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to the precepts of the ceremonial 
or the moral law. Salvation by works is a criminal 
doctrine. Salvation by works, whether in 
whole or in part, is a criminal doctrine. We come to a passage 
of scripture here in Titus 3, where we see the Apostle Paul 
vigorously defending the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, 
through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone. What we're going 
to look at this morning, hopefully and Lord willing, is four things. 
First, the one at work in salvation. Secondly, the nature of salvation. 
Thirdly, the foundation of salvation. And lastly, and fourthly, the 
certainty of salvation. Now, first off, notice the text 
at the point of the one at work in salvation. We see in verse 
five that salvation is not by works of righteousness, which 
we have done, But according to His, that is God's mercy, He 
saved us. Now, as we come to a rehearsal 
of the one at work in salvation, hopefully you understand that 
a rehearsal of the simple truths of Christianity is a good thing. We ought never to have minds 
that want the preacher to move us beyond the ABCs of Christianity 
to other things. In other words, we ought not 
to have the heart that wants the proclaimer of the Gospel 
to permanently move beyond the blessed doctrines of a triune 
God, the deity of Christ, salvation by grace alone through faith 
alone in Christ alone, and say to Him as if, Preacher, would 
you just give us now the seven trumpets of Revelation? Remember 
those words of Spurgeon, a man comes to me and asks me to expound 
upon go into a detailed exposition of the seven trumpets of Revelation, 
I respond to them or I would want to blow a trumpet in their 
ear and warn them of the wrath to come. We want to rehearse 
the blessed ABCs of Christianity because it is in those ABCs that 
our hearts are warm. It is in those ABCs that Christ, 
the Redeemer of men, is given to us, set before us. so that 
we might be wholly resigned unto the joy of being found saved 
by grace through faith in Christ alone. So the passage comes to 
us and it says that we are saved, not by works of righteousness 
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. So 
first off, we want to look at there is a negative statement, 
not by works of righteousness. Our Bibles are very kind to us. 
God in his word is very kind to us because he gives us clear 
language. Salvation in this case is not 
by this, but it is by this is not our God kind. Sometimes these 
nots and buts are given to us in in you were once this way, 
but you are now this way. And sometimes they're given to 
us in negatives and positives. In other words, a certain truth 
of God, most high is not this. but rather it is this, and we 
have this here. So first off, salvation is not 
by works. The Apostle Paul, as Spurgeon 
said, takes pain after pain to bring before the recipients of 
his letters that salvation is all of God or it is nothing. 
Salvation is from God, first to last, midst and throughout. 
It is of a triune God who saves without a helper, And you should 
have a wholesome pride that you stand in the safe confines of 
a religion that sets forth God and His Christ as the champions 
of salvation and not men. Because every other religion, 
as more than one man has noted in the history of our church, 
in the history of Christianity, every other religion is a religion 
that flies the banner of do and live. But Christianity flies 
that blessed banner. of look and live. Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ, 
all the ends of the earth, and you shall be saved. Christianity 
is not like other religions. It is rather that one that has 
as at its core Christ Jesus and salvation by grace alone through 
faith alone in Him. John Gill writes now, salvation 
neither in whole nor in part is by the works of righteousness 
which we have done. either as causes, conditions, 
or means. You scan these other religions 
and you find that their preaching, if it is that, and if it can 
be called that, and we probably shouldn't call it that, their 
proclamation, their unfolding of their wretched truths, find 
at the heart of it man's works, man's deeds. Man is the champion 
of his own fate. In our blessed Christianity, 
we have God and his Christ as the champions. of our faith, 
the champions of our destiny, the champions of salvation. You look at the sacraments of 
other religions and they come to the adherence in the form 
of C4 vests and in the form of a baptism of hatred. Our sacraments 
come to us and they rehearse what? That God is Lord over salvation, 
that He alone saves by His Savior and for His glory. Turn with 
me to the book of Galatians because If anyone comes to the scriptures, 
anyone comes to the scriptures and they would want to argue 
that in some way, to use the language of Gil, whether in whole 
or in part, salvation is of works. They come to the scriptures and 
they are dashed to pieces by the clarity of our God and the 
clarity of his revelation. In the book of Galatians in chapter 
two, now you might be saying to yourselves, Going back to 
what we opened with, that what, you know, do we need to rehearse 
the ABCs of Christianity? Hopefully, as you read the epistles, 
you understand that we need to rehearse the ABCs of Christianity. Look what Paul writes in Galatians 
1.6, Galatians 1.6. I marvel that you are turning 
away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to 
a different gospel, which is not another. You see, the propensity, 
the possibility, the potentiality, the hearts of even regenerate 
Christians to be stolen away for a time to errant doctrine 
demands that the proclaimers of the gospel mount pulpits on 
Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings and bring the congregation back 
to the ABCs of Christianity. We look here and we see that 
this, the churches of Galatia, Paul marvels over the fact that 
they were turning away so soon to a false gospel. But notice 
in Galatians 2, we've had occasion to point this out on many occasions. Chapter 2, verse 16, the language 
that Paul uses and the repetition of that language to stress that 
fact. that justification is solely 
and alone a legal declaration of God wherein He declares believers 
righteous solely and alone upon the righteousness of Christ received 
by faith alone. Notice what we see in Galatians 
2 verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified 
by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we 
have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by 
faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the 
works of the law, no flesh shall be justified." A man comes to 
the scriptures and he says, how can I be justified before a holy 
God? The Bible isn't ambiguous. The Bible isn't vague. Our God 
is clear in his revelation, not by the works of the law, for 
by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified, knowing that 
a man is justified by the works by faith in Jesus Christ, even 
we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by 
faith in Him. You see the repetition that Paul 
goes through here. It's repetition so that the recipients 
of the message will understand the absolute and colossal folly, 
the madness of seeking to be saved by the deeds of righteousness, 
by the works of their own hearts. Absolute madness. They want, 
Paul wanted the recipients of his letters. Writers of Holy 
Writ wanted the recipients of their letters to glory in the 
fact that salvation is from a triune God who saves without a helper. Salvation is not by works. Generally speaking, we would 
want to say as well that salvation is not by us. You might say, 
well, how is that different? Well, turn to the Gospel of John 
for a moment. We would want to say that salvation 
is not by works, and even larger, salvation is not by us. Even 
we must say, as we've been studying the doctrine of justification 
by faith alone, it is not our act of believing that merits 
for us eternal life. It is Christ's acts alone that 
merit for us eternal life. When we speak of justification 
by faith, we're not saying that our act of believing justifies 
us, but rather by faith we lay hold of the work that does justify 
us, and that work is Christ's alone. That work is His perfect 
and finished work. Notice what we have in the Gospel 
of John. Again, the clarity of scriptures at the point of works 
not being of our own, or salvation not being the works of righteousness 
of our own. Chapter 1, verse 12, But as many 
as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children 
of God to those who believe in His name, who were born not of 
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, 
but of God. You see that glorious truth and 
central truth. that it is that we are born of 
God. That is later in our focus this 
morning when we look at regeneration and renewal. All of that to say, 
you see, a man can never say, a husband can never say, oh, 
you know, in that great day my wife's faith will be enough for 
me. You may never have heard that 
before, but people have said that before. You know, if I don't 
give time to Christianity in my life, God on that Great day, 
we'll see the faith of my family member, my father, my mother, 
my wife, my husband, my children, whatever it may be, and he'll 
wink at my sin and allow me into the Celestial City. What a colossal 
folly. What insanity. To reject God, 
to reject His Christ, to reject the overtures in the Gospel of 
such a salvation, and to say that someone else will save me, 
but me and my rebellion, unto that final day, can stand strong 
and yet be covered by the faith of another individual. Madness 
and the insanity of man is demonstrated in their various ways of rejecting 
the gospel of grace. We are not saved by ourselves. It is not of him who runs. It is not of him who wills. But 
it is of God who shows mercy. So salvation is negatively not 
by works of righteousness. But working back now to our texts, 
if you can Find your way back to Titus 3 in verse 5, not by 
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to 
His mercy, He saved us. So secondly, we have the positive 
statement, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Those wonderful 
B-U-T, buts, of scripture that come to us, bringing us the clarity 
of what the author is setting before his recipients. but according 
to His mercy He saved us. Speaking here of God the Father, 
it's notable to observe that we have in this text triune salvation, 
don't we? We have a triune God. We don't 
have a vague and ambiguous notion of a deity out there, but God 
who has revealed Himself to us as the only living and true God, 
And in this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences, 
the Father, the Word or Son, and Holy Spirit, of one substance, 
power and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet 
the essence undivided. And in our text, we have God 
the Father, demonstrated by the fact that Jesus Christ, the phrase, 
through Jesus Christ our Savior, is later used. And we have what 
as well? We have regeneration and renewing 
of the Holy Spirit. Our Bibles come to us as a revelation 
of a triune God. Our salvation comes to us as 
a salvation from a triune God. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, unto 
the praise of the glorious grace of our great God. So again, second, 
we have this positive statement, but according to His mercy, He 
saved us. Very simply, rehearsing an ABC 
of Christianity, salvation is of the Lord. Oh, preacher, let's 
move beyond those oft repeated phrases and contents of sermons, 
and let's move on to something else, something deeper. Open 
up to us the bowls of wrath and the seven trumpets of revelation. There is a wholesome place to 
touch upon those texts of scripture. God has revealed to us that language, 
those things. But there is blessed and wholesome 
repetition to this observation. that salvation is of the Lord. Hopefully, I've been told that 
I'm not the prettiest looking thing to look at when preaching 
or discussing. I had a man down, and this is 
what I'm getting at, I had a man down in Mansfield say to me, 
you missed your calling as a cage fighter. And what I'm getting 
at is I have this bald head, I have these pointy eyebrows 
that my kids often say, you know, are you mad at me or something? 
No, it's just my eyebrows. I tend to have this mean-looking 
face. I apologize. Don't have the nicest 
smile. You know, I'm 6'2", 260-pound 
guy gripping a pulpit and speaking about the Bible and Jesus Christ. 
But hopefully you understand hiding behind this cage-fighter 
face is a heart that loves our Jesus. A heart that loves our 
truth. A heart that sometimes does issue 
forth in a smile. A heart that as a pastor wants 
you to be bombarded by the wholesome repetition that salvation is 
not by the works of the law but according to His mercy He saved 
us. Because that steals away any human boasting and it puts 
boasting in its proper place. Let he who glories Glory in this, 
that he understands and knows me, God says. That he understands 
and knows the triune God and the Christ of the Christian's 
profession. Salvation is of the Lord. Psalm 
3, 8 speaks clearly to this. But turn to the book of Revelation, 
chapter 7, because we see the gathered assembly there. We see the angels. We see the 
four living creatures rendering doxology to God and rehearsing 
This very thing, salvation is of the Lord. Notice what we find 
in Revelation 7, beginning at verse 9. After these things, 
I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could 
number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, tongues, standing before 
the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with 
palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 
saying, Salvation belongs to the Lord who sits on the throne 
and to the Lamb. All the angels stood around the 
throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell 
on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying, Amen. Blessing and honor, excuse me, 
blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power 
and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. You see, those 
seraphim, flew before the glory of the pre-incarnate Christ, 
covering with two wings their eyes, covering with two wings 
their feet, and flying with the other two, and singing out day 
and night, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole 
earth is full of His glory, did not do that with anything rising 
up in them of the contribution of men in the economy of salvation. Would not there be a verse in 
the hymn book of the angelic host that included man? Were 
there, in whole or in part, any contribution on his part to the 
scheme of salvation? But no, they fly day and night 
singing glory to God in the highest. In fact, Spurgeon on that passage 
in Luke 2.14 writes, the angels sang glory to God in the highest. 
They believe in no doctrine which uncrowns Christ and puts the 
crown upon the head of mortals. They believe in no system of 
faith which makes salvation dependent upon the creature and which really 
gives the creature the praise. For what is it less than for 
a man to save himself? if the whole dependence of salvation 
rests upon his own free will. No, my brethren, they may be 
some preachers that delight to preach a doctrine that magnifies 
man, but in their gospel, angels have no delight. The only glad 
tidings that made the angels sing are those that put God first, 
God last, God midst, and God without end in the salvation 
of his creatures. and put the crown holy and alone 
upon the head of him that saves without a helper. Glory to God 
in the highest is the angel's song. Pastor Butler read from 
James 3 and the fact that teachers will incur a stricter judgment 
on that day. Those with the responsibility 
of unfolding, revealing, opening up the word of the living and 
true God. Very, very heavy, very serious responsibility. Woe to 
that one who calls himself a preacher, opens up a doctrine that man 
can, whether in whole or in part, be saved by his works of righteousness. Woe to that man. On that great 
day, shepherding a flock, bringing to bear some perverted gospel 
that we can merit our own salvation, giving them reason to boast, 
giving them reason to pat themselves on the back, giving them reason 
to tighten their tie, to polish their shoes and walk into a church 
and have this air of pride because they've done their deed. They've 
done their work. They've been living a polished 
Christian life, not outwardly but inwardly, clapping, giving 
themselves a standing ovation. Woe to the preacher who fosters 
that sort of disposition on the part of the congregation. Rather, 
we come to you, preachers come to you, and we say that there 
is nothing in us wherewith we can boast. There is nothing in 
us that we can set before God and say, Lord God, accept me 
by virtue of this and that and the other thing. Yes, even Christ. 
Yes, even the Lord Jesus Christ. He did something for me, but 
I have done this. I have done that. I have done 
the other thing. One of the worst interpretation, 
well, the worst, a bad interpretation of that Matthew 7 passage. Jesus 
says, depart from me for I never knew you. Those were coming to 
him saying, Jesus, we've cast out demons in your name, done 
many mighty miracles and works in your name. You see, the problem 
is Pastor Butler proclaimed in his sermon on that more than 
once. The problem there is not that they didn't do enough to 
merit entrance into the celestial city, but rather, They're arguing 
for entrance based upon their own works. Look what I've done. Jesus, judge of heaven and earth. Look what I've done. Have I not 
done this? Have I not done that? Depart 
from me, you wicked, into the lake of fire reserved for the 
devil and his angels. You see, it's when we come, when 
we naked come to the Savior, when we come nothing, with nothing 
in our hands, but rather clinging, to that blessed and bloody cross, 
when we come leaning solely and alone upon the saving work of 
Jesus Christ and say, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. That's 
what Jesus wants his audience to understand. It's not you, 
it's me. It's not the law of God by which 
you are saved, but my perfection of obedience to it and my bearing 
of the laws, curse and demands for you. salvation, not by the 
works of the law, not by works of righteousness, but according 
to his mercy he saved us. And ought not we sing of the 
mercy of God with fallible and sometimes tuneless tongues until 
that great day when we sing with perfect tongues of the mercy 
of God forever and ever. Moving back to Titus chapter 
3, back to Titus chapter 3 because we want to look now, and actually 
before we move on to the nature of salvation, let's consider 
two things here by way of application for our first point, the one 
at work in salvation. Firstly, having a right view 
of salvation eliminates boasting in ourselves. Doesn't it? Having a right view of salvation 
eliminates boasting in ourselves. Where then is boasting, the Apostle 
Paul writes, it's excluded. God forbid that we should glory 
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Having a right 
view of salvation eliminates boasting in ourselves. There 
may be some out there who enjoy boasting in themselves, but I 
fear you are, of course, doing it with an unregenerate heart. We don't come before the bar 
of divine justice, before the justice and holiness of a perfect 
God, before the infinite solemnity of His law, the gravity and severity 
of that law, before a Savior who saves us from that law's 
curse and boasts in our own righteousness and in our own works. We heap 
dung upon that God. We heap dung upon His holiness 
and justice. We heap dung upon that law and 
upon that savior. Having a right view of salvation 
secondly promotes boasting in God. Isn't that what we're supposed 
to do? Boast in our God? Let not the 
rich man glory in his riches. Let not the wise man glory in 
his wisdom. Let not the strong man glory 
in his strength, but let him who glories glory in this, that 
he understands and knows me. What follows after that is language 
of the eternal loving kindness and mercy of God and the forgiveness 
of sins. We rejoice in our God, we boast 
in Him, giving no quarter to boasting in the flesh. What is 
it to boast in our own deeds, but to sew supplemental and dung-stained 
fabric upon the perfect robes of righteousness of the Lord 
Jesus Christ? What a high crime against our perfect Christ to 
say that His robes washed in the crimson of His own blood 
and placed upon us as our righteousness must be supplemented by a patchwork 
of our own deeds. Spurgeon was right. Salvation 
by works, a criminal doctrine. Moving on then to the nature 
of salvation, notice what we find in our text again. reading 
beginning in verse five, not by works of righteousness, which 
we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through 
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. The nature of salvation first 
is seen in regeneration. Now, kids, if you're out there 
and you've heard this term a lot, regeneration, what does that 
mean? Is this just a big word that preachers like to use, you 
know, to toss around their theological weight? It's a word in our Bibles, 
isn't it? Through the washing of regeneration 
and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Regeneration simply means, in 
the words of Christ, to be born again, to be made alive again, 
or to be brought forth again. And it underscores the nature 
of salvation being what we have already touched upon, of the 
Lord alone. Because we must be made alive, 
being dead in trespasses and sins, we must be regenerated, 
that is, we must be made alive, we must be brought forth again 
by grace, by sovereign, free, amazing, and victorious grace. This washing of regeneration 
is not, of course, baptism. This isn't literal water. This 
isn't the ordinance or sacrament of baptism that is in view, that 
we must be baptized in water before we are or to be saved. But rather, this washing of regeneration 
speaks to the operation of the Holy Spirit, ineffectual calling, 
whereby God makes us, moves us, translates us from being dead 
in our trespasses and sins to being alive in Christ by his 
grace alone. and for His glory alone. This 
is announced in the Old Testament in Ezekiel 36. Turn there with 
me. Let's get our fingers. We should 
always hopefully have our fingers at the ready. The preacher is 
in the pulpit. Open up our Bibles to go to various 
places because in our Bibles we have consent of hearts. In 
our Bibles we have efficacy of doctrine. In our Bibles we have 
heavenliness of the matter. And we ought to very frequently 
bounce back and forth to passages in Holy Writ in order to set 
forth the glory of God in salvation. And notice what we have in Ezekiel 
36 and verse 22, speaking with regards to this, not idea, this 
blessed truth of being regenerated, the washing of regeneration. 
Notice what the prophet writes, verse 22, chapter 36. Therefore say to the house of 
Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake, 
O house of Israel, but for my holy namesake, which you have 
profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify 
my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which 
you have profaned in their midst. And the nation shall know that 
I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you 
before their eyes. For I will take you from among 
the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you 
into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water 
on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your 
filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new 
heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of 
stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will 
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes 
and you will keep my judgments and do them. Isn't this the promise 
of the New Covenant? Isn't this the promise of the 
announcement in Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 as well? God, in His 
sovereignty, in His glory, in His mercy and grace, sends forth 
His Spirit in His appointed and accepted time to make alive dead 
sinners, to fill them with His Spirit so that they will walk 
in His statutes. It is not the walking in His 
statutes that merits for us this salvation, but rather His saving 
grace fully and alone, that causes us to walk in His statues. All of that to say, this language 
of the washing of regeneration we see, I will sprinkle clean 
water on you and you shall be clean. Not literal water, but 
figurative water in the form of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, 
making us dead sinners alive to the praise, the glory of God's 
grace. Moving back to the book of Titus, 
If you're able to do that quickly, find yourself back in Titus chapter 
3. Again, regeneration. Jesus uses 
this language in John 3. You must be born again before 
you can see the kingdom of God. Peter repeats his master's language 
in 1 Peter 1 when he says, we've been born again, not by corruptible 
seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives 
and abides forever. You see, the power and the strength 
behind salvation, behind regeneration, it's not by a corruptible seed, 
it's not by an earthen human seed of some sort, but it's of 
a heavenly and incorruptible seed, the power of God Most High, 
through the power of the Holy Spirit, causing dead sinners 
to be regenerated, made alive in Christ Jesus. Paul uses the 
language of, though you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 
Ephesians 2, God, according to His mercy, made you alive in 
Christ Jesus. By grace, you have been saved." 
James uses the language. If you'll remember our reading, 
if you'll remember your own reading in James, we have been brought 
forth by the Word of Truth, by the will of God. Of His will, 
He brought us forth by the Word of Truth. That blessed doctrine 
of regeneration, again, we ought not to fear words longer than 
one or two syllables. Those words are in our Bibles. 
Regeneration. Justification. Oh, these three-syllable 
and four-syllable words. Blessed long and deep words. 
Regeneration. God, in his appointed and accepted 
time, makes us alive for his glory's sake in Christ Jesus, 
the Lord. The Bible here in Titus 3 also 
uses the language God does in his word of renewing of the Holy 
Spirit. Now, some come to this portion, 
this phrase, this portion of the text, and they say perhaps 
it is something different than this regeneration. Perhaps it 
is moral reform that follows in progressive sanctification. Romans 6 does speak by the fact 
that those who are justified are marked by newness of life. 
We live and we walk in newness of life. But it is probably a 
reiteration of the fact of regeneration, bringing forth the operator, 
if you will, of the Holy Spirit. John Gill writes, or rather it 
means the same thing, renewal, with regeneration, and is added 
partly as explanative of the washing of regeneration, showing 
that that is no other than the new creature, the new man, the 
new heart, the new spirit, formed in the soul in the effectual 
calling. and partly to observe that the Holy Ghost is the author 
of it. Now it is in this way God saves 
his people, namely by regenerating and renewing them. And this is 
the first appearance and discovery of the love of God to them. Hopefully, 
brethren, an application of this is that you often go back to 
a rehearsal of, as Spurgeon said, of when God first began with 
you and when you first began with God. Right. Hopefully you might not be able 
to pinpoint the month, the week, the day, the hour, the minute, 
the second. But hopefully you can recall 
that time where you knew that you have been brought from the 
sewer, from the miry pit, from that place of being dead in trespasses 
and sins to that blessed place by God's grace, being found as 
a new man with the spirit regenerated, made alive in Christ Jesus. Do 
you speak fondly or do you, you know, recollect fondly of who 
you were before God met you by grace and glory? Do you miss 
the days when you were found to be such a rebel sinner? Probably 
not. With a regenerate heart, you 
don't miss those days at all, do you? These texts call, they 
prick our hearts, hopefully, drag you back in a wholesome 
way to that place where God first began with you. Blessed regeneration, 
blessed renewal by the Holy Spirit, blessed act of victorious grace 
where we're no longer the enemies of Jesus, but friends of our 
Redeemer. It's seen in regeneration, it's 
seen in renewal, and notice seen in the text, it's also comprehended 
in justification, the nature of salvation, Notice what we 
read here, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus 
Christ, our Savior, that having been justified by his grace, 
we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 
The blessed doctrine of justification. Never fear. Fear is not the best 
word, but never walk away from those times where you can solemnly 
and joyfully reflect upon these doctrines that have more than 
one or two syllables, even the one or two syllables. You know 
what I mean. People hear these words like justification, which 
again is a biblical word, and those opposed to doctrine and 
those opposed to what we're so used to hear, a deep reflection 
upon those things gloriously revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. 
Oh, give us not the big words and just let us bask in the effervescent 
petals of an ethereal and mysterious love. Silly, silly desire. We should, with regenerate hearts, 
desire after, long for the meat of God's word. Give us these 
big words. Define them, please, preacher. 
Give us these big words so that we might glory in our God, our 
triune God, and in the Christ, our Savior, the Redeemer of men. 
Justification. Justification is an act of God's 
free grace. wherein he pardons all our sins 
and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness 
of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. Our justification 
comes not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according 
to his mercy and grace, he has justified us, that is, declared 
us righteous by virtue of the finished and perfect work of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, his righteousness imputed to us, received by faith 
alone, imputed What does that mean, preacher? Credited to us, 
accounted to us, given to us. It is not our righteousness, 
but rather it is imputed. Christ is given to us, accredited 
to us, accredited to us. It's not an as-if righteousness. 
It is a true and real righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, 
given to us and laid hold of by faith alone. Glorious gospel. If you don't know what these 
words are, again, hopefully the preacher brings them up and defines 
them, but if you come across some words and some phrases as 
the preacher goes on, as the preacher teaches in the morning 
hour, wherever it may be, the Bible study, open up a book. 
Oh, I don't know what that means. I'm now gonna depart to ignorance. 
Open up a book, ask the preacher, ask someone, what's this word? 
What's this idea? What's this truth getting at? Have your mind satisfied, your 
heart glory, the truth, God most high, the nature of salvation, 
regeneration, renewal, justification. And just a brief application 
here. We need to have a right view of the seriousness of sin 
so that we might proper relish in the glory of salvation. You 
see, if we have a wrong view of sin, we have this idea that 
there may be some way by which we might justify ourselves and 
and gain salvation. By the merit of our own deeds, 
that is looking at sin with some rose-tinted glasses, isn't it? 
Sin's not as bad as it is. Perhaps God will, you know... 
You see, the doctrine of regeneration, the modern doctrine of that, 
by pulpits that do not, that are not alit by flames of righteousness, 
is motivation. You know, motivation replaces 
regeneration. People aren't dead in their trespasses 
and sins. They don't need regeneration. 
They're just a little maimed. They just need a little nudge. 
They just need to be motivated. They're just lazy and perhaps 
a little slothly in their daily movements in this lower world, 
and they just need a gentle push by a limp-wristed preacher. There 
is no doctrine of motivation in the scheme of salvation by 
a God of infinite justice. There is a doctrine of regeneration. 
Sin is so bad that we need the victorious grace of the triune 
God to reach down into that sewer of our hearts and make us alive 
in Christ Jesus. By grace, you have been saved. 
The foundation of salvation as we move to a close here. Thirdly, 
the foundation of our salvation. Notice what the text says here. 
through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 
whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. 
That is the foundation of our salvation, isn't it? Jesus Christ, 
our Savior. You know, a rehearsal of Ephesians 
1, 3 to 14 isn't a rehearsal of some Pauline, cold, dogmatic, 
apologetic for Calvinism. It is that, not cold, but it 
is an apologetic for Calvinism. But it's doxology. Paul is worshiping 
God the Father for the perfect work of Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost in the salvation of sinners. And what is the phrase that is 
so oft repeated in him, in Christ, in the beloved? We don't find 
the glory of our salvation in us, in our works of righteousness. 
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living 
hope. This is 1 Peter 1 now. Through 
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance 
incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away, reserved 
in heaven for you. In Christ Jesus, he is the foundation 
for our salvation. This ought to bring us to the 
reality that it is Christ alone who saves. Spurgeon writes this 
on Christ and what he has done. My soul hangs for time and eternity. And if your soul also hangs there, 
it will be saved as surely as mine shall be. And if you are 
lost trusting in Christ, I will be lost with you and will go 
to hell with you. I must do so, for I have nothing 
else to rely upon but the fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God, lived, died, and was buried, rose again, went to heaven, and 
still lives and pleads for sinners at the right hand of God. You're 
never, never in a bad place when you are resting solely and alone 
by faith upon such a blessed Savior and such a perfect work 
of salvation. Spurgeon is absolutely right. 
The foundation of our salvation is Jesus Christ and the exclusivity 
of Jesus Christ, that means nothing else. Kids, exclusivity, there's 
another big word. Preacher, define that for me. 
It means nothing else applies here. Salvation exclusively of 
Jesus Christ. Exclusivity of Jesus Christ for 
our Christian perseverance and assurance. When we sin, as with 
regenerate hearts, when we stumble and fall, when we sin, We have 
that remaining corruption. So when we are not doing as we 
ought, when we are not worshiping as we ought, when we are not 
dwelling upon Christ as we ought, when we, with langer and coldness 
of our hearts, wander away a bit from reflections, recollections 
of such a Savior, what do we do? Well, start working. Start doing deeds of righteousness 
so that I might feel better about myself. so that God will accept 
me. If he accepts you through Jesus 
Christ in salvation and for his glory at the beginning of your 
walk with Christ, later on when you stumble and fall, is it because 
you're great and because you have reformed yourself? No, look, 
just like you did in the beginning, look and live, look and walk. You stumble and you fall. When 
we sin, we have an advocate with God our own deeds and our own 
merits. Now, when we sin, we have an 
advocate with God, the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous and 
just one. We fly immediately to that fount 
of salvation, Jesus Christ, the Lord. The certainty of salvation, 
our last and final point. Very briefly notice what the 
text says in verse seven, that having been justified by his 
grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal 
life. Salvation is certain is the last 
point, the certainty of salvation. The certainty of our salvation 
is brought out beautifully by our confession, and I don't know 
it by heart, maybe I should, but in chapter 17, if you want 
to look at the blessed certainty of salvation, chapter 17 and 
paragraph 2, our perseverance depends not upon our own free 
will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election flowing 
from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon 
the merit and intercessory work of Jesus Christ, our Mediator, 
upon the sealing and guaranteeing of the Holy Spirit, and the perfection 
of the covenant of grace. You see, our certainty of salvation 
depends not upon works of righteousness, which we have done, but on the 
perfect and final work of the Triune God, by His grace, for 
His glory, executed in time and in history by the perfect work 
of the Savior applied in time and history by the Holy Spirit 
to our souls and kept unto that great day by his grace and again 
for his glory. The certainty of salvation been 
justified by grace that we should become heirs according to the 
hope of eternal life. We have that inheritance reserved 
for us in heaven. Christian, if you're here this 
morning, listen to some preaching for 53 minutes. Hopefully, in some small way, 
your hearts are warmed by someone who missed his calling as a cage 
fighter, but is now a preacher of the living and true God and 
who rejoices in that. Hopefully you rejoice in such 
a salvation by such a God. I've said this often, I know 
you don't have to smile outwardly. The preacher's eyes, cat, you 
know, look, lands upon various faces in the audience. You don't 
have to smile outwardly. hopefully you have a regenerate 
heart, a renewed heart, hopefully inwardly hid behind a straight 
mouth, not a frowning mouth, a straight mouth, rejoicing in 
our Christ, rejoicing in our God, rejoicing in the gospel 
of free and sovereign grace. Let these truths arouse in you 
the stuff to daily have your hearts warmed and secured in 
Christ Jesus, the foundation of all salvation. So you go into 
this upcoming work and hopefully live for his glory, daily reflect 
upon the perfection of his work. Now you're out there this morning 
and you're an unbeliever. You stay with me for a moment. 
You don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You've said perhaps 
in your own hearts this morning, yeah, I got to go to church. 
Yeah, I'll go to church. I don't believe in this Christ. 
I don't know this God. Maybe your parents forced you 
to come. You're out there, you're weary, 
you're tired, you're looking in other directions, you're glancing 
at the watch, you're turning your head back to see when this 
preacher's going to finish preaching so I can go home and do whatever. 
You need to know what rests behind the truths that we just read 
this morning, is a God infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in 
His justice and holiness, who cannot look upon your sin with 
a favorable eye, who does not wink at your sin and turn the 
other way, but rather observes the wickedness of men in the 
earth, and his justice and holiness is hot, and his wrath is heavy. And there will be a day of recompense 
coming. You might not think it comes. 
You work very hard to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. 
There is no vacation for an atheist. Oh, he might be able to go to 
the beaches of Hawaii, but each and every day he suppresses in 
a full-time job, the truth of God, His righteousness and His 
glory. You may be rejecting the God 
of hot justice, but there will be a day of recompense coming 
where it will be too late. Where it will be too late. It's 
been appointed for men to die once and then the judgment. Let 
that not bounce off your ears, but go inside and steal away 
the calm and the peace that you have forced upon your heart in 
trying to suppress the truth. Let it horrify you that there 
is a day coming of judgment and justice. Let's move forward to 
a hypothetical future. You die having daily, having 
Sunday in and Sunday out rejected this gospel, rejected this Christ. 
You die and you enter in not to an eternity of bliss in the 
celestial city, but an eternity of horrible darkness, fiery torment. The only banner that flies in 
hell is an eternal Ichabod. There is no glory of God here. 
There is the justice and the holiness of God in the heat of 
the fire and in the blackest darkness. And you see another 
banner as well, actually. Damned for all eternity. Speaks to your soul. It horrifies 
you. You can't turn your head back and look at a clock because 
there is no clock on the walls of hell. There is no end. It's 
an eternal blackness, an eternal darkness. What's so ugly about 
this Savior who is the foundation of our salvation? Fly to Him. 
Go to Him. Don't be stolen away by the forms 
of idolatrous things in this lower world. The female form 
catches your eye, and your lustful heart latches onto that, onto 
a fiery hell. The form of a man. feeds the lust of your heart, 
and you latch on to that unto a fiery hell. No God can tell 
me not to fornicate. The form of other things catch 
your eye and latch on to your heart and steal you away unto 
a fiery torment for eternity. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 
and you shall be saved. Lean not upon anything but the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Owning Him as your Savior, rejoicing 
in Him, He is the beautiful of the most beautiful. All have sinned and have fallen 
short of the glory of God. Yet those who have come to a 
knowledge of Jesus Christ, the Lord, by grace, through faith, 
they need not have horror of heart. They're not pricked to 
find a horror in their future. But the blessed bliss of everlasting 
life in heaven, in the celestial city, with Christ, where they 
will sing with the angels, salvation is of the Lord. Blessing and 
honor and glory be unto our God, unto the Lamb, forever and ever. 
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you do not have a future 
of horror, but a future of everlasting life being found as an heir of 
it. Let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in 
the Savior. We sing the praises of his grace and of his glory. 
We thank you for his finished work, for his perfect work of 
salvation. We thank you, Lord God, that 
you have called those in this congregation, the saints of Christ, 
that you've called us out of darkness into marvelous light. 
You've called us from deadness and sin to life and light in 
Christ Jesus. By grace, we have been saved. 
We pray that you would help us to reflect always upon the perfection 
of salvation. It does not come from us, but 
rather from God alone, that our salvation is by grace through 
faith in such a blessed Savior. We do pray, God, for those here 
this morning outside of Christ in unbelief, that they would 
not rest and stay and dangle, having not believed, but rather 
they would believe by your grace and for your glory, that you 
would cause them to rejoice in the Savior, to no longer find 
their greatest companion, the lower pleasures of sin in this 
world, but rather that they would find as their blessed companion, 
a risen and exalted Christ. Having been perfect in his work 
unto you, the Father, having been crucified upon Calvary's 
tree, he rose again with great victory and now sits ascended 
at your right hand. Might we all, because it is possible 
only with you, might we all leave this place singing the praises 
of our great God, the glory of his name. Be with us, Lord God, 
now as we go. Might we live in this lower world 
unto your glory, unto your praise, bringing no reproach upon your 
word of the gospel, knowing that we've been saved. by such a gospel 
and by such amazing grace. We pray in Christ Jesus' name, 
amen. Why don't we sing, if we can, 
Julie, if we can stand and sing the doxology together, if you'll 
stand with me. It's Roman numeral 16, I believe, 
in your Trinity hymnal, but let's stand together and sing the doxology. 
♪ Praise God from whom all blessings 
flow ♪ ♪ Praise him, all creatures here below ♪ ♪ Praise him above 
the heavenly host ♪ ♪ Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ♪ to him who is able to establish 
you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ 
according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since 
the world began but now made manifest and by the