BELIEVING IN CHRIST
John tells us, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him,” John 3:36.
This is a favorite text, with our Calvinist friends. They are sure it teaches that if one does not hear and believe the preached gospel he has no hope of eternal heaven. The simple problem is that they cannot tell the difference between believing in Christ, and believing the preacher—when he tells them about Christ.
Believing Christ
or Believing the Preacher
It is that distinction—believing Christ and believing the preacher—that makes all the difference. And make no mistake; that is the subject under consideration. John says it in no uncertain language. He talks about he that believeth on the Son, and he talks about he that believeth not the Son. Not one word about believing the preacher. Not one word about believing the soul-winner.
The carnal nature of men—even very spiritual men—is such that they cannot resist slipping man and his work into the formula. Man wants his recognition. But you can push and tug all you want to; it will not work. This text does not provide the slightest crack to squeeze man and his work into the operation. Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior, and he will not share his honor with any other.
Isa. 42:8, “I am the Lord; that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.”
The One and Only Savior
God is the one and only Savior; he does not need any help. But the pride of man bristles at the thought that God saves his people without any help from man. He just cannot bear the thought of being left out of the process.
There are some very real differences between Arminianism and Calvinism; but on this point they are identical.
To be sure, they approach the question from different directions. The Arminian is convinced God cannot save the sinner without his help. The Calvinist is sure that he could save the sinner all by himself; but he will not; he always calls on man to do his part. But different though they are, both are convinced that man has his part to play in the salvation of sinners. The one says God cannot, and the other says he will not, save the sinner unless he participates in the matter.
On this most fundamental level they both teach the same thing as regards the preached gospel. The Arminian says that, in order to be saved, the sinner must hear the gospel and believe it, and it is up to him whether he does. The Calvinist says that in order to be saved the sinner must hear the gospel and believe it, and God will see to it that he does.
The one teaches that believing the gospel is the condition to eternal life; the other teaches that it is the means. Both teach that there is an unbreakable bond between salvation and the preached gospel. On that level they are identical.
Both insist on inserting man and his work into the formula, and they bristle at the thought that God saves sinners without their help. It is unthinkable that God would engage in such an important work without involving them. It wounds their pride. But unthinkable though it may be, that is what the Bible teaches.
Isa. 63:5, “And I looked, and there was none to help, and I wondered that there was none to uphold; therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury, it upheld me.”
The prophet tells us the arm of God brings salvation, and he does it without any help. It is human pride that imagines God needs our help in anything he does. If he cannot do it without our help; he could not do it with our help.
One Way of Saving Sinners
Keep it always in mind that God only has one way of saving sinners. He says, “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell from whence it cometh or whither it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit,” John 3:7,8.
Notice four things: First: everybody is born of the Spirit in the same way. God does not have one plan for the adult, another plan for the dying infant, another for the idiot, and another for the man who is never reached by the preacher.
If he saves the dying infant without the help of the preacher, he saves the adult the same way. The text does not allow for the slightest variation—“So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.”
If God’s word is true—and who would dare deny it—we are all born again in exactly the same way. With such clear evidence it is foolish for anybody to imagine different plans for the idiot, for the dying infant, and for the person who never hears the gospel message.
Second: the wind is sovereign; it blows where it listeth, where it chooses. Keep in mind that this wind is the Holy Spirit. It is hard to imagine a more graphic metaphor than the wind representing the Spirit of God. The wind blows in places where the foot of man never treads. It goes where the preacher never goes. God is not limited by man’s puny efforts.
Third: wherever it goes, it makes its presence, and its effects, known. Can you imagine a mighty hurricane passing through unnoticed? We all remember Hurricane Andrew. Can you imagine Andrew passing through—and nobody noticing?
The wind of God’s Spirit is no less powerful than the mightiest hurricane. Hurricane Andrew did not have any greater effect on the landscape, than God’s Spirit has on the heart of the sinner, when it does its mighty work.
That is why God uses the wind to represent his Spirit. When God’s Spirit does its work in the heart of a sinner, it turns his world upside down. He comes to love the things he once had no use for; and he hates things that were once the delight of his life. Once God’s Spirit comes into his heart, he can never again be happy in sin. If he finds contentment, he will find it in Christ Jesus—or else he will never find happiness.
And fourth: you cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. The preacher does not carry the Spirit with him, and it is not at his beck and call. God sovereignly and irresistibly sends his Spirit into the heart, and he does not call for an audience to watch him do his mighty work.
Isa. 45:15, “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, thy Savior.”
The Saved are the Believers
But our friends have a literal arsenal of proof texts which they think prove that the preacher—the soul winner—is involved in the process. They point to all those texts which identify the saved as those who know God. In other words, the saved are those who know God, and they are sure it is their role to provide the proper introductions, as if God could not introduce himself to his own child.
They point to those texts that identify the saved as those who believe in Christ, and they are sure the sinner could not possibly believe until they talk to him—and tell him what to believe—as if the Spirit of God is unable to witness in the heart of the sinner.
They point to those texts that talk about the personal relationship between the sinner and his Savior. It seems never to have occurred to them that the Lord Jesus Christ—living in the heart of his child—is a deeper, and more personal, relationship than the mind of any man can imagine.
It is hard to imagine that any person could believe he is able—by his preaching—to provide the sinner with a more personal relationship with his Maker, than God himself can provide by dwelling and witnessing in the heart of his child. To imagine such superiority of the work of the preacher over the work of the Spirit of God is arrogance in the extreme.
Christ in the Heart of the Sinner
To cast a little more light on the subject, consider, if you will, what happens when a person is quickened by the Spirit. When he is born again; the Lord Jesus Christ—in the person of his Spirit—comes into his heart. There are not many things the Bible tells us more often than it tell us that. Rom. 8:9, “….if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you….” Rom. 8:10, “And if Christ be in you….” Col. 1:27, “….which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Gal. 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me….”
In regeneration Jesus Christ, personally and vitally takes up residence in the heart of his child.
The very heaven of heavens cannot contain him, but he lives in the hearts of his redeemed, born again children. If the universe cannot contain him, how could he possibly live in the heart of one person? He can do anything he wants to do; he is God.
A New Life Within
When a person is born again, a new life enters his life. Jesus Christ himself tells us he is life itself.
John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
He is life itself, and when he comes into our hearts in regeneration, a new life comes into our life.
Col. 1:27, “Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
When we receive this new life within, we may not understand what is going on, but we cannot help but know that everything is different than it once was. Whether he ever hears a gospel sermon or not, once Jesus Christ comes into his heart, he can never again enjoy sin the way he once did. He now has an appetite for better things, and that hunger will never be satisfied until it is satisfied in Christ.
If he has a hunger for righteousness, he is a blessed character; Christ lives in his heart.
Matt 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
He will never respond to the gospel message unless he has a hunger for the righteousness that is revealed in the gospel. And if he has that hunger, he is already a blessed character; the Spirit of God already lives in his heart.
Coming to Know Christ
But somebody objects, “All you have said is well and good; but you have still not shown me that the Spirit teaches the sinner to believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God as a person; and that is what the Bible teaches; it teaches that those who are saved believe in the person of Jesus Christ.
Well, let us see if the Holy Spirit teaches us to know Jesus Christ, and to believe in him—as a person—or not. First, let us look at what the Bible spells out, and then look at how he demonstrates that very fact in nature.
First off, the Bible teaches in the clearest language that the Holy Spirit teaches us to know Jesus Christ—as a person.
John 15:26, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”
That sounds plain enough to me; the Holy Spirit testifies of Jesus Christ as a person. But there is more.
John 15:13-15, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
That ought to make it plain enough. It is the special work of the Spirit—not to glorify himself—but to glorify the Son. This is the province of the Holy Spirit, and there is nary a word about the preacher.
It Wounds Their Pride
This is the reason our Calvinist friends get so hysterical. They are confronted with the Bible doctrine of the Holy Spirit and its mighty work. They are told God can do his work without depending on them to help, and they are offended that they are left out of the process.
They are very much like the men of Ephraim, who became so enraged at Gideon, when he went to war with the Midianites without asking them to help. They wanted the recognition that comes from victory in battle, and they felt cheated.
Because they are left out of the work of quickening sinners from death in sin to life in Christ, they are convinced they are out of a job. But Bible doctrine does not leave the preacher out of a job; it leaves him with more to do than he will ever accomplish. It just shows that he cannot do God’s work—and that upsets him to no end.
A New Life in His Life
God gives us in nature a good illustration of this new life we receive in regeneration, and the evidence that new life brings with it. Bear in mind that this new life is “Christ in you the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). It is Christ himself living in your heart.
For nine months an expectant mother carries her child in her womb. There is a beautiful parallel to that in regeneration. Like the born again child of God, she has a new life within. In being born again, Jesus Christ—who is life itself—comes into the life of his child, and when that happens, that new life will make itself known.
Let me ask you. When that child begins to kick and squirm, do you think its mother needs a gynecologist to convince her of the life and existence of the child? A gynecologist can teach her ever so much about her condition. He can tell her things she needs to know, things she needs to do, but there are some things she will know without any instruction from the gynecologist.
There is much the preacher can teach us about the Lord, and what he has done in our hearts and lives, but you can be sure that if a life so vast the universe cannot contain him has come into your heart, there is some things you are going to learn directly from him without any input from the preacher, or anybody else.
Again, do you think that mother requires the assistance of her friends and neighbors to teach her to have a personal relationship with that child. Do you think she needs them to assist her in learning to love it, and to look forward to the day when she can see its face, when she can hold it in her arms, and hug, and squeeze it.
Or do you think there is going to be a love—a bonding if you will—between the mother and child, whether anybody else has any input or not. Do you think that maybe—just maybe—that relationship between the mother and her child is the sweetest and the most tender of all relationships. And do you not think her relationship with that new life within is a faint reflection of the relationship between the saved sinner and the Lord Jesus Christ living in his heart?
The Fruit of the Spirit
We cannot explain how Christ can live in the heart of the sinner. God takes care of that, and it is not our responsibility to figure out how he does all he does. But you can be sure that if one so vast the universe cannot contain him does come into the heart of the sinner, he will make it manifest that he is there.
How will he do that? The Spirit of God is like a tree; it bears fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is not law,” Gal. 5:22,23. That is not the work of the preacher; that is the fruit of the Spirit.
Those who would have us believe there is an unbreakable bond between the preached gospel and the salvation of sinners would also have us believe that those who live in remote areas never reached by the gospel—who never hear the preached gospel and so never have the opportunity to believe it—are doomed to eternal damnation.
They assure us that if we would only respond to their pleas for money, and help send the gospel to them, there are many who would live in heaven, who otherwise they would burn in the flames of eternal damnation.
But the Bible teaches no such thing. Read the text again. Gal. 5:22,23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Those are the fruit of the Spirit, and no person ever produced the fruit of the Spirit unless he was in possession of the Spirit. If any person has those character-istics—if he behaves in that way—it is an indication that God’s Spirit lives in his heart. It is evidence that he is heaven-bought, heaven-born, and heaven-bound.
The preacher may not have done his work; the soul-winner may not have reached him. But God’s Spirit has reached him, and done his work. God’s Spirit will do his work, whether the preacher does his work or not.
He is Truth Incarnate
When one is born again, Jesus Christ—who is truth incarnate— comes into his heart. He will spend the rest of his life sorting it all out, but as surely as Jesus Christ lives in his heart, truth lives in his heart.
John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
Keep in mind that the very universe cannot contain him, and truth is one of his attributes. That truth is as vast, and as powerful, and as all pervasive, as he is. If he is the very embodiment of truth, and if he lives in the heart of the sinner, is there any way you can deny that truth lives in the heart of the sinner? How can you deny it without either denying that he is what he says he is, or else denying that he can dwell in the heart of the sinner?
The Benefit of the Gospel
Unless, and until, the gospel comes to him in power, his mind will be in a state of confusion. He may not know much, if anything, about the doctrine of the Bible. He may not understand the doctrine of the incarnation, and depravity, and redemption.
Truth lives in his heart, but he still needs the gospel, and the gospel preacher, to help his mind to understand what his heart already knows.
Much of what the sinner knows in his heart is in “groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8:26). He needs the preacher, and the gospel, to help him find words to express what he has been taught in his heart; but he would not be groaning and agonizing over sin, and his need of a Savior, if the Spirit had not already done its mighty work. There is no way to calculate the benefit of the gospel in helping him to understand what God has done in his heart.
But the preacher takes far too much credit, when he thinks his preaching helps God in bringing the Spirit of God into his heart in the first place.
It Wounds Their Pride
It is at this point that the Calvinist—no less than the Arminian—becomes hysterical, when you tell him God can, and does, save sinners without assistance on the part of the preacher. It wounds his pride when you tell him God does not need his help.
The majority of the religious world errs in their disparaging of the Spirit of God, and its ability to do its work without the assistance of man. They err in their notion that the Spirit cannot go, unless they go along and help in the work. They err in their notion that they can do by their preaching what the Spirit cannot do by its power—quickening and teaching the heart of the sinner.
The Calvinist—no less than the Arminian—would have us believe the Spirit will not do its work, unless the preacher pitches in and helps out. They are sure the Spirit never exercises its quickening and teaching power in those regions where the preacher never goes. But the Spirit is not limited by the going and witnessing of the preacher.
The Spirit is no less powerful than the Father and the Son, and he will be no less successful in doing his work. God created worlds without number in places where the foot of man will never tread, and his Spirit is able to quicken sinners in those regions the preacher never reaches.
The Spirit of Truth
Not only are we told the Son is truth itself (John 14:6), we are also told the Spirit is “the Spirit of truth.”
John 14:17, “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.”
John 15:25, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth, and when that Spirit sovereignly, irresistibly, comes into the heart of the sinner in the work of regeneration, truth comes into his heart. There is no way you can deny that fact without denying the Spirit of God is what God says it is.
All Taught of the Lord
Most of the confusion in religion would be cleared up if we would acknowledge the office and work of God’s Spirit in the salvation of his people. It is placing the gospel and the gospel preacher in the office of the Holy Spirit that has produced most of the confusion. The preacher has his work to do—and it is the most important work any man ever engaged in—but it is not the preacher’s place to do that work that can only be done by the Spirit of God.
After its work in regeneration, the work of the Spirit is one of teaching.
Isa. 53:13 “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of they children.”
Notice that God promises he will teach all his children. It does not say anything about every child of God being taught by the preacher. The preacher may be lazy, or incompetent, or rebellious, but God will do his work, whether the preacher does his work or not.
Who Can Imagine Such Folly
We are told it is the responsibility of the preacher to warn people, and to assist them in escaping hell, and making sure they will live in heaven after awhile.
What a terrifying thought it is to think that God would suspend the eternal destiny of millions of poor sinners on the faithfulness of preachers. That would be folly in the highest degree. Who would dare accuse God of such poor judgment. Who could believe that God—who has all the power there is—would place such respon-sibility in such irresponsible hands.
The notion that the eternal destiny of sinners depends on the faithfulness—and the effectiveness—of other sinners to teach them can lead to some of the strangest conclusions.
Over fifty years ago I attended a seminar on soul-winning. One of the points the instructor impressed on us was the importance of personal grooming. She stressed that we should wear clean clothes; our shoes should be shined; our hair should be well combed; we should brush our teeth, and we should be sure to use a mouth wash. Wouldn’t it be terrible if our bad breath might offend the person we were witnessing to, and he would not listen. This might be the only chance he would ever have to hear and believe the gospel. He might turn away and never again have a chance to be saved.
I was just a boy, and I had a lot to learn, but it seemed a little harsh to think that somebody might burn forever because of bad breath. And it certainly seemed unfair that one person might burn in the flames of eternal hell, because somebody else had bad breath.
There is no end to the strange conclusions you will face, when you insist the eternal destiny of sinners depends on the work and faithfulness of other sinners.
He Guides Into All Truth
Not only does the truth of God come into the heart of the sinner, when Christ comes into his heart, he promises to guide his people into all truth.
John 16:13, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.”
The Holy Spirit is a far more effective teacher than our friends are willing to admit. Inspiration places no limits on the ability of the Holy Spirit to teach God’s people. Again, we need the preacher, and the gospel to help us sort it all out. Our carnal nature is such that it will twist and distort anything that does not suit its prejudices; and the witness of the Spirit does not suit the prejudice of the flesh. Even after one is born again, he still needs the gospel to deliver him from his own strange ideas.
But the ultimate teacher of every child of God is, and has always been, the Spirit of God himself. It is that Spirit that shines the light on the Bible, and on our own experience.
John 14:26, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
There is no need to comment. If anybody will not admit what that verse says without comment, he would probably not admit it with comment. The Spirit is not limited in its ability to teach his people.
Conviction for Sin
Second, it is the work of the Spirit to convict the sinner of his sinful condition, and his need for a Savior.
2 Cor. 7:10, “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
Matt. 5:4, “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.”
If one mourns because of sin, it is evidence the Spirit of God lives in his heart. The sinner, dead in trespasses and sins, does not mourn over sin. He is a sinner and glad of it; he loves to sin. He is convinced that nothing is very much fun, if it is not at least, a little bit naughty, a little bit sinful.
That is the reason places like Las Vegas, and Bourbon Street in New Orleans. and X-Rated movies, and risque pictures, make so much money. The sinner loves to sin, and if you tell him what he is doing is sinful, you only whet his appetite for more of the same. He is as much at home in sin as a fish is at home in the water. It is his natural habitat; he would not consider being any other way.
If you find one who mourns because of sin, you have found one who has already been quickened by the Spirit. The Spirit of God has come into his heart. It has taught him he is a sinner, and he needs a Savior.
The wicked often mourn over the consequences of sin; he may even tremble at the thought of eternal damnation, but if one mourns because of sin—because his ways displease his Maker—he is already born of the spirit of God. The wicked man does not care whether his ways please God or not, and if he does show a preference, he is happy to show his disdain for God and godliness.
If he can no longer enjoy those kinds of conduct that once gave him the greatest satisfaction, and he now hungers for something better, how can he help but believe something has happened in his life. If one so vast and so magnificent that the very universe cannot contain him has just taken up residence in his heart, how can he help but believe that something is very different.
Assurance of Salvation
The question is asked, “How can you know you are a child of God.” Again, the Bible provides an adequate answer.
Rom. 8:16, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
It is the Spirit that gives us assurance of salvation. The Calvinist is sure the Spirit is unable—all by itself—to give us that assurance. The preacher needs to do his part. He needs to explain that we have heard, and believed, and repented of sin; we have met the prescribed conditions; so we should take his word for it—we are now the children of God.
That is another of those differences between the doctrine of the Bible and the doctrine of most of religion. Most of religion assures its people they are the children of God, because they have done what is required, and they should take the preacher’s word for it that they are now children of God.
The Bible teaches that if one is born again, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” The one says we should take the word of the preacher; the other says we have the witness of the Spirit. If I must say so, that sounds like a big difference.
If I might digress for a moment, that is one of the reasons for the multitude of psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists in our day. We have such a multitude of advisers who try to help people without first pointing them to that one Comforter, who has already taught them in their hearts. Instead of pointing them to a multitude of authorities who can never agree among themselves, if these advisers would rather point their people to that one Comforter, who is never wrong, who is always available, and who has the solution to ever problem, how very much more they could help their people.
But do we not need the preacher to teach us? Yes, we need the preacher. The Holy Spirit is infallible, he is never wrong. But we are not infallible. We make terrible mistakes, and reach ridiculous conclusions. We need the preacher, and access to the Bible, to help us sort it all out. But you can be sure the preacher will never be able to teach our heads, unless the Lord has already taught our hearts. There can be no doubt that, especially in this work, God uses the preacher to confirm, and reinforce, that assurance. But the preacher cannot reinforce the assurance of salvation, unless the Spirit has already done its work.
Bringing Life and Immortality to Light
So what benefit is the preacher? The sinner needs the gospel preached in power to help his mind sort out what his heart already knows. He needs the gospel to bring life and immortality to light—to cast the light on what has happened in his heart.
2 Tim. 1:10, “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
The gospel does not bring life and immortality; it brings life and immortality to light. It casts the light on what has already taken place. It explains to the sinner what has happened in his heart.
From Faith to Faith
Paul tells us that by the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith,” Rom. 1:17.
That vital (living) faith, that comes with regeneration, responds to the evangelical faith, that comes with the gospel, and he is able to understand with his mind what he has believed in his heart all along. The gospel enables him to sort it all out. He is able to know with his mind the Christ whom he already knows in his heart.
And is there anybody who dares deny that the Christ revealed in the gospel is the same Christ who has lived—and witnessed—in his heart all along?
Not only is Jesus Christ truth, and life; he is love; he is the very essence of love.
1 John 4:8, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
When this love—a love bigger and more powerful than the universe itself—comes into the heart of the sinner, you can be sure it will have its effect. God himself, living in the heart of his child, will teach that child to love him, and to love his fellow man. Just as surely as that expectant mother believes in, and enjoys, and loves the child in her womb, the heaven-born soul believes in, and enjoys, and loves the Lord Jesus Christ, living in his heart and soul.
The gospel preacher can teach us to know more about the Lord, and the more we learn about him, the more we learn to love him. But the preacher has far too high an opinion of himself, when he thinks the sinner cannot love the Lord until the preacher teaches him how.
It was jealousy of God that brought sin into the world in the first place. The serpent taught our first parents to be jealous of God, and to aspire to occupy the throne with him. Most of modern religion springs from this same jealousy of God—this unwillingness to admit that God can do his work whether the preacher does his work or not.
Evidence of the Love of God
If you will, consider a couple of illustrations. During the conflict we call Desert Storm, the first war in Iraq, Saddam Hussein closed the Baghdad airport. Hundreds of Westerners were trapped; they could not get out of the country. It had not been long since the Iranians had held more than fifty of our people hostage. It was a time of national grief, and national outrage. It looked like the same thing was about to happen all over again.
A young lady was interviewed one evening on the six o’clock news. She told how she had escaped from Baghdad. An Iraqi citizen had loaded as many people as he could get on a Land Rover, and started across the desert for the Jordanian border. She said he drove ninety miles an hour. I really doubt that; it is hard to imagine going ninety miles an hour over the desert. But, no doubt, it seemed like he was going ninety miles an hour.
She said from time to time he would be stopped by Iraqi soldiers. They would turn him back. He would start back toward Baghdad until he was well out of sight of the soldiers, and then he would make a wide swing, and head out toward Jordan. When he unloaded his passengers, they tried to pay him. He would not take any pay; he did not want their money. He was just trying to save the lives of people who might otherwise die in Iraq.
Since Islam is the established religion of Iraq, and it is dangerous for anyone to embrace any other religion, and since the man probably grew up in Iraq, it is likely he is a Muslim. He may never have heard a Christian sermon in his life. He may never have had the opportunity, as our friends express it, to accept Christ as his Savior. According the most of our friends, since he never made that all important public profession, if he died in that heroic effort, he is today burning in the flames of eternal damnation.
But that man has more evidence that the Spirit of God lives in his heart than most of the church members I know. The wicked do not behave the way that man did. You can be sure he would never have behaved the way he did if God’s Spirit had not been in his heart, motivating and strengthening him.
The Works of the Flesh
The majority of the religious world has far too high an opinion of man in his unregenerate state. They are sure the wicked often produce the same righteous works as the born again child of God, or at least, that they often produce works so similar to those of the righteous that nobody can tell the difference. But the Bible teaches that is not the case at all; it describes the conduct of the wicked in very clear language.
In Galatians, chapter five, Paul tells us the kind of conduct the sinner engages in before the Spirit does its work. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like….,” Gal. 5:19-21. The human mind cannot imagine a change so profound as the change that takes place when the Lord Jesus Christ, in the person of his Spirit, comes into the heart of a sinner.
Before he is born again, he is flesh, all flesh, and nothing but flesh, and the works of the flesh are manifest in everything he does.
After he is born again, he still has the flesh, that old nature, to contend with, and so long as he lives, that old nature will manifest itself in a variety of ways. But now he has Christ dwelling in his heart, aiding him and prompting him to do better. And this man proved by his conduct that Christ Jesus lived in his heart, and motivated him, and strengthened him to do what he did.
But our friends tell us that, because he was born in a land where the gospel is never preached, and he would never hear a gospel sermon, he will one day burn in eternal damnation. Such a cruel doctrine shames the name of our Lord.
The Power of God to Save Sinners
God has all the power there is; he can do anything he wants to do. Who could believe he would make hearing and believing the one critical condition to salvation, and not see to it that every individual had ample, and equal, opportunity to hear the gospel and respond to it?
Who could believe that God would so mock his creatures as to withhold the very means that could save them from eternal misery? Or to say it only slightly differently, who could believe he would place the means of salvation in the hands of men, who are so often unconcerned, incompetent, or even rebellious? Who would dare charge his Maker with such folly?
A Cold-blooded Calvinism
Consider another illustration. During the last war in Iraq, the news media told of an Iraqi lawyer who learned of an American soldier (I believe her name was Jessica Lynch) who was being held and tortured by Iraqi soldiers. At great risk to his own life he managed to learn the building, and the very room, in which she was being held. Then he walked some five miles—through the battle—to deliver the information to the Allied forces. The Allies sent a special operations team and brought her out alive. Again, this man was probably a Muslim; he may never have heard a gospel sermon.
The Calvinist differs from the Arminian is some ways. The Arminian teaches that hearing the gospel and believing it is the condition to escaping eternal damnation. The Calvinist says that hearing the gospel and believing it is the means God uses to save sinners from eternal damnation. But both of them agree that unless a person hears and believes the preached gospel he will burn in eternal damnation.
This man probably never heard the gospel preached in power; he never had an opportunity to respond to it and—according to that doctrine—if he had died in that heroic effort he would today be burning in eternal hell. It is a cold-blooded doctrine that consigns to eternal damnation one who has such sincere love for his fellow man—one who has such clear evidence that God’s Spirit lives in his heart.
Those Who Oppose Themselves
We have no interest in disparaging those who believe that doctrine, and we will not question their sincerity. Carnal pride is a powerful thing, and—especially in matters of religion—it will insert itself in the place of the greatest honor, if it can. If there is any way to show that his efforts make the difference, he will do it.
The Spirit of God in his heart teaches him the exact opposite. Paul says, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would,” Gal. 5:17.
There is a constant warfare in the heart of the heaven-born soul. The Spirit prompts us to honor and magnify our Lord; our carnal nature would seize the credit and the attention for itself. We are told that in meekness we are to instruct “those who oppose themselves,” (2 Tim. 2:25), those whose carnal nature denies what the Spirit teaches in their heart.
But, while we have no desire to belittle those who believe in Arminianism or in Calvinism, we are truly thankful to know the grace of God reaches much farther than weak, fallible, and temperamental preachers have ever gone. We are thankful to know that if one has genuine, sincere love for God and for his fellow man, he is heaven-bought, heaven-born, and heaven-bound.
THE END