I'm sorry, back in Acts. Acts chapter 15. I would like
to begin the message by us reading together the article in your
bulletin today by Brother Joe Terrell. I thought it would be
a good way to introduce the message. Brother Joe, who not long ago
went to be with his redeemed, who right now at this moment,
even though it's hard for us to imagine being where we're
at now, right now, Brother Joe, with so many others that have
gone on before us, behold the Lord Jesus Christ, as Job said,
with their own eyes and not that of another's. Isn't that something?
Billy, isn't that something to look forward to? Pretty soon,
we'll go the way of all the earth. This vapor will vanish, this
vapor, this brief life and we'll go to be with our Redeemer. Joe
speaks of that here. Someday, he wrote, and it is
a day that's not far off. You and I will be done with this
life and this world. I'm quite certain that on that
day, none of us shall care one whit about what anyone in this
world thought of us. It won't matter. But we will
be in the presence of one whose opinion of us will mean everything
to us. His opinion of us would determine
our eternity. Now that's not true of anybody
else. Some will see him and cry to the rocks in the mountains
to fall on them and hide them from his face, but others will
stand in his presence with no fear at all. Hmm, isn't that
something? Where they will already have
a suitable hiding place because on Christ's almighty vengeance
fell that must have sunk a world to hell He bore it for his chosen
race and thus became their hiding place. May wisdom compel us to
make the great concern of that day to be the great concern of
our hearts in this day. Now in the light of that reality
that Joe wrote about, that we just read together, in the light
of that reality, what a comfort, what a comfort it is to know
that the words of our text are true. which is verse 11 of Acts
15, that, that, regardless, no matter what, Billy Cobb, that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. We shall be saved even as they. That's the title of my message.
We shall be saved. After all the trials, our Lord
said, don't you think you'll be exempt from trials? No, in
the world, as long as you're in the world, you'll have tribulation. But after all those trials, after
all those heartaches, after every tear has been shed, after the
last tear has been shed by God's people, and the purpose of God,
and the everlasting salvation of His people has been fulfilled,
all those that God entrusted into the hands of His Son, I
like that, sure it is, That's one of the offices of our great
Savior. He's our surety. In that everlasting
covenant of grace, God committed all the sheep into the hands
of the great shepherd and he agreed to be responsible for
them. I'm the good shepherd. I know
my sheep. I call my sheep by name. I lead
them and they follow me. And my sheep, not just the religionist,
not the professor only, oh no, no, but the possessor of my grace. My true sheep shall never perish. All those that God entrusted
into the hands of his Son, our surety, have been kept and brought
home to the Father's house, and not one of them is lost until
that glorious day comes. And it's coming soon. It's coming
soon, isn't it? Until that glorious day comes,
as old Newton put it, in that famous old hymn of his, I suppose,
Newton wrote a lot of hymns, but I suppose the most famous
one, the most recognized one, the most well-known one, is Amazing
Grace. He said, through many dangers,
toils, and snares, I have already come. This grace has brought
me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. Now it's not in
our version of it, but here's a few verses that are in the
original. The Lord has promised good to
me, his word my hope secures, he will my shield and portion
be as long as life endures. The earth shall soon dissolve
like snow, the sun forbear to shine, but God who called me
here below will be forever mine. as was spoken by the prophet
Isaiah concerning the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, before
he came to this earth, hundreds of years before, concerning his
sufferings. Isaiah 53 is where these verses
are from. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, what shall be the outcome of that? If God made his son an offering
for sin, what will be the fruit of that? What is the certain
outcome of that? The prophet said, he shall see
his seed. Except the corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, the Lord said, it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. The prophet went
on to say, he shall, I like these shalls, don't you? He shall prolong
his days. and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul that for which he suffered and died. He shall see of the
travail of his soul and he shall be satisfied. How in the name
of even common sense could he ever be said to be satisfied
if he saw one for whom he suffered and died, for whom he was a substitute
in hell after all? That's not going to happen. That's
not going to happen. He shall see of to the will of
his soul and shall be satisfied by his knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. There are no second-class citizens
in heaven. Whether they're Jew or whether
they're Gentile, we shall be saved by the grace of God that's
in Christ Jesus. Our acceptance before God is
on the same foundation. It's determined by our relationship
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He represents us. He even now
is in the presence of God for us. In Christ, all true believers
are loved with the same love. God doesn't love one more than
he loves another. They were chosen by the same
grace. blessed with the same privileges,
redeemed by the same precious blood, quickened, brought to
life, given faith and life in Christ by the same Spirit. They're
all dressed just alike. When John saw that multitude
that couldn't be numbered, they were all dressed alike. They
were all in the same position before the throne of God and
of the Lamb. They all sang the same song. They were all robed
in perfect righteousness with the white robe of God's perfect
righteousness in Christ. They all have that same blessed
hope, partakers of the divine nature, adopted into the family
of God. Behold what Marybeth, the Father,
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God. That's better than a son of anyone
else, isn't it? Son of God. And every child of
God is built upon the same foundation. They all have God the Father
as their Father. Servants of the same masters,
possessors of the same hope, partakers of the same promises,
and heirs of the same inheritance. We're joint heirs with Christ. What he has, what he's earned,
what he merited is ours. I love what Joshua said on his
deathbed. I quote it often, but I love
it. He called the elders of Israel around and he said, Behold, behold
this day, oh what a testimony, what a testimony, behold this
day I'm going the way of all the earth and you know, you're
witness, in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one
thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God
spoke concerning you. It's all come to pass and so
shall it be concerning the Son of God, our Joshua. Our Joshua. This is true of all God's children. We shall be saved. That's our text. Notice again
in verse 1 here in Acts 15. Our text is the answer to this. This was the reason they came
together. They were told, except you cannot be saved except. Except. Anybody ever tell you
that? Salvation by grace? You mean it's not dependent upon
what you do? It's not dependent upon how you
live? It's not dependent upon what
you fail to do or do do? No, no, no. Except you be what? You cannot be saved except. In
other words, they're saying grace is not enough. Grace is not enough. You need the law. Christ is not
enough. You need Moses. Faith is not
enough. No, no, that's not enough. You
need your works. And the apostles came together
to answer that question. And Peter is the spokesman here.
But with one voice, without one argument against, they all agreed
wholeheartedly, without no exceptions, that's not true. We're saved
by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Have
you ever had the misfortune? I have once or twice. Be driving
on the interstate, perhaps late at night and you're tired and
stuff, and then you notice all the signs are backwards, they're
turned around. And you realize, I'm on the wrong
side of the highway. You ever done that? Bobby, I
remember me and you and Lester, I think, were coming back from,
we went up to Winston when Brother Paul Mahan was preaching up there
at Terry Worthen's church, Calvary Baptist, there in Georgia. And Lester almost made a move
like that. We stopped at the end of the
last minute and said, wait a minute, Les, wait a minute, back her
up. going the wrong way, going south in a northbound lane. If
the way anyone claims to be taking to heaven is not paid every step,
I'm talking about every step of the way with God's absolute
free grace in Jesus Christ, they're going the wrong way. Salvation
can't be both. Salvation can't be some of grace
and some of works. It can't be some of my doing
and some of Christ's doing. It's all of one or it's all of
the other. They're on the broad way leading
to destruction, and only by God's grace can they turn around. Christ
said, I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm not one of two
ways, or one of many ways. I'm the only way. And people
hear you say that, and they say, oh, you're narrow-minded. You're
bigoted. Oh, no, no, no. We're exalting the Lord Jesus
Christ. We'd rather offend man than to
offend God and to offend his son. Yes, we shall be saved. And thank God. We're just saying
blessed assurance. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
How in the world could that be true? If we depended upon anything
except the Lord and his grace to save us, how could we lay
down at night and really sleep knowing that our salvation was
in question? that it's not all of grace, that
it's not according to works. That's what Paul said to Timothy,
wasn't it? Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. We shall be saved because
Christ had redeemed us with his own precious blood. We read it
a moment ago from Isaiah 53. He shall see. to develop his soul and he'll
be satisfied. He'll be satisfied. He'll be
satisfied with what he accomplished on the cross. Not what he tried
to do. Not what he offered to do. Not
what he attempted to do. He by his own blood, does this
sound iffy to you? Does this sound like a maybe?
Is there any uncertainty about this? He entered in one time
into the holy place and what did he do? He obtained, past
tense, eternal redemption for us. That's why he cried on the
cross with a loud voice. It is finished. It's done. It's accomplished. And God proved his satisfaction
with the offering of his son to himself when he purged our
sins, when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own
right hand in heavenly place. And he said, son, I promise you
every knee is going to bow to you and every tongue is going
to confess that you're the Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus Christ has dominion over everything, all the time, everyone,
everywhere. He's the king. He's the king. Ye shall be saved. Because Christ had redeemed us
from the curse of the law. Because Christ came into this
world to save sinners. That was his purpose in coming.
And the prophet again, Isaiah said, God by the mouth of the
prophet said, He shall not fail. Joseph, when he's born, give
him this name. He'd already told his mother
that, Mary, but he appears to Joseph, troubled Joseph, as he
tossed upon his bed. Joseph, when he's born, call
his name Jesus. Joshua, Hebrew Joshua, Jesus,
the same word, means the same thing, the salvation of the Lord.
Yes, in answer to any who tell you your faith in Christ is not
enough, grace is not enough, that you can't be saved except,
we have this answer, we shall be saved. After all the smoke
is cleared, after all man's empty, Christless religion. My, so we
live in a world we always have, but it seems more so today. Christless
religion. Salvation without grace. Conversion without the Spirit.
Man-made. After every man-made way to heaven
is proven to be a lie, only this will stand. By the grace of God,
we shall be saved. There's no exceptions. No exceptions. The only salvation, the only
way, the only hope a sinner can have in this world is a good
hope through grace. You mean save the day? Oh, yes.
Yes, save the day. But we'll be saved tomorrow,
too. Now, wait a minute, Larry Wolder. You don't know what tomorrow
might bring. No, I don't. I don't know. I
don't know what tomorrow holds. But I know this. I know something
better. You've heard it many times. I
don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.
I know who holds all of my tomorrows. Nothing takes him by surprise.
Nothing catches him off guard. The Great Shepherd is always
mindful, ever watching over his sheep. God's salvation is an
everlasting salvation. When we're tempted and tried,
we're made to, with the Apostle Paul, cry out, O wretched man
that I am. That's true. I've not reached
what some Christians claim to have reached. state of perfection
in this life. I have people tell me that the
old nature's been eradicated, that it's gone. Well, how do
you do? You're a rare individual. You're
deceived. It's not gonna happen, not in
this life. No, we shall be changed. We'll be changed when we're caught
up to be with our Lord forever. Oh, we may be tempted and try,
And with the apostle Paul, and he wrote as an apostle, an apostle
after many years, and he said, I've not reached a state of sinless
perfection. No, he said, I daily struggle
every hour of every day. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? And when we're
being tossed on a troubled sea, and it's dark, like it was for
the disciples that night on the Sea of Galilee when the storm
suddenly came up and Jesus is the one that told them to get
in the boat and go to the other side and he stayed on the shore.
It was dark, we read in John 6, and Jesus was not yet come
to them. Oh, the waves got higher and
higher and Jesus was not yet come. The wind grew more fierce
and Jesus was not yet come. The storms of life are raging.
I feel like I'm going down and Jesus was not yet come, but he
came, didn't he? He came. He came in a way that
was best for them and his glory. He came in a way they never dreamed
of. He came walking upon the water. He's the master of the sea. He's
the captain of our salvation. We shall be saved. I love that
verse in John 7 when the elder asked John concerning
that multitude of redeemed sinners before the throne, every one
of them waving that palm leaf of victory, every one of them
singing salvation to our God that sits upon the throne and
to the Lamb. John, where did they come from?
How in the world did they get here? Prior to that, in chapter six,
we read that those who didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ, when
they saw him coming, instead of rejoicing, they run into the
mountains and pray for the rocks to hide them from the face, to
fall on them and hide them from the face of him that setteth
upon the throne. For the great day of his wrath
has come, and who shall be able to stand? And we look around
in chapter seven, and here are those standing before God. in
the very presence of a holy God without fear, without shame. How can that be? Because they
are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. We shall be
saved. John, where did they come from?
John said, I don't know. These are they which came out. You hear that? They came out. They didn't drown in that ocean
of trouble. They didn't drown in that sea
of tribulation. They all came out. Glory to his name, they all came
out. If you look back on that battlefield,
sin has been destroyed. The devil has been cast into
the lake of fire. Every rebellious thought has
been brought down, but for those who followed the Lamb wherever
He goes, they all came out. Oh, I like that. The next time
I'm feeling alone and having me a pity party, oh, may God
remind me of that lyric, they all came out. All of Christ's
sheep came out. Not one of them perished and
none of them ever will. Glory to His name. name. And
as the old hymn put it, when I'm growing old and feeble, he'll
stand by me. Glory to his name, he'll stand
by me. He said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'll be with you always, even
until the end of the world. I'm with you. You're mine. I'll never let you go. I'll never
lose my grip on you. You're in my hand. And I will
never turn you loose. When I've grown old, and I'm
there, and feeble, and the chill of death is even being felt,
I shall still be sad. What shall separate us from the
love of God, Paul challenged? That is in Christ Jesus. He named
everything present, everything future, anything that might be
invented. He said, I'm persuaded that nothing could separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. And brothers
and sisters in Christ, when all mankind are standing before the
white throne of a thrice holy God, and death and hell are delivering
up their dead, and the books are being opened, and all whose
names are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life are being
cast into the lake of fire, we shall still be saved through
the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Oh, to grace we rightfully sing. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I am constrained to be. Thank God for his free, his reigning,
his abounding, sovereign grace. Saved by grace means there wasn't
a cause in you. Isn't that good to hear? There
was no merit that his grace should have been attracted to you. And
yet there was no sin too great to repel his grace. Grace must
be more than a mere offer, mustn't it? It must be, it has to be. Because where sin reigned unto
death, His grace reigns in righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
the Lord. We're told today on every hand,
people are being told all around us, all over Sylacauga. Salvation's
easy. Anybody can do it. It's simple. It's simple as A, B, C. All you
gotta do is take the first step. Take the first step. How can
anyone dead in trespasses and sins take the first step? Remember
what our Lord told his disciples concerning Lazarus? He said,
Lazarus is dead. I'm gonna go encourage him to
take the first step. I'm gonna go and try to talk
him out of the tomb. I'm gonna try to get him to open
up his heart. Wait a minute, Lazarus is dead. And everyone outside of Christ
is dead. They can't will themselves to
Christ. They're not able to come to Christ.
They're not willing to come to Christ. They can't take the first
step. They're dead. Just as Lazarus couldn't take
the first step, neither could you and I. No man can come to
me except, except the flesh profits nothing. except if they come
by the grace that's in Christ. Jesus said, but I go. Remember
what he said further to the disciples? Yes, Lazarus is dead. I mean,
you don't get much more helpless than that. But I go. I go. Oh, there's hope now. There's
hope now. Our children won't listen to
us. They just ignore us. Oh, but Christ says, if I go,
If I speak, they'll hear. If I speak, if I say live, they'll
live. I go that I might awake him out
of sleep. I'm not gonna try to do it. I'm
not gonna offer to do it. Christ says, that's why I'm going
there. I'm going to do it. Oh, glory to his name. And he
did exactly that, didn't he? Father, as he stood before that
tomb, Father, I know that you hear me. It's not for my sake
that I'm asking this. It's for those that hear me,
those who are around, that they may know that you've sent me.
And after he had spoken those words, he cried, Lazarus, come
forth. Come forth. And what happened? The same thing that happens when
he speaks life to any sinner, they live. Lazarus came out of
that tomb. And the next picture we have
of Lazarus is in John 12. He's sitting at the table. He's
sitting at a feast, sitting at the table of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man's will won't accomplish that,
will it? Oh, but his will does. You hath
he quickened, Paul said in Ephesians 2, who were dead, dead in trespasses
and sins. Christ said, I'm the resurrection
and the life, Martha. whoever believes in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die." Where is this grace? Our text tells us, if salvation
is all of grace, and there's no possibility of being saved
without it, and no mixing of anything with it, and grace always
triumphs, It always succeeds. It always results in the salvation
of all those who receive it. Then how can I have this grace? Where can I find this grace? The answer is in our text. Through
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Grace is in Him. Grace is from
Him. Grace must be received from him
because he's full of grace and truth. I asked the folks when
I was preaching one of the messages out there in the rescue. I wonder how much grace it takes
to keep a sinner like me. How much grace does it take to
keep a sinner like me? Because the truth is, the truth
is, as the hymn writer put it, prone to wonder. That's just
a fact. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Oh, the devil whispers, oh, take
your eyes off that. Look over here. Look what I have
here. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. My soul, how much grace does
it take in the course of a day, an hour, every moment to keep
me? And multiply whatever that is. You can't measure it by the
tens of millions. that come to the Lord Jesus Christ
every day of every hour with so many needs, so many wants,
so much necessity, and yet there he sits upon a throne of grace,
full of grace and truth, and after supplying every need, the
grace sufficient for every prayer, for every sinner, for every one
of his redeemed ones, for all of his sheep, it's still full.
Once the fountain is open, It's never closed. He giveth, and
he giveth, and he giveth more grace. Oh, thank God for Jesus
Christ, because if I miss Christ, I miss grace. I miss grace, and
I miss salvation. It's not enough to be convinced
of five points. I must know Him. That's what
the article by Brother Henry Mahan speaks of in your bulletin
this morning. Oh, I'm convinced that I'm the
sinner with nothing to pay. I think I remember Bobbie tell
me one time, Rolf Barnard, when she first, or for a while, correct
me Bobbie if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you said that you
didn't like that fella. She didn't like how Rolf preached. Is there a sinner in the place?
Anybody lost? Bobbie says she didn't like that
until God taught her better. until God got her lost. Oh, what
must I do to be saved, the jailer asked. And Paul said this, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Oh, in that
day to be found in him. Turn, if you will, to Psalm 84.
I want you to look at one verse with me in Psalm 84. I think
I probably told you that story about following my daddy one
winter in the snow. We were going out to get some
gifts that my uncle had brought as far as he could get. We lived
up that hollow and he couldn't get no further. The snow was
so deep. So I followed my daddy in the
snow with a sleigh. And wherever he was leading the
way and wherever he put his step, I tried to stretch and put my
foot in the print that he'd already made, just following in his steps.
That's what the psalmist says here, verse 13 of Psalm 85. Psalm 85, did I say 84? Psalm
85, verse 13. Righteousness shall go before
him, Christ, and shall set us in the way of his steps. Every sinner that believes on
Christ God sets them in Christ's steps of perfect obedience, of
perfect righteousness, of doing everything that pleased God,
every moment of every hour of every day from the first breath
he took when he entered this world until the last breath when
he exhaled upon the cross. God puts us, believing sinners,
in his steps. Glory to his name. to be founding
him, look if you will, here in Acts 15, down at verse 30, 30
and 31. Paul and Barnabas and a few others
went out to take letters declaring what this council at Jerusalem
had proclaimed, that salvation's by grace alone, through Christ
alone. And it says, so when they were
dismissed, they came to Antioch, And when they had gathered the
multitude together, they delivered the epistle, which when they
had read, they rejoiced for the consolation, all the consolation,
the comfort, the God of all comfort, the sweet peace of knowing Christ,
His grace, and His salvation. No wonder we read that they rejoiced. They should. So should every
redeemed, believing sinner. Rejoice, rejoice in the God of
our salvation, the God of all grace, in that one in whom we
are accepted and will never be unaccepted, in that one in whom
there is and never will be any condemnation, in that one who
loved us and redeemed us with his own precious blood by him,
through him, because of him, we shall be saved. We shall be saved today, tomorrow,
with an everlasting salvation. You can't add anything to it.
You can't take nothing away because it's from God who does all things
well. God bless you. God bless each
of you. Thank you for your attention.