GRACE FOR TODAY Radio Message #523
HAVE YOU EVER
HEARD THE WORD OF TRUTH?
Pastor
Don Fortner
Grace Baptist Church of Danville
2734 Old Stanford Road
Danville,
Kentucky 40422-9438
“In whom ye
also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation.”
Ephesians 1:13
There
are several things in this sentence which are of tremendous importance. Be sure
you carefully observe the language of Holy Scripture.
“In Whom”
Notice
here that the Object of all true, saving faith is a “whom”, not a what! “In whom
ye also trusted.” We are often wrongfully accused of saying sinners must
attain a certain degree of theological knowledge before they can be saved.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Our detractors are either incapable of
understanding plain English or they are liars. We do not suggest that a person
must know the right doctrine, but that he must trust the right Savior!
We do insist, according to
the Word of God, that all who know and trust the Christ of God are taught of
God, walk in truth, and cannot be deceived by the damning heresies of Arminian,
freewill, works religion (John 6:45; 10:5; 1 Cor. 2:15-16; 1 John 2:20, 27).
The question is not “How much must a person know to be saved?” The question is
“Who must a person trust to be saved?” Those
who trust a false Christ are not saved. They may be very moral, but they
are not godly. They may appear very pious, but they are not spiritual. You are
saved only if you trust him whom the Father trusted in eternity.
“The Word Of Truth”
How is it that we came to
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul tells us that faith was granted to us as
the gift of God “After that ye heard the
word of truth.” The gospel of the grace of God is called the Word of truth,
more correctly, the Word of THE TRUTH. It
is called that for many reasons. It came from the God of Truth. It speaks of
Christ who is the Truth. It is revealed by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of
Truth, who leads us into all truth. It is this Word of the truth by which the
Spirit of God sets sinners free. God does not save his people apart from, or
without the Word of the Truth (Rom.10:17; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23). And he
certainly does not save them by hearing and believing the lies of freewill,
works religion. If you think you or anyone else was saved before you came to
trust the Christ of God through the hearing of the Word of the truth, according
to this text and the whole testimony of Holy Scripture, you are dead wrong.
“The Gospel Of Your Salvation”
The Word of the truth which
we heard, not by word only but by the power of God the Holy Spirit, is called “THE
GOSPEL OF YOUR SALVATION”. Here we are told that the Holy Spirit, when
he regenerates and calls sinners from death to life and gives them faith in
Christ, does so by declaring to them, declaring in their hearts what Christ has
done for them. We came to know the Lord when God the Holy Spirit brought the
light of the gospel into our souls (2 Tim. 1:9-10). The Word of Truth, the Word
of God is not preached unless and until the gospel of salvation accomplished in
and by the Lord Jesus Christ is preached (1 Pet. 1:23-25). Thus, we are once
more instructed here in the fact that the preaching of the gospel is God’s
ordained means of grace. AMEN.