Well, I want to continue the
theme that we started three or four weeks ago, thinking about
redemption and about the Redeemer. And what redemption is, it's
the payment of a ransom price. It's stories in history that
people are taken captive and that there's a ransom price to
be paid to procure their liberty. And we looked at what redemption
means, to buy, to buy out of, to buy freedom, to buy liberty,
and redemption is the ransom price that buys freedom from
bondage, from the justice of the law. We sang in that hymn,
the law was too just to let me go free, without there being
satisfaction, without it being satisfied. and so we're in bondage
by nature to the law of God the justice of God which cannot let
the sinner go free but redemption buys that freedom and it's a
price which no man can pay Psalm 49 verse 7 don't care how rich
you are no man however rich he is can redeem his brother none
of them can pay the price that's necessary it's too costly far
too costly the currency that we have is corruptible currency
currency that decays. There's only one currency that
can pay the price of redemption and that's the precious blood
of Christ. We're not redeemed with corruptible things but with
the precious blood of Christ. And we saw last week for whom
did Christ's precious blood pay the ransom price? They were those
who were loved of God before time. One of our virtual congregation
members pointed out an error in last week's sermon, and I
readily admitted it, and I'm so thankful to him. I said it
was like when we choose a peach off a stall. Of course, when
we choose a peach off a stall, we go, no, I don't fancy that
one, it doesn't look very good. Ooh, there's a nice one, I'll
have that one. God didn't choose his elect like
that. He chose them unconditionally. For no reason other than his
own sovereign choice. And I'm so glad that I heard
that correction. You know, I was saying on the
spur of the moment, it's you that makes the choice and it
was God that made the choice. But when we make that choice,
we do it because we prefer one according to another. Because
it looks better. It looks like it might be sweeter
and tastier and juicier. He chooses because of sovereign
grace, unconditionally, absolutely. Loved of God before time. Those
he calls Jacob and not Esau, you say, oh, that's not fair.
It's not down to you to judge whether it's fair or not. It's
down to God to say, Jacob, have I loved? And Esau, have I hated
or have I passed by or have I left to his own devices? You know,
he's gone after his idols, leave him to himself. Just leave him
to himself. He's gone after his idols. Chosen
out of all humankind. Elected unconditionally into
Christ as the surety, as the guarantor, as the representative. A people who are called God's
people. These are the ones whom he paid
the ransom price for. God's people as opposed to the
rest who were passed by. They're owned by the good shepherd,
for they're the sheep of his pasture, his own sheep. They're
adopted as his children. You know, you could say, I love
all children. We were on the train yesterday,
and there were a very cute pair of kids who were really kind
of, we were going, oh, look at that. Doesn't that remind you
of when we had little kids like that? And however much I would
have done what I could to keep them from any danger that I might
saw them in, seen them in, They're still not my kids. And God calls
these people his children. They're his heirs. They're heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ. They're known as God's friends.
They're known as Christ's brethren. They're evidenced as those who
believe him. You say, loads of people believe
him. No, they don't. They believe a Jesus of their
own imagination. They believe an idol that they've
set up in the dark forests of their own mind. They've carved
him out of what they want the Bible to say. You don't believe
me? Listen to the service on the radio on a Sunday morning.
Pure idolatry from start to finish. Absolute idolatry. The God that
they worship is not the God of this book in any respect whatsoever.
And I would venture to say that in the vast majority of places
near here where they claim to worship Jesus Christ today, again,
it is a Christ of their own imagination and therefore it is idolatry.
No. It's his church who he died for. His church. Jesus Christ loved
his church. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. He paid
the ransom price for, not everybody, his church. He came into the
world to save his people from their sins. He brought many sons
to glory. And this is particular effectual
redemption. Now why I say that Yes, you keep
hearing me going on about sovereign grace and particular redemption,
but this is the point. Do you want a salvation that
works on the day of judgment? Or do you want one that's left
to chance? You want one that works, don't you? Effectual.
Does the job. Particular redemption is the
only redemption that is effectual. It's what the book of God reveals. But these people, now this is
what I want to get to today, these people for whom Christ
paid the ransom price, you and me We're all sinners, absolute
sinners. And the question is this, we
hear these messages of grace, but how can God, who is holy
and just, be gracious to sinners? When he says that he's angry
with the wicked every day, when he says that the soul that sins,
it shall die, when we know about his justice revealed in the word
of God, he's absolutely unwavering. It never changes. It cannot just
overlook. It's absolute. The soul that
sins, it shall die. It must be punished. There must
be satisfaction to the law of God. And there's an unavoidable
appointment that we all have before the judgment seat of Christ.
And you're either judged according to the works that are written
in the books, or your name is in the Lamb's book of life, in
which case you escape that judgment. There's a judgment coming and
God's people, we who believe that we're the objects of the
redemption that Christ has accomplished are sinners. So what I want to
think about this morning is sin being exposed and sin being removed. Sin being removed. You see, this
is the consequences of redemption. Sin being removed. There's great error surrounding
this in these days. There's a view around, it was
all started off by the thinking of Andrew Fuller and I'm sure
it goes back much further than that, that what Christ did was
dealt with just the effects of sin. He just paid the fine but
you still remain guilty, you're still the one that did the speeding
or the motoring offense. He paid the fine for you but
you still got the offense on your record. The Scriptures say
that He took it away. The Scriptures say that He removed
it. The remission of sins. He removed
it. So, I want to think about sin
exposed and sin removed. Because the object of that is
so that God can remain just. Because if He doesn't remain
just, He isn't God. So that God can remain just and
yet justify the sinners He loved before the foundation of the
world. Do you see Dilemma is the wrong word, but I'll use
it. Do you see the dilemma that God put himself in? Please, I
don't want to be irreverent, but God chose a people whom he
loved, but they were sinners. There's a dilemma. How can he
love and save sinners? He's just. Sinners must be punished. Sinners can't be with Him in
heaven. How's that dilemma to be solved? It's solved in the
gospel of His grace. In the gospel of His grace He
remains just and yet justifies the sinners He loved before the
foundation of the world. So let's think about sin exposed.
Now I want you to turn to what has been the subject of our study
and still is for many weeks and we're in Isaiah 43 and down in
verses 22 to 24. sin exposed. And I'm talking
about sin in the people of God, the elect of God, those he chose
in Christ before the foundation of the world. I'm talking about
their sin. And I'm talking about the Scriptures
exposing that sin for what it really is. Look at these verses
22 to 24. Just read them with me. But thou...
He's talking to Jacob. But thou hast not called upon
me, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel, Thou hast
not brought me the small cattle of Thy burnt offerings, neither
hast Thou honoured me with Thy sacrifices. I have not caused
Thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied Thee with incense.
Thou hast brought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast
Thou filled me with the fat of Thy sacrifices, but Thou hast
made me to serve with Thy sins. Thou hast wearied me with Thine
iniquities. These are not good people, are
they? This isn't an accolade for good people. These are not
good people. These are not righteous people.
These are not, you know, who is God good to? Oh, the nice
people, the morally upright people. No, these people are not like
that. They're not good. They're not righteous. They're
not morally upright. And do you know? there's not
a word of grace in scripture for any self-righteous Pharisee
that's the fact not a word of grace in scripture for those
who are self-righteous because Jesus said to the people he said
that he came not to call the righteous those who think they're
righteous but sinners to repentance that's what he came for in Romans
10 chapter 3 Paul talks about the Jews but there are so many
religious folks like this today he says they being ignorant of
God's righteousness And going about to establish their own
righteousness by their works, their law works, their works
according to the traditions of men, they have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. You see, they think they're
self-righteous in their own views. It's not those who think that
they're righteous to whom God is gracious, but those who know
that they're sinners. Not those who think they're righteous,
but those who know they're sinners. And you know that you're a sinner
because God shows you that you're a sinner. Gospel promises are
made to sinners. These people are not good, but
there's such a tremendous gospel promise coming to them in the
very next verse. Gospel promises are made to sinners. Gospel promises are made to those
who are laboring and heavy laden. Come unto me, said Jesus. Who?
All you who labor and are heavy laden. What are you laboring
and heavy laden with? A burden of the law, of its demands,
of your sin, of your inability to keep it. That's what you're
laboring with. I can't do it. I tried as we
sang in the hymn. I went to the Lord seeking some
mercy and I found none because it couldn't save me from my sins. All it could do was confirm my
condemnation. Laboring, heavy laden, Jesus
says come unto me and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you. My burden is light. In this very
book of Isaiah, right in the first chapter, in verses 4 to
6, we read about this is God speaking to a people and why
does he speak to them? Because he's a God of grace.
And he speaks to them and he calls them a sinful nation. You're
a sinful nation. To whom he's going to speak words
of grace? Sinful nation. He talks about iniquity. He talks
about evildoers. He gives a medical diagnosis
of their sinfulness. What's wrong with them? From
the sole of the foot to the head, there is no soundness in them.
They're just open wounds that will not heal. Wounds of sin
that you cannot heal with your own sticking plasters of the
works of the law. In verse 18 of chapter 1 of Isaiah,
he says, though your sins be of scarlet, Yet shall they be
white, white as the snow, white as wool. They'll be taken away. You know, you wear something
that's white and you spill some red wine on it or some fruit
juice or something like that, it's awfully difficult to get
it out. It's kind of, oh dear, what can I do? It's such a staining
thing, isn't it? He says that stain will be taken
away, will be removed. In Isaiah 55 and verse 7, God
says this, this is the chapter, Ho everyone that thirsts and
verse 7, let the wicked forsake his way. Do you know who the
wicked are? Oh, they're people that do bad things. No, according
to the scriptures, the wicked are those who reject the gospel
of God's sovereign grace. That's what it is to be wicked.
to reject the gospel of God's sovereign grace to refuse to
bow the knee to the gospel of God's sovereign grace he said
let the wicked forsake his way let the wicked forsake that brand
of idolatry let him return to the Lord and the Lord will have
mercy on him and abundantly pardon. You see, there's abundant pardon.
But these people were a prayerless people. You haven't called upon
me, O Jacob. They didn't pray to him. They
despised his worship. You've been weary of me. You
haven't brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings.
You haven't honoured me with your sacrifices. They've been
weary of the worship of God. They've despised it. Weary of
his word. Weary of gathering together with
their brethren for worship. Weary of hearing the gospel of
his grace. A thankless people. You haven't
brought me any sweet cane with money. You haven't filled me
with the fat of thy sacrifices. They're not prepared to give
anything that's theirs because they want to keep it all for
themselves. A thankless people. no offerings of thanks or of
gospel symbolism because these sacrifices this is all speaking
gospel symbolism you know this is it we only worship God truly
when we come acknowledging and bowing before the gospel of our
God and the sovereignty of his grace no they hadn't brought
any of this yet still to sinners such as these he is gracious
for he says verse 25 I even I am he that blotteth out all these
transgressions that must be punished according to the law I even I
am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not
remember thy sin still gracious to these people, these sinful
people. A sinner, somebody wrote, I can't
remember who wrote the hymn, a sinner is a holy thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. What did they say in the Acts
of the Apostles about the Gentiles? What was the true mark? Not they've
been persuaded to repent. No, God has granted to the Gentiles
repentance. and in granting repentance he
must have made them conscious of their sinfulness of the guilt
of their sin of the day of judgment that was coming of the day that
they must face when they must stand before the judgment seat
of Christ and receive the deeds done in the body and he granted
them repentance oh, that I might be free of it that he granted
them that you remember David, you remember the account of David
a man greatly loved The man, it says, after God's own heart. God has found himself a man after
his own heart. And yet that man, the sweet Psalmist
of Israel, the one who wrote such sweet words, the Lord is
my shepherd, and all those beautiful themes of the Psalms that David
wrote, yet he sinned terribly, appallingly. You know what he
did? You know what he did? David didn't go out to war when
it was time for kings to go out to war and lead his people. Obviously,
you've got to translate that into what we might say today.
The idea of a king going out to war is not regarded as a very
virtuous thing in modern society, but you have to translate the
concept. He was lazy. He stayed at home. And on a warm
night, he espied a beautiful woman, Bathsheba, who was another
man's wife. And he took her and had him as
his wife when she wasn't his wife. And then to cover up the
crime, he had her husband, Uriah the Hittite, put in the front
line of the fiercest battle, so that he died in the front
line of the fiercest battle. And he thought he'd got away
with it. And he thought, phew, got away with it. There he is.
the man after God's own heart. And Nathan the prophet came to
him and told him a story about a man who had great riches and
how he took a tiny little lamb that was beloved off another
man. And David was incensed. Who is that man? He's surely
going to suffer for this. Who is that man? And Nathan says
to him, you are the man for you've done this. You are the man that's
done this. And so we read in Psalm 51, his
plea for mercy. Turn to it, Psalm 51. Just turn
there. Psalm 51, where David pours out
his heart in penitence before God. having heard what Nathan
said, having known his guilt. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies." Look what he's pleading. Blot out my transgressions. Remove all record and consequences
of it. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. Remove
all the stains, get it clean. I acknowledge my transgressions.
It's ever before me against thee and thee only have I sinned.
And so he goes on. Purge me, scrub me clean with
hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me, verse eight, to hear
joy and gladness that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins and blot out mine iniquities. Create
in me a clean heart. This is the prayer of a penitent
man. who's one of God's people, but
yet he's a sinner, and he's had the fact of his sin and the transgression
shown to him. Restore, he says in verse 12,
restore unto me the joy or the blessedness of thy salvation,
and uphold me with thy free spirit. And in Psalm 32, I'm not sure
about the chronology of these, but this is what he wrote, David,
blessed is he, blessed of God, eternally blessed, blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, doesn't hold him
guilty of it, doesn't hold him bearing it, responsible for it,
and in whose spirit there is no guile. Blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, to whom the Lord will not impute
sin. Paul quotes it in Romans chapter 4, those very verses.
Blessedness of the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
this sin is exposed where all have sinned all of his people
have sinned I believe in the context where we read all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God it's specifically
talking about the elect of God all of them have sinned and fall
short of the glory yes mankind in general but specifically all
his elect have sinned and fall short of the glory of God but
their righteousness is not in their works it's in the doing
and dying of their substitute And so having seen that sin must
be exposed, let's look at sins forgiven. The forgiveness of
sin. This is the great theme of the
scriptures. You say, oh, you're teaching
us elementary stuff. Is this not elementary grade
Christianity? Yes it is, but it's so important,
so utterly foundational. The forgiveness of sin. Your
sins must be forgiven if you are to have a place in heaven.
if you are to stand confidently before the judgment seat of Christ.
Mercy's great deed is the forgiveness of sin. The mercy of God, what's
it for? The forgiveness of sin. the glory
of grace is the forgiveness of sin you know what Moses when
he asked God to show him his glory and he said I'll show you
my glory same as Elijah you know is it the earthquake the wind
the fire no it was the still small voice and when God showed
Moses his glory he said I will cause my grace to pass before
you I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and have compassion
on whom I will have compassion And the glory of that grace of
God, which is the glory of God, is the forgiveness of sin. It's
the character of God. You know, God is holy. God is
omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent. All of these things, we could
list them. The characteristics of God that
are revealed in His Word for us to know who is the God with
whom we have to do And yet amongst his characteristics, praise his
name, is that he's merciful. Exodus 34 verses 6 and 7. This is how the Lord announces
himself. The Lord merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness
and truth showing mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression
and sin characteristics of God who is just and holy forgiving
iniquity transgression and sin but then he goes on to say by
no means clearing the guilty for his justice cannot clear
the guilty he's always just look at Psalm 85 came across this last night just
in our daily reading. Just didn't go searching for
it, but there it was. It was a few Psalms that we were
reading. And Psalm 85, verse one, Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land, and thou hast brought back the captivity of
Jacob. Verse two, thou hast forgiven
the iniquity of thy people, and thou hast covered all their sin. Praise his name. Did you read
that? Has that spoken to your heart?
Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou has covered
all their sin. This is an amazing thing. That
the Holy God against whom we have sinned, we are sin. We're all together sin. is the
one who forgives sin. He says, I, even I, am he that
blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not
remember thy sins. He's blotted them out. He blotted
them out when Christ took them. For He made Him, who knew no
sin, to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Christ, when He went to that
cross, He swept, as it were, drops of blood. He was in such
anguish of soul. He cried, O Lord, if it be possible
that this cup pass from me, but nevertheless not my will but
Thine be done. And what was the cup? He was
to be loaded with all the sin of His people. past, present,
future. All the sins of his people, he
was to be loaded with those sins, and he was to pay the law's price
for those sins. The law's price, the soul that
sins, it must die, and he died. He shed his precious blood. He
poured out his life blood, for in the blood is the life. He
poured out his life, the Son of God, the holy, perfect, infinite
Son of God, bore that sin, and in his infinite, perfect body,
He bore that sin. He bore its guilt. He was judged
by the law as guilty of that sin, though he had never committed
any of it. But in that moment, he was made sin, and he bore
that sin and poured out his blood as the price for that sin, that
it might be forgiven. He did that once on the cross,
but you know, there's a daily cleansing. If we say we have
no sin, says John in his epistle, chapter one, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to daily forgive us our sins and cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. He blots out the sins of his
people. For sin to be blotted out, four
things are necessary. Four things. First of all, God's
law must be honored and obeyed perfectly in every respect. Secondly, the justice of God
must be satisfied. You know, there must be a penalty
paid. It cannot be left that a penalty is not paid for a sin.
and then the sin be forgiven God cannot overlook sin like
we do he cannot say oh it doesn't matter it matters intensely immensely
to God justice must be satisfied the sinner must be punished the
soul that sins it shall die and the sin for one to be forgiven
the sin must be removed how are those four conditions going to
be met I can never meet the requirements of the law you know perfectly
I must. By the works of the law, no flesh
shall be justified. I can't meet number one. I cannot
satisfy justice, for though I go to a lost eternity for the condemnation
of my sins, it will never completely satisfy justice. The sinner,
I as the sinner, must be punished. And how am I going to remove
this sin? it's a stain, it's a blot, it's a scar, it's a mark,
it's an open wound from head to foot I can't do it there's
only one way there's only one way for these four conditions
to be met and that's in the obedience and the sacrifice of Christ the
sinner's substitute in the place of his people turn over and let
me remind you of Romans chapter three Romans chapter three and
some well-known verses can bear some repetition Romans 3 verse 23 the verse I
mentioned just before for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God all of his people chosen in Christ have sinned
and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by
his grace How? Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, through the purchase price that he has paid,
whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood. The turning away of anger because
the blood has paid the price. to declare His righteousness
for the remission, for the taking away, the remission of sins that
are past. That doesn't mean that it's only
dealt with your past sins and not your future sins, it means
sins under the first testament, sins under the first covenant,
sins under the covenant of works, for the remission of sins under
that covenant, through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at
this time His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Isaiah 45, we'll see
in a chapter or two when we get to it in our study. Isaiah 45
verse 21, 22. A just God and yet a savior. A just God who by no means will
clear the guilty, yet a savior of sinners. He's just and justifier. So sins can be forgiven because
in Christ sins are removed from His people. The sins of His people
are removed by Christ and what He did. And it's the sins of
His people that He bore to the cross. He didn't bear the sins
of everybody that ever lived. If he did, the justice of God
would be satisfied for everybody that ever lived. But it isn't.
It patently isn't. It obviously isn't. It would
be quite unjust, you would say, as you look around and you see
the evil that has been done and the evil that has not been repented
of. And yet to say that those sins were paid for is an absolute
affront to the justice of God. No, it's the sins of his people
that he removed. He blots out his people's sins,
we read in Isaiah 43. I, even I, am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions. Who's he speaking to? Israel,
Jacob. Well, who are they? Jews? No,
the Israel of God, the people of God, the people of his choice. He blots out his sinful people's
sins. Why does he do it? For mine own
sake, he says. He does it for the honor and
glory of his name, that he is a God of grace for his own sake. And look, he remembers thy sins
no more. Does that mean that God forgets
in the sense that he's got no recollection that you ever sinned?
No, of course it cannot mean that. But as far as his justice
and his law is concerned, he remembers your sins no more.
So when the books are opened, there's nothing there. there's
nothing against the names of his people he remembers their
sins no more as far as his justice is concerned just in case you
didn't think one quotation of that verse was enough look in
the next chapter 44 and at verse 22 I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins return unto
me for I have redeemed thee he's blotted out as a thick cloud
thy transgressions. I think you know the first impression
it would seem that it's like when a cloud is really thick
and you can't see through it so you can't but they're still
there. I think it's more likely to mean that you know today we're
suffering one of those summers that tend to be a bit cloudy
and wet and windy and not the sort that lifts your spirit by
the weather of things you know in the flesh we like to look
at nice sunny days rather than the sort of cloudy days but have
you ever woken up on a day well yesterday for example when it
was such terrible weather we were down near the open gulf
in Kent yesterday afternoon and it was pouring with rain it was
absolutely hammering down between about one o'clock and three o'clock
and then I don't know if you saw it but did you see how it
cleared? how that thick thick threatening cloud just disappeared
And the cloud that was there bringing all the rain was blotted
out. It just evaporated. It no longer
was visible. There was just blue sky and sunshine
everywhere. And I think that's what it's
talking about. The sins are blotted out like the cloud disappearing
in the heat of the sunshine. He blots out his sinful people's
sins for his own sake. Not just the effects of the sin,
not just the consequences and the punishment for the sin, but
the sin itself. It's obliterated. This is what
the Scriptures say, Isaiah 29 verse 14, the marvelous work
of God. This is his marvelous work. It's
a marvelous work that he'll make the wisdom of the wise perish,
but in this, that he forgives sins. Acts chapter 3 verse 19. Peter's preaching, he says, repent
that your sins may be blotted out. Just like a debt being obliterated
from the creditor's records. Your sins may be blotted out.
Just like that thick cloud evaporated by the sun. Think of another
picture in the scriptures. The scapegoat. Leviticus 16 and
verse 22. You can look it up in your own
time. But Leviticus 16 talks about the scapegoat. And the
priest was to put his hand, you know, there were two goats. One
was to be killed as a sacrifice and the other one was the scapegoat.
And he was to lay his hand on the head of the goat and then
to drive it out into the wilderness by the hand of a fit man. it
says, drive it out, clean away, and it will carry away the sins
of the people. Symbolically I know, but symbolical
of what? That which was actually accomplished
when Christ our Lamb bore our sins away. And where does he
take them? The scriptures tell us, Psalm
103 verse 12, as far as the east is from the west. You know, Interesting
picture. This is before people knew about
the Earth being round and going round the Sun. But it doesn't
say as far as the North is from the South. If it had just been
randomly written by people that had no knowledge of eternal things,
they could have just as easily written as far as the North is
from the South. But do you know something? When you go North,
you get to a point where you can't go any further North. You
start then going South. And when you get South, you get
to a point where you can't go any further South. You start
going North again. But if you go East, and keep
going East, do you ever get there? You're always going east, aren't
you? And if you go west, do you ever get to the west? No, just
constantly, because wherever you live, you live in the west
of the United States, and there's still somewhere else that's more
west, which happens to be the east coming the other way. You
see, as far as the east is from the west, as he removed the sins
of his people from them. Zechariah 3 verse 9, the iniquity
was removed in one day, it says, speaking of Christ. 1 John 3,
verse 5, He, our Lord Jesus Christ, was manifested, was made known
to take away sin. We're freed from sin because
He's taken it away. Romans 6, verse 7, He that is
dead, are you dead? Yes, with Christ, if you're believing
in Him under the justice and law of God, you are dead with
Christ. You were crucified with Christ, nevertheless you live.
But not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me. and gave himself for me that's Galatians 2 22 something
like that there or thereabouts if you're dead with Christ you're
freed from sin is what Romans 6 verse 7 says Numbers 23 verse
21 words pronounced by a false prophet Balaam was hired to go
and pronounce evil and woes against Israel and this is what he said
under the hand and the inspiration of God, that God looked for iniquity
in Jacob. He looked for their sins and
he says, he has not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen
perverseness in Israel. Although he says all these things
as as they are in the flesh, yet according to his law, he
has not beheld iniquity in Jacob because he's removed it away.
Nathan said to David in 2 Samuel 12 verse 13, you shall not die. He said it straight away. You
are the man, but you shall not die because he has put away your
sin. Christ has put away your sin.
Hebrews 9 verse 14, the blood of Christ shall purge us, scrub
clean your conscience from dead works. Hebrews 10 verse 4, it
isn't possible for the blood of animals, bulls and goats,
but it is, in the context of the passage, it is possible for
the blood of Christ to take away sins. The idea being take them
away as if they never existed. The remission of sins is what
we're talking about. It's not just taking the punishment
in the place of somebody else, but the guilt remaining. It's
the remission of the sin. Hebrews 9.26, He has put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just read, I know we're running
short of time, but Hebrews chapter 10. Turn over there with me now. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
11. Hebrews 10, verse 11. Every priest
stands daily ministering and offering, oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, Christ,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God from henceforth, expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Whereof, the Holy Ghost also
is a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in
their minds will I write them. Look at this, verse 17. And their
sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Now, where remission,
where the removal, where the taking away of these is, there
is no more offering for sin. There's no need for one, for
it's been done. It's completed. The Scriptures are clear. Acts
10, 43. Whosoever believeth in him shall
receive the remission of sins. Matthew 26, verse 28. This, said
Jesus, is the blood of the New Testament, which is shed for
many. Why? For the remission of sins. the blessed consequences of it.
We've already read Psalm 32, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute iniquity, whose transgression is covered.
Why? Romans 8, 33, there's a day of
judgment coming. Who shall lay anything on that
day to the charge of God's elect? Because if they try to, God will
look He will look and he will say this, he hath not beheld
iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. God has already justified his
people in Christ. He's already blotted out their
sin so that it's remembered no more in the justice of God. And
so, if it was in our hymn book, we'd sing it now, but I couldn't
find it. My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought, my
sin not in part but the whole, is nailed to his cross, it's
taken away, it's removed. He has not beheld iniquity in
Jacob. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Amen.