Do I Profess or Do I Possess Faith?

I want you to take your Bibles
and open them with me to the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter
13, verse 5. I'm going to deal with what might
be considered a controversial subject in the message today. Do I profess faith or do I possess
faith? Martin Luther once said, and
I want you to listen to this, that if I profess with the loudest
voice and the clearest exposition every portion of the truth of
God except precisely that point which the world and the devil
are at that moment attacking, then I'm not confessing Christ,
however boldly I may be professing him. Now where the battle rages,
there the loyalty of the true soldier of Christ is proved. In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 5,
Paul wrote these words, "...examine yourselves whether you be in
the faith." Do I profess faith or am I possessing faith? Am I in the faith? "...prove
your own selves." Not somebody else now, but your own selves.
Know ye not your own selves, how that Christ Jesus is in you,
except you be a reprobate." Now, today's preacher or evangelist
gathers a crowd, sometimes a large crowd of people, and entertains
them with music, special treats, puppet shows, jokes, famous entertainers,
and then preaches a sermon Then after he preaches the sermon,
he closes the service with a high-pressure invitation, or some people say
an altar call. And in that high-pressure invitation
and that altar call, people are urged to come forward and make
a decision for Jesus Christ. Great promises are made to those
who will come forward. Their financial problems are
supposed to be solved. Their physical problems are supposed
to be solved. Their lives from this moment
on, from the time they come forward, their lives will be changed,
and from now on they'll live for God, their troubles will
be over, and when they die, heaven will be their home. Now, the
evangelist leaves town, claiming literally hundreds, yea, sometimes
even thousands of people saved in these meetings. Now, here's
the problem. These people who come forward,
most of them. And even the evangelists themselves
admit that the greater percentage, and some say even 95 percent
of these decisions, are false professions. Here's the problem. These converts have made an outward
profession of faith, but they possess no inward peace. They have entered into a profession,
but they do not possess any knowledge of Christ, love for Christ, or
rest in Christ. Consequently, their lives are
not changed. And the churches have added to their roles more
and more names of people whom they never see. Like one person
wrote to me just this week and said that many people joined
a certain church back yonder last January, and none of them
have come back over once or twice since then. Now the tragedy of
this situation is this. Here's the tragedy. Most of these
religious converts, these people who make professions of faith,
most of them build their hope for eternity on false professions
made under emotional pressure. And they'll hear Christ say in
the day of judgment, depart from me, I never knew you. And my
friends, a note needs to be sounded. As Martin Luther said in this
article, I may profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition
every truth of the word of God, except precisely that one point
that's under attack, that one point where Satan looks like
has the advantage. And if I refuse to let my voice
be heard at that point, I'm not professing Christ, however loudly
I may claim to profess him. A note needs to be sounded today,
a voice needs to be raised in this generation, a word needs
to be said against all religious hucksters who are making merchandise
of the souls of men. Now, my friends, you listen carefully
to these words. Salvation is by faith alone,
for by grace are you saved through faith. and that not of yourselves. I know that. The word of God
teaches that. That's what I preach. Salvation
is by faith alone. But salvation is not by a faith
that is alone. Living faith will produce works. Living faith, a faith that saves,
is not a dead faith, it's not an isolated faith, it's not a
faith that is alone. It's a living faith. Salvation
is apart from apart from the deeds of the law, but the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified. God says that. Salvation
is by faith in Christ. But salvation, though it is apart
from works, is never without works, because living faith produces
a godly walk, a godly attitude, and a godly work. Salvation is
not by prayer. A person can pray from now to
judgment and not be saved by praying. But a faith that does
not pray is a dead faith. You know, we've invented phrases
like this, well, he's a born-again Christian, there's no other kind.
Or she's a praying Christian, all Christians pray. Well, that
person is a Christian who really loves the Lord. You mean there's
some who don't love the Lord? All Christians love the Lord.
My friends, salvation is by Christ alone, it's not by love. You
can't be saved by love, you're saved by Christ. But he that
loveth not knoweth not God." That's what scripture says. He
that loveth not knoweth not God. Our Lord dealt with false faith
when he was here on this earth in the flesh. He exposed it.
There are several kinds of faith that he exposed. Number one,
there is mental faith. Now, this is what we are wrapped
up in in 1976, mental faith. Come down an aisle and believe
there's one God, believe the Bible is his word, believe Jesus
Christ died on the cross, believe he was buried and rose again,
and you'll be saved. Give mental agreement to these
facts, mental acceptance of these facts, and you'll be saved. That's
not so. Now, the book of James, chapter
2, verse 19, says this. You believe there's one God,
you do well. The devil believes that and trembles. The devil believes that Christ
died on the cross. He was there when he died. Satan
believes he was buried and rose again. He was there when he was
buried and rose again. He believes all these facts.
Facts do not save. A person saves. And mental agreement
with these facts, mental acceptance of religious doctrine, does not
save. With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. It is said
about those people at Pentecost to whom Peter preached, they
were pricked in their hearts. If thou shalt believe in thine
heart, Christ rose from the dead. It's a heart faith. It's not
mental agreement with some doctrine, mental acceptance of facts, and
mental agreement with some truths. It's a heart faith, a living
faith, an experiential faith. Now, secondly, Christ dealt not
only with mental faith, but with material faith. In John chapter
6, verse 26, he turned to a group of people who were following
him. There were multitudes of them following him everywhere
he went, right behind him. And he turned to them in John
6, verse 26, and this is what he said. You seek me. You seek me because you did eat
the loaves and were filled. That's why you seek me. You seek
me because I fed you." He took five loaves and two fishes and
fed five thousand people and gathered up twelve baskets full
of the remains of the fish and the loaves. And they followed
him. And he said, I'll tell you why you're following me, I fed
you. I fed you. And today we expect, if we believe
on Jesus and if we follow Jesus, we expect to go to heaven. And
we expect to get all the benefits of God if we make a decision
for Jesus. So men today follow Jesus strictly
as an exchange of service. I serve God, he serves me. I
believe on Jesus, and when I die, Jesus takes me to heaven. It's
just an exchange of service, an exchange of benefits. I serve
him and he serves me. That's material faith. Let me
ask you this. If there was no such place as
heaven, would you still believe on Christ? If there were no hell,
would you still believe on Christ? Then our Lord exposed miracle
faith. In John 2, verse 23, the scripture
says, Many believed on him, because of the miracles which he did.
When they saw the miracles, they believed on him, but, listen
to this, And people today go to the healing meetings and they
say, well, so-and-so was healed of cancer and so-and-so was healed
of deafness and so-and-so was healed of blindness. I really
believe. What if God had not healed them, would you still
believe? Well, I believe because God healed me. If he didn't heal
you, would you still believe? That's what the people of our
Lord's day said, show us a sign and we'll believe you. Come down
from the cross and we'll believe you. Our Lord said, No sign shall
be given to this sinful and adulterous generation, no sign but the word
of God. Many believed on him when they
saw the miracles which he did, but the Lord did not commit himself
unto them. He knew what was in man. That's
what we call miracle faith. I'll tell you this, you talk
about miracles. Moses saw more miracles than any other man.
Moses saw the river turn to blood, Moses saw the plague of lice
and frogs and flies, Moses saw the death of the firstborn, Moses
saw the dividing of the sea, the destruction of Pharaoh's
army. Moses saw the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by
day and the smiting of the rock and the water coming forth and
the giving of manna in the wilderness. But after all of that, and the
bush that burned what was not consumed, but in spite of all
that, he said, Lord, show me your glory." I know your glory
is not just in making rivers turn to blood. I know your glory
is not just in healing somebody with a broken leg. I know your
glory is not just in bestowing financial assistance on people
who are in need. Your glory is somewhere else.
And our Lord said to him, I'll show you my glory. My glory is
my goodness. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious. Have you seen God's glory? Do
you have mental faith, just mental acceptance of terms and facts
and theology and doctrines and laws and rules and ordinances
and ceremonies and rituals, just mental acceptance of those things?
Or has the truth of Christ and the love of God burned in your
heart and burned in your soul to recreate you, regenerate you,
convert you, make you in Christ a new person? Do you have material
faith, or are you just following Jesus Christ because you don't
want to go to hell? Or you're just making a decision for Jesus
because there's a heaven up there, or somebody said there was. It's
got streets of gold, gates of pearl, walls of jasper, and you'd
sure like to be one of those that live forever in a great
big mansion in heaven. Is that why you're following
the Lord? Is that why you worship him? Is that why you serve him?
That's material faith. That's that outfit that followed
him everywhere he went because he gave him some loaves and fishes.
And when the loaves and fishes stop, they stop. Or the miracle
followers. They saw him give sight to the
blind, hearing to the deaf, power to walk to the lame, raising
the dead. They said, My, that's great, that's great. Well, we'll
follow you and nobody will be sick. And that's why they're
following many today. The promises of faith are many. And many fold. John 3.16 says,
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that
whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life.
That's right. Salvation is by faith in Christ. John 3.36--"He that believeth
on the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." It's
by faith. Our Lord said to his disciples,
Now you go into all the world. I've got all authority in heaven
and earth, and you go into all the world as my representative,
as my ministers, as my preachers, my ambassadors, and you preach
the gospel to every creature. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. It will all hinge on faith. It will all hinge on faith. In Acts 16.31, the Philippian
jailer came trembling and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas,
and looked up and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? All
right, Paul, in salvation by works, now is the time to tell
him. In salvation by baptism, now is the time to tell him.
in salvation by some deed of the Lord. Now's the time to tell
him. There he is, he's asking you point-blank, toe-to-toe,
the question, what must I do to be saved? Here it is. And
Paul replied, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved. But here's the question. Here's
the question. What is it to believe? What is
it to believe? What is this believing that saves
the soul? It's not mental faith. because
the Lord condemned these people. It's not material faith, because
the Lord wouldn't reveal himself to them. It's not miracle faith.
Then what is to believe on Christ? Let me give you four things,
and I want you to listen carefully. If you're interested, if you're
concerned, if you want a saving relationship with God Almighty,
if you want to know Christ, here it is. First of all, to believe
on Christ is to come to The word of God says in Matthew 11, 28,
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. Not come to the church, come to Christ. Not come to the
front, come to Christ. Not come to the altar, come to
Christ, to a person. Not come to the preacher, not
come to the law. Not come to the Pope, not come
to the preacher, come to Christ. Come unto me, he said. You will
not come to me that you might have life. Listen to him. In
John 6.35, he that cometh to me shall never hunger. And in
John 6.37, all that my Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. To come to
Christ. It's to come to him as the publican
came in the temple, confessing my sins, looking for mercy. Lord, be merciful to me, the
sinner. It's to come to him as the Canaanite
woman She said, Lord, have mercy upon me. Great sinners need great
mercy. It's to come to Christ as the
woman with the issue of blood, when all else had failed. The
scripture says of that woman, she'd tried many positions, she'd
spent all that she had, she was no better, and she said, if I
can just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole.
Our Lord turned to his disciples one day after 5,000 people had
walked off, and he said, will you also go away? And they said,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And when you and I come to the place where we see that
everything else is failed, in my hands no price I bring. Sent
to the cross of Jesus Christ I cling. Could my tears forever
flow? Could my zeal no longer know?
These for sin could never atone. Christ must save and Christ alone. It is Christ alone. It is to
come to him when I am without hope, without help, at my wit's
end, that's scriptural terms, to come when all else has failed. And then it's coming to Christ
as the leper came to him in Matthew 8, to a sovereign Christ. He doesn't owe us anything. God's
not obligated to you. God's not obligated to me. God's
not a beggar. I am. You are. You see, he's
not in our hands, we're in his hands. And he can save us or
pass us by. He can give us eternal life or
leave us in our sins, and that leper knew that. You read Matthew
8, the first four or five verses, and when he was come down from
the mountain, a leper ran beneath him. And that leper said, Lord,
when he fell on his face and worshiped him, Lord, that's a
good word, you need to learn it, Lord. That's what the thief
on the cross said, Lord, remember me. That's what the publican
said, Lord, be merciful unto me, Lord. And that's what Saul
of Tarsus said on the road to Damascus, Lord, what will you
have me do? Lord, if thou shalt confess without
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And that leper said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me whole, if you will. And our Lord said to him, I will
be thou whole, be thou cleansed. to believe on Christ is to come
to him. Can you get to him? Get past the personal workers
and past the soul-benders and past the decisionists and past
the high-pressure evangelists and past the religious workers
and get to the Lord and do business with him. You don't need a mediator
between you and Christ. You need a mediator between you
and the Father, and that mediator is Christ. But you need to do
business with God in the person of Jesus Christ. Come to him.
All right, what is it to believe on Christ? It's to receive him.
In John 1, verse 12, it says, To as many as received him, to
them gave he the right, the privilege, to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on his name. To receive him. Now, note the
word. To as many as received his doctrine? That's not what it says. I have
people tell me, well, I believe this, and I believe that, and
I believe that. Do you believe Christ? It's to receive him. Well, I tell you, I'm a Baptist,
or I'm a Methodist, or I'm a ... Have you received him? Not just
to receive his ministry. I've got a lot of faith in Brother
So-and-so. I was converted unto Brother So-and-so. I found the
Lord unto somebody else. Paul wrote to those Corinthians
down there, and he said, I'm worried about you. You're acting
like carnal, natural men. You run around talking about,
I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, I'm of somebody
else. and we're not of any of you, we're non-denominational,
we are of Christ. He said, I'm worried about you
folks. My friend, have you received him to as many as receive him? Not his ordinances, him. Not
his law, we love these things, but it's him. Colossians 2, verse
6, as you have received Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk ye in him. Living faith receives Christ
as prophet. He has a threefold office, prophet,
priest, and king. As prophet, he reveals the Father. Moses wrote of me, he said. Moses
said, The Father will raise up from among you a prophet, one
like unto myself, and him you shall hear. And when that prophet
was raised up and brought into this world in the likeness of
sinful flesh, the Father spoke and confirmed that prophecy and
said, This is my son. hear ye him." That's what Moses
wrote 4,000 years ago, hear him. That's what the Father said 2,000
years ago, hear him. And that's what I'm saying in
1976, hear him. You'll reveal the Father to you. Show us the Father and we'll
be satisfied. Christ said, he that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. It's to receive him as our priest,
to offer up a perfect atonement. It's to receive him as our priest,
to intercede. I don't need an earthly priest.
Don't come to me and confess your sins. Go to the Father through
Christ. He is our Mediator. There's one
God, and there's one Mediator between God and men, and that
Mediator is not a human being on this earth, and it's not neither
the mother of Christ, it's Christ himself. He's our priest, and
I've received him as the priest. And then it's to receive him
as king. Lord to reign over us. And Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians
1.30, he is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Jesus Christ is made to me, all
I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea, he's
all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. To believe on Christ is to come
to it's to receive him. And thirdly, it's to look to
him. Now, Isaiah 45.22 says, Look unto me, and be ye saved.
Don't look anywhere else. Don't look in here. Well, I hope
I'm good enough to be saved. You look through eternity into
this heart, and the longer you look at it, if God in the Holy
Spirit gives you eyes to see what's really there, you'll see
nothing but a cesspool of iniquity. Turn your eyes from within, without. Look to Christ. And don't look
to the preacher. You'll be disappointed. And don't
look to the church. It can't save you. And don't
look to baptism or the Lord's table. Look unto me, Christ said,
and be your Savior. All the ends are there. I'm God.
I'm the Savior. There's none else. And I'll tell
you this, salvation is not only to look to Christ at the beginning,
but it's to look to Christ all the way through and to keep on
looking. Listen to this verse, Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. Looking
unto Jesus, let us run with patience the race set before us, looking,
looking, looking unto Jesus. Always looking. Faith is not
an isolated act that takes place back down in the past somewhere
and is forgotten. I am believing as I have believed
and as I will believe. I have repented, I am repenting,
I shall repent. If I don't keep on looking to
Christ, it's a sure sign I never did look to Christ. If anything
can take the place of Christ, it's a clear indication I never
met him, because he exceeds anything in glory, beauty, satisfaction,
pleasure, anything. Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9 says,
For by grace have you been saved. 1 Corinthians 1.18 says, To them
who are being saved. And Romans 13, 11 says, now is
our salvation nearer than when we believe. So salvation is something
God does for us in the past, in the present, and in the future.
We are being saved. We are being saved. And this
thing of believing on Christ is to keep on looking. And I
clearly say this. John said this, Paul declared
this over and over again. Those who quit never knew Christ. Those who return to the world
and to their evil and to wickedness never leave Christ. They're dogs
that return to their own vomit and sows that return to the water. And John said, if there hadn't
been of us, they would have continued with us. It's looking to Christ. That's
salvation. There's no such thing as it used to be Christian. Salvation
is looking to Christ. And then last of all, to believe
on Christ is a committal to Christ. Now over in 2 Timothy 1.12, Paul
said, I know whom I have believed. I know him. I know who he is. He's God's man. He's my representative. He's my redeemer. He's my mediator. I know him. And I'm persuaded
he's able. He's able to save me. He's able
to keep me. He's able to perform all that
he promised. And he's able to raise my body and make it like
a lived, glorious body, that which I have committed to him
privately and publicly. I've committed my soul and my
body and my family and my all to Jesus Christ. It's a commitment.
That's what it is to believe. It's not just to walk an hour
and shake a preacher's hand. It's to come to Christ, to receive
Christ, to look to Christ, and to commit myself to him. These
messages are available, not in print, but on tape recordings,
cassette tapes. If you're interested, write to
me. Henry Mahan, bidding you a very pleasant Good day.

Do I Profess or Do I Possess Faith?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Do I Profess or Do I Possess Faith?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book