Hearing & Believing

Introduction

I imagine there are some of you here today have never heard about Jesus Christ. And there are others who have known him practically your whole life.

The most important question that each of us will answer in our life, is what do I do with

Since a kid… we’ve learned the 5 Steps

Hear Believe Repent Confess Be Baptized

The gospel has been around for 2000 years… the 5 step mantra has not!

1800s Walter Scott

Focus on Logic & Reasoning

1st:

Man’s doing: Believe, Repent, Be Baptized

God’s doing: Forgive, Give the Spirit, Give Eternal Life

5 Finger Gospel:

Evangelistic tool… not a mantra or a creed

Hearing

Hearing is a crucial part of how we communicate

Romans 10:17 “17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

God’s word must be preached in order for people to hear it

Believing

Why should a person believe?

Introduction

One of my greatest memories… listening to Alabama football on the radio

I loved Alabama football, dad engrained it in me

So on grandpa’s property I would Listen… Imagine… See… all in my little 8 year old head

The thing that was so neat about the radio… is that you couldn’t see anything… you could only listen with your ears

I could imagine in my minds eye John Parker Wilson throwing a touchdown without SEEING it!

Invention of the TV

We can see things that happen milessssss away

And we, as the human race, underwent a change that affects all of us here today

I’m speaking in a building here in Columbus Ga… and someone could be watching via Youtube sand say, “That looks like a nice church building”

But what if it wasn’t?

What if this pulpit was a green screen?

What if I was really wearing a T-shirt, but the video was edited to show me wearing a suit?

It begs the question, that philosophers having been asking for centuries… “What is truth?”

“How do I know WHAT to believe… and that what I believe is TRUE?”

We live in a world, where the majority of people believe, there is no objective truth… or universal standard of truth

Truth is what I want it to be… Truth is relative… Truth is a matter of perception

But our plea today, is that there is, an objective truth.

How is it that we know murder is wrong? Ask anybody and they’ll say it’s wrong.

“Why?” … well because it’s wrong!

Noooo that’s circular reasoning

If we truly are worthless atoms in a worthless universe, why would murder be wrong?

UNLESS… there be an “objective truth” to the matter

The standard of what a Christian believes to be true, is what God has revealed.

He has revealed His:

Creation

Image

Words

Himself

John 20:29 “29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.””

And because I believe you are MORE than just a clump of cells sitting in that pew… I wish to cover the topic: “Hearing & Believing”… to SHOW you, how saving faith, begins.

Romans 10:17 “17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

1. Faith Comes By Hearing

It begins… with a message. The message of Christ.

Some say:

Faith coming by feeling… music/dreams/visions

Faith comes by decree…

Faith comes by an eloquent teacher… but what about false teachers? Is it not God who we listen to and not the voice of man?

Faith comes by hearing! .. hearing by the word of Christ

Therefore when I ask you, “Why is it you believe?”

Do not say:

Bc of mom and dad

Bc I grew up there

Bc my friends do

Bc I like the church

Or ANY OTHER reason…

I believe, because I heard the TRUTH! Not just from the words of some man, or the words in some book, but from the Word of Almighty God who revealed Himself to me through the scriptures.

Faith comes by hearing!

Either audibly through your ears… or mentally through your eyes as you read the scripture…

“How do you hear by reading?”

Is there not within you a hearing of that small voice that speaks to you as you read?

Therefore faith originates, in the consumption of knowledge that comes from the Lord.

Faith originates in the hearing of evidence, which is the gospel message!

That all have sinned, all need saving, Christ has saved His own!

And upon HEARING of that truth, you come to either reject it, or believe it

I was baptized at a young age… 9

I grew up in the church

Dad taught Bible class on occasions

I knew the gospel of Christ.

There are some, who upon the INITIAL moment of hearing the truth, believe it… that was me.

I had heard it enough times that when it was presented to me and I was struck with a choice, I chose to obey the gospel

But there are others who after hearing the truth, reject it

And yet others, who dwell on it a while.

And in life we do this

If Barry says there’s a gospel meeting on March 29, I believe him!!

But if Barry say there’s 20,000 people who came to the last gospel meeting… I’d be hesitant to believe too!

But the thing is… IT’s EITHER TRUE… OR IT’s NOT

And if Jesus truly rose from the dead and claims to save those who believe in Him… that is either true or false!

The most important question that each of us will answer in our life, is what do I do with Jesus Christ?

If you make your decision tomorrow, it would be too late.

Did not God tell the rich man?

Luke 12:20 “ …. You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’”

James 4:14 “14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

2. Faith Begins In Me

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1–3 “1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”

By faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice

By faith, Enoch didn’t see death

By faith, Noah built the ark

By faith, Abraham moved to a foreign land

By faith, Sarah conceived

By faith, Isaac & Jacob & Joseph & Moses & RAHAB & Gideon & Barak & Samson & Jephthah & David, Saul, and the prophets

Hebrews 11:33–40 “33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; 36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. 39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made…”

Hebrews 12:1–3 “1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Conclusion

The Call

The sound of the good news shouts forth like a trumpet in the midst of a city! It, by the Lord’s power, can makes the walls of Jericho fall, allowing the truth of Christ to permeate into the hearts of men

It is the sound of salvation, that all who hear it may believe it and be eternally blessed by it. Words are just words, but these words are the power of God unto salvation Rom 1:16.

It is the sound of victory that the great adversary has been conquered, and you too can overcome him.

May the lost sheep here tonight not run away like Jonah but join back to the Great shepherd

May the sinner lost in sin hear the depth of God’s redeeming love. He created you to live for Him!

No greater call. The call of marriage… of a child being born… of worldly success. None can match the call of your sins being paid in full.

May you be spurred to believe this morning, that Jesus is Lord indeed.

“My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’s name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.”

“I know whom I have believed am and persuaded that He is able to keep that which I committed unto Him against that day” 

Romans 1:20 “20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

Genesis 1:27 “27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

2 Timothy 3:15 “15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

John 11:9