We'll read this morning in the Epistles of the Romans, please. Romans chapter 10. And verse 8. I want to speak to you this morning. morning on the subject of faith, a subject that is referred to with the word faith or believe in its various forms at least a thousand times in our Bible. And of course there are other references without the actual use of either word. So you can see immediately, if we're going to understand the message of the Bible, we We must understand what faith is. And that will be our study this morning. Faith, just what is it? And we begin our reading in Romans chapter 10, verse 8. But what's that? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach, shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with a heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all, all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As he's written, how beautiful of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. As I said, faith occupies a very prominent place in our Bible. And it becomes quite clear as we read the Scriptures that faith is that alone which can bring us into the place of blessing that God would have us to enjoy. Now we're going to look at this very simply, and we'll just cover that area of this truth according to the time that we have at our disposal, because you can see by my remarks already it is a vast subject covering the entire Bible. So we just look at it very simply this morning. Let's begin with the necessity of faith. Why is it necessary to have faith? And is it necessary? And then the nature of faith, just what is faith? And then I trust we will have time to look at least at the object of faith. What are we to trust in? What are we to have faith in? Now, the Bible makes it very clear that faith is absolutely necessary. And I'm going to divide that up into four simple classes. the case. Let's put it this way. Faith is necessary for pardon from God. If you are going to receive that pardon for your sins from God, which is absolutely necessary, then you must have faith. Faith is necessary for peace with God. If you are going to have peace with God, there must be faith. faith is necessary for the pleasing of God. And fourth and last, faith is necessary for progress with God. So there's going to be pardon and peace and pleasing and progress. There must be faith. with the first. Pardon from God. Unbelief is all that is necessary to cause the person to be lost, both now and hereafter. That's made abundantly clear in so many scriptures that I would just quote two or three that I believe are likely familiar to most of you. In John chapter 3 and verse 18 we read, He that believeth not is condemned already. Now those are the words of our Lord Jesus. He that believeth not is condemned already. So see, friend, it's not a question of you taking your chance and hoping to get by. If you're in the category of the unbeliever, then you are condemned, not in the future day, but condemned already. And when you go down to the last verse in that third chapter of John, verse 36, you read, He that believeth not the Son shall not see light, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So that to the unbelieving person, there is no possibility. whatsoever of seeing life. There is no escape from the wrath of God so long as one continues in that condition of unbelief. In the 16th chapter of Mark's Gospel and the 15th verse we read, He that believeth not shall be damned. And when we turn to the second last chapter in our Bible, Revelation chapter 21. We read in verse 8 a list of those of whom it is said that they shall have a part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. And the second class in that list is the unbelieving. I don't think I need to go on first. These four verses that I have quoted to you, which could be added to by many more, these four verses tell us very distinctly that there can be absolutely no pardon from God, no salvation if a person continues without faith. And then there's no peace with God. In the Romans chapter 5, we read in verse 1. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So that faith is absolutely necessary if you're going to be at peace with God. In Hebrews 11 and verse 6 we read, without faith, it is impossible Now that's a tremendous statement, no matter what you do or don't do, no matter what you give or don't give, no matter where you go or don't go, no matter what you belong to or don't belong to, the Bible is very explicit, without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that is the rewarder of them diligently seek him. John tells us in the fifth chapter of his first epistle, in a passage I'd like to look with you at just in a few moments, he says, he that believeth not God have made him a liar. To me that's one of the strong statements of the Scriptures. And I think if You'll see why that previous verse, Hebrews 11, 6, says, Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Before someone came up to you and said, You know, you're a handsome man. You began to feel good all over it, but you're a liar. Why, you're a beautiful woman. I don't believe a word you say. you know you're one of the nicest people I've ever met I wouldn't trust you for a minute wouldn't you feel good what do you think God thinks you call him a lie I've had people when I've been dealing with them about their soul and they have said to me about Mr. Machiavei, I can't believe. I say, well, who can't you believe? Are you sitting there telling me you can't believe God? If that's what you mean, I might as well leave. I'm wasting your time and you're wasting mine. If you can't believe God, who can you believe? He that believeth not God has made him alone. That is why it's absolutely necessary to have faith if there's going to be any pleasing of God. And in Romans 14 we read in verse 23, whatsoever is not a faith is sin. And when you and I, whether we're saviour or unsafe, when we act in unbelief, we are sinning according to the word of God. Not only is faith necessary for pardon from God and peace with God and the pleasing of God but for progress with God. We read in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 38 the just shall live by faith and writing to the Corinthians. The Apostle Paul reminded them in 2 Corinthians 5, 7, we want by faith and not by sight. And so after we are saved, if there's going to be any progress in the things of God, any advancement in our Christian life, then there must be faith. Do I need to say any more. Do I need to take any more time to impress upon us this morning the absolute necessity of faith for both saved and unsaved? I think not. Well, then that brings us to, well, what is faith? What's the nature of this faith you're talking about? What is it? Well, in general, there are three views as to what faith is. Now, I don't want to get technical at all, and yet it's necessary sometimes to look at error that we might understand the truth. First of all, is what I might call a rationalistic view of faith. And that is all that faith means to an unsaved and unregenerate natural man, a sort of a view of it, an assent of a mind that has no influence, no effect, that produces nothing, is merely assenting, yes, I believe that. And that's it. Your mind has possibly been convinced by certain arguments, or certain things have been brought before you, and you assent to it. Yes, I won't argue about that. I'll believe that. Now, that's merely a rationalistic view of faith. It produces nothing. It will neither bring salvation, nor will it bring any of these other blessings that I have spoken about in connection with the Christian life and progress. And yet, that is something that is necessary. as it were, the first ingredients in genuine faith, as long as you disagree, as long as you say, no, I can't accept that, or I don't believe that, there, of course, you can't make any progress in faith whatsoever. So when we come to think in a positive way about faith, we'll see that it does begin with a sense, with agreeing to the truth of what heard, or read, or been told. Then there's a what I call a Roman Catholic view. Now, according to Roman Catholic dogma, faith, which you'll come across in their writings, faith is a sort of a mystical work of a kind of a spiritual nature that God credits you for. and you can get merit if you have that kind of good works which is called faith. Now, if you've understood my little explanation of that view, you realize that a great many people who are not Roman Catholic by persuasion, they still have that notion regarding faith. Some have it back in their mind. I know that by talking with people who've come to me and wanting to know how to be saved. Back in their mind, they've never really thought it through. They've never expressed it in words, possibly. But back in their mind, they've had this kind of a notion. Now, Christ died. And, of course, his death was necessary. And he did a wonderful work when he died on the cross. paid for sin when he died on the cross. And you know, if I could just get the right kind of faith and the right amount of faith and give it to God, then that would finish it. Now I'd be saved. You see, in their mind they have a notion that that is the one little bit of work them to do for salvation. Now that's wrong. Faith is not a work. That's made abundantly clear in the Scripture. As soon as you introduce work into faith, it's no longer faith. Faith It produces work. You read of faith which worketh by love. And faith, real faith, does work. And it produces work. But it's not work in any sense whatsoever. It's not what you give to God. And He gives you back salvation. No, no. I hope that the Spirit of God that spell a false notion from your mind If it's there this morning, I hope, if this fell at once and for all, then there's another view of faith. I call it the fatalistic view, and it's held by those who follow the doctrine of Calvin. And there have been some good men that have this view, but good men can be wrong. is a gift from God and that until he gives it to you, you can't believe. Now I don't accept that for one minute. I've read, rightly, all the arguments that are advanced, and I say there are some good men, very good men, that advance that notion. But I'm convinced they're wrong. E. W. Pink in his book on the sovereignty of God which is a very misleading book. He tries to put across that notion that faith is the gift of God. His argument, and he's only arguing as others do who hold that view, is that man is so totally and completely helpless that he can't believe until God gives him the gift. Well, I say if he can't believe and he's so totally helpless he can't even believe, how can he take a gift? How can he take the gift of God if it's faith, if he's that totally dead? That I'm convinced is a mistaken notion regarding faith. I've heard it discussed at large Bible conferences, and I remember saying at a conversational Bible reading to a brother who is advancing us very strongly, I said, my brother, would you kindly tell me what kind of people are going to go to hell? He said, unbelievers. I said, people who don't have faith. He said, that is right, Brother McKenna. I said, and how does a man get faith? You know, I like to lead a person out right to the end of the limb before you cut it off. I said, and how does a man get faith? He said he gets it only as a gift from God. So I said, my brother, you believe that God will send a man to hell for not having what God didn't give him. what you're trying to tell us? And he says, that's not my God. That's not the God I serve. God will send a man to hell because he would not believe, not because he couldn't believe, but because he wouldn't believe. And if a person sits around with their arms folded and says, well, I'm waiting for God to give me faith, they'll die and go to hell. Now, we might as well just put it as plain and blunt as possible in English language. The Bible says, He that believeth not shall be damned. Of course, the passage that is generally adduced by these who believe that faith is the gift of God is Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9. Most of you are familiar with it. It says, For by grace are you saved through faith, and not not of yourselves. of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, I'd like to emphasize that the gift there is salvation, not faith. It's salvation. There are five qualifying clauses, and those five can only be applied to salvation if they're applied to faith. It's ridiculous. They're salvation. What's the first thing it says about it? It's by grace that is totally unmerited and undeserved and unearned. That's the salvation of God. It's by grace. It's through faith. Through faith. Faith is the only principle upon which you can obtain God's salvation. By grace Through faith, not of yourselves. That refers to salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It's not of yourselves. By grace are you saved through faith and not of yourself? It is the gift of God. And fifth, not of works, lest any man should boast. And one of the most beautiful passages has been misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misapplied. Salvation, let me go over it again, very simply, is by grace, through faith, not of yourself, the gift of God, not of works. Well, if these notions regarding faith are wrong, what is the Bible teaching regarding faith? I'll just be able to deal with it very briefly, but I would like you, first of all, to try and separate in your mind the faith that brings salvation to an unsaved person, and then the faith with which that saved person lives their Christian life. Now, when I say separate them in your thinking, I don't want you to get the idea that there are two different kinds of faith. I'll try and explain that. What is faith according to the Bible? In its simplest initial form, the first kind of faith or the first exercise or the first movement of faith on the part of any man or woman comes, as we were reading here, by hearing and believing what you heard. Faith come up by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now the word hearing there is literally a report. It's just the same as we had in the previous verse. a report. Ask the prophet Isaiah in verse 16. So then faith come up through a report. Let me just stop and think, isn't that true in every area? Somebody says, do you believe what happened? You say, what happened? I didn't hear anything. Well, never mind. Don't get technical now. Do you believe us? You say, don't be so ridiculous. Tell me what you want me to believe, and I'll tell you whether I believe it or not. You see, you've got to get a report. But as someone rushed into this auditorium this morning and reported to us that a catastrophe had taken place in the city, all right, now we've I don't believe it. I don't believe that happened. He's just trying to alarm us. Others might say, well, I believe that. That's terrible. But you see, we couldn't either believe or disbelieve until we heard the report. So faith come up by a report, by what you hear. And because we're dealing in Romans 10 with the things of God, is by the Word of God. It's not what any man reports to you. It's not what any founder of a religion reports to you. It's what the Word of God reports. Now that's real faith, you see. And so faith in its simplest initial form is believing what you hear from the Word of God. And that is the only thing that an unsafe person can do. He's got to hear and he's got to believe what he hears from the Word of God. That's why the solemn responsibility of every gospel preacher is not to arouse the emotions of people. Emotion may have a place, but that isn't the business of a preacher. A gospel preacher an evangelist according to the Bible his responsibility is to report the gospel now what's the gospel Christ died for our sins according to scriptures he was buried he was raised again the third day according to scripture and the gospel preachers supposed to keep on preaching that and preaching it and preaching it and preaching it and preaching it and God will take care of the rest That's his response to that. And it's when an unsaved person hears that report and believes that as the truth of God, that is when faith begins. And that faith brings salvation. But they are objectors. isn't man dead? Yes, he's spiritually dead. How can a spiritually dead man hear any of me? My answer is I don't know. But the Lord Jesus said he could, so I believe it. A lot of things that I believe I don't understand. What I understand and the scientific area about electricity and all of that, you could write on a postage stamp. But I believe if I press that right button on the wall, the light will come out. Now I can't explain to you why I did, but I just did, and that's what I want is light, so I press the button. I know nothing about mechanics. Why my motor starts when I step on the starter? I am the idea, but it does. So when I get in my car, I just believe if I press that little thing on the floor down there, after being turned on the ignition, my motor will start. And it does. I was told that was the way to start a car. That's what I did. Our Lord Jesus said in John chapter 5 and verse 25, and this is my answer to all the hyper-Calvinists that would have people sitting around waiting for God to give them a gift of faith. The hour is coming, and now is, said our Lord, now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Now, you know, he's talking about the spiritually dead. So the Lord said the spiritually dead can hear the voice of the Son of God. I don't know how. Someone has pictured Lazarus lying in his grave. And then he's brought to life by the Lord, you remember, as you have in John chapter 11. viewing them after. They say, Lazarus, tell us about it. How's it like? And the one who drew this word picture describes it this way. Lazarus is imagined to be saying, I don't know. Everything was dead, black, blackness. Then I heard a voice, the voice that Lazarus, that was me, come forth, and the next thing I knew, a man was taking the blindfold off my eyes, and I looked, and there was the Lord Jesus standing in front of me. the resurrection of Lazarus. And that's the only way you can explain the salvation of a soul. 47 years ago I was sitting spiritually dead. Not a movement in my heart or soul toward God. Then I heard a voice speaking into my heart. I came. That was me. come to me I came I came and the scales that had covered my eyes all of my life for that time as it were fell off not physically of course but mentally and I saw not with these eyes I saw with the eyes of my heart the Lord Jesus Jesus as the one who died for me. And I receive him as my Savior. It's a miracle, yes. And there are things about a miracle that you can't explain. But there are things, outward things of a miracle you can explain, and that's all God wants us to know. I believe about that. Jesus said this, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me have everlasting life. And when you believe the report that God gives you concerning the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, that brings salvation on the of the Word of God. Just in the two or three minutes remaining to me, let me just take you on from this point. That initial faith that came to you through believing a report, it led you to trust the one that you heard about. All of this could be illustrated by events in our ordinary life. You hear a thing about a certain person, and that that you hear, if you believe it, leads you to trust them, or otherwise. And so when you hear the message and you believe it, it brings you to Christ, and you put your trust in him. Now, this faith that began with accepting that report because it's a living thing, and we'll continue this in another study, because it's a living thing, it begins to grow. Who do you trust the most? A person you just met? Or a person you've known for 30 years? or 40 years, you know the answer, of course. Who is it trusts the Lord Jesus the most, a person who knows and knows. And you see, that's what happens. Having come to Christ and trust him as the one who died for you, then you begin to live a life of trust, a life of confidence, That's where this verse comes in. The just shall live by his faith. Now some people have faith for the salvation of their souls. They couldn't trust God for a meal. If they didn't know where the next meal was coming from, they'd be almost panic-stricken. If they had an obligation, and dead life and saw no way of meeting it, why, they'd be terrible upset. Does that affect their salvation? Not a bit. They have believed the report concerning the death of Christ. But what they need to do now is to get to know the Lord Jesus Christ in such a way they can trust Him confidently for all things in life. That's living by faith. It's not a mysterious thing that comes over you. It's simply getting to know your God in such a way that you can trust Him. And that's one of the wonderful experiences of being able to trust the Lord from day to day. I'm so thankful that God now has I finished out 45 years of service for the Lord. I'm so glad that back there at the beginning, at 21 years of age, I'm so glad I didn't go out preaching under a board or an organization or someone that would guarantee me a salary. I'm so thankful for it now. Why? Because I've had the privilege of 45 years of trusting the Lord Jesus for every penny I've ever received. And my wife and I got married 42 years ago without having the guarantee of one penny support. And we reared three sons and something to call them. And they never missed a knee. ever, in the past, nor at the present, have I ever had a guarantee from any individual or any group of individuals guaranteeing me one dollar. I don't know where my next dollar is coming from, except it's coming from him. I say it's been a privilege to trust him. There's nothing wonderful about it. Why shouldn't we trust God? When you look at the other side of the coin, it seems terrible to think about not trusting God and for health problems and all these other things. Now that's living by faith. And you who have a self, you have to trust God that you have strength to earn that self. You have to trust God that you still have your position where you earn that one. There's none of you can be independent of God at all. But I'm trying to get this across to you now, and I must close. Faith that saves you is believing the report concerning what Christ did on the cross of Calvary. That'll save you. And if that's a genuine faith, it'll begin to grow. It'll lead you to trust that person. that person. It'll lead you to walk with that person. And the path of the just is the shining light that shines more and more onto the perfect day. God help you to put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ the sweet. And those of us who are saved, oh, may we not grieve our God by doubting him, by disbelieving him. by disobeying but may we please him by an implicit confidence in what he has so much more I'd like to save you about faith we'll leave it for our next time shall we pray Father bless thy precious words how thankful we are that thou art the faithful God whom we can trust the God that cannot life. And we would confess our unbelief. We would cry in the language of one of all, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. We know, Lord, there are areas in which unbelief creeps in, and we need to have that area conquered through confidence in myself. Separate us with thy blessing, we pray, in the name of our Lord. Jesus Christ.