What Does It Actually Mean to "Believe" the Gospel?

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back. Well, I don't think we've lost a one yet, so good to have everybody. And I noticed, my, somebody beside you brought cookies today, didn't they? There's a whole row of them out there. So wherever you were, we know Laura always does now, so we appreciate that. Okay, for those of you joining us on television, or wherever you are, we're in just an informal Bible study, and I guess my favorite expression is, what the Book says. And after all, that's all we can go by. It doesn't matter what I think, or what someone else thinks, but what does God's Word say about it? And a lot of people try to twist some of these things and make an argument out of it, but usually the Word is so plain, and we can just take it for what it says. And as we saw in our last half hour, what God is looking for more than anything else is faith. Believe it, believe it with all your heart. In fact, I guess maybe I better take a minute. I've had questions come up the last two, three weeks. But Les, what do you mean when you say believe? And I suppose everybody thinks of that. Well, number one, it's not just a mental assent to an historical fact. That's not believing. I mean, just because somebody says, Oh yeah, I believe that Christ was crucified. I believe, yeah, I believe that He probably rose from the dead. Hey, that's not what the Bible calls believing. Believing is when our whole being, this whole mind, will and emotion, which is also going to have its effect upon the physical body, but when this whole mind, will and emotion recognizes that it's hell bound, it's hopelessly lost, it's without God, and then it can say, Yes, I believe with all my being that Christ didn't just die a historical death, He died for me. And that's why we call salvation personal. We have to come to the place that we understand and believe with all our heart that He died for me. Not in a wholesale number, but me, you. I always have to say, this may be hard for some people to believe, that He knows everybody individually, but I always compare everything again to the stars in space. Billions upon billions upon trillions of stars. Has He ever lost track of one of them? Not a one. And He knows them all by name, the Scripture says, and so if He can keep track of the trillions and trillions of stars, then He can keep track of a few million believers, that I know. And so that's what I maintain, that it's by believing and believing alone, it's not just a mental assent to something, it is literally saying, God I am casting my whole eternity on what You have done for me. That's what I mean by believing, and that's faith, because God has said what He has done. Now getting back to my usual remarks, we have all the past programs of course available on videotape and audio, and in the printed page, and these little books are just going out to anywhere and everywhere. I had the best little bit of information from somebody I think out in Carolina, and they were sending our videotapes to a friend or relative in Africa, in Uganda, and what was the other one right next to it? I had it in the tip of my tongue, but anyhow the other country right next to it, and they're using our tapes in junior highs. Now isn't that amazing? And he said they've tried other material, and the kids just didn't latch on to it, and they couldn't get the first base, but he said they love your tapes, so you pray for something like that. And it's amazing to us, we didn't even know it was being done, but he just ordered more tapes, and we just say God gets the glory. So you be much in prayer for us, and as I mentioned in the last couple programs, if you're out there in television and the Lord leads you to help us financially, we don't have any great big surplus. In fact we just looked at the books a little while ago, and we're even. We got our bills paid, but we got nothing left over, so don't ever get the idea. I told somebody the other day, I guess I think because I'm a rancher I got 3-4 oil wells, and he doesn't need any help. Well I wish that were true, but sorry to say I don't have an oil well, and the cattle market is not that good, so we just can't stay on the air unless we get some help. Now let's go back to Ephesians chapter 2 again, and we're going to be a long time in this chapter I believe, because it's so loaded. Now in verse 3, we're still looking at the lost person for a few moments, and then I want to move on to the believer's side of the coin. Ephesians 2.3 For the unbeliever, out of whom believers have come, we also had our conversation or manner of living in times past. This is the lifestyle of the person who has never entered into salvation. They are under the control of the old Adamic sin nature. Satan is the God of this world to them, whether they know it or not, and so this is what happens. They fulfill the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, God's wrath, even as others. Now let's go back to Romans and again let Paul give us some graphic description of the lost person's frame of mind, and that's where you and I were. That's what this is. This is what you were. We were saved out of it, but for the person who has never been saved, he's still in it. And whether they practice it or not is beside the point. God sees that they have the potential for it. The old sin nature has the potential. Have you ever wondered how can people do the things that they do? We read of the horrible murders, or we hear of the horrible carnage that soldiers will bring upon countries that they're overrunning, and you say, how can they do that? Well it's because that's just exactly what the old sin nature revels in. The only reason it's not more of it is because society has inhibited it, kept it under control to a certain degree, or we wouldn't have a society. But you turn society loose without government restraint, and what we call anarchy, this is what you'll have. Back to Romans chapter 3. Now this is the manner of living that Paul is referring to in Ephesians chapter 2, out of which every one of us have come. In verse 12 Paul has just made mention up in verse 9 that it includes Jews as well as Gentiles. They are all gone out of the way, they are together, Jew and Gentile, become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher, their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asses, or of serpents, is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, or murder. Destruction and misery are in their ways. Now stop a minute. Go all the way back into World War II. What is usually the result of war? Destruction and misery. I was reading the other day of how Germany as a result of the Allied bombings was totally demolished. Those beautiful cities just reduced to rubble, but that was only the half of it, and I had never read it before. But when the Russians came in from the east, they literally raped the German women, by the thousands. That�s war. What is it? Destruction and misery. It�s the very make-up of this individual. Given the license to do it, he�ll do it. Now let�s read verse 17. Ephesians 1.7a "...the way of peace they have not known." You know a lot of times young people say, why does God sanction war? God doesn�t bring it on. It�s the work of the curse. It�s the work of mankind in his satanically inspired sin nature. It�s a wonder the world has lasted as long as it has, isn�t it? Read on. Ephesians 1.7a "...there is no fear of God before their eyes." That�s far enough there. Now let�s go on over to Galatians chapter 5, and this again describes the lifestyle of the lost person under this sin nature personality, given no inhibition. Now granted, in a society like we�ve enjoyed up until the last few years, we have inhibited this kind of behavior just by simply influencing kids and teaching them how to behave and so forth. But whenever a kid jumps the traces and goes against what maybe his good parents have taught him, what does he do? Here it is. This is the lifestyle of a person who has thrown restraint to the winds. Galatians chapter 5, verse 19. And it�s not a pretty picture. You know every once in a while my pastor will begin his sermon on Sunday morning, and he�ll say, �Now folks, I�m going to warn you before I ever start. I�ve got a negative sermon this morning.� And you�re not going to like it. But there are a lot of negatives in Scripture, and we might as well face it. Here�s a bunch of negatives. It�s not pretty, but it�s true. Galatians chapter 5, verse 19. Galatians chapter 5, verse 19. Galatians chapter 5, verse 19. Galatians chapter 5, verse 19. Adultery, fornication, gross immorality, uncleanness, moral uncleanness, lasciviousness, making light of these things, idolatry, something to worship other than the Creator God, witchcraft, hatred, variance or constant arguing, emulations, wrath. Have you ever wondered why the world just constantly erupts in demonstrations of one sort or another, and they get so angry? Well, here it is. Strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like of the which I�ve told you in past times, they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Because these are the results of living for the flesh. Now you can�t make it any plainer than that. That�s what the book says. I didn�t make it up, it�s what God�s Word says. This is the lifestyle of the natural man, and unless he�s inhibited, these things are going to run rampant. And of course we see it every day. Our newspapers are full of it, because restraint is being taken away, and consequently we�re seeing the results. Now let�s come back to Ephesians chapter 2, and we�re going to turn from the negative to the positive, and again it�s going to hinge on my favorite little three lettered word. What is it? It�s �but.� Boy you�re finished with the last part of verse 3, so that �but� really comes up. Ephesians 2.2 "...and we were by nature the children of wrath, headed for our eternal doom, and the second death, and separation from God." But. Not I, not you, not some denomination, not some church, but God. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love were with us." When did He show His love? At the cross. Love put Him there, not the Romans. So He who is rich in mercy, for His great love were with us, and He loved us. Oh goodness, and here comes the repetition I warned you about at the beginning of the first half hour. He�s going to say the same thing that He said in verse 1. Well what happened? Well the Holy Spirit didn�t lose His mind, the Holy Spirit is emphasizing. Ephesians 2.2 "...dead in sins God hath quickened, or made us alive together with Christ." And oh goodness, it isn�t by works you�re saved, but by grace you�re saved. We didn�t deserve it, we didn�t work for it, we never did anything for it. Now let me take you back to Exodus, I think it is, Exodus 33, maybe 32, I have to look a minute. Sometimes these things I don�t intend to use, but this just comes to mind, and I�ve got to use it. Exodus 33, and you know back in chapter 32, Israel worshiped the golden calf, and there was a lot more there than met the eye. It was wickedness, it was awful, and God and Moses were up there in an altitude where they could have looked right down on them, and still they didn�t. And then you see when you come to, oh let�s see, let�s look at chapter 32 first, verse 10, Exodus 32. Moses and the Lord are now conversing over these horrible things that the Israelites are doing around that golden calf. Exodus 32, and God in so many words says, Moses I�ll start over with you, I�ll make of you a great nation. But Moses besought the God of Israel, and said, Lord, why doth this wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief he did bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them?" Then verse 13, and Moses goes on and he says, God remember Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, and all the promises you gave to them. Remember them, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thy own self, and said, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of, I will give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever." Moses said, Lord you remember that, you know what you�ve said, don�t destroy them. But you see it wasn�t the words of Moses that changed his mind. Now let�s come down to chapter 33, and come down to verse 18-19. And Moses said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory, and he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. Now here comes the mind of God. This is exactly what Paul is proclaiming in Ephesians, but God who is rich in mercy, wherewith He loved us. How could God do it? Well here it is. Don�t you forget it. Ephesians 3.14-15 What is God declaring? His sovereignty. He is absolute, and if He wants to spare the Israel in spite of all their sin, and not just because of Moses� plea, but because of His sovereignty, He could show mercy and spare the nation. Now I�ve brought that out in this program before. There at the cross, as those Romans were driving those spikes, what could God have done? He could have zapped the whole lot of them. He could have said, enough, I�m going to start over. But what withheld that kind of action? His mercy. What nailed Him to the cross? His love, His mercy, all because He is sovereign. If He were not sovereign, He couldn�t do that. But it�s His universe. It�s His world full of people. It�s His cattle on a thousand hills. And He can show mercy, if He wants to show mercy. But what�s His other prerogative being sovereign? He can pour out His wrath, and one day He�s going to. One day He�s going to say, I�ve had enough, and I think we�re getting close. One day He says, I�ve poured out mercy, but now I�m going to end it. And He�ll pour out wrath instead, and it�s coming. The world is getting ready for it. One of the big things that took place Monday that I think very few people realize, is just exactly what this Book was telling us was coming. And what was it? The introduction of the new currency in Europe, the Euro. Oh it�s bringing this Book right up into the spotlight. It�s getting so close, the world is getting ready. I told Iris I don�t like to do this, but I can just almost say, I told them so. A couple years ago I think I put it in my newsletter. Watch Western Europe, they are coming to the fore. Their population is already beyond America�s. Their gross national product is catching up real fast. One of these days it�s going to surpass us, and I think and I say this with all the love for America that a person can have. I can see the day coming that this new European currency is going to make the dollar blush with shame. It�s going to overtake. Why? Because that�s where prophecy has to be fulfilled. It�s going to be out of the Western European, or the old Roman Empire revived. Now if you�ll come back with me to Ephesians then. Ephesians 2.4 For his great love. Now there again I don�t think we�re going to comprehend the love of God until we get to glory. We�re human, and everything is so limited for us. But oh when we enter into the realms of glory, then we�re going to have a full understanding of all these things. Of what love He really had when He poured out His mercy. And when we were dead in sin, and we were living in a lifestyle of adultery, and fornication, and envy, and all those things that were listed, God reached in and what did He do? He quickened us. But first what had to happen? Now come back with me to Romans. This is really a review of some of the things we�ve taught in months and years gone by, but come back with me now to Romans chapter 6. Then we can get back to the board, because somebody said, I have to leave before that last half hour, but please finish that third circle. So I�m going to try. Romans chapter 6. Verse 5. If we have been planted, or we have been buried together in the likeness of His death, identified with it, then we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Now to put that in plain English, what is it? If we die with Him, we�re going to be raised with Him. Now verse 6. Now this comes by faith, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him that the body of old sin, or the old Adam might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now let me get back to the board if I may, and we�re going to have to put the cross up here. Now this old sin nature, dwelling within the body of flesh, and no spirit over here, but now when we have taken this old Adam, and by faith we have let him be crucified by an act of God, which is precipitated by our faith. The moment we believe the Gospel, that all this was done on my behalf, God reckons old Adam over here as crucified. He is stripped of His power, and His control over the acts of the body, and so as soon as He is reckoned as crucified, God moves in and supernaturally gives us a new nature, a divine nature, and the old is still with us, but He has lost His power, His control, and the moment that God reckons us as dead in the old Adam and crucified, God also opens up the lines of communication by regenerating the spirit that Adam had over here, that was not here, and now then the born again, or the believing individual, still has the same body. It�s still one day going to die physically if the rapture doesn�t take place, but this new nature is now enlivened with eternal life, and it�s not going to go to hell. The moment it separates from this body, it goes up to paradise into the presence of the Lord. But until we die now, we are functioning in this mode. We are still in the body of flesh with all of its passions and desires, and the lusts and so forth, but the new nature combats that. And we keep the old nature under control by virtue of the regenerated Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, who now has fellowship with our spirit, and so now working with this is going to control this. Now back up again to Galatians chapter 5 for just a moment. Verse 17. A lot of people don�t realize that when we become a believer, we are left now with two natures. A new divine nature that wants to please God, that�s under His control, but God still leaves the old nature, and He expects us to deal with Him. And here it is in Scripture. Galatians 5. For the flesh, the old sin nature, lusteth against the Spirit, the Holy Spirit that is now indwelling us. And the Spirit wars against the flesh, the old nature. And these two natures are contrary one to another, so that you cannot do the things that you would because you�re in a mode of spiritual warfare. And we have to keep that uppermost in our thinking. About this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. That�s Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.