I was just thinking that's what
every believer wants. He wants to be nearer to his
God. Nearer. We won't be near enough
until we're leaning on his breast like John did. Turn with me back to Acts chapter
16. Acts chapter 16. This is the story of Paul and
Silas being thrown into prison for preaching the gospel and
for healing a young girl who was possessed with an evil spirit. And let's begin reading again
in verse 19. It says, when her masters saw that the hope of
their gains was gone, they were using her, they were making money
off of her. She had this spirit and she was
a fortune teller or a soothsayer. And when her master saw that
the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and
drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers. and brought
them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly
trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to
receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude
rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off
their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had
laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging
the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such a charge,
thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the
stocks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. 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. But Paul cried with a loud voice
saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called
for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, sirs, what
must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? That's the title of this message.
What must I do to be saved? With natural man. With common, natural, fleshly
man. That is the question of all questions. That's the question of all question.
That is the question that denominations of religion, every different denomination
that's out there, all of them. The reason that there are so
many different denominations of religion out there, do you
ever notice how many there are? So many denominations. The reason
there are so many of them out there is because each one of
them has tried to answer this question, what must I do to be
saved? That's the reason. When people
agree on that answer, they become members of the same denomination. And when people disagree on that
answer, they become members of different denominations. If two
people are not members of the same denomination, what that
means is they differ on the answer to this question right here.
What must I do to be saved? Now, There is only one answer
to that question. There's only one answer. There's
only one true answer to that question. God's answer. God's answer. If everyone believed
God's answer to that question, we would only have one denomination
of religion on this entire earth. That new earth, the new heaven
and the new earth that our Lord has created where all of his
people dwell, there's only one belief. There's only one religion. There's only one answer to that
question. What that ought to tell us is
there are a lot of wrong answers out there. here on this earth. If there's only one true answer,
but there are thousands of answers out there, then that ought to
tell us that there is a lot of error out there. There's a lot
of error. Now, I want to know what the
right answer is, and I want you to know what the right answer
is. So what we need to do, here's
what we need to do. We need to stop listening to
men and we need to only listen to
God. That's what we need to do. When
we listen to men, we will only be lied to. If we listen to what
a man has to say about the answer to that question, We will only
be lied to and we will only end up confused. That's the only
thing that can come from it. So this is the wisest thing that
we could possibly do. Let's stop listening to men and
start listening to God. And when I say let's stop listening
to men, that includes this man. That includes me. Don't listen
to me. Well, Gabe says, don't listen
to me. And don't listen to yourself.
Don't listen to the rationale of your own mind. The only hope
that we have is to listen to the word of the Lord. Ezekiel
cried, oh ye dead dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Solomon wrote, trust in the Lord
with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.
There's only one way that we'll stand in the end, just one way.
And that's God's way. There's only one answer that's
going to be proven to be true in the end. And that's God's
answer. And here it is, all right? Acts
16, verse 30. He brought them out and he 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. He said, you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. And he said, if your house believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ, they'll be saved too. Whoever believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. That's God's answer. That's God's answer to the question.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us that one same answer
over and over and over again in His Word. Turn with me, if
you would, to John chapter three. John three, verse 16, it says,
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. That's God's answer. Verse 18
says, He that believeth on Him is not condemned. But he that
believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That's God's answer. Look at verse 36. He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. That's the answer. That's God's
answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The answer is not Be baptized. What must I do to be saved? The
answer is not be baptized. The answer is not speak in tongues. The answer is not come down to
the front of the church building and confess all your sins to
the preacher. The answer is not stop sinning. That's not the answer. That is
not the answer. If it was, God would have said
so. As a matter of fact, God did say that he did not come
to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. So he came for
sinners. If a sinner could stop sinning,
he wouldn't be a sinner anymore. Had God given any other answer
than the one that he gave, then that would have been the answer.
But the fact of the matter is, because God gave the answer that
He did, that's the answer. And that's the answer. That's
God's answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, with that being established, what does that answer mean? What
does that mean? What does it mean to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? It means You don't believe on
yourself. That's what it means. You don't
believe on yourself. To believe on Him is to believe
on Him. That's what it is. It's to believe
in Him and it's to believe on Him. To believe in Him means
you believe that He exists. You believe He is. To believe on Him means you believe
that without Him, you can't exist. That's the difference. To believe
in Him means you believe He exists. And to believe on Him means without
Him, you can't exist. There's no existence for you
without Him. It's total reliance on Him. Complete, total reliance
on Him. Just like an infant in the womb
of its mother. Just like an infant in the womb
of its mother. Belief on Christ says, without
Him, there's no life in me. Without Him, I'm nothing. I'm nothing. If He does not feed
me, I won't be fed. If He does not provide for me,
I won't be provided for. If He does not do it, it won't
be done. It just won't be done. I only
live and move and have my being in Him. Only in Him. Now that's not what man naturally
believes. Man believes that he's in a cooperation
with God. That's what man believes. He
believes this is a cooperative effort. He believes that God
is waiting for him to do his part before God will save him. He's just waiting. As soon as
the sinner does his part, God will save him. That's what man
naturally believes. But that's not what God said
in his word. And that's not what believing
on Christ is. To truly believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, it means you believe beyond any shadow of a doubt
that you can't do any part, any cooperative effort. It's not
a possibility. You cannot do any part with God
in your salvation. And this is the reason why, right?
Here's the reason why. If you look with me at Genesis
chapter two, Genesis chapter two, verse 16, it says, and the Lord
God commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely be in trouble." That is not what God said. In the day that thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely receive a slap on the wrist. That's not what
God said. Thou shalt surely lose favor
with me. That's not what God said. He
said thou shalt surely die. Die. There's an old saying, and
this is so true. This saying has been around a
long time and it's so true. wrong on the fall, wrong on it
all. If we miss what actually happened
in the Garden of Eden with man, when man sinned against God,
if we miss what actually happened, if we don't understand what man
became before God in that moment, we'll never understand anything
else. We'll be so confused. We'll never understand anything
else. Wrong on the fall. Wrong on it all. Wrong on it
all. What did man become in that moment? All of mankind. What did man
become? Here's the answer. Dead. Dead. That's what God said. Man became dead in trespasses
and sins. Now, let's let's ask this question
right here. What can a dead man do? What can a dead man do? What
can I, a spiritually dead man before God, do in the work of
my own salvation? Here's the answer. Nothing. Nothing. That's what it is to
believe on Christ. It's to believe. I cannot believe
on myself. There's nothing in me to believe
on. I'm dead. I'm dead. I believe God's Word. I believe
I died in sin in my father Adam at that moment in the garden.
I died before God. And a dead man can do nothing.
Nothing. Either he must do all of the
work or the work won't be done. That's what it is to believe
on Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, if I was standing at the threshold
of the door of heaven, standing right there at the threshold
of the door of heaven, and the very last step was left up to
me, I'd never make it in. I would never make it in. A man
who understands something of the condition of his deadness
believes that. He believes Christ had to take
the first step and Christ had to take the last step. He believes
that the only reason he's alive to even believe. How can a dead
man believe? Well, he's quickened to faith
in Christ. And he believes that the only
reason he's even alive to believe is because Christ has already
taken that last step. He believes that even his faith
in Christ is not the cause of his salvation. It's only the
evidence. That's what Ephesians 2 says.
If you turn with me over there to Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians 2 verse 1 says, And
you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins,
wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he
loved us, even when we were dead in sins." He hath quickened us
together with Christ. By grace you are saved and hath
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding
riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus,
for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."
By grace, what that word means is free gift. What must I do to be saved? Grace
means free gift. That's what the word means. By
grace are you saved. By grace are you saved, through
faith. And even that faith is not of
ourselves. It's not a work that we do. Even that is a work that God
does in us. Look with me at Philippians chapter
2. Philippians 2 verse 13, it says,
for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. Anything that is done in a believer. that's God doing it in the believer. Anything that is done by a believer,
that is God doing it in the believer. Even to say, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That is God doing it in
the believer. That's God giving faith, performing
faith. It's God which works in us. It's
not by works of righteousness which we have done But according
to His mercy, He by Himself saved us. He saved us. Turn with me
to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3 verse 1 says, O foolish
Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey
the truth? The truth that God has written
in His Word. He's telling the Galatians that
you should ignore what God has written right here. Foolish Galatians,
who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth? Before
whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified
among you, This only would I learn of you received ye the spirit
by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Are you
so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect
by the flesh? That means when Christ said it
is finished. He's asking, do you really believe
there's something left in the work of salvation to be done
when he said it's finished? Do you really believe there's
something else to be done? To believe that would be to believe
that he was a liar. Because if something has to be
done, then it's not finished. But it is finished. God, who
cannot lie, said it is finished. Look at verse 11. right here
in Galatians 3, verse 11 says, but that no man is justified
by the law, doing the law. In the sight of God, it is evident
for the just shall live by faith. God's people are not justified
by doing the law. They were justified by Christ
on the cross of Calvary. They were justified by Him doing
it for them, fulfilling it for them. writing all their wrongs
by the shedding of His blood for them. Verse 11 says, But
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it's
evident. For the just shall live by faith,
and the law is not of faith. Looking to yourself to do it
is not looking to Christ to do it. But the man that doeth them
shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ,
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Look with me, if you would, at
Romans chapter three. Romans 3 verse 19 says, Now we
know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world may become guilty before God. The law was given to show
us and to prove to us that we cannot do what God requires of
us. We cannot do. We're dead. We're
dead. Verse 20 says, therefore, by
the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. It's because of this law that
we have an awareness of our sin against God. We see what God
demands and we see we do not live up to it. Verse 21, but
now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. That's a person. The righteousness
of God is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all and upon all them that believe, for there's no difference,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being
justified freely. Freely. by His grace, by His
free gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation. That's a victim, that's a sacrifice,
an atonement covering. whom God had set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His
righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, His righteousness,
that He might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is boasting then? It's
excluded. By what law? Of works? Doing? No. By the law of faith. Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. Totally without the deeds of
the law. That's what it is to believe on Christ. It's to believe
that He has already finished the work and it is completely
done. It's done. Now, I thought of
this illustration. I was thinking about this subject,
and this illustration came into my mind. Every now and then,
I enjoy putting a puzzle together. I don't get to do it often. Some
people want to do it with me, and at that moment, we get a
puzzle out, and we'll get a good-sized puzzle, 500 pieces, 1,000 pieces,
and we'll go to work on it. With a puzzle, it is very clear. It is very cut and dry clear,
whether the puzzle is finished or not finished. As long as there
are pieces over here not put in place, it's not finished. But once that last piece is snapped
in, It's as finished as it can possibly
be. That's as finished as it can
possibly be. Once that last piece is put in,
if somebody walks up and says, what can I do to help? Here's the answer. This is the
only answer that can be given. Nothing. It's finished. It's finished. You can't do anything. It's finished. At that point, the only thing
that can be done is rest. That's all you can do. If you
try to go get other puzzle pieces from another puzzle and cram
them in, you'll ruin it. Don't touch it. All you can do
is rest. All you can do at that moment
is stop working. Once the last piece goes in,
stop working. All that's left to do is behold
it and enjoy it. Enjoy the finished
work. Enjoy the accomplished work. Speak of it to others. Come see. It's finished. That's what the preaching of
the gospel is. Come see. It's finished. Behold it. Rejoice
in it. Enjoy it. No, don't try to add
anything to it. You'll just ruin it. It's finished. That's what it is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is. When that
Philippian jailer said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? He was saying, what can I do
to help? And here was the only answer
that could be given to him, the only answer, nothing. You can't
do anything. That's what they said. That was
their answer. Nothing. You can't do anything.
The work of salvation is finished. It was finished by the Lord Jesus
Christ when He shed His blood for the sins of His people on
the cross of Calvary. Just rest. Just stop working and rest. Just behold Him. Just behold what he has done
and enjoy it. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
alone and thou shalt be saved. Salvation does not come to those
who believe on Christ and themselves. Those who believe on Christ's
work plus their own. Salvation does not come to those
who try to steal His glory from Him by taking part of the credit
for the work that He did alone. Salvation does not come to those
who call Him a liar by saying that He did not finish what He
said He finished. Salvation is evidenced by a sinner
believing on Christ. believing His word, believing
His accomplishment, resting in it, just resting in it. Salvation
is evidenced by believing on, casting our all on Him. Him. Now, this is my prayer. I pray that's me and I pray that's
you. I pray that's us. Only believe. Only believe. Only believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. All right, let's
close with a hymn. This is gonna be 318, I Need
Thee Every Hour.