R840B The Meaning of Salvation

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based teaching of Dr. Don Wilton on a message on salvation and righteousness. Today's topic is the meaning of salvation and understanding righteousness, gaining a new perspective on how even in our best days we are never righteous enough to accomplish what God wants to accomplish.

And that's ultimately bringing us into heaven with Him. As we open the Word together at Romans chapter 3, know that we're open to talk and pray with you 24 hours a day on our phone line as well. Our number is 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673. Or we'll connect on our website as well, www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org.

Now let's open our hearts and God's Word together with today's message of the meaning of salvation and Dr. Don Wilton. Let me tell you, in every school dining hall across America, at every lunch hour, in every school you'll see tables. And sitting around every table are going to be circles of young people. Many of those circles are defined by virtue of popularity, who's in and who's out. There's the popular group. Here comes Miss Unpopular.

She gets her tray of food and she presents herself in the dining hall. Why is she unpopular? Well, maybe she just doesn't measure up to the standards of the popular group. She doesn't have boys hanging all over her.

She's not in the first team. She maybe doesn't wear the right clothes. Maybe her parents just don't have the right connections. Maybe they're unable to have the party at her house every second Friday. Maybe Dad's not the chairman of the booster club. Maybe she just doesn't have the right looks. Can't have someone in here that the boys don't like.

You want to be in the popular group. Man, one boy falls by the wayside. Here's another 10 waiting in line. Maybe she has an inability to speak. Maybe somewhere down the line she got hurt. Maybe she was abused. Maybe she comes from a broken family. Maybe she's carrying in her heart things that are so difficult. Maybe it's the problem with her eyesight. Maybe she carries a little bit more weight than usual.

Maybe she just doesn't seem to fit. And here she comes, Miss Unpopularity. And she walks in and all it takes for her to be included is for Miss Popularity to stand up and turn around and say, Susan, come and sit next to me.

Move up, girls. Susan's here. Come and sit down. We can make room for you. And when Miss Unpopularity sits down, Miss Popularity turns to her and says, goodness, Susan, that is the prettiest sweater I've ever seen in my life. Where did you get that?

I love that color. And just one word from Miss Popularity will completely transform the life of one single person forever. Let me tell you what happens in discipleship groups at First Baptist Church of Spartanburg. We don't want that girl in our group. We don't want that boy to be a part of this group. They don't suit us.

They don't measure up to our standard. And throughout the experience of a person's growing up years from elementary school to middle school to junior high to high school, eventually Miss Unpopularity graduates. And she goes off to college and all of a sudden Miss Unpopularity is willing to accept and do anything they throw at her just to be accepted.

She'll give herself, do herself, subject herself, submit herself and throw it away on the altar of acceptance. And God looks down on the heart of Don Wilton and he says, because of my righteousness, come sit next to me. My oh my, what an incredible sweater you wear. You know, that just looks like the same sweater that my son wears. You mean the Lord Jesus Christ, Father? Yes, my son.

That in fact looks like his sweater. I'm so glad you've got one just like my son. Really, Father? Oh yes, what you don't seem to understand is that my son is accepted in my presence. He is the righteousness of God.

His atoning sacrifice was completely satisfying to me. And I want you to know, Unpopularity, in your sin and in your lostness, I want you to know that when you came and took a seat beside me, you sat beside me, clothed in the righteousness of God, the Heavenly Father, through and by means of my son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody say amen this morning. Is there somebody in this place who's willing to give up their seat at the lunch table?

Are there a group of young people at First Baptist Church of Spartanburg who are willing to stand up and say, come and sit beside me? Man's greatest need, to approach God, to engage God, to be accepted by God. This, my beloved friends, is the very cry of humanity. It is the sob of the human soul.

It is the agony of the human heart. Dr. Billy Graham wrote that great classic work, How to Have Peace with God, and millions of people bought it. He wrote The Keys to Personal Peace and Happiness. You write to me here at First Baptist Church, I'll send you a copy of Dr. Graham's book. It's a booklet.

I'll send it to you. People require it. They want it.

Why? Because people want to know, how can I approach God? How can I engage God?

How can I be accepted by God? Beloved friends, no man is capable of coming to God in his own power. Not with all the religions of the world, all the human effort, not all the moral standards and the ideologies and the codes of conduct and the covenants. Only God's grace can do something like that.

Only God's grace. Isaiah the prophet perhaps said it better than any one of us in 64 and verse 6, Man's righteous deeds are like filthy rags. No wonder we hear the cry throughout Scripture. Remember after Jesus fed the 5,000 and the people gathered and said, What shall we do? Remember the rich young ruler who had everything? And he came to Jesus and he said, What shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?

Let me paraphrase that. How can I approach you, God? How can I engage you, God?

How can I be accepted by you, God? Remember when Peter preached that powerful message in the book of the Acts and there was a burn and a glow in the hearts of people and they stood up together and said, Men and brethren, what shall we do in the light of God's righteousness? What about the Philippian jailer who fell upon his face and said, Sirs, what must I do in order to be saved? Or what about Nicodemus who was imminently qualified to have a relationship with God? What must I do to have eternal life?

How can I come into your presence? God said, Look no further than my righteousness. You might say to me today, Well, pastor, what makes God's righteousness so different? What separates God's righteousness? What elevates God's righteousness? Why is this all about God's righteousness?

Well, there are three reasons. Number one, God's righteousness is different because of where it comes from. God's righteousness is different.

It's unique. You're listening to Dr. Don Wilton, our teacher here on The Encouraging Word. Don't go away. He'll be back in just a moment to complete today's message, The Meaning of Salvation, Understanding Righteousness. But Dr. Wilton insists we remind you that this is not just a presentation of teaching and studying.

It's also the beginning of a conversation. And perhaps the Lord has stirred your heart as we're studying Romans 3 together and you have a question or need someone to pray with you or for you. We'd love to connect with you. You can do that both on the phone at 866-899-WORD.

We take those calls 24 hours a day at 866-899-9673. There are also great resources and opportunities to connect with us on our website, www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org. Everything from the resources like Dr. Don's daily devotional that's absolutely free you can sign up for at www.tewonline.org.

But also resources like loneliness, how to be alone but not lonely. It's a powerful combination of collaborative efforts from June Hunt and Dr. Don Wilton. You'll find the details on our website at www.tewonline.org.

Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. There's nothing like it because of where it comes from. I've seen many great rivers in Africa. The Limpopo and the Zambezi and the Orange River and the Tugela River. The Amghazane River, Amghazi River, the Amkhamaz River. I've traveled over many of these rivers in Africa.

You go and read these great books and biographies about the early explorers like David Livingston and Stanley and all the others. And they would pick their way through the dense jungles of Central and Southern Africa and they would come across great vast expanses of flowing water. Do you know what the first thing that would cross their mind? I'm going to follow this thing to its source. Where does it come from? That's why when God punished Sodom and Gomorrah, He buried them beneath the what? The Dead Sea.

It's got nowhere to go. Listen, my friends, the Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 8, drip down, O heavens from above and let the clouds pour down, let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit and spring up with it because I the Lord have created it. Those early explorers, they were fascinated by the Nile River, for example.

How many of them traversed, lost their lives, were eaten by animals and gave up everything that they had in order to track the source of the Nile. Where does this come from? Folks, we don't have to spend another second trying to discover where God's righteousness comes from. It comes from the heart of God.

From before the foundation of the world because God always is. God is righteous. And so the righteousness of God is uniquely different because of where it comes from. But it's also uniquely different because of what it is made of. I've got to ask that question about God's righteousness, if my salvation depends on it. If I'm able to approach God and engage God and be accepted by God because of God's righteousness and God's righteousness has been made known to me, that's one thing to say I know where it comes from.

It comes from God, but what is it made of? Yesterday, my two sons came home, Rob and Greg, but they came home. Both were in New Orleans this week and they came home yesterday. Well, I tell you what, that's music to our ears. I know she doesn't want me to say this, but that precious wife of mine, she went shopping on Friday. I know because I had to go shopping with her. Folks, we spent something like two hours in a grocery store because of my two pet gorillas. I mean, we had to choose the exact right thing. And mom just kept saying, you know, I wonder what it is that my boys like most.

She came up with what we know that they love. And boy, she spent, I'm telling you from nine o'clock Saturday morning, my wife stood there in that kitchen cutting and chopping and smashing and organizing, laying out stuff, come here and do that, arrange this, put the right thing. I mean, we set out the table, folks, this is not grab a plate and watch a ball game kind of stuff, which I love, that makes sense to me. I mean, we had to put it out with serviettes on the table and the knives and forks in the right place and we had to have proper glasses sitting out there.

I mean, this is just for our sons for crying in a bucket. What is going on here? And our two boys and our daughter-in-law walked in and Shelley came home from her activities and we invited the grandparents and Rob's parents-in-law, Bruce and Kitty Cash, and we were there at our home and I'm telling you, it was just a delicious, wonderful meal. My sons, we've prepared for you what you love. And then last night after it was all over, Sundays are interesting days for me and my wife turns to me and she says, my husband, it's late and I know you've got big responsibilities, you go on, you must get your rest, I'll clean up.

I'm telling you folks, if it wasn't long after 12 o'clock last night that my wife came into bed, I don't even remember her coming, washing those dishes, cleaning up, scraping out stuff, making sure everything's stacked and put away properly, wrapping up food we haven't eaten so that it can be kept properly, putting things in their proper place. What is all of this? See, this is the question, folks. When it comes to God's righteousness, what is it made of? What is it made of? I came to a fresh understanding that the righteousness of God is made of two things.

Two, it has two fundamental ingredients. Number one, the unimaginable love of God. Ingredient number one, the unimaginable love of God. For God so loved the world. Is that not just too amazing, that God would love somebody like me and He would love me to the extent that He would allow me to approach Him and to engage Him and to be accepted by Him just because He loves me.

Love so amazing. Ingredient number two, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The two fundamental essential ingredients of God's righteousness, God's unimaginable love on the one hand and Christ's atoning sacrifice on the other hand. Listen to what Paul said to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 5 21. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, watch this, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Isn't that beautiful? Or Peter put it like this in 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 24.

Listen to this. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin, watch this, and live according to the righteousness of God. Now friend, if I am enabled by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, not just to receive what God has given to me, but to live according to the standard of God's righteousness, there can be no love in this world that can compare to that. This is the righteousness of God.

His unimaginable love and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. So why is it so unique? Because we know where it comes from. Number two, we know what it's made of.

And number three, we know how long it lasts for. You see friend, when we talk about God, we fundamentally reject the pink bunny syndrome that grips the hearts of humanity. We all know about the pink bunny.

Oh yeah, he keeps going and he keeps going and he keeps going. All of us fancy ourselves as pink bunnies. We wrap a battery pack on our backs and we beat our drums and we make decisions. We're going to get fit and we're going to pray more and we're going to love our families and we're going to be more devoted and we're going to come to church and we're going to eat right and we're going to do it right. But you and I always know that we all suffer from a problem, our batteries run out. Life is filled with people like you and me running out of juice, all of us. We grow weary in well doing. Our generosity begins to take a dive. Our open hearts gradually become closed hearts.

We get wounded and maimed. We grow weary, but not God's righteousness. Steve, I can't wait to go with our senior adult choir, yesterday's teens, on our annual prison ministry tour.

I believe we're going to St. Louis, is that right? Sometime in April, and man, we jump on those buses and it's absolutely one of my favorite weeks at our church to be with our beloved senior adults and to sing. But you know what we sing about, folks? We sing about what Daniel proclaimed, that God's righteousness will shine like the stars forever.

Never goes away. You see, you're talking about the eternal component of the fundamental elements, which are the ingredients of God's righteousness. God's unimaginable love juxtaposed against Christ's atoning sacrifice, who died once and for all forever, that forever I might be with Jesus Christ. Therein lies the hope of my eternal faith, what makes God's righteousness so wonderful. We know where it comes from. We know what it is made of.

And we know how long it lasts for. You see, the world can collapse around me, friend, but God's righteousness has been made available to me, for Christ died for me in that while I was yet a sinner, He bore my transgressions upon Calvary. And you might say to me today, well, pastor, how can I approach God? How can I engage God? How can I be accepted by God who is righteous? How can that righteousness become mine? How can I be clothed in the righteousness of God?

Well, the Bible tells us three things. Number one, you must acknowledge your sin. You must. Number two, you must confess to Jesus Christ. You must. And number three, you must trust in Him by faith.

You must. If you don't do these things, my friend, it's no different to me standing in a parking lot and hearing the voice of Gary Player and recognizing that voice and wanting to approach Him and yet standing exactly where I am and saying, excuse me, Gary, it's me. Would you come over here for a second?

Folks, listen, I wouldn't get further than not even first base. There is a sense in which the acknowledgement of my sin and the confession of that sin to Jesus and my willingness to trust in Him means that I'm acknowledging who I am in the light of who God is. When I do what I need to do, which is to humble myself in God's presence, I immediately invoke the grace of God.

It's already there. Such powerful teaching from Dr. Don Wilton and such joy about the grace of God. Don't just know it in your head. Understand it in your heart. You've heard Dr. Don as he's been teaching and preaching from the pulpit. Now as he steps into the studio, open your heart to what he wants to share next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much, and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you, and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you've prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm gonna be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey. If you just gave your life to Jesus Christ, praying along with Dr. Wilton, or perhaps rededicated your life to Jesus moments ago, you need to know that we have a team ready to not only support you by rejoicing with you and praying for you, but also putting resources in your hands that'll help you take the next step and grow in your faith.

As a matter of fact, if you made that decision for Christ, would you give us a call at 866-899-WORD right now and let us send you these free resources from Dr. Wilton and pray you through the next steps of growing in your faith. Again, the phone number is 866-899-9673. You can also connect with us on our website at www.tewonline.org. That's www.tewonline.org, and Dr. Don would love to hear from you. You can email him directly, don at tewonline.org. He would love to pray for you, and he'll make sure we send these resources to you. That's online at don at tewonline.org. Send him an email today.

Speaking of online, if you haven't heard about this wonderful resource, you'll find it on our website at tewonline.org. Have you ever felt lonely, isolated, or abandoned? No one escapes the feelings of loneliness caused by separation, grief, loss, or isolation.

It can strike anyone, but God has placed within each of us a basic need for relationship with him. This month, with your gift to the encouraging word, you will receive Dr. Don Wilton's powerful message, Fear Not, along with the bonus book, Loneliness, How to be Alone but Not Lonely. These powerful resources will help you overcome your loneliness and find comfort, security, and companionship in God. And it's a powerful bit of encouragement, Loneliness, How to be Alone but Not Lonely. You'll find it on our website at tewonline.org, or call about getting your copy at 866-899-9673. That's 866-899-9673, or meet us online at tewonline.org.