I'd like to read the text again
before I bring the message, Romans 10, verse 10. For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Now, divine sovereignty is a
great and indisputable fact. The scriptures tell us that the
Lord doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of this earth, that he declared the end from
the beginning. Christ Jesus said, No man can
come to me, except my Father which sent me draw him, and I
will raise him up at the last day. We have no doubt and we
put no question mark on God's divine sovereignty. But also
human responsibility is a great and undoubted fact. God Almighty
does not now and never has regarded man as a stone. He does not regard
man as a dead piece of wood. His works of grace, while sovereignly
given, never violate the will, but God sweetly persuades the
will. God makes men willing in the
day of his power. We do not question his power
and we do not question man's willingness. Divine sovereignty
is an indisputable fact. Also human responsibility And
while men have never been able, never been able, as they say,
to reconcile these two, I believe what Charles Spurgeon said to
be the best answer to that. He said you don't even try to
reconcile friends because they're not at enmity. While divine sovereignty
is true completely and fully, human responsibility is also
true. And then salvation is all of
grace. Christ is the author and finisher
of faith. He is the Alpha and Omega. He
is the beginning and the end. Salvation is wholly and completely
in its entirety of the grace of God. And man does not in any
way contribute to the salvation of his soul. He does not in any
way contribute to the redemption of his soul, but the Lord of
glory has chosen to save sinners by means, the scripture tells
us, of his own will begat he us, through the word of truth. Of his own will begat he us,
it was God's will that quickened us, it was God's will that awakened
us, it was God's will that gave us life. But God chose to do
it through the word of truth. And the scripture says, God hath
chosen by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. No man is going to be saved by
preaching alone. A man is saved by the grace of
God through the preaching of the gospel. And Paul said, I
am not ashamed of the gospel, It is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is not the power unto
salvation, it's the power of God unto salvation. And then
faith is the gift of God. If a man puts a question mark
on that, he's showing his ignorance of the Scripture. The disciples
said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, increase our faith. The Roman
centurion said, Lord, I believe. help my unbelief. Faith is the
gift of God, as declared by Paul in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourself.
It is the gift of God. But while faith is the gift of
God, it is also the act of a renewed heart. It says in our text tonight,
with the heart man believeth. God gives faith but man exercises
faith. God bestows faith, but man believes. God works faith in us by his
power, but we believe ourselves with our hearts. So establishing
those things, first of all, by way of introducing this message,
I want to look at two important things in this text. These two
things are faith and confession. You'll see both of them when
you read the text. For with the heart man believeth,
and with the mouth confession. Faith and confession. With the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. And God hath joined these two
together. Let no man put them asunder. Now, in considering faith, first
of all, I want to set three things before you. First of all, the
object of faith. Secondly, the nature of faith.
And then thirdly, the results of faith. Now, I wish there was
some way that I could do it. I don't know how I would do it,
but I wish there was some way that I could get you to really
listen to me on these two points tonight, faith and confession.
As I ran through these three things that I want to point out
by faith, I thought to myself, now that seemed rather dry, the
object of faith, the nature of faith, the results of faith.
That seemed like a theological lecture, and I don't know whether
I have the people's attention or not. But if I could have your
attention for just a few moments, I believe you'll learn something
about faith. I believe you who believe will
be strengthened in your faith. And I believe you who have not
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ will learn something about it.
Now just take these three things and make yourself concentrate
on them right now. Faith, the object of faith, the
nature of faith, and the results of faith. What would you say
is the object of faith? Faith's got to have an object.
I believe in a certain person. That person is the object of
faith. I believe in a certain organization. That organization
is the object of faith. I believe in a certain position.
That position is the object of faith. So faith has an object. When we believe, we believe in
something, or we believe about something, or we believe on something.
Faith, you can't just have faith. You've got to have faith in something. You've got to believe something.
It's got to have an object. It's got to have a foundation.
Now the object of saving faith, the foundation of saving faith,
listen to it. It says in verse nine, that is,
I shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, or Jesus to be
Lord, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So Christ is the object
of faith. The object of faith is not doctrine. The object of faith is not a
position. The object of faith is a person. Christ is the object of faith.
Christ crucified, risen, interceding, is the sole object of faith. Now, I believe too many people,
I believe too many people think too much of their faith and too
little of the object of faith. People question whether or not
they have the right sort of faith. Do I have the right sort of faith?
That's not what's important. People question whether or not
they have the right amount of faith. That really isn't important
at all. The important thing is this.
In whom do you believe? On whom do you believe? The important
thing is not Your faith, but the important thing is, is your
faith in Christ. That's the important thing. True
faith rests on Christ. He is the object of faith. He
is the foundation of faith. True faith rests on Christ, the
Eternal One. Isaiah wrote, unto us a child
is given, unto us a son is born. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. He is all things. He is the Eternal One. True faith
rests on Christ incarnate. The angel said to Joseph, Thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. True faith rests on Christ, the
perfect one. Christ, who knew no sin, was
made sin for us. True faith rests on Christ crucified. We know we're not redeemed with
corruptible things, but with the precious blood of Christ. True faith rests on Christ risen. Christ said, because I live,
ye shall live. True faith rests on Christ our
advocate. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. True faith rests
on Christ the King, prophet, priest, and king. So the object
of saving faith, the object of true faith, is a person. the
Incarnate One, the Perfect One, the Crucified One, the Risen
One, the Interceding One, and the Coming One, Christ the Lord. It's not so much how much faith
you have, it's in whom you believe. It's not so much whether or not
you have the right sort of faith, or whether you've got it in the
right place, or how long you've had it. It is the object of faith
that's important. It's the foundation of faith
that's important. And Jesus Christ the Lord is
the object of same faith. Now the second thing, and this
is very important, the nature of faith. It says here in our
text, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Now it's
very dangerous, I know that it is, and I don't want to trifle
here tonight, I know that it's dangerous to try to separate
the mind and the heart. A man who believes on Christ,
believes in Him intellectually, he believes on Christ affectionately. He believes on Christ with the
mind, he believes on Christ with the heart. He certainly cannot,
he cannot trust an unrevealed Christ, and Christ certainly
is revealed to the intelligence, to the mind. God makes us wise
as well as willing. It's dangerous to separate head
faith and heart faith if you're not careful. It's dangerous to
talk about natural faith and spiritual faith, but the text
does say this, with the heart, man believe it, under righteousness.
Now that's what the text says, and so we're going to have to
operate on it like it is. Now the object of faith is Christ.
The nature of faith is with the heart, with the heart. Now, I help myself here. Let's
see if I can help you. What do we mean by heart faith? Well, first of all, heart faith
is a work of the affections as well as the understanding. Not
apart from the understanding, but as well as with the understanding,
and more than the understanding. It's one thing for me to think
that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. It's another thing for
me to feel that it's so. It's one thing for me to be persuaded
in my mind that all men are sinners. It's another thing for me to
feel my guilt. It's one thing for me to think
in my heart that salvation by grace through the blood of Christ
is a logical and God-given way of redemption. It's another thing
for me to enter into it with a depth of feeling that changes
my life. My mind and my understanding
may force me to perform a duty. But when my heart believes, my
heart will make me want to perform that duty. And my heart will
enable me to love that duty. Now I can see the difference. Can you see the difference? In
this way the heart believes. It's a work of the affections.
I believe there are people who are going through the motions
of religion because their mind tells them to. Mother believe,
father believe, grandmother and grandfather believe. The Bible
is a supernatural book. It's a wise book. The law is
a just way. Christianity is a good thing. It's good for the home, good
for a marriage, good for a community, good for a nation. All these
things my mind is convinced of. On the first day of the week,
a man ought to go to church. A man ought to take his family
with him to church, keep his children out of jail, out of
the honky-tonks and the saloon. A man ought to go to church on
Christmas or on Easter. He ought to practice different
things in religion. And my mind tells me that these
things ought to be done. But when I believe on Christ
with my heart, My heart enables me to love to do them, and my
heart enables me to want to do them. They cease to become a
duty and become a pleasure. Now secondly, heart faith then
is a work of the affections as well as the understanding. And
then heart faith is more than a doctrine. And when we talk
about the mind and the intellect, we've got to talk about doctrine.
We've got to talk about theology. We've got to talk about things
in order. We've got to talk about creeds
and catechisms and things like that. But heart faith is more
than a doctrine. A doctrine's important. Don't
discount doctrine. That reveals ignorance also.
But heart faith is more than a doctrine. It's an experience. The first work that the Holy
Spirit performs is not to teach a man doctrine, but to break
his heart. That's the first work the Holy
Spirit performs. The first thing that the Holy
Spirit does, Christ said, when he has come, he will convince
the world of sin, and then he will take the things of mine
and show them to you. But the first thing the Holy
Spirit does is knock our foundations out from under us. The first
thing the Holy Spirit does is strip us. The first thing the
Holy Spirit does is show us the distance between us and a holy
God. The first thing that the Holy
Spirit does is show us our offenses. And if the heart feels the sickness,
the mind can see the remedy. But the mind is not going to
see the remedy, or comprehend the remedy, or understand the
remedy, if there's no sickness to be healed. That's what Christ
said, the well don't need a physician. That's the reason they turned
thumbs down on him, they didn't need him. But the woman who had
the issue of blood for twelve years crawled on her hands and
knees till she got to him. Her heart realized her sickness
and her mind said, if you can get to him, you can be healed. If the heart feels emptiness,
the mind can comprehend his fullness. If the heart longs for Christ,
the mind will receive Christ. If the heart seeks Christ sincerely
and hungrily and in a thirsty manner, The mind will comprehend
God's wisdom fulfilled in Christ. If the heart admits God's justice,
then the mind will embrace God's mercy. And you can't get the
cart before the horse. God doesn't belong there. The
first work that the Holy Spirit does is not to teach us doctrine,
and when that's the first thing that's done, you've got a man
in a bind. Because if he doesn't feel his
sickness, he won't understand the remedy. He'll get it all
twisted up. If he doesn't feel his emptiness,
if he doesn't feel his need, if he doesn't admit God's justice,
he's going to get the formula and the plan and the remedy all
messed up. So heart faith is an experience. Is an experience. Somebody can
say, well, I like this boy that had his blind eyes healed. Somebody
said, who healed you? Did this man Jesus? He said,
I don't know who healed me. I just know I was blind. Now
I see. I know I was what? Blind. That's the first thing
he found out. I know I was blind. And when the Lord Jesus came
to him and said, do you believe? He said, Lord, tell me who it
is. And I'll believe on him because I know what happened to me. And
all you've got to do is show him to me and I'll believe on
him. Because I know where the Lord found me. I know the pit
out of which I was dug. I know the rock out of which
I was hewn. I know the dunghill where God
found me. And if the heart can understand
those things, the mind can believe them. Well, it starts with the
heart. It starts with experience. And
then thirdly, well, we're talking about this heart faith. It says,
with the heart, man believes it. That's what it says, plainly
and clearly. And a preacher can't come along
and say down in Greek, that means this. It just means heart. That's
what it means. For with a heart man believeth,
not with a head, with a heart. And heart faith, here's the third
thing, I think, that differentiates this thing. Heart faith knows
the gospel to be true because it just suits my need. It just
suits my want. I do not understand the process
of digestion. I don't know all of the different
minerals and vitamins which are necessary to the health of the
body. I don't know. I just know I was sitting in
the chair tonight when I went home from the study here, about
five o'clock, and I was hungry, real hungry. And Doris called
supper, and she had bought a steak on special. Had a baked potato
and a salad, just like Sunday dinner, you know. And I went
to the table and sat down, and I ate that steak and that potato
and that salad and those crackers and that iced tea, and it was
just exactly what I wanted. It met my needs. I know that
that food satisfied me. Now, I don't know what all went
on in here. I don't know what all that steak
contributed to my feeling good tonight. I don't know what that
potato contributed. You can see it, but I don't know
much about what goes on in there. I just know that food satisfies
me. And I don't understand all of
the peculiarities and the miracles and the supernatural workings
of the Holy Spirit in the atonement of Christ. I just know Christ
meets my need. I know the law doesn't. I know
church membership doesn't. I know all of the resolutions
and decisions and vows that I make can never meet my need or satisfy
my spiritual want. I know that I found in Christ
all I need, and that's heart belief. Now, I don't understand
what water does for the body. I just know when I'm thirsty
and I drink it, it meets my need. That's all I know. I don't know
what water does for the body. I don't know what it contains.
I don't know what's special. I'll leave that to somebody else
to analyze the water and tell me what all's in there and what
process is going on as I drink it. I just know when I'm thirsty
that nothing in this world, not a Coca-Cola, not a cup of coffee,
not a glass of hot chocolate, not anything in the world will
satisfy my need like a glass of cold water. My heart is hungry. and Christ meets my need. My
heart is thirsty and Christ meets my need. And that's heart faith. That's heart faith. And in the
fourth place, and last of all under this heading, what is the
nature of heart faith? Heart faith reveals, when a man
believes something in his heart, it reveals an agreement with
the way of salvation. Now I believe that a fella can
accept something in his head and not agree with it. I really
do. I think a fella can accept something
in his head intellectually, believe it to be true, and you can think
of an illustration of that. I can't think of one right off
the top of my head. But I believe a man can say something
so in his head and not agree with it. and not be totally, completely
aligned with it. But I can look back and see God
Almighty in His wisdom, and in His grace, and in His sovereignty,
choosing a people out of a lost, ruined humanity, and I can say,
Amen, thank God. If He hadn't have chose me, I'd
have never chose Him. I agree with it. I believe it
in my head because the Bible says it's so, I believe it because
history tells me it's so, and I believe it because my heart
tells me it's so, and I agree with it. And I can look back
yonder and see his divine Son coming down from heaven's glory,
clothing himself in the robe of human flesh, I can see His
Son walking this earth in the flesh as a man, the God-man,
God incarnate, meeting the law and obeying it, keeping it in
every jot and tittle. I see Him going to the cross
and bearing all my sin. and dying under the wrath of
God Almighty, I see His Son being buried and rising again for my
justification, I see His Son ascending up into heaven and
the gates of glory opening to receive the King of glory, and
He sits down at the right hand of God as my intercessor and
mediator, and I say, Amen, I'm glad, I agree with it one thousand
percent. And I see the Holy Spirit coming
to old, dead, lifeless, corrupt, law-breaking, God-hating sinners,
and awakening them, and convicting them, and stripping them, and
showing them God's grace, and lifting them, and washing them,
and sanctifying them, and the hand of God keeping them, and
at last bringing them to glory, and I say, Amen to every bit
of it. I believe it. And not only believe it, but
I like it. I like it. I agree with it. I see the wisdom of God in it.
I see the glory of God in it. I see the goodness of God in
it. And I see it as the only way that a man will ever get
to glory. And I so agree with it that I
don't believe there's another way possible. I don't believe
even God can save sinners in any way except through Christ.
If he could have saved them any other way, he would have done
it. Then the third thing, unto faith. That's the nature of faith. That's the reason it's called
heart faith. Heart faith. Heart faith. Then the results of faith. Look
at it. With the heart, man believeth
unto righteousness. What is this text saying? What
does it mean? It means that every man who believes
in Christ in his heart is righteous. That every man who believes in
Christ at that moment is in the righteousness of Christ. He is perfectly holy. He is, as Paul said, when he
is robed in the righteousness of Christ, holy and without blame,
faultless before the throne of God. He believeth unto righteousness,
God's righteousness. Let me tell you a story. There
was a great English preacher who used to preach for Charles
Spurgeon back in the nineteenth century. His name was Richard
Weaver. One time he got in Spurgeon's
pulpit and told this story. He said, A few days ago I was
walking down the street And I met a man, a very poor man. He was
clothed in rags. He said, when I looked into his
eyes, he touched me, touched my heart. And I walked up to
him and introduced myself to him. I said, I'm Pastor Richard
Weaver. He told me his name. And I said
to him, I said, would you like something to eat? He said, I
certainly would. I'm a very hungry man. I'm a
very poor man. So I took him home and I fed
him. And as I sat there watching him eat, I looked at his clothes
and they were just so ragged and so worn that I went upstairs
and I took a suit of clothes out of my closet and laid that
suit of clothes with a shirt and a tie and a pair of shoes
and some socks. I laid it on the bed. I went
back downstairs and I said to the man, when you finish eating,
You go upstairs at a certain bedroom, and you'll find on the
bed a suit, a suit of clothes, a shirt and tie, some socks,
and a pair of shoes. I want you to put it on." So
he said when he finished eating, the man went upstairs, and after
a while he came downstairs, dressed in that suit with that shirt
and tie and those shoes on, and his hair combed and his face
washed. and said he walked up and he looked at me and he said,
Pastor Weaver, what do you think of me? And he said, I looked
at him and for a long time I said nothing. And finally I said,
my friend, you look very respectable. And then he replied, it's not
me, Pastor Weaver, I'm not respectable. I'm the same man who came in
here. Your clothes make me look respectable." And my friends,
so it is with Christ. He met us one day clothed in
filthy garments. The Scripture says even our righteousnesses
were filthy rags. And He took us in His hand and
fed us and clothed us with His spotless righteousness. And before
the heavenly Father, Father, what do you think of me? My son,
you look respectable. Father, it's not me. It's my
Lord's clothing. It's my Lord's robe of righteousness. That's what changed me. It's
not I at all, it's my Lord's clothing that makes all the difference
in the world. And because Jesus Christ the
Lord hath put on me his robe of righteousness, I look respectable
even to God. With a heart, man believeth unto
righteousness. Now you can have this little
silly human righteousness if you want it, but it won't pass
God's test. He's going to put the line and
the plummet to it, and it won't be straight, and it won't be
level. But I'll tell you, even God the
Father can put the line and plummet to the righteousness of Christ,
and it'll meet every demand. Secondly, confession. I'm going
to move through this quickly. Confession. It says, with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Now it goes without saying there
should be no confession with the mouth where there's no belief
in the heart. For whatever reason, for me to
profess a faith that I don't have makes me a hypocrite. for
me to profess a faith which I do not have makes me a play actor
or a pretender. But true faith, that is, it comes
from the heart, will produce works and lead me to confess
Christ. Now this confession of Christ
with the mouth, and most of us when we look at that With the
heart man believeth under righteousness, with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. The first thing we think of while
this confessing Christ with the mouth is simply to stand up and
say, I'm a Christian. It's simply to say, I believe
Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried and rose again. That's
not what it means. That's the only part of it. Confessing
Christ with the mouth embraces a confession of Christ in the
whole life. It is a confession of Christ
by act, by deed, and by word. What do I mean by that? I'm going
to give you seven things, briefly. How does one confess Christ? How does one confess with his
mouth what he believes in his heart? Number one, One of the
simplest and earliest forms of confessing Christ was uniting
with others in the worship of Christ. That was one of the simplest
and earliest forms. Back yonder, during the days
of the old Roman emperors, when Christianity was outlawed, you
see a man walking down a dark street, and he looks all around
to see if anyone's watching him. And he stands back against the
wall of the building in the darkness and looks around. And then he
moves another few feet or a few blocks and then he backs up to
the wall again and looks around. And then he comes to an opening
and he drops down through that opening and walks into a cave.
And he stops and looks around again to see if he's being followed.
And then he moves further into that cave and he hears soft singing
off in the background. one of the sweet old psalms of
the church. And then he hears the voice of
the minister, and he comes through another opening, and there's
a group of people, a handful of people, down in the catacombs
of Rome, worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. If they didn't
know him, they wouldn't be there. They wouldn't be there, because
it cost them their lives to assemble for worship. And I know today
a lot of people go to church out of custom, some out of habit,
some for appearance, and some for some other reason, but thank
God there's some still just like those in the catacombs of Rome
who go there because they love Him. And that's one of the first
ways that I confess Christ, is to meet with His people. And then secondly, a confession
of Christ is an obedience to the two ordinances, baptism and
the Lord's Supper. Our master left the church two
ordinances. He told his disciples to go and
preach, make disciples, and baptize them in the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. He said again, He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be
damned. And every time someone was converted
in this New Testament, the next thing they did was follow the
Lord in baptism. Every time, you won't find a
single absence of baptism except the thief on the cross, and he
died with his hands nailed to the tree. Not baptism that saves,
but it's obedience to his ordinance. And in the Lord's table, Christ
said, as oft as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you
show my death. You confess my death until I
come. Another way that we confess Christ
is a daily association with his people. Moses could have stayed
in Egypt. He was educated in Egypt. He
was schooled in Egypt. His foster parents were in Egypt. His friends were in Egypt. His
holdings financially were in Egypt, but the scripture says
he chose to suffer the reproach of God's people. rather than
to stay in Egypt. And then Ruth said to Naomi,
she said, Naomi said, go on back to your people, go on back to
your home, back to your friends, back to your nation. She said,
Naomi, where you go, I go. Where you lodge, I lodge. And
your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
And I confess Christ when I find my pleasure and my delight associating
and finding my companionship with those who know Him. And
then fourthly, confessing Christ is taking up His cross and His
gospel in my family and among my relatives. Now sometimes this
is the most difficult, this is the most difficult thing to do.
One of the most difficult things to do is have a religious division
in a home. But this is confessing Christ.
I dare not deny my Lord, even if it means my mother, my father,
my wife, my children, my closest relative. For Christ said, If
you love them more than you love me, you are not worthy of me.
Then in the fifth place, confessing Christ is revealed in my conduct
in business and my contact with other people. I show faith in
Christ in honest business practices. I show faith in Christ when I
conduct myself in a patient manner. I show faith in Christ when I
show kindness to others and mercy and love. I show faith in Christ. That's confessing Christ. And
I deny Christ when I act in a contrary way. Confessing Christ with the
mouth is more than saying, I'm a Christian. You know, when we
were little kids, we used to draw pictures when we were in
kindergarten. And we'd draw a picture here
and a picture over here, and we'd draw a house and we'd draw
a horse. And we had to put another house,
house, another horse, horse, or somebody would think the horse
was the house and the house was the horse, because you couldn't
tell the difference. But there's a whole lot more than a man just
saying, I'm Christian. I'm a houser, I'm a horse, you
know. A man confesses Christ not just with his mouth, he confesses
Christ by his conduct, by the way he conducts his business
and by the way he carries himself in contact with other people.
You don't have to walk up to a man you're doing business with
and say, I'm Christian, we're going to do this on a Christian
basis. Just keep your mouth shut and do it on a Christian basis.
And the fellow will find out you're a Christian. Confessing Christ in the sixth
place is carried out when we are called upon to go through
certain trials and certain troubles, and in the midst of those trials
and in the midst of those troubles, we bear it without complaining,
and we bear it giving a good confession to Jesus Christ. Now, when things go going well,
it's easy to hold up the banner of Christ. Everything's downhill,
you know, on the shady side, and we just hold up the banner
of Christ, we carry a smile on our face, we have a good attitude,
we go through life humming a tune, singing a song, greeting everybody,
shaking hands. Well, that's not hard to do when
everything's going my way. But when things aren't going
my way, when things are going bad, that's when I confess Christ. That's when I confess Christ
with my mouth. That's when I hold up a good
confession. That's when I have the opportunity
to pull the flag, the banner of Christ, all the way to the
top of the flagpole, and everybody says, he's a Christian. That's
the way that I believe a Christian would act under those circumstances. Christ said, you love those that
love you. What thank have you sinners do the same? You complain
when things are not going well? Sinners do the same. You rejoice
when things are going well? Sinners do the same. You give
to those from whom you hope to receive something in return?
What thank have you? Sinners do the same. We confess
Christ when under the severest trials. We conduct ourselves
as a Christian should. And then in the last place, confession
of Christ is made when we have an opportunity. to tell others
who he is and what he's done and where he is and why he did
what he did. Now I don't believe, and I want
to say this carefully because I don't want to be misunderstood,
I don't believe that we should force our testimony upon other
people. I just don't believe we should.
I don't believe we should cast our pearls before swine. I don't
believe that we ought to stick our foot in the door and make
somebody listen to us. I don't ask you to do that. I
don't think that's Christian conduct. I don't think it's Christian
ethics. But when Jesus Christ, when God
Almighty, by His grace, opens for us a door and an opportunity
to witness for His glory and tell people what we believe,
I'm confessing Christ when I'd boldly tell them, and let it
be known clearly and plainly with the words of my mouth, not
quenching the Holy Spirit, doing it kindly, doing it in a Christian
manner, doing it in a loving manner, and just lay it out plain
and straight. This is what God's taught me.
You've given me the opportunity now to tell you what God's taught
me, and this is what it is. I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
It's the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. That's confessing Christ. Our
Father, we pray that this message will be used in my heart, in
the hearts of thy people, to magnify thy grace, to lift up
our precious son, to strengthen us in heart faith, and to lead
us to a more complete confession of Christ in word, in act, in
deed, in conduct, in our contact with others, in bearing trials
and tribulations and going through the dark valleys and the days
of trouble. It will rest in the Lord. The
Lord is sovereign, and we'll be grateful. Now use the message
for thy glory, wherever and in whomever thou art pleased to
use it. For Christ's glory we pray, and
in His name. Amen.