The Discipline Of Disciple-making – Sharing The Master’s Message

140525AM

ESH-16

Masters Message.docx

Biblical Exercises for Spiritual Health & Fitness in 2014 Series

The Discipline of Disciple-Making:

Sharing Our Master’s Message

Acts 9-13

Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles to Luke 19:10. I love it whenever we have the marker board up here. In fact, the father of the marking board is here this morning, Dan Smith. And Dan, thank you for thinking of this, because I’m actually a seminary professor at heart and have taught for many years, and still do when I travel overseas. Luke 19:10, as you turn in your Bibles, this is the theme of the Gospel by Luke.

When you go through each of the New Testament Gospels, you find that there’s an overriding backdrop theme. Matthew, Jesus is presented as the son of David. Mark, He is presented as the suffering servant. In the Book of John, He is presented as the divine Son of God. But here in Luke 19:10, it says that He is the Savior because the Son of Man came to seek to save the lost. So, the theme of Luke is Jesus as a Savior, as the one who came to seek and save. When you think of Savior, you think of someone aggressively seeking out lost people and seeking to save them. That’s Jesus presented in the 89 chapters of the Gospels.

Now, we’re looking at Acts. Think about the connection between Acts and Luke. The same author wrote both of them, and the Book of Acts is only a continuation of the book of Luke. So, Luke has already presented Jesus as the Savior who came to see can save the lost. So, the Book of Acts is us realizing that we are sharing on behalf of Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Gospel message, to see those people come to faith. Now, think about what this means. It means that every time we’re sharing the Gospel, we are right there being Jesus Christ’s hands and feet and voice and compassion. So, the Book of Acts is just a picture of Jesus seeking and saving lost people through those early believers. Jesus no longer was, as the Gospel’s show Him, personally from dawn to dusk, going out and preaching and sharing and ministering until He was so exhausted he couldn’t go on. He now transfers that to us. The Book of Acts shows those early disciples sharing the Gospel of Christ. So, that’s the context of what we’re doing.

If you want to be near Jesus, what the Book of Acts is showing is to share the Gospel because that’s what He’s doing. You want to be doing what He’s doing. You want to be connected with Him. You want to actually feel, in fact, a lot of times, and I’m a parent of many college students. It seems like we always had someone in braces. Now, it seems like forever we’ve had someone in college. It’s just amazing when the years of parenting go on. But I talk to a lot of college-aged parents, parents with college-aged students, and they say, what can we do to help our children not lose their faith in their college years? Have them share the Gospel. You want to have the most affirming, confirming, life-changing event in your life? Stand there as Christ’s representative and share the Gospel with someone and watch the miracle before your eyes of them being radically transformed. It’s the most faith-affirming thing I can think of to share the glorious Gospel of Christ.

The older I get what I enjoy is I just got a note from a guy who came storming into my office many years ago. In fact, at that time, I had a 79-year-old secretary. She was this high and weighed 80 pounds. This guy was a bodybuilder, weightlifter, law enforcement, and special forces. You know, with about 49 or 52-inch shoulders, just like Arnold Schwarzenegger used to be. Okay. That’s what he looked like. I heard this commotion outside my door, and I was getting ready for the midweek service, and I heard her say, no, no, no, you can’t. No, you can’t. You can’t. So, I opened the door to see what’s going on, and here’s this little tiny woman holding this great big giant guy. And in his eyes, he’s so angry. I said, Kay, let him in. Her eyes got big, she said, really? I said, oh, yeah. I said, if I ever know anybody out there, I will always meet with them. So, you let me know he is out there, and I’ll meet with him.

So, he came in, and as soon as he walked into my office, he went right to his knees, and he just dropped to his knees in my office. I knew why he was there. He had become under conviction of his sin. He had heard the Gospel, he had resisted the Gospel, and now he was just pressing into the kingdom of God. He wanted so badly to be forgiven of his sins that he felt the burden of. I just heard from him and he told me. He says, God has utterly changed my life. The miracle of salvation. You want to be near Jesus, share the Gospel. Every time we share the Gospel, he’s right there. When anyone gets saved, Christ is right there next to them. He is the one who saves them. We don’t. Everything important for now and for eternity is tied to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Book of Acts is just a picture of Jesus seeking and saving the lost using people.

That takes us to the next. I was up visiting Bert Greve after his massive heart attack, and he was up and everything connected to him. He said I had some questions about your sermon last week that you didn’t address. And I said, yeah, I’d like to share them with you. He said, what is disciple making? I said you should come to church tomorrow. Here he is in the ICU yesterday, all connected. I said, you should come to church tomorrow. Hope he’s getting the stream.

This is the great commission I want you to see. The Commission of Christ was to evangelize the lost. Making disciples is nothing less than evangelism. Now, we think of making disciples as a classroom, and we think of training people and having a manual and everything else. In the Bible, making disciples was making followers of Jesus Christ, which happens through salvation. So, the Commission of Christ was to evangelize the lost, and all of us are called to that. And then after they get saved, this is what we call disciple-making. Most people, when they talk about discipling someone, they’re talking about training them in everything that Christ said a convert is to follow. But actually, in the New Testament, it wasn’t disconnected. It was a package. Everyone was going out, representing Christ, telling others about the Gospel, and then, when they came to Christ, everyone was involved in training them how to follow Christ. So, that equals making and training followers or disciples of Christ. The making is evangelism. The training is what we call discipleship. So, making disciples is what Jesus called leading people to salvation.

And because of that, and if you take in your bibles, go from Luke now to the Book of Acts, and I just want to quickly run through what we’ve already seen a couple of weeks ago and then continue with you because what I call these, and these are all based on what we saw last time, the core of the Gospel presentation.

Do you remember we looked in the book of Luke at the ending of Luke chapter 24? Jesus told them to go out with the Gospel, and He defined the Gospel. The core of the Gospel, which we saw last time, is that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name. That is Luke 24 verse 47. Repentance and Remission of Sin. Repentance that brings the remission of sins. Those two are connected. When God changes our mind and our whole life, which is repentance, we are converted. That process of turning, He remits us of all of our sins. So, that’s what Jesus told them to do.

So, what we have in the Book of Acts, Acts is just a picture. It’s a picture. Acts has 22 slides, you could say, 22 little video clips of 1st century evangelism. See, I want you to understand this is not what the evangelism, what was the name? Coral Ridge down there, D. James Kennedy Evangelism Explosion. They didn’t think this up; God did. God gives us, in the book of Acts, 22 pictures, slides, and clips of how in the 1st century, Jesus saved people using people. Now, the Gospels are people getting saved, and Jesus did it, and it was so clear then; either they received Him or they rejected Him. It was so clear. You knew whether they got saved or not. They either followed Him or they didn’t. So, it was so clear in the Gospels. When they rejected Him, they turned around and walked away. When they were saved, they followed Him, and they wanted to; they would do anything to be near Him. They just hung on Christ. But when He starts working through people, it’s a little harder to differentiate who gets saved and who doesn’t. That’s the problem we’re in nowadays.

But Acts is a divinely recorded and edited presentation of how, for 30 years, the Gospel went forth. Now, here’s what we saw. I’ll just run through these. What I’ve added is that this week I told you who is doing what. This is Peter. So, Jesus is seeking and saving the lost through Peter, and in chapter two, right here, we saw a summary of the first Gospel presentation. Here’s what it is. God saves all those who call on His name. And it came to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Who does the saving? Did Peter save all those people? No. Can you and I save people? No. God saves. See, this is what Jonah 2:9 says, salvation is of the Lord. It is God who does the saving. We share the Gospel. God saves people. We go out, and God does the work. We just have to be faithful in doing our part.

For years, when I was in seminary, I worked for American Home Products, Whitehall Labs, and Wyeth Labs. That was a historic drug maker, and I worked in the summer. I remember that they sat me down the very first summer, in 1981, when I worked for them, and they put me on the other side of a desk. A corporate person came from New York, and they said, you are representing American Home Products, a $6 billion corporation, and this is how we expect you to dress, and this is how we expect you to act. And this is how you turn in your reports. This is duh, dada dada da dah. I never thought when I represented them to pharmacists or to purchasers, I never thought that I made that stuff, and I was going to have to produce Anacin and Advil and Dristan and everything else. I had no idea that it was me. It was the corporation, and I represented them.

When I walked in, they weren’t talking to me. They were dealing with American Home products, which, by the way, in the $200-$300 billion of purchases, Pfizer bought them and they’ve been subsumed into that huge drug company, my former employer. But I was always just a representative of them. Peter is representing God, who saves people, and when God saves people, He saves them by them calling on His name.

You know what’s so interesting? I have people all the time, and I say, when did you get saved? I just asked that to someone yesterday, when did you get saved? I don’t know when I got saved. I said, God calls it the new birth. Either you were born or you’re not. Are you born again? I don’t know. I don’t mean to make fun, but Western Michigan is big on this. A lot of people say, I’m saved. I don’t know when or how. But it doesn’t matter whether you know when or how, God sees everybody the same way. He calls it the new birth. There was a point in time where if you walked up to a normal person on the street and said, what’s your birthday? I don’t know. Okay, so your parents didn’t tell you, but you’re here. So, you’ve been born. If they said, I don’t know, then you’d need to take them somewhere else.

See, what we’re talking about is if you’re here, you’ve been born. If you’re saved, you were born again. At an instant, God turned us from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, and He in our heart causes a change of mind. Our sins are forgiven, and we receive on the spot the Holy Spirit of God. God does that, and He’s told us He does it.

Now, we have to excavate a little bit. I talk to people and I say, okay, so you’re born a lost sinner. Let’s get this right. They think for a minute, and they go uh-huh. I say, okay. Today you’re saved. So, that means between when you were born and today, you got saved. And they’re hoping I’m not trying to trick them. I say, I’m not trying to trick you. You were lost at birth. Now, if they won’t admit that there’s no hope for them because God only saves lost sinners. So, everybody is lost at birth, and if today they’re saved, then between now and then somewhere in here they got saved. And I know what happened because God profiles it in His Word, and He does all these things. And what happens is, right here, conviction of sin. A person has to be conscious that they’re a sinner. That’s why babies can’t be saved. They can’t be born again. Now, in Q and A, I have already answered this. There is a provision for those who have never consciously come to an awareness that they’re a sinner, and the Bible talks about that. I’m talking about normal people who live to adulthood. They cannot be saved as an infant. Nobody is saved as an infant who’s alive today. Everyone is saved when they’re cut to the heart by the Spirit of God when they’re convicted of their sins.

And when they say, what do I have to do? And the Lord says, what you have to do is you have to repent. You have to have a change of mind that will lead to a change of behavior. When that happens, by the way, after that happens, this happens. See, everything’s backward nowadays. We have people who have never believed, they get baptized, and they grow up, and they’re not sure they’re saved. I’ve just described hundreds of thousands of people. They’re not following the script of the Bible. Everybody in the Bible, after they believed and got saved, they were baptized, but that’s a different message. I’m not covering that today. And when they repent and after they’re saved, God says, what I’ve done to you is I’ve remitted your sins, and you, at the instant of salvation, receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s keep going. Here’s the second time. It’s again, Peter sharing the Gospel. It’s Jesus Christ seeking and saving the lost. He’s using Peter like He wants to use us, and in Acts 3, the element that’s pointed out is that God turns the person. I have a lot of people, and they say to me, oh, how do you know when someone gets saved? When God turns them around. Because everybody He saves, He turns around. See, God is the one who’s saving. See, we’ve got it all mixed up. People say my pastor or I did this or that. I say, yeah, that’s wonderful. What did God do? When God does it, when we respond in faith, which is that change of mind, our faith no longer is placed in ourselves, but in God as our only hope, we’re converted. Remember, I told you last time, this is the word epistrepho. Strepho means to turn, and epi means to really turn. We’re converted. When that happens, God takes our sins and blots them out. He sends refreshing to us, He blesses us. This is what God does. Look what God does when He saves us. He turns away every one of you from your iniquities. If God saves us, He turns us.

Do you know D.L. Moody? Remember the evangelist from Chicago. He was preaching in London once 130, 120 years ago. He was walking down the street in London, and one of the high church people who didn’t like him, who was critical of his ministry, saw a drunken man in the gutter vomiting. He said, there’s one of your converts, Moody. Look at him. Moody said, yeah, he is one of my converts. When God converts him, they change. I converted him. There’s a man who knew his theology. When God saves us, He turns us away from our iniquity. Now, it’ll be explained. What’s the message? Peter states it: repent and turn, a change of mind, and God supernaturally converts us. We believe that changing our minds about God, God turns us away from sin. That’s why we say saving faith is life-changing faith. If you’ve never been saved from sin, you’ve never been saved from Hell, is what Peter is affirming that God said.

He goes on. Peter preaches again in Acts 4:12 and look what he says. There’s no salvation in any other for there’s no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Who saves us? See, God saves us. See, it’s a supernatural event. It is not the dispenser. When I would sell Advil to Ralph’s Supermarkets in Los Angeles, I wasn’t making people well. Advil made them well. All I did was show them how to get Advil. I don’t save people. You don’t save people. God saves people, and you can tell if He has, because he changes them. See, that’s the essence. Salvation is in Him, and He is the only source.

Then Peter goes on, here’s the fourth message. We saw this last time in Acts chapter 5 and look what he says. Now, this is a different setting. Peter’s speaking before the Sanhedrin. He is defending the Gospel and he says about Christ, Him, Christ, God is exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior. Now look at this. The Prince and Savior, God the Son, gives repentance. Now, the context of this message is that Peter was talking to the Sanhedrin, and so the context is Israel, but the same Gospel is to go into all the world. But in this verse, he was talking to the religious leaders, and he says, Jesus Christ gives repentance. When that happens, look what happens. Forgiveness takes place, and we are His witnesses to these things, and so is also the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him. See, Peter’s only reflecting what Jesus said in Matthew 7.

Remember in Matthew 7, Jesus said, someday there are going to be a group of people who go to church. They say, let us in. He says, no, I can’t let you in, you who practice iniquity. You never did the will of My Father in Heaven. You never came to Me. See, what salvation does is salvation turns my orientation from wanting and living for sin and self and my desires to being radically turned toward God and toward righteousness and holiness and His Word, and I hunger after Him. And my life, I am pulled back by my flesh, by the world, by the Devil, by temptations, but it’s only pulling me back from the new direction of obeying Him. Now, that’s why 1 John 1:9 says that we have to be constantly confessing our sins, and He’s constantly cleansing us from all unrighteousness because none of us perfectly obey or follow or respond to His spirit. But it’s a complete turn.

See, we have a lot of people who are trying to get back into Heaven. They are still headed toward the world, the flesh, the lust, and the Devil. That’s where they want to be. It’s like people are saying, come on and go to church. They’re saying, no, that’s what I want. What you should do is let go of them. Don’t make them think they’re going to Heaven. They’ve never turned; they’ve never been radically converted. See, it’s very, very hard to grow up in a Christianized place and have everybody telling you.

In fact, this week we had a lady walk in off the street wanting to speak with someone, and she met with one of our pastors. She walked in, and she had all of these struggles, and they said before we talk about all of your struggles, one question: have you ever been saved? She said I don’t need to be saved. She said, all my counselors told me that if anybody’s worthy of Heaven, you are. The pastor said to her would it alarm you if I told you that God says you’re not worthy of Heaven? That woman was stunned and looked him in the eye and said, read that to me again. He began sharing the Gospel. And before the time was over, that woman said, no one ever in my life told me I wasn’t worthy of Heaven until you. She said, I believe God. She right there on the spot repented of believing she was worthy of Heaven, confessed that she was worthy of eternal, endless destruction, and it just crushed her to realize the weight of her sin. Right there, she received the Holy Spirit. She was a different person. She walked out and she said I’d like to come back next week. I still have all those problems, but boy, everything has changed in my life. She still has all the problems; the husband who left her with the children, she doesn’t have a job, and all these other things, but she had a new heart. See, that’s what salvation is, and that’s what Peter shared.

Let’s go to the next one. Now, we have the fifth one. Peter joins Philip and Philip’s preaching along. Remember, we met him in Acts 6. He’s one of these super servants of the church, and for the first time we find a false believer. Now, Jesus talked about this, Matthew 7. He says, many will say unto Me. Jesus said, there’s going to be many of these false believers. Here’s the first one we meet in the record. Jesus warned of this. So, in Acts 8:13, Simon. Now Philip, sent by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, preaches the Gospel. As he’s preaching the Gospel, there are people responding to the Gospel. One of the people who responded is Simon. Simon believes. He assents to the facts of the Gospel. He says, yes, Jesus. I believe in Him. I believe He died. I believe that He is the Son of God. I believe. I believe. I believe. So, Philip says, okay. All of those who believe, there it comes up again. After you believe, be baptized. So, he got baptized and look at this.

He continued this. This would be the discipleship or the training. This guy is being taught, and he’s hanging around Philip, and he’s amazed, verse 13 says. He sees the miracles, the signs, which were done. So, he believed, he was baptized, but something’s missing. That describes a large percentage of Christendom today. Think about that. Many people in America believe the facts; they assent to the facts. They have been baptized, most of them by their parents, taking them in when they’re a little child, but something’s missing. When they hear messages about supernatural stuff, down deep, they think I don’t think that’s happened to me.

Peter shows up now. This is Peter. This is Acts 8:21 to 23. See, this is why we need Peter. Peter is the one that Jesus said, you have the keys. Peter opened the Gospel to the Jews in chapter 2. Now, he’s opening the Gospel to the Samaritans in chapter 8. In chapter 10, he is opening the Gospel to the Gentiles. And there we see Peter looking this guy in the eye. Philip says, this is the guy I led to the Lord. Peter says, uh huh, you might have led him to the Lord, but the Lord didn’t save him. Going through the motions is not salvation. Raising the hand, walking the aisle, and praying a prayer is not salvation if God doesn’t do something. See, that’s what we have to get into our minds, is salvation is of the Lord. God has to do something. He says, you don’t have a part or portion. In other words, he’s saying, you have gone through the motion, Simon, nothing has happened inside of you that’s divine, for your heart is not right.

See, what it’s saying is that salvation changes our hearts. It’s not getting us wet or joining something. It’s a change of our hearts. It’s supernatural. It’s something humans can’t do. I can’t change someone’s heart. You can’t change someone’s heart. I don’t mind going out and telling the guy who burst past my secretary, that was this guy that I got a hold of recently, or the got a hold of me. He was living a life of what you would call a lecherous life. God completely changed his heart, his appetite, his direction, everything. Simon, your heart is not right. Your heart hasn’t been changed. What’s the solution? Repent. Turn from thinking that you are going to do this yourself and let God transform you. Change your mind about God. That is what faith is all about. Repent of your wickedness. Say, I want God more than my sin and my wickedness and my whatever. And pray, if God, perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you, you need forgiveness. Peter defines where Simon was. He says, you’re poisoned by bitterness.

You know what? All of us have had horrible things happen to us. I was an abused child. I’ve told you that many times. Probably all of you were, too. I also got abused in school. I used to get spanked by every principal I ever went to school with. I was a very bad student and was doing things I shouldn’t have been doing. But you know what? I can look back on all those things, and I’m not bitter about them because I know that I’ve been forgiven and that God is in charge of my life. This guy was poisoned by bitterness and completely a captive of iniquity. If you’d have seen him spiritually, he was wearing…have you ever seen the people going off wearing the orange suits and they’ve got shackles on their feet and they’ve got the chain and it comes to the middle? They’re like this coming out of the courtroom after they’ve been indicted for something really bad. If you could see a lot of people spiritually who call themselves Christians, they’re just like this. They are bound by iniquity. When Jesus saves us, my chains fell off as the hymn writer said. My heart was set free. Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin in nature’s night. Thine I diffused a quickening ray. I woke, went forth, and followed thee. That is the supernatural work of salvation. This guy never had it.

Now, look at this. Simon believed, was baptized, but he did not receive the Holy Spirit, which was the seal of true conversion and new birth. This means belief and baptism without repentance were insufficient. He never repented of his sin, so Simon was never saved. Someone asked me after the service, they said whatever happened to him? He actually started a sect, SECT, a small group of heretical adversaries to the Church. You can read about them in Eusebius’ Church history.

Okay, so Philip, remember, goes on from this situation, and look what he says. The next person, he leads to the Lord, he says, now wait a minute. I’m not going to tell you’re led by the Lord unless you really are clinging to Christ. Do you believe with all your heart? Do you see Christ as your only hope? It’s not me. It’s not because I’m able to do all these things. Are you clinging to Christ? That’s what belief is. So, that’s how Philip was changed.

And the summary after these sixes is that people who are agents through whom Christ saves people tell the people that they really have to repent. They’re not worthy of Heaven. There’s nothing good about anybody that merits Heaven. Not even Mother Teresa. Nobody, not even Mary, the mother of our Lord. She said, God, You’re my savior. Mary knew she had to be forgiven of sins and so do all the rest of us who are saved.

Turn away from iniquity, and I can’t turn away from iniquity. When you and I come to Christ, we have those shackles on; there is no way. Sometimes they even put one around their neck. Have you ever seen them really go? They’re really shackled. I can’t get out of that. Christ releases me and turns me away from slavery to sin, and I’m saved from my sins. That’s what salvation is, to be saved from sin, doesn’t mean I never sin again. It means I’m not shackled by it anymore. Also, it makes me sick because I don’t even want to go that way. When I’m pulled from behind that way, it sickens me because I have a new orientation, a new direction, a new hunger, a new appetite, everything else. I’ve been saved and I’ve been forgiven. So, I can’t be poisoned by bitterness. I believe with all my heart. Jesus said, truly saved people turn from doing their own will. See, that’s what Matthew 7 is about. You know how you know you’re saved? You don’t want your own way anymore.

That’s why it’s really hard in America. We want to be fiercely independent. We want financial independence. God says Christianity is complete dependence. So, in our secular financial world, we want complete independence. In our spiritual life, we’re supposed to be completely dependent on God, and that’s why the Lord’s Prayer reflects this. Do you remember? Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. What is that? We don’t even talk about the kingdom of God very much. Wait till you see it in the Book of Acts. Seven times the Gospel is portrayed in the book of Acts as entering the kingdom of God. They taught people about the kingdom.

What is a king? You have a king. A kingdom has a king. Entering the kingdom is bowing to a king and saying, I don’t want my own way anymore. I want your way. I want to turn from my own will. I want to stop going my own way. My own way is headed to destruction. Turn me in the right direction. I want to do your will. You know what people say? That sounds impossible. It is. When people say, I want to be saved right now, I say I’ll point you to Christ. He’s the only one who can save you. I can’t. You can’t. They can’t. It’s impossible. It’s totally a work of God. No one gets to Heaven without God giving them a new heart and a new spirit.

Now, we get to the interesting stuff. This is the first one Jesus does. It’s been Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Philip, Philip. Now Jesus. Now this is interesting. The next Gospel presentation is in Acts, chapter 9, verses 1-6, where Saul is converted. It’s described twice outside of here, Acts 22 and 26. Something to note is, remember how Paul says right up here in verse 4 that it’s hard for you to persecute? You know you’re persecuting Me, and it’s hard for you to kick against the pricks. Something to note is that when Jesus saves someone, He’s right there. Remember, the book of Acts is showing Jesus saving people using individuals like us, but Jesus saves them. That’s why Paul got saved without any individual, because it’s Jesus who saves people.

If you’re leading someone to Christ, do you think about Christ being right there with you? That’s why, again, I said if you’re off in a far-off place and you feel far from the Lord, say, Lord, I’m going to obey You and go do what You called me to do. I’m going to start sharing the Gospel. You share the Gospel, and it immediately begins to convict us about what we’re talking about. We’re saying, whoa, am I headed in the right direction? Am I forgiven? Am I set free? Am I poisoned? See, that’s why you share the Gospel. It’s very impactful on your life, but if you do it, Christ is right there. Also, Jesus clearly identifies with us. Jesus told Paul he was attacking Christ when he attacked the Church. Jesus identifies with us so much.

By the way, here, and I’m not going to cover these because this is where we are. There’s no Gospel explanation. Paul again, in 22, gives the same account. He doesn’t tell how he got saved until you get to Acts 26, and we’re getting there someday. There, in verse 18, is one of the clearest Gospel presentations in the Bible. When we’re saved, our eyes are opened. We’re turned from darkness to light. We’re set free from the power of Satan unto God. We receive forgiveness of sins. We have an eternal inheritance. We have faith, being sanctified by Christ that’s in us. That is salvation, and that’s what God does. Okay.

Now, someone told me last week we’re not making any progress, so we’re going to make progress. Look at how far we are. We’re on Peter now. Look at Acts chapter 10. If you’re marking these in your Bible, verses 35 to 43 are Peter describing salvation in these terms: Believing, receiving. See, all we do is believe. We place our faith in what we can’t accomplish ourselves and cry out to the one who can, the Lord. We receive from Him remission of sins, and God grants us that. That’s in verse 48. I didn’t type it in here. He grants repentance. So, look what it says, the Word of God sent the children of Israel preaching peace. One of the works of righteousness, Isaiah says, the work of righteousness is peace. The effects of righteousness are quietness and assurance forever. The work of God in us brings peacefulness.

Did you know that this service is very hard on a lot of people? Do you know why? There’s a whole generation of people who need sound and activity around them all the time. They just can’t stand silence, quietness. Did you know one of the marks of salvation is the work of righteousness? It makes us peaceful. We’re not restless. We are living in the most restless generation. Did you read about the Santa Barbara boy with all of his video games who just shot up Santa Barbara? USC, Santa Barbara, and killed all those people yesterday? You know what it said about him? He was utterly restlessly living in his game world. Did you know if he hadn’t been killed in that exchange, and he would have been sent to prison for killing all those people, and someone from Prison Fellowship, Colson’s ministry, went to see him in prison, do you know what they could tell him? They could share with him that he could have peace through Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ was killed by being hung on a tree.

By the way, that’s an eyewitness account. Peter saw the crucifixion, and he said Jesus was killed by being hung on a tree. Interesting that he called the cross a tree. It was probably a tree that they clipped the branches on, but it was already planted in the ground, and they used it over and over again instead of digging a hole and dropping the cross in like all the movies. Peter said it was really a tree, but that doesn’t matter. Jesus was killed for my sins, and that guy who killed everybody at USC yesterday, he could have peace if he would say, Jesus, You died on the cross, because I’m a murderer and I’m restless, and I’m hateful and vengeful.

Look what he does: through His name, whoever believes. That’s why I love to read all those Prison Fellowship reports and all the others, Forgotten Man, and everywhere else that serves those people. All they have to do is believe in Him, and they receive remission of sins.

How many sins do they get remitted? Watch. Peter goes on with others, saying God gave the same gifts when we believed. God has granted the Gentiles repentance, and whoever believed, turned to the Lord. The Lord turns them. So, this is the ninth one.

But look at what they said. Forgiveness of everything. See, this is what salvation is. Salvation is, forgiveness of everything to all who believe. In Acts 13, it says this: Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, Jesus Christ, is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. And by Him, everyone who believes is justified from all things. That means every sin anyone has ever committed can be paid for by Jesus Christ.

Do you see why it’s so wonderful to share the Gospel? Do you know what it’s like to talk to someone who is so burdened with their sins, so pressed down with their sins, so guilty with their sins, that they’re drowning in their sins and they don’t know what to do? You tell them that you can be justified. What does justification mean? It means both the penalty and the record. The penalty is paid, and the record of my sin is removed. There’s no record. There’s no record of my sins before God because Jesus already paid for them. Isn’t that amazing to think about? The more you understand salvation, the more you want to share it because it’s a miracle, and you want to see God do that miracle.

Real quickly, if you look now, the Book of Acts is more and more describing salvation as believed. I thought we were supposed to say repent. By the way, by the time we get to the Gospel by John, the word repent doesn’t even show up in the last Gospel. It’s only believe. In Acts, 39 times the word believe is used to describe people’s response to the salvation message. But we’ve already seen in Acts 8 that some believe and they’re not saved. Jesus warned us about that.

So, what does it mean to believe? The Bible always defines itself. Jesus already defined belief in John 2. What He says is that there are people who assent. This is an assent to facts. In Christ’s ministry, even the people who crucified Him, the Sadducees, never said what He did wasn’t true. They never said You didn’t raise people from the dead. You didn’t make them see. They never denied the miracles. They assented to them. They said, He’s a miracle worker, but we’re not going to bow to Him, and we’re not going to believe in Him.

It was in Jerusalem at the Passover during the feast that many believed in His name because they saw the signs. They assented to the facts. This man can multiply food. This man can raise the dead. He can make wine out of water. They believed in Him. He did all that. They said, You did all that. But look, in the next verse, Jesus did not commit Himself to them. Do you know what that means? They weren’t saved. Merely ascending to the facts does not equal salvation. Jesus goes on as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him won’t perish, but have everlasting life. There’s a difference between an assent and whatever He’s talking about here.

That scene there is a beautiful picture of salvation, Moses and the serpent. We’re talking about an Old Testament event. Do you remember what it was? The camp of Israel was a big square. They had the tabernacle in the middle, and they had three tribes this way and three this way, and three this way, and three this way. And if you do the math, 603,000 families with all their children and their tents and their carts and their animals and all their farming gear and everything they’d ever owned their whole lifetime, dragging it through the desert to make a campground. With 3 million people in it, it is a minimum, if you just use the minimum square footage of a campsite, a nine-mile-wide by nine-mile-long campground minimum. That’s 81 square miles. Okay?

Snakes were biting people in this story. Moses, in the center of town or of the camp, put up a little telephone pole and wound a brass serpent around it on that pole right there. This person is vomiting and going through spasms of venom from a viper, and they’re lying, being blinded. There’s a paralysis of their nervous system from these vipers. It’s a horrible way to die. Here’s Uncle Joe over here, four and a half miles from the center of camp, and it says that whoever believes in Him should not perish. Moses lifted up the serpent. People would run. As soon as the word began radiating out, people came to Uncle Joe and said guess what? Moses just lifted up a serpent on a pole. We don’t have Medevac here. You’re never going to make it. But if you will just believe that the serpent is lifted up and that God can heal you, He will. You know what? Uncle Joe, right here in his spasms, if he in faith looked to something he couldn’t see and believed it was true, he was instantly healed.

See, he would cling to the event of that serpent lifted up as his only hope, and God ratified that belief by healing him. That’s exactly all we do. We go around to people; if you see lost people, they’re writhing in paralysis, and they’re foaming at the mouth, and they’re blind. We say, you know what? Someone was lifted up on a tree 2,000 years ago, and if you will believe that’s your only hope; God will totally set you free from your paralysis and blindness, and spasms. That’s the miracle of salvation.

Real quickly, beware of just being 18 inches from Heaven. We have four minutes to do this. Turn to chapter 2. I want to show you the book of James, chapter 2, because what most of us don’t realize is that while all of this book of Acts is going on, there’s a church in Jerusalem, it’s pastored by Jesus’ brother, his earthly brother James. James is the first epistle of the New Testament written. And James is pastoring all these thousands of people who came to faith in Jerusalem. A lot of them came to mental assent. He’s got to deal with that. So, he says, hey, watch out. Look at James 2 starting in verse 14. He says, watch out. What does it profit my brethren if you say you have faith, but you don’t have any change in your life? There are no works. Can you just say that you’ve assented to the truth about Christ? Can that save you? He goes on to say, verse 17, faith by itself, if it doesn’t have works, is dead. What he’s saying is, faith is never alone. Always attached to faith is the justifying works of sanctification. So, what James says all the way through verse 19 is that some people are going to miss Heaven by this far. They’ve assented to the facts. They’ve never had a new heart.

So, what happens? He goes on. He says, watch out for having mere intellectual faith. That’s verse 17. Faith by itself, if you just believe the facts, if you’re just like Sergeant Friday from Dragnet 30 or 40 years ago, you just believe the facts, that’s not enough to save you.

Also, beware of mere emotional belief. Look what he says in verse 19. You believe there’s one God, don’t think you’re doing well. The demons also believe and tremble. Beware of emotional belief. A lot of people have an emotional experience. They think they’re saved. There’s no change in life. They’re still headed this way. They still love this. Everything in their life is the world and the flesh. They don’t even want to read the Bible. They can hardly go to church. It’s hard for them to be around all that. When people drag them to church, they don’t want to leave what they love. They had an emotional experience. That’s not salvation.

So, what James is saying is this: beware of demon faith. What is demon faith? Let me just define it for you. Demons completely believe in the reality of God. There are no atheistic demons, okay? None of them are atheist at all. Secondly, demons completely believe in the deity of God. There are no liberal demons either. We have liberals today. They’re not sure about the miracles and if Christ is really God, you know. Demons completely believe in the supreme power that Christ holds over their destiny. None of these demons believes that everybody is going to go to Heaven. In other words, there are no, I won’t name names, but the guy who used to preach in Grand Rapids that love wins and everybody’s going to make it someday. Demons know that’s not true. Demons completely believe in Hell and the horrors of eternal punishment. Every time a demon saw the Lord, they said, You’re not sending us there now, not yet. It’s not the time. They believe in it. Demons completely believe in submission to God’s Word. They never expressed doubt that God’s Word was true, and they usually instantly obeyed the Word of God. That’s demon faith.

There are people like that. They believe in the reality of God, the deity of God, and the supreme power of Christ. They believe in Hell and submission to God’s Word. They just don’t have a new heart. That’s demon faith, and that’s horrible.

How do we apply the sermon James preaches here in verses 14 to 19? The application is this: just knowing the facts, believing the facts is not enough. It must be clinging to Jesus Christ, coming to Him just like we see in the Gospels. When people wanted to be healed, they came and fell at Christ’s feet, and they held onto Him, and they said, we know You can do it. You’re the only one. You’re my only hope. I want You to cleanse me. You know what? Everyone who came, He did. Some came and said, I want You to cleanse me, but I don’t want to change, and He said, no, and they went away. See how clear it is in the Gospels?

Intellectual agreement won’t save us. That’s James’ point. Emotional responses coupled with intellectual responses are also not sufficient. Demons had regular emotional responses. It says they dreaded, they quaked. True saving faith comes from God’s grace at work in our hearts. Saving faith is a repentant faith that comes from God and always results in a changed life. That’s why God’s grace is so amazing to watch when people get saved.

So, what I thought we’d do, because it’s time to go, is stand up. Okay? And after you get everything closed, let’s sing our testimony. And what I thought would be wonderful is to remember that salvation is when I’m saved, I’m a wretch, guilty, worthy of destruction. I was lost, but God found me. Boy, isn’t this good theology? God found me in my lostness. I was blind, and God restored my sight. If you’re saved this morning, because I know that Jesus Christ found me, He turned me radically in a new direction. He changed my appetite. I might eat something from the past, but it makes me sick. I’m allergic. All these people who are allergic to everything nowadays have this allergy and that. I have a sin allergy, and if you’ve been saved, you do too. It makes you violently sick. We hate it. Now we see something so beautiful it captivates us, and it’s all we want. And we just can’t get enough of it. That’s the amazing work of salvation.

Okay, you already know these words, so why don’t we just close our eyes and let’s sing to the Lord, Amazing Grace, and then we’ll go. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that says saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found; I was blind, but now I see.

Let’s pray. Father in Heaven, thank You for finding us writhing in the paralysis and blindness of our sin. Thank You that just by us hearing that You were like the serpent lifted up in the wilderness, and if we would just believe that You died on that tree for us, that You did everything, You saved us and turned us, You gave us a new heart. You put your Spirit within You, forever remove our sins, and there is no sin that You have not forgiven, past, present, or future. When we hear that, like John Newton said, it’s amazing to us. I pray that we would believe that so much we’d tell someone about it this week. And we would pray that we’d see the miracle of them come to faith. In the name of Jesus, we pray, and all of God’s people said, Amen. God bless you as you go.

Notes

Jesus came into the world to seek and to save the lost; and that is what it says as we open to Luke 19:10. Jesus spent three plus years talking to groups, and individuals, pointing them to salvation. Then He died for sinners, commending God’s love towards us, as Paul said. That is the heart of our Savior. That is the love of Christ. Jesus is still seeking and saving the lost, every day, all over the world; and He will keep doing that until the last moments of human life on Earth before the end.

If you want to be near Jesus: share His Gospel.

Each time we share the Gospel, He’s always right there. When anyone gets saved, Christ is right next to them, as He saves them. Everything important for now and eternity is tied to the Gospel of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

That’s why we are looking at Christ’s hand off of the plan of salvation to His Apostles. They learned for 3-plus years, then, listened to one last briefing, and then they launched out in the power of the Spirit.

The commission of Christ was to evangelize the lost and then train every convert in following Christ. That equals making and training followers, or disciples, of Christ.

Last week we began a survey of each of the “making disciples” passages in the Book of Acts.

Making Disciples is what Jesus Christ called leading people to salvation.

A person must be saved to follow Christ; and everyone who follows Christ is His disciple.

So the Book of Acts shows how the early church evangelized, or “made disciples” in the 1^st Century. As we read each of these 22 accounts we must always remember that there were dozens, hundreds, and thousands who were saved in those early decades. But, these 22 accounts are what God uses to illustrate how He wants us to see it done.

The Book of Acts lets us see and hear what happened. These are divinely chosen snapshots. Each is equally powerful, moving, and instructive. All of these accounts are just an expansion of the final Gospel challenge that Jesus Christ gave to the disciples before He launched them.  Never forget what our Lord Jesus Christ explained as:

The Core of the Gospel Presentation

In Luke 24:44-47 we find Jesus summarizing His ministry and formulating the sending off charge to His disciples, describing the content of their evangelistic ministries. Please follow along in your Bibles as I read His charge:

Luke 24:45-47 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. 46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 “and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  

Now as we turn to Acts we are actually turning on what would almost appear to be a slide-show with 22 scenes, that covers the first 30 years of Christ’s Church.

1^st Century Evangelism Displayed

Acts is a divinely recorded and edited presentation of how for 30 years the greatest message ever given was shared, by the greatest witnesses ever chosen. You see, the Holy Spirit empowered the Apostles to go and take the Gospel to the World. The Book of Acts is our most critical insight into how they shared the Gospel!

Message one (Peter): In the first presentation of the Gospel in Acts 2:21, 37-38, God saves those who call on His Name, repent, have their sins remitted, and receive the Holy Spirit:

And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Message two (Peter): In the second Gospel presentation in Acts 3:19,26 we see that God turns us:

1. 19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
2. 26 “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

What is the message? Peter actually states two parts: repent and turn. We believe, changing our mind about God; and God turns us away from sin.

Sin no longer is dearest to us: God is. The turning is God turning us towards Himself. That is what a believer is, one turned by God towards following Christ.

Message three (Peter): In the third Gospel presentation in Acts 4:12, God saves us:

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Message four (Peter): The next Gospel Presentation comes in Acts 5:31-32, as Peter says God forgives and gives His Spirit to those that obey Him:

“Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Message fIVE (Philip & Peter): The next Gospel Presentation shows us for the first time a false believer. Jesus warned of this in the Gospels, now we see it. Note Acts 8:13:

Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs, which were done.

So he believed and was baptized, but something was missing. When the Apostle Peter who has given every recorded Gospel Message in Acts so far shows up to confirm the veracity of this evangelistic outreach, he declares something was lacking from this man’s conversion. Listen and note the report in Acts 8:21-23:

“You have neither part nor portion in this matter (what matter? Salvation), for your heart is not right in the sight of God. (Wow, what makes a heart right in God’s sight Peter?) 22 “Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 “For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

Simon believed and was baptized but did not receive the Holy Spirit, which was the seal of true conversion and New Birth.

This means that belief and baptism without repentance was insufficient.

He never repented of his sin so he was never saved! Salvation again is stated by Peter to involve a turning from sin, which is called repentance and conversion.

Message SIX (Philip): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 8:35-37:

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

The summary after six Gospel Presentations: really repent, turn away from iniquity, be saved from sins, by God’s forgiveness, and by believing with all your heart. Jesus said that truly saved people: turn from doing their own will and going their own way, to doing God’s will and way. You say, that sounds impossible. It is humanly, that is why only those born from above are truly saved.

Message Seven (Jesus): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 9:1-6 which records the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, into Paul the Apostle. This event is described at length in Acts 22:4-10 and again in Acts 26:11-18.

Something to note is that when Jesus saves someone, He is right there, dealing with them.  If you are leading someone to Christ, do you think about Christ being right there with you?

Also, Jesus Christ so clearly identifies with us as His disciples that: when we are attacked, He is attacked!

Acts 9:1-6 (NKJV) Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

MESSAGE EIGHT (Peter): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 10:35-43 where salvation is described as believing, receiving remission of sins, and God granting repentance.

Acts 10:36, 39-43 (NKJV) The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— 39 And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

MESSAGE NINE (Peter & others): The next Gospel Presentation is in 11:17-21 where salvation is described as believing and turning.

Acts 11:17-21 (NKJV) If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” ¹⁸ When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” ¹⁹ Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

The vocabulary of salvation in Acts is very rich, “believe” 39x; “repent(ance)”[1] 11x; “turn” 9x. These all describe the same supernatural event.

MESSAGE TEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 13:38-43 where salvation is described as forgiveness of everything to all who believe.

Acts 13:38-43 (NKJV) Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you: 41 ‘Behold, you despisers, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, A work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.’” 42 So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

Here we find again the term “believed” used 39x in Acts to describe people’s response to the salvation message. As we already saw in Acts 8, there are some who “believe” but are not saved. Jesus warned us of this.

What does it mean to believe? Jesus has defined that for us in John 2:23-24; 3:14-18.

John 2:23-24 (NKJV) Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. 24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,

John 3:14-18 (NKJV) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Belief was further defined in John 20:31 as believing WHO Jesus Christ really is; and later in 1^st Corinthians 15:3-4 it is also in WHAT He did. Who Christ is and What He did is what these early followers shared. Real belief in the real Jesus is what was being preached way back then, as the Gospel spread.

Turn onward to Acts 15:13. Do you remember who was the first Pastor of the First Church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17)? It was Christ’s own earthly brother James.

Remember, the first church was in Jerusalem, right? The first pastor of that First Church was James. His sermons to the saints of the First Church are still available for us to read. In James 2:14-17 that first pastor, strongly challenged those large crowds that were swept along at the events of Pentecost and surrounding the birth of the early church. One of James’ messages was to:

Beware of being just 18-Inches From Heaven

Has all that you know about God traveled yet, those 18 inches from your head (intellectual knowledge) to your heart (intimately, personally making a choice of your will to embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior)?

Listen to James as a concerned pastor, challenging them as Paul later would say, “to examine” their faith.

James 2:14-17 (NKJV) What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

These words echoed Christ’s words in Matthew 7:21-23 when He solemnly declared:

Beware of Mere Intellectual Belief

Saving faith is life-changing faith. If there is not a changed life and resultant good works, that profession is a false profession. That kind of faith is dead faith.

Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:17, NKJV)

True saving faith can never be by itself: it always brings life, and life produces good works.

James gives a second sobering call to those who appeared to be believers in that earliest of all churches when he said in James 2:18-19 (NKJV):

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

Beware of Mere Emotional Belief

Demons have strong faith that is intellectual and emotional.

To illustrate this mere intellectual or emotional faith that is dead, James uses one of the most unbelievable comparisons. He explains the inner workings of the spirit world. Only here do we see applied, what the Gospels so clearly illustrate—the complete intellectual and emotional faith of demons that can never save them.

Beware of Demon Faith

It may shock you, but God’s Word testifies that demons have faith! What do they believe? If you analyzed all the times that the Gospels capture demon’s responses you would find that:

Demons completely believe in the reality of God. They have no doubts. They have seen the Lord, seen His Throne, know all about the spiritual world, and have met Jesus Christ personally. Demons could never be classified as either atheists or agnostics. They had an accurate faith in God intellectually, in their minds. You can believe all the correct facts and not be saved.

Demons completely believe in the Deity of God. Demons trembled in Christ’s presence while He walked the Earth. They have no doubts about who He really is. Often we hear the demons publicly stating to Jesus, “I know who You are” (Mark 3:11-12, 5:7). Demons had an emotional response to their faith, they feared, shuddered, and trembled.

Demons completely believe in the Supreme Power Christ held over their destiny.  They even would plead for some leniency, or mercy from Jesus Christ as the ultimate Judge who held their eternal destiny in His Hands (Mark 5:1–13). Demons had a firm intellectual faith.

Demons completely believed in Hell and the horror of eternal punishment. They knew and testified to people that they believed in the existence of a place of punishment, and knew that they were headed towards torment (Mark 5:7), and said that they didn’t want to go there “before the time” (Matthew 8:39). Demons had a firm emotional faith.

Demons completely believe in submission to God’s Word.  They never expressed doubt that His Word was true, and they usually instantly obeyed, though a few did one final shake of their victim, or convulsion just to show their malignant hearts. So as James repeats, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19, niv). Believing to the point of fear and trembling does not save. Only a life-changing faith, produced by God within, can save.

Now we need to apply this sermon James has just preached to our lives today. Just knowing and believing the FACTS is NOT enough.

First, an intellectual agreement or assent doesn’t save us. That is James’ point—intellectual belief is present in demons.

Second, an emotional response, coupled with an intellectual response is also not sufficient. Demons had regular emotional responses to their faith in Christ as Creator, as Omnipotent Ruler, and as the Ultimate Judge. None of those intellectual and emotional responses prompted by their faith were sufficient.

Third, true saving faith only comes from God’s grace at work in a life. Saving faith is a repentant faith that comes from God and always results in a changed life. That’s why God’s grace is so amazing: it saves wretches like each of us really are.

Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now am found,

was blind but now I see.

[1] Revelation also contains “repent” 12x with 8x in Christ’s words to the churches: Ephesus 2x; Smyrna 0x; Pergamos 1x; Thyatira 3x; Sardis 1x; Philadelphia 0 x; and Laodicea 1x.

Slides