The Miracle of Salvation

When he saved this heart of mine
by his power and grace divine, he wrought a miracle of love. And then the song that Desi sang
said it took a miracle to hang the world in space. It took a miracle, a miracle
to put the stars But when he saved my soul, cleansed and made
me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace. And that's my
subject tonight, the miracle of salvation. Now I'm going to resist the urge And I'm not going to take the
time, I have promised myself I will not do it, to point out
the folly, the absolute folly of what preachers and churches,
men and women, are calling salvation today. I'm just not going to
deal with it. It's not even worthy of our notice. All the presumption that's associated
with decisions altar calls, repeat the center's
prayer. I'm just not going to get on
that and take most of our time with it. But what I plan to do,
from Ephesians chapter 1, is define for you the miracle of
salvation, what salvation is, and then you draw your own conclusion. Just about everybody in this
town and about half the people in this country claim to be saved. I just don't believe it for a
moment. And I'm going to show you what
salvation is, the miracle of salvation. And you say, well,
we shouldn't judge other people. I think we can judge a man's
profession and claim by the Word of God. What does the Word say? And Mr. Spurgeon said one time,
if you want to determine whether or not a stick is crooked, lay
a straight one down beside it. And when you stand and sight
a brick wall that someone has laid, or a rock wall, or a concrete
block wall, No, by your eye you can't determine whether or not
it's straight, but I'll tell you what you can do. You can
put a line on it. You can put a straight line on
it. You can put a plumb bob on it, and that'll tell you whether
or not it's straight. So I'm not going to stand up
there and tell you who's saved and who's not saved, but I'm
going to put the plumb bob on our profession, and that's the
Word of God. I'm going to put the line on
the wall we've built. and the superstructure that we've
built on our foundation. And let's see how we come out.
Now here's the first thing, the moving cause of this miracle. The moving cause of this miracle. In verse 3, Paul said, now watch
this, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless God, praise God. This is
where everything starts, in the beginning God. So we bless God
who has blessed us. He blessed us. He's the cause
of mercy. He's the cause of the miracle.
I read this morning, of God are you in Christ Jesus. Of God are
you in Christ Jesus, who himself, of God, is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Jesus Christ
is the gift of God, and faith in Christ is the gift of God.
He has blessed us. Salvation is not something I've
done for myself, and salvation is not something I've done for
God. Salvation is totally and completely something God's done
for me. He has blessed me. That's what
it says. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us, We have found favor. He has blessed us. We
are not worthy. We don't merit it. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah didn't earn grace or merit
grace or win grace. He found grace. The angel said
to Mary, Thou hast found favor with God. He blessed us. And he blessed us, listen, with
all spiritual blessings. Now we're not talking about the
blessings that men today think they can't live without. All
of the health and wealth and so-called happiness and all these
things that we desire and strive for, that's not what we're talking
about here. We're talking about spiritual
blessings. We're talking about the forgiveness of sin. We're
talking about sanctification before the law of God. We're
talking about being justified before God. We're talking about
being redeemed. We're talking about being lifted
from the dunghill and washed in the blood of Christ and raised
to the right hand of God and seated with Christ Jesus. We're
talking about spiritual blessing. And He has blessed us, unworthy
creatures, guilty sinners, with spiritual blessings, now watch
the word, all of them, all spiritual blessings. If a man's justified,
he's sanctified. If a man's justified, he's righteous. If a man's justified, he has
all he needs in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is made unto us
all we need. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete," the word is complete
in Christ. God, he has blessed us. We have found favor with God,
and he has blessed us with all that we need. The believer, the
child of God, is sufficient right now to inherit all that belongs
to the saints and glory through Christ Jesus. The thief on the
cross was not lacking one thing to take him into full glory,
the full glory of God. God blessed him with all spiritual
blessings. Now watch this. And these blessings
are in Christ Jesus. That's where they are. They're
in Christ Jesus. Now watch the next verse. According,
old buck George Fletcher came here to Ashland in 1954. And
I never will forget his message. I never will forget several messages
in that conference. Brother Barnard preached on six
stubborn statements. Brother Clarence Walker preached
on my spiritual biography from Romans 8, 29 through 31. And George Fletcher preached
on Ephesians 1, and here's what he said. He said, I have to begin
where I am. I have to begin where I am. There's
no way I can begin anywhere else. I can begin where I am. God has
blessed me. God has blessed me with all spiritual
blessings. In Christ Jesus, all that I need.
I have, I'm sufficient, I'm complete in Christ. I'm justified, sanctified,
redeemed in Christ Jesus. Now where'd this come from? Why
did he do that for me? I take a step back and I see
the next verse says, because he's chosen. It's not because
I chose him. It is not that I did choose thee.
For Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee, but thou hast chosen me. He chose me. I would never choose
him. I love him because he loved me.
I choose him because he chose me. I seek him because he sought
me. I call on him because he called
me. I called him. For Sovereign Mercy
that called me and taught my opening mind, this world would
have enthralled me because to heavenly glories I was blind. My heart owns none but Thee,
for Thy rich grace I thirst. I know this, if I love Thee,
Thou hast loved me first. That's what I'm saying. God has
blessed me according as he chose me. He chose me. When did he choose me? He chose
me, now watch this, in Christ. You're going to notice all the
way through this scripture that everything we have is traced
to one source. Come thou fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace. He chose me in Christ. Christ
be my first elect, God said, and then he chose us in our healing. He chose us in Christ. When?
Before the foundation of the world. That's when God Almighty
purposed everything that he does. The scripture says, known unto
God are all his works from the beginning. God is not waiting
to see what will happen. Almighty God declares the end
from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, I'll do
all my pleasure. Peter on Pentecost declared,
You with wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory.
Was that a surprise to God? No, in crucifying the Lord of
glory, you did what God determined before to be done. When Herod
and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel all
got together against the Lord Christ, they did what God determined
before to be done. Everything they said is in the
Old Testament. They shot out their lips and
said, he trusted God, let's see if God will help. Everything
they did is in the Old Testament. They pierced my hands and feet.
They plucked out my beard. He sold me for 30 pieces of silver. He came back and put it on the
floor. They bought the potter's field. Christ said, I thirst.
Everything is in the Old Testament Scripture. God chose us in Christ
before the world began, before the foundation of the world.
God never learns anything or forgets anything. There's nothing
new with God. Everything that occurs in time,
he decreed in eternity. It has to be so if he's God. Well, for what purpose did he
choose us? That we should be holy? That
we should be holy. And we're going to be. Are you
perfectly holy now? Yes and no. Yes, I'm holy in
Christ. With His spotless garments on,
I'm as holy as His Son. Nearest or nearer to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of His Son,
I'm as near as He. I am holy. The Scripture says
we are holy and unblameable before Him in love. that he might present
us faultless before his throne. Yes, in Christ we're perfectly
holy. But in the flesh, in this world,
I'm not perfectly holy. But when this body's buried and
goes back to the dust and God raises it in the image of his
Son, then the body and soul will be perfectly holy. And that was
his purpose in having a people that we should be holy and without
blame before him. I've always felt that these two
words, in love, go with verse five. In love having predestinated
us. Now, Mr. Fletcher said this,
I start where I am. God has blessed me. Who blessed
me? God did. I found favor in the eyes of
God. I found grace with God. He blessed me with all I need,
right now, all I need, all spiritual blessing in Christ, according
as he chose me. He chose me. Why'd he choose
us? Why'd he choose you and me? Why'd he choose the people from
every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue of them? Because he predetermined. He predestinated. Listen. He
predestinated us unto the adoption of children. He says, I'm going
to have a people. I'm going to populate heaven,
I'm going to have a mediatorial kingdom over which Christ is
King of kings and Lord of lords, and everybody in that kingdom
is going to be like my son Jesus Christ. That's God's purpose. Well, what's the next line then?
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his own
will. Whose will? His will. His will,
he predestinated us to be children, to be like Christ according to
his will. My will was not consulted, it
was changed. My will was not consulted, it
was changed. Thy people shall be made willing
in thy power. Do you see what I'm saying? Do
you see what Paul is saying? And he prays it. God. He's blessed me. Blessed God
because he's blessed me with everything I need in Christ Jesus. And he did that because he chose
me, not because I chose him. He chose me. He set his love
upon me. And he chose me and he chose
you and he chose those whom he did choose because he predestinated,
he predetermined that one of these days In the halls of glory,
he's going to have a people, populate the new heaven and new
earth with a people just like Christ. And that was because
he willed it. When you go all the way back,
and Mr. Fletcher said, now if you want
to start back there with God, then you reverse this thing.
You start back there with the will of God. God willed to have
a people. And he willed that those people
be like Christ. And he chose them out of every
kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation unto heaven, and he called them
and blessed them with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. And
what's verse 6? To the praise of the glory of
his grace. He's going to get all the glory.
I'll tell you this, if your testimony and my testimony does not give
God all the praise and all the glory, it's certain that this
salvation that I have is not of God. Because the salvation
that's of God will give him all the glory. We're in. He made us accepted. He made
us, just like we are, accepted in the beloved. I am accepted. God made me accepted. He took
me and you and made us accepted You see, God's so perfectly holy,
I wish that I could define the holiness of God. But I said one
time, if I could, there'd be no breath left in us. When Isaiah
saw the holiness of God, he just felt like he's cut off forever.
When John saw the holiness of the resurrected Christ, he felt
like a dead man. When Daniel saw the holiness
of God, he said his very strength just drained out of him. But
God is so immaculately, infinitely, perfectly holy that it's indescribable
and incomprehensible, His holiness. And we're so indescribably wicked. Don't you feel sometimes how
wicked you are? How contrary to God you are?
The wicked, evil birds that make their nest in your mind, don't
you ever, doesn't that ever bother you? This is not godly? This is not godlike? This is
not holiness? This thought, this word, this
attitude, this deed, this is not holiness? Then how can I
claim to have a relationship with Him who is perfect holiness? Now you just say, well, I'll
walk down the aisle. Well, that's going to help you? Well, I'll
get baptized and wash it away. You really think that would do
it? A dry dog and a wet dog is still
a dog. Do you really think that some
priest can dip a wafer in some wine and stick it in your mouth
and make you hold it? Do you really? Well, I'll confess
my sins. I'll get it off my chest. You've
got to get it off your heart. And you've got to get it off
the books. And confessing is not going to get it off the books.
Well, what are we going to do? We're going to have to have somebody
do it for us who is himself, himself already accepted. And
that's what he's done here. He made us. He formed us. He changed us. He washed us. He redeemed us. He sanctified
us. He glorified us. He made us accepted. He did! In debilitation. Now, you tell me about your decision.
in the light of that right there, in the light of that right there.
You take me back to the old country church, when they were singing
Just As I Am, and the preacher was pulling folks down there,
and you went down and made your decision. You may be dead sincere
and dead wrong, but this is a miracle. This is a miracle. He blessed
me with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in Christ because
He chose me. He chose me because He predestinated
me to be like Christ. And He did that because He willed
to do it. Not because I willed to do it.
He willed to do it. And He did it all for His glory. And He made me, in Christ, accepted. That, Miss Desi, is a miracle.
Isn't that what you say? No preacher can do it, and you
can pray, and you can strain, and you can grunt, and you can
grit your teeth, and you can make professions, and you can
beat the altar, and you can pray through. Ain't no way. Got to
be a miracle from above. God who said, let there be light. God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in these hearts to give
us a knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
whose face you'll never see till he reveals himself." What's the
second part of this thing now? The procuring cause. "...made
us accepted in the Beloved," verse 7, "...in whom," in Christ,
"...we have redemption." We have redemption. Our souls have been
redeemed, bought back, bought back. And that redemption, that
full redemption, and it's not an effort, it's an effectual
work. We have redemption, not we're
going to have, we have redemption right now. Where? Through his
blood. Not through his blood in faith,
not through his blood in baptism, not through his blood in the
law, not through his blood in my deeds. We have redemption
through his blood. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. In Christ we have an atonement
at one mother. We have redemption through his
blood. We have redemption through his
blood, and we have the forgiveness of sin. Certain sins, some sins,
the blackest sins, the worst sins, the little sins, all sins. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleansed us from all sins. And it's not according to our
decision, it's not according to our will or works, it's according
to the riches, the riches of his grace which he found in himself. There is no cause for God's love
to be found in me before or after I sin. The cause of God's love
is found, Tom, in himself. For God so loved, he gave. In verse 8, wherein he hath abounded
toward us, Jesus Christ hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence. And he made known unto us, watch
this, he not only redeemed us, but he enlightened us. He made
known unto us that mystery of God's will. Brother Mann, where
do you find all this that you get here out of these verses?
And when Joe read in the study tonight, that rock was Christ,
and that Passover lamb was Christ, and God's mystery of election,
and God's mystery of the church, and the mystery of the Gentiles.
Well, Christ made it known to me. I see it in Christ. You see, when people start reading
the Bible and trying to find the mystery of God's will, in
these facts and doctrines, the veil is always on their face
just like the veil is on the face of Israel. They tried to
find God in the law, they tried to find God in the ceremony,
they tried to find God in the feast days, they tried to find
God in these things, and God is only found in Christ. And
when you see Christ, You see the whole mystery of God's will
unfolded in Christ. And the more you learn of Christ
and know of Christ, the more you learn and know of that mystery
of God's will. That's right. When you see the
shepherd, you see the chief shepherd before the world began. When
you see the blood, you see the blood of the Lamb slain for the
foundation of the world. When you see God's grace manifested
in a man, you see God's purpose in that grace before the world
began. You see the mystery. And Christ
made known unto us the mystery of his will, and he did it according
to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. One day our Lord Jesus Christ
lifted his eyes to heaven, and he said, I thank you, Father.
I thank you, Father. You've hid these things. You've
veiled them and covered them from the wise, the so-called
wise and the prudent of this world. And you've revealed them. You've revealed your mysteries
and your grace and your love to babes. I thank you. Or even so far as it seems good
in my sight. And I do too. I thank you. I
thank Him because I'm a babe. He came to save sinners, and
I thank Him because I'm a sinner. He came to seek and save the
lost, plum lost. People so lost, they don't even
know the way back. People so lost, they can't find
the way back. People so lost, they can't decide
to go back. Somebody said, well, maybe the
sheep will decide to come back. You want to bet on it? He's going
to keep on wandering the wrong way until his shepherd goes out
there. at the risk of his own, at the risk of himself. He goes
out there and gives himself to find that sheep, put him on his
shoulders, and bring him back. He made known unto us that, and
let's look at verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of time, he might gather together in one all things in Christ. All things in Christ. Now watch
this, listen to this carefully. He's going to gather together
all things in Christ. When were they put in Christ?
Before the world began. When were they justified in Christ?
When he died on the cross. When were they, it was revealed
to them and they were brought to a fullness of that relationship? When they believed. They're in
Christ. In Christ. And he's going to
gather together all these things in Christ which are in heaven
Already in heaven, Abraham, Moses, David, and which are on this
earth, which are now on this earth, those even in him. Not
in the church. Salvation's not in the church.
Not those who are in good standing. Salvation's not in good standing.
It's in Christ. God's going to gather together
his elect from the four winds, his elect in Christ, in heaven
and verse 11, in whom we have obtained that inheritance. That's
in Christ, in whom we have obtained. Paul said, I didn't earn salvation,
I obtained mercy. I didn't earn grace, I obtained
it, I obtained that inheritance, being predestinated. I'll tell you, every time I see
that word, I think of all the events in life. That's what God
has predetermined. He's predestinated the means.
Back down to before the world began, He set His love on a people.
He chose them individually. God is so magnificent and so
mighty, so powerful, that everything is done with such precision that
one day is a thousand years in His time. A thousand years. One day. One hour. is 100 years, or 50 years, in
one hour, one minute, there's so many weeks in God, it's so
planned out. And he chose his people in Christ.
And he predetermined Christ coming into the world. He predetermined
all those patterns and pictures and types of Christ's death,
right down to Christ came and our Lord walked this earth And
everything he said and did, he did the will of his father, spoke
the words of his father, accomplished the task and mission of his father,
and died. And everything they did to him,
God determined, predestinated. He was buried, rose again, went
to glory, and then I came along. And I was born at the precise
time that God predestinated me to be born. To whom and where?
Did my father live where God determined him to live when I
was born? and the people to whom I was
associated and the route I chose. I chose my route, I chose my
school, I chose my time in the Navy. Somebody called me up here
to be an assistant pastor and I came, but let me tell you something.
Every step I took, every decision I made, was recorded in the book. Recorded in the book, written
by the hand of God. And I simply did what God determined
before it to be done. You believe that? Well, I know
that stuff. He predestinated me. You think
it was an accident that I hit this town the same day Rob Barnard
hit this town? You think that was an accident?
He was the only man in the South preaching the Gospels at that
time. God predestinated him. And all the devils in hell and
all the fallen angels and all the demons of the world could
not stop that predestinated purpose of God. That's right. That's
right. He predestinated being, what's
it, I have obtained, verse 11, in whom, in Christ, I have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things. The falling of a sparrow. Not
a sparrow falls to the ground without your falling. That's
right. All things. There are no accidents
with God. He predestinates all things after
the counsel of his own will. Joseph's brothers stood in front
of him and they were grief-stricken over the way they treated him.
And he looked at them and his mind was going back over the
throne and the jail and the mistreatment in Potiphar's house and the slavery
and the pit and the hatred of his brothers And all those things,
the things that they'd put him through. And he said to them,
yeah, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. And
I forgive you of every bit of it, because you were just the
second dog. I believe that. I don't want to believe, I know
that. It's got to be that way. It's got to be that way. His
sheep, they're lost to them, but he knows where they are.
His sheep may be wandering around out there. I don't know who they
are, but he does. And they might be wandering around
in Timbuktu, but I guarantee you they're there because he
predetermined for them to be there. That woman didn't accidentally
come to that well at noon. My Lord's sitting there waiting
on her. Ezekiel didn't accidentally climb that certain tree on that
certain day. God put him up that tree, and
God brought him down. That Philistian jailer didn't
happen to have duty that night. He had duty that night because
God assigned it to him from all eternity. Lydia didn't just happen
to be at the riverside that day. She might have had a cold and
stayed home. No, God brought her there, all the way from Tower
Tower. Where did she come from? From Nepal. And I tell you this,
if God ever saves you, you're going to buy his predestinating
purpose across the path of his dear son someday. the real Christ,
not this other Jesus they're preaching. I'm talking about
the one that has the power to save. That's 1 Corinthians 12, that
we should be to the praise of His glory. You say, preacher,
you're really making salvation a miracle. That's the title.
It's a miracle. It's a miracle. A miracle only
God can perform. Only God can perform. And I'll
tell you Any man who cannot ascribe to God all the credit and all
the glory for his salvation from beginning to end is not saved. It doesn't matter who it is. Not yet. God may save him someday,
but he's not yet, because God's not going to share his glory.
All right, here's the third, the effectual cause. You say, what about repentance?
What about the response of the sinner? Oh, he's going to respond.
What about faith in Christ? He's going to believe. What about
a commitment to Christ? He's going to commit. I'll tell
you this, when such great love is manifested toward a man, it's
going to bring him lock, stock and barrel. It's going to bring
him 110 percent. That's right. Well, watch verse 13. In whom? Here we're still in whom, aren't
we? In whom we have redemption. in whom we have sustained and
inherited them, and now in whom we trust Him. You don't try Jesus,
you trust Him. I see these signs, try God. You
don't try God, you trust Him. You either trust Him 100 percent
or you don't trust Him at all. Trust Him, in whom you trust
Him. This in whom we were chosen, this in whom we were redeemed,
this in whom we were predestined, this in whom we have obtained
inheritance, in whom we trusted. When did you trust him? After
you heard the word of truth. That's when you trusted him.
You see, you can trust this kind of gospel. This God, now watch
it now, this little God, this little free will Arminian God
can't be trusted, because he just might let you down. He just
might not be able to save you. He just might not be able to
keep his word. But when you talk about God choosing
you, and God justifying you, and God calling you, and God
keeping you, when you hear that God, when you hear that Christ,
you can trust him. You can trust him. in whom you trusted after you
heard the word of truth. What was this word of truth?
It was the gospel of your salvation. It wasn't the gospel of your
invitation. It wasn't the gospel of your cooperation. It wasn't the gospel
of your participation. It was the gospel of your salvation. See what I'm saying? The gospel
of Jesus. My salvation's finished. You
say, when was your salvation finished? When Christ said, it's
finished! That's when it was finished. Our Lord said, I finished the
work you gave me to do. What work did he give him to
do? To save the lost. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. And when he said, I finished
this work you gave me, I saved the sinners. And this gospel
is not a gospel of cooperation, not a gospel of invitation, it's
a gospel of declaration, proclamation. When you hear this, when you
hear the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, that's when
you trust him. And what's this? In whom? You
never get away from that in whom. In whom also after you believe. Do you believe? Do you believe? Do you believe Jesus Christ,
the Son of God? Do you believe Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd
of the sheep? Do you believe Jesus Christ, the effects of
atonement? Do you believe Jesus Christ is the Chief Shepherd
and the Great Helper? Do you believe that? Well, when
you believe that, you're sealed, sealed, sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise. Sealed. And I mean you won't
fall. You're sealed. I give this illustration. Some of you heard it a hundred
times. I'll give it again. But when these ladies do their
canning, they put the jars and the beans or whatever in that
pressure pot and cook them and heat them and get all this stuff
done and they tighten the lid and sit them over there and sit
them over there and then they'll go over here and be working on
some more and their ears tuned over there for what? Won't hear
that pop. What's that? What's that? They
won't spoil. Now if they don't, they'll spoil. And they do it all over. But
that's it. And when they hear that, they go put them in the
pantry. And don't go back and look every day and see if they're
still good. They know they're good. They're sealed. And I'm
not worried about them spoiling. And I'm not worried about one
sheep of Christ whom God chose and God called and Christ justified. I'm not worried about one of
them spoiling because when they believe on Christ they are We
are sealed in Christ by the Spirit of God, baptized into the body
of Christ. I know we're running around,
all these silly preachers talking about getting the baptism of
the Holy Ghost and speaking in gibberish. They're just a bunch
of con men and merchandisers of souls and lost wandering goats
is what they are. We are sealed. Let me show you
that in 1 Corinthians 1, I believe it is, 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 1, listen to this,
you trusted Christ after you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, after you believed, you were sealed.
Verse 20, 1 Corinthians 1, listen, all the promises of God, all
the promises of God, 2 Corinthians 1.20, 2 Corinthians 1.20, all
the promises of God in Christ are yes, in Christ are amen,
so be it. unto the glory of God by us.
Now, he which establishes us with you in Christ Jesus and
hath anointed us is God Almighty. That's who did it. And he also
hath sealed us, given us the energy of his Spirit in our hearts. Do you see that? He did it! He did it. Now watch the last
verse here in Ephesians 1, verse 14. He sealed us with the Holy
Spirit of promise, verse 14, which is the earnest, Tom said,
the token or pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of his glory. What is that earnest?
Well, a young man and young woman fall in love, and he says, I
want you to marry me. And she says, I will. And he
gets an engagement ring. And he puts it on her finger.
She's not his wife yet, but that's his plague. That's his earnest
that she's his. And the Holy Spirit, I'm not
like Christ yet. I'm going to be someday. I'm
going to be forever joined to him. But he's given me an earnest. He's given me a token, a plague,
that I'm his. And that's his Holy Spirit who
dwells within us. He's our earnest. That's right.
He's the earnest of our inheritance. It's like when Jotel and them,
we bought that building up there, we're trying to raise the last
bit of money to pay for it. But they put $10,000, what it's
called, earnest money. Earnest money. And you know they're
already out to find the building? Because earnest money let them
have immediate possession. And the Spirit of God is my earnest.
And God has, He's got full possession. I'm His, and He's mine. And one
of these days, the transaction is going to be complete. And
He's going to raise me from the grave. Now, there it is. That's the miracle. That's the
miracle. And what I invite you to do is
draw your own conclusion. Draw your own conclusion. He
chose the Christ, the deity, and the Holy Spirit calls it. And that's a miracle. Especially
when you look at some of us. That is a miracle. But you know,
He's chosen the foolish things. He's chosen the weak things.
He's chosen the base things. He's chosen the things that are
despised. Why? That no flesh could glory in
His name. He that glories, let him glory in the Lord. All right,
let's turn to a closing hymn, which Mike will announce for
us at this time.

The Miracle of Salvation

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The Miracle of Salvation

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