Heal suffering, love which first
began A scheme to rescue fallen men Hail, sovereign, free, eternal
grace That gave my soul a hiding place Against the doubt, who rules
the sky I fought with hand, uplifted high Despised the mention of
His grace Too proud to seek a hiding place Wrapped in fake Egyptian night
And fond of darkness more than light Madly I ran the sinful
race Secure without a hiding place but thus the eternal counselor
and almighty love arrest that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding. indignant justice stood in view
to cyanide's fiery mouth i flew but justice cried with frowning
face this mountain is no hiding place And mercy's angel soon He led
me on with gentle face to Jesus Christ my hiding place should seven cold storms or thunders
roll and shake the earth from cold to cold no flaming gold
could daunt my face for Jesus is my hiding place On him a mighty vengeance fell
That must have sunk the world to hell He bore it for a chosen
race And thus became their hiding place A few more rolling stones than
most shall land me safe on Canaan's coast. There I shall sing the song of
grace to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. ? Exalt the Lord, His praise proclaim
? ? Let every saint now raise His name ? ? Forevermore we'll
see His face ? ? The face of Christ, our hiding place ? Thank you, Vicki. Thank you,
Chris. What a safe hiding place we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Gabe Stoniker. Where are you
sitting, Gabe? There you are. Gabe pastors Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. And, uh, I was reminded
that Sophie was how old, five last time? Three, four, last
time you all were here and she's grown up into a young lady now.
Hannah, we're glad you're here. Gabe, looking forward to what
the Lord's put on your heart. Please come. Good morning. That is my favorite
special I've ever heard in my life. That's it right there. And the reason is because I was
just reminded it started in the wrong key. Is that correct? I was reminded sincerely that
it's not the perfection of our delivery, it's the person. It's
the person we're delivering. And that touched my soul. Thank you for having me, Brother
Greg. Thank you. I'm honored, so honored to be here. Just talking to a brother back
here in the back and he said, this is a family reunion and
that's what it is. And just love you all in the
Lord. I'm just so honored and thankful
to be here. Your building is beautiful. Turn with me, if you would, to
Philippians chapter two. Philippians chapter two, one
verse will be our text. It will be verse 13. Philippians
2 verse 13 it says, for it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Aren't you
glad? Aren't you so glad? It is God
which worketh in you. It is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Jonah is the one
who said, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is totally of the Lord. I would like for us to see that
this morning. That's what we're gonna declare
this morning. In every way, shape and form, salvation is totally
of the Lord. It's God's work that He does,
He works in His people. And it's all according to the
good pleasure of His will. And just to be clear on this,
to say that it's God's work, what that means is it's not ours. To say that salvation is of the
Lord, what that means is salvation is not of us. It's not of us. I have 10 things, I have 10 statements,
not 10 points. Don't worry, we won't be here
all morning. I have 10 statements that I would like to declare
concerning salvation. And I'm gonna move quickly through
them, but I want to state a fact, prove it in the word and move
on, okay? 10 statements. When it comes to salvation, Until
we know what God has said about it in His Word, we have a lot
of questions about it. People have a lot of questions.
And every question that a man or a woman could ever have concerning
salvation will be answered in His Word. All that a person has
to do is come and sit and listen to the Word of God preached And
every question we have will be answered. Every question we have. The question that I hope the
word will answer for us today is usually the first question
that people have concerning salvation. And that question is, what is
my role in it? How do I make it happen? How
do I get the ball rolling? How can I be a part of it? How
can I know I'm a part of it? How does this work? How does
this work? I want to answer that by reading
a scripture to you and then declaring a truth. And reading a scripture
to you and then declaring a truth, okay? The first one is in Philippians
chapter 1. If you want to turn with me to
these, It's Philippians chapter one, verse six. It says, being confident of this
very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. We do not begin the work
of salvation. He does. When a person first comes to
this subject of salvation, he or she will search to try to
figure out, how do I get the process started? How do I get
this process started? Everybody thinks that the ball
is in their court because that's what false preachers have been
telling them all their lives. Everybody thinks the ball is
in their court because that's what false preachers have been
telling men and women all their lives. Now, the ball is in your
court. What are you going to do? Are you going to do something
or not do something? Are you going to let this moment
pass by? What are you going to do now? People hear that and they say,
well, okay, what do I need to do? How do I get started? We don't start the work of salvation,
God does. Verse six says, being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So that's the
first statement. We don't start the work of salvation,
God does. All right, here's the second
one. We don't perform the work of
salvation. God does. Verse six says, being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Our
text said, it is God which worketh in you. God, which worketh in
us performing. We don't begin the work. We don't
perform the work. Here's the third thing. If you'd
like to turn to John chapter 19. John 19, this is the Lord Jesus
Christ on the cross of Calvary. John 19, verse 30. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. We don't finish the work of salvation. He did. Christ did. God did. People think, they wonder about
this. They are confused and they think,
now, did He take the first step and I need to take the second
step? Or is it me who needs to take the first step before He
will take the second step? It's neither. He took all the
steps. He took all the steps. Spurgeon said, if I was standing
at the very threshold of heaven and the last step was up to me,
I would never make it in. I'd never make it in. And it's
because we are all so naturally dead in trespasses and sins. Ask a dead man to take a step
and see what happens. Ask a dead man. That's the problem with men and
women is they don't realize they're dead. That's the problem. They
don't realize they're dead. None of us realized that we were
dead until God said, live. And at that moment, we all realized
I was dead and he made me alive. We do not begin the work of salvation. He does. We do not perform the
work of salvation, He does. We do not finish the work of
salvation, He does. He already did. Hebrews 1 verse
3 says, He by Himself purged our sins and then He sat down
on His throne. Number four, if you'd like to
look at John 15, This is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. John 15 verse 16, it says, You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever
you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. When it comes to salvation, we
don't do the choosing, God does. People say all the time, what
about that verse of scripture that says, choose you this day
whom you will serve? If people only knew what that
verse was talking about. if people only knew what that
verse was talking about. That's a rebuke. Joshua told
the people, you are not worshipping the true and living God. You
are worshipping idols and none of them can save you. Therefore,
it doesn't matter which one you worship, just go pick one. Just pick one. Choose you this
day whom you'll serve. When it comes to the salvation
of the true and living God, He does all the choosing. Aren't
you so glad? Election is the sweetest, kindest,
most loving and merciful thing that has ever taken place. Had
He not chosen us, nobody here would have ever chosen Him. Ephesians 1.4 says, According
as He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. God the Father chose All of His people in Christ before
the foundation of the world. There's no decision to be made
on our part. That's important to understand.
There's no decision to be made on our part. The decision was
all His. Alright, I'm going to give you
number 5 and number 6 together. We don't seek Him. He seeks us. And we don't find Him. He finds
us. If you look at Isaiah 65 with
me. Isaiah 65 verse one says, I am sought of them that asked
not for me. I am found of them that sought
me not. The command is, seek the Lord
while he may be found. That's the command. Seek the
Lord while he may be found. But the sinful flesh of man will
not do it. This is why our God had to do
all of this for us. He said, you will not come to
me that you might have life. The sinful flesh of man just
will not do it. He will seek religion. He will seek doctrine. He will seek self-gratification. He will seek lies. But he will
not seek Christ. Not by nature. Not in truth as
he has declared himself to be. God is the one who does all the
seeking. And God is the one who does all
the finding. Verse 1 again, he said, I am
sought of them that asked not for me. I am found of them that
sought me not. I said, behold me, behold me
unto a nation that was not called by my name. David said in Psalm
27, When you said, Seek ye my face, my heart cried, Thy face,
Lord, will I seek? Only after you commanded me.
He's the one who came to seek and to save that which was lost. He's the one who left the ninety
and nine and went out into the wilderness seeking that sheep
until he found it. And when he found it, he brought
it home rejoicing. He's the one who said, come rejoice
with me. So we don't begin the work, he
does. We don't perform the work, he
does. We don't finish the work, he
does. We don't do the choosing, he
does. We don't do the seeking, he does. We don't do the finding,
he does. This is number seven. If you'd
like to look at Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2 verse 8, it says, For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. We don't
produce our own faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the one who puts his own faith in us and causes us to believe
on Him. The command is, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's the command. But even that, even that belief,
even that faith is His work in us, causing us to will and do
of His good pleasure. Hebrews 12 verse 2 says that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith. Faith is not of ourselves. It's
the gift of God. It's the work of God. It's the
object of God. And He gets the credit. Number
eight. This is Titus chapter 3. I know
I'm having you turn to a lot. You can listen or turn with me
either way. Titus three, verse five, it says, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that
being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. not by works of righteousness
which we have done. We do not earn any perfection
of our own. We do not earn any goodness,
any record of good deeds. He earned every bit of that for
us. Aren't you so glad? Our perfection before God. Who
shall stand in the hill of the Lord? Only those who are perfect. Clean hands, pure heart. That's
not me in my flesh. That's none of us here. And our perfection before God. If we're going to stand in the
presence of God, we have to be as good as God is. As spotless
and perfect as God is. And our perfection that is required
of us Christ earned every bit of that for us. Why did He stay
here for 33 and a half years? He was earning a perfect life
for all of His people. He went about doing good. Why? Because all I did was go about
sinning. And He traded. What makes God look at us and
say, You are worthy to enter in. Christ earned that for us. And
He gave it to us. We did not earn it. We do not
earn it. He freed us from the bondage of the law that says,
you're going to have to earn this. He freed us because He
came and earned it. He fulfilled it. He said, I didn't
come to put away the law. I came to fulfill it for my people. We do not earn God's favor. We
cannot keep ourselves in God's favor, and that's number nine.
Christ is the one who keeps us there. 1 Peter 1, if you wanna
look at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 3, it says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. People wonder
how they're going to be kept in salvation. People always talk
about losing their salvation. That's why people constantly
go and confess their sins again, and they're constantly doing
this stuff, because they're afraid they're going to lose their salvation.
How are we going to be kept? It's not going to be by us keeping
ourselves. Christ has to do that, and He
will. He will. He will keep His people
by the power of God, which is Christ Himself. Christ is the
power and the wisdom of God. So we don't begin the work of
salvation, He does. We don't perform the work of
salvation, He does. We don't finish the work of salvation,
He did by the shedding of His own blood on the cross of Calvary.
We don't do the choosing in salvation, He does. We don't do the seeking,
He does. We don't do the finding, He does.
We don't produce the faith, He does. We don't earn the righteousness,
He does. He did. We're not even the ones
who keep ourselves in His salvation. He's the one who keeps us there.
The last one, number 10. This could be the first one.
1 John 4 says, 1 John 4. Verse 10. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. It's not that we loved God. Our salvation is not because
of the fact that we love God. I was talking with a man many
years ago, right after I got to Kingsport. People find out
that I'm a pastor and so everybody gets on the religious conversation.
And so he wanted to talk to me about religion and what do we
believe and this and that. And I could see it on his face.
He immediately knew we're not on the same page and he was trying
to get out of this conversation. And so he finally just wrapped
it up. He said, you know, let's just This was his thing. He just
kind of interrupted and he said, just tell me this. Do you love
Jesus? And I said, yes, I do. I most
certainly do. But here's the question I'm more
concerned with. Does he love me? Does he love me? Our salvation is not because
of the fact that we love God. Do we love Him? Oh, we do. Yes,
we do. But it's because of the fact
that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the
bloody victim, the sin covering for us, our sins. Verse 19 right
here says, we love Him because He first loved us. Can we see that salvation truly
is of the Lord? Start to finish, if any man glory,
let him glory in the Lord. For it is God which worketh in
us, both to will and do of his good pleasure. Thank God. Amen. Thank you. Let's all stand together, we'll
sing hymn number 199 from the hardback teminal, 199.