When I say, have you believed
the gospel, I'm not asking you to look back and to evaluate
the sincerity of your faith based on your walk. You'll be just
like the man who puts his hand to the plow and looks back, and
I promise you that row's gonna be crooked. I'm asking you, do
you believe the gospel? Do you believe Christ? Do you
believe yourself to be a sinner according to what the scriptures
define a sinner to be. Do you believe that in you, that
is, in your flesh, dwelleth no good thing? Do you believe yourself
to be devoid of all righteousness? Sin is not a behavioral problem.
That's the result of sin. Sin is what we are. Sin is our
nature. Do you believe that? We'll get into more about what
we're going to believe in a moment when we get into Romans chapter
10. But when I first met Wayne Neal, he was attending a Calvinistic
church over in St. Petersburg. And I was working
over there, and the first time I showed up at one of the services,
they found out I was a preacher and they gave me the pulpit.
Said, we want you to preach. They had a huge sign on the outside
of their building, Predestinarian Calvinist. It was the raddiest
looking building you'd ever want to see. It was filthy dirty. It was in the worst neighborhood.
The curtains on the windows were stained and torn. And I know why they were that
way. They were saying we're scared to death that perhaps one of
God's non-elect might come in and become a part of our fellowship.
And so we're going to do everything we can to keep the non-elect
away. You know, I'm not worried about
that. Our buildings ought to be comfortable
and they ought to be appealing. They ought to be as nice as our
homes or nicer. We're not concerned about keeping
the non-elect away. If we're faithful, if we're faithful
to preach the gospel, the whole gospel, the truth and nothing
but the truth, the non-elect will respond by saying, as I've
heard many men say to me, I don't believe that. I do not believe
that. And so I ask you, Do you believe
the gospel? Do you believe yourself to be
a sinner? Have you cast the hope of your
immortal soul on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he everything to you? Is he your life? Did he accomplish
what he came to do? The putting away of your sins. That's what Romans chapter 10
says, and I fear sometimes that we're afraid to call on men to
believe the gospel in fear that maybe some free willer will join
ranks with us and we'll be like that religious organization over
there in St. Petersburg. Before we go into Romans chapter
10, turn with me in your Bibles to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter
1. Verse 14. Now, after that John
was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God. The good news, that God has a
kingdom, that he has elected a particular people to save,
and that he's accomplished their salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ
preached that message. Now as he, I'm sorry, verse 15,
and saying, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand,
repent ye and believe the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ called
on men to repent and to believe the gospel. I want you to repent
and to believe the gospel. That's not a work of the flesh. All right, go with me to, you
know, when Peter, now there's the first reference to our Lord's
preaching, and when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, those
who heard him were cut to their hearts and they said to Peter
and to the disciples, men and brethren, what shall we do? And
what did Peter say? Oh, there's nothing you can do.
There's nothing you can do. Just sit back and wait for something
to be done to you. He didn't say that, did he? He
said, repent and be baptized, every one of you. When that Philippian
jailer asked the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, sirs, what shall I do
to be saved? Peter didn't say to him, there's
nothing you can do. Just sit back, wait for something
to be done to you. Peter said to that Philippian
jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized. This
message is for you and for your family and he preached him the
whole gospel, the whole counsel of God. If the gospel of God's
grace is preached, we don't have to worry about unbelievers believing.
God's people, by God's grace, will be bought by God's Spirit
to believe the gospel. Now when the Lord says in Romans
chapter 10 and verse 9 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in thine heart that God has raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Verse 13, For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now Romans chapter
10 is in the context of Romans chapter 9. You can't just take Romans chapter
10 completely out of the context of everything else that Paul's
been saying in the previous chapters and say, well, now all you gotta
do is make a decision. All you gotta do is make a decision. That's not what he's saying at
all. But he is calling on men to believe. And where to call
on men to believe? To repent. All men everywhere
are commended by God to repent and to believe. And we know that without faith,
it is impossible to please God. And that faith is the gift of
God. That it's not something we can
drum up. It's not something we're just gonna, we're gonna manufacture. And yet, Believing is the natural
response to God-given faith. That's what it is. So I thought
believing and faith were the same thing. Well, they sort of
are. They're two sides of the same coin. You can't separate
one from the other. But if God gives you faith, you're
gonna believe. Your life is not as a result
of your believing. Any more than a child being born,
first breath is the cause of their life, it's the result of
life. If a child is born and breathes,
and believing, but breathing is involuntary, isn't it? We just breathe. You're not thinking
about breathing right now. You're just breathing. Why? Because you're alive. That's
what live people do. Live people breathe. People who
have faith believe. If you don't believe, it's because
you don't have faith. If you have faith, you will believe. You will believe. It's the result
of faith. What's that passage in Hebrews
say? Without faith it is impossible to please God. For they that
cometh to him must believe that he is and that he's the rewarder
of them that diligently seek him. Do you believe that he is? Can
you say with that Ethiopian eunuch when Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest, when he asked, what doth hinder
me to be baptized? And baptism is the result of
believing. If you believe, you want to confess. That's what
he's saying here in Romans chapter 10. If you believe in your heart
and confess with your mouth. See, these things, and then he
goes on to say later on in Romans chapter 10 that this faith comes
by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. So it's the
preaching of the gospel that gives a man the ability to hear.
It's hearing that gives him faith. It's faith that results in believing.
It's believing that results in baptism. And that's what the
scriptures teach. It all begins with God, but it
results in faith. It results in believing. It's
from faith to faith. God gives you faith, you believe
and you confess. If we're faithful to preach the
whole counsel of God, we don't have to worry about calling on
men to believe in fear that we're going to incite some sort of
free will, decisional conversion. The natural man's not going to
believe the gospel. Not when you say to him, according
to Romans chapter 9, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy
and whom I will I hardeneth. Therefore it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's of God that showeth mercy.
I'm the potter, you're the clay. I have the sovereign right to
make of the same lump of clay some vessels of honor and some
of dishonor. Salvation belongs to me. I'll
give it to whomsoever I will. And the natural man will say,
I don't believe that. Because you don't have faith. You don't
have faith. Verse one of Romans chapter 10.
Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
for Israel. Now, I know Paul is talking about
national Israel, but this is my heart's desire and my prayer
for all Israel that they might be saved. Oh, Lord, save us. Save us, deliver us from ourselves
and from our sin. Give us faith to believe. That's why I ask you, do you
believe? You won't believe the gospel
if you don't have faith. Your believing the gospel is
the evidence that you have faith. I had a man ask me some time
ago, he said, he said, well, Heidi, I was talking to him about
this. He said, well, how do you know you're one of God's elect? I
said, because I believe the gospel. That's how I know. That's the
only reason I know. I can't look at my life and see evidence in
my life that gives me assurance of my salvation. But I believe
the gospel. Do you believe the gospel? Can
you help not to believe the gospel? For I bear them record. Oh, don't
have a zeal for it. We're not talking about being
religious. We're not talking about outward forms of religion
and ceremony and piety and self-righteousness. That's what Israel had. For I
bear them record. They have a zeal for God. They're
very zealous. They're very sincere. Most people
think that sincerity, that's the evidence of salvation. If
you just sincerely believe what you believe. talking to a Hindu man this past
week, and nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. And I realized,
after spending several hours with him, that the reason he
was so nice is because he didn't want to come back as a horny
toad. You know, he, he, he had a, that was his motivation, but
he was just nicest guy, you know, he, but he believed in reincarnation. And, and so he's, you know, trying
to earn him a better place in his, in his return. People have
lots of different motivations for being good and for being
nice. That's not salvation That's not
faith I Bear them record. They have
a zeal of God, but it's not according to knowledge. They haven't heard
the gospel They don't believe that their whole hope of salvation
is bound up in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
They don't believe that he's all their righteousness before
God. For they be an ignorant of God's
righteousness. They're ignorant. They don't
know. They don't know. This same guy told me he was
an agnostic. I said, well, George, if you're
an agnostic, that means you don't know. Would you be interested
in knowing the truth? Because I know the truth. I know
who God is. I know how God saves sinners.
And we had an opportunity to talk. I don't know what the Lord
is going to do there, but he just didn't know. He didn't know
anything. The word perfect came up in our
conversation and he made this statement. He said, well, I guess
that's the reason why God thinks we're all perfect because he
sees us from such a distance. He just doesn't know. He's ignorant. Doesn't understand anything.
Why? Because he hadn't heard the gospel. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness are going about to establish their own righteousness. And they have not submitted themselves
to the righteousness of God. Now that's what I'm asking you.
Have you submitted yourself to the righteousness of God? Can
you say with the Apostle Paul, I know whom I have believed and
I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have submitted
unto him. I've committed everything to
him. All my standing before God. I have no hope of salvation outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all my righteousness. He's
all my justification. What he did on Calvary's cross
is the only thing that God will be pleased with for the taking
away of my sins. I can't make up for my sins.
I can't do enough good works to try to earn God's favor and
try to put away my sins. That's what the natural man believes.
Do you believe that? You believe God loves everybody,
Christ died for everybody, and God wants everybody to be saved,
and it's, you know, he's done his part, now it's up to you
to do your part? That's what most people believe. Do you believe the gospel? The
gospel of God's free grace in the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ is Christ your life. Have you called upon Him? You
say, well, I believe what you're saying. Have you asked Him to
save you? Have you called upon Him? Have
you pleaded for His mercy? For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. The mouth confession is made
unto salvation. You can't have one without the
other. If it's in your heart, it's gonna come out of your mouth.
But don't, don't. You gotta have to have both.
You gotta have both. For Christ himself is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that, what? That
believeth. Do you believe? Do you believe
God? Do you believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ satisfied all the demands of God's holy law for
you? That the law has been silenced,
there's nothing for it to say to you. There's no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Do you believe that? Confessing. What did that Ethiopian say when
Philip asked him, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest
be, thou may be baptized? I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Philip had just preached the
gospel to him from Isaiah chapter 54, and that Ethiopian was saying,
I believe everything you just told me. Remember, the Ethiopian
said, does the prophet speak of himself or does he speak of
another? And he said, oh, no. And beginning at that very passage,
he preached unto him Jesus. He's speaking of Christ. He's
speaking of the Messiah and what he will accomplish when he comes.
And that Ethiopian, just like you're doing right now, sat there
and he listened. And he said, I believe with all
my heart. Again, let me go back to my first
illustration. With all my heart doesn't mean
I'm looking back to the pattern of my life to see how sincere
my faith is. I believe with all my heart that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that I have no hope of standing
before God unless He's my advocate, unless He's my sin bearer, unless
He is my substitute, I'll find no acceptance before God. I believe
that. I believe Him. I believe God.
I believe the gospel. Verse 5, For Moses described
it, the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which
doeth these things shall live in them, or live of them, live
by them. If you're going to find righteousness
by your obedience of the law, you're going to have to keep
the whole law. the whole law all the time. Truth is, you and
I have never been able to keep one bit of God's law for a moment. The Lord summarized the law like
this. He said that the law can be summarized in two things,
love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your mind,
and all of your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. There's
never been a moment you've done either one of those. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise. Here's what, how do I know if
I have faith? How do I know if I believe the gospel? Because
I'm not saying in my heart, what can I do? to bring Christ down
from heaven. I believe that he died for my
sins. I believe that he ascended up into glory. I believe that
he's seated at the right hand of God. I believe that he ever
lives to make intercession for me. Now what can I do to make
him have favor on me? That's not what faith says. That's
what he's saying. Who shall ascend into heaven?
That is to bring Christ down from above. What can I do to
make what Jesus did work for me? Faith doesn't talk like that. That's what religion does. That's
what the natural man does. What can I do to make what Jesus
did work for me? Verse seven, who shall descend
into the deep? That is to bring Christ up again
from the dead. What can I do to make the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ effectual for me? When Christ died on Calvary's
cross, he bore in his body upon that tree all the sins of all
God's people. Put them away once and for all.
He was offered up for our offenses and raised again because of our
justification. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the justification of all God's people. When Christ
was raised from the dead, justification was satisfied. God was proving that our sins
were put away by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
I need a sign. You come down from the cross,
they said, and then we'll believe. So what sign has God given to
you? What sign is he given to me? The resurrection. A wicked
and perverse generation seeketh after a sign. No sign will be
given to it except for the sign of Jonah. Jonah went into the
belly of that whale for three days and came forth. And so did
the Lord Jesus Christ. Is the accomplished work of Christ,
death on Calvary's cross, burial and resurrection, all the hope
of your salvation? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? Donny, do you believe that? Do you believe Him? Do you believe
God? You wouldn't believe it if you
didn't have faith. Don't wait for something more. But what sayeth it? What does
faith say? If faith does not say, what can
I do to make what Christ did work for me, then what does faith
say? Here's what it says. The word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart. That is the
word of faith which we preach. It's the gospel. Here's what
faith says. Here's what faith says. It's
this simple. It is this simple. When you hear the gospel of God's
free grace, faith says, amen. Yes. Yes, He's my hope. Yes, that's
the truth. Yes, I believe that with all
my heart. I believe Him. Oh, don't wait for a feeling,
don't wait for an experience. If God's given you faith to believe
the gospel, your believing is the evidence of your faith. that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, I confess him as Lord. He reigns. I'm not making him Lord. I'm
not making him Lord. People say make Jesus Lord of
your life. Too late. I think that was one of Charlie
Pennington's lines preached in this pulpit several years ago.
Too late. God's already done it. He's already done it. He's already made Him Lord. Confess Him as Lord. He's Lord
over the living and the dead. He reigns sovereign over believers
and unbelievers, and He will do with all men whatsoever He
wills, because He's Lord. Do you believe that? Do you rejoice
in that? Do you bow before Him? Oh, I'm
so thankful. that he's Lord and his name is
Jesus. You shall call his name Jesus.
Why? For he shall save his people. He didn't make an attempt to
save men. He's not offering salvation to
men. He saved them. He's the Redeemer. He's redeemed his people. Do
you believe that? That's the gospel. and believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Now
I know the hard-nosed Calvinist will say, you can't just tell
people that. I'm not just telling people that.
I'm telling you that in the context of the gospel. God said it anyway. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. God has to give you a new heart.
For you to believe the gospel, you gotta have a new heart. You
won't believe it. And with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. Oh, I don't want you to be ashamed.
I don't want to be ashamed. I want to be confident in what
I believe. I don't want to be ashamed of... I want my faith to be real. And I don't want to be ashamed
on that day of judgment. I want to know that I've hung
all my hopes on Christ. Whosoever. That's a broad word. Can you fit yourself into that
whosoever? That's what it means, whosoever. For there's no difference. Men
make distinctions, don't they? And we live in a world where
men make distinctions based on wealth. One person's got more
influence and more power and more importance because they're
wealthier than another. Men make distinctions based on
morality. You know, one man's more moral
than another. God says there's no difference.
It took the same gospel, took the same gospel to save Mary
Magdalene. As it did to save Saul of Tarsus.
Or Lydia, who was a God-fear worshiper of God. You see, it
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter the standard
of your mind. It doesn't matter how rich or poor you are in the
things of this world. It doesn't matter how You know,
this world makes distinctions based on beauty, doesn't it?
Based on outward strength and youth. And God says there's no
difference. There's no difference. Men in
their pride like to compete with one another and compare themselves
to one another to see who's more important, who's got more influence
and more power. And God says that's just one
worm raising his head against another worm. You know, it's
just pride. It's just self-righteousness.
That's all it is. There's no difference. God saves
every one of his people the same exact way. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be set." That's a promise. You're
not gonna call without faith. You're not gonna call without
faith. But if God gives you faith, you're gonna call. How then shall they call on him
in whom they've not believed? How are you gonna call if you
don't believe? You see, believing, now all these things happen simultaneously
in time. There's no chronological order
to these things. But in the order of logic, one
must precede the other. Regeneration must necessarily
precede faith. is preceded by believing. How
shall they call upon Him when they have not believed? All these
things happen at the same exact time. It's a work of grace in
the heart that the Lord does. But you're not going to call
unless you believe. You're not going to believe unless
you hear. You're not going to hear without
a preacher. And they're not going to be able
to preach unless God sends them. Why? Because the natural man's
not going to preach the gospel. He's going to preach works. He's
not going to preach Christ. He's not going to lift up the
Lord Jesus Christ as all our righteousness. Believe. Do you believe the gospel? It's the only evidence of salvation
that there is. There's nothing else. Verse 16, but they have not all
obeyed the gospel. What is it to obey the gospel?
It's to believe the gospel. What work can we do? What can
we do to work the works of God? This is the work of God that
you believe. It's the work of grace in the
heart. And so now he's saying there's
some who don't obey the gospel. They don't believe the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath
believed, I report. We don't have to worry about
giving, if we're preaching the gospel, we don't have to worry
about giving people the impression that their will and their works
is the thing that God requires for their salvation. The gospel
denies every bit of that. And Isaiah, what we have to,
what we will say is, who has believed our report? And what's
the answer to that question in Isaiah chapter 6? To whom hath the arm of the Lord
been revealed? That's who believes our report.
The strong right arm of God is none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ. Has he been revealed to you? He's the only, that's
the only people that are gonna believe this gospel. That word
report is the word doctrine. Who has believed our doctrine?
Who has believed our message? To whom the arm of the Lord's
been revealed. I hope this will cause each of
us to say, oh Lord, open the eyes of my understanding. Reveal
yourself to me. Give me more light. So then, verse 17, faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God, the gospel. Turn with me to John chapter
one, verse 11. He came unto his own,
his own received him not. He came to the self-righteous
religionist and they refused him. Why? Because his message
robbed them of their righteousness. And that's why men hate the gospel.
They hate the gospel because they will not let go of their
righteousness. They believe something they've done or something they're
doing is giving them some favor with God, or giving them some
proof of salvation. You rob men of their righteousness
with the gospel of God's free grace, and they'll hate you for
it. And they hated Him. But, as many as received Him,
to them gave He power, the right, the privilege to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name. They believed His
name. They believed that He was the
Lord. They believed that He was the Christ, the Anointed One,
the one Son of God, to redeem Israel. They believed everything
that His name represented. Now look at the next verse. This does away with free will,
doesn't it? which were born, you see, they had to be regenerated
before they could believe. Again, this is not in a chronological
order. It all happens simultaneously.
You don't get regenerated and then believe somewhere later.
Regeneration and faith come at the same time. But you're not
going to have faith without regeneration. That's a work of God's grace.
That's a work of the Spirit of God, taking out the heart of
stone and putting in a heart of flesh, giving you faith to
believe. And so he says, which were born,
not of blood, not of natural descent, not because
the children got beat. What did they say? We'd be children
of Abraham. The Lord told him, he said, your
children of the devil is who you're children of. You're not
children of Abraham. Abraham believed God and it was counted
to him for righteousness. Which were born, these who he
gave power to become the sons of God that believed on his name
were, past tense, born. They were born. Not of blood. nor of the will of the flesh,
they didn't just make a decision to be born, nor of the will of
man. They didn't do anything to be
born, but of God. Call on his name. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him. The Spirit and the
Bride, this is the whole canon of Scripture. It concludes with
this call. The Spirit, that's the Spirit
of God. I pray He's speaking right now.
And the Bride, that's the Church. And right now I just happen to
be the voice of the Church. The Spirit and the Bride say
what? Come! So I can't come. Why not? The only reason you won't come
is because you don't want to come. You don't want to come. No man's ever come to Him and
been turned away. I will in no wise cast you out. Come, just like you are. Say, well, I don't know if I
can come. You remember when Peter was in
the boat and the Lord was walking on the water? And Peter prayed
this prayer. He said, Lord, bid me to come
unto thee. Can you pray that? Can you pray
that? Can you say, Lord, bid me to
come unto thee? No one's ever asked him that
without him saying, come. Let's take a break. Thank you. You know what? That's right.