my sinful self, my only shame,
my glory, all the cross. I pray that that is a confession
from your heart and from mine. I want to talk to you tonight,
as God will enable me, about Bible salvation. I mean by that,
salvation as it's given to us in Bible terms. And the message
is important for this reason. The vast majority of people in
this world who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who
call themselves Christians, those who attend church regularly,
and those who think they're just fine without attending church,
have no idea what salvation is, though they become very angry
with you if you suggest in any way that they do not know God's
salvation. The papist have the idea that
somehow you can be saved by observing mass and you can get rid of your
sin by giving money to the old man in Rome to do what he wants
to with it. Protestants Folks who practice
what's called baby baptism, infant baptism, baptize those babies
because they believe that somehow another sprinkling a little water
on a baby's forehead will give it a step up toward God or even
give it the possession of God's salvation. We have in this part
of the country folks called Campbellites. They call themselves Church of
Christ. And they will tell you in a heartbeat that salvation
is by the grace of God and by baptism. Salvation by grace,
but not by grace alone. Matter of fact, some years ago,
one of the local Campbellites in a paper attached something
I had said publicly and said, the Bible does say that salvation
is by grace, but it nowhere says salvation by grace alone. Our
works have a lot to do with salvation. Those were his words. Most people
have the idea that somehow the practice of religion salvation. If you come to church, if you
are baptized, if you observe the Lord's Supper, if you keep
the ceremonies of religion, and you live a consistent decent
moral life, then certainly that is God's salvation. Many have
the notion that salvation is accomplished by You receive salvation,
you get salvation by walking down a church aisle and kneeling
at an altar or a mourner's bench or in front of the church or
shaking hands with a preacher or saying the sinner's prayer,
making a decision for Christ. How many times have you heard
folks say, I decided to get saved last night? I decided to get
saved last night. Salvation, most people think,
is connected with their will and their works. Somehow another
salvation is determined by what they decide and by what they
do But what does the Word of God say? What does this book
say about salvation? I? Wish we could when we come
to the Word of God Mentally lay aside all the creeds and confessions
that men have written throughout history all of them all of them
Those written by faithful men and those written by men who
were less than faithful. Those that are orthodox and those
that are far from orthodox. Lay them all aside. When all
said and done, it doesn't matter at all. It doesn't matter at
all what folks have taught historically. It doesn't matter at all what
men have to say. It doesn't matter what Calvinism
says or Arminianism says. What matters is what this book
says. What does God say in his word
about salvation? Turn with me, if you will, tonight
to Ephesians chapter 2, and read these three verses, 8, 9, and
10. Now, here in Ephesians 2, 8 through
10, we're given one of many Bible descriptions No, let's go further
than that. Bible definitions of salvation. The scriptures describe and define
God's salvation very distinctly in numerous places. None more
distinctly, none more clearly, none more instructively than
Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. Now understand what Paul is saying.
The grace didn't come from you. The salvation didn't come from
you. The faith didn't come from you. By grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is the gift of God, not of
works. Lest any man should boast. This
salvation, the grace, the faith, the salvation is God's gift. If God gives it, you've got it. If God doesn't give it, you don't
have it. It is the gift of God. It is
not of works. It is not of works. It is not of works. Lest any
man should boast. Now here's the reason the Apostle
states that. Here's the reason the Spirit
of God inspired him to state that. If salvation somehow, somehow,
to any degree, at any point, in any measure, is determined
by you, you're going to brag about it. You're going to boast in it.
You're going to say, that's my faith. That's my decision. That's
my work. That's my will. I made the difference,
not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship. We are God's workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Now, when we talk about salvation,
I remind you, salvation is like the word redemption. It is a
very, very, very big word. We're not just talking about
the initial experience of salvation in time when we begin to believe
God. We're not talking about just
the time when we're regenerated. We're not talking about just
God giving us faith in Christ. Salvation is the whole package
of deliverance. It is the deliverance of our
souls from sin, from death, from condemnation. Deliverance from
sin and its curse and all its consequences and ultimately from
sin itself into the glorious liberty of the sons of God in
heavenly glory Salvation is not an experience but an emancipation. It's not a decision but a deliverance
It's not reforming my life. It's having life restored to
me and salvation wherever it is spoken of in the Word of God
always has these four things asserted about it emphatically.
Salvation is by grace alone. Salvation is through faith alone. Salvation is in Christ alone. And this salvation by grace alone
through faith alone in Christ alone is ours in its entirety
without works on our part. Without us saying or doing anything
without works. It's the gift of God. The book
teaches us that this salvation involves creative power. We are created in Christ Jesus. We are new creatures in Christ,
created in righteousness and in true holiness, God's workmanship. Now be sure you hear me right.
When we speak about works and our works having nothing to do
with salvation, some folks just automatically presume that means
it doesn't matter how you live and you can be saved by God's
grace and live like hell and that doesn't matter. God's grace
does in great measure determine how we behave in this world. There's no question about that.
Regenerate men and women walk uprightly. We behave differently
than we did before. There's no question about that.
God's grace affects what we do. But what we do, what we do, what
we do, Before we're saved, when we're saved, after we're saved,
be it good or evil, has absolutely nothing to do with the work of
God's grace. Is that clear enough? And this
is what the book says, listen. To him that worketh not, but
believeth, righteousness is given. We're justified without the works
of the law. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Isn't
it remarkable that the apostle was inspired in Romans 9 16 to
use those very words that are most commonly used by men to
speak of salvation by their free will. It is not of him that willeth. He said in Romans chapter 4,
it is not of him that worketh, but of him that believeth. So
believing, believing is not something accomplished by the choice and
decision and determination of a man's will. But rather, believing
is that which God works in us, making his people willing in
the day of his power. And the works produced in God's
people, those good works which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them, have nothing to do with God giving
us His grace, preserving us in His grace, and glorifying us
by His grace. It is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. As you read through the New Testament,
especially in Paul's writings, it seems like almost every time
Paul says, we're saved by grace, he turns around and says, no,
not of works. Just in case you didn't get that, not of works,
not of works, not of works. Why do you suppose? I suppose,
Sammy, it means for us to understand works have nothing to do with
grace. Works have nothing to do with grace. Salvation then
is the work of God alone, a gracious work of God wrought for and in
sinners without our aid or our assistance. Given to us freely
through the mediatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the power of God the Holy Spirit Now let's begin back in Genesis
chapter 49. I want us to look at some scriptures
I've given you this numerous times, but it's worth looking
at again Genesis 49 and verse 18 The very first time the word
salvation is used in this book is found right here in Genesis
49 18 This is where Jacob is giving a prophetic word to his
sons regarding the twelve tribes of Israel. That prophetic word
given to his sons regarding the physical tribes of Israel was
a prophetic word given to the sons of God regarding the Israel
of God. Now listen to what he says. He
says in Genesis 49, 18, I have waited for thy salvation. Salvation. Salvation belongs
to God. Salvation belongs to God. It is not something God owes
you. It is not something to which
you have a right. It is not something that belongs
to you. It's not in your hands. It belongs
to God. It is called God's salvation. As Jonah put it, salvation is
of the Lord. It is God's work. When Moses
led the children of Israel out of Egypt, and they stood before
the Red Sea, that Red Sea they couldn't possibly have crossed
because of the swelling of the waters, and the mountains surrounding
them on both sides, and Pharaoh and his armies breathing down
their necks, and the children of Israel trembling with fear.
What are we going to do? Moses said stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord Stand still and see the salvation of
the Lord You who don't know the Lord Jesus
you who yet are without faith in Christ I Tell you one reason why I tell
you one problem you have I know because I've been there You keep
trying to do something to believe God. Isn't that amazing? We keep trying to do something
to believe God. As long as you do, you don't
believe. As long as you're trying to do,
you don't believe. You come to believe when you
are at your wit's end and you can do nothing and God causes
you to stand still before him. and you find yourself believing
God. God opens the Red Sea and brings
you through the troubled waters. Stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Not only initially, but throughout
the days of our lives, through our pilgrimage in this world,
as we meet with one obstacle and then another, one foe and
then another. One enemy and then another. One
adversary to our souls and then another. The Lord God speaks
to us as Jehaziel did to Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel. When
they faced their enemies, He said, stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord. He said, you shall not fight
in this battle. This is God's battle. This is
God's work. When the children of Israel were
required to build a house of worship for God, The Lord God
said, don't allow the sound of a hammer to be heard in my house. Not the sound of a hammer. Why? Why? Don't put your hands to
this work anywhere. This is God's work. This is God's
work. Salvation is God's work, God's possession and God's prerogative. He gives it to whom he will. He gives it to whom he will,
and he gives it to everyone who receives his son, to everyone
who believes his son. Your reception of his son, your
believing his son, is God consciously giving you his son. I don't know
a different way, better way, To illustrate that I have many
times, this glass of water has received water. It's received
water. It didn't do anything. It just
received water. It didn't reach out and take
it. Somebody poured the water in. And in the New Testament,
there are two words for receive. And the word received means one
of two things, either to receive completely passively or to receive
actively. The water, glass, received water
completely passively. And we received God's salvation
in the gift of life, in the new birth, completely passively. That's an understatement. Everything in us is opposed to
the gift of God's salvation. It'd be like trying to pour water
in that glass with a lid covering the glass. We're opposed to the
reception of it. But God in his marvelous grace
opens the windows of heaven and opens our hearts and puts Christ
in you. He puts life in you. And when it does, you find the
thirst for water. You find a hunger for righteousness. You find a hunger in your soul
for bread and you, uh, there's water. Must've been for me. I got it.
I received it very actively, very willingly because I wanted
it. That's what the hand of faith
is. The hand of faith is God's gift that comes with the gift
of life causing you to receive Christ Jesus. As many as received
him, the book says, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God. As many as received him, just
like I took a drink of that water. To as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God. Salvation then
is thy salvation. Turn over to the other end of
the book in Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Verse 9. Here we read that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the author of eternal salvation. Being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
believe. Now, hear me carefully. Hear
me carefully. I say that because I want to
be clearly understood and I want you to be aware of what I'm saying. And I recognize that folks like
to put words in a man's mouth that he doesn't say. Our salvation
was purchased for us at Calvary. accomplished by the doing and
dying of the Lord Jesus. Our salvation is accomplished
by God the Holy Ghost in the gift of life and faith in the
new birth, sanctifying us, making us partakers of that holiness
without which no man shall see the Lord, partakers of the divine
nature, new creatures in Christ. Salvation is accomplished in
time by the work of Christ at Calvary and the work of God the
Holy Spirit in us. But our salvation is eternal
salvation. It was accomplished before the
world began. I don't mean merely that it was
secured, though it certainly was. I don't mean merely that
it was ordained to come to pass, though it certainly was. I don't
mean merely it is as though we were saved from eternity, though
that certainly is true. But the book of God declares
emphatically with clarity that salvation is an eternal act of
God accomplished before the world began in Jesus Christ our Redeemer. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Just
turn over one page. Look at verse 3. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 3. The
works were finished. The works were brought to their
conclusion. The works were ended from the
foundation of the world. What a statement. What a statement.
What does that mean? Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. You and I, creatures of time,
Just simply cannot I don't mean some of us can't the smartest
one in the bunch Creatures of time we just cannot think in
terms of eternity We we just can't God's eternal so he speaks
to us in terms of time and deals with us in terms of time but
God's work is eternal and It's eternal. The works, this rest
that awaits us in heavenly glory, this rest to which we are going,
this rest for which we labor, this rest we seek in Christ was
finished before the world began. Finished before the world began
because God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost accepted
Jesus Christ the sinner's surety before ever time began as the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for the sins of
his people. And our names were written in the book of life before
the world began. so that we were chosen, predestined
to salvation, and accepted in the beloved before the world
began, accepted in Christ before time began. Being accepted in
Christ, we were given salvation in Christ with all the blessings
of grace before the world began. And this because Jesus Christ
is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. For that reason,
we read this morning in Romans chapter 8, verses 29 and 30,
that we were redeemed, justified, called, and glorified in eternity. redeemed, justified, called,
and glorified before the world began in eternity. Every sinner,
every sinner who in time comes to believe on the Lord Jesus
was redeemed and called and justified and sanctified and glorified
in Jesus Christ before the world began. The works were finished
from the foundation of the world. If they were finished from eternity,
then nothing in time in any way can alter those works. Nothing in time is going to alter
what God did from eternity. Indeed, what God accomplished
in eternity He simply brings to pass in time in our experience
for the praise of the glory of His name. All right, turn back
now to the middle of the book. Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Here's the
third thing. This salvation, Bible salvation,
is called the salvation of the righteous. Psalm 37. Let's begin reading in verse
37. Mark the perfect man and behold
the upright for the end of that man is peace. Mark him. Mark him. The perfect man. The upright. That's it's Larry
Brown. Perfect man. Upright. Now you don't know Larry. He
got mad at me yesterday. A perfect man. Upright. Perfect
man. Upright. How can that be? God
says so. Made him so in Christ. If he's
in Christ. Perfect and upright. Perfect
before God. Made upright by his grace. But
the transgressors shall be destroyed together. The end of the wicked
shall be cut off. Not the perfect man. Not the
upright. The end of that man is peace. Mark him now. Watch
him. Watch him. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. He is their strength in time
of trouble. And the Lord shall help it and
deliver them. He shall deliver them from the
wicked. Deliver them from the oppression
of the wicked, the designs of the wicked, the intent of the
wicked. More than that, He shall deliver them from the midst of
the wicked. Rex Bartley was raised in Detroit,
Michigan. Down where I was raised, we used
to call that Detroit City. He was raised up there in the
middle of Detroit City, and God delivered him from the wicked. Don Fortin was raised down in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and God delivered him from the
wicked. You were raised where God put
you. And God delivered you out of
your family, the wicked. Out of your neighbors, the wicked.
Out of the folks you were raised with, the wicked. God delivers
him. How can that be? The salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. The righteous? But wait a minute. You tell us all the time we're
just wicked as everybody else. Indeed we are. But the righteous
are those whom God has made perfect and God has made upright by his
grace. The righteous are sinners for
whom justice is completely satisfied by the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The righteous are sinners who
have perfectly obeyed God unto death. In the sacrifice of Christ, the
Redeemer, who obeyed God for us in whom we obeyed God. And I have said this so many
times. I started to say it looks like I wouldn't have to say it
again, but I'll tell you who I keep saying it for. I keep
saying this for me. For me. I was talking to a friend
this week about forgiveness. And he said, forgiveness is somehow
associated with repentance. I said, not hardly, just in our
experience, just in our experience. God Almighty has forgiven us
our sins because we fully deserve God's acceptance through our
obedience unto death. in the person of his son. When
Jesus Christ lived in this world in perfect obedience to God. Oh Spirit of God, write this
on my heart. Teach me this fact that I know. Teach me this fact in the sweet
daily confidence of it. I obeyed God perfectly. He earned heavenly glory. He earned it. He earned it. He earned it as a man. Who did? Christ did. And I did. And you did if you're his. And
forgiveness. Forgiveness. God cannot declare
a man forgiven unless he has no sin. God says I will by no
means clear the guilty. Is that what he said? I will
by no means clear the guilty. Is that what he said? I will
by no means clear the guilty. You mean preacher God will not
clear sin away from a guilty man? He will not do it. He will
not do it. Forgiving, iniquity, transgression
and sin. Well that can't be. It can't
be except in the person of the Redeemer. When Jesus Christ died
Suffering all the fury of the hail of God's wrath. I suffered
in him all the fury of the hail of God's wrath. Oh, Bobby, if
we could get hold of that. So that God in heaven, in his
holiness, has no reason ever to be angry with me. God in heaven
in all his holiness, righteousness, justice, and truth has no reason
ever to be angry with me. This is God's salvation. This
is Bible salvation given to sinners freely through Jesus Christ our
Lord. This is our experience of grace. He is their strength in time
of trouble. Look at verse 40. Here's the
promise of God's grace. The Lord shall help them and
deliver them. And here's the blessed, singular,
great evidence of it. Because they trust in him. Don, how can you confidently say that Christ is
your Redeemer, that you've been made meat to be partaker of the
inheritance of the saints in life, that God will not charge
you with sin? Brother Mark said to me going
out the door this morning, we chatted just a little bit, talking
about Christ put away sin he said uh he said I believe that
means he annihilated our sin he's exactly right annihilated
it annihilated it so that God says uh I look for their transgressions
I look for their iniquities and they shall not be found They
shall not be found. You start walking east and just
keep walking. And walk until you get to the
west. Do you like to try that? Just walk on until you get to
the west. When you get to the west, please give me a call.
You can't get there from here. It can't be done. As long as
you're walking east, you're walking east. You got to turn around
and start walking west. And God has removed our transgressions
from us as far as the east is from the west. Cast them into the depths of
the sea behind his back. and says I will remember your
iniquities no more because Christ put them away. How can you be certain that's
yours? One reason and only one. I trust in the Lord. I believe God. I trust the Son
of God and that gift of faith is the gift of God's salvation
and that salvation in Bible terms. May God give it to you for Christ's
sake. Amen.