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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/aj-higgins/the-way-day-of-salvation/
Now, we appreciate all who are here. Many of you have been with us all day, perhaps some are just in for the meeting tonight, but whatever the case, we value your presence with us in this brief hour. We'll be punctual and we hope to be as clear as we can.
I hesitate to say we'll be simple. The gospel message is anything but a simple message. It is the most profound message ever to reach mortal ears. And yet our responsibility is to try to convey it in a clear, concise way that even young ones here can take in.
So I'm going to ask you to turn to 2 Corinthians and chapter number five, 2 Corinthians and chapter number five. Now there will be some words here that those of you who are younger may have a little difficulty understanding.
We'll try to convey their meaning, but I think that what we have to say will be very, very understandable to all of you here this evening. We'll begin at verse number 18. And all things are of God. That means he is the source, the beginning, the origin of everything who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing or not charging their trespasses or sins unto them and has committed unto us the word or the message of reconciliation, the message of how men can be brought back to God and be forgiven and be in heaven.
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ said, be you reconciled to God for you have made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made or might be declared to be righteousness of God in him.
Chapter six, we then as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain for he has said, I have heard thee in a time accepted and a day of salvation. Have I succored thee?
Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And now we know that God will add blessing every time the word of God is publicly read. Now, many minds are tired. Some of you young people have been with us all day and we appreciate your presence.
And I just have two very, very simple things to mention in light of what we have read. I want to speak to you about the way of salvation and the day of salvation. Both of those things are in the passages that we have read God's way of salvation and God's day of salvation.
We want to make it very clear. There is a way of salvation. There is a day of salvation that God is offering to men, women, boys, and girls. As far as this way of salvation, you will notice that we are reminded that all things are of God.
That means he is the one who has devised this way of salvation. He is the origin of it. He is the author of it. He is the one who has devised it. He is the one who has stipulated what that way of salvation is.
He is the origin of all. We're reminded that God, it says, he promised eternal life before the world began, before eternal times in the heart and mind of God eternally was this grand plan of salvation.
It didn't begin with the preacher. It didn't begin with a group of people who meet in the gospel hall in a particular locality. It didn't begin with any individual at all. It began with God. We are not here tonight telling you our spin on God's way of salvation.
We are not here tonight to declare to you what a particular committee has gotten together and has decided is the best way for men to get to heaven. Salvation began in the heart and mind of God. It is God you have to deal with tonight.
That's vital to understand. It is God you are dealing with. It is his way of salvation. He has stipulated, he has made clear how a person can be saved, how a boy or girl, man or woman can be in heaven.
He is the author of it. He's also the one who has taken all of the expense upon himself to carry it out, not just that he has thought about it, not just that he has devised it, not just that he has planned it, but he's executed.
He has done everything. All things are of God. Now, I think because I sat where you once sat, I think that likely in the minds of some of you who are younger, who are familiar with hearing the gospel, you have it all planned.
You have it all in your mind how you're going to get saved, maybe even the preacher that's going to be preaching, maybe even the verse that God is going to use. And you have your plans all made, maybe at a special series of meetings, maybe at a conference, maybe at some moment that you've already thought about.
That's when you're going to get saved and you have it all planned out exactly how it's going to happen. That was my problem. I struggled with that for weeks. I had an empty profession. And when I realized I wasn't saved and I was going to hell, I had heard so many people tell how they got saved, had listened to so many testimonies, and they all seem to have the same ending, that someone realized, I'm never going to get saved.
I'll have to go to hell. And all of a sudden, when that happened, a verse came to them and they got saved. And so I kept for weeks trying to bring myself to where I have to give up, I'll never get saved, and then waiting for a verse to come.
See, I had my own plan. I was devising how I would get saved. Can't do that. You'll have to give up tonight. Whatever ideas you have about how you're going to get saved, they're wrong. You may say, well, I know how to get saved.
If you knew how to be saved, you'd be saved tonight. You are an absolute darkness. You may think, you know, you may have it all plotted out and assume, you know, but if you are not saved tonight, you'll have to face a very startling reality.
And that is that you are an absolute darkness. You are lost. That's how the Bible describes it. Being lost, being blind, being unable to see the way you are going to have to acknowledge. It's not my way.
It's God's way. If I'm going to be in heaven. And so we are reminded at the very outset, all things are of God. God is the origin. God is the source. God is the executor. God is the one who determines how men and women will be in his heaven.
It is his heaven. It is your sins against him that are barring you from his heaven. He has absolute right to determine the terms by which someone can be in his heaven. So the origin of this way of salvation is God himself.
But then again, we have to look at the problem. What's the obstacle keeping men out of heaven? What did God have to do? If God originated this plan, if God executed this plan, what was the great problem facing humanity and more specifically, what is the problem you're facing tonight?
You may say, well, I can't believe the right way. That's not why you're not saved. That's not what is going to keep you out of heaven. Actually, you may say, well, I just can't work up enough faith. That's not it.
This verse tells us the problem, the difficulty, and that is your sin and mine. We're reminded here that there's a blight, a blemish that marks every human being. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way.
That is the human condition, the humbling reality that without exception, humanity is moving steadily away from God. Maybe I'm looking in the faces of some and you're sitting under gospel preaching even these weeks in your own home assembly.
And you may think that as you're hearing the message preached, you're getting closer and closer to God's salvation. The Bible says you're getting further and further every time you hear it and put it off.
You found the new defense mechanism to keep God at bay. You desperately need this salvation tonight. Have to face the reality of your sin against God, a blemish, a blight that has to be dealt with. And this probably doesn't really resonate with people from Wisconsin.
You would have difficulty identifying with this, but if you're ever in a large city and happen to end up in one of those neighborhoods where everything is pretty sorted and everything is pretty dark, you see people begging on the streets, you see drug deals going on in front of your eyes, you see people being abused, you see people being beaten, and all types of crimes going on around you, and you feel so relieved just to get away from that.
It's such an awful blight to have to look at. That's how God sees every one of us, whether he looks upon the immaculate lawns and landscapes of the rich and famous, whether he looks upon the average suburbanite in their comfortable home, or looks down upon farm country, farm country and farmland.
God sees without exception that all have sinned and come short. God sees without exception a human family blighted and blemished by sin, men at a distance, men in danger, men, women, boys, and girls moving away from God to an endless eternity.
Tremendous problem you face tonight is the problem of your sin against God. You desperately need to find out how can a God who is holy ever forgive your sins? How can a God who hates sin ever open heaven's portals and bring you in?
You need to find a way of salvation that this verse speaks of. The blemish of sin, the bondage of sin, the bridge, the tremendous distance that needs to be gulfed. This verse speaks of the need of being reconciled.
That means in everyday terms that you are an enemy of God, you are away from God, you are at a distance from God, and you need to find a way for that distance to be bridged, to be spanned. Peter tells us in his epistle how that distance was spanned.
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. That's not bringing us home to heaven in the end. That's bringing us to God even now. You need this reconciliation, this bringing back to God tonight because of the great issue of your sin.
But this tells us how it was done. We read together of the great objective. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing trespasses unto them, and hath committed to us this great message of how men can be reconciled to God.
God has made him a sin offering for us. He, the Lord Jesus, knew no sin. The Lord Jesus Christ went to a cross because of this tremendous problem of sin. When the Lord Jesus Christ died upon Calvary's cross, let me just quote, I can do no better than quote the words of Hebrews 9 and 26 quoted earlier today.
Once in the end of the age, he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. When the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross, he gave to God a sacrifice absolutely sufficient for an entire universe of sinners.
We read of it here in our very portion tonight, committed to us the message of reconciliation. He welcomes the entire world to come and enjoy this great reconciliation that he has made. Upon Calvary's cross, the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself a sacrifice, the tremendous payment for sin.
Way back in 1935, there was a man who was mayor of New York City. They named an airport after him. Any that are familiar with airport names, Fiorello LaGuardia. He was obviously not from Ireland. And Mayor LaGuardia was a very unique, colorful individual.
You have to remember this is 1935. This would never happen today. But in 1935, one night, he, one cold night, he went to one of the local courts in the city and told the judge to go home. He would hold court.
One of the individuals that had to come before him was a woman. And she was accused of stealing a loaf of bread. She stole the loaf of bread because her daughter, her daughter's husband had left her, and her daughter had children.
They had nothing to eat, and they were hungry. And of course, that led to a lot of sympathy, compassion. But the owner of the store said, look, this is a bad neighborhood. If you let her go free, everyone's going to become taking things, thinking they can get away with it too.
You've got to punish her. And so back and forth it went until finally Mayor LaGuardia said he would have to fine her, and he fined her $50. Then he took out his wallet, paid the $50 himself, and then fined everyone else in the court that a woman in New York City had to steal to feed children.
And she went home with a lot more money than she ever dreamed of. Now that's only a poor illustration. The judge has descended from the bench. The Lord Jesus Christ has come and has given to God a sacrifice absolutely sufficient for your sins tonight.
He has paid a price. He has given a sacrifice, an offering to God that meets the need of every sinner. We've read together in those verses in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5. He made him a sin offering for us that we might become righteous.
We might have a righteous standing before God that we might be declared right and fit for heaven. Not only your sins removed, but a righteous standing with God, the guilt of sin gone, the penalty of sin gone, and the assurance of a place in heaven.
He has made him sin for us. He knew no sin. The Lord Jesus knew no sin. But tonight, the one who has made sin is absolutely sufficient and able to be your savior. God's way of salvation. We can be reconciled.
That means brought back. We can be made righteous. That means made right with God because of this clear, simple way of salvation. But I have to hurry because I want to leave time for my brother. Let me just mention the day of salvation, the day of salvation.
You know when the day of salvation is? It's not even today. It's now. It's now. God doesn't say you've got until midnight to get saved. God says, behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.
I can never read this verse without thinking of our brother. Many of you don't know him. Older ones will remember him, Mr. Sidney Maxwell. He when he read this verse and he would say that really a better translation is now is the day of loving welcome, a day when God is welcoming sinners, opening his arms and opening his heaven to welcome souls to come.
So think just with me for a moment of the the way this verse is. Behold, the priority God is demanding. God is calling to sinners. It's interesting that there are other translations of the Bible, as you well know.
There's the New King James. There's the ESV. But no one has ever found a better word than beholds. And all of those versions, it's the same word. Behold, it's as though it can't be improved on. God is crying out, calling for people's attention because we live in a world of mass distractions.
Everything. I think some of you probably right now are worrying already. Do I have any new messages on my cell phone? Any new Twitters? Any any new feeds that I've got to check? And as soon as the meeting is over, I'm going to check in and see.
And I mean, I'm I'm quite anxious myself because I can't get cell service. And I'm wondering what's going on. I've got an uncle in Philadelphia on the point of death and I've got to take care of him. And so I'm affected by it as well.
We live in a world of distractions. A number of years ago, the Washington Post, that's a Washington, D .C. newspaper, hired a man by the name of Joshua Bell. Now, most of you wouldn't know who Joshua Bell is, but he is considered probably the greatest classical violinist in the world.
They hired Joshua Bell to go down into one of the subway stations and with his violin and to play classical music at rush hour in the morning. Now, people were paying 100 to 200 dollars a ticket to go sit and listen to him in the National Symphony.
But here he was, free of charge, playing his violin for the audiences. And they remarked about how people just passed him by, rushing to work, reading their newspapers, earbuds in their ears, listening to their music.
And there he was playing and thousands of people just passed him by, just distracted with all of the busyness of life, with all of the sidelines of life, listening to their earbuds, having their earbuds and listening to their music and reading their papers and twittering away and everyone distracted.
We live in a world full of distractions. It's virtually impossible. Now, my brother is far more eloquent than I, but it's virtually impossible for us to actually hold the attention of an audience for an hour.
Your minds are drifting already, thinking of school on Monday and friends and things you have to do, and we're all the same. But just trying to get individuals to actually pay attention, God almost screams, behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation. God defines the opportunity. It's now, not later. Now, we're not here calling for altar calls or hands being raised, none of that. But we are telling you, in light of what the Word of God says in faithfulness to the truth of God, behold, now is the day of salvation.
This very minute, this very meeting is when you will have to make some choice to pursue God's salvation, to bow to what the Word of God says, or just to find some way of, in your mind, rationalizing another time, another meeting, another date, another message, another preacher, some way of just handling, how will I get out of this?
How will I somehow evade God's clear, simple declaration that now is the day of salvation for me? If I miss it now, I may never get it. If I miss this opportunity, it may not come again, because God says now is the day of salvation.
God defines, God limits, God declares, now is the day of salvation. I already mentioned that God is a God who has a loving welcome. You may think that the reason you're not saved is somehow God is reluctant, that God is holding out, that God is being difficult.
You know, you've tried, you've believed, you've read tracts, you've tried to put your name in verses, you've done everything you can do to try to get this salvation, and in your mind, God is somehow, He's holding out.
This verse tells me that God is a God of loving welcome. God is a God who longs to see you saved. Your parents may shed tears. Those that gather in prayer meetings before our gospel meeting may shed tears.
But there's no one who wants to see you saved as much as the God of heaven. He gave everything. He gave his son that you might be saved. He paid a tremendous price in his son to make it possible for you to be saved.
It is the season of loving welcome. This very night, this very night is the season when God is ready to welcome you into his family. But remember, it's his way, not your way. God's way of salvation, because of what Christ has accomplished upon Calvary, to save men and women, boys and girls from an eternity of perishing in their sins in hell.
Very, very real, very solemn, very sobering. But again, not just the way of salvation, but the day of salvation. Let me just leave you with this. Can do no better than quote what we have already read.
Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.