Romans chapter 10 for our scripture
lesson, let us now concentrate upon the first four verses of
the chapter, and especially verse 3. Paul had just completed one
of the great discourses on the sovereignty of God in chapter
9. Now coming to the tenth chapter,
we learn that predestination is never to be a barrier to prayer. Even though the apostle had just
completed the great discourse on God's sovereignty by saying, Jacob have I loved, but Esau
have I hated, What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, notice that, 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, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. He goes right on to say in chapter
10, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. This expresses to you and me
what our attitude should be toward the lost. Our attitude toward
the lost is not to be governed by God's secret counsel. Let us never forget that. I said
our attitude toward the lost is not to be governed by God's
secret counsel. Paul did not know who would be
saved and who would be lost. among the Jews for whom he had
such a desire and prayer that they might be saved. The word desire in verse one
would be better translated good pleasure. It is used in that
sense in many places throughout the scriptures. But please notice
that desire and prayer go together. since man does not know what
God's secret counsel is, God's sovereignty does not cause the
Christian to despair or abandon concern for the eternal welfare
of individuals. When I look at this portion of
scripture, I'm reminded of something that we had just recently studied,
in fact, this last Wednesday evening, and I see a parallel,
I see an analogy at this point. Here we have desire and prayer
going together. There isn't any need to pray
unless there is a desire. If the desire is there, then
prayer will be, of course, the fruit of the desire. In other
words, here are two great truths that must ever be joined together. They must never be separated. In fact, they cannot be if the
desire is genuine, then there will be supplication. If there
is genuine supplication, then there is desire. Now I hasten
to make an additional statement. Even though you and I have a
desire and it is genuine, and supplication is made based upon
the desire, we do not have any proof We do not have any guarantee
that God is going to answer our particular prayer regardless
of what it might be that we are praying for as Christians. For instance, Paul had a thorn
in the flesh. We studied this last week. He
desired for its removal. He desired for its removal to
the extent that he prayed three times that the Lord might remove
it. But the Lord did not remove it.
The Lord did not answer Paul's desire, which he had. But he did answer his prayer
by saying, my grace is sufficient for you. Now you might wonder
what we're getting at, and you'll see in a few moments. Salvation
includes both a change of place and also a change of principle. I think that Paul had this in
mind when he expressed his desire and prayer to God for Israel.
We know that Paul had just spoken with great severity about Israel. But that did not mean that he
had no desire for the spiritual welfare of the Jews. Notice verse 1. Brethren, here
is a title which should never be forgotten. Secondly, we have
desire and prayer joined together. Here is a marriage that should
never be divorced. Thirdly, that Israel might be
saved. A great need realized on the
part of the Apostle Paul. Now we come to the heart of our
message this morning. Ignorance. Paul recognized ignorance
on the part of the religious Jew. Notice how I stated that,
the religious Jews. Now look at verses two and three. For I bear them record, that
is the Jews, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. The Jews had not seen all God
was. They had not come to the realization
of all that his word meant. No, they had not understood because
they did not possess grace, and therefore they did not have the
truth concerning the subject of worship that was acceptable. They were sure about many things
concerning God. But they had never seen him through
the eye of faith, which is the gift of God. There are many religionists
in our day that are in the same boat. Now we come to verse 3. Most people, when they give an
interpretation of verse 3, apply it to the Jews and leave it there. But beloved, there is an application.
in the principle set forth in this verse that is applicable
to the day in which you and I live. Notice what he says. For they,
that is the Jews, the religious Jews, who knew many things about
God, but had never seen him, as I've already stated, through
the eye of faith, which is God's gift, and sovereignly given. Now Paul says, for they being
ignorant of God's righteousness. Let us pause for a moment and
consider that phrase. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. This ignorance about which Paul
spoke was something more than passive blindness. Now you'll
see what I'm getting at in a moment. I said this ignorance about which
Paul spoke was something more than passive blindness. Notice the next phrase. And going
about to establish their own righteousness. In other words,
the ignorance about which Paul spoke as I've already stated, was not
mere passive blindness, but according
to the next phrase, it contains what? It contains an activity
on the part of the religious Jews. Now follow me carefully
and closely. I stated it is not not passive
blindness, but there is an activity involved, and it is a religious
activity. Therefore, the Jews were very
active, and their activity was a religious activity. Beloved, that tells something
to me, and I believe it speaks something to all of our I think
from this verse of Scripture that you and I can learn why
it is so difficult today for Christians to witness to religious
people who are lost. Their ignorance of biblical truth
is not passive ignorance or blindness, but it is what? A religious activity
in which they are so involved that you cannot penetrate their
religious activity. And Paul knew this. Paul knew
this. but his heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel was, that they might be saved. Now with that
introduction, look at the fourth verse. He goes on to say, for
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Here we have
law righteousness as opposed to faith righteousness. We know
that the ceremonial and judicial parts of the law had been done
away with in the death of Jesus Christ. Therefore, look at the
word end, for Christ is the end of the law. The Greek word translated
end, in your King James Version, means conclusion or terminus. It also means perfection or completion. Now Paul says the Jews, the religious
Jews, who were not passively, who were not just passively blind,
but they were very actively engaged in their religious endeavor,
seeking by their own works to be acceptable to God, thus making
it very difficult to penetrate that religious concept which
they had. He said they do not realize that
Jesus Christ is the completion, he's the fulfillment, he's the
terminus, He's the conclusion of the law, that is the ceremonial
law and the judicial law. Now let me explain those two
parts of the law briefly. Number one, the legal aspect. We know that justice had been
satisfied in the death of Jesus Christ. And number two, the ceremonial. The ceremonies were shadows pointing
to the Lord Jesus Christ. But now Christ has come, and
since he has come, all of his shadows have been fulfilled in
the substance, and Jesus Christ is the substance. Here the Jews
stood, hanging on to their ceremonies. I said, hanging on. tenaciously
to their ceremonies and hoping by their own works that they
would be accepted before God. Last Sunday morning I gave to
you an illustration which Juanita and I experienced, something
we experienced on Thanksgiving Day. I related it to you and
I said I will apply. And I'm going to do just that
by way of introduction. Now, my message will not consist
of this illustration, I assure you. This past Thursday's a week ago,
Juanita and I going up to her mother's. After we got out of
the city, I just set my cruise control on about 56. And that
way when you go uphill, it'll give a little bit. You'll go
from about 55 to about 57 along there. And as we were driving
between here and Centerville, cars were passing us like we
were sitting still. And before we got to Huntsville,
there was one fellow in a van who was traveling about the same
rate of speed that we were traveling. And so I did not want to release
my speed control to go around him. So finally I was going a
little bit faster than him, but not much. And so when I started
around, of course, the traffic was rather heavy and it began
to stack up behind us. And when I got about even with
him, it looked like he wanted to do about what I was doing.
So he just speeded up. We were going right along together.
for some length of time, but it didn't bother me because I
was within the limit. And I have read and I have heard
that even though you are in the left-hand lane, if you're driving
the speed limit, you don't have to get over in the right-hand
lane to let somebody pass you if you're driving the limit.
That's the law. So I wanted to test something. And so I looked
in my mirror and the fellow behind me, I could see he was chomping
the bit. He was so mad because Traffic was just stacking up.
And so if we'd gone along, this fellow decided I wasn't going
to speed up to get around him. So he decided in order to let
the traffic get around, he'd slow down. So as he slowed down,
I was still going about 55, 56, 57 along there. The traffic is shooting around
between us, you know. And as they'd go around us, man,
they were tongue lashing me. Pointing and even some doing
like this, you know. Women and men, didn't make any
difference. Well, I got amused. It was funny to me, of course,
wanting to laugh all the time. She's smiling, and of course,
I'm sure that just infuriated them that much more. And I couldn't
help but grin. And the fellow in the van next
to me, he was smiling. He got a kick out of it. Now,
that brings up something very important. And we're going to
see how this applies this morning in the message that I want to
bring. And we're maging on the third verse, as I stated, of
Romans chapter 10. Now, let's look at this, for
instance, as an illustration. Number one, when I got back,
I started thinking through these things. Do men want all the laws
of the land? Now, 55 miles an hour is a law. That doesn't mean we all observe
it all the time, but it is a law. The question is, do men in general
want all the laws of the land? The answer to that is no. Only
those laws that will benefit us personally. That's the general
concept today. Isn't that true? Now listen carefully.
I'm going to make an application, and I assure you it has one.
Number two, are all human laws considered wise? Well, my answer
immediately is no. There are many human laws that
are not wise, and I cannot go into this to a great extent except
to say that this last week I heard, and I'm sure that you heard in
listening to the news, that now they're thinking about decriminalizing
hard drugs. Now, that'll be some law, won't
it? I was in a business establishment this past week, and the man said
to me, what do you think about that? He said, I think it's good. He said, you know, a person who
is addicted to hard drugs, he'll do anything to get hard drugs. That's why he said we have so
many thefts. And he said, I know. He said,
my wife is a nurse. And she has worked with those
who are addicted to hard drugs. And she's told me about what
they'll do. They'll do anything. to anybody in order to get, as
they say, a fix. So he said, I think it's good.
I wanted to see what his reaction was. I said, well, now if they
pass a law like that, then let's just, let's think that through
a little bit. I said, now they're alcoholics.
If the government is going to start furnishing heroin and other
hard drugs to those who are addicted to drugs, I said, will the government
furnish alcohol for the alcoholics? And I said, let's not stop there.
I said, we have a lot of rapists in this country. Does that mean
that the government is going to start furnishing sex for all
the rapists? And I just kept going. He looked
at me for funny. Well, I hadn't thought about
that. I said, well, let's do a little thinking. Now, personally,
I think it's a crying shame for some lawmakers to even think
along that line. And then I said to him, I said,
now, he had just told me that he heard a psychiatrist recently
say that what this country needed, this country needs to teach the
young people the difference between right and wrong. I said, does
it take a psychiatrist in order to give us that information?
And he kind of grinned. I said, but let me say something
to you. I believe in teaching children.
I believe in teaching every person the difference between right
and wrong, but I said the problem goes deeper than that. I said,
I can teach a young person the difference between right and
wrong, but I said, that does not mean that the young person
will have the correct attitude about that which is right and
the correct attitude about that which is wrong. He said, it won't. I said, no. I said, the person
has a depraved nature. What's that? What's that? Now here, here's a person and
there are many religions. They don't even know the first
principles of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. And they're so
wrapped up in their own religious exercises that you cannot penetrate
their thinking and their concepts in order to get their attention
so you can give to them the glorious truth concerning the principles
of God. Now let's go a little further
with this illustration. So I admit and readily admit that there
are many human laws that are done. After Juanita and I had
arrived at her mother's, it wasn't long until her brother came in.
He said, I drove 80 miles an hour. He said, I have a CB. So you see, People today, they
want to get something so they can find out how to get around
the law. So I got me a CB. And so I just
drove 80 miles an hour all the way. And he said, I'm going to
continue to drive like that as long as we have that dumb law. Well, I knew there wasn't any
need for me to try to use this illustration with him. So I had
to use another one. Now, another statement or a question. Are human laws for all or are
they for just some? Are they? Are human laws for
all or are they for just some? I'm afraid we have a lot of human
lawmakers today that enact laws, but they think these laws are
for others, but not really for themselves. And we have been
bombarded with that concept in politics in the last few years. Then here's another question.
What is the opinion of the majority of the few who try to obey the
laws? Now, that was demonstrated by
these people when they were stacking up behind us that day. They were
just infuriated. I was holding them up, and yet
I was going according to the law. And so, I'm sure they were
saying and cursing me as they passed, because I was standing
in their way. I was keeping them from doing
what they wanted to do. But I'll tell you the interesting
thing. Some of the very ones who rushed around and shook their
finger and their fist at me, they hadn't any more than gotten
around good, but I sat on the side of the road, a little black
and white car, and a highway patrol was in it with his radar,
and they just slowed down to 55 miles an hour. That was interesting. And they had just finished just
giving me a tongue lashing, but they were obedient to the law.
I'm not through yet. Now, human laws are interpreted
to a great extent to suit the majority. In fact, I had an outstanding
lawyer in this city who told me a few years ago that whenever
a new law is enacted, that they have a group of lawyers there
to find out how to get around that law that has just been enacted. Now you say, what application
does that have? Now let's apply that, beloved, to the commandments
or to the laws of God, will you? Will you? Will you listen now?
Do professing Christians want all the commandments of Jesus
Christ? My answer is no. They do not
want, I said religionists, do not want all the commandments
of Jesus Christ. They do not want. They only want
those that will benefit them personally. I said only those that will benefit
them personally. Number two, are all divine laws good? They surely are. I cannot say
that for human laws, but all of the divine principles are
for our good and God's glory. Are all divine principles to
be observed by us? They surely are. We're told in
1 John 5 that they are not grievous. They are not grievous to the
children of God. Now are the commandments of Jesus
Christ for all believers? All who profess Christianity?
Or are they for just some religionists? Now, what is the opinion of the
majority of the religionists today toward those few who seek
to observe all of the commandments of Jesus Christ? They look upon
us as being somewhat of an oddball individual or individuals. They do not think that, well
now wait a minute, I preach it's all right for you, but now don't
get in my way. Now this is exactly what I've
seen throughout my ministry, and I have even seen it in this
congregation in the last year. Let me illustrate. Two cases
in general. I have one person, or one family,
Now it was all right as long as I was preaching and applying
what I was preaching to other persons. But when the time came
that what I was preaching hit this family right between the
eyes, they didn't like it. And they looked forward to the
day when they could get away from this church. And they're
away. and thank God for it. And I'm
glad the truth of God drove them to that place. Do you see what I'm talking about?
There are a lot of folk today. Now, these religious observances
to which you subscribe, preacher, now, after all, isn't a matter
of interpretation. Now, we come to the last. just
as human laws are generally interpreted for the benefit of the majority,
so when it comes to spiritual laws or principles, they are
usually interpreted to suit the majority of religionists. Now let's look at our text again,
and I'm getting now into the heart of the subject. Paul said,
for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, that was not passive
blindness. But they are going about to establish
their own righteousness or their own system. And they're so interested
in their own system of religion that unless the grace of God
intervenes, you can never penetrate and give a good witness to any
of them. because they'll not listen to
you, any more than the Jews listened to the Apostle Paul. Here it is. Now, I'm ready to
expose something to which all of us are exposed today in the
city of Houston. I'm talking about religionists who are not passively blind, but actively
engaged in their own religious system. All of them without any exception.
And I'm going to break some things down that will be helpful to
you. And I'm going to ask you to do something in the next four
weeks. I'm going to ask you to take the principles I'm going
to lay before you this morning. And then I want you to listen
to a great number of religious programs on radio and TV. And
on Sunday you can get a lot of religious programs on Channel
26 and Channel 39, beginning early on Sunday morning and throughout
the day. And I want you to apply these principles that I'm going
to lay down and these things that I'm going to expose. I'm
going to lay down a principle in closing, but now I'm going
to expose what is being done today by most religionists. Is
salvation conditional? That's my question. Arminianism as a whole. Notice how I stated that. Arminianism
as a whole believes that salvation is conditional. Now I'm going
to explain the word salvation. We're going to use it this morning,
not as we who have been taught the distinction between regeneration
and salvation, But we're going to use the word salvation in
the sense that Arminianism uses the word salvation. Arminianism
uses the word salvation not in the sense of conversion, which
is experienced by the believer after having been regenerated
by the Spirit of God, but to the Arminian, salvation means the new birth,
being born again. Now the question is salvation
in that sense conditional? Let me give you a statement from
a leading Arminian to show you that all do believe that salvation
is conditional. Quote, all God's blessings are
conditional. Notice, all God's blessings are
conditional and cannot be experienced without paying the price. Beloved, this is the very opposite
of the principle of grace. Are you listening? I said this
is the very opposite of the principle of grace. Again, I want to say that Jesus
Christ is no commodity for sale. And yet we're being bombarded
today with the idea that we must sell Jesus Christ. We must sell
Jesus Christ. Now, the word condition is used
several ways by different views of Arminianism. I'm going to
give you several different views of Arminianism. In fact, I'll
give to you three this morning, and all religionists can be placed
within one or the other of these three categories. So I want to
be helpful, and I challenge anybody, anywhere, anytime to refute what
I'm going to say. First of all, the word condition
is found only twice, once in the singular form and once in
the plural form throughout the scriptures. Now the singular
form, which is in 1 Samuel 11, 2, is italicized and it is doubtful
by the Hebrew scholars that it should even be used there. Whereas
in Luke chapter 14 and verse 32, we have this statement, desired
conditions of peace, or it would be better to translate it like
this, asks the things for peace. Now, we're looking at the word
condition. Arminianism says, and the battle today is raging
between Arminianism and those who believe in free grace. And
I assure you, beloved, that if you let people know that you
believe in free grace, every Arminian will manifest his hatred
for you just as Cain manifested his hatred for Abel. You say, well, I just don't believe
that. Well, I assure you if you haven't experienced it, you've
never witnessed. for the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you've never stood up for the great principle of grace. Now
there are three categories, three categories of persons who use
the word condition. Number one, there are those who
believe that faith is the condition of the new birth. They believe
that faith is the condition of the new birth. You see, I'm using
the term new birth, and they substitute the word salvation.
But there is a difference between regeneration and salvation, and
I'm assuming that all of us understand that. They think grace is dependent
on faith. Notice what I said. They think
that grace, the grace of God, is dependent on faith. If you mention divine election
to these people, they will tell you that election is based upon
what God foresaw that man would do. But beloved, that is basing
it upon the I will of the sinner. Do you notice what I said? That's
basing it upon the I will of the sinner. In other words, what
they mean by it, and I've gone through some things in the last
few weeks on this, they believe that God foresaw that the sinner
would believe, would exercise his free will, as they say. And
therefore, their view of election is based upon what God foresaw
that the sinner would do. That is basing it upon the I
will of the sinner. But may I hasten to say, the
I will of man is not the cause of divine election. You've heard
this illustration. I've used it a number of times.
But we have some who may not have heard this. And I'll use
it again. There's a common expression today
among individuals who believe, as I am now stating, That God
voted for you, the devil voted against you, and then they say
whichever way you cast your vote, that's the way the election goes. That's ridiculous. That's ridiculous. That's making the I will of the
sinner, you see, the cause of divine election. the very opposite
of the teaching of God's Word. Now let me say, a meritorious
faith is as harmful to grace as meritorious works. Did you get that statement? I
said a meritorious faith is as harmful to grace as meritorious
works. Now these people extol grace
in preservation. They believe that faith is the
determining factor. In other words, grace will never
come to a person until he exercises, quote, his faith. And when he exercises his faith,
then grace comes in. then grace comes in. So what
does he do? After this, he says, now you're
eternally secure. You know those four, four spiritual
laws that are being given today by most religionists? Well, all
you've got to do is say, first of all, I'm a sinner. Then you've
got to say, secondly, that Christ died for it. And then you've
got to say, I believe that Christ died for me. And then since Christ
died for me, I'm eternally secure. And of course, now there are
some elements of Arminianism that don't go that far. So what
do they do? They extol the grace of God in
preservation, listen to me now, in preservation, but they exalt
themselves when it comes to the beginning of salvation. Now notice
category number one. What? They say now you've got
to believe, you've got to exercise your faith. So this exalts the
individual, this exalts the sinner. In other words, he has a part,
a very important part in his salvation. But after the grace
of God comes to him, by virtue of his faith, then he is preserved
by grace. Now what do we have? We have
number one, there is a conditional beginning, are you following
me? There is a conditional beginning, but then after the beginning
of this life, then there is an unconditional preservation. I look at that for a moment and
think about it. I'm trying to simplify it and put it in a category
that's easy for us to remember. So in category number one, what
do we have? We have the Arminian who says
that it's by the exercise of one's faith that he has the beginning
of his life in grace. That's conditional. But then
after the beginning of his life in grace, then he is preserved
by the grace of God, and that is unconditional. So he has a
conditional beginning and an unconditional preservation. Now let's look at the second
group. There are Arminians too. They say that grace is dependent
on one's faith. And even after he experiences
the beginning of grace, then he must hold out faithful to
the end. So what does he have? He has
a conditional beginning and what? A conditional preservation. So he extols himself not only
in the beginning of his salvation, but also in the preservation
thereof. Whereas in the first group, they
have a conditional beginning, but an unconditional preservation. And the second group, the second
group has a conditional beginning and a conditional preservation. Now let's look at the third group.
They say, yes, faith, plus. In other words, it is faith and. It's faith and baptism, or it's
faith and the Mass, or it's faith and this, or it's faith and that. And then, this is the beginning
of it. So it's faith and an ordinance,
even for its beginning, and then there is the holding out faithful
unto the end, so they add an ordinance. So you have three
different categories. Now there's still another category.
There's a category called safe. Safe. In other words, all children
who die in infancy are safe, they say. Now let's look at this. I say that you and I had better
beware of the doctrines of men that have one plan of salvation
for sinners, another plan of salvation for saints or believers,
and still another plan of salvation for babies and idiots. Now you say, when I preach you
don't have to be harsh. Yes, we have to be plain. Now listen
to this for a moment. In the study of this and some
of the research work I've done on it, men in the past have been
just as plain and they were great men of God. Men with compassion. Men who would speak out as harshly
as the Apostle Paul did against the religion of the Jews and
yet expressed his desire that they might be saved. What did
I say? I said we must beware of the
doctrines of men that have one plan of salvation, that's conditional
for sinners, another kind of salvation for believers, unconditional,
and still a third kind for babies and idiots, unconditionally safe. Now what does the Bible teach?
That's the question. Are we willing to look at all
the scriptures? Or are we going to manifest ignorance equal to
that of the religious Jews to whom Paul wrote and about whom
he said that his heart's desired prayer to God for them was that
they might be saved? I bear them record. They have
a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. not according to
knowledge. For I bear them record. I bear
them record. I'm a witness, he said. They
do have a zeal. And beloved, these people today
are zealous. They are so zealous with their
programs that they won't even stop and listen to you if one
were to call you on the phone. for you to give a true biblical
testimony of your relationship to Jesus Christ. There's only
one plan of salvation for all, and that is by grace. Romans 5.21 states that grace
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. Do we believe that? Do we really believe it? With
all of our hearts do we accept it? Now there's still one other
thing which I have not mentioned that I must. Many of these persons, in fact
most of the Armenians, will substitute what they call prayer or the
prayer of faith. Now I've listened to some men
over the radio in the last two weeks who have been emphasizing
this, and that's why I want to annihilate that view with the
Word of God. And then he'll ask you, well,
now if you want to be saved, you just repeat after me. And
so he puts words in your mouth. He'll say, now I'm going to pray
this prayer, and you repeat this prayer after me. Lord, I'm a
sinner. I want to be saved. I trust Jesus
Christ as my Savior. Now you're saved! The Bible says
you are! You're preserved! And so on the
other end of the line, thousands and thousands of people go through
that forum today, and they are filling churches today, and believing
that they're saved, and they're strangers of the grace of God.
And they would not sit and listen to half of the message that I'm
giving to you this morning. Not a one hour. They've been given the four,
quote, spiritual laws, end of quote. And then they're told,
repeat this prayer after me. And then the man who says, after
he gets through with his little so-called prayer says, now you're
saved. You're saved. What do you think about that?
All right, so there is another condition. It's called prayer,
or the prayer of faith. Is prayer a condition of receiving
blessings? I hope that you're taking some
notes. If prayer, beloved, is a condition of receiving blessings,
then it is a condition to all alike and in all cases. In other words, if prayer or
the prayer of faith, as we'll explain in a moment, is a condition
of the new birth, salvation, in the language of the religious
world, then it is a condition which will be met by every person
who thus prays. So if this is true, then prayer
becomes a law. I said if this is true, then
prayer becomes a law. And law destroys faith. Galatians 3 and verse 12. Law is not a faith. This is not a law. Now someone
will say, but I have a question. Doesn't the Bible speak about
the prayer of faith shall save those that are sick? Shall not the prayer of faith
save the sick? Yes, it does save them. You say,
now how are you going to answer that, Mr. Preacher? All right,
well, you turn to James 5 and verse 15. We'll answer that.
We'll answer from the Word of God. The answer is yes. You say, well, I didn't expect
you to say that. I'm not rude. Now I'm asking you to please
take some notes and please make distinction between things that
differ. We are specifically told in James
5.15 that the prayer of faith did save the sick on that occasion.
But now, when you make prayer the condition, that's another
matter. Beloved, if you make prayer a
condition of being healed or the condition of being saved,
then what? Then you are responsible for
the death physically of all men or the death spiritually of all
men. Are you listening? I want to
repeat that because I don't want this to pass by your minds without
thinking it through. Now, when it says in James 5,
15, the prayer of faith shall save the sick, it did. I said
it did. But let's look at the whole context
now. But when you make prayer the condition of saving the sick,
then you are responsible for the death of all your neighbors. In other words, if prayer were
a condition of raising up the person who is sick, then when
you pray for that person that he might be raised up, if that
is a condition, then God is duty-bound to raise up every person for
whom you pray. But it's not a condition, as
I'm going to show. I said it is not a condition.
You see, when we make conditions, follow me now, when you and I
make conditions, we insist that they are such that we can comply
with them, or be it otherwise, with God. God does not make a
condition in which he cannot comply with it. But God has never
made prayer a condition of either being saved physically or being
saved spiritually, as I'm going to show. Now, Paul was a man
mighty in prayer. Mighty in prayer. But do not
forget that when he says in Romans 8, 26 and 27, I know not what
to pray for as I ought, but the Holy Spirit makes intercession
within me with groanings which cannot be uttered. Have you ever
thought about that? It is the inwrought prayer. Notice how I'm saying this. It
is the inwrought prayer by the Holy Spirit of God. In other
words, it is the inwrought prayer of a righteous man that avails
much, which is the lesson taught here in James chapter 5, verses
17 and 18, if you will go on and read those two verses. When
God puts into the heart of a person to pray for something, notice
how I said there, when God puts into the heart of a person to
pray for something and then gives that individual the faith to
believe that he will give it, beloved, then prayer is in line
with the divine purpose of God. What am I stressing? I'm stressing
in raw prayer. And that's where true praying
begins. And it is prompted in the heart
of the prayer by the Spirit who indwells his heart. Now let's go a little further.
You'll find also in James 4.15, thy will be done. Now I want to destroy something
this morning once and for all, if you've ever had an erroneous
view about this. Thy will be done. That is to
be the prayer attitude of every Christian. Thy will be done. The statement in James 4.15,
Thy will be done, lifts us above the idea of taking anything into
our own hands and then resort to multitudinous prayers to force
God in heaven to do the will of man on earth. Love it, I hope
you get that. I'm going to repeat it. When
you hear these radio preachers today, what I said just now destroys
everything you've ever heard them say. But they know how to get to the
people. They know how the devil has enabled
them to say the things that they know that the masses of people
want to hear. And they say them in order that
they can enrich their own stinking cause. Now listen to this statement
again. The statement in James 4.15, Thy will be done. That
phrase lifts us above the idea of taking anything into our own
hands and then resort to multitudinous prayers to force God in heaven
to do the will of man on earth. And that's what they believe.
That's why these people have their string of beads, and they
don't want to take a long time to go through the formality of
praying, so they'll just push a bead down and say, that's another
prayer. Push another bead down, that's another prayer. But that
is no different, beloved, than all the multitudinous prayers
of so-called Protestantism, praying, believing that they're going
to get God to change his mind and to do their will for them
on earth. But the attitude is, thy will,
O God, thy will, not mine. See? See the difference? But
these people are not concerned about God's will. They're concerned
only about their own will. You know why? Because they are
busy in their religious exercises. And so busy that they're not
going to listen because of a prejudiced mind to the voice of truth. And there's a reason for it.
We'll see why before I get through this morning. Now, if prayer
is not a condition of salvation, then what about Romans 10, 13?
He said, now preacher, you can't get around that verse. Will you
turn to the 13th verse? We read it this morning, but
we did not comment on it. And here is the verse that is
constantly given by religious people on television and radio
today. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Will you look at the word call
in the light of its context? And then will you please read
a little further and let the word of God explain? Calling
is an inclusive act of worship that presupposes faith. Did you listen close enough to
get what I said? I said calling is what is an
inclusive act of worship that presupposes faith. Listen to
verse 14. How then shall they call in whom they have not believed?
So believing precedes calling. And since believing precedes
calling, then calling is an act of worship and presupposes faith. See how simple it is? And I tell
you what, you're not going to get these religionists to take
time to explain it. In the first place, they can't.
They don't understand it. Let's read a little further. All I'm
doing is just reading it to you. Now let's read a little further.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? Now
drop down to verse 17. So then faith, faith cometh by
hearing. Whoa, now wait a minute, what
are you going to do with that preacher? All right, look at
the word hearing for a moment. Hearing denotes that a person has the
ability to hear. Who is it that has a hearing
ear? According to Proverbs 20 and
verse 12, the hearing ear and the seeing eye are both of God. So if a person is able to hear,
it's because he's been regenerated. Now you see how it fits in? You're
not isolating something, you're putting it all together. So then
faith, now faith here is awakened. Our faith which is the gift of
God is exercised by hearing. And I'll demonstrate that in
a very simple manner in just a moment. So then faith, faith
which is awakened, how is the faith awakened to exercise? The gift, in other words, is
not an exercise until the gospel is proclaimed. Even though it
is a gift given to the regenerated person. But as soon as the gospel
is preached, the gospel of Christ, the word of Christ, actually
the statement here, word of God should be word of Christ. And
the special emphasis here is on the word of Christ. So faith,
which is God's gift to the regenerated person, becomes what? Alive, so to speak. It is an
exercise. In other words, there is the
exercise of faith, or it is awakened by the message which it hears.
Now let's see if that is scripturally true. In the 10th chapter of
John, the Lord Jesus, verses 3-5, my sheep hear my voice. Now, the gift of faith was there,
but it was not in exercise until the message, until the voice
of Christ went forth. See, I'm not disturbed. I know that when I preach the
truth, if the Lord has given to you the gift of faith, when
the message of Christ is proclaimed to you, your faith, which is
God's gift, will be awakened, and you will exercise faith in
the message which you have heard. Does that make sense? Look at the 17th verse. So then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, faith
which is God's gift, and believing is a verb, is it not? Not a noun. And verbs manifest action or
activity. So here, the faith is awakened,
wakened by the voice of Christ. So my sheep hear my voice and
they follow me, and the voice of a stranger they will not follow. But the calling here is an act
of worship which presupposes faith. You can't get around it.
Now if you reverse these things in Romans 10, you'll see the
simplicity of it. Here a man of God is sent. When
you look at verse 15 and you go backwards now. And he's the
preacher of verse 14. And when he preaches, what happens? While the person to whom God
has given faith, because faith is the gift of God, that faith
is awakened. Now we see that faith exercised
in the message of Christ that is proclaimed. He's saved, yes,
not born again, no. but a salvation experience or
a conversion experience. And then in the first part of
verse 9, confession is made with reference to his salvation experience. His salvation experience. Will
you go with me now please to Ephesians chapter 2? Grace reigns
through righteousness. Now look with me at Ephesians
chapter 2. Now I didn't know that time has
just passed too fast for us this morning, but let me give a few
things here in closing. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Salvation
is not by grace and faith. That's what Arminianism teaches,
but the Bible does not teach that. Grace reigns. Grace reigns in the planning
of salvation. Grace reigns in the provision
of that salvation. And beloved, grace reigns in
the application of that salvation. And grace reigns in the preservation
of that person to whom the Spirit of God has applied salvation. It's grace. Grace all the way. I said it is not Grace and faith,
now I'm going to prove it. It is not faith that brings salvation,
that's Arminianism. It is grace that brings salvation. Titus 2.11, for the grace of
God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to us, teaching us,
instructing us. as we've seen in Titus chapter
2. It is not faith, I said, that
brings salvation, it's grace that brings salvation. It is
grace that makes salvation sure to all the seed, that is, those
for whom Christ died, that we've been studying about in Isaiah
53 in verse 10. That's found in Romans 4.16.
And Acts 18.27? We believe through grace. Notice, we believe through grace. So grace reigns all the way. You know, I feel like I'm leaving
out some things that I ought to give, and yet it would take
30 minutes to develop this, so I'll just bring a few things
in close. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
a remedy provided for all men ill. I said the Lord Jesus Christ
is not a remedy provided for all men ill. That's heresy. And I'm going to use the strongest
word that I can think of. That's heresy. But I'll tell you, remedies that
people talk about today are very deceptive. I said they are very
deceptive. Let me illustrate something. I might get a man to change his
mind by the use of means. But that
does not mean that I've gotten that individual to change his
mind about God. I might even get a person by
the use of means to repent, to reform, to change his life for
a time, but that does not mean that he has repented unto life. You see, this is the thing that's
so deceptive today. When these people talk to an
individual and they use pressure, and they bring pressure upon
an individual to make a decision, to get him to decide, and he
decides. And he'll make statements, he'll
give a mental assent to something that has been said. Well, I can
even get people without any difficulty to believe what they want to
believe. But I'll tell you what, by enough persuasion, I can even
get some people to believe some things they might not really
want to believe. But that doesn't mean that they
have really believed on the Lord. You see, I can get a person to
repeat a prayer after me, but that doesn't mean that he has
really prayed. That doesn't mean a thing. So
you see how deceptive that is. Now the question is this, and
closer. Is faith the gift of God, or is it an act of man? Faith, like sight, is the gift
of God. And since faith, like sight,
is the gift of God, how can the sinner exercise something he
doesn't have? Are you listening? How can he
exercise something he doesn't have? If he has faith, which
is the gift of God, he will exercise. As soon as the gospel is presented,
his faith is awakened and there is an exercise of that faith,
which is the gift of God. But if he doesn't have faith,
how can he exercise something he doesn't have? Any more than
a person can exercise sight if he doesn't have sight. We all know that sight is the
gift of God. Seeing is the exercise of the
creature to whom sight has been given. Faith is the gift of God. And the exercise of faith is
simply the exercise of that which God has given.