so I am with you, says the Father,
through the floods I come and keep. Though the swelling waves
surround you, I surround the water's deep. ? Fear not, loved one, feel my
presence ? ? You will never be alone ? ? Trust me, loved one,
you are precious ? ? You are mine, my very own ? I am with you, says the Savior,
even to the ages end. Never leaving, nor forsaking,
I'm your ever-present friend. Fear not, loved one, Hear my
comfort, none can pluck you from my heart. Trust me, loved one, I am constant. None can change what I have planned. I am with you, says the Spirit. There is nowhere you can flee. Neither height nor depth can
hide you. Every place is home to me. Fear not, loved one. Hear my witness, you are God's
own child and heir. Trust me, loved one, hear my
whisper, deep within you I am near. ? I'll be with thee says the master
? ? Weep for the poor sick eyes ? I was with you in your journey. Be with me in paradise. Fear not, loved one, for my promise,
I will surely quickly come. Trust me, loved one, O my purpose, I will bring you
still. Many years ago, after the Lord
was pleased to begin to reveal the truth to me, I don't know
exactly how long it was, and with Betty gone, I'll probably
never remember again. But not long after that, I was
in a meeting, a Bible conference, and I met a sort of a red-headed-looking
fellow named Tim James. And from however long that was,
He's been my friend. And after I realized that I had
been blessed with such a friend and being around him, I began
to wish that I could be a friend like him. And I am thankful for
him. Him, you come this morning and
preach the gospel to us. And I do thank you. I love you.
I love you right back. Well, I can't tell you what a
delight it is to see all y'all again. The circumstances are
wondrously providential, but I've found over the years that
providence is always right, but does not always make us feel
right or feel good. And I think that's why God said
in the Ecclesiastes that He's not going to make us privy to
what He's doing. All we can know is what He's done. Because I'm
sure in many situations providential, had God asked me if this is the
way He should do it, I would say, well surely there must be
another way. But it is not. God is on the throne, and everyone
in His house does give Him glory. And that glory is tied to, specifically,
singularly, the salvation of His elect through the substitutionary
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherein by His death He satisfied
God's law and God's demand perfectly, put away the sins of His people,
was made to be their righteousness, justified them, and showed them
the mercy that had kept them out of hell all these years,
and the grace that assured them of heaven in days to come. Turn
with me, if you will, to Zephaniah chapter 3, right after Habakkuk
and right before Haggai. I want to speak to you this morning,
if God will help me, on the concept of salvation. Now you know and
I know that that is a very common phrase in all of religion, whether
it be true religion or Christendom, those who have come out of Romanism
and the Reformation and their stepchildren. or anything that
calls itself by the name of Christ has used and does use this word
salvation freely. But I am convinced that it is
possibly one of the most misunderstood and misused words in all of the
English language. Now religion and its efforts
to make salvation an available commodity have in truth destroyed
the meaning of this lovely old noun. Religion uses terms like
simple plan or have relegated it to the cesspool of human will
or planted it firmly on the crapshoot of immutable decision or choice. The fact is that even the concept
of salvation a plan, a will, or a decision, do not in any
way, even vaguely, apply to that Word. In the last verse of Zephaniah
3, one word sets forth what you must understand in order to understand
what salvation is according to the Word of God. In verse 20,
the Lord says, At that time I will bring you again, even in the
time that I gather you, for I will make My name a praise among all
the people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity. You do not understand salvation
unless you understand that word, that word captivity. when I bring
back your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord." Salvation
is the result of being saved or delivered or ransomed or set
free. What a plan or decision or will
have to do with salvation is nothing. For salvation presupposes
a situation or a condition where the one that needs salvation
is in such a fix, and such bondage, and such dire straits, such utter
captivity and bondage, that he cannot escape. If that is not
the situation that a person is in, then we are wrong to use
the word salvation. Salvation is not applicable if
there is in any way a means of escape other than salvation. If there's a word that can be
used, it doesn't mean salvation. If you can assist in this matter,
the word does not apply. In the case, the word salvation
means nothing at all if you have anything to do with it. I don't
know if any of you have ever been in the hoosegow, or the
big house, or behind bars for some criminal activity. I have,
and I will tell you this, that my captivity and my release,
I had nothing to do with either one. And I might have decided
to leave, but I had a little problem called iron bars that
kept me there. I might have decided to escape,
but I had handcuffs on my hands behind my back. And I found that
my decision or my will had nothing to do with my being delivered
from my state of incarceration. If you have been saved, it cannot
be from a state of captivity from which you could have delivered
yourself. The lie of a plan, a will, or
a decision was hatched in the bowels of religiosity in a concerted
effort to make salvation mean nothing more than the incorporation
of the name of Jesus into the already established and presumed
righteousness of an individual? How else could a man, any human
being who could rub two synapses together equate salvation to
inviting Jesus into your heart. Imagine. Imagine that. Or other such stupid notions.
The words saved and salvation, deliverance, are employed in
the Word of God because humanity is held captive from the time
it's born. It is in bonds. It is in fetters
and chains. It is in prison. It is dead. It is condemned. It is doomed.
It is dying. It is dead. It is awaiting execution. It is reigned over. Humanity
is born under three sovereigns. One true sovereign and three
false sovereigns, but nonetheless sovereigns. Bob Dylan said, everybody
is going to serve somebody. And that's just how it is. And
you were born and made as a servant to worship God and to serve Him.
And though you were mutated in the fall, you still are a servant. And there are things that reign
over you from birth. By one man sin entered the world,
and death by sin. So death came upon all men. Sin
hath reigned. What does that mean? You going
to do something about it? Sion hath reigned unto death. Death hath reigned. Satan hath
reigned. Self has reigned in Scripture. And it's going to take a sovereign
greater than the sovereign that reigns you to set you free. It's
that simple. That's why the Lord said, if
I cast out devils with the finger of God, It's me walking into
a strongman's palace, whose goods are at peace, and binding up
the strongman, and putting him out of business, and take from
him that which he has held captive. We are in bondage from the day
we were born. So there's no way of deliverance
in ourselves. We are reigned over, reigned
over. Decide whatever you might. Will
till your willer snaps in two. plan to your day planner explodes.
You cannot dethrone the unholy trinity that reigns over you
from your birth. You cannot. There will be no
salvation, none, until a greater sovereign enters the scene, a
king of all kings and a lord of all lords. And he must destroy
the enemy and subdue the enemy or you will never be set free. He must overcome your captor
because you are held captive. We like to think of ourselves
free, especially those of us who are American citizens. We
like to talk about freedom, and we are free in one sense under
the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of
Independence. We are not born free. We are born, as it were,
in chains and fetters, deep in the bottom of the prison. And
it's going to take someone greater than all that to undo our situation. We call the Lord Jesus Christ
a Savior, or the Savior. That is not a job application,
nor is it a person being up for election. Savior doesn't apply
in any way, shape, or form if He does not save. Christ is not
a Savior of unsaved men. We apply the name Redeemer. That's
a title that was earned by a job done. He is not a Redeemer of
unredeemed men. So we call Him Savior. That is
how salvation takes place. The Savior does it. The Redeemer
does it. I think of Betty. Gary described
as the life went from her body as seemingly her face seemed
to relax and be at ease, almost like the stress left. Just a few days ago, our sister
experienced full salvation, full salvation. She was already free
from the penalty of sin because of what Christ did for her on
Calvary Street, but she lay yet captive somewhat. to the intractable
vagaries of her flesh. Natural laws like gravity bound
her to the earth. She was still bound to oxygen
in the need of O2. She was still bound to the incalculable
wonder of a debilitating disease that held her fast. But He who
tasted death for every son and daughter came, as it were, and
whispered in her ear, I have tasted death. It won't hurt you,
and took her home. In the twinkling of the eye,
she mounted on eagle's wings and soared in the pure ether
of eternal stratosphere. Saved, I tell you, completely. We're saved. But we're not there
yet. Not where she is. But one day
we will be. Salvation indeed. This is salvation. To be freed. To be delivered. Where no, you're no longer captive. You're no longer captive. This
is what it is. And we find this so in this passage
of scripture here in Zephaniah. We find that salvation described
in this passage in verses 8 through 20. that which was purposed and
predestinated in eternity is accomplished in time by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it begins with what always
comes first, and it's declared in verse 8. The Lord says, Therefore
wait ye upon Me, saith the Lord, until the day I rise up to the
prey. For My determination is to gather
the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them
mine indignation, even all my fierce anger. For all the earth
shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy." What's the Lord
doing here? The first thing He always does
in the salvation of the elect is to destroy the enemy. That
has to be done. In my studies in the Old Testament,
we've gone from Genesis and now we're in Isaiah. Been at it about
10 or 12 years. I don't think I'm gonna get the
whole thing done before I die, but I'm gonna give it my best
shot. We find over and over again, the Lord destroys the enemy before
he delivers his people. That was the promise of the word
of evangelism in Genesis 3.15. He said to the serpent, that
seed of woman's gonna bruise your head. The enemy goes first. The enemy must be disabled. The
enemy must be destroyed in order for us to be saved. And that's
always the way it will be. Mark well that every time deliverance
was accomplished in the Old Testament, it was at the expense of the
enemy's life over and over again. That was what happened on Calvary
Street. I know people talk about salvation
like some kind of battle. going on now between God and
Satan. And they're each vying for a
man's soul. You know, and you, of course,
according to religion, you're the one that makes the deciding
factor. Whoever side you join up with, that's the side that
wins. But let me tell you what, Satan's not in a battle with
God. Satan is in absolute subservience to God. Satan must crawl on his
belly like the reptile that he is to have permission to do anything
to you. Now, God may let him. Satan has
desired thee, he said to Peter. And he might sift you like wheat.
Don't worry, I prayed for you. Your faith's not going to fail
you. And he let Satan have a hold of Peter for a little bit, just
to show Peter what he really was. Peter said, I'll never deny
you. Not me. These other 11 clowns
might do something, but not me. I'll stick with you to death
three times. Aren't you with that fellow Jesus?
I don't know the man. I don't know what you're talking
about. Then he cussed. He said, don't ask me that. I don't know anything about him.
Then the cock crew and Peter saw what he had done. Revealed.
Lord might let Satan get a hold of you, let him get a hold of
Job. In fact, God was the one that instituted that whole situation.
Satan came and God said, you boy, you see my servant Job?
I ain't nobody like him. He loves me. Loves good and hates
evil. Satan says, well, why not? You've
given him everything. Does he serve you for nothing?
Does he serve you for nothing? You've given him everything.
Satan said, well, you let me take what he's got. He won't
worship you no more. God says, have at it. Took everything
he had. He said, the Lord giveth and
the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
In this, he did not sin against God. Satan came back. Lord said,
see, I told you my servant wouldn't turn against me. Satan said,
well, you let me touch his skin. If I make him sick, he'll turn
against you. He said, have at it. And he did.
And in this, Job did not sin against the Lord. Satan may trouble
you, but not without appointment. He ain't in a battle for your
soul. He lost that battle 2,000 years ago on Calvary's tree.
He really lost it a few days or maybe a few hours after what
happened in the Garden of Eden. Your enemy is destroyed. If you're
a child of God, you walk in freedom this hour. Nothing can touch
you. except by appointment. Nothing
whatsoever. First thing in salvation, your
enemies are destroyed. Second thing is this, you're
going to hear about it. You're going to know that that
took place. This is salvation. This is salvation. Look at verse 9. For then will
I turn to the people a pure language, that they may call upon the name
of the Lord to serve Him with one consent. A pure Language. Pure because it's singular. Pure
because it's from heaven. Pure because it's from God. A
pure language. A pure language. Back in Babel,
God confused the tongues and men had to gather in groups where
they understood each other. And the Lord has remedied that
by turning His people to a singular language. You say, well, they
may speak in a lot of different languages and tongues. Yeah,
but they've got one thing in common. I've heard from people
in Rhodesia. I've heard from people in Afghanistan. I've heard from people all over
this world through emails and things because of sermon audio
and how it gets out and all that stuff. We all speak the same
language. Now, if we were to talk to each
other naturally, I wouldn't understand a thing they said. But we speak
the same language. God, who at sundry times and
in diverse manners in past spoke to the fathers, by the prophets
hath in these last days spoken to us in His Son. In Son. The language of God is
Jesus Christ the Lord. And that is the pure language.
It's a singular language. Derrick Gary and I are friends.
I think we'd be friends otherwise, but we're friends, truly friends,
because we have the same language. We speak the same language. There's
something about that, isn't it? You know, if you go to a foreign
country, you look for somebody that speaks the same language.
That's what you want. When people speak in a foreign
language around you, you think they're talking about you. You
just naturally do. You want somebody the same language.
I remember many years ago in Germany, there's this fella named
Hulvey. We were in Rhein-Main and we were out one night during
Oktoberfest. And you know what you do in Oktoberfest, so yeah,
we were doing that. And we went to a bus station
or a train station and Hulvey walks up to this German fella
and says, do you speak English? He says nein. And Hovey says,
well, do you know anybody that does? We want a common language,
and we have one. We speak Christ and Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. A singular
language, a singular voice, understood by every one of the sheep, known
and understood by them. They have an unction from on
high. They are spiritual people, and therefore they understand
and discern spiritual things. They elect, after they hear the
word of truth, the good news that they have been saved on
Calvary. and that the enemy is destroyed, are given a superlative
intellect. They really are. You say, well,
are they really smart? On one thing, they're the smartest
thing there is. On one thing, they have every
answer. On one thing, you can't trip them up whatsoever. on one
thing, and that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord said
in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 8, He's going to abound toward
them in wisdom and prudence. And if you look that up, it's
to give them a superior intellect on one thing. And if you're a
child of God, ain't nobody in this world smarter than you on
one thing. You know everything there is
to know about one thing, and you continue to learn and enjoy
in what you know and what you learn every day about this one
thing, but nobody knows more than you, because you know Him.
That's that pure language that God has turned His people to.
Christ and Him crucified. Christ is our dictionary, our
thesaurus, our encyclopedia, and our knowledge is a library
of books all with the same title. Christ in Him crucified. The
result of all this, God gives linguistic expertise in the elect
to call on the Lord. That's why you have it. To call
on the Lord and serve Him with one consent. Everything worthwhile
in this world is one thing. It's singular. One Lord, one
faith, one hope, one baptism, one way, truth and life, one.
And the beauty of that is is that you can't be confused about
one thing. I give you two things, you have
to make some kind of decision or choice or come up with what's
best or what's not. We just got one thing. And if
some preacher stands up and says this is confusing, it's because
he don't have one thing, he's got two things. Can a man serve
God and mammon? No, he's going to hate the one
and love the other. The single eye is full of light, the double
eye is full of darkness. One thing, this is that pure,
undiluted language. And that's why when Gary stands
up here, or when I stand up here, or Jim Byrd, or Bill Parker,
or whoever comes to preach and stands in this pulpit, they talk
about the same thing over and over again. I've been pastoring
a church for 38 years in Cherokee, North Carolina. I preach the
same message, and I am full of one. Aren't you, that people
still listen to you? I just keep saying the same stuff
over and over again, talking about the same person over and
over again, and they never seem to get tired of it. They love
the old, old story. Why? Because it's a pure language.
I will turn the people to a pure language, and they shall call
upon Me. From all over, from beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia, my suppliants, even the daughter of my disperse,
shall bring mine offering." What is the offering? How do you come
to God? You come to God with Christ. You come to God with
that perfect blood sacrifice, because that's the only way anyone
is ever accepted. Also, this salvation brings about
a wonderful thing, a thing that's seemingly impossible, and yet
true, the removal of shame, and the bringing about of humility.
That's what it says. Verse 11, In that day thou shalt
not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed
against me. Just roll that over in your brain
for a few seconds. And not be ashamed. And not be
ashamed. He's laid in Zion a foundation
stone, tried and true. He that believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. Shall never be brought to shame.
God will not shame you. God will not shame you. If you
feel you're being accused, let me tell you, God ain't accusing
you. Your conscience may be, but it operates under the law.
Satan may be. God ain't gonna accuse you. God
looks at you and says, you have no, listen, I know what you are
and you know what I am. You know what I've been and I
probably know right much about what you've been most of your
life. God looks at you and says, don't be ashamed in all that
you've transgressed against me. Why? because it's been put away,
behind God's back in the bottom of the sea, wherever that is,
out of God's memory, out of God's memory. He said, I'll get rid
of them that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty
because of my holy mountain. I wonder why a person is haughty
because of his holy mountain. I think people are haughty because
of the old holy mountain, but they're not haughty because of
the new one. They're haughty about Mount Sinai, but they're
not haughty about Mount Calvary. Not hearty at all. Humility.
Either you have it or you don't. And if you have it, it's because
you've been humbled, not because you worked it up. It's nice to
say things like, well, all believers say this, but because we're still
full of baloney for most of us, we'll say things like, well,
I'm not very humble. But you know what we're thinking
when we say that? That's really an humble statement. We really
are. I mean, be honest. Isn't that
true? I'm getting a lot of nods out here. You know what I'm talking
about. You're humble when God humbles you, and God humbles
you when He strips everything from you and shows you that your
only hope in this world, the only one, is Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And that's humility. It's not
a way you carry yourself or the way you bow your head to some
posture. That's not humility. Humility
is an understanding and appreciation of the fact that my salvation
is Christ alone. And I realize in that salvation
I don't have to be ashamed of what I was in all the times I
transgressed because it's been put away. This salvation is a
bane to multitasking religion. and is anathema to the legal
egos of the puritanical theology. The work of the Savior has made
it so that the elect of God are without sin before Him. He says
it right here in this passage of Scripture. The remnant of
Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies. Neither shall
a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth for they shall feed
and lie down and none shall make them afraid. He also says this,
that he's going to leave in them an afflicted and poor people.
That's the remnant according to the election of Christ. Why?
Because only the afflicted and the poor trust in the Lord. Only the afflicted and the poor
trust in the Lord. They shall not do iniquity. You
know, it's hard for us to read words like that and believe them.
It really is. Thank God for what little faith
we do have. God said it. I'm going to hang on to it anyway.
They do not do iniquity, nor lie, nor is there seed upon their
tongue. Why? Well, you see, because they've
got a personal righteousness. They've learned how to undo sin. They've learned how to overcome
sin. They've become super-Christians. They know exactly what to do.
Why? You want a really strange reason why you won't do iniquity,
why there's no deceit in your mouth, why there's no guile in
you? You want a really strange reason?
Well, let's read it. The remnant of Israel shall not
do iniquity, verse 13, nor speak lie. Neither shall a deceitful
tongue be found in their mouth. For, that word for means because. Because they shall feed and lie
down, and none shall make them afraid. They shall... What? How can that be? There's no iniquity
in my mouth? No guile upon my tongue because
I eat and lie down? That's what it says. It sounds
like to me they are saved because they did nothing. What were they
doing? Eating, sleeping. They were doing
nothing. Because if they did nothing to
be saved, salvation must be by someone else. By a savior of
sinners. The elect shall feed and lie
down. They shall feed on the feast
of fat things, wine on the leaves and well refined. They'll feed
on the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and then what will they
do? They'll just lay down. They'll lay down, they'll rest.
Now religion says get up and get busy. Doesn't it? Religion
says you gotta be doing this, you gotta be doing that. I saw
a bulletin not long ago of a Southern Baptist church that had the week
laid out in 15 minute increments. Front and back of that bulletin.
It didn't have anything in there about Christ, but it had this
group and that group and this meeting and that meeting. 15
minute increments for the whole cotton picking week. Boy, they
was busy. That just makes me tired thinking about it. You
know what I think I'll do? I think I'll rest. I think I'll
rest and eat and do nothing, because it's already been done.
It was finished on Calvary's tree 2,000 years ago. I'm not
going to be afraid. God's children aren't afraid.
They're not afraid. Why? Because He who sits upon
the throne has fenced them in. My daughter is a garden enclosed,
wrapped in the arms of Jesus Christ. Nobody can touch me.
Nobody. and this blessedness and this
blessed one, this blessed one, they have a new song. That's
a word or phrase that's repeated a whole lot in scripture. I'll
give you a new song, a new song about a new covenant perhaps,
about a new and living way perhaps, about a renewed mind perhaps,
or about one who's worthy of praise. In dulcet tones they'll
sing of the glory of their Savior. Verse 14, Sing, O daughter of
Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad, and
rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! Why? The Lord hath
taken away thy judgments. He hath cast out the enemy. The
King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou
shalt not see evil any more. I shall not see evil anymore."
What does that mean? Scott Richardson used to say,
and said it a couple of times in different messages, he would
say, if our vision could be filled with Christ, nothing out here
would be evil. If our vision was so filled with
Christ, we'd see everything done in Him. where everything is by
Him, through Him, and to Him, saith the Scripture." What does
that mean? It means this, I say to the righteous, it shall be
well with thee. I know there's turmoil all over
this globe. The Britons just moved out of
the EU and oh, these globalists are going nuts. They don't know
what to think about that. You got ISIS over there and over
here. You got people shooting people
and people trying to take away our goods. You got all kinds
of terrible things going on. You know what all of that's doing?
All of that. What that imam over in, uh, Yemen
is doing or what that fella in the White House is doing or what
the senators or the congressmen are doing. All this sitting down
like they were lost in the 60s again. Sitting down in the middle
of all that's going on. You go, oh my soul, here's what
is happening. Everything they're doing. and
shall do. And everything that goes on in
Yemen or any Islamic country or any so-called Christian nation,
everything that's going on in Europe, everything that's going
on in Jacksonville, North Carolina this morning, every church that's
meeting where a preacher standing preaches a false gospel, where
people believe in a false god, every car that drives down the
road, every dust, piece of dust that flies across the sunbeam,
everything that's happening in this world right now is for your
good and His good. You see, Christ does not see
evil anymore. That ain't evil! That's good!
Next time somebody really gets riled up, and it may be me! Remind
me of this, please. Say, oh, that's sorry, bunch
of people. Say, oh, that's good. Because it is. All things work
together for good to them that love God, to them that are called
according to His purpose. All things. Painful things. Things that make us sad. Things
that break our hearts. Things that lift us up. Things
we don't understand. Things we cannot even conceive
working for the good. of God's people. What a thing
that is. And the effect of this salvation
is that though the elect, unknown to them, have not been able to
worship, when they find themselves captive, what they want to do
is worship God. This speaks historically to Israel,
as it's been in captivity for some time, and they longed, as
David says, as the heart panteth after the water broke. So panteth
my heart after thee. Oh, how long is it going to be
before I get back in the house of the Lord? But it says here,
verse 18, I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn
assembly, who are of thee, to whom the reproach was a burden.
Our captors, sin, self, and Satan have burdened us. And now we
are free to worship the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit and in
truth. This is salvation. Salvation
is deliverance from captivity. Plain and simple. And the captive
don't contribute. We praise God because he has
delivered us from this present evil world. This is salvation. And Christ did it. To him be
glory forever and ever. Amen. Father, bless us to our
understanding. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
God bless you. Thank you for having me. I just can't help but think of
that verse in the book of Acts where the apostle says, there's
no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be
saved. Amen.