From the MLJ Archive

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: Most of you will remember that we are at the moment considering verses 9 and 10 in the tenth chapter of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Now here we are looking at what we have described as Paul’s definition of saving faith. It’s a most important statement. It is really the point at which he sums up this whole argument with respect to the Jews, who are outside salvation because they have not sought it by faith, but after the deeds of the law. It is one of the great summaries of this doctrine of justification by faith only.

And it is, as I say, a very wonderful summary at the same time of what is meant by saving faith. And I’ve suggested that it can be divided in a threefold manner. First of all, the content of saving faith; then, the character of saving faith; and thirdly, the proof of saving faith. Now we’ve been so far looking at that first heading, the content of saving faith. Two divisions: the Lord Jesus, or that Jesus is Lord, and secondly, that God hath raised him from the dead.

But the point we’ve been trying to establish is this: that we must be careful to observe the content of those two statements. That they're not merely some kind of clichés or statements in and of themselves and that all we have to do is to confess with our mouth that we believe that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God hath raised him from the dead, and that we simply make those two statements and that all is well, that we are saved.

We’ve been trying to show that there is a deep and a great content to these statements. And we’ve been working them out in all their fullness. Both of them. We’ve seen that there are certain implications to the two statements that are very vital and very essential. And at the end last Friday night, having drawn out the content of the two statements, I asked a question. And the question I put was this: was there anybody present who felt that I’d been reading too much into this? That I’d been making it too involved and too difficult?

I asked whether there was somebody who really did believe that all a man had got to do was to say, "Yes, I believe that Jesus is Lord and I believe that God has raised him from the dead," and that he’s immediately saved? That he needn't know anything more than that and that that is the content of saving faith—the bare statements, without the deductions which we had been drawing?

Well, I answered my own question by saying that if anybody did think that, my reply to them was to be found in the last two verses of the first chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians. Now there is the first epistle that the apostle ever wrote, at any rate, that’s generally agreed. And the apostle there gives a very wonderful summary of what he had preached to them.

He says that everybody knows what he had preached in Thessalonica. They themselves show of us, that's to say these people round about in Macedonia and Achaia who had heard of what had happened in Thessalonica, "They themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come."

Now there is an elaboration of what you get in Romans 10:9. That is what the apostle preached. And when he says that those who confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their hearts that God hath raised him from the dead, it includes these other things which we find here, especially in 1 Thessalonians 1:10. Now I had thought and I had hoped that that perhaps would be sufficient.

I raised the question because, of course, I am familiar with the fact that there are many people who would quite seriously have thought that I’d been putting too much content into this statement in Romans 10:9. And that was why I raised the question at all. And I thought by quoting 1 Thessalonians 1:9 and 10 that I really had disposed of it.

But I’m afraid I must come back to it again because at the close of the meeting last Friday night, I had the pleasure and the privilege of a visit from a Christian lawyer who comes from Ceylon, a most intelligent man who had been particularly interested by that last point of mine, the way I’d raised that question and had answered it.

But he said, "You know, I’m not completely satisfied that you’re right in your attitude. Aren't you putting too much into the content of the evangel? Aren't you putting too much content into this first simple Christian profession? This thing which decides whether a man is a Christian or not?" He said, "You know, as you were speaking, I couldn't help thinking of the Philippian jailer."

"Ah," I said, "Quite right. Well now, what were you thinking?" "Well," he said, "I remember that when the Philippian jailer came to Paul and Silas and put his famous question, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?', the answer was, they said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.' And that was all."

Whereupon, of course, I smiled at him. I’ve told you that he was a lawyer and a man, therefore, who knows how to present a case and how to argue. But I did have the pleasure of pointing out to him that a lawyer, in addition to having an ability as a debater, should also have facts. And that facts are much more important than debating ability. He enjoyed all this, I may say.

I said, "The trouble is, you know," I said, "You really don't know your scriptures well enough." And he was quite amazed at this. But he said, "Surely that was all. That was all they said to him. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' And is anymore than that necessary? I do wonder," he said, "Whether in answer to your own question which you so rightly raised, you haven't been putting too much in it."

I said, "Now, the answer to you is this: it’s in the verse that follows the verse that you’ve just quoted out of Acts 16." He said, "What’s that?" I said, "Well, let’s have a look." And so I read it to him. And here it is. He had quoted Acts 16:31, "And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Verse 32, "And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house."

In other words, they told him what they meant by "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." They preached the gospel to him. They told him all that Paul habitually did as we see in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 and 10. They gave him this doctrine that I’ve been putting before you as we’ve been drawing out the implications of these two summaries of the Christian faith. They spake the word of the Lord to him.

And of course, intelligent Christian man that he was, he was profoundly grateful to me. He said, "I hadn't noticed this." Of course. Well, now that is exactly the trouble. And it is because of that that I feel constrained to come back again to this tonight because I believe there is a great deal of misunderstanding with regard to this very matter at this moment.

Indeed, I believe that it is responsible for many of our troubles in the Christian church. I am sure it is responsible for most of the troubles amongst evangelical people who seem to me at the present time to be tending to listen far too readily to the ecumenical talk and various other types of teaching. It is all due, I think, to this initial failure. So I come back to it once more.

Well, now then, let me put it to you like this. There are two main dangers, it seems to me, that arise over this question of the content of saving faith. And I want to talk about both of them. Now, incidentally, let me say this: this is my idea of biblical teaching. It includes application. You don't rush through the scriptures giving headings and you say, "I’ve done the epistle to the Romans; I know all about it."

No, no, you don't know it until you really have explored it and know its meaning and have applied it. And it’s because of this application, as I said, that I’m coming back to this. Now the two dangers are, of course, as is invariably the case with any study of the scripture, two extremes. The danger, the commoner danger today I think, is the danger of putting too little into the content.

That’s what I’ve been trying to counteract the last three or four Friday evenings. Too little content. Then the second danger is the danger of putting too much into it. And they're both at extremes, and I want to try to show that they're both wrong. We mustn't put too little in; we mustn't put too much in. Now then, let’s take them in order. The danger of putting too little content.

Now let me give you another illustration of what I mean. Take that 13th verse of Acts 16. Paul at Philippi, the famous scene. How he went out on the Sunday afternoon to the riverside outside the walls of the city where he knew that a prayer meeting was held, and there he found a number of women praying. And verse 13 reads, "On the Sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither."

Now a contemporary, present-day, well-known evangelical, scholarly commentator makes this comment on that. They sat down among the women and told them the story of Jesus. Now that’s a perfect illustration, I think, of putting in too little content. They sat down among the women and told them the story of Jesus. To which the answer is, of course they did. But they didn't stop at that.

They didn't stop at telling the story of Jesus. Now then, this is the whole point. On what grounds do I say that? Well, I say that on the grounds of the teaching of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles itself. Apostolic preaching did give the facts, but it never stopped at the mere recital of facts. It always went on to give the meaning of the facts. The significance of the facts.

Take Peter in his first sermon on the day of Pentecost. He, of course, is concerned primarily with the great fact of the resurrection. But watch how he draws out the significance, the meaning. And how he says this wasn't true of David; David’s been dead and buried and we’ve got his sepulcher. This proves that he is who he is and therefore it’s in him salvation is to be found. Therefore, repent and be baptized in his name, and so on and so forth.

And so it is with all the other speeches and reports of sermons that we have in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. They did tell the story of Jesus, but they never stopped at that. Their whole point was to show the significance of this. The story of Jesus leads to this: that God hath visited and redeemed his people. That this is the Messiah who fulfills all the prophecies and how he has done so.

So you see, you get this rich content. It’s no use saying to a man, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." The man says, "Who is Jesus Christ? What does believing in Jesus Christ mean?" Now you see, this is where all this becomes so important. And as you go through the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, you always see, I say, that you’ve got fact plus meaning and significance.

They always interpreted it and they pressed it home. And then they made their great call to repentance. But you get it not only in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, you get it as I’ve already quoted in that little summary there at the end of 1 Thessalonians 1. Well then you get it in that wonderful summary at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15.

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you," this was what he preached, "which ye also have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins."

You see, he didn't merely tell the story of Jesus and say that he was crucified and died and was buried and rose again. He died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures; and that he was seen of Cephas and the rest. And then he works out this great argument about the resurrection and why it is absolutely essential that we should believe in it.

Now but that is what he says he preached at the beginning. "Christ died for our sins." That’s why Paul preached Jesus Christ and him crucified. It was always this meaning in addition. So you get it put in 2 Corinthians 5:21. He says that as preachers, the apostles were ambassadors. And what is the business of the ambassador? Well, the business of the ambassador is this. He says to proclaim a message.

"To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us this word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Now that was apostolic preaching. There’s no question about it. They didn't merely tell the story of Jesus. They showed the meaning of it all. And that is what we’ve been trying to do on these Friday evenings. So that once more I would remind you of this all-important point. And it is something which we must never forget as we read the scriptures and particularly a book like the Book of the Acts of the Apostles.

What you have there is not a complete and exhaustive account. It isn't a shorthand note of every word uttered by the preacher. It isn't a tape recording; they hadn't got them and even if they had, it wouldn't be a full report. These were just summaries. They're nothing but summaries, synopses, in the briefest possible form.

And our business, therefore, is to realize that and to realize something of the fullness of the content. Now why is all this so important? Well now, I think it’s important and especially today for many reasons. Here are some of them. We are living in a day when there is a great emphasis on evangelism.

And let’s be quite blunt and plain and clear about it, we’re living in days when people are tremendously interested in decisions. And pressure is brought to get decisions. Now it’s just at that point all this becomes important. Men and women must know what they're deciding about. Why they're deciding. Why they should decide.

Now the danger is, I say, that in the anxiety to bring people to salvation, that too small a content may be given. And that if people merely say yes to something that is said to them, that all is well. I’m just trying to show that that is not how the apostles evangelized. That there was a much bigger content. Very often you will find today that the preaching may be very general.

I’ve been in such meetings myself when I would have said the gospel was not preached; nevertheless, an appeal was made at the end and people came forward. But did they know what they were doing? Now these are the dangers which confront us at a time like this. That men and women may think that a mere subscription to a formula saves them. Merely going forward saves them, according to some.

And many people think that having gone forward, that they're inevitably and automatically saved, though they don't know what they believe. They don't know exactly what they're doing. That’s one danger, but there’s another. We’re living in a time of trouble. And many people are unhappy. There are many problems. Many people have got many problems.

Some can't sleep, some are worried, some are worried about their health and they can't get any help. The world is full of problems and people like that go to a Christian service and they're told, "Come to Jesus, and you’ll get all that you require." And they do require so much. And they come, hoping that they're going to get this thing that they want.

Now if you merely say to those people, "Confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead," I say you are misleading them. If you merely say to them, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," and then say, "Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?" they say yes, "You’re saved." You’re misleading them.

It is our business to make quite certain that they know what they're believing. We must speak the word of the Lord to them, the word of God, as Paul and Silas did to that Philippian jailer and to his household. We must draw this thing out. We must expound it. They must know what—they don't merely believe the story of Jesus. They must know the significance of the story.

In other words, and this is where the danger comes in so often, it is our business to show such people that their need is not really what they think it is. People say, "I want happiness," but really what they need is not happiness; they need to be reconciled to God. Our business is to show them the cause of their unhappiness.

We don't medicate symptoms lightly. We don't say, "Come to Christ and you’ll be happy." No, no, we’ve got to show them that they’ve never realized their fundamental need, namely, that they're estranged from God, they're under his wrath. Whether they're happy or miserable doesn't matter at that point; the fact is, this is true of everybody. We’ve got to direct them to their real need and show them how it is what God has done in the Lord Jesus Christ alone that can possibly deal with them.

Now then, we’re in an age which is subjective. We start with ourselves and we end with ourselves, and we want something and we’re told, "Very well, here it is; it’s in Christ for you." But if we don't explain the way of salvation and show them their condition under the law, we are not doing what the apostles did. And indeed, we are not putting sufficient content into our presentation of the gospel.

So let me give you some further reasons why what I’ve been doing the last few Friday nights is so essential. Now one further reason is this: that this is the way in which the New Testament itself describes salvation. Salvation is coming to a knowledge of the truth. Look at it in 1 Timothy 2, in verse 3 and following.

"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity."

It is a knowledge of the truth. And we must keep that in the forefront. And therefore, we must be clear about the content of that truth. It isn't merely the story of Jesus. It is the explanation, the meaning of it, the significance of it, which we’ve been trying to expound. So there’s a further reason, but here’s another one.

If we don't take this trouble to put the right content into this belief and declaration, well then we will have no standard whereby to measure our experience. Now this is another very important point. Experience is essential. You can't be a Christian, as I’m going to show you later, without having experience. You experience the truth. You’ve got to believe in your heart.

It is with the heart that man believeth unto righteousness. Very well, but now the danger is that people say that any sort of experience is all right. And they say, "What’s it matter whether I understand or not? What’s it matter what I believe? All I know is I’ve got an experience. Whereas I was once blind, now I see. I used to be miserable, now I’m happy. Here it is, I’ve got what I wanted."

But of course the answer to that is quite simple. The Bible tells us that there are many spirits that have gone forth. There are many counterfeits of the truth. There is an enemy, the devil, who is most subtle, and he can simulate the Christian experience almost exactly. He can give people experiences; he’s got the power to do it.

So that if you're going to base your whole position solely upon some experience, how do you know you’ve got the true experience? You see, this is where the church I feel has broken down. I remember very well being at a conference of ministers in 1935. And this whole matter came up. I’m not sure whether I’ve told you this or not, but it’s important and therefore I repeat it even if I have said it.

We were having a discussion at the close of the first day and people were—there were critics present of the Bible and so on. And some men were giving this answer and this alone: "Say what you like," they said, "You can't affect my experience. I’ve got what I’ve got and you can't touch it." Now that’s to me a highly dangerous position to be in. It’s unintelligent, to start with. It’s utterly unscriptural.

No, no, what we want to know is what gives you your experience. And if the experience isn't the result of this truth, it is a counterfeit experience, it is a false experience, it’s a very dangerous experience. There are books in which you can read how men have undergone profound changes. I remember reading a most fascinating book, it must have been before this last war, the last war.

In which a number of men were writing on sort of turning points in their life. And it was an astounding book because some of them had undergone a very profound change. I remember one man who’d been a hopeless drunkard, poor fellow. A professional man and a very able man, but had become a hopeless dipsomaniac.

And that man, to cut the story short, came to this: that one morning after a terrible night, he got up and happened to look at himself in a mirror, and he was so shocked at the sight he saw, he never drank another drop. He became an entirely different man. Well now, that was a wonderful experience. And others were saying similar things.

No, no, what we are concerned about is this: what leads to the experience? The power of Satan at counterfeit and camouflage is almost endless. So much so that he can almost deceive the very elect. He can perform lying wonders, he can produce miracles, he can give signs. Now that’s New Testament teaching.

So we must have objective truth to test all experience by. There’s another reason. But here’s another one, and this is so important at the present time. How do you test the various teachings that are put before you? A man knocks at your door and you go there, and there he is selling books. And he says that he believes the Bible; he’s got the message of the Bible.

And here are books which will help you to understand the Bible. Nice man to look at, talks in a nice way, very polite. He’s called and taken the trouble, he’s not playing football on Saturday afternoon nor sitting in the cinema, nor lounging at home looking at the television. He’s so concerned about you and your coming to a knowledge of the truth, he’s given up his Saturday afternoon, and here he is out in the rain in order to help you.

How do you test this teaching if all you’ve got is the story of Jesus? Or if all you know is this, "Well, I went to a meeting and I felt something, and I was told believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and I was asked do you believe? I said yes, I was told you're saved." But then you say, "Well what—what do you mean by that? How does he save?"

"Well, I don't know, all I was told was believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That’s all I know, and I’ve felt very happy ever since and I go to meetings and I’m enjoying myself." "But ah," says this man, "You know, you really haven't got it properly. There’s so much, you know, that they haven't told you."

And out he brings all this wonderful teaching. How do you answer it? You see, if we haven't got a content to what we believe, if there isn't a full content to our faith, if we don't know why we believe and what we believe and how, well then I say we’ve got nothing whereby to test these false teachings that are round and about us at the present time.

There is nothing that I know of that is more dangerous than the attitude that says it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you somehow believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You needn't bother about the doctrine or the theology or the understanding of it all, as long as you felt something and you want to be a Christian and to live a good life and to help others, all is well.

Now there’s nothing more dangerous than that. You’ve got no answer to these other people. And how do you answer the suggestion that is made so often today that all the religions of the world should come together? There’s a world congress of religions. And we’re told they’ve all got their insights; there are many ways to get to the top of the mountain of God.

Christianity is one of them, very valuable, but Buddhism, Confucianism, Mohammedanism, they’ve all got some, Hinduism, they’ve all got an insight and something to teach. What’s it matter, as long as we all believe in the same God and are out to serve him? Now how do you answer that unless you know the content of this? It isn't enough just to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he rose from the dead.

You’ve got to believe much more than that before you can answer these people. You’ve got to work it out; you’ve got to have an understanding of the doctrine. Now the apostle Peter tells us in his second epistle and in the third verse something that I think this present generation of Christians needs to take to heart very seriously.

He is referring to the epistles of the apostle Paul in the 15th verse. "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest."

What makes them unstable is that they're unlearned. "And then they wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." The apostle reminds the Ephesians that "we be henceforth no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."

Children are ignorant. They don't know the content; that’s why they can be misled and carried away. The answer is to know the content of what you believe. Very well, then. Without this understanding of the fullness of the content, we shall find ourselves unable to assess these other teachings that are round and about us at the present time. Other teachings produced even in the name of the Christian church.

How do you evaluate them? Do you just say, "Ah, but this man’s a bishop, therefore must be right"? Is that your position? But how do you turn him down? It isn't enough just to say, "I don't agree with him." You must prove that he’s wrong. You must show that he’s wrong if you want to help young people who are round and about you, who are hearing these things and perhaps are attracted by them because they sound a bit rebellious and they sound as if they were new.

How do we help such people? We can't do so unless we know the content. But then here’s another very important reason for doing what we’ve been doing. It is the only way in which you’ll ever be able to enjoy a full assurance of salvation. Now if you’ve been content with just believing the story of Jesus or just saying mechanically, "Yes, I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," and believe that therefore I’m saved because I say that.

What happens when you suddenly pass through a very dry period of the soul? What happens when you’re attacked by the devil and he makes assaults upon you and makes you feel vile and foul and wretched and hopeless and damned? How do you answer him? You can't answer him. There’s only one way to answer the devil, and that is to know the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

"Whom resist, steadfast in the faith," says Peter. And without the faith, you can't do it. But with the faith, you can do it. You know that you believe in one who has already conquered the devil when he was here in this world, and is still living and able to help you and all others who are attacked in the way that he was attacked himself when he was here in this world of time.

Without an understanding of the content, you will find that your assurance will soon go. It’s all right perhaps for a while and when you're able to go to meetings. What happens when you lose your health? What happens if death visits the family? What happens if you get trouble in your work?

One is constantly having to deal with such people. They seemed to be so happy; suddenly they lose everything. Why? Well, they said, "It hasn't turned out as I thought it would." They thought believe in the Lord Jesus Christ all’s going to be well, but it isn't all well. They're tempted, they're tried, they’ve got troubles and tribulations and their whole foundation seems to have gone.

They didn't know the content of what they believed. No, no, my friends, you will never have a true assurance unless you have this fullness of content. And lastly, this is the only way in which you’ll ever be able to help anybody else. The apostle Peter again puts it very wonderfully in 1 Peter 3:15. "Sanctify the Lord God in your heart: and be ready at all times to give a reason for the hope that is in you."

You see, it’s not enough for you to say to somebody, "You know, I used to be miserable and unhappy. I went to a meeting, I felt something, I went forward. They said, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? I said yes. Right, you're saved." That doesn't help the other person, who may ask you questions. If you can't answer the questions, you can't help him.

You’ve got to be able to give reasons for the hope that is in you. You’ve not only got to know the story of Jesus, but the significance. And you’ve got to be able to work it out. You’ve got to present the position to them. You’ve got to show them why they are what they are, how the Bible shows it’s because of the fall and sin and how they can never put themselves right, but that Christ came for that reason.

You’ve got to expound the way of salvation. You can't help another if you don't know the way of salvation in detail yourself. It is a sheer impossibility. Therefore, it is as I say vital that in addition to repeating the slogans, as it were, we are able to expound them, draw out their meaning, show their full significance.

Now then, there’s the one side. The danger of too little content. But now let me turn for a moment to the second. The danger of too much content. The danger of putting too much into it. Reading too much into it. Now you see, I raised this question myself at the end last Friday night. I did so because it is possible to put too much in, as it is possible to put too little in.

Now then, what do I mean? Well, it’s very interesting to me as I read Romans 10:9 and 10 to notice what the apostle doesn't say. It’s quite as important to observe what he doesn't say as to observe what he does say. Why? Well, for this reason. You find that several of these epistles that were written by the apostle had to be written because certain people were trying to put too much content into what Christians should believe.

Why did he ever write that epistle to the Galatians? He wrote the epistle to the Galatians because those false teachers had gone round and had said, "That’s all right. You’ve believed what Paul taught you, but you know that isn't enough. You’ve got to be circumcised in addition." They said you must be circumcised. It wasn't a question of choice, it wasn't voluntary. If you were not circumcised, you were not saved.

They were putting the law in, they were putting circumcision in. And the apostle has to write his letter in order to counteract that. He has to write his first epistle to Timothy, very largely in order to do the same thing. Listen to him at the very beginning of the first epistle to Timothy in the first chapter.

Where he says in verse 5, "Now the end of the commandment—" No, wait a minute, before that. "Neither," he says in verse 4, well, I must even go back to verse 3. "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm."

And on he proceeds to deal with that and points out how these people are tending to make shipwreck of the faith. Because of this "knowledge," as he calls it later on, "falsely so-called," translated in the authorized version "science falsely so-called." And then why did he ever have to write the epistle to the Colossians?

And the answer is the same. The Colossian heresy, the beginning of Gnosticism, so-called, was this. They said, "Oh yes, that’s all right; Paul was all right as far as he went. But you know if you want the real thing, you’ve got to go further." And they brought in all these angelic intermediaries. How Christ was but one of them, and they got a bit of philosophy in, and they got a bit of asceticism in.

And philosophy and so on. Oh, it was a jumble of all and then some strange experiences into which you could be initiated and you were not truly a Christian unless you went through all this in addition to what Paul had said. Now the apostle has to write all these epistles in order to deal with that very matter.

Now the trouble in all those cases was that these false teachers were putting too much content into the teaching. As some put too little, others put too much. How difficult it seems to be for Christian people to maintain a balance and avoid both extremes. Now there it is in the New Testament. What’s all this got to do with us, says somebody.

Well, I don't know that there’s any more urgent problem for Christian people at the present time than just this. How? Well, are we all going back to Rome? What is Roman Catholicism? Roman Catholicism is just this very thing about which I’m speaking. According to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, it is not enough for you to believe what I’ve been expounding to you the last three or four Friday nights.

You’ve got to believe certain things in addition. Now this isn't my opinion. Look at their own books. You’ve got to believe in the Pope as the vicar of Christ, the head of the church. You’ve got to. It’s a matter which is vital to salvation. You’ve got to believe in the Virgin Mary. It’s not a matter of choice.

You’ve got to believe in the immaculate conception, defined in 1854. It is essential to salvation. That means that Mary was born free from sin. That’s what the immaculate conception means. It doesn't mean that our Lord was born free from sin; it means that Mary also was. You’ve got to believe that.

It’s a part of the content of the doctrine of salvation, of saving faith. You’ve likewise now since 1950 got to believe in the assumption of Mary, namely, that she never died and was buried, but that she went up bodily into heaven. It’s a part of defined and essential doctrine. It’s a part of the content of the doctrine of salvation, of saving faith. Likewise with the mass.

You’ve got to believe it. Now there is more with which I don't trouble you tonight. All I’m trying to show you is this: that the Roman Catholic Church insists upon your believing these things also. Now that is what I call putting too much into it. That’s not in Romans 10:9 and 10, is it? You can't draw that out of Romans 9 and 10.

I can prove to you that everything I’ve drawn out of Romans 10:9 and 10 can legitimately be drawn out of it, but I cannot draw out of that the immaculate conception or the assumption of Mary, or that Mary’s a co-redemptrix or that I must believe that the Pope is the head of the church and that he’s infallible. I don't find that there. Neither do I find transubstantiation there or anywhere else.

But according to the Roman Church, it is essential. That is what I say, that is what I mean by talking about putting too much into it. But now I want to be absolutely fair and let me go on. The Roman Catholics are not the only people who are guilty of this. Some of us are guilty of very much the same thing. Let me put it in a blunt form like this.

Is it essential to believe in the doctrine of election in order to be saved? Is the doctrine of election in Romans 10:9 and 10? And I do not hesitate to answer, it is not there. And if you put it in, you are putting too much content in. Now then. To believe in the doctrine of election is not essential to salvation. I believe in the doctrine of election, but it is not essential to salvation.

There is all the difference in the world between believing in the way of salvation in Christ Jesus and understanding the mechanism of how it’s worked out. And to me, the doctrine of election belongs to the mechanism of the way it is worked out. Now all that you must read into Romans 10:9 and 10 is that which is essential to salvation, no more.

There is much more truth, but Paul is here giving a summary of that which is essential to salvation. "Thou shalt be saved." This is the primitive evangelistic message which we must give to men in order that they may be saved. We must give it in all its fullness, but we mustn't add to it. Otherwise, we are going beyond our text.

The essential message is this. He summarizes it in Acts 20 where he pays farewell to the elders of the church at Ephesus. He says, "You must bear me record," he says, "How day and night I went from house to house and in public preaching what? The repentance which is toward God and the faith which is toward the Lord Jesus Christ."

What did he preach in Athens? "God commandeth all men everywhere to repent." I defy anybody to give me a single example in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles where the doctrine of election was preached in evangelistic preaching. It is not there. Now the principle therefore is this: a full understanding of the whole doctrine, thank God, is not essential to salvation.

We ought to have it, and that’s why we meet like this on Friday nights, that we may grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, that we may have a deeper and fuller understanding of doctrine. But my dear friend, at the moment of belief and of salvation, you don't need to know it all. And if that is put into the evangelistic message, it is to do violence to it.

We are not saved by our understanding; we are saved by God in Christ. "All the fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him." The understanding follows. What evangelistic preaching does is to call, it calls men to repent, it commands men to repent. That’s the evangelistic message. Repent and believe the gospel. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It calls them to what the apostle has already described in the fifth verse of the first chapter of this great epistle to the Romans as "the obedience of faith." Now let me try and put this to you. It’s such an important point. We must be fair on all sides. Have you ever noticed the difference in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, the difference between what was preached and the comment of Luke, the author of the book?

Let me give you an example, two examples I think it is, of what I mean. Take the first as it’s found in the second chapter of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. There you're given an account of Peter’s sermon. And you remember his sermon was a very convicting sermon. He proves who our Lord is and how he fulfills the prophecies and so on.

And we read now when they heard this, in verse 37, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And Peter said unto them, repent. Peter didn't say to them, "You can do nothing. You must wait until the Holy Spirit moves you. You must make sure whether you're elect or not." He didn't preach election.

He preached repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. But then notice the comment of Luke at the end. This is where you see the difference. "Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved, such as were being saved."

The Lord did it. Of course, that’s the comment. The preaching was repent. It’s a command. God calleth all men everywhere to repent. That’s a command. That’s preaching. That’s the evangelistic message that leads to faith and to salvation. They never preached the doctrine of election. They commanded all men everywhere to repent.

And there’s another very good illustration of the same thing in the 13th chapter of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Now the content of the preaching is found in verses 39 and 40. The 13th chapter of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Look at your content there in 39 and 40. Or 38. "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins."

Here’s preaching, you see. You see the content. "Through this man," he’s told them who he is, "is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins." There’s the content I’ve been arguing for. "And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Now that’s the preaching.

Listen to the comment of Luke in verse 48. "And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed." But you see Paul, preaching in Antioch in Pisidia, did not preach that only those who are ordained do believe. That’s not a part of the content of the preaching which leads to saving faith.

That is true, but that’s something that comes later. That’s the comment. That isn't a part of the evangelistic message. You don't have to believe that to be saved. There is a difference between the content of the message and the comment that is made upon it. In other words, have you ever noticed the difference between the preaching of the Book of the Acts of the Apostles and the teaching of the epistles?

What is the difference? The difference is that the doctrine which is given in embryo in Acts is elaborated and worked out in the epistles. They didn't preach the whole content of the epistles. No, no, they preached this message which was essential and didn't go beyond it. In other words, I would put it like this.

And I’m saying this to myself and any preacher who may be present, whether ordained or unordained, lay preacher or whether he’s a pastor. There is all the difference in the world between having your preaching controlled by theology and preaching theology. Now our preaching should always be controlled by theology, but that’s a very different thing from preaching theology.

We must be scriptural always in our method of presentation of the truth. And what is this essential message? Well, I would say that the great watershed is this. Here is the vital difference. Here are the things that are essential. Somebody may say to me, "Well now here you are. You’ve told us that some put too little into it, some put too much into it. How do I know how much to put into it?"

Well, I could answer that by saying I’ve been showing you for the last three or four Friday nights. It must be a legitimate and a direct deduction from the summary. And you mustn't add to that. But if you like, I’ll put it like this. Here is what I would call the great watershed at the present time. And you and I, my friends, may have to live through days when we’ll have to decide about this.

There is a division between those who believe the evangelical message of the Bible and those who don't. And I’m not interested in any other division. And this is the thing that divides. Revelation on the one hand, human understanding and reason on the other. There is the first great distinction. Do I submit myself entirely and exclusively to this book?

Or do I add what I think, my reason, my understanding, my conception of God, my conception of salvation? It’s an absolute division. The true preaching submits itself utterly to the revelation. Secondly, justification by faith only, reliance upon works. Now the content of justification by faith only is what I’ve been putting before you.

It is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this confession that Jesus is the Lord and all that that means. It is this confession from the heart that God hath raised him from the dead and all that that means. And that is justification by faith and by faith alone. You must not subtract from that; you must not add to that. We must keep this message plain and clear.

If we once begin to say with the Roman Catholics that a man is not a true Christian unless he believes this, that, and the other, or if we say with some friends that a man is not a Christian unless he believes the doctrine of election, we are wrong. And the man who says the second thing is as wrong as the Roman Catholic. No, no, we must be very careful at this point.

An Arminian can be a true Christian. I say he’s a very muddled-headed and confused intellectual Christian. But God forbid that I should ever say that he’s not a Christian. It is not believing in the doctrine of election that saves a man. He should believe it. If he’s a student of the Bible, he should believe it.

But you can be a Christian in spite of it. Thank God you can be saved though you may be muddled in your head. I’m not excusing your muddle, but I am thanking God that we can be saved in spite of our intellectual muddle. Indeed, if this were not true, there’d be nobody saved. Who are we and what do we know?

Thank God, we are not saved by our understanding. We are saved by what God has done for us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are commanded to repent and to believe the gospel as it is presented to us. I can't understand the man who reading the scriptures and even thinking that out in his own brain is not driven of necessity to see that only those who are ordained unto eternal life ever can believe.

But thank God, that isn't the thing that decides whether a man is saved or not. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The repentance which is toward God, the faith which is toward the Lord Jesus Christ.

Don't be guilty, my friend, of over-simplifying and not putting enough in. Don't be guilty of putting too much in and adding your postulates which go beyond the teaching of the word of God itself. May God give us this wisdom that’ll keep us sane and balanced and ever above everything else true to the word of God itself. Let us pray.

O Lord our God, we humbly beseech thee to have mercy upon us all. We all see how prone we are to go astray and to insinuate ourselves and our own thinking and our own understanding. Lord, keep us, we pray thee ever to that simplicity which is in Christ Jesus, the true simplicity. Not the false artificial simplicity of men, but the true simplicity of the gospel itself as we find it in thy most holy word.

O God, wilt thou bless these things unto us? Lest we be a hindrance or an obstacle to any soul that is outside. Grant unto us ever, we humbly pray thee to have a great and a deep sense of our responsibility, both to thee and to men and women. O God, give us an ever greater concern and zeal for thy name and for thy glory.

Give us a greater concern, O God, for the souls of the lost. Keep us, O God, from a despising of intellectual understanding. Keep us, O God, from a barren intellectualism. Keep us, O God, in the center of thy word, in the center of the truth, and in the center of thine own holy will. God have mercy upon us and so deal with us that even through us thou mayest be able to save others and to bring them to a knowledge of this truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

And now may the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit, abide and continue with us now this night throughout the remainder of this our short, uncertain earthly life and pilgrimage, and evermore. Amen.