Believer’s Basics #3 – Repentance (Part B)

This is the victory, hour of faith.

I don't want to go without this. Even when I don't feel it, even when I feel Christ is far from me, even when I feel cheated by something wrong, when I feel He's withheld a blessing that would better have served us both had He given it, but He did not given it, even at those low moments, I can say, but I will trust in Him. Nonetheless, by faith we persist. We persist in prayer. To hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Faith is the title of Pastor Rick's message today.

He'll be teaching in Numbers chapter 13. Then they told him, they told Moses, the spies, there were 12 of them that went into the land and said, we went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey. And this is its fruit.

We pause there. You see, they had the evidence. God said, that land that I'm going to give you is flowing with milk and honey.

It is a fruitful land. So they go into the land and they find out God was right. What He said is right. Here's the evidence. And they show the evidence and then they toss it away.

Because the story goes on. Nevertheless, it's a deadly nevertheless. Watch out for those. You've seen what God has promised.

Don't let a nevertheless come in and cancel it out. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains of the Canaanites dwell by the sea. And along the banks of the Jordan, that was their reason for dismissing the proof. There are things there that we're terrified of.

There are things there that we don't want to deal with. But then Caleb speaks up. Then Caleb, it says in Numbers 13 verse 30, then Caleb quieted the people before Moses. In other words, Caleb, if you know anything about him, he said this to the people. Shut up. What are you talking?

He probably did not do that, but I like telling the story that way. It's exciting. Anyway, Caleb quieted the people of Moses before Moses and said, let us go up at once and take possession for we are able to overcome it. That is faith.

We can take these guys. Now, when I came to Virginia to begin ministering, I thought that because many churches were saturated with just preaching the gospel every Sunday to people who are already saved and the teaching of the word was not going forth. And so many churches, I thought that in the area God was calling me to once I began to preach the word of God, the people would be lining up around the corner. Well, it's been a long road and they're not lined up around the corner, nor have they ever been.

And there have been many hits. And where I'm going with this is I felt like, Caleb, let us go up at once and take possession for we are able to overcome it. But I didn't factor in all the trouble, the heartache, the pain, the fruitlessness, at least apparently in areas where I expected huge returns. And so I'm saying to you, if you're going to side with Caleb and say, let us go up at once and take possession for we are able to overcome it. Make sure your sword is sharp and you are ready and you have faith. Don't trifle with the things of spiritual conflict as they are real. But the men who had gone up with him said, we're not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. Well, faith is so. God says go.

All right, then we continue. Verse 32, and they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. You see, they were looking at the physical things there. We saw the Giants. The descendants of Anak came from the Giants.

It tells us in parentheses and concludes while I conclude this section with this portion of verse 33. And we were like grasshoppers in our own site. So we were in their site. We were insignificant. We were small.

We see all of the perversity, the political liberalism in this land, how they've taken over the airwaves and the media, they control the Internet. You can end up feeling like a grasshopper. Well, you can say I'm no grasshopper. That's what Caleb did. Well, if you're going to do that, you better have faith and you better not be bashful about it. I did not say be foolish about it and go where angels fear to tread. Even even Michael, the arch angel, who probably could have taken Satan out, incidentally, referred him to the Lord.

He said the Lord rebuke you and did not get involved with him. Faith is trusting God according to God's word for salvation and for serving. It is a significant distinction. When we talk about faith, essentially there are three types. There is salvation, faith unto salvation, saving faith.

That's what I was looking for. The consent of the soul. It is expressed through enough faith and understanding. And then there is serving faith. That is the one that moves forward, that takes action based on its confession of Christ as Lord. Saving faith, I give my life to Christ. I recognize him as the only Savior. Serving faith, I begin to act on it and serve him. And then there is false faith contrary to the scripture that has edited out scripture and has added in its own thoughts. First, we'll take saving faith, which again is our receiving our salvation. When we come to Christ, Lord, I believe.

I believe you and I accept and I surrender. This is not something that we earn through deeds. Galatians 2, knowing that a man is not justified.

Pause there. There's a beautiful English word in the context of salvation. Justification, just as though I have not sinned because Christ has wiped away the penalty of my sin. Knowing that a man is justified by, pardon me, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by deeds of the law. For by the deeds of the law, no flesh is justified. The Bible is canceling any IOU on God. No one will go up to God and say, you owe me salvation because look at all the good things I did. What is God going to say? Oh, you did good things.

Oh, I lost 10 pounds because of that. I'm so grateful. Come into heaven.

What would I do without you? God is so high up so far ahead of human beings. There is no claim that we could present to him that would demand mercy or grace or heaven.

It is all his kindness. And so saving faith brings that unconditional surrender to Christ and it stresses faith. Trust Acts chapter 10 to him, all the prophets witnessed that through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission of sins.

Payment for your sins that you would pay without Christ are gone. I mentioned the word believe and trust. The word believe in the New Testament is the same as trust in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is written essentially or primarily in the Hebrew, the New Testament in the Greek.

But the meanings of what we're after, the words are supposed to mean something. And the word believe in the New Testament matches trust in the Old Testament. So we go to Psalm 9 verse 10 and those who know your name will put their trust in you for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you. You see in the Old Testament, my New King James translation translates the word, translates the word their trust. You could put their belief. Faith trusts belief.

Same thing. Acts 16. So they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household, if they believe.

And the idea there in Acts 16 is that they did. So do nothing, just trust the Lord when it comes to salvation. That's what we're talking about, saving faith. We don't seek a feeling to be saved.

Sometimes that conversion, a feeling is there, but it doesn't have to be. Belief has to be there. Trust has to be there. You can be saved without tear, without prayer, without anything but trust. I trust the Lord Jesus with my soul. He is Lord. I trust his lordship.

And it is done. Our Lord indicated that those who believe without proof of the physical senses are blessed beyond those who depend on physical proofs. Spiritual proof is superior, in other words. John chapter 20, verse 29, Jesus said to Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen me, yet have believed. Where would we be without that verse in the Bible?

Where should we be with it? And so Paul says, we walk by faith, not by sight, not by physical sight. There's a spiritual sight we're able to see into spiritual truths. God has allowed that. Repentance and faith blended together. Ephesians chapter 2, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest anybody should boast. There'd be no bragging in heaven.

Here, I'm here because I was a good boy. That ain't going to happen. There's several things that won't happen. You know what you won't have to say in heaven to anyone?

How's your day going? You won't have to say that. We know how it's going to be going. The gift of salvation is made available. That's the gift.

And many do not avail themselves of it. And so saving faith is receiving Jesus. And we read about this throughout the New Testament.

John chapter 1, where as many has received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. It is personal. It is mine. My salvation. It is the one thing in the universe that I can claim is mine.

Because if you have land, if you own other things, they go. You lose them. But your salvation. Romans 10, 9, if you confess, if you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you, you, you will be saved. Very personal.

It's not transferable. You children, you younger people in the sanctuary, you have to get your salvation for yourself. There's nothing wrong with that. There's everything right with that. God is saying, I will treat you with respect. I will let you make the call. Please don't bring up Calvinism to me.

I'm not interested. I think there are many good men who are wrong about that. John chapter 4, verse 39, and many of the Samaritans of the city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified. This is the story of the woman at the well.

He told me all that I ever did. When they heard that, they came out to see Christ because they knew what kind of woman she was. So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days, and many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him, and we know that this is indeed Messiah, the Savior of the world. So each child has to say, Mom, Dad, I believe the Lord, not disrespectfully, not because of what you said, but because I have heard Him myself. You say, I've not yet gotten there.

Invite Him. Invite the Lord. Romans 10, so then faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. And there it is illustrated in John chapter 4 with the Samaritans. They had come and they had heard the word of Christ from Christ Himself. And so now we come to serving faith. That is life after one receives that saving faith or exhibits or exercises saving faith. Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist said, therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.

Okay, you say you believe in Yahweh, you say you want to line up and obey Him, then act like it. Is that too much to ask? You say, I try, but I fail. Well, that's okay. You're trying. Don't undervalue that.

Just keep it real. Habakkuk the prophet, behold the proud. His soul is not upright in Him, but the just shall live by faith.

You see that contrast? The one that has sinful pride. He's not right. His soul, who He is, is not right with God. There's no friendship there with God. But the just, in contrast, they live by trust.

There's that word again. Trust in faith. All the other graces find their source because of faith.

Take it away and the graces go away because without faith it's impossible to please God. By faith we pursue Christ's likeness in our own life. Philippians chapter 3, Paul said that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith, quote unquote.

That's what we want. We want to be like Christ. And we want to serve Him in faith. By faith we are shielded against what the enemy hurls at us and I promise. Who needs a promise that Satan's going to hurl things at you? Does anybody need to be told that? Well, I didn't know.

Yeah, you did. Ephesians 6, above all, take the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Those fiery darts include things like untrue things about the Lord Jesus Christ. You know those people that try to get you to read anything? It's bad enough there's people that try to get you to eat anything.

But to take in, oh, you have to see the other of you, no you don't. Truth is one sided. It is not interested in lies except to defeat them, to smite them down. There are not many who can familiarize themselves with what Satan has to offer and remain strong in standing in the faith.

This would account for why so many have experiences with Christ in their youth, go off to these indoctrination centers, these universities that are largely churches of the evil one, and get converted to Satan's views on Christ Jesus. Because they could not, would not stand behind the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts, to knock out the impure thoughts, the unkind thoughts, the contradictory thoughts about Christ. Our lives are not to be lived inside of a bunker, but often they are to be lived behind a shield that is pressing forward.

Not just, I'm just behind the shield and that's that. We are to be pressing forward the gates of hell. They're not to prevail. The gates of hell is a two-fold meaning to that. If you were to go into an ancient city in biblical times, in Israel, when you came to that city you would have to go through the gates, a walled city, a fortified city. Well the gates were there fortifying it, that's one meaning. The second meaning is the gates is where the generals and the leaders would meet to plan their war against whoever was coming against them. So Satan meets at his gate and he plans with his war council how he's going to take us out.

And we're not supposed to wait for them to come to us, we're supposed to go to them. At least that attitude, that attitude of aggression against iniquity has got to be something that we are very mindful of. And so above all things take the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked ones.

Above all things he said, it's a serious part of your weaponry, your body armor. Our faith overcomes the world. Now that has a double meaning too, not a contradictory meaning. The world as we know it is mankind in rejection of Jesus Christ. That is the basic definition of the world as the scripture uses it in the context in opposition to Christ. But also what this life has to throw at us, what living in a cursed world means.

It means that we are assaulted, that there is aggression against us. John in his first letter writes, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. First John five verse four. This is the victory, our faith. I don't want to go without this, even when I don't feel it, even when I feel Christ is far from me, even when I feel cheated by something wrong, when I feel he's withheld a blessing that would better have served us both had he given it, but he did not given it, even at those low moments I can say, but I will trust in him nonetheless.

By faith we persist, we persist in prayer. Hebrews 11 verse 30, by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. That's not, oh, by the way, they marched seven days.

It's not a casual little piece of information that I just throw that in. That is significant because I would have quit after the first two days. They marched for seven days as they were told. Seven meaning that number of completion. We don't always know when the number of completion is, except this.

We know that we are to finish, which remain for the long haul. Faith shows intelligence. That is a surprise to many. Some think faith does not need the head, no brains necessary. You don't have to think. Any brainless fool can have faith.

That is not true. In the scripture, the heart means the whole man. When the scripture says you should love the Lord your God with your heart. It means all of you, the mind, the will, the passions. We cannot believe with our hearts without believing with our heads. Is that too much to ask? Is there anybody here that's willing to stand up and say, no, I am too dumb for that.

I cannot think I can just feel then you have a technical difficulty that must be overcome. That is not good for you, nor is it good for anyone else because Satan is not playing around and he uses people that use their head and their hearts. They're passionate about their hatred towards Christianity. They have thought it through and they're very serious in this country. You're seeing them steal your rights away.

You're seeing how invasive and sneaky they can be. And to stand up and say, well, I will match this with just feelings is insanity. We can believe with our head, but not without our heart. You can trust without feeling, but you cannot have faith with only feeling. Jude says these are sensuous persons not having the spirit.

They're only good feelings and no thinking going on in their heads. You do not have to be the sharpest knife in the draw. I've never met the sharpest knife in the draw. But every time I get a knife, I think about that saying, which one's the sharpest knife in the draw? All right. That was a little break there.

And that's all you're getting because you didn't appreciate that when I could tell by the laughter or lack of. Proverbs 23, verse seven, for as he thinks in his heart, so he is. You see the head and the heart are connected with God. You cannot live without a head and you can't live without a heart. There's nothing wrong with the blend of things to get your money, cash money. You have to have paper and you have to have ink and you have to have a bunch of other little things too.

But the ink and paper are essential. And now we come to the false faith. First John, chapter four, verse one, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone into the world. That should be on in every bookstore, every Christian bookstore on the planet should have that verse. You want to find out what a community is doing, go into their bookstore. You want to find out what a church is about going to their bookstore. You want to find out what a Christian is about going to Facebook page.

How many people post things that Christ would just be brokenhearted over? Why are you quoting this person? Why are you using that word? Why are you showing this picture? I've got a few of you. And if it didn't get any of you here, it's because of good preaching.

And for those of you on the radio, ha ha, it's a laugh out loud. But I've got somebody with that. You've got things on your Facebook page that shouldn't be there, that you're repeating. Maybe you picked it up, and most of it is picked up from somewhere else. What do you say when your kid's bringing something from some word or some behavior? I know my mother used to say to me, where'd you get that from? Who told you that? Because you didn't get it here.

I could tell by the tone it was time to just agree with her and be quiet, because it wasn't worth it any other way. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. We hope you've been blessed by this Believer's Basics series, exploring the fundamentals of what it means to follow Christ. If you'd like to listen to more of this series or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just visit crossreferenceradio.com and follow the links under radio. Again, that's crossreferenceradio.com. That's all for today. We hope you'll tune in next time to continue studying the Word of God, right here on Cross Reference Radio.