Well, I have reached the age
that I'm a bit nostalgic and I like to think about things
in the past and a lot of times you're in such situations that
you can't help but to think of certain things. Your pastor for
so many years, Brother Scott, had a way of taking the starch
out of a fellow, you know. or some of it anyway. The first
time he and I preached together was down at Levisip. This is
a long time ago. And Scott got up to preach. It was on a Saturday afternoon.
Several of you were there. And he said, I've never been
known for preaching very long sermons. I'll say what I've got
to say and sit down and let the big fella have the floor. And
I was considerably bigger then as well. And he preached about
20 minutes just Bang up, bang up job. And he quit, we went
and got some refreshments, came back and I thought, well I ought
to say something. So I said, I've never been known
for preaching very short sermons. Brother Scott said, you better
have something going for you boy. Let's turn this morning again
to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I want to take up right where
I left off last night in verse 21. The title of my message is
Christ, Our Substitute. If I'm not mistaken, the first
message I preached from this pulpit almost 43 years ago was
from 2 Corinthians 5, 21. I'm going to follow the same
outline this morning that I followed on that occasion, and I pray
God will speak by his word. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him." What profound truth. What stupendous grace. What a wondrous mystery these
words reveal. He, God the Father, hath at one
time in infinite holy justice made by a single act ordained
and wondrously, mysteriously caused him, excuse me, caused him, the Lord Jesus Christ,
his darling son, his infinite well-beloved son, his immaculate
son, sin. He hath made him sin. You'll notice the words to be
are in italics. Our translators added them to
make the sentence read more smoothly. But the italicized letters indicate
that there's no words corresponding to that in the Greek text. Read
it like this. He hath made him sin. An awful mass of iniquity for
us. helpless, condemned, ruined,
damned, sinful rebels. He hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin. Who knew no sin. From the depths
of my soul, I pray that the Lord God will
enable me at least once before I die to preach the message of
this text of scripture as it ought to be preached in the power
of his spirit, maybe today. The heart of the gospel is redemption
and the essence of redemption is substitution. That's my subject
this morning. Christ our substitute. Now the things we'll be looking
at today concern the vital truth of the gospel. the foundation
of all true Christianity, the rock upon which our souls are
built. The only hope of the sinner is
what Paul declares here by the Spirit of God. The joy of every
true believer is that which Paul declares here by divine inspiration. I'm talking about the great transaction
that took place more than 2,000 years ago at Calvary, the substitutionary
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty transfer of sin from
the sinner to the sinner's surety, the transfer of sin from us to
our Redeemer, the punishment of the surety in our place. The pouring out of the vials
of divine wrath and justice until justice is fully satisfied. Sin completely put away. The anger and fury of God utterly
ended on our behalf. The pouring out of God's wrath
due us upon the head of our substitute. That which is described in 2
Corinthians 5.21 is the greatest transaction that ever took place
upon the earth and the most stupendous wonder ever executed by heaven. Jesus Christ, God the Son in
human flesh was made sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him now I have just this one thing to
declare I want only to drive home this one glorious gospel
truth Christ was made sin for us the doctrine of the text is
the doctrine of substitution the doctrine of this book Everything
in this book, everything in this book is written by God the Holy
Spirit, inspired by God the Holy Spirit to point us to this one
thing and to teach us this one thing, the marvelous salvation
of our souls by the substitutionary sacrifice of God's dear son. Everything in the book is designed
for that purpose. If you read this book and do
not have your heart directed toward and your minds occupied
with Jesus Christ crucified, you have read the book of God
errorly. You have missed the purpose of
what you've been reading. You have misunderstood the message
of the passage you're reading. This book is written to teach
us how God saves sinners by the sacrifice of his son. Let me
raise seven simple questions. I suggest that you get your piece
of paper and take notes. What I have to say will be very
simple, very plainly stated, and very forcefully stated. But
I want you to understand and I hope you will remember what
you hear today. Number one, who is it that was
made sin for us? Our text describes our great
surety upon this one point only. He was and is that one who knew
no sin. Back in Genesis chapter 3 after
mom and dad Adam and Eve sinned against God and we sinned in
Him. The Lord God killed innocent
victims, stripped off their skins, and stripped off the fig leaves
off of Adam and Eve, and clothed them in the skins of those innocent
victims, and thereby gave a picture of how he would accomplish redemption
for us. And then, before he expelled
them from the garden, the Lord said to Satan, the serpent, he
said, I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed. and her seed shall crush your
head, and you shall crush his heel. Thereby declaring the first
gospel message, Satan overturned, conquered, defeated, and destroyed
in all that he has done by the sacrifice of God's darling son,
particularly conquered, defeated, and destroyed for us, the people
of God by the woman's seed. He who comes to save must be
himself one of infinite value. Without sin, he must be God in
the flesh. Jesus Christ is he who knew no
sin. The word was made flesh. The word was made flesh. I can't begin to understand how
God could become a man, but he did. I know the theologians,
they say we ought not use those terms. Let's talk about the hypostatic
union. That just doesn't help me a whole
lot. The scripture says, the word, he who in the beginning
was with God and was God, the word was made flesh. God never ceased to be what he
always is, and yet God became a man. and that one who is God
in our nature is fully a man just like us in every detail
except this he was born of a woman he was not conceived in the woman's
womb by a man but conceived in the woman's womb by God the Holy
Ghost so he had no original sin he had no nature of sin he had
no propensity towards sin he never once had his heart run
wild with lust. He never had an inordinate desire. He never had an impure thought. He never did anything wrong,
never said anything wrong, but all his life walked on this earth
in the perfect holiness of God in the flesh. And he did so in
obedience to God as a man, but not for himself. He did this
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him
that He might bring in for us everlasting righteousness by
His obedience unto death. His obedience unto death. He who was made sin is he who
knew no sin. You see, Jesus Christ our Lord
is just such a substitute as we must have. It was absolutely
necessary that he who suffers for sinners must himself be without
sin. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. He's the embodiment of purity
and virtue, of righteousness and holiness. As a man, he was
made under the law, but he owed nothing to the law. He walked
on the earth and fulfilled the law, both its requirements of
righteousness and its requirements of satisfaction. He who was made
sin for us is he who knew no sin. Amazing love, wondrous grace. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us. Here's the second question. Who
made the Lord Jesus Christ sin for us? Our text says He. Referring specifically to God
the Father. referring to the triune Jehovah,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. He, the Lord God, made His Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute, sin. God the Father appointed
his son, the Lord Jesus, his own darling son, to be our substitute. He said, I have found a ransom. Deliver him, looking on his elect,
from going down into the pit. The psalmist says, he hath laid
help upon one that is mighty. He's exalted one chosen out of
the people. Turn back to Isaiah chapter 53.
Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53 verse 6, all we like sheep, all we like
sheep have gone astray. What's he saying? We all behave
just like sheep are expected to behave. You can expect one
thing from sheep, you can expect them to stray. That's all you
can expect from sheep. You can expect them to stray.
I often say to pastors, especially my young friends who are just
beginning to involve themselves in this work, and pastors get
very quickly upset, angry, depressed, because the people that pastor
somehow or another normally don't act exactly like they ought to.
Surprise, surprise, surprise. And I say to them, my friends
who are pastors, the reason the folks need pastors, shepherds,
is because they're sheep. All we like sheep have gone astray. Here the prophet is speaking
specifically of our having strayed in our father Adam and our having
gone astray from the womb, speaking lies. We have turned everyone
to his own way. Now what's the next word? Verse
six. And the Lord Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us
all. The Lord hath gathered up and
caused to meet upon him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53 verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. whenever you speak to men and
women about the gospel of God's grace, you say something about
election, in particular redemption, predestination, religious people
who just, they don't know God, they don't know the book of God,
and they'll spit something in your face that they've heard
other folks say, well, God has no pleasure in the death of the
wicked. Understand what he's talking about in Ezekiel, when
he says God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. If everybody
in the world went to hell, if all of us went to hell right
now, and the whole human race suffered the wrath of God forever
in hell, all the justice of God could never be satisfied. God
doesn't have pleasure in the death of the wicked, but it pleased
the Lord to bruise his son. God found satisfaction in the
bruising, in the crucifying, in the death of his son. He hath
put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. God the Father it is who gave
up his son to die in the place of sinners. For God so loved
the world. God so loved the world's chosen
sinners in every corner of the world, in every space of time,
out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Herein
is love. Here in his love, not that we
loved God, we didn't, we couldn't, we wouldn't, but that he loved
us and gave his son to be the propitiation, the justice satisfying
atonement for our sins. Here's the third question. When
did he do it? When did the Lord God make his
dear son sin for us? Now I want you to read the scriptures.
I want you to read the scriptures and see that what I'm telling
you is exactly what the book of God says. Will you do that?
Go back to Isaiah 53 again. When did the Lord God make his
son sin for us? He did it from eternity. He did it from eternity in his
own eternal decree. Jesus Christ is described in
this book as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Is that what the book says? Revelation 13, 8, Revelation
17, 8. He's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
How can that be? How can that be? Well, it's as
though he was slain. That's not what it says. It's
as if he had been slain. That's not what the book says.
The book says he is the lamb of God slain from the foundation
of the world. Well, but brother Don, he wasn't
actually slain then. Read the word of God. He is the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. When Abraham took his son Isaac
up on Mount Moriah and offered him as a sacrifice to God, did
he slay his son or didn't him? He said, no, God provided a ram
caught in a thicket and died in Isaac's stead. Wait a minute,
let's see what God says. Let's see what God says. Thou
hast not withheld from me thy son, thine only son Isaac. Is that what God said? God tells
us that Abraham received his son from the dead. How could
that be? Though he never drew blood from
Isaac's throat as he drew back the knife God held his hand and
said slay not the child and yet Abraham in his heart had already
sacrificed his son and God says that's the deed That's what God
said. Abraham sacrificed his son. Before
ever the world was, before ever Jesus Christ, God's son, our
savior assumed our nature and came into this world. Before
ever there was a sinner. Before ever there was a transgression.
Before ever there was an iniquity. The Lord Jesus Christ in the
heart of God was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Now look at Isaiah 53 verse 6. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord shall lay on him
the iniquity of us all. I happen to have a hundred dollar
bill in my wallet. I'll give it to anybody who's
got any kind of translation that reads like that. That's not what
it says. Even the most perverted modern
translations don't read like that. The Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. But this is written more than
700 years before Christ came into the world. It's written
exactly as God intended it to be written. hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. But Brother Don, God often speaks
of prophetic things in past tense. Find me anywhere in this book
where that's so. That's a perverted understanding
of the Word of God. When God speaks about the future,
He puts it in the future. When God speaks about the present,
He puts it in the present. When God speaks about the past,
He puts it in the past. The Lord hath from eternity laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. Hebrews chapter 4 declares the
works were finished from the foundation of the world. Now
get hold of this and rejoice. God speaks to us in human terms
so that we can get some understanding of the infinite God The infinite
eternal God Doesn't think and then act he doesn't plan and
then do he doesn't first Plan what he's going to do and then
accomplish what he's going to do for God to win it is for God
to do it and everything with God is now Before ever there
was a sinner, Christ was our surety. Before ever we blasphemed
God, Christ redeemed us. Before ever we went astray from
our God in our father Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, the last Adam,
stood as our surety. And we were accepted in the beloved,
redeemed by the beloved, justified by the beloved, called by the
beloved, glorified in the beloved, all one with Christ the Lord. The works were done before the
world began. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2. 1
Peter chapter 2. When was Christ made sin for
us? In God's eternal decree. And he was made sin for us at
Calvary. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24. Christ his own self, bear our
sins in his own body on the tree. that we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. So that when Christ died at Calvary,
at God's appointed time, when his hour came, the Lord God Almighty
laid on him the iniquity of us all. It is in anticipation of
this that we see our Savior in the garden. crying three times,
oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless
not my will, thy will be done. The third time he fell on his
face and sweat as it were, great drops of blood falling to the
ground with a broken heart crying, oh my father, if it be possible,
Let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, thy will be done. And yet he spoke at the same
time and said now is my soul exceeding sorrowful unto death.
What shall I say, father save me from this hour? Oh no, for
this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And he set his face like a flint
and went on up to Calvary. And there, he who knew no sin
was made sin for us. And it's done also in the sweet
experience of God's grace. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9. The
Lord Jesus is made sin for us in our consciences in conversion. Hebrews 9 and verse 14. Paul
had been talking about the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant and
the mercy seat and the sacrifices in the Old Testament, which could
never take away sin. But he says in verse 14, how
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. This is what Paul
was talking about when he said, it pleased God to reveal his
son in me. There's a time appointed by God
called the time of love. The time when God comes by the
power of his grace to every chosen redeemed sinner and reveals Christ
in you. Until that day, until that hour,
until that moment, you live with a guilty conscience that you
can't silence. Sometimes your conscience is
just there aggravating you. And then sometimes your conscience
screams, damned! You must be forever damned! Because you're guilty. No matter
what you do, you can't silence your conscience. You try to change
the way you behave, and it doesn't help. You go to church, and it
doesn't help. You read your Bible, and it doesn't
help. You try to pray, and it doesn't help. Your conscience torments you
with guilt until God reveals his son in you and sprinkling
the blood of Christ on your conscience gives you faith in Christ. And
suddenly, guilt is gone because God has
made his son sin for you, for you in the blessed experience
of his grace. Now here's the fourth question.
What was done with the Lord Jesus when he was made sin for us? And here I've come to the heart
of my message. I quit a long time ago trying
to explain things I don't understand. This is beyond the reach of my
mind and yours. All I can do is remind you and
remind myself of this wondrous fact. He hath made him sin. Oh, Spirit of God, burn this
into your hearts. Burn this into my heart. Our Lord Jesus voluntarily took
upon himself an intimate infinite indescribable acquaintance with
human sin. He hath made him sin for us. Turn back to the book of Psalms. Let's start at Psalm 40. Psalm
40. I know and rejoice in the fact
of imputation. Our father Adam sinned against
God and his sin has been made ours and his sin is imputed to
us. Our Lord Jesus Christ came on
this earth and suffered and died under the wrath of God and when
he was made sin, sin was imputed to him. But do not ever imagine
that he was made sin by imputation. Sin cannot be imputed to one
who is without sin justly. Guilt cannot be imputed to one
justly who is without guilt. Our Lord Jesus was made sin for
us that our sins might be justly imputed to him. And there is
a reason for this next thing. Though our sins were justly imputed
to him, so that he suffered the wrath of God. And that clearly
is taught throughout the scriptures. Nowhere in the word of God is
one time a term that is a legal forensic term like imputed or
imputation used with reference to Christ being made sin. Nowhere.
This word made means wonderously, mysteriously. Explicably made, made cause to
be sin. Look at Psalm 40 verse 12. Our
Lord Jesus is speaking. I know this is him speaking because
in Hebrews 10 the Spirit of God tells us so. Innumerable evils
have compassed me about. Mine iniquities, what? What? Mine iniquities, mine iniquities
have taken hold on me so that I'm not able to look up. They're
more than the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me.
Look at Psalm 69, verse 3. Psalm 69, verse 3. Our Savior
is speaking. I'm weary of crying. My throat
is dried. Mine eyes fail while I wait for
my God. They that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of mine head. They that would destroy
me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. Now look at verse five. Oh God,
thou knowest my foolishness. If you have a marginal translation,
read what it says. Oh God, thou knowest my guiltiness. My sins are not hid from thee. Verse seven. Because for thy
sake I borne reproach. Shame hath covered my face. I
am become a stranger to my brethren and an alien to my mother's children.
For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. The reproaches of
them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. Back in Psalm 40 again. Psalm 40, verse six. Yes, our
Lord Jesus was made sin by the triune God, made sin by his father,
yet he voluntarily took our sins. Psalm 40 verse 6, sacrifice an
offering thou wouldest not. thou didst not desire. Mine ears
hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sacrifice
and sin offering thou hast not required. Then said I, lo, I
come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will. O my
God, yea, thy law is within my heart. And when our Lord Jesus
was made sin for us, He was delivered over into the
hands of divine justice and made to suffer the fullest possible
extent and utter extremity of God's infinite violent wrath,
made to pay the just penalty of God's holy law and justice. God made his son sin. Our Lord Jesus suffered and died
under the wrath of God. Suffered all the hail of God's
wrath at one time. The hymn writer put it this way,
with one tremendous draft of love, he drank damnation dry. When the Lord God made his son
sin, He suffered shame and reproach. He's that one who was despised
and rejected of men, forsaken by all his disciples, cursed
and denied by his friend Peter, nailed up to the cursed tree,
mocked, railed, and spit upon. And at last, he cries, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why hast thou forsaken me? What can the meaning of those
words be? It was because our sins on him
by God were laid, he who himself had never sinned. For sinners,
sin was made. The Lord God drew forth his sword. He unsheathed the flaming sword
of his justice. He cried, awake, O sword, against
the man that is my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd. And he
shoved his sword into the heart of his son. And Jesus Christ,
God's son, swallowed up all the fury of God's just anger and
wrath So that God says to Jacob, fury is not in me Fury is not in me Brother Marvin just told me of
one yesterday Going through some real difficulties and a preacher
said to him, said, God's punishing you. This is one of God's people. Hear me, children of God. God
doesn't punish you for anything. God doesn't punish his people
for anything. He punished us for all our sins
in his son yonder at Calvary 2,000 years ago. And now God
never, oh my soul, if you can get hold of this, it'll sail
your boat in the most troublesome times. God never, God never,
God never has any reason to be angry with me. Can you get hold of that? God
never, never, never has any reason to be angry with me. You have
reason. She has reason. She got lots
of reason. Not God. Not God. He has fully satisfied his justice
in punishing my substitute on my behalf. So that when God appears
to frown, When he appears to be displeased, when he appears
to be angry, it is only because of his fatherly love chastening
me, correcting us, driving the sin which he hates from the son
that he loves, never because he's angry. He shows his displeasure
with that which we do. Often he does so as he did with
David, but never, never displeasure with his people. This is my beloved
son. In whom I'm well-pleased I'm
in his son. That means Pat. He's well pleased
with me This is my beloved son in whom I'm well-pleased All
right For whom was Christ made sin He hath made him sin for
us Let's see who they are in Romans chapter 5 Romans chapter
5 There's no question he was made
sin for his sheep, his church, his elect. No question about
that. And not for everybody in the world. He did not die to
redeem everybody in the world. Such talk is nonsense and blasphemy. He was made sin for his church,
his elect, his sheep. I know folks get upset with that. That's the reason I say it so
plainly. We don't like that. There were
some folks in John 10 who heard the Lord Jesus say, I'm the good
shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. They
said, we don't like that. He said, I wasn't talking to
you. You're not my sheep. You're not my sheep. My sheep, hear
my voice. He was made sin for his elect,
his church, his sheep. But look what it says, how he
describes his people, his elect, his church, his sheep. And listen
to how they speak of themselves. Romans 5, verse 6. For when we
were yet without strength, no strength in us, in due time,
at God's appointed time, Christ died for the ungodly. That's
us. That's us. Christ died for the
ungodly. God commendeth his love, verse
8, toward us, and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Find me a sinner. Find me somebody
who's ungodly. Ungodly. I wonder if there's
anybody here ungodly. Got no claim on God. Can't do
anything to earn any favor from God. Ungodly. Live constantly
in rebellion to God. Ungodly. Without strength. No
ability to change your heart. No ability to change your nature.
No ability to come to God. No ability to believe. You've
been trying to believe but you can't believe. Ungodly. Without
strength. God commends his love to sinners
such as you and me, ungodly and without strength, sinners in
the sacrifice of his son. She'd be mighty proud to show
it to you. My wife was wearing the ring. I bought it for her
when I was 17 years old. right before we were engaged
I bought this raven and went to the jewelry store to buy it
and the jeweler took that little old bitty diamond, it ain't much,
it's just a little old bitty thing but he took that little
old bitty diamond and he pulled it out from under the glass case,
you fellas have been there, you know what I'm talking about and
he set it down right underneath a spotlight on a piece of black
velvet and man that thing looked so big and so pretty and just
sparkled and he got my money What was he doing? He was commending
his jewel Here's the commendation of God's
love to sinners against this black backdrop God
sent his son, made him sin, and slaughtered his son until judgment
was done in his son. Could we with eek the oceans
fill? And where the skies of parchment made were, every stalk
on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade. To write the
love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the
scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Number six, what are the results? Come back to Isaiah 53. Isaiah
53. Verse 10, it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. That is
once justice is satisfied by the sacrifice of God's dear son. God's son who died in our stead
will rise from the dead. He will live again and sit down
on the throne of the majesty on high and God puts in his hands
the reigns of the universe. Verse 11 He shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Every sinner for
whom Christ died shall be with him in glory. He shall see of
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. The cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ shall never be discovered a miscarriage.
By his knowledge, We want to read it by knowledge of him,
but that's not the way it reads. By his knowledge, that is by
him the Savior, knowing who he is and what he's accomplished,
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. We, for whom the Lord Jesus was
made sin, are justified. That means that we're made the
righteousness of God in Him. Back years ago, years ago, when we first started writing
bulletins, this has been a long time ago, I would write them
out and my wife would type them. And then she would type them
again on a piece of paper and she'd measure the lines. Put
a straight edge down here and measure each line and go back
and retype it on a stencil and hope she didn't mess the stencil
up. And she would space it out. It's called justifying the right
hand margin. Now you folks who are younger
don't have any idea what that's all about. Today you just hit
that control J and it's done. It's justified. What's that mean?
That means the right hand margin. This one right here. See that?
It's exactly the same as the left-hand margin. Measures exactly
the same. Here's what it is to be justified
in Christ. Here's what it is to be redeemed
by Him who made sin for us. Here's what it is to be made
the righteousness of God in His Son. Here is God. in all his holiness, righteousness,
justice, purity, and truth. There he is. And there I am, equal to all that God is in his
holiness. He who was made sin for me and
made me the righteousness of God in him. And that he does
for every sinner who believes on him. Years ago, I heard about
a missionary who had been in India for many years. And he
had come home to make a report on what he was doing. And at the conclusion of one
of the services, he said, before leaving India, we were making
our way to another village and came into a clearing and as we
did, just tall grasses, he said we made our way across this clearing,
I could hear a faint raspy voice, I could hardly make it out but
I could tell somebody was needing help and he said we made our
way to the voice and we got a little closer and I could hear this
raspy voice and it was somebody crying help me, help me I got
a little closer and sitting right there in the middle of that field
this man's family had taken him out here and sat him down to
die there he sat covered with leprosy just at the point of
death and he's sitting there with his nubs just crying help
me help me won't somebody please help me And that missionary said
I looked at him helplessly because there was nothing I could do
for him. And I thought to myself if somehow I could go over there
and put my mouth on his mouth and stretch my body over his
body draw all of his disease and filth
and death and weakness out of his body into mine and breathe into him all of my health
and strength and life and vitality that's about what Christ did
for me He took all our sin and made it His And when He had fully suffered
all the fury of God's wrath He comes in the power of His grace
and breathes into us His life and His Spirit, and He gives
us that righteousness in nature that He won for us at Calvary
when He, who knew no sin, was made sin for us, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Amen. What a God. Who is a God like
unto thee? Brother Don, I've never heard
it more clearly said forth. It was a blessing to me. How
thankful I am that we've been able to meet together and to
hear the gospel of God's grace. Brother Gary,