a member of the Baptist Chapel in Cookfield. And so they wanted to do a second or third edition of the book, and so they wanted to get a new cover. And I happened to be the visiting guy from America, and they thought that would be really unusual to have an American. And I'm not sure if I was the authentic or the synthetic part of that preaching at that time. It was after a service one day and so he just had me stand behind the pulpit and make a lot of preaching gyrations and got several shots and then selected one. So that's how I got on the, that's kind of like a rock star being on the cover of the Rolling Stone, you know, you get your picture on the front of a Banner of Truth book. Well, I'm delighted to be here at this conference and see so many people that I've known from the past and good friends and people who've encouraged me along the way and who have shown a great faithfulness to the gospel. It's just a delight and we're reminded of how gracious God has been to us and how we do not stand on our own, but certainly we are brought to perseverance by the Spirit of God, but we're aided in that through the means of friends who are also faithful and who pray for you and encourage you in many ways. And this is true in all of our lives. And the more we get along in years, the more we realize just how utterly blessed we are in having such rich friends in spirit and people who are so encouraging. I'm supposed to speak four messages on saving faith. I want to base all of these, of course, in scripture, but a variety of scripture passages, and I want to derive the points out of the article in the Second London Confession on saving faith. And so at the beginning of each message, I want to read that entire article, and then I will refer to specific points from it in order to illustrate the particular issue that I want to deal with for the message. So paragraph one of saving faith. The grace of faith whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the word by which also and by the administration of baptism in the Lord's Supper prayer and other means appointed of God it is increased and strengthened. By this faith a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word for the authority of God Himself and also apprehends an excellency therein above all other writings and all things in the world as it bears forth the glory of God in His attributes, the excellency of Christ in His nature and offices. and the power and fullness of the Holy Spirit in his workings and operations and so is enabled to cast his soul upon the truth consequently believed and also acts differently upon that which each particular passage thereof contains yielding obedience to the commands trembling at the threatenings and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come But the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relationship to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace. This faith, although it be in different stages and may be weak or strong, yet it is in the least degree of it different in the kind or nature of it, as is all other saving grace from the faith and common grace of temporary believers. And therefore, though it may be many times assailed and weakened, yet it gets the victory, growing up in many to the attainment of a full assurance through Christ, who is both the author and finisher of our faith. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank you that your Word is clear and it is consistent and by your Spirit and by your command having called upon us to know your Word, to be sanctified in your truth, to preach the Word, to study the Word, to govern our lives according to the Word, that we can develop an understanding of what your revealed truth says about many different subjects, how it leads us to a knowledge of Christ, a knowledge of our own sin, It leads us to a knowledge of the glory of the triune God. It leads us to a knowledge of the hope of eternal life. It lets us know about the reality of mercy and the reality of grace, the reality of your eternal purpose in glorifying your Son through the calling of a people that you gave to Him. And because this word is true and speaks of so many different things, we thank you that we, for the weakness of our own minds, can organize these truths in ways in which we seek to present in a strong and powerful way the teaching of your Word upon any number of subjects. We thank you that there is such a thing as saving faith. We thank you that there is such a thing as a trust and a reliance upon one outside of us who has done the work that is a work of perfect obedience to the law, the perfect fulfillment of all of the requirements you have of your rational moral creatures, that He has done this and He has merited eternal life for Himself, but as He is the covenant head of the people you gave to Him and as He is infinite in His excellence because not only is He man but also He is God, this righteousness that He has gained can be granted to us. And the death that He died, can become a condemnation for us. And that these things we can understand and that we can realize that trust in Him is truly a saving trust. That we do not have to be condemned. That we can have the hope of eternal life. That we can look forward to the time when we will see Him in His glory and we will experience the love of the Triune God. forever. We thank you for these truths that are revealed in your Word and that you are so clear about how it is that sinners come to embrace this reality that indeed is presented as the hope of eternal life. So we pray that as we listen to messages this week, as we listen about repentance, that you will work repentance in our heart continually. We pray that as we think about the issues of saving faith that you will stir up this faith in us that we will have greater and greater assurance and greater and greater joy in the truth as it is in Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen. What I want to do in these messages is to present four aspects of saving faith. The first one tonight is going to be the just sort of the absolutely elementary level of something that is necessary virtually in any subject that you deal with, you have to have knowledge of it. We're going to talk about the cognition of revealed truth that is necessary to saving faith. What is it that must be said? What must enter into our minds and enter into our ears and get into our head as things at least that are claimed about who God is and how a person can know God? What is the cognitive level that is necessary for saving faith. The second message is going to be about the necessity of coming to see that this cognitive understanding, this cognitive level is actually true. That what people proclaim about the person of Christ, what they proclaim about his death, what they proclaim about his coming to judge, what they proclaim about eternal life, that this indeed has sufficient evidence behind it that we can conclude that it is true. That is something that is necessary. Before you can have saving faith you have to believe that the things you've heard are true. The third level then is that work of the Holy Spirit in which those things that we know or have seen are true have been presented to us in such a way as we're convinced that they are true. They are put into our heart. They're placed upon our mind in such a way by the Spirit of God that we now experience their truth. As Jonathan Edwards would say, we become sensible of their truth. It becomes something that is as true as any kind of empirical knowledge that we have of anything. Edwards liked to use the analogy of honey. You can just try to describe the taste of honey. and you can use all sorts of adjectives like slowly flowing and golden and sweet and all of that but until you taste honey and taste different kinds of honey you will never really appreciate what the phrase means honey is good but once you taste it then you know it becomes an empirical piece of knowledge for you. And so it is with saving faith when the Spirit places those things upon our heart when we indeed see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. when we do sense in our souls by the conviction of the Spirit that it is more than just staying the verse all is sin and comes short of the glory of God that when we actually sense ourselves as sinners and sense ourselves as under condemnation and sense ourselves as having been deceitful and having been filled with hate and being filled with self-centeredness all of our lives and God worthily holds us in contempt because of that, when we sense that by the Spirit of God, then we will never say the words, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God in the same way again. We will know what that means. The third element of saving faith is what we're going to call the cordial persuasion of all the truths of the gospel. And the fourth element of saving faith is that it is persevering. There is such a thing as a person having an experience of the truth of the gospel in such a way that they follow it for a while, they're fascinated with it for several different reasons. emotional reasons, perhaps intellectual reasons, perhaps reasons of fellowship, perhaps reasons of respect for other people, but in the final analysis it has not been placed in his heart by the Spirit of God and that person will fall away from the truth of the gospel, fall away from the experience of the gospel, fall away into some sort of unholiness from which he will not be called back. And so it is an element of saving faith that it perseveres, that it continues. So those are the four elements that we're going to deal with and tonight we're looking at this element of the things that are cognitively necessary for saving faith actually to arise in our hearts. Saving faith includes the cognitive knowledge of the historical events that constitute the gospel and the claim that their interpretation is built on divine revelation. Both of these things are a part of what must be set forth cognitively. When someone hears us preach the gospel, They must know that it is not just some sort of human philosophy. They must not know that it's simply a plausible argument that we've put together. They must not think that it's just sort of our developing a religion that may be better than the others we've heard of. They must know that we're setting it forth not as the contrivance of our own brain, but it is something that is revealed of God. They may not believe that it's revealed of God. They may think that is a something that is rather carelessly embraced to think that God actually speaks to men and actually reveals himself and reveals truth to us, but they must know that that is what the preacher says and that's what the Bible says, that it is revealed of God. And so there are historical events and a historical person that constitute the gospel and the interpretation of those events is built upon divine revelation. In the article on saving faith, focus on several phrases but at least these. By this faith a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word of God for the authority of God Himself. And then, but the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace. So these are some elements that I think we learn from the New Testament as to what are some of the cognitive aspects, what are some of the things that must come into a person's mental experience of hearing the gospel explained that can serve as a solid foundation for the Spirit of God to establish saving faith in that person's heart. One of these I'm simply calling, first of all, there must be a historical chronology. Now we're going to talk a lot about the history of Christ and these are real historical events but by historical chronology I want to say that Jesus fits into a chronological view of what the world is. the world was created and there was a man and a woman and they disobeyed and so the world became sinful and then the history of the world from then is one of just a continuing sin and rebellion against God and some cultures go further into sin and to idolatry than others but all of them are sinful but throughout this God has been selecting people and giving covenantal promises to those people and that people grows and the covenants become more clear and the nature of the Messiah becomes more clear and then Christ comes on the scene and Christ is the one who's fulfilling all of these promises and he has all the marks of what is promised in the Messiah. He is the son of David who will reign forever but he is also the suffering servant. He is the one who will be righteous. He goes about doing good. He is the one who will die and bear the sins of many. He is the one nevertheless who will come and judge in the end. How do all these things fit together? How does this chronology and how does this prophecy of who Christ is, how can all of these things be true? How can He be the suffering servant who dies for sin and then He can also be the coming King? Well, that's because there's a resurrection. That's because there's a way in which He shifts from being under the time of His passion to the time of His triumph and glorification and so we must show that Christ is within the framework of a chronology of Scripture. We see Peter doing this just briefly in Acts 10 in the event that was referred to earlier where it goes to the house of Cornelius and as he begins to preach we see Peter opened his mouth and said, truly I understand that God shows no partiality. But in every nation, anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. As for the word that He sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee, after the baptism that John proclaimed, how God appointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power he went about doing good healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him and we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem they put him to death by hanging him on a tree but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. to him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. At that point it says while Peter was saying these things the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word and so forth and brought them to faith. So here we see this Old Testament New Testament relationship everything the prophets bore witness about Christ did We see a relationship to his righteous life. He went about doing good. We see references to his powerful operations. We see that his life was taken from him as a sacrifice, that he was buried We see references to His resurrection and to His appearances after the resurrection as historical evidences that He indeed had been dead and He was raised from the dead. We see the reality that this is to be communicated initially by those who witnessed Him personally who were observers of His resurrection, observers of His appearance but the way of communicating this is set forth as preaching We see that he is the one who is the final judge and we see that all of this has happened in order that people might be forgiven, which means that we are sinners. And so this chronology of the life of Jesus as it's set within the framework of the Old Testament and then within the life of Christ and the explanation of the life of Christ, which of course becomes the New Testament, introduces us to these elements that must be set forth, the truths that have to be present for saving faith to arise. He announces these truths and in this case there is an effectual operation of the Spirit to bring these Gentiles to saving faith in Christ. A second thing that we need to see as a necessity of this cognitive understanding is when we look at this chronological development and realize that we're talking about a real historical person as he is in time and space and as he fits in with what God has been predicting all along from the very first time that humanity sinned in Adam and Eve. The promise was given that the seed of the woman would come and how that increased. If we are to understand this chronology this requires as they did in the New Testament, a rigorous recitation of gospel facts. And so we see this chronology. The chronology demands a rigorous recitation of gospel facts. Let's look at the book of Acts 17 verse 30 where the Apostle Paul is actually speaking to a very highly sophisticated crowd of philosophers. and he engages them first of all in their idolatry showing how their idolatry is actually foolish and even the wisest among their own people don't believe that it's possible for idols to actually be in any sense the kind of living God we know because one of their own poets have said in him we live and move and have our being and then he relates this to our being made in the image of God and then he moves very rapidly into this idea of the times of ignorance God overlooked but now he commands all men everywhere to repent. So we've heard about this command to repentance already. And then notice what he says, because he has fixed the day of sovereignty of God, the absolute determination of God's decrees in which this day is fixed, he has fixed the day in which he will judge the world There's only one judge and he's going to point out the individual person who is this judge and he will judge the world in righteousness. This was a very relativistic society, they didn't realize that there are any absolutes anywhere, if there's anything you could call righteousness. and Paul proclaims to them that he will judge the world in righteousness, it will be an absolute standard, and how will he judge it? He will judge it by a man whom he has appointed, this is a person that God felt was worthy to be appointed to such a judgment of the world in righteousness, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. So the historical evidence that this person is worthy to be the judge of all in righteousness is set forth by the resurrection from the dead. And of course when they hear this they begin to mock. Others said we will hear you again about this. But some men joined him and believed among whom were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. So we see the setting forth of the cognitive understanding. We see I'm sure this is not all that he said. We're getting a summary of this and so there's probably a little bit of exposition of each one of these major ideas that we have in Paul's sermon but they are moved from the level of cognition to an understanding of what he is actually saying which leads some to scoff. It leads others to perhaps believe and consider it more and then it leads some to true saving faith. We see also in Acts 18 in verse 4 when he goes to Corinth. First of all, he begins to talk to the Jews as he did frequently in these places he went. He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. It says he persuaded, but it actually means he was working on the whole idea of persuading them. What was he persuading them of? Well, he was persuading them, as we learn in other places, that Jesus is the Christ. that the Christ that is predicted in the Old Testament is fulfilled perfectly in Jesus of Nazareth. We see then, let's go to the end of the book of Acts and we see how Paul teaches the Jews that came to him there in Rome. Verse 23, when they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in great numbers. From morning till evening, he expounded to them testifying to the Kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets and some were convinced by what he says but others disbelieved. But he is laying the foundation, he is setting forth this historical reality of how Christ is fulfillment of the Law of Moses, he is the fulfillment of all the prophets, and he is the one who will usher in the Kingdom, testifying to the Kingdom of God. When Paul heard about the Gospel as it came to Colossae, he had not been to Colossae, but he wrote them and he explained to them the joy that he had as he contemplated their conversion and how this, even though he was not there, this is a stamp upon his own ministry to the Gentiles because this is the mystery that was revealed which is Christ in them, Christ among the Gentiles, that is, the hope of glory. But notice how he talks about their introduction to the gospel beginning with verse 3 of chapter 1. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. So here he is assuming that they have a saving faith which is verified by the reality of their love for the saints because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. It's pointed toward their relationship with God and the enjoyment of God in eternity. Of this you heard before in the word of truth. So these things that were in the gospel that are now experiential to them, the first step was they heard it in the word of truth, the gospel. Which has come to you as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. They understood the grace of God. in truth. It was something that was cognitive with them, that can be explained to them. Now they experience the reality of it also, but when Epaphras was among them, he is explaining these things to them, they heard this. And so the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love and the Spirit. And so there is a There is a possibility of when a person is preaching, what he's preaching are these things that are the truth, that are the means of conversion, but it's something that can be heard, it's something that can be learned, it's something that can be explained, it's something that can be understood, and that is at bottom, at the ground level, that cognitive understanding is necessary for saving faith. We see this famously also in the book of 1 Corinthians, in chapter 15, where the Apostle Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about a severe doctrinal error that they were on the verge of falling into. In verse 15, chapter 1, he says, Now I remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved. if you hold fast to the word I preach to you unless you believed in vain." Now here when he says unless you believe in vain, I don't think he's talking about unless you have a false belief, unless you have a belief that's not really solid. I think he's talking about that this gospel is not worth anything if it's a vain belief. In other words, if the gospel is built on the resurrection and there's no resurrection then you're believing in vain because he goes on down to say if Christ has not been raised your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. Your faith is vain. And so he's trying to argue from just from the standpoint of the historical reality how it is that faith is not a vain thing. He does talk about false faith in other places but here the only thing that makes their faith false is if the historical reality is not there. So it says in verse 3, for I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas then to twelve and then he appeared to more than five hundred so he has the appearances the evidences of the resurrection and then he continues as to what what Christ is going to do in verse 20. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man also has come the resurrection from the dead. So he relates the resurrection to the culmination of all the prophetic material and what salvation is all about that is countering those things that Adam has done and bringing upon death and condemnation. Christ is bringing life and forgiveness. by a man came also the resurrection from the dead that is the overcoming of the wages of sin for as an Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive but each in his own order Christ the first fruits then at his coming so now he's moving into another historical event that is not has not yet happened but it's going to be just as historical as the death burial resurrection of Christ and the appearances of Christ were at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power for He must reign until He has put all of His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death for God has put all things in subjection under His feet. When it says all things are put in subjection it is plain that He has accepted who put all things in subjection under Him, when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him, who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all. And we will see in eternity then, we don't understand all that that means, but we will see in eternity a reflection of the personhood of all the persons in the Trinity as it relates to the eternal covenant of redemption. And we will see the fittingness of how each person has taken to himself, as it were, something that is perfectly fitting for his personhood that is not the same as is fitting for the personhood of the others. The father has things that are fitting for his personhood, the son has things that are fitting for his personhood, The Spirit has things that are fitting for His personhood. They all do these things perfectly in accordance with the singularity of the will of the triune God. And that will be a part of the glory of heaven is this expansive understanding of the glory of what genuine, true, real personhood is as it is reflected in God. And all of this is brought about by the obedience of Christ in His incarnation and His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, coming again, subjecting all things to Himself. So we have a worldview, we have a panoramic understanding of what history is in the gospel. And when we preach, we should try to expand our understanding of these things as much as possible because we're not just preaching about a little narrow religious persuasion that people need to have. We're not preaching about something that just has to do with how they can feel good about relating to their families on Monday morning or on Friday evening or something. We're not talking about little narrow segments of devotional life, though I'm not talking against any kind of devotional life and any kind of relationships can be improved through the gospel, but we're talking about a world that God has created and that He controls and that He will bring to its proper end and He does it in accordance with the gospel. And so when we're giving this cognitive understanding of what the gospel is, whether it's believers or unbelievers, they must understand that this is serious stuff, that God began the whole thing, God is going to bring it to an end, and those who have faith in Christ will experience the glory of the triune God in all of His dimensions, and they will live in glory while the others are experiencing the exquisite and just wrath of God. So this is a part of just the cognitive understanding. People hate it. They think it's cruel. They think it is something that is utterly absurd for us to think that God could ever do such a thing as this. Or that we have such a comprehensive and broad understanding of what the Christian faith is that it includes everything in the world. I think as Abraham Kuyper famously said that Christ looks at everything in the world, every square inch of it, and points to it and says, mine. And that's just the way it is and when we preach the gospel that is the conclusion that people eventually must draw that this world is God's. We also see this if we look in the book of 1st John chapter 1. John gives the same witness about the historical reality. that which was from the beginning, so he reaches into eternity past, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life. And the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it, and proclaim to you, the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things to you so that our joy or perhaps your joy, it's both really, may be complete. So he looks at the things that were from the beginning, goes into eternity past, the things that we cannot see, the things that we only know because of the hints we have at divine revelation about the covenantal relationships. These things go far beyond us. The mystery that is revealed still has all the edges of mystery in it no matter how much of it is revealed. It just opens up more questions for us but nevertheless he says that which was from the beginning He says that which was from the beginning is so real and is so pertinent that we have heard it, we have seen it, we've looked upon it, we've gazed upon it as if it were in a theater and we've touched it with our hands and we testify to it and we proclaim to you. What are we proclaiming to you? Eternal life. All these historical events are revealing to us something about Something about the whole story of what the world was made for. And so if we want to emphasize eternal life, we have to start with the understanding of the revelation of God in history, in the person of His Son, and what He did. We see chapter 4, verse 2, where John says, By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus, that is, as having come in the flesh, is not from God. And then in verses 9 and 10. In this is love, the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation for sin, substitutionary atonement, incarnation, all of these things are dependent upon the clarity with which we can affirm that the Son actually came, that the Son was actually in flesh. All the things that He did, He must do in His flesh. And so this cognition of the historical reality of the gospel is an important element of our preaching and that is what we can do. Chris was emphasizing this. We preach. God gives the increase but we preach and we must preach it as it is revealed to us in Scripture. John summarizes this very quickly in 1 John 5 verse 20. He just says in the very first phrase of that verse, we know that the Son of God has come. That's the cognitive level. We know the Son of God has come. That's the testimony. Then the next one, He has given us understanding. That's the level at which we believe it is true. And then, so that we may know Him who is true. That's the experiential level. And then the assurance, we are in Him who is true. In His Son, Jesus Christ. So this historical narrative, Putting the historical chronology, putting Jesus in that, requires a rigorous recitation of gospel facts. The third element is the claim of revelatory authority. We only know these things, we can only preach the coming of Christ within this historical framework. The visible aspect of what his life was went about doing good. An understanding of the power by which he cast out demons and by which he knew people's hearts and so forth and by which he healed diseases. The reason that he came to an end of being crucified but then the witnesses of his resurrection. How is it that we move from that which is observable historically into these massive almost ridiculous assertions about what all of this means. It means we're sinners. It means we're under condemnation. It means we can be forgiven. It means that there's going to be a judgment at the end. It means there's going to be heaven. There's going to be hell. How do we get into all these things? And Jesus was dying. He wasn't just being crucified as a victim. He was bearing the sins of his people in himself. He was experiencing the wrath of God. How do we know all of this? How do we affirm that? We can't just do it on the basis of our own authority. And so if we're going to preach the historical events in the right way, we have to tie them to their theological meaning and all of that comes only because of divine revelation. And this is exactly what Paul is affirming there in 1 Corinthians 15 when he says Christ died. What? According to the Scriptures. He was raised again according to the Scriptures. So in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, we see Paul's explanation of this and why it is so important that when we preach, one of the things that our hearers must be utterly convinced of, this is a part of the cognitive understanding, and that is that these things that we preach, we are preaching on the basis of the authority of God. They may say, well, big deal. Who are you to think you have the authority of God? They may think that but there cannot be any doubt in their mind that that's what we believe and that if they believe the gospel we're preaching they're going to have to believe it on the basis of the authority of God. Adnan Judson tells the story of one of the earliest converts in Burma. He was a philosophical man who was virtually a deist Judson said he came and Judson would reason with him and talk with him and then he would quote scripture to him and then reason from the scriptures and the man would reject it and he would try to talk about punch holes in Judson's argument and everything but Judson would keep quoting scripture to him and then reason from the scripture. Finally one day the man came and he came to believe that Judson was right that there had to be a resurrection from the dead. And somehow Judson's reasoning had brought him to see that there can't be all of this mental apparatus in us that matures and matures and matures and then all of a sudden we're dead and it has no more existence or that it's just merged into other minds that don't have any discrete reality in themselves. And so there must be a resurrection. And Judson didn't congratulate him, didn't say, oh, well, that's wonderful. Now you finally believe that there is a resurrection. He says, why do you believe that? He says, because you have convinced me. He says, then you don't believe it. He says, you must believe it because the Bible says it. You have to believe it because God has told us this. He says, you still are proud. You think you believe it because you think you have reasoned. You think you've followed my reasoning and you've come to this conclusion. on the basis of your reasoning. Your pride is still with you. You're not broken. You don't believe it for the right reasons, and so you don't believe it. And the man was stunned. He thought Judson would be happy about this. And Judson was saying, You're not there yet. Go back. And so the next time he came to him, the guy was humbled and said, now I see what my mistake is. And eventually the man was converted. But Judson didn't want to get by with just sort of winning an argument. He didn't want to convince him of these things bit by bit and let him believe that it was because his own reasoning had led him to see the coherence of the idea. It must be on the basis of the fact that God has said it and we submit ourselves to divine revelation. That doesn't mean it's irrational in the final analysis. This doesn't mean you cannot reason from biblical propositions. Theologians and preachers do that all the time, but the propositions are always based upon divine revelation. So the claim of revelatory authority must penetrate are preaching if the people have the right cognitive understanding of what we're actually saying. First Corinthians chapter 2, beginning with verse 9, But as it is written, What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him, Now this is, so he's talking about something that has to do with eternity, the preparation God has for those who love Him. And he's saying, the normal ways in which we come to knowledge, the eye seeing, the ear hearing, this is empirical knowledge, the senses, observation, nor the heart of man conceived, He's talking about rationalization here, he's talking about logical deduction, or he's talking about philosophical ideas, the heart of man conceiving of things and trying to come to a more coherent philosophy by rational thinking. But it says, it's what no eye has seen or heard nor has the heart of man conceived. What God has prepared for those who love him can't be gained in that way. It's not empirical investigation, it's not ratiocination. What God has prepared for those who love Him, these things God has revealed to us through His Spirit. So revelation, revelation is the way in which we come to know these things. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. Now he uses just a normal example. Who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of the person which is in him? So I talked to Todd Wilson, and he never tells me anything. All I can do is see what is my eyes see. What do I hear him say? And I can know what his voice sounds like. know what he looks like, but still he tells me about how many children he has, and what his wife is like, what he likes about his wife, and what he likes for breakfast, and how he likes to study the Bible, and what commentaries he uses, and so forth. And as he begins to tell me these things, I know more and more about him. Why? Because he knows those things about himself and he's revealing them to me. We only know a person beyond that empirical level when they begin to reveal themselves to us. Who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person that is in him. We live by revelation every day. It's one of the most common ways of gaining knowledge and yet when it comes to God we think that God is not able to reveal Himself. We think that we can know God without depending on divine revelation. And so Paul is just arguing something that we experience every day because God has built the world this way but we refuse to acknowledge it when it comes to God because it makes us obligated to believe what He says and that's a dangerous thing. That's an insulting thing to us in our pride. But Paul is arguing that if we're going to know God, if we're going to believe God, if we're going to believe the gospel If we're going to know the things that God has prepared for those who love Him, we have to submit ourselves to the reality that we're dependent upon divine revelation. No one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us of God. So it's only by revelation that we have that groundwork of understanding what has been given. Now how is this perpetuated from the apostles to whom this revelation came? How is it perpetuated to us? We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit. Comparing spiritual with spiritual or that is putting words that are appropriate for carrying truth with the spiritual truths that they are sufficient to carry. So inspiration. So how do we understand these things? Well the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God their Father to him. He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things but himself is judged by no one. The spiritual person can examine everything with a view to understanding it because the Spirit of God who revealed it and who inspired it also illumines his mind to love it. And so we have to understand that we're dependent upon the Spirit and at the bottom level is we must know that these things are revealed to us. Galatians chapter 1 we see that Paul insisted that his gospel was something that was revealed and that they must know that it was revealed to him. Even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one that we preached to you let him be accursed. As I said now, so now I say again if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received let him be accursed. Am I now seeking? the approval of men or of God? Am I seeking to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brothers, the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." Then he goes on to prove why, how it is a revelation of Jesus Christ and how it is not man's gospel. had no qualms at all about letting the Galatians know that what he preached to them was a revelation. If they didn't believe it was a revelation then they didn't believe it. They could be convinced by someone else's reasoning. If it was just Paul's reasoning then someone else comes in and seems to be smarter and reasons a different way then they can be changed but if they are submitted to the idea that it's a revelation from God then no amount of reasoning is going to take them away from God's own reasoning and God's own revelation which is far above our powers. First Peter chapter 1 verse 12. We begin with verse 10. Concerning this salvation That is the salvation that Peter has preached by which they've been saved concerning this salvation. The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. So they had some revelation that was given to them They didn't understand how the Messiah could suffer and the Messiah could also subsequently be glorified. What kind of person is this? What kind of time is this when it's going to happen? They inquired but they couldn't get beyond just what the revelation was and so God gave them graciously another revelation. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves. In other words, it's not for them to know that yet. They're not serving themselves but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Things into which angels long to look. So there was a revelation of the glory of Christ and the sufferings of Christ. The prophets wanted to know more about it and so God said no it's not for you but it was revealed to them but it'll be revealed later. And then when Christ came, he actually did these things. The resurrection shows how the sufferings of Christ and the glory of Christ can be united in one person. And they preach and they proclaim Jesus Christ and they do it by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Peter is letting them know that all of this has to do with divine revelation. This is a message given by divine revelation, by divine providence, by divine acting in history, but the meaning of it is set forth by divine revelation. That has to be a part of the cognitive understanding that it's the Word of God, it's the authority of God we're dealing with, not the authority of man. It's not the cleverness of the preacher. It's not his ability to turn a phrase. It's not any theatrics that he does. It's not giving a crowd and people saying, oh, I just love this preacher. I'm just going to believe everything he says. No. It's great for people to love the preacher. It's great for them to think he has a great personality if it's not fake and that kind of thing. But what they've got to come away with is that this is the Word of God. This is revelation. This is divinely revealed. And if I believe this, I've got to accept the idea that God has revealed it. And it's humbling to the human spirit and the human mind. to start our journey to eternity with a recognition that we are dependent on divine revelation as well as we're dependent on divine redemption. In 1st Peter, I mean 1st John chapter 4. I know, I've got to hurry along here. I'm just having too much fun. 1st John chapter 4. Now sometimes the apostles will speak about us and we and that sort of thing and you have to take from the context that they're actually talking about the apostolic ministry and when they say they, they're talking about those who reject the apostolic ministry and John is doing that here in these verses. Verse 5, they are from the world. Therefore, they speak from the world." Who? Those that deny that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh. Those who do not think that all the things that Jesus did in the flesh such as His birth, His righteous life, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension into heaven, all those things He did in the flesh which are necessary for salvation, they just do away with those, they do away with redemption. They, He says, they are from the world. They speak from the world. The world listens to them. We are from God. We who? We the apostles who are preaching this to you. We who are the witnesses. We who? He's talked about in verse 1. That which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you. That's the we he's talking about. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. divine revelation. He's not embarrassed about it, the same way Paul said, if anyone preach a gospel other than that which I preached, let him be anathema. God, whoever knows God, listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. The apostolic revelation. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. If someone tries to convince you of something about the Christian religion and they are not trying to convince you on the basis of divine revelation then go be convinced by someone else who will use the Bible. So by this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So that's another cognitive aspect. It has to be a submission to the reality. They have to know that if they believe this it's going to be because God has said it. Alright, the fourth aspect and I'll do it very quickly. One thing that we see in all of this is the implications of the death, burial and resurrection and judgment and forgiveness of sins is that cognitively people must understand that condemnation is being asserted as an element of what is necessary to accept before you can understand why you need the good news. Condemnation is asserted. Everything about the gospel assumes the necessity of the forgiveness of sins. I'll just use one passage to illustrate this. The book of Hebrews in the 10th chapter, beginning with verse 26. If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which He, that is the Son of God in accordance with the eternal covenant of redemption, by which He was sanctified or set apart for the purpose of dying, proclaimed the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace. For we know Him who said vengeance is mine, I will repay and again the Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Eternity is at stake every time we preach the gospel. Condemnation is the only option to salvation. Judgment is the only option to justification. Going to hell is the only option to submission to God, worship of Him so they can be with Him eternally in heaven. That is a cognitive reality. It's something that's going to happen. And as much as people may resent it, as much as you may seem to be unfriendly in doing it, if we leave out the reality of condemnation as a necessary aspect for our preaching, then we are not really preaching the gospel. We take the good news out of good news. The fifth point is that one that was emphasized, all of these are emphasized in this statement on saving faith, but I love this idea in paragraph two that says all the things we can learn from the Word of God, but it says, but the principal acts of saving faith have immediate relation to Christ. Accepting, receiving, and resting upon Him alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life. And so all of it is about Christ. The chronology is about Christ. The historical work is about Christ. The need we have revelation is so that we'll know what Christ has freely gained for us. Condemnation. We see that Christ has taken our condemnation. There's no explanation for the death of Christ other than there's a condemnation coming and that another had to be condemned in our place. In my place condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah. What a Savior. And so Christ is the One. We focus on Christ. So again in 1 John, we know the Son of God has come. has given us understanding that we may know Him who is true and we are in Him who is true, in His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. No substitute for Christ. He has wrought out the entire redemptive plan in accordance with the eternal covenant of redemption. His death is a propitiatory sacrifice. Salvation comes only through Him. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." So we preach all these cognitive aspects of the gospel with the hope and with the prayer that indeed, as was said in the earlier message, that the Spirit would take it and open our minds and when He brings us repentance and faith, how will it come? It will come because we see the glory of God in the face of Christ. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's Word, but by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God." Someone can look and testify genuinely that this person did not try to manipulate me, this person did not try to woo me with any false ideas, he did not try to do anything that was an insult to God or to the Word or even to the reality that I am a person made in the image of God and I am under the wrath of God because of my sin against him. He never did anything that was a lie to me. You would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God." How blind can a person be? What kind of blindness is it that he cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of God in the face of Christ? For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ is Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. And Paul knew this was true. He knew it was cause of revelation, but he knew it the first revelation that he had was the glory of Christ on the road to Damascus. he gives this as a personal testimony that he is actually saying and though mine may be more spectacular from the standpoint of his external manifestations this is really what must happen to everyone who will come to Christ. For God who said let light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin in nature's night thine eye diffused a quickening ray i woke the dungeon the dungeon flame with light my chain fell off my heart was free i rose went forth and followed thee The first task we have is to make sure we understand all of the essential historical characteristics of the gospel, that which comes from God himself, because only that will be the material by which the Spirit brings people to a saving knowledge of Christ. Let's pray.