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[0:00] Psalm 21 and two words in verse 5 there. Psalm 21 and verse 5.

[0:16] His glory is great in my salvation. Honor and majesty hast thou laid upon him.

[0:27] His glory is great in my salvation. Honor and majesty hast thou laid upon him. And no doubt David the Psalmist is singing of the goodness and the grace and the mercy of God which he enjoyed in his own soul of which he felt unworthy.

[0:52] And he is rejoicing him and praising the God who has been his strength. The king shall joy in thy strength. That is how he starts off.

[1:05] But I have no doubt that David's eye is believing I look further than the goodness of God to himself. And I am sure that you have no doubt either that in this Psalm we have not only King David rejoicing in the salvation of God but we have David's greatest son our Lord Jesus Christ sat before us and delineated for us and delineated in a very beautiful way.

[1:40] And what is set out supremely biased by our text is this that Christ the Savior is magnified and glorified and was a peculiar dignity and honor conferred upon him as the one mediator between God and man as the Savior of sinners and as the Redeemer of the elect people of God.

[2:10] That really is what our text is doing. It's looking away to Jesus and it's seeing that Jesus is the central focus of the salvation of God.

[2:25] You know salvation from the the curse and condemnation of sin and salvation that brings us into the family of God and salvation that prepares us for the eternal presence of God.

[2:45] That salvation has many wonderful aspects to it. But I think that every Christian believer would feel that there's something very wonderful about this this aspect of it here that his salvation glorifies the Savior and that because he saves sinners like himself like you like you because he saves sinners God has honored them and has enthroned them in comely majesty is the same Jesus we were singing of there in these lovely words in Psalm 96 great honor is before it says the majesty divine strength is within his holy place and there does beauty shine and if the salvation if this aspect of salvation but it not only saves it all but glorifies Jesus if that's a a heartwarming consideration to the mind of every believer it must be

[4:03] I think a great encouragement to the heart of every unconverted hearer of the gospel it must be a tremendous encouragement for those that are seeking salvation to know not only that they can be saved but that they can be saved in a way which will magnify and glorify the name of Jesus for all eternity because the gospel is such that not only can a holy and a just and a terrible God terrible and holiness not only can a holy and a just and a righteously terrible God not only can he save but he can save sinners and not only can he save sinners but he can save sinners in a way which glorifies his own name as father son and holy spirit that is a wonderful thing and that's just going to be the main thought of our meditation this evening

[5:12] I was reading there is a book of of sermons by sermons just today itself I think and the the end of one of the sermons in that book of sermons there was a list of the the articles that were available in the current issue the then current issue of the sword and twowl and there was an address to the students by their president Charles Spurgeon and it was entitled one topic enough for one sermon and I was thinking that was a lesson to myself not to be spreading myself too wide in a sermon so one topic for a sermon this evening that God not only saves sinners but he saves them to the glory of Jesus in whom his glory is great in thy salvation on earth and majesty hast thou laid upon him now just one word further by the way of introduction

[6:21] I was very conscious as I was preparing for the meeting this evening that next Lord's day is your communion Sabbath and for those of you who look forward to that to going to the table and remembering your Saviour's death till he comes there's a solemnity about it isn't there just even in anticipation it's a solemn thing to remember the cost and the price of your salvation and it's with it's with awe in our souls that we go to the Lord's table always but it's not just a solemn thing it's a glad something to I can use a very old fashioned word it's a glad something it's something which warms and delights the heart of the believer the Lord's table the very first time the

[7:23] Lord's table was set when he instituted it himself he remembers how they closed it when they had finished they sang a hymn or let me put it much more bitterly they sang praise to God and they went out from the Lord's table praising God in their hearts full of the love of Christ so although it's a solemn thing it's a glad something and it's something which causes us to praise God why because again we see the centrality and the glory of Jesus in our salvation now our text sets few things about salvation before us and we look at them very simply in that order now our text confronts us first of all with our salvation that comes to man from God thy salvation that's a very simple thought salvation that comes to man from God and yet it's a thought which the more we ponder the more profound we'll find it to be that's the first thought and then the second thought is this that in this salvation which comes to man from God

[8:50] Christ's glory is its central feature and finally in this salvation which comes to man from God Christ the Redeemer is rewarded honor is his as savior now let's look at these three thoughts very simple very basic and yet they'll lead us into great truths of the gospel now salvation comes to man from God and this is something that's set out in the scripture from the very beginning remember when salvation was first really needed it was needed the moment man fell man the moment he fell and sinned against God he became conscious of his sin and he went to hide and then

[9:59] God came to man it was not man who went to God he didn't go running up and down in the garden shouting oh God what's happened oh God we've sinned against thee no but this is what we read the voice of the Lord God was heard walking in the garden in the cool of the day and every word there is beautiful the voice of the Lord God and it's the same word really as was in the mind of John when he spoke of Christ and said the word was in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God Calvin wanted to translate the logos there not as words but as speech or as voice God by his word created all things

[11:00] God spoke and they were done and the new testament tells us that that speech was centered in the person of the son it was the son working he was the mediator of creation and now as soon as man has fallen he is the mediator between Adam and God and it's the voice it's the word it's the Lord Jesus Christ walking in the garden in the cool of the day something lovely I think that's the early morning it's either the early morning or it's the late evening isn't it the cool of the day not when there's heat in time the heat is past god and you know that's indicative it just highlights the fact that salvation is always a movement from god to man and you can see that in three areas and I'll just give them to you salvation is from god to man first of all in its conception it was the mind the infinite the infinitely wise mind of God that planned this salvation there's not a fault in it it was the infinitely merciful heart of God that purposed it and laid it out and Father, Son and Holy Spirit were all involved in it the Bible when we begin to read about it and the more we read about it the further back it takes us to the source of our salvation it takes us away back to a place called Calvary, doesn't it?

[12:46] and then beyond Calvary it takes us to prophets and then beyond the prophets it takes us to Moses and beyond Moses it takes us to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, what an ancient salvation, and then it takes us to Noah and to Adam, and then it takes us away beyond time into eternity and we hear the peals of Paul's thought when he says chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world and we're led into the mystery of the fact that God loved even when man was still uncreated he loved the man he created he purposed to create and there's the mystery of election God acting as God and choosing unto eternal life and salvation in Christ a great multitude which no man could number for some reason when many Christians think about the electing love of God they think of a wee paltry number and they say oh you're restricting it let's think big when we think of election because it's the electing loving heart of God and because God chose to save in Christ there will be a great multitude which no man can number and B.B. Warfield and many other many many other reformed theologians believed that the multitude which would be saved would be far greater than the multitude which would be lost that here too

[14:27] Christ would have glory and that in all things even in the number that was saved he would have the preeminent and you know although we don't feel it in the western world today the last 150 years have seen the gospel prosper among the nations of the world as it has not prospered in any comparable period since the time of Christ the gospel has advanced in the last 150 years through the world we would say like a knife through butter amazing progress has been made whole nations have heard the voice of Jesus yes we're in a decline in the west we feel it but not elsewhere we had we had a few Korean students when I was in the college the week before last we've had one Korean student with us right through this term

[15:29] I can even say his name now Song Huli and it took me a long time to learn how to say it properly and he was telling me Professor Mamunani said Christianity just came to Ireland at the beginning of this century and now he said 25% of it 25% of 40 million people are naming the name of Jesus and that's just Korea there's name you see it's great in its conception and election doesn't mean few I believe it means many and at the heart of the election was this it was chosen in Christ the son whom he loved was the son that was even then chosen to become man and as man to suffer in our room instead and to bear the guilt of our sins and to bear it away he was chosen in our election election is not something separate from Christ election views

[16:48] Jesus as the Lamb of God and I want to suggest my friend but in its conception salvation is a wonderful thing and even in its conception it glorifies Christ as mediator the one who would safeguard the throne of God with his precious blood and who would make it lay a foundation in which God could be just and the justifier of the ungodly who believe in Jesus it's great in its conception salvation and one could dwell there for a long time but we mustn't it's not only great in its conception salvation it's great in its execution he came when God's predestined time had fully come Galatians 4 Christ came and he was found in fashion as a man and he Paul uses a phrase of incarnation of which

[17:49] Professor John Murray says this it verges his head on the dangerous edge of error verges on it what statement was that it was this he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh oh says John Murray how near that comes to saying that he came as a sinner but he didn't but Paul is willing to tell us that's how he came in order to execute salvation he was found in our nature and the church to safeguard the doctrine of God incarnate he said this he was very man of very man and yet at the same time he was very God of very God and it wasn't just the incarnation or my friend it was the cross

[18:51] Jesus is in the midst of salvation he's in the heart of it at the cross we read that he was crucified between two trees he was numbered with the transgressors we look at the cross and we hear these words from the gospel of John chapter 19 there were crucified on either side of him two thieves and Jesus in the midst and that's his glory he's on the cross in the midst and there he was taking you's place and my place and my friend there he came under the wrath of God and there he stood in the place of the curse and he cried out of it my God my God why hast thou forsaken me and he stood there in order that you and I may never stand there in our terms and may never know what it is to be forsaken of God but why he stood there then you remember that's not the end of the execution he died for our sins but he's raised again he rises again for our justification to justify us before God we need not only a dead but a living savior and we have him in Jesus they're gathered there behind closed doors for fear of the Jews because the master has gone and has slain him and then not even a door opens we read this as they waited there

[20:34] Jesus came and again we find Jesus in the midst my friend when you and I go now to pray we find not only a slave and not only a raised savior we find an exalted savior and we pray to God Father Son and Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus the lamb in the midst of the throne and he's the lamb in the midst of the throne just in order to ensure the salvation of his people if God didn't want to save sinners like you and me there would be no lamb tonight in the midst of the throne but there is and he's like a lamb slain from the foundation of the world and he remembered the last words he said on earth before he said Father into thy hands he said it is finished accomplished the worst which he had come to do beautiful wonderful in its execution and my friend it's great in its application too one doesn't need to say much about the salvation from God because it's so wonderful and so great in its conception and we can see this from God because it's God who's accomplished it all in the testament of Christ and it's great in its execution too what do I mean in its application what do I mean well let's go back to Professor John Murray he's written a wonderful little book and left it with us as a heritage and do you remember what he called it redemption accomplished and applied and that title tells us what the application of redemption is you see we not only need

[22:22] Christ's work for us we need the spirit's work in us for except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God the flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God and there has to be a gift that takes us out of the realm which says that which is born of the flesh is flesh and into the realm which says that which is born of the spirit is spirit the spirit alone quickeneth and it's amazing isn't it when we think of it like this that the work of the Holy Spirit in us is just as necessary as the work of Christ for us and it's the work of Christ for us which has secured the work of the Holy Spirit in us because he said I go to the Father and the Father will send you another power clip one to be beside you and to work in you and Peter said he has been highly exalted wherefore God has sent forth this which you now see and hear what was this which you now see and hear it was the Holy Spirit who quickens dead sinners and converts them and unites them to Jesus and let's put it very simply makes godly men and women of them it's great in its conception of salvation and it's all from God isn't it the Father in the council leading the Spirit and the Son in the councils of redemption it's the wisdom of triodeity and it's the grace and love flowing from the Father that we have in its conception and it's the same grace and love flowing mightily and powerfully through the Son that we have in its execution and it's the same love working in the Holy Ghost that we have in its application salvation salvation comes from God to man very simple but my friend isn't it very wonderful

[24:39] I'm not resting on something I have to plan out myself I'm not resting my soul tonight on something I have to do myself I'm resting my soul on Father Son and Holy Spirit presented to me in Jesus the Savior and it's finished what?

[24:57] salvation from God and we'll have to go very quickly now we'll have to do what I'm telling my students always not to do don't stand too long on your first heading if you go to heaven then you'll have been far too long on that one haven't been now the second thing I was going to say was this the glory of Christ the glory of Christ is the central focal thing in this salvation which is from God to man and we look at we can see that glory shining out for example in the title which was restored upon the Savior thou shalt call his name Jesus why?

[25:43] because he shall save his people from the sins Jesus Behover is Savior or Behover goes in front to save just to us the same name the captain of salvation and it's given to the one who's saved the people of God Jesus we're so used to the name that we forget to be thrilled by it imagine what a cold unfriendly place the world would be if it weren't for the name of Jesus imagine my friend what a gloomy future you future and my future would be were it not for the name of Jesus just think for the moment of what a cold horrible place a deathbed would be were it not for the name of Jesus just think what a sad place a cemetery would be were it not for the name of Jesus just think what a hopeless place your soul would be in were it not for the name of Jesus and that's true for you tonight even if you're not yet conducted oh what a hopeless place you've been but my friend the name of Jesus and we can say this wonderfully we can say it truly the name of Jesus is the best known name in the world today isn't it amazing who is this

[27:23] Sunday said it's Jesus of Nazareth and today the name of Jesus the name of Saviour the name of Jehovah linked to sinners being lifted that name is the best known name in the world today Sunday is the best known name in heaven too for already there's a multitude there singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb and it's the name over which the father said my beloved son in whom I am wealth it was given by an angel but not given for angels it was given by an angel and it's fortunate sinners and it's only sinners who will ever excrementally enter into the wonder of what the name Jesus contains and it's this angel sang the name

[28:27] Jesus what it meant to his ministry what it meant to a man like Jairus the ruler of the synagogue what it meant to a man like blind Bartimaeus Jesus he cried loudly Jesus thou son of David have nephew of me have you ever used the name like that oh Jesus thou son of God have nephew of me and Jesus who's dead I think it was something preaching in that text who said yes and not only Jesus who's still he said but every trust who's still stopped by the cry of a sinner using the name of a baby Jesus have mercy like Satan used to say when he was speaking to his congregation oh heaven will be looking to see if there are any the angels hear from heaven looking to see if there are any who tonight will call on the name of

[29:32] Jesus and Jesus now with a name high over all the name which we call to the cross God has exalted and put above every other name but at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth the glory of Christ central in the title that was restored upon them the glory of Christ central in the death which he accomplished we've spoken of this already so I won't say much about it except this that the very heart of old Christian faith there is this atoning death of Christ I said Paul to the Corinthians I have delivered unto you but which I also received how that Christ died for else in me with that cross in the heart of the gospel it's central to the message and it's central this cross to the light that brings a believer into peace with

[30:54] God you know the one thing I can never forget I suppose there's other things too but one thing I can never forget about the night I was converted and it was that for the first time I really understood why Jesus had died he died to pay the price of my sins and there was nothing more that I needed to do and oh my friend I was glad because there was nothing more I could do and it was all done for me already in the death of Jesus Christ glorified in the title that was restored upon him Jesus in the death which he accomplished Christ glorified in the heart of every person he has redeemed this is this is one of the outstanding things about the gospel when Christ's love is made known to sinners they get attached to him don't they and they follow him all the days of the life oh they stumble and they fall and sometimes they go back and they follow a far off and they get cold but you read justice is wonderful you get men like that but there's one thing the attachment is always there to

[32:15] Jesus there are so many of them because today in almost every land who love our Lord Jesus and when you go back over this century of history do you know this must end you're in almost every century too who love Jesus his name has been lifted up in prayer and praise and in preaching to God ever since his death and resurrection and since Pentecost and it was lifted up and said long before then in the Old Testament chapter and how deeply committed Christ's people are it's really summed up for us it was take my life and let it be consecrated law to thee because my life means nothing to me now unless you are at the centre of it of a

[33:27] Christian life so you see God has glorified Christ by putting him at the very half of our salvation hasn't he his glory is great in my salvation his glory is great in the eyes of his people there's not another like Jesus how sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ear it soothes his sorrow heals his wounds and it drives away fear his glory is made great in our eyes isn't it and then finally just this thought the reward of Christ in the salvation which God has given to man oh isn't this good honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him yes honour God has given him the name the honour of the name which is above every name now this is not merely the honour of the divine testing this is the honour of the man thank season this is the mediator the one who suffered and bled and died and was raised it's his honour the man

[34:51] God of the God mind the saviour the mediator he is lifted high it's Robbie Duncan who says and sometimes this saying has been challenged has been too extreme I can't see it so it's Robbie Duncan who says that in the exaltation of Christ in his honouring at the right hand of the father in fashion in glory and in power Robbie Duncan said in the exaltation of Jesus the dust of the earth has been raised to the throne of the universe because it's in human nature still human nature glorified but it is still that nature that body of which he said feel me and see that I am flesh and bones but it is I myself not another not a spirit not a ghost but I myself and it is that

[35:53] I myself who has been raised up and who shines in mediatorial glory and splendour on the throne of heaven tonight and they bow down around the throne to share your bin and the redeemed of God and they honour him too he's been honoured of the father as the saviour of the father's people and he's honoured in the hearts of those who are already home honoured and majestate he is king Jesus I saw this John who knew and loved Jesus so deeply who walked with him talked with him preached with him watched with him I saw he said a name on his vesture on his side king of kings my friend the king has come and the king is enthroned and it's that king who works all things according to his own wisdom and his own word and his own power king

[37:14] Jesus it's that king who wields the sovereign rod of authority and he does it so that the salvation of every one of his people is ensured and guaranteed all things work together for good to them that love him he was called according to his apostles and my friend that one whose glory is made great and on whom God has set honor in whom he has vested majesty and glory and splendor inexpressible that one is with us tonight again and he's calling you and calling me into new trust and new obedience and new love and it's that one whose death you will remember here and although the communion of the Lord's table is a solemn solemn thing it's something to look forward to with rejoicing and praise also for God's glory is made great in his salvation listen to it in the magical version and then look low in that salvation brought by thee his glory is made great honor and comely majesty thou hast upon him set my friend would you have it any other way surely never surely you say amen and amen and amen and glory and power and dominion and honor to him forever and forever more hallelujah salvation and amen to our God that is the gospel that is the saviour not the saviour who saves sinners like you and sinners like me and of whom it is written none perish that trust him that is me oh Lord our God our minds bow and our hearts break before the majesty and the awesomeness and yet the humbleness and the sorrow and the love which come to us in Christ thy son our Lord

[40:01] Jesus we bless thee for him and oh God we thank thee that in saving us and plucking us as brands from the burning we thank thee that in shaping us and moulding us and making us fit not for hell but for heaven we thank thee that in all this his glory is made great and we have to confess oh Lord that we would not have it any other way we want to throw our crowns at his feet who has rescued and redeemed us by his own precious blood and who will never allow us to be plucked out of his hand we fancy that he says no man shall pluck thee out of my hand give us faith to rest upon him banish unbelief from our hearts and darkness from our minds and quicken us in thy truth for Jesus' sake

[41:02]  Amen