Let's turn, please, to Acts,
the second chapter. Acts chapter 2. Peter is explaining to the astonished
Jews what happened on the day of Pentecost. In Acts chapter
2, he's telling us, this is what Joel in the prophecy of Joel. If you'd like to read it at your
leisure, it's in Joel, the second chapter. Let's begin reading
at verse 17. And it shall come to pass in
the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all
flesh, that is, upon men and women, Jews and Gentiles, bond
and free, male and female. He is not saying, I will pour
my spirit upon all men without exception, but rather upon all
men of every race and rank in society and in every part of
the world. I will pour out of my spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams, and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will
pour out in those days of my spirit, and they shall prophesy,
and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth
beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall
be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that
great and notable day of the Lord come." And you'll notice
that there is no period, but It is as though the Apostle Peter
were giving this interpretation to Joel's words. This is the
wonder of heaven. This is the astonishing thing. This is that thing that shakes
the heavens and the earth. This is that thing which is the
great consummation of the coming of Messiah, the coming of Christ
Jesus into his kingdom. the accomplishment of redemption
and the exaltation of the Son of God, this is the result of
the outpouring of God's Spirit upon this generation in which
we live. And it shall come to pass that
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now that's the wonder, saved. What a blessed word. Saved means
that they are delivered from bondage. All our life long by
nature we're in bondage, in bondage to sin, in bondage to Satan,
in bondage to the world, the flesh, and the devil, in bondage
under the law and under the curse of the law. But to be saved is
to be delivered from bondage. To be saved is to be delivered
from the curse and the penalty of sin, that horrible curse that
that presses upon a man's conscience and torments him from his youth
up. That horrible curse of the law that causes your heart to
tremble when you lie down at night and causes your heart to
tremble when you walk through the day. That horrible curse
of the law that torments the conscience and gives you no rest
day after day after day, night after night after night. To be
saved is to be delivered from the curse and to have peace in
your conscience. the peace of God that passeth
understanding. To be saved is to be delivered
from death, both from spiritual death and from eternal death. To be saved is to be delivered
from this corruption of nature, this corruption of heart that
we received from the fall of our father Adam, this darkness
and ignorance, this delusion that's called spiritual death.
To be saved is to be delivered from death to life, translated
from darkness to the kingdom of God's dear son. To be saved
is to be delivered into heaven's everlasting glory. Saved, what
a blessed word. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
the angel said, for he shall save, he shall deliver his people
from their sins. But this morning I want to address
a question. A question that people frequently
ask me, it's this, when is a person saved? When is a person saved? Now, we know that salvation is
of the Lord. Salvation is altogether the work
of God's free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. By
grace are you saved. We read it a little while ago.
You're saved by grace, by grace alone. If you mix anything with
that grace, you're not saved. If you trust anything other than
that grace, you're not saved. Salvation is by grace, not by
grace in works, not by grace in baptism, not by grace in walking
down a church aisle, but by grace. By grace are you saved through
faith. It is by grace the work of God
in its planning. God from eternity chose whom
he would save. ordained the means of salvation
and appointed the time when salvation would be accomplished. Salvation
is of God in its purchase. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world and purchased for us the right to everlasting life. He did not leave anything undone
that must be supplied by man, but rather he purchased by his
obedience to God, by his life and by his death, He purchased
for every sinner whom he represents eternal life and eternal glory. So that everybody who enters
heaven, enters heaven not by his right, but by Christ's right. Not by his merit, but by Christ's
merit, but they enter by merit. And they enter upon the grounds
of a just and lawful purchase. To be saved is to be saved by
the grace of God, which is altogether God's performance. God the Holy
Spirit comes to the dead sinner and gives life to the dead. No man gives life to himself,
no man quickens himself, no man raises himself from the dead,
but we're saved by the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit. We're saved by the preservation
of his grace and it is God who will bring that salvation to
its perfection and glory. From start to finish then, salvation
is of the Lord. We also know that Christ alone
is our Savior. All the grace of God flows to
sinners through the merits of Christ's shed blood and his righteousness. In this matter of salvation,
as we saw Tuesday evening, Christ is all and in all. If you have
not yet learned that, you have not yet learned the very ABCs
of the gospel. Christ is everything. It's not
Christ in the church. It's not Christ in the priest.
It's not Christ in Mary. It's not Christ in the sacrament.
It's Christ, only Christ, who is our Savior. Christ is all
our righteousness. His righteousness is imputed
to us, and it's imparted to us in regeneration. Christ is all
our redemption. That is, he paid the price of
our salvation. Christ is all our sanctification.
He makes his people holy. Christ is all our acceptance.
We are accepted in the beloved. Christ is all our hope. Our hope
is Jesus Christ. That's all. My hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not
trust the sweetest frame. but wholly lean on Jesus' name. And we know that God's saving
grace, that grace which was purchased for us at Calvary by the blood
of Christ, is effectually applied to the hearts of God's elect
by the Holy Spirit in regeneration. It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. I don't know what it will take
to convince men of this, but saying a little prayer, walking
down an aisle, kneeling at some morning's bench or altar, saying
a confession of sin, doing something yourself, is not going to cause
a dead sinner to live. It just won't do it. It just
won't do it. People everywhere have the notion
that a man gets saved by Taking a little trip down the aisle
when the fire sings softly or somebody sings a congregational
hymn and everything is done just right and the emotions are stirred
and everybody's crying and folks walk down the aisle and they
say, I know I'm a sinner, Lord Jesus come into my heart and
save my soul, that's salvation. Oh, not within a million miles
of it. No, no, salvation comes when
God the Holy Spirit invades the heart of a dead sinner and creates
life. and that life brings forth faith,
and that faith brings forth conviction, and that conviction brings forth
repentance. It's salvation by the quickening
power of God the Holy Spirit. Pastor, has no one ever been
saved by walking down an aisle? You do understand that, don't
you? No one's ever been saved by walking down an aisle. Men
are saved by grace. They're not saved by something
they do. Don't you believe that men can be saved in a lot of
ways? No, no. Men can be saved one way, if
God saves them, and that's the only way they can be saved. We
also know and recognize that salvation comes to men through
the preaching of the gospel. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. I know that if it were God's
purpose to do so, had God intended to, were it God's he could send
an angel from heaven to proclaim the good news of redemption in
the hearts of men. Were it God's purpose to do so,
he could directly apply the merits of Christ's blood and righteousness
to the hearts of men without the use of men or angels. Were that his purpose to do so?
But I'm telling you that such is not God's purpose. And God
never will, he never has, he never shall save any sinner apart
from the preaching of the gospel. By faith we understand these
things. God has ordained by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now that's so simple.
That's so simple. It looks to me like a child would
understand it. God's wise and holy design is that he will save
sinners and give them life and give them faith through the instrumentality
of gospel preaching. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now, what do we mean
when we talk about God saving sinners by the preaching of the
gospel? I mean that God saves sinners not by the preaching
of freewillism, not by the preaching of Arminianism, not by the preaching
of good works. not by the preaching of Baptist
doctrine, not by the preaching of Reformed doctrine, not by
the preaching of Catholic doctrine, but by the preaching of the gospel.
That's how God saves sinners. The gospel of Christ accomplished
redemption, and unless there is the preaching of this gospel
of the righteousness of God in the accomplishment of redemption
by Jesus Christ, his son, there is no possibility of saving faith,
not in Africa and not in America. Men are saved by hearing and
believing the gospel of God's grace. And I know this too. Salvation is something that a
man experiences in his heart and in his soul. It is, as I
said, it's something in which men are passive. Well, they're
passive in the beginning. We're dead. It gives us life,
but that's the end of the passive. Something now is happening. A
dead sinner has been brought to life. Now he may not be able
to explain everything that's happened to him, but he knows
I was dead, now I live. He knows I was blind, now I see. He knows once I had turmoil and
agony and strife in my heart, now I have the peace of God's
passive understanding. It's something he experiences
in his soul. The Apostle Paul knew what he
experienced. God spoke to him out of heaven,
and God caused him to hear his voice. Lydia, as she heard the
word, she experienced something. The Lord opened her heart. The
Philippian jailer, when he heard the good news, experienced something. He was brought from death to
life. Salvation is something we experience. something that
takes place in the heart of a man, in the soul of a man. It's called
freedom. It's called pardon. It's called
peace. It's called reconciliation. We
know these things, and yet the question which I'm constantly
asked by men and women wherever I go, the question which some
of you continually ask me is, when is a person saved? Some
of you have come, and though you made profession of faith,
in various false religions, and any religion but true religion
is false religion. Made professions of faith in
your youth, made professions of faith at older times, and
you've come and you've said, now, Don, I've made a profession
of faith, and I was baptized and joined the church when I
was a boy or when I was a young man or young woman, but I didn't
believe the gospel then, and God's taught me the gospel. I
want to confess Christ. Because you recognize that salvation
comes not in false religion, but in true faith and true conversion
and true repentance through the preaching of the gospel. When
is this salvation accomplished? When is a person saved? Now, I'm talking about an experience
now. I'm talking about that which we experience in the new birth,
that which we experience in regeneration. But there are a lot of answers
given by men. Some say that God's people are saved in eternity.
They say that election is salvation. I heard a preacher one time,
a very famous preacher, a preacher on the radio when I was in college.
I used to go out and listen to him every Sunday evening. I'd
sit in my car, turn the radio on and listen to him. He's one
of the few preachers I knew anywhere who talked anything about election
and sovereignty and predestination. And he said, he said, I preached
the funeral for a man today who died in a drunken stupor. who
had never experienced anything of the grace of God, who had
never professed faith in Christ. But he said, I was able to console
the fat man and assure them that his hope of heaven is as good
as mine, because he's in the hands of a sovereign God, and
if he's one of God's elect, he's saved. Oh, not on your life. Not on your life. Yes, we are
saved in God's purpose and in God's decree from eternity, called,
sanctified, justified, and glorified, but election is not the consummation
of salvation, election is unto salvation. And if God chose a
man from eternity, Christ redeemed that man in time, and in God's
time that man will hear and obey the shepherd's voice. And if
men and women do not experience that gracious call of God in
time, they have no reason to even suspect they might be chosen
of God from eternity. Some say that a child is saved
when he's brought by his believing parents to a priest or a preacher. And as an infant, they sprinkle
a little water on his head. It happens to be papist. They
say a little mumbo-jumbo. It happens to be Protestant.
They make some promises. Somebody stands instead for them
and promises to raise them in the way of faith. They say, well,
nobody thinks that's salvation. Oh, yes, they do. Oh, yes, they
do. I can show it to you. One of
the most revered conservative Presbyterian theologians of recent
history says, by baptism, the infant is sealed into the covenant
of grace. By baptism, the infant is sealed
into the covenant of grace. In other words, if an infant
dies without that water being sprinkled on his head, he'll
perish. If he dies with the water sprinkled on his head, then he's
saved. Oh, that's ridiculous. Ridiculous. The Word of God nowhere
teaches such a thing. Salvation does not come by religious
heritage, and it does not come by religious ceremony. We're
born again, not by corruptible things, but by the word of God.
We're born again, not by the will of the flesh, nor the will
of the man, nor of blood, but by the will of God. Some suggest
that a child is saved when he learns the catechism and is confirmed
in the church. He comes to agree with certain
doctrines. Now, I think it's very important
that children be taught doctrinal truth. I started catechizing
my daughter when she was two years old, and she went through
the catechism and learned it well. She heard and learned the
doctrine. But just knowing the truth is
not salvation. Not salvation. Men can recite
the word of God and recite the doctrines and recite the creed
and quote all of the things exactly right and never know the grace
of God. Some suggest that salvation comes
when a man makes a decision for Jesus. and professes faith in
Christ. It's great in the television
program where it's called the Hour of Defeat. This is the Hour
of Defeat. All the preachers and all the
seminaries and all the colleges, they make a great big emphasis
on the time of invitation, opposing the service. Gotta close it,
right? When I was in school, they told us how to do it. I've
tried my best to avoid what they said. You've got to work everything
up to a climax. You've got to end the story with
some climactic call for a decision, and you got to tell a story,
and you got to give a good illustration that touches the hearts of people.
And then you had the choir to sing just the right song. And
you sing the verses with solemnity, or you sing the verses with great
anxiety and anticipation. And just to be sure you quench
things, you know, before you... you make a good sales pitch before
you close. Now, anybody here want to go to heaven? Raise your
hand. Raise your hand. Anybody got a sick baby? Raise
your hand. Anybody want us to pray for you? Raise your hand.
How many of you can say with me, I'm saved and I know it?
Raise your hand. How many of you want to be saved
and know it? Raise your hand. Now, every head bowed and every
eye closed, no one looking around, no one leaving the building.
I want all of you who want me to pray for you to stand up right
now. Stand to your feet. Now, now come while the Spirit
calls. Come down here. Walk down these
aisles and come to Jesus. Not ever. Not ever. Not ever. No sir. You'll come
to Christ right where you sit or you'll never come to Him.
You'll come to Christ in your heart by faith or you'll never
come to Him. Brother Scott Richardson said
I wish somebody Tie your hands behind your back, tie your feet
together, and nail you to the pew, and now come to Jesus. Come
to Him where you are. Come to Him where you are. Come
to Him in your heart, in your spirit. Judas decided to follow
Jesus. Demas made a good profession.
Simon Magus had a profession of faith. But a decision and
profession of faith is not salvation. A decision for Jesus is not a
saving knowledge of the Son of God. Believing on Jesus and having
eternal life are 10,000 miles apart. I believe in Jesus. Let me ask you something. Anybody here, anybody, is there
anybody in this building who can ever remember a time when
they did not believe on Jesus? Anybody here who ever didn't
believe in Jesus? Well, you start to believe in
Jesus from your mother's belly. You're taught to believe in Jesus
and you always believed in Jesus. I believed in Jesus ever since
I heard his name. That's right. There never was
a time when I had any question or any doubt that this book's
the Word of God, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that Jesus
died to save sinners. But believing those facts is
not believing Christ. That's all the difference in
the world. I'll explain the difference, preachers. If you believe Him,
you know the difference. And if you haven't believed him,
you don't know the difference. It's just that simple. It's just
that simple and just that mysterious. Some say that a person is saved
when he reforms his life and starts living good. The Pharisees
were thoroughly reformed in their lives. They lived religiously. Ananias was a thoroughly reformed
man. Deutrophes served the Church
of God zealously. But these people all perished.
And other folks say, well, a person is saved if he holds on, holds
out, hangs in to the end. It's true. God's people truly
are saved and persevere in the faith. But perseverance does
not secure salvation. Perseverance is the result of
salvation. Some say that a person is saved
when he's baptized. If you have read the articles
in our local paper, this liar up here on Lexington Avenue. Yes, liar, deceiver, crook, cheat,
con man, anything you want to call him is all right. He says
man is saved when he's baptized. He says man is not saved by the
blood of Christ alone, but that he's saved by Christ's blood
and baptism. He's not saved by by believing on Christ, but he's
saved by believing on Christ and being baptized. He's not
saved by the grace of God, but he's saved by the grace of God
and the waters of baptism. There's not some kind of magical
formula in the waters back here that will fill him up. There's
nothing in those waters that'll reach your soul. There's nothing
in those waters that'll reach your heart. There's nothing in
those waters that'll cleanse you from sin. The waters in this
thing, if they've been standing there long enough, won't even
cleanse you from outward dirt, much less inward sin. There's
nothing in baptism that is of saving merit and efficacy. Word
of God nowhere teaches such a thing. And some people say that a person
is not saved until the day of judgment. Well, I hope it'll
be all right. But when we get to heaven and
hear the Lord say, come ye blessed, then we'll find out who's saved
and who's not. Those are the opinions of men.
There are many others that I've not mentioned. But they are all
nothing but the opinions of men. What does the Word of God say?
When is a person saved? Well, let's look and see. Turn
to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. The Word of God is very clear.
Salvation is something a person experiences in this life. It's
something known, felt, and experienced in the heart. It's a living union
with the Son of God. When is a person saved? The Apostle
Paul tells us here in Galatians 1 and verse 15. When it pleased
God. That's when a person is saved.
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace to reveal his Son in me. Now notice he does not say to
reveal his Son to me, but to reveal his Son in me. Our God is in the heavens, David
said. He hath done whatsoever he pleased. Whatsoever the Lord
pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas and
in all deep places. The salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Men are saved by God's pleasure
at God's time as it pleases God to save them in the place where
God's pleased to call them. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
I'll tell you exactly when you'll be saved, if ever you are, if
ever you are. You'll be saved exactly on the
spot and in the hour when God from eternity ordained that you'd
be saved. You'll be saved when it pleases God to meet you face
to face with the claims of Jesus Christ in the gospel, and he
causes your heart to bow to the Son of God. That's when you'll
be saved. I pray that it may be this hour,
I pray that God may be pleased right now as you hear my voice
to confront you with the claims of the sovereign Christ and cause
your heart to bow before Him in repentance and faith. But
I'm telling you this, until God is pleased to come to you, you
can't come to God and you won't come to Him. You won't come to
Him. Preachers all over this country
tell sinners to decide for Jesus. The Lord's done everything he
can, now the rest is up to you. God's hands are tied. God's hands
are tied. He's waiting on you. God Almighty
does not wait on you. He does not wait on you. God
Almighty calls whom he will. He quickens whom he will. And
when God calls, sinners come. If he doesn't call you, you'll
never come. You'll never come. Some of you
have been trying. Some of you try for various reasons
in your own strength to pray and come to Christ and trust
Christ. Other things keep getting in your way and you cannot trust
Him. You cannot trust Him. You cannot
push aside your own feelings and your own merits and your
own goodness and your own resolutions. You always mix something with
faith in Christ and you keep trying, but you cannot trust
Him. because it does not lie within the realm of human flesh
to believe Christ alone. You can't do it. All men have
not faith. If you can trust Christ, if you
can trust Christ, trust Christ alone, trust Christ only, trust
Christ and nothing, if you can trust Christ, you're called of
God and God's given you faith. That's the hardest thing in this
world. That's the hardest thing in this world. Our Lord said,
with men, it's impossible, but with God, nothing shall be impossible. Nothing shall be impossible.
It pleased the Lord God to reveal his Son in me, Paul said. This is salvation. Salvation
does not come by a man's decision, but by God's revelation. It does
not come by man's will, but by God's will. It does not come
by men calling on the Lord, but by the Lord calling on men. God
quickens, God regenerates, God calls, God justifies, God pardons,
and God saves. We are born, not of ourselves,
but of God. Has God revealed His Son in you?
Has He? Has He revealed Christ in your
heart? Has God Almighty made known in
you who Jesus Christ is? That's what salvation is. That's
what it is, Merle. It's... Oh, I would, but God,
I have to make this clear. Salvation is... It's not saying,
I believe in Jesus. It's knowing Christ. It's knowing
Jesus. It's not saying a prayer. It's
knowing the Son of God. It's not making decisions. It's
knowing Christ. And the only way men know Christ
is by divine tribulation. Divine tribulation. This is the reason we insist
upon preaching, preaching doctrinal truth, preaching the gospel of
Christ. Men can't be saved apart from
the knowledge of who Christ is, what he did, and why he did it. Can't be saved apart from that.
Not possible. Men are saved when God Almighty
reveals in them Jesus Christ, his accomplished redemption,
his perfect righteousness, and our desperate need of it. Only
then. Now, if God's been pleased to
reveal his son in you and calls you to trust him, you're saved.
If not, you're not. Say, but I made a profession
when I was a baby, made a profession when I was a little boy, made
a profession when I was a teenager. Who didn't? Who didn't? I don't, I'm honest with you,
I know very few people in this world who haven't made some kind
of a profession in some kind of false religion. I know very
few people, but professing faith and knowing Christ is two different
things, two different things altogether. To know Christ is
eternal life. To know who he is and what he
did, what he accomplished by his blood. People are all the
time saying to me, say, well, if men believe the gospel, believe
that Jesus died and prayed and rose again, they're saved. The
gospel is not the fact that Christ died, the fact that Christ was
buried and the fact that Christ rose again. The gospel is how
that Christ died, how that Christ died, what he did when he died,
how he came to die, what he accomplished by his death, H-O-W, how that
Christ died, the substitute for sinners and accomplished redemption
by his death. Secondly, Turn with me, if you
will, to the book of Romans, chapter 10. When is a person
saved? A person is saved when it pleases
God to save them. And a person is saved when it
comes under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God knows nothing
of a doormat named Jesus. or fire escape from hell called
Jesus. The Word of God does not teach
that men can be saved and yet live as they will, live under
their own rule, under their own direction, according to their
own whims. And someday, maybe if they want
to, they might accept Jesus as their Lord. The Word of God teaches
nothing of the kind. Every believer, now listen to
me carefully, every believer in the essence of his faith surrenders
to the dominion of Christ as Lord. That's the issue between you
and God. I'll tell you the reason some of you can't find peace.
I'll tell you the reason you can't You can't rest at night.
I'll tell you the reason. Your religion and your religious
exercises give you no peace, no contentment, no satisfaction
in your heart. It is because you know in your
heart of hearts there is yet a continual opposition to the
rule and the reign of Christ as Lord. You will not bow to
His will. And until you do, you will not
be saved. Salvation is nothing less than
raising the white flag of surrender in the city of man's soul and
saying, Lord Jesus, take possession of all. That's salvation. That's
salvation. The scriptures declare that Christ,
in his lordship, demands man's surrender to his authority. The Word of God knows nothing
of a salvation. that allows the sinner to take
Jesus as his personal Savior and refuse to bow to his rule
as sovereign Lord. Read with me in Romans 10 and
verse 9. The word of salvation is this,
that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that
is, confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is the Lord, and
shalt believe in thine heart, that is, you confess with your
mouth because you believe with your heart that God hath raised
this Lord Jesus from the dead, made him to be king, made him
to be sovereign, made him to be ruler over all, made him to
be the prime minister of the universe, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Now, what do we mean
by surrender to Christ as Lord? Salvation is nothing less than
the heart of a sinner bowing in total, unreserved surrender
to the claims of Christ as Lord. Now, the surrender is not perfect,
but it is complete. The surrender is not perfect,
but it is unreserved. The surrender is not perfect,
but it is a total surrender. It is the sinner holding nothing
in reserve for himself, nothing under his own control, but surrendering
all to Christ. Turn over to the book of Luke,
chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. I don't know. Let's turn to Matthew
10. Let's turn over there. Matthew chapter 10. Verse 37. Our Lord Jesus is speaking. He says, he that loveth father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Let me translate
that for you. Mark, you and Carla have been
married a little while. You allow that girl to change
your way worshiping and serving Christ, you can't be his disciple. That's what the text says. Dare
not love her more than you love me. I love that lady. We've been married 19 years.
I cannot allow her thoughts, her opinions, her words, her
approval or her disapproval to hinder me from worshiping and
serving Jesus Christ. If I do, I love her more than
you do. She's been my lady for 17 years.
And I love her. I love her. But if I allow my
love for her to cause me to compromise the gospel, or to cause me to
neglect the worship of Christ, or cause me to act contrary to
the word of God, I'm not worthy. Everybody's got to take second
place. That's what he's saying. Everybody's got to take second
place. Everybody. Look at the text. He that loveth
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. He that
taketh not his cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. In Luke 14, he says you can't
be my disciple. You say, well, he's not a worthy
disciple. He says he's no disciple. No
disciple at all. What does that mean, take up
your cross daily and follow me? Well, I have a Heavy cross to bear. Alberta Buggs has been a widow
for all these years. And that's a trial. I know it
is. That's a difficulty. But that's
not what he's talking about, Alberta. That's not it. That's
something you didn't have any choice with. We bear those things
patiently, but that's not what he's talking about. He's talking
about it's our responsibility, and we must. knowing full well
that the result of our faith and the result of our obedience
is going to cost us. We've got to obey Him. We've
got to obey Him. Take us across the cross. I preach
the gospel. I thank God here. And in most
of the places I go, I preach the gospel without the least
measure of opposition from men. But I know what it is to preach
the gospel and have tremendous opposition for it. I know what
that is. I can give you example after
example of it, but I have a message from God and I come to a place
to preach and men deny or oppose the message of divine sovereignty
or the message of accomplished redemption. They want to mix something with
grace. for salvation. And I say, well,
you know, we've got to kindly, we can't stir things up too much. You know what I'm talking about,
Darvin? You can't, you can't. Don't make too much of a mess
now. If you don't, if you just come right in and lay it out,
folks get upset. What you have to do is you win
their friendship, and you court them, and you win their faith,
and you smile a lot, and you shake a lot of hands, and you're
buddy, buddy, and buddy, buddy, and you keep coming back, coming
back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back,
coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming
back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming
back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back,
coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back,
coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming back, coming
back, coming back No, no. But if I preach that, Bobby Estes
is going to get mad at me. He's going to leave me. If I
preach that, Merle Hart's going to get upset and he's going to
leave. If I preach that, we're going to have to close the doors
here and the building just deteriorate and come to nothing. If I preach
that, well, if I preach that, I'd lose my job. Either preach
it or go to hell. That's exactly what he's saying.
Take up your cross and follow me, or you can't be my disciple. That's just that simple. It's
just that simple. Our Lord summarizes it like this.
He that findeth his life shall lose it. He that loseth his life
for my sake shall find it. What is faith in Christ? It's
coming, Lord Jesus. Here I am. Here I am. Have mercy on my soul. I'm not worthy of your acceptance,
but I give myself in unreserved surrender to your domain. Do with me as you will. That
is saving faith. It's commitment to Christ. God's people submit to his word,
they submit to his sovereignty, they submit to his ordinances,
they submit to his righteousness, they submit to his providence.
We submit ourselves to him in all that we are, in all that
we possess. I told you earlier that baptism
has no saving efficacy, none whatsoever. Somebody says, well,
can a man be saved even if he refuses to be baptized? Well,
of course not. Of course not. Men who are born
of God obey Christ. They obey him. It's that simple.
He says, follow me. They follow him. They follow
him. And men who refuse to follow him don't know him. God's people make everything subservient to
the worship and the honor and the glory of Christ. Most people take the worship of Christ, the
word of the gospel, the assembly of God's saints, and they kindly
try to fit it in, you know, just, we've got time this week, we'll
go down to church house, we'll worship God. Nothing else, you
know, nothing important comes up, you know, If Matt Dillon
reruns don't come on, or if the Reds don't play, or if the Pope
doesn't visit America, or something, you know, if nothing important
comes up, we might even go to church tonight. Might even go
Tuesday night. Just might do that. You know,
as long as nothing important comes up. As long as nobody calls,
or as long as nothing happens during the day that causes me
to have a little extra pressure. As long as nothing important
comes up, we'll go down and worship God. You might come down, but
you won't worship God. God's people do not fit Christ
into their lives. They fit their lives into Christ. That's right. That's right. Men
and women who profess faith in Christ and despise the worship
of Christ and the ministry of the gospel. You say, well, I
don't despise it. Oh, yes, you do. Oh, yes, you do. If you allow
anything to keep you from it, you despise it. Is that square,
Lindsay? That's honest, isn't it? That's
right, isn't it? God's people worship Christ. They worship
him. And they plan their lives in
the worship of Christ. And they make everything revolve
around the worship of Christ. You say, well, I can't do it.
Brother Don, you don't understand. I understand what it is to work
60 and 70 hours a week and carry 21 hours a semester in school
and still worship Christ and worship Him every time opportunity
is set. I know what it is. I understand.
Well, you ought to make folks feel bad. I'm not here to make
you feel bad. I want you to know the difference between life and
death, between salvation and a profession of religion. You
know why they claim their lives are in Christ? Because they love
it. Because they love it. They plan their lives around
him because they're devoted to him. Because they got to have him. I prepare, study, and have
a message for you on Sunday morning. because I want to. On Sunday
night, because I want to. On Tuesday night, because I want
to. Nobody stands over me and threatens
me or intimidates me if I don't do this, don't do that. You find
me where you find me because I love Christ. Because I love
Him, Merle, I love you. And I'm not going to threaten
or intimidate you, but if you love Him, you want the message.
Is that right? Well sure it's right. Sure it's
right. Anybody with good sense understands
that. And you don't let anything interfere. You just don't do
it. So you mean never miss a service? You know exactly what I mean.
There are times when things come up that are beyond your control.
Sometimes your job, your work requires you to do things that
you don't choose to do. But I want to tell you something.
I do mean that saved men and women do not willingly absent
themselves from the ministry of the gospel for anybody, for
husband, wife, sons, or daughters, or anything else. They just don't
do it. They just don't do it. All to Jesus I surrender. Do you? All to him I freely give. I know this, that's what salvation
is. I'll tell you a story one more
time. There was a merchant, a collector
of pearls. One day he was down on the coast
and he saw a pearl like he had never seen in his life. And he just stood and admired
that pearl. And he said in his heart, I've
got to have that pearl. Got to have it. So he went inside,
talked to the man a little while. He said, I noticed that pearl
in your window. He said, yeah, that's a fine pearl. He said,
that's the finest pearl in the world and not another one like
it in all the world. He said, well, I want to buy that pearl. He said, I just got to have that
pearl. The man looked at him and smiled, and he said, Mr.,
you can't afford that pearl. You can't afford it. He said,
I'll pay any price. Any price? Any price in all the
world. The man said, well, OK. He said, you can buy the pearl,
but it'll cost you everything you have. Everything I have? That's the
price of the pearl. Take it or leave it. I'll pay you." So he pulled out
his wallet, started shelling out his money. He said, wait a minute, I need
$10 here to buy me some gas to get home. He said, you got a
car? He said, give me the keys. My
car? The fellow said, it'll cost you
everything. He said, well, if I give you
my car, how am I going to drive back and forth to work? You got
a job? You got a job? Give me your job. Give me your job. My job? It'll cost you everything. He
said, man, if I give you my job, how am I going to make my payments
for my house? You have a house? Give me the
deed. Man, I can't give you my deed.
What am I going to do for my wife and children? You have wife
and children? Bring them too, man. It's going
to cost you everything. Everything. The fellow finally
gave him his wallet and his keys and deed to his house, brought
his wife and kids, set them all down. The man said, okay, now
you can have the pearl. And he said, here are the keys
to your car, and here's your money, and here's the deed to
your house, here's your wife, here are your kids. But remember,
they're mine, and you can use them, but only for me. And if
I call on you to give one of them up, don't murmur or complain,
it's mine. It's mine. So that's a fantastic
story. Not too fantastic. Turn right
over the page here to Matthew 13 and verse 45. And the kingdom of heaven is
likened to a merchant man. seeking goodly pearls. And when
he had found one pearl, Jesus Christ our Lord, of great price,
he went and sold all that he had and bought that pearl. That's faith in Christ. That's
faith in Christ. A person is saved when he sees
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Turn over there
to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. We'll look at this one other
text and I'll quit preaching and I pray that God the Holy
Spirit will not quit speaking. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse
6. When is a person saved? He is saved Man or woman is saved
when it pleases God. Man or woman is saved when it
comes under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man or
woman is saved when the glory of God is revealed in his heart
in the face of Christ. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. What does Paul mean by that?
He's speaking of God's redemptive glory, and he's telling us that
a man or a woman is saved when, by the revelation of God's Spirit
through the preaching of the gospel, they see the glory of
God in saving sinners by substance. They see how that God through
the sacrifice of his dear son can set upon the throne of justice
and yet be merciful to sinners without bending his law, without
compromising his justice, without sacrificing his righteousness.
For now they see how that God in Christ has satisfied justice,
has put away sin, and proclaims pardon and forgiveness to all
who believe in perfect justice, righteousness, and truth. How
is that? Well, he laid our sins on Christ,
and he punished Christ in our stead. And now he takes Christ's
righteousness and lays it on us, and he declares that we're
righteous and without sin. That's the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. A person is saved when he looks
to Christ by faith. This Redeemer, this Lord, this
God. Our Lord says, look unto me and
be you saved, all the ends of the earth, for I'm God and beside
me there is none else. Would you be saved? Look to him,
look to him, look unto me and be you saved. As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. Believe him, trust the Son of
God, and you shall be saved. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. One last thing, a person is saved
when walking in the light of divine revelation. He receives
and confesses Jesus Christ to be his Lord and his Savior. To as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God. Our Lord has
no secret disciples. No such thing. All who are born
of God confess Christ. They begin right here, confessing
him in the waters of baptism. And they confess him in their
family. They confess him on the job. that confess Him in the
world, they're not ashamed to own Christ as their Lord and
confess Him as their Savior. Would you be saved? Look to Christ. Do you look to Him? Do you trust
Him? Confess Him. Confess Him before
men, acknowledging that He's Lord and He's Savior. This is
what we do in baptism. Some of you here, perhaps you
say, well, Pastor, how can I confess Christ? How can I confess him
before me? You just let me know. We'll fill
this tank up with water, and I'll bury you in that tank. I'll
bury you in that water. And by doing that, you confess
to the world, I have been crucified with Christ. When he died, my
payment to God's law was paid, and I died. He's my substitute. And now I am identified with
him in his death. I rise up out of the water as
I rose up with him from the grave and had been raised up by his
spirit to live a new life. I rise now to walk in the newness
of life with Jesus Christ as my Lord and my master. That's
what baptism's all about. That's what it means. You trust
it, confess it. And when you confess it, walk
before him and before men with a committed heart in the newness
of life to the day of his death. God will give you grace to do
it, for Christ's sake. Amen.