Salvation is of the Lord

Q: What does the Bible say about salvation?

The Bible declares that salvation is entirely the work of God. Throughout Scripture, it is emphasized that salvation is of the Lord. This means that it is God who orchestrates our salvation from start to finish. In Jonah 2:9, Jonah himself states, 'Salvation is of the Lord,' signifying that deliverance comes solely through God's sovereign will and action. Likewise, in Psalm 107, the psalmist echoes this concept by proclaiming that the redeemed have been delivered by God's hand. This foundational truth underscores the sovereignty of God in the plan of salvation, as noted in scriptures like Ephesians 1:4 and Revelation 13:8, which highlight God's eternal plan and foreknowledge.

Q: How do we know that God's sovereignty is essential in salvation?

God's sovereignty ensures that salvation is completely His work and not ours. God's sovereignty in salvation is crucial as it guarantees that our rescue from sin and death is entirely dependent on Him and not on human effort. As stated in Jonah's cry, 'Salvation is of the Lord,' we learn that God alone has the power to deliver us. This is not a cooperative effort; lost sinners are utterly incapable of assisting in their salvation. Only through a sovereign act of grace can a person be justified, sanctified, and ultimately glorified. As expressed in Acts 2:23, the plan of salvation was executed by God's predetermined counsel, showing that even the actions taken against Christ were within God's sovereign plan. Thus, we can be confident that our salvation is secure in the hands of a sovereign God.

Q: Why is it important to understand that salvation is a work of God?

Understanding that salvation is God's work provides assurance of our eternal security. Understanding that salvation is purely the work of God is vital for Christians because it grounds our faith in His unchanging character and promises. If salvation depended on us, our assurance would be fleeting and unreliable. In his sermon, the preacher highlights that God planned, executed, applied, sustained, and will perfect our salvation. This comprehensive view assures believers that their standing before God rests on His grace alone. Additionally, scriptures like John 6:44 underscore the necessity of divine initiative in our coming to faith, emphasizing that it is God who draws sinners to Himself. Thus, the totality of salvation being of the Lord fosters deep gratitude and reliance on God rather than our own wavering abilities.

If you would like to follow in
your Bibles while I speak today, I invite you to open them to
the book of Jonah, chapter 2, verse 9. My subject will be Salvation
is of the Lord. Now the prophet Jonah was commanded
by God to go down to the great city of Nineveh and warn that
city of the judgment and wrath of God against them. Jonah didn't
want to go. He rebelled against God, and
he went down to a port and caught a ship, the Tarsus. And when
the little ship sailed and got out on the sea, God sent, the
Scripture says, a great storm. And the storm tossed the little
ship about in the water, and Jonah went down in the hull of
the ship and went to sleep. And the sailors were a superstitious
lot, and they began to inquire, one of the other, why the storm?
Their gods had sent the storm, their gods were angry with them,
and they began to ask one another, and finally someone came down
in the hole and found Jonah asleep. And he said, why sleepest thou?
Don't you understand what's going on? Arise and call on your God.
And Jonah told them that he was a prophet of the true and living
God. He believed in the one God. And that God had sent him to
Nineveh to warn that city of judgment, and he had rebelled
against God. And he was running from the Lord,
and he said, it's my fault. The storm is all my fault. Now,
if you'll just take me and cast me over the side of the ship,
everything will be all right. Well, they didn't want to do
that, and they rode a little harder, but the storm waxed worse,
and finally they decided that the only thing to do was to cast
this man Jonah over the side of the ship. They cast him over
the side into the sea, and the Scripture says that the storm
ceased. And Jonah sank down under the
waves. Now, the scripture says that
God had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. Now, I know
that many people rebel against the story of Jonah. They question
it. They say it's not really true. It didn't really happen.
But now, you listen carefully to this. Our Lord Jesus Christ
quoted from the book of Jonah himself. He said in Matthew chapter
12, verse 40, Our Lord referred to Jonah, and he referred to
the fish that swallowed Jonah, and he referred to the time that
Jonah spent in the belly of the fish. Christ himself said in
Matthew 12.40, as Jonah was three nights in the belly of the fish,
and that's what the book of Jonah says. He was in there three nights. And our Lord Jesus Christ himself
said that as Jonah was three nights in the belly of the fish,
so shall the Son of Man himself. be in the earth, the heart of
the earth, three days and three nights. Now I believe the story
of Jonah being swallowed by the great fish. All things are possible
with God. Nothing is impossible with God.
God who can create the world and God who can create man and
God who can keep the universe in its proper perspective and
the stars and the moon and the sun Why couldn't the God of heaven
create a fish that would swallow him? Man, there's no problem
there. But Jonah sank down into the water, and this great fish
swallowed him. And he was in the bowels, or
belly, of that fish. And then Jonah cried unto the
Lord out of the fish's belly. He said, I cried unto the Lord
because of my affliction. The waters compassed me about.
The weeds were wrapped around my head. I went down to the bottom
of the mountains. My situation was hopeless. I
was helpless. But I looked again to the temple
of the Lord. I remembered the Lord, and I
cried, Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Now, I would say that these five
words sum up my theology. This is what I believe. This
is what I preach. Salvation is of the Lord. We can write our books of systematic
theology, and they have their place. And we can write our creeds,
and they have an important place also in our catechism. But the
sum and substance of our message is this. Salvation is of the
Lord. That's the sum and substance
of our message. Salvation is of the Lord. The banquet of mercy is served
up by one host. who has provided the food, who
is himself the food, who invites the guests, and who even furnishes
the robe. Salvation is of the Lord. When Moses led the people of
Israel out of Egypt, he brought them down to the Red Sea, and
there they were camped. And the word spread through the
camp that the Egyptians were pursuing them, that Pharaoh had
brought his whole army out of Egypt and was thundering down
upon these helpless people as they stood in front of that great
sea. And they began to question Moses. They said, did you bring
us out here to die? Wouldn't it have been better
if we had just stayed in Egypt and been the slaves of the Egyptians
than to come out here in the wilderness and die? And Moses
said this. He said, fear not. Stand still. Just stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord. That's our message. It's the
one Jonah preached, salvation is of the Lord. It's the one
Moses preached, salvation is of the Lord. It's the one David
preached, he said the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord.
Then there was a great old prophet named Jehaziel, and one time
Israel was totally surrounded by enemy troops. There was no
hope for the armies of Israel. They were totally surrounded,
and they feared that they would all perish And this great prophet
stood forth, Jehaziel, and he said, Fear not, the battle is
not yours, it belongs to the Lord. And he said the same thing
that Moses said. He said, Stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. Deliverance
is of the Lord. And then there was an old man
in the temple, in the days of Christ's incarnation, when our
Lord came into this world, was born of Mary. Mary and Joseph
brought him to the temple. It was the custom that every
Jewish boy should be circumcised and then at a certain time brought
to the temple to go through the various ceremonies and customs
of the Jews. And our Lord was subject to God's
moral law. He was subject to the Mosaic
law. He was subject to the law of
the home. As our representative, he was subject to every law that
was enforced at that time. And they brought him to the temple
to do after him, or for him, after the Jewish law. And there
was an old man in that temple by the name of Simeon. And Simeon
was waiting for the consolation of Israel. He was waiting for
the Messiah. He was waiting for the Redeemer. God had told him
that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah, the Redeemer. And so when Mary and Joseph brought
that child into the temple, and put him in the hands of that
great old man, that priest named Simeon. He took one look at that
child, and then he lifted his eyes to heaven and he said, O
Lord, now let us, thy servant, depart in peace. Mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. All the way through the Bible,
it's not called our salvation, it's called God's salvation.
as Moses said, salvations of the Lord, when David stood to
fight Goliath. And all the armies of Israel
were backing up, retreating. He stood forth and he said, God
is the Savior, God will save us, God will deliver us. David
prayed one time in Psalm 51, Lord, restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation. And here Simeon, looking into
the face of the Lord Jesus, said, I'm ready to die now, I've seen
thy salvation. Salvation is not something we
do for God, nor something we do for ourselves. Salvation is
something God does for us. This is the theme of David's
107th Psalm. It would bless you to take your
Bibles and read that Psalm 107. It says, Let the redeemed of
the Lord say so, whom he hath delivered from the hand of the
enemy, and gathered them from the north and the south and the
east and the west. They wandered in the wilderness
in a lonely way. They found no city in which to
dwell. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered, he saved them out of their distresses. Salvation is of the Lord. What
do we mean by this, salvation is of the Lord? What exactly
do we mean? Well, we mean just what Jonah
meant. We mean just what Jonah meant. Here he was. He said,
he said, I cried unto the Lord because of my affliction. He
said, the waters compassed me about. The weeds were wrapped
around my head. I went down to the bottom of
the mountains. My situation was hopeless. And I remembered the
Lord and I cried, Salvation is of the Lord. Jonah knew there
was no way out of the mess he was in except by a sovereign
supernatural miraculous act of God. He was without strength. He was without help. He was without
hope. He was at his wit's end. No way
out. And he cried, Salvation is of
the Lord. We're in the same shape. By the
fall of Adam, by the rebellion of our father, by our own sinful
natures, by our own sinful thoughts, by our own sinful acts and words,
we're in a mess. And the only way out of the mess
we're is that a sovereign, supernatural, miraculous act of God should
deliver us from this curse of the law and from this bondage
of sin. Peter summed up the hope of every
sinner when, as he sank beneath the water, he cried, Lord, you
save me, or I perish. That's my only hope. I can't
help myself, and these other fellows can't help me. and the
law can't help me and the church can't help me and the ceremony
can't help me, you save me or I perish. What do we mean by
salvation is of the Lord when I say it's the sum and substance
of our whole message? What do we mean? We mean this,
the whole of the work whereby a lost sinner, a rebel son of
Adam is justified, sanctified and redeemed is of the Lord and
of him only. What do we mean? By salvation
is of the Lord, we mean this, that the whole of the work, whereby
a child of wrath, and that's what we are, children of wrath,
even as others, a child of darkness, is translated from the kingdom
of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son, is of the Lord,
and of Him only. What do we mean, salvation is
of the Lord? We mean the whole of the work,
whereby a servant of sin, and to whom you surrender yourselves
as servants, His servants you are, whether of sin unto death
or righteousness unto God. But we are servants of sin, we're
slaves of sin. And the whole of the work, whereby
a slave of sin, a servant of sin, becomes a servant of God. A man who is bound by his own
evil will becomes bound by the will of God. A man whose nature
is to love darkness and hate light becomes one who has a nature
that hates darkness and loves light. Love's like that work
of regeneration whereby we're born anew and receive a new nature. It's of the Lord and of Him only. Salvation is of the Lord. Now
I want to give you five things that I feel are most important.
And I believe if you consider these five statements, and if
you take your Bibles and jot down these scriptures that I'm
going to give you, it'll be of a great personal help to you
in your relationship with God. In giving Him the glory that
is due unto His matchless name. In giving Him the praise that
is due unto His holy name. Everything God does, He does
to the praise of the glory of His grace. And if we don't learn
to praise Him here, we're certainly not going to praise Him in glory. Now here are the five things,
and I want you to listen carefully to them. First of all, salvation
is of the Lord, in that He planned it. God planned salvation. Without God, it could not have
been planned. The plan of salvation, as it's
called, is too splendid and too wise to have been planned by
any mind other than that holy mind and that infinite mind which
could carry it out. Did you know, my friend, that
there was a Savior before there was ever a sinner. That's right. Now listen to me. The Savior
was provided in the mind of God, in the plan of God, in the purpose
of God, before Adam ever fell. Yes, sir, back before Calvary,
back before the fall, back before the creation of man, back before
the creation of this earth, back before the morning stars sang
together, God had already prepared a Savior. Now let me show you
that. Revelation chapter 13 verse 8. It says Jesus Christ is the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. He was the Lamb slain. Not actually slain in reality,
because he was slain 2,000 years ago on Golgotha's hill. But everything
that God does in time, God purposed to do in eternity. Everything
that God does in time, he intended to do in eternity. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. And nothing that God does in
time was not purposed and planned in eternity. He says this, he said, I declare
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. Look
at Ephesians 1 It says, we, talking about the believer, we were chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world, before Adam ever
stood in the garden, before Adam ever rebelled against God, before
Adam ever tasted the forbidden fruit, before Adam ever sinned.
We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Look at 1 Peter 1 verse 18 through 20. It says this, we are not
redeemed with corruptible things. such as silver and gold from
our vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as a Lamb without spot
or blemish, who verily was foreordained before the world, but was manifested
in these last days." He was ordained, he was appointed, he was set
forth as the Lamb, as the surety, as the representative, as the
Redeemer of his people, before his people were ever created.
That's what God's Word teaches. Matthew 25, 34. Our Lord said,
All nations shall be gathered before him at the judgment. The
sheep shall be on the right hand, the goats on the left. And he
shall say to them on the right hand. Now listen, Matthew 25,
34. He shall say to them on the right hand, Enter ye, blessed,
into the kingdom prepared for you when from before the foundation
of this world. I'm saying the salvation is of
the Lord because he planned it. He planned it. Let me ask you
a question. I asked the same question Job asked two or three
times. How can God be just and justify the ungodly? Suppose
God gathered before him all of the angels and cherubims and
seraphims and all creatures, and he set before them this question.
How can I be just and justify the ungodly? How can my righteousness
and my holiness and my truth be magnified and manifested? And how can I punish sin and
at the same time magnify and manifest my love and forgiveness
and my peace and my mercy? Why, the angels would have still
been sitting there in silence, but God has the answer. God Almighty
sent His Son into this world to be the propitiation for our
sin. His perfect Son, who was without sin, was made sin for
us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
He sent a representative. As in Adam we died, in Christ
we're made alive. By the disobedience of one we
were made sinners, by the obedience of one we were made righteous.
As in Adam we fell, sinned, died. In Christ, our representative,
we're restored, we're redeemed. We found a ransom. Salvation
is of the Lord. He planned it. Secondly, salvation
is of the Lord in that He executed it. He executed it. God sent His Son into the world.
We didn't go up and get Him. We didn't send an ambassador
to super peace. We didn't send a committee to
heaven and ask God to do something about our plight. God sent His
Son into the world. For God so loved the world, He
gave His only begotten Son. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were born under the law. God made Christ our representative. Jesus Christ didn't come down
here to get God in the notion of saving us. He came because
God was in the notion. Jesus Christ didn't come down
here to persuade God to love us. He came because God did love
us. Herein is love, not that we love
God. He loved us and gave his Son to be the perpetuation of
our sins. We love him because he first loved us. God made Christ
our representative. It pleased God that in Christ
should all fullness dwell. All fullness, all redemption,
all sanctification, all justification is in Christ. Why? Did we put
it there? No, sir. God put it there. He
gave it to his Son to be the Redeemer of his people. God sent
his Son to the cross. That's right. That, what took
place, what transpired on Calvary's mountain was no accident. Oh
yes, we cried, crucify him, crucify him. We cried it, and we meant
it. And we cried, we'll not have
this man reign over us, and we meant it. And we took the nails
and the hammer and pierced his hands and feet, and we took the
crown of thorns and pressed it upon his brow, and we took the
spear and drove it into his side, but everything we did, out of
our wicked hearts and with our wicked hands, was planned and
purposed and altered by God before this world was ever made. Let
me show you that. Turn to Acts 2.23. Peter is talking
about Christ's death on the cross, and he says this, Acts 2.23,
Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you, you have taken and with your wicked hands have crucified
and slain." You did it. You did it because you wanted
to. You did it because you willed to. You did it because you purposed
to. But everything you did in your
will and wicked purpose, God decreed, He's the first cause
of all things. Isaiah said in Isaiah 53, 10,
it pleased God to bruise him. He made his soul an offering
for sin. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I have the power to lay it down
and take it up again. Pilate said, answerest thou not? Don't
you know I have the power to crucify you and let you go? He
said, you could have no power over me at all, except it were
given you from above. Listen to Acts 4, 27, of a truth. Against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with
the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
to do, listen, whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determine. before to be done." Salvation
of the Lord, he planned it. He executed it. It's of his will
and purpose. He carried it out. Thirdly, salvation
of the Lord in that he applies it. Now listen to me. He applies
it. Jeremiah said in chapter 13,
verse 23, can the Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leper change
his spots? You say, It's the Ethiopian's
nature to be black. It's the Chinese nature to be
yellow. It's the nature of an Irishman
to be white. It's the nature of an Indian
to be red. He cannot change his color because
it comes from his nature. A leper cannot change his spots
because it comes from his nature. Now listen to this question. Well, when they can, then may
you do good that by nature do evil. You know what he's saying
here? Jeremiah is saying that a dead sinner cannot give himself
life. Jeremiah is saying here that
a lost sheep cannot find himself. Jeremiah is saying this, that
an unborn sinner cannot beget himself. Jeremiah is saying this,
that a man whose nature loves darkness cannot, by willing,
love light. God who planned salvation, God
who executed salvation, God Almighty is the one who applies salvation. That's right. He makes his people
willing in the day of his power. Oh yes, we receive Christ, the
scripture says, to as many as received him. To them gave he
the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. Read the next verse. Who were
born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the
will of man, but of God. We receive him because we were
born of God. We believe on him because we
were born of God. We seek him because he sought
us. That's right. We call on him because he called
on us. Oh, yes, we come to Christ. He
said, All that my Father giveth me shall come to me. But, he
said in verse 44 of that same chapter, no man can come to me
except my Father draw him And they shall all be taught of God,
and every one that hath learned of the Father cometh unto me."
Yes, we call on Christ. Romans 10, 13 says, "...whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." But how
shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And
how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be saved? God applies salvation. Paul said,
"...God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called
me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me." God
did it. He gets all the glory. Salvation
of the Lord in the fourth place, in that he sustains it. You know
who keeps us from falling? He does. He says in Jude 24,
"...now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, to
keep you from perishing." Did you ever hear this little song?
Day by day the manner fell. Oh, to learn! that lesson well. What does that mean? Grace is
provided for every day. Grace from the hand of God. As
a man does not make himself spiritually alive, he can't keep himself
spiritually alive. If it's ever my lot, and I pray
it will be, to set my foot on the threshold of paradise some
day, and even reach forth my hand to take hold of the latch
of that pearly gate, I'll tell you this, if God doesn't give
me the grace to turn to take that last step, I'll fall even
so near to glory to the pits of hell. Every step from the
time faith begins till the time it is consummated is of the Lord,
all by His grace. You say, if I could get that
close, I'd make it on in. No, you wouldn't. It takes the
grace of God to sustain salvation, and then last of all, salvation
of the Lord in its ultimate perfection. Someday, I hope to be resurrected
from the grave. Who can do it? Only God. Only
God can bring the particles, the atoms of this body together
and bring it forth. Someday, I hope to be like Christ.
Who can do it? Only God. Someday, I have a hope
of eternal glory. Who can establish me in that
position? Only God. It's of the Lord in
His ultimate perfection. He planned it, He executed it,
He applied it, He sustains it, and He'll perfect it. for his
glory.

Salvation is of the Lord

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know that God's sovereignty is essential in salvation?

Why is it important to understand that salvation is a work of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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Salvation is of the Lord

What does the Bible say about salvation?

How do we know that God's sovereignty is essential in salvation?

Why is it important to understand that salvation is a work of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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