Sermon #1039 Miscellaneous Sermons
Title: SALVATION IS OF THE LORD
Text: Jonah 2:9
Scripture Reading: Psalm 34:1-22
Subject: Salvation The Work of God Alone
Date: Sunday Morning August 23, 1992
Introduction:
I think the best preaching a man can do is to simply tell people what he has experienced, what God has taught him by the experience of his grace. That is what I want to do tonight. I want to tell you what I know, what I have experienced in my soul.
There came a time in my life 25 years ago when God Almighty stepped in, stopped me on my mad rush for hell, arrested me by his grace, and revealed some things to me.
1. I saw that I was helplessly lost and justly condemned sinner, and that there was nothing I could do that would alter my condition before God God showed me my sin!
2. I saw that God Almighty is absolutely sovereign (Rom. 9:10-16).
3. I saw that this great, sovereign God is absolutely holy (Isa. 6:4-5)
· Demanding Righteousness!
· Demanding Sanctification!
4. I saw that salvation is by faith alone, by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that this faith in Christ is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9).
5. In a word, I saw what Jonah saw when he was in the belly of the whale, altogether incapable of delivering himself Salvation is of The Lord!
For these twenty-five years, this is what I have been trying by the help of God the Holy Spirit, to tell sinners Salvation is of The Lord! This is my message. I have no other. This is what I have experienced. This is my doctrine. This is my creed. This is my hope. This is my great motivation in preaching and in life Salvation is of The Lord!
Proposition: Salvation is the work of God alone!
My message is very simple. That is not too hard for me Im a simple man. I will leave it to others to be deep, scholarly, profound, and apologetic. I want to make five statements related to this one glorious fact revealed in Holy Scripture.
I. Salvation is of the Lord! This is the Essence of All True Doctrine.
It is the universal testimony of all Scripture. This is the litmus test by which all preaching must be judged. Any message, any doctrine, any preacher that makes the grace of God to be dependent upon or determined by anything in man, or anything done by man, is not of God.
Illustration: Moses to Israel Stand ye still and see The Salvation of the Lord (Ex. 14).
Salvation is of the Lord! (Ps. 3:8; 37:39; 68:18-20; Rom. 9:16; II Tim. 1:9-10). Salvation is of the Lord!
A. In its Planning (Eph. 1:3-6; Rom. 8:28-30).
B. In its Purchase (Heb. 9:12; Gal. 3:13).
C. In its Execution and Application (Eph. 1:12-13; 2:1-5).
Illustration: Two Black Birds
Ezekiels Infant (Ezek. 16).
The Valley of Dry Bones (Ezek. 37).
D. In its Preservation (Phil. 1:6; John 10:27-29).
E. In its Consummation (Eph. 5:25-27; Jude 24-25).
II. Salvation is of the Lord! This Fact is Confirmed in The Experience of Every Believer (I Cor. 15:10).
I have no reluctance at all in declaring that anyone who gets upset with, argues with, and opposes the message of Gods free grace in Christ is yet in the bond of iniquity and the gall of bitterness. The believer knows that Salvation is of the Lord. All his experience confirms it.
A. We remember what we were (and are by nature) and where we were when God saved us (Isa. 51:1.
Illustration: The Rembrance Room
B. We know, by painful experience, the corruptions of our own hearts My sin is ever before me!
Our righteousness are filthy rags!
Illustration: The Warfare (Rom. 7:14-23; Gal. 5:17).
C. The trials we face would destroy us, were we not kept by the grace of God (I Cor. 10:13).
D. Many who were strangers, more useful, more zealous, and more influential than us have fallen (John 6:60-65).
· Judas
· Demas
· Diotriphes
· R.B.
· B.S.
E. The Falls and Restorations we Experience teach us to confess and confirm in us the fact that Salvation is of the Lord!.
Illustration: Peters Fall and Restoration (Luke 22:31-14, 54-62.
· A Work of the Savior I have prayed for thee
· A Work of Providence The Cock Crew.
· A Work of the Word Peter remembered the Word.
App: Thank God for His Faithfulness!
We ought to be a humble people!
We ought to be merciful and gracious!
(I Cor. 4:7).
III. Salvation is of the Lord! This is our Only Source of Comfort and Consolation.
Salvation is not by my will, but his will. Salvation is not my work, but Gods work. Salvation is not in my feelings, but in Gods faithfulness. Salvation does not depend on my emotions, but on Christs expiation. Salvation is not the reward of my worth, but of his worth. It is not the result of my goodness, but of his goodness.
Illustration: David (Ps. 73:22-28).
Jeremiah (Lam. 3:24-26).
IV. Salvation is of the Lord! Therefore we have nothing about which to boast except Christ our Savior (I Cor. 1:26-31).
God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14). But I will, and I must, boast in the cross of Christ, the glorious, sin-atoning death of the Son of God. I must glory in the cross because it is
· A Compassion Revealed! (Rom. 5:8; I John 3:16; 4:9-10).
· A Covenant Respected! (Heb. 13:20).
· A Conquest Realized! (John 12:30-32).
· A Curse Removed! (Gal. 3:13).
V. Salvation is of the Lord! This is the Only Grounds of Hope We Have.
Than Jesus blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus name.
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand!
Salvation is of the Lord!
A. We have no hope for ourselves but this!
B. This is a door of hope to seeking sinners!
C. This is the message of hope we preach to lost, ruined men.
D. This is the confidence and hope we have for the success of our labors.
Application:
Salvation is of the Lord! The message revealed in these five words is what I have experienced.
1. By these words I live in peace Salvation is of the Lord!
2. By these words I hope to die in peace Salvation is of the Lord!
Illustration: Gills Last Words.
3. By these I set before you an open door and bid you enter into the kingdom of God.
Illustration: Momma, would it be alright if I come home?