I want to begin reading in verse
1 and read down through verse 21. This is where Nicodemus came
to the Lord Jesus by night. John chapter 3 and verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees
named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus
by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher
come from God. For no man can do these miracles
that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and
said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus
said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to thee,
You must be born again. The wind bloweth where it will,
where it listeth. Thou hearest the sound thereof,
but cannot tell from whence it cometh, and whither it goeth.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered
and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and
said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these
things? Verily I say unto you, We speak
that we do know, and testify what we have seen, and you receive
not our witness. If I have told you earthly things,
and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of
heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of
Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
Him might be saved. 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.
And this is the condemnation, that light is coming to the world,
and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hates the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. He that doeth truth cometh to
the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are
wrought in God." Here in this chapter, the Lord
Jesus mentions three things that are essential. He mentions one
here in verse 14. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. He must be lifted up. And we
know what that means. That He must be crucified. John
12 tells us that when He spoke of being lifted up. He must be
crucified. Christ in Him crucified. Here
in verse 7 He tells us of another must. He must be born again. Except a man be born again, he
cannot enter the kingdom of God. He cannot see the kingdom of
God. And here in verse 18, he doesn't use the word here. It's
used elsewhere. But here's another must. He that
believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is
condemned already. Without faith, it's impossible
to believe God. He that cometh to Him must believe
that He is. So here's these three essential
things. Atonement for sin, the cross,
a new birth, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why are
these things absolutely necessary? Why is the atonement necessary? Why did the Lord Jesus say, I
must be lifted up? And he gave the reference all
the way back to Numbers 21 when Moses and the children of Israel
were in the wilderness and they put up the serpent upon a pole.
I want you to hold John chapter 3. Put your marker in there.
I want you to turn over to where this reference is in Numbers
chapter 21. In Numbers chapter 21. I want
us to see the necessity, first of all, These three things, these three
musts that the Lord Jesus was speaking about in John chapter
3. Why was it necessary here for
this serpent to be lifted up on a pole? Well, look here in
Numbers 21, in verses 4, beginning in verse 4. Here's what He said,
And they journeyed from Mount Horeb by the way of the Red Sea,
and came past the land of Edom, And the soul of the people was
much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against
God and against Moses, Wherefore have you brought us out of Egypt
to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither
is there any water, in our soul loatheth this light bread. And
the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people
came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against
the Lord, and against thee, praying to the Lord, that He take away
the serpents from us. And Moses prayed unto the people. And then in verse 8, the Lord
said to Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole,
and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when
he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass,
and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent
had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."
Now I'm sure that when the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus about the
serpent being lifted up on a pole. He fully realized where this
was. He had read it and probably memorized
it. And I imagine the Spirit of the
Lord began to deal with his heart about this. But we're told here
of the necessity of this serpent on a pole. And it's so critical
for us to know this because if we don't know this, will not
see any need of the cross of Jesus Christ. There's a reason
the Son of Man had to be crucified. We're given the reason here in
verse 4. They spake against God and against
Moses. They despised God's provision. Did you notice that? They loathed
this light bread. That was God's provision for
them. And in verse 7, they admitted it. They said, we have indeed
sinned against God. Now that was only a portion of
their trouble. They were in trouble, but if
this is the only trouble they had, that they recognized their
sins, they could have went on and forgot about it. But there
was something else that happened, wasn't there? There was consequences
for their sin. And that's where they found themselves
in trouble. When they spake against Moses
and they spake against God and despised His provision, they
went on and didn't worry about it until the judgment of God
came. And those serpents came among
them, and started biting them, and much people of Israel died. And we're told here that in verse
6. Look at this. The Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and much people of Israel died. I notice Randy
emphasized that when the Lord sent the judgment on those people. He emphasized that. And he emphasized
this, didn't he? The Lord sent. Our generation
would say it like this, the devil sent them. But the Scripture
says the Lord sent them and He sent it as a consequence of their
sin against God, their despising the Lord. Their sinning against
God was one thing that had to be dealt with. This is one thing
that had to be dealt with, their sin against God. These serpents
had come among them, had bitten them, the sting of it, the fire
of those serpents, another place they are called fiery serpents,
probably had such heat in their bite, fever set in, they began
to swell almost immediately, and they died. This is what brought
about, verses 8 and verse 9, the serpent on a pole, and look
into that serpent to remove the consequences of their sin, the
judgment of God. Now this is a beautiful picture
of the cross, isn't it? Why is the cross of Christ necessary? Well, there's these two reasons.
One, you and I have sinned. We have rebelled against God. There's no doubt about that.
The cross tells us that. Sin has to be atoned for. The
judgment of God has to be borne. The wrath of God has to be put
away. Who did it take to do that? One
of God's own choosing. Not one that was cooked up in
somebody's head, but in the very heart of God. The Son of God
had to leave heaven, come and be crucified upon the cross to
put away sin. The Son of Man must be lifted
up just like the serpent was lifted up upon a pole. Now concentrate
on this first. Why is the cross of Christ necessary? For the same reason this serpent
was lifted up on a pole. Sin. Judgment of God was upon
sin. Man's sin against God necessitates
the cross. He must be lifted up. If the
Son of Man is not lifted up, what's going to happen? Everybody's
going to die. They realize this. Many have
died already. How many in this world, brothers
and sisters, have died and perished? And everybody would if it wasn't
for the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement that He made. There
is the cross. When we look at society around
us today, with all its problems, with all its heart-wrenching
problems, there's two things that's evident. One is partially
admitted, and the other is almost universally denied. One of the
problems with man is this. Here's the problem with our society,
that man has sinned against God. What's the matter with our society
today? Well, here it is. We have rebelled against God.
Every man has turned to his own way. Society is full of sinners
without one exception. That's the whole problem of our
society today. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Now society is blinded as to
the depths of that. They'll admit, they'll admit,
oh, I'm a sinner. You'll very seldom run into anybody
that won't admit that they're a sinner. It's too evident, isn't
it? But the depths of that really get into what it means to be
a sinner against God. They don't want to go there,
do they? I've often said this. I said it in a message to you
just the other day. People want in-between everywhere.
They're not quite good enough to go to heaven, but they're
not quite bad enough to go to hell, so they want to be somewhere
in between here. But when we search out sin and
who it's against and what it deserves, then we begin to see,
yes, yes, we deserve the judgment of God. We deserve hell. Our leaders and our guides today,
They think themselves smart, don't they? They set up all kinds
of institutions to remedy the problem in society, but all they
do is attempt to treat the symptoms. They don't know what the cause
of the problem of society is. They can't remedy the cause.
They don't even want to admit it or talk about it. Why? They can't remedy it anyway.
Society's got a problem, and the first problem is sin. I imagine Israel tried to remedy
their problem by organizing groups to watch for serpents. They had
groups, you know, that one of them belonged to the club group,
one belonged to the stone group. And, well, you know they did
things like this. How do you know they did it? They're doing
it today. We've got our AA places and all of these have single
medians and church for divorcees, all this stuff we've got today.
We've got it all through society. Organizing institutions to try
to do something about the plagues upon society. And I can just
see a big group over here, the children of Israel, all of them
have got their stones piled up, waiting for some snakes to come
in. Other side over there, they've chose their clubs. You've got
another bunch over here watching for the serpents to come in.
We'll get through this thing, boys. We can handle this. But they couldn't, could they?
And I'm telling you, society today can't handle the problems
that it's found itself in. They don't even know what the
cause of the problem is. Here's another problem, and society
won't admit this for sure. Not only have they sinned against
God, but here is another problem. Judgment of God. The judgment
of God. Now, most people will admit,
yes, we're sinners. But find that person out there
that will go ahead and say, here's our problem. The judgment of
God is upon society. The judgment of God is upon this
world. The church has erred so badly
today. It's nothing like the church
was in the book of Acts. We've got preachers today that's
going out into a lost world, and here's what they're telling
the lost world. God loves you. Now, brothers
and sisters, listen to me. I know this may sound harsh,
but you never read in the book of Acts where the apostles or
anyone else went out preaching, God loves you, to lost men. The message was right the opposite,
wasn't it? You're under the judgment of God. You are condemned already. And here's the only remedy, and
God has provided it Himself. Repent and believe the Gospel. Repent and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. But this is the trouble today
that's in society. It's these two things. Sin. and God's judgment upon sin. Nobody is anxious today. Do you
see anybody today fleeing from the wrath to come? They never
even heard that there would be a wrath. Nobody is concerned hardly, are
they? Well, listen, they got concerned here. They saw the
necessity of that serpent being lifted up on a pole because the
judgment of God had come irresistible. It couldn't be resisted. There's two things that's taken
place in our society today among everybody. We can't quit sinning. We're just sinning, sinning,
and sinning. And the judgment of God is hanging over us. And that's the problem in society.
And that's what necessitates a Savior to be crucified upon
the cross of Calvary. Our sin and God's judgment. Bruce, are you saying that Christ
in Him crucified is the answer to society's problem? I'm saying
this, that Christ in Him crucified is the answer to man's essential
and deep-rooted problem. And until this is faced and believed,
the effects will never be remedied. It will never be remedied. After
World War I, they got the League of Nations. Remember that? Nobody
here is old enough to remember that, are they? It will never
happen again. Then it happened again. Then they got the United Nations.
Never forget, they said. Never forget. Well, they forgot. We've got counselors. We've got
all kinds of people trying to remedy our problem. But brethren,
it's too deep. It's too deep. God won't let
us forget it. God's judgment is upon sin and
the only remedy is a Savior lifted up, up on that pole. That's the
only remedy. Look and live. That's the only
remedy. What a mystery this cross is.
This is one of the reasons the world don't understand it. What
a mystery the cross is. What a mystery this was that
the Lord told Moses to beat out a serpent out of brass and put
it up on a pole. That made no sense. That's what
has bit us. And now we're to look to one
on a pole? That's a mystery, isn't it? God's
ways are not our ways. About the time we think we know
Him and how He saves, He turns us upside down, doesn't He? To send His Son down from heaven? To take upon Himself our utter
weakness, our utter infirmities, and live without a place to lay
His head, a poor man, and die in utter weakness and shame upon
the cross, and we looked to Him and were saved? Do you count
that strange? So once did I before I knew the
Savior. But that's God's way, isn't it?
That's God's way. That's God's remedy. And the
world doesn't want to hear that because it doesn't understand
that. The necessity for the cross is
not only our sins, but the judgment of God upon our sins. Our sins have to be atoned for.
They absolutely have to be atoned for. And could our tears forever
flow? Could our zeal no longer know
these for sin cannot atone? Fasting, giving all that you
have, going to church, reading your Bible, praying, that won't
put away sin. That won't satisfy the judgment
of God. He must be lifted up just like
that serpent upon a pole. Back over in our text again.
He says here in verse 7, here's the second must. Marvel not that
I say unto you, you must be born again." Why didn't the Lord Jesus say
the Son of Man must be lifted up and stop there? Well, the
judgment of God upon our sins is only a part of the problem,
brothers and sisters. First of all, that has to be
taken care of until sin is put away Until reconciliation is made
by the blood of Christ's cross, there's no hope for any of us.
But after He's done that, there's another must that you and I can
face with, and that's to be born again. You must be born again. It's a vital part of that that
has to do with a remedy for the problem that we found ourselves
in. Our Creator who made us in the beginning to love Him and
fellowship with Him and enjoy Him must remake us again, because
we fell out of fellowship with Him. Sin is atoned for, but that does
not remedy the problem of our heart, does it? Sin is in our very natures. And until that is remedied, we
can't love God. I saw a sign on the church bus
this morning, and it said, Love God and love people. That's wonderful. That's wonderful. Nobody's going
to do that until he's born again. Telling a man to do it and him
doing it is two different things. And when we fell into sin, it
ruined our nature. Now the heart's not what it used
to be. Now the heart's deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The carnal mind
is enmity against God. The Lord Jesus tells us here
in my text that men love darkness rather than light. We're ruined by nature. And going
to church won't remedy that. Reading our Bibles as much as
we need to read our Bibles, that won't remedy that. Becoming religious
will not remedy our problems. Man dreams that these things
have remedied his essential problem, but they haven't and they cannot.
The only remedy for our problem that is within us is a new heart,
a new life, a new spirit. That's a must, brothers and sisters.
We cannot escape that. We'll never love God and fellowship
with Him and commune with Him. and follow Him until He has given
us a new heart. That's essential. The same God
who created us in the beginning and breathed life into us must
create us anew by His Spirit and by His Word. I said this the other day. There
are many who will never deny the absolute need of the new
birth. But they substitute things for it in the place of it, and
they call it the new birth. I was listening to a radio broadcast
the other day, and the man that I was listening to, I'm sure
that he talks a lot about the new birth and about being born
again. But I was listening to him, and this guy had called
in, and the guy told him that he was in trouble. And he said,
well, I want you to pray this prayer after me. And it was the typical prayer.
God be merciful to me, a sinner. I now receive Christ as my personal
Savior. And on he went for a few minutes,
a few seconds. And then he said, if you pray
this prayer, you have been born again. There are people that profess
to believe the new birth, but they're substituting the new
birth, being born again, with words that's not even in the
Scripture. Concepts that's not even in the
Scripture. Make a decision for Christ. Deciding for Christ. And when you decide for Christ,
you're born again. Brothers and sisters, there's
but one that can give us a new birth, and that's God. the Holy Spirit. It's not of
man. It's of God. We must be born
again. We must be born from above. I'm not against a sinner praying. I'm not against a sinner seeking.
I'm not against giving him a model prayer. Here's a good one. God
be merciful to me, a sinner. That's a good one. But to tell
a man because he's prayed the sinner's prayer or he's decided
for Christ is the new birth That's the height of deception, is it
not? This new birth is absolutely
necessary. It's absolutely necessary. It's
just as essential as the cross. Jesus Christ made it right between
us and God. Now the heart has to be made
right. And that has to be a new heart given. He must be born
again. Here's another must, and it's
just as essential as these other two, and I hope all of us would
agree with that. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ, the Son of God,
is just as vital to salvation as the new birth and the atonement
of Christ itself. Except you believe that I am
He, you shall die in your sins. Faith in Christ and the new birth
are so united they cannot be separated. Those who are born
again believe. And those who believe are born
again. And what is vital in believing
the object, what is vital in believing, listen to this now,
is the object of our faith. That's what's vital. He says here in verses 14 and
18, notice how he says this so often. As Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted
up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. And verse 18, He that believeth
on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already. I don't know which one comes
first. Faith or the new birth? I've got my own ideas about it.
And you may have too. But I tell you this, there's
no new birth apart from believing in Jesus Christ. And there's
no believing in Jesus Christ apart from the new birth. They're
just like twin brothers born at the same time, aren't they? I don't always know. I'll be
honest with you. I've had some doubts about my
own self in times of trials and darkness. Am I born of God or
not? Have you ever had that? And sometimes I'll have to answer,
I don't know. But I know this, I know whom
I have believed. I believed and I'm sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, who was crucified
and put away my sin. I believe you. And I tell you,
believing Him assures you that you have indeed experienced the
new birth. Because you'd never believe Him
if you weren't born again, would you? It's the object of our faith.
And what is that? It's the person of Christ. It's
the person of Christ. It's what He did. It's where He's at. The life
I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me. Faith is sometimes called looking.
Look into me and be you saved. Look! Spurgeon used to say a
baby could look. He could look if it has eyes,
couldn't he? Look unto me and be ye saved.
Look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. It
was only through looking to the serpent on the pole that removed
the poison from their body and gave them life. And the minute,
the second we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the new life
comes. The enmity that was there, the
guilt that was there, the wrath of God that we had comprehended,
it's all gone. The instant we look, the instant
we believe. Now I didn't ordain this way. God did. And I'm glad He fixed
it like this. Faith is a wonderful thing, isn't
it? It's just a wonderful thing.
If it was by works, you see, we'd be wondering how much works.
Have I worked enough? How long is it going to take
you to do enough? But since it's by faith, it's instant. Faith doesn't do anything, but
receives everything. Faith is not the serpent on a
pole. Faith is the heart that looks
to that serpent. Faith don't open a fountain filled
with blood, but I tell you this, faith will take you to that fountain
and wash in it. Faith never worked out of righteousness. A person did that, but faith
receives it, doesn't it? Oh, faith is a wonderful thing.
Only God, the wisdom of God, could have come up with salvation
by faith. Receives everything. And you
know, until a man believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's condemned. Well, you say, Bruce, if Christ
died for that man, how could he be condemned? If God elected
that man before the world was, how could he be lost? We don't
have to figure everything out, do we? But we just know it's
so. When Adam fell in the garden,
the elect fell with him just like everybody else. When the
judgment of God came upon Adam, it came upon all of us who were
in Adam. And the wrath of God is upon
the elect themselves until they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got no problem with that,
have you? I've got no problem with that at all. I can't understand
all these theological things. I can't put them all together.
And I know if Christ died for an individual, there's coming
an hour when He'll look and believe and be saved. But He must believe
in the Lord Jesus. He will and He must believe. It seems to me as you look in
the Scriptures, there's three different aspects, you could
call it, to salvation. We could call it steps. I don't
like that. But you go back before the world was, and there you
see God electing, don't you? You see Him choosing who He's
going to save. None of us were worthy to be
saved. We can't blame Him if He passed by this one or passed
by this one. He should have passed by everybody.
But He chose this one. He chose that one. A great host
of them. That's where our salvation began, if you want to say that.
And then, there at the cross, we see the Son of God. He did
something else that was essential for our salvation. He put our
sins away. He atoned for them. But there's
another step that has to be taken. There's something else that has
to be done. And that takes place within us. And that's the work
of the Holy Spirit. And that's why we say the triune
God is the author of our salvation. Salvation is of the Lord in its
beginning, in the purchase of it, and the execution of that,
and it's going to be in Him in the consummation of it too, when
His work is finished at last. So all of these things enter
in, and they're all necessary. And until a man believes in the
Lord Jesus Christ, he's lost. He's lost. I don't want to spend all my
time trying to figure all this out. Why God chose this way and didn't
choose another way. God tells me that I've sinned.
And God tells me the judgments upon sin. God tells me that He
sent His Son as the remedy for sin, as the payment for sin.
And He tells me to believe in Him and be saved. That's enough
for me, brothers and sisters. That's enough for me. Spurgeon told about, give a little
example about people trying to figure everything out. And he
talked about a captain, sea captain, ship, being out on the sea and
a storm comes. And he said how ridiculous it
would be of that captain if he was down in the hull with all
his instruments trying to figure out where the storm originated
at, and from which direction it's coming, and how severe it
is, and how long it's going to last. He said if he's a wise
captain, he's up on the top deck and figuring out how he's going
to navigate the storm. And you and I are in a storm,
aren't we? Society is in a storm. And we don't understand it all.
But we know this much. We know how to get out of the
storm. We know what will calm the waves. We know what will
cease the violent winds from raging. We know what will keep
us from sinking the ship. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Is that enough? If He's the Christ
of the Bible, it's enough. If He's the Son of God eternal,
it's enough. If He's the One that died upon
the cross and put your sins away and satisfied all the courts
of heaven, that's enough. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. And brothers and sisters, my
storm is calm. There is no more storm. The wrath
of God is gone. The judgment of God is not upon
me anymore. No condemnation now, I dread. I am my Lord's and He is mine. These three things come irresistible. I'll say this and I'll let you
go and you can think about this. These three things that we've
been discussing, they're all irresistible. The Son of Man
must be lifted up. Look at the different people,
the hell itself that opposed Jesus Christ. The devil knew
from Old Testament scriptures that he must be lifted up. He
did not know everything, but he could read, and he knew that
he had to die on the cross. He tried to kill him when he
was a baby. Tried to take Him and throw Him over the brow of
the hill and killed Him. He was going to cross. Who was going
to stop Him? Nobody. The Son of Man must be lifted
up. And then you come to this word
here, you must be born again. And here's what the Lord Jesus
said about this new birth. The wind blows where it will. You ever went out and tried to
stop the wind from blowing? Wouldn't that be ridiculous? Just like stopping the waves
of the sea. You can't stop the wind from
blowing. It blows wherever it wills. Can you stop the Spirit
from working? Not when He determines He's going
to work. You can't stop it. You know what the Lord said in
the Old Testament? I will work, and none shall hinder
I love that, don't you? That's why I preach to lost people. Because I know if the Holy Spirit
in His sovereign act pleases, He can come to that heart and
give a new birth. He can blow down all of the opposition. He can level all of the enmity. And He can give a new heart.
And nobody can stop Him. I love that. All that the Father
gives to me shall come to me. That word means unavoidable,
inescapable. I love an illustration an old
preacher gave one time. He said, when the Lord comes
to save a man, he said he's like a lifeguard. He sees a man out
there, he's drowning. He's going down for the last
time. And he doesn't swim along beside of him and say, come along
now, I'll help you get to shore. Just keep on swimming. One more
paddle, you're going to make it. Just keep on going. Exercise
your will. Exercise your strength. He don't
say that, does he? What does the lifeguard do when
he comes and the man is going down for the last time? What
does he do? He grabs him and he brings him
into him and he takes him to shore and rescues him. What does
the Spirit do, brothers and sisters, when He comes? Oh, He comes irresistibly like
the wind and He invades the dark heart and He gives a new one. He gives life. Ezekiel was out in that valley
of dry bones, and he began to preach, and all the bones come
together, bone against bone, and meat come on them, and they
looked so beautiful, but they were dead. They were absolutely
dead. And Ezekiel said, Oh Lord, what
are we going to do now? I've got them all together, but
they're dead. And he said, Pray to the wind. and say, Come, O
Wind, and breathe upon these slain that they may live. A sinner does not just need encouraged. He just does not need to be pleaded
with. He needs more than just instructions. He needs life. He needs to be
born again. And there is but One that can
do that. And bless God, when He comes
to do it, He comes irresistible. And this faith, this faith, I tell you, a new heart can't
do anything else but believe. Did you ever try not to believe?
We sometimes have to encourage ourselves to believe, and we
do have to encourage ourselves to believe. But did you ever
try not to believe? You can't do it, can you? You
can't do it. You can't do it. I've tried it.
You can't do it. Why? How did faith begin in our
heart? It wasn't something you mustered
up, was it? It wasn't something you was born
with and laid dormant? That's not saving faith. It comes
upon the revelation of Jesus Christ. And it believes in Him
that it sees. It believes in Him that's revealed.
You can't believe in a Christ that's not revealed. You can't
help but believe in one when He is. Irresistible faith. That's why
you can't never quit believing. Faith is begun in a sovereign
act of God. Christ is the author of it. And
you just can't quit believing. You can't. We're not of them
who draw back And to perdition, we see it all around us, don't
we? Profession today and next year the gone. But we're of them
who believe to the saving of our souls. We'll never quit believing,
brothers and sisters, till faith ends in sight. Everything I've
started in this life, just about everything, I finally give up
on. It gets old. But this is one
thing I can't quit doing, looking and believing in Him. And here's
the reason. The work was started in me. And the work is upheld in me.
The sovereign work. The three must. The Son of Man
must be lifted up. You must be born again. And you
must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.