Paul, when writing to those gathered
by the gospel at Rome, says to them in chapter 1 and verse 15,
I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also,
for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God under salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed, from faith to faith. As it is written, the
just shall live by faith. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. salvation and it's that word
salvation that I wish to draw your attention to, that one word
salvation. We speak of the gospel and of
believing the gospel but Paul says of the gospel that the gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. It has an end And at the end
is salvation, the salvation, the deliverance of God's people
from all that they need to be saved from. The power of God
under salvation. Consider that word salvation. How full, how pregnant, how overflowing
with meaning it is. And how full and overflowing
are the scriptures with regard to salvation. They overflow with
this word, they overflow with this message. They overflow like
a cup which floweth over. The scriptures from Genesis to
Revelation cry out, salvation is of the Lord. salvation. Why? Because they cry out with
one voice from Genesis to Revelation, the whole of the scriptures cry
out with one voice that Christ is all. Christ the Lord Jesus
Christ God's Son. whom He sent into this world. He is God's, Jehovah's salvation. He is God's means of saving His
people. There is salvation in none other
name than the name of Jesus Christ. He came into this world to save
sinners. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus, Saviour,
Christ the anointed Saviour, the one whom God sent to save
his people. He is our salvation. He is the
message of this book. Christ and His work. Christ and
His salvation. Salvation. Salvation or deliverance
is described throughout the scriptures in many ways. Firstly there is
salvation or deliverance from our enemies. People of God have
many enemies, many enemies. The world around them, Satan,
their own flesh, their own nature. There are many enemies seeking
to sink you into the grave and to keep you in the grave. There
are a multitude of forces throughout all this world, some seen, some
unseen. A multitude of principalities
and powers who are seeking to damn your soul, who are seeking
to destroy you, who are seeking to take you down into hell when
you leave this world. and all their energies and all
their efforts are set upon taking your soul and taking it into
hell and keeping it there. You have many enemies, many enemies
that you are ignorant of. Throughout your walk in this
world you will meet people who will turn against you and you
will say those have become my enemy. But there are many, many
other enemies. And many enemies from which you
must be delivered if you're to be saved and to be delivered
from going down into hell when you pass from time into eternity. But God has purpose to save his
people from their enemies, to deliver them from their enemies.
Psalmist in Psalm 18 says, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy
to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies. There's salvation from our enemies,
there is also salvation from wrath, from the wrath to come. 1 Thessalonians 5 9 tells us,
for God have not appointed us his people chosen in Christ,
unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Thessalonians
1.10 tells us that his people, God's people, have been delivered
from the wrath to come when Christ came in this world, when he went
to the cross, when he was nailed upon the cross and judged for
the sins of his people. He delivered that people from
the wrath to come because left to yourself you are a sinner,
full of sin, full of rebellion and God's wrath, God's anger,
God's justice burns against you and your sin and it will be answered. The hours, the days, the minutes
tick down until that day when this world will be brought to
a conclusion. When all will stand before Almighty
God. And when some will be divided
from the others. Some to go into eternal glory
and salvation and some to be judged. Some to taste of the
wrath and fury of God against their sin. What of you? What is your destination? What
do you know of this salvation? What do you know or fear or are
aware of this wrath to come? For you should, if you are without
Christ, fear it because it is coming with a certainty. You will die and without an answer
for your sins you will find yourself under wrath. Unless that is,
unless you hear the gospel and are brought by faith to look
unto Jesus Christ and to believe on Him and to be washed by His
blood. For if you are, then you will
say that you are amongst that people of whom Paul speaks in
Romans 5, God commended His love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Yes, there is a people who will
be saved from their enemies, and there is a people who will
be saved from wrath through Jesus Christ, because his blood washed
away their sins. There is also salvation from
judgment. That which brings in the wrath
of God against sinners is the judgment of God and God judges
people fairly. He judges them fairly. He judges
all that we have done. He compares all that we have
done with His holy law and with His righteousness. And every
transgression will be dealt with fairly. and all that we do that
is righteous will be rewarded and all that we do that is sinful
will be judged. But who has done one thing righteous? No man, not you nor I, save Jesus
Christ. But all that we have done in
rebellion against God, earns up, merits his judgment. 2 Peter 2 verse 4 tells us, for
if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down
to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved
unto judgment, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah
the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in
the flood upon the world of the ungodly, and turning the cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an example unto those that should after live ungodly,
and deliver just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the
wicked. Then the Lord knoweth how to
deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto
the day of judgment, to be punished. Yes, God judged the old world
in the days of Noah, a world full of wickedness. And one man,
Noah, and his house were spared when they were taken through
the judgment in that ark. But the judgment of God came
in those storms, in that rain, in that flood, which destroyed
all the old world and all the wicked people in it. There was
a judgment which came then, and there is a judgment which will
come again upon you if you spurn the gospel and trample the blood
of Jesus Christ underfoot. But if you believe, If you are
one of those for whom Christ died, then there is salvation
from judgment. And as such, there is salvation
from death, that great enemy of our souls, that great common
ground upon all men that comes upon us all, for we all shall
die because we have all sinned. By one man sin entered into the
world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for
that all have sinned. That's an enemy. That's an enemy
of our soul that we must be delivered from if we're to know salvation. But salvation brings deliverance
from death. When Christ died he conquered
death for his people. He took away the cause of death's
sin. He delivered them. from death. Christ who delivered us his people
from so great a death and doth deliver, 2 Corinthians 1 10,
there is salvation from hell and from the chains of darkness. When you die you go to one or
two places, heaven or hell, to dwell with God in light inaccessible,
in glory forevermore. or to be plunged into outer darkness
into that place called hell where the devil and his angels dwell
and where there's no escape and where there are chains of darkness
But salvation, God's salvation delivers His people from hell.
It delivers His people from sins. From their sins. From that sin
which would plunge them into hell. From those sins which would
bring judgment and wrath and damnation upon their heads. Christ
came to deliver his people from their sins. Thou shalt call his
name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. In Christ they are ransomed,
redeemed, set free, they are washed, washed from all their
sins and they are justified. declared to be righteous. Those who were once full of sin,
those who were committed a multitude of sins, in Christ are declared
to be just and righteous before a holy God. Oh what a great salvation. There is salvation from the law. That which is against us, that
which condemns us, that which we are under, that which we cannot
keep. God gave a law at Sinai to the
Jews but though given to the Jews what that law says applies
in its moral sense to all mankind whether you're Jew or Gentile
as Paul proves in the first three chapters in Romans he shows that
Jew or Gentile under law or not under law The work of the law
in your conscience convicts. The Gentiles though they were
never under the law know that the law is true and they know
right from wrong and so do you. And that right, that sense of
righteousness, that sense of the work of the law in your soul
condemns your every misdemeanor. When you rebel against God, when
you indulge in your wicked ways, you know what you have done. And you know against whom you
have sinned. And you know that that law is
against you. And you know that you cannot
escape it. And when you come to hear the
gospel and come to hear the truth and come to know the effect of
the law and the scale of the law and how condemning the law
is and how high a standard it is that you can never attain
to, when those commandments come to you, when the Spirit of God
brings them and begins to convict you as he did with Paul in Romans
7, then you find that that law is against you and you cannot
escape it and you cry out, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver
me? Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? And you find an answer, that
God's salvation in Jesus Christ, not only delivers you from your
enemies, from judgment, from wrath, from death, from hell,
from sins, but from the law and its realm as well. We are delivered
from the law. We are married unto Christ. We now serve not in the flesh
but in the spirit. We're saved from the law and
we're saved from sin. Saved from sin itself. Knowing
this, Paul says that our old man is crucified with Christ,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin. that very thing that entered
into man by Adam, that very rebellion, that sin, that which brought
in death, that nature, that which causes you and I to rebel against
God every day, that sin that we cannot escape and we cannot
quench and which overcomes us and which causes us to to rebel
against God every day, that which corrupts all we do That sin is
that from which Christ sets us free. Our old man is crucified
with Christ that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth
we should not serve sin. He that is dead is freed from
sin. If we be dead with Christ, we
believe we shall also live with Him. Having died with Him, His
people rise with Him, delivered, delivered from sin, delivered
from the old man. There is also salvation as Habakkuk
2 verse 9 tells us, from the power of evil. And this sin is
a power of evil. And there is one called Satan
and the devil who goes around as a roaring lion seeking whom
he may destroy and he gets them under his grip and his power.
And he tries to tempt them and lead them and tempt them in their
sin. There's a great power but there's
a great saviour who delivers from the power of evil and who
delivers from the power of darkness. as Colossians 1.13 calls it. We are delivered, there is salvation
from Satan, the devil, the adversary. the king of Babylon as Jeremiah
42 verse 11 refers to him. That king, that power, that prince
of the power of the air, that prince of this world, the king
of Babylon, the one who rules over the kingdom of rebellion,
the one who rules over your sinful heart, we're delivered from him. We're delivered as 2 Timothy
4 verse 17 tells us from the mouth of the lion. Not physical
lions but that lion, that devil, that Satan that goes around as
a roaring lion seeking whom he may destroy. Well there's deliverance
from even him. Salvation. There is salvation
from the world. The world, the world and all
its ways and all its thinking, all its desires, all its attractions,
all its deceptions, all its rebellion against God and his savior. The
world uses all its power and all its might to keep the multitudes
in its grip and to lead them away from God and his salvation. Yet Christ came into this world
to save His people and to lead them out. To save a people called
His church, His ecclesia, and to call them out from this world
and its religions and its ways. And to lead them unto heavenly
glory. To bring them in the kingdom
of God. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.
But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you
out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Christ says
in John 15, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world, he says. And you are not of the world.
My people are delivered from the world. They're brought out
of the world. There is salvation from the world. Then, oh believer, what are you
doing wading around in the world's ways? and the world's thinking
and the world's religion and the world's entertainment. What
are you doing reading the world's books and watching the world's
television and listening to the world's music and mixing with
this world and dallying with its religion? We're called out,
we're delivered from it and when the gospel comes in power in
your soul you will be brought out of it. what you once loved
you'll begin to hate what was once most important to you will
become nothing to you because you will love Christ and his
righteousness and his ways having tasted of his salvation. There's salvation from the world,
there's salvation from the flesh. From the sin that dwells in us,
from the flesh. Because we're delivered from
the flesh to walk in the Spirit. But oh how the flesh wars against
the Spirit. oh how it wars against the spirit,
oh how it causes us to fall, oh how every day the believer
has this struggle as the flesh wars against the spirit and those
things that he would do the flesh tries to lead him away, oh what
an enemy the flesh is. But Christ came, the Saviour
came to save his people. and to deliver them from the
flesh and the bondage of corruption as Romans 8.21 refers to it. Oh how much there is we need
to be saved from. How vast is the scale of our
salvation. We can speak of it so lightly. People say they're saved. People say they've accepted Jesus
into their hearts and now they're saved. But how little we know
of how great a salvation this is. How much he has saved us
from. save from our enemies, save from
wrath, save from judgment, save from death, save from hell, save
from sins, save from the law, save from sin and the power of
evil, the power of darkness, save from the devil our adversary,
save from the world, save from the flesh, what a great salvation,
what great salvation, but we are not just saved from, If you
are Christ's, if he died for you, if he shed his blood for
you, if he sent his spirit by his gospel to open your eyes
to what he did for you, then you will discover you are not
just saved from this multitude of adversaries, but you are saved
unto a multitude of blessings. was saved unto everlasting life. Those who are made of the dust,
those who are mortal, those who are born with death reigning
in their flesh, children of wrath, nothings, Those who are chosen
by God unto salvation are saved unto everlasting eternal life. In Christ we have life without
beginning and without end. A quality of life of an altogether
different order from that life which men and women call life
in this world. That life which is but a mere
delaying of death that life which is just dying every day that
life which is full of sickness and sores and misery in Christ
we have a new life everlasting life we are saved unto everlasting
life we're saved unto righteousness Delivered from our sins. Delivered
from sin we are made to be the righteousness of God in Jesus
Christ. Righteous without spot or blemish. Perfect in Christ. We are saved
unto eternal glory. He has gone, he told his disciples,
to repair a place for them. He left this world having completed
his work of salvation, having died, having been laid in the
grave, having taken the sins of his people into the grave
and left them there. he having died he rose again
and he ascended into glory to prepare a place for them that
they should dwell with him for ever more he will bring in a
new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness and that's
your inheritance believer because of the one who died, because
of his last will and testament made for you, he reads out that
will and testament and says I leave this to this people, all that
I have is theirs, this heaven and this earth, this new heaven
and new earth, this eternal glory is theirs. to live and to reign
with me the other side of death forevermore in a world, in a
land, in a heaven wherein there is no sin, no sickness, no poverty,
no misery, no tears, no sorrow, everlasting bliss. We are saved
unto eternal union with Christ our Saviour, always to be one
with Him, married to Him as our husband, one with the Saviour,
always to walk and to live with Him, to be in a place where we
can hear His voice every day and feel His hand upon us and
feel His love upon us. to know His arms around us, to
never be separated from Him, always one with Him. And that
is not just something to come but it's a reality for the believer
by faith. When all around you is perishing,
when your body is perishing, when there are enemies raging
against you each and every day, when every day outwardly speaking
seems like such a struggle, inwardly by faith you are one with Christ,
saved from it all. Saved from it all. One with Christ. Man can do nothing to you. Once you're born again they could
burn your body and it won't harm you because you're already one
with Christ. You'll simply go to be with Him
forevermore. Oh what we're saved to, we have
all riches in Christ. All the fullness of the Godhead
dwells in Him bodily. All the riches of God in Jesus
Christ are ours if we are His. If we were washed by His blood.
If He loved us and died for us. Well is this yours? Have you
been saved from all those things? Have you been saved unto these
wonderful riches and glories? Are you in Christ? What do you
know of this salvation? Which Paul rejoices in when he
says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it's the
power of God unto salvation. No wonder he loved the gospel
when the salvation he rejoiced in is so vast and overwhelming,
so wonderful. How much we need to be saved
from and how much the Savior has saved his people from and
what he's brought them into. Salvation. Oh never read that
word lightly. When you read in the scriptures
of your salvation, when you read of the gospel of your salvation,
just remember what that salvation is, and just remember what it
cost the Saviour to bring it in for you. Because it did not
come lightly, but it cost Him. It cost him. It cost him the
rejection of all men. It cost him his life. They crucified him. They hated
him. You crucified him. You hated
him. You put him to death. It cost
him. But in so dying, He brought in
so great a salvation. Salvation. The scriptures speak
of it in many ways and they speak of many things in relation to
it. We read in the scriptures that there is the day of salvation. The day of salvation. We live
in a day and an age where the gospel is preached. You sit here
today, or you listen today, to the Gospel of this salvation. And you listen because this is
the day of salvation. And if God gives you ears to
hear this message, inwardly, not just outwardly, and puts
faith in your heart to receive and to believe this message,
then you will know salvation. But there comes a day when this
gospel may not be preached. There comes a day for you when
this gospel may not be preached. There comes a day when God may
move on and say you've heard it for the last time. You've
heard and shut your ears. You've heard and shut your heart.
You've heard and shut the door. You've heard and shut Christ
out. You will not hear again. Don't
be a fool. Today is the day of salvation. Today. For he hath said, I have
heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. There is a day of salvation.
Don't pass that day with wasteful thoughts of this world and its
ways which lead to destruction. There is a gospel of salvation. Ephesians 1.13 speaks of the
gospel as being the gospel of your salvation. If you receive
the gospel in which Paul rejoiced, if you're brought to believe
that gospel, if you hear that gospel, If it's made a gospel
which is unto your salvation, then you will be able to describe
it as the gospel of your salvation. Which brings the truth of salvation,
Psalm 69, 13. For the gospel is true, and this
message is true, and anything that contends against it is a
lie. Well, will you believe lies or will you believe the truth?
This is the truth as it is in Jesus Christ who said I am the
way, the way unto salvation. I am the truth and I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. This is true because it's Christ's
message regarding Christ the Saviour and regarding Christ's
salvation and you reject the truth and you reject Christ. There is the helmet of salvation,
Ephesians 6 speaks of. The helmet. If you have this
salvation, you have a helmet that protects you from the arrows
and the attacks of the adversary. There's protection by this salvation. There is the shield of this salvation,
Psalm 18. This salvation protects and shields
you. There is the hope of salvation,
1 Thessalonians 5.8, this salvation is hopeful. Have you got hope
in this salvation? There is a horn of salvation
as spoken of in 2 Samuel 22.3 and Luke 1.69, a horn of salvation,
a horn that blows forth the sound of salvation, the strength, the
power of salvation, the gospel. When the gospel horn is blown,
the horn of salvation makes a great sound. But have you ears to hear,
there is the knowledge of salvation, Luke 1.77. Well do you know this
salvation? Has God brought the knowledge
of this salvation into your heart? You may know of it in the head. You may hear the words. You may
know the facts. But do you know? Do you know
Jesus Christ? Do you know His salvation? There's a knowledge of salvation.
There's the word of this salvation, Acts 13, 26. When the apostles
went forth and preached, they preached the gospel, they preached
the word of this salvation. which declares the way of salvation. Acts 16, 17, there's a way. There's a broad way that leads
under destruction. There's a narrow way which leads
unto life eternal. There is a right way, as the
psalmist speaks. And that way is Jesus Christ.
There is a way of salvation. There is a way of salvation which
is of grace. For salvation is of the Lord,
He brings it. And there's a way that men try
to save themselves of their own strength, their own effort, their
own will, which leads unto destruction. a way of salvation. There are
wells of salvation that we read of in Isaiah chapter 12. Wells,
those places where you dig and draw out water, water that brings
life, water of life. Christ says that he will bring
water of life. water that you drink of and never
thirst. His salvation brings life. There are wells of salvation,
wells in which you dig. Go to scriptures, dig deep, dig
out, look for Christ. He is its message. There is the
rock of our salvation. Psalm 95 verse 1. Christ He is our rock. He is our solid
place. He is our great foundation. You
can build upon the sand. You can build upon the sand of
false religion. You can build upon the sand of
Arminian free will works religion. But you'll be washed away. But
if you're built upon the rock, then you're built upon the rock
of our salvation. There is the Tower of Salvation,
2 Samuel 22, 51. The Tower, the Tower which speaks
of Christ. That Tower in which you will
find a refuge, like the Ark. Like the ark in which Noah and
his family found refuge, there is a tower in which the people
of God find refuge. A tower Christ, the one in whom
they dwell, the one who protects them from all the opposition
round about. And there is a cup of salvation,
Psalm 116 verse 13. A cup, a cup of salvation. There is a cup that Christ drank. when he came to save his people
from their sins. A cup that he wished would be
passed from him, but he knew that he must drink that cup if
he would take their sins away. He drank the cup of God's wrath
and indignation against their sin and their sins, and he drank
it to the dregs. And because he drank that cup,
he can give them a cup, a cup that they can drink, where they
drink wine, where they drink water, where they drink wine
that makes their heart glad, where they drink water of life,
a cup which brings salvation. There's a cup of salvation. Of
salvation we know that salvation is waited for only by those in
whom the Spirit of God works. The world cares not for it. The
world does not want it. you by nature never sought it
or desired it. But when the Spirit of God comes,
and begins to convict the sinner of his sin. Should God convict
you of your sin, then you'll cry out to God, you'll long,
you'll wait, you'll hope, you'll desire his salvation. Salvation
is waited for, Genesis 49, 80, Lamentations 3, 26, it's waited
for. The saints of old, the Old Testament
saints long for salvation, they long for Messiah to come, they
long for Christ to come, they look forward to it. Salvation
is hoped for, Psalm 119. Hoped, longed for. fainted for, 11981. Does your
heart faint for salvation? Is it something you've been brought
to desire, to cry out unto God that you must, you must be saved? Oh Lord hear me, that the desire
goes on so long that you're fainting. Salvation is something that the
eyes fail for. Psalm 119, 123. The eyes fail
for they look, they look, they look, they think it will never
come. And then in the end, God in grace
and mercy comes forth and says, you're mine. And faith enters
the heart and assurance floods in and the love of Christ is
shed abroad. Are you hoping, longing, waiting,
fainting for it? Do your eyes fail? Salvation
is also far from the wicked. Psalm 119, 144. Where are you? Is it far from
you because of your wickedness and your wretchedness and your
mountain of sin? Has it put God away from you?
Does it put God away from you every day? Do you set God at
a distance? Yet God's people, The elect,
the chosen, the one whom God gave unto Christ and said go
and save this people, for them salvation is near. And as Isaiah
says, it shall not tarry. It's placed in Zion for Israel,
my glory, he says. It shall not tarry. And that
people are turned unto it. They're brought unto it. They're
brought to see it. Salvation, as John 4.22 tells
us, is of the Jews. And as Acts 28.28 tells us, it's
also for the Gentiles. It's also for the Gentiles. Are
you Jew? Are you Gentile? Great is the
scope of this salvation, for it is also called this great
salvation. 1 Samuel 14, this great salvation,
it's sent. God sends it forth by his gospel. In Acts 28 we read that it was
sent unto the Gentiles, unto people like you and I. Gentiles,
this gospel, this salvation has been sent unto us. It's been
shown forth, Psalm 96, and made known, Psalm 98. And for those
for whom Christ died, this salvation is seen. It's seen. Exodus 14, 13, Fear ye not, stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. Has God put faith in
your heart to see? Has he opened your blind eyes
to see? mine eyes have seen thy salvation
cried out that old man in Luke chapter 2 when the Savior was
brought unto him mine eyes have seen it and Luke 3 verse 6 tells
us all flesh shall see the salvation of the Lord you will see Christ
the salvation of the Lord one day and he'll either be your
Savior or he'll be your judge This salvation is something God's
people are chosen unto. God has said, this is one for
whom Christ will die. I have chosen that one under
salvation. They're chosen unto it, 2 Thessalonians
2.13. It's something that's obtained,
2 Timothy 2.10. It's brought, it's given, it's
a gift. It's something we are made wise
unto, 2 Timothy 3 15. Because by nature, though we
think we're wise, we're fools. And by nature the fool have said
in his heart, there is no God. But God will make his people
wise under salvation. Have you been made wise? It's
brought to those so made wise by grace. Titus 2.11 For the
grace of God that bringeth salvation have appeared unto all men. It
will be brought to you by grace. Has it been? It's brought. It's not claimed, it's not earned
and it's not naturally speaking sought for. but it's brought. God comes with it. Christ came
into this world to save sinners and he sends the Spirit of God
unto lost sinners, the lost sheep of Israel, with his gospel. Though they are afar off, though
they are blind, though they are dead, though they are foolish,
though they are fools like you and I, he brings his gospel,
he brings his salvation to their ears and says, here it is. Behold the Lamb of God. Salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. And you can
read this book from cover to cover, chapter by chapter, and
you won't find any other message in it. Salvation is by grace
and grace alone. Salvation is confessed. When
you're brought to believe, you will say, I know whom I have
believed. You will speak of it to all men.
You won't keep quiet. You won't be able to keep quiet.
Romans 10.10 tells us confession is made under salvation. Salvation
is outworked. Philippians 2.12 tells us work
out your own salvation. It will be worked out, not that
you strive, but that it will be made to be seen by God the
Spirit in you. It will show itself. It will
show itself in you. It will show itself in your conduct.
It will be evident to all men. Salvation is neglected by many. Salvation is neglected by many. Is it neglected by you? Hebrews 2.3 asks us, How shall
we escape if we neglect so great salvation? which at the first
began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him. Will you neglect it? If you will,
you will not escape. There is wrath and there is judgment
to come, and yet it is neglected by many. It's not trusted in
by some, as Psalm 78 tells us. Where do you put your trust?
In man. or in God. But this salvation
is given unto kings, Psalm 144, 10. And it's given unto the meek,
Psalm 149, 4. It's given unto those who are
made to be princes and kings in Christ. And who those by grace
are meek and lowly, not proud and arrogant. who rejoice in
the grace of God which brought their salvation and which brings
them to rejoice for this salvation is rejoiced in Isaiah 25 9 it
makes us glad how could it not it's so great It's found in the
time of trouble, Isaiah 33 too. Have you found it? Are you in
trouble? Has God brought this salvation
to you in the midst of your trouble? If he has, then you will love
it, for it's loved. Psalm 74, let such as love thy
salvation say continually, let God be magnified. Oh, they love it, and they show
it forth by their mouths. Psalm 71, the saints show forth
God's salvation. They won't shut up about it. They won't shut up about it.
With regard to this salvation, in the scriptures we see that
it is of the Lord, salvation is of the Lord, Jonah 2.9. And
of none other, neither is there salvation in any other, for there
is no other name other than Jesus Christ under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved, Acts 4.12. The gospel is the
power of God unto salvation. Christ is the captain of our
salvation, Hebrews 2.10. He is the author of eternal salvation,
Hebrews 5.9. And he wrought salvation in Israel
in the midst of his people, united with all his people at the cross. one with them taking their sins
upon himself he took those sins and that sin away and brought
in the righteousness of God for them he wrought salvation in
Israel 1 Samuel 11 13 and he did it by his own strength the
Lord's arm brings it Isaiah 63 5 He brings it. He brings it by strength and
power whilst riding forth on chariots. Thou didst ride upon
thy horses and thy chariots of salvation. Habakkuk 3.8 Christ
went forth for it. Habakkuk 3.13 He went forth,
he came into the world as a mighty saviour to save his people. Working
salvation in the midst of the earth. Psalm 74.12 Salvation is the end of faith,
it's that which faith looks for, it's that which faith receives.
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1.9 Oh what a salvation! It was what the prophets inquired
of and searched out diligently, 1 Peter 1 10 tells us. They looked
for it, they longed for it, they sought it, they sought it out.
Salvation is what the walls of New Jerusalem are named. Isaiah 60 verse 18. There are
garments in which the saints are robed. which are called the
garments of salvation. They are robed in righteousness,
washed in the blood of the Lamb, made to be the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. Isaiah 61 10. Salvation is for
them as a lamp that burns in Zion. It burns, it shines, it's
their hope and their glory. Isaiah 62 1. And the strength
of that lamp that burns, the strength of salvation, the reason
it shines forth with eternal brightness and fire is because
God is the strength of it. Psalm 140 verse 7. And being
the strength of it, salvation is everlasting. Isaiah 45 verse
17. It's from generation to generation,
Isaiah 51 verse 8. It's everlasting. as Christ is,
as his gospel is. The Lord God himself is said
to be it. He is our salvation. Truly in
the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. He is our salvation. Christ is our salvation. and
as such it is common to all the saints of God for they're all
one in Jesus Christ. Jude 1 3 tells us, Beloved when
I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that
you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints. Oh is this salvation common to
you Are you one of those saints built up upon that faith? Have
you that faith that comes by that gospel? Well he only will
if you hear that gospel. But that gospel of our salvation
is preached today. in this day of salvation. And
it will be preached until the end when Christ returns in almighty
power to bring his people in. It will be preached in all the
world. It's preached by those whom God
sends into all the world, Acts 13, 47. For so hath the Lord
commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the
Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth. Isaiah 52, 7. He sent forth His
preachers, His apostles, He sent forth the disciples, He sent
forth preachers unto this day, with this gospel, that sinners
like you and I may hear, and that we may be brought to see
and to behold His salvation. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth, and it will be preached
unto the end, when God will deliver his people. when God will separate
His people, the sheep from the goats, and when they will be
led in to that eternal glory and kingdom where they will dwell
forevermore, and they will live and reign around the throne of
God and the throne of the Lamb of God. And as we read in Revelation,
they will cry out with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our
God, which sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And John said,
I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation,
and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of
his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren
is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And later on he says, and after
these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven
saying, Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honour
and power unto the Lord our God. Alleluia! How great a salvation! No wonder Paul could say, I am
not ashamed. of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation. Do you know this great salvation?