Do you believe the gospel? Do you believe the gospel? Or stated another way, are you believing the gospel? Are you believing it? And it's really the same question, same way of stating this. Do we believe the gospel as a church? Are we embracing? the gospel. Let's look, turn with me into 1st John, 1st John, chapter four. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit. whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. There are many gospels that have gone out into the world, carried by many prophets, false prophets, many men who speak the truth mixed with error and have gone out. Some prophets are speaking the truth and some prophets are speaking error. So, therefore, to ask this question, do you believe the gospel? You must be a discerning person to be able to test the spirits of those messengers that are carrying all these different messages and that are bombarding you with a variety of good newses. So, the word gospel simply means good news. So what is it that you're trusting in to bring you through this life? What is it that is really good news to you? What do your ears just yearn to hear? When you wake up in the morning, what do you want to hear? What do you think about? What would just make your day? Well, for the Christian who's believing in the gospel, it's the gospel. The gospel would make my day. I yearn to hear the gospel when I get up in the morning, when I walk by the way. But there are also times that I hear other gospels, other things that will put themselves up for good news. And so scripture commands us to not believe certain truth claims, but to believe certain truth claims. And that involves a test. A test. When you take a test, what do you do? You compare something to something else. Here's a question, and you give an answer. Well, then that answer has to be tested to see if it was true or false. Is it the right answer? That's why you take a test. to find out what's on the inside, so that you compare what is, with what is said, with a standard. Is it right? Is it wrong? Is it close? Is it far? Depending on what the subject is. While religious truth, spiritual truth, is certainly the same. There's certain gospels that are not to be believed, so that we can be believing in the true gospel. Now, The fundamental gospel of this world, I would simply say, humanism, of our world, is humanism. And that is, as articulated in the Humanist Manifesto, man must save himself. So, man's good news is that the belief that man can save himself. I was talking to a guy last night who was telling me how he had an intellect, and his intellect was able to discern, through self-consciousness and self-awareness, whether or not he was a good person or not. He was trusting in his intellect to discern that, in fact, he was a good person. Man must save himself. He says, yeah, but a lot of people... the problem is a lot of people don't do what I do. A lot of people don't try. Humanism is rooted in this belief from Satan's original lie in the garden, you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Humanity has bought this lie and humanity believes intuitively, that means without trying, that the best thing that man can do for themselves is to make their life better by some form of human ingenuity. This gentleman also went on to say, as I was talking about the gospel, he said, I won't believe it unless I can feel it. I won't believe it unless I can feel it. And so, which is post-modernism, which is existentialism, I only believe in the truth that I can feel. Anyone have a problem with that? Scripture says, believing is seeing. The world says seeing is believing. Jesus gives us a couple things to see. The witness of the resurrection, now recorded in Scripture. He does give us some objective points of reference that are objective. But our world says, no, unless I can feel it, I will not believe it. That's humanism. Humanism, man must trust in himself. It's all up to what I feel or what I think or my power and my strength and my human power to save myself. To make a better life for myself. That is the spirit of our age. That is the spirit of false prophecy. False prophets going out and deceiving many. Most people walking around today, Oh, I'm a pretty good person. My good works are out of the way of my bad works. I do good. You know, maybe the golden rule makes sense there. Humanism. We have to test the prophets. We have to test these attitudes. Isaiah 47 verse 10 says, For you have trusted in your wickedness. You have said, no one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you. Your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you. And, look, we're a scientific nation. We have this truth. And, the wisdom of man warps man. And, Isaiah goes on. And, you have said in your heart, I am and there is no one else besides me. So, what really matters is me. What happens to me. How it makes me feel. That's humanism. And those are false prophets that have gone out and undermined the gospel. Because the gospel is the opposite of that. Deny yourself, take up your cross. Follow me, Jesus says. Jesus says, I am the Savior, there is no other. There's no name given unto man whereby he must be saved. See, Jesus says, I am the Savior. Humanism says, man is the Savior. You are your own Savior. You are your own God. Well, that's pretty bold for most religious Americans. There are those who are more consistent with that in atheism and agnosticism and such. But, for most Americans, what they believe, and what we are all, and I am tempted to succumb to, is religious humanism, or Christian humanism, or a mixing of the foundations of humanism with Christianity. And so what that's going to look like is, well, I wouldn't be as bold to say that I am my own God and I have to save myself. Rather, it's more like, because I have faith in God, therefore now I must save myself. It's this mixture of, I have to do good. By following the Ten Commandments, following the law. And if I'm good enough, God will be pleased with me. Which is brazen, in God's face, a rejection of His grace and mercy. Man has to say, oh, but there's something I have to do to save. Well, see, that attitude goes into a religious context of Christianity, and what does it look like? It looks like a little bit of God's grace and a little bit of man's effort, and it serves him up in a pot and says, here is your soup. And the church drinks it, and the church says, oh, this is really good, can I have more? I have a little bit of the knowledge of God, so I don't feel bad about just, like, rejecting God, and I can look down on all those other people that do. But it's rooted in self-trust, self-will. Look what I am doing. That's a false gospel. That is a false good news. It's not good to do that. Humanism. It doesn't matter what way you cut it. This has always been Israel's problem. This has always been the church's problem of mixing the truth of God with the will of men. Oh, there's something, but if I... Okay, I believe in the gospel, but I'll do it through saying a prayer. So, I have to say this prayer. A mechanistic view. The church before used to have it in baptism. Well, you believe it's through baptism, and baptism is what has to save. Well, in many Baptist churches this day, it's not exactly the same with baptism, but it's this, oh, I said a prayer, and trusting in a prayer to save. See, the heart is always looking for something else to save, other than God's grace, and God's grace alone. In Christ alone. It's that word alone that we have a problem with. The world is happy with many saviors. Jesus says, I alone am Savior. Oh, that's where... because that hits against humanism. Well, we're happy with God's grace, until we put the word grace alone. We're saying God's grace alone saves. How about grace in a little human effort? Grace in something I have to do. It's like, no! It's grace alone, and it's faith alone. Something I have to do. Something I have to manipulate. Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. Jesus said of this approach in quoting from Isaiah Matthew 5.8, these people draw near with me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. What you have here, in this kind of Christian humanism, you have a verbal expression to the externals But a lack in the internal heart focus. So they draw near with their lips. Oh, I believe in God. But their hearts are far from me. Their hearts are far from the gospel. And we are bombarded with these things all the time. From within, from without, from our various church backgrounds. All this type of thing comes in. So, we'll look at 1 John, beloved. Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits. Test them with objective truth. Objective points of reference. So, when I ask you this question, are you believing the gospel? I'm asking you this question, are you believing in the objective standards of truth that God set forth in His Word? Are you believing the truth about the good news of who God is, what God has done, and what that means in your life? Are you trusting the truth? That's the question. Are you believing the truth? Well, what does it mean to believe in Jesus? I mean, you ask a hundred people, what does it mean to believe in Jesus, you'll probably get about a lot of different answers. Well, one thing is, you believe in the Incarnation. This is a very big deal in John's day, because in John's day, there was Gnosticism, which taught that the physical is evil and the spiritual is good, and it made a false dichotomy. So, anything physical is bad, but the spiritual, or the ideal, is good, virtuous. And so the very thought that Jesus came in the flesh, Jesus became a man, was anathema to them, was horrible to them, because how could the Son of God become a man? Flesh and blood, that would make Him corrupt like us. And so they thought that, no, it can't be that way. You see, to deny that kind of doctrine is to deny the Gospel. That's why, that's a little background there, that's why. John says, but you know, in verse 2, but by this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of antichrist which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. So there is spirit of antichrist against Christ that is working in the world. And the spirit of antichrist works to undermine a white belief in the doctrines of scripture as they relate to the gospel. Who is God? Who is Christ? What did it mean that He came? Why did He die? Why did He rise again? What is this church? These foundational issues of redemption and grace. Are you believing the gospel? He who does not believe that Jesus was incarnated, is not believing the true gospel. Oh, wait a minute here. Are you saying that the difference between heaven and hell is rooted in right belief? Yes. I'm saying the difference between you going to heaven and you going to hell is rooted in what you believe. This is serious. Scripture says, Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God for salvation to the Jew first, and also for the Greek. It is the power of God for salvation. The good news, the gospel of what God has done, according to truth, is the basis of salvation, sanctification, and the entire Christian life. It's no wonder that we have such a problem in the churches, because we have a problem with the gospel. It is the gospel that has been sold out, reduced to maybe four spiritual laws and a prayer. If you embrace four spiritual laws and can say a mechanical prayer, then you're saved. And we reduce it. There's no discernment. There must be discernment in the gospel. We are commanded to test the spirits. To see, are they rightly discerning? The good news of Jesus Christ. There are many antichrists in the world. Paul writes explicitly to examine yourselves. First Corinthians 13. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Second Corinthians 13, verse 5. Examine yourself. So this message is for the church. This question is for you and me. There's a mix of people here. Not everybody's believing the gospel. Will we be so naive? Does everybody here believe in God? Probably everybody would raise their hand. Does everyone believe Jesus died and rose again? Probably everybody would raise their hand. But are you believing the gospel? Are you believing it? And we're going to get into what that looks like a little bit more, but Paul will give us specifically by By this, I'm sorry, examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Same word, test. Back to the standard. Do you not know yourselves that Christ is in you? Is Jesus Christ in you? Is his word in you? That's what it means. That's the result of the gospel. It's his word. Regeneration puts life in you. And he's living in you. The most important thing in your life then is what? Christ. To live for Christ and to die is gain. To live for Christ, to die is gain. Unless you have been disqualified. So there are some who believe and trust the faith and pass the test. There are those who are disqualified because they do not believe according to the truth. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified. So test yourself, examine. This is part of the Christian life. This testing, this examining, this continually comparing ourselves to the objective standard. That is the reference point. And we rest. The result of that faith is rest in Him. There are two categories of people. Those who have the spirit of truth, and those who have the spirit of error. The Bible places all of humanity into two groups. Not religious and non-religious. Not churched and non-churched. Not liberal and conservative. Not this, that, or the other thing. All the ways we categorize people. It places it in two groups. Those who are lost, and those who are found. Those who are the spirit of truth, and those who are the spirit of error. 1 John goes on and says this, You are of God, little children, verse 4, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world, therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us, and he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Question, how do you know the spirit of truth in the spirit of error? How do you know? It's right here, isn't it? He who hears us is of the spirit of truth. As 1 John is writing in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Scripture, those who hear Scripture, and align their faith on scripture are of the truth. Jesus says, you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. God's word is truth. Now, the world does not speak according to the truth. And that's why it doesn't like You, or us, those who are of the truth. Because they are the spirit of error. They err away from truth. See, the world speaks, and the world hears. Therefore, they speak of the world, and the world hears them. So, those who speak error, and those who hear error, are of the error. Pretty easy to see, isn't it? How do you know you're of the error? You test it with the truth. So, here's the truth, and when the truth comes in, People say, oh, I hear the truth, and I love the truth. May I have more truth. Those are the Spirit. That's the Spirit of the children of God. But the Spirit of those who don't have the truth, when the truth comes in and they hear the truth, they go, oh, yuck. That's boring. That puts me to sleep. I hate that. I hate that. That's the Spirit of error. That's the spirit of the world. And the spirit of the world doesn't want to hear that. But they will hear someone who speaks, oh, you know what you need? You need a little religious humanism. Oh, now that, then their ears perk up. Let's put a little, let's put a little humanism in there. And their ears perk up, because they hear the things of the world. Maybe you really don't need that church, that truth. Maybe you really need to work this out yourself. Maybe you should, if you feel that way, just follow your heart. And their ears perk up. and they're led astray. That's the spirit of the world. It's the spirit of Antichrist. It's rooted in self-trust. And it will not speak, confess, or do the truth. Jesus said, you'll know them by their fruit. Beloved, verse 7, let us love one another. For love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. For he who does not love does not know God, for God is love. So, if you know God, you love, then you'll love like God, because God is love. If you don't love, it's because you don't know God, because God is love. Now, what is love? Love is a fulfillment of the law. Love is defined by righteousness, by God's Word. And so, whoever loves is born of God and loves the truth that is written in Scripture. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll what? Keep my commandments. This is what the gospel produces. The gospel produces a heart of love. So, here is the gospel. I think it's summarized great in verse 9. In this, the love of God was manifest toward us. That God has sent His only begotten Son into the world that we should live through Him. That we should live through Him. 1 John 4, 9. Now, why did God send His Son into the world? A lot of good reasons in the Scriptures, isn't there? And ultimately, it was to glorify His Father. We talked about that yesterday. Jesus died on the cross, why? Ultimately, to glorify God as Father. Philippians chapter 2. Scripture says, and I want to say it this way, God sent His Son into the world to save us, because we could not save ourselves. God sent His Son into the world to save us, because it is impossible for men to save themselves. Look at verse 10. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. God sent His Son into the world, that we loved God, but that He loved us. The great stumbling block to the gospel, there's two aspects to receiving the gospel. Two aspects. The recognition that we do not love God. The confession of sin. It's not that we love God. That's why Jesus had to come. That's why he came to pay the penalty for our sin, because you could not. Jesus said, I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That means those people that think they're righteous, they don't need a savior. The gospel, the good news only fits to those who understand that they do not love God. The gospel only fits to those who see themselves as law-breaking, condemned sinners. Justly condemned by the law of God. Understand that sinners that have broken... What is sin? Sin is a transgression of the law. That we've broken the law of God. That we've put other gods in the place of God. That we've blasphemed His name. He's not always. We very rarely reverence His name like it should be. We've had other gods before. We've made images, and our hearts have made idols, and we've bowed down and worshipped them. We've replaced other things with God. Other toys with God. Other games with God. We've looked for pleasure outside of God's will. We've looked at money. We've coveted. We've won things that were not ours. And we've unlawfully wanted and coveted and wanted more outside of our desire for God. Have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen anything? Even a little white lie? A white lie. See how corrupt our language is? Lying and murder. I've never murdered anybody. How about anger? Jesus said if you've been angry with Him, you've committed that murder in your heart. Lust, adultery. Sexual greed. Now, see, for those who are receiving the gospel, they say, that's me. That's me. You're defining me. It's not that I love God. I haven't. I have no love of God in my heart. I concur with the law of God that it is right, but I am sinful, sold under sin. that I have transgressed, that I have nothing to give to God but my sin. It's not that we have loved God. Amen? I agree with that. That's the beginning point of the Gospel. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us. That is, God Himself took the initiative to send His only begotten Son from heaven to earth. He took the initiative to love lost sinners. He came to give us unmerited grace. He died to pay the penalty for sin that was prophesied from the beginning of time to be that head-crushing one who would crush Satan's head who would take the brood of Calvary's cross, who would shed His blood for the atonement of sins, all freely by a choice of His sovereign grace, not based on any human merit that you or I or anyone has ever done. Well, God chose me because I chose Him. Then it is not of grace. If your doctrine starts with, God chose me because I chose Him, God saved me because something I did, then it is not of grace. Romans 11 makes that very clear. God chose, not that we love God, but God chose to take the initiative and to redeem lost sinners. This is the Gospel. The two aspects are, I confess the truth, I am a sinner, and I confess the truth, Jesus, Save me. The object of faith is Jesus Christ and the work that He has done. We are saved by His works, not the works of our own. Works are involved, aren't they? Because the sin payment had to be paid, it had to be justly dealt with. The problem is, mankind in its humanism thinks that he can naturally pay back that sin debt that was owed. That is the most blasphemous thought, to think that I could atone for my own sin. That outrages the Spirit of God's grace. I can't atone for my own sin any more than I can do anything. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. It's not that we loved God. but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for sins." What is propitiation? Propitiation is the turning away of wrath. It's the just turning away of God's wrath. So God the Father is angry over sin. He's angry over your sin. He's angry over my sin. But there's only one blood sacrifice that can turn His anger away, and that is the blood of His perfectly righteous Son, Jesus Christ, who shed His blood willingly on Calvary's cross. And on the third day, God rose Him from the dead to put a stamp of approval that I love my Son, I am completely well-pleased with my Son's sacrifice, and I accept His payment of death on the cross as paid in full. Now, anyone who is in my son, I will give him the gift of righteousness that my son purchased on behalf of sinners. Amen. Amen. This is the gospel. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Paul said this way in Romans 5, for when we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Ah, the glory of that. While you're struggling in the ocean of sin, flailing around, about ready to be engulfed, God reached down and saves you out of there, pulls you out of the miry muck. While you were destined for hell. Where is your just resting place for the great iniquity that you have committed in your heart against God. While you were destined for a place of eternal torment and torture. Your body being on fire, but you're not being burned up. Christ saved sinners from that destruction. We're saved from the wrath of God. We're saved from the wrath of God. That's love. That's love. But God demonstrated His own love towards us. And that while we are still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5, 9. Much more than having now been justified by His... What is it? By His blood. We are made righteous. Not of our own works. But we are made righteous by His blood. That's the heart of the Gospel. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Know this first, 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He died, He was buried, and He rose again and appeared to many. We are not justified. We are declared righteous by His blood. Therefore, the result is, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. We shall be saved from that wrath of God through Him. That's the Gospel. That's what you need every day. You need to remember that every day. You need to preach the Gospel to your brain every moment of the day. That is the most important message you will ever hear. It is never to be far. That is the basis of all human relationships. It is the basis of the entire Christian life. Without the gospel, there is no Christian ethic. There's only radical sin and hypocrisy. It is only in the gospel, knowing that I am saved by His blood, justified by His blood, saved from His wrath through Christ. Therefore now, therefore I can love, because I am loved. Not that I love God, but that He loved me. His love is a pattern for my love. His life is a pattern for my life. Everything is by faith in what Jesus has done. And nothing, nothing, nothing is to be based on what I have done. What do you have to complain about? But God demonstrated His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, and we were enemies, we were reconciled, two warring parties brought together, We were enemies and God was angry with us. But now, because of the blood sacrifice, shalom, peace, God makes peace by the just establishment, by the righteous establishment of justice. Reconciliation, the result, brought together to God through the sacrifice, through the death of his son. Much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. I am saved by the life of Jesus Christ. I am saved by the life of Jesus Christ. And for those who know the Gospel, they know salvation is not in themselves. They know salvation is not in what they do. They know salvation is in Jesus Christ and Him alone and what He has done on our behalf. Now, is that complicated? Can a child understand that? Faith is confidence in that. Okay? Faith is confidence in that truth. We shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we've now received the reconciliation. Do you believe the gospel? Are you believing the gospel? Are you believing the gospel? Is the gospel, that grace, that mercy, due unto others as you would have them do unto you? Why? Because Jesus died for my sins. And the life I live, I do for you in Christ. Why? How can I not return evil for evil or insult for insult? Because while I insulted God, the King of the Universe, and deserved every ounce of His wrath, He was kind to me and took on, laid my iniquity on His Son, that I could be forgiven. So you may be unkind to me. But because I believe in the gospel, by His grace, and His grace alone, I can be kind to you. This is the gospel. This is what we need for parenting. We need to ground it in the gospel. Why are we so angry with our kids? Because we don't believe in the gospel. Why can't we love our wives, as Christ loved the church? We're not believing the gospel. Why do women have such a hard time with submission? Oh, submission! They don't believe the gospel. The heart of the God, Jesus Christ, submitted to the Father. Submission is the most glorious thing. We're all to submit in that manner to the will of God. Why do children have such a hard time obeying their parents and honoring them? They don't believe the gospel. It's only in the gospel that we can have a Christian ethic that just shall live by what? Faith. Faith in what? Faith in what God has done. That's why we have a hard time with church and human relationships. That's why so many have a hard time with preaching. Oh, you're condemning me. You're condemning me. You're trying to make me a victim. I'm a victim, you're victimizing me. You see, the gospel overcomes that. Now, without the gospel, there is condemnation. But in the gospel, there's freedom, liberty. Romans 8.1, therefore, I mean, there's therefore no condemnation, those are in Christ Jesus. So, preach the word, speak the truth in love. I understand that through the gospel. See, without the gospel, I'm toast. But in Christ, there's redemption, there's justification, that I may grow in the grace and knowledge of the truth. Having... Now, let me just stop here for a moment. You believe the Gospel, say Amen. Don't even have to raise your hand, just say Amen. Now, let's say here, there's a mixture of first generation Christians and second, third, fourth generation Christians. There's a process here. I am a sixth generation Christian. I grew up hearing the gospel. Hypocritical Christianity was all around me, but I grew up hearing the gospel. So you've got to remember, there are different ways God works. It's the same gospel, but we need to be wise and discerning in how we understand this whole process of coming to faith in Christ. And that's why I want to just nail down these two aspects. When you believe the gospel, there's always two aspects. You confess your sin. Salvation is not in me. Okay? And you have a confidence, salvation is what God has done. You see that? Now, for those who are saved from the world, you knew you were trusting yourselves, God convicted you, and you came into faith repenting and confessing. Didn't you? Our children are growing up with a concept of repentance and a concept of confession from the time they were young, and that's the way it should be. We need to be wise and discerning to see when do they come to that place where they're confessing their sin because they're not trusting in themselves or anything they do to save them. But God has given them the confidence to place that wholly on Christ. Those are the two aspects that we're always looking for. So how do you do that? The law and the gospel. I give my children the law. Why? To define their sin. And I point them to the gospel lives as the answer for their sin. That's what we all need. Law is the tutor to lead us to Christ. But it's the power of the gospel, Jesus Christ, that gives us the ability to be saved from sin. The law cannot save. We know that the law condemns, the law does not save. We are saved from the condemnation of the law by faith in Christ, and faith alone in Christ. Okay. If you are here, children, young, I'm talking second generation, take this stuff in. Take it in and study the Bible for yourself. Alright? Hear from your fathers, listen to them, and take it back to the scripture. Do you yourself believe the gospel? You don't get to heaven by hanging on your parents' coat straps. You understand that? You will stand before God alone. Now, for the rest of us, Are you believing the gospel? If there's someone who's not believing the gospel here, please, the Bible says today is the day of salvation. When there is belief in the gospel, an immediate corresponding evidence is confession. There's confession. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4.13, and says we have the same spirit of faith according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke. We also believed and therefore speak. So what you believe, you speak. So we need to clarify the false teaching that all he believes in the gospel, he just doesn't ever say it. If you believe the gospel, you're going to say it. Right? How in the world could you believe that you're a hell-bent sinner, about ready to slip into a Christless eternity and pay the just punishment for your sin under the fierce wrath of God forever. But God had mercy on you based on nothing you have done. God saved you from that situation, put you in a place of complete redemption, called you his son, put new robes on you, loved you like his own son, gave you the promise of eternal life, and began to transform your life. How could you believe that and not tell anyone? How? It's ludicrous. Those who believe, speak. Those who believe, confess. Church, we are the confessing church. We're supposed to be. Confessing church. That is, we confess the truth. Those who know the gospel, preach it. Everywhere you go, share the gospel. Those who believe the gospel will confess it for the glory of God, the edification of the body. You understand how important this confession is. Romans 10 puts it together by stating, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." So if you're trying to work out your own righteousness, you're going to speak about the things you do. But if you have stopped trying to work out your own righteousness, for Moses writes about the righteousness which is the law, the man who does them shall live by them, But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way. Do not say in your heart who will send it to heaven or who will bring Christ down from above or who will send it into the abyss. That is to bring up Christ from the dead. But what you say, the word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. The context around this is theological truth. Now, you have heard this verse ripped out of its context and says, believe in Jesus and you'll be saved. Say this potion and God is obliged to meet this obligation. You cannot do that to that verse. That verse states in its context, its theological context, the God of the Bible sent His Son. And when you confess the God of the Bible who sent His Son, not the God of the genie or the Christian humanism God, you will be saved. Certainly you'll confess that. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes on him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord who is who over all is rich towards all who call upon him. For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Jesus said very clearly, therefore, whoever confesses me before men, him I will confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. So those who believe, speak. Are you believing the gospel? Look to your lips. Are you believing the gospel? Look to your faith. Are you believing the gospel? We're going to have some baptisms today. They were saved. They had a confession that was consistent with the revelation of God. And they confessed that. The church witnessed that. They were baptized. That's the context of Acts. And they were added to the church. Acts 2.47, praising God, having faith with all people, and the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. 1 Timothy 6.12, fight the good fight, and lay hold of eternal life, to which you were also called, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. So we see the gospel is the starting point of the Great Commission. Teach them to observe all things. Confession is made based on that confession. There's the water, which is the sign. of that confession. We believe in believers' baptism. Having been baptized, what does that mean? It means you're functioning now in the visible church. The visible church is expressed in local bodies all over the world. There's the one universal church that's invisible to us, i.e., we can't see it. It's known only to God. But what it's seeing is the local church expressed in local aspects or bodies of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12, verse 8 says, But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as he pleases. So God offers salvation, regeneration, confession of truth. With that confession, there is a baptism that follows that faith. God takes his members that he's chosen and he sticks them into bodies, into churches. Look at the Bible, look how many of the words, the plural is used. Churches. Why is it churches and not church? Because the Apostle's thinking, local churches. We use the word local as an adjective. Churches. This church, that church, this... Now, is there one church? Yes. But Christ puts members in to churches. Where there's leadership, recognition of leadership, accountability, a group of people that are brought together, covenanting together, to understand what a church is. They have a doctrinal core to that. This is God's plan for the Great Commission. In that process, then, they are what? Discipled, taught, everything in Scripture. To take all of Scripture to all of life. Teach them to observe all things I have commanded. Now, the ongoing witness, 1 Corinthians 11, that you're believing the Gospel, is what? What's the ongoing witness that you, this congregation, are believing the Gospel? What is the ongoing witness? public witness that we do together. It's the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is the ongoing witness that we're believing the Gospel. Now, I don't mean to mix it up with the fruit of the Gospel, which is, you know, the fruit of the Spirit and the love and that type of thing, which is But the symbol, that's the reality of what communion is all about. So you see how baptism, communion, kind of summarizes the Christian life? Our entrance into it, and our ongoing participation. I am in communion with God, and I am in communion with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul says, examine yourself. Rightly discern the Lord's body. That is, rightly discern the gospel that Christ laid down His body. For you and I, sinners, rose again from the dead, that we would live out the implications of that gospel in the new covenant. The heart of the new covenant is that law written on our hearts. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's what we come to examine ourselves every Sunday. In the gospel. In the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll close with 1 John 4, 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Oh, God, may we believe by faith the gospel that you have sent your son to be the savior of the world. We pray that you grant us faith to live, to confess and to live the truth. I pray that there's those who are here who do not know you, that you please convict them of sin to see they cannot save themselves. Dislodge that from their heart. Only you can do this, God. And please regenerate them, give them faith to trust in the truth, that they may be set free. In Jesus' name, Amen.