WHAT FAITH BELIEVES

Psalm 116:5-10

II Cor. 4:13

Sunday Morning Sermon

January 3, 1999

Fair Avenue Baptist Church

This morning I want to preach on “What Faith Believes.”  That may sound like a strange subject because there is no doubt about in Whom we believe.

From time to time people ask, “Just exactly what does this church believe?” 

And it would be very hard to cover everything we believe in one service.

But this morning I want to speak on “What Faith Believes.”

The psalmist said, “I believed, therefore have I spoken.”

Paul said, “We also believe, and therefore speak.”

Your believing is the most important thing that can happen to you.  It is a life-changing experience.

WHY?  Because your belief affects your behaviour.

The most important thing that can happen is to come to the place where one really believes.

“Sir, what do you believe?”

“I believe what my church believes.”

“What does your church believe?”
“My church believes the same thing I believe.”

And the truth is that he doesn’t really know what he believes. 

And the sad truth is that that story is true in more cases than we’ll admit.

The psalmist declared, “I believed, therefore have I spoken.”

Once again, to believe is the most life-changing experience a person can ever have.

Belief is absolutely essential to successful Christian living.

A man came to Jesus bringing his lunatic, demon-possessed son, saying, “I brought him to your disciples, and they could not cast him out.”

Jesus looked at that man standing at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration and said, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23)

You and I will never please God until we, by faith, believe Him.

Belief determines your relationship to God and man.

Hebrews 11:6 is proof of that: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

And it is even more than that.

That is what the psalmist and Paul are talking about.

The Bible says that,

without this belief,

it is impossible to please God,

because he that comes to God MUST believe that He is.

Notice that last phrase, “and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Luke 1:1-3 says something about what we believe.

Notice VERSE 3, “having had perfect understanding of all things from above.”

What we are being taught is, “What we believe came from above!  It is not traditional, not man-made; it is not a decree of man nor creed of man.  What we believe came from above!”

That is true this morning of those who are born again. 

We believe something that is heavenly, not earthly.

Let’s look at some things that faith believes:

1.       FAITH BELIEVES IN A SACRED        BOOK - THE BIBLE

I never believed anything any more in all of my life than I believe that the Bible that I am reading from and preaching from is the Word of God.

And I’m talking about the King James Version, the A.V. 1611.

I believe in a sacred Book.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”  (II Tim. 3:16)

The Bible says that all Scripture is given by the Spirit of Almighty God.

This Book that lies before me is the infallible, inerrant, indestructible, indivisible Word of Almighty God.

Let me insert here that it DOES make a difference whether you believe the Bible or not.

I believe the Bible is a perfect Book.

Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”

I could give you several hundred reasons why I know the Bible is a perfect Book. 

HOW?  Each Christian sitting here is a testimony that the Bible is a perfect Book.

Every time someone is saved, God is saying, “My perfect Word did it all!”

And since I believe it is a perfect Book, I’m going to stand up for it.

I also believe the Bible is eternal.

No other book has, in the annals of human history, suffered the fierce, satanic attack that the Bible has suffered.

The scholarly man has sought to extinguish it.

The fool in his folly has bombarded it with his little pebbles of thought.

But the Bible still stands because it is an eternal Book.

That is what Jesus meant when He said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matt. 24:35)

I thank God as a preacher, whose whole life is given to preaching the Bible, that I preach a Book of which Jesus said, “My words shall not pass away.”

When mountains have crumbled to dust and the stars from Heaven have fallen, this Bible will still be.

I believe the Bible is eternal.

I believe that it is indestructible because Jesus said in John 10:35 that “the scripture cannot be broken.”

You cannot break this truth.

This is divine truth, the unbreakable Word of God Almighty.  There are so many evidences of it in the Bible itself.

The Lord Jesus was crucified between two thieves.  Crucifixion was not just a matter of nailing someone to a cross.  The Roman law demanded that, before a person could be removed from the cross, that there had to be certain proof that the person was dead.

The Roman custom had a soldier take a sword to chop into the legs of the person hanging there.  The legs would be broken and there would be no doubt that the blood would drain completely from the body.  The broken legs and the blood draining would make sure that the person would be dead.

There were two thieves, one on either side.  The Scripture said of Jesus like it said of the Passover Lamb, “Not a bone of that Lamb shall be broken.”

Here is Jesus on the cross, God’s eternal Lamb.

The Bible prophesied of Him, “He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken.” (Psa. 34:20)

His brow shall be pierced;

His side shall be opened;

His hands and feet shall be nailed;

BUT not a bone of Him shall be broken.

Here comes the Roman soldier.

He comes to one thief and breaks his legs.  He comes to the other soldier and breaks his legs.

Here is the important figure, the One who stirred up the whole Roman empire.

The soldier stands with the sword drawn, ready to strike.

I see that sword raised, the Roman soldier standing there.

The Word of God hangs in the balances!

If that Roman soldier can swing that sword and break a bone in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, this Bible will be broken.

But the soldier lowers his sword and walks away, “that the scripture be fulfilled.” (John 19:36)

All the power of the Roman legions could not break a bone of the Son of God after the Bible had said, “Not one of them is broken.”

We believe in a sacred Book that is indestructible and life-giving. 

It gave life to me.

In John 6, when the multitudes turned away, Jesus said to the disciples, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.”

He said, “the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (V. 63)

There is like in this Book.

1.       Faith believes in a Sacred Book

2.       FAITH BELIEVES IN A SACRED SON

We read in I Cor. 15:47, “The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.”

The first man is speaking of Adam.  He was sinful and a sinner.

Then God sent another Man, the Lord from Heaven.  He is above sin.  Jesus is divine.

You ask me, “What do you believe?”

I believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

I believe He was born of a virgin, with no human father like you and I had.

I believe as Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt. 16:16)

He lived a perfect life.

He died a supernatural death for the sins of the world.  The veil was rent in twain.  The earthquake broke the rock.

The resurrection took place, and people came out of the graves.

They stood back and saw it all and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matt. 27:54)

He arose from the dead,

He saves,

He keeps,

He satisfies,

I believe in a sacred, divine Son.

1.       Faith believes in a sacred Book

2.       Faith believes in a sacred Son

3.       FAITH BELIEVES IN A SECOND       BIRTH

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

He said, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (V. 5)

Water here does not refer to baptism.  It is explained in Eph. 5:26, “By the washing of water by the word.”

Water is a symbol of the Bible.

Being born of the Word of God and of the Spirit - except a man is born like this - he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Search your innermost being and ask yourself the most important question you’ll ever ask, “Have I been born again?”

If you were to die today, are you 100% sure, 100% sure that you would go to heaven?

1.       Faith believes in a sacred Book

2.       Faith believes in a sacred Son

3.       Faith believes in a second Birth

4.       FAITH BELIEVES IN A SECOND       DEATH

I am going to tell you why I am including this today.

We believe in the eternal punishment of sinners, as the Bible says.

We believe in a second death.

Rev. 20:14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death.”

When someone dies physically, we think what a tragedy, especially when it is somebody who has not lived a long life.

Yes, physical death is a tragedy.

But that is not the real tragedy.

Physical death is not even permanent.

Spiritual death is tragic!

Spiritual death is soul death!

It is being cut off from God.

It is separation!

It is separation from the face of God forever!

That is hell!

Anyone who refuses Jesus Christ dies without God and without hope.

There is a second death.

Rev. 21:8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.”

There is a second death,

There is a hell,

And the question is, “Are you going to heaven or hell?”

1.       Faith believes in a sacred Book

2.       Faith believes in a sacred Son

3.       Faith believes in a second Birth

4.       Faith believes in a second Death

5.       FAITH BELIEVES IN A SECOND       COMING

I am looking for the Lord Jesus to come.

There are some here this morning who do not believe the Lord is coming.

To some here the second coming is nothing but a doctrine - an obscure, impersonal doctrine of the Bible.

But the coming of Jesus is a reality.

The Lord is coming.

He said He would come.

Angels from Heaven said He would.

Believing in the second coming will make you a soul winner.

I ask another question, “Are you ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ?”

“Yes, Preacher, I’m saved.”

OK, but are you ready for the Lord to come?

Would you be embarrassed if the Lord came this morning?

If you and I had to stand before the Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ within an hour, would we be embarrassed?

I ask again, “Are you ready for the second coming of Christ?”

1.       Faith believes in a sacred Book

2.       Faith believes in a sacred Son

3.       Faith believes in a second Birth

4.       Faith believes in a second Death

5.       Faith believes in a second Coming

6.       FAITH BELIEVES IN A SECOND

          CHANCE

I do not believe that God will eventually save everybody.

WHY?  Because the Bible does not teach that.

But the truth is that most of us did not get saved the first time we heard the Gospel.

If there were no second chance, I would not be saved today because I missed out on my first chance.

Nicodemus missed out on his first chance.  And God gave him a second chance in John 3.  Nicodemus believed and was saved.

John Mark had a second chance.

He went on the first missionary journey with Barnabas and Paul, but he failed.  He did not finish the journey.  He gave up the mission and left two great men of God.

But we read about his second chance in II Tim. 4:11, “Only Luke is with me.  Take Mark and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.”

God gave John Mark a second chance.

God gave Peter a second chance.

God gave Jonah a second chance.

And God will give you a second chance to surrender to His will for your life.

FAITH BELIEVES!

I believe.