Behold, Now is the Day of Salvation

Introduction: The Urgency of 'Now is the Day of Salvation'

0:00 Now may I urge you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the second letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians and chapter 5, and I shall begin reading at verse 20 and read through verse 2 of chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 20. Speaking of himself and his companions in gospel endeavors, the Apostle writes, We are ambassadors, therefore, on behalf of Christ. As though God were entreating by us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Him who knew nothing. No sin. He made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And working together with him, we entreat also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.

1:15 For he saith, At an acceptable time I hearkened unto you, and in a day of salvation did I succor you. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. For a number of weeks, the text that has been deeply impressed upon my mind and spirit is found in 2 Corinthians chapter 6.

1:54 Even though it is a parenthetical statement, it is nonetheless a truth. It is a tremendously powerful statement that constitutes one of those very clear signposts to the celestial city. It is the latter part of verse 2. Behold, now is the acceptable time.

2:19 Behold, now is the day of salvation. Do you see all the words in that? Do you see that brief part of our text that have elements of time embedded in their very essence? Now is the acceptable time.

2:42 Now is the day. Now, time, day. These are all words that bring us into conscious acknowledgement of this reality of time. Furthermore, these words were some of the words that became my constant companions in the early days of my preaching on the street corners of Stamford, Connecticut.

3:13 I don't know how many times I quoted until my stomach muscles were in knots. This text, along with other basic texts that call men to the great issues of sin and grace, and sought to hurl my voice above the sound of buses and dual exhausts and mocking companions. Behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day of salvation.

The Repeated Call to Attention: 'Behold!'

3:52 And therefore, as we turn our attention to this simple signpost to the celestial city tonight, I want you to listen to this. I want you to note with me three things about this signpost. As again, we use the imagery of beholding it in a distance and drawing closer to it to make out what it says to us by way of heavenly instruction. And the first thing we note about this sign is the repeated call to attention, the signpost.

4:28 The repeated call. The repeated call to attention to this signpost. Look at our text. Two times we have the word, behold.

4:42 The part of our text upon which we focus our attention begins with the words, behold.

4:49 Now is the acceptable time. Again, behold is the day of salvation. Now this word, behold, is in technical terms a particle. Calling us to concentrated alert attention to something.

5:14 It is a word that is to act like a trumpet blast in the ear of a man taking his afternoon nap. If you were taking your afternoon nap tomorrow and a trumpeter got his trumpet two feet from your ear and let out a blast, I think the most dull, drowsy, deep napper, I think the most dull, drowsy, deep napper, I think the most dull, drowsy, deep napper, among us, would probably levitate from his bed.

5:44 This word is meant to act like a trumpet blast upon the sleepy and upon the drowsy. It is meant to act like a thunderclap coming out of the clear blue sky to someone ambling through the fields with his mind running in a hundred directions of innocent rumination, and suddenly, the very earth shakes with that thunderclap and the sky has now fixed his attention. God speaks to us from this signpost and he says twice, Behold, there is something of supreme importance that demands your immediate and concentrated attention. And in case you didn't hear the trumpet the first time, God gives a second blast and says, behold the repeated call to attention to this signpost to change the imagery of the trumpet blast or the thunderclap. We should look upon this signpost as we draw near to it as having a word that is set before us on the sign post

7:10 in the brightest of day glow orange in academia, and起来来盛行光的心地, neon light, and it keeps blinking off and on, off and on, and says, Behold, behold, behold, behold, like those lights that you'll see on Rue Davy, which is forever under construction if you go any far, any distance at all in the western direction of the country, and you've been cruising along where there are two or three lanes going west, and it's suddenly going to be crowded down to one lane, and there are those bright lights that will take the driver who is closest to the land of Nob, and suddenly those lights await in him. This is what God is saying. An incident, and I have not yet been able to verify it, but I believe it is a true story. An incident is told in the life of Whitefield, that as that mighty man of God with such a large heart and compassionate soul for the salvation of sinners was preaching on one of the hills, on one occasion, there was someone in the audience who had the temerity to fall asleep under the great preacher's proclamation of the gospel. And Whitefield, as a true preacher, was not one who simply would drone on no matter where the people were.

8:31 A man who's got anything of preacher in his spirit, and a love for sinners in his heart, he's not interested in just dumping a wad of truth, whether or not it's being attended to or not. He preaches to people's faith. He preaches to people's faces and eyeballs to see if he has their attention and if there's engagement of mind and spirit as much as he is able to read it. And he was convinced this man was not simply in deep, reflective meditation.

8:59 He was sound asleep. So Whitefield stopped. And often if you do that, someone that's sleeping will suddenly wake up and look around and see if anyone's looking at them. You know, some of you kids have had that happen in the classroom, haven't you?

9:13 Well, Whitefield stopped and the man dozed on. And suddenly that great preacher raised one of his legs and brought it down with full force upon the wooden platform. The man woke up with a start. Whitefield fixed his burning eye upon him and said, Sir, thou shalt not sleep when the trump of God summons thee from thy grave.

9:40 And Almighty God calls thee to judgment. Needless to say, the slumbering pew occupier didn't sleep for the rest of that night. That sermon.

9:55 I trust I don't have to bring my foot down on the platform. I trust the voice of God speaking in Scripture is enough. Coming through to every boy, to every girl, to every man, to every woman. Whatever God has to say in this signpost, he's saying, it's of such importance that I give you a repeated call to attention.

10:23 Behold! Behold!

10:30 Don't miss what I've inscribed upon this signpost. It is a matter of life and death, of heaven or of hell. The repeated call to attention to this signpost. But then notice with me secondly, the crucial issue to which our attention is repeatedly summoned.

The Crucial Issue: The Day of Salvation

10:59 To what is God repeatedly summoning? Our attention.

11:05 Does he want to get our attention in order to give us the present state of the stock market in Tokyo? Is he summoning us to attention in order that we might be aware of some other issue which the great ones of the world consider important? No. If you look at the text, you'll see there is one central issue to which God is giving us this repeated summons to pay.

11:34 Pay attention. What is that issue? Look at the text.

11:39 Behold! Now is the acceptable time. Behold! Now is the day of salvation.

11:52 And those words of the apostle are words based upon his quotation of a passage out of the book of the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 49 and verse 8. And he followed the rendition of the working Bible of that part of the world at that time, the Septuagint. And in the Hebrew structure, as many of you know from previous studies, you will often have the second part of a verse explaining or amplifying or repeating or contrasting with the first part. Well, here you have in the Hebrew parallelism a further explanation of the first part.

12:36 Look up at the first part of the verse. Look up at the first part of verse 2. For he says, quoting now from Isaiah 49, 8, At an acceptable time I hearkened unto you. Well, what is the acceptable time in which God hearkens to his servant, who is the focus in the passage in Isaiah, or the servant and his people in him?

13:04 There is a debate as to the precise. There is a sphere of reference, but it's irrelevant for our purposes tonight. But what is that acceptable time in which these words, I hearkened unto you, are set before us? Well, the second part of the verse explains it.

13:20 And in a day of salvation did I succor you. Now, Paul says, behold, now is that very acceptable time. Behold, now is. That very day of salvation.

13:43 So you see, the crucial issue to which our attention is repeatedly summoned is all bound up in the word salvation. The word salvation. That precious word that means to be delivered, to be rescued, to be preserved, to be taken from a state of danger into a state of safety and of blessedness. And I want you to notice three things about that salvation in the setting to which our attention is repeatedly summoned.

Salvation from Sin: The Primary Need

14:29 When Paul says, by the guidance of the Spirit, behold, now is the acceptable time. Behold, now is the day. Behold, now is the day of salvation. What was in the Apostle's mind when he said salvation?

14:49 Was he on a mission in which he was proclaiming that people could be rescued from all of the social ills that existed in the Roman Empire? And they were many.

15:04 Was he proclaiming that would bring relief from all the inequities that existed in the Roman Empire? Was he proclaiming? people's back. What was salvation? Well, there are three things that dominate in this very setting with reference to this salvation. Notice them. Number one, it is salvation from sin. Sin has made us the enemy and unfit acceptance and fellowship with God. That's the salvation

15:55 gave unto us of reconciliation. You see, it's should you kids come home unexpected time and you find your dad in the kitchen and he's got your mom in a real tight clinch and planting a big one right on her smackers. You don't come into the kitchen and say, mom, and put down underneath you kind of like it, don't you? Sure, because you know, if you see mom and dad in a warm embrace, there's no enmity between them. There's no war. They've kept the lines of communication.

17:07 And their affection for one another warm and fire. God being unto them there. Notice 21. We

18:01 as though God were in treating by us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ. Be reconciled that there is this. And then he goes on to say him who knew no sin. He made. Patient is not doctrine of sound

19:16 is the ugly, vicious, venomous. But my dear friends, truth has to be shaped your opinion.

19:44 And we. Read of that reality in Genesis three. There was a. He took of the fruit and she gave to her husband. And rather than being her leader, he had. Evident that their act of disobedience, God took very serious. God didn't come down in the cool of the day and say, I never expected much of you. Don't run away. Come and let's just. I'm a God of unconditional. You're acting like

20:45 you've got a guilt complex. The guilt complexes are just. To get the man. Of his.

21:28 Swing him in God. And it calls. We're not. We're talking. That's. Setting in heat. And made it.

22:15 What we were reminded. Matthew Henry called. The sad. Ever told. That salvation. That it is. Sin.

22:54 Captains. And fell with him. You had better take. As seriously to regret that you didn't.

23:22 You got me. You had. Gets our attention with the double trumpet blast.

Salvation Secured by Christ's Vicarious Sin-Bearing

24:06 Of human sin. That is made us the enemy. Fellowship with him. And acceptance. By him. But then secondly. It is a. Sin. Secured. By care. Of the son of. It is. Not having committed unto us the

25:20 reconciliation. This salvation from sin is secured. By a person called. His full. Jesus. The God. That one. Depart. He is. To be the great. Final. Prophet. Priest. And king. Appointed by God. For the

26:12 salvation. Of men. Pastor Martin used language. From sin secured by the vicarious sin bearing of the son of God. I don't see that. I see that. The barriers. And in. Treating by us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ. Be reconciled to God. Him. Who knew. That is. He may.

27:42 Live. In his power. He. Yes. His power. He will. Day. In humble. P. Dances. That. My. Was.

27:49 Th. Me the mum and. Dad. And second. In his. Holy. My. Never once. From the time he was conceived. In Mary's. Until he gave up. Was. There. And all. That holy. s. How deeply he felt them. Beefed. In the

29:01 presence. Th. That has taken away his. Friends. Blast to his. Eye. Angry. For their hardness. Of. But in. In that One muscle broke of the skirt. Never in his thought. Never in his. No sin. Never in his words. When more. Neither do I. Sin no more. Son. No. Sit and meditate sometime for 15 minutes on what that meant living as a human being in this world for 33 and a half years.

31:22 In our text it says was me a salve raided us from for communion from sin. Sin bearing of the son of take our to capture what the text says. This one who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf. Now what does that mean? He made him to be sin. Does it mean that he took our defilement and infused it into the son of God?

32:41 When he was. In in the most created dimension of the sin bearing work that is in those three had been the sin best to indicate while and when all moment for those are centrated sin bearing there was not 10 million of a grass sins defile that touched his soul. He still knew no sin when he was being made sin. Well in what sense? Well in this sense he was.

34:02 Court of heaven with all. And. All of all of all the men and all the women and all the boys and all the girls from the garden of Eden onward to the last one who will believe upon him in of all and all of the serving this of their sin. And then once legally charged with all the guilt in hell deserve their sin. He was free and Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the made what he.

35:24 He was free and Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the made what he. For I. Everyone that hangs upon the tree all his account in the court of heaven coming to its culminating in those dogs in presenting the reality to his sin in the garden the cup before which he's before we cried nevertheless not as I'll be done upon me passively but I will be done by.

36:40 In the strength that you give that I seek in the medium of prayer. I will pray. The last. Dark.

36:59 Death in the. Bitter. I don't can the great civil classes in Hebrew exegesis one day at the college there isn't is so vividly described on hand snuff box in the other.

37:54 They didn't know in those days the effect of the absorption nicotine through the mucous membrane of the mouth or he'd have been the first to get rid of his snuff box hitting they said offer like a man. Having his. Devotions out loud and he had before him his Hebrew Bible and he was seeking to plumb the depths of the mystery of Isaiah fifty three which sets forth the vicarious sin bearing of the suffering servant of Jehovah. And after opening up the various dimensions of the Hebrew and the significance of this word and that it is said that suddenly with tears streaming down his face his hands when the handkerchief went one way.

38:43 In the snuff box another while the tears poured down in copious measures and he said it was that it was damnation and he bore it he who knew no what.

Salvation Proclaimed by Christ's Ambassadors

40:01 Secondly secured by the vicarious sin bearer of the son then thirdly and oh my God me to preach this as I have in fresh light I haven't gotten any new revelation my dull heart is finally caught up with what. Lies right on the face of the text it is a salvation from sin which has been a far at a deadly now listen carefully. Authoritative Lee. Vicariously and passionately proclaimed.

40:44 By Christ ambassadors look at the text verse twenty. We are ambassadors there for on behalf of Christ by Christ.

41:52 And in the. Name that salvation from sin he and Paul say we are and this is probably with tremendous force look at the text as though by in our to put it blunt Christ will never come and proclaim to you personally the salvation that he personally wrought for sinners he will never do it.

44:48 And the message is broken he says we treat or God it's by us. I did to beg that oh my. We peace. Is that the God for the carnal mind is enmity against God it is not subject to the law of God that God that so loved the world is to give his only begotten son.

46:09 That God now ambassadors in treats he exhorts he encourages he entreats on the very powerlessly with Christ.

46:55 When you seek to answer that question against the. Back. Drop of Gethsemane and God. Secure our.

47:07 Go to. Behold his sweat. Behold. Go to gather.

47:18 See him standing. Not answering is false for pilot back to pilot and out to go. Go. Heavens and ask the questions when any sensitive minister will even convey the one millionth part of how Christ would beg in his own.

48:27 But do it we must do it we in the courtroom of heaven and in the dealings of. God. Without being tainted by the so. With it.

49:08 As to. Tetelestai. It's. And he sees it.

49:29 Delivered up for our. You to do what. We don't beg you. To walk and I.

49:46 We don't beg you to raise a hand we don't beg you to go into an inquiry room. We don't beg you to go home and sit in front of a mirror and say I'm a pretty good guy I'm a pretty good gal I'm a pretty good kid I'm a pretty good. Man I got to get rid of these guilt feelings I got to think of the cross as the affirmation of my self-worth no and not be consumed himself in Christ in the gospel.

50:48 Go to. Them say. If you think of my sin. What the cross says you think it's so ugly so heinous so rotten so stinking so vile and offensive that you'd let men spit on your son.

51:08 You'd let men buffeting with their fist beating with rods lie about him stripping naked hang him on a cross. And then God you yourself in a way that I can't understand. You would pour into his sensitive holy soul the felt venom of your pure and righteous wrath and anger until he cried out obedience to mommy and daddy cause all that to Jesus. My bad mouthing my teacher.

51:50 My dirty words spoken in the playground. And. My looking at that thing on the television that I know I shouldn't have the teenagers with the fire and I better get serious because if I don't I'll have a whole eternity to wish I did.

52:38 We beseech his name we beseech you to do what perfect life in any state that is adequate for all sins with you that I might have righteous for that you might welcome me into your heart and into your presence into your fellowship and one day into your home in heaven. And. Your people that's the salvation Paul's talking about in our text when he said no to people well so sure humanity and you don't have your act together come to Jesus and he'll patch it up my friends that's not the salvation didn't go to the cross just help you get your act. Your problems a lot deeper than the fact that you ain't got your act together your problem is you've offended a holy God and you'll burn in hell forever unless his controversy with you is resolved the way of his.

The Pressing Urgency of 'Now'

54:07 Point. Well. We've seen from our tech the repeated call to action they hold like carries and passionate proclaimed by his ambassador I close to me my briefest head thirdly note from our text the pressing of this attention to this crew.

54:56 It's the only time of certainty is right now you're breathing you have your rationale and the pediatric wards of ones who one moment were happy go lucky little children bringing joy to all around them and they stumble on the end of a toe.

56:59 They bang their. Head on the corner of a coffee table and in three hours. They lie in the intensive care unit on life support system and some of them go to their graves some of them are in a vegetative state for the rest of their earthly. Who.

57:21 Is it trying to scare that he wants you to come to him through Christ to get rid of yourself now I'm to lay it back to heart now is now is middle age going to play never dying so.

58:48 Now. Is the old and second no television with its images filling your minds that most of them in a thousand years would never turn you to the ugliness of your sin and the beauty of Christ and the reality of your never dying soul. The best of the television programs almost without exception if we say no headphones are no images in your are thinking of where you'll be a hundred years from now in the salvation of. And that.

60:04 You have a people sitting here praying as I preach and if we could have their prayers into audible voices right now have to pick our fingers in our ears because I'm convinced dozens of God's people have been praying as I've been preaching one of the question and say well.

62:18 Technically refer to the whole gospel in fulfillment of the passage in its context but the great day of never have dog unless there is. A. Day the fact that we live in the day her to Christ encouraging her urging her parents then in it she enclosed the team your fellow teenagers I want her to be the final ambassador who pleads with you.

63:53 Listen to a gripper who said to Paul all need to be a Christian acts twenty six twenty eight this fifth appears to the joy on the only and damn still what here is what makes you.

65:19 A sin is where the torture of hell for earthly treasure would heaven you sell would you for quote friends in this fickle world into black be heard here me teenagers the peer pressure that you know you'll have to. If you're going to become a Christian would you for a grip of his law left us in agony.

66:28 I'm going to stop the church and I won't give you a chance to be if you want to worship Christ and I want to be near God and so your life is a gift of having come to his house.

A Final Plea and Prayer for Salvation

67:33 Are you as God and God that you and the Holy Spirit. A true Christian is a true Christian and a true Christian and a true Christian in God's own strength and so we are all going to be heard for the rest of our lives. Look at the God and see how good he leads us in his wisdom and so that you can be with him and welcome him to the church. Read it in the passage and tell them that I will guide you through the days and the Sabbath and the Sabbath and all the days of your life.

67:53 Go to the Holy Spirit and bring upon your heart a good idea of the darker of things. Oh my God. The holy spirit was so strong that he gave her a birth and he did not become a Christian or a saint And by the Holy Spirit lay hold of boys and girls and men and women of all ages and backgrounds, and grant that this day will be for not a few the day of their salvation. O God, do not mock our yearnings, do not beat death to our cries. Have mercy upon sinners, not for our sake primarily, but all for the sake of your Son, who became sin for us, that he might have a vast host of redeemed ones. Fully reflecting his glorious image, the fruit of his suffering.

68:50 Forever with you in the presence of all of the redeemed of all ages. Gracious God, make your word effectually pray, and may the language of this signpost be so embedded in the hearts of many that there will be no rest until they obey its direction and lay hold of Christ and the offered salvation in him. Seal your word, O God, we beg of you. In Jesus' name. Amen.