Let's turn back to Psalm 37,
if you will. I want to talk this morning about
salvation. The title of this message is
found in verse 39 of Psalm 37. The topic and the text and the
title is right here. The salvation of the righteous. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. Now, my friend, salvation is
a Bible term. We don't have to use other language
today. It's a Bible term. Jacob said,
I have waited, O Lord, for thy salvation. I have waited for
thy salvation. Moses wrote in Exodus 14, 13,
or spoke to the children of Israel and said, Stand still and see. the salvation of the Lord. Hannah said in 1 Samuel 2.1,
I rejoice in thy salvation. Job said in Job 13.15-16, and
we quote the first part of this frequently, but here in these
verses Job said, Though he slay me, yet will I trust him, for
he also is my salvation. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him, for he also is my salvation." David wrote in Psalm
62, and this is just a few places that the word is used. God is
my rock and my salvation. And Jonah from the whale's belly
cried in Jonah 2.9, salvation is of the Lord. Here is what
I'm saying. I'm saying that the word salvation,
is a very large term. Now, most people think that salvation
is that initial act by which a person professes Christ. The
average person thinks that salvation is that initial experience when
a person responds to the gospel and walks down the aisle and
takes the preacher's hand and says to the people, I'm saved. Most people think that salvation
is that profession of faith whereby a person comes to confess Jesus
Christ, and that's what's led to present-day ten-cent-store
religion. My friends, salvation. Now, listen
to me. We'll learn something if we'll
listen. I'm telling you what I know and what God's Word declares.
This thing of salvation describes the whole life. and existence
of true believers. Salvation is not an act because
many people who perform the act finally perish. Salvation is
not a decision because many people who make the decision ultimately
perish. Salvation is not adopting a religious
creed or a religious doctrine because worlds of people adopt
creeds and doctrines under emotional experiences, under pressure,
under promises of reward or threats of judgment, and finally give
it up and lay it aside and quit. John said they departed from
us and they left us because of what? They never were of us.
They never were of us. Those who were of us are still
with us, and those who were of us will always be with us, because
salvation is not a decision, it's not a profession, it's not
a claim, it's not an act. It's the entire life and existence
of a person whom God has purposed to save. That's salvation. That's God's salvation. Now,
these professions of faith and joining the church and getting
religion and turning over a new leaf and lasting a while and
quitting a while and coming back after a while is nothing in the
world but man's definition of salvation. But salvation is a
work of God. Salvation is a supernatural,
everlasting work of God in the soul whereby he purposes and
provides the sacrifice and the righteousness and ultimately
performs the consummation of it in bringing everybody whom
he chose to be just like Christ. That's the reason our Lord Jesus
Christ said, All that my Father giveth me will come to me. All
of them, not some of them, not those that volunteer, all of
them are coming to me. They're coming to me. He said,
other sheep I have, which are not of this foal, them I must
bring, I must bring, and they shall be one foal and one shepherd. Why, they said, if ye be the
Christ, tell us plainly. He said, I told you. But you
didn't believe me, because you're not of my sheep. My sheep hear
my voice. They will ultimately, effectually
hear my voice, and they'll follow me. And they'll follow me, and
my Father gave them to me. And no man can pluck them out
of my hand, and no man can pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one. And he said, I came down from
heaven not to do my will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the will of him that sent me, that all which he hath
given me I'll lose nothing, not a one, not a hoop nor a hair
will be left in Egypt, not a one of them. But I'll raise them
up at the last day. I'm saying that salvation is
not just an act or a decision. I'm saying it's the entire life
and entire existence of a believer. It's the entire work of God whereby
he starts out in all eternity before we're ever heard of, before
we're ever born, before we ever make our entrance into this world
when God said, he's mine, he's mine, and he'll always be mine. I purchased him, he's mine. And
it will make him like Christ. Our Lord walked under that tree
and said to Zacchaeus, he said, Zacchaeus, come down. And Zacchaeus
came down and he said, Lord, have my goods and all this sort
of thing. And the Lord Jesus said, I'm going to your house
today. But do you know what else he said? He said, he also is
a son of Abraham. This is a son of Abraham. Well,
boy, that whole street was full of sons of Abraham. They all
had the map of Jerusalem on their faces, you know. They were sons
of Abraham, of all the different tribes. They were all around.
This is a son of Abraham, Christ said. This is a sheep. This is
one of the elect. This is one of my own. Zacchaeus,
the worst of the bunch. Zacchaeus, a publican, a traitor,
a tax collector, a rich fool. And Christ said, this right here
is a son of Abraham. The rest of them were natural
sons of Abraham. This is a spiritual son of Abraham.
This is one for whom salvation was purposed. This was one for
whom salvation was provided. This was one for whom salvation
was purchased. This is one to whom salvation
shall be applied. Salvation. Now, what I'm saying
is this, and you can take this down if you'd like to, but now,
wait a minute, watch this. You see, salvation is not an
isolated experience, nor is repentance, nor is faith. Ephesians 2, 8
and 9 says, "...for by grace," and you who have other translations,
look it up, "...for by grace have ye been saved." Have you
been saved? That and out of yourselves, it's
the gift of God. 1 Corinthians 1, 18 says, "...to them who are
perishing," the preaching of the cross is foolishness, "...to
them who are being saved," Charlie, now what does it say? "...to
them who are being saved," it's the power of God. And Romans
13, 11 says, we ain't saved yet. That's exactly what it says.
It says, now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
There's a sense in which I have been saved. All that the law
requires has been provided. All that justice demands has
been satisfied. There's a sense in which I'm
being saved. I'm being kept by the power of
God. I'd fall tomorrow if it wasn't for his grace. If one
sheep of Christ could fall away, you and I would fall a thousand
times a day. We're kept, we're being saved, we're being delivered.
The word salvation is deliverance. But Paul says our salvation is
not complete until we stand in the image of Christ. And our
salvation is nearer now than when I started, a whole lot nearer.
It's a whole lot nearer than when God started it. So here
are five or six things you can jot down. Number one, our salvation. Our salvation. The salvation
of his people. And I'm talking about not our
experience, not our decision, not our turning over a new leaf,
not our deciding we believe some certain doctrines and facts,
the devil believes facts, but our salvation, the whole existence
of the believer, the conformity to Christ, led the Father to
make Christ our surety in eternity. He said he's the surety of an
eternal covenant. Now, when the angels fell, when
the angels fell, and that one-third of the heavenly host, according
to Scripture, according to somebody's report, a lot of them did anyway,
followed Lucifer and fell. And the Scripture plainly says
that Christ took not on himself the nature of angels. When they
transgressed God's law and the law of his kingdom, When they
sought to set themselves above God to be their own rulers, they
fell. They were cast down. And Jude
said those angels were reserved in everlasting chains of darkness,
awaiting the day of judgment. There's no hope. There's no Savior
for angels. It says in Hebrews, Christ took
not on himself the nature of angels. Do you know what it says?
He did not purpose to save an angel. He did not determine to
save an angel. He did not take on himself the
nature of angels. He didn't come to provide a ransom
for angels. He took on himself the seed of
Abraham, the seed of men. So when the angels fell, God
cast them off. God reserved them in everlasting
chains of darkness. When we fell, Why didn't the
same thing happen to us? Why didn't the same thing happen
to Adam? I'll tell you why. Adam had a surety. Adam had a
savior. Adam had a mediator standing
between him and God's wrath. Here is God in his holiness,
and when the angels fell, there was no mediator, there was no
priest, there was no sacrifice, there was no intercessor, and
God smote him. And God delivered him into darkness,
awaiting eternal death. When man fell, the woman's seed
was between God and man. The surety was between God and
man. The Savior. That's my salvation. My salvation started right there. It didn't start when I shook
a preacher's hand. It didn't start when I got in
the baptismal waters. It started when God Almighty
said, I'll provide a woman's seed. There's a surety of an
everlasting covenant. Now, do what you want to with
that, but you better find out what it's all about. Because
this thing of salvation is greater than this ten-cent store religion
that we go down and shop around, get a can, bring it home, say,
I'm saved, all my doctrine's right here. All my hope's right
here. My hope started back before God
made the stars. My hope started back before God
made the sun and the moon. My hope started back before angels'
wings, somebody said, ever fluttered in the ether, or whatever they're
saying in big words, you know. Christ, the surety of an everlasting
covenant. Well, not only that, but our
salvation, watch this, was the end and purpose of God's election.
Turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Now, I know some folks turn plum
green when you mention election. They just get their teeth gnashing
and gritting, and they just get all red, and their veins in their
neck stand out like water hoses, you know, and they double up
their fists and get set to fight. But it's God's Word. He said
in Ephesians 1, verse 3, "...blessed be the God and Father," and that's
who we're talking about, "...of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings already in the heavenlies
in Christ," that's where the blessings are, they're in Christ,
they're not in the church or the water or the bread or the
Sabbath day, they're in Christ, "...according as he hath chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be saved." That we should be holy, that we should be like
Christ, that we should be conformed to His image, that we should
stand without blame before Him. In love, He predestinated us
to the adoption of children. That's what it was all about.
God chose a people to be like Christ. Everybody's so upset
about the word predestination. You believe in predestination.
Well, what do you mean? Well, what will be, will be.
whether it ever happens or not, or something like that. But Almighty
God said this in eternity past, I'm going to create a man, and
man's going to fall. I give to my Son a people. I
make him their surety. He'll deliver them, and not one
for whom he has been charged and not one who has been given
to him shall perish. And God Almighty said, they'll
never come to me, they'll never seek me, they'll never call on
me, they'll never elect me, I'll elect them. And he elected them
like in Christ. He chose them in Christ. Christ
is the first elect. Christ is the first beloved.
Christ is the first born. And he chose us in Christ. And
he predetermined that everything he did, and every work he performed,
and every trial they went through, and every affliction they endured,
and every dark valley they walked, and every cloud over their head,
and every up and down they had, he predetermined that those means
were going to bring them to be like Christ. He predestinated
the cross, He predestinated the righteousness, He predestinated
the gospel, He predestinated this meeting this morning that
you're listening to, this message. And it's the means whereby God
Almighty is going to make some people like Christ. He predestinated
us to be adopted into His family. That's salvation. Salvation. That's what it was. Turn to 2
Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. It says in here, Paul's talking
to the Thessalonians, and he said in verse 13, I'm bound to
give thanks, bound to, always to God for you brethren, beloved
of the Lord. No, you didn't love him, he loved
you. You love him because he first loved you. Herein is love,
not that we love God, he loved us. We didn't go to heaven, he
came to earth. We didn't sue him for mercy,
he came and brought us mercy. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to what? To salvation? And that's not
talking about a decision. That's not talking about turning
over a new leaf. That's not talking about adopting
the Baptist doctrine. This salvation, God hath chosen
you to salvation which is life in Christ, conformity to Christ. bearing the image of Christ.
He's chosen you to make you like Christ. And that's what he's
going to do for you. Our salvation is the end and
goal of God. Turn to 2 Samuel. Old David,
the king, the man after God's own heart, lay down to die. He
spoke his last words. One of what he's going to rejoice
in. One of what he's going to talk about. One of what he's
going to glory in. One of what he's going to brag
about. David speaking his last words, the sweet psalmist of
Israel, the killer of Goliath. David has slain his 10,000, the
monarch of Israel, the greatest king that ever lived. How is
he going to sum up his life? 2 Samuel 23, 5. Although my house
be not so with God, and he did have some characters in that
household, yet God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. God has made an everlasting covenant. Order in all things, predestinated,
you see? Everything in its place, according
to his will, to accomplish his purpose. Ordered in all things.
And sure, not the powers of heaven, earth, or hell can change it.
It's sure! And this is all my salvation.
That's all I've got, David said. That's all I've got. And not
only that, that's all my desire. although he make it not to grow."
It looks dim right now, he says, but it's there. Thirdly, our
salvation, talking about this whole existence and life of a
believer, I'm talking about what God's purpose to do for a man.
That's the reason I understand now a little bit of what Brother
Barnard said to that dear lady when she asked him, said, Well,
you've heard my testimony. Do you think I'm saved? He said,
I don't know. See me in about 30 years. I understand
what he's talking about. Anybody can profess to believe,
anybody can walk the trail, anybody can make an outward claim, anybody
can justify himself before me. But I'll tell you, God's salvation
will result in the exaltation of God's people for the glory
of Christ. That's salvation. And our salvation brought Christ
from eternal glory. Turn to Romans 5, if you will.
Our salvation, this thing of redemption, God's purpose to
have a people like Christ, is what brought Christ to this earth.
In Romans 5, 19 it says, For as by one man's disobedience
the many, the many, those identified with him, those under his headship,
those represented by him, the many, every son of Adam, by one
man's disobedience, by Adam's disobedience, the many were made
sinners, both by imputation, and impartation. In other words,
we were identified with Adam and fell when he fell. But we
receive from our Father the seed of sin. We are the seed of man. And therefore from his loins
we receive sin. You can't get clean water from
a corrupt fountain. And you can't get a clean son
from a corrupt father. That's the reason our children
are born in sin. Now then, listen to me. One of
the first things that rebels against the grace of God go out
and lie about is say we're preaching babies in hell. Not a word of
truth in that. Not a word. I've never heard
in all my life, in all my ministry of 35 years, I've never heard
an evangelical grace preacher ever intimate or insinuate that
a baby goes to hell. Anybody here ever heard one say,
I've never heard? I've heard a lot of people popping
off, and I've heard a lot of enemies of Christ accuse men
of that. But brethren, it doesn't change
the fact that children are sinners. Now, David said, in sin my mother
conceived me. I was shaping an iniquity, I
was brought forth speaking lies. We're born with an evil nature.
That's the reason you don't have to teach a child to lie. That
child is born knowing how to lie. You have to teach him to
tell the truth. You have to whip him and make
him tell the truth. It's easy to lie. It's hard to tell the
truth for a child, especially if he knows he's going to get
his cotton sack beat up, you know. He's going to lie out of
it. And then it's easy to hate. You don't have to try to hate
somebody. You can hate them by nature. You have to try to love
people. Why? It's our nature. Nature. We do what we do outwardly because
of what we are inwardly. Second thing is this. If babies
were not born in sin, they wouldn't die. Death came as a result of
sin. When Adam had no sin in him,
he had no death in him. He would have lived eternally.
If Adam had never fallen, he would have never died. Abel could
never have killed Cain. He wouldn't have wanted to, to
begin with. See, sin brought the hate, and sin brought the
death. And that little baby that's born
in your home, it gets sick and dies when it's two weeks old,
it wouldn't have died if it hadn't been a sinner. But what I'm saying
to you is this, I'm saying that the scripture is written to morally
responsible, accountable individuals. And that baby sinned in Adam,
that's right, imputed guilt, but that baby never consciously,
willingly violated God's law. And that baby is redeemed by
the mercy of God and redeemed by the blood of Christ, and that
baby belongs to Christ. If you have a child that dies
in infancy, it goes to be with God. Our God's merciful. He's
not a monster. But now, wait a minute, you ain't
no baby. That's what I'm saying. Don't find refuge behind that. I say that every infant who dies
in infancy, everyone who dies, the Bible's written to accountable,
morally responsible people who can think, who can understand.
who know when they refuse the gospel, who know when they refuse
God, who know when they refuse His mercy, who know when they
refuse His invitation, who know when they believe it. And also,
a person who's not mentally competent is saved. That's exactly right. You go to any of the mental hospitals
in this town, anywhere else, and you tell them, this preacher
says they'll be with Jesus someday. They may not know what you're
talking about, but they will be. That's so. But because we
were born in sin, because we were sinful in our nature, the
Lord Jesus Christ came down here and was born in the flesh. In
Romans 5, 19, listen to it, "...by one man's disobedience we were
made sinners. Even so, by the obedience of
one," that's Christ, "...we were made righteous." In other words,
I'm saying this to you, that Jesus Christ was made of a woman,
made under the law, and he redeemed them born under the law. When
our Lord came down here and was born of a woman and walked on
this earth, he was under the law of the home, he was under
the law of the state, he was under judicial law, he was under
moral law, he was under Levitical law, and as a man, as a human
being, he obeyed every jot and tittle. He said, I didn't come
to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. And he represented
us. We were represented in Adam,
he fell, we fell. We were represented in Christ,
he obeyed, we obeyed. He obeyed, we restored. He obeyed,
we have a perfect standing. In Christ, I'm perfect. Oh no,
you're imperfect. I'm imperfect in the flesh, but
in Christ I'm perfect. Positionally, I'm perfect. I have a righteousness with which
God is satisfied, worked out in his Son. Now that's part of
my salvation. Purpose to say, God chose a people,
God made Christ the surety, God sent his Son down here to work
out our salvation. You say, over there in Philippians,
it says Paul told them to work out their salvation with fear
and trembling. Paul's not talking one bit about
the redemption of the soul there. He's talking about some church
problems. He wrote down there, there's a bunch of women fussing
and fighting and a bunch of other people fussing. Paul wrote to
them and said, now listen to me. You get that straightened
out. You work out your salvation. You work out the deliverance
of that church. You work this thing out, because I'm coming.
That's what he's talking about. God's working out our salvation
with his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. And every part
of salvation is a gift given to us in Christ. Fourthly, our salvation sent
our Lord to the cross to bear our guilt. Turn to Isaiah 53. Our Lord Jesus Christ went to
the crown. In salvation, you've got not
only the law to be honored, you've got justice to be satisfied.
See, God is a righteous God and a just God. He will not clear
the guilty. And he sent Christ to the cross
to bear our guilt and our iniquities. Listen to Isaiah 53. It says
here in verse 4, "...surely He," Christ. Go back to verse 3. tells
about his life, he's despised and rejected of men. He was a
man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our
faces from him. He was despised. Everybody that
was anybody turned thumbs down on him. We esteemed him not.
But he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God. Our sins were against
God, and God smote him and afflicted him. But he was wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes
we are healed. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray.
Where did we go? We turned to our own way, not
God's way, our way. And God laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Look at verse 8. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? He was
cut off Out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people, was he stricken." He was stricken. Now, wait a
minute. Fifthly, our salvation brought
the Holy Spirit to convince us of sin. You see, light is coming
to the world, but men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds are evil. Christ said, You will not come
to me that you might have light. You see, this thing of salvation,
Not only has to be purchased by God's grace, but it has to
be revealed by God's power. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. And the Holy Spirit comes and awakens. He regenerates. He quickens a dead sinner. He
gives life and understanding. He gives ears to hear and eyes
to see and a heart to understand. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost. They don't understand it. You
see, those that are perishing say the gospel is foolishness.
It's nonsense. The natural man does not receive
the things of God, the foolishness to it. The natural man cannot
see a baby born of a Jewish virgin and growing up in a home and
working in a carpenter's shop and walking about the streets
of Galilee and being despised of people and taken out and nailed
to a cross and buried. and risen again, they can't see
any wisdom in that. They can't see any truth in that. They can't see any effect in
that. But men who know themselves to be sinners, and who know the
character and attributes of God, know that God has a justice that
must be satisfied, and a righteousness that must be honored, and God
gave the law to man, and man's got to obey it, if he's saved.
And God spoke his word of justice, the soul that sinneth shall die,
and that soul's got to die, or somebody's got to die for him.
And just anybody can't die for him. An angel can't, another
man can't, he can't. It has to be someone without
seeing himself, and that's only God. So he came to this earth,
our Lord Jesus Christ, and went to the cross, and there he paid
the debt. You see, the sacrifice of Christ,
the average person thinks that God sent Christ to the cross
and put Him through all of that agony. They spit on Him. They
stripped Him. They mocked Him. They ridiculed
Him. They laughed at Him. They nailed Him to a tree. He
hung up there in thirst and agony and suffering and finally died. And the average person thinks
God did that as an example. Or God did that to get men to
feel sorry for Jesus. Or God did that to show the compassion
of Christ and the humility of Christ. Let me tell you something.
When Christ hung on the cross, he was an example, no question
about it. He was an example of humility,
submission to the Father's will, an example of us dying to ourselves
and living for others, an example of love and all those things.
But Jesus Christ suffered in soul and body as a substitute,
as a sacrifice, as a sin offering, not to you, not to impress you. He did it to the Father. That's
right. When the high priest in the Old
Testament brought the blood offering and went under the veil and walked
up to the mercy seat covering the broken law, he didn't put
that on there to impress Israel. They weren't even looking. There
wasn't anybody in there but him and God. That blood was offered
before the Lord as a picture of Christ who died unto God before
God to reconcile us to God. Don't you ever preach Christ
only as an example. Don't you ever preach Christ
as a martyr and a reformer. Don't you ever preach Christ
in such a sad, sentimental, sickening way to get people to feel sorry
for him. Our Lord marched him to the cross,
to Golgotha bearing his cross, turned to those who were weeping
and lamenting. They did. He said, don't you
cry for me. Don't you feel sorry for me.
You feel sorry for yourselves and for your children. You don't
weep over the cure, you weep over the cause. You don't weep
over the remedy, you weep over the disease. You don't weep over
Christ dying, you weep over that which sent him to the cause,
our sins. But his blood was offered unto the Lord, before God, and
got no dealing with you at all, as far as it's to you. It's in
your place, and in your stand, and as your substitute. was in Egypt and God would deliver
them. God told them to slay the lamb, eat its flesh, put the
blood on the door. The outside of the door. And
they were to go inside. They weren't looking at the blood.
God was looking at the blood. He said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. Not when you see it. It's when
I see it. And I'm saying to you, my friends, our salvation, our
salvation, this redemption of the sinner, And we have our ups
and downs and tangents and rabbits we're chasing, all these things.
But the ultimate purpose and goal and objective of God is
to make us like Christ. And he's going to do it. Because
Christ died to accomplish that. All right, in the fifth place,
our salvation brought the Holy Spirit to convince us of sin,
reveal Christ as our Redeemer. I show it in the sixth place,
our salvation will be complete. One day. When they put these
bodies in the grave, and we go to be with Christ, and he comes
again and brings these bodies out of the grave, and body and
soul, we stand in his presence just like Christ. Turn to 1 John
3. 1 John chapter 3. Behold, verse 1, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
sons of God. Therefore the world doesn't know
us, it didn't know him. But beloved, now are we sons
of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know
that when he shall appear, we're going to be like him." How do
you know that? That's God's purpose in redemption.
That's what he set out to accomplish, make us like Christ. We shall
see him as he is. And every man that has this hope,
what hope? That Christ is coming? No, sir,
that he's going to be like Christ when he comes. He purifies himself. His whole life and existence
is toward one objective. It's to be like Christ. He's
obsessed with Christ. He's obsessed with this truth.
He's obsessed with the relationship with Christ. And he purifies
himself even as Christ is pure. He wants to be like Christ. Listen
to what David said in Psalm 17. Turn over there a minute. Psalm
17. You'd think a man like David, all he had, he'd be satisfied. But he wasn't. There's no satisfaction
in this life, in this flesh. If you're finding total satisfaction
in it, you've missed Christ. Psalm 1715 says this, David,
who had everything and knew everybody, he said in Psalm 1715, As for
me, I'll behold thy face in righteousness, I'll be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. Very briefly, and I promise you
I'm going to be brief, I want to give you five things I'd like
you to jot down also with this message. Very briefly, let me
give you these things. I ought to save it for another
message, but I must give it to you now. Salvation is of the
Lord. That's the essence of sound doctrine.
Now, don't be afraid of the word doctrine. Paul said to Timothy,
you take heed to yourself and to your doctrine, to your life
and to your doctrine. Also, he said, teach those things,
speak those things that become sound doctrine. The salvation
of the righteous, that's sound doctrine. That's sound doctrine. It's of God in his planning,
in his providing, in his application, in his sustaining power, in his
ultimate perfection. Secondly, salvations of the Lord,
not only sound doctrine, but it's a necessary fact. It's a
necessary fact. Everybody here who's been awakened
to the character of God and to the character of man knows one
thing. If God doesn't save him, he won't
be saved. Now, he knows that. Peter said, Lord, save me or
I'll perish. I've got one alternative. That's to die if you don't help
me. To go to hell if you don't do something for me. That's so.
That's it. Why do you believe that, Preacher?
I know the distance we fell. I know the deceitfulness of our
hearts. I know the power of Satan. And I know that our trials and
afflictions would crush us if God didn't sustain us. All right,
thirdly, I told you I'd be embraced. Salvations of the Lord, that's
sweet comfort. That's sweet comfort. When a
man realizes that God's for him, he doesn't care who's against
him. If God be for us, Paul said, who can be against us? Who can
lay anything to the charge if God's in it? Yeah, but Satan's
a strong foe. God's a stronger father. And
this knowledge leads us to trust. I'll tell you this, now listen
to me. There's not but one place a man will worship. I mean worship,
and that's at a sovereign throne. He'll bargain with an equal,
he'll argue with an equal, he'll quarrel with an equal, he'll
do all these things. But when he meets a sovereign,
absolute sovereign, infinite sovereign, he just does one thing,
he falls on his face. He worships. Not but one place
a man will find comfort, and that's at a sovereign throne.
All things in my life work together for his glory and my good. Why? He's able to work them together.
He has power over all things. He's got power over every cinder
in the air. He's got power over every nail
in the highway. He's got power over every principality
in evil and hell. He's got power over men's thoughts.
The heart of the King is in the hands of the Lord. I don't have
an enemy God hasn't conquered. Only at a sovereign throne will
a man find comfort, and only at a sovereign throne will a
man find salvation. This leads to fervent prayer.
You know, prayer is a sign of grace. God came to Ananias and
said, Ananias, you know Saul of Tarsus? He said, I've heard
of him. Well, what do you know about him? I know he's awful
mean. I know, Lord, he's put people in prison and killed folks
for believing on you. God said, I want you to go preach
to him. Lord, to preach to Saul of Tarsus? That's right. Lord,
I've heard about him. But the Lord said, now wait a
minute, Ananias, he's praying. He's praying. That's different.
He's praying. Prayer is a sign of grace. And
the only one place that a man can pray, and that's to a God
who can hear, and who can answer, and who can move worlds. I was
sitting talking to a preacher one time. He later became president
of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. This was back when we was both
boys. I was preaching a meeting for him. And he said to me, he
said, Henry, we've been arguing all these days about sovereignty
and election and all these things, and back then I would argue.
And I'll argue now if I get a chance. But anyway, back then I would
argue. But finally Perry said, Henry,
God wants to save everybody. He wants to save everybody. Well,
I said, Perry, why doesn't he do it? If that's what he wants
to do, why doesn't he do it? He said, they won't let him.
Well, I said, Perry, I said, I agree with you. We never argue
no more. We're talking about two different gods. Your god
wants to do something and can't. My god does everything he wills
to do. He has the power to do it. Now,
we're not going to argue any more. We don't talk any more.
Well, he said, let's have prayer before we go to service. I said,
what are we going to ask God for? Well, we're going to ask
him to save people. I said, he can't do it. You just
told me he couldn't do it. Now, you want me to get on my
knees and ask God to do what he can't do? I ain't going to
do it. No more. No more prayers with you to ask
God to save people he can't. He looked at me. He said, I believe
you've got something there. My friend, I know I've got something
there. Every man's a Calvinist when
he hits his knees. Or he's a fool. There's not but
two men will pray, and that's a fool and a grace man. Now,
but two people that will pray, and that's a fool who thinks
that because he'll be heard for his much speaking, or he can
move God because of his piety and because of his sniveling
and his crying and all these things, because he's flat on
his face, he can influence heaven. Brother, your heart's not influencing
heaven. It turned heaven off a long time
ago. Or the other man that'll pray is the man that knows God's
on the throne, and God's got a purpose, and God's going to
glorify Christ, and his desire, too, is to glorify Christ, so
he and his God collaborate in the glorification of his Son.
That's prayer. It's got something to do with
the will of God. Prayer, sovereignty leads a man
to wait on God. The Arminian's always in a hurry.
The man who believes in a sovereign God will wait on him. His purposes
will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter
taste, but sweet will be the flower. He that believeth will
not make haste." He's not in any hurry. He knows God will
fulfill his purpose in his own time, and he's willing to wait.
Make a decision now. Better make it now. I say to
you, listen, my friend, it's a big decision. And I'm telling
you this, don't you make any vow to God you don't intend to
keep. So now you consider if you want to build this house,
see if you've got the material that requires to build it. Don't
you go puffing off about you're going to do this and you're going
to do that, and I'll trust you, God, and I'll live for you if
all these things. Big decision. What if he died
before he made his decision? Well, if he's one of God's own,
you say, that's fatalistic. No, no. If God's convicting him
today, he'll be convicting him tomorrow. And he'll bring him
to his son. He's not going to dally very
long. And I'll tell you, this belief in God's sovereign grace
makes deathbeds awful soft. Awful soft. And fourthly, and
I'll give you this, salvation is of the Lord. That's a good
reason for humility. Paul said, what do you have you
didn't receive? What do you have you didn't? Now, come on, what
do you have? Anything you have. You got a good brain? Who gave
it to you? Huh? Did you make it? God gave
it to you. That's right. You got a Bible?
God gave it to you. You've got a pastor who preaches
the grace of God, God gave him to you. That's fine. A man can
receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. Pilate said, don't you know I've
got power to crucify you, let you go? He said, you couldn't
have any power over me at all, wasn't my father. When you realize that salvation
is of the Lord, all of it from beginning to end, it'll put you
in the dust, it'll strip you of all your self-righteousness,
it'll keep down your self-glory. He chose the foolish, the base,
the things that are not, for his glory. That's what it says.
It'll keep down all criticism of other people. It'll destroy
all self-confidence and make you say with David of old, who
am I and what is my house? That we should be so faithful.
And last of all, I quit. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
the ground of all our hope. I've got no hope in myself. I
tell you this. I know this more and more. I
realize it more every day. I've got no hope whatsoever in
the flesh. But my Lord is unchanging, immutable,
infinite. He never changes. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. If he was form in eternity, past
is my surety. If he was farming on this earth
as my representative, if he was farming on that cross as my substitute,
if he's farming now at the right hand of God as my mediator, he'll
be farming when he comes again, and he'll call my name, and he'll
say, come forth. And you know something? My salvation
is going to be complete when I stand in his likeness. So what are we to do? Look to
him. Believe on him. Cast yourself
upon Christ. Learn of Christ. He said, come
to me. Learn of me. I'm meek and lowly and you'll
find rest unto your soul. My burden is light. My yoke is easy. Cast it all
on him. Sink or swim, go to him. That's
it. Just rest in Christ. Walk in the light God gave you.
I'm not asking you to go ahead and make yourself some mature,
perfect Christian. That's a bunch of foolishness.
You'll find out tomorrow the battle is just as keen as it
was today. Next year it's just as keen. You need a mediator
when you're 70, even more than you did when you were 20. Christ
is that mediator. But rest in Him. Start right
now. Lord, I don't know very much. I just know you own the
throne. I know sin is great. I know I'm
a sinner. I know Christ is the only Savior.
I cast myself on Him. Now teach me. Make me like Christ. Work salvation in me. I'm not
going to state right here, well, I've made my decision, now I'm
fixed up. I'm all saved. You know, sure for heaven as
if I was already there. You talk like a fool. You're
not already there. I hope by his good pleasure safely
to arrive at home. I may turn out to be a reprobate,
but I tell you this, my hope's in Christ. Where's yours? Christ
alone.