I want to speak to you today
on the doctrine of redemption. He gave himself a ransom for
many. I also want you to know that
there are many views with regard to redemption in this world.
Most people who say they are Christians believe in redemption,
but they don't certify and verify and tell what they mean by that. There are many who believe that
Christ merely came to give sinners an opportunity. I will tell you
something that may startle you a bit, but I feel safe with you
because I would say 75% of this congregation believes with me
what I'm about to say. Many years ago, somebody started
two lies, and that is that God loves everybody and that Christ
died for everybody. That is not true. Let me let
that sink in. I feel safe telling you that.
You may have questions today about that, but the truth is
Christ didn't die for everybody. He died for somebody. Don't get
this wrong. Christ did not give himself a
ransom for everybody, but he did pay somebody's sin debt. And when I say that, I mean what
the songwriter meant. Jesus paid it all. All the dead I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. I do not believe in a general
atonement that Christ died a substitutionary death for everyone, but he did
die for somebody. I wonder if it was you. You say,
well, how can I know? Well, if you qualify, if you
know you qualify, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Is that you? If you're not a
sinner, then I have no message for you. There is no hope for
you because he only came to redeem sinners, but redeem them he did. And that's the good news. I hear preachers say constantly
that God is waiting on you. Well, if he is and you're dead
in sins and trespasses, he's gonna be waiting a long time.
The truth is that salvation, the gospel, redemption is God's
plan and purpose. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. I wanna show you the greatness
of God's redemption and I'll try to do it hurriedly. Look
at your own sin. Just look at it, square in the
face, and you'll see the greatness of redemption. If you'll own
up, if you will look at your own life, if you will see your
own transgressions, look into the hole from which you were
digged. Look at the former state that you were in, in your sins,
indulge the crimes which you've committed, the continual rebellion
against God and His Son, Jesus Christ. I was thinking while
studying for this message about the infinity of sin, just one
sin. That one sin that you committed,
deserves an eternity in hell. You rebelled against the God
of heaven. But think about the multitudes
of your sin. We're not talking about one sin.
If you are 30, 40, 50, oh my, if you're 75, you've got a bundle,
a Himalayas of sin, a mountain of iniquity. that needed to be
atoned for. The Isaiah verse that Dr. Passalacqua read said, he shall
see of the travail, the sufferings of his soul and shall be satisfied. Is God satisfied with a payment
for your sins? There's only one payment God's
ever been satisfied. There's only one that could pay
your sin debt in full, completely. Think about it. that God has
done away with sin in your case. There is no sin for you. He's made an end of sin. I read
that verse and I say, what does that mean? And then I quickly
say, I don't know, but it's wonderful. You have no sin because God in
Christ made an end of sin. of sin. Think about the sin of
your childhood. As I studied and prepared today,
my mind went back to my young years. And very early on in my
life, I was convicted and convinced. I tossed and turned on my young
bed at night, knowing that I was lost and that I needed a Savior. I've got good news for you today.
If that's your state, if that's your condition, if you've wrestled
all night with your thought of how you've used and prostituted
yourself and sinned against the God of heaven and wallowed in
the stables of sin, and you feel as black as all hell, I got some
good news for you. Can you believe it? Jesus paid
it all, all the debt you owe. How great a ransom that is. How nonchalant we take the story
of Calvary and what Jesus did. Man, this place ought to be up
in arms today with hallelujahs. We should have been standing
and shouting all over this place. Jesus paid it all. There is therefore
now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Free
at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty. In Christ,
there is no judgment for me, no hell for me. Can you believe
it today? Say, well, I'm gonna venture
out. Go ahead, venture out. I'm going to trust Christ. I'm
gonna give it a try. I'm gonna believe on him. There's
no hope anywhere else. Trust him today, believe on him. And those of you who are here,
you know, I'm not ashamed of talking about the sovereignty
of God here. I don't blush. I'm your pastor.
And I don't blush because 75% of you are with me on this, that
God elected you before the foundation of the world, that God... sent
his only begotten son for a purpose on purpose. Hallelujah! To accomplish
that purpose, his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. That's you. That's mean not he
might, not he's going to do his best, not if you have your right
and exercise your free will, not if you make Jesus your choice,
but here's the message. He came into the world to seek
and to save that which was lost and all he seeks he saves. That's
the truth. He paid somebody's sin debt. You know, right now in heaven's
court, There are men that were once murderers, thieves and drunkards,
whoremongers and blasphemers and persecutors who have been
washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. And right now they're clapping,
listening to me louder than you're clapping. They're there and there's no
judgment, no condemnation. Kurt's there. He's watching me
close. Think about the greatness of
your sins and Jesus paid it off. Isn't that something? How about
your secret sins? You got any secret sins? Liar,
liar, pants on fire. You do have secret sins. Things that nobody except you
know about. Oh, of course God knew about
them. because in his son, your sins were put on him and your
sin debt was paid. When he said it's finished, do
you know what? It was. It was finished. It was accomplished. And then
with regard to redemption, think about the measure by the sternness
of divine justice. God is not Santa Claus. God is
holy, holy, holy, and the seraphims and the cherubims stand in his
presence and cover their faces and cry, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. He is of pure eyes than to look
upon sin. He's a holy God and He is a just
God. And He said, every sin, every
sin and transgressions must receive a just recompense of reward. In order for you to go to heaven,
every one of your sins must be punished either in you throughout
eternity or in Christ. He will by no means spare the
guilty, the soul that sinneth it shall die. He will have satisfaction
either from you or from Christ. Praise God for the doctrine of
accomplished redemption. He shall see the sufferings of
his soul. God took out his black snake
whip of justice and beat him. And by his stripes, I've been
healed. My sins have been paid for in
full. Can you sing today? Jesus paid
it all. Will you leave here today in
your heart singing all the debt I owed? Sin had left a crimson
stain. I'm washed white as snow. I'm
heaven-bound. I am heaven bound because Christ
was my substitute. You see, God demands eternal
punishment. You ever thought about the punishment
of Christ? Oh, I know you've seen him on the cross, wounded
and bleeding. You've seen the beatings, him
go from judgment hall to judgment hall. You saw them stretch Him
out on the cross and nail the nails in His hands and spear
in His side. But you must go much deeper than
that to understand this redemption. He died a spiritual death in
your place, in your stead. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace
was upon Him and by His stripes we're healed. That's the greatness
of this redemption. And on the cross, and in those
three hours of darkness, he drank my damnation, the cup of my damnation
dry. He emptied the cup. There wasn't
a drop of justice left. And the Bible says this in the
Psalms, that justice and mercy have smooched. They've kissed
one another. And I know some of you are going
like this. Well, I disagree with your opening statements. God
is love. I know that. Here's the miracle of it. That
God is not Santa Claus in the sense that he looks over your
sin, but God found a way to satisfy his justice. and also exercise
his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in
sins and trespasses. You'll not sneak in the back
door of heaven. God will not look away as an
unjust God, but God has been satisfied with the payment of
his son and thousands upon thousands and thousands of thousands have
been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are saved by
him. He drank my damnation dry. Don't leave out of here a little
child of God thinking about your mess. Think about his great redemption. There's nobody in here that hasn't
made a mess of their life. You should have said amen louder
than that. We're a mess. Ah, the price he paid. Think
about the price he paid. You're not redeemed with corruptible
things. Your little Catholic baptism
or mass, or Baptist baptism, or whatever, whatever you are,
you haven't been redeemed by that. You're not going to heaven
because you're a Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, or Presbyterian. You're going to heaven because
Jesus Christ shed his blood for you on the tree of the cross
and atoned for your sins. What an awful death he died. You read in the book of Isaiah
that his visage was mired beyond any man. Sometimes I try to picture
what that must have been like exactly. It had to be more than
the physical punishment that was laid upon him. And it was
horrible when he was dragged through the streets, when he
fell beneath the cross. when he was beaten in several
courts, and then they laid him on the cross and nailed him to
it. Must have been awful. He was spit upon, his hair was
plucked out, he had a crown of thorns. All of that is awful,
but you got to go deeper than that, because you see, God was
there. Satan was there. You ever try
to imagine what Satan was trying to do? Do you know what Calvary
Satan was trying to kill him? Because if Satan had killed him,
you wouldn't be redeemed. He had to lay down his life and
take it up again. He had to yield his life. And
when he had slain all the demons of hell and Satan himself crushed
his head, he said, it's accomplished. It's finished. It's done. My people's sin debt is paid
in full. You ought to be excited about
that. And not only that, but if you
think about this redemption in this sense, that He infallibly
saved you. There is nothing that can separate
you from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus. No man shall
pluck them out of my Father's hand. My Father which gave them
me is greater than all. I've had people say to me, oh,
you're one of those eternal security people. Absolutely! Because Jesus
paid it all. Well, what if you want to jump
out? What fool wants to jump out of God's hand? First of all,
you're not in the jumping business. He's in the saving business.
You may mess up, but I can tell you this, you are heaven bound.
The apostle Paul said, we know that all things work together
for good to them that love the Lord, to them who are the called
according to his purpose. For whom he did for know, he
also did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, them he
also called. Whom he called, them he also
justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? I am persuaded that neither life,
nor death, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor any other creature shall be able to separate
us from the love of God. Because Jesus paid it all. Now I want to say to you, who
are here and you're wrestling, you're wrestling with your sinnership. You are so condemned. You feel under the mighty wrath
of God that there's no hope for you, that you're bound for hell.
You know your censorship, you know you deserve it. But today,
as I've been speaking, you felt a deep down tickle in your soul. What if that's true of me? What
if he paid my sin debt? What if? I can tell you this,
I positively tell you this, I would not lead you astray. If you know
you're a sinner, you definitely have a savior. If in your heart this is good
news and glad tidings, there's nothing for me to do. My hope
is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I'm going to venture. I don't know much of the Bible,
but preacher, I hear you. That's the best news I ever heard,
that Jesus paid it all, that there's nothing left to my sins. They're all paid for. God is
just and justifier of the ungodly. And when it's time for you to
die, I think about Kurt leaving us over there in the men's dorm.
You know, people tell their pastors things they don't tell anybody
else. Some of you are going to be glad when I'm dead because
I have your secrets. But Kurt and I used to talk about
it, about past sins and present sins and future sins. And this is what I would always
tell him. Like I'm telling you, Jesus paid
it all. There's nothing left. Say, well,
so-and-so is going to be up there and, you know, they're going
to testify against it. No, no, you've got it all wrong. Some preacher told you wrong.
Well, you know, I don't think I'm going to get my crown when
I get up there. No, you're not going to want
a crown. If you got one, you'd want to put it on Jesus' head,
not your own. Worthy is the lamb that was slain. We love to say it. We love to
sing it in here. The worthiness of Christ who
redeemed us. You know what it means to redeem?
I learned this a long time ago. It means to buy back. You see,
there was a time when you and I were in the slave market of
sin. We were on the slave block. And Jesus came into the slave
market one day and said, how much for Kent Clark? Well, it's
gonna cost you your life. Jesus said, I'll give it. I'll
give my life for him. And he laid down the price and
paid my sin debt. But that's not all. He bought
my emancipation papers. I'll never be a slave again,
ever. I have eternal life. That's why those of us who are
converted, death is not such a bad thing to us. Not when we
really look at it from this standpoint. You know, I can remember sitting
in church and this is a bad place to think this. Sitting in church
and basically it's a work message. You know, God saves you and then
it's up to you to kind of keep the snowball rolling. And my
snowball wasn't getting much bigger as far as good works.
I couldn't have made a snowman out of my snowball of life and
good works. And then I would hear things
like, God's going to show all the sins that you've ever committed
since you were converted. God doesn't even know where they
are. Did you hear what I said? God doesn't know anything about
your sin because they're gone. They're out of his sight. They're
removed. They're paid for. It's over.
It's finished. It's done. Don't be thinking
that way. Say, but I know I've done them.
Yes, but do you know Jesus paid it all? That's your problem.
This message that's being preached today that Christ died for everybody
just isn't true. He died for somebody in a particular
peculiar way. He said, I know my sheep. And
they know me because they hear my voice. I would... I would just guarantee that somebody's
heard his voice today. And you're pretty happy on the
inside. And those of you who know him, I know through my voice,
through my poor voice, you heard the voice of God today say, you
don't have any sin. And I know there's some of you
religious people here who can't wait to get out of here to tell
somebody, oh, yes, you do. Don't believe what he said. You'll
be smoking again. You'll be using again. You can't
believe Jesus has paid it all. For years now, people have said,
you know, Clark believes you can just live like you want to.
Absolutely. I wanna be here. I wanna sing
with you. I wanna hear the message of grace.
I wanna hear the story over and over and over again that Jesus
paid it all. It feeds my soul. It keeps me
going. I just can't imagine how some
of you live with stuff hanging over your head. And you know
what? If I'm your pastor, I want to
get whatever's hanging over your head away from your head and
get the gospel down in your heart. And I'd love to see you hop up
and say, Jesus paid it all. Amen. You have joy. This is good news. This is glad tidings. And what a way to start off the
coming year. I know he paid it all. I have
no sin debt. Jesus accomplished what He came
to do. He's my Savior, my Lord, my Redeemer,
my redemption, my atonement, my satisfaction in God's sight. Can you believe on Him today?
You say, well, you know, by grace through faith, I know that. Where'd you get the faith? What
a crazy story this gospel is, right? I mean, if you look at
it, it's kind of crazy to the natural mind. That God came into
the world through the womb of a virgin. A woman that had never known
a man and they was born in a stable and he grew up without sin. And
he lived in human flesh, Emmanuel, God amongst us. Went up on Calvary,
died in our room, place and stead. Do you get it? In your room,
in your place, in your stead. He died as a substitute. You know what a spare tire is?
That's a tire that takes another tire's place. Well, Jesus Christ
took your place. He took the place of sinners. And by the way, you got a flat
tire. You do. Can you trust him today? I'm
encouraging you today. So let go of your baptismal papers.
Let go of all that legalism that you have been taught all your
life and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I guarantee
you when that happens, the burden will be lifted. The sins rolled
away. You know, in the book of Romans,
it says this, that sins were rolled over every year. In the
Old Testament, sins were rolled over. Can you imagine when the
Old Testament saints who are in heaven look down from heaven
and Jesus cried with a loud voice, it's accomplished. Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, and all you folks up there, it's done, it's finished. Your
debt is paid in full. No more simply rolling over.
I have come, I have died in your place. I have paid your debt.
Your debt is paid. Have you ever got an announcement
like that in the mail? Maybe that you owed Sears, or
is Sears still in operation? All right, all right. Whoever's
in operation, your debt has been paid. Wow, that's good news,
is it not? Can you hear it today? And can
you rejoice today? And if you're not a believer
in Jesus Christ, but today's the day, and you've trusted him,
will you come and tell us? We'll rejoice with you.