I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Mark, chapter
16. Mark, chapter 16. I'd like to read two verses of
Scripture, verse 15-16. And I've entitled this message, What
Does It Mean to Believe? Or I could have entitled it,
What Are the Evidences of Belief? But I want to deal with believing. Mark chapter 16. Verse 15, And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Now, I've thought a lot about this
scripture that we're going to try to deal with this morning. And I would say that, without a doubt, this probably
is the most sobering, serious subject that we'll ever deal
with. The subject that I want to deal
with is the belief or the non-belief of the gospel. These words were some of the
last words of our Lord before He ascended into heaven. He has risen from the dead. He had made himself known to
some. He talked to Mary Magdalene.
He talked to some others. And they had gone. You can read
this. It's in the middle part of chapter 16. For the sake of
time, I tell you, you can go back and read it. But he had
made himself known to some after his resurrection. They had gone
and told others, we've seen the Lord. And they didn't believe him.
They didn't believe the report. The scripture says in verse 14
of chapter 16, He was risen. But having corrected
the eleven and told them of their unbelief, He mercifully gives
them some instruction. These are the last words. These
are the last words. These are the words you hang
on to. These words from the mouth of
our Lord, he's leaving very quickly. The last part of that, he was
ascended up. But the last words that these
apostles heard him say is what he said, Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. You preach to everybody. He that believeth the gospel
that you're preaching and is baptized, that's what he said,
shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned. He's speaking of the issue of
belief and unbelief. And this issue is going to come
up again in the last day. This issue is going to come up. Our Lord is setting forth the
importance, the necessity, the absolute necessity of believing
the gospel for life eternal. His Word of believing or rejecting
the gospel is the issue of life and death. He that believeth
the gospel is going to be saved. He that doesn't believe the gospel
is going to be damned. Well, I began to think on that
and I thought to myself, This being the issue, and I'm telling
you, we can just, you can chunk every other issue. I'm talking
about every, this time of year, you know, we all want to be good
and we want to help people. We want to be, you know, I'm
going to go in the soup kitchen. That's wonderful. I'm glad. I
hope you're able to do all you can. But I'm going to tell you
what the issue is. The issue is the belief or the
non-belief of the gospel. Well, if that's the issue, then
in my mind, it's what I thought. Okay, now, wait a minute. Tell
me one more time what the gospel is. If the issue is the gospel,
if the issue is the belief or the non-belief of the gospel, Lord, teach me afresh this morning
what the gospel is, because if this is the issue, if this is
the gospel, the message, I must believe. I want to make sure,
Jeff, I know what it is. May the Holy Spirit be pleased
to just throw out, cause us to not muse upon tradition or something. I've heard this before. This
is what mama told me. Daddy, I've always heard this.
What does God have to say? And I pray that when we leave
this morning, and we're not going to be here
long, but when we leave this morning, I pray that by the power
and mercy and grace of God that I can be truthful. I have been assigned the responsibility
to watch for your souls. I'm going to have to give account.
I give account to myself, I give account to you, but I've got
to give account to God Almighty. And by the grace of God, I'm
going to tell you the truth. What is the gospel? is associated with the belief
of the gospel. This is going to be when the
books are opened. When the book is opened. Whenever
man, every woman is judged out of the books, if their name is not found written
in the book himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, And every man,
every woman is going to give account. They're going to answer
for every thought, every deed, everything that did not measure
according to God's holiness. They're going to give account
for it. The gospel. The good tidings. Let me tell you what the gospel
is. And now I'm going to tell you
what's associated with it. The gospel is the proclamation. Now, let me be clear. I'm not
offering you anything. I'm not offering you something
to, you know, say, well, now I'm going to offer this to you,
and it's up to you to either accept it or reject it according
to your free will. We don't have free wills. Okay? We're dead. Born in Adam, dead,
spiritually dead. The gospel is the proclamation
of pardon, of forgiveness, of mercy, of peace before God in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our peace. It's a proclamation. I'm going
to tell you, I'm going to declare unto you the gospel. This is
God's message, God's gospel. When the gospel is preached,
the fiber, the essence, the savor of three things will always be
heard. I'm not going to tell you anything
this morning. I hadn't told you before. But I'm going to tell
you something. For all of us, it's safe. It's
safe that we hear it again. It's safe. It's confirming. The fiber of the gospel is going
to be heard, or the gospel, the fiber of these three things is
going to be heard every time the gospel is preached. And you
listen. If you don't hear the essence of these things, I may
not use the exact same words every time I say it, but this
is what you're going to hear. You're going to hear that man
is ruined in the fall, that man is totally incapable, unable,
Man born in Adam is dead. Man can do nothing. He can do
nothing. You're going to hear man's ruin. You're going to hear that the
Lord Jesus Christ redeemed, paid the debt of, satisfied God, satisfied
God's law. Every one that God Almighty in
electing grace gave him from before the foundation of the
world, Christ redeemed every one of them. And you're going
to hear thirdly that the Spirit of God is surely going to call
them out of darkness. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. You're going to hear that man's
dead and can do nothing, and that salvation is all of the
Lord, all of grace, that God saves whom He will, when He will. The gospel. There's four things associated
concerning the gospel, belief of the gospel. Four things. knowledge
of who Christ is. Number two, it takes a new heart,
a new will, a new mind to believe it. Number three, obedience is
always associated with belief. Obedience, faithfulness is always
there. Number four, perseverance in
the faith. Number one, belief. Knowledge. Belief of the gospel
is based, belief of the gospel is based, is founded upon a knowledge
of who Christ is. The Lord commissioned his disciples
in our text. He said, you go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. Now, get your
Bible ready, because I want you to turn with me. Romans 1. Romans 1. This morning, if I take five
more minutes, that's okay, because we've got just a little bit of
time, but eternity is a long time. Romans 1. Now listen to me, the gospel.
When somebody hears the gospel, that word is so prevalent, it's
used, everybody, you know, we preach the gospel. I asked somebody
one time, they said, yeah, we preach the gospel. I said, now
you preach the gospel. Yes, we do. I said, tell me what
it is. And look, the gospel. Romans 1-1, Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel
of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the
holy scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. When you hear the gospel, let
me tell you what you're going to hear. Every time, every time,
every time, you will hear of the glory of God set forth in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to hear
of God's Christ, God's Messiah that came into this world to
do one thing, to save God's elect. No one believes that hasn't heard
the gospel of God's free, sovereign grace. No one has ever been converted. You say, I was converted under
free will. I mean, I was saved under free
will, Arminian doctrine, where the gospel, you know, they said
the gospel was offered to me, and I accepted it. You know,
and I exercise my free will. But later in life, I've come
to see that, well, maybe the doctrines of grace has got something
to do with it. But I was saved back then. No,
you weren't. No, you weren't. You were not
converted under a lie. Paul said in Romans 1, 17, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God
on salvation. When you hear the gospel, when
you believe the gospel, it's based upon something. It's based
upon a knowledge of who Christ is. When you hear the gospel,
you're going to hear that the Father purposed salvation. He purposed to save everyone
that he chose to save. And he chose them in Christ.
He put them where they were secure, eternally secure. And he did
it. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2. He did it before the foundation
of the world. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 13 and 14. 2 Thessalonians
2, 13, 14. We're bound to give thanks all
way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel. to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you hear the gospel, if
a man or woman believes the gospel, it's going to be based upon what
God has said concerning His will, His purpose, His election, His
predestinating grace, having chosen His elect in Christ. and sent His Christ into this
world to seek and to save that which was lost, His people. The Lord said, I lay down my
life for the sheep. All that the Father giveth me
should come to me. This is the Father's will. Of
all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing. Raise it up, the
last day. True belief is based upon the
knowledge of God's purpose in Christ. And true belief receives,
believes that message of God's electing grace in Christ. True
belief does and knows that without election in Christ, true belief
knows without God's election. Turn to Romans 9. Without election,
apart from election, there is no salvation. True belief believes
God's electing grace. It believes it. What is it to
truly believe? It's to believe God Almighty
has chosen a people, elected a people. In Christ, I don't
want to make one statement today that I'm not going to back up.
That's why I want you to look at these scriptures. I don't want
to quote them to you, because when I quote them, you know, you're like me. I might be hearing scripture
read and my mind just, you know. Look at this, Romans 9, 10 to
16. Romans 9, 10 to 16. And not only
this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our
father Isaac, for the children, being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to
election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Well, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Because God has chosen to show mercy to one and to leave
another. Is there unrighteousness? God
forbid! For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, I'll have compassion on
whom I'll have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth. Man's got a free will. God said it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy
for the Scripture. saith unto Pharaoh, even for
this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my
power in thee, that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth." Look at verse 29, Romans 9, 29. As Isaiah said before,
except the Lord of Siboeth, the Lord of the host, had left us
a seed, a remnant, an election, A seed. We had been as Sodom
had been like under Gomorrah. If God hadn't elected a people,
we'd all be gone. Somebody say, well, I'll tell
you what, that election stuff, you know, a believer, a believer
believes God's election. When does a man truly believe?
Based on knowledge. Knowledge of who God is. who
God says He is. Secondly, the gospel declares that the
Son procured or paid the debt of God's demand for salvation
by redeeming everyone that the Father purposed to save. Look
at John 17. Here, I've quoted these scriptures
so many times. John 17, that's okay, that's
okay. God's Word endures forever. God's
Word's alive. John 17, listen to the words
of our Lord. What does the Lord have to say?
Somebody tell you, say, well, I just don't believe in election.
You say, well, if God ever saves you, if the Lord ever gives you
a heart, you will. John 17, 1-4, these words speak
Jesus, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hours come glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal. that
they might know Thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which
Thou gavest me to do." At the cross, John 19. At the cross. 19 verse 28 to 30. After this, Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, saith I thirst. And there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon
hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, It is finished. He bowed his head, and he gave
up the ghost. He finished redemption. When
the gospel is set forth, you're going to hear that the Lord Jesus
Christ did not die to make salvation possible to whoever might receive
it, you know, according to their good will. That's not the gospel.
If you hear somebody say that, don't ever listen to them again.
They're a false prophet. They're a false prophet. Christ laid down his life for
the sheep. and finished the work that the
Father gave Him to do. He will not fail. And when you hear the Gospel,
you're going to hear that God Almighty who purposed, God Almighty
who redeemed, finishes the work. The Holy Spirit powerfully applies
the purpose of the Father to save all that the Son's redemption
procured. The Spirit of God, John 6, turn
to John 6, the Spirit of God is going to call out God's sheep. They're going to come. In heaven, every seat is going
to be filled. No vacancies. No vacancies. John 6, 35-39. And Jesus said
unto them, John 6, 35, said unto them, I am the bread of life,
he that cometh to me. I'm going to stop just a second. I want you to notice and listen
to His words. Not he that comes to the front.
Not he that goes to the baptismal pool. Not he that goes to his
free will. Not he that goes to church membership. He that cometh to me. shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also have seen me,
and believe not. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."
What he meant by this, my will is not separated from the Father's
will. It's not just me. I came down to do the one who
sent me, the will of Him. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."
Let me ask you something. Does the Lord Jesus Christ set
forth that salvation is according to God's purpose, God's will,
that God gave him a people? I'm telling you, now listen,
what is it to truly believe? When does a man believe? Grace and power of God quickens
God's people, calls them out of darkness, gives them a new
heart, reveals the truth to them. And they believe it because God
Almighty has taught them, I'll give you a new heart, new will. That's what Ezekiel 36 says.
I'm going to give you a new heart, a new will, and regeneration. There's a new
man that's imparted that wasn't there before. There's a new will,
a new mind. When does a man believe? When
he hears the gospel. When the Holy Spirit quickens
him to life. And thirdly, belief of the gospel is evidenced by
obedience to God's Word. Now, I want you to turn back
to John, Mark, Mark 16, our passage. Mark 16. Look at verse 16. Mark 16, 16.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. But he that believeth not shall
be damned." Now I've got a question for you. Because I'm going to
deal with this. I'm going to deal with this.
And you that believe want me to. You want me to deal with
this. You're sitting there and you're
thinking, okay, I need to hear what this is saying. Because
I know something that it's not saying. And you tell me what
it is. Tell me what it's saying. I want to hear it again myself. Let me ask you this question. Is salvation a mixture of God's
grace and my work? No. You know better than that. Is salvation a mixture of God
wanting to show mercy and waiting on me to do something to make
it effectual? No. I'm going to prove it to
you. Does my response make salvation
effectual? Or does my response evidence
obedience? I'm telling you, you remember
now, these are the last words of our Lord. And He's getting
ready to ascend into heaven. These are the words He left His
apostles. I want you to Realize something. Never get away. Turn to Titus
3. Titus 3. I'm going to show you. My question
was, is salvation, is true belief a mixture? Is it a combination
of God's offer and my acceptance? Does my acceptance make salvation
to be effectual? Titus 3, verse 5 to 7. Titus 3, 5-7. Now listen, verse
5, Titus 3, "...not by works of righteousness which we have
done." Now listen, let me tell you something. Being baptized would be a work. That's something that, you know,
you could say. "...not by works of righteousness which we have
done." But according to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being
justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. I know something. I know for
a fact that salvation—turn to Romans 11. Romans 11, verses
5 to 8. Now, our Lord had told his apostles
back in Mark 16, 16. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. And my question was this. Is
salvation a combination of grace and works? God forbid. For by
grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it
is the gift of God. Look at Romans 11, verse 5 to
8. Even so, then, at this present
time, also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. And if by grace, then is it no more works, Otherwise
grace is no more grace, but if it be of works, then is it no
more of grace? Otherwise work is no more work.
What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded according as it is written. God hath given
them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and
ears that they should not hear unto this day." Let me tell you
what I know for a fact. that salvation is not accomplished
by man's work. Salvation is not accomplished. The Scriptures bear that out. Not by works of righteousness. If there is one thing that you're
depending on that you did to make salvation effectual, You're
basing your salvation on your works, and I'm telling you, you're
wrong. Salvation is all of grace. All of grace. All right? And turn over to 1
Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. I'm going to show
you something here. 1 Peter 3. But when our Lord said, 1 Peter
3, verse 18 is where I'm going to be. But you remember now the
words of our Lord. I'm reading you exactly what
He said. The words of our Lord says, He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. And I know, based on God's Word,
that my works of righteousness avail No salvation. Well then,
what was he saying? Obviously, these last words,
he was saying something. I want you to look at 1 Peter
3, 18-22, and you just stay with me. And I tell you what I would
advise. When I preach something, you
do this. If you want a set of my notes,
you can have a set of my notes with all the references. I'd
get me a Strong's Concordance, and you go back and look up what
I'm about to tell you. Because I'm telling you, what
we just read back in Mark 16, there's a lot of people that's
basing their eternal soul on getting in the water. And saying that water is what
has saved them. And that soul damage Because
the Scripture says, not by works of righteousness that we've done.
But we're going to have to deal with these words of our Lord.
He said, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But I want you to notice one
thing before I get into 1 Peter for just a minute. And I'm going
to be, you know, I want to be plain. Did you know that he did
not say toward the end of that verse, but he that believeth
not and is not baptized? He didn't say that. What was
he saying? Listen to Peter, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit. 1 Peter 3, verse 18. 18 to 22, For Christ also has
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit, by which, By which? By the Spirit. He just be quickened
by the Spirit, colon. By which? By the Holy Spirit,
he's talking about. Also, he went. Who did? Christ did. And preached unto
the spirits in prison. How did he do that? He did it
through Noah. But who was Noah preaching? In whose name? Paul
said, we beseech you in Christ's name. We're ambassadors. John
the Baptist said, I'm just a voice. Who's preaching? Whose word is
this? "...by the witch also he went
and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were
disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of
Noah while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few," that is, 8 souls,
"...were saved by water." The like figure? whereunto even baptism
doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of
the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Okay, what did Peter
just say? By which? As far as verse 18,
I think we Pretty well can understand that. For Christ also has suffered,
once suffered for sins, by one sacrifice. The just for the unjust,
that He might bring us to God. Who? God's elect. All that the
Father gave Him. That's who He's going to bring
to God. All that the Father has given me. All that were chosen
in Him for the foundation of the world. That He might bring
us to God. Being put to death in the flesh, He died. made in the likeness of sinful
flesh, he without sin, but made sin, Scripture says, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him, but quickened
by the Spirit, by which, verse 19, by the Spirit also he went
and preached unto the spirits in prison. Now let me tell you
what that means. I've heard men say that the Lord
went and he went into hell, somewhere and preached some of that. Let
me tell you what he just said, by which also he went and preached
unto the spirits that are in hell right now, that are in the
prison of hell now. Not that he went into hell and
preached those that were in hell. Why would he have gone to hell
to preach those that were already in hell? Noah preached was the
voice of, the Spirit of God. And he preached to a people. The Scriptures sets forth in
verse 20, which sometime were disobedient. When? When they heard Noah preach. And for a hundred and twenty
years, Noah built an ark And while Noah was preaching, the long-suffering of God waited
in the days of Noah. While the ark was preparing,
while Noah was building that ark, God was saying, judgment's
coming. Judgment is coming. Here's an
ark. It had never rained. It had never
rained before then, what Scripture says. It was just a mist. Noah preached for 120 years,
warning, preaching, warning. And at the appointed time, when
God Almighty says, it's over, Noah, get in the boat. Get in
the ark. Noah, his wife, his three boys,
their wives, and all those animals got in it. We're in few, verse
20, latter part, we're in few. That is, eight souls were saved
by water. Eight souls. Their salvation in the midst of that water, in
the midst of God's judgment upon mankind, was showing God's mercy. But let me ask you this. Was
it the water that saved them? Or was it the God of all grace
that saved them in the midst of the judgment? Who saved them? God saved them. You know that.
Salvation is of the Lord. They were saved by the water.
The very water that was poured out in judgment upon the world. And on that ark, that ark was
a picture of Christ. And all in that ark is a picture,
is a type of those chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. This is a picture I'm going to
show you. I'm going to prove this to you in this next verse. I'm going to prove it. But all
that were in that ark, is a picture of God's electing grace. You
know that. You've heard that. You've been
taught that years and years and years. And all that was in there,
and the wrath of God, pictured in the water, came up out of
the earth, and the earth just opened up, and water came out
of it, and water came down. And the same water that drowned everybody outside
the ark, the same water lifted up. That ark. Same water. People were scrambling around,
no doubt, trying to climb every tree they could, every mountain
they could, as far as they could, but when they couldn't go any
farther, that water just kept going higher and higher, and
the water itself, the wrath of God spewed out upon that ark,
and those in the ark, and the ark bearing the brunt, Christ
upon that cross, bore the wrath of God. And in the midst of God's
wrath and judgment upon the earth, the water, being in the ark, Noah and his
family and those animals were safe. Now, let me show you something. I told you that was a picture.
I told you that was a type. That wasn't just history. That
wasn't just a historical. It was historical, yes. But remember
when the Lord told the Pharisees, you search the Scriptures and
in them you think you have eternal life. They are they that testify
of me. If you don't see Christ in the Ark, you've missed it. You've missed the type, the picture. You've missed the message of
it. It wasn't just historical. It was God Almighty saving His
elect in that Ark. Now, knowing that it was a picture,
a type, a shadow of salvation by God's grace. Look in verse
21. The like figure. The like figure. I went and looked
up that word like, just so I'd know. Because I knew I was going
to have to deal with it. The like figure, this is what
it means when it says the like figure, corresponding, or resemblance,
or the impression made. The like figure. When he says
in verse 21, the like figure, he just said what I just said
in verse 20 was a figure also. Because I'm going to tell you
something that is in agreement with what I just said. that what
happened when that water lifted up that boat, and Noah and all
of them were in it, were secure by God's grace and God's power,
he said, I'm going to give you another like figure. The like figure whereunto even
baptism doth also now save us. And the Spirit of God moved on
Peter to write this. Not the putting away of the depravity. You see that word, filth? It
means depravity. Not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh. But it's an answer. It's an answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What Peter was
saying is this. He said, when I said, This picture
that I'm about to tell you about, baptism, when a man or woman
believes Christ, they're baptized. Why? Well, number one, obedience. Obedience. Baptism is a confession
of our faith in Christ. It's a confession. The water
does not say, that's what Peter just said, Baptism now does save
us, not the putting away. He said baptism, the one that
we're confessing in baptism. He said it's a picture, it's
a type. When a believer is baptized, he's not putting his faith in
water. Water didn't die for you. Water
didn't put away your guilt. That's what Peter just said.
Not the putting away of the depravity of the flesh, of the old nature.
This is an answer. Baptism is an answer of a good
conscience. This is what he's saying. He
said, baptism is a like figure. It's a like resemblance to what
I just talked about. That Almighty God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who came into this world, He lived for me and died for
me and was raised for me, and I'm confessing Him in baptism,
not putting my faith in water. I'm putting my faith in Him.
That's what the Lord said, He that cometh to me. He didn't
say, He that cometh to the baptismal pool. He that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. So when Peter says, I'm, it's
a light figure. Whereunto even baptism doth also
now save us, the one that I am confessing." He said, I'm qualifying
what I'm telling you because I'm telling you that water does
not put away the depravity of the old nature. Water doesn't save. The one that baptism represents is who
saves. Baptism is a confession, the
answer of a good conscience toward God. I hope I made that plain.
And then lastly, and I'll be real fast on this one, true belief
is always evidenced by perseverance. Have I truly believed? Belief
is based on a knowledge of who God is, who Christ is. Knowledge. Faith is a commitment to that. I believe it. Faith is obedient. If the Lord has saved you, I'm
going to give you a good word of advice. Confess the Lord in
baptism. Well, I just don't think it's
that necessary. Yes, it is. You say, well, the
thief on the cross wasn't baptized. I understand that, and he was
saved. Baptism doesn't save, but I'm telling you, it's a confession
of our faith. Abraham wasn't baptized either.
Neither was any of the prophets. There's no record that any of
them were ever baptized. None of them. But I'm telling
you, baptism confesses that Jesus Christ, that Jesus of Nazareth,
I believe that God Almighty sent Him. You're the Christ. It is
an answer of a good conscience toward God. Belief, lastly, is
always evidenced by perseverance. Matthew 24. Matthew 24. Verse 11 to 13, Matthew 24. Matthew 24, 11. And many false
prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. But because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall
endure unto the end. Lord, what do you mean? He that
shall endure to the end, he that endures, believe in the gospel,
the gospel of God's free sovereign grace, electing, predestinating,
redeeming, quickening grace. He that endures to the end, putting
no confidence in himself, he that endures to the end, the
same shall be saved. I know this. Look at 1 Peter
1.5. I've got just a couple of verses
left here and I'll be done. 1 Peter 1.5. I know this. Endurance to the end is a work
accomplished by God's power alone. Endurance to the end. If my endurance
is based on my ability to keep myself I'm telling you, Alan,
I'm gone. I don't have any hope. I have
none. If my endurance is based on me, I can't even get through one
prayer with any kind of consistency.
1 Peter 1, 5, who are kept. Now let's just
read 3, 4, 5. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, from the dead to an inheritance that's incorruptible, undefiled, fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this keeping power, I'll tell
you this, there is a will to endure. I want to. I want to. But my friend, God's going to
have to keep me because I want to be faithful, but I'm telling
you, the presence of sin, I am a frail, wretched creature. You say, boy, that's kind of
hard on yourself. I'm just quoting Paul. O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" You remember all that group that
left the Lord? He was preaching to them and
he said this, he said, no man can come except if we're given
unto him of my Father. That's my Father drawing. They
said, oh, oh, oh, oh. You're talking about sovereignty
and sovereign grace. Now wait a minute, that's a hard
saying. And they left. The Lord turned
to his apostles, will you go away also? And Peter said, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. My friend, salvation, belief, is based upon God's knowledge. a knowledge of who God is. It
takes a new heart and a new will to believe it, because man's
not born with faith. Faith is a gift of God. Everybody
says, well, everybody's got a little good in them. That's not what
God said. There's none good, not one. The Spirit of God is
going to teach a man who God is, who Christ is, who He is.
It's going to give him a new heart. And I'm going to tell
you something. That sinner regenerated by the
grace of God is going to follow Christ. He's going to obey. And
he's going to stay. But God's going to keep him.
God's going to keep him. They're kept by the power of
God. What is it to believe? Lord bless these words to our
heart.