The Believer's Response To God's Salvation

Q: What does the Bible say about God's election?

The Bible teaches that God chooses certain individuals for salvation, indicating His sovereignty in the process of redemption. According to Scripture, God's election is a fundamental truth that underscores His sovereignty over salvation. Passages such as Romans 8:29-30 and Ephesians 1:4-5 reveal that God has chosen specific individuals to be conformed to the image of His Son, emphasizing that this choice is not based on any foreseen faith or merit but solely on His grace. This doctrine reassures believers that their salvation is secured by God’s eternal purpose and plan, highlighting His initiative in bringing sinners to faith in Christ. As such, the assurance that God will save His chosen people is rooted in His immutable character and purpose, not in human effort or decision.

Q: How do we know regeneration is true?

Regeneration is evidenced by the transformation of a believer’s heart, leading them to confess Christ and trust in God's salvation. The truth of regeneration, or the new birth, is confirmed in the believer's experiential reality and scriptural teaching. In Isaiah 12, as highlighted in the sermon, the transformed heart responds with confession and praise, indicating that regeneration has occurred. The change is not merely external; it reflects a deep, internal transformation wrought by God's Spirit, fulfilling the prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah. This act of God creates a new desire in the believer to worship and trust Him, confirming the reality of being born again. Furthermore, passages like John 3:3-8 and 2 Corinthians 5:17 affirm that anyone in Christ is a new creation, underscoring the indispensable work of regeneration in salvation.

Q: Why is faith in Christ essential for salvation?

Faith in Christ is essential because it is the means through which God's grace is applied to believers for salvation. Faith is central to salvation as it is through faith that we receive the grace of God. Scripture emphasizes in Romans 10:9 that if one confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, they will be saved. Faith is not merely intellectual assent; it is a heartfelt trust in Christ's redemptive work. As expressed in Isaiah 12, the believer declares, 'God is my salvation,' which demonstrates a personal acceptance of God's grace through faith. This faith is itself a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9), emphasizing that even our ability to believe comes from His sovereign grace, ensuring that salvation remains solely by grace through faith.

Q: How can believers draw strength from God?

Believers draw strength from God through prayer, reliance on His Word, and the assurance of His promises. Believers are encouraged to draw strength from the Lord as a vital part of their Christian walk. Isaiah 12:2 informs us that 'The Lord is my strength and my song,' highlighting the believer's reliance on God for daily grace and empowerment. This strength is not dependent on human abilities but is rooted in the acknowledgment of God’s sufficiency. Furthermore, believers draw from the 'wells of salvation' through prayer and the study of God's Word, which rejuvenates their faith and strengthens their resolve. Hebrews 10:19-22 emphasizes coming boldly to the throne of grace, embodying the believer's confidence that they can approach God at any time, supported by the finished work of Christ.

I had studied and prepared to
bring you a message this evening from Luke chapter 2, the first
seven verses of that chapter. But late last night, early this
morning, as I was looking over my notes for the message this
morning, I knew that this is the message God has for us for
this evening. And I trust he will be pleased
to speak to our hearts by his word. Let's turn again tonight
to Isaiah chapter 12. And I want you tonight to just
hold your Bibles open at this text, and I will try to bring
you an exposition of this passage in a very practical way. I have no doubt at all that I'm
speaking to some of you here who will soon, perhaps tonight,
Oh, blessed thought. Perhaps tonight I'm speaking to some who will
soon be saved by God's almighty grace in Christ. So how can you
be confident of that? Because our labor is not in vain.
God has a people in this world whom he's going to save. And
they're going to hear his voice. And he's going to bring them
to repentance and faith in Christ. If the Lord God has chosen you
by his grace as the object of his eternal love in sovereign
election, if Jesus Christ died for you, if the Son of God shed
his blood to redeem you, if he satisfied the justice of God
on your behalf, he didn't do it for nothing. He's going to
send his spirit in the fullness of time to call you by his almighty
irresistible grace. The reason we don't act like
other religious folks and don't act crazy in this business of
trying to act like soul winners, deceiving men's souls. The reason
we don't try to play games with your soul is because we understand,
we're confident God's going to save his people. There's no question
about that. None whatsoever. What do you
do? You preach, you pray, and you wait on God. That's all. Just can't scatter the precious
seed. Just keep throwing it out there.
Just keep throwing it out. And it's going to return. If
you're His, He'll get you. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest. I love that word. To approach
unto thee. The reason we approach Him, Bob,
is because He causes us to. That's all. Thy people shall
be with Him. in the day of thy power." Folks
say, you folks believe God's going to save folks against their
will. No, no. He just works on their
willing. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Perhaps you're now a scoffer. You may sit back there and think,
quietly to yourself what's all the fuss and all the ado about
this matter of grace and salvation and the glory of God and the
will of God. But in that day that God has
appointed, if you're privileged to be numbered among his elect,
a radical change is going to take place in your heart. Things
are going to change. Now I want to talk to you tonight
about that change. The title of my message is the
believer's response to God's salvation. And I thought about
that this afternoon, this title a good bit. Titles, I think,
are important, if you announce them anyway. I thought, well,
maybe I ought to call this something besides the believer's response. And I thought, no, no, this is
every believer's response. This is how all believers respond
to God's salvation, without exception. If you're a believer, this is
how you respond to God's salvation. If God ever gets your attention,
sticks his hand in your heart, and draws you to Christ, this
is how you'll respond to his salvation. So hold your Bibles
open here in Isaiah chapter 12. This whole sermon, beginning
back in chapter 8, is a prophecy concerning the day of God's grace
in which we live. It is a prophecy concerning the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the accomplishment of redemption
and grace in him. Not only that accomplishment
of his grace performed at Calvary in redemption, but also the accomplishment
of that grace he performs day by day in this gospel age in
the hearts of God's elect. Now look what it says beginning
at verse 1. And in that day, this is the day of God's grace.
It is the day when God comes to deliver his elect from bondage
and sin. It's typified in so many ways
in the Old Testament. I said to you this morning, as
I've said many times, the nation of Israel existed for the purpose
of showing forth God's grace to his true Israel, his elect,
his church, the people of God. And in the deliverances of Israel
throughout the Old Testament, whenever you read the Old Testament
history, Familiarize yourself with Old Testament history by
all means, but look beyond the facts. Well, if all you do is
recite the facts of Old Testament history, you haven't learned
your Bible. That's not it. Old Testament history was designed
to show us redemption. Old Testament history was designed
to picture the deliverance of God's elect by his grace from
sin, from bondage, from darkness, from the curse of the law, from
death unto life everlasting. So when God brought Israel out
of Egypt, he brought them out with a mighty hand and a stretched
out arm, and their redemption out of Egyptian bondage typified
most beautifully the redemption, the deliverance of our souls
by the grace of God through the blood of Christ. God brought
Israel out of Egypt by two things, by the price of blood and by
the power of his arm. That's exactly how he saved you.
He purchased us and then in the fullness of time he set us free. He brought us out with a mighty
arm and a stretched out arm and delivered us from the bondage
of our corruption because blood had been shed for us. All those
for whom blood was shed in Egypt on that night of the first Passover
came out of Egypt, every one of them. Not a hoof left behind. And I'm telling you that all
those for whom Jesus Christ shed his blood at Calvary 2,000 years
ago shall be brought out of bondage. Not a hoof left behind. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. He shall fulfill all his holy
purpose. His name is Jehovah, our God. This day is a day when God comes
in mighty grace and converts a sinner. There are many ways
to describe what happens in regeneration and conversion, but look back
up in chapter 11. This is one of my favorite passages
in the Old Testament to describe what God does with sinners by
his grace. Chapter 11 verse 6. In this day of God's grace, the
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb. But man, that's not the
way things are now. Turn a wolf loose among a bunch
of sheep, see what happens to them. But he's not talking about
carnal things. Skip, he's talking about spiritual
things. The wolf who would persecute and devour and destroy the flock
of God. When God saves that sinner, he
makes him to lie down with the lambs. Read on. The leopard? The leopard shall
lie down with the kid. Harmless, harmless. You see,
grace takes a ravening wolf. Grace takes a raging leopard
and makes him as harmless as a lamb or a kid. And the calf? And the young lion shall lie
down, and the fatling together, and look at this, and a little
child shall lead them. Isn't it amazing? The people God chooses, for the
most part, to be the instruments by which he leads his people,
less than the least of all saints, chief of sinners. The one who
has the least ability. The one who has the least natural
talent. The one who has the least natural
gifts. That one that has looked at it.
You know, we look out over a congregation and say, boy, that young fella,
he'd make a picture. He'd make a picture. God looks out for me, turn that
down. And he takes that one that everybody else said, well, he'll
wind up in jail someday. That's it. That's it. Little
child shall lead them. and the cow and the bear shall
feed, and the young one shall lie down together, and the lion
shall eat straw like an ox, and the sucking child shall play
on the hole of the asp. You mean play on the hole of
an asp? And the weaned child, he'll stick
his hand in the cockatrice den. You do it every day. Every day. You go out here in this world
and play at the holes of the asp and the cockatrices of this
world. And they shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountains. Nothing gonna hurt God's elect.
Hosea chapter 2 says, I'll make a covenant with you with the
beast of the field, the very beast, so that the asp and the
snake and the serpent and the wolf and the lion in this world,
they'll do no harm, not in God's holy mountain. Read on. Look
in verse 1 again of our text. In that day Thou shalt say, O
Lord, I will praise thee." The word for praise here is really
confess. When God comes to his elect in
saving power and grace, the sinner whom he saves by his grace will
confess him. You'll confess him before men,
or he'll deny you before his Father, plain as it can be. They
will confess Him. You don't have to talk them into
confessing Him. You don't have to hog town, twist their arms
and say, you need to confess the Lord. Just wait. Just wait. If God doesn't work in grace,
they'll confess Him. They'll confess Him. In His heart,
He confesses Him as Lord. With the heart, men believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made
to salvation. He confesses Him with His mouth,
too. Before He ever speaks the confession with His mouth, though,
He's confessed Christ in His heart. bowing to him as Lord,
and he confesses in the believers baptism. The believer submits
to this blessed ordinance of the gospel by which our Lord
declares himself to have fulfilled all righteousness symbolically. And that's what baptism does.
It is a declaration of the finished work of Jesus Christ so that
the believer being crucified with Christ is now buried with
Christ, risen with Christ, and walks with Christ forever in
perfect righteousness. His righteousness, not ours.
And this confession is a confession we make to God our Savior before
men for the praise of the glory of his grace. Read on now. How
come we're so anxious to praise him and confess him? Though thou
wast angry with me. Let me ask you something. Have you ever known the wrath
of God upon you? If you haven't, you've never
known his grace upon you, I promise you. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord, we persuade man. You never seek his mercy until
you know him to be angry with rightfully angry with you, justly
angry with you, until you are made to know you're fit for nothing
but God's wrath, fit for nothing but hell, fit for nothing but
judgment, except God himself intervene, perish you must, because
that's what you deserve. I've known what it is. Know the wrath of God in my soul,
Harry. God angry with me. nearly drove
me absolutely insane. Got angry with me, so angry with
me, terrifying my soul I couldn't sleep at night, terrified because
of God's justice, his holiness and wrath. But listen now, though
thou wast angry with me, thy anger is turned away. Rex, God is not angry with me
anymore. How come? He's got no reason
to be. He's got no reason to be. Well
how can you say that preacher? Because Jesus Christ the son
of God has borne the wrath of God for me, and fulfilled all
the law for me, so that now I stand before God in him, justified
from all things, sanctified, righteous, accepted in the beloved,
and thou comfortest me." How does God comfort his people?
He tells them he's not angry with them anymore. This is what
it says. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith the Lord. Declare ye to Jerusalem that
her warfare is over, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she
hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Comfort
them. Tell them, I've got no cause
against them. God comforts his people by shedding
abroad the love of God in our hearts by his Spirit. declaring
to us the forgiveness of sin in our souls, making known to
us the promises of his covenant which were made for us in Christ
before the world began. He gives us comfort by the sweet
assurance of acceptance with and access to God, granting our
consciences witness. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hold
your hands here and turn to Hebrews 10. I want you to look at this
for just a moment. And when you've found your place
there, look up here for just a second. Don't ever look to your works,
your feelings, your emotions, your faithfulness, your Bible
reading, your prayer, your goodness, your measuring up to the law,
your obedience. Don't ever look to yourself for
assurance. If that's where you find it,
you've missed it altogether. And if you're honest, if you're
honest, you start looking in here and say, well, I believe
I love my brethren like I ought to, at least to try to, therefore
I have assurance. If you're honest, that'll condemn you. I won't
give you any assurance, because you don't love me like you ought
to. You just don't. I don't love you like I ought
to. I wish I could, but I don't. Well, I'm more faithful than
I used to be. That gives me some assurance.
More faithful don't give me anything. More faithful is unfaithful.
That's nothing. That's nothing. You know, I've started reading
my Bible more. Don't ever look to yourself.
For a preacher, where do you get assurance? Look out of yourself. to him. Now if you're a believer
and you have struggles with assurance, the problem is you're looking
here. Quit looking in here, look to him. Let's see if that's not
so. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 15. Wherefore the Holy Ghost
also is witness to us. Not the preacher, not the soul
winner, the Holy Ghost is witness to us. For after that he said
before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after
those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws in their hearts
and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. Once sin has been put
away, you don't owe anything else. Is that plain enough? Once sin's been put away, God's
got no other cause for anger. His anger's turned away because
sin's been put away. Having therefore, brethren, boldness. And that word boldness doesn't
mean cocky arrogance. That's not it. It's not bold
like going out and fighting somebody. That's not it. The word means
confidence, freedom, freedom. don't know you. Of course, some
folks who don't know me well, they kind of stand off and say,
well, yeah, I can't talk to this fella. I don't know what to say. And folks get to know me after
a while, they walk in, sit down, have a cup of coffee. Because
they're comfortable. Have a breather. Door's open.
Come on in. Listen to me. For every believing
sinner, for every sinner who trusts the Son of God, I don't
care what you are, what you've been, for every believing sinner,
the doorway to God Almighty is open. And you're welcome. You're welcome anytime. Boldness. The same boldness with which
a child approaches a loving father of whom he has no fear. The same
boldness with which a woman approaches a loving husband whom she has
no reason to fear. That kind of confidence. All
right, we don't. Let us therefore having this boldness to enter
into the holiest house by the blood of Jesus. Don't you dare
come any other way. Just by the blood of Christ,
by his sin atoning sacrifice, by a new and living way. which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God." Do you
have a high priest? Do you trust the blood of Jesus
Christ? Are you right now trusting him
and him alone? Then listen, having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith. Come on to the throne. and cast
your care upon him for he cares for you. Now look at verse two. Isaiah is still describing the
confessions of a sinner saved by God's grace. Behold God is
my salvation or God is my Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ is God,
the great God and our Savior. He is the Savior appointed by
the Father, promised in the covenant, sent in the fullness of time,
and now revealed in my heart by the Spirit. Like Simeon of
old, the believer looks on Christ and says, all right, Lord, I
can go home anytime. I've seen your salvation. I've
seen your salvation. This is a word of confidence
and assurance. God is my salvation. It is a
word of affirmation, acknowledging to all that it is God who is
my salvation. It's a word of adoration, admiring
God for his salvation. And it's a word of exclusion.
It is a declaration that God alone is my salvation. Behold, here is the wondrous
thing of amazing truth. God is my salvation. Read on. I will trust and not
be afraid. How can I honestly deal with
that? God helping me. I will trust
God, my Savior, and I'll not be afraid. But my trust is so fixed. My faith is so full of unbelief. I sometimes quake too. And Ron, that's my fault. That's
my fault. This is what the prophet is declaring
And he declares it as one who believes Christ. And this is
his resolve. I will trust Christ for all my
salvation and being confident of him, I'll look upon myself
as one who is safe and secure in him. And trusting him, I'll
not be afraid. And just to the measure that
I trust him. I'll not be afraid. Just that simple. Just that simple. I'll not be afraid of sin, that
horrible evil that's in me, or of Satan, that foe which is a
roaring lion seeks to devour me, or of the world, or the lust
of it, or the flesh, or of death, or of hell, or of condemnation,
or of the lily white blazing glorious throne of God Almighty
himself in judgment. I'll not be afraid. How come? I trust him. That's all. is my substitute. Christ is my Redeemer. Trusting
Christ alone as my Savior, I have no reason to fear anything, not
today, not tomorrow, not forever. No reason to fear. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who's going to condemn
one of those for whom Christ died? If God be for us, who can
be against us? The ground of this confident
faith, I repeat, is not myself. My works, my feelings, are my
experience, but my God. Read on in verse 2. For the Lord
Jehovah is my strength and my song. He also has become my salvation. You say, well that sounds repetitive. Gratitude usually does. When
you're just overwhelmed with somebody's goodness, just overwhelmed,
you can't say enough in gratitude and thankfulness to them. And
here is the believer. He says, the Lord, He's my strength. What you're going to face tomorrow,
I don't know, but He's my strength. What enemy comes your way, I
don't know, but He's my strength. What trial comes, I don't know,
but He's my strength. He's the strength of all grace
that he's put within me. He's the strength to perform
every duty he puts upon me. He's the strength to endure every
trial he brings to me. And he's my song. I'll sing of
his person, his work. He's my salvation. If ever you
come to Christ, if ever you obtain salvation in him, You'll never
tire of hearing it, and you'll never tire of repeating it. The
Lord Jehovah, He's become my salvation. John Gill said this
concerning this text, that salvation is wrought out by Christ, and
believers have it in Him, and they know it, and believe it,
and they're already saved in Him. But it is not something
we're waiting on. There's something real right
now. We are His, and He's ours. Move on to verse three. Therefore,
because God is your salvation, with joy shall you draw water
out of the wells of salvation. Water represents daily, reviving,
refreshing grace. The bucket with which we draw
the water is faith, and it's drawn by prayer from the wells
of salvation. God our Father describes himself
as a fountain of living waters. God the Holy Spirit is described
by our Lord as a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. God the Son is described in the Song of Solomon by his
beloved, my beloved is a well of living water. The wells of
salvation then are our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, his holy
word. The covenant revealed in his
word His promise is given in the gospel. I can't think of
a better way to illustrate what I'm trying to say than what I've
told you so many times. A young preacher visiting an
old woman in his church and started to leave and decided to read
scripture and have prayer with her and he opened up the Bible
and he saw T.P. Just every few verses, T.P.,
T.P. And he said, Sister, I'm curious
what What are all these markings here? She said, what markings?
He said, it's TP and all these margins in your Bible. She said,
oh, pastor. She said, those are God's promises.
That means tried and proved. Tried and proved. We by faith
draw water from the wells of salvation for the daily sustenance
of our souls, for the daily reviving of our hearts. Now let me do
verse four. Once God saves the sinner by
His grace, the saved sinner is not content to have grace for
himself. He wants others to worship, honor,
and praise, and trust the Lord God as well. And in that day
you shall say, now this is what I'm doing. God has given me His
grace. I've been drawing waters out
of the wells of salvation. Now then, I'm telling you, praise
the Lord. Praise Him. Join me in extolling
His name. Believers want all men to praise
Christ. Call upon his name. That word
call. These days folks read the scriptures
and they talk about calling on the name of the Lord and you
know these nuts get on television and they're gonna wrestle with
God and pray and get hold of God and make him do what he wasn't
in the mind of doing. In Jesus name! That's not what
it is. That's utter blasphemy. I said
it deliberately. That's utter blasphemy. What
is it to call on the name of the Lord? It's not to repeat
his name. It's not to sign your prayers saying in Christ's name.
That's not what it is. To call on the name of the Lord
is to worship him. You read this book. You read
this book. That's exactly how the terms
used throughout the scriptures, Old Testament and New. Men began
to call on the name of the Lord to worship God. This is what I want you to do.
Oh, this is what I want from you. Worship my God. Worship my God. Praise and extol
Him. Declare His doings among the
people. Declare to all the world the
wondrous things that Christ has done. His obedience, His death,
His intercession, His grace, His providence. Make mention. Tell everybody. now has given him a name that's
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, and things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things
under the earth, and that every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now look at verse 5. Sing unto the Lord. Sing to him. Sing to him. How come? He hath
done excellently. Thou hast done all things well. You believe that? Then sing about
it. He's done excellent things. When
you sing to God, I've said it so many times, I said it last
Sunday I believe, I wish somebody'd compile a good hymn book. I mean,
something other than what I've written, but a good hymn book
where you can just sing anything. Just open it up and sing anything.
Most of the songs in your songbook are just trash. Just trash. Not fit for anything. What do
you do when you sing to God? Sing to Him. Sing about Him. Declare He's done excellent things. Now look at the last verse. Cry
out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion for great is the Holy
One of Israel in the midst of thee. Here we are. The Holy One of Israel is here
in our midst always. And He's great, the great God
and our Savior. Oh, God help you then to call
on His name, to worship Him, to sing His praise, and to declare
His doings in this generation. May God make this for you the
day of His grace. In Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Believer's Response To God's Salvation

What does the Bible say about God's election?

How do we know regeneration is true?

Why is faith in Christ essential for salvation?

How can believers draw strength from God?

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The Believer's Response To God's Salvation

What does the Bible say about God's election?

How do we know regeneration is true?

Why is faith in Christ essential for salvation?

How can believers draw strength from God?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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