15 Minute Programs – OneDrive (live.com)
-Transcript-
00:25 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the program.
00:28 Welcome to the cafe. Welcome to KJV Cafe. Hopefully you’re having a wonderful day, a wonderful week.
00:34 I’m so glad you joined me here today. If you haven’t already, visit us online at kjvcafe.com, I’ll throw that one in there. Today we are talking about salvation.
00:45 Oh, how beautiful it is God’s plan for salvation. And maybe someone here is listening that has not been saved, or maybe you’re listening and you have been saved, but you have trouble maybe articulating what that means to others. And that’s all we’re talking about here today.
01:02 As a matter of fact, we only have one verse today. That’s not a lot for us. Usually we’ve got a bunch here.
01:08 There’s just one. Now I may mention a few other ones, but our text verse here, Romans 10:13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
01:24 Now that should ruffle some feathers among a lot of people, because who is eligible to be saved?
01:33 I mean, think about it. What do you think the world would think of a murderer on death row and God grants him entry into his heaven and you have a great citizen who has been a friend of the world, an innovator, someone that’s been very materially wealthy that goes to hell.
01:50 How could that be? It is only by the mystery of God that we are justified by faith.
01:57 And if that murderer had faith in God, amen, and that, that person that was living so popular in the world did not have faith in God, and that truly will be their end. One will be in heaven and one will be in hell. Amen.
02:09 The Bible speaks a lot about hell, speaks a lot about a literal hell. And that is the stakes here, heaven and hell. And those that are saved, go to heaven.
02:19 Those that are lost, go to hell. And this is a Bible truth. I mean, the Bible speaks clearly about this.
02:24 Jesus Christ himself speaks very clearly about salvation. And I love Romans 10:13, because it’s very encouraging. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
02:32 You know who’s a whosoever? I’m a whosoever. I’m a whosoever. I shouldn’t be saved, amen.
02:40 I grew up in a broken home. I saw the effects of sin firsthand. And from the time that I could understand what divorce was, I saw that with my grandma.
02:49 I saw that with my uncle. I saw that with my dad multiple times. I saw that with my mom, obviously.
02:54 I saw that with my friends. Divorce was everywhere. I grew up in a single-parent household.
03:00 My mom was sick. She was very sick. I spent time with my grandma.
03:05 My grandma was very elderly. She was a very accomplished woman, a wonderful woman, but she was very elderly. She couldn’t do parenting like that.
03:10 I had a brother. We were real close in age. We’d fight all the time.
03:16 I lived in a place that was materially very wealthy in the town that I lived, and we didn’t have any. So that was very frustrating. It was a weird, awkward, awful upbringing that caused me to very early in life fall into all manner of sin.
03:32 I mean, if there was a measure of sin, I would be at or near the top. I got into everything. You take the Ten Commandments.
03:40 I’m sure I broke almost all of them, amen, almost all of them. I’m shocked I didn’t go to jail. People literally would say, I can’t believe you didn’t go to jail.
03:49 I would fight, I would steal, I would drink, I would do all kind of manner of wicked things. I had so much detention that when it was time for graduation, I was setting up the graduation chairs as part of my detention, and someone joked around and said, I don’t think you’ll be able to sit in the chairs that you’re setting up. You have so much detention.
04:08 I was nobody and nothing to the world, amen, and I was a great sinner. Now why on earth did God spare a sinner like me? Why on earth did God say, yeah, that one, that broken lowdown one, that one that’s fighting, and the Bible says, don’t be a brawler. I was always getting into arguments and fights.
04:28 Some I’d win, many I’d lose, amen. I was reckless beyond reckless. I was near a big city, near New York City.
04:37 I’d wander around the city, and it didn’t matter when I came home. Nobody could keep track. I was out of control, and I spent much of my teens and my 20s out of control, many years, more than I’d like to admit, and yet the Lord saved me, and yet the Lord allowed me to serve him.
04:56 I just finished preaching a series on the privilege of serving God, and it’s an absolute privilege to serve God, and I can’t believe the Lord allowed me to serve him.
05:05 The Lord allowed me to marry a beautiful woman and have a wonderful family. The Lord allowed me to have work and be able to do a good job at work, and the Lord allowed us to have a house, amen, and all these things.
05:21 It’s incredible what the Lord has done, but the most important thing that God did was he saved a sinner like me, and the reason that God saved me is because he is a God of his word.
05:30 The Bible says there’s no variableness or shadow of turning with God, and in his word, in Romans 10:13, it clearly says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Friend, maybe you’re a whosoever.
05:44 You know, maybe you’re someone that’s caught up in some kind of grave sin, amen. Maybe you’ve got a drug addiction. Maybe you’re involved in prostitution.
05:51 Maybe you’re doing something illegal. You’re stealing, amen. Maybe you’ve hurt someone.
06:04 Maybe you are an adulterer. Maybe you’re, you know, who knows what you’re doing. Maybe you don’t do any of those things, and you look like a great citizen.
06:08 You look like, hey, the world loves you, but inside, you know you’re not right with God. You know you’re not close with God. You’re playing church, or you’re playing this or that, but you don’t believe in God.
06:19 You haven’t turned to God, and yet something is missing. You’re lacking a peace in your life. You’re saying there’s got to be something more than this.
06:26 You know, when I was young, all those days I describe, I remember wherever I was, and these were very unseemly places. Let’s call them that. I’d say in the back of my mind, this can’t be it.
06:38 This is so empty. This is so boring. In the midst of all this sin that’s supposed to be so fun, I feel so empty and sad, amen.
06:44 Maybe that’s you here today. You know, the Bible tells us that when we’re saved, amen, when we’re saved, we are reconciled to God.
06:54 We are made right with God, because the Bible tells us that the natural man, okay, that’s the carnal man, that’s the one living in the world, the one that has not yet accepted Christ as Savior, that man is enmity with God.
07:08 Enmity means like warfare. We are at war with God. The Bible speaks of those that are not for me or against me, amen.
07:15 The Bible speaks of without faith, it’s impossible to please God. And so we understand that we have to have faith in God. But how do we do that?
07:23 You know, I’ve told you that whosoever is anyone, including me, including your preacher, whosoever is anyone.
07:29 And if God saved me, I can tell you what? He’ll save you. And you can say, well, brother, you don’t understand my life. Oh, I don’t.
07:36 But I understand what I lived. And I’m telling you, I read the Bible. I read about righteousness.
07:42 And there are times that I have to go to Lord and beg him to forgive me. And the Lord will remind me, the Holy Spirit will remind me, look, you’ve been forgiven. That’s washed away in the sea of forgetfulness.
07:50 But I’m not, I’m nobody and nothing. And I shouldn’t be here today. It’s by God’s grace and mercy, amen, that he saved me.
07:58 And then he’s prospered me. I can’t believe it. I cannot believe what God has done for me and what he will do for you if you call upon his name.
08:06 Romans 10:13 says, for whosoever shall call upon his name. You understand that’s an action step. You know, God has given you this free gift of salvation, but you have to accept it.
08:18 And maybe you’re saying, well, I don’t know how to accept it. Well, let me tell you. Number one, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
08:24 That’s Romans 3:23, back seven chapters or so. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means that we’re all sinners from the time of Adam and Eve to today.
08:32 We all have a sin curse that we can’t resolve on our own. And that is the big problem. Pride creeps in, amen.
08:38 And we say, well, we can fix it. Or we don’t have something wrong with us. And we don’t fear God and we live in rebellion to God.
08:46 And so once we realize our need that we’re all sinners, that we all fall short, we understand the consequences of the sin. Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
08:59 And Romans 5:8, I know I said only have one verse. I broke that. Okay.
09:01 Romans 5:8, but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So God loved us so much while we’re sinning. Christ died for us.
09:10 That’s past tense. That’s been done. Amen.
09:14 Then here’s the founding verse of our church, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
09:19 That’s Romans 10:9. That’s a founding verse for our church because that’s the truth. Amen.
09:24 You simply need to believe. What do you need to believe? That Jesus Christ died for your sins. And what does that mean? That means that while you were sinning, amen, or while you were even born, Christ knew you’d be a sinner, knew you’d need a savior, came to the earth perfect and holy, born of a virgin, amen,
09:40 never sinned, lived 33 and a half years, went to the cross at Calvary, was nailed to that cross at Calvary, suffered the most brutal death of all time, not because he did anything to warrant it or deserve it.
09:53 He did it. He took your place on the cross so that you could be saved. He bled out.
09:58 He had the most gruesome death. He didn’t want to do it, amen. In the garden of Yosemite, he was sweating blood drops, amen.
10:06 He prayed to God the Father, said, Lord, let this cup pass from me, but let your will be done. And so he was obedient despite the gruesome, awful, horrible death that he faced on the cross. But he didn’t stay dead, amen.
10:15 He was in the grave three days and he was risen miraculously from the grave by Jesus, by our Father God, amen. So Jesus Christ, our Lord, is raised by the Father.
10:23 And when we accept him as Savior, when we understand what he has done for us, that he died on the cross for our sins, we get the Holy Ghost living within us.
10:32 That’s the Holy Trinity, friend. That’s the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. And so to be saved is simply to believe on what I’ve explained, that Jesus died for your sins.
10:40 And you can’t do that if you don’t think you’re a sinner. And you can’t do that if you think your good works will get you anywhere. And I promise you on the authority of the Bible, the Bible tells us that our righteousness is not sufficient.
10:51 Romans, again, 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There’s a measure stick that God has and that measuring stick we cannot meet on our own. That’s why Jesus Christ came to die for us.
11:03 But the beauty of this is we simply need to believe on Jesus. It’s like someone knocking on your door, you open the door, they say, yeah, I’ve got a free gift. You’re looking at them and you don’t know whether that gift is really good or not.
11:15 You don’t know whether to take it. And if you say, I believe that person and you accept the gift, then you have the gift, right? And let’s say it’s a beautiful gift. You say, wow, I’m really glad I accepted that gift.
11:24 Well, now imagine that eternity hangs in the balance. And if you accept Christ’s free gift of salvation, what he’s already done on the cross and you believe on him, then you’re saved for an eternity.
11:33 But if you reject Christ and you say, I don’t want to believe on him, I want to believe in my works or in ritual or in false gods or whatever else, then you will go to a real hell.
11:44 Amen. A real hell, a literal hell. That’s not meant for you.
11:48 It’s meant for devil and the devil and the fallen angels. But you’ll go there because you’ve rejected Jesus Christ. So why not accept him today?
11:55 Why not believe on him? You cannot tell me that you have sinned to a point that he won’t save you.
12:01 Whosoever shall call upon his name shall be saved. So if you understand your need and you understand God’s plan, all you need to do is trust him.
12:08 Won’t you trust him today? If you haven’t been saved, won’t you just trust him today? Maybe you’re in the car.
12:16 Maybe you’re driving. Why not pull over, park, make sure you’re safe and pray to God and say, Lord, please save me. I know that I’m a sinner.
12:23 I know I can’t do it on my own, but Lord Jesus Christ, please save me today. If you call out to him and you ask him to be saved, I know my God will save you. If he saved me, he can save you.
12:33 Amen. Nothing is too hard for God. Nothing that you have done is going to keep in the way of you being saved.
12:40 The devil wants you to think it will, but it won’t. God will forgive you. The Bible says that Jesus Christ will forgive us of all sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
12:52 All that sin in your life will be cast into the sea of forgetfulness, never to be brought up again. When God the father looks at you on the day of judgment, once you’ve accepted Christ as your savior, he will see the righteousness of Christ. The righteousness of Christ will be applied to you.
13:07 The Bible word is imputed, imputed on you so that you’re saved and you go to heaven and you have eternity of bliss in heaven.
13:09 But also here on earth, you have a peace that surpasses all understanding. You have the holy spirit that lives within you.
13:21 You have a purpose and a calling. You have a ministry that’s beautiful. You have, you have this just wonderful relationship with God by accepting him as savior.
13:30 All we have to do is believe. The only thing we can do is have faith. That’s it.
13:37 Our works won’t save us. Church membership won’t save us. Baptism won’t save us.
13:40 I’m Baptist, but getting baptized alone doesn’t save you. Being saved is a personal relationship with Christ, which starts with our realize, realizing our need of Jesus Christ and ends with calling out to him and accepting him.
13:52 And once we believe on him, we’re saved for eternity.
13:54 Jesus Christ died one time for all mankind that will believe on him. So please believe on him today. Trust him today.
14:02 And if you have trusted him, what are you doing to share this message? What are you doing to ensure others are saved? Make that the top priority in your life.
14:10 Pray to God and ask him how you can tell others about what Jesus Christ has done for you. What is more important than telling others about Christ?
14:19 This should be our top priority in everything we do is sharing the gospel.
14:25 I thank you for listening today. Take care. God bless and amen.