What does the Bible say about salvation?

The Bible teaches that salvation is entirely God's work, as stated in Jonah 2:9, 'Salvation is of the Lord.' The Bible emphasizes that salvation is solely the work of God. Jonah's confession in Jonah 2:9 encapsulates this truth, declaring, 'Salvation is of the Lord.' This assertion highlights that from its origination to its completion, salvation is initiated, executed, and applied by God's sovereign grace. Scripture supports this idea through various passages, illustrating that God chose His elect before the foundation of the world and executed salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

How do we know that salvation is all of God?

The Bible confirms that salvation originates, is executed, and is applied solely by God, stating in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 that God has chosen some to salvation. We know that salvation is all of God based on the testimony of Scripture. It is presented as God's intentional act, not dependent on human effort. In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, it's recorded that God 'hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation,' emphasizing the divine choice involved in salvation. Additionally, in passages like Ephesians 2:8-9, it is further affirmed that salvation is by grace through faith, a gift from God to those He calls, proving that no human work or decision contributes to it.

Why is it important for Christians to understand that salvation is of the Lord?

Understanding that salvation is of the Lord reassures Christians of their security and promotes humility, recognizing that salvation is God's gift, not our achievement. It is crucial for Christians to grasp that 'salvation is of the Lord' for several reasons. First, it provides assurance of eternal security. As stated in John 6:37, 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.' This secures believers against the fear of losing their salvation. Secondly, it instills humility, as it acknowledges that salvation is a divine gift rather than a human accomplishment. This understanding fosters a proper response of gratitude and worship toward God for His unmerited grace.

How does the execution of salvation demonstrate God's grace?

The execution of salvation is seen in Christ's sacrificial atonement, as exemplified in Hebrews 1:3, where He purged our sins by Himself. The execution of salvation is a profound demonstration of God's grace, highlighted through the sacrificial act of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:3 states that Jesus 'by Himself purged our sins,' showcasing how He alone accomplished the necessary atonement. This emphasizes that salvation is not achieved by human efforts or religious acts but is entirely based on what Christ has done through His perfect sacrifice. The grace of God is manifested in the divine provision of the Lamb of God, ensuring that believers are redeemed solely through Christ's blood and not through their own deeds.

Salvation Is Of The Lord - Tom Harding | Full Transcript & Audio

This morning for our Bible study, I would have you turn to the book of Jonah. To the book of Jonah, as found in the Old Testament, the book of Jonah, chapter 2. We have a very familiar story with most of you about Jonah, how he was swallowed by a fish, prepared by the Lord. And let's read a few verses here from Jonah, chapter 2.

He said, I'm cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. He said, the waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The depths closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. You see, the desperate condition Jonah was in. I went down to the bottom to the mountains. The earth with her bars were about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came unto thee. into thy holy temple.

They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." You see, Jonah's desperate condition. He said, I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah openly, freely confesses before God in his desperate, dying condition. And he says, if I'm ever to be delivered, God must do it. Salvation is of the Lord. That's his confession. That's his hope of salvation.

And then we read in the next verse, the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon dry land. Now my friend, this story of Jonah's confession and Jonah's condition teaches us how God saves sinners. This story was not given to entertain us, it was given to instruct us and teach us in the way of grace, that salvation is all of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, we read in the book of Matthew, used this very experience of Jonah to preach the gospel of sovereign grace to those self-righteous Jews, those Pharisees, who sought salvation by the works.

Our Lord said to them, there shall be no sign, no truth given to this evil generation, but that truth of the prophet Jonah, that salvation is of the Lord. Now what do we mean when we say that salvation is of the Lord, that salvation is all of God? What do we mean? It simply means this, the whole of the work, The whole of the saving work whereby a guilty, depraved sinner is lifted from the dunghill of sin, from the pit of sin, washed in the blood of Christ and made clean, justified by the grace of God, translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, predestinated To be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's the truth of God's redeeming grace. Predestinated to be just like Christ. Made accepted in the Beloved. In the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him we stand holy, unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight. The whole of the work. whereby we're justified, whereby we're chosen, whereby we're called, whereby we're predestinated and translated and justified, reconciled, redeemed, is the work of God alone.

Now, I'm saying as simply as I can and clearly as I can. Our condition and our depravity because of our condition of our sin is so desperate. We're in a condition like Jonah. Our sin has taken us down to the depths of depravity and the depths of death, the depths of ruin. If we're ever to be delivered, God must do it.

David put it this way. Jonah said that salvation is of the Lord, and that's a confession of the believer. The believer's confession before God is that God saved me. It's God who saved me, God who called me. David put it this way. David, the king of Israel. David the great writer of the psalm said this is the Lord's doing Salvation's God's doing salvation is not what we do for God Salvation is what God has done for us.

This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes now here are four thoughts That I would like for you to remember about God's salvation Salvation is of the Lord. Now. Here's the first thought now listen to me carefully this morning Salvation is of the Lord in its origination, in its planning.

Our Lord purposed, planned the salvation of His elect, the salvation of His chosen before the foundation of the world, before Adam was created, before Adam sinned, before Adam fell. The surety of the covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as a mediator. He stood as a lamb that would be slain. In the mind and the purpose of God, before Adam ever sinned, before ruin, God had the remedy. You see, salvation is of the Lord in its origination. We read in Revelation 13, verse 8, The Lord Jesus Christ stood as a lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

Salvation is older than creation. Salvation is older than Adam's sin. It was born in the secret counsel of God. Every detail of the sinner's salvation was purpose decreed before time began. Salvation is eternal. God saves with an everlasting salvation. If you're saved and justified in Christ, it's because God from eternity, purpose, plan, and predestinated to bring it to pass, God determined your salvation in eternity. Salvation is of the Lord in its planning and its origination.

Listen to this scripture in 2 Thessalonians 2.13. We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, Beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation." To deny this truth, that salvation is of the Lord, that salvation is all of grace, is to deny that God is God.

You see, God determined salvation, and God determined whom He would save. He said, it's not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, it's God who would have mercy. He said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Now, have you got the first thought? Salvation is of the Lord in its origination. Secondly, salvation is of the Lord in its execution. Its execution. God not only purposed the sinner's salvation, but He also provided the means whereby He could justly accomplish it. Why is the sinner saved? Well, certainly not because of anything the sinner provides or the sinner does. The Lord Jesus Christ provided sufficient atonement. God in Christ provided the sacrifice. God in Christ provided the Lamb by His blood. You see, that's the God purchased us with His own blood.

We read in Hebrews chapter 1. Salvations of the Lord in His execution. Hebrews 1, we read, when He by Himself purged our sin. You see, He executed that. When He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down at the right hand of God. Again, we read in Hebrews 9, verse 12, He obtained eternal redemption for us with His own blood. As our high priest, He didn't bring the typical animal blood sacrifice. He brought His own blood. You see, He executed this atonement. He executed this salvation. He executed the blood sacrifice.

No one has helped to provide this sacrifice. It was given of God. John identified the sacrifice of Christ. the sacrifice of God when He said, Behold the Lamb of God. You see, it's God's sacrifice. It's God's atonement for sin. That's why we must insist upon, and the Scriptures clearly teach that salvation is of the Lord, not only in its origination, but also in its execution. God provided the sacrifice. And my friend, know this, what God has provided, God will accept, and nothing else. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that makes atonement for the soul. Now, who provided that? Who executed that? Now, let's be honest. God did that. Salvation is of the Lord in its execution. God provided the sacrifice. God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made to righteousness of God in Him. Thirdly, Salvation is of the Lord in its application.

Its application. Now most lost religious people believe that God's done all He can do and the rest is up to us. My friend, let me ask you some questions. Can a dead sinner, a spiritually dead sinner, give himself spiritual life? No. Salvation is of the Lord. It's God who must quicken. Can a lost sheep find itself? Can a lost sheep save itself? We read in Scripture, all we like sheep have gone astray. Can an Ethiopian change his skin? Well, certainly not. Can a leper change his spots? Certainly not.

Salvation is of the Lord. God must apply this salvation to the sinner's heart. You see salvation is a heart work Salvation is something God does within us by his grace by his purpose through God the Holy Spirit This is exactly what happens when God is pleased to sovereignly regenerate and to give us life Our Lord said you must be born again born from above born of God Paul put it this way when he wrote to the Ephesians, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. Who did the quickening?

God did. Paul wrote this to the Philippians. Philippians 1, 6, it's God who has begun a good work in you. And God who has begun the good work in you, he says we're confident that God will finish it. James wrote this of his own will. Beget he us with the word of truth." You can see that salvation, that is God applying this salvation to the sinner's heart, being justified, reconciled, redeemed, is a work of God alone in the heart. It's what God does in us by His purpose and by His grace. Psalm 110 we read, Thy people shall be willing in a day of God's power.

And someone might say, well, and here's an argument that I often hear, well a man must believe, a man must repent. That is true. But my friend, believing and repenting is never the cause of salvation. It is the evidence of salvation. We're born again, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but we're born of God. We believe and we repent because God has given us life. He that believeth on the Son hath life. and shall not come into condemnation." Now simply, let me say this to you.

If you're trusting something you have done, something you did, something you gave, some decision you made, my friend, you don't know the gospel. You're not found in Christ. Salvation is something God does in us, not what we do for Him. Salvation is not received by doing. Salvation is received by believing. Faith is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."

Now, if you got the first three, salvation is of the Lord in its origination. Now, this is what Jonah learned. And this is what every redeemed sinner has been taught of God. Salvation is of the Lord in its origination, in its execution, in its application. God must make application to the heart. Now, here's the fourth thought. Salvation is of the Lord in its sustaining power.

Those whom God saved by His grace are saved with an everlasting salvation. They are eternally secured, never to be lost again. Our Lord said that in John chapter 6. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and those that come to me I will in no wise, I will never cast out. He saves us with an everlasting salvation.

All of God's elect, they will persevere in faith because they're preserved by the power of God or kept by the power of God. To entertain any idea that his man is saved one day and lost the next is to believe that salvation is of works and not of grace. Listen to the scripture we read in the book of Jude, down to Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. You see, salvation is of the Lord.

To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty and dominion both now and forever. Amen. Now let me ask you this in closing. Have you learned that very vital lesson? that Jonah learned that day, as Jonah confessed unto God, salvation is of the Lord. I pray that that's your experience of grace in your heart, and if it's not, I pray that God would do a work of grace in you by His Spirit through this gospel of God's grace. Now if you would like to listen to this message again, Salvation is of the Lord, gladly send it to you, request a copy, or you can write to me at Church 6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikesville, Kentucky.

Salvation Is Of The Lord

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know that salvation is all of God?

Why is it important for Christians to understand that salvation is of the Lord?

How does the execution of salvation demonstrate God's grace?

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Salvation Is Of The Lord

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know that salvation is all of God?

Why is it important for Christians to understand that salvation is of the Lord?

How does the execution of salvation demonstrate God's grace?

Sermon Transcript

About Tom Harding

Comments

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