Christ Performs the Work of Salvation
Pastor Martin continues the third group of witnesses to Christ's deity by showing from Isaiah 43-45, Hosea 13:4, and Psalm 130 that salvation is exclusively Jehovah's work — there is no God but Jehovah and no Savior but Jehovah. He then gathers four lines of New Testament evidence that the name Savior, the activity of saving, the blessings of salvation, and the object of saving faith are all transferred to Jesus of Nazareth. The conclusion is inescapable: either Christ is an impostor undermining Jehovah's exclusive saviorhood, or He is Jehovah Himself manifested in flesh. The sermon applies this to the adequacy of His saving activity and the urgency of His saving entreaties.
Primary Texts
Topics
A full transcript is available on the tab. 111 paragraphs, roughly 47 minutes.
Introduction: Contending for the Faith
In the third verse of the epistle to Jude, the people of God as a whole are commanded to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
Now this is just as much a commandment as the commandment to love one another, to be holy for the Lord our God is holy to make disciples of all the nations. And I remind you that the only infallible test of love to Christ is obedience to Christ. For he said, He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. Now if it is our duty to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, implicit it in that commandment is the command to know what that faith is that was once for all delivered to the saints, that is, the apostolic faith. And so we've been concerned for several months
to bring into sharp focus the main pivots upon which the apostolic faith turns. Under the figure of those words of Martin Luther, Here I Stand, we've entitled this series, here we stand, and it is meant to be a declaration, an explanation of that which constitutes the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Thus far, we've considered the first broad area of the book we believe and obey. Fundamental to the apostolic faith is the apostolic view of the scriptures as being God-breathed and therefore profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness.
We considered as the second major area, the God whom we worship and confess. Who is the God who is the great and central focus of the scriptures? And now we are in the third major area of concern, namely the salvation we receive and proclaim. we looked at the objects of this salvation.
Man, man in the image of God, man fallen in Adam, man ruined in sin. And then at that innumerable company of elect sinners upon whom God has set his love, determining to bring them to grace and to salvation. And now we are concerned, having looked at the objects of this salvation, to understand precisely the central figure in this salvation who is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Having looked at those many scriptures which underscore the importance of the doctrine of Christ's person, we then set before you the essence of the doctrine of Christ's person.
Three irreducible elements comprise the apostolic doctrine concerning Christ. He is truly God. He is truly man. He is one person in the two natures forever.
Now what we are doing is establishing the biblical basis of that doctrine. Why have the people of God, who have embraced the apostolic faith, the faith once for all delivered to the saints, Why have the people of God in their confessions, in their prayers, in their worship, in their preaching, in their hymnody, why have they always confessed Jesus Christ to be God? Well, it's because they took the Scriptures seriously. And the scriptures witness so profusely to the essential and true deity of our Lord Jesus Christ that one is baffled and confused in seeking to sort out the many lines of witness.
What I have attempted to do is to collate that witness into groups of testimony. We looked at the first group, those passages in which Jesus Christ is called God. called God in such a way and in such a context as to mean nothing less than a full ascription of deity to our Lord Jesus. Then we looked at the second group of witnesses, those passages in which Jesus Christ is seen either possessing or exercising the distinguishing characteristics of God.
When omniscience, that is, being everywhere present to know all things, omnipresent, being everywhere present, omnipotence, when these things are attributed to Christ, we are forced to the conclusion that he possesses characteristics peculiar to God, and therefore he must be God. And now we are considering the third group of witnesses to the divinity, the deity, the Godhood of Jesus Christ, namely passages in which he is seen performing works that only God can perform. Now that's our review. That's what we've covered in the past many hours of study together. How do we know that Jesus Christ is God? Well, there are the passages that
call him God. There are the passages in which he is seen possessing and exercising the peculiar characteristics or attributes of God. There are the passages in which he is seen performing the works of God. We looked at two of them last Lord's Day. The work of creation, John 1, Colossians 1, and Hebrews 1, and the work of providence, sustaining and ordering all that he has brought into being, John 17, Ephesians 1, Colossians, and Hebrews 1. Now today we shall consider, I believe only one of the two remaining aspects of this third group of testimony, Jesus Christ performing the works of God, and those two works that we shall cover today and in our next study
Defining Salvation in Its Fullest Biblical Sense
are the work of salvation and finally the work of resurrection and judgment today, just the work of salvation. Now I must confess that this opened up a whole new dimension of thought to me for the simple reason that I read my Bible as someone who is heir of hundreds of years of the influence of the Christian faith upon society in general. But when we try to read the New Testament in the light of the old and try to think of its statements in the light of the mindset of those who wrote the letters and whose preaching is recorded in the New Testament, this becomes an astounding and
overwhelming and powerful testimony to the full deity of Jesus Christ. The fact that the work of salvation is attributed to Jesus of Nazareth. Now, first of all, let me define the concept that I'm attempting to demonstrate from the word of God this morning. When I use the word salvation, I am using it in its richest, fullest biblical sense. That is, I am using it to define that mighty and gracious work of God in delivering sinners from sin and its consequences unto all of the privileges and blessings of the sons of God. I am using the word salvation to describe
the gracious conferral of all of those blessings upon unworthy sinners from awakening to glorification and everything in between. Awakening, conviction, calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, glorification, that work of salvation in its richest, fullest biblical sense, deliverance from and unto, is a work attributed to Jesus Christ and is therefore a testimony to his true deity. Now why do we reason that way? Well, let me give you the process of reasoning.
the scriptures and I'm thinking particularly now the Old Testament with which the apostles worked when they preached and wrote the scriptures everywhere emphasize that this mighty work of salvation the work of rescuing sinners is the exclusive work of Jehovah God of Old Testament revelation. Any pious Jew who was longing for true salvation, and remember there were such. You remember that Jesus said of Nathanael, an Israelite in whom is no guile, that is a true believing Israelite, part of the Israel within Israel, to use the language of the Apostle Paul
in Romans chapter 9. There were those godly people who were looking for the salvation that would come through Israel, a spiritual salvation. And in their minds, it was firmly fixed that that salvation was to be wrought by Jehovah and Jehovah alone. Now look with me at two specimen passages from the book of the prophecy of Isaiah.
Old Testament: Jehovah Alone Is Savior
Isaiah chapter 43. Now what I'm attempting to establish is simply this. Salvation is the work of Jehovah and Jehovah alone. Therefore, if we see Jesus doing the work of salvation, he is either another Savior who came unannounced, or he is that Jehovah in the flesh.
All right, Isaiah chapter 43.
In the opening words, God reminds his people that he is the one who has brought them into being in sovereign grace. He uses the same word as is used for the original creation. But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, that called you as it were out of nothing. You were nothing, and I set my love upon your father Abraham.
I formed you into a nation. I brought you out of Egypt by blood and by power. Then he mentions their consolations. Fear not, for I have redeemed thee.
I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Then there is the promise of his presence in the midst of trial, a promise known only to the Israel within Israel, not that majority of the apostate unbelieving Jews, but that remnant according to the election of grace. And concerning that people he says in verse 3, For I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. So that the pious Jew is forced to acknowledge Jehovah who is my God, who is the Holy One of Israel, objectively he alone takes the posture of the Savior the Deliverer of His people Then that theme is enlarged in verse 10 as being part of the responsibility of that godly remnant
to proclaim this truth to the nations. Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am He, Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. See what God is saying? You are to proclaim in the midst of idolatrous nations, even in the midst of your idolatrous compatriots in Israel, that I alone am God.
Beside me there is no God. No God will ever be created. But they are not only to bear witness to the exclusive Godhood of Jehovah, Notice the next verse. I, even I, am Jehovah, and besides me there is no Savior.
You see the two things then to which they were to bear witness. There is no God but Jehovah. There is no Savior but Jehovah. Now he says you are responsible to proclaim this great truth, the truth that we call monotheism.
There is but one true and living God. And I want to coin a word this morning. They were also to proclaim the truth of monosoterism. Soter, the Greek word for saved.
They were not only to proclaim monotheism, one God identified as Jehovah. They were to proclaim one Savior, also identified as Jehovah. Now that this is not a temporal salvation but a spiritual salvation is underscored in the latter part of this same chapter when God says in verse 25, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember thy sins. To take this passage and say it has nothing but a typical reference to external deliverance and external salvation to the whole mixed multitude
is to prostitute the very spirit as well as the letter of the passage. God commits himself in this kind of intimate covenant bonds only to his own people in whom the inward work of grace is wrought. And he indelibly stamps upon their minds this great truth. If salvation is ever to come, it must come from one source, Jehovah, and Jehovah alone.
All right, now turn over to Isaiah 45. In the opening words, the exclusive Godhood of Jehovah is asserted and demonstrated in this calling of a heathen king Cyrus to be instrumental in the deliverance of his people from their state of captivity. Again, the deliverance of a remnant of his people. Now the great truth that is to be manifested in God's laying hold of this man Cyrus, even announcing his name long before he appeared on the scene, is set forth in verses 5 through 7.
I am the Lord and there is none else. Beside me there is no God. I will gird thee though thou hast not known me, he says to Cyrus. To what end?
that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me. I am Jehovah and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I am Jehovah that doeth all these things. You see what God is saying? I'm going to lay hold of this heathen king. He does not know me in a saving way.
He has no knowledge of the true and living God, but I will so lay hold of him in the exercise of sovereign prerogatives that he'll become my servant to accomplish my ends for my people that everyone may know that I am God. Now having established that principle, this same Jehovah goes on to say in verses 15 to 17, and I can only pick out the main strands of thought in the interest of time, that this same God is not only identified as the one true and living God, the sovereign ruler of the nations, but also he is identified as Savior. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. They shall be put to shame, yea, confounded all of them.
They shall go into confusion together that are makers of idols. But Israel, now notice, Israel shall be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be put to shame nor confounded, world without end. Here is the promise of true salvation to true Israel, and it will be effected only by Jehovah.
And then, to know that that salvation is not exclusive to the nation because it is everlasting salvation, there is this climactic declaration in verse 22 to the end. Or perhaps verse 21, Declare ye and bring it forth. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who hath showed this from ancient time?
Who hath declared it of old? Have not I, Jehovah? And there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior, there is none besides me. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
By myself have I sworn the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear. Only in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men come, and all that were incensed against him shall be put to shame. In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.
What is God saying? He's saying the same God who is the one true and living God, manifesting the power of his divine prerogatives in raising up Cyrus, is the God who says, I am the only Savior. And if salvation is ever to come, you must look upon me, says Jehovah. You must come to me, says Jehovah.
Jehovah says, in union with me shall you have righteousness and salvation. What is God saying? He is indelibly inscribing upon the minds of his people this twin truth once more. There is no God but Jehovah.
There is no Savior but Jehovah. Only in him is righteousness. Only in Him is peace. Only in Him is strength.
Only in Him shall the seed of Israel be justified. The people of God are to look to no other one but Jehovah. Now that great testimony is beautifully summarized in two other texts in the Old Testament. And these are only specimen texts.
And hang with me. I know it's hot. I know it's easy to let the mind drip. But it will be well worth the reward.
So stick with me now before we move then to show the opening up of this in the light of the new. Hosea 13.4 is a beautiful summary of everything asserted by Isaiah. Hosea 13 and verse 4.
God is speaking of the sins of his people. Ephraim is denounced for her sin or for its sin. And yet in spite of this, God says in verse 4, For yet I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me. See the emphasis?
Monotheism, no God but me, and beside me there is no Savior. There is monosotericism. One God, Jehovah. One Savior, Jehovah.
And then the testimony of the Psalms is wonderfully summarized in Psalm 130, verses 7 and 8. Psalm 130 verses 7 and 8 Here again it's a psalm concerned with the problem of sin And the wonder of God's forgiving love Verse 3 If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Then he goes on to say that he waits upon Jehovah Now the exhortation and the promise, verses 7 and 8 O Israel, hope in Jehovah who is to be the object of hope, of confidence to receive mercy. Hope in Jehovah.
For with Jehovah there is loving kindness. With him is plenteous redemption. He, Jehovah, will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Now, if you were a pious Jew, taking seriously the word of God, these two great truths would have been so hammered into your consciousness that the thought of anyone other than Jehovah being God or Savior would call forth the most vigorous reaction of rejection.
NT Line 1: The Name Savior Transferred to Jesus
There is no God but Jehovah. There is no Savior but Jehovah. And yet wonder of wonders when we come to the New Testament. All of the focus of the saving act is upon Jesus of Nazareth.
And I want you to look with me very quickly at four lines of the saving emphasis upon Christ in the new. First of all, the name Savior is transferred from Jehovah to Jesus. This is the name given to Him. You'll remember in Luke chapter 2, the well-known Christmas story, Unto you is born this day in the city of David A Savior who is Christ the Lord And here to these pious Jews These shepherds upon a hillside Whose minds have been steeped in the concept Besides me Jehovah there is no Savior
I Jehovah say look unto me all the ends of the earth Now these heavenly messengers say, Jehovah in saving mercy is in a manger in Bethlehem.
The name Savior is given to him at his birth. And then in his ministry in John 4 and verse 42, when the Samaritan woman has borne testimony to Christ, and these Samaritans listen to her testimony, And they come and see for themselves. We read in John 4, 42. And they said to the woman, Now we believe not because of thy speaking, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world This is no Jewish Savior with exclusive Jewish message of deliverance though he has said in just the previous context salvation is from the Jews or of the Jews.
It is not a salvation that terminates upon the Jews. Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth. Even Samaritan dogs may look upon this Savior. And then further in the apostolic preaching in Acts 5.31.
And imagine what this sounded like on the ears of these Jews. Steeped in the knowledge of the Old Testament. Peter is preaching concerning Jesus of Nazareth. And he says that you people have slain him.
But God has raised him up. Acts 5.30. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew, hanging him on a tree.
Him did God exalt with his right hand to be a prince and a savior. For to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. Imagine what this sounded like. All your life you've been taught, God is Jehovah.
Jehovah is God. There is none other. The second great line of testimony, Jehovah is Savior. there is none other.
Now, he says, God has appointed him to be saved. Then it becomes one of the titles by which the apostolic writers delight to identify him. Paul identifies him in Titus 2.13 in these words, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Imagine what had to go on in Paul's mind and spirit to make one of his favorite titles for Jesus of Nazareth, a title that all his lifetime had been identified exclusively with Jehovah, our great God and Savior. And Peter does the same thing as recorded in 2 Peter 1.11 when he speaks of our Lord and our Savior. Who does the work of saving?
The unanimous testimony of the Old Testament is Jehovah, and Jehovah alone, he will not share that saving prerogative with any. Besides me, there is no Savior. No little Savior, or big Savior, or assistant Savior, co-Savior. I, Jehovah, do the saving work.
None will share in it.
NT Line 2: The Saving Activity Ascribed to Christ
Now the very name Savior is given to Jesus of Nazareth. But secondly, the very activity of saving is described as his work at his conception. You remember Joseph is troubled about this bit of information that's just come to him, that Mary, his espoused wife, is pregnant. And he knows that there's been no indiscretion in their relationship, and he can only assume that somehow there's been indiscretion with another.
and he's about to do what the Jewish law would permit. And the angel comes to him and says, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her as of the Holy Ghost. Matthew 1.21 And thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now you see, you're forced to a terrible dilemma if you make all of this external salvation. Either then Christ did not do what He came to do for Israel, His people after the flesh, very few were saved from their sins. The multitude died in unbelief, so much so that Paul says in Romans 9, the natural branches were broken off because of unbelief. This text says He shall save His people.
Well, who are those people? Spiritual Israel. all of his elect to whom he says look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved and so the announcement of his conception is that the saving work is to be done by him in his own lifetime he made that claim Luke 19 and verse 10 the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost he says I do the work of saving And then in the pastoral epistle so-called, there are five of these faithful sayings to which the Apostle Paul refers. They were apparently little sanctified clichés that had become common passwords among the people of God.
One of them is given to us in 1 Timothy 1.15. This is a faithful saying Worthy of all Acceptation That Christ Jesus Came into the world To save sinners Of whom I am cheap Can you feel something Of what must have happened to Paul All his lifetime At the feet of that great instructor Gamaliel I am Jehovah There is none else I Jehovah am Savior There is no other Now he says this is a faithful saying. The Savior is Jesus of Nazareth.
NT Line 3: All Blessings of Salvation in Christ
Faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But then the third line of evidence is this. The blessings of salvation are said to be in Christ alone.
Now parallel that with Isaiah 45. Could God speak with any greater clarity? look unto me I am to be the object of that saving look I am God there is none else he says only in Jehovah is righteousness and strength only in Jehovah shall the seed of Israel be justified and yet wonder of wonders in the New Testament all the blessings of salvation are said to be in Christ and in Christ alone Acts 4.12 neither is there salvation in any other for there is none of the name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
2 Timothy 2.10 Paul says I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may obtain the salvation which is where? In Christ Jesus with eternal glory. And then that statement of 1 Corinthians 1.30 it's a parallel to Isaiah 45 but of him are ye in Christ who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
And the same apostle says, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. I thought salvation was to be found in Jehovah alone. That in Jehovah there is righteousness and strength. And then to cap it all off, God says, In Him and in Him alone shall the seed of Israel glory.
Paul says, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, do you see the mounting evidence? Jehovah alone is Savior, but the name Savior is given to Jesus of Nazareth. The saving activity is attributed to Him.
NT Line 4: Christ the Exclusive Object of Saving Faith
The blessings of salvation are said to be in Him. And fourthly, He is made the exclusive object of saving faith. Jehovah says, look unto me. Jesus says, come unto me.
All ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus says, him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out. What did the apostles do when that Philippian jailer cried out of agony of soul, knowing something of the impending wrath of God, hanging over his head and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? What did Paul say?
Look unto Jehovah and find salvation in Him alone. He said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Acts 16.31 Then in that great treatise on missionary endeavor in Romans 10, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The Inescapable Conclusion
Jehovah says, Call unto me. Paul says, Call upon the Lord Jesus. Now what conclusion do we come to? Do you see the evidence?
the conclusion is this and listen carefully either Jesus of Nazareth initiated and perpetrated the most extensive and permanent undermining of the excellence and exclusiveness of the Saviorhood of Jehovah or He is that Jehovah manifested in the flesh and simply fulfilling everything that was proclaimed about it. Now I'm going to go over that again. I can't reduce it any simpler than that. And if you're not concerned enough to think to grasp it, then you deserve to be led astray by a heretic.
Mental laziness is the precursor of the absorption of heresy. And God's people are more concerned to be tickled and entertained than to think through the issues of their faith. That becomes the mother of heresy. Think with me now.
In the light of these verses, either Jesus of Nazareth initiated and then perpetrated the most extensive and permanent undermining of the excellence and exclusiveness of Jehovah as Savior,
or He is that Jehovah manifested in the flesh. And there is no other conclusion to be drawn. Now if the former is true That Jesus Christ initiated and perpetrated This extensive and permanent undermining Of the excellence and exclusiveness of Jehovah As the only Savior of sinners He is not worthy to be the leader of anything He ought to be locked in bars Or He is nothing less than that Jehovah manifested in the flesh. The former conclusion makes him a wicked man.
Application 1: Adequacy of His Saving Work
The latter, all that he has been to his people, a divine Savior. How do you say, Pastor Martin, what's the relevance of all this to us? Well, I conclude with two lines of relevance. Number one, The adequacy of his saving activity Rest upon the worth and might that is his Because he is God Jehovah says to his people Look, salvation is so mighty a work That you must look to none but me To effect it I, Jehovah, who am the great creator I alone can be the efficient redeemer I, the one who made heaven and earth, am the only one who can rescue you from your sins.
You see the issues of the salvation of the soul of the sinner are of such magnitude that nothing less than a fully divine Savior can accomplish the great work of redemption Paul says, or whoever wrote Hebrews, Hebrews 7, 25, Wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by him. And why is he able? Because of what he is in his person. In Acts 20, Paul speaks of the church which has been purchased by the very blood of God.
Think of what's involved in saving that great seed of Israel, that great multitude whom no man can number, coming to Him with all of their sins, with all of their guilt, with all of their bondage, with all of their inbred and ingrained pollution. And Jesus says, I will undertake to save with such a salvation that when I am done, every legal and personal, external and internal defilement of sin will be utterly purged, so that in body and spirit they will perfectly reflect the image of myself. What a work! And he says, I'm going to do it for a great multitude
whom no man can number. Out of every kindred, kind, and tongue, and nation. No archangel is up to the task, my friends. An archangel would be wearied with the dimensions of my salvation for just one day.
Just the burdens of keeping me in the way for one day is too much for any archangel. Thank God I have a divine Savior. That's why the Scripture says when He puts the capstone on that salvation, giving me a new body, it describes it this way. Philippians 3.21 He shall fashion the body of our humiliation like unto His own glorious body.
How? By the power wherewith He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself. When the Lord Jesus comes forth to put his foot upon the neck of my sin, it's the foot of a divine Savior who must conquer in the work of salvation. The adequacy of his saving activity rests upon the worth and might of what he is in the full integrity of Godhood.
Application 2: Urgency of His Saving Entreaties
But then secondly, the relevance of all this is seen in this way. The urgency, the urgency of his saving entreaties rest upon what he is as God. Who is it that says, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden? My friends, that's not an invitation, that's a command.
It's in the imperative, in the original. Who is it that says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden? It is not a weak, effeminate, maudlin Jesus. It is God incarnate, commanding with royal prerogatives and authority.
Jehovah says concerning this one Kiss the son Lest he be angry And ye perish in the way My friend listen to me When the divine savior stands before you in the gospel saying come And you say I won't come I'll cling to my petty sins and lusts To the government of my own life And I will not capitulate to Jesus Christ As sovereign and savior I will determine to run the risk Of facing my sins in the day of judgment My friend, listen to me Though no thunderbolts clapped
And though no lightning strikes Your unconverted, impenitent head Do you think that that is somehow our reflection of weakness in the divine Savior who invites. No, no. It is the strength of His God-like patience that restrains the exercise of His God-like anger. But there's coming an hour when divine patience comes to an end.
And the Son of God will come in the language of the Apostle Paul in flaming fire to take vengeance on his enemies. When's the last time you heard a gospel sermon that had the word vengeance in it? Come to sweep Jesus. Trust the man from Galilee.
Let Jesus have His way in your heart. Allow the Son of God to give your life with a capital L. Rubbish!
Rubbish! That is no gospel.
The one who stands in the midst this morning with the presence of His Spirit and says to every impenitent, unconverted man or woman, boy or girl, come unto me. Surely He stands with infinite and holy and divine love or you wouldn't be alive. You'd have been cut off in your sins. Surely He entreats with all the pathos of the heart that caused Him to weep over an impenitent city.
But my friends, He stands as God. If you defy the overtures of His mercy in the gospel, you will fall under the rod of His righteous anger. And when it falls upon you, the Scripture says, it will bring you to powder. That's not my language. It's the language of the Son of God.
Upon whomsoever this stone shall fall, it shall brine him to powder.
You take your sweet, smiling, nearsighted, effeminate Jesus,
and you'll go to hell with Him.
And you'll bow before the living Lord of glory, who was manifested in time to save the likes of you and me, and who wonder of wonders is born so patiently with us. My friends, as I conclude the message this morning, it is with that note burning in my own breast. As I read in my own devotional exercises yesterday, the first chapter of the book of the Revelation, just the first few verses, Behold, every eye shall see Him. And then this phrase came with such power to my own heart.
Every eye shall see Him. And they that pierced him and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. And that's not the morning of repentance, my friend. When he comes and every eye sees him, the day of repentance is done.
For Jew and for Gentile.
Final Appeal and Closing Prayer
When the clouds are rolled back and he comes upon clouds of glory, then shall be the beating of the breast of every impenitent sinner because then he shall know I was dallying with a divine Savior the Judge of the world now he's come to seize upon me summon me to judgment consign me to the pit and then secure my being there in that place forever oh may God help us to see this morning that the glory of the gospel is the glory of its central figure. He is true God. He is true God. We know Him to be God
because He is called God, because He has attributes peculiar to God, because He performs the works which only God can perform, and thank God He performs the work of salvation. Is He doing that work in you? You say, Pastor Martin, shouldn't you rephrase the quake? Has he done?
No, I said, is he doing? Present tense. The only proof that Jesus Christ ever began to do anything in you in a saving way is that he's continuing to do it right now. He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until, not at, start it and then leave it and let you run around like a bunch of wild carnal goats and then go home with the sheep at the end day.
No, no. He will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The only proof that you ever got into the way is that you're on the way.
Is He saving you this morning? Saving you from pride, from covetousness, from lust, from self-will? Not perfectly. But giving you a heart to be holy in an unholy age.
Giving you a spirit to serve the living God in a day that defies Him. Oh, my friend, don't trifle with your soul and with this almighty Savior. Don't trifle. He's God.
Thank God he's man or he never would have died. Thank God he's man or we would have no sympathetic high priest. That will come in subsequent studies. But the focus today is he is God.
And the proof of that is that the work of salvation is his work and can be none other. Is your so-called salvation a monument to a divine savior? Or have you got a salvation that any old psychologist could have given you? Got rid of a few hang-ups, a few of your guilt feelings, gave you a few new positive directions in life.
If that's all your salvation is, it's not the salvation of the Son of God. A divine Savior imparts a divine salvation that has the intermottial of divinity upon us. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Is that what you are?
If not, you're not in Christ. And if not, we bid you with regal and blessedly glorious, gracious authority. Come! Come!
Come unto me and I will give you rest. Let us pray. Amen.
O Lord, our God, we thank You for so glorious a Savior as our Lord Jesus Christ. And we pray that it would please You for His dear name's sake. to make the proclamation of the truth concerning Him an effectual means of turning sinners from darkness to light and of establishing the saints in a well-grounded assurance of the certainty of their salvation because it rests upon the mighty shoulders of a divine Savior. Seal to our hearts the word preached.
O Lord, for those who ought to be greatly disturbed this morning, trouble them with blessed disturbance of conscience until they flee to Christ. Hear our prayers, O Lord, and be pleased to bring fruit from the word preached to the end that your name may be praised now and into the ages to come. Hear us, and may the benediction of your presence rest upon us and abide with us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Thank you.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Beside me there is no Savior — Jehovah's exclusive claim
Jesus as Savior who will save His people from their sins
No other name whereby we must be saved