I want to bring the message this
morning out of Jonah, chapter 2, verse 9. The title of the
message is this, Salvation is of the Lord. Most people who
know anything about the Word of God, they know the story of
Jonah. They know how he was thrown overboard
the ship because of his disobedience to God's command to go and preach
to the Ninevites. Now, after he was thrown overboard,
it is written in verse 17 of chapter 1 that a God had prepared
a great fish to swallow him up. Now, after it swallowed him up,
Jonah knew, he knew that if he was to come out of that fish
alive, God would have to do it. He knew that he was absolutely
powerless and hopeless in doing anything to save himself. If
he had come out of that fish, he would have drowned before
he got to the top. Jonah was completely helpless in saving
himself. This is when he cried, when he
realized this, in chapter two, verse nine, salvation is of the
Lord. And he vowed that if he lived,
he would declare that message to all whom he preached to. That
salvation is of the Lord. And this is my subject this morning.
Salvation is of the Lord. Now, what is salvation? Salvation
is to be saved from our sins, which we actually commit. It's
to be saved from our sin, which we are by nature. Original sin
that we got from Adam. It's to be saved from the guilt
of our sins. is to be saved from the reigning
power of our sins. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you're not under the law, you're under grace. He breaks
the power of canceled sin. And someday is to be saved from
the presence of sin. You know, salvation goes like
this. I have been saved, I am being
saved, and I shall be saved. Salvation is also more than being
saved from a place called hell. It's to be made one with God
in Jesus Christ. It is to be able to have fellowship
with God again. And for that to happen, this
sin issue has to be taken care of. God is holy. I'm not. And the only way that God Almighty
and a sinner like me and a sinner like you can come together and
have fellowship, it's for this sin issue to be taken care of.
Sin's got to be put away. Salvation is God enabling himself
to be God and save a wretch like me. That's salvation. Now, here's
my subject. Salvation is of the Lord. Years
ago, there was a preacher named Charles Spurgeon, and he gave
an outline on this subject here, this particular verse. And it's
probably one of the best I've ever read. Salvation is of the
Lord. And I want to give you part of
his outline. It's so good. I want you to listen
to it. First of all, salvation is of
the Lord in its origination. God purposed salvation when there
was nothing but God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit. God purposed to save a people
out of Adam's fallen race, a sinful people, and make them holy, make
them righteous, and conform them to the image of His dear Son,
Jesus Christ. God is going to populate heaven
with a people just like His Son. Salvation was not an afterthought
with God. Salvation was not a rescue attempt
on the human race. Salvation is according to the
purpose of God, which he purposed in Christ before the world began. That's the scriptures. And as
I said, salvation is not an afterthought with God. God is not reactive.
God is proactive. You know, God does not react
to what's happening. What's happening is happening
because God is acting. He's bringing about his eternal
purpose. Salvation was purposed of God in eternity past. This
is why Jesus Christ is called the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. Now I want you to get this. Before
there was a sinner, there was a Savior, Jesus Christ. The reason God did not destroy
Adam when he fell, like He did Lucifer, and the angels that
fell, God cast them out immediately.
But when Adam fell, it is written that Adam heard the voice of
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. There was
no lightning, there was no thunder, there was no hail and fire coming
down out of heaven. It was still calm. It was peaceful. And the reason is God had already
taken care of this matter. Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world, the fall of Adam. did
not take God by surprise. Now, I cannot enter into the
secret things of God, the eternal things of God. No man can enter
into that. We don't have the capacity to
even begin to understand those things at all. But I do know
this. I do know that salvation is on
purpose. And I know that the fall of Adam
did not take God by surprise. That it is part of the purpose
of God in the saving of sinners, in the populating of heaven,
that new earth with a people just like His Son, Jesus Christ.
Secondly, salvation is of the Lord in its execution. It is
written, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son into the
world. The Son of God became bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh. The scripture says he took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. That is
the promise seed of Abraham, that spiritual seed. Jesus Christ,
the son of God came into this, came into this world as a substitute
for a multitude of sinners given to him by the father before the
world began. Salvation is the work of Jesus Christ. It's not
me cooperating with Christ. It's Christ and Christ alone
redeeming me, saving me, calling me. When He hung on the cross,
He cried, it's finished. And we don't add anything to
it. He did it all. All to Him I owe. Now the sinner
contributes nothing to the salvation of his or her soul. It's all
of Christ. It's all of grace. The scripture
says in Romans, He was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification. It's all of God. Salvation is
the work of God from Alpha to Omega, from beginning to end.
It's all of Him. He did it all. And then salvation
is of the Lord and its application. Here's something we must understand.
No one naturally wants to be saved from sin. We like sin. We like sin. You know, the scripture
says that man drinks iniquity like water. He likes it. We want
to be saved from torment. Everybody wants to be saved from
that, of course, but not from sin. It takes a work of God in
the soul to bring a sinner to want to be saved from sin, to
be conformed to the image of Christ, to hunger and thirst
after righteousness. We do not by nature hunger and
thirst after righteousness. We hunger and thirst after sin.
We go about trying to figure out how we can fulfill the lust
of this flesh. If salvation were left up to
us, no one would be saved. No one. Have you ever noticed
in the reading of the Gospels when the Lord cast out devils. He cast out many devils as you
read through the gospels. Not one of them asked for mercy
to be saved. Not one of them asked the Lord
to save them. And not one sinner will ever
ask God to save him or her until God does a mighty work in that
sinner. We will not by nature come to
Christ. Christ said, you will not. come
to me that you might have life." And the problem there is the
will. He said, you will not come to me. Our will is not to come
to Christ. Darkness will not come to the
light lest its deeds should be reproved. Darkness does not dwell
where light is. Lie haste to truth. Truth exposes
lies. And that's why we will not come
to Christ. We are by nature liars. Let God
be true and every man a liar. God must do a mighty work in
us if we are to be saved. Salvation is of the Lord. As
the Lord said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. And Nicodemus
was a ruler of the Jews. He was the top religious teacher
in that day. And he had no clue what the Lord
was talking about. He said, how can a man be born
again when he's old? Is he going to go back into his
mother's womb the second time and be born? He had no clue that
the Lord was speaking about a spiritual birth, a new creation, a new
man that is created in righteousness and true holiness. And there
must be a new nature that's born of God that can and will receive
the Lord Jesus Christ. This old nature won't do it.
And our Lord said, you do not put new wine into old bottles,
into old wine skins, because if you do, the old wine skin
is going to burst. It can't handle the new wine. So there has to
be a new nature for this new revelation, this new creation.
The whole of salvation is applied by God Almighty. God the Holy
Spirit applies the work of Christ. You see, it's the Father who
chose us, it's the Son who redeemed us, and it's the Holy Spirit
who regenerates us. That's salvation. And then salvation is of the
Lord and it's sustaining power. It's not that God saves a sinner,
and now that sinner has to work it out to the end, or he's gonna
perish if he doesn't. No, that's not it. That's not
it. We are kept by the power of God through faith. God keeps
us by his power, and God Almighty keeps us believing. By God's
power, we believe. You know, scripture says this,
that faith and repentance, they are the gifts of God. And the
gifts of God are without repentance. That is, God will not take them
back. These are gifts that God gives to a sinner. He gives life,
he gives faith, and he gives repentance. You know, a man,
a sinner, cannot believe until God gives him or her life. Dead
people don't believe. It takes life. And the evidence
of, you know what the evidence of life is? faith, and repentance. They are evidence of life. They
don't give life. They're not the cause of life.
They are the evidence of it. As I said, salvation is of the
Lord and it's sustaining power. If the Lord did not keep us,
if he did not keep us and lead us and guide us, we would fall
away. He is our strength. And then
last of all, salvation is of the Lord in its ultimate perfection. Jesus Christ will present His
church someday. The whole church of God will
be gathered together when all this is over and the Lord Jesus
Christ will present His church before the throne of God spotless. spotless, without spot or blemish,
without sin. There will not be a trace of
sin on any of God's sheep. Not one sheep will be lost. They
will all be delivered into the kingdom of God complete. Complete, they will be complete
in Him. In Christ, God's sheep, God's
people lack nothing. It says in Colossians, In Him,
you are complete. God has given to His people in
Christ. everything they need to stand
in His presence. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is not a cooperative effort between me and the Lord. It's the Lord
saving me from my sins. It's the Lord giving me a new
birth, a new life. He's given me faith and repentance,
and He's bringing me to Himself. He's the one who called me. The
whole work of salvation is of the Lord. And I pray by the grace
of God that you and I will come to really know that salvation
is of the Lord. I pray the Lord bless you till
next time.