Sermon #14601 Miscellaneous Notes
Title: WHAT DOES IT TAKE
TO SAVE A SINNER?
Text: 1
Peter 4:18
Subject: Salvation
Date: Sunday Morning –
Tape
# W-49a
Introduction:
I hope never to look upon the salvation of my soul with anything
less than utter astonishment. I am astonished that the Lord God would save any
vile sinner; that he would condescend to take into union with his holy, august
majesty such things as he finds in the dung-heap of fallen humanity.
As I look over this congregation, while there are many things in
each of you that I admire as a man, I know enough about most of you to be
astonished that the Lord would save you.
But when I think of God saving me, I am utterly overwhelmed by
his amazing grace. I take my place before him in the dust, as the very chief of
sinners, because I know by painful, bitter experience that is what I am.
“I was lost and undone,
without God or His Son,
When he
reached down His hand for me.”
People sometimes ask me, “Do you believe in miracles?” I answer,
“No. I believe in God, that God with whom all things are possible, that God
with whom miracles are an every day occurrence. You ask, ‘Do I believe in
miracles?’ I am a miracle!”
“It took a miracle to hang
the world in place.
It took a miracle to put the
stars in space;
But when He saved my soul,
cleansed and made me whole,
It took a miracle of love
and grace!”
Most
people seem to think that it is a very easy thing to be saved, that faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ is very simple. There is no sense of astonishment, awe, and
amazement among religious people with regard to salvation because the salvation
they think they have is really no big deal. There is nothing amazing about the
grace most people talk about.
Traveling
back and forth, up and down this country for the past thirty-three years, I
have met a lot of people, most of them have been very
religious people. Most of the people I preach to are very sure they are saved.
Most of them never disturb themselves by questioning the matter. They have
walked down a church aisle, knelt at an “altar”, and said “the sinner’s
prayer.”
·
Some Because Of Tragedy
·
Some Because Of Fear
·
Some Because Of Pressure -- Peer Pressure -- Emotional Pressure --
Psychological Pressure, Etc.
They did
what the preacher told them to do. They said “the sinner’s prayer.” They said,
“In believe in Jesus.” I know many who had this experience, even as small
children. They are confident they are saved, because they followed what is
called “the simple plan of salvation.”
Some of
you have had that same experience. You profess that you are saved, because you
walked that church aisle, said that “sinner’s prayer,” and felt that
unexplainable feeling of relief when it was all over. You were talked into a
profession of faith by a slick “soul winner;” and you never question the
reality of that profession. Perhaps you do sometimes question it; but you
suppress those questions, fearing that they are satanic temptations.
Now hear me well. Salvation is not an easy thing. It is
not a simple thing for a sinner to exercise faith in Christ. In fact,
faith in Christ is, with men, an absolute impossibility. Is that not what we
read in Matthew 19?
Faith in
Christ is the gift and operation of God in us. It is not something conjured up
by man’s imaginary free will, or religious excitement. No one has ever
been saved by walking a church aisle, kneeling at an altar, or reciting “the
sinner’s prayer.” If you are still clinging to such a profession as the
basis of your hope before God, I urge you to give it up. Renounce it at once.
It is a satanic delusion.
[Proverbs 14:12] "There is a way which seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death."
[Proverbs 16:25] "There is a way that seemeth right unto
a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death."
Proposition: My
friend, it is not an easy thing to be saved.
I know that in this day of mass-evangelism, easy believism, and
decisional salvation, the statement I have just made will not be popular, nor
will it be quickly received. Some of you may even become angry at hearing it.
But hear it you must. It is not an easy thing to be saved. Let’s see if the
Word of God will back me up in that statement. It is not an easy thing to be
saved.
·
Matthew 19:25-26 - The Rich Young Ruler
·
Luke
·
“The gate is so strait that you can’t take anything in as you enter;
and the way is so narrowe that you can’t pick anything up along the way.” –
(Maurice Montgomery)
If saving faith is no more than saying a prayer, making a
decision, walking an aisle, or believing in the death, burial, and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ (the historical facts), why did Judas perish? Why was
Simon Magus lost? Why did Demas die? Why was Diotriphes destroyed?
True
saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is such a rare thing that our Lord
himself asked, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the
earth?” (Luke 18:8). The way of truth and holiness is so
plain that “wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.”
Yet, because of the sin and hardness of our hearts, it is no easy thing for
us to enter into that way, and no easy thing for us to continue in the way
until we reach our everlasting home in glory.
Now, look at 1 Peter
NOTE: The word “scarcely”
is a very poor translation. Peter is not suggesting that God’s elect barely get
into heaven, or that we shall enter in with fear, trembling, and hesitancy.
God’s saints shall be ushered into heaven in a blaze of glory, triumphant and
victorious by his grace! The word “scarcely” would better be translated,
“with difficulty.” Peter’s meaning is this: “If the righteous are saved
with great difficulty, what shall become of the ungodly and unbelieving?”
In the light of this text, I want to raise and answer one
question in this message. The title of my message is this: -- What does it take to save a sinner?
I have nothing new, deep, or profound to say; but what I have
to say ought to fill your heart with gratitude, praise, worship, and
devotion. Searching the Scriptures, I have found seven things which are
absolutely indispensable in the salvation of a sinner.
·
If you would be saved, give me your attention. Here are seven things
which ought to give you hope and encourage you to seek the Lord.
·
If you are one of God’s ransomed ones, give me your attention.
Here are seven things which ought to fill your heart with utter, unceasing
amazement, praise, and gratitude before God.
I. The
Will of God -- The salvation of a sinner requires ELECTION AND PREDESTINATION.
It takes a work of God’s sovereign, eternal, electing love and predestination
(Eph. 1:3-6).
Salvation has to begin with someone’s choice. The whole world
says it begins and ends with man’s choice. The Bible declares that it begins
and ends with God’s choice. Election is God’s free, sovereign,
eternal choice of his people in Christ unto salvation. Predestination is
God’s wise, gracious, orderly arrangement of all things from eternity, by which
he secured the salvation of his elect.
Ephesians 1:3-6 "Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (4) According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love: (5) Having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will, (6) To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he
hath made us accepted in the beloved."
II.
The
Blood of Christ -- The salvation of a sinner requires Blood Atonement.
It takes a work of effectual, blood redemption, the satisfaction of
divine justice by an infinitely meritorious Substitute – The Lord Jesus Christ
(Isa. 40:3-5; Rom.
[Isaiah 40:1-5] "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith
your God. [2] Speak ye comfortably to
Isaiah 40:4 describes great, apparently insurmountable,
difficulties which lie in the way of God saving sinners. God could not get to
us in mercy and we could not get to him for it, until these great difficulties
were removed. The fifth verse tells us that the glory of the Lord is revealed
in Christ removing them.
Mercy could never have been exercised toward guilty
sinners so long as justice stood like a high mountain between the holy Lord God
and us guilty sinners. But our all-glorious Christ, by his obedience
and death as our Substitute, by satisfying the righteousness and justice of God
for his elect, has leveled that infinitely high mountain.
[Psalms 85:10] "Mercy and truth are met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”
There stood between us and our holy God the high mountains
and hills of our sins, too, reaching up to heaven, calling for wrath.
But, blessed be God, our great Savior leveled these as well, casting them into
the depths of the sea (Mic.
That same Lord Jesus Christ, who leveled the
“Without shedding of blood is no remission.” God almighty
cannot and will not save anyone, election and predestination notwithstanding, without
blood atonement. There is no other way whereby he can be both “a just God
and a Savior.” The Son of God came into this world as our Substitute
because there was no other way for God to save his people.
Romans 3:24-26 "Being justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (25) Whom God
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the
forbearance of God; (26) To declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus."
·
God requires righteousness.
·
He requires satisfaction.
·
Christ alone could give them.
Galatians
Galatians
III.
Divine
Romans 8:28-39
"And we know that all things work together for good
to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
(29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
(30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he
called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
(31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us,
who can be against us? (32) He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely
give us all things? (33) Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God's elect? It is God that justifieth. (34) Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (35) Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword? (36) As it is written, For thy
sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. (37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor
things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor
any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 11:33-36
"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his
judgments, and his ways past finding out! (34) For who hath known the
mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
(35) Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him
again? (36) For of him, and through him, and to him, are all
things: to whom be glory for ever.
Amen."
Ephesians 1:11-12
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will: (12) That we should be to the praise of his
glory, who first trusted in Christ."
What does it take to save a sinner? All things!
Everything that is, has been, and shall hereafter be! Nothing in God’s universe
is excessive, unneeded, redundant or superfluous.
IV.
Irresistible Grace -- The salvation of a sinner
requires A WORK OF GOD’S IRRESISTIBLE GRACE. It takes the
infallible, irresistible grace and power of God the Holy Spirit in regeneration
and effectual calling, by which chosen, redeemed sinners are raised from the
dead and given faith in Christ (Eph. 1:17-20; Ps. 65:4).
The work of God the Holy Spirit is as necessary to the salvation
his people as election, redemption, and providence.
By election and predestination, we were marked out
for grace and the path by which God’s saving grace must come into our hearts
was fixed.
In redemption, Christ met all the demands of God’s
law and justice, removed our sins, and opened the way for grace to come.
In providence, God our Savior sovereignly
manipulates all the affairs of the universe to bring his elect to the appointed
time and place at which he will be gracious to them, and prepares them to be
the willing recipients of his grace.
In regeneration, effectual calling, and
conversion, God the Holy Spirit performs the work and operation of his grace in
our hearts, making chosen, redeemed sinners willing in the day of his
irresistible power to trust Christ. -- “Ye must be born again!”
Psalms 65:4 "Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy
courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of
thy holy temple."
Psalms 110:3 "Thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the
morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth."
How does God cause his chosen to come to Christ? How does
the Lord of Glory make his chosen, redeemed people willing in the day of his
power?
1. By Holy Spirit conviction!
2. By the gift of faith!
3. By almighty conversion!
4. By omnipotent, irresistible
grace!
Ephesians 1:17-20 "That the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him: (18) The eyes of your
understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in
the saints, (19) And what is the exceeding greatness of his
power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty
power, (20) Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the
dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places."
Salvation requires faith in Christ, not a free will, work
of man, but a mighty operation of grace. You must believe on Christ if
you would be saved; but you cannot believe unless you are saved. “He that
believeth on the Son of God hath
everlasting life!” Faith in Christ is not the cause of the new birth.
It is the result, the fruit, and the evidence of it.
Ephesians 2:1-5 "And you hath he
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: (2) Wherein in time
past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: (3) Among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (4) But
God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, (5) Even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye
are saved.)"
V.
Gospel
Preaching
--The salvation of a sinner requires, because God has so ordained it, THE
PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL. It takes a man sent from God with the gospel
of your salvation (John 1:6-8; Eph.
I do not suggest for a moment that God could not save his elect
without the instrumentality of gospel preaching. God almighty could regenerate
sinners and cause his elect to believe on his Son by the buzzing of a gnat, or
without any instrumentality at all, were that his purpose. But I am saying that
the instrumentality of gospel preaching is absolutely necessary to the
salvation of God’s elect “because it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe” (Rom.
John 1:6-8 "There was a man sent from
God, whose name was John. (7) The same came for a witness, to
bear witness of the Light, that all men through
him might believe. (8) He was not that Light, but was sent to
bear witness of that Light."
Ephesians
Gospel preaching is not an optional additive, but an
essential part of God’s method of grace. When the appointed time of
love comes, when the time comes when a chosen, redeemed sinner must be saved,
God will send a gospel preacher to him and send him to a gospel preacher, if he
has to turn the world upside down to do it (Isa. 43:1-7).
Isaiah 43:1-7 "But now thus saith the
LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not:
for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
(2) When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
(3) For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave
Illustrations:
Publius at Melita (Acts 28)
The Young Man At
The Clock
VI.
Divine Preservation -- The salvation of a sinner
requires THE PRESERVATION OF GRACE. It takes a work of immutable
grace, preserving the called in life and grace, causing them to persevere in
faith, keeping them unto the end (Phil. 1:6).
It takes the same grace to keep us saved as it does to save us.
We are “kept by the power of God.” And, blessed be our God, we are
promised that we shall be kept forever by the power of his grace. Our Savior
says, “I give unto them ETERNAL LIFE and they shall NEVER PERISH!”
·
Ecclesiastes 3:14
·
Malachi 3:6
·
Psalm 89:24-37
Philippians 1:6
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"
1 Thessalonians 5:23-25
"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I
pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24] Faithful is he that
calleth you, who also will do it. [25] Brethren, pray for us."
Hear me now, my brothers, my sisters in
Christ. – Though you are weak, Christ is strong. Though you
are unstable as water, God is faithful. Though you are tempted,
he has made a way of escape for you. Though you sin, his blood
cleanses us from all sin. He will forgive. Though you fall, he
will raise you up. Our God declares, “I will not depart from them.”
Though we change, he changes not. Though our love for him
varies greatly, his love for us never varies. Did you hear what I just
told you? -- Our God declares, “I will not depart from them.”
·
Neither in life!
·
Nor when we fall!
·
Nor when we fall again!
·
Nor in trouble!
·
Nor in sickness!
·
Nor in sorrow!
·
Nor in death!
Our God and Savior promises,
“Lo! I am with you alway!” And he is!
·
His presence is constant.
·
His forgiveness is perpetual.
·
His faithfulness is unfailing.
·
His love is unchanging.
·
His grace is immutable.
·
His goodness is sure.
“The Lord has promised good to me. His Word my hope secures.
He will my strength and
portion be As long as life endures.
And when this heart and
flesh shall fail, And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the
veil A life of joy and peace!”
VII.
Resurrection Glory -- The salvation of a
sinner requires THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. It takes a work of
resurrection glory, by which these bodies sown in corruption shall put on
incorruption, mortality shall put on immortality, and God’s elect shall enter
into that eternal state of bliss called “the glorious liberty of the sons of
God” (1 Thess. 4:13-18).
[1 Thessalonians
4:13-18] "But I would not have you
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not,
even as others which have no hope. [14] For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. [15] For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of
the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. [16] For the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
[17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord. [18] Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Romans 8:17-21
"And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may
be also glorified together. (18) For I reckon that the sufferings of
this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory
which shall be revealed in us. (19) For the earnest expectation of the
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. (20) For the
creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who
hath subjected the same in hope, (21) Because the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God."
1 Corinthians 15:51-58
"Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed, (52) In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (53) For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. (54) So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in
victory. (55) O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy
victory? (56) The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is
the law. (57) But thanks be to
God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (58) Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the
Lord."
Illustration: The Robin’s Eggs
Application:
Let me say just three things, and I am
done.
1.
“Salvation is of the Lord!”
2 Timothy 1:9-10
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and
grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (10) But
is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel:"
2.
This salvation, in its
entirety, is found in the Lord Jesus Christ alone (1 Cor.
1 Corinthians 1:30-31
"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
(31) That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in
the Lord."
Illustration: “Him!” – (2 Tim.
2:12)
3. Since this great salvation
is by grace alone, in Christ alone, without anything you do, then there
is no reason why you should not be saved, too. – “Welcome home,
Sister!”
AMEN.
1 See Misc. Sermon #1356. Substantially the same message, preached at Danville on Tuesday night (8/24/99), Rescue, CA (6/30/00), Rocky Mount, VA (10/10/99), Rock Creek Baptist Church (8/14/00), Almont, MI (7/27/00) Ross, OH 8/6/01)