Mark 16, verse 16, "...he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be
damned." Now, I believe that this is the most terrible declaration
I started to say, anywhere in the word of God, this is the
most terrible declaration to be found anywhere. He that believeth
not shall be damned. First of all, these are the words
of Christ the Lord. A lot of people receive religious
warnings indifferently, and I understand why. But these are not the words
of a religious fanatic. These are not the words of a
religious crusader. These are not the words of a
cult. These are not the words of an
angry man. These are the words of the compassionate,
kind, merciful man of sorrows in whom dwelt all the fullness
of God. These are the words of Christ.
These are the words of Christ. Our Lord said this. He that believeth
not shall be damned." These are the words of Christ. These are
the words of the Beloved Son, of whom the Father said, This
is my Son, hear Him, hear Him. Hear every word He has to say.
And He said, He that believeth not shall be damned. These are
the words of the Eternal God, because Jesus Christ is the exact
image the express image of the Father. He that hath seen me,
Christ said, hath seen God. If you've heard me speak, you've
heard God. The words that I say are not
my words, they're the words of him that sent me, and his words
are he that believeth not shall be damned. These are the words
of the Almighty One, the One who has authority to execute
his sentence. He said, All power is given unto
me over all flesh. I have all authority in heaven
and earth. He's the one that said, He that believeth not shall
be damned. If I said it, you might entertain
thoughts of getting by. If Ron said it, you might entertain
thoughts of escaping the condemnation. But he said it. He said it. He's the final word. He's the
last court of appeal. He's the judge of all men. God
hath appointed a day in which he shall judge the world by whom,
Charlie? By this man. This man doing the
talking. That's what he said. God hath
appointed a day in which he shall judge the world by this man speaking
right here. And he said, he that believeth
not will be damned. These are the words of the giver
of life. He said the Father hath given the Son power to give life. Life is in the Son. He quickeneth
whom he will, and your damn home he will. That's what I'm saying. And you know something about
this? These are not only the words of Christ the Lord, the
Almighty One, all the things I've said, but these are his
final words. Look at verse 19. So then, after
the Lord had spoken to them, he was received up into heaven
and sat down on the right hand of God." You know, there's something special
about last words, something special about final instruction. And
one more thing, a father is leaving town for two weeks. He kisses
his little boy and his little girl, kisses his wife, and he
says, Oh, one more One more thing. And I can guarantee you, all
the ears will prick up. One more thing. One more thing. And dying words have a special
significance. But these are not dying words.
These are final instructions. One more thing. You go into all
the world and preach the gospel. And he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not will be
damned. Those words hang heavy, don't they? And I'll tell you
the subject of these words. He that believeth shall be saved.
Do you know what it means to be saved? Justified, sanctified,
accepted of the Father, made righteous. Do you know what it
means to be damned? Forever separated from God, eternal misery. I'm
talking about damned. I haven't been in many courtrooms where any vital issues
were really determined. My friend Judge Iams is here.
He's been in a lot of courtrooms. He's experienced a lot of that
through his 40 or 45 years as a faithful judge. But I was in one courtroom one
time in Japan after World War II. call them the war crimes
trials. And I attended the last two or
three days of the sessions. There were, I think, something
like six or seven Army colonels, where the judges and the jury,
in other words, they were sitting up here in a circle in some very
oppressive-looking place, and there was a young Japanese lieutenant
on trial for a He was accused of crimes against American servicemen
during World War II. They brought in all the evidence
and this sort of thing, and we just came in, some of us fellows,
the last two or three days and sat in the audience. I don't remember a great deal
about it, but I do remember that last day when the time came for
establishing guilt, and guilt meant death. That wasn't anything
else. anything else, or any other choice,
it was either not guilty or guilty in death. And I remember when
those very impressive, we came in and sat down, and then those
fellows with all their, you know, paraphernalia on and their uniforms
came marching through that door, and a silence hung over that
courtroom you could cut with a knife. That young man sat there
and Though his skin was the color of Japanese skin, it looked like
that all the blood had drained from his face. He was sitting
there looking into the faces of those six men that held his
life in their hands, trying to read some emotion or trying to
read something from their faces. And they came in and the court
was all standing, and everybody sat down after they sat down.
And that fellow took out that piece of paper. He told that
young man to stand. And I'll tell you, it was something
else. His mother and family sitting over there sobbing. And it seemed
like it just lasted for minutes. And he stared into the face of
that Army colonel. He looked down and he said, We find you guilty, guilty, and
sentence you to hang by your neck till you're dead. I never
heard anything like that, but I hear it, and that's nothing
compared to this. My Lord said, he that believeth
not will be damned. What is unbelief? What is I sat
down and thought about it. What is unbelief? He that believeth
shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. Well, what
is unbelief? Well, it's the opposite of believing.
You say, that's too simple. Well, it's not too simple, it's
just so. It's just so. He that believeth, he that believeth
not. Faith, unbelief. For example,
faith believes the record that God hath given concerning his
Son. What is this record? This book right here is about
Christ. This is not a book of poetry, a book of proverbs, a
book of history. This is his story. This is the
book of Christ. Turn to John. Let me show you
John 20, verse 31. This is what John says about
the book which the Holy Spirit led him to write, and the same
thing could be said about all the other books in John 20, verse
31. But these are written that you
might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that
believing you might have life through his name. That Passover
is Christ. That tabernacle is Christ. This
book is about Christ. Last night, Doris and I were
sitting out on the patio. She was reading her Sunday school
lesson. I was reading my message for
this morning, and she had a little child's children's Bible story
book by Catherine Voss, and it's one of the better ones. But I
just picked it up, and I was reading some of the stories,
and I read the story of Ruth in that book. I said, where's
the kinsman-redeemer here? She said, it's not there. Well,
I said, that's what Ruth's all about. That's what David Parks
Paul preached on, the kinsman-redeemer. If you miss Christ in Boaz as
the kinsman-redeemer, you waste your time reading the Book of
Ruth. And then I went over there to the tabernacle, and I read
the tabernacle. And I read about the different
sacrifices in the tabernacle, and the high priest and Christ
wasn't there. He wasn't there. And I said,
this is a shame, he's there in the next chapter about something
to do with atonement, but that fence around the tabernacle,
the showbread, she even said that the Let's not start a campaign. Anyway, the author of the book
says that the incense that was before the veil was the prayers
of God's people. That's the prayers of Christ,
Cecil. I don't understand preachers and teachers and writers how
they can read this book and this Christ. That when Rahab the harlot
threw the red thread out the window, that's Christ. That red,
when they came in and saw the red thread, and they passed her
house. When I see the blood, I'll pass
by you. Everything in this book is Christ.
It's concerning his Son. Turn to 1 John 5. Faith believes
that. The record, 1 John 5, listen
to verse 10. Verse 5, 10, "...he that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar." Why? Because he believes not
the record God hath given of his Son. Where is the record
that I might believe it? You hold it in your hand. You
hold it in your hand. There it is, Richard. That's
the record right there. That's it. You hold it in your
hand. You hold eternal life in your
hand. It's in the Word of God, because the Word of God is Christ.
You can't separate the living Word and the incarnate Word.
Faith believes it, and unbelief rejects it. That's what unbelief
is. I tell you, and unbelief is a
slick one. It's a sly one. He looks for
reasons not to believe it. I just can't hardly believe that
stuff about dividing the Red Sea. I don't know, this must
be some, that must be the fish swallowing Jonah, that must be
figurative. You're in trouble, you're in
trouble, you're putting a question mark on God's Word. I don't care
how impossible it may seem to you, or appear to you, you start
putting a question mark here, and your question mark will go
all the way through, wherever it's convenient. Exactly right,
wherever it's convenient. That's exactly right. I tell
you, faith, secondly, faith has confidence in Christ. Paul said,
I know whom I have believed, I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him. And that's faith. Unbelief
doubts the person in power of Christ. Just the opposite. I
just take myself, like I walk across this bridge down here,
trust the bridge to hold me up, or drive across it. And I've
taken myself, everything I am and have and ever hope to be,
and just laid it on Christ. Just rest on Christ. Sink or
swim, I go to him. Committed it to him. I'm persuaded
he's able to uphold and to keep that which I've rested with him. That's faith. Unbelief says with
favor, well, who's the Lord that I should obey him? And then faith
receives Christ in his offices, prophet, priest, and king. Faith
bows to Christ as prophet to reveal God. I can't know God
except as I know Christ. Christ reveals God. He is God
in the flesh. Unbelief says, I can know God
some other way, apart from Christ. I can see God. I don't need Christ. I can go out and see God in the
heavens. You can see some of the attributes of God, but not
his saving, redemptive work. You can only see his redemptive
work in Christ. You can only see the redemptive
God in Jehovah, my Savior. That's Christ. You can see the
authority of God, you can see the might of God, you can see
the creative power of God, but nowhere can you see the grace
and mercy and love and redemptive righteousness of Christ of God
except in Christ. I challenge you, the God you
worship is only a God of justice if you don't know Christ. That's
exactly right. It's the only God you've got
to deal with. The heavens declare the glory of God, and you've
come short of the glory of God. Christ reveals the redemptive
mercy and glory of God, and that's where we fellowship with Faith receives Christ in his
office as prophet, priest. Unbelief says, I don't need a
mediator. Faith receives Christ as King to reign
and rule. Unbelief says, I'll not have
this man reign over me. Let me tell you something. Unbelief
is the greatest sin a man can commit. A whole nation perished in the
wilderness because of unbelief. Scripture says he would do no
mighty works because of their unbelief. Turn to Romans 11. I want you to see this. Romans
11. Judicial blindness rests today
upon Israel because of unbelief. In Romans 11, verse 18. Now read
this carefully, Romans 11 and 18, "...boast not against the
branches, but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but
the root thee. Thou wilt say then, the branches
were broken off, that I might be grafted even." Well, because
of unbelief, they were broken off. "...And thou standest by
faith. Be not high-minded, but But if
God spared not the natural branches, take ye, lest he also spare not
thee. Behold, therefore, the goodness
of God, and the severity of God, on them that fail severity, but
towards thee goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise
thou also shall be cut off. And they also, if they abide
not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in." God is able to
graft them in again. What's the problem? That's Israel's
problem right now, unbelief. Our Lord said, He that believeth
on the sun hath light. He that believeth not the sun
shall not see light. The wrath of God abideth, believe
not. George Whitefield was talking
to a young man one time, and the young man felt for some For
some reason, he ought to tell Mr. Whitfield how awful he had
been. He started to end on his sins, and when he paused for
breath, Mr. Whitfield said, is that all?
He said, what do you mean, is that all? And he went on and
talked about his bad life, bad past, and so forth. And you know,
I think sometimes it bothers me to hear people talk like this. They say, oh, boy, I used to
be a rounder. I believe, listen, I believe
they're enjoying it, Bob. I believe they're enjoying the
memories. I really do. I don't like to hear people go
back and pick up what rats they were and all about their journey
through these things, you know. There's something that seems
like bragging. It does. It seems like, I'm talking
about when you identify it. detail it for people, for people's
ears. One thing to say, I was a great
sinner and God saved me, I remember the pit from which I was digging,
but this thing of detailing sin, first it sounds like bragging,
secondly it sounds like getting a little joy out of remembering
it. But this young man felt obligated to do that, and finally he just
kept on, Whitfield kept saying, is that all? Finally the young
man said, what do you mean, is that all? He said, I've confessed
about everything a man could do. you left off the greatest sin
of all, unbelief. Unbelief. Unbelief. What does unbelief do? It robs
God Almighty of his glory, his cheap glory. What does unbelief
do? It puts a question mark on God Almighty's wisdom. Let me
show you four things in closing this message, four First of all,
I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 1. Here's what I'm dealing with
in four things. Why is unbelief such a great
sin? Why did Mr. Whitefield, look
at this young man who had confessed adultery and drunkenness and
profanity and blasphemy and stealing and all these things, why did
when he went through all of these sins, did Mr. Whitefield say,
is that all? and then charge him with the
greatest sin of all, unbelief. What makes unbelief such a great
sin? I'll give you four things I think
they're worthy of remembering and they're worthy of writing
down if you feel led to do so. Number one, unbelief doubts God's
wisdom, doubts God's wisdom and makes light of God's attributes
in redemption. It doubts God's wisdom and makes
light of God's attributes in redemption. Look at 1 Corinthians
1, verse 23. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block unto the Greeks foolishness,
but unto us who are called, Christ crucified is the power of God
and the wisdom of God. In other words, my friend, When we see Christ on the cross,
we see Christ born of Mary and see Christ walking this earth
in human flesh, under the law, tempted in all points as we are,
submissive to all the law of God, without offense, we see
him going to the cross, they crucify him, see him hanging
there in suffering, agony. We are impressed with one or
two ways. We, to say that, I see in all
of that, in that life, in that death, I see the wisdom of God. I see the wisdom of God. I see
the power of God. It's either that or it's foolishness. It's nonsense. It's unnecessary. It's foolishness. Now, the questions
I'm asking is this. How can God be just and justify
sinners? How can God be a holy God? be just and justify sinners. Wisdom says in Christ. How can God's mercy and God's
truth meet together? And faith says in Christ. And
the question comes, how can righteousness, the righteousness of God and
the peace of God, kiss one another? And faith says in Christ. And
the question is, how can the perfect law of God be fully honored,
honored to the greatest extent in every jot and tittle so that
God can look with favor upon those who haven't kept the law
and faiths as in Christ? And how can the raw justice of
God, in other words, that young man that I talked about a while
ago that was sentenced to die, He had been, according to the
witnesses and testimonies, he had been a mean one. He had mistreated
these boys, he had killed some of them, starved them, done all
these terrible things. Now, he got paid for his crimes.
And justice says he's got to die. The law says he's got to
die. We've broken every law God's
got. We've sinned against God. Now, how in the world can the
raw justice of God kill us, the soul that sinned has got to die,
sin bringeth forth death, how are we going to die and live?
How is the royal justice of God going to be fully satisfied in
our case? And faith is in Christ. Our sins
were laid on him, in Christ. That's where it's all done. in
Christ. And faith looks at Christ and
says, it's all in him. But unbelief, here's what makes
unbelief so terrible. It looks at the birth of Christ,
the condescension of Christ, the life of Christ, and the agony
and death of Christ, and says, that's foolishness. That's not
necessary. That's not necessary. If we go
to church on Sunday and pay our obligations and treat our neighbors
right and and do the best we can and live halfway decent,
that's all unnecessary. That's all a bunch of foolishness.
That's what unbelief is. And that's the reason it's so
awful. There's no sin. I'm telling you, there's no sin
in the sight of unbelief that looks at the life, agony and
suffering of Christ and says it's foolishness. But faith looks
at the birth, life, sacrifice, intercession, ascension of Christ,
and says, essential, necessary. Absolutely, that God may be just
and justifier. And I see in Christ, in his whole
life and death, I see the wisdom of God. I see the power of God
to save. I see the justice of God. I see
it all in Christ, and that's why I believe. And that unbelief
doesn't see that. It's foolish. Now, secondly,
why is unbelief so terrible? Secondly, it strikes at God's
love. Let me tell you a story. He striked
at God's love, for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten
Son. But God commended his love toward
us in the while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ is
the gift of God, the unspeakable gift of God's love. When I first
came to knowledge of the gospel and started reading some men
of the past who had preached this gospel of grace, I picked
up a book by an old Presbyterian preacher by the name of Daniel
Baker. It was one of the first books back in 1950 that I read. I remember the sermon so well. What attracted me to the book
was he had a sermon on the sovereignty of God. That's when I bought
the book, or got the book somewhere. I forgot where I got it. But
anyway, I was reading the book and it told a little bit about
his life. When he was very young, his mother
and father both died. Daniel Baker's mother and father
both died when he was six or seven years old, something like
that. And he and his sister were put in an orphan's home. And
he loved his sister. Oh, how he loved her. How he
loved her. She was his older sister. And
he just looked up to her and loved her so much, just a little
fella, and he looked up to that sister and something happened
one day and she got mad at him. Very, very, very mad. Very mad. Well, it broke his heart because
he loved her so much he couldn't stand for her to be mad. So he
took his savings, he had some money, pennies and dimes and
nickels, and he went down to the little village. and bought
her a gift. He bought her a beautiful little
colored vase, hand-painted vase. And he was so proud. He wanted
her to love him. He loved her so much. He couldn't
stand for her to be angry. He brought that vase back up
to the orphan's home, and he found her, and she was still
mad. And he said, I brought you a
gift. And he said, you'll never forget, when he wrote this sermon,
this book, he was way up in years, but he said, that's still indelibly
stamped on my mind. She took that vase out of my
hand and looked at it and dashed it to pieces at my feet. And
he said, I stood there, I couldn't believe it. I brought her a gift
of love and she despised it. And I'm telling you this. You
never hear anything else I say. Jesus Christ is the gift of God's
love. You better not despise him. And that's what makes unbelief.
He says, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Is it nothing
to you? The sufferings that I've suffered
are beyond description, and you dash it at my feet. I'll damn
you. That's what God said. He that
believeth not will be damned. That's what makes you unbelieve. Unbelief, it says unnecessary
when it points to the cross. Unnecessary. When the gift of
God's love is put in the hands of unbelief, it dashes it at
the feet of God and says, I don't want it. I despise your love. And then thirdly, unbelief makes
God a liar. I tell you the word of God says
let God be true and ever man a liar. You're the liar. I'm
the liar. I'm the liar. You say don't call
yourself a liar. That's what I am by birth, by nature, by
choice, by practice, by thought. I'm a liar. I couldn't tell the
absolute unvarnished truth if you was going to nail me to the
wall tomorrow. You couldn't either. You got to stretch it a little
bit or diminish it. You got to do something with
it. That's the truth. That's the truth. I just told it. God's true and we're liars. That's
the truth. That's the truth. Anything more
than that ain't so. Take God as high as you can get
him and as low as you can get us, and that's the truth. That's
the unvarnished truth. But unbelief says, let God be
a liar and let me be true. That's what unbelief says. God's
a liar. I'll read that to you, I John 1, turn over that. I'll
read it just in two verses. I John 1, verse 10. Listen. If we say we have not
sinned, we make God a liar. What greater insult can be heaped
upon God? Turn to I John 5, verse 10. The last line, he that believeth
not the record God hath given of his son, what does had made
him a liar. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar." Now, my friend, this was Abraham's sole recommendation. I don't know what you think of
Abraham. You look back over Abraham's life and do what you will with
it, but I'm saying this was Abraham's sole recommendation. He believed
God. That's whatever God says about
Abraham just keeps coming back. He believed God. He believed
God. He believed God. He believed God. He believed
God. He believed God. I'm going to believe God. I can't
think of... When you bring out your resumes,
all I need is he believed God. He believed God. He didn't believe
that Naz made God a liar. Last of all, Hebrews 12, 2 says
unbelief would rob Christ of his reward. Fourthly, unbelief
would rob Christ of his reward. Listen to Hebrews 12, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despised the shame,
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. What was his joy? To fulfill
the task the Father gave him, to fulfill the covenant of grace. to redeem his people, to bring
many sons to glory. And faith says, I want Christ
to have that joy and that reward. And unbelief says, I don't care. Unbelief would rob him of his
joy. Is it any wonder that God will
cast out all unbelief? I read the last sermon that an
old preacher preached before he died. And this was his closing
remarks. When he closed his message, he
said, Lord, I've heard your preacher preach. I've heard what you had to say
about sin, my sin. And especially I've heard of
your wrath against my sin. Lord, I've heard of your love
to sinners. I've heard of the great gift
of your love, Christ Jesus. I've heard now of his suffering,
his death, and the fulfillment of every attribute of the eternal
God. Your preacher read the very words
of Jesus Christ to me, Jesus Christ himself, your beloved
Son. The preacher read his words to
me, which declare, He that believeth and is baptized shall be And
he that believeth not shall be damned. Having heard all this,
my answer to you, God, in regard to your gospel is, I will not
believe. I will not believe. All right? There's just one result, and
that's what I'm preaching on, the results of unbelief. You
shall be damned. That's what God said. I want
to believe, and I say before God right now, before this congregation,
I believe God. I believe his word. I believe
Christ died for sinners. I believe he is the only refuge
and foundation and hope that a sinner has. And I'm resting
in him. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. Is that what you say? I believe.
Ed, I believe. Do you? I believe, Paul, I believe. That's my hope, not my preaching,
my giving, my going. I believe Christ, and he that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved. That's the word of
God. But this is the word of God, too, he that believeth not
of the devil. Can you believe?