Let's open our Bibles now to
Acts chapter 16. Brother Dan is going to read
a portion of this in just a little bit, but I want to read earlier
in the chapter so that we see when we get down to Paul preaching
to the Philippian jailer that it was God who sent him there.
And isn't that how it is for all of us? God miraculously moved
all the events of providence and time to make our paths cross
a preacher so that we'd hear of Christ. So that's what we're
gonna start reading. Before I read it, Debbie just
told me that Dan Culver had a pretty big seizure last week and been
laid up for all this week, so I'm sure he's hurting from that,
so let's all remember him in prayer. All right, let's begin
reading in Acts 16, verse six. Now when they had gone through
Phrygia, in the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia
and assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them
not, wouldn't let them go preach where they had determined they
wanted to go preach. And they, passing by Mysia, came down to
Trohas. And a vision appeared to Paul
in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him,
saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And after, he had
seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia,
assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to go
preach the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from Troas,
we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next
day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief
city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony, and we were in
that city abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath, we went out
of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made. And
we sat down and spake unto the women, resorted thither. And
a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city
of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us, whose heart the
Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. And when she was baptized in her household, she besought
us, saying, if you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord,
come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. All right, we'll end our reading
there and let's stand together. Shawn leads us in singing our
call to worship. Thou art the way to the alone,
from sin and death we flee. And he who would the Father seek,
must seek him, Lord, by thee. Thou art the truth, Thy word
alone true wisdom can impart. Thou only can inform the mind
and purify the heart. Thou art the life, the open tomb,
proclaims the conquering arm. And those who have their trust
in thee, nor death nor hell can harm. ? Thou art the way, the
truth, the life ? ? Grant us that way to know ? ? That truth
to keep, that life to win ? ? Whose joy eternal flow ? Okay, if you
would, turn in your hymnals to song number 75, and we'll sing
Abide With Me. Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord, with
me abide. When other helpers fail and comforts
flee, Help of the helpless who abide with me. Swift to its close ebbs out life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need Thy presence every passing
hour. What but Thy grace can foil the
tempter's power? Who, like Thyself, my guide and
stake can be, Through cloud and sunshine, O, abide with me. Hold Thou Thy Word, for my closing
eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. Heaven's morning breaks and earth's
vain shadows flee. ? In life, in death, O Lord, abide
with me ? We're gonna pick up reading in Acts
16 at verse 16. And it came to pass, as we went
to prayer, A certain damsel, possessed with the spirit of
divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us
and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most
high God, which show unto us the way of salvation. And this
did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned
and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ
to come out of her. And he came out that same hour.
And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone,
they caught Paul and Silas and drew them into the marketplace
unto the rulers and brought them to the magistrates saying, these
men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs
which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe being
Romans. And the multitude rose up together
against them And the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded
to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely. Who, having received such a charge,
thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in stocks.
And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and signed praises unto
God. And the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And
immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bands were
loosened, were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,
waking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open, he drew
out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that
the prisoners had been, had been fled. But Paul cried out with
a loud voice saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here.'
Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling,
and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out,
and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy
house. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord, and to all that were in his house, And he took
them that same hour of the night and washed their stripes and
was baptized, he and all his straight way. And when he had
brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced,
believing in God with all his house. May the Lord bless his
word. Our father, who art in heaven, Holy and hallowed be thy name. Father, we come before you this
morning only through the righteous blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing that and being grateful
that through him we might come before you and call you Abba
Father. What a Tremendous blessing to
think that our sin that weighs us down and causes us to despair
when we look inwardly, that Christ Jesus took that sin on himself,
was made sin for us, and died that we might be made the very
righteousness of God in him. that we might come through the
righteous blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray that
you would cause us to look to Christ for all things. Leave
us not alone. Lord, we know you're a God of
purpose. We know all things are in thy
hand. Lord, we pray for those who are going through difficult
trials. We think of our brother Dan Culver. We think of the Sparks girls. We think of, Lord, so many that
we don't even know. But we know that you will send
trials and we know that they will accomplish your will. Lord,
we pray that they would Calls us to look to Christ, just as
Paul and Silas in that prison enable us to rejoice and pray
and sing praises to Thee in times of trouble. Calls us, Lord, to
help one another, to pray for one another, to lift one another
up. We pray, Lord, that this morning
that you would that you would support our pastor,
that you would hold him up, that you would give him a word from
thee, that he might speak the words of our Lord Jesus Christ,
salvation through him, to the hearts of your people. Give us,
Lord, not just hearing ears, but receiving hearts, Lord. Take
our stony hearts Speak to that heart of flesh
that you've put in us. Speak to that new man. Cause
us to rejoice in our Lord Jesus Christ. Give us rebirth through
him. Lord, send your spirit to be
among us. Leave us not alone. Cause us to be able to rejoice
and praise thee as we ought through our Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
we pray that you would continue to Bless each home represented
here. Lord, we're so thankful for this
local assembly that we might be called the Church of God.
Lord, we pray that you would continue to bless the word here,
to send forth the clear word of the gospel, the good news
of salvation through Christ, that we not look to one another,
not look to ourselves, but look to Christ for all things. Father
we pray that you would continue to bless, that you would Lord
just give us a moment of worship this morning. Cause us to truly
worship our Lord Jesus Christ. Give us an awe and a reverence. Cause us to look to him. Lord
we ask all these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
for his sake. Amen. ? Home to the king ? I'm a child
of his love ? I shall dwell in his palace so fair ? For he tells
of his bliss in yon heaven above ? And his children his pledge I belong to the King, I'm a child
of His love, And He never forsaken His own. He will call me someday to His
palace above, I belong to the King, and He
loves me, I know, for His mercy and kindness so free. For unceasingly mine, wheresoever
I go, and my refuge I belong to the King, I'm a child
of His love, And He never forsakes His own. He will call me someday to His
palace above, I shall dwell by His law, 3 I belong to the King, and his
promise assured, that the oaths shall be gathered at last in
his kingdom above. I love water so good, With its
life, with its trials, its rest. I belong to the King, I'm a child
of His love, And He never forsaken His own. ? To His palace above ? I shall
dwell by His door if I fall ? Outstanding, thank you.
Let's open our Bibles now again to Acts chapter 16. I've titled the message this
morning, What Must I Do to Be Saved? And Paul and Silas are
in jail for the gospel's sake. Look here at verse 22 of Acts
16. And the multitude rose up together
against them, and the magistrates ran off their clothes and commanded
to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely, who having received Such a charge thrust
them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in stocks. Now, Paul and Silas were in a
great deal of pain here. They laid many stripes on them. And they then, after they beat
their backs, lacerated their backs, just beat them bloody,
they threw them into a dark, dank, dirty dungeon. There they
are, bleeding. They're hurting. Hands are chained
to the wall. Their feet are held fast in stock. You know, they're hurting and
they can't even move around and try to find a comfortable position.
They're tied up, chained up. And instead of complaining, and
even instead of praying for deliverance, I want you to look what they
did, verse 25. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed, and they sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. Paul and Silas were in such pain,
and they knew they were facing a very bad situation come morning.
And they were having a true worship service. There in that dark,
dirty dungeon and in such pain, they were having a true worship
service. You know, I found this to be
true. This is an unfortunate truth about our flesh, that we
tend to have true worship services when we're in times of real trouble.
That's when we tend to have true worship services. That's really
the time that the Lord has to put us in that kind of position.
We're really hurting in time of trouble. That's when we seek
the Lord, and that's when we have a true worship service.
That's what's going on here. In verse 26, suddenly there was
a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were
shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's
bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,
waking out of his sleep, seeing the prison doors open, he drew
out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that
the prisoners had been fled. This great earthquake came and
all the doors of the prison popped open, all the chains and the
stocks on folks' feet, you know, popped open, and the prisoners
were free. And the warden of the prison
thought, well, they've all escaped, and he knew it was better for
him to kill himself rather than be tortured and killed by his
bosses for letting all the prisoners escape. But verse 28, Paul cried
with a loud voice saying, do thyself no harm for we're all
here. Then he called for a light and
sprang in and came trembling and fell down before Paul and
Silas. Now, can you imagine how relieved
this jailer was to see all the prisoners were still there? I
don't know what was in his mind. I find it interesting, during
this worship service, now this was a true worship service. This
man was asleep. He was asleep in the middle of
a true worship service. I don't know what he'd heard,
maybe he'd heard something about what these men preached or he knew
they were religious or something. So he came and asked, even though
he'd been asleep, God woke him up, didn't he? He sent his earthquake,
woke his man up. And he came and asked them the
most important question any sinner can ask. Verse 30, and he brought
them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now there
can't be a more important question for us to ask and find out the
answer to. What must I do to be saved? Because
here's what I know. I must be saved. I must be, or
else I'm gonna perish in hell. I also know this, there's nothing
I can do to save myself. You know, the reason I need to
be saved is because of what I've done, because of my sin. I can't
save myself. Somebody else has to do all the
saving for me. The question is not what can
I do to earn salvation? What can I do to be saved, to
be saved by someone else? You know, there's nothing you
can do to obligate God to save you. Not one thing. But that
doesn't mean there's nothing you can do. That's so important
to understand. There's nothing we can do to
obligate God to save us, to get God to save us. We can't barter
with him, we can't earn it, we can't trade with him. There's
nothing we can do to obligate God to save us, but that does
not mean there's nothing we can do. Don't you forget that. You
know, this question is asked quite a few times in scripture.
And the answer is never, well, there's nothing you can do. The
rich young ruler, we looked to him in the class this morning.
He asked this question, what can I do to inherit eternal life?
And the Lord didn't say, well, there's nothing you can do. The
answer was give up what you're trusting in and follow Christ
and trusting him. Look back at Acts chapter two. Peter preaching this great message
on the day of Pentecost. ends his message in verse 36. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus
whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. And when they heard
this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and
to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall
we do? What are we gonna do? What shall
we do? And the answer was not, Well,
there's nothing you can't do. You're just gonna have to wait
and find out if you're one of the Electronauts. You just have to
wait. There's nothing you can't do. That wasn't the answer at
all because the answer is never there's nothing you can do. Look
at verse 38. Then Peter said unto them, repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. See, the answer is repent. Turn
from your idols, turn to Christ and trust Christ. Truly trust
Christ from the heart and confess him publicly. The answer is this,
receive. Receive salvation. Don't earn
it. Receive it as a free gift of
God's grace. The answer is receive the Holy
Ghost. Be born again by God the Holy
Spirit. That's what you can do. Now I
wanna look at this question for just a few minutes this morning.
What must I do to be saved? I know the answer was nothing
you can do. But first I think we have to
understand some things about salvation. What does it mean
to be saved? I need to be saved. Saved from
what? Most people don't know this. I need to be saved from
God. I need to be saved from God's
wrath against my sin. God is angry with the wicked
every day. And you know who the wicked is?
Me and you. We're the wicked. We have to
be saved from God's wrath against our sin. Secondly, I've got to
be saved from myself. I've got to be saved from my
works. I've got to be saved from my
ways. I've got to be saved from my thoughts. I've got to be saved
from my sin. The sin that I've committed,
I've got to be saved from my sin nature. I must be saved from
myself, from what I am. What I've done, yes, but I've
got to be saved from what I am, my sin nature. I'm nothing but
sin. Thirdly, I've got to be saved from my sins. My sin has
to stop me. My sin has to be paid for. Excuse
me, I'm getting ahead of myself. My sin must be paid for. My sin,
it must be cleansed off of me. I must be saved from my sin.
Fourth, I must be saved from the power of sin. Now, you know
what the power of sin is? It's the power of my sin nature
that stops me from repenting and believing on Christ. I've
got to be saved from the power of my sin. It's the power of sin that causes
death. I must be saved from that so
that I can have eternal life. And then fifthly, I must be saved
from the presence of sin. Now I know that won't happen
as long as I'm in this flesh. I can't be saved from the presence
of sin until I'm in glory with the Lord. But if I'm gonna appear
in heaven, I tell you what, the presence of sin's gonna have
to be gone. If I wanna be in God's holy presence, I've got
to be perfect body and soul. And the Lord Jesus Christ must
make it so that my sin does not exist anymore. By his sacrifice,
he has to make it so that my sin does not exist anymore and
make me perfect. That's what I must be saved from.
All right, number two, now this is the question we're looking
at. What must I do to be saved? Well, how is salvation accomplished?
You know, there's some specific things that must happen in order
for a sinner to be saved. Number one, if I would be saved,
I must be elected unto salvation by God the Father. God has to
choose me. The entire golden chain of salvation
begins with God's electing love. When God the Father chose a sinful
people to save out of Adam's fallen race, if the Father did
not elect a specific exact people to save, do you know nobody would
be saved? Nobody. In John 5 verse 19, this
is what the Lord said, you will not, you will not, you refuse,
you will not come unto me that you might have life. You will
not. We would never choose God's way
of salvation unless God chose us first. Then a few pages later,
John 6 verse 44, the Lord said this, no man can come unto me. Now he doesn't say no man may,
He said, no man can. No man of his nature has the
ability to come unto me, except the Father, which sent me drawing.
None of us has the ability to come to Christ. By nature, we
don't have the ability to choose God's way of salvation. Do you
know why? Because we're spiritually dead.
And dead men can't do anything but stink. We don't have the
ability to come to Christ. Not only do we not have the desire
to come to Christ, we don't have the ability to come to Christ.
We don't have the ability to choose God's way of salvation
because we're dead, spiritually dead. So God has to do something
for the dead, because the dead can't do anything for themselves.
Isn't that just obvious? It's just obvious, isn't it?
What the Lord said to his disciples, he says to every one of his people,
You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you. Now just like love,
we love God because he first loved us. If God saved you, you
choose Christ. You commit to him, you choose
him, you follow him. You wouldn't have it any other
way, but you only choose God because he chose you first. Look
at 1 Thessalonians chapter one. 1 Thessalonians chapter one. Verse four, knowing brethren,
beloved, your election of God. Paul says, I know your elect
of God, and here's why I know that. For our gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake, and you became followers of us and
of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy in the Holy Ghost. Now, where did their salvation
begin? With the election of God. And God sent them the gospel,
and they believed it, because God gave them the faith to do
it. Look at 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter two. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God, for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, or until he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, where did all that begin? Where did all their salvation
begin? Where did this begin, their sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, being called by the gospel,
hearing the gospel and believing on Christ, where did all that
begin? God hath from the beginning chosen you unto salvation. It
all began with God's electing love. And if God's gonna save
you and me, that's where our salvation's gonna begin too.
With God's electing love. When the Father chose a sinful
people to save. That must happen. All right,
number two. If I would be saved, I must be
redeemed by the person and work of God the Son, who came to earth
in my flesh, Now in eternity, before God created anything,
the father, he elected a people into salvation. And the father
also elected a savior for those people. He chose, he elected
the only one who could save his people from their sin, his son. He's the only one to get the
job done. And the father gave those people that he elected
to his son to save. And the son agreed to save them.
He agreed to be the surety. for those people. He agreed to
come in the flesh, be made flesh, and to do everything that it
took to save those sinful people from their sin. When Adam sinned
in the garden, you know why God didn't destroy the whole human
race, why he didn't destroy Adam and Eve? Because Christ already
stood a surety for those people. He already promised that he would
come and save a people who'd come from Adam's loins. That's
why God didn't destroy Adam, because there's a people in Adam's
loins the Son promised to save, and He's gonna save them. God
the Son promised that He would humiliate Himself to come in
our flesh and be the second Adam, be the second representative
man, and He would make those people righteous. Those people
that the Father put in Him, He would make those people righteous
by His obedience to the law for them. See, those people that
God chose, that He put in Christ, They're righteous because they
were in Christ doing what he did. When Christ obeyed the law,
so did his people, because they were in him, in him as their
representative. And for maternity, the son, he
agreed to be the sacrifice for the sin of those people that
God chose to save. The son agreed to be made sin
for his people. I know people love to argue about
that, what does it mean to be made sin? We don't have, I mean
we have some idea, but we don't have any idea of the depths of
it. The son agreed to be made sin
for his people, knowing full well what it meant. He knew the
depths of what that meant. He agreed, the holy son of God
agreed to be made guilty. Even though he never committed
a sin, he agreed to be made guilty. of the sin of his people and
to suffer and die and pay that penalty, the penalty of sin,
as a man made guilty before God. The son agreed that he would
suffer and die for the sin of his people so that they would
never die, so that they would have eternal life. He purchased,
he earned salvation, eternal life for his people. That has
to happen for me if I'm to be saved. If Lord Jesus Christ does
not take my sin away from me, and take it into his own body
on the tree, and put it away by his sacrifice, then I must
perish in hell. Because if Christ didn't take
it away from me, it's still on me, and I must perish in hell. Thank God the Lord Jesus Christ
came to save his people from their sin, and he got the job
done. Then thirdly, if I would be saved,
I must be born again by the power of God the Holy Spirit. You see,
the nature of Adam, the nature of the flesh that's in us, the
nature that I was born with in 1965, is a nature of pure sin,
pure evil, and pure iniquity. You too. That's the nature of
our flesh. It's the nature we got from our
father Adam. And that nature cannot, and it
will not change. That's what the Lord told Nicodemus.
Nicodemus, here's why you must be born again, because that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. The only thing it can ever be
is dead, sinful, rotten flesh. But now that which is born of
the spirit is spirit. That which is born of God the Holy Spirit
is spiritual. It's holy, it's righteous, just
like the seed that bore it. A holy God cannot and will not
except this flesh into his presence. So if I would be saved, I must
be born again. I can't be born again like I
was born the first time. If I was born like I was the
first time, I'd be born a sinner all over again, because I'd be
conceived from sinful seed. If I would be saved, I must be
born again with a new nature that's conceived from new seed. The holy, sinless word of God. Look at 1 Peter chapter one. First Peter one, verse 23, being born again. Now, how are
we born again? Not a corruptible seed like we
were in our first birth, but of incorruptible, of sinless,
of perfect seed by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. The new nature that's born of
God is born from the sinless seed of the word of God. So that
new man, that new nature, is gonna be holy and righteous because
that's the nature of the seed that conceived him. This book
is holy and righteous. Everybody here understands that?
No. Holy Bible. Everybody knows it. It's the
holy word of God. Then whatever's born of this
seed, it's gonna be holy. It's gonna be righteous. and
it can never sin. Let me show you that, 1 John
chapter three. I couldn't make that statement
if I didn't take it directly from the word of God. 1 John
three, verse nine. Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and
he cannot sin. It's impossible for him to sin,
because he's born of God. Now that is not to say that after
God saves us, we never commit any sins. Now we're still in
this flesh. A believer is always going to
have a nature of sin, a sinful fleshly nature. As long as we
live on this earth, we're stuck with it. But the believer is
also going to have a second nature that's holy, and righteous, that
loves Christ, that believes Christ, that hungers and thirsts after
him, that follows him, that's committed to him, a nature born
of God. And those two natures will war
against each other as long as the flesh is alive. But one day,
before too long, the flesh is going to die. And you're going
to put the flesh in the ground. But the very second that this
flesh dies, the new nature, That new man who's born of God is
gonna leave this clay prison, and he's gonna go straight into
the presence of God Almighty. And he's gonna be accepted. You
know why? Because he's holy and righteous.
No changes has to be made to that new man. The Lord Jesus
Christ made him fit to be there. Made him fit. The Holy Spirit
made him so. So if I would be saved, I must
be born again. But then fourthly, look back
in our text, Acts chapter 16. If I would be saved, I must hear
and believe the gospel of God. Verse 31, they said, here's what
you must do. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved in thy house. Anybody else who believes
him should be saved. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord and to all that were in the house. Here's what Paul
told the jailer. You must believe on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Paul told the jailer
who Christ is. He preached to him and told him
who Christ is. Now, if I would be saved, I must
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. All three. The Savior is Lord. He is almighty God. He's almighty
God in human flesh, but he is all Mighty God. I can't understand
that. I just know it so. Isaiah said,
the child that is born is the son of God who's given. And that
infant who was born, Isaiah said, here's his name. Wonderful. Counselor, the mighty God. He's the everlasting father,
the prince of peace. And since he's God, The Lord
Jesus Christ has the power, he has the righteousness, and he
has the right to save. See, we've sinned against God.
Who has the right to forgive our sin and put it away? God.
Since the Lord Jesus Christ is God, he has both the power, the
right, and the righteousness to save a sinner like me. He's
Lord. But the Savior's also Jesus.
Jesus of Nazareth, a real man, Jesus of Nazareth, Mary's firstborn
son, who was a real baby, who would have perished if his mama
didn't nurse him and give him food. He's a real man. The Son
of God is also the Son of Man. There's another thing I can't
understand, but I thrill that it's so. I believe fully that
it's so. See, if a sinner like me is gonna
be saved, the Savior's got to come in my flesh. to be my representative,
to be my sacrifice. My Savior's got to be a real
man. If he's gonna take my sin away from me, he's got to be
a real man. My sin can't be transferred to
an animal. My sin can't be transferred to
God, but it can be transferred to another man. My Savior's got
to be a real man in my flesh if he's gonna be my substitute.
An animal can't be my substitute. God can't be my substitute, but
a man can. My Savior must be a real man
in the flesh if he's gonna be the sacrifice for my sin. Now,
God can't be the sacrifice for my sin. You can sacrifice animals
all you want, but the blood of bulls and goats can never take
away sin. That animal sacrifice, the only
thing it's good for is this, a picture of Christ. The only
one who can die as a sacrifice for my sin and put it away is
a man who's also God. He's got to be a man to be my
representative, to be my sacrifice, but he's got to be God to be
perfect. He's got to be God to have blood that's holy and sinless
that can pay for my sin. So the Savior's Lord, he's Jesus,
and he's the Christ. He's the Messiah sent by God,
the one elected by God, appointed by the Father to be the Savior
of his people. See, the Savior must be righteous.
He's got to have a sacrifice that God will accept. This thing
of Christ's sacrifice on the cross is not an offering made
to you and me. It's a sacrifice offered to God.
He must be a sacrifice that God will accept. So the father, he
appointed the Savior that he would accept. The only one he
would accept, his son. So if sinners like me is gonna
be saved from my sin, my Savior's gotta be all three, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's the Savior I must
hear preached, not just any Jesus now. Remember the Apostle Paul
told us there's another Jesus that cannot save. I don't wanna
hear him preached. If I would be saved, I can't
hear a cheap imitation preached. I can't hear a Savior preached
that appeals to my emotion, that appeals to my flesh, He's got
to be the real McCoy, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when I hear
the gospel preached, I must believe him. Him. Look at Ephesians chapter one.
I know this, a sinner is saved when he hears and believes the
gospel of Christ preached. Ephesians one verse 13. in whom you also trusted. Now,
when did you trust him? When did you believe him? After
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom? See, you believed a person in
whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. And that's the very same gospel
that Paul preached to the jailer, that the jailer heard. And again,
I point this out because doesn't this give us such hope? Such
hope for ourselves, such hope for our lost loved ones. The
jailer heard. Now, just a few minutes ago,
he was sound asleep in the middle of this worship service. But
God woke him up. He sent an earthquake and woke
him up so that he heard and believed the gospel. Then fifthly, if
I would be saved, I must endure to the end. Now that is to say
this, God must keep me faithful to the end. Look at the book
of Jude. God must keep me faithful to
the end. Our Lord said, Matthew 24, verse 13, he that shall endure
unto the end, the same shall be saved. If I'm gonna endure
to the end, this is what I know, the Lord must be the one to keep
me. Look at Jude, verse 24. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to only wise God
our Savior, be glory and majesty and dominion and power, both
now and ever, amen. If I'm gonna be kept to the end,
Christ is gonna be the one to do it, isn't he? And he's gonna
get all the glory for doing it. Now, that's what I must be safe
from. That's how, the ABCs of how salvation
is accomplished. Now we come back to our original
question. What must I do to be saved? Now remember, the answer
is never nothing. The answer is never, well, there's
nothing you can do, you just gotta wait and see if God saves
you. Nope, that's not the answer. Now let's start with what we
know. Here's what I know. Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is by the will of God, by the doing of God. I know that. I
know that if God does not do all the saving for me, I will
perish. I know that. I know it. But that
does not mean there's nothing I can do. It doesn't mean there's
nothing you can do. If someone here this morning
is not saved and you know it, and you want to be saved, here's
three things you can do. And to keep it simple, you can
remember there's three things that you can do. There's three
things any sinner can do if they want to be saved. And I might
just add this. Any sinner who already knows
the Lord and believes the Lord, if you want a blessing from the
Lord, if you want to be fed from the Lord, if you want a message
from the Lord, you can do these three things too. You don't do
these three things once and never do them again. This is the life
of a believer. These three things. I can do
this. I can take my place before God
as a sinner who deserves to be sent to hell. Now I can do that.
I'll give you a couple examples. Remember the publican in the
temple? He smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me,
the sinner. This man took his place before
God as a sinner. And what did the savior say about
him? He went down to his house just after he took his place
before God as a sinner. Remember that Canaanite woman
whose daughter was possessed with the devil? She came begging
the Lord for mercy. And Lord told her, it's not right
for me to give the children's bread to dogs. I only came to
save my elect. And she didn't say, oh, well,
there's nothing I can do. I've got to wait and find out if I'm
one of God's elect or not. She took her place before God as
a sinner. She said, truth, Lord, I'm a
dog. I'm a dog that doesn't deserve
the least of your mercies. She took her place before God
as a sinner, and she received her heart's desire. Her daughter
was healed. Remember that woman who came
and washed the Lord's feet with her tears and dried his feet
with her hair? And that self-righteous Pharisee
who was there said, oh, I thought he was a prophet. If he knew
what manner of woman this was that touches him, he wouldn't
let her be touching him. And Lord said, Simon, you see
this woman? You see this woman? She's washing
my feet with her tears and drying them with the hairs of her head. She's a notorious sinner who
took her place before me as a notorious sinner. And her sins, which are many,
are forgiven. Oh. Don't you? Then let's take our place before
God as a sinner. I can take my place before God
as a sinner. Here's the second thing I can do. I can seek the
Lord. Now I can seek the Lord. I can't make him find me, but
I can seek him. How do I seek the Lord? I can
be where the gospel is preached. Now again, let's just stick to
what we know. I know that where two or three are gathered together
in His name, where the gospel is being preached, the Savior
said, there am I in the midst of them. I know that's where
He is. Now, if you want to find somebody, be where they're at.
I mean, doesn't that just make sense? I know that I cannot make
myself believe Christ. I know that. I know it by experience
for wasted years of trying to make myself believe. I know I
cannot make myself believe. You can't either. But you know
what I can do? I can ask the Lord to give me
faith to believe. I can ask him to give it to me.
You know, I just can't overemphasize the importance of this. To be
here to hear. There's just nothing more important
going on in your week than to be here to hear the gospel preached.
I read an article this week about many different denominations
of religion. And the way the world today is,
people just are not all that interested in organized religion.
Their numbers are falling and they've got to make all these
budget cuts and all these things. Brethren, let's not let the way
of the world become our way. There are plenty of faults with I hate to say organized religion,
but for lack of a better term, the organization here that we
have of a church body that's organized together as a body,
there's plenty of faults with it. There's plenty of faults
with it because every last one of us are sinners. We make a
mess of everything. I used to work with a guy who
said, you could tear up an anvil. You and me could tear up an anvil.
I mean, I know there's lots of faults with it, but this is where
God is. This is how God said he speaks
to his people. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And despite all of our
wards, despite all of our faults, despite all of our shortcomings,
faith still cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
If you want to hear from God, be here to hear. If you want
to find out what God says about salvation and righteousness and
spiritual matters, I tell you what, be here to hear. Now, I cannot make myself believe,
but I'll tell you one thing I can do. I can get myself to the place
where the gospel's preached and sit there and do my best to pay
attention to what's being said and not be like this Philippian
jailer who's asleep. I can try to pay attention and
ask God, beg God to give me faith to believe. Give you two examples. O Cornelius. Now he's a Gentile,
he's an alien from the Commonwealth of Israel, separated from the
promises of God. But he wanted to know God. He
wanted to be saved. He asked God to send him a preacher.
And God sent him one. And when he got there, Cornelius
said, what? We're all here to hear. Now we're
gonna sit down and shut up, and you preach Christ to us. God
sent him a preacher, and his whole house was saved. because
he availed himself to the means of grace. Lydia, now Lydia was
a woman, she worshiped God, she sought God. She's down there
by the riverside, there's a bunch of women, they didn't have a
preacher, and they said, well, we're just gonna pray together. Only thing
we can do, we're gonna pray together. That's what we can do, we can
pray. And while they're praying, who
shows up but the Apostle Paul, preached Christ to her, and her
heart was open, when she heard a preacher. Now if I want God
to open my heart, tell you what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna find
somebody preaching Christ, I'm gonna sit down and listen to
him. I can do that. And then number three is this. I can seek
the Lord, I can be where the gospel's preached, and I can
beg God for mercy. This is what the Lord said. In
the day that you seek me with all of your heart, you'll find
me. Now, I could seek the Lord. You
know what else scripture says? You have not because you ask
not. If you don't have salvation, it's because you haven't asked
for it. Plain as that. You can say, well, I've asked
for it. No, you haven't. You bargained with God. You made
a deal with God. God, you do this and I'll do
this. That's not asking. If you beg God for mercy and
salvation, you beg him to forgive your sin, he will. Brother Henry said this, I always
wish I could say things like he said. This is what he said,
quit lying, quit trying and quit buying and start begging. And
when we do, we'll have salvation. You can't make God save you,
but you can pray and ask him to save you. You can pray and
say, Lord, I don't deserve it, but would you have mercy on my
sorry soul? You can do that. You know what? That's what the thief on the
cross did. Lord, would you have mercy on me? Would you remember
me when you come into your kingdom? And that very day, he was in
paradise with the Lord. That leper, full of leprosy,
every part of his body was covered with leprosy, infected with leprosy,
and it is fevered, dirty, Unclean state. He came and fell at the feet
of the Lord Jesus Christ and said, Lord, if you will, you
can make me clean. And the Lord said, I will. Be
clean. Jacob. Remember when Jacob was
wrestling with the Lord? Now that ain't a fair fight.
I mean, it's just, you know, Jacob don't have a single hope
of winning that fight. I mean, although what I do is
touch the hollow of his, I mean, you don't have a single hope.
But you know what Jacob said? I will not let you go, except
you bless me. I won't. Lord, you might not
save me, but I'm gonna seek you. I'm gonna beg you for mercy.
I'm gonna be where your gospel's preached. I will not let you
go. And Jacob received all the blessings
of God. What must I do to be saved? I
can do those three things and wait on the Lord. How about you?
All right, I hope that'll be helpful to you. Let's bow together. Our Father, we do take our place
before you as sinners. We are sinful men and women,
undeserving of the least of your mercies. Father, we've been here
to hear your word preached. and how I beg of you that you
would apply your word to our hearts, to each heart here this
morning. Father, cause us to beg for mercy, to be a beggar
at your feet. Father, would you be pleased
out of your, the riches of your mercy and grace to your people,
would you be pleased to show mercy to us? Father, we give you all the praise.
and all the glory for it. Surely we would, because it all
belongs to thee. Salvation is of the Lord. Lord, would you be pleased to
save us? Father, it's in Christ's sake, for his glory, not our
glory. We ask for our good, but not
for our glory, for the glory of Christ. Would you show us
your glory in saving sinners like us? It's in Christ's name,
for his sake we pray, amen. Alright, Sean. OK, if you would turn in your
hymnals to song number 226. 226 and stand as we sing my savior. I am not skilled to understand
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know that
His right hand is one who is my Savior. I take him at his
word indeed. Christ died for sinners, this
I read. For in my heart I find a need
of him to be my Savior. That he should leave his place
on high and come for sin. Full man to die, you count it
strange, So once did I, before I knew my Saviour. And though that he fulfilled
may see The travel of his soul in me, and with his work contented
be, as I with my dear Savior. Yea, living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring That he who lives to be
my king Wants I to be my Savior.