How can I obtain God's salvation? We know that salvation is of
the Lord. He planned it. He purchased it. He performs it. He preserves
it. He perfects it. The Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world as a man. lived in righteousness
for the fulfillment of God's holy law to establish righteousness
for men, went up to the cross, was made to be sin, and suffered
the wrath of God even unto death for the satisfaction of divine
justice. And with his own blood he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
and salvation for fallen guilty sinners. Now that's the good
news, the blessed good news, which we proclaim to men and
women in the gospel. But how can I obtain that salvation? That's the question that concerns
me. How can I obtain God's salvation? How can I have my sins pardoned,
my conscience cleared, and my soul given heirship to eternal
life. Some say that salvation is obtained
by the power of man's free will. They say you make a decision,
you decide for Jesus, you choose the Lord, walk the aisle, say
a prayer, do this or that, and you shall be saved. But there's
a problem. If salvation is obtained by the
free will of man, there is no hope for any man except one whose
will is powerful enough to alter the nature and the character
of man. There's no hope for any except
one whose will is so powerful that he can overcome the power
of Satan, resist all the temptations of the world, the flesh, and
the devil, and preserve himself in perfection by his almighty
will unto everlasting glory. Can man by his free will raise
himself from the dead? That's what salvation is, it's
a resurrection from the dead. Can man by simply willing it
cause himself to live? Can man by his free will calls
himself who is accustomed to doing evil now to be good simply
by willing to be good. Not until the Ethiopian can change
the color of his skin, not until the leopard can change the color
of his spots, can man by his free will be saved. Not until
the dead can arise by their own power can a dead sinner give
himself life by the exercise of his free will. Salvation by
free will is not only contrary to Scripture, but it leaves helpless
sinners without hope. Any man who honestly looks at
himself and hears a preacher say, you by your free will determine
whether or not you will be saved, he must sink in hopeless despair,
for he recognizes that his will is impotent. His will is without
any power at all. Why most men can't even quit
smoking without a little bit of chewing gum to help them stop.
Or quit chewing without having terrible symptoms of withdrawal.
Or quit eating chocolate cake without having terrible symptoms
of withdrawal. We talk about the power of the
will as though man by his will can do something that's contrary
to his nature. Why that's absurd. How we rejoice
to know that according to the Word of God, it is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. We're glad to know that those
who are saved are born not of blood, nor of the will of the
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Salvation, thank
God, is not by your will, but God's will. Now there's hope
for you. Now there's hope for me. Now there's hope for sinners.
Salvation is not by the will of the sinner, but by the will
of the Savior. Not by the will of the impotent
creature, but by the will of the omnipotent God. Some would
have us to believe that salvation is obtained by good works, religious
devotion, and religious rituals. Very few folks would actually
say so, but most people do trust their works for acceptance with
God. I know they do because they get
right upset if you tell them their works are worthless. I
know they do because they get right disturbed when you tell
them that their works have no merit with God. If salvation
could be obtained by works, there would be no hope for anyone except
one who is perfectly righteous in thought, word, and deed. One who has no past sin for which
to pay, no inward corruption, no weakness of character, and
no future faults. You see, all that they must do
must be done with a perfect motive, by perfect men, with perfect
hearts, and done with perfection. Otherwise, God can't accept it. God will not. He never has. He never will. He cannot accept
anything but perfection. He won't accept anything less.
It's impossible. Men think they can be saved by
their religious ceremonies. I read an article last night
in the Danville paper. This fellow uptown writing an
article on baptism and showing how that according to what he
thinks the Scriptures teach. Men are saved and wash away their
sins by getting in a pool of dirty water. Kindly absurd, but
men are usually absurd when they pervert the Word of God. Men
suppose they can have their sins absolved by going to some priest
in a little confessional cubicle and confessing their sins. They
think that that man dressed up in a black and white clown's
costume can absolve sins. What absurdity, what foolishness. But men are usually foolish when
they pervert the Word of God. Men suppose they can be saved
by changing their lives and beginning to do evil where they used to
do good. That is evil that men, or good
that men see and hide the evil that men can't see. Thank God
salvation is not by works. It is without the deeds of the
law. It is not of works lest any man
should boast. Man is not justified by the works
of the law. If good works were in any measure
the basis of salvation and acceptance with God, where is hope for the
sinner? Where is hope for the man who
has not the ability to do good? Where is hope for the one who
has no strength, no ability, but knows himself to be nothing
but corruption inwardly? He's polluted and defiled from
the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. There's nothing
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. Sinners cannot do anything
worthy of God's acceptance. For you see, the sacrifice of
a sinner is an abomination to God. And all the righteousnesses
that sinful men perform are but filthy rags in the sight of God.
And then others come along and they want to compliment God and
they want to compliment the sinner. So they say salvation is partly
of grace and partly of works. How often have you heard men
say God has done his part. Now you must do your part. That
sounds good. There's God's part in salvation
and there's man's part in salvation. God will not do man's part and
man cannot do God's part. Oh, that gives God some honor
and that gives man a little honor. That gives some credit to God
and a lot of credit to man. That gives some honor to God,
supposedly, and a lot of honor to man. But listen. If salvation's
partly of grace and partly of works, there's no hope for anybody,
good or bad. For the very possibility of works
nullifies any possibility of grace, and the very possibility
of grace nullifies any possibility of works. Paul states it this
way. If by grace, then it is no more
works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. That is, when you put works in,
you've made it works. There's no grace in it. But if
it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is
no more work. The moment you interject something
done by the sinner into the gospel, I don't care where it is, at
what point, any time you interject something done by the sinner
into the gospel by which he obtains God's favor in any measure whatsoever,
you have totally denied the gospel. You frustrate the grace of God.
And you make the death of Jesus Christ a vain, meaningless, worthless
thing. If men can be saved by their
works, why did Jesus Christ die? If men can be saved by what they
do, God Almighty does not save men by grace. Now, you've got
your choices. You can't mix the two. How I
bless and thank God that He has not made salvation conditional
upon the sinner. but conditional only upon the
center substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. How I thank God that
salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ
alone. Because salvation is by grace
alone, I qualify. I qualify. Because salvation
is only by the grace of God, as it most assuredly is revealed
in the scriptures. There is hope for no one except
men and women who need grace. There is hope for no one except
helpless, guilty, undeserving, ill-deserving, hell-deserving
sinners. Only sinners qualify for grace.
Thank God there's one thing I qualify for. I qualify for grace. Grace. Grace is for the graceless. Grace is for sinners. Grace is
promised to those who need it. He heals as many as have need
of healing. I'm a sinner. There's hope in
Christ for sinners. How about you? Do you qualify?
If salvation cannot be obtained by the power of my free will
or by the works of my hands, how can I obtain the salvation? which Christ has accomplished
for sinners. How can I obtain that salvation which he purchased
by his sin atoning death at Calvary? The Lord Jesus Christ himself
gives us the answer. Look in Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. The Lord himself gives us the
answer and his answer is a simple one-syllable, four-letter word. Look. Look. Look. That's all. Look unto me,
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and
there is none else. The only way for sinners to obtain
God's salvation is to look to Jesus Christ. So strong is the
eye of faith that by divine grace it will reach the Savior and
fetch in salvation by him. Will you look to Christ and be
saved? Like the brazen serpent lifted
up in the wilderness, the Lord Jesus Christ was lifted up on
the cursed tree lifted up to the throne of grace and lifted
up in the gospel to be looked to by perishing sinners. He died
so that dying men might look to him and live. It is the will
of God, not only that men should look to him, but that whosoever
sees him and believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. Now, gospel preachers are like
that pole upon which the brazen serpent was fastened. They have
only one purpose. It is the purpose of God that
gospel preachers should lift up the crucified Christ. That
gospel preachers should hold up Christ before the eyes of
perishing men. They are useless if they don't
do that. Anything that the preacher does
other than lift up Christ before men is useless and out of order. Preacher has no business getting
himself turned aside with other issues, getting himself involved
with political issues or social issues or issues of the day that
so excite so many people. The preacher's business is to
lift up the Savior. That's all. I stand here today,
once more, to lift up Christ before your eyes. I stand here
today between your soul and eternity in the name of God to show you
the way of salvation by Christ and to assure you in the name
of God that all who believe on Christ, all who look to him in
faith shall be saved. Oh, may the Spirit of God enable
you to look. What does it mean to look? What
does it mean? There's something more implied
in this word than the look of the natural eye. That look of
Israel to the brazen serpent was a physical, literal look. This is a spiritual look. The
word look is very simple. You don't have to be a genius
or a theologian to figure out what it means. As children look
to their parents, as criminals look to their lawyers, as a dying
man looks to their physicians, We must look to Christ. To look
to Christ is to believe that he is. The apostle wrote, he
that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is the
rewarder of them that diligently seek him. It is to acknowledge
both his being and his dominion. You have lived all your life
long as though there was no God. You've lived only for yourself,
only for the world, only for pleasure, only for the perishing
things of time. You have spent all your days
in vanity, as though God and sin, as though heaven and hell,
as though immortality and eternity, as though Christ and your soul
were only idle tales for old men and little children. I say
it's time, if you'll hear my voice now, stop! And look, there's
a Savior setting upon the throne of glory. Acknowledge His being
and His dominion. One of these days soon, you're
going to stand before His throne. To look to Christ is to acknowledge
your need of Him. It's one thing to know that God
is. It's another thing to know you
need Him. To look to him is to acknowledge
yourself as a guilty, helpless, doomed, damned, hell-deserving,
hell-bound, hell-bent sinner, one in need of mercy. I've met
very few people in my life who needed mercy, very few. But mercy
is reserved for those who need mercy. Grace is reserved for
those who need grace. The healing power of Christ for
your soul is reserved for those who need healing power in their
souls. The grace of God is for the guilty.
You will never obtain mercy until you know and acknowledge your
need of mercy. That publican, you remember,
he came to the temple, stood back in the corner, and he would
not even lift up his eyes toward heaven, but he bowed in humiliation
and in sorrow and in contrition of soul, and he beat upon his
breast and he cried, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. And by that he is saying, Lord
God, I realize that you are. I realize that Jesus Christ has
accomplished propitiation for sin. So God, be propitious, that
is, be propitiated for me, the sinner. I am one who needs mercy. I'm one who needs propitiation. I'm one whose sin must be put
away, else I'll surely die. Now, you got to come to that.
You got to come to that. That prodigal returned to his
father's house only when he had spent all. Only when he was in
the swine pen and would love to have eaten what the pigs ate,
but no man gave him anything to eat. Only when he came to
himself and finally he turned and he said to himself, I will
arise and go to my father. And I'll say to him, father,
I'm no more worthy to be called by son, by son, but make me as
one of your hired servants. He was in need of mercy. He was
in need of mercy. And because he knew without his
father's mercy he would surely perish, he arose and went to
his father. There was a woman with an issue
of blood. She came to Jesus when she had
nowhere else to go. She came to Jesus when she had
spent everything she had on positions of no value. She had been to
every doctor in the area. She had been to the doctor who
told her that all she had to do was will it and she'd get
better. Just will it, honey, you'll get better. All the problems
in your will, you just have to will to get better. And so she
tried willing a while and saying a little prayer and it didn't
help. And she went to one of the doctors who said, well, sweetheart,
what you have to do is you have to reform your life. You have
to start doing better. You have to start doing good.
So she tried that. And she did good things, but
she still had the issue of blood. Nothing helped. And she came
to another doctor and he said, well, if you'll be faithful to
the church and say your rosary and say your Hail Marys and You'll
come to the mass and do this and you'll get better. Just watch
and see. And so she tried it. And she
still had her issue of blood. And she went to another one of
the doctors in town and he said, well, now if you'll just sow
a little seed faith my way, it'll be all right. Just send me a
little money and things will go well. So she sent him all
she had. And she still had that issue
of blood. And finally she heard. of one Jesus of Nazareth, the
Christ of God, who has the power of God upon him, for he is God. And she said, if I could just
touch him, if I could just touch the hem of his garment, I'd be
made whole. And she came in the middle of
the press and she touched him just like that. She was made
whole. You see, she needed him. And when she needed him, she
came to him. drowning in the water. As he looked around him,
he's walking across the water, and he's going down, sinking
in the water, and he says, Lord, save me! I perish! That's the
cry of faith. Lord, be merciful to me! I perish. If we confess our sin, confess our original sin in our
Father Athos, and confess our nature of sin in our hearts and
confess our deeds of sin inwardly and outwardly if we confess that
we are sin. He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, but
he will never show mercy to any but sinners. To look to Christ
is to acknowledge that He alone can save you. There's salvation
in none other. That leper came and he said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. That's what it is to
look to Christ. He's the way. Without Him, there's
no going. He's the truth. Without Him,
there's no knowing. He's the life. Without Him, there's
no living. No one will ever get Christ until
he must have Christ. That's when you get Him. When
you must have Him. With most people, the Son of
God is a convenience. With most people, he's a blessing. With most people, he's a good
friend to have around in case you ever need him. But with the
true believer, he's that one thing needful. He's the one absolute
necessity. The true believer says, whom
have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon the earth
that I desire beside thee. The Lord, he is my portion and
he's my inheritance. To look to Christ is to hope
and anticipate that he will be gracious and save you. He promised
it. Look unto me and be you saved.
To look to him is to look to him expecting that he will fulfill
his word. In Jeremiah 29, in verse 14,
he says, I will be found of you. I will be found of you. Oh, God
help you to look. We look to him because we've
heard that all who look live and never die. And so we say
with the songwriter, I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace
me in his arms. Oh, will you arise and go then
to him in the arms of my dear Savior? Oh, there are ten thousand
charms. To whom must we look? I've already
said, and you knew before I ever said it, that we must look to
Christ. But I want you to understand
that we must look not to just any Christ, but to the Christ
of God. We must look to the Christ of
holy scripture as he is revealed in the scripture. You must look
not to any creature, but to the creator, not to the works of
your hands, but to the works of your substitute, not to your
humiliation, but to his humiliation, not to your sacrifices, but to
his sacrifice, not to your heart, but to his heart, not to your
faithfulness, but to his faithfulness. Look away from everything. Look
away from everyone and look directly only to Jesus Christ. Look to
Christ by direct act of faith. Look to him for righteousness,
pardon, grace, and glory. It will do you no good to look
to a God, to look to a Jesus who cannot save. Look in verse
20, Isaiah 45, verse 20. The Lord God is speaking. Assemble
yourselves and come, draw near together, ye that are escaped
of the nation. That is, men and women all over
the world, particularly you who have escaped the corruptions
and the bondage of Babylon. Babylon, the religion of idolatry,
the birthplace of idolatry, the birthplace of false religion.
You've escaped from the bondage, now escape from her gods. He says, assemble you that have
escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge. They
have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image.
Now, their graven images were not like the gods of the Africans
down in the jungles. No, no, they weren't like that.
They were not like the gods of the American Indians carved out
of wood and just set up there to rot. No, no, no. These folks didn't have those
kind of gods. They were educated folks. They were refined folks. They were well-learned folks.
They were civilized folks and rich folks. They could have better
gods than totem pole gods. They'd have to have gods made
out of wood, but they were wood. You see, the very substance of
the god was wood, and then they'd overlay it with gold and silver,
and they would deck it with beautiful ornaments and jewels. And you
set up their god beside one of these totem pole gods, and say,
well, I worship that god. He's a fine-looking god. He's
a good-looking god. I worship him. He looks, he looks,
costly and rich. But look at it, just wood, wood
of their graven image and pray unto a God that can not save. Most religious people are zealous,
dedicated and devoted to a useless God. Now I'm talking about most
Baptist as well as any other kind of religion. Most religious
people are dedicated and worship and serve a useless God. Oh, they have a Jesus. They have
a Holy Spirit. They have a God to whom they
pray, but they pray unto a God that cannot save. Several years
ago, there was a man by the name of Heinrich Heim in Paris, France,
and the man by disease, became disabled at an early age. He
was an active, zealous man, a man with much promise and a good
future. So he came into one of the places in Paris where they had
a statue of an ancient goddess. They had a statue of the goddess
Venus of Milo. And Heinrich Heine said, he said,
I cast myself down at her feet in great sorrow and despair. Now, over the years, this beautiful,
exotic goddess that they had, by some tragic accident, had
lost both of her arms. But she still retained the beautiful
features of a lovely woman. And she had her face looking
down upon those who would bow before her. He said, I passed
myself down before her in despair. And I wept. I wept so sorely
and so grievously and cried so mournfully that it could have
melted hearts of stone. And then I looked up to her and
with her tender eyes, she looked down on me as if to say, Don't
you see that I have no arms and I can't help you?" What's the
point, preacher? Well, let me tell you how one
preacher described the God of this age. I'm talking about a fundamentalist,
well-known, renowned, world-famous preacher. You know how he describes
God? He said, God has no eyes but
your eyes. God has no arms but your arms. God has no feet but your feet. A whole lot like Venus of Milo. You see, the religion of this
age declares that there's a God somewhere out in the wild blue
yonder. But without man, he's helpless
to do anything. and you worship him, you may
as well worship stocks and stones or cattle or creeping things. The Roman Catholic God can't
save you. The Roman Catholic Jesus can't
save you. If anybody knew what Roman Catholicism
is at its heart, any rational human being would be repulsed
by it. And in Mexico, South America,
Brazil, Countries in South America, you see Roman Catholicism as
it really is. I went into one of their temples. Went into a service. I was there
on one of their holy days one time. Thousands of people gathered
in that place. Poor beggars, poor, poverty stricken,
hungry people in a huge, beautifully decorated, ornate Cathedral with
gold trimmings. I'm not talking about just a
comfortable place with some nice paintings. I'm talking about
gold trimmings. In the back, a 14-foot tall statue of the
Virgin overlaid with gold. 14 feet tall. Oh, she's a good God. She brings
in a lot of money. They've got her own tracks. Now,
I'm not talking about second-hand witness. I saw it. They got her
own tracks. Just like a railroad track, little
track right here. When they're having their services,
they roll their God in. And when they close the building
down, they roll their God out. They got a bar, they got a wire
cage around so nobody'd steal the gold. And folks come in and
toss in coins and burn their candles and say their prayers.
Oh, but they had Jesus too. They don't leave Jesus out. He's
laying over to the side in a dusty, filthy coffin. There he lays. He's still dead and helpless
as far as Roman Catholic doctrine is concerned. Their God can't
help. He can't save. He's got to have
somebody to do penance. He can't save. He's got to have
folks to do good works. He can't save. He's got to have
folks to do works of supererogation. He can't save. He's got to have
folks to do and to give and to work and to flagellate themselves
and to crawl and to make pilgrimages and to eat the holy sacraments
and to be baptized with holy water. He's got to have somebody
to do the saving for him. He's just there in case you get
it all done. But the Roman Catholics aren't
the only pagans. The Pentecostal Jesus can't save you. He can't
save you. Preacher, are you saying that
everybody who's Roman Catholic is lost? Of course I am. Are
you saying everybody who's Pentecostal is lost? Of course I am. I'd
be lying to you and lying to them, lying to God if I didn't
say so. Of course I'm saying so. The Pentecostal Jesus kindly
died and helped the sort of fellow on the cross because he couldn't
do any better. because folks wouldn't take him
for their king. He kind of hung on a cross, hoping
that something good would come out of it. But he can't save
unless you let him save. And then when you let him save,
he can't keep you saved. You have to keep yourself saved.
And when you kept yourself for a long time, he still can't hold
you. It's all up to you. The Pentecostal
Jesus is a helpless Jesus. The Jesus of the ritualists can't
save you. The ritualist Jesus says you've
got to be baptized. The ritualist Jesus says you've
got to eat the bread and the wine. The ritualist Jesus says
you've got to go through this ritual and go through that. And
you've got to pass through the various stages of growth into
the church. And when you get to a certain
age, then you can be well catechized and confirmed and brought into
the church. Kind of like getting into the Masonic Lodge by stages
and by degrees, you know. But he can't save by himself.
The Jesus of the Mormons can't save. Just talk to them. They'll
tell you you can't. He's not even God. He's helpless.
Might as well worship Don Fortner's worship of the Jesus of the Mormons.
The Jesus of the Campbellites can't save. He's helpless. That's the Church of Christ.
They're disciples of Campbell. He's helpless. He's helpless.
He can't save. He has to have the waters of
baptism to save. The Jesus of the Russellites can't save the
Jehovah Witnesses. He's not even God. He's not even
God. He's just a man. Maybe a good
man might as well worship Merle Hart. He can't save. The Arminian,
free will, fundamentalist Jesus can't save. Oh, He died, but
His death is meaningless, it's useless, it's wasted, unless
you do something to make it effectual. He wills to save, but His will
is powerless, subject to your will. He prays for you, but His
prayers will never be answered unless you answer them by the
exercise of your mighty will. This Jesus is decked about with
golden names and silver titles and jeweled words and gorgeous
forms of worship so that He looks splendid. But underneath, He's
only a piece of rotting wood, a graven image, a God good for
nothing. For a God who cannot save is
no God at all. They say, well, preacher, everybody
worships Jesus. Everybody worships God. You can't
just say that everybody who doesn't worship the sovereign, saving,
almighty, all-sufficient, effectual substitute is lost. My God, I
have to say it. I have to say it. I've got to,
as Elijah said in his prayer that we studied this morning
in Sunday school, that men may know that there is a God in Israel
and that men may know the Lord is the God. There is none other. There is none of that. You see, there's nothing in a
name. Nothing in a name. Give you an example. I went all
my life and never met another Fortner. There was one other
family of Fortners in Western Salem when I was growing up,
but we were that family from the other side of the tracks,
you know. They didn't associate with us. It might rub off and
do damage. So, I never met that family.
And there was a family that moved out of lookout right before I
moved there as pastor. I never met them. But when I
came to Danville, I met another Fortner. First one I ever met
in my life I wasn't related to. And you know, he was a preacher.
He was a preacher. Methodist preacher, but a preacher.
You know what his name was? Don Fortner. My soul. You talk about confusion. I had
folks come to my door. They'd look up my address in
a phone book, come to my door. Are you Don Fortner? Yes. Do you tune pianos? No, I can't
even listen to one. Well, somebody told us Don Fortner's
a piano tuner. I said, well, he is, but not
this one. Not this one. Well, aren't you the preacher?
Yeah, he is too, but not this one. Well, where can I find him? You can find him down at Methodist
Church. He tunes pianos on the side. He's a little, short, skinny
fella. He might weigh about a hundred
pounds. And he's got kinky hair and tiny little goat teeth, all
the beard he's got, and a little bit of a mustache. Oh, well,
there's a difference. Considerable. Considerable. And I'm telling you, there is
considerable difference between the helpless little beggar Jesus
that's preached in this generation and worshiped by most people
in this day, and the glorious, almighty, saving, omnipotent
Jesus Christ, who is the God. You must look to Him, the God,
Jesus Christ, our Savior. If you would be saved, you must
look to the Christ who is God, a God mighty to save, who is
able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him.
You see, Jesus Christ, because He is God, He is a mighty, an
almighty, an all-sufficient Savior. He declares, I am God. There's
not another. There is none else. There is
no other God but Him, no other Savior but Him. Because He's
God, He's able to save. There's virtue enough in His
blood to cleanse all His redeemed ones from all their sins. Folks,
mock us for preaching limited atonement. Well, yeah, it's limited to God's elect. But they're the folks who limit
the atonement. They limit the power. They limit the virtue. They limit the efficacy of the
atonement. For they say that Jesus shed his blood to atone
for the sins of all men, but most of them never hear anything
about it. We declare he shed his blood
to atone for the sins of his elect, and his blood is effectual,
virtual, so that it carries merit. to atone for all the sins of
all his people. There is merit enough in his
righteousness to justify all for whom he lived. There's efficacy
enough in his grace to save to the uttermost all who come to
God by him. There's power enough in his intercession
to save every sinner for whom he's an advocate. There's love
enough in his heart to bring all his loved ones home to glory. Look to Christ, for he shall
not fail. I would not mock your soul by
holding before you a helpless, frustrated, defeated Jesus whose
blood, righteousness, intercession, and grace are or even might be
a failure in the end. I bid you look to Him who cannot
fail. Look to Him! He's a mighty Savior.
But what must we look to Christ? I might be very brief and just
say look to Him for everything. Maybe a little more explanation
is needed. Are you in darkness? Look to
Him for light. He's the light of the world.
Are you weak? Look to Him for strength. Are
you dead? Look to Him for life. Are you
tempted? Look to Him for grace. Are you
naked? Look to Him for dress. Are you
sick? Look to Christ for healing. Are
you hungry? Look to Christ for bread. He's
the bread of life. Are you thirsty? Look to Christ
for water. He's a fountain of living water.
Are you dirty? Look to Christ for cleansing.
He's a fountain open for cleansing and for the unclean. Are you
cast down? Look to Christ for comfort. Are
you weary? Look to Christ for rest. In a
word, look to Christ alone for salvation, for every part of
salvation from beginning to end. You see, you cannot be saved
without repentance and faith. But you will try to find repentance
in faith in vain until you look to Christ. He's Prince exalted
by the right hand of God to give repentance in faith to sinners.
These things are the gift of God through Christ Jesus, the
Lord. Look to him. You must be pardoned of all sin
or you can never be accepted with God. And there's only one
way to be pardoned. We're pardoned through the blood
of Christ. Through the blood of Christ, we are forgiven of
all our sins. He put away our sins by the sacrifice
of Himself. In order to be saved, you must
be born again. Born again. Oh, if men and women
just understood what it means to be born again. We got born
again boxers, and born again presidents, and born again senators,
and born again congressmen, and born again drug addicts, Born-again
athletes. We've even got born-again movies. Born-again movies and born-again
movie stars. And they're all born-again, just
exactly like most religionists are born-again. They've kind
of had some exciting, life-changing, mind-altering experience. that has put life back into them
and they are revitalized and the movies are born again in
living color. They've taken the old James Cagney
movies and put computer enhanced color on them and now they're
born again movies. Born again movies. You know what
it is to be born again? We were born the first time dead. D-E-A-D, graveyard, dead. Instant. Dead. To be born again is to be resurrected
from the dead. That takes the power of God! Something more than you've got
in your free will. Something more than a trip down
the church aisle. Something more than a decision
for Jesus. Something more than a trip to
the baptismal pool. Jesus Christ is the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth on him shall
never die. He's the resurrection. Look to
Christ! He's the one who gives life to
whom he will. You must persevere to the end
or you can't be saved. Now, preacher, I don't believe
I can. I know you can't. I know you... I don't believe
I can hold out. I know you can't hold out. I don't believe it'll
last very long. I know it wouldn't if it was
up to you. I know it wouldn't. But Jesus Christ gives eternal
life to his sheep, holds them in his mighty hand, and they
shall never perish. In order to be saved, accepted
with God, you must be justified. You must be made righteous. Without
holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Look to Christ, we're justified
freely by his grace through his redemptive blood. Look to Christ. He is the Lord, our righteousness.
By his obedience, we are made righteous. He is our just God
and our savior. He satisfied the justice of God
and saves us by his power. You must be sanctified or you
can't get to heaven. That's right. Well, I've always
heard that A fellow gets saved and then he kindly, by the help
and assistance of the Holy Spirit, sanctifies himself. He gets saved
and then he kindly cleans up his life and becomes more and
more and more progressively holy until at last he's ripe for heaven. And he kind of just graduates
on into glory. None of God's living saints and
none of God's dying saints think so. I spoke with Brother Elmer Harrell
just a few weeks ago, just before his 80th birthday. And you know the man didn't have
a thing to say about anything he had done. Not a thing. He's a faithful man. In over 40 years, in over 40
years, to my knowledge, he never missed a worship service in the
house of God unless he just flat couldn't get there. That's right. Oh boy, he must have really had
a good hope. He sure did. Jesus Christ, the
crucified Son of God. That's all, folks. Nothing else. Nothing else. He is made of God,
and to us, wisdom and righteousness and redemption and sanctification. We're sanctified by His blood,
by His grace, by His Spirit, by His hand. He's made us holy,
for He's given us His nature. but you're going to have to overcome
the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, or
you can't get to glory. Well, preacher, that'll surely
shut us all out. It will, unless you look to Christ. Look to Christ,
and you shall overcome them, because greater is he that is
in you than he that is in the world. Whatsoever is born of
God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith, that is, even our looking to Christ.
Look to Christ for everything. Look to yourself for nothing.
Look to Christ for everything and look to yourself for nothing.
In the matter of salvation, if you look to yourself for anything,
anything. Oh, God, make men to hear what
I'm about to say. If you look to yourself for anything,
you'll ruin your soul. you'll ruin your soul. If you be circumcised, Christ
is zero to you. You've denied the grace of God.
You've denied it. You've departed from the faith. Well, I realize I'm a sinner
and I trust Christ I trust His blood for my atonement and His
righteousness for my justification and His Spirit to preserve me
and His grace to keep me. But now listen, don't you tell
me that my church attendance and my Bible reading and my prayers
and my giving and my devotion is meaningless. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. You've missed Christ. You've missed Christ. If you
suppose that your giving and your church attendance and your
Bible reading and your praying and your sacrifices and your
preaching and your doing will merit God's favor for anything,
you have flat missed Christ. You've been looking to Dagon.
You've been looking to Dagon. You remember who Dagon was when
the ark of God was was in the land of the Philistines. They
came in one morning and old Dagan had fallen over. They picked
him up, set him up again, went about their business, came in
the next day to do their little ritual to Dagan and he's fallen
over again. Looked like you'd get tired of
picking Dagan up. Looks like folks get tired of
repairing their gods. Looks like folks get tired of
repairing their hope. No, no, no. We'll pick him up
and kiss the ark of God goodbye. Why don't you quit looking to
yourself and look to Christ? Why don't you quit looking to
what you've done and look to Christ? Is there anything to encourage
sinners to look? Oh, there's a bunch of things.
There's a bunch of things. There are five right here in
this text. Let me give them to you plain. The command of God. God said, look. Look! Now, if God says look, I reckon
it's all right to look. If God says look, we may look. Well, I don't know whether I've
prayed enough. I don't know whether I've repented enough. I don't
know whether I'm sinful enough. I don't know whether I'm worthy
enough. I don't know whether I'm humble enough. I don't know
whether I've got faith enough. I don't know. I don't know. I
don't know. I know God commanded me to look, and I look, Wes.
I'm looking. I'm just looking. That's all. the promise of God, he says,
look and be saved. I gather from that, it's impossible
to look to Christ and not be saved. I gather from that, that
if any man in all the world looks to Christ, he'll be saved and
he'll be saved right now. the power of God. He says, I
am God, and beside me there is none else. With God, all things
are possible, even the salvation of a sinner like me. His mercy
is equal to our need. His grace is equal to our necessity.
His power is equal to our helpliness. He's the God of salvation. Look
at the character of God. Be ye saved. It is the character
of God to be gracious. I am the Lord, I will be gracious,
he said. That's his character. And our
gracious God is a just God and a Savior. He cannot, in justice,
refuse to save one sinner for whom Jesus Christ has satisfied
justice. He cannot in justice refuse to
save one sinner who looks to Christ for those of the folks
for whom Christ died. The invitation of grace. Oh,
now here's an encouragement to look. He says, look unto me and
be you saved all the ends of the earth for
I am God. You know, I'm happy that he did
not say in this text of scripture, look unto me and be you saved,
Don Fortner. I'm thankful he didn't say that.
Because you see, there's already, as I've told you, another Don
Fortner. And if I read that text, I would think to myself, well,
he's not talking to me, he's talking to that fella. He's talking
to that fella. That fella's better than I am.
That fella's nicer than I am. He's sweeter than I am. He's
prettier than I am. He's everything better than I am. But he says,
look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth. That includes me, Joe. That includes,
why not me? All the ends of the earth, look
and be saved. I believe I'll look. I'll look. And looking, I'm saved. When? When must we look to Christ? The command is in the present
tense. He says, look. And the promise is in the present
tense. Look and be you saved. As soon as you look, you're saved.
You don't have to look and wonder if you're saved. Look and be
you saved. And your need is urgent, Chris. You're lost. And the wrath of
God is on you. You're doomed. You're damned. And if you die without Christ,
Hell will be your eternal portion. And the only time you've got
to look is right now. Right now. Today, if you'll hear
his voice, pardon not your heart, today is the day of salvation. Now, now's the accepted time.
Say, well, I believe I'll wait. Well, there are two things wrong
with that. Number one, you have no promise of tomorrow. And number two, if God gives
you tomorrow, he may not call you to look tomorrow. You say, well, God's not that
way. Oh, yes, God is that way. He sure is. He said, I'll laugh
at you. I'll mock you when fear seizes
your soul. I'll mock you. You've laughed
at me. I'll laugh at you. You've despised
me. I'll despise you. For I called and you would not
answer. I stretched out my arms and you refused. I'll let you
eat the fruit of your way. He'll do it. You want your own
way? God'll give you your own way.
Oh, if you're tired of your way, look to Christ. Look to Christ. I can't say anymore. It was a
look that saved me 21 years ago. As a boy, 16, almost 17. Oh my God, I was so weary of
life. And desperately wanted life. in the bondage of sin and in
the gall of bitterness the burden on my soul was like a heavy millstone
around my heart dragging me to hell rapidly and I heard somebody say look
and live and I looked and I lived And I continue to look to Christ
and continue to live. And by the grace of God, I shall
yet look to Christ and live forever. You see, life begins in a look.
Look unto me and be you saved. And life continues in a look,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And
life will end in a look. We shall see him. And we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Our motto is look. Our life is look. Our doctrine
is look. Oh, look to Christ and live. God help you to look, for Christ's
sake. Amen.