Open your Bible, please, to 1
Timothy. 1 Timothy, chapter 3. I'm going to try to tonight,
in the simplest way that I know how, for my sake and for yours,
and for those who may hear this tape, to present saving faith,
saving faith in the simplest way that I know how. We'll talk to you about Christ
and faith and salvation. Christ and faith and salvation. In 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
15 we have this word. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation throughout the world, everyone who reads
it, everyone who hears it. This is a faithful say it worthy
to be listened to and accepted. That Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners, of whom I'm the chief. I'm the chief. Now, one other thing, one other
place I want you to read. Turn to 2nd Timothy, if you will,
chapter 3. Verse 14, Paul writes to this
young preacher. And he says, continue thou in
the things which thou hast learned. Notice that learned. There's
a lot in the scripture about knowing, about knowledge. It's
not just a jump in the dark, faith saving faith. And has been
assured of. You not only knew them, but you've
been assured that they're true. Knowing of whom thou hast learned
them, you've been taught them. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures,
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. All scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine or teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all
good works. Now the first thing we know,
all of us here tonight, we know this, in as far as we can know
anything. We know that Christ is salvation. He's not only the Savior of His
people, He Himself is their salvation. They are saved by having Him,
trusting Him, loving Him, cleaving to Him. That's how they say He
is salvation. 1 John 5, this is a record that
God has given to us eternal life. And this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. He is salvation. He said in John
14, 6, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life, and no man can
get to God, come to the Father, but by me. He is salvation. And so Paul told young Timothy
here, he said, for a child you've known the Holy Scriptures which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation. And we know that Christ
is salvation, wise unto salvation through faith in Christ. Christ
is salvation. And sinners are saved through
faith in Him, faith in His name, believing Him, trusting Him.
That's how they're saved. Not by works, but trust, faith. And we know, secondly, we know
that this faith is not a jump in the dark. I heard a great
man among his group one time, illustrating salvation. and had
a great congregation of people. He said, it's like you're up
on the roof and the house is on fire. And somebody down there
on the ground said, you can't see anybody. But they said, jump,
we'll catch you. He said, that's saving faith. It's not like a jump in the dark.
Saving faith has never been like that. We know who we're jumping
into, into whose arms we're jumping. The Lord Jesus Christ. We know
Him. We know that this faith is not a jump in the dark. We
know, secondly, that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
Word of God. The Scriptures, which are able
to make thee wise and discerning, hearing, understanding, believing,
learning, knowledge. That's what it's all about. Let
me jump in the dark. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep That which
I have committed unto him against that day. There is preaching
and there is hearing and there is believing. All this faith
has to do with these things. Preaching and hearing and believing.
Understanding. Because there is no faith that
is a jump in the dark, not saving faith. Now, there is information
in salvation. There is understanding in salvation. There is knowledge in salvation.
Paul said, in his last days, O that I might know Him, win
Him, be found in Him, and be made like Him. Knowledge. Understanding. There's a message,
and that message is the testimony of God concerning His Son. That's
the Gospel. The testimony of God concerning
His Son. It begins in Genesis and it ends
in the last verse of Revelation. The testimony of God concerning
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said it in another place,
he said, Christ and Him crucified. I determine not to know anything
among you except Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2, 2
I believe it is. Christ and Him crucified. Galatians
6, 14, God forbid that I glory except in the cross of Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me and I am crucified to
this world. Christ and Him crucified. That's the gospel. He is the
gospel. Talking about a message and a
testimony of God's Son, Romans Chapter 10 says, Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But that's followed
by three important questions. How can they call upon Him in
whom they have not believed? How can they believe in Him in
whom they've never heard? Any Jesus they claim to believe
in is another Jesus. He's not the one of the scriptures.
He's a figment of their imagination. Couldn't save a fleas. Imaginary. Imaginary. And so they're sharing
and understanding and believing and trusting. It's not a jump
in the dark. But there is one essential element
involved in savingly believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one prerequisite to
savingly believing upon Christ. I'm going to read you a quote
from Brother Scott Richardson. This is what he said, and it's
true. It's true. You have never heard the good
news until you've heard the bad news.
You've never embraced the gospel of Christ until you've learned
why you need it. Why do you need to be saved?
What's wrong with me that I need Christ? You've never heard the
good news until you've heard the bad news. Paul said, Christ
came to save sinners of whom I'm the chief. He came to seek
and to save that which is lost. I came to seek and to save the
lost. Christ and salvation is for sinners, poor, lost, helpless
sinners. Just consider these examples
in your mind. I'm not going to turn there and
read, but consider this. In the Old Testament, under the
types, when did salvation come to Adam and Eve? When they knew
they were naked, trying to hide from God. They had a need, David. They were naked. They had no
covering. They had no clothing to stand
before God. It came to Abel because he had
no righteousness. And God gave him a righteousness
by imputation through faith in the sacrifice He offered. And
then there's the Passover. What was important about the
Passover? What made it so wonderful? They
were under the bondage of death. If they didn't sprinkle that
blood, they were going to die. They were in trouble! And nobody's
ever been saved who hasn't been in trouble. That's what he's
saved from, his sin, his trouble, his bondage, his death. And then
there's the smitten rock. What was it on that day? They
were thirsty. Did you bring us out here to
die of thirst? Wish we'd have died back in Egypt. In the heavenly manner. You know
what they were complaining about? They were complaining about hunger.
God gave them bread from heaven. And then there was the brazen
serpent. They had rebelled against God.
He sent snakes among them and they bit them and they were biting
them. They were dying. Did you hear
that? They were dying, dropping dead.
And God gave Moses a remedy, the gospel, the type of Christ,
John 3.16. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting
life. And so they were dying. They were dying. People were
dying all around them. And those who looked in obedient
faith They never died. They lived. Then in the Old Testament,
there were cities of refuge. They weren't made for everybody.
They were made for those who got in trouble. Got in trouble. Somebody, he was out cutting
wood one day and an axe flew off the handle and cut somebody's
head off. He didn't mean to do it, but
the family's on his heels. He runs to the city of refuge. It was for the needy, those who
got in trouble. And old Noah's Ark, I'll tell you who it was for.
It was for those who believed God concerning what was coming
upon this earth. It had never rained before, never
a drop of water had fallen from heaven, and yet God said, I'm
going to send a flood. Sick and tired of this generation.
It waxes worse and worse. Man's thoughts are evil and evil
continually. I'm going to put an end to it.
I told Noah to build an ark for his salvation and the salvation
of his family. And Noah did it. Blood was coming. Blood was coming. Blood was coming. Now consider the testimony of
the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The places in the Scriptures
where I can recall right now that Christ invited or asked
people or made Himself available to people for their salvation,
said, come unto Me, it was always with a reason. All you that labor
and are heavy laden, come to Me, I'll give you rest. If you
don't need rest, if you don't know what I'm talking about,
I'm not talking to you. It's just how simple it is. If
any man thirst, come to me." What did he tell the woman at
the well? I'll give you water you'll never thirst again. Luke chapter 4. Our Lord came back to Nazareth, and
He stood up in thy presence, and read a few verses of scripture
from Isaiah the prophet. And he told those people, this
day is this scripture fulfilled in your eyes. This day. This scripture. And that scripture
was, I came to heal the brokenhearted, to save the lost, to deliver
those in bondage, to give sight to the blind, and on and on.
That was the scripture that he read. He said, I came to do these
things. This day, this scripture, I'm
the one. Not a one in that congregation
had any need of him at all. Not a one. In fact, a few minutes
later, they all wanted to kill him. They wanted to catch him,
take him in their hands and cast him off a high cliff to his death. They didn't know what he was
talking about. To be blind, to be in bondage, to be broken hearted
because of sin. They had on their religious clothes
and they felt quite well about themselves. John chapter 8, Christ said,
I came to set men free. They said, to paraphrase, sorry
sir, we don't know what you're talking about. We've never been
in bondage to anybody. He said, you're in bondage now
because you think you're free. You're going to stay in bondage,
die in your sins. John chapter 9, he said, I come
to give sight to the blind. He said, is he talking about
us? We're not blind. We can see quite
well, thank you. He said, because you Think you
can see well. I'm going to leave you in your
blindness to perish in your sins. That's the way it is throughout
the Scriptures. The Bible says in Luke, I forget what chapter
it says, he was healing. He was healing all that had need. All that had need of healing.
What healing everybody? Healing those who had need of
healing. That was a type of his spiritual healing. Then in Matthew
chapter 11, he says, Come unto me all ye
that are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Now having
given those illustrations, Paul said Christ came to save sinners,
of whom I'm the chief. In Matthew chapter nine, Christ
passed by a publican and said, come follow me. And he did. And
he invited Christ to his house, made a supper for him and invited
all of his publican friends and the Pharisees raised cain about
it. They didn't like it. Don't he know who these people
are? And why does he eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
And Christ knew what was on their hearts and what was in their
minds. And he said, tell you something. Those that are whole, well, need
no physician, but they that are sick. And he said, I came to
seek and to save that which is lost. And he made this statement
to these religious teachers. He said, you go learn what that
means and I'll have mercy. Learn what it means to be a sinner.
If you've never seen the bad news, you have no desire for
the good news. But if you've seen the bad news,
you're looking for good news. And if God has shown you the
bad news, in reality, He'll show you the good news. The Lord Jesus
Christ. Saving faith is a guilty, helpless,
needy sinner. Simply believe in God. That's
all it is. Believe in God. Boy, I sure wish
I could believe God. I believe God, but I sure wish
I could believe Him more. By the Spirit and grace of God,
a saved sinner is thoroughly convinced of some things. Let
me list those things simply. He is convinced that he is a
poor, guilty, miserable sinner. He knows it, and that he cannot
put away his own sin. Cannot. He knows that he is not
only a miserable sinner, guilty sinner, but he can do nothing
to save himself. All men and angels together can't
deliver him, and he knows it. He has a nature problem. He has
a heart problem. The heart is desperately wicked
above all things, or incurably wicked, deceitful above all things,
and desperately, incurably wicked. Who can know it? A man begins
to know his own heart. God is showing him some things.
And he becomes poor in spirit, and he becomes a mourner. He
becomes a seeker after God, a seeker after righteousness. He has a
desperate need, thirdly, a desperate need of salvation. All wants and needs, all other
wants and needs don't amount to much compared
to this one. This is a got to have. This is a got to have. Christ and salvation. This is a real need. This is
a desperate need. This is not a temporal need.
This is not a passing thing. It's a desperate need. This is
my immortal soul at stake. I need salvation. Fourthly, they
know that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Acts 4.12, there
is none other name unto heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. The name of Jesus Christ. He's
the only Savior. As I said before, He is the way,
He is the truth and the life. And they understand by the grace
of God that He's a sufficient, suitable Savior. Sinners who
have beliefs. an able and sufficient and suitable
Savior. They can bow before Him like
the old leper and say, Lord, if You will, You can make me
whole. You're all I need for this incurable
disease that I have. You're all I need. If you will,
you can make me holy." He said, I will. He came from the Father to save
guilty sinners. He became a man, lived a man
for 33 years to save sinners. He lived and died to save sinners. He satisfied God's law and God's
justice to save sinners, those who could not satisfy, those
who were under its bondage and curse. I am thoroughly convinced that
men who have been saved by the grace of God have learned these
things. And when they see in Him all
that they need in their condition, guilty, perishing sinners, undeserving,
hell-deserving, He becomes their salvation. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, He that gloria,
in glory Christ is his salvation. They're complete in him. They're
accepted in the beloved. Christ is the fullness of their
salvation, and they see that. And he offers himself fully and
freely to sinners like you and me who see these things. Not only gave himself for us,
gives Himself to us, fully and freely. Thirsty, take
and drink. Hungry, eat and live. Nothing to pay, full and free. When they had in the parable,
when they both had nothing to pay, he frankly, freely forgave
them both. Nothing to pay. Nothing to pay. In their hearts, the believing
sinner, they sincerely believe and cast themselves upon Christ
for the salvation of their immortal souls. It's that simple. That's what they do. But it's
one thing to talk about it and quite another to do it. They
believe God. He is faithful, that promised.
Their trust, confidence, and hope rest upon Him alone. And for the foundation of their
trust, they have the unchangeable, infallible Word of God. Let me
show you something in Hebrews just a moment. I want you to
see this. Hebrews chapter This is so wonderful. It shows
you how gracious God is. If we don't have confidence and
assurance, it's certainly not God's fault, because He's set
before us things like this throughout the Scriptures. It says in chapter
6 and verse 13 of Hebrews, When God made promise to Abraham,
because he could swear by no greater, He swore by himself,
saying, Surely, blessing I will bless thee, multiplying I will
multiply thee. And so after Abraham had patiently
endured, he obtained the promise. For men barely swear by a greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Wherein, listen to these words, wherein, God willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of salvation, you and me, us, we here tonight,
show unto the heirs of salvation, heirs of promise, the immutability
of His counsel. He confirmed it with an oath.
He said, just as sure as I am God. Just as sure as I am God. Swore by Himself. And then He
promised it in His Word. Two infallible things. Two things
which cannot fail. The promise of God and the Word
of God. That by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might and we ought
to have a strong consolation. Strong. Strong consolation. Who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us. Which hope is Christ Jesus
our Lord? We ought to have strong consolation. God put it in His Word in promise. What did He say to us? Weary and heavy laden, come to
me, I'll give you rest. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. Come to me for water, living
water. life-giving, living bread, promises
of God throughout the Scriptures. He that hath the Son, he that
believeth the Son hath life. And he said, just as sure as
I'm God, this is so. He said, sure as I'm God. God's
covenant, God's promise, God's covenant and God's promise. God's
oath and His Word. That trust and confidence, our
trust and confidence and hope rest upon the solid foundation
of God's unquestionable faithfulness. It is impossible for God to do
one thing. He cannot lie. It's impossible
for Him to do anything that's not perfect and right and holy
and just and good. But He cannot, cannot, He will
not lie. If He says something that's true,
let us trust. You know, on the day of Pentecost,
these people listened to the Apostle Peter, and they believed
God. About 3,000 souls were changed
that day, saved that day, baptized. The greatest desire of these
people who believed God is that of the Apostle Paul,
who said, I want to know Him. Oh, that I might know Him. and
win him, and be found in him, and be conformed to his image. That's what he wanted. This is
the sincere desire of their hearts. No pretense. No hypocrisy. They want Christ. Their faith may often be weak.
Now listen to me. You've been there. And their
debts may often be strong in many. Their hope may often be
dim. But these people will never turn
away from the Lord Jesus Christ. Never. Will you also turn away, go away? Peter said no. We know and are sure that thou
art that Christ, the Son of the living God. There's no place
else to go. No place else to go. And if they
start away, God will bring them back through their own will and
their own desire, through their own emptiness, their own sin,
and their own guilt. He'll bring them back. They need
Christ. There's a little old I think
I read this in Spurgeon one time years ago. It's a little old
snail-like, squid-like, slug-like creature. I saw it on TV one time too.
He lives in the water and he clings to smooth rocks,
big old rocks. And all the currents and all
the waves in the ocean don't move him. It is held fast. It is safe on those big rocks. And it's not its strength that
holds it fast, but its weakness. It has a suction cup on one side,
a vacuum. It's the vacuum, David, that
holds them together. not their strength, not their fullness,
their emptiness. That vacuum holds them to that
rock. It is weakness and emptiness,
a vacuum, a section, holding them to Christ. And my friends,
we come to Christ in our weakness, our sinfulness, our need. And that's exactly what keeps
us there all the days of our life. As we learn of Him, learn
to love Him, learn to serve Him, We are kept there by our needs.
If you ever needed Christ at all, you still do, and you always
will. May God bless these words to
our hearts.