The Day Of Salvation

2 Corinthians 6:2......

The day of salvation.........The Time of Grace.............Paul gives a short commentary on Isaiah 49:8 “Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, And in a day of salvation have I helped thee: And I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, To establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;”

The Lord’s day of salvation was no longer merely earthly deliverances for the children of Israel, it was finally a deliverance from sin’s captivity through Jesus Christ and Him crucified and resurrected.

The declaration by Paul that “now is the day of salvation” is very important!

The opportunity to be delivered from sin’s captivity is now........the day is approaching where that time will end!

God has made this provision for us through His Only Begotten Son and when that covenant was “finished” on the cross and Jesus was risen from the grave, all mankind is offered this deliverance.

However, as many of the NT writers write in their letters, we are living in the last days,, that simply means that this our last and only opportunity for this salvation!

I recently heard an interview and the person being interviewed was asked why did he change his view of government, politics, etc.

He answered that he changed when the life that he once knew changed. He grew up in a time when things were pretty good, nothing did not seem out of the ordinary.

But, once that all changed he began to be more skeptical of things and so on.

Also this week, I read something about our hope for America, in other words “not to give up on America yet”.

We are coming up on what some would say are very pivotal elections. If you listen to one side they say “if we don’t win big, our country is over.”

I heard the other side say the same thing, thereabouts!

I have my personal hopes and how I would like to see things go, but those are empty hopes because they are fixed on what is temporary!

I got to thinking the other day, if the elections and the country was to go the way I want it, 2 years later we will be back in the same craziness, even worse.

I will admit that society has gone very crazy, it seems the latter part of Romans 1 is coming to life, that God has turned the world over to a reprobate mind, basically He has turned them over to their own insanity.

It seems that US’s moral decency, it’s character, it’s sanity is almost lost.

The Lord can make this right and I pray that He does, however there is not much hope for the US or this world for that matter!

I cannot say much for my future on this earth! Neither can any of you! There are empty pews that I can point to you that testifies to that very fact!

We talk about hope a lot! What do we really have hope in or who do we have hope in? 2020 really brought this out to the forefront! So many people prophesying, dreaming, some of it good some of it bad, none of these things ever seem to be fulfilled to their specs or to our earthly desires!

Now, back to our small text.......The Day of Salvation simply means the time of our deliverance and we are living in that time.

This Salvation is deliverance, but a special deliverance out of this world!

Jacob told me yesterday about Peter in Acts 2:38-40 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward/perverse generation.”

Saving us from a perverse generation.............from the world system which is perverse, morally bad, corrupt!

Delivering us out of this world and preparing us a New Place to dwell....John 14:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

This is the greatest promise that has been giving to us that where Jesus is there we may be also.......that is true salvation!

I don’t have much faith in elections and less in politicians, but what I do trust in or have hope in is Jesus Christ!

In this Time of Grace that we are in, we, as sinful people, have an awesome opportunity to restore fellowship with God through Jesus Christ and it is not based on our merit, but on the merit of God’s Son Jesus Christ and His finished work!

Therefore, our hope is not in mere man, but in the God-Man Jesus Christ!

Our salvation comes in a Person and His Work.

Peter tells the council in Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

Jesus’ existence on the earth as a man, was for the sole purpose of delivering those that will believe from this world.

The world’s existence will cease to exist, at the Hand of God, because of sin. There must be an accounting for sin, rebellion to God!

The only hope that anyone will have is the gift of His Son and He came, He lived perfectly, He died the eternal death for sin that was due by us and was risen from the grave to guarantee us life everlasting in the presence of the Lord!

This truth destroys the fears of the future and gives a hope which Hebrews 6:19 “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”

There is no greater hope to anchor us!

One of the reasons we get so overwhelmed by life on earth, it is not lived in response to God. We only have a short time on earth and when the earthy things start to get out of whack then we are out of whack and we question will it ever be right again!

That is kind of what that guy in the interview was saying......everything changed and he started questioning everything!

However, a life lived unto God through Jesus Christ the future is secure and our lives, our hopes are not hinged upon earthly things but upon the precious blood of Jesus Christ!

The rhetoric that we hear from the news and other places is that if the Democrats win the country will cease to exist as a nation under God and it certainly looks like they are striving for that, the Democrats say if the Republicans win the country is in BIG trouble.........God tells us through the writer of Hebrews.....Hebrews 2:3 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;”

Today is the day of salvation......Psalm 118:24 “This is the day which the Lord hath made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.”

We can rejoice and be glad in the Day of Salvation that the Lord has made...............

Psalm 46......I have read from here before........

Verse 1-4..........Verse 2-3........though the earth be moved, mountains falling into the sea, the waters raging, the mountains quaking......all of these are threatenings from the world system, the fallen world......

However, verse 4 is a refreshing that is in stark contrast to the threats of this world.....matter of fact the refreshing nature of God is more dominate than the terrors of this temporary life....

Romans 8:18 “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

So, verse 4 speaks of the future hope that we have that is revealed to us in Revelation 22:1-4 “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.”

The city of God, the New Jerusalem where God dwells with His people!

Be Still........Cease striving and know that He is God!

Christians do not panic......those that are not repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand and today is the day of salvation, do not neglect so great of salvation!