Turn back in your Bibles to that
second chapter of Jonah. Let me just say while you're
turning that we do thank the Lord for Logan and Emily and
that little one that was born while they were here. Don't you
forget that boy is a Tar Heel. We love you and pray the Lord's
greatest blessings on you as you go. I want to talk to you
about Jonah's Gospel. The book of Jonah is actually
one of the oldest books in the Bible. And Jonah was a saved
man. But he was not only a saved man,
one of God's elect, but he's also one that God used in this
experience that he has just gone through to show us the one way
that any sinner is saved. And that is through a death,
a burial, and a resurrection. Some even believe that actually
Jonah did die in the belly of the fish, and that God actually
raised him back to physical life. Now he's been vomited up on the
shore by this great fish. And in so doing, he shows us
that all who are saved are saved by virtue of their union with
and their place in Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. We don't have to wonder as to
whether or not the book of Jonah is a real inspired book of the
Bible. The Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew's
gospel, if you want to turn there, hold your place in Jonah 2, but
if you turn to Matthew chapter 12, And look down at verse 38,
it says, "...then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees
answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you." But
now notice what our Lord answers. But he answered and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign."
That ought to tell us a lot about all the clamoring in religion
over signs and wonders. It is an evil and adulterous
generation that seeks after a sign. and there shall no sign be given
to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three
days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son
of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Jonah was a picture of a picture of those who are saved
by Christ, and he's also a picture of the gospel of Christ. The men of Nineveh shall rise
in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because
they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, a greater
than Jonah. is here. And that one greater
than Jonah bears witness to Jonah and what he was led by the Spirit
of God to say. You see, Jonah had been commanded
to go and to preach to the inhabitants of a very wicked city, the city
of Nineveh. And being the Hebrew that he
was, he had a natural prejudice. and therefore no desire to go
to this large Gentile city full of these wicked, idolatrous people. But he has to go. He has to go. And his preaching is described
as the preaching that the Lord had bid him preach. He had to go. And he had to preach
because God is absolutely sovereign in salvation. He saves whom He
will. He saves when He will. And not only that, but He determines,
He actually determined before the world began who would preach
the gospel. He determined who they would
preach it to. He determined where they would
preach. And most especially, He determined
what they would preach. And they would preach this gospel
that Jonah declares here in such a compact statement. This is the theme of this book. This is the message of the gospel. And as Paul, who said, woe is
unto me if I preach not the gospel. This man Jonah was appointed
by God to be at this place to preach this gospel, to preach
it to this people. And there was neither man nor
devil or even Jonah that could stop it. John 5 says, "...for
as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickens them, even
so the Son quickens or makes alive whom He will." Not about
so-called free will. It's not about your will or my
will. It's about God's will. There's only one free will in
this universe. And only a brief and unbiased
thinking about that, we would know surely that that's the way
it has to be. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. Yes, He said all things. And then the Apostle Paul, not
a greater preacher apart from Christ than the Apostle Paul,
he tells us, as he quotes what took place with Moses, in Romans
9 he says, "...for he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I'll
have compassion. God says, I'll be gracious to
whom I'll be gracious, and He tells that to Moses as his great
glory. That's the glory of God. And so here is Jonah who flees
in direct disobedience to God's revealed will, and yet he is
all the time being carried along by God's secret will. He's like
a fish in a tank. God says, go this way. He swims
this way. But all the time, God's carrying
the whole tank in a direction. And here is this man, Noah, who
is now brought, as some old preacher said, by divine providence to
the place he thought he would never go, to the people he thought
he'd never preach to. He's like this dove that was
sent out from the ark." As a matter of fact, Jonah's name means dove. And when all the judgment of
the flood was passed, when all of God's wrath had been poured
out on the earth, here is a people, here are eight souls in an ark,
and to show that the wrath and judgment of God has passed, that
dove sent out comes flying back to the ark with an olive branch
in its beak. Peace. Peace has been made. The ark has survived to hold
them and keep them safe. The judgment of God that beat
upon the earth, even upon the ark, It's finished, and they're
saved. Here's this peace which symbolizes
how that Christ, it says, for His people made peace by the
blood of His cross. And like all that God saves,
like all that God uses, He must be made willing in the day of
God's power. Here's Jonah, the unwilling prophet,
And yet now, here is Jonah the willing prophet. What happened?
They changed his mind. No, God changed it. God made
him willing in the day of His power. And this is what we find
that has happened as we begin this second chapter, which begins
with, "...then." And this is what he's brought to say. Look
down in verse 8. They that observe lying vanities."
What is a vanity? Well, it's actually nothing. But it's thought of as something. It's valued as something. And
what he's saying here is that every other hope other than God,
every other message except Christ crucified is nothing but a lying
vanity. And they that observe lying vanities,
they forsake their own mercy." There's no mercy in these lying
vanities that are preached in our day, that have so much to
do with man and nothing to do with God, and most especially
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But God has a people, and He
purposed, as He did to these Ninevites, to show mercy to them. He chose them in a covenant of
mercy and grace before the world began, and he's going to see
to it that they are not only saved by Christ, but that they
are brought to hear the good news of this. And Jonah sums
it up, "...if ever there is good news to a sinner like me." If
ever there's anything that can comfort the heart of one who
was born in sin and shapen in iniquity, if ever there was a
message that fits me and fits God, it's right here in verse
9. He says, but I, oh, but the grace
of God, if we can say this, But I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving." That's what the saved people of God
do. They don't offer up the blood
of bulls and goats and all these things. Paul said they offer
up the sacrifice, the fruit of their lips, which is praise and
thanksgiving to God. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Is that right? I'll guarantee
you that that sums up the only good news that there is in this
world. Some old preacher said, he said,
the gospel truly is good news. But I've not heard any other
good news in this world." He said, salvation is of the Lord. Jonah, what is your gospel? Well,
I can give it to you in a nutshell if you'll hear it, if the Lord
will give you that hearing ear that He gives to those He saved. Salvation is of the Lord. And that echoes again and again
and has from old eternity against all the confessions of men when
you ask them, what is your hope of salvation? What is your hope
of going to heaven? What is your hope of your sins
being forgiven? And they start out with all these
things that they have done. Salvation is of the Lord. And if you look at that one statement,
oh, if God would help us to believe this one liner, this one statement,
instead of all the worn clichés and catchy phrases and all such
as men put on church signs, if God would enable us to believe
one statement from His Word, What a blessing it would be.
Salvation. What is the salvation that is
of the Bible? Well, it is simply, if you want
to think about it concisely, it is simply deliverance. And undoubtedly, Jonah is confessing
that all salvation and all deliverance is by God alone. Every temporal
deliverance, such as from the stormy sea and the fish's belly,
all these things are of the Lord. But the word salvation here has
an extra letter to it. which gives it an additional
significance so as to make us know that he's talking about
that mighty salvation, that eternal salvation. If you're saved from
cancer, if you're saved from a heart attack, if you're saved
from a thief, or saved from a would-be murderer, or saved in war, whatever
it is, If you're saved with those salvations, you'll still, without
Christ, perish without that eternal salvation. I know a lot of people
who were delivered in the war, they were delivered in a battle,
they were delivered through this, delivered through that affliction,
and they think that's salvation. That's not salvation as we find
it in the Bible. Granted, it's a deliverance for
which you ought to be thankful. But it's not this salvation.
You see, he says through the psalm several times in Psalm
3, "...salvation belongeth unto the Lord." Again in chapter 37,
he says, "...but the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord."
Any salvation that does not begin with God is not of God. That's
not for the glory of God, it's not of God. He says again in
chapter 68, He that is our God is the God of salvation. And salvation in the Bible, that
word is that great inclusive word that includes redemption
from the guilt and penalty of our sin, deliverance from this
evil world, Deliverance from death. Deliverance from the curse
of the law. Deliverance from the wrath of
God. Deliverance from the bondage
of our fallen nature. Deliverance from the captivity
of Satan. Deliverance from the dominion
of sin. Deliverance from hell. And then
finally, deliverance even from the presence of sin. He's talking
about a full and eternal spiritual deliverance. And it is spoken
of in all three tenses in the Scriptures. It is spoken of in
this way, it says, we have been saved in the past tense. You
see, salvation begins with the purpose of God and the determination
of God before the world ever began. It's spoken of in the
present tense, it says, of the Lord's people, that they are
being saved. And it's spoken of in the future
tense, it says, we shall be saved. That about covers it, doesn't
it? Past, present, and future. That's what salvation is about. Peter spoke of it in this way,
he says, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation
of your souls. I want you to be healed of whatever
is wrong with you, if it's the Lord's will, but that's not the
salvation I'm come to talk about. He says, of which salvation? The prophets had inquired and
searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come
unto you." They weren't just talking about the nation of Israel.
When they spoke prophecies that on the one hand seemed to apply
to that nation of Israel, read a little farther, and you know
it cannot be talking about that nation. Those prophecies have
not come true concerning them naturally. But he's talking about
a spiritual people. Do you know the Lord has a people? He does. And it's not merely
reformation of some kind. It's not us quitting our drink,
or quitting our gambling, or quitting our line, or quitting
our adultery. It's not simply physical or outward
reformation, though it may bring about some reformations like
that. Not nearly as many as some people think, because that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. Not going to improve. But it
is truly God making us righteous, making us acceptable in His sight,
giving us life, making us new creatures in Christ, bringing
us from death to life, receiving us unto Himself. How in the world
could God accept and bless sinners who are the exact opposite of
what He is, rebels, unbelievers in themselves? How can He ever
bring them to a point where He can accept them? Salvation. He saves him. And it's not something
that we can accomplish by our will or our works. We can't even
will to lose 20 pounds just like that. It's so ridiculous. We're going to determine whether
or not we're going to be saved or lost. We're going to determine
whether or not we're going to go to heaven. When we decide,
we'll let God know, oh, no, we won't. Salvation is of the Lord. And it's not a cooperative effort.
It's by God Himself alone and it's for His glory alone. It's for His glory for saving
us and rescuing us and delivering us. It's said to be to the praise
of the glory of His grace. Now, I know this stuff is not
popular. But it's the truth. You see, the word save implies
deliverance from danger. It presupposes a state of lostness. And the truth of the matter is,
as Brother Mahan says so many times, if you've never been lost,
you've never been saved. Somebody asked Brother Barnard
one time, or he asked her, How long she'd been a Christian?
She said, all my life. He said, that's a little too
long. That's too long. You've never known what it is
to be lost. Whether you're lost in morality
or whether you're lost in immorality, whether you're lost in religion
or you're lost in irreligion, doesn't matter. But if you've
never been lost, you've never been saved. If you trace back
what your hope of salvation is to something that you did or
something you experienced, you're still lost. You see, till you've
been brought low as Jonah was. Till you've been brought to see
what you are before God, what you are in this flesh, where
you fell to in Adam. My daughter was in a park with
my granddaughter a while back, and she overheard some men talking.
And she heard a term that she had never heard, and when she
told me, I'll have to confess it to you, that particular term
I never heard. They said something about presumptive
regeneration. Well, I figured I really ought
to know a little more about presumptive regeneration. And what it was,
was a notion that so many, even some who'd call themselves Reformed,
a notion that they have, that their children, because they
view them as covenant children, they baptize them as infants,
assuming that they're regenerate. I'll tell you what you can assume.
You can assume that since you are a sinner, You're going to
give birth to a sinner. That little granddaughter, I
wasn't so sure with my own kids. I thought it might be different
with this granddaughter. Such a beautiful child. If you've
got a few hours, I'll tell you about her. But you know what
she's proven to me? She's proven to me that though
I love her, though I'd do anything for her, she's a sinner by birth,
by nature. Never had to teach her to cry.
Never had to teach her to lie? Never had to teach her to bear
a false witness against a playmate or anybody? Never had to teach
her to say, mine or my? Why? Because she is a sinner.
I tell you, well, that kind of leaves you without hope. It does
without any hope in me or her, but not in the Lord. What does
she need, preacher? Training up in an environment?
where she'll never experience any of those evil things. Adam
and Eve were in a perfect environment. She needs salvation. I don't
have another gospel for her and a gospel for you. A sinner needs
this gospel, needs the gospel of Christ. You see, the Bible
says that Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost,
sinners. He didn't assume that they were
regenerated. There's only one that we can
assume was sinless and perfect, and that's the one born of the
Virgin Mary. You see, such a notion is a denial
of depravity. It's the denial of the new birth
and what it really is. It's the denial of the gospel.
It's the denial of grace. One old writer said, salvation
presupposes the fact of sin. And sin involves a supreme being
whom we call God. If there is no God, there can
be no sin. And if there is no sin, there
can be no sinners. And if there are no sinners to
be saved, there can be no salvation. You see, salvation means deliverance. And Bible salvation means deliverance
from sin. Another old writer said, sin
consists of a guilty standing in a depraved state before God. Salvation is deliverance from
both guilt and defilement. is to be made safe and sound
in relation to the thrice holy God. It's deliverance from the
eternal consequences of rebellion against the government of God.
Without salvation, the sinner is forever excluded from the
glorious presence of God and forever exposed to the terrible
wrath of God. We need salvation. And salvation
includes the whole idea of God bringing us back into a positive
and right relationship with Himself. That's what salvation is. And
then if you notice the second word in this little concise statement,
that word is. Is. Salvation is. And this simply
means that this has always been the case. No matter when you
read this. I said this is an old book, an
old writing, God-inspired. But whenever you read this, it
always says the same thing. No matter when a sinner confesses
it, it's always the same. Salvation is of the Lord. that we are yet in an hour and
time when this can be said should be the cause of the greatest
hope for us." What if he'd said, salvation was of the Lord? You
say, you need a relative message, preacher, relevant message. Absolutely. Salvation is right
now. as it always has been with the
immutable and unchangeable God, the very same it is of the Lord,
not was, or might be, or not will be at some future time,
but now, and in a time, and among a people just like the Ninevites."
These guys got up to sing this morning, back and forth. I thought,
they're just like these Ninevites. They can discern neither their
left from the right. That's us. These were an idolatrous
people. And always with idolatry comes
the most vile and wicked debauchery and such as that, such as characterized
Corinth and other cities, Babylon. You mean to tell me? In 2013,
with all of this vileness, I'm telling you, we live in a virtual
cesspool. You mean to tell me right now
that salvation is of the Lord? There is just one salvation,
which he calls a common salvation, and yet it is a great salvation,
he says. Paul says to the Corinthians,
we then as workers together with him, beseech you also that you
receive not the grace of God in vain, for he saith, I have
heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation."
When is the day of salvation? It's that time. between the first
coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. This is the
acceptable year of God. That doesn't mean this is the
year that we accept Jesus. This means that Christ has come
to die for a people that God has made to be accepted in Him. He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. Salvation is. That's good news. Then he has another word, that
little word, of. Salvation is of. That means this springs from
it. It is the gift of it. It finds
its beginnings and its accomplishments in God alone. It arises out of
His sovereign love. It arises out of His sovereign
will and power. to the objects of the grace of
God, who He says He'll be gracious to. Here is sovereign mercy. It's of Him. In Isaiah 61, it
says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God, for He hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. As a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels,
God has clothed me, he says, with the garments of salvation."
What are they? The robe of righteousness. Listen
to what Paul, writing to the church in Thessalonica, says.
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13, we ought to really
read this and see what he says to them. He says, "...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." Somebody says, well, I'll tell you what I believe.
I believe God gives everybody a chance. Sure did. in the garden,
when we all stood in our Father Adam in a perfect paradise. And we, in Him, blew it. And what makes you think that
God would take that thing, which is the very chief and focal point
of His glory, and make it to be by chance? Salvation is not
the lottery. Salvation is not a game of chance. Salvation is a work of God. He hath chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. John 1, he came unto his own. and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Why
did some believe on his name and the majority didn't? These
that were believing on his name, which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God. There's the new birth. It wasn't
when they were born, it was when they were born of God. And then
he says this, salvation is of the Lord. I don't want to leave
that important, definite article out, because it declares the
singularity and the exclusiveness of the one who's the Savior.
He's the Lord. There's just one God who is our
Savior. I heard Billy Graham referred
to just this past week, just a passing thing, had to do with
the man who sang so often in his meetings. referred to as
the most successful evangelist of the century. By whose standard? A man who says when confronted
as to whether or not Jesus Christ is the only Savior, the only
way to heaven, and he says, there are many ways. He's a liar. He
may be the most successful in our day in man's eyes, but he's
a liar to God. That's another Jesus. That's
another gospel. That's another spirit. You say
you ought not to say that. Well, if that same granddaughter
I'm talking about, she's walking down the drive in front of my
house and there's a serpent called up to strike her, I'm going to
say, look, get away, that's a snake. We're not talking about snake
bite here, though. We're talking about your soul,
my soul. Salvation is of the singular,
definite article, Lord. It's just one God who is our
Savior. Turn over to Isaiah 45. Isaiah
chapter 45. Listen to what he says. In verse 17, He says, but Israel shall be
saved in the Lord. Now, Israel here has to be that
Israel that Paul talked about, of which he was a part naturally,
but of which also he set himself apart from, saying, they are
not all Israel that are of Israel. And he is not a Jew who is one
outwardly, but who is one inwardly, and circumcision is not of the
flesh, but of the Spirit. But this Israel shall be saved."
You see that? All this Israel is going to be
saved in the Lord. With an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed, nor
confounded, world without end. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God Himself that formed the earth and made
it, He hath established it, He hath created it not in vain,
He formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none
else. Let men, in order to try to be
acceptable, Politically correct, whatever it is, let them say
there's this Lord and that Lord and the other. He said, I am
the Lord and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nation. They have
no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image and
pray unto a God that cannot say." You say, but they pray sincerely. Yeah, but to a God that cannot
say. A God who is not described in
this book. a God who is a weak and pitiful
being that is the figment of their imagination. There is one
God. He says, "...tell ye, bring them
near, yea, let them take counsel together, who hath declared this
from ancient time, who hath told it from that time, have not I
the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me." No other God. And listen to how he describes
himself. A just God and a Savior. You know, you don't even hear
preachers talking about the justice of God. You hear the justice
of God spoken of in such a way that it makes God unjust. How
do they say that? Well, they say Christ died for
all men. If that means He paid the sin
debt for all men, if that means He suffered in the place of all
men, then if everybody is not saved, God is unjust. That would mean Christ paid the
price, but He didn't get what He bought. That would make salvation
to be of works rather than grace. because it would depend on something
that the sinner did to make them lost or saved. He's a just God
and a Savior. And as I tell you so many times,
if the Lord ever teaches you how He can be both, you might
be well on finding out something about Jonah's gospel. How He
can be just, punish sin as He must as the thrice holy God,
and yet save a sinner? Somebody said, God's a just God,
but He's a Savior. No, there's no but there, it's
a and. At the same time He's there,
how can He be thus in Christ? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said, neither is there
salvation in any other, for there's none of the name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. Paul said there's one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Christ
Himself said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes
to the Father except by me. There's only one salvation, only
one Savior, only one righteousness. which if we have it will be because
God in grace imputed it or charged it to our account and made us
to be accepted in Christ, made us the very righteousness of
God in Christ Jesus. No other way that God could be
just. and justify a bunch of sinners,
except through the suffering and the dying and the substitutionary
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ." Salvation is of the
Lord. I hear people use this expression.
You know, I'm a skeptic and a critic, I'm sure. They talk about the
good Lord. It's obvious they don't know
one thing about God. But the good Lord's been good
to them. My friend, He is the Lord. The Lord of Lords. He is the Lord God Omnipotent
who reigns. The Lord being the triune God,
Jehovah. That's what it is, Jehovah. Jehovah
is that name that He associates to His people. He's their God,
therefore their Savior, their Redeemer. Jehovah God the Father. Jehovah God or Jehovah Jesus
the Son, who is Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness. Jehovah
the Spirit. in whom we have salvation purposed,
and salvation purchased, and salvation produced. You read
Ephesians 1. Three times you'll have expressions
like, to the praise of the glory of His grace. The first is attributed
to God the Father. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us in all with all spiritual
blessings, having chosen us in Christ before the world began.
Blessed be God the Son, Jehovah the Son, in whom we have redemption,
the forgiveness of sin through His blood. Blessed be God the
Spirit who quickens us, who seals us, who reveals the truth to
us. Why? Because salvation is of
the Lord. You see, the Lord has placed
all hope of salvation, singularly though, in Christ. And I'm going to give you one
verse. If you've never read it, you need to read it. Because
it's almost like this verse. And it's found right on the heels
of that genealogy of the true Christ. Matthew 1, and it says
this in verse 21, Matthew 1, 21, And she shall bring forth
a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. You've heard that
word before. I saw a motorcycle with that
word painted on the side of it. I saw a license plate this past
week. It said, Jesus Christ is the
key to salvation. No, He is salvation. You say,
how do you know that? Well, when Simeon saw Him in
the temple, even as a small child, he said, Lord, Let your servant
depart in peace, for I have seen thy salvation." He is salvation. His life, His death, His work,
He is salvation. You don't know anything about
that, do you? You know about how you shook that preacher's
hand and how that you made this commitment or signed that card?
That's who we're dealing with in our generation. The religious
loss. "...and she shall bring forth
a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Jehovah, Joshua the
Savior, for he shall save His people from their sins." Any
Jesus who makes something simply possible, any Jesus who is not
assured absolute success in His work, Any Jesus who supposedly
tries to save somebody, and they're going to wind up in hell, He's
not the Christ. You shall call His name Jesus
for or because He, He alone, shall, without a doubt, save,
in this salvation sense here, His people. from their sins,
all of them. Please the Father that in Him
all the preeminence should be, all the fullness shall dwell,
and in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We're
saved by God in Christ. The Father chose us in Christ
and predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. And
this salvation is not contingent upon anything we do or don't
do. It's not accomplished in part
by us. We must be saved. We must be saved. Like a man
that's gone under that water of sin. took his last gulp of
it and is perishing. We have to be rescued. Described
as being a brand pluck from the fire. But God will move heaven
and earth to save his people. He'll move the affairs of your
life. You'll think you're doing this
and you'll doing your goal and all this kind of stuff, and all
the time he's moving his people to this message, this good news
that salvation is in Christ, that he's done it. When he hung
on that cross, he said, it's finished. Paul wrote to Timothy
and he spoke of God, he says, who has saved us. and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
Not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according
to His mercy, He saved us. What is He doing on that cross
outside of Jerusalem? He's saving His people. He's
saving that people that the Father gave Him in that everlasting
covenant before the world began. He's not going to lose any of
them. He laid down His life for the sheep. The Pharisees said,
we're not having nothing to do with you. We don't believe all
you've got to say. He said, you believe not because you're not
of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me. Paul
wrote to those Ephesians. He'd been talking about how Christ
came into this world as a man and bore our sins in His own
body on the tree, and laid down His life for us in the full payment
of our sins to the justice of God, satisfied God in all things
on our behalf, rose from the dead for our justification as
the Lord our righteousness." He did all that. He saved us. Then He calls us. You say, well,
He calls, and if you answer, He saves. That's not what Paul
said. You see, we preach the gospel. in order that God might
take the truth and show His people what He's done for them. Those
religious, moral Pharisees, they said, well, we don't believe
it. You believe not because you're not my sheep. I'm not trying
to get somebody to believe something they don't want to do. I'm declaring
the message of His truth, and He'll take it and use it to show
His people what He's done for them. He wrote to those Ephesians,
Paul did, and He said, you were dead in trespasses and sin. But
God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace ye are saved." For by
grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast." People get grace all the way
down to this point. They say Christ did it all, God
gave it all, but salvation is conditioned on faith. No. Salvation Faith, rather,
is the consequence of being saved. Here's a baby. Emily, one day
that baby is going to get up and go, walk. He's not going
to walk to be alive. He's going to walk because he
is living. When he's born, he didn't cry to be made alive. He cried because He was alive.
He saved us and He calls. His call to His people is a mighty,
factual one. He brings them. He says in that
first chapter of Ephesians, He says, "...in whom you also trusted."
You trusted in Christ. "...after that you heard the
word of truth." What's the word of truth? The gospel of your
salvation. Not the gospel of how to be saved,
but the gospel of your salvation. That it was for you, a sinner,
as much a rebel as Jonah or any of these Ninevites, as undeserving
as they were, as resistant as they were, He was saving you
because He loved you. Because He would. Because He'd
be gracious. Paul said, "...for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us who are saved it
is the power of God." Now, Paul was not an evangelist of great
worldly standing. Some of his epistles, his letters
he wrote in prison. Well, Paul, why are you preaching
this message that salvation is of the Lord? You know men by
nature, they want to add something, do something. They want some
glory. They want to boast. You know it makes people mad.
It offends them. What are you doing? It's landed
you in jail. Paul says, I endure all things
for the elect's sake that they may also obtain the salvation
which is in Christ Jesus with eternal life. Things never go
like I planned. People never do what I think
they ought to do. I had a man been telling me for,
I guess, a month, two months. He was going to be here this
morning. He's not. But I'll tell you who He is.
Those that God, according to His sovereign will, determined
to be here. To hear that message, which as
Paul said, will either be a fragrance of life unto life to us, or a
fragrance of death unto death. We preach the gospel to every
creature at His command. We exalt Christ crucified. Why? Because the Father said
to him. Because he loves to hear it.
But also that he might use it. Call out his sheep. Say, well,
preacher, what should I do? See, I'm different. I'm not trying
to get you to do anything. I'm trying to get you to quit
doing and rest in the finished work and in the glorious person
of God our Savior. This is Jonah's gospel. It's
my gospel. Paul's gospel. and salvation
is of the Lord. Bless. Nothing. Father, this day we pray that
You would use Your Word, first of all, to exalt Your worthy
name, and Lord, also to comfort Your people. and also to call
out those of your people who are yet in darkness. We trust
in the Savior's promise, who said, Other sheep have I that
are not of this foe, them also I must bring. Do all for your
glory. For we pray in Christ's name.
Amen.