Scripture reading will be taken
from Psalm 70. A couple of years ago at a conference,
one of my girls, I don't remember which one, but one of them was
sitting in front of Sean and Julie, and they told me at dinner,
she said, Daddy, I got your backup song leader, Sean, and she's
right, wasn't she? It's probably a good thing I
don't know which one, that way you won't be mad at one of them. I appreciate
Sean's willingness to to do that. I didn't even have to talk him
into it. He was very willing. I'm thankful. All right, Psalm
70. Make haste, O God, to deliver
me. Make haste to help me, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and confounded
to seek after my soul. Let them be turned backward and
put to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them be turned back
for a reward of their shame to say, aha, aha. Let all those
that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. And let such as
love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified. But I am
poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Thou
art my help and my deliverer. O Lord, make no tarry. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent is your matchless name. And we come into thy courts
this evening only daring to come into your presence in the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ, knowing we can only come in Him. We can
only come accepted in His person, in His righteousness, through
the blood of His sacrifice, through His intercession. Father, we
come in Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and so thankful that
in Him we do not come before Your throne of justice, but a
throne of mercy and grace. Father, we're thankful to be
able to come this evening to meet together with our brothers
and sisters and to worship you. Father, I pray that you would
make our service tonight an hour of true worship. I beg of thee,
Father, that you would not let your people just hear the voice
of a man, but that you would speak to us through your word.
that your spirit would come upon us in power, enable me to preach,
enable the people that you've gathered here together tonight
in your divine providence to be enabled by thy spirit to hear
of Christ our Savior and to worship him. Father, we're so thankful
for the many blessings that you've given to us. You've given your
people everything that we need in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Father, we're thankful. Thankful that you've given us
a place to worship, a family of believers. Thankful for your
mercy and grace to this congregation over so many years. Father, we're
thankful. We beg of thee that you not take
your hand of mercy and grace from us and your leadership.
Continue to bless. Bless for your namesake, for
the good of your people, we pray. Father, we thank you for the
many blessings of this life you've so freely bestowed upon us. We're thankful. Thankful for
the good report we've had on several of our brethren. We're
thankful that you brought our brother Cecil back to the worship
service and pray you continue to bless him and heal him and
strengthen him. Father's others, there's so many
of our number who are hurting and who are sick. Father, we
pray for them. We pray that you'd undertaken
their behalf to heal and above all, to comfort their hearts
with your presence. That you would provide a way
out as soon as it could be thy will. Father, all these things
we ask and we give thanks in that name which is above every
name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, Psalm 70, I titled the
message this evening, Such is Love, Thy Salvation. Now, there
can be no doubt that the words of this psalm are the words of
our Savior praying from the cross. And we who believe Him can pray
much of this same prayer because of what Christ our substitute
accomplished at Calvary as he was suffering. And I took my
title from the end of verse four, which says, let such as love
thy salvation, say continually, let God be magnified. Let such
as love thy salvation. That tells me somebody loves
God's salvation. Well, who are they? Am I one
of them? Am I one of those people that
love God's salvation? I want to give you five things
from this psalm tonight that are true of everybody who loves
God's salvation. And the first one is this. Those
who love God's salvation need to be delivered from sin. Verse
one, David says, Make haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste
to help me, O Lord. Everybody who loves God's salvation
has cried for deliverance. This is talking about deliverance
from sin, and that makes it an urgent cry. An urgent cry. Make haste, O God, to help me.
You know, before God saves anybody, He will always make them feel
an urgent need of Him. It's not just something, eh,
you know, I can take it or leave it. I can do this tomorrow. I
can do this later. It is an urgent need of Christ. He'll bring us
to the point. This is crystal clear. We may
not know a lot, but we're going to know this. Christ is my only
hope. I've got to have Him and I've
got to have Him now. I can't save myself if Christ
doesn't save me and save me right now. I'm going to die. It's an
urgent cry. Give me Christ or else I die.
It's urgent. Now this cry, this urgent cry
is more than being delivered from punishment. It's more than
being delivered from a trial. being delivered from pain and
suffering in hell. A sinner must be delivered from
sin. From sin. And the only way that
can happen is in Christ our Savior. You see, we need to be delivered
from the effect of sin. What is the effect of sin? It's
death. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. But we need to be delivered from
death, and the only way that can happen is by Christ dying
in our place, by Him dying for our sin and giving us eternal
life. We need to be delivered from the condemnation of sin,
the punishment that sin requires, and the only way that's possible
is by Christ being condemned for us. We need to be delivered
from the controlling power of sin. Like I told you Sunday,
being delivered from the controlling power of sin doesn't mean that
I sin less than I used to. Actually, when God saves you,
you're going to find at least that you see that you understand
I sin a whole lot more than I ever used to because now you're going
to see it. Only the new man can see the sin of the old man. So
being delivered from the controlling power of sin is by being born
again, by God giving us a nature that believes him and that loves
him. Before we're born again by the power of the spirit, we
can't believe. We can't see, we can't come to
Christ. It's the power of our sin nature
that will not and cannot believe Christ. But when God gives us
a new nature, we can't not believe it. Suddenly we believe that's
being born again. That's the evidence of being
born again, being delivered from the controlling power of sin.
And then lastly, we need to be delivered from the presence of
sin. That's not something we're going
to experience in this life. But thankfully, one day we will.
The glory one day will be delivered from the very presence of sin.
We need to be delivered from the presence of sin. If you look
in Romans chapter 11. You'll be pleased to find that
God has provided a deliverer. We need to be delivered and he
has provided the deliverer. Romans chapter 11. Verse 26. And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall
come out of Zion the Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob. Oh, that Deliverer is the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's his name. Capital D. That's
his name. He is the Deliverer. And he delivers
his people by turning ungodliness from them. by delivering from
their sin, but taking it away from them and putting it away
by the blood of His cross. And I can make good on that.
Look at Isaiah 59. Isaiah 59 is the passage that the Apostle
Paul is quoting in Romans chapter 11. Isaiah 59 verse 20. And the Redeemer shall
come to Zion And unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob,
saith the Lord. Now, Paul says the deliverer
is coming. Isaiah says the Redeemer is coming. I thought Paul was quoting Isaiah.
He is. He is. They're talking about
the same person accomplishing the same thing. Paul says he's
talking about the deliverer. Well, the way Christ delivers
his people is by redeeming them from their sin, by being made
sin for them, and paying for their sin with his precious blood.
Christ delivered his people. He redeemed them by taking their
place. He was delivered for them. I
told you this is the words of Psalm 70. These are the words
of the Savior as he suffered for the sin of his people. He's
crying this because he was delivered for the sin of his people. He
was delivered into the hands of God's justice for his people.
He was delivered for our offenses, for the sin of his people and
raised again for our justification. Raised again because he did indeed
redeem his people from their sin. If you look at Daniel chapter
six, there is no doubt that Christ, his name is the deliverer. He
will deliver his people from their sin. Daniel chapter six,
we won't read this whole story. You know the story of Daniel
and the lion's den. He refused to quit praying three
times a day to his God and he was thrown into the lion's den.
In Daniel 6, verse 19, then the king arose very early in the
morning and went in haste into the den of lions. And when he
came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel.
And the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of
the living God, is thy God whom thou service continually able
to deliver thee from the lions? Is he able, Daniel? Well, I'll
tell you a better question would have been this. Bob, is he pleased? Has he been pleased to deliver
you? Because I have no doubt he's able. The question is not,
is he able to save? Is he able to deliver? Is he
able to redeem? The question is, has it pleased
him to do it? Verse 21, look at what Daniel
says. Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live forever. My
God has sent his angel and has shut the lion's mouths that they
have not hurt me. For as much as before him innocence
he was found in me and also before the king have I done no hurt. Yes, God's able to deliver. And he did deliver Daniel. And
you know, this whole story of Daniel is a picture of redemption.
Not only is God able to save, he's able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by him. And people who've been held captive
by sin, and Christ has delivered them from it, they love God's
salvation. They love being delivered by
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. All right, number two, those
who love God's salvation, they bow to Christ. There is no salvation
without bowing, without surrendering and submitting to Christ. Verse
two, Psalm 70. Let them be ashamed and confounded
that seek after my soul. Let them be turned backward and
put to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them be turned back
for a reward of their shame that say, aha, aha. Now, here we're
talking about those such as love God's salvation. Well, somebody
loves God's salvation, but it also tells me this. Everybody
doesn't love God. Everybody doesn't love Christ.
Everybody doesn't love God's salvation. Now, I grant you,
they love their God. They love the God that they've
made up. You're not going to make up a God you don't like.
If you make up a God, you're going to like him. But not everybody
loves the God of the Bible. Not everybody loves the Christ
revealed in this book. Here the Savior is talking about
those who are crucifying him or mocking him as he suffered.
They had not, at least at that time, they had not bowed to Christ. They mocked him. They said, aha,
aha, I told you he was wrong. I told you we were right. I told
you God wouldn't accept him. And the Lord prays. He prays
against them. He prays that they be ashamed
and confounded. And you know, they will. They'll
be ashamed to stand before God in their guilt. They'll be ashamed
to stand before God without the only righteousness that God will
accept. They'll be ashamed to stand before God in their rebellion.
They didn't bow. They wouldn't submit. And they'll
be confounded. Oh, they'll be confounded in
that day. To find out that their righteousness
wasn't good enough. To find out their morality and
their religious activity was not good enough. But Lord, we
preached in your name. We did many wonderful works in
your name. And they'll be confounded. It's not good enough. You see,
no sinner can find joy outside of Christ. No sinner can find
the love of God outside of Christ. No sinner can love God's salvation
outside of Christ because it's all in Him. It's all in Him. But everybody who bows to Christ
is going to love God's salvation. The Syrophoenician woman. Remember
her daughter was so grievously ill and she came and bowed. And
the Lord told her, it's not right to give the children's bread
to dogs. And she said, that's true, Lord. I'm a dog. I'm your
dog. Dogs eat the crumbs that fall
from their master's table. She found joy in God's salvation,
didn't she? She was delivering. The woman
with the issue of blood, you read about it there in the study.
She bowed. She bowed so much she came crawling
up behind the master just to touch the hem of his garment.
She found joy. She loved God's salvation. Daughter,
he said, your sins be forgiven. She delivered. Remember that
leper who came after the Lord preached the Sermon on the Mount?
He came to the Lord and what did he do? He came and kneeled
before Him. He bowed. He worshipped. And
he worshipped. This is worship. Lord, if You
will, You can make me a commoner. You can heal me, if You will.
Goes back to Daniel, doesn't it? It's not a question of if
he's able. It's will he? Will it please him to do it?
Worship. is taking our place before God,
freely admitting, I'm in your hand to do with as you will. He worshiped him before he knew
if the Lord would heal him or not. Worship is taking my place
before God. He's God and I'm the creature.
He can do whatever he will. That's worship. He found joy,
didn't he? He loved God's salvation. The
master reached out and touched him. The scripture says that
leper was full of leprosy. His body was burning hot with
fever. Nobody had dared touch him for
years. The Master touched him. Oh, can
you imagine what that felt like? And he said, I will. How clean. He loved God's salvation, didn't
he? All those found who bowed before Christ, they loved God's
salvation. Because when we bow before Christ,
you know what we find? Mercy beggars Always receive
mercy from God. Always. Now, you know, it's true
that God does not love everybody. It's true that Christ didn't
die for everyone. It's true that God elected a people to save
and those people and only those people will be saved. That's
true. But don't ever think that that means God is the enemy of
sinners. No, God's the friend of sinners.
Christ is the friend of sinners. He's the only hope a sinner has.
And He's such a good friend of sinners, He came to save them
from their sin. We do well to bow to Him and
beg Him to be our Savior, beg Him to be our King, beg Him to
be our friend. See, the gospel goes against
human nature. It goes against human nature
to bow to anybody, doesn't it? We're too full of pride. It goes
against our nature to do that. It goes against human nature
to receive salvation as a free gift and not have to earn any
of it. Human beings want everything for free. Everything. We want
food and clothes and jobs and housing. We want everything for
free except salvation. We want to earn that. It goes
against human nature to have it freely in Christ. It goes
against human nature for Christ to do all the work and get all
the glory. It goes against human nature for salvation to be the
decision of God, not my decision. It's not up to me. I must beg
for it. That goes against human nature.
I tell you this, if God ever saves us, we're going to bow
to him. He's going to give us a heart that bows to Christ and
submits to his will, submits to his righteousness. And then
we will love God's salvation. Every mercy-maker who's down
in the dust at the feet of Christ, they love God's salvation because
they always receive mercy from God for Christ's sake. All right,
thirdly, those who seek God, seek the Lord, they love God's
salvation. Verse four, let all those that
seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Now those who seek the
Lord, They love God's salvation. Because everybody who seeks the
Lord finds Him. You know that's right? Everybody
that seeks the Lord finds Him. Now this is just generally true
of human nature. Generally speaking. People always
seek after what they love. And they almost always find it.
Almost always. Now I couldn't No matter how
hard I wanted to or how hard I worked, I couldn't make myself
an NBA basketball player. Couldn't be done. But when I
was young, if I'd worked at it hard enough, I could have been
a lot better. But if I got the general skill set for something,
whatever it might be, if I really desire it, if I really love it,
I'm going to spend my time and my energy seeking it until I
get it. That's just human nature. Brethren, let us never, ever
be complacent about seeking the Lord and seeking mercy from Him. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 4.
I'm going to give you a few words here from God's Word about seeking
the Lord. If we're here tonight and we're
lost and we don't know the Lord, I can tell you why it is. We
hadn't sought Him. That's just a simple fact of
the matter. If we seek the Lord, we'll find Him. Deuteronomy chapter
4. Verse 25. When thou shalt begat children,
and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in
the land, and shall corrupt yourself, and make a graven image, or the
likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord
thy God, to provoke him to anger. You know, the children of Israel
were getting ready to go into the promised land. God already knew this was
going to happen. He already knew what they were
going to do. I call heaven and earth to witness against you
this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land,
whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it. Ye shall not prolong
your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the
Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be
left few in number among the heathen, whether the Lord shall
lead you. And there ye shall serve God's,
the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see
nor hear nor eat nor smell. Now that's our sin. That's what
we are in it. Now here's God's grace to sinners,
verse 29. But if from thence you shall
seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him. If thou seek him with
all thy heart and with all thy soul, when thou art in tribulation
and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter
days, even if you've been hardened in this idolatry and this rebellion
a long time, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord
thy God, and shall be obedient unto his voice. For the Lord
thy God is a merciful God. He will not forsake thee, neither
destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which
he sware unto thee." That's God's promise. If you seek it with
all your heart and with all your soul, you will find it. God promised that. Now look in
Isaiah chapter 45. See, it's God's commandment for
us to seek him. God commands us to seek him. Would you reckon God's told us
to do something that's going to be ineffective? That if we
do what he tells us to do, he's going to turn a blind eye? Isaiah
45 verse 18. For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made
it. He hath established it. He created it not in vain. He
formed it to be inhabited. I am the Lord and there is none
else. I've not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth.
I said not under the seed of Jacob, seek ye me in vain. I,
the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. God said, I didn't tell the seed
of Jacob to seek ye me in vain. Nobody has ever sought the Lord
in vain. Everybody that sought him has
found him. One more scripture on this, Jeremiah
chapter 29. Jeremiah 29, verse 11. For I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, not
of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon
me, and you should go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto
you. And you shall seek me, and you'll
find me. When you search for me with all
your heart, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord. Now that's
God's promise. That's the promise of God who
created the entire universe just by speaking. The God with all
that power. The same God who said all Israel
shall be saved. The God who has thoughts of mercy
and grace and peace to his people. His promise is, you seek me,
you'll find me. And everybody, every sinner who
seeks the Lord loves God's salvation. because when they seek him, they
find him. Everybody who seeks God's face
loves God's salvation because they've seen the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. They've seen God's smiling face
and they love his salvation. Everybody who seeks mercy from
God finds it and they love God's salvation. They love salvation
by grace. They love salvation by mercy
without any of their merit. They love it. They love God's
salvation. Now let me tell you this about
seeking the Lord. God promised if you're seeking,
you'll find Him. But where do I look? I remember,
I wish I had a nickel for every time Brother Henry said, look
to Christ. And I'd think, if you just tell
me where He is, I'll look. He'd say, now you come to Christ.
There's no salvation without coming to Christ. And I'd think,
if you just tell me where He is, I'll go. Well, if you're seeking the Lord,
let me tell you this. Brother Henry told me, I didn't hear
it, maybe you'll hear it. If you seek the Lord, seek the
Lord in his word. Seek the Lord in his word. Don't
go home and set this book on a shelf and pick it back up Sunday
morning and bring it with you. Open it up and read it. Ask God
to show you Christ in it because Christ, the incarnate word, is
revealed in the written And if you would seek the Lord, seek
the Lord where the gospel is preached. Now look at Romans
chapter 10. This is not exalting, you know,
a man preaching the gospel. This is exalting the way God
has chosen to reveal himself to sinners. If you would seek
the Lord, seek the Lord where the gospel is preached. Because
just like that Ethiopian eunuch, no man can understand what God's
word is saying. Nobody can understand who God's
word is speaking about until some man guide us. Until God
sends us a man preaching to us. Romans 10 verse 13. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, how
then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed? And
how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard? Somebody's
got to tell us who he is. Well, how should they hear without
a preacher? And how should they preach except they be sent? As
it's written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. And those people who hear the
glad tidings of the gospel, they hear it with the ear of faith.
They love God's salvation. Oh, they love it. Oh, so it's
nothing. Nothing's more beautiful to them.
And you know, people who seek the Lord, you know that they
find him, but you know, they never quit seeking him. Never. People who love God's salvation
keep seeking the Lord. People who call out to God keep
calling upon him. People who love God's salvation,
they've sought him in his word and they found it, but they need
to read it again. They need to read it over and
over again. They've heard of Christ in the gospel, but they
need to hear the gospel over and over again. They never think,
you know, I need to move on to something new. I'm tired of that.
They need to hear it over and over again. The title of this
Psalm says a Psalm of David to bring to remembrance. That's
what David's doing. He's telling us the same thing
he told us. I believe it's back in Psalm 40. He's telling us
the same thing, almost word for word, because we need to be reminded. And people who love God's salvation,
they need to be reminded and they love to be reminded of God's
salvation. We love to be reminded of God's
salvation because we forget too soon. We need to be reminded
and we love to be reminded. We love to be reminded of God's
salvation because the sin of this flesh is so great We need
to be refreshed. We need to be encouraged. We
need to be washed with water. You've been washed, but your
feet need to be washed, don't they? We need to be washed in
the filth of this flesh to be reminded again, Christ saves
sinners. It's all in Him. It's not in
my flesh. It's not in what I do or what I don't do. It's in Him.
We love to be reminded of God's salvation because when we hear
the gospel again, we're in the presence of the Savior. Someone told me recently, Brother
Henry said that, you know, you'll notice sometime people just don't
want to go home from the service. And they're just reluctant to
leave. Because God's met with us. They just don't quite want
to leave the place. I've just been in the presence
of the Savior. Because when two or three are gathered together
in His name, there He's been. We love God's salvation. We love to be in the presence
of the one who procured it for us, don't we? Nothing's better
than that. All right, fourth for you. Those who love God's salvation,
they want to see the Lord magnified. The end of verse four, David
says, let such as love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified. Now, how is the Lord magnified?
It's by showing mercy to undeserving sinners. That's what God said
is his greatest glory. I'll have mercy in whom I will
have mercy. And those who love God's salvation, they want to
see God magnified. I want God to be magnified, show
mercy to an undeserving sinner like me. Let God be magnified
in saving an undeserving wretch like me. And if that's your desire,
I got good news for you. God will save everybody. who
he can get all the glory and saving. That's right. Now this
is what that means. God will not help those who help
themselves. That's not so. God will help
those who cannot help themselves. God will save those who can't
contribute one thing to their salvation. God will save people
who've never done one thing and never will do one thing to deserve
salvation. God can get all the glory and
saving them. And he will. He will. Now this is who God
will save because he gets all the glory and saving. There's
people that don't deserve it. And those people, they love God's
salvation. You know, this is God's salvation.
See how he says that? What a miracle that God would
and could save a sinner like me. I'll let God be magnified
in that. Now turn back to Psalm 34. David's going to, in Psalm 34,
is going to tie together everything I've been saying. People who
love God's salvation, they've been humbled. They bow and beg. People who love God's salvation
have been delivered. They seek the Lord. They seek
to magnify the Lord together. Psalm 34, verse 1. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall
make her boast in the Lord. The humble, those who bowed,
they shall hear thereof and be glad. Here's magnify, oh magnify
the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.
Verse four, here's the seeker. I sought the Lord and he heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him
and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed. This
poor man cried and the Lord heard him and he saved him out of all
his troubles. Now, let's magnify the Lord together. Let's exalt his name together.
God saves sinners in mercy, in grace. Now, this is God's salvation,
God's salvation. And God is magnified in it. God's
the one who planned it. God's the one who accomplished
it. God's the one who applies it. And God's the one who's going
to one day complete it. And God does all that by himself
for this one reason. The Lord Jesus Christ, his son,
get the glory. He be glorified and magnified
in saving God's elect. See, salvation is God's salvation. This is something my generation
knows nothing about. Salvation is not about us. Salvation
is not about how I go to heaven. Salvation is not how I can be
delivered from hell. Salvation is about God. How can
God be magnified? How can God be both just and
justified? See, this is God's salvation.
Way before God can do anything for me, He's got to do something
for Himself. He's got to satisfy His holiness.
He's got to satisfy His justice. This is God's salvation. If you
and I are going to be saved, we've got to be saved from God,
by God, for God's glory. We must be saved from God. We've
got to be saved from God's wrath. from God's justice. That can
only be accomplished if we're saved by God, by God the Son. And if we're going to be saved,
it's got to be for God's glory. And everybody who loves God's
salvation loves that story. Salvation accomplished by God
alone. And even if I could have it another
way, now I can't. This is God's salvation. This
is the way God's ordained it. But even if I could have it another
way, Wayne, I wouldn't do that. I love God's salvation. For he's
magnified in his mercy and his grace. And then lastly, those
who are poor and needy, they love God's salvation. Verse five. But I am poor and needy. Make
haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer.
O Lord, make no tarry. Now notice the urgency of this
thing again. David begins and ends with urgency. Urgency. I must have God. I love how he says this. I am
poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. He doesn't even ask him for it.
Just come where I am. Just give me your presence. Just
be where I am. It's so urgent. If I love God's
salvation, it's an urgent need that I be in his presence. And
if I'm poor and needy, it's urgent that God come and quickly deliver
me, because I can't do anything for myself. I'm poor. Those who
are spiritually poor, they love God's salvation. They're so poor,
they can't buy anything from God. They can't earn anything
from God. They've got nothing to bribing with. The poor love
God's salvation because they've been made rich in Christ. They've
been made rich because Christ became poor for them in their
substance. 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, oh how
rich He is, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through
His poverty might be made rich. The poor, the spiritually poor,
they love God's salvation. They love the riches of God's
grace and His mercy and His love, because they need it so desperately,
and God gives it so freely. Oh, they love it. And the spiritually
needy, They love God's salvation. They're needy. They need Christ
to do everything for them. And the gospel says it has. They
need Christ to be everything for them. And the gospel says
he is. He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And we who glory, glory in the
Lord. We glory in God's salvation.
See, everybody who God has saved, loves God's salvation. They love
the Savior who provided it. They love that it's all in Him. They love it that way. Those
who love God's salvation, they love the way that God saves sinners. God saves sinners sovereignly. Whom He will, when He will. And they love it. Those who love
God's salvation, they love salvation through God's electing love.
They love salvation through a substitute that Christ came and did everything
I couldn't. He made me righteous. He put my sin away. I love salvation
through a substitute, through Christ the substitute. It just
lets me look to one place for salvation. I don't have to look
to all the law. I just got to look to one place. It's all in
Christ. I love the means of salvation, the means that God applies it.
It's through the preaching of the gospel. Isn't that a miracle? If you're going to hear from
God, you're going to hear from a man preaching the gospel. Another
sinful, poor and needy man telling you where grace and glory is
found. And even though he stumbles and
he bumbles, let's see what we're talking about or you think I
completely ruined it. God blesses it anyway. Oh my
goodness. I love, I love salvation being
applied through the preaching of the gospel. I love the way
God makes it so we receive salvation. It's through faith. It's not
of ourselves, but it's the gift of God through faith when he
gives faith. I love salvation by faith, not
by works. Those who love God's salvation,
they love the power of God's salvation. Can't be lost. He is able to say to the uttermost,
there's no limit to his power. He can save. He does save any
sinner that comes to God by Him. Those who love God's salvation
love the end of salvation. The end of salvation is glory
in heaven. Eternal glory. I believe I went
through this Sunday too. Let me hit it again. See, it's
all Christ. The glory of heaven is Christ. It's not streets of gold. It's
not the, you know, all the things people think about heaven, the
glory of heaven is Christ is being made just like that's God's
salvation. I love that. Don't you? Oh, I
love that's our expected end. Our expected. Oh, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, we thank You for
this portion of Your Word that You've enabled us to look into
tonight. Father, I pray You would cause
us here tonight to love Thy salvation, that You would reveal to us the
Lord Jesus Christ, and let us leave here trusting in, hoping
in, and rejoicing in Him. It's in His blessed name, Father,
we pray and give