Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. Three verses
right here will be our text. And these three verses tell it
like it is. they get to the heart of the
issue. And this is the fact of salvation. This right here is the fact of
salvation. Romans 9 verse 27, it says, Isaiah also cried concerning
Israel. Though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. For he will finish the work and
cut it short in righteousness. Because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, except
the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed, We had been as Sodom
and been made like unto Gomorrah. Had God not done something for
us, this is what it all boils down to. Had God not done something
for us, we all would have been just like Sodom and Gomorrah. The same thing that came down
on Sodom and Gomorrah would have come down on us. The same judgment. We look at that city and we see
the fire and the brimstone that came down because of their sin. That same judgment, that same
destruction would have come down on us had God not done something
for us. But he said, Isaiah prophesied
of what God would do. Isaiah just plainly told, this
is what God's gonna do. This is who God is going to do
it for. And he said, what Isaiah prophesied
of is going to come true. It's going to hold true. A remnant is going to be saved. All should have been in Sodom
and Gomorrah. But a remnant is going to be saved. And the work
is going to be finished. And the reason is because the
Lord God left us a seed. That's what it all boils down
to. The Lord God sent a seed. And Galatians 3 tells us that
that seed is Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
A remnant is going to be saved. He didn't save everybody, but he saved a remnant, a remnant
of people out of the masses. Just a small part. That's what
a remnant is. If you get a roll of carpet and
there's a little bit left over at the end, that's called a remnant.
It's just that little leftover part that's not really good for
anything. A small part of the people out
of this whole world shall be saved. He said the work shall
be finished because God sent Christ his own seed to accomplish
the work. What Isaiah was saying in a nutshell,
and if you look at the book as a whole, what Isaiah was saying
is salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord and
He is going to save whoever He's pleased to save. It's His doing
and He's going to do it for whoever He's pleased to do it for. A
remnant. A remnant is going to be saved. Now through this text
I want us to enter in to some truths concerning salvation. He said there are some people
who are going to be saved. And God is gonna finish that
work for some people. That seed will accomplish that
work for some people. In just a moment, we're gonna
look at God's declaration of salvation concerning all those
people. But before we do, I want us to
take just a second and think about a few things. Let's ponder
a few things about who God saves and how He saves them. There
are five things that I'd like to mention. And if we could really
get a hold of this, it would bring so much peace to us and
so much comfort to us. We have gotten a hold of this
the moment that the Lord reveals the truth to us, we get a hold
of this. But we don't ever finish getting a hold of this. And if
the Lord would cause us to more so enter into it and more so
really believe it and really understand it, it would bring
so much peace to us and so much comfort. It would relieve our
mind. It would settle us down. It'd
bring happiness to our hearts. So I pray that we will. I pray
the Lord will cause us to see it, cause us to grow in the knowledge
of this and in the understanding of this. If we have never gotten
a hold of it, I pray the Lord will allow us to right now. If
we have before, I pray we will again. But these five truths
about God's absolute salvation are this. Number one, Jesus Christ
came into this world to save sinners. That's the first thing. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. The only reason he came was to
save sinners. That's the only reason he came. He did not come to build houses
for people. And he did not come to bring
clean well water to people. And he did not come to give food
to people. He came for one reason only.
Men and women do those things because they believe that was
His work and that was His ministry and they believe they're going
to pick it up where He left it off. They believe that work was
not finished and they need to finish that for Him. That was
not His work. That was not why He came. Not
at all. The angel said, call His name
Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. That's why He
came. He shall save His people from their sins. That's the only
thing He came here to do. The only thing. He came to die
on a cross in order to save His people from their sins. He said,
for this cause came I into the world. That's the only reason
I came. So that's the first thing. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners. Here's the second thing, the
second fact that if God would cause us to get a hold of this,
it would bring such peace to us, such comfort to us. Number two, Jesus Christ came
into this world to save the chief sinners. I mean the chief sinners, not
the little sinners, not the every now and then white lie sinners.
Paul said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I'm the chief. I'm the chief. Sometimes we get
so worried over the amount of our sins, even if the Lord has
caused us to get ahold of this. Sometimes we still get so worried
over the amount of our sins. We're so worried over the degree
of our sins and the number of our sins. We rate our sins. We rank our sins. We get worried because we think
ours are more often and ours are more severe than other people's. We say, yeah, I know he's a sinner,
I know he is, but I'm more of a sinner than he is. You know
that feeling, you know that thought. Let's get a hold of this. If
we could get a hold of this, peace and rest would come. Christ
did not come to save little sinners. He did not come to save every
now and then white lie sinners. He came into this world to save
chief sinners. Romans 5 verse 6 says ungodly
sinners. Ungodly. No sinner will ever
be rejected because he brought a sin to Christ that was just
too sinful. No sinner. No sinner will be turned away
because the sin was just too sinful. Some are too good to
be saved. Some are too good, but none too
bad. All right, that brings us to
the third thing. Jesus Christ only saves sinners. He only saves sinners. No good
people will be included in his salvation. None. He said, I did not come to call
the righteous. He said, the well need not a
physician. The well just don't need a physician.
No good people will be included in his salvation. Now that's
good news when you don't think you're a good person. That's
extremely good news when you don't think you're a good person.
When you're frustrated with yourself and you're down on what you do
and you're down on what you are, that is relieving news to hear.
So Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. Jesus
Christ came into this world to save the cheap sinners. Jesus
Christ only saves sinners. Here's number four. Jesus Christ
only saves sinners freely. Only freely. It's the only way
that He will save. If we could ever get a hold of
this. It is the only way. His salvation
is all of grace. Free, gift, grace. It comes to the undeserving.
It comes to the unworthy, it comes to the unowed, and it comes
freely. It comes to the unable, those
who are unable to pay it. It's not just that the recipients
don't have to pay for it, it only comes to those who can't.
Cannot, it's free, it's free. I love Isaiah 55. It says, ho,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that
hath no money, come ye buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without
money, without price. Let your soul delight itself
in fatness. So Jesus Christ came to save
sinners. Jesus Christ came to save the
cheap sinners. Jesus Christ only saves sinners. Jesus Christ only saves sinners
freely. And here's number five. Jesus Christ only saves sinners
fully. Only fully. Only completely. He only saves sinners completely. From the cross He cried, it is
finished. It's finished. And what that
means is the salvation that Christ accomplished is complete. The blood paid it all. Paid it
all. The payment He made, He paid
it all. The work is complete. It's completely
complete. Paul told the Colossians, you
are complete in Him. You're complete. When Christ
saves, He saves fully, completely. He leaves no part undone. Nothing
left for us to do. Now that's what Isaiah prophesied
of. In verse 27 it says, Isaiah also
crieth concerning Israel, Jacob. his people. Though the number
of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant
shall be saved. For he will finish the work and
cut it short in righteousness. Because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth." What that means is once and done. Once and done. It wasn't a long
drawn out process. It was once and done. By the one sacrifice of Himself,
He perfected forever them that are sanctified. Them that are
set apart. That remnant. Now what I want
to do is, I want us to see these things that God said through
Isaiah. This great declaration of salvation
of what He would do for these sinful people. I just want to
skim the book of Isaiah for just a second and see God's glorious
announcement of salvation. All right, turn with me, if you
would, to Isaiah 1. My brother read this just a moment
ago. Isaiah 1 verse 2, it says, Hear,
O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. This
is his announcement, his declaration. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are
gone away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even
unto the head there's no soundness in it but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment." That's us and that's
our sin. And verse 9 says, "...except
the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant We should
have been like Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. This is what salvation all boils
down to. Had God not done something for
us, had he not reached down his hand for us and shown mercy to
us in saving us, we would have been wiped out. That's what should
have happened to us. But God had mercy. God showed
kindness. He chose a remnant to save. Look with me at chapter 10, Isaiah
chapter 10. Isaiah 10, verse 20. Isaiah 10 verse 20, it says,
And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of
Israel, in such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall
no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon
the Lord, the Holy One of Israel in truth. They're going to be
stayed upon Jehovah. They were stayed upon themselves
and stayed upon their idols and stayed upon their sin. But in
that day, I'm going to turn them. And they're going to be stayed
upon me. Verse 21, it says, The remnant shall return, even the
remnant of Jacob unto the mighty God. For though thy people, Israel,
be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return. The consumption decreed shall
overflow with righteousness. He said God is going to deliver
that remnant that he chose. Chapter 11 verse 10 says, And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse. That's the seed that God sent.
Christ the Lord. In that day there shall be a
root of Jesse, which shall stand for and sign of the people. To
it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious."
I love that. The rest that he creates for
his people, that rest is going to be glorious. Go with me now to chapter 40. He's coming and He's going to
create a glorious rest for His people. Isaiah 40 verse 10, it
says, Behold, the Lord God will come
with strong hand and His arm shall rule for Him. Behold, His
reward is with Him and His work before Him. He's coming. And His work is before Him. That glorious work that He's
going to do for His people. His face is set like a flint
to that work. He's coming to do one thing. He's coming with one purpose. One work. That work of the cross. It's ever before Him. Every step
He makes, everything He does is leading Him to that glorious
work. Look at chapter 43, verse 11. Isaiah 43 verse 11 says, I even
I am the Lord and beside me there is no Savior. I have declared
and have saved and I have showed when there was no strange God
among you. Therefore, you are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am
He, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will
work, and who shall let it? I will accomplish the work that
my Father has given me to do, and no one and no thing shall
stop me. Nothing. Nothing. I will save
my people from their sins. freely. Don't you love how dogmatic
our Lord is? Don't you love how confident
He is in His message to His people? No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
I will save and they shall be saved. Period. Look with me at
chapter 53. Chapter 53 verse 10 says, Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. And that's an amazing statement,
one we take for granted. It would have pleased me to bruise
me and bruise sinners like me. That's not what it pleased the
Lord to do. He said, I'm going to work and who shall let it?
Who's going to stop what I want to do? What do you want to do,
Lord? What does it please you to do?
It pleases me to bruise my own son. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. That seed. He shall prolong his
days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He himself will bear for that
remnant everything that that remnant is owed, all the wrath
of God, all that wrath that came on Sodom and Gomorrah is going
to come down on Him in their place. Now look at chapter 61, Isaiah
61 verse 1, because Christ endured it, because He suffered that,
This is our Lord speaking and this is when our Lord went into
the temple and they handed Him the scripture. This is the scripture
He opened to and read with His own mouth. Isaiah 61 verse 1,
it says, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord
hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath
sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. to proclaim liberty to the captives
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that He might be glorified. Verse 9 says, And
their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring
among the people. All that see them shall acknowledge
them that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." They
are the seed that God chose to pour His blessing on. Of Himself. By Himself. Through Himself. To Himself. Without them. Not only did they not play a
part in it, in their flesh they didn't want it. But God. In His own goodness, He said,
this is what I'm going to do to them. And when I'm finished,
everybody that sees them is going to know in that day, that's the
seed that the Lord blessed. The seed that God chose to bless. And that's all that can be said
about them. That's the seed God chose to bless. Look at chapter
62, verse 10. It says, go through, go through
the gates. I can't wait to hear that. Go through, go through the gates.
Prepare ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up
a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed
unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold,
thy salvation cometh. He's coming back for you. Behold,
His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. And they shall
call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. And thou
shalt be called sought out, a city not forsaken." That's what they're
going to be called. What should we call them? Call them sought
out, a city not forsaken. Chapter 65 verse 8 says, Thus saith the Lord, as the new
wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not,
for a blessing is in it. So will I do for my servants'
sake, that I may not destroy them all. I will bring forth
a seed out of Jacob. and out of Judah, an inheritor
of my mountains, and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants
shall dwell there." That whole remnant, that entire remnant
of my elect, they're going to dwell there. Verse 17 says, for
behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former
shall not be remembered nor come into mine. but be ye glad and
rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold, I create
Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice
in Jerusalem and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall
be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. For there
shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that
hath not filled his days, for the child shall die a hundred
years old. but the sinner being a hundred
years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and
inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit
of them. They shall not build and another inhabit, they shall
not plant and another eat, for as the days of a tree are the
days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of
their hands. They shall not labor in vain,
nor bring forth for trouble, For they are the seed of the
blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall
come to pass that before they call, I will answer, and while
they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall
feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock, And
dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountains, saith the Lord. And chapter 66 verse
22 says, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will
make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, So shall your
seed and your name remain forever. That's what I'm going to do for
them. That's who I choose. That's what I've done. That's
what will be for them forever. That is the declaration of salvation. That's God's gospel. That's His
good news and what amazing news the gospel is. Now go with me
back to Romans 9. Verse 27 says, Isaiah also crieth
concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel
be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. And here's who
the remnant is. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. What are we? What are we? Who's in the remnant? Who did He come to save? Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners. Jesus Christ came
into the world to save chief sinners. Yeah, I know, I'm a
sinner. He came to save sinners and I'm a sinner, but I'm a chief
sinner. I'm a worse than that sinner,
sinner. Jesus Christ only saves sinners. Jesus Christ only saves sinners
freely. Yeah, but I have nothing to give
to Him. I acknowledge what I am before Him. I have nothing to
offer Him. He only saves sinners freely. But what must I do? What must
I do? I know that He came and I know
that He saved, but what part do I have? Well, what part did
I have in the Declaration? He only saves sinners fully. He only saves sinners freely.
He only saves sinners fully. Verse 28 says, for he will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness because a short
work will the Lord make upon the earth. Now those five things
that we mentioned, let's add two more to them. Number one,
or number six, if you want to say it that way, had Jesus Christ
not come and saved us, all of us would be lost. Verse 29 says,
and as Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabbath had left
us a seed, we had been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah.
Therefore, number seven, Everything is owed to Jesus Christ. Everything. Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, unto Thy name give glory. He paid it all. All the debt we owed, sin had
left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow. All
glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain, who has borne
all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Hallelujah, thine
the glory. Hallelujah. Amen. Let's all stand
together.