Turn, if you will, to Psalm,
the book of Psalms, Psalm number 3. My subject this morning is
God's salvation. God's salvation. I want to talk
to you about salvation. Not about man's religion, but
God's salvation. Religion is man's doing, but
salvation is God's doing. altogether. Anyone with any perception
at all, any understanding at all, knows as he looks out on
our generation today that we live in a very religious time,
don't we? Very religious time. Religion
I don't know that if anything, even sports, as big as that is,
I don't know that it even holds a candle to the big business
of religion. Churches everywhere compete for
the biggest crowds, the biggest buildings, the most decisions. And they offer everything, everything
imaginable to attract the crowds. It reminds me, I think I may
have told you this before. When I was about 18 years old,
a bunch of friends and I went up to Wildwood, New Jersey one
summer to work on a boardwalk, a big amusement park in Wildwood,
New Jersey. And I worked in an arcade. A
lot of other of my friends worked there, too, running games. And
we would compete for the people passing by for their attention. Yell out, don't walk by. Give it a try. Break a buck and
try your luck. Trying to get their dollars.
That reminds me of what churches do. Everything, fun and games,
whatever you want, whatever it'll take to draw you in, come in. We have it. And salvation. This is what's sad about that.
Salvation, that glorious work, that miracle of God's grace. And that's what it is. Men are
saved as a result of God's miraculous grace. That's what it takes. Nothing less than that will do.
And that miraculous work of grace, that glorious work of our triune
God is presented as being only partly accomplished. Partly accomplished. Because I used to hear it all
my life. God's done all he can. God's
done all he can. Imagine that. God being limited. God's done all he can and the
rest is up to you. Louie, I sure hope not. I sure
hope that's not so and I know that it's not. And this salvation
is represented as being determined not by God's will but man's will. Man, you've tied God's hands. God can't do no more unless you
allow him to do so. Is that the God of this book?
Is that the God that presents himself as the God over all? And salvation, that glorious
work of God's grace is reduced to being no more than a decision,
a decision or a walk down an aisle, how sad. How sad. And how hopeless is such a salvation
as that to sinners. And how dishonoring. If that
were not enough, how dishonoring to God Almighty. Someone after
the service last Sunday said to me, I'm so glad that we hear
about a salvation accomplished. about a redemption obtained. This is the language of scripture.
Christ entered one time into the holy place having obtained
eternal redemption for us. when he had by himself purged
our sins." Does that sound iffy to you? Does that sound like
he didn't get the job done? Oh no, he purged our sins. He
by himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. And they
said, I'm so glad that's what we hear preached. And not, like
in so many other places, that the grounds of your acceptance
with God Almighty depends upon your worth, your merit, or your
will. That doesn't offer a sinner any
hope. Look here, we'll begin by reading
one verse here in Psalm 3, and then we'll look at a few other
places in the Scriptures. Concerning salvation, We read
here in verse 8 of Psalm 3, salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Thy
blessing is upon thy people, Selah. Selah, that little word,
commentators differ as the exact meaning of it, but most seem
to agree that it calls for a pause. A time out. A pause. Consider what was just read or
sung as the Psalms were in the worship of God. Pause and think
about what you just read, what you just sung, what you just
heard. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. Think about it. Think about it. This is the sum and substance
of what the Scriptures teach about salvation. Whatever it
is, Whatever salvation is, whatever it includes, whatever is involved
in the salvation of a sinner, it's God's work. That's the teaching
of scripture throughout. It's the work of God. Salvation,
as Jonah discovered, in the belly of the whale. Oh, when a sinner
finds himself in such a place as that, I don't mean literally,
but in the place of absolute hopelessness, helplessness, he
realizes then, when he's brought down to that pit, low, brought
down, and as Jonah found out, salvation is of the Lord. My granddaughter there, Laurel,
I call her Laura, and she corrects me and says, Pawpaw, my name's
Laurel, not Laura. But when she was learning to
read, and I would drop by their house, she would get a book and
get up in my lap and say, Pawpaw, I'm going to read you a story.
Good, good. I like that. And she would begin
to read until she came to a pretty big word. Then there was a pause. And she didn't want me to pronounce
it for her. She would sit there and try to sound it out. Then
she would look up at me and say, Pawpaw, that's a big word. That's a big word. Salvation,
God's salvation, that's a big word. That's a big word. That's a big work. And it's all of God. And it's purpose, it's God. God's purpose to save. God doesn't have a new idea.
He's not like you and I, Lester. God never has a new thought.
God, all of his works are from everlasting to everlasting in
the purpose of salvation. God's purpose to save was before
the foundation of the world. It has to be. God says, I'm the
Lord. I'm immutable. I change not. Whatever God Almighty does today,
since He is a God that cannot change, He must have purposed
to do it before today, yesterday, hence before the foundation of
the world. He's God. In God's purpose to
save, it's all of grace. In the providing of salvation,
when the fullness of the time was come, God's time, God's purpose,
God's decree, he sent forth his son made of a woman, made under
the law to redeem, to redeem, specifically to redeem them that
were under the law in its purchase and in its performing, in the
preserving of salvation, in the perfection of salvation. God
shall have all the praise for it in all those various ways.
Turn if you will to Revelation chapter 7, or listen while I
read. I like this passage. Here you
have a picture of the accomplishment, not of the sinner, but of the
Savior. Isaiah said he shall see in Isaiah
53 that great evangelical prophet, that fifth gospel as it's called,
because it gives such a definitive picture of the accomplishments
of our great Redeemer. Isaiah spoke of him being bruised
for our iniquities, being crushed beneath the load of God's wrath
due to our sins. But then he didn't stop there,
did he? He said the result of all that would be this. He shall
see. Jesus Christ didn't die for a
perchance. He didn't die for a maybe. He
died for a certainty. He accomplished something. Otherwise,
he would have never bowed his head and cried, Finished! It's finished. It's a done deal.
And this is what John was privileged to see. This is what we read
up here in Revelation chapter 7. Look at verse 9. After this
I beheld in lo, a great multitude, Isaiah said he, shall see of
the travail, that is our Lord Jesus, She'll see if there's
a veil of his soul, that for which he suffered and died, and
he shall be satisfied. Ask yourself this. How could
the Lord Jesus Christ ever be satisfied if one whose sins he
bore away should ever perish and end up in hell? How could
he ever be satisfied? What a travesty that would be.
of God's justice, of God's mercy, of God's grace, of the death
of Jesus Christ? Oh, no. We see the results of
his death right here. John said, I saw a great multitude,
not one or two, but a great multitude, which no man can number of all
nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues. And they stood before
the throne, O my soul. Who are these ones that stand
before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes and palms in their hands? And they cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which setteth upon the throne
and unto the Lamb. Salvation to our God. Same thing
Jonah said. Same thing we read in Psalm 3
verse 8. Salvation belongeth unto the
Lord. This is the reason. Now we're
entering that time of season and just a few weeks from now,
the Christmas holiday. There'll be a lot of things going
on. A lot of songs sung and so forth. But the reason Jesus Christ came
was this. Only one reason. Joseph lay on
his bed once he found out Mary was expecting. And he knew he
wasn't the father. And he thought within himself,
I'll put her away privately. I'll send her away and nobody
will be aware of what's happening. I'll just do it privately. And
the angel appeared to him. The angel of God came to him
and said, Joseph, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to take Mary
to be your wife. Because that which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. And when he's born, call his
name Jesus. Why? Why are you giving him that
name? Why does the angel delivering
God's message, God's command concerning his name Jesus, why
that name? Because it means the salvation
of the Lord. The salvation of Jehovah. And
the angel went on to say, call his name Jesus, for he shall
save. Don't you like that? Don't you
like that, Louie? He's not going to try to save.
He's not going to attempt to save. He's not going to go so
far and then leave the rest up to the sinner, no. He shall save,
bless his glorious name, he shall save all of his people from all
of their sins. And I'll tell you what, If you're
ever lost, that'll be the best news you ever heard. The best
news you ever heard. If you've ever been stripped,
every child of God has. It's necessary. We spoke of John
Newton earlier in the reading. Newton wrote, there was grace
that taught my heart to fear. If God ever strips you, if he
shows you who you really are, your helplessness, your hopelessness,
and then he brings you on by his amazing grace and relieves
your fears by revealing unto you Jesus Christ, the all-sufficient
Savior and substitute of his people. That will be good news
to you. Salvation is of the Lord. I find
that this is good news to me every day. Every day. Because I am. present tense right
up to this very moment even now while I'm preaching to you or
trying to preach to you. I am a poor sinner. John referred to it this morning
in his lesson from Romans 7. Paul said, Oh wretched man that
I used to be. No he didn't. He said, Oh wretched
man that I am. Paul, you're an apostle. Oh,
wretched man that I am. Paul, you had such an experience
that day on the Damascus road. Oh, wretched man that I am. Paul,
you were caught up to third heavens. You saw things that God wouldn't
allow you to utter. Oh, wretched man, not that I
once was, but I yet am. And that's why I find the gospel
to be such good news every day. Because I am a poor sinner and
nothing at all. Yesterday afternoon, I drove
out here, brought some ice. Larry and my granddaughters came
with me. When we came in, they came walked
in with me and the youngest one there, Allison, asked me, she
said, Paul Parr, are you the boss here? Are you the boss? I said, no,
honey, I'm the pastor. She said, is that the boss? I
said, no, that's just the pastor. I like what Brother Scott Richardson,
his definition of a preacher, a pastor, was this. I'm a nobody. that tells everybody about somebody
that can save anybody. That's a good definition, is
it not? In Mark's Gospel chapter 10, it's also included in the
other Gospels, but a young man came to our Lord one time. He
was a rich man, a ruler. And he kneeled down to the Lord
and asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? A rich
man with a rich man's way of thinking. He thought eternal
life was something that he could do, that he could earn. And our
Lord, you know the story, sent him away sorrowful because he
wouldn't bow. He wouldn't bow. And if a sinner
doesn't bow to Jesus Christ, he's sent away sorrowful. That's
what our Lord did. There is no such thing. There
is no such thing, and this is a prime example of it, of having
Jesus Christ as your Savior and never bowing to him as Lord. There's no such thing. It's never
happened. But our Lord sent him away. And
upon doing so and saying what he did concerning the difficulty
of a rich man entering heaven, the disciples were just amazed
by him. And they asked him the question,
who then can be saved? Who then can be saved? You know the Lord's answer, don't
you? Now, religion, as we said earlier, tells us it's not a
problem. It's easy as ABC. It's easy as
saying the sinner's prayer. There's no problem. But Christ's
answer is vastly different, isn't it? When they asked him, who
then can be saved, he said, with men, with men, all men. Moral and immoral. Religious
and irreligious. With men it's impossible. It's impossible. Do you hear
that? Top lady expressed it very well
in the old hymn that we sometimes sing. not the labors of my hands
can fulfill the law's demands. Could my tears forever flow?
Could my zeal know respite? No. All these for sin could not
atone. All of my good works could not
atone. All of my tears could not atone. All my morality could not atone. All the religion in the world
could not atone for one of my sins. And unless my sins are
atoned for, Unless God Almighty's justice is satisfied, no sinner
will ever be saved. Salvation is not easy. It takes the miracle of God's
amazing grace. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
with man it's impossible, but he didn't stop there. He said,
but not with God. Not with God, because salvation
is what God does for the sinner, not what they do for themselves,
not what God assists them in doing, but what God does all
by himself. Did you know the first time that
the word salvation is used in the Bible, it's described as
being God's salvation? Let me read it to you. It's in
Genesis chapter 49. the words of Jacob to his son.
And he said in verse 18 of Genesis 49, I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. Thy salvation. That's the first
time the word is used. And he said, Lord, it's your
salvation. It belongs to you. We would have
never known salvation had God not contrived of it. It was formed
in the great mind of God himself. Only God can answer the question,
how can a man, how can a sinful man be just with the holy God? How can God Almighty, in light
of His purification, His justice, His holiness, how can He justify
a sinner? How can He declare any sinner
not guilty? He Himself says, all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous,
no, not one. So how can such a holy God Exercise
mercy on such a guilty sinner as you and I are. Justify through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's how. Only God can
answer the question himself and he did so. Man always thinks
he can't help it in natural terms. That's the best he can do. But
salvation is supernatural. It requires the power of our
wonder-working God. Nothing less can do it. God help
me to never cheapen it, never to lessen it by telling sinners
it's up to them, and not to rob God by saying he's done all he
can do. Oh, no. You remember in the bulletin
of ours two or three weeks ago, wrote an article concerning the
wonder of God's salvation or our wonder-working God. There
was a contemporary, an editor, a journalist, a publisher, and
an admirer of Mr. Spurgeon's. And shortly after
Spurgeon died, this man wrote, Mr. Spurgeon, in his preaching
at the Tabernacle, those thousands and thousands, week after week,
he always made salvation a marvelous thing. a miraculous thing, a
wonderful thing. And that salvation didn't depend
upon man, but it depended upon God alone. That gives a sinner
hope. Nothing else will. May we learn
this experimentally. Because the truth is, brothers
and sisters, we won't learn it any other way. Unless we experience
it ourselves, in our own heart, we learn what God's grace is
and what it does. Our Lord said, all that have
learned of the Father does what? In John 6, and he spoke these
words to hundreds of people who just a day or so before had partook
of his miracle of feeding 5,000 with a few loaves and fishes.
And he left them, and they followed him across the sea. Isn't that
a picture worth admiring? Isn't it? My soul, you mean they
left and followed the Lord across the sea? Yes, they did. And when
they found him, he said, you haven't really come to me. What? They'd moved their feet. They
did what most preachers say sinners must do to come to Christ. It's
moving your feet. It's moving from there up to
here. But Christ said, no, you've really not come to me. You've
not come to me. Because no man can really come
to me unless the Father who has sent me draw him. Everyone that's learned of the
Father, everyone that's been taught of the Father, experimentally,
in their very heart of hearts, they come to me and our Lord
said come to me. Come to me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Turn with me if
you will to the book of Hebrews. Let's look at just a couple of
places where it describes God's salvation and the first we're
going to look at is here in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3. The writer asked this question.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Great salvation
from our great God and Savior. A great salvation is only for
great sinners. God only saves great sinners.
He doesn't save any other kind. He doesn't save those that have
no need of the great physician. No, he saves great sinners. Not
like the Pharisee who says, I have need of nothing. He saves great
sinners like the publican who won't even lift his head toward
heaven. He says, I'm nothing, I have
nothing, I claim nothing, and I bring nothing. Lord have mercy
on me, I'm the sinner. God saves great sinners. Are
you one? Are you one? And it only comes
to them through the merits of our great Redeemer, who put away
our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Nothing else can. Now, in a moment,
we'll observe the Lord's table. We'll do what He commanded us
to do in remembrance of Him. We'll take the wine, which represents
His blood. There's no merit in that wine.
It's just wine. There's no saving efficacy in
the wine. It doesn't confer grace. Grace is not given by observing
the Lord's table or baptism. But that wine represents His
blood. And concerning that blood, we
sing, what can wash away my sins? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing but
the blood of Jesus. And oh, it's so complete there.
so thoroughly, washes away all the sins of all of his people.
The prophet said, in that day, the sins of Israel, God's true
people, will be looked for and it shall not be found. It's gone. It's gone. Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. I need a great salvation. Don't
you? And that great God and Savior
says, Look unto me, and be ye saved, for I am God, and there
is none else. Look unto me. Aren't you thankful
that God showed you his Son? Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona,
because flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you, who I am,
but my Father which is in heaven. He's done something for you,
Simon, that you couldn't do for yourself. And nobody else could
do for you. My Father has shown you who I
am. Oh, do you remember? Remember
when God in his mercy and grace pulled back the curtain, the
blinders, the blinders, and opened your eyes to behold him? Oh,
the sweet rest. The sweet, sweet rest of simply
falling into the arms of the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a great salvation. Look
again here in Hebrews chapter 7. Chapter 7 verse 25. I like this too. Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ,
our great eternal high priest that ever liveth, Paul says in
verse 25, I'm sorry, Hebrews 7, 25. Wherefore he, that is Christ,
is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. That suits me. That suits me. I'm an uttermost sinner. And
I need an uttermost salvation. Nothing less than that will help
me. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, reaches down to the gutter
most and saves to the uttermost. He reaches deeper. Bobby sometimes
sings it. He reaches deeper than the stain
has gone. He's mighty to save. Paul said
we're sin abounded. God's grace doth much more abound. God's grace covers a multitude
of sins, of a multitude of sinners, so completely that in that day
they'll stand before Him without a spot, without a blemish, without
any such thing, without evidence that they were ever sinners.
My soul, what grace, what a Savior that is. Are you still in Hebrews? Turn back a page to chapter 5,
Hebrews chapter 5. Verse 9, and being made perfect,
He, that is Christ, became the author of eternal salvation unto
all them that obey Him. Eternal salvation traced back
to eternity. God's salvation reaches in both
directions. from eternity past, in his purpose
to save, to eternity future, when we shall behold the Lamb,
behold the Lamb in his glory, it's an eternal salvation. I
know that, Job said, I know that whatsoever God does, it shall
be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nothing
can be taken from it, and God doeth that men should fear before
him an everlasting salvation Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter
40 chapter 45 but Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an
everlasting salvation it shall not be ashamed nor confounded
world without end no sinner that ever puts their trust in Christ
shall ever be ashamed shall ever be confounded, he'll bring his
sheep all safely home. Turn if you will to John's Gospel
chapter 6. Let's just read a few verses
here to emphasize that about the everlastingness of God's
grace and salvation. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself
here is doing the speaking and he says concerning his sheep,
those that the Father gave him, those that he came to save. He
says in verse 39 of John 6, And this is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And
this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which
seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. Turn here in
John's Gospel to chapter 10. John chapter 10 again our Lord
is the speaker in John 10 verse 27 he says my sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me and I give them eternal life
and they shall never perish I like that oh wretched man that I am
oh but they'll never perish Sin is mixed with all I do. They
shall never perish. What if I fall? They shall never
perish. What if I take my eyes off Christ?
They shall never perish. What if I sin? There's no if
about it. They shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. And you remember our Lord's words
to Martha? at the grave of her brother Lazarus. Our Lord said in verse 25 of
John 11, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Well, my friend, last
Wednesday afternoon breathed his last on this earth. The very
next thing he knew, he was standing in the presence of the King. Just like that. Just like that.
Isn't that remarkable? Oh, believest thou this, he that
liveth and believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And this great salvation is by
grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Paul said, for
by grace are you saved through faith, And that, not of yourselves,
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." What
was Paul referring to? The salvation, the grace, or
the faith? Which was the gift of God? They're
all the gift of God. They're all a gift of God's grace. Unmerited, unsought, the grace
of God alone brings salvation. And grace gives us the faith
to believe. Grace gives us sight to behold
the Lamb of God. One last thing. Turn, if you
will, to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Paul
refers to it here as your own salvation. Your own salvation. In Philippians chapter 2, verse
12. Have you experienced God's salvation? Your own salvation? Paul writes,
Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling. Work out, and Paul tells us,
work out what God works in. For it is God which worketh in
you Oh, that's what salvation is. It's a work in you. He that's
begun a good work in you, worketh in you both the will and to do
of his good pleasure. Yes, salvation is a big word. And it includes all God's grace,
mercy. And it's your own. It's your
own. God's great salvation is your
own. It's yours. once you believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on Christ and God says
concerning you what he said concerning that despised publican that day
on leaving the temple. He's going home justified. Eternity. Eternity will reveal
that day when all men are ushered into the presence of the thrice
holy God What a blessing of God's mercy and grace that is. Men
live in this world never giving God their soul, eternity, a serious
thought, just grabbing all they can get. They stand before God
and see a multitude of redeemed sinners and hear the great shepherd
say to them, enter into the joy prepared for you, and they hear
that their everlasting doom Depart from me, I never knew you, then
they'll realize what a blessing it was, this great salvation. To be spoken of by Christ himself,
these words, he's going home justified. Lester, you are looking
at one blessed man. When I leave here this afternoon,
I'm going home justified. When I lay down tonight, I'll
be justified. When I wake in the morning, I'll
still be justified. God Almighty looks down at this
helpless, worthless sinner and he says he's not guilty. Larry
Criss is not guilty. I don't have anything against
him. Not guilty. Accepted in to be loved. Your own salvation. Have you
experienced it? Let me read you and I'll close.
Brother Henry Mahan, I thought this was good. He wrote, salvation
by grace is a doctrine that is true and it must be preached
and it should be believed. But like the doctrine of God's
existence, just believing that salvation is of the Lord and
by His grace does not save. A man may believe that accurately
and not be saved. This grace, Henry wrote, must
be experienced in the heart and received by faith. I'll never
get across the river simply by believing that a certain bridge
can take me across and that others have been successful in using
it. I must experience the bridge's deliverance and power. Depravity
is not a doctrine to the redeemed. It is an experience. And Christ
the Savior is not a doctrine to the redeemed. He is the one
who has delivered us. Thanks be unto God for his great
salvation. Amen.