I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. I was thinking about what Brother
Neil I just said, there's times in the life of every believer when they'll ask, if not outwardly,
inwardly, do I know the Lord or not? Do I even know Him? That's the heart of God's people.
They see a war going on within. It's a battle. And I know the
thoughts of this world's mind and heart. This world tells people religiously. I'm so sure of salvation, I'd
just I'm just almost there. But I tell you believer struggles. He knows the Lord and he wants
to know the Lord. He prays that God have mercy.
Somebody say, well, if you believe God's already had mercy on you,
why do you have to pray for it? Because I need it. I need mercy. You believe the Lord saved you?
Listen to the heart of a believer. Lord, save me. Save me. Please don't let me perish. This
is the heart of a believer. He knows something about himself. I want to look at this passage
of Scripture, and I want us to consider a conversation that happened
between Paul the Apostle and a Philippian jailer. Let's just look at the context
here. Acts chapter 16. Now Paul and
Silas have been thrown in prison. They're in jail. They're in jail
for preaching the gospel of God's grace, a message that is hated
by this world. And the reason it's hated is
because it gives man no honor, no glory, no praise. It puts
a man, a woman in the dust before God where they ought to be. I'm so thankful for the scripture
that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners.
Apostle Paul said, I'm the chief. If you wanna see an example of
a sinner, he said, look at me. He said, I'm the chief, I'm the
worst. You know, every believer thinks
that. He said, I know in me that is
in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing, none. Oh, how thankful. Acts chapter 16, verse 25, at
midnight, Paul and Silas prayed sang praises unto God, and the
prisoners heard them. You know, I was thinking about
the songs that these guys were singing. I'm sure it was the Psalms. They
were singing the songs of God. They weren't just flippant words. I read a lot of the, you know,
these new songs come out. They're all religious. They talk
about how, you know, how great things are with men and how wonderful
this is. I'm telling you, you read the
Psalms. Listen to what God has to say through David and those
that wrote these Psalms. And these men were singing truth.
You bet that. And these prisoners heard them.
They heard what they were singing. They heard these words. I don't
doubt that one bit. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake so that 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,
awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. I mean, the keeper of the prison. Now, the punishment for letting
a prisoner escape was pretty severe. It was death. And when he saw that these prison
doors were open, he knew this is not going to go well for me.
So he's going to end it, get it over with. I'm going to go
ahead and kill myself because I don't want to face the penalty.
of having let these men get away. Verse 28, but Paul cried with
a loud voice, saying, do thyself no harm, for we're all here. Then he, that is the keeper of
the prison, called for a light and sprang in and came trembling
and fell down before Paul and Silas. brought them out and 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 house, meaning
you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and your house. If they
so believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll be saved just
like you are. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. Why? Faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the word of God. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. And so here we find in this passage
of scripture, and where I want to just look for just a few minutes. I'm going to look at that question
that was asked by this Roman guard, this Roman prison keeper,
this jailer. What must I do to be saved? Now, beloved There's not a believer in this
room today that doesn't want to hear that answer again. You tell me again, what must
I do to be saved? Now, don't tell me. Well, all you got to do to be
saved is speak in tongues, All you gotta do to be saved is to
be baptized, because I can tell you this from scripture, when
you start telling me of some works of righteousness that I
must do, be baptized, or speak in tongues, or go down to the
front, I've told you before, the only difference where you
are and I am is, I don't know, you're in 10 feet, back there,
Greg, you're about, Less than 20. Don't tell me that by me
coming down to the front, not by works of righteousness that
we have done. So don't tell me that I have
to do something in order to believe, in order to be saved. Don't tell
me. Not by works of righteousness. But somebody said, but now wait
a minute, Marvin, don't try to skip over the scriptures. I'm
not. They just asked him, sirs, what must I do? Now you look
at your Bible and tell me if this is what he said. He brought
them, he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now let me tell you what he didn't
say. because I know what we all by
nature think. Let me tell you what you think
by nature. Sirs, what must I do to be regenerated? That's the
word that we normally think he used. What must I do to be regenerated? What must I do in order to become
alive in Christ? I know that's what we think,
that's what we all think. to be regenerated. I looked up these words because
I want to know what the scriptures has to say about this. Sirs,
what must I do? Now, I've looked these words. Get you a good concordance and
find out what is he asking. Don't assume anything. I'm getting
ready to leave this world. It's becoming more and more evident
to me that this life is fleeting away. It's leaving. Neil, I know
it. I can see it. I'm standing here
today. I know this. I'm standing here
right now by the grace of God. I know that. I'm aware of that. I want to know I'm going to meet
God. And when I meet God, it's over. So don't tell me presumptuous
things. Sirs, what must I do? That word right there, and I
don't speak Greek, I just look the words up. What must I do
in light of, not by works of righteousness that we have done,
What must I do? That word do right there means
to adopt or express a thought or a feeling within. Okay, what must I do? What is it that I do to express? And then I looked up the word
saved. What must I do? I'm gonna put
these two together in just a minute. It'll make more sense. What must
I do to be saved? And the word, according to Mr.
Vines, I just took a good concordance and I looked up these Greek words
and I know what he's saying. And what it means is that word
saved right there actually comes right down to the heart of being
saved. Here's what he asked him. Will
you tell me what is the evidence? What is the evidence? that I'm
being saved, that I'm being saved. What is the evidence that God
is saving me? I know what man says by nature. You get saved, you get saved
first. But you know what? The scripture
sets forth that salvation For God's people is eternal, is eternal. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, who hath,
now listen to these words, who hath saved us and called us. So my question
would be this, what came first? What was first in the mind, heart
of God Almighty? Salvation or regeneration? Who has saved us and called us? What came first in the mind,
will, and purpose of God? Salvation. Who has saved us,
who have saved us, You want to jot it down, 2 Timothy 1, 9.
Who has saved us and called us. Salvation is that state before
God Almighty of safety. Who has saved us and then in
time, he told us about it. Who has saved us and called us. Now this jailer asked him, what
must I do to be saved? What, Paul, is the evidence that
God Almighty has everlastingly loved me? Now understand what
he's saying. Don't presume that you know what
he said just because you say, well, I think this is what it
means. No, look it up and find out. What is the evidence, Paul? The Spirit of God moved on that
Philippian jailer to use those words. Somebody said, well, that
was just an old Philippian jailer that said that. No, it wasn't.
It was God that said it. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and it's profitable for correction, instruction, and
righteousness. The man of God may be throughly,
completely furnished. What is the evidence, Paul? that God has done something for
me. Is there evidence that God's done something for me? Apostle Paul told him, here's
what it is. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved and thy house. Now, is there any evidence
that God has been pleased to everlastingly set his affection
on me. Is there any evidence?" And Paul
told him, yeah, you believe God. I started thinking about that
today and I thought, believe God concerning what? Everything
God says. Let me ask you this, do you believe
that man by nature is dead? spiritually dead in trespasses
and see you believe he's born like that. I believe that. Why do you believe that? Because
God said it. That's why I believe it. I believe God said that. If you say that a man can do
something of himself to regenerate himself. To make himself spiritually
alive. How are you going to believe
until you're alive spiritually? I mean, I can tell you this. If you, to a corpse, if you'll
breathe, if you'll go ahead and start breathing while you're
in that corpse, that casket, if you'll start breathing, you'll
be able to have life and, you know, lungs will be filled up
with oxygen. Well, that's all good and fine.
That's great advice if it was possible, but you can't do it.
What must I do? What is the evidence? What is the expression that God
has done something for me? What must I do? Paul said, not
in order to be saved, but the evidence of that God has done
something for you is this. This is the evidence of it. You
believe Him. I believe Him. I don't believe
in order to be saved. I don't believe in order to be
saved. I believe because God saved me.
And He gave me life. He gave me a new understanding.
He gave me a new heart. That's what the scripture says. I'll be their God. They'll be
my people. So hold your place right there. Turn over. Ezekiel
36. Ezekiel 36. See, man by nature
puts the cart before the horse, or
horse before the cart, whichever we want to say. They mix it up.
They say in order to believe, you know, in order to believe
you've got to be, you know, you've got to be saved, You got to do
this. God's got to give a man, a woman,
a new heart. Ezekiel 36 to 25, I will sprinkle
clean water upon you. You shall be clean from all your
filthiness, all your idols. I'll cleanse you. A new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit I'll put within you, and
I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh. I'll give
you a new heart. my spirit within you and cause you to walk in
my statutes. You think a man walks in the
statutes, in the law, in the way of God, believing God, do
you think he does that first or does God have to do something
for him first? Who's got to do something first in order to be
saved? God has to save him. God has
to give him life. I'll be your God, you'll be my
people. Salvation is an act, an eternal act, if I can say
it like that. Salvation is an eternal act of
the will of Almighty God bestowed upon a people of God's choosing. Who did the choosing? And this thing of salvation,
who did the choosing? God. The Lord told his disciples,
he said, you didn't choose me, I chose you. Man wants the honor,
the glory, salvation, Jonah 2, 9 is of the Lord. Exodus 33,
19. The Lord told Moses, when Moses asked
him, he said, show me your glory. He said this, he said, I'll be
gracious. This is my glory, I'll be gracious
to whom I'll be gracious and I'll show mercy on whom I'll
show mercy. So it's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that willeth.
Somebody said, well, just exercise your free will. A man does not have a will that
is free How do you know? Man is born dead. He's spiritually
dead. They say exercise your free will
in order to become alive. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy. So if
somebody's telling you all you got to do in order to become
regenerated or saved is to just believe. I can show you in the
scriptures where the demons believe, but they don't trust the Lord.
I've told you a million times. I believe there was George Washington.
I never met him. I believe I read about him. I
believe he was, I believe that, you know. This thing of believing
onto salvation is an act that is granted. It's given unto you
to believe. So when he said, sirs, what must
I do? What is the evidence? What must
I do to be saved? What is the evidence that I am
being saved? It didn't start with him. It
didn't start with him. But there obviously is an evidence. It's amazing to me when I see
anybody that believes God. When the Lord said unto his disciples,
he said, without me, you can do, what's the next word? That's
it. Without me, you can do nothing. And man tells me, all you have
to do in order to be saved is accept the Lord Jesus Christ
as your personal savior. Make him the Lord of your life.
And I will say now, you know what? That just don't add up
to me. If you're telling me all I've
got to do and the Lord says without me you can do nothing, you can
do nothing. How much does that word nothing
entail? All of it. Without me you can
do nothing. So there's a big difference in
the word saved and the word regenerated. That's what God Almighty has
done eternally. We're being saved. God Almighty
chose a people before the foundation of the world, Ephesians, that
they should be holy and without blame before him in love, and
it's being wrought out. And in time, the Lord who purposed
to save his people that he's everlastingly loved, It is as sure as God's word is
sure. Those that God chose. Are you
telling me that God has chosen a people before the foundation
of the world? I mean, it's it's in Ephesians
chapter one. If you want to read it, it starts,
you know, right after Ephesians chapter one, just read the first
chapter of Ephesians. God has chosen a people before
the foundation of the world that they should be holy and without
blame, before him love. God chose them. And the Lord said concerning
those that the Father chose, the elect, John 6, 37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me by faith, casting himself upon me by faith that
is given, it's given unto you to believe. Somebody said, well,
just exercise your faith. God's gonna have to give you
faith. And I can tell you this, faith from above believes God. Faith from above is not going
to say, I got saved because I did something. I got regenerated
because of it. It's not gonna say that. God
saved me by grace. And he did it through a beautiful
gift called grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself. It's a gift of God. For salvation,
what must I do? What is the evidence that God
has eternally loved me, chose me in Christ, What's the evidence
that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he said, I lay down my life for
the sheep, what's the evidence that he laid down his life for
me? What's the evidence of that? Faith. Faith in Christ. I believe
God. Abraham believed God. And it
was counted unto him for righteousness. So what happens, all of this,
I'm going to try to be brief here. John, turn with me to John
chapter 3, John chapter 3. There's a process. I don't know
any other way to say it. I have gone over these notes
and the more I've gone over my notes, the more I've wondered
whether or not I can even preach this message. I hope it comes
out with some consistency. for something that would appear
to the natural man to be so simple, so simple. Yeah, it's just simple
salvation. Oh, it's simple to believe once
God reveals it to you, but to know it without a revelation
from God, what's God gonna do for his people? What will he
do? Well, look at John chapter three,
verses one to three. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, and the same came to Jesus
by night, He said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher,
come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest,
except God be with him. And I just, I love this. It just
shows me how the Lord, he was listening to what Nicodemus was
saying, and Nicodemus was, he was speaking the truth, he was
speaking the truth, but the Lord got right to the heart of the
matter. Jesus answered, verse three, And he said unto him,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. You cannot, you can't perceive
it. You don't, you don't know. Man
by nature thinks he understands the things of God. He thinks
he knows everything. Have you ever wondered with all
of the different denominations that's in the world, And this
one says this, and this one says that. You know, somebody's got
to be wrong. Somebody's got to be wrong. I
mean, you can't, if you say that you got to do this to be saved,
this is it. No, you got to do this to be saved. Somebody lie. Thank the Lord for these scriptures.
What sayeth the scriptures? What must I do to be saved? Man is born dead, spiritually
dead. And I'm telling you, spiritually
dead, physically dead. Men cannot do anything. They're dead. There in John chapter
3, where we are right here, John 3. Look at verses 5 and 6. answered verily, verily, or verily,
yeah, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of
water, the water of the word, that's
in Ephesians, the water of the word, who hath saved, born, Ephesians
5, 26, water, the water of the word, except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit. It takes, God is pleased to use
the water of His Word, blessed by the Spirit of God. You're
looking at a Bible here and it's got words printed on it. How
are you going to know what it says? God Almighty is going to
have to tell you what this book says. You think, well I can just
get a Bible and just read it and just I can understand what
it's saying. No, you can't. No, you cannot. I wonder how many times and I'm
saying this by any man that preaches the gospel. Somebody might say
to me after they've read something, we'll look at something in Proverbs
or something over in Revelation. They said, you know, I read that.
I'd have never gotten that out of that. You know why any preacher
ever got it? because God had to teach him
what he was saying. You just didn't, you just don't
get it by nature. You must be born of the water
of the word, blessed by the spirit of God to teach you what's being
said. So here, here, the scriptures
is set forth that there's, in salvation, there's an understanding,
a clear conviction that is bestowed upon a regenerated sinner. They're born again. God's gonna have to give you
a new life. He's gonna have to give you a new heart and a new
spirit. Man by nature does not get it. I told you I came out of false
religion. And I wonder how many years I
would look at passages of scripture, and I would read them, and I
thought I had a good, clear understanding of them. And when the Lord was
pleased to reveal Christ to me, that Christ is the heart of this
word. These words, you know, you search
the scriptures, the Lord said, and in them you think you have
life. Oh, well, I read the Bible. They are they that testify of
me. So God Almighty takes this Word and He blesses it and they
understand it. And if you don't see the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ in it, you missed it. It's the Word
of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. So God Almighty gives
understanding and conviction. And He regenerates His people.
He makes them alive first. He's eternally loved them. He
saved us. But in that salvation, you're
being saved. In that salvation, there's gonna
come a point in time when you're gonna be regenerated. God's gonna
give you life, and you're gonna see it. Secondly, that needy
sinner's taught and given faith to believe. that his salvation
is totally found in the person of God's Lamb, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shed his blood, sin of God, to save his people from
their sins. Faith. They believe God. They
believe God. They don't believe that they
came up with it. They don't believe they started
it. They believe that Almighty God eternally purposed it and
called them, called them out of darkness, gave them life. And they realize that even the
faith by which they believe was a gift of God. Philippians chapter 129, for
unto you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe
on him, but also to suffer for him. Somebody said, well, I believed. Well, if you did, and it's because
God gave you faith, because all men have not faith. Faith from
above is the faith of God's elect. And lastly, this last truth concerning
this marvelous truth of salvation by the grace of God is the assurance
of life in Christ. Paul, the apostle, told this
Philippian jailer when he said, sirs. And again, remember, he didn't
ask, what must I do to be regenerated? What must I do? What is the evidence? What is the evidence that God
has done something for me? What is the evidence that God
has saved me? What must I do? What is that? What is that token? What is the
token that God has done something for me? I know, I know it's obviously
I've read too many times that these works men call works of
righteousness. I know that's wrong. But if God
has shown mercy to me, please, please tell me, please tell me,
what is the token that the Lord has saved me? I believe God. I believe God saved
me by grace. I believe that God took me as
a brand plucked out of the fire. I believe that God Almighty was
pleased to show mercy to me, and I wasn't looking for him.
How do you know that? Because the Lord said, I was
found of them that sought me not. No man, no woman ever comes forth
out of the womb with a heart that'll seek after God. No man
seeketh after God. No man. But I'm telling you when
God does something for a man or a woman and he saves them
by grace and teaches them what they are by nature, Paul the
apostle said, this is my, you want me to sum up what I am by
nature? Paul said this, oh wretched man
that I am, you mean that God would show mercy to a putrefying
worm like me? Yeah. Well, that's good news
for me, because I know just enough about me. Yeah. Somebody said, well, Marvin,
you're a preacher. I'm going to tell you something. I'm a
sinner. I've told you this before. I'd
be so ashamed if you knew what went through my mind while I'm
standing here preaching. Paul and Silas, they were so
truthful. And he asked him, what's the
evidence? What's that evidence? Paul, can
you give me an evidence that God has graciously shown me mercy? He said, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. I pray that God have mercy on
this helpless, unworthy sinner. that knows from the scriptures.
I didn't start this. I didn't start salvation. I didn't
one day come to myself and realize, well, Marvin, boy, it looks like you've been
having a few problems there, buddy. Maybe you ought to get
this thing straightened out and get it settled, you know, because
it doesn't look like to me you're doing too well. No. I'm telling
you, if the Lord didn't give me a new heart to realize, I'd
leave this world cursing God, just like Peter did. When that
woman said to him, she said, you're one of them that was following
him. And Peter cursed and he said, I need for the Lord to
do something for me that I cannot do for myself. Give me a heart
to cry out for mercy. Lord, save me or I'm gonna perish. I pray God bless this to our
hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. Okay, Gary. Take your handbills in closing
this morning. 359. 359. We'll sing all four verses. My faith looks up to Thee, Thou
Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine. Now hear me when I pray, Take
all my sin away, Oh, let me from this day be wholly Thine. May Thy rich grace impart strength
to my fainting heart. might feel inspired as thou hast
died for me. Oh, may my love to thee, pure,
warm, and changeless be a living fire. While life's dark maze
I tread, And griefs around me spread, Be Thou my guide. In darkness turn today, wipe
sorrow's tears away, nor let me ever stray from thee aside. ? When life, like strands, should
dream ? When death's cold, sullen stream ? Shall o'er me roll ?
Blessed Savior, then in love ? Fear and distrust remove Oh,
barely safe above a ransomed soul. Our Father, we are so thankful. Oh, for the comfort of your blessed
word. And Lord, that teaches us afresh
of our absolute need of salvation by the grace of God. Lord, we
admit, according to your word, there's nothing in us worthy
or capable of salvation. Lord, I pray that you would show
us afresh of yourself. And Lord, teach us afresh. We
need to be taught again. I pray now that you'd bless what
we've heard. I pray, Lord, that you'd bless
the food that you've provided. I pray that we would eat it with
the remembrance that all these things that's been given us from
above, for your glory and our good, we ask these things. Amen.