Alright, if you would, let's
stay right there in 2 Timothy chapter 1. Brother Ron Redd. 2 Timothy chapter 1. Now, I've entitled the message
this morning to simply one word. And that word is this. Salvation. Salvation. And this is part one. And you'll be glad this is part
one. because I'm dividing this up into several messages over
the next few weeks on Sunday morning. And I want us to study
the scriptures concerning this issue of salvation. You know,
when you say that term salvation to people, there's a lot of different
things that come into our minds. For example, what is salvation? What is it to be saved? A lot
of people would answer that different ways. You'd hear all kinds of
different issues, but what does the Word of God say? I'm afraid
that many people who talk about salvation, and sadly, many people
who probably think they're saved or have some sort of an assurance
of salvation, don't really understand salvation in the Scriptures.
And I'm sure that maybe in your own conscience, as you ponder
this subject, think about it, You might, or you might have
had somebody outside yourself make the statement, well, you
don't act like you're saved. I'm sure we've all had that in
our own accusation or been accused of that. And many times we who
are saved do not act in a saving way. But I'll guarantee you,
you know, when you think about the saved, there's some times
they act pretty bad. You know, all you have to do
is look at the scripture. You know, a lot of people, they'll
talk about salvation as some kind of a synonymous with something
you do at a church service. That's why people give invitations
today. You know, I believe scripturally
the invitation is the preaching of the gospel, not me standing
down there while Marty and David play emotional music trying to
beg you to come down an aisle. And that's why I don't do that.
Salvation is not in walking it out. Somebody says, well, aren't
you supposed to publicly confess your faith in Christ? Right there. That's what the Bible says. That's
baptistry. Behind that curtain, we fill
it up every now and then, and we immerse people in water, and
that is a public confession and identification. That's the scriptural
public confession and identification that a saved sinner has in confessing
Christ before men. And anybody who wants to do that
can certainly, I invite you to come and talk with me about that. It is a necessity, not in order
to be saved, but as the fruit and the result and the confession
of salvation. Baptism does not save you. It
does not wash away your sins. You see, if you think that, then
you have a very erroneous, deadly view of salvation. Some people
would say, well, salvation is giving your heart to Jesus. Well,
certainly someone who is saved is to submit to Christ, give
their whole heart to Christ. That's true. But salvation is
not you giving your heart to Christ. You see, that's the fruit
and effect, again, of God's salvation by grace. And we can talk about
a lot of other things. The new birth is salvation. But
that's just one part of salvation. Salvation in the scripture is
a big term. It's a very big term to be saved. It has the basic meanings of
rescue, being rescued, being redeemed from danger, from destruction,
being protected, being kept alive, including the preserving of one's
life. It's a preservation. And so we
talk about salvation from sin. What do I need to be saved from? Well, we could talk about being
saved from hell, or being saved from ourselves. But basically,
we need to be saved from sin. I'll talk about that a little
bit more. But look back at 2 Timothy chapter 1, and on these messages
concerning salvation, I've got a lot of scripture, and I know
I can't get it all in in one message. Some of it I'll try
to read to you, and some of it I'll have you turn to. But I'm
going to use several verses out of 2 Timothy 1 as the base of
operation for these messages on salvation. All right? And
I want you to look at verse 8. Let's start there. Paul, he says,
Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner. Now, when Paul wrote this letter
to Timothy, his second epistle, he was in prison at Rome. He
was a prisoner. And I'm sure that that caused
a lot of people to despair. A lot of people who claim to
believe the gospel, who claim to be saved, to despair. And
some to be ashamed, to be confused or confounded. Usually in the
scripture when it talks about being ashamed, it's not being
embarrassed necessarily. That can be included. But usually
it has the connotation of being confused. Being just totally
confounded. Those who stand before God at
judgment, thinking that they had a good hope, but that hope's
not in Christ and His blood and righteousness alone. The Bible
says they will be ashamed or they will be confounded. And
it won't be just an embarrassment. You stand before God without
Christ, your embarrassment will be the least of your problems.
Believe me. So it's a total confounding and
confusing. It's a total despair. So Paul
says, don't be ashamed of me, his prisoner. Don't be ashamed
of the testimony of the Lord. Now, what's he talking about?
Well, look at verse 8. But be thou partaker. Now, that
word partaker is a fellowship word. In other words, you stand
with me. We gather together in the fellowship
here of the afflictions of the gospel. Paul's being afflicted.
Genethi himself was going to be afflicted. We're all afflicted
in some way. But we're in fellowship there. He says, the fellowship of the
afflictions of the gospel. Now, he's not talking about just
all affliction that man in general suffers here. He's talking about
a particular affliction. He's talking about that persecution
and affliction that comes because of what Paul called in Galatians
chapter 5, the offense of the cross. that when we preach the
gospel, and he says it according to the power of God here, the
dynamite of God, and he says when we preach that gospel that
declares the glory of God in Christ and how God saves sinners
who cannot save themselves and who have no power, no goodness,
no will to save themselves, and only saved by His grace, sovereign
grace. And I'll tell you, I'll probably
say grace, grace, grace, grace, grace so much. And I believe
that is the missing note in so-called Christendom today. You know,
people may start with grace, but then they'll not end with
grace. I mean, it's some corruption of grace. And that's what salvation
is. Salvation is all of grace. Sovereign grace. There's no other
kind because it's from God, and God's sovereign. And so, Paul
says here, don't be ashamed of that. Partake of the afflictions of
the gospel. Christ said to His disciples in Matthew chapter
5, He said, blessed are you when men shall persecute you. Say
all manner of evil against you for righteousness sake. That's
what He's talking about for the gospel. So He says in verse 9,
He says, and He's talking about the power of God here. Now understand
that. Keep it in its context. He says,
the power of God who hath saved us. Now, God alone saves. Man does not save. Society does
not save. The church does not save. Governments
do not save. Denominations do not save. God
alone saves. And that's really the first point
that we need to understand about biblical salvation. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. Jonah said
that. He learned that. He knew he couldn't
save himself. You don't have the power to save
yourself, and I don't either. We don't have the goodness to
save ourselves. And let me make this clear. We
do not have the will to save ourselves. Now, that doesn't
mean people don't want to be saved. People want to be saved,
but they want to be saved their way. You understand what I'm
saying? I mean, nobody wants to go to
hell. Nobody wants to die and perish eternally. But the Gospel,
the reason Paul was in prison for preaching the Gospel, declares
one way of salvation. One and only one way. And that's
the second thing that you need to understand about biblical
salvation. Number one, salvation is of the Lord. If I'm going
to be saved, God has to do it. It's not with my cooperation.
He doesn't put any conditions on me to do it. It's of His will. It's of His power. It's of His
goodness. That's what the Bible says. I know people don't like
that, but that's what God's Word says. And so God sovereignly,
He designed salvation. God is the only source and originator
of salvation. And He sovereignly initiates
it, sustains it, completes it, all of salvation. Those who are
saved by God. And that's what we read over
there in Isaiah chapter 12. God, my salvation. That's what
the prophet is saying there. And when He saves us, that means
He forgives us. It means He justifies us. What
does that mean? It means He declares me not guilty.
Now, if you look at me and watch me throughout my life, you're
going to say, guilty, guilty, guilty. But if I'm saved, God
says, not guilty. I quote that all the time in
Romans chapter 8. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's... If you watch me throughout my
life, don't do that, please. But if you ever did, If you send
spies or whatever, you're going to say, he's chargeable. I mean,
charge him with all kinds of things. Look at him there. He didn't pray enough. Look at
him there. He didn't do this enough. Or look what he did.
He didn't act like a preacher. Whatever preachers supposed to
act like. But anyway, but anyway, but God says no charge to this,
this person who say, Now, why? Because he charged his sins to
Christ. Now, I'll get to that in just
a moment. But he justifies it. That means he declares us not
guilty. Do you know to be saved is to be not guilty? I'm a sinner. How can I be not guilty? Only
one way, in Christ, by His blood and His righteousness alone.
No other way. Tears, I can cry all night and all day, all week,
all year over my sins, and it will not wash away even one sin.
The baptistry won't wash him away. The church can't pray him
away. That's right. There's only one
thing that can wash away my sins, and that's the blood of Christ
on that cross. You say, well, how can he die
for your sins? Well, it's the doctrine of imputation.
One of the things I'm going to bring a message on is the doctrine
of imputation, the truth of imputation. I don't know what I'm going to
call it yet, You know, people talk about imputed and imparted. Now, some of you may not know
what those terms mean. What is imputed? What is imparted?
I think we need to know that. We need to know that. To impute
something means to charge it. You know what that is, don't
you? You go to the store and you charge something, it means
you don't pay for it right then, but you're going to pay for it
later. But it's on your account. And what happened at the cross
is this, God charged our sins to Christ, the sins of His sheep
now, the saved, those whom He saved, not all without exception,
I'm sorry, it's not what the scripture teaches, but He charged
the sins of His people to Christ. They were laid to His account.
And in return, He gives us His righteousness, that's imputed
righteousness. You see, the debt's paid. And
not only is our debt paid, but we're to the good. And so that's
what God does. Salvations of the Lord. He justifies
His people. Those who are saved are justified.
He delivers us from sin, from the bondage of sin. That is,
from the power of sin to condemn us. There is therefore now no
condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8.1.
Is that right? I believe that. How about you?
And he delivers us from the power of sin in the sense that sin
can no longer keep us in darkness and deception to keep us from
running to Christ by faith and repenting of our dead works.
He delivers us from the power of Satan who holds the power
of death, not the power to kill us, but the power to charge us
under condemnation. That can no longer be because
Christ is our salvation. He delivers us from death and
from hell. We're saved from hell. But in
every sense of the word, salvation is of the Lord. But now the second
thing is this. Salvation is in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ is our salvation. Look back here in 2 Timothy 1
and verse 9. He's talking about the power
of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. I'll
get back to that. Notice here, he says, not according
to our works. Now, you understand that. But
according to his own purpose, salvations of the Lord. When
did his purpose start? Before the world began. And his
grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world
began. This is a gift from God that's
free to us. But it wasn't totally free in
the sense that somebody had to pay for it. Now, who did the
paying? Christ. He paid for it. You see, God is a loving, merciful,
gracious God. His purpose and grace. But He's
also a just God. He's also a holy God. He cannot
show love and mercy and grace apart from justice being satisfied. If He did, He couldn't be God.
He must be both a just God and a Savior. He must be both a righteous
judge as well as a loving Father. If He cannot find a way, to satisfy
His justice. And let me tell you something.
Now, satisfying His justice, God must satisfy His justice,
not because He's bloodthirsty, not because He's vengeful, but
because He's holy. He can do no less. He must do
right. He can't just let sinners off
the hook. The soul that sinneth must surely die, the Scripture
says. The wages of sin is what? Death. That's the death penalty.
That's what we earn. So death, without the shedding
of blood, there is no what? Remission, forgiveness, pardon
of sin. Blood must be shed. That means death. That doesn't
mean torture or anything. He's holy. He's God. He must
be a just God and a Savior. Now, how can He be both? Well,
He can't be either one of those things based on our works. Not
according to our works. But it is through the obedience
unto death of Christ. And that's why Christ is our
salvation. Christ crucified and risen is
our salvation. Turn to Matthew chapter 1. Now,
let's just camp here for a few minutes on this subject. And
remember that number one, if you want to understand biblical
salvation, you're going to have to start here. Salvations of
the Lord. And I didn't make this statement
point number one, Here's the thing about it. Well, who needs
to be saved? Sinners. If you're a sinner,
you need to be saved. Because, again, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death.
So that's who needs salvation. It's just like, who needs medicine? The sick. So if you're sick,
you need the medicine. Well, if you're a sinner, you
need salvation. So, what are you going to do?
Seek salvation, but don't go to religion for it. Don't go
to man for it. Don't go to anything for it but
God's Word. And that's why Paul said, don't
be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. His Word, you see. Now look here in verse 21 of
Matthew 1. The point is, salvation is in and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
given us in Christ Jesus. And here, what's happening here
is the angel came to Joseph. You remember before the birth
of Christ, the Holy Spirit conceived this child in the womb of the
Virgin Mary before she was married and before she knew a man. And
this was all prophesied in the Old Testament all the way back
to Genesis 3. Genesis 3.15 talked about the
seed of woman, the woman's seed. That's Christ. That was a prophecy
of Christ. You remember how God did things
there in Genesis 3? It's an amazing thing. The man
fell, and he's pronouncing the curse upon Satan, then he pronounces
the curse upon the woman, then he pronounces the curse upon
the man. And while he's pronouncing the curse upon Satan, he says,
the woman's seed shall come, and you shall bruise his heel. And that's a way of referring
to Christ's death on the cross, but it's not an eternal death. But he shall bruise thy head.
That's an eternal death to Satan. And then right after that, God
institutes in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 20 and 21 after he
declares Eve's name to be, you know, before the false, her name
wasn't really Eve, it was woman. But then he called her Eve because
she was the mother of all the living. Now, she was a fallen
creature. And out of Adam came death. That's
why we're born in sin, dead in trespasses and sins. So how could
Eve be made the mother of all the living if she's a fallen
creature who can only bring forth death? There's only one way,
and that's the woman's seed. That's through Christ. Christ
is our life. And you know what he did then?
He instituted the sacrificial system of worship. And he slew
an animal. shed blood because the wages
of sin is death, that's what that picture, and he took the
skin of that animal and instead of their fig leaf aprons, which
represents the works of man, he gave them the skin of the
animal, which represents the righteous robe of Christ. And
that's how man was to worship God in through the sacrifice
and call upon the name of the Lord. Somebody says salvation
is calling upon the name of the Lord. Before any of the Old Testament
saints called upon the name of the Lord, you know what they
did? They built an altar and they sacrificed. Because you don't call upon the
name of the Lord in salvation except through the blood of Christ. That's right. It's not just looking
up in the air and saying, Oh Lord! No, that's not calling. No, it's through sacrifice. You
come to God through Christ. That's what they did. And that
was a type, a picture. See, the blood of animals didn't
take away any sins or didn't save anybody. But it pictured
Christ, the Lamb of God, in His blood. And that's the way they
worshiped God until Christ actually came. Somebody asked, well, why
don't we slay animals today? Because Christ has already come.
We don't need that now. So here, Here's the woman, Mary,
and the Christ child has been conceived in her womb, the womb
of the Virgin, by the Holy Spirit, and now the angel comes and tells
Joseph something. Look at verse 21 of Matthew 1.
It says, "...and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call
his name Jesus." You might have in your concordance there, Savior.
It really means God our Savior, Jehovah our Savior. And notice
who's naming him. Not Joseph. You know why Joseph
couldn't name him? Because he wasn't Joseph's son,
physically. He's God's son. And that's why
the angel had a message from God. This is what this child's
name is going to be called. Jesus. Yeshua. Joshua. God, our Savior. But look at it now. Here's what
the name really means. Here's the meaning behind this
name. It's not just a label. For he shall save his people
from their sins. What do I need to be saved from?
I need to be saved from my sins. Now, who's going to do it? God,
my Savior, Jesus. That's what he's talking about.
Nobody else can do it. And it says in verse 22, now
all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken
of the Lord by the prophet saying, behold, a virgin shall be with
child. Now this is a quotation from Isaiah chapter seven and
verse 14 and shall bring forth a son. Now here's the question.
This child. conceived by the Holy Spirit
in the womb of the Virgin, whose name shall be called Jesus. For
he shall," notice it didn't say he might, upon contingency, save
his people from their sins. This is not an if-conditional
thing upon the sinner. He shall save his people from
their sins. Now, if you're going to understand
biblical salvation, you've got to understand that he shall save
his people from their sins. This is an effectual redemption
that he's talking about. He's not going to just come and
try to save you if you'll let him. He's not going to just try
to do His part if you'll do yours. He shall save His people from
their sins. Now, here's the question. Is
He able to do it? We'll look at verse 23. Behold, a virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall
call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with
us. Yes, He's able. He's God. He's
God and man in one person. The God-man. We need to be saved from sin.
Salvation is from sin. That doesn't mean those who are
saved while on this earth stop being sinners. Because if that's
what it is, then none of us are saved. That's right. If in salvation
we stopped being sinners, then where would that leave us if
we're honest with ourselves? We're all sinners, and those
who are saved are sinners saved by the grace of God. Now, there
are some things that go along with that. But this is the issue. Now, He shall save His people
from their sins. Now, if you're going to understand
salvation, you're going to have to understand what it took for
Him to do that. What did He have to do to save
me from my sins? Well, I want you to go back in
the Old Testament, go to Daniel, of all places. Daniel chapter
9. This is a prophecy of Christ.
Now, let me say this. While you're turning, we could
go to so many scriptures here. We just don't have time to get
them all in, but scripture upon scripture from Genesis. You know,
the whole sacrificial system of the Old Testament is a testimony
of the very truth that I'm preaching to you right now, about what
He had to do to accomplish this salvation for His people. But
now here's a prophecy that I believe delineates it, sets it right
out here. And I'm not going to get into
the Hebrew math here. Verse 24 of Daniel 9. It talks
about the 70 weeks. And what that is is 70 weeks
of years is what it is. And it's talking about the time
between the Babylonian captivity until the coming of Christ. And
he says, 70 weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city And what he's talking about is the coming of the Messiah
now. The coming of Christ into the world to do His work, to
save His people from their sins. And here's what He's going to
do. He says, to finish the transgression. Now, what that means is He's
going to restrain the transgression. In other words, He's going to
keep sin, the transgression, which means crossing the line,
He's going to keep that from fulfilling its end. Because,
like James said in James chapter, I think one or two, I can't remember.
He said, sin when it's finished brings death. You see, if sin
has its full course in our lives, the result is death. So Christ,
when He comes, He's going to restrain that. He's going to
keep that from taking its full course. And how's He going to
do it? Well, He's going to make an end of sins. You see that?
He's going to make an end of sins. He's going to seal them
up. He's going to take care of them.
He's going to bear them away. And he's going to make reconciliation
for iniquity. That word iniquity comes from
an imbalance, inequity. And he says he's going to bring
in everlasting righteousness. And to seal up the vision and
prophecy and to anoint the most holy. What he's going to do,
he's going to make an end of sin. Now, sin is not going to
make an end of me because Christ died that death that sin demands
for me. He died. for my sin." What did
he have to do to accomplish this? He had to die. It goes on in
verse 25, it says, "...know therefore and understand that from the
going forth of the commandment to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem
unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks," and again that's
seven weeks of years, "...and threescore and two weeks, but
the streets shall be built again, the wall even in troublous times."
In verse 26, "...and after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be
cut off, but not for himself." And the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and sanctuary, and the
end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations
are determined." That's talking about the end of Jerusalem, after
the death of the Messiah. These are all things that are
going to accompany the arrival of the Messiah. But here's the
main thing we're concerned with about salvation. We're concerned
with, are we saved from sin? Salvation from sin. He had to die the death that
his people deserved. That's why he said in John chapter
10, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Turn to Isaiah 53. We sang that
hymn. He was wounded for our transgressions. And that hymn was taken from
Isaiah 53, as you probably recognized. But in Isaiah 53, that's a prophecy
of it, the whole thing. It says in verse 4, talking about
the man of sorrows, that's Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Verse
4, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows, yet
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, but he
was wounded for our transgressions. Who's the our there? Everyone
who's saved. Everyone who comes to believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says He was bruised for our
iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. In
other words, the punishment that God required to make peace was
upon Christ. And with His stripes we are healed.
Now, how many people do you hear today, when they read that verse,
talk about physical healing? With His stripes we are healed.
I've heard preachers say it on TV. They'll go and say, well,
you can be healed of all your physical ailments because with
His stripes, because Christ died on that cross. That is a lie. I'm all for physical healing.
And I pray for physical healing. And I know God does physically
heal. But that's not an effect of the work of Christ on the
cross. That's the sovereignty of God
in providence. Job said it this way. He said,
the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. And that applies to saved and lost. Whatever God
does in their lives. This is talking about redemption.
This is talking about salvation. This is talking about the atoning
work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And he says it. Verse 6, he says,
All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned every one to his
own way. See, not the way of God. The way of God is Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And the
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And you can go on
and on in Isaiah 53 there. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is all in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what Paul said.
This salvation which was given us in Christ Jesus. Look in Hebrews 2 and verse 14. He speaks of Christ's work here. He says in verse 14, "...for
as much then as the children The children of God are partakers
of flesh and blood. We have that in common, you see.
We're in fellowship. Every one of us here are flesh
and blood. We at least have that in fellowship. He, that is Christ,
also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the
devil. Christ took on human flesh without sin. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. John 1.14. And so he did that
to destroy the devil who had the power of death. Now in verse
15 it says, And deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not
on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Who is the seed of Abraham in the scripture? Every believing
sinner. Everyone who believes the same
gospel Abraham believed. Everyone who was saved the same
way Abraham was, by grace. Where was Abraham when God found
him? He wasn't on his way to a prayer meeting. He was in Ur
of the Chaldees, in the idolatry of his family. And God lifted
that beggar off the dung heap, as Hannah prayed, and set him
among princes. Abraham. Justified without works,
Romans 4 says, about Abraham. And so the seed of Abraham here
refers, that spiritual seed, that's every sinner who believes
Christ and rests in Him. And so this is what he did. This
is what it took for him to save his people from their sins. I think about this, talking about
Christ as our salvation. You remember in Acts chapter
2, after the Lord was born, after the Christ child was born, and
when He was of proper age, Joseph and Mary took him to the temple
to be circumcised, and there was a man there named Simeon.
It's recorded in Luke chapter 2. And the Holy Spirit had revealed
to Simeon that he would see the Christ child, the actual Messiah,
physically before he died. And so they brought him to the
temple, and there was Simeon, and they brought him to Simeon.
And Simeon took that baby in his arms, and you know what he
said? He said, Lord, I'm ready to depart, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. And that baby, isn't that amazing? That baby was going to grow in
wisdom and stature. That baby who is God in human
flesh, I can't explain that to you. You can't explain it to
me. It's just so, because God's Word says it. And that baby was
going to grow in wisdom and stature. and obey the law and go to the
cross of Calvary, suffer and bleed and die to save his people
from their sins. Peter stood before the council
in Acts chapter four and he said, neither is there salvation in
any other for there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. No other way. Paul wrote in first
Timothy chapter two in verse five, for there's one God and
one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, no
other mediator. I quoted it earlier, Christ said
to his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and
no man cometh unto the Father but by me. He is God's salvation. His name is Jesus, Jehovah, God
our salvation. And then here's the last thing,
and it's already been preached. Salvation is all grace. It's of the Lord. It's all in
and by the Lord Jesus Christ and His person and His finished
work, and it's all of grace. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. What did Paul write back here
in 2 Timothy 1? This, verse 9, who has saved
us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works. Our works have nothing to do
with the cause, the source, or the ground of our salvation.
Now our works, the works of a believer, are part of our salvation. What
part do they play? That's what we need to understand.
You see, the self-righteous want to give works a bigger part. They really, what happens, the
self-righteous, the false professor, They want to give works a place
that makes those works either enhance or qualify or rival the
work of Christ. And that's deadly in any capacity. Are there works in salvation?
Well, let me quote the rest of it. Ephesians 2, 8 through 10.
That's what I'm quoting. I quote this a lot on the TV
program. But it's like a capsule. And
verse 8 says, for by grace are you saved through faith, that
not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. And then it goes on in verse
10, it says, for we are His workmanship. That is, we who are saved are
the workmanship of God. We're not self-made. We're not
self-willed. We're made of God. That's what
that means. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus, Where his workmanship, salvation of the Lord, created
in Christ Jesus, it's all in and by the Lord Jesus Christ
unto good works. Not because of good works, but
unto good works. That's the fruit. The effect. The result. Like the apple on
the tree. Which came first, the tree or the apple? The tree did.
Like the vine and the branches. What did Christ say in John 15?
He said, I am the vine. What are you? If you're saved,
you're the branches. And what do the branches do?
Well, they produce fruit. Oh, no, that's not what it said.
They bear fruit. Where does the life of the branches
come from? Comes from the vine. You see
what I'm saying? And so this is all grace. It's
not according to our works. Paul here in Romans, or 2 Timothy
1, he talks about the gospel, which is according to the power
of God. He talks about God calling us, not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace. Grace is a free gift. That means you don't earn it,
you don't deserve it. We who are saved are the recipients
of the salvation we didn't earn and did not deserve. But there
was a price to be paid. Christ paid it all. Jesus paid
it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. That's
why it's the gospel of the grace of God. Man's works do not enter
into the picture as forming any of the source, the cause, or
the ground of salvation. It's all the blood and righteousness
of Christ. Do you understand that? And that's
the foundation of understanding biblical salvation. Now, we're
going to branch out from there. We're going to keep on with this,
because I want to talk to... Salvation is a big word in the
scripture, isn't it? Salvations of the Lord. Just
test yourself unto the mercy of God. Like that public, God
be merciful to me. Salvation is all in and by Christ. And salvation is all of grace.
And grace reigns through righteousness. Whose? Well, Romans 5.21, As
sin hath reigned unto death, even so hath grace reigned through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.