I want to read two or three verses
of Scripture from the book of Acts, chapter four. My subject
tonight is salvation according to the Scriptures. Salvation according to the Scriptures. In Acts, the fourth chapter,
verse ten, the apostle says, Be it known unto you all And to all the people of Israel,
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him, that this man stand
here before you whole. This is the stone. This Christ, this Jesus of Nazareth,
this is the stone. which was rejected and despised,
and set it not of you builders, you religious builders, you religious
leaders, which is become the head of the corner, neither,
I declare unto you, neither is there salvation in any other. Neither is there salvation, redemption,
forgiveness, and life in any other. For there is none other
name. His name is His character. His
name, His attributes. His name defines His person and
work. His name is His authority. For
there is none other name. None other name unto heaven.
That covers a lot of territory. None other name unto given among
men, and that's us. There won't be another messenger.
There won't be another gospel. There won't be another chance.
There's none other name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must, if we are to be saved, we must be saved. If we are to
be redeemed, we must be redeemed. Now the way of redemption, there
it is. And the way of redemption is
revealed in the word of God in the plainest terms. This is the
stone, the tried stone, the true stone, the stone which
God laid, the only cornerstone This is the stone which the religious
leader says, we won't have him reign over us. We won't have
him. Give us Barabbas. We have no king but Caesar. This
is the stone which has become the head of the corner, and neither
is there salvation in any other. And there it is. And yet there's
no truth. There's no subject. in all the
world about which more error has been spoken than this matter
of salvation. No other subject. You can go
out on the street tomorrow, and you can ask a dozen people, how
is a sinner saved? You can ask a dozen people tomorrow,
how is a sinner saved? Just select them at random. And
I'll almost guarantee you that you'll get a dozen different
answers. And many of them will quote Scripture.
Now, the problem's not with the Scriptures. Now, get this. The way of redemption is clearly
set forth in plainest terms here in the Word of God. And yet,
if you go to people and ask them how God saves a sinner. How is
a sinner saved? When is a sinner saved? You'll
get all these different answers. And some of them will quote Scripture.
Now, the problem's not with the Scripture. The problem's with
the man. That's where the problem is,
not with the Scripture. And what's the problem with man?
Well, God tells us, if our gospel be heard, it is heard to them
who are lost. in whom the God of this world
hath blinded their minds. The gospel is hid from them.
They're blind. They don't see it, they don't
hear it, and their understanding is darkened. And as Gary said,
the carnal mind—I know most people don't believe this, but it's
true—the carnal mind is enmity against God. The carnal mind is not subject
to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. Our Lord
sent his disciples out to preach to a hostile world, to a pagan
world, to a religious world. And he said, now don't be amazed.
They're going to hate you. And they're going to hate you because
they hated me. And the servant's not greater than his Lord. If
they've heard my word, they'll hear your word. If they hate
my word, they'll hate your word. He that heareth you, heareth
me. He that hateth you, hateth me, and he ultimately hates him
that sent me." That's what he hates. And the heart's deceitful. I
hear people say, well, I know my heart. That's one little object
you don't know. The heart, listen to the Scripture,
Jeremiah 17, 9, the heart is deceitful above all things. and desperately wicked. Now listen
to this. Who can know it? That's the reason you get all
these different answers. That's the reason men are so
confused on this issue of God, sin, Christ, salvation, and life,
and death, and judgment, and eternity, and where men will
spend eternity. They're totally confused because
their eyes are blind. He said they have eyes, but they
don't see. They have ears, but they don't
hear. They have hearts, but they don't understand. Their understanding
is darkened, and the heart is desperately wicked. The whole
head is sick, sick. The whole heart is faint. The intellect and the affection
polluted by sin, warped by sin. But I'll tell you this. I'll
tell you this, and it's so. Even those who have faith in
Christ personally, and they can say with the Apostle Paul, I
know whom I have believed. I know whom I have believed.
Those people who experimentally have come to Christ and found
in Him all they need, They don't find it easy to define this matter
of salvation. Salvation's a mystery. The fellow
that's got it all figured out's got it figured wrong. Even Paul
said, I count not myself to have apprehended. I have not arrived. I'm not perfect. I've not laid
hold upon that for which I've been laid hold of by Christ.
Not yet. And when you think you've got
God in all the right pigeonholes, you better start all over again. I got a no-so salvation. I tremble when I speak on this
subject of salvation. I tremble when I speak on anything
related to Jesus Christ the Lord. Paul said, I stand before you
in fear and trembling and weakness, lest I exaggerate one part, or
lest I neglect another. But God has taught me from His
words some things about this matter of salvation. I said to
Brother Gary on the way back from Pikeville this afternoon,
I'm not trying to build anything. I'm not even trying to build
a following at all. Believe me, I'm not. I'm not
trying to build a denomination, nor an organization, nor a following,
nor a huge church. I want the people to whom I preach
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all I want. That's all
I want. God knows that's all I want. I want you to know Christ. I
want you to know Him in saving faith. I want you by the Spirit
of God to be brought to that place of joy in the Redeemer. I want to see you in glory. Paul
said, you're my joy and crown. I don't care if you go somewhere
else to church, just so you know Christ. That's all that matters. And
I'm going to give you five things that I want you to consider tonight
regarding this matter of salvation according to the Scriptures.
Now, the Bible says, for by grace, by grace, grace is the free gift
of God, the unmerited favor of God. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is not an offer, it's
a gift. For by grace, by grace are you saved through faith.
And that knowledge of yourselves, it's the gift of God. But I want
to give you five things. Now, here's the first one. The
first one is this. The object of saving faith. What
is the object of saving faith? Saving faith. I'm told, I'm told
to believe. What am I to believe? I'm told in the Word of God,
To look. To whom am I to look? I'm told
in the Word of God, just trust in whom you trusted. Well, what
or whom do I trust? That's a good question. I am to believe, I am to look,
I am to trust. And the answer is simple. It's
in the Word. I am to believe Christ. I am
to look to Christ. I am to trust Christ. I know the salvation of our souls
is the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I can't
explain the Trinity. I just know that the Lord our
God is one God. But I know the Lord our God is
revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible clearly
declares that there are three that bear record in heaven, the
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And the Lord Jesus said,
I will pray the Father. He'll send you another comforter,
the Holy Spirit, who will dwell with you forever. And I know
that salvation, this thing of the redemption of my soul, the
salvation of my soul is the work of the Father who chose me and
the Son who purchased my redemption and the Holy Spirit who applied
that redemption in saving faith. But yet, the first An immediate
object of the sinner's faith is not the Father and not the
Holy Spirit, it's Christ. That's what the Word says. He
that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. You can't know
the Father except as you know the Son. You can't worship the
Father except as you worship the Son. I know this, I know
that true faith produces good works. Faith that does not produce
good works and a holy life is dead faith and will not save. I know that faith and conduct
cannot be separated. As a man thinketh in his heart,
so is he. Out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. He that doeth righteousness is
of God. He that doeth unrighteousness
does not know God. He that loveth not his brother
knoweth not God. God is love. But yet, he who
looks to his works will perish. He who trusts in his works will
perish. He who finds any comfort in his
works will perish, because the man is not saved by works, he's
saved by Christ. You say, that's confusing. only
to a darkened understanding. I know this. I know salvation
is an experience. It is an experience. It's an
experience of peace and joy. I know that. I know that the
happiest times that a believer has is at the feet of Christ.
I know the most joyful times that a believer has is in the
fellowship of other believers who love and worship his Lord.
It's an experience of joy. It's a feeling of peace and joy. It's a rest. I know that in the most difficult
times, the believer's heart is at rest. I know that when the
body is tired, the soul is not. And yet, if you look to your
experience, or rest in your feelings, you'll perish. Well, I'm saved because I feel
saved. Then you're not saved. Salvation is not a feeling, it's
a person. Now that's not confusing. Salvation
is an experience, but experience is not salvation. And you can
make all kind of decisions, you can have all kind of experiences,
you can have all kind of visions, you can have all kind of feelings,
and perish. For salvation is in Christ. There
is therefore now no condemnation to them who are where? In Christ. Not to them who are on the mountaintop,
to those who are in Christ. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Not through our feeling, Not
through our profession, through our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, saving faith believes
Christ. Saving faith looks to Christ.
Saving faith rests in Christ. Saving faith trusts Christ. And
saving faith only finds its comfort in Christ. That's the object of faith. All
right, here's the second thing. And I know there's a covenant
of grace, but we don't look to that covenant. Yes, sir, I know
that salvation is a great experience, but we won't look to that experience.
I know that salvation produces godliness and good works and
good fellowship and generosity, but we don't look to those things,
we look to Christ. The hymn writer said, My faith hath found a resting
place. Has yours? Not in the vice of
creed. I trust the ever-living One. His wounds for me shall flee.
Enough for me that Jesus saves. That ends all my fear and my
doubt. You see, as a sinful soul, I
came to Him. And you'll never cast me out. I don't need any other argument.
I don't need any other plea. It's enough that Jesus died.
He died for me. Here's the second thing. What's
the source of saving faith? Where is this saving faith? Where
is it born? Well, you've got to see two or
three things here. First of all, faith is born of
necessity. That's right. Faith is born of
need. There's no use trying to get
a man saved who's not lost. There's no use preaching good
news to a man who is not a captive. He said, I've come to preach
good news to the poor and deliverance to the captives, and recovery
of sight to the blind. And no man will ever look to
Christ or believe on Christ or trust in Christ until he is aware
in his heart and soul that he needs Christ. What I need I seek after. When a man finds out before God's
holiness that he's a wretched sinner, when he finds out before
God Almighty's law he is a guilty sinner, When he finds out there's
none can help and none can save, like the woman with the issue
of blood, who was slowly dying, her body was growing weaker and
weaker, the very life was being drained out of her. She was so
pale and wasted, and she'd tried all these different people and
none could help her, and she'd spent everything she had and
had nothing left and was no better. She was shut up to Christ. Shut
up to Christ. Shut up to Christ. There was
no way to turn but to Christ. There was no one to whom she
could look but Christ. There was no one who could help
her but Christ. And if you ever come spiritually to that place
where you've tried everything, and looked to everybody, and
spent all you have, and you've got nothing else to offer, and
you're no better, and you continually get worse, and you're on your
way to hell, and you shut up to Christ, that's when you'll
be saved. None but Christ can do the helpless
sinner any good. So this thing of salvation and
faith is born of need. But where does the need come
from? Well, the need is born of the Holy Spirit's work. He
said, You hath equipped them who were dead in trespasses and
sins. How does a man find out that
he is a sinner? God shows it to him. How does
a man find out that he's lost? God shows it to him. How does
a man find out that he's unclean? God shows it to him. Isaiah said,
in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. God revealed
himself to me. And I cried, I'm undone. I'm
cut off. You see, salvation by grace and
salvation by Christ is so disagreeable to us by nature. Now listen to
me, I know it's so. I watch people do it. Salvation
by grace, salvation by mercy, salvation by Christ, salvation
through His work is so disagreeable to us by nature, we'll turn everywhere
but to Christ. Everywhere. Yeah, we will. We'll try anything. You can tell
people to be baptized and they will. You can tell them to send
their money, and they will. They'll just flood you with money.
They'll try to buy their way into the kingdom of God. They'll
try to work their way into the kingdom of God. They'll try to
swim their way into the kingdom of God. They'll try anything.
And you tell them this, that Jesus Christ came into this world
for the specific purpose of lifting the beggar from the dunghill.
and washing the leper in his blood, and cleansing the guilty,
and giving life to the dead. The man who'll rejoice in that
is the man who's on the dunghill, and the man who's a leper, and
the man who's blind, and the man who's dead. See, the Holy
Spirit shows him that. The Holy Spirit reveals that.
Well, there's a step further to go. Who sent the Holy Spirit? See what I'm saying? This saving
faith has one object, that's Christ. Christ alone. With a
man, he'll keep his eyes on everything else, till as nothing else will
help, nothing else will aid his situation, till he shut up to
Christ. And he'll look to Christ when
he has a need for Christ, and not until. And he realizes that
need as the Holy Spirit closes every door. But I'll tell you
this, if all your doors had been shut, don't thank your preacher.
Thank God. If you've seen yourself lost,
don't thank the fellow that read the Word until you thank God
who sent it. For our Lord Jesus Christ one
day was walking along. And he lifted his eyes to heaven,
and he rejoiced in spirit, and he said, I thank you, Father. I thank you, Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, supreme sovereign ruler. I thank you because you've
hid these things. You've hid these things from
those who would not see. The wise and the prudent, you've
hid these things. from those who make themselves
other idols and would not bow. You've hid these things from
the traditionalists and the ceremonialists and the legalists and the moralists.
You've hid these things from the wise and prudent. But you
reveal them to babes, hungry babes, helpless babes. What's more helpless than a babe?
What's more helpless? Turn to John, chapter 6. John,
the 6th chapter. Listen to our Lord. In the 6th
chapter of John, verse 37. Verse 36, he said, I've told
you that you've seen me, but you didn't believe. You didn't
believe. That's the religious people.
You didn't believe. But all that my Father giveth me will come
to me, and him that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out.
Because I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will
of him that sent me. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given
me I won't lose a But I'll raise him up at the last day. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone that seeth
the Son with those eyes of faith, born of God, open to the Spirit,
eyes of inability and need, everyone that sees the Son as the supreme
Redeemer and believes on Him, may have everlasting life. And
I'll raise him up at the last day. Oh, they began to murmur
at him because he said, I'm the bread that came down from heaven.
They said, why, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know him. We know his mother and father.
How is it he said, I came down from heaven? And he answered
and said to them, don't murmur. And religious people are such
murmurers. Murmurers. Murmurers. No man can, no man,
whatever his natural ability, knowledge, intellect, or powers,
no man, not one son of Adam can, is able, has the ability to come,
believe, trust, look to me. Except my Father which sent me
draw him. Do you believe that? Oh, Spirit
of God, draw me. I'm not so proud that I won't
pray to be drawn. I'm not so arrogant that I won't
pray to be drawn. Draw me. Don't pass me by. Pass me not, O gentle Savior. Hear my humble cry, while on
others I know your calling. Don't pass me by. Let me at a
throne of mercy find a sweet relief, kneeling there, prostrate
in deep contrition. Lord, help my unbelief. Thou
art the spring of all my comfort. More than life, more than all
in life to me. Heal my broken, wounded spirit. Son of God, set me free. You too proud to pray that? Then
you ought to go to hell. You ought to. A beggar that won't
take charity ought to starve. A guilty man that won't accept
a pardon ought to stay in jail. Huh? Stay there. You made your
prison, stay in it. But if you want out, He'll set
you free. But you're going to have to look to Him. You're not
going to sow your way out. No man can come to Me except
the Father which sent Me, draw him. And I'll raise him up at
the last day. Who's He going to raise at the
last day? Those the Father gave Him. Those who believe on Him
and those the Father teaches. There it is, right there. Why
it's written in the prophets. You read this in the Old Testament.
Christ said that they shall all be taught of God. Every man that
hath learned, he hath heard and learned from whom? The Father. He comes to me. The Spirit taught
me and come to Christ. Religious taught men go to the
water and the wafer and the works of religion. But Spirit taught
men go to Christ. You see, that's the source of
faith. So the reason and the source and the fountain of this
thing of saving faith is God's eternal love, the divine work
of God's blessed Spirit, who brings the sinner to feel his
need, yearn for Christ, and to cry, Lord, save me. About the only place the untaught
pick up is when the sinner says, well, I see the public and said,
Lord, save me. Sure he did. But he didn't call till he was
called. That's right. And then the ground, what's the
ground of this faith? Number three, the ground of faith,
the foundation of faith. I preach plainly and clearly
without apology that all who believe on Christ, Almighty God
will save. If you look to Christ, believe
Christ, trust Christ, run to Christ, God has saved you, you
say, what's your authority for that? I tell you that Jesus Christ
came into this world sent by the Heavenly Father on a mission
to save a people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue
unto him. He came down here to reveal a
covenant, to redeem a covenant people given him. He came down
here on purpose and walked this earth in the flesh from the cradle
to the grave, from the womb of his mother to the time he arose
from the grave, and he walked this world, walked this earth,
walked in absolute perfection, holiness, and love, and never
offended God, and never thought an evil thought or spoke an evil
word or did an evil deed. He performed that righteousness
for those people the Father gave him. And He went to the cross,
and there, as our sacrifice and sin offering, He gave His life,
that God may be the just God that He is, and justifier of
those people who believe. You say, how do you know all
that? The way. Been there for hundreds of years.
Been out there hundreds of years. Moses preached it. Abraham believed
it. David rejoiced in it, and Isaiah
declared it, and Paul rested in it, and Ignatius,
and Polycarp, and Augustine, and Huss, and Luther, and Calvin,
and Zwingli, and Edwards, and Whitfield, and Spurgeon, and
me. Believe this. Do you? and the soul of authority that
we have is not the twinkling of a star or the rustling of
a leaf or the feeling of a heart or a vision in the night. It's
because God said so. That's the soul foundation. Any
other foundation cannot be trusted. That's right. What right do I
have to believe any mercy, grace, salvation is designed for folks
like me. God said so. Turn to Psalm 130. I just love this psalm. I tell
you, this is a precious, wonderful portion of God's Word. In Psalm
130, it says this in verse 3, Lord, Psalm 130, verse 3, Lord,
if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity, charge iniquity, whole
men responsible for every iniquity, every evil thought, deed, word,
imagination, who's going to stand? But there's forgiveness with
thee." Isn't that something? Oh, I like that line. There's
forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be filled. So I'm going
to wait for the Lord. My soul doth wait, and in His
Word, I hope. Now, I'll tell you this. I'll
exchange that for a trip down the aisle. I'll exchange a trip down the
aisle for that right there. Yes, sir, this is what I want
right here. I hope in thy way. I'll hold to this right here,
and you can hold to your experience. I'll hold to this right here,
and you hold to the feeling. Here it is, right here. All right? Fourthly, what's the result of
this saving faith? What does it do? When I believe
God, what does it do? When you really believe God,
believe in God now, when you really rest in Christ, believe
in Christ, when this spirit of grace becomes a reality, when he's done with religion
and rests in Christ. What happens? Well, listen to
the way. First of all, he who believes
on Christ is saved. Paul said to the Philippian jailer,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy
house. Saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, the
practice of sin, and by the grace of God, someday from the presence
of sin. He who believes on Christ is not condemned. That's what
our Lord said, he that believeth on the Son is not condemned.
He's free from condemnation, past, present, and future. He
who believes on Christ is a son of God. That's right, to as many
as receive him, to them gave he the right to become sons of
God. He who believes on Christ is
justified. Let me read you this, over in
the book of Acts, chapter 13, verse 39. Listen to this. He
who believes on Christ is justified. Acts 13, 39. Listen to it. 38
says, Be it known to you, brethren, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin, and by
him all who believe are justified. That means not guilty. That means
his record's clear. That means in the sight of God,
he's never sinned. He's justified. He's not guilty
from all things. Oh, surely. Come on. Yeah, that's
what it says. And by him, all that believe
are justified from all things. I sat and talked with a preacher till late Friday night in my
motel room whose wife is on her fifth trip
to the hospital with mental breakdowns. And he's lost from 190 or 200
pounds down to about 140. It's affected him so desperately.
You saw him. He wound up in the hospital too.
Couldn't handle it. He said, is that lack of faith?
I said, no sir, I don't think so. I said, I don't know of any
sickness or problem greater than emotional, mental breakdowns. I couldn't handle it. I don't
know. Most of you couldn't. Don't say you could. It's tough. But he got to telling me a little
bit about her past. Her mother is a very difficult
person, still lives in the same community. Her father is in jail, accused
of murder now, but he left them a long time ago. Her stepfather was, I don't know how to say
this, but handled her very wrongly as a young girl. And she's been plagued all these
years by guilt, G-U-I-L-T, And some other incidences have
happened just lately as a result of this vicious, vicious circle
of abuse, assault, all these problems in the background. But Pastor, what's a person to
do? I know there are psychologists
and psychiatrists and all these fellows that work on what you
did when you were young and what was done to you and all this.
But I can tell you this. I don't care where you were raised
and how you were raised and what you did or what they did to you
or what you thought. I don't care. You describe it,
name it or imagine it. There is forgiveness with my
God. And if you can come to believe
on Christ, women, men, boys and girls, you are justified from
all things. Now get it out of your system. And quit doubting God Almighty. Get it out. We're supposed to
mourn. We're supposed to rejoice in
Christ Jesus. But I'm supposed to go around
with my Head down in the dirt. I don't find that in God's Word. Lift up your heads, oh ye gates,
and the King of Glory will come in. I want to look Him right
in the eye when He comes in. I don't want to be walking around
with my head in the sand. Oh, I'm so wicked. Sure you are. Tell me something new. Oh, I've been so wretched. I
know it. You know it and God knows it.
Now forget it. Is that wrong? No, that's not wrong. That's
resting in Christ. You want a victory? Christ is
our victory. Thanks be unto God who give us
up the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. If Christ paid
for my sins, I don't think God wants me to pay for it down here
in a mental ward. Do you? I'm telling you the truth
now. And if you lay hold of this,
you'll find some peace. But you ain't going to find it
anywhere but in Christ. And that's the result of saving
faith. Now, religion won't help you. Most of the folks down there
are full of religion. And the more they crack up, the
more religious they get. That's right. Christ will make you whole. Christ will make you whole." I said, would she talk to me?
He said, she might. What would you talk to her about,
Preacher? Christ and His precious, cleansing, atoning blood. He's the answer. And you can mope around in the
mud if you want to, but I'm going to rejoice in the King. And you
can take your whip and whip yourself every night if you want to, but
I'm going to rest in the Savior. And you can be like Martin Luther
and starve your body and beat it with rods and beat it with
thorns and shed your blood and think God's pleased with your
so-called penance, but I'm going to lightly rejoice in Christ
and say, here's a sinner saved by grace, against whom in heaven
there's not one charge. That's what the Word says. There's
peace right there, boy. He who believes is justified.
He who believes is holy as God. Now you went too far. No, I didn't. I wish I could go as far as this
thing goes. I wish I could preach it like
it is. That seat wouldn't hold you if I could tell it like it is,
like it really is. If I announced tonight that You've
just inherited one cool million tax-free dollars, you'd come
out of that seat. Whee! Why don't you believe me when
I tell you that God's just given you the greatest inheritance
that any man could have? You don't believe me. Christ
said, I told you the truth, and you don't believe me. You don't
believe me. You don't believe me. No, you
don't. You wouldn't be moping around
like you are. You wouldn't be so saddled with
guilt like you are. No, you wouldn't. You wouldn't
be so sour if you really believed me. There's an inheritance undefiled
that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. You don't
believe me, do you? I believe it. Yes, sir, I believe
it. He who believes will never thirst.
He who believes has everlasting life. Not going to have it, he
has it. He that hath the Son hath. And old Dwight L. Moody, he didn't
say much, but he did say this. He that hath the Son hath life. And he said that means got it. He who believes on Christ will
never be ashamed. God's not going to slip me into
heaven through the back door. God's not going to slip me in
heaven under cover of night. I'm going to roll in there as
a trophy of His grace. I'll try. I'll never be ashamed. He'll never be ashamed of me.
I'll never be ashamed of Him. And I'll never be ashamed of
His coming. It says all three of those things, doesn't it,
Gary? Never. Come on. And bold shall I stand in that
great day, for who in heaven, earth, or hell to my charge can
lay one sin. I got a great Savior. I don't
have one who came down here and tried to do anything. He did
what he came to do. He came down, the Father gave
me to him. And He came down here to bind
me back from the law and the justice of God, and He got the
job done, and He entered into heaven as my forerunner, and
the Heavenly Father accepted Him, and He accepted me when
He accepted Him in the Beloved. And I'm seated right now at the
right hand of God, in Christ, as holy as God Almighty. Now, your psychiatrist won't
buy that. because he doesn't know God.
But that's so. That won't lift your spirit.
You ain't got one. The last thing is this, the evidence
of saving faith. First John, chapter 5. First
John, chapter 5. What's the evidence of this faith?
Where's your evidence, preacher? Watch it now. Watch it. Watch
it. Well, I know he said he lived
his religion. I'm so tired of that. Where is the evidence? A fella
mashed his finger and said a bad word, his wife said, thought
she was a Christian. He said four bad words then.
1 John 5, 10. He that believeth
on the Son, hath the witness in himself." Is that what that
says? In himself. And I'll tell you
this, 10,000 arguments, 10,000 convincing arguments presented
in favor of human merit won't move him. He knows he's a sinner. He knows it. He knows his guilt.
God showed it to him. And God's a good teacher. And
you won't move him from that position. He knows it. And all
the arguments in the world in favor of man's will, man's will,
your will, man's will, their will, everybody's will is not
going to move him. He knows his inability. God taught him. God's a good teacher. And a million
arguments against the complete sufficiency of Christ Jesus and
His precious blood will never move him from faith in Christ.
Because he knows the power and majesty and glory of Him who
died. God taught him. He's seen the
glory of God in Jesus Christ. And God's a good teacher. And
a million arguments about works and righteousness and religion
and morality and legalism and all these things will not faze
him. He knows his best deeds are filthy rags. God told him. He knows his best deeds are full
of sin. God told him. He knows that to
have a righteousness with which God will accept and God will
be pleased, it's got to be in Christ, not in him. God taught
him that. And God's a good teacher. You
won't be able to unlearn what he learned at the feet of his
Lord. These preachers are so afraid
they're going to lose a church member. They're so afraid that
somebody's going to steal one of their sheep. Ain't nobody
going to steal one of the Lord's sheep. No, no. Aren't you afraid for
your people to look at these fellas on TV or go to these meetings?
I wish you would watch them. Anybody who believes that trash
needs to be redeemed. You're not going to move that
man who's seen Christ. You're not going to move that
man who's seen the righteousness of Christ. You're not going to
move that woman who's God taught. Man thought if one man could
talk you into something, nothing would talk you out of it. But
when God Almighty reveals Himself to you, no. He said that were
it possible, they would deceive the very length, but it's not
possible. And I'll tell you this, all the subtle satanic insinuations
cannot move him. And I'm not just talking about
the pastor, I'm talking about these good elders and deacons
and men of this church and women who are grounded on the rock
Christ Jesus. All the subtle satanic insinuations
cannot move them from that gospel of God's grace, because He knows
by grace are you saved through faith. And that knowledge of
sin, God taught it. God taught it. He says, with
which live old. other refuge have I none, hangs
my helpless soul on thee. Leave all, God, leave me not
alone. All the days of my life still
support and comfort me. Thou, O Christ, art all I want. More than all in thee I find,
raise the fallen, cure the faint, heal the sick, give eyes to the
blind. I tell you what I'm preaching
here tonight. I'm preaching a real salvation in a victorious Lord who cannot
fail. And I know those who have met
Him, they have the witness in themselves. And they can walk
through the darkness and through the clouds and through the rain
and the sunshine and on the mountain and in the valley. They can walk
among the principalities and powers and rulers of darkness.
I fear no evil, for He's with me. He's with me. His rod and His staff comfort
me. He prepares a table before me in the presence of my name.
You know, it's my head with holes, my cup's running over. Surely
goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of this life. And by His grace, I'll dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. Can you believe? Can you believe? That's all I can do. Ain't nothing
else to do but believe. May God give you that grace.