So, poor Jack read to you Isaiah
chapter 40, talking about the comfort of God's people. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, he said. Isaiah 41 and 2. So, that's what we want to talk
about. The blessed comfort of Christ's
satisfaction. As Roland talked about on behalf
of his people. There is a great comfort in knowing
that we're accepted in the beloved. By the grace of God, we look
to Christ, who He is and what He did on our behalf in His perfect
obedience of life and of His giving Himself under the wrath
of God, under the penalty of sin, in His obedience of death.
Even the death of the cross. What we want to talk about is
the comfort of Christ's satisfaction. Isaiah 41 and 2 says, Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth your God. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto her. How do you speak comfortably
to Jerusalem? Through that word. You tell her
that our warfare is accomplished. It's accomplished. See, that's
what Roland wants to talk about. Christ has put away the sin of
His people. He's honored the law in His life,
and He suffered the wrath of the law in His death. God is
satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ, the substitute of His
people. Our warfare is accomplished. We don't serve God to get God
to have mercy on us, do we? But those who know Christ, they
serve Him out of love and faith, faith. We serve Him by faith. We look to Christ by faith. We
know Him by faith. We rest in Him. We trust Him. We're accepted in Him. He's our
all. He's our wisdom. He's our righteousness.
He's our sanctification. He's our redemption. He's our
all before God. We're accepted in Him. And it's
who He is and what He did on our behalf. We look to Him, to
Him. He's the end of the law for righteousness. He's our righteousness, right?
We stand in Him complete. We're complete in Christ. Apart
from Christ, God is a consuming fire. But in Christ, in Christ,
we are complete. Nothing can be added nor nothing
taken from you. We're complete in Christ. Holy
and fully accepted by God in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we
understand from the Word of God the necessary and the blessedness
of Christ is satisfaction only. He satisfied divine justice,
the wrath of God against us by his death on the cross. That
is what he did. Psalms 119.89 says, O Lord, thy
word is settled in heaven. The Word of God is settled. Right? It's settled in heaven in the
purpose of God. And it's settled on earth by
God sending His Son into the world, ain't it? It's settled
in that point, yes. Christ has died. He's ascended
back. It's settled in heaven that He's
ascended back, ain't it? He's coming again. But the Word
of God is settled. What God has proclaimed, what
God has purposed, He shall bring to pass in time. Nothing can
thwart that. Nothing can change God. The Word
of God is settled, and it's settled in His Son. It's settled. That's
it. That's the way it is. It's settled. And Psalm 119, verse 105 says,
Thy Word is a lamp unto me, and a light unto my pathway. It's
a lamp unto my feet. How do we know where we stand?
How do we know Christ? How do we know we're in Christ?
Through the Word of God that reveals us who we are in the
light of God and reveals Christ as our substitutes. The Word
of God is a lamp unto our feet. It is not what we do, as Roland
said, or what we are in this flesh that commend us to God,
but the Word of God is a lamp unto my feet. I stand accepted
before God if I am in Christ. I am accepted. The Word of God
tells me that. It tells me who I am and who
Christ is. and brings me to the faith in
Christ. God brought me through His Word
to see Christ and to believe on Him. It's a lamp to me. I look to Christ by the grace
of God. The Word of God is pure, pure. The Word of God is perfect. It's pure. It's holy, holy, holy. We can't describe it. It's so
holy and right and true. Nothing can thwart it. Nothing
can change it. The Word of God is true. In Psalms
119, He said, Thy word is true from the beginning. And every
one of thy righteous judgments endeareth forever. Every one
of thy righteous judgments. Every judgment that God ever
made in His purpose He'll bring to pass in time and endeareth
forever. There's no new things with God.
He knows all things, Donnie. All things are from God. He created
all things. He sustains all things. All things
are of the Lord in that regard, eh? In Luke 11, 28, He said, Ye rather
blessed are they that hear the word of God. If a man hears the
word of God, he is the most blessed people in the world, the most
blessed person. Why? Because God has given him
a heart. to hear and believe the Word
of God. He hears it in his heart. It's
applied to his heart. And he sees Christ and he rests
right there. Those who hear the Word
of God in their heart are the most blessed people in the world.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of
God. How does God reveal Christ to
His people? Through a revelation of Christ
in His Word. His Word shows us who we are
in the light of Him and who God is in Christ on our behalf. That's
how faith comes, through God's Word as He reveals it to a heart
that He gives. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 13 says,
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because
when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you
received it not as the word of men. Paul said, When you received
the word of God that God spoke through me, that God gave you,
you didn't receive it as my word. It wasn't nothing I could do
to that word to make that word take a position in your heart,
give you a heart and make that word take position. But you received
it as the truth, that God sent it. Thy word is truth, you see. The God sent word is truth. God
sends it to his ministers, right? But he's the one that does it.
The minister don't take credit for it. The word of God works
effectually in the hearts of his people. See, the word of
God, which effectually works also in you that believe. The
Word of God works in you that believe. You didn't believe without
it. You see that? And if you believed,
the Word of God worked in you to cause you to believe and to
cause you to hear more and to believe more. You see that? The
Word of God. The Word of God is quick. The
Word of God is alive in that regard. That's what he's talking
about. It's quick. The Word of God is quick and powerful. When the Word of God, God takes
His Word and gives you a heart and places that Word in your
heart, that Word takes effect. It's alive in that regard. God
put it there. You see that? You're not saved
because you believe. You understand what I'm saying?
You believe because you're saved. There's a difference, sir. If
you're saved because you believe, Then you had something to do
with it. But if you believe because you're saved, because God worked
grace in your heart, God brought you to faith in Christ, then
you don't lay claim on that faith and say, that was mine and I
produced that. No, God produced that in you.
And you have faith because He gave it to you. And He gave you
the Word and He caused you to believe it by faith. By faith. That's how the Word of God is
quick. It's God's Word, and it's by God's power that it takes
abode, and it comes into action. You see that? How does it do that? 1 Peter
1.23 says, Being born again. If you're born again of the Word
of God, of incorruptible seed by the Word of God, how's a man
born again? He's born again by the Word of
God. God speaks through His Word. God don't do anything towards
His people in bringing them to a knowledge of Christ in their
heart, but through His Word. I had this dream, and I dreamed
this, and I dreamed that, and this dream means a lot. No. Right
here is what it means to you. Right here is where the saving
knowledge of God is to the hearts of His people, in and through
the Word, revealing His Son to a God-given heart. Behold, my servant, whom I have
called my beloved, in whom I am well pleased." He's well pleased
with his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he brings you to
a knowledge of that. He's displeased with you, but
Christ took your sins and the wrath of God against you and
suffered the penalty of God against you if you are in faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He gave it to you. He that believeth
on the Son hath, they don't say shall have, He that believeth
already hath everlasting life. There is no condemnation of them
which are in Christ. Christ suffered the condemnation
of God against sin. If God made you a new creature
in Christ, brought you to faith in Christ, caused you to have
faith and love Christ, it is God that did it. Do you see that? It pleased God to call me by
His grace. See that? He didn't please God
because I came to Him. He pleased God to come to me
and to call me and reveal Christ to me. If you believe on the
name of the Son of God as your substitute before God, it's because
if you believe it in your heart, it's because He's revealed it
to you. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, For the foolishness unto him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually understood," or spiritually discerned.
The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto them which believe it is the power of God unto salvation.
How is the wrath of God satisfied after the cross? Completely satisfied. If you believe that in your heart,
it is by the grace of God. It is because He has given it
to you. He's given you a heart. He's placed it in your heart.
He's given you a knowledge of Christ. He calls you to rest
there and to bow to Christ and to rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It was necessary for Christ to
suffer, wasn't it? He must suffer. He must go to
the cross. He must die under the wrath and
penalty of God against sin. If he hadn't have died, If the
substitute, the one God had foreordained before the foundation of the
world, who stood as a lamb slain, if he hadn't of come and died,
he can't help but come and die. You see what I'm saying? He must
die. It was necessary for him to die.
If Christ didn't die under the wrath of God against sin, then
nobody would be saved by the grace of God. Nobody. So it was
necessary for Christ to die on the cross, under the wrath of
God. What for? to save His people,
whoever they are. My sheep, whoever they are. That's
what He says, ain't it? My sheep, they hear My voice.
Why do they hear it? Because He reveals it to them.
You see that? And they follow Me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of My hand. And My Father which gave
them Me, Christ said, is greater than all, and no man is able
to pluck them out of My Father's hand. So it was necessary for
the Lord Jesus Christ to come as a representative and substitute
of His people to suffer their just penalty against God and
to satisfy God's wrath against them. He saved us because He would,
didn't He? There wasn't anything in me to
cause Him to have to save me. You understand what I'm saying?
He didn't have to save me. I didn't deserve to be saved. He saved me because it pleased
Him. You see what I'm saying? Because
it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son. It pleased Him. It's
not because I pleased God. It's because God is pleased with
what He does. You see that? It is God that
worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
It's not what I do for God, it's what God does with me. You see
that? He couldn't save anybody in any
other way. This is the way. Christ said,
I am that way. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man can come to the Father.
No man can approach God in satisfaction apart from Christ. No man can
be accepted of God apart from Christ. If we ever come to know ourselves
in the light of God, and to know God, it'll be through Christ.
You see that? His substitute, whom he sent, whom he was satisfied
with, whom, who put sin away once and for all by the sacrifice
of himself. There's no penalty. There's no
wrath. Christ is done, died. He's done put it away. He ascended
back to the Father. He sat down in that regard. He's
not going to come back here and die again. It's paid. Sin's debt
has been paid. God is satisfied. Justice demanded it. It must
be. It had to be. Hebrews 9.23 says, Almost all
things are by the law occurred with blood, without the shedding
of blood is no remission. See that? All those blood of
those goats and animals was shed, pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. That blood from them animals
didn't save Him, people. It pointed to the One who was
coming. The Old Testament says, He's coming. He's coming. See
that? And in the New Testament, part
of it says, He's here. He's here. And Paul said, He's
already come. He's seated in heaven. See that?
He's coming. He did come. He was here. And
He's gone back. That's it. Why? It was therefore necessary
that the pattern of things in heaven all these things in heaven,
these old sacrifices and types and chattas and so on and so
forth, it was necessary for these things that they should be purified,
you see, with these. But the heavenly things themselves
with better sacrifices than these. You see that? They offered them
things, if they offered them rightly, they had to be offered
looking to the substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one sacrifice. But the heavenly things, They have better sacrifices than
these. Christ is that sacrifice. See
that? He's that heavenly sacrifice. Christ has entered into heaven
itself there to appear in the presence of God for us. See that? He's entered in. He's appearing before God for
His people. They're accepted in Him. He's
already entered in. And just as sure as he's entered
in, all that's in him shall be with him where he is. Christ has not entered into the
holy place made with hands, has he? He's not entered into that
old tabernacle, that old holiest of all, with the blood of the
bulls and goats and all these things. But he has entered into
heaven itself now, now to appear in the presence of God for you. See that? You're accepted. If
you're accepted, it's in Christ. If you have communion with God,
it's through Christ. If you have peace with God, it's
in Christ. If you're ever going to be in
heaven, it's through Christ. Matthew 26, 53 through 56. So
thankest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He will
shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled? It was necessary for Christ to
suffer. That's all I'm saying. The Scriptures must be fulfilled,
that thus it must be. See that? In that same way Jesus
said to the multitudes, are you come out as against a thief with
swords and staves to take me? I sat daily with you in the temple,
teaching, and you didn't lay a hand on me. But all that was
done, that the Scriptures of the prophets, what the prophets
prophesied of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook
him and fled. Luke 9.22. It was necessary for
him to suffer. He must suffer. Saying the Son
of Man must suffer. He must. He must be under the
wrath of God. He must suffer. Not because of
anything that he did. But he is the Son of God. He
is God incarnate in human flesh. But he must suffer many things.
And be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes.
And be slain and be raised the third day. Why? To represent
and to die for His people and to put away their sins. Acts
9, 16 says, I will show him how great things. He must suffer
for my name's sake. All those that God has purposed
in Christ to have, He'll suffer for, He suffered for every one
of those, whoever they are. He put away their sins. The wrath
of God is satisfied. There is no more wrath against
them. Isaiah 53, 11 says, He shall see of the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. See that? He shall see the result
of his death. What did he do? He satisfied
the wrath of God against his people. Shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. What is it to be justified? To
be counted before God as though you had never committed one sin.
And in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are in Christ, by grace,
through faith, they are justified in the Son of God. They are counted
before God as though they had never committed one sin. Why?
Because sin has been put away. There is no more condemnation.
There is no sin. There is no condemnation. to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness." Why? Him that worketh not. That's
what Rowland was talking about. If you worked for your justification,
you don't have any. Do not justify before God. You're
condemned. But if you don't work by the
grace of God and believe on Him that justifieth the ungodly,
If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you know that God's
wrath is fully satisfied and you're counted before God righteous,
holy, holier than I can describe to you, holy, His faith is counted
for righteousness. Why? Because God, God worked
grace in your heart. God put faith in your heart.
God brought you to a knowledge of Christ. God called you to
bow to Christ and to rest completely and only in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 3.18 says, Christ also
hath suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. See that? We're
unjust. By nature, we deserve the wrath
of God. But Christ suffered that. But
He suffered the just in our room, in our stead. that He might bring
us to God. How? Being put to death in the
flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. See that? He brought us to God
by His death. There's no more wrath. There's
no more condemnation to them which are in Christ. Hebrews 2, 9-10 says we see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering
of death. See that? That's why He was made
lower than the angels. for a substitute, to suffer death,
the death of his people, whoever they are, crowned with glory
and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste death
for every man. And in one place it says, for
every son, every son, whoever they are, every man or woman,
that's a son, he suffered for them. It became Him, for whom
are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many
sons unto glory. See that? In bringing everybody
in this world unto glory. No, He didn't say that. Whoever
those sons are, it became Him to bring them unto glory. To make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering. Who's the captain of our salvation?
Who bore the wrath of God against me? Who put away my sin? The Lord Jesus Christ. So it
was the design, the purpose, and the pleasure of the Almighty
God, right? To bring His sons to glory. We're not in glory yet. Our Lord
is. He's in glory. And where He is
by the grace of God, we are, right? We shall be. No doubt
about it. But God purposed, and it was
God's pleasure to bring many sons to glory, eternal glory,
to bring them to happiness in the Lord Jesus Christ and by
Christ. It was necessary. It must be. You see that? It must be. It
had to be. It was. It was necessary for
Christ to suffer. He did suffer. It was necessary
for the Son of God to suffer. He had to suffer all that God's
law required him to, right? All that justice required. All
that justice demands. He suffered it. He suffered the
full penalty of judgment against sin for whoever he died. Sure did. He didn't make salvation
possible. There's no such thing as making
salvation possible. He secured the salvation of God's
elect, whoever they are. He suffered the punishment of
God against them. He put away their sin once and
for all by the sacrifice of himself. He died the soul that sinned
it shall surely die. I'm a sinner by nature. But I
died in my substitute. See that? He died in my place.
He took my place. The wrath of God has been satisfied
in my substitute. God purposed it. He brought it
to pass. It is said in Isaiah 46, verse
11. This is the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Calling a
ravenous bird from the east. He called his son from heaven
down to this old earth, didn't he? the man that executed my
counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. Well, that means if God purposed
it, it's done. No, it ain't done yet. But it's
as good as done. If God purposed it, it's done.
See what I'm saying? It's done. Because it's sure
to be done. Christ has already come, he's
ascended back, and he's set down. And all that God has purposed
to have, whether they've come to a saving knowledge of it now
or not, but in God's time, they will. They'll come to faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. By God's grace, they'll look
to Christ, they'll rest in Christ, they'll trust Christ, and he'll
be their all before God. That's right. God will see to
it. God's not going to lose one.
None of them is lost. It was necessary for Christ to
suffer under the law of God, wasn't it? It was necessary for
Him to be punished for the sins of all those whom God had purposed
for Him to die for. It was necessary. He had to.
There's no other way. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. All of His sheep, He said, I'll
bring them. He said, I have other sheep at that time which was
not of that present foe. They hadn't been called yet.
And He said, them I must bring also. I must bring. Whoever them
sheep are, every one of them, He will bring by His grace to
rest in Christ and to look to Christ, to know Christ, and to
rejoice in Christ. It pleased God to bruise him
on behalf of his people. He made Christ his soul an offering
for their sins. He's seen his seat. He shall
be satisfied. He's satisfied with Christ's
death on behalf of his people. The pleasure of the Lord, the
purpose of God shall prosper in their hands. They'll be brought
to faith in Christ. Sure will. They'll believe on
Christ by the grace of God. Not because of them, but because
of Him. That He might make known the
riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He hath afore
prepared unto glory. The vessels of mercy. Who are
the vessels of mercy? That's who they are. Whoever
they are, they shall receive mercy. He will make known on
the vessels of mercy. He will. He'll bring them the
faith in Christ. And eternally and eventually,
He'll bring them to glory. The riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy, which He had aforeprepared unto glory. All
those that He prepared unto glory beforehand in His purpose, it
will come to pass. He will see to it. They shall
be brought to faith in Christ. They shall know Christ. They
shall be brought with Him to heaven. That's right. It became Him for whom were all
things and by whom were all things in bringing many sons to glory.
It's becoming of Him to do this. This is what He came into the
world for. To die for those people whom God was going to bring to
glory. To make the captain of their salvation perfect through
suffering. See that? He's perfect. He is. We're accepted in Him.
He died for the sins of His people. He put away sin. He's the end
of the law for righteousness. Right? Our righteousness is in
Christ. We look to Christ. We rest in
Christ. We dare not turn to ourselves.
Turn away from ourselves to Christ. In Christ, mercy and truth are
met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. See? In Christ. In Christ. In Christ, mercy and truth. Mercy. When Christ went to the
cross, under the wrath of God, which
he had before ordained before the foundational world, Christ
stood as a landslame. When He went to the cross, mercy
and truth met. See that? God is truth. He must do what He purposes. God slew His Son, the substitute
of His people. And so bringing His wrath down
upon His Son, He showed mercy to His people. And bringing His
wrath down upon the substitute, taking His people's voice, mercy
was extended to them. By His death, justice is satisfied. Righteousness and peace have
come together. The holy righteousness of God,
the soul that sinneth, it shall die. That's righteousness. It must die. God cannot lie. That's not His nature. He must do that. He must kill
his son. He did. Under his wrath against
me, his son died. Righteousness. And by his son
dying for me, I have peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only way. Have
peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ. He made him to
be sin for me. that I might be made righteous
in Him, in Christ. It pleased God to reveal that
to a God-given house. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe, to reveal Christ to
them through preaching of the Gospel, through the Word of God. It pleased God to bruise him
in my stead. He put him to grief. He made his soul an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. The
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It pleased God to
bruise his son in my place. And it pleased God to separate
me from my mother's womb and call me by his grace. I didn't
have anything to do with it. It had to do with me, right?
It pleased God. It's not that the satisfaction
of Christ procured the love of God for us, is it? The death
of Christ is the fruit of what God already did of His love toward
us. See what I'm saying? You don't
procure it. God loved us before Christ died
for us. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love, He told Jeremiah, wasn't it? Therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. So the death of Christ is the
fruit of God's love. He couldn't love us in any other
way. Christ stood as a lamb slain. He loved us in Christ. But He
always loved us, if He ever loved us. See that? And the result
of His love was Him sending Christ. The death of Christ is the satisfaction
of God's justice against me. See that? satisfaction of justice being
satisfied. Sin must be punished. He punished
me in Christ then, right? Yeah. This is the only way that
opens the way for sinners to enjoy the glory-saving embraces
of God Almighty. A sinner that don't believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God, he has no peace
He's continually working and trying to do, and the more he
does, the more he sees he needs to do. He just can't never be
satisfied. Why? Because he's dependent on
the flesh. And that's sin. He might not
know it. Even him thinking that way is sin. Total sin. But God, through the riches of
His mercy, by His grace toward us, in Christ and through Christ,
reveals Christ. to a God-given heart causes us
to rest right there, to bow right there. And we see through the shedding
of Christ's blood that justice has been satisfied, sin is put
away. We've been reconciled to God
by the death of His Son. He said in Romans 5.10, And Paul said in 2 Corinthians
5.20, Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us. We pray you, and Christ did.
Be ye reconciled to God. Ambassadors of Christ. As though
God spoke through me to you, he said, right? Be ye reconciled
to God. How did I say we were reconciled
to God? By the death of his Son. That's the only way we can be
reconciled. By the death of Christ. John Gill was right in concluding
that every sinner who is reconciled to God by faith in Christ is
included in the number of those for whom he made satisfaction
for, a Catholic. Every sinner that's been reconciled,
if you've been reconciled to God, you was included, you was
included in the number of those for whom satisfaction was made.
See what I'm saying? If you for any reason believe
that at any time you've had communion with God in private or in public,
in your closet or in your family or in the house of God under
any ordinance, either ministry of the word or prayer or the
supper of the Lord, then you may be assured that Christ has
made satisfaction. Christ made satisfaction for
you. Or you would never enjoy such
communion. We're saved by grace through
faith. We're justified by faith. Looking to Christ. In Christ.
See that? It pleased God to reveal His
Son to us. It pleased God. And He's well
pleased in His Son. And you're accepted if you're
in Christ in the Beloved. Nothing but the blood can make
satisfaction to God. Nothing can but blood. Ephesians 2.13 says, But now
in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ. See that? The only way we can
have acceptance of God is through the blood of Christ. The only
way justice can ever be satisfied, the wrath of God, is through
the blood of Christ, the death of His Son. But in Christ, God
is completely satisfied. To those who are in Christ, He
is completely satisfied. There is no condemnation. God must punish sin. He will
punish sin. And He did punish sin for all
the elect, whoever they are, in the person of His Son. The strictness of God's holy
law nailed Christ to the cross, didn't it? It was by wicked men, but God
let men do what they wanted to do. To bring about, to pass his
good and perfect will, it was God's will that his son die under
God's wrath against the sinner. He made satisfaction for sin.
Right there, didn't he? Yeah. And if I can trust him
by God's grace, if I can come to God by faith in Christ, He
made satisfaction for me. I believe that in my heart. And
I'm in Christ, right? I know Christ by the grace of
God. God's not pleased with me as I am. I know that. But in
Christ. This is my beloved Son. Hear
ye Him. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. It pleased God to
bruise Him. See that? God's wrath is satisfied
by coming down upon Christ as a substitute. The Lord knows how to deliver
the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust until the
day of judgment to be punished. The unjust will be reserved until
the day of judgment. But all those for whom Christ
died, if you by God's grace look to Christ, Then you're not going
to be one of those unjust under the Day of Judgment, right? Are you to never come to Christ? If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. The law could not put away sin.
Can never with those sacrifices which were offered year by year
continually make the comers there unto perfect. But by one offering, he put away
sin once and for all. The offering of the Lord Jesus
Christ as a substitute of his people. One sacrifice for sin
forever. After he offered one sacrifice,
he sat down on the right hand of God. 2 Peter 117 says, For he received
from God the Father, honoring glory, when there came such a
voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. My beloved Son in whom I am pleased.
If I, by God's grace, rest in Christ, He is pleased with me. Not because I rested. but because
of God. See that? He gave me grace to
rest. I see Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see Jesus who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. We see that
it pleased God to bruise Him under His wrath against sin.
Sin has been put away, right? Sin has been put away. And it
pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. It pleases God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. It's through the Word that God
reveals it to a God-given heart of His people. It pleased God
to separate me, Paul said, and to call me by His grace. I have
access to God by faith, which He gives by faith. into this
grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, the hope of the glory of God,
when we shall be with Him and like Him. How can he rejoice
in that hope? Because there is no sin. He has
put away sin. See? For all ye, all the children
of God, by faith in Christ, You are all the children of God by
faith. But if you have faith, you didn't conjure it up. You
see that? If you look to Christ by faith, it's not because of
you. But it's by God's grace. That
Christ might dwell in your hearts. See that? Christ. It's by God's
grace. Why? That Christ might dwell
in your hearts. By faith. He gave you faith. He brought you to a knowledge
of Christ. He calls you to rest in Christ. He calls you to look,
to rest, to trust, to see Him as your all before God. Rooted and grounded in God's
love. You being rooted and grounded in God's love. So let us ever and increasingly
admire and adore the perfections of our God. Revealed in the Gospel. Psalms 85, 11. This is where
mercy and truth were met together, and righteousness and peace kissed
each other in the Lord Jesus Christ. Admire God's love. Herein is love, not that we love,
but that He loved us. See that? And sent His Son to
be the perpetuation. We love Him because He first
loved us. It's His mercy. It's His mercy
that met together with His truth and lodged in your heart. It's
by the mercy of God. We rejoice in His grace. I have nothing to do with God's
grace. God's grace had to do with me. See that? If I had anything
to do with it, it wouldn't be grace. It'd be works. You see
that? But if God does it all, it's
grace. Grace. something I don't deserve. If I get what I deserve, it's
the wrath of God. But if Christ took my dessert,
you see, and suffered my just dessert, then God's wrath has
been satisfied. It's my grace. Great is the mystery
of godliness. The mystery of God. God incarnate
in human flesh, in the person of His Son, in the form of a
servant, living my life, dying my death, ascended for my justification,
sat down at the right hand of God. That's greater than I can
explain. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God manifests in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up
into glory. He alone is holy, holy, holy. Revelation 4a says, The four
beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full
of eyes within, and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to
come. Holy, holy, holy. He always was
holy. He always is holy. He always
shall be holy. He purposed in his holiness.
He brought to pass in time. He applied it in His time. It's
all in God's holiness. He alone is holy. It's God that
worked the grace in the hearts of His people for His own glory
and their benefit. Right? It's God. Holy, holy,
holy. Justice and truth. Justice has
been satisfied. Truth's been satisfied. God is satisfied with His people.
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It became Him for whom were all
things and by whom were all things in bringing many sons to glory. See that? It was becoming of
Him for whom were all things. For whom? See that? It's for
Him. And by whom? He did it all. See? In bringing
many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through suffering. bringing many sons unto glory. He'll receive all of His sons
into glory. The Captain, Christ is the Captain
of their salvation. He made that perfect in His death
by satisfying the wrath of God. He'll come again and He'll receive
His people unto Himself. God found a ransom. The wisdom
of God found a ransom. Right? The holiness of God approved
that ransom. He did it all, see. It was His
ransom. It was His holiness that approved
of it. He who is our ransom is holy, holy, holy. Justice has
been satisfied. The truth is, the truth is to
proclaim it. That's the truth. According to
the Word of God. That's the truth. It's finished
now.