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Well, I give you my reasons now for thinking, no, they're not genuine believers at all. You say that the Lord Jesus said they're believers. All right, in their sen- in that sense then they are believers. I agree with you. I agree with him anyway. He says they're believers. Right, they're believers. Oh, but wait a minute. What do you mean by believer? So keep your thumb in that passage, and I'm going to read you about some other believers. This is the Gospel of John and chapter eight. Gospel of John, chapter uh eight. Verse thirty one.
John eight thirty one. Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed on him. So there you are, the Bible says they had believed, so I mustn't say they hadn't. May I? The Bible says that these people had believed. Righto. And our Lord said to them, if you continue in my word, then you are truly my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Apparently they didn't like that, however. They began to object, and they said, we never were in bondage anyway. What are you talking about? We're Abraham's seed. We're, we're, we're, God is our father. And it wasn't, uh, uh, a few seconds later when our Lord was saying to them, verse forty four, you're not Abraham's children, you're not God's children, you are of your father, the...
devil. So here's a plain statement. It says they believed, but they, God was never their father. It isn't now, obviously, is it? He hadn't become their father and then he'd ceased to be. You're not God in your father at all, he says, nor is Abraham for that matter. You are of your father, the devil, gentlemen, let me tell you straight. Yeah? Well, you say, what does it mean then when it says they believed? It doesn't mean they were born again, does it? Evidently not. Now let's go back into our Gosp- uh, Gospel of John for a minute, chapter two, end of the chapter.
Verse twenty three. John chapter two verse twenty three. Now, when he was in Jerusalem, that is our Lord, at the Passover during the feast, many believed on his name, beholding his signs, which he did. But Jesus did not trust himself to them, for he knew all men, and because he needed not that anyone should bear witness concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. So they believed. Well, they weren't born again, were they? Our Lord didn't commit himself to them. Why? He knew what was in them. It's possible, therefore, and some scriptures use the term in that sense, to believe, but not in that way and fashion in which a person is born again.
How would you know if a person's born again? If the faith is real faith. Well, let's take the fourth group. Uh, well, before we go, we come back to Luke, shall we? 8, Luke 8. Why did these folk there said to believe for a while, why did they fall away under temptation? Well, the Lord tells you they had no root. Never did have. Gentlemen, there was never going to be any fruit. You put your beautiful cutting in the ground that you sneaked out of Lord Tom Noddy's, uh, uh, no, of course not you, I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.
You bought this cutting from some doubtful nursery, and you put it in the ground, you see, and you're hoping it's going to grow, and it manages to look green for the next four weeks, but it never produces any fruit. And when you say, why doesn't it, and the thing's going yellow, and you pick it up, there's no roots there, never were. There never was going to be any fruit. Oh, this is the Lord himself saying. What's the only kind that's any good? Well, the only kind's any good if it's, uh, as I say, the person that's left here on Earth. The only kind that's any good is going to bring forth fruit. The man who got converted the last few seconds before the airplane crashed, he's bringing forth fruit in the glory, you know.
If it were a genuine conversion. The only way you'll tell whether it is genuine is that it does bring forth fruit. Yes? Now let's take the lesson from that two ways round. We'll come back to Hebrews in a minute. But now look at the actual wordage that our Lord uses. Verse fifteen: And that, and that in the good ground, that is the seed in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast and bring forth fruit with endurance. There is no other way of growing, getting fruit as far as I know.
Do you? You sow the seed, it takes root, it grows up the shoot, but it has to keep on growing, doesn't it? If it's ever going to bear fruit. That's no good if it doesn't bear fruit. So it's got to endure. It has that. Cool, you say, that makes me feel shaky. Well, now have, ha, ha, ha, have, have a word with Master James, or let him have a word with you. James, and I'm going very quickly to refer to James and then to Paul, and what we're going to track down is how they repeat what the Lord himself says. James, chapter one, Chapter one, verse two.
James. Count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into manifold... temptations. Well, it ought to be testings. In your versions, it's testings, is it? Trials. Yeah. It is exactly the same word as our Lord used in, in Luke when he said, those on the rock are those that receive the word with joy, they believe for a while, and then in time of... that's the very same word then. They fall away. Goodness me, you say, wait a minute, what is James saying? Half a minute. My brethren, when you come to these testings, these trials, and what are they going to show?
Well, if I'm right, what they're going to show is whether you have any root or not. Oh, and if you haven't, you're not the genuine thing. Wow. So this is some trial that's going to come on now. This isn't, uh, I mean, it's not just being tempted to overeat or spoil my figure. This is a trial coming along to me now and testing me, and it's going to show, has this chap any root? Is he a genuine believer? And am I, in the course of this trial, going to fall away and exposed to the world I wasn't a true believer after all. Well, now, says James, just imagine for a minute, brothers and sisters, just imagine you're now about to face one of those trials.
Now I'm going to tell you how to feel. Count it all joy, my dear brethren. When you fall into a trial like that, you say, James, what are you talking about? I was a teacher in a university for some, uh, quarter of a century, as you know, and in the university there is maintained a cruel sport, though the public doesn't know about it. It's called examining undergraduates. And of course, if it's an examination that doesn't really count much, will you see them coming in? They come very quarter of an hour late, some of them, and they haven't got a clue about what the paper was, and they can't do any questions, and they get up and go early because it doesn't matter.
It's not one of those exams that doesn't matter. But you wait till you come to finals. And it's the last attempt. There they are outside the door. Well, some of them are trying to smile, uh, and be jokey, but you can tell the little telltales if you watch, you know, the nerves, the stretching, the strain, and they get in. Look at the paper. You should see the look that comes over some of the faces. Oh, it's a cruel sport, isn't it? How would you, if you had any sense in your head, here comes a trial, and it's going to expose whether you are a true believer in Christ or not, or whether you have no root.
And you're facing that. How, how might it feel? Count it all joy, says James, when you fall into various testings like that. How on earth could I possibly do it? Ah, says James, listen, knowing, oh, knowing God's good facts. Knowing that the proving of your faith produces endurance. Is it endurance in your Bibles? Perseverance. Well, okay, so long as that's, you see, that's the same word as our Lord used in the Gospel of Luke.
These in the good ground, the good ground are those who bring forth fruit with perseverance, with endurance. And here is God saying, look, I want you to know it. So that when you're facing these trials, not stupidly self-confident, no, no, like Peter saying, oh Lord, no, I never would deny you at all. Not that stupid self-confidence. But realizing the seriousness of the test, yet being able to be full of joy and count it all joy. Why? Because the Lord has told me in advance. Knowing, not feeling, knowing that this testing works endurance where there is genuine faith, it will endure.
So this is our Lord, and this is James. Now let's have Paul, and this is Romans five. Romans five. One. Verse one tells us that being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's very good. Through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and we rejoice, that is, we're confidently, uh, trustful in hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we rejoice in tribulation.
Here they come then, these tribulations and these tests. We rejoice in them. How can we do that? Knowing that tribulation works. Now, what do your translations say this time? Perseverance. Good stuff. It's the same word again. So here is Paul saying what James says in almost the same terms, using the terms of our Lord, that when the trial and the tribulation comes, and it's serious, gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, it's going to demonstrate whether you are a true believer or not. But if you are a true believer, yes, you can rejoice, not silly nonsense rejoice, you know, irresponsible, but calm confidence in the Lord, because the Lord wants you to know.
Mark the verb, knowing that tribulation produces endurance, uh, perseverance, and endurance, perseverance produces what? Now, what does your version say it produces? Character. Oh, well, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It means, um, in the old world... Well, if you like, but, uh, really what it means is this. In the old world, when coins were circulating around about the place, do you see? Uh, but there wasn't the tight government controls that there are now. There's a lot of chaps, uh, not the Irish, but others, who would fake the coins, you see?
So it would look like a bit of gold. I wouldn't be real gold. See? The innards would have been some other cheap metal with gold outside. And so what you did was, if you were being paid in gold, you had a load stone to test, or some kind of testing stone, and you tested the old coin as you rubbed it against the stone to see whether it was a genuine coin. And if it was proved genuine, it was what the Greek calls dokimos. The process was dokimadzo. Yes. And Paul says, you'll see, that the fact that somebody endures demonstrates that they are dokimos.
They are genuine believers. But now let's come back finally to Hebrews, anyway, uh, and, and have a look at the seriousness of the business. Hebrews six. These people that have been illuminated are now under stress and strain and various things. They have fallen away. Shall we say of them, as our Lord said, they believed for a time. I would want to say, but they had no root in them.
And they didn't endure, and they went back. What about them then? Well, uh, the, the writer says in verse nine, but beloved, we are persuaded better thing. Oh, look at that lovely word. You can't get rid of it, can you, out of this epistle? Here it comes again now. We are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Is that what your version say? I'm reading verse nine. How does your verse nine read?
Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in our, in your case, things that accompany salvation. Amen. Though we're speaking like this, in spite of the fact that we're speaking like this, in your case, in our heart of hearts, the words mean, we have come to the conviction, better things about you. What kind of things then? Things that accompany salvation. We think that there is evidence in your life that you're genuine. You see, because you can't see a man's heart, can you? How do you judge whether a man's a true believer or not?
Well, we think you are. In our heart of hearts, we're persuaded you are. We, we take no risks. We, we've talked as though we weren't sure. But though we have talked like that, in our heart of hearts, in your case, we are persuaded of things, of better things, of things that accompany salvation, that is the evidences of salvation. For look, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and love which you showed toward his name, in that you ministered to the saints and still do minister. We look back on the past, and we see the evidence of your life in the past, and we say, yes, look at that, they gave evidence of being genuine born-again believers then.
Look at what they did, how nobly they stood for the Lord, the work they did for the Lord. They gave evidence of being true and genuine believers, and in some sense they're still carrying it on, but, but, but, but, but just recently there's been a little bit of, um, wobbliness. Yes? Well, it happens to us all on times, doesn't it? A bit of inconsistency. It happened to Peter, yes. In the early part of his life, there was evidence he was a genuine believer. Then he went through that fearful dark patch, didn't he? Where he swore all the bad words he knew to convince everybody he wasn't a believer. Thank God it was a lie.
Every word of it was a lie, because underneath he was a believer. But if you'd have been standing by him, what would you have said to yourself? Somebody have asked you, is this chap a believer? You say, well, I don't know, I thought he was, but he says he isn't. Been difficult, wouldn't it? And perhaps you'd have said, if you'd have written to Peter, like this man says, you better take no risks here, better warn this chap. And then you would have added that, Peter, old chap, in our heart of hearts, so we've been speaking like this, we are persuaded in our heart of hearts. Better things of you, and we think there's evidence that you are saved, yes. Because we from the outside can't do anything else but evid- the evidence, can we?
What can you go on? Other than the evidence, the fruit. And now the writer says something exceedingly important. He says, we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence unto the fullness of hope, even to the end, do see. And don't be sluggish, but be imitators of them who through faith, and here the word comes again, patience, endurance, inherit the promises. And now he cites Abraham. And he cites that tremendous occasion when Abraham was called up to Mount, uh, uh, Moriah to offer his son to God upon the altar.
And why does the writer cite that here in Hebrews chapter six? Why, surely, because he's talking about works as the evidence of our faith. And he says, I think I see works in the past in your life, I'm sure of it, and I see a few now. I wish you showed a few more because you seem to me to be wobbling a bit, and I, I, I, I do implore you to imitate those who, who persevering patience. Yes. For he says, remember Abraham, won't you? And, uh, James, of course, asks us to remember Abraham, doesn't he? He says, you know, you say Abraham was justified by faith, that's jolly good stuff, but then he was justified by works as well, wasn't he?
When he offered up his son on Mount Moriah. Yes, he was that. How do you understand that business? Abraham was justified by his works when he offered up Isaac. Now, there are some, uh, good Christian folks, and they're good Christian folks in spite of it, who say, ah, the solution to the problem is this: you're justified by faith before God and by works before men. That is, when you trust Christ, you trust God, you're justified by faith before God, without works. But if you're going to demonstrate to your fellow men and women that you are a believer and justify your profession of faith to your fellow men and women, you'll have to show the works.
So you're justified by faith before God and by works before men. And that's very nice, isn't it? That doesn't quite work all together, though. It's as far, as true as the farthest goes. Because, you know, when Abraham was justified by works, the story was this. God said, Abraham... Um, offer your son to me on Mount Moriah. So Abram offered his son to God on Mount Moriah, lifted his hand to plunge the knife, and the angel of the Lord called out of heaven, uh, stop it. Now you don't need actually to plunge that knife into the lad's heart, for now I know.
That you fear me. You say, how can that be? God knew all the way along. Oh yes, so he did. God knows a lot of things simply because he foresees them, but thank God he isn't content with that. He's not content with just foreseeing something that isn't there yet. God insists on knowing by dint of practical personal experience of the actual thing happening. You see, God foresaw that one day there would be a chap called David Gooding. I'm glad he wasn't content with that kind of foreknowledge. God insisted on knowing it in the practical sense that it actually should happen, and Gooding should be actually born.
And when it comes to our works that are evidence that are of our faith, God insists on knowing them. God insists on experiencing them, and knowing by experience that we've done them. Now I know that you fear me, saying you have not withheld your son from me. So we have to be justified by our works before God, yeah? So how do you explain it all? Paul says we're justified by faith apart from the works of the law, and James says we're justified by our works.
Well, in the end, it's, it's a matter of what the term justified means, doesn't it? You see, God came to Abraham originally, made him a glorious promise in the gospel, and Genesis fifteen says, Abram, believe God. What does that mean? God said, Abram, you're going to have a son, and all your great future shall be through that son. Abram says, thank you very much, God, I believe you. But Abram was an old boy. And God, instead of giving him that son at once, left old Abram to get older and older and older and older, and Sarah got as old nearly as quick, though they don't normally get quite so quickly as the men, do they?
But anyway, she got very old. Till Abram was left, and the thing was absolutely impossible then. If ever you were going to have a son, well, God would have to do it. It was like believing on a God who brought life out of death, like, like a veritable. God would have to do it all. It would be God's work and only God's work, and Abram's faith had to be solely in God, and Abram believed God like that. And the Bible says, you know, when you learn to trust God like that, you'll too be justified. How can you be saved? By nothing you could do, old chap. It's the God who raised Jesus from the dead, who died for your trespasses and was raised again for your justification.
Ah, good stuff. And then as the years went by, Isaac grew up. Now he's a big strapping lad, you know. All the great promise of an enormous future. Says God to Abram one day, Abram, now Abram, I was just thinking, um, you're justified by faith, aren't you, Abram? I mean to say, you trust me, don't you? Uh, nothing else? Oh, nothing else, Lord. I mean, your faith isn't in yourself even, is it, Abram? No, Lord. It isn't even in Isaac, is it? Well, uh, I suppose not.
Well, no, says God. We'll just, we'll just demonstrate it isn't, can't we, Abram? Your faith for time and eternity is in me, isn't it, Abram, and nothing else, not even in Isaac. Right, oh, Abram, you please give me Isaac. Oh, what a test. Did Abraham believe God? Oh, but God, if I give up Isaac, I've nothing left. I got no future, and I'm a very old man.
Oh. So where is your faith now, Isaac? Uh, Abraham. Ah. Abram's required to justify his faith, that is to say, to demonstrate that his faith is genuine. That's what that means. He says he believes God. Now he has to be called upon to demonstrate that he, that is really true. His claim to be a believer is true. He does believe God, only God, and nothing else but God. And you know, this becomes important, doesn't it?
Here are these Jewish folks, they profess their trust in the Savior, see? And their whole faith for eternity is in the sacrifice of Jesus. Nothing else? This What's this? is the writer, what were you doing down at the Jewish temple the other day, offering a sacrifice to get forgiveness of sins? But you see, um, um, well, I do trust only the Savior, but um... Oh, well, who do you trust in?
You imagine the Jew saying, but Lord, but Lord, if if I don't go through with it, I shall lose my seat on the Sanhedrin. I shall lose my whole future. There'll come a point, my dear brothers and sisters, it will come with all of us sooner or later, because God is real. We say we trust Christ and only Christ and his one sacrifice for sin forever, and we trust that and that only. And God himself will do it. It won't be me or anybody else. God himself will do it.
They'll take every one of us up Mount Moriah, and he'll say, now please, demonstrate it that you do. Hmm. Well, thank God we've got a high priest, eh what? Ah, a high priest that can stand with us in the day of our testing. And when we fail, like Peter failed under pressure, prays for us that our faith doesn't give up, and will bring us through, and give us another opportunity.
But you see, ladies and gentlemen, here's the serious thing of it. Peter was a genuine believer who, for a little while, because of fear, acted very inconsistently, but he came through it. What would you have said if he'd gone on for the rest of his life cursing and swearing that he wasn't a believer? This is a serious side of works, isn't it? For God himself requires that I act consistently.
Shall I tell you a story for my own comfort? About the aforesaid Peter, he doesn't mind, he's up in glory now anyway, so he doesn't mind. Forgive me for reminding you about it. The aforesaid Peter was at a Christian convention. And during the week, he'd been at the meal times, he'd been coming to the meal table with the Gentile believers as well. And they weren't circumcised and all that, you see, and to a strict Jew, they were ceremonially unclean. But Peter was prepared to eat with them at the same table because they were believers in the Lord, saved, uh, by grace like Peter was, until there came down some brethren from James in Jerusalem.
And Paul tells us in Galatians chapter two that Peter got the collywog in his tummy. He said he'd gone off his food and he wasn't coming to dinner today. And, uh, Paul says, no, you don't, Peter. Where are you slinking off to, old chap? No, you don't. Nothing wrong with your stomach, old boy. Tell you what it is, James. Under pressure from these fellows from Jerusalem, you now want to hide the fact, don't you, that you've been eating with these Gentiles? But Peter, you can't do that kind of thing, for the whole gospel is at stake.
You see, if it is the fact that you are a s- uh, you in your heart see the gospel, that you are a sinner just like the Gentiles, and you are saved solely by faith, and those Gentiles are as saved as you are, and now you refuse to eat with them as though they weren't quite saved good enough or something, you are denying the very fundamental of the gospel, Peter. Not by what you say, by by the way you are behaving. And he accused Peter of a very serious thing. He says, you know, that Peter so made a show that even Barnabas was carried away by his hypocrisy, says Pete, says Paul.
What do you mean, hypocrisy? Well, there are two kinds of hypocrisy, ladies and gentlemen. There's one kind of hypocrisy where you pretend to be something that you're not. And there's another kind of hypocrisy where you pretend not to be what you are. Ah. And here is Peter guilty of the second kind of hypocrisy, he's pretending not to believe what he does believe. He believes it's okay to eat with those Gentiles because they're saved solely by grace and not by the works of the law. And yet he's behaving as though he didn't believe that. So that other folks looking on get carried away by his hypocrisy, and they think that Peter agrees with them.
No. Paul wouldn't have it. We have to walk consistently with the truth of the gospel. Yes. And let folks see what we clearly believe. Don't have to ram what you believe down everybody's throat you meet down the road, do you? What ho? And there's time and place for everything, but what Paul demands is that we walk straightforwardly, openly, consistent with the truth of the gospel.
And as I read those warnings in scripture, therefore, you see, they are serious. Yes, if we're true believers and we've been inconsistent, oh, there's a merciful high priest. Don't throw away your confession of faith. Come to the throne of grace to seek mercy and grace to help. All of us are inconsistent on times, aren't we? Wretchedly inconsistent. And God is merciful, and he won't forget the evidence of early days. But he demands the evidence. And if I go through life and there's no evidence of any fruit, or if with my eyes open I go back to what I know is a denial of the gospel, that raises a very big question.
Am I a believer who is temporarily behaving inconsistently? Or am I somebody whose eyes were open, who believed for a time that is made a superficial profession of faith, but had no root. And under pressure fell away. God help us. God forbid anybody of us should be in that situation. That's how I would read it way too much, and the hour grows late.
We haven't finished the topic by long way, have we? But there's another day tomorrow, perhaps. What do you say?
