Turn with me if you would this
morning in the Gospel of John and the third chapter. John chapter 3 and verse 18.
He that believeth on him that is Christ, is not condemned, but he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now man desires to be the cause, the initiator of salvation. I thought about it this morning. That's what fallen man by nature
wants, and that's what Satan the deceiver
wants him to keep wanting. And that's what false religion
enforces. And this is why most of the preaching
in our day is nothing more than salvation dependent on man's
will and man's work. And that would make man ultimately
to be his own savior. They say things like, God has
done all this, he's done all that he can do,
and now it's left up to you, left up to me. And mainly they say that salvation
is contingent on one's believing. Some even say there is one condition
for salvation and that is faith. And they go to verses like the
one that we've read to use it as a proof text. He that believeth
on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already. But what we have to consider
is whether or not faith is the cause or the manifestation, that's
something we have to have an understanding about, light about,
if we're to understand the role of faith in our salvation. If you ask yourself a question
like this, when measles break out, Is that the cause of the disease
or the manifestation of the disease? Well, the truth of the matter
is if measles break out, you already have the disease. And the same thing would be true
with regard to the birth of a baby. Does a baby cry out in order
to have life or do they cry out because they're alive? Well,
I think we would have to say most quickly that a baby moves,
that a baby cries because it has life. And the word believeth here is
like so many words that we have in the King James. The word believeth here is in
what might be called the linear verb tense. That E-T-H ending
that we find so often in the King James, it indicates a present
and continuing action. Already present and already continuing. So it is not whosoever will believe,
but it is rather whosoever is believing or continuing to believe. They have everlasting life. Because believing is not the
cause of that life, but the manifestation of that life. And it's the same
thing with repentance. It's the same thing with confessing
Christ. It's the same thing even when
he speaks of baptism there in Mark's gospel. He that believeth
and is baptized, they shall be saved. And they are simply, if
you would call them that, they're the symptoms of salvation. They're the symptoms or the manifestation
of the life of God that is wrought in the heart by the Spirit of
God. It's like a work of God that
is breaking out. And just as believing is the
manifestation of justification of not being condemned. Unbelief
is the manifestation, not the cause, of being condemned. Oftentimes I hear people say
things like this, They say that the one sin that God will not
forgive is unbelief. But what I find in the scriptures
is just exactly the opposite, and that is that those that God
saves, He forgives all their sin, even the sin of unbelief. And before those he saves and
in doing so manifests that salvation, how long are most of them in
unbelief all their days? So that cannot be the case. He saves us from all our sins
and even the sin of unbelief. And if you think about it, if
left in that way in the minds of men and women, it still comes
down to this, and that is that something that they did, or rather
in this case something that they didn't do, will be what determines whether
they're saved or lost. We never, ever determine whether
we're saved or lost. You see, long before anything
like this takes place in the life of anyone who's brought
to believe, the scripture says that all the world, every single
son and daughter by nature, and in Adam, is already guilty and
condemned. Hold your place and look over
in Romans chapter 5, because here in Romans chapter 5 is some
very enlightening information. Romans chapter 5, where he says in verse 12, Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. In other words, before we were
ever born or ever did anything, being represented by our father
Adam in that garden when he fell, we not only fell but the Bible
says we sinned and Paul in Romans 3 shows all the world to be guilty
before God. And then he says this in Romans
5 and verse 18. He says, therefore, as by the
offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. In other words, we didn't have
to wait for God to give the law or the Ten Commandments to Moses
to be guilty and condemned. But we are in Adam as we are
in ourselves naturally condemned and we fell in him and that is
the and our original sin. But he says therefore as by the
offense of one or the one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. So justification, or rather faith
in Christ, rather than being the cause of our justification
is the manifestation of it as we experience it in this life. But it's all based on what this
second one or the second Adam did. Our faith does not cause
it. And that's why in the scriptures
it shows us time and again that those who believe, they are already
born of God. Those who believe, they are already
in possession of eternal life. So believing is simply a good
description of those not condemned. Now turn over to 1 John chapter
5. 1 John chapter 5 and listen to what John says
with regard to this same thing. He says, whosoever believeth
will be born of God. Actually, that's what Billy Graham
wrote in his book, How to be Born Again. In other words, it
was an act of the sinner that causes the new birth. That's not what John says here,
though, is it? He says, whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. What's the evidence of
the new birth? And I really get all excited
when I hear people talking about the proofs or the evidences of
the new birth. Well, if you're born again, you
won't do this. If you're born again, Christian,
you won't do that. If you're born again, Christian,
you surely won't do this other thing. But not only do we find
that not true in the Bible, dealing with men and women that I know
are true believers, I found them also doing just about anything
that an unbeliever won't. Except one thing. They will not
cease to believe on and trust in and rely solely on the Lord
Jesus Christ and him crucified. They may get drunk like Noah.
They may fall like David. They might lie like Abraham did
concerning Sarah. But they will not ultimately
and finally depart that gospel and that truth wherein the object
of that faith that God has given is only to be found. They can't. People say, well, if you'll believe,
God will do this and that and the other. I found out one thing
about faith. If God gives it to you to believe,
you can't help but to do it. That's a fact. Against all odds,
against all outward contradictory seeming things, against every
word of man, you cannot keep but believing what God says. I've thought about it a lot over
the last couple of years. It's like I've almost at times
been hearing Job's wife in my ears in light of what seems to
be happening outwardly. When she said to Joe, why don't
you just curse God and die? Because I believe. I'll turn over to some of those
Psalms. I'll read these words and he'll
say, I'll never leave you or forsake you. I can hear Him say, and all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them that are
the called according to His purpose. And when it seems like that everything
in me naturally and everything around me outwardly says that
there is no reason to believe, I can't help but believe. I can't
help but believe. because whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ. And that's not just simply just
believing it in the way of reciting an old worn cliche or something
like that. That's the whole body of truth
from God's gospel that's set before us and revealed to us
in the scripture that Jesus is the Christ. He said, whosoever believes that is born of God. That's why they
believe it. That's why they have a confidence
in it. And everyone that loveth him
loveth him that begot, loveth him also that is begotten of
him. Not only is faith the evidence
of this birth, but also the fact that we love the brethren. Because life has come in power. and we believe. Turn over to John chapter 5. John chapter 5 and look down
in verse 24. He says, 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 death unto life. Men say it's just the opposite
of that. That this salvation, that this
life is conditioned on faith. But here Christ is saying that
this faith, which is a gift of God, that's the demonstration
or manifestation of life. He that hears my word and believes
on him that sent me hath everlasting life. Like that old preacher said,
he's got it. He doesn't believe to get it.
He believes because he's got it. He has it. God has given
it to him as a gift. Look over in John 6. Same thing. Verily, verily, I
say unto you, he that believeth on me He has. He's got everlasting
life. He doesn't do anything to get
what God has said so many times is a gift. A gift. Somebody said, and I just thought
about this this morning, somebody said a long time ago, they said,
how can you tell if a politician's lying? And the answer is, if his lips
are moving, he is. And we're certainly hearing a
lot of that these days. If his lips are moving, he's
lying. Well, how do you tell if a sinner is alive? He's alive if he's believing. Now God, He doesn't use a word like faith
or believing. in some generic sense like it's
used in our day. He never says simply, all you
got to do is believe. Believe what? You see, when Paul wrote to the
church at Thessalonica, he said, I'm thankful to God for you because
He, from the very beginning, has chosen you to salvation. Then the next statement is, through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. The truth. We believe the truth. We believe the gospel of God,
which is concerning his son. We believe the truth as it is
in Christ Jesus. If anybody comes to my doorstep,
two by two, I can look at them in the face, ask them one question,
and ask them simply this, do you believe that Jesus Christ
is God? Well, we believe he's that or
the other, this, that, the other. No, that's not the question.
The truth is he is God. And it is said of him, in those
hours not long before he actually was born into this world, it
was said to his earthly parents, thou shall call his name Jesus. For, or because, he shall save
his people from their sins. You see what a man believes in
a great measure describes the condition of his heart. It doesn't change his heart. We're nothing but death. And there can be of a dead sinner
not the least sign of life until him who is life and power
comes to him. And by the spirit of life, gives him life. And that life
is manifested by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it's like Paul said,
we're saved by grace. Every person who's saved is saved
by grace. And therefore, every person that
God saves, they'll believe. For by grace
are you saved through faith." Somebody said, that means that
it's conditioned on faith. No, that means it's manifested
by faith because he immediately describes that faith and says,
it's the gift of God. It's the gift of God. Once when the apostle Paul was
preaching, As it was in every case, as it
is to this day in every case, the scriptures will say something
like this, and some believed and some believed not. Why? Well, because the gospel,
that word which is preached which goes up in the nostrils of God
concerning his son as a sweet fragrance. So Paul says, we are, in our
preaching of the gospel, a fragrance or savor of life unto life to
son, and a fragrance or savor of death
unto death to others. So Paul and every other true
gospel preacher throughout the ages, they've gone out not knowing
who'll believe, not knowing who'll receive their message, not knowing whether or not anybody
will receive it. So he preached the gospel. And you know, a whole lot of
his own kinsmen and religious people, when he preached there
in Acts 13, they just turned away. Not interested in this. But there in verse 48, he says
something that ought to teach us a lot. He said, but as many
as were ordained unto eternal life believed. Behind their believing, the first
cause of their believing, the initiator of their salvation
in all these things, is the determining decree and
foreordination of Almighty God. They didn't believe and therefore
were ordained unto eternal life. He ordained them to eternal life
and in that hour appointed not only brought them in contact
with and under the hearing of the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus, but he gave them faith. He ordained them before the world
began to eternal life. And it will not be left up, it
will not be left up to man to determine the success or failure,
the worth or the lack of it in what the Lord Jesus Christ did. by what man says, if people don't
believe it, they'll make his work a failure
and worthless. But the truth of the matter is,
his work, his successful God-accepted work
on the behalf of this particular or that particular sinner is the basis upon which they
must be given faith. They're gonna be given faith. Christ said, I know my sheep,
love my sheep, and he said, my sheep hear my
voice, and they follow me." Those that he gives life, they believe. And so those he
sends out with the gospel, man says, well now if you'd kind
of pare the edges off of this gospel, or if you would have
a more relevant gospel, or if you would in some way include
man into this equation of salvation, you might get more people to
hear it and believe it. We're not looking for them. We know that the elect of God, the people
of God, the chosen of God, whatever name you pick out of scripture
to identify them, that it's because they were those things and because
His Spirit on the basis of Christ's work will come to them that they
will believe. Somebody's going to believe this
gospel. And they're going to believe
it because everything in salvation has to glorify God. He has to get all the glory in
every aspect of it. When we recognize faith, as being His gift, we give to Him all the glory. As a matter of fact, the greatest
way, and we can't even do that about ourselves, the greatest
way any one of us ever glorifies God, I'm convinced of this, is when we believe Him. When we believe the truth. He enables us to rejoice in the
truth because everyone who believes has everlasting life. God gave it to us.