Good morning. If you would care
to turn your Bibles to the book of second Corinthians, second
Corinthians chapter one, as you're turning, I have a couple of cards
here. I normally don't read these, but, uh, in an effort to keep
everybody from congregating around to read them, I put them out
on the bulletin board. I thought I would read some of
these to you as we get them. This is from a brother, Dan Morgan. Says the kindness of others is
a genuine reflection of the kindness of God. Dan says, I usually don't
buy religious cards, but this one seemed very appropriate for
how I felt about our church family. Your care, kindness, and concern
during this time of loss has been a true reflection of the
love of Christ in you all, and it has helped. And he says, I'm
grateful. We have another one from Miss Shelby Fortner to Hurricane
Road Grace Church. thanking us for the beautiful
spray of fresh flowers that we sent to Dawn's funeral and thanking
for your thoughtfulness and the generous gifts that she has received.
She said, Dawn often prayed for God's blessing on the work there
at Hurricane Road Grace Church and that is my prayer for you
also. I just want to continue to remember
those who are heartbroken and this is maybe a more difficult
time than ever, isn't it? going through that. All right.
First Corinthians chapter one. We'll begin reading in verse
one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and
Timothy, our brother under the church of God, which is at Corinth
with all the saints, which are in all K I grace be to you and
peace from God, our father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in
all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which
are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted
of God. For as the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And
whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation
which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which
we also suffer. or whether we be comforted, it
is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast,
knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you
be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have
you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that
we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that
we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in
God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so great
a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet
deliver us. Ye also help him together by
prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means
of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. And we'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our God and Father, oh, how we
thank you that you have one more time given us an opportunity
to meet together, to open and read your word, to hear your
gospel preached, to come before you in prayer, to bow together
before your throne of grace as a church family. Father, we're
thankful. We're thankful chiefly for our
Lord Jesus Christ. We have so much to be thankful
for. God help us to be a thankful
people, but chiefly how we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ,
how we thank you for a salvation for sinners that is full and
free and certain in him because of his person and because of
what he has accomplished for his people. And father, I pray
this morning that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ would be
lifted up and magnified in everything that is said and done here today.
especially father in the preaching of your word. Enable the name
of Christ to be preeminent. Father, I pray that you would
be with me in this hour, that you not leave me alone, but that
you would enable me to preach by the power of the spirit, to
preach to the hearts of your people, the word of God, to point
your people to the Lord Jesus Christ. And father, give us hearing
ears and believing hearts that we might believe on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and leave here this morning rejoicing
in him. Cause your word, Father, we beg
to go forward in power to meet the need of every heart that's
gathered here together this morning. Father, we thank you for the
many blessings of this life that you've given to us on top of
giving us every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus, you blessed
this congregation richly in material things. And Father, we're thankful.
And Father, I thank you for the generous and giving heart that
you've given your people with all the gifts that you've given
us to give, to help one another and support the gospel and send
abroad the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I thank
you. And we dare not, Father, forget to pray for those that
are in times of great difficulty, sorrow and sickness. Father,
we pray for them. We pray for your hand of healing. We pray for your comforting presence
in their hearts, that you be with your people in a special
way. All these things we ask and we give thanks in that name
which is above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. Since the Savior found me, pardoned
all my sin, I have had the joy and living hope within. Gone is all the shame and sorrow
of the past. There underneath the precious
blood of Christ at last. Save, save, save, I'm happy on
thee way. Save, save, save, I love him
more each day. Save, save, save, I know He's
mine each hour. He saves and keeps and sanctifies
me by His power. Since the Savior found me, all
to Him I owe. For His precious blood has washed
me white as snow. Now no condemnation, happy as
can be, I'm glad that Jesus justifies and sets me free. Save, save, save, I'm happy on
the way. Save, save, save, I love him
more each day. Save, save, I know He's mine
each hour. He saves and keeps and sanctifies
me by His power. Since the Savior found me, I
have perfect rest. Living in the realms of joy and
happiness, Leaning on my Savior, looking for that day When He
shall come to catch His waiting bride away. Say, plums saved, I'm happy on
my way. Safe, plumb, safe, I love him
more each day. Safe, plumb, safe, I know he's
mine each hour. He saves and keeps and sanctifies
me by his power. All right, if you would, open
your Bibles with me again to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. I want to talk to you this morning
for a few minutes about a great big subject, subject of salvation. I titled the message this morning,
Plum Saved. That's a good Eastern Kentucky
word, plum saved. This subject of salvation is
a glorious subject. When told in truth, it glorifies
God and it makes the hearts of sinners rejoice. Salvation is
a big subject. It's such a big subject we studied
all of our life long and never do get to the bottom of it. You
know, I don't like to hear people talk about salvation in small
terms, terms like I got saved. You know, that kind of makes
it sound like I had something to do with it. I got saved or
it was an accident, you know, like I found a quarter on the
sidewalk, you know, like I had something to do with there. It's
an accident. You know that it just seems to cheapen this thing
of salvation. Salvation is something that only
God can do. So it'd be a whole lot better
to say the Lord saved me. The Lord's gracious. He saved
me. The Lord had to be the one to do it. Salvation is such a
big subject. It's something that only God
can do. Salvation is salvation from sin. Now only God can remove
sin. Only God in his power and his
holiness can remove sin. Only God can forgive sin because
sin is against him. So he's the only one that can
forgive it. Salvation is salvation from God, from the justice and
wrath of God. Salvation is salvation from God's
justice. And God's the only one who can
satisfy God's justice. God's the only one who could
spare sinners from his justice. So salvation is something that
is so big, only God can accomplish it. The salvation of a sinner
is such a big subject that it is eternal. You know, when we
talk about salvation, we have to talk about salvation in all
three tenses of our language, past, present, and future. And
that's why I want us to look at this morning. Our text is
second Corinthians chapter one, beginning in verse eight, for
we would not brethren, Have you ignorant of our trouble which
came to us in Asia, that we are pressed out of measure, above
strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life? But we have the
sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivered us from so
great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust that he will
yet deliver us. Now I know that Paul here is
talking about being delivered from physical dangers and trials
in the past, how the Lord in the past had delivered him from
many. You know the story of the Apostle
Paul, delivered from many physical dangers and trials. And the Lord
was currently delivering Paul from different dangers and keeping
him safe so he could go preach Christ where the Lord sent him
to go. And Paul was confident that the Lord would continue
to deliver him from dangers and trials in the future, the Lord
would keep delivering him until it was time that the Lord would
call him home. And every believer can say the same thing. You just
think over the course of your life, how the Lord has delivered
you from different trials and difficulties. He's delivering
you right now, isn't he? Right now, you sit here, don't
have the coronavirus. How'd that happen? The Lord's
keeping you safe. The Lord's keeping you safe from
a myriad of things. You didn't get in a car wreck
and not be able to get here this morning. How'd that happen? The Lord did
that, didn't He? The Lord's keeping you safe.
And the Lord will continue to deliver you until such time as
He sees fit to call you home. And we're thankful it's that
way. I'm thankful that God is in control. That makes Him able
to deliver us. I'm thankful that the Lord loves
His people and He cares about them enough. He cares. I mean,
we're nothing. We're just nothing. Yet the Lord
cares to think on us and to deliver us from our troubles. I'm thankful
that the Lord sends these trials and troubles to teach us to be
dependent upon him, to keep us depending upon him. I was speaking
last night with Pastor Kevin Thacker, getting ready to preach
his very first funeral. And his text is going to be,
it's better to go to the house of mourning. than the house of
praise, the house of feasting, the house of joy. I can't remember
how to quote it, but the key is better to go to the house
of mourning. Now, we don't think that way, do we? But why? Why
is it better for us to go to the house of mourning? Because
that's where God teaches us how dependent we are upon him. And
he reveals his glory and his strength in delivering us. If
God didn't do that, you know, you and I do, we'd start depending
on the arm of the flesh, and then we'd fall. Now that's, I
know, I understand that is what Paul is directly saying there
in that text, but I want to spiritualize what the apostle is saying here
and look at these verses as a picture of this big, big subject of salvation. And we look at this subject,
we got to start with our need of salvation. We need to be saved
because we're dead in sin. See what the apostle says, verse
eight, for we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble,
which came to us in Asia, We were pressed out of measure,
above strength. This was beyond our strength,
insomuch we despaired even of life. And we had the sentence
of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God, which raiseth the dead. And all of us are born
dead in sin. That's what we've become in this
world, we're dead. We're dead so we can't give ourselves life.
We're dead so we can't do anything at all to help ourselves. We're
dead in sin, that's our nature as a sin nature. So everything
we say, everything we do, everything we want to do, everything that
we think is sin. And God is angry with the wicked.
God hates sin. The wages of sin is death, both
physical death and eternal death. That's what sin deserves. That's
what it gets, what it earns. And this is what I get. This
death is what I get for my sin. It's my sin. It's my fault. I can't blame it on Adam. It's
my fault. It's my sin. We have the sentence of death
in ourselves, Paul said. It's my fault. This sentence
comes on me justly. The sentence of death comes on
me justly for my sin. And that's what God should do
because God is holy. God cannot and he will not accept
anyone who has even a hint of sin on them. God cannot and he
will not. accept the best that we can do.
God can only accept perfection, perfect holiness, and nobody
will ever be saved until they lose all hope in themselves. We'll never be saved until we
lose all hope of righteousness in anything that we do. We'll
never be saved until we lose all hope of earning salvation,
earning God's favor by something that we do. We'll never be saved
until we lose all hope, thinking there's something about me that
deserves mercy from God. We'll never be saved until we
lose all hope of that. If God's going to save us, we
must be brought to the place where we see the only hope we
have is God's grace. We've got to be brought to the
place where we beg God for mercy. Because if God's going to give
us life, He's got to be merciful to us. because we deserve death.
So if God's going to give us life, he's got to do it in mercy. We've got to be brought to the
place that we are completely dependent upon God because he
is the only one who can save. Because like I said in the introduction,
this thing of salvation is so big, only God can do it. Now here's the first thing I
want us to see about this big subject of salvation. To be plumb
saved, there's got to be salvation in the past tense. Paul says
in verse 10, who delivered us from so great a death. Now English,
in the interest of full disclosure here, was my weakest subject
all through school, but I'm pretty sure I got this right. Delivered,
the word delivered is in the past tense. It's in the past
tense because salvation is eternal. Before anything was created,
when only God existed, God's people were saved. I can tell
you how. The Father, when nobody but God
existed, the Father chose a people to save. He chose to save a people
out of the lump of Adam's fallen race. God knew he was going to
create the heavens and the earth. God knew he was going to create
man and put him in it. And God knew Adam was going to
fall in that garden. So the Father chose to save a
people out of Adam's fallen race. And the father also chose the
means of salvation. He chose the people to save and
he chose the means of their salvation. The means of their salvation
is his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the father's purpose to
save those people by the obedience of his son and by the sacrifice
of his son, when his son became a man, when his son was made
flesh and would dwell among us. That is how Christ is the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, because the father
always purposed the salvation of his people in his son. The
father always saw his son as sacrificed for the sin of his
people. That was God's will, God's purpose. Now, whatever
it is God wills to do, God will do. The purpose of God is done. It is just as done as a prior
act of God. So when God chose to save a people
and his son, those people were plumb saved, completely saved.
Now, can I show you that from scripture? I can't. Look, Hebrews chapter four. See,
I better be able to show you that from scripture or I better
not say it. Hebrews chapter four. Verse three. For we which have believed do
enter into rest. As he said, as I have sworn on
my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished, when from the foundation of the world, see
the works of redemption were finished before God created anything.
That's why we can rest in Christ because the work's finished.
There's no more work left to do. The work was finished before
God created anything. They were already finished. So
God's people were saved before creation. God's people have been
eternally justified in Christ. They were justified when the
work was finished. You know, there's a certain group
of people, they like to talk and debate and argue about all
these little fine points, you know. And one of the things I
always like to talk about is when, when, when, rather than
who, when. They like to talk about, well,
when, when were God's people justified? Well, you know, the
answer to that is very simple. They were justified when God
said they're justified. They were justified when the
work of justification was finished. And God's word tells us that
work was finished before the foundation of the world. Now,
that was God's purpose for his people. That was God's will.
And God's purpose is just as sure as a prior act of God. Well,
then God's people were justified in eternity when God purposed
their salvation in Christ. I can show you that again. Look
at the book of second Timothy, second Timothy chapter one, verse nine, who hath saved us. This past tense, he hath saved
us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Now, salvation
is a gift. Well, when was it given? When
was it given to God's people? Before the world began. It was
given to them when God purposed it in Christ. So God's elect
have always been accepted in the beloved. Always. Now look
at Romans chapter eight. That is God's eternal purpose
before time began and nothing that happens in time will ever
change God's eternal purpose because God's eternal purpose
is already done. Romans chapter eight, verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What should we then say to these
things? If God before us who can be against us. If God be
for us in his eternal will and purpose, who can be against us? Nobody. Because the purpose of
God is just as sure as a prior act of God. And all this that
the Apostle Paul lists here in Romans 8 is in the past tense. Who God did foreknow, who God
did predestinate, who God called, who God justified, even who God
glorified. All that is in the past tense.
All of this work of salvation is given to us in the past tense
because the salvation of God's elect is eternal. It's already
done. It's so already done. The apostle
said, we're already glorified, already glorified. Now that's
a sure work of salvation, isn't it? It's sure. Well, that's a
salvation sinners like you and me need, isn't it? And it's a
salvation of savior that we can trust because it's in the past
tense. It's already done. But here's the second thing.
Salvation is in the present tense. Salvation is something that must
be accomplished in human time. Back in our text, verse 10, 2
Corinthians 1, who delivered us from so great a death and
doth deliver. Now that's in the present tense.
Now, I don't want to get real complicated here, but part of
this present tense is really past tense to you and me. Part
of this present tense is we consider human time. When the Lord Jesus
Christ came in the flesh and he obeyed God's law, when he
obeyed God's law, all of God's people were made righteous because
when Christ, our representative obeyed the law, we did too. We
obeyed it in him. Now that's past tense to you
and me, isn't it? It was future tense to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, but we're all made just or all made righteous,
all justified the exact same way. It's through the obedience
of Christ. Through faith in Christ. It's
not by our works, but by faith in Christ. Now, to Abraham, that
was looking forward to Christ. To us, it's looking back, but
we're justified the same way, by Christ's work, by Christ's
obedience to the law. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the representative of his people. Now, the Father willed. This is what the Father willed
in eternity. that all of God's elect would be made righteous
in Christ their representative, that they would do what Christ
their representative did. But that will and that purpose
had to actually be carried out in time in order for sinners
to be saved. That obedience actually had to
be produced in human time, and that's why Christ came. He came
in the flesh to obey God's law for his people, to bring in everlasting
righteousness for them. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
obeyed God's law, All of God's elect were made righteous because
they obeyed it in Him. Just as surely as we were made
sinners when we disobeyed in Adam, we were made righteous
when we obeyed in Christ by what our representative did. Now,
I know that's past tense to you and me, but that was future tense
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but were made righteous the exact
same way, through faith in Christ. See, God's elect are made righteous
in Christ. He obeyed the law for they made
them righteous. But now something still has to be done with our
sin. Something's got to be done with it. Our sin must be paid
for. It must be cleansed. Well, the father purposed the
solution for that. The father purposed that the
sin of his people would be paid for by Christ, the lamb slain. Now, like I said in our first
point, when the father purposed that, it was as good as done.
It was as good as done because it was done. It was done. But
that blood, still must actually be shed in human time. And that's
why Christ came in the flesh. He came with a body to be sacrificed. He came with blood to be shed. And all of God's elect were saved. They were justified at that moment
in human time when Christ died. He obeyed the law's last demand.
There must be death for sin. And the moment he died, all of
God's elect were justified. Now again, that's past tense.
I mean, it's happened in human time. It's past tense to us.
It's future tense to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But that happened
in time, human time, to accomplish God's will and purpose. When
Christ cried, it is finished, all the work of redemption was
finished, and God's elect from all time were saved, cleansed
from their sin. So when were sinners justified?
Well, they were justified both when the Father purposed it,
and they were justified when Christ actually died on Calvary
Street. But salvation is also present
tense in our experience, and it's something that's present
tense accomplished in human time, but it's present tense in our
experience. Now, in order for a sinner to
be saved, this is a big subject now, the Father must choose a
people to save. He must decide to save those
people. The Son must come and He must pay for their sin by
shedding His blood as a sacrifice for their sin. But now there's
a third thing. That blood must be applied. There must be faith in Christ.
There must be a new birth. And man can't do any of that.
Man can't apply the blood. Man can't conjure up faith in
Christ. Man can't give himself spiritual
life because he's dead. So God has to do all that. God
has to apply the blood. God must give faith in Christ.
God must give the new birth. And that work of applying the
blood, giving faith in Christ, giving life in Christ, that's
the work of God the Holy Spirit. Now, we talk about the Trinity. We say God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, always in that order. Have you ever
heard anybody say it in a different order? I can't recall ever. Well,
don't think just because we say God the Holy Spirit last, he's
somehow less important No, not at all. The work of the Holy
Spirit is just as important as the Father and just as important
as the work of the Son in salvation. Now, I know there are people
who don't want to hear that. They say, oh no, the work of
the Son is most important. Well, I'll tell you what, you
try being saved without the work of the Spirit, can't be done. It's impossible. We must be given
faith in Christ. Faith in Christ is just as important
as the death of Christ. That's so. Christ's death means
nothing to you if you don't believe him. Faith in Christ is just
as important as the death of Christ. The writer of the Hebrew
says, without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh
to God must believe that he is. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. Remember that Philippian jailer trembling?
Ask Paul, what must I do to be saved? What did Paul tell him?
Believe. You must believe on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You shall
be. There's no salvation without God-given faith in Christ. God
must give us this faith. Ephesians 2a, from a grace are
you saved through faith, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. So there can be no salvation
without faith, and there can be no salvation without the new
birth, because only that new man born of God can believe God.
That's why our Lord told Nicodemus in John 3, you must be born again. You must be born again. Flesh
and blood can't inherit the kingdom of heaven, except you be born
again. You cannot enter. You cannot
see the kingdom of heaven. Now, faith does not justify.
Christ justifies. But justification, salvation
is received by God-given faith. That's why there can be no salvation
without faith. And look at the book of Philippians
chapter two. This is a work that God does
for all of his people, giving them faith in Christ, giving
them this nature that believes Christ, that does his good pleasure.
Philippians chapter two, verse 13. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. See, faith,
that's the gift of God. That's the work that God the
Holy Spirit does in his people to enable them to believe Christ.
See, we're totally dependent on God to save us. He's got to
do it all from beginning to end, doesn't he? So the very moment
we believe Christ, the very moment we are given faith in Christ,
we're saved in the present tense. in the present tense. I said
that right in the present tense. You know, salvation is not, I
believe Christ X number of years ago. I didn't, you know, Oh,
I believe Christ 20 years ago. So now I'm all fixed up. That's
not saving faith. Not at all. Faith in Christ is
always in the present tense. Always. The issue I was, I don't know
whether this is right to say it doesn't really matter. That's
not, that's not a good way to say it, but believing Christ
20 years ago is not, that's not the issue. The issue is, do you
believe Christ right now? Right now. That's the issue in
the present tense. And you do believe Christ right
now, if God saved you. Now, if you had an experience
and you, you know, just kind of create that experience in
yourself, you probably don't believe Christ right now, but
if God saved you, you believe Christ right now. That's how
we're being saved. We're being saved because like
Peter said, we're kept by the power of God through faith, under
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. We're being
saved because the Holy Spirit keeps us believing in Christ.
The salvation is in the present tense. Faith in Christ right
now, that's salvation. And if God's giving you that
faith, it won't quit. If God's given you that faith,
you're going to believe in that way tomorrow, too. You know, that was the subject
of our Bible class lesson this morning that was put online,
the subject of apostasy. Now, if God saved you and he's
given you faith in Christ, you will keep believing Christ. You
will. You will not turn from Christ
to trust what the Apostle Paul called another Jesus. If God
saved you, if God's given you faith in Christ, You can't trust
another doctrine. You'll continue to believe in
Christ always in the present tense. So when were sinners justified? Well, when the father purposed
it. Sinners were justified when Christ actually died on Calvary's
tree and sinners were justified the moment that we believed on
Christ. But salvation is also in the
future tense. Back in our text, the apostle says, who delivered
us, past tense, from so great a death, and doth deliver, present
tense, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Now that's
the future tense. Now we've just seen this from
God's Word. God has saved His people. They're saved. The Father
purposed their salvation, they're saved. The Son died to purchase
their salvation, and they're saved. And the Holy Spirit is
coming. He's applying that salvation.
And always in the present tense, he is keeping God's people by
his power. So the work of salvation is done. It's done. It's finished. But here we sit. Are you satisfied? You who believe
Christ, are you satisfied? No, not yet. We're not satisfied
yet, are we? We don't have the possession,
the full possession of the inheritance just yet. I do love God by God's grace.
I love God. I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love him because he first loved me. But I'm telling you, I love
him. I love I love his gospel. I love resting in Christ. I love
believing Christ. I love seeing Christ in his word.
I love hearing about Christ in his gospel. I do. I love it.
And you do, too, if you believe Christ. But we're not satisfied
yet. And we shouldn't be satisfied
yet. Because I don't love Christ like I should. I don't rest in
Christ like I want to. I don't rejoice in Christ like
I should. But by God's grace, one day real soon, we will. Real
soon, we will. When God calls us home to be
within. In that very moment, we'll be
righteous. We'll be without sin. We'll be
made just like Christ. And then we'll be satisfied.
At that moment, when God calls us home, we will finally experience
perfect, complete bliss. No more tears, no more worry,
no more sickness, no more pain, no more parting. We will be plum
saved. And that makes the death of this
body for the believer the best day of our life. Now, none of
us really think that. I mean, you didn't get up this
morning and think, oh, the best day of my life will be when I
die. But if you believe Christ, that's so. Now that won't be
true for our loved ones, those who are left behind. No, it'll
be an awful day. It'll be a day full of sorrow
and heartbreak. But for that child of God that the father
has called home, it'll be the best day of their life. Because
in that day, we will have the full possession of everything
the father purchased, everything the son purchased, and everything
the Holy Spirit has put in our hearts. We've got the earnest
of it right now, don't we? We've got the engagement ring
of it right now, the Holy Spirit in our heart. But oh, one day,
we're going to have it fully in our possession. Look at Romans
chapter 13. That day, a final, complete salvation
is coming for God's people, and it's getting closer and closer
and closer with every second that ticks on the clock. Romans
chapter 13. Verse 11. And that knowing the time that
now it is high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. It's nearer now than when we
first believed Christ. And it's getting nearer all the
time because it's getting nearer and nearer and nearer and nearer
to that day when God calls us home to be with him. Now, the
final complete salvation of God's people is sure. It's sure. I mean, there's no doubt about
it. It's just as sure as if it were already done, because God's
word says it is. God's not going to let any of his people fall
away. He will bring them all to glory, and not one of them
will be missing. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, chapter
1, verse 6, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it. He'll finish
it. until the day of Jesus Christ. This thing is sure because God's
going to finish it in the future. But now there's one more thing
coming to God's people in the future. It's the resurrection. When God raises these bodies
in a body, just like the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, then
oh then, Then I'll be satisfied. When I stand with Christ in resurrection
glory, then we'll be fully satisfied. We'll be completely, fully justified. We will be plum saved. Plum saved. Wanting for nothing,
waiting for nothing else. Then we'll have the full possession
of everything we've ever wanted. So when were sinners justified?
Well, here's the complete answer. when the Father purposed them.
Sinners were justified when Christ actually died on Calvary Street.
Sinners were justified the moment we believe on Christ, and sinners
are justified. That moment, by God's grace,
we awaken Christ's likeness in glory. It's all four. It's all four put together, because
that's the whole purpose of God. So you believe, you believe. Right now, I'm telling you, You
believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. You believe on Christ, you will
be plumb saved. You will be so plumb saved that
you're already in heaven, already glorified, seated with Christ
your Savior, seated with Christ your representative. And one
day, right soon, you'll follow him there and be with him there
bodily too, in a perfect body without sin. Now God's people,
are plumb saved. And Dan, nothing can change it.
Nothing can change that. Not one speck of God's will will
be left undone, will be changed, not one. I mean, no matter what
happens, God's people are saved. Well, what will we do till then?
Till that time, God calls all of his people and gathers all
of his people to be with him around the throne. What will
we do until then? Well, the work's finished, isn't
it? The work's finished. But we won't
be fatalistic. And the only way you can understand
that is by faith. The work's finished. There's
not a hint of doubt, of failure in any way. The work's finished,
but we're not going to be fatalistic. We're going to pray. Till then,
we're going to pray that the Lord save his people. We're going
to pray that the Lord do his will and save his people. Look
in our text, verse 11. Ye also helping together by prayer
for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many
persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf. Now, God
has saved his people. He's going to do it without our
help. But how do we help? We still, yeah, it says here
we help. How do we help? It was by prayer, by prayer,
by praying and asking God to do his will. See, whenever God
intends to do something, He always puts it in the hearts of His
people to pray for it, and then He does it. Just like Israel
down there in Egypt, it was always God's will that He deliver them
from Egypt, wasn't it? But He put it in their hearts to pray.
Then He heard their cry and sent the deliverer. The same thing's
true of salvation. When God intends to reveal Himself
to one of His people, He puts it in the heart of some of His
other people to pray for it, to pray for what God's already
getting ready to do, and then God does it. That's something, that's another
thing only God can do, isn't it? So here's my prayer, that
the Lord take this message this morning, and he would use it
to reveal himself to one of his lost sheep. We call upon him
by faith to come to our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that the
God would fulfill his purpose in saving his people. Let's bow
together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for this portion of your word. How we thank you for this revelation
of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Seen all throughout your
words, salvation is in Christ. It's your eternal will and purpose
to save your people by the sacrifice of your son, through faith, God-given
faith in your son, Father, I beg of you this morning that you
would save your people, those people here, save your people
by your grace. Cause your gospel to take root
in their heart, to give life and faith in Christ. Cause your
gospel to reach into the hearts of your people, to encourage
and strengthen, to keep us trusting on Christ, to keep us looking
to Christ. Let all of our faith, all of
our hope, all of our confidence be in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's for his sake, for the glory and praise of his name that we
pray. Amen. All right, you're all dismissed.