What does it mean to be saved? That may seem like a very elementary
question, but it's amazing how few people really know. Webster's
Dictionary defines being saved as to be rescued and delivered
from harm, danger, and loss. If you save something, for example,
money or some collectible, you set it aside and you preserve
it. That's how Webster defines being
saved. That's exactly how God saves
sinners. He rescues and He delivers the
sinner from harm, from danger, and from loss. And He sets them
aside and He preserves them for His own determined purpose of
redemption in Christ. And in both instances, the sinner
is saved. What are sinners delivered and
rescued from? They're delivered and rescued
from sin. Such a small word with such big
consequences. Sin brings harm and danger and
loss, and to be saved is to be rescued and delivered from sin. Who saves these sinners from
their sin? That too may seem like a simple
question. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Now the name
Jesus is the same as the name Joshua. The name means Yahweh
saves or Yahweh is salvation. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ
is Yahweh. And friends, he's the only one
who can save a sinner from their sin. And he, Jesus Christ, shall
redeem Israel, speaking of God's chosen people, from all their
iniquities. The Lord said, look unto me and
be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God, I am Yahweh,
and there is none else. Now, I've been accused of being
narrow-minded, but aren't the scriptures not that way? God
is the only one who can save us from our sin. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man
comes to the Father but by me. That's pretty narrow. That's
pretty dogmatic. Now to be saved is to be delivered
from the reigning power of sin. To be saved is to be delivered
from the penalty of sin. And did you know that to be saved
is also to be delivered from the daily practice of sin? Now folks don't have a problem
with being delivered from the punishment of sin. And why would
they? And nobody minds being delivered
from the condemnation of sin, nor the wrath of God that sin
brings. But when you talk about being
delivered from the practice of sin, that's where you lose, folk.
And I understand that that is a tough hurdle to get over. even
for the believer, because as long as we live in this world,
in this flesh, where no good thing dwells, it's within this
flesh that we struggle and we have this war. Paul talks about
a war that goes on in our members within. And that's how Paul described
it. He wrote, I find then a law that
when I would do good, evil is present with me, for I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in
my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Well, there's only one who can,
and he tells us who. He said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, if you would turn with me
to the 10th chapter of Romans, Romans chapter 10. In Romans chapter 10, look at verse
one with me. Paul reveals his heart here and
he writes this. He said, brethren, he's speaking
to believers. He said, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel. Israel, he's speaking of his
own family, his friends, the people of his nation. He says,
my heart's desire and my prayer to God is that they might be
saved. Not be made a proselyte of religion,
not be made a works religionist, not be one who practices will
worship, but that they might be saved, that they might be
delivered, that they might be rescued from harm and loss. They might be rescued from sin.
They might be set apart and preserved by God. They might know God and
the Lord Jesus Christ. That was his heart's desire and
prayer above all things, that they might have eternal life. And this is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent." That's what salvation is, is to know God.
And it's to know His beloved Son, according to John 17 3.
Eternal life is not to know about God and His Son. There's a lot
of folks that know about God. But true salvation is to know
God and His Son intimately and personally. You see, redemption
begins with knowing that you're a brand, the scripture calls
it, a fading ember plucked from the fire. And that's what we
ought. Plucked from the fire by the
hand of God Almighty. Paul said, my heart's desire
and my prayer to God for those that I love is that they might
be saved. And I know those of you here
this morning that know the Lord personally and intimately have
the same desire in your heart for your family, your friends,
and those that you're associated with. Is that my heart's desire? Is my prayer to God that sinners
might be saved? Well, I tell you this, if it's
not, then God will never bless my preaching. God have mercy
on any man who uses the ministry of the gospel for any other purpose
than the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. I pray
that God might reveal himself to you in a saving way. In verse 2, Paul said, for I
bear them records, speaking of those who he desired to be saved,
that they have a zeal of God. The Jewish people had religious
enthusiasm. So do people today. While they
raise their hands, they shout and sing. You know, I used to
do that. I had a zeal for God. I had passion. I had commitment,
fervor, and devotion. That's what the word zeal means.
But it wasn't according to knowledge. Wasn't according to knowledge.
Now hear me on this. If you're wrong in what you think
of Christ, if you are wrong about the God of the Bible, and many
are, I hear people talk about their God, I hear talk about
their Savior. and he in no way resembles the
God that this book declared. If you're wrong about God's Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're wrong about the gospel message,
how the God came in the person of Christ to die for sinners,
to pay their sin debt, and to make them perfectly righteous
before God. You can have all the enthusiasm,
all the passion, all the devotion in the world, and it will not
profit you at all when it comes to being saved, delivered, and
rescued from your sin. If you're not trusting in the
true Savior, the true Christ, then you're trusting in another
Jesus, which Paul said is not another. And here's a good test
whether or not your Savior is the true Savior. Is your Savior
trying to save sinners? Is your Redeemer wanting you
to give Him your heart? Does your Jesus need for you
to cooperate, to play a part, to grant Him your will in order
to save you? If He is, then you have the wrong
Savior. A trying, wanting, pleading Savior
is no Savior at all. The Jesus Christ of the Bible,
as I said a moment ago, is the way. There's only one way. That
little particular word there, the, means there's only one.
He's the truth, only one truth, one life. He's the only way.
He's the only truth in life. And no man, no woman, nobody
comes to the Father, but by Him. Can that be any simpler or plainer? I say it often, but it's so.
Folks understand what the Lord said there. They just don't believe
it. Christ doesn't want or need you. Oh, that just shocks people
when you tell them that. What? God doesn't become any
less God with or without you. He is God. Christ doesn't want
or need you. Why do men say such things? In
order for a sinner to be saved, a sinner has to see their need
of Him. They have to see their need and
made to want Him. Now, if I'm lying, I'm dying
because I'm resting my soul upon that blessed truth. Today's religion
has this thing backwards. Man is the one in need, not God. Man is the one who needs Christ's
acceptance. Christ doesn't need man's acceptance. Man is the lost sheep who needs
the seeking shepherd to find me. Man is that lost coin that
is diligently sought after until it's found. The sinner is the
prodigal son and prodigal daughters whose thoughts of his father
brought him back home. I think about that boy. Boy,
that's such a picture of me. I think about him in that pig
pen of the world, eating the husk of this world, starving
to death. I was starving to death without
Christ and without hope in this world. And then I begin to think
of who God is. It was thoughts of that boy's
father while he said, the servants in my father's house have more
to eat than I do. Those thoughts of his father
sent him back home, did they not? Oh, that's a picture of
you and me. And the shepherd who found his
sheep, he called together his friends and his neighbors, and
he said, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was
lost. And that poor woman that lost
the coin, she did the same thing. And after she found it, she called
her neighbors and her friends, and she said, Rejoice with me,
for I found that which was lost. And the father, oh, he rejoiced
in the return of his son. And he kissed his neck and he
put the best robe, picturing Christ's righteousness upon him.
And he put a ring on his finger, picturing the signet and the
seal of King Jesus on his hand. And he killed the fatted calf
and they celebrated his son, which was dead. It was now alive
again. His son, which was lost and was
found. That's what it is to be saved.
is to come to Christ, is to be fetched by God's grace like a
crippled man who had a great fall. Can't help but to think
of Mephibosheth, and with him, the believer confesses, what
is thy servant that thou should look upon such a dead dog as
I am? God's people see themselves as
dead dogs, and they know that if they're to have life, it's
God who has to give it to them. Our Lord said, no man can come
to me except the Father which sent me draw him, except it be
given to him, He said. Salvation is a gift of God, for
we're saved by grace through faith. That's not of ourselves.
What is it then, Brother Dave? It's a gift of God. It's not
of works, lest any man should boast. Oh, except God draw a
dead sinner by His love, mercy, and grace. Except God through
Christ give a sinner life and a will to come, that sinner will
not be saved. But if God does, it's a certainty. I once had a zeal for God. I
talked religious, I acted religious, but it wasn't according to knowledge.
I didn't know God and I didn't know Christ. Now look what Paul
says about such in verse three. He says, for they, who? Those
that are lost. They being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Well, that describes me pretty well. When I was in the world's
religion, as I said, I had a zeal for God. I was enthusiastic,
but I was ignorant. I was ignorant of God's righteousness. I was ignorant of how to obtain
God's righteousness. I went about to establish my
own righteousness. That's ignorance. How? By trying
to keep the law. By trying to do something that
would appease God. By trying to do something that
would satisfy God's holy justice against me. By trying to do some
good work. And by doing so, I did not submit
myself unto the righteousness of God. Well, what does that
mean? I didn't submit to Christ. Who
is the righteousness of God? And that's what Paul says here
in verse four. He said, for Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
If I trust and I submit to Christ's righteousness, knowing that I
have no righteousness of my own, and that I cannot under any circumstance
establish a righteousness of my own, then it's then that I
begin to understand that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. If I'm to obtain the perfect
righteousness that God requires, there's only one place I can
get it. There's only one place I can find it. And that's in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, we're shut up to Him.
That's why we say salvations of the Lord, because that's the
only place it is, in Him, in Him alone. I cannot obtain the
perfect righteousness that God requires because I cannot keep
God's law. We saw that pretty clearly in
our study of Hebrews this morning. I can't keep God's law because
I'm dead in trespasses and sin. Only Christ, the perfect God-man,
could keep the law in my room instead. Only Christ could satisfy
God's law and His justice that was against me. And it's embracing
Christ for salvation is what saves me. The God-man kept the
law in my place. And we abandon all hope in ourselves
when we look to Him. That's what we've got to do.
The reason God gave His law was not for us to keep, but to shed
light on the reality that we could not keep it. The law was
our schoolmaster. The law was our teacher. To do
what? To bring us to Christ. Oh, that
He might bring us to Himself. The law contained terms for life. Do this and live. Don't do this
and live. Do that and die. It was conditional,
but Christ is the end of those terms. We are no longer under
the law as a covenant or a curse. I hear men and women talk about
rewards in heaven. Only one who is trusting in their
own works talks about rewards in heaven. I'm telling you that's
so. Men and women who talk about
receiving rewards don't know anything about how God saves
sinners. We do the sinning, God does the
saving. If there was a reward for the
greatest sinner, you and I all would be in contention for it.
We'd all be in the running for that reward. But God saves chosen
sinners one way, in, by, and through the righteous work of
the Lord Jesus. He is the end of the law for
righteousness. When it concerns righteousness,
Christ is the only way to obtain it. He fulfilled the law, not
us. He satisfied the justice of God.
It wasn't us. There are no rewards, plural,
in heaven, but I'll tell you this. There's only the reward,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our redemption was accomplished
by Him, and He is the believer's reward. You can never convince
me that I've done anything worthy that would merit a reward from
God. God will not share His glory
with another. That's what it would be to receive
some kind of rewards for our work. God the Father shares His
glory only with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And I once
sought God on the basis of my own goodness and my own righteousness,
and I didn't stand on the perfect work of Christ's righteousness.
I went about to establish my own righteousness, as Paul talks
about here. My righteousness is, plural,
My works of so-called righteousness was and is nothing but filthy,
filthy rags. Has God shown you that about
your so-called work of righteousness? Nothing but filthy rags. I was ignorant of God's righteousness.
I was ignorant on how God's righteousness was obtained. It's only obtained
in, by, and through Christ. Only His perfect work could establish
perfect righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness.
For who? To everyone that believes. Do
you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Then you've got great
hope that you have His perfect righteousness. And as we discussed
earlier, I'm gonna say it again because it's so needful to know.
The law was not given to save. The law was never meant to save.
It was given to point men to Christ. That's what we're seeing
in the study of Hebrews. We saw it very clearly in Hebrews
7 this morning. It was our schoolmaster. The
law was to teach us to come to Christ. Perfect righteousness
only comes to us by Him. The end of the law means termination. The termination of the law is
the end of it. Christ came not to destroy the
law, but he came to fulfill the law. So the end of the law is
the fulfillment of it. The end of the law means the
law's been fulfilled, and it was Christ who fulfilled it.
It's the end of the covenant of works. The law of Sinai was
a conditional work. It had conditions, but not the
covenant of grace. It's unconditional, A.T.F. It's
conditioned only on the perfect work and righteousness of the
Lord Jesus, which puts no conditions on us. It's the end of a curse. The law is no longer a curse
to and for the people of God. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. How? By being made a curse for
us. For cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Isn't that what Christ did for
us? He died in our place on Calvary's cross. He took our curse upon
himself. He redeemed us by being made
that curse. He died the death of the cross,
a death that you and I should have died, and he was made a
curse for us. Now, I want you to look at verse
five here. It says, for Moses describeth
the righteousness which is of the law. And there's what he
says. "'that the man which doeth those
things shall live by them.'" Now, what does that mean? That
means that the righteousness, which is of the law, must be
perfectly kept by the one who desires to be made righteous
by it. You see, if a sinner insists
on being saved by the law, by doing something in and of themselves,
the law requires perfection. And it not only requires perfection
in deed or in actions or in work, but in thought. Every thought
that goes through your mind has to be perfect. Your attitude
has got to be perfect. Every motive has to be perfect. The law doesn't require the best
that you can do. I hear people say that all the
time. Well, you know, I believe that God just wants us to do
the best that we can do. And if we do that, I believe
we'll be saved. Listen, the law doesn't require
you to do the best you can do. The law requires you to do the
best that God can do. You got to be as holy and just
as God. for what the law could not do
and that it was weak through the flesh." That's talking about
our weakness. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. The weakness of the law doesn't
arise from any defect in God's law. Again, as we said earlier,
God's law is perfect. It's holy. The defect and the
weakness is in our flesh, in our doing. In our thinking, the
law cannot save us because we are unable to keep the law. But as our representative, as
our substitute, as our mediator, Christ can justify the ungodly
and He can make righteous even the chief of sinners. That's
what Paul said. It's a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am chief. And that's how every sinner sees
themselves, as the chief of sinners. Oh, if you know Christ, you'll
want others to know him. That's what Paul said. My heart's
desire and prayer to God is that those that I love, those that
I know might be saved. You know, I think about my poor
father. He was 78 years old when cancer
began to slowly take his life. And he had faithfully attended
a church for over 40 years. but he never fully understood
how Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
I would talk to him and he'd say, well, I know Jesus Christ
died for my sins, but he didn't know how Christ saved his people
from their sin. He knew that Christ died, but
he didn't know how his death put our sin away. And I remember
telling him that the wages of sin was death and that Christ
paid those wages for us, those wages that we couldn't pay. He
died in our room instead. Death was the wages of our sin.
I told my dad that God's law pronounced us guilty, guilty
of breaking every single commandment, but that Christ, in the believer's
place, kept the law perfectly so that God was able to make
us the righteousness of God in Him. Our Lord and Savior was
tempted, the scripture says, in all points as we are, but
then it says these three words, yet without sin. Now that's the difference. Sin
is not only what we do, friends, sin is what we are. We sin because
we're sinners. But Christ, He was tempted in
all points as we are, yet without sin. And before a holy, a thrice
holy God, Christ worked out a perfect righteousness and obedience for
his people. And he died as the wages of our
sin. Oh, I want you to be saved. I
want you to be saved, dear sinner. Some of you have a zeal for God,
but it's not according to knowledge. If you would turn with me to
John chapter three, John chapter three. Look at verse 14. This is the Lord Jesus Himself
talking. And in verse 14 He says, And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up. Why? Why must Christ, like the
serpent in the wilderness, be lifted up? Well, the same reason
the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up was. All that looked
to that brazen serpent lived. Why must Christ be lifted up
on a pole? Verse 15 tells us that whosoever,
and I remind you, it doesn't say the elect there, it says,
but whosoever. Whosoever believeth in him, believeth
in Christ, should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's
why we looked to him. The serpents in the desert, they
bit the children of Israel and they were dying. Satan, the serpent
of sin, has bitten us, and we're dead in that sin. And in order
to be made alive, we've got to look to Christ, high and lifted
up on that post. And if we do, we shall live.
Why? Verse 16, for God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in election, no. Believeth in predestination,
no. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. Now, I want you to listen
to me carefully. Who did Christ give his son to
die for? Again, you may say, well, I know
the answer to that. That's basic Bible doctrine,
is it? Did he give Christ to die for
everyone in the world? That's how most people read the
verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son to whosoever would believe in him. to whosoever would trust
in Him. Did God look ahead in time and
see who they would be? No. God, before time ever was,
ordained and purposed and chose and determined who they'd be.
Those who believe and trust in Christ shall not perish, but
have everlasting life. Now, does everyone believe in
Jesus Christ? No. God does not love and save
those who do not love his son. You can't show me in scripture
where he does. Every sinner that trusts in Christ
to put their sin away has everlasting life. That's who God saved. In
John chapter 17, you remember the words of the Lord Jesus.
He said, I pray for them. Who are them? He said, well,
I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given
me. So I know first and foremost
that them are those that God gave to Christ before the foundation
of the world. He said, for they are thine.
They were yours, you gave them to me, and I died for them. Now
listen, they did not become gods when they believed. They belonged
to God before they believed. They believed because they belonged
to God. The Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And those who come to Christ,
came to Christ, believed and trusted in His perfect righteousness. Everyone God gave to Christ will
come. Every single one of them. If
they don't come, then they didn't belong to Him, ever. God gave
to Christ a people before the foundation of the world, and
every single one of them will come to Him. And Christ praying
to his father for those that his father gave him said, they
are they which received the words you gave me. You're hearing the
words this morning that God gave his son. Do you believe them? The Lord said, they surely know
that I came from you. Jesus Christ is the God-man. He left His throne on high and
came here to die for His people. Do you know that God sent Him?
He said, they believe that You sent Me. Does everyone believe
that? Does everyone here this morning know someone who does
not love and who does not trust their soul to Christ alone? Of
course we do. We all do. You're still in John
3, look at verse 17. For God sent not His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved. Now there are many in this world
that will be condemned. That's what the Lord said. He
said, wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction
and many, many there be which go in there is. Those who travel
the broad way of destruction are condemned. Now, my question
to you is, did God love them? Did God love them that are condemned?
Did God love them and yet condemn them? Well, what kind of love
would that be? Verse 18, he that believeth on
him, Christ, is not condemned, but he that believeth not is
condemned already. Why are they condemned? Well,
he tells us twice in the same sentence here. He says, he that
believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. If God loves the
world, meaning everyone in it, if God sent his son to save the
world, meaning everyone, then why does the Lord clarify in
verse 18 that only those who believe will be saved and not
condemned? So the world can't mean everyone
in it. If it did, then everyone in the
world would be saved. You can't say that it's because
some chose to be saved and some chose not to be saved. Because
being dead in sin, none of us could choose. God gave some life. It's just that simple. He gave
them life so they could live. And that's why salvation's of
the Lord. That's why salvation is only
in Christ. It must mean that God so loved
his people in the world that he gave his only begotten son,
that whosoever, whosoever God gives life and believes in Christ
shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, it's my heart's desire
and prayer to God that you might be saved, that I might be saved. Everyone that believes is not
condemned. Everyone that believes not is
condemned already. Does God condemn those that He
loves? That'd be a strange kind of love,
wouldn't it? There's one reason why men are condemned, and there's
one reason why men are not condemned. And the reason men and women
are condemned is found here in verse 19. And this is the condemnation. The light is coming to the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. Now the reason sinners are condemned
and forever damned is because they love darkness rather than
light. They love darkness because their
deeds are evil. So who then are saved? That's
going back to the first question I asked. Who then are saved?
Verse 20. For everyone that doeth evil,
hateth the light, and neither cometh to the light, lest his
deeds should be reproved." Now listen, the lost in this world
hate the light. The lost in this world will not
come to the light. Christ is the light. They won't
come to Christ that they might have light. He said, you will
not come to me that you might have light. Why? They don't want
their deeds to be reproved. That word reproved here means
discovered. They don't want their sin to
be made manifest. They don't want to be brought
to shame. They don't want to be laid to
blame. They refuse to accept their condition
before God. Those who are well, righteous
in their own eyes, have no need of a physician. Verse 21, but
he that doeth truth cometh to the light. why that his deeds
may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. A sinner comes to the light so
that his deeds will be reproved and discovered and made manifest. And why wouldn't we? My acceptance
with God is found in the righteous work that was wrought in God,
that were wrought or worked by God, and wrought and worked by
Christ for God. My work is Christ's work, and
it's an accomplished work. It's a finished work, and it's
an accepted work. Every believing sinner is saved. That's who God saves. He saves
those who believe and trust in His Son. They work out their
own salvation with fear and trembling. Do you know how they do that?
They understand that it's God which worketh in them both to
will and do His good pleasure. If salvation is of the Lord,
and it is, if salvation is in Christ, and it is, if the wages
of my sin is paid in full by the blood of Christ, and it is,
then I have no reason to believe that I am not saved, that I am
not delivered, and that I'm not rescued from the harm, danger,
and loss that sin brings. I can have confidence. I can
have assurance. I can have hope that I am a saved
man. Not because of what I do, but
because of what Christ has done for me. Oh, my hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And friends,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for you and for me is
that we might be saved. Oh, that God might be pleased
to make it so for His own glory, our eternal good, and for Christ's
sake. Amen.