Let's go back to that passage
that he read to us from 1 Peter. And I have selected for my remarks
this evening especially the words of verse number 9, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation, of your souls, and
so my subject is the end of your faith. And I would begin by asking,
do you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you believe
Him? Do you rest in Him? What is faith? Well, it is a continual heart
persuasion and persuasion not only of the
heart but also of the mind of something that is true. That's
what faith is. You're fully persuaded that something
or somebody is true. I believe the Word of God is
indeed the infallible Word of God. I have confidence in the
Word of God, don't you? I'm fully persuaded. I bow to
the authority of no other book. Once in a while, we may quote
from one of the old writers or maybe one of the newer writers,
but we understand all of the writings of men are filled with
error at some point. We bow to no authority except
the authority of the Word of God, and I'm fully persuaded
this is God's Word. I have confidence that this is
the Word of God. God has preserved the scriptures
all through these hundreds and hundreds of years. More than
50 writers wrote over a period of 1,500 years of the things
of our Savior. Most of the writers were not
contemporaries of each other. And yet they all wrote of him
who would come or who had come or of him who's coming again.
I am fully persuaded in my heart, in my mind, in my understanding
that this is the Word of God. Here's what faith is. It is an
inward conviction. It's something that has gotten
a hold of you. where you believe either something,
as I just said, that the Word of God is true, or somebody. You believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is salvation, to have faith
in the Son of God. I'm not asking you, do you have
an understanding of all of the articles of our faith Do you
have an understanding of all the deep doctrines of the Word
of God? I'm not asking you that. I'm
asking you, do you have faith? You who are watching, do you
have faith in the Son of God? Are you, in your heart of hearts,
fully persuaded He's the only Savior? He's the only one who
can help you. Are you fully, continually persuaded
that you being an ungodly wretch can do nothing, nothing to make
yourself appealing or pleasing to God, and that the only remedy
for your disease is the Savior, Christ Jesus. Do you believe
that? Do you believe what the Bible
says about God? I do. I'm fully persuaded this
is true. Our Lord Jesus in John 14, He
said, Thy word is truth. It's truth. Whatever this book
has to say about God, I believe it. I believe Him to be all-glorious. I believe Him to be the Creator.
I believe Him to be the God of providence. All things exist
and move at His will to accomplish His purpose. I fully believe
that. I'm totally persuaded of that. And this persuasion that I have
is not something that I have come up with on my own. For faith
does not reside in us naturally. It's a gift of God. And I'm fully
persuaded God is who He says He is. And I'm fully persuaded
I am what God says I am. So I don't feel my sinfulness. It's not a matter of feeling.
It's believing what God says about you. All of sin comes short
of the glory of God. You say, but I'm a child of God.
There's not a just man, there's not a righteous man upon the
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. What do you think about
that? Are you justified? Yes. Are you
righteous? Yes. Justified by grace, justified
by the blood of Christ, and yet the scripture says there's not
a justified righteous man on the earth that doeth good and
sinneth not. That knocks everything down.
That covers everything. We're not good people, we're
bad people. We're sinful people, but we're
sinful people that's saved by the grace of God. I believe what
the Bible says about me. That in my flesh dwelleth no
good thing. Never has, never will. I was
talking about progressive sanctification back in the office. Talk about
that all you want to, that man's getting better and better. There's
no evidence of that. The Bible doesn't say that. We
grow in grace, but this old rotten, damning nature is not improving
in the least. It won't get better. It's impossible. It's dead. Dead things don't
grow. Dead things don't improve. Dead
things just stink more. And I'll tell you, the longer
you're in grace, the more you will understand and realize the
depths of your depravity. And that this salvation has to
be all of God. and all of grace. I believe what
the Bible has to say. I have confidence. I have continual
persuasion in my heart and in my mind. This is the Word of
God. God is who He says He is. I am what He says that I am. And there's no salvation in any
other except the Lord Jesus Christ and His work of redemption. I'm
fully persuaded of that. I've got no hope but Christ and
Him crucified. As the hymn writer says, my hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And I dare not trust the sweetest
frame. I'm not gonna trust in anything
I've ever done, ever have done, and done, or ever will do. but
I wholly lean on Jesus' name." What is faith? Peter says, receiving the end
of your faith. What is the end of your faith?
It's believing on, relying on, resting totally on the Lord Jesus
Christ. I am fully persuaded. He is all
that God the Father says He is. And he's done everything necessary
to save his people. In fact, as I will show you in
a little bit, he has saved his people from their sins. Faith is always persuaded that
the only hope of salvation is the person and work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I know faith has its ups
and downs, Sometimes faith appears to be stronger than at other
times. Sometimes it appears to be weak.
But I know this about real faith. It is a continual persuasion. And it will not give up. It will
not quit. Because that which God does,
He does forever. And if He gives you faith, Now
he's got to give it. He doesn't have to. He's not
obligated to, but if he gives you faith, he's gonna see to
it that you keep it. And you will continually believe
him. Peter here says of our Lord Jesus
in verse eight, 1 Peter 1.8, he says, whom having not seen,
you love. I've never seen Him. Not with
these eyes. I've never seen a vision. He's never spoke to me through
a dream. He only speaks to me through His Word. I see Him, but I only see Him
by faith. Hold your place here. I was thinking
about this passage over in the Gospel of John. You remember
in John chapter 20. John chapter 20. Our Lord, after
His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples and Brother
Thomas was absent from the meeting that day and they had an enjoyable
time with the Lord Jesus. He came into their midst and
He said, Peace be unto you. Oh, for the Savior to speak to
each of us who are His children and say, Peace be unto you. These are very troublesome times. A lot of things going on in the
world and in this country. People upset with this or that,
in the midst of all the turmoil, hear Him say, peace be unto you. No need for us to be troubled
about anything. Because He who is our peace made
our peace with God by the shedding of His blood to His death. And
he who saved us governs all things for the good of his people. Peace
be unto you. And you know, there's only one
who can speak peace to a troubled heart. And that's the one who
gave us faith to believe him. I don't know what you're going
through with. people in our congregation who
this week are facing surgery. And I expect there's a degree
of anxiety in their hearts. May the Lord speak to his people
and say, peace be unto you. That's what he said to his disciples.
Lord, I'd love to hear those words spoken to my heart. Just
whisper it to me. and seal it to my soul. Peace be unto you." Well, that's
what he said to the disciples. And it was a wonderful time together. And then the brethren, when they
were dismissed, later on they saw Thomas and said, oh, Brother
Thomas, you should have been with us this morning. the master
appeared unto us. And he said, I'm not going to
believe. I'm not going to believe till I see that in his hands,
the print of the nails, till I actually put my finger in the
nail scars. Well, verse 26, John 20, after eight days again,
his disciples were within and Thomas with them. Then came Jesus,
the doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, peace
be unto you. I'm thankful that God, the Son,
says peace be unto even his Thomases. He said that to the other men.
Thomas missed out on that. Oh, but he's still one of the
Lord's loved ones. So the Lord says it to all of
them. Peace be unto you. And then he turned to Thomas
and he said to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger and behold
my hands. Reach hither thy hand and thrust
it into my side. Be not faithless, but believing. Be fully persuaded
of who I am and what I have accomplished for you. Oh, I tell you, verse 28, Thomas
answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Now watch verse
29. Jesus saith unto him, He said,
Thomas, because thou hast seen me, Thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not
seen. That's us. That's us. Blessed are they that have not
seen, and yet, and yet, we have believed. We have believed the
record that God has given to us of his son. Do you have faith? I'll go back
to our text here in verse 8, it says, whom having not seen
ye love, ye love. Several years ago, a dear child
of God made for me, my secretary in Almont made for me, my sister
in the Lord, Bonnie. I preached a message from this
passage of scripture and I mentioned whom having not seen we love. And she took a piece of paper
and she typed at the bottom of it this verse and the rest of
the piece of paper is blank. She framed it. It's hanging on
my wall in my office. There's no picture. There's no picture of Jesus.
Nobody knows what he looked like. Whom having not seen. I love somebody who's invisible
to these eyes, but very much real to the eyes of faith. And I believe him. I trust him. I believe what Solomon says about
Him in Song of Solomon chapter 5. He's altogether lovely. I see Him, you understand, in
the Word of God. That's where I see Him. And I
see Him by faith as that Savior I need, and I'm continually persuaded. He's the only one I need. I've
got to have Him. That's the reason I tried to
preach to you from my heart this morning when the thief said,
Lord, remember me. Remember, I want you to remember
me. This one whom I have never laid
eyes on. Oh, if he would remember me.
How blessed I am. Due to his memory of me. I say to preachers, Have you
a better subject to set forth than our Lord Jesus Christ and
His substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection? Preacher, do you have a better
subject than the glories of our God and King? Can you not take
the Word of God and paint for the saints of God a portrait
of this glorious Savior to where the children of God just rejoice
in Him whom to know is life everlasting. Can you preach the wisdom of
God without preaching Christ who is the wisdom of God? Can you preach righteousness
without preaching Him who is the righteousness that God gives
to the saints? Can you preach sanctification
without preaching Him who of God is made unto us to be our
sanctification? Can you preach redemption without
preaching Him whom God has made to be our redemption? Paul says,
He that glorieth therefore, let him glory in the Lord. There's
no glory in the flesh. I don't want to hear of what
you've done for the Lord. I never liked the braggamony
meetings, also called testimony meetings. I never liked those.
People stand up and tell what a wretch they were and all the
lousy things that they did before conversion. I had a man tell
me one time, I think we ought to have more testimony meetings
and less preaching. We didn't get along very well. I call it a bragamony meeting
is what I call it. It usually begins with self and ends with self. I just want
somebody to get up and talk about the Savior whom having not seen,
we love. And though we see him not yet
believing, Believing Him, being fully persuaded of who He is
and what He did, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Faith. Faith. Faith is not meritorious before
God. Faith has no merits. Faith is the hand that receives. Faith is the lips that taste
of the water, drink of the water of life freely. Faith is the mind that embraces
the very truth of the Lord Jesus Christ and his great salvation. Faith is the heart that believes,
but faith is not the savior. Don't you give it more credit
than it deserves. It is the means of perceiving
the reality of God's salvation. That's true. And by faith, we
enjoy this salvation that is all of God. We know that salvation
includes the salvation, the deliverance of our souls and our bodies ultimately
from all of the effects of sin. But faith, faith always puts
a crown on the head that deserves it. Faith never takes the glory. Faith never takes the credit.
Because you see, faith is a gift of God. Ephesians 2, for by grace
you say through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. You say, why does Peter say here
in verse nine, receiving the end or the goal, the consummation
of your faith, even the salvation of your souls? Why does he say
the salvation of your souls? Well, because ultimately, we
know this, ultimately salvation will be not only of our souls,
but of our bodies as well. We know that. Our Lord Jesus,
He redeemed not only the souls of His people, but the bodies
of His people. And He's going to have us body
and soul. Well, why does Peter here speak
only of the salvation of your souls? Because that's what happens
in this life. It's the salvation of the soul.
The salvation of the body is yet to come. That's when our
Lord Jesus comes back the second time and He raises these vile
bodies from mortality to immortality, from corruption to incorruption. Then we will be fully saved. But that's why Peter speaks now
of the salvation of your souls. Because in this life, that's
what we experience, the salvation of the soul. Now let me talk
about salvation, the end of your faith, the salvation of your
souls. I'm gonna give you five words.
Five words. I'll be brief. Number one, eternal. This salvation of your souls
is eternal. It is a salvation without beginning. Go back to 2 Timothy chapter
1. Just see what God's Word says
because we believe the Word of God. We have confidence in the
Word of God. We're fully persuaded this is
the final authority. what God said. Not interested
in what the Baptists say, I'm not interested in what the Presbyterians
say, I'm not interested in what any other denomination has to
say. All that matters and all that
should matter to you and me, what does God say? He's the first and He's the last
authority on all things spiritual. Now look what he says here. Look
at verse 9. The last word of verse 8 is God. So Paul picks up on that God
who had saved us. Oh, okay, now we're talking about
salvation. It's the same salvation Peter's
talking about in 1 Peter 1.9, the salvation of your souls.
who had saved us, that's the past tense, and called us with
a holy calling, didn't have anything to do with our works, nothing to do with our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. When did God save us? Before the world began. What
came first, our calling or our salvation? Our salvation. And because God saved us in eternity,
in time, he calls us. Effectually. By his gospel, by
his grace, by his spirit, who makes us willing to believe him
and bow to him in the day of his power. See, those who speak of salvation
only in terms of this life have a very vague and very shallow
view of the salvation of the soul. All of the chosen of God
were saved by the Lord in old eternity. We've always been saved. Now, we didn't always know it. But that which we don't know
has no effect on the eternal purpose of God. God saved us
before He made this world. In fact, He made this world as
a stage to fulfill this great drama of salvation by a substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But He saved us way back yonder.
Actually, He's always saved us. We've always been His children.
Turn to 2 Thessalonians, just a page or two before this. 2 Thessalonians chapter two. Chapter two, verse 13. but we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. The Spirit of God set you apart
for God and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're called in time. but we
were saved in eternity. That's what he's saying. This
is an eternal salvation. My salvation, my deliverance
from all of my enemies, my being healed of all of my spiritual
diseases, my help from God, my victory over all of those who
are in opposition to me was accomplished in the mind and purpose of God
from old eternity. I love that. You see, this salvation had an
originator, and it wasn't you. It had an author. Our Lord Jesus
is said to be the author of the eternal salvation. That's what it says in Hebrews
5, 9. First word's eternal, second
word, past. As we're said to be saved in
eternity, so we're said to be saved in the past. When's that? When Christ died for us. The angel said to Joseph, call
his name Jesus, for he shall, what? Save his people. Is that what it says? Save his
people? Save his people from what? Their
sins. Well, how would he do that? By
his sacrifice. By his sacrifice, it was pleasing
to God. This is a faithful saying, Paul
said in 1 Timothy, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. To save sinners
of whom I'm chief. Not to save good people. Not
to save deep-thinking people. Not to save worthy people, but
to save sinners. Can you get under that umbrella? Do you find yourself being qualified
then? I'm a sinner. Why not me? The deliverance was accomplished
when Christ was lifted up to die for sinners. After all, the
Scripture says without the shedding of blood there's no remission
of sins. Well, since the blood has been shed, there's got to
be remission. Our sins are remitted! Our sins
are forgiven! by a just God who will not hold
us accountable for any sin because all of our sins were laid to
the account, imputed to the account of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
paid our debt in full. He saved us. I don't want to
hear about what you feel, what you think. I only want to hear
about who He is and what He did. That'll encourage me. what he
did. In Revelation 12, 9 and 10, the
old serpent called the devil and Satan, he was cast out by
the sacrifice of Christ, and then John is led to write, now
has come salvation. That's what he said, now has
come salvation. When did salvation come? When
Christ, our substitute, God's perfect sacrifice for sin, when
he laid down his life for his sheep. Now has come salvation. You wanna know when I've saved?
I saved in eternity. I saved at the cross. I saved
in the past. Thirdly, experienced. Salvation is from eternity. It's eternal. Salvation is in
the past. I'm saved by the death of Christ.
It is experienced. Look at 2 Timothy 2 and verse
10. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 10. Paul
says, Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake that
they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with
eternal glory." This is a salvation we obtain by God-given faith. The Philippian jailer. Don't
you love those stories in the New Testament laid out so clearly? Like the one I endeavored to
preach on this morning, the believing thief. And the one in Acts chapter
16, the Philippian jailer. He's troubled and he brings Paul
and Silas out and says, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And they spake unto
him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
He took them the same night, washed their stripes, and baptized
him, he and all his household who believed. Baptize them right then. This
man experienced the grace of God. The grace of God. Paul didn't say, now, I would
baptize you, but there needs to be a probationary period here. I want to make sure you're in
earnest. Why do preachers come up with such stuff as that? We'll see how you do for six
months, and if you're still in attendance, you're still faithful,
I'll recommend to the board that we baptize you and receive you
into the membership." You don't find that anywhere in the New
Testament. Anywhere. Whenever somebody professed
faith in Christ, they baptized him right then. His man baptized,
and his household that believed, they were baptized too. But to return to this subject,
This salvation is experienced. Who will be saved? All who believe
on the Son of God. Even you. Even you. Philip said to the Ethiopian
eunuch who wanted to be baptized, Philip said, if thou believest
with all thine heart, thou mayest. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. Stop this chariot right now.
Let's both of us go down in the water and I'll baptize you. Salvation is experienced. if
thou shalt believe, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, or Jesus to be the Lord. That's what the thief did. He
confessed that Jesus is the Lord. And believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. You believe
him in your heart? See, God gives faith to the heart. The heart is fully persuaded
and continually persuaded He's the only Savior. He's the only
one who can help you. And I do not say, let me just
put this in briefly, I do not say that you have to go back
to a specific time and place when God saved you. Everyone's
conversion is different. I like something I read by Charles
Spurgeon many years ago. Somebody asked him a question
such as this. Do you think I need to be able
to go back to a specific place and time
when the Lord saved me by His grace? And there are a lot of
people who say, tell me about your experience. We were talking
about this. just the other night. There are preachers who preach
that. You better be able to tell me about your experience, and
you better cross every T and dot every I, or I'll say, I don't
think yours is real. I'm glad man's not the judge,
aren't you? Ain't nobody can see your heart
but God. But Spurgeon, he was asked this
question. He said, He said, when does the light
of day come? And he, in his writing, and I
love the writings of Charles Spurgeon, he said, when the sun
comes above Yon Mountain, and you begin to see that light arise. You could say it's light now.
And then that ball of fire comes out of the mountain, as it were.
And you see it. Then you can say, it's light
now. But then it gets right over your head at noon. You can then
say, it's light now. He said, who's to say when the
light comes? And he said, that's the way it
is with many of the children of God. You can't exactly tell
when the light came. You just know this. You once
were blind, but now you see. You was in the dark, and like
a believing thief, all of a sudden, a ray of light pierced your darkness,
and you found yourself believing. That's good enough for me. That's
good enough for me. It is experienced. And then fourthly,
quickly, this salvation is ongoing. He who hath begun a good work
in you will perform it. He's keep on performing. He gonna
keep you believing. as Paul says in 1 Corinthians
1 for the preaching of the cross, is to them who are perishing,
this is the way it should read, to them who are perishing foolishness,
but not us which are being saved. It is the power of God. Salvation is continual work.
God's continually saving us from our enemies, from sinful self,
from the world, from the enemies of our souls. That's what Peter
says in 1 Peter 2, 4, to whom coming, we're always coming to
him. And true believers don't quit. True believers don't walk away
from the gospel. True believers don't leave the
gospel. Now you may leave me. You might get upset with me over
something and go to hear another gospel preacher. Well, I'm sorry
if I have offended you, but as long as you go hear another gospel
preacher, we're still buddies, we're still friends. But now,
if you drop this gospel of grace and you go to a so-called gospel
of works, we can't have any more fellowship. That's done for. You see, true faith is continual
persuasion. This is ongoing. And lastly,
final salvation or perfect salvation. And for that, I'll just go back
to my text. And the text says, receiving
the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul. This
is the finality of it. That's why Paul says in Romans
13, 11, receiving or now is our salvation nearer than when we
first believed. Salvation in full. Salvation finally. I can't tell you what it's going
to be like to be glorified. No mere words of any man can
describe glorification, that glory that awaits us. But the
Scripture tells us there'll be no more sin. I believe that'd
be glorified, don't you think? To be glorified. No more sin? No more flesh to battle with?
No more world? No more devil? No more evil in
me? to plague my poor soul? That'd be glorification. No more sorrow. No more sighing. No more sickness. No more bereavement. No more death. No more crying. And here's the real glory this
final salvation when we're fully saved soul and body, we shall
see His face and be with Him forever. Then we'll be fully saved body
and soul. What a day that will be when
my Jesus I shall see. When I look upon His face, that
One who saved me by His grace. Let's sing a closing song, number
77. Number 77 is a good dismissal
hymn. Son of my soul, Thou Savior dear. Number 77, let's stand and we'll
sing all the verses.