Now a man is saved not by hearing the gospel, but by believing the gospel. As it is written, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” There it refers to those whom God rescued from slavery with a mighty hand, and with signs and wonders: “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?” God took the people out of Egypt — they were already out, they were already free! They were a church unto themselves, but afterward he rejected them and left them to die in the wilderness.
Likewise, the apostle wrote, “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” They were gathered. They were baptized. They ate the same spiritual food. They even drank the same spiritual drink from the rock that was Christ. Yet they were not all saved: “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.”
Do you think that you are safe, because you have joined a church? Then you study high and low, argue left and right, to obtain a proper baptism. Do you think that you would be saved, if you eat and drink of Christ? The people who followed Moses were also baptized, and they ate and drank of Christ, but God rejected them and scattered their corpses. Why? The Scripture says, “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” You are saved, if you have faith. But how can you say that you have faith, if you harden your heart and refuse to hear his voice in the gospel promises of righteousness, healing, miracles, visions and dreams, and power from the Holy Spirit? There is no other gospel.
If those who opposed Moses perished without mercy, what will happen to those who reject Jesus Christ, who commanded us to perform the same and the greater works, and to receive power from on high, so that we may see visions, dream dreams, prophesy, heal the sick, and perform all kinds of signs and wonders? This message was first declared by the Lord himself, and it was confirmed by the apostles. “God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles.” On Pentecost, God granted miraculous powers to a hundred and twenty people, ninety percent of which were not apostles. Then Scripture records that God continued to bear witness to the message by signs and wonders, and again, the greatest of these were often done by disciples who were not apostles.
So God confirmed to us that Jesus meant what he said, that he would grant power to the disciples by faith in God and by the Holy Spirit, and that they would perform the same works and the greater works. By signs and wonders, God demonstrated to us that he has made signs and wonders possible for us. But still you would not believe, and then you claim that you have a part in the defense and confirmation of the gospel? Man, you deceive yourself. You are saved only by faith, and only by faith in the gospel, and the only gospel is one that comes with miraculous powers by the name of Jesus and by the Holy Spirit, for all generations, and “for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Thus it is not in the hearing of the gospel that a man is saved, but in the believing of the gospel that a man is saved. The gospel is what it is. If you do not believe it, then you do not believe it, and you are not saved. “Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”
Standing out in the desert is no proof that you have been accepted — even though you have escaped Egypt, and even though you have been gathered and baptized, and eating and drinking of Christ. Those who have faith in God will also enter into his promises by faith. Without faith, God will leave you to die in your sins. As the Scripture says, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” Without faith, the feast of God would be right before you in the promises of the gospel, but you would be unable to receive any of them, because you would be that enemy.
Once more then: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” God is calling you again. Here is one more chance: Repent.