All right, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16. And verse 31 will be our text. Verse 31 will be our text. The title of the message this
morning is The Object, the Source, and the Result of Faith. Faith. Acts chapter 16 and verse 31,
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved, and thy house. Now we know that this message
here that was preached by the Apostle Paul was to the Philippian
jailer. Remember that Paul was taken
by the magistrates and beaten, him and Silas, and put into prison
for preaching the gospel, for delivering that woman who was
possessed with the devils. And her owners were upset because
they had lost their gain and the magistrates threw them in
prison and gave charge to this man, the jailer, the Philippian
jailer, that he should bind them and keep them safe. So he threw
them in the lowest part of the dungeon and that night Paul and
Silas prayed. They prayed And God sent and
caused the ground to shake and the cell doors were open. And this man, when he came out
of his sleep, he saw that all the doors were open and would
have killed himself. He took his sword and was about
to fall on his own sword because that was going to be a sentence
of death if he allowed them to escape. And Paul said, do thyself
no harm. We're here. No one's escaped. That's a miracle in itself, isn't
it? Prison doors open and no prisoners leave. That's a miracle. And this man comes to Paul and
Silas and he bows himself and he says this, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? And then Paul gives that message.
He says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. Here is the call of the gospel
this morning to sinners. This call of the gospel is to
the vile, to the unrighteous, to the unworthy rebel. This man,
this Philippian jailer, when he was about to face death, he
was staring death, and he knew his unrighteousness. And so when Paul and Silas called
him, he ran in and said this, what must I do to be saved? This man knew something. He knew
he must be saved. This man knew something about
sin. I'll tell you, nobody will ever
desire to be saved unless they know something about their sin.
They won't ever want it. They won't ever need it. But
I'll tell you, somebody who knows something about sin, knows something
about their nature will come and desire to hear a message
about salvation. Now every word of this sentence,
every word of this message Paul said to this Philippian jailer
is so plain and simple that everybody here can understand it. Listen,
listen very carefully to the message that Paul gave to this
man who stared death in the face and desired to be saved. He said
this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. These are very simple and plain
words. The gospel message that we preach
is by its very definition good news. Isn't that what the gospel
means? Gospel. It means by definition
good news. So that we who preach the gospel,
we are what are called heralders, criers. Back in the time of the
apostle The way that they got the law out, if the Senate passed
a law, they would hire a man with a strong voice. They didn't
have internet. They couldn't put it on the web.
They couldn't, they couldn't, if they'd sent it out by mail,
that's not even, there was not even a mail system that was really
good back then. So what they did is they hired
a man, gave him the authority to read that law in the middle
of the town. He was called a heralder. That's
what preachers are. We are a heralder. We have the
message. The message of God. And all we
are to do is to declare it. That's it. We don't add to it. We don't take from it. We simply
declare it to you. And listen, the message that
I'm declaring is a message of good news. Good news. We cried like the angels cried
at the birth of the Lord Jesus. They said what? Fear not. Those angels came down and the
shepherds quaked and they said, fear not, we bring unto you good
tidings, good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people
for unto you this day in the city of David," listen, a Savior. I'll tell you what, if anybody
desires to be saved, then you would desire to know about a
Savior, a Savior. which is Christ the Lord. Here,
my friends, is the object, the sum, and the source of all good
tidings of great joy, Jesus Christ. He is the sum of it all. He's
the sum and substance and object of our message. Behold, He who
was from eternity, equal with the Father and the Spirit, the
eternal Son of God. That's who we declare. This is
by whom we are given authority. I have my authority this morning
because the King of heaven has given it to me. He's given me the authority to
declare His Word to you. That's all I'm to do. This is
the one who gave me authority. Look at John chapter 1. Look
at John chapter 1. This is the sum and substance
of all my message, all the message of every gospel preacher. In
the beginning was the Word. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. The Son of God was the elect
of the Father who should be the Savior, the Savior of His elect people. The Father
says of the Son of God in Isaiah 42, He said, Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. Well, let me pose this question
to you. How is it that the Son of God
should become the servant of God? He who is God, equal with
the Father and Spirit, how is it that he should be made the
servant of God? And why is it that God the Son
should be made a servant of God? How is it that he was made a
servant? Because he willingly became a
man. Our gospel is about a man. The God-man. The Word, John says
in verse 14, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. This was always the purpose of
God, that the Son should be born of the seed of the woman, that
a body should be prepared for Him, and this was His Word. This was the Word of the Son,
the Savior. Lo, I come. In the volume of
the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. This is why the Son of God came
into the world, to do the will of God. He said, Sacrifice and offering
and burnt offering for sin, thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure
in those that were offered by the law. Therefore, I declare
unto you that God has no pleasure in your sacrifices. If God had no pleasure in the
sacrifices that he ordained, how do you suppose he would have
any pleasure in your sacrifices, in your offerings? God has no pleasure in the sacrifice
of man's offerings, nor does God have any pleasure in the
failed obedience of man. Therefore God prepared a body
for His Son, so that He should do what we could not do. You and I could not offer a sacrifice
to God acceptable. We could not obtain righteousness
by our own merits. Therefore he prepared a body
for the Son, so that he should do the will of God and offer
his body for the sins of his people. Hebrews chapter 10 verse
10, by the witch will, by the will of the Father, by the will
of God, Jesus Christ was sent and gladly obeyed the law as
a man so as to satisfy God in the stead of his people. This
is the gospel message that a Savior has come. This is a message of
good news. A Savior has come. And you know
who has interest in this? Those who need to be saved. Those
who need salvation. This is a message of great interest. Don't you think that that Philippian
jailer was glad to hear this message? What must I do to be
saved? Wouldn't it have been horrible
if Paul said, nah, there ain't nothing you can do. That would
have been horrible. You might as well go on and stab
yourself. There ain't nothing you can do. Go ahead and kill
yourself. No! He had a message of good news. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Today I declare unto you boldly
that the good news of God is Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ
the Savior has been made flesh to fulfill the law in perfect,
sinless, and flawless obedience. and according to the will of
God he offered himself as a high priest he offered himself a sacrifice
You know those high priests, they would take those lambs,
and they would slit their throats, and the blood would pour out,
and they would put these animals onto the altar, and they would
set them on fire. They would burn them as a sacrifice
to God. Jesus Christ is the high priest,
and the sacrifice was not a lamb, it was Himself. He offered Himself
to God as a sacrifice. as a high priest. Why would he
do such a thing? Because God was not willing to
charge his people with their sins. God was not willing. He said,
I will not charge my people with their sins. Therefore, To execute justice
and judgment, God took the sins of His people and charged them
to His only begotten and beloved Son. He, God, hath made Him,
Christ, to be sin for us. He who knew no sin that we should be made the righteousness
of God in Him. There's the salvation of God
in Him. You remember the song, stricken,
smitten, and afflicted, see Him dying on the tree. Tis Christ
by man rejected, yes my soul, tis He, tis He. Tis the long-expected
prophet, David's son and David's Lord. By his son God has spoken,
tis the true and faithful word. Many hands were raised to wound
him. None would interpose to save.
But the deepest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice
gave. It was God imputing the sins
of His people to His Son. And His Son endured the wrath
and justice of God for their sins. Behold now the Lamb of God lifted
up, who died under the justice of God for the sins of His people, And listen, He has, He has by
His one offering redeemed them forever. Redeemed them. What does it mean to be redeemed?
The name of our church is Redeemer Baptist, isn't it? Redeemer.
Most people don't even know what that word means anymore. Redeemed. It means to buy back. We were sold under sin, in chain
to sin, and He paid the price that justice demanded and redeemed
us from the curse of the law. How? By being made a curse. By
being made a curse. The Lamb of God redeemed us from
the justice of God, and therefore when He died, He did not die
as a defeated man. I'll tell you, the world looks
at the cross and they see a defeated man. But He was in no wise defeated. I was listening to someone describe
to me the physical things that happen to a man who is crucified. you consider what the Lord was
doing and saying on the cross and I tell you it was a miracle
it was a it could only be God on that cross because a man none
of us could have with withstood that kind of physical uh... torture none of us could have and yet how did he end his life
the scripture says he cried with a loud voice He was no victim. He was a triumphant king. He said, it is finished. The work is done. I have redeemed
my people forever from their sins and iniquities. I have brought
in everlasting righteousness for every one of my people. Every one the Father gave me.
I have finished the work, what he says in John 17, that thou
hast given me to do. And that work of the Savior,
that work was to be the Savior of all of the elect of the Father
by His obedience and death and redemption. Isn't that what the
Scripture says at His birth? When they said His name, He said,
Thou shalt call His name Jesus. Why would you, why would He,
why was He called Jesus? Because that means Jehovah saves. You shall call His name Jesus,
for He shall. He will save His people from
their sins. It's not a matter of if. This
was not a matter of for debate or discussion. He will do it. He will. John 6 in verse 39 Jesus said
this is the will of the Father which has sent me that of all
he hath given me I should lose not one of them not one of them
but raised them up at the last day and God is not willing that
any of should question the success and accomplishment of his son's
sacrifice, God raised him from the dead. That's why the resurrection
was seen. Christ could have been very successful
and nobody ever seen the resurrection. Lord could have just taken his
body out of that tomb, there would have been an empty tomb,
and everybody could have supposed he rose from the dead. No! God
said, I will not have you question the success of my Savior. I'm
going to raise him from the dead, and I'm going to show you to
him. He is going to appear to you
in the flesh, and he did. Our Lord Jesus Christ appeared
to all of the apostles, those 120 men in the upper room, and
Paul says above 500 brethren seen him alive. God's always kept himself a witness. They witnessed the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and John on the Isle of Patmos wrote
a whole book based on it. He saw the risen Lord Jesus Christ,
and the Lord Jesus Christ gave him the book of Revelation. Now
that I declared unto you the Savior, Jesus Christ, He is the
only God-man mediator, the servant of God who has not failed, but
redeemed all of his elect, and is now risen and ascended to
the right hand of God. And Jesus has sent His Holy Spirit
even now to reveal Himself by the preaching of His gospel. This is why we preach. We preach
because this is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth. This is the means that God has
chosen to save and to feed and to edify his people. Preaching. Now let me ask you this. Who
do you think believes that preaching is foolishness? Who believes
preaching is foolishness? The lost. Did you hear that? The lost. I don't care how much
people jump up and down and profess their faith in Christ, if they
think this is foolishness, Paul said they're perishing. You read
in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul said they that perish believe
the foolish, preaching is foolishness. This is how God conveys the message
of His good news through His preachers, by His Holy Spirit. Now then, listen, I can make
everything as plain as possible. I want to. I want to make everything
I say very understandable. But I cannot make it powerful
to you. I can't give you an interest
in this gospel. I can't. This is the work of God the Holy
Spirit. And only He can make it effectual. And when I say effectual, I mean
powerful. Only He can make it powerful
to your heart and soul. Now then, I'll ask you this question. Are you one of these elect? Are you eternally loved of God? Are you redeemed by the blood
of Christ? The scriptures are clear that
Jesus did not come to save all men without exception. We know
this because God's love does not extend to all men. For Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. We know that God does not love
all men without exception. And when did God love Jacob and
hate Esau? Even before they were born, not
having done good or evil according to the election of grace. These who are loved of God were
loved from eternity without merit, and only by sovereign decree
and grace they shall be saved. It was for them, for them, that the Savior came. It was for them alone He obtained
righteousness, and it was for them alone He shed His blood
for their sins. And these loved of God were called,
justified, and glorified by the eternal counsel and covenant
of God. Now, let us consider the lie
of freewill works religion who are opposed to this gospel. False
religionists teach that God loves all men without exception. That
Jesus died for all men without exception. That God desires that
all men be saved without exception. And the Holy Spirit is really
trying hard to save them. That is the lie of false religion. But let me ask you this. If the love of God is for everyone
without exception but doesn't save everyone, what does the
love of God have to do with salvation? If God loved Judas as much as
he loved Peter, then what does the love of God have to do with
salvation? If God desired to save Judas
as much as he desired to save Peter, Then what does the will
of God have to do with salvation? If Christ died for the sins of
Peter as much as He died for the sins of Judas, then what
does the blood of Christ have to do with salvation? If the Holy Spirit tried just
as hard to save Peter as he did to save Judas, then what does
the Holy Spirit's power have to do with salvation? The only
answer to their gospel is they have nothing to do with it. That's
the only answer you can come up with. So then what are they saying?
They're saying salvation is dependent upon you. They say that salvation
rests with man. They say that the success of
the love of God, the will of God, the blood of Christ, and
the calling of the Holy Spirit depends on what you'll do with
it. Therefore, their salvation is not by grace but by works,
which is totally against the Word of God. All freewill works religion is
Antichrist. Antichrist Paul says this Even
so Romans 11 verses 5 and 6 even so at this present time Also,
there's a remnant according to the election of grace and if
by grace Then it is no more of works. Otherwise grace is no
more grace But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise
work is no more work you see what you do you destroy all words
all definitions of words and Therefore, I declare to you that
God has loved people from eternity. I declare to you that God has
willed to save them. I declare to you that Jesus Christ
has died for them. And I declare to you the Holy
Spirit will come to every one of them through the preaching
of the gospel. Are you one of them? Are you
one of them? How do you know? Are you one loved and redeemed
of God? Then you must know, have you
been born again by the Spirit of God? Jesus said, except a man be born
again, he cannot see. He cannot understand. He cannot
perceive. He is as a blind man. I just
told you who the Savior was. Didn't I? Jesus Christ, I just
told you what He did to save His people from their sins. But
yet you cannot see Him as Savior because you're blind. And the only hope for you is
that God give you sight. The kingdom of God. They shall
not see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the King,
Jesus Christ. The only evidence then of the
new birth is this, listen, faith. How do I know if I'm born again? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Faith is the only evidence. You're not going to be able to
get a telescope and like the doctors do, put it down your
throat and see if there's a new nature in there. You're not going
to be able to do that. They can cut you open. They can
look all over and get the microscopes and everything else, look at
all your cells. It's going to be the same as everyone else.
This is a spiritual thing. It is a miraculous event. It
is a creation of God inside the man. It is a new heart, a new
life. And this life recognizes that
all we are and all we've done is sin and we need a Savior. You see, I don't need a partial
Savior. I don't need one to help me.
I need one that's done it for me. And therefore I see that
Jesus Christ has done it all. I believe on the son of God as
all my hope and stay. What does that mean? I'm born
again. That's what that means. That's
what that means. The gospel is belief. Faith is
casting away all hopes of self-righteousness, casting away all hopes of self-salvation,
because we are made to know our complete and utter useless and
depraved nature. We know the deadness of our souls
and need life. We understand our thirst for
righteousness and drink of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know our
hunger for Him and we feast on His blood and on His flesh by
faith. Are you such a pitiful being
as this? I was reading. David Edmondson,
he said he went to his church one Wednesday night and he saw
the most mangy dog that he'd ever seen. This dog was the most
grotesque thing he had ever witnessed. And he just said, I wish that
dog, man, somebody has really destroyed that dog and despised
that dog, and man, I despise that dog. And he shoot him away. He got, get out of here. Go on. You're not welcome in here. And then he realized that was
a good picture of himself. Isn't that what the scripture
describes us as? Mephibosheth. He said, what is
thy servant but a dead dog. What in the world can I do for
you? I'm lame on my feet. I can't
serve you. I can't do anything for you.
I can't merit the food that I eat from your table. And he says,
for Jonathan's sake, Therefore I come as the dog that
I am and I say I can't do anything for Christ I can't earn anything
from Christ and Christ God says I do it for Christ's sake Sound
neat You're welcome here all the time for his sake Jesus said I came not to call
the righteous but Sinners to repentance. The gospel of
Jesus Christ is as the water of life, but it is only given to the thirsty
and the bankrupt. Are you thirsty to be saved? than believe. Believe without moving a muscle, without doing a work, without
thinking a thought. Let me ask you, if you were starving
to death and man gave you a piece of bread, would you try to analyze
how you would take it? Well, let me see, if I take it
this, no, let me try to, you grab it because you're starving
for it. and you won't thank your hands
for taking it. Believe on Christ. Take Him. Receive Him. And what's the result of this?
You will be forever saved. For by grace you are saved through
faith. Yes, I was chosen. I was loved
of God from eternity, redeemed by the blood of Christ. But it
was not till the Spirit came and gave me faith that I realized
it. I didn't know anything about it. I didn't know what he did
for me, not until he gave it to me. I didn't know anything
about it till I drank it. and you won't know anything about
it until you drink it. I like this. There's water there. You see it? Is that for me? That's the best illustration
I've ever seen. Yep, it's mine. It's mine. How do I know? I drank
it. It's mine. Believe on Christ and you will
be saved. This is the gospel. This is what
I declare to you. I declare this because this is
what God declares. You that believe, How then shall you live in this world? By what rule of
law do you live by? Not the law of Moses. The law of faith. Law of faith. The Scriptures
are clear that just shall live by faith. Why? Because everything
else gives us room to brag. Faith in Christ gives us no room
for boasting. Are you in any trouble or sorrow? How then shall you survive in
such a world of trouble and difficulty. Faith is the victory that overcomes
the world. Faith. Do you believe? Not did you believe. Do you believe? That's all that really matters,
doesn't it? I believe now. That's the most
important thing in the world, is to believe now. And how we continually live?
By believing now. And now. Even believing until
the end. And you shall be saved. I know this, I'm not what I was. But I also know this, I'm not
what I'm going to be. One day, faith will not be needed
anymore. Because I'll see him. But now, we who are believers
must still believe, no matter what. Grab hold of Christ. And the comforting thing is,
we hold Him because He holds us. The only reason I believe him
is because he first believed God and loved me and gave himself
for me. And he's all I got. And you know
what? He's all I want. He's all I want. May God bless this to you. I
pray that you would believe even now.