Let's open our Bibles this morning
to the book of Mark, Mark, the ninth chapter. I'm going to read
two verses from Mark, chapter 9, verse 23 and 24. My subject this morning is, I
believe, but I'm not a Christian. Does that interest you? I hope
that it does. I believe, but I'm not a Christian. In Mark 9, 23, the scripture
says, Jesus said unto him, If you can believe, all things are
possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of
the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. A few days ago, I visited a man
in the hospital at the request of his sister. She said he was
not saved. He did not know Christ. He was
up in years and very sick and asked if I would visit with him,
and I did. And after we introduced ourselves
and passed the time of day, I presented this question to him. Are you
a believer? You know, I think that's a better
question than are you a Christian. Just about everybody. in our
day as a Christian. We call ourselves a Christian
nation. We have the Christian flag and we have Christian hymns
and Christian schools and Christian politics and everything like
that that doesn't even smell of Christianity. So I just quit
asking that question, are you a Christian? I believe it's a
better question to ask, are you a believer? Are you a believer?
And you know what he said to me? And I think it's a good statement. And if I can explain to you what
he meant, I believe it'll help some of you because I think there
are thousands of people in this same condition. He looks right
straight at me and he said, I'm a believer, but I'm not a Christian. I'm a believer, but I'm not a
Christian. What did he mean? Now, if I can
explain to you what he meant, I know what he meant. I know
exactly what he meant. And if I can explain to you what
he meant, it'll answer some vital and important questions for you.
And it may even meet the need of someone out there in the same
condition. Now, here's what he meant. Point
number one, he believed in God. He believed in God. Most men
believe there's a God. You don't find many people who
do not believe there's a God. Psalm 14.1 says, the fool has
said in his heart, no God for me. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork.
Men may refer to God by many different names. They may call
him the man upstairs, they may call him the good lord, they
may call him the great spirit, they may call him Allah, they
may call him God, they may call him many names, but everybody,
nearly everybody, has some understanding that there is a God. There is
a God. Even the devil knows there's
a God. James says that. He said, you
believe in one God, you do well. The devil believes in God. The
devil believes in God and trembles. This is not salvation. A man
can believe in God and not deceive. It's like Christ said to those
people that I was talking about last Sunday. They said, we have
one Father, even God. We be Abraham's seed. These people
were going through all the motions of religion and Christ said,
you don't know God. They believed God, they believed
in God, but they didn't know God. So a man can believe God
and not be saved. He can believe in God and not
be saved. Believe there is a God. And that's
what this man meant, first of all. He believed in God. He believed
there was a God. But he wasn't a Christian. Secondly,
he believed that God is holy. If you'd ask him, is God holy,
he'd say, certainly, I believe God's holy. God has given us
a law called the Ten Commandments. Like Isaiah said in the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up and
His train filled the temple and the cherubims and seraphims cried,
holy, holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Even the demons
know God's holy. They said one day to Christ,
they said, we know who you are, you're the holy one of God. Have
you come to torment us before our time? They also believed
in judgment and they believed in punishment of sin. Have you
come to torment us? before our time. They believed
God was sovereign, that he had set a time for them to be dealt
with, judged, and committed into eternal hell. Pilate believed
in the holiness of Christ. He said, I find no fault in this
man. Pilate's wife said, I've suffered many things in a dream
because of this man's innocence. This is an innocent man. Judas
said, I've betrayed innocent blood. And the centurion said,
surely this man is the son of God. I believe. I believe there's a God. I believe
God's holy, that God's given a law called the Ten Commandments,
and God is holy. And then this man meant this.
He believed the Bible is the Word of God. Now, you can't account
for the Bible's existence without believing it's the Word of God. Where are the books written by
men over 300, 400, 500 years old? There's hardly any. But this book was written, began
3,500 years ago, three millenniums, three and a half millenniums.
And it's crossed the barriers of nationality, of class, of
age, of years, of generations and dispensations. It's the same
today. It's the Word of God. You cannot
account for its power over the lives of men. There's no single
book ever exercised such power over one man, let alone over
nations and millions of people. Its power, its holiness. Yes,
even Satan quoted the scriptures. He said to Eve, hath God said,
ye shall not eat of the tree? He said to Christ, it is written,
it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee.
But salvation is not in a book, it's in a person. Salvation is
not just believing there's a God and believing God's holy and
believing the law. is the law of God, believing
the Bible is the word of God. You can believe every one of
those things and not be a Christian, not be saved. This man believed. This is what he meant. Yes, I
believe. I believe that I'm not a Christian. Tell you something
else he believed. He believed he was a sinner.
Yes, sir, he certainly did. To some extent, to some extent,
all men believe that they're sinners. There are very few people,
there may be some weird religious folks that claim to be perfect
But nobody in his right mind believes he's perfect. Everybody
knows he's a sinner. He knows in his thoughts he's
a sinner, in his imaginations he's a sinner, even in his dreams
he's a sinner. Everybody knows that. We know
we've sinned and come short of God's glory. Even King Saul said,
I have sinned in his pride. Even Balaam said, I have sinned. Even Judas said, I have sinned. If we say we have not sinned,
we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. If we say
we have no sin, we've made God a liar. And God forbid that any
man should call God a liar. All men are liars. Let God be
true and all men become liars. But men know they're sinners.
They believe they're sinners. This man believed he was a sinner.
But that's not salvation. And people talk about confession
being good for the soul. Maybe it won't save the soul.
It won't save the soul. It may make you feel better,
but it won't erase your sins on the records of glory. So just
believing you're a sinner won't save you. And this man believed
also that Jesus Christ lived on this earth, died, and rose
again. Yes, sir, and you do too. You believe. You know that a
man called Jesus Christ lived on this earth. Only a fool would
deny his existence. The calendar tells us that Jesus
Christ lived on the earth and died. We measure time by B.C. and A.D. before Christ and in
the year of our Lord. He was here. He was here. He
died on the cross. But that's not salvation. It
says in John 2, 23, many believed on him when they saw the miracles
which he did, but Christ did not commit himself to them, for
he knew what was in man and needed not that any should testify what
was in man. They believed with the head.
not with the heart. They were convinced that he was
some mighty prophet. Even Nicodemus called him a good
master. Even the rich young ruler called
him a master. Even those people when he marched
into Jerusalem on the donkey, they cried, Master, make your
disciples behave. Make them quit calling you by
the son of David. Make them hush. They believed
he was a good man. But anyone who knows anything
about scripture, No, an eternal life knows that salvation is
more than mental agreement to facts about God, Christ, the
Bible, the law, holiness, and these things. Salvation is more
than that. And when this man says, I believe,
I believe, I believe there's a God, I believe He's holy, I
believe the law is His law, I believe the Bible is His word, I believe
I'm a sinner, I believe Christ died on the cross and was buried
again, Anybody who knows anything about the scriptures knows that
salvation is more than mental agreement with these facts. And
you can walk down an aisle and shake a preacher's hand and say,
I believe every one of those things and perish in your sin.
Because salvation, my friend, according to the Bible, is a
new birth. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Salvation is a new creature,
a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Salvation is having a new master. He that loveth father, mother
more than me, husband, wife more than me, brother, sister more
than me, yea, his own life also, cannot be my disciple. And whosoever
among you does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be
my disciple. Now this is what the man meant.
I believe the facts. I believe the facts. I believe
the fundamentals. But I've never been conquered
by Christ. I've never been conquered. I've
never been broken by the Spirit of God. I've never been shut
up to faith in Jesus Christ. I've never been brought to my
knees in truly godly sorrow over sin, repentance toward God, and
faith in Jesus Christ. I've never made Christ my King
and Lord and refuge and foundation and hope. I've never committed
myself to Him. I believe the facts. I've heard
them rehearsed over and over again. I've heard them stated
until I can recite them myself, but I've never been conquered.
I've never been made a new creature in Christ. I've never been born
again by the power of God's Spirit. I've never been quickened together
with Christ. I've never been brought to peace.
Christ said, my peace I give unto you. coming to me all you
that labor in the heavy laden I'll give you rest I've never
enjoyed any rest of soul or rest of conscience or peace of heart
in Christ Jesus so therefore I'm a believer but I'm not a
Christian I believe the facts and my friends let me tell you
something most of our churches in this generation because we
preached a little old simple easy religious believism and
told people they're saved We've led them down the Roman road,
and we said to them, pray the sinner's prayer, and shake my
hand, and join our church, and you're bound for the promised
land. And this is not so. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. If a man's not been born again
by the Spirit of God, he'll never see the kingdom of God. If our
righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, we shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of
God, except you be converted. and becomes a little child, you
shall never enter the kingdom of God. Except you repent, you
shall all likewise perish. That's the scripture. So it's
not just believing some facts and giving mental assent and
agreement to some facts and fundamentals, as we call them, but it's being
regenerated and quickened and born again and made to know and
to love and to submit to and surrender and to receive the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what's the problem? What's
the problem? Well, it could be many things.
It might be one thing or it might be a combination of things, but
I think I can sum up some of them. Here's the problem. I'm
a believer of the facts. I give mental agreement to the
facts. I give mental agreement to the fundamentals, but have
never been conquered. There are a lot of preachers
who have never been conquered by Christ, consequently never been
saved. There are a lot of deacons and
elders and Sunday school teachers who have never been conquered
by Christ. Oh, they put on a good show, they put up a good front,
and they carry on a lot of religion, and they play church a lot, but
they've never been conquered, and they know they've never been
conquered. They've never been brought to love Christ. If any
man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. If any man
say, I love God and hate his brother, he's a liar, and the
truth's not in him. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples, if you love one another. You've been conquered
by Christ. Our Lord breaks the wild asses
cold. He humbles the spirit and brings
men down. He brings them down. He takes
the starch out of them, the pride out of them, the arrogance out
of them, and shuts them up to faith in Him. They become His
children. Children of God reveal the fruit of the spirit and the
evidences of the new birth. What's the problem? Here there
are one or two or three of them. Listen, first of all, most men,
most people, do not know the depths of sin. They do not know
the dangers of sin. Listen, here's one of the greatest
religionists of his day, Saul of Tarsus. One of the greatest
religionists of his day. If he'd been living today, he'd
be president of somebody's denomination, even in his unsaved state. He
said, I have not known sin. He didn't know what sin was.
The Apostle Paul, before he met Christ and before the Spirit
of God brought the true knowledge of sin to his heart, he thought
sin consisted only in outward acts. He thought he was perfect. He thought he was blameless.
He thought he kept the law. My friends, sin is a nature.
It's not just an act, it's a nature. Sin is a principle. Sin is an
evil nature within that results in acts of transgression and
iniquity without. That's what sin is. Sin is not
just an act. Sin is an attitude. And the law
of God condemns the thought as well as the act. To offend in
one point of the law is to be guilty of the whole law of God.
Men do not know the depths of sin. They do not know what sin
is. I have not known sin. The average person thinks that
sin is only an outward act. And if they do not commit certain
outward acts, they're without sin. But sin is a nature. It
is a principle within. It's a principle in nature with
which we're born. A man does not become a thief
because he steals an object. He steals that object because
he's a thief in his heart. A man does not become a killer
because he takes somebody's life. He takes that life because the
hatred was already in his heart. That's what Christ said. You've
heard it said by them of old times, I shall not kill. I say
unto you, to hate is to be guilty of murder. You've heard it said
by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. I say unto
you, the thought of lust is sin. Lust in the heart, desires and
yearnings for that which is forbidden in the heart is sin. Our Lord
said, you've heard it said by them of old time, don't swear.
He said, I say unto you, yes is sufficient, no is sufficient,
and anything more than that is sin. Boy, I'll tell you, the
average person doesn't know what sin is, or we'd be crying, God
be merciful to me, I sinned. But we run around with a pious
look on our faces and a great big good Samaritan Bible under
our arms and a cross in our lapels and try to smile and act like
Mr. Piety himself, you know. And God looks not on the outward
countenance, He looks on the heart. And He sees what you think.
He sees what you imagine. He sees what you desire. He sees
what you are inside. There are three us's, somebody
said. There's the person we think we
are, and the person other folks think we are, and the person
God really knows we are. And we need to come to get acquainted
with that person. And if we did, we'd cry like
Job. I hate myself. We'd cry like Isaiah. I'm a man
of unclean lips. Dwelling amidst a people of unclean
lips. If we could know the depths of sin, and if you ever know
the depths of sin, you'll know the dangers of sin. The soul
that sinneth it shall die. Die, die. God says it shall die. The wages of sin is death. God
will have no mercy upon sin. Not when we try to stand in our
own righteousness. Now, in Christ you'll find some
mercy, but not in your own. But you don't need Christ until
you become a sinner. No man will ever be saved until he's lost,
long lost. You say, well, I've never been
lost. That's the reason you're not saved. No man will ever cry for
mercy until he's guilty. Guilty. Let every mouth be stopped
and all the world become guilty, guilty before God. Not guilty
before men, before God. David said, Against thee have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. No man will seek a
savior till he knows the curse of the law and longs to be delivered
from it. That's the first problem. The
second problem is this. Men do not know nor understand
the holiness of God. An average person thinks that
God You know, can look down, and if a fellow done wrong, he
can just sort of, you know, put his tongue in his cheek and,
you know, and overlook it, be good, and just overlook him.
Now, wait a minute. God's holy. How holy is God? Just how holy
is God? I'll tell you. God is too holy to embrace even
his own son when his son is bearing our sins. God's too holy. Now,
who is that on that cross? That's the Son of God. And God
turned his back. He turned away from his son.
Why? Because of his holiness. How
holy is God? Too holy to accept even the best
person on earth without perfect righteousness. The man at his
best state, the Bible says, is altogether vanity. And God is
too holy to accept any righteousness, any so-called goodness, any works,
unless they're perfect. You've never done a good work
in your life. Now, you've done some good works
according to men's opinions, but no good work before God,
because it has to be perfect. A prayer must be a perfect prayer,
a gift must be a perfect gift, a work must be a perfect work,
a righteousness must be a perfect righteousness, or God can't have
anything to do with it. God can't. Well, you say, what
in the world are we going to do? Well, we've got to have Christ,
you see, our works in Him, our faith in Him, our confidence
in Him. Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.
Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life which I now
live, in the flesh I live with the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ said, without
me you can do nothing. You can do nothing. Nothing.
Anything you do is less than perfection, and God can't accept
it. He's too holy. This is our problem. Well, I
just think God, you know, God's too good to send a man to hell.
Well, wait and see. He wasn't too good to let his
son die on a cross and bear our hell. In fact, his goodness put
Christ on the cross. His holiness put Christ, because
he could not save sinners and still be holy unless somebody
died for him. God's too holy to accept any
sinner. In the flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh no man can please God. And then how holy
is God? He's too holy to forgive sin
without a sin offering. Just too holy. All right. Thirdly, men do not know the
depths of sin or the dangers of sin. They do not know the
holiness of God. And they do not know the only
true way of redemption. Now listen to me. For God so
loved the world. God loved sinners. Purpose to
save sinners. God determined to save sinners. He's going to have a people.
Heaven's going to be populated with a people just like Christ.
And God so loved, in His mercy and grace, that He gave His Son. He gave His Son. What for? He
gave His Son to be our representative. Without Christ, we have no representative. Before the law, before the courts
of heaven, before justice, before God, we have no representative,
no mediator. He gave his son to be our representative. He gave his son to be our surety.
He's the surety of the everlasting covenant. You know what a surety
is? You ever sign a banknote? You ever have a friend sign it
under your name? That's your surety. If you don't pay it,
he will. If you can't pay it, he must.
Christ is my surety. He's a surety of the everlasting
covenant. He signed his name and he paid
it. I couldn't pay it. He paid it
all. All the debt I owe. Sin left a crimson stain. Bankrupted
me. But he washed it white as snow.
He gave his son to be our surety. He gave his son to be our redeemer.
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sin. He gave his son to be our sin offering. By one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. He gave
his son to be our mediator. He intercedes for us before the
throne of God. What's the problem? Men do not
know the depths of sin. They do not know the holiness
of God. They do not know the only way that God Almighty can
be just and justify the ungodly, can be a holy Savior and redeem
the lost. They don't know it. And God can
only save sinners one way, and that's by a perfect substitute
and sacrifice. I'll tell you the fourth thing.
Many men have some sort of refuge. They have some sort of refuge
in which they trust. Now let me tell you something,
friend. You beware of any refuge that does not have Christ as
the sole hope. Any refuge. You just beware of
it. Anybody says you're a Christian, or you say, well, back yonder
I did this, and back yonder I did that, it's back yonder Christ
did something, not you did something. If Christ is not the sole hope
of your refuge, you've got a false refuge. Beware of any refuge
that does not give you a love for Christ and a love for others. By this shall all men know you
are my disciples if you love one another. Beware of any refuge
that does not give you peace and joy and rest, not in what
you do, but in what Christ did. Not in your righteousness, because
you realize you're the chief of sinners, you're less than
the least of all the saints, you're not worthy to be called
a child of God, but Christ died for your sin. And you have peace
and rest in Him, trusting Him, in His Word. Beware of any refuge
that does not give you a desire for holiness, and a desire for
truth, and a hunger for righteousness. Beware of any refuge that does
not find its full assurance in Christ and His blessed Word.
There's another thing that keeps men from Christ, and that is
pride. Pride. Pride goeth before destruction
and the Holy Spirit before the fall. God resisteth the proud. He gives grace to the humble.
I'm as good as anybody in the church. Perhaps you are. I'm
just quite certain you are. But you're not good as God. And
he's the one that's going to judge you. But I tell you, I'm
just about as good as anybody you've got down there. You're
just right as you can be, my friend. You're as good as any
man on this earth. That's one worm comparing himself
with another worm. One maggot bragging on the fact
that he's a little cleaner than another maggot. But you're not
clean and holy and righteous as God, and he's the one that's
going to judge you. And that's the one you've got
to deal with. What shall I do, preacher? Let me read you a verse
of scripture. Isaiah 45, 22. Look unto me. Look unto me, Christ said, and
be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, Jew, Gentile, white,
black, rich, poor, old, young, look unto me, and be ye saved,
look unto me, all the ends of the earth, for I'm God, I'm God,
and there's none else. Pagans have looked to their idols
of stone. Legalists have looked to their laws and works. Religionists
have looked to their leaders and theologies and messiahs. Sentimentalists have looked to
their decisions. Intellectuals have looked to
their philosophies. But there's one source of mercy,
and that's Christ Jesus. There's one source of help and
grace, and that's Christ Jesus. And two reasons why he's the
only source of help. Number one, he says, I'm God.
I'm God. I'm God. God's the one we've
sinned against, and God's the only one who can forgive us.
God's the one that we have sinned against, and He's the only one
that can pardon. So He says, you look to Me, and I'll save
you, because I'm God. And we need the God-man to save
us. Man can't do it. We couldn't save ourselves. Men
have tried. They've tried to build a tower
to heaven. They've tried all different things, but they've
always perished in their trying. Look unto Me, for I'm God. And
one other reason. He says, you look to Me. I'm
God. And the second reason, there's none else. That's what the disciples
said one day, to whom shall we go? Shall I go to the baptismal
fount? Shall I go to the sacraments?
Shall I go to the priest? Shall I go to the preacher? Shall
I go to the altar? Shall I go to some soul winner?
They can't help themselves, let alone me. Go to Christ. He's
the mediator. He's the sin offering. He's the
one way. He said, I'm the door. By me
if any man enter in, he shall be saved and go in and out and
find pasture. I'm God. I'm God, there's none
else. For the foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, Christ the Lord.