Mercy Needed, Mercy Sought, Mercy Given

Q: What does the Bible say about the glory of God in salvation?

The glory of God is primarily revealed in the salvation provided through Jesus Christ. The glory of God, as revealed in scripture, is intricately connected to His salvation. In Psalm 21:5, it is declared that 'His glory is great in thy salvation,' indicating that God's magnificence and majesty are most vividly displayed through the redemption He accomplishes for His people. This is further emphasized in Ephesians 2:7, which states that in the ages to come, God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Thus, our understanding of salvation directly correlates to the witness of God's glory, revealing His character of mercy, grace, and righteousness.

Q: How do we know salvation is fully God's work?

Salvation is entirely God's work because it is a sovereign act of grace and cannot be achieved by human effort. The sovereignty of God's grace in salvation is a fundamental tenet of Reformed theology. Scripture emphasizes that we are spiritually dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1) and incapable of saving ourselves. Thus, God's initiative is necessary—He must regenerate us, call us, and sustain us in faith. John 15:16 states, 'You did not choose Me, but I chose you,' affirming that from the beginning to the end, salvation is a gift given by God. As such, we approach Him as receivers, not contributers, emphasizing the totality of His grace.

Q: Why is understanding Christ's role as Savior important for Christians?

Understanding Christ's role as Savior is crucial because it highlights His authority and the sufficiency of His atoning work. Recognizing Jesus Christ as our Savior underlines the essential truth that He is both willing and able to save us from our sins. His atoning work, as articulated in Matthew 1:21—'for He will save His people from their sins'—offers assurance of deliverance and redemption. Furthermore, understanding Christ's lordship equips Christians to submit to His sovereignty and trust in His plan for their lives. It is His grace that sustains us now and into eternity, underscoring that all glory belongs to Him (Romans 11:36). Thus, the depth of our salvation rests securely in His character and work.

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

God's mercy is a central attribute displayed in His willingness to save sinners according to His own sovereign choice. God's mercy is foundational to His nature and is evidenced throughout scripture. In Exodus 33:19, God asserts, 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,' indicating that His mercy is not based on human merit but rather flows from His sovereign will. Moreover, in Ephesians 2:4-5, we see that 'God is rich in mercy,' illustrating that His desire to extend compassion and forgiveness is overwhelmingly abundant. The application of this mercy is seen in the personal transformation of individuals; as we recognize our sinfulness, we are encouraged to seek Him in repentance, fully assured of His readiness to forgive (1 John 1:9).

most obvious, most universal
truths of Holy Scripture, that the glory of God is and must
be the first and ultimate end of all things. I have thought
all week ever since last Friday evening when Brother Scott Richardson
brought that outstanding message on the glory of God about this
very subject. God's glory is himself. As Scott said, it is the essence
of his being, his nature. Those magnificent attributes
and perfections of character that we think of when we think
of God, his omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, holiness, his perfection
in all his being. Those attributes are not merely
emanations of his being, they are the essence of his being.
With us, attributes, characteristics are things that flow out of our
being. With God, his attributes, his
character, his holiness, his justice, his righteousness, his
love, his grace, his mercy, all those things that make up the
attributes of God, his essential character, display exactly what
God is. The Scriptures do not say God
is a God of love, the Scriptures say God is love. Because love
is necessary and essential to the very character and being
of God Almighty. So that when we think of God,
when we speak of the Almighty in the triune persons of His
Holy Being, we ought always to think of Him in possession of
all those incommunicable attributes and perfections of his being
which distinguish him as God alone, in the solitariness of
his divinity. And yet the glory of the triune
God is revealed, manifested, made known, and seen by us in
the person of his dear son, our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, and in Christ alone,
the invisible God is visible. He is the image of the invisible
God. And we see God and we see the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and of Jesus Christ alone. So that all the God we know,
now listen carefully, all the God we see All the God with whom
we have relation, all the God to whom we can approach, all
the God who will come to us, is Jesus Christ the Lord, in
whom dwells all the fullness of the triune Godhead bodily. So that Christ, and Christ alone,
is the revelation, the image, the visibility of the invisible
God. All the fullness of the glory
of the triune God is in Christ. And so great is that glory, this
glory of God in Jesus Christ the Lord, that God has prepared
an eternity. What language? God has prepared
an eternity and appointed an eternity, if I may be allowed
to use that kind of language, to display his great glory to
his creatures. Listen to what the scripture
says. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Not only shall the glory of God
be revealed to us throughout the endless ages of eternity,
but it shall be made known to us throughout eternity in the
person of the God-man, God in our nature, God the Son, the
Son of God, our all-glorious Christ. And yet there is more. There is this peculiar preciousness
about the revealed glory of God. That glory of God which shall
be made known to us, enjoyed by us, and made to be our food
and our drink and our delight forever and ever. It has this
peculiar distinctiveness. The glory of God is intimately
connected with, in its revelation, our union with Christ and our
everlasting salvation by Christ. So that there is no knowledge,
this and now, there is no knowledge of God's glory. There is no enjoyment
of God's glory except in union with Jesus Christ in saving mercy. Listen to this scripture. to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved. This is the peculiar preciousness
of the revelation of the glory of God. We find the glory of
God, see the glory of God, and enjoy the glory of God in our
Lord Jesus Christ, in our union with him. in our knowledge of
him, in our experience of his grace. The glory of the triune
God, that is to say, the glory of our most glorious Christ,
that one designated by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
as the one in whom all fullness should dwell, the one who should
forever in all things have all preeminence. is seen by many,
many things. We see God's glory everywhere. The heavens declare the glory
of God, so that as we look out in God's creation, I never look
up in the sky and see the brilliance of the sun, or see the bolt of
lightning strike across the sky, or the clouds whirling in their
course, or the stars or the moon, except I think the heavens declare
the glory of God. God's glory is just scattered
everywhere. The diamonds are just like sparks
from his anvil by which he has displayed the glory of his handiwork. We see God's glory in providence. Day by day by day by day. Throughout the history of our
lives, believing eyes see the hand of God. God did that. God did that. Last week we saw
in the paper The death of a young woman who has caught the attention of the
whole world. One filthy rich, one set in nobility,
snatched out in the prime of her life. And God says, listen,
nothing here lasts forever. That's the finger of God. If
you don't see the finger of God in it, if you don't hear the
voice of God in it, you lack good sense. The man from whom we've been
purchasing our gas here for the last 10, 12 years. Nobody except folks here in Danville
knew him. Gathered around Harrisburg, Bergen, in the prime of life,
snatched out of this world. Snatched out of this world, out
having delights, having fun, enjoying recreation with family
and friends, and suddenly gone to eternity to meet God. And
you shall be very quickly. These are but the tokens of God's
providence. And we see the glory of God in
the scriptures. Reading this book, I was made to see some things
concerning the glory and greatness of God's being this week that
I had never seen before. Read the book of God and behold
the glory of God. However, the glory of God is
seen most fully in the face of Jesus Christ as our Savior and
that glory is most great and most greatly revealed in his
salvation. Now that's what I want to talk
to you about for a few minutes this morning. Turn with me to
Psalm 21 again that passage we read earlier and I want you to
just hold your Bibles open here at Psalm 21. You'll recall that
when Moses asked God that he might see his glory That which
God showed Moses in answer to his prayer was his sovereign
goodness in the salvation of sinners. Moses said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory, and he said, the Lord God said, I
will make all my goodness to pass before thee, and will proclaim
the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom
I will be gracious, and will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. And so when Moses said, Lord, show me your glory, God
said, all right, stand back and behold my salvation. I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. Now here in Psalm 21, in verse
5, the psalmist declares this same thing. Look at it. His glory
is great in thy salvation. His glory is great in thy salvation. Now I've read everything I could
get my hands on this week on this statement from the psalmist.
Give me your attention for a few minutes. May God the Holy Spirit
take total control of my thoughts and yours. I want you to hear this. I want
you to see what God's been pleased to show me this week. May we
be pleased to speak through these stammering lips of clay and give
you ears to hear as I try to preach to you about the greatness
of Christ's glory in salvation. Now Rex, that's just too big. I'm just going to kind of scratch
around a little bit and see if I can't stir up some desire in
your heart to know more about the things I've got to say. I
want to talk to you about the greatness of Christ's glory in
salvation. My text will be verses 5 and
6, but we'll begin back in verse 1. I want you to realize that
as David wrote this psalm, it is a psalm in its proper historic
application talking about David. But David was only a type of
Christ. David's kingdom was only typical
of Christ's kingdom. David's deliverances by God were
only typical of the deliverances of Christ for his people by the
Lord God himself. And David's glory was only typical
of Christ's glory. So as you read the psalm, much
as I admire David, I'd rather talk about Christ than talk about
David. And it'll do you more good to learn about Christ than
to learn about David. So this psalm, in the full, full
meaning of the words spoken here, can only have its proper interpretation
with regard to great David's great son, the Lord Jesus Christ
our Savior, the King of Glory. Look in verse 1. Here is a prophecy. The King shall joy in thy strength,
O Lord, and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice. This is a prophecy of our Savior's
joy as the result of the salvation which he would accomplish. when
the Son of God had assumed our nature as he agreed upon in the
covenant, having obeyed God as our substitute, having obtained
eternal redemption by his blood, having entered at once into the
holy place with salvation in his hand, the Lord Jesus Christ
now sits down at the right hand of the majesty on high, and how
greatly does he rejoice! That's what the psalmist is talking
about. He shall rejoice joy in thy strength and in thy salvation
shall he greatly rejoice. What bliss, what joy, what rejoicing
there is in Emmanuel's heart as he sits yonder upon the throne
of glory. He's finished his work, his father
is glorified, the father's will is done, his people are redeemed,
and the certainty of their salvation he holds by the merit of his
blood. And now he rejoices greatly.
Look at verse 2. Thou hast given him his heart's
desire, and hast not withholden the request
of his will. What was our Savior's heart's
desire? You recall, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. What was
his heart's desire? He said, now is my soul exceeding
sorrowful unto death. What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Father, glorify thy name. What was his heart's desire?
As he knelt in Gethsemane, in anticipation of his great sacrifice,
when he must be made to be sin for us, as he sweared as it were,
great drops of blood falling to the ground, his heart cries
out in brokenness to God, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, thy
will be done. His heart's desire has been given
to him. What was the request of his lips?
Was it not the salvation of his people? The desire of his heart
and the prayer of his lips which cannot be and shall not be withheld
from him was the glory of his father and the eternal welfare
of his people. Nothing is so dear. No, we can't half get hold of
this, but nothing is so dear to the heart of the Son of God
as we are. Nothing so dear to Him as our
redemption. Nothing so dear to Him as our
being born of His Spirit. Nothing so dear to Him as us
being comforted in time of trouble, sanctified by His grace and by
His power. Nothing so dear to Him as you
and I being upheld and strengthened whenever we need it, preserved
in trial and at last brought to glory. Nothing is so dear
to Christ as our everlasting holiness before His Father. and our everlasting happiness
in his presence. That's it. No wonder after David
wrote these words in verse 2, he wrote this word, Selah. That means kick back, get you
a cup of coffee and sit down and think about this a while.
Just sit down and think about this a while. The Lord God has
given him his heart's desire, and he has not withheld from
him the request that he has. Father, I will. I will that Bobby
Esther be sanctified through your kids. I will that he be
preserved, kept from the evil one. I will that he be with me
where I am, that he may behold my glory. Now you go home and
think about that. Sit down now and meditate here
on the glory of God bestowing upon him all his heart's desire
and the request of his lips. Look at verse 3. Thou preventest
him with the blessings of goodness
Thou sentest a crown of pure gold on his head. Now this word prevent is not
the same word that we would normally translate from the original text
prevent today. We would translate the word to
mean precede or go before. That's the meaning of the word
that's used here. So the meaning of the verse is
that the Lord God bestowed all the bountiful blessings of goodness
and grace upon us his people in Jesus Christ long before Christ
came to be our Redeemer and our Savior. Indeed he blessed us
according to Ephesians 1 3 with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ before the world began. And still there's more.
God's goodness toward his elect goes out to them, even before
Christ comes to them. His goodness goes out to us in
secret workings, and in secret providence, and in secret goodness. So that God sends his son to
save Don Fortner. He sends his son to call Don
Fortner. He sends his son to snatch Don
Fortner from the pit of hell. Back in May 1967. The long, long, long, long before
Don ever knew anybody. He predicted or went before his
son with goodness. With goodness. The psalmist said,
surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life. That is, goodness and mercy shall be at my heels all the
day of my life. Goodness and mercy shall go after
me and pursue me all the days of my life. And I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. And so God's goodness and mercy
pursued us until goodness and mercy at last brought us to the
feet of Christ and brought Christ to us. The text has reference
to that great wondrous mystery of grace which we call prevenient
grace. Grace that goes before and prepares
the way for grace. Goodness and mercy precede the
coming of Christ and come with Christ and follow Christ, and
then exaltation and glory are given to him. The Lord God, the triune Jehovah,
has set upon his head a crown of pure gold, a pure, everlasting,
precious, indescribably glorious crown, and he's done it two ways. 2,000 years ago, when God raised his
son from the dead and set him down at his own right hand, exalting
him above all power, all majesty, all dominion, and set him to
be king and lord forever, God set a crown on his head and said,
your king reigns forever. Thy throne, O God, he said, is
forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. And then he came to you in saving
mercy and grace. You, who forever lived with your
fist, shoved scorn in God's face and conquered your heart by his
grace. And now he has set in your heart
a crown of pure gold on the head of the Son of God. Know what
he done for you? Called you in your heart gladly
to acknowledge him as Lord and King. Now look at verse 4. He asked life of thee, and thou
gavest it him, even length of days forever and forever. This refers to our Lord's resurrection,
His exaltation, His dominion. It refers to that crown which
the Father has set upon the Son's head. That which He earned, that
which He asked for, and that which He received from the Father.
as our substituted mediator. Turn back just a couple of pages
to Psalm 16. This Psalm we know also speaks
of Christ because Peter tells us by inspiration in Acts chapter
2 that's talking about Christ. Look in verse 8. The Lord Jesus says, I have set
the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand, I shall
not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and
my glory rejoicing. Referring to his death, he says
my flesh also shall rest in hope. Referring to his burial in the
grave, for thou will not leave my soul in hell or in the grave,
neither will thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou
wilt show me the path of life, in thy presence is fullness of
joy, at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore. These words spake
Jesus, John writes, and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,
Father, the hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may
glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Let's look at verses five and six. I'll wrap this up, but I want
to bring it to a conclusion by showing you seven things in these
two verses about the greatness of Christ's glory in salvation. And it'll be easy to remember.
I'll give them to you and I'll go back and repeat it. First,
I want to show you the greatness of Christ's glory as the son,
as the surety second, Then the servant, the substitute, the
sovereign, the savior, and the satisfier. And I won't spend
much time on any of them, but I want you to hear me. First,
as the son. Christ's glory is great in Jehovah's
salvation personally, as the son of God. Our text declares
his glory is great in thy salvation. Now there are three things here.
Number one, The salvation revealed and spoken of in this book, that
salvation which is described in the word of God, that salvation
we speak of when we preach the gospel is God's salvation. It is God's salvation. Everything
spoken of in our text, everything spoken of in the Word of God
relating to salvation is of God, by God, for God, and belongs
to God. Everything. Nothing relating
to salvation is of man. There is much talk in our day
about man's free will. Now I don't often use the term
and talk about man's will being free. Brother Greg the other
night said man does have a free will and he's right. He's right.
He's just as free as a fog in a snake's belly. He can jump
around all he wants to but he can't get out. He's just as free
as a man in prison. He can do all he wants to but
he can't get out. Just as free as a man who's buried in the
sand. He can do anything he wants to,
but he's got to stay in the sand. He can't get out. And man's free
will, like God's free will, is bound by his nature. So that
just as God cannot lie, the scripture says so, because God told him.
So man cannot do good, because man is evil. Now let me see if
I can show you what I'm talking about. There is nothing that
man's free will has ever done for him except ruin it until
his will has been conquered by God's will. Any man left to himself
is sure to choose that which is evil and do that which is
evil. Just as naturally as water poured
out runs downhill, so the will of man runs toward hell and runs
toward wickedness. If the heart and will of man
ever looks heavenward, ascends upward toward holiness, chooses
Christ, comes to Christ, and follows Christ, it is because
that man has been the object and recipient of God's salvation
from the first sigh of a broken heart in repentance. If this
day, for the first time, your heart breaks before God in repentance,
from the first sigh of a broken heart in repentance, to the shouts
of praise and glory to our God in heaven, everything with regard
to salvation is God's. Everything. From beginning to end, salvation
is entirely God's work. Those who say otherwise at any
point or to any degree simply do not know God and have not
experienced his salvation. Now preacher are you saying that
Are you suggesting? Are you implying that people
who don't believe salvation is totally by God's free and sovereign
grace in Christ don't know God? No, I'm not implying that at
all. The book of God says that. As plain as the nose on your
face. Those who worship at the altar of Baal are false worshippers
of a false God under the wrath of God as surely as if they had
no God to worship at all. We worship the one true and living
God and we worship him having experienced his salvation. Every
believer speaking of salvation ascribes his salvation to the
triune God. We call our salvation thy salvation
and we rejoice to say it. Salvation is God in its conception. The Lord God in his infinite,
almighty, solitary mind of love, grace, and mercy, for the glory
of his own great name, conceived the idea of saving sinners in
Jesus Christ the Lord. He chose a people to save, marked
out the path by which grace would come to them, ordained his son
to be our savior, and determined exactly when, where, and how
he would call us. Salvation is the Lord's and it's
execution. He comes by the power of his
sovereign spirit and calls his dead sinners to live. There would never be any quarrel,
there'd never be any debate, there'd never be any question
about this business of salvation being totally God's work if men
ever understood that man by nature since the fall of Adam is D-E-A-D
dead. A dead man feels nothing, knows
nothing, sits as nothing, does nothing, wills nothing, comes
to nothing. A dead man is dead! And if ever
you're made to feel your need of Christ. Sense your need of
Christ. Come to Christ. Call on Christ. If ever you have a will after
Him, it's because God has come in your death and invaded your
soul and given you life. You must be born again or you
cannot see, understand, or enter into the kingdom of God. Salvation
is the Lord's and it's preservation as well. We're kept by the power of his
grace unto eternal life. Kept by the power of his grace. I look back there at Rex Bartley and I look around and then a lot of folks come
and go over the years. I've seen a lot of folks took
off like skyrockets. And he's got it. He's got it. He's committed. Last a little
while, sometimes even a long time. But the only reason you're
here and I'm here, because others have long gone. Because we've
kept, fought, holy, unblameable, unreprovable in the presence
of God in his door. And I'm telling you, if he should
bring you, Paul Harris, right up to the threshold of the gates
of glory, and leave it to your will or your work, For you to
drag in the last hair on your leg, you will perish forever. There's nothing, nothing in God's
salvation done by you, accomplished by me, performed by us, giving
glory to us. Since salvation is God's, God
has all the glory of it. That's the second thing here.
I'm spending a little time here, and I'll run through the next
six things, but I want you to get this. Never lose sight of it. It is
his glory, not ours, which is great in salvation. Fr. Pete Silberto was telling me
the other day, they came down, they live in the country, Pennsylvania
Dutch area and he was trying to preach the gospel of God's
grace to one of these Amish works nuts, you know We y'all get impressed
when you go down to shake a town those nuts down there were blasphemous
idolaters now admire their craft admire their skill but don't
even think about admiring their religion is nonsense and These
Amish folks that were border that you gotta admire their devotion.
I don't admire their devotion and I would come as near admiring
their devotion as I would have come to admire the devotion of
a man who knelt at a burning altar and burned his baby on
the altar. It's utter blasphemy. He said
he's talking to this Amish fella. You know, those folks who think
they're going to heaven because they dress funny and act funny.
And he was talking about God's free grace. And this was the
man's response. He said to him, salvation is
of the Lord. We're dead, Christ sends his
spirit and calls us. We were condemned, Christ redeemed
us. We could not keep ourselves,
Christ keeps us. And this is what man said. This
is what he said. He said, where does that give
us anything glory in? Where does that give us anything
glory in? That's the reason men despise
the gospel of God's grace by nature. It gives you flat nothing
to glory in. He that gloryeth, let him glory
in the Lord. Robert Hawker said God's glory
is the first object proposed by salvation. God is more concerned
for the promotion of his glory than any of his people can be,
even for their happiness. In this matter of salvation,
we're receivers. We're not contributors. In this
matter of salvation, we are the beneficiaries, not the benefactors. In this matter of salvation,
you and I, who are sinners saved by free grace, are all alike
receivers and equal receivers of grace. That means the great
have nothing to bring, the little have nothing to offer. We all
receive everything as empty handed beggars at the door of mercy. That means Paul Wendell, Don
Fortner come on exactly the same ground, needy sinners, trusting
the Savior and receive exactly the same thing. Salvation by
grace. Can you get hold of that? Salvation
is God's. God gets the glory of it. And
thirdly, God, the triune God, the holy triune Jehovah Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, has arranged it from eternity that the Son
of God, as our Savior, as our Mediator, shall have the glory
of God's salvation. We recognize we are Trinitarians,
we worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God
and three divine persons, all equal in all things, possessing
all attributes, eternal Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet
We worship the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the person
of the Son. We adore the Father's electing
love. We admire the Son's redemption
of our souls. We rejoice in the Spirit's call
and preservation. But we know and worship the triune
God in the Son. And God fixed it so that the
Son has all the glory in salvation. All the fullness of the Godhead
is in the Son. I have in the last 15, 16 years,
longer than that, been studying this statement. I think of it,
I guess I think of it hundreds of times every day. I just, I
can't get over it. The Apostle Paul writes to the
Colossians and says in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead in a body. In a body. All the fullness of the Godhead. The Godhead, Jay, is the Father,
the Son, the Spirit. The Godhead is all the attributes
of divinity, including omnipotence and omnipresence. That One who
fills all things, who is the fullness of all things, oh the
fullness of the Triune God dwells in the body of that man who sits
on the throne of glory. And you're complete in Him. You're
complete in Him. so that all the fullness of salvation
and grace is in the Son. He is made of God and to us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. How I love to meditate upon,
read about, hear about, sing about, preach about the glory
of Christ. I'm kind of like that dying saint
I read about yesterday. Someone in this old lady's room
began to speak in her presence to other folks. They began to
speak about the greatness, grace, and glory of Christ. And others
said, shh, don't disturb the lady. She's got a ranch. And
that old saint spoke. She said, oh, speak some more.
Let me hear more. Do not stop telling his praise. I long to see him soon, but I
long to hear about him now. Let me hear it here. Let me speak
of it here. Isaac Ambrose said, surely I
cannot say too much about Jesus Christ. On this subject no man
can hyperbolize. Had I the tongues of men and
angels, I could never fully set forth Christ. Oh, the loveliness. Oh, the beauty. Oh, the glory
of his countenance. Can I speak? Or can you give
too much of Christ? The tongues of men and angels
combined. All the tongues of all men and angels combined could
never tell out the glory of our all glory of Christ. Let me therefore
never look for another thing. May God give me grace to give
my life to its dying breath to preach the great glory of Christ
in the salvation center. I've never had any desire to
live long, not since God saved me. But I have some aspirations,
just whatever God pleases me will be alright. I'm not trying
to dictate to God what he should do. Sure would be nice to leave
this world with the last breath, word on my mouth, the last breath
of my life, expiring, saved Christ. to declare His glory. The glory
of Christ is great personally in salvation as the Son. Secondly, the glory of Christ
in salvation is great as the surety. Now it's impossible to
talk about salvation in biblical terms without talking about a
covenant. A covenant of grace made between the Father and the
Son before the world began. And in talking about the covenant,
talking about surety. A surety is one who stands in the room
of another, assuming all the obligations, responsibilities,
and debts of the one for whom he is a surety. The scripture
says Christ is the surety of a better covenant by the oath
and purpose of God. Now what does that mean? That
means before the world began, Oscar, the viewer, James, and
Don belong to God. If we, before the world began,
before we ever had any being, before our father Adam had any
being, before the sun, the moon, the stars were made, before the
world began, the father and the son agreed upon the terms and
conditions of our salvation. The father said, their sin must
be atoned for. Righteousness for them must be
established. Justice must be satisfied. My law must be honored. And the son said, I'll go. I'll
assume their nature. I'll live in their room, I'll
die in their stead, I'll pay their debt, I'll bear their sins,
I'll satisfy your justice, I'll maintain your law, I'll magnify
your law and make it honorable. I'll go and yet I, the Son of
God, bearing their sins in my nature and in their nature, shall
give infinite satisfaction, infinite merit, and infinite worth to
everything. And the son said, because I love
him freely, I'll do that. And the father said, all right,
here they are. And the father and the son stuck hands in the
covenant, and it was done. It was done. So that the father,
from the time in eternity, thought redundancy. But you see, we're
such pygmies before the Almighty God that everything we say about
Him, every revelation of Him, seems to be a redundancy, for
we cannot speak adequately of Him. But at the time back in
eternity, when the Father looked to the Son as our surety, He
ceased to look to us for anything. Just doesn't look to us. Never
has looked to us. He doesn't look to us for righteousness.
He doesn't look to us for obedience. He doesn't look to us for holiness.
He doesn't look to us for satisfaction. He doesn't look to us to punish
us. He doesn't look to us to redeem our souls. He looks to
the Son for everything. And thus the Son is glorious
in salvation as our surety. Thirdly, having become our surety,
the Son of God, has great glory and salvation as the servant. Turn to Isaiah 42 for a second. In order to save us, our covenant
surety, the Son of God, The Lord Jesus Christ became Jehovah's
voluntary servant. And listen to how Jehovah describes
him. Behold, my servant. As if to say, compared to him,
I don't have any servants. My servant, mine alone. And him might have said, Christ
be my first elect, he said, then chose us in the Lord our head. My elect, that one, the only
one, the only servant, the only elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him. And
he shall bring forth judgment, righteousness, not just to the
Jews, but to the Gentiles as well. He shall not cry in despair
or helplessness, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard
in the street. He's not one who's come and he
needs the assistance, the aid, the help of another. A bruised
reed shall he not break. Bruised reed. I can't think of anything in
this world more useless than a bruised reed. A bruised reed collapses if you
try to suck water through it. A bruised reed is useless if
you use it to shoot a dart. A bruised reed, you can't lean
on it. It'll collapse. A bruised reed is nothing. Nothing. Useless, helpless, weak. Oh, I wonder if there's any bruised
reeds here. A bruised wreath he'll never break. Look at this. And the smoking flax. That flax just about to burn
out. Just about gone. Just about dead. Shall he not queen? all the strong,
the lively, the mighty, self-sufficient. Those who need nothing, they
get nothing. But bulls, reeds, and smoking
flaxes get his grace. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth, and he shall not My servant, in whom I delight,
he will do all he has come to do. He shall not fail, nor be
discouraged, till he has set judgment, justice, righteousness
in the earth, and the eye of the Gentiles shall wait for his
law. Fourthly, having become God's
servant, his son, our surety, is glorious and great in salvation
as the substitute. His greatness, the greatness
of his glory is our substitute. It's seen in the objects of his
love, the purpose of his death, and the efficacy of his atonement.
Will you allow me one more time to recite in your presence and
in your hearing that glorious, glorious passage of scripture.
that sets forth for us the great glory of Christ in salvation
as I said before. He, the Lord God, hath made him
his darling son to be seen for us. For us, the enemies and God will weep
for us. He made him to be sin. Bobby,
who knew no sin? When he made him to be sin, he
poured out all the fury and wrath upon him to the full satisfaction
of justice. That we, who are nothing but
sin, might be made the righteousness of God. Now, having accomplished redemption
as our substitute, the son of God, our surety, Jehovah's servant,
is great in his glory as the sovereign. The father has given
to the son in reward of his obedience the place of sovereign monarchy
and dominion over all land. is given him a scepter by which
he reigns over everything, not as his son, but as our surrogate,
as our substitute, as our mediator, as his servant, so that the father
has exalted the son with the glory which he had with him before
the world was. And the son of God says thou
hast given him power over all flesh. Now, the father has made
his son the head, lord, and king of all the angels. So that the
angels of God are portrayed as bowing before the throat of God,
upon which sits the Lamb of God, which is portrayed in the mercy
seat, covered by the blood of the Lamb. And the angels bow
before his throat, swiftly flying to do his will. And they're sent
forth by this great sovereign substitute. as ministering spirits
to minister to those chosen of God to be the heirs of salvation,
Hebrews 1.14. He's made his son to be head
over all things, king and lord, in Zion to the church. The head
of God's church is not to be found in Rome or in Nashville.
And the head of God's church is not the one standing here
preaching to you. The head of God's church is Jesus Christ
the Lord. The church of God is not ruled
by historic creeds and covenants and confessions grown up by men.
The church of Christ is ruled by the word of Jesus Christ given
to us in this blessed book. He's the head of the church so
that we believe what he teaches. We do what he says. We practice
what he practiced. We worship the way he taught
us to worship. All our ordinances, all our practices, everything
is designed by, comes from, and ordained by and honored Jesus
Christ the King. And he's the head over all things
universally to the church. God has given his son power over
all things. to give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given Him. So that everything the Son of
God does, everything He permits, everything He brings to pass,
everything is for the saving of His people. Let me therefore learn patience
in everything. Let me therefore trust Him in
everything. Sixthly, the glory of Christ
is great in salvation as the son, as the surety, as the substitute,
as the sovereign, and as the savior. How can these weak, sinful,
stammering lips begin to describe the great glory of Christ in
salvation as our savior? His name is Jesus. for he shall
save his people from their sins. The greatness of his glory may be, first of all, when he
is seen in the people he saved. You see who they are, don't you? Oh, here's the greatness of His
glory. The greatness of His glory is
our Savior. It's displayed in the obstacles.
He's overcome by His grace to save us. There stood before him the mountain
of our sins. They had to be put away. Standing at the door of our hearts, barring the door to his entrance,
was Satan, the master whom we willfully chose. and backing him up was our free
will. We would not come to him and
we would not have him come to us. Folks talk about Jesus standing
at your heart's door knocking, waiting for you to open the door.
He knocks. Yes, sir, he knocks, but when
he does, he knocks the door down. And he comes in. And when he
comes in, he brings his welcome with him. And he casts the devil
out. and he makes himself welcome
so that his people are willing in the day of his power. Our master shows his greatness
and the glory of it in the means by which he conquers his enemies. And while our friends last week
went down to visit Parable Battlefield I have hanging on my wall at
home in my study there Pictures of General Lee, General Grant. Sometimes I think I'll just take
them down, throw them away. But they do represent something
of Southern heritage and Southern culture. But you know what makes
them so famous? All the blood they shed. Our heroes are famous because
they got victory by spilling men's blood. Now we praise God for the liberties
we enjoy as a result of those battles in which men have fought
and died. With Ron Exum, a friend of mine
up north in Pennsylvania, I believe he lives in the Philadelphia
area. I hear from him fairly often. He came by here with a
buddy of his. They both served in Vietnam,
and they sent me a cap. I wear it with great honor, great
respect, but every time I put it on, I'm reminded that something
like 20,000 men died. That's what that cap represents. The Lord Jesus conquers his enemies. by the power of his grace, through
the enlivenment of his love, hath he shed no blood but his
own. The greatness of his glory in
salvation is seen in the number of folks he saved. Someone heard me on a tape Some
years ago, a message I preached, I heard a tape recently, which
I said, I believe that in the end, the multitude in heaven
shall certainly outnumber the multitudes of the damned. And
someone asked me last week, how can you say that? I fully believe that numbered
among that great multitude, which no man can number. shouting the praise of Jesus
Christ in salvation, shall be all those infants and imbeciles,
having died in infancy and imbecility, who were chosen, redeemed, regenerated
by the power of God's Spirit. And they are as surely the trophies
of His grace as you and I, the sons of Adam, who lived in rebellion
and were finally conquered by his grace in time. For they too
have entered into heaven's glory by the merit of his blood, the
power of his grace, and the merit of his righteousness, just as
surely as we shall. And in that crowd there shall
be an indescribable multitude, which no man can number, for
whom all the universe shall shout the praise of God in the land.
One last thing, I'll quit. I want you to see the greatness
of the glory of Christ in salvation as the satisfied. Look back in
Psalm 21 again at verse 6. Here the sweet singer of Israel
speaks by the spirit of prophecy about the great glorious reward
of Christ's work as our redeemer and substitute. He says, for
thou hast made him most blessed forever. Thou hast made him exceeding
glad with thy countenance. The first line of this verse
could probably be translated three ways, let me give them
Thou hast made him most blessed forever. We have that translation
before. Or, thou hast made him a blessing
forever. In thy seed, God promised Abraham,
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Or, it could
be translated, and I think most properly should be translated
this way. Thou hast made him blessedness forever. Jesus Christ is made of God,
blessedness forever. Our most glorious Lord Jesus
is all the blessedness of all his people forever. He is our
satisfaction now and he shall be our satisfaction forever. The Lord Jesus Christ has undertaken
to do and swore himself to do and most assuredly shall do all
that grace can do for all his people forever. Did you get a hold of that? Did you hear what I said? He
has done and shall do all that grace can do for all his people.

Mercy Needed, Mercy Sought, Mercy Given

What does the Bible say about the glory of God in salvation?

How do we know salvation is fully God's work?

Why is understanding Christ's role as Savior important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about God's mercy?

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Mercy Needed, Mercy Sought, Mercy Given

What does the Bible say about the glory of God in salvation?

How do we know salvation is fully God's work?

Why is understanding Christ's role as Savior important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about God's mercy?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

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