Would you turn back to Acts chapter
8, look at the last part of verse
21. Peter says to Simon Magus, thy
heart is not right in the sight of God. I've entitled this message,
A Heart Not Fright. Look in verse eight of this chapter,
and there was great joy in that city. You see, Philip had gone
and preached the gospel, and there were many people who believed
what they heard. Look in verse 12, but when they
believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom
of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both
men and women. There were many people in this
place that believed the gospel. Wherever the Lord is speaking,
you can be sure that Satan will be at work as well. Look in verse nine, but, there
was great joy in that city, but, There was a certain man called
Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery, magic,
and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he himself was
some great one. He appeared great to these people. They were impressed by the things
that he did. Somebody says, is there such
thing as that? Well, I reckon there is. The Bible says there
is. And I know that Satan himself uses great signs and lying wonders
and mighty powers. The scripture says that concerning
him. Verse 10, to whom they all gave
heed, the people of Samaria from the least to the greatest, saying,
this man is the great power of God. Now they mistook the power
of Satan for the power of God. And they said, this man has the
mighty power of God. And they were very impressed
with this man. They thought well of him. Verse 11, and to him
they had regard because that for a long time he had bewitched
and that's impressed them with sorceries. They thought highly
of this man, but when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized,
both men and women. Now, when they heard the gospel,
They forgot Simon Magus. You know why? They heard something
better. That's why. They heard something better.
Grace is better than works. God's will is better than man's
will, isn't it? They heard something better and they were excited
and they forgot Simon Magus. Hearing the gospel. Verse 13. Then Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he
continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and the
signs which were done. Simon believed also. This is kind of a divine disclaimer.
Here we have an unbelieving or a believing unbeliever is what
you call it. Because you see that he didn't
really have saving faith. But the scripture says that Simon
believed also. It was not real faith. Men and
women that really believed, believed because of what they heard. But
notice how it says, then Simon himself believed also. And when
he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding
the miracles and signs which were done. That's where his faith
came from. He beheld the miracles and the
signs and he was impressed. And I'd be impressed too. I mean,
Philip was able to lay his hands on people and all of a sudden
they had miracle working power. They had the ability to heal
people, to speak in other languages, to take up snakes and all those
things the scripture says that comes with this gift of the Holy
Spirit. And he saw this and he was impressed
and he believed also. But in saving faith, it was that
faith that's based on sight. He believed also. The other people
believed because of what they heard. They heard the gospel,
they heard, but he believed from what he saw. He had the same
kind of faith devils have. The scripture says the devils
believe and tremble. His faith was not saving faith. Verse 14, Now don't miss this. Simon Magus
heard the truth. He didn't hear a false gospel.
He heard Philip preaching Christ and says he believed. And he
continued with the apostles and he was baptized. He confessed
Christ and believers baptism and no one had any idea with
regard to who this man really was. He was accepted as a believer
just like everybody else. Verse 14. When the apostles,
which were at Jerusalem, heard that Sir Mary had received the
word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who, when they
were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy
Ghost. Now, Philip could lay his hands,
I mean, Philip could preach the gospel to them, but he couldn't
lay his hands on them so they could receive the Holy Ghost.
Why is that? because only the apostles could
do that. Philip couldn't put his hands on them for them to
receive the Holy Spirit. Only the apostles could do that.
Simon Magus saw the miracles that he did, but let's go and
read him. Who, when they were come down,
prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost, for as
yet he was fallen upon none of them. Only they were baptized
in the name of the Lord Jesus, then laid they, their hands on
them and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that
through the laying on of the apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost
was given, he offered them money, saying, give me also this power
that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. Now, this is so important. When
they saw through the laying on of the apostles' hand, the Holy
Ghost was given. Philip couldn't transfer these
gifts. It only happened through the laying on of the apostles'
hands. And that is why all of this charismatic Pentecostal
stuff that goes on today is nothing more than phony. Phony. It's only through the laying
on of the apostles' hands that the Holy Ghost could be given.
And when someone claims these gifts that or given by the Holy
Spirit. It's not so. They're lying. They're making things up. They
might believe it, but they're making things up. And as far as that
goes, if they had the power to heal, why aren't they going to
hospitals and healing people? Because they can't do it. They
can't do it. It's not real. So this is important. It's through
the laying on of the apostles' hands. that the Holy Ghost was
given. I hope you'll get hold of that
and this will make you see that this entire charismatic stuff
is phony. It's foolishness. It's not real. This gift only came through the
laying on of the apostles hands. And Simon saw this and he was
impressed. You know, he'd lost his power
with these people. He had some kind of power over
them and now he lost it and he wants it back. And he says, well,
if I have this power to put my hands on people and give them
the Holy Spirit, just like the apostles did so they can start
performing these miracles, I'll have some power back. and I want
this power." And he didn't realize what he was saying. So he looked
and said to Peter, I'll give you money. I'll give you a lot
of money if you give me the ability to lay my hands on people so
they'll receive the Holy Spirit. I don't think he was expecting
the answer he got. Verse 19 or verse 20, Well, verse
18, when Simon saw through the laying on of the apostle's hand,
the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money saying, give
me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hand, he may receive the
Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, thy
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift
of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part
nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight
of God." You know, out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh, what the scripture says. And
he exposed to Peter what he really believed, that the gift of God
could be purchased, earned. Let me say a couple of things
about the gift of God. The Lord said, if you knew the
gift of God. He's talking about himself. He's
the gift of If you knew the gift of God and who it was that saith
to thee, give me to drink, you would have asked. You wouldn't
have offered payment because you would have known. There's
no way you can buy me. There's no way you can merit me. There's
no way you can earn me. The only way you can have me
is if I give myself to you and you would have asked and he would
have given thee. living waters. You see, there's
no one who asks that he doesn't give to. But if you try to earn,
it won't work. Peter spoke here of the gift
of the Holy Spirit, child of God. How dependent upon are you
for the Holy Spirit? You need him to enable you to
believe. You need him to give you a new heart. You need him
to work repentance in you. You need Him to cause you to
persevere in the faith. You need Him. And to think that
He could be earned or merited or purchased. I think of what
Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 says, For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Now if
you have faith, it's not because you decided to believe. If you
have faith, it's because He gave you faith. And if you have faith,
you know that. You know it didn't come from you or an act of your
will. You know it's the gift of God's grace. And would you
think something like that could be merited or paid for? If you have it, you know better
than that. We read that repentance is called
the gift of God. If you Change your mind, that's
what repentance is. It's because he changed your
mind. It's the gift of God. It's not something that you can
purchase or merit. Romans 5.15 speaks of the gift
by grace. Now grace, listen to me, grace
excludes any effort of salvation by works. It just excludes it.
It excludes payment. It excludes merit. It excludes
purchasing. We read in Romans 5 15 also of
the free gift and what an insult to God to think that there's
something you could do to merit it. The unspeakable gift of his
grace of his son and you think you can pay for it? Romans 5.17 speaks of the gift
of righteousness. Do you know there's not something
you do to become righteousness? It's God's gift to you. He gives
you the righteousness of His Son for His own glory. There's nothing you do to become
righteous. You don't earn this righteousness. You don't purchase this righteousness.
You don't merit it. It's the gift, the free gift
of God with no strings attached. That's the only way He gives
gifts. We read in Ephesians 4, 7 of
the gift of Christ. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. And you pay for him? Hebrews 6, 4 speaks of the heavenly
gift. And would you or I seek to buy
it with something early? Earthly Paul said in 2 Corinthians
9.15, now thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift, indescribable
gift. And you'd put a price on it and
believe yourself able to come up with that price? What presumption
Simon Agus demonstrated when he did this? What a high view
he had of himself and his own ability to pay. What a low view
he had of God that he could take anything he would offer. You
see, his heart was not right, was it? Verse 20, but Peter said
unto him, thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought
that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither
part nor lot in this matter. For thy heart is not right in
the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy
wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may
be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of
bitterness and the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon and said,
pray to the Lord for me that none of these things which you've
spoken Come upon me. Now, your heart, he says to Simon
Magus. This is the issue. This is the issue. Your heart. Is not right. It's not upright. It's not sincere. God sees this. It's not right in the sight of
God, and it's demonstrated by this. You thought that the gift
of God could be purchased. Now, repent of this thy wickedness.
What was his wickedness? He thought the gift of God could
be bought. Repent of this thy wickedness,
thinking that the gift of God could be purchased, and pray
that this extreme wickedness might be forgiven by God. Perhaps
he'll forgive you. Now, let me say this about forgiveness.
Forgiveness is in God's hand. It's up to him as to whether
or not your sins will be forgiven. Now, let me repeat that. Forgiveness
is in God's hand. It's up to Him as to whether
or not your sins will be forgiven and you'll be in glory or whether
you will be passed by as an act of His justice. You know, even
in human terms, forgiveness is a sovereign act. In human terms. If you come up to me and say,
it's your duty to forgive me. If you're a Christian, you'll
forgive me of what I've done to you. I'm probably going to
bristle a little bit, and you would too. That's not the way
forgiveness works, because really, when you do that, you're not
asking forgiveness, you're asking for the payment of forgiveness.
You need to forgive me. If you were a Christian, you'd
forgive me. What's wrong with you? That's not asking forgiveness,
that's demanding it by way of entitlement, isn't it? It's not
real. But when you come into God's presence, you don't say,
I believe, now forgive me. I've repented, now forgive me.
I've done this. No, that's not asking forgiveness. That's bargaining with God, trying
to buy something. Forgiveness is in God's sovereign
hand. And if I don't see that, I don't
know anything about forgiveness. And the only way I'm gonna come into
his presence is asking, Lord, for Christ's sake, forgive me.
For his blood's sake. because if you're great, forgive
me, you're not coming into God bargaining like he was. You know, the best way I can
think of illustrating this is, is people's, it's very similar
to people's natural reaction to election, that God chose who
would be saved before time began. They said, that's not fair. Well,
what you say by that, if you say that is, I'm entitled to
salvation. That's the only thing we're saying.
This is not right. It's not fair. God owes me this. Now, Peter says thou has neither
part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right before
the sight of God. Now, Simon's answer is not very
promising. And then answered Simon and said,
pray to the Lord for me that none of these things which you've
spoken come upon me. Now, what is meant by a right
heart. What is a heart that's right
in the sight of God? Well, first let's ask the question,
what's meant by the heart? You know, we read of the heart
in the scriptures hundreds of times, hundreds of times. And very seldom is it speaking
of that muscle that pumps the blood. First time the word heart
is used is found in Genesis 6, verse 5, where it says, God saw. What God sees is what he is.
Not what you see and not what I see. What God sees. I know that we're all three different
people. We're the people we think we
are. We're the people others think we are and we're the people
God knows we are. God knows. He sees. And the first time the word heart
is mentioned in the scriptures in Genesis chapter six, verse
five, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart It
was the first mention, was only evil continually. That's God's testimony. That's
what God saw. Somebody says, well, I've got
a good heart. No, you don't. I'm sure you don't. Some mother says of her son,
he might be an ax murderer, but he's got a good heart. No, he
doesn't. No, he doesn't. There's no such thing as a good
heart. But your heart is your thoughts.
Your heart's what you think. Your heart is what you are. It's your will. It's your intellect. It's your affections. It's what
you love. Your heart's what you really are. That's what you really
are. What others see, that's a show.
Your heart is what you really are. It's the whole man. It's the seed of sin. Remember
when the Lord said in Matthew chapter 15, Out of the heart
proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, theft,
false witnesses, blasphemies. These all proceed from the heart.
You might not commit these things outwardly, but you do inwardly.
The heart is the seat of sin. It's from the heart that all
sin comes from. But the heart is also the seat
of all true obedience. You've obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which delivered you. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. It's the heart that God looks
on. Man looketh on the outward appearance. The Lord looketh
on the heart. Right now, the Lord's looking
at my heart and the Lord's looking on your heart. What does he see? Peter said to Simon Magus, your
heart is not right in the sight of God. Now, what is a heart
that's right in the sight of God? I know this. God recognizes
it. And you know why he recognizes
it? Because he gave it. If you have a right heart, it's
because God himself gave you that right heart. It's a heart
that you didn't used to have. He said in Ezekiel 36, 26, a
new heart will I give you. Well, I'm awful interested in
this. I want this new heart that God gives. You know, preachers
say, give Jesus your heart. He doesn't want it. He'll give
you a new heart though. I wouldn't be presenting my heart
to him, but I'd say, Lord, give me this new heart. This is the
same heart David spoke of when he said, create in me a clean
heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Now that's
a creative act of God. How much do your works have to
do with the first creation? None. You weren't even around.
He didn't consult with you. How much do your works have to
do with the new creation? None. But I'll tell you what,
you can be asking for it. As a matter of fact, in that
same passage of scripture, when he said, a new heart will I give
you, if you go on down reading in that passage of scripture,
it says, I will sure yet be inquired of by the house of Israel to
do this for them. If God gives you a new heart,
I know this, you're going to be asking for one. Lord, give
me this new heart. Give me this heart of faith.
Give me this heart that only you give. I like what it's called
in Luke 8, 15, when the Lord's giving the parable of the sower. Remember, there were four different
kinds of soils. And the good soil is that which
received the word with an honest and a good heart. Now, no man's
heart by nature is honest and good. I've already read Genesis
6, 5, when God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and in every imagination of the thoughts of the heart was only
evil continually. That's you. That's me. That's
the way we are by nature, only evil nonstop. But you know, it
takes a new heart to see that. The only way you're ever going
to see that and believe that is if God gives you a new heart.
It's only the new heart that recognizes sin. And the Lord
himself calls it honest and good. It's honest before God. Self-righteousness is dishonesty
before God, because that self-righteousness is not really righteous. It ain't
good. It's evil. Any good thoughts
you have of yourself are dishonest. They're not honest before God. The honest heart owns what it
is before God, nothing but sin. It owns that the only righteousness
there is is the righteousness of Christ. This is the honest
and good heart. And anything that doesn't believe
the gospel is not honest and it's not good. It's not real.
It's phony. It's not true. This is that broken
heart David speaks of when he says a broken and a contrite
heart. Oh God, thou will not despise.
What's a broken heart? It can't work. It's broke. It doesn't work. It can't work
its way to God. It's unable to. It's broken.
A broken and a contrite smitten heart. Oh God, thou will not
despise. This is the true heart the writer
to the Hebrews wrote of when he said, let us draw near with
a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience. Now, what is an evil conscience? Well, it's anything that's not
a perfectly right, good conscience. What is a good conscience? It's
one that never feels guilty. No, that's a seared conscience.
That's not a good conscience. That's one that just doesn't
work. A good conscience is a conscience that has nothing to feel guilty
about. Where are you going to come up
with a conscience like that? The blood of Christ, the sprinkling
of that evil conscience that makes me know that all God requires
of me I have in Christ and I need nothing else. That's the only
thing that satisfies my conscience, is the blood of Christ. It's
not because I've done right. It's because the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us. from all sin. That's the
blood of sprinkling, the sprinkling that sprinkles the evil conscience,
and that's the true heart. Turn with me to Romans chapter
two for a moment. I want you to read this with me. Verse 28, for he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly. Now, Understand this, that nation
in the Middle East, Israel, that's not a Jew. That's not a Jew. Bible says this, doesn't it?
People make such a big deal of being a Jew, but they're thinking
of national Jew. I'm not interested in being a
national Jew, but I'm interested in being this kind of Jew. Let's
go on reading. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which was outward
in the heart, but he is a Jew. which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart. It's not a physical thing. In
the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. God praises the true Jew. I owe
you one of those people, don't you? Well, what's the thing of
having a circumcised heart? Turn to Philippians chapter three. Paul says in verse 1, Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, to write the same things to you. The repetition of the gospel
to me indeed is not grievous. It's not irksome to do. This
becomes more glorious to me as time goes on. But for you, it's
safe. Now beware of dogs. He's talking
about false prophets. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. They say they're the circumcision,
but all they are are mutilators. Four, verse three, we are the
circumcision. And he gives three remarks, and
they all go together. And here's what a truly circumcised
person does, someone who has a circumcised heart, we worship
God in the spirit. Now this thing of worship, is
all together beyond us. And we recognize that the only
way we can truly worship God is by the Spirit of God. You
understand that? You recognize that with regard
to yourself. You can't even worship. Don't even know what it means
unless God the Holy Spirit causes you to worship. Worship is his
gift. Somebody says, well, let's go
worship. It doesn't work that way. That's why I never say to
somebody, come worship with us. Come here and worship. Come here
to the gospel. But the only way me or you are going to worship
is by the Spirit of God. And he says, we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the Spirit, in God, the Holy Spirit. It's
a spiritual thing. It's not fleshly. Look what he
says next. Here's what folks do who worship
God in the Spirit. They rejoice. And that word is
literally glory, boast. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
They don't rejoice in their works. They don't rejoice in their experience.
They don't rejoice in the stuff they know. They rejoice in Christ
Jesus. All I rejoice in is who he is
and what he did. And beloved, I do rejoice in
him. I rejoice in his way of saving. And here's what folks
who rejoice in Christ Jesus do. They have no confidence in the
flesh. Now, if you ever worship God
in the spirit, what you're going to do, you're going to rejoice
in Christ Jesus. And if you rejoice in Christ Jesus, you know what
the evidence of that is? You have no confidence in any way
in the flesh. Your confidence is only in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that is the circumcised heart. That's the heart that's been
pricked by the Spirit of God. You remember on the day of Pentecost,
they were pricked in their hearts and said, men and brethren, what
should we do? We're in trouble. Give us some direction. What
should we do? This is what the Lord did for
Lydia when he opened her heart. Remember whose heart the Lord
opened? This is the pure heart the Lord speaks of in the Beatitudes.
Blessed are the pure in heart. For they shall see God. Now we read of this heart that's
not been corrupted from the simplicity of Christ Jesus. The singleness,
the onlyness of Christ. That's what a pure heart does.
It looks purely to Christ and nowhere else. It's called a sound
heart, and an understanding heart, a fixed heart, and a willing
heart, and a stirred up heart, a burning heart. I love that
scripture where the two on the road today said, did not our
hearts burn within us while he opened to us the scriptures and
showed us the way. Now, this can all be summed up. Here's where we're going to close.
Turn to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. A right heart
is a believing heart. That's the summary of all this.
A right heart is a believing heart. What is the evidence of
salvation? Faith in Christ. Now, if you
can look over your life and say, well, I do this, this, and this,
I must be saved. You've missed it. You've missed
it all together. That's how serious this thing
is. If you could think that you're saved because you do this or
you do that, you just missed the gospel. Oh, may the Lord
deliver us from that. May he give us hearing ears as
we look at this passage of scripture in closing. Romans 10, beginning
in verse one. Brethren, my heart's desire And
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, there are two things that
are apparent from that verse of scripture. Number one, they
were not saved. And number two, Paul's heart's
desire and prayer to God is that they would be. My heart's desire
and prayer to God is that I might be saved and that you might be
saved. I want this. Oh, and I know you feel the same
way if you're a believer. We're all on the same page. Verse
two, he says, for I bear them record, these Israelites, that
they have a zeal of God. They're very religious, but not
according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. His righteous character, His
righteousness in their damnation, His righteousness in their salvation.
They being ignorant of God's righteousness, and here's what
happens when you're ignorant of His righteousness, going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God, for Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Now he's going
to tell us something about what this thing of believing is. I
want to be a believer, don't you? I mean, I want to believe the gospel.
I want to be somebody who's a believer. That's why I want more than anything
else is somebody who's a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
to believe on him. Now, what's this thing of believing
all about? Well, he first takes us to what
it's not. For Moses described it, the righteousness, which
is the law that the man which doeth those things shall live
by them. Now, if you want to go for a
law of righteousness, here's what you got to do. You got to
perfectly obey the law in yourself. I don't go that direction. Do
you? I don't have anything to do with it. And really it's either
all of grace or all of works. No in between. Verse six, but
the righteousness of faith. speaketh on this wise, say not
in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is, bring Christ
down from above. Don't say, what can I do to get
Christ to come down here and do something for me? Don't say
that. Don't think it. There's nothing
you can do to get him to do anything. or who shall descend into the
deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead. Don't say,
what can I do to make his death work for me? Now that summarizes
most of what goes on under what's called Christianity. What can
I do to get him to come down here and do something for me?
Or what can I do to get what he did work for me? Verse 8, but what saith it? The
word is nigh thee, it's so near even right now. The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is the word
of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. If you confess with your mouth,
and you'll only confess with your mouth what you really believe
in your heart. If you confess something with your mouth that
you don't believe in your heart, it's meaningless. It's a disadvantage to you. But
if you ever believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, and you understand why he did it, it's because he made
full satisfaction. It's not just believing in the physical resurrection,
it's knowing why he was raised. He was raised because God the
Father was completely satisfied with what he did. You want to
find satisfaction, you only find it in his resurrection. You see,
he put away sin, and God was pleased with what he did. Clare's
reading Psalm 16, thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see
corruption. Well, the reason he didn't see corruption is because
he satisfied God. He never went through the process
of decay because the moment he died, God said, I'm satisfied
with what he did, and I'm satisfied with everybody he did it for.
If thou should believe in thine heart, the Lord Jesus. Ain't
no believing in Christ without believing he's the Lord. Saying
he's the Lord, he's the one whose will's always done. You believe
that, then he really is the Lord. He's everybody's Lord, whether
they know it or not. I love that scripture. It says, He's the
Lord, both of the dead and the living. The dead man, dead, and sin says,
He's not my Lord. Yeah, He is. Yeah, you might
not know it, but He is. You're in His hand. You're under
His thumb. You're in His control. He's the
Lord of the dead. And oh, how He's the Lord of
the living. He's my Lord. He's my Lord. He's my Lord. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God has raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Look at verse 10. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. With the heart man believeth.
Now what does that mean? And this is an important distinction. What does it mean to believe
with your heart? Because if you don't believe with your heart, you don't believe,
period. The heart, first of all, this is the heart that God gives
in the new birth. Let's get that straight. This is the heart God
gives in the new birth because the natural heart does not believe
and cannot believe. It's the new heart that God gives
that believes. And the heart is made of the
intellect, the emotions, feelings, and the will. That's the whole
man. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. Now what that means is intellectually,
I get this, the only righteousness I have is the righteousness of
Jesus Christ. I get it. I don't have any personal righteousness.
My righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I believe that
intellectually. But not only do I believe it
intellectually, I love having only his righteousness. That's
what moves my affection. That's what moved my heart, to
be saved by His righteousness. Oh, I love being saved by His
righteousness. I'm right there with Paul when
he said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God, by faith. I love being saved by His righteousness. And what about the will? What
about the will? It's real easy. If you give me
a choice between being saved by my righteousness or his righteousness,
which one you think I'm choosing? It's not hard, not hard to come
up with that. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Now, it was said of David, he was a man after God's own
heart. Lord, make me that. Lord, make
everybody in this room that. Let's pray. Lord, we confess that apart from
your grace our hearts will be wrong. We'll be just like Simon
Magus thinking the gift of God can be bought and we'll try to
purchase and earn your favor. Lord, deliver us from that. Deliver
us from our own works. Deliver us from our own understanding.
Give us this heart that's right in thy sight. The great work
of your grace. Give us this believing heart. Lord, say to each one of us by
your Spirit, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt
be saved. Bless the word for Christ's sake,
in his name we pray, amen. Dwayne Cunliffe, St. Paul's Union
Place.