I've entitled the message for
this morning, A Brief History of Salvation. I almost feel awkward
trying to give the introduction the way I want to give it, but
in the last few weeks, I read the book, A Brief History of
Time. And it's that book that the British physicist Stephen
Hawking wrote. And somebody says, what are you
reading a book like that? I thought I wasn't smart enough
for it. Well, I'm not. I didn't understand a lot of stuff he said. But I
enjoyed it. And he's writing from the perspective
of an unbeliever, but he is dealing with the origin of the universe. Is the universe contracting? Is the universe expanding? Was
there ever a time when there was no time, where there'll be
a time when there is no time? How did the universe begin? Will
time have its ending point? And he dealt with black holes
and wormholes and time travel and all those various things
that I found very interesting and I didn't understand where
he came up with his conclusions. But he even said some things,
I know you'll find this interesting. He said, if there is a God, free
will is a delusion. I thought that was interesting.
If there is a God, free will is a delusion. He also said if
there is a God, the very idea of God creating the universe
and then kind of standing back as a spectator and from time
to time interbeing, that's impossible. Just using logic. So much for
logic. We don't believe something because it's logical. We believe
it because the Bible teaches it. But I enjoy logical thinking
like that. I know you do too. But I borrowed
his title because I had this on my mind anyway, when I read
this passage of scripture, a brief history of salvation. Look in
verse 28, Romans chapter nine, for he will finish the work and
cut it short in righteousness because a short work with the
Lord make upon the earth. There we have a brief history
of salvation. I look up in verse 27, Isaiah,
Romans 9, verse 27, Paul's constantly quoting from the Old Testament,
and he says in verse 27, Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel,
though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the
sea, a remnant shall be saved. Think of that statement, a remnant,
a small number, that's what the word means, a small number shall
be saved. Now, what do you think of this
thing of being saved? What does that mean? What does
it mean to you? You know, the scripture says
in Jonah chapter two, verse nine, salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord the Father in
eternal election. It's of the Lord the Son in redemption. It's of the Lord the Spirit in
regeneration. Salvation's of the Lord. It's
His work. If you're saved, it's His work. But what do you think
when you think of the concept of being saved? Now, most people,
when they think of being saved, they think of being saved from
that horrible place called hell. If I'm saved, that means I won't
have to go to hell. And that indeed is a part of
salvation, but it's only a part of salvation. I'm thankful for
that part, aren't you? I don't want to go to hell. I don't want
to have to stand before God and give an account for my sins.
I don't want to do that. I don't want to be punished for
my iniquity. I want to be saved. And so that
is indeed a part of salvation. But it's, if anything, the least
part. Come with me to Matthew chapter
1 for a moment. Verse 21, the very first chapter of the
Bible, the angel speaking in Matthew chapter 1, verse 21,
Verse 20, But while he thought on these things, behold, the
angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph,
thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And
she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins. Now, here is what I need to be
saved from. I need to be saved from my sins. Now, before we get into what
that means, the first question we need to deal with is what
is sin? What is sin? Now the Bible answers
that in many different ways. You've all heard the term. I've
heard the term sin. What is it? Well, the Bible defines
sin in many different ways. One of my favorite definitions
is the plowing of the wicked is sin, found in the book of
Proverbs. That means if a wicked man does
it, even though it may seem to be a wholesome activity, I can't
think of anything more wholesome than plowing. Maybe you're going
out to plow to Raise food for the poor and give it to the poor.
But if a wicked man does it in God's sight, it's sin because
of who did it. But I think probably the easiest
concept for us to grasp is this. Sin is the transgression of the
law. God's holy law. Any want of perfect conformity
to God's holy law is sin. Take the first commandment, thou
shalt have no other gods before me. To put anything before God
is sin. The second commandment against
idolatry, making a false image or a false idea of God, it's
sin. The third commandment regarding
taking his name in vain, to fail to have a due reverence for the
name of God is sin. Remember the Sabbath day, that
rest that's in Christ, to fail to rest is sin. Honor your father and mother.
Respect for all authority. Whatever authority God has placed,
to fail to respect that is sin. Thou shalt not kill. And remember,
this is not just physical killing. You can kill somebody's character
by false accusation or by innuendo. Everybody's guilty of that, aren't
they? Murders. I'm looking at a bunch of murders
beginning right here. I've been guilty of that. Thou
shalt not commit adultery. Any form of sexual sin is sin. Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not covet. To desire what God hadn't given
you. Any want of conformity to God's holy law is sin. I need safe from my sins because
listen to me real carefully regarding the Ten Commandments that I've
just mentioned. I haven't kept one commandment
one time. Do you believe that about yourself?
I'm talking about what God sees. He looks on the heart. I've not
kept one commandment one time. Really? nor have you. I need saved from my sins. You see, sin is against God.
And I need saved from my sins. Now, thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now this
means basically three things. When Christ saves his people
from their sins. Means first of all, he saved me from the
penalty of sin. The wages of sin, God says, is
death. God is just. God is holy. The wages of sin is death. If God gives me my wages, what
I've earned, he'll put me into hell. The penalty, the condemnation
of sin. But this is what Christ did.
He took my sin and he made it his own. And he justified it. He paid
the penalty of my sin. That's what He was doing on the
cross. He paid the penalty of my sin. God showed Him no mercy.
He became sin. And just as truly as He took
on my sin, He takes His perfect obedience, His perfect righteousness,
and gives it to me so that I stand before God's holy law without
guilt. It's called in the Scriptures,
justification. If I'm justified, that means
I don't have any sin to be condemned for. What a salvation that God
could actually make it, that Christ actually made it to where
this man talking to you, everybody he died for is justified in God's
sight. Isn't that glorious? Not only
does he save his people from the penalty of their sin, he
saves his people from the power of their sin. Now what does that
mean? there's a scripture in Romans
chapter 5. As a matter of fact, turn with me there. Romans chapter
5. You're in Romans anyway. Verse 20. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. That's an amazing statement,
isn't it? God's law entered that the offense might not be restrained,
but it abounds. Wherever you see God's law for
what it is, you see that your offense abounds. If you ever see it, if you see
yourself in any other light, you've never really seen God's
law. If you see what God's law really says, it makes your, your
offense just abounds and overflows. But where sin abounded. Find me a man or a woman who
sees sin abounding in them. Grace did much more abound, that
as sin hath reigned unto death." Now, hold right there. Sin reigned to death. How much power do you have to
prevent death? I don't care if you eat perfectly
and you exercise every day of your life and you stay out of
every kind of environment that would not be conducive to good
health. How much power do you have to
prevent death? None. We're all going to die
and we can't prevent it. Why? Sin. Sin hath reigned unto death. How much power do you have to
prevent sin? Can you clear your mind and have
nothing but pure and holy thoughts? If I gave everybody ten seconds
right now, everybody just quit thinking and have nothing but
pure thoughts, the most unclean things would come through your
mind and you couldn't prevent it. You couldn't stop it. You see,
sin reigns unto death. I'm under the dominion by nature,
by nature. This is the way I'm born into
this world. I'm born into this world under the dominion, under
the power of sin, so that I can't prevent it. I can't stop it.
I can't, I can't. Somebody says, stop sinning.
Oh, go ahead. Don't sin anymore. Can't be done, can it? Because
we're under the reign of sin. And here's where this is seen
most clearly. I can't perform the most elementary function
that is experienced in a saving relationship with Christ. I cannot
come to Christ. Turn to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Verse 44. Notice our Lord does not say
no man may come. You can if you will. You can
if you will. But he doesn't say no man may
come. He says no man can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to me except the Father which has sent me draw him. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. The point being, I'm under the power of sin and I
can't even come to Christ unless God does something for me. I
cannot. I need delivered from the power
of sin. And that's what God does when
He gives me a new heart, when He gives me a new nature, when
I'm born again of the Spirit of God. I can now do things which
I could not do. There was a time when I could
not believe I didn't even know what it meant. I could remember
it. I think I'd believe if I knew what it meant. I'd repent if
I knew what it meant to repent, but I couldn't understand it.
I find myself now believing, right now, I'm resting in the
Son of God. I'm trusting Him. I'm repenting
of all my false everything. There was a time when I had no
love for God, and I do now. It's because I'm delivered from
the power of sin. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins." And one of
these days, thank God one of these days, I'm going to be saved
from the very commission of sin. I'm not going to commit sins
anymore. I can't wait to be in glory where I will no longer
be a sinner. I'll be in a state of sinlessness,
perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. That's what the Bible
has to say about this thing of salvation. Yes, I don't want
to go to hell, and I'm thankful for salvation from the penalty
of sin, but it's salvation from the power of sin. I'm given a
new nature, and it's going to be salvation from the commission
of sin, from the presence of sin. I'm not going to sin anymore. Now, that's salvation, isn't
it? Matthew 121, thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save
his people from the sins. Now back to Romans 9, I want
us to look at this brief history of salvation. Verse 27, this is the beginning
of salvation. Remember a brief history of salvation.
Here's where salvation begins as it were. Verse 27, Isaiah
also crieth concerning Israel, though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a great multitude, a remnant,
a small number is what the word means. A small number shall be
saved. This is the beginning. This is
the prophecy regarding salvation. A remnant shall be saved. A small number. Now, somebody
said to me recently, I believe there'll be more people in heaven
than there will be in hell. I don't know. Maybe there will
be. I don't know, but you can't really
support that from the scripture because the scripture always
presents on the earth at any given time a small number, doesn't
it? What about the ark? Eight people in the ark. The
rest of the world perished. What about Sodom and Gomorrah?
Abraham said, if there's ten believers, ten righteous people,
will you spare the city? God said, I'll spare it if there's
ten. There wasn't ten. God rained fire and brimstone
down upon that place. The Lord said, enter in at the
straight gate. For wide is the gate, and broad
is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in
thereat, but straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that
leads to life, and few there be that find it." Now that is
the word of the Savior. Now this remnant, this small
number shall be saved. Now look over in Romans chapter
11. We don't have to guess as to what is meant by this remnant. Now this is where salvation begins.
Verse 1, I say then, hath God cast away his people? God forbid.
For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe
of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew. What ye not what the scripture
sayeth of Elias, how he makes intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they killed by prophets, they dig down by altars
and I'm left alone and they seek my life. But what sayeth the
answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so
then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the
election of grace." I love that phrase, the election. God's election,
God choosing who would be saved, and it's election of grace. Now that ought to give everybody
in here some hope. God chose who would be saved.
He chose who would be saved before the foundation of the world.
That's what the scripture teaches. God sovereignly elected, selected,
chose who would be saved before time began. And it's an election
of what? Grace. Grace. How do I respond to this? If God chose, who would be saved? That's what the Bible teaches.
Romans 9-11, for the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. God chose who would be saved.
Not of works, but of Him that calleth. God chose who would
be saved. It's a small number. How do I
respond? Lord, save me! Save me! Save my loved ones. Save my family.
Save the people I preach to. Save me. I don't look at this
and say, well, it's not fair. How can it not? Lord, save me.
That's the only response to grace that's proper. Lord, save me. It's an election of grace. If
it's an election of grace, Lord, save me by your grace. That's
the only proper response. Now, there are all kinds of other
responses to it. I realize that the people will
make. Charging God, why didn't he save everybody and so on.
Well, here's my response. Lord, save me. Save my loved
ones. Save a lot of people. Save the
people. Save me. May the Lord give us
this response to his electing grace. But this is where salvation
begins. Remember, this is a brief history of salvation. It begins
with God's choice of his people. That's where it began. Now look
in verse, back to Romans chapter 9 verse 28. Here is how that salvation is
accomplished. This is the work of the son.
Now remember when we talk about salvation, the brief history
of salvation, we're talking about the work of the father. God's
one God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit. If we present salvation as God
presents it, we present salvation in the work of the Trinity, the
work of the Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the
Holy Spirit. Now here's the work of the Son in this brief history
of salvation, verse 28, for he, the Son, will finish the work
and cut it short in righteousness. Because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. He will finish the work. I love
our Lord's first public words. You remember what they were?
I must be about my father's business. And everything he was doing was
being about his father's business. He said in John 4, 34, My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent Me and finish His work. I love it when He's going to
Samaria. The Scripture says He must needs go through Samaria.
Why? He was about His Father's business.
One of His sheep was there. That poor old Samaritan woman
who'd been married five times, He was coming to save her. He
said, I must be about My Father's business. When He saved you,
He was being about His Father's business. He said in John chapter
17 verse 4, I've glorified thee on the earth. I've finished the
work which thou gavest me to do. I love his next to last words. His last words were, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. But right before that he said,
It is finished. It's finished. It is done. Now turn with me to John 6 for
just a moment. Verse 38, for I came down from heaven not
to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. He had a
work to do that he was to do. Verse 39, and this is the father's
will, which has sent me that of all which he had given me,
I should lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day." He came to save those the Father gave him, and when
he said, it is finished. Now, listen to me. This is a
brief summary of the history of salvation, and here it is.
Here's the brief summary. It's finished! It's finished. It's done. What am I supposed
to do? It's done. It's done. Salvation by works is do. Here's
what you need to do. You need to get better. You need
to somehow improve your standing. You need to straighten up. You
need to quit sinning. You need to do, do, do, do, do. There's no gospel in the message
of do. No gospel to me. Here's the gospel. It's done. It's finished. There's absolutely nothing for
me to do. Simply rest in Christ. Rest is response to his finished
work. Now that's the gospel. That's
good news. That's a brief history of salvation. It's finished. It's finished. Now I realize people will hear
this and they'll say, That's leaving people to live any way
they want to. It is. It is. You know what I want to
do? I want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I want
to do. Not what I have to do. That's what I want to do. You
see, God sets His people free. It's finished. It's done. And
look at this word that He uses to describe this short work. Verse 28, For He will finish
the work and cut it short in righteousness. Righteousness. Now, this word righteousness,
men use it, I suppose, but what is righteousness? Paul said in Romans 10, brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. They weren't saved. I want them to be. I want
them to be. And then he describes these people,
he says, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going
about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves to the righteousness of God. Now, what is righteousness?
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Now here,
here is what this brief work, it doesn't mean that he took
shortcuts. When it says a short work where
the Lord make of the earth, he'll cut it short in righteousness.
It doesn't mean he took shortcuts. It's talking about the comprehensive,
complete character of what he did. He finished the work and
he cut it short in righteousness. Now when the Lord said, it is
finished, and he bowed his head, and he died, God declared me
to be righteous. Period. Period. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. A short work did the Lord make
on the earth. And now, because of Christ, I
am righteous. And I understand this thing of
righteousness. Do you know that there's only one righteousness?
The righteousness of Jesus Christ. Do you understand that? Do you
believe that? That my righteousnesses are nothing more than filthy
rags. And His righteousness is the only righteousness there
is. Now there's a brief history of
salvation. It's done. It's finished. Now, if I stopped there, I would
leave you feeling incomplete. What about the fact that I still
sin? If I've been saved from my sins,
What about the fact, and this is the fact, that I still sin? Am I really saved? What does
that mean? Go on reading verse 29. He quotes Isaiah again. And as
Isaiah said before, except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a
seed, a seed. We had been as Sodom and been
made like unto Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah, the city of moral perversion
It would have made Las Vegas, it kills me when people call
Las Vegas Sin City, I suppose it is in some respect, I guess
more immorality goes in there than most places, but the thing
that is Sodom and Gomorrah would have made Las Vegas look like
Mayberry RFD. That's how bad this place was.
Let me read a quote from Genesis chapter 18 verses 4 and 5 when
the angels, remember those angels that entered Lot's house? We
read in Genesis 18, four and five, and the men of the city,
speaking of even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both
old and young, and all the people from every quarter. And they
called unto Lot and said, where are the men that came into this
house this night? Bring them out to us that we
might know them. And you know that doesn't mean
just getting introduced to them. What moral perversion and perverseness
and depravity. And we know that God rained fire
and brimstone down from heaven and fried those people in their
tracks, didn't he? Now, Isaiah said, except the Lord had left
us a seed. That's us. That's us. We would be just like
them. Now, in the scripture, seed is
sometimes represented as the gospel message sowed by the sower. Remember the parable of the sower,
where the Lord said a sower went out and through seed and the
four different kinds of ground that it hit. The seed is called
the gospel message. And then we read in the scripture
of the seed of Abraham, don't we? Christ is the seed of Abraham. Believers are the seed of Abraham. This speaks of the believers'
union with Christ. Remember there in Galatians chapter
3, when Paul said, I speak not of seeds as of many, but as of
one seed, which is Christ. Christ is the seed. You know,
the whole tree is within seed, isn't it? That's glorious. I love to think of a little seed.
The mighty tree comes out of that, and everything that's in
the tree is in that seed. All of God's church, all of God's
people, every believer is in the Lord Jesus Christ, is in
that seed. But would you turn to 1 Peter
1. Now, except the Lord of the Sabbath had lest us a seed, we'd
be just like Sodom and Gomorrah. Now here's the seed Peter's speaking
of. First Peter chapter 1, verse 23. This is the seed Paul was
speaking of and Isaiah was speaking of in Romans 9. Verse 23, being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by
the word of God. which liveth and abideth forever. Being born again, born from above,
not of corruptible seed, not of man's seed, but of incorruptible,
the word of God, which lives and abides forever. Now turn
to first John chapter three, verse four. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. Already
looked at that at the first of this message. You know that he
was manifested to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. If I'm in him, I have no sin. Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth, hath not seen
him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
He that committed sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth
from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of
God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil,
whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Now let's think of this statement.
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. Where does that leave you? Says
he doesn't commit sin. I've heard people say that means
he doesn't practice sin. Oh, do you practice sin? Do you? Yet it says, whosoever
is born of God does not commit sin. How is that? Look what it says
in verse nine after this. For his seed remaineth. in him. The seed of God, the
new nature that does not commit sin. Now, I still have Sodom
and Gomorrah in me, the old nature. You recognize that. We still
have that old nature in us, but we have a new nature that does
not commit sin. It's called the seed of God.
And this is the seed that Isaiah was speaking of when he said,
we'd be just like Sodom and Gomorrah if not for this seed that's in
us. Now, remember when I was talking
about how come I still sin? Well, you do. You do. But you
also have this seed. was given in the new birth, a
miraculous supernatural work of God, the seed that does not
commit sin. And greater is He that's in you,
this is the seed, this is the new nature, the seed of God,
the incorruptible seed, the gospel. Greater is He that's in you,
that's He in the world, than he that's in the world. You have
a nature in you, a seed that is stronger than the old nature,
that keeps the old nature from doing what it would do. Aren't
you thankful for that? Oh, I'm so thankful for this
seed. And I love that passage of scripture where it talks about
Jacob and Esau, which represent, remember that woman, Rebecca
had two manner of men in her. She had these twins in her and
she was struggled. She says, if it's so, why am
I thus? Why am I like this? And the Lord said, two manner
of men are in you and two nations are in you and one should be
stronger than the other. The new nature is stronger than
the old nature. And he said, the elder, the old nature shall
serve the younger. Now this is what I love thinking
about. The elder, that old nature, is a servant to the new nature.
That sinful nature is a servant to the new nature. My old nature
reminds me all the time of my need of Christ. It causes the
gospel to come to me as good news. Not as bad news, but as
good news. It reminds me that there's only
one righteousness. That's the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. I've got a seed. And one of these
days, when the old nature dies, when I die, all there will be
is that real me, that new nature, the seed of God. Now that is
the history, that's a brief history of all of salvation. It begins
with God's choice, it's Christ's work, and it's God the Holy Spirit,
the seed within us that causes us to be. And when I die, this thing
of history, time will be no more. History will be over. The eternity
of this thing. And when I die, I'm going to
live in the eternal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
won't be any past. There won't be any future. It'll
all be in the eternal now, the eternal present. And that is
when history will be no more. Now that's a brief history of
salvation. Let's pray.