A few months ago, we were going
through the book of Mark, and I was just reminded this morning
of a message that I preached from Mark chapter 12, where the
Pharisees and the Herodians sought to catch him in his words. And we see that happening today,
the self-righteous, they hear the gospel and they say, what?
Yeah, but what about this? What about that? And they rest
the scriptures and twist the truth in order to try to confuse
things. And then later on in that chapter,
it says, and the common people heard him gladly. God make us
common. to hear Him with gladness, rejoicing
in all that He has to say to us. 58, is that right? Tom is going to come and lead
us in number 58 in the hardbacked hymnal, Jesus, the very thought
of Thee. Let's stand together. Jesus, the very thought of thee
with sweetness fills my breast. A sweeter far thy face to see,
And in thy presence rest. Nor voice can sing, nor heart
can frame, nor can the memory find a sweeter sound than thy
blessed name. O Savior of mankind, O hope of
every contrite heart, O joy of all the meek. To those who fall, how kind thou
art. How good to those who seek. But what to those who find? Ah, this nor tongue nor pen can
show the love of Jesus what it is. None but His loved ones know. Jesus, our only joy, be Thou,
as Thou our prize wilt be. Jesus be thou our glory now and
through eternity. Please be seated. If you would please turn with
me to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. This is the story of a rich man
and Lazarus the beggar. And if I were to look around
this room and I'd say, well, how many of you in this room
are rich? No one would raise their hand. Well, how many of
you are a beggar that the dog licks their sores? Nobody had
raised their hand. But there is, the problem is,
when the Lord said it, is those who are worldly rich. But the
problem is almost all of us come into this world rich in our self-righteousness. And we don't see ourselves as
the beggar who has no righteousness. And I want us to keep that in
mind when we read what the Lord says, that it does apply to both,
but the righteousness, self-righteousness, and the lack of applies to all.
It says, there was a certain rich man, which was clothed in
purple and fine linen, and he fared sumptuously every day.
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which laid at
his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which
fell from the rich man's table, moreover the dogs came and licked
his sores. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abram's bosom,
that's Christ, far off. And Lazarus, excuse me, carried
in the rich man also died and he was buried. and in hell, the
rich man's in hell. He lift up his eyes being in
torments and seeth Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. I thought about how many people
do you think said, well, I'd like to trade places with Lazarus.
There's not a one, is there? And how many said, I'd like to
trade places with the rich man? Practically everyone. And the rich man cried and said,
Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And notice the arrogance
of this rich man. Send Lazarus, send Lazarus in
glory. Send him to me that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented
in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. And besides all of this, between
us and you, there is a great gulf that is fixed, so that they
which would pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they
pass to us that would come from thence. After they die, they
await the judgment. And there is no more. It's not,
you know, some religions have a purgatory. That's nothing to
do with scripture. The gulf is fixed and cannot
be passed after death. Then he said, I pray thee therefore,
father, that thou would ascend them to my father's house. For
I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they
also come into this place of torment. And Abraham saith unto him, They
have Moses and the prophets, the law and the gospel preacher. Let them hear them. And this
man knew, and he said, Nay, father Abraham, the rich man, but if
one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. If you just
send someone from the dead to them, they'd believe. They say
that in religion today, don't they? And Christ said unto him, if
they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. I was thinking as I was walking
tonight, if we're honest with ourselves, how many of us in our hearts
and our minds have asked God to fulfill our desires for worldly
treasures? All of us have. And I thought,
you know, if God gave me every desire of my heart in worldly
pleasures and things, it could not get me the one thing I need
the most, and that is the salvation of my soul. And I would die in
my own righteousness, just like this rich man, and be tormented
in hell. Oh, that God would make us the
beggar. He was God's man all along, and
nobody saw it, did they? I wonder how many people say,
well, Lazarus, I wish I could be Lazarus. I mean, excuse me,
I wish I could be the beggar. Let us try to go to the Lord
in prayer. Lord, we ask your spirit that
you would send it to us and enable us to pray in glorifying you. We've gathered here and we confess
to you that, Lord, we need to be shown that we are but beggars
and that we are at your mercy and that unless you save us,
we will not be saved. and there's nothing we can do
to save ourselves, but plead with you for grace and mercy. Lord, we forgive us, for we often
think or see ourselves as having a righteousness, but crush that
within us, that unbelief, and cause us to see that the only
righteousness you'll accept is that of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That our need this morning is that you would speak to us through
our brother, and comfort our souls that our salvation is all
found in the Lord and not in us. We ask Lord that you would be
with brother Greg as he speaks. Give him clarity, give him boldness
to speak for you and you would speak through him. We ask as
your people that you would give us the faith to hear and to believe
what is preached. And we plead for those that are
here this morning that you have given them Moses and the prophets
that this might be the day that your lost sheep are drawn to
you. We ask it for your glory. Amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Look upon me, Lord, I pray thee. Let thy spirit dwell in mine. Thou hast sought me, thou hast
bought me. Take my heart and make it thine. Not I ask for, not I strive for,
but Thy grace so rich and free. This Thou givest by the Savior,
He hath all things who hath Thee. Precious is the name of Jesus,
how can half its worth be told? For beyond angelic praises, sweetly
sung to harps of gold. Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land. I am weak, but Thou art mighty. Hold me with Thy powerful hand. Please be seated. We're going
to have special music now by Kay and Jim Racente. And if you'd
like to follow along the words that they're singing, that they've
written, it's on the pink handout. I just think, yeah, it starts
off with the Bible verse that we're all familiar with. And
as playing it over and over again, it came to me that, well, the
day, of course, is the Lord Christ. And the power is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's the day of his power.
And then we see three episodes of what happened. And last night,
it occurred to me, another verse, as I was looking through the
scriptures, is when Peter says to Christ, in the middle of the
night on the middle of the sea, you know, bid me to come, command
me to come, and walk on the water, which is something pretty scary,
I would think, especially at night. And if Jesus bids you
to come, as he did Peter, you defy the law of gravity or inertia
or whatever it might be there in physics. But this is the same
example. And it's very hopeful and comfort. to God's people. They're taught
of God, and not only does God call them affectionately with
irresistible grace, but it's a perpetual call. So, as you
see here with Matthew collecting his taxes, being consumed with
that, and Peter and Andrew with his nets, and then Lazarus being
consumed, totally being dead, which we all are consumed with
all three of those. with life being a dying process
and being dead in sin. So I hope that helps as you hear
these words. My people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Thy sheep hear the
shepherd's voice, so they follow and rejoice. Collecting taxes,
Matthew sat. Just two words and that was that. Follow me was all Jesus called. Matthew arose and so let us go. Thy sovereign call will be obeyed,
As the potter to his clay. Thy sheep hear the shepherd's
voice, Though they follow and rejoice, Casting nets as they
could. Peter and Andrew, they're likely
to follow me, Christ's sovereign claim, leaving their nets as
Christ ordained. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Thy sheep hear the shepherd's
voice, so they follow and rejoice. Been four days, Lazarus died. Come forth, they'll come and
Christ cry. Bound hand and foot, the dead
obey. In Jesus Christ, sin dead is
paid. Thy sovereign, all will be obeyed,
Has no partner to his claim. Thy sheep hear the shepherd's
voice, So they follow and rejoice. Thy sheep hear the shepherd's
voice, So they follow and rejoin. Thank you, Kay, Jim. We open your Bibles with me to
Psalm 69. Psalm 69. The message I want to try to bring
this morning is from the last part of verse 4. Then I restored
that which I took not away. Then I restored that which I
took not away. We've been studying the Psalms
and preaching through the Psalms for several months now. And if
there's ever one that's clear about these being the words of
the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who is the one
spoken of in the Psalms, this is it. What did the Lord Jesus
Christ restore? Well, we have to begin with what
he said about him not taking it away. I have heard, we believe
that our God is sovereign. We believe that he is sovereign
in salvation. We believe he's sovereign in
creation. We believe he's sovereign in
providence. We believe that he works all
things together for his good, for those that love him and those
that are the called according to his purpose. We believe that
he always does that whatsoever he wills. We don't believe that
any man is able to stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Our God always gets his way and
he always does his will and his purpose. We serve a God of purpose
who has the power to accomplish that which he has purposed. That
having been said, We do not believe that God is responsible for sin. You and I live in a victim society. Everybody else is to blame for
my problems. Parents, if you can teach your
children anything, have them under the sound of the gospel
so that they can be saved. teach them to respect authority,
teach them to accept responsibility for their actions, and teach
them to be empathetic towards other people. Those things are
not being taught in our culture. Men aren't hearing the gospel.
There's a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or of thirst
for water, but a famine for hearing the word of God. The gospel of
God's free grace in the glorious person and finished work of Christ
is not being preached and men aren't hearing it. Consequently,
consequently, everything is someone else's fault. It's someone else's
fault. Now, it's my environment, it's
my circumstances, it's my education, it's my economics. One thing
or another is to be blamed for my sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
is speaking to his people here and he says to us, I restored
that which I took not away. Turn with me to James chapter
1. James chapter 1. I want to be so clear on this. I've heard people use the sovereignty of God to
excuse their sin. I've had people tell me that
come here, that have come here. Well, I don't. God's sovereign.
I don't need to be under the sound of the gospel. God's sovereign. I don't need to do this. I don't
need to do that. And they blame God for their own disobedience.
And God deliver us from ever thinking such a way. Listen to
what the Lord says in James chapter 1 and verse 13. Let no man, let
no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man,
but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust
and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived,
it bringeth forth sin, And sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. The beginning of the gospel of
God's sovereign grace in the heart of his people is when he
causes them to accept full responsibility for their sin. They cannot blame
God. They cannot blame their circumstances. They cannot blame anyone else. Lord, it's me. I'm the man. Isn't that what
David said? I'm the man. My sin is ever before
me. What Paul in Romans chapter 7,
to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is
good I find not. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? When God says,
I, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking, when the Lord Jesus Christ says,
I restored that which I took not away. I'm not responsible
for what you lost, but I'm going to get all the glory for having
restored it. I've had people ask me, well,
how do you reconcile God's sovereignty with man's responsibility? And
my answer to that question is they don't need to be reconciled.
They're already friends. They're already friends. Man
is fully responsible and God is absolutely sovereign. The
first gospel message that was preached after the ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ was preached in Acts chapter 2 by
the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost. And here's what
he said, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, he said
this to those Jewish people in Jerusalem that had been there
just a few weeks before. and had cried as a mob, crucify
him, crucify him. And Peter speaks to that same
group of people and he says, being delivered by the determinant
for counsel of God. He's speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ was delivered up by the determinant
for counsel of God. God purposed it in the covenant
of grace, everything in creation. everything before the cross and
everything since the cross the purpose of creation is the cross
yes the cross and peter declares that when he says being determined
by the determinant counsel and for knowledge of god he was lifted
up you having taken with your wicked hands have crucified and
slain." So he puts the responsibility right on, right in the hands
of those who crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were pricked
to their hearts and said, men of Israel, what must we do to
be saved? So when the Lord says, I restored that which I took not
away, He is putting the full responsibility of sin on us and the full responsibility of
salvation on Him. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. He gets all the glory for doing
all the saving and we get all the blame and all the responsibility
for the lost condition that we're in. Now when Adam fell in the
garden, the scripture makes it clear that we were in Adam. When Adam fell, when Adam sinned,
when Adam died, we all died. Now that's true physically. We were genetically, physically,
seminally in the loins of Adam. And it's true symbolically. God holds us all responsible
for what Adam did in disobeying God. You say, well, I don't like
being held responsible for someone else's actions. Well, I got two
questions. First question is, how have you
been doing on your own? And the second question is, if
you're not going to be responsible for the fall of your father,
then you can't you can't benefit from the salvation of your brother. You see, imputation goes both
ways. We were imputed in Adam. We are
imputed in Christ. In Adam, all died. And in Christ,
all should be made alive. I restored that which I took
not away. Go back with me to the beginning
of this psalm. Psalm 69, save me, O God, for the waters are
come in unto my soul. Let me ask you a question. It's
a very simple question. What do you need God most for? Because I listen to the messages
that are being preached in religion, and it sounds like to me that
God is primarily for the purpose of helping folks get through
this life. I heard Joe Terrell made a statement
this past weekend that I really liked. He said, he said, believers, how do you say it? Gosh, I didn't write it down. Believers aren't in this world
trying to figure out how to get to heaven. Believers are in heaven
trying to figure out how to get to this world. And that's it. You know, we're already in Christ,
in the heavenlies, and we're in this world. And yes, God is
our help in time of need. But our primary need, our primary
need is the salvation of our soul. David says, save me. Save me
from what? Save me from my circumstances?
Save me from trials and troubles? Save me from heartache? Save
me from pain? Save me from disappointment?
It sounds like to me that's what most folks God is for, just to
save them from temporal problems and temporal issues. When God
puts your soul on your heart, everything else becomes secondary
at best or insignificant or you'll say with you'll say with Solomon
vanity of vanities all is vanity this world is so temporal it's
so empty of meaning and purpose Lord my problem is my soul my
problem is I've gotta face death and in facing death I've gotta
stand in the in the presence of a holy God And if God judges
me based on anything I've done, how am I going to stand? How
am I going to stand? Save me, O God, for the waters
are coming in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire. Now, the picture here is a man
in quicksand, and there's no one to help him. And the more
he struggles, the deeper he gets. Isn't that the way sin is? I am come into deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Now, as we saw in Zachariah the
previous hour, this is true particularly in the Psalms. The word of God
is first and foremost speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
then it's to those that are found in him. So these things are true
of us as we're in him, but they're true first and foremost of him.
He's the one. Who was in deep waters? He was
that he's the one that was that was forsaken of his father. He was the one who drank of the
bitter cup of God's wrath. He was the one that was baptized
by fire. He's the one that suffered the
full wrath of God's justice for the sins of his people. And he
says, I am weary of my crying. My throat is dried. Mine eyes
fail while I wait for my God. That goes back to what we were
saying in the previous hour, regardless of how difficult our
circumstances are, we're still waiting on God, aren't we? Believers
are always believing. And the Lord Jesus Christ, well,
He's the perfect believer. He believed His Father to His
dying breath. Father, into Thy hands I commend
my spirit. He trusted the Father to reward
Him for His obedience. And that the Father did. He gave
Him a bride. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world in order to pay the dowry price for His bride to
His Father. He wasn't making an offering
to us. He was making a sacrifice to his father. And the father
said, that's enough. Your blood, your death is sufficient,
I'm satisfied. Now he's crying from the cross
and he says, I wait for my God, they that hate me without a cause.
Now this passage is quoted in John chapter 15. when the accusers
of the Lord Jesus Christ were accusing him of being of Beelzebub. And he said, they hated me without
a cause. They didn't find anything in
me to hate me for. They hated me because as the
light, I exposed their darkness. And that's the reason that men
still hate Christ. That's the reason they hate the
gospel. Because the gospel puts on man the full responsibility
for his sin. And it causes him to see that
even his righteousnesses are as filthy rags before God. They hated me without a cause.
They are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me be in mine enemies. This is the accuser We just saw
it in Zechariah chapter three. This is the one who accused the
Lord Jesus Christ, Joshua. They hated me without a cause.
They accused me to destroy me, be my enemies wrongfully. And
here's our Lord crying out to his father, they're mighty. Father,
they're mighty. Yet, I restored that which I took
not away. He didn't take it away. We took
it away. We took it away in our father,
Adam. We take it away in all of our acts of unbelief. And
here the Lord Jesus Christ is restoring. Now, what did Adam
have that the Lord Jesus Christ restored? Before the fall, before
the fall. And let me say this, what the
Lord Jesus Christ restored is much, much more than what Adam
had. I restored that which I took not away. Adam had innocence.
Adam was naked and he wasn't ashamed. And what happened as
soon as Adam sinned? Well, he tried to cover his nakedness
by sewing together fig leaves and he hid from God and God asked
him, who told you you're naked? What's the matter, Adam? Well,
Lord, you told me not to eat of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, and I ate of it. And the law condemns me. You know, I was thinking about,
by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. By the
law is the knowledge of sin. The law exposes sin for what
it is. There's a passage over in Galatians chapter 3. Turn
with me there quickly. Galatians chapter 3. Paul is comparing being under
the law and being under grace. And he's likening being under
the law as a child of a rich man who has been put under the
authority of a servant. So, you're a wealthy person,
you've got young children, you have a slave and you put your
children, you tell your children, you're to obey that man. You're
to obey that man. For the safety of your children,
you put them under the authority of a man that you trust. until
that child becomes a certain age and then they're no longer
under the scripture refers to that man is a schoolmaster and
he says now that you've grown to be an to be an inheritor of
the estate you're no longer under the servant you're no longer
under the schoolmaster now you're now you're you're his boss and
so Notice in verse 24 of Galatians chapter 3, wherefore the law
was our schoolmaster. There was a time when we were
under the authority of the law. Now please notice that the next
three words are in italics. The good thing about the King
James Version of the Bible is that when the translators added
words for the purpose of explanation, they put them in italics. And
more times than not, those italicized words actually take away from
the meaning of the passage. And here, they greatly take away
from the meaning of the passage. You can just say, preacher, you
tell us to scratch out words in God's Word? Yeah, you can
scratch those words out because they're not part of God's Word.
They don't belong there. The law has never brought anyone
to Christ. Ever. By the law is the knowledge
of sin. All the law can do is condemn. All the law can do is judge.
All the law can do is say guilty. But it's not the law that brings
us to Christ. Adam was under the law when God
said, Adam you shall not and those 10 commandments are what?
They're all in the negative. You shall not, you shall not,
you shall not. You know I thought about what if God had told Adam,
Adam every morning when you get up I want you to go by and touch
that tree. You know I bet Adam would still
be doing that to this day. Men love having something to
do. If I can do something to earn favor with God, I'll be
happy. But when God says don't do something, that's the very
thing I want to do. And Adam was naked because he
was under the law. He lost his innocence. The law
is not our schoolmaster. I shared this with you all a
couple of weeks ago about Ham and Japheth and Shem. And people talk about the curse
of Ham. Ham was not cursed. Canaan was
cursed. What did Ham do? Ham saw the
nakedness of his father. And Ham's a picture of the law.
The law is holy, just, and good. We love God's law. There's nothing
wrong with God's law. It's the weakness of our flesh
that kept the law of God from being able to save us. God's
law is good. But all the law can do is what
Ham did, expose our nakedness. That's why God said when you
build an altar, don't put steps on it. How many altars around
the world in false religion have had steps? And how many, because
he said if you make steps on that altar, all you're going
to do is you climb those steps as you're going to expose your
nakedness. And we see that in religion today.
Well, you know, you got to do A, B, C, D, E. You got to go
through step one, step two, step three, step four. And if you'll
follow those steps, then God will save you. And God's saying
all you're doing is putting yourself under the law and the law is
exposing your nakedness. That's all the law can do. Adam
was innocent before he sinned. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
restored that which I took not away. When was Adam's nakedness
adequately covered? When God took that precious lamb
and slew him right there in the garden and took the fleece of
that lamb and gave Adam a proper covering. Now Adam has more than innocence. Now he has righteousness. Now
he has holiness. You see, if you're found in Christ,
the one who fulfilled the law, what did Romans chapter 10 say?
They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Being
ignorant of the righteousness of God, they go about trying
to establish their own righteousness, going through the steps. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. If
you're in Christ, you've got more than innocence. You've got
holiness. You're sanctified. He that sanctifieth
and they that are sanctified are all as one, so that he's
not ashamed to call them his brethren. When the Lord Jesus
Christ says here in Psalm 69, verse 4, I restored that which
I took not away. I didn't break the law. Adam,
you broke the law, and you broke the law, and I broke the law.
And the Lord Jesus Christ clothes us in His righteousness. The law doesn't bring us to Christ.
It's the goodness of God that leadeth to repentance. It's the
love of Christ that constraineth us. It's the gospel of God's
free grace that brings us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says He draws us with
cords of kindness. The law just condemns us. And
men in religion are all desperately trying to live by the law. They're trying to do something
to earn favor with God. I restored that which I took
not away. You were innocent. You were naked
and didn't know it. And now your nakedness has been
exposed by your breaking of the law? And now I've come to restore
that which I took not away. I'm going to clothe you in my
righteousness. I'm going to give you holiness. I'm going to give
you a righteousness. God made him who knew no sin
to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. I'm going to give you perfection,
but you're going to have to be hidden in Christ to have it.
You're not going to have it on your own. Moses went up on the
mountain of the law. God said, Moses, there's a place
near unto me where you can stand. He put him on a rock, didn't
he? Put him in that cleft of the rock. And when Aaron took
that blood and put it on the mercy seat, God said, here, I
will meet with you. I will meet with you. I restored
that which I took not away. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, if you are in Christ, you're more than innocent. You're
righteous. You're holy. You're perfect in
the sight of God, in the person of your substitute. Why? Because
he restored that which he took not away. What else did Adam have? Yeah, speaking of this nakedness,
I was thinking about, we all are familiar with that little
fairy tale that Hans Christian Andersen wrote back in the 1830s,
I think, The Emperor's Clothes, remember that? And I thought,
yeah, that's the way religion is. You know, these men came
to the emperor and said, we're going to make you some clothes
that are going to be so exquisite that only the elite can see them. And they didn't make any clothes
at all, of course. And so the emperor is walking around the
palace with nothing on, and everybody's afraid to admit that they can't
see the clothes. So they all say, well, yeah,
they're all rejoicing. And the emperor becomes so bold
that he decides he'll go out in the city and have a parade.
And so he parades himself before his people, naked. And everybody's
afraid to say they can't see the clothes. Because that might
be that they've got something wrong with them. And one little
boy speaks up. He says, but the emperor's naked.
The emperor's got no clothes. I'm that little boy this morning. That's the gospel preacher, isn't
it? the Emperor's got no clothes and in religion they just they
just try to they're afraid to admit that they're naked. They
try to pretend like they see something that's not there. They
talk about the righteousness of man and he has no righteousness. I came to restore that which
I took not away. You shamed yourself with your
nakedness by your breaking of the law. And I've come like Shem
and Japheth with the gospel of God's grace to cover your nakedness
and your shame. What else did Adam have? Well,
Adam had fellowship, didn't he? He had fellowship with God. Scripture
says he walked with God in the cool of the day. And just imagine
the conversations that Adam had with the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that fellowship was broken as a result of Adam's sin. That
fellowship's broken as a result of our sin. Turn with me to 1
John 3. 1 John 3. I'm sorry, 1 John chapter 1 verse
3. 1 John chapter 1 verse 3. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you. Now no man living today can say
I have seen with these eyes and I have heard with these ears
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul at one place, Peter said,
we handled the Word of God. We did not bring you cunningly
devised fables. We saw Him, we heard Him. And
faith today is based on the testimony of men that lived 2,000 years
ago. Now there's a testimony of saving grace for you to hang
the hopes of your immortal soul on the words of eyewitnesses
of an event that took place 2,000 years ago? You're going to do
that? God gives you faith to believe
you're going to do it. You gladly do it. John said, that which
we have seen and heard declare we unto you. that you also may
have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full. I restored that
which I took not away." Adam lost his fellowship with God.
Sin always results in that, doesn't it? Even as believers, we can
lose fellowship without losing relationship. But isn't it so
sweet, isn't it so sweet when the Lord Jesus Christ restores
that which he took not away, brings us back into his presence,
breaks our hearts, causes us to see that his work on Calvary's
cross is sufficient and loves on us. What a blessing it is
for him to restore that which he took not away. And we have
something that Adam didn't have. The scripture says Adam walked
with God in the cool of the day. That means he walked with God
in the best of circumstances. He walked with God when everything
was going great. Child of God, you can walk with
God at two o'clock in the morning when you wake up and your heart
is so troubled over your circumstances that you can't sleep. in the middle of the night. You
see, we can walk with God in times that Adam couldn't walk
with God. The Lord said, it's expedient for you that I go away.
If I go not away, the comforter will not come. But you now have
the spirit of God. You can come into God's presence
anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances. I restored that
which I took not away. This then is the message which
we have heard of him and declaring to you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. No darkness. Oh, we know a lot
about darkness, don't we? In him is no darkness at all.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness,
we lie and do not the truth. If we avoid coming to the light,
coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, if we separate ourselves from
Him and we say that we're walking in the light, the truth's not
in us. But if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light, we have fellowship, fellowship. What is it to walk in the light?
It's to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to trust Him. It's
to rest in Him. It's to rely upon Him for everything
if we walk in the light. Walking in the light is walking
in faith. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us, cleanseth
us from all sin. Adam had innocence and the Lord
Jesus Christ restored that which he took not away by giving his
people holiness and righteousness. Adam had fellowship in the cool
of the day. We have fellowship Whenever God
enables us to walk in the light of the gospel, looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. You suppose Adam loved
Christ? Sure he did. Sure he did. He walked with him. He loved
him. He loved those times when he had together with the Lord
Jesus Christ. Adam loved Christ, but he could
not know the love that Christ had for him until after the fall. Herein is love, not that we love
God. That's not how we measure love.
The only way Adam had to measure his love was how much he loved
God. here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved
us and gave his son as a propitiation for our sins. I restored that
which I took not away. Oh, I gave you such more understanding
and more light on how much I love you. Greater love hath no man
than this. Then he laid down his life for
his friends. Adam couldn't have known the
extent of God's love until after the fall. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him
should not perish but have everlasting life. I restored that which I
took not away. And I gave you so much more than
Adam had. Walking in innocence in the garden,
you have so much more now because of what I did in bearing your
sins, presenting myself as your righteousness before the Father.
I restored it. That's how I restored it. What about peace? Did Adam have
peace? He did, until he lost it. His peace was contingent upon
his obedience. Is your peace contingent upon
that? We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the Prince of Peace. We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one, whoever lives to make intercession
for us. All our sins have been put away.
Righteousness has been established. We have, how many times the epistles begin
with grace and peace be unto you? Grace has to come first,
doesn't it? Everybody wants to have the peace
of God in their lives, and I love having the peace of God. But I'm much more needful for
the peace with God. Peace with God. And peace with
God is only going to come if the Lord Jesus Christ, as the
Prince of Peace, stands in my stead before the Father and presents
himself on my behalf. Colossians chapter 1 verse 20
says, He made peace for us through the blood of the cross. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. John chapter 16, the Lord said,
these things I have spoken unto you that you might have peace. In this world you shall have
tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world."
You see, your peace with God, my peace with God is not determined
by how successful we are in overcoming the world. Our peace with God is determined
by the fact that He overcame the world. Be of good cheer,
for I have overcome the world. I restored that which I took
not away. We are fully responsible for
our sin, deserving of an eternal separation from God in a devil's
hell. And if God doesn't pluck us as
a bran from the fire, that's exactly where we'll end up. But
here's the good news. The Lord Jesus Christ restored. Adam had just a taste of the
blessings of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ restored
that which Adam lost, He restored them eternally. He restored them
perfectly. What we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ is infinitely more. than what Adam knew anything
about. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're so very thankful for the successful work of Thy dear Son. And we ask now that You would
be pleased to give faith to our hearts that we might rest our
hopes in what He has restored. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. 126. Let's stand together. Number
126. Rock of Ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flow be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? These for sin could not atone,
Thou must save and Thou alone. In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death, When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let
me hide myself in Thee. th th