On tonight, I'm going to be preaching
on forgiving others. And that is a huge issue in the
scripture because the Lord says that we are called upon to say,
forgive us as we forgive. Now, that is a huge issue for
me to say, Lord, I want you to forgive me the way I forgive
others. Romans, Chapter five. I've entitled
this message, we shall be saved. That's mentioned twice in our
text. Look in verse nine, much more
than being now justified by his blood. We shall be saved from
wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved. I want to be in that we, don't
you? And I want you to be in that
we. We shall be saved. Now, Paul is not speaking in
the royal we. But he is speaking as the representative
of all who will be saved. We shall be saved. Now, this is an awesome thought,
but God wrote that book you have in your hand. Aren't you thankful
for that? You know, I really believe that
too. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And God wrote the book you have
in your hand. And it's a book where he tells
how he saves. Why are sinners saved? Well, many reasons could be given,
but the greatest is that we're saved to the praise of the glory
of his grace. I said this, I think, last Wednesday
night, or I can't remember exactly when I said it, but I've been
thinking about it since then, about this thing of being saved
by grace. I really feel, I believe this. I'm a poster child for
grace. I really am. I'm an example.
If I'm saved, and I believe I am, if I'm saved, I'm going to be
a trophy of His grace. I will be the, I will be the
greatest example of how much salvation is by grace. And I
believe you believe that about yourself as well, don't you? God is known by how he saves. The cross is a declaration of
who God is, how he saves. Oh, I think of the Lord being
nailed to the cross. And that tells me of the justice
of God, the holiness of God. It tells me of the love of God.
It tells me of the grace of God. It tells me who God is. God's
character is known. What he's really like, who he
really is, is known in how he saves sinners. Psalm 3 8 says
that salvation belongeth to the Lord. Job or Jonah 2.9 says salvation
is of the Lord. Psalm 37.39 says the salvation
of the righteous is of the Lord. Now, would you turn with me to
First Peter Chapter 4. Verse 18. And if the righteous, first Peter
chapter four, verse 18, and if the righteous, and that's every
believer scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the
sinner appear? Now I used to read that verse
of scripture and I would think, yeah, we just make it in by the
skin of our teeth. We're just scarcely saved. We just barely
make it. Um, but that's not what that
verse of scripture means. The word scarcely means with great
difficulty. If the righteous with great difficulty
be saved. Now, somebody may think, how
can something be greatly difficult to God? He's all powerful. Well. Was it with difficulty that he
forsook his only begotten and well-beloved son? Was it difficult for Christ when
He was in Gethsemane's garden, saying, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me, when He as a man was overwhelmed with
the thought of being overtaken by the wrath of God? Was it difficult for the Lord
when He was made sin? Oh my, with great difficulty,
the righteous are saved. Now, when we talk about we shall
be saved, the question that comes to my mind automatically is saved
from what? Well, Matthew 121 says, I shall
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And here's what I need saved
from my sins. Another way to say this is I
need saved from myself. You see, you can't separate the sins and
the one who commits the sins, can you? God doesn't put sins
into hell. He puts the people who committed
those sins into hell. And you can't separate the sin
and the one who committed the sin. And what I need saved from
is my sins. I need rescued from my sins.
Lord, save me from my sins. Save me from the penalty of sin. I certainly can't deal with that.
Save me from the power of sin because sin will overcome me.
Save me from the presence of sin. Save me from the commission
of sin. What I need saved from is my sins. Oh, the thought of
Him saving me from my sins. What a precious thought that
is. I need to be saved from my sins. Now, if the righteous are
scarcely saved, if it's with great difficulty, the righteous
are saved, what does it take for a sinner to be saved? It's
a good question, isn't it? According to the scriptures,
what does it take for a sinner to be saved? Now, I'm not just
popping off things that I try to come up with. What does the
Bible say it takes for a sinner to be saved? Here's the first
thing it takes. It takes the will of God. For you to be saved, first, God
has to will your salvation. Now the leper understood that.
He said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. He has mercy
on whom he will have mercy. The scripture says, and whom
he will, he hardens. It takes the sovereign will of
God for you or I to be saved. The Lord said in John chapter
15, verse 16, you've not chosen me. But I have chosen you. It takes the choice of God. God's
got to choose you to be saved. According, Ephesians 1, 4 says,
according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame. Now, for you to be saved, here's
another way to say it. You got to be elected. God's
got to elect you to salvation. Now election is not hard to understand.
It means God chose who would be saved. That's all it means.
God chose who would be saved. That's not hard to understand.
Now folks might have a hard time believing it, but it's not hard
to understand. Here's the first point for you
to be saved for me to be saved. God's got to choose me to be
saved. And you know, I know that. So I know it's so. What does
it take for a sinner to be saved? Secondly, the shedding of Christ's
precious blood. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Mark chapter 14? These are the words of the Lord
in Gethsemane's garden. Verse 33. And he taketh with
him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed,
and to be very heavy." Remember, it's with great difficulty that
the righteous are saved. And oh, what difficulty he was
going through at this time. And he said unto them, my soul
is exceeding sorrowful unto death, tarry ye here and watch. And
he went forward a little and fell on the ground and prayed
that if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all
things are possible unto thee. Take away this cup from me, nevertheless,
not what I will, but what thou wilt. Now, when he said, if it'd
be possible, take this cup away from me. Here's the question
I want to ask you. Was it possible? Was it possible for you to be
saved? or for me to be saved without
the shedding of his blood. Was it possible? My soul, if
it was possible, you know that the Lord would have used some
other way than to bring his son through all that. But without
the shedding of blood, his blood. Shedding your blood or my blood
won't do anybody good. Talk about the shedding of his
blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission
of sins. Paul said in Galatians 2.21,
if righteousness came by the law, then Christ died in vain
to no purpose. Now for me to be saved, for you
to be saved, Christ had to shed his precious blood to put away
your sin. utterly necessary. Oh, what difficulty
was there? Thirdly, what does it take for
a sinner to be saved? A new birth. The work of God,
the Holy Spirit, the invincible, irresistible work of God, the
Holy Spirit, when he says live, and you live. Except a man be
born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. That same
power that was used in raising Christ from the dead is used
in giving a dead sinner spiritual life. And you hath he quickened,
given life to who were dead in trespasses and sins. Now, what
does it take for a sinner to be saved? Well, it takes the
electing work of the father. It takes the redeeming work of
the Son. It takes the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. And
remember, I'm asking this from the question, what does the scripture
say regarding salvation? What does it take for a sinner
to be saved? Well, 1 Corinthians 1.21 says, it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Listen to this scripture
from Romans 10, verse 13 through 15, Paul said, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they
call on him whom they've not believed? How shall they believe
on him in whom they've not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching what's going on right now to save them that believe. Now, let me remind you who said
this. God said it. God said it, because
people always object to this. I mean, you say you got to hear
a preacher, you say all this. Take the emphasis off the preacher.
The emphasis is the message he preaches. The issue right here
is what is the gospel? It's not have you heard the right
preacher. The issue is what is the gospel? And God brings his
message through the preaching of the gospel. That's how God
works. That's how God operates. And
somebody say, well, are you saying, I'm not saying anything. I'm
just saying what God says. It please God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them to believe. And the real issue here
is what is the message one believes when they're saved? That's the
issue. What does it take for a sinner
to be saved? Fifth, the keeping power and grace of God. Now,
if you're saved, you know this, the only way you'll stay saved
is if he keeps you saved. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling. And if he doesn't keep me, I
know what'll happen to me. I won't persevere even for a
second if he doesn't keep me by his grace. What does it take for a sinner
to be saved? All that was, is, and shall be. God's providence. All that was,
is, and shall be. Isn't this a joy to know that
everything that's taken place in your life, there's a necessity
to it? There's an absolute necessity.
You think of what it took for the Lord to bring you to hear
the gospel and to believe the gospel. What does it take for
a sinner to be saved? All that was, is, and shall be
the divine providence of God. Salvation. We shall be saved. I love to think of salvation
in its past tense. He saved us, 2 Timothy 1.9 says.
It doesn't say he made salvation available for us. It says 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
were given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. I love a salvation that was given
to me before I was even born. I love the fact that it says
he saved us and he called us. Which came first, the saving
or the calling? The saving. He saved us and he
called us with a holy calling. I love salvation in the present
tense. Save now, we beseech thee, O
Lord, the psalmist said. Now is the accepted time. Today
is the day of salvation. And I'm praying right now, Lord,
save me. And I love salvation in the future
tense, knowing that in the future, I'm going to be perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ. That's my heritage. That's my
inheritance. That's what I've got waiting
for. I'm going to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ. Now is
our salvation near? You know, our salvation hasn't
happened yet. Long as I'm the way I am, I've not been plumb
saved yet. But one of these days I will
be. Now, I realize salvation is a finished work. It's already
completed, but it's also a work in progress. I'm not plumb saved
yet. I will be, though. That is my
future. Now, what does the Bible say
regarding this thing of being saved? We shall be saved. Well, first of all, the Bible
says we're saved by grace. Ephesians 2 verse 8, by grace
are you saved. Now, that doesn't simply mean
God has favor on us. It means more than that. You
know, we use the phrase to describe grace, unmerited favor, and it
is unmerited favor, but it's more than unmerited favor. Now,
if I give up Beggar on the street, $5, that's unmerited favor. It
really is. But what if I gave someone who
punched me in the face and murdered my child and took everything
I had and treated me in such horrible abuse and I gave them
favor? That's a little bit more than
unmerited favor. That's amazing favor. Amazing grace. How sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. Peter said, we believe that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as they. You know what the litmus test
for grace is? I can tell what you believe about grace by what
you believe about divine election. That's the litmus test for grace. Second Thessalonians 2.13 says,
but 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. And you don't believe in election. You don't believe
grace. You don't preach election. You don't preach grace. And our
text in Romans chapter five, it says, for if when we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved through his life.
I'm saved by grace. I'm saved by the life and by
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a beautiful summary of
my salvation, his life. That's my life before God. His
perfect righteousness given to me. I'm saved by His death. His death put away my sin. If, when we were enemies, we
were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. When Christ
died, I was reconciled. My sin was put away. First Corinthians
1.18 says, for the preaching of the cross, the doctrine of
the cross, the word of the cross is to them which are saved. Not
to them which perish, it's foolishness, but unto them which are saved.
It is the power of God. What the cross declares is my
salvation. Everything the cross declares
is my salvation. I love thinking about this. If
you would use one word to describe the whole counsel of God, you
know what that word would be? The cross. The cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, there's my salvation. That one hanging on a cross.
That tells who God is. It tells who I am. Don't you
love that? That cross tells exactly who
God is. It tells exactly who I am, what I am, and it tells
how God saves me. Turn to Acts chapter 16, I'd
like you to look at this. What does the Bible teach about
salvation? Acts chapter 16. This is the Philippian jailer's
question. This is after he was getting
ready to kill himself and Paul stopped him. Verse 29, then he
called for a light and sprang in. and came trembling and fell
down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? That's what I want to know. What
must I do to be saved? Now, I've heard preachers say,
well, he was he was asking the wrong question. He shouldn't
be saying, what must I do to be saved? Because that means
he believes in salvation by works. He believed no such thing. He
knew he couldn't be saved by his works. That's why he's asking
this question. He knew, I'm in trouble. I'm not saved. What must I do to be saved? And Paul didn't say that you
got the wrong language. You shouldn't even be asking
that question because there's not anything you can do to be saved. He gave him
something, didn't he? He said, believe. on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe, rely is the word. Depend upon the Lord. He's the Lord. You know what
that means? That means He's the Lord. That
means He's in control. That means He's, you know, any
view of the Lord Jesus Christ other than absolute and complete
lordship, sovereign control, is a heathen view. It's heathen. He's the Lord. Not only is he
the Lord, he's Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. He's the Savior.
Believe on the Lord. He's able to do whatever it is
He sets out to do. But remember this, He's the Savior. That's
who He is. Do you know He delights in saving
sinners? He delights. He's the Savior. Believe on the
Savior. You need saved? Believe on the
Savior. He's the Lord Jesus. He's the
Christ. He's God's Christ. He's God's
prophet. He's the Word of God. He Himself
is all God has to say. This is my beloved Son. Hear
Him. He's God's priest. Oh, for me
or you to be saved, I'm going to have to have a priest to represent
me before God, to bring me into God's presence. He's the priest.
He's the mighty King for me to be saved. I need one who's almighty,
who can cause me to do His will, who can cause me to come to Himself.
He's the King. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. I love what the Lord said to
that woman who was a sinner. We don't know anything she said.
She just was at His feet. Weeping. She'd heard him. She
was one of those people that heard him say, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. She heard him say that, and she
came into his presence, and we don't have one word she said.
Somebody says, well, how do you know what she believed? Don't
need to. She came into his presence, weeping at his feet, and he said,
woman, thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace. He said to Bartimaeus,
thy faith hath saved thee. Now, somebody thinks, well, it's
not faith that saves, it's Christ that saves. Well, I certainly
realize that, but when the Lord said, thy faith has saved you,
that's a good way to say it, isn't it? The Lord said it. The Lord said it. Thy
faith has saved thee. Bartimaeus, what's your faith?
Well, he knew the only way he could have sight is if Christ
gave him sight. That's his faith. Romans 10,
9 says, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. I'm confessing with my mouth
the Lord Jesus. Well, I'm preaching to you right now. I'm confessing
He's the Lord. You know, this thing of preaching,
I don't want to be preached at, do you? I don't want to be preached
at, but I want to be preached to. I want to hear exactly what
God says. That's what I'm concerned about.
I don't want to be preached at, but I want to be preached to,
and I want to be preached to the Lord. Jesus Christ and you
know, I I confess with my mouth right now. I'm doing it. He's
the Lord He's the Lord and I'm believing in my heart that God
raised him from the dead now That means more than just believing
that it happened. I believe it happened And I love
thinking about this his body never went through the process
of decay You know why? The second he died complete satisfaction
was made And when he was raised from the dead, it's because God
was satisfied with what he did. And he was satisfied with everybody
he did it for. And I believe that in my heart.
And the scripture says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart. And believe it in
your heart. That's the whole man. I understand.
With the heart man believed at the righteousness, with the mouth
confession is made to salvation, in my heart I understand that
the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness I have.
But not only does that affect my understanding, it affects
my will. This is the way I want it to
be. I surely do. Give me a choice. Do you want
to be saved by Christ's righteousness or your own? There ain't no choice
there. I mean, I want to be saved by
Christ's righteousness, don't you? And it is in my affections. I love being saved by Christ. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness. And with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. We are saved by His intercession.
Hebrews 7.25 says, wherefore he is able to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by him, seeing that he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. Now, when the Lord said regarding
Peter, Peter, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sit
you as wheat. And he did, didn't he? You know
what the Lord said? But I have prayed for you. Was there any doubt of Peter's
salvation when the Lord said, I have prayed for you? You see, if he prays for me,
my salvation is an utter necessity. When he said, Father, forgive
them, everybody he prayed for was forgiven. Every single one
of them were saved by his intercession. Saved by calling. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The name of the Lord is who he
is. Now don't ever think that's just audibly, verbally giving
his name. The name of the Lord is who he
is. I'm calling on who he is to save me. Lord, you're all
powerful. If you will my salvation, it'll
take place. Save me. Lord, you're just. Save me in a way that honors
your justice. Oh, Lord, you're gracious, you're
merciful. Save me in a way that honors
your grace. Lord, save me. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord. I'm calling right now, Lord,
save me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Saved by looking. God said in
Isaiah 45, 22, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of
the earth. For I am God and beside me is
none else. I love thinking about when the
Lord sent those serpents into the camp of Israel. They said,
our souls loathe this light bread. It had once been heavenly manna,
but now it's light bread. And I can see why the Lord sent
those serpents in and begin to bite the people. And the people
came to Moses and said, what are we going to do? And the Lord
said, you go put a serpent on a pole, that which is bitten,
and raise it up. And anybody who just looks, that's
it. Look. If I say, look at me, what
do you do? You look at me. If you look, if you look to that
brazen serpent, if you look to the Lord Jesus Christ, you will
be saved. Look unto me and be saved. All the ends of the earth for
I am God and beside me is none else. Psalm 83 talks about being
saved or Psalm 80 verse 3, saved by being turned. Turn us again,
O God, and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved.
Lord, turn me. Turn me. You know repentance
is turning, isn't it? It's turning. And the only way
I'm going to turn is if He turns me. And so I pray, Lord, turn
us again. Cause thy face to shine and we'll
be saved. In John 10 verse 9, the Lord
said, I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. Now, He didn't say I'll open
the door. He said, I'm it. I'm it. I'm the door. What's a door for? It's to let people in. It's to
let people out. It's to keep people in. And it's
to keep people out. The Lord said, I'm the door.
I'm the entrance into the Father. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. The door keeps people out in
this sense. Anybody who tries to come on the basis of their
own works, the door stays closed. It's closed. You can forget it.
But a door keeps people in too, doesn't it? Keeps people locked
into Christ. Can't get out. I am the door,
by me if any man enter in, he'll be saved. We're saved by receiving
the love of the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2.10 says because
they received not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. Have you received the love of
the truth? I don't mean just given assent
to, yeah, I see the Bible says this. Do you love the way God
saves? Do you love Him as He's revealed
in His Word? Receiving the love of the truth. Not just giving assent to the
truth, but receiving the love of the truth. James 1.21 says
we're saved by receiving with meekness the engrafted Word,
which is able to save our souls. I love the way James says, let
every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, slow to pop off
against what's been said. But the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, laying aside all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness, receive with meekness the engrafted
word, which is able to save your souls." Oh, receive the word
of God. And then Matthew chapter 10,
verse 22 says, we're saved by perseverance. He that endureth
to the end. The same shall be saved. It is only that one who perseveres
in the faith by the grace of God that shall be saved. We're made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
Now, I want to conclude this message by looking at a prayer
that everybody who ever is saved prays. Start with me in Matthew
chapter 14. There's never been anybody who
was ever saved by the grace of God that did not pray this particular
prayer. And with these words too, with
these words. Now in Matthew chapter 14, beginning
in verse 24, but the ship was now in the midst
of the sea tossed with waves for the wind was contrary. And
in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It's a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer,
it is I. Be not afraid. You know concerning everything, the Lord says, be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou, bid me, command me to come unto thee
on the water. And you know, that's a, this
is not the prayer I want to emphasize, but that's something I always,
Lord, command me to come. I want to come to Christ. Lord,
command me to come. I need you to command me to come.
I won't come if you don't do it. Cause me to come. Command me to come to thee on
the water. You know, that's something that's
impossible for Peter to do, to come to him on the water. Verse
29, and he said, come. And when Peter was come down,
you know, anytime you come to Christ, you come down. You come
down from your high position. You come down. When Peter was
come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to
Jesus. I love to think of Peter doing
this. Can you imagine having the guts or what the courage
or whatever, the faith to get out of the boat, come down and
start walking on the water? Now I know myself this much. I know that if I would have done
that, the first thing I would have thought about was, I'm doing
this. What about John? What about James? What about Matthew? I'm the only
one who did this. I know that's what I would think.
I just know it. So what happens when you think
that way? And I feel quite sure he was. But when he saw the wind
boisterous, his eyes were taken away from Christ. And he saw
the wind boisterous, strong, too strong for him. And he was
afraid and beginning to sink. He cried, saying, Lord, save
me. Now this is the prayer that everybody
prays that the Lord saves. I hope by the grace of God, everybody
in this room, I don't care if you're a child, if you're an
adult, if you're an old person, if you're... Pray this prayer.
Lord! He's the Lord! He's the Lord. He's the ruler of the waves.
He's the one who has absolute control of everything. He's the
Lord. He's the creator. Lord, it matters
who you pray to. He's the one you pray to. He
better be the Lord or he can't do you any good. He's the Lord. Lord, save me. I can't save myself. If all you
do is make my salvation available, if I do something, it won't do
me any good at all. Save me. Lord, save me. I'd like for you to save others,
too. I want you to save everybody, but save me. I'm the one in trouble. I'm the one that's the problem.
Lord, save me. Now this is the prayer that everybody
who is saved prays. Lord. Save. Me. And let me tell you something
else. Everybody. Without exception. Whoever prays
that prayer. He saves. No one has ever prayed
that prayer that he turned down. Look what it says in verse 31. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand, that hand of omnipotence and might. And he
caught him while he was sinking and said unto him, O thou little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? When they were coming to the
ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were in the ship
came and worshiped him, saying of a truth, Thou art the Son
of God. Let's pray together. Lord.