hen, that must be included in "I know
him" in His character as Saviour, in order that one can believe on
Him, be saved by Him, be a real Christian? First, one must know Him as
the promised Messiah, in order to really believe on Him, to be really
a Christian. The high priest asked, "Art thou the Christ, the Son of
the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am."--Mark 14:61, 62. The woman at the
well said, "I know that Messiah cometh, who is called Christ: When he
is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee, am he."--John 4:25, 26. As Ballard, in "The Miracles
of Unbelief," has clearly pointed out, either (1) He was the Messiah;
or (2) He was the illegitimate son of a fallen woman and the vilest
deceiver the world has ever known, or (3) He was the illegitimate son
of a fallen woman, and a poor, simple-minded ignoramus, who claimed to
be the Messiah and honestly thought He was, but was simply ignorant
and deluded. Men in their intellectual pride or religious prejudice
may sneer and try to avoid this issue, but every honest thinking man
will see and confess that only these three conclusions are possible,
that one of the three is inevitable: and every honest man will take
one of the three positions. Voltaire said "curse the wretch." He is to
be commended as compared with the man who tries to avoid the issue.

Second, one must know Him as complete Redeemer in order to believe on
Him, in order to commit one's salvation to Him against that day. There
is no middle ground. He was either no redeemer at all, or He "gave
himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity."--Titus
2:14. To try to avoid the issue here is as fatal as to try to avoid
the issue as to His being the Messiah. To believe on, to commit one's
salvation to, a partial Redeemer, is to have no redeemer at all, to be
left unredeemed, unsaved.

Third, to know Him in order to believe on Him, to commit one's
salvation to Him against that day, one must know Him as having been
really raised from the dead. _Belief in the real resurrection of the
Saviour is essential to salvation._ For one to be heralded abroad as a
great preacher and theologian who yet denies the literal, real
resurrection of the Saviour, cannot change God's word that all such
are yet unredeemed, lost, not real Christians. God's word is plain on
this point: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and
_shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from t