But we're up to Psalm 53, look at verse number 6, it says,
Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion.
The title of the sermon this afternoon is,
The Salvation of Israel.
What is the salvation of Israel?
You know, when you and I, we have a conversation,
we say, hey, who is our salvation, what is our salvation?
You know, I'm sure the vast majority of us,
we're very comfortable, very articulate to describe
that Jesus Christ is our salvation,
that we know that salvation is by grace through faith
and that it's not by works and it is fully by God's grace.
It is Jesus Christ has done everything necessary,
paid for all our sins, he took on the wrath of God,
he took our sin, you know, he was made the curse for us
as it will, and we received his righteousness.
So we go to heaven not based on how good or bad we are,
but we go by based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ
and Jesus Christ alone.
But when we look at the Old Testament here,
verse number six, Oh, that the salvation of Israel
will come out of Zion, what is that?
What is that talking about?
Did they know the name of Christ?
Well, it's very clear that they did not know
the name of Jesus, okay, in the Old Testament.
So the question gets brought up,
well, how did people get saved in the Old Testament?
And in fact, this Psalm, it's quite short,
but there's a lot about the gospel found in this passage.
There's so much about the gospel
that you probably haven't even realized
as it was being read to you.
Now, one thing you also need to understand
is that Psalm 53 is almost a duplicate of Psalm 14.
You know, so if you have your own time at some points,
look at Psalm 14, look at them side by side,
they're almost identical.
One of the key differences between Psalm 14,
it refers to God as the Lord more often,
and you'll notice that in Psalm 53
it refers to God as God, okay?
So let's start there in Psalm 53, verse number one.
And in fact, you can see in your title,
if you've got a title there for the Psalm,
it says, to the chief musician,
upon Malalath, Matiel, a psalm of David.
So we know who the author of this psalm is,
it's David, the psalm of David.
So we definitely know it's been written by a believer,
it's been written by a saint, an Old Testament saint,
the king of Israel, David, under the old covenant.
And he speaks about the salvation of Israel.
What is he speaking about?
How did they get saved under the old covenant?
You know, people get confused about this topic
and it is so simple, honestly.
Like sometimes I hear Christians have conversations
and even false prophets, they love to complicate things.
And really the Bible, you know,
by the enlightening of the Holy Spirit of God,
and when you compare the scriptures one to another,
it is straightforward, it is simple.
Brethren, there's only one way to be saved.
There's only one way.
What did Jesus Christ say?
I am the way, I am the way, the truth and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Those are the words of Christ.
You think they were different in the Old Testament?
You think under the Old Testament
people got saved some other way
when Jesus Christ says I am the way?
Okay, I mean, if there was,
if the old covenant provided salvation,
why would Jesus Christ need to come?
I mean, you know, and you've got people that, you know,
create multiple gospels.
And look, if you believe in multiple gospels today,
I'm not mad at you, okay?
The Bible's very clear.
There's only one way to be saved
and it's by Jesus Christ.
Even though the Old Testament saints
did not know the name of Christ,
they were still saved by the shed blood of Christ, okay?
And so what I'm gonna try to show you
as we keep going through this, Psalm 53,
oh, the salvation of Israel come out of Zion.
All I'm saying to you is that that salvation
is Jesus Christ, okay?
Jesus Christ went to Jerusalem,
you may recall the final week before his crucifixion.
He was there, they call it the Passion Week.
He was there for a solid week in Jerusalem.
Then he was taken literally out of Zion,
out of Jerusalem and crucified on the cross.
And David, as an Old Testament saint,
had his faith on the same salvation,
the same person, the same way that we get saved today
is the way they got saved in the Old Covenant.
You know, if you start to believe,
you start to hear preachers teach that,
well, it was by works.
You know, they had to offer the bulls and the goats.
They had to keep the commandments.
They had to keep the, yes, they had to do these things,
but they didn't have to do these things to be saved.
They just had to do those things
as the fulfillment of being part of that covenant.
You know, I, as a husband,
I've entered into a covenant with my wife.
You know, there's certain obligations that I have.
I've gotta be the breadwinner.
I've gotta make sure I provide my wife security and safety.
But just because I'm under that covenant,
is that how I get saved?
Pastor Kevin, what must you do to be saved?
Well, work hard and look after your wife.
Well, that would be another gospel, okay?
Just because someone is under a covenant
as it was in the Old Testament,
doesn't mean that by fulfilling that covenant
that that's how they got saved.
It's not how they got saved.
Salvation has never been by the efforts of man.
It is by the complete work of Jesus Christ.
The lamb, the Bible says the lamb,
slain from the foundation of the world.
Okay, so even though in our timeline
it took place some 2,000 years ago,
from God's perspective,
Christ has been slain from the foundation.
From the very beginning of the earth,
Christ's blood has saved every believer
from Adam to the last person that takes a breath.
Now we haven't even started Psalm 53,
so let's get into it, okay?
It begins by saying,
the fool have said in his heart,
there is no God.
Now look, let me give you just some advice here.
It's very easy to take the Bible out of context.
You can say, hey, the Bible says,
there is no God.
Wow, the Bible has contradictions.
And you know when you hear stupidity like that,
you need to just go back to God's word
and look at the context.
The Bible is not saying there is no God.
God is saying the fool says there is no God.
Who says there's no God?
The atheists.
Okay, many in the field of science
will say to you there is no God.
And you know what?
They try to lift themselves up
with their education,
with their certificates,
with their qualifications.
They think of themselves as wise,
but God says they are fools.
The fool have said in his heart,
there is no God.
You know, it's very hard to save a fool.
You know, when you go and you preach the gospel
and some, I don't believe there's a God.
That person is really hard to get saved
because they're a fool.
The fool have said in his heart,
there is no God.
Okay, it's not just that he's just
another lost individual in society,
which he definitely is,
but he's gone one step further
and he treats the things of God as foolishness.
But he himself is the fool.
And I'm going to quickly read to you
if you can actually keep your finger there.
Actually, let's finish the,
I didn't get to finish the verse.
It says, corrupt are they.
Not only are they foolish,
they're corrupt and have done
abominable iniquity.
There is none that doeth good.
All right, so those that claim there is no God,
God says there is none that doeth good.
None of those people that claim
to believe in atheism
or say there is no God,
none of them does good.
That's true.
And then later you see by extension,
all of us have not done good.
None of us are perfect.
None of us are righteous in the eyes of God.
But for the time being,
keep your finger there
and please go to 1 Corinthians chapter one.
Please go to 1 Corinthians chapter one
and verse number 18.
1 Corinthians chapter one,
verse number 18.
I guess the first point
that I have for you this afternoon
is that atheism is a religion of fools.
Atheism is a religion of fools.
It is a religion by the way.
They say they don't have faith.
They say they don't have a religion.
It's their religion.
And they're trying, hey,
when you go to the door
and someone's trying to convince you
that there is no God,
they're trying to preach their gospel to you
that there is no God.
That's what they believe.
They're trying to convert you to their side.
And I want you to remember
this battle that we have in this world,
in 1 Corinthians 1.18, it says,
for the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God.
You know, we're very different individuals
with the rest of this world.
You know, when we go and preach the gospel,
the world says that's foolish.
But we know it's the power of God unto salvation.
Isn't it interesting what they call foolishness
and what God calls foolishness?
He says if you believe there's no God,
that person is a fool.
Let's keep going there, verse number 19.
For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise
and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise?
Where is the scribe?
Where is the disputer of this world?
Have not God made foolish
the wisdom of this world?
You know, when God sees the wisdom of this world,
you know, when you're impressed, wow,
you've got a doctorate degree
in whatever it is, oh man,
God says, you know what, that is foolish.
The wisdom of the world is foolish
in comparison to the wisdom of God,
which the unsaved world considers to be foolish.
We're like on this completely different program.
You know, believers with non-believers.
You know, when you go and preach the gospel,
you're trying to bridge that gap.
You know, you're trying to make them realize
the things that they once considered to be foolish
to be great wisdom and great power unto salvation.
Verse number 21.
For after that, in the wisdom of God by the world,
by wisdom knew not God.
See, the more wise you get by world standards,
the less you know God.
Isn't that interesting?
And it says, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that belief.
Hey, how do you get saved?
Just by believing.
Verse number 22.
Now notice this.
I want you to really notice this
in what's been referenced here.
So what is it that saves us?
The preaching of the cross to them that believe.
So you can preach the cross to someone,
but if they don't believe, they don't get saved.
You must mix belief.
You must mix faith into that gospel message
in order to be saved.
And notice verse number 22.
For the Jews require a sign,
and the Greeks seek after wisdom.
The Greeks, just in general terms, the Gentiles.
Okay, so you've got the Jews,
you've got the Greeks or the Gentiles.
But look at verse number 23.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews
a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness.
Look, if someone says to you,
you know, you preach to the Jews and say,
look, we want a sign.
Prove to us that, you know,
that God exists or whatever it is.
The Son of God, Jesus Christ,
make him appear just this moment, do a miracle.
What do we do?
We preach the cross of Christ.
You know, if the Greeks,
if the Gentiles are, oh man,
we're much wiser than what the Bible says.
You know, science has taught us there is no God.
What do we do?
We preach Christ crucified.
It's the same message to the Jews.
It's the same message to the Greeks
because this is the message,
the gospel message that saves,
regardless of what your racial background is,
regardless of that.
But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews
a stumbling block unto the Greeks foolishness.
Look at verse number 24.
But unto them, which are called, look at this,
both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Both Jews and Greeks, they get saved the same way.
Why would we think the Jews of the Old Testament
got saved some other way?
Why would we think that?
And you know, it's a strange thing
when you have an independent Baptist church,
a preacher preaching that the Jews
got saved a different way.
The Jews, they had to sacrifice the animals to be saved.
I'll tell you now that if those Jews sacrificed
the animals every single day, every single year,
but they did not have faith,
they would not be saved.
Okay, and you can have one of these Jews
that maybe picked up sticks on a Sabbath day
that did it completely wrong,
but if they had their faith on Jesus Christ,
they would be saved.
Because salvation is not based on your works.
It's not based on your performance.
The blessings of the Old Covenant
would come upon those that would keep the Old Covenant,
but that's not how they got saved.
That's not how they got saved.
Jews and Gentiles, the same.
It's the same message, Christ crucified.
Please go back to Psalm 53.
Psalm 53, verse number two.
Psalm 53, verse number two, it says,
God looked down from heaven upon the children of men
to see if there were any that did understand
and that did seek God.
Now we already saw that as you increase in worldly wisdom,
you're going to know less of God.
So the natural progression of human beings
is that people were not seeking God
as they got further and further into their sins
and further and further into foolish worldly understanding,
they no longer started to seek God
and God picked up on this, okay?
Verse number three, it says,
every one of them is gone back.
They all together become filthy.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
And so God begins by saying that none of these fools,
none of these are people that say
that God does not exist, that there is no God,
God says, look, none of them are righteous,
none of them are good,
but then as God looks upon mankind in general,
he receives a trajectory that mankind is going,
he goes, well, there is none good.
Once again, there is no man that is good enough for God.
There is no man that is good enough for heaven.
Now why is this chapter, or Psalm 53, about the gospel?
Because the same language, the same phraseology
is then picked up and used by the Apostle Paul
in the book of Romans.
So again, keep your finger there and go to Romans with me,
go to Romans chapter three,
Romans chapter three, verse number nine.
Romans chapter three and verse number nine.
I want you to notice this,
so I'll give you a moment to turn there.
Romans chapter three and verse number nine.
It begins there by saying,
what then, are we better than they?
No in no wise, for we have before proved, look at this,
both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin.
All right, are we better than Jews?
Are we better than the Old Testament Israelites?
Look, we're all under sin.
We're all sinners.
You know, you can't, people say,
oh yeah, I think I'm a good person.
They're just comparing themselves to the mass murderer.
Yeah, you might be better than the mass murderer,
but if you compare yourself to God, you are not good.
There is none good.
Okay, it doesn't matter what your ethnicity is.
There is none good, all right?
Let's keep going there, verse number 10.
As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God.
Hey, where is the Apostle Paul picking up these verses
when he says, as it is written?
Well, we read it, Psalm 53, Psalm 14,
pretty much the same Psalm, okay?
This is what Paul is picking up.
He's saying, look, these Psalms are about salvation,
the salvation of Israel, as we read about, you know,
in verse number six, in Psalm 53,
but let's keep going there.
What does Paul have to say in regards to this?
He says in verse number 12,
they are all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Reverend Jews, Gentiles, Jews, Greeks,
Australians or whatever you are, okay?
There is none, Filipino, okay?
Portuguese, Chilean, what else have we got?
You're a mix of everything, I don't know what you are.
Whether you're from the Czech Republic or,
what else have we got here?
I don't know, all right, Cambodian, amen?
None of you are good, neither am I, okay?
None of us, this is the word of God.
People think they're going to heaven
based on how good they are, it's unbelievable.
Like the Bible's, we're looking at Old Testament
and New Testament.
Like if people just spent a little bit of time
just looking at what the Bible says,
it becomes very clear that none of us
are good enough for heaven.
None of us are good enough for God.
If we're not good enough, if there is none that is good,
how can the basis of salvation
be based on how good you are?
If that's the basis, we're all going to hell.
We're all going to hell, Reverend, if that's the basis.
But isn't that what the majority of people say?
I believe I'm going to heaven,
yeah, I believe God will accept me, I'm a good person.
There is none, there is none that is good.
I don't care, you meet a Jew,
they're just as wicked as anybody else, okay?
Whatever racial background it is,
that everyone is as wicked
and no one is seeking after God.
You know, it was God that had to reach down
and send his son to die in our place.
He had to be the one that was faithful
to give us a way of salvation,
to give us righteousness.
Again, not our own righteousness,
but the righteousness of Jesus Christ that gets us there.
Back to Psalm 53.
We are going to come back to Romans.
If you want to keep a finger in Romans, that's fine.
I just want to show you how Paul
picks up these passages in the Psalm
and uses it to teach about salvation,
to teach about that none of us are righteous.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Look at verse number four in Psalm 53.
It says, have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?
Who eat up my people as they eat bread?
They have not called upon God.
What must we do to be saved?
We must believe, okay?
Paul says that for whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
I want you to start to notice a little language.
The phraseology that's being used in this Psalm,
how it all points to salvation,
how it all points to believing of the Gospel.
Hey, but these people, these workers of iniquity,
they've got no knowledge.
They've got no knowledge of God, no knowledge of salvation.
They think they're wise, but God says they're fools.
Hey, these people eat up my people as they eat bread.
Hey, the unsaved world,
they like to persecute God's people.
We're just talking about it between services.
Brother Matt was sharing with me
how he was not to boast of our works and things like that,
but it's just a real story that you can be given the Gospel
to someone at the cafe,
and then you have someone else on a completely different table
get up and get offended.
I mean, it just happens.
You're just speaking God's word, all right?
I mean, at a cafe,
there are several people having conversations.
Why would someone get offended by speaking the Bible,
by preaching?
Why get offended at that?
It's just voices once again, is it not?
You see, the wicked, they love to persecute God's people.
They can't help themselves, these workers of iniquity.
And one thing I want you to notice in Psalm 53
in comparison to Psalm 14,
if you can go to Psalm 14 now,
though, like I said, it's almost word for word the same.
But one of the other differences
is that you pick up here in Psalm 14, verse number four,
and I kind of mentioned it earlier,
because when you look at the two Psalms
and you compare them, they really go well together.
But Psalm 14, verse four, it says,
have all the workers of iniquity, no knowledge,
as you can see, it's the same verse,
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and call not upon the Lord.
Hey, what must we do to be saved?
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved.
For whoso shall call upon them, the Lord shall be saved.
It's one and the same thing.
You know, to believe is to call upon the Lord.
All right, again, it's not the calling,
it's who you're calling to that saves you.
Say, Jesus saved me, give me everlasting life.
Hey, you ask him, and he'll give it to you.
But you see, these people refuse,
they refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ.
Who is the Lord?
You can see, once again, the reason I want you to turn there
is because Psalm 14, verse four says,
and call not upon the Lord,
but then you got Psalm 53 that says
they have not called upon God.
So I just wanna show you once again
that the Lord, of course, is God.
The Lord is God.
But when we read about the New Testament in Romans 10,
for whoso shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved, what are we saying?
Of course, the Lord that's been referred to
in that passage specifically is Jesus, is Jesus Christ.
Okay, so what do we learn?
Just by putting all these little passages together,
how Paul uses it in the book of Romans,
that Jesus is the Lord, that Jesus is God.
Now this should start to click in your mind a little bit.
So how did, I didn't get it past the Kevin.
The Old Testament saints,
they did not know the name of Christ,
but they still had to call upon the Lord,
which is the same Lord that we call upon, Jesus Christ.
They just did not know him by that name.
You know, I've taught about this,
I won't go into it now, but I've taught on how Moses,
it was revealed to Moses that the Lord's name was Jehovah,
the Lord Jehovah.
And before Moses, they knew him as God Almighty,
or Almighty God.
Okay, that's why when you read the saints before Moses,
when they speak of God,
they refer to him as God Almighty.
Okay, when you read about Job,
Job would have lived around the same time as Abraham,
he refers to God as God Almighty.
But when it comes from Moses,
they start to refer to him as Jehovah or the Lord.
Okay, and in the New Testament,
the name has been revealed to us as Jesus Christ, Jesus.
It's the same Lord, it's the same Lord.
You know, that's where people get confused,
but they did not know the name of Jesus.
They still called upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
There's no difference, okay?
We've just had greater revelation.
We've been given the New Testaments.
We know a lot more, you know, of course,
of how that sacrifice would be upon the cross,
and you know, the three days and three nights,
and the resurrection of the dead,
and yet these things are still found in the Old Testament.
We just have a greater light to reveal these things
that were prophesied in the times past.
Can you please go back to Romans?
Go to Romans chapter 10.
Romans chapter 10, verse number 12.
Romans chapter 10.
What is the salvation of Israel?
What is the salvation of the Israelites?
What is the salvation of the Jews?
Romans chapter 10, verse number 12.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
Listen, my Baptist brethren need to get this in their minds.
There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
Listen, when you start to elevate one race above another,
that is racism.
If you lower one race above another or under another,
it's racism.
It's preferring, God is not a respecter of persons.
There is no difference, okay,
between the Jew and the Greek.
I didn't write that in your Bibles, it's there.
Look at this.
For the same Lord over all is rich unto all
that call upon Him.
How did the Israelites get saved in the Old Testament?
They called upon the Lord.
They believed in Jesus Christ.
They just did not know His name.
You see, it wasn't the sacrifices,
though those were good things to do.
God expected them to do that.
It wasn't the Sabbath keeping,
though God expected to do that.
But the sacrifices, the Sabbath keeping,
all of these things were object lessons
of what Jesus Christ would ultimately do.
That Jesus Christ would be the sacrifice
that saves us from our sins.
That Jesus Christ would be our Sabbath rest.
That salvation would not be by works,
but it would be simply resting
on what Christ has done for us.
You see, all these Old Testament practices
of the Old Covenant was just lessons, object lessons,
for people's minds to be upon the God that saved them,
the Lord they could call upon,
the one that they were to put their faith upon.
There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
Again, we just have the greater revelation, okay,
because we live in New Testament times.
We have the completion of the scriptures.
We have people that have written about Jesus Christ.
The Bible is Christ-centric.
It's all pointing us to Christ.
Old Testament and New Testament.
Let's keep going to Romans 10.
Go up to verse number nine.
Let's go to verse number nine.
Oh, and by the way, verse number 13,
that verse that I kept quoting, right?
For whoso shall call upon them, the Lord shall be saved.
Again, who?
There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
They get saved the same way.
Verse number nine.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
For with a heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with a mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the scripture saith,
whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Then we go to verse number 12.
But there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
You see, the same salvation for all.
Old Testament, New Testament, Psalm of David, okay?
He speaks of these things.
Paul, by the inspiration of God,
knows that this is about salvation,
and uses it in the book of Romans
to highlight this same truth,
that David had his faith on the same Lord
that you and I have our faith upon.
David was saved the same way that we are saved, okay?
This is simplicity.
This is the gospel message.
Salvation has always been by grace,
through faith and not of works.
It's always been this way.
It's strange to me when pastors start preaching,
well, they had to do, have you ever heard this?
In order for Noah to be saved, he had to build the ark.
No, the Bible says that Noah found grace
in the eyes of God before he built the ark.
He already received the grace of God.
He was already a believer, and then by his faith, okay,
and through obedience, he ended up building the ark.
But I've heard people say that.
You know, oh man, the Old Testament saints,
Abraham had to offer his son Isaac to be saved
because they misunderstand James chapter two, you know?
Noah had to build the ark, and et cetera, et cetera.
You know, when you look at the works
that the Old Testament saints did,
oh, they had to do this work to be saved.
It's strange to me.
Now, if you're confused about this, don't be confused.
I'm trying to just give you the simplicity of the Bible.
It's consistent, okay, it's consistent.
Old Testament, New Testament,
again, we just have the greater light.
There's something wrong with preachers that say,
well, it's by works, and well, you know what?
When it comes to the future, they'll say,
when it comes to the tribulation period,
it's gonna be by works all over again.
And they'll start teaching, and in the millennium,
people are gonna start sacrificing their animal again,
or animals all over again.
Hold on.
These things were lessons of Christ.
They pointed us to Christ.
We don't need to go back to the object lessons
when Christ has already come, okay?
When Christ has already offered up himself,
his blood is what saves us.
His sacrifice is what saves us.
Back to Psalm 53, verse number five.
Psalm 53, verse number five, it says,
"'There were they in great fear, where no fear was,
"'for God have scattered the bones of him
"'that encampeth against thee.'"
What a promise.
Remember, we were talking earlier about the persecution
that Christians go through.
You know, it doesn't feel great
when you go through persecution.
It doesn't feel great when people hate you
just for being a believer.
It feels great just for reading your Bible.
This is a promise of God.
"'For God have scattered the bones of him
"'that encampeth against thee.'"
You know those that persecute you?
God knows about it.
He doesn't escape God's view, okay?
And at some point, does this sound positive
for the one that's persecuting you?
That God's gonna scatter their bones?
In order for God to scatter their bones,
God's gonna destroy them, okay?
God's gonna have to wipe them out.
And look at this.
It says, "'Thou has put them to shame,
"'because God hath despised them.'"
God hath despised them.
Can you quickly go back to Psalm 14,
which is the same almost parallel Psalm as Psalm 53?
Go to Psalm 14.
This is another difference that you'll notice
between these two Psalms.
Psalm 14, verse five.
It says, "'There were they in great fear.'"
But then you got this part.
It says, "'For God is in the generation of the righteous.'"
Okay?
When we talk about the persecution
that believers go through, you know, Psalm 14,
God puts his attention toward the believers.
He says, "'Look, God is with you.'"
All right?
"'God is in the generation of the righteous.'"
But when you get to Psalm 53,
God's attention draws toward the one doing the persecuting.
And it says, "'Because God hath despised them.'"
Something else that you're not gonna hear much in churches
is that God can despise people.
And the Bible's full of this teaching.
But I don't know what it is.
Why is it that pastors refuse to teach this?
What does the word despise mean?
To hate.
Can God hate people?
That's what the Bible says.
Like, just read it yourself.
I don't need to interpret that for you.
Okay?
You guys should be mature enough to read that
because God hath despised them.
Okay?
It doesn't say that God has despised their sin.
We know that God hates sin.
God said he despises them.
God hates people.
God hates the workers of iniquity.
God can hate people.
You say, but Pastor, I've heard it said in church.
Isn't it in the Bible that God hates the sin
but not the sinner?
I'm sure there are some of you
that have heard this in church.
And you think it's in the Bible.
It's not in the Bible.
Okay?
It's a quote of Mahatma Gandhi.
Okay?
It's not a Bible teaching.
It's a quote of someone who is not a believer,
who is not saved, who died in their sin
and is buried in hell right now.
And this has been quoted in churches.
It's crazy to me, isn't it?
But we need to be preachers of God's word.
You know, I hope you appreciate this church.
Probably to some of you,
when I said that God despises people,
for some of you probably,
oh, I can't believe that that was said.
Maybe in your heart, that's happening.
Look, if I love you,
I need to tell you the truth of what God's word says.
Okay?
God hates sin.
Of course he does.
You know?
And we can see very clearly that God hates those
that encampeth against his people.
Okay?
God hates the individuals
that persecute us for our faith.
Now, can you please keep your finger there
and turn to Romans chapter nine.
Romans chapter nine.
Because you might be saying,
hold on, pastor.
This is King David.
This is the old covenant.
We're talking about the salvation of Israel,
Pastor Kevin.
Okay?
This is about the Jews.
And the Jews were God's people.
Surely, this is about them.
No, brethren, I'm saying this is about you.
This is about you.
Because whether you are saints saved in the Old Testament
or saints saved in the New Testament,
there is no difference.
There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
What is true for God's people in the Old Testament
is still true for us today.
Let me show you this.
Romans chapter nine, verse 24.
Romans chapter nine, verse number 24.
And when it begins by saying even us,
I want you to understand that Paul is writing to the Romans.
It's called Romans chapter nine.
Okay?
So the Romans are not the Jews.
The Romans are the Gentiles.
Okay?
But he goes,
whom he have called,
not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles.
As he's saved also in Osi.
Osi is Hosea, if you don't know.
I will call them my people,
which were not my people,
and her beloved, which was not my beloved.
Were the Israelites the people of God in the Old Testament?
Yes, they were.
But God is saying,
there is a people that were not my people.
And this was quoted in Hosea,
the Old Testament,
under the old covenant.
This prophecy of what Jews and Gentiles, okay?
Those that were called in Christ Jesus.
Let's keep going there.
Verse number 26.
And it shall come to pass,
that in the place where it was said unto them,
ye are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God.
Why does God hate those that persecute God's people?
Because we are the children of the living God.
How do you think I would feel,
and parents, you've put yourself in this position,
how would you feel if you found out some neighborhood kid
is terrorizing your children?
You know, bullying your children, beating them up.
All right?
You know, making them feel worthless.
How would you feel about that?
Ah, no problem.
Listen, we're the children of God.
When God sees persecution of his children,
God says he despises those.
He hates those individuals.
He's gonna scatter their bones.
Parents, you might be thinking that.
Man, I wanna scatter that kid's bones.
God will do it.
God will do it to those that persecute his children.
You see, we're beloved in the eyes of God.
God loves us.
It's not just some salvation to some Gentile plan B,
you know, at least they accepted me.
You know, we're children of God
the moment you believe in Christ.
You're valuable, you're an important person, okay?
You're part of the family of God.
So definitely, you know, if I'm gonna get angered
by some neighborhood kid being a menace to my children,
well, what's God gonna do to protect his children?
His love is a lot more righteous than my love,
I'll tell you that.
But again, I just wanted to show you,
again, in verse number 24, Romans 9, 24,
even us, who may have called not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles.
You see, it's the same.
Salvation has always been the same.
Okay, the moment you put your faith and trust
in the Lord, in Jesus Christ, you become a child of God,
and God will see when you're being persecuted and attacked.
Okay, back to Psalm 53, verse number six.
Psalm 53, verse number six.
So we get to the verse that gave us the title
for the sermon.
Oh, that the salvation of Israel will come out of Zion,
when God bringeth back the captivity of his people,
Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.
You say, see, pastor, it's just about Israel.
It's just about the people of Jacob.
Get a physical descendants there.
Again, what did Romans 9, 24 say?
Even us, whom ye have called, not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles.
There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
The Bible goes on and on and on and on about this truth.
Okay, it's just that under the Old Testament,
under the old covenant, it was a physical nation.
Under the new covenant, it's a spiritual nation.
Okay, physical descendants is irrelevant.
Okay, and when it comes to salvation,
physical descendants has always been irrelevant.
It always has been.
Anybody can read about this in your own time
in the books of Moses.
Anybody of any land could feel free to migrate to Israel
and make God their God, and they'd be considered
as someone born in the land.
You read about this over and over and over again.
Okay, Moses marries an Ethiopian woman.
Joseph's wife was Egyptian.
The tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim were half Egyptian.
Do you think God really cares about race in that regard?
It was already mixed in the old covenant, all right?
That's why when the Bible says that the Israelites came out
with a mixed multitude, because they're all mixed.
A whole bunch of Egyptians came out with them,
a whole bunch of other African people
would have seen the hand of God and how they delivered him,
Israel out of the land.
They said, we're coming with you.
We're gonna make your God our God, okay?
It's already mixed.
It's always been mixed, and it's strange when preachers
just give so much preference.
They'll say, well, this is the bloodline.
These are the descendants of Abraham,
and yet they themselves, the Jews of today,
they don't even know if they're descendants of Abraham.
All right?
I mean, from what I understand,
most of them are just white Europeans.
They converted to Judaism, and then you've got preachers
saying, oh man, these are God's chosen people,
because they've got the bloodline.
They haven't even got the bloodline,
and they're like, man, the Jews, you know,
we make sure they got the land of the Palestinians.
Probably the Palestinians are more linked physically
to Abraham than many of these white European Jews are.
So it doesn't matter.
No, it doesn't matter.
There is no difference between Jew and the Greek.
But it's strange to me that in God's house,
God's people, they elevate.
You know, certain ethnicities over another.
Certain races over another.
That's racism.
Okay?
Our God makes no difference.
He's not a respecter of persons.
Salvation has never been by the efforts of man
or what's contained in your DNA.
It's never been that.
It's always been by Jesus Christ.
Now I'm gonna quickly read to you from Isaiah 59 verse 20.
Isaiah 59 verse 20, it says,
and the Redeemer shall come to Zion.
And we know this is speaking about Jesus Christ.
Because as he completed his ministry for those three years,
he did eventually go to Zion.
He did eventually go to Jerusalem.
Okay?
That would have become his final week,
where then he was taken out of Zion, literally.
As we read about there in verse number six,
we know that the salvation of Israel
would come out of Zion.
He was taken and then he was crucified on the cross.
So please go with me to Romans chapter four.
Please go with me to Romans chapter four verse number one.
You can see that I'm going a lot to Romans, okay?
But Romans chapter four verse number one.
Romans chapter four verse number one.
We're gonna be reading about Abraham.
And was Abraham an Old Testament saint?
Nope.
Because the Old Testament was not in effect
until God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
That was the beginning of the Old Covenant.
Okay, Abraham was before the Old Covenant.
He passed away before the Old Covenant existed.
Okay?
How were people saved before the Old Covenant?
It says there in Romans chapter four verse number one.
What shall we say then that Abraham our father
as pertaining to the flesh have found?
For if Abraham were justified by works,
he have whereof to glory but not before God.
If Abraham was saved by works,
he could not glory before God.
So you're saying if he was meaning that he wasn't, okay?
Verse number three, it says for what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God and he was counted unto him
for righteousness.
How was Abraham saved before the Old Covenant?
He believed God.
He was saved by faith.
Abraham called God what?
God Almighty.
Okay, that's how they knew him by that name.
He put his faith on the Lord God of the Bible.
And that was counted unto him for righteousness.
Verse number four, now to him that worketh
is a reward not reckoned of grace but of debt.
If you're trying to work for salvation,
it's not of grace.
You see that?
It's of debt.
So people that say, well, the Old Testament's saying
they had to have some work to be saved.
Well, then it's not by grace.
Let's keep going there.
Verse number five, but to him that worketh not,
so stop working, all right?
But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
You say, but pastor, King David was under the Old Covenant.
You know, we're reading Psalm 53,
that's the Old Covenant, pastor.
Don't you know?
You're right, David was under the Old Covenant.
And then we continue in that passage.
Verse number six, even as David.
So how did Abraham get saved?
How did David get saved?
Okay, even as David.
They got saved the same way.
Before the Old Covenant, during the Old Covenant,
under the New Covenant, it's all the same, brethren.
Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man
unto whom God imputed for righteousness.
Look, without works, saying blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
How is David saved?
Without works.
So how was he saved then?
By faith, by grace through faith.
It's always been the same.
If that's what the New Testament is telling us about David,
you can't go to Psalm 53 and say,
well, David, the salvation of Israel must have been,
you know, doing the sacrifices.
The salvation of Israel must have been
keeping the Sabbath day.
No, okay?
David knew it was not by works.
Not by the works of the law, okay?
Without works.
Please drop down the same passage, same chapter.
Verse number 23.
Romans 4, 23.
Speaking about Abraham once again.
It says now, it was not written for his sake alone
that he was imputed to him.
This salvation was not just for Abraham alone.
Look at verse number 24.
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed,
if we believe on him that raised up Jesus,
our Lord from the dead.
How were we saved?
Same way.
If we believe in the one that raised up Jesus from the dead,
our faith is in the death bearing resurrection
of Jesus Christ, amen.
Verse number 25.
Who was delivered for our offenses
and was raised again for our justification.
You see, brethren, it doesn't matter
what time of history you've lived.
It's always been the same way.
Salvation has not been any different.
If you have a pastor or a preacher that says,
well, they had to do this,
and later you're gonna have to do these works to be saved,
they do not understand the gospel.
They don't understand it.
They can't understand.
How can simple faith, simple trust on Christ alone save you?
It doesn't process in their minds.
We started earlier by saying that the unsaved world
thinks that what we preach is foolishness.
What breaks my heart is seeing Baptist pastors
stand behind the pulpit,
preaching what we believe is foolishness as well.
Because they're like, I can't just be faith alone.
There's a pastor that I once respected,
posted on Facebook once.
Ha ha ha, faith alone?
You think just believing on Christ alone
is enough to be saved?
Ha ha ha.
I realize, man, this guy's not even saved.
This guy does not get the gospel.
How can you mock ha ha ha, ha ha ha, ha ha ha?
Okay, maybe I'm putting a bit too much on.
But literally, that's what he posted on Facebook.
Just faith alone.
That man's not saved.
I just thought he was a saved man.
Pastor of an independent fundamental Baptist church.
You see, these false prophets,
they start to reveal themselves
as they open their mouth a little bit more,
as they get a little bit more adventurous,
a little bit more courageous
about what they really believe,
they start to reveal themselves.
They start to manifest themselves.
And people are surprised.
I tell them, hey, your pastor's not saved.
Oh, that's so offensive.
How can you say that?
Because of what he said.
Because he's mocking the gospel.
Because he's mocking faith on Christ alone.
Can't you see?
Are you so blinded?
So sad.
Say, why do people in your church travel
from Gympie and from South Brisbane?
Because they feel like they've gone to churches,
Baptist churches, and they're like, man,
I don't even know if this pastor's saved.
Because the gospel is not being preached with clarity.
I think you'll be surprised
just how many pastors are truly not even saved.
You'll be surprised.
You just think, man, if I just find an independent
fundamental Baptist church, I'm safe.
Listen to what they're preaching,
specifically the gospel.
Look, I'm sure I'm not right on everything.
I'm sure I can make mistakes in the Bible, okay?
But not when it comes to the gospel.
Not when it comes to faith alone in Jesus.
This is what matters the most.
This is the salvation of Israel.
And yet there's no difference between Jew and Greek.
It's a salvation for all.
Must get this right.
Can you please turn with me to Galatians chapter three?
Galatians chapter three.
We'll end on this.
Galatians three, actually I got a few little,
a few more verses in Galatians, just in Galatians, okay?
But Galatians three.
21.
Galatians three seems to be like a prohibited chapter
of the Bible or something.
It doesn't get preached very often
because it destroys a lot of these false beliefs, okay?
Because it's so clear.
Look at Galatians three, 21.
Galatians three, 21.
It says, is the law, when it says law,
it's the five books of Moses, the first five books, okay?
What we call the Old Testament.
It says, is the law then against the promises of God?
God forbid.
Notice the next words.
For if there had been a law given
that could have given life,
verily righteousness should have been by the law.
He says, look, if there was a law that could give you life,
then righteousness or salvation would be by that law.
And yet pastors are saying, hey,
the Jews of old, they got saved by keeping the law.
There was no such law that could save anybody.
Okay, there was no such thing.
There's never been such thing.
Or people say, hey, you know,
salvation is no longer by the law, but it's by faith.
It's never been under law.
They say it's no longer under law.
It was never under the law.
Because if it was under the law,
it would remain to this day.
You'd still be able to be saved by that law.
If there was a form of righteousness
that would make you right with God by the law,
why would Christ have to come
and suffer such a torturous death?
Let's keep going there.
Verse number 22.
But the scripture hath concluded all under sin,
that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ
might be given to them that belief.
He said, no, I still think, pastor,
they had to sacrifice the animals.
That's why they had to do it, to cover their sins.
No, it was an object lesson to Christ.
The Bible says, I'll read it to you, Hebrews 10 four.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins.
It's not possible.
So stop saying it was possible under the old covenant.
It's not possible, okay?
Salvation was never by the law.
Please go to Galatians 2, Galatians 2 21.
Galatians 2 21.
Say, pastor, you sound a little bit frustrated.
Sometimes I get frustrated by these strange doctrines.
They get taught in our Baptist churches.
Because look what it says here in Galatians 2 21.
Paul says, I do not frustrate the grace of God.
For if righteousness come by the law,
then Christ is dead in vain.
I want you to realise that.
If the Old Testament saints could be saved by the law,
then Christ died in vain.
You say, I don't know, pastor,
you said they're not saved, these pastors.
Look, if they believe salvation could be by the law,
at any time in history,
then what they truly believe is that Christ died in vain.
You need to understand this.
They're not saved.
I know we love our pastors, generally,
I hope you guys love me, right?
You know, you kind of, and you know,
we give pastor time times the benefit of doubt.
And I do this, said that didn't sound quite right.
But look, when they're just outright saying
that people were saved by the law in the Old Testament,
they're saying that Christ's sacrifice is in vain.
Even if that did not come out of their mouth,
the Bible tells you that's what they think.
That's what they believe.
The Bible tells you, God's Word's telling you that.
If you don't trust me, trust God's Word.
That's what it's saying to you.
Look at Galatians 1,
please go to Galatians 1, verse number eight.
Galatians 1, eight.
You see, when you start teaching that salvation
was by works, or has been by works,
or one day will be by works,
you frustrate the grace of God.
You frustrate God himself.
Grace is free, grace means free.
Unmerited, none of us deserve salvation.
None of us do.
It's the love of God, his grace, his mercy,
his long suffering with us.
To give his only begotten son
to become sin and the curse for us.
It's the only way.
It's always been the only way.
Okay, Galatians 1, eight.
Let's end on this one.
But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed.
What does that mean?
Let him be accursed.
Who's under the curse?
Non-believers.
You've been freed from the curse
the moment you got saved.
Remember, Christ became the curse for us.
So the curse, you're not under the curse.
But those that come preach another gospel,
let them be accursed.
Meaning, they're not saved.
They're still under the curse of God.
So a pastor comes around,
says, well, Adam and Eve got saved this way.
They had to make sure, whatever it was, right?
And Abraham got saved this way.
He had to also do this, this, this, this.
And David, under the old covenant,
they got saved, they had to do this,
they had to keep the law,
that's how they got saved in the past.
And then they say, well, in the New Testament,
yeah, we're saved by grace through faith,
but there's coming a time in the future
when people have to go back under the law again,
they're gonna be sacrificing animals,
and they're gonna be keeping the laws
in order to be saved.
Hey, they're preaching another gospel.
They're frustrating the grace of God.
Let them be accursed.
Just walk away from them.
Let them be accursed.
Doesn't say go and curse them.
They're under God's curse already.
Just let them be accursed.
Let them stay under that curse,
because that man is not saved.
You get yourself out of that church.
You get yourself out of the influence of that preacher
the moment they're preaching another gospel.
Look at verse number nine.
As we said before, so say I now again.
Just in case you missed it the first time.
If any man preach any other gospel unto you,
then that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Even if it's your favorite pastor,
your favorite preacher, let him be accursed.
He's not saved, okay?
As I said, the title for the sermon, brethren,
this afternoon was The Salvation of Israel.
The Salvation of Israel.
Who was the salvation of Israel?
It was Jesus Christ.
Always has been.
They did not know that name,
but they still had to call upon the Lord.
They still had to believe in the same Jesus
that we believe in.
They just knew him by the Lord.
They did call upon the Lord, or God Almighty,
as they knew him before Moses.
So I guess I'm preaching this to you, brethren,
because we don't want to be deceived.
There's a lot of pastors that parade under the umbrella
of independent fundamental Baptists,
but they're gonna be telling you
that there's been different gospels, different times,
different ways of salvation, okay?
And we're just on plan B.
God went easy on us, basically,
because the Jews rejected Jesus,
so for the Gentiles, God made it just easy
just by faith alone, okay?
But one day it's all gonna come back to works again.
These people frustrate the grace of God, okay?
It should frustrate you if it frustrates God.
Okay, let's pray.