Sermon
#1271 Miscellaneous
Sermons
Title: Salvation and the Knowledge of It
Text: Luke 1:77
Reading: Luke 1:57-80
Subject: The Purpose of Gospel Preaching
Date: Sunday Morning - January 12, 1997
Tape # T-28
Introduction:
While Zacharias the priest was
ministering before the Lord at the altar of incense in the temple, the angel
Gabriel appeared to him with a word of promise from God. The angel of the Lord
told the old man that he and his wife, Elizabeth, were going to have a son who
would be as Elijah, a son who would be a mighty prophet sent of God “to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
The angel told Zacharias to name his son John and promised
that through his preaching ministry many of God’s elect would be turned “to
the Lord their God.” Zacharias was an old man; and his wife was an old
woman. They had no children. And, when Zacharias heard this word from God, he
simply did not believe it. Therefore, because of his unbelief, God tied his
tongue and made him speechless until his word was fulfilled.
When John was born, the Lord loosed
Zacharias’ tongue and filled him with his Spirit. Then, the old man sang unto
the Lord, and in his prophetic song, he declared by the inspiration of God the
Holy Spirit why God had given John the Baptist. In doing so, he tells us what
the purpose of all gospel preaching is. I take my text this morning from the
words of Zacharias in…
Luke 1:77 "To give
knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins."
Proposition: With
those words we are taught that the purpose of gospel preaching and the work of
all who are sent of God to preach the gospel is to convey to God’s elect the
knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins.
My subject this morning is Salvation and the Knowledge of It.
Divisions Look
at the text carefully. I speaks of three things. God’s servants are sent into
this world preaching the gospel…
1. “To give
knowledge of salvation…”
2. “Unto his
people…”
3. “By the
remission of their sins.”
May God the Holy Spirit be our Teacher as we consider these
three things together.
I. First, The Lord God has sent me “TO GIVE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION.”
SALVATION - What a blessed, blessed
word! God’s servants are not sent to save, or to persuade you to be saved, or
even to get people saved, but “to give
knowledge of salvation.” I do not preach to you a possibility of salvation,
but the fact of it. I am not here to tell you how salvation may be
accomplished, but how that it has been accomplished by Christ.
The watchmen of Zion all see eye to
eye. They all lift up their voices together as one, and “publish salvation” (Isa.
52:7-8). This what the Lord God commands all his servants to do.
Isaiah 40:1-2 "Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. (2)
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is
accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins."
Salvation is
that vast, indescribably glorious thing accomplished by the Son of God as the
sinners’ Substitute. It is the
deliverance of our souls from all our enemies, from sin, death, hell, and the
grave. Yet, it is much, much more. Salvation
is the destruction of all our enemies and his by his own omnipotent arm. Still,
there is more. Salvation is
deliverance from all sin and all the consequences of sin by Christ; and it is
the deliverance of our souls into the full, perfect, “glorious liberty of the sons of
God” by his sovereign grace. Salvation
includes all that God has one for us,
all that he is doing in us, and all
that he shall do with us in Christ by
his almighty grace. When our Lord Jesus Christ entered into heaven with his own
blood, he “obtained eternal redemption for us” (Heb. 9:12). He obtained,
by the merit and virtue of his precious blood all that is involved in the
deliverance of our souls into his heavenly kingdom in perfect righteousness.
A. I want you to
understand that this salvation is God’s work alone.
It was planned and purposed by God the Father. It has been
purchased and obtained by God the Son. And it is effectually executed and
applied to the heats of chosen sinners by God the Holy Spirit. It does not, in
any measure or to any degree, depend upon us. It is not, in any measure or to
any degree determined by us. “Salvation is of the Lord!”
While all three Persons in the Holy
Trinity are united in the affair of salvation, be sure you understand this - The Triune God devised a plan and purposed
a method of salvation that was designed to give all the glory, honor, and
pre-eminence to the God-man Mediator, our most glorious Lord Jesus Christ. It
is the purpose of he Triune God “that in all things Christ should have the
pre-eminence”
Psalms 21:5 "His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and
majesty hast thou laid upon him."
The burden and responsibility of the
work of salvation was laid upon the back of our Savior. He agreed to it as our
Surety in the covenant of grace. The Father trusted him as our Representative
to accomplish it. The Holy Spirit prepared a body for him in the womb of the
virgin in the incarnation in which to perform it. And when he came into the
world, just as he had done before the world began, our great, glorious Savior
avowed that he would “save is people from their sins”
(Matt. 1:21).
Psalms 40:6-8 "Sacrifice and
offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and
sin offering hast thou not required. (7) Then
said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, (8) I
delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."
Hebrews 10:5-7 "Wherefore when
he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me: (6) In
burnt offerings and sacrifices for
sin thou hast had no pleasure. (7) Then
said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy
will, O God."
Hebrews 10:10 "By the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
Now, either he did it, or he didn’t.
If he did it, then this Book is true. If he did not do it, if there is so much
as one minute particle left to be done by us, then this book is a fraud and he
is a phony. Those who preach that salvation is to any degree incomplete deny,
in reality, that this Book is the Word
of God and declare that Jesus Christ is an impostor. This Book declares that Jesus Christ accomplished the salvation of his
people; and that is exactly what he did.
By his obedience unto God as a man,
our Lord Jesus Christ brought in everlasting righteousness. By his death as our
Substitute, the Son of God satisfied the justice of God for the sins of his
people. Thus, he has, as the prophet said he would, “magnified the law and made it
honorable.”
Please
understand what I am telling you. Salvation is not something yet to be
done, but something already done by Christ. It is yet to be experienced and
known by some for whom it was done; but it is already done. Peter tells us that
it is yet to be revealed to us all; but it is already done. I am not speculating
about this at all. This is a matter of crystal clear revelation.
Galatians 3:13 "Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is
written, Cursed is every one that
hangeth on a tree:"
Colossians 2:13-15 "And you, being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (14) Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross; (15) And having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them
in it."
Hebrews 1:3 "Who being the
brightness of his glory, and the
express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
Majesty on high;"
Hebrews 9:12 "Neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us."
Hebrews 10:11-14 "And every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins: (12) But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God; (13) From
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. (14) For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
1 Peter 1:18-21 "Forasmuch as
ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, (21) Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the
dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God."
The
incarnate God, our Savior, has recovered for his people all that we lost, all
that we justly forfeited by the sin and fall of our father Adam. He has
obtained for us, by his own mighty arm alone, that that glorious inheritance to
which we were predestinated from eternity. He has done so eually and fully for
everyone of his people.
Not only has he redeemed us from the curse of the law, he
has robed us with perfect righteousness. Not only has he redeemed us and robed
us, he has been received up into glory for us. Yonder, he sits possessing and
holding for his redeemed ones, holding by legal right, all the glory of heaven
itself in the perfection of that glorious righteousness and holiness to which
we were chosen from eternity.
This
salvation, which God has sent me to preach to you, holds within its embrace
eternal life here and eternal glory hereafter. It includes all the fullness of
grace here and all he fullness of glory hereafter forever. Salvation is the perfect, full, complete restoration of sinners to God
in holiness, happiness, and blessedness forever, by Christ alone.
1 Peter 1:3-9 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (4) To an inheritance incorruptible,
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (5) Who are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (6) Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: (7) That the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire,
might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ: (8) Whom having not seen, ye
love; in whom, though now ye see him not,
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: (9) Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."
So
complete, so thorough is his salvation that God sees no sin in Jacob and no
perverseness in Israel (Num. 23:21). He sees no sin in us because Christ has
put away our sins!
1 John 3:5 "And ye know
that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin."
Jeremiah 50:20 "In those days,
and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none; and the sins
of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I
reserve."
Our Redeemer’s name is Jehovah-tsidkenu, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS; and we are the righteousness of God in
him.
Jeremiah 23:6 "In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called,
THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS."
Jeremiah 33:16 "In those days
shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be
called, The LORD our righteousness."
This great, glorious salvation is the
work of our great and glorious Lord Jesus Christ. Be sure you understand that;
but be sure you understand this next statement, too.
B. This glorious
salvation is, in all its fulness and entirety, the present and everlasting
possession of every believer.
You may be thinking to yourself that I meant to say, This salvation shall be the possession of
all believers in eternity. That is not the case. This salvation s the
present possession of every sinner who trusts the Lord Jesus Christ. With him,
because we are in him, we have it in full possession presently! The weakest, most insignificant believer
lacks nothing! Am talking now about
God’s salvation, not man’s notions about God’s salvation!
All
that Christ did and experienced, he did and experienced as our Representative
and Substitute before God. Because he did it as our Surety and Substitute,
we did it in him. It is as though we did it personally. Christ did not obey the
law for himself. He obeyed it for us; and we obeyed it in him. He did not die
for his own sins (He had no sin!), but for our sins; and we died in him. He did
not rise from the dead for himself, but for us; and we rose in him. He did not
enter into heaven and take possession of it for himself, but for us; and we
ascended into heaven and took possession of it in him. Is this, or is it not the language of the Bible?
Ephesians 2:6 "And hath
raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:"
Hebrews 6:20 "Whither the
forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,
made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec."
Gospel preaching is designed and
intended to be the means by which God’s salvation is published and made known. Here is the importance of gospel preaching.
- There is no other way by which God’s salvation is made known to men.
II. Secondly, our text speaks of a specific people to whom God’s
salvation is made known by the preaching of the gospel. I will not spend much
time on the subject now; but I want you to see this second thing set before us
in Luke 1:77. God has sent me as a gospel preacher - “To give knowledge of salvation
UNTO HIS PEOPLE.
The text itself identifies and defines
the people to whom the knowledge of salvation is given as “His People.” There is a
people in this world, scattered among the fallen sons of Adam, a people
scattered abroad by God’s providence into every nation, kindred, tribe and
tongue, whom the calls, “His People.” They are the people of
his choice, the people of his covenant. Christ came to redeem and save “His
People.” Everything God does, he does for “His People.” If you and
I are numbered among God’s saints, it is because “It pleased the LORD to make you His
People.” The Lord God is long-suffering toward us “His People” because he
is not willing that any of “His People” should perish, but that
all should come to repentance and knowledge of the truth. And in the fulness of
time, he will make known His Salvation to every one of “His
People” by the preaching of his gospel. We preach the message to all
who will hear us; but our message is for and shall be heard by “His
People.”
III. Now, let’s look at the last part of our text. God sends his
servants out preaching the gospel to every creature - “To give KNOWLEDGE of salvation
unto his people BY THE REMISSION OF THEIR SINS.”
Much more could and should be said
here than I will be able to get said today. Time simply will not permit me to
expound this last part of the text fully. Perhaps the Lord will allow me to
come back to it another day. For now, let me show you just two things taught
here by the Spirit of God.
A. The Holy
Spirit here declares that God’s salvation is something that his people are
caused to know in this world.
I know that there are many who
struggle with assurance. No doubt, some of you do. There are some who will tell
you that it is not possible for us to know in this world whether or not we are “his people.” I would do nothing to
discourage our weaker brethren; but I do want you to understand that this Book
speaks about a salvation that God himself makes known to his people through the
preaching of the gospel.
Listen
to me now - If you are struggling with this matter of assurance, if you do
not know whether or not you are saved, the problem is one of two things: either
you are not saved, or you are looking in the wrong place for assurance.
Assurance is not found in ourselves,
but in Christ. My assurance before God is not based upon what I think, feel,
know, or do. It is not even based upon what I have experienced. My assurance is
my Savior!
“Feelings come; and feelings go;
And feelings are deceiving.
I trust the living Word of God.
Naught else is worth believing!” Martin
Luther
This Book
talks about a salvation that is known by those who experience it.
Romans 5:8-11 "But God
commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. (9) Much more then, being now
justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (10) For if, when we were enemies, we
were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. (11) And
not only so, but we also joy in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the
atonement."
2 Timothy 1:12 "I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day."
1 John 5:11-13 "And this is
the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. (12) He that hath the Son hath
life; and he that hath not the Son of
God hath not life. (13) These things
have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son
of God."
How could we ever be his witnesses, if
we cannot determine whether we even know him? Peter speaks of us looking with
confidence and hope for the coming day of the Lord (2 Pet. 3:12). But how could
any mortal, sinful man anxiously await that great and terrible day of judgment,
if he does not know that God’s salvation is his? Paul describes Christ’s coming
as being a matter of blessed hope (Tit. 2:13). But how can it be called a blessed
hope by a people who do not have an assured hope before God?
B. Listen
carefully - This knowledge of salvation accomplished by Christ is
imparted to chosen, redeemed sinners by the supernatural work of God the Holy
Spirit in regeneration and conversion “BY
THE REMISSION OF THEIR SINS.”
The remission of sins is the release
from or dismissal from sins. When a sinner is born again, God the Holy Spirit
convinces him of sin (His Own), of righteousness (Christ’s), and of judgment
(God’s Judgment of Sin in Christ). He gives the regenerate sinner faith in
Christ. And he sprinkles, or applies, the blood of Christ to his heart and
conscience. Thus he speaks in the heart, in the conscience, forgiveness and
remits or dismisses the ransomed sinner from sin.
Hebrews 9:11-14 "But Christ
being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; (12) Neither by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. (13) For
if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: (14) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God?"
This
knowledge of salvation by the remission of our sins should be, in every
believing heart, a fixed, unwavering, assured fact of life in Christ.
Indeed, just to the degree that we trust Christ alone, having no confidence in
the flesh, it is an assured fact. “We have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7).
We have it; and we live upon it, just as a man lives upon a piece of property
that he rightfully owns. Thus it I written, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee” (Isa.
26:3).
Look at Galatians 1:15-16. Here, the apostle Paul uses himself as an
example for us, of the believer’s experience of grace. Here are five steps of grace common to all
believers. “When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and
called me by his grace, (16) To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him
among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood."
1.
Separation -
When it pleased God, who separated me
from my mother's womb.”
2.
Calling - “and called me by his grace.”
3.
Revelation
- “To reveal his Son in me.”
4. The Effect - The destruction of all confidence in ourselves - “immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood."
Philippians 3:3 "For we are the
circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh."
Application:
I ask you now - Where is your
confidence? Upon what grounds do you hope for acceptance with God? What is the
basis upon which you claim for yourself God’s salvation? Upon what grounds do
you have, or think you have, the remission of your sins?
Every believer here will have but one
answer - Christ! The more we look to Christ, the more fully we see his
all-sufficiency and the more we see our own utter vileness and worthlessness
before the holy Lord God. The remission of my sins was not obtained by my merit. It
was not attained by my merit. And it is not maintained by my merit.
My only merit with God is his dear Son.
“Naught have I gotten, but what I
received;
Grace hath bestowed it, since I
have believed.
Boasting excluded, pride I abase
-
I’m only a sinner, saved by
grace!”
2 Timothy 1:12 "I know whom I
have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day."
Amen.
LUKE 1:5-25 and 57-80
Luke 1:5-25 "There was in the days of Herod, the
king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and
his wife was of the daughters of
Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. (6) And they were both righteous before
God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. (7) And they had no child, because that
Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now
well stricken in years. (8) And
it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the
order of his course, (9) According to
the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went
into the temple of the Lord. (10) And
the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. (11) And there appeared unto him an
angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. (12) And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon
him. (13) But the angel said unto
him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall
bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. (14) And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice
at his birth. (15) For he shall be
great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink;
and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. (16) And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. (17)
And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (18) And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this?
for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. (19) And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that
stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee
these glad tidings. (20) And, behold,
thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things
shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be
fulfilled in their season. (21) And
the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the
temple. (22) And when he came out, he
could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the
temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. (23) And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his
ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. (24) And after those days his wife
Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying, (25) Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he
looked on me, to take away my
reproach among men."
Luke 1:57-80 "Now Elisabeth's full time came that she
should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. (58) And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had
showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. (59) And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to
circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his
father. (60) And his mother answered
and said, Not so; but he shall be
called John. (61) And they said unto
her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. (62) And they made signs to his father,
how he would have him called. (63) And
he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they
marvelled all. (64) And his mouth was
opened immediately, and his tongue loosed,
and he spake, and praised God. (65) And
fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised
abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. (66) And all they that heard them
laid them up in their hearts,
saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with
him. (67) And his father Zacharias
was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, (68) Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, (69) And hath
raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; (70) As he spake by the mouth of his
holy prophets, which have been since the world began: (71) That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand
of all that hate us; (72) To perform
the mercy promised to our fathers,
and to remember his holy covenant; (73) The
oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
(74) That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand
of our enemies might serve him without fear,
(75) In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. (76) And thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to
prepare his ways; (77) To give
knowledge of salvation unto his people by
the remission of their sins, (78) Through
the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited
us, (79) To give light to them that
sit in darkness and in the shadow of
death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (80) And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in
the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel."