What Does it Mean to Believe?

Introduction: The Necessity of Focusing on Core Christian Truths

0:04 In any assembly of God's people, where those who are charged with the responsibility of spreading the diet of God's truth have any sense of their God-given responsibility, they will be concerned not only to mark out a course of ministry that in due course will aim at covering what Paul calls the whole counsel of God, but they will from time to time bring into sharp focus and unmistakable articulation the very nerve centers of the Christian faith. And it is that latter responsibility that I wish to undertake by the help of God tonight as I speak on the very fundamental and basic theme of what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Or, approaching it from another standpoint, I will be speaking topically on the subject, the nature and the actings of saving faith. What does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? I cannot remember a Lord's Day in this place one in one way or another.

1:28 Some degree of a summons did not go forth from this pulpit that men and women, boys and girls, should believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the Puritans stated that in the assemblies of Christ's people, every Lord's Day, Christ is freely and fully offered in the gospel. And I pray God that will ever be true in this place. However, it is important from time to time to take that very theme that is woven through the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Three Pillars of Biblical Religion

2:05 Through the warp and woof of any ministry that is biblical and to focus in upon it in a very explicit way, lest there should be those among us who stumble along and never really grasp the heart of this which is a matter of life and of death. And in order to persuade each one of you that you ought seriously to engage your mind as we wrestle with this question, what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Let me set before you, by way of introduction, three of the most fundamental truths that lie at the heart of biblical religion. The first is that all men are sinners and are by nature under the wrath and condemnation of God. That truth lies at the very heart of true and saving religion. That all of us, that all of us, that all of us, All of us are by nature sinners under the wrath and condemnation of God. You are familiar with the text that clearly state this.

3:15 In Romans chapter 3, the apostle says in verse 10, as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands. There is none that seeks after God. And down in verse 19, he says that now we know that whatsoever things the law says, it says to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.

3:48 You children, many of you have memorized the words of Isaiah the prophet. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to his own way. Romans 5 and verse 12, as through one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned.

4:13 This is a very pillar of revealed religion, that all of us are sinners by nature and under the wrath and condemnation of God. But secondly, at the heart of revealed biblical religion is the truth that God has graciously provided. God has graciously provided one remedy for sinful man in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God has graciously provided one remedy for sinful man in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

4:49 He himself declared this in John 14, 6, I am the way, not one way among many, the truth, not a truth among others, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Or the words of the apostle Peter in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. God has graciously provided but one remedy for sinful man and that in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

5:31 But then there is a third truth and this brings us closer to the heart of our subject that lies at the very nerve centers of biblical religion and that is this, that the divinely provided remedy for guilty, wrath-deserving sinners is appropriated by faith alone. The divinely provided remedy for wrath-deserving sinners is appropriated, by faith alone. Surely this is taught in the most well-known verse of the New Testament. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Or Romans 1, 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. It is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes. Or the familiar words of Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.

6:41 For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works that no man should boast. Or the familiar words of Paul and Silas to that distressed jailer who conscious that he stood naked and exposed before the God of God. God who shook the jailhouse, the God who so worked in his servants that they could be singing songs and hymns of praise at midnight when unjustly brutalized, when he cried out, sirs, what must I do to be saved? They did not give him a complex answer. They said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. So these three fundamental truths lie at the very heart of revealed religion. All men are sinners and by nature under wrath and condemnation. God has provided one remedy for sinful man in the person and work of his son and that the divinely provided remedy for guilty wrath deserving sinners is appropriated by faith alone. Now, not by a faith that will remain alone or by a faith that is divorced from any other

The Devil's Strategy Against Saving Faith

8:04 acting of the soul. The Bible makes clear that saving faith will always have a Siamese twin. It's called repentance and it will always have children that are called love to Christ and obedience to Christ. But you will search the Bible in vain to find one verse that says we are saved by repentance.

8:26 Or saved by love to Christ or saved by obedience to Christ. But you will find dozens of texts which say we are saved by the instrumentality of faith and so reducing the heart of the Bible saving message to its irreducible elements. We may say salvation is for sinners alone. Salvation is by Christ alone.

8:56 And salvation is by faith alone. Now, that's not complicated, is it? It's for sinners alone. It is by Christ alone. It is through faith alone. Now, let me ask you a question. If you were the devil, if you were, if you were the devil and you hated God and all that God is and all that God does and you hated every creature made in the image of God, then you would not have been saved. You would not have been made in the image of God. And he does. He's hated by, he hates every single one of us. Every one of us is hated by the devil because we were made in the image of the God he hates. Now, if you were the devil and you hated God and all of his purposes and you hated creatures made in his image and you were determined to drag them into your own ultimate destiny, the lake of fire, how would you do it? In the light of these truths that lie at the very nerve center. of all vital, saving, revealed religion, how would you do it? Would you not attempt to keep men ignorant of their true

10:10 condition as sinners so that they would feel no need of Christ? You would try to blind men to their true condition as guilty, helpless, hell-deserving sinners. Or if you failed there, you would then try to blind them to the glory of God's provision for sinners in the person of God. and work of Christ. You would try to whittle Christ down to something less than what he is in the uniqueness of his person as the God, man, Christ Jesus. Or you would try to whittle away at the nature of his work on behalf of sinners, his substitutionary bloodletting, his vicarious sacrifice of himself, his literal bodily resurrection from the dead, which was God's vindication of the validity. of his work for sinners. You would either blind men to their need of Christ, or blind them to God's provision in Christ, or thirdly, you'd seek to confuse them about the one way to lay hold of Christ.

11:19 And that would be to confuse them about the nature of saving faith. Now you don't need to be a great logician to come to the conclusion, do you? If you were the devil, and hated God, and hated image bearers of God, and you were determined that they would not know the blessedness of his salvation, would you not wage your warfare at one or more of those fronts? Blind men to their need. Stupify them to think they are something other than what they really are, sinners accountable to God, under the wrath of God, helpless to deliver themselves from their sin.

12:00 Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God.

12:03 Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God.

12:05 Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God.

12:07 Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God.

12:09 Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God.

12:11 Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. Or to blind them to the glory of God. found in scripture and validated in the history of the church and in biography and in our own observation that the devil greatly succeeds in that third area in every generation.

The Purpose of the Sermon: Defining Saving Faith

12:29 And it is for that purpose that I wish tonight to speak to you very pointedly and simply on the subject what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? What is the nature and what are the properties of that faith that is unto salvation? Not that we are going to make a savior of our faith. Christ and Christ alone is the savior.

12:56 But he is received by faith alone. And therefore it is crucial that we have a biblical understanding of what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to lay before you. Three simple statements which embody the heart of the biblical teaching concerning the nature and the properties of saving faith.

13:21 Now remember, we are not talking about faith in general or the faith that should be suffused in our prayers. We are talking about that faith to which the Bible refers when it says, by grace are you saved through faith. That faith which is spoken of in the words of Paul and Silas to the Gentiles. Galer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

First Aspect of Saving Faith: Bringing Nothing But Sin

13:45 And the first thing we must understand concerning the nature of saving faith is this. In saving faith, the sinner brings nothing but his sin to Christ. In saving faith, the sinner brings nothing of his own but sin in his coming to Christ. In saving faith, the sinner brings nothing of his own but sin in his coming to Christ.

14:11 In saving faith, the sinner brings nothing of his own but sin in his coming to Christ. In saving faith, the sinner brings nothing of his own but sin in his coming to Christ. In saving faith, the sinner brings nothing of his own but sin in his coming to Christ. The sinner brings nothing but his sin to Christ.

14:17 Now this is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the person whom the Lord has mercifully released from the first attempt of the devil to destroy his soul. God has used the ministry of the Word, the prickings of conscience through the Spirit acting by the Word to strip away all sense of self-sufficiency. The man, the woman, the boy or girl has come to a felt consciousness. I am a sinner.

14:49 I am guilty before God. I am helpless to go up into heaven and scrub out the record that is against me. I am a sinner. I have nothing to commend myself to God.

15:03 I have nothing that can earn the favor of God. What must I do to be saved? Well, perhaps for years that person thought, Oh, being saved? Simple thing.

15:13 When I get around to it, I can just believe on Jesus. I have heard all my life, Believe on Jesus, believe on Jesus. When I get good and ready, I believe. However, there is a problem.

15:20 Let that person begin to know something of real Holy Spirit conviction. And now the biggest problem in the world is how can a holy God do anything other than damn me? I have sinned against light. I have sinned against privilege.

15:35 I have sinned against the Word of God and the overtures of the grace of God. And now I am being told that all I need do to have all of that mountain of sin is cast myself upon Christ alone. That I must bring absolutely nothing to God. No vows that I will be this and that and do this and that.

16:00 No track record that I am sincere. You mean I am to simply take my soul in all of its native stain and ugliness and hell deservingness. And cast it wholly upon Jesus Christ? And I answer, yes, you must.

16:20 For in saving faith, the sinner brings nothing but his sin to Christ. Saving faith is the empty hand taking a full salvation in a gracious Savior. John 1.12 As many as received Him.

16:42 To them gave He the right to become the children of God. Even to them that believe on His name. Believing on His name is receiving Him. The empty hand that takes a full salvation in a gracious Savior.

17:01 According to John 7, faith is the thirsty soul drinking of the water of life. Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. As the Scripture says, He that believes on Me out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Faith is the naked soul coming to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

17:27 1 Corinthians 1.30 But of God are you in Christ who is made unto us righteousness. The prophet says, He hath clothed me in the garment of salvation. Faith is the end.

17:42 The empty hand that takes a full salvation in a gracious Savior. It is the thirsty soul drinking of the water of life. The naked soul being clothed in the robes of another. In the light of John 3, it is the bitten soul looking to the uplifted serpent of brass.

18:05 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes, that whosoever believes on Him. Those Israelites who had been bitten by the serpents as a judgment from God upon their murmuring against Moses. What did they need to do when Moses lifted up that serpent of brass? They brought nothing to that serpent of brass but their languid eyes as they were heading down to an untimely death.

18:34 And it says, As many as looked lived.

18:40 And you see, this is a stumbling block to the natural man. And I want you to turn now. I've quoted many passages from memory in your hearing. But I want you to get this passage through the eye gate as well as the ear gate.

18:52 In Romans chapter 4,

18:56 where Paul has been hammering out this truth that the salvation that God has provided for guilty sinners is received by faith alone. He writes in Romans 4 and verse 4, Now to him that works, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of life. But to him that does not work, but believes on him, now notice, that justifies the ungodly. His faith is reckoned for righteousness.

19:32 At the point that God justifies a man or woman or boy or girl, what is his or her condition? Our text says he or she is ungodly.

19:45 Now they won't remain ungodly. They will not continue in the state of ungodliness. But at the point that justifying faith is exercised, that sinner is perceived in his own eyes as ungodly. That's what he is.

20:04 And God delights to justify the ungodly. That person brings nothing of his own to Christ, but his sin. And rather than being rejected, when he comes with nothing to bring but his sin, God, for Christ's sake, on the grounds of the perfect righteousness of Christ, declares that ungodly sinner just as if he'd never sinned. And you see, what seems to be so simple when you have no felt pangs of Holy Ghost conviction becomes a tremendous problem because it goes counter to all of our natural instincts to think that, that the gracious, almighty, holy God of heaven and earth will, upon the soul's throwing itself upon Christ, blot out all of its sin, declare that one righteous with a legal title to heaven. I say it reverently, so God himself is legally bound to bring the believing sinner into his presence. As much as he was bound to receive his son back to his presence, after he had raised him from the dead. And this is why the apostle and his companion could say to that jailer who cried out,

21:30 Sirs, what must I do to be saved? They didn't have to say, Well, it all depends. We've got to know a little bit more about your background. And if this and this has been true of you, then you need to do this and this and this, and then eventually, you may be warranted to believe on the Lord Jesus.

21:45 They didn't need to ask anything about his background. They didn't need to ask, anything about the depth and the nature of his past life of sin. Sensing that this man cried out of an awareness that he had to have dealings with the God who shakes a jailhouse, loses the prisoner, but then restrains them from all busting loose and going to the four points of the compass. He's seen this mighty manifestation of the power of God in the physical realm, in the moral realm, Paul and Silas praising God at midnight, though.

22:19 They'd been on. Justly treated, restraining these prisoners who, though their shackles fell off, did not bust loose from the prison. And he wants to have dealings with this God in a way of saving mercy. And without any tongue in cheek, they say an answer to his question, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

The Tax Collector's Faith: A Model of Bringing Only Sin

22:41 Think of the thief on the cross. His sins were of such a nature that even society said he's not worthy to remain among us. And when he cries out, Lord, remember me, Jesus does not say, well, I'd like to, but if I declare that by simply acknowledging me to be who I am simply by saying, Lord, remember me when you come in your kingdom, simply acknowledging that I am God's king and that I do exercise a reign and rule of grace and that I will come through my emulation upon the cross and into my kingdom. In resurrection, life and power.

23:23 If I were to declare openly that you are forgiven and accepted and given an entrance to heaven simply by calling upon me, why that would give such a no, no, it doesn't give any misconception. It is a marvelous validation of the very nature of what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he says today you shall be with me in paradise. He couldn't even come down off the cross and make a public.

23:51 The confession he couldn't be baptized. He had no time to ride out on litany of resolutions as to how he would serve and honor his new found savior and King. He cries out just a short while before he breathes his last Lord. Remember me when you come in your kingdom and Jesus delighting to display the first fruits of his sufferings with someone hanging on a cross next to him, says, today you should be with me in paradise.

24:26 And then think of that public in in Luke 18. What does he bring to God? Beautiful example of this. The Pharisees stands off.

24:33 He's got a lot of things to bring to God. He knows he needs to be right with God. So he said, now, God, here's all my brownie points. I fast.

24:42 I tithe. And by the way, God, I want you to know I'm a notch above the rest of men. I am not this, that and the other. And I'm not even like this.

24:51 Public. He brought all kinds of stuff to God. What did the public in brain? He brought nothing but his sin.

24:59 He cried out, God, be propitious to me, be merciful to me, be disposed in propitiatory grace and mercy to me. The sinner. That's all he brought was the reality, the ugly, stark reality of his sin hood. And what did Jesus say?

25:21 This man, went down to his house justified. That's what Jesus said. What did he bring? Nothing but his sin.

25:32 What did he go away with? Nothing but a righteousness imputed to him on the grounds of the death of Jesus that was yet to be accomplished in space time history. But in the mind of God, has been accomplished from eternity. He is the lamb slain from before the foundation.

25:51 He is the lamb slain from before the foundation. He is the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. So dear children, you struggle with this. You hear so much.

Application to Children and Young People

25:59 You memorize your catechism and you ought to memorize your verses. You hear mommy and daddy speak about the necessity of being converted and believing on Jesus. And you wonder, well, what must I do? And what are the things in the piece?

26:13 Dear children, young people reared in the midst of gospel light. I pray God by the Holy Spirit will open your eyes to see the beautiful, simplicity, saving faith. You bring nothing but your sin to Christ. And he never turned anyone away who came with nothing but his sin.

26:37 He'll turn away any who comes with anything else. But when you come with nothing but your sin, crying with the blind beggar, son of David, have mercy on me. The Lord doesn't say, well, what do you got pledged to me in exchange for my mercy? There is no exchange.

26:58 There is no pledge in the language of the well-known him. Nothing in my hand. I bring simply to thy cross. I cling foul, foul eye to the fountain fly.

27:13 I bring nothing but my sin. And there will be people banned for their unwillingness to believe that simple truth as much as people will be banned for pridefully refusing to acknowledge that they are sinners. For just as pridefully refusing to own your center hood will keep you from ever going to Christ, thinking you must bring something other than your sin to Christ will keep you from casting yourself upon him. May God grant that you will not be deceived by the enemy of your soul into thinking that you must bring anything other than your sin to Christ.

Second Aspect of Saving Faith: Receiving a Whole Christ

27:57 But then quickly in the second place, when we ask the question, what is saving faith? What is the nature and what are the properties of saving faith? Not only do we need to understand that in saving faith, the sinner brings nothing but his sin to Christ. But secondly, in saving faith, the sinner receives a whole Christ and all that is in him.

28:23 In saving faith, the sinner receives a whole Christ. And all that is, in him. Now listen carefully. This is not playing with words.

28:35 In the scriptures, the object of saving faith is always the Savior himself. Christ himself in the glory of his person and the perfection of his work is always set forth as the object of saving faith. Think, for example, of the familiar text we've already quoted tonight. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in his death for sinners.

29:10 That's the way a lot of people read the text and talk about it. If you believe in Christ's cross work for sinners, that's not what the text says. Look at your Bible. What does it say?

29:20 Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life.

29:31 He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life. John says in 1 John chapter 5, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, Matthew 1.21, for he it is that shall save his people from their sins. Or 1 Timothy 1.15. This is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world, sinners to save.

29:58 Who came to save? Christ Jesus himself. And so the object of saving faith again and again in the scriptures is Christ himself. Now not any Christ that we would make him to be the Christ of biblical revelation.

30:16 That means the Christ who is set before us as the God-man and the Christ who is set before us as the one who lived a perfect life, died a substitutionary death, was raised from the dead, ascended to heaven. He was ascended to the right hand of God the Father. But it is never his incarnation. It is never merely his crucifixion or his resurrection that is set forth as the object of saving faith.

30:44 It is the person who was incarnate, the person who died, the person who rose, the person who was exalted to the right hand of the Father. And now God says in that person is all of my life. He is all of my life. He is all of my salvation.

31:03 In him there is complete pardon for all of our sins. Look at Acts chapter 13 for an example of this wonderful declaration of one of the cardinal blessings that is offered to sinners in this person. Acts chapter 13. Paul is preaching and he is bringing his sermon to a conclusion and says in verse 38, Be it known unto you therefore brethren.

31:31 That through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by him everyone that believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses through this man is proclaimed remission of sins by him. Everyone that believes is justified. Complete. Pardon.

32:00 All of our sins is proclaimed in Christ. A perfect righteousness is proclaimed in Christ. Romans 5.19 Through the disobedience of the one Adam the many are constituted sinners.

32:14 So through the obedience of the one Christ Jesus the many are constituted righteous. Adoption into the family of God. John 1.12 As many as received him he gives the right to become the children of God.

32:29 The gift of the Spirit is offered in Christ. Galatians 3.13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. To what end?

32:41 That upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham that we might receive the Spirit by faith. The gift of the Spirit is offered in Christ. Deliverance from bondage to sin. Romans John 8.35 Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

32:56 The gift of the Spirit is offered in Christ. Deliverance from bondage to sin. Romans John 8.35 Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

32:59 The gift of the Spirit is offered in Christ. The gift of the Spirit is offered in Christ. The gift of the Spirit is offered in Christ. Deliverance from bondage to sin is offered to us.

33:03 John out. Romans 10.19 These except though 144. If they are in sin, we have wonderful things in heaven that you use in your worship,ongo, the Holy Spirit and the Father.

33:24 In the presence of the Spirit he shows utter righteousness. In the presence of the Spirit he shows inner honesty. In the presence of the Holy Spirit he shows a powerfulness of the whole. In their beauty, look who is this 복��.

33:28 Hisく accountable. from bondage to sin the pledge and certainty of eternal life these and many more God has stored them all up in His beloved Son He doesn't parcel out of one of them outside of Christ but He doesn't deny one of them to any who are in Christ and so He says in the Gospel I set my Son before you believe on believe upon believe into believe in this is the emphasis of the New Testament that Christ Himself in the uniqueness and glory of His person and in all the perfection of His work He is the object of saving faith and in saving faith the sinner receives a whole Christ and all that is in Him now let me be quick to say does that mean no one has believed on Christ unless he understands everything that's in Him no my friend we'll be spending an eternity exploring all that we received in Christ you'll never know the fullness of it in this life or even in the age to come because there is an infinite supply of blessing in Christ and we are finite and one of the glories of heaven will be that God can continually pour into the redeemed an ever-growing awareness of what He has conferred to them in Christ

34:56 but because it's exhaustless He can continue to expand that knowledge and appreciation no it doesn't mean you've got to know everything that is in Christ to believe upon Christ nor does it mean that you have a clear understanding of all that is yours if you are in Him listen carefully to how I've tried to express the biblical truth in saving faith the sinner receives a whole Christ and all that is in Him that is as Christ is offered to the sinner the sinner embraces that Christ who is offered takes in Christ all that God has stored up in Him however limited His knowledge may be God gives to that sinner every spiritual blessing in the language of Ephesians 1-3 that He has stored up in Christ so that the description of a Christian is given so simply in a particular way in a passage like Colossians 2-6 where Paul says as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in Him rooted and build it up in Him as you have received Him so walk in Him now you see you don't honor

36:22 Christ by groveling in a constantly reiterated sense of your sin and your unworthiness try to imagine a man a woman a boy a girl brought to filth and squalor because of irresponsible parents in the case of a child or irresponsible personal living an adult who through drunkenness and gambling came to utter destitution public shame poor a cast off from society and a wealthy beneficent man sees this man in his filth and squalor and says with no conditions other than his willingness to commit himself to the care to the constant nurture to the provisions of this wealthy benefactor he says come into my home and into a personal relationship with me and I will commit myself to meet all of the needs arising from your irresponsible lifestyle or that of your parents or your relatives whatever it is that brought you into this condition I take upon myself the responsibility to reverse it now how does that needy individual magnify the benevolent heart and the benevolent hand of this person by standing off at a distance and saying well I appreciate that expression of your benevolence but really I'm not worthy

37:51 is that how he magnifies the benevolence of that man no by saying I don't understand why you'd ever cast your eyes on me I don't know why your heart would ever be moved to me but if you're not playing games with me sir then I cast myself into your care and into your provision and in so doing that needy individual magnifies not his own abilities but the benevolence and the kindliness of the benefactor who in love and pity has been moved toward him and you see God's determined to magnify his grace in the gospel he's determined to display elements of his character in the gospel that are displayed to such brilliance in no other theater that's why Paul can write in Ephesians 3 and say that now through the church God is determined to display to principalities and powers all of the wonders of his own character and his manifold grace and there again you see there's the rub and the stumbling block that sounds too good to be true yes it is it's God revealing his grace and his love to hell deserving sinners and in saving faith the sinner who brings nothing but his sin to Christ also receives a whole Christ and all that is in him but then thirdly and finally

Third Aspect of Saving Faith: Withholding Nothing of the Heart

39:20 in saving faith the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ in saving faith the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ and here I want you to turn with me to a passage familiar to many of you but I want us to look at it a little more closely than the many others we've quoted in Romans chapter 10 the apostle declares in these well known words verse 8 through 10 what does it say that is what does the scripture 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 because 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 for the scripture says 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 rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved

40:48 now note first of all that the object of saving faith in this passage is exactly what we've said when we've looked at previous passages the scripture says whosoever believes on him verse 11 shall not be put to shame the same Lord is rich unto all that call upon him whosoever believes shall call upon the name of the Lord that is the Lord as revealed in the gospel shall be saved but in that calling upon him it is not just a blind calling out of some sense of need to some God who's out there it is the God revealed in the gospel who declares that his son was delivered up for our offenses raised for our justification and Paul fastens on that element of the work of Christ his resurrection and says if thou shall confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord believe in thy heart God hath raised him from the dead not that item of faith isolated from the whole corpus of the gospel no raised from the dead as the one who was incarnate lived the life we should live but did not died the death we deserved but dare not and was raised from the dead to validate that his saving work was indeed accomplished if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus Lord believe in your heart God raised him from the dead

42:17 you shall be saved for now notice having mentioned believe in your heart he says with the heart man believes unto righteousness with the heart man believes saving faith involves the heart and hence I have stated in saving faith the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ now what is the heart in the Bible the heart is the seat and the source of all affection desire motivation and choice and will therefore the faith which is unto salvation is one in which the heart is engaged it unreservedly receives the truths revealed about Christ and it unreservedly receives the Christ in whom all the blessings of salvation are offered man with the heart believes unto righteousness now we have a problem we say well I think I believe it with my head but I don't believe it with my heart my heart's not in it and we get into this heart head distinction and the best way I know or one of the ways I know to get out of that horrible treadmill of wondering what is my heart in it am I just believing things that mom and dad have told me is it just head knowledge is it heart knowledge here's the crux of the issue what has your heart has you

43:44 just that simple what has your heart has you now ask yourself does Christ have me is it the settled disposition of my heart to desire to place all of my trust in him alone and out of gratitude to him to live for him alone has my professed faith in Christ been believing from the heart for with the heart man believes believes what all that is revealed about Christ and all of its suitability to my need as a sinner and engaging Christ in faith nothing of the heart is withheld from Christ that's implicit in the statement if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord does that mean simply say Jesus is Lord I said it I must be saved of course not God everywhere condemns any actions of the mouth that aren't the expression of the state of the heart when he says confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord that means in my heart I have engaged him for who he is the only savior of sinners the exalted Lord constituted God's Christ at his right hand and in that confidence I embrace him as my own and in that confidence I am prepared now

45:13 to confess him to be Lord not as a mere empty exercise of my lips but as a true echo of the state of my heart for with the heart man believes unto righteousness now if this is true that in saving faith the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ then it should not surprise us that saving faith will always have its inevitable fruits and accompaniments and one of the most amazing things about the Bible's description of a true believer is that no sooner is faith born in the heart of a believing sinner then immediately that faith will have both a child and a grandchild now I lived 27 years before I became a father and another 23 before I became a grandfather but when faith is born in the heart of a sinner no sooner is faith born than faith holds a baby in its arms and no sooner do you look at that baby when you find that baby has got a baby in its arms faith is always three generational immediately you say pastor what in the world are you talking about simply this the moment saving faith is born in the heart of a sinner a faith that brings nothing but its sin to Christ

The Fruits of Saving Faith: Love and Obedience

46:42 that receives Christ and all that is in him and withholds nothing of the heart from Christ no sooner is faith born in the human heart that it holds its firstborn called love to the person of Christ now I don't want to steal my own thunder from first Peter chapter 1 but I want to at least give you a teaser this text makes this very very clear that there can be no faith in Christ without love to Christ as its accompaniment and its first child first Peter chapter 1 he says after speaking of the revelation of Jesus Christ whom having not seen verse 8 whom having not seen you love who loves him all the elect sojourners of the dispersion all that have been foreknown by God the Father sanctified by the Spirit brought unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood all who have been begotten again unto a living hope verse 3 whom having not seen you love all of you on whom though you see him not yet believing everyone who is believing on him loves him love is the first child of faith and love is no sooner born in the heart than it has its child which is obedience for Jesus said if you love me you will keep

48:11 my commandments he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loved me why do you call me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say so that in saving faith as the sinner withholds nothing of his heart from Christ there will be born its firstborn love and its next generation a pattern of obedience so we come around full circle to where we started in our introduction here you sit tonight here I stand tonight part of a race that fell in our first father Adam we were all brought under condemnation and wrath we are unable to extricate ourselves we are unable to march up to the throne of God and yank the record books out of God's hands and blot out the horrible indictment against us what are we to do we are to come to the place where we see that God in mercy has sent forth his son and in his son has made a provision adequate for us and in his son for the need of the vilest of sinners and being brought to the place where we own our sinnerhood and bring nothing to this Christ but our sin and we embrace this Christ and all that God has stored up in him withholding nothing of our heart from him

49:40 in that embrace we have the assurance of the word of God he that believes on the son has everlasting life you may be true in all your need and the savior in all of his grace come into direct embrace in saving faith the sinner in his need the savior in his grace the direct embrace of faith I close with these simple words of exhortation and urge everyone sitting here tonight to face this basic truth you are not safe until you are a believer you are not safe until you are a believer he that believes on the son has everlasting life he that believes not the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides right now upon him but you say pastor I'm not rebelling against the truth and I'm not rejecting any truth I just haven't yet you are not safe until you believe don't think you are safe because there is a kindly disposition to Christ that's commendable I'm grateful there are a number of you that don't have an openly unkind hostile disposition to Christ and to the gospel but you see you are not saved until you believe

51:07 and the God of heaven commands you to believe 1 John 3.22 this is his commandment that we believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ it is a gracious command you say well I don't know if I'm elect may I say it again you don't know you can say God you didn't ask me to discover whether I'm elect or not you command me to believe and if you command me to believe it means you must want me to believe and if you want me to believe you want me to embrace your mercy go to God and argue like that with God and he'll be pleased he'll be pleased you're not safe until you believe but listen to my second statement you are safe in believing even if you don't have a clue when you began to believe you're safe in believing even if you don't have a clue as to when you started to believe and I'm speaking this especially for you reared in Christian homes you say well did I believe I thought listen if sitting here right now because all the promises are not to him that believed past tense punctiliar action they are all present tenses he that believes present tense upon the promise upon the son it doesn't say he that believes knowing when he started to believe I don't remember when I started breathing my mother tells me about it but I don't remember but I sure enjoy

52:37 breathing right now I cannot remember when I began to have life in this world I could care less I know that I'm alive and I'm breathing you see it's not important if you know when you began to believe the issue is are you believing now and you have the promise of God he that is believing has everlasting life you're not safe until you believe you are safe in believing even if you don't know when you first began to believe and my third observation is if you're truly believing in him you will love and obey him if you truly believe in him you will love and obey him not with a perfect love not with a perfectly even and constant love but with a love according to Jesus that is greater than your love for father mother brother sister yes and your own life also and Jesus said he that does not love me more than father mother brother sister and his own life is not worthy of me that's what Jesus said

54:06 the gracious son of God who took upon himself all of the liabilities of our sinful condition himself being God cannot righteously allow any lesser place than that of supreme devotion and affection in all those who are bound to him in faith if truly you believe in him you will love him love him more than father mother brother sister and your own life also love him more than peers and schoolmates and classmates and work associates Christ will have the place of supreme affection and if you say you love him the validation is not what you feel when you have your devotions but what you do when you get up from your devotions and go into life do you frame your thoughts and your words and your deeds by his precepts he that says I know him and keeps not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ certainly I would not say I've exhausted the subject of saving faith but I hope this has helped to bring some light excuse me of the scriptures upon this most central issue to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ

Exhortation: The Present Reality of Belief

55:33 is to own what you are as a sinner and in the owning of that reality in saving faith you come bringing nothing but your sin to Christ you take a whole Christ and all that is in him and withhold nothing of your heart from him do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ notice I didn't say have you believed past tense but do you believe right now on the Lord Jesus Christ if not why not the God of heaven graciously command you to believe on his son and if you are tempted to treat lightly this issue may I remind you of the solemn word that was quoted in this pulpit a few weeks ago from Revelation 21 8 along with liars and murderers and openly immoral the scripture says all unbelievers shall have their part in the lake of fire if they do not go into the lake read the description of this phrase not be forced to believe in it when it did on the Lord Jesus Christ that is

Concluding Prayer

57:02 are really than hurry for your holy word we make do remove you we marvel you would ever have been moved in love to come like to us not unto us, but unto your name be glory and praise for your wonderful grace and kindness in Christ our Savior. And we plead with you, our Father, that by the Holy Spirit you would bring some this night to believe on your dear Son, that you would use your word to clear away the cobwebs of their misconceptions and the insidious influence of the enemy of their souls. And, O God, by grace, bring some to rely upon, to trust in, to believe upon the Lord Jesus. And we who are your children who have been brought to believe upon him and who do now believe in him, we ask that you will help us more and more to understand all that is ours in him and understand his love for us. And we ask that you would help us more and more to understand all that is ours in him and understanding it to live out the wonderful obligations of grace and of gratitude.

58:25 Help us, we pray, with such a wonderful message not to be silent in communicating it to others. Help us, O our God and Father, to be used in your hands to bring to a needy world this message of life and salvation. Seal then your word to our hearts, we pray, and to serve you. Dismiss us with your blessing, in Jesus' name.

58:51 Amen.