I bring you no new thing. In
fact, we just go over the same old field. My dad had eight acres
all of my life. Now he added two sometimes, he
took away sometimes, but he always kept that eight acres. And every
year we farmed it again. Took that old John Deere Model
B and we either plowed it or harrowed it or disk it, planted
a crop. Next year, we went back to the
same field, didn't trade that field off. It's still in the
family. My brother still owns it. Well,
I want to go to the same old field. There is a mystery that I still rejoice in. I will
rejoice all my life after the Lord saved me. and I will rejoice
through eternity in this mystery, the mystery that is in the pardon
of sin and the justifying of a sinner. It is a mystery. It is a grand mystery that God
would pardon sin and justify a sinner. We have a real problem. You know, the Bible tells us
that we are ruined by the fall. And it's a terrible ruin. It
affected every part of our being. God did create Adam in the Garden
of Eden. He placed him in the Garden of
Eden. And you know, as other preachers have mentioned, there
wasn't a wrong thing going on. There wasn't a bad news report,
there wasn't a bad television show, there wasn't a bad person,
there wasn't even a bar. There was nothing except the
garden that God had created and he placed this man in that garden
with his wife. And he said there is one thing
I want you not to do and that is don't you eat of the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You know I
think of Orchards when I grew up we had an orchard it was about
15 trees our neighbor had an orchard there must have been
a hundred trees But I've been in orchards where there must
have been 5,000 trees cherry trees or peach trees or pear
trees hundreds and hundreds of them well I can't imagine how
many trees were in that garden that Adam had and Eve had the
ability of going to and enjoying They didn't have to work Everything was provided. God
took care of them in such a marvelous way. There wasn't an argument. The neighbors didn't come over
and say, your kids have been on my property. What a beautiful
place it was. It is the Garden of Eden. You
know, there's a lot of people that left on the Oregon Trail
and went to the Willamette Valley and says, this is the Garden
of Eden. No, it wasn't. They went along, they were sinners,
and when they got there, they met other sinners. They were
people or rascals and rapscallions. But here in the Garden of Eden,
everything was just absolutely wonderful. And Adam, as the representative,
the federal head, you know, when it boils down to it, he is the
only man that has ever been on this earth that had a free will. His will was absolutely free
and it was not tied to what we know. We hear that term all the
time. That's the only thing that all
religions will agree on, I have a free will. Well, we find out
we didn't have a free will, but we'll get to there in a moment.
So Adam, his wife brought him that fruit. I want you to answer
me this question. I've asked it to several people.
What happened when Eve ate that fruit? Nothing. Nothing. There was no darkness. She didn't recognize that she
was naked. She wasn't looking for some fig leaves to tie together,
and she took that fruit over to the federal head of the entire
human race, and he looked at it, and he ate, and now we're
in trouble. because God's word came to pass.
The day you eat, you shall surely die. Now the argument among religion
is how dead is dead. How dead was Adam when he sinned?
How dead was Adam when he ate that forbidden fruit? Well, we
find out from the conclusion, and we won't come to this conclusion
on our own because our own mind by nature doesn't want to admit
this, but we come to the conclusion through the word of God that
the whole being, including the will, fell in Adam. And we need
help out of the mess we're in. One condition in a perfect environment
and Adam disobeyed the Almighty God and he ate. Now it tells
us in the book of 1 Timothy 2 and verse 14, and Adam was not deceived. You know what that tells us?
That he knew exactly what he was doing. He wasn't beguiled. He wasn't deceived. He knew exactly
what he was doing. He knew that the instant that
he did this, he murdered his wife, he was going to cause the
death of all of his children, and he committed suicide at the
same time. Every tragic thing that could
go on, he did knowing full well what was going to happen as a
result of it. He was not a caveman, he was of, he had a high IQ of
4,000. But he knew exactly when he did
what he did, he knew exactly what was going to happen and
he did it anyway. It wasn't because he loved his
wife so much because nothing had happened. It was because
he was going to do it anyway. Well, the moment he did, darkness
fell. He is known as a sinner. God
came in judgment, but also God came in mercy. And he said, I'm
going to take care of this problem. The seed of the woman will bruise
the head of the serpent. And that's what he told the serpent.
And you know, like most of us, you know the gospel is only for
the sheep. Feed the sheep, feed the lambs,
feed the sheep. That's what the Lord told the
Apostle Peter after his resurrection. Aren't you glad that you got
to overhear what the sheep food was? That the sheep's food was
preached and we could care less, but we got to overhear it. And
then we find out only lost sheep will ever hear the message and
he makes them his saved sheep. They're no longer lost, they're
found. He has brought them into the fold. In 1 Corinthians, turn
there with me if you would, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, this
is an issue, this is the issue. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and
you can just go through the scriptures, we're going to look at a few
verses that are found in the Word of God, but in 1 Corinthians
15, and there in verse 22, we have, for as in Adam. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22. Turn there with me and let us
read this together. For it tells us, for as in Adam,
all die. Even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. Both of these people, 1st Adam,
2nd Adam, and they're referred to that in the scriptures. Adam
that was in the Garden of Eden, Adam the 2nd Adam, the Lord Jesus
Christ, they're both federal heads. That means they stood
and represented a people. Adam stood. in creation and represented
the entire group of humanity that would ever be born as a
result of Adam and Eve. Every nation, people, and tongue,
wherever they are, he represented them in the Garden of Eden. And
what he did to himself, he passed on to every generation down to
this generation. And that's why we still cry out,
ruin by the fall! And you know, it appears to me
that things have never got better, but they continue to get worse. I think sometimes we just hear
about it better now. You know, I wouldn't dare do
some of the stuff I did as a teacher today because some kid would
have it on his video and it'd be sent out on the internet instantly
and my principal would have saw it and says, you're fired. I took a student one time and
sat him down on a desk and wrapped him up with this plastic that
you put around loads of stuff on a pallet. I went around him
and around his hands and left him there. Now, to me, that was
easier than sending him to the principal where nothing would
happen. I took a student one time and stood him out in the
corner in the hall and I said, you stay here until I get back.
Well, 30 minutes later, I remembered him. I went out there, he's still
got his nose in the corner. You know, today I'd be fired.
So I'm thankful it wasn't there. But the fall, ruined by the fall,
oh. And here we go, the consequences
of this ruin. How much is that? What is the
consequences of the fall? Well turn with me if you would
to the book of Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. The Bible is full of ruin by
the fall. It is filled with redeemed by
Christ. That's the mystery that he would
ever get involved in bringing people that are in sin into justification. And the remedy for that is sin
must be paid for. It cannot just be swept under
a rug. It cannot just be placed over
here in a box. It has to be paid for in order
for anybody to ever stand in the presence of God in a good
light. It can't be just dealt with like we deal with it. I'm
gonna whip the kid. Put him in a corner and hopefully
he'll change his mind. Well, how often did that work? Well, that's the same thing.
I cannot just deal with it by saying you're wrong and get down
on your knees and repent. I don't know how many times I've
heard people say, you've got to repent of your sins. Show
me where that is in the Bible. There is an impossibility of
ever repenting of our sins. And that's never what that word
means anyway. Repentance does not mean to go
over every sin that you committed and say, Lord, forgive me of
this and Lord, forgive me. You don't have time. When are
you gonna sleep? When are you gonna go to work?
If that is the responsibility placed upon us is to repent of
our sins, we just will never get it done. Repentance in the
Bible means a change of mind, and that means a change of mind
about God that God grants to us. Now, there's another word
in the Bible that is used as repentance, and that is what
Judas did. He said he repented. You know
what that means? I'm sorry I got caught, and I'll
do better next time. You know, we do that all the
time. Mom, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll never do that again. I'll
never do that again. Until she got out of the way
and I'm doing it again. That's just, I'm sorry I got
caught. Well, repentance towards God is I have a new view of God. He is my savior. He is my Lord. He is my master. He is my king. That's what he does for us when
he grants repentance to the Gentiles and grants repentance to the
Jews. You learn about me. That's what we do. Okay, over
here in the book of Isaiah chapter 1, there in verse, Isaiah chapter
1, verse 3. What is the extent of
this death that Adam brought onto the human race? Well, God,
in retrospect, through his prophet, is saying, this is what it's
like. He said here, the ox knoweth his owner. A dumb ox has more
knowledge about what things are right than we do. An ox will
know his owner. And it says, an ass is master's
crib. They'll know enough to come home
and eat. And then he goes on to say, but Israel doth not know.
Now, just think about this. Israel from a position of all
humanity was a favored nation. God is going to prove something
with them. He is going to prove something to us that as good
as God was to national Israel and blessed them in such a mighty
way, he has this to say about them even with him doing all
he did for them in the flesh. From the all sinful nation. Everything God did for them did
not change their heart one iota. There was nobody ever saved by
the miracles that God did for Israel going through the wilderness
or even afterwards. Nobody was converted by them
winning the battle at Jericho or any of the other battles.
And we just continue and continue and continue getting down to
the tabernacle, getting down to the temple, getting down.
Nobody was ever saved that. The blood of bulls and goats
did not take away sin. Well, here he says, from this
all sinful nation of people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers,
children that are corruptors. Can you get any worse than this?
Oh, let's go on. They have forsaken the Lord.
They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger. They are
gone away backward. Now, if Israel's doing this,
what about the Hittites? If Israel is doing this, what
about the Americans, the Russians, the French? They've never had
this kind of blessing as a nation. Not that we haven't been blessed.
But as a nation, you follow Israel through the Old Testament and
you find out God had a special nation status for them. And he's
just showing to them and to us that if he does not give them
a heart to believe, they will go to hell. And many of them
did. They died in the wilderness in
unbelief. Goes on to tell us here, they
have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel into anger. They have gone away backward.
Why should ye be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more.
The whole heart is sick. You know that word heart is the
mind or the will. I just, I, there isn't a person
I've ever talked to that didn't tell me that they had a free
will until after God saved them. They'll brag on it. I can do
what I want to do. Well, we do enough of that already,
don't we? We don't have to have a will
involved in that, but a will to choose God is an impossibility
because it died as the rest of us died. Goes on to say, the
whole heart is sick, the whole heart faint, from the sole of
the foot even unto the head there is no soundness. in it, but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores, they have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment." And that's God's statement
about Israel and about every other person on the face of the
earth when it comes to their relationship with God. You know,
God gets serious in the book of Jeremiah and says, the heart
is deceitful above all things. The will That's the seat of the
being, the inside of us. We can't get there from here.
But it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
And that word desperately means incurably wicked. There's nothing
we can do. There's not a religion that can
get us out of this mess. There's not a salve or a balm.
There's nothing that can get rid of that for us. We can't
pray enough. We can't repent enough. We cannot
get down on our knees enough. We can't sing enough. We can't
work hard enough. We have that terrible condition
that came as a result of Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden. The
mystery is that God would forgive sin and justify sinners. That's the mystery. How could
he do that? From the sole of the foot, the
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately, what
a mess. You know, somebody might say,
well, when, at what stage of our life, I grew up with this,
what stage of our life do we become sinners? At the age of
accountability? Is that when God reckons us sinners? That's not what the Bible says.
There's no such thing as the age of accountability in the
Bible. It's been created by religion. Oh, you're doing real good up
to here. You know what the Bible has to
say about this? In sin, my mother conceived me. I came forth from
my mother's womb speaking lies. That goes right back to the very
beginning. We were conceived in sin. Now, it wasn't a sinful
act that our parents did, but it's just natural. That's how it's passed on to
us. The conception. It tells us there in the book
of Ephesians, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses
and sin. You know, it's interesting when
we look at that, that the trespasses means unintentional error. Oh,
I really didn't mean to do that. In fact, I may not have known
about it. Did you know that in the Old Testament there was a
sacrifice that if you committed, well, if you thought that you
had committed a sin unintentionally, you made that sacrifice. So unintentionally,
intentionally, It's still sin against the thrice holy God.
We don't have anything to give to God. We have no good intentions
to give to God. We have unintentional and then
sins is missing the mark or unrighteousness. So we have unintentional and
those that are intentional and missing the mark. Who is the
mark? Jesus Christ is the measuring
stick. Jesus Christ is the righteous
measuring stick and if you don't have what he has, you will never
meet God on good terms. You will hear him say, depart
from me, you worker of iniquity, for I never knew you. Now, Jesus
Christ has the wonderful blessing, and we'll get to this again in
just a moment, but he has the wonderful blessing of being able
to impute His righteousness. He has a wonderful standing with
God. They're in full communion. When Jesus Christ went to the
cross, laid down his life, a ransom for many, a shepherd giving his
life for the sheep, and died on the cross, gave his rich blood
in payment for our sin, and was buried in the tomb, and three
days later came out of that tomb victorious over every sin of
all of his people, came out victorious and glorious. Forty days later,
he is invited back to the throne of grace in full fellowship because
he has paid for every sin in full. just like the covenant
of grace decreed. What a wonderful thing. It's
a mystery. But he said, I will forgive sin. But you know that sin has to
be taken care of. It must be. And we can't. One of the benefits that we find
out about God when it came to the fall is he wasn't surprised. He did not have plan B. He had plan A all along. He was not shocked by what Adam
did. He was not surprised. He was
not caught off guard. He is God and beside him there
is none else. In fact, we find out that God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit had a lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. And he also had, before
the foundation of the world, names written in the Lamb's Book
of Life, and also before the foundation of the world, God
had an interest in a people that His Lamb, whose names He was
going to represent and die for, are going to be saved from their
sins. God knew all of this. In fact,
He purposed all of this. There's not a thing that God
knows. He didn't purpose. He didn't waste His time. I wonder
what I'm supposed to do next. Have you ever gone into the kitchen
wondering why you're there? God doesn't have that problem.
Nope. He has perfect remembrance. He
knows exactly what's going on. He knows where he's going at
all times. And we find that he in the covenant
of grace, they had already taken care of a problem that hadn't
even happened yet. Oh my goodness. The mystery that
God would deal with sin, a lamb slain. In the book of Romans
chapter 3, Romans chapter 3 and verse 26, we have a wonderful
passage of scripture that God gave the Apostle Paul to deal
with us and show us the truth of this. It says here, I declare,
I say, Romans chapter 3 and verse 26, I declare, I say, at this
time, his righteousness, that he must be just. You know what that means? He's
gotta have justice. There must be justice. We find
several times in the Old Testament, the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. We can't get out of that. We
can't remove ourself from it. We can't say enough Hail Marys.
We cannot pray enough to get out of the problem that we're
in as a result of the fall. It has affected every molecule
of our body, and beside that, every molecule of the world has
been affected by the fall. This world, this earth, groans
within itself, waiting for the time when it will be made anew. And so here we are in a mess
we're in, and we have to have justice. God demands justice.
There must be justice. Sin must be paid for. And it's
going to be paid for by a substitute or by ourselves. There is no
alternative. I remember reading about whipping
boys. You know, rich people would hire
a whipping boy, and if the son got into trouble, they wouldn't
beat their own kid. They'd go whip the whipping boy.
During the civil war, if you were rich, you could buy somebody
to go into the service for you. I'm not going into that battle,
but I'll pay him to go and let him die. You know, that's not
what can happen. It's either going to be Christ
or me. Romans chapter three and verse
26. I declare, I say this, uh, this, uh, at this time, his righteousness
that he might be just now notice the next phrase and justifier
of him, which believeth in Jesus. All right. How do we get from
justice? To justification. How do we get from justice to
the justifier of those that believe someone's got to pay a debt? And that debt must fall on Jesus. That debt cannot fall on anybody
else. We cannot go into a little box and talk to a little priest
about a great big sin and him go through and say, all right,
if you say all this stuff, you can be okay. Never. It's not
going to work that way. We're in worse shape than we
were. Here we go. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The Son of God was
tasked. The Son of God was tasked with
the great work in the covenant of grace. He would be humbled
and he would come as Adam's seed yet without sin. He would grow
up, forgive me for saying this, but he would grow up in a septic
tank. He would grow up among people
that were sinners by nature, sinners by practice, and sinners
by choice. Everyone he ever met, at one
time in their life, they were without help, without hope, and
without God in this world. Now, by the grace of God, he
had 12 disciples, and he said, one of them is the devil. Why?
On purpose. Jesus Christ was made like unto
those he came to save, yet without sin, without the spot, without
the blemish, without any particle of sin, he was perfect in every
way. And he had one ministry from
before the foundation of the world to perform when he got
here. And it is a word called propitiation. Propitiation. All this great
transaction. that would require His taking
all our sin and He being punished for all our sin. Now, to me,
it's a mystery how God could gather all the sin of all of
His people from all ages and from all over the world. It's
a mystery. How could God do that? Well,
I'm thankful He did. He was able to gather it as a
garment, if you please, And as we read in the 53rd chapter of
the book of Isaiah, was laid on Him this garment of sin, this
garment of iniquity of everyone that's name was written in the
Lamb's book of life that Jesus Christ called His lost sheep,
every one of them, their sin was put in a garment and it was
laid on Him there on the cross. This great transaction, all the
elect sin was placed on him. All of God's wrath against sin
was poured out on him. And all the satisfaction for
full payment was accredited to him. You know, he will not give
us the credit for one. And the church says, thank you,
because I'd have ruined it. He is accredited with all of
redemption. All of God's wrath was poured
out on him. It's no wonder that he spoke
from the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why
art thou far from the words of my roaring? He has there been
encompassed, laid upon him the coat of all the sin of all of
his people and God begins to pour out his You know what was left of God's
wrath and of our sin when it was over? The same amount that
was left when they had a sacrifice in the Old Testament. They didn't
stop the sacrifice halfway through and say, we'll save that part
for tomorrow. It was absolutely consumed by fire from heaven
and there was nothing left. The sacrifice, every sacrifice
is typical of Jesus Christ and His righteousness, Christ in
Him crucified. He paid the full debt. He took
the whole blow while He was on the cross. The Lord hath laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. That great coat of sin was placed
upon Him. You know, and turn with me, if
you would, to the book of 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2,
we read these words. First John chapter two. And there in verse two. He is the propitiation for our
sins. You know, I used to discuss,
probably I argued, about the extent of the world that's mentioned
in that verse of scripture, because it goes on to say, not for our
sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. And I cannot
tell you how many times that verse of scripture has been brought
to my attention by a young preacher that I've been talking to for
four years. Well, it says right over here, he died for our sins
and the sins of the whole world. You know, I don't even discuss
the extent of the world anymore. I discuss what the word propitiation
means. The word propitiation means payment
in full. It means taking care of a problem
in full. And who did he take care of a
problem in full for? Now, my friend, if Jesus Christ
propitiated for everybody in this world without exception
and half, three quarters, nine tenths of them go to hell, his
blood or propitiation means absolutely nothing. But his victory, in
his death on the cross and his propitiation for those he died
for, they are saved from their sin for time and eternity and
there will be a whole host on the left hand side who will be
continuously bragging about their good works. When did we not do
those things? And he shall say unto them, depart
from me. Their blood was, his blood was
never shed for them. And you know what? They wouldn't
have him if they could. God must give us an interest
or we will never bow. He is the propitiation for our
sins. He's the full payment. And that's
why we can read. Turn with me to the book of Ephesians
chapter one and verse seven. Oh, what a mystery, the forgiveness
of sin and the justifying of a sinner. The great trade. He took our sins, imputed. Our sins were imputed to him.
And you know what he does for us? He imputes his right standing
with God, his righteousness. What a trade. He took the bad,
we get the good. He took all the worst about us
and placed it upon himself and he gives us all the best about
him. His righteousness, now we can meet God. All right, here
in the book of 1 John, excuse me, Ephesians. Ephesians chapter
one, verse seven. Notice this with me. In whom
we have redemption through his blood. What does that mean? He shed His blood. What does
that mean? It means He gave His life. He died. He did the death on our behalf. In whom we have redemption through
His blood. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. When His blood was shed, He died. No man took it from him. He laid
it down of himself. No man could take his life from
him. He gave it freely of himself according to the covenant of
grace. Now in whom we have redemption to his blood. Notice the next
part, the forgiveness of sins. You know, there are several references
about where God puts those sins. One of them is He forgets them,
throws them behind His back, buries them in the deepest sea.
You know what all that means? Paid for in full. Nothing left. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. And if we're justified, we have
no sin held against us. Now, we brought this up the other
day, and it's just a miracle when you read over there in the
New Testament about a man by the name of Lot. Whoa, talk about
a place to grow up and raise your kids in. Man, that's Chicago,
isn't it? Whoa, Detroit. No, the Dalles. We have a little town out of
the Dalles called Dufur. There's about 1,200 people. It's
just like Dufur. Here is a man living in a sinful, wicked place,
and God says he's just. What's that mean? He's justified.
What does that mean? Sins are forgiven. Forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of His grace. What a marvel. What a mystery that God, God would deal with sin and grant
justification that he would deal with it, pay for it in full in
his son. Now the son is back in the glory
that he had with the father before the world was and it is assigned
to us, accepted, payment accepted. The bank check has been stamped. Here it is. We got it in our
presence right here. The son has been accepted back
to the position that he once held before he came to this sin-cursed
earth. He went to the cross on purpose.
He died on purpose. And he gave forgiveness of sin
on purpose. And he knows exactly who he laid
down his life for, and he's out seeking them right now. And when
the last lost sheep is saved by his grace, sin forgiven, justified
by his mercy, this whole mess is going to be wrapped up that
quick. Nothing left to do. And then
he will tell those on his right-hand side, those he justified, those
he gave his life for, those he paid the sin debt for, welcome
to the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And he shall tell the left hand
once, depart from me, I never, I never knew you. Brother Wayne.