Last week I started a message
on the knowledge of salvation, or on salvation and the knowledge
of it. There were many things that I did not say last week
that I wanted to say. There were so many things to
say that I just simply did not have time to say it. And after
I had started the message last week, I kind of drifted away
from the original thoughts that I had concerning this. And I
wanna come back to it this morning. And I'd like for you to turn
for our text to the book of Luke chapter one. I wanna read verse
77 and then attempt to say some things this morning that I believe
the Lord would have us to say in regard to the subject. I have
been greatly touched and moved by the events of the last few
weeks and by my reading on uh... the various calls that been brought
to my attention recently and to the situation of course that
occurred uh... in california knowing that these
things are going to come more more numerous as time goes on
uh... there's already the makings of
many of these calls Many of them already have formed and have
such outlandish ideas, contrary to the Word of God, having no
stability about them whatsoever, having no knowledge of God's
Word. And the Bible says, if they speak
not according to this Word, it's because they have no light in
them. And in the Hebrew, it means they
never had a morning. They've never had a time when
the light dawned in their soul. Paul speaks of how God commanded
the light to shine and it shined in our hearts to give us the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Now that's what's happened to believers. But we're living in
a world where that we discover as we go along that men are able
by nature to believe a lie. but they're not able by nature
to believe the truth. None can believe the truth apart
from it being revealed to them. The truth must be revealed to
your heart in order for you to know it. Christ is the truth. The Bible says the truth is in
Jesus. The Bible says I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man can come to the Father
except by me. Now, beloved, if you do not know
the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ, some old preacher
said one time, he said that if a man is not straight on him,
on Christ, he can never be straight about anything else. And it's
the gospel truth that you must be straight about Christ. You
must know the truth, and the truth is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here in the book of Luke
chapter one and verse 77, to give knowledge of salvation unto
his people by the remission of their sins. Now Zacharias was
by the Holy Spirit prophesying as to the ministry of his son,
John the Baptist. And the Spirit of God leads him
to speak of that which has been spoken of in Isaiah 52, When
there, we read last week about the ministry, and if you would
turn back there with me, I'd like for you to look at this
verse one more time this morning, Isaiah chapter 52, and look at
this verse, verse seven. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. But this phrase, that
publisheth salvation, that brings good tidings, bring tidings of
good, that publisheth salvation. So John the Baptist was going
out to give knowledge of salvation unto his people, a specific people,
by the remission of their sins. Now, as we begin this morning,
I recognize that there's a great weight of responsibility upon
this church and upon this pulpit to publish salvation. to publish
the truth about God's salvation, to declare what the Bible teaches
about God's salvation. Now, when we get down to the
particulars and begin to preach what the Word of God has to say
about the accomplishment of salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, we
would hear many say, and we have many in our day and time, of
the Arminian persuasion that would begin to say well according
to what you preach according to what you have to say about
god's salvation you can't believe in whosoever will if you believe
what you believe you certainly cannot believe in whosoever will
now this is an accusation that i've heard of course all my life
This is an accusation I've heard ever since the Lord saved me,
is that you cannot believe in whosoever will and believe in
God's sovereignty and salvation and believe in an accomplished
salvation, a salvation that's already been accomplished by
God in Christ. But the critics, their criticism
is not correct. It indicates, listen to me now,
it indicates a lack of understanding of the scriptural teachings of
the condition of the natural man. The Bible says in Ephesians
2 and verse 1 through 5, it teaches that the natural man is dead
in trespasses and sins. Now, I want to lay this background
because if we don't, people will not understand why it is that
we're so emphatic about the salvation of Jesus Christ being an accomplished
salvation. God's salvation being one that
is already accomplished and we're out as God's messengers to proclaim
or to publish a salvation accomplished. a salvation already done by the
work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the sinner is dead in sin. 1 Corinthians 2 and 14 declares
that the natural man cannot know the things of the Spirit of God.
He does not receive them because he has not the Spirit of God
by nature in him, and rather he rejects the things of God
as being foolishness. He says the gospel is foolishness. He says the ways of God are foolishness. He says the truth is to be found
somewhere else, surely than in this man, Christ Jesus. He says surely the way of salvation
is, surely there's some other way besides the way that you
preach that God saves sinners. Surely there must be some other
way. Now, without the effectual call
of the Holy Spirit, I want you to understand what I'm saying
here. I want to make it as clear as I can. Apart from the effectual
call of God's Holy Spirit based on unconditional election by
the Father and the particular redemption by the Son, no natural
man, no son of Adam, no sinner would ever be a whosoever will. Now, did you get what I said?
Beloved, apart from God choosing a sinner, you know that back
before the fall in the Garden of Eden, man had a free will. Man was not in any way biased
towards sin or good. toward evil or God's will or
God's way. He was not biased in any direction. His will was free before Adam
fell in the garden. But when Adam fell in the garden,
we all being in him, we did what he did and we died spiritually. And spiritual death means that
as far as we're concerned, as individual sinners, we have no
element within us that gives us motion toward God. Nothing in the center will give
him motion toward God. Now, there is that in the center
that will give him motion toward the things of the world, toward
the things of time and sense, toward carnal fleshly things,
toward sin and evil. There is that at work in us that
will drive us to that behavior that is contrary to the scriptures.
but there is not that in us that would make us a whosoever will
apart from God having chosen us in old time and saying in
old time now here's this son of Adam this son of Adam has
chosen in his uh... representative to die and not
live and I will decide I will choose that that sinner will
live My choice is he'll live. Now, beloved, that makes a man
whosoever will. Now somebody said, now wait a
minute, preacher, you're saying that God must determine whosoever
will? I'm saying this morning, now
listen to me, if you think that you're an exception to the rule,
if you feel this morning that some way or another you're an
exception, and that you will believe, that you will. Now listen
to me. If you will and if you can, then
step forward and believe. Step forward this morning and
repent and turn to God through Jesus Christ. Step forward this
morning and declare that you will bow your knee to the Lordship
of Jesus Christ every day of your life. that you'll become
a follower of the Lamb of God in this world, and that you'll
become a seeker after God, reading the Word of God daily, and that
you'll be seeking God daily for grace sufficient to do what God
commands you to do in His Word. Step out! If you're one of those
whosoever wills that were not made willing by God, stand up
and be accounted! But I'm here to tell you none
will to do that which God wills until God wills it in them. It is God that worketh in believers
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. I'm just trying
to set forth what we have to deal with. Now, beloved, it is
clear the condition of man set forth in the word of God. Let
me just run through the condition of the natural man so that you
will believe what we're saying. We wanna support what we say
by the word of God. We mentioned how in Ephesians
chapter two and verse one, that man is spoken of as being dead
in sin. And when Romans five and six,
it says that he's without strength. He's without strength. Romans
5, 6 I think is that he's ungodly. He's without strength and he's
ungodly, according to Romans 5, and he's an enemy to God. And he's, the Bible says, all
under sin, that's the Jew and the Gentile alike. There's no
unrighteous, Romans 3.10. And he does not seek after God,
Romans 3.11. It's a natural man. No fear of
God before his eyes, Romans 3.18. He holds the truth in unrighteousness,
Romans 1.18. He has a heart and he has an
impenitent heart. Romans 2.5, the natural man is
in such a condition he must be quickened or made alive before
there will be any emotion in his heart toward God and before
he will become a whosoever will. He must have the quickening of
the Spirit of God in his heart. Now that's the condition. Now
the Armenian will tell you that you have a free will. You don't
have a free will. If you had not fallen in your
daddy Adam, you'd have a free will. But you don't have a free
will. Your will is biased towards sin,
towards Satan, toward hell, and you'll go to hell if God does
not quicken your heart. Now, John 1 and 13, this is a
verse of scripture that we're gonna memorize here right away,
but I'd like for you to turn and look at this verse. It's
one that's very simple, but powerful. Now it says, which were born
not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man,
but of God. This verse of scripture here
simply tells us that the human will is not a factor in the communication
of the divine life to a dead soul by Almighty God, who shows
mercy upon whom he will. That the human will is not a
factor in the communication of the divine life. It's not that
the will of man has got nothing to do with it. We're born of
God. We're born of God. We've been
begotten by His own will. Now this is so very, very important
for us to see. And if we're able to establish
that, We're able to establish the condition of man, then we
understand a little bit more about why there must be an accomplished
salvation and who we're dealing with. Well, salvation and the
knowledge of it. John the Baptist, true messenger
of God as he was, was sent to give the knowledge of salvation
accomplished by Christ. Now, in the preaching of the
gospel, we are not offering good advice to men. That's not our
business. Now, there's a few things that
I know a little bit about. but i don't waste my time trying
to offer you any good advice unless you ask for it now there's
a lot of people that need some advice but that's not the business
of the gospel preacher to get up and tell people what they
ought to do about this little thing or that little thing or
something else most people know more about ordinary life and
the common things of life than most preachers know about it
that's not our business the business of a preacher is to proclaim
tidings of good. It's to proclaim the gospel,
the good news of an accomplished salvation. To preach the gospel
is to declare that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation
of his people by his obedience and by his death. You see, we're
gonna discover some things very important to the understanding
of this truth. But this is our business, is
to declare that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation
of His people by His obedience and death. Salvation is not something
yet to be done, but something already done by Christ. You can read it all through the
Bible. It's already done. Now, if you're interested in
God's salvation, whenever you find it in Christ, you'll find
that it is an accomplished salvation. It's complete, it's thorough,
it's done. And it's not something that you're gonna have to, like
the old boy said about his corn crop. He said, I believe in praying
for my corn crop, but you gotta amen it with a hope. Now, beloved,
let me tell you something. Salvation is not something that
you and God get together and, like concrete, mix up. Salvation is not something that
you add or make a contribution to. I mentioned last week that
we were not able to make a contribution, and we're not. And it's not something
that I've given any, that I have added to in any way, shape, or
form. And I've been saved a long time. I've preached for over
40 years, but I'm not anymore saved. I mentioned last week
about a fellow chewing tobacco, spitting on the sidewalk, about
going to movie theaters, about drinking a can of beer, not drinking
a can of beer. And I don't drink beer, and I
don't chew tobacco, and I don't spit on the sidewalk. Generally
speaking, if I had to, I'd at least get off the sidewalk. But
nevertheless, and I've got nothing against a man or woman going
to a movie theater, but I don't go. I haven't been since the
Lord saved me. But that don't make me any more
saved than you, and it don't make me any less saved than the
person that even goes further than that. It doesn't make me
any more or any less. Salvation is not something you
and I are working on. Salvation is something that God
has done. Now I'm not saying that God's
not working on you. There's an old song that says
that God's still working on me. And it's true that God is working
on us, but he's not working on his salvation. His salvation
is an accomplished thing. Now listen, we realize that while
salvation is already done by Christ, it is yet to be experienced
and known by some for whom it was done. It's yet to be experienced
and known by some of the elect, some of the lost sheep that have
not yet been brought into the fold, but it's already been done. It's already been done, even
though it hadn't been revealed. It's yet to be revealed to us
all, but it is already done. And that I wanted to emphasize.
Now there are many verses of scripture here this morning,
and I get the feeling that you folks are in a little bit of
misery on account of the temperature in this building. I just feel
it. and it's a hindrance to me and it's a hindrance to you.
Now, if you want to turn that up, you go ahead, but it's going
to bother the tape and all of that, but do you want the heat
on? All right, maybe you're better
off than I thought you was. But I just kind of got the feeling
that, I just kind of thought, well maybe I better not take
too much time on this. Because y'all are gonna be suffering,
and I don't want anybody to suffer. Boy, the time has gotten away,
hasn't it? Already. Well, there's some verses that
I wanted us to go through. Maybe we'll just do it, and we'll
get as far as we can with this thing, and then we'll quit. But
let's go through these verses, and I'll let you all get involved,
some of you, with this, so that maybe it'll stimulate your attention
a little bit, and maybe it'll be warmer next week, by the grace
of God. Well, Galatians 3 and 13. Mike,
why don't you look that up and you read that. And Randy, why
don't you look up Colossians 2 and read verses 13 and 15.
Glenn, Hebrews 1 and verse 3. And why don't you look up Hebrews
10 and read verse 11. And Larry, why don't you look
up Hebrews 10 also and read verse 14 for us. All right, do we have Galatians
3 and 13? Now what we're talking about
is this, that there are some of God's sheep in this world
that the salvation of God that is being published has not yet
been revealed to them. but yet it is already done. Salvation
is done, whether a man has the experience of it and the knowledge
of it or not, it's done for all of God's people, all of God's
sheep. Now then, Mike, if you would
read Galatians 3 and 13. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, and made a curse for us, for a certain
curse is every one to take. The Lord Jesus Christ has been
made a curse for us. Has that already happened? Absolutely. He was made a curse for us. When was He made a curse for
us? He was made a curse for us when he hung on that tree, because
that verse says, cursed is everyone who hangeth on a tree. That's
out of the Old Testament. And so the Lord Jesus hung on
Calvary, and it was there salvation was accomplished. It was there
where the Lord Jesus Christ answered to God for our infractions of
the law, where he became a curse, as we were already cursed by
our disobedience and our breaking of the law. He was cursed. All
right, Colossians 2, verse 13 and 15, Randy. Listen to the
reading of these verses. And you, being dead in your sin,
and the incarnation of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses? And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it or in himself. alright see the lord jesus christ
has made a show he has uh... nailed to his cross all of the
infractions of the law. The Lord Jesus Christ has, through
death, he has bought our peace with God. These are things that
have already happened that God has done in Christ at the cross. It's already happened. Now it
may not have been revealed to your heart yet that all of your
sins were laid on Christ and that all of that which was against
us that Jesus Christ answered to God for it and nailed it to
his cross, but it's an accomplished fact. It's already took place. Praise his name. Now then Hebrews
1 and verse 3. I believe Chris was to have that.
I'm sorry, who did I ask? Oh Glenn, I'm sorry Glenn. And
he is the radiance of his glory, and the exact representation
of his nature, and upholds all things by the word of his power. When he had made purification
of sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ,
that verse of scripture tells us that when Christ died for
our sin, and when he offered that sacrifice which forever
blotted out our transgression and our iniquities, then he ascended
into heaven at God's right hand. He was caught up to be seated
at God's right hand. There's some other things that
we're gonna find here, but now Hebrews 10, and verse 11. Just a minute, let me assign
here another verse. Now Larry's going to read verse
14, you're going to read verse 11, is that right? Okay. Conrad, if you would, if you've
turned in your Bible, look at verse 10, verse 10. And Benjamin, if you would, I
want you to read verse 12 out of Hebrews chapter 10. Okay,
let's have the 11th verse. and every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. All right, this tells us about
the Old Testament sacrifices and how that they were ministered
daily and offering oftentimes same sacrifice, week in and week
out, but none of them ever took away a sin. there was no accomplished
salvation by what they did. That's the point. Nothing accomplished
other than that which for that economy was ordained of God,
which was not the putting away of sin. But now, that which they
did was a type of that which was to put away sin. Now then
in verse 10, who has that? Conrad? Now this is what I want you to
notice in these verses Chris is told read here were that the
sacrifice of the Old Testament offered by the priest would not
take away any sin but Jesus came verse 9 here says that he came
to do the will of God and this will of God for Christ is through
that will of God we've been set apart under God through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all once for all now that's
important to see this is not something that's going to be
repeated ever it will never be repeated it's happened once for
all okay now then in verse 12 who has that? Benjamin? All right, this man, who is this
man, Benjamin? Who are we talking about? Who's
it talking about? Look in verse 10, at the bottom
of the verse where it says, offering of the body of who? Okay, so,
but this man, that Christ, is who it's talking about, okay?
You understand that? Okay, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever. That's all that will ever be
offered. It's already done. That's what
I'm trying to show you. It's already done. And there's
one sacrifice being made. And then what did he do? He didn't
do what the other priests did. See, the other priests were standing
daily. They stood up and they kept standing
daily, daily, daily. Why? Because their work was never
finished. There wasn't anything ever completely
accomplished by what they did. And so this man, after he offered
one sacrifice, he sat down. on the right hand of God, signifying
that the one sacrifice would sanctify forever. And that brings
me to the 14th verse. Larry, if you would read that
verse. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. All right, for by one offering, this one offering,
he hath perfected how long? Forever. Not something that we
need to come back and add something to or subtract something from,
make no contribution. It's one offering forever. He's perfected God's people. And so we're perfected and set
apart unto God by that one offering. And this we need to understand
very clearly. You know, this is the key to
understanding, I think, the book of Hebrews. now if you were to
turn back now this is now we're jumped a rabbit here and we're
gonna run in a little bit I guess but if you were to look back
here I think it's in the sixth chapter I believe this is the yes in
the sixth chapter where it talks about for it is impossible for
those who were once enlightened in verse four, have tasted the
heavenly gift, were made protectors of the Holy Ghost, tasted the
good word of God, the powers of the world to come, if they
should fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, seeing
they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him
to an open shame. This verse of scripture, this
portion of the word of God here, can only be understood as you
consider the fact that there's only been one salvation, and
that salvation was accomplished by Christ when he died on the
cross. And where is that verse of scripture
at in the Hebrews that talks about it's impossible to renew
them again? Now wait a minute, that's not
here. Oh yes, if they shall fall away to renew them again unto
repentance. In other words, it'd be impossible
because there's only one sacrifice made for sin, and if a person
could get saved and lost again, then Christ would have to die
again. And there's no way that a person could, if a person could
get lost after he got saved, there's no way that you could
ever get him saved again. No way that he could ever be
born again and so this is in the same theme and there's some
other verses too that that we could look at but I want to get
off that but I just wanted to mention to you that that's one
of the greatest proof texts for eternal security there is in
the Bible there's one sacrifice for sin we've been perfected
forever through that one sacrifice what time do you have somebody's
got a watch 1149 okay Well, we'll go ahead here then.
What I want to say and what all of these verses tell me is that
Christ has accomplished the work of salvation and while it's not
been revealed to us all yet, all the lost sheep, it's already
done. It's a finished fact. Now Christ
has recovered for his people all that they lost in Adam. All that was forfeited by the
sin and fall of our father Adam, the Lord Jesus obtained for us
and he obtained that glorious inheritance to which we are predestinated
from eternity. That inheritance, the brother
read it this morning, which is reserved in heaven for us. and that inheritance was purchased
by Christ and he recovered all that we lost. Isn't that a wonderful
fact? To know that everything we lost
in Adam, that we are not going to ultimately lose one thing
by the fall when eternity comes and when eternity's morning dawns
and the elect of God are gathered together from the four corners
of the earth and were assembled yonder in that great congregation
we shall have not been the loser by the fall. Everything we lost
and forfeited in our father Adam has been gloriously obtained
for us. Christ has rescued it all and
that inheritance which is predestinated for us is there reserved for
us. He has done so equally and fully
for every one of his people. Now that's a very short sentence,
isn't it? But beloved, that's a tremendous sentence. He has
done so equally and fully for every one of his people. Now
you know we've got a lot of people running around here that Talks
about pie in the sky, by and by. Talks about, you know, having
this reward and that reward, and they're working for this
and working for that. But I'd like to tell you here this morning
that what Christ did, He did equally and fully for every one
of His people. He accomplished full salvation
for them. Not only has He redeemed us from
the curse of the law, Mike read it in Galatians 3 and 13, but
He has robed us with a perfect righteousness. He put on us the
robe of His own righteousness, His own good deeds, His own obedience. He put on us a robe that now
that when we're looked on by God, we look like Jesus. and
we look just as righteous as He would look in the eyes of
God. As God views Him, He sees us
because He sees that robe of merit and righteousness of His
Son. Not only has He redeemed us and
robed us, but He has been received up, all these verses that these
brethren have read, you read it there, that He's been received
up into glory for us, to appear in the presence of God for us. He's there for us so there he
sits possessing and holding for his redeemed people holding by
legal right all the glory of heaven itself in the perfection
of that glorious righteousness and holiness to which we were
chosen from eternity there he sits this morning a finished
Salvation. This salvation holds within its
embrace eternal life here and now. Isn't it wonderful that
you don't have to wait till you die to find out whether you got
it or not? It's wonderful to know that you got it. Salvation,
full and complete, here. embraces eternal life. God's
people have it here. God's fixed it up so you can
know here that you are saved. I read those verses out of 1
John last week that if we have the Son we have life. If we have
not the Son of God we have not life. It's that simple. Now it
includes all the fullness of grace here and all the fullness
of glory hereafter and forever. I've said often that the Lord
will give grace and glory. The Bible says that. but glory
is in grace the glory of God let me say that grace is the
that the seed of glory is in the grace of God and we're going
to if we have now if we experience grace then glory is to follow,
bound to follow, no way but what it will follow. Now salvation
then is the perfect, full, complete restoration of sinners to God
in holiness, happiness, and blessedness forever by Jesus Christ alone. And in 1 Peter chapter 1, the
brother read the chapter this morning, verses 3 through 9,
You find that very truth right there, that it's all right there
in those verses. So complete, so thorough is his
salvation that God sees no sin in Jacob and no perverseness
in Israel. Numbers 23 and verse 21. He sees
no sin in us, Because Christ has put away our
sin first John 3 and 5 says he was manifested to take away our
sin and in him There is no sin and Jeremiah 50 in verse 20 tells
us about a day When iniquity will be looked for in Israel
and will not be found It will not be found our Redeemer's name
is the Lord our righteousness and we are the righteousness
of God in him Jeremiah 23 in verse 6 and Jeremiah 33 and verse
16 Now, I think that we'll quit
right there because I just I want to spend a little bit more time
on these things rather than just hurry over them. And I think
that if we have been able to receive under these stressful
conditions this morning, what we've already said, that We'll
be able maybe to profit by not trying to add anything else to
what we've said already, but wait till next week and maybe
take it up next week if God will permit us to do it. And if not,
well then we'll take it up some other time when it is proper
and fitting. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your word, for your truth, for these glorious truths. Grant
us to have wisdom and light and understanding and to be of great
use in your hands to instruct and to lead our children and
the people of this generation to the knowledge of a complete
and full salvation in Christ. May you bless the hearing of
the Word this morning and use it, our Father, in the hearts
of these that have listened to it patiently under these stressful
conditions. May your will be done in Jesus'
name. Amen.