Salvation

Romans chapter 1, please, and verse number 16 says the Apostle Paul, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Now the word of God can bear repetition, so we'll read that verse again. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.

Now we know that God will bless the reading of his precious word to each soul. Brother Burt has mentioned several times, as he's been preaching the gospel, about this word salvation, salvation. A couple of years ago, my wife and myself were away in the island of Jersey, place that I visit every year to visit the schools, have done for about 25 years.

And my wife was looking for a little case to put her iPad in. And we went into one shop and after another, and you know how it is, those of you men who go shopping with your wives, it has to be the right size, it has to be the right shape, it has to be the right shade, everything has to be right. Nothing can be wrong, just have to be absolutely perfect.

And after we'd been in about 35 different shops looking for this case in which to place the iPad, and we were in the 36th, or at least it felt like that to me, I just took leave of my wife, I said that I'll just go into the book department, dear, and I'll just have a little look at the books. And I found, I don't know whether it was a maga book or bookazine, quite what they call them, it was neither a magazine nor a book, but a combination of the two. And it was titled, 10 Things You Must Do Before You Die.

Well, I thought that was an interesting title, so I glanced through it. I was looking for one thing in particular, that is the absolute vital thing that you must do before you die. Amazingly, it wasn't there.

You must be a possessor of God's salvation. And then I noticed a second one of these maga books or bookazines, and that was, 10 Places You Must Go Before You Die. Ah, I thought, maybe there'll be more success in looking at this one.

But no, the one place you must get to before you die is Calvary's Cross and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you get there, you can receive God's great and wondrous salvation. I want to speak, first of all, of the wisdom of salvation.

You see, the Apostle Paul says this, From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures that are able to make thee wise unto salvation. My dear young friend here today, especially those who are in the Sunday school, From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures that are able to make thee wise unto salvation. That's why in Sunday school, we taught a vital verse, a memory text.

That's why in your Sunday schools, you're taught the scriptures. In your children's meetings, you are taught the scriptures. Because you see, they will make you wise unto salvation.

God speaks through His word. One text of scripture is enough for you to enter into heaven, for you to trust Christ and to start for heaven. Have you been wise unto salvation? There's many of you wise to all sorts of things.

Many of you wise to your studies. Many of you wise to your work. Many of you wise to a whole lot of other things.

You know, but do you know Christ? And do you know Christ as Savior? Have you been wise unto salvation? I'll tell you why you need to be. Because your sin will keep you out of heaven for all eternity. You were born sinful.

The Bible says all have sinned. The Bible says there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Listen, my friend, your sin will keep you out of heaven for all eternity.

And yet there's our Savior in heaven, ready and willing and able this evening to cleanse you from every sin and make you fit for heaven. What a Savior He is. Wise to the wisdom of salvation.

I must tell you of the who of salvation. It would be a very poor gospel meeting if I never got you to the who of salvation. You see, this is what Peter preached one day.

In Acts chapter 4, he's speaking about the Lord Jesus. And he says, Neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name unto heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

God says you must be saved. And God says the only one that can save you is God's well-beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, what did He do to save me? He went to the cross of Calvary.

You say, what else did He do to save me? He shed His precious blood. You say, did He do anything else to save me? He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. You say, was there anything else involved? Christ died for our sins.

I want to ask you, what about it now? This is the who of salvation. Listen, it's not the brethren that can save you, whoever they might be. It's not the gospel hall that can save you.

It's not your parents that can save you. It's not your siblings that can save you. It's the work of Christ and Christ alone.

I asked the children at the beginning of Sunday school to tell me something that the Lord Jesus had said. And one young person said, he said, it is finished. And so he did.

The work's been done. The price has been paid. Christ has died that you might have eternal life.

You know, after COVID back in England, they were opening up one of the big nightclubs. It was the first one they were opening up in the town of Liverpool. Merseyside.

And the television cameras were there and the radio reporters were there. Asking young people how they felt now at last after all the restrictions of COVID. They were able to get back to clubbing at night.

And one of them said, I can't describe it. It's so wonderful. It's the best day of my life.

I wept for the poor soul. I tell you what will be the best day of your life is the day you repent of your sin and you trust Christ for salvation. I tell you what will be the best day of your life when you know Christ.

When you know that you are saved. Heaven bound and bound to get there. It's all through what Christ has done.

There's nothing you can pay and there's nothing you can do that will get you to heaven. The wisdom of salvation. The who of salvation.

I must tell you about the window of salvation. Behold now. Did you get it? Behold now is the day of salvation.

We are not promised tomorrow. Not one of us is promised tomorrow. We heard from Bert about his dear brother, my father.

One Christmas, 23rd of December. He came back to the apartment and his next door neighbor was going out. Well, it wasn't quite his next door neighbor.

He lived on the ground floor. She was on the third floor mooring. And there were two ladies with her.

And he opened the door. He was a perfect gentleman. You say, what happened to his son? Well, not quite sure what happened to his son.

But my father was the perfect gentleman. And he opened the door for mooring. And mooring said, George, we're just going out to celebrate Christmas.

We're going to go out and have a meal out at Staveley with my two friends. And my father, well, he donned his head and he says, well, you have a wonderful Christmas meal together. Six o'clock that evening, my father had a wrap at the door.

And a police sergeant stood there. He said, Mr. Plant, I understand that you are a key holder for mooring. My father said, I am.

He said, would you mind if I have the key to her flat, please? My father said, why would you want the key to her flat, officer? Well, the policeman said, there was a car accident this morning. And your neighbor and her two friends were killed. My father waved them goodbye.

They were never to exit that car alive. You see, now is the window of salvation. If you go onto YouTube and you look at Bethesda Gospel Hall in Hartlepool, and you go to the 24th, I think it is, or the 25th of April, 2022.

Might have been 2021, time goes so fast. And you look at the gospel meeting. You'd see my best friend, Alan Barber, preaching the gospel.

He was preaching live stream via one of these live stream feeds, and they were recording it, as they'd done for many of the gospel meetings over COVID. Alan went home that night after preaching the gospel. Said to his wife, he said, I don't feel too good.

In the gospel meeting, he said, you know, he said, we make plans for tomorrow. We write plans in the diary for tomorrow. We're going to do this tomorrow.

Tomorrow might never come. He went to bed. They found him unconscious at 11 o'clock.

And they were asked if they could turn off the life support machine at 4 o'clock the next morning. The last gospel meeting is up there on YouTube. The window of salvation.

Listen, my dear young friend, my dear old friend, out of Christ without a Savior. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation.

But I must tell you about the wonder of salvation. You see, Peter says this. He says, it's the salvation of your souls.

Hebrews tells us this. It's an eternal salvation. Once you're saved, you'll never be lost.

Once you're in Christ, you're in Christ forever. An eternal salvation. George Beverly Shea was returning or going across to the UK.

And he met somebody he knew in the music business. And this man said to him, he says, Bev, tell me. He says, I don't understand it.

He says, you're going to sing with Billy Graham again. He says, I don't understand. He said, what goes on? He says, tell me about these crusades that you hold.

And Bev Shea said, well, he said, it's like this, you see. He said, it's just when people get saved. He says, listening to the gospel, it's just the wonder of it all.

The music executive said to him, he says, Bev, he says, I suggest, he says, that you write a hymn called the wonder of it all. He went into his cabin. And that night, he spoke about the wonder of sunset in the evening.

And the wonder of, but he said, the wonder of wonders that thrills my soul. Is the wonder that God loves me. I want to tell you tonight, there's a God in heaven who loves you.

There's a Savior who died to save you. There's precious blood that can cleanse you. Oh, the wonder of salvation.

You can be saved forever. So somebody says something else. Yes, there's one thing.

The witness of salvation. Say what? The witness of salvation. Hebrews 6 tells us about things that accompany salvation.

You say, what do you mean? Change life. The Bible says this. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature, a new creation.

All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. When I got saved, I used to play, I suppose it's the equivalent to basketball, the game of cricket.

When I got saved, I never had a desire to play it again. Never. It stopped.

There and then God took the desire straight away from me. Life will be changed. When I got saved, the way I spoke changed.

The words I use changed. When you get saved, your life will be changed. But when you get saved, it doesn't stop there.

I believe a lot of people get to salvation and they never go any further. You see, when you get saved, you'll want to be baptized. Are you saying you mentioned that in the ministry? I did.

And I'm going to mention that now in the gospel, because it is linked with the gospel. Are you saved? That's good. Are you baptized? No.

That's the next step. Obedience to the Lord Jesus. It's a witness of salvation.

To be obedient to the Word of God. Have you been obedient to the Word of God? You'll want to be baptized. You say, I was baptized as a baby.

So was I. So was I. In fact, when my father died eight years ago, we found the little parish magazine from 1965 with my name on it. Getting baptized as a baby. My father told me to his dying day, the day that they baptized me as a baby and sprinkled me, I cried all day.

I knew it was wrong even then. Listen, my dear friend, it'll be immersion, full water immersion. You say, what's the significance of this baptism? Well, you see, you're linking yourself with the Lord Jesus publicly.

You're going into the water and under the water and out of the water. You say, what for? You're saying, I've died with Christ. I've been buried with Christ.

I'm living for Christ. I want everyone to know that I've changed masters. That's why you get baptized.

So someone, is there another witness of salvation? Yes, there is. You'll want to join a local assembly. I don't know how many local assemblies there are here today.

I've met people from Wisconsin. And I've met people obviously from Iowa, one or two others from Canada. Well, I want to tell you this, you need to join a local company of believers.

You say, well, where would I find one? There are so many different churches around my town. Well, I would just say, look for those who gather to the name of the Lord Jesus. They might gather in a building that's called Gospel Hall.

You see, I gather to such a company simply because I don't believe there's another place on earth that meets as close to what the scriptures teach as those dear people that gather to the name of the Lord Jesus. If you want to learn more about that, you just ask somebody here later on today. It's a witness of salvation.

Salvation. Have you been wise unto salvation? Have you rested in the who of salvation? Have you realized that today is the window of salvation? Have you grasped and entered into the wonder of salvation? And if you are saved, what about the witness of salvation? Now, I want to ask you, my dear friend, at the close of this gospel meeting, what will you do with Jesus? Neutral you cannot be, for someday your soul will be asking, what will he do with me? Says the Bible, a word of God. If you want to be saved, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

Shall we pray?