Good evening, everyone. I'm truly honored to be here.
I'm so thankful to be among the Lord's people. It really is a
blessing. We were just, I was talking to
everybody. I went around and talked to everybody,
but we were just saying this has to be what glory is going
to be like. And it's a good thing. It's a happy thing. And I'm thankful
to be here. I'm thankful to brother Todd
for having me. And I pray the Lord will bless
us. I pray for that man and that man and that man. I pray the Lord will bless us.
I pray that our God will be honored and praised. And while our brother
David was just singing that, that was comforting to my soul.
I thought, no matter how badly I mess this up, it's well with
all of our souls. And that was a comfort to me.
And I'm grateful. Turn with me, if you would, 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
to the point that it caused her to be a soothsayer, a fortune
teller. And the men who had control of
her after Paul and Silas removed that spirit and she couldn't
tell fortunes anymore, they got mad. And it says in verse 19,
Acts chapter 16, verse 19, it says, when her masters 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." Oh, that we could do that
very thing in moments like that. Paul and Silas prayed and sang
praises unto God and the prisoners heard them. That's just a blessing
to my heart. 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 question, isn't it?
That's the question. With natural man, that is the
question of all questions concerning the flesh, concerning men and
women of this earth. That is the question that denominations
of religion EVERY DENOMINATION THAT THERE
IS IN RELIGION. EVERY DIFFERENT DENOMINATION.
THE REASON THERE ARE SO MANY. THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF THEM.
AND THE REASON THERE ARE SO MANY IS BECAUSE EVERY ONE OF THEM
HAS A DIFFERENT ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION. THAT'S THE REASON. WHEN PEOPLE AGREE ON THAT ANSWER,
they become members of the same denomination. 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's only one answer to
that question. There's only one true answer
to that question. God's answer. If everyone believed God's answer,
there would only be one denomination of religion on this earth. There's
only one church in glory. Everybody in glory believes the
same answer to that question. One congregation, one pastor. And if everybody on this earth
believed the same answer to that question, there is only one true
church on this earth. But there would only be one denomination
on this earth. What that ought to tell us is, there are a lot of wrong answers
out there. That's what that ought to tell us. If there's only one
true answer, but there are thousands of them 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 is we need to stop listening
to men, and we need to only listen to
God. We need to stop listening to
all men. So-and-so wrote a book on this,
and so-and-so has a whatever on that. We need to stop listening
to all men, and we need to listen to God only. When we listen to
men, WHO ARE NOT MERELY REPEATING THE WORD OF GOD, SAYING, THIS
IS WHAT GOD SAYS. WHEN WE LISTEN TO MEN, IT ONLY
LEADS US TO LIES AND CONFUSION. IT'S ALL THAT COMES FROM IT.
LIES AND CONFUSION. THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, LET GOD BE
TRUE AND THEN EVERY MAN A LIAR. So this is the wisest thing we
could possibly do. Let's stop listening to men and
start listening to God. The only hope that we have is
to listen to the word of the Lord. Ezekiel cried, O 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 WILL
STAND IN THE END, AND IT'S GOD'S WAY. THERE'S ONLY ONE ANSWER
THAT WILL BE PROVEN IN THE END TO BE TRUE, AND IT'S GOD'S ANSWER,
AND HERE IT IS, OKAY? HERE IT IS, VERSE 30, ACTS 16,
VERSE 30. THAT JAILER BROUGHT THEM OUT
AND 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. THEY SAID, YOU BELIEVE ON THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST and you'll be saved. You trust Him. You trust that man. Whatever
he says, you trust him and you'll be saved. They said if your house
believes on Him, they'll be saved too. That's God's answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells us that one same answer
over and over again in His Word, over and over again. Turn with
me, if you would, to John chapter 3. John 3. VERSE 16 SAYS, FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, 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. VERSE 36
SAYS, 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 GOD'S ANSWER. THAT'S THE
ANSWER. BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THE ANSWER IS NOT BAPTISM. YOU TALK TO SOME PEOPLE, WHAT
DO I NEED TO DO TO BE SAVED? THAT'S WHAT THEY'LL SPOUT OFF.
BAPTISM. WE'RE COMMANDED TO BE BAPTIZED.
But that's only an outward show, an outward evidence and confession
of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ in the heart. 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. If it was, God would have said
so. He would have said so. What must
I do to be saved? Stop sinning. That's not the
answer. That's not the answer. Had God
given any other answer than the one he gave, then that would
have been the answer. But the fact of the matter is,
because God gave the answer that he gave, That's God's answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, with that being established,
what does that answer mean? I think about people who've never
heard the gospel before. I think about our children. A
lot of times as I preach, I think, you adults have heard this so
many times, but our children haven't. But I think about us
too. I need to know this too. We all need to know this too.
What does this mean? What does it mean to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ? We can let that just roll off
the tongue. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What does that
mean? What does it mean? Well, first
it means you don't believe on yourself. To believe on Him is to believe
on Him. It's to believe in Him and it's
to believe on Him. To believe in Him means you believe
He exists. To believe on Him means you believe
that without Him you can't exist. I'm going to say that again.
To believe in Him means you believe He exists. A lot of people believe
in Him. But to believe on Him means that
you are convinced without Him you can't exist. It's total reliance
on Him. An infant in the womb of its
mother. is believing on the mother. That
is total reliance on that mother. I see, I saw, I believe I saw
a mother with an infant in the womb tonight. I don't say anything
about it. I learned that the hard way.
But I believe in that mother. The child in the womb believes
on the mother. Believing on Christ is saying,
without Him, there's no life in me. Without Him, there's no
life for me. Isn't that the case for an infant
in the womb? To believe on Christ is to say, if He does not feed
me, I won't be fed. If He does not provide for me,
I will not be provided for. If He does not do it, it won't
be done. It will not be done. I only live
and move and have my being in Him. Only in Him. That is believing on Christ. That is not what mankind naturally
believes. Man believes that he's in a cooperation
with God. HE BELIEVES THAT GOD IS WAITING
FOR HIM TO DO HIS PART BEFORE GOD WILL SAVE HIM. BUT THAT'S
NOT WHAT GOD SAID IN HIS WORD. THAT'S THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH
THAT. 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 MEANS YOU BELIEVE BEYOND ANY SHADOW OF A DOUBT
THAT YOU CAN'T DO ANY PART. ANY PART OF IT. You can't do any cooperative
work with God in your salvation. And this is the reason why. This
is the reason why. Turn with me, if you would, to
Genesis 2. Genesis 2. 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 die. He didn't say be in trouble. which is what man believes. He didn't say, in the day that
you eat of it, you're gonna receive a slap on the wrist from me. He said, thou shalt surely die. There's an old saying that most
everybody in here knows, wrong on the fall, wrong on it all. If we miss what actually happened
in the Garden of Eden when man sinned against God and we don't
understand what man became before God in that moment, then we'll
miss the whole thing. We'll miss the whole thing. We'll
never understand anything else. Wrong on the fall, wrong on it
all. What did man become in that moment? Dead. Dead. Spiritually dead. It's so hard
to understand spiritual death because we're physically alive. I may not understand it and enter
into it, but here's the thing, God said it. That's what he put
in his word. And all of mankind in Adam all
die. Spiritually, eventually, physically. Spiritual death. What can a dead
man do What can a dead man do? What can I, a spiritually in
my flesh, alone, as I am born, walking in the world, what can
I, a spiritually dead man before God, do in the work of my salvation? Here's the answer, just in case
anybody doesn't know. Nothing, nothing. That's what it is to believe
on Christ. It's to believe I can't do anything. I can't believe
on myself. I just cannot believe on myself. I am dead and a dead man can
do nothing. Either he must do all the work
or the work won't be done. Charles Spurgeon said, If I was
standing at the threshold of heaven and the very last step
was up to me, I would never make it in. Lay a dead man there at
the threshold. Lay a dead man there and say,
the last step is up to you. I've gotten you this far, the
last step's up to you. He will never make it in. He'll
never make it in. A man who understands something
or a woman who understands something of his or her deadness believes
that. Once we get a hold of that deadness,
we will believe that. He or she will believe that Christ
had to take the first step. Christ had to take the last step.
He had to take every step in between. And he will also believe, she
will also believe, the only reason I believe that is because he
made me believe it. To believe on Christ is to believe
he's the author and finisher of life, he's the author and
finisher of faith, he's the author and finisher of everything. Everything. Even faith in Christ is not of
ourselves. That's the gift of God. That's
what he said in Ephesians 2. Turn with me over there to Ephesians
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, 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." Aren't you glad? Aren't you so
glad? By grace, by free gift. The Lord's people never get tired
of hearing about God's grace and mercy. By grace are you saved through
faith. Faith in the blood. I am so disgusted
by what I see in myself. But I believe where my sin has
abounded, His grace has much more abounded. I just cry thank
God. I can't fix this. I don't condone
this. But I thank God for the blood.
Faith in the blood. Faith in His good works. Faith in everything, everything
he's done. That faith is not of ourselves, even that's a work of God. Philippians
2.13 says, it's God which worketh in you both to will and do of
his good pleasure. So anything that's done in a
believer, that's God doing it. Any good thing That's done. That is God doing it in the believer. It is not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by
Himself. He saved us, and it's done. He
accomplished what He set out to do. Look with me at Galatians
3, just a few pages back to Galatians 3. Galatians 3 verse 1 says, BEFORE WHOSE EYES JESUS CHRIST
HATH BEEN EVIDENTLY SET FORTH, CRUCIFIED AMONG YOU, HE HAS WRITTEN
IN HIS WORD WHO HE IS, WHY HE CAME, WHAT HE DID, WHO HE DID
IT FOR. HE WAS CRUCIFIED. HE SAID WHO
HATH BEWITCHED YOU THAT YOU SHOULD NOT OBEY WHAT HE'S WRITTEN CONCERNING
CHRIST IN THE WORD. VERSE 2, THIS ONLY WOULD I LEARN
OF YOU. RECEIVED YE THE SPIRIT BY THE
WORKS OF THE LAW OR BY THE HEARING OF FAITH? DID CHRIST SET YOU
FREE THROUGH YOU OBEYING THE LAW OR HEARING THE GOSPEL PREACHED? VERSE 3, ARE YOU SO FOOLISH,
HAVING BEGUN IN THE SPIRIT, ARE YOU NOW MADE PERFECT BY THE FLESH? WHAT THAT MEANS IS WHEN CHRIST
SAID IT'S FINISHED, DO WE REALLY BELIEVE THAT THERE'S SOMETHING
LEFT IN THE WORK OF SALVATION TO BE DONE? To believe that would be to believe
he was a liar. If something has to be done,
it's not finished. But it is finished. 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. That means believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. What He has written concerning
Himself, what He has done, who He has done it for. God's people
are not justified by doing the law. Do they want to do the law? Sure they do. One of these days
in glory we're going to live the law. I agree with David,
I love the law. The law is not my enemy. I'm
the law's enemy. And thank God Christ came to
put away that enmity. But God's people are not justified
by obeying the law, they're justified by Christ on the cross. Christ
on the cross of Calvary. 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,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. That means if you're
gonna hold to that, you better obey all of them. Verse 13, thank
God. 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. Why did he do that?
Verse 14, 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 at Romans 3, if
you would. Romans 3 verse 19, it 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 to
us and to prove to us that we can't do it. We're sinners against
it. 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. But now the righteousness of God without the law 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 by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, a bloody victim. 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 JESUS." He was just in killing
our sin and the justifier of us by killing that sin in Christ
His Son. Verse 27 says, where is boasting
then? It's excluded. By what law? Of works? No, by the law of faith. And I love verse 28. Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the law. That's what it is to believe
on Christ. It's to believe he has already
finished the work. He's already finished it. It's
completely done. I have a little illustration for this that I
believe helps me understand it. I hope it'll help everybody.
We enjoy every now and then putting puzzles together. We don't have
a lot of time, but when we do, we'll put puzzles together. And
with a puzzle, it is very clear whether or not the puzzle is
finished. It's very easy to tell. As long as there are pieces not
put in place, the puzzle is not finished. But once that last piece is snapped
in, once the person who hid it so that they could put the last
piece in reveals it and puts the last piece in, it is as finished
as it can possibly be. It cannot be any more finished
than it is. All the pieces are in place.
Once that last piece is put in, if somebody walks up and says,
oh, y'all are doing a puzzle? What can I do to help? This is
the only answer you can give them. Nothing. It's already finished. At that point, the only thing
that can be done is rest. Stop working. Behold it. Enjoy it. Cry out to others. Come see it. It's finished. That's what it is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. When that Philippian jailer said,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? What he was saying was, what
can I do to help myself in salvation? And the only answer that they
could give to him was, Paul and Silas said, nothing. What can I do to help? They said,
you can't do anything. It's already finished. It's already
finished. The work of that poor man, oh,
don't you wish that God, I say all the time, I wish I could
see God do that in people. I wish I could see it in me.
Oh, begging God for mercy. And hearing that spoken to my
soul, it's already finished. What can I do? The work is already
finished. It was finished by the Lord Jesus
Christ when He shed His blood for the sins of all of His people. Just rest. Stop working. Believe Him. Behold what He has
done. Enjoy it. Witness it to others
and say, come and see. Go tell your house. It's finished. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
alone and thou shalt be saved. To add anything to it, to add
anything to it, salvation does not come to those who believe
on Christ and themselves. Those who believe on Christ's
work plus their own. It does not. It's alone. Salvation does not come to those
who try to steal his glory from him by taking part in the credit
of what he has done. Salvation does not come to those
who call him a liar and go around telling people the work is not
finished. It's not finished. you still have to do something.
Salvation is evidenced by a sinner believing on Christ, believing
His Word, believing His accomplishment. Salvation is evidenced by a sinner
casting his all on Christ. Cast your all on Christ. May that be all of us. I love
that Our pastor here prayed for every soul in this room. Lord,
save every soul here. He's able to do that. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Thank you,
Brother Todd.