Open your Bibles to John 1. We decided back in November that
we were going to go south for the holidays. We found out that our daughter and son-in-law and
our grandchildren that stayed with us, they were going to be
gone. And we thought we would seek out warmer weather. It was
still a little chilly in Myrtle Beach, but about 30 or 40 degrees
warmer than back in Michigan. So it was better than what we
are usually faced with. And I phoned one of the men who's
speaking for me this morning, Tim Krause. And they said, well,
we got a little dusting last night. And I remembered last
Sunday morning, I was over to the church building about 5.30
or 6 to begin shoveling snow and spreading some salt. And
I thought about this morning, whoopee! I didn't have shoveling snow
today. Somebody else had to do my job today. I hope they managed. I didn't designate anybody to
do it either. I figure they can find their
way. They can find the shovel and
the salt on their own. But it's very good to be back
with you. And I didn't intend to be speaking
this morning. I wanted to come and listen.
But the pastor's authority prevailed. And so you find yourselves this
morning facing me. But the face is different and
the voice is different. God willing, the message is the
same. John 1 is a scripture that you're
very familiar with. Nothing new this morning. Somebody said, if it's new, it
isn't true. And if it's true, it isn't new. I like the old
gospel, don't you? The gospel of redeeming grace.
The gospel of the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Spurgeon brought a message one
time. I remember reading it years ago. He called it the undying
gospel for the dying year. And that's not the title of this
message, but I do want to bring to you a message on this undying
gospel, this gospel that actually is called the everlasting gospel
in the scriptures for the dying year. A dying year. We love to talk about the salvation
of sinners. Jonah said, salvation is of the
Lord. David in the Psalms said, but
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. We love to speak
of God's eternal purpose of grace. I love to talk about His election
of grace, don't you? I love the truth of God's sovereign
election. And I've rejoiced to know that
even so now, there's a remnant according to the election of
grace. I'm very thankful for that. When
we get up to preach the gospel, We're not on a fool's errand.
We know it's going to be successful. That God's going to send forth
His Word because He's got people out there. I don't know who they
are. You don't know who they are.
We've preached to everybody who will listen to us. Anybody who
will listen to us. We compel them to come in. We
tell them about the Savior. We tell them about righteousness
in the Son of God. We tell them about There is one
way to be accepted by a holy God through the Lord Jesus Christ. One sacrifice puts sin away. One sin offering. There is one
mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus.
And we tell people, He is the way to God. He is the door. There
is salvation for sinners. We love to proclaim this message,
and we know for certain that God will cause some people to
believe this very message. There are some people who are
going to rejoice in the Son of God. They're going to delight
in Him. They'll love to hear of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. You can't tell it too often to
them. You can't tell it too much to
them. They thrive on it. This is our life. This is a message
we love to hear. We don't want to hear anything
different. Thank you very much. Got another message? Go somewhere
else. We want to hear about Him. We want to hear about who He
is. We want to hear about what He did. We want to hear about
why He did it. We want to hear about where He
is now. We want to hear about what He's doing now. We're not
here to brag on anybody except Him. Just brag on Him. We love to talk about God's election
of grace. We love to talk about full, free,
total forgiveness of sins. Full forgiveness. Free. forgiveness, absolutely total
forgiveness of sin. The blood of the Lord Jesus put
away our sin, and God remembers them no more. He separated them
from us as far as the east is from the west, and He buried
them in the depths of the deepest sea. And we're thrilled to announce
the deliverance of captives from bondage. From bondage. We love to talk about the fact
we have everlasting life and we'll never come into condemnation.
Never. No damnation to the people of
God. It cannot be. That we'll be condemned. The Savior was condemned for
us. And then we are not ashamed to say, as does the Apostle in
Romans 8, that we love the foreknowledge of God, for whom He did foreknow
in love. He foreordained unto salvation,
and He predestinated us to be conformed in the image of His
Son. We love to talk about the calling grace of God. whom He called, them He also
justified." We love to talk about the justifying grace of God,
the glorifying grace of God. We love to speak of heaven, not in a silly, sappy way that
the world speaks about, but that glorious place of worship where
the Son of God sits on His throne. And where all of the angels and
all of the departed saints just live to adore Him. All they ever do, every voice
in glory, all they ever do is praise His name. Every heart
beats for His glory. Every eye is focused on Him. Oh, I love to talk about heaven. No more sin. No more sickness. No more sorrow. Oh, we love to
talk about all of these different subjects, but let it always be
remembered now. There is no salvation. There is no deliverance, no election,
no forgiveness, no everlasting life, no calling, no justification,
no glorification, no heaven without an acceptable, suitable, appointed
Savior. You've got to have the Savior.
Or you've got nothing. My friends, God could create
the universe by the Word of His mouth. In fact, we read in Hebrews 11,
through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
Word of God. In Genesis 1 it says, And God
said, Let there be light. And there was light. In fact,
literally, it's light be and light was. And God can and does rule the
world by His sovereign, irresistible, wise will. But God cannot save sinners merely
by speaking the Word. nor am I just exercising His
power. There must be more. There must
be something else. There will be no redemption of
sinners. There will be no salvation of
sinners who are in bondage to the justice of God because of
sin apart from the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Speak the Word, yes, and the
worlds came into existence. That's right. That's right. Govern
all things by almighty power, oh yes, God does that. But if
God's going to save you, and if He's going to save me, He
must do it in a manner consistent with His justice which says,
the soul that sinneth must die. He must find the suitable, acceptable
sacrifice, and that sacrifice must die in the stead of the
guilty in order that they go free. God can't save sinners apart
from the death of His Son. My subject this morning is quite
simply the acceptable, suitable sacrifice. I don't have a long, complicated
introduction. I don't have an alliterated outline. This is just meat and potatoes. First of all, the Redeemer must
be acceptable to God. You know, when we talk about
salvation, I mean, we can define it as best we can. But really, when we talk about
the salvation of sinners, we're taking on an awesome subject,
aren't we? This is just, it's dated from eternity past. If you want to go to the beginning
of this, well, where did your salvation originate? Well, let's
go back before the world began. Into the very heart and mind
of an infinitely wise God. Oh, what a subject. The salvation
of sinners. And if we're going to be saved,
There must be a Redeemer that is acceptable to God, because
God, if He is going to do something for us in a saving way, must
first of all do something for Himself. So I'll say this, first of all,
He must be acceptable to God by being God. And I know that this time of
year, everybody's thinking about baby Jesus. And I'm thankful
that He came. And I'll show you in a few minutes
the importance of His incarnation. But if He didn't exist before
2,000 years ago, We have no salvation. This is not about celebrating
Jesus' birthday. The Son of God doesn't have a
birthday. He is the Eternal One whom angels adore. He made them. He spoke them into existence.
So let's remember that this Redeemer, He must be acceptable to God
by being God. And there's no use talking about
His death on the cross until it is firmly established that
He's the Divine One. What is His qualification to
die in the stead of sinners? Why would His death be any different
than the death of any other man? Many men have died for worthy
causes, haven't they? Many men have shed their bloods
on a battlefield for liberty, for freedom, on behalf of an
oppressed people. Well, why is the death of that
man who died on the middle cross Why is His death so significant? And how is it that His death
accomplished so much? Because of who He was. Who He
is. He's God. He must be acceptable
to God by being God. I had you turn to John 1. Hold
your place there and I will get to it. But look at John chapter
20. Do you remember how John closes
out the book of John? It's in this way. Look at John
20, verses 30 and 31. John 20, 30 and 31. And many
other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples,
which are not written in this book, but these are written. That ye might believe that Jesus
is the Christ. The Son of God. And that believing ye might have
life through His name. These are written that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You remember
when the Savior said to the Jews, My Father worketh and I work
also, the Jews took up stones to stone him. Why? Because they
understood that when he said he was the Son of God, he was
claiming equality with the Father. And John tells us very clearly
here, what I have written, the words that the Spirit of God
has led me to write, These are inscribed in order that you might
believe that Jesus of Nazareth, this man who looked like any
other man outwardly, Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Anointed. The Messiah. The Promised One. That One prophesied in the Old
Testament, pictured in the Old Testament, promised in the Old
Testament, prefigured in the Old Testament. This One, Jesus
of Nazareth, He is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the
Son of God Himself. This is John's stated purpose.
These things are written that we might believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing He might have
life through His name. And in order to begin this book,
He first of all, or in His introduction, in His beginning of this book,
He immediately identifies this One who is the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And He identifies Him this way.
Go back to John chapter 1. This is how He identifies Him.
John 1.1, in the beginning, was the Word. And the Word was with God. And
the Word was God. This one John has identified
in chapter 20 as being the Christ, the Son of God. He begins his
book by saying, the one that I write about, the one that I
speak about, In the beginning, He's the Word. He was with God. And He was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Verse 3, All things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Here's what I'm trying to say.
There's no use talking about what Jesus did until it is established
who He is. There is no use telling people
to believe on Jesus. Just believe on Jesus. That's
what the soul winners say. All you've got to do is believe
on Jesus. Here's the question, though.
Which one? Which one? You turn on the television
while there are many Jesuses being preached. Turn on the radio.
There are many Jesuses being preached. Which one? Somebody
tell me which one to believe. There is a smorgasbord of Jesus
Christ out there. Can the real one be identified? The One I am to bow to. The One
I am to believe. The One I am to rest in. The
One I am to embrace. The One I am to adore. The One
I am to praise. The One I am to worship. Can
you be identified? Oh yes. Oh yes. Look back at Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah identifies Him. And all
the prophets identify Him. They all wrote of Him. Look at
Isaiah chapter 42. I tell you, the success of His
work is dependent upon who He is. Listen to what Jehovah says.
Isaiah 42. Behold! That's a word that ought to get
your attention. Behold! Attention! Listen! Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighted That ETH, this is all the time. God is always delighted in His
Son. I have put my spirit upon Him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up,
nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. Notice how gentle
he will be. A bruised reed shall he not break. And the smoking flax shall he
not quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. And Jehovah says he shall not
fail. Nor be discouraged. He shall not fail. Nor be discouraged. I'm so easily discouraged. I
hate to acknowledge that, but it's so. I get discouraged. And in my, I'm a failure. When
my daddy said, you'll never amount to much, he was really saying
more than was so. I haven't amounted to anything.
I'm a failure. That's me. But not my Lord. The Jesus that you're to believe
is the one who cannot fail. The one you're to worship is
the one who is never discouraged. He's never worried that things
have gone astray down there on the earth and things are out
of control and wonder where things went wrong. That's not him. That pitiful little Jesus who
needs your help, who needs your kind assistance, who needs your
approval in order to make His purpose successful, That's the
wrong one. That Jesus who needs you to let
Him do something for you, that's the wrong one. That Jesus who's
been trying to show you something, been trying to tell you something,
been trying to help you through life's way, that's the wrong
one. He never tries to do anything. The one to believe is the one
who shall not fail. who shall not be discouraged,
that One who is Jehovah's servant, that One who is upheld by God
Himself, that One who doesn't cry nor
lift up nor cause His voice to be heard in the streets, and
yet He's a tender, loving Savior to perishing sinners. I tell you, This is the one we
need to know. How do I know He cannot fail?
How do I know He shall not fail? Because He is divine. Because
He is God. So, back over here in John 1,
I know That this is the one that Isaiah
is talking about. This is the one who is acceptable
to God. This is the one who cannot fail.
And let me say this. When we talk about the salvation
of sinners, when we talk about righteousness and forgiveness
and acceptance with God, always bear this in mind. God has, first
of all, He's got to honor his own requirements. We're so, let
me see if I can say this the way I want to express it. We're
so self-centered. We think it's all about us. We
think the world revolves around us. This is all about God. Somehow I wish I could get a
grasp on that, don't you? I wish I could really embrace
this. It's not about me. It's not about
you. I love this country. I appreciate
this country. I'm thankful to live in this
country. But it's not about the United States. I pray that God will save His
people. He will save His people out of
that little country called Israel over there in the Middle East.
But it's not about Israel. It's about God and His glory.
That's what it's about. And there's not but a handful
of people that have a grasp of that. Isn't that right? If we've got to grasp on it,
it's only by the grace of God. It's about this matter of salvation. It's about God honoring His own
requirements. Upholding the integrity of His
law and His justice and His righteous demands. It's about God in His
holiness and in His indescribable wisdom scheming this way whereby
He remains just and holy and righteous in the punishment of
sin and He reaches down to a worm of the earth like you and me
and embraces us to His bosom in love and grace and in mercy
through His darling Son the Lord Jesus Christ who is God Himself. God won't save sinners at the
expense of His justice, but in a manner consistent with His
justice through the death of His Son. And this One who is
His Son, who is the sacrifice in order to be acceptable to
God, He's got to be God Himself. So John tells us here in John
1, watch this. The Word is Jesus Christ. We know this from verse 14. Look
in John 1.14. And the Word was made flesh. John 1.14. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt, and I believe that word is tabernacled, among
us. And we beheld His glory, John
said, The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us. This One who is the Word, the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. The Word, W-O-R-D. What is a Word? Somebody says
it's a vehicle of thought. It's how we express our mind,
our will, our intentions, our desires. It's the way we communicate
with one another. The Word of God, then, is Deity
expressing Himself. God expressing Himself. Christ is the Word of God. In
Hebrews 1 and verse 2, He said to be God's final spokesman.
God hath in these last days spoken unto us through His Son. In Revelation
1-8, He's God's alphabet. He said, I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. He's
the Word. Look here in John 1 verse 18. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." He hath
told Him out. You want to know what God is
like? Study Jesus Christ. Now there is a study for you.
Study the Son of God. He is the infinite God. He is
the One who manifests God. He is the One who communicates
God. He is the One who reveals God. You see, a word, w-o-r-d,
a word is a means of manifestation, communication and revelation.
Jesus Christ manifests the living God. He communicates to us the
will of God. And He is the revelation of the
invisible God. In fact, I would venture to say
all of God you will ever see is Jesus Christ. So therefore, in the Old Testament,
whenever God revealed Himself to someone and spoke to someone,
it was the Son of God. That's what he told Philip. When
Philip said, show us the Father, remember what Philip said, and
we'll be satisfied. The Savior said, Philip, I've
been with you so long. Don't you know? He that hath
seen me hath seen the Father. He is the Word of God. Remember,
the Jewish people They understood the expression, the Word of God
or the Word of the Lord. In fact, that's a very important
concept to the Jewish people. Throughout the Old Testament,
God would reveal His will, God would reveal His purpose, God
would reveal His design, God would reveal His mind to men,
and it would come like this, the Word of the Lord came to
so-and-so. In fact, the first time it's
used is in Genesis 15, verse 1. The Word of the Lord came
to Abram in a vision and said, fear not Abram, I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. And now John tells us that the
Word of the Lord is that one Jesus of Nazareth. He is the
Word of the Lord. He reveals the will, the design,
the purpose, and the mind of God, for He is God. And then
watch this again in John 1. John begins this in the beginning. John goes back past creation. And he tells us in the beginning,
the Word was there. In the beginning. When the beginning
began. The Word was there. Okay? In
the beginning, before creation, before time, before the clock
was set to ticking, before anything was, He was there. The Word in the beginning. And
watch this. He says, thirdly, the Word was
with God. Not with men. There were no men
then. Not with angels. There were no
angels then. Well, who was He with? He was
with God. Which shows the distinct existence
of the Word with the Father. He was with God. As face to face with God. Not
higher and not lower. Equal. One writer said, at home with
God. At ease in the bosom of God. And then the Word was not only
with God, but he says the Word was God. He is God Himself. The names of God belong to Him. He is wonderful, counselor, the
mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Paul quoted David. Paul said
in Hebrews 1, if Paul is a writer of Hebrews, and I suspect that
he is, but he said, the Lord said unto my Lord, set thou at my right hand. The Lord said, Thy throne, O
God, is forever and ever." Listen, God called him God. You better
call Him God too. You better worship Him as God
too. He's God. He is the I Am. And so He told those Jews in
John 8, if you believe not that I Am, He shall die in your sins."
I am. Identifying Himself as being
the same One who spoke to Moses out of a burning bush thousands
of years before, hundreds and hundreds of years before this.
Watch what else He says. He says in verse 3 that all things
were made by this One. Now this One who is acceptable
to God, He's the Creator of all things. This is a clear evidence of His
eternality that He existed prior to time. He preceded creation. All things were made by Him.
And then in verses 4 through 6, John says He is life. He doesn't
just have life. He's not just alive. He is life. Look at verse 4. In Him was life. Literally, in
Him life existed. And the life was the light of
men. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended
it not." He is the life. He has life in Himself. He is
life. He has life not by gift. That's
how we have it. We have natural life by gift. We have spiritual life by gift. We have eternal life, which is
a knowledge of God, by gift. We have everlasting life, a life
which will never end, by gift. But we're not life. He is life. He's the fountain of life. He's
the giver of life. Therefore, we read, the Son quickeneth
whom He will. He's the giver of life. He has life in Himself. Life
originally. Life independently. Life from
all eternity. And He gives life. And as believers,
He is our life. Life has come to us. And when
life comes, when life comes to us, That's
the Son of God dwelling in us. Christ in you. That's the hope
of glory. He's life. And He gives life. He talked about His sheep. He
said, I give them eternal life. He is acceptable to God as God. And I'll tell you this, He must
be acceptable to God as man. Turn with me to Acts, the second
chapter. Acts, the second chapter. Alright, he is acceptable to
God as God. Also, he must be acceptable to
God as man. Acts, the second chapter. You
know about this Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, 50 days
after Passover. Acts, chapter 2, verse 22. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man. I'll just stop right there. A
man. But not a mere man. Certainly not a common man. Certainly
not an ordinary man. He's the famous Son of Man that
the Scriptures speak of. He's the man of God's right hand. He is the man, as Psalm 89 says,
that is God's fellow. A mighty man. A wonderful man. A righteous man. A perfect man. Watch this next phrase now. The
next word. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God. God approved of Him. We read in Isaiah 42 that God
was always delighted with him. God said to Peter, James and
John, when they were on the Mount of Transfiguration and the Savior
revealed to them His glory, the Father said, This is My beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. And now Peter says he's a man
approved of God. God approved of him. There's only been one man approved
of God to be the Savior and the Redeemer. And if God doesn't
approve of him, he won't be the Savior. God's got to approve
of him. And he was approved of. We know that by one man we all
became sinners. God required that another man,
a man altogether innocent of sin, must be appointed the Savior
of sinners. God therefore ordained that His
Son would come to this world as the perfect man. He's approved
of God. And I'll tell you this, He came
into this world. If He's going to be approved
of God, He had to come this way in a unique way. The union of divinity with humanity
was accomplished in the incarnation of Jesus Christ by the power
of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin. Matthew 1.18 says,
now, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise when, as His
mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she
was found with child of the Holy Ghost. In Luke 1.35 it says, "...that
holy thing in thee." That only said about one person. Just Him. He was sinless in His incarnation. Listen to this verse. You don't
have to turn to it. Let me read it to you. He was sinless in
His incarnation. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 5. And ye know that He was manifested. And everybody's been talking
about the fact He was manifested. Everybody's been talking about
the fact He was born. He was manifested. Why? To take away our sins, is what
John said. That's why He was manifested.
Now listen to this, and in Him, it's 1 John 3, 5, and in Him
is no sin. In His incarnation, He was sinless. And then this God-man must live
in the world without sin in exact obedience to all law, parental
law, civil law, divine law, which would show His fitness to perform
the great work He was sent to do. Peter says in 1 Peter 2, 22 and
23, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, who
when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. Look at Hebrews 7, 26. Let me
get you to look at this one with me. Hebrews 7, I believe it is. Yeah, Hebrews 7, 26. He is sinless in His incarnation,
and He is sinless in His life. He is acceptable to God as God. He must be acceptable to God
as man. Hebrews 7.26, For such an High Priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those high
priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then
for the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself." Jesus Christ was not an unclean Jew who needed an offering for his
own sin. He was the spotless sacrifice
to be offered for our sins. He was undefiled. You know, He
touched the leper, but remained undefiled Himself. And He was not merely undefiled. He could not be defiled, because
He is God. As God's representative man,
he was undefiled by sin in every aspect of his earthly life. Look
at Hebrews 4 and verse 15. Hebrews 4 and 15. For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without This shows His fitness, His worthiness
to be the sacrifice. This is deep water. I know this,
at least for my shallow mind it is. His body was capable of
pain and weariness, but not of sickness. Capable of death, but not subject
to death. Because he wasn't a sinner. In fact, the body of the sinless
Savior could not see or experience corruption, neither in life nor
death. Because corruption is the consequence
of the fall. Therefore, corruption pertains
only to those who shared a part in the fall of Adam. He was undefiled and undefilable. And then as man, he must die,
for that's the penalty of sin. And as he bore responsibility
to save us from all eternity, he must die, for the wages of
sin is death. Somebody said he must die for
what man has done. 1 John 3, 5. He must die for
what man has not done. Romans 3, 23. All have sinned
and come short. We've come short of the glory
of God. And he must die for what we are.
Children of wrath, subject to wrath even as others. He must
die. He must be acceptable to God.
There is no use talking about salvation at all until, first
of all, there is a suitable Savior. As you establish the suitable
Savior, who He is, establish His identity, then we know that
since He is God, the God-Man, whatever He did, He did to God's
full satisfaction. because he cannot fail. He did what God required. He paid the debt we owed. He suffered the wrath we ought
to have suffered. He bore it away and he came back
without it. The debt is paid. The sin is
gone. God's satisfied. The Spirit of
God will notify us that in regeneration. We'll find out about it. And
then we'll be happy. And we'll rejoice. Of the day
we believe, that's not when our sins are washed away. That's
not the day when our sins are finally put away and removed
and forgiveness established. No. The Spirit of God wakes us
up from the sleep of death and points us to that One who died
in our stead and makes us to rejoice in Him and believe Him
and cling to Him and bow to Him and worship Him and fall in love
with Him and adore Him and say, Thank you, Lord Jesus, for what
You've done for this poor sinner. I see you did it all. I see all
my salvation depended upon you. And none of it on me. You did
it for me and I hated you. You did it for me when I hated
you, when I was your enemy, when I was ungodly, when I was a sinner. You died for me. And you settled
it. What's that old song? The old
account was settled long ago. How long ago? Two thousand years
ago. And then let me tell you this. The Redeemer must be suitable
to those He would save from their sins. So He was made flesh and dwelt
among us, John said. Why did He take our flesh to
be our Savior? Look at Romans 8. Look at Romans
8. Romans 8. Verse 1, There is therefore now In my Bible, I went up to verse
24 of chapter 7, where it says, O wretched man that I am. And
I circled I am. I just circled that. Then I draw
a line down to verse 1 of chapter 8. There is therefore now, though
I am a wretched man, nevertheless, there is therefore now, No condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin." This is concerning
sin now. Condemned sin in the flesh. This God-man. He condemned sin. There is no condemnation to me
because He condemned sin. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. The law could do us no good by
reason of the inability of our flesh to fulfill the requirements
of the law. But what the law couldn't do,
God did for us in His Son, the Lord Jesus. He took our flesh
that He might be our Savior. He took our flesh into union
with His deity because we're flesh and blood. Therefore, in
order to save us, He became one of us. I mentioned to our folks a couple
of weeks ago, I guess it was. I said, I don't want you to answer
out loud and I'll say the same thing to you all. What's the
greatest miracle you think has ever happened? Well, I'll tell
you what I think it is. It's the Son of God coming down
here to this earth and joining Himself to human flesh. Do you know what I think the
second miracle is? The first miracle is Him coming down here.
The second miracle is Him taking us up there. And all that that
involves. All it involves. Why did He take flesh and blood
into union with Himself? Because the children God gave
Him were flesh and blood. So He had to be made like us. A man got us in this mess we're
in. There's another man that's going
to get us out of it. But the first man was of the
earth, earthy. He can't do you any good. Oh, but that second man, that
last Adam, he's the Lord of Heaven. He came down here. Got us out
of the mess. Lifted us up out of the miry
clay. Set our feet on a rock. Established
our goings. Why did he take flesh into union
with himself? That he might destroy the works
of the devil. You read the latter part of Hebrews
chapter 2. The devil had set himself against
the Lord and against His children. He's our adversary. Well, the
children couldn't destroy Him because He's already cast us
into sin. He's already defiled us. Therefore,
Christ puts Himself among the children to destroy the works
of Satan. And at the cross, He crushed
the serpent's head. And He rules Him. The man Christ
Jesus rules over that serpent. He took flesh in union with Himself
to deliver the children by dying. There could be no deliverance
for the children of God apart from death. But God can't die. God is life. So God comes down here. takes
into union with himself humanity, and then really dies. Oh, how much is involved in that
death. Not just the physical sufferings,
but as Luther said, the soul of his sufferings was that his
soul suffered. How much did he suffer? Enough
to satisfy God. And if God is satisfied, that's
all that's necessary. Whatever it was, whatever it
took, God's satisfied. The children are delivered. And He took flesh so that He
could in the flesh conquer death by His resurrection. This flesh is going to die. But like Job, I say, I know my
Redeemer liveth. He's going to stand on this earth
again too, I tell you. And though worms defile this
flesh, in this flesh, in this body, I shall see God. I'll see Him for myself. That's
the resurrection. We have a hope for the resurrection.
He was raised forever. I said he took flesh into union
with himself also so that he could be a sympathizing high
priest. And he took flesh into union
with himself that we might have access to God by him. Now listen
to me. There is a way to God. Not multiple
ways, but there's one way. And He's the way. He told His disciples. He said,
I'm going away. Thomas said, Lord, we don't know
where You're going. And we don't know the way. He
said, I'm the way. And I'm the truth. And I'm the
life. And no man cometh to God for
anything. For anything. No man cometh to
God for anything except by means of what He said. He is the acceptable and suitable
Savior. He is acceptable to God as God
and man. And He is suitable to us. Just the Savior I need. What
about you? Just the Savior you need. Just
the Savior you need. Just the One. Well, I hope God
will bless that. Thank you, Pastor.