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In the past few evenings we have seen how God manifested His grace and accomplished His righteousness. We have also seen how God through His Son Jesus died for us and for our sins, thus accomplishing the work of redemption (Rom. 5:8; 1 Cor. 15:3). His work of redemption justifies us before God through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:24-25). His resurrection from the dead becomes the assurance of our faith. Through this resurrection we know that God has accepted the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. The work of the Lord Jesus has satisfied God's requirements. His resurrection is a proof to us of this fact. All who believe in the blood of His Son and who come to Him through His redemption are now justified.
Tonight I will not cover the other aspect of the Lord's work, which is His ascension. Since many brothers and sisters already know about this, I will just mention it in brief. The ascension of the Lord Jesus is His appearing before God on our behalf, that we might be accepted in Christ. What is ascension? In the Bible ascension means only one thing objectively, which is for one to be accepted before God. Today the Lord Jesus has appeared before God (Heb. 9:24). We also appear before God in Him. In this way God accepts us in the same way that He has accepted Christ.
Tonight we must mention another matter. The gospel is inadequate if it mentions only the work of the Father and the Son without mentioning the work of the Holy Spirit. There must be the mention of the Holy Spirit also. The work of the gospel is of three aspects. Luke 15 shows us three parables. On the one hand, we see the loving Father waiting to receive the sinners. On the other hand, we see the good Shepherd coming to the world to seek for the lost sheep. One sees the Father waiting at home for the repentant and saved sinner, and one also sees the Son coming to the world to save sinners. But after the Lord's work was completed and before the sinner reaches home, there was another parable, which is the woman patiently and carefully seeking the lost coin with a lighted lamp.
First, one sees the Lord Jesus coming to earth to seek for the sinners. Second, one sees the woman lighting the lamp to enlighten, sweep, and seek for the lost coin. Hence, the Holy Spirit is working together with the Father and the Son to seek out the sinner for the accomplishing of the gospel work. The Son came to die for the sinner; the Father receives the sinner home; and the Holy Spirit works to enlighten man's heart and to show man his real position.
If a person does not have the light of the Holy Spirit, it is possible that he can be like Judas, who saw his sin, was suffering and had no peace within, but would not see his own position before God. Without the light, he would not see his position of perdition. Man's feeling concerning sin goes only so far as to realize that he has done wrong. He does not realize that he is a lost one before God. We are willing to admit that we are sinful. But without the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, we will not admit that as a result of sin, we became lost persons before God. In the eyes of God, we are lost persons.
There is the possibility of a fleshly counterfeit even in the matter of sin-consciousness. The flesh can replace the work of the Holy Spirit. Many tears in revival meetings are but results of man's flesh. They are not produced through the work of the Holy Spirit in man. It is one thing for man to know that he has sinned. It is another thing for man to know that his relationship with God is wrong. The Holy Spirit patiently and carefully enlightens man and shows him that he is lost. What the Holy Spirit does is to show man that his position is wrong. Hence, the first feeling of everyone who has experienced the work of the Holy Spirit of God is not something related to sin, but the feeling that he is away from home. His relationship with God is cut off. He has developed a problem with God. He is a lost man.
Our problem before God does not lie merely in how much we have wasted ourselves in eating, drinking, fornication, or gambling. It is a problem of being away in a distant country. When the Holy Spirit enlightens man, the first thing He does is show man that he is in a distant country. When one reads the last parable in Luke 15, he has to take note of what the prodigal said to the father. He did not say that he had squandered all his father's estate with harlots. The first thing he realized when he came to himself was that in his father's house there was an abundance of bread. Why then was he living with the hogs in a distant country and not able even to satisfy his hunger with the carob pods which were for the hogs? When the Holy Spirit enlightens a person, he will realize that he has a problem with God, that he has left his Father's house, and that he is away from his Father. My friends, when a person in the world has come to the end of himself in his sinful condition, he may, like Judas, become aware of his sins. But without the light of the Holy Spirit, he will not feel that he has left the Father's house and is in a distant country. I am not saying that sins are not serious. Sins are sins. But the Bible shows us that man's chief sin lies in the fact that he is lost. He is standing on an improper ground. He may not be in an improper condition. Of course, all those who are in an improper condition must stand on improper ground. When the Holy Spirit enlightens us, first He shows us that we are on an improper ground. Then He shows us our improper condition. This is the enlightening of the Holy Spirit.
Hence, although there is the love of the Father and the work of the Lord, there is still the need for the Holy Spirit to prepare man's heart. He still has to work in man's heart so that man will receive all that the Lord Jesus has done. One can say that the Lord Jesus is our objective Savior from God and that the Holy Spirit is our subjective Savior from God. The Lord Jesus is the Savior who accomplished redemption for us outwardly, and the Holy Spirit is the Savior who accomplishes salvation for us inwardly. All of us sitting here have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit. We all know that we are the lost sheep, that we have all turned to our own ways (Isa. 53:6). We all like sheep were lost. Our problem was not sickness or lameness, but taking a wrong path. The path that one takes is very important. In John 16:8-9, the Lord Jesus told us that when the Holy Spirit comes, "He will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment." What does it mean to be convicted concerning sin? We are convicted concerning sin "because they do not believe into Me." We have developed a problem with Him, and we have come into conflict with Him. We are convicted of sin because we have not seen His blood and His authority, because we have not met His demands, and because we now have a problem with Him. The greatest sin of man is the refusal to believe in the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to show us that we have developed a problem with the Lord Jesus and with God. Our position is wrong.
But let me ask a question. Is it possible that a person in a distant country can be a good son? Is it possible that he can be frugal and thrifty? Is it possible that he can be a diligent worker? Is it possible that he can be discreet in making friends? We know that this is impossible. If a person has wandered to a distant country and is wrong in his relationship with his father, he must be wrong in all other relationships. That is why the prodigal began to live dissolutely. When the Holy Spirit enlightens a person, not only will He show him that he is in a lost position, but He will also show him that his past conduct has been wrong. The Holy Spirit does not overlook past sins. He pays attention to all sins. However, He turns one's attention to all the sins only after He has shown such a one his perishing position. The Holy Spirit first shows you how dangerous a position you are in, then He shows you how many sins you have. The light of the Holy Spirit enlightens and exposes all the areas in which you have transgressed against others. It exposes all unrighteousness and all the hidden sins in our words and thoughts.
God's chastisement is for His healing. The Holy Spirit's rebuking is for His comforting. God is not pleased to chastise and punish His children without reason. The only reason God punishes is that man would obtain peace. The reason the Holy Spirit shines on man and shows man his shortcomings and his waywardness is that man would accept all the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Without the enlightening of the Holy Spirit, we are not able to see even one of our sins.
What should we do now that the Holy Spirit has enlightened and we have seen our position? There is one thing we continually neglect in our preaching of the gospel, which the Bible pays attention to all the time. We have to realize that the work of the Lord Jesus for the sinners is indeed precious and crucial. But likewise the work of the Holy Spirit for the sinners is equally precious and crucial. The Bible shows us that not only does the Holy Spirit come to enlighten us and to show us our sins, our lost position, and our unrighteousness before God and men, but this Spirit is also sent from God and is poured forth upon all flesh for the purpose that man everywhere could be saved through His work (Acts 2:17-18, 21).
Some who know a little more than others concerning the truth of the Bible think that it is easy to receive forgiveness and to accept the Lord Jesus as Savior. All he has to do is to kneel down and pray and accept Him from his heart. Perhaps he does not even have to kneel down; he only has to accept in his heart. But many people do not have this knowledge. They may be weak or from inaccessible lands and may not have had the chance to listen to the truth. They may think that it is a very difficult thing to be saved. They may think that they have to pray for a long time, and they have no assurance whether God would listen to their prayers. If I were to ask you today if you are saved, you can answer quickly that you are saved. But such a statement would sound strange to one from an inaccessible land. They would wonder how you could be saved. To them it is a most difficult thing to be saved. They would say that they have prayed for many years and are still not sure if they are saved. They hope to be saved, and they try their best to be saved. But they still do not know if they are saved. It seems as if they are not yet saved. To them, salvation is something very difficult to achieve. But my friends, just as the work of the Lord Jesus is complete, the work of the Holy Spirit in causing us to appropriate the Lord's work is also complete. The Bible shows us clearly that God sent the Holy Spirit for the purpose that we, the sinners, would receive the Holy Spirit's work and be saved. The Son of God came for the sake of the whole world. In the same way, the coming of the Holy Spirit is also for all flesh. As long as we are a man in the flesh, we can obtain the Lord's work for us.
Let us read Romans 10:13: "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." The subject of Romans 10 is on God causing the Lord Jesus to die and resurrect for us. In the few verses prior to this verse, God asks if there is anyone who can bring Christ down from heaven to die for us and if there is anyone who can bring Christ up from the abyss to resurrect for us (vv. 6-7). There is no such person. Such a work can only be done by God alone. It is God Himself who has caused Christ to die for us. It is also God Himself who caused Him to resurrect for us. Hence, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord today is saved.
I do not know if you realize that it is a most wonderful thing to be saved just by calling on the name of the Lord. In the original language, the word call means that we only need to say His name. Today in order to contact a brother, all I have to do is to go to his door and knock twice with the door handle. This is to call upon him. I do not have to beg him to listen. I do not have to implore him. I only need to go to him and inform him with a word. This is the meaning of calling. The Chinese version translates this word as implore. This is incorrect. Although one cannot say that the Greek word carries no sense of imploring, it does mean more of an invoking. Since God has caused the Lord Jesus to die and resurrect for us, all who desire to be saved need only to go to God and tell Him. They will then be saved. As long as you would go to the Lord Jesus and call His name once, you will be saved. All you need to do is to open your mouth once. You do not need to do anything else because He has already completed all the work. All the work has been completed. That is why we say that we are justified by faith, and not by works (Gal. 2:16). If you think that even to call once is a work, then God says just believe a little in your heart and it will be enough. Verse 8 says, "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart." Since the Lord has done the work of death and resurrection, we have nothing to do. As long as we open our mouth once, everything is done. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
You may ask why it transpires so quickly. It is true that the work of Christ has been accomplished. But why will I be saved just by calling? How can the Lord's work in death, resurrection, and ascension be applied to me so quickly? Acts 2 is an added explanation to this. Verse 17 says, "And it shall be in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh." We have to remember that in the last days God will pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh. What is the result of this? Verse 21 says, "And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Verse 17 is linked to verse 21. God says that He will pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh. Then He says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved because God has poured out His Spirit upon all flesh. The Holy Spirit is working now on all flesh. If there is anyone today whose sins have not been forgiven and who still does not know how to be saved and receive eternal life, who does not know that the Lord Jesus is his Savior, he must remember that God has poured out the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is upon you already; He is waiting for you. Once you call, you will be saved.
God says that He would pour out of His Spirit upon all flesh. Why is there Pentecost? God gave us Pentecost because He wanted to pour out the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. Now one only needs to open his mouth and say, "O Lord!" and the Holy Spirit will come into him. The Holy Spirit is like the light. As long as there is a crack, light will come in. You may not realize how well light goes through cracks. If you do not believe this, just go next door. If you drill a hole in the wall, as soon as the drill is taken out, the light enters. You do not have to look for it because it comes in immediately. As long as there is a crack, the light will come in. Today God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. As long as you are alive, the Holy Spirit is upon you. Whenever you say, "O Lord!" the Holy Spirit begins working. This is the meaning of calling on the name of the Lord. The ancient Chinese say that one must appeal to heaven, to earth, and to his parents. Now we only need to appeal to the Lord once. When one mentions prayer, he always thinks of supplication more than invocation. Actually, all we need to do is invoke Him. Once we open our mouth, the Holy Spirit comes in. When the Holy Spirit comes in, the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus is brought to us.
The work of the Holy Spirit is fellowship. The characteristic of God is His love. The characteristic of the Lord Jesus is His grace, and the characteristic of the Holy Spirit is His fellowship. Second Corinthians 13:14 says, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." God is love, and His characteristic is love. The Lord Jesus is grace, and His characteristic is grace. Lastly, the characteristic of the Holy Spirit is fellowship. The Holy Spirit has nothing in Himself. He brings the love of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus into you by the way of fellowship. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has not accomplished a work of love. He has not accomplished a work of grace. The Holy Spirit conveys to you what God and the Lord Jesus have accomplished. Hence, the work of the Holy Spirit is fellowship. The Holy Spirit after the Lord's ascension is just filled with the work of the Lord Jesus. He is like the light. As long as there is a crack, He will come in. When He comes in, He will bring the grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God into you. This salvation is surely complete.
Some time ago, a very famous servant of the Lord in England died. Of course, his death was under God's sovereignty. None of us can say anything about that. But humanly speaking, we can say something about his death. He was very weak and had been sick for years. The doctors had prescribed a kind of medicine for him. Whenever he inhaled that medicine, he became strong again. He put this medicine by his chest of drawers. Many times, when he suffered much and felt like dying, he would breathe in the medicine and become well. Although the medicine did not smell good, it was very effective. The night that he died he felt uncomfortable again. He tried to reach for the medicine but was too weak to open the drawer. The next morning others found him in his bed with his hand stretching for the medicine. He died there with half of his body outside his bed. It was not a matter of the lack of the best and most effective medicine. He had lived by that medicine for eight or nine years already. Every time he was about to die, he inhaled the medicine and became well again. Why did he die this time? It was not because there was no medicine, and it was not because he did not want the medicine. It was because the medicine did not get into his hand. In the same way, we are those who are about to perish. The Lord Jesus has accomplished the work. God's medicine has been prepared. As long as we take it, we will be healed. But who will give this medicine to us? There is the doctor to prescribe the medicine. There must also be someone to apply the medicine. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convey the work of the Lord Jesus to us. The love of God is in the grace of the Lord Jesus, and the grace of the Lord Jesus is in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Hence, all those who have received the fellowship of the Holy Spirit receive the grace of the Lord Jesus, and all those who have received the grace of the Lord Jesus have a taste of the love of God.
When the Holy Spirit comes, He gives you the light and shows you your failures and degradation. He shows you that you are lost. God has worked to such an extent that once you open your mouth and say a word and once your heart has a place for the Lord and would invoke Him, you will be saved. You do not have to go to a great cathedral to be saved. You do not have to pray to be saved. You do not have to step forward to the altar to be saved. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon all flesh already. Wherever you are, the Holy Spirit is there. Hallelujah! This is a fact! Today the Holy Spirit has already been poured out upon all flesh. You do not need to look for Him. He is looking for you. You can call on the street or in a house. You can receive God's salvation in the sweetest place or the most unpleasant place. You can have it in the most crowded place or the most quiet place. The Holy Spirit has been poured out upon all flesh. No matter where you are, as long as you call on the name of the Savior, you will be saved.
Romans 10 talks about the fact, and Acts 2 talks about the reason. Romans 10 only tells us that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It does not tell us the reason. Acts 2 tells us that the Holy Spirit is upon all men. Hence, as long as one opens his mouth, he shall be saved. The Holy Spirit has already entered in. When man calls on His name, he shall be saved.
There is another thing that the Holy Spirit does and this concerns the Word of God. Many people do not see the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Hence, they do not treasure the words of the Bible that much. How can man receive the work of the Lord's cross? Many are bewildered about this. Many sinners even pray, "Lord Jesus, be merciful to me and die for me." They do not know what redemption is at all. Here we see the preciousness of God's Word. After God has accomplished His work through His Son, He declares it to us and shows us through the words of the Bible. In other words, God has placed the grace that the Lord accomplished for us in His own Word and has sent this Word to us.
If we subtracted the work of the Lord Jesus from the Word of God, what would we have? If we took away the work of the Lord Jesus from the Word of God, God's Word would become zero; nothing would be left. The reason that God's Word is God's Word is that in it there is the fact of the Lord's work. What is a word? A word is a recorded fact. Without facts, words become lies. With the facts, the words become real. If the Lord's work for us is not real, the Word of God is not trustworthy. But if the work of the Lord Jesus is a fact, if God has accomplished His righteousness through the Lord Jesus, and if God has accepted us in the Lord Jesus, God's Word must be trustworthy. Hence, we have to remember that the work of the Lord Jesus is contained in the Word of God. Here we see the relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.
The Holy Spirit is the doorkeeper of God's Word. I like my English name, Watchman. It means one that guards and keeps watch. God has put the accomplished work of the Lord in the Holy Spirit. Today the Holy Spirit is carefully watching. He is like a doorkeeper. As soon as a person receives the Lord, immediately He opens up the matters in God's Word to him.
A few days ago a brother sent me a box of candy. The box was very big and had flowers printed on it. It was wrapped in peach-colored paper with a letter attached, saying that the candy was a gift for me. I can say that what I received was a paper box. I did not receive the candy itself. I did not even taste the candy. What was in my hand was a paper box. But what I had actually received was the candy because the candy was in the box. What I took home was the box. But at the same time, I took the candy that came with the box. What we receive today is the Word of God. But what we receive into us is the work of the Lord Jesus. When we receive the Word of God, we get the work of the Lord, for the Lord's work is in God's Word. When one believes today, he is not believing that the Lord has done something for him. He is believing in the Word of God. But when one believes in the Word of God, the Lord's work is automatically applied to him. Hence, if you say that you are not very smart and that you cannot understand the work of the Lord, I will say to you that God does not require you to believe in the work of the Lord. He only requires you to believe in God's Word. When you believe in God's Word, you will obtain His work in the Word. Apparently, what I took home was the paper box. How do I know that it contained candy? When I went home, I removed the colored paper and opened the box and took out the candy. Thank the Lord. This is how the Holy Spirit works. We receive God's Word by faith, and the Holy Spirit opens up the work of the Lord that is contained in God's Word. Therefore, we must realize that the work of the Holy Spirit is fellowship. The Holy Spirit conveys the work of the Lord contained in God's Word to us. Without the Holy Spirit's conveying, God's Word remains only the Word. But when the Holy Spirit comes, the Word is opened up. Hence, God has prepared the Lord Jesus. He has also prepared the Holy Spirit for this work of fellowship.
Now we must see how the Holy Spirit conveys the work of the Lord to us. The Lord's work includes all that He has done on the cross, in His resurrection, in His ascension, in His second coming, and in everything that He bestows upon us. We cannot go into detail concerning all these items. There is too much to say about them. To speak of them, we would have to mention the work of the Holy Spirit in the entire New Testament. Tonight we can only mention it in brief. The coming of the Holy Spirit is not merely for conveying the Lord's work to us. It is also for conveying the Lord Himself to us. The purpose of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is to convey the Lord Jesus and His work to us. If a man has not received the work of the Lord, the Holy Spirit conveys this work to him. If a man has not received the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit conveys the Lord Himself to man. At the time we were saved, the work of the Holy Spirit was to convey the work of the Lord to us. Later His work is to convey the Lord Himself to us. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to manifest the Lord Jesus.
A week ago, two sisters came to me asking me how to translate the English phrase to minister with Christ into Chinese. This is a difficult phrase to translate. It means to serve others with Christ, like serving someone with a cup of tea or a bowl of rice. The work of the Holy Spirit is to serve the Lord Jesus to us. When we received the Lord, the Holy Spirit transferred the Lord's work to us. Hence, all the work that the Lord has accomplished, such as the gift of repentance, forgiveness, cleansing, justification, sanctification, and joy, are accomplished by the Holy Spirit in us. Matters such as regeneration or the receiving of eternal life are accomplished in us through the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is to convey the life of the Lord Jesus to us. It is similar to a wire conveying electricity from the power plant at Willow Tree Creek to us. Through the Holy Spirit, we receive a new life, a new heart, and a new spirit (cf. Ezek. 36:26). When we receive a new spirit and a new heart, the Lord Jesus is able to abide in us through the Holy Spirit. Hence, regeneration is the Holy Spirit preparing a new temple for the Lord.
Since we are of the flesh, the Lord Jesus cannot dwell in us. We are like the world under judgment at the time of Noah. After the water subsided, Noah released a dove from the ark (Gen. 8:8-9). But the dove found no place of rest; it could not abide anywhere. In the same way, we are full of sin. The Lord Jesus can find no place to abide in us. That being the case, God gave to us the Holy Spirit. The Lord accomplished everything objectively. Now the Holy Spirit gave us a new spirit subjectively, so that the Son of God can abide in our spirit. The Holy Spirit came first to prepare a dwelling for the Lord Jesus. Then the Lord came to live in us.
On the one hand, the Holy Spirit gave us a new life within. On the other hand, day by day He conveys God's truth and purpose into us. This is why the Lord says that when the Spirit of reality comes, He will guide us into all reality (John 16:13). Furthermore, there is another item of the work of the Holy Spirit, which is to communicate to us the gifts, such as prophecy, tongues, healings, miracles, revelations, words of wisdom and words of knowledge, faith, and all kinds of other gifts.
I do not want to enumerate in detail all the items of the Holy Spirit's work of fellowship. I will only stress one thing: all of the work of the Lord Jesus is conveyed to us today through the Holy Spirit. Even the Lord Jesus Himself is conveyed to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. This is God's salvation. Many people do not understand the Holy Spirit's work of fellowship. They ask me how the Lord's work that was accomplished nineteen hundred years ago could be applied to us today. Actually, if there were not the work of the Holy Spirit, their question would be fully justified. How can a work accomplished nineteen hundred years ago be applied to us today? What the Lord accomplished nineteen hundred years ago was not left to "dry in the wind and the sun." God has preserved and nurtured this work in the Holy Spirit. That is why this work remains so fresh. Today we can receive the work of the Lord Jesus. This work can be the same as it was before.
Once I went to a shop and the shopkeeper gave me a can of imported vegetable soup. The can looked old and ugly outside. It was covered with dust. The shopkeeper recommended it very much and was willing to sell it to me at a discount. I bought it and took it home. When I examined the date afterwards, I found out that the date was older than my age. Later, when I opened it and cooked it, I found out that the soup was still quite palatable. If the Lord Jesus' work were not preserved in the Holy Spirit, the question of time and space would come in. How could the Savior who died on Calvary nineteen hundred years ago come into me? But with the Holy Spirit, there is no question of time and space. God has preserved the work of the Lord in the Holy Spirit. Now the work of the Lord is living. This is why the Holy Spirit is able to convey the work of the Lord into us.
I have a brother who studies biochemistry. He conducts experiments all the time. In order to cultivate a certain bacteria, he has to use a certain kind of chemical. As long as he maintains a certain temperature, the bacteria will live. If the temperature becomes too high or too low, or if other elements are added into the culture, the bacteria will die. The best environment to preserve the work of the Lord is the Holy Spirit. Once the work of the Lord leaves the Holy Spirit, it will not be able to live and will die. The same is true with the Christian life. A Christian life can never be separated from the Holy Spirit. If the truths understood by the Lord's children are separated from the Holy Spirit, they will gradually dry out and die. Hence, all spiritual matters have to be in the Holy Spirit. Apart from the Holy Spirit, everything will die. Nothing will survive. We have to see that the Holy Spirit is the source of life. In Him is life. Apart from Him, everything is dead.
Through the Holy Spirit, God conveys everything of Himself and the work of the Lord into us. God has prepared everything related to our salvation. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit has come and is ready to convey everything that God has prepared. If there is anyone who is not saved yet, he cannot say that God has not loved him, or that the Lord Jesus has not accomplished redemption for him. He cannot say that the word is too far from him and is unreachable.
My friends, do you have a mouth? Some people may argue that they are dumb and that they do not have a mouth. But they have a heart. They can be without a mouth. But they cannot be without a heart. Romans 10:8-9 says, "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart...that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Why is this? Because God has said that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Perhaps you wonder how it can be so simple and how it is that one can be saved just by calling. This is because the Holy Spirit has come. He will save you as soon as you call. How does one call? If he has a mouth, he can use his mouth. If he does not have a mouth, he can call with his heart. This word is not far from us. It is in our mouth and even in our heart. This word is the word of justification by faith that we have been speaking of in the past few days.
