Psalm 37, read one verse, verse
39. Psalm 37 at verse 39. But the salvation of the righteous,
now who's he talking about here? He's talking about those who
are made righteous in Christ. None of us by nature are righteous. We are nothing but sinners. But
because of what Christ has done for us, we enjoy that righteousness
we have in Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness.
But the salvation of God's people, the righteous, is of the Lord. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. The Lord shall help them and
deliver them. He shall deliver them from the
wicked and save them. Save them. They trust in Him. They trust in Him for all of
their salvation. Not some of it, all of it, all
of it. Now the title and subject of
my message is what is said there in verse 39. Salvation is of
the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord entirely
and completely and totally. Our salvation is all of God. Man contributes nothing to the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, nor to the salvation of sinners. Salvation, this is the Lord doing
and it's marvelous in our eyes. Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ is all of our salvation. He is the power of God unto salvation. That's why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. because it is the power of God
into salvation to everyone that believe that you are Gentile.
Therein then in that gospel is the righteousness of God revealed
from first to last. Salvation is of the Lord. Now
look that word up, salvation. And it's used 166 times in the
scripture. 166 times in the scripture. And
it means to deliver. Christ is our Savior who delivers,
our Redeemer who redeems. It means to deliver. What a glorious
and blessed truth that shines on every page of Holy Scripture.
We as poor, needy sinners, great and guilty sinners, we have a
mighty, victorious Savior. Because we are so sinful, we
need a great Savior, don't we? Because we're so wicked, We need
a savior who can lift us from the pit of sin and make us new
creatures in Christ Jesus. And he is mighty to save. You
remember Hebrews chapter seven, where it says, wherefore he is
able to save them to the uttermost. He's able to save. Wherefore
he's able to save them to the uttermost to come to God by him
saying, I love this part. He's able to save because he
ever lives to intercede for us. He's interceding for us right
now. The God-man mediator is seated on the throne of glory,
ruling and reigning over all things. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the only answer and the only remedy for our sin. Call his
name Jesus. Why? He shall save his people
from their sins. He is what he's called. He's
called the Savior. He doesn't try to save. He saved
His people from their sin. When He died, He set them free.
He set His people free. He is the Redeemer that delivers
from all our sin. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again because He justified us. If he wouldn't have justified
us, God wouldn't have raised him from the dead. The Lord Jesus
Christ satisfied God's long justice for us. Now God can be just and
the justifier of those who believe the gospel. He gave himself for
our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world
and it's all according to the will of God. The will of God. What a full
and complete revelation God gives us of so great salvation that
we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, we studied in the book
of Hebrews where it says in chapter two, how shall we escape if we
neglect so great salvation? We have a great Savior who has
great salvation for great sinners. I'm going to take my place before
God Almighty as a great sinner, a great sinner. Now, if you look
at verse 39, salvation, salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is
of the Lord. That word salvation means total
and complete deliverance from all our sin. from the penalty
of sin, the guilt of sin, and from the power of sin to condemn.
Paul writes about it in Ephesians chapter one, in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches
of His grace, to the praise of the glory of His grace. So we
have salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ. What a glorious
word, salvation. Salvation. Salvation from all
our sin by the blood atonement of Christ. Notice that other
second word there, salvation is. Salvation is. Why is salvation, why is it? Salvation is because our great
God is God of salvation. Salvation is because God is.
He's the God of salvation. We read in scripture, God is
love. We read in scripture that God is good. We read in scripture
that God is merciful. God delight to show mercy to
such as we are. We are sinners. Salvation is
because God is God. He's a God and Lord of salvation. And then that third word is salvation
is of. It's not of man. Salvation is
of what? The Lord. So we know that salvation
is not of works, but any man should boast. We know that salvation
is not of merit. We know that salvation is not
of law, but rather we know that salvation is all of God's grace. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift of God. So salvation,
salvation is, salvation is of the Lord, not of man, not of
the church, not of tradition, not of ceremony, it's of the
Lord. And then that fourth word is
salvation is of the Lord. Notice it's capital L-O-R-D. The Lord, Jehovah, God, our Savior. Salvation is of the Lord. That is, there's just one way
of salvation. God saves every sinner whom he
saves one way. Christ is the way, the truth,
the light. Just one way of salvation. Our
Lord plainly said that, John 14, six. I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. No man come to the Father but
by and through me. The only way we can come to God. God is holy. We're sinners. How
are we gonna come? Only in Christ. He brings us. The just for the unjust, he died
once for our sin. The just for the unjust that
he might do what? Bring us unto God. That's how
we're brought. He has to bring us. Salvation
is up the Lord. He is the life. He is the door. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
bread of life. Remember, I'm the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger, shall never thirst. The
Lord Jesus Christ, he said, I am the light. No other light. He's the only light that lightens,
that reveals salvation unto us. The Lord said, I am the good
shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep.
And we know the Lord said, I am the resurrection and the life. He's everything in salvation.
Everything in salvation. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, Yet shall
he live forever. And we know that salvation is
of the Lord. It's of the Lord. It's of the
Lord. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is who He is that gives infinite power to what He accomplished
upon the cross. Now if He's just a mere man from
Nazareth, We know you're a good teacher, come from Nazareth.
If he's just a mere man from Nazareth, we have no hope of
salvation. It's who he is that gives infinite
value to what he did. The Lord Jesus Christ is God
manifest in the flesh. God manifest in the flesh. You
remember Acts chapter 20 where it says that that God bought
the church with his own blood. Who bought it? God bought it.
Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's God. He's God. Without controversy,
great is the mystery of Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ obtained
for us eternal redemption with his own blood. He didn't make
an effort or an attempt. He made an atonement. I often
say He didn't make an attemptment to put away sin. He made a full
atonement for the sin of God's people. None for whom the Lord
Jesus Christ can die. None for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ will ever perish in hell. Why? He paid their debt. If He
paid their debt, I don't know it. If he paid the debt of God's
people, they cannot perish. He said, all that the Father
giveth to me, they'll come to me, and those that come to me,
I'll never cast them out. They'll never perish. Because
the Lord Jesus Christ put away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. He performed salvation. You remember Psalm 57 too, where
it says he performed most things for us. No, it says he performed
all things for us. all things he performed for us.
One of the first recorded words we have in the Bible, when the
Lord Jesus Christ was just 12 years old, he said to his mother
and Mary and Joseph, he said, I must be about my father's business. The Lord Jesus Christ was on
a business trip. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to do what?
To redeem us. He came to redeem us. He always
knew that because he's a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. He said, I must be about my father's
business. His first recorded words in Luke
chapter two and his last recorded words in John 19 verse 30. You remember his last recorded
words? It's finished. I must be about my father's business.
It's finished! It's finished. The Lord Jesus
Christ finished our salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. Now what do we mean when we say
that salvation is of the Lord? We mean that salvation is by
the sovereign, eternal, everlasting power of God. You remember John
17 verse 2. The Father hath given me, the
Lord prayed, power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou, Father, hast given to me. Salvation is of
the Lord. We mean that salvation is by
the sovereign will of God, not the will of man. Remember we
studied in James 1.18? You could quote it, couldn't
you? Of his own will begat he us. with the word of truth. We
read Sunday from Romans 9, remember? Not of him that willeth, nor
him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy. God that shows
mercy. We mean, when we say that salvation
is of the Lord, we mean that salvation is by the grace of
God alone, justified freely by his grace through the redeeming
blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. We mean this when we say salvation
is of the Lord. The whole of the work whereby
lost, dead sinners, rebels against God, guilty sons of Adam are
justified, saved, and redeemed only by the Lord Jesus Christ,
of Him only. That's what we mean, what we
mean when we say salvation is of the Lord. It's not something
we do for God or something salvation is not something we do for ourselves.
Salvation is something God does for us and in us. Christ in you
is a hope of glory. Is that right? The Lord Jesus
Christ. You remember we studied in the
revelation, it talks about the glorified lamb, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the alpha, he's the omega,
he's the beginning and the end. He's everything in salvation.
He's the beginner of it, he's the finisher of it. He's the
start of it, he's the end of it. We read in scripture that
Christ is all and in all. It's God who saved us. It's God
who called us with a holy calling, not according to our work, but
according to his own purpose and grace, given us in Christ
before the foundation of the world, eternal salvation. That's
the salvation that we read of in this book, salvation of the
Lord, of the Lord. Moses declared that completely.
We read there in Exodus chapter 14. Israel was, no way they could
deliver themselves. They would never sing, you read
Exodus chapter 15, they would never sing, we delivered ourselves. Look what we have done. They
didn't sing that. They said, the Lord triumphed
gloriously. They knew who saved them, didn't
they? Every sinner whom God saves They know they were saved by
the grace of God, the free and sovereign grace of God alone.
Moses said, stand still, fear ye not, stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord. They walked through on dry ground
and God delivered them and then God killed all the enemies of
Israel. Jonah declared the same message,
didn't he? Salvation of the Lord. He said, I will sacrifice, you
remember, unto the Lord with the voice of thanksgiving, all
pay that I have vowed, salvation of the Lord. You remember Jonah
was swallowed by that whale, spent three days in that whale's
belly before he was vomited out on dry land, and he declared
salvation of the Lord. There's no way Jonah's getting
out of that fish, that whale. unless God delivers him. God
must deliver him. You remember Simeon in the temple,
that old man, where it was revealed to him that he wouldn't die until
he'd seen the Lord's Christ, remember? And they brought that
40-day-old baby to the temple to be circumcised according to
the law. And Simeon took that baby up
in his arms, looked in the face of that baby, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God, and said, Lord, I'm ready to die.
My eyes have seen thy salvation. Salvation is in a person, in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is found in Christ.
Salvation is in a person, not a pool, not a profession, not
a persuasion, but in a person, a person. That I may win Christ
and be found in him. He that hath the Son hath eternal
life. He that hath not the Son, whatever
else you have, if you don't have Christ, you don't have salvation.
He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son but
hath not life. Now I'm going to give you this
outline again. I've given this to you many times over the 30
years I've been here. This outline was first given
by Charles Spurgeon in 1857. He preached a message from Salvation
is of the Lord. He first preached it in 1857. About the year of 1953 or 54, my pastor, Henry Mayhem,
read that sermon with these five points, Salvation is of the Lord,
And he preached it many times. And I've used this five-point
outline. And I've given it to you many
times. Many of you could probably stand up here and give it to
me. Salvation is of the Lord in its planning, its execution,
its sustaining power, its ultimate perfection. Salvation is of the
Lord. So let's look at those five things. I'm going to give
them to you quickly here. Salvation of the Lord in that
He planned it. Now who planned this great scheme
of salvation? It wasn't an invention of men.
Salvation of the Lord in that He planned it, provided it, and
purposed it from all eternity. Salvation is older than creation. The Lord Jesus Christ stood as
a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before Adam ever
sinned, before Adam ever fell, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as
a surety of that eternal covenant of grace. He cannot fail because
of who he is. Salvation is not an afterthought. Adam didn't sin and fall, and
then God said, well, what's plan B? Adam flunked, Adam failed,
now what's plan B? There was no plan B. It's always
plan A, salvation of all of the Lord. He didn't scramble around
to find a solution. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
surety of that eternal covenant of grace. Peter writes about
this salvation, about this redemption. A lamb without blemish or without
spot who was barely foreordained before the world, but was manifest
in these last days for you. He was foreordained, him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. This kingdom was prepared for the Lord's sheep before the
foundation of the world, Matthew 25. Remember, he's gonna put
the goat on the left, sheep on the right, and said, come ye
blessed in my Father, inherit the kingdom of God prepared for
you before the foundation of the world. That's good news.
So salvation of the Lord and his planning. Secondly, salvation
of the Lord and his performance, his purchase, he executed and
accomplished the salvation that he purposed from all eternity.
He executed it. He accomplished it. Salvation
of the Lord in his purchase. He performed it. He accomplished
it. He purchased us. He bought us
with his own blood. He appeared once in the end of
the age and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, didn't
he? He redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse
for us. The Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners This is
a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that he came
to save sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous,
did he? He came to call sinners to repentance. So salvation of
the Lord and His planning and His purpose, His purchase, His
execution. Thirdly, salvation of the Lord
and His application. We were dead in sin. How are
we going to know anything about this so great salvation? We had
no interest in the salvation of our soul because we're dead
in sin, spiritually dead. Salvation of the Lord is application. He applies this salvation to
our heart. And the way he does it is this.
He quickens us from the dead. He raises us up from the dead
and gives us life and faith that we may embrace the Lord Jesus
Christ as everything in salvation. Salvation of the Lord is application.
Paul writes about it this way, being confident of this very
thing that he, God, who has begun a good work in you, he will perform
it. God shall supply all our need
according to his riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the Lord who quickens the dead and causes the sinner to
believe the gospel. Now listen carefully here. Oftentimes
they say in religious circles, well, believe, then the Lord
will give you life. It's just the opposite of that.
We believe because He's given us life. Whosoever believeth
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. We only believe the gospel
according to the working of His mighty power. You see, faith
is the fruit of life given in Christ Jesus. It's the Lord who
makes us willing in the day of His power. It's the Lord who
calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light. It's the
Lord that does all these things. We didn't just figure this out
one day. He commanded the light to shine
in our heart. He hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto us. So it's the Lord
who makes us willing. It's the Lord who quickens us.
It's the Lord who makes us willing in a day of His power. It's the
Lord who calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light. It's
the Lord who sovereignly grants and gives mercy to the undeserving. It's the Lord that gives us faith
and repentance. Both faith and repentance are
what? Gifts of God. Faith is not something that blooms
naturally in our heart. The only thing that blooms in
our wicked heart is unbelief. Faith is the gift of God, is
it not? Repentance. He's exalted to give
repentance unto us. He gives us a repentant heart.
Salvation, fourthly, is of the Lord in its sustaining power.
In its sustaining power. The Lord doesn't just save us
and then walk off and leave us. Oh no. He says, I give my sheep
eternal life and they'll never perish. We're kept by the power
of God. Salvation is of the Lord and
it's sustaining power. Israel shall be saved in the
Lord, Isaiah 45, 17, with an everlasting salvation. And you
shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end. We are kept
by the power of God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation
of the Lord in its sustaining power, He preserves us. We persevere
in faith, yes, because we're preserved by the power of God. I give them eternal life and
they'll never perish. My sheep, remember, hear my voice,
I know them, they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life. They can never perish, neither can any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them is
greater than all, No one can pluck them out of his hand, can
they? No. You know, you remember that scripture
we've read so many times in the book of Jude, down to him that
is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. He's able
to keep you from falling and present you faultless. Boy, isn't
that something? present you faultless before
the holy throne of God, that's how effectual the blood of Christ
is. No condemnation to those who
are in the Lord Jesus Christ. To the only one God our Savior,
be glory, majesty, dominion, and power both now and forever.
What's that fifth one? Salvation of the Lord and His
ultimate perfection. It's ultimate perfection. What
is this whole thing all about anyway? He predestinated us to
be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, people
have wrong ideas about predestination. Predestination is all about God
electing a people and then determining that they're gonna be just like
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer wants to be like
him, don't they? No believer ever says, well,
I don't like that predestination stuff. I do. It's in the Bible
four times. And every time it's in the Bible,
it talks about God taking a people, choosing a people, redeeming
a people, and making them just like the Lord Jesus Christ. His
people want to be like him, don't they? They want to be one with
him, don't they? The elect of God are predestinated. to be conformed to the image
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read this to you. You
don't turn, you're familiar with this. In Romans 8, 29, for whom
he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. He loved his people
with an everlasting love. He has foreknown them, foreloved
them. He loved them with an everlasting love. He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of a son that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. All past tense, already done.
What shall we say then to these things? Romans 8, 31. We have
God before us who can be against us. He that spared not his own
son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things? I like that word freely, don't
you? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who can separate us from
the love of God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ? No one. No one. So salvation of the Lord
and its ultimate perfection. You remember we read, Dundee,
Disciples ask, who then can be saved? Or two weeks ago, who
then can be saved? With men, it is impossible. But with God, what? With God,
all things are possible. All things are possible. Salvation
is certain and sure in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we say with
Peter and John, when they were asked by whose name and by what
power was this man healed, be it known unto you, that there
is salvation in no other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Neither
is there salvation in any other but the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Savior who saves. There's
no salvation apart from Him. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not shall not
see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Salvation, my friend, is for
sinners just like you and just like me. If God saved me, he
can save anybody. Since God saved me, I've never
despaired of God saving any sinner. There's no sinner beyond His
power. God Almighty has all power to
raise the dead and give them life in Christ Jesus. So we say,
as the text does here, salvation is of the Lord. Look
right across the page, Psalm 38 verse 21. Psalm 38 verse 21, forsake me
not, O Lord, O God, my God, be not far from me, make haste to
help me, O Lord, O Lord, my salvation. Can you say that? The Lord, my
salvation. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Psalm 27, whom shall I fear? The Lord has destructed my life,
of whom shall I be afraid? So we say again, and repeat it
once more. Salvation is of the Lord. I love
it, don't you?