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Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 456 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text -- Brother Thomas: We're glad to have these brothers here from Tennessee today. Praise God! Now I'm going to speak to you on this subject--How to be saved. I especially want this...I have to keep in mind when I'm preaching here, it's not just for you, because actually more people hear this than we have here, by far and large--maybe 20 times as many, maybe more than that. I don't know. When you're going out on the radio all over the world and then on two different TV networks, why you don't know who's gonna hear it. So I'm trying to help them too. So you be patient with me. I want to read Romans chapter 10, down through 17. "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it?" You'll notice that expression...I noticed that Mike used that expression last week in his testimony. And it's not what man says, it's what the Word of God says. "What saith it?" I'll find it here in a second. Third? Eight, oh yeah, I've gone down there. "But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. "For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." How to be saved, that's the question. First of all, a person's got to be lost before he can get saved. He's lost, he just don't know it. He has to be made conscious of it. That's what I'm talking about. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 9 verse 12, "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." All of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Nobody'd argue with that. I don't think you would. "If we say that we have no sin," now what do we do? "We deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Now, the first thing I want to notice here now is religion is a blinding thing. The first three verses, the apostle Paul who wrote this book of Romans, he said that the Jews as a whole, they had "a zeal for God but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." I wonder how many religious people would be in that condition today. My God, I would say most of them. Most religious people would be exactly like the Jews were. They don't even know what the righteousness of God is. Proverbs 14 verse 12 says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." And I call your attention to some other scriptures. In John chapter 6, verse 44, Jesus said, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." But they're getting them saved today whether God is drawing them or not. That's right, decisionism. They explain it to them. They explain some things I just said. "You're a sinner now, aren't you?" "Yeah I'm a sinner." "Well, it says here believe. Come on and believe." That's like a man getting married today to a beautiful young woman and saying, "Honey, I want us to have a baby this afternoon." Makes as much sense--makes just as much sense. "No man can come to me," Jesus said, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Now you can use all kind of invitations. You can use all kind of gimmicks, all kind of psychology, but if God isn't drawing him, you will never come. Then in John 6 verse 37, Jesus said this. Now this gives us peace. It gives us rest. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." I don't have to struggle. I've heard them tell all kinds of stories about how many people'd be lost if we don't do this and do that. They don't want a single one of them to be lost. Let me quote it again. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out--" every single one. That makes me rest. We used to think we had to get out and witness and give out tracts, go from door to door, have revivals and do all we could to get people saved, even get them to lift up their hands and admit they were sinners. Then after they got them to lift up their hands, say stand up now. They'd stand up there looking stupid before everybody. If you don't come up somebody gonna get you by the arm and bring you up. Does that make sense? Absolutely not. Praise God! I tell you, the Lord...here's what Philippians 1:6 says. "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." ( congregational praise ). They ain't no misses with God--no abortions, a home run every time. All that God's doing, you can't stop it. All you can do is just cooperate with the inevitable. Praise God! Hallelujah! But people are like these Jews here. Today they are, religious as...they're blinded. They don't know what we're talking about--the righteousness of God. Verse 4 says, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." You believe that? I believe it--"the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." In Hebrews chapter 7, verse 19, the writer of that book says, "For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God." And then in the 25th verse, he repeats this in reference to those. "Wherefore he is able,"--God, "to save," to what? "To the uttermost." How far is the uttermost? "Them that come unto God by him," here's why. "Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." ( congregational praise ). Hallelujah! If God was to just pick us up and put us down, saying now root, hog, or die poor, we'd all die poor. Praise God! He does not bring a single one to the birth that He doesn't take care of--one way or another. He can tan your hide when He needs to. Hallelujah! "By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." That's all it can do. It's like a doctor's examination. When you go to see a doctor and say, "I've got a pain down here doc." "Well, let's see now." He runs some tests on you. He gets a little urine, feces, says, "Stick your tongue out and say, 'Ah,'" and a lot of other things. Now is that to heal you? It's to find out what's wrong. That's all the law does--show you what's wrong with you. That's all the power it has. It cannot save or change one wrinkle. Christ saves! ( congregational praise ). He not only saves, He keeps those He saves! Praise God! Hallelujah! Notice here in verse 6 it says, "But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it?" There's that, "What saith it?" "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach." It's that close, but you have to act on it. What good does it do you to observe it from a distance? Hallelujah! Let's go over to Romans chapter 4. I want you to see something here. This is a good chapter. And once again, let's start at verse 3. Notice that again--Michael I think you discovered something. "For what saith the scripture?" It's not what somebody says. It's not what Preacher Thomas says. It's not what Preacher Jones or Doctor Jones or anybody else, it's "what saith the scripture. Abraham believed God, and it"--what? His faith, "was counted unto him for righteousness. "Now to him that worketh," that means you're trying to earn it, you're trying to deserve it, you're trying to get it because of what you do, he said, "that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." God would be paying you. I don't believe that, do you? "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Isn't that wonderful? God counts it for righteousness. Hallelujah! I tell you, we got a great salvation. We've got a great Savior--far greater than we realize--far greater. Verse 6, "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness," He puts it to your account, "without works." Blessed is that man that God imputes--puts to your account--righteousness without works. I was just talking to these brethren in the office there this morning, I said I'm not doing what I'm doing to be saved. I'm doing it because I've been saved and because I'm called. I had a good thought here a while ago. Christ takes care of past sins, present sins, and future sins. People can't see that salvation. They think it's just past sins. You've got to straighten up and fly right. If you did we'd all got to hell. ( congregational amens ). Let's note now verse 7 and 8. This is what David said. "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven," obviously that's past tense, "whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered." Watch verse 8. Now this is the capstone. This is what makes this so wonderful. "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." That's future. I believe with all my heart, mind, and soul that a child of God is just as good as in heaven. If you'll go to...well this is Romans chapter 8. This is a good chapter too. Here he says, verse 29, "For whom he did foreknow,"--now the God that knows all things, whose eyes run to and fro in the earth beholding the good and the evil, "There is no searching of his understanding," a God whose description is best defined by one word--L-O-V-E--"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son." What about that now? God has this on order for you and for you and for you if you're trusting in Him for your conformity to the image of His Son. Praise God! It's coming! What for? Why did He...why has God ordered that for you--that you might be conformed to the image of His Son? "That he might be"--Christ--"the firstborn among many brethren." I preach this sometimes. I call it "Many Brethren." People don't know this, but God knew all about us whenever Christ come into the world--whenever Christ come into being. He knew every one of us. He didn't wait till things happened and say, "Well, we've got to do this now, got to do that." That's us that does that. God's got it all laid out. Hallelujah! So blessed is that man. Now he comes on down here, verse 30, Romans 8. "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified." Now watch this. "And whom he justified, them he also," what? -- Congregation: "Glorified." -- Brother Thomas: Is that the past tense? Yes it's past tense in this sense--God did it then. He did it from the foundation of the world. Hallelujah! God has on order your glorified body now. It's not a happenstance. Hallelujah! He knows about every one of us and the reason He has done this is that Christ "might be the firstborn among many brethren." Now watch this--verse 31. "Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Now watch verse 31. "What shall we then say to these things?" What we gonna say about this? "If God be for us, who can be against us?" I'm gonna tell you something. You and God are a great majority--you're a vast majority. You are a multitudinous majority. Can you think of any other words? If God is on you side, who can be against you? Hallelujah! "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." He makes intercession now--now. You think He's making intercession for you cause you're a good boy? No, because you need somebody to intercede for you. This book, "Lying Signs and Wonders" has been updated. I don't know how many chapters been added to it, but it's been updated and I feel like those out in the TV audience or radio audience, wherever they hear this might like to have one. We don't charge anything for them--send them to you free. And so it's called, "Lying Signs and Wonders." We cover quite a bit of territory in it, and Phil updated it. I asked him to here a while back, and so he did and it's good. I mean, I think he gets into some of this stuff that's going on. You know what I mean? Shaking and falling out, saying it's God. Can you imagine Jesus on the hillside, people out there and Him just falling out, shaking? You can't imagine that, can you? I can't either. 
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