Think about it just a moment. We're a little more than halfway through our survey of the Book of Acts. There's 28 chapters. And what would be thus far, and this is not to make light of any of the Word of God, it's all God's Word, but what chapters that we have surveyed would be in your top four or five right now? Let me just tell you mine. Mine would obviously be chapter one. but ye shall receive power." And we need to know that, the power of the Holy Spirit. Chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, Peter's restored from his refusing or his denial of the Lord. He preaches from the book of Joel and about 3,000 men come forward and get saved. We also have the upper room experience, prayer time. I think Acts chapter 10 is important. Cornelius the Gentile gets saved, man. That's a great chapter. And I think tonight, chapter 16, is one of my key chapters as well. Now, let me kind of give you a little bit of heads up what's happened here. There is a woman who has the spirit of divination. She has a wicked spirit. She has a demon. And there are men who lease her, who use her to make their money. She's like, you know, let me read your palm. She's like, let me tell you your horoscope. Surely all of you are brighter enough than not to look at that stuff. Well, you're not nodding your head, yes. I sure hope that you are. But I've known people, first thing in the morning, the first thing they do is get a cup of coffee, a cigarette, and read their horoscope, what's going to happen for the day. Absolutely. And I know that's hard for some to believe, but it happens. And there was a time when I was an associate pastor in Memphis at the house next to us. She put up, you know, Madam so-and-so with the big red palm, come in and get your palm read. And I went over there just to see and she painted my palm red. And no, that's a sad joke. But this is what happened. And this woman, look at verse 17. The same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the Most High God, which show us the way of salvation. Is that true? But why would Paul be so upset? Because the Bible says that, and this did she many days. Wherever Paul and Silas went, she was behind them. And she would speak up, and she would tell everyone who knew everyone that was there, these men are the servants of the Most High God who show us the way of salvation. Paul had had enough of it, he spins on his heels, he points at her, and he commands that filthy spirit to come out, and it did, and she was freed, and now they're in jail, they're in bondage because of it. Now, why would someone who's demonic, why would that, why would she be saying something that's so accurate about these two men? Well, there's guilt of association here. And I think that's something we've lost in our Christianity. And you don't want the devil's crowd endorsement. And here she is. She is filled with a demon. She's controlled by the devil. She's involved in the midst of evil. And she's giving her blessing on these men. And Paul had had enough of it and cast them out. Now, when that happened, it got into people's pocketbooks. And I want you to know, that's where all the stuff is always a problem. Most things, it centers around money, doesn't it? Most wars, if not all wars, it's about money. And they're upset. And then in verse 22, the Bible says, and they got a crowd up, and a multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates rent off their clothes. They were so shocked that they rent their clothes and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, now, let me tell you, we read this and we just kind of skim over it. But they had a way, and this would not be necessarily the cat-of-nine-tails. Very few people lived through that. But this is probably what's called caning. Anybody know what I'm talking about? And they have the ability to take like a long strip of wood, I don't know if it's like a cane pole or something along that, and they would tie them down and they would cane them over and over and over and over. And here, they were beaten. And many stripes are put on them. They cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison. They're in the middle part. This is where the most dangerous people are. This is the farthest from any window, from any type of fresh air. This is the worst part of the prison. And made their feet fast in stocks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas began to sing praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them." Now, I love this. There's so many messages in this passage right here, isn't there? But I want you to know, if you want to have an earthquake experience in your life, you've got to be able to sing praises to God at the midnight hour. And here we see them and they begin to sing praises. The prisoners are hearing them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately the doors were opened and everyone's bands were loose. Can you imagine? Everybody's free. I think those prisoners started singing, thank God I'm free, free, free. I think they were probably singing a song. And this earthquake took place. Now notice verse 27, and the keeper of the prison, awakening out of his sleep, I think he breathed out, this is a nightmare. Is this a dream? This is a nightmare. He's sleeping. And seeing the prison doors open, he drew his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. If a prisoner had escaped, he would have to serve his term. And he said, I'd rather die than have to serve the term or the many terms of these people who are gone. And so, he's woken out of his sleep. He drew his sword. He would have killed himself, supposing that prisoners had fled. And Paul cried with a loud voice, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. No one's escaped. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said," They brought him out of prison. "'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' Now listen, I don't think there's a clearer question about salvation in all the Bible than this right here. And Paul and Silas says, go down and join the church house and be baptized. That's not what he said, is it? He said, go down to the temple and take the sacraments. That's not what he said. You know, and I want you to see this. Look at verse 31. And they said. They said together. And that's what they said, listen, they said, believe. Now, you're going to have to listen to me tonight, because if you're not, you're going to think I've gotten off. Oh, no, our pastor's gotten off on easy believism. And I want to tell you, I'm the father's from it. But I do want you to understand that there's a lot of people who are confusing salvation with sanctification. There's a difference in that, a huge difference. And I've had some debates with folks in the past who are trying to make the standards of sanctification the process of salvation. And when you argue that, sometimes it doesn't turn out. And what's really funny, people who argue that, they're not in the first base of being faithful in church sometimes. They're so far from what they should be as a child of God. So he's trembling. He fell down before Paul and Silas, verse 30. He brought them out. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Now remember the lady with the spirit of divination? She said that they're telling the way of salvation. And that's what they were doing. And here we see that they spake unto him the word of the Lord and to all that were in his house. Now, let me tell you, listen to me. Nobody gets saved without being spoken to from the word of the Lord. Nobody. Easy believism is this. Jameson, run up here real quick to me. Here we go. Quick. And there we go. Here's easy believism. You believe in God? Yes. I do too. You wanna go to heaven? Yes. Yeah, pray this prayer. Say, God, save my soul. Save my soul. You're on your way to heaven, buddy. That's easy believism. And he is not saved. Thank you. You are saved though, right? Okay, make sure. Now, are you sure? Okay. Now, understand, they said believe. It's faith, it's fact, and it's person. Own the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in the house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes. Wasn't that a blessing? They had been caned, they'd been beaten. Maybe he's the one who ordered it, maybe he's the one who did it. And now he has them in his house, he's washing their stripes, and he was baptized, he and all his straight way. And when he had brought them into his house, he sent meat before them. He's having... Hey, this is a victory meal, isn't it? I tried to have a victory meal with the Rays before they went back because they got their visas, and we've had a few victory meals over the last 25 years together, but we got COVID and couldn't have it. But he said, meat before them? That's probably ribeyes. I'm not sure, but any good Christian would have a ribeye or New York strip. and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house." He got saved and the household. Now, let's not forget. This is glorious, but let's not forget who put him in there. Verse 35. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeant, saying, Loose those men. And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now, therefore, depart and go in peace. Now, I love Paul, and we need to learn a little bit from this. And Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly, uncondemned. Now, what he means, they were not tried. They got a mob, and a mob beat them unmercifully. Openly. Uncondemned. Being Romans. That's a problem. You don't beat a Roman. They were Jews, but they had Roman citizenship. This is one thing that made Paul such a great vessel. Silas as well, because they could roam anywhere. They had the ability to travel unhindered because they were Roman citizens. So we see here that, and have cast us into prison, and now do they thrust us out privately? They're going to secretly, privately throw us out? Tell us to get out of town? Nay. I like the word nay-nay. I'm going to start using it. I'm going to bring it back. Hey, pastor, you want to go up there and bungee cord jump? Nay-nay. I'm going to say nay-nay. Nay, verily, but let them come themselves and fetch us out. You tell them to get down here and tell me to get to go. We got some unreconciled differences to fix here. Now I want you to know, these men are in trouble. They could be executed for doing what they did. And we see here, and the sergeants told these words to the magistrates, and they feared when they heard that they were Romans. You know, if they had taken time to talk to them, they might have found that out. And they came, don't you just love it? Just sitting here reading it and just seeing it happen. And they came and besought them and brought them out and desired them to depart out of us. Please just leave. Please just leave us. And they went out of prison and entered into the house of Lydia. And when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them and departed. Now verse 30 says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? It's a question that indicates that men are lost. The very question gives the indication that we're lost. We need to be saved. It's a question that implies that there are something about man that would cause God to bar him from heaven. It's a question that indicates that his condition of being lost is something that needs and can be changed. It's a question that implies that there are consequences for not being saved and that this consequence is something to be feared and avoided. This is an important question. So the jailer, who only just a few hours before was scorning and scoffing the word of God of these preachers now invites them to tell him the way of salvation. Now, their song, Paul and Silas' song, might have tendered his heart. The earthquake probably put the fear of God in him. In verse 29, he said he was trembling. You almost had a collision. and you shuck a while after it. I have once almost had a collision, and I don't know how we did not. meet, connect. But we didn't. It must have been just, I mean, by that much. But after it was over, I kind of trembled a little bit. This guy's trembling. He falls down at the feet of these men of God. He brings them out of the prison after he grabs the light. He asks them the question, what must I do to be safe? Now, how that question is answered can mean the difference between heaven and hell. There's so many answers that men give. You'd be hard-pressed to find a statement anywhere else in the Bible as clearly presented as this is presented as how to be saved and then the answer on what we must do to be saved. So in verse 30, he says, Serge, what must I do to be saved? Verse 31, they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Their response shows how concerned they were for the souls of mankind. Believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe was the sole condition. of Paul and Silas put forth as men to being saved. The issue of salvation is not what we give to God, but what God has given to us. It's not that we're surrendering to Him. We're not giving Him our heart. He's not asking for our heart. He's not asking for our life. He's not asking for our money. He's not asking anything. He's instructing us to believe. That's what He's saying. That's the answer. Now, salvation is God's gift to us. And I want you to see, I got three fundamental facts in these two verses about the way of salvation. First of all, salvation is by faith alone. You believe that, say amen. Belief is the one requirement of salvation, and unbelief is the one requirement why men are lost. John 3, chapter 3, verse 18 says, He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son. Now notice verse 18 of John 3. Believe on him, believe not, not believe in the name. That word believe is used three times in that one verse. Believing makes a person not condemned. Is that what it says? Not believing makes a person condemned already. That's what it's saying. And there are people who have been saved for years, like I have been, they've been saved for years, and they want to, and they're well-meaning, many times they're well-meaning, but they want people who are just believing in Christ to exhibit the fruit that it's taken them 30 years to grow and to exhibit. And they cross over, and they don't even understand this. They cross over from the doctrine of salvation into the doctrine of sanctification, and they make sanctification steps for salvation. And you're nothing more than a Pharisee when you do that. You're like the Pharisees in chapter 15 who says, if you're going to be saved, you've got to be circumcised. It's the same thing. So, what causes a person to have eternal life? Believing. Stay with me, I want to clarify that towards the end. What keeps a person from having eternal life? Not believing. How do we know that? John 3, verse 18 tells us that. Now, what makes the wrath of God abide on a person? Not believing. A man is not lost because he's a sinner, but because he's an unbelieving sinner. Sin is not our major problem. That's been taken care of by the blood of Christ at Calvary. We are not called upon to commit. We're not called upon to change. We're not called upon to clean up ourselves, clean up our lives, to consecrate ourselves through some religious works, but to come, and we sing the hymn all the time, just as I am. were called upon to believe in the saving work that God has done for him through the death of his son. Now, all the confusion about how a man is saved would be avoided if we simply remembered what it is that makes a man lost. Let me say, a man's not lost because he's away from God, a man's not lost because he's a rebel against God, a man's not lost because he lives in sin, although he's all three of those things, but a man is lost because he never has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. That's why he's lost. That's what the scripture says clearly. And we're not to add to that. We're talking primarily about the doctrine of salvation. Now, what does it mean to believe? 1 John 5, verse 9. You should be very familiar with these verses. Verse 9, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record, that's important, that God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. According to John, believing is simply taking God at His word, verses 9 through 11. Now, if we believe the record, what he's talking about here, God has given us about His Son, we have life. If we believe not the record, what God has said about His Son, we make God a liar and we don't have life. We're dead in sins and trespasses. Saving faith is believing on the Son because we know that what God has said of Him is true. Look according to verse 13. These things, 1 John 5, verse 13, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. We can know that we have eternal life. Believing is made the sole condition of assurance. Now, I was saved when I was 11, and we were not, you know, a faithful family in church, and we attended church for a very, very short time. And I heard the gospel preached, and I was under conviction. No one probably would have ever thought of it. I was such a precious child anyway. And no one probably ever thought of it. But I was I was under great conviction. And I came forward. And my uncle, who was a missionary Baptist pastor who was visiting, took me to this side of the of the platform and opened the Bible through Romans wrote and led me to Christ. And I prayed. And he said, Ricochet, do you believe that God that Jesus died on the sin died on the cross? I said, yes, I do. And he said, would you like to pray and ask him to forgive you and to save you? I said, yes, sir, I would. And I prayed and everybody rejoiced that little Rick Savage got saved. Now, we were not in church for many years and I've had great doubts about my salvation. I think that I am an expert on dealing with people who are doubting their salvation. When I became a youth pastor, I had a great youth group. More than half of them were from broken homes, and they had the biggest problem with assurance of the believer. I mean, they had big problems. Now, a lot of time, people will get confused. They'll confuse the argument of everlasting life when this person doesn't need to be argued that salvation's everlasting life. He needs the assurance of the believer. They're two separate things. And I was doubting my salvation, and I was struggling, and I was in a Christian school chapel where the preacher preached. His name was Pastor Dan Patrick. I'll never forget it. And he was preaching about knowing that you were saved. He was in 1 John. And I was under heavy conviction, and Brother Dan knew it. He could see it. But I was sitting in the back. I was a junior in high school, and I was with my buddies, you know, and I was not gonna walk down that aisle. And, you know, and one of my friends was mocking the preacher he he was he was saying about this friend who went got he refused to get saved. He died in a car crash. The next day it was too late too late too late too late. And my friend was in the back of the auditorium. He's saying too late too late too late. And all my friends were laughing. But I was under conviction. And that's exactly the way it happened. Debbie would have hated me in high school. But Dan Patrick said this, he said, I'll be in my office today at two o'clock. If you want to know how you can have assurance of your salvation, come knock on my door. Man lunchtime a battle was going on, I could hardly eat. And at 2 o'clock I was in class and I got up and I went to the teacher's desk and I said, I need to go see the pastor. Can I please be excused? And they excused me and I went down. And listen to me, I got saved in a missionary Baptist church. I got assurance in a free will Baptist church. They believe you can lose your salvation, you know. Hebrews 6, 6, if they shall fall away, they believe that you can fall away. And I got called to preach when I really wasn't even in church. You know, God doesn't work in our little box in our formula. God, God's God. He makes the axe head swim. And we see here that that when when Pastor, when Brother Patrick dealt with me, I had to go back and he told me, I want you to go back when you're 11. And he said this. Did you believe you were a sinner and that Christ was a savior who died for your sins? And did you ask him to save you? I want to tell you something. I got saved when I was 11. I've never doubted it since then. And I appreciate Brother Patrick. I talk with him through his wife every once in a while. Now, listen, if we believe the record, God has given us eternal life. Now, the Strong's Concordance, believe, is made the solemn condition or the sole condition, not solemn, the sole condition for assurance. Believe. But we know the Bible says the devils believe in fear and tremble. So we need to have a correct understanding of believing, you know. You know, let me say this. Do I love Jameson? Yes, I do. Do I love James? Yes, I do. Do I believe in Jameson? Pretty much. Do I believe in James? Absolutely. If Jameson says, Papa, can I have the keys to your Toyota? I'd say no. Don't you believe that I'll take good care of it? No. No, I do not. If James says, Pastor, can I use the Toyota? Yes. Yes, you can fill it up when you bring it back. You see, we can believe, but if you look in the Strong's Concordance, number 4102, believe it is to have faith upon or with respect to a person or thing. It's to entrust, especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ. believer, commit to trust, to put in trust with. That's what it means. Now, I think it's this way. It's placing total dependence upon what he did. That's what we believe. See, it's not enough to believe. When you talk to somebody, are you going to heaven? Oh, yeah. How do you know? I believe in God. That's not enough. The devils believe in God. And if you notice, he said in verse 31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not just the fact of faith. It's not just the fact of believing, but it's the object of faith and the object of what we're believing in. So, we are not to look for fruit. I don't believe in God. I don't see any fruit. We don't need to look for change or anything else for evidence of salvation. That's sanctification. That fruit will come down the road. Amen? Now, there are people that I know, and I want you to hang with me here, and I want to tell you I know some by personal life experience. And I've had people argue this with me and say, didn't you just want to read your Bible after you got saved? No, no. Didn't you own one? What do you want to do? I want to go play ball with my friends. Yeah. Man, I just wanted to pray, pray, pray for hours when I got saved. Well, not me. I didn't think about praying. I was thinking about chicken, you know. You can't put an 11-year-old boy in some profession that some 25-year-old man might make, who has lived like hell. Sanctification is a process. You know that. Justification is immediate. Like that. And we know glorification will be in heaven. So the sole issue is, have we or have we not believed what God has said concerning His Son. That's the whole thing. Listen to it. Have we or have we not believed what God has said concerning His Son? Now, salvation is by faith alone. Did I give B? I don't think I gave B, did I? Did I do that? Okay. Number two. Salvation is in Christ alone. In 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, the Bible says, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Hebrews 9, verse 15. And for this cause, he is the mediator of the New Testament that by means of death For the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, this which is called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Faith is always directed towards an object. In this, all faith is identical. How so? Well, the object of faith for an atheist is his humanistic philosophy. That's his object. That's what he believes in, in his godless universe. So the atheist has an object of his faith. It's humanistic philosophy. The object of faith for a Muslim would be the writings of Muhammad. That's his object. Some people believe in their own goodness. Some in religion, some in philosophy, but everyone believes something. When you see non-denominational, that's not true. They have some doctrine. They believe something. So the object of faith makes all the difference. The Bible is consistent in affirming that the faith that saves is centered around the person of Jesus Christ alone. Jesus alone and Jesus enough. And it's not faith that saves, but faith in Christ. Faith in faith doesn't help anybody. It's the object. And Christ is our object. The jailer was not told to believe in himself. The jailer was not told to believe in religion. The jailer was not told to believe in good deeds or good works. The jailer was not told to believe in God. I believe in God, so do the devils and they fear and tremble. He was told to believe in Christ and that that belief would result in his salvation. Now, Christ alone is the object of saving faith. This means that a man has no faith in himself to be saved. He has to admit, now listen, this is where it's not easy believism. This is what I want you to see. He has to admit that he's a sinner in need of a savior. He has to accept that he can do nothing to contribute to his salvation. It means that Jesus Christ's death at Calvary was sufficient to satisfy the demands of God, Jesus alone and Jesus enough. And this is why the scripture states that Jesus Christ, after he had offered himself upon Calvary, one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right-hand side of God. Christ paid the full penalty for sin. Nothing more is required to tell us that it is finished. And this is why the scriptures, they don't ask for our commitment, for our reformation, for our life, or for anything else. We have to believe in the solid act of what Jesus did for us. The only thing God wants to know is will we or will we not believe in His Son for complete salvation? That's it. Anything more, you listen to me, is a work salvation, you might as well be sewing together fig leaves. Lastly, I'll get you out of here, so we can slide home tonight. Salvation is defined by Scripture alone. Salvation is by faith alone. Salvation is in Christ alone, and salvation is defined by Scripture alone. You don't need to read any syllabus or any other writings. God has it clear for us. John chapter 14, Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you. Verse 5, Thomas says, Lord, we know not where thou goest, and how can we know the way? And Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. In John chapter 8 verse 32, the Bible says, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Salvation rests upon the truth of what we believe. Now, people believe in many things that are not true. Many are sincere. I've seen people so sincere. Like this. I've seen this man. I've seen this. We've been dealing with people for so long. We've seen this. Mm hmm. I'll tell you one thing. If that boy didn't go to heaven, I don't know who who would. That boy loved his mama like nobody I've ever seen. Amen. I just want to say and you know what I do at a funeral, I keep my mouth shut. Funerals are not quite as dangerous as weddings, but they can be. People believe in all kinds of things, and people will say, well, don't you think they're saved, Pastor? According to the scriptures, I don't think that they are. But they're so sincere, and I always tell them the others are sincerely wrong, according to the scriptures. God will not accept sincerity as a substitution for truth. Never. Many people deceived, but God will not excuse them because they believe in error. Now, people can put their faith in their own truth. A person can believe that God loves him, but that belief will not save him. God is love, and God loves me. That's not salvation. A person can believe that if he's a terrible sinner, but that will not save him. A person can believe that he needs God and read his Bible and pray, but that will not save him. Saving faith is that which is related to what Jesus Christ did for us upon Calvary. That is saving faith, period. A person cannot believe and be saved until they hear a clear, accurate account of the gospel. That's our job to share with them. I was talking to a man, I'll never forget his name, Mr. Kilpatrick. I liked him a whole lot. You would have liked him. And he was lost, and he'd been a drunkard, an alcoholic. And I went to go see him, and I was talking to him. He was in a charismatic church. And I was talking to him as his wife. I was probably 24, 25. His wife adored me. She was always thrilled when I'd come over to talk to her husband. And I'd sit in this den, and they had a very nice home, and she was, you could see the doorway from the den, and going into the kitchen, and she was washing dishes, and I said, Mr. Kilpatrick, has there ever been a time when you bowed your head and cried out to God and confessed the sinner that you are, and asked him to forgive you, and you confessed with your mouth and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead? And he said, I'm saved. I'm saved. I said, well, I'm glad I'm glad you're saved. How did you get saved? He said, well, I want to tell you. I was a mean drunk, son, for many, many years. It hurt my family, hurt my business. It hurt me, hurt a lot of people that were associated with me. And one day I just prayed, God, I got to give up this bottle. And I took that Jack Daniels and I set it down and I've never touched it again. And I know I'm going to heaven. I mean, we're looking at him. And I said, Mr. Kilpatrick, you didn't get saved, you got sober. And when I said that, his wife literally dropped the dish in the kitchen and breaking on the floor. You see, people can believe all kinds of things, but saving faith is that which is related to what Jesus Christ did upon Calvary. Now, a person cannot believe and be saved until he hears the clear, accurate account of the Gospel. That's why we've got us in missionaries. You see, that Jesus was God who left heaven and came to live with us as a man by means of a virgin birth, that He lived a sinless life and offered Himself a perfect sacrifice for our sins, that He rose again the third day in victory over death and the grave. It is not the quality of our faith that saves, but it's the content of the message in which we put our faith in. That is key. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare in you the gospel, that's the good news for salvation, which I preach unto you, which also ye have received wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preach unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I deliver unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scripture." People cannot get saved apart from the Scripture. Now Paul related assurance not to the fact that they had believed in the right way, but they believed in the right message. Their faith was according to the Scripture. And when a person has God's Word on it, they have no need to look anywhere else for assurance. And this is what he's talking about. Now, is a man saved by giving his heart to Christ or by asking Christ into his heart? Is he saved by giving his life to God or by inviting God into his life? The Bible makes it crystal clear, what must I do to be saved? There's only one correct biblical answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is how people are saved. Well, let me tell you a story and I'll finish. I want to get you out of here. But I've only preached, and I know some of my brethren on livestream might really want to attack me on this, but please don't. I'm just going to tell the truth. I've only preached one camp meeting in my whole life. You preachers ever preach a camp meeting? It's called a camp meeting. And there are some good people in that, but there's a lot of emotion that goes on in those things. that have nothing to do with this. There's two camp meetings. I was preaching in one not terribly far from here. They were going to pick on preachers to come and preach, but I was asked to be the keynote speaker at the end. And then I heard everything about their dog dying, their mama crying, and I heard about, you know, all these stories, and there was not a thimble worth of Bible in any of it. And then people were weeping and wailing, and they were shouting. They were standing up and saying, that's right! Amen! And they were up there, and they were shouting and screaming. And I thought, man, when I get up, they're gonna be bored to tears. Because I want to tell you this, listen, if I wanted to be a stand up comedic, I could be one. If I wanted to stand up and amuse people, I could do that. But I determined a long time ago, first of all, I didn't volunteer. God called me. And secondly, if there are going to be decisions that are going to be lasting decisions, it's going to be anchored to the word. That's what's going to be anchored to. I mean, they had three or four preachers get up and preach, and in between that, we had a lunch, and then we came back, and then they had me preach. There wasn't a holy grunt in the whole place. And I'll tell you this, I don't preach for the motivation from men. The motivation of preach is in here. If there's three, 30, 300, it does not matter. Like tonight. But understand there's a lot of people who are caught up in this emotionalism and they take a folding chair, put it over their head and they run around the building shouting, glory to God, you know. Nothing. And a number of these people get saved every year. Over and over and over. And I want to tell you something. Dr. John R. Rice said, good preaching should never cause people to doubt. I believe that. Well, if I'm causing you to doubt, maybe you should doubt. When I just got out of Bible college at my first church as associate pastor, I was there for almost seven years, we had a revival and a great preacher came in. His oratory ability, his ability to deliver the message, he got up and he was preaching about tithing, you God robber, you stinking God robber, what's wrong with you? You walk up to God and put a gun in his face and say, give me your tithe and bless God. You don't need to read. You don't need to rededicate your life. You need to get saved. And man, the altar was full and people were getting saved, had been saved, walked with God for 30 years. We've seen that. And I had some people that I love very much, and I was working the altar, and when they came to me, I said, go sit down. You don't need to do anything up here. That's what I told them. I was furious, furious over it, you see. So when we, when it comes to believing, when it comes to salvation, Don't make steps of sanctification the means for salvation. Because God's told us we need to believe. He told us who we need to believe in. He told us what we need to believe in. And it's according to the scriptures. Isn't that clear? Wonderful. I'm so glad you preachers agree with me on that. I'm always a little bit worried about when you get stuff that close. But that's it. Now, I got saved at 11, but you wouldn't have known it until I was 16. Because it took that long for me to be able to have spiritual questions stirred in my heart and for me to get that close to God. See, people walk. Their walk is only as bright as the amount of light that they possess. As the amount of truth that they possess. You have some guy who never got to church? That doesn't mean he wasn't saved. Every preacher wants to preach the dead into heaven. I don't do that. I saw a funny where the hole was dug, the casket was in the bottom, there was three biker guys there, tattoos and their motorcycles. And one turns to their pastor and says, Reverend, he had 10,000 friends on Facebook. Where's everybody at? You know, I'm just I thought it was funny. Y'all aren't laughing, but I think it's hilarious. I'm just saying this. Salvation is simple, man corrupted. We want to see sanctification. If you get in a good church that teaches and preaches this book, there's going to be some changes. I've seen them in some of you. Isn't that right? It's a blessing to see it. I see people, you know, wouldn't give a nickel to God last year, and they're sacrificing, trying to feed little kids in Africa now. You know what that is? That's God that does that. I see people who, you know, we need someone to clean the bathrooms. They jump at it. When last year, you couldn't pay them walking the doors of the church. You know what that is? That's God. That's what God is. And only God can do that. What a great truth. John Chapter 16 has got to be one of the main Acts Chapter 16. Got to be one of the major chapters in the top five. All God's people said, let's stand to our feet. Do you believe tonight going to heaven? Amen. All right. We're going to be dismissed in prayer, Rachel. We're just going to pray and I want you to get home. We're rich. We're just going to play pray. And I want you to get home. God bless you for coming tonight. You be safe. Pray for me. I got to drive up Mount Olivet. I'm not sure if there's ice. I don't know what I'm gonna do. And when you have a four wheel drive, you might want to come by my house. All right, Rick house. You believe don't you? I love you, brother. You dismiss us tonight, please.