Salvation - great in its application

[0:00] well i want to turn to god's word and to the um portion of god's word that's been particularly before us in these meetings the epistle to the hebrews the epistle of paul to the hebrews and i want to read a chapter one and into chapter two hebrews chapter one and into chapter two and discuss three verses now i was emphasizing two nights ago that the gospel of god's grace really begins with god just as the bible informs us that god is the creator of the world the whole world and all that's in the world and begins its revelation by saying in the beginning god so when it comes to the salvation of sinners and that's what you are and what i am we are sinners when it comes to the salvation of sinners it all begins with god as well and the writer paul to these christian hebrew believers wants to emphasize that that it is the god of creation who is also the god and father of our lord jesus christ the savior and that when they have come to trust in him they have lost nothing but they have gained much they are no longer merely jews they are jews who who have entered into the fulfilled promises of god so it begins with god god who at sunday times and in diverse manners speak in time past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son the son he is telling us that the son of god through whom he has spoken finally to the world is the divider of history into two ages there is the times before christ and then there are the times since christ and of course that's true very true for the western world historically we even mark our calendars from the birth of jesus of nazareth who claims to be god he has in these last days spoken unto us by his son by whom he is appointed heir the inheritor of all things by whom also he made the world this son is the creator of the world okay i want to stop here and there going through this chapter and make a certain emphasis of the world so the one of whom the writer is speaking the son of god he calls him is also the creator of all things the same emphasis as we have in the gospel of john chapter one and verses two and three who being the brightness of the father's glory the brightness of his glory god's glory but of course it's god the father because he's been speaking about god who spoke to his son so this son is the brightness the outshining literally of the father's glory and the express image the exact image of his passion of substance and upholding all things by the word of his power this is what he does now and what he did even when he was on earth upholding all things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins that's what i was speaking about last night the purging of sin by christ as our priest he died in the cross not merely because men did things to him he died because of the great high priest appointed by god he was making a sacrificial offering of himself that was pleasing to god this son acted as a priest and he offered himself and in doing that he purged cleansed sins and when he had done

[4:07] that he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high where is the son now he is on the right hand of the majesty of the majesty do you notice that that's a lovely title for god god as king and on his right hand there is a kingly priest he is in the place of privilege the place of authority the right hand generally in ancient literature and in the bible speaks of the hand that does does scream so god now does everything through the one that he is exalted to the right hand of the majesty god deals with men only through christ there is no other savior there is no other salvation okay he is there exalted on the right hand of the majesty on high the heavenly majesty that's where jesus is and then he goes on being made so much better he now draws contrast and there are several of them and he actually this writer quotes the old testament scripture seven times and most of these quotations are from the psalms i'm not going to make them mention them all because that would take too long i hope that you'll take time to look at this passage and notice how it uses the old testament scripture this man wants these jewish believers to know that this is not another religion this is the culmination and the fulfillment of the faith that their fathers have been given from god it's the same god it's the same god who spoke to the fathers who is speaking to us now the god who spoke in the past dispensation is speaking in this dispensation okay now being made so much better than the angel it would be marvelous if an angel came to you and to me and and and told us that he was able to save us far more marvelous that the son of god himself should come as savior as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they for unto which of the angels said he at any time and now he's quoting the old testament scripture thou art my son this day have i begotten thee and we're told elsewhere that that refers to the beginning again of jesus from the dead in resurrection thou art my son this day have i begotten thee and again there's another quotation i will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son and again when he brings the firstborn into the world he says and here's yet another quotation let all the angels of god worship him who is worthy of worship and the old testament taught men that god alone was to be worship here is one of the places where the bible says that god the father claims worship for his son he puts him on a level with himself he teaches us that this son is not merely a son he shares the same nature he is god okay and then having said quoted let all the angels of god worship him and of the angels he says who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a flame of fire but unto the son he says thy throne oh god you see here again is jehovah speaking to his son and he is saying thy throne oh god is forever and ever god says that jesus is god god says that jesus is god don't let anybody ever tell you anything else god says the bible says that god the father says that jesus the son is also god go back to john chapter

[8:14] 1 verse 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with god duality and the word was god and it does the greek does not say the word was a god it says the word was god there is actually no definite article in the greek but that means not a god it means god overall divine now i'm taking too long so i must cut down my explanation but i do want to emphasize because all these sermons hung around the gloriousness and the majesty and the wonder of the one that god sent into this world to be the savior of sinners and the very majesty of that one lays a great obligation in people like you and people like me to believe him thy throne oh god is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness a scepter is a sign of rule and the sign of rule in the hands of jesus is a righteous sign it's the scepter of thy kingdom thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore god even my god has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows and again he's quoting from the old testament thou lord in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of thy hands they shall perish but thou remainest and they shall all wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up and they shall be changed but thou art the same and thy years shall not fail this scripture is saying that god said all these things to his son he was the creator who brought everything into being he is the god who one day will fold everything up and change them and he says to make the contrast even more deeply between the sun and the angels but to which of the angels study at any time sit on my right hand until i make thine enemies my footstool are they not all ministering spirit sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation and then he says therefore out of all these truths these things which are absolutely true about the son of god he then draws a conclusion therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard less than any time we should let them slip and they drift away from us the picture there is actually of someone unmooring a boat slipping off the the huge ropes that tie a ship to the quay and when the ropes are slipped the ship drifts away be careful he says to pay great attention to these truths lest you drift you know as i was saying the other night i've been a preacher for 31 years i have met very few people who actually intend to go to a lost eternity let me say that again i have met very few people who who actively and actually intend to go to our lost eternity they drift into it therefore let us pay the more earnest heed for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward he's speaking about the laws that god gave through the angel of the covenant and other angels in the old testament times if people were expected to obey these and if they disobeyed god visited them with punishment then how he says in what way how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation which at the first begun to be spoken by the lord and was confirmed unto us by them that hurt him

[12:18] amen amen god bless to us our reading of his word now we're going to stand and seek god's presence with us and his blessing upon us let's do that let us pray amen oh lord our god every one of us here needs thee thou art our creator and our breast is in thine hand thou art our great god dwelling in the midst of light and glory dwelling on the throne of thrones high and lifted up and we bless thee that on the right hand tonight on the right hand of thy divine majesty there is the man christ jesus exalted there a prince and a savior the one who died on the cross and who because he was obedient and gave his life a ransom for many thou wast exalted and given him a name the name which is far above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow lord god we thank thee tonight for the name jesus and thank thee that it means savior and we bring ourselves into thy presence and for his sake we ask thee to meet with us to reveal thyself to us to deal with us graciously and mercyfully help each one of us here to cast all our burdens upon thee and to share with thee our god and creator and with jesus the savior of sinners and with jesus the savior of sinners to share the deep burdens of our souls and reach down oh god in rescuing power take thy word and make it a means of salvation to every one of us here tonight give us understanding and help us to see beyond a mere man to god himself we ask it with the pardon and cleansing and purging of all the sin and iniquity which is our oh god make us clean for jesus sake amen salvation now i want tonight to come to the the third aspect of salvation these three nights we've been thinking of so great salvation and on monday night we were thinking from this chapter that we read we were thinking about how salvation is great in its conception when we trace salvation back to its source we find that it comes because of a determination in the mind of god it's not the determination in the mind of a person who suddenly feels that he or she needs to be religious that's not where salvation begins it's not even in the time when we are truly converted to christ if that happens to us when we trace salvation back to its source and its roots we find that it was in the mind and the heart of god before the foundation of the world in other words we're speaking of salvation as something which is given to man and it's given to man just because of the good pleasure the love of god and then last night we were looking at how salvation is great not only in its conception but in its execution in the fullness of the time when god's planned time had come he sent forth his son and the son everything he did was towards the salvation of sinners to the glory of god god and he came as a priest and it was as a priest that he laid down his life on the cross of calvary

[16:27] yes he was suffering yes men took him and nailed him to a cross but he was not only suffering he was offering and he was offering a sacrifice which was very acceptable to god you see he was without sin he was the only man who ever lived and never sinned and because he was without sin he could pay the price that god has laid upon sin the soul that sins will die and because jesus had no sin of his own he could die in the place of others this is what has been known right since the beginning of church history since new testament times as the doctrine of substitution jesus standing in my place i'm standing in your place substitutionary atonement dying for me i want to remind you of the little verse with which i closed last night and they closed rather hurriedly because i felt i was going on for too long sometimes teachers feel that so don't worry if you begin to feel i'm going on too long i'll probably feel that myself too but you remember what i said the essence of the gospel is this i am saved because of this upon a life i did not live a life of obedience and love of mind and heart and soul to god upon a life i did not live upon a death i did not die another's life another's death i stake my whole eternity that was what we were saying last night that this salvation is great because of the way it was executed the way it was brought about and finished jesus cried on the cross the very last thing he cried out was this or almost the last thing it is finished it's one word only in the language that jesus spoke finished complete and it's handed to you and to me complete now tonight i want to think about salvation being great not only in its conception and its execution but in its application now to have god the father concerned so concerned about saving sinners that he sends his son into the world and to have god the son so concerned to fulfill the father's will and save the father's people that he lays down his life for them all that is good but how does it touch my life how does it become mine that really is the question we're asking tonight so we're talking about application the application of redemption if you're a theologian and there are some theologians here around them in a sense we're all theologians we're studying god in his word that's what theology is the study of the science of god now application great in its application application immediately implies the presence and the power and the ability of another person if application is applied to me or applied to you it's not something i'm doing it's not something you're doing it's something another one is doing now it means that someone else is at work applying the salvation that christ worked out applying that to us and our title implies that this aspect of salvation is part of its greatness just as much as its conception in the mind and heart of a gracious amazingly tender father

[20:33] god just as much as it was great in the execution of the son it's great in the application of the holy spirit now i want to pause there and say this that salvation whenever it is applied to a sinner is applied by god through the person of the holy spirit father son and holy spirit now i want to to to think with you of that first of all and really i'm going to think along four lines of thought tonight i'm going to think of salvation great in its application and look at the doctrine of the application of salvation very quickly as it's shown to us in scripture great in its application that is a doctrine a teaching of scripture then i'm going to say that it's also great in its presentation to us in the word of god that is a duty when it's great as it's presented to us it lays a duty upon us and then it's great in the soul's acceptance of it that's deliverance a great deliverance in christ and then finally it's great in the sinner's rejection of it if a man or a woman rejects salvation that is a great rejection and it really moves in the realm of eternal danger doctrine duty deliverance danger now we'll do this quite quickly i want us first of all to look at salvation in its application to us great salvation and it's applied to us by the holy spirit of god we're asking a question here what is the source of faith what is the source not merely of religious belief but the source of true saving faith can i put that question a little bit differently if you're a christian here tonight and you know someone who is not really a true christian why is there that distinction and difference is it just that you're a bit softer in the head and the other guys are a bit tougher in the mind or is it that there's something in your blood that's not in his blood no it's none of these things it's the sovereign god-like application of redemption by god to whom he chooses to give it god is god and that's why there's differences among men and this is a very solemn thing you might think especially if you've been brought up under the gospel but tonight you're living in the freedom of christlessness and there is a freedom in christlessness you might think that you're living in the freedom of a christless life because of your own choice and in one sense you are on one level you are but behind that there is something else so far god has not had mercy on you that's the plain truth of the matters and that my friend is a solemn thing here tonight that god to date has not had mercy on you soul i would not like to be in your shoes because you are journeying towards eternity without christ and without hope now why do i say these things why do i sound so agitated perhaps even angry about them i'm not angry no i'm concerned why because it's so vitally important you see the truth is this that belief in the lord jesus christ is absolutely vital if there is one thing that's clear in scripture it's this that

[24:34] men must believe or perish now why do some men believe and some men not believe is it just because we now know better scientifically and technologically than to believe the word of god no there are multitudes who believe some of the finest minds in the western world believe the the scriptures to be the word of god and i'm thankful for every one of them it's not a matter really of that at all can a sinner in and of himself choose to believe whenever he wants now i want to be careful here let me repeat the question can a sinner in and of himself be choose to believe whenever he feels like it or choose to disbelieve and you say yes i'm as free as that are you that's not what my bible says and i'm going to show you in two seconds i hope that that is not what my bible says therefore you are in a dangerous position let me say that again you are where tonight tonight not merely because of your free choice you are where you are tonight if you're christless because as yet let me say it again very solemnly god has not had mercy on your soul will he ever have it i can't say he will i can see that he offers our savior to you tonight i can't go any further than that i can't say that you'll get mercy tomorrow i can't say that you'll be here tomorrow young men and young women die and our times are not in our hands they're in god's hands now it's a fallacy to think that we can put off salvation and reject the gospel and somehow someway everything's going to turn out all right it's not so it doesn't work that way in fact nothing in this world works that way you stay in bed tomorrow and say ah well i'm not going to go to work everything will turn out okay if you've got a good wife at mind just she gets real fed up and sick and doesn't want to keep you everything might not turn out all life you know we use our minds and our brains and our energies if we want to live and we have to do the same as spiritual things now i want to do i've been doing this every night i want to do a little bible study with you a short quick bible study is what i have been saying true does the bible back up the assertions i've been making and maybe i've been making assertions that you've never heard a preacher make before so let's do a quick little bible study i'm going to go to eight texts of scripture eight places of scripture you don't really need to look them up but if you want to you can or take a note of them or whatever now i'm going first of all to john john chapter 3 and the teaching of our lord jesus christ john chapter 3 and verses 5 and 6 jesus said this and he said it to a very religious man a man who was far more religious than anybody in here in a sense he had given his whole life to judaism jesus said to this man nicodemus except a man be born of water inward cleansing and of the spirit that's what i want to emphasize except a man be born of the spirit the holy spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of god for that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born

[28:34] of the spirit is spirit now i don't really want to expand that or say very much about it except that this is something which must take place in the life of any one of us if we are going to be a christian christian is someone who has been born again of the holy spirit right he's a new creation then i want to go on to john chapter 16 and verse 8 here is we've been looking already john 3 at the the spirit and a new birth something the spirit only can do no man can if i can put it in bad english but good theology no man can born himself again you can't do that now john 16 verse 8 and he's speaking jesus is speaking of the coming of the holy spirit in a new power and in a new measure fullness after his crucifixion and ascension when he the spirit of truth is come when he is come he will reprove or convince convict or convince or reprove he will reprove the world of three things sin and righteousness and judgment right here are three marks of the holy spirit's work in a sinner's life no matter what else you have or do not have by the way of religious experience or religious conviction you do not have a work of the holy spirit if you do not have these three things a conviction of sin because until one feels their sin they'll never come to the sinner savior never never as long as you feel you're okay and i don't know how many people have said to me when i've sat with them in their homes as their minister and pastor and talked to them about their sin they say oh mr mcmillan i'm not that kind of person at all no you're a queer creature you're not a sinner oh well no not like that i had two insurance men in my home just about two months ago they didn't know i had no money so they were in there and um they were trying to sell me insurance so i just i was very blunt with them i said fellows you've come to a man who's got absolutely no cash nothing like that at all but i would like to sell you some insurance that's far better than what you're selling oh they said are you selling insurance yes i said i've been doing it for 30 years and they said oh who are you insuring with i said the eternal god and they sort of smiled and then they said what do you mean well i said i preach the gospel and i urge men and i want to ask you too you two gentlemen here who've come with a concern for me about time i want to ask you too if you are safe for eternity one day despite all the insurance you may carry you're going to die and your soul is going to go into eternity it's going to meet god and your sinners and one of them bristled up the way people do oh he said mr man i'm not a sinner i said can i shake hands with you there was only one ever one like you what do you mean he said i said my bible tells me that the only man who never was a sinner was jesus of nazareth oh i said no i don't mean that no i said you don't mean that and if you and i were to sit down and go over your life for the last 24 hours you would find out you were a sinner if you were honest he said i suppose so it takes the holy spirit to convince a man or a woman that there are a sinner who need a savior and that's the very first work do you know that have you felt that and then there's something else righteousness a conviction that there is righteousness in this world

[32:35] and that is ruled by a righteous god who will not spare the wicked now it's not just a preacher from scotland that's saying that the bible says that this righteous god has said it he says that he will judge every man and every thought secret thought and secret word of every man will be judged there's something for you you're going on to meet god and then there's something else you see judgment sin righteousness judgment these are three infallible marks of the holy spirit's work are they in your life right now we're going on with our bible study we go to the book of acts chapter 2 47 and there's a marvelous movement in the book of act god is working by his holy spirit mightily convicting men of sin righteousness judgment to come acts chapter 2 verse 47 the infant church is growing every day and listen who's making it grow is it the power of the apostles preaching that's part of it is that they are very persuasive in their minds that's a part of it but listen to how god says it is he says this acts 2 47 and the lord the lord added to the church daily such as must be saved let me ask you a question if you're a member of a church who added you to that church was it the lord or was it just a session clerk or a vicar or whoever and to add to the church means to be added by new birth to the body of christ not any denomination but the church which only god knows have you been added to that church let's go on quickly because it's not just salvation on mass in the church it's salvation on an individual level act 16 14 a lady called lydia she was not a christian but she went to a prayer meeting she was a believer in god but she didn't know jesus she didn't believe that jesus the son was god act 16 14 and listen the apostle paul the converted jew who thought it was blasphemy initially for jesus of nazis to claim to be god until he met jesus on the damascus road this man preaching goes down there to where lydia is and this is what we read about lydia whose heart the lord opened has the lord opened your heart has he opened mine there's a good question not have men persuaded me to join a church not have men persuaded me to give up my sin and to repent and to to to do works for salvation not these things at all but has the lord opened my heart to attend to the things which were spoken by paul what was paul doing he was preaching christ and him crucified that's what paul always did and the lord opened her heart and then the means of the preached word were used to make her bring her to christ and make a real christian of her now more quickly one corinthians three and six one corinthians three and six here again paul is looking back to a time when god did a great work in corinth through himself and then later on through a man called apollos and he says this i planted apollos watered paul came in with the gospel and he laid the foundations and then apollos came and he was a marvelous speaker golden mouth preacher and he watered the seed that paul had sown

[36:37] but who gave the increase who brought men and women lost men and women to jesus the lord god he gave the increase now do you see the the thrust of the text that we're looking at they show us that real saving faith real belief in jesus christ repentance of sin and turning towards god comes from a work of the holy spirit now i want to emphasize that by two or three more texts one corinthians two four my preaching says paul was in the demonstration of the spirit's power that's why it was successful one thessalonians one verse five for our gospel came to you not in word only oh this is beautiful can i say this so many places today the gospel is coming but it's coming in word only let me cite scotland there is no scarcity of gospel preaching in scotland it is not that we don't have men who preach the word of god and who believe it to the back teeth they do but there's one thing that we we long for and pray for and that is the power of god to apply that truth to people who are lost and without god and without hope and this is what happened in thessalonian thessalonica he says our gospel came to you not in word only but also in power and in the holy spirit and in much assurance they believed and they had assurance that they were in christ that's the kind of preaching and that's the kind of power that australia needs too there is nothing else which will move australia i'm convinced of that and i've only been two weeks in it now why am i convinced of that because i'm convinced it's the only thing which will move scotland back to to god the whole western world is moving away from god and there's only one thing that will reverse that trend and that is the word of god preached with the power of god come down let me say this you will never be saved unless you come under the same power the same power not the power of my voice not the power of my reasoning but the power of the holy spirit accompanying the truth of god that's what makes christians one final text this has been a long bible study titus the epistle of titus just back from hebrews titus 2 and 5 chapter 2 verse 5 he's talking to people who have been made believers in christ and he's saying that they are saved not i think there's something wrong with my reference here but sorry it's um titus 2 it's 3 it's titus chapter 3 verse 5 and he says we'll read verse 4 but after the kindness and love of god our savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us now there's the first thing it's according to god's mercy that men are saved and then there's something else by the washing of regeneration by the washing of rebirth and renewing of the holy ghost it takes the holy spirit to make a real christian believer that's the truth i'm wanting to emphasize now from all that the things i've said and the text we've looked at looked at i want to draw one basic doctrinal principle if we are going to be saved the work of the spirit in us

[40:49] is just as important as the work of christ for us you see that if we are going to be saved let me say it again uh the uh the uh the danger of throwing this out too long let me say it again if we are going to be saved then the work of the spirit in us is equally important just as necessary as the work of christ for us now we are saved not by belief in what the spirit does in us that is a heresy which is very common we are not saved by the work of the spirit in us we are saved by the work of christ for us shorter catechism the only redeemer of god's elect is the lord jesus christ not the holy spirit but the holy spirit renews men and quickens them into faith and enables them to believe upon christ and for jesus sake god saves them and cleanses them and all their sins are forgiven them right now we're going to go through the rest of the sermon very quickly from this point on that scripture great in its application we've been looking at doctrine now i want to look at salvation great in its scripture presentation and we come back to our immediate text this is the realm of duty responsibility therefore he says because of all the things he had said earlier because god has spoken and because god has spoken in his son and because the son has been crucified and dead and because the son is risen and enthroned and that all authority in heaven and in earth has been given to him this is what jesus said to his disciples before he ascended all power in heaven and in earth has been given unto me because of these things he says therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard the importance and duty of paying attention to what we hear now i want to to let you relax there for a moment and to ask you one or two very simple questions how much attention have you ever paid to the word of god how much attention do you pay to the preaching of the gospel and just to make the contrast let me ask you do you pay more attention to looking after this old body that's getting older every year anyway than you do to looking after your soul do you pay more attention to getting on well in this world than in the world which is to come have you spent years and years and years in education until you were 15 or 16 and then if you had done reasonably well and paid attention to the things which you had you went on for further education i didn't do that until i was 25 and then i had eight years of study after i finished shepherding i had eight years of study first of all to get into university and then to get a degree in university and all that time i was in was to the lord why on earth do i have to do this i only want to teach but nevertheless they saw it was necessary and i submitted and i obeyed now many of you have probably spent far longer than i have in educating yourself in preparing to be able to keep yourself

[44:55] and your family at least respectable if not after in this world how much time have you put into that how much energy how much thought and how much have you put into paying attention to the things that god has said the holy spirit works through means that is he works through the preaching of the gospel the reading of the word the witness of other people you know means to achieve an end the holy spirit tells us that faith comes by hearing i'm quoting now from romans chapter 10 verse 17 faith comes by hearing hearing the word of god that's why we are preachers god says that's why preachers are sent out imagine this do you go to church do you appear wherever the gospel is preached you say oh well no sunday mornings i'm too tired sunday evenings i can't be bothered i was like that too for many years and then i discovered that god had done an amazing thing he had sent preachers for people like me for a long time i had ignored them and then god worked in my life and i could no longer ignore them and then he did that terrible thing he sent me to go and preach to other people it's the last thing i wanted and it was certainly the last thing i expected if i had met you when i was 21 years of age just turned 21 and you said to me i would ever be a preacher i would ever be a christian you would have had a a very sore jaw to deal with put it as bluntly as that i would have said who are you kidding me that's what an astalian said to me this morning who are you kidding me i mean i spoke to him in my broad scottish accent and he said where are you from i said astalia who are you kidding me so you see god has sent pictures but listen the preaching will all be into hot air if you're not there to hear it the word of god's salvation the glory of christ the shed blood on the cross to atone for your sin all that being preached every sunday morning every sunday evening and you're not there to hear it how do you ever expect to get saved are you as daft as that let me put another question and it's not blasphemy do you think god's as daft as that god uses means and you've got to use them too john chapter 10 my sheep hear my voice and i know them and they follow me just um at the end of march we had an easter vacation and for the first time for many years i was back home where i used to work my brother and his wife were away they had to go away somewhere and i was up there preaching in a little congregation there and i was living in my brother's house and one of the things i had to do every morning was go out and feed some sheep take a little van and uh some bag uh bag of oats and uh sheep nuts these things take them up to the hill climb over a fence and uh put them into long troughs wooden troughs feed these sheep now they knew the van as soon as they heard this old van and this noisy stuttery engine all the sheep would come running over the hills it was marvelous to see them and they came crowding down to the fence where there was my brother had built a a sort of style a step over and even his dog was with me so they knew the dog too and they came crowding around and then they got a terrible shock when they saw me

[48:58] i had my brother's jacket on he's a little bit bigger than me so it was hanging on me and i had my brother's sea boots on my wellington boots on and i climbed over the fence and they thought it was Malcolm and then when i spoke and i said hi sheep they all turned back and looked and then they started running away now that may sound funny but that's true they didn't know my voice and one mark of the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep is that the sheep do get to know the shepherd's voice and this says jesus is one mark of the real christian they know when jesus is speaking they know the voice of christ in the scriptures my sheep hear my voice have you begun to hear the voice of christ yet now let's go on to the third main thought we've been thinking of the salvation great in the spirit supplication salvation great in it in its presentation to us in the gospel and that presentation laying a duty upon us lest at any time we let the things we hear slip let them drift and then our whole souls and our whole life drifts away now let's go on to this this salvation is great in the soul's acceptance now that's there by implication it's not really read into the text or out of the text we have to read it into it in a sense but the very fact that the holy spirit speaks of so great salvation that makes it great when we by the holy spirit are constrained to accept it and we say yes i'll have jesus and again and again and again over the last 30 years when i have heard the gospel preached and i've had life and death set before me and i've had peace in what peace spoken about or the anxiety and the doubt i've never been sure when i even as a christian believer i've heard the gospel preached in a in a winsome powerful attractive way you know what i've said i said oh lord if i was never converted before convert me tonight i've said oh lord jesus if i never believed in you properly before let me believe in you now knowing that if i believe in jesus i will never perish and every time i've done that i've been thrilled and moved by the majesty and the greatness of the gospel of kai what a savior jesus is you know for a long time i was afraid i was afraid that if i got converted i would lose out to be a christian christian people lived around me none of them went boozing they didn't drink i knew that if i became a christian i would have to stop drinking i knew there were a whole lot of other things which i'm not going to mention i would have to stop doing too i would have to stop fighting and i love fighting i wrestled around the highland game through hammers and tossed covers and every time i saw a big fellow i wondered how how fast he would fall honestly that's the sort of person i was and i knew all that would have to change and until i felt the evil and the awfulness of my sin i didn't want to lose these things and then through a year and a half perhaps longer three years i so felt my sin that i would have given anything to be rid of it and i thought god wouldn't have me it and then the gospel came home to me in power and through john 3 and 16 god so loved the world

[53:00] that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life i saw the way of salvation not something i had to do something which was done and completed for me and god opened my understanding and my eyes and i saw that all i had to do was say thank you lord and you know the moment i did that my whole life was revolutionized it was changed i never felt i had to give anything up these things were laid aside many of them one after another but i i didn't i wasn't a christian because i was no longer losing i wasn't a christian because i was no longer fighting and carrying on and doing many of them i was a christian because christ had loved me and i had fallen in love with him that's why i was a christian i knew peace of heart i could go to bed and sleep at night and i could wake up in the morning not feeling sick sick of myself to be a christian was a marvelous thing and every morning when i used to wake up and i would say oh lord funk you've still got that peace lord help me to keep it up that was my one great fear that i wouldn't be able to keep it up and you know this that that's 1955 33 years ago on the 14th of june when i look back i say i have to say there's been many failures of course there has things but it's not that i kept it that god kept me you know what paul says in second corinthians 5 16 17 if any man be in christ he is a new creation all things are passed away behold all things have become new and too many preachers stop there it goes on to say this and all things are of god you see god you see god in everything you see god in every penny that comes your way you see god in every mercy you enjoy you see god and his love and his grace in every meal that you eat you see god and his grace in every friend that you're given all these things are of god of course they are only you had never understood that before until you became a new creation in christ jesus great in the soul's acceptance of it awake thou that sleepest this is the difference that the bible sees in it awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead the guy who's dead's not doing much is he he's not enjoying much awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and christ will give you light and finally this this salvation is great in a sinner's rejection of it the person who does not accept this salvation but rejects it rejects the greatest thing in the world you reject the love of god in jesus christ you reject the love that went all the way to the cross you can't do that without rejecting god himself it's not merely rejecting a theology it is not merely the rejection of a doctrine it is not merely the rejection of the bible it is the rejection of the triune god himself father son and holy spirit do you see jesus put this in very personal terms in the invitation of the gospel jesus said all that the father has given to me will come to me and him that cometh unto me he personally says all and then he personalizes it for someone like you

[57:09] and someone like me he says all that the father has given me will come to me and him that comes unto me i will in no wise cast out and you stillians have a phrase that fits that very beautifully no way there is no way jesus will cast you out if under the preaching of the gospel and the drawing of the the holy spirit and the the the pushing of you by the father there is no way jesus will cast you out i don't care what you've been i don't care what you are i don't care how low down you've been god comes down you read in the bible and lifts men from the dunghill and sets them among the princes that's not me that's saying that that's god's word it doesn't matter what you've been it doesn't matter what you've done jesus says to the uttermost all that come to god through him and listen what the bible says there is no other name given under heaven among men by whom we must be saved there's no other savior there's no other salvation the question of the text if we neglect this salvation how shall we escape and the answer is very simple we will not escape let me finish with a very simple illustration on the hills where i was shepherding and i was shepherding on the most westerly point of the british mainland 15 degrees further west than land's end and the sea that beat on the shore it was a a point running out into the sea and out far and was right on the point the sea that beat in the shore there was it had come all the way from america and the only thing that stood between our american point and the shores of america was the island of barra and barra's not very big and the atlantic rulers used to come in there on a stormy day 60 70 120 feet high and they had gouged the land on the westward side into huge cliffs and sometimes sometimes the lobster fishermen there are none none of these now actually left in our little community they come from other places to fish the lobsters there but there was a little boat doing lobster fishing there and now and again the men in that lobster boat used to phone our farmhouse and they would say we were around the point today and we saw sheep stuck in the cliffs these cliffs were about i don't know exactly how high but probably six seven hundred feet high maybe a thousand feet and they were very rugged and there was little ledges on them and on these ledges there was very green grass grew and of course that's attractive to a sheep and the more impossible of access the grass was the more the sheep seemed to want to get to it very like ourselves you know a challenge to a sheep well sometimes the sheep could get down there and sometimes they could get back up onto the hill

[61:10] again and be quite safe but sometimes they got down there and they couldn't get back up and the fishermen would phone and they would say we saw a sheep stuck in the cliff so i would go down go up on the cliff down in the tracks as far as i could try and find out where the sheep was see it locate it and then i would have to get my brother we called him the big fellow get him in a coil of rope and he stood at the top and i went down and i didn't like height i was doing that only for the sake of the life of the sheep because unless she was rescued there was no escape for her and sometimes when the ledge was perhaps no bigger than this platform you had to wait until the sheep was absolutely scarving on the point of exhaustion why because if you got down there and she was strong and lively she jumped over and that was mutton at the bottom so you waited until the sheep would not struggle you could get a hold of her easy and tie her up on her and the big fellow would pull her up to the top what was that it was a rescue mission and it was the one chance that sheep had what is the gospel of christ it is a rescue mission and it's the only one god has sent how shall we escape if we neglect you can only neglect something that's within your reach my friend even in the teaching tonight god has put salvation in christ within your reach and mine you can only neglect something which is within your reach and you neglect it at your eternal peril and your eternal loss how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation in the solemn and solemnizing truth is this we shall not escape at all but tonight i don't want to finish on that note tonight there is a savior and he is freely offered to us in the gospel that's what the short of catechism says it's lovely christ is freely offered to him in the gospel to us in the gospel as sinners and if we accept him and trust in him we will never perish i'm going to leave with you once more the words of one of the psalms i've never said which psalm it's from i'm leaving you to find out none perish but trust him none no matter who he is or who she is no one perishes who trusts him you