Three Central Truths, Part 2

Introduction: The Efficacy of God's Word and the Danger of Unbelief

0:01 This sermon was preached at the 1987 Southeastern Reformed Baptist Family Conference held at Gardner-Webb College in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

0:15 One of the most precious promises in all of the Word of God was read in our hearing tonight. Many precious promises are found in that 55th chapter of Isaiah, but one of the most precious and most often repeated promises is that promise that God himself makes concerning his own word in which he says, So shall my word be that goes out of my mouth, it shall not return unto me void. Whatever else God is saying in that verse is, he is saying that his word never goes forth in vain.

1:07 But the tragedy is, he often fulfills that word, bypassing some of our own hearts. For the scripture speaks of a people of whom it is said, the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith. Wouldn't it be a tragic thing to be here, in a setting where God has promised that his word is going to accomplish his own purpose and for you to be bypassed in the blessing that that word can bring through unbelief, through pride, through stubbornness. May we plead with God that God would prepare our hearts that each of us will know when this hour is completed, yes, yes. The word of God did not return to him void for I knew its quickening life-giving power in my own heart. Will you plead with God that that will be your experience as together we seek his face again in prayer.

2:24 Let us pray. Oh, Father, how we do thank you for such exceeding great and precious promises. We thank you that we have the power to do so. We thank you that we are able to meet in this conference in the confidence that when your servants stand to open the word, they open a word that not only comes from you, but goes forth from you and returns to you, accomplishing your own sovereign and gracious designs.

3:05 And we pray that this night, as your word goes forth, we may be able to meet again in the presence of the Lord. You will indeed cause it to prosper in that where unto you have sent it, but, oh, Lord, we would be bold to pray that we may be part of that gracious profiting of the word, that the word preached will not deepen us in our hardness, will not seal us in our blindness, that it will not increase the measure of our damnation. Amen. Amen.

3:40 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:44 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:48 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:52 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:56 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

4:00 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

4:04 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

4:08 Amen. Amen. evening to the second of our series of studies in the vital theme of the nature and work of faith in Christian experience. Now, in our initial study last evening, I stated that three central truths of biblical revelation form both the foundation and the framework of all that we will consider together in this series of studies on the nature and work of faith in Christian experience. I will simply state those great pivotal issues of biblical revelation. First of all, that all men are sinners by nature and practice and are therefore under the wrath of Almighty God. Secondly, that God has graciously made but one remedy for sinful man, a remedy which centers in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And thirdly, the

Saving Faith Withholds Nothing of the Heart from Christ

5:32 one divinely provided remedy is appropriated by needy sinners by faith alone. And in the light of that third central issue of biblical revelation, I asserted, and I trust I carried your conscience in that assertion, that it is vital for us to understand the nature of that faith which is unto salvation and life. That faith by which the sinner, in all of his need, is brought into vital union with the Savior in all the plenitude and the power of his saving virtue. And I had hoped to bring before you three perspectives concerning that faith, and we had time only to touch two. I will simply name the first two, and then we will address the third this evening. First of all, I asserted that in saving faith, the sinner brings nothing to Christ. And the pivotal text we examined was Romans 4,

6:50 verses 4 and 5. Now to him who works, the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is nothing. His faith is reckoned for righteousness. And one of the unique properties of true saving faith, that faith which is the fruit and the outworking of God's almighty, secret, inward regenerating grace, is that it is a faith that comes empty-handed and naked to Christ. The sinner comes. He comes with his chains clanging. He comes reeking with the stench of his sin. He comes

7:50 in all of the defilement and wretchedness of his ungodly state, and in that state believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, we saw from the scriptures that in saving faith, the sinner receives the reward of his sin. And in saving faith, the sinner receives a whole Christ and all that is in him. One of the verses many of us learned very early in our Christian experience was John 1, 12. But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. To believe on his name. One of the ingredients of life is to receive him, to receive the 말씀 of a full Christ. To receive him.

8:50 And to receive in the whole Christ all of the blessings of salvation that God has stored up in him. All the way from forgiveness to the pledge and certainty of a resurrection body at the last day. Every blessing of salvation. Every blessing of salvation.

9:12 Salvation is stored up in Christ, and in saving faith the sinner receives a whole Christ and all that is in him. And now tonight we come to a third assertion with respect to saving faith, a third vital perspective regarding this grace of saving faith. And I'm expressing it this way. In saving faith, the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ.

9:52 Now do you see the progression? In saving faith, the sinner brings nothing of himself, of his own works, of his own so-called virtue. He brings nothing but his sin to Christ.

10:09 He receives a whole Christ and all that is in him. And in saving faith, the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ. Now turn with me, please, first of all, to Romans chapter 10. We're going to look at two pivotal texts in the book of Romans.

The Heart's Engagement in Saving Faith (Romans 10)

10:33 Romans chapter 10, the passage that was read in our hearing last evening.

10:41 And I would direct you to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10, the passage that was read in our hearing last evening. I would direct your attention to verse 8.

10:47 But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word or the message of faith which we preach. You see, faith was so central to the message of the gospel that not only is the gospel called the word of the cross, in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 8, but it is also called the word or the message of faith. The cross and faith are so central to the gospel that Paul says his gospel can indeed be called the word or the message of faith which we preach. Now certainly he was not preaching that faith is our savior. He's already made it abundantly clear in the preceding chapters that salvation, salvation is to be found in the person and work of Christ and in the person and work of Christ alone. But in the immediately preceding setting, he has demonstrated the centrality of faith.

11:59 And in this chapter, he is expressing his tremendous concern for his fellow countrymen, the Jews, who seeking to establish a righteousness by works, have rejected the righteousness, which is the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ which is received only by faith. And so in that setting, it is perfectly proper for him to say the word or the message of faith which we preach. And now he's going to expand on some of the details of how that faith that is unto salvation actually operates in the heart of the believing and penitent. Listener, because, verse 8, if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved for with the heart. Man believes unto. righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now notice, first

13:26 of all, in speaking of this word of faith which Paul preaches, he indicates that this faith that is unto salvation is a faith in which the heart is engaged. It is not a faith which merely involves the mind, though it does involve the mind, and it must involve the mind. It does not only involve the emotions, the faculties of feeling, though they will to one degree or another be involved, but he focuses upon the engagement of the heart in respect. To saving faith, and he does so in two categories. First of all, he says the heart of the believing sinner unreservedly receives the truth revealed about the Savior. Verse 9, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thy heart, and what is it that a man or woman must believe?

14:46 It is this, that God has raised him, that is Jesus of Nazareth, who is none other than Jehovah, the Lord Jehovah of the Old Testament, is Jesus revealed in the New Testament, the exalted sovereign at the right hand of God the Father. He says, if you shall believe, if you believe in your heart a certain fact about him, that God raised him from the dead. Now the raising of Jesus from the dead was that culminating act by which he saved his people. In chapter 4 Paul said, he was delivered up for our offenses, he was raised for our justification. And the apostle is not saying that believing exclusively or only in the resurrection is the beginning, middle, and end of the content of saving faith. That would contradict what has preceded in this epistle. It would contradict the rest of the Bible, particularly Paul's

16:06 own fuller definition of the gospel, which a man must believe if he is to be saved. You remember the familiar words of 1 Corinthians chapter 15. There he tells the Corinthians, because some are among them, denying the doctrine of the resurrection, I make known unto you, brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which you also received, wherein you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except you believed in vain. He says, this is the gospel you believed, and believing, that belief was unto salvation. And what are the major elements of its content? I delivered unto you first of all that which I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and he was buried, and that he has been raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared, and that he appeared, and that he appeared, and that he appeared. In other words, it is a well attested fact of his redemptive activity that he was raised from the dead. But you see, implicit in that

17:30 is the acceptance from the heart of all the truth revealed about Jesus of Nazareth, whom God has exalted at his right hand to be Lord and Christ. Believing in the truth, believing everything which God says he did in order to procure salvation for sinners. Men and women, boys and girls cannot be saved if they refuse from the heart to believe what is revealed about Christ. It is not for us to say, well, I don't quite understand how it is that the incarnation of Jesus Christ has been revealed. It is not for us to say, well, I don't quite understand how it is that the incarnation of Jesus Christ has been revealed. It is not for us to say, well, I don't quite understand how it is that the incarnation of Jesus Christ has been revealed. It is not for us to say, well, I don't quite understand how it is that

18:22 the substitutionary death and the literal bodily resurrection must be facts in order for God to be just and the justifier of sinners. We do not make our minds the arbiter of what is necessary to believe unto salvation. God has already determined that. And here the apostle says, the word of faith which we preach, this word which is near you, in your mouth and in your heart is comprised of these elements if you shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead.

19:04 In saving faith, the heart unreservedly receives the truths revealed about Christ. But it does something else. It unreservedly receives the Christ in whom the blessings of salvation are offered. For he goes on to say, For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation for the scripture says whosoever believes on Him and now it is the person of Christ who accomplished the work for sinners that is made the distinct object of faith whosoever believes on Him shall not be put to shame for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord of all and is rich unto all that call upon Him. The person is set before us again. Notice again, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And so the emphasis in verses 11 through 13 points to the fact that the Lord is God.

20:20 It points to the fact that in saving faith the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ. With his heart he unreservedly receives the truths revealed about Christ and with his heart he unreservedly receives the Christ in whom the blessings of salvation are offered. His belief upon Christ on or into Christ is a belief from the heart for with the heart man be Now why is this emphasis given upon the heart? Well for the simple reason that the heart is the seat of all choice and affection and desire and motivation and so the emphasis falls upon this fact that one of the qualities of saving faith is that in its exercise the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ. When he stands before Christ with nothing of his own to present to him

Obedience from the Heart to the Gospel (Romans 6)

21:46 and the whole Christ in the plenitude of his salvation offers himself to the sinner the sinner in receiving Christ withholds nothing of his heart from Christ. Now a second text in Romans that points in this same direction is Romans chapter 6. Many of you I'm sure are familiar with the basic theme and content of chapter 6. Paul is answering that question raised by the devil's logic if we are saved by the work of another, if we are saved by the work of another, if we are saved by the work of another, and there is no sin we've ever committed or number of sins we've committed that can raise up a mountain higher than the super abounding grace of God in the work of another, well then let us continue in sin that grace may abound. If we have a mountain of sin 10,000 feet high and God's grace super abounds to 15,000 feet, let's raise a mountain of sin to 20,000 to magnify it. To magnify grace that will raise up its mountain to 30,000. That's the devil's logic added to the glorious truth of the gospel.

23:12 And to that Paul says God forbid because he says the same faith that has brought us into the possession of that forgiveness, that justifying righteousness is the faith that has so united us to Christ that we have the right to be saved. That we have the right to be saved. That we have the right to be saved. That we have the right to be saved.

23:31 That we have died in union with Christ to the dominion of sin. We are no longer the willing bond slaves of sin. Sin no longer exerts an unqualified lordship over us. Oh yes, sin still dwells in us.

23:50 We have the problem of remaining sin eloquently testified to in Romans chapter 7. But sin no longer reigns though it reigns. Though it remains. And though it is our greatest grief that sin is not utterly and totally eradicated from our hearts, its dominion has been broken.

24:14 Now when was the dominion of sin broken in these Roman Christians? Well at many points in the epistle the apostle answers that question but he answers it here in chapter 6 with terminology that is completely unique to the Roman church. To my knowledge in the New Testament but so instructive. Now verse 17 of Romans 6.

24:40 But thanks be to God that whereas you were slaves of sin you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching where unto you were delivered and being made free from sin you became, the slaves of righteousness. Now look at the contrast at the beginning of verse 17. You were the slaves of sin. Verse 18, being made free from sin, you became the slaves of righteousness.

25:19 Do you see the radical nature of their spiritual transformation? From slaves of sin, slaves of righteousness. Now what happened to bring them from here to here? He says this is what happened.

25:37 You became obedient from the heart.

25:45 Something happened which Paul describes as an act of obedience from the heart. And his language is carefully chosen. Obedience that was not feigned. Obedience that was not surface.

26:06 Obedience that was not sham. It was obedience from the heart. And what was it obedience do? He says it was obedience to that form or pattern of teaching whereunto you were delivered.

26:26 It's one of the most unusual statements in all of the Word of God. He called, He calls the Gospel a pattern of teaching. You see it had specific doctrinal and theological content. It was teaching that had angles and shape and dimensions to it.

26:49 It wasn't a formless amorphous glob of some kind of a mixture of Jesus and the cross and faith and love and heaven. Something that somehow or another all mixed up together. You would smell it and look at it and say well that's some kind of Christian soup. Rather he likens it to a piece of cloth that was cut from a pattern that had been laid upon it.

27:20 It had distinct angles and distinct shape. He describes his Gospel as that form of teaching. But he says, you were delivered unto that form of teaching. There is a passive verb.

27:43 He says something happened to you so that you were delivered unto the pattern of that teaching. And it's a beautiful imagery to demonstrate that in saving faith the sinner withholding nothing of his heart, from the Holy Spirit, from Christ is actually cast into the mold of the Gospel of Christ so that all that Christ has purposed in the Gospel begins to be realized in the believing sinner. But the key phrase for our purposes tonight is this. You became obedient from the heart to that form of faith. To that form of teaching. That's how he describes their faith.

28:42 Faith he says was obedience from the heart to the form of teaching. And we already know what the form of that teaching was. It was the proclamation of God's saving mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And the summons to sinners to stack arms and coming with no supposed virtues, and coming with no supposed virtues, and coming with no supposed virtues, and coming with no supposed virtues, and coming with no supposed virtues, and coming with no supposed virtues, and coming with no supposed virtues, of their own to Him that works not but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, to embrace that Savior and the salvation and all of its blessings that are in Him and to do that from the heart, withholding nothing from the object of faith, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this may be helpful to some of you in pulling together why it is that there is absolutely no contradiction between the doctrine clearly set forth and expanded by the apostle in Romans and Galatians and in the rest of the New Testament

No Contradiction: Faith Demands Unrivaled Affection for Christ

30:02 on justification by faith apart from the works of the law and the summons that we find going out from Jesus, again, and again as recorded in the gospels in which He called men into an attachment to Himself that demanded that He have a place of unrivaled affection in their hearts. Has it ever troubled you that you'd read in a passage in the epistles, by grace are you saved through faith, and then you read in Luke 14, He that forsakes not all that he has cannot be my disciple. Did that ever bother you? Did that ever trouble you?

30:46 All of the calls that Jesus gives in the gospels, the calls to sinners are calls that sinners come into attachment to Himself, an attachment in which He will tolerate no rival to His affection. You remember what He said in Luke 14, 25? The great multitudes were going out to follow Him. It was a time of relative, but temporary, popularity.

31:15 And Jesus turned to those multitudes and listened to what He said to them in verse 26 of Luke 14. If any man comes to Me and hates not his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. I will not own anyone as My disciple who is not prepared to give to Me a place of unrivaled affection in his heart. And rather than make a list a hundred items long, he goes into that circle of the deepest ties of human affection, ties that God Himself has ordained in there proper place, and proper excellence, and proper law, and proper knowledge, and proper grace, and proper exercise but which become idolatrous if they rival one's attachment to Christ and he says if any man comes to me and hates not and we can debate what does the hate not mean but whatever it means it

32:32 surely means this Jesus must be first in our affections or he will not have us whatever else it means it can't mean less than that if any man comes to me and hates not his own father and mother and wife and children the very God who we were reminded this morning commands me as a husband to love my wife as Christ loved the church in coming to Christ for the salvation that is in him he must at that level have a place of unrivaled affection you so that if necessary I'm prepared for my attachment to Christ to result as it did in the case of many of the Corinthians even in a divided household I must be first he said he said it again and again in his earthly ministry you remember three would-be disciples come to him as recorded in Luke chapter 9 and the Lord is saying essentially the same thing to these would-be disciples who would be

33:47 attached to him Luke chapter 9 in verse 57 a certain man said I'll follow you wherever you go and the Lord says to him the foxes have holes the birds of the heaven have nests the son of man has not where to lay his head he said you come to be my follower and I promise you nothing but myself if you want me and being with me and having me is what you desire then come but if you want me plus something else I promise you nothing but myself and then the Lord took the initiative and said to another one follow me come into loving unqualified attachment to me my person and my will but he said Lord permit me first to go and bury my father whether his father had actually died and he was only asking for a one day leave of absence according to Jewish custom they buried them the same day or whether his father was terminally ill and he thought he would die in a few weeks weeks. Whatever the facts are, Jesus said, let the dead bury their own dead, but go and publish abroad the kingdom of God. My will must be supreme in your heart if you are coming to be attached to

35:05 me. And another said, I'll follow you, Lord, but something else must first be taken care of. And Jesus likened him to a man who, while he puts his hand to the plow to plow, has got his head looking back to the porch where he sees friends sitting on the swing and drinking iced tea and enjoying the cool breeze working its way through the porch. And he says, such a divided hearted man is not fit for the kingdom of God. Now, there's no contradiction between all of that evidence that comes out of the gospel records. That when Jesus calls people into attachment to himself, he calls them into an attachment of unrivaled affection and the teaching that we are justified by faith. By grace are we saved through faith and that not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. And the reason there is no contradiction

36:08 is because of this third aspect of saving faith. In saving faith, that faith which is the first acting of a heart quickened to life by the Spirit in regenerating grace, that faith which is unto life and salvation withholds nothing of itself from Christ. Now, because this is so, saving faith will always and inevitably bear both the burden of salvation and the burden of salvation. And that is why we are trying to protect both our hearts, we need to protect the heart which is unready of salvation, the heart which is saved and how to respond to that. But when you witness that work of God, that work becomes Pierch. It all seems trivial and difficult to understand or know the real activated truth and how we offer it together. 怎么 nostro.

The Inevitable Fruits of Saving Faith: Love and Obedience

37:18 Because I think, especially in the time of Jesus, that we're not.可能 and as a Lord and a friend. I will engage in faith throughout the course of my life and of everyone that I've know that the experience is just an emotion with Christ is nothing unique, without the rest of happening to ask for will. be in its arms the moment faith is born it has a child and its child immediately bears another child you say what in the world are you talking about simply this no sooner is faith born in a sinner's heart but it is found with the child of attachment in love to the person of jesus christ himself wherever there is true faith in christ unto salvation there will always be as the first and immediate child of that faith love to the person of christ and all the attachment and affinity to christ that is born of love turn to first peter chapter 1 and verse 8 where this truth is so beautifully set before you us by peter first peter chapter 1 he begins the paragraph in verse 3 by blessing god for his mercy that begot christians unto a living hope by the resurrection of jesus christ

38:43 has begotten us unto an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that very grace acting by power now guards us through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed but meanwhile peter says we are in the midst of suffering wherein you greatly rejoice though now for a little while if need be you've been put to grief in manifold trials notice now that the proof of your faith now you see the centrality of faith in the context who by the power of god that is all christians by the power of god are guarded through faith unto salvation that is the consummation of salvation at the second coming guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed and though we now suffer this suffering is intended by god to do what to put our faith to the test that the proof of your faith the faith that is brought you into possession of the salvation of christ rooted in the work of christ looking forward to the coming day of christ when it will be completed that salvation received by

40:05 faith that's what he's speaking about he says now sufferings are putting that faith to the test and that faith being more precious than gold that perishes though it is proved by fire may be found unto praise and honor and glory at the revelation of jesus christ now verse eight he speaks this of all true believers whom not having seen you love on whom though you see him not yet believing you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory it is inconceivable to peter that there is anyone truly believing that he is the one who is truly believing that he is the perfect existence hamsthe who does not experience theuteness peter all the other seeing that they don't say e deployed to love he later said will happen although these matteo go on having not in every one of you

41:28 rudi dot cannot》move it a little bit older for that order actually quite high Every one of you who is guarded by the power of God through faith unto salvation, every one of you now under present trial in the midst of your suffering, whom having not seen, every one of you love him, on whom though you see him not yet believing. A sinner is a sinner who loves the object of his faith. There is no such thing as a believer who does not love Christ. Now that love can grow cold, it was the great complaint of the ascended Christ to the church at Ephesus. He had to say to them in Revelation 2, I know your works, your patience, all the things you've borne, all the things you've done. You've kept doctrinal purity in the church. You've tried false apostles and you've dealt with them. But I have somewhat against you. You have left your first love.

42:41 Yes, our love to Christ can wane. Our love to Christ can grow cold. Our love to Christ at times is stirred to levels that we wish somehow we had some means at our disposal to make sure. It would at least be locked into that level, never to fall beneath it again, only to rise higher and higher and higher and burn brighter and brighter until we are utterly consumed by that love.

43:15 I'm fully aware of that from my Bible and from my own heart. But of a Christian that is a believer in Christ who knows nothing of love to the person of Christ. The scripture knows. The scripture knows nothing. So the moment faith is born in the heart of a sinner by the gracious sovereign operation of God in regenerating grace, that faith carries a baby called love to Christ.

43:46 And that baby carries a baby in its arms called principled obedience to Christ for the only certain test of what you believe to be love to Christ. Is at the level of the ethical and moral relationship you sustain to the commandments of Christ. For he says in his own words, he that loves me keeps my commandments. And in a pivotal text in the book of Galatians, we are told in Galatians 5 and verse 6.

44:30 For in Christ Jesus.

44:36 Neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision. If you are in union with Christ, whether you've come to that union with Christ with all the privileges and the benefits of the background of the covenant community with the covenant sign, or whether you came as a rock matters not in Christ Jesus. Neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision. But faith.

45:10 The rest of the text.

45:21 Working through love.

45:28 The faith counts. The faith that brings us into the virtue of Christ's righteousness. In which circumcision or uncircumcision mean nothing. All the benefits and privileges of the covenant community contribute nothing to the virtue of Christ.

45:51 And the salvation that is in him. The lack of all that privilege and training and restraint means nothing in terms of the full forgiveness and perfect righteousness that is in Christ. And it is in Christ equally for all who but with that faith and word. That's why I said faith is an amazingly productive grace.

46:24 No sooner is it born in the heart of the sinner. Then it has the child of life. The love to the object Christ. And that love has a child called obedience to Christ.

46:41 This is why Paul could say. If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ let him be accursed. First Corinthians 1622. Why?

46:52 Because he knew if a man did not love Christ. It's because he did not believe in Christ. And he was yet under the anathema of Christ. He was yet under the anathema of God.

47:04 And this is why John can say. He that believeth not in John 3.36. Using not a standard word available for just the absence of faith.

47:15 But it is translated in many of our versions. He that obeys not the son shall not or the wrath of God abides upon him. So we come around full circle now to where we began last night. Here we stand.

The Gospel Call: Bring Nothing, Receive All, Withhold Nothing

47:33 Here we sit. Members of Adam's lost condemned hell deserving race. The reality of the teaching of the word of God confirmed in our own consciences. Try as we may to dismiss the accusations of conscience.

47:55 Every time the word is preached. That built in amen corner. Of our own conscience. Affirms the reality of our accountability to God.

48:07 That beyond this life judgment awaits us. And here we are standing sitting in our sin and guilt and condemnation. And God in mercy. Having sent his son.

48:23 And in his son worked out a salvation. To save an innumerable company of sinners. A salvation. That is adequate for any sinner.

48:37 Is sincerely offered to every sinner in the gospel. And God says to all of us. Graciously. Lovingly.

48:48 With all of the authority of his throne. Suffused with the glory of the cross. Think of it. Divine authority.

48:59 Suffused with the glory. Of divine mercy. Poured out. And revealed in Christ crucified.

49:09 And God says. Sinner. Believe upon my son. See him as perfectly suited to your need as a sinner.

49:21 And in the sight of his perfect suitability to your need. Don't try to fix yourself up. Don't try to make yourself better. Don't try to break your chains.

49:33 Don't go out and gather some goodies to bring them to Christ. You're a sinner. In wrath and condemnation ungodly. But my son.

49:44 Has been sent. To save sinners. This is a faithful saying. Worthy of all acceptation.

49:52 Christ Jesus came into the world. Sinners to save. And part of the saving. To break your chains.

50:01 The scripture says he came to proclaim the opening of the prison. To them that are bound. What good is it to open the prison if they're still in chains. He not only opens the prison door.

50:15 He breaks the chains. You come in all your imprisonment. And your chains. He says come.

50:24 Believe upon my son. Bring nothing to him. But your sin. And then he says.

50:32 Receive him. And all that is in him. You see you can't pick and choose. There are some who would say well I like the idea of forgiveness.

50:41 But if in Christ there is also. The power for sins dominion to be broken. And to make me holy. I don't like that part of his salvation.

50:51 You can't pick and choose. In Christ is a salvation to save you from sin. It's consequences. It's dominion.

51:01 It's power. And by this to make us more and more like himself. And he says embrace my son. And the whole salvation that is in him.

51:19 And he says in embracing him. Withhold nothing. Of your heart from him. I think the finest description of saving faith.

51:32 Given in uninspired literature. Is that given by the late professor John Murray. In redemption. In redemption accomplished and applied.

51:41 He defines saving faith this way. Saving faith. Is self commitment to Christ. In all the glory of his person.

51:53 And in the perfection of his work. As he is so freely. And fully. Offered to us in the gospel.

52:06 What does it mean to believe. It means self commitment to Christ. In all the glory of his person. As the God man.

52:18 And in all the perfection of his work. As he is so freely. And fully offered to us. In the gospel.

Application 1: You Are Not Safe Until You Believe

52:30 Now in closing I want to say just three words. By way of straightforward and simple application. Number one. Dear young people.

52:41 Men and women. Boys and girls. You are not safe. Until you believe.

52:49 Don't be deceived. You're not safe. Until you believe. You see there are some of you.

52:56 Who by the pressure and godly influence. Of family and friends. And an enlightened conscience. You have been unable.

53:05 In God's common grace. Or what may be his prevenient grace. You have been hedged up. From kicking over the traces.

53:14 And as it were cursing the God. Of mom and dad. And the church. And your life is reasonably upright.

53:21 And moral. And kind. And civil. And even respectful.

53:26 To Christ. And to the gospel. And to his servants. But you seriously read Revelation 21 8.

53:34 Before you go to bed tonight. In the midst of all of those rotten sinners. Whore mongers. Idolaters.

53:42 Liars. Who are slated for the lake of fire. You know what God nestles in the midst of them. He says the fearful.

53:50 And the unbelieving. Shall have their part in the lake of fire. All you need do. To go to the hell of whore mongers.

54:02 And perverts. And murderers. Is simply fail to believe. You're not safe.

54:11 Until you believe. Being sympathetic to Christ. And to the gospel of Christ. And to all that is offered in Christ.

54:15 Is not enough. The Bible does not say. By sympathy with the gospel. You are saved.

54:19 It says. By faith. Oh dear young person. Man.

54:23 Woman. Boy or girl. Whoever you are. Fix it.

54:27 As an unalterable axiom. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.

54:32 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

54:36 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

54:40 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

54:44 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

54:49 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

54:53 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

54:57 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

55:01 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

55:05 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

55:09 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Application 2: You Are Safe in Believing, Even if You Don't Know When

55:14 Almost all of the promises made to believers are made in terms of present tense verbs. He that is believing on the Son hath life, that whosoever is believing into Him. Don't trouble yourself as I alluded to this last night. And several mentioned, or one or two mentioned, that they found this helpful.

55:39 And I would underscore it again. You are safe in believing, even if you don't know when you first began truly to believe. Many of us from Christian homes made many false starts. If we had to stake our life upon it, some of us couldn't tell precisely when we passed from death to life.

56:06 But we know that at this moment, this night, in the consciousness of our need, and in the full face of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, we believe on Him unto the saving of our souls. And by God's grace, we're going to go right on believing until we see Him face to face.

Application 3: True Belief Manifests in Love and Obedience

56:32 And then the third point of application with which I close is this. If you truly believe in Him, whether or not you know when you supposedly first began to believe, if you truly believe in Him, you will manifest it by loving Him and obeying Him. Do you love Him? Do you obey Him?

57:02 You say, I don't know. Well, you better find out. Because if you don't love Him and obey Him, you don't believe in Him. And if you don't believe in Him, you're not safe.

57:12 You're not safe until you believe. You say, I'm not sure I believe. And why aren't you sure? Well, I'm not sure that I love Him and obey Him.

57:24 Why aren't you sure? I'll tell you why many of you may not be sure. You allow too many things to dampen the ardor of your love until you question whether there's any there. Your obedience is too selective and partial and sporadic for you to have anything of that evidential assurance that comes in the light of the Word of God.

57:49 When John says, Hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments, that means that a man can know that the pattern of his life is one of obedience. If it doesn't mean that, then I don't know what that text means. We can know that the pattern of our life is one of obedience, but you'll never know that if you're constantly living in that no-man's land of obeying just enough to keep your conscience relatively quiet, but not enough so as to make you radically different, and blessedly assured that you are in the way of obedience. May God grant that we shall lay to heart those simple words of application. You're not safe until you believe. Therefore, give yourself no rest at this conference until you know you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And you are safe in believing, even if you don't know when you first began to believe.

58:54 And stop all your faith. Stop all of this chronic looking back and trying to know when was the beginning of the real thing. And get preoccupied with the object of your faith, looking off unto Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. And your faith will be strengthened as you fix the gaze of your soul upon Him.

59:17 And if you truly believe in Him, you will love Him and obey Him. And give yourself no rest until you can look your Savior in the face in the secret place. And when you hear Him say to you through the word as He said to Peter, Do you love me? Until you can say, Lord, you know all things.

59:40 You know that I love you. In spite of all my periods of coldness, in spite of all the vacillation and fickleness of my heart, Lord Jesus, you know. That I love you. And you know that it is the purpose of my life to obey you, no matter what the cost.

60:05 If it means my peers reject me, if it means my job must suffer, if it means that I must bear some severe trial, it matters not. When I see the path marked out by the word of my Savior, I know that the only validation of my professed love is this. If you love me, keep my commandments. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

60:37 Our Father, we do thank you for your holy word. We thank you that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. And as we think back over the history of the church and know something of the volumes that have been written in theological discussion and debate about the nature of saving faith and all the technical terms that have been used in an effort to state it with precision, how we pray that this effort to set forth from your word some of these basic issues will be owned of your Holy Spirit to bring light and life, stability and peace, and to some a clearing away of crippling confusion and doubt. And we pray for others who may have been rocking along on a comfortable pillow of presumption. O God, blast the pillow to pieces and bring them to the realization of the tragic state of their hearts. O Lord, you know what we need.

61:57 And we prayed at the beginning of our time together that your word would find us at the point of our need and minister to it. We now commit that word to your care that you will be glorified in sealing it to every heart. Hear then our prayer and receive our thanks for the privilege of once again meeting in this way, meeting before an open Bible, meeting in the confidence of the promised presence of Christ, receive our thanks and hear our prayers. Watch over us during the night hours and may there be some who, before they pillow their heads, will have peace in believing. Hear us, O God, hear us we plead for the honor of your beloved Son. Amen.