You know, for many years, I thought
I knew what the gospel was. And for many years, I heralded
about preaching and teaching and sharing and witnessing and singing and the gospel. And when I come to see that I
am so blessed But during this time and sharing with others was not
really good news. Not good news in the fact is
because at the center of that news was a savior that would
not save. And at the center of that gospel
was a sinner who had all the ability to do what the Bible
ultimately says they cannot do. And so for that, for faithful men and women who
have held the gospel of Jesus Christ and shared it. I thank
Brother Tom for his stand on those things and his part in
my life. And I do call him local, but
I am blessed to call him a friend and a brother in Christ and also
a preacher of the gospel. I tried to think of what I might
preach about today to take that opportunity once
again to share what the gospel really is. You see, the gospel
is a good news that you can have salvation. The gospel is that
salvation has already been made for all the God's people. The
good news is that there isn't nothing that you have to do.
It's everything that Christ has already done. that Christ has saved. And the
difference between the Gospels that are being preached in the
modern churches today and the Gospel that is being preached
in the Lord's churches today is that there is a Savior that
really saves. That makes all the difference
in the world. and you have a savior there that
just loves and loves and loves and loves and loves, but at the
end of the day, he is left powerless to do anything unless you exalt
yourself and say it's okay. My friends, we don't have a God
that way. I would be remiss if I stood
up here and told you that God awaits your approval for anything. Our God is in the heavens It is He who has made us and
not we ourselves. We are the sheep of His pasture.
He is the creator of heaven and earth. He has control over all
things whatsoever that will happen. He has decreed all things. Known
unto God are all His works to end from the beginning. was just as rock-solid me and
Denny was talking earlier before services started here the Bible
says the works were finished from the foundation of the world
and because of that there is no conditions verse 11 Isaiah 66 and verse
11. and God is saying, behold, the
Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the
daughter of Zion, behold, thy salvation cometh. It didn't say
awaiteth, it says cometh. Behold, his reward is with him. Do you notice that salvation
is a hymn? It's not a plan, it's not a road, you walk. Salvation
is a hymn. His reward is with him and his
work before him. And they shall call them thy
holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And now pay close attention
to what it says here. And thou shalt be called sought
out. The Lord is the one who does
the seeking, not us. A city not forsaken. We will
never be forsaken. As Denny brought out in his lesson
earlier today, even before our heart was changed from stone
to flesh, God was watching us. God was keeping us. God was working
and keeping and bringing and moving and all this. I remember
Judy one time said, he's been saving me my whole life. I remember
that stuck in my head. And that's true for the child
of grace. Even before the time that we are quickened of the
Lord, we are still his children. We don't become children whenever
we're quickened. We don't become children when
we have faith. We were already children. read this morning all that the
Father given me shall come to me and all that come to me I
will in no wise cast out Jesus promised I will never leave you
nor forsake you You know that it's not because
we hold on to Christ that he doesn't forsake us. The reason
he doesn't forsake us, the reason that he doesn't leave us is because
salvation is not a conditional thing, but a covenantal thing
that he and the father had before the foundation of the world,
where he promised that he would save you and he promised that
he would keep you and that he would promise that at the end
of the day, he would raise you. and bring you to himself before
ever you were ever thought of and created. Brethren, the reason
that we are not forsaken is not because you're just a great person.
It's because Christ is faithful. We just saw about his faithfulness. And a lot of times when we sing
that song, we think about how we get up every morning and he
gives us a good cup of coffee. He gives us a job to go to, beautiful
children, a lovely spouse, all these things. We think that that
is the faithfulness of God to bless us. The faithfulness of God that
we should extol and proclaim, the faithfulness of God that
we should be exalting from the rafters, is not necessarily all
these things that Brother told us this morning. The things that's
material on the table of God, but it's God himself. See, if we talk about the faithfulness
of God, then that means that there is a faith that God has,
right? God can't be faithful unless
God has faith. And a lot of people say, well,
God don't have faith because he's God. Brethren, if God is faithful,
then that means he has faith. Christ had faith. And that faith
that Christ had for all that God promised him reward. Christ obeyed. Christ came. I come to do thy
will, O God. He had faith that God would give
him all that he promised before the foundation of the world. This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength, I that speak
in righteousness, mighty. Christ is mighty to say his salvation,
his redemption, his work on the cross. I just recently preached
a series of messages at our church on the work of the atonement. And in that, I shared with our
people over several weeks and showed over scripture and we're
going to look at a few of these today, that the work of Jesus
Christ in the atonement, what he did in his faithfulness, was
not only effectual, meaning it had an end, but it was efficacious,
meaning it had a specific people in mind for which it affected. And so whenever we look at the
atonement of Jesus Christ and we see him as the savior, we
see that he actually saved, not potentially saved, that he actually
saved and accomplished a salvation. And if he did so, then all those
who are included salvation was intended. Because
we know that not one will be lost, not one will be forsaken,
and that all will be sought out. We just read that. And so we
learn that the atonement of Jesus Christ is a particular effectual,
efficacious atonement. Look with me in Isaiah 53, starting
in verse One, who hath believed our report, and to whom is the
arm of the Lord revealed? I always say that those two questions
side by side actually answers itself. Who hath believed our
report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Well, the
one that believes the report is the one to whom the arm of
the Lord has been revealed. The arm of the Lord being the
power of the Lord. The one who the power of God has come upon,
who has changed the heart of stone into the heart of flesh.
He is the one who believes the report. The Scriptures say that
thy people will be made willing in the day of thy power. This
is the work of God that you believe on him. This isn't something
that we decide to do, that we just choose to do, that we make
up our mind, that we weigh out all the evidence, and all of
a sudden we're gonna just change our course. No, this is something
that we, like Paul, are heading in a completely opposite way,
determined against God. And whenever it pleased God to
reveal himself in me, I was no longer able to kick
against the prince. I was no longer able to reject him. I
was no longer able to turn away. Why? Because his power is overcoming. He has been given power over
all flesh to give eternal life to as many as has been given
to him. And whenever Christ gives eternal
life, rather than that eternal life against the belief, on eternal
things. That eternal life begins to look
to one source and one source only for their salvation and
that's Jesus Christ. He doesn't look to Jesus Christ
as a way to salvation. He doesn't look to Jesus Christ
as another type of salvation. He doesn't look to Jesus Christ
as potential for salvation, but whenever the child of grace Quickened
by God, given eternal life, and that life is now there, and the
spiritual faculties have now become awakened, that child of
grace now looks to Christ alone for his righteousness. He repents
of his self-righteousness, thinking that he and what he does and
any condition that he can fulfill will bring righteousness before
God. He repents of that and turns trusting only in an imputed righteousness
from Jesus Christ and him alone as his salvation. That's what
repentance is. So oftentimes we think repentance
is turning away from sin. And that's true, we are to turn
away from sin. But brethren, ultimately, before
anything else, our repentance is to repent towards God that
he has provided the righteousness. That our self-righteousness is
never gonna get us there. Our self-righteousness is never
gonna keep us safe. Our self-righteousness is never
gonna keep us try to God, our self-righteousness
is never going to do anything for us. The Bible says that all
of our righteousnesses, all of our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. It didn't say all of our bad
things. It said all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So our only
hope is that there has been a righteousness given to us outside of us, not
conditioned upon us to be accepted before God. who hath believed
our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. For
he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root
out of dry ground. He hath no form or calmliness,
and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from
him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. the arm of the Lord had been
revealed. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. Whose iniquities? The iniquities
of the ones to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed. The
chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes
we are healed. Now you notice the efficaciousness
there? We, we. You notice the effectual part
of it? He was wounded for our transgressions,
were it for our iniquities, the chastisement of peace was upon
him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Keep in context who the us all
is. The we, the ones whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before
your shearers is done. So he opened not his mouth. He
was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare
his generation? For he was cut off out of the
land of the living for the transgression of my people. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and here it is, the efficacious nature
of the atonement. And the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. That here we're told that the
work of Jesus Christ being bruised, being cut off, being the chastisement
of our peace, all these things that we just seen, that the whole
purpose in this is so that the pleasure of the Lord will prosper
in his hand. Now if God says that the work
of Christ doing all that will prosper, then any notion that
Christ has died for anyone and that If there is ever one that darkens
the door of hell for whom Christ died, then the pleasure of the
Lord was not found in the hand of Jesus Christ. That is not
a Savior. That is not one who did what
God had commanded him to do. He did not fulfill the Father's
will in bringing all to God. He did not fulfill the will of
God in not losing one. If one person is ever in hell
for whom Christ died, then Christ is not a savior. A savior is someone who saves. And here the Lord says that in
the hands of this man, this bruised, beaten, transgressor, that his
pleasure will Now, if you say it's the pleasure
of God that all men be saved, then all men is going to be saved
according to this verse. But yet we see the context is
very clear. It is for his people. It says
in verse 11, he shall see the travail of his soul. If Jesus Christ, the Savior,
in Matthew chapter one, verse 21 and 22, somewhere along there,
the Bible says you shall call his name Jesus. Specific. Don't call him something else.
Call his name Jesus. Why? For? for he shall offer salvation
to the world." He said he shall. See, that's the terminology of
a Savior. A Savior saves. A Savior shall
accomplish that which he sets out to do. He set out to this
world to save sinners. He set out to this world to save
his people. He set out in this world to do
the pleasure of his Father. and it was his father's pleasure
that none should be lost, that all should be brought in, not
just of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles, so that all
the people of God, wherever they be, scattered abroad from all
the nations of the earth, shall be brought into one. That's what
a Savior does. He shall see the travail of his
soul and be satisfied. Whenever God looked upon the
work of his Son on the cross and his dying, in his mediatorial
work, his substitutionary work. He looked upon that and was satisfied. And so for everyone for whom
Christ died, God was satisfied with that death. And because
of that, everyone who was died for was cleared of all their
guilt. Look with me at the next verse
as we continue on. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge. Shall my righteous
servant, here it is, justify many. He didn't say justify all. He said justify many. That word
many can mean a lot of people, but that word many is definitely
very seclusive. It doesn't incorporate every
person head for head. He shall justify many. But look
at the efficaciousness of this, brethren. By my righteous servant. There will be a justification
of many. The work of Jesus Christ on the
cross because of his blood, we are justified. That's the result
of the atonement, is justification. Your faith isn't what brings
justification. It's Christ's faith that brings
justification. We are justified by the faith
of Christ. That's what justifies us. And
so whenever Christ died upon the cross, his faithfulness to
the father and through the covenant and to his people as their mediator
and substitution, uh, substitutor, his faithfulness was what God
counted as righteousness. And he imputed that to all those. He was a savior. He justified His people by His
death. He didn't make it possible. He
didn't make it to wait around on you to believe on Him. No,
it was already before the foundation of the world determined that
by the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ that every man,
woman, and child who was in Christ before the foundation of the
world would be declared righteous by that very act. And so whether
you're in the Old Testament, whether you're in the New Testament,
whether you're in the In-Between Testament, wherever you're at,
if you're a child in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the
world, blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord shall not impute anything. Why? Because we have a Savior,
Savior. Therefore, excuse me, by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall
bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong because he had poured out his soul unto death and was
numbered with the transgressors and he bear the sin of many Isaiah 63 verse nine, the Bible
says in all their affliction, he was afflicted and the angel
of his presence saved them and his love. And in his pity, he
redeemed them and he buried them and carried them all the days
of old. In Matthew chapter 20, verse
28, the Bible says, even as the son of man came not to be ministered
to, but to minister and give his life a ransom for many. In Matthew 26, verse 28, the
Bible says, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is
shed for many for the remissions of sin. We see over and over
and over again, brethren, that there is an efficaciousness,
meaning that it was designed for a specific group, and there
was an effectualness to it, that it had an effect. It wasn't just
something that Christ did, and then it had no effect. I remember
one of the things that Tom said a long time ago when I was first
beginning to see these truths, and he said, whenever Christ
died, did he actually die for any particular person? And in
my mind, it was, well, he died for this cloud of people that
whoever would believe and come into this group, that would be
who would know. When he was on the cross, I,
you know, Whenever Jesus died as a substitutor, he wasn't dying
as a substitutor for this ethereal cloud of unfaced people. He was dying for individuals,
for Tom, for Judy, for Aaron, for David, for Mike, for Lori,
for whoever else is a child of grace. Christ was dying as a
substitution for them. And if he substituted, do you
know what that means? that we get the benefits for
everything he substituted for. If he's a mediator, he's going
to be the faithful mediator to mediate between God and man.
There is only one mediator between God and man, and that's the man,
Jesus Christ. And he mediated the work of the
covenant. All that God required and demanded
and all that man couldn't do, Christ met in man and he provided. by his spirit. John chapter 10, verse 11, the
Bible says, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. In verse 15, he says, as the
father knoweth me, even so know I, the father, and I lay down
my life for the sheep. But there were some that didn't
agree to that. Some of them didn't think that
was true. And so in verse 26, Jesus said, but you believe not.
And the reason that you don't believe this, the reason you
don't believe these truths, I'm standing here today, and there's
gonna be people here today that may not believe the things that
I'm saying. There's gonna be people that's watching this via
Facebook Live. There's gonna be people that's
listening to this on CD, wherever it may be, sermon audio, whatever.
And they're gonna listen to this, I don't believe that Christ only
has a people for himself and that he died for them. We have
to do something. There's going to be some people
that don't believe that. Jesus has an answer for you and you
believe not because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice
and they follow me. The Bible says that another's
voice they will not follow. They're not gonna follow the
winds of the world that continue to tell us, it's up to you, it's
up to you, it's up to you. If you'll just do this, know
that the words of Jesus is, it is finished. That's the words
of the shepherd. And if you're following the shepherd,
then you're gonna hear all day long, every day, it is finished. Well, wait a minute, what about,
no, it's finished. Well, shouldn't I just, no, it's
finished. Well, I thought I had it. It's finished. It is finished. That's the message of the Savior.
Why? Because the Savior saved. The
Savior didn't come potentially to save. He saved. And because
He saved, He has all authority in heaven and earth to say, It
is finished. Why? Because the Father looked
upon the tribulation of His Son with a sad sight. Whenever Christ
offered up His blood, to the most holy altar in heaven and
said, here it is. The father said, that's enough.
Did you know that in the Old Testament, in between the days
of atonement, that there was something that was bleeding the
case of the people? It was the blood. Even though
he wasn't there, it was the blood. And brother, listen, the blood
bleeds our case. is proof that it is done. When
he had done all, he purged our sins and had made one sacrifice,
once for all. The Bible says that he sat down
with the right hand of God. Why? Because there was nothing
left to do. We think we need to do what Christ didn't even
think he needed to do. Christ isn't scurrying about the earth
trying to win souls. You know why? Because he did
already. He prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation
and not for that nation only but also he should gather together
in one the children You wake up in the morning sometimes
like I do and feel the weight of sin in your flesh. Man, yesterday
I was coasting along pretty good. I thought I was doing good with
the Lord, but today he's not so much that way. Paul says,
I want to do the things that I want to do, but I can't find
that I do them. There's a struggle in me between
the flesh and the spirit. I want to do the things of God,
but yet I find in my flesh that I can't do those things and I
keep going back and doing the things that I don't want to do.
And the things that I don't want to do, that's the things that
I find that I'm doing. And so there's this constant
struggle in me. Have I lost my salvation? Do
I just need to do more work for Jesus? Maybe I should read my
Bible more or listen to more sermons on Maybe I should, you know, take
the Lord's supper. Maybe I should get baptized again.
Maybe I should join in the memory. Whatever. No. Paul concluded that whole thing
about the struggle with sin and knowing that there is nothing
good in me. And he found that there was a
savior because in chapter six, verse one, which there is no
page breaks in the scriptures. He goes on and says, therefore,
in light of the fact that I know that in me is no good thing,
in light of the fact that I can't do good and that I've resigned
myself to know that in my flesh I'm going to serve the law of
sin, and in my spirit I'm going to serve the law of God. Why?
Because that which is in me is perfect and cannot sin, and my
flesh, all it can do is sin. It don't get any better, and
what's been put inside of me in this new creation can't do
any worse. So I've resigned myself to that. And some people may say, well,
that's not a good place to be. But he says, therefore, there
is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Listen, child of grace, before
the cross came to your mind, Christ did everything for you.
But after the cross comes to your mind, Christ has still done
everything for you because he is a savior that saves even in
the practical things of life. There is no condemnation. When
I look at myself and I see my sinfulness, I pray before God
and I say, God, forgive me. I know that I have sinned against
you. But listen, brother, there is
no despair because there is no condemnation. God is using to bring you to
Christ. I know that sounds foolish to
a lot of people. I know a lot of people disagree with me. But
listen, brother, it was the sin of David that brought him closer
to Jesus Christ. It was the sin of Paul that brought
him closer to Jesus Christ. And Christ uses our sin to conform
us to his image. And so whenever you as a child
of grace come on those days and it just seems like your flesh
is overcoming, No, this one where in fact we are more than conquerors
because in the end it is not going to win because we have
a Savior who saved. And the Bible says that he's
going to raise us up at the last day and this body is going to
be put off and a new body is going to be raised up that doesn't
know sin. It's not going to have the frailties
that we have now. We're not gonna have to worry
about displeasing our Lord anymore. We're not gonna have to worry
about not making it. Am I doing enough? Listen, brethren,
we can never do enough, so I'm glad it is finished. I'm glad
we have a Savior who saved and not made salvation possible. Great.