Romans: Justification, Faith, and Imputed Righteousness: Sola Fide And Justification

So You Think You're Saved - Part 2 of 2

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2021-12-15

Synopsis: In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver continues his examination of genuine salvation, emphasizing that salvation requires a surety, a substitute, a sacrifice, and satisfaction. Using the story of Judah as a surety for Benjamin, he illustrates how Jesus Christ fulfills each of these roles. He warns against false assurance based on feelings, baptism, or good works, and stresses that salvation is an objective work of Christ alone, not dependent on human effort. The sermon calls listeners to examine themselves and flee to Christ as the only Savior.

[John Weaver] Mark chapter 10, and we're going to try to take up where we left off last week. Mark chapter 10, we'll begin reading with verse 17 and read through verse 27. The title of the message is, So You Think You Are Saved, Part 2. So notice, if you would, Mark 10, verse 17. And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled unto him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God. In other words, if I'm good, I'm God. And if I'm God, you don't come running into my presence demanding something. But then he answered him, thou knowest the commandments.

[John Weaver] Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and thy mother.' And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him, One thing thou lackest, go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come take up thy cross and follow me.

[John Weaver] And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about and said unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven. And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and said unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them, saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God. For with God all things are possible.

[John Weaver] If you will remember last week I began this message by telling you that it would be absolutely hilarious some of the responses that I have received over the years to the question, Are you saved or are you a Christian? if it was not such a serious subject. And yet the truth of the matter is so many people think indeed they are Christians, when in reality they are not. Years ago, even when R.A.

[John Weaver] Torrey was alive, R.A. Torrey came up with the figure, he said 90% of all church members were lost. And recently, another modern day preacher has made the same statement. I knew another pastor who is now dead. He had 5,000 people in his congregation, and he made the statement, if 500 of them got to heaven, he would be happy. Wow. So I'm just saying that there are a lot of people who depend upon their baptism. They depend upon their church membership. They depend upon their good deeds. They depend upon their genealogy. They depend upon a lot of things other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] And last week I covered one point, and that is the fact that you needed, in real genuine salvation, a surety. And the reason you needed a surety was simply because the wages of sin is death. And there's no way in the world that a sinner can pay that debt and live, that is for sure. And so I'll repeat this again a little bit later, but the surety, of course, is the sponsor. The surety is the man who stands good for the payment. shared with you from the Old Testament where Judah was standing in assurity for Benjamin when, of course, the famine was so great. Jacob said, take a little money, go back and buy some more corn. And the boy said, no, dad, it's not going to work like that, because he said, unless we had Benjamin with us, we would not see his face. And Jacob said, why did you even tell him you had a brother?

[John Weaver] Well, he asked, how would we know? He asked about our father. He asked about our brother. And Judah said, I'll be surety for him. If I do not bring him back, then I'll bear the blame forever. And of course, you remember how then the cup, Joseph's cup was found in Benjamin's sack. And of course, they took them back. And then Judah is the man who said to Joseph, I was surety for Benjamin.

[John Weaver] So let me stay in his place as a bond slave. and let the child go back to his father because the father will die without him. So he was willing to be a surety.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to pick up today and tell you that it's been said that there are three surprises that will await one in heaven. The first surprise is that you will be surprised to see some folks there that you thought would never, ever be there. The second surprise is you would You will find some folks missing that you thought would be there. And the third one is that you would be surprised even for the fact that you were there yourself. And so obviously then there will be some surprises.

[John Weaver] We need another chair over there, Steve. So the truth of the matter is this. I can understand the first two. I can understand the first two. But for the third one, it may be true with some folks that they may be surprised to be there. But the truth of the matter is this, if you're really, truly, and genuine Christian, you should not be surprised to be in the presence of God.

[John Weaver] Let me show you why. If you will turn in your Bibles very quickly to 1 John 5, 1 John 5, and look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 9, 1 John 5, verse 9. Watch this carefully. The Word of God says, if we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. So many times you believe men when they witness and testify. He said, if you receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son. Now watch carefully. And this is the record that God had given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."

[John Weaver] So he says these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life. We have the witness of God. So a real true Christian should not be surprised to be in the presence of God when he dies, because obviously God does not play games. And the life, death, resurrection, and the person work of Jesus Christ is real and genuine. It certainly is not a game. The Apostle Paul said it correctly in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 12 when he says this,"...for the witchcause also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." So he said, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded.

[John Weaver] Now the word persuaded in the Greek is the word patho, and it means to be persuaded in, to believe in, to have confidence in. So the Apostle Paul said, I have extreme confidence. I have extreme trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and I know that He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him. So the truth is this. Our lives should demonstrate the fact of our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we truly believe in Him, if we love Him, if we live according to His Word, our lives should be more and more conformed to that Word.

[John Weaver] So here is what He said in 1 John 4 and verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect.

[John Weaver] Now listen, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so are we in this world. As He is, so are we in this world. In other words, our lives are being shaped according to Him. In other words, if we are going to be fully conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in eternity, obviously that conformity begins in our regeneration and in our conversion.

[John Weaver] You remember what he said in Romans 8 and verse 29, for whom he did foreknow. Then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among any brethren. So we have been predestinated to be conformed perfectly, fully, completely to the image of Jesus Christ in eternity, and obviously that conformity even begins now.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 John 2. I read this passage last week, but just to emphasize what I'm saying, let me point this same truth out again. In 1 John 2, beginning there with verse 3, because we're talking about conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments. So how in the world do I know that I know the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer is, My life is being guided and directed by His commandments. Now look at verse 4. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Now verse 5.

[John Weaver] But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him.

[John Weaver] Now here's verse 6,"...he that saith he abideth in him," that is, he that says he's a true Christian and in abiding in him,"...ought himself also to walk even as he walked." So the truth of the matter is this, if we are real, true, genuine Christians, our lives will be continually being conformed to the Word of God. As God gives us more light, As God shows us our sins and enables us to repent and turn from them, we should become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] So many today, I think indeed that they are saved, but they've never ever really understood or realized the two-fold nature of salvation. It is true that salvation is from sin, which I pointed out last week. Matthew 1 in verse 21, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. But salvation is not only a turning from sin and a saving from sin, it's also a turning to God to serve Him. For instance, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 8 through 10, the Apostle Paul wrote these Thessalonians and he said, For from you sounded out the word of God, not only in Macedonia, but also in Achaia, but also in every place your faith is spread abroad."

[John Weaver] Listen to this,"...so that we need not teach anything." In other words, they had witnessed to the truth so greatly, the Apostle Paul said, we don't even need to preach and teach when we get there. You've told everyone about the grace of God. Then he goes on to say this,"...for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, how you turned to God from idols, that's the negative, to serve the living and true God, that's the positive, and to wait for His Son from heaven. Wow. So he said salvation isn't only a turning from sin, it is also a turning to God.

[John Weaver] So I pointed out in the first message then that we needed a surety. And remember I told you the word surety referred to a sponsor, a bondsman, one that pledges himself on behalf of another. I also said that the surety is one who guarantees payment. He takes the place of the individual who cannot pay. And I said last week that this point, that of suretyship, is connected closely with the next point, which I'm going to cover today. And that is, just as Judah was a surety for Benjamin, he also became the substitute. because he told Joseph, let the child go. I'll stay in his place. I'll be the slave. I'll be the servant in his place. So salvation only requires a surety. Salvation also requires a substitute.

[John Weaver] Now, usually it's the pride, arrogance and haughtiness of man who will say, well, I don't need to substitute. I will pay my own way. The truth of the matter is this. And it's very simple. If you try to pay your own way, you will end up in eternal misery, for it's impossible to pay that which you owe. So let me ask this question. Why does a sinner need a substitute? Well, the first and obvious answer is because he's a sinner. Not only because he's a sinner, but also because he is liable to death. You must remember Romans 6 and verse 23 when he said the wages of sin is death. So it's impossible then for a sinner to pay that debt and live. If physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, then eternal death or spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God forever. So let me put it very plainly. You cannot be saved without a surety, and your surety It's also your substitute. And therefore, salvation without a substitute is impossible.

[John Weaver] So you remember that passage, Mark 10, verse 27, we just read it. When our Lord said that they that trust in riches shall not enter into the kingdom of God, the disciples were astonished and said, who then can be saved? Then in verse 27, our Lord said with men, it, salvation is impossible. but not with God, for with God all things are possible." So each sinner then owes God honor, glory, worship, and praise. Why does he owe God honor, worship, glory, and praise? And the answer is, because he's the creature of God. The Creator is superior to the creature, and the creature owes his very existence to the Creator. If it was not for the Creator, the creature would not even exist at all. So he owes God very clearly.

[John Weaver] Not only that, since he is a sinner, that means he has violated God's law. He's broken God's commandments. And now he owes God repentance because of his sin and his grievousness. So the very first reason is because man is a sinner. The second reason is because you need a substitute, is because the law of God demands three things of every individual. The law of God demands a personal obedience, a perfect obedience, and a perpetual obedience. In the Bible, in Galatians 3 and verse 10, the Bible says this, For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse of the law. And then he goes on to say this, For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all the things that are written in this law. So every sinner, every individual owes God a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. So the curse then comes through disobedience. So, have you disobeyed the law of God? Have you violated the law of God? Have you transgressed the law of God?

[John Weaver] And the answer is yes, a thousand times yes. What does that mean? It means you're condemned to death. It means you're guilty. It means you're a sinner. It means you're a transgressor. It means you're a rebel. But some are going to argue, but you don't understand. I've changed my life. Doesn't that count for something? And the answer is no. Absolutely not. Let me give you the illustration. Suppose that today you became absolutely perfect.

[John Weaver] You never sinned again in thought, word, or deed. You were absolutely perfect from right now to the day that you died. Would that count for something? No. Because what about all those sins you committed before you got perfect? They would have to be paid for. And if you don't have a substitute, that means you would have to pay for them. You remember that passage in Isaiah 64 and verse 6, where he said this, Now, here's an amazing and astounding thing about our substitutes.

[John Weaver] So let's suppose, just for an illustration, let's suppose that Steve owes me an exorbitant amount of money. I mean, he owes me a lot. And I come to him and I say, Steve, I need my money. I want my money. And you owe me this money. So I want it and I want it now. And Steve says, well, I don't have it. I can't pay you now. And I look at Steve and say, Steve, let me tell you something. If you don't get that money for me now, you will never live to regret it.

[John Weaver] Is that a plain enough threat? Let's suppose Clay happens to be walking by, and he hears me threaten Steve. Here's this enormous amount of money that Steve owes me. And so Clay being kind-hearted and generous comes to me and says, look, I don't want to see Steve suffer. I don't want to see him get beaten to death. And I am willing to pay his debt. And I look at Clay and I say, who are you? Mister, you're sticking your nose in the business that you don't even know anything about. Get out of my sight. This man owes me money, not you. And I'm going to get it from him if I have to skin every inch of his body. Now, you see what I'm saying? Clay doesn't owe me. Steve owes me. You follow me? Now, let's go a little bit further. If I voluntarily said to Clay, well, money's money. Yeah, I'll take your money and let him go.

[John Weaver] That'd just be graciousness on my part. Because Clay didn't owe me anything. Steve owes me. Have you ever stopped to think that God was willing to take a substitute? In the absolute justice of God, God could have demanded, Steve, you pay me. Clay, you pay me. John, you pay me. James, you pay me. In other words, He could have demanded injustice that every one of us give Him exactly what we owe Him. And the amazing thing is that God was willing to accept a substitute. Here is the next marvelous and extraordinarily amazing thing. God was not only willing to accept a substitute, He provided the substitute Himself. He gave His only begotten Son.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 22, and let me show you a passage. I preached on this text many, many years ago, and it still astounds me every time I think about it. This is the passage where God has told Abram, He's testing Abram, to go and sacrifice Isaac, his only begotten son. Well, he had Ishmael, but he was the only son of Sarah. And so Abraham rose up early in the morning and started to the place where God told him to go and sacrifice Isaac. So they're going to the place, and if you look in Genesis 22 and verse 7, and Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and he said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son.

[John Weaver] And he said, behold, the fire and the wood. But where's the lamb for burnt offering? In other words, we got to have an offering. We got everything we need, but the offering. And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself for a burnt offering. So they went both of them together.

[John Weaver] Now, you need to pay attention to what the Bible does not say. As well as what it does say. In verse eight. Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself. He did not say, God will provide for himself. He said, God will provide himself. In other words, God will give God to be the sacrifice. Do you know, the Bible says in John 1 and verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

[John Weaver] And we beheld its glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And then when you get to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Listen, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory." What did he say? And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. What did God do? God gave God. He gave His only begotten Son. He gave the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is our substitute. He's the only one qualified to be our substitute. Salvation not only demands a surety, it demands a substitute. And Judah being surety for Benjamin became the substitute. Not only did he become the substitute, listen carefully, he would have also become the sacrifice.

[John Weaver] What am I talking about? Well, because once he became the bond slave of Joseph, that meant he was never going home again, never seeing his family again. He was sacrificing His life for the life of Benjamin. Which brings me to the third point. Salvation not only requires a surety, salvation requires a substitute, but salvation also requires a sacrifice. Now, it does not mean that any sacrifice will do. So many people say, well, I'll sacrifice a chicken, I'll sacrifice a bullock, I'll sacrifice anything. No, no, no, no. No sacrifice is acceptable unless it has been ordained by God. Listen to this. Even those sacrifices that were ordained by God, when they were presented in an unlawful or a wicked manner, were still unacceptable to God, and He refused them.

[John Weaver] For instance, if you will look in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse 10. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 10. Before we read verse 10, let me point out verse 1, because He is here speaking to Judah and Jerusalem. He says this the vision of Isaiah the son of Amos which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah So we know he's talking to Judah and Jerusalem, but look how he addresses them in verse 10 He says hear the word of the

[John Weaver] Lord you rulers of Sodom Give ear unto the law of our God you people of Gomorrah. So he's calling Judah and Jerusalem Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness and because of their sins.

[John Weaver] Now look at verse 11. "'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?' saith the LORD. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and of the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand to tread my courts?

[John Weaver] Bring no more vain, that is, useless, worthless oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot await with it. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.

[John Weaver] Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." Let me ask you a question. Who appointed the new moons? Who appointed the Sabbaths? Who appointed the sacrifices? God did.

[John Weaver] But He was rejecting everything these people offered Him because of their wickedness, their rebellion, their sinfulness, their transgression of His law. He said, I'm not going to have it. I refuse it. It is unacceptable to me. I will not have it. Do you understand that all of the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings were ordained by God the Father? Yes. And they pointed to the perfect and the full and final sacrifice, who is Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God who takes away our sins. Consequently, those people in the Old Testament who abused and misused and despised the God-ordained sacrifices were not simply disparaging the symbolical and emblematical construct. They were despising God and the ordained sacrifices and also the true sacrifice which they represented, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, there's a principle that everyone can enunciate when it comes to sacrificing. And that's found in Hebrews 9 and verse 22, where the Bible says,"...and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission." So a sacrifice is required.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, and hold Hebrews, we will be there for just a few minutes. Look at Hebrews chapter 10, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. We'll read through verse 10, and find out something about those Old Testament sacrifices. Hebrews 10 verse 1, For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." Note, if you would please, he talks about all of these sacrifices as being a shadow and not the very image.

[John Weaver] In other words, they were not the reality. I've pointed this out before. If I'm in the shadow of a tree, that does not mean that I'm in the tree. The shadow is just the image of the tree. So our Lord is saying that all these Old Testament sacrifices were nothing more than images or shadows. Look at verse 2. He said, They could not make anyone perfect, for then would they not have ceased to be offered. In other words, if they could make you perfect, they would never be offered anymore, because that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices, that is Levitical system, There is a remembrance again made of sins every year.

[John Weaver] For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith," talking about Jesus Christ,"'Sacrifice an offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I lo I come in the volume of the book. It is written to me to do thy will O God above When he said sacrifice an offering and burn offering and offering for sin thou wouldest not neither had pleasure therein which are offered by the law Then said he lo I come to do thy will O God He take it away the first that is Levitical sacrifices that he may establish the second That is His full and final sacrifice. By the which will, that is the will of Jesus Christ, we are sanctified through the offerings of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So, a permanent sacrifice was needed to deal permanently with the sin problem. The Levitical sacrificial system could not deal permanently with the sin problem.

[John Weaver] Because those sacrifices had to be repeated over and over and over. And when they were repeated, there was a consciousness, there was a remembrance of sin. It's only when Jesus Christ came, He dealt with the sin problem once and for all.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to remember something. Because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, there will never, ever be the need of another sacrifice. Hebrews 10 beginning there now with verse 11. And every priest standeth daily ministering. We're talking about the Levitical system now. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." Notice he made one sacrifice for sin forever. If you look back to Hebrews 9 and verse 28, look at what is said there. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin and salvation. Note this word once. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. In fact, the Bible tells you in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, for even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.

[John Weaver] So Jesus Christ is the true fulfillment of all of those Passover lambs, beginning in Exodus 12, All the way forward, all they did was picture the perfect work of Jesus Christ. So the only sacrifice, the only true sacrifice, the only perfect sacrifice is the Lord Jesus Christ. And to reject Him is to reject salvation. To despise Him is to despise salvation.

[John Weaver] Now, let me point out, Judah became surety for Benjamin. That meant he became Benjamin's substitute. That meant he also became Benjamin's sacrifice. In other words, he would suffer in Benjamin's place while Benjamin went free. So here's the next point. Listen, let's follow it. Follow. Salvation requires a surety. Salvation requires a substitute. Salvation requires a sacrifice. Fourthly, Salvation requires satisfaction. I'm going to tell you this just momentarily.

[John Weaver] If you remember the passage that we read in Isaiah 1, you will find a similar passage in Amos chapter 5, where God said, I hate, I despise your offerings. He was not satisfied with anything that those people gave, because they were giving wrongly, wickedly, and they were still transgressing His Word. I want you to turn back to the book of Malachi chapter 1, the last book in the Old Testament, and I want you to see a similar passage, Malachi chapter 1, where God is refusing the sacrifices. He's not satisfied. Notice if you would, Malachi chapter 1, beginning there with verse 6. God says, a son honored his father and a servant his master. If I then be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where's my fear? In other words, you're not treating me like a father. You're not treating me like a master, saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests that despise my name. And you say, wherein have we despised thy name? Well, God, we don't despise you.

[John Weaver] He says, here's how you despise me. You've offered polluted bread upon mine altar, and you say, Where have we polluted thee? In that you say, the table of the Lord is contemptible. Oh, I hate to have to go to church. I hate to have to sing. I hate to have to listen to the preacher. I hate to have to do this. In other words, the table of the Lord is contemptible.

[John Weaver] I don't even want to be there. Look at what he said in verse 8. And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? They were giving God the worst, not the best. Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts? Give him wormy meat, give him rotted meat, see if he'll accept it. Now, skip down to verse 14. He says, But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and giveth and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen." Wow. So it's not just that you have to have a sacrifice. You have to have a sacrifice that satisfies.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 3, because I want to enlarge upon this and show you the truth concerning Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 3, beginning there with verse 24, I want you to note that Jesus Christ is the context, being justified freely by the grace, freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Now, I want to call your attention, first of all, to verse 25. The Bible says,"...whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation."

[John Weaver] If you ask the average Christian what is a propitiation, they would have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The word propitiation occurs three times in the New Testament. It occurs here in Romans chapter 3. It occurs in 1 John 2 and verse 2, and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but the sins of the whole world. Then it occurs again in 1 John 4 and verse 10, here in His love, not that we loved Him, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now, the Greek word for propitiation is the word helosmos. The word propitiate literally means to appease, to satisfy, to placate, or as we would say, to propitiate.

[John Weaver] You remember in the Old Testament, once a year the high priest went to the holiest of holies and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat. That was a propitiation. That was a sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat. Propitiation does include expiation, which is the washing away of our sins, but the main emphasis on propitiation is satisfaction. God is a holy, righteous, just, and sovereign judge, creator, lawgiver, and father, and He has to be vindicated and appeased.

[John Weaver] So here's a good question. Why did God the Father set forth His Son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation? Let's answer it. Look in your Bibles to verse 25. Here's the first answer. Watch it. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, number one, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.

[John Weaver] Now what is he talking about? Forgiveness of sins that are past? Don't you remember reading in Hebrews chapter 10, how the blood of bulls and goats could NEVER take away sins? So what God did to the Old Testament saints was basically, He forgave them on credit. Until the true and final sacrifice, Jesus Christ came, and all the blood of bulls and goats did was just merely cover their sins, it did not take them away. Only Jesus Christ could do that. So the very first reason God set Him forth is to declare His righteousness in actually forgiving those sins on credit until Christ came. And here's another reason in verse 26, to declare, I say it this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus. Now, here's the interesting thing. God the Father, the Judge of all the earth, did not lower His standards when His Son, Jesus Christ, became the propitiation. Jesus Christ, as our propitiation, gave to God everything that God would have demanded from you and I.

[John Weaver] You remember I told you earlier that the law demanded a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. You know the Bible says in Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5, But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, Why? To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. So Jesus Christ came, made under the law, that He might render to the law that which God required, a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. Now here's what the Bible says concerning Jesus Christ in Isaiah 42 and verse 21. The Bible says, listen carefully, the Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake, He will magnify the law and make it honorable. So Jesus Christ magnified God's law. He made it honorable by showing and demonstrating, yes, it could be kept. So why did God set forth His Son, Jesus Christ, as the propitiation for our sins?

[John Weaver] And the answer is this. It was only the person and work of Jesus Christ that satisfied the righteousness and holiness of God by rendering a perfect obedience to His law. He satisfied the justice of God in that He was perfect, He was obedient, and He was a willing sacrifice for His people. He also received the fullness of God's wrath and the fullness of God's anger in our place, and thus He satisfied the just and righteous anger and wrath of God. Well, it's not only the basis and the foundation for forgiveness and the expiation or washing away of sins, it is the basis of God the Father being satisfied with us. Think about that. As you think about that, I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and look at verse 21. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21. Satisfaction. Jesus Christ had to render to the law of God, to the justice of God, to the holiness of God, to the righteousness of God, satisfaction. And He had to do so in order that God would be satisfied with His people as well.

[John Weaver] Now look at verse 21 of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. For He, that is God the Father, hath made Him, that is God the Son, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." This is imputation. This is a legal, divine act of God. You have to remember that Jesus Christ was personally innocent. He was personally sinless. He offered Himself A sinless sacrifice. He had to be sinless because if he was not sinless, he would have had to have died for his own sins and not ours. Okay? So although he was personally sinless, our sin was imputed to him, charged to him, and thus he was legally, judicially a sinner because he was our substitute. And then guess what God did? God then took that personal, perfect, perpetual obedience, unearned righteousness of Jesus Christ and imputed it to us.

[John Weaver] He placed that upon us. Thus, God was not only satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ, He is now satisfied with us because we stand in the perfect righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to ask you a question. Do you understand the implication of this? Do you understand that this means that we have the same standing before our Heavenly Father as the Lord Jesus Christ does? Just as Jesus Christ was fully accepted and fully satisfied God, thus in Him we are fully accepted and fully satisfied in Christ Jesus. Here's another question. Let me ask you. I'm going to show it to you from the Bible. How do we know that God was satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ? How do we know that? She's ahead of me. If Jesus Christ had been an imposter, God would have never raised Him from the dead. If Jesus Christ had not satisfied God the Father, He would have never been raised from the dead.

[John Weaver] If you'll look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, this occurs over and over in the book of Acts in several passages in the Bible. But look in Acts chapter 2 and verse 32. Look what the Bible says. This Jesus hath God raised up where we are witnesses. The very fact that God raised up His Son proved He was satisfied with Him. Look if you would to Acts chapter 3 and verse 15. Again He says, and kill the prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." Look in chapter 4 and verse 10. "'Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.'" One more, look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1. And look, if you would please, at verses 3 and 4.

[John Weaver] Here's an amazing, astounding truth. By the way, the resurrection of Jesus Christ not only proves that God the Father was satisfied with His work, it also proves that He was the Son of God. Romans 1, verse 3. concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was made of the seed of David according the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." We know that God was satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ because He raised Him from the dead.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make some applications. The first one is this. When you place these truths together, that salvation requires a surety, a substitute, a sacrifice, and a satisfaction, it means that only Jesus Christ can be the Savior. For only Jesus Christ fulfilled every one of these requirements. There is no other Savior. There is no man, no religion, no angel, nor anyone or anything else that can match the wonderful, gracious, merciful work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by me.

[John Weaver] I title this brief series, So You Think You Are Saved. So I come back to that title and I ask this question. If you think you were saved, how were you saved? If you were truly, genuinely saved, you understand it was not your salvation decision that saved you. It was not your experience. It was not your baptism. It was not your good deeds. It was not your church membership. You understand that the only salvation that exists is in the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and His work. Salvation does not depend upon you. Let that sink in. Salvation does not depend upon you. I've had people tell me, but pastor, I don't feel saved. And my response is there's a good reason for that. Salvation is not by feelings.

[John Weaver] You know, I could wake up in the morning singing, happy, I mean, cheerful, and I'd say, wow, isn't it wonderful to feel saved. And I'd wake up the following morning with fever, diarrhea, vomiting, weak, aching, sick, and all of a sudden I don't feel saved, do I? Feelings have nothing to do with salvation. It is true that we are emotional creatures. And it is true that we have feelings. But here's the point. Salvation is an objective reality. It is an objective fact. Salvation was accomplished by Jesus Christ that is outside of us.

[John Weaver] Yes, there are subjective applications. And yes, we have subjective feelings sometimes based upon that perception. But salvation does not depend upon us. It does not depend upon how we feel or what our experience is. It depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, but when I came to Christ, I willingly came to Christ. I turned from my sins. I believed in Him. Yes, you did. But? Who gave you faith? Who gave you repentance?

[John Weaver] Who released your will from the bondage of sin? Who drew you? Everything about salvation is dependent upon the sovereign God of heaven and earth. I remember reading years ago about one man who visited a church. He was in town. It was Wednesday night. He wanted to go to church, and so he went into a Baptist church. And they were having a testimony meeting. And the man stood up and gave a wonderful, glowing testimony of how God saved him through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And when he sat down, the pastor said, Well, that was a wonderful testimony, but I'm sure you had to do your part. To which the man stood back up and said, Yes, sir, I did my part. I furnished the sinner.

[John Weaver] That was all I could do. And that's true. That's all we could do is furnish the sinner. So here's the last one. If you're not truly saved, if the Lord Jesus Christ is not your savior, you must flee to him. You must seek him. You must trust him. You must look to him and look to him alone. I hope sometimes if you've never done it, you will read the conversion experience of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It's a wonderful little experience quote-unquote that is given to us by Spurgeon.

[John Weaver] He was going to church and it was a horrible snowstorm and he had to tread through snow to get to the church. The storm was so bad that the pastor couldn't even get there. In fact there were only a handful of people there. And a deacon stood up to preach. I think the preaching took about ten minutes. And he took his text from Isaiah look unto me all ye ends of the earth and be ye saved." And Deacon said, I'm not much of an expositor and I'm not much of a preacher, but the Bible says, look unto me and be ye saved. He said, now any fool can look.

[John Weaver] He said, all you got to do is open your eyes. And God used that simple little truth for about 10 minutes to convert Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The point I'm trying to make is this. John 6 and verse 37 says it like this,"...all that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." So those who come to the Lord seeking repentance and faith, asking for His mercy and grace, He has promised never ever to cast out. If you come the way He demands, you will only find that He will not cast you out, you will find that you have been given to Him by the Father, and you can rejoice in the person and work of salvation which is found only in Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] So if you think you're saved, you need to examine yourself as we looked at last week and say, do I have a surety? Do I have a substitute? Do I have a sacrifice? Do I have a satisfaction? And if I do, I have a Savior. And that's none other than Jesus Christ. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to see the greatness of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is salvation. With men it is impossible, but not with Thee. Help us, Father, to be thankful and grateful for all that you have done in giving your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our salvation, our surety, our substitute, our sacrifice, and our satisfaction. Thank you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we give thee praise. Amen.

[John Weaver] so so

So You Think You're Saved - Part 2 of 2

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	-eBi3ijpPWI
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Justification, Faith, and Imputed Righteousness: Sola Fide And Justification
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-12-15
Dictation Name
Book	Book 071: So You Think You're Saved — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	74

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Review

Weaver reviews the previous sermon, noting that many people falsely think they are saved, and reiterates the need for a surety, as illustrated by Judah's suretyship for Benjamin.

Mark chapter 10, and we're going to try to take up where we left off last week. Mark chapter 10, we'll begin reading with verse 17 and read through verse 27. The title of the message is, "So You Think You Are Saved, Part 2." So notice, if you would, Mark 10, verse 17:

Scripture Reading — Mark 10:17-27

"And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled unto him and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God."

In other words, if I'm good, I'm God. And if I'm God, you don't come running into my presence demanding something. But then he answered him,

Scripture Reading — Mark 10:17-27

"Thou knowest the commandments."

"Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and thy mother." And he answered and said unto him, "Master, all these have I observed from my youth." Then Jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross and follow me." And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about and said unto his disciples, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven!" And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and said unto them, "Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" And Jesus looking upon them saith, "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."

If you will remember last week I began this message by telling you that it would be absolutely hilarious—some of the responses that I have received over the years to the question, "Are you saved?" or "Are you a Christian?"—if it was not such a serious subject. And yet the truth of the matter is so many people think indeed they are Christians, when in reality they are not. Years ago, even when R.A. Torrey was alive, R.A. Torrey came up with the figure, he said 90% of all church members were lost. And recently, another modern-day preacher has made the same statement. I knew another pastor who is now dead. He had 5,000 people in his congregation, and he made the statement, if 500 of them got to heaven, he would be happy. Wow. So I'm just saying that there are a lot of people who depend upon their baptism. They depend upon their church membership. They depend upon their good deeds. They depend upon their genealogy. They depend upon a lot of things other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

And last week I covered one point, and that is the fact that you needed, in real genuine salvation, a surety. And the reason you needed a surety was simply because the wages of sin is death. And there's no way in the world that a sinner can pay that debt and live, that is for sure. And so I'll repeat this again a little bit later, but the surety, of course, is the sponsor. The surety is the man who stands good for the payment. I shared with you from the Old Testament where Judah was standing as surety for Benjamin when, of course, the famine was so great. Jacob said, "Take a little money, go back and buy some more corn." And the boy said, "No, Dad, it's not going to work like that," because he said, "Unless we had Benjamin with us, we would not see his face." And Jacob said, "Why did you even tell him you had a brother?"

Well, he asked, "How would we know? He asked about our father. He asked about our brother." And Judah said, "I'll be surety for him. If I do not bring him back, then I'll bear the blame forever." And of course, you remember how then the cup, Joseph's cup, was found in Benjamin's sack. And of course, they took them back. And then Judah is the man who said to Joseph, "I was surety for Benjamin." "So let me stay in his place as a bond slave, and let the child go back to his father because the father will die without him." So he was willing to be a surety.

Assurance of Salvation

Weaver explains that true Christians should not be surprised to be in heaven, because Scripture provides assurance through the witness of God and the indwelling Spirit.

We need another chair over there, Steve. So the truth of the matter is this. I can understand the first two. I can understand the first two. But for the third one, it may be true with some folks that they may be surprised to be there. But the truth of the matter is this, if you're really, truly, and genuinely a Christian, you should not be surprised to be in the presence of God. Let me show you why. If you will turn in your Bibles very quickly to 1 John 5, 1 John 5, and look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 9. 1 John 5, verse 9. Watch this carefully. The Word of God says,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 5:9-13

"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater."

So many times you believe men when they witness and testify. He said,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 5:9-13

"If you receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son."

Now watch carefully.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 5:9-13

"And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."

So he says these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life. We have the witness of God. So a real true Christian should not be surprised to be in the presence of God when he dies, because obviously God does not play games. And the life, death, resurrection, and the person and work of Jesus Christ is real and genuine. It certainly is not a game. The Apostle Paul said it correctly in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 12 when he says this, "...for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." So he said, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded."

Now the word "persuaded" in the Greek is the word peitho, and it means to be persuaded in, to believe in, to have confidence in. So the Apostle Paul said, "I have extreme confidence. I have extreme trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and I know that He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him." So the truth is this. Our lives should demonstrate the fact of our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we truly believe in Him, if we love Him, if we live according to His Word, our lives should be more and more conformed to that Word.

Conformity to Christ

Salvation involves being conformed to the image of Christ, evidenced by keeping His commandments and walking as He walked.

So here is what He said in 1 John 4 and verse 17:

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:17

"Herein is our love made perfect."

Now listen,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:17

"that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so are we in this world."

As He is, so are we in this world. In other words, our lives are being shaped according to Him. In other words, if we are going to be fully conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in eternity, obviously that conformity begins in our regeneration and in our conversion. You remember what he said in Romans 8 and verse 29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." So we have been predestinated to be conformed perfectly, fully, completely to the image of Jesus Christ in eternity, and obviously that conformity even begins now.

Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 John 2. I read this passage last week, but just to emphasize what I'm saying, let me point this same truth out again. In 1 John 2, beginning there with verse 3, because we're talking about conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, he said,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-6

"And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments."

So how in the world do I know that I know the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer is, my life is being guided and directed by His commandments. Now look at verse 4:

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-6

"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

Now verse 5.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-6

"But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him."

Now here's verse 6: "He that saith he abideth in him," that is, he that says he's a true Christian and is abiding in him, "ought himself also to walk even as he walked." So the truth of the matter is this, if we are real, true, genuine Christians, our lives will be continually being conformed to the Word of God. As God gives us more light, as God shows us our sins and enables us to repent and turn from them, we should become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. So many today, I think indeed that they are saved, but they've never ever really understood or realized the two-fold nature of salvation. It is true that salvation is from sin, which I pointed out last week. Matthew 1 and verse 21,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 1:21

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins."

But salvation is not only a turning from sin and a saving from sin, it's also a turning to God to serve Him. For instance, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 8 through 10, the Apostle Paul wrote these Thessalonians and he said, "For from you sounded out the word of God, not only in Macedonia, but also in Achaia, but also in every place your faith is spread abroad."

Listen to this: "...so that we need not teach anything." In other words, they had witnessed to the truth so greatly, the Apostle Paul said, "We don't even need to preach and teach when we get there. You've told everyone about the grace of God." Then he goes on to say this: "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, how you turned to God from idols," that's the negative, "to serve the living and true God," that's the positive, "and to wait for His Son from heaven." Wow. So he said salvation isn't only a turning from sin, it is also a turning to God.

Salvation Requires a Substitute

Because man is a sinner and liable to death, he needs a substitute. Jesus Christ is the only qualified substitute, as God provided Himself as the sacrifice.

Now, usually it's the pride, arrogance, and haughtiness of man who will say, "Well, I don't need a substitute. I will pay my own way." The truth of the matter is this, and it's very simple: if you try to pay your own way, you will end up in eternal misery, for it's impossible to pay that which you owe. So let me ask this question. Why does a sinner need a substitute? Well, the first and obvious answer is because he's a sinner. Not only because he's a sinner, but also because he is liable to death. You must remember Romans 6 and verse 23 when he said, "The wages of sin is death." So it's impossible then for a sinner to pay that debt and live. If physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, then eternal death or spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God forever. So let me put it very plainly. You cannot be saved without a surety, and your surety is also your substitute. And therefore, salvation without a substitute is impossible.

So you remember that passage, Mark 10, verse 27, we just read it. When our Lord said that they that trust in riches shall not enter into the kingdom of God, the disciples were astonished and said, "Who then can be saved?" Then in verse 27, our Lord said, "With men it is impossible," salvation is impossible, "but not with God, for with God all things are possible." So each sinner then owes God honor, glory, worship, and praise. Why does he owe God honor, worship, glory, and praise? And the answer is, because he's the creature of God. The Creator is superior to the creature, and the creature owes his very existence to the Creator. If it was not for the Creator, the creature would not even exist at all. So he owes God very clearly.

Not only that, since he is a sinner, that means he has violated God's law. He's broken God's commandments. And now he owes God repentance because of his sin and his grievousness. So the very first reason is because man is a sinner. The second reason is because you need a substitute, is because the law of God demands three things of every individual. The law of God demands a personal obedience, a perfect obedience, and a perpetual obedience. In the Bible, in Galatians 3 and verse 10, the Bible says this: "For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse of the law." And then he goes on to say this: "For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all the things that are written in this law." So every sinner, every individual owes God a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. So the curse then comes through disobedience. So, have you disobeyed the law of God? Have you violated the law of God? Have you transgressed the law of God?

And the answer is yes, a thousand times yes. What does that mean? It means you're condemned to death. It means you're guilty. It means you're a sinner. It means you're a transgressor. It means you're a rebel. But some are going to argue, "But you don't understand. I've changed my life. Doesn't that count for something?" And the answer is no. Absolutely not. Let me give you the illustration. Suppose that today you became absolutely perfect.

You never sinned again in thought, word, or deed. You were absolutely perfect from right now to the day that you died. Would that count for something? No. Because what about all those sins you committed before you got perfect? They would have to be paid for. And if you don't have a substitute, that means you would have to pay for them. You remember that passage in Isaiah 64 and verse 6, where he said this,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 64:6

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."

Now, here's an amazing and astounding thing about our substitutes.

So let's suppose, just for an illustration, let's suppose that Steve owes me an exorbitant amount of money. I mean, he owes me a lot. And I come to him and I say, "Steve, I need my money. I want my money. And you owe me this money. So I want it and I want it now." And Steve says, "Well, I don't have it. I can't pay you now." And I look at Steve and say, "Steve, let me tell you something. If you don't get that money for me now, you will never live to regret it."

Is that a plain enough threat? Let's suppose Clay happens to be walking by, and he hears me threaten Steve. Here's this enormous amount of money that Steve owes me. And so Clay, being kind-hearted and generous, comes to me and says, "Look, I don't want to see Steve suffer. I don't want to see him get beaten to death. And I am willing to pay his debt." And I look at Clay and I say, "Who are you? Mister, you're sticking your nose in business that you don't even know anything about. Get out of my sight. This man owes me money, not you. And I'm going to get it from him if I have to skin every inch of his body." Now, you see what I'm saying? Clay doesn't owe me. Steve owes me. You follow me? Now, let's go a little bit further. If I voluntarily said to Clay, "Well, money's money. Yeah, I'll take your money and let him go."

That'd just be graciousness on my part. Because Clay didn't owe me anything. Steve owes me. Have you ever stopped to think that God was willing to take a substitute? In the absolute justice of God, God could have demanded, "Steve, you pay me. Clay, you pay me. John, you pay me. James, you pay me." In other words, He could have demanded in justice that every one of us give Him exactly what we owe Him. And the amazing thing is that God was willing to accept a substitute. Here is the next marvelous and extraordinarily amazing thing. God was not only willing to accept a substitute, He provided the substitute Himself. He gave His only begotten Son.

I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 22, and let me show you a passage. I preached on this text many, many years ago, and it still astounds me every time I think about it. This is the passage where God has told Abram, He's testing Abram, to go and sacrifice Isaac, his only begotten son. Well, he had Ishmael, but he was the only son of Sarah. And so Abraham rose up early in the morning and started to the place where God told him to go and sacrifice Isaac. So they're going to the place, and if you look in Genesis 22 and verse 7, "And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and he said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son."

And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood. But where's the lamb for burnt offering?" In other words, we've got to have an offering. We've got everything we need, but the offering. And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself for a burnt offering." So they went both of them together.

Now, you need to pay attention to what the Bible does not say, as well as what it does say. In verse 8, Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself." He did not say, "God will provide for himself." He said, "God will provide himself." In other words, God will give God to be the sacrifice. Do you know, the Bible says in John 1 and verse 14,

Scripture Reading — John 1:14

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." "And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

And then when you get to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness." Listen, "God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory." What did he say? "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh." What did God do? God gave God. He gave His only begotten Son. He gave the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is our substitute. He's the only one qualified to be our substitute. Salvation not only demands a surety, it demands a substitute. And Judah being surety for Benjamin became the substitute. Not only did he become the substitute, listen carefully, he would have also become the sacrifice.

Salvation Requires a Sacrifice

A sacrifice is necessary for remission of sins, but only the sacrifice ordained by God is acceptable. Old Testament sacrifices were shadows pointing to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.

What am I talking about? Well, because once he became the bond slave of Joseph, that meant he was never going home again, never seeing his family again. He was sacrificing his life for the life of Benjamin. Which brings me to the third point. Salvation not only requires a surety, salvation requires a substitute, but salvation also requires a sacrifice. Now, it does not mean that any sacrifice will do. So many people say, "Well, I'll sacrifice a chicken, I'll sacrifice a bullock, I'll sacrifice anything." No, no, no, no. No sacrifice is acceptable unless it has been ordained by God. Listen to this. Even those sacrifices that were ordained by God, when they were presented in an unlawful or a wicked manner, were still unacceptable to God, and He refused them.

For instance, if you will look in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse 10. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 10. Before we read verse 10, let me point out verse 1, because He is here speaking to Judah and Jerusalem. He says this: "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." So we know he's talking to Judah and Jerusalem, but look how he addresses them in verse 10. He says, "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah." So he's calling Judah and Jerusalem Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness and because of their sins.

Now look at verse 11: "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and of the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand to tread my courts?" "Bring no more vain," that is, useless, worthless oblations. "Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you."

"Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." Let me ask you a question. Who appointed the new moons? Who appointed the Sabbaths? Who appointed the sacrifices? God did.

But He was rejecting everything these people offered Him because of their wickedness, their rebellion, their sinfulness, their transgression of His law. He said, "I'm not going to have it. I refuse it. It is unacceptable to me. I will not have it." Do you understand that all of the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings were ordained by God the Father? Yes. And they pointed to the perfect and the full and final sacrifice, who is Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God who takes away our sins. Consequently, those people in the Old Testament who abused and misused and despised the God-ordained sacrifices were not simply disparaging the symbolical and emblematical construct. They were despising God and the ordained sacrifices and also the true sacrifice which they represented, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, there's a principle that everyone can enunciate when it comes to sacrificing. And that's found in Hebrews 9 and verse 22, where the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 9:22

"...and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission."

So a sacrifice is required. Now, let me show you. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, and hold Hebrews, we will be there for just a few minutes. Look at Hebrews chapter 10, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. We'll read through verse 10, and find out something about those Old Testament sacrifices. Hebrews 10 verse 1: "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." Note, if you would please, he talks about all of these sacrifices as being a shadow and not the very image.

In other words, they were not the reality. I've pointed this out before. If I'm in the shadow of a tree, that does not mean that I'm in the tree. The shadow is just the image of the tree. So our Lord is saying that all these Old Testament sacrifices were nothing more than images or shadows. Look at verse 2. He said, "They could not make anyone perfect, for then would they not have ceased to be offered." In other words, if they could make you perfect, they would never be offered anymore, "because that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices," that is the Levitical system, "there is a remembrance again made of sins every year."

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith," talking about Jesus Christ, "'Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure.' Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God." Above when he said, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure therein, which are offered by the law," then said he, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." He taketh away the first, that is Levitical sacrifices, that he may establish the second, that is His full and final sacrifice. By the which will, that is the will of Jesus Christ, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So, a permanent sacrifice was needed to deal permanently with the sin problem. The Levitical sacrificial system could not deal permanently with the sin problem.

Because those sacrifices had to be repeated over and over and over. And when they were repeated, there was a consciousness, there was a remembrance of sin. It's only when Jesus Christ came, He dealt with the sin problem once and for all. Now, I want you to remember something. Because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, there will never, ever be the need of another sacrifice. Hebrews 10 beginning there now with verse 11:

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:11-14

"And every priest standeth daily ministering."

We're talking about the Levitical system now.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:11-14

"And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man,"

Jesus Christ,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:11-14

"after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool."

Notice he made one sacrifice for sin forever. If you look back to Hebrews 9 and verse 28, look at what is said there: "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Note this word "once." So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. In fact, the Bible tells you in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, "For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us."

So Jesus Christ is the true fulfillment of all of those Passover lambs, beginning in Exodus 12, all the way forward. All they did was picture the perfect work of Jesus Christ. So the only sacrifice, the only true sacrifice, the only perfect sacrifice is the Lord Jesus Christ. And to reject Him is to reject salvation. To despise Him is to despise salvation.

Salvation Requires Satisfaction

Jesus Christ is the propitiation who satisfied God's righteousness, justice, and wrath. Through imputation, believers are made the righteousness of God in Him.

Now, let me point out, Judah became surety for Benjamin. That meant he became Benjamin's substitute. That meant he also became Benjamin's sacrifice. In other words, he would suffer in Benjamin's place while Benjamin went free. So here's the next point. Listen, let's follow it. Follow. Salvation requires a surety. Salvation requires a substitute. Salvation requires a sacrifice. Fourthly, salvation requires satisfaction. I'm going to tell you this just momentarily.

If you remember the passage that we read in Isaiah 1, you will find a similar passage in Amos chapter 5, where God said, "I hate, I despise your offerings." He was not satisfied with anything that those people gave, because they were giving wrongly, wickedly, and they were still transgressing His Word. I want you to turn back to the book of Malachi chapter 1, the last book in the Old Testament, and I want you to see a similar passage, Malachi chapter 1, where God is refusing the sacrifices. He's not satisfied. Notice if you would, Malachi chapter 1, beginning there with verse 6. God says, "A son honoreth his father and a servant his master. If I then be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where's my fear?" In other words, you're not treating me like a father. You're not treating me like a master, saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests that despise my name. And you say, "Wherein have we despised thy name?" Well, God, we don't despise you.

He says, "Here's how you despise me. You've offered polluted bread upon mine altar, and you say, 'Where have we polluted thee?' In that you say, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.'" Oh, I hate to have to go to church. I hate to have to sing. I hate to have to listen to the preacher. I hate to have to do this. In other words, the table of the Lord is contemptible. I don't even want to be there. Look at what he said in verse 8: "And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil?" They were giving God the worst, not the best. "Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts?" Give him wormy meat, give him rotted meat, see if he'll accept it. Now, skip down to verse 14. He says, "But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and giveth and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen." Wow. So it's not just that you have to have a sacrifice. You have to have a sacrifice that satisfies.

Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 3, because I want to enlarge upon this and show you the truth concerning Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 3, beginning there with verse 24, I want you to note that Jesus Christ is the context: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Now, I want to call your attention, first of all, to verse 25. The Bible says, "...whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation."

If you ask the average Christian what is a propitiation, they would have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The word "propitiation" occurs three times in the New Testament. It occurs here in Romans chapter 3. It occurs in 1 John 2 and verse 2: "And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but the sins of the whole world." Then it occurs again in 1 John 4 and verse 10: "Herein is love, not that we loved him, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now, the Greek word for propitiation is the word hilasmos. The word "propitiate" literally means to appease, to satisfy, to placate, or as we would say, to propitiate. You remember in the Old Testament, once a year the high priest went to the holiest of holies and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat. That was a propitiation. That was a sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat. Propitiation does include expiation, which is the washing away of our sins, but the main emphasis on propitiation is satisfaction. God is a holy, righteous, just, and sovereign judge, creator, lawgiver, and father, and He has to be vindicated and appeased.

So here's a good question. Why did God the Father set forth His Son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation? Let's answer it. Look in your Bibles to verse 25. Here's the first answer. Watch it. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood," number one, "to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."

Now what is he talking about? Forgiveness of sins that are past? Don't you remember reading in Hebrews chapter 10, how the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins? So what God did to the Old Testament saints was basically, He forgave them on credit. Until the true and final sacrifice, Jesus Christ came, and all the blood of bulls and goats did was just merely cover their sins, it did not take them away. Only Jesus Christ could do that. So the very first reason God set Him forth is to declare His righteousness in actually forgiving those sins on credit until Christ came. And here's another reason in verse 26: "To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus." Now, here's the interesting thing. God the Father, the Judge of all the earth, did not lower His standards when His Son, Jesus Christ, became the propitiation. Jesus Christ, as our propitiation, gave to God everything that God would have demanded from you and I.

You remember I told you earlier that the law demanded a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. You know the Bible says in Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5, "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." So Jesus Christ came, made under the law, that He might render to the law that which God required: a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. Now here's what the Bible says concerning Jesus Christ in Isaiah 42 and verse 21. The Bible says, listen carefully, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law and make it honorable." So Jesus Christ magnified God's law. He made it honorable by showing and demonstrating, yes, it could be kept. So why did God set forth His Son, Jesus Christ, as the propitiation for our sins?

And the answer is this. It was only the person and work of Jesus Christ that satisfied the righteousness and holiness of God by rendering a perfect obedience to His law. He satisfied the justice of God in that He was perfect, He was obedient, and He was a willing sacrifice for His people. He also received the fullness of God's wrath and the fullness of God's anger in our place, and thus He satisfied the just and righteous anger and wrath of God. Well, it's not only the basis and the foundation for forgiveness and the expiation or washing away of sins, it is the basis of God the Father being satisfied with us. Think about that. As you think about that, I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and look at verse 21. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21. Satisfaction. Jesus Christ had to render to the law of God, to the justice of God, to the holiness of God, to the righteousness of God, satisfaction. And He had to do so in order that God would be satisfied with His people as well.

Now look at verse 21 of 2 Corinthians chapter 5: "For he," that is God the Father, "hath made him," that is God the Son, "to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." This is imputation. This is a legal, divine act of God. You have to remember that Jesus Christ was personally innocent. He was personally sinless. He offered Himself a sinless sacrifice. He had to be sinless because if he was not sinless, he would have had to have died for his own sins and not ours. Okay? So although he was personally sinless, our sin was imputed to him, charged to him, and thus he was legally, judicially a sinner because he was our substitute. And then guess what God did? God then took that personal, perfect, perpetual obedience, unearned righteousness of Jesus Christ and imputed it to us.

He placed that upon us. Thus, God was not only satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ, He is now satisfied with us because we stand in the perfect righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ.

The Resurrection as Proof of Satisfaction

God's raising of Jesus from the dead demonstrates His satisfaction with Christ's work and confirms Jesus as the Son of God.

Now, I want to ask you a question. Do you understand the implication of this? Do you understand that this means that we have the same standing before our Heavenly Father as the Lord Jesus Christ does? Just as Jesus Christ was fully accepted and fully satisfied God, thus in Him we are fully accepted and fully satisfied in Christ Jesus. Here's another question. Let me ask you. I'm going to show it to you from the Bible. How do we know that God was satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ? How do we know that? She's ahead of me. If Jesus Christ had been an imposter, God would have never raised Him from the dead. If Jesus Christ had not satisfied God the Father, He would have never been raised from the dead.

If you'll look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, this occurs over and over in the book of Acts in several passages in the Bible. But look in Acts chapter 2 and verse 32. Look what the Bible says: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are witnesses." The very fact that God raised up His Son proved He was satisfied with Him. Look if you would to Acts chapter 3 and verse 15. Again He says, "And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." Look in chapter 4 and verse 10: "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." One more, look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1. And look, if you would please, at verses 3 and 4.

Here's an amazing, astounding truth. By the way, the resurrection of Jesus Christ not only proves that God the Father was satisfied with His work, it also proves that He was the Son of God. Romans 1, verse 3: "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." We know that God was satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ because He raised Him from the dead.

Applications and Conclusion

Only Jesus Christ can save. Salvation is not based on feelings or human effort. Those who think they are saved must examine themselves and flee to Christ alone.

Now, let me make some applications. The first one is this. When you place these truths together, that salvation requires a surety, a substitute, a sacrifice, and a satisfaction, it means that only Jesus Christ can be the Savior. For only Jesus Christ fulfilled every one of these requirements. There is no other Savior. There is no man, no religion, no angel, nor anyone or anything else that can match the wonderful, gracious, merciful work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by me."

I titled this brief series, "So You Think You Are Saved." So I come back to that title and I ask this question. If you think you were saved, how were you saved? If you were truly, genuinely saved, you understand it was not your salvation decision that saved you. It was not your experience. It was not your baptism. It was not your good deeds. It was not your church membership. You understand that the only salvation that exists is in the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and His work. Salvation does not depend upon you. Let that sink in. Salvation does not depend upon you. I've had people tell me, "But pastor, I don't feel saved." And my response is there's a good reason for that. Salvation is not by feelings.

You know, I could wake up in the morning singing, happy, I mean, cheerful, and I'd say, "Wow, isn't it wonderful to feel saved." And I'd wake up the following morning with fever, diarrhea, vomiting, weak, aching, sick, and all of a sudden I don't feel saved, do I? Feelings have nothing to do with salvation. It is true that we are emotional creatures. And it is true that we have feelings. But here's the point. Salvation is an objective reality. It is an objective fact. Salvation was accomplished by Jesus Christ that is outside of us.

Yes, there are subjective applications. And yes, we have subjective feelings sometimes based upon that perception. But salvation does not depend upon us. It does not depend upon how we feel or what our experience is. It depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, "But when I came to Christ, I willingly came to Christ. I turned from my sins. I believed in Him." Yes, you did. But? Who gave you faith? Who gave you repentance?

Who released your will from the bondage of sin? Who drew you? Everything about salvation is dependent upon the sovereign God of heaven and earth. I remember reading years ago about one man who visited a church. He was in town. It was Wednesday night. He wanted to go to church, and so he went into a Baptist church. And they were having a testimony meeting. And the man stood up and gave a wonderful, glowing testimony of how God saved him through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And when he sat down, the pastor said, "Well, that was a wonderful testimony, but I'm sure you had to do your part." To which the man stood back up and said, "Yes, sir, I did my part. I furnished the sinner."

That was all I could do. And that's true. That's all we could do is furnish the sinner. So here's the last one. If you're not truly saved, if the Lord Jesus Christ is not your savior, you must flee to him. You must seek him. You must trust him. You must look to him and look to him alone. I hope sometimes if you've never done it, you will read the conversion experience of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It's a wonderful little experience, quote-unquote, that is given to us by Spurgeon.

He was going to church and it was a horrible snowstorm and he had to tread through snow to get to the church. The storm was so bad that the pastor couldn't even get there. In fact there were only a handful of people there. And a deacon stood up to preach. I think the preaching took about ten minutes. And he took his text from Isaiah: "Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved." And the deacon said, "I'm not much of an expositor and I'm not much of a preacher, but the Bible says, 'Look unto me and be ye saved.'" He said, "Now any fool can look." He said, "All you got to do is open your eyes." And God used that simple little truth for about 10 minutes to convert Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The point I'm trying to make is this. John 6 and verse 37 says it like this: "All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." So those who come to the Lord seeking repentance and faith, asking for His mercy and grace, He has promised never ever to cast out. If you come the way He demands, you will only find that He will not cast you out, you will find that you have been given to Him by the Father, and you can rejoice in the person and work of salvation which is found only in Jesus Christ.

So if you think you're saved, you need to examine yourself as we looked at last week and say, "Do I have a surety? Do I have a substitute? Do I have a sacrifice? Do I have a satisfaction?" And if I do, I have a Savior. And that's none other than Jesus Christ. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to see the greatness of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is salvation. With men it is impossible, but not with Thee. Help us, Father, to be thankful and grateful for all that you have done in giving your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our salvation, our surety, our substitute, our sacrifice, and our satisfaction. Thank you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we give thee praise. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

False Assurance of Salvation

Summary: Many people mistakenly believe they are saved based on baptism, church membership, or good deeds, rather than on Christ alone.

Evidence: Weaver states that 90% of church members may be lost and that many depend on things other than Jesus Christ.

The Necessity of a Surety

Summary: Salvation requires a surety—one who guarantees payment for sin—as illustrated by Judah's pledge for Benjamin.

Evidence: Weaver recounts the story of Judah acting as surety for Benjamin in Genesis, willing to bear the blame forever.

The Necessity of a Substitute

Summary: Because sinners cannot pay their own debt, they need a substitute. Jesus Christ is the substitute provided by God.

Evidence: Weaver explains that God provided Himself as the sacrifice, referencing Genesis 22:8 and John 1:14.

The Necessity of a Sacrifice

Summary: Without the shedding of blood there is no remission, but only Christ's sacrifice is perfect and final.

Evidence: Weaver cites Hebrews 9:22 and Hebrews 10 to show that Old Testament sacrifices were shadows, while Christ offered one sacrifice for sins forever.

The Necessity of Satisfaction (Propitiation)

Summary: Christ's work satisfied God's righteousness and justice, making Him both just and the justifier of believers.

Evidence: Weaver expounds Romans 3:25-26, explaining that Christ is the propitiation who appeased God's wrath.

Assurance Through the Resurrection

Summary: The resurrection proves that God was satisfied with Christ's work and that Jesus is the Son of God.

Evidence: Weaver references Acts 2:32, 3:15, 4:10, and Romans 1:3-4 to show that the resurrection declares Christ's divine sonship.

Salvation is Objective, Not Subjective

Summary: Salvation depends on Christ's finished work, not on human feelings or experiences.

Evidence: Weaver argues that feelings fluctuate, but salvation is an objective reality accomplished outside of us.

Exclusive Salvation in Christ

Summary: Only Jesus Christ fulfills all the requirements of salvation; there is no other Savior.

Evidence: Weaver concludes that no man, religion, or angel can match Christ's work, citing John 14:6.

Key Arguments

Man's Inability to Save Himself

Summary: Sinners cannot pay their own sin debt because the wages of sin is death; any attempt to do so leads to eternal misery.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'if you try to pay your own way, you will end up in eternal misery, for it's impossible to pay that which you owe.'

The Law Demands Perfect Obedience

Summary: God's law requires personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience, which no sinner can render; thus, a substitute is needed.

Evidence: Weaver cites Galatians 3:10 and explains that even if one became perfect now, past sins would still require payment.

God Provided the Substitute

Summary: God not only accepted a substitute but provided His own Son, demonstrating His grace.

Evidence: Weaver uses the illustration of a debt and points to Genesis 22:8, where Abraham says, 'God will provide himself a lamb.'

Old Testament Sacrifices Were Insufficient

Summary: The Levitical sacrifices were shadows that could not take away sins; they pointed to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.

Evidence: Weaver reads Hebrews 10:1-10, emphasizing that the blood of bulls and goats cannot remove sin.

Christ as Propitiation Satisfied God

Summary: Jesus Christ, as propitiation, satisfied God's righteousness and justice by rendering perfect obedience and bearing God's wrath.

Evidence: Weaver explains Romans 3:25-26 and the meaning of 'propitiation' as appeasement and satisfaction.

Imputation of Righteousness

Summary: Through imputation, Christ's righteousness is credited to believers, giving them the same standing before God as Christ.

Evidence: Weaver expounds 2 Corinthians 5:21, stating that God made Christ sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Resurrection Validates Christ's Work

Summary: The resurrection is God's public declaration that He was satisfied with Christ's sacrifice and that Jesus is the Son of God.

Evidence: Weaver cites multiple passages in Acts and Romans 1:3-4 to prove that the resurrection confirms Christ's divine sonship.

Salvation is Entirely of God

Summary: Every aspect of salvation—faith, repentance, and the will—is a gift from God; man only furnishes the sinner.

Evidence: Weaver shares the story of a man who said, 'I did my part. I furnished the sinner,' emphasizing God's sovereignty.

Scripture References

Mark 10:17-27

Context: The story of the rich young ruler, used to introduce the theme of salvation's impossibility with men but possibility with God.

1 John 5:9-13

Context: Cited to show that believers can know they have eternal life through the witness of God.

2 Timothy 1:12

Context: Paul's confidence in Christ's ability to keep what he committed to Him, illustrating assurance.

1 John 4:17

Context: Used to show that our love is made perfect so we may have boldness in the day of judgment.

Romans 8:29

Context: Predestination to be conformed to the image of Christ, indicating that conformity begins now.

1 John 2:3-6

Context: Evidence that knowing Christ is demonstrated by keeping His commandments and walking as He walked.

Matthew 1:21

Context: Jesus saves His people from their sins, emphasizing the negative aspect of salvation.

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10

Context: Salvation involves turning from idols to serve the living God, showing both negative and positive aspects.

Romans 6:23

Context: The wages of sin is death, underscoring the need for a substitute.

Galatians 3:10

Context: Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the law, highlighting the law's demand.

Isaiah 64:6

Context: All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, showing the insufficiency of human goodness.

Genesis 22:7-8

Context: Abraham's statement that God will provide Himself a lamb, foreshadowing Christ as the substitute.

John 1:14

Context: The Word became flesh, indicating the incarnation of Christ as God's provision.

1 Timothy 3:16

Context: God was manifest in the flesh, affirming the deity of Christ.

Isaiah 1:10-17

Context: God rejects the sacrifices of wicked Judah, showing that even ordained sacrifices are unacceptable without obedience.

Hebrews 9:22

Context: Without shedding of blood there is no remission, establishing the necessity of sacrifice.

Hebrews 10:1-10

Context: Old Testament sacrifices were shadows; Christ's sacrifice sanctifies once for all.

Hebrews 10:11-14

Context: Christ offered one sacrifice for sins forever and sat down, indicating completion.

Hebrews 9:28

Context: Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.

1 Corinthians 5:7

Context: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, fulfilling the Old Testament type.

Historical References

R.A. Torrey

Context: Weaver mentions that R.A. Torrey estimated 90% of church members were lost.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon's conversion

Context: Weaver recounts Spurgeon's conversion experience in a snowstorm, where a deacon preached on 'Look unto me and be ye saved.'

Important Quotes

With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

Significance: This quote from Mark 10:27 encapsulates the sermon's theme that salvation is impossible by human effort but possible through God's provision in Christ.

He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Significance: From 1 John 5:12, this quote emphasizes that eternal life is found exclusively in possessing Christ, not in religious activities.

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Significance: Paul's declaration of assurance in 2 Timothy 1:12, used to show that true Christians can have confidence in Christ's keeping power.

All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.

Significance: John 6:37, offering assurance that those who come to Christ in faith will be received and not rejected.

Discussion Questions

Why do so many people think they are saved when they are not, according to Weaver?

Context: Weaver opens by stating that many depend on baptism, church membership, or good deeds rather than Christ.

How does the story of Judah and Benjamin illustrate the concepts of surety and substitute?

Context: Weaver uses Judah's willingness to become a bond slave in Benjamin's place as a picture of Christ's substitution.

What does 1 John 5:9-13 teach about the assurance of salvation?

Context: Weaver reads this passage to show that believers can know they have eternal life through the witness of God.

Why is a substitute necessary for salvation, and why can't we pay our own sin debt?

Context: Weaver explains that the wages of sin is death, and no sinner can pay that debt and live.

How does the Old Testament sacrificial system point to Christ's sacrifice?

Context: Weaver contrasts the repeated, insufficient sacrifices of the law with Christ's once-for-all offering.

What does it mean that Christ is our propitiation, and why is this important?

Context: Weaver defines propitiation as satisfaction, explaining that Christ satisfied God's righteousness and wrath.

How does the resurrection prove that God was satisfied with Christ's work?

Context: Weaver cites multiple Scriptures to show that the resurrection validates Christ's sacrifice and divine sonship.

Why should salvation not be based on feelings or experiences?

Context: Weaver argues that feelings fluctuate, but salvation is an objective reality accomplished by Christ.

Applications

Examine Your Salvation

Summary: Listeners are urged to examine whether they have a surety, substitute, sacrifice, and satisfaction in Christ, rather than relying on false assurances.

Evidence: Weaver concludes by asking, 'Do I have a surety? Do I have a substitute? Do I have a sacrifice? Do I have a satisfaction?'

Flee to Christ Alone

Summary: Those who are not truly saved must flee to Christ, trusting in Him alone for salvation.

Evidence: Weaver exhorts, 'If you're not truly saved, if the Lord Jesus Christ is not your savior, you must flee to him.'

Rest in Objective Salvation

Summary: Believers should rest in the objective work of Christ rather than subjective feelings, knowing that salvation depends on Him.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'Salvation does not depend upon you. It depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ.'

Reject False Hopes

Summary: Listeners should reject reliance on baptism, church membership, good deeds, or genealogy for salvation.

Evidence: Weaver warns against depending on 'baptism... church membership... good deeds... genealogy' instead of Christ.

Live in Conformity to Christ

Summary: True salvation will be evidenced by a life increasingly conformed to Christ's commandments and example.

Evidence: Weaver teaches from 1 John 2:6 that those who abide in Christ ought to walk as He walked.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:02:13Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:42:44Z

Clean Transcript

So You Think You're Saved - Part 2 of 2

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Mark chapter 10, and we're going to try to take up where we left off last week. Mark chapter 10, we'll begin reading with verse 17 and read through verse 27. The title of the message is, "So You Think You Are Saved, Part 2." So notice, if you would, Mark 10, verse 17: "And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled unto him and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God." In other words, if I'm good, I'm God. And if I'm God, you don't come running into my presence demanding something. But then he answered him, "Thou knowest the commandments."
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"Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy father and thy mother." And he answered and said unto him, "Master, all these have I observed from my youth." Then Jesus beholding him loved him and said unto him, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, take up thy cross and follow me."
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And he was sad at that saying and went away grieved, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked round about and said unto his disciples, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven!" And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again and said unto them, "Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" And Jesus looking upon them saith, "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible."
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If you will remember last week I began this message by telling you that it would be absolutely hilarious—some of the responses that I have received over the years to the question, "Are you saved?" or "Are you a Christian?"—if it was not such a serious subject. And yet the truth of the matter is so many people think indeed they are Christians, when in reality they are not. Years ago, even when R.A.
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Torrey was alive, R.A. Torrey came up with the figure, he said 90% of all church members were lost. And recently, another modern-day preacher has made the same statement. I knew another pastor who is now dead. He had 5,000 people in his congregation, and he made the statement, if 500 of them got to heaven, he would be happy. Wow. So I'm just saying that there are a lot of people who depend upon their baptism. They depend upon their church membership. They depend upon their good deeds. They depend upon their genealogy. They depend upon a lot of things other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And last week I covered one point, and that is the fact that you needed, in real genuine salvation, a surety. And the reason you needed a surety was simply because the wages of sin is death. And there's no way in the world that a sinner can pay that debt and live, that is for sure. And so I'll repeat this again a little bit later, but the surety, of course, is the sponsor. The surety is the man who stands good for the payment. I shared with you from the Old Testament where Judah was standing as surety for Benjamin when, of course, the famine was so great. Jacob said, "Take a little money, go back and buy some more corn." And the boy said, "No, Dad, it's not going to work like that," because he said, "Unless we had Benjamin with us, we would not see his face." And Jacob said, "Why did you even tell him you had a brother?"
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Well, he asked, "How would we know? He asked about our father. He asked about our brother." And Judah said, "I'll be surety for him. If I do not bring him back, then I'll bear the blame forever." And of course, you remember how then the cup, Joseph's cup, was found in Benjamin's sack. And of course, they took them back. And then Judah is the man who said to Joseph, "I was surety for Benjamin."
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"So let me stay in his place as a bond slave, and let the child go back to his father because the father will die without him." So he was willing to be a surety.
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Now, I'm going to pick up today and tell you that it's been said that there are three surprises that will await one in heaven. The first surprise is that you will be surprised to see some folks there that you thought would never, ever be there. The second surprise is you will find some folks missing that you thought would be there. And the third one is that you would be surprised even for the fact that you were there yourself. And so obviously then there will be some surprises.
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We need another chair over there, Steve. So the truth of the matter is this. I can understand the first two. I can understand the first two. But for the third one, it may be true with some folks that they may be surprised to be there. But the truth of the matter is this, if you're really, truly, and genuinely a Christian, you should not be surprised to be in the presence of God.
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Let me show you why. If you will turn in your Bibles very quickly to 1 John 5, 1 John 5, and look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 9. 1 John 5, verse 9. Watch this carefully. The Word of God says, "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater." So many times you believe men when they witness and testify. He said, "If you receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son." Now watch carefully. "And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."
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So he says these things are written that you may know that you have eternal life. We have the witness of God. So a real true Christian should not be surprised to be in the presence of God when he dies, because obviously God does not play games. And the life, death, resurrection, and the person and work of Jesus Christ is real and genuine. It certainly is not a game. The Apostle Paul said it correctly in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 12 when he says this, "...for the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." So he said, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded."
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Now the word "persuaded" in the Greek is the word peitho, and it means to be persuaded in, to believe in, to have confidence in. So the Apostle Paul said, "I have extreme confidence. I have extreme trust in the person and work of Jesus Christ, and I know that He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him." So the truth is this. Our lives should demonstrate the fact of our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we truly believe in Him, if we love Him, if we live according to His Word, our lives should be more and more conformed to that Word.
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So here is what He said in 1 John 4 and verse 17: "Herein is our love made perfect."
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Now listen, "that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so are we in this world." As He is, so are we in this world. In other words, our lives are being shaped according to Him. In other words, if we are going to be fully conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in eternity, obviously that conformity begins in our regeneration and in our conversion.
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You remember what he said in Romans 8 and verse 29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." So we have been predestinated to be conformed perfectly, fully, completely to the image of Jesus Christ in eternity, and obviously that conformity even begins now.
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Now I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 John 2. I read this passage last week, but just to emphasize what I'm saying, let me point this same truth out again. In 1 John 2, beginning there with verse 3, because we're talking about conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, "And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments." So how in the world do I know that I know the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer is, my life is being guided and directed by His commandments. Now look at verse 4: "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Now verse 5.
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"But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him."
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Now here's verse 6: "He that saith he abideth in him," that is, he that says he's a true Christian and is abiding in him, "ought himself also to walk even as he walked." So the truth of the matter is this, if we are real, true, genuine Christians, our lives will be continually being conformed to the Word of God. As God gives us more light, as God shows us our sins and enables us to repent and turn from them, we should become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
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So many today, I think indeed that they are saved, but they've never ever really understood or realized the two-fold nature of salvation. It is true that salvation is from sin, which I pointed out last week. Matthew 1 and verse 21, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." But salvation is not only a turning from sin and a saving from sin, it's also a turning to God to serve Him. For instance, in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 8 through 10, the Apostle Paul wrote these Thessalonians and he said, "For from you sounded out the word of God, not only in Macedonia, but also in Achaia, but also in every place your faith is spread abroad."
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Listen to this: "...so that we need not teach anything." In other words, they had witnessed to the truth so greatly, the Apostle Paul said, "We don't even need to preach and teach when we get there. You've told everyone about the grace of God." Then he goes on to say this: "For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, how you turned to God from idols," that's the negative, "to serve the living and true God," that's the positive, "and to wait for His Son from heaven." Wow. So he said salvation isn't only a turning from sin, it is also a turning to God.
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So I pointed out in the first message then that we needed a surety. And remember I told you the word "surety" referred to a sponsor, a bondsman, one that pledges himself on behalf of another. I also said that the surety is one who guarantees payment. He takes the place of the individual who cannot pay. And I said last week that this point, that of suretyship, is connected closely with the next point, which I'm going to cover today. And that is, just as Judah was a surety for Benjamin, he also became the substitute, because he told Joseph, "Let the child go. I'll stay in his place. I'll be the slave. I'll be the servant in his place." So salvation not only requires a surety, salvation also requires a substitute.
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Now, usually it's the pride, arrogance, and haughtiness of man who will say, "Well, I don't need a substitute. I will pay my own way." The truth of the matter is this, and it's very simple: if you try to pay your own way, you will end up in eternal misery, for it's impossible to pay that which you owe. So let me ask this question. Why does a sinner need a substitute? Well, the first and obvious answer is because he's a sinner. Not only because he's a sinner, but also because he is liable to death. You must remember Romans 6 and verse 23 when he said, "The wages of sin is death." So it's impossible then for a sinner to pay that debt and live. If physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, then eternal death or spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God forever. So let me put it very plainly. You cannot be saved without a surety, and your surety is also your substitute. And therefore, salvation without a substitute is impossible.
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So you remember that passage, Mark 10, verse 27, we just read it. When our Lord said that they that trust in riches shall not enter into the kingdom of God, the disciples were astonished and said, "Who then can be saved?" Then in verse 27, our Lord said, "With men it is impossible," salvation is impossible, "but not with God, for with God all things are possible." So each sinner then owes God honor, glory, worship, and praise. Why does he owe God honor, worship, glory, and praise? And the answer is, because he's the creature of God. The Creator is superior to the creature, and the creature owes his very existence to the Creator. If it was not for the Creator, the creature would not even exist at all. So he owes God very clearly.
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Not only that, since he is a sinner, that means he has violated God's law. He's broken God's commandments. And now he owes God repentance because of his sin and his grievousness. So the very first reason is because man is a sinner. The second reason is because you need a substitute, is because the law of God demands three things of every individual. The law of God demands a personal obedience, a perfect obedience, and a perpetual obedience. In the Bible, in Galatians 3 and verse 10, the Bible says this: "For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse of the law." And then he goes on to say this: "For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all the things that are written in this law." So every sinner, every individual owes God a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. So the curse then comes through disobedience. So, have you disobeyed the law of God? Have you violated the law of God? Have you transgressed the law of God?
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And the answer is yes, a thousand times yes. What does that mean? It means you're condemned to death. It means you're guilty. It means you're a sinner. It means you're a transgressor. It means you're a rebel. But some are going to argue, "But you don't understand. I've changed my life. Doesn't that count for something?" And the answer is no. Absolutely not. Let me give you the illustration. Suppose that today you became absolutely perfect.
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You never sinned again in thought, word, or deed. You were absolutely perfect from right now to the day that you died. Would that count for something? No. Because what about all those sins you committed before you got perfect? They would have to be paid for. And if you don't have a substitute, that means you would have to pay for them. You remember that passage in Isaiah 64 and verse 6, where he said this, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Now, here's an amazing and astounding thing about our substitutes.
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So let's suppose, just for an illustration, let's suppose that Steve owes me an exorbitant amount of money. I mean, he owes me a lot. And I come to him and I say, "Steve, I need my money. I want my money. And you owe me this money. So I want it and I want it now." And Steve says, "Well, I don't have it. I can't pay you now." And I look at Steve and say, "Steve, let me tell you something. If you don't get that money for me now, you will never live to regret it."
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Is that a plain enough threat? Let's suppose Clay happens to be walking by, and he hears me threaten Steve. Here's this enormous amount of money that Steve owes me. And so Clay, being kind-hearted and generous, comes to me and says, "Look, I don't want to see Steve suffer. I don't want to see him get beaten to death. And I am willing to pay his debt." And I look at Clay and I say, "Who are you? Mister, you're sticking your nose in business that you don't even know anything about. Get out of my sight. This man owes me money, not you. And I'm going to get it from him if I have to skin every inch of his body." Now, you see what I'm saying? Clay doesn't owe me. Steve owes me. You follow me? Now, let's go a little bit further. If I voluntarily said to Clay, "Well, money's money. Yeah, I'll take your money and let him go."
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That'd just be graciousness on my part. Because Clay didn't owe me anything. Steve owes me. Have you ever stopped to think that God was willing to take a substitute? In the absolute justice of God, God could have demanded, "Steve, you pay me. Clay, you pay me. John, you pay me. James, you pay me." In other words, He could have demanded in justice that every one of us give Him exactly what we owe Him. And the amazing thing is that God was willing to accept a substitute. Here is the next marvelous and extraordinarily amazing thing. God was not only willing to accept a substitute, He provided the substitute Himself. He gave His only begotten Son.
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I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 22, and let me show you a passage. I preached on this text many, many years ago, and it still astounds me every time I think about it. This is the passage where God has told Abram, He's testing Abram, to go and sacrifice Isaac, his only begotten son. Well, he had Ishmael, but he was the only son of Sarah. And so Abraham rose up early in the morning and started to the place where God told him to go and sacrifice Isaac. So they're going to the place, and if you look in Genesis 22 and verse 7, "And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and he said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son."
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And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood. But where's the lamb for burnt offering?" In other words, we've got to have an offering. We've got everything we need, but the offering. And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself for a burnt offering." So they went both of them together.
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Now, you need to pay attention to what the Bible does not say, as well as what it does say. In verse 8, Abraham said, "My son, God will provide himself." He did not say, "God will provide for himself." He said, "God will provide himself." In other words, God will give God to be the sacrifice. Do you know, the Bible says in John 1 and verse 14, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
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"And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And then when you get to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness." Listen, "God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory." What did he say? "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh." What did God do? God gave God. He gave His only begotten Son. He gave the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is our substitute. He's the only one qualified to be our substitute. Salvation not only demands a surety, it demands a substitute. And Judah being surety for Benjamin became the substitute. Not only did he become the substitute, listen carefully, he would have also become the sacrifice.
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What am I talking about? Well, because once he became the bond slave of Joseph, that meant he was never going home again, never seeing his family again. He was sacrificing his life for the life of Benjamin. Which brings me to the third point. Salvation not only requires a surety, salvation requires a substitute, but salvation also requires a sacrifice. Now, it does not mean that any sacrifice will do. So many people say, "Well, I'll sacrifice a chicken, I'll sacrifice a bullock, I'll sacrifice anything." No, no, no, no. No sacrifice is acceptable unless it has been ordained by God. Listen to this. Even those sacrifices that were ordained by God, when they were presented in an unlawful or a wicked manner, were still unacceptable to God, and He refused them.
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For instance, if you will look in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse 10. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 10. Before we read verse 10, let me point out verse 1, because He is here speaking to Judah and Jerusalem. He says this: "The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah." So we know he's talking to Judah and Jerusalem, but look how he addresses them in verse 10. He says, "Hear the word of the
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Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah." So he's calling Judah and Jerusalem Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness and because of their sins.
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Now look at verse 11: "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and of the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand to tread my courts?"
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"Bring no more vain," that is, useless, worthless oblations. "Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are trouble unto me. I am weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you."
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"Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." Let me ask you a question. Who appointed the new moons? Who appointed the Sabbaths? Who appointed the sacrifices? God did.
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But He was rejecting everything these people offered Him because of their wickedness, their rebellion, their sinfulness, their transgression of His law. He said, "I'm not going to have it. I refuse it. It is unacceptable to me. I will not have it." Do you understand that all of the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings were ordained by God the Father? Yes. And they pointed to the perfect and the full and final sacrifice, who is Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God who takes away our sins. Consequently, those people in the Old Testament who abused and misused and despised the God-ordained sacrifices were not simply disparaging the symbolical and emblematical construct. They were despising God and the ordained sacrifices and also the true sacrifice which they represented, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now, there's a principle that everyone can enunciate when it comes to sacrificing. And that's found in Hebrews 9 and verse 22, where the Bible says, "...and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission." So a sacrifice is required.
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Now, let me show you. Turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, and hold Hebrews, we will be there for just a few minutes. Look at Hebrews chapter 10, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. We'll read through verse 10, and find out something about those Old Testament sacrifices. Hebrews 10 verse 1: "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." Note, if you would please, he talks about all of these sacrifices as being a shadow and not the very image.
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In other words, they were not the reality. I've pointed this out before. If I'm in the shadow of a tree, that does not mean that I'm in the tree. The shadow is just the image of the tree. So our Lord is saying that all these Old Testament sacrifices were nothing more than images or shadows. Look at verse 2. He said, "They could not make anyone perfect, for then would they not have ceased to be offered." In other words, if they could make you perfect, they would never be offered anymore, "because that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices," that is the Levitical system, "there is a remembrance again made of sins every year."
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"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith," talking about Jesus Christ, "'Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure.' Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God." Above when he said, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither had pleasure therein, which are offered by the law," then said he, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." He taketh away the first, that is Levitical sacrifices, that he may establish the second, that is His full and final sacrifice. By the which will, that is the will of Jesus Christ, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So, a permanent sacrifice was needed to deal permanently with the sin problem. The Levitical sacrificial system could not deal permanently with the sin problem.
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Because those sacrifices had to be repeated over and over and over. And when they were repeated, there was a consciousness, there was a remembrance of sin. It's only when Jesus Christ came, He dealt with the sin problem once and for all.
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Now, I want you to remember something. Because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, there will never, ever be the need of another sacrifice. Hebrews 10 beginning there now with verse 11: "And every priest standeth daily ministering." We're talking about the Levitical system now. "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man," Jesus Christ, "after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." Notice he made one sacrifice for sin forever. If you look back to Hebrews 9 and verse 28, look at what is said there: "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Note this word "once." So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. In fact, the Bible tells you in 1 Corinthians 5 and verse 7, "For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us."
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So Jesus Christ is the true fulfillment of all of those Passover lambs, beginning in Exodus 12, all the way forward. All they did was picture the perfect work of Jesus Christ. So the only sacrifice, the only true sacrifice, the only perfect sacrifice is the Lord Jesus Christ. And to reject Him is to reject salvation. To despise Him is to despise salvation.
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Now, let me point out, Judah became surety for Benjamin. That meant he became Benjamin's substitute. That meant he also became Benjamin's sacrifice. In other words, he would suffer in Benjamin's place while Benjamin went free. So here's the next point. Listen, let's follow it. Follow. Salvation requires a surety. Salvation requires a substitute. Salvation requires a sacrifice. Fourthly, salvation requires satisfaction. I'm going to tell you this just momentarily.
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If you remember the passage that we read in Isaiah 1, you will find a similar passage in Amos chapter 5, where God said, "I hate, I despise your offerings." He was not satisfied with anything that those people gave, because they were giving wrongly, wickedly, and they were still transgressing His Word. I want you to turn back to the book of Malachi chapter 1, the last book in the Old Testament, and I want you to see a similar passage, Malachi chapter 1, where God is refusing the sacrifices. He's not satisfied. Notice if you would, Malachi chapter 1, beginning there with verse 6. God says, "A son honoreth his father and a servant his master. If I then be a father, where is my honor? And if I be a master, where's my fear?" In other words, you're not treating me like a father. You're not treating me like a master, saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests that despise my name. And you say, "Wherein have we despised thy name?" Well, God, we don't despise you.
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He says, "Here's how you despise me. You've offered polluted bread upon mine altar, and you say, 'Where have we polluted thee?' In that you say, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.'" Oh, I hate to have to go to church. I hate to have to sing. I hate to have to listen to the preacher. I hate to have to do this. In other words, the table of the Lord is contemptible.
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I don't even want to be there. Look at what he said in verse 8: "And if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil?" They were giving God the worst, not the best. "Offer it now unto thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person, saith the Lord of hosts?" Give him wormy meat, give him rotted meat, see if he'll accept it. Now, skip down to verse 14. He says, "But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and giveth and sacrifices unto the Lord a corrupt thing. For I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen." Wow. So it's not just that you have to have a sacrifice. You have to have a sacrifice that satisfies.
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Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 3, because I want to enlarge upon this and show you the truth concerning Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 3, beginning there with verse 24, I want you to note that Jesus Christ is the context: "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Now, I want to call your attention, first of all, to verse 25. The Bible says, "...whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation."
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If you ask the average Christian what is a propitiation, they would have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. The word "propitiation" occurs three times in the New Testament. It occurs here in Romans chapter 3. It occurs in 1 John 2 and verse 2: "And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but the sins of the whole world." Then it occurs again in 1 John 4 and verse 10: "Herein is love, not that we loved him, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Now, the Greek word for propitiation is the word hilasmos. The word "propitiate" literally means to appease, to satisfy, to placate, or as we would say, to propitiate.
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You remember in the Old Testament, once a year the high priest went to the holiest of holies and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat. That was a propitiation. That was a sprinkling of blood on the mercy seat. Propitiation does include expiation, which is the washing away of our sins, but the main emphasis on propitiation is satisfaction. God is a holy, righteous, just, and sovereign judge, creator, lawgiver, and father, and He has to be vindicated and appeased.
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So here's a good question. Why did God the Father set forth His Son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation? Let's answer it. Look in your Bibles to verse 25. Here's the first answer. Watch it. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood," number one, "to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God."
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Now what is he talking about? Forgiveness of sins that are past? Don't you remember reading in Hebrews chapter 10, how the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins? So what God did to the Old Testament saints was basically, He forgave them on credit. Until the true and final sacrifice, Jesus Christ came, and all the blood of bulls and goats did was just merely cover their sins, it did not take them away. Only Jesus Christ could do that. So the very first reason God set Him forth is to declare His righteousness in actually forgiving those sins on credit until Christ came. And here's another reason in verse 26: "To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus." Now, here's the interesting thing. God the Father, the Judge of all the earth, did not lower His standards when His Son, Jesus Christ, became the propitiation. Jesus Christ, as our propitiation, gave to God everything that God would have demanded from you and I.
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You remember I told you earlier that the law demanded a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. You know the Bible says in Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5, "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." So Jesus Christ came, made under the law, that He might render to the law that which God required: a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. Now here's what the Bible says concerning Jesus Christ in Isaiah 42 and verse 21. The Bible says, listen carefully, "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law and make it honorable." So Jesus Christ magnified God's law. He made it honorable by showing and demonstrating, yes, it could be kept. So why did God set forth His Son, Jesus Christ, as the propitiation for our sins?
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And the answer is this. It was only the person and work of Jesus Christ that satisfied the righteousness and holiness of God by rendering a perfect obedience to His law. He satisfied the justice of God in that He was perfect, He was obedient, and He was a willing sacrifice for His people. He also received the fullness of God's wrath and the fullness of God's anger in our place, and thus He satisfied the just and righteous anger and wrath of God. Well, it's not only the basis and the foundation for forgiveness and the expiation or washing away of sins, it is the basis of God the Father being satisfied with us. Think about that. As you think about that, I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and look at verse 21. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21. Satisfaction. Jesus Christ had to render to the law of God, to the justice of God, to the holiness of God, to the righteousness of God, satisfaction. And He had to do so in order that God would be satisfied with His people as well.
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Now look at verse 21 of 2 Corinthians chapter 5: "For he," that is God the Father, "hath made him," that is God the Son, "to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." This is imputation. This is a legal, divine act of God. You have to remember that Jesus Christ was personally innocent. He was personally sinless. He offered Himself a sinless sacrifice. He had to be sinless because if he was not sinless, he would have had to have died for his own sins and not ours. Okay? So although he was personally sinless, our sin was imputed to him, charged to him, and thus he was legally, judicially a sinner because he was our substitute. And then guess what God did? God then took that personal, perfect, perpetual obedience, unearned righteousness of Jesus Christ and imputed it to us.
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He placed that upon us. Thus, God was not only satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ, He is now satisfied with us because we stand in the perfect righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ.
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Now, I want to ask you a question. Do you understand the implication of this? Do you understand that this means that we have the same standing before our Heavenly Father as the Lord Jesus Christ does? Just as Jesus Christ was fully accepted and fully satisfied God, thus in Him we are fully accepted and fully satisfied in Christ Jesus. Here's another question. Let me ask you. I'm going to show it to you from the Bible. How do we know that God was satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ? How do we know that? She's ahead of me. If Jesus Christ had been an imposter, God would have never raised Him from the dead. If Jesus Christ had not satisfied God the Father, He would have never been raised from the dead.
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If you'll look in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Acts chapter 2, Acts chapter 2, this occurs over and over in the book of Acts in several passages in the Bible. But look in Acts chapter 2 and verse 32. Look what the Bible says: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are witnesses." The very fact that God raised up His Son proved He was satisfied with Him. Look if you would to Acts chapter 3 and verse 15. Again He says, "And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses." Look in chapter 4 and verse 10: "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." One more, look in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 1. And look, if you would please, at verses 3 and 4.
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Here's an amazing, astounding truth. By the way, the resurrection of Jesus Christ not only proves that God the Father was satisfied with His work, it also proves that He was the Son of God. Romans 1, verse 3: "Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." We know that God was satisfied with the person and work of Jesus Christ because He raised Him from the dead.
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Now, let me make some applications. The first one is this. When you place these truths together, that salvation requires a surety, a substitute, a sacrifice, and a satisfaction, it means that only Jesus Christ can be the Savior. For only Jesus Christ fulfilled every one of these requirements. There is no other Savior. There is no man, no religion, no angel, nor anyone or anything else that can match the wonderful, gracious, merciful work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father but by me."
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I titled this brief series, "So You Think You Are Saved." So I come back to that title and I ask this question. If you think you were saved, how were you saved? If you were truly, genuinely saved, you understand it was not your salvation decision that saved you. It was not your experience. It was not your baptism. It was not your good deeds. It was not your church membership. You understand that the only salvation that exists is in the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and His work. Salvation does not depend upon you. Let that sink in. Salvation does not depend upon you. I've had people tell me, "But pastor, I don't feel saved." And my response is there's a good reason for that. Salvation is not by feelings.
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You know, I could wake up in the morning singing, happy, I mean, cheerful, and I'd say, "Wow, isn't it wonderful to feel saved." And I'd wake up the following morning with fever, diarrhea, vomiting, weak, aching, sick, and all of a sudden I don't feel saved, do I? Feelings have nothing to do with salvation. It is true that we are emotional creatures. And it is true that we have feelings. But here's the point. Salvation is an objective reality. It is an objective fact. Salvation was accomplished by Jesus Christ that is outside of us.
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Yes, there are subjective applications. And yes, we have subjective feelings sometimes based upon that perception. But salvation does not depend upon us. It does not depend upon how we feel or what our experience is. It depends upon the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, "But when I came to Christ, I willingly came to Christ. I turned from my sins. I believed in Him." Yes, you did. But? Who gave you faith? Who gave you repentance?
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Who released your will from the bondage of sin? Who drew you? Everything about salvation is dependent upon the sovereign God of heaven and earth. I remember reading years ago about one man who visited a church. He was in town. It was Wednesday night. He wanted to go to church, and so he went into a Baptist church. And they were having a testimony meeting. And the man stood up and gave a wonderful, glowing testimony of how God saved him through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And when he sat down, the pastor said, "Well, that was a wonderful testimony, but I'm sure you had to do your part." To which the man stood back up and said, "Yes, sir, I did my part. I furnished the sinner."
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That was all I could do. And that's true. That's all we could do is furnish the sinner. So here's the last one. If you're not truly saved, if the Lord Jesus Christ is not your savior, you must flee to him. You must seek him. You must trust him. You must look to him and look to him alone. I hope sometimes if you've never done it, you will read the conversion experience of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It's a wonderful little experience, quote-unquote, that is given to us by Spurgeon.
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He was going to church and it was a horrible snowstorm and he had to tread through snow to get to the church. The storm was so bad that the pastor couldn't even get there. In fact there were only a handful of people there. And a deacon stood up to preach. I think the preaching took about ten minutes. And he took his text from Isaiah: "Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved." And the deacon said, "I'm not much of an expositor and I'm not much of a preacher, but the Bible says, 'Look unto me and be ye saved.'" He said, "Now any fool can look."
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He said, "All you got to do is open your eyes." And God used that simple little truth for about 10 minutes to convert Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The point I'm trying to make is this. John 6 and verse 37 says it like this: "All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." So those who come to the Lord seeking repentance and faith, asking for His mercy and grace, He has promised never ever to cast out. If you come the way He demands, you will only find that He will not cast you out, you will find that you have been given to Him by the Father, and you can rejoice in the person and work of salvation which is found only in Jesus Christ.
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So if you think you're saved, you need to examine yourself as we looked at last week and say, "Do I have a surety? Do I have a substitute? Do I have a sacrifice? Do I have a satisfaction?" And if I do, I have a Savior. And that's none other than Jesus Christ. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We pray, Lord, that You would help us to see the greatness of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is salvation. With men it is impossible, but not with Thee. Help us, Father, to be thankful and grateful for all that you have done in giving your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be our salvation, our surety, our substitute, our sacrifice, and our satisfaction. Thank you. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we give thee praise. Amen.
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so so
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:02:13Z

So You Think You're Saved - Part 2 of 2

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver continues his examination of genuine salvation, emphasizing that salvation requires a surety, a substitute, a sacrifice, and satisfaction. Using the story of Judah as a surety for Benjamin, he illustrates how Jesus Christ fulfills each of these roles. He warns against false assurance based on feelings, baptism, or good works, and stresses that salvation is an objective work of Christ alone, not dependent on human effort. The sermon calls listeners to examine themselves and flee to Christ as the only Savior.

Introduction and Review

Weaver reviews the previous sermon, noting that many people falsely think they are saved, and reiterates the need for a surety, as illustrated by Judah's suretyship for Benjamin.

Scripture Reading — Mark 10:17-27

"And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled unto him and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God."

In other words, if I'm good, I'm God. And if I'm God, you don't come running into my presence demanding something. But then he answered him,

Scripture Reading — Mark 10:17-27

"Thou knowest the commandments."

Assurance of Salvation

Weaver explains that true Christians should not be surprised to be in heaven, because Scripture provides assurance through the witness of God and the indwelling Spirit.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 5:9-13

"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater."

So many times you believe men when they witness and testify. He said,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 5:9-13

"If you receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath a witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave his Son."

Now watch carefully.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 5:9-13

"And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."

Conformity to Christ

Salvation involves being conformed to the image of Christ, evidenced by keeping His commandments and walking as He walked.

So here is what He said in 1 John 4 and verse 17:

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:17

"Herein is our love made perfect."

Now listen,

Scripture Reading — 1 John 4:17

"that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because as He is, so are we in this world."

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-6

"And hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments."

So how in the world do I know that I know the Lord Jesus Christ? And the answer is, my life is being guided and directed by His commandments. Now look at verse 4:

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-6

"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

Now verse 5.

Scripture Reading — 1 John 2:3-6

"But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him."

Scripture Reading — Matthew 1:21

"Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins."

Salvation Requires a Substitute

Because man is a sinner and liable to death, he needs a substitute. Jesus Christ is the only qualified substitute, as God provided Himself as the sacrifice.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 64:6

"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."

Now, here's an amazing and astounding thing about our substitutes.

Scripture Reading — John 1:14

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." "And we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Salvation Requires a Sacrifice

A sacrifice is necessary for remission of sins, but only the sacrifice ordained by God is acceptable. Old Testament sacrifices were shadows pointing to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.

Now, there's a principle that everyone can enunciate when it comes to sacrificing. And that's found in Hebrews 9 and verse 22, where the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 9:22

"...and almost all things are by the law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission."

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:11-14

"And every priest standeth daily ministering."

We're talking about the Levitical system now.

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:11-14

"And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man,"

Jesus Christ,

Scripture Reading — Hebrews 10:11-14

"after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool."

Salvation Requires Satisfaction

Jesus Christ is the propitiation who satisfied God's righteousness, justice, and wrath. Through imputation, believers are made the righteousness of God in Him.

The Resurrection as Proof of Satisfaction

God's raising of Jesus from the dead demonstrates His satisfaction with Christ's work and confirms Jesus as the Son of God.

Applications and Conclusion

Only Jesus Christ can save. Salvation is not based on feelings or human effort. Those who think they are saved must examine themselves and flee to Christ alone.

So You Think You're Saved - Part 2 of 2

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	-eBi3ijpPWI
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Justification, Faith, and Imputed Righteousness: Sola Fide And Justification
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-12-15
Dictation Name
Book	Book 071: So You Think You're Saved — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	74

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Review: Weaver reviews the previous sermon, noting that many people falsely think they are saved, and reiterates the need for a surety, as illustrated by Judah's suretyship for Benjamin.
Assurance of Salvation: Weaver explains that true Christians should not be surprised to be in heaven, because Scripture provides assurance through the witness of God and the indwelling Spirit.
Conformity to Christ: Salvation involves being conformed to the image of Christ, evidenced by keeping His commandments and walking as He walked.
Salvation Requires a Substitute: Because man is a sinner and liable to death, he needs a substitute. Jesus Christ is the only qualified substitute, as God provided Himself as the sacrifice.
Salvation Requires a Sacrifice: A sacrifice is necessary for remission of sins, but only the sacrifice ordained by God is acceptable. Old Testament sacrifices were shadows pointing to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.
Salvation Requires Satisfaction: Jesus Christ is the propitiation who satisfied God's righteousness, justice, and wrath. Through imputation, believers are made the righteousness of God in Him.
The Resurrection as Proof of Satisfaction: God's raising of Jesus from the dead demonstrates His satisfaction with Christ's work and confirms Jesus as the Son of God.
Applications and Conclusion: Only Jesus Christ can save. Salvation is not based on feelings or human effort. Those who think they are saved must examine themselves and flee to Christ alone.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Man's Inability to Save Himself

Sinners cannot pay their own sin debt because the wages of sin is death; any attempt to do so leads to eternal misery.

Weaver states, 'if you try to pay your own way, you will end up in eternal misery, for it's impossible to pay that which you owe.'

The Law Demands Perfect Obedience

God's law requires personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience, which no sinner can render; thus, a substitute is needed.

Weaver cites Galatians 3:10 and explains that even if one became perfect now, past sins would still require payment.

God Provided the Substitute

God not only accepted a substitute but provided His own Son, demonstrating His grace.

Weaver uses the illustration of a debt and points to Genesis 22:8, where Abraham says, 'God will provide himself a lamb.'

Old Testament Sacrifices Were Insufficient

The Levitical sacrifices were shadows that could not take away sins; they pointed to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice.

Weaver reads Hebrews 10:1-10, emphasizing that the blood of bulls and goats cannot remove sin.

Christ as Propitiation Satisfied God

Jesus Christ, as propitiation, satisfied God's righteousness and justice by rendering perfect obedience and bearing God's wrath.

Weaver explains Romans 3:25-26 and the meaning of 'propitiation' as appeasement and satisfaction.

Imputation of Righteousness

Through imputation, Christ's righteousness is credited to believers, giving them the same standing before God as Christ.

Weaver expounds 2 Corinthians 5:21, stating that God made Christ sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Resurrection Validates Christ's Work

The resurrection is God's public declaration that He was satisfied with Christ's sacrifice and that Jesus is the Son of God.

Weaver cites multiple passages in Acts and Romans 1:3-4 to prove that the resurrection confirms Christ's divine sonship.

Salvation is Entirely of God

Every aspect of salvation—faith, repentance, and the will—is a gift from God; man only furnishes the sinner.

Weaver shares the story of a man who said, 'I did my part. I furnished the sinner,' emphasizing God's sovereignty.

Scripture References

Mark 10:17-27: The story of the rich young ruler, used to introduce the theme of salvation's impossibility with men but possibility with God.
1 John 5:9-13: Cited to show that believers can know they have eternal life through the witness of God.
2 Timothy 1:12: Paul's confidence in Christ's ability to keep what he committed to Him, illustrating assurance.
1 John 4:17: Used to show that our love is made perfect so we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
Romans 8:29: Predestination to be conformed to the image of Christ, indicating that conformity begins now.
1 John 2:3-6: Evidence that knowing Christ is demonstrated by keeping His commandments and walking as He walked.
Matthew 1:21: Jesus saves His people from their sins, emphasizing the negative aspect of salvation.
1 Thessalonians 1:8-10: Salvation involves turning from idols to serve the living God, showing both negative and positive aspects.
Romans 6:23: The wages of sin is death, underscoring the need for a substitute.
Galatians 3:10: Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the law, highlighting the law's demand.
Isaiah 64:6: All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, showing the insufficiency of human goodness.
Genesis 22:7-8: Abraham's statement that God will provide Himself a lamb, foreshadowing Christ as the substitute.
John 1:14: The Word became flesh, indicating the incarnation of Christ as God's provision.
1 Timothy 3:16: God was manifest in the flesh, affirming the deity of Christ.
Isaiah 1:10-17: God rejects the sacrifices of wicked Judah, showing that even ordained sacrifices are unacceptable without obedience.
Hebrews 9:22: Without shedding of blood there is no remission, establishing the necessity of sacrifice.
Hebrews 10:1-10: Old Testament sacrifices were shadows; Christ's sacrifice sanctifies once for all.
Hebrews 10:11-14: Christ offered one sacrifice for sins forever and sat down, indicating completion.
Hebrews 9:28: Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
1 Corinthians 5:7: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, fulfilling the Old Testament type.

Historical References

R.A. Torrey: Weaver mentions that R.A. Torrey estimated 90% of church members were lost.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon's conversion: Weaver recounts Spurgeon's conversion experience in a snowstorm, where a deacon preached on 'Look unto me and be ye saved.'

Important Quotes

With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

This quote from Mark 10:27 encapsulates the sermon's theme that salvation is impossible by human effort but possible through God's provision in Christ.

He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

From 1 John 5:12, this quote emphasizes that eternal life is found exclusively in possessing Christ, not in religious activities.

I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Paul's declaration of assurance in 2 Timothy 1:12, used to show that true Christians can have confidence in Christ's keeping power.

All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.

John 6:37, offering assurance that those who come to Christ in faith will be received and not rejected.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

Why do so many people think they are saved when they are not, according to Weaver?

[Context]

Weaver opens by stating that many depend on baptism, church membership, or good deeds rather than Christ.

[Question]

How does the story of Judah and Benjamin illustrate the concepts of surety and substitute?

[Context]

Weaver uses Judah's willingness to become a bond slave in Benjamin's place as a picture of Christ's substitution.

[Question]

What does 1 John 5:9-13 teach about the assurance of salvation?

[Context]

Weaver reads this passage to show that believers can know they have eternal life through the witness of God.

[Question]

Why is a substitute necessary for salvation, and why can't we pay our own sin debt?

[Context]

Weaver explains that the wages of sin is death, and no sinner can pay that debt and live.

[Question]

How does the Old Testament sacrificial system point to Christ's sacrifice?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts the repeated, insufficient sacrifices of the law with Christ's once-for-all offering.

[Question]

What does it mean that Christ is our propitiation, and why is this important?

[Context]

Weaver defines propitiation as satisfaction, explaining that Christ satisfied God's righteousness and wrath.

[Question]

How does the resurrection prove that God was satisfied with Christ's work?

[Context]

Weaver cites multiple Scriptures to show that the resurrection validates Christ's sacrifice and divine sonship.

[Question]

Why should salvation not be based on feelings or experiences?

[Context]

Weaver argues that feelings fluctuate, but salvation is an objective reality accomplished by Christ.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:42:44Z