us. Well, good morning, brethren. Again, as we come to now the preaching of the Word of God, I would have you to bring your minds once again back to our Confession of Faith. And if you don't have a copy of the Confession of Faith before you, you can look in the back of your hymnals on page 677. And here we will find what we're looking at. Now, as we come, and as you're going there, remember what we're doing. We're studying the biblical work of salvation in the heart of man. That's my title I've given to six chapters of the Confession of Faith. And those six chapters are chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. We've already looked through the first few of them, effectual calling. We see what that is in the scripture, that God himself is the one who calls those whom he is going to save. Justification, we looked at that also. We find that the sinner is justified by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And justification, really in this sense, what we have is a legal term. The sinner did not become righteous. God declares him righteous. upon the work of Christ because he died in their place. And then the 12th chapter is adoption, where it sees that God himself takes now those who have been saved into his family. And the beautiful word of adoption is that just as you would see in the world, if some family would adopt some child, that child takes on his name, the name of the family, and also given some of the benefits of a true child. So as adoption, we become the children of God. And everything that God has, he now showers it upon his people. Sanctification, it shows that there is a work in the heart that is continually going on. There's initial sanctification. Remember the word, what sanctification is. It is the setting apart for the use of God. And this is what we find the use of the word in the scripture. So therefore, the people of God who could say by Jesus Christ, they are set apart for the use of God. They are God's persons now or elements and they work for God and for God alone and their lives is set apart for God and to do the things for God. So we come now this morning to the 14th chapter, which is saving faith. And as we come to this chapter, we're going to find out that here the writers of the confession did a great job is showing us and taking all of the truth out of the Bible and showing how sanctification I'm sorry, saving faith works in the heart of the believers. The first paragraph in chapter four, it reads thus thusly, the grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the spirit of Christ in their hearts and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the word, by which also and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer, and other means appointed of God to its increase in strengthening. Now, first of all, we find that what they say here is the root of the work of faith, excuse me, the grace of faith, whereby the elect are unable to believe to the saving of their souls. Faith is a gift, it's saying here. When it says the grace of faith, we find and understand truly grace is unmerited favor to his elect. Grace is not something somebody earned. We're not saying, and the Bible does not teach anywhere, that those who are saved earn their salvation. They have done something so God could look at them and say, well done. Now you can be in my kingdom. No, it tells us completely. It is unmerited favor when it takes the word grace, which means that those who are recipients of grace did not earn it. Romans 2. 3, excuse me, in 23 and 24, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. And then in Ephesians 2 and 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God, and so it's indicating here there's nothing that we have done. No true child of God has come to God, and God has looked at him or her and said, you know something? You did a pretty good job. I'm gonna make you my child. No, that is not it. No one can say, no one can take any credit to his or herself to say it. I became what I am. I'm better than the guy next door because I use what's in me to see the good of God and I've come to God. If anybody has that, that's only a proof that they've never been saved. It says here, this grace whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls. The Confession makes it clear that saving faith is tied to the other chapters that we already looked at, which I enlabeled the work of salvation in the heart of man. It says the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls. It is those who have been predestined to eternal life from the foundation of the world. Remember Ephesians 2, 4 and 5. But God, being rich in His mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions and our sins, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. If you read through Ephesians chapter two or even chapter one, you'll find out the apostle Paul makes it clear that nothing is in the Bible or in those places where they can say the person did something and God said, you've earned this very salvation with me. No, none of us didn't earn it. We didn't have anything that we could do and bring to God. Titus three and seven says, so that being justified by his grace We would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Eternal life comes to us. It's a gift, dear people. It's nothing that you and I can stand up and boast about. And you, we can see that in life. No one can say anything about how good they were or what they did if they look at something that has been given to them as a gift. They're always through, and they're going through, and they're thanking the person for the gift. You may have something that you've received from somebody, maybe a loved one, and that particular thing is now someplace in your house, setting up, and you look at it, and you think about the loved one who gave it to you. See, this is what true salvation is. Man, when he is saved, he does not think about himself and what he has done. He thinks about God and what God gave to him because he knows it's all of grace. These verses clearly teach that the only way a sinner is saved is by the grace of God. What is clear is that God imparts the gift of faith to the spiritually dead sinner. There's nothing you can do, nothing I can do. We cannot look back and say that, you know, something I was did something worthwhile. I had decided to come to Christ. Yeah, there's some churches teach that. Some preachers out there teach that. No, you don't decide. If it was left up to you, you would still be dead in your trespasses and sins. We cannot boast when it comes to salvation because we did nothing to earn it. The second part of the very passage, the paragraph goes, the recipients of the operation of grace. He lets us know who these are that this grace comes to and is operating in the life. The result of grace given by God imparts blessing to those he saves, whereby, notice what it says, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls. The elect. The phrase makes it clear that grace is given to us, to those who are chosen by God. The recipients of them, they say, is the elect. The grace of faith is given to those who God looked upon out of humanity for his own special people. He put a love upon them. Now, you and I are going to never understand how we even come up to the fact that we could be loved by God. If you are serious to yourself and I am serious, we'll look back and say, Lord, why did you choose me? I was not worthy of what you've given. But God, he says, and we read in the scripture, before the foundation of the world, he chose to himself who he was going to save. And before he said, let there be light, He already knew who he was going to save. And just think about that, dear brother and sister. That is that you were nowhere in the sight of anything about being born. There was nothing about you on the earth, nowhere. And even if you come up to two or three years before you were actually born, nothing, no one knew nothing about you. But God, God knew he was going to bring you into the world. God knew how it was going to be done. God had all your plans laid out for you. Every step that you would make, where you would live. First of all, who would be your parents? That's not an accident. It's not a choice. God knew. This is the God who we serve, not a God who sits someplace twiddling his thumbs and wonder what humanity is going to do. Will they turn from their wicked ways and come to me? Oh, please. I hope they'd come to me. No! God is saying, I am in control of this. And so he says, he is the very one, he have the recipients, the elect, those who will be enabled to believe in God. The grace of faith is given to those who God called out of humanity as his special people. Romans 8 and 28 and 30 says it this way, for those whom he foreknew He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom He predestined, He also called, and these whom He called, He also justified, and these whom He justified, He also glorified. The Bible tells that God is from A to B, He is the one who's in charge. No, dear people, you and I didn't do anything. Remember that verse starts with who he foreknew, who he knew even before you came into the world. He predestined, he elect you to make you his own. Then in time and space, when you and I now become to whatever age God would come and he's gonna call, then he called you. He didn't just look at you and say, well, I hope sister so-and-so or brother so-and-so turn to me and find what I am and look at Christ and say, this is the one He want to save. No, He called you. He's saying, come. And God, the way he does that, we find in the scriptures in different ways, he called each one to him. Certain things begin to happen in the life of the sinner that knows now something is being done. I have a change in the way I think about things. Oh yes, I love myself, I love the world. I say I'm gonna live and have me a joyous time. I had all these plans about the wonderful thing I was gonna do and what I was gonna obtain in life, but now, I have altogether different thought. I'm thinking about spiritual things. Why is that happening to me? Because God calls the sinner. He brings him and her out of the situation where he and she is living for themselves. and only longing for what they can gain out of the world and what they can gain out of people. And some people walking in sin, and all they think about is what they're going to cheat and how they're going to get over. And all of a sudden, things are changing in that man's mind. Why? Because he says, he calls. And these whom he called, he also justified. That's a wonderful truth. We've already seen that in justification. Wonderful truth. Oh yes, all our sins. And we look at it and we think about it. Even you, child of God right now, you look back in the past sometime and you said, oh, I wish I had never done that. Why did I stoop so low? And why did I do such horrible things? And that sin itself, it caused us to think sometime, why does God even love me? Why did he even save me? Well, here's why, because you are justified. You are justified in what Christ has done. Christ has taken every sin that we have committed, past, present, and even future. and it was put upon Him. And when He went to the cross, God poured His wrath out upon Him. He destroyed sin in us when He put His wrath upon His Son, who died in our place. And when He was on the cross, our sins were upon that cross in Him. And so now God can say, it's just as if you never sinned. That's what justified means. It's just as if you never sinned. This is what we look and see. And we know ourselves, dear people, that doesn't mean that the eradication of sin has been eradicated out of us. We heard prayer this morning. Lord, forgive us for our sin. But that sin is being worked out and has been handled by Jesus Christ on the cross. So Paul can say in 820, Romans 8, 29 and 30, for those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son. We're going to be like Christ Jesus, is what he's saying. So that he would be the firstborn among many brothers, and those whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified, it is clear that faith is a gift given to those whom God predestined from the foundation of the world. Turn with me to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one, and notice how here the apostle Paul lays this out for us. Ephesians chapter one. I gotta find a way to get these papers to stay up here. Ephesians chapter one. And notice as we read, just read a few verses here. And we'll start at verse one. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. See here, Paul even mentions that grace to them. He can give and even blessing the grace upon them as he writes to them. In verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. Isn't that beautiful? I'm a sinner. You're a sinner, you know. You probably said some things. Thank God we're not doing all the sins we used to do, but sin has not been eradicated. We find ourselves getting angry at times. We find ourselves saying things we should not say. And we know we are not those who are so wonderful and blameless before God. But what God did in Christ, He has taken that sin that you may even commit this day and put it on Christ, and Christ died. And His very treatment on the cross was to get rid or pay for that sin. So you and I are clear. But that doesn't tell us that what we should do is don't worry about sin. Oh no, it would never be that way. He says, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love, He predestined us to the adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intentions of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace. It is grace, all of grace. which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved, meaning in Jesus Christ. In him we have redemption. Through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace. What a wonderful truth we see. It is Christ Jesus and the grace of Christ Jesus himself that cause us to be those that we can walk with God. Walk in this life and know that everything is fine with us. But the confession goes on. He says, enabling to believe to the saving of their souls. Now, he's saying here that something has to happen in us, that we will find ourselves able to hold on to the truth that God's going to give to us and what he's imparting to us by the Holy Spirit. Enable to believe indicates the man, apart from grace, cannot believe in God or the truth of his word. No grace. No real salvation. No real understanding. No real walking with Jesus Christ of God the Father that can be done. The Bible speaks of this inability in several ways. Without grace. It's spiritual blindness we find it. It's spiritual deadness. Jesus quoted Isaiah in John 12 and 39 and 40, for the reason, for this reason, they could not believe. For Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes and he hardened their hearts so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts and be converted and be healed. and healed them. He's an Old Testament prophet saying, man walked in his own sin, but what did God do? God blinded them, but he couldn't see. He made it where their hearts were hardened. And Jesus go on in John 8 and 43, why do you not understand what I am saying? Remember, he's talking to a crowd of people. He's speaking to them. And they're scratching their heads. They're wondering what he means. He says, why do you not understand what I'm saying? It is because you cannot hear my word. Now, you know Jesus is speaking about more than the fact that the sound of the voice is coming into the ear and going in. No, he means more than that. You cannot hear meaning in your soul. You cannot take in what I'm saying. You have no understanding of what is being said right now. And notice in Corinthians, turn to 1 Corinthians 2. Notice how we find Paul mentioning this also. 1 Corinthians 2. Look at verses 12 to 14. He says, verse 12, Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit whom is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by Him, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of God, of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." Dear people, think about it before you got saved. What do you think about the Bible, reading the Bible? What did you think about people going to church? You say, ah, you know that, it had nothing to do with that. That's just, you know, people want to, they want to mess up their life like that. That's, leave that to them. But that don't make sense to me. I remember as a young man, I thought I had everything on a noggin. I had all this wise wisdom as a young man. I didn't even know, like some could say, you didn't know your foot from your elbow. But I thought I knew everything at that time. And I can even, people come to me talking about God in the Bible. And I would wrestle with them and make them look like they're fools. And I thought, oh, I was doing such a great job. But Paul says right here, how come you cannot understand? But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised. If you have not the Spirit, you will not understand what God is saying. It's what he's saying. You will not know and not understand. And this is what he said, but as we look in our paragraph here, it also gives us the source of saving faith. Where is this saving faith? Where does it come from? He says, the source of saving faith is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the Word. Where does this saving faith come? You know, if you look at this, there is saving faith is what he's talking about. That faith that really brings a lost man, woman, boy, or girl to God. There's other kinds of faiths, and there's a lot of people out here talking about they got faith in God, but it's not saving faith. It's man-made faith. And so here he's saying, it is the work of saving faith that gives the sinner the ability to hear and to believe the truth of the gospel. It says the spirit of Christ working in the heart. Since man in his unconverted state is unable to believe the truth of God to the saving of his soul, God must work. God must do something. 1 Corinthians 2.15, But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. He said this man who comes to this state, he now knows what and how to do because the Spirit of God is in him. It is the Spirit that imparts grace. And then spiritual understanding comes to the believer. It says, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts. In the hearts, meaning in the soul of man. Not in that muscle that beats and pushes blood throughout our body, but in the inner heart, the soul of man, deep in his being. You see, man is more than this body and the flesh and all we see and all the things that come out of the body. Man is a spiritual being. He's gonna live forever. He's not going to die. And so deep down inside, now because of sin and his turning away from God, he's dead spiritually. But it's saying here, the Spirit of Christ working in the heart, working deep in the soul of man. It's a spirit that imparts grace. And it says also, wrought by the ministry of the word, or worked in by the ministry of the word. It is the word of God that must be brought to the heart of man in order to produce salvation in Jesus Christ. Paul made it clear that without the word of God, no one will be saved. Romans 10 and 14, how then will they call upon him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And he's saying, this is what has to happen. This is what must take place. The Word of God must be preached. All of you here today, it's a blessing to be under a preacher. And if you're here and you're not a Christian today, there's still a blessed place for you to be, under the sound of the preached Word of God. Paul then says, so faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the work of Christ. It is Christ himself working in the heart. Hearing is with the ears, but with the heart, there is what goes down deep into the soul. This is how a man, woman, boy, or girl is turned from their sins and hating God to one who now loves God. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 1 and 5, For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction, just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. Here is the gospel that's coming, and dear people, the gospel is being preached now. Though you hear man's voice, I hope you hear the Word of the Spirit in your heart, because what I'm doing is just taking God's Word and giving it to you. And it's God's Word who's going to make the difference. This man here can't change no one. But God's Word, God's Word, it does the changing. But it goes on in the Confession, it says, and how faith is increased and strengthened. It says this way, by which also and by the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer, and other means appointed to God. it is increased and strengthened." Now, you can tell this come back way back from the 1600s because the way they lay it out, you know. Now, if we say it, notice, look at it again. If we take the last part, it is increased and strengthened, and put that first, we say, it is increased and strengthened by the administration of baptism in the Lord's Supper, prayer, and other means appointed by God. Doesn't that make it more plain? The Bible is clear concerning how the believer will progress in faith. Here the confession mentions some of the ways of faith is increased and strengthened in the heart of the Christian. Baptism. Now what happens in baptism? In baptism, the sinner is confessing that the old man, the old self, is dead, and a new person has now emerged from the waters of baptism, and he confesses that he is no longer a slave to sin. His faith is in Romans 6 and 5, for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also live be in the likeness of his resurrection. So baptism is not just something that you go through and many people have been dumped several times or didn't do anything. It has to become that's in the heart. And here the confession says this is one of the things that God uses to increase the strength When a person first comes to salvation in Christ, what does he or her say? Oh, yes, I want to be with Jesus Christ. I want to be with him. I want to follow him. I want to love him. I want to live with him. Then the church says, you must be baptized. And then they go and they're baptized. What happens? They understand what baptism is. Baptism really taking the picture of Christ himself. He died on the cross for his people. And so in Romans 6, if we read that, you read the whole section, And I invite you to do that when you get home. And when he died, we too also. Now we died, and so therefore we are baptized, indicating the old man goes down and buried in a watery grave, comes up a new man. Jesus died, but he came out of the tomb. And so there the pictures would happen. And this is an increasing to faith. Sometimes we, first of all, in the beginning, when we do that, when we go and be baptized, we are not confessing before all that this old person who sinned and wicked, he is dead, buried in a waterly grave. And now I rise out of the water and I walk with God now. to the Lord's Supper. It says here, what does it say? The Lord's Supper. Jesus said, do this and remember to me. Take the elements, we have the bread, we have the juice too, the blood, representing the blood. And what is his eyes? His body and his blood was spilled. And when you take these elements, you're taking Christ into your life. The Lord's Supper is confessing that he now lives a new life to the glory of Jesus Christ. And every time we take the Lord's Supper, it should make a deeper impression upon our hearts about what we are doing and who we are, new creatures in Christ Jesus. And this is the whole place for it. And then he gets to give prayer, too. It's another one of the means that's used. Prayer. It is truly in prayer that the Christian displays real faith. By way of praying, he is expressing his faith and trust in God and Christ. To hear him and to answer him. By praying, he is also providing Proving that God, he believes that God is real and God exists and God is going to hear him. He also believes in the power of God, in the power of prayer. And dear people, as you grow more and more, you put more stock in prayer than you did when you were an early Christian. Oh, you can't wait to go to the place of prayer. and just bring all your words and all your deep desires to God and to let him know. And you know he's hearing you, and he's going to even answer those prayers. So the confession says, by these three, baptism and the Lord's Supper and prayer, faith is strengthened. And then it says, in other means appointed also. And there's examples we can say for that in Hebrews 6, 11 and 12. Let's turn to that very quickly. Hebrews chapter 6. You'll find here, as I write it to the book of Hebrews, what he says here. Hebrews 6. Good Persons 11 and 12. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end. Full assurance, meaning that you will understand and your hope will be strengthened more and more so that you will not be sluggish but imitators of those whom through faith and patience inherit the promises." So he's saying, here's examples of faith and what you should seek and how you should walk. And you look at those examples. You look at people who've gone before you, people who you've known, and as they are walking in their life, and look at them and say, this is a picture of real faith. I want to be like that brother, that sister. I want to be like this one or that one. And that's what it should be. But also we find in the book of Hebrews, we have the whole 11th chapter. I'm not going to read it, but if you go to it, it's been given the title of the Hall of Fame of Faith. Read that and see what they say about those in there. But also in Hebrews chapter 13, if you turn over to verse 13, it speaks of other things that what we can see as we think about the other means appointed by God. Hebrews 13 and verse 7. Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and consider the result of their conduct. Imitate their faith. You see, we should be looking at those who are in who have gone before us and know how this brother or sister lived their lives and then basically find ourselves even living the same way. And also, you know, these other things, it could be the testing of our faith. It is real trials that we're going to go through. You remember James chapter 1, count it all joy when you fall in diverse kinds of of situations, because it is the testing of your faith, and go on. So this is what he's saying. This is what God's going to use. This is what the Spirit uses, and how God works in that true faith in us. Faith has to be worked on. It's going to be going on and on. It's going to grow. We don't have faith and then stand at this one podium of faith, and that's it. It's stagnant there, and that's as far as you're going to go. No, it is increased more and more. And we should be those who are looking to see faith even proven in our heart. We should be those who are saying, Lord, I want to be stronger in faith today than I was yesterday. on and on and learning. But we find what he's saying here, this is done by us and what we are doing. It is by the word, reading the word of God, coming to the word of God, learning the word of God, and even believing and following the word of God. Like the other chapters we have studied concerning the biblical work of salvation in the heart of man, chapter 14 takes a strong biblical stand on the word of God. and it's clear teaching on saving faith. What we have focused on is the first paragraph is the root of function of faith. The grace of faith enabled the Christian to experience true salvation. The source of saving faith, the spirit of Christ and the word working in the heart. How faith increased and strengthened by the means appointed by God. Brethren, we must take all that the Bible teaches on the subject of saving faith and apply it to our daily lives. See, it does us no good to hear this and to walk out of here and do nothing concerning this in the week that's ahead of us. We should be those now seeing what we see here. You have your confession of faith. Look back, begin to look at that and say, God's gonna increase faith in me by me turning to his word. learning from his word. And even as he said, baptism, the Lord suffer in prayer. And brother, we must take all that the Bible teaches. We must do all we can to grow in faith. Think about it. Think about that. It's not a hard concept, is it? No matter what we do in life, if we start out, we want to get better. You go to a new job, you want to do everything you can in order to stay in that job, but not just to stay in that position, to even get promoted as possible. So what are we going to do as Christians? I'm saved. That's all I know. And I'm fine. I don't have to do anything else. No. That proves if we ever do that, we have not saving faith. Remember, this chapter is not telling us how saving faith works in the life I end with this verse, 1 Peter 2 and 9, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. May God bless you and may you live and be a great pitcher of faith. to all those around you. Let us pray. Our blessed God in heaven, we do thank you for your mercy and grace. We thank you, Lord God, for the truth that we see in your word. And Lord, who we are, we think of that, Father, and we even come to ourselves and say, we are unworthy of all the blessings that you've given us. And Father, and that is the truth. But yet, you didn't take us because we were worthy. You called us to Yourself because You placed Your love upon us. And oh Lord God, teach us how to live this life before You, showing love to You by hearing and following and even believing Your Word to be more and more like Jesus Christ. Bless us, oh Lord God. Hear our cries. In Jesus' name we pray.