Good evening. If you would, open
your Bibles back to 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. And let's look at verse 11 again. 2 Peter 1 verse 11. For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Isn't that what we want? entrance into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If you had but
one request, you could get one wish granted, wouldn't it be
for salvation? I don't know in what order I
would request it if I had multiple wishes, but if I were wise and
I had unlimited wishes, My wishes would never stop asking for salvation
for those that I love, those that I know, and those that I
don't. So let me ask this question. Where can I find salvation? How
do I get salvation? And what's the price of salvation? Well, you can't find it, you
can't get it, and you can't pay for it. It says in verse 11, For so an entrance shall be ministered
unto you. The word ministered there means
furnished or supplied. So you can't find it, it has
to find you. You can't go get it, it's given. And you can't pay for it because
someone else already paid the price and paid for it. So today,
I want to focus on the most important person when it comes to salvation
as a whole, which it says in verse 11 is our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. But then I want to change gears
and talk about the person that matters most as it pertains to
your specific salvation, the person who makes the choice,
the person whose will it is if you'll be saved. And of course,
that person is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So many people
want to believe there's another person involved in salvation.
More specifically, man wants to believe that they are in some
sort of control, that they have a say-so, or at least they should
get some of the credit or some of the glory. So let me give
a crude illustration of what this is really like. So there's
a person who's driving their car. They lose control and have
a really bad wreck. They hit a tree and the car is
mangled around it, and they're knocked unconscious, or they're
not awake. Someone drives by and sees they've
had an accident, so they call 911. That dispatcher then calls
an ambulance and the police and the fire station, everybody to
go out there and help. Well, the police come out and
make sure everybody's out of the way. The firemen come out
and they've got to tear the car open so that the EMTs and the
ambulance can get to the guy in the car. Then they get him
out, secure him, put him in an ambulance, drive him back to
the hospital where nurses and doctors are waiting, and they
assess him. They look over him. They find
everything they can that's wrong, and they immediately understand
this man is going to die. We have to have an emergency
surgery to try to save him. So he goes into surgery, and
there's multiple doctors involved, and it's really complicated,
and it takes hours and hours and hours. And as they finish,
it was a success. The man's still unconscious.
He goes and lies in his bed in a hospital room. Days later,
he wakes up, and there's his family around him. And they start
telling him everything that happened. You had this really bad car accident,
and someone saw you, and they called, and everybody came out
and saved you, and it was this big group effort. Then these
people at the hospital have been wonderful. They've done all these
things and saved you and taken good care of you. And he looks
at them with anger on his face. And he says, well, I'm the person
who wrecked in a place where someone could see me. And then
he says, and don't they realize that when I was having that surgery,
I was still. They couldn't have done that
if I wasn't still. And then he says, and you know what? If I
hadn't eaten so good and taken care of myself, those surgeries
wouldn't have worked on me. That sounds crazy that someone
would say things like that, but that is not really a big deal
when compared to someone tries to claim that they have control,
they have a part, and they should get glory in salvation. The best
way to describe our Lord's role in salvation is the word Savior. That word means, and I mean by
definition in the concordance, it means a couple different things.
It means He saves, He delivers, He protects, He heals, He preserves,
and He makes whole. We have a God of action. He doesn't sit around and wait
for something to happen. He doesn't start the work, He
finishes the work. and He gets all the credit, all
the glory for it. The first thing we should establish
in this is that the Lord Jesus Christ, He's the Savior. Let's look at our Lord the Savior.
Turn over to Isaiah 43. Isaiah 43. And we'll look at verse 3. And we'll go through about four
passages over a couple chapters here, so stay with me. Isaiah
43, verse 3, For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior. I gave Egypt for thy ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Look at verse 11 in the same
chapter. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside
me there is no Savior. Turn over to chapter 45. Verse
21. And it's important to notice
here that our Lord is being called the Savior before He ever became
a man, because He's always been the Savior. Chapter 45, verse
21. Tell ye, and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord? And there is no God else beside
me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me." And
then go over a couple more pages to chapter 49, verse 26. And I will feed them that oppress
thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their
own blood as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that
I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One
of Jacob." And in Hosea it says this, Yet I am the Lord thy God
from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me, for
there is no savior beside me. O Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself, but in me is thine help. I will be thy king. Where is
any other that may save thee? If you're still looking for a
Savior, let me save you the time and trouble. There's only one,
the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a reason why, in all
these verses, He's referred to as the Savior. He's not a Savior, but the one
and only Savior. Now, let's get even more scriptural
proof who the Savior is. Turn with me to 1 John 4. 1 John chapter 4. And we're going
to turn a lot here. And the reason for that is because
I don't want you to take my word for anything. 1 John 4 verse
14, And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son
to be the Savior of the world. John wrote, know that this is
the Christ, the Savior of the world. And Luke wrote, for unto
you is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. With those three
verses, there are two things in common that I used to struggle
with a lot. First, it says God who is the
Savior. And then another one says the
Father sent the Son to be the Savior. And then another verse
says the Savior, which is Christ the Lord. So is it God, or did
He send Him, or is it the Lord? And the second thing I struggle
with was with the phrase, the Savior of the world. So we need
to answer both of those two questions. So let's turn over to John chapter
10. John 10, verse 23. And Jesus walked in the temple in
Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews, round about
him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If
thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye
are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Is the
Savior God? Did He send His Son? Or is it
the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, yes, and yes. I and my Father are one. And
in many ways that's way over my head, but that's okay, because
I believe it and the Word says it. And as for the phrase, Savior
of the world, something that many people like to argue, We
see very plainly that there are sheep and there are goats. There
are those that believe and those that don't. Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. And in Romans it's written, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. One writer in reference to Savior
of the World wrote, It's not referring to the Jews only, but
the Gentiles as well. He is the Redeemer, the Savior
of all who believe on Him, without distinction of nation, sex, age,
state, or condition. He came to save us from the power
of Satan, from the bondage and curse of the law, and from the
wrath to come. He is the Savior of sinners.
And I'll add to that, any position of authority, doesn't depend
on the subjects or those under the authority's approval. In
our world, we have many kings, queens, presidents, dictators,
whatever title you want to give someone who's in charge. You
can go to those places and ask if they think that person is,
isn't, or whatever. There'll be plenty who argue
you, but it doesn't matter. The Savior is the Savior in the
same way that the President is the President and the King is
the King. The title that's bestowed upon them, and in this circumstance,
the Savior is a just one. Now this might sound obvious,
but I'm going to add one thing on to, he's the Savior. He's
the Savior who saves. In Acts, it's written, neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. But it gets even better than
that. Not only does he save, he saves sinners. Turn with me
to 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1, we'll go to verse
15. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am a chief. We heard that quoted
this morning. In Matthew it's written, "...for
the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost." That should
be good news for any person that's a sinner, any person that's lost. And if you believe this book
to be God's Word, then there is no doubting the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is in Him, His perfect
life, His sacrifice for our sins, His ascension to glory. He was
our substitute and by Him, through Him, and in Him we are saved. In Acts it says, of this man's
seed hath God, according to His promises, raised unto Israel
a Savior, Jesus. So let's look together at a few
of the things we, as His children, are promised from the Savior. Look over in Titus. Titus, Philemon, Hebrews. Titus 1, verse 3. but hath in due times manifested
his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Savior." One of the promises
we have, the gifts, is manifested his word through preaching. Our
Savior uses this book and men to preach it to show us what
He's done, what He's doing, and what He will do for His children.
Look at verse 4. To Titus, my own son, after the
common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. From Him we want a common faith. We want grace, mercy, and peace
from God. Timothy wrote, "...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." And look on the next page, Titus
2, verse 10. Not purloining withholding but
showing all good fidelity all good faith and belief that they
may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things this
tells us don't hide what you believe don't conceal it from
those but show it that they may also adorn the doctrine of God
our Savior in all things we should never be ashamed or hide what
we believe next stay in Titus and look at Titus 2 verse 13 looking for that blessed hope
in the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. We are promised a blessed hope. We have a hope in our Savior,
and that hope comes from the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Look at verse 14. our Savior Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a particular people, zealous of good works."
Redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1 John, it says, Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be. But we know that, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." Look in
2 Peter chapter 1. This is the portion Cody read
to us, 2 Peter 1.1. Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Notice the last couple of these
verses I've read and the ones coming forward that we're going
to turn to. They all have changed the word before Savior. We read
a lot of different verses that showed the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is the Savior. Now we're getting to read in
all these things that we receive from Him, where now it says the
righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Not only
is He the Savior who saves sinners and those that are lost, but
those that are sinners and those that are lost, they can claim
Him as their Savior. And in this, we get a like precious
faith through the righteousness of God. In Acts it says, And
when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. That should be our reaction.
When we hear this, when we can claim He is our Savior, we should
be glad and glorify the word. And then Peter wrote, that the
trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found under
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now, go back with me to Titus. In Titus 3, Look at verse 4. But after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Our Savior has
given us kindness and love. Not only has He given it to us,
but He's bestowed it upon us. The Lord's children, the Savior's
children, they have kindness and love for one another and
for others. Believers not only are beloved, but they also love. Look at, let's read this again,
verse 4. But after that, the kindness and love of God our
Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness that
we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Timothy told us 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. In a very familiar
passage in Ephesians 2, for by grace are ye saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. We just have
a couple more. Look in 2 Peter. 2 Peter 3. At the end of this chapter, here
we see how we grow in grace and knowledge through our Savior.
Verse 17 and 18 of 2 Peter 3, Fall from your own steadfastness,
but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and
forever." Not only is this a bit of a warning, but it's also a
great thing to see that it says, but grow in grace. Because how
can we grow in grace apart from our Savior giving it to us and
fulfilling that in us? In 1 Corinthians we see it says,
As it is written, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. This is again where we could
quote the Gentiles and say when they heard this they were glad
and they rejoiced. that we not only could grow in
grace and knowledge, that we actually have received grace
and knowledge from the Lord, that we actually know that He's
the Savior. Look over at Philippians chapter
3. Philippians chapter 3, look at
verse 20. For our conversation is in heaven,
from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our conversation, our look, what
we talk about, what we look toward, what we see, The only way that
that can be in any way looking toward Him, toward the Lord,
and understanding that and talking about it is from Him, our Savior.
If we talk about these things, it is showing a faith that the
Lord has done something for His children. So let's look again.
Verse 20, For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also
we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change
our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious
body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue
all things unto Himself. As it is written... Oh, I read
the wrong one. Listen to 1 Corinthians. I'm
going to read this to you. 1 Corinthians 15. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised, incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The only way we can avoid eternal
damnation is in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And one more,
2 Peter chapter 1, back to where we started. In verse 11, 2 Peter 1 11, For so an entrance
shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I said at the beginning,
if we had a wish, this should be our one wish. In Ecclesiastes
it says, I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men should
fear before Him." How exciting is it that all these promises
and gifts from the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, our hope,
His love, His grace, His mercy, His righteousness, His word,
His faith, redemption in Him, that all of these things are
all set in stone. On the solid rock I stand, all
other ground is sinking sand. In closing, let's close with
one more verse that has the word Savior in it. Turn with me to
the book of Jude. Growing up, there were many,
many services that I attended that this was the verse that
was read to close the service. And to be honest with you, there
were hundreds of times it was probably read and it sure didn't
mean much to me. But we'll close with Jude chapter
1 and verse 24 and 25. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling. and to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only
wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen.