Salvation Is of the Lord — Rolfe Barnard

Salvation Is of the Lord in Jonah

This morning is the Book of Jonah. The Book of Jonah, chapter 2. The Book of Jonah, chapter 2. They want to speak on the Bible's doctrines this morning, that salvation is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord.

I want to bring a companion Bible message tonight. I know we'll do that, but we will. On the Bible teaching that it is in the wealth and wealth of the Scripture that we're not sown among thorns, and we're not to give poor things to dogs or cats, furrows before swine.

That message naturally, as a Bible message, would follow the message this morning. And the two together introduce us to the most important thing as church people we face. Somebody, I think, has well said that the best way on earth to hide from God on a church is to go through the motions and never face reality.

The Deadness of Churches and the Need for Reality

There's a fear for evangelism in the membership of our churches. I believe this generation of baptists, you included, want to believe in the Lord. I don't think you do, but I think you'd like to. I think some of you might be titled seekers after the Lord.

I hope someday you'll find it. But you see, we've made fun of God's salvation so long. One of the great and distinguishing marks of the fundamentalists for the last 30 years is we've made fun of salvation by grace.

We've had preachers going all over the country and making fun of the truth that we're just beginning some of us to learn now. The Bible's been true all the time. The preachers from the Congo are notwithstanding.

First, last, in the beginning, in the middle, in the ending, Alpha and Omega, salvation is utterly, in entirety. We haven't been willing to believe it. Just down to the surface. We've sold the country down, filled our churches full of people that honest to God think they saved themselves.

We've been in terrible shape. They had to hurt in the business to do them safe. And tonight, our chickens are coming home to roost. We're going to talk about how we've sold that stuff down. And now, instead of having churches full of people, we talk in scriptural language, and they say, Well, I have told before, but I have seen mercy.

And again, by talking that way, it is I trust in Jesus. We will obtain the life's precious things. We've obtained it. We didn't have it. God gave it to us. God, we have attained it. Instead of having lamb, testimony, stand up and say, I love the world, I think I'm going to hold my faith before the end.

Turn over my grave. They've listened to us talk so unscripturally. It betrays the condition of our hearts. But thank God that I have spoken. I have a message this morning on the truth. Salvation is a logistic.

Examine your own heart. It was God's salvation, the way you and God got together, and He did part of you that you have. Mixed it up and stirred it and called it salvation. Individualized and transformed the person so he is a new person.

His own desolation and accomplishment of that is a gift to him, which is of the Lord. You know, God came, and it's interesting, they built a doctrine of backsliding on the subject of Jonah. But the scriptures do not call him a prophet to start with.

They said he was a man who could call his daddy's name, and God came and told him, go down to Nineveh and prophesy against it. And he did just like every other unregenerated church member or unregenerated priest.

He said, I ain't going to do it. Not going to do it. You see, a child of God just won't rebel against God. Centurial, but a Christian won't. Now, a Christian's not perfect, but he wants to be. And he doesn't make perfect stripes, but a child's too.

But there's no such thing as a Christian telling God he ain't going to do something. Oh, sir, he's learned better now. He's learned better now. So there was one saved man by the name of Jonah. He said, I ain't going to do it.

Jonah’s Prayer from the Depths

And so God turned him over to some people in a storm and to a fish. And he went down and took a ship to go to Tarsus just as far away from God as he could get. And God interfered. Thank the Lord. He ran right in and interfered with me.

And he found out it's all of God. It's not what you and God worked up together, it's God's work. Let's listen to the language of this man, Jonah, down in the belly of a fish. It's recorded in chapter 2, verse 1.

Then Jonah, Jonah, because he wasn't there before. But then, this is better. And here's the kind of thing he did. He said, season of my affliction. Only reason he cried unto the Lord is because he's in deep trouble.

Nobody ever will call on God until he gets in deep trouble. It's not bagging on you, brother. But if you can get out of it, you ain't going to have nothing to do with God. You'll trust me until you find out I'm not worth trusting, you see.

But you won't trust God. We're just born that way. We're just made that way. Don't tell me, don't tell me that God's going to put him in a grave. And God's raising from the dead. He was wondering what's going to happen.

No, sir. And he got in deep trouble. And he cried. And when he cried, God heard him in that grave. And the most truthful thou hast cast me into the deep and the midst of the seas. And the flood compassed me about.

All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I'm cast out of thy sight. Yet will I look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about there. He had the belly of the fish. He was of the soul.

The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottom of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption?

Oh, Lord. Let me read that again. I've bound to read that wrong, that last phrase. He said three-fourths of it. And I left you with all the fourths. And working together, I got out of the pit. No, I didn't read that way, did I?

Huh? No, sir. He said I was in this. But thou hast brought up my life from corruption. Oh, Lord, my God. When my soul fainted within me. Then I remembered the Lord. And until then. I came unto thee and to thine holy temple.

On days of a job, I am glad at land if it's for sake, power, and mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with a voice of thanksgiving. I'll pay that that I have vowed. Salvation. And tell old Jonah who saved him, brother.

What part old Jonah played in it. All thought he was. He was in a mess. To him and here. This morning. Can ever live at one time. On the face of this earth. 24 hours a day in their heart. They've gone by.

Spiritual Hunger and the Need for God’s Intervention

We can use now. I've used them all up. Proclaim in this world today. And I think I'm speaking the truth. I wouldn't know. Separated. But I just. That's it. That's it. That's some people. With the names on the roll.

Of the church membership. That's it. Speak God almighty words. And you've ever been. Brother. Speak to that face. 10 years ago. I'm talking about churches everywhere else. But the deadness and the sameness.

And the going through the motions. And the whistling by the graveyard. That keep us from going crazy. My God. We are being shut up to the fact. That we need God. To intervene. We can't go on much longer.

Going through the motions. Because the scripture says. I pour out. Water on first. The first thing that takes place. Before blessing. Deep concern. And a deep thirst. And a deep need. And I thank God.

Brother Wilson. I know about you. It's been a good long while now. Since I met a cocky preacher. Brother. We've got all the cockiness. Knocked out of us. We need God. We need the presence. Of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In our church. Because I've got a lot more to be learned. In the school of trouble. Hearing this story of Jonah. There's a way of a lot more. Than just being in the bed of a whale. And getting out of it.

I want to introduce to your thinking then. What this true salvation of the Lord really is. Oh Jonah. Climbing to the Lord. Experiencing the power of God. And I'm greatly concerned. About that expression.

When did you switch. It used to be. That saved. That meant he got in vital touch. With supernatural power. He had access to strength. That wasn't his own. It means only a man saved. Unless he's been saved.

Salvation Entirely Belongs to the Lord

In the beginning. From the nation of the kingdom of God. Eternal happiness. Is of God. It requires nobody else to lead. Unless the grandmother dies. Church. And we. In church people today. Have been listening.

And didn't even need God. To be. Therefore we don't need the church. Campaign. Every time we have one. Gets us a little worse. Than we did. Than we were before. And we're hiring somebody. To manufacture a new church member.

In the face of tenure. That God Almighty is displeased. And Christ investing our services now. We do not face the fact. That it is impossible. For anybody to get saved. Unless God saves them. And if we believe that.

We'd have churches. That knew how to bombard. The throne of glory. And ask God for souls. Better than a Baptist church. In North Carolina. That isn't. Making a mockery out of the truth. That only the Holy Ghost.

Can open the eyes of sin. Melt their wicked heart. And change their perverted wills. And make Jesus Christ. Real to the inmost being. We thought we could trick people. Into the kingdom of God. It can't be done.

It can't be done. And if that's a good role. It's planning a salvation. The plan of salvation. Could not have conceived it. The plan of salvation. Older than angels. Was the law. That of the Lord. And God.

Done it all. And said. And could have mercy. But by one hope. That of mercy. For in black souls. The wash. Was still. From the veins. Of the Lord Jesus Christ. From that stream. No blood of noble. Confesses in heroes.

Of the cross. Even into the river. Of the foam. Christ the good blessed person. Is in power. Of his work. Saving. Work of God. In Christ. Unhated. Jesus. Did all. The debt. I hold. Sin. Had left. The crimson stain.

He washed it. By the snow. Salvation. Not in the world. Of the Lord. Entirely. And being. We couldn't have called that. Salvation. Of the Lord. Entirely. But being executed. By. He was not hurt. Nobody hated him.

Salvation. Was entirely. Of the Lord. In the application. Of it. And God says. It's of the Lord. In so much. As he does. To man. All that he can do. Then he asks. If you do anything. To contribute. These words.

Faith Comes Through the Word and Prayer

Come to me. To preach. That God. Did something. And ran off. Now he's wise. To preach. Even through the voices. Of men. And I believe. He still. For faith. Coming. Men don't have it. Faith. Coming. But God.

Doesn't give it. How to do it. In faith. By hearing. And going. To the word of God. Ladies and gentlemen. I believe. What the call of the gospel. To be. For anybody. To pray. I've been told. For thirty years.

God bless your head. I don't need it. She had never. Watched her. Till this night. Talked to God. About her boy. I believe. He started again. Of a preaching. Of this age. Some will say. I can't believe it.

I still believe. Yeah. But some of them still know how to pray. And say O God. My boy's lost. And he's tired and. He's bitter and. He's wounded. And he's confused and he's. This and he's that. And they all go O God.

You do something. You do something. I believe. That old wayheaded woman. Still thinks. God's right. But he's still. In this business of dealing with sinners. And I believe. Maybe she will. But she'll kind.

My boy. Because faith. He cooked his own food. There was a bull by the road that came out of the I .T. And they all fired on us and fought off that messenger. If God ever saved you, you'd have a cripple, you'd be good.

They locked him in and killed all of them. Just don't give him a break. The trouble you take is to be the poor people praising themselves. It gives all the glory to God. You say, God save me, praise God.

God forbid that I should go around the cross and pray. For the first time, when Jacob came, they said, You're a blessed man. I still believe in that kind of God. I wish our churches did, oh, God. Watch your workers and do personal work and house-to-house campaign.

God Must Raise the Dead and Save Sinners

That's all, all of them, all of them done. They don't give a hoot. They've got to take pride in the religion or something. They ain't interested in what we've done. Oh, God. You interfere. The street, walk through us.

Boy, I'm telling you, it's been 40, 50 years since we've had English. Just about no church member going to the same kind of hell on transformed life. But we believe the work that God Almighty has done.

We believe God had to do it. We could go prayerful churches. Well, the fellow named Saul, he's going down. He says, Oh, get out. He's going up and down the country saying that fellow Jesus was the son of God and that he'd been raised from the dead.

I'm going to wipe that back some of the stuff off the face of the earth, so help me God. He assumes a mask just to put some more people in danger. But the God of the Bible. I still believe in prayer and good God.

You can interfere with your boy. He's a jackrabbit. He's a member of your church and lives like the devil chances are. The answer is in our church. Mission is of the Lord. And it's being conceived by him, executed by him, and being sustained by him.

Perseverance and the Spirit’s Sustaining Work

The stock of grace given for all of life, but day by day as life does not make himself spiritually alive, so neither can he keep himself so. Watch it. A man can feed on spiritual food, walk in the commandments, but still the inner life is dependent on the spirit.

Jesus for his first beginning. No man of himself, even when he's converted, has any power except as that power is daily, constantly, and perpetually infused into him by the Spirit. And then the ultimate perfection of salvation is of the Lord.

He did all this to the praise of the Lord. One day he's going to show off his work. Many years ago I was in New York City in a meeting in the past that said, if you've got some time today I want to show you something, see if you've got sense enough to see what I'm talking about.

That's what he said. He took me to the site where the first world fair in New York was held, and he says this on the dump, the city dump. 50 years, that's been the city dump. And it's a beautiful building.

It's an Augustinian that is built on the city dump. He says the same thing. I said, I see a thievin' too, and he said, every rich and much, or a great love, ever that love that's puttin' us together, in heaven with God, by grace he is saved.

And he showers his blessings and love upon us that in the ages to come he might show to this kind of people in the creatures house the joys of heaven. Some say, but I'd better have nobody more. People must cast their crowns before Jesus.

He made knowledge that he did it all. In the Lord's wonderful heaven, when grace shall have done its work, and it's now to save us all the world. It's this wonderful truth about the things of the Lord.

God’s Grace, Not Human Merit

God's paper to the barrel. Some say salvation, one's natural temperament. Strangely enough, the most unlikely are saved, and the most likely are lost. Bootlegger down there, he'd rather get saved. That nice, moral man's a deacon in the church.

But not many. Some, but not many. Not many. He passed by that one fellow's knife. It's the goodness of God. The story of the attempt to rescue King Charles when Carmel had him in jail. Finally, they cut his head off, you know.

Tried to rescue all Chrisbrook. And they got everything, and found a way to the center. You better listen to me, I'm digging against this stuff they've called auspicion that's damning this country and fixed our churches so we've got no power with God or influence with men.

Listen to me. If the king could give himself life, he wouldn't have to tell a story to St. Dennis. They cut his head off. And after they cut his head, cleaned off his head, they found him 2 ,000 miles from the body.

He said, that's nothing personal. The king thought he knew how he took the first step. Do you get it? If you come out, and sit on the top of the ground, it's sinking sand. Don't come halfway and say, you meet me halfway, we'll work this thing out.

Just let your heart be safe. He don't say something, you take the first step, now we kill. That's a terrible thing, you can't take that step. He said, there's a toenail, and you're flying with your back, and you're responsible as all to get out.

You know what, that can't change. The poor old pastor said, I want you to meet the Father. He said, baby, we never did. I was going to win, sir, but I caught it by me. We do everything but pray. God, help us, we get out of Asia.

We've been getting along without God a long time. How much longer do you think we'll make it? Make it till your walk says, and you walk fast. We need soldiers, and to bombard the throne of God, and talk to the only one who can change the sinner's will, and who can take the steels off his eyes, and who can, and who can set him to seek the Lord, until he finds out preaching to shut sinners up.

If there's nothing on God, just a sinner can do, except to run. You know, it's a blessed paradox, and I must go. Creation was a God. You can achieve it. You can't help it. You can't contribute to it. You see what I'm saying?

If we wouldn't have revival all over America, we'd go back to praising the Lord. Testimonies are here, praising our Savior. He's not bragging on himself. That's what he's bragging on the Lord. Just look what grace can do to man.

I've destroyed myself. I've made a source out of my soul. I can run around to God. Remember, you must believe. If you die and go there, it's just God's grace. Your heart that despised my promise, is impoverished.

The Hope of Heaven and the Song of Redemption

He tells of how he finally reached the door of the gates, and they let him in. And he said as soon as he got inside, he could hear such singing. And he said, he did what? As he came nearer and nearer, he could hear them sing.

How beautiful the music. He kept walking. And yet he kept walking. He couldn't see. He wandered, but he kept walking. He said the music got sweeter and sweeter. Then he said, I did see that there was somebody's name written on that seat.

And I kept walking. And then I did see it was my name. He said I did sit me down in the seat with my name on it. It had been reserving for me. He said sit me down. And I did take up the music. And he said I did not miss a note.

He said, thank God, I knew the tune. And singing it filled them with. It was the song of Moses, slain by God's holder and of the Lamb by Christ's precious new King. God grant for our churches to learn the tune again.

It is the God who thrills us by the thought of a man who is to the point of despair and burdened by distress when he delivered the matter of that troubled journey in him.