I want to ask you to turn your Bible with me here this morning, if you would please, to Luke 18, beginning verse number 1. We continue on with a series of messages we've been on here on Sunday morning. A series that I began because of just a burden that the Lord placed on my heart from one question asked in Scripture. A question that I hadn't even been in that passage specifically, but as I was meditating on some other things, the Lord brought it to my heart, and it became a question of burden to me, and I believe a question of burden that needs to be presented to all of us. It's found here in Luke 18 at the end of verse 8. That's where the question itself is found. The context for the question is a parable that our Lord Jesus Christ gave, a parable concerning what we would commonly call the parable of the importunate widow, or that is the widow that would not stop asking. And the Lord Jesus Christ told the parable specifically in order to teach us, His people, to pray continually, that is to ask in prayer continually, and not stop, not faint, not quit until God provides the answer. Amen. And so here in Luke chapter 18 and verse number one, I would ask you to stand with me for the reading of God's word. We read through the parable. We read through God's or Jesus Christ teaching or purpose of truth communicated from the parable and then the question of challenge to us. The Word of God says, and He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Now in Jesus' further explanation in verse 7 and 8, we see Him make reference to His elect. praying, crying day and night unto Him for them to give answers. So when He refers in verse 1 to men here, the context would communicate to us that it's not just anyone per se, but it is in fact men or believers. He's speaking about the crowd of those who are His own people, His own elect, His believers in Jesus Christ. So he's preaching this or giving this parable to teach us, his own people, believers, that we should pray, that we should pray always, that we should pray always without fainting, without quitting, without stopping until God provides some form of an answer. And so the parable goes. Verse 2, saying, there was in a city a judge. which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while. But afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And Jesus said, Hear what the unjust judge saith." So the primary focus of the passage, or of the parable, is the response of the judge. How the judge responded by saying, though I would not normally help such a widow, I'm going to help this widow because she continues to come and I don't want her to weary me into an early grave kind of thing, you know, by her wearying me. So he says, I want you to pay attention to what the unjust judge said. Then in verse 7, "...and shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." So in the response to the parable, who's the one that needs to avenge us of our adversaries? God. The unjust judge and God are standing in the same position in the parable and in reality. They are not of the same character. The judge is unjust. He doesn't regard God. He doesn't care about the standards of righteousness that God has set up. Or he doesn't fear God. He doesn't regard man. He does not care about people. He has no love, no affection, no kindness toward people. Justice doesn't matter. People don't matter. The only thing that matters to the unjust judge is himself and whoever can give him the best benefit in any given case, whoever can give him the biggest bribe and so forth. So God is not that way. They both stand in the same position. They both have the responsibility of authority to judge in a case to make sure that those who are being mistreated are avenged of their adversary. But the difference is that the judge would not do it based on his own motivation. He did do it, however, because of the persistence of request. God, on the other hand, would be willing to help us out based on His own character. It is His character to be just and righteous and kind and loving and gracious and merciful and good and holy and so on, is it not? Yes, but all the more, if an unjust judge can be moved by persistent request, so the Lord is saying, God Himself, who does care, can be moved to help us in our time of need if we'll persist in request. That's the point of the parable that He gives. But then He asks the question at the end of verse 8, and this is really the question for our series, nevertheless, In contrast to this, in contrast to what? I believe in contrast to the idea of the elect crying day and night, always without fainting. In contrast to that, when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? Will He find people? Will He find believers that actually are practicing this? Now, I don't want to take up the question in the general sense, will he find believers? I don't know when he's going to return. I was informed by my wife that somebody wrote some kind of article or book or something like that that he was supposed to have returned. She told me whatever day it was. What day was that? Yesterday? Yesterday, I was doing some things about mid-afternoon, a little bit after lunch, and my wife told me, now this man, he said the Lord will be returning today. And I said, oh, really? How certain is he? Oh, he was absolutely certain. I said, well, then I don't even need to work on sermons, messages for tomorrow. I'm good to go. Hey, the Lord's coming back today. I don't have to preach tomorrow. We don't have to worry about any of that. Now, brethren, I did sit down and work on messages anyway. You know why? Because I don't trust anybody who tries to set a date. You know why? Because God said, Jesus Christ said, nobody will know the date. But God the Father, and I believe now God the Son, now He's ascended into heaven. When He walked on the earth, I don't believe Jesus Christ knew the date. I believe sitting at the right hand of the Father, He knows now. But I don't believe He knew at the time He made that statement. But the angels don't know. Jesus said that. And we don't know. Some guy who claims he does know is What's the word? Wrong. He's wrong. Okay? Amen. But in any case, he says here, and I don't want to focus on when's the day and will the people of the earth at that time. No, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about if it were today. that the Lord returned. And let's talk about not all the people on the earth, but let's talk about us. We are God's people here in this room, amen? We trust the Lord as Savior. And so if the Lord returned today, would He find this faith in us right now? In fact, the Lord might not return today, but He's looking down from heaven. Is He finding this faith about which He speaks in us right now? Is He finding it or not? That's the question that raised a burden on my heart, not only for myself, but for us as a congregation of God's people. Let's have a word of prayer. We'll proceed now with the message for today. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray that you would guide us now as we look at the two points, the two particular points of truth related to this question for this morning, and I pray guide us in our understanding. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Now first of all, we looked at the first two points that related to the matter of prayer because that is the immediate context of the parable and of the question. No doubt that you go through the parable, it's about the matter of prayer. Amen? That's what it's about. And so the first two questions that we considered, will He find faith in us to pray? Just to engage in praying. Did you know that we pray because we believe there's someone to hear it? That's the point of praying, isn't it? If there's no one there to hear, why bother? You know, the atheist doesn't pray as much as the believer does. Well, he doesn't believe there's anyone there to hear. Why waste his breath? But you see, if we have true faith that there is a God in heaven and that He really does care, You know, that He is. Hebrews says that we please God if we believe that He is and that He's a rewarder of them that seek Him. If we really believe that there is a God in heaven, and that He has power, and that He does care, and that He will help and reward those that seek Him, with that faith, it will move us to pray in our time of need. If you don't believe in such a God, if you don't believe in God, or you don't believe in a God like that, you might not be as motivated to pray. Because you don't believe there's a God to hear you, or you don't believe there's a God that cares to hear you. So, will He find faith in us to pray? Will He find faith in us in our prayers? Remember, even as we pray, there needs to be faith in those prayers. James 1 talks about if we lack wisdom. Well, that's all of us. any man that lacks wisdom were to ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and He'll give it to us, but then it says there's that warning but let him ask in Faith nothing wavering why? Because he that wavereth is like the wave of the sea driven the wind and tossed let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord So there's not just the faith to pray, but faith in prayer. Also, will He find in us? Because we've extended now from this context throughout the New Testament to consider other truths about faith for the believer. Our Christian life, brethren, our Christian life is to be through and through a life of faith. The Christian life is not just begun through faith. The entire Christian life is through and through to be lived by faith. Amen? That's God's intention. The whole Christian life is a life of faith. Supposed to be and so we find not only when he asked the question will he find? Faith on the earth or that is will he find faith within or among his own? People because that's the context of the question and the context of the parable So we look at the New Testament and say what other aspects of faith Does God seek for is God looking for in our lives as believers? and so we asked would he find faith in us to stand and Stand where to stand on the truth of God's Word. Do you I'm gonna ask an interesting question here. Do you believe in? God's Word You know, that's a statement of faith Do you believe that the Bible is the very word of the very God I Do amen, that's a statement of faith. I Do you believe, as Psalm 19 makes the statement, that God's Word is true and righteous altogether? That is, every part of it altogether joined in the whole as well as in the individual parts. Altogether. When you say something is altogether, like a puzzle, I've put the puzzle altogether. What are you saying? Well, the puzzle's made up of various sundry little parts. Me, I do puzzles of like, you know, 10 pieces. Other people do puzzles of 5,000 pieces, but I like the ones with only 10 pieces. It takes a lot shorter time, and it's a lot easier to see where they go. For me, it's a lot easier. And so in any case, but if you have it all together, what does that mean? That means every individual piece has been put in its individual place so that not only is every individual piece in its rightful place, but the entire puzzle is now completely right. When God says that His Word is true and righteous altogether, it means that every individual piece is true and righteous, and that when joined together, the entire whole, then, is true and righteous. Amen? Do you believe that? I do. I stand on that ground with absolute conviction. And that's it. We stand by faith. When the Lord comes back, will he find faith on the earth? Lately, we've encountered some interesting scenarios of compromise. And I may give details on that. Some of you know about it. Some of you don't. But interesting points of compromise. And, you know, that's the very thing. The Lord's saying, I'm going to come back. And even among my believers, will I find them still standing on the absolute truth of God's word without being willing to compromise it? I believe we're seeing in our country that multitudes of God's people are compromising the truth. You know why? They don't believe in it anymore. It's a lack of faith. Faith leads to conviction. Well, they don't have conviction because they don't have faith in the absolute truth of God's Word. That's gone. It's fast departing. So, will He find faith in us to pray, faith in us in prayer, faith in us to stand, faith in us to walk? We're to walk by faith. Amen? This is not now about standing on the truth of the Word of God and saying, I believe this is truth. This now is taking up that truth and living it out in my life. To actually walk in it. To actually, what's a good word for that? To walk in the truth, one word for that. Abide, obey, was the word I was thinking. Abide, by the way, you're jumping ahead of me, that's the next point. But to obey the truth of God's word, that's walking in it. Amen? See, here's another point of faith. It's one thing for me to say, I believe God's word is the very word of God. It is the very word of the very God. There's one true and living God, and the Bible is, in fact, His very word, and it is absolute truth and absolutely righteous. Altogether, I believe that. I can verbally communicate that. I can stand up and preach on that point. But there's another thing for me to go a step further and say, I believe it so much that I will build my entire life's behavior on the ground of that book. When God's Word says, do this, I don't question and say, well, why? How will that benefit me? I don't see how that would work in this situation. You notice I don't ask those questions. I just simply say, if I really believe that it's true and righteous altogether, when God's Word says, do this, I don't ask all those questions. I might, in order to explain to other people the benefits, and sometimes God's Word explains the benefits, doesn't it? God often explains the benefits of His commands. But if He doesn't, if He just gave me a command and did not explain any benefit to it at all, He just said, do this, I'd say His Word is true and righteous altogether, I'll do it. See, that's faith. By the way, He does teach that principle, especially in the Old Testament with the Mosaic Law. How many of you have ever read through Exodus, Leviticus numbers? Some of it you read through and you go, what? Yeah, I get that part. But the part I want you to take note of is a phrase that I'm sure you can understand. Over and over, and over and over, and over and over again, God will give a series of commands and then say, for I am the Lord thy God. You know what He's doing? He's answering the question, why? Why? Why can't we mix wool and flax together in our clothing? Why can't we eat certain food? And I know these restrictions are not for the New Testament believer, but they were for them. Why? Why do we have to do it that way? Why can't we do it this way? And the Lord basically said, because I'm God and I said so. That's why. Trust that I know what I'm doing. because I'm the Lord, your God. Not only do I have the authority to tell you what to do, but I have the wisdom to know the best thing to tell you. Trust me." Every time he makes that statement, you know what he's really challenging? Not just for their obedience, but for their faith. He's saying, trust that I'm God and I have the authority. I'm your the Lord the word Lord comes from Jehovah is translated from the word Jehovah, which means the faithful one All right. God means the Almighty One that means he has the authority. He's the creator. He has the authority Lord not only reveals authority but also built into that is the idea of faithfulness I care about you and I have the wisdom to tell you what is best and I'm the Lord your God. I have the authority and I have the wisdom. Trust me. Obey me because I have the authority, but trust me, I'm the faithful one. Trust me. You know, over and over again throughout scripture, we can read in the New Testament commands and we don't see that phrase over and over again, but we should think it. Why? Why should I go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature? Why should I have my speech all the way with grace? Why should I? I mean, think of any New Testament command. Why? Because he's the Lord, my God. Because he has the authority, I should obey. Because he has the faithfulness, I should trust he knows what's best. Amen? That's why. Now he might go further and explain detailed reasons why for specific commands, and he may not. But if we have faith, we won't just have faith to stand for the truth or say, this is truth and I will stand here and I can do no other, which is kind of the message I gave in Sunday school, isn't it? The Bible is God's truth. I cannot compromise it. I cannot. But to go a step further and say, because I cannot compromise it, it's just not a matter of claiming doctrine. It's a matter of living doctrine. I must live it. I must obey it. But now this morning, I'd like to present two thoughts, because involved in living it or obeying it is this next one. Turn with me now to Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three, there'll be three passages in relation to this next one. And that is, will he find faith in us to abide? to abide, and that is to abide in Christ, to abide. We abide by faith. Ephesians 3, verses 14-19. If you're familiar with this portion of Scripture, you'll know that the portion to which I've asked you to turn is a prayer that the Apostle Paul delivered for the Ephesian believers. How many of you are familiar that at the beginning of many, most even, of his epistles, the Apostle Paul talked about praying for the individuals to whom he was writing? Yeah, in many of them he says, I pray for you daily, I pray for you night and day, I pray about this, I give thanks for you, and so on. In Ephesians, the Apostle Paul did it more than once. He did it at the beginning of the book, and then midway through the book, he indicated that he was praying for them again. And this is what he says in that middle-of-the-book prayer. He says in Ephesians 3, verse 14, For this cause I bow my knee unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. So he's telling us to whom he delivers his prayer and his character, that he is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he's also the Father of all believers. Notice how he says, "...unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." So he's the Heavenly Father of the Lord, Jesus Christ. He's also the Heavenly Father of you and me and the believers in heaven, too. That's to whom he's praying. "...that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory." Now he's giving the foundation for his prayer request. That God has riches glory Riches of glory if you were to go to heaven, would you find that heaven is filled with the riches of God's glory? Would you find that the riches of God's glory are really infinite? And he's saying out of that resource. I'm asking God to answer this prayer now. He gives his request and He says, "...that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." Now I want you to understand something about this prayer. Throughout this prayer, most everything that is stated is stated as a request to God, as we would expect. Isn't that what prayer is? Making our requests known unto God? It's stated as a request unto God for God to do something. So most of what we find in this prayer would be God's responsibility. But there are two words in the midst of this prayer that would be our responsibility. Two words that reveal our responsibility. Let me show it to you. All right, let me show you God's responsibility It says the request begins the actual request begins in verse number 16 midway through To be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man, who would be the one strengthening us? God the father the one to whom Paul's praying by what means would he be strengthening us and the means of the indwelling Holy Spirit All right, where would he be strengthening us? This isn't physical strength. This is spiritual strength. It's in the inner man But notice how God's the one that has this responsibility God's the one strengthening us and he's doing it by the means of his own Holy Spirit You see that? That's not us, that's God. That's God's doing the work. Alright, next verse, verse 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts. Now I'm going to skip the next two words, we'll come back to them. Alright? Those are the two words we're coming back to. That Christ may dwell in your hearts. Who has the responsibility to send forth Christ to dwell in our hearts? Well, God the Father. That's the one to whom Paul is praying. Who is the one who would have the responsibility of actually dwelling in our hearts? God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You notice how all three persons of the Trinity are involved in this? God the Father is the one strengthening us. He's doing it by the means of the indwelling Holy Spirit. God the Father is the one sending the Son to dwell in our hearts. God the Son is the one dwelling in our hearts. When God the Son dwells in our hearts, skip the next two words. We are coming back. I'm not trying to erase them. We're coming back to them, all right? Let's skip those two words for a moment and then go on that she being rooted and grounded in love by what means would we be? rooted and grounded in love By the two things that have already been requested by the spiritual strength of the Holy Spirit by the indwelling of Christ in our hearts By those two things we are rooted and grounded in love in what love that's an important question and Is this rooted and grounded in my characteristic of love for others? I don't believe so. That's not in this context. In fact, he mentions love later in another verse and he tells us the character of the love he's talking about. So let's look at that and come back then to this. He says that he would grant you a current or sorry, verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted in grounded love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know. So comprehend and know what the love of Christ. So whose love is it in whom I'm being rooted and grounded? Christ's love. I experienced the beginning of Christ's love when I first came to understand that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sin. But did you know as a believer, we can continue to experience more and more and more of the love of Christ in our lives? We're going to look at this passage as we proceed, but let me just kind of jump ahead to it, and then we'll come back. In John 15, Jesus Christ said, Abide in my love. What's He saying? He's saying it's not just love in the moment of salvation. Jesus died on the cross. That's the love of God for me, a lost sinner. That's true, by the way. That is the love of God for lost sinners. It's the only point of God's love for lost sinners. That's how God showed his love to lost sinners. Jesus Christ died on the cross for them. But when I trust Jesus Christ as Savior, I enter into a new relationship with God, don't I? Paul mentioned it right at the beginning of this prayer. He said he's the father of Jesus Christ and the father of the whole family. What relationship did I enter into through faith in Christ. I became a child of God, and God became my heavenly Father. I'm now a member of that heavenly family. And it is a family of love. You know why it's a family of love? I'm not saying that all of the brothers and sisters always love each other, but I can tell you this. The Father loves His children because God is love. He is the very definition, the very character of love is not just something He possesses, it is Him. The only way we can truly love is to love godly, because God is love. A lot of what is called love out there is not godly love, and it's not real. Real love is godly love because God is love. Amen. And what he's telling us here is what Paul is praying for is that I will be able to be rooted and grouted and growing in the love of Christ. Another word for this would be in the fellowship of Christ, because that's what I enter into. I enter into a family of God's love to me and the opportunity to have fellowship with Christ. That's a fellowship of love. Right? That's why Christ said, Abide in My love. Abide with Me, and when you abide with Me, you're abiding in My love, in My fellowship. In John 15, we'll look there in a moment, but in John 15, after saying, Abide in My love, Jesus said, I call you no longer servants, but I call you Friends, what is he telling us? We enter into a friendship love relationship with Jesus Christ fellowship What's Paul praying for? spiritual strength the abiding of Christ a Growing fellowship with Christ. That's what he's praying for one more thing. There's one more thing by the way, who's responsible for Who's responsible to teach me and to make me to know and understand the depth of the fellowship of Christ? That's what he's praying for, that we might understand the depth and the height and the length and the breadth of the love of Christ, of the fellowship of Christ, that we might be rooted and grounded in that love, that we might know the love of Christ with passive knowledge. Who's the one that makes me to know it? Who's the one that makes me to understand it? Who's the one that teaches this to me? Who's responsible for that? God, amen? Now, do I have a responsibility to learn? Yes, and that's bound up in those two words we skipped, we're coming back to, alright? That's my responsibility, my part of this. But God's part of it is to strengthen me by His Spirit. God's part of it is to send forth His Son to dwell in my heart. God's part of it is through the Spirit and His Son to teach me, to give me understanding of the depth and the height and the breadth and the length of the fellowship of God. all leading to the last request, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now, there's a number of ways of looking at that. One way to look at it is, if you're filled with the fullness of God, you've come to perfect godliness, haven't you? What He's saying is if you're filled with the fullness, I mean the fullness of God, then you've come to the place where you're like God, not in power, not in His infinite characteristics, but in righteousness. You've reached God-likeness in perfect righteousness. How many of us are there? Well, none of us. That's the objective. That's the mark to which Paul said, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That is the objective for the church's existence when we gather, by the way, in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, the very next chapter, he's going to talk about the fact that Jesus Christ gave church leadership. He gave apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry until we all come in the unity of the faith He says this in Ephesians 4, verse 13, "'Til we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the..." What's the word? "...fullness of Christ." By the way, the book of Colossians tells us that in Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. If I'm filled with all the fullness of God, you know, one way to look at it is I'm filled with godliness. Another way to look at it is I am filled with Christ. Because all the fullness of the Godhead is bound up in Christ. That's why in the book of Colossians as well, it says that in Christ we are complete in Him. You follow me on this? It's also why here it makes the statement after talking about Christ abiding in us. That's how I can be filled with the fullness of God. How many of you have reached the point where every moment you're filled with the fullness of God? I'm not either. I'm not. I'm saved, I have the Holy Spirit within, but not every moment am I truly filled with Christ all the time in perfect godliness. But I could tell you that's what Paul prayed for for these believers. That was his prayer. You say, that seems like a pretty outlandish prayer to me. Did he meet believers? I mean, were believers different back then than they are today? I don't think so. Did you ever read the book of Corinthians? I don't think they were different than us today. But that was Paul's prayer. By the way, just in case you doubt the possibility of this prayer being answered, Paul added this phrase, this statement, and we use this statement for all praying. But in its context, this statement is not about all praying. In its immediate context, it is about this type of praying, praying for spiritual empowerment, praying for the abiding of Christ, praying for a growing fellowship with Christ, praying for the fullness of godliness and of Christ to be in an individual. And Paul says in verse number 20, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think." He just made a prayer, and he's saying, God is able to actually do exceedingly abundantly above what I just prayed. as big as the prayer I just prayed appears to be, as almost outlandish the prayer that I just prayed appears to be, I can tell you this, our God is so able that He can do exceedingly, abundantly, above what I just asked. Or for that matter, what I didn't ask but thought while I was asking. Is spiritual growth and sanctification possible? I'll tell you what, it's possible because we have a God that can do it. But you know what He just laid all that on? He laid all of that on the responsibility of God to work. Didn't He? He is able. He tells us by what means He's able. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that now worketh in us. Or sorry, that worketh in us. What power is that? That's the power of the Holy Spirit. All right, all of this is God's responsibility. Did you see that as we went through it, as we walked through it? Can you see that's all God's work, that's all God's responsibility? But there are two words that reveal our responsibility in this process. What are they? By faith. That's my responsibility. By faith. Right there in verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. My part of the responsibility, you know, it's very similar the process of sanctification Which is kind of what you just observed in Paul's prayer The process of spiritual growth and sanctification is very similar to the work of salvation If we were to list off all the different parts of the work of salvation whose responsibility are they I Who does that work? Jesus Christ died. God the Father sent Him. Justification is something God does. Regeneration is something God does. Reconciliation is something God does. I can go through list after list after list of these things. God does all of that. What's our one part of responsibility? Faith. You might say repentance and faith, I believe they're two sides of the same coin. The reason I trust the Savior for my sin is because I've come to repent of my sin. Not because I've turned from my sins. I can't turn from my sins. Not in the sense that I can give them up. I can turn from my love for my sins, I can turn from the desire to hold on to my sins, I can turn from that to a conviction against my sin, and thus turn to a Savior who I desire desperately to save me from that sin. But I cannot actually turn from the activity of my sins. I can't even do that as a believer. Only by God's grace can I actually give up sin. You understand that? I don't believe repentance is the idea sometimes taught that you need to turn from sinning. You can't. It may be turned from the love of the sin to a conviction against sin. That's a good way to put it. And because of that conviction, you turn in faith to a savior from that sin. Amen. But what's the responsibility then? Faith. We're saved by faith. We're sanctified by faith. We abide in Christ by faith. Let me show you another passage. Turn with me over two books to the book of Colossians 2. Colossians 2, verses 6 and 7. I just told you that the process of sanctification is very similar to the process of salvation. I didn't make that up. That's Bible. Let me show you the verse. Here it is. Colossians 2, verse 6. And as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord... Somebody tell me quickly now, how did you receive Jesus Christ the Lord as your Savior? How did you receive Him? By faith. John 1, verse 12. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even them that believed on His name. Right? That's how we receive Him. And He says, the same way you received Him, He then says, so, in the same way, so walk ye in Him. So how do we walk in Christ? How do we abide in Christ? By faith. Same way we received Him initially. Now, step by step, throughout my day, moment by moment, throughout my day, I walk in Him, I abide in Him, and He abides in me. Ephesians tells us that Christ abides in us by faith. Colossians tells me that I abide in Him. I walk in Him, I abide in Him, by faith. Now how many of you can think of another passage that talks about abiding in Christ and Christ in us? John 15 verses 4 and 5, here this church has become a pretty well-known passage, isn't it? John chapter 15 verses 4 and 5, Jesus Christ said, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot, cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more, not even a smidgen more, which is a small smudge, remember that, not even a smidgen more can you bear fruit, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, the one who actually does abide in me, and I in him, the very same one, bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing." It's very important for us to abide in Christ and allow Christ to abide in us. So how is it done? By faith. It's done by faith. Now later in John 15, Jesus talked about abiding in His love, and I want to bring that out because did you notice how abiding in Christ in Ephesians 3 led immediately to the idea of being rooted and grounded in love and knowing the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Why? Because when you abide in Christ and allow Christ to abide in you, you engage in a walk of fellowship, of friendship and fellowship, of intimacy with Jesus Christ. And that intimacy is a relationship of love, a relationship of loving friendship, a relationship of loving fellowship between me and the Father and between me and the Son. And yes, every believer has that available. Do you have any friends? Do you have any friends? I know there might be. I don't want to, I want to be careful here. Somebody sitting here today, seriously, I know Wesley's going to shake his head, you know, jokingly and say, I have no friends. But somebody seriously might think, no, I really don't have any friends and I don't want to stir up too heavy a burden in that case. But I'm trying to get you to think about a matter. You know, do you have any friends? And most of us would be able to say, I pray that all of us could say, I have I have some friends and the whole world's not my friend, which it probably shouldn't be. But I have some friends. Do you have any close friends? I mean, friends that you really turn to when you have a burden. Friends that maybe if they're believing friends, and I pray that they are, I pray that they're godly friends, you can turn to and you know they'll pray for you. And you know that they'll encourage you from the word of God and that they will maybe even give counsel or even correction from the word of God. Those kinds of friends. You have friends like that. Listen, what I'm trying to bring out of this is this. God the Father and God the Son themselves want to be that kind of friend to you in your life. God the Father sits in heaven on the throne of the universe and says, Jason Renick, man, I want to walk with you today and be a friend. I want to be there when you're in trouble. You can turn to me, you can unburden to me. I just want to be here for you. I want to be your friend. And I don't just want to be one of those, you know, acquaintance friends, you know, that you play hockey with. I want to be a truly intimate friend here with you every moment. And God the Father is sitting on his throne saying that to every child of God. God the Son is sitting right next to him at the right hand of the Father, and he's saying, me too, me too. Wow. I feel like Brother Flanders now. Wow. But that is a wow, isn't it? I mean, it's one thing for me to say, man, I have that kind of friendship with my wife, and I should. I have that kind of friendship maybe with my sons or with my parents or with a neighbor or some fellow believers in the church or whatever it is, and I should have friendships like that. But we're talking about God. We're talking about Jesus Christ, God, the Son, the Savior of the world. This is what we're talking about. And that's what God wants. That's literally what God wants. God's saying, look, you can have that. And the whole key for you, I'll do all of the other work. The whole key for you is just trust me. Just walk by faith in me and with me. And let me abide in you and you abide in me by faith. Just trust that. Don't go running off in other directions. Just walk by faith, abide by faith. That leads us to the other, and it won't take nearly as long. We live by faith. We live by faith. And I'm not talking about the walk idea of the consecutive steps of obedience. Here I'm talking about a characteristic of life. Okay, we live by faith. Turn with me. Two passages. Galatians 2. Galatians 2. Prayerfully, this is a wonderful verse. I believe it's one worthy of memorization. I don't think I've ever assigned it yet as a memory verse in the adult Sunday school class, but one day it's coming. You just can know one of these days it's coming, all right? Galatians 2, and in verse number 20. The Apostle Paul said he's giving a personal testimony, but I believe every believer should be able to take up this testimony. We should. I am crucified with Christ. By the way, if you're a genuine child of God, that's true. You are crucified with Christ. Romans chapter 6 teaches it. Your old man's been crucified with Him. You've been raised with Him in newness of life with a new spirit, old spirit taken away, new spirit given to you, created after God of righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians chapter 5, or sorry, Ephesians chapter 4 makes that statement. All of that is true. We're new creatures in Christ Jesus. Amen? It all has to do with our spiritual essence. I'm crucified with Christ. He says nevertheless. I live why well because when I was joined with Christ on the cross Christ died But he didn't stay dead He rose again, and so not only did I die with him I rose again with him Nevertheless, I live but now he says this about the life that he lives. All right That's the moment of his salvation his old man died a new man given to him raised in newness of life with Christ But now his Christian walk proceeds from that and so he says and the life that I now live So as I proceed for the moment of my salvation the life that I now proceed to live in the flesh in this life I live How by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's how, by faith. I live that life by faith. Now, turn with me to John chapter 10, because I want to show you what Jesus Christ said about the character of that life. Now, we could look at that as saying, that's how I live step by step by step. The idea of walking in obedience, walking in the life that God wants me to live, walking in the will of God, walking in obedience to the word of God, walking in the way of God. We could look at it that way. But I want to look at it more from the idea of a characteristic of life that God has offered to us. that I think Paul was saying, I live that characteristic of life and the way I do it is by faith. Can you and I live in this world as believers, but not live a very profitable, fruitful Christian life? Yeah, pretty withered up Christian life. Yeah, we can. Is that what Jesus Christ and God the Father intends? No, not at all. Jesus Christ said in John chapter 10 and in verse number 9, and then we'll look at verse number 10 as well. He said, I am the door. How many of us know He is the door? He's the Savior. We have to enter in by Him. Amen? There is no other way. I'm the way, the truth, and life, Jesus said. No man comes to the Father but by Me. The apostle Peter made a testimony statement. Neither is there any other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. First John, this is the record that God has 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. It's pretty plain and clear. Jesus said, I'm the door. Then he said, He said, on the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. Amen. You enter by faith through the door of Jesus Christ, you are what? You're saved. That moment, you're saved. But what proceeds from that? Now we have a Christian life to live, right? So he says this, he says, "...he shall be saved and shall thereafter go in and out by me." This is talking about, now he's using a sheepfold metaphor here, okay? So the way to become a part of the fold initially is to be a sheep that enters in by the door of Jesus Christ. Now you're part of His fold. Now you're a part of His flock. But a flock doesn't stay in the pen all day long. It doesn't stay in the sheepfold all day long. You know that. The shepherd has to lead them out for food. Now, that's not the idea. Don't get the idea. Oh, he's leading us out of salvation and into. That's not the point. The point is using the metaphor of a shepherd and sheep and a sheep fold and flock and so on. He's saying you enter in by me. I'm the door. You enter in. You become a part of the flock by me. But there's more than that. You also sustain and grow as a healthy sheep by me. I'm the door. You enter into the flock by me. You're saved by me. You also grow. You go in and out and find what? Pasture. Why does a sheep need pasture? To be healthy, to grow, to be fruitful and profitable in a sheep manner. There's health, there's growth, there's fruitfulness. By whom? By the door that is Jesus Christ. It's still by Christ, by abiding in Him and Him abiding in you. Same idea here, but what does it provide for us? Now look at the next verse. So I wanted you to see there, there's two elements. Saved, pasture. Got it? In Christ there's saved, and then there's pasture. Now look at the next verse. He says, "...the thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." That's in contrast to Him being the door. But this is the part I want you to see. "...I am come, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." You see two things in this verse as well. What are they? Life, abundant life. More abundantly. More abundant life. Just like in the verse before. Saved, Pasture. So in this verse, life more abundantly. What is life? That's when I was regenerated, became a child of God. I now have eternal life. Amen. I'm saved. That's that moment. What is more abundantly? That's spiritual growth. That's the pasturage that I find by going in and out through the door, following the shepherd, I have abundant life. You see, by abiding in Christ, I experience abundant Christian living. I abide by faith. Paul also said, I live by the life that I now live in the flesh, the abundant life that God made available to me. The way that I live it is how? By faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. By faith. See how important faith is to our Christian lives? There's more yet to come in this study, but you see how important it is? The whole Christian life is not just started through faith. The entire Christian life is supposed to be a life of faith. And all that the Lord has provided to us, You know why so many times Jesus Christ rebuked his disciples? If you were to think about it, if you've read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and I were to mention what is something that Christ rebuked the apostles for? Somebody might think of the time he rebuked Peter, get thee behind me Satan, other things. But if I were to say this, in all of your reading, what is the number one most common thing for which Jesus Christ rebuked the apostles? I think the one that would come to your mind would be this one. O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Why did he do that over and over again with the apostles? They were in training. They were apostles in training. You really understand that. He was planning for them to be the foundation of the church, and he was planning to build not just a church, the church of Jerusalem, but the entire church age, you might say, was to be built on them himself being the chief cornerstone. That was his intent all along. But he knew this, it could never happen if they did not learn the life of faith. The problem is, is as we get closer and closer to the end, the church is, in a sense, dying. And you know why it's dying? Because of the lack of faith. Now, I'm not talking about this worked up emotional faith that you sometimes see or hear about radio, television, you know. OK, that's not the key. The key is a biblical kind of faith. And in a future message, I'd like to show you a key passage, I believe, that helps us really, really grasp a biblical idea of faith, but it's found in Romans chapter four, if you want to kind of jump ahead. Romans chapter four, where it talks about Abraham and tells us that he didn't doubt, but this is basically it. One verse, it says that he believed what God had promised, he was able also to perform. That's basically faith. God said it, God will do it. God said it, it's right. God said it, I should do it. That's it. That's really faith. Faith is not this emotional feeling we have to work up. Faith is just, that's what God said, that's what God wants, therefore, I will believe, I will do, I will follow, and I cannot compromise. Added that part here at the very end. I cannot compromise. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for the message of your word and for your guidance in it. I pray that these truths are truly Driving home to our hearts because you yourself asked the question when you return when you find faith on the earth It sounds from the question that you're almost well, it's obviously a rhetorical question But that you're almost asking it from the negative perspective that you doubt that you'll find much. Oh Lord, I don't want to be one of those I Want to be more like some that were mentioned in the book of Acts that were full of the Spirit and of faith. I Stephen, Philip, these men, full of the Spirit and of faith. That's the type of character I desire to be. And Lord, that's the type of character I desire the members of this congregation to be. So Lord, let us be challenged by this question. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.