Turn with me to the book of Romans
chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. I'd like to speak on the subject
this morning as we're going through the book of Romans on this. How is the true faith in Christ
known? How do you know? The Apostle
Paul, in the first part of Romans 10, and we'll begin in a moment
on verse 5, the Lord willing, through 11, but Paul had for
his heart concerning his brethren after the flesh. That's what
he said. First one, brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. I would I would desire. I desire for the Lord to save
those in my family and. I know he's going to do right,
I know he's going to do what he purposes to do, I know that. I don't know if those in my family,
extended family, whatever, maybe some sitting here this
morning that don't know the Lord, I truly think I'm being honest
here. I pray God save every person
in this room, people in this community. I would desire that, but I must
admit that I must realize that God's going to do that which
God pleased to do. The thought of my family leaving
this world without Christ, that's the first thing I think about
when somebody... Somebody say, well, so-and-so
died. You know, this guy, you know, this woman, you know. They died. First thing I think
about was this. If that person left this world
with no obvious profession, confession of believing Christ according
to this Gospel, that's the first thing I think about, Fred. Paul witnessed that he bore them
record. He said, I'm telling you, they
have a zeal of God. They're diligent in their ways
of religion, but not according to knowledge that is a right
knowledge of God's mercy in Christ. He said, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness,
They wouldn't submit themselves to the righteousness of God. When hearing the gospel of free
grace, this is what they say either outwardly or in their
heart. I don't believe that. I don't
believe what you're preaching. For a man to be righteous before
God, God's going to have to make that man righteous in his sight,
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what verse 4 says.
Christ is the conclusion, the end of the law. It goes no farther in its demand
than Christ's fulfillment of it. Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes it. Not only has the Lord Jesus Christ
fulfilled the requirements of God's law, but the Spirit of
God has, by the means of the law's revelation of our sin and
the revelation of our need of Christ, the Spirit of God has
brought us to Christ, shown us our frailty and His all-sufficiency. He is all in all. Now, to understand the law's
requirement, verse 5 said, and we looked at this last week,
Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the
man which doeth those things shall live thereby. For man to
be declared righteous before God according To the law is that
that man must meet all the demands of the law, and I'll tell you
the reason I said one time before the reason that that's impossible. It's impossible. For a man. To be justified before God by
my ability to keep the law because the law demands two things. Number
one, it declares obedience. You know, now I'm going to tell
you something. If we're conceived in sin and
we come forth from our mother's womb, Brother Scott just said,
for a man to say that he's not a sinner, already you broke the
law of God, just in conception. We were conceived in rebellion
against God because our parents, like produces like. All right. That's one thing. But you know
what? The law also requires judgment. The soul of the sinner is going
to die. For me to fulfill the law of
God, I've got to die. Well, I don't have any hope.
I've got to be obedient and I've got to die. There's only one
that could do that. There's only one that could be
obedient to the law and pay the law's penalty, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Moses described the righteousness
which is of the law. That man that doeth these things
shall live by them, but by the deeds of the law shall no man
be justified. All right, the righteousness,
verse 6, which is of faith speaketh on this wise. We touched on this
last Wednesday night, but let's look at this. The righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart
who shall descend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down
from above, or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring
up Christ from the dead. This is the language of a believer. Say not the righteousness which
is of faith. You that believe, you believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ is all of your righteousness. Now
you believe that. You that believe God, you that
believe God's record of Christ, this is what you believe. When
you think of salvation, When you think of being right before
God, when you think of being right before God's law, when
you think of a standing before Almighty God that God Almighty
will say concerning you, no condemnation. Whenever you think of righteousness,
you don't think of a righteousness that you've produced. You don't
think like that. You do not think. The reason
that I am right before God is because I did so and so. You just don't think like that.
Righteousness which is of faith speaks like this, is what Paul
was saying. It says this, it does not say
in the heart. He doesn't think like this, is
what he says. Say not in your heart. When you say, you know,
don't say in your heart, what he's saying is don't think like
this. Who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down.
The language of a believer and a believer's thoughts is not
this. The Lord is in heaven. This is
the way a believer doesn't think. The Lord's in heaven and He's
done all that He can do and He's died for all of the sins of all
of the world and all I must do by my own free will and ability
to bring Him down to myself. He's up in heaven. Oh, I think
He's here too. I mean, you know, I know that
the Bible says that, you know, we're to a mortgage. But I know
that He's on His throne and He's ruling and reigning and so in
heaven what I do is I exercise my free right and I pray unto
Him and I say, Lord Jesus Christ, I believe in my heart. I give
You my heart and I accept You as my personal Savior. Come into
my heart and save me by Your grace. And because I have given
You my heart, therefore, He has now made Himself real to me and
now salvation is complete because I accepted Jesus and I brought
Him down. Believer doesn't speak like that. Righteousness, which is of faith,
speaks on this wise. Don't say this. And you don't. You don't. It doesn't say this either. Who
shall descend into the deep? That is, to bring Christ again
from the dead. Do you think? that when Christ
died, His death, do you think, now you say, I
don't believe He's still in the grave. No, you know He's not
in the grave because the scripture reveals that He was raised from
the dead. But what this is talking about is do you think that what
He did, that you make effectual, that His death for all the sins
that you make effectual, that you bring Him that by your power
that you've been, or do you think that even by your power that
you had the ability to raise him from the dead? You can look
at it in two lights. Do you think that his death was
effectual for you, or do you think that you even had the power?
If the Lord Jesus Christ had died for the sins of the whole
world, and there he was, do you think that you would even have
the ability to raise him from the dead? You're saying, now
wait a minute, now that, now that would be impossible. I might
be able to call him down, you know, by my free will, an unbeliever
says. But don't even think that you
even had the power to raise him from the dead. You say, no, that,
now that would be impossible. Yeah, that's right. That's exactly
right. And faith Doesn't speak like
that. Faith does not speak. This is
what the Apostle Paul is saying. Faith does not speak in ways
that are impossible. Can you bring Christ down from
above? Can you bring him down? Could
you raise him from the dead, Freddie? Could you do that? No. And I'll tell you this, you couldn't
save yourself either. does not speak like this. Don't
say in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven to bring him
down? Who shall descend into the deep to bring Christ again
from the dead? But what saith it? Verse 8. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. What does faith say? What does faith speak? How does it speak? How does the
truth express itself? What is the language of faith?
That's a good question. What's the language? The word
is nigh thee even in thy mouth. This is the way that the grace
of God is spoken of through a believer. This is the language of regeneration.
Let me say this. We don't go get Him and bring
Him down. Almighty God in Christ has brought Himself to us. Isaiah
46, 12 and 13, Harken unto me, ye stout-hearted that are far
from righteousness. I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off. And
my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel my glory." All men, until God by His Holy
Spirit calls His own out of spiritual darkness, they seek to perform
some miracle. that Almighty God has revealed
they cannot do. See, here's the blindness. There's
mystery babbling. Here's blindness. Men tell other
men. False preachers tell other men,
you can. God says, you can't. You're able. And the Lord says, you're impotent.
Men says, you have the ability. And Almighty God says, you're
dead. Men do not know until God calls them out of darkness and
gives them a new heart, and they believe. They then realize, I
must call. We call after He gives us a new
heart. Men seek to do something that
they think God is going to accept. No. Faith doesn't speak like
that. Faith doesn't express itself. What is the word of faith? Here
is the word of faith. Verse 9, If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Not that you raised Him, God
raised Him. God accepted Him. If you agree, if you shall confess
with your mouth. There's two things that's set
forth here. Now listen to this because I entitled this message. What did I entitle this? How
is the true faith in Christ known? How is it known? There's two
things that the Apostle Paul just said here. And here is the
basis, here's the foundation, here's how salvation is known. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth, that is, if you agree with, if you confess with your
mouth, if you don't deny, if you do not deny that He's sovereign,
If you don't deny that the Word was made flesh, that is, not
that He just came into this world, but that God sent Him the everlasting
surety before the foundation of the world, that God who had
made that everlasting covenant of grace with Christ and all
in Him, See, when you realize, you know when David said, ìThis
is all my salvation. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant.î Let me tell you who he made that covenant with me
in, the Lord Jesus. God Almighty made a covenant
with Himself and all in Him. When He made a covenant with
me, had He not made it with Christ, my The fulfillment of my righteousness. What's the basis of God's mercy? God's a just God. If you shall
confess with your mouth that the Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world as the eternal surety representative, the federal head
of His elect, His bride. If you profess openly and speak
freely to be a worshipper of Christ according to the Scripture. Now, let me tell you something.
You think about this. How many is this eliminating
quickly? You see what I'm saying? You
know, everybody says, well, I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus.
Do you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus according to the
Scriptures? Well, I believe in Jesus. Well,
the devils believe in Jesus. I believe that He is God's Son. They do too. If you shall confess the Lord
Jesus Christ, I am telling you that Paul is setting forth how
true faith is known. Number one, there is a confession
of the sovereignty of God. There is a confession of the
sovereignty of Almighty God. There is a confession that Christ
is God Almighty and that God Almighty has the right to choose
one and reject another. I'm telling you now, look, there's
two things. I'm just talking about the first
one. There's two things involved here. This is the first one,
that there's a confession of the Lord Jesus Christ by the
mouth, by an outward confession. There's a confession that says
that God is sovereign, that God's in the heavens, that God rules
and reigns, and God has chosen a bride and He's rejected all
that He chose to leave to themselves, that He's the Lord that laid
down His life for the bride. It confesses that. He's the Lord
that has everlastingly stood as the justifier and the redeemer
of God's sheep. In other words, do you confess
him to be sovereign in creation, providence, salvation? You confess him to be the one
who's not trying to do anything that he's done it. If I shall
confess with thy mouth. Now, like I said, how many do
you think were just eliminated? bunch. How many people don't
even acknowledge Him to be sovereign? They acknowledge Him as being
a God that wants to, but cannot unless you help Him. I'm telling
you, this is the expression, this is the revelation of true
faith, true saving faith. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the first one. That's
the first point. Here's the second one. And believe it. And believe it. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. You know, this second truth concerning
salvation is where you talk about sobering. It's sobering. You know, many in Scripture confessed. Turn over to Acts 8. Acts chapter
8. Let me show you something. Like
I said a minute ago, many believe I'm sorry, many confessed with
the mouth. Acts 8, 13. Many confessed with their mouth,
if I shall confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 8,
13. Then Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he
continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs
which were done. You say now here, there's a man
that believed. He said he did. You say, how
do you know he wasn't converted? Look at verse 18. When Simon
saw that through the laying on of the apostles hands, the Holy
Ghost was given, he offered them money. saying, Give me also this
power that on whomsoever I shall lay hands, he may receive the
Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased
with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot
in this matter, for thine heart is not right in the sight of
God. You know, Lydia in Acts 16 confessed
Scripture says she worshiped. But you know, we looked at that
word. It meant that she was religious. She confessed that she was a
believer in God. She confessed with her mouth.
But Almighty God was pleased through the Apostle Paul to open
her heart through the preaching of Paul. To open her heart and
she attended unto the words that were spoken by Paul. She confessed. The devils and that demoniac
of the Gadarenes, the devils that were inside of that demoniac,
they confessed with their mouth the Lord Jesus Christ. We know
who you are, thou Son of God, thou Jesus. Have you come to
torment us before our time? They knew who He was and confessed
If I shall confess, this is what I mean when I quote that statement
that Mr. Barnard said, a man may be as
straight as a gun barrel and just as empty. It is possible
to confess with the mouth five points of Calvinism. I believe that a man is depraved. I believe that God elects. I
believe that Christ died for the elect. I believe that God
irresistibly calls His own. I believe, you know, confess,
you know, perseverance of the saints. I believe in sovereign
grace. And I'll argue with you if you
say any other thing. But do you believe that? To believe
in thine heart takes a miracle of God's grace. A man can confess
the Lord Jesus Christ openly with his mouth. He wouldn't go
to another church if you beat him with a stick. But to believe
it, I can confess it with my mouth. But unless God gives me
a heart to believe it, I don't believe it. That new heart that loves the
truth that Christ came into this world to save His people. That when He died on that cross,
He truly died for me. Man, that takes a new heart for
me to believe that. That when He died 2,000 years ago plus
or minus, when He actually died, and accomplish what God Almighty
had known and seen before the foundation of the world, slain
from the foundation of the world. When He actually came, do you
really believe that when He died 2,000 years
ago with all that was going on, with all the hollering and cussing
swearing before Him and spitting on Him and just, you know, just,
you know, hatred and resentment, wagging their heads, you know,
He saved others. Can't even save Himself. Do you
truly believe when He was there with all of the blood and the
sweat and the spit and the cuts and the nails, do you truly believe
At that moment, that He truly had your name, had you on His
heart, that He was thinking, I'm dying for Glenn Shreve. That takes a new heart to believe
that. I can kind of, in my mind, kind
of think, well, He just kind of lumped us all together and
just said, well, my bride. Let me tell you something. He
said, I know my she. And I know them by name. I know
them. I know Scott, Neil, Mark. I know them. And I lay down my
life for them, for me to believe that God knew Marvin Stoniker,
that he had me on his heart, for me to believe it. That takes
a new heart. It takes a new nature. Believe
in your heart. To believe in His sacrifice and
His atonement, that He truly put away my guilt, and that God
truly accepted what He did for me and raised Him from the dead,
that takes a miracle. Nothing, nothing can be accomplished
less. But let me ask you this as I
begin to closed down today. I can talk about confession with
my mouth and the belief in my heart, but what is the evidence
of true belief? I think that's a good question.
I can say this. I can confess with my mouth and
know that the devils confessed with their mouth. I know Simon
Magus confessed with his mouth Peter told him, he said, I perceive
your heart's not right with God. Paul said, confess with your
mouth and believe in your heart. How do I know? How do I know? How do I know that I truly believe
Him? Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
1. First Thessalonians 1.4. First Thessalonians 1.4. We've
looked at this before. Let's look at it again. I think
we need to. I think to myself, I need to see this again. I need
to see this right now. I'm sitting here thinking to
myself, how do I know, Sandy? How do I know? I'm the preacher. Judas preached. and probably
preached pretty consistently. And he died without Christ. How
do I know? 1 Thessalonians 1, 4, Knowing,
brethren, beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not
unto you in word only. It wasn't just a word that you
confessed, but it came also in power. and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake." That's good, Paul. That's good. But
tell me something, Paul, how do I know? Look at the next verse.
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that
you were in samples or examples to all that believe in Macedonia
and Achaia. Turn over to Hebrews 11. Hebrews
11, 7. Hebrews 11, verse 7. God Almighty saw that the wickedness
of men in the earth was rampant. All men were rebels, but Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Hebrews 11 7 by faith,
Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet. He moved with fear. Prepared
an ark to the saving of his house by the witch, he condemned the
world and became heir of the righteousness, which is by faith.
He moved, that is, he acted reverently. He moved. God Almighty taught
him something and the Spirit of God revealed that this man
Noah was a man that found grace in the eyes of God. How did he
know it? He moved. He acted. James 2.20 says, But
wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
How do I know that I believe this Gospel? It's evidenced. It's evidence by a labor of love,
works of faith. Not that God's people are trying
to establish or maintain a right standing before God. But when
God Almighty does something for a man, he acts like a believer. He acts like a believer. It's
not just a hit and miss, maybe once in a while. He acts like
a believer. He moved with fear, moved out
of reverence. He followed Christ. What does that mean? Believed
Him. He evidenced. Back in Romans. The Scripture back in Romans
10, verse 10, for with the heart man believeth under righteousness
and believeth under righteousness with the heart, with the heart,
with the heart, man believeth. And how do you know he believes?
He responds. He follows after Christ, he governs
You know, and here again, please, you know this. You that believe
know what I'm saying here. He's not trying to do anything
for God. He just acts like a believer.
He governs everything that he does in light of what he thinks
in his heart is consistent before Christ. He does what he does in light
of consistency before Christ. What he does, not necessarily
what he always thinks, because I'm going to tell you something.
I know in me there dwells no good thing. And I'm tempted,
like anybody else, and you are too, to be inconsistent. But I'm telling you there's a
battle that goes on within a believer. There's a battle that goes on
within a believer. And you know who's going to win
out? You know who's going to win out? The Spirit of God that
rules in you. Oh, you'll sit there and argue
with yourself. I don't know. You try to just
openly and blatantly rebel against what you know is right. And I'm
telling you, you can't live with it. You tell me you can live with
it and it doesn't bother you. You say, what are you talking
about? I'm talking about whatever comes your way. I'm not thinking
of anything. I'm just thinking of me. I'm telling you, a man
that believes follows Christ. He follows after Him. He loves
and hungers for Him, thirsts for Him, seeks after Him, asks
after Him. Lord, help me, help me. Why? Because the Gospel didn't come
in just word only. It came in power and in much
assurance. How do you know a man believes?
He responds. He follows after Christ. With the heart, man believes. With the heart, man believes,
continually believes. With the mouth, confession is
made. Out of a man's heart, his mouth
is going to confess. I can tell you this, without
these two truths, without these two, there is no salvation. Anybody
can confess with their mouth. Anybody can say, I believe in
sovereign grace, but it takes a miracle of God to give a man
a heart that believes. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever is persuaded
by God, whosoever is given faith, shall not be disappointed before
him, by him." Men say, I don't want to be ashamed before
God. But Matthew 7.22 says, Many will say to me in that day, Lord,
we professed in your name and cast out devils in your name.
In your name, we've done many wonderful works, and then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye
that work iniquity. But, Scott, I agree with you.
For God Almighty, the thought of God passing me by. You know, the disciples were in the
boat with him. The disciples were in the boat,
and they saw the Lord Jesus walking on the water in the waves and
storms. And they saw Him. And it was
as if He would pass them by. And they realized, if He passes
me by, I'm gone. Gone, Jesse. That's what you
said. That's what you thought, wasn't it? I'm gone. If he passes me by and I'm out
here, this ship's going down and I'm going down with it. Lord,
don't pass me by. Yeah, but you say, yeah, but
see, I've already believed and I've already confessed with my
mouth and everything. I mean, I've already settled
that part of it. Let me tell you something. You
want to settle it again right now, don't you? Like old Owen in that song he
wrote, "'Tis a point I long to know." He's saying this, Lord,
if I've never believed truly before today, right now, Lord, this has just
been a game to me. If I've been blinded by mystery
Babylon, Lord, don't pass me by. A believer believes, believes,
believes, and believes in His heart and it's fresh every day.
Man, yesterday's gone. Tomorrow will never get here.
Today is the day of salvation. Right now. Let's have a word
of prayer. Our Father, how thankful we are
that You've given us one more time to hear the Gospel. And
Lord, one more time Contemplate the miracle of Your grace in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that You would teach
us, settle our hearts. Lord, may we have that much assurance
that You talk about. Teach us for Your name's sake. Forgive us, we pray, where we
failed You, because You never fail. for Christ's sake. Amen.