Good morning to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. We'll read these verses in a moment. Over the past three months, I've been preaching on the subject of evangelism. In the last three weeks, I've come to this question, what is the gospel? My purpose is threefold in asking that question. First of all, it is to equip. equip believers to be more effective in evangelism and it's my prayer that over the last three weeks and then this morning as I've asked the question and sought to answer it biblically what is the gospel that you indeed have more tools so to speak as you go to the Word of God to say here are verses that I understand and can share with those who do not know Christ that I might be more effective in evangelism to the glory of God and so my First purpose is to equip believers to be more effective in evangelism. My second purpose is for examination that professing believers in this place might examine themselves to see if they indeed have believed the true gospel of Jesus Christ. And so my prayer is that over these last three weeks and this morning that you will be put under again the light of God's Word that you would examine your hearts to see if you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and believed in the true gospel for your salvation. Thirdly, my purpose is for evangelism, to equip, to examine, and to evangelize that those of you who are unbelievers in this place might indeed hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and that God might be merciful to your soul, that you would turn to Him and be saved. And so in answering the question, what is the gospel? I have said that we need to understand something of what the Bible teaches concerning four things. First of all, what the Bible teaches about God. Secondly, about man. Thirdly, about Christ. And then fourthly, about grace. And so we saw what God teaches us in His Word, His self-revelation about Himself. He is the holy, sovereign, benevolent Creator. We saw that He created everything for His glory, that He owns creation, that He has rights to it. He has rights to your life. He created you that you might reflect His glory. He is a holy God who is righteous in all His ways and therefore because He is holy, He cannot ignore those who do not value His glory and reflect His glory as they should. And His wrath is against sinners. But we saw that God is kind and benevolent. He is a good God who indeed is patient with sinners in that He does not judge them immediately. He is patient and kind in that those who do not know Him hear the gospel. They see creation and they see the truth that there is a God, that He is a God of power, that He exists. that He's a God of wisdom. And then God has been gracious to those of you who are sitting here and listening to these messages in that you have heard the call of God in the Gospel to be saved. He is being patient and kind. What a good and a glorious God that He is. But the problem is, man is an idolatrous rebel. And we looked at two verses, Romans 3.23 and Romans 6.23, that teach that very plainly. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. People fall short of the glory of God that they were created to display. They do not display God's glory as they should because of their sin. They do not love and value the glory of God as they should because of their sin. And they fall short of doing all for the glory of God. And that is what it means when he says, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The essence of sin is that we have missed the mark for which we were created. We fall short of God's glory. Instead, we Love ourselves. We love our sin. We go our own way. We rebel against God and we seek to rob God of His glory. But God will not be robbed of His glory. He will not give His glory to another. And in consequence to our sin, we see that the wages of sin is death. Romans 6.23. What sin pays you, it's just compensation, is death. That is what we deserve. This death is multifaceted. We saw how there is the daily death, the present bondage of sin, the guilt of sin, the weight of sin in our lives. There's physical death. There's spiritual death. We're helpless. We're unable to do any spiritual good. And there is eternal death for all eternity in hell for those who do not turn to Christ. And so what is the solution? We saw last week that the solution is indeed Jesus Christ, the sinless substitute. We looked at 1 Timothy 1.15. It makes the trustworthy statement that you can believe and rely upon. It deserves your full acceptance and belief and faith. It says that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, to rescue sinners. And the need to be saved emphasizes that there is a problem. There's danger. The danger is the wrath of God because of our sin. And so God the Son became a man to be the sinless substitute. And we looked at 2 Corinthians 5.21. It says, He, God the Father, made Him, God the Son, who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf. That is substitutionary atonement. He took the penalty that we deserve on the cross. He knew no sin. He was the sinless one, but He became sin for us. God treated Him as if He had committed all the sins that His people would commit. Why? So that He might treat us as if we had committed all the righteous acts that He had committed. so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him," it says in 2 Corinthians 5.21. We saw that this is the great exchange, my sin for His righteousness. This is the basis of our justification. This is how we can be declared righteous in the sight of God. His righteousness imputed to us, our sin imputed to His account. Now He is raised from the dead. Indeed, His sacrifice was accepted by God the Father. He was efficacious and He is the Lord of all. Now that brings us to the last point. God, man, Christ and now grace. Grace, undeserved forgiveness. How can anyone be saved? Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, but how can anyone be saved? Theologians separate soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, into two areas. There is objective soteriology on the one hand. There is subjective soteriology on the other hand. And that distinction means this. Objective soteriology refers to those doctrines and that teaching in the Bible about what Christ has accomplished for our salvation. objectively why He came, what He did in His life, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension, what He has accomplished But then subjective soteriology is then the application of that redemption to the sinner. How can a man be saved? Christ Jesus came objectively into the world to save sinners. What He did on the cross was efficacious. But how is that efficacious death applied to the sinner? That is subjective soteriology. It is only by grace. And so that's what we're talking about this morning, not the objective aspect of what Christ has accomplished, but the subjective aspect of our salvation, the application of that to the sinner. And so look with me in Ephesians chapter 2, we'll read the first nine verses that speak of the grace of God, this undeserved forgiveness. Ephesians 2, beginning in verse 1, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Here is the application of redemption. But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." In our evangelism, As we share the truth and teach the truth of the Word of God about who God is and about who we are and about who Christ is and what He came to do, we must also then share with them grace. How can a person be saved? And Ephesians 2 verse 8 answers it very clearly. For by grace you have been saved through faith. Salvation is by the grace of God. How can anyone be saved? We could answer this way and say only by God. It's only because of God's work in saving sinners. Christ Jesus came into the world. We had nothing to do with that. God treated him as if he had committed all the sins that we as believers have committed. That is what God did. It is only by the grace of God. It is God's grace. And you see in this passage in Ephesians chapter 2, in verse 4, he speaks of the richness of God's mercy, being rich in mercy. He has no shortage of mercy for those whom He sovereignly chooses to bestow it. There is a treasure house, a storehouse that is full of mercy and God is the one who is rich in this mercy who can bestow it upon sinners. So it speaks of the mercy of God. It speaks of the love of God in verse 4, with which He loved us. Verse 5, by grace you have been saved. Verse 7, it speaks of the riches of His grace in kindness. And verse 8, by grace you have been saved. It is the gift of God. It is only by grace. And so this salvation which originates from God's grace is not earned or deserved. It is the gift of God, it says in Ephesians 2.8. The word gift is a word that is used of something that is bestowed without payment. And therefore, it's something that is undeserved and unearned. Salvation is not by any kind of payment on behalf of the one who is saved. Now we saw in Romans 6.23 and in your evangelism, you can go back and say, remember the wages of sin is death. What our sins justly deserve and the compensation that is given for our sins is death. But then it says that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so there's a comparison or a contrast that is made between the wages of sin and the free gift of God. It's a gift. It means that salvation is not granted by any obligation on God's part. It's a free gift. Not only is it not earned or deserved, but grace is granted to those who actually deserve the exact opposite. The recipients of God's grace are in themselves unworthy. They do not merit God's favor. In fact, that is the definition of grace. Unmerited favor. Now we can In our evangelism, be sure that what we will see as we share this message of the gospel with those who do not know Christ, is that they will respond to God's grace typically in one of two ways. Number one, they will either try to earn it, or secondly, they'll presume upon it. They'll try to earn it. Can't I do something to gain God's grace? Yes, you're saying it's a gift, but I don't want to just have it as a gift. I want to do something in response to it. That is man's sinful heart. That is his sinful nature. That is man in his fallen condition to think more highly of himself than he ought to think. So even though you're saying words like grace and mercy and kindness, undeserved, unearned, they're still in their wickedness apart from the grace of God in making them alive. They're going to try to earn it. And if not, then what they will do is presume upon it. The other extreme is to say, well, God is a God of grace, so I'll just continue to live in my sin, and in my timing, when I'm ready, I'll come to Christ. But I'll continue my own way. You're telling me God is a God of grace. I'm glad He's a God of grace. When I'm ready for His grace, I'll receive it. And they presume upon God's grace. And the message of the Gospel is this. It is God's grace. He bestows it upon those whom He wishes. You cannot earn it. You don't deserve it. You deserve hell and the wrath of God and you've laid that foundation in understanding who God is and man is and what Christ came to do. You can't earn this, but neither can you presume upon it as though God will dispense it whenever you choose. God is sovereign. And He bestows it on whomever He wishes. You can't do anything to earn it. You can't work for it. You can't pay God for salvation. It is the gift of God. So you notice in verse 8 of Ephesians 2, He says, "...and that not of yourselves." You see the contrast again. It is the gift of God. It is a gift that comes from God as He sovereignly chooses to bestow it. And it's not of yourself. It's not of your doing. It's not of your choosing ultimately. It's not ultimately of you deciding when you're going to be saved. None of it is of you, ultimately. It is the gift of God. So if someone says, but can't I do something to earn God's forgiveness in Jesus Christ? When someone thinks like this, he does not understand his spiritual condition. And so you go to Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, and you say, no, this is your spiritual condition. You are a dead person, spiritually speaking. You are in bondage to sin. You walk according to the course of this world. You walk according to the prince of the power. of the air. You ultimately are enslaved to your sin. You live in the lust of your flesh. You are in prison. There's nothing you can do about it. And then what do you do? You go back to man. Or maybe you go back to God and the holiness of God so they might see the wickedness of man. If you're talking about grace and they're still talking about earning it or presuming upon it, then you have to go back to a previous point of truth about who God is, who man is, who Christ is. I've heard someone say who professed to be a Christian, I don't know what God saw in me that He would save me. But I have the answer to that question. He didn't see anything in you. He saw nothing. That's what a person must understand if he is to truly be saved. It's not a result of works, it says in Ephesians 2.9, so that no one may boast. God in His infinite wisdom, in order to receive all the glory and praise that is due His name as the Creator, has saved sinners by His grace in such a manner that no one could boast before Him. And so if someone gives you a gift and you say, you did the right thing, I deserve this. Then you're boasting in something in you that is worthy of receiving that gift. This would be an offense to the one giving the gift. How much more would it be an offense to God for us to somehow receive a gift and say, God, I deserved it. You owed this to me. God says, no, you deserve nothing but hell. You deserve nothing but wrath. Your salvation is not because of anything in you or anything you've done, any merits of your own, so that you would not boast before Me as though you deserve this, but so you would humble yourself at My throne, prostrate before Me, and humbling yourself to worship Me alone. Titus 3 verses 5 and 6, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy." So we see it there again in Titus 3, 5 and 6. The Bible often contrasts those things. Not on the basis of this, but according to this. Not because of something we've done in righteousness, but because of His mercy and His mercy alone. And so anything to do with works or earning God's forgiveness is the exact opposite of grace. Salvation is all of grace. And again, you can be sure that those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, if they show some interest in religious things, if they show some interest in salvation apart from the grace of God, they're going to seek to earn it. They're going to seek salvation through the law or works of the law. But Romans 3 verse 20 says, because by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in the sight of God. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. The law is good, the law is holy, the law shows us our sin. We have knowledge that we are sinners before God because He says, do not commit adultery and we commit adultery. Jesus said if you think lustful thoughts, if you look upon a woman with lust, you committed adultery in your heart, you're guilty. And the law of God shows us our sin. And we have a knowledge of our sin, but we cannot then say, well, through that law that shows me my sin, I'm going to then rid myself of sin. No, it is a spotlight to show sin, but it is not a cleanser to cleanse us of that sin. But sinful people want to take the law and try to keep it in order to earn salvation. But James 2.10 says, for whoever keeps the law, and yet stumbles in one point. If that were possible, to keep the whole law except for one point, he says he has become guilty of all. You're a lawbreaker. Brethren, again, this is a major battle in evangelism. This is the spiritual battle. You have to linger long over this point and explain it often again and again and again from the Scriptures. You have to teach this to your children as you bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, as you explain the Gospel to them. It's not a share it with them one time and that's it. It's again and again and again lingering over the fact that it is by grace You can't earn it. You don't deserve it. You can't do anything for it. You don't presume upon it. It's by God's grace. And an indication that God is at work is when a person abandons any notion of worthiness before God. So we see that it is by the grace of God. But Ephesians 2 verse 8 also tells us that salvation is through faith. Salvation is through faith. It is by grace through faith. John 3.16, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever or whoever believes, believes faith, believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Now this is an area too where you have to linger along. There is so much confusion and twisting of biblical teaching. on faith. What is faith? What does it mean to believe in Christ? You can be sure again that the adversary has come along and through this world system and all these means he has taken biblical words and sought to make them as cloudy as he can and twist them as much as he can and distort them as much as he can so that when you say, by grace you've been saved through faith, the ears of a sinner hears faith as defined by the world. And so again, you have to say, no, this is what the Bible means when it says by faith. And so these are some of the things you have to do. You have to explain to them the object of that faith, the nature of true biblical saving faith, and you have to explain to them that there are counterfeits to this saving faith. Salvation is through faith. What does that mean? First of all, the object of faith. True saving faith must have the proper object. Faith must be placed in something or someone. You can't have faith without an object or a person you have placed your faith in. And so it's important to explain to people in evangelism that the effectiveness of faith to save is not based on faith itself, but on the ability of the object to save not the ability of faith itself to save. You see, the instrumentality of salvation is through faith, but the ground, the basis of our justification of salvation is the work of Christ. So it's faith in someone and what he has done. But today you hear often people just saying, well, just believe, or I believe, or I'm a person of faith, and it's just left there hanging with no object. Now, some have faith in faith, and that's what they mean. Our children, we have talked about this as you listen to athletes these days, and one of the biggest things you hear people say is, well, what was the difference today? How'd you win that game? Well, we believed in ourselves. And so we talk about that, because part of what we have to do when they hear those kinds of things is say, what does that mean? What does the Bible say about faith? Is that the kind of faith that saves? Is it just belief in general? Is it belief in yourself? And so we talk about the absurdity of that thing. We talked about it just yesterday. We talked about the absurdity of how when you really think about it, someone says, well, we believe. Well, that means the other team didn't believe. And, you know, somebody's got to lose in that proposition one way or the other. But people think that having faith, even in faith, That's the power of positive thinking. That's the Norman Vincent Peale. That's the Robert Shuler. That's all those even so-called professing Christians. That's what they teach. It's just believe. Have faith in faith. And in that sense, if you're saying, well, faith saves in and of itself without an object, I would say, no, you're not saved by that faith. That is not the kind of faith the Bible talks about. It's not the faith that saves. Listen to John 3 verses 14 to 16. Jesus said, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, referring to his crucifixion, that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. So again, the object is in Him and that's the well-known verse john three sixteen for god so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." It's not just whoever believes won't perish, but whoever believes in Him. The object of faith is the Son of God who came to save sinners, as we talked about last week. And so as you lay this foundation of the Gospel, as you go through these points, as you teach people and evangelize people in that sense, you say, see the faith is in Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. John 3.36, He who believes has eternal life. No, that's not what it says. He who believes in the Son has eternal life. 1 John 5, 11 and 12, and the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life. And he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. This is why not too long ago we talked about, during our 915 Bible study, we talked about the necessity of conscious knowledge of the person and work of Jesus Christ in order for a person to be saved. That's why, again, this whole view that is out there today of the wider mercy view that somehow God saves people apart from a conscious knowledge of the person and work of Christ is unbiblical. It's simply not there. It's faith in His Son. If you don't know His Son, if you don't know the content of the Gospel, then you cannot be saved. This is why we must proclaim the person and the work of Jesus before a person can be saved. Before they understand grace and what it means, they have to understand who Jesus is and what He did. Apart from that, if you just say, well, here's man's sinful condition. God is holy and you're sinful and all you need to do is believe. So that's a lot of what's being proclaimed today in churches. That's a lot of what Christians are saying they believe. They're weak on or don't even understand the content of the gospel and who Christ is and they'll say, well, I believe. Believe what? Well, I believe that I'm a sinner in need of salvation and I believe that God will save me. On what basis? They don't know. They can't explain it. Does that faith save? I say no, it's dead faith. It's not true saving faith. True saving faith has an object. The object of that faith is Jesus Christ. You have to explain that in your evangelism as you teach people what true saving faith is. You not only have to explain the object of faith, but the nature of true saving faith. the nature of true saving faith. In other words, what constitutes true saving faith? Well, there must be knowledge, there must be agreement or assent, and there must be trust. Knowledge, assent, and trust. These three elements or Aspects of faith include the intellect, the affections of the heart, and the will. There must be understanding, there must be agreement, there must be volition. There is the intellectual element of knowledge. Again, a person must understand and have a knowledge of the facts and content of the gospel. This is why, generally speaking, when a child is very, very small, we say, do they know enough to really believe on Christ? Have they understood the content of the gospel? And that's why we say there is a gray area in there where we're not sure whether that child grasps the content of the Gospel or not. But there must be a knowledge of the Gospel. How shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? Romans 10, 14. And so true saving faith means that you've heard and you understand the content of the Gospel. And again, it goes back to what I've already taught, that the Gospel must be taught. It's not how little a person knows. The goal isn't how little can we get by with, but we want to teach them the Gospel. Now understand that knowledge alone, knowledge of the gospel by itself does not save. That alone is not saving faith. James 2.19 says, you believe that God is one? You do well. But then he says, the demons also believe and shudder. And so if all you have is the type of faith or belief that believes the content, just the intellectual knowledge of the Gospel, if that's all you have, then you're not saved. All intellectual knowledge does is put you in the same category with the devil and his demons. The demons also believe. And guess what? They shudder. When demons came across Christ, they said, have you come to torture us before the appointed time? They knew. They even had fear. So saving faith does have knowledge, but knowledge alone is not saving faith. There must be assent or agreement. There must be a deep conviction that this message is true. I don't just know the content of this, but I agree this is true. The Holy Spirit convicts and convinces me that I am a sinner, that I indeed am deserving of the wrath of God. There is that element where now you're saying, yes, I agree. Not just that there are sinners who need to be saved, but I am a sinner. You not only know that God is holy, but you feel the weight of your sin in light of the holiness of God. You grieve over your own sin. You hate your sin. You're drawn to Christ. You no longer hate Him, but now you want Him as your own. Your heart is changed. Your affections are changed. You now confess your sins. 1 John 1, 9, confess, homologeo in the Greek means to agree, to say the same thing as, and to say the same thing that God says about it. There are so many people. There have been in this church. There may be now. Those who say, I agree with the content of the Gospel. It is true. But yet, you've not been gripped with the weight of your own sin. Talk about sin, but not your own. So there must be knowledge. There must be agreement. But those two things alone do not constitute true saving faith. Many know the gospel and feel the weight of their sin even, but yet they're never saved. Pharaoh said in Exodus 10 verse 16, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. But his heart was hard. He said those words. Samuel in 1 Samuel 15, 24, Excuse me, Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned and indeed I have transgressed the command of the Lord. But he wasn't truly repentant. There is a worldly sorrow that does not lead to salvation according to 2nd Corinthians 7 verse 10. Therefore, saving faith not only includes knowledge and assent and agreement, but there's a third element and that is trust. Trust. Lewis Burkoth The theologian said this, this is the crowning element of faith. Faith is not merely a matter of the intellect, nor the intellect and the emotions combined. It is also a matter of the will, determining the direction of the soul and act of the soul going out toward its object and appropriating this. What he's emphasizing there is that a person has a knowledge that's necessary. They feel the weight of their sin. That's necessary. But then there must be, if it's true saving faith, a trust, that act of volition, reaching out for Christ and taking Him as your own. In fact, we could add not just trust in Christ, but personal trust in Christ to emphasize the personal nature of it. You are not saved on the basis of someone else's faith and trust, but your own faith and trust in Jesus Christ. So while it involves an act of trust, an act of the will, the person clearly recognizes that salvation is not based on works he can do. He cannot gain approval with God. And so the person who is truly drawn to Christ, the person who truly has saving faith doesn't say, well, I am trusting in Christ as my Savior. Look at my faith. how wonderful it is, and draws attention to himself. No, there's not even a thought of his faith being from him. He just trusts in Christ. He understands that's of grace. This personal trust in Christ is not simply a commitment to do differently. It's an abandonment of all self-made religion, of all works. Instead, the sinner forsakes his own works and sees the futility of his own righteousness, so-called, and turns to the righteousness of Christ alone. Brethren, just to emphasize again, even this faith is a gift of God. Acts 16, 14, God opened Lydia's heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. 2 Timothy 2, verse 25 says, perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth. John 1, 12 and 13, but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name. And so you take that verse and say, it must be our work to receive Him, to believe in His name. But then the next verse says, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Understanding that even that faith is a gift from God. So salvation is by the grace of God. And it is through faith. And you understand the object of faith is Christ. The nature of true saving faith is indeed understanding knowledge of the content of the Gospel. Agreement that it is true. I am a sinner. I deserve hell. I need to be saved. And then trust, reaching out and taking that as your own. Believing, resting upon the work of Christ, the finished work. But there are many counterfeits to true saving faith. Not all who say they have faith in Christ actually possess true saving faith. I don't have time to get into all the counterfeits, but there are those who claim to have faith that it's really nothing more than a man-centered faith. You remember in John 6 that Jesus feeds the 5,000 and the crowds follow Him wherever He goes. And Jesus says to them in John 6, 26, truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. He's basically saying, well, you're following me around not because of the signs I do that prove that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God, that I am the Messiah. You do it because you want your bellies filled. And then Jesus points them to the right reason to come to Him and who He really is in John 6.35. I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will not hunger and he who believes in Me will never thirst. You have a man-centered quote-unquote faith. Man-centered faith seeks Christ for what he can get out of Him. Another form of this man-centered faith is a hypocritical faith that seeks to be religious to gain approval from people. Sometimes to gain approval from parents or from peers. And so they practice their righteousness before men to be noticed by them. They pray before men in order to be noticed by them. They do certain things and fast and other things as Matthew 6 talks about in order to be noticed by men. They're not really truly saved. They've not placed their faith in Christ. It's a man-centered hypocritical faith. Some have a sensationalistic faith. They're just looking for big things. Those who followed Christ because of the signs that He did, they wanted to see these signs. And some go to church and profess faith in Christ because of the bigness of the event, because of the big churches, because of everybody's doing it. And look, let's just be excited about this new thing. And it's nothing more than a sensationalistic fate looking for something bigger to add to their lives. Ultimately, it's a temporary fate. Jesus in Matthew 13 talks about the parable of the soils and those who hear the word and they receive it immediately with joy, but then they fall away because of trials, because of deceitfulness of wealth. Ultimately, it does not bear fruit. It was a counterfeit faith. So you have to teach these things. It is by the grace of God. You go to Ephesians 2, 8, 9 and you explain it and you use the words I'm using now and you say, here's what true saving faith is. This is what it means to place your faith in Christ. You say, that's too much. That's too much. I mean, can't you just say, well, again, Christ Jesus died for sinners. Just believe. No, you can't. Not if you want to really teach the gospel so that there aren't these who just come to faith in Christ, who just pray a prayer and think they're saved in art. You have to teach them the gospel. They're being taught things about belief and faith. They're hearing it on TV. They're hearing things about Christ and everything else from all these sources, others from the Bible, and so you have to teach these things. Yes, there may be those times in which someone has planted, they've sown the seed, they've planted the seed, the seed's been watered and watered, then you come and you just put a little water on it and you see it sprout forth. There are those times when you experience that. But it's because someone has been plowing the ground, sowing the seed, watering the seed. You have to teach grace. What is grace? And you have to understand that the sinner will not will not understand grace apart from the divine intervention of God. They'll try to earn it. They'll try to presume upon it. Let me turn you to one more passage in equipping you in evangelism to help you understand another passage you can turn to to explain these things. Matthew 11, verses 28-30. Matthew 11, verses 28-30. Jesus said, Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. These are gospel words to the person who understands God and His holiness and His righteousness and understands indeed that they are a sinner. Jesus says, come to Me. If you're looking for rest for your souls, come to Me. Those who are weighted down by the guilt of your sin, do you see the seriousness of your sin? Are you burdened with your sin? Are you weary and heavy laden? Here's what you must do. You must come to Christ. Come to me, he said. Now again, we have to say, here's what it doesn't mean. When it says, come to me, here's what we're not saying. Years ago, I listened to a sermon by Pastor Al Martin. He spoke of these things. has stuck with me for years. Here's what it doesn't mean to come to Christ. And this is what you must do in your evangelism. You must explain to people. It doesn't mean that you come to Him as a physical act. He's not saying, come to me physically. And then you apply that for what that means today. It's not coming to the front of a church or to an altar during an altar call or invitation. It's not a physical act where you come down an aisle and come to Christ. So many people base their assurance of salvation on a physical act such as that. I have asked people, share with me how you came to faith in Christ and immediately they begin to talk about an altar call in which they were clinging to the pews and the pastor was calling them to come down front and how they felt like God was drawing them to the front. But they didn't want to let go of the pew and then somehow, mystically almost, they let go of the pew and went down front. Some of you may have that kind of a testimony. And I understand that yes, part of it may be that you are wrestling with the seriousness of the situation, those kinds of things. But many are espousing that they physically did something, that they came to Christ through an altar call by walking down to the front of a church. And therefore, on that basis, they know they are saved. Some will say it this way, why? Go to church. Come to me means go to church. For some, come to me means go to the Lord's Supper or for a Roman Catholic, to the Eucharist. And they're trusting in the physical act of walking down to the front and receiving bread and wine. Some believe it's the physical act of the waters of baptism. And so you need to explain, Jesus said, come to Me. That's not talking about a physical act of walking down an aisle. It's not talking about going to church. It's not talking about the ordinances. He's not talking about simply a mental act. Again, as I spoke of, it's not simply an acknowledgment that these things are true. It's not a mystical or religious experience. when He says, Come to Me. People have some sort of religious or mystical experience that they say that must be evidence that they've come to Christ. They had a vision. They had a revelation. They had a feeling. They may say, I spoke in tongues. I felt something come over me, and then I had a feeling of peace and calm. Many people are falsely assured in the thinking they've come to Christ. because they go from one sensationalistic and emotional experience to another. I just felt the presence of God. I just felt like someone was pushing me down the aisle. I just cried and cried. Or I prayed this prayer with sincerity. some mystical experience, some religious experience. Now again, someone indeed might cry, they might have emotion when they're saved. We're not saying that emotions are not and often indeed they should be a part when a person is saved. There is the emotion of joy, of sins forgiven. We're not saying that, but people trusting the emotion. And often some mystical experience that really was not of God at all. So many people I've known that say they know their say because they spoke in tongues and they were not speaking in tongues any more than a baby does. They're trusting in a mystical experience. That's not what Jesus is saying. When He says, Come to Me, again, it's not an act of determination. Okay, I'm going to come to Christ now. I remember so many times as a teenager hearing the Gospel, feeling the weight of my sin, but then trying to say, I'm going to determine to do better. I'm going to live for God. I'm going to do this. And it was not understanding the grace of God, the mercy of God, but instead an act of determination. I'm going to do better now. I'm going to come to Christ. I'm going to clean up my life. There are people who can muster up enough willpower to alter their behavior, to kick bad habits, but that's not what Jesus is saying. What does it mean when He says, come to Me, come to Me? You could say it like this, coming to Christ means this, according to all what the Bible teaches about these things. It means turning from your sin and forsaking all else as a means of salvation. You personally trust, rest in, and place your faith in Christ alone as the only one who can save you from your sin. See, in the context, Jesus is saying if you feel the weight, the heaviness of your sin. If you want rest for your souls, then come to Me. Turn from those things. Come to Me. Trust in Me. I'm the object. I'm the one who can save. So when Jesus says, Come to Me, it means the same thing as faith in Me. You say, where is that in the Bible? John 6, 35, Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst. Those are parallel ideas. Come to me, believe in me. John 7, 37 and 38, now on the last day, the day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me As the Scripture said, from His innermost being will flow rivers of living water. You see the parallel idea throughout the Scriptures. Coming to Christ means faith in Christ, believing in Christ. This is true saving faith. Matthew 13 verse 45 says this, again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. What a beautiful picture. Merchant seeking fine pearls, he finds one pearl of great value. And he sees the value of this one pearl and he says, I want this pearl so much that I'm going to sell everything that I have, everything else that I might have it. The kingdom of heaven is like that. Salvation is like that. The pearl is Christ in this sense. He is the only one who can save. And the person who feels the weight of his sin, who's convicted and convinced of sin and righteousness, his need of that and judgment that is coming for those who do not turn from their sin and turn to Christ, he says Christ is the pearl of great price. I need Him alone. I forsake all else and I trust in Him, my only hope, my only Savior. This is indeed true saving faith. Brethren, this is what we share with people. And so I ask you, have you been equipped? Do you understand these things as you share the Gospel with people? Can you share what the Bible says about who God is and show Him in His glory from the Scriptures? And then man, in his sinfulness, in his idolatry, and see the contrast between God and then the rebellion of man. And then show the good news of the glory of Christ from the Scriptures. And what He did to save sinners. And can you go to the Scriptures to say, and you're saved by grace alone, and it is through faith alone, in Christ alone. And can you do that? That is evangelism. Those of you who profess faith in Christ, is this the Gospel you believed? Or is it another Gospel which is no Gospel at all? And maybe in the course of this you say, you know what? I didn't even understand these things, believe these things. I was believing in faith or my works. And some of you here who are unbelievers, you have heard the Gospel. What danger you are in if you forsake it? God is patient with you now, but there's no guarantee He'll be patient any longer. I'll share with you again. I know I've shared it several times, but it always sticks out in my mind of a pastor I had. He was a relatively new believer and he was talking about his studies in college. He was taking a class in philosophy. I think it was the University of Alabama. He came into class one day and the professor had something written on the board like this. If God is alive, He will strike me dead this moment. And he basically was talking in the class about how there is no God and he challenged God, if He exists, to strike Him dead that very moment. And so as a young college student, this pastor said he went to his professor and he simply asked him, do you have a watch? He says, yes, I have a watch. He said, well, I have a watch. He said, you know, God has a watch. Not in a literal sense, God has a watch. He's sovereign. And He said, it is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment. There will come a time. It's just not time yet. Now, I don't know if He passed the class or not, but He was faithful to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And for some of you who have been saying, I'll wait. You're presuming upon God's goodness to you right now in you hearing the gospel. Or for some of you who simply seem disinterested and think, you know what, I've got my life to live, maybe some other time. God's timing you do not know. You do not know when He will require your life of you. And you do not know whether or not God will extend His grace to you. So cry out to Him, God be merciful to me, the sinner. Be merciful, please. Have mercy upon my soul. And stop trampling underfoot the Son of God and His blood, because in so doing, you incur upon yourself judgment. And it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Turn to Christ. Come to Him and be saved. Let's pray together. Father, the Gospel is indeed good news. It is good news that sinners can be forgiven. Father, I pray that we as believers might be faithful to share this good news with those who do not know it. I pray that you would use these things that we have talked about over these last several weeks to equip the body of Christ here to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, to open their Bibles and to be able to explain it from your Word. God, I pray for some who maybe have been deceived, that you would use these things to open their eyes to their deception and to bring them to saving faith in Jesus. And God, for those who are not believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray that there would be no rest for their souls, that they would not continue to harden their hearts and to suppress the truth and unrighteousness as if somehow they can escape the wrath to come. You have appointed a time in which they will face death and they will face judgment. That they will stand before You alone condemned. For they will stand clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, forgiven and justified. Father, we pray, be gracious and merciful today. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.