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"For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ." I Thessalonians 5:9.
"God has not appointed us to wrath," that is, GOD does not want us to die and go to hell, but
has appointed us "to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."
I am sure you will agree with me that first of all we ought to understand what "salvation" means.
What is included in salvation?
You know, if I were to ask each of you to stand up one by one and tell me what is salvation, I am
certain we would get almost as many different answers as there are different people. I am
positive we would get as many answers as there are denominations.
Yet Scripture is very definite in its definition of the term "salvation."
Salvation is:
(1) the forgiveness of our sins. That is the beginning of it. We cannot be right with GOD unless
our sins are blotted out and covered over, cast behind GOD's back, buried in the bottomless sea.
That is why whenever the men of old preached they always brought that to the front. When
JESUS sent His disciples out to preach the Gospel, He said, "Thus it is written and thus it
behooved CHRIST to suffer, to die, to rise from the dead the third day, and that
repentance and remission of sins [which means the forgiveness of sins] should be preached in
his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem."
When Paul the Apostle swept like a firebrand up and down the Mediterranean region, turning
thousands of souls to GOD and to CHRIST, this was his text: "The times of this ignorance
GOD winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: because he hath
appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness." And then he went on
and said this: "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all
things, from which ye could not be justified [which means forgiven] by the law of Moses." If
you have salvation, your sins are forgiven.
(2) The second thing in salvation is that you are made a child of GOD. You are adopted into the
family of GOD, for it is written, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." GOD Almighty becomes
our FATHER. CHRIST becomes our brother. We are heirs and joint heirs with blessed JESUS to
all of everything that is included in GOD, the world, time, and eternity. We are made children of
GOD. GOD makes Himself responsible for our welfare. Paul says, "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." If GOD loved you and me enough to send His Son to die for us, I am certain He loves us
enough to feed us, to clothe us, to pay our rent, to provide us with education and everything else
we may stand in need of to serve Him and to serve each other, to live out our lives in comfort,
with the assurance, the confidence, the guarantee, that GOD is there and takes care of us.
(3) The third thing about salvation is that we receive the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT, and that is
important. It is very important. It is more important than most of us seem to think. Unless we
received the gift of the Holy Ghost, salvation wouldn't amount to very much, because we would
be just as sure to fall away from GOD as the day follows the night, and the night follows the day.
It is the HOLY SPIRIT in us, His presence, His power, His purpose, Who gives us the grace, the
wisdom, the strength, the courage, and all else we need to overcome the evil one.
Salvation, as you know, is both an instantaneous and a progressive process.
We are saved from hell fire;
we are saved from Satan;
we are saved from the "wages of sin,"
we are saved from the curse of the law,
the minute we accept CHRIST as our Saviour.
But there follows a process of growth. There are degrees of advancement, a course of training, a
matter of refinement, a program of purification; a growth in sanctification, in stature, in wisdom,
in power, in usefulness, in service, in ability, in GOD, as we go on living out our lives here upon
the earth after we are saved. It is the HOLY SPIRIT guiding, instructing, empowering,
enlightening in every way in which we need strength, wisdom, and grace, who gives us what it
takes to serve GOD in an acceptable manner. When you realize that, you begin to lose the fear of
not being able to hold out; and, in a manner of speaking, you begin to lose the fear of the devil,
because you know that "greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."
Unquestionably the gift of the HOLY SPIRIT is part of our salvation, for it is written, "Repent
and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your
children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our GOD shall call."
(4) Salvation includes a fourth thing, the home in Heaven when our life here upon the earth is
finished. Because JESUS definitely spoke to us the word of hope, of immortality, and eternal life
when He said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." That is our
assurance of the resurrection and the mansions in glory.
Salvation includes freedom from the past, fellowship, and power in the present, and a hope for
the future that scintillates, that sheds out its beams across our lives like a million suns rolled into
one - the hope of that wondrously blessed life up yonder in the presence of GOD.
Now, with these four gifts, these mighty benedictions included, salvation is, first of all, valuable;
then it is desirable; and then it is obtainable.
1. Salvation is valuable. It is valuable for a great many reasons.
- It is valuable for what it cost. It cost GOD His only begotten Son.
- It cost CHRIST His home in Heaven.
- It cost Him loneliness, heartaches, blood shedding on Calvary's cross.
It is valuable because of what it costs the Christian. You say, "Preacher, I thought you preach
that salvation is free."
Yes, salvation is free; but if you are going to be saved, if you are going to have your sins
forgiven, to be made a child of GOD, to be indwelt by the HOLY SPIRIT; if you are going to
Heaven, you will have to take everything you are and everything you have and lay it at the feet
of GOD.
It will cost everything you are and everything you have to be an out-and-out Christian. If you
have any kind of reservations, if you hold anything back, if you say, "I will give this up and not
that," I don't believe GOD can save you. I don't believe GOD will save you. But suffice it to say
that, anyway you look at it, if you are going to be a real Christian, a real child of GOD, it will
cost you all you are and all you have to live up to the principles and requirements of GOD.
Salvation is free, but it is not cheap. I don't know who, but some great man said, "It doesn't take
much of a man to be a Christian, but it takes all there is of him."
Then, salvation is valuable for another reason, and that is because of what the sinner loses if he
rejects it, of what the sinner parts with if he does not obtain that salvation. If you want to
measure the cost of salvation, the value of salvation, first come to Calvary and see what it cost
GOD and CHRIST. After you are through with Calvary, stand on the brink of hell, look down
into the burning pit, see the writhing torment, hear the agonizing shrieks of the doomed souls.
Their suffering will enhance the importance of salvation in your sight. Unquestionably you will
begin to understand what a priceless boon it is to be saved and kept from that pit.
2. Salvation is not only valuable, but it is desirable. You say, "Preacher, wait a minute. That
may sound all right to you, but it doesn't make sense. How can something be valuable and not
desirable? If it is valuable, it is desirable." Not always.
I think the sun is valuable, but who would like to have the sun on a candlestick in your home?
A battleship is very valuable, but who would like to own and have to support a battleship?
I think the Atlantic Ocean is a valuable thing. I don't know how you feel about it, but I don't care
a thing about the Atlantic. As far as I am concerned, it is not desirable.
An elephant would cost you thousands of dollars, but who would like to have an elephant to
feed?
Many things that are valuable are not desirable. We do not care to possess them, do not care to
have them, nor waste our time to obtain them.
Salvation is different. It is not only valuable but desirable.
Why? For four great reasons:
I. First of all, because it offers you a better way to live.
You may never have thought of this, but if there were no sin, if there were no death, if there were
no judgment, if there were no resurrection, if there were no Heaven, if there were no hell, if there
were no CHRIST, I submit to you that living the Christian life would be better than living the
sinner's life.
It is cleaner.
It is purer.
It is more peaceful.
It is more satisfactory.
It makes you feel better.
You will live longer.
You will have more money, more friends.
You will get more of a "kick" out of life in spite of what sinners might tell you.
I know. I have been in both places. I was converted when twenty-three years of age, and I had
lived high, wide, and handsome before I became a Christian. I did everything I was big enough
to do. But I tell you, I never had gotten the thrill out of life then that I get now by just plain,
everyday serving the Lord JESUS CHRIST. It is a thrill to live the Christian life. It is a thrill to
buck the line for JESUS, a thrill to whip the devil, to stand out above the crowd and say, "I don't
care what anybody else does, I am going to live for the Lord."
I repeat, salvation is desirable because it offers you a better way to live.
But, beloved, there is sin, there is death, there is the judgment, there is Heaven, there is hell,
there is an eternity beyond this life.
II. Salvation is, therefore, further desirable because it offers you a better way to die
I have seen people die. I have seen them die in the prime of young manhood, in childhood, in old
age.
I have seen them die when they were unconscious, when they were conscious, when they
moaned and groaned and fought death, when they relaxed into death as on the bosom of a
beloved and loving mother.
I have heard them cry and curse until I just had to force myself to keep from running out of the
hospital ward.
I have seen them die when they cried and pleaded and begged for mercy.
Beloved, there is all the difference in the world between a Christian's dying and a sinner's dying.
Just picture yourself stretched out on your deathbed. You are going to be there. You may as well
prepare for it. You provide insurance, you buy a home, you put away money in the bank for a
rainy day, so you may as well begin to prepare for death, because you are surely going to die.
You may not live to be an old man or an old woman. You may never collect a penny of your
insurance, but you are going to die. You may not live to spend five copper pennies of the money
you are putting in the bank, but you are going to die. Suppose you reject CHRIST, say "No" to
the Gospel, shake your head to the preacher's plea, and then, someday, somewhere, stretch out to
die. You know you have turned down CHRIST. You know there is nothing waiting for you
except the judgment, except the wrath of GOD. You know there is nothing ahead except the
curse of the law. It is a fearful thing to die out of CHRIST. But in CHRIST, if you have trusted
the Lord, if your sins are forgiven, if you are saved, if you are a child of GOD, if your name is
written in the book of life, if you have the promise of the home in the sky, death loses its sting,
the grave its victory. When the death hour comes, you wrap the habiliments of your couch about
you and float off on the wings of sweet death into the arms of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The
tender hands of the Lord will reach down from Heaven, take your soul out of its body, and wing
it away to the glory land.
Salvation does offer you a better way to die.
III. Salvation is desirable because it insures for you a better place in the judgment.
There are just two sides at the bar of GOD - the saved and the unsaved.
It will not be good man, bad man, rich man, Jew, Gentile, educated, ignorant, man or woman or
child, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic.
It will be sheep and goats, goats and sheep.
The sheep will be on the right hand and the goats on the left. That is all, just the saved and the
unsaved.
It doesn't make any difference who you are, what you are, what you have said, where you have
been. Your accomplishments, your money, your character, your influence, all are behind you.
If you are a Christian, you are a sheep.
If you are a lost sinner, you are a goat.
You are traveling toward that judgment. There is no escape from it. Some people are caught in
crime and before they are arrested commit suicide to keep from facing the disgrace. They fear to
stand before earthly judge and jury. But there is absolutely no escape from GOD. You are going
to meet Him in the judgment. If you know that there is a day coming when you have to stand
before your record, tell me, is it not desirable to have something that will cleanse your record
and purify your soul? Is it not desirable to make JESUS CHRIST your advocate, your
mouthpiece, your defense council, your attorney in the court of GOD?
IV. Salvation is desirable also because it offers you a better home in the life to come.
You are not going to go to Heaven because you have a college degree. You are not going to hell
because you haven't a college degree.
You are not going to Heaven because you have a great deal of money, or to hell because you
haven't any money.
The difference between the two is salvation. Salvation is the line of demarcation. Salvation
draws the distinction between the two places. If you are saved, no matter who you are, what you
are, no matter what people think about you, no matter how low you may be in the social scale,
nor how high, if you are saved, Heaven is your home forever.
If you are lost, there is nothing GOD can do, nothing CHRIST can do, nothing the SPIRIT can
do, nothing you can do, nothing eternity can do, to keep you out of the burning pit of a devil's
hell. Salvation makes the difference! Nothing else, not education, not church membership, not
reformation, not social standing, not financial prestige - nothing but salvation can close hell and
open Heaven.
- Salvation made the difference between Lazarus and the rich man.
- Salvation made the difference between the thief on one side and the thief on the other.
- Salvation made the difference between Peter and Judas Iscariot.
- Salvation made the difference between the three thousand on the day of Pentecost and all the
rest of the Jews that had clamored for the crucifixion of JESUS.
- Salvation makes the difference between death and life, darkness and light, Heaven and hell,
between GOD and the devil.
So, for these four reasons, because it gives you a better way to live, a better way to die, a better
place in the judgment, and a better home in eternity, salvation is desirable.
3. Then, last of all, thank GOD, salvation is obtainable.
You may have salvation! You can have it! You will have it, if you do what GOD asks you to do.
"Preacher, I believe just as strongly as you do that salvation is the most valuable thing in the
world.
Preacher, I believe as definitely as you do that salvation is the most desirable possession I can
have.
But, preacher, you have to show me that salvation is obtainable."
I can show you. Salvation is obtainable, first, because it is GOD's will that all men be saved and
come to the knowledge of the truth, for He has said, "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn
ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?"
He says, again, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who will
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." He says, once more,
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance."
Yes, salvation is obtainable because it is GOD's will for us to be saved.
Second, salvation is obtainable because JESUS died to save every one of us.
It is written, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way,
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." And again, "For God so loved the
world [everyone of us] that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever [anybody]
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." Again, the Book says, "And he
is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world."
Yes, salvation is obtainable, because JESUS died for all of us.
Salvation is obtainable, thirdly, because the HOLY SPIRIT invites every one of us to come to
accept this salvation.
For is it not written in GOD's Word, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and
he that hath no money; come, ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price." Again, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest." Again, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely."
Surely, salvation is obtainable because GOD wants us to be saved; because CHRIST died to save
us; because the HOLY SPIRIT invites us to come and accept that salvation.
GOD Almighty has put one condition in the way of obtaining that salvation. There is just one
step He wants us to take, just one way He wants us to walk. Put your faith in the Lord JESUS
CHRIST; place your trust in the Son of GOD, for it is written, "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved."
What does it mean to have faith in CHRIST? Beloved, listen.
It doesn't mean to have feeling. That has nothing to do with faith.
It doesn't mean to wait until some critical, cataclysmic something happens inside of you.
That is not faith. That would be sight.
That would be feeling. That would be anything but faith.
You know what faith means. "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." "Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of GOD."
You know what faith means. It means to believe what GOD has said about His Son and about
salvation.
That is all. It doesn't mean anything else but that.
If you believe what GOD says, that JESUS is His Son, that He died for your sins on the cross,
that He was raised from the dead, that He is interceding in glory for you; if you believe that He
can save you, that He wants to save you, that He will save you if you ask Him out of an honest,
trusting heart to save you, that is all the faith you need to be saved. That is all the faith you need
to accept CHRIST JESUS as your personal Saviour.
GOD is offering this bountiful, this superabundant salvation, this pardon from all sins, this
adoption into the family of GOD, this infilling with the HOLY SPIRIT, this home in Heaven to
every one of you to-day as the free gift of His great love.
He is offering this valuable, this desirable, this obtainable salvation to every man, to every
woman, to every child who will say in his heart, "Lord, for JESUS' sake, have mercy on me, a
sinner."
The question is, Will you accept GOD's invitation?
Will you close with GOD's offer?
Will you by simple faith in the Word of GOD receive the Son of GOD as your personal
REDEEMER and His blood as the redemption of your souls?
Oh, may GOD, in His infinite, compassionate mercy, give you the grace to come on the very first
word of the invitation to accept His overtures of mercy, to step over the line of CHRIST, to
throw yourself on the power of JESUS, to say, "Lord, you died for me, too; have mercy on me, a
sinner."
May GOD help you to do that now. In JESUS' name. Amen.
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