that I have the honor of standing
before you again this morning, and I'm very thankful to my Lord
for allowing this. I used to look forward to every
Friday night, every Sunday morning, preparing messages and lessons,
but since the Lord allowed me to step down from being pastor
of the church out in rescue, I'm not involved in preparing
messages as much as I was back then, but it's just such a rewarding
time. And I've said this before, but
it's worth repeating. A preacher, a pastor, a man in
the service of the King, preparing messages all the time. We can
never deliver all that we take in as we study. We want to, but
when people start looking at their watches, we know it's getting
close to maybe time to button it up. But this morning I have
a full plate. I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 11. This will just be a starting
point. And I want to bring before you
something I know you have heard from this pulpit before. There
are only two religions in the whole world. has been since Cain
and Abel. Either all of works or all of
grace. And you can't mix them. Grace and works will not mix. And God's preachers constantly
declare that man's works has absolutely nothing to do with
the salvation of God's elect. Nothing. We don't deny works. Works do accompany salvation,
but works has nothing to do with salvation. One might say, but
believing is not a work. Well, God says it is. Our Lord
Jesus told some unbelieving Jews, this is the work of God that
you believe on Him in whom He has sent. So he said believing
is a work, but it's God's work. It's the work of God to give
us faith so that we will believe the gospel of His amazing grace
and just absolutely abhor any doctrine that promotes man's
works in this glorious gift of God, eternal life through Christ
our Savior. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus unto good works. And James said show me faith
without works and I'll show you my faith by my works. He didn't
say he'd show God, he said I'll show you. And that's what our
Lord taught. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify our Father
which is in heaven. So works do accompany salvation. but they have nothing to do with
salvation. Right here in Romans chapter
11, the Apostle Paul, writing under divine inspiration, is
bringing before the church at Rome something he has already
laid down as absolutely true as far as this salvation that
God has bestowed upon us. It's true that God has mercy
on sinners. That's true. But a particular group of sinners,
those who were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Now I know the world hates that doctrine and I know they
say that we're wrong But if we're wrong, the Word
of God is wrong, and that's what every gospel preacher endeavors
to do. We want you to believe us, but
we want you to believe us because of what the Word of God says.
Henry Mahan told Todd Nybert, while Todd was under his ministry,
don't you dare preach anything from this pulpit that you can't
prove from God's Word. So here in Romans 11, the Apostle
Paul has brought before the church at Rome in this epistle that
even though Elijah thought he was all alone, God told him he
wasn't. He said, I have reserved unto
myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the
image of Baal. And Paul quotes that in this
epistle, starting at verse 1 of Romans 11. We read, I say then,
hath God cast away his people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God
hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. But you know
what the scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to
God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets
and dug down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek
my life. But what saith the answer of
God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven
thousand men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Even so, then, at this present time also, there is a remnant
according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then
is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if
it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is
no more work. And so right here in God's Word
we see that it's either all of grace or all of works. My subject this morning is Jesus
Christ our Sovereign Deliverer and I want you to turn to 2nd
Timothy chapter 1 and let me give you four points that you
can kind of just lodge in your mind and use them if you will
as hooks to hang your thoughts on. we have in the scripture
plainly taught a purpose deliverer for a particular people, a produced
deliverer for a particular people, a proven deliverer to a purchased
people and the future promised deliverance to a perfect persevering
people. So those four points, and I'll
name them again as we go through each point. But first of all,
a purpose deliverer for a particular people. Now God tells us in his
word that what he has purposed he will also do. His servant
Elijah wrote those words under divine inspiration. And so if
God has purposed our salvation, He's going to do what He has
purposed. And we read right here in 2 Timothy
chapter 1, starting at verse 8, Paul tells his beloved son in
the faith, Timothy, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God, who hath saved
us, and called us with an holy calling not according to our
works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who hath abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. So we read right here that God
himself has saved us He has 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. And one
mocker says, well that's your interpretation. That's not my
interpretation. That's what the Word of God says,
word for word. So God has purposed the salvation
for a particular people. And He is going to accomplish
that which he has purposed? And as they say in the vernacular,
ain't nobody gonna stop him. Who could stop God from doing
what he has purposed? Brethren, we don't serve a mute-in-the-mouth
Jesus who wants to do something but can't because the people
he's created won't let him. What kind of a God is that? I
wouldn't walk across the street to bow down and worship a God
that is controlled by his own creation. Our God is sovereign. He sits on the sovereign throne
of power working all things after the counsel of his own will.
He said, I will work and who's going to hinder it? Nobody can. So he's purposed our salvation
And I'm thankful that God saved me on purpose. Aren't you? I'm
thankful. He gets all the glory for it.
So if the scripture means what it says it does, and I know that
it does, then this salvation that we have, this gift from
God, comes to us by His sovereign power through the merits of Jesus
Christ alone. And God has done this for the
glory of His darling Son. Now if you will, turn back to
Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, my second
point, is the produce deliverer for a promised people. Now God promised us to his darling
son in the covenant of grace way back before a star ever twinkled
in the sky. We're children of promise. As
Isaac was, we are children of promise. And what God has promised,
He will also produce. And so that's the second point.
A produced deliverer for a promised people. And our Lord illustrates
this all through the scripture. He promised Abraham that Sarah
would have a son. God would give them a son. and
Sarah would be the one who would give birth to his promised son. And we know the story how Sarah
gave Hagar to Abraham and he took her to wife and then she
did conceive and she had a child they named Ishmael but that was
not the promised child. God waited on purpose till it
was virtually impossible humanly speaking for Sarah to have a
son when she was 90 years old she conceived that's amazing
we don't want to take that lightly that's a miracle of God and she
gave birth to Isaac when she was 90 years old There was no
doubt in Abraham's mind, no doubt in Sarah's mind, that Ishmael
was not the promised son, but Isaac was. So he produced what
he had promised. And that's our second point.
That's what we're talking about. God purposed a deliverer, and
then he produced a deliverer. His name is Jesus Christ the
Lord and He came at God's own appointed time to be the deliverer
of His people. Here in Galatians chapter 3 we
read in verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law being made a curse for us for it is written cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree so when he came into this world
when God sent his son into this world he sent him for this very
purpose to redeem his people and that's exactly what he did
he didn't try to redeem us he redeemed us He paid the price
in full for our sins. And when He offered Himself as
a supreme sacrifice for the sins of His people, He offered Himself
to God the Father. And our Heavenly Father accepted
that sacrifice, and when He did, we were made accepted in the
Beloved. Look over here in chapter 4,
starting at verse 4. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God
hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. This leads me into my third point. A proven deliverer to a purchased
people. Our Lord Jesus purchased all
those who were given to Him by God the Father with His own precious
blood. But we didn't know anything about
that. that happened over 2,000 years
ago so it has to be proven to us we can read it in the scriptures
and we won't understand spiritual things just by reading what the
Word of God says. It has to be preached to us.
It has to be opened up to us by the preacher to point out
these wonderful truths and then God has to make that preaching
effectual or it will just go in one ear and out the other.
So God proves His promised Deliverer who has taken away all of our
sins by the miracle of the new birth. Ye must be born again. And right here we read where
God sends the Spirit of His Son into our hearts crying, Abba,
Father. You know why we call him father?
He begat us. I was talking to Judy the other
day and I said, there's no other children in this world that calls
me father but my own children. I have grandchildren, they call
me grandfather, but my children call me either father or daddy.
And they're all adults, married adults with children of their
own. And our daughters still call me daddy. And I don't mind. But the children down the street
don't. I didn't begat them. And so we call him father because
we're begotten of God. James said, writing under divine
inspiration, speaking of God our Father, of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creatures. So we're begotten of God. We're
born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. Let me read something to you
from 1 Corinthians chapter 2 on this subject. of receiving the
Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2, please. When Jesus Christ declared that
His work was finished, He laid down His life. He gave up the
ghost. Nobody took His life from Him.
He laid it down. He had the power to lay it down.
He had the power to take it up again. And when He laid down
His life, The Scripture tells us we were reconciled to God
by the death of His Son. Do you all believe that? We were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. Now I wasn't there, I wasn't there
when my Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross, but I know He was.
I read it in the Scriptures and I believe what the Word of God
says. But it had to be proven to me. I heard this probably
when I was a boy. Heard it when I was growing up.
It meant nothing to me that Jesus Christ died for my sins. It meant
nothing to me. Until God sent the Spirit of
His Son into my heart revealing what Jesus Christ accomplished
for me when He came to this earth. I sit back in perpetual awe thinking
about how my Lord Jesus pleased God
in everything that he did while he was here on this earth. He
was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Every word he spoke, every thought
he had, every deed he performed every step he took was according
to the will of God who sent his son to this earth and a voice
came from heaven we read it in the scriptures saying this is
my beloved son and whom I am well pleased you can grab on
to your pew if you want to for just a minute because we're going
to jump a creek Every promised child of God was in Christ when
he pleased his father with all that he did. It's not just the
life he gave, it's the life he lived. He lived a perfect life
to establish a perfect righteousness for his chosen people. that righteousness
is imputed to us we're robed in the righteousness of Christ
when our God reveals the gospel message of saving grace through
Christ alone when that's revealed to us we have that righteousness
that makes us as holy as God Himself. Now I said we're going
to jump a creek I'm not making that up. That's what the Word
of God tells us. When Jesus Christ offered Himself,
He sanctified a people. That's a big word, that means
He made us holy. And we read right down in the
14th verse of that 10th chapter of Hebrews, by that same sacrifice,
He perfected us forever. You can't get any better than
perfect. I was talking to Judy last Friday.
I said sit down here behind me for a minute. I got something
I want to share with you. And when I say something like
that, she's not sure what I'm going to talk to her about. So
she had a very sober look on her face as she sat down beside
me. I looked over her sternly and
soberly and asked her this question. How does it feel to know that
God sees no fault in you? Let me ask you that. How does
it feel to know that God sees no fault in those who believe
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, brethren, listen. God cannot
look upon sin. He's too holy. He has always
seen His chosen people in Christ. But when we experience the miracle
of the new birth, when God sends the Spirit of His Son into our
hearts, He not only sees us in Christ, He sees Christ in us. And He delights in Christ in
us. And He sees us, sees Christ in
us, just as He sees Christ on His throne in glory. Perfect. Perfect. without fault. Jude said this writing under
divine inspiration unto him that is able to keep you from falling
and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty, dominion
and power both right now and forever. Isn't that wonderful? that's wonderful to me but I
had to have this proven to me so here in 1st Corinthians chapter
2 we read starting at verse 12 now we have received not the
spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God which things
also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. And that's what we're doing this
morning. We're looking at Scripture here, Scripture over here, the
Word of God here, to prove that Christ is our great Deliverer,
who was purposed by God before this world was created, produced
by God at His appointed time when He sent Christ into this
world, and proven to His chosen people by God by giving us His
Spirit so that we can know the things that are freely given
to us of God. The Spirit of God will guide
us unto all truth. And those people in this world
who have a form of God but deny the power thereof, they don't
have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them. Come out from among
them, or to have no fellowship with the unfruitful fruits of
darkness, or to shy away from them. They don't know Christ. They blaspheme Christ. They dishonor
Christ. They trample underfoot the blood
of Christ and make the cross of Christ of none effect. Meaningless. Saying He died for everybody,
now it's up to you. It's up to you. Poor God. Poor Jesus. I heard a man on
television use those very words. Poor Jesus. Poor Jesus. Won't you give Him a chance? Listen, that Jesus is a figment
of man's imagination. He doesn't even exist. Our Lord
Jesus is on His throne in Heaven, giving eternal life to as many
as God the Father gave Him. No more, no less. So we have
the Scriptures to show us that God has proven to us that we
have a Deliverer who delivered us from the power of darkness
and translated us right into his eternal kingdom that's in
the first chapter of Colossians and we read right here in verse
14 that the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit
of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned. So it takes the power
of God enlightening the mind to these glorious truths that
give Him all the glory. And when God does that, If we
have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us, our spirit leaps within
us and we say that's true. That's true. I know that's true. That's what the Word of God says.
And the Spirit of God keeps teaching us, delivering us from any doubts,
any fears, making us aware that we have a hope that we didn't
have before. And that hope is Christ in us.
The hope of glory. And so we have God Himself proving
that we have a Deliverer who has delivered us from the wrath
to come. And I am so thankful that we
can be assured that when this is all over, whether it's our
appointed time of departure or when the Lord Himself returns
to take us all home, that there's not one thing that will keep
us from entering into glory to see the Christ who is our Deliverer. Let me show you something in
Romans chapter 7. One more point. If you'll turn
to Romans chapter 7 please. We have a Deliverer who yet promises
us that He will deliver us from the body of death. And as long
as we're in this body of death, we're going to sin against our
God. And I know a child of God does
not want to sin. But we have that old sinful nature
that will plague us until God delivers us from this body of
death. And the Apostle Paul experienced
that very war going on in him. Here's a man who was instrumental
in establishing church after church after church. He was stoned,
he was scourged, he was thrown into prison for preaching the
gospel. For preaching the glorious gospel
of God's amazing grace. And he struggled with sin. He tells us in the 7th chapter
that He does things He shouldn't do. He doesn't do things He knows
He should do. And He says in verse 24 of Romans
7, O wretched man that I am, not that I was, O wretched man
that I am, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
my Lord. So then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So
he struggled. He struggled. And he struggled
all the days of his life. And what I understand is that
he was beheaded at Rome. martyr, but he knew that time
was coming close. He spoke of his appointed time. He used the word departure. That's a good word. That not only tells the person
who's using it that he's leaving one place, but he's going to
arrive at another. And he said, my time of departure
is at hand. And when he was martyred, Paul
was delivered from this body of death. That's our subject. Christ, our great Deliverer. Turn with me, if you will, to
one more passage of Scripture, and I'll bring this to a close.
John chapter 17. John chapter 17, please. And
if you're like me, you wonder sometimes, how can I believe that I'm a
child of God when I allow thoughts that are so sinful go through
my mind? And not only have wrong thoughts go through my mind.
At times I entertain those thoughts. And I have to cry out. I'm so sorry, Lord. Has that
ever happened to you? There's that awareness in every
believer that we sin against our great
Deliverer, our conquering Captain that I preached on last Sunday. We sin against Him every day. But absolutely nothing, N-O-T-H-I-N-G, absolutely nothing
can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. And he which hath begun a good
work in us will perfect it until the day of Christ. Absence from the body is present
with the Lord. Just as soon as they beheaded
the Apostle Paul, he was with Christ in glory. And that's the promise from our
Lord Jesus to all of His purchased, enlightened children that He,
Jesus Christ, will yet deliver us from this body of death. We have absolutely nothing to
fear. Let me say that again. We have
absolutely nothing to fear. When we stand before our Savior
on Judgment Day, there won't be anything in any
of us to judge. Jesus Christ has purged our sins
from God's sight forever. He tells us that in His Word.
God remembers our sins against us no more right now right now and when we stand before Him
dressed in the perfect righteousness of Christ we'll hear these words well done
thou good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the Lord. Now I know that's going to happen.
I don't know if it's going to happen to you because I don't
know if your faith is in Christ and in Christ alone. I hope it
is. If it is, if God has revealed
that to you, that you have nothing to offer and God wouldn't accept
anything from you anyway, He has already accepted all that
is needful to take us all away from that ugly pit that He dug
us out of, right into the presence of the King who loved us and
gave Himself for us. And He tells us right here in
John chapter 17 and verse 24 and this is his high priestly
prayer to his father and it's recorded for our learning but
he says father This is our Lord Jesus praying. He says, Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me,
for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world, O righteous
Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee,
and these have known that thou hast sent me, and I have declared
unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." So he prays. He prays and God always hears
his prayer that all those that the Father gave Him in the eternal
covenant of grace before this world was created will be with
Him where He is. And folks, listen. We're going
to see Him in all of His glory. in all of His glory. I don't
have the foggiest idea what that means, but I sure am looking
forward to seeing that. Jesus Christ my Savior in all
of His glory. I know this, the sufferings of
this life are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall
be revealed in us. And I also know this, when we
see Him in all of His glory, we'll be in a state of perfection
so much so that we will never sin against our God ever again. What a day to look forward to. God bless these words to your
hearts for the glory of our King and for our eternal good, until
He comes to take us home or returns in all of His glory, dwell on
these blessed truths that will encourage your hearts, no matter
what the situation might be, to keep looking to Jesus, the
author and the finisher of our faith.