Well, let me add my welcome to
Winston's. It's good to see you all out.
And if you're suffering a little bit because you lost that hour
of sleep last night, just remember in the fall we'll get it back.
So maybe you can get through it. Glad to see you anyway. And
like that song said, we're here to praise our Savior. So that's
what I hope to do in this message. As you can see, the message is
going to come from Acts chapter 2. And the title is Those Being
Saved. I think you'll understand that
title as we get into this message a little. Let me just set the
context here of Acts 2. You remember, this is Pentecost. This is where Peter preached
the Gospel. And he told those of his ears,
he said, therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord
and Christ. And many who were listening to
him were pricked in the heart. And they said, men and brethren,
what shall we do? And he said, repent and be baptized
and be saved. And the Lord added to the church
after that preaching 3000 souls. And so we're going to pick up
here in Acts chapter two and look at verse 46 with me here
now. of these 3,000 along with the
apostles, and they, continuing daily with one accord in the
temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having
favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church
daily such as should be saved." Now, in the message today, we're
going to be answering one question. It says, the Lord added to the
church daily such as should be saved. Who is God adding to His
church? He did it here at Pentecost.
He's done it in every generation that this world has existed.
And He's going to continue to add to the church as long as
this world goes on. But who is He adding? That's the question I'm going
to answer here. Now it says in this verse, verse 47, He added
such as should be saved. In the original, that phrase
such as should be saved is just two words. It's just a pronoun
and a participle. So it reads like this. He added
those being saved. There's the title of my message.
Just two words there. The point of the message is who
is the Lord adding to the church? And the answer is those being
saved. The message obviously then is
about those. So in order to understand the
specifics of those being saved, I want to talk a little bit in
the beginning here about salvation in general. And you got to know
right from the start, this is a message of the whole Bible.
Salvation is the message of the Bible. So I'm not going to cover
it, but just a small fraction of what this means. But let's
talk about some specifics about salvation in general. Salvation
in the Scriptures is a very comprehensive subject. As I said, it goes from
Genesis to Revelation. It reaches all the way back to
before the world began. A multitude of sinners, called
the election of grace, was chosen in Christ unto salvation and
accepted in Him before the foundation of the world. Look with me here
at Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. in love having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. God
chose a people in Christ unto salvation before the foundation
of the world. that people was always accepted
in the beloved. So, salvation goes back to before
the world began. Those being saved are those sinners
that God chose in Christ and made accepted in Him before the
foundation of the world. But salvation goes all the way
forward to after the world as we know it will have ended. Look
at John 14 in verse 1. Now, Christ has told his disciples
in this John 14 that he's got to go to the cross. He's got
to go and be crucified. And their hearts are troubled.
But he says, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,
believe also in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also." Christ is telling his disciples here
that after he goes to the cross and prepares them a place, by
his substitutionary death, by his obedience unto death and
laying down his life. He says after he does that, he
will come again and bring them to final glory. Every sinner
he died for will be brought to final glory. And then look at
Hebrews 9 and verse 27, 27-28. It says, And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. This verse is foretelling a future
aspect of salvation. It speaks of Christ's return
at the end of the age when those looking to Christ alone are going
to be delivered, saved from the very presence of sin. We're going
to be hounded by sin as long as we're in this world, but there's
coming a time when those looking to Christ alone are going to
be delivered even from the very presence of that sin. Those being
saved are not only those whom God knew before the foundation
of the world and made accepted in Christ, but they're also those
who are certain for final glory. And even beyond this, the scriptures
speak of salvation as everlasting. Look at Isaiah 45 and verse 17. He said, but Israel, that spiritual
Israel, shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. You shall not be ashamed nor
confounded world without end. Even in heaven, after the church
has been fully and finally glorified, what's our psalm going to be?
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. In other words, even in glory,
the redeemed of the Lord will not be looking within for any
comfort or confidence before God. Even then, we won't see
our salvation having anything whatsoever to do with what we've
done. We will have made no contribution whatsoever. It will all be of
the Lord. We will still forever be looking
to Christ and Christ alone for all our acceptance with God.
And in that sense, we'll always be those that are being saved. Through all eternity, the Church
will be known as those sinners being saved and being kept by
the finished work of Christ alone. So, salvation, as I said, is
comprehensive. It reaches all the way back to
before the foundation of the world. God purposed and planned
it before the world began, and it reaches as far into the future
as our imaginations can go, even to everlasting. The final glory
of every sinner God chose in Christ and made accepted in him
is certain. The Father gave Christ to people,
That means he entrusted their whole salvation to Christ. And
Christ cannot and will not fail to raise them unto final glory.
Look at John 6 and verse 39. This is the Father's will which
has sent me, that of 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. The final end of those
being saved is certain. But why is it certain? How can
it be certain? I mean, couldn't they do something
that could mess it up? No, it's certain because of Christ's
work on the cross. The final end of these specific
sinners is certain because of what Christ has done for them
in His incarnation. Now last week Winston preached
about that incarnation in a full message. And I'm just going to
refer you to a few of the things that he said, and we say often
up here. The infinite son of God, united with his deity, true
humanity, body and soul, in order to save his people from their
sins. The angel announced to Joseph before Christ's death,
call his name Jesus, Jehovah who saves, for he shall save
his people from their sins. And when Christ went to the cross,
he fulfilled that prophecy. In His incarnation, Christ saved
His people. He saved His sheep from the penalty
of sin by burying their sins in His body on the tree. Their
sins were imputed to Him, and He bore those sins in His body
on the tree. And by doing that, He saved every
sinner He died for from the punishment they deserved. The punishment
they deserved fell on Christ at the cross, and it fell on
them. because they were in Him, just
like Noah in the ark and his family. The wrath of God was
poured out on this world when that flood came. And Noah and
his family were under the wrath of God. Why weren't they consumed
like the rest of the world? Because they were inside that
ark. That ark is a picture of Christ, you see. They were safe
because they were in Christ. No sinners Christ died for are
facing any punishment from God because of their sins. Christ
drank the cup of God's wrath in full for them. God has no
more wrath to dispense upon those sinners. According to the Scriptures,
Christ's death has paid their ransom. His blood has bought
their redemption. Look at Revelation 5 and verse
9 and 10 here. It says, And they sung a new
song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof. For thou hast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our God, kings and
priests, and we shall reign on the earth. The us in this verse,
thou hast redeemed us to God, that us must certainly be every
sinner Christ shed his blood for. The verse is saying that
Christ's blood has redeemed every sinner his blood was shed for,
sinners out of all kindreds and nations. Now, In the face of
such truth as this, that Christ has redeemed by his blood every
sinner that he died for, in the face of such truth, how is it
that many preach that multitudes will end up in hell for whom
Christ died, for whom Christ shed his blood? How can a preacher
tell his audience, Christ died for you, but you'll perish unless,
unless you walk an aisle, unless you accept Jesus, unless you
get serious about religion. You can just fill in that blank
with anything you want to. If Christ's blood was effectual
in redeeming one sinner it was shed for, it was effectual in
redeeming every sinner it was shed for. It can't be otherwise.
Here's the clear truth of the scripture concerning Christ's
shed blood. If Christ's blood was shed for
you, your ransom has been paid in full. You are redeemed. His blood has saved you from
the eternal wrath of God that you deserve because of your sin.
And not only that, but he not only saved you from the wrath
you deserve, but he also saved every sinner he died from, saved them unto an unchangeable
standing of righteousness before God. You see, there's that double
exchange with Christ. Second Corinthians 521, him who
knew no sin, God made sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. God laid on him, on Christ, imputed
to him the sins of his sheep. And he established the one righteousness
by which God is just to justify an ungodly sinner like you or
me. And that's how we're made. The imputation of that righteousness
is how sinners are made the righteousness of God in him. So he saved every
sinner he died for from God's wrath and unto an unchangeable
standing of righteousness before God. Those being saved are those
whose debt of punishment has been paid in full and who stand
unchangeably righteous before God. based on Christ's imputed
righteousness alone. Now this aspect of salvation,
salvation from the penalty of sin, that's what Christ accomplished
by his death on the cross. He saved every sinner he died
for from the penalty of sin. And this aspect of salvation
is the basis, it's the ground of all salvation. Christ's work
on the cross is what everything in salvation rests on. His obedience
unto death and the righteousness that results from that work is
what everything in salvation depends on. Without Christ's
work on the cross, there is no salvation. Because of Christ's
work on the cross, every sinner he lived and died for is certain
for final glory. It's because of Christ's work
on the cross that sinners continue being saved in each successive
generation. The only sinners that are being
saved in this generation, or in any generation, are those
that have already been saved by Christ's death on the cross.
Now there's one familiar context that speaks of salvation as both
past, that is, having already been, as well as continuous,
ongoing. It speaks of sinners as having
already been saved, as well as those same sinners continuing
to be saved. Look with me to Ephesians chapter
2. These are familiar verses here. Ephesians 2 verses 8 and
9. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Now, verse 8 here has an unusual
verb construction, and I'm not going to get into a lot of Greek
with you here and confuse you, but let me just explain what
this is. The action spoken here comes
from a Greek word which means save, simply save. The context
here then is salvation. And it speaks of salvation as
having been completed in the past. In other words, not to
be repeated. And it also speaks of salvation
as being continuous. It's not talking about two salvations.
There's just one salvation. It's talking about two aspects
of salvation. These verses would literally
read, for by grace, having been, you continue being saved through
the faith. And that, that salvation is not
of yourselves. That salvation is the gift of
God. It's not a works. No aspect of
salvation is a works. No aspect of salvation is dependent
upon anything done in or by sinners. It's totally the work of grace
and it's conditioned on Christ and accomplished by Christ alone.
So no aspect of salvation is a works, lest any man should
boast. If any part of salvation, any
aspect depended upon something I had done, whether it be my
faith or my repentance or my good works or my giving or coming
to church or reading my Bible or praying, if it depended upon
any, in any way to any degree upon any of those things, what
would I do? I'd boast in those things, would
I not? Yeah, I would. You would too. So it's not a
works lest any man should boast. Before the foundation of the
world, God chose a people and made them accepted in Christ. And He did so looking to what
Christ would accomplish for them at the cross. What Christ did
on the cross is the basis of all salvation. The final glory
of those sinners has always been certain because Christ's obedience
unto death put away their sins and gave them an unchangeable
standing of righteousness before God. As we'll see in a moment,
those sinners will be saved from another aspect of sin, from the
power of sin. But all of salvation, every aspect,
is by grace. It's the fruit and result of
Christ's work on the cross for every sinner whom God entrusted
him with before the world began. All right, you ought to have
a question in your mind right now. If you've been following
along and paying attention, I would. If Christ's obedience unto death
has already saved every sinner he died for from the penalty
of sin, that's what the scripture teaches. And if salvation from
the presence of sin for those sinners is certain at final glory,
what else is there? Well, there's one more aspect
of salvation we need to know about. Salvation from the power
of sin. This is the aspect of salvation
that sinners actually experience. It's the aspect of salvation
where we are changed. Our minds are changed. Our thinking
is changed about how God saves sinners, who God is, and what
Christ has done. And this is the aspect of salvation
through which those being saved are identified in the world.
This is how we know who's being saved and who's not, through
this aspect of salvation. Every sinner born into this world
is ignorant of the true Christ. All are ignorant that Christ
has saved every sinner he died for from the penalty of sin and
given them an unchangeable standing of righteousness before God.
Before you came to the gospel, did you know that truth? I know
you didn't. I didn't either. Because of this
ignorance of what Christ has done for those he lived and died
for, there is a specific sin that enslaves us. Bill says it's
just not believing on Christ, and has simply stated that is
exactly what it is. It's just failing to rest all
of my salvation, its entirety, on the doing and dying of the
Lord Jesus Christ alone. The Word of God declares all
of us by nature to be in bondage to servants of and slaves of
this sin. It deceives every one of us by
nature. This is not sin in general like
lying or cheating or perversion or lawlessness. We know all those
things are opposed to the revealed testimony of God, and we know
it's wrong to do those things. This is a sin that none of us
by nature recognizes to be sin. In his second letter to the Thessalonians,
the Apostle Paul calls this sin, the deceivableness of unrighteousness
in those who are perishing. This specific sin holds all under
its bondage until God delivers us from this bondage. Now Christ
addressed this bondage with some Jews of His days in John chapter
8. Notice in this context as we
look through it here that Christ is speaking to those who claim
to believe that He is the Messiah. Look at John 8 and verse 31.
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. They believed
him to be the Messiah who was supposed to come. He said, if
you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed,
and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free. Christ is telling these Jews that although you believe
me to be the Messiah, you are in bondage. You are in a bondage
that only a continuance in my word will deliver you from. This
is spiritual bondage, a bondage that none of us recognize by
nature. Look on in this context to John chapter 8 and verse 33. Now these Jews answered him,
We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man.
How sayest thou you should be made free?" Now, you can see
here, these Jews are like all of us by nature. They're totally
oblivious to this bondage that Jesus is telling them they're
in and need to be delivered from. They didn't know it. You and I didn't know it. No
sinner knows this bondage until it's revealed to them by the
Word of God. Look on to John 8, 34. Jesus
answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin." Now, in the original, you've got an
article here in front of sin. I've told you it's specific.
It is specific. It's not sin in general. It's a specific sin that we're all
in bondage to. What is the sin? As I said, Bill
said in the back, it's not resting all of your salvation in Christ.
It's not finding all your hope of salvation in Christ's finished
work, his obedience unto death, his righteousness alone. That's
the sin that holds every sinner in bondage until we're delivered
by the declaration of Christ. Look at John 8, 35 and 36 now.
And the servant abides not in the house forever, but the son
abideth ever. If the son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. The servant in this discourse
is the one earning his place in the household. He can't be
there. He can't stay there unless he
continues working and doing. When he stops doing, his abiding
in the household will end. Christ is talking about a sinner
thinking that he or she is earning their place in the household
of God, earning their acceptance with God, earning their right
to be saved or kept by their faith or by their good works
or by their faithful attendance, their zeal in religion. Now,
you've got to understand here, this is a bondage none of us
recognize by nature. When I was doing what When I
was thinking that my faith is what made the difference between
saved and lost, I didn't know that's what I was doing. I was
claiming the blood of Christ. I was claiming the death of Christ.
I didn't know it was faith making the difference until God sat
me down under a gospel message and the preacher said, look,
if you're thinking that Christ died for you, but you can't be
saved until you believe or because you believe, if that faith has
any causal role in you being accepted of God, then what you're
saying is your faith is what makes the difference, not Christ's
death alone. As long as any sinner thinks
that their acceptance is dependent in any way, to any degree, on
anything found in them, such as accepting Jesus, or walking
an aisle, or any of those other things, that sinner is in bondage
to the sin of that thinking. Christ alone can and must set
sinners free. If you would ever be free from
such thinking, if you would ever be free from such bondage, it
will be by the declaration of the Christ delivered in the gospel. Up to this point in the message,
we've been primarily looking at one category of sinners, those
being saved. But in the world, in every generation,
there are always two categories of sinners, not one, but two.
They stand in contrast to each other. Although these two categories
are identified by different phrases, it's always these same two categories. Let's look at several contexts
here that will show us these categories of sinners. First,
there are those on the broad way that leads to destruction,
and contrasted with them, there are those on the narrow way that
leads to life. Look at Matthew 7 and verse 13.
Christ says, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat. Because straight is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth to life, and few there
be that find it. place where we see this contrasting
category of sinners. Look at another one. There are
those who are perishing, and there are those who are being
saved. Look at 1 Corinthians 1.18. For the preaching of the
cross is to them that perish, literally, are perishing, foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
being saved, it is the power of God. The person that goes
on seeing the declaration of a Savior whose death delivered
every sinner he died for from the wrath of God they deserved
and delivered them into an unchangeable standing of righteousness before
God, the person that goes on seeing that as foolishness, that's
a person who ultimately, if he continues there, will perish.
He's the perishing. The other who sees the preaching
of the cross as God's power of God into salvation, that's the
one being saved. There's one more category we
look at. We're looking at the same category, but one more context
we'll look at these two categories in. There are those walking in
league spiritually with Satan. There are those who've been delivered
from that bondage. Look at Ephesians 2, verses 1
through 3. Paul writes, And you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prints of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of the disobedience." Now notice in verse 2 he said,
in time past you walked here. You walked according to the prince
of the air, the spirit that's working in the children of disobedience.
And in the next verse he includes himself in this walk. Verse 3, among whom also we all,
even Paul the Apostle, had our conversation in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. None of us by nature see ourselves
as those on the broadway leading to destruction. None of us by
nature see ourselves as aligned with those who are perishing.
None of us by nature see ourselves as those spiritually in league
with Satan, but that's where the Word of God puts every one
of us by nature. As I've already shown you in
an earlier message from this context, we're all by nature
born in darkness, in ignorance, and in idolatry. And that includes
those chosen in Christ unto salvation and certain for final glory based
on Christ's finished work alone. That includes every sinner who
has not yet been called out of this darkness and ignorance and
idolatry by the Spirit of God through the gospel. That includes
every sinner whom the Lord has not yet added to the church.
By nature, we are all in spiritual darkness. We don't know the Christ
of the Scriptures by nature. We have to learn of Him. We are
all ignorant of God's righteousness, the one righteousness that Christ
established that enables God to be just and justify ungodly
sinners such as we are. And we are all idolaters. We
are worshiping a God and a Christ of our imaginations. The one
thing every sinner born into this world desperately needs.
Bill said it in the back. What does he need? He needs to
hear the gospel. He needs to hear about Christ. He needs to
hear about the Christ who delivered every sinner he died for from
God's wrath and put them in an unchangeable standing of righteousness
before God. The one thing we desperately
need is for the Spirit of God to convince and reprove us of
our unbelief of the Christ that God has sent. We desperately
need for the Spirit of God to call us out of our idolatry to
the true Christ of the scriptures. We desperately need to be delivered
from the bondage of the sin that we don't even recognize that
we're under by nature. We need to be delivered to the
gospel. We need to be delivered to the Christ of the gospel.
Christ came for that purpose. He came to deliver every sinner
he died for from the bondage that I'm talking about here.
Look at Hebrews 2 and verse 14. It says, For as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he 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, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. It says here in verse 14 that
Satan has the power of death. I don't believe that means he
has the power to put men and women to death. I don't think
that's the power he's talking about because of the context
right here. I think this is the power he
has. Satan has the power to hold even the elect of God in bondage
under the fear of death, the fear of punishment, until the
declaration of Christ delivers them from such fear and from
such bondage. As we see in verse 15, one of
the reasons Christ came is to deliver his sheep from that bondage,
and he will. He'll deliver everyone he died
for, everyone whose penalty of sin has been paid in full by
his obedience unto death. No sinner chosen by the Father
and redeemed by Christ will be left in the bondage I'm talking
about here. Every sinner desperately needs
to be set free, to be liberated from the sin we don't even know
that we're guilty of committing. We don't see this sin or recognize
it till God brings us to the gospel. We need to become the
servants of righteousness. Paul wrote of this deliverance,
this liberation in Romans 6. Some more familiar verses to
us here. Look at Romans 6, 17 and 18. He said, but God be thanked that
you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then
made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
Now, I want to add that little article here, just like it was
in John 8, there's an article in front of sin. It says, you
were servants of the sin. The sin, a specific sin, the
one I've been telling you about. But you have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine, and that should read, to which
you were delivered. What's that doctrine? That's
the gospel. God delivered us to the gospel. He delivered us
to the Christ of the gospel. Being then made free from the
sin, you became servants of the righteousness, that righteousness
which is always revealed in the gospel. The righteousness worked
out by Christ and imputed to every one of God's elect, giving
them that unchangeable standing of righteousness before God.
Being made free from sin and being made the servants of righteousness,
this is where the Spirit of God brings every one of God's elect
in each successive generation. We are each made to recognize
and be liberated from the sin that deceived us, the sin that
holds us, held us in its bondage till God was pleased to deliver
us. We're each made to rest in Christ's imputed righteousness
alone. Let me summarize what I've said here and I'm through.
Those being saved are those chosen in Christ and made accepted in
Him before the foundation of the world. Those being saved
are those whose final glory is certain, always has been, based
on what Christ would do for them in time at the cross. Those being
saved are those already redeemed by the blood of Christ. Some
don't know that yet. Some still need to be delivered
from this bondage. They need to come to the Christ
of the gospel. And those being saved are those
who have been liberated from the bondage of thinking that
they had done something. anything, even a small thing,
that contributed toward their acceptance with God and found
themselves accepted based on the finished work of Christ alone.
Well, there are always two categories of sinners. They're those who
are perishing. They're those who are being saved.
And you and I find ourselves in one of these categories. Have
you been delivered from this bondage? Have you been brought
to Christ and see him and rest in him for all your salvation?
Then you're among those being saved. Rejoice. If you haven't,
the scripture is clear. You need to repent and come to
Christ. He's your only hope, my friends.