2 Corinthians chapter 1. Do we believe that God is sovereign? I jotted down some of these questions
and think about this, really think about this. Do we believe
that everything with God is ordered and sure? I mean ordered and
sure. Do we truly believe that not
one purpose of God will fail? I mean not one. Do we honestly believe, I just
prayed for the people in this town. Do we honestly believe
that God has an elect people? Do we believe that? Do we believe
that all that the Father has given Him shall come to Him? Shall. Do we believe, honestly,
that He will lose nothing? Not one soul that He came to
save will be lost. Then, should we witness to people? Should we witness to people? Does it matter whether or not
we witness the gospel to people? How much effort should we put
into this? How important should it be? How
much? You know what I'm saying? How
urgent should this be? Does it make any difference whether
or not we pray for people? Does it make any difference?
What is the truth of these things concerning the salvation of God's
people when it comes to men and women being saved? Considering
God's sovereignty, we believe in God's sovereignty, don't we? Considering His certainty in
all things, the certainty of His election, and the certainty
of His salvation, does it matter what a person does in this life? Does it matter? Does it matter whether a person
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ or not? Does it matter whether a person
perseveres to the end? Do these things matter? And ultimately, this is the question.
When is a person saved? I mean saved. I mean that's it
done. Saved. Through the scriptures
here, I want to answer that question first and then I want to answer
all these other questions that we're asking here. Here in 2
Corinthians 1, Paul was talking about some of
the sufferings that he endured because he preached salvation
through the will and the work and the blood of Christ alone.
In verse 9, he said, For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant
of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed
out of measure above strength, in so much that we despaired
even of life because we had the sentence of death in ourselves. We had the answer of death. We
were being beaten or whatever was happening to him and we resolved
at that moment in time that we're about to die. And he said in
the middle of verse 9, this happened that we should not trust in ourselves
but in God which raiseth the dead. And then he said in verse
10, who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver
in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. God is the one who delivers us
out of all our troubles and our trials. We can look back and
say he has not failed us once. Never has he failed us. And He
never will. In the same way that this verse
is telling us about our temporary deliverances, it's also telling
us about our eternal deliverance. This eternal salvation that we
have. This verse is the truth of every
child of God's salvation. This is the truth. Alright, now
when is And how is a person saved? A child of God saved. Verse 10
says, Who delivered us from so great a death? That word delivered
is past tense. Past tense. Who delivered us? Look with me at John 19. John 19 verse 30 says, when Jesus
therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. What was he talking about? The
salvation of his people. And he bowed his head and he
gave up the ghost. Brother Donnie this weekend quoted
Scott Richardson. And this just struck me, this
is just so awesome. Let me see if I can quote it
right. He said, men die and then endure
God's judgment. He said, Christ endured God's
judgment and then died. He said, it is finished. And then he bowed his head and
gave up the ghost. And it is. It's finished. It's finished. It is period done.
Close the Bible. Let's go home. Finished. It's
finished. Salvation is done. What about all of those people
who died before our Lord came? Adam, Abraham, Moses, David,
Isaiah. All those men who died before
our Lord came. Did they leave this earth without
salvation? Did they leave not having been
delivered? If that's when he came, if he
died on that cross to deliver us from our sins. Did they leave
this earth not having been delivered? Look with me at Revelation 13. Revelation 13 verse 8 says, And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship Him, and this is talking about the adversary.
All that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him whose names
are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Now everything that God purposes
to do is immediately finished in His will because He does not
change. He does not change. You think
about our thoughts and ideas. You look around and you say,
well, I think I'll do that. Don't take your money to the
bank yet. We'll change our minds. Once
God purposes something in his heart, it is completely finished. He does not change. All of his purposes were made
before the foundation of the world. Adam and Eve, the first
man and woman, could say, He delivered us. That Lamb was slain
from the foundation of the world. It's over. It's done. Alright,
now look with me back in 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 1. Verse 10 says, Who delivered
us? from so great a death, and doth
deliver." Alright, that's present tense.
Delivered is past. Doth deliver is present. Why
would we say God saved us? Period. God chose a people. And the Lamb of God was slain
for only those people before the foundation of the world.
And it's over, and it's done, and it's finished. And then right
after that, say, God saves us today. Why would we stand up
and cry, today is the day of salvation? Why would we do that? You know why? God said so. Had God not said that, we would
not preach it. We would not believe it. I would
not believe that had God not said it. Isn't that right? I'm convinced it's finished.
I am convinced it was all finished from the foundation of the world.
I would not stand up and tell men with every fiber of urgency
that I have, you bow to Christ today. I wouldn't do it. God said it and we believe God.
That's becoming more in the front of my mind. I'm becoming more
aware of that. If he says it, we believe God.
That's it. Look with me at 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3 verse 15 says, And
that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. Unto salvation, not saved to
saved. Look with me at Romans 1. Romans 1 verse 16 says, For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. The preaching of the gospel of
Christ, the preaching of the cross, is the power of God, he
said, unto salvation. That's the power of God to salvation. You can turn or listen. This
is 1 Corinthians 1 verse 21. It says, for after that in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Do we believe that? It has pleased God to use the
means and this is just amazing to me. It has pleased God to
use the means of a man standing up and declaring that salvation
is finished, over, done, complete. You have no say in the matter.
That's it. The Lord uses that message to
save people. Is that a contradiction? Nope. They're converted to salvation
through the means of declaring a finished gospel. Not one soul has ever been saved
through a message of works. Not one soul. through a message
of works, a message of an unfinished salvation until you step up to
the plate and finish the deal. Not one soul. God said, you go
declare it is finished. And that declaration will call
dead men to life, darkness to light, lost to found. Ignorant, completely ignorant
to a knowledge of the true and living God. You just go declare
that. What if God has an elect soul that never hears the preaching
of the gospel? That's an impossibility. That
is an impossibility. If this is the means that God
chose for every soul that has ears to hear. Didn't he keep
saying that? He that hath ears to hear. If a person has that
ability. If a person's deaf, well the
Lord has another means for that. He's not going to use these vocal
cords for that person. If a person has a mental The Lord has his own means for
that. But if a man has ears to hear and if God has said this
is his means to call out his sheep, then he will predestinate
that sinner to cross the path of the gospel and that sinner
is going to hear, that sinner is going to believe. Death to
life. God is orchestrating every bit of this. And this is again,
we say this, we've said this a little bit recently, but this
is a prime example of the fact that we are not clinging to a
doctrine. Do we have a doctrine? Absolutely
we do. Absolutely we do. But we are
not clinging to and following a doctrine. We are clinging to
the word of a person. The word of this person determines
the lines of our doctrine. When do we step over the lines
of our doctrine? When we leave what the person
said. That's the only time we step
over the lines of our doctrine. We don't throw out something
because it does not fit within the lines of our doctrine. We're just going to have to throw
that out. That doesn't go along with this
point. The Word of Christ determines
our doctrine. That's all there is to it. The
Word of Christ determines our doctrine. We just believe God. This is what He said. He said
He saved every single one of His people before the foundation
of the world. Every one of them. And he said he saves every single
one of his people through the preaching of the gospel. What
do we say to that? Amen. So be it. I wholeheartedly agree. That's
what amen means. Go with me back to 2 Corinthians
1. Verse 10 says, Who delivered
us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust
that he will yet deliver us. Do you know what believers find
themselves crying out to God all the time? I mean all the
time. Lord, save us. Save us. Forgive us. Have mercy on us, deliver us. Well, hasn't He already saved
us? Yes. If He has saved us, none of us
in here are going to go, well, I'm not sure. Yes. No doubt about
it. Weren't we forgiven in Him? Yes. When God killed Christ,
wasn't that Him having mercy on us and delivering us? Yes. Hasn't He opened our eyes to
all this through the preaching of the gospel? Yes. Hasn't He
given us faith to believe it? Do we doubt His Word? No. Yes, we believe it. Well, then
why are we still begging for a salvation to come? Why are
we begging in sincerity from the depths of our soul for a
salvation to come? Isn't it ordered and sure? Yes.
Didn't He say He'd lose none? Yes! Then what's the urgency? Really? What is the urgency? Why feel a need to fight a good
fight? Or press toward a mark? Or take
it by force? Why feel that need? It's because
God said in Romans 13. Let me show it to you. Look with
me at Romans 13. This is what God said to his
children. Romans 13. Verse 11. And that knowing the
time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now
is our salvation nearer. then when we believed, we believe. Believers are saved people. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's it. Believers are saved people.
We are believers in a finished work that Christ accomplished.
We believe that to every single soul that He saves through this
knowledge of the preaching of the gospel, this knowledge of
this finished salvation to every single one. He says to that soul,
watch, look, be ready. I'm coming. Verse 12. He said, the night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore
cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of
light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife
and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not
provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Every single
child of God receives a heart to hear his voice and obey his
word, and it's fervent to him. We say with David, I will not
be satisfied until I awake with your likeness. I just can't. I cannot stop begging until you
absolutely rid me of this body of death. I just can't. When
it comes to the win, W-H-E-N, when it comes to the win of our
eternal salvation, I'm telling you it's done. It is right now
being done. And if we will hang in there
real soon, it's going to be done. It's almost done. All right,
now go back to our text. The very quick answer to these
other questions that we began with is God sovereign? Absolutely. Is everything ordered and sure?
Absolutely. Will any of God's purposes fail?
Absolutely not. Does God have an elect people?
Absolutely. Will every single one of them
come to him? Absolutely. Every single one. Will he lose
any of them? Absolutely not. Should we witness
to people? Absolutely. Absolutely. Our Lord said, you go tell men
and women how great things the Lord has done for you. Does it
matter whether or not we preach the gospel? Absolutely. God says it's his powerful means
of saving his people, calling out his sheep. Does it matter
whether we pray for each other or not? Look right here at verse
11. Ye also helping together by prayer
for us. that for the gift bestowed upon
us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on
our behalf, by this means of prayer. God lays it on the heart. There may be a person out in
this community that God has purposed from the foundation of the world
to save. Christ died for that person from the foundation of
the world. Christ died on the cross 2,000 years ago, and Christ
is going to bring them to a knowledge of himself today. And God may
lay it on our hearts to beg Him for that person. Please save
that person. God is the doer of every bit
of it. He gets the glory for every bit
of it. But all of these things are His means. And if there is
any spark in our heart to pray for another sinner, pray for
that sinner. Pray for that sinner. It's the
means God has chosen to use. Paul said, Brethren, pray for
us. Pray for me. I'm begging you,
pray for me. Pray for me. I pray for you. I beg the Lord to make me more
so. Pray for you. James said, The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The scripture
says the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his
friends. Let's pray for every soul that
we know that is lost. Let's pray for them. Pray for
the lost. Must a person believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ in this lifetime? Absolutely. Absolutely. He that believes on the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be saved and he that believes not shall be
damned. Do we see the importance of absolutely
resting in and running with this gospel? If the Lord is willing, the Lord
could bring many souls to Himself here. He could bring many souls. And as dear people come into
this room, the first thing that's going to happen to them is God's
going to strike fear into them. And the second thing that's going
to happen to them is God's going to speak peace to them. And the
third thing that's going to happen is they're going to rest. And
they're going to give up on all their religious works, and they're
going to stop, and they're just going to rest. And the fourth
thing that's going to happen to them is God is going to teach
them, don't get too comfortable in the pew. You start running
with this message. You take this message seriously. You make this an urgent thing.
You don't look at salvation like people do in religion as a has-been
thing. Yeah, I'm saved. I got saved
as a child. Have you been back to worship
since? No, but this thing is urgent. This thing is now. This
thing is pressing. Let's pray that the Lord would
open our eyes and show us these things and ground us and make
us firm believers, stable, grounded believers for ourselves, for
the new believers he might bring, for God's glory. And you know
this gospel, it says don't move a muscle. When it comes to salvation,
don't move a muscle. Now run. He told his disciples,
you go preach the gospel into all the world and you go tell
them, don't move a muscle. And does it matter? I'm done.
Does it matter whether a person, does it matter what a person
does in this life? We claim to be believers. All
right. Now we say salvations of the
Lord doesn't have anything to do with me. Does it matter what
a person does in this life? Does it matter whether or not
a person perseveres to the end? The answer is absolutely. I'll
close with Hebrews 3. Hebrews 3 verse 6. But Christ as a Son over His
own house, whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Verse 14,
for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast unto the end. Is he saying that will
be the cause of our eternal salvation? No. He's saying that will be
the evidence of our eternal salvation. It is important to me that God
saves me. It's important to me that God
keeps me. It's important to me that He
gets all the glory for it. And it's important to me that
I press toward that end. It's very important. I'm going to skip a bunch of
stuff. Here's the final word I had.
Let's all rest in Christ and let's all press toward Him at
the same time. Alright, you're dismissed.