Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 14? I've entitled this message, Lord,
save me. That's a prayer that I pray all
the time. Lord, save me. Look in verse 24. But the ship. Was now in the
midst of the sea. Tossed. With waves. For the wind. Was contrary. The disciples are in a ship.
During a violent storm. The Scripture says in Luke they
were toiling in rowing, and the wind was contrary to them, and
they were afraid. I can see them going up and down
on the waves, not knowing what to do. Verse 25, and in the fourth
watch of the night, Jesus went unto them. Boy, I want the Lord
to come to me, don't you? Jesus went to them walking on
the sea. A miracle's taking place. The
law of physics had been altered. He's in control of that. And
he's walking on the sea. Now, he sent them into the ship
in the first place. He told them to go to the other
side. And he's the one who brought the storm on. I wish we'd remember
that. He sent them to the ship and
he brought the storm. And he comes walking to them
on the sea. Verse 26. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled. Wrong response. They
should have been rejoicing, but they were troubled. Wrong response? How often do you and I have the
wrong response? It's a spirit. And they cried
out for fear. But straightway, Jesus spake
unto them, saying, be of good cheer is I. Be not afraid. Now with regard to everything, be of good cheer, it's I. Be not afraid. Verse 28, and Peter answered
him and said, Lord, If it be thou, bid me come unto thee on
the water. Now I think it's interesting
that word bid is found 27 times in the New Testament and the
other 26 times it's translated command me, command me. Lord, command me to come to thee. I like the hymn, Jesus, I come
to thee, out of my bonded sorrow night, Jesus, I come. I like
that hymn. But you know what I say before that? Lord, command
me to come. Cause me to come. Speak an irresistible
grace to my heart and cause me to come to thy son. Command me
to come to thee. I hope everybody in here will
pray that right now. Lord, command me to come to thee. Verse 29, and he said, come. And when Peter was come down,
now, anytime you come to Christ, there's going to be some coming
down, isn't there? He came down. He came down out of the ship
and walked on the water to go to Jesus. And whenever anybody
obeys Christ, command and comes to Christ he is walking on the
water isn't he? It's a supernatural thing. He's
doing something that by nature he cannot do. The Lord said no
man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw
him. So when someone does come to Christ it's no different than
walking on the water. It's a supernatural thing and
it comes as a result of his command. Verse 30. You know, there's always a but
in my life and in your life. But when he saw the wind boisterous,
strong, he was afraid. Now, obviously he had been looking
to Christ and now he looks to the wind boisterous. And he's
afraid. And I understand that. I'd be
afraid too. And beginning to sink, he cried,
saying, Lord, save me. That's what I've entitled this
message, Lord, save me. Now this is without question,
my greatest need. I need the Lord to save me. And this is a prayer that I personally
pray repeatedly. Lord, save me. Not Lord, make me savable. Not
Lord, help me to save myself, but Lord, This is a recognition
of his kingship, of his absolute sovereignty, of his ability to
save me and his right to pass me by. That is all included when
I truly from my heart, call him Lord. Lord, save me. If you do not save me, I will
not be saved. Lord, save me. You know, when I hear people
say things like, I got saved, I want to cringe. You need to
get saved. That's the wrong language. That's
the wrong spirit. That's the wrong attitude. You
see, salvation is of the Lord. There is a thing called salvation.
Lord saved me. And it is of the Lord. It originates from Him. It's
caused by Him. He carries it out. He's everything
in this thing of salvation. And when I say, Lord, save me,
I'm acknowledging that. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, the question that I'd like
to address first is, save from what? Saved from what? Now, if you're
saved, there's something you're saved from. Saved from what? Well, first and foremost, I need
to be saved from God. My sin is against Him. He is
the one who can justly cast me into hell. He's the judge of
the earth. And first, I need to be saved
from God. He's the only one who can save
me from himself. Secondly, I need to be saved
from myself. I am the problem. It's not the
devil. It's not you. It's not somebody
else. It's not my circumstances, it's
me. If the Lord leaves me to myself,
I will go to hell. I need to be saved from myself. I am the problem. I need to be
saved from myself. I think of that scripture in
Hosea, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. That's me. I need to
be saved from myself. Lord, don't leave me to myself. Thirdly, I need to be saved from
my sins. I need to be saved from my sins. I'm the one who commits the sins.
I need to be saved from my sins because I really am a sinner.
I'm the one who commits the sins. I can always pray that prayer. God be merciful to me, the sinner. I was born that way. I was born
a sinner. I cannot stop sitting. And it's all my fault. I don't
use that as an excuse. I was born that way. I can't
help it. No, it's all my fault. I really am not in a position
to look down on anybody because of myself. I'm in His hands and
I need to be saved from my sins. I need to be saved from the penalty
of my sin. I can't pay that penalty. I need
to be saved from the power of sin. I need to be saved from
the love of sin. I need to be saved from the presence
of sin. I need to be saved from my sins. I love that scripture in Matthew
121, thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. Now, not only do I need to be
saved from God, not only do I need to be saved from myself, Not
only do I need to be saved from my sins, I need to be saved from
my circumstances, the messes I've made because of my sin.
I need God to do for me what only he can do to bring good
out of evil. I need to be saved from my circumstances. Lord, save me. Lord, save me. Is that your prayer? Lord, a
recognition of who He is. He's the Lord. You're in His
hands. He can do with you whatever He's
pleased to do. He has power to save you. He has the right to
pass you by. He's the Lord. Lord, save me. Save me from yourself. Save me
from myself. Save me from my sin. Save me
from my circumstances. Lord, save me. And you know, I want him to save
you as well. I really do. But you know, I
can't save you anymore. I can save myself. I couldn't
help but think of when that Lord, that man said to the Lord in
Luke chapter 13, he said, Lord, are there few to be saved? What
kind of question? Are there just a few saved? You
know how the Lord answered him? You strive to enter in at the
straight gate. You strive. Don't you worry about
anybody else, whether there's many or whether there's few.
But he did say many shall seek to enter in and not be able. You strive to enter in at the
straight gate. And here's where I begin this
entering in. This is the starting point. Lord, save me. Now what I want for us to do
is look at the scriptural promises when if we do these things, we
will be saved. I'm not saved because I do these
things and I will not be saved if I
do not do these things. Do you hear that? I'm not saved
because I do these things. That puts the emphasis on me.
But I will not be saved if I do not do these things. But before we look at those scriptures,
I want us to consider a few statements that the Word of God makes concerning
salvation. I've already quoted Jonah, salvation
is of the Lord. Now that ought to get our minds
going in one direction, the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. If you're saved, it's because
He saved you. Salvation is of the Lord. Turn to Mark chapter 10 for a
moment. Now the setting is the rich young
ruler coming to the Lord and saying, good master, what good
things shall I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord said,
why callest thou me good? There's none good but one, that
is God. But if you will have life, keep the commandments.
You know the commandments, keep the commandments. That's the
way he was coming to the Lord. That's the way the Lord met him. If
you want to come in your works, he'll say, okay, go for it. Keep
the commandments. And the rich young ruler, he
was a very moral man, a very respected man. He'd read some
kind of, he was a ruler, a young man. He said, Lord, all these
have I kept for my youth up. Could you make a claim like that?
Of course you couldn't. In his mind, he believed that
he had kept the commandments from his youth up. And the Lord said, one thing
you're lacking. Go and sell what you have. Give
it all to the poor and you'll have treasures in heaven. And
you come and follow me. Now, verse verse 22 of Mark chapter 10. And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved. For he had great possessions
and this was something he could not do. Now, what the Lord is
telling us is this man was eaten up with covetousness. He thought
he was a good man. He was saying, good master, what
good thing can I do to become like you? I'm good, you're better. How can I reach your level of
goodness? And the Lord lets him know that
he is in fact a bad man, eaten up with covetousness, really
no love in his heart for anybody. This man was an evil man who
happened to think he was a good man. And when our Lord gave him
this, he couldn't comply. He couldn't comply. Have you ever found out you can't
comply? Everything he commands you to do, it's right, it's good,
it's just, it's holy. You can't. This man went away
grieved. Verse 23, And Jesus looked round
about, and saith unto his disciples, How heartily shall they that
have riches enter the kingdom of God? And the disciples were
astonished at his words, but Jesus answered again and saith
unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in
riches to enter the kingdom of God? It's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle. Now you read some commentators
and they say, well, that's not literally talking about a camel
going through the eye of a needle. There were places in the wall
in Jerusalem where a camel had to bend down and get on its knees
and kind of crawl through, and that's what he's talking about.
No, it's not. No, it's not. He's talking about a camel going
through the eye of a needle. What possibility is there of
a camel going through the eye of a needle? None. None. That was the biggest animal they
knew of at that time, a camel, biggest animal. How likely can
a camel get through a needle's eye? It can't. Verse 26, And they were astonished
at a measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? That's what we're talking about.
Salvation. If this man can't be saved, who
then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith,
with men it is what? Impossible. Impossible. If salvation is in
any way to any degree dependent upon us to do anything, salvation is impossible. Impossible. Have you ever been
faced with that? Impossible. But I'm glad he didn't stop there,
but not with God. For with God, all things are
possible. Now when we're talking about
salvation, he is able to save me and you. Now if it's up to
you, game over. you won't be saved. But with
God, all things are possible. So there's no reason to despair
here. No reason to despair. I think of what the Lord said. He said, there should no flesh
be saved, but for the elect's sake. That's what the Lord said. So there are going to be some
people who are saved. Now, if there wasn't an elect,
nobody would be saved. And the Lord put it that way.
But God's going to elect people. He's going to save. And somebody
says, what if I'm not one of them? What if you are? What if
you are? I want to be one of those people,
don't you? I think of Peter's great statement. In Acts chapter
15, verse 11, we believe. that through the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Salvation is by grace. It's by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and nobody in here has the right to despair. Wherefore, by one offering he
is able to save them, or wherefore he is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him. All Israel shall be saved. I want you to look at this scripture
with me. Turn to Deuteronomy 33. Deuteronomy 33, verse 26. There is none, Deuteronomy 33
verse 26, there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun. who
rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on
the sky, the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the
everlasting arms. He shall thrust out the enemy
from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall
dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be
upon a land of corn and wine. Also his seven shall drop down
due. Happy art thou, O Israel, who
is likened to thee, O people, saved by the Lord. I want to be these people, don't
you? One of these happy people who are saved by the Lord. And I want you to be as well.
Lord, save me. Now in Luke chapter eight, would
you turn with me there? A man by the name of Jairus has
asked the Lord to come and heal his sick daughter. She was dying. And they come, the Lord and this
man and some company with him. And some people come to them
while they're coming and say, why trouble you, the master?
Your daughter is dead. Now, as long as she's got a little
bit of life, there's hope. But once she's dead, there is
no hope. Verse 50, but when Jesus heard,
Luke chapter eight, verse 50, when Jesus heard, thy daughter
is dead, when Jesus heard, he answered him saying, Fear not, believe only. Believe only and she shall be made whole.
And that word made whole is the same Greek word saved. Believe only. this thing of being saved, it
is faith only. Not faith and. If it's faith
and anything, me and you won't be saved. It's faith only. Now listen real carefully to
this statement. The hardest, most impossible, easiest, Most simple thing that
you're ever called to do is to believe only. To look to Christ only. Forget everything else. Forget
everything about you and what you have done and what you intend
to do and what you need to do and look to Christ only. Believe only. If you believe and, you'll die. You believe only. Whatever that
means. I hope we'll understand by the
end of this message. You believe only, you'll live. Turn to Acts chapter 16. Verse 30. This is the Philippian
jailer. You remember the story? He had
thrust Paul and Silas into prison. He was a wicked man. And Paul
and Silas were singing at midnight, praising God while their feet
were fast in those stalks. I don't know whether or not the
jailer heard them. I imagine he was asleep. And
God sent an earthquake. And all the doors of the prison
came open and the prisoners could leave. And when this jailer woke
up, he was going to kill himself because he knew he would be put
to death because he just assumed all the prisoners would be gone. And Paul says, do thyself no
harm. We're all here. None of us have
left. Now picking up verse 30. And
he brought them out. Well, it's verse 29. Then he
called for a light. He didn't have any light and
he needed light. Then he called for a light. And
he sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and
Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to
be saved? What a question. That's the most
important question you and I could consider. What must? What is necessary? What must
I do to be saved? Now, the theologians would have
said, well, you shouldn't be asking a question like that.
There's nothing you can do to be saved. Go on. You're coming
to Him on the footing of works. No, we wouldn't. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What a question and what an answer. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe. He's the Lord. You know what that means? That
means He is in control of everybody and everything. He's the Lord.
He's the Lord of the dead, those who are dead in sins. He's the
Lord of the living. To this end, Christ both lived, died, and
revived, that He might be Lord, both of the dead and the living.
He's the Lord. That means He has control. That
means you have no control. That's what that means. That
means he has all control and you have no control and you're
in his hands. Do you believe that? He's the
Lord. He's Jesus. That means he's the
Savior. That's his name. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. You
got to pray to the right person to save you. Lord, save me. He's the Lord. He's Jesus. He's
God's Christ. This is his office as a Savior.
He's God's prophet to bring us the Word of God. He's God's priest
to bring us into God's presence to where God can accept it. He's
God's King. He can cause me to believe. He
can cause me to cry out, Lord, save me or I perish. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and what? Thou shalt be saved. And you know what else he said?
And thy house. And thy house. Well, God promises to save everybody
in your house if he saves you. No, he doesn't. He did this man.
He did this man and everybody in his house was saved. It might
be you're in a house where you're the only one saved. But here's
the point. You believe. Now, believing has the idea of
trust. trust. You trust the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved. Saved from God, saved from yourself,
saved from your sins, and saved from your circumstances. You
shall be saved. Turn to John chapter 10. Verse 9, John chapter 10 verse
9, I am the door. Now what's a door for? A door
lets people in. A door keeps people in. You can be in a room and the
door's locked and you can't get out. A door keeps people out. And a door lets people out. That's every reason I can think
of for a door. And what a precious name our Savior gives Himself. I am the door. I am the entrance
into all of the salvation of God, being a son of God, being
saved. I'm the door of entrance. I'm
the door that keeps you in and won't let you out. You're saved
by me, secure by me. I am the door that is shut to
everybody who tries to come on the footing of their own works.
I'm not going to open up that way. Not gonna do it. And I'm
the door of liberty and freedom that sets you free from bondage. I am the door. By me, and that's
very specific, by me, the only way I enter is by Him. No other way. By me. If any man enter in, I love if any man. Salvation isn't for every man,
but it's for any man. I don't care who you are. It's
for any man who comes by Him. If you come by Him, you shall
be saved. Lord, save me. Let me come by
you. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Listen, when I come to the Father,
it's only because He comes to the Father and I'm in Him. That's the only way I come. I
don't come close to Him, pleading Him. I only come in Him. Turn with me to Romans 10. You know, while I'm turning there,
I just expect the Lord to save somebody through this message.
I expect it. The Lord's the Savior. Pray that the Lord will save
you and me and everybody else in this room. Romans chapter 10, verse 5, for Moses, describe
it the righteousness, which is of the law that the man which
doeth those things shall live by them. That's a, that's a summary
of the law. Do and live. Do and live. That's law. If you do, you'll
live. How much will that help you? Won't help me at all. But, verse six, the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in your heart
who shall ascend up into heaven, that is to bring Christ down
from above. Don't say what can I do to get
Christ to come down here and save me, don't say that. Verse
seven. Or who shall descend into the
deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead? Don't say,
what can I do to make his death work for me? Quit thinking about
what I can do. Wouldn't it be a blessing if
that would just be blotted out? But what sayeth it? Verse eight.
The word is nigh thee. It's near you right now. It's
so very near. even in thy mouth and in thy
heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou
shalt be saved. save from God, save from yourself,
save from your sins, and save from all your circumstances where
they're all gonna work together for your good and His glory. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth, there's something public about this, but before we go
on, what you confess with your mouth is only what you believe
in your heart. The mouth is the index of what's
in the heart. Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is Lord? Do you believe that He is the
Lord? I was one of those little stupid
biographical things. I was watching The Lord of the
Rings last night. Every time that's on, I watch
it. I don't know why. I love that movie. But I noticed how
everybody was calling my lord this, my lord that. And I thought,
why are you calling a man that? There's one lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. When we talk about His Lordship,
we're talking about His utter, complete, sovereign control. Do you believe He's the Lord? If thou shalt confess, if you
believe it in your heart, you'll confess it with your mouth. If
thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart, The
heart is the whole man, the intellect, the affection, the will. You
believe in your heart. You understand God rose him from
the dead, and he did it because he made satisfaction. You're
glad he did it, and that's the way you want it to be, salvation
completely in him. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Don't make it any more complicated
than that. Verse 10, for with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, you understand that the only
righteousness you have is Jesus Christ. You love it that way. and you
don't want it to be any other way. That's what it means to
believe with the heart. It's not some kind of sentimental
nebulous thing that you can't know. You understand. Do you understand that the righteousness
of Christ is the only righteousness you have? I do. Do you love having
his righteousness as your only righteousness? I do. Is this
the way you want it to be? Yep. Yep. With the heart. man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." You
see, what you believe in your heart, you will confess with
your mouth. Verse 11, For the scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is
no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord
over all is rich unto all that call upon him. Now listen to
the words of this verse. Whosoever, you're in that demographic,
me too. Whosoever, I'm one of them. Whosoever shall call like Peter
did, Lord, save me, help. That's what that means. Whosoever
shall call. Here's the most important part
of this verse on the name of the Lord. The name of the Lord
is who he is. I call upon him to save me by
a sovereign act of his will. Lord, will my salvation. Save me by your justice in a
way that will honor your justice and put away all my sin. Save
me by your power till my sin will be gone and you cause me
to come to you. Save me by your mercy. Save me
by your grace. Save me by your wisdom. When
I call upon the name of the Lord, that means I know who he is and
I'm calling on who he is to save me. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, I'm calling on your name. You said this, save me. And then in Mark 16, this is
the last one we're going to look at. You know, there's others in the
Old Testament. I love where the Lord said, look unto me and be
ye saved. All the ends of the earth. For
I am God and there's none else. Look unto him just like the Israelites
bitten with the serpents. Look to the serpent on the pole.
Look, so simple. Look, look, look, look. I think
of the psalmist saying, turn us again, O Lord God of hosts
and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved. Lord, turn
me. I won't turn unless you turn
me. I know myself. Turn me. Cause your face to shine
in mercy, in favor, in grace, and I'll be saved. Now here in
Mark chapter 16, these are the words of our Lord after the resurrection.
Verse 15. And he said unto them, go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's your marching orders.
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. He that believeth and and is
baptized shall be saved." Does that mean you have to be baptized
to be saved? Was the thief baptized? No. Was the thief saved? Yes. That answers that question,
doesn't it? Now, it would have been very
difficult for the thief to be baptized. He was nailed to a
cross. It would have been impossible.
I have no doubt that if he could have been baptized, he would
have been. But he wasn't. And he was saved. So you can't say that you have
to be saved to be baptized. the Lord did say, Whoso believeth
and is baptized. Baptism is a believer's public
confession of Christ. I'm confessing publicly that
all my salvation is in Him. When He lived, I lived. When
He died, I died. When He was raised, I was raised
from the dead. And when someone refuses to be
baptized, I liken that to someone who refuses to get married. They
live together, but they don't get married. Well, we love each
other, but there is a refusal in that lifestyle to make a true
commitment one to another. You can say what you want, we
love each other, why don't you commit for life then? That's
what I look at someone who refuses to be baptized. Something's wrong
with the committal there. Something's wrong. But the Lord
does say, whoso believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Don't get it confused. That doesn't
mean your baptism saves you. You can be dunked in the water
a million times and it won't wash away one sin. You're saved
because of Christ. And he that believeth not, notice
he doesn't say he that believeth not and is not baptized shall
not be saved. He just says, he that believeth not shall be damned,
shall be condemned. But my dear friend, Here's what
I'm saying. It's not what I'm saying, it's
what God's saying. Believe only. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Enter in by the door. I am the
door, by me If any man enter in, he shall be saved. Believe, confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God hath raised
him from the dead, you'll be saved. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. save me. Lord, save us for Christ's sake. In His name we pray. Amen. Matt
Cumley.