Sound Doctrine: The Freeness Of Salvation

Take your Bibles, if you would, please, and turn to the book of Revelation. Revelation, the last chapter, chapter 22, is going to be our text to be able to start today's message. We've been in a series on sound doctrine, and today's message is the "Freeness of Salvation." And these messages are from the "What We Believe" page, and that is from the New Hampshire statement of faith. The New Hampshire Confession that was written in 1833 is the confession that the church has adopted, and today we are on message number six. We have discussed already of the Scriptures, of the true God, of the fall of man, of the way of salvation, of justification, and today we'll continue through this confession and teach on the "Freeness of Salvation."

And the first verse I'd like you to turn to is in Revelation, Revelation, chapter 22 and verse 17, and hear this general call to come and be saved. This is important that we act upon what we believe to be ones who continue to spread the freeness of salvation to anyone who would repent of their sin and place their faith and trust in the death and burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. If God gives you the faith to believe in that and you confess it freely before Him that you know that you have sinned, you've looked at the Ten Commandments and you can see clearly that you've fallen short of God's law and you view God's law like the New Testament writers view God's law as a whole unit and you've broken God's law and therefore the punishment for sin is death. You deserve death, but Jesus died in your place. You can be saved.

And so Revelation chapter 22 and verse 17 says this: "The Spirit and the bride say," so you see that the Spirit of God and the bride, the people, are to be evangelistic. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come and let the one who hears," anyone who is lost, anyone who can hear, the one who hears, "come and let the one who is thirsty, come and let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost." And so the word that is here, that is a common denominator, is the word "come." And so this is the great invitation in Scripture to Jesus. And so now as we act upon this and spread the gospel freely, we believe that those who would place their faith and trust in Christ can be saved.

Let me read to you the paragraph in our confession on the freeness of salvation. Of the freeness of salvation it says this: "We believe that the blessings of salvation are made free to all by the gospel, that it is the immediate duty of all to accept them by a cordial and penitent and obedient faith, and that nothing prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth but his own inherent depravity and voluntary rejection of the gospel, which rejection involves him in an aggravated condemnation." Now if you look at the confession, it's saturated with Scriptures upon every phrase that substantiate everything that has been said here. And I can't go through every single one of these verses, but I can lean into the essence of the freeness of salvation and teach that to us today and preach that to us today.

Now in Revelation chapter 22 and verse 17, the phrase, "And let the one who is thirsty come," alludes to what the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 55. And what I'd like to do today is simply go through Isaiah 53, 54, and 55, and maybe even some of 56, to lay down this truth with you. And so now if you would turn to Isaiah chapter 55 and verse 1, we'll just read this one verse that's being alluded to and then back up a couple chapters as well and continue to dig in. I'd like for you to see the essence of the freeness of salvation from the prophet Isaiah's perspective. And then Jesus also alludes to this idea of thirst.

In Isaiah 55:1, "Ho" is what it starts off with in the New American Standard Translation, which is an attention-getter. In Psalm 78, it says "Listen" as the first word to get the attention of people. But here it's "Ho," and so that is to call those who are not listening, in a day when they didn't have watches to be able to start on time or to know when the preacher was going to start preaching or the worship leader was going to start singing. They had to have a call to worship, somehow, and this is more than just a call to come and listen, but it's a call to come and believe in Jesus. So, "Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters." And I mentioned already that this phrase, "Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters," is what John the Apostle alluded to in Revelation 22:17 that we just read.

And continuing in Isaiah 55:1, it says, "And you who have no money, come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money, without cost." And so you say to yourself, "How can someone who has no money make a purchase?" Well, it's because the purchase has already been paid. And when you realize that you are poor spiritually, that you are depraved, that you have no way to purchase your salvation, then you believe in the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ because He paid with His blood for you to be saved. And so poor people can make a purchase because it's already been paid for. And Jesus said in the first sermon that He ever preached, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." So when you recognize your poor spiritual depravity, that you do not have the Spirit of God living inside of you, then you are at the place where you can accept the free gift of salvation. So beautiful.

Verse 2 in Isaiah 55 says, "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?" Listen, when people spend money trying to satisfy their soul and trying to satisfy their desires, they're chasing a carrot that they'll never catch. Lost people are trying to satisfy some type of internal longing that only Jesus Christ can satisfy. And so if you truly are thirsty, if you are longing for this peace that surpasses all understanding, if you're longing for assurance of eternal salvation, it's in Jesus. It's not in any amount of money. It's not in any type of temporal security that perhaps a community can provide. It's not in the amount of homes or houses or boats or cars or any type of vacations. It's in nothing that this world can offer. And if you go beyond even these to perhaps a higher climactic experience that is short-lived with high consequences, such as drugs and sex and alcohol and things of this world, you're simply chasing an answer in the wrong direction, and you're spending money in a futile direction.

This is what is acknowledged here in verse 2: "Why do you spend money for what is not bread?" Jesus is the bread of life. "And your wages for what does not satisfy?" Only Jesus satisfies the soul. "Listen carefully to Me," the Bible says, "and eat what is good." The Bible says that none are good, only God is good. "And delight yourself in abundance." Verse 3: "Incline your ear and come to Me." That is a capitalized pronoun in the New American Standard Translation. The word "Me" is a direct reference to Jesus Christ. "Listen, that you may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you." This everlasting covenant is a reference to the New Covenant in the Old Testament. Yes, Old Testament believers looked forward to the salvation they would have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Isaiah is preaching obviously to his own people, the Jews, but this everlasting covenant would extend through the Jews to the Gentiles, to the world.

If you would like to turn to Ephesians chapter 2, I'd like to show you where this new covenant is united for both groups. Ephesians 2:11 through 14 shows us that this covenant of promise goes beyond the Jews to the Gentiles, which is good news for those of us who haven't been born Jewish. In Ephesians 2:11, "Therefore, remember that formerly you Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by the so-called circumcision which is performed in the flesh by human hands, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, excluded from the wealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for He Himself is our peace, who made both groups" — circle both groups in your Bible. If you circle anything, this is the point of why I'm bringing you here to this passage — "both groups into one and broke down the barrier in the dividing wall." Jesus Christ in the flesh was crucified, and that is further pictured by the veil being torn, rent from top to bottom, so that now both groups can enter into the holy presence of God and be saved, gloriously saved, through Jesus Christ. These covenants of promise are through the Jews to the Gentiles.

Back to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah 55:6 says this: "Seek the Lord while He may be found, and call upon Him while He is near." The Spirit of the living God draws lost souls unto Himself. And this call, like we read in the book of Revelation, "The Spirit and the bride say, come, and let the one who hears come, and let the one who is thirsty, come," is an invitation for people who are lost to come and be found.

And you say to yourself, "Well, who then can hear the Spirit and yield to the Spirit and listen to the Spirit and come?" Well, in Isaiah 55:7, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord." Turn back — that is repentance — to turn from your wicked ways. We are all born in sin, depraved by nature, and if God gives you a new nature and you desire to thirst after Him, to come to Christ, confess Him as Lord and Savior, confess your sin, turn from your wicked ways, and be saved. And so let the wicked forsake his ways.

This is fantastic because if sinful people can come to Christ, who can come to Christ? Some think that they're perhaps too saturated in sin, or maybe gone too far, maybe their wickedness is too depraved for God to save. Well, turn over to Isaiah 57 and verse 3. I'd like to show you the same invitation to those whom you probably would think are the worst in the world. When you think of sin, these are probably the worst sins in the world. Perhaps those that are mentioned in Isaiah 57:3 and following make the list. And I'm saying to you that this is a free offer of salvation to those whom we would think are the worst sinners on the earth. In Isaiah 57:3 it says, "But come here, you sons of sorceresses, offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute, come." So whoever is lost, and no matter how depraved they are, no matter how far down in the ravine of sin they have fallen, they can be saved, gloriously saved. No one is outside of Jesus' saving arm. Jesus can reach anywhere by His Spirit and save those who would repent and believe.

And back to Isaiah 55:7 it says, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous his thoughts, and let him return back to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him." This word compassion means love and mercy. And so God's mercy to save those who are far away from Him is an extension of His love. And so continuing on in the verse, "And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." He will abundantly save. He will abundantly forgive. All of your sins — past, present, and future — have already been paid for by the blood of Jesus and His substitutionary payment on the cross. Everything, everything that has been done, is being done, and that will be done. And so accept this free gift of salvation. He's paid for it.

You think to yourself, "That's far, far beyond what I can think and comprehend." Well, it is. And the Bible even confesses and acknowledges that in Isaiah 55:8. Look with me. Isaiah 55:8, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts." Mankind thinks that they need to earn their salvation. But in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, it says, "It's not of works, lest any man should boast." It's a free gift of salvation for those who would repent and believe. Listen, you cannot earn your salvation. There's no merit that you have in yourself that is worthy enough to earn your salvation. If you had all the gold in Egypt, you could not buy your salvation, lest you nullify Christ on the cross. Why did Christ die? If you think that you can work your way into salvation, then Christ died needlessly — that is the whole message of the book of Galatians.

And so back to Isaiah 55:8, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." Now in verses 10 and 11, there's a very interesting comparison. This is by way of illustration from a preacher to his people so that they can truly understand what's being laid down. Here you have a comparison between rain and God's Word. Read and let's understand it together. In verse 10, "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth. It will not return to Me empty without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

And so now in verse 10 you've got the rain as compared to the Word in verse 11. And this rain that God gives will produce a crop, and a crop will produce the fruit that He desires. In verse 10 it says, "And making it bear and sprout" — these two words, bear and sprout, have the original Hebraic meaning of being caused to be born. God will cause the salvation of souls to be born again, to come up and to sprout. He causes them to spring up and to grow. And not only do they sprout, but they also grow. And not only do they grow, they become strong and produce fruit. And the sower then will have seed that produces fruit. This is the result of the Word of God that goes forth from His mouth. It will accomplish what God desires. It will not return void.

In verse 12 it says, "For you will go out with joy." Now this is the first of a list from which the Word of God produces in a saved soul. Here are some evidences of your salvation, those who are saved. And here is a list of things you can look forward to if you're not saved and soon to be saved. You can go through and circle these words through verses 12 and 13. I'll say the words and then read the text. So the results of salvation are this: joy, peace, shouts of joy, the clapping of hands, the curse of the thorn being removed and replaced by a strong cypress tree.

Let me read the verses and explain. In verse 12 it says, "You will go out with joy." And so part of God's Word like rain falling upon a crop, grace like rain, and then those seeds sprout. Part of the result of the seeds sprouting and producing and growing is that these seeds of salvation will be ones of joy. Their joy truly is to rejoice, and again I say rejoice, like Paul said in Philippians 4:4, even while he was under duress and terrible circumstances. Underfed, poorly cared for, in prison, in a dungeon, whatever the case may be, the circumstances don't matter because we're happy in Christ. We have the big picture in mind. You can do whatever you want to me on this side of heaven. I'm saved and gloriously saved. Isaiah had the same idea. Paul had the same idea. Jesus had the same idea. The disciples of Jesus had the same idea. This world, whatever sufferings I may incur, that's fine, because I'm happy in Christ.

And so one of the first evidences of your true salvation is that you're fine no matter what. The circumstances don't dictate your joy and your happiness. "And so you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace." Not that your soul won't be troubled once in a while, because our souls are troubled especially when we hear of terrible sins happening close by and around the world. And not that circumstances won't make you cry or agonize. Jesus Himself was a man of sorrows, and so we embrace these things. We know these things, but at the end of the day we have this undercurrent of stable peace in Jesus Christ. Those of us who are saved are not frantically out of control looking for something to give us peace. We already have peace. "And be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you." Isn't that great — when we have such victories in Jesus that it causes us to want to shout and to share what the Lord has done in our life? This is what the Word of God has done in you that produces a joy that cannot be contained. And it says that all the trees of the field will clap their hands. What a beautiful illustration.

In verse 13, instead of the thorn, which is representative of the curse back in Genesis chapter 3, it says the cypress will come up. A little bit of cultural background is needed here. The cypress tree was known as a noble, stately tree, and these types of noble wooded trees were used even to build the temple, and so it wasn't a common, weedy type of tree that was used to build the temple and all the furnishings inside. This was a really nice, wonderful, stable, beautiful wood. And so your life would look like this: all the thorns and the pain and the sufferings and the lack of production that a thorn represents — all the sufferings, all the sweating, all the agonizing, all the pain — that is the curse upon your life when you're lost. That's removed. Jesus took on and bore all of this curse, and He's going to replace it with blessings, covenant blessings, new covenant blessings. You're going to be like a tree. Psalm 1:3 says you shall be like a tree. What a rich metaphor. The people Isaiah was preaching to knew exactly what he was saying. And to continue on in the verse, "And it will be a memorial to the Lord, for an everlasting sign which will not be cut off." This is beautiful.

Now before we move on let's just back up to Isaiah 53. I want you to read all of what is causing this momentum from the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 53, verses 1 through 7, Jesus is foretold as the suffering servant, the Lamb of God. "Isaiah 53:1, 'Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of the parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening of our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb that was led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth.'"

That is Isaiah 53, verses 1 through 7, and it continues to paint the picture of the cross to come, even though the crucifixion had not been invented yet. And so Christ, being our perfect High Priest, did what a priest had never done before and sacrificed Himself as the Lamb of God. John 1:29 speaks of Jesus as being the Lamb of God.

And so moving on to chapter 54 in Isaiah are the blessings that Israel would encounter. And a little bit of truth from God in Isaiah 54:9: "For this is like the days of Noah to Me." So when Israel rejected God, they were in God's own estimation like in the days of Noah. But yet God would be faithful to a people, just like in the days of Noah He saved Noah and his family and established the Noahic covenant with his family. Just as God would be faithful to Noah and his family to provide for them salvation, so would God save a remnant and be faithful to the rebellious Israelites — out of them, salvation would continue on. This reference to the days of Noah is from Genesis chapter 9, verses 11 to 17. "For this is like the days of Noah to Me, when I swore that the waters of Noah would not flood the earth again. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you nor will I rebuke you. For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My loving kindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace" — see another covenant here — "will not be shaken, says the Lord who has compassion on you." And so this compassion, this merciful love, is extended to those who will be in the new covenant which Christ personally mediated between us, sinful man, and a holy, holy, holy God.

And back to Isaiah 55:6, now it extends from Israel to the lost. Let's go to Isaiah 56. In Isaiah 56:6 and 7, you see now the call going from the Jews to the Gentiles — they're called "the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant. Even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." Circle the word "all" there at the end of verse 7, and you see again that God's new covenant has been extended through Israel to the Gentiles. And they will not only be saved but be brought into God's house. God's house is to be a house of prayer. Jesus quoted this very passage in Matthew 21:13 when the Pharisees and the Sadducees and all the rebellious Israelites who were anti-Christ were making God's house a house of profit, a house for money, instead of a house of prayer.

It's a sad thing to see that so many Jews have not seen Jesus in a salvific way and missed Christ who was right in front of them, whom the prophets were prophesying. But it is through this temporary blinding that salvation has then sprung forth to the entire world. Foreigners, aliens, can come into God's house. Do you invite strangers into your house, aliens into your house? God does. It's an amazing thing. And this has been true all the way through. We have one God with one salvific plan, and He has always been evangelistic.

And so even back in Leviticus and in Numbers, I'll just briefly quote these for you. In Numbers 15, you see that the alien who was sojourning or traveling can be brought into Israel under God's one law and even worship God. The Bible says in Numbers 15:14, "If an alien sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, a soothing aroma to the Lord, just as you do so shall he do. For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout all your generations. As you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord. There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you." And he continues on. And so we see that the Gentiles, the heathens, however depraved they were, can be invited in to worship God.

In John 5:46, Jesus makes an astounding claim. He says that Moses wrote about Him, and we know that Moses wrote the Torah — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — and Jesus says that not only the Torah but the Psalms and the prophets all wrote about Him. It's an amazing and astounding claim.

And so obviously this is all pointing towards Jesus. In Leviticus 17:8–9, just real fast: "Then you shall say to them, any man from the house of Israel or from the aliens who sojourn among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and does not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord, that man shall be cut off from his people." So the invitation is to come to Christ and to worship Him accordingly and not be cut off.

Back to Isaiah as I wrap up this brief message — not only is salvation free to the Jews, but through the Jews to Israel, through Israel to the Gentiles, to foreigners, to aliens, to all who would come. And the Bible says in Isaiah 56:8, "The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, 'Yet others I will gather to them, in addition to those already gathered.'" You see, it's salvation to the Jew first, and then to the Gentiles. Romans 1:16 says to the Jew first, and then through the Jews to the Gentiles. And right here you see even in Isaiah 56:8 the grafting in of the Gentiles into Israel. "Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered." Romans 11 talks about how the Gentiles are grafted in. And then in verse 9, "All you beasts of the field, you beasts in the forest, come and eat." What an amazing thing to see — that we have salvation for those who would come.

And to kind of wrap up here, I would ask you a few questions. Do you believe in the freeness of God's glorious salvation? If you do, then you're spreading this glorious, wonderful gift of salvation. I'm going to lean into this as a point for you to realize: if you really believe in it, then you're doing it. If you don't really believe in it, then I don't think that you're doing it. For example, if you sit down and you believe that the meal before you is good to eat, you eat it. You really believe that it's good, you consume it. And if you really believe it's good, then you also have enough to give away — you give it away.

Salvation is better than any meal, and it is so good, and it is the best thing. Seriously, do you believe that someone is too deep in sin to be saved? Well, I would say that Paul was a chief of sinners and he was saved. Do you believe that someone can come even who is wrapped up in some type of false religion — they've been in Mormonism their entire life, or Catholicism their entire life, or Buddhism or Islam their entire life? Are they too far to be saved? Do you believe that the Pharisees, wrapped in their Pharisaical religion and the self-sufficiency of Abraham, can be saved? Yes, they can. Nicodemus was saved. Do you believe that someone who suffers with doubt can be saved? Do you believe that those who are given to the lifestyle of prostitution can be saved? Well, yes — the woman at the well was saved, in John chapter 4. Do you believe that those with physical infirmities can be saved? Yes, blind men have been saved. Do you believe a traitor can be saved? Yes, Matthew, the gospel writer, was a turncoat. He turned, and yet he was saved.

Do you believe idol worshipers can be saved? Our father Abraham was an idol worshiper before God granted him faith to be saved. Do you believe murderers on death row can be saved? Well, Moses was a murderer. And so I say to us that Christ is coming again, and if you don't come, you won't be saved — you'll be sentenced with eternal separation from Jesus Christ. But if you come, you thirst for Jesus, and you're saved and gloriously saved. And start by repenting of every sin, confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, that God raised Him from the dead after He was crucified for your sin's punishment. Profess your salvation, make it public by being biblically baptized by immersion, and join a local church that preaches the gospel and makes disciples, and then go yourself and spread the gospel and make disciples.

Pray with me if you would. Lord, thank You for the opportunity to spread the freeness of Your salvation. And just a glimpse at Isaiah's prophecies from Isaiah chapters 53, 54, 55, and 56 helps us to see just how free Your salvation's offer is to both Jews and to Gentiles. We love You. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.