Cardinal Blessings of Salvation

Introduction: Returning to Here We Stand

0:00 After a digression of several Lord's Days, we return today to our series of biblical studies, grouped together under the general title, Here We Stand. Since this particular series of studies was begun, more than two years has passed, and about 70 messages under this general theme. And it has been necessary from time to time in the opening up of these various lines of biblical truth to give a rather extensive review.

0:50 and this morning as we resume our studies in the Word of God touching those aspects of biblical truth ranged under this general category, I do want to give a more lengthy review than we normally do and then having reminded you who have been with us of where we have been and apprising those who have not been with us of where we have been, I shall then seek to map out where we propose to go in the coming weeks and months in our Lord's Day morning studies of the Scriptures. Now what I hope to provide in this review and overview is first of all a helpful introduction to those who are new amongst us.

1:37 For some of you, you were not here when we began this series of studies and some very vital aspects of biblical truth. have been covered and expounded. And we would like to give you a bit of a feel of where we've been. It's sort of like coming in on the fifth course of a seven or eight course meal. You may not be able to go back and start with the appetizer and the hors d'oeuvres or anything else, but at least someone can tell you what it was like and maybe give you a little bite and a sniff of some of the crumbs that are remaining. And so for those of you who are relatively new amongst us, I trust that the first 20-25 minutes or so in which we will give this recapitulation of where we have been will provide a helpful introduction to you with respect to this series.

2:27 But then I hope to accomplish a second thing. I hope this exercise will be an exercise in edifying recall of the substance of the series for those who were here. Many times the memories of many days can be captured by leafing through photographs that capsulize, as it were, the main events of those days. Some of you may spend a week, two weeks on vacation or holiday in a very special place, and in the middle of the winter you sit down and in five minutes you flip through your pictures and there is, as it were, a reliving of those happy moments.

3:05 moments. Well, I'm trusting that this overview and review will provide an edifying recall in the minds of those who were here. But then thirdly, conscious that we have visitors amongst us who are here only today and will not be here for the unfolding of the series. I'm not ignorant or indifferent concerning your presence. I trust to accomplish a third thing, and that is with respect to you who are visitors, I trust something of an accurate impression will be made regarding the seriousness with which we regard the Word of God, and in particular, a doctrinal understanding of the Word of God. The Bible is not just a collection of historical snippets interlaced

3:50 with some lovely devotional thoughts to make us feel good when things get rough. It is a book which sets forth doctrine, that is, teaching that is essential to the knowledge of God, teaching that is essential to the knowledge of ourselves, teaching that is essential for life, for death, and for the world to come. And if you're visiting here this morning and you come from a church background in which you have never taken the doctrines of the Word of God seriously, I hope if nothing else is accomplished, that your appetite will be whetted this morning, and that you will leave us with a hunger and a thirst to grasp the great truths of the Word of God. Well, so much then for that very ambitious statement of what I hope to accomplish as

The Nature of the Series: Contending for the Faith

4:40 we contemplate this broad review and overview and then point in the direction in which we propose to go. First of all, then, let me just say something very briefly about the nature of this series of studies entitled Here We Stand. It is intended to provide a broad overview of the major elements of the Christian faith as understood, believed, preached, and practiced by the people of God in the past and by the people of God in the present. In Jude's letter, we read in verse 3, and if you have your Bibles, please follow as I read.

5:24 Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. And here the commandment comes to the people of God to contend for the faith, that is, the body of truth, which was once for all committed to the people of God. It is our conviction that there is a body of truth in the Scriptures called the faith. Furthermore, this text indicates that the people of God are to be thoroughly conversant with that body of truth.

6:15 They cannot contend for that of which they are ignorant. But not only are they to be apprised of the fact that there is a body of truth called the faith, to be acquainted with the substance of that body of truth, But they are to be zealously involved in its preservation and in its propagation. They are to contend earnestly for that faith. And so the nature of this series is to be understood in terms of an effort, albeit how poor, an effort to set forth the major components of the Christian faith.

6:58 What have the people of God understood from the Word of God as comprising the faith once for all delivered to the saints? Well, this series of messages is an attempt to spell out those major categories of truth. We are attempting to analyze that faith and then, by the grace of God, to believe it and to see its application in our lives. So the materials are drawn from a wide range of sections in the Word of God as we seek to get, as it were, our hands upon the main structural beams of that which the Scripture calls the faith.

Review 1: The Book We Believe and Obey

7:44 So much for the nature of the series. Now, what has been the substance of the series thus far? Well, our first area of concern was to answer the question of authority. Where shall we look in order to answer the question, what is the Christian faith?

8:04 And so we began our series of studies by considering what I entitled, The Book We Believe and Obey. The people of God in every generation have always been a people of the book. and therefore if we are to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints we must have some understanding of the nature of this book that we call the Bible which we both believe and seek to obey and we believe that this Bible is nothing less than the word of God in the words or language of men According to 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is God-breathed.

8:55 Or in the language of Peter in 2 Peter 1.21, Scripture is the result of men being carried along by the Holy Spirit. So that what Scripture says, God says. And what God says, He says to us in human language.

9:16 Therefore, we as the people of God are committed to the absolute authority of the Word of God. Furthermore, we are committed to its complete inerrancy. Since it is God who speaks, our Lord can say in the language of John 17, 17, Thy Word is truth. Or the psalmist, the sum of thy Word is truth.

9:41 When you take everything given to us in Scripture and add it up, you do not have truth plus fancy, truth plus human limitations in assessing who God is. You do not have truth plus saga, myth, human opinion. The sum of thy word, the psalmist says, is truth. And our Lord Himself said, Thy word is truth.

10:11 So we confess then that the book we believe and obey is not only a book of absolute authority, but of complete inerrancy. Furthermore, it is a book of unfailing sufficiency. The Scriptures are adequate for the needs of the people of God, touching everything that pertains to faith and to practice. 2 Timothy 3.17 And then furthermore, and this is the crunch in our day, We believe that this book is a book of changeless validity.

10:45 Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Heaven and earth shall pass away, Jesus said, but my word shall not pass away. We do not point to the Bible and say, oh yes, we believe in its authority. We believe in its inerrancy.

11:00 But so much of it is locked up in first century culture as to have utterly no relevance to us today. And there are in our day confessing evangelicals who say that the Bible's testimony concerning, for instance, the role concept in Christian marriage is absolutely irrelevant. The Bible's teaching concerning homosexuality, totally irrelevant. Now, these are not liberals saying this.

11:31 They've always said that. These are people who say we believe in the authority of the Word of God, except those points where the authority impinges upon current opinion.

Review 2: The God We Worship and Confess

11:45 So we stand to say the book we believe and obey is not only to be regarded in terms of a theoretical authority, but an authority which is of changeless validity so that this church is to be bound by scriptural norms in the totality of its life. Then we move to a second broad category, the God whom we worship and confess. For the moment we open this book, we are confronted not with man but with God. And if I may say it without being irreverent, the chief actor in the great unfolding drama of Scripture is not man.

12:31 It is God. The opening words of Scripture are these, In the beginning God And all the way through we we to read the book with our eye fixed upon that infinitely glorious being who is introduced to us in the very opening words so that when we rightly understand its sweeping panorama of history, all of the events and circumstances involving men and nations in their temporal and even their eternal destinies, we will cry out in the language of Romans 11.36 as did the Apostle, For of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things to whom be glory forever and forever.

13:24 That was the Apostle's conclusion after giving a summary of broad categories of Old Testament history. He saw in all of this the mighty activity of a sovereign and almighty God. And so we then, if we are to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, must be unembarrassed concerning the Bible's testimony with respect to God. And so we spent a number of weeks in the contemplation of this great God whom we worship and confess.

Review 3: The Salvation We Receive and Proclaim — Objects and Central Figure

14:01 And then we moved into a third category, and there we have been, and still are, the salvation we receive and proclaim. Beginning with this book, which we believe to be the book of God, convinced that the great central actor in the unfolding drama is God, it is just as clear that the great theme of that drama is the theme of redemption. God bringing salvation to a disordered chaos into which sin has entered. For from Genesis chapter 3 to the end of the Bible, there is the unfolding of the great salvation of God.

14:47 And so we have been considering in great detail the main pivotal doctrines of the Word of God with respect to the salvation we receive and proclaim, because it is the great theme of this book. We contemplated the objects of this salvation and we saw them to be two. Man and the earth in which man dwells. Man as created by God.

15:14 Man as fallen in Adam. Man as ruined in sin. Man as chosen in Christ is the object of salvation. But because the earth was cursed because of man, And Romans 8 makes it abundantly clear, as do other portions of the Word of God, that God's salvation will descend from man to the earth that was cursed for man's sake.

15:38 And there will be the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness when God has completed His saving work. And then the second major division of this salvation we receive and proclaim has been a contemplation of the central figure in this salvation. If man and the earth in a secondary sense are the objects of salvation, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that the central figure in that salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The first promise of salvation in Genesis 3.15 points to Him, Albeit a shadowy promise when viewed from Adam's perspective, but read in the light of the ends of the days in which we live,

16:27 we see that it is a marvelous promise that the seed of the woman would ultimately bruise the head of the serpent, utterly crush him. And that seed, of course, is none other than the Lord Jesus, prefigured in the Old Testament types and shadows, whose coming was announced by the prophets. There is that glorious description of His deeds and His words in the Gospels. He is the theme of the preaching in the book of Acts.

16:56 He is the loath stone in the watershed of all the teaching in the epistles. And He is the great focal point of the book of the Revelation. From Genesis to Revelation, the central figure is the Savior Himself. even as the angel announced to Joseph, Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Review: Christ in the Mystery of His Person and Majesty of His Offices

17:20 And so for months, Lord's Day by Lord's Day, we've been contemplating him, contemplating him in the mystery of his person. Who is this one upon whom the salvation of this great multitude rests? And the Bible tells us he is truly God. As much God as though He had never become man, He is truly man.

17:43 As much a man as though He were never God. This One who is God in man is one person in two natures forever. Then we contemplated Him in the majesty of His offices. For this glorious person accomplishes the salvation of men, functioning as God's anointed Messiah, God's great priest, God's great prophet and God's great and final king.

18:13 And so we have considered him in that biblical category of reference. As a priest, he offers one sacrifice for sins forever. Hebrews 10, 12. And then he intercedes for his people to secure for each one the application of the salvation purchased by his blood.

18:35 Hebrews 7, 25. He's able to save to the uttermost. Why? Seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.

18:45 Then we contemplated Him as our great prophet. That one promised in Deuteronomy. In Acts 3.19, the Deuteronomy promises quoted as fulfilled in Christ.

18:56 That great prophet who reveals the will of God to us. In the language of Hebrews 1, God who spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets. hath in the last days spoken unto us in a son. And so the revelation is embodied in His Word objectively, implanted by this great prophet by the Spirit subjectively, and conveyed to men through His servants ministerially.

19:26 But in all of this, Christ Himself is our great prophet. And then we just concluded the section in which we contemplated Him as our King. The King who subdues sinners to Himself. Psalm 110 in verse 3.

19:42 Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. This King who guards and defends His people and defeats all of their enemies. In the language of 1 Corinthians 15. He must reign till He hath put all His enemies beneath His feet.

20:00 And the last enemy that shall be destroyed, His death. Well, that was a very quick overview of 68 sermons.

Transition: Where We Go Next — The Cardinal Blessings

20:12 We've contemplated our Lord in something of the mystery of His person, the majesty of His offices. Now then, where do we go from here? Well, where we go from here is to consider this third major division of the biblical doctrine of salvation, namely, the cardinal blessings of that salvation. We've contemplated the objects, man, and in a secondary sense, the earth, the central figure, the Lord Jesus, in the mystery of His person, in the majesty of His offices.

20:51 Now then, we need to direct our minds to the cardinal blessings of that salvation. When we turn to the Word of God, we find that it abounds with such words as forgiveness, justification, calling, sanctification, adoption, regeneration, eternal life, and more. For an example in which you have a lot of these words thrown together in a very, very short compass of words, notice Romans chapter 8. I turn to this passage because it's one that we examined last Lord's Day.

21:33 At the end of verse 28, the people of God are described as those who are the called according to purpose. Now notice what a mouthful we are given here. For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Whom He foreordained, them He also called.

22:00 Whom He called, He also justified. Whom He justified, them He also glorified. Now you see, in these few verses, We have the people of God described as receiving blessings that come within the category of calling, justification, glorification, and all of those blessings rooted in being predestined and foreknown. Now there are some who would say Well, Pastor, we're just simple people And those things have something to do Some way or another with salvation So for me, as a simple, humble believer I just regard all of these things Justification, adoption, all the rest

22:45 As just sort of synonyms With a little different wrinkle But all of them, you add them up And they mean saved So you could say That they could be substituted by the word saved And as to any distinct understanding, wherein do justification and adoption differ? They haven't a clue. Wherein are they the same? They haven't a clue.

23:08 Wherein do sanctification and justification differ? Wherein are they the same? What is calling? And there are multitudes of people who have sat in evangelical churches for years, who if a pistol was put to their head and said, in the next five minutes give me three things concerning the biblical concept of justification and demonstrate wherein it differs from adoption, they'd have to take the bullet at the end of five minutes.

23:36 Now you see, if we hold a high view of Scripture, that all Scripture is inspired of God, and that God moved the biblical writers in the language of 1 Corinthians 2 to express these truths of the Spirit in words which the Spirit Himself chose, then we dare not be indifferent to these things. No calling, regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification. They are not synonyms for the word saved. Rather, they are all wonderful categories and differing dimensions of that great work of deliverance which put all together God calls salvation.

The Banquet Illustration: Each Blessing a Course

24:22 Let me illustrate going back to food. I hope it doesn't make you hungry at 12 o'clock. Now, a banquet is generally a very sumptuous and lavish meal with many courses. Most banquets I've attended or meals that were called a banquet had at least five courses.

24:38 Right? You had your appetizer. You had a soup. You probably had a salad.

24:44 You had your main entree and you had a dessert. And sometimes, depending where you are in the world, you may end up with a cheese board as well. So six, seven courses. Now, would it be proper to call your soup the banquet?

24:58 Well, you say no. That's only one part of the banquet. Would it be proper to call your main entree the banquet? Well, you say no.

25:05 That's just one part of the banquet. But when you put all the courses together and you get them all down, Then you can say I have been to and thoroughly enjoyed a feast at a banquet Well you see banquet equals salvation And salvation is not any one of the courses It the whole thing put together Now calling is one of the courses

25:31 Regeneration is another course. Justification is one of the entrees. Adoption, one of the main entrees. And you see, if we would have an appreciation for the lavishness of the gospel banquet, it, then we dare not be ignorant of the significance of these biblical categories of thought.

The Orbit: Every Blessing Is In Christ

25:55 And so for the coming weeks, it will be my purpose to open up some of the pivotal passages in the Word of God with respect to these cardinal blessings of salvation. Now, all I want to do in the time that remains this morning is say two things about them as we sort of spread the table for the banquet and lay out the plates and the silver and the rest, I want to say but two things. First of all, I want to say a word about the orbit of these blessings, and then secondly, a word about the order of these blessings. So you've got a two-point sermon at the end this morning, orbit and order. And even you kids can remember that, can't you? Two, two-syllable words, orbit, order. All right. Now, what do I mean by the orbit of these blessings? Well, you see, the orbit of a planet or satellite is the boundary within which it moves. And we must understand that there is a spiritual boundary within which all of the courses of this sumptuous gospel banquet are enjoyed and outside of which you don't even get a sip of the

27:06 tomato juice. It's all within one orbit. And if you're in that orbit, every course is yours. Outside of it, not a crumb. And you know what that orbit is? It's what the Bible calls union with Christ. Union with Christ. I want you to look at several passages in the Word of God which demonstrate this in no uncertain terms.

27:35 Turn, please, to 1 Corinthians 1.

27:41 1 Corinthians 1.

27:47 These Corinthians were glorying in men to the point that it was causing divisiveness in the church, and the apostle is dealing with that problem. And he takes their eyes off men by showing them that God is to be the one admired in the work of salvation. And he does this by many lines of thought, which we need not go into this morning. But he comes to his climactic statement in verse 30.

28:14 But of him, that is, by the activity of God, not Paul, not Cephas, not Apollos, what are you glorying in men for? If you're a Christian, it's not because they worked on you, it's because Almighty God did. but of Him by His activity, now notice, are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now do you see what the Apostle is saying?

28:54 He is saying by the mighty activity of God you have been brought into this orbit of union with Christ. But of Him are ye in Christ. And being constituted in Christ, Christ is made to you all of these courses in this banquet of God's grace. But you see the orbit is union with Christ.

29:22 Outside of Christ there is no spiritual wisdom. There is no righteousness, no sanctification, no redemption. The orbit is union with Christ. Turn back to Romans chapter 8.

29:37 Very familiar passage to many of us, I'm sure.

29:42 One of the aspects of justification is mentioned in verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation. Now for whom is that wonderful statement intended? Well, look at the language.

30:01 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are where? In Christ Jesus. This aspect of justification in which we no longer stand condemned by the law of God is found in that same orbit. It's in Christ, in union with Christ, but only in union with Him.

30:29 Turn over to Ephesians chapter 2 for another example of this orbit in which all of these blessings are to be received and enjoyed. Ephesians chapter 2, the first ten verses, are an eloquent description of the work of God's grace in the individual heart and life of all the believers at Ephesus. He begins in chapter 11 to show the corporate dimensions of salvation, breaking down the middle wall of partition. But there is in the first ten verses this wonderful description with the focus upon the individual dimensions of God's saving grace.

31:14 And it comes to a climax in verse 10. For we are His workmanship, the same emphasis of 1 Corinthians 1.30. If we are truly Christians, God's been at work.

31:27 We are His workmanship. Now, how did He work? Look at the language. Created or literally created anew in Christ Jesus.

31:40 So this blessing of being constituted new creation comes only in that same orbit. In Christ Jesus. And then we go back, of course, to the first chapter for the classic statement as to why this is all so.

31:59 Chapter 1, verse 3. In the opening of this tremendous hymn of praise to the triune God for His triune salvation. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Where?

32:20 In Christ. And wherever you find that little phrase, in Christ, it is pointing in the direction of this predominant concept in the New Testament, that all the blessings of salvation come to us only in that orbit of union with the Redeemer Himself. Now, very briefly, just a word about the order of these blessings. The Bible indicates that they come to us, or will come to us, in a threefold sequence.

The Order: Blessings That Bring Us Into, Flow From, and Await Union With Christ

32:59 This is not an artificial distinction imposed upon the Bible. It is a distinction which the Bible itself imposes upon our minds. First of all, there are those blessings, those courses in the Gospel banquet, those blessings of salvation which bring us into vital union with Christ. Now, there is a union with Christ that precedes our actually being converted.

33:25 We've already touched upon that in the doctrine of election. It is not our purpose to touch upon it in this dimension of our study. But there are those blessings of salvation which bring us into vital, experimental union with Christ. What are they?

33:40 Calling and regeneration. God willing, our text for careful study next Lord's Day will be 1 Corinthians 1.9. God is faithful by whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

34:00 But then there is a second order of those blessings, namely those blessings which are the present fruits of vital union with Christ. Certain of these blessings come to us in order to bring us into experimental vital union with Christ. Then the moment we are vitally united to Christ, then there are some present fruits of that union. What are they?

34:27 Justification, adoption, and sanctification.

34:32 But then there are one or two other courses left for us. Those blessings which are the future benefits of union with Christ. Some would put it in the singular. That benefit, glorification, at this juncture, I'm rather committed to dividing the biblical materials into two.

34:52 Glorification and the full possession of our inheritance. The Bible speaks not only of our being glorified, which seems to point more in the direction of the perfection of God's redemptive work in us, body and soul. But the concept of entering into the inheritance has broader and wider horizons with respect to the people of God. And those are blessings which await us in the future, but come to us only if we're within that orbit of union with Christ.

35:28 So I trust then by working with this framework, it will help the average serious believer to have a framework of reference within which he can, as it were, hold together and make the object of delightful meditation all of the courses in the gospel banquet. Those to which come that I might be brought into union with Christ. Calling and regeneration. Those that are mine the moment I am in Christ.

36:00 Justification, adoption, sanctification, and then the process by which that work is carried on. And then those that await me in the future. because I am united to Christ and I die in Christ and I am buried still in union with Christ, I shall be glorified with Him and I shall enter into the possession of the inheritance. So then, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as we stand on the threshold of our consideration of the cardinal blessings of the salvation we receive and proclaim, I trust your heart will cry out, O God, teach me by the Spirit through the Word how rich I am in Christ.

Appeal to the Unconverted: Are You in Christ?

36:47 O God, teach me something of the wonder and the glory of all that is mine in your beloved Son. Paul prayed that for the Ephesian believers beginning in verse 15. He prayed that God would open the eyes of their understanding that they might know And the things that he records as being the concern of this knowledge, some of them fall in this precise category that they might know what their gospel feast is. So that knowing it, they might feed upon it and love the Savior the more and serve Him the better.

37:25 But for you who sit here this morning, strangers to the grace of God, my friend I wouldn't be out of Christ for all the money the wealth the prestige in the entire universe because outside of that realm of union with Christ you know what there is there is nothing but wrath condemnation the frown and the anger of the Almighty who will magnify the holiness and justice of His law in your damnation and that forever if the Scripture says there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ

38:09 then there is nothing but condemnation to those that are out of Christ. And that's why Jesus Christ, the Christ of the Bible, says,

38:23 If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. The word of God says he that believeth not the wrath of God abideth upon him. My friend, you could come to this place for a hundred years and as long as those of us, if we were here for another hundred, we won't be. You will never hear anything to encourage you to believe that anything you are by nature or can become by your own efforts will ever, ever, ever, ever put you in a condition that will make you prepared to face the living God.

39:02 You must get out of Adam and into Christ.

39:06 You will never hear anything that would even mildly suggest if you join the right church or have something done to you in the way of water upon you or you into the water or anything else. But I trust you would hear again and again earnest entreaties and solemn warnings to ask this question and ask it with judgment and honesty. Are you in Jesus Christ? Now, not are you in the church, but are you in Christ?

39:34 I'm not asking you, are you in the way of believing the Bible is the Word of God? No, I'm not asking you that. I'm not asking if you believe Christ is the Son of God. All those are proper and good questions in their place.

39:46 But my question is this, are you in Christ?

39:52 Has Almighty God joined you to His Son? My friend, if you are not in Christ, you are in a state of condemnation. And unless you repent and flee to Christ and are joined to Him from the human perspective in the bonds of faith and love expressed then in a life of obedience, Oh, my friend, what a terrible thing to stand before the God who made you. And to have that God indict you for every thought and word and deed and motive that has been a violation of His holy law.

40:33 To have your conscience come alive. And to have within your own breast an attorney who will plead with God for your damnation.

40:47 You can smart-mouth God in the Gospel, some of you young people.

40:54 You can smart-mouth preachers who plead with you.

40:59 We're not angry with you. Our hearts grieve and bleed, and our tears flow from our eyes. But my dear young person, my dear adult unconverted man or woman, And what will you do when you face the God who made you? Look at this preacher, and you can go away and forget all that was said.

41:28 What will you do when you face God your Maker?

41:33 And the books are opened. And your works down to the last motive of the heart, according to Romans 2.16, In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men's hearts, Paul says, according to my gospel. Any preaching of the gospel that does not include the note of judgment, judgment that will search the heart, is not apostolic gospel.

42:03 My friend, what will you do when you stand before that God? Try as you may You will no longer be able to stifle conscience Try as you may The witness within your own breast Will rise up and say amen To the sentence of God Depart from me ye cursed Into everlasting fire Prepared for the devil and His angels and all who remain His willing bond slaves.

42:43 Oh, my friend, if you're not in Christ, flee to Him today. He went beneath the billows of the wrath of His Father. He went beneath the waves. He was inundated.

42:58 He went into that awesome baptism of agony until it rung from his holy heart the words, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? My friend, listen. If his holy, dearly beloved Son is forsaken, when sin is being dealt with in the person of the sinner's substitute, isn't it time you came out of your fool's paradise thinking God will wink at your sin? if He spared not His own Son?

43:35 Why do you think He'll spare you?

43:41 You who blame God for your impenitence, saying, but oh, Pastor Mark, it must be of God that I get into Christ. Yes, I believe that with all my heart. The Bible teaches it. But how do you think God's going to do it?

43:56 You want Him to lift Him up out of your seat and suspend you between earth and heaven and give you a vision of the cross and then have your name etched on the top saying this is for you. Is that what you want God to do? My friend, you'll sink into hell waiting for God to do it. That's tempting God.

44:15 He says, believe and thou shalt be saved.

44:21 Take hold of the word of gospel promise and go to God with it. Say, God, this is what you've said. In it comes to me. I'll in no wise cast out.

44:33 Oh, God, I come in all my poverty, in all my nakedness, in all my undoneness. Oh, God, here is the word of your promise. I come.

44:46 That's how God brings sinners to himself. He doesn't suspend you between earth and heaven. That's why God says, seek ye the Lord. while he may be found.

44:58 Call ye upon him while he is near. That's why Jesus says, Come unto me. You must come, my friend. Don't wait for God to come any nearer than he's come in Christ, and then he comes in the Gospel.

45:17 The Word is nigh thee. In thy mouth and in thy heart, Paul says, the Word of faith which we preach, He says, don't look for some experience. Ascend up into heaven or down into the abyss. God is near in the gospel.

45:35 Oh, this is what makes gospel preaching a joy. Christ is nearer than if He stood here in His physical presence. In the gospel, the word of faith is nigh thee. In thy mouth, in thy heart.

45:52 If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus is Lord Believe in thine heart That God hath raised him from the dead Thou shalt be saved Ah, but you say Until I know I'm saved I dare not Believe, my friend You've got it backwards You've inverted the order That will destroy you As much as the man who says I don't need to be saved Anything that keeps you out of Christ will damn you. Be it indifference, be it a high-handed spirit of cynicism, or be it a perverted sense of God-glorifying humility that I'm so undone, I dare not believe, my friend,

46:38 anything that keeps you out of Christ will damn you.

46:43 But thank God, if you believe the Gospel, nothing can keep you out of Christ.

46:52 Are you in Him?

46:59 Are you in Him?

Closing Exhortation and Prayer

47:02 Are you in Him? If not, flee to Him. And if you are, rejoice in Him, in whom God has blessed you with every spiritual blessing. Some of you have been living as though you had nothing but stale crackers, on the table.

47:24 Oh, may God show you the lavishness of your gospel banquet. And may you drink deeply. And may you, and this is one place where gluttony is no sin. May you glut yourself with the glory of gospel privileges and become fat in a believing appreciation of all that is yours in Christ.

47:53 Let us pray.

48:03 Our Father, we are indeed grateful that the Scriptures set before us these many dimensions and facets of that so great salvation that is set before the neediest of sinners in your beloved Son. O God, we pray that this very morning there would be those who would flee to your Son, who would not turn away with indifference and in unbelief from the appeal, from the overtures of entreaty and promise.

48:43 And for those who are in your beloved Son, we pray that if it please you to spare us to share these coming Lord's Day morning studies together, that we may, as it were, be caught up with such sights of the wonder and the glory of our privileges in Christ as to cause our hearts to burn with measures of love to Him that hitherto we have never known, and that that love may cut new channels of obedience consistent with Your holy law and all the precepts of Your Word. Hear, O God, we pray, these cries that come from our hearts

49:28 in Your presence this morning. We pray that as we leave this place, You would not allow those who would love to obliterate from their minds every reminder of their standing before You. Lord, don't let them destroy their souls, but have mercy upon them. Seal the word to our hearts.

49:53 May the blessing of your presence rest with us and be our portion throughout this entire Lord's day. Hear our prayer and receive our thanks for this sacred hour together. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

50:14 Thank you. Thank you.