of Ephesians chapter one, and
I believe this message answers
some questions. And I think you'll see that as
we consider what's being said. I've entitled this message, The
Gospel of Your Salvation. The gospel of your salvation. Now there are two words that
stand out to me in that passage of scripture I just read. Verse
13, in whom you also trusted after, there's the first word,
after that you heard the word of truth. Not before then, but
after. And the next word is the word
your, the gospel of your salvation. Now those two words are critical
in us understanding this passage of scripture. Salvation. It's a big word. It encompasses so much. And let
me say this about salvation. Salvation is eternal. You know, God never had a new
thought. Never had a new thought. What's
in his mind now has always been in his mind. And salvation is
eternal. It never had a beginning point
and it never has an ending point. Christ is called in Hebrews chapter
five, verse nine, the author of eternal salvation. Now, if you're saved, you've
been saved eternally. Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
one. 2 Timothy chapter one. Verse eight, be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be his prisoner, but
be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who hath 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 Jesus before the world
began. Now, if you're saved now, you
were saved in eternity, before the foundation of the world. That is the teaching of scripture. Notice, who hath saved us and
called us. What came first? The saving. He saved us in eternity on Calvary's
tree. He saved us and he called us. All who are saved in eternity
are saved in time. He saved us and he called us. We preach Christ crucified to
the Jews a stumbling block to the Greeks' foolishness, but
unto them which are called." Both Jews and Greeks. Christ,
the power of God. Christ, the wisdom of God. Whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. Called. There was a time in our experience,
although we are saved eternally if we're saved at all, there
is a time in our experience when we were not saved, when we did
not believe. We were unbelievers. We didn't know God. We didn't
know what it meant to believe on Christ. We didn't know what
it meant to have repentance before God. We were not saved. Turn
to Ephesians chapter 2. Let me show you a couple of scriptures.
Ephesians chapter 2. Now, before I read this, let
me say that no one has the right to even suspect that they're
saved or that they were saved in eternity unless they believe
on Christ right now in time. Now look in Ephesians chapter
two, verse one, and you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins, wherein in times past you walked, I walked,
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past, me, you, and everybody else. in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature the children of wrath, just like everybody else. In our experience, we were not
saved. Look in verse 12 of this same
chapter, that at that time you were without Christ. being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world. Now that was your experience.
No hope and without God in the world. Turn with me to 1 Timothy
1. Verse 12. And I thank Christ Jesus, our
Lord, who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious. Do you have a before? Called it. I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor. I was injurious. Paul was not saved until Christ
came to save him. And when you are saved, you find
out that God has saved you. That's the way it works. You
find out that God has saved you and it becomes the good news
of your salvation. Look back in our text in Ephesians
chapter one. Verse 13, in whom you also trusted. Verse 12 says that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.
And I have no question that that's talking about the father entrusting
the salvation of the elect with him. He gave His Son a people,
and He gave His Son full responsibility to save them. And the Lord took
that responsibility on, and the Father trusted Christ completely
to save His people. Oh, what trust? All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. Now, how much of salvation
did the Father entrust with His Son? And you can answer that,
all of it. All of it, not 99% of it. 99% would mean salvation by works.
All of it was entrusted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as the Father trusted him
for everything, we do too. Now listen real carefully. I've
said this, let me say it again. He's all we have. He's all we need. He's all we
want. He's not the minimum requirement. He's the only requirement. He's
everything in salvation. He's all we have. I don't have anything else. Or
it's a preacher. I don't have anything else. All
I have to plead before God is Christ himself. He's all we have. He's all we need. We don't need
anything else. He's everything. And he's all
we want. We do not want it to be any other
way. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. But do not miss this word after,
in whom you also trusted after. This is very important. After. that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation. You never trusted. You knew nothing
of faith in Christ until after that you heard the word of truth. Now, you may have had a life-altering
religious experience. You know, a lot of people have.
A lot of people may go from a life of immorality to morality after
some kind of religious experience they have. They have a life-altering
experience. And I don't deny the sincerity
of that or the reality that they have changed. But if you have
not heard the word of truth, the gospel, you have never believed. You do not believe until after
that you have heard the word of truth. You were not saved
until after that you heard the word of truth. I think of that
passage in Romans chapter 10, where Paul is, well, go ahead
and turn with me there. I want you to look at this with
me. Romans chapter 10. Verse one, My heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, there's two things that
are evident from that verse of scripture. Paul wanted these
people to be saved. He wasn't just trying to indoctrinate
people. He wanted them to know the living
God. He wanted them to be saved. The
next thing that's very obvious from this passage of scripture,
they were not saved. That's obvious. Let's go and
read it. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God. They're very religious. And he's
talking about the God of the Bible. They're not worshiping
Mohammed or Confucius or what. This is the God of the Bible
that they're worshiping. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge. Now, I understand this about
knowledge. I'm not saved by my knowledge. I'm saved by Christ. I know that. I know that. I'm not saved by
my knowledge. I'm saved by his knowledge of
me. And I know that. I'm not saved by works. I'm saved by Christ. And I know
that. I know that. While my knowledge doesn't save
me, there is no salvation apart from knowledge, the knowledge
of the gospel. And let me show you that from
the scriptures. I'm going to ask you to listen real carefully.
For they, verse three, These people who are not saved who
I want to be saved for they being ignorant of God's righteousness
and going about. to establish their own righteousness
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Now that's so clear. They're ignorant of the righteous
character of God. And what proves it is they think
they can go about to establish their own righteousness. If you
go about to establish your own righteousness, the reason being
is you're completely ignorant of God's righteousness. You wouldn't
do that if you knew who God was. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Look in verse
13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they've not
believed? And how shall they believe in
him in whom they have never heard? You cannot believe what you've
never heard. That's clear enough. You cannot
believe what you have never heard. And what is the truth you heard
in whom you trusted? After that, you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. John 1.14 says, we beheld his
glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, truth is grace. Grace is truth. Grace means salvation doesn't
have anything to do with anything that I do. Holy what he did. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. John 4, 24, God is spirit. What's that mean? Well, I know
it means that he's not like me and you. It means He's utterly
immense. He's eternal. He's everywhere
at once. He doesn't have the limitations
of space and time the way you and I do. God is spirit, and
they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. John 17, 17, the Lord says, Sanctify
them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. There is no sanctification apart
from the truth. Second Thessalonians 2.13, but
we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through He doesn't stop just with choosing you to salvation,
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And you know, they're really
the same thing. The sanctification of the Spirit is evidenced by
the belief of the truth. And belief of the truth is caused
by the sanctification of the Spirit. James 1.18, of His own
will begat He us. Word of truth. No salvation apart from the truth
of grace. First Timothy 2 for salvation
is called coming to the knowledge of the truth. So salvation is
coming of the truth. Faith is called in Titus one
verse one, the faith of God's elect. I like that don't you?
God's elect all have the same faith. They all believe the same
thing. We all believe it's just different. No, no, no. God's
people all believe the same thing. There's unity in the church. They all believe the same thing.
Titus 1.1, the faith of God's elect the acknowledging of the
truth, the full embracing, the discernment of, the receiving,
the acknowledging of the truth. Repentance is called in 2nd Timothy
2.24, if God peradventure will grant them repentance to the
acknowledging of the truth. That's what you do when you repent. You acknowledge, you embrace
the truth. And I like that passage of scripture
that Paul speaks of when he talks about these silly women laden
with sins, led about by diverse lusts, ever learning and never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And they're silly
men like that too. ever learning, learning about
missions, and how to live, and how to witness, and how to pray,
how to read the Bible through the year, how to be godly, and
they never come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, you and I
were not saved before we heard and believed the truth. Now,
I've heard people say, well, I was saved, the Lord saved me
in some church where the gospel's not preached, free will's preached,
works is preached, I was saved there, and then later I came
to come to an understanding of grace. That's a limb that the
scripture will never support. Scripture just will not support
that. You're not saved until after that you've heard the word
of truth. And what is the word of truth?
We hear the gospel of your salvation. That's the word of truth we hear,
the gospel of your salvation. It's good news to you that salvation
is of the Lord. And that's when you've heard
the word of truth, when it becomes the gospel of your salvation. Now, people speak of getting
saved. I got saved. I hate that kind
of language. I got saved. I got a cold. I
got a disease. I got a windfall. I got, no,
the Lord saved me. Don't ever speak in any other
way but that the Lord saved me. You didn't get saved. The Lord
saved you if you are saved. And if you're saved, this is
good news to you that salvation is of the Lord. Psalm 33, Psalm
32, 39, but the salvation of the righteous. is of the Lord. We're gonna talk
about what that means, salvation is of the Lord. But Jonah 2.9,
Jonah cried from the fish's belly, salvation is of the Lord. Now this only is sound doctrine. There is no salvation apart from
this doctrine. Salvation is of the Lord. Now when God before time began,
entrusted His people to Christ to be their Savior. You know
what that says? Salvation is of the Lord. When God came to Adam and Eve
after they fell away and they were in hiding and weren't seeking
him. And he came to them and provided
that sacrifice in the place of their fig leaves. You know what
I hear? Salvation is of the Lord. When Isaac is going up the Mount,
Moriah, with his father, and he says, father, here's the wood,
here's the sacrifice, or here's the fire, but where's the lamb
for a burnt offering? And Abraham replied, my son,
God will provide himself a sacrifice. You see, you can't provide anything.
Did you know that? You can't provide one thing that
God would accept. God's the one who does the providing.
And he provides for himself. For him to do something for me
or you, he first has to do something for himself. That sin has to
be punished. It has to be put away. Righteousness
must be established. For God to do something for me,
he first had to do something for himself. And he provided
himself as the Lamb. Salvation is of the Lord. When Moses stood before the Red
Sea, and said, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And though the sea parted and
all of Israel walked through on dry land, looking up at those
walls of water, they knew this, salvation is of the Lord. When Christ took on human flesh
and was born The angels announcing glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Salvation is of the Lord. When Christ walked upon this
earth for 33 years and never sinned and worked out a perfect
righteousness in behalf of his people, salvation is of the Lord. When Christ was nailed to the
cross, everybody hated Him and jeered at Him and mocked Him
and made fun of Him. And He said, Father, forgive
them. They know not what they do. And
everybody He prayed for was forgiven. Salvation is of the Lord. When he cried from the cross,
from the darkness, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? You know what that says? Salvation
is of the Lord. When he was raised from the dead, salvation is of the Lord. And beloved, when I stand before
him, justified, perfect, without sin, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord in its
purpose. Romans 9, 11, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, but the
purpose of God. Hear that? The purpose of God.
God's got a purpose. And what is his purpose? The
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, might
stand not of works, but of him that calleth. Salvations of the
Lord in its purchase. Hebrews 1.3 says, when He had
by Himself, oh, I love those words, when He had by Himself
purged our sins. I had nothing to do with this.
This is what He did. Salvation is of the Lord in me. us being born again. I got the
word application. I don't know if that makes much
sense, but, uh, here's how you're saved by Gracie. You saved through
faith and that not of yourselves at faith. It's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. You believe when he gave you
a heart to believe. How much did you have to do with
your first birth? Nothing. How much do you have to do with
your second birth? Nothing. Salvation is of The Lord, I love
that song when I stand before thy throne, dressed in beauty
not my own. When I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart. Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not to then how much I owe. But not only is this sound doctrine,
this is a necessary fact. This is absolutely essential
for me and you, that salvation be of the Lord. And here's why. I can't be saved
by my works. By the works of the law, there
shall no flesh be saved. I can't do anything to save myself.
I can't do anything to make myself savable. If salvation is not
of the Lord from the beginning to the end, I will not be saved. It's absolutely essential for
this sinner that salvation be of the Lord. And not only is
this sound doctrine, not only is this necessary, but this is
the only hope we have, that salvation is of the Lord. Now, let me bring out two reasons
why I say that. The only hope we have is that
salvation is of the Lord, that he did it all, that it doesn't
have anything to do with our works. And the first thing I
want to bring out is what really happened in the garden? And that's something you better
understand. What really happened in the garden?
Well, the Lord said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely
die. That's what took place in the
garden. In Adam, all die by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation by one man's
disobedience. Many were made sinners. And I can't reverse that. If
salvation is not of the Lord, I cannot reverse that. But let's forget Adam for a moment.
You say, well, I just have so much trouble with being condemned
by somebody else's sin. Well, it was your sin. But let's
forget Adam for just a moment. Have you fared on your own? Just
forget Adam. Forget Adam's sin. How have you
fared on your own? Genesis 6, 5 describes me. God saw the wickedness of man
was great in the earth and that every imagination of his thoughts
of his heart was only evil continually. I commit sins. I personally have sinned. I am the sinner and I cannot
stop sinning. Preacher says, stop sinning.
Okay, stop, stop. Don't sin anymore. That's foolishness. That's all that is. I commit
sins and I can't provide a sin payment And if salvation is not
of the Lord, I have no hope. I can't give myself life. If
salvation is not of the Lord, I have no hope. I can't keep myself saved. If
salvation is not of the Lord, I will fall away. I can't persevere
unless salvation from the beginning to the end is of the Lord. I can't raise myself from the
dead. You think of the resurrection. When you turn into a pile of
dirt, how dependent are you upon God to raise you from the dead?
Salvation is of the Lord. And when I stand before God in
judgment and Christ represents me and says, He's one of mine,
He's not guilty. He's perfect through my comeliness.
I'm gonna know then more clearly than I've ever known before.
Salvation is of the Lord. Now lastly, salvation is of the
Lord is the only way that he gets all the glory in salvation. It's the only way. Salvation
being of the Lord is the only way he gets all the glory. You
see, no flesh is going to glory in his sight. Scripture says
God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Now, salvation
is of the Lord. You know what that means? That
means he gets all the glory for salvation. None goes to man. Any problem with that? If no
glory goes to you, do you have any problem with that at all?
Not if you're a believer, you know none goes to you. Salvation
is of the Lord. Now you think of every aspect.
Salvation is such a big word. It began in eternity when God
elected a people. I know the reason why he elected
me. It wasn't because he foresaw I would do anything for him.
I was chosen and beloved. I was accepted and beloved. I
was saved merely for Christ's sake. When I was justified, Christ
gets all the glory. It's his righteousness being
mine. When I was redeemed, it was Him
redeeming me. I had no hand in this. He gets
all the glory. When I was born again, it's because
He birthed me by His Spirit. It wasn't because of anything
I did. The faith that I have is His gift. The repentance that
I have is His gift. The love I have for His person,
we love Him because He first loved us. You know, salvation is of the
Lord, is what strips us from pride and confidence in the flesh
and keeps us from boasting about works for the future. I couldn't
help but think of Peter. Who, Peter, when the Lord said,
one of you shall betray me. They were all saying, is it I,
Lord? Is it I? Is it I? I realize that. But Peter somehow
came up and said, Lord, though the rest of this bunch betray
you, I'll never do it. I'll never do it. Who is the
one who did it? Who is the one who did it? When we see that salvation is
of the Lord, it'll cause us to not boast of past, present, or
future merit. It'll show us how sinful we are,
and it'll keep us from censoring, criticizing, and judging our
brother. We see they're just like us.
Salvation is of the Lord. Now it's only good news when
it becomes the good news of your salvation, your salvation. You trusted after that, you heard
the word of truth, the good news of your salvation. Now, the best way I can illustrate
of when salvation becomes your salvation is by talking about
this thing of sin. sin. There are a lot of people
who would say, I believe man is a sinner. And they may even
go so far as to say, I believe the Bible teaches the doctrine
of total depravity. I see it. I see it. Men are sinners. Men cannot save themselves. I
see the Bible teaches this. It's one thing to believe you're
totally depraved. I mean, to believe in total depravity,
and it's an altogether different thing to believe that you yourself
are totally depraved. And when you believe that you
yourself are totally depraved, oh, what good news election is. What good news Christ's effectual
redemption for the elect is. What good news is it that God's
grace is irresistible and invincible because you know you'll resist
it and won't be saved by it if it's not. What good news it is
that God causes his people to persevere all the way to the
end. That's when it becomes the gospel of your salvation. your salvation. Oh, what a big,
glorious word salvation is. We could spend the rest of our
life considering what all this means, salvation. But don't forget
this, in this thing of trusting Christ, it wasn't until after
that you heard the word of truth. So don't claim any kind of saving
understanding until you believe have heard, believe, embrace,
and glory in the truth. And what is the truth? The truth
is the gospel, the good news of your salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
truth. Of Dyson, who is the truth. The truth of your grace. The
truth of. The good news. Of our salvation. being of you, of the Lord. Lord, we confess we can be saved
any other way than that way. And we give thanks from the very
depths of our heart by your grace. And we ask that you would accept
our thanksgiving through the merits of thy son. We give thanks
that salvation is of the Lord. And Lord, indeed, it is the good
news of our salvation that you sent your son to save his people
from their sins. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen.