I want to begin reading here
in Jonah chapter 2 and verse 2. This is our fourth study on
this book, and the reason we're looking at it and the way we're
looking at it is because it represents to us many things. I'll remind
you of what we saw in chapter 1. the fall of man, how he fell,
why he fell, then how he was raised again by another being
thrown overboard in his place. Last week you and I looked at
the sufferings of Jonah, and we saw Christ in him. I trust
we saw Christ in him. And we want to look at chapter
2 again this morning. And I trust God will help us
to see Christ here. The reason I love these Old Testament
passages is because they are pictures to us. I am firmly convinced that the
Jews of old, those who truly believed in the coming of the
Messiah, they saw more of Him in their Old Testament ceremonies
than you and I see in them today when we look at those ceremonies.
Can you imagine watching a high priest lay his hands on the head
of a sacrifice and confess over that sacrifice all the sins of
the children of Israel? Knowing what was going to happen.
Knowing who that represented. That's something they could see.
You and I today, we walk strictly by faith, don't we? We've never
seen anything. But they have things they can
see. As he laid his hands on the head of that sacrifice and
confessed their sins, they said, there goes my sins. I see it. Went right on the head of that
sacrifice. They would kill the sacrifice. The priest would take
his blood into the holy place, the most holy, and sprinkle it
on that mercy sick. And the priest would come back
out and say, God has accepted the blood. You know, blessed
people. They saw that. They witnessed
that. And they took great joy in that. But you and I, when
we read these passages, we have to remember who this really is
speaking of. Speaking of Christ. And the reason
I say that, you remember His two disciples? After the Lord
Jesus had raised from the dead, and they didn't have any idea
that He had raised from the dead. They were so sad, they left Jerusalem
and said, we're going home. Walking several miles, going
to Emmaus. And the Lord Jesus, in His resurrected
body, walked with them on the road. They had no idea who He
was. And He rebuked them for their unbelief. And said, Ought
not Christ, who hath suffered these things, and entered into
his glory? And here's what he did, beginning
at Moses, and all the prophets. If he preached all the prophets,
he must have said something about judgment. He preached in all
the prophets to them the things concerning himself. And that's
what you and I see in this book of John. We don't only see Jonah,
but we see Christ. The Lord Jesus said, as Jonah
was three days and three nights in that whale's belly, the Son
of Man must be three days and three nights. And that's what
we want to look here in this chapter 2 and see Christ in. So let's read it again together.
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God. He prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish's belly. And said, I cried by reason of
my afflictions to the Lord, and he heard me out of the belly
of hell, dead, cried I, and thou hearest my voice. For thou hast
cast me into the deep and the midst of the seas, and the floods
can pass me about, and all thy billows and thy waves passed
over me. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight. Yet will I look again towards
thy holy temple, The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The
depths closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped round
my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with
her bars was about me forever. Thou hast brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee and
to thy holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have
vowed, salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake to the fish,
and it vomited out Jonah on dry land. Now you and I saw last
week how Jonah's sufferings compared to the Lord Jesus, and we saw
the sufferings of Christ and all his afflictions, all his
sorrow. My soul is exceeding sorrowful
unto death, just like Jonah's was. And we saw that last week. But when we compare the Lord
Jesus Christ with Jonah, and he's a beautiful picture of Christ
and redemption, you know you and I have to be careful because
Christ and Jonah is so different. greater than Jonah is here. And
one of the ways he was so different from Jonah was, you remember
how Jonah's trouble started. He was of his own doing. He disobeyed
God. He fled from the presence of
the Lord. From the presence of his word,
his will, tried his best to get away from God. And Jonah never
prayed again until he got himself here in trouble. But you know
the difference between Jonah and Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ
was perfectly obedient to His Father. He never sinned. In all
of His life, from His birth till He lifted up His voice on the
cross and said, It's finished. He rendered to His Father perfect
obedience. That's the difference between
Jonah. I remember when the Lord Jesus came into this world, and
here's what He said. He said, Lo, I come. to do thy
will, O my God." But he not only said, I come to do your will,
but he said, I delight to do thy will. Oh my God, I delight
to do it. I remember when the Lord was
12 years old, the first recorded words that we ever have of the
Son of God in this world. His family had gone down, His
mother and His brothers and sisters and that Joseph had gone down
to Jerusalem from Nazareth. And they had worshiped there
at the feast and was on their way home, and they realized that
Jesus was not with them, twelve years old. And they said, we've
lost him. And his mother began to weep,
and they worried themselves sick. And they went back and searched
and searched and searched, and after three days they found him.
He was there in the temple. Remember that? with those sitting
there, with those doctors of the law, with those theologians,
a 12-year-old boy, and he was asking them questions that they
couldn't answer. And he was answering their questions
that nobody else could ever answer. Twelve years old. Somebody said,
the Lord Jesus was lost. No, He wasn't lost. They had
lost Him. He wasn't lost. He knew right
where He was at. He knew right what He was doing. His mother
sent word into him when he came out. She said, son, you've worried
me to death. You've worried me to death. We've been three days
looking for you. And remember what he said. A
12 year old boy. All the other boys, you know
what 12 year old kids do. You know what they get into.
You know the fuss they make. But you know what this 12 year
old boy said. Don't you know, I must be about my father's business. Twelve years old. From the time
he came into this world to the time he said to my father, the
work is finished. He did the will of his father.
That's what he said, buddy. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. He magnified the law. He honored
the law. It was in his heart to do it.
From the time he was born, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
until he gave up the ghost, he lived in perfect obedience to
his Father in heaven. So unlike Jonah, every thought... Can you imagine this? You can't
imagine this. I can't imagine this. Every thought honored to
God. Every word he spoke was perfect
truth. Every motive that he had, the
end of that motive, was to glorify God. Can you imagine that? Had
no sin, could not sin, knew no sin. The Father looked upon him
more than one time and said, this is my beloved son. My soul
delights in him. And the Lord Jesus said, everything
I do, Every step I take, every thought I have, every motive,
everything I do, I do to please my Father. Ain't that wonderful? Down at the conference, one of
the preachers, Linwood Campbell, preached on the beauty of Christ.
And he said one of the things the beauty of Christ was, His
perfect obedience. His perfect obedience. He never
disobeyed. He never disobeyed His heavenly
Father. Never rebelled. Never ceased
to submit, never ceased to delight himself in his heavenly Father. So unlike Jonah. So unlike Jonah. There in the garden of Gethsemane,
when he faced drinking that dreadful cup, contemplated what was in
it. The cup of our sin. The cup of
God's judgment. God's wrath. And he said, Father, if there's
any other way, if sin can be put away without
me drinking of this cup, if your justice can be satisfied, if
your law can be honored, if my people can be saved any other
way than me drinking of this cup. But you know it couldn't,
could it? Do you remember what he said?
Not my will, but your will be done. I delight to do my will. But you know when we talk about
doing the will of God, you know attitude. Attitude is just as
important as anything. It's not just enough to do the
will of God. But it's doing it with a whole
heart. It's doing it joyfully. It's doing it gladly. And that's
what he did. He delighted to do it. Well,
I'll do it, but I don't want to. I'll do it. But my heart's not in it. You
ever did that way? The Lord Jesus never did have
that attitude. Everything He did, He did in
great delight to His Father. Bob quoted that verse of scripture
to us this morning, John 10, 17, 18. Therefore doth my Father
love me. He loves me as a mediator. He
loves me as the Savior of my people because I laid down my
life. I laid down my life. Bob, nobody
forced him. Nobody coached him into doing
it. Nobody constrained him to do it. I lay down my life. I lay it down on myself. I lay
it down willingly. I lay it down lovingly. I lay
it down with great delight. I lay down my life. Boy, that's
obedience there. That's loving obedience. That's
gracious obedience. That's something Jonah couldn't
say. Jonah got himself in trouble because he fled from the presence
of the Lord. But the Lord Jesus Christ was
in trouble. Not because he disobeyed. Not
because he displeased God. Why do you and I stress the obedience
of Christ? And we do so often, don't we?
His obedience is perfect obedience. Why do we do that? Well, look
over here with me and let me show you. Here's how important
it is. Look over here in Romans chapter 5. Same book Brother
Larry read to us from this morning. Look at just one verse. Look
at just one verse. Here's why perfect obedience
is so important. Why you and I glory in the obedience
of the Son of God. Look at it in chapter 5 of Romans. Look here in verse 19. Look at
this. For as by one man, as by Adam,
that's our first father, by his disobedience, he disobeyed God,
many were made sinners. Why are you a sinner? Oh, if
there's not a single man or woman or boy, the youngest child, little
William back there in the nursery. He's a sinner. But you say, Bruce,
he's not even conscious of sin. But being conscious of sin is
not what made us a sinner. Why are we a sinner? We're born
sinners. Why is that? Well, he tells us.
As by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners. What
Adam did was reckoned to our account. That's why we're sinners.
But look at this, even so, by the obedience of one, who is
that? That's Jesus, the Son of God. In our likeness, bone of our
bone, flesh of our flesh, by one man's obedience shall many
be made righteous. That's why I love to talk about
his faithfulness. That's why we love to talk about
his obedience. That he pleased the Father. He
didn't do it for himself. He did it for others. He worked
out a perfect righteousness. And here's what righteousness
requires. Brother Bob talked this morning.
Everybody today has a righteousness. But it's a righteousness that
they set up their own criteria. I have to do this and I have
to do that. Well, here's what God requires for us to be accepted
with Him. A perfect righteousness. A perfect
righteousness. How do you get that? By perfect
obedience. And there's what the Lord Jesus
Christ was. Perfect in His obedience. And
I tell you, the way He did it, the way He did it on the cross,
We often read of the seven sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross. Father, forgive me. He prayed
for his enemy. He never had any resentment against
his enemy. He looked at his mother out there
in the crowd, and he looked at John standing up there by her,
and his heart went out to his mother. And he said, said, Mom,
there's your son. Son, there's your mother. Concerned
about his mother. Gave instructions to John to
kiss his mother. No resentment there. He said
this to the thief. Today shall thou be with me in
prayer." That thief had just been railing on him a few minutes
before that. Nobody said nothing about him. He said, I thirst,
knowing that when he said this, he just said it to foretell scripture.
Knowing what they were going to get him. My God, my God. In the midst
of God forsaking him, he's still my God. He's my God. And to thy
hands I commend my spirit, I trust myself to thee. Father, it's
finished." In all of these things, there was no resentment, there was no rebellion, there
was no anger, no self-pity, just perfect and full reservations
to the will of God. And that's what saves us. That's
where we get our righteousness, through His perfect Perfect obedience. Look back over here in Jonah
again. Look back over here in Jonah. I want you to notice some
things here. Not only about the sufferings
and the perfect obedience to the Lord Jesus, but notice this.
The scripture tells us as soon as Jonah was in that whale's
belly, he prayed. He prayed. In verse 1, Ben, Jonah
prayed unto the Lord. And you and I saw last week that
the Lord Jesus Christ cried. He wept tears due to his affliction. But he prayed. He prayed to his
Father. The difference between him and
Jonah was he prayed always. He'd have a quick prayer like
Jonah did. He prayed even in the hours of his deep, deep affliction. But what did Christ pray? Look
over here with me, and this is so important. Look over here
with me in Psalms chapter 22. Here is a prayer the Lord Jesus
prayed when He was on the cross. In Psalms chapter 22, look at
this. And this is so important. This is something you and I are
often guilty of, but the Lord Jesus wasn't guilty of this.
Look at this. You ever get in trouble, everything seems to
turn on you? And you may not say it with your
lips, but sometimes you can't help but think it in your heart.
God, why? Why me? Why me? There's a woman, there's a lady
called me one day, and boy, she was in trouble, family troubles.
Boy, family, family problems, that's problems ain't. You got
trouble in your family, you got trouble. And she just, oh, the
poor lady, she was amassed with her family, her kids. And she
says she started crying. She said, I just don't understand
why God's doing this to me. What have I done that He should
do this to me? You know what she was doing?
She was blaming God. I don't deserve what God's doing.
You may not say that with your mouth, but how many times have
you thought it in your heart? But you know what the Master
said when He hung on the cross? When God was afflicted in Him,
when He was smitten of God, when He was bruised of God, you know
what He said of His Heavenly Father. You know what He said
to it? Look here in Psalm 22. We've got it recorded. My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? That's what He said, wasn't
it? But He didn't stop here. Look at this. Why art Thou so
far from Me? So far from helping me and from
the words of my roaring, O my God, I cry in the daytime, and
Thou hear'st not. In the night seasons am not silent. But look at this, but Thou art
holy. You know what he just did? He said, My God, You've afflicted
me. All Your waves, all Your wrath's gone over me. You've
turned Your back on me. You cast me out of your presence.
And he turned around and said, but you're still holy. He justified
God, didn't he? That's how he prayed. That's
what he said. I think I told you one time the
story of Brother Henry told us about his grandson Luke. Luke
Coffee, and he was in school, and the English teacher asked
the students to come up on the board and write the word they
thought that most described God. And some wrote love, and some
wrote kindness, and some wrote goodness. And Luke wrote on the
board, Holy, H-O-L-Y. And the teacher got up then and
they talked for a few minutes on the holocaust. All the millions
of Jews being killed and God allowing that. And then she said,
you who have wrote your description of God on the board, would you
come back now and in the light of the holocaust and God allowing
that, what do you think of God now? And Luke came back up to
the board and got his piece of chalk. And on the left hand of
holy, he wrote S-T-I-L-L. Still holy. God's holy. No matter how He deals with you,
no matter how He deals with me, no matter how He deals with my
children, no matter how He deals with any man, woman, boy or girl,
no matter what God does, He is holy. Now, I can say that when
things are going pretty good. But I tell you, when the Lord
Jesus Christ was hanging there under God's judgment, bearing
our sins with the weight of our load upon Him, God having forsook
Him, there's when He said, Father, You're holy still. You're holy
still. Oh, that is beautiful language.
That's His beautiful language. What a wonderful attitude. Oh,
He's such a wonderful Savior. Now, all right, hold it. Look
back over here at Jonah chapter 2 at this. Look here at verse
4. Here's something else about it. And if you'll remember now,
all his sufferings and all his afflictions, this is why these
things are so important. In his most dreadful circumstances
that you can imagine, he prayed. He justified the Father. And
look here at what he says in verse 4. Look at this. This is an amazing statement
that he makes here. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight, yet will I look again towards thy holy temple." Look
here at the faith. Not only the faith of Jonah,
who was down in the darkness of that well's bed, but consider
this the faith of Christ. How he believed his heavenly
Father. I am cast out of thy sight. I tell you, if you're cast out
of His sight, you're in darkness. When you can't find God, all
you find is darkness, because He's light. And what is it to
be cast out of His sight? That's the farthest distance
that anybody can ever get, to be cast out of His sight. How
much further can you be cast? And there's where the Savior
found himself. My God, why have you forsaken
me? I'm in darkness. I'm far, far away. And yet, in
the most dreadful circumstances that any man can imagine, here's
his thing. Yet, I look again. He never ceased
to believe His Father. Believed Him perfectly. Even
when the Father forsook Him, He still looked. I tell you, one of the most dreadful
burdens of my soul is my unbelief. It's robbed me of so many blessings,
so much joy, so much assurance. I say with that manifold, Lord,
I believe. Help my unbelief. Isn't it so
comforting to know there was one who believed God perfectly?
That is so comforting to me. Just know, though I haven't done
it, and I'll never do it. Oh, God make my faith perfect.
I doubt He ever does in this life. He just gives us enough
to know how little we have. But oh, I know one who did believe
Him perfectly. He never had an ounce of doubt
in his heart. He honored God. He believed God. He believed God. Jesus of Nazareth
perfectly believed the Father in heaven. Jonah, he wrote this after he
experienced it all. We find that here in the latter
part of verse 6. He said, Thou hast brought up
my life from corruption. You have done it. He said, I'm
loaded after it all happened. But you know, I doubt seriously,
I doubt seriously, if while he was down in the belly of that
well, if he believed God was going to do it. He said, the
bar is about me forever. He thought he was gone. He said,
I'll never get out of this. God ain't going to bring me up
from this. I'm gone forever, he said. But you know something?
When the Lord Jesus Christ hung on that cross, in His darkness
and suffering, He believed that God would raise him from the
dead. Before he ever died, he believed it, didn't he? Destroy
this temple? It ain't going to stay a temple.
After three days, I'm going to raise again. How did he know
that? He believed his Father. He believed
God. Let me show you that. Look over
here in the book of Psalms, chapter 16. Look at this. This is so
wonderful. Psalms, chapter 16. Look here
in verse 1 and then verse 8 of Psalm 16. You know, the reason you and
I should read the Old Testament Scriptures and the Psalms is
because Christ is all through it. He's all through this. His prayers, His intercession,
His triumph, His victory, everything about Him. Look what He says
in verse 1 of Psalm 16. Preserve me, O God, In thee do
I put my trust. The Son of God trusting God?
Yes. Here's God trusting God. Ain't
that a mystery? That's a mystery. In thee I put
my trust. For what? For what? Look down at verse
8. I have set the Lord always before
me, because He is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Look
at this. Therefore my heart is glad. and my glory rejoiced,
my flesh also shall rest in hope. Why? For thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to
see corruption." He said that before he ever came into this
world. He said that when he hung on the cross. before he ever
gave up the gospel. He said, Father, you're going
to raise me up. That's faith, ain't it? Look over here in Acts
chapter 2. Look here. We see who he's talking
about. He said, Bruce, how can you know when David was speaking
or he wasn't speaking of himself? Well, look over here in Acts
chapter 2. Look a couple of places in the book of Acts. In verse
23, look at this. Acts chapter 2. Here's where
Peter was preaching that great message on the day of Pentecost.
that they killed the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts chapter 2, look
in verse 23. Him, that is the Son of God,
being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of
God ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, he
suffered those, he tasted death, but God loosed him from it. It
was not possible that he should be holding of it, for David speaketh
concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved.
Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover,
also my flesh arrested hope. Because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, in the place of the dead, neither wilt thou suffer
thy holy one to seek corruption. Thou hast made known to me the
ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy
without countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely
speak to you of the patriarch David. He himself is both dead
and buried, and his sepulcher is with us until this day. Therefore,
being a prophet, And knowing that God with an oath hath sworn
unto him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh,
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he seeing this
beforehand spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up. We are all witnesses. Look at
another place this psalm is quoted in the 13th chapter of Acts. Look over here in verse 26. Chapter 13, verse 26. Here's
that great message the Apostle Paul preached on his first missionary
journey. Look what he said about this
psalm. Verse 26, Acts 13. Look at this. Men and brethren,
Children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you that
hears God, to you is the word of this salvation said. For they
that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew
him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every
Sabbath day, they have fulfilled those same prophets in condemning
Jesus Christ. And though they found no cause
of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be
slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree,
and laid him in the sepulcher. But God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of
them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are
his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise which God made unto the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, in that he
hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second
psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee. And
concerning that he raised him up from the dead, no more to
return to corruption, he said, On this rise I will give you
the sure merchants of David. Wherefore he said also in another
psalm, look at this, this is a psalm you and I just read,
Psalm 16, Thou will not suffer, thine holy one, to see corruption. For David, after he served his
own generation by the will of God, he fell asleep, he died. He was laid into his father's,
he was put in the grave, and he rotted. He saw corruption.
But he whom God raised again saw no corruption. And Jesus Christ believed his
Father all along. He didn't have to raise and then
say, I knew you would do it. Sometimes we have to see the
believer, don't we? But our Master said, I know you're going to
raise me. I know you're going to raise me. He believed God
perfect. I'll look again. I'll look again.
Perfect in faith. Perfect in faithfulness. I'll
look again. Look here at another place in
Jonah chapter 2 verse 7. Look at this about Jonah. John
2, verse 7. I like this. Look here what he says in verse
7. When my soul fainted within me,
so overwhelmed with the darkness, the pressure, the suffering,
Seemingly such a hopeless situation. My soul faded within me. Look
what he's saying. I remembered the Lord. I remembered
Jehovah. How easy you and I forget God.
I could almost embarrass us this morning if I wanted to dwell
here just a minute. But don't we do it? Old Brother Barnard,
bless his heart, he didn't like that song at all that we often
sing, Prone to Wonder. Lord, I feel it. thrown to leave
the God I love. But that's the way we are, aren't
we? You ever get full of anxiety? You ever get worried? You ever
get doubtful? You ever get afraid? Why do you
do that? We forget God. We forget His
covenant promises. We forget His tender mercies.
We forget His free grace. We forget His readiness to forgive
us. We forget His loving kindness. We forget His ear is always bending
to hear our prayer. Don't we often forget? And yet
Jesus of Nazareth, hanging on the cross in such agony, Such
dire circumstances. He said, I remember you. I remember. I remember. The Lord had to give
us an ordinance just to remember Him by. We partake of the Lord's table
every Sunday. You know why we do that? He says, you do it in
remembrance of me. He gave us something we could
see and feel and taste to remember Him by. But I tell you, Jesus
Christ, His heart was full of memory of His Father. of his
father's goodness, of his father's love, of his father's faithfulness.
My father, I remember you. I remember you. You may forget. I may forget. But there's one
that hasn't forgotten. He never forgot his father. And I remind you, dear brothers
and sisters, why this is so important and why it's so competent and
such a blessing. Though he did this all by himself,
Nobody was with Jonah down in that well. He was there by himself.
Nobody was with the Lord Jesus on that cross. He said, I'll
look for somebody to help. Nobody was there. I looked for
somebody to comfort me and defend me. I didn't find anybody. What
He did, He did alone. But He didn't do it for Himself.
That's so important. The Lord Jesus Christ never did
anything for Himself. He did it for somebody else.
He did it for somebody else. I tell you, I can trust a Christ
like that. I can trust a Christ like that. Can you trust the
Lord Jesus Christ? Can you trust Him with all your
heart? Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
with all your heart. Trust Him for what? Everything. Righteousness that God requires
you to have, trust Christ for it. He earned it by his own ability. Forgiveness of sins, trust Christ
for it. Acceptance with the Father, access
into the Father's presence, trust Christ for it. Trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ with all your heart. But what about his roots and
what about that? Lean not to your own understanding. You better not do it now, I'm
telling you. Your understanding is so darkened.
Your reasoning is so twisted and warped. Trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ with all your heart. Don't lean to your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him as He's revealed in this
Word. What do we acknowledge about
Him? Trust Him for what? All our salvation. Can we trust
the Lord Jesus Christ for all our salvation? Look what he said in chapter
2 verse 9. Look what he said. Those last
five words. Boy, here's a tremendous statement. Salvation is of the Lord. Charles Sturgeon preached a message.
on these five little words. And he said these five things
about these words. Let me just give you the headings
that he had in one of his messages. Salvation is the Lord. He said
salvation is the Lord in its entirety. God planned it. God purposed
it. He settled it before time. The
whole plan of salvation is of God. Who's going to be saved? How are they going to be saved?
By whom are they going to be saved? When are they going to
be saved? God has done plenty of that.
Can you trust a God like that? Can you say I'm not trusting
in my will? I'm trusting in God's will. Salvation
is of the Lord. And Scourge had said this. He
said the execution of salvation is of the Lord. Who executed? Who earned it? Who accomplished
it? The Lord Jesus Christ did upon
that cross when He said it's finished. He obtained eternal
redemption for us. He made reconciliation. It's done. Can you trust Christ?
Can you say salvation is of the Lord Jesus Christ in His execution? He's accomplished it. I trust
Him with all my heart. Can you do that? The Virgin said this in its application. Salvation is of the Lord in its
application. I call upon men to repent. Repent. Turn from your sin. Turn from your love of it. Turn
from falling after it. And come to God and tell Him,
I've been your enemy all my life. But I will not be your enemy
anymore. Give up on that life. Give up
on yourself. Give up on your sin. Turn from
it and turn to God in Christ. Repent and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Trust Him. I tell you that. I tell everybody I talk to that.
And knowing all along, a man will not do it and he cannot
do it except the Holy Spirit work in his heart. You say, how can I know the Spirit
is working in my heart? There's one way to know it. Have
you done it? Do it! Do it! Don't go home and do it. Don't go home and start seeking
the Lord. Do it right now. Do it right now, Matthew. Turn
from yourself, sweetheart, and cast your soul upon the Lord
Jesus. He said, God, I ain't fighting against you anymore.
Christ is mine. I'm taking Him as mine. I'm His.
I'm finished with that life, finished with myself. Christ
is my all. I trust Him. Do that. Do that. Every one of us here this morning.
I tell you, I've done it again just now. Didn't you? I've just
now trusted Him again. Lord, if I've never trusted you
before, I trust you right now. I'm not leaning on some experience
I had 20 years ago or 30 years ago. I'm trusting Jesus Christ
right now. And that's how I know He did
a work in my heart. I trust Him. I trust Him. Execution
is of the Lord. The application is of the Lord.
The Spirit's done a work in my heart. I trust Him. And listen
to this. The sustain of that work is of
the Lord. Old Charles Spurgeon said, he
said, I trust in the Lord to get me all the way to heaven.
He said, I mean all the way to heaven. He said, if I was standing
on those golden thresholds of heaven, And I had my son on the
latch to open the door. And the Lord Jesus said, Spurgeon,
I brought you this far, I'm going to let you come the rest of the
way and be yourself. He said, I could never get the door open.
I could never get the door open. Sustaining salvation in our hearts,
getting us all the way there. I'll tell you it's of the Lord
and I trust Him to do it. Don't you? Bob said this morning,
people trust Him to keep themselves. Trust Him that they keep themselves.
Boy, you won't do that when He teaches you. You're nothing.
You're nothing. Oh, then you say, Lord, keep
me. I trust You to keep me. I trust You to keep me. And Spurgeon
said this last of all. He said, the consummation, the
ultimate perfection is of the Lord. We look for the Savior,
the Lord Jesus, who shall descend from heaven. And what's He going
to do? He's going to change our bowel bodies. He's going to do
for us what we can't do for ourselves. He's going to change our bowel
body and fashion it like unto His glorious body. Then we'll
be perfect. The mystery of salvation will
be accomplished. Can you trust the Lord for all
that? From beginning, way back in eternity, where you can't
even see. Your faith can't even reach. You just say, I know He
did it. I know He did it. And all the
way into eternity to come, I trust the Lord for all my salvation. I just trust Him. I believe in
Him. I'll tell you what He said here.
The Holy Spirit gave us this warning, didn't He? Look here
what he said in verse 8. They that don't trust the Lord
Jesus Christ, they that don't trust God for all their salvation,
look what he said in verse 8. They that observe lie in vanities. They that think they're saved
by their own free wills, or the power of their wills, or what
they can do, or their own righteousness, their own obedience. Though they
said, well God has a part, but I've got a part too. I'm going
to have some glory in this myself. He didn't do everything. Those
who say that forsake their own mercies and trust in lying vanities. Christ has done everything. Brothers
and sisters, Christ has done everything. And He's pleased
to do everything. And He did it so perfectly. And
He did it so lovingly. Even on the cross, look at the
grace. Look at the love that's in Him.
He come from heaven knowing He was going to have to do everything
for you, and He did it so willingly. Just trust Him now. Trust Him. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved. I believe it. I believe it. I believe it. Our gracious Father, O Father
such a blessed Lord Jesus, Such a Savior, such a beautiful, gracious,
tender, loving Savior. Oh Lord, I feel this morning
if I had 10,000 lives, I could trust You with all of them. You're
so full of merit. You're so full of grace and power
and willingness. You save us so free, so willing. We can't resist You. We cannot
resist Your love. We cast our souls upon you and
bless you for being such a wonderful Savior. Bless your word this
morning. Bless us all to trust you and
look to you and give ourselves up to you. For the sake of our
Lord Jesus we pray. Amen. Real love. See you tonight at
6 o'clock. God bless you.