Come Be Filled

Lesson 2

COME BE FILLED

Table of Contents

– Review on Salvation
– “Not-quite Parable of the Food Shortage”
– What it Means to Believe
– Importance of the Name Jesus
– The Example of Noah
– “God Knows My Heart”
– Assessment Questions

Scriptures Cited: Romans 10:17; Mark 16:16; Acts 17:30; Romans 10:10; Acts 2:38; Revelation 2:10; Acts 16:30-32; Acts 8:26-38; John 14:1-6; John 14:8-17; John 14:18-27; John 16:22-27; Luke 1:28-32; Luke 2:21; Matthew 1:19-23; Proverbs 18:10; Psalm 116:1-19; Luke 22:20; Acts 4:12; Matthew 24:37; 1 Peter 3:19-22; Jeremiah 17:9-10; Isaiah 44:14-20

In the previous lesson, “Games, Puzzles, and Riddles”, we started with six things listed in Scripture that are directly connected to salvation:

Hear (Romans 10:17)
Believe (Mark 16:16)
Repent (Acts 17:30)
Confess (Romans 10:10)
Be Baptized (Acts 2:38)
Live Faithfully (Rev 2:10)

Many times people will look at these actions and think that it implies a “work-based salvation”. They will find verses in the bible where it only says “believe”, and mistakenly assume that belief is all the Bible requires for salvation.

In this lesson, I would like to show why biblical salvation is not “work-based salvation”. In reality, all of the things listed above are aspects of “Faith-Based Salvation” and are similar to each other in certain ways.

For starters, all of these things are verbs. They are all action words. These are all things that you do (even believing).
Secondly, each of these verbs function through a different part of the human body:
- You hear with your ears.
- You believe with your heart.
- You repent with your mind.
- You confess with your mouth.
- When it comes to being baptized and living faithfully – both are things that you do with your whole body, and they can be grouped together.
  
  Being baptized and living faithfully really are one in the same in that – when you believe the gospel, which is: Jesus is the Son of God, that He came, He died on the cross, was buried and rose again for the forgiveness of your sins… that belief of what He has done and what He taught – inspires us to live faithfully.
  
  The first thing that God commands us to do upon believing is to be baptized, which is actually the first step in living faithfully. Not only is this what Jesus commanded in Mark 16:15-16, but it is also exemplified throughout the entire book of Acts.

So as you can see, all of these “things” are verbs, they are actions and have a part of the body associated with their expression.

In order to understand how these actions manifest themselves in our faith walk, I’m going to share a little story – an analogy, a “Not-quite Parable”.

Hopefully by looking at this “Not-quite Parable” we will see how all these different parts of salvation apply in a natural scenario – in order to shed light on how they work together in salvation through Jesus Christ.

Side note: In the first lesson, there was an assessment question at the end. This being the second lesson, there will be two questions at the end to see how well you are paying attention.

“NOT-QUITE PARABLE OF THE FOOD SHORTAGE“

Imagine that there is a food shortage. Hard to imagine right? But this is a complete famine, and you have been out looking for food. You have gone to the supermarkets and found nothing. You’ve gone to restaurants, nothing. You’ve even gone to the gas station in hopes that you might even find a candy bar – absolutely nothing. As you are walking along, I happen to come across your path and say “Hey there, what are you up to?”

You answer, “I’m walking around here starving, looking for food.”
And I reply “I just got filled down at Josh’s café.”
Then you say “I’ve never heard of that place.”

I begin to explain “well, I don’t know the whole story, but from what I understand, Josh is the son of a really rich business tycoon, and I guess he knew that the famine was coming. So he took all of his inheritance, and rather than spending it on himself, he sold it in order to buy food enough to feed everyone during the famine. And I myself, just came from there and had a good meal.”

You have now heard the message.

And you go “I’ve never heard anything like that, sounds weird – I can’t imagine anyone would do that.”

Then I say “I don’t know what else to tell you if you won’t believe me. But if you do believe me, all you’ll have to do is go to Josh’s and you’ll be filled. It’s up to you though if you don’t want to believe me, but my belly believes me.”

You reply “that sounds ridiculous, I’m going to keep looking elsewhere”.

So you go about your way and then a few days later we cross paths again. I say to you “what are you doing?” and you say “I’m still looking for food”. Then I tell you “if you would just believe me, you would be filled.”

Now if you notice in this second encounter, I didn’t mention Josh, his café, or what you need to do. At this point all I said was “believe me” because you should have already known what the message is from when we met the first time.

This is similar to how Paul, when writing letters to the churches (people who had already heard and obeyed the gospel) did not have to repeat the entire message in his letters, but was able to focus on the importance of their faith/belief in the message that they had already heard. Based on Paul’s letters to churches, an error that many in the religious world make today is to take passages from those letters that only reference believing, and wrongly conclude that believing is all that is required for salvation.

In our “Not-quite Parable”, when I come to you and say “believe me”, I didn’t need to repeat the entire message because all you had to do was believe the things I told you the first time we met – there is food at Josh’s Café, go there, order a deli sandwich – or ask for one, and you will be filled.

Now this time without me fully explaining, you hem and haw as you think about it. Then you say “I was going to keep heading down the road, but maybe I will believe you.”

I reply, “well you should believe me, I told you two days ago the first time I met you, and I was full then, and I am still full now. I’m actually beginning to wonder if I’m ever going to be hungry again. I don’t know what they’re doing to the food, but I’m pretty full.”

And you say “Ok, I think I will believe you”.

Now here we see that you are believing – which is great. But note that even though you now believe, you haven’t actually done what is necessary to be filled. And technically you are still hungry.

We also see how repentance is taking place, because even though you were previously convinced in your mind that there is no food out there – you now have that little seed of faith in your heart – and by believing, your mind has been changed.

Thinking to yourself, “maybe if I do go there, I’ll get filled,” you then ask me “which way is it to Josh’s café?”

Then I answer “well, you were going that way, but actually it’s This Way”.

Rather than continuing down the road the way you were going, because you now believe, you change your direction, ie. repent. It’s not that you repent for the sake of being saved/”filled”, but you repent because you now believe. Your mind has been changed, so you now turn and go in the new direction.

Now that I see you going, I tell you “I’m going to continue sharing with everyone that I meet, the good news that there’s food down at Josh’s Café.“

And as you go towards Josh’s, you meet someone else that seems to be headed in the same direction as you. They ask you what you are doing, and you say “I’m going down to Josh’s Café, I heard they’ve got food down there.”

Right there, you’ve just confessed. What’s in your heart since you now believe that there is food at Josh’s Café, has now come out of your mouth. You did not confess in order to get the food, you confessed because of what you believe. What’s in your heart comes out of your mouth.

So you’ve told this new person “I’m going to get some food” and you ask him “where are you going?”

He says “I’ve heard that there is a place called ‘Abba & Sons Deli’ up the road. I’m going there to get some food.”

You say “It looks like we’re going in the same direction, maybe we can walk together.”

As you are going down the road, you start to notice a huge crowd of people ahead and he says “Here it is, Abba & Sons”. But you look a bit further down the road and see another building, wondering if it is Josh’s Café. You don’t really see many people down there, but here there are many people waiting in line at Abba & Sons.

The person you are walking with wants to get food here, so you decide you will get in line too. In reality it’s not even a line, it’s a crowd. You can’t even get close enough to see the building. Everyone in the crowd is talking about the food that they’re hoping to get. You hear someone say “Abba actually invented the deli sandwich; this is going to be great. I think he does something special with the meat.”

You hear someone else say “I think His Son is in charge of the bread. They say His bread is something else”. You begin to get excited, standing and waiting – although still hungry. And after a while you notice that the line doesn’t actually seem to be moving. Looking around, you think to yourself: “seems like we’re all just standing here and no one is moving”. Then you realize “I’ve been waiting quite a while and I still haven’t been filled.”

What’s going on? You are waiting – hours turn into a couple of days, and finally you are moving a little closer to the building. You realize it is not because the line is actually moving, but because people are beginning to fall out from waiting and starvation. You start getting a little bit closer and when you’re close enough, you see that there is actually a sign on the building that no one has given any attention to.

It says:

“RELOCATED TO JOSH’S CAFE. GO THERE TO BE FED.“

So after seeing the sign that tells you to go to Josh’s Café – you now have a choice to make. You can stay there and say “I’ve waited here a long time and if I actually leave now, then that means I’ve wasted my time – I could wait and see if something changes, maybe a food truck will come by” OR you can go with the first message that you believed – “go to Josh’s Café and be filled”.

Remember, when you met me originally, I told you that I had been filled at Josh’s Café – I had eaten! That testimony is key, and now you have read it for yourself on the sign. But the person who led you to Abba & Son’s was hungry when you met him. He was just as hungry as you. Now you have to decide what to do.

So you choose to walk a few steps further down the road to Josh’s Cafe.

When you get there, you realize – wait a minute. Not only did Josh sacrifice everything – sell everything so that he could feed people… He’s actually The One at the counter giving out the food. You actually get to meet him! It’s pretty incredible, and you get your deli sandwich and you are filled – you made it!

This in our story is the equivalent to being baptized and receiving the Holy Spirit (John 3:5; Acts 2:38).

Later on I hear that you have made it – you’ve been filled. I have been busy telling other people about Josh’s Café and decide to write you a letter, saying “see I told you, if you’d just believe me you’d be filled.”

In this letter I didn’t have to repeat all the things that you did to get filled, I just emphasized the importance that you believed. This is how we can understand some of the things written in Paul’s letters to the churches, where he encourages them to continue to live faithfully in their newfound belief.

View Josh’s Cafe

So that’s just a little illustration to show you how these parts of salvation naturally work together. It’s important that when we hear the proper message, we understand it and not allow ourselves to be led in any other directions.

Just like those who heard Peter preach the first gospel message, when you hear and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died, was buried and has risen for YOU – it’s important to follow the direction that has been given carefully (Acts 2:38). If you don’t follow the message as its been given, you won’t receive the desired result.

That’s how we can view some of the things that Paul was writing in his letters, like ‘if you will just believe’ or ‘when you believed…’. You can see in the gospels and Acts what it actually means to believe according to the bible – to believe unto Salvation.

WHAT IT MEANS TO BELIEVE

A lot of people are confused about what it means to believe, so we’ll look at a few things in the bible. Let’s go to the book of Acts (chapter 16) and this is one of the places where people get mixed up when it comes to Salvation and the “only believe” salvation. This is the account of Paul and the Philippian jailer. When the jails were opened, the jailer thought that Paul and everyone had escaped. They said ‘no, we’re still here’. And when we get to Acts 16:30, the jailers ask a question to Paul and Silas.

Acts 16:30-32
³⁰And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ³¹And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Note: What a lot of people do is say “see right there, that is what you have to do to be saved – just believe on Jesus.” But we have to remember this is the book of Acts, and Acts is short for “actions” – it’s the actions of the apostles. What that means is that you can learn just as much from what is done, as what is said. In some cases you can even learn more from what is actually done – so even though they said “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house”. Verse 32 reads…

³²And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. ³³ And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.

So we can see that even though the message was given as “just believe”, what was actually done after the gospel had been preached and believed – the answer is to be baptized. That is what is commanded.

We could also look at Acts 8:26-38 with the case of Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch – same type of situation there. Phillip was told by the Holy Spirit ‘go over there where that chariot is’. This is a good example of how God works – He tells you the first step, just like with salvation. If you believe, He’ll give you the first step – be baptized.

With Philip, he was given the first step ‘go join yourself to that chariot’ and when he did, there was an Ethiopian eunuch there who was actually reading the scriptures, but he couldn’t understand them – so Phillip began to explain the scriptures to him, and as he was explaining, the Ethiopian eunuch said ‘here’s water, what’s stopping me from being baptized?’ which lets you know that baptism was part of the gospel message that was given.

As Phillip was opening the scriptures to him, the Ethiopian eunuch realized ‘wait, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe He died for my sins, I believe that what He told us to do if we believe is to be baptized – so here’s water, what’s stopping me?’ and it says they stopped the chariot and he was baptized straight away.

So those are just a few things I wanted to point out from the last lesson – that even though this can look like a list of things that you must do to be saved, the proper way to look at it is… because you believe, you repent. The belief in the heart changes the mind about who Jesus is, how you feel about your sins, and what you must do about them. Because you believe, you will confess the faith that is in your heart – it will come out of your mouth, and that is a confession. And it’s really as simple as that.

Likewise, because you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and what He commanded you to do when you do believe – that is why you are baptized. Even though we all desire salvation, it shouldn’t be looked at as “I want to be saved, so I guess I should be baptized.” It should be.. “I believe the gospel message – and because I believe, I’m going to be baptized. That is my response to believing.” Then salvation is the result (Mark 16:16).

IMPORTANCE OF THE NAME JESUS

So with that being said, I want to go a little bit further and refocus on baptism, making sure that we’re talking about the proper baptism, which according to Acts 2:38 is in the name of Jesus Christ. Let’s look at John chapter 14 where I want to focus on a few things Jesus said regarding His name and how it relates. These scriptures are some of my favorites in the whole bible – the words recorded in this section begin in chapter 12 going all the way through 17; it begins with Jesus speaking to His disciples leading up to His crucifixion.

At the beginning of chapter 17, there is a shift after Jesus is done talking with His disciples, and begins His prayer to the Father before He is taken to be crucified. But we’re going to start in John 14.

John 14:1-6
¹Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

⁴And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. ⁵Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? ⁶Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ⁷If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

This actually alludes to our last lesson with the riddle – of ‘what is His name and what is His son’s name if you can tell?’ How can we understand this relationship of the Father and the Son – what does it actually mean? In the coming verses, Jesus will shed some light on that relationship.

So in review, (John 14:6-7) it says “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him”.

John 14:8-17
⁸Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. ⁹Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

Note: Jesus really says it right there. Phillip asks Him ‘show us the Father’ – and His response to them is ‘have I been with you this long and you don’t know ME?‘ That statement begins to clarify the relationship and hints to WHO they were actually dealing with.

¹⁰Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.¹²Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. ¹³And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

¹⁵If ye love me, keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; ¹⁷Even 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.

So there you can see it again. He’s letting them know who it is that is with them. He’s saying – ‘at this present time, this Comforter that I’m telling you about – He is with you right now. But soon enough He will be in you.’

John 14:18-27
¹⁸I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Note: Once again He’s letting them know who this Spirit is, who the Father is, and who He is.

¹⁹Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. ²⁰At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

²¹He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. ²²Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? ²³Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

²⁴He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. ²⁵These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. ²⁶But 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.

²⁷Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

You can see it there, if you are paying attention to what Jesus is saying about His name. He is saying that the Father will send the Holy Spirit IN His name – in the name of Jesus.

Keep in mind that John 14-16 is one continuous discourse between Jesus and His apostles. It is also important to note that in chapters 14 and 15, when talking about the Father, Holy Spirit, and Himself, Jesus is practically speaking to His apostles in riddles or parables – He was saying it without saying it. They ask Him ‘tell us about the Father’ and He answers ‘have I been with you this long, that you don’t know me?’ Again, He’s saying it without saying it. When we get to chapter 16 as Jesus is concluding, He plainly acknowledges that He is speaking in “veiled” terms.

John 16:22-27
²²And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.²³And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

²⁴Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. ²⁵These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.

Note: This is from the King James Version. When it says “proverbs” some other versions translate this as “dark sayings” or “figures of speech”. Jesus is telling them about the Father in a way that you won’t understand. But there’s going to come a time when they will know plainly who the Father is. This obviously would be when they themselves received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. When Peter got up to preach and then told the people what they needed to do, he said “…be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ“. At that moment he knew what the One name is. He knew.

²⁶At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:

²⁷For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. ²⁸I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. ²⁹His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.

³⁰Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

After that last statement there where He says “At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you…” it began to click. And they said ‘ah, now you’re talking plainly to us. Now we see what you’re saying.’

So I wanted to point that out, keeping in mind the name of Jesus. Here are a few scriptures that let us know how and when Jesus got that name. In Luke 1:28-32 we will see that an angel was specifically sent to Mary to tell her what to name her child.

Luke 1:28-32
²⁸And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. ²⁹And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. ³⁰And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

³¹And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David

If we continue to look at Luke 2:21 we will see when He received His name. It was eight days after He was born, when it was time for His circumcision.

Luke 2:21
²¹And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

So we can see that once again this was not just a name that they came up with. This name was purposefully given, even before Jesus was conceived. God sent an angel to make sure that they named this child Jesus. It was so important that God also sent an angel to Joseph in Matthew’s account. We will also be able to glean a little more about His name there.

Matthew 1:19-23
¹⁹ Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. ²⁰ But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream – saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. ²¹ And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Note: We see here, not only did God send an angel to Mary to make sure what to name him. Joseph also received a message from an angel, in a dream…

²² Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

²³ Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

So we see here that the angel was specifically sent to give them the name of this child, Jesus – and that His name would also be interpreted as “God with us“. What I really wanted to point out here is verse 21: “and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

The Hebrew name for Jesus is Yeshua. And that word, Yeshua – is actually the same word for Salvation. So that’s why it says in this verse “for he shall save his people from their sins”. It’s saying His name will be salvation, because He is salvation. So what I want to do is look at one place in the book of Proverbs that is going to tell us something else about this name. This one relates to salvation.

Proverbs 18:10
¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

So if you understand what that’s saying, it’s saying that the name of the Lord is like a mighty tower; it’s like a stronghold. And those who want to be safe run into His name. You run to Him. And the way you run to Him is through His name.

Now we get a bit deeper here because we’re going to be getting into the languages a little bit. If we look at Psalms 116, it’s laid out beautifully. Keep in mind that the Hebrew word for salvation is Yeshua – it’s actually Jesus’ name.

Psalm 116:1-19
¹ I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. ²Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. ³The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. ⁴Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. ⁵Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. ⁶The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me. ⁷Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

⁸For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.⁹I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. ¹⁰I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: ¹¹I said in my haste, All men are liars. ¹¹I said in my haste, All men are liars. ¹³I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.

Note: Keep in mind that word for salvation is the word Yeshua. So it could be read “I will take the cup of ‘Yeshua’, and call upon the name of the Lord” – and we know what the cup of Yeshua is, when He established a New Testament He said “this cup is the new testament in my blood…” (Luke 22:20)

¹⁴ I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. ¹⁵Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. ¹⁶ O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. ¹⁷I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. ¹⁸ I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. ¹⁹ In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.

Understanding that Jesus’ name actually means salvation – when you read through the Old Testament, the prophets, and the Psalms – it gives it a deeper meaning. You realize that salvation was always prophesied to come through Jesus. Salvation is Jesus, there is no other Way. There is no other name (Acts 4:12).

Now that we’ve looked at some of the places that show the importance of the name Jesus, there are a couple of different directions we could go from here. But for this lesson we will go to the example of Noah.

THE EXAMPLE OF NOAH

When preparing this lesson and now going through it, we start to get into the languages and it can get a bit deep. As I was thinking about it, I was reminded of what it’s like to teach someone to swim or guiding a child to come into a pool. You’ll stand there with your arms out saying “come on, come on” and they might be hesitant. So sometimes you have to take a step back and get a little bit deeper to show them – while saying “come on in, the water is fine”. As I begin to think about that saying, it reminded me of the days of Noah, and how that saying would apply. “Come on in, the water is fine.”

There’s only one group of people that could say that in Noah’s day, and that was Noah and his family. We can imagine what it may have been like to convince everyone to “come on in the ark”. If you would come on in the ark, the water will be fine. And Jesus said that as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the last days (Matthew 24:37).

Reading the words of Jesus, I began to wonder what it may have been like in the days of Noah. I did a little research to try to get an idea of the earth’s population during Noah’s time, and the lowest estimates I saw were about 240 million. But taking into account the longer lifespans, it’s said that it was probably closer to 4.5 billion people at that time. However, if the population growth rates were even just a few percentages higher than what it is now, the “high estimates” could have been up to 119 billion people.

It is sobering to think that with a population of that size, only 8 people were saved. Even using the low estimate, if there were 200 million or a billion people, do you really think that everyone even knew that Noah was building an ark? It’s easy to assume that everybody must have known about the ark and just decided not to get in – but when you start looking at what kind of numbers are estimated, there’s a good chance that there may have been people who never even heard that Noah was building an ark, that it was going to rain, and that they needed salvation.

But think about those people who were around Noah, who knew – and what an advantage they had over those who did not know because they were too far away to have even heard that there’s a guy who is building an ark. So we must realize how blessed we are today to even hear the message that there is salvation. There are people who never hear the true message. In properly understanding the bible, we are able to hear the true message of salvation through the gospel:

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, He died, He was buried, and He was resurrected for the remission of your sins. The forgiveness of sins can be yours by obeying the gospel. Repent, be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ and you shall receive the Holy Spirit.

Continuing with our lesson, let’s go into 1 Peter, where we see that salvation through baptism is directly compared to the salvation in the days of Noah.

1 Peter 3:19-22
¹⁹ By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; ²⁰Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

²¹The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: ²²Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels

When trying to understand what it really means by “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God” – the NASB95 bible version translates it as ‘an appeal to God for a good conscience’. And really it means the same thing – if you believe the gospel, the way to give your answer to God is by being baptized. Another way to understand it is: if you believe the gospel and want to have a good standing with God, baptism is the way. Along with repentance, it is how you obey the gospel.

“GOD KNOWS MY HEART”

When you believe the gospel, you should obey it. But a lot of people will say “I don’t think you really have to do all of that, there’s other places in the bible where it says you just have to believe” (which we’ve covered through the not-quite parable). And there are other people who say “you know what, God knows my heart”. You hear a lot of people saying that, and the truth is God does know your heart. He not only knows your heart, but He’s also already spoken about it. In Jeremiah 17, we’re going to read what God has to say about your heart.

Jeremiah 17:9-10
⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ¹⁰I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

So for anybody who wants to say “God knows my heart”, you’re right, He does know your heart and He’s told you what He thinks about it. It’s desperately wicked. And then He asks “who can know it?” Our hearts can be so deceitful that we don’t even know it ourselves.

It’s always a red flag whenever we see God asking us a question. We really need to pay attention because you might be in hot water or in trouble since we know that He already knows the answer. So we have to think, “wait a minute – why are you asking me?” Here He is asking us “Who can know the heart?” Then He answers “I the Lord search the heart”. And because He knows the heart – your heart, that’s the reason He sent Jesus. He knows your heart and your heart will not save you. We need Jesus, Jesus is the only way to be saved.

I want to look at one other place before we close out, in Isaiah 44. Starting in verse 14, God is chastising the children of Israel because of their idolatry. He describes them making idols of wood, but let’s note what He says about their heart.

Isaiah 44:14-20
¹⁴ He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. ¹⁵ Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

Note: So basically what He’s saying is ‘you guys have got these trees out here – the same tree that you’ll cut down and use for making a fire to warm yourself, you’re burning it, you’re using it to cook food – and then you’ll take what’s left of that wood and you’re going to carve something – an idol – and bow down and worship that as God.’ He’s trying to show them how ridiculous they are being.

¹⁶ He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: ¹⁷And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

¹⁸ They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. ¹⁹ And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? ²⁰ He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

So his heart has been so deceived that the idol he has made from wood with his own hands, after burning part and cooking with part – his heart has him so deceived that he can’t realize that the idol in his own right hand is a lie. That’s how deceitful your heart can be. So for the people who say “well God knows my heart” – that’s just how deceitful your heart can be, that you would think that your heart would be able to save you.

Only Jesus can save you, and we’ve been given the plan of salvation here. In all of these things that are given, it shouldn’t be approached as “I want to be saved, so I’m going to say that Jesus is the Son of God” or “I want to be saved, so I will repent of my sins.”

The way that this is properly done and looked at is “I believe that Jesus Christ is who the bible says He is. I believe that He has done what it says He has done – and therefore, I will confess that. Therefore, I will turn, therefore I will be baptized in His name for the remission of my sins, and receive the Holy Spirit.”

In closing, hopefully that was enough to make the point clear. Like I said earlier, there are two assessment questions to make sure you’ve been paying attention.

ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

Do you believe the Gospel? Do you believe that Jesus is who He says He is, and that He did what the bible says He did? If your answer is no, it’s just like what Jesus said in Mark 16:16 – ‘if you believe not’, there’s not really much we can do for you. But if your answer is yes, that you do believe the Gospel – then that leads us to the next question.
Have you been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins according to the scriptures, that you may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit? Now that’s the same question I asked in the first lesson. If you got it wrong that time… it’s only a 50/50 answer. There’s no reason to get that wrong twice. If you got it wrong in the last lesson, don’t just get it right – make it right today. Be baptized today in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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