Do You Really Want To Be Saved?

I want you to turn in your Bibles
this morning to the book of Romans, chapter 10, verse 13. I'm going to be speaking on this
subject, Do You Really Want to be Saved? Now, I have a question
for every person watching this program. Every person listening
to my voice, I have a very serious question to ask you. Do you really
want to be saved? Saved from sin's penalty, and
from sin's power, and from sin's practice, and from sin's presence? Do you really want to know the
living God? To love God? To live for his
glory? Do you really want, like Enoch,
to walk with the living God? Do you really want, like the
Apostle Paul, to know Christ and the power of his resurrected
life? Do you really want, like John,
to fellowship with the living God? He said, our fellowship
is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Do you really
want, sincerely, like David, to praise the Lord? Do you really
want, like Moses, to see God's glory? Is that your desire? Our Lord said, Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled. A man who
wants to know the will of God, Christ said, will know the will
of God. A man who seeks Christ will find
Christ. Here is our text today, Romans
10, verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, Paul was writing
to the church at Rome, and he said, My heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now, he said
they have a zeal for God, but it's not according to knowledge,
and they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, are going about
to establish their own righteousness. And then he tells us how to be
saved, and he closes with this, and whosoever will, Whosoever
will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Now, let
this be established first of all. We must be sincere about
this matter. God Almighty will not do business
with wavering hearts, an undecided heart. He said in James, if any
man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, but let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering. For the man that wavers is like
the sea that's tossed about with the many waves, the troubled
waves. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything
of the Lord. We must be sincere in this matter. Do you really want to know the
Lord? Do you really want to be saved? Or do you have a wavering
heart? God will not do business with
a divided heart either. He said no man can serve two
masters. He's going to hate one and love
the other. He's going to cling to the one
and despise the other. It's impossible to love and serve
two masters. Our minds are going to have to
be made up. God will not do business with a divided heart. God does
business with a broken heart, with a contrite heart, with a
sincere heart, and with a single heart. God will not do business
with insincere hearts. He said, ye shall find me when
you search for me with all your heart. You shall seek me and
find me when you search for me with all your heart. That's the
reason at the beginning of this message I ask this question. Do you really want to be saved? Do you really want to know God?
Do you really have a need? Are you sincere in this matter? Are you sincere like the man
who said this? I jotted this down years ago.
It's been a blessing to me, and I believe this man's right on
every count. He says, I am a guilty sinner.
I covet to know the Lord. I want to know the living God.
God has mercy for sinners. Salvation is to be found. For
God is plenteous in mercy. But his salvation and his mercy
is revealed in his word. And I'm going to take this book
and make it my business to find salvation or perish seeking it. Now, he is right on every count.
We are sinners. The scripture says, all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. He is right on
this count. God is merciful. The Lord is
plenteous in mercy. The Lord delights to show mercy.
He said to Moses, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. I
will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. Salvation is in
Christ. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It's in Christ.
It's not in the church. It's in Christ. It's not in the
law. It's in Christ. It's not in the
ordinances. It's in Christ. Salvation is
not in the ceremony. It's in Christ. The man's right
on every count. We are guilty. God is merciful. Salvation is in Christ, and he's
right on this score, too. Salvation, redemption, Christ,
is revealed in God's Word. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved." Now, let's break that text down. I think I can help you if you
listen carefully. Last Sunday afternoon, I visited
with a dear lady who's very, very sick. She's between 50 and
60 years of age. And I walked in, sat down beside
the bed, and she said, Brother May, I'm lost. I'm lost. Well, let me ask you this. Do
you really want to be saved? Salvation is available. Salvation
can be found. Salvation is in Christ. God delights
to save sinners. That's why Christ came to save
sinners. Salvation is in the Word of God. But we're going
to have to turn to his Word. Now, let's break this text down.
And you listen to me. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, first of all, I'm going
to show you five things. First of all, this is a wide,
wide word, whosoever. You know, I'm told that if a
man makes out a will and wishes to leave everything to his wife,
that the thing for him to do, if he wants to leave everything
to her, is just say something. Now, if he starts breaking it
down and he starts identifying certain objects and possessions
or riches or money, he's going to leave something out. Or he's
going to write in a loophole for a shrewd lawyer to contest
that will. The thing for him to do is just
express it simply to the point he leaves everything to her.
And that's what our Lord has done in this will, in this covenant,
in this last will and testament. He has made it clear and distinct.
He has not identified nationalities. He has not identified personalities. He has not identified individuals. He used one word. that covers
the whole world, rich and poor. It doesn't matter if you're the
richest man in the world. It doesn't matter if you're the
poorest man in the world, black and white, old and young. It doesn't matter if you're 90
or 9, learned or ignorant. It doesn't matter if you're a
college professor or a laborer, whosoever, bond or free, Jew
or Gentile, male or female, whosoever. This is a wide word. Now, this
is better. Then if God had said in his word,
you say, boy, I wish my name was there. No, you don't either.
Suppose God said, if Henry Mahan shall call upon the name of the
Lord, he shall be saved. You say, wouldn't that be wonderful?
No, sir. Because there may be another fellow by that name.
In fact, my grandfather had that name. That was my grandfather's
name. So the Lord might have meant
him. He may not have meant me at all. He may have meant someone
back 4,000 years ago by that name or 2,000 years ago, but
he put a better word. He put a word that covers you
and me. He could put a word that covers
anyone who desires to be saved. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. He said to his disciples, go
ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned." And this is a wide word. And can you get
in here? Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Now, let's take the next word.
Whosoever shall call. Now, this is an easy word. You've
heard people call for help. You've had your children call
your name when they needed you. You've had your wife or husband
call your name when they needed you. You perhaps have called
on someone when you needed them. You've heard a call for help,
a call out of a need. Take Peter. When he was sitting
in the boat and he saw the Lord walking on the waves and he said,
Did me come to you on the water? The Lord Jesus said, well, come
on. So Peter stepped out of the boat and he began to walk on
the water and he began to be afraid. He saw the waves were
so, so boisterous and troublesome. And he saw the, he saw the, the,
uh, the waves and he heard the wind and he looked about him.
He was afraid and he began to sink. And what did he do? He
called. He called out of a need. He called
out of inability. He called out of helplessness.
He said, Lord, save me or I perish. call. Or like the leper who,
when Christ came down from the mountain, the leper walked up
to him and fell on his knees and worshipped him and looked
up at him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me whole.
Or like the thief on the cross who was dying for his sins and
his crimes against society and hanging there beside the Savior.
He turned to him and he said, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. And the Master said today, shalt
thou be with me in paradise. Anybody can call. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And let me tell
you this, you can call without speaking. You can call by reaching. Isn't that what the woman with
the issue of blood did? She'd been sick 12 years. She'd
spent everything she had on many positions and was no better.
And she said, if I can get to him, if I can just but touch
the hem of his garment, I'll be made whole. And she came through
the crowd, and she called up to where the Master was standing
speaking, and she reached out. That's a call for help. In her
need, in her distress, in her sickness, she reached out and
touched him and was made whole. You can call without saying a
word. You can just reach. Or you can call on the Lord without
reaching, just by looking. Isn't that what the people did
in the wilderness when they were bitten by the fiery serpent?
while Moses lifted up that serpent, the brazen serpent, on a pole,
and he commanded them to look and live. And that's what our
Lord said in Isaiah 45, 22. He said, Look unto me, all the
ends of the earth, and be ye saved. For I am God, and there's
none else. You can call on the Lord without
speaking. You can call on the Lord without
reaching. You can call on the Lord simply by looking. Look
to Christ. What's that old hymn? I have
a message from the Lord, hallelujah. This message to you I give. It's
recorded in his word, hallelujah. It's only that you look, that
you look and live. And you know something? You can
call on the Lord without speaking, without reaching, without even
seeing or looking. You may be blind. You can call
on the Lord by thinking. That's right. God knows our hearts.
God looks on the heart. God does not look on the outward
countenance. God does not look on the outward appearance. God
looks on the heart. Actually, there may be a man
all dressed up in religious garb with a crucifix about his neck
and praying hands and all of these symbols and signs of religion,
and his heart may be in love with himself. He may despise
the living God. That's the way it was when the
Pharisee and the publican went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee
was all dressed up in the garments and garbs of religion, and he
stood and prayed with himself, God, I thank you. I'm not like
other men. I tithe and fast and pray and give alms to the poor.
I'm not even like this publican. And the scripture said the publican
wouldn't so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but smote upon
his breast and cried, oh God, be merciful to me a sinner. His
heart was broken. You know, repentance is heart
work. Conviction is heart work. Faith is heart work. This same
text in Romans 10 verse 9 says, If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart, God raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. So you can look. You can
look. And you can call by reaching,
by looking, or even by thinking. Desiring salvation when your
heart begins to think on the Lord when your heart begins to
think on your sin when your heart begins to think on your inability
look to Christ Whosoever shall call now watch it. Here's another
word and it's the majestic word. It's the mighty word It's the
important word now listen to me. We need to camp here a little
while. This is all important whosoever
Do you have a need do you want to be saved? Now, if you're not
sincere and you have a divided heart, you want to be entertained
or you want to have the blessings without the benefactor, we need
not talk any further. But you really want to know the
Lord. Well, whosoever shall call upon the name, here's the important
word, upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Salvation is
by calling on the name of the Lord. Now, man may miss salvation
by calling on the wrong name. on the wrong Savior, on the wrong
Lord, the name of the Lord. This is important right here.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord. You know, when Paul
wrote the book of 2 Corinthians 11, verses 3 and 4, he said,
I'm afraid lest Satan, like he tempted Eve through his subtlety,
should take you away from the simplicity of Christ. For if
he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, another spirit, and another
gospel." Now, this is what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid of men
calling on the wrong name. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must say, If you're going
to call on the name of the Lord, you're going to have to call
on the name of the Lord of glory, the Lord of salvation, the Lord
of creation, the Lord of the Bible, the Lord of the universe.
You're going to have to find the right one. Now, his name,
now watch this. His name, first of all, is Jesus
Christ. That's the name of the Lord upon
whom we call if we want to save. Jesus Christ. You take your Bible,
if you will, and look at Matthew chapter 1, verse 1. The first
name mentioned in Matthew chapter 1 verse 1 is Jesus Christ. You turn to the last chapter
in the Bible, the book of Revelation, the last book, the last chapter,
the last verse, the last words. May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you. He's Alpha and Omega. He's the
beginning and the end. He is the author and the finisher.
He is what the book is all about. He is what the prophets, he is
the one to whom the prophets give witness. He is what the
ceremonies represent. He is what the Psalms sing about. He is Jesus Christ. All right? Secondly, his name is the mighty
God. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor, the mighty God. His name is Immanuel. Behold,
the Lord himself shall give you a sign. A virgin shall be with
child and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name
Immanuel, God with us." With us, God. That's his name. That's his name. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord, not just any God. Buddha won't
do. Confucius won't do. Mohammed
won't do. No other God will do. Jesus Christ
Superstar won't do. You're going to have to call
on the name of the Lord. the mighty God, the everlasting
Father. Now, what's this? His name is
Savior. His name is substitute. When
the angel said to Joseph, Fear not to take unto thee Mary to
be thy wife, he said, That holy thing which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, Savior. For he shall save his people
from their sins. Call his name Joshua. Call his
name Jesus. He shall save you. Not try to
save, he shall save. He's the substitute. His name
is Sovereign. God hath highly exalted him and
given him a name which is above every name, that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow. And every tongue confess that
he's Lord. You see a frustrated, defeated,
disappointed, disillusioned, a little shepherd boy can't save
you. It takes the sovereign Lord who has a name above every name,
the one who can conquer Satan and conquer sin and conquer death
and conquer the grave and bear the wrath of God and come forth
victorious. He's got to be almighty. A great
sinner needs a great Savior. A great load of sin needs a great
sin bearer. A great debt needs a great redeemer.
And a great note demands a great ransom. You see that? His name
is sovereign. His name is immutable. His name,
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. Find out
who He was before the morning stars sang together. That's who
He is now. Find out who He was when it said
back there before the sons of God shouted for joy. Back there
I was with thee and beheld thy glory. What He was then, He is
now and always has been. The same yesterday, today, and
forever. His name is our message. I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The Holy Spirit's
not our message. Christ is. The denomination is
not our message, Christ is. The doctrine is not our message,
Christ is. You can't separate Christ from
his doctrine, Christ from his teaching, Christ from his law,
Christ from his commandments, but Christ is the message. And
then his name is our authority. He said, go into all the world
and preach repentance and remission of sins in my name. His name
is our authority. He said, all authority is given
unto me in heaven and earth. You go preach. His name is our
power in prayer. Our Lord said, if you ask anything
of the Father in my name, he'll give it to you. His name is the
song of glory unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood. His is the name known in hell.
They don't know the name of your church in hell, but they know
his name. The sons of Seba were trying to cast out demons, and
the demons looked at them and said, who are you? Jesus we know,
but who are you? They know him. They obey him
because his is the name known in hell. His is the name known
on earth. When Peter stood at the gate
beautiful and saw the man lame from birth, he said, In the name
of Jesus Christ, I command you, rise up and walk. His name is
the name known in heaven. In Revelation 22, verse 1 through
4, it talks about his name written on their foreheads. His name. Whosoever. Get this now. It doesn't
matter who you are. It doesn't matter where you live,
how old you are, or how many times you've been baptized to
join the church. You need Christ. How many experiences
you've had, you need grace. Whosoever may be a preacher in
the midst of the gospel shall call. You're not going to work
for it. God's not going to bargain with you. God's not going to
let you say, now I'll do this, Lord, if you'll do that. God
gives salvation. It's the gift of God. It's not
whosoever shall serve God, and whosoever shall work for God,
and whosoever shall obey God, and whosoever shall give to God,
it's whosoever shall call, call on the name. But don't miss that
now. That's where you better camp,
better find out who he is. You can't call on one you don't
know. You can't trust an unrevealed Christ. Whosoever shall call
on the name of the Son of God shall. Now here's a fourth word,
a sure word. shall be saved. Shall be saved. I love the shalls and the wills
of God's Word, don't you? There's no if, maybe, or perhaps
here. It says he shall be saved. He
shall be. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Here I raise mine Ebenezer. Here
I trust my soul's salvation. Here I cast my sins and sorrows
on Christ. And I know that if I trust Him
and believe on Him and receive Him and commit my soul to Him,
God says, you shall be saved. You know, the hardest thing in
the world is to get people to listen to God's Word. They'll
listen to this right here. It says, He that believeth on
the Son of God hath life, and he that believeth not the Son
of God shall not see life. That's clear. If words can mean
anything, that's clear, isn't it? But me, in turn, walk away.
They don't believe that. Somebody else can stand over
here and say, now you'll be baptized, God will save you. He doesn't
say that in the Bible. If you join my church, the church
of which I'm a member, the church of which I'm a preacher, or the
church of my denomination, you'll be saved. The Bible doesn't say
that. If you do the best you can, God will take you to heaven.
The Bible doesn't say that. The Bible says, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You know, I read
years ago about a truck driver whose name was Rupert Lewis.
Years ago, this was 25, 30 years ago, he was driving a truck from
Jackson, Mississippi to Vicksburg, Mississippi. And a great rainstorm,
a tremendous rainstorm fell, and he didn't know it, but the
bridge crossing Pearl River, Pearl River is between Jackson
and Vicksburg, and the bridge washed out. It was dark, pouring
down rain, and he was driving his big semi down the highway
and just ran right off into that river. Well, somehow he got out.
He lost his truck, but he got out, and he climbed back ashore.
This is a true story. He climbed back ashore, muddy
and dirty and cold, and he ran up on the highway, and he ran
down a good ways away from where the bridge had washed out. There
were no lights. He didn't have any flares or lights or anything,
no signs at all. He was just standing there in
his wet, dirty clothes, and he would call a car coming, and
he waved the car to stop, and the car went around him right
on off into the river. He ran a little further down,
and a truck came by, and he stood and waved, and a truck went right
around him into the river. They paid no attention to him.
And this is true until ten cars and two trucks had gone into
that river, failing to heed that man's warning. Sixteen people
dead, eight critically injured, because they wouldn't pay any
attention to what he said. I wonder if that's true of many
of us. God's word is here. God's warning is here. God's
promise is here. God's gospel is here. God's truth
is here. And we just go around it, you
know. We're going to have our way. There's a way that seemeth
right unto men, and that goes this way and that way and the
other way. Why not do what God says? What's wrong with that?
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in thine heart God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For he that believeth shall not be put to shame. There
is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. The same
Lord is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Now in closing,
here's a 4-4 warning, caution. It says, But how shall they call
on him in whom they've not believed? You're not going to call unless
you believe. You're not going to call unless you believe. Unless
you believe he's able and willing to save. And then you'll call.
And he says, How shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard?
Now, you've heard today. I told you about Christ, the
mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Substitute, the Sovereign,
the Savior, the one who died on the cross to bear our sins,
the one who is the one mediator between God and men. You've heard.
How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? I believe God sent me your way.
I don't believe it's an accident that we had this meeting today.
I don't believe it's an accident that you tuned in to this broadcast.
I believe God has spoken to you. Now I ask you again, do you really
want to be saved? When I don't go to a soul winner,
don't go to a preacher, don't go to the front of the church,
don't go to an altar, go to God. Privately, in prayer, right now,
you call on the name of the Lord, just like that thief on the cross.
He didn't call on John or Peter. He didn't say, Peter, how about
leading me to the Lord? There's the Lord. Call on Him. Call on
the Lord. And thou shalt be saved.

Do You Really Want To Be Saved?

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Do You Really Want To Be Saved?

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