing creeds and swapping this false creed
for another false creed. It's heart work, I believe. And then it's committal. Here
it is, Lord. Here's my life. Take it. Our Father, bless this word.
We wait upon Thy Spirit to make it effectual. Father, it's a
subject that that we are desperately in need to be taught, to have
revealed our hearts, if we could just believe. All things are
possible to them that believe. We cry, Lord, I believe. I do
believe. Help my unbelief. Increase our
faith. We pray for Christ's sake and
in his name. Amen.

Saved Through Faith

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