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[0:00] This morning, the title of the message is The Benefits of Belief. Let's take a look at one of the benefits.

[0:17] Please turn to the book of Psalms. And this morning, we'll be reading Psalm 100.

[0:30] Psalm 100.

[1:01] Know that the Lord himself is God. It is he who has made us and not we ourselves.

[1:15] We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

[1:33] Give thanks to him. Bless his name. For the Lord is good. His loving kindness is everlasting.

[1:48] And his faithfulness to all generations. Thank you, Gary.

[2:02] And I especially appreciated the hymns this morning with the theme of redemption. And then the special music was just great in that it addressed the theme of Jehovah Jireh.

[2:14] The Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. And we are considering some of the provisions that the Lord has made. Our basic premise is that God through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has made available to everyone in the body of Christ certain operating assets that are theirs to draw upon, to benefit from, to utilize, to be comforted by, etc.

[2:38] Only the tragic truth is, to be comforted by the truth.

[3:08] Because they have been blessed with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And yet they are completely clueless as to what they are. So they go through much of their Christian life in a substandard fashion, full of anxiety, fear, doubts, and everything else that accompanies it.

[3:27] Simply because they have no idea how rich they truly are. We are attempting to resolve that for as many as will have it resolved by revealing some of those riches that God has provided for us.

[3:44] Now, we are not going to take all of them for the simple reason that we can't. We cannot begin to exhaust them. But we are going to deal with perhaps the top 20 or so.

[3:55] I am sure there are many more than that that could be added to it. But if we get these under our belt, they will serve us very, very well. And I would like you to turn, please, for one of our base texts to Romans chapter 8.

[4:11] And beginning with verse 31. Romans chapter 8. We are talking about things that have to do with and are direct contributors to that are looked upon as a prerequisite for spiritual growth.

[4:32] We have related to you in times past that perhaps the most principal reason for someone truly being in Christ and yet never really maturing and developing as a believer so that they are able to really enjoy the Christian life that Christ died to provide for them is simply because they do not understand their standing.

[4:59] They don't know where they really are. They don't know the security factor. They don't really know grace. They've been saved by it. But they don't have a clue as to what it means to live by grace.

[5:13] Many do not even understand that the possibilities exist. So, while the provisions of positional truth are intended for the appropriation and blessing of every believer, only those who are aware of them and act upon them derive the benefits from them.

[5:36] And doing so is critical, absolutely critical, to one's spiritual growth. So critical that if you don't know these things, you aren't going to grow. You can't.

[5:49] You are simply consigned to Christian immaturity and spiritual infancy. That's all you will ever be. You will never get out of the Christian kindergarten.

[6:05] Never mind advanced degrees. You'll never get out of kindergarten. There is a tremendous number of believers who are still in spiritual kindergarten because they don't know what they need to know.

[6:23] And they don't even know that they don't know. So that doesn't even put them on the trail to start looking. The church's responsibility, among others, is to inform you of this.

[6:40] Our responsibility is to edify believers. You've heard me say in the past that church is not designed for ain'ts.

[6:51] It's designed for saints, not ain'ts. This is the body of Christ. People come together to be edified, built up in the faith.

[7:03] And then with what we know and what we learn, we are to go out and do the work of an evangelist. And if you succeed in bringing people to Christ, introducing them to the Savior, then what are you supposed to do?

[7:15] Then you bring them to church. Then they get edified, built up, trained, etc., and sent out. That's the divine plan, but all too often it doesn't work that way.

[7:26] So, beginning with Romans chapter 8 and verse 31, here's what we read. What then shall we say to these things? Now, he's enumerated all of these things before that are true of our position in Christ.

[7:43] And eventually we'll get back to those. We won't this morning, but for a later time we will. But for a base text. What then shall we say to these things? What is our response to what has been recorded here?

[7:54] If God is for us, who is against us? Please understand that Paul the Apostle is not saying, if God is for you, no one can be against you. He isn't saying that at all.

[8:06] Because God was for the Apostle Paul, but he had a lot of people who were against him. The meaning is, if God is for you, it doesn't make any difference who's against you.

[8:17] Even if the whole world's against you. It doesn't matter, as long as God is for you. That's the thought. He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?

[8:36] This is Paul's argument, and it is the argument from the lesser to the greater. And the thinking is this. Look, people need to understand, once you are in Christ, God has already pulled out all the stops.

[8:55] He has gone to the nth degree. He has gone far above and beyond anything anybody could ever anticipate or expect. In order to provide for you, your eternal life, your redemption in Jesus Christ, he has already done the very most that he could do in what he has provided.

[9:21] Do you think, then, that he is going to be cheap and chintzy with everything else that he provides? He who has already done the absolute greatest thing for you, shall he not also with that greatest thing provide everything else that flows from that?

[9:43] Of course he will! That's the argument. God has already proved himself by providing his own son, by giving the greatest thing he could give.

[9:57] And every gift and every provision, every asset that he has provided for you, in addition to that, is relatively small in comparison to that great thing.

[10:11] Has he not already demonstrated his love and his care, his concern? Of course he has. God cannot outdo what he has already done.

[10:30] He has already displayed his, shall we call it his magnum opus, his greatest work.

[10:42] There's no way that even God can top that in what he provided through Jesus Christ, his own son. Everything else compared to that is peanuts.

[10:56] But do you know, there is great profit, great enjoyment, great benefit from picking up and eating the peanuts. And that's what we're doing.

[11:07] These are all of the other things that God has provided. At the top of the whole list is the redemption we have through Christ. Everything else is a fringe benefit.

[11:20] But they enormously add to the enjoyment and the appreciation and the gratitude for what we have in Christ.

[11:32] So, this is one of our base texts. He who did not spare his own son, he who already went to the nth degree, provided the max, delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely?

[11:51] You do not buy these things, these operating assets. You don't purchase these. You cannot earn them. And you certainly don't deserve them.

[12:04] They are free. They are part of the package. Freely give us all things. And one other such text, 2 Corinthians, over just a couple of books, 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

[12:21] One of my favorite portions of Scripture. And I know that I say that a lot. I've got a lot of favorites. 5.14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died.

[12:47] Now, this links to the death that was brought about through the disobedience of Adam.

[13:01] In Adam's death, we all died. In Adam's sin, we all sinned. So, in the death of Christ, this one who died, all died.

[13:19] And what Paul is saying is, as Adam was instrumental in bringing death and destruction upon the whole human race, in the same way, to the same degree, Jesus Christ was instrumental in elevating the whole human race back to life through the redemptive price that he paid.

[13:44] So, in Adam, all die. In Christ, all are made alive. That means, when you are born, you are born with a proclivity, a propensity to sin because you are a child of Adam, but you are born in a state of redemption.

[14:05] And this guarantees your eternal life if something should happen to you and you die before you reach that age where God holds you accountable for your own actions, holds you accountable for your own unbelief as well.

[14:21] So, we've got a trade-off here. Everything is brought to ruination in Adam. Everything is brought to redemption in Christ.

[14:32] And don't confuse universal redemption with universal salvation. I made that distinction in the past. This universal redemption means that the work of Christ rendered all human beings savable.

[14:47] no one is beyond the grace of God. No matter how great or vile a sinner they are, they are not beyond the grace of God.

[15:00] They are savable. And to be saved, then, one must exercise faith in what Jesus Christ has done for them and personally appropriate that.

[15:12] So, we read that verse 15, and he died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf.

[15:24] Therefore, from now on, we recognize no man according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer.

[15:36] I cannot take too much time to elaborate on this, but it is a confusing concept, and I want to explain it as briefly as I can. Paul is saying there are two different ways of knowing Christ.

[15:48] One is to know Christ after the flesh. That means you zero in on the person and character and work of Jesus Christ when he was here on earth and lived and walked among us.

[16:03] That was Christ in the flesh. That's what the word incarnation means. It is the enfleshment of deity. And to know Christ after the flesh is to explore the life of Christ as it is revealed in the gospels, beginning with the manger and Bethlehem, etc.

[16:26] All that transpired in the life of Christ and from the life of Christ up until the time of his resurrection is the Christ of the flesh.

[16:36] flesh. But he is no longer the Christ of the flesh. This doesn't mean that he no longer has a body.

[16:47] That's not what it means. But it is saying that there is something very radically different about the Christ of the flesh and the Christ of the glory. In his resurrection glorified body he is a new being.

[17:07] He is a glorified being. He is the same person as the Christ of the flesh in that he is and was and is the son of God.

[17:19] But he underwent a most dramatic revolutionary process that forever changed him. In his humanity he became glorified and he is now the risen glorified Lord.

[17:36] So when we speak of knowing Christ now it is the Christ of the glory and the Christ of the resurrection that we must identify with not the Christ of the flesh.

[17:50] Why is that and why does that make a difference? Oh it makes a very profound difference and the difference is this. The Christ of the flesh never saved anybody. The Christ of the flesh never provided your redemption.

[18:09] The Christ of the flesh never died for your sins. The Christ of the flesh was the Christ before the cross.

[18:21] The Christ of the cross and of the resurrection death burial and resurrection ascended to glory risen glorified Christ that's the Christ that saves.

[18:33] As long as Jesus was here on earth walking and talking among men performing his miracles giving his teaching he never redeemed anyone.

[18:46] He performed miracles he opened the eyes of the blind he let the deaf hear but no one was saved. what saved them? It was the Christ of the cross.

[19:00] It was the blood shed which speaks of life surrendered life given up. It is not the sentimental Jesus of the gospels that saves anyone.

[19:16] The sentimental Jesus of the gospel is the one who is going to become the Jesus who saves everyone who redeems everyone but it was not an accomplished fact until he did it until he did it on that cross.

[19:30] That's why that's why Christians make such a big deal of the cross. That's where it's all at. Paul said the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

[19:49] I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God. What is this good news? What it is all about? It is what Jesus Christ did on that cross.

[20:02] He was made sin for us. That's where that great transaction occurred. So you can understand why it is actually counterproductive for people to focus so much time and attention on the meek and lowly gentle Jesus his great teachings and all the rest and I don't minimize those but they never paid for your redemption.

[20:28] It is the death it is the life of Christ poured out that bought our redemption and when you understand and know that Christ you do not know Christ after the flesh you know him in his glorified state this is the Christ that revealed the abundance of revelations to Paul the apostle it's the elevated Christ glorified Christ that distinction needs to be born in mind going on

[21:31] Expression that reveals the positional truth of the believer more than this. It's just two words. In Christ. Everybody here is in Christ or not in Christ.

[21:50] No one is in Christ kind of. No one is almost lost. No one is almost saved.

[22:03] It's kind of like being a little bit pregnant. You either are or you aren't. You are either in Christ or you are not.

[22:16] And if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. I can't begin to tell you what all that means because I don't know what all that means.

[22:31] But I know some of the things it means. It means you are a brand new being. It means in your psyche, in your human spirit, where the real you dwells, there has been an extreme makeover take place.

[22:52] You have been made new on the inside. You don't look any different outwardly. But inwardly, you are a new person.

[23:06] You are a new creation. Old things passed away. All things have become new. It is a matter of, well, there is a verse in Titus 2, 13, I think.

[23:21] No, 3, 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.

[23:33] This is this new work that takes place. Regeneration. And from the word generate, we know what that means.

[23:49] Generate means to bring something into existence. When you generate something, a new life or a new concept or a new idea, and when you regenerate it, you just do it over again.

[24:04] It means to do it again. You generate something anew. We are all familiar, especially nowadays, with so much emphasis and appreciation of the DNA code and all of that good stuff.

[24:21] We know a lot more about genetics than what we used to know. I mean, the last 20 years there has been an explosion in this field with what has happened in genetics.

[24:32] And we are all familiar with genes. Now they are talking about gene therapy. And weird things such as possibility of implanting human genes into a pig so that the pig can grow a human arm.

[24:51] So that the arm could be taken then from the pig and transplanted to a human being who lost his arm. I know this is really weird sounding stuff. But this is what some of these geneticists are looking into now.

[25:05] And it has to do with gene therapy and gene splicing and all of this things. Incredible stuff that we didn't even know existed a generation ago. And when someone is saved, they are spiritually regened.

[25:22] That's exactly what happens. God makes you a whole new person in your human spirit so that you undergo a virtual transformation in your value system, in your thinking, in your desires, in your impulses.

[25:45] Everything is new. It is radically, radically revised. It is an extreme makeover. We don't have any idea how God does that.

[26:01] We don't know. In the same way that God breathed into Adam the breath of life and he became a living soul, in some similar fashion, God operates, works upon, breathes into the human spirit of a believing individual at the point of salvation, and he radicalizes them interior.

[26:33] He changes them on the inside so that their psyche is different. He places them in Christ. And in that exalted position, they have opening up to them a tremendous array of additional benefits that come with that package.

[26:54] It puts us on the path to growth, maturity, and development. The important thing is you need to move on.

[27:05] You need to matriculate. You need to move on through the process. And you do that through spiritual growth. And that comes from an appreciation of who and what you have in Christ. Any man is in Christ.

[27:17] He's a new creature. Old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. All of these things are from God. Nobody else can provide them.

[27:28] Nobody else can implant them. Nobody else can make them have the life that they have. They are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

[27:39] And so on. So, we talked in our last session also about the possibility of knowing some things intellectually, but not knowing them emotionally.

[27:51] And it has to be done across the whole spectrum of our being. When a person is regenerated, when one believes on Christ in a saving way and is regenerated by him, we are changed in our intellect, in our emotions.

[28:21] I don't understand how we are changed. When I say we are changed in our intellect, I do not mean that now you are in Christ, you have a higher IQ than you did before.

[28:34] I'm not saying that. If you were really pretty stupid before, you're still stupid. You know? You still have to learn. One of my favorite quotes is by one of my favorite American philosophers, John Wayne.

[28:50] It was the Duke who said, life can be tough. If you're stupid, it's a lot tougher. Well, salvation doesn't make you brilliant.

[29:05] It doesn't do anything for your intellect. But it does provide a different path in which your intellect can work.

[29:17] I can't really explain this because I don't understand it myself. But I know that God gives you, at the point of salvation, a new potential, a new capacity.

[29:29] He doesn't just make it happen so that you just have. No, no. Because if he did that, there wouldn't be any possibility or any need for growth. In other words, when you became a believer in Jesus Christ, you didn't arrive.

[29:45] You just began. You just started. Like I said, the gospel is the end. Salvation is the end of the gospel, but it's the front end. And everything else that is to follow is what we're dealing with right now.

[30:00] So, you are given a new capacity, a new ability. You are given a capability of thinking and desiring knowledge in certain areas that never even occurred to you before or areas in which you had no interest at all before.

[30:19] When I look back on the things that I was interested in before I became a believer, the only question I have is how in the world could I have ever been interested in that? And when I look at the things that interest me now, if I had known what they might be or something about them on the other side of salvation, I would say, I can't imagine my ever being interested in that.

[30:47] But now these are the things that consume me because everything has changed. And that started December 8, 1956. And it hasn't stopped. We do not truly know these things, nor can we enjoy them unless we as believers act upon them.

[31:06] Now, I want to touch on something that is really, really important. I don't know if I can make it clear. I'm not even sure it's clear in my own mind. So, I'm going to try to share. I'm going to try and share my organized confusion with you.

[31:19] Okay? Knowing intellectually, that means acknowledging something as facts.

[31:30] And knowing experientially or emotionally involves acting upon what we know as a fact.

[31:41] Because to know something as a fact and to act upon it is not the same. Acting upon it takes it up an additional notch.

[31:57] There are multitudes of people who know as a fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world somewhere in the area of A.D. 30 on a lonely hill outside the city of Jerusalem.

[32:13] And they log that as a historical fact. That's to know something intellectually. But to act upon it involves not only the intellect, but the emotions.

[32:34] Yet, it cannot be and must not be a merely emotional thing. Because the emotion will do you no good if you don't have the intellect to precede it.

[32:45] If you don't have the fact to precede it. And the word emotion, I think, is greatly misunderstood. Because so many times we think of emotion as being nothing but feeling.

[32:56] And that's all. Well, emotion is probably a pretty good synonym for the idea of feeling. But I want you to understand that this word is very key to your humanity and how you live and think and operate.

[33:14] Motion is movement. Doesn't make any difference. What you're talking about, if it's a bug crawling across the ground, it is in motion.

[33:26] It is moving. And we talk about music or experiencing something. You saw this dramatic presentation on television.

[33:38] And you can say, it moved me to tears. It means it touched your emotions. How and why did it touch your emotions?

[33:50] Because you already grasped it intellectually. You are not going to be moved by emotion, by anything that doesn't come through your mind and touch your intellect first.

[34:05] It is your intellect. It is your thinking capacity that processes this thing and causes you to feel about it in a certain way.

[34:21] Someone has said that it is the intellect. When you see a two-year-old child toddling toward a busy interstate, your intellect immediately kicks into gear and you start processing information.

[34:45] And the information you are processing is there is an innocent, irresponsible little two-year-old that doesn't know what they're doing, toddling toward a busy interstate.

[34:58] And you process that. And there are 18 wheelers on the prowl out there and they are whizzing by 70 miles an hour. And you process that. And you've got an intellectual picture of the crisis that is about to develop.

[35:14] You know it. You understand it. But you just stand there. Well, if an intellectual comprehension is all you're going to have, that's all you're going to do.

[35:33] You're just going to stand there. What is it that moves you? You have processed the data.

[35:45] You've put together all of those facts intellectually. You know the implications. And you feel something. You feel alarm.

[35:57] You feel concern. You feel great sympathy. You feel a great sense of care. And you start running.

[36:11] And you run to that little one. And you snatch them up and you carry them away. That's emotion. That is feelings. And it is predicated upon your intellect. Now, you can stop that at any point and make it just a purely intellectual thing.

[36:27] You can do that with anything. A lot of people do that with the gospel. We've told you before about the three levels of belief. Notitia. Essentia. Fiducia.

[36:38] Notitia. You've heard the message. You understand it. You comprehend it. And then, essentia. You even agree with it intellectually.

[36:49] You agree with it. But you aren't moved. You haven't done anything. You haven't felt anything. What is it that moves you? It is the commitment.

[37:00] It is the entrustment. It is taking action. And the action that you take is to simply believe. That's it. You exercise your will and you believe.

[37:12] That is the emotional part. No one is saved apart from the intellect and the emotion. When God saves an individual, He saves the whole person. He even saves the body.

[37:24] Even regenerates the body. It's just that the body doesn't get the payoff until the glorification and the coming of Christ. But the Spirit gets the payoff right now because we even receive the down payment of the Spirit.

[37:39] This word motion, when you put pro in front of it, it's promotion. This is emotion. This is demotion.

[37:50] This is commotion. Something taking place around you. All of this has to do with moving. And when we apply it to the human mind, we are talking about things that move us to action.

[38:06] When it comes to salvation, what is the action? You believe. You trust. It is a non-meritorious decision based upon the information that you have.

[38:17] Processing of information plus our personal history and experiences and our inner guilt and convictions contained in our conscience, these plus the Word of God and what it says, all of these intellectual items are presented to our personal volition, which is our will, our decider, for a decision.

[38:43] What say you? Oh, will. Did you get that now? Question is, what causes us to move from intellectual comprehension so that I hear something, know it, understand it?

[39:01] What causes us to act on it? What causes us to take that step of faith by entrusting ourselves to that truth?

[39:16] It requires moving from mere intellectual assent to embracing these things emotionally with our will. Not only is that true regarding salvation, it is true regarding all of the benefits that Christ has provided.

[39:36] When you embrace these things with your emotion, it doesn't necessarily mean that you have great euphoric feelings, tingly goose bumps or whatnot. It doesn't necessarily mean that at all.

[39:49] But it means that when you embrace it with your emotion, you activate the thing. You act upon it. And all you are doing is exercising faith or confidence.

[40:01] It's more of the same. It's more of the same kind of faith that you placed in Christ when you trusted Him as your Savior. It is the same kind of faith that causes you to put confidence in the divine operating assets that He has provided in addition to that.

[40:17] That is what Paul means when he says, walking by faith, not by sight. Why do you believe these things?

[40:29] Well, because you haven't seen them. Why do you believe them? You believe them because God said them. That's it. That's it.

[40:40] I realize that's very simple, but I think he wanted it to be simple so we could get it. And still, multitudes don't get it. It's amazing.

[40:52] It's amazing. But it is there for us to get. So, let me repeat that. Here is what causes us to take something that we know intellectually and act upon it emotionally.

[41:09] Here it is. It is the processing of the information, the mental processing of the information, plus our own personal history and experiences, and convictions contained in our conscience, in the human conscience.

[41:40] Although it's a flawed conscience, it can be very informative. These, all of these things, plus the Word of God and what it says, all of these intellectual items are presented in our mind as a result of the processing of them.

[42:00] They are presented in our mind to our will, our volition. Processing enables us to reach a conclusion.

[42:17] Processing doesn't go on forever. It comes to an end. And the processing is finalized when it's time for a verdict. Okay, you've weighed this information.

[42:30] You've taken it in. You've evaluated it. You've assessed it. What's your conclusion? What is the so what? And that's when the will is activated.

[42:47] Negatively or positively. For the will to be activated negatively. It simply means, yes, I've heard the gospel.

[42:59] Yes, I've heard that Christ died for my sins. Yes, I accept that. Yes, I believe that. All right, then, Will, what is your decision?

[43:10] Well, I don't want to do anything about that right now. I want to sow some wild oats first. Maybe I'll think about that later. Maybe blah, blah, blah. Maybe I'm waiting for this mysterious bolt of lightning to hit me out of the blue so that I'll have my wake-up call or whatnot.

[43:26] This is all negative volition. It is processing information and reaching a negative conclusion that continues the individual in their sin and in their unbelief.

[43:39] Positive volition simply says, You know, I've heard all of this about Christ dying for my sin. And I realize my own guilt.

[43:55] I realize my own sin. I realize I am unacceptable to God as I am. And this is my opportunity to do something about it, and I'm going to.

[44:08] I'm going to put my faith and my confidence in Jesus Christ. That is not only a faith response. It is an emotional response.

[44:22] It is movement of the will toward what you have processed. This is the only way.

[44:33] In my meager understanding of this, which I would be the first to admit is very deficient. I think this is the way we think about everything.

[44:46] Everything. You take in data. You process it. You weigh it. You evaluate it. You particularize it.

[44:56] You elevate it or you depreciate it. And you reach a conclusion. And then you act on the basis of the conclusion. Do you see why information is so important?

[45:16] In the beginning was information. This is what it's all about. And when we proclaim the gospel, all we are doing is providing information for people to act upon.

[45:32] The will has to come into play. If the will opts for the negative, one remains an unbelieving believer.

[45:45] And I'm talking about Christians now. I'm not talking about salvation. I'm talking about Christians. If we opt for the negative, then we remain an unbelieving believer.

[46:00] Isn't that an interesting term? An unbelieving believer. Is there such a thing as an unbelieving Christian? Oh, absolutely. The woods are full of them. How many unbelieving Jews were there who were redeemed out of Israel?

[46:16] What did God chide them for more than anything else? For their unbelief. Who were these people? They were the people of God. Chosen people. What did he accuse them of? Repeatedly. Unbelief.

[46:28] Failure to trust him. Failure to believe him. Same thing for Christians today. An unbelieving believer, which is where most believers live their daily lives, and it's just tragic.

[46:41] If your will opts for the positive, then you embrace these truths and you begin to enjoy their benefits. That begins with salvation, but it continues all through the Christian life.

[46:57] Because the whole thing is a walk by faith. And that's what Paul meant when he said, we walk by faith, not by sight. Not on the basis of what we see, on the basis of what God says.

[47:12] And I've got another very simple little illustration for you. And I'm going to give you the benefit of my handiwork, my artwork, which is considerable. I'm ranked right up there with Picasso and Da Vinci and all the rest of those guys.

[47:27] But here's where a lot of people are. Here we've got a train, okay? Trust me, this is a train. These are the wheels.

[47:38] And this train, this engine, we're going to call fact. And then there's a boxcar that it's pulling here. And this is called faith.

[47:54] This is acting upon the fact. And then there's a caboose back here that it's pulling. And this is feelings. Fact, faith, and feelings.

[48:07] And they come in that order. Now, if you're talking about salvation, and I'm going to talk about that for just a moment, because that's probably the clearest demarcation, salvation has to begin with an appreciation and an understanding of the facts.

[48:22] Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That's a fact. And when you exercise faith in that fact, guess what follows? Feelings.

[48:34] Emotion. But you know how most people want it? Most people want to start with the feelings. We want to start with the feeling and then move out from that.

[48:46] It's kind of like puppy love and boy meets girl. And neither of them are old enough to know what love is, but they think they do.

[48:57] You know, they think they've invented it. And the reason they think that they are in love is because of these wonderful feelings they have. And I would not discount these because that needs to be part and parcel of every human being to have those wonderful feelings.

[49:15] This is what people mean when they say they fall in love. Couldn't help myself. I just fell in love. Well, you don't really do that when it comes to spiritual truth.

[49:31] You don't begin with feelings. And yet, that's where so many want to begin because we want to feel something. We want to feel tingly. We want to feel all warm and fuzzy.

[49:43] We want to have goosebumps. We want some kind of a euphoric expression. And what God wants us to do is simply believe him.

[49:57] Process the fact, the information. Reach a conclusion. Commit to it. And then, guess what comes trailing along behind? The feelings.

[50:08] When we put all of the emphasis on feeling. And when preachers preach messages that are designed to just make people feel good.

[50:19] Just feel good. Well, I like to feel good. You think I like to feel bad? I like to feel good too.

[50:29] But I like to know. I need to know. There is a basis for my feeling good. If it is just feelings for the sake of feelings.

[50:43] You'll be lucky if it sticks with you. By the time you hit the parking lot. It'll be gone. We need something that sticks to our spiritual ribs.

[50:54] And this is where doctrine. And these incredible operating assets that God has provided comes in. And you link up with these things.

[51:07] And you start walking in these. In simple faith, trust, obedience, reliance. Because God said it. And that's all the reason you need. That's all the reason you need.

[51:17] God said it. That's it. That is traveling first class. Enjoying the Christian life to no end. I didn't even get to the subject.

[51:29] I apologize. What about my future sins or sins committed after I came to Christ? We'll just have to reserve that for our next one.

[51:40] And I apologize. I don't have time for Q&A this morning. But I'll try to allow extra time for Q&A next week. And we'll deal with this issue.

[51:51] What about Christians? What about people who sin after salvation? Which is talking about every last one of us. What do we do about that and with that?

[52:03] And we'll discuss that then. All right. Thank you for your kind attention. Let me have a word of prayer and we'll dismiss. Father, we have delved into subject matter that in many ways escapes us.

[52:17] And we want to be more thorough than we are. And yet we realize that this is really important material even though we don't understand it as much as we want.

[52:29] And we pray that these who are here this hour will be able to take this and build upon it and extend it and see the implications of it that I haven't seen even in their own mind.

[52:41] And then even be willing to share them with us. Thank you for what you have been pleased to reveal. We can only imagine how much there is out there that we haven't even dreamed of that you've provided.

[52:55] We bless you and thank you as well for that. We pray that this content will be used to stimulate us to further thinking and that we will build upon it for sessions that lie ahead.

[53:07]  We ask your blessing upon it in Christ's name. Amen. You are dismissed. And for you gentlemen who are able to help me, I would appreciate that so much.