In the middle of this prophecy
regarding the 12 sons of Jacob, he blurts out, I don't know if that's
the right way to say that, I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. And he's speaking as one who
knows the Lord. I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. And this is the first time the
word salvation is used in scripture. The next time we'll hear this
word is when God is getting ready to part the Red Sea. And he says
to Moses, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And this is the same salvation
that Jonah spoke of when he said salvation is of the Lord. Do you not know what that means?
David said salvation belongeth unto the Lord. And he said the
salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Now this salvation
that Jacob sighs and brings out during this prophecy is going
to be the subject of heaven. They cried with a loud voice,
salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne and the Lamb. Jacob said, I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. I wonder what you and I know
about that. Can we say, from the depth of
our heart, I have waited for thy salvation, oh Lord. Salvation. Salvation. I wanna be saved, don't you?
I want the Lord to save me. Salvation. is God's eternal purpose
in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to glorify himself. Let me repeat that. Salvation
is God's eternal purpose in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to glorify himself. Paul said in Ephesians chapter
three, verse 11, he speaks of the eternal purpose, which he
purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Now, when God says to Moses,
after Moses said, what shall I tell him your name is? He said,
I am that I am. God's the only one who can say
that. I am that I am, and I have read where inherent in that statement
is I save in the manner which I save. The character of God
is seen. This is God's self-revelation. This is God's manifestation of
himself in the way that he saves sinners. So a mistake or an error
concerning salvation is a mistake or an error concerning the character
of God. Now this is how important this
is. And this is what Jacob cries
out from his heart to the Lord, I have waited for thy salvation,
O Lord. Now, I know you'll agree with
this. One of the most astonishing,
amazing things that can even be considered is that God would
make himself known to somebody like me. that I would actually
know the living God. And when I speak of him, I'm
not name dropping him. I know him and he knows me. And that is true of every single
child of God without exception. God said, they shall all know
me from the least to the greatest, for I will be merciful or propitious
to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities,
I will remember no more. The Lord Jesus said in his great
high priestly prayer for his people, and this is life eternal,
that they might know thee. the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. What an indescribable blessing
to know God. And it's not just talk. He knows
you. I'd like you to turn with me
for a moment to 1 Peter chapter 4. 1 Peter 4. Verse 18. 1 Peter 4, verse 18. And if the
righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear? Now, I used to read that, and
this is what came to my mind when I read it, we just make
it in by the skin of our teeth. Just barely. That's not what
that means at all. You see, we don't make it in
by the skin of our teeth. Every believer has boldness on
the day of judgment. Because as he is, So are we in
this world. Now that ain't making it by the
skin of your teeth. I love what the hymn writer said. Bold shall
I stand in that great day, for who ought to by charge to lay
fully absolved from these I am, from sin's tremendous curse and
shame. When from the dust of death I
rise to take my mansions in the skies, even then shall this be
all my plea, that Jesus lived and died for me. Now you're not
getting in by the skin of your teeth, like that. What does he
mean? It's with great difficulty that
the righteous are saved. Was it difficult for God to give
up his son? Was it difficult for God to forsake
his son? Was it difficult for the Lord
Jesus Christ to leave the presence of his father and come to earth? Was it difficult for the Lord
Jesus Christ to be made sin? Was it difficult for the Lord
Jesus Christ to be forsaken by his father? Oh, the difficulty
of salvation, not difficult for me and you, but how difficult
it was and is for God in that sense. Now that's not talking
about any lack of ability on his part, you know I'm not saying
that, but to give his son, to give his son, to pour his wrath
upon his son, that was still his son, that was still the son
of his love. If scarcely the righteous are
saved. Oh, what all is involved in this
thing of his salvation. Now, let me say this about his
salvation, the salvation Jacob is speaking of. This salvation,
God's salvation is all together and completely by grace. Turn to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. I know
this is a familiar scripture probably with just about everybody
here. And it's not, it ought to be. And you, hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation
in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature. children
of wrath, even as others. But God, there's the difference. But God, not but you, but God,
who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved
us, even when we're dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, Here's what I mean by all this. By grace, you are saved. Amen. By grace, you are saved. And hath raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. that
in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus, for
by grace are you saved. There it is again. For by grace
are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, that
faith is not the product of you, it's the gift of God, not of
works. lest any man should boast, for
we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. False religion says, God will
if you will. The gospel says, God will and
you shall. all the difference in the world. Salvation, God's salvation begins. Listen to this statement carefully.
God's salvation begins with the full, complete forgiveness and
blotting out of all sin, past, present, and future. It begins
there. It doesn't end there. God will
forgive you if you fill in the blank. God's salvation begins. This salvation that's by grace
begins with the full, free, complete forgiveness of sins. Now, if
there's anything that I must do before God can save me, that
means salvation's not by grace. I love what Peter said. If we
were gonna have a statement of faith, it sure is not gonna be
found in some big a document written by men to try to prove
to people what we believe. We go with this scripture. I
believe this is a wonderful scripture that would just be a summary
of what we believe. Peter said in Acts chapter 15,
verse 11, but we believe, there it is, but we believe that by
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. Now, he's saying us Gentiles
will be saved, or us Jews will be saved the same way those Gentiles
will. The only way they can be saved
is by grace. And in the original, this is
said in such a way, if you see all the different nuances
of the original, he's saying this. We believe that by the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we've been saved. We believe
that by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're being saved. And we believe that by the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Now I've already quoted Jonah
2.9. Salvation is of the Lord. And
when he says salvation is of the Lord, he's talking about
all three persons of the Godhead. Salvation is of the Father. Salvation
is of the Son. Salvation. God's salvation. The same salvation that Jacob
says, I've waited for thy salvation, O Lord. Salvation is of God,
the Holy Spirit. Salvation is of the Lord. Now
let's consider this. Salvation is of the Lord. We
quote it all the time. I would to God that we could be like
we've never heard it before. Salvations of the Lord, first
of all, salvations of the Father in eternal election. Romans 11.5 actually calls this
the election of grace. Second, Thessalonians 2.13, Paul
said, we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning. chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Romans
9, 11 says, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Not of works. That's God's purpose. that salvation might not be of
works, but of him that calleth. It is impossible. It is impossible. It's highly
unlikely. It is impossible to believe in
salvation by grace and not believe in eternal election. It can't be done. You don't believe in election,
you necessarily do not believe grace. If I don't preach election,
I don't preach grace. If I dance around election, I've
heard a lot of preachers do that. I dance around grace. If I don't have to hear election,
I don't have to hear grace. The first principle of salvation
is of the Lord. His salvation is of the Father
in eternal election. God's choice, His sovereign choice
of His people in Christ before the world began. And I always
need to say this when I'm talking about election. Because when
people hear of election, the first thing they think of is,
who's not going to be saved? Who's not going to be saved?
Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Election does not prevent anybody
from being saved. There is not anybody saying,
oh Lord, please have mercy on me, please save me, I wanna be
saved. Nope, you're not one of the elect.
No, no, that's never happened. Election doesn't prevent people
from being saved who otherwise would have been saved. God's
electing grace saves people who would have most certainly been
damned had he not elected them. Election. Election is God being God. You will not worship, now listen
to me carefully. If you don't worship the God
of election, you don't worship God, period. You will only worship
an absolute sovereign in whose hands you are. And if you don't
worship the God of election, you do not worship, I do not
worship God, period. Now salvation is of the Son in
redemption. We're gonna talk about salvation
of the Lord, salvation to the Father in election. Salvation
is of the Son in redemption. For me to be saved, he had to
keep the law for me. And he had to willingly take
my sins to himself and bear them in his own body on the tree. And for me to be saved, I must
comprehend this statement. My salvation is comprehended
in this statement. When Jesus Christ said, it is
finished. You know what? When Christ said, it is finished,
I was saved. Somebody says, when were you
saved? Can you give me a date? Well, when he said it was finished,
if you want a date, there it is. When he said it is finished. I was saved before time began
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's also true that
I'm not saved yet. I won't be saved till I'm not
a sinner anymore. Now is your salvation nearer than when you
believed? Then I'll be plumb saved. But I already am plumb saved
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now when we speak of salvation,
salvation is the work of the Son in behalf of the sinner. It's what he did. It's what he
did. That fills me with joy to know
that my salvation really doesn't have anything to do with me.
It has wholly to do with Him. I love that. I love that. I wouldn't want it to be any
other way. For me to be saved, God's gotta
elect me. Christ has gotta keep the law for me and die for me
and put away my sin and be raised for me for my justification.
And for me to be saved, I have to have God the Holy Spirit give
me life. It's called being born of the
Spirit. It's called being born again. It's called being regenerated. What does it mean to be born
of God, to be a partaker of the divine nature, to be birthed
by God? What all the experience, what's
that mean? It means this, God's given you
a new heart. A new heart also will I give
them. Now what is the heart? The heart
is made of the understanding, It's made of the will, it's made
of the affections. That's what's involved in the
heart. Now when God gives a new heart,
you have a new understanding. You understand that salvation
is of the Lord. You understand that Christ is
everything in your salvation. Do you understand that? I know
you know you don't understand it enough, as clearly as you
ought to, but still you understand this. Salvation is of the Lord.
You understand that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness
you have. You understand that salvation
is by grace. You understand. But not only
do you understand, this is the way you want it to
be. Your will is involved in this, not by causing it to happen,
but if you're given your choice, do you want to be saved by Christ
doing everything, or are you doing part of it? You say, I
want to be saved by Christ doing it all. That is your will, to
will this present with me. I would never sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to Christ. I would be poor. and mourn and
meek and hunger and thirst after righteousness. I would be pure
in heart, a peacemaker. I would be merciful. I would
be persecuted for righteousness sake. That's what I want. I would
be everything every believer is called on to be. I would be,
that's what I want. Your will has changed. When God
gives you a new heart, you have a new will. You have a new understanding
of how God saves sinners by His grace. You have a new will. This
is what you want. And you're given a new affection. You love this. You love being
saved the way God saves. You love every commandment of
God. You love every requirement of
God. You love the way He saves. You love the God of election.
You love the Son of successful redemption. You love the Holy
Spirit of invincible grace. You love this. This is your desire. That's a new heart. A new heart also will I give
thee. Now, salvation's of the Lord.
It's of the Father. It's of the Son. It's of God,
the Holy Spirit. I'm not finished. For me to be
saved, I'm going to have to hear the preaching of the gospel. Are you saying that you can't
be saved if you don't hear the gospel? Are you saying that God
can't save apart from the preaching of the gospel? Wrong question. He could save apart from the
preaching of the gospel if he wanted to. I have no question
about that. He could just snap his fingers and there we are.
The question is, does he save apart from the preaching of the
gospel? It pleased God, 1 Corinthians
121, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. The foolishness
of what's going on right now. You listening to a fool like
me and saying that's how God speaks, it is. God has manifested
his word through preaching, which was committed to my trust. Now, you're putting a lot of
emphasis on the preacher. No, I'm not. The preacher is a zero. You're a zero, the preacher's
a zero, as far as this thing of salvation. But this is the
means God uses. Faith cometh by hearing. How
shall they hear without a preacher? That's what the scripture says.
How shall they preach? except they be sent. Somebody
that puts themselves into preaching, God never put them there, and
nobody's ever converted through that either. It pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them from belief. And
let me emphasize, I'm not talking about clergy lady and trying
to make the preacher above the people. I despise that kind of
stuff. We're all on the same boat. We're all on the same ship. Sinners saved by grace. And there's something humbling
to hear that I can't figure this out. God's going to have to reveal
it to me through this man preaching. I can't sit down and open up
the Bible and get figured out. God speaks through preaching. And my friend, I'm not talking
about the preaching of foolishness. I'm talking about the foolishness
of preaching the truth. There's no one saved apart from
hearing and believing the truth. Let me repeat this scripture
I've already Quoted, we're bound to thank God always for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. There's no salvation apart from
belief of the truth. There's no sanctification of
the spirit apart from belief of the truth. And for me to be
saved, I'm going to have to persevere all the way to the end. He that
endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And listen, that
doesn't mean you remain religious all the way to the end. There's
all kinds of people that do that. You endure looking to Christ
only. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. You endure looking to Christ
only as all your salvation. Now, Jacob says, I've waited
for thy salvation, O Lord. Now, save from what? Save from what? Salvation's of
the Lord. Save from what? First, I need to be saved from
God. You see, He's the one I've sinned against. And in order
for Him to save me, He's gonna first have to do something for
Himself. That's why He sent His Son, to make a way to be just
and justify the ungodly. For God to save me, He first
had to do something for Himself, to enable Him to save me. So I need to be saved from God. I need to be saved from myself. I am and I really believe this. I'm my greatest problem. I am the problem. Do you believe
that about yourself? You are the problem. You can't blame somebody else.
You can't blame your circumstances. You can't blame the way you were
raised. You can't blame anybody other than yourself. Taking full
responsibility for your own personal sin. It's all my fault and I
need to be safe for myself. I need the Lord to deliver me
from me. Now this could all be stated
by this one verse of scripture. This is what it means to be saved
from God and saved from myself. In Matthew 121, we read this
precious verse, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Now that covers everything, to
be saved from my sins. I was listening to a preacher
recently, he said the first thing that we need to, let people know
about is they need to be saved from hell. Now, I don't want
to go to hell. I'm not saying that. But if I'm saved from my
sins, I won't go to hell. I need to be saved from my sins.
I need to be saved from the penalty of my sin. That's what Christ did. He justified
me. So I'm saved from the penalty
of my sin. I need to be saved from the power of my sin. What's
that mean? There was a time when I couldn't
believe. There was a time when I couldn't
grasp what repentance was in the first place. There was a
time when I had no love for God. I didn't have the power to, but
sin shall not have dominion over you. And that's being saved from
the power of sin. I now can love God. I now, I do love God. I do believe
the gospel. I'm in a continual state of repentance. I'm in a continual state of seeing
my need of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? I've been saved from the
power of sin, the love of sin. I hate it. And one of these days,
I'm gonna be saved from the very presence of sin. Salvation, salvation
from sin. Now, would you turn with me for
a moment to Matthew chapter 19? Now, what? Jacob called, I've waited for
thy salvation, is what Jude called the common salvation. That word
common means that which is general to all as opposed to that which
is peculiar to the few. This is what all of God's people
have, this common salvation. And every one of God's elect
breathes out from their heart, I have waited for thy salvation. Now, Matthew chapter 19. Verse
16. And behold, one came and said unto him, good
master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal
life? This is the story of the rich
young ruler. And he said unto him, why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one, that
is God. Now, the Lord obviously is not
saying he's not good. This young, sincere man comes
up to him and says, good master, you're a good man, good teacher,
you're special, you're different from anybody else that I've ever
known. What good thing can I do that'll
make me like you? He was addressing the Lord only
as a man, a good man, not the good God, but a good man. He's a good man. He's a fine
man. I'd like to reach his level of goodness. And the Lord rebuked
him. Why are you calling me good?
And the reason he buked him is because he knew this man was
coming to him as a good man only. Why callest thou me good? There's
none good but one, that is God. But if thou wilt enter into life,
keep the commandments. Now the Lord met him on the ground
he came. Okay, you wanna be just like
me? Keep the commandments. Don't talk about them, don't
quote them. Keep it. He saith unto him, verse 18,
which Jesus said thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit
adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness,
honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. Now, which commandment did he
not mention? Thou shalt not covet. He didn't
even mention that. Thou shalt not covet. The young man, verse 20, said
unto him, all these have I kept from my youth up. What lack I
yet? Question. Did he keep all of
these from his youth up? I believe he thought he did.
There's only two people to ever make a claim like this. You know
who the other one was? The Apostle Paul. He said, touching
the righteousness which was in the law, I was blameless. He
had no idea as to what the righteousness of the law really is, because
if this man would have known, he would have known that he had
not kept one commandment, one time. But the Lord is meeting
him where he's at. So, verse 21, Jesus said unto
him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. and
come and follow me. But when the young man heard
that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. He was a very rich man. And he
was a very covetous man. And he was a very greedy man. And if you break one commandment,
you've broken them all. That's what James tells us. If
you keep all the law but yet offend in one point, you're guilty
of breaking every single commandment. That's God's law. Then, verse 23, said Jesus unto
his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, it's
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Now, how easy
is it for a camel to go through the eye of a needle? It's impossible. It's impossible. When the disciples heard it,
They were exceedingly amazed, saying, who then can be saved? If this guy can't be saved, this
is the best humanity has to offer. If he can't be saved, who can
be saved? What a question. Who then can
be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said
unto them with men, this, is impossible. What? Salvation.
That's plain enough, isn't it? With men, this is impossible,
but with God, all things are possible. Now, who can be saved? All he saves. All the elect, all Christ died
for, all God the Holy Spirit gives life to. They all can be
saved because he saves them. But do you know if I left you
there and said, okay, service is over,
I've given you the truth, I would have failed to preach the gospel.
If I left you right there, I would have failed to preach
the gospel. Now, what do you mean by that? Sirs. Acts chapter 16, verse
30 and 31. Sirs. He was very polite. Sirs. He knew he was in trouble. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Now there's no more important
question for me and you to deal with than that. What must, what
is absolutely necessary for me to do to be saved? Not to save myself, but to be
saved. What must I do to be saved? Well, you're coming to God on
legal ways. Don't you know there's nothing
you can do to be saved? You're all wrong for even asking that
question. He didn't say anything like that, did he? Here's what
he said. Believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord. He's the Lord. You believe that? If you believe He's the Lord,
that means you believe you are in His hand and He can do with
you whatever He's pleased to do. You believe that. He's the
Lord. He's the Lord of lords. He's
the King of kings. He's the Lord Jesus. You know what His name means?
Savior. He's the Savior. And you know
that if you're saved, it's only gonna be because He saved you. Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's God's prophet. He's the
very Word of God. He's God's priest. If He represents
you, you must be saved. He's God's King. He's the King
of Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. What
do you do? Believe on Him. What's that mean? You hear the command God gives
you. And this is a command. This is
not good advice. This is not an invitation. This
is God's command. Believe on my son as all you
need to be saved. Rely on him. Rest in him. God commands you to believe.
You're not called upon to try to figure out whether you're
saved. You're called upon to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God's command to you right
now. Don't try to figure out whether you're saved. Don't try
to figure out whether Christ died for you. Believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved. Who can be saved? Well, 1 Timothy
1 15 says this, Christ Jesus came into the world to save,
what? Sinners. Of whom, Paul says,
I am the chief. He didn't say I used to be the
chief. He's talking about what he is in his own self right now,
and you know Paul as far as men goes. I guess you could say John
the Baptist was greater because of what the Lord said about him,
but there's never been a better man as far as men by grace go
than Paul the Apostle. Yet what does he call himself?
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
the chief. Who can be saved? Sinners. Are you a sinner? If you are, Christ came to save
you. And he didn't fail. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. I have waited for thy salvation,
waiting for my body that'll never sin, looking for a city that
will never end. within my Savior, my God. Let's pray. Lord, enable us truly to do as Jacob caused each one of us by your
spirit to say, I have waited for thy salvation, oh Lord. In Christ's name we pray, amen.