Most of you are familiar with
the story of the Philippian jailer, the question he asked of the
Apostle Paul and the reply which Paul gave to him. But I'll read
it again for you. It's found in Acts 16, verse
30 and 31. And it says he brought them out,
that is, the Philippian jailer brought Paul and Silas out of
jail And he said to them, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And my subject today is when
is a person saved? He asked Paul and Silas, what
must I do to be saved? S-A-V-E-D. And Paul and Silas
replied, Believe, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved in thy house. I'll tell you what gave birth
to this message. Not so very long ago a television
listener from far away out in the Midwest called me and we
talked a while about the message that I'm preaching, the gospel
that I'm preaching. And in the course of the conversation,
he asked me this question. He said, what would you tell
a person who is in doubt of his salvation? What would you say
to a person who told you that he didn't know whether he was
saved or not? Now, I know he was talking about himself. And
I replied, well, I'd have to give it some thought. It would
depend on the individual. But I thought much about that
question. And I realized this is a problem that's faced by
many people today. I'm not sure if I'm saved. Am I saved? Do I know the Lord? Like John Newton wrote that hymn
years ago, it goes something like, Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? Well, I've
concluded, after giving much thought to that question, I've
concluded that the way to deal with this problem is to get to
the root of the matter. This doubts and fears about salvation,
whether or not a person is saved. And the way to deal with it is
get to the root of the matter. Now, the reason that a lot of
people are not sure whether they're saved or not, the reason why
a lot of people are in doubt about their salvation is because
many of them do not know what salvation is. And if you do not
know what salvation is, then it's very possible you don't
know whether or not you're saved. So I feel like that I can help
many people today by telling you what salvation is and let
you determine yourself whether or not you're saved. What is
salvation? I'm going to give you six statements. Now, you think about this. When
is a person saved? Well, that can be answered if
we find out what salvation is, what it is. All right, here's
the first one. Now Jonah said in Jonah 2 verse
9, salvation is of the Lord. It's a work of God. It's something
God does for us. Salvation is not something we
do for God. Salvation is something God does
for us. Salvation is of the Lord. And
David wrote in Psalm chapter 3 verse 8, salvation belonging
to the Lord. It's his work. In fact, one of
David's most often used phrases is this, the God of salvation. He's the God of salvation. So
what is salvation? Well, first, it's of the Lord.
So if salvation is of the Lord, then a person is saved when God
is pleased to save him. If it's a work of God, if it's
something God does for us, if salvation is of the Lord, and
of Him only, then I'm saved when God is pleased to do a work of
grace in my heart, when God is pleased to save me." You see,
that's the way that the Apostle Paul described his experience.
That's the way he described his salvation. In Galatians 3, verse
15, what did he say? But when it pleased God, but
when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me that I might preach
Him among the heathen." Now, Paul tells you in Philippians
that he was brought up in religion. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He
tells you that he was brought up in the school of religion.
He sat at the feet of the greatest theologian of his day, Gamaliel.
He tells us by his own testimony that he was zealous, and he was
moral, and he was very successful for he exceeded many his equals. He tells us by his own testimony
that he held high office, but he also tells us that he was
unsaved. He didn't know God. So here,
when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace, when it pleased Him, He revealed His
Son in me." God did it. So a man will be saved when God
operates on his heart, when God regenerates him, when God calls
him, when God is pleased to open his ears to hear and open his
eyes to see and open his heart to believe. Ephesians chapter
2 tells us that in verse 8. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. It's not
of works, lest any man should brag or boast. For we are His
workmanship. We're God's workmanship. We're
not the workmanship of the evangelist or the pastor or some human being. Salvation is not of the will
of the flesh. It's not of the will of man. It's of God. We're
born of God. When is a man saved? Well, at
salvations of the Lord, he's saved when God saves him, when
God operates on his soul and mind and heart and brings him
to believe on Christ, face the gift of God. Repentance is the
gift of God. Don't you know the apostle wrote
that the goodness of God led you to repentance? When was Abraham
saved? When God called him. When was
Zacchaeus saved? When Christ called him. When
was Matthew saved? When Christ called him. When
was the Apostle Paul saved? When God met him on the road
to Damascus and called him. Over in Philippians 1, 6, listen
to this, being confident of this very thing, that he that hath
begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of
Jesus Christ. Who's going to finish the work?
The same one who started it, God Almighty. He began a good
work, a saving work, a heavenly work, a holy work in you. There's the key word, in you. God revealed His Son in me. He began a work in me. The love
of God is shed abroad in our hearts, in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit. He will complete that work, having
begun that work. Romans 5 verse 5 says this, The
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given unto us." Who gave Him? The Father gave Him. So when is a person saved? A
person will be saved when God calls him, when God calls him,
when God works in his soul, gives him an ear to hear, an interest
in the gospel, a desire for Christ. All right? Secondly, now stay
with me, when is a person saved? What is salvation? It's of the
Lord. Secondly, salvation is for the
lost. It's for lost people. It's for
sinners. Listen to Luke 19, verse 9 and 10. Let our Savior Himself
define what salvation is. He says this. You know about
Zacchaeus, you know. Well, when the Lord came under
the tree and looked up and said, Zacchaeus, come down. This day
I'm going to your house. And Zacchaeus came down. Now
this is what the Lord said, This day is salvation come to this
house. For he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to
seek and to save that which was lost. Zacchaeus was a publican. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. Zacchaeus was regarded by people
of his nation as a traitor. They used to say back in those
days, if there's two men, one's a Pharisee, one's a publican,
the Pharisee will go to heaven and the publican will go to hell.
Publicans and sinners, notorious people. But our Lord said, this
thing of salvation is for sinners. It's for the lost. I came to
seek and to save the lost. Well, if salvation's for the
lost and the Lord came to save the lost, then a person will
be saved. when he becomes lost. He'll be found when he's lost.
He'll be saved when he's lost. You ask me, have I been saved?
I ask you, have you ever been lost? If you've never been lost,
you've never been found. You ask me, have I been saved?
Well, I ask you, have you ever been a sinner? Christ died for
sinners. When you, have you ever been
without hope, without help, without God in this world needing salvation? We know the publican was saved,
you know the one who went to the temple and cried, Oh God
be merciful to me, the sinner. He saved sinners and he saved
that sinner. The other man was a Pharisee. And he boasted of what he had
done. He boasted of his morality and his works and his goodness
and his righteousness. And Christ said he went home
unregenerated, unjustified. But the publican who was a sinner,
have I ever been saved? The question is, have I ever
been lost? Have I ever been saved? The question is, have I ever
been a sinner? That's true of the thief on the cross. What
did he say to the other man? when they were mocking the Savior.
He said, don't you fear God? Seeing we're the same condemnation
and we are getting what we deserve. Lord, you're coming into a kingdom. Remember me. Remember this old
sinner. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I'm the chief. He saved sinners. That's the only kind of people
He saved. He told the Pharisees that. They said to His disciples,
Why does your master eat with publicans and sinners? And Christ
said, The well, the well do not need a doctor. The well do not
need a physician, but they that are sick. You go learn what that
means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous.
I'm come to call sinners. So when is a man saved? When
it pleases God. When is a man saved? When he's
lost. When God reveals to him, he's
a sinner. When God strips him, and breaks
him, and crushes him, and puts him in the dust, and he realizes,
I'm lost. Lord, save me. I'm lost. All right, thirdly. Thirdly,
what is salvation? It's to see the glory of God.
It's to see the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus.
So a person will be saved when he sees the glory of God, the
true redemptive glory of God. Now listen, II Corinthians 4,
listen. Verse 5, For we preach not ourselves,
but Jesus Christ our Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. for God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, that's talking about the original creation
when darkness was upon the face of the deep and God said, let
there be light and there was light and the whole universe
was bathed in light and the darkness fled away and the glory of God
was revealed. Now, God who commanded that light
to shine out of darkness had shined in our hearts in the darkened
hearts of dead, depraved sons of Adam, shined in the hearts
of sinners, lost sinners, to give us the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus." What is this
glory of God? Well, it's the glory that Moses
desired to see in Exodus 33. Moses, who had seen the dividing
of the sea, the death of the firstborn, all these mighty miracles
of Egypt. But he said, Lord, show me your
glory. Show me your greater glory. Show
me the glory, the chief glory. And God said, Moses, hide in
the cleft of the rock, and I'll make my glory, my goodness pass
before you. I will be merciful to whom I
will be merciful. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. I'm going to save sinners. I'm
going to show mercy, not sell it. It's not mercy if you sell
it. I'm going to show mercy to whom I will and be gracious to
whom I will. My glory, I'm going to show my
glory. God's redemptive glory. Our Lord
speak of it in John 17. He said, Father, glorify thou
me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Glorify thou me. And then he said, I finished
the work you gave me to do." I finished the work. It's His
finished work. It's the glory the angels spoke
about on the mountain to the shepherds when they said, Glory
to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill to men.
We bring unto you good tidings. Unto you is born a Savior, Christ
the Lord. God's glory is in saving centers
by His mercy through His Son. God's glory is the fulfillment
of His holiness, the satisfaction of His justice, and the revelation
of His wisdom. How can God be just and justify? That's seen in Christ. How can
sinners be clean before God? That's seen in Christ. How can
he that's born of a woman be righteous? That's seen in Christ.
There's where the glory of God is seen in the face of Christ
Jesus. Christ became a man, perfectly
obeyed God's law, went to the cross of Calvary and died under
the wrath of God for our sins, was buried and rose again, and
ascended to the right hand of God. And we see in Him God's
greater glory, God's redemptive glory. And Christ said this,
This is the will of Him that sent me, that of every one that
seeth the Son, seeth the Son, and believeth on him, might have
eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the last day." When
is a man saved? When he sees the redemptive glory
of God in Christ. Not in the church, in Christ.
Not in the ordinances, in Christ. When he sees that in Christ,
God can be just and justifier. In Christ, God Almighty's righteousness
is perfectly fulfilled. And God's justice is satisfied. And not only at the cross is
His love revealed, but His truths revealed. Not only His mercy,
but His justice and righteousness. And we see that in Christ. That's
when a man will be saved. When he sees the glory of God
in the face of Christ. Have you seen it? Do you know
how God can be just and justify? in Christ. All right, fourthly,
what is salvation? Now listen. It is to be in the
kingdom, in the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
in the kingdom of Christ. Now listen to Colossians 1.13.
He hath delivered us. The word salvation means deliverance. To save is to deliver. Almost
every time the word salvation is used, it's to deliver, deliver. He has saved us. He had delivered
us from the power of darkness, the power of Satan and sin, the
curse of the law, the power of principalities, rulers of the
darkness in this world. He had delivered us from their
lordship and their power and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, of the Son of
His love. Christ is King of His kingdom. He's Lord of His family. And
those whom He saves bow to His Lordship. So a person will be
saved when he bows to Christ as Lord and Master. That's right. Now this is a point
that needs to be stressed, especially in this day now. This is a day
of much religion and little commitment. This is a day of a lot of talk.
and very little commitment and very little spirituality. This
is a day when many people claim to have accepted Jesus Christ
as their personal Savior, but they have not bowed to the Lord
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Master. Now listen, what is salvation? It's to deliver us from the kingdom
of darkness. and translate us into another
kingdom under new management, under another master. Satan was
our master. Evil was our Lord. Sin, we were
servants of sin. Now we're servants of Christ.
He's the king. He's the Lord. He's the master.
As you once were in bondage to sin, you're now married to Christ. He's the head. He's the Lord.
He's the master. He said to his apostles, you call me Lord and
master. You say, well, so I am. He died
that he might be Lord. No man can serve two masters.
I ask you this question. You say, am I saved? Who's your
master? Am I saved? Who's your Lord?
Christ is my Savior. I didn't ask you who your Savior
was. I said, who's your Lord? He's not your Savior if He's
not your Lord. Am I saved? For whom do you live? No man
can serve two masters. He'll bow to one. He'll bow to
one or to the other. If Christ is your Lord, when
you marry, you'll marry someone who loves Christ. He's your Lord.
You wouldn't displease Him, would you? He's considered in all things. If Christ is your Lord, when
you establish a friendship or a partnership, it'll be with
someone with whom He is pleased. who knows Him, who loves Him.
You wouldn't dare establish a partnership with someone who hated your Lord,
would you? Hated your Master? He's your
Master. If Christ is your Lord, you'll
enjoy His Word, you'll enjoy His presence, you'll enjoy His
Gospel, you'll enjoy His house, you'll enjoy His people. If He's
your Lord, if He's your Master, if you're married to Him, If Christ is your Lord, your
chief desire will be to please Him. And this will control the
way you treat others, the way you regard possessions, the way
you regard this world, the way you regard the praise and popularity
and the wealth of this world. If Christ is your Lord, if He's
your Lord, you'll live and work and fellowship in the place where
you can fellowship with other believers. and where you can
have a pastor, where you can attend and hear the Word of God
preached. You see, Paul said this, I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, Christ lives in me. And the
life which I now live in this flesh, I live by and for the
glory of God. The world is crucified unto me
and I unto the world. So what is salvation? is to be
brought out of a kingdom of darkness and be translated into a kingdom
of God's dear Son. Thomas called Him my Lord and
my God, my Master, my Sovereign Ruler. Ruler. He's not a fire escape to keep
me out of hell. He's not an insurance policy
to grab hold of before I die. He runs my life and rules my
life and controls my life. If I'm saved, if I'm healed,
no man can be my disciple unless he takes up his cross and follows
me, Christ said. Fifth, my salvation is peace.
It's rest. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. Peace with God and the peace
of God. Our Lord said, come unto me and
I'll give you rest. I tell you, in this religious
world, it's anything but peace. It's a warfare. It's unsettled. It's the heart of most people
like the troubled sea. But Christ said, come and I'll
give you rest. Now, salvation is peace and rest in Christ,
then people are saved when they cease from their labors and cease
from their works and enter into His rest. Paul said, I know whom
I have believed, and I'm persuaded He's able to keep that which
I've committed to Him. Against that day, when peace like a river attendeth
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot,
He has taught me to say, it's well. It's well with my soul. I'm contented at peace and rest. My sins, oh, the bliss of that
glorious thought. My sins, not in part, but the
whole, are nailed to the cross. I bear them no more. Praise the
Lord. It's well with my soul. Come
unto me. I'll give you rest and peace. And Paul said, In whatsoever
state I am, I am content, content with beholding his face. My awe
to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed were the sense
of his love, a palace, a toy would appear, and prisons would
palaces prove, if he dwelt with me there. Where is the peace
and rest and contentment But if a man's saved, he's entered
into that peace and that rest. He's walking beside still waters
and walking in paths of righteousness. The peace of God ruleth in his
heart. And sixthly, salvation is to
be perfectly conformed to his image. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I wake with his likeness. And I'll tell you this, those
who are saved, are going to continue to believe and continue to walk
with Christ and continue in the gospel until like Enoch, they
walk through this life and walk right into glory. They walk through
this life and they live in faith and they die in faith and they
go to heaven in faith. They continue like they started.
So the question, when is a man saved? He's saved when God does
a work of grace in his heart. and gives him the peace of Christ
and he bows to the Lordship of Christ and continues in that
faith and continues in that gospel. It's a new life, it's a new creature,
not just a profession, it's experience. If you want this tape, you write
for it. It's called, When is a Man Saved? We'll send it to
you and we've got another message on the other side too. Here's
the address. Till next week, may God bless you.