Romans 10, the very first verse, the Apostle Paul expresses his
deep and great concern He says, brethren, my heart's desire and
my prayer to God for Israel, his brethren according to the
flesh, his friends, his people, those to whom he preached, the
great concern and desire of my heart and my constant prayer
to God is that they might be saved, that they might be saved. Over here in Romans 9 verse 1,
I wonder if any of us have this great concern which the apostle
had for his brethren, for his people. I wonder if any of us
are able to say with Paul when he says in verse 2 of chapter
9, I have great heaviness. and continual sorrow in my heart,
for I could wish that myself were separated or cursed from
Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." His
concern was that men not have religion, but that they be saved,
that they know Christ. I wonder, is there such a prophet
in the land? Is there a man with this kind
of compassion? Is there a man with this end
and goal in his heart that me and Mike come to know Christ? Paul said, my heart's desire,
the thing that breaks my heart, and my constant prayer to God
in the end of my ministry, I give my very life for it, is that
they might be saved. I know them. They have a zeal
of God. Our generation has more zeal
of God in this day than has been in centuries. They have a zeal
of God, but it's not according to the Word, not according to
the law. And the reason I know this, Paul says they are ignorant
of God's righteousness. Now my friends, listen to God
is not only love, and we hear this, we see it on the bumper
stickers, we see it everywhere, God is love. Smile, God loves
you. Nearly every preacher today as
he closes his television program smiles and says, God loves you,
and we love you. And that's supposed to be impressive.
But now let me ask you this, I don't hear any of them looking
out over the congregation or through the television camera
into the homes of America and say, God is holy and God will
punish sin, and God is angry with the wicked. That's what
the book says. God hateth the workers of iniquity. Be sure your sins will find you
out. Or saying with David, God is
angry with the wicked, and David said, Do not I hate them that
hate thee, O Lord? Now, but that's the God of the
Bible. God is holy. God is righteous. Not only God is love, God is
love. There's no love without God.
God is life. Whatever life we have outwardly
and inwardly is God. God is strength. God is mercy
and grace. But my friends, listen to me.
The immaculate, immutable, eternal God is holy. He is so holy that
even the cherubims and seraphims cover their eyes in his presence.
They cry, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. One of the greatest,
finest, most outstanding men who ever lived named Isaiah said,
when I saw the Lord, I cried, oh woe is me! I'm unclean! Unclean! I'm a man of unclean
lips! And I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips. A man like Job, whom God pronounced
righteous and hates evil and shuns evil. Yet he said when
he saw the Lord, I hate myself, I abhor myself, I repent in sackcloth
and ashes. I've spoken once, yet twice,
I'll never speak again, he said. Daniel! I don't guess there's
a man who ever lived with more integrity and honesty and zeal
and devotion than Daniel. But he said, when I saw the Lord,
my comeliness, beauty, melted into corruption. John, the beloved
John, when he heard the voice of Christ on the Isle of Patmos,
fell at his feet like a dead man. All flesh is grass, and
the goodliness of man is the flower of the grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower faded. He remembereth our frame, he
knoweth that we are dust. God is holy, holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty. And God cannot look upon sin,
He cannot tolerate sin, He cannot abide with sin, He cannot put
up with sin, and there's sin in all of us. defiling sin. He's holy, righteous. And if
any of us ever approach unto God, if we ever have any fellowship
with God, if we ever have any dealings with God, we're going
to have to be as holy as God. Who shall stand in his presence,
he that hath clean hands and a pure heart? Not pretty clean
hands and a fairly good heart, clean hands and a pure heart. That's what Scripture says. God
cannot tolerate sin even in the person of his own son, but turned
his back on him. And that was sins that was not
his own, sins that he was bearing for somebody else. God hates sin, God must deal
with sin, God must cast sin out. And we are seeing all of sin
and come short of the glory of God. I don't care how light the
sin or how faint the sin or how weak the sin or how small the
sin, one sin makes us guilty of the whole law of God. And here he says that God has
a righteousness. And if God ever embraces a man
and ever receives a man and ever makes a man righteous enough
to have fellowship with him, that man is going to have to
have God's righteousness. God's righteousness. And these
religious people here and the religious people of the past
days and the religious people of this day, they believe in
Jesus like these Jews believed in God. And they believe in the church
like these Jews believed in the church. And they believe in the
orthodoxy of the church, and they believe in the ceremonies
of the church like these Jews did. And they believe in the
history of the church, and the heritage of the church, and the
ceremonies of the church, and the ordinances of the church.
They believe in the death on the cross. But when it comes
to acceptance with God, and fellowship with God, they're trying just
like these people did here. to gain that righteousness and
that acceptance on the basis of what they do for God and not
what God does for them. My friends, you can take any
religion today by any name. Take any religion. Those who
worship Mary also believe in Jesus Christ. They believe he
died on the cross, was buried and rose again. Those who who believe in covenant
theology to the point where a child is regenerated in baptism, they
also believe in Jesus Christ. It's Christ plus that. It's Christ
plus this. Those who believe in coming into
grace and falling from grace and working their way to heaven,
they also believe in Jesus Christ. I don't know anybody preaching
today who will not tell you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and now shout and say, but, you've got to be baptized. But! You've got to take the communion. But! You've got to give your
tithe. But! You've got to attend church,
do this, do that, do this. Paul says, I know these people.
I know they have a zeal of God. I know they'd fight you for their
doctrine. They'd fight you for their orthodoxy.
But they're ignorant of God's righteousness. God's righteousness. And read on, and they're going
about to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted
themselves or committed themselves or cast themselves upon the righteousness
of God. And then verse 4 is the key.
Christ is the end. The purpose of the law was to
bring men to Christ. The goal of the law is to bring
men to Christ. The end of the law is to bring
men to Christ for righteousness, everyone that believes it. Now
then, verse 5, he says, Moses described the righteousness which
is of the law. If you're going to be saved by
keeping the law, this is the way to do it. You've got to have
a perfection of character and deed, not only in birth and nature,
but in word, thought, and deed. Listen to verse 5, Moses describes
the righteousness which is of the law, that the man that doeth
these things, what things? Every jot and tittle of the law.
You know who the man was that did that? The only man who ever
did that was the Lord Jesus Christ. He did. He met the law. Our Master
tempted and tested and tried in all points as we are, yet
without sin. He met that law and fulfilled
it. He obeyed it perfectly. I always
do those things pleasing to my Father. This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. And brethren, if we are in Christ
by faith, If we're in Christ by God's grace and in Christ
by faith, if we're in Christ by the Holy Spirit who baptizes
us into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, that righteousness
of Christ, that holiness of Christ, that sanctification of Christ
becomes ours because we're one with Him. That's the righteousness
of God. You see, God is love. And that
love is going to be manifested. That love is going to be revealed. That love is going to have an
object. Somebody said one time, well, God could have saved their
body or damned their body. No. He might could have saved
their body, but he couldn't have damned everybody. Because God
is love. God must be merciful, because
he's God. He must be merciful. Not only
must God be just, not only must God be righteous, but God must
show mercy. being God. But he is holy and
God is righteous and God is just. He's going to punish sin. I said
to our Sunday school class this morning, I repeat it to you again
tonight. There's no way that a holy God can put away sin by
erasing it. There's no way a holy God can
put away sin by looking over it. There's no way a holy God
can put away sin by ignoring it. The only way, the only way
that a God of holiness and justice can dismiss sin is for the consequences
of that sin to be made. And that's death. The only thing
that will put away sin is death. And brethren, you've got to die
or somebody's got to die in your place. But your sins have got
to be paid for. Before God. Not before men. But
before God, because our sins are against God. And they're
there, they cannot be erased, they cannot be ignored, they
cannot be overlooked. Those sins are written and they've
got to be paid for. There's only one way for my record
to be clear in heaven, and that's in the blood of Christ for it
to be stamped, paid in full. And that way I don't have them
anymore. Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owed. Sin left the
crimson stain, he washed it, he purged it, he bloodied it
out, he covered it, and now it's white as snow. I want people to be saved, Paul
said. I want them to be saved. I know
them. I know them. He said, I was one
of them. You got something to boast about?"
He said, I have more. I was born a Hebrew of Hebrews,
a Pharisee of Pharisees concerning the law. I was blameless and
all these things. But he said, God was pleased
to reveal Christ to me and now I count those things but dumb.
I take them out to the garbage dump and dump them in so much
rubbish. Oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. They are ignorant of God's righteousness,
God's righteousness. And they're going about to establish
their own righteousness. Now then look down here at verse
9. What is the righteousness of
faith, verse 6, as it speaks on this wise? Say not in thy
heart who shall go up to heaven, who shall do anything, and bring
Christ down. He's already come. Who shall
go to the tomb and bring Christ up? He's already risen. This
word of faith, this gospel of faith, this good news for sinners
is this right here. It's in your mouth. It's the
word I preach unto you, this way of faith, this word of faith.
Verse 9, it is that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus
to be Lord, and believe in thine heart God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. He said this is a summary of
my gospel. This is my message. And there
are four things I want you to see tonight, briefly. The first
one is this. This gospel of faith. Not of
works, it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by his
grace and mercy he saved us. This gospel of mercy, this gospel
of faith, this gospel of grace is a gospel intended for lost
men. Lost men. Now brethren, if we're
going to preach the gospel, if we're going to be about our Master's
business, if we're going to start out right, let us start out by
declaring plainly to whom the gospel is sent. It is sent to lost men. It is sent to men who need to
be S-A-V-E-D. If you're not a sinner, then
you don't need saving. If you're not lost, you don't
need finding. If you're not guilty, you don't
need a partner. If you're not dead, you don't
need life. But my friends, I'm a sinner.
I'm a sinner by birth, I'm a sinner by nature, I'm a sinner by practice,
I'm a sinner in thought, I'm a sinner in word, I'm a sinner
indeed in my flesh. Well, it's no good thing. Before
the holy law of God, I'm under a curse. Turn to Romans 3. I'm
under a curse. It's not a phantom curse either,
it's a real one. In Romans chapter 3 verse 19
it says, Now we know that what thing soever the law saith, it
saith to them who are under the law, that's every son of Adam,
that every mount may be stopped. Stopped of our boasting and stopped
of our alibis and stopped of our excuses and stopped of our
claims of righteousness and morality and goodness. Let every mount
be stopped and all the world become guilty, guilty. There are not many guilty people
either. Do you know a real bona fide sinner is hard to find?
Do you know it's hard to find? A person under the wrath of God,
a person under the curse and judgment of God, a person that
needs to be saved from the condemnation of sin, from the curse of the
law, from the punishment of sin. A man who needs to be saved from
the power of sin, from the dominion of sin, who knows that sin lives
in him and sin reigns in him, that he is the servant of sin
and the slave of sin and the object of sin's wrath, is hard
to find. But I'll tell you, if I can find
one, I'm going to tell him this, if you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, thou shalt be saved. This good news, this gospel is
intended for sinners. Do you need mercy? There's mercy
in Christ. Do you need a righteousness?
You don't have one. Your righteousnesses are filthy
rags. You know old George Whitfield
preached a sermon one time, and he said a man who truly repents,
is a man who repents of three things. And it's a constant repentance. It's a constant concern and sorrow
and grieving of his soul. He repents over his S-I-N-S,
because they are so present and so real, the things he says and
thinks and does that are so contrary to God's holiness. He repents
over them. He grieves over them. He weeps
over them. His S-I-N-S, my sins, David said are ever before me.
But there's another thing that he weeps over and grieves over
and repents of, and that's his SIN. Not only what he has done,
but what he is. What he is. What makes him do
these things. The person he is by nature that
makes him do these things and think these things and even dream
these things. He despises who he is by nature. And he repents over this sin,
this root, this principle. This nature causes him to do
what he does. And the third thing he repents
over, and this is what is not preached today, he grieves over
and weeps over and repents of even his righteousness. He sees sin even, Jay, in his
prayers. Wouldn't you like to pray like
you'd like to pray? And what would you give to be
able to really pray without one grain of self in it, without
one grain of greed in it, without one grain of covetousness in
it, without one thought of pride in it? Now, come on. How would
you like to preach like you'd like to preach? I tell you the
truth. Without one thought of yourself,
but all for the glory of God. What preachers we'd be. How would
you like to live by faith? Like you know you ought to live
by faith. Not one concern for tomorrow. Not one anxious care. Not one concern. God is on the
throne. I have no concern and no care,
no fears and no doubt. Your faith is shot full of sin,
and mine is too. Just shot full of sin. There
is no perfect faith. There is no perfect prayer. How
would you like to praise God like you'd like to praise God?
Like you're going to praise God in glory? Oh, our prayer, our
praise, our righteousness is a filthy rage! I tell you, the
best we've got is worthy of hell. You know that and I know that. So many folks don't know that.
In the flesh no man can please God. In the flesh dwelleth no
good thing. Our righteousness is a filthy
rag. We give a little gift and we
feel so proud of it. We give a little witness, you
know, and somebody confesses Christ, we witness too, and we'll
chew on that for six months. We ought to be sure and tell
everybody we did it too. Be sure now that they know about
it. We don't come right out and tell them, we slip around and
tell them so they will know. Well, I'll tell you this, I need
a righteousness I don't have. And you do too. And if you become,
if God in his grace makes you aware of it, you'll never cease
to thank him. If we ever see ourselves in our
best state, it's altogether vanity. We'll weep over it, we'll grieve
over it, we'll sorrow for it, we'll repent of it, we'll cry,
oh, the bitter taste in my mouth even of the best I have, how
bitter it is. Well, I've got good news for
those folks. I tell you, there's no hope for
me. You talk to somebody else. No,
I won't talk to you. If you're really without hope,
without help, without strength, without God, without Christ at
your wit's end, that even your righteousness is a filthy rag,
you're going around hollering, unclean, unclean, I've got good
news for you. This gospel is for sinners. Christ
came to your sight to the blind. deliverance to the captive and
preach the gospel to the poor. I've got nothing for the man
who's rich and increased with goods and has need of nothing.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is not going to put the wine of grace
in your old bottle. He's not going to patch up that
old garment. He's going to find him a naked
sinner and clothing. He's going to find him a dead
sinner and raise him. He's going to find him a blind
sinner and give him light. He's going to find him a lame
sinner and make him walk. He's going to find him a dirty
sinner and make him a saint. He's going to get ever better
glory for it. He's going to find him a beggar in the downhill
and put him on his own. And that beggar's going to say,
I'm here by the grace of God and for no other reason. And
I'm surprised that I'm here. I'm amazed that I'm here. It's
not only amazing grace down here, it'll be amazing grace up there.
What in the world am I doing here? What in the world? Old John Newton said, when I
get to heaven, three things are going to surprise me. I'm going
to see some folks I didn't expect to see. I'm going to miss some
folks I did expect to see. But the biggest surprise of all
is to find myself in the company of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
will be enough to astound me for about the first ten million
years. What am I doing here? Do you belong there? If you do, you will never make
it. Anybody here who belongs in the Church ought not be here.
Anybody who belongs in the family of God isn't. Anybody who belongs
in heaven will never make it. That's right. You say, I don't
understand the way you talk. Some folks understand it, because
they've been there. It takes a beggar to understand
a beggar. It takes a sinner to understand
a sinner. It takes a man who has been saved by grace to understand
the message of grace. I'll write the second thing quickly.
My message is for the lost. I've got nothing for the religious,
I've got a good news for the lost. Secondly, the faith that
saves has one object, Christ. Look at verse 9 again, that if
thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in
thine heart that God raised him from the dead, raised him from
the dead. Faith's object is Christ. Saving
faith has one object, that's Christ Jesus. It looks nowhere
but to Christ. It does not look to the law,
not at any time, neither for justification or sanctification.
It does not look to the church, to the works of religion, to
experiences. I warn you, and I warn you as
soberly and solemnly as I can, you better forget that old experience.
You better leave it where it is, out there in the barn. or
down at the altar. Salvation is not in an experience
or a decision, it's in a person. It's faith in, love for, confidence
in, committal to, and a vital union with a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not important when you were
saved, it's important who saved you. It's not important when
you got faith, it's important where your faith is, what's the
object of your faith. Christ. And do you know what
saving faith does? It looks back to eternity past,
and it sees Christ as the Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. It looks back to eternity past and sees Christ as the covenant
head, as the representative, as the federal head, as the surety
of every believer. It looks back to Old Testament
times and it sees Christ, the tabernacle is Christ, The atonement
is Christ, the lambs are Christ, the river of blood is Christ,
the rock is Christ, the manna is Christ, the brazen serpent
is Christ, the ark is Christ. It sees Christ in every picture,
example, and type. Faith does. And faith looks back
to Bethlehem's manger and sees Christ incarnate the world every
Christmas. Out in front of the churches
they build little mangers, you see. And in the auditoriums there
would be little manger scenes, and people would go by and admire
sweet little Jesus, and Mary the Madonna, you know, and the
wise men and the shepherds. What a beautiful scene, how sentimental. But you know what faith sees?
God has come to the earth in a human body. Faith is not owed
by a season or by the spirit of a season, but by the grace
that brought God to earth. in human flesh, in human flesh. Oh, God incarnate, the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us, the infinite of days became an
infinite of days, the ancient of days became a babe in a mother's
arms. God! Faith looks back yonder,
the bloody Gethsemane imbues the Master The blood coming from
the very pores of his skin as he pours out his heart to his
Father and wrestles with the very evil of our nature. Oh, Father, if it be thy will,
let this cup pass from me!" Not the cross. Our Lord never shunned
the cross. Our Lord was talking about how
he was dying right then under the burden of human sin. I'm not going to make it to the
cross if I don't get out of this garden. And I'm going to be in
the cross, its burden is so great, I wish sin disturbed us like
it disturbed Christ. There's no way I realize that.
But all the awful sin that was upon him, his human nature rebelled
against what that sin was upon him and what the consequences
of that sin. And faith looks back there and
sees him praying for us. Bearing our iniquities, it sees
Him in Pilate's hall, numbered with a transgressor. It sees
Him on Calvary's cross as our substitute. Christ bore our sins
in His body on the tree. Why did He die? He died that
God might be just and justify me and you. Christ didn't die
as an example. He died as a substitute, as a
sacrifice, as a satisfaction for sin. Faith looks to the tomb
and sees our scapegoat bearing our sins away. And it sees him
rise from the dead, raised from the grave without sin. It sees
him ascending to the Father's right hand and seated there as
our intercessor, our mediator, the only mediator. That's the
object of faith. And it sees in Christ all I need,
my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. faith has one
object, and that's Christ. And turn to Colossians 2 and
look at this verse. Colossians 2, verse 9 and 10. Colossians 2, verse 9 and 10. For in him, in Christ, dwelleth
all the fullness, all the riches, all the They're all in Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He's divine. He's deity. He's
God. And in Him is mercy and love
and grace and truth and beauty and blessing. All spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies are in Christ. That's where they are. God has
vested everything in His Son. He's turned everything over to
the Son. If I have anything of God, it's
got to come in Christ. And look at the next verse, and
you are complete, complete in Christ. Now brethren, there's
nothing that needs to be added to him. Nothing. Nothing. That's faith's sole object. That's
faith's only source. That's faith's only righteousness.
That's faith's only holiness. That's faith's only acceptance
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you this, and I know
preachers everywhere just begging people to attend church, worship
God. Preachers meet together and say,
what are you going to do about your Sunday night crowd? Oh,
I don't know. I just beg them to come. Let
me tell you something. If a man ever comes to know Christ,
If he ever becomes vitally united in living, loving faith with
Christ, you'll never ever have to ask him to do anything. That's
right. You'll never have to. A man who
knows Christ doesn't need a watchdog. He doesn't need a motivator.
The Holy Spirit is his leader, and love is his motive. That's
right. That's exactly right. Faith has
one object, Christ. And I'll tell you the reason
for your quarrels and splits and fusses and divisions and
hurt feelings and people who won't attend and worship and
pray and read and give, they've never known him. Never known
him. They've got a zeal for God, or
they believe Jesus lived and died. The calendar tells you
that. So many years B.C., so many years in the year of our
Lord, A.D., I know Dominic. Everybody knows that. You believe
Christ died on the cross and was buried and rose again? The
devil believes that. He believes it with more confidence
than you do. He watched it happen. He watched it happen. You've
got religion, you've got orthodoxy, you've got fundamentalism, you've
got all these rules and regulations and traditions. These Jews had
that. But they didn't have Christ.
When you have Christ, everything is in him. You have a love relationship,
a marriage relationship, a living relationship, a permanent relationship,
and that love motivates you. Look at the third thing, saving
faith. This gospel is to people who
need help. It's to sinners. And this gospel,
this saving faith, has one object, and that's Christ. Let me tell
you something. When you're plugged in to the
throne of grace, it makes you gracious. When you're plugged
in to the infinite everlasting love of Christ, it makes you
loving. When you're biblically united with him, it makes you
liking. And thirdly, this saving faith
has a confession to make. It says in verse 9, "...if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord." May I say
this just briefly? Saving faith is not secret faith. "...he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved." He said, "...if you are ashamed
of me before this sinful and adulterous generation of you,
shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in glory?" Verse
11, Romans 10, says, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. I know what that means, first of all. I know the first
and primary application, shall not be confounded, shall not
be put to shame, shall not be ashamed at his coming. But I'll
tell you, Jay, this is true too, they are not ashamed of him.
They are not ashamed of him. This saving faith is not dumb
faith either. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. What
does this saving faith confess? It confesses that Jesus Christ
is Lord. Whose Lord? Jesus of Nazareth.
The hated, despised, crucified Jesus of Nazareth is none other
than the Lord. That's who he is. That God raised
him from the dead. That he died for our sins and
was buried and God raised him from the dead. And this faith,
this confession, is made with my mouth and my heart. Look at
it. shall confess with thine eye
Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart." No proxy, no
representative. Mama can't do it for you. Well,
I had a good daddy. Well, I'm glad you did. That
don't make you good. Well, my mother was a believer. Well,
I'm glad she was. What about But I was raised in
a Christian home. I'm glad. No better place to
be raised. But now, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth, Jesus, to be Lord. Have you? You will if your heart's ever
convinced of it. I dare somebody to hold you back.
I guarantee you, my friend, if a man's sitting out there as
ever, I'm sure as this Bible is on this pulpit, I'm standing
here. Whoever the man is, a woman out there, a boy or a girl who
is stripped by the Holy Spirit and feels his nakedness. You
know, you ever have a dream that you didn't have any clothes on
and folks were staring at you? That's panic. Panic. You wake up in a cold sweat.
You want something to cover you. That's the way you'll be if you
ever see your nakedness before God. You're going to want a covering. And I wish I could expose it.
I wish I had a heart opener here tonight. I know who the heart
opener is, it's the Holy Ghost. I'd like to rip open every heart
here and let us see what God sees. You look so pretty in power
sitting out there, God looks at you and he sees a mass of
corruption and sin. He knows your pride and your
arrogance and your self-righteousness and your greed and your covetousness. He knows us. And oh, if we ever
know ourselves, we'll cry for cleansing, we'll cry for covering,
we'll cry for forgiveness, we'll cry for mercy! We'll weep our
way to the throne of grace. We'll beg God to have mercy.
Lord, don't send me to hell tonight. Let me live one more day so I
can look to Christ. And that faith looks to Christ,
too. It knows Christ to be Lord. It knows Christ to be the Redeemer.
It knows that ever-saving blessing is in Christ. Brother, let me
tell you something. If that man ever sees that, and
ever sees Christ as Lord, and ever crowns him in his heart,
the first place you crown Christ is in your heart. You don't come
down here to be saved with a heart man believes is under righteousness.
Salvation is not in the front, salvation is not in the water,
salvation is not in the law, salvation is in Christ. And no
soul winner brings you to Christ. The Holy Spirit brings you to
Christ. And that matter is settled between you and the Lord. I do
believe, I do believe, Lord, I do believe. Help my unbelief.
I do commit my soul to thee. I do receive thee. Now you let
that take place. And brethren, you're sitting
out there and a preacher is preaching. He won't have to ask you. Now
if you trust Christ, raise your hand. Raise the other hand. Do something. Do this, do that.
You let folks know about it. I guarantee you, you can't hold
it down. It'll come out of your soul.
It'll leak out on you somewhere. You see, when Christ fills the
heart, he fills it to bursting. When he fills the soul, he fills
it to overflowing. No human body can contain the
infinite Lord. It's got to come out. And you'll
confess him. You'll confess him. And look,
saving faith has a promise. And he says, if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart, God
raised him from the dead. What was he doing in the grave?
You see, this believing God raised him from the dead is not just
believing he arose from the grave. Going out here and carrying on
a little Easter Sunday morning ritualism at Putnam Stadium What
was he doing in the grave? Start with, he was there as my
scapegoat. He was there as my substitute.
Don't make a whole lot over the resurrection if you don't make
a whole lot over the atonement. What was he doing there? It was
me in that grave. It was my wretched sins in that
grave, and Christ came out without them. He arose, accepted it,
and I was accepted in him. Now he said, do you believe that
and confess that? Thou shalt be saved." That's God's promise. That's God's promise. Salvation
is not in myself, it's in Christ alone. I look to Christ, I draw
from Christ, all that he is and has. Listen to this. Thou. You mean me? Yeah, I mean you. Oh, that's too good to be true.
No, thou. That's what it says, Charlie,
thou. Thou. You mean me? You mean a fellow like me can
actually be saved? I know we're supposed to have
religion, but you mean to know God, to walk with God, to be
a son of God, an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ? Me!
That's what it says. It says you. It says you. It says, sinner, if you confess
with your mouth Jesus to be Lord and believe in your heart God
raised Him from the dead, you, you. what I'd give for that. And watch
this, shall, you shall, not if, but, maybe, there's no if there,
it's a you shall be saved. Boy, when God says shall, he
means shall. You shall, you shall. You shall
have a son, maybe, she had a son. Nor there shall be a flood, there
was one too. The soul that sinneth, it shall
surely die, and it will too. But oh, he says, if you believe,
you shall be saved. And look at this last line, saved.
Brother, that's now, that's saved, that's A-B-E-D, past tense, saved. You shall be saved, you shall
be saved, you shall be saved. See that? You shall be saved,
delivered redeemed, forgiven, pardoned, cleansed, you shall
continually be saved, delivered. He's able to keep that which
I've committed to him. You shall be in the day of judgment
saved. You shall be. That's good news. Charles Spurgeon said one time,
there never was, is not now, and never will be, a man who
has in his helplessness and in his sin and in his need, truly
looked to Christ, believed on Christ, and rested in Christ,
who was not saved. Never has been, is not, and never
will be. But oh, I tell you, Paul says,
I want these folks to be saved. But they've got to quit trying
to establish their righteousness. They've got to quit bargaining
with God. They've got to come like old top lady wrote, in my
hands, no price I bring.