Hold your place there. We'll
come back to that in a minute. This will be my watching pad,
Hebrews 2, and then we'll look at some other scriptures. I want
to talk to you today about salvation. Salvation. Do you need salvation? I want you to consider that.
Do you need? I don't want you to consider
your husband, your wife. daughter, your son, I want you
to consider this personally to you. Do you need salvation? Let's back up and ask this question.
Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? Has God convinced
you in your heart that you are a sinner? The conclusion he'll bring you
to that you need salvation, and then that salvation is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we just have one message.
I'm going to preach to you the same thing I preached last night.
Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you need salvation? I do. I do, and I'll tell you
why. This need arises because of my
sin. I've sinned against God. I've
sinned against him. There is none righteous, no,
not one. We're all together, all together
gone out of the way. There is none that doeth good,
no, not the first one. So I need salvation because I'm
a sinner, because of my condition. Secondly, the need arises because
not only am I sinful, But God is most holy. God is most holy. One of the old prophets said,
He's too holy to look upon sin with favor. How holy is God? You take a good look at what
happened at Calvary when the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin
for us, the wrath of God. poured out upon him, because
God, yes, he is love, but God is holy. You see, his love is
his holy love. Thirdly, the need arises, salvation. Talking about salvation now.
The need arises because I'm a sinner. The need arises because God is
holy and will not, will not, and cannot look upon sin with
favor. Sin must be punished either in
me, eternally, or in my substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly,
the need arises because I can't save myself. I cut my teeth on
work religion. Some of you know my story. I
grew up in the Rocky Mountains and grew up a Mormon. And I cut
my teeth on works religion, do this, don't do that, do this,
go here, dress this way, conform to this, rules and regulations,
over and over and over again. And thank God that he didn't
leave me in the bondage of works, that by his almighty grace he
moved me from that bondage of religion and brought me all the
way to Ashland, Kentucky, and guess who lived there? God's
servant. God's preacher, who had God's
gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and that gospel through
that servant was sent to my heart, and he set me free. That's my
story. Salvation with men is impossible,
but with God, for his salvation is absolute, certain, and sure.
And I'm so thankful for salvation that is in him. Salvation of
sinners, as is described in God's holy word. It's all of God alone. It's the work of God alone, not
by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. That regenerating
work of God is a glorious, marvelous work of God and a necessary work
of God. It's all of God. It's a gracious
work of God done not only for us. I love that psalm. 57, it
talks about, "...he performeth all things for us." And then
the next verse says, "...he shall send from heaven," and he sent
the best there is, the Lord Jesus Christ, "...and save us." He
sent his Son to save us by his grace, the gracious work of God
done for us. God made him to be sent for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him." It's a work not
only done for us, but it's an irresistible work of God done
within us. That work done within us. We're confident of this very
thing. The Apostle said that God who hath begun a good work
in you, God, it's his work. He starts it, he finishes it,
he'll carry it on. God who has done a good work
in you, he will perform it, he will perfect it, he will complete
it. You see, salvation, that old term that we often use, and
it's good. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
all of God. God has sovereignly chosen to
give His glorious salvation to those given to the Lord Jesus
Christ in that covenant of grace. He speaks of that often. All
that the Father had given to me, they will come to me. They
will come to me, and I will never perish, and I'll never cast them
away. God had given him power over
all flesh, and he should give eternal life to as many as the
Father had given him. It was for the elect of God.
that he established righteousness in his life. He honored all of
God's law. He said, I didn't come to destroy
the law. I came to fulfill that law of God. I like that scripture
in Isaiah 42 that says he will magnify the law and make it honorable. He's doing that not for himself.
He is righteous. He's doing that for us. That's
the righteousness of God that's provided in the gospel. It's
the righteousness of God. Blessed is that man whom the
Lord will impute righteousness without works." Thank God. It was for the elected he established
that everlasting righteousness that he freely gives to his people.
And that righteousness is revealed in the gospel, the gospel of
God concerning Christ. It was for the elected he died
to redeem them from all their sins. called his name Jesus,
he shall save his people from their sin. He died for a particular
people. He died for his sheep, his elect.
He said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And my friend, his
death is absolutely successful to the glory of God, so much
so, how do we know that? Well, when he by himself purged
our sin, put away our sin, God raised him from the dead, and
he's enthroned in glory, sitting on the throne, reigning and ruling
as our mediator, giving salvation to his covenant people. He died
successfully. His death does not defeat his
victory. He secured everlasting salvation with his death. His elect will be regenerated
by his glorious grace. And this is something that's
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, But it
is of God. We're born of God, of his own
will. Be yet he us. Is there a will
involved? Yeah, he is. He makes us willing
in the day of his power. None of him look with us, nor
of him look runneth. It's God that shows mercy. This is the salvation that I
need. Now, you have Hebrews 2, Hebrews
chapter 2, verse 1. Therefore, we ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we should let them slip, let them leak out as a running
vessel. But the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense or reward." Now, I want to give you four words that describe
this salvation. Here's the first one. How should
we escape if we neglect So great salvation. So great salvation. This salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ is a great, great salvation. It's so great. The excellency
and the beauty and the glory of this salvation is described
by this word. It's not a so-so salvation. great, vast, mighty, eternal,
enormous salvation. You see, we are saved by the
great God, the great God. This salvation, this great salvation
comes by our great God who is the captain of our salvation,
who is bringing many sons unto glory, as it says there in verse
10. He is the captain. He is bringing
his sons to glory. to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through his suffering. He's the architect,
the originator of this great salvation. It's not the invention
of men. It's the purpose of God Almighty. It's great because
of the cost of it. Oh, the cost of it. You consider
the cost of it. God bought us with his own blood. We're not redeemed with corruptible
things. but with the precious blood of
Christ. It's great because of the cost
of it. It's great in the fact that it's
successful. It's successful. He appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And I love that verse in Isaiah
42 where it says that he shall not fail. He can't fail because
of who he is, God Almighty. It's great because of the cost
of it. It's great because of the success
of it. He said it is done. Salvation is not what you must
do. Salvation is done in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's great
because of the power of it. The gospel of Christ. Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of that gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone who believes it, to the Jew and to the Gentile.
In that gospel is the very righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. And I tell you this, it's great danger. It says, How shall
we escape if we neglect? God help us. God help you never
to neglect this salvation. Here's the warning. Turn, if
you will, to Hebrews 10. You see, this is a great salvation,
the great cost of it, the great God planned this salvation, the
success of it, the power of it, and it's dangerous, very dangerous,
to neglect this salvation. Don't neglect this salvation.
Would you consider it? Would you meditate upon it? Look
at this warning here, Hebrews 10, verse 28, He that despised
Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.
of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall be thought
worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy
thing, and an unholy thing it hath done, despite to the Spirit
of grace." Would you trample on that blood covenant of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and dismiss it, and try to approach God apart
from this sacrifice? It would be absolute foolishness,
and to fool himself in his heart, there is no God. To try to approach
God apart from this covenant sacrifice of Jesus Christ is
madness. I can't think of a better word.
It would be crazy. You're a fool. You're an absolute
fool. to try to set salvation apart
from Christ Jesus. So let's not neglect this great,
so great salvation. Now, here's a second word. So
the first word is, it's great. It's great. This great salvation
saved great sinners, and that describes me. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save the sinner of whom I am the chief." Turn over here
to Hebrews 5. Here's the second word. Hebrews
5, verse 8, "...though he were a
son, yet he learned obedience by the thing which he suffered.
And being made perfect, he became the author of This is eternal salvation. It
is great, and it is eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. Salvation is an eternal work
of God, so that unto God are all his works from the beginning.
God has declared from ancient times the things that are not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand. He has declared
the end from the beginning. It is the eternal salvation of
God. It was devised, secured, predestinated,
purposed, perfected in the covenant of grace before the world began.
Sin didn't sneak up on God. The fallen Adam didn't sneak
up on God. Before Adam ever fell, the Lord
Jesus Christ stood as a charity, as a mediator, as a guarantor
of that covenant. He's the great shepherd of the
sheep, the chief shepherd, the good shepherd who laid down his
life for the sheep. He's a lamb slain before the
foundation of the world. God determined in eternity to
have a people and to save them by the means he predestinated. He predestinated not only the
end, but the means to arrive at that end. Now, here's your
pastor's favorite scripture. Turn to 2 Timothy 1.9. Did I
tell them right? Okay. 2 Timothy 1.9. Verse 7 says, For God hath not
given us the spirit of fear," this is 2 Timothy 1, 7, "...but
of power, and of love, and of sound mind. Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner,
but be thou a protector of the affliction of the gospel, according
to the power of God." Who saved us? Who saved you? If you're saved, you have to
say, well, God saved me. And he didn't do it by accident.
He did it by purpose. He saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before
the world began. You see, we're creatures of time.
With God there is no time. It's just the eternal present.
Turn to another scripture over here that deals with that, Titus
chapter 1. I'm saying that God purposed
salvation in eternity, and what God purposed in eternity he accomplishes
in time. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were under the law. It's God's eternal purpose that
any of us are saved by his grace. Titus chapter 1, look at this.
Paul, verse 1, Titus 1, 1, Paul, a servant of God, an apostle
of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect, and
acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness, in hope of
eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised. Before the world began to happen,
due time manifested his word through preaching. which is committed
unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior." It's an eternal
salvation. And my friend, when he saves
us, he doesn't save us on a temporary basis. It's not a salvation that
we have one day and we lose. It's a salvation that's an everlasting
salvation. What does it mean when he says,
I give them eternal life? That means eternal! We have eternal
life, eternal salvation. You see, he's the author of this
eternal salvation. Now, here's the third one. I've
only got four, so don't . . . There are many words I could give you
to explain this. We could do it all day. That
wouldn't be a bad idea. One night, Paul was long in preaching,
and some of them fell asleep. They preached all night. Here's the third one. I tell you, we are so frail and feeble. We are so connected with time.
I have a fifteen-minute radio program. I have a thirty-minute
Bible study, and I try to preach thirty minutes or less. I just
forget those things and just preach. Yeah, it does, it does. It just
binds you up. Last night I got up here, and
after Joe preached that great message, and I thought, you folks
are just, I thought to myself, you're wore out. You've been
here all day, you've listened to three sermons, and now here's
my turn, and you're just, I thought, well, I really kind of felt sorry
for some of you. I know I'm a sorry preacher,
but I have a great message. I tell my dear pastor, Pastor
Mahan, I said, I know you are a better preacher, and he is. He's the best. He's the best. But I also tell him you can't
preach a better Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's a third
word, common salvation. Just one chapter of Jude there,
verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you the common salvation. So it's great, it's
eternal, and it's common. Now, this word here doesn't mean
it's ordinary. It just means that this salvation,
all of God's elect have this in common. It's a common faith. He said, I give all diligence
to write unto you the common salvation. It was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints.
It's a common salvation. It's a common salvation. All
of God's elect receive and experience and possess the same salvation
by the glorious grace of God through faith in Christ. It's
common, all of God's people. All believers receive the same
spiritual blessings that are common to all of God the Lamb.
He blesses with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in
Christ Jesus, according as he chose us before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy without being before him
in love, having predestinated us. You see, we have this in
common. We're chosen of God, loved of
God, blessed of God, and given to the Lord Jesus Christ. We
have common faith. We have common faith. You see,
it comes from one source. One source. Faith is the gift
of God. It's not a product of the flesh. It's a product of
the Holy Spirit. It's the gift of God. We have
one faith, one common faith, one source, one foundation of
faith. Where is the foundation of faith?
Well, I just feel like I'm saying, you probably lost. The foundation
of faith is the Word of God. Feelings come and feelings go,
and feelings are deceiving. My worth is the Word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. Who said that? Luther, wasn't
it? Yes, right. One source, the gift of God,
one foundation, the Word of God, and my friend, one object. Faith doesn't look in here. Faith
looks to Christ. Is that right? The Lord Jesus
Christ. All believers are loved with
the same common covenant love. He loves us with an everlasting
love, therefore with lovingkindness he draws us to himself. We are
all bought with the same blood. Being justified by his blood
we shall be saved from wrath through him. We are all justified
by the same righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
our righteousness. We are all called with the same
gospel. There is just one. God uses that
one message that's truthful, that gives him all the glory
and salvation, that gospel that's concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
his person and his glorious work. They're all called by the same
gospel, and they all possess the same grace now and glory
hereafter, and they all have the same hope. It's a good hope. It's a sure
hope. It's a good hope through—what
is the rest of that? It's a good hope through grace. Grace. Everlasting consolation
and a good hope through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
how he saves us. So it's great. It's eternal. It's common. And here's the last
one. It's his salvation. Turn to Luke
2. Luke 2, you remember the story
of Simeon. Luke 2, verse 25, "'Behold, there
was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon,' verse 25, Luke
2, "'the same was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it was revealed
unto him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before
he had seen the Lord's Messiah.'" the Christ. And he came by the
Spirit into the temple, that is, the Messiah, when his parents
brought in the child, Jesus, to do for him after the custom
of the law. Even in his infancy he was obeying
the law of God. Then he took him up in his arms. I can just imagine Mary, Joseph
coming in. Here's a little baby. And Simeon
says, you know how often times we'll go up to a lady, a mother
that's had a new baby, and you'll go up and say, well, can I hold
him? And I believe that's what Simeon did. Can I hold him? And
she said, well, yeah, hey. And he took that baby up in his
arms, up in his face. Ah, he said, look what he said
here. He took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord,
Now let thy servant depart in peace according to your word.
Mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Salvation is in him. Salvation
is in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. In him, it is all in
him. Turn to 1 John, chapter 5. It is looking to Christ, looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, there is salvation in
no other. There is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Our Lord said,
I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes unto the Father
but by me. 1 John chapter 5, look at this,
verse 10. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. Because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son, and here is God's record. This
is the record that God hath given to us eternal life. What does
that say there? And this life is in His Son. Not in the church, not in the
pool, not in your profession. Salvation is in Him, in Christ. He the half the Son, half life. He the half, not the Son of God,
half, not life. Not salvation. Not salvation,
no forgiveness. You see, by him all that believe
are justified from all things which could not be justified
by the law of Moses. It's his salvation, thy salvation. If God has given you grace to
believe and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as all your salvation,
all that Christ is and has is yours forever. Now, you think
about this. That which is true of the head
is true of the body. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
head, and that which is true of him is true of his body. He is life, and those in him
have life right now. Right now. To you who believe
he is precious, I'll close with this scripture if you would turn
to Psalm 70. Let such as love thy salvation."
Look at this, Psalm 70, verse 4. Psalm 70, verse 4. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice, and be glad in thee. And let such as love
thy salvation say continually. Let's say this continually. Let
God be magnified. Let God be magnified. The believer,
we see, we're in love with him. We're in love with the Lord Jesus
Christ. The believer loves God's salvation because of the experience
of it in our heart, because of the method of it by his grace,
because of the sureness of it, ordering all things in its sure,
because of the completeness of it, but most especially because
of the person. We love him. And we'll sing that
song eternally unto him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in his own blood. To him be all the honor and glory
both now and forever. And they said, Amen. Now, do
you need this salvation? Huh? I pray you see your need,
and if you don't, I pray that God will show you your need of
Christ. He's able to meet all our needs
according to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you. God bless you.
I thank God for your pastor, and I thank God for you. Okay.