I'd like to invite you to take your Bibles and look with me in Jonah, the book of Jonah. Chapter 2. I hope that most of us here are acquainted with the story of Jonah, one of the Lord's prophets that He raised up to go and preach to a foreign nation. Jonah being a Jew found that to be a very difficult mission, not because he had a hard time speaking to people, but just the whole idea from a Jewish culture of God being pleased to show mercy to dirty dog Gentiles. And he had it right. He figured that if God had sent him, God was going to do a work amongst him. He went and preached the message, but his whole attitude was wrong. I'm so thankful that salvation doesn't depend upon the preacher having the right attitude, but the message he proclaims. Now shame on the preacher for not having the right attitude. But it's the water that God is pleased to bless to the saving of sinners and not of preachers. It's not the cup. It's not the vessel. But in this story of Jonah, there's a lesson that comes out of it that I believe teaches us a great scriptural doctrine. We see that here in Jonah chapter 2 and verse 9. The Lord had prepared a great fish, it says in Jonah 1 verse 17, to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then you read on here in chapter 2, it says, Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me. Out of the belly of hell, or out of the grave, cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Now here he is in the depth of the ocean, drowning. But you notice he acknowledges God's hand in it. He calls them thy waves, thy billows. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. Why was he looking there? Well, that's the place of mercy. That's the place of sacrifice. That temple, those sacrifices, those high priests were all a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. He looked to the right place. Not with physical eyes like we see so much idolatry today. People trying to set up stations of the cross and objects and things that man can see with a physical eye. Shrines, no. He couldn't see a thing with his physical eyes. He's in the belly of that fish. All was dark. These are eyes of faith. That's God-given faith. When in the midst of affliction and trouble and distress, when nothing appears to be hopeful, you look to Christ. Who is our hope? Who is the believer's intercessor? That's where he looked, and the waters, he says, compassed me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. Quite a sight. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. As I've said often, you cannot remember what you've never been taught. Was he the Lord's or wasn't he? Yes. But in this need, in this hour, he needed him like he'd never needed him before. I hope there's none here that get to this point of feeling like, well, I know the Lord now. All's well. I don't need to know him again. The Lord put him in a situation where he was brought to confess his need. I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came in unto thee, notice, into thine holy temple. See how this looked? Verse 4, he looked toward that temple, but it wasn't something physical. He said, My prayer came in unto thee into thine holy temple. What was in that temple? Well, there was that mercy seat. There was that ark of the covenant, that mercy seat upon which a high priest would enter once a year and sprinkle that blood. How's God going to ever hear one of the prayers of His children? It's only going to be through Christ the mercy seat, Christ the high priest, where that blood has been applied. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. It's not our prayer that saves. It's the substitute that saves. It's His work of righteousness that saves a helpless sinner. And they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. That's interesting too, isn't it? He thinks about those that go their own way, prefer other gods, prefer other ways. They forsake their own mercy. They forsake the only way that God will ever show mercy to a sinner. What way are you in this morning? What are you pursuing? Where are you looking? I'll tell you what, if it's not to Christ alone, if it's not to His work of righteousness, if it's not to that sacrificial death, if you're looking to the law, you're looking to ceremonies, you're looking to your own works, You've forsaken the way of mercy. There is no mercy there. There's no mercy with the law. The law can only condemn. There's certainly no mercy with your works. They're despicable rags before a holy God. A lot of people run into their experience. I had this experience. I felt warm all over. That won't stand before a holy God. He says, I'll sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. And I'll pay that that I have vowed. He's thinking back to when God did that work of grace in his heart and turned his heart to him, he said, I come again. I don't care how many times you've come to Christ. You need to come again this morning. I need to come again this morning. With the voice of thanksgiving saying what? Here it is, these great words of scripture. Salvation is of the Lord. You say that this morning? Salvation is of the Lord. That's where we read in verse 10, the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. If there's ever a day in which this message needs to be proclaimed, I'll tell you it's in our day. Religion abounds. In fact, this message the Lord laid on my heart as I sat and watched a documentary this week on the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ on satellite TV. What caught my attention initially was that the narrator was just reading scripture. I thought, well this is unusual. Just reading scripture and there were scenes of Israel and some of the places that were mentioning Bethlehem and all of this, they were showing some of the pictures and scenes and it just caught my attention as I watched, portraying the life and cultures that may well have been in the day of Christ. But as the narrative went on, as it got close to the very heart of the matter, which is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, Those pictures and scenes turned to idolatry. They had pictures inside of shrines over there. There's been a shrine built on every place where they know where Christ ever set foot. Candles burning, golden crosses, images of crucifixes, people bowing their knees, mumbling these prayers so-called. And I thought, what a contrast between the word that's being said and what those pictures portray. I felt like the Apostle Paul. It says there in Acts 17, 16 and 17, it says, now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred. That word means it's like someone taking a sharp object and pricking your skin. He is stirred, pricked with a sharp instrument in him. when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." That's really the basis for the Bolton article that I hope you'll take and read as well. Not according to the tradition of man. You notice that scripture, that caught my attention. A lot of traditions of man in religion you see going on. But you notice the scripture sums it all up. The tradition of man. There's only two categories. Men are either following a tradition that's been handed to them, that's based on works and customs and ceremonies, or men stand in the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no middle ground. You're either one side or the other. There's no riding the fence here. And that's why I say, if ever there's a need, it's in our day. We can sit back and talk about all the idolatry, read about it. Brother Duane read about it in Isaiah 58, where they turned a feast day into a fast day, into a ceremony. It had nothing to do with a broken heart. It was just outward form, hoping that somehow by observing that feast day, somehow God would grant His blessing. Blessing isn't in a feast day. It's in what the feast day represents. It's in who that feast day represents. That Sabbath that they were to keep represented the rest that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. They shut down their shops, could hardly wait until 24 hours passed, so they'd get back at it again. And they thought, well, if we just shut down our shops for a day, God is going to bless us. A lot of people today have that mentality. We just closed down on Sunday. He's going to cause those coffers to be full. If I just pay my tithe, I give God ten percent, He's going to give back a hundred. Well, that's a pretty good deal there. But that's what's in men's minds. It has nothing to do with the personal work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What I give according to the gospel is not a tenth. All I have is His. To use as He's pleased. I come together to worship, not because I hope that somehow by my being here today that He's going to bless me the rest of the year. I come to give God the Father honor and glory through His blessed Son, because that's what He has commanded me to do. He that honeth the Son honeth the Father. See the difference? If there's ever a day in which we need to proclaim and people need to hear this message, it's today. Salvation is of the Lord. This isn't a new message. You know, as I thought about this, my mind turned here to Jonah 2.9, but look back in Exodus chapter 14. Any that the Lord has ever saved has been on this basis, bringing them to see that their salvation is entirely of Him from beginning to end. No work of mine added to it. It's all a work of of God in Christ. Here in Exodus chapter 14, you remember just after the Lord had delivered Israel from Egypt and he brought them to the Red Sea, again an obstacle. They had the sea to their backs, they had the mountains on every side, and they had Pharaoh and his armies bearing down on them. And they began to To murmur, verse 11, they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? Boy, what a foolish statement that was. Let us alone. A lot of people. have said that. I don't want to hear the gospel. I don't want to hear this message of Saul. Leave me alone. I'd be better off without it. For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness. But what was the message that Moses proclaimed to them that day? This is all the way back in the beginning of the history of Israel. Read it here in verse 13. Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and what? See the salvation of the Lord. That's what I pray He'll enable you and me to see again today. The salvation of the Lord. I'll tell you there's a man in Luke chapter 2. Look over here in Luke chapter 2. A man named Simeon. This was his declaration. When God was pleased to cause His path to cross with the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Luke chapter 2 in verse 25, this is when Mary and Joseph were bringing the little baby Jesus to the temple. Just a baby in arms, 8 days old. That was according to law when that man child, that boy child was to be circumcised. They brought him according to the law. It says in verse 25, Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Ghost was upon him, waiting for the hope of Israel. What's that talking about? Well, here's a man in whom God had put His Spirit, cause him in reading the Old Testament to understand that there was that Messiah that would come, that God would send forth, in whom is salvation. who would come and fulfill all that was written of Him, all of the law fulfilled in Him, all righteousness worked out in Him. By His death, all of the sacrifices fulfilled. And He looked for Him by faith. It says the Holy Ghost was upon Him and it was revealed unto Him by the Holy Ghost that He should not see death before He had seen the Lord's Christ. You know, that's true of every one of God's elect actually. They're not going to see death until God's caused them to see the Lord's Christ. That's why that thief on the cross lived his life in total rebellion, sin, nothing to recommend him to God. But as he hung there on that cross, worthy of that condemnation, his eyes were open to see the Lord's Christ. God passed by the other thief, passed by many, but to him it was revealed. But here in a special way with Simeon it says he came by the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law. Christ had to fulfill the law at every jot and till. Then took he him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word. Why? Look at here. For mine eyes have seen whose salvation? Thy salvation. This is God's salvation. In this person the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care whether you're a young child here this morning or older person. It's the same eyes God's got to give you to see. His salvation. Bring you to say and to declare whether it be with Moses or Jonah or Simeon. Salvations of the Lord. salvation of the Lord. But what was the context? Come back here to Jonah chapter 2 and verse 9. What was the historic context of this declaration? Here Jonah was shut up in the belly of the fish. One of the old writers, old preacher said he learned this truth in a strange college. What a classroom. But nonetheless, God taught him and he learned it. Those that God teaches, this is the truth they learn, salvations of the Lord. Now Jonah did not learn it until the Lord had brought him to despair of himself and despair of life itself and was brought to look to the only refuge he could, that temple, that sacrifice. I say it over and over again. We were talking about this with the men during our time of prayer. For our children, here that have grown up under the gospel and continue to grow up. This is one of the points that they've got to be brought to see, even their lostness. It's one thing for somebody that's lived out there in the world as a Gentile and never known the truth, never known the gospel, for God to bring them in and teach them Christ, but it's another for a child sitting right here where they're sitting. You hear this week in and week out, children, growing up. But you know, God's got to show you that you're just as lost as that child out there that's never heard. Just as lost. God's got to bring you to the end of yourself. Adults, same thing. You say, well, I grew up, I cut my teeth on this. Doesn't make any difference. To be God taught is to be brought to despair of yourself. See yourself as lost. and to cry out, if I'm to be saved, the Lord's going to have to save me. Salvations of the Lord. You say, well, why aren't more people confessing this today? Well, they've never seen themselves as lost. That's just as plain and simple as that. They speak of the work of Christ. I talk to people all the time that speak of the work of Christ as having fulfilled the Old Testament types and shadows, and yet they continue to run freely in their works religion. Run into the law, proud of it. They seem to be free. Look over in John chapter 8. This was the attitude of the Pharisees and this is what concerns me. We can talk all we want to about people out there in religion, but I want to talk to you here this morning because this is the danger for some of us sitting here. that somehow since we hear the truth week in and week out, we read the Scriptures, we have some knowledge and understanding that somehow we think we've never been in bondage. Our Lord here in John chapter 8 verse 31 says, Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. It's not just a matter of professing it, making some decision. No, continue in it. There's a sign that God has truly done a work of grace. Now, there might be times where you run from it like Jonah, but when God reels you in, you're going to confess salvation of the Lord. He's not going to let you alone. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make You free now listen to the response here of these Pharisees in that crowd verse 33. They answered him. We'd be Abraham's seed and We're never in bondage to any man How sayest thou ye shall be made free? That's how people reason today. Well, you're you're talking somebody was raised in church Raised reading this book they'll quote scripture. So I know what you're talking about. You know it up here But do you know it here in the heart? Because God taught you that if He were to send you to hell, even for the best prayer you ever prayed, He'd be just in doing so. That's what He's got to teach you. He's got to bring you to see that all of your righteousness is a filthy rag. It's one thing to say my sin is filthy, another thing, even my righteousness. Nothing but filthy rag before him. You notice that Jonah's deliverance was simultaneous with this confession. Salvations of the Lord. When we were kids, we used to like to wrestle. Not to be mean, but just the goal was to get the other one down and hold them until they cried uncle. That's all you cared. Cry uncle and I'll let you go. No, I'm not going to cry uncle. All right. You know, squeeze some more. So they cry uncle. I'll tell you, there are some that have this knowledge of Christ and yet refuse to bow. They'd rather go their own way. But I'll tell you, if God's going to do this work of grace, He's going to bring you to that place where you can't move. And you'll gladly own Him as Savior. Like Paul said, I'm going to please God to reveal Christ in me. He said, I counted all that I've ever done before as dumb. What had he done before? Nothing but righteous works in his eyes. Nothing but morality. He said, as a Jew, I was blameless before the law. But not before God. Because the only way a sinner is going to be blameless before God is in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That righteousness. That's what salvation is. And that's why I look back over here in Romans chapter 10, Romans chapter 10. This verse is so misquoted today. It's put in these little pamphlets, you know, that you give out to people and you tell them, well, if you just repeat these words, say the sinner's prayer, then you'll be saved. And a lot of people put their confidence in that. They think, well, I prayed the prayer. Salvation is not in a prayer. Salvation is in a person. And that's what this is here in Romans 10. It has to do with a person, not a prayer. It says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, what? The Lord Jesus. Salvation is of the Lord. And shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's not just believing the fact that God raised him from the dead. Today, a lot of congregations celebrate the fact that Christ rose from the grave, but there's no salvation in that. No, to believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you know what that means? It means simply this, you believe that that sacrifice, that raising him from the dead means he laid down his life. That sacrifice, God the Father satisfied with. That's why God raised him. Now you'd be brought to see that. You'll understand some of the gospel. Why did God raise His Son from the grave? Well, it's because He's pleased with His sacrifice. It accomplished everything He set it out to do. And because of it, He's going to save everyone for whom Christ laid down His life. Everyone. No guess about that. He's a just judge. Christ paid the ransom. He's going to see to it that everyone for whom that ransom was paid is saved, delivered. And that's what you confess, for with the heart, look at here, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Where is true righteousness to be found? In Christ. Religion says with the hand man works unto righteousness. Scripture doesn't say that. By the works, the deeds of the law shall no man be justified in his sight. How am I to be made righteous? With the heart. Man believeth. Believes what? Believes God. Believes the record He has given of His Son. Embraces that righteousness, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Not according to my works or the law, but by faith. And with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. What does a believer confess? God so done that work, salvations of the Lord. I hope that's on my lips to my dying breath. If I have nothing else to say, and I just have one thing, you get old and senile and nursing home and just keep repeating one thing, I hope I can, by God's grace, repeat this. Salvations of the Lord. Salvations of the Lord. Salvations of the Lord. They say, well, you lost his mind. Well, maybe so, but that'd be a good thing to go out of this world, confessing, because it's so. Salvations of the Lord. What's the spiritual application of this? This isn't just a story. Here's a second point I want you to consider. You look over here in Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12 and verse 36. I want you to see the context. A lot of times these verses are quoted and we really don't ever get down to seeing in what context they were said. It says here in verse 36, But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. I remember growing up thinking, uh-oh, that means that I'm going to be accountable for every slip of the tongue, every time I said something I shouldn't have, and if I didn't confess it and make it right, God's going to hold that against me in the day of judgment. So what do you do? You spend your time just trying to make sure, even though your thoughts are evil, Make sure it doesn't come out of the mouth. Then it won't be an idle word. That's not the sense here. Who is he talking about? He's talking here about preachers. He's talking about religious leaders who stood up and pointed men to something other than Christ. Tried to drive men by morality. Tried to drive them by works. Those are idle words. And men will be held accountable unless God does a work of grace in their heart. They're going to be held accountable That won't stand in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. I stand here this morning to tell you the truth. By this word I'll be justified because I believe God. Now if I endeavor to tell you some other way, by those words I'll be condemned before God. And then you notice here in verse 38, it says, Then certain of the scribes and the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. They'll not hear the word of Christ, but boy, they'll go after the miracles. That sounds like our generation. We would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation." Well, that was a statement because they prided themselves in being of that race, God's children. The men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater than Jonas is here." Speaking of himself. I'm so thankful for the New Testament, because it just, Scripture's the best commentary on Scripture. It shows us that all that we read here in the Old Testament, really pertains to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of the events pertaining to Jonah were ordained of God to serve as a sign of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation of sinners. You say, how so? Well, here's some things that I'll just give you briefly. Jonah's name means dove. Did you know that? Jonah's name means dove. He was so by name. Christ was so by nature. Prince of Peace. The Dove. The Dove of God. Jonah was subjected to suffering and the bonds of death for his own sin and disobedience. This is where you see how types are sometimes anti-types. He was suffering. But the Lord Jesus was subjected to death for the sins of others. Not for his own, but the sins of others. Come back here and look in Jonah. I want you to see this. Jonah chapter 1. Remember when he got that ship heading the other way and the Lord sent that storm to stop him? And all those men in that boat, these were hardened fishermen, used to storms. But this one, they started sacrificing every God they knew. Crying out to anyone they could. Finally, they came on Jonah. Ask him, they cast lots, and a lot fell on Jonah. And verse 8 of chapter 1 says, They said unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. They started to question him. And he, verse 9, confessed, He said unto them, I am in Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. And then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, cast me forth into the sea, and so shall the sea be calm unto you. What was that all about? There is a type and picture of Christ's substitution. Him laying down His life. that others might be at peace, that the wrath of God might be subsided on their behalf. For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. But Jonah, his casting in the sea meant the salvation for those in that ship. But, oh, there's a much greater and more glorious truth and that is that Christ subjecting himself to suffering, even the death of the cross, meant the salvation of those that the Father had given. Now is it a coincidence that He spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish? No. When we read here, our Lord said, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Every detail to the glory of Christ. Now this is one of the reasons why if men believed the Word, believed God, they wouldn't even have such a thing called Good Friday. They might have Good Wednesday or Good Thursday in their idolatry, but not Good Friday. You figure it out. If Christ died on a Friday afternoon and they buried Him, He spent Friday night, Saturday night in the tomb. When the women came Sunday morning, He was already risen, wasn't He? No three nights there. Certainly not three days. The day was already spent when they put Him in the grave Friday. Saturday would have been the only day He was in there. According to men's traditions, Christ spent two nights and one day in the grave. Completely contradictory to the Word. You go do the math. Figure it out. But a whole tradition has been built up around this thing. And people feel like they are serving God and doing it. No, it's not in a day. It's in a person. It's in a person. There's the sign of Jonah. Go read Jonah. That's what we're doing here this morning. And at God's command, the watery grave gave up Jonah. Couldn't hold him. Could the grave hold Christ? No. Father promised that his soul would not see corruption. He promised to bring him forth. Why? Because he is the faithful father and Christ is the faithful substitute. No reason for him to stay in that grave. The execution being fulfilled. God being satisfied. Righteousness fulfilled. He came forth in victory. Another point, you can read that whole chapter that we read in Jonah 2. Jonah cried unto the Lord and was heard. Was not Christ heard of the Father in His suffering? The final point that I want you to see here, and really this could be a whole message in of itself, when it says here in Jonah 2.9, salvation is of the Lord. Let me just give you four things that that means. That means that salvation is of the Lord and it's purpose and planning. If you've been here to be saved, it's because God's purposed it. If you're saved here this morning, it's because even before time, God purposed it in His Son. or the existence of angels, before the creation of the world, even before the fall of Adam, the Lamb was there slain from the foundation of the world. Was the fall a surprise to God? A lot of people act like it was. Like now we're into Plan B. No, Christ was there as a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Salvation was purposed even before Adam fell. God had already chosen out those He'd be pleased to save, given to His Son. That's what makes salvation sure. Like that one lady that had trouble with the doctrine of election, struggling with a preacher, said, I just don't understand how God could choose some and pass by others. And he said, well, let me ask you. Do you believe you're saved? She said, well, I do. And the preacher said, well, on what basis? Do you think it was by chance or did God purpose it? She said, no, if I'm saved, I got to believe God purposed it. That's what election is. God purposing to save sinners, give them to his son. That's what he did. That's not a hard doctrine for those that have been taught that salvation is of the Lord. If people contest it, it's because they haven't learned it. Secondly, salvation is of the Lord, not only its purpose and plan, salvation is of the Lord in its accomplishment and execution. No detail was left undone. This is again where you hear preachers saying well God devised a plan. You hear people talking about the simple plan of salvation. But what do they do? They make it contingent upon man. Christ died but now you have got to do something to make his death effectual. That's not what the scriptures teach. It's God doing something on your behalf that makes that sacrifice effectual. God taking that blood and applying it to your heart as a dead sinner. But all of it was worked out by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When Christ died, He wasn't offering Himself to man to accept or reject. He was an offering unto the Lord, unto God. If God ever teach you that, you'll know something of the purpose of His sacrifice. And God being satisfied now, He justly takes and saves those for whom He died. He's a just God and a Savior. Salvations of the Lord in its accomplishment and execution, but thirdly, salvations of the Lord in its application. There's a false notion that the Lord has done all for man that He can do, but there's something that man must do, which if he doesn't, he'll perish. You'll hear preachers say that all the time. Aren't sinners dead by nature? and a dead sinner give himself life? It'd be a mockery for God to say to a dead sinner, you know, here's life if you'll just take it. No, he's got to give life. That's why I preach the gospel. I pray God will give life to a dead sinner here this morning. That's what it's going to take. Just as much as when Christ stood at that tomb and said to Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth! That's what it took, the command of Christ for him to come forth. Make that same command in your heart. You know there's that false notion too that people are saved because they're naturally inclined to good. You won't find that in scripture. No, he says rebels. That's who he says, rebels. Are you a rebel this morning? I hope so. Hope you see yourself as such. Quit hiding behind religion. The word will remove that mask. I'm a rebel. I'm a sinner. I'm worthy of condemnation. But oh, here's a saying worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. Say it, of whom I am chief. Salvations of the Lord in its application. But one final point, salvations of the Lord in his sustaining work in the sinner's heart. I'm not just talking to you about something that took place in my past. I'm talking to you about a reality as I stand before you this morning. I confess that salvation is of the Lord. Not just saving me, but keeping this old sinner. I know my heart. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the one I love. What's my hope? Well, that if he died for me, he's keeping me. He ever lives to intercede on my behalf. salvations of the Lord. I'll close with this story that I read in preparation for this message. It's a true story, stories told of Charles, King of England. He was captured and later executed in his attempt to escape from the castle in which he lived. Now, his friends, knowing of a plot, had already provided all that was necessary for his escape. They had everything even at the bottom of the wall that would enable him to speedily get away and they had boats ready to take him into exile into another country. His friends had done all they could and his escape now depended on one thing, his getting out that window. But history records he didn't make it out that window. As I thought about that, I thought what if salvation were really dependent upon just one thing I had to do? to make it effectual. God had done everything else. All the means were there, but just one more thing. Like one preacher said, he'd come and lay you right at heaven's door. All you have to do is reach up and turn the knob. There'd be no escape. You'd be condemned. Salvations of the Lord from beginning to end. If you're the Lord, you delight in that. You'll never want to hear another message. Why? Because that's the message of Scripture. Salvations of the Lord. from beginning to end. I'm thankful it's so. Has God been pleased to reveal His Son in you in this manner to where you say that this morning, salvations of the Lord? He's brought you now to where you own Him. You recognize yourself as nothing. Him is all. You have no righteousness. He is righteousness. You have nothing but sin. Forgiveness is in Him. You have no peace, although you've struggled and tried. Peace with God is with Him. That's why Christ said, Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. There's where hope is. It's in Christ. Salvation is of the Lord.