The Hebrews, chapter 5, verse
9. I want to read one verse of Scripture
for my text. Hebrews 5, verse 9. And being made perfect, he became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him. Now the great mistake that most
people make when they begin to think about salvation, when they
begin to think about fellowship with God, this is the great mistake
that most every person makes. When there is within their heart
or within their souls or minds a desire for salvation or a desire
for communion with God or a desire for fellowship with God, they
begin to look in the wrong place. they begin to look to themselves. Ninety-nine percent of the people
will begin to look to themselves. This is what Paul is talking
about in Romans chapter 10. Turn with me to the tenth chapter
of Romans. And here he's talking about how
he wants to see Israel saved. His heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He says they
have a zeal of God, they have an interest in God. They have
a desire for God, but it's not according to knowledge. For they
being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness. This is what men do. When they
have a desire for God and when they have a desire for salvation
and fellowship with God, they immediately began to look within
themselves to establish some sort of righteousness, some sort
of foundation on which God will accept them. Now the reason Paul
knew so much about this is because this is what he tried to do.
Turn to Philippians 3. This is the very foundation on
which he himself built at one time. Philippians 3, beginning
with verse 4. He says, Though I might also
have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that
he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more. Now he
begins to list the things in which he trusted, because he
says in verse 7, These things were gained to me. This was my
foundation. This was my hope. He says, I
was circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel. of the
tribe of Benjamin, I was a Hebrew of Hebrews. As touching the law,
in reference to the law, I was a Pharisee. Concerning zeal,
I persecuted the church. Touching the righteousness which
is in the law, I was blameless. A man might search for life in
a cemetery and find it just as quickly as he'd find life searching
for it in his own deadness. But this is the most difficult
thing in the world to get the people of this world to see,
is that salvation is not in here. It's not in here. It's in Christ. Now, here are some of the directions
that people go. They'll try outward reformation.
They search for peace with God by correcting their habits. They
search for peace with God by performing outward deeds. Now,
habits are important. and outward deeds are important,
but they're not salvation. And the honest man is amazed
at his impotence. When he goes this route, when
he chooses this direction to find peace with God, at the end
of that road he's amazed at his inability, he's amazed at his
own impotence. Another direction that people
go, they try religious feeling. They'll try weeping, they'll
try praying, they'll try devotions, they'll try meditations, they'll
try to feel and look pious and feel and look religious, but
this brings no real peace. It only makes that person and
everybody around them miserable. Another direction that they go
is this. They turn to formal worship.
Worship's important. They turn to ordinances. Ordinances
are important. But when we turn to these things
for a foundation, for acceptance with God, we find nothing in
the end but misery. All the candles and confessions
and uniforms and rituals and ceremonies and ordinances in
this world cannot speak peace to the heart. Another direction
that men try is orthodoxy. They try to find the right church,
the New Testament church. They try to find the right baptism. They try to find the right doctrine. They try to find what they call
the old paths, but the old paths won't bring peace unless the
old paths lead a man to Christ. There is no acceptance with God
in the old paths. There's no virtue in the old
paths, except as they lead to Christ. But in some form or other,
All natural men seek a religious refuge in themselves. All natural
men seek a refuge in their religious duties. When they discover that
they want to know God or want communion with God, instead of
turning in the direction God has instructed us to turn, they
turn to themselves. And Jeremiah asked this question.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin? can the leper change his
spots. Neither can you do good, neither
can you please God, neither can you lay a foundation of acceptance
that are accustomed to doing evil. And Paul wrote in Romans
3.20, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. And again in Titus chapter 3
verse 5, it is not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy hath he saved us. Hold up, Dr. J.C. Ryle wrote this statement. Listen to it. Only the Holy Spirit
can wean a sinner from the breast of self. He by nature will turn
that way when he feels even the slightest pang of hunger. But only the Holy Spirit can
turn him to Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can make
a natural man see that salvation is not in what he does, but in
what Christ did. It's not in what he is, but what
Christ is. Christ takes the place of the
sinner. His works replace the sinner's
works. His person is accepted by the
Father and not mine, and looking to Christ will put an end to
looking to myself. We enter into His rest, and when
we do, we cease from our labors, and this brings peace. A man
will never have peace with God until he ceases from his religious
labors as a means of salvation, as a way to approach God, as
a foundation of peace. I didn't say that a man is to
cease from his religious labors, period. I said as a means to
find God, as a foundation of acceptance with God. But until
a man ceases from his own religious labors, he'll never enter into
Christ's rest. This is the only way to find
peace for the soul. Now let me point out about four
things from our text. First of all, who made Christ
the Savior? Who made Christ the Redeemer? Look at Hebrews chapter 5, verse
1. Hebrews 5, verse 1. Let's read
the first four verses. Now, we're talking here about
Abram's priesthood, and he says in verse 1 of Hebrews 5, "...every
high priest taken from among men is ordained for men," he's
a representative of men, "...in things pertaining to God, that
he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for Now he's to be a man who
can have compassion on the ignorant, on them that are out of the way,
for he himself also is compassed with infirmity. And by reason
hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself to offer
for sin. Now watch this fourth verse.
And no man taketh this honor under himself. Aaron didn't just
decide that he wanted to be a priest. The sons of Levi didn't decide
that they would take that upon themselves and they would become
the representatives of man to God and representative of God
to man, that they would offer the sacrifices. No man takes
this honor unto himself, but he that's called of God, as was
Aaron. Now then, who made Christ the
high priest? Look at the next verse. So also
Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but
he that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten
thee. He made him the high priest.
Who made Christ the Savior? God did. God the Father. Who
made Christ the High Priest? God the Father. Who made Christ
the Advocate? God the Father. Who made Christ
the Mediator? God the Father. Who laid down
this way of salvation? God the Father. Listen to Martin
Luther. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be
losing. Were not the right man on our
side, the man of God's own choosing. Christ was ordained from all
eternity. Listen to these verses of Scripture.
I won't have you look them up. Let me read them to you. Christ
was ordained from all eternity to be our representative, to
be our substitute, to be our surety, to be our Redeemer. The
Scripture says He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. That is saying that He in God's
purpose and He in God's eternal plan was the substitute before
the world's foundations were ever laid, before sin ever visited
this earth. He is the surety of a what? An everlasting covenant. His
blood is the blood of an eternal covenant. God chose Christ our
Lord to be our representative and our surety before we ever
came on this earth. Now, our sins are against God. One of the young men at Lucasville
wrote me a letter last week, and he said in that letter, I
was listening to your broadcast, And I learned for the first time
in my life, for the first time in my life, that my sins were
against God. He said, I always thought about
my crimes and my sins being against society, and against my parents,
and against my friends, and against people. But he said, I discovered
that my sins are against God. that God is angry with the wicked,
that our debt is owed to God, that it is God Almighty against
whom we have sinned, and therefore God Almighty is the one who dictates
the terms of reconciliation. If I owe a man a debt, He is
the one who dictates the terms on which that debt will be settled.
And even so, our sins are against God, and God dictates the terms
of reconciliation, and the terms which He has dictated are these,
Christ became a man. It pleased God in the fullness
of time to send His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, born
of a woman, made under the law. That is God's way. and all fullness
dwells in that Christ, in that surety, and that too pleased
the Father. And Christ died on the cross
because it pleased the Father to bruise Him, and He is exalted
at the Father's right hand because God hath highly exalted Him and
given Him a name which is above every name. And the Father hath
committed all authority, and all power, and all judgment into
the hands of the Son. And if you and I are going to
do business with God in this matter of redemption and reconciliation,
we're going to have to find out who God has chosen to represent
us. And verse 10 of Hebrews 5 says
he's called of God to be a high priest. We're not going to pick
out our representative. We're not going to be permitted
to pick out our way of reconciliation. We're not going to be able to
dictate the terms to God. He dictates them to us. Now, the second thing. In verse
9 it says, being made perfect, that is, being designated by
the Father, ordained of the Father, set apart by the Father, chosen
by the Father. He, Christ, became the author,
the author of eternal salvation. What is Paul saying here? He's
saying this. Just as a man writes a book,
a man sits down, he plans the book, he designs the book, he
purposes the book, He starts with page one, he writes the
book all the way through to the last page, puts thee in, has
it printed, gives it the title, his name. It's his book, he's
the author of that book. And even so, in this matter of
redemption, salvation, Christ is the designer, Christ is the
creator, Christ is the cause, Christ is the provider, and Christ
is the finisher. He is the author of salvation
in that He purposed it. In Ephesians chapter 1 it says
that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of this
world, being predestinated by the will of Him that worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will, being predestinated
to the adoption of children. It is His purpose and His plan
and His program. He's the author of it. And then
he's the author of salvation in that he purchased it. He not
only purposed it and planned it, but he purchased it. When that angel announced to
Joseph that Mary would bear a son, the angel said, Joseph, thou
shalt call his name Jesus. For he, not he and the priest,
but he, not he and the church, but he, not he and the sinner
cooperating together, but thou shalt call his name Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sins. He obeyed the law
and he died under God's justice. And Peter, writing about that
shed blood, said this, We know that we are not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. You're not your own, you're bought
with a price. You're purchased. Christ not
only purposed salvation, but He, by His blood and by His obedience
and by His righteousness, actually purchased salvation. He paid
the full price. And not only that, He's the author
of salvation in that He purposed and he purchased it, but he's
the author of salvation in that he applies it. All the work for
us was done by Christ. Most people will admit that.
But also, my friend, all the work in us is done by Christ. Not only for us, but in us. It's his Spirit that gave us
a sense of sin. It is His Spirit that gave us
a desire for God. It is His Spirit and the goodness
of God that led us to repentance. It is His Spirit that shed above
God's love in our hearts. It is His Spirit that brought
to us the gift, the wonderful gift of faith, for it is God
that worketh in you. Now watch this verse. It is God
that worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. There are a lot of people who
give God the credit for working in them the ability to do His
pleasure. But they think the will to do
His pleasure and the desire to do His pleasure is because that
they are a little different from their brethren. But it is God
that worketh in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. The very will to do the will
of God is of God. The very will to believe on Christ
is of God. The very will to come to Christ
is of God. That's the reason the Scripture
says, Who maketh thee to differ? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now we like to think, we admit
that the Bible, we have received it from God. We like to say we're
thankful because being born in a nation of freedom, that's the
gift of God. We're thankful to say that the
place where we worship and our congregation and our minister
and these things are gifts of God. But my friend, you can come
on down to the very last atom of righteousness and the last
jot and tittle of religious desire, and you have to give God the
glory for that too. You have no room to boast even
of the will to believe, even of the desire to come to Christ,
even of the desire to know Him. That too is of God. For in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing, and in the flesh no man pleases God. And there's none
that seeketh after God, and none that understandeth. He not only
is the author of salvation in that he purposed it and in that
he purchased it, but in that he applies it. There's not a
little life in us, there's no life in us. Apart from the vine,
the branches are withered and dead. There is not even the slightest
bit of moisture by nature in those branches, except as it
is joined to the vine. And then last of all, he is the
author of salvation in that he presents us to the Father. Turn
to the book of Jude. The book of Jude, verse 24. He
is the author of salvation in that he presents us to God. Listen
to this. In Jude, verse 24, "...now unto
him that is able to keep you from falling." and to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory, with exceeding
joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both now and forever." God made him the Savior. God
the Father set forth the terms of reconciliation God the Father
said, this is my Son, this is my Son, this day have I begotten
thee. And Christ being made perfect,
being designated and ordained by the Father, He became the
author. He became the author. He was
the author of salvation in that He purposed it, and He purchased
it. And brethren, He applies it. He applies it. This morning you
have to give Christ the glory and the credit even for the glimmer
of desire, even the glimmer of righteous will that you might
find in your heart. And he's the author in that he
will present us to God. He intercedes for us, he keeps
us by his power, and he will by his power change our vile
bodies into the likeness of his own. For when we see him, we
shall be like him. Now let's turn back to the text
for one or two more points. Listen to this. He is the author,
he is the author of eternal salvation. Now, I don't want to enter into
controversy. It is a waste of time. I believe
that we ought to answer honest questions when they're presented
to us, but I believe our main efforts ought to be in just presenting
the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. And I love this word,
eternal. Eternal. He became the author
of eternal salvation. Now, when that Old Testament
priest brought a sacrifice, he blessed the people. He came on
the Day of Atonement, and he went under the veil and went
into the mercy seat, went into the Holy of Holies, put the blood
on the mercy seat and came back out and blessed the people. And
the people knew that they had been accepted, that they had
been blessed, that their sins were put away. But they knew
this, it had to be done again next year. And then it had to
be done again the next year. And then it had to be done again
the next year. But now I want you to turn to Hebrews 9 and
listen to this. Hebrews 9, verse 11. Hebrews 9 verse 11, but Christ,
and that's what Paul is talking about here in Hebrews 9, this
Old Testament priest performing the same services and offering
the same sacrifices every year, every year. But verse 11, but
Christ, but Christ, being come a high priest, ordained of the
Father of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood."
His own blood. Now pause there just a minute.
Christ as our Lamb, the Lamb of God, John the Baptist said,
that taketh away the sin of the world. The Lamb ordained before
the world. Christ by his own blood, shed
on Calvary's cross, brutally shed on that cruel tree with
that blood, watch it, he entered in once, not every time the mass
is offered, but once. Not every time people take the
sacraments or the Lord's table, he entered once. Not once a year,
just once, into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. There needeth be no more sacrifice. Christ the perfect Lamb, Christ
the perfect Substitute, Christ the divinely ordained Sacrifice,
Christ entered in once into the holy place, into the presence
of God, and on the mercy seat of glory put His own blood, and
He obtained eternal redemption. And that veil was rent in twain
from the top to the bottom. There you have it. Eternal salvation. His honor is engaged to keep
the weakest of his sheep. All that his father gave, his
hands will securely save. Nor death nor hell shall ever
remove his people from his breast. in his dear bosom of love they
shall forever rest." Now, the people of this world can talk,
if they will, of temporary deliverance. I know nothing about it. I have
no time for it. My Lord had no dealings with
it. People can talk about temporary salvation or a salvation that
depends on their deeds and depends on their works and depends on
their faithfulness and depends on their gifts. They can talk
about that all they want to. I have no time for it. My Lord
had no dealings with it. He purchased an eternal salvation. Now, whether or not you have
His salvation, I don't know, but I do know His is eternal.
You may have a temporary salvation, you may have a salvation that
lasts for a year or two years or three years, but I'll tell
you this, Christ didn't have anything to do with it. For the
Scripture says He is the author of what kind of salvation? An
eternal salvation. Now, the Methodist Church and
the Baptist Church and the Presbyterian Church may be authors of some
kind of salvation. temporary or otherwise, but Christ
is the author of eternal salvation. He said, My sheep hear my voice,
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. The
preacher stands on Sunday morning and says, Come down to the front
and accept Jesus, and this church will give you salvation. But
now it You have to keep coming every Sunday, and you have to
give your tithe, and you have to teach Sunday school, and you
have to be a good boy, and you can't make a mistake, because
if you make a mistake, you'll lose that salvation we gave you.
But that's not the salvation Christ gives. He said, I give
my sheep eternal life. And they'll never perish. And
no man can pluck them out of my hand. My Father gave them
me, and no man's able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. The salvation you have depends
on who you do business with. The salvation you have depends
on the author of it. Who's is it? Who gave it to you? Who saved you? Well, you say,
Christ saved me, then He gives eternal salvation. That's the
only kind He has any dealings with. It says here that being
made perfect, He became the author. in that he purposed it and purchased
it and applies it and will someday present it to the Father. And
he became the author of an eternal salvation. Now what's the next line? I close.
Unto all them that obey him. To obey Christ is in essence
to trust him. That's what it is to obey Christ,
to trust him, to believe him. The Jews cried, what shall we
do that we might work the works of God? What shall we do? And
Christ said, this is the work of God. This is the work of God,
that you believe on him whom God has sent. That's the work
of God. he that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal
life." But you say, Preacher, the word there is obey. That's
what the word is there. It says, being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey
him. That's what it says, obey. Every man who trusts Christ and
believes Christ obeys Christ. Now watch this. It is faith that
brought the blood sacrifice. when Abel and Cain came to the
altar. Faith brought that sacrifice.
That's what the book of Hebrews says. Faith brought the blood
sacrifice. It is faith that built the art. Noah built an art, but the scripture
says by faith he built that art. Faith lifted up the brazen serpent. Faith laid Isaac on the altar. Faith put the blood on the door. And faith will lead a man to
obey Christ in confession, in baptism, in holiness and honesty
and purity of life. Faith will lead a man to walk
the way of obedience. Obedience starts with faith.
Without faith it's possible to please God. No matter how many
works we do, no matter how many deeds we perform, without faith
it's impossible. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is. That's how he comes to God, by
faith. By faith. Faith produces obedience. Obedience is to believe. Where
there is faith, there is obedience. Where there is no faith, there
can be no obedience. It's impossible. What shall we
do? What shall we do? Preacher, give
us the works of God. What shall we do that we might
do the works of God? This is the work of God. that
you believe, that you believe on Him whom God has sent, for
He is the author of eternal salvation to all them that believe. Our Father, bless the Word. We
thank Thee for the privilege of preaching the glorious gospel
of Christ, our Redeemer. Honor Thy Word. This is the gospel. Thou hast revealed it in thy
word to the hearts of thy people. This is the gospel that exalts
Christ. This is the gospel that brings
him glory. This is the gospel that gives
hope to the hopeless, grace to the guilty, security to the man
who has no goodness and no merit, nothing but sin. This is the
gospel that offers hope to all who will come, all who will call,
all who will believe. Now, blessed to the hearts of
our people, strengthen our faith, our confidence in Christ. Give
us that blessed assurance that Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste
of glory divine. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. In His name we
pray and for His glory. Amen.