The Nature and Necessity of Saving Faith

Introduction: The Jailer's Question and the Answer of Saving Faith

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, November 6th, 2005, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I invite you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the book of Acts in chapter 16,

0:21 and follow as I read in your hearing a portion of a very familiar Bible story, one of the first stories introduced to many of our children,

0:35 the account of Paul and Silas being thrown into prison unjustly, and in that setting, while beaten to some degree, feeling the wetness of their own blood upon their skin, and the nerves that are sending out signals from the bruises received. Yet we read in Acts, chapter 16, in verse 25, these amazing words. But about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God, and the prisoners were listening to them as well they would. You know a bunch of guys have been wrongly treated, should never have been beaten, should never have been thrown into prison. You'd expect that if they were praying at all, they'd be praying some of the impure, purgatory psalms, in which the psalmist is calling down judgment on those who have wrongfully and wickedly treated the people of God, but instead they are singing, they are praising God, and they're doing so at midnight. Verse 26, And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed. And the Gentiles, the jailer,

2:01 being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do yourself no harm, for we are all here. And he called for lights and sprang in, and trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your house.

2:42 And they spoke the word of the Lord unto him with all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized he and all his immediately. And he brought them up into his house and said, Food before them. And rejoiced greatly with all his house, having believed in God.

3:07 Let us again seek the face of God in prayer.

3:15 Our Father, we're so thankful for the privilege we've already had of drawing near to you in worship, in praise, in supplication, in intercession. Now we come again, acknowledging our utter inability to understand nor prophesy, nor profit from your word, unless your Holy Spirit is present, ministering powerfully upon the heart and mind and mouth of the preacher, and upon the heart and mind and affections and will of the listener. O Lord, give us all that we need so that we may profit from your word, that we may understand it more clearly, that we may be cast into the mold of its teaching. Come then in a system, as we lift up our hearts in this present expression of trust and confidence in you and repudiation of all confidence in ourselves. Hear us as we plead for these mercies through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

4:27 There is no question that you will ever ask that is of greater importance than the question asked in the midnight hour by the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen.

4:39 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

4:39 Amen. By the trembling jailer who cried, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? The devil who hates God, hates Christ, hates the souls of men and women and boys and girls, does all within his power to distort, to deny, or to misconstrue the one right answer to that question. The answer, the answer given to the jailer by Paul and Silas, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

The Necessity of the Term 'Saving Faith'

5:22 For the past eight messages, I've been examining with you the biblical teaching concerning repentance and faith, designating them as the hinge on the door of salvation. Using Acts 20 and verse 21 as a basis for the salvation of the world, a basic framework to launch into this series a text in which the Apostle said, he testified to Jews, to Greeks, publicly and privately, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Last Lord's Day, we concluded our examination of the necessity, the nature, and the fruit of repentance unto life. And we begin this morning, several studies, on the necessity, the nature, and the fruit of saving faith. And in this first message on the subject of saving faith, I want to accomplish two very basic things. Number one, I want to explain why I believe we must use the non-biblical term, saving faith.

6:37 You will search your Bible, use your concordances, and you will nowhere find the little phrase, saving faith. And I want to explain why I am persuaded we must use that term if we are to have an accurate understanding of, and be able to articulate clearly, what the Bible means when it says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. So that's goal number one for our study this morning, to explain why I believe we must use this term, saving faith. And then secondly, to demonstrate the urgent necessity for exercising this saving faith. I want to motivate you to a serious concern about our subject. And so before we launch into what are the elements that comprise saving faith, I want you to be absolutely prepared and absolutely persuaded of the necessity of this saving faith. First of all then, let me attempt an explanation as to why I believe we must use the term, saving faith.

7:54 The term is not a biblical term, and yet there are times when if we are accurately to understand and articulate or express a biblical concept, we must use non-biblical terms. Non-biblical terminology. You will take any concordance and look up the word trinity, and you will find the word trinity nowhere found in your Bible. And yet that term is vital in order to express a very fundamental biblical truth, namely that there is but one true and living God.

8:31 But that that one true and living God has existed from eternity in his essential being as Father, Son, and Son. And Holy Spirit. Not three gods, but one. But not a God who is a monism, and a God who is simply one mass, but a God within whose very being there are three persons.

8:55 A Father who can communicate with the Son and the Spirit. A Son who can communicate with the Father and the Spirit. A Spirit who can communicate with the Son and with the Father. In mutual, eternal, and eternal, undivided love.

9:11 In essence, one God, three persons. And we find it helpful to use the unbiblical term, the trinity. Well, in a similar way, when we open up our Bibles, we find the noun faith, or believers, and the verb to believe, or to have faith, set before us in such a way that they do not always point to that faith which is the door into salvation. In other words, the word faith and the word believe are used in ways that refer to something short of possessing God's salvation in Jesus Christ. For example, in James 2 and verse 19, James says, you believe that God is one, you do well. The demons also and tremble. Now, that's the same word that Paul uses with Silas in Acts 16.31.

10:18 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. The demons also believe, therefore the demons are saved. No, no. The word believe can be used in a way other than to designate saving faith.

10:34 The demons also believe that He is not saving. Then, in this life, they're gonna comunicate and Ashab silly to God, to God Himself, and he's gonna and will be saved, as I want you to understand. So, as we continue to use the word of God in Jesus' life, this is how Jesus speaks as he speaks in Luke 8, 13 which is the parable of Jesus anonymous. Again, that's a thing of comment.

11:14 The sun rises and it burns that flower. It withers and dies. And Jesus said, this is a picture of those who for a while believe. And the same noun is used.

11:27 For a while they, I'm sorry, the same verb. For a while they believe. But that's not saving faith. For saving faith is persevering faith.

11:36 Saving faith is faith that perseveres through tribulation and persecution that arise because of the word. And again, in Acts chapter 8 and 12 and 13, we read of the gospel coming to Samaria. And a certain man named Simon, who believed and was baptized. And yet further on in the chapter, Peter has to say to him, your heart is not right with God.

12:05 You have neither part nor life. A lot in this matter. Well, I thought he believed. Yeah, he did.

12:11 But it was a faith that fell short of saving faith. Or again, 1 Corinthians 13, 2b. If I have faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, it profits me nothing. It seems as though the apostle believes that there were some who could have faith to perform miracles.

12:33 Yet who are unconverted. Because they lack the fundamentals. They lack the fundamental grace of a converted man or woman, namely love. And Jesus indicates in Matthew 7, 21 and following, there'll be not a few in that category in the last day.

12:49 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out demons, and in thy name done many mighty works. The Lord doesn't refute their claim. He says to them, depart from me, I never knew you.

13:07 You had a faith to perform miracles. Miracles, but not a faith that brought you into a saving relationship with me and my salvation. These non-saving exercises of faith are often described by theologians as historical faith, miraculous faith, temporary faith. But they fall short of saving faith.

13:34 And so, I'm going to use the term saving faith. Because there is an abundance. There is an abundant use of the same family of words, the noun faith, the verb to believe, which unmistakably refer to a faith that is always connected with the possession of personal salvation from sin and its consequences. And that is what I'm designating as saving faith.

Distinguishing Saving Faith from Non-Saving Faith

14:07 Let's look at several passages. The passages are many. I'm just giving you a sampling. Acts chapter 13.

14:15 As Paul is preaching at Antioch, he brings his sermon to a near conclusion with these words in verses 38 and 9 of Acts 13. Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man, that is Jesus, is proclaimed unto you remission of sins. And by him, every one that believes is justified. Every one that believes is justified.

14:46 The demons also believe and tremble. Every one that believes is justified. The demons are just, no, no, no. Their faith is something short of saving faith.

14:58 This passage is designating what happens in the exercise of saving faith. The text I read at the beginning of our message. Believe, they said to the jailer. On the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.

15:15 Believe with this kind of belief, and salvation is yours. Or Acts 20.21, where Paul says he preached Jews and Greeks privately, publicly, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He preached the faith which brought sinners into the possession of God's salvation.

15:39 Or Romans 1.16. I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes. Every one that believes with what?

15:53 The faith of demons? The temporary faith of the stony ground hearer? The faith that merely produces miracles? No, with the faith that I am calling saving faith.

16:05 You see how we've got to make those distinctions at times with non-biblical words in order to understand. And so Romans 1.16 is affirmed by Romans 5.1.

16:18 Having therefore been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Wherever there is this saving faith, there is peace with God. Or Romans 10.9 and 10.

16:31 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart. The heart man believes unto righteousness. And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

16:50 Or time after time in the gospel of John. Starting in chapter 1 verse 12. Though he came to his own, verse 11, and his own received him not, to his many, to as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God, even to them that believe on his name. All who believe on his name.

17:12 Are made children of God. Believe with saving faith. Or the most well-known verse in the New Testament, John 3.16.

17:23 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have as a present possession, and on into the age to come, everlasting life. There is a believing. That is. An assured, leads to an assured possession of everlasting life.

17:48 John 3.36. He that believes is not condemned. God couldn't say it any more plainly or emphatically.

17:59 And so, there is in our Bibles, when we just pick them up and begin to read them without prejudice, this conclusion is forced upon us. Not everything that is said to be faith. And not every. The exercise of believing is unto salvation.

Clarifying the Role of Faith in Salvation

18:18 There is a non-saving faith, and there is a saving faith. Now, in using the term saving faith, I don't want to be misunderstood. It is not our faith that saves us. More accurately, it is Christ who saves by means of faith.

18:39 Christ is the Savior, not our faith. Matthew 1.24. You shall call His name Jesus, for He it is that shall save His people from their sins.

18:51 Christ saves. John 14.6. I am the way, the truth, and the life.

18:57 No man comes to the Father but by Me. Acts 4.12. There is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved.

19:09 It is in Christ and in Christ alone. This is a saying. Worthy of all acceptation, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But how do sinners get saved?

19:24 When by the regenerating work of the Spirit of God, they are brought personally to exercise repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And faith is but the means to lay hold of the Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ. And of the salvation that God offers us in Him. Here is a person who thinks that he may be having a heart attack.

19:53 He lives alone. And he is able to get to his phone and push 911. The paramedics come and they work on him. And they resuscitate him.

20:03 He is passed out. And he could say, in one sense, I am so thankful 911 was my salvation. Well, 911 wasn't. His Savior.

20:15 It was the paramedics who worked on him. Fixed him.

20:20 911 was the means to get him in touch with the Saviors. So the Bible speaks of being saved by faith. Faith is the 911 that connects us to the great paramedic, the one true physician of souls, our Lord Jesus Christ. So when God regenerates a dead sinner by that salvation, secret inner working of divine begetting, it will always register in the consciousness of that sinner as he repents of his sin and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ with that faith that is unto salvation.

The Urgent Necessity of Personal Saving Faith

21:05 So I hope I've persuaded you that in using the term saving faith, there is a necessity if we're to think clearly about this very crucial issue. Now then, secondly, I want to demonstrate from the Bible the necessity for the personal exercise of this saving faith. I want to persuade with God's help every rational being in this building from the youngest to the oldest that whatever may be the nature of saving faith, whatever the actings of saving faith, whatever the results and fruit of saving faith, you must be one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ or you are undone forever.

21:59 That this faith that we will be examining from the Bible is not an option. It's not a luxury. If you do not possess it, sitting here this morning, and you were to die in your present state, it would be better that you had never been born. And I want to persuade you of that.

22:22 I want you, if you are not sitting here today believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ and possessing the salvation promise to all such believers, that you will be persuaded you must give yourself no rest or peace until you have become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to lay before you three lines of biblical evidence as to the necessity for you exercising this saving faith, whatever its nature, whatever its accompaniments, whatever its fruit. I want to persuade you. You must become a believer. Why? Number one, because you presently and desperately need what you can only come to possess by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Sitting here this morning, you presently and desperately need what you can only come to possess by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Necessity 1: Desperate Need Due to Sin

23:37 Now, on what basis dare I make such a sweeping statement as this? Well, I could marshal much biblical data, but let me just give you a specimen. Sitting here this morning, every one of us is part of the church. We are part of that whole mass of humanity represented by our first father, Adam.

24:00 And in respect to that relationship to Adam, the Bible says in Romans 5 and verse 12, Wherefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death passed upon all men, for that all sinned. Where and when did all sin? We all sinned. We all sinned.

24:23 We all sinned. We all sinned. We all sinned. We all sinned in our first father, Adam.

24:27 When Adam sinned, we sinned in him and with him as our representative head. You say, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

24:36 I was never given a ballot and asked whether or not I'd like Adam to represent me. That's not fair. I'm sorry, folks. God ain't issuing no ballots.

24:47 That's the way God ordained to administer His government in the human race. That He would appoint the first member of that race, the representative head of the entire race, so that in His standing we would all stand and in His fall we would all fall.

25:09 That sin in Adam is your sin and my sin. That's why all died. For the wages of sin is death. And you and I desperately need what can only come to our possession by faith in Jesus Christ, because of who and what we are in our first father, Adam.

25:31 We are guilty. We are cut off from the life of God. We are under the condemnation of God's holy law. We are in the language of Ephesians 2.4.

25:43 We are by nature children of wrath. That is, we are liable to and justly exposed to the wrath of Almighty God. You say, well, I don't feel it. It has nothing to do.

25:56 It has nothing to do with what you feel. It has to do with the reality. The reality of your solidarity with your first father, Adam, and your sin in Adam. And added to that are all of your own personal sins which you cannot deny in the theater of your own conscience.

26:14 All of the thoughts and all of the words and all of the dispositions and all of the actions that you know from your very infancy have been contrary to the law of God. Things for which your own conscience condemns you as much as you try to stuff your fist in the mouth of your own conscience. It thunders every lie you've told, every lustful thought you've entertained, every mean and cutting and catty word you've ever spoken, every disposition of envy and jealousy, all of the things that Jesus describes that flow out of the heart of man. You know them.

26:56 And you need to become a believer in the Lord. Because it is only by coming to faith in Him that your sin in Adam can be forgiven. Your own personal sins can be forgiven. And furthermore, you desperately need what you can only come to possess by faith in the Lord Jesus, not only because of your guilt, your guilt in Adam, your guilt growing out of your own personal sins, but because of your bondage to sin.

27:29 Jesus said in John 8 in verse 34, Whosoever commits sin is the bond slave of sin. You're a slave. In Romans 6, two or three times, Paul affirms it. For when you were the slaves of sin, you were slaves of sin.

27:48 And we have no power to break our own chains. But Jesus said in John 8, 36, Whom the Son sets free is free indeed. And it is Christ's, and by faith in Christ alone, that we are not only brought out from under the horrible, horrible, threatening canopy of divine wrath, but the clanking chains of bondage to our own sin. And we are set free from guilt and from power.

28:20 Why must you believe? Because you presently and desperately need what can only be yours by faith in Christ. Divine forgiveness righteously procured and justly conferred in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The breaking of your chains which God has promised to all who embrace His Son.

Necessity 2: God's Gracious Command to Believe

28:48 But then secondly, there is a necessity for you to believe not only because you presently and desperately need what you can only come to possess by faith in Christ, but because God graciously commands you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of the most amazing things in the Bible. God graciously commands you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we know He commands repentance, Acts 17.30.

29:19 But now, God commandeth all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He has ordained and He has given witness unto all in that He raised Him from the dead. And implicit, you see, in that command to repent is God's gracious willingness to forgive us. Why would He command us to repent if He doesn't stand ready to forgive us? But you see, He not only commands us to repent, and I want you to see this with your own eyes rather than have me just quoted in sight the text in 1 John chapter 3.

29:56 Words could not be more explicit and plain. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 23. This is His commandment that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the commandment of the Sovereign of the Universe that every one of us sitting here, having been confronted with the revelation of God's mercy in the person and work of Christ.

30:31 That's what the phrase, believe in the name. The name is the revelation of Christ in the Gospel. As we'll see next week, the uniqueness of His person is the God-man. The perfection of His work in His perfect life, His substitutionary death, His glorious, triumphant, validating resurrection.

30:52 This is God's command. Believe in My Son. Believe in Him as He is revealed in the Gospel. Do you have any question of my readiness to forgive you, God says?

31:05 Let me sweep it away with a simple word. I command you to believe. And if God's heart was not toward us with goodwill unto forgiveness, why would He command us to do the thing that would bring us to forgiveness?

31:21 It makes no sense. I may have a table full of food and I may invite you. And you say, well, maybe, maybe He really doesn't mean it. Maybe He's kind of hoping I don't come so He can have more.

31:32 But if I command, I say, John, Henry, come to my table. You have no question about my disposition toward you. And that table spread with food. I want you to partake of it.

31:49 This is God's commandment that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. And there is a necessity for you to believe because your Sovereign who made you, who sustained you, the one whom Paul described in Acts 17 as the one who gives to us life and breath,

32:13 inhaling, exhaling, all the while you're doing it here. God is giving. God is giving. This God, this God who holds your life in His hand, commands you here and now, in this place, this morning.

32:28 He commands you to believe. He commands you to believe. He's sincere. His sincere desire for your salvation could not be more clearly revealed than putting you in the orbit of the truth about Jesus, which you have, and then commanding you to believe upon His Son, the Lord Jesus.

32:52 One of the old writers picked up on this very beautiful notion of God's gracious command and he wrote as follows, Is there not here a word in season for you, O Son, sinner, whoever you are, however guilty and however helpless, however poor, however needy and undone? You, as it might seem, are in no condition to keep God's commandments so as to please Him. You can't venture to ask anything or to hope you'll receive anything in His hands. Ah, but here is something you may do, and it will be very pleasing to Him.

33:29 Believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, it is true that He will not be pleased with your keeping any other commandment, but He will be pleased with your keeping this one. You may not be in circumstances to do anything else that would be pleasing in His sight, but you're in the very circumstances to do that which will please Him best. What pleases God more than when a sinner says, O God, I give up all of these stupid notions that You sent Your Son from Heaven, You subjected Him to the cruel, ignominious, shameful death of the cross, raised Him from the dead, and now You say in that salvation the vileness of sinners can find forgiveness and deliverance, and You then set Him before Me, and You tell Me, command Me to believe upon Him. O God, I give up all of my silly notions. What if I'm not electing? What if I...

34:29 No, Lord, You say in Your Word, believe upon Him. I cut through all, all silliness, O God, and I no longer look upon my unbelief as some kind of disease. I look upon it as a clenched fist to my Sovereign, who in grace and mercy sent His Son to die for sinners, raised Him from the dead, and now sets Him before me in the Gospel as a willing and able, a powerful, inviting Savior. He asks you, if you will, will not do Him this pleasure.

35:07 Believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Be it that you cannot receive anything you ask otherwise than on the footing of your keeping His commandments and doing those things pleasing in His sight. That's the context of this verse. Here's the commandment for you, here and now, to keep.

35:25 Here is the one thing pleasing in His sight for you, here and now, to do. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. But faith pleases Him, it pleases Him well. Then believe now.

35:38 Take a right view of the duty of believing. It's not using a great liberty to believe on the name of Jesus. It is simply keeping the commandment of God. The liberty is all the other way.

35:50 You use a great liberty when you refuse to believe. Don't be disobedient. Displease not God by unbelief. Rather, please Him by believing.

35:59 And believing, ask what you will, and it shall be given you. What's the necessity of saving faith? It rests down upon the fact that you presently and desperately need what you can only come to possess by believing on the Lord Jesus. Secondly, because God graciously commands you to believe on the Lord Jesus.

Necessity 3: Heightened Condemnation for Unbelief

36:25 And thirdly, because without saving faith, you are and will remain, hear me carefully now, under the heightened, heightened condemnation reserved for those who hear about Jesus, but refuse to believe in Jesus. You are and will remain under the heightened condemnation reserved for those who hear about Christ, but refuse to believe in Christ. You remember Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 3, chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11, having gone through cities in the days of His flesh, and presented Himself as the King of grace,

37:17 preaching the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel, validating His identity with miracles, Matthew 11, 20. Then He began to upbraid, scold the cities wherein most of His mighty works were done because they repented not. Woe unto you, you Chorazin. Woe unto you, Bethsaida.

37:39 For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, shall you be exalted to heaven? You shall go down to hell, for if the mighty works had been done in Sodom, which were done in you, it would have remained unto this day.

38:08 But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

38:16 Here the Lord is saying, increased light brings increased intensified judgment.

38:23 Some of you have had Christ set before you. Literally, times without number. Family worship. Sunday school.

38:33 From this pulpit. Christian school chapel. A host of other ways. And you go on in your unbelief.

38:43 Hear what Jesus is saying. It'd be better if you could switch places with the Sodomites in the day of judgment than to go from a pew in Trinity Church into hell.

39:03 He who knew his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes.

39:09 He who knew not his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with few stripes.

39:17 A frightening thing.

39:20 That's why as I wrestled with how to introduce this series on saving faith, I said, oh God, I don't want to start with analyzing the components of saving faith. What makes saving faith what it is so that it becomes the instrument of laying hold of Christ and His salvation? I want to start with Your help persuading some. It's time to stop dilly-dallying about coming to faith.

39:48 Faith in Christ.

39:51 It's time to stop sitting there. I don't believe, but I don't disbelieve. Oh yes, if you don't believe, you are disbelieving. If you are not acting faith upon Christ, you are aggressively exercising unbelief.

Unbelief as Resolute Disobedience

40:10 And this is why in John 3.36, John, by the guidance of the Spirit, does something that has troubled commentators. I want you to look at it with me. John 3 and verse 36.

40:22 He that believes on the Son has eternal life right now, possesses it in its down payment, in the consciousness of sins forgiven, communion with God and with His Son, and the best yet to come. He that believes on the Son has eternal life, but he that, the New King James still says, disbelieves or unbelieves, unbelieving, but there's a difference There's a different Greek word. There is a word for disbelief. It's the word for faith with the alpha privative in front of it.

41:01 We'll look at a verse that has it. But here the word is used. He that obeys not the Son,

41:09 apitho, he that resolutely disobeys the Son. You see what the opposite of faith is? It's resolute, settled disobedience.

41:23 And such a one shall not see life, but the wrath of God, is presently abiding upon Him. Jesus said, pointing to the last day, more tolerable in the day of judgment. But don't think that somehow you have a neutral stance before the living God. You are either right now under the canopy of all of His gracious provisions in Jesus Christ, possessing eternal life, or you're possessing a canopy of divine wrath hanging over your head this very moment as you continue to sit in a disposition of willful unbelief that God calls disobedience.

42:13 That's why the apostle in 2 Thessalonians says when Jesus returns, He will return in flaming fire taking vengeance on all those that know not God and obey not. The gospel doesn't say believe not. He says obey not. Why?

42:33 Because the gospel comes with a command. The command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And refusal to believe is manifested in that willful disobedience.

Believing as the Work of God

42:51 Two more interesting texts I want us to look at. John chapter 6.

42:57 Jesus has performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000.

43:04 The next day the crowds follow Him. And Jesus said, you're not following Me because you saw what that miracle pointed to, namely who I am is bread of life. You just got your belly filled yesterday and you want to get it filled today. So the Lord speaks to them in John 6, verse 26.

43:23 Verily, verily, I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Don't work for the food that perisheth, but for the food which abides unto eternal life which the Son of Man shall give you. For Him, the Father, even God, has sealed. In other words, He says, don't let your mind just be preoccupied with the food that fills your belly.

43:51 Be concerned and occupied with getting active in laying hold of that food which nourishes unto eternal life. I am that food for I am the bread of life. And you're not feeding upon Me by faith. You're not assimilating Me.

44:09 You just want your belly filled. Now, they respond with these words. Verse 28. They said therefore unto Him, What must we do that we may work the works of God?

44:21 What must we do that in doing we will please God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He has sent. You see, faith is everywhere contrasted with works. For by grace have you been saved through faith that not of yourselves.

44:45 It is not of works that no man should boast. Faith in works to Him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. Romans 4.

44:58 Everywhere faith and works are set as opposites as the ground of our acceptance with God. But here Jesus says, you're to work for something. And what are you to work for? What must we do that we may work the works of God?

45:12 Jesus said, this is the work of God that you believe. In other words, the one thing God wants you to do right here and now is to believe upon His Son.

The Unbelieving in the Lake of Fire

45:24 Until you've done that, nothing else is pleasing to God. But that is, do the work of God, namely to believe upon His Son. And then the final text is Revelation 21 in verse 8.

45:40 Revelation 21 in verse 8. Seeking to demonstrate that without saving faith you are and will remain under the heightened condemnation reserved for those who hear about Christ but do not believe in Christ. After this marvelous description of the new heavens and the new earth in the opening verses of Revelation 21,

46:07 then He describes those for whom this is reserved in verse 8. He says, He says, He says, He says, He says, He that overcomes shall inherit these things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son. But, but, but the fearful and unbelieving. The word faith with a little alpha privative in front of it.

46:33 Ah, pistos.

46:37 But the fearful, now notice the company, and the unbelieving, abominable, murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars. Their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death. I have warrant to say to anyone sitting here who is an impenitent murderer, living and dying in that state, you will go to the lake of fire. I can say to anyone living in fornication as a pattern of life, living and dying in that state, you will go to the lake of fire.

47:20 Those who are idolaters, whatever your idol may be, and in such company, God puts the unbelieving. You may be a lovely child, an upright young man, young woman, respectful to your parents, respectful to your teachers, diligent, but you do not yet believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll be in the same company with fornicators. And idolaters.

47:53 And adulterers. And murderers. You don't believe that. That's why you can sally into church Lord's day after Lord's day and sally out, never being able to say to anyone whom you trust to open your heart, I know that I personally am believing on the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart.

48:20 I am His, and He is mine. You don't really believe. You could drop into the same hell with murderers, and idolaters, and fornicators. And I can't persuade you.

48:36 I can read the Bible. I can quote it. I can highlight it with my words. But oh, that God the Holy Spirit will fall upon you and persuade you.

48:48 I must, I must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I must, I must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I must, I must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I must, I must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion: A Call to Believe and Seek Rest in Christ

48:57 Or I am forever undone. Well, I trust I've demonstrated to you why I must use the term saving faith and why it is necessary, whatever saving faith is, absolutely necessary for you personally to come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. in the Lord Jesus Christ. For you desperately need what you can only possess by faith in Christ.

49:36 You must come to faith in Christ because God commands you. And you ought to come to faith in Christ because your judgment will be greater if you remain in unbelief in the face of gospel light. May God be pleased to do the internal persuasion, to do the internal persuasion, that you will determine this day, I am determined to do the work of God, namely that I believe upon His Son and I'll give myself no rest. And if I need to make a pest of myself with my mom, my dad, one of my pastors, one of the older people in the church, a friend, whoever it is, I will know until I know I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Oh, our Father, we marvel, we marvel at the patience You show to us in our stubborn unbelief. And we can only plead with You that in mercy and in grace You will do what You alone can do in bringing that persuasion home to many a heart that they must,

51:04 they must believe upon Your beloved Son. And if it please You to spare us, to contemplate in days to come what it is You call upon us to believe about Him and to find in Him to the profit of our souls that the Holy Spirit will shine upon the face of our lovely Savior and that many will become attached to Him in living faith, to love Him, to trust Him in life, in death, and to be found in the last day, gathered to him with all of his saints from all the ages. We thank you for the many sitting here this morning who by your grace have been brought to trust in the Lord Jesus, who do with all of their hearts rely solely upon him for the pardon of their sins, for victory over the dominion and power of sin, who live in the wonderful hope and anticipation of being delivered from the very presence of sin when these spirits are separated from our bodies and we join the spirits of just men made perfect. And then, O Lord, in that final consummate day of redemption when our Lord Jesus comes to have sinless souls

52:33 inhabiting deathless bodies, O Lord, we thank you for all that you have stored up for those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Seal then your word to our prophet, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.