Thank you, Joe. I want you to open your Bibles once again tonight to Hebrews 5. I didn't finish the message this morning. It seemed like a good place to kind of pause, and I want to finish it this evening. I took my text this morning from Hebrews 5, and primarily verse number 9, with the subject being eternal salvation, eternal salvation.

Speaking of our Savior, it says in verse 7, I'll read 7, 8, and 9, who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared, that is, that he reverenced the Lord and was submissive to the will of God. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect, literally having completed the work that God gave him to do, he became the author. He became the one who originated this salvation, and he became the one who restored a fallen people Though they were the people of God, he restored these fallen peoples to the Lord by his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross.

So being made perfect, having completed that work that God gave him to do, he became the author. of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, all that obey the gospel call. And we obey the gospel call to believe on Christ by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit within. It's the obedience of faith. It's not the obedience of law. It's not the obedience of rules. It's not the obedience of commandments. It's the obedience of faith. We bow the knee to Christ Jesus and we rest in him fully for our salvation.

Eternal salvation, therefore, is our subject that we will continue tonight. Eternal, without beginning and without ending. Our salvation originated in the very mind and heart of God in eternity. And this salvation that is all of God will extend on into the endless ages of the future. It is an eternal salvation.

Well, salvation is the next word. And the word salvation is the deliverance of our souls from sin, from the penalty of sin. The wages of sin is death, but the soul's not gonna die because Christ has died for us. We had a substitute who came and took our place. He died our death. He suffered the wrath of God in our stead. The wages of sin being death, Christ had to die. He had to put away our sins, but the only way he could do that was by submitting to the will of God that he forfeit his life. in order to save the people of his choice. He said in John 10, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Salvation is to be delivered from the penalty of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh. What is it to walk after the flesh? It's to seek salvation and righteousness and approval with God by our works. But those who are born again of the Holy Spirit seek no acceptance with God based upon anything we have said, done, or thought. Our acceptance with God Our salvation is in, through, and by Christ Jesus.

Salvation from the curse of sin. And then salvation is from freedom from the dominion of sin. Sin shall not have dominion over you. That's what Paul said in Romans chapter 6. Not going to have the power over you. Is it troublesome to us? Absolutely. Does it bother us? No question about it. But you see, that one who had the throne of our hearts, even the prince of the power of the air, he has been put out. And a greater king has come in, a greater king who had authority over the prince of the power of the air. Christ Jesus has come in and he's driven the evil one out. Satan can never come again in when Christ has driven him out.

Sin will trouble us, no question about that. But Satan has no access into our hearts. Christ has taken the throne within us. Sin doesn't have the power over us. It certainly snarls us many times and it troubles us. but it doesn't have the ultimate power. And salvation is not only to be freed and delivered from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin, but also from the pleasure of sin. We hate sin. Don't you hate sin? I hear people talk about this world is in such a mess. Well, it is, but I'm in such a mess. And I hate the mess that I'm in. I hate the fact that sin is real, and sin troubles me. And like Paul says in Romans chapter 7, I do the things that I don't want to do, and I don't do the things that I want to do. It's just a very troublesome situation for a child of God. We don't take pleasure. There is no actual and full pleasure in sin. We love righteousness and we're thankful that the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ has been imputed to us.

But this salvation also means not only deliverance from the penalty of sin and the power of sin and the pleasure of sin. One of these days we'll be freed from and delivered from the very presence of sin when we see our Lord Jesus. That's salvation.

One writer said this, salvation is the deliverance of our souls from sin, from its curse, from its dominion, from its consequences, and ultimately even from its very being. The salvation of a sinner by God Almighty is our complete restoration to God and restoration to holiness in the eternal glory of heaven. We're talking about eternal salvation.

You see, salvation is not merely an experience, though it is experienced. and emancipation. Salvation is not a decision that you make. It's a deliverance that God brings about. And salvation is not a reformation. It's a restoration unto God.

Then I want you to understand that wherever salvation is spoken of in the Word of God, Four things are emphatically, emphatically asserted about it.

Number one, salvation is by grace alone. For by grace are you saved through faith. That passage you read back in the office a while ago, Brother Allen read to us Romans chapter four. If it's of works, it's not of grace. If it's of grace, works has nothing to do with it. Salvations of grace. God's grace. God's grace without any contribution on our part. And this is what corrupts the idea, the truth of salvation today from so many preachers and from so many pulpits. They say the grace of God and then they got to put man in there somewhere. Well, man, you got to do your part. We've already done our part, our part's the sinning part. The showing of grace is God's part. It's all of grace. For by grace you say through faith, and here's the second thing, salvation is by faith only. By faith only. And that's not even of yourself. Everybody doesn't have faith within them and it just needs a little fanning like a spark within us. It just needs a little fanning and then it blows up into a full flame of faith. That's not true. There is no faith in the Lord within the heart of a natural man. We're dead in trespasses and sins. If we produce the faith, then we would have some contribution to salvation. But as we don't produce the faith that God gives us life, we're regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and He gives us the twin gifts of repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then salvation is by faith alone.

And then salvation, thirdly, it's by grace alone, it's by faith alone, it's in Christ Jesus alone. There is no salvation anywhere else except in Christ Jesus, our Lord, who lived for us, who died for us, was buried for us, was raised for us, and whoever lives to make intercession for us. It's in Christ only. It isn't something you do in addition to what Christ did. It's Christ only. And salvation is without any works on our part. It's accomplished entirely without any work of our own.

And be sure you hear me right. I wrote this down. Because I want to say it just exactly the way it needs to be said. My relationship with the eternal God does in great measure determine that which I do. Got that? My relationship with the eternal God does in great measure determine what I do. What I do does not in any measure determine my relationship with God. Now if you can understand that, you'll understand the gospel. I'll give it to you again. My relationship with the eternal God. I'm a child of God. I'm a son of God. I'm forgiven. I'm made righteous in Christ. My relationship with the eternal God does in great measure determine the way I live, the way I talk, what I do. However, what I do, how I talk, what I say does not in any measure, not in any measure determine my relationship with God. My relationship with God is fully determined by and dependent upon the faithfulness of Christ Jesus, my representative and my substitute. God's grace has much to do with my works, but my works, good or bad, have nothing to do with God's grace.

Today, preachers talk quite a bit about salvation that is only done in the experience of time with eternal consequences. I do acknowledge the experience of salvation. The Philippian jailer, having heard Paul and Silas pray and sing praises to God, in that prison. He brought those two preachers of the gospel out and he said, Sir, what must I do to be saved? I want to experience salvation. That's what he's saying. I want to know something about that salvation you fellows are singing about and praying about. There is an experience of salvation. There's an experience of grace.

I know that few experiences of salvation are to be compared with like the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. And you must never seek to copy or to have an experience like somebody else's had. As you read through the New Testament, the four Gospels especially, Our Lord Jesus, He dealt with sinners in a different way in every situation. No two conversions were ever alike. I know that conversions are alike, salvation experience, it's alike in the fact that the Spirit of God shows us the purity of God, the holiness of God, and then in the light of God's immaculate holiness, we see our sinfulness. And the Spirit of God shows us our need of a perfect righteousness, of a salvation that has to be all of God and all in Christ Jesus. I know that. But the Spirit of God brings us to experience that salvation. Paul and Silas said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. And I say that to you. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord. He's not a doormat. He's not a life insurance policy. He's the Lord of glory.

The thief on the cross said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He's the Lord. He's Jesus, the Savior. Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." And I ask people quite often, well, did He save His people from their sins? And we're surprised people say, well, sort of. There's no sort of, but He saved people from our sins by a substitutionary sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary. What had to wash away our sins? I know we sing the song, what can wash away our sins? What did wash away our sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. He did it.

So salvation is experienced in time. I don't want to deny that. But most of the time when you hear preachers, not gospel preachers, but false preachers, talk about salvation, they only speak of it in terms of something that happened in time. But know this, salvation comes to us in time because it was purposed in old eternity, that's why. That believing Jailer in Acts 16. You know why he believed? Because God ordained him to believe the gospel. And the time came, he had to hear the truth. He had to be exposed to the truth of salvation in, through, and by Christ Jesus. And he heard, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. He heard God's preachers. And God saved him.

But so often I hear people say, well, you know, I got saved. I got saved last week. I had a young man years ago. He attended our church and he started attending somewhere else. And I missed him and I missed his mother and his dad. And I called him, I said, okay, if I come over and he said, yeah, I went over. I said, have a pot of coffee on. Had a pot of coffee on. We were drinking coffee together, and they said, did you know, and they called their son's name, said, he got saved. I said, he did? Said, he got saved at a revival meeting down at the, they named it the church. I looked at him, I said, you got saved? He said, I sure did. I said, would you mind telling me about it? He said, well, I can't exactly explain it. He said, but I got saved. He said, and I'm on the road to heaven. I said, well, what happened? He said, I decided to say yes to Jesus. I said, well, what was the question? That you answered yes. He said, well, I let him save me. I said, so you let the Lord of glory, who spoke all things into existence, who rules the world by his power and by his wisdom, you let God save you? He said, I think I did.

Let me tell you something, if the Lord ever saved somebody, may not be able to go into all the fine points of salvation But they're not going to start talking about, well, I made my decision. I let God save me. I was talking to somebody the other day, and they were talking about going to heaven. I said, I don't know what your hope of heaven is, but I'll tell you this. If your hope of heaven begins with I did, I said, you don't have a good hope. A good hope doesn't start with I. I's not even in a good hope. We have a good hope through grace, what Paul said. We have a good hope through Christ Jesus who did everything the holy God demanded in order to save our souls. It began with Christ chosen in him. He accomplished our redemption when he died for us on the cross. The Spirit of God revealed him to us by his regenerating grace, and someday we shall see Christ face to face.

You see, what I'm trying to say is in the Bible, salvation is set forth and described as something God has done for us. He did something for us in eternity past. He revealed himself to us and we experienced his salvation in time. And we will enjoy his great salvation throughout eternity.

Read the Word of God and you will find that God purposed this salvation and all the particulars about salvation before the world began. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 1. We need to understand this, if we don't already. And if we do understand it, this will just reinforce what we already know.

2 Timothy chapter 1. Here's what Paul says, verse 8. He tells Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, and don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God who hath saved us. God hath saved us. And he called us with an holy calling, not according to our works.

And I know that you have noticed how over and over again, the Bible says not of our works. And the reason it's repeated so many times is because people tend to run to their works. I heard preachers the other day, somebody asked me to listen to a message by their pastor. And he said, I can tell you how you can know you're saved by an examination of your works. That don't sound good to me.

My assurance of salvation is not an examination of my works. My assurance of salvation is what God says in His Word, what God has promised. He that hath the Son, what does he have? Life. I believe what God says. I'm not going to examine my works, because I can tell you right now, all my works are defiled by sin.

You had never done, I haven't ever done a good work, a work that's good in the eyes of God without Christ Jesus himself washing that work in his blood and perfuming it with his righteousness and presenting it to God. That's the only way. Isn't that right? Of course it's right.

who hath saved us, verse nine, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, well, when was that? Before the world began. God's not making any new decisions. He's not making any new decrees. Man didn't sin, then God said, well, I got to do something about that. And if you had dispensation, he said, well, as God gave the law. Well, that didn't work out, so he did something else. Well, that didn't work out either. And so last of all, finally, only thing left for him to do was send his son. Isn't that foolish? You don't believe that junk, do you?

Calvary was not an afterthought with God. It wasn't plan B, C, or D. God had one purpose from the beginning. Job said, he's of one mind. Who can turn him? One mind. God purposed the salvation of his people before the world ever began. You see, In the Bible, salvation is described as something done by God in eternity past, revealed and experienced in time, and enjoyed eternally. You see, it was formulated in an eternal covenant. An eternal covenant. And it involved an eternal surety. And it was enacted by an eternal decree. And it was an eternal work. You see, that which unfolds in time does so because all things were purposed in eternity.

Let's go back to that verse in Hebrews 5. Let me just give you a few things here. I jotted a few other things, five things here. I'll give them to you quick. About eternal salvation, number one, it's why I had Joe read Hebrews chapter one. Eternal salvation is designed, it was designed for particular people. Go back to that passage he read, Ephesians, or Hebrews 1, rather, Hebrews 1. And I want to draw your attention to a phrase in the first chapter and the last verse. He's talking about angels, man. Of course, I said this morning that in the book of Hebrews, Paul, if he's the writer, it's the Holy Spirit, shows us that Christ is preeminent over the angels. God never said to any of the angels, sit here at my right hand, till I make you enemies, you footstool. He exalted Christ. But of angels, he says this, chapter one, verse 14, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Heirs. We were heirs before we ever knew we were heirs. We were children of God before we ever knew we were children of God. We were lost children. We were rebellious children. But we've always been children of God. We've always been sheep.

I know some preachers say, well, we used to be goats and now we're sheep. That's not right either. That's like I was reading a reputable writer the other day, and he said, God used to hate us, but in Christ Jesus, now he loves us. Well, that's not true either. He never hated us. He's always loved us. He loved us eternally in Christ Jesus. You see, we're the heirs of salvation. When the last will and testament of our Lord Jesus was set forth in eternity past, all of the heirs of God's salvation were recorded in what's called the land book of life. Nancy and I had our last will and testament. done up at your house, Alan, Gail, your son-in-law, who's a lawyer. He's my lawyer. He said, I was telling that to somebody the other night, he said, yeah, he said, Jim keeps me on retainer, but he don't pay me anything. But he made out our last will and testament. and we decided who our heirs would be. That's already been decided. Our children. Now some people have a big will and lots of assets and goes to several people. And it may be that somebody in the last will and testament won't ever find out about the fact that the person who wrote the will, who designed the will, who purposed that there'd be an error, maybe they won't even find out that there were an error. Maybe they can't find them. I bet you that's what my rich uncle, he just can't, you know, the lawyers can't find me to tell me I've inherited a great sum of money.

Let me tell you something. The Lord knows who all of the heirs of grace, all of the heirs of salvation are. And it cannot be that even one heir shall fail to receive that which Christ Jesus himself purposed to give us because his last will and testament was signed with his own blood. And he ever lives to make sure that everybody he died for receives the glorious inheritance that he purposed for them. It's for a particular people. See, the scripture says, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He knows who we are, he knows where we are. And in the day of salvation, He will find us with his gospel, and it will crush our hearts, and we'll be overwhelmed with the mercy of God in Christ, and brought to believe him, and we'll give him the glory forever. Like the fella said, if God saves me, he'll never hear the end of it. I'll praise him forever. And that's the way it is with all of us, We'll praise him forever.

Salvation comes to specific people by divine design and by God's appointment. And I'll tell you something else. Secondly, the eternal salvation is a great salvation. He says that back in Hebrews chapter 2. Look what he says in verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And the word great here is not the word that means big. It's really the word that means ageless and tremendously large because it takes in everything that we need. It's a great salvation. Nothing is lacking. In other words, it's absolutely full of everything a sinner needs, not only in this world, but in the world which is to come.

It's a great salvation. After all, it has a great author, the Lord himself. It was designed in great wisdom. had to satisfy God and had to meet the needs of sinners. This salvation came to us by means of a great price. The price was the death of the Lord Jesus. And it comes to us by great power, the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost. And it comes with a great result. You know what the result's going to be? will be conformed by the image of Jesus Christ. And we're predestinated to that. You say, well, I don't like it, we're predestinated. Well, shame on you. That's a Bible word. I'm not ashamed to use the word that God uses. Well, that will offend people. Well, they just have to be offended. If that offends people, does this offend you?

And eternal salvation, number three, glorifies the captain of our salvation. Look in chapter 2 and verse 10. For it became him. This gospel is becoming to Christ. Looks good on him. It shows favorably upon him. For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons into glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering." The captain, the prince, the Lord, Christ. He's the captain of eternal salvation because he's offered the perfect sacrifice for our sins. And the captain of our salvation brought in everlasting righteousness by his faithfulness to death. And the captain of our salvation, he is filled with perfect sympathy for his needy people. He shows compassion to us. We're the people who are out of the way, and he shows compassion to us. And the captain of our eternal salvation is the perfect example for us to follow. And the captain of eternal salvation has perfect power. He's perfectly able to save. He's able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.

Tell you something else, number four, eternal salvation includes all things that pertain to salvation. Look at Hebrews 6. Look at Hebrews 6 and verse 9. We are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. What things accompany salvation? Well, pretty long list. Divine election. Divine predestination. Divine redemption. Divine forgiveness. Divine regeneration? Divine revelation? Did not our Lord Jesus say they shall all be taught of God? Everybody who hears and learns comes to Christ. Who you learn from? Who's your teacher? The Lord's the teacher. If the only message you hear comes forth from my lips or the lips from Brother Ron or Brother Alan or whoever is speaking up here, if that's the only word you hear, if that's the only voice you hear, you're no better off, not eternally. You've got to hear the voice of Him who speaks from heaven and says, Lazarus, come forth. Now, if you hear His voice, you will come forth and you will believe.

Divine revelation. Like the Lord said to Simon Peter, blessed art thou, Simon, flesh and blood didn't teach you these things. God Almighty reveals his gospel to man's heart. And then what accompanies salvation? Divine justification. By the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're declared to be righteous. You've heard this from this pulpit many times. How good, how righteous has a person got to be to be accepted with God? He's got to be perfectly righteous. He's got to be holy. There are degrees of holiness. There are degrees of righteousness. You either are holy or you're not holy. You are righteous or you're not righteous. And our holiness and our righteousness is seated at the right hand of God right now. He's my righteousness. He's my holiness. There's divine preservation that accompanies salvation. We're kept by the power of God through faith. Who keeps us believing? Who maintains that faith that was given to us? The Lord does. If he didn't accompany salvation by keeping us safe, we'd have fallen years ago. No question about it. And divine glorification. That's included in this too. We'll be satisfied. You know when that'll be? When we awaken his likeness. That's when we'll be satisfied.

Which brings me to my final point, eternal salvation. will be consummated when Christ comes back. When we die, the soul goes back to God, no question about that. And we have a heavenly body. But the Savior's gonna come back one of these days. The souls of the redeemed who've gone on to glory are gonna come back with him. Their body's gonna be raised from the dead. Mortality is going to put on immortality. Corruption is going to put on incorruption. Then we which are alive and remain, we shall be caught up to meet Him in the air and our bodies shall be changed. And then, then we can say, I'm thoroughly saved. Even my body is saved. This is an eternal salvation.

And I know there's some denominations, and I certainly made reference to this this morning. There are some denominations teach that you can be saved today and lost tomorrow. You can be in grace today and out of grace tomorrow. You can be in Christ today and out of Christ tomorrow. Well, they can have that kind of salvation because that can't save anybody. I want that which is of God because that which is of God is forever. And nothing be added to it, nothing be taken away from it.

Will I last till the Lord comes back for me? I will if I'm one of his. Because if somehow or another I could be lost, the Savior will suffer a greater loss. He'll lose his glory. And he vowed in the covenant of grace to bring me safely home. And if he don't bring me safely home, well, it'd be bad for me, but it'd be worse for him. But that can't ever happen. Because of our savior it is written, he shall not fail. He shall not fail.

Eternal salvation. Well, let's get our psalm books and we'll We'll sing 385, take the world but give me Jesus. Take the world but give me Jesus, 385.