Yesterday, I believe it was,
Roger asked me. He had listened to a message
I had preached, an old message. And in that message, I think
he told me I made reference to the fact that I had a conversation
when I first began preaching with an older preacher and told
him how inadequate I felt to preach the gospel. I felt like
Moses when the Lord said, I'm sending you to Pharaoh. You're
going to tell Pharaoh. And Moses said, who am I? Who
am I to go before Pharaoh? I'm not eloquent. I can't speak.
And I felt that way. And Roger asked me, he said,
Dad, you remember feeling that way? I said, Roger, I sure do. I still feel that way. I still
feel that way. I'm not adequate. I'm not adequate. So pray for me. Pray for me.
If God's not pleased, make his word effectual, enable me to
preach, I study, I prepare, but I depend entirely on God when
I stand up here to bless his word, to speak through me. Here
back in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9 is our text. What a wonderful
verse it is. Weary pilgrim, broken-hearted
believer, Listen to this. God had not appointed us to wrath,
but this is what God's appointed us to, to obtain salvation. God has saved me, he is saving
me, and he will yet save me. To obtain salvation by, through
our Lord Jesus Christ. What would you say if I asked
you to take a pen or a highlighter and circle the most important
words in that text of scripture, and they're all important, but
which would you consider to be the most important? I sure hope
nobody would circle the word us as being the most important. No matter who, this is not proper
English, I'm sure, no matter who the us might be, whether
reverend us or pope us, all of us together cannot obtain salvation
by themselves, no matter who they are, no matter who they
are. Even this great word salvation
is not the most important word in the text and I'll explain
why that is in a moment. The most important word of course
is this, the words The Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't
you like that? Can you say that? Not THE Lord
Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's
my shepherd. Oh, he's the good shepherd. He's
the chief shepherd. He's the great shepherd. Oh,
but he's my shepherd. He's my shepherd, our Lord Jesus
Christ, because there's no salvation without the Savior. No salvation
without the Savior. You say, well, Larry, that sounds
rather trite. Well, perhaps so. But I know
people, and you do too, that's tried to go to heaven without
the Savior, without knowing Jesus Christ, and it's impossible.
There's no appointment by God Almighty to salvation by any
other except the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back if you will and we'll
come back to our text, but look at John's Gospel chapter 3. John
chapter 3, this is the last testimony, at least the last public testimony
of John the Baptist concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Some folks came to him trying
to stir up jealousy between John and Christ, or rather with John,
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that people were seeming to leave
John and follow him. And John said, I've told you
before, don't you remember? I told you before, I'm not the
Christ. Oh, what a good example he is
to us, John. He deflects attention away from
himself. John seems to say, look away
from me. Did I not tell you before that
I'm not the Christ? Have I not told you again and
again, behold the Lamb of God? If all you see is me, you're
yet in your sins. And he says, he that hath the
Father, or rather is the Son, God, verse 34, has sent, for
he whom God has sent speaketh the words of God. For God giveth
not the Spirit by measure unto him. John speaks of Christ always. He must increase, I must decrease. The Father loveth the Son and
hath given all things, all things into his hand. Then John sums
it all up. Here it is. This is what it all
boils down to. John says, he that believeth
on the Son, not on John the Baptist, not on the messenger, but he
who is the message, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Only the Son. And he that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, no matter what else he may do.
no matter what else he may claim, no matter what experience he
has. If he doesn't believe on the
Son, he shall not see life. But this he does have. This he
has just as surely as believers have present tense, everlasting
life. Those who don't believe on the
Son of God have present tense at this very moment, the wrath
of God abiding on them. And John the Apostle has the
very same testimony as John the Baptist concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look, if you will, in 1 John.
1 John chapter 5. This is what he says. 1 John
chapter 5, verse 11. And this is the record. that
God had given to us eternal life, and this life, this eternal life,
is in His Son. Because I live, Christ said,
ye shall live also. The same life in the Son of God,
the same life in the head, flows to every member of His body,
the Church. The same life. He that hath the
Son hath life, hath the life. and he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. John goes on in verse 13 and
writes, these things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God. I want you to know this, John
says. Over and over he says, ye know,
ye know, ye know, that ye may know, not that ye may doubt,
pout, no, but that ye may know having Christ, You have eternal
life, and that ye may just keep on believing, that ye may believe
on the name of the Son of God. Salvation belongs to those who
have the Son, those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
only those. God's promises are not some sort
of rabbit's foot that just toss out everywhere to everyone. They're
not, and I don't like this word at all, some sort of lucky charm. I hear that being done all the
time. All the time. Those who profess
to know God are usually the ones doing it. They speak to people
who've never bowed to Jesus Christ, who've never professed faith
in Him, and this person, this unbeliever's going through a
trial, a difficult time, And someone will say to him, well,
you know, you know, all things work together for good. No, no,
no. A rebel has no right to claim
that promise. No, the promise is all things
work together for good to them who love God, not rebels. To
them who are the called, not everybody. Them who are the called
according to God's purpose. Only to those who love God. Or
I've often heard this said, They're unbelievers. Some want to say,
well, don't worry, don't worry. God won't put on you any more
than you can bear. That's not the promise to a rebel. That's the promise to God's children
that he'll not put on you more than you're able to bear. That's
God's promise to his people, not to rebels. You can't claim
the promises of God without ever knowing who the promiser himself
is. Our Lord said in John 10, My sheep hear my voice. And I
know them. But he didn't stop there. And
he said, I know them and they know me. They know me. They hear
the voice of the great shepherd and they follow me. If you don't
follow Christ, don't claim to be his sheep. Don't claim to
have heard his voice if you don't follow him. All you can claim
is this again that we read in John 3 and 36. He that believeth
not the Son shall not see life. He shall not see life. But the
wrath of God abideth on him. Look again, if you will, at verse
9. This is our text. And our message is this, salvation
by appointment. Salvation by appointment. Is
that not what it says? For God had not appointed us
to wrath. Oh, no. We were children of wrath
even as others. Oh, but God by his grace has
called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He has not
appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by, through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the first thing to
notice. God makes the appointment. Don, God made this appointment. Aren't you glad that's so? You
didn't make the appointment. Oh, how precarious it would be.
Oh, and I didn't make the appointment. God himself, and I'm so thankful
that's so. I had an appointment just a few
weeks ago. Was supposed to have one with my doctor. There are
times that I've had to change my appointment because I couldn't
be there. This time, he couldn't be there. He was hurting himself,
so he didn't keep the appointment. This will never ever happen with
God's appointment. No. God has appointed us to salvation. God's appointed will never be
disappointed, not by His grace. I was reading some commentaries,
what they had to say on this verse yesterday. And one said
this, he said, in the primary sense, God does the work, salvation,
in the primary sense. In the secondary sense, man does
it. Really? Really? Oh, no. No, I don't know where
he got that nonsense, but not from the Word of God. Notice,
this is the very thing, this in verse 9, this appointment
by God through Jesus Christ, is the very reason Paul gives
for the hope of salvation that he mentions in verse 8. The hope
of salvation is for or because. We have a good hope of salvation
and verse 9 is the sole reason that we do. Oh, we have a hope
of salvation and here's the foundation for that hope. God Almighty! God Almighty! Did you hear that? God Almighty wills it to be so. He's appointed us to salvation. Oh, that's a good hope. That's
a good hope. That makes this appointment absolutely
sure, does it not? That makes it absolutely certain. I'm going to read to you a few
verses spoken by a man concerning God. He said, God is not a man
that he should lie. neither the son of man that he
should repent. Had he said, had he said, that
is God, and shall he not do it? Or had he spoken, and shall he
not make it good? Shall he not make it good? Will
he not keep his word? Behold, I have received commandment
to bless, and he, that is God, had blessed. I received commandment
to bless, and God has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. That's
Numbers chapter 23 verse 20. And I cannot reverse it. Oh,
I like that. God Almighty has appointed us
to salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and nobody can reverse
it. Nobody can change it. That's
good news. Look at those most important
words, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. Who died for us. Does that matter? Does that matter? Does that make a difference?
You say, well, Larry, it makes all the difference. Of course
it does. He died for us that he might
bring us to God, but it doesn't make any difference. It doesn't
make a lick of difference if anyone he died for ends up in
hell. What was his death worth? What
did it matter? Oh, but Paul says, this appointment
God has made through the Lord Jesus Christ gives us a good
hope. He died for us. He took our place. Turn, if you
will, to Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Notice what
Paul says here. Hebrews 9, verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, like the earthly tabernacle,
temple, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. He's representing us. Every claim
God Almighty has, Jesus Christ answered for. He represents us. We have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. My soul, we're well represented. Verse 25, nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy
place every year with the blood of others, For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now, but now,
once, one time, once was enough, once got the job done. One time,
after offering himself to God, he said, it is finished. The
job's done. Now once in the end of the world
has he appeared to put away sin, that's what he came to do. That's
why he was given the name Jesus. And bless his name, he did it.
Put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And Paul uses death,
man dying one time, to illustrate the finality of what Jesus Christ
did. As it is appointed unto man,
wants to die. Now I know today we see People
on talk shows claiming and writing books saying, well, I went to
hell and came back. I went to hell. No, not yet.
Not yet. If you did, you're not coming
back. Paul says it's appointed that a man wants to die and they're
not coming back. But after this, the judgment.
Now take that finality of death. the one time of death. And Paul
says that's exactly what Christ did. So Christ was once offered
one time. We die one time. Christ offered
himself one time to bear the sins of many and unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. You remember one time a multitude
that our Lord had fed got hungry, so they went looking for him
again. And our Lord, when they found him, the Lord said, you
seek me because I fed you. You're laboring for bread that's
going to perish. Don't do that. Labor for that
bread which came down from heaven, who gives his life, the bread
of life. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. You came with your
feet, but you've not really come to me. You came to me physically,
but you've not really come to me spiritually. You've ate literal
bread, but you've not ate the bread of life. You can't do that
unless God Almighty does something for you. And they said, hmm,
well, we don't have to listen to this. We've had that happen
here. Folks say, well, I won't put up with that. I'll go somewhere
else. And they did. And this multitude did. They
turned and walked away. They turned their back on the
Son of God and walked away. And he looked at the 12 and said,
do you want to join the crowd? Will you also go away? Peter's
like me. Most of the time, when he opened
his mouth, he'd wished afterwards he'd kept it shut. But this time
he was right. When our Lord's asked the question,
will you also go away? Peter said, Lord, to whom shall
we go? To whom shall we go? Thou has the words of eternal
life and we're sure that you're the Christ, the Son of the Living
God. Thou alone are the Christ. Thou
alone are the Son of God. You alone have the words of eternal
life. To whom shall we go? To whom
shall we go? Let me share with you an article,
a part of an article that I read just the other day. It says here,
this man says, I spent five years studying theology in two of our
nation's leading colleges, Bible colleges. And about all we did
was gaze into heaven. Remember when the disciples stood
on Mount Olivet gazing into heaven when our Lord ascended and the
angels said, why did you stand gazing into heaven? This man
said, we spent five years gazing into heaven. Semester after semester
was spent trying to unravel the visions of Daniel. Ezekiel and
Revelation. But never, now think about this,
five years. But never not even one time in
five years did I hear a professor answer such essential questions
as this. How can a man be just with God? These seminaries are sending
men out to preach, like rolling cars off an assembly line, and
never once deal with the question, how can a man be just with God? How can he that be clean that
is born of woman? How can God be just and yet justify
the ungodly? That was, of course, Mr. Fortner's
experience in seminary. Isn't that sad? I hope you don't get tired of
hearing it. Salvation is not in what, it's
in whom. Christ, who died for us, Paul
said. At one time, Paul, as Saul of
Tarsus, trusted in things. And he knew a lot of things.
He knew a lot of things. Man, I bet you Paul could sit
down all day long and talk to you, instruct you about the law. I mean about all the precepts
of the law. He could explain all the animal
sacrifices, what they were, how they were to be offered and all
that. He could tell you about the traditions
of the fathers. He could tell you about all the
rules and regulations that the strictest sect of the Pharisees
that he belonged to was all about. He could just talk for hours
and hours and hours about things, so many things, but he didn't
know God. He didn't know God. In Philippians
chapter 3, Paul said, I once was of the tribe of Benjamin
and Hebrew of Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee, concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless. That day, when he left the chief
priest with warrants in his saddlebags to bring all those professing
faith in Christ back from Damascus so he could give his voice against
them and say, yes, put them to death, they deserve to be put
to death. When he thought with all of his strength and might
that he would erase the name Jesus of Nazareth off the face
of the earth, that impostor he thought that day as he rode on
his high horse. And all the time that he was
doing that, he thought that he was pleasing God Almighty. He thought God was pleased with
what he was doing. Paul goes on to write, in Philippians
chapter 3 but oh but but God Almighty God Almighty, God who
had appointed Paul to salvation said, today thou shalt go no
further, Saul of Tarsus. Today you're going to bow down
to my son. And that's exactly what he did.
That's exactly what he did. He found out that Jesus of Nazareth
was everything he claimed to be. Lord, who are you? I'm Jesus
of Nazareth whom you're persecuting. The Lord Jesus Christ, but Paul
said, oh, blessed day, blessed grace, blessed salvation. Oh,
no. More than that, blessed God and
Savior. And now, now, after that, it's
no longer things with Saul of Tarsus. It's Jesus Christ. That's all he thinks about. That's
all he preaches about. That's all he talks about. Jesus
Christ. What things were gained to me,
I count a loss for Christ. I count all things lost for the
excellency of the knowledge. It's not knowing things, now
it's knowing him. The knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ. Christ became. in place of all those many things,
the one thing, the one thing needful. And Paul said, Christ
is all, Christ is all, and I'm complete in Him. That's why Paul afterwards could
calmly face the executioner's axe while he sits in a dungeon
cell in Rome, cold, abandoned. And he says, nevertheless, nevertheless, I'm not ashamed.
Was Paul some kind of super spiritual giant? I mean, Louis, did he
possess something that you and I as believers today don't have?
Absolutely not. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. Well, then how could he face
death so calmly, so serenely? He says, for I know who. I know whom. Laws and precepts
and rules and regulations won't do that. Won't give you that.
Oh, when the time comes, like you taught this morning, John.
When the time comes, we're ready to cross that river. My soul,
I hate to think that I'm going to look back on things, things,
and trust that. Oh, no, no, no. I know who. I know who. And he'll hold my hand. as over
this river I go, and safe, safe I will be in beautiful heaven,
I know, because he hath appointed me to salvation." Only Christ
can give that real peace, real peace. There's going to be an
article in next, I think next Sunday's bulletin or perhaps
the Sunday after by Bruce Crabtree. He said, one of the most dreadful
things I've ever witnessed One of the most dreadful things I
ever witnessed was talking to an ungodly man just a few hours
before he died. And I asked him if he was afraid
and he answered, no. He died a few hours later with
a calm conscience. This poor soul was on the very
verge of eternity without one ounce of a God-given hope and
yet his conscience was calm. Isn't that something? What God
refuses to do for some men here, that is to awaken them out of
their gross ignorance, he will suffer the torments of hell to
do yonder. The rich man fared sumptuously
every day, and may well have died with a calm conscience,
but as soon as the flame of hell touched him, he knew he was in
trouble. There is but one sure ground
of peace and calmness, of conscience, and that is the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. God, give me no rest until you
give me the peace that Christ made through the blood of his
cross. Amen. Amen. Otherwise, as our
Lord told the religious folk of his day, You will die in your
sins. If you believe not that I am
he, you will die in your sins because salvation is by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jesus. Oh, there's something
about that name, isn't there? Jesus. He shall save his people
from their sins. Jesus, the only name given under
heaven by which we must be saved. Jesus who said, I am the door. Singular. Not doors, door. I am the door. John said, I saw
a door opened in heaven. Not a Baptist door or a Catholic
door or the Calvin door. No, the door is Jesus Christ
himself by me. If any man enter in by me, Not
by preacher, not by priest, but by me, the door. What did our
Lord say? He shall be saved. He shall be
saved with an everlasting salvation and an uttermost salvation. Oh,
then if all that is so, and it is, as Paul said, I must know
Him. This is life eternal. Our Lord
prayed that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom thou didst send, that I might know him personally,
knowing for myself, my sheep. I know my sheep and am known
of mine, he said, knowing whom I have believed. And that's no
pretense. That's no illusion. It's not
make-believe. You remember as children, We
all did it, I'm sure. We played make-believe. I suppose
there was no great harm done. But, oh, if you only pretend,
make-believe to know Christ, there's no greater harm could
befall you. Oh, knowing Christ is not make-believe. It's embracing the Son of God.
It's knowing whom I had believed. Turn, if you will, to 1 Peter. chapter 1, 1st Peter chapter
2, I'm sorry, 1st Peter chapter 2. Look what he says. Look how he
describes the believer and his Lord. Unto you therefore which
believe, he is precious, the preciousness But unto them which
be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallow, the same
is made the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. But God's not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. But you are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people. that you should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in times past..." Look at this, child
of God. Oh, my soul, look at this. "...which in times past
were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had
not obtained mercy." At one time, we were without
God, without hope, without Christ. which had not obtained mercy,
but now, but now have obtained mercy." Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Have now obtained
mercy. Oh, this full and perfect peace. Oh, this transport all divine
in a love which cannot cease. I'm His and He is mine. Salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me wrap this up. Whom to
know is light everlasting. As the little girl said, when
someone checked her enthusiasm as a recently convert to the
Lord Jesus Christ, they said, now be careful there, be careful.
How can you be sure you won't drown? And she said, how can I ever
drown with my head so high above the water? How is that possible? Don said he spent five years
in those seminaries and never once had the question answered,
how can a man be just with God? The answer is this, only if God
Almighty does the justifying. And he does. He does. If God Almighty justifies us,
then we'll never be unjustified. Who is he that condemneth? Who
is he that condemneth? It's God that's justified. God
that's justified. Horatius Bonnard said this, upon
a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die, another's life,
another's death, I stake my whole eternity. Amen. Amen. Heaven and earth may fade and
flee, Firstborn light and gloom decline, but while God and I
shall be, I am His and He is mine. God hath appointed us to
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. God bless you.