Open tonight's service with hymn
number 24 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn book, Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. Let's all stand together. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our
righteousness. We love to call you by that name,
our Savior Christ Jesus. Jehovah Sidkenu, the God-man
lived for us, bringing eternal righteousness, which God imputes
to us. Jehovah Sidkenu, our substitute
who died. Your blood has put away our sin,
and we are justified. Jehovah Sidkenu, Your love has
won our praise. Trusting your blood and righteousness,
we're saved by your free grace. Jehovah Sidkenu, we stand in
you alone. Our only fitness before God is
in our Lord, His Son. Jehovah Sidkenu, ? The Lord our
righteousness ? ? Christ Jesus you alone we call ? ? The Lord
our righteousness ? Please be seated. If you would turn with me in
the word of God, please, to John chapter 15. John chapter 15. I'll have to stop saying turn
to it. I'll say thumb to it with your finger for some of us now.
We've got that, they've got that. I'm a low-tech man in a high-tech
world. Before we read, I wanna say sometimes God has, he humbles
us. I think one of the most humbling
things that happens to me sometimes is sometimes we'll have like
a conference and somebody will come up to me and says, well,
Michael, how are you? And I'll say, I'm great, how
are you? Good to see you. And then once again, I said,
who in the world was that? I don't have any, I don't mean
any of this, but they would tell me about, you know, and then
finally say, well, we've been watching you. They watch the
services here. And I can't, I want to thank
Jeff. I, what a blessing that is. I speak for my own family
as we have loved ones that are nowhere near a gospel church
and God has provided a way. And I, this week I, God put it
in my heart and I emailed a person that's been listening for years
now. And I sent an email, you know,
you never know how people gonna react. I said, but let them,
this person know I've been thinking of you and we're thankful for
you. And, you know, he sent me an
email back and I had to, I had to close my office door, because
I tell you, it spurred my heart so, how thankful he was. He said, oh, I'm so glad to hear
from Grace Gospel Church, somebody there. He said, you don't know
what it means to me, the church there. And I said, we take it
for granted, don't we? These folks, it's their life
out there. And how thankful I am that the
Lord has provided that. And it was a great blessing to
me, So I wrote him an email. I said, God knows where all of
his sheep are at. And in his due time, he's gonna
bring them into the fold. Even his lost sheep. I said,
and we're thankful for you. You're such an encouragement
to me. How, you know, I can't imagine
that. I would be too easily distracted,
I'm afraid. Verse 15, we'll start reading at verse 18. is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. And in verse 18 he says, If the
world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But
because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world, therefore the world hateth you. They hated Christ
and they hate Christ's people. Verse 20, Remember the word that
I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they
have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. If they follow
the Lord Jesus Christ when they come to the Gospel Church and
they hear a Gospel preached they are going to follow it also.
Verse 21, But all these things will they do unto you for my
namesake, they know not Him that sent me. This is the unregenerate. If I had not come and spoken
unto Him they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for
their sin. That is what the Gospel does
it exposes our sin. And that is why men and women,
boys and girls hate. They hate Christ and they hate
the Gospel. Verse 23, He that hateth me hateth
my Father also. If I had not done among them
the works which none other man did, they that had not sinned,
but now they have both seen and hated both me and my father. But this cometh to pass that
the word might be fulfilled that is written the law. They hated
me without a cause. We don't say in my short lifetime men,
and women, and boys, and girls that are not followers of Christ
still hate Christ, and they hate God the Father, and they hate
the Gospel. And who is their hatred pointed
towards? God's preachers. Those that are faithful to preaching
the Gospel. They hate them. Now, I grew up in a time, I'll
just say this, that in small towns, that hatred was exposed
more. They outwardly tried to run those
people out of town. My family experienced this. I
was a real small boy, and I remember my parents, when they left the
largest Southern Baptist church to start going to a gospel church,
almost 150, 200 miles away, People who have been their friends
for life wouldn't even speak to them. And I didn't know it. I was only four or five years
old, but all of a sudden little kids were telling me, I can't
play with you. Okay. How come? Because you folks
are, you know, you're, you know, they didn't know that you don't
go to church. You know, you're four or five. You know, I went
to church, but we, you know, we'd go. I didn't know the difference.
but they hated him. I always laugh about this, and
I suppose because sometimes, you may not know this, we talk
about when Brother Henry, you may not have known, he was a
Southern Baptist preacher. And then one day, God sent a
John the Baptist to Ashland, Kentucky, and Brother Henry heard
the gospel. And like he said, God rewrote
his Bible. And he said, I started preaching
the gospel and people would come in the church with newspapers.
And when he started to preach, they'd do this. Why? They hated Christ and they
hated the gospel. And I said, well, what is it
they hate about the gospel? And this is the best way I can
describe it. I heard a man say this many years ago. He says,
free will, man-centered religion, people today that God loves them,
Christ died for them, and God wants to save them, and Christ
is in their hands. And you can either accept or
reject the Gospel. He said, what they are offended
by the truth of the Gospel is, he says, we are in God's hands. And God's holiness demands that
He either save us or He cast us down into the pit of hell.
And he said it is all God's decision. and there's nothing you or I
can do to influence that decision. He said, they hate that. Why? Because it robs man. Man wants
to be God. And when you're said that there's
no, I'm in the hands of God, he'll do with me as he pleases,
you'll know something about pleading with Christ, won't you? And fleeing
to God and put all your hope in there. We don't enjoy being
hated, but We should pray that God keep us, sustain us, because
we said it here, the only reason people don't hate us more here,
because they don't know what we believe. And they really don't
care. Robert, some of you that's a
little older, you'll remember, and I'll finish this, what's
the first thing when you come into a new town and met new people,
especially small towns, what's the first thing they always ask
you? You got it, yeah. Where do you go to church at?
Where is it you go to church? And then you'd hear some, well,
as long as you go to a Baptist church, that's okay. Don't matter
which one. I grew up in a town like that.
Well, Methodist church, that's all right, I guess, a Presbyterian
church. But that Catholic church? No, you don't go over there.
God, that's no church at all. The truth is, they were all the
same. They were all free will works.
The only thing different from one to the other was what works
you done. Oh, I'm thankful the Lord delivered
us out of that, didn't he? Let us pray and pray that God
would bless the services. Lord, we've gathered here this
evening and we confess to you that we are unable to worship
you unless you send your spirit to us. And we plead with you,
God, that you would speak to our hearts this evening and that
you would speak clearly and concisely and that you alone would be glorified
and that your gospel would be preached. And we pray for all
of us, Lord, that you would give us the ability not only just
to hear it, but, oh, Lord, give us the faith to believe it. And
we pray for all those who are listening but are not present
in this building. We thank you for them, Lord.
We thank you for your faithfulness. And always, you promise that
you will save your lost sheep. We thank you for them. We ask
these things for your glory. Amen. Sorry. Thank you. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing hymn number 352 from your hardback timbrel.
352, Jesus, lover of my soul. Let's stand. Jesus, lover of my soul, let
me to thy bosom fly. While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high, hide me, O my Savior, hide. ? Till the storm of life is past
? Safe into the haven guide ? O receive my soul at last ? Other refuge
have I none ? Hangs my helpless soul on thee ? Levi, leave me
not alone ? ? Still support and comfort me ? ? All my trust on
thee is stayed ? ? All my help from thee I bring ? Cover my
defenseless head with the shadow of thy wing. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in thee I find. Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
heal the sick, and lead the blind. Just and holy is thy name. I am all unrighteousness. False and full of sin I am, Thou
art full of truth and grace. Plenteous grace with Thee is
found, Grace to cover all my sin. Let the healing streams
abound, make and keep me pure within. Thou of life, the fountain art,
freely let me take of thee. ? Spring thou up within my heart
? ? Rise to all eternity ? Please be seated. Turn with me please to Genesis
chapter 49. Genesis in the beginning. As I was watching the clock at
home tick, tick, tick, I thought that thing must be spinning because
it's getting closer and closer to seven o'clock. And your mind's
sitting there and you're thinking, Lord, I'm afraid I didn't study
enough, I didn't, Lord, I just don't feel prepared enough. Lord,
I just, Lord, And that awkward feeling, you understand what
I'm saying? And you think, well, that's how it is in a work salvation. That's what you live your life.
And I'll tell you, I'm not sufficient to stand before you. But it also
causes you to say, Lord, if you don't speak, this next time will
be in vain. All we are is just a vessel. God has to speak. Like someone
said, if all you hear is my voice, you've wasted your time. But
if you walk out of here and say, the Lord spoke, then it means
something. Tonight, I want to talk about a phrase that's in the Bible
and appears 28 times. And it says, it's the phrase,
thy salvation. Thy salvation. I know the word
of God says salvation's of the Lord. But the truth of the matter
is most people don't believe that. They just don't believe
it. Only the gospel of God's grace
in Christ gives Christ all the glory for salvation because he
has done all the work. Any other gospel, any of the
free will man-centered gospel It ultimately will be man's works
that saves him. If man does this, God will respond
by saving him. That's a lie. By salvation, we
say, Lord, if you don't save me, I won't be saved. But the
good news is, Lord, if you save me, it's a perfect salvation. It's something I go to bed at
night, and I don't care what happens if I die at night. Lord,
just take me, because you've done all the saving. And I know
that you are able to save to the uttermost. I know you have
saved to the uttermost. And I want us to look at a few
places in the scriptures where you see this term, thy salvation. Thy salvation. Look at verse
one and two. And Jacob called unto his sons,
this is Jacob of Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated, that
same Jacob. He called his sons, says, gather
yourself together that I may tell you that which shall befall
you in the last days. I'm gonna tell you what God's
gonna do to you in these last days. Now I remember one time,
you know, Don Fortner, I couldn't understand it. We are in the
last days. The last days is between Christ's
ascension and his second coming. And I remember he said, well,
he's only been gone two days. I'll tell you, I'm not the brightest. Finally, my pride got out of
the way. Well, every day of the Lord's
like a thousand years. You know, I understood. Well,
the Lord, it is two days. It's just this time means nothing
to God Almighty. going to tell them what is going
to happen between now and the last days. We are in the last
days right today. Gather yourselves together and
hear you sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father. And
he goes through and he tells all of his sons the different
things that are going to happen to them. And some of them are
not very good. He says you are going to be cursed. And he tells all of his sons.
But if you look at verse 18, after it was all said Jacob told
all the things that are going to be happening to his sons.
In verse 18, Jacob says, I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord. That's where we see, what is
it? I wait upon the Lord. Salvation of the Lord is not
a matter of due, that's religion. Religion is due, gospel is it's
done. We wait on the Lord. Uh, I'm
not a very patient person. I don't know if you are or not,
but we all too often. I don't, I don't want to do this
waiting. I want to help it along. You know what I'm saying? No,
Lord, give me the ability to wait on you means the Lord does
all the saving. We are just, we're the, we're
actually the object of a salvation, but he does all the work and
we wait on him. And that's what Jacob is saying. God is sovereign. He has ordained
every event of this world before the beginning and all the way
to the end. He's ordained the next breath I take, whether I
take it or not. And we wait on the Lord. I said,
I catch myself all too often When I get in trouble, it's when
I've tried to step in and help the Lord. He doesn't need my
help. I need him to give me the faith, the weight on the Lord.
But you can see here, Jacob's saying, Lord, if I'm to be saved,
you're gonna have to do it. Now, one thing, some take this
to the extreme, said, well, I just sit here. If God saves me, he
saves me. If he don't, he don't. No, the Lord's already commanded
you to come. I tell everybody, plead with
God. Plead with God to save you. I can speak for me. A day doesn't happen that I don't
plead for the salvation of not only of me, but my loved ones.
They don't know Christ. Very religious, and they're spending
all their time on their workers, trying to establish, as Paul
said, They're trying to establish their own self-righteousness
rather than submitting to the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you can see it in their eyes.
Well, I work. I drive the church bus. I tell
you how much money I give. I do this. I do that. And you
know what? They have no assurance of salvation.
Never has and they never will. We wait on the Lord. I am so
thankful that salvation is of the Lord and it's His. And He
gives it to whom He pleases, when He pleases. And we wait on Him. That's why
we plead, Lord, if my loved ones are to be saved, You're going
to have to save them. Because number one, You're the only one
that's able. Because they're not coming. And number two, I
know that You're able. I pray You'd be willing. Lord,
show us thy salvation. Okay. Look with me please to
Psalm 13. Psalm 13. I write the page down and I can't
even find it. There we go. Psalm 13. This is a little psalm. But this is the cry of every
believer. And at the cross, this was the
cry of the Lord Jesus Christ. How long wilt thou forget me,
O Lord? Forever? How long will thou hide
thy face from me? You ever experienced that? Lord,
do you even know I'm here? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord
my God. Light my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. lest my enemies
say I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me
rejoice when I am moved. Verse five, but I have trusted
in my works. No, I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation. Thy salvation. And I will sing
unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me, thy
salvation, even the most difficult of times. And we all have trials
and tribulations. I promise you that. And Brother Greg said this, and this
is my life experience. I'm either in trouble, coming
out of trouble, or going into trouble. I'm in that state constantly.
It's like a circle. And I'm in that state constantly.
I can't speak for you. There's periods when the trouble's
not... But the truth is, for us, is that we rest because we
know that our salvation of our souls is in the hands of the
Lord. He saved me. He done the work. And I am resting not in anything
I do, I'm resting on everything He has done. And I can't speak,
that's a comfort to my soul. I don't know about yours. It's
a comfort to my soul. And it means we still have heartaches,
we still have difficulties, but we know. I think St. Joe said, shall not the judge
of all the earth do right? God always does right. And when
I struggle and my unbelief takes its ugly head, which is most
of the time, I'm steady in that, I realize, God, you've always
done right. I don't see where this is going. All I see is my
immediate circumstances. And give me the ability to rejoice. Not because of my circumstances.
Rejoice because the Savior of my soul has accomplished. He's thy salvation. He's accomplished
my salvation over. Look with me to Psalm 18, please.
Turn over a few pages. Start in verse 17. He delivered me from my strong
enemy. I ask God every day to deliver
me from my strong enemy. And guess who my strongest enemy
is? You're looking at him. I cry out every day, save me,
Lord, save me from Michael Etheridge. Save me from myself, Lord. I
am my worst enemy. Deliver me from my strong men
and from them that hated me for they were too strong for me.
Lord, I can't save myself. I can't keep your law, that's
too strong for me, Lord. You're my only hope. They prevented
me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into
a large place. He delivered me because he delighted
in me. Now that's, God has to give me
the faith to believe. Why would he delight in me? For
Christ's sakes. It's not Michael, it's he delights
in the Lord Jesus Christ and he delights in those who are
in Christ. This whole thing about, he's
gonna talk about righteousness. The Lord reminded me, rewarded
me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of
my hands, hath he recompensed me. All my righteousness is the
Lord Jesus Christ. The only reason I can say I have
clean hands is because I'm in Christ. He's the only one that
has clean hands. For I have kept the ways of the
Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgment
before me, I did not put away his statues from me. If you move down, let's move
to 27. For thou will save the afflicted
people, but will bring down the high looks, that's the self-righteous. For thou will light my candle,
the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have
run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall. You know, you hear this phrase,
I can do all things through Christ. We heard that, don't we? And
that's what people say. You know, I struggle with this. Lord, I don't need your help.
I need you to do it for me. I can't do anything, Lord. I
see myself more like Moses, Lord if you don't go with me I'm not
going. I don't want to go. For God His way is perfect. The
Word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those
that trust in Him. And who is God save the Lord
or who is a rock save our God. It is God that girdeth me with
strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind feet
and set me on high places. He teaches my hands to war so
that a bowl of steel is broken by my arms. Thou hast also given
me the shield of thy salvation. And my right hand, as Christ,
hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. God's salvation,
we have a shield that protects us from all times. It's an advocate. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I know whatever events happen to me in my life, they are done
through the hand of Christ. You know, we tried to teach the
young people when they're young, the devil is God's devil. The
devil can't do anything unless God permits it. Just like Job.
Job, he had asked Job permission to sip Job, didn't he? That's
the way it is. The devil is God's devil. And
he alone, he shields me daily. I have to, like I said,
I am my own worst enemy. I can't speak for you, but every
day you have to ask, Lord, restrain the evil of my heart and mind.
Because if you ever take your hand off me, I think Todd said
this last Sunday, there's no sin that I would not commit. That's why the believer can't
feel like they're better than anybody else, because I know
the only reason you don't see my face on TV because of my horrendous
deeds is because God's restrained it. If He leaves me alone, no
sin I won't pursue. And I'll pursue it with all my
being. But thankfully, the Lord is our shield. He has a restraining
grace that keeps His people from plunging headlong into sin. Look with me please to, let's
move to Psalm 51. And we will start at verse eight. David, of course, has been plunged
under the waters, he said. You ever been plunged under the
waters? Lord, I can't take this another day. I just can't take
it. Lord, it's too much for me. God
has to plunge us under the waters, doesn't he? Cause us to cry out
for him. One of the great blessings is when we say that God is his shield,
the minute you and I think that we can do something on our own,
God withdraws his, we're still his children. but He'll bring
affliction in our life, won't He? Or God hides His face from
us for a while, and we'll come out crying, won't we? Oh, Lord,
help me. Save me, Lord, save me. David,
verse eight, make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones
which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and
blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me, cast me not away from
thy holy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Verse
12, Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me
with thy free spirit. First of all, you see, David
is saying, Restore. Does that mean David wasn't a
believer? That he wasn't a child of God? We all go through periods
where we ask, Lord, restore to me. That means to put back to
where it was, the joy of thy salvation. Every time we, Lord,
I'm so thankful that you are the Savior and you do all the
saving. That the salvation of my soul
is not dependent on me in any way, shape, or form, but rests
in the hands of the holy and sovereign God. Restore me the
joy of thy salvation. I've made this a happiness comes
and goes. Happiness is dependent on our
circumstances. You can be driving here and driving
to church and everything's good, the sun's shining, the roads
are clear, no traffic, and you have a flat tire, what happened
to your happiness? It went right out with that flat
tire, didn't it? Joy is not that way. No matter
whether Paul said, I'll be in prison or I'll be a free man,
the Lord's salvation is my joy. It never changes and it never
goes away. That's my comfort. That's my
comfort to you. I tell you as believers, the
Lord's salvation is our joy. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation and uphold me. Lord, if you don't keep me, I
won't be kept. keep me with thy free spirit.
And then verse 13, then and then only will I teach transgressors
thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Unless you've
experienced the Lord's salvation, you'll never be able to tell
sinners and transgressors how to be saved. Brother Henry used
to always say this, you know, some of us come out of religion.
You know, in religion they have classes how to witness, don't
they? They have books how to witness.
I always thought this was good. Brother Henry always said, every
believer knows how to witness. He said, all you need to do is
you just tell them what the Lord Jesus Christ done for you. That's
it. I don't need to womb with doctrine.
I don't need to quote them, you know, just tell them this is
what the Lord done for me. That's what the blind man did,
didn't he? He didn't say, well, let me show you this in the Bible.
He said, all I can tell you, I was blind and now I see. That's
the end of it. That's with us. All I can tell
you was I was dead. I had no interest in God. But the Lord's showed me his
salvation and he done all the saving. I didn't, I was a rebel. You know, we talked about hating
God. Did you ever hate God? I will say this to you. If you
say no, people would say, no, I've never hated God. That means
you still hate him. I came from the womb hating God.
Why? Because I wanted to control my
own salvation. We'll teach transgressors their
ways and they'll be converted. Last one we'll look at is Luke
2. Thy salvation. Luke chapter 2. And we'll start at verse 25. was a man in Jerusalem whose
name was Simon, or Simeon, and the same man was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was
upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents brought
in the child, Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law,
Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord,
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to
thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation. What is, he saw the Lord Jesus
Christ that brought the Christ. And that's the way we are. We
see Christ, we see that our salvation's all in Christ. He is our salvation. You probably know if you ask a religious
person, when was you saved? You ever heard that? Somebody
wants to know, when were you saved? Well, most religious people I
know, they can tell you, well, it was March the 15th at 135
p.m. in Lubbock, Texas, and the Lord
saved me right then. What do you mean? Well, that's
when I gave my life to the Lord. I mean, that's the common thread,
isn't it? Or pick another one, that's when I did this in this
religion, or I did this, I was baptized over here in the Catholic
church, all those things. False religion always points
people to an experience. And the reason being is they
can look back on that experience when they're having doubts of
the salvation of their souls and they say, Remember when you
did that? You did that, you know what I'm
saying? You'll never hear a believer talk like that. I'll tell you,
if you ask me, when were you saved? I don't know. All I can tell you, I was blind
and now I see. I couldn't tell you when. And
I don't really care when. All I care about is that I was.
That's all that matters. Because I tell people, It takes
the same work of the Lord Jesus Christ to save somebody who's
been saved for five years as it does somebody who's been saved
for 50 years. It's all the same. The Lord does
all the work. Here. I'd like to close, because
this idea has been on my mind is, well, when were you saved?
Somebody asked me, well, when were you saved? You've had people
ask you that and all the things. And they don't understand, but
I'll say this. Greg spoke on Tuesday. I have
been saved. I was saved. I am being saved
and I need to be saved. OK. I need to be saved right
now. But it started out that I have
been saved. Turn with me to Second Timothy,
please. 2 Timothy chapter 1, 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 7, Paul is writing to Timothy, he
said, God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the power
of love and of a, it says a sound mind, but that really means a
safe mind. The only mind that's sound is a safe mind. Other than
that, man is, he's not sound. He's a mental case, I guess.
Verse 8, but not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor be his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God. Nine, who hath
saved us and called us with a 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. I was saved in the covenant of
grace. Where God made a covenant, a
promise to God. Now, brethren, that's the best
kind of covenant. That's the only covenant you
can rely on. It's God making a promise to God. I can go to
sleep at night because I know that's going to happen. Where
God the Father his own free will. And his own, he's the only one
that's got a free will. But it is bound even by his nature. But God determined to love and
to save a people. And He covenant with the Lord
Jesus Christ in the Spirit. Where Christ covenant, God covenant
with God that Christ would come and do everything necessary for
the salvation of those people. God the Spirit made a covenant
with God that the Spirit would come and He would, as the Bible
says, point them to Christ. He would make it effectual. When
that happened, every one of God's elect was saved. Is there any
chance one of them will fall away? No. Is there any chance
that someone, well, wait a minute, we need to add this one. No.
I can't remember what he said. He said, it's a fixed number,
but there's plenty of room. I was saved in the covenant of
grace. Look with me to Romans five. Romans five, verse eight. But God commanded His love towards
us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't die for everybody.
He died for His people, us, the ones that God gave Him. Much
more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from the wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies,
were you ever an enemy of God? I was. If not, you're still an
enemy. We were reconciled to God by
the death of his son. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement. I was saved at Calvary. when the Lord Jesus Christ took
on my sins and bore them on the tree. And God's wrath was poured
out on him and God's justice was satisfied. God made a covenant with God.
So I have been saved, I was saved, and I am being saved. I'm being saved. Look at Psalm
71. Psalm 71, I'll try, we'll read this, verse
1. In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be put to confusion. Lord, you keep my mind focused
on Christ. Don't let me wander off here,
because I'll get confused. Deliver me in thy righteousness,
that's the rising call, and cause me to escape, incline thine ear
to hear me and save me. Lord, I need you to save me.
There's not a day goes by, the believer doesn't know, Lord,
I need you to save me today. You know, I can't speak for you,
I'll speak for me. In my prayer, Lord, if you don't
save me, there's nothing I can do to pray for my my lost loved
ones. You see what I'm saying? That's
what he said. Save me, O Lord, and I'll teach others about how
you save sinners. Lord, I need you to save me.
Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continue to resort.
Thou hast given, see what that, the Lord has given commandment,
commandment to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of
the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou art my hope,
O Lord God, thou art my trust from my youth. From thee have
I been holding up from the womb. I was saved in the covenant of
grace. I was saved when Christ went to the cross. And God's
hand was on me before I was born. And when I came into this world,
During His ordained time, His hand was on me all the way. And
it is, it'll be on me all the way till the end, when this old
flesh dies, and then I'll be like Him, come like Him, and
I'm with Him in glory. The Lord has to keep me the whole
way. Thou art He that took me out of my mother's bowels. My
praise shall be continued with Thee. I am a wanderer unto many,
but Thou art my strong refuge. I bet some of you have been a
wonder to many. Have you ever been a wonder to many? What in
the world are those folks doing over there to you? Are you crazy? We got some people here, we laughed.
They came over here because they was worried about people that
started coming here, older couple. And they come over here to save
that older couple from this church. They came in and Brother Greg
preached the gospel and they'll tell you, they got up in the
middle of the first sermon and went to the car and, we ain't
going back in there. We ain't going to go back in
there. Well, you know, we can't help them if we're not in there.
We'll go back in there. What they didn't know, God had
brought them here to save them. They thought they was going to
save them. God brought them here to save them. That's what he
does. Let my mouth be filled with thy
praise and with honor all day. Cast me not off in the time of
old age. Lord, keep me to the end. Keep
me to the end, Lord. Forsake me not when my strength
faileth. Some of us in this room can attest
to that, can't we? We're there. Lord, keep me to
the end. I can't keep myself. For my enemies
speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel
together, saying, God hath forsaken him, persecute and take him,
for there's none to deliver him. O God, be not far from me, O
my God, make haste for my help. Let them be confused and consumed
that are adversaries to my soul. Let them be covered with reproach
and dishonor that seek my hurt. But I will hope continually and
will yet praise thee more and more. My mouth shall show forth
thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day, for I know not the
numbers thereof. We don't make a judgment on who's
saved and who's not. That's God's business. We just
preach the gospel to them. I will go in the strength of
the Lord, God. I will make mention of thy righteousness,
even of thine and thine only. If you've had God's salvation,
you'll give him all the glory and glad that he gets it because
he's the only one that deserves it. And last, I need to be saved. This old flesh that'll remain
with me till I draw my last breath is not getting any better and
it's still with me. I said, I believe the Lord is
you. Grow in grace. I've got appreciation
for what As you grow in grace to me means that every day the
Lord is teaching me more and more about my inability to do
anything. And more about my need for his
ability to do everything. That's what growing in grace
means. So I have, you know, I have been saved, I was saved, I'm
being saved, and I need to be saved. Till I draw this last
breath. culmination of thy salvation
when the Lord takes us into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a day we look forward
to. I can't tell you what a comfort it is for my salvation to be
in the hands of the Lord. That's where I want it. I certainly don't want it in
these sinful, wicked hands. I'll close now. I thought this was interesting.
Like I said, Times have changed, I'll say that, because they used
to try to run people out of town if they preached the gospel,
the preachers and the people. And I remember a story about
a man up in Arkansas, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He was a gospel preacher. There was a gospel church up
there. And even in the 50s, they had what we called conferences.
They had them back then, too, in the 50s. And they wanted to
run him out of town. Like they said, it's like they
always say, if I can't kill the people, I kill the, you know
what you do? You kill the leader. That's what they do in war. Don't
kill the leader first. They wanted to kill the gospel preacher.
Well, they legally couldn't do it, but they tried to do everything
they can to run him out of town. One day they said he had finally
had enough. So he marched in to the largest Southern Baptist
church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. went into the office where the,
and I'll use the term kindly, preacher, pastor was. And of
course, the secretary says, hey, you can, as he kept walking straight
in, he opened the door and he shut it and he locked it. Of
course, the guy didn't know. He said, listen, he said, I don't
mean you any harm, but I'm gonna ask you three questions and then
I'm gonna leave. He said, the first question,
Did God save you or did you save yourself? And of course the man said, well,
God saved me. And he said, question two, did
he do it by accident? Did he do it when you made your
decision or did he do it on purpose? Oh no, excuse me. Did he do it
by accident or did he do it on purpose? I said it wrong. And
of course the man said, Well, he did it on purpose. He said,
here's the last question. Did he do it when you made your
decision or did he do it before the foundations of the world?
Of course, the man didn't answer. He said, now that's what I'm
preaching. Leave us alone. And he walked out the door. God
saved us in the covenant of grace. He saved us when Christ went
to the cross. He's saving us right now, and
he will continue to save us all the way until the end. That's
when I was saved. And all of it was thy salvation. He did all the work. And that's
the only comfort I can have in this world, that I know that
to be true. And I know it had nothing to
do with me. Nothing to do with me. It had
all to do with God. You know, it's sometimes good,
we all have these thoughts, that's our unbelief, but I'm sure we've
all, you ever ask yourself, why in the world would God save me? We all have that thought, don't
we? The answer to that is, there's no good answer, because there's
nothing about you that works You know, merits God's salvation.
All you know is because of it was God's goodwill and pleasure.
That's why you're saved and I'm saved. And the good news is His
goodwill and pleasure can't be thwarted in any way. It's going
to come to pass and it can't be changed because God has made
a covenant with God. Tom, would you close in a song
and prayer, please? "'Tis not that I did choose thee,
for, Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, hadst thou not chosen me. Thou from the sin that stained
me hast cleansed and set me free. Of old thou hast ordained me
that I should live to thee. Your love had no beginning. No cause in me was found. that you should choose to save
me, a sinner strongly bound. But grace not earned or sought
for was purpose for my soul. For me salvation wrought for
Christ paid the dreadful toll. was sovereign mercy called me
and taught my opening mind. The world had else enthralled
me to heavenly glories blind. My heart owns none before thee,
for thy rich grace I thirst. Let us pray. Lord, thank you for the word
that you have shared with us tonight. Lord, we ask that you
would return unto us the joy of thy salvation. Lord, grant
us mercy and grace. Lord, we're helpless, hopeless
sinners without Thy salvation. Lord, we're glad that it is Thy
salvation, Lord, and we ask that You would keep us coming, keep
us looking to You. Lord, save us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.