Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. And I want
to read the first 12 verses. Hebrews 6, 1 through 12. Paul says, therefore, Leaving
the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto
perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance
from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of
baptism, laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the
dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do. We will
go on. You're dull of hearing, but if
God permit, we'll go on. Then in verse 3, verse 4, it
is impossible. If God permit, we'll go on, but
it is impossible. Because it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened, those who have once tasted, of
the heavenly gift, those who were once made partakers of the
Holy Ghost, and those who have tasted the good word of God and
the powers of the world to come. It is impossible, if they shall
fall away, to renew them again unto repentance. seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to
an open shame. For the earth which drinketh
in the rain which cometh upon it, bringeth forth herbs meet
for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth a blessing from God,
it bringeth forth good fruit. but that which bear thorns and
briars is rejected and is nigh unto cursing whose end is to
be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you things that accompany salvation,
though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to
forget your work of faith, your work, and labor of love, which
you have shewed toward his name, in that you minister to the saints,
and do yet minister. And we desire that every one
of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope
unto the end, that you be not soulful but followers of them
who through faith and patience inherit the promises of God.
inherit the promises of our God. Now, my title this morning, the
title of my message is, Things that Accompany the Glorious Salvation
of God. Things that Accompany a Salvation. I'm going to look at these words
Far beyond the original context here. In the original context,
the writer is speaking of faith and hope, patience and diligence,
Christian conduct, perseverance, keep going, keep on keeping on.
And that's what he's talking about. That's his subject. And
then if you read on in this chapter, he'll show you how Abraham did
that very thing. Through patience, he inherited
the promise, the hope that was set before him. And that hope
was founded in two unchangeable, wonderful things. God said it,
believe, you shall be saved. And God swore by His name, just
as sure as I'm God. He said it and then He swore
it to an oath. Made an oath. And so our faith,
we trust in the faithfulness of our God. We trust in what
He said, His faithfulness. His faithfulness to save us,
His faithfulness to keep us, His faithfulness to glorify us
in His own time. Now, remember this when you're
talking about things that accompany salvation. In the context here,
these things don't cause salvation, but they They're the result of
salvation. They follow salvation. They're
a part of salvation. Faith, hope, patience, perseverance. These things follow salvation.
If you have salvation, you have these things. And he encourages
them to follow on. He said, I've given you a very
severe warning, but I've persuaded much better things of you and
things that accompany salvation. And that is the things which
follow on faith and hope, patience and perseverance and so forth
and so on. Ultimately, and I love this,
I love thinking of it, I love saying, ultimately, salvation
is Christ. Spurgeon said, and I've said
it here often, Christ is not only our Savior, He is the sum
total of our salvation. You remember when Simeon took
that infant, eight days old, took him up in his arms and said,
Lord, now I'm ready to depart in peace. Peace with God, peace
in my heart, because I've seen your salvation. Here it is in
my arms, this little imprint. I've seen your salvation. Now,
salvation to us is actually everything that's decreed for us and given
to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all part
of our salvation. God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ, according to He chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. All these things,
that's part of our salvation. That's what God's ordained for
us. That's what God's given to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what Christ earned for us. And that's what the Holy
Spirit shows us. what Christ has done for us,
what the Father's ordained for us. Now, Christ is made unto
us, 1 Corinthians 1.30, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is all in and through
and by of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are complete in Him. When we see Him, the Bible says,
as He is, we'll be made like Him. We'll be made like Him. We'll be conformed to the image
of God's dear and glorious and only begotten Son when we see
Him as He is. That's what the beloved John
tells us. Now may the Holy Spirit this morning bring some things
to our hearts. And I know you've heard these
things before. Most of the world hasn't. Be
thankful if you believe them. If you believe them, be thankful.
They're so precious. Our salvation is based upon God's
purpose, not ours. God's decision, not ours. God's
power, not ours. God's will, not ours. And you'll
see it in some of these points. I'll make this more. Things that
accompany salvation. Number one. One of the things
which accompanies salvation is divine election. Without divine
election, there would be no salvation. Without unconditional election,
there would be no salvation. Because God couldn't move toward
us in any other way except in sovereign grace. He had the purpose,
his heart. He had to set his affection upon
it. We didn't deserve anything but
hell. We all deserve to slide right on down into the bottomless
pit. But God set his affection upon
some people. Listen, I thought about this
yesterday and it blessed my heart so good. When I was growing up
in times of sadness and sorrow and wondering what this world
was all about and what would ever be my end and so forth and
so on. God, back in eternity, had put His stamp on my forehead. He had sealed me with the stamp
of eternal love. That was mine. Mama didn't know
it. Daddy didn't know it. Nobody
knew it, but God knew it. God had His hand on me before
I ever came into this world, back in eternity. He chose some
people in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Back in eternity, looking
down all of time, all of Adam's race, He chose them, He picked
them out and stamped them with His stamp of divine love. These are mine. These are mine. This is mine. Saul of Tarsus. Christians didn't want to be
around him. The apostles didn't want to be around him. Ananias
didn't want to baptize him, but God said that's alright. He's
mine! He's a chosen vessel unto me to take salvation to kings,
to the Gentiles, throughout the world. Baptize him. God had a mark on him before
he was ever born. God looked down through the ages.
In His unconditional election, the choice was from His heart,
His mind. Nothing had nothing to do with
us. Looked down through the ages, and He chose and marked a multitude
which no man can number. And He said, they're mine. And
put His stamp on their heads. The seal of eternal love. Ordered
in all things, ensure I'm going to bring them home. They're mine. They're mine. They're mine. God in election
wrote their names in that eternal, unchangeable Lamb's Book of Life
before He ever made this world. A time when I thought in my life,
wonder if anybody at all loved me. I didn't love myself. I was
sorry. I just had bad times. All the
while, all the while, unknown to me, God had said, I love that
fellow. I set my affections upon him.
I spared not my son, but delivered him up for him. I'm going to
take him home. I will make Him just like my
eternal and only begotten Son of God. Election purposed the
eternal, the full and eternal salvation of those in the Scriptures
called His people, His sheep, His elect. Those He chose in
Christ before the foundation of the world. And that's why
it says on many occasions where you have these accidental meetings,
I must needs go through Samaria. Because there's an old woman
there, an infamous prostitute. There's an old woman there. And
I've set my seal upon her, she's mine. I'm going to take the Word
to her. And I am the Word. He went to
her. Gave her the living waters. Gave her the living waters. I
must needs go through Samaria. One time, God must needs pass
by where I was. Oh, Barney, you say God's going
to cross the path of every one of his sheep. He's going to cross
their path. Thank God for that. Our only
hope is election. That's our only hope, that God
chose some people, that God's going to save some people. When I hear that news, I get
in line and I say, why not me? They're described as sinners.
Boy, that's me. I must need to go through Jerusalem.
And then there's this awful word in our day. Religionists don't
like to talk about election. I love it. I love it. Religionists
don't like to talk about divine predestination, but it's so.
It's so. Let me, in this first point,
divine election. I think I quoted part of it a
moment ago, Ephesians 1 and verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. You know what that
literally saying, that word there, blessed, is eulogized. Let's
eulogize, let's exalt God, let's be highly of God. But God, before
we ever made this world, He spoke my name. He spoke well of us. He blessed us. Let's bless Him
because He blessed us. Then the Apostle Paul said in
2 Thessalonians, he said, chapter 2, he said, We're bound to give
thanks unto God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation through the
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto
He called you by Thank God He had His mark on you before the
world ever began. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you, beloved of the Lord. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you who believe here this morning. Because God, from
the beginning, has put His mark on you. His invisible mark, His invisible
seal of His eternal electing love put His mark on you. Put his mark on you. Now secondly,
this thing of divine predestination. Look at, turn back to Romans
just a moment. Romans chapter 8. Verse 28, Romans 8, 28. Everybody quote part of this.
We know And if we know it, it's wonderful
if we know. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called, called, called according to His purpose, called according
to His purpose. And the Apostle Paul said, when
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace, called me, when it pleased God, called
according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, that's
their election. That's their loving election.
God sent His affections upon them. God made them in His purpose. For those whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate. He predetermined. That's what
that word means. He predetermined. to make them in the image of
His Son, that His Son might be the firstborn among many brothers.
He predetermined, elected them. And then you have the same thing
in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 5, predestinated unto the adoption
of sons, those whom he elected, he predestinated unto the adoption
of sons, unto the adoption of sons. It is not fitting, it is
not fitting, it is dishonoring to God and utter blasphemy to
talk about salvation being a thing of chance. It's not a matter
of chance. It's a matter of God's purpose.
From beginning, before the foundation of the world, to the end. And
known unto God are all of His works from the beginning to the
end. Declared unto God the end from
the very beginning. All God's works. He said, if
I've said it, I'll do it. If I've purposed it, I'll bring
it to pass. It's certain. God purposed it. He's going to
bring it to pass. For this world was ever made,
He looked upon His Son in His purpose as a Lamb crucified,
a Lamb crucified. And all these names written in
the Lamb's Book of Life, Christ crucified for those people, for
those names. That's what this world is all
about. God crucified His Son, bringing many, many sons, many
sons unto glory, to make many sons just like Him. Just like
Him. Amen. I know that men took the Son
of God and crucified Him, but His worst punishment was when
God made His soul an offering for sin. His worst punishment
was when God made Him to be sin and turned His back on Him, poured
out His infinite wrath and all of its unrelieved intensity. Treated Him like we deserve to
be treated. Like we deserve to be treated.
Salvation is of the Lord. Will He who ordained the path
of every star leave the results of the death of His Son to mere
chance, to sinful human will? No, no, no, no. A thousand times,
no. It's in His purpose. It's in
His hands. It's in His power. And Christ shall say triumphantly,
I see the travail of my soul, there they are. Behold, I and the children which
you gave me, there they are, haven't lost a one, haven't lost
a one. All whose names are in the damn
book of life, there they are, haven't lost a one. Redeemed
everyone and brought them home. That's the purpose of the Son. Predestination. In predestination,
divine predestination, God ordained the time, God ordained
the manner, and God ordained the means of the salvation of
all whom He chose. You remember Lydia from Thyatira
came to Philippi on a selling trip, and lo and behold, she
ran into the Apostle Paul, and she was gloriously saved. Remember
the Ethiopian eunuch on the way back down south? God sent a prophet to cross his
path. Tell him about Christ. He was
saved. Baptized. Saul of Tarsus. Over and over and over. I thought
about yesterday, I thought about Abraham. Back then in a world
of idolaters, his father was an idol maker. His father was
an idolater. He was an idolater. He'd never
known anything but idolatry. Dwelt in a land of spiritual
darkness and death. And the God of glory appeared
unto our father Abraham when he was yet in Ur of Chaldeas.
And he said, follow me. God's purpose, God's power, God's
grace, God brings it to pass. David said it like this, ordered
in all things ensure. Mr. Spurgeon said this, he said,
predestination marks the way so completely that salvation
doth never overstep the bounds, and it is never at a loss for
the road, for destination marks out the road. Bring salvation
to every one of God's elect. Every one of God's elect. ordained in all things ensured. The Bible says in Acts 13, 48,
and as many as were ordained to eternal life, when they heard
the gospel, they believed it. And the others didn't. And as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Then there is
this thing also of redemption. Election, predestination, redemption. It's one thing to choose us and predetermine the time and
so forth of our salvation. Mark out the path ordered in
all things, but they've got to be redeemed. And that's found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9, 11, and 12. Hebrews
10, 14. John 10, 14, and 15, 22 through
27. Christ knows His sheep. He loves His sheep. He laid down
His life for His sheep. And He said, they know Me. They
hear My voice. And another voice they will not
follow. They follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall
never perish. They shall never perish. And
then came the religious leader and said, what you talking about?
He said, if you be the Christ, won't you tell us plainly? He
said, I told you over and over, but you don't believe because
you're not my sheep. You're not my sheep. Thank God
he has some sheep. And Christ redeems them. By His
one offering, He redeemed us unto God. He obtained for us
eternal redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ. A redemption that's
perfect and complete. There are no shortcomings in
this redemption. It's perfect and complete. It was not for everybody. If
it was, everybody would be saved. It was for the elect of God.
Those who are chosen and predestinated unto eternal glory. Predestinated
to be conformed to the image of God's Son. That's those for
whom He died. That's those whom He redeemed.
Romans 3.24, God sent forth His Son. Now that's Galatians, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem us from the curse of
the law. In Galatians chapter 3 it says, I'll find out what it says. Galatians
chapter 3. Look here. Being justified freely,
by God's grace, through the redemption that's in God's Son, whom God
sent forth to be the propitiation through faith in His blood. He
redeemed us. He perfected us before God. Those
Old Testament priests went in often, often time, making often
the same, same sacrifice, never took away sin. They were types
of Christ. But in the fullness of time, when the time had come,
God sent forth His Son. And this Son, this man, after
He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at
the right hand of the Father. He was going to sit there until
all of His enemies are made His footstool. for by that one offering
he hath, listen to these words, Hebrews 10, by this one offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, those that
are set apart, the elect of God, by one offering he perfected
them forever. Now God can show them what he's
done for them, reconcile them to himself, elected of God. The redemption of Christ, the
blood redemption of Christ, it is efficacious to all for
whom He died. No man will ever stand before
God and say he died for me and be cast into hell. All of those
for whom he died will stand before the Father saying the praises
of the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb that loved
us, washed us from our sins in His own blood. Worthy is the
Lamb. And they'll learn down here to
sing the song from their hearts, knowing what it means, Jesus
paid it all. All to him I owe sin that left
a crimson stain. I thank God he washed it white
as snow. He perfected them forever. And
then you go on down a few verses and it says, and their sins and
their iniquities, I'll never remember against them again.
They're perfected. Their sins are purged. They're
put away. They're gone. Perfected! You can't get any better than
that. That's why we can say with 1 John 3, as He is, so are we
in this world. That's hard, impossible to take
in, but it's so. God sees us in His Son. God sees
us in the righteousness, the robe, the garment of salvation
that His Son provided, His own righteousness. And there He is and must be of
necessity, the Holy Ghost regeneration. election, predestination, redemption,
Holy Ghost regeneration. We're dead. That's what the Bible
says about me. Dead in trespasses and in sin. Dead. Alive to the world. Not intellectually dead. Not
even morally dead. But dead spiritually. When I
was born, I did not, I did not, I could not, it's impossible
to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I could
not see the majesty and the glory of that great God with whom we
have today. God had to give me eyes to see.
God had to give me a new life. Except you be born again, you
never see the kingdom of God. And those who are born, it's
a great mystery. They're born of water and of
the Word, water and the blood. Great mystery. The wind blows
where it pleases. You hear the sound of it, but
you can't tell where it's coming from, where it's going. It's
just that way to every person who's born of the Spirit of God.
The wind, the holy wind, the Holy Ghost, sweeps across their
souls, brings the dead to life. brings the dead to life. They
pass from death to life. Born of God. And this is not
a birth of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. With the word of truth. With
the word of truth. The Spirit, and I love this,
as I've reiterated here before, the Spirit of God takes the things
of Christ and shows them to us. Not just doctrine as a reality,
but shows them to us. Being born of the Spirit, we
have eyes to see. We see ourselves and repentance
is stirred up in our hearts. As we see ourselves in God's
light, as we see ourselves standing before God, repentance stirs
up in our hearts. And as we get a glimpse of Christ,
hope springs up in our hearts. I'm an old dead dog sinner, deserve
nothing but hell. But oh, look at Christ, who He
is, what He did, what He became, what He endured, and where He
is now. Look what He did for sinners.
And hope is stirred up in our hearts. With the heart men believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. Through faith in Christ we become
married to Him, In sacred love and trust, we're
joined to Him. We won't let Him go. We've got
to have Him. He's our life. He's our water
of life. He's our bread of life. He's
our life. What Christ did for sinners,
my friends, was never left a chance. Never left a chance. It's perfect. It was complete, and it's certain. When Christ came into this world,
the angel told Joseph that, don't you leave this woman now, she's
going to bring forth a son by the Holy Ghost. She's going to
bring forth a son. She did. They shall call his
name Jesus, and they did. And he shall save his people
from their sin, and he shall. He shall not fail. God said it,
I'll bring it to pass. God said, I said it, I'm ready
to pass. I purposed it, I'll do it. And so, he shall not fail. Now that's what true faith believes. True faith believes in Christ,
our salvation. Not only our Savior, Christ,
our salvation. who, through faith in his name,
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. Faith believes that salvation
is of the Lord. True faith believes that salvation
is of the Lord. True faith believes that salvation
is in the Lord. He is our salvation. And true
faith believes that salvation is all by the grace of God. Not works grace. Not works grace. And true faith believes that
salvation comes to us through faith. Faith alone. Nothing less,
nothing more, nothing else, nothing added to it. Faith alone. Faith
comes to us. Now, you say, I sure like to
know if I'm one of God's elect. Would you? Maybe I can show you. Look at Thessalonians. First
Thessalonians, Chapter 1. First Thessalonians, Chapter
1. Paul writing to these people
at Thessalonica, he said, we give thanks to God
always for you, making mention of you in our prayers. We're
so thankful for you. We thank God for you, your testimony,
remembering This is what we always remember about you when we mention
you in our prayers and thank God for you. We remember without
ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, patience of hope. Always remember that. That's
your testimony. in our Lord Jesus Christ in the
sight of God and our Father, we remember that, the work of
faith, labor of love, patience of hope in the Lord Jesus and
the Father. Knowing, brethren, beloved brethren,
your election of God, your God's elect, Boy, wouldn't that be
a welcome letter to come from the Apostle Paul to me? Have
it read to me? Well, here it is. Here it is. It's for me. It's for David.
It's for all of you who believe. Knowing, brethren, your election
of God, how in the world do you know? For our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. What's he talking about? Your
work of faith, labor of love, patience of hope. You didn't
go on like you were worshiping idols. You turned from your idols
to serve the living God. And your faith is spoken of throughout
the world. And so what is the Word of God
to you? Is it real? Is it living? The living Word,
quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Does
it bring repentance in your heart, produce repentance? Does it produce
hope when you read of Him? Came not in word only. Not as
the words of men, but as the Word of God in power and the
Holy Ghost in much assurance. God help all of us to believe
more and more. Okay, David.