Faith That Works: Part 1

Take your Bibles if you would turn to Acts chapter 16. Go ahead and go there. Acts chapter 16. You'll have to pardon our clearing our throats and coughing and all that this morning. It seems like this respiratory flu is is is having its way down here.

So, hopefully, none of you catch it from us. Acts chapter 16 and we'll begin reading in verse 25. Paul and Silas were on their missionary journeys, had come to the church of Philippi, and were thrown in prison for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jews in particular were not all that happy with Paul's preaching, and so they stirred up trouble, and here Paul and Silas find themselves beaten and in jail once again in Philippi. Now, these jails aren't like our jails today, they were more like what we would probably call dungeons, and not not a pleasant place.

But, as Paul and Silas were put in jail, around midnight it says in verse 25, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. And the prisoners heard them. I I think they had a prayer meeting and I don't think it was you know, praying to themselves, you know, they were praying out loud to the Lord and they were singing praises unto the Lord and they were testifying to the goodness of God while shackled in chains in this cell, in this jail in Philippi. Suddenly, verse 26, there was a great earthquake and the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, waking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew out his sword and would have killed himself supposing that the prisoners had been fled.

In other words, as Roman guard, if they were to lose their prisoners, if their prisoners were to escape, their life would be forfeit. The punishment for losing your prisoners was your life. That usually kept the prison guards awake and attentive. In this particular case, this man thought that he had lost his prisoner, so he thought, well, I'm not gonna leave it up to the Romans to take my life, I will take my own. Verse 28, but Paul cried with a loud voice saying, do do thyself no harm, no harm for we are all here.

Before the man could take his life, Paul cried out, stop. We're we're we're still here. We're still here. Please don't do that. Verse 29, then he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas.

And brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? You see, he had been listening to their prayers. He had been listening to their songs. He had been listening to their praises of God and of Jesus Christ and there was something they had that he wanted. There was something they had that he needed.

There was something different about these men than any man that he had met in his prison before. When the prison doors open, they didn't run. And when they were hurting, in pain, and in prison rather than complaining and cussing, they were praising the Lord and he heard it and he heard about Jesus and he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy household, thy house, and they spake unto him the word of the Lord, that is the gospel and to all that were in his house and he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized he and all his straightway, and when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced believing in God with all his house, and when and and we'll stop we'll stop right there. As it turns out, it would seem, if we continue in the passage, that they actually volunteered to be brought back into the jail cell that night.

In the morning, they were there when the Roman officials came, and this man's job nor his life were at risk because of it but his life had been changed forever because he had put his faith in Jesus Christ, their savior and his savior too. Let's pray. Once again, Lord, we thank you for your word today. We thank you for the privilege of reading this story that you have recorded for us that we might rejoice with Paul and Silas and with this man in his house and the salvation that is only found in Jesus Christ. We thank you for your grace and mercy toward us.

Lord, of which we are entirely undeserving. That's why it is called grace and mercy, Lord and indeed, we do need it and we thank you for it and we praise your name and we pray that our praises would be on that your praises would be on our lips not only in the church service today but throughout our day, not only in times when things are going great but even when times are rough, remembering what Jesus Christ has done for us, who Jesus Christ is for us, and the grace and mercy you have shown, where with you have accepted us into your family, into the beloved. Lord, we pray if there's one here today that's never trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and savior of their life. That today will be their day of salvation. In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen. Amen. If you look at the verse to the verses we we read this morning earlier. It says, for by grace are you saved through what? Through faith.

Through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God not of works, lest any man should boast. We're going to stop there for a moment. We're going to get in the last part of that passage in particular next Sunday morning.

But for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the what? The gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. No man, no woman, no child can boast in our works and what we did in order to save our selves because we cannot save ourselves. We did not save ourselves.

God through his son, Jesus Christ, by the his grace has saved us. Through faith in him. We can know whom we have believed. We can know we have a home in heaven. Because of what Jesus has done for us and the gift that we have received through faith in his name.

John 111 through 13 emphasizes that this is not the work of man, it is the work of who? God. And you'll notice as we look through this passage, you'll see faith or believe over and over and over and over and over again. John one eleven through 13, he that is Jesus came unto his own and his own received him not. Now, that is most likely speaking of his Jewish brethren, the nation of Israel.

He came until the nation of Israel and as a people group, they rejected him. But, as many as received him, Jew or Gentile alike, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Even to them that what? Believe. Believe on his name.

Which were born not of the not of blood. In other words, they didn't inherit it. It's not part of our DNA. It's not something passed down from our ancestors, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh. It's not something we can earn by the works of the flesh as we'll see the works of the flesh are actually the very opposite nor of the will of man.

You just cannot will it to be. You can't will yourself to change. You can't will yourself to become a child of God. Only Jesus can make you a child of God. Which were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of who?

God. But of God. To God be the glory. To God be the glory. Salvation is by grace.

That's God's giving to us that which we do not deserve. Doing for us that which we cannot do for ourselves. For by grace are you saved through what? Faith and not by works. Salvation is only offered to man by means of the grace and mercy of God through the sacrificial death of the son of God on Calvary's Cross, period.

End of story. Salvation is only offered by means of the grace and mercy of God. Through the sacrificial death of the son of God, Jesus Christ on Calvary's Cross. It is the work of God, not the work of man. We will see this more fully as we continue in the message this morning.

Wanna emphasize first of all, that we are saved through faith alone. Saved through through faith alone. Now, does works play a part in the Christian life? Yes, it does. It has a very important place but it is not the means of salvation.

It is the evidence of salvation. The means of salvation is the grace of God which we receive by what? By faith alone. John three sixteen and eighteen, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. He that believeth on him is not condemned that he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.

Is there something there that God is trying to emphasize to us? Yes, believe. Believe. Believe. Believe.

Jesus is saying to those he's speaking to there at the beginning of the passage in Nicodemus, John the Baptist is reiterating it in verse 36 to the Pharisees and others who are questioning him. You must believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God. You must believe that he is the only way of salvation. You must believe that he died on the cross for your sins and rose again. Without faith, it is impossible to please him.

For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is and he rewarded them that diligently seek him. It is only by faith. That verse I just quoted was a Hebrews eleven six and that's concerning somebody all the way back at the beginning of the Old Testament. A man named Enoch that walked with God for five hundred years and was not for God took him. Home to be with him and as he was saved by faith, so we are saved by what?

By faith alone and not by works. We can look at verse after verse after verse. We'll look at a few this morning. Again and again and again, God says, you're saved by faith, you must believe and not by works. Romans ten nine and ten, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt what?

Believe thine heart. Believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Notice at the end of that verse, God says, thou shalt be saved and in the midst of that verse, he says, you must confess that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus your savior from the dead. That is how you are what? Saved.

Not by works but by faith. For with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. Under the righteousness of Christ and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 116 says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Watch the gospel.

Well, Paul tells us in first Corinthians 15 that Jesus Christ came. He died on he died. He rose again on the third day. And it is his death and resurrection on the cross that brings to us everlasting life through what? Through faith in him.

Where I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Well, who are the Greeks? Well, in context of the day in which this was written, Greeks is basically everybody that weren't that wasn't a Jew, okay? So, we are lumped in with the Greeks there. We are Gentiles.

Most of us are not Jews, but yet we are saved by God's grace just the same Jew or Gentile through faith in his son, Jesus Christ. Saved by grace through faith alone. We are not saved by what? We're not saved by works. We already read Ephesians two eight nine, very clear here.

Salvation is a gift. It is not of ourselves. It is not of what? Works. It is by grace through faith.

Titus three five, not by works of righteousness which what? We have done. We have done. But according to his mercy, he saved us. What is his mercy?

Well, his mercy is not giving to us or punishing us for that which we rightly what? Deserve. Deserve. What do we rightly deserve? We right does we rightly deserve to be punished eternally in a place called hell for our sins.

Because we are guilty. Are you guilty? Am I guilty? Have we sinned? Have we disobeyed God?

Have have we done it only once? Well, the bible says if you offend in one point, you're what? Guilty of all. But let's say, if we think about it, we haven't just done it once, we've done it once, or twice, or three, or four, or 12, or dozens of times every day. We do not deserve heaven.

We do deserve hell. We do deserve punishment because we are sinners. And it's only because of God's mercy that he sent his son. It's only God's mercy that grants us the opportunity to find forgiveness through faith in his son and salvation and eternal life. It is his gift.

It is a gift that he offers to us. Now, a gift isn't a gift if you have to what? If you have to work for it. Now, sadly, humanity has worked very hard for the consequences of hell. For the wages of sin is what?

Death. Death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We have earned our place in hell but God's gift to us. Through faith in his son.

His eternal life. The very opposite. That God offers to all. It is a gift. It is by his grace.

You cannot afford it. You cannot earn it. You can't deserve it. That's why it is called grace. Let's say that you had a job to do and the job you had to do, you needed a certain tool for.

And let's say that tool cost a million dollars. Now, there may be a few of you here that say, I can afford that. I don't know. But I can tell you right now, this guy up here can't afford that. I'd never be able to afford that.

It is beyond my what? Beyond my reach. It is beyond my power. And if that's the only way this job can get done, I'm out of luck. But let's say I know somebody.

Let's say Pedro over here has the tool that I need. And let's say Pedro has many of those tools. He has an unlimited supply of those tools. He has wealth beyond imagination. And even though I haven't been a very good neighbor, and I haven't been very kind, and I've been kind of aggravating.

He offers simply out of a kind and gracious heart to give me one of those tools. Now, I can't earn it, I can't live long enough to earn it, but I can't do what I need to do without it. That's a gift. No strings attached. Just here it is.

Because I can afford it, You can't because I have it and you don't. The Bible says in second Corinthians five twenty one, for he hath made him that is Jesus to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the what? The righteousness of God in him. Christ has something. It's called righteousness that I don't have and I can't earn it.

I can't get it. The only way it can be received is as a gift. By grace, through faith. Amen. Now, I could reject Pedro's gift, and I never would be able to get the job done.

You can reject Christ's gift. You can reject it because you don't believe it's real. You can reject it because you think, well, I can't accept the gift, I have to work for it. Sadly, there are many people like that. You may reject it because you just don't believe he's gonna do what he says he's gonna do, but you can because he's a holy God.

He doesn't make promises he doesn't keep, And he's already died on the cross for your sins and rose again. If you'll believe it, and if you'll receive it. It is by grace through what? Through faith. Let's say that you had a disease, and there was only one remedy to cure it.

Only one, and you couldn't afford it. And there's nothing you could do to fix the problem that you have. But only that one medicine could cure you for the rest of your life and forever. And there is one person who had it and one person who could give it and who offered it to you, would you take it? Would you receive it?

You can't earn it. They offer it out of the goodness and graciousness of their heart. There's no way to earn salvation. There's no way to work for it. There's no way to deserve it.

There's no way to fix yourself. There's only one who can fix you, and there is only one remedy for sin. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is one name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. That's Jesus Christ. He is God's gift to us and eternal life through faith in him.

Not by works which we have done. Reminds me of the paralytic. Remember the paralytic in scripture? This man was brought by his friends to Jesus because he could not walk. He had to be what?

Carried to Jesus. They couldn't get to Jesus because the crowd so they went up on top of the house and they took the tiles out of the roof and they lowered him down to Jesus. There's nothing this man could do for himself. He was totally dependent upon his friends and upon Jesus Christ to do something for him. He recognized it.

They recognized it, and he had enough faith in Jesus that his friends bring him to Christ. And when they lowered him down in front of Jesus, what did Jesus say? He said, thy what? Thy sins be forgiven thee. Thy sins.

See this, man had a greater need than his physical need. He had an ailment of the soul called sin And Jesus had the only cure. Jesus didn't say, do this for me. He didn't say, do that for me. He simply said, your sins be forgiven you.

Now, others around him grumbled and thought in their minds, well, who is this man? Only God can forgive sin. And Jesus said, you're right. You're right. Essentially.

He said, which is easier to say? Your sins be forgiven, you take up your bed and walk. Which is easier to heal, to remedy? Your sin is harder. Your physical body.

That's easy. But Jesus said, so that you know that God has power in heaven to forgive sins. Sir, take up your bed and depart. And the man got out of his, out of the bed, out of the cot, whatever they carried him on, and he rolled it up, and he walked out. Testimony to the grace of God wherein he was saved.

Saved not by his works, but as a gift received by what? By faith alone. By faith alone. Galatians two sixteen, Paul says this, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified or declared guiltless.

It is not possible to erase our guilt by our works. Even if we could stop and never sin again, we could not erase the wrong that we have done. Only God can do that and only as a gift through faith in his son. He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the son of God hath not life but the wrath of God abideth on him.

If you have the son, you have life and those record of sins and wrongs that we have done God have been wiped away by the blood of Jesus Christ, and in its place has been written pardoned, not because of our works, but by his grace. By his grace. Not by the works of the law. When he says law, there he's talking about the Old Testament law. Can't be saved by that.

Matter of fact, Paul says, the law was given to reveal our guiltiness and our need of a savior. It wasn't a means to salvation. Not by the works of the church, its sacraments, its ordinances. There are a lot of people that think they're going to get to heaven someday by following the sacraments of the church. The church cannot save them.

The works of the church cannot save them. Only Jesus Christ. Amen. Is able to save them. By his grace, through faith in his son.

Not the works of the flesh. Let me read from you Galatians five. You say, well, I'll my way to salvation. I'll I'll do it. I'll do it.

I'll show you. Well, God says here, these are the works of the flesh. You want to what the works of the flesh are? Here they are. The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such the like, of which I tell you before, as I have told you in times past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

The works of the flesh can never justify us. The works of the flesh can only what? Condemn us. We do not have it in ourselves, in our flesh, to please God. Our flesh wants to do the very opposite.

Have you ever been told to do something, and inside of you, to weld up this rebellious, I don't wanna do that. I remember I was in college, and I had a friend who played piano. And I I loved to hear him play piano. So I thought, I am going to learn to play piano. So I would go down in the practice rooms in college, and I would fiddle around.

I put a hymn book up there and I'd I'd follow one of the lines of notes, and I I thought I was going to taught my teach myself to play piano. Well, after a little while, gave up, but I thought I'll take a piano class, and then they can teach me to play piano. So I took the piano class. So when I took the piano class, I had to practice piano four or five hours a week. Now, before I took the piano class, it was nothing to go down on the pianos and play for four to five hours a week, because I wanted to.

But when I took the class and they said, you have to. All of a sudden, it became a chore. That now, certainly, you're not like that. But I am. It's my nature.

My nature is not good. My nature is sinful and wicked. My nature is rebellious. Praise God. I have a better savior.

Praise God. He has saved my soul. Praise God. One day, he's going to take this nature completely away. For now, he has given me a spirit.

He has given me the ability to overcome it by his grace. But the works of the flesh will never endear you to God. They can only condemn you. Well, you say, what about repentance? Bible says, unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish.

Repentance is not a work. It's the work of God in you. It's not a work of the flesh. It is a change of heart concerning self and sin in God whereby the repentant sinner turns to God in faith to trust in Christ as Lord and savior and receive God's forgiveness and everlasting life. Repentance isn't contrary to faith.

Repentance is one with faith. If you have faith in Christ as savior, if you put your faith in Jesus, the son of God to save you from your sins, then you have what? Repented. If you choose to continue to live in your sin or choose to try to get to heaven your own way, then guess what? You haven't repented.

Repentance is not a work of the flesh or of man. It is the gracious gift of God that grants to us repentance. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to what? Repentance. What is that?

It's a change of heart whereby we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Well, what about baptism? You know, in Acts chapter 16, it reads that this man was baptized. So I guess baptism is necessary for salvation. No.

No, you're wrong. Notice in acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas didn't say that this man had to believe and be what? Baptized to be saved. They simply said this, believe, verse 31, on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be what? Saved.

Saved. And thy house. The thief on the cross wasn't baptized. Didn't have time. He was saved by what?

Faith. By grace through faith. He expressed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus said to him today, you will be with me in paradise. Christian baptism is assumed throughout the New Testament to naturally follow conversion by faith. As a sign to others that you have been saved, not a means to salvation.

And if you are a child of God and you have put your faith in him and you have been saved, you should be baptized. In obedience to your heavenly father. You need to demonstrate to others that you are a child of God, that you have been risen, you are risen in Jesus Christ to walk in newness of life. But it is not the means to salvation. It is God's grace that is the means.

We're not saved by works. We're not kept by works either. Galatians three one through three, oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth crucified among you. This only what I learn of you, received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish?

Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? We're not saved by works neither are we kept saved by works but we're kept saved by the same grace wherein we are saved. By the grace and power of God who has received us into his family by faith in his son. First Peter one three through five, we had this in Sunday school too. Blessed be the God and father of Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you, who are kept. What's the next few words? By the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. We are kept not by our power, we're kept by whose power? My God's power and therefore, we can know that we have eternal life as that song we sang earlier.

I know who have believed and then persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. By the way, that's a verse of scripture too. Philippians one six, being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good and work and you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Paul says to the church at Philippi, he says this, I am confident that God which saved your soul and began this work in you is going to what? He's going to finish it.

He's going to finish what he starts. He's going to finish what he started in you. He will not fail. John ten twenty eight and twenty nine, Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, my father which gave me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.

We are in the hands of Christ. We're in the hands of the father and there we are what? We are eternally secure. Not kept by works of righteousness which we have done but kept by the grace of God through faith. Romans eight one, Therefore, there is well, now what?

No condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit who lives inside of our heart. First John five thirteen, these things that I read unto you that believe on the name of the son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the son of God. John says, you can know. How do you know? Have you believed?

If you put your faith in Christ alone, if you have, you're what? You're saved. You have a home in heaven reserved for you. It's waiting there. Like your name was already written.

Like you were already there. It's there for you. Jesus is there. He said, I will never leave you what? Nor forsake you.

He always keeps his promises. John five twenty four, verily verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from what? From death unto life. I don't think God intends to mean that you pass from death into life, and then back to death, and then back to life, then back to death. No.

That's not what he means there. This is a one time thing. You've passed from death into life. What kind of life is it? It's everlasting life.

How long will it last? Forever. Forever. You received it when you got saved. If you lose it tomorrow, was it forever?

No. You are eternally secure in him. Question this morning is this, have you put your faith in Jesus Christ? Have you really repented in your heart? Turn from your sin your way and put your faith totally in Jesus Christ to save your soul.

Have you entrusted your soul to him to save you from sin because he's the only one that can do so. Getting baptized isn't going to do it. Going to church alone isn't going to do it. It's only through faith in Jesus Christ. Have you received God's gift of eternal life?

Have you recognized your helplessness and your need and come with your heart bowed and humility and faith before God in Jesus Christ and said, Lord, please save me. Please save me. If you have then you're one of his children If you have not, then you're not. But you can be today. Amen.

We're going give him an invitation just a moment. Lord spoke to your heart today and if you're not sure, would you please come? I would love to share the word of God with you today and help you to know for sure. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we thank you Lord for your word.

We thank you Lord for the promises therein. We thank you Lord that we're saved by grace through faith alone and that not of ourselves for if it was of any of ourselves in any way. Lord, then, we would never be secure. We would never be saved. For we do not have the power within us.

And it's only you who can save us. Only you who can change us. Only you who died on the cross for us to share the righteousness which is yours. With us undeserving sinners. Is you that has erased our sins in heaven and declared us guiltless before your throne.

Lord, thank you. Lord, help us to grow in our faith in you, our trust in you, that we might obey and serve you with the life that you have given us, to declare your glory and your goodness that others might see Christ in us and glorify your name. Lord, may we never think for one moment that we have earned it, that we deserve it, that may we always remember that it is your gift to us. Lord, may we share that with others. We pray Lord if there be one here today that's searching, that's unsure.

We pray Lord that they would come as we sing this hymn of invitation. In Jesus name, we do pray, amen.