Luke 8:12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

Look very closely here, these are people who took the gospel to heart. That is a little scary for anyone who assumes that all you have to do to be saved is to take the salvation message to heart. So what is it that does save? Do we believe simply by taking these words to heart? Apparently not, so something about belief goes deeper than just words.

If you accept that the devil takes the words from the heart, then the secret of how belief affects salvation must be connected to the heart condition or else the devil would have left them there.

Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

How does the Word give us a new heart? What has to happen to cause this change of heart?

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Here Peter says repent and be baptized but in Mark 16:16 Jesus said believe and be baptized. Which is it? It isn’t the baptism that saves, baptism is nothing more than a sign of change. The use of be baptized in both passages is a sign of the change. Belief that leads to repentance is that change of heart which saves.

Are you saved?

It is not for me to say, only ask. Has the Word you have placed in your heart lead you to repentance?

Ecclesiastes 6:7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Here are two contrasting verses. The only issue contained in both verses is the issue of being filled. The most striking contrast between the two is labor and righteousness. If you were going to pick two verses to compare objects, these two would not be used. But they work together if you are looking to understand the objective, satisfaction.

You can have an appetite even if you are not hungry. That is a comparative of the body and not the soul. The descriptive language used is offered to give us a reference point. It is easier to understand the body than it is the soul. Righteousness is a soul issue, not one of the body. If we are going to use these verses in order to understand the complete comparative, the labor must be seen in terms of a soul issue.

Think of the issue of the mouth as it relates to man’s labor. It is for his own consumption, his own self-satisfaction, and self-effort. Man has an appetite of soul which self-effort can never satisfy. Man will never have enough money, power, possessions or fame. His soul will remain empty. The soul is a bottomless pit that cannot be filled with things.

Ephesians 1:23b the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Only Jesus Christ can fill a soul.

John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.