I don't think there's anything
much more awesome than to think of the moment the Lord died. The veil was rent in two from
the top to the bottom. The way into the holiest was
open. Now look back with me at Mark
chapter 13 verse 13. I've entitled this message, Who
Shall Be Saved? Who shall be saved? Well, the Lord answers that in
this passage of scripture in verse 13. And you shall be hated
of all men for my namesake. But he that shall endure to the
end, the same shall be saved. Now, the people who shall be
saved are the people who will be in heaven. You could almost
ask the question, who shall be in the heaven? And it would be
the same thing. Who shall be saved? Now this is a very sobering thing
to think about, but you and I, I wish we could just forget everything
else right now that are going on through our minds and think
of this. You and I are going to spend
eternity in one of two places, heaven and hell. enjoying bliss
that cannot even be described, or in hell. I've heard people say, hell is
the absence of God. God's in hell. There isn't anywhere
where he's not. And it's fueled by his justice. You and I will spend eternity. This life is so brief. You and
I will spend eternity. in heaven or in hell. Now, who will be in heaven? Who shall be saved? Now, let's look at the first
of this chapter. And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto
him, Master, See what manner of stones and what buildings
are here. Now, this temple was impressive. This is the temple Herod built.
The other one had been leveled, but I think of the shock and
awe of seeing this. I remember the first time I went
to New York City, I was in shock looking at the architecture.
I suppose the temple was the equivalent to that at this time. One of the disciples says, Master,
see this impressive building. And Jesus answering said unto
him, seest thou these great buildings? There shall not be left one stone
upon another that shall not be thrown down. I don't have any
question that he is referencing the leveling of Jerusalem that
took place in 70 A.D. There's a lot written about it,
and I mean they leveled the city. There wasn't a building standing.
One of the Roman Caesars ordered this to take place, and they
leveled that building. And as he said upon the Mount
of Olives over verse three against the temple, Peter and James and
John and Andrew asked him privately, tell us when shall these things
be and what should be the sign when all these things shall be
fulfilled. Now, if I heard him say this, I'd want to know too.
I understand this question. When is this going to take place?
And Jesus answering them began to say, take heed. lest any man deceive you. There are going to be a lot of
attempts of deception. I want you to think about all
the weird, strange things, the predictions about the end times
and what's going to happen and so on. And there's going to be
a lot of attempts at deceit. For many, verse six, not just
a few, many, shall come in my name saying, I am Christ. Now notice Christ is in italics. What they're saying is I'm coming
from Christ. I'm coming in his authority. I'm coming in his
name. I'm coming with his message.
And what will they do? They should deceive many, not
just a few. They should deceive many with
their false message. Verse seven, and when ye shall
hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled, for such
things must needs be. But the end shall not be yet.
Now we're hearing of wars and rumors and wars right now, aren't
we? As a matter of fact, we've been hearing about wars and rumors
of wars and earthquakes and famines and all the things he mentions
ever since then. Verse eight, for nation shall
rise against nation. and kingdom against kingdom,
and there should be earthquakes in diverse places, and there
should be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. Now, when these things are taking
place, this is going to be going on until then. But, verse nine,
take heed to yourselves For they shall deliver you up to councils.
He's talking to the apostles, and they would all be martyred
for the truth's sake, for the gospel, with the exception of
John, who would die on Mount Patmos. He said, they shall deliver
you up to councils, and in the synagogues you shall be beaten,
and you shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake,
for a testimony against them. And the gospel, what a blessing
this is. And the gospel must first be published among all
nations. And the Lord's going to make
sure it happens. Now, I want to be involved in this publishing of
the gospel, don't you? But the Lord is going to make
sure this happens. Everybody is going to hear the
gospel. But when they shall lead you
and deliver you up, Take no thought beforehand what you shall speak,
neither do ye premeditate. Don't be thinking, what am I
gonna say? What am I gonna say? But whatsoever shall be given
you in that hour, that speak ye, for it's not ye that speak,
but the Holy Ghost. Now isn't that what preaching
is? Preaching inspired by God the Holy Spirit. where he speaks,
if all we hear is my voice, it'll do us absolutely no good. Nothing can possibly come from
that. But true preaching is when God
the Holy Spirit takes the word and speaks. Preaching is a supernatural
thing. It's not just an exercise in
religion. It's a supernatural thing. Hearing
is a supernatural thing. Yes, it takes God the Holy Spirit
to preach, but it takes God the Holy Spirit to hear. We're totally
dependent upon him. Now he says in verse 12, here's
what's going to be taking place. Now the brother shall betray
the brother to death and the father the Son. And children shall rise up against
their parents and shall cause them to be put to death." Now
that's intense. People having their children
killed because they hate what they believe. People having their
parents put to death because they hate what they believe.
Siblings having each other put to death because they hate what
they believe. Now this is the language of the
Lord. And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Now, what's going on here? Why
is that the case? Now, war. He talks about war
and rumors of war. You think about war. Why is there
war? Well, I can answer that question.
There's war when, say, one nation is trying to protect what another
nation is trying to take from me. Now you try to take what
belongs to me, and there will be a fight. There's gonna be
a war. What brings on war? Some nation wanting what another
nation has. And I'm sure they have a way
to think it's justified, and we need that, it's rightfully
ours, and so they're gonna go and take it. Thus we have war. War is when somebody is trying
to take what belongs to somebody else, and war is when you are
thinking, I need that, and I'm gonna take that to make it my
own. And you know, even when nations join up to other nations
with allies, and I feel sure if there were not self-interest
involved, we wouldn't do it, would we? I don't think we do
it just because it's the right thing to do. I mean, that's just
war. It's part of the fallen condition. But here's the point
I wanna make with regard to what the Lord is saying when he talks
about people becoming so angry they're putting their own family
members to death. And the Lord said that's gonna
happen. You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Now
in preaching, in our preaching, when folks are gonna be upset,
is when they perceive that we're taking from them something that
belongs to them. They're gonna be upset then. You're taking away my hope. You're
taking away what I'm hoping in. That's when people become angry,
when they perceive that they're being unjustly ripped off, taken,
whatever. And here's, let me try to, make
this plain in preaching the gospel. If I can preach something, let's,
for elections, just talk about election, God choosing who would
be saved before time began. The Bible teaches that. Now,
if I preach that in such a way and somebody says, I don't believe
that, I reject that. And I say, well, okay, you know,
it doesn't mean you're not saved. I mean, you can reject election
and still be saved. Well, everything's fine. I can
preach whatever I want. I'm okay, you're okay, as long
as everybody's still saved. But if I preach in such a way
as to say, if you reject election, you reject God himself. That's
who he is. And you're not saved if you do
that. Now we've got a problem. Now
we got a problem. This is when people become upset. They perceive something that
belongs to them. Their salvation, their favor
with God is being taken away. Now you have a fight on your
hands. And that's what the Lord is saying
in this thing of in preaching, you will be hated by all men
for my name's sake. But He that shall endure throughout
all of this, this conflict, and that's what he's talking about.
He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. The person who, in spite of being
hated by all men and all these persecutions, that endures all
the way to the end, that is the man who will be saved. Now turn
back to Mark 4 for a moment. In verse 16. And these are they likewise,
which are sown on stony ground, who, when they have heard the
word, immediately receive it with gladness. This is the best
thing I've ever heard. But they have no root in themselves and
so endure for a time, not all the way to the end, but for a
time. When affliction or persecution
ariseth for the word's sake, they're out the door. Now, are
those people saved? No. No, they are not. Well, it says they received the
word with gladness. Yeah, I know they did, but they
didn't persevere. I think of what, The Lord said, when he said,
if any man draw back, and that draw back is a nautical term,
it means let the sails down. So you don't go quite so hard. If any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. I think of John chapter 6, where
it says, after the Lord had preached, and many of his disciples, after
they heard these things, went back and walked no more with
him. Now, were these people saved?
It says they were his disciples, but they walked no more with
him. No, they were not. Who shall
be saved on that great day? Those who endure to the end. Think of the majesty of these
words, when the son of man shall come in his glory and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his
glory and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall
separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep
from the goats. Sheep and goats, saved and lost. Who shall be saved? Isn't that an important, what
more important question can we consider than that? Who shall
be saved? Who will be in heaven? Well,
I've got nine or 10 real brief statements from the scriptures
I'm going to give that answers that question. Who shall be saved? the people he's already saved.
That's easy enough, isn't it? 2 Timothy 1.9 says he saved us. Doesn't say he shall save us,
says he saved us. That's everything we believe,
isn't it? He saved us and he called us with a holy calling. not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. Who shall be saved? The folks he has saved. Now these folks that are described
in 2 Timothy chapter one, verse nine, that scripture I just read,
are the same people that the angel speaks of when he speaks
of the coming of the Lord. He said, thou shall call his
name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. Who shall be saved? The people
he saved, his people. And he saved his people from
their sins. Now, I say this so often, and
I thought, I hope I don't say this in such a way as, well,
he already said that, let's move on. Think of what this means.
He saved his people from the penalty of their sins. There's
no condemnation to those in Christ. He saved his people from the
power of their sins. I can now do what I formerly
could not do. I can believe. I do believe.
There was a time when I didn't. I do now. I've been saved from
the power of sin. And bless God, I have been saved
from the presence of sin in the sense that I'm already glorified
in Christ Jesus. And one day I'll enter into the
fullness of that. Who shall be saved? Who he has
saved. Who shall be saved? The ones
who must be saved. Now we read in Acts chapter four,
where Peter said in verse 12, there's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we MUST, it is absolutely necessary,
we MUST be saved. Well, who shall be saved? The
folks who must be saved. I like that. You see, if God
elected me and willed my salvation, I must be saved. If Christ died
for me and put away my sins, I must be saved. If God the Holy
Spirit has given me spiritual life, eternal life that can't
be extinguished, I must be saved. Who shall be saved? Everybody
who must be saved. And let me give you another way
to look at must. I must be saved. That doesn't
mean that I have some kind of merit or some kind of corner
on God, but I must be saved. I can't stand before God on my
own. I must have Christ. I must have God elect me. I must
have Christ die for me. I must be given a new. I must,
I have to have his salvation. I love what Luke said after the
Sermon on Pentecost, and the Lord added to the church daily
such as should be saved. Who shall be saved? Everybody
should be saved. Everybody should be saved. They're
all gonna be saved. They should be saved. You see,
they have a perfect righteousness. They don't have any sin. They
stand before God without fault. They should be saved. He added
to the church daily such as should be saved. And then I love this
verse of scripture, for God sent not His Son into the world to
condemn the world, but the world through Him might be saved. He's called in 1 John 4, verse
14, the Savior of the world. Well, who should be saved? Well,
everybody that's included in that description. Now, I know
people use John 3, 16 in such a way to say, see, God loves
all men the same, and Christ died for all men the same, and
God wants to save all men the same. Well, it doesn't even say
that. It says, God so loved the world that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have eternal life. Don't you
love that verse? Thank the Lord for that verse.
I'll tell you who these folks are that God so loved that whosoever
believeth, the same word folks described in Romans 10, 13, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, I have no compunction at
all of saying this is the salvation of the world. He's the savior
of the world. Are you in the world? Then he
came, if you come and believe, this salvation's for you. I love
that scripture, John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall
come to me. Don't you love that? And that's
not the end of the verse. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. He's the savior of the world. Romans 11, 26 says all Israel
shall be saved. Now, he didn't say most of Israel
be saved, he said all of Israel be saved, didn't he? He didn't
say in the end times there's gonna be a great revival, there's
gonna be a bunch of Jews saved. No, he said all Israel shall
be saved. Every single member of the nation
of Israel shall be saved. Now, who's Israel? Is that talking
about that? Nation in the Middle East look
what we read in Romans chapter 9 All Israel who shall be saved
all Israel Romans chapter 9 Verse Six not as though the Word of
God has taken none effect for they are not all Israel which
are of Israel just because you're a physical member of the nation
of Israel doesn't make you true Israel. Neither because they're
the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called, that is, they which are the children of
the flesh. These are not the children of God. But the children
of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word
of promise, at this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a
son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by
one, even by her father Isaac. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand. What's that? Salvation is not of works. but
of him that calleth. Who shall be saved? All of Israel
shall be saved. Who shall be saved? Well, Peter
put it this way in Acts chapter 15, verse 11. We believe that
by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Even a saint. Now that is spoken
in such a way, it reads like this. We believe that by the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we've been saved, we're being
saved, and we will be saved. Everybody that God gives the
grace of his son to is saved. See, grace is not an offer. Grace
is not, here it is, it's up to you to take it or reject it.
No, if God gives you grace, You're saved by that grace. Somebody
said, well, I rejected the offer. No, he never gave it. If you
don't have it, he never gave it. Everybody he gives his grace
to, they are saved. We believe that by the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. Who shall be
saved? Romans 5, 9 says, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Everybody
justified. Everybody. And don't forget what
justification is. I'm looking forward to next year,
because I can then say I've been preaching 40 years. That just
sounds something like I've been preaching 40 years. But I've
been preaching all month, 39 years. And this is more thrilling
to me than it ever. I stand before God just. God's holy law looks me over
and there is no sin. God's law calls me justified. Everybody that's been justified,
they shall be saved. Who should be saved? Well, the
scripture says the Son of Man came to seek and to save that
which was lost. Anybody that's lost THEY WILL
BE SAVED. WITHOUT EXCEPTION, EVERYBODY
WHO'S LOST AND CAN'T GET TO GOD, THEY SHALL BE SAVED. BECAUSE HE SAID, THE SON OF MAN
HAS COME TO SEEK AND SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST. WHO SHALL BE
SAVED? ALL WHO BELIEVE. SIRS, WHAT MUST
I DO TO BE SAVED? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Everybody believes the gospel.
Everybody that believes, that confesses with his mouth the
Lord Jesus and believes in his heart that God raised him from
the dead. You know, I'm confessing right
now, Jesus Christ is Lord. I really, I'm not just saying
something that I know I ought to say. Something I know it's
so, I believe this. He's Lord! I love saying He's
Lord of the dead and the living. That means He's your Lord. Somebody
says, He's not my Lord. Yeah, He is. You might not know it,
but He is. He's everybody's Lord. He's Lord of the dead. He's Lord
of the living. Now, the living love having Him
as their Lord. I love Him being my Lord. And
the dead, they could care less about Him, but He's still in
control of them, too. He's Lord of the dead and the living. He
is the Lord Jesus Christ. I confess with my mouth, the
Lord Jesus. And I believe in my heart, God
raised him from the dead. I believe the moment he died
is that we heard that song. The veil was rent and twain from
the top to the bottom. The way to God was made open
by what he did for everybody he died for. And I believe that
he was raised from the dead because God accepted what he did. The Lord said, I'm the door by
me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. I love the way the
Lord gloriously defines himself as the door. I'm the door. And
he said, I'm the door. Now in this room, four doors. Not four doors into heaven. There's
one door. The door. I am the door. What's the door for? Let people
in. Keep people in. Let people out. Free them. Keep people out that
try to come some other way than him. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. Who shall be saved? Here's the
last one. He that endureth to the end. The same shall be saved. What is the evidence that you've
been chosen by God himself before time began? What is the evidence
that Jesus Christ actually bore your sins and put them away?
What is the evidence that God the Holy Spirit has birthed you
into the kingdom and given you a new heart? Well, here's what
the evidence is. You persevere, you endure all
the way to the end. You don't quit. Now, what is
this thing of perseverance? Let me tell you what it's not.
It's not staying religious all the way to the end. A lot of
people do that. They stay religious into the
day they die. Now, it's not staying religious
all the way to the end. Perseverance is looking to Christ
only all the way to the end. We are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of the confidence. Now what's the beginning
of your confidence? Christ is all. And you never graduate past that.
That doesn't get old, that doesn't become a stale message, that
doesn't become doctrine. That's the heart and soul of
the gospel. And now, you persevere. When
you persevere, it's not remaining religious. Most people do. It's
continuing to look only to Christ. He's all you have. You don't
have anything else. And it's that way all the way
to the end. He that endureth to the end,
The same shall be saved. Now, I said that was the last
one, but this is the last one. I wanna leave you with this.
I was listening to a preacher trying to close up a message,
and just today, I was listening to this message. I mean, he kept
saying, I'm about finished, I'm about finished. I wanted to scream,
I'm finished! But, hope nobody's thinking that. Let me give you one problem,
well, whatever. Who shall be saved? Everybody he intended to save. Well, who did he intend to save? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Not ex-sinners. sinners. Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners, of whom Paul said, I am the chief. Who shall be saved? Sinners. Amen. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you
sent your son to save sinners. And Lord, I ask for each one
of us that by your grace, we might be enabled to endure all
the way to the end, resting only in your son, looking for nothing
else. In his blessed name, we pray.
Amen. Drew Cudley's in a closing game.