Our tonight's message will be
taken from Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7, verse 25. Now, God has been good to us.
God has given us many friends. And God has not only given us
many friends, but he has given us the opportunity to preach
to our friends. And it's no small thing. It causes
me to tremble. The Apostle Paul said, and I
was with you, in fear and trembling. He did not fear men. He did not
fear what they were doing to him. He feared the responsibility
and his failing to accomplish that great task that God had
given him to perform. For example, this message that
I'm preaching tonight will be heard by our friends in the ministry. It will be heard by missionaries
in Ireland, in France, in Spain, in Mexico. It will be heard by
friends in the ministry who secure these tapes for their own blessing.
It will be heard by our friends who are in prison. These tapes
go to men who are in prison who listen to the tapes, who listen
to the sermon. It will be preached over the
radio and heard by many of them. It will be heard by our friends
who are rich and our friends who are poor. It will be heard
by those who are old and in the sunset years of life. It will
be heard by our friends who are very young. This message tonight
will be heard by many who know Christ and by many who do not
know Christ. It will be heard by our friends
who are in distress and in trouble and in weariness of soul and
in great despair. Is it any wonder that we have
to say with Paul, O God, who is sufficient for these things? Well, certainly I am not. But
the Word of God is sufficient. The Word of God in the hands
of the Holy Spirit is sufficient to accomplish that purpose for
which God has given us this privilege. Now, the Bible, I know this much.
The Bible was not given to me to teach me history. The Bible
was given to me to teach me grace. The Bible was not given to me
to teach me or give me a system of philosophy. It was given to
me to bring me to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible
was not sent to me to teach me worldly wisdom. The Bible was
given to me to teach me spiritual wisdom. And I dare not mock my
hearers, and I dare not insult my God, by delivering sermons
to dying men on any subject but that subject which concerns them
the most, and that is the salvation of their souls. So tonight I
want to talk about salvation. Let's talk about salvation. He who does not always preach
the gospel ought not call himself a minister of Christ. It doesn't
matter where he pastors or to whom he preaches, he who does
not always preach the gospel ought not to call himself a minister
of Jesus Christ. For Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
I determine not to know Anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. So my friends, wherever you are
tonight listening to this message, and whoever you are, here is
my message to you. This is my gospel. This is the
gospel which I preach. This is the gospel wherein I
stand and this is the gospel by God's grace by which I'm saved. It's found in Hebrews 7.25, wherefore
he is able to save. Wherefore he is able to save. Will you read that again? Wherefore
he is able also to save. Can you imagine the grief? Can
you imagine the terror that will be experienced by religious people,
sincere moral, devout, religious people, when they awake at the
judgment and find that the things in which they trusted are not
able to save. Can you imagine the terror that
a preacher will experience, a minister, a man who has been in the ministry
25, 30, 35, 40, 50 years, who has pastored a church, who has
visited the sick, who has preached Sunday after Sunday, Wednesday
night, who has held revival meetings, who has gone up and down the
country preaching, can you imagine the terror and the grief that
shall grip his heart when he finds out at the judgment that
the things in which he trusted are not able to save? Are not
able to deliver from the wrath of God? Are not able to save
him from the fires of judgment? Can you imagine the grief? Can
you imagine the terror Can you imagine the terror of a man who
has been a deacon, or an elder, or a steward in the church for
years and years and years? A man who has lived what we call
an honest, moral, religious life. Who has attended church every
Sunday. Who has been the treasurer, or
the deacon, or the Sunday school superintendent, or the training
union director. Can you imagine the terror that
will grip his heart? the awful fingers of terror that
will grip his heart when he stands before a holy God and sees his
guilt and shame and sin for the first time uncovered before his
eyes and nothing to take it away? And shall hear the voice of Christ
say, Depart from me, I never knew you, you are a worker of
iniquity? Can you imagine the terror that
shall grip the heart of a good, religious, moral woman at the
judgment, when she has brought up her family and read the scriptures
to them at night, and hung little religious slogans all over the
walls of her home, and had pictures of Christ in the garden, and
Solomon's head of Christ somewhere else, and a little slogan, just
one life, soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last,
when she finds that the judgment that these little clichés and
these little slogans and these little deeds of religion and
her so-called morality will not keep her from being cast into
hell, can you imagine the terror? Read in Matthew 7, verse 21,
where our Lord said, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven, many will say to me
in that day," in the day of judgment, in the day of reckoning, "'Lord,
Lord, have we not preached, prophesied in thy name, and in thy name
have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. I never knew you. Depart from
me, ye that work iniquity. But Lord, I preached. Preaching
won't save. But Lord, I tithed. Tithing is
not able to save. But Lord, I was a Sunday school
teacher. Teaching Sunday school is not
able to save. But Lord, they said, we have
Abraham to our father. Abraham's not able to save. But
Lord, we have Moses and the prophets. Moses and the prophets are not
able to save. But God, I'm not like other men. I fast and I tithe and I give
alms. These things are not able to
save. But Lord, I was christened as
a child. I was born of Christian parents. Christian parents can't save. It doesn't say wherefore Christian
parents are able to save. It says wherefore he is able
to save. But Lord, I was catechized and
I joined the church and I was baptized. Where does it say that
these things are able to save? It's as plain as words can express
it. Wherefore, he is able to save. He is able to save. It ought to be warning enough
to every one of us. He that hath the Son of God hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God, it doesn't matter
if he's a preacher or a deacon or an elder or a Sunday school
teacher or a president of the missionary society or the best
woman on the block or the most moral man in the steel mill,
it is he that's able to say, not the works of the flesh, not
the deeds of the law, not the denomination. It's he is able
to say. The Apostle Paul expressed it
this way. He said, I know whom I have believed. I am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I have committed unto him. against that day, to
what or to whom have you committed the keeping of your soul?" Now
you stop and seriously give this some consideration right now.
To whom or to what have you committed the keeping of your soul? Paul
said, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded he is able
to keep. He is able to save. He is able
to forgive. He is able to secure me a place
in glory. Your favorite evangelist cannot
save you. Your denominational leaders cannot
save you. Your church membership cannot
save you. Your good deeds cannot save you. Your good works cannot save you. Your baptism cannot save you. It says He can save you, and
He's the only one who can. Wherefore, He is able also to
save. And I'll tell you why He's able
to save. Turn to Matthew 1. First of all,
he is able to save, because he is the one whom the Father anointed
to be the Savior. He's the one the Father sent,
he's the one the Father ordained, he's the one the Father picked
out. He said to Joseph in Matthew 1, verse 20, while he thought
on these things, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream and said, Joseph, thy son of David, Don't be afraid to
take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus." You know what that word
means? Savior. That's what the word
Jesus means, Savior. Thou shalt call his name Saviour,
for he shall save his people from their sins." I don't know
what got us fouled up, do you? I don't know what got us so messed
up in this day, when the Bible says that his very name is Saviour. He is able to save because God
the Father anointed him and ordained him to be the Savior. And when
the Father announced his birth, he said, Call his name Savior! That's his business. That's his
business. And then turn to John chapter
3. He is able to save not only because the Father anointed and
ordained him to save, but secondly, the Father sent him into the
world to save. In John 3, verse 16, it says,
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the world, the world is already condemned.
But God sent his Son into the world that what? That through
him the world might be saved. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save. He's able to do what he came
to do. The Father sent him. He is able
to save thirdly because he was born without sin, and he lived
without sin. Turn to 1 Peter 2. In 1 Peter
2, And verse 22, listen to what
the scripture says. He did no sin. That cannot be
said of you, that cannot be said of me, that cannot be said of
any son of Adam, but it can be said of Christ. He did no sin,
and neither was guile found in his mouth. He's able to save
you and me from sin because he didn't have any sin. He's the
perfect substitute. And then he's able to save because
he took our sins in his body on the tree, and by his stripes
we are healed. And he's able to save. Turn to
1 Corinthians 15. He's able to save in the fifth
place because he didn't stay dead. He died for sin, but he
didn't stay dead. He arose from the grave. It says
in 1 Corinthians 15, 17, if Christ be not raised, your faith, whatever
it is, is vain, and you are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen
asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is
Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them
that slept. For since by man came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For in Adam all
die. Even so, in Christ shall all
be made alive." He is able. That's my first point tonight,
my gospel, my message to you, my friends. Therefore he is able
to save, and he's the only one who can. There was a woman in
the hospital who was dying. She knew she was dying, the doctors
knew she was dying. She was in a denominational hospital. And a minister came by in a black
robe, and he stopped at the foot of her bed. He had been told
by the doctor that she was dying. He stopped at the foot of her
bed, and he said, Sister, do you know that you are dying?
She said, Yes, Father, I know I am dying. Well, he moved from
the foot of her bed up beside her, and he said, Would you like to confess your sins to me and
have me forgive them." She waited a moment and finally
said, And he looked at her in amazement. He said, I beg your pardon. She
said, Could I see your hands? Well, to humor her, he put both
of his hands forth like this, and she looked at them, took
them in her trembling, feeble, old, wrinkled hands, and she
looked at them real carefully. And she looked up at him, and
she said, You can't forgive sins. He said, what do you mean? She
said, you don't have any nail prints in your hand. The only
one who is able to forgive sins is the one who died for our sins. And you didn't die for my sins. He is able to save. That's so. This church can't
save you. This preacher cannot save you. This law cannot save you. This
Bible can't save you. The mourner's bench and the altar
and the baptismal pool and the Lord's supper can't save you. It says He is able to save you. He is. Salvation is a person. It's not only in a person, not
only because of a person, it is a person. He is salvation. Now, read on. It says, He is
able also to save them to the uttermost. Now, most of you won't
appreciate this too much, because most of you are not too bad a
sinner. Most people here are pretty good
folks. But I want to talk now to people
who are sinners who may be listening to this message. All right, preacher,
you say your Jesus Christ is a Savior. How far is he able
to save? You say Jesus Christ is a physician. To what extent can he heal? You say Jesus Christ's blood
is able to cleanse. how much sin can he cleanse? Oh, my friend, I say unto you,
he is able to save to the uttermost. To the uttermost. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though your sins be red like
crimson, though your sins like mountains round you roll, bring
your guilt to Him, He is able to save to the uttermost. He is able to save to the uttermost
extent of guilt. Now can you tell me, can you
tell me, can any of you tell me what is the uttermost extent
to which a man can sin? Can you tell me? Murder? Murder of mother and father?
Mass murder? rape, rape of a young girl, robbery,
treason, kidnapping, driving parents out of their mind with
worry, and finally burying alive their child, arson, prostitution? What is the uttermost extent
to which a man can sin? Well, when you come up with it,
I'll say to you, he is able to say to the uttermost. to the uttermost. I don't care what it is. I don't
care who it is. I don't care where it is. He
is able to save them to the uttermost extent of guilt. Now, your church
can't do that, but my Lord can. Your church rejects the guilty.
My Lord died for Your church turns their nose up at sinners.
My Lord eats with them. Your church avoids guilty people
and walks on the other side of the street. My Lord is the friend
of them. He is able to save to the uttermost
extent of guilt, and he is able to save to the uttermost extent
of rejection. Somebody may be saying right
now, Preacher, I don't have a friend in the world. Everybody despises
me and hates me and my friends have turned their back on me
and my relatives and my brothers and my sisters and the church
has excluded me and even my mother and father have given up on me,
David said, though my mother and father forsake me, the Lord
will take me up. The Lord will take me up. Where
shall I flee from his presence if I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea? Even there shall
his hand hold me. The night shall be light about
me." He is able to say to the uttermost extent of rejection,
and he is able to say to the uttermost extent of despair. I've had people write to me and
say I've tried everything. I've tried everybody. I have
no confidence in anyone. There is not in my life a ray
of light There is not in my future a ray of hope. I have no confidence
in any flesh." Well, I write back and immediately say, you're
on the right track. The Bible says, put no confidence
in the flesh, but I'll tell you where you can look, and I'll
tell you in whom you can put confidence and trust. You look
to Christ He is able to save to the uttermost extent of despair. When you come to the place where
you are without hope and without help, and at your wit's end,
you look to Him. He is able. He giveth more grace when the
burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when
the labors increase. To added affliction he addeth
his mercy, to multiplied trials he addeth his peace. And when
we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength
has failed, ere the day is but half done, when we reach the
end of our human resources, our Father's giving is only begun. For his love has no limit, and
his grace has no measure, and his power has no boundaries known
unto men. For out of his infinite riches
in Jesus he giveth and giveth, and giveth, and giveth, and giveth,
and giveth again. He is able. And he is able to say to the
uttermost. And somebody said he is able
to say to the guttermost. Hmm. Well, let's look at the
next line. He is able to say to the uttermost,
Them that come unto God by him. Now, my friends, they come to
God. They don't come to the preacher
to get fixed up with religion. They don't come to the church
to get fixed up with religion. They don't come to the mourner's
bench to put on a show before the people. They don't come to
a moral law. They don't come to a doctrine.
They don't come to a denomination. He is able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God. That come to God. Coming to God
means leaving something else. In coming to God, I leave my
righteousness and receive His. In coming to God, I leave my
ways and receive His. In coming to God, I leave my
thoughts, and not only my bad deeds, but my good deeds, and
my wisdom, and I find in Him all I need. I find in Him my
wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, and my redemption. Coming to God means believing
God, believing His promise, believing His Word, believing His mercy,
believing His grace, believing His Son. It's doing business
not with a preacher, and not with an evangelist, and not with
a soul, and it's doing business with God. He is able to save
to the uttermost them that come to God. And how do they come? They come by Him. That's how
they come. They don't come recommended by
their pastor, they come recommended by Christ. They don't come recommended
by their good deeds and their righteousness, they come by Christ. And my friend, don't you think
for a moment that you can approach a holy God apart from Christ. In John 14, verse 6, our Lord
said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. Now you might stand side by side with a person with whom you work,
and you say, well, I'm compared to him, a pretty good fellow. And you might look over the laws
of the nation and the laws of the state and even the moral
law of the church and compare yourself with everybody else
here, and you might say in your heart, I'm as good as they are
or better. But when you stand at the judgment
of God, you're going to be standing in the presence of Him who is
infinitely holy. Him who is holiness itself. Him who is perfect love and perfect
righteousness and perfect justice and perfect truth and perfect love. And when you compare yourself
with Him, You're going to find that you're the dirtiest creature
this side of hell. You're going to see the blackness
of your heart and the blackness of your soul and the blackness
of your imaginations and the blackness of your mind, and then
you're going to cry for the rocks and mountains to fall on you
and hide you from that place into which you can't bear to
look. unless you have somebody to stand
for you. And that's him who is able. He's
able to save them that come to God by him. I don't want to deal
with the judge. I want my lawyer to deal with
him. And that lawyer is Christ, my advocate. I don't want to
deal with Elohim. I want my Lord, who is able to
deal with Elohim, because he's as holy as the Father. And then last of all, listen
to this, "...wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them." You know what intercession means? Here is a man whom I have
wronged. I'm over here, and he's over
here. And I've wronged him, and I want
to make peace. So I have someone go from me
to him to intercede for me and to tell him that I want to make
peace and to see if he's willing to make peace. And this friend
talks to me, and then he talks to the one against whom I've
rebelled or sinned. the one I've offended. Then he
comes back to me. He's the intercessor, he's the
mediator, he's the advocate, the one in between who intercedes
for me. It says here that the holy God
in heaven, and man who has rebelled against God and sinned against
God and is the enemy of God, the holy God has appointed a
mediator, an intercessor. He has appointed his man Christ
Jesus. intercede for me. He's the only
intercessor and he's the only mediator. If I'm going to do
business with God, it's going to have to be through this mediator,
this intercessor, Jesus Christ. That's the one I've got to do
business with. If you're going to talk about the intercessory
work of Christ for the believer, you know when you're going to
have to start? to have to start before time began. Look at Hebrews
7, verse 3. The Bible here is talking about
Melchizedek, the king of Salem, the priest of the Most High God,
verse 1, chapter 7, who met Abraham, returning from the slaughter
of the kings, and blessed to whom also Abraham gave a tenth
part of all, first being by interpretation King of Righteousness, and after
that, King of Salem, which is King of Peace." Now, here is
his description, and this is talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Without father, without mother, without descent, having
neither beginning of days nor end of but may liken to the Son
of God, abiding a priest forever and forever and forever both
ways. Jesus Christ is the surety of
an everlasting covenant. He has a continual priesthood
that has no beginning and has no end. And Christ was our intercessor
and our mediator before the world ever began and before Adam ever
fell. That's when he started his intercessory
work for you and me. And then he interceded for us
in the garden. Turn to John 17. Just prior to
his death on the cross, our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane interceded
for his people. He says in verse 9, I pray for
them. I pray for them. Here he is in
the garden, in the darkness and quietness of the garden, before
the cross, rastling, interceding, praying for me and you. He's
able to say because he prayed for us as our intercessor, I
pray for them. I pray for them. Verse 11, he
said, Now I'm no more in the world, but there in the world
I come to thee, Holy Father, I pray that thou shalt keep through
thine own name those whom thou hast given me. Verse 15, I pray not that thou
shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst
keep them from the evil one. He prayed for us in the garden,
and then he prayed for us on the cross. He said, Father, forgive
them, they know not what they do. And if it hadn't have been for
his intercessory prayer, God would have turned this world
into hell right then. He played for us. And then in
Hebrews chapter 10, when you look over there and here's the
last scripture, Hebrews chapter 10, he's playing for us right
now. Wherefore he is able also to
save to the uttermost. I don't care if you're a preacher
or a prisoner. God's able to save you through
Christ. And you need saving. And the
preacher needs saving just as badly as the prisoner. I don't
care if you are a missionary or if you're a murderer. My Lord's able to save you. He's
able. You missionaries out there listening
to me, you don't know Christ. He's able to save you. Well,
I've served the Lord all my life. That won't save you. But he's
able. And if there's a murderer listening
to my voice, well, God wouldn't save me. I've murdered somebody. Listen to me, friend. He's able
to save to the uttermost. To the uttermost extent of guilt,
he's able to save. I don't care if you're religious
or you're a rebel, my Lord's able to save you. most religious
woman in this congregation. Lord save you too, my dear. He's
going to have to humble you first. He's going to have to break you.
He's going to have to take that fire out of your heart. He's
going to have to bring you down off your high horse and let you
see how wicked you are. But He's able. He's able to do
that, too. He's able to save you. And you
young rebels here tonight, He's able to save you, too. He can
take the starch out of your britches, too. And He will someday. You'll need the Lord someday.
You don't need Him now. You don't need anybody now. You
don't even need your parents, much less God. But you will someday,
I promise you. I promise you on the authority
of this book, you're going to need God someday. But thank God
he's able to save you then, and he's able to save you now, because
he intercedes for us. In Hebrews 10, verse 19, having
therefore, brethren, boldest to enter into the holiest by
the blood of by a new and living way which he hath consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having
an high priest who presides over the house of God, let's draw
near with a true heart full of assurance that we'll be heard
based on the fact that we have a priest. That's the only way
you get into God's presence. You can promise God that you'll
serve him all the rest of your life. You promise him you'll
quit your meanness and promise him that you'll be a preacher
and promise him all these things. You won't get into his presence.
The only way into his presence is through Christ, our great
I pray. That's my message to you. Wherefore
he is able also to save, to save them to the uttermost that come
to God by him, seeing that he ever liveth, always has, is now,
always will live. for the purpose of making intercession
for them. May God bless you. Our Father,
may it please thee to use this message to bring one of thine
own to repentance toward thee, and faith in thy dear Son, our
Lord and Savior. May it please thee and the power
of thy Holy Spirit to use this message to strip from every one
of us our fig-leaf aprons of self-righteousness, to humble
us, to make us naked before the searchlight of thy holy May it
please thee through this message and by the word of thy Holy Spirit
to humble every rebellious sinner that hears it, and bring this
down into the dust at thy feet, and reveal the glory and beauty
and power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is able to save. And bring every one of us to
fall at his feet in submission and surrender, crying, My Lord
and my God, I have no hope but Christ. I have no redemption
but Christ. I have no wisdom but Christ.
I have no salvation but Christ. I have no inheritance but Christ.
And I want nothing but Christ. He is my all and all. Use it for whatever purpose it
pleases thee. Through Jesus Christ our Lord
we pray. Amen.