I'd like to ask you to turn in
your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Acts, chapter 13.
One of the benefits being a pastor and having the conferences is
I get to hear other preachers preach. I get to see messages. You know, it's a great thing
in this world that we have today where we can plug into the internet
download videos and stuff like that, but when you're actually
sitting in the presence and listening and watching the message being
preached, you get all of the body language that goes along
with it. You see the passion that the person has for who they're
talking about and the message that they have on their hearts.
I was fed greatly last week. It was just, every message was
a wonderful one. And I'm sure I've come away from
those eight messages that were given by other pastors with many
messages to give to you over the next year or so. In fact,
one of them was inspired this morning by Rick Warda when he
covered this verse just a little bit. But before I read it, I
want to set the tone by reading 1 Corinthians 2, verse 1 through
5. Paul is writing to the Corinthians.
And I want you to remember something. Paul was a very learned man.
He was no meager person. He wasn't a John Reeves who had
never been to any school to learn about how to preach. Paul knew
how to do all those things. He knew the Scriptures very,
very clearly. Yet when he spoke to the Corinthians,
this is what he says, And I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto
you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that
your faith, your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. How many times
we have heard Pastor Gene stand before us and tell us that he
was an unlearned man? Henry Mahan, who did go to seminary
school, I've told Pastor Gene several times, you know you're
way better off, because you don't have all that other garbage in
your mind. What you have to say before the
people of God has come from God and from His Word, not from some
other man who thought he knew God's Word. Look now if you would with me
in Acts chapter 13, verse 25 and 26. And as John fulfilled his course,
speaking of John the Baptist, he said, whom think ye that I
am? I am not he. He's not the one he's declaring
that he was declaring salvation through. Many people had started
to think that John the Baptist was the one who was going to
save him. No, I'm not him is what he said. I am not he, but
behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I
am not worthy to lose. There you go. There's a very
typical sinner who is saved by grace. This one that we want to talk
about. This one who comes after him, whose very shoes of his
feet we know we're not worthy to even lose. Men and brethren,
verse 26, children of the stock of Abraham, I want you to get
this next part, and whosoever, notice it wasn't just talking
about Israel, it wasn't just talking about the Jews, and whosoever,
he writes, among you feareth God, To you
is the word of this salvation sent. Unto you is the word of this
salvation sent. That's what I want to talk to
you about a little bit this morning. This salvation. What is this
salvation? And to whom is it sent? Well,
let's consider what the Scriptures say, shall we? Look at verses
22-24. And when he had removed him,
speaking of God removing Saul, he raised up unto them, unto
the people of Israel, David to be their king. To whom also he,
God, gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of
Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will
of this man, of this man David, whom God had raised up, of this
man's seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel
a Savior, Jesus." When John had first preached
before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people
to Israel, Now to confirm this lineage,
hold your spot there for just a minute. Go ahead and mark the
book of Acts because we're going to come back to it again at least
once more. But turn over to the book of
Matthew chapter 1 if you would. I want to confirm what we just
read. The Lord had promised that the Savior would come through
the lineage of David, from the seed of David. Matthew chapter 1, verse 1 through
6, the book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham. We all know that David was the
son of Abraham. He was one of the Jews. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac
begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. And Judas
begat Pharis, and Zarah, and Thamar, and Pharis begat Esram,
And Esau begot Aram. And Aram begot Aminobab. And
Aminobab begot Nason. And Nason begot Solomon. And
Solomon begot Boaz. Boaz of Reshep. And Boaz begot
Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse
begot David the king. And David the king begot Solomon
of Herb that had been the wife of Uriah. You see the prophecy being fulfilled? Now look over at verse 16 and
17. And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband
of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So all
the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations,
and from the David until the carrying away of Babylon, 14
generations, and from the carrying away of Babylon unto Christ are
14 generations. We see the prophecy fulfilled
of whom verse 23 was speaking of in our text. And we also see
in verse 23 of whom this salvation is for. Jesus the Christ is the
Savior of Israel. Israel is the whom that He came
to save. Did you catch that? Now wait a minute. Before you
start thinking, oh, that leaves me out. of Israel. I'm not a Jew. Wait. Wait just a moment. Was not the
Apostle Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles? Those outside of Israel? Was he not sent to preach the
Gospel? Salvation to those outside of
the Jews? Turn over to Ephesians chapter
2 if you would. Paul was sent out unto the surrounding
nations to preach this very Gospel. Christ and Him crucified. That's
the Gospel. That's the salvation that was
sent out. The answer to the question, what
is this salvation? Christ and Him crucified. That's
the only salvation for a sinner. Anything else is the works of
men and is worthless. Weak and unable. That's why you
have this God that is spoken of, this Jesus who loves everybody
throughout the world. This Jesus who is waiting for
you to do something to go along with what He's done. No. Salvation. The salvation that is spoken
of throughout Scripture is the very salvation that is accomplished
through Christ and Him crucified. It's the food that we feed on.
It's the assurance. Blessed assurance. Jesus is mine. And the reason it's so assuring
is because He's God. And He cannot fail. I like that. That's all I want to hear about
is how good my God is and how He can't fail. Because I see
my failures every day. I get up in the morning, I go
look in the mirror, and there's the failures of John standing
right before me. I tried not looking in that mirror
one time, and everybody said, John, go home and comb your hair. Paul was sent out to the surrounding
nations to preach this very Gospel, Christ and Him crucified, to
the Gentile nations. In Acts 9, 15 we read, For he
was chosen vessel unto me, the Lord, speaking unto Ananias,
to bear my name before the Gentiles. He was sent of God. Jesus says
it right there, For he is chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name
before the Gentiles. Not all of the nation of Israel
are spiritual Israel. You see, that's what we're talking
about. We're talking about spiritual
things. Not the carnal things of this world. When you're born
again, you're not literally born again. You don't climb back into
your mother's womb. It's the new birth of the Spirit. The
old Spirit that we were born with that was dead in trespasses
and sin. We have a new Spirit about us
now. One that turns away from all those things that we can
conjure up in our minds and looks to the Christ of Scriptures.
and looks to Him alone. Even when we do things that we're
sorry for, as we spoke of in the Bible study, right Mike?
Even the things that we're, Lord, forgive me for. Do you realize,
for those of you who couldn't be here for Bible study, when
you say that, when you've done something and you're, oh, what
did I do that for? Why is that in my mind? Lord,
forgive me." Do you realize the glory that you just gave God?
You just gave God all the glory. You didn't blame Him for what
you just did, but you declared Him Lord. And that's giving God
all the glory. Declaring Him for who He is.
That pleases the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the only way you can
say He is Lord is by His Spirit moving in you to say that. In Romans 2 verses 28-29 it says,
For He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but He is a Jew
which is one inwardly. The Spirit. The new birth. And the circumcision that is
of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter. Those are
the ones whose praise is not of men, but of God. In Ephesians 2, verses 8 and
9, we're going to go to a different scripture, but in verses 8 and
9 we read, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of worship.
It's the work of God. The New Spirit. This is the salvation
we're talking about. Christ in Him crucified. It's
our Lord Jesus Christ who comes to us when we're dead and transgresses
in sin and gives us life that we might accept and believe on
Him. Folks, I'm telling you, salvation
is of the Lord and of the Lord alone. All glory belongs to the
Son of God and He will not share it with another. If you're depending
on your decision when you, oh I decided to start following
the Lord Jesus back in 1920, whatever. If that's what you're
looking to for your confidence, for your assurance, you're on
the path to destruction. Salvation is of the Lord and
he will not share his glory with another. His blood, the very
blood of God that was shed for this very cause is to save his
people. Who or what can separate one
from him for whom he died? He paid the debt. He satisfied
the justice of God. He would not leave a single dot
for fallible men to try to accomplish. Because we would fail at it.
And if He died for one person, and they could fail at their
part, then it would throw the whole thing out the window. Our
God does not fail at anything. Ever. He walked perfectly on this earth,
fulfilled every bit of the law, every prophecy that had to be
fulfilled was fulfilled perfectly. Everything He did pleased the
Father. If everything He did pleased
the Father, then could He lose anything? No. He paid the debt. He satisfied
the justice of God. If he left one single thing up
to men, they would fail and Christ would lose. And then he would
lose what he had given his life for. And we know that God cannot
fail. If one for whom he died could
face his own judgment, to Christ the scripture is a failure and
unworthy of worship. But thankful. But thankful are
you not? But God. who is rich in mercy
and love, wherewith He loved us, gave Himself for us. John
6.37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Folks, the word
of salvation is the word of Christ and Him crucified. And this is
the word we preach, the word of power. In 1 Timothy we read,
Chapter 1, verses 4 and 5, Knowing, brethren, beloved, of your election
of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also
in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. Then speak
of the word with an audible voice, but God must speak to the heart.
And this is how this salvation, this salvation that we read about,
is brought to men. And all those who were given
to the sun before a star ever twinkled in the sky are the ones
for whom this salvation comes to. Are you with me in Ephesians?
Look at verse 11 of chapter 2. Wherefore remember that ye, being
in times past Gentiles, there it is, that's John, in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. that
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of the promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
There you go. There's the salvation that was
spoken of. For He is our peace, who hath made both one and hath
broken down the middle wall, a partition between us, having
abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of the commandments
contained in the ordinances, for to make in Himself of twain
one new man, so making peace, that He might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby,
and came and preached peace to you, which were far off unto
them that were nigh. For through Him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God." Spiritual Israel. Yeah, we can track our flesh
back to the Gentile nations. Right here. track our spiritualness
right back to our Lord Jesus Christ. And are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are
built together in the inhabitation of God through the Spirit, For
this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles,
if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is
given me to you inward, how that by revelation, by the revelation
of Jesus Himself to the hearts of His people, He made known
unto me the mysteries as I wrote afore in the few words, whereby
when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of
Christ. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons
of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the
same body and the partakers of his promise in Christ by what? By the gospel. What is salvation? What is the
salvation, this salvation that is spoken of in our text in the
book of Acts? It is Christ and Him crucified.
Whom is it that it is speaking of, being sent to? Whosoever among you feareth God,
to you is the word of this salvation sent. The Whom that this is speaking
of, this salvation is being sent to is God's chosen people. In the book of John, chapter
6, verse 38, For I came down from heaven not to do My own
will, but the will of Him that sent Me. This is our Lord Jesus
Christ speaking to His people. He came to do the will of His
Father. And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on Him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up
at the last day." In the third chapter of John,
verses 14 and 15, we read, And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, You'll recall there was a plague of serpents
that had come upon Israel. Many were bitten. Many would
die. Many did die. Yet the Lord told
Moses to make us a brass serpent and lift it up on a tall pole
where all of Israel could look to it. Have you ever thought
about how the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up on a cross? where all around Him could see
Him. Well, that's what the gospel is. We're lifting
up our Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified on that cross for
our sins. Salvation is ours through Him
and through Him alone. This is what I do every Sunday,
every Friday night, every Sunday morning. I lift up my Lord before
you and declare His crucifixion done. It is finished. Salvation
is of the Lord. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. but have everlasting
life. Amen. Stand with me.