My friend, Brother Bruce Crabtree,
introduced me to preach for him last time I was there. Shelby
and I went up. We hadn't been there in a long
time. Bruce lives about three hours north of us. And he started
to introduce me. And you know how preachers kind
of brag on a friend, brag on each other. And he started talking
about, so good to have one of God's choice servants with us
tonight. how God used this servant, how greatly he's blessed us through
this servant's labors, and only eternity is going to tell how
he has used this servant we have with us tonight. And it's so
good she was able to bring Brother Don with her, too. And I find
that everywhere I go, folks want to see Shelby. We had a cancellation
of a meeting next week that I had scheduled for over a year. And
Brother Carol Poole's wife's cancer returned and had to start
chemotherapy. So I asked you to pray for her
and that family, that congregation, as God enables you. But after
a little while, Shelby said, well, maybe I could go to Princeton
with you. And I said, great. So I called,
bought a ticket, got it lined up. I called Clay. I said, Shelby's
coming. He said, great. And he's all
excited. And next morning, she said, I
can't go. She forgot about another engagement
we had previously arranged. So I told Clay, I said, if you'll
set the date, we'll put her down for next year. So whether I'm
here or not, Shelby will be here to preach to you next year. All
right. Turn with me to John chapter
19. John the 19th chapter. I can't tell you how excited
I am. Our congregation is at the prospect
of buildings for you folks and the way things are proceeding,
and I pray that soon the Lord will bring it to pass for you. John chapter 19, verse 28. After this, after all that our
Redeemer endured. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith high thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. The Son of God has taken upon
himself human flesh permanently. The word was made flesh, the
scripture says. He took our humanity into union
with his divinity. Now, I know all the things that
you're supposed to say and not say with regard to our Lord's
human nature and his divine nature and what theologians call a hypostatic
union and all that stuff. Understand what the scriptures
teach. God became a man. God became a man. As real a man as you and me. sin alone accepted. He never
ceased to be God, never gave up anything concerning his Godhead,
but God took our humanity into union with himself. As the God-man,
our mediator, he lived in this world in perfect righteousness,
not for himself, But for us, as a public person, as our representative,
the representative of his covenant people, he has all his life. Now, when we come to this passage
of scripture, he's all his life been despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His enemies had been
many, his friends had been few, and those few had been terribly
faithless. At last he's delivered over into
the hands of his enemies, of them that hated him. He's crudely
arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, arraigned before the courts of
law. They robe him in mockery. Strip him in shame and hold him
up as a spectacle of ridicule and scorn. Laugh at him, beat
him, spit on his face and say, hail, king of the Jews. He's
declared to be perfectly innocent by the courts. And yet his cowardly
judge delivered him into the hands of his persecutors. The
scriptures tell us Pilate delivered Jesus to their will. If you want to know what man's
will would do with God if he could, read the story of our
Savior's crucifixion. Free will had its way on the
day they nailed the God-man to the curse tree. Free will performed
that which God from eternity ordained must be done, and God
ruled in absolute sovereignty even then over the will of man.
But the greatest indictment against the idea of man's will, having
power with God, is written in those words, Pilate delivered
Jesus to their will. Our Lord Jesus is then dragged
through the streets of Jerusalem. Those who killed the prophets
now bring upon themselves the blood of the prophets' master.
The God-man is brought to the hill called Calvary. and brutally
nailed to the cross. The sun burns upon him. His wounds
infect his body with scorching fever. Far beyond we can imagine,
we are told in the scriptures that he bear our sicknesses and
our infirmities. so that as he hung upon the cursed
tree, bearing our sins, wounded for our transgressions, bruised
for our iniquities, his body, with open wounds, is infected
with horrible fever, scorching him until he cries, I thirst. His father, whose will he came
here to perform, whose purpose he now fulfilled. whose people
he came to redeem, whose glory he came to uphold, his God and
his Father forsakes him, suffering all the concentrated anguish
of hell. God the Son in our flesh cries
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You didn't hear that, did you? That didn't move you, did it?
Oh, God, have mercy upon the heart so hard to the gospel of
His grace that you're unmoved with the sound of our Savior's
cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? while he hangs
upon the cursed tree in mortal conflict with sin and Satan.
His heart is broken. His limbs are dislocated. His
father forsakes him. Heaven forsakes him. Earth forsakes
him. His disciples forsake him and
flee from him. He looks everywhere, but there's
none to help. His eye looks all around, but
there's none to share his toil. So he treads the fierceness of
the wine press of the wrath of God alone and of the people. There's none with him. And yet
he goes on steadily determined to drink the bitter dregs of
that cup, which could not pass from his lips. He says, the Lord
God has opened mine ears and I was not rebellious, neither
turned I away back. He perseveres in his agony, perseveres
in his suffering, perseveres in all that's heaped upon him
for the glory of God, for the honor of his law, for the redemption
of our souls in order to complete the work for which he came into
the world in human flesh to begin with. Our Lord Jesus perseveres
in agony until at last he cries, it is finished. Oh, what a declaration. It is
finished. It rings out as loudly today
as it did 2,000 years ago when our Savior uttered these words. It comes with as much freshness
and forcedness today as it did on that occasion. It is finished. Hear it from the sacred word.
Hear it from the lips of the incarnate God as he hangs upon
the tree. Hear it by the power and grace
of God the Holy Spirit. Oh, may he this hour cause you
and me to enter into the blessed experience of that which our
Savior here declares, it is finished. I can almost hear the Son of
God as he looks up to his Father. looks around upon wandering angels
of light, as he looks down upon Satan and the demons of hell,
as he looks over the perishing multitudes and looks out over
all the host of God's elect for whom he suffers the wrath of
God, when he declares it is finished. He testifies to heaven, earth,
and hell. Redemption's work is done. Redemption's work is done. Oh, hear what he declares. Redemption's work is done. I take these words of our Savior
as they came forth from his lips as our suffering substitute for
my subject. It is finished. And I want to
show you four things. First, the fact of it. Then the
result of it. Third, the experience of it.
And fourth, the cause of it. Alright, let's look at the first
thing first and this is where I'll spend the bulk of our time
Here these words as they fall from the lips of our Savior and
Understand ask God to give you grace to realize the fact of
it That which is here declared by our Savior What does he mean
when he came here to die upon the cursed tree and he said it
is finished He meant for us to understand the work of redemption
is absolutely, perfectly complete. Turn back to Daniel's prophecy.
I won't have you turn into a lot of scripture, but I want you
to turn to a few. Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. When our Lord finished his work
at Calvary, nothing was left undone. Nothing left for us to
fill up. Nothing more needed to be done. Nothing more that could be done.
Christ had come into the world to redeem unto himself a people. And those people he came to redeem
were now redeemed. All the host of God's elect redeemed. I declare with emphatic, emphatic
force as much as I can muster the blessed, glorious gospel
doctrine of limited atonement. What do you mean by that? You
know exactly what I mean by that. There's no questioning what I
mean by that. Jesus Christ did not die for folks who perish
under the wrath of God in hell. He died for his elect, not for
the reprobate. He died for his elect, not for
those who perish under the wrath of God. He died for his elect,
not for those who refuse to believe him, but for his elect. And when
he died for them, they were redeemed. who suggest, as many do, as most
people do, that Jesus Christ died for sinners who yet perish
in their sins is to declare that he died in vain for those who
are yet in hell. and to declare that Christ died
in vain is nothing less than blasphemy. It is an utter denial
of his deity, an utter denial of his Godhead. Jesus Christ,
who is God our Savior, is described like this by his Father. Behold,
my righteous servant, he can not fail. He cannot fail. Failure is an impossibility with
God. If that doesn't sail your boat,
I don't know what will. Failure is an impossibility with
God. When Christ cried, it is finished,
he means for us to understand that all his people His elect
all his chosen all his covenant people all who ever shall be
saved by his grace Every sinner who ever shall believe on him
is redeemed Look here in Daniel chapter 9 and hear how Daniel
describes in prophecy what the Redeemer would do Daniel 9 verse
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy
holy city What's this to finish the transgression? To finish
the transgression the word finished Really is ended It is indeed
It is indeed Christ came to end the transgression Art he came
here Put away your sin Utterly completely and forever either
he did it or he failed He put an end to transgression
and to make an end of sins all our breaches of God's law all
the evil we perform number three and to make reconciliation for
iniquity, to reconcile sinners to himself, to bring God and
his chosen into perfect union, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
righteousness that will stand in our stead forever, stand us
in good stead with God forever, everlasting righteousness, and
to seal up the vision. all the vision of all the Old
Testament scriptures and the prophecy to seal it all to bring
it all to its final conclusion and fulfillment and to anoint
the most holy our Lord Jesus when he finished our redemption
was buried in Three days later, he arose from the dead, and then
after 40 days, he ascended up into glory, anointed publicly
as King of Glory, our Messiah, and sat down on David's throne.
That which Daniel prophesied, the Son of God declares, finished
by his sacrificial death at Calvary. What does he mean by that? Let
me suggest a few things that are obvious in the scriptures.
All the types and shadows and pictures and all the prophecies
of all the Old Testament scriptures were completely fulfilled. Completely
fulfilled. Our Lord Jesus fulfilled everything
written in the book of God about the Messiah who was to come.
He said, it's finished. That picture that God gave to
Adam and Eve in the garden. when he killed the innocent victims,
stripped off their fig leaf aprons, and clothed them with the skins
of those innocent victims that he slaughtered on their behalf.
That picture, Christ said, is finished. I've redeemed you. I've put my righteousness on
you and made it yours. That prophecy the Lord God made
when he preached the first gospel sermon, not to Eve, but to Satan. He said, He's coming and he the
woman seed this one who is coming the seed of woman He's going
to crush the serpent's head and he crushed the serpent's head
all the prophecies all the types that pass over the earth tabernacle,
the temple, the priest, the priestly garments, all the sacrifices
offered in morning and offered in the evening, all the holy
days, all the Sabbath days, all now fulfilled, for they all portrayed
our Lord Jesus Christ. He is a prophet like Moses and
a deliverer like Joshua. He is a priest like Aaron and
Melchizedek. He's a king like David and Solomon. He's the lamb that was slain,
the scapegoat that was turned loose. He's the turtle dove that
was dipped in blood and the priest who killed the bird. Christ is
the altar and the tabernacle, the mercy seat and the showbread,
the sacrifice and the sacrificer. Everything in the Old Testament
points to Christ. How can I say this so that you
understand it? Everything in the Old Testament
points to Christ. I was talking to a preacher friend
sometime last week, and I don't even know who he was, don't remember
who it was I was talking to, asking me about how the Old Testament
scriptures portray our Lord Jesus. And I said to him, Our God tells us in 1 Peter,
we're born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the word of God that lives and abides forever. And then it tells
us down in verse 25, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. In other words, Peter tells us
that everything in this written word of God speaks about gospel
truth, speaks about the gospel of God's grace, so that there
is no understanding of any portion of scripture until you understand
how that portion of scripture relates to Jesus Christ, accomplished
redemption, and the gift of God's grace through his blood and his
righteousness. Everything in the scriptures.
When I was a boy, I didn't go to church much. Whenever I got
in trouble, mother would take us to church and we had one of
those fits of religion. And I'd go and listen to folks
tell stories in Sunday school classes. And I heard about Noah
and the ark. And I heard about those loaves
and fishes. And I heard about Joshua and
the walls of Jericho. And I thought, man, this is better
than Aesop's fables. This is fantastic. It's fantastic. But all it was was stories about
might and power and supernatural things. That's all it was. Let
me tell you about Noah and the ark. Let me just tell you one
of them. God called for Noah to build an ark for the saving
of his soul and the saving of his sons and their wives and
of Noah's wife. And Noah built that ark. It was
pitched within and without with pitch. The word is the same word
that we would use for atonement. It was a covered all over inside
and out. And on the appointed day, God
said to Noah, get in the ark. And Noah and his wives, his wife
and his sons and their wives went into the ark. And God shut
the men. And it began to rain. And all
the fury of God fell upon the earth and fell upon the ark. All God's wrath fell on that
ark and fell on Noah in the ark, but none of it touched Noah at
all. The ark absorbed all the fury
of God, and Noah and his family walked out without being wet. That's what Christ has done for
us. That's what all the scriptures
portray. That's what they all declare.
When our Lord said, it is finished, he meant that all the typical
sacrifices of the ceremonial law were now completely fulfilled
and therefore forever abolished. We observe the Lord's table.
We observe the Lord's table regularly. And many folks who call themselves
Protestants and Baptists and other stuff They talk about observing
the Passover. Oh, no! We don't observe the
Passover. Christ, our Passover, sacrificed
for us. We don't observe the Passover.
And the bread and wine is not a sacrifice offered to God. But
we observe the Lord's table as symbolic representations, the
bread representing his holy humanity, the wine representing his holy
blood. They're symbolic representations
of the sacrifice of the Passover, Christ Jesus, our Redeemer, who
was portrayed in that Old Testament Passover. And our Lord Jesus
is in exactly the same way, the fulfilling of all Old Testament
types, so that there are no ceremonial, physical representations of worship,
carnal ordinances, the scripture calls them, carnal ordinances,
to which we are obliged. But hear me, we are absolutely
forbidden to engage in them. We're absolutely forbidden to
engage in them. I have a lot of friends who are
for you who don't know, that means they sprinkle babies and
call it baptism. And they continue the practice of circumcision
from their own lips, they say so. For they say that baptism
is the New Testament equivalent of circumcision. Oh, no. Oh,
no, no, no. No, no. Circumcision had nothing
to do with baptism. Circumcision is a picture of
the new birth. It's a picture of the new birth. The only reason
folks sprinkle babies and call it baptism is because they've
still got a remnant of papacy left over, and they refuse to
give it up. But we don't worship our God with carnal ordinances.
Our baptism, our confession of Christ, is a picture, our Savior
says, of the fulfillment of righteousness, the accomplishment of redemption
by the death, burial, and resurrection of our substitute, but more,
by our death, burial, and resurrection with and in union with our substitute. Our Lord Jesus tells us by the
writer of Hebrews, these things were A shadow of good things
to come all the ceremonies of the law and then it says when
our savior came And said lo I come to do thy will oh god. He taketh
away the first He taketh away the first What's that mean? What's that mean? If you read
that in a newspaper or if you read that in a comic book, you
know exactly what it meant It's taken away It's taken away All
the carnal ordinances of Old Testament worship are taken away. To re-engage in those things
today is the practice of idolatry. Judaism today is as much idolatry
as papacy is. It's just idolatry. We worship
God in spirit and in truth. We worship God by his spirit,
in our spirits, according to the truth, which is Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer. More than that. When our Savior
said it is finished. Now I want you to turn to this.
Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Brother Don Williams and I have
been friends for a long time. I think I just found out he thought
I was older than him. It shocked him to find out he's
older than me. But there's a reason for that.
His mother and dad were good friends of mine. Until recent years, all of my
friends were older. They're all gone now. So I'm the older friend.
But we were talking a little bit ago about a former pastor
he had that I went to school with, so strongly legalistic,
so hardly so, just as hardly so. And I feel for him. But I
want you to understand what the teaching of scripture is. When
our Lord Jesus died at Calvary, all the commandments of God were
fulfilled and finished. All the commandments of God were
fulfilled and finished. Romans 10 verse 4. Christ is
the end. Do you know what the word is?
It's exactly the same word that's translated finished in John 19
30. Christ is the finishing. Christ is the end. Christ is
the accomplishment. Christ is the fulfillment. Christ
is the period. Christ is the stopping point
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Now, here's your problem. You who do not know my God, here's
your problem. Here's the reason you don't believe.
You keep trying to do something to make yourself accepted with
God. That's the problem. You keep thinking that you're
not so bad that you need a substitute. You keep thinking you're not
so evil that you need a redeemer. I need him, but I've got some
things to offer God. And you keep trying to make up
with God. You keep trying to make up with God, performing
righteousness. As long as you do you'll be like
those Jews described in the preceding verses in Romans chapter 9 you
will stumble over the stumbling stone You'll stumble over the
very foundation stone on which we are built Christ Jesus you'll
trip over Christ crucified and fall into hell Because you will
not give up your righteousness You will not give up your righteousness
But Christ is the end of the law to everyone that believes.
Oh, Brother Don, are you saying that God's people are not under
the law? I wouldn't say that. I would never think of saying
such a thing. God said that. God said, ye are not under the
law, but under grace. And just in case you didn't understand
what he said, in the very next verse, Romans 6, 14 and 15, he
repeats it exactly. Ye are not under the law, but
under grace. But surely there's some sense
in which we're under the law. No, there's not any sense which
believe is under the law. God's people are not motivated
by the law. They're not in a covenant with the law. They're not cursed
by the law. They had no constraint by the
law. They don't live by the law. The love of Christ constrains
us. And we live under grace. We live by the grace of God.
The age of sonship has come. And the sons of God are no longer
subject to the tutelage and discipline of the law. Several years ago, I was preaching
down in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. I ran into a fellow
on my way to services in the elevator. He was going up as
we were coming down. And I thought I knew him. I hadn't seen him
since I was elderly in the sixth grade. I hadn't failed any grades.
How old are you, 11 or 12? I can't remember. 12 years old. I hadn't seen him since I was
12 years old. He was my sixth grade teacher. And I said, you're not
Bob Spencer, are you? He stuck up my hand. He said,
I sure am. I said, you won't remember me. I'm Don Fortner.
He said, oh, I remember you. And we got to be friends. He
came to hear me preach a number of times. His wife came to visit
us in Danville a number of times. Just dear, dear friends. He's
still living. But I used to be afraid of that man. He had his
right arm withered from polio, just a little stump of a hand
and arm. It always has been that way since
I've known him, but strong. And I was 12. One day. He caught
me horsing around in school and took me by the belt, picked me
up, and shoved me into the wall. And I wound up sitting in the
library with my legs hanging out in the hallway. I was scared
of him. I was scared of him. But not anymore. Not anymore. When I was 12 years
old, if he took out the hose he used Take care of your backside
and wore me out with it. If my mother found out about
it, I just got another one. He had complete authority, complete
power, both by law and by parents to do so. And I was helpless
to stop him. And if he took it out, all I
could do is take it. All I could do. I was scared of him. But
he wouldn't dare think about doing that now. He doesn't have
any authority. He doesn't have the rights. He
doesn't have the power. Can't do it. Can't do it. Because
he's no longer my master. I'm no longer his pupil. I'm
free from his law. Hear me now. Hear me now. God's
people, believing on the Lord Jesus, are free from the law. What does that mean? Those who
give from a willing heart generously don't need a law to compel them
to pay a tax of 10%. They just don't need it. Those
who rest in Christ don't need to be ordered to keep a Sabbath
day. Our lives are a perpetual Sabbath. We rest in Christ. And Paul tells
us plainly not to keep Sabbath days. Don't do that. If you keep
a Sabbath day, you can't rest in Christ. If you rest in Christ,
you don't have to keep the Sabbath day. Those who love Christ Don't
need the ball and chain of the law to make them do what's right
for the glory of God. Don't even talk to God's people
about law works. Don't talk to them about it.
Well, it's not that we're in the law. We live like this to
show our love for the Lord. I tell you what, try this on.
Try this on. I'm gone a lot. Over the past
46 years we've been married, I've been away from my wife more
nights than I've been with her. I travel a lot preaching. Just
suppose, now y'all bet, Shelby, she's little but she packs a
wallop. Just suppose I were to suggest to her, now honey, I'm
going to be gone for a few weeks, and I went and found this chastity
belt, and I know you're not going to run off with another man,
but I would like for you to wear that while I'm gone just to prove
your love for me. She'd beat me to death with that chastity
belt. Rightly so. Rightly so. God's people are
not under the law, and I'm not going to tolerate it. I'm not
going to tolerate it. We're free in Christ Jesus. Here's another
thing. When our Savior cried, it's finished.
He declared that he had perfectly accomplished redemption for his
people. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. When he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained,
having gotten in his hand eternal redemption for us. Wait a minute,
I thought you said it was done. I did. Redemption is a big, big,
big, big word like salvation. When we use the word salvation,
we tend to point to a time and place that's when I got saved.
Well, if you need to do that, something's wrong with you. You
probably still need to get saved. But salvation is not the time
when you believed or when God gave you life. That's just when
you begin to experience salvation. Salvation takes in the whole
of the work of God from eternity. Till time shall be no more when
he presents us faultless before the presence of his glory with
joy. That's God's salvation. The same
thing is true of redemption. Redemption is the complete deliverance
of our souls from sin, and death, and hell, and Satan, and all
the consequences of the fall. Complete deliverance by the purpose
of God, by the purchase of Christ's blood, and by the power of God's
Spirit. Christ, when he finished his
work, sat down in heaven and took in his hand as the man,
our Savior, our God, redemption for us in our name, in our room,
in our stead. And it is an inheritance. The
scriptures tell us in Ephesians 1, 11, we have already obtained
in him. The debt was paid. That means
the debtors are discharged. Atonement was accomplished. Propitiation
was made. Reconciliation between God and
his covenant people was complete. He perfected forever them that
are sanctified. He had now annihilated the sins
of his people, conquered Satan and defeated death. so that the
cup of God's wrath was drained. With one tremendous draft of
love, he drank damnation dry. Oh, child of God, God help you
to get hold of this. Look up here. I know what it
is to be terrified of God. Do you know what that is? to
be terrified of God, terrified of God. And I know what it is
to anticipate dying any minute with no fear and no dread and
no terror, with no shake in my soul, with no quiver in my heart. How can that be? You're not that
good. Yes, I am. I'm just that good. With his
spotless garments on, I'm as holy as God's own son. And God Almighty, the triune
Jehovah, has no reason, has no reason to be angry with me. He has no reason to be angry
with me. But what about things you do? Christ died for our sins
before ever we committed them. God forgave them before ever
we came into this world. Past, present, and future. And this is what the psalmist
said when he wrote about it. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute sin. the blessedness of that man to
whom God will not impute sin When our Savior cried it is finished.
Here's the result of it. That's the second thing The Lord God Almighty Opened
up a way of access for sinners to come to God When our savior died at Calvary,
the scripture tells us when the earth shook, the veil in the
temple, that thick, thick, thick, we think about it like this,
wasn't that, it was probably 12 to 18 inches thick. That thick
veil separating the holy place from the holy of holies was ripped
in two from top to bottom. Behind that veil for 2,000 years,
no man was allowed to go except once a year. on the day of atonement. The high priest would go in behind
that veil with blood of atonement and he would make atonement for
the sins of the people. He would take off his gorgeous
priestly apparel and put on his linen garments and take the blood.
Folks have said he had those pales of pomegranates around
the hem of his garment so that if he dropped dead in the Holy
of Holies, somebody would know he had died because the bells
weren't ringing anymore. He didn't have that thing on when he went
in there. He took that off. He had no possibility of him
dying in there. He went in with blood. that God swore he would
accept, Pastor. And he walked in there, offered
the blood, and made atonement. He came back out, and he put
on those holy priestly garments again, and came out to bless
the people in the name of the Lord. Now, when Christ, our great
high priest, with his blood entered into the Holy of Holies. When
he entered in and sprinkled blood on the mercy seat, I don't mean
literally, I'm talking about he accomplished redemption and
blessed his people. The veil in the temple was ripped
open and this is what God says by Christ crucified, sinners
come and welcome. Sinners come and welcome. Would
God really save a wretch like me? Behold Jesus Christ crucified Behold the Lamb of God. This is what he says This is
the father's will that sent me that of all which he has given
me I should lose nothing and Everyone that the father gives
me shall come to me and him that cometh unto me and Him that cometh
unto me, I will in no wise cast out. Come to God by faith in
Christ Jesus, and the Savior says you're His. I will in no
wise cast out. Believe on the Son of God, and
eternal life is yours. And the Savior says I will in
no wise cast out. Somebody says, well, how can
I come to Him? I've read a lot of books on that.
And I've heard a lot of sermons on that. And most of them are
wrong. I'll tell you how to come to
Him. Any way you can. Any way you can get to Him. Come
on to Christ. Believe on the Son of God. Believe on the Son of God. Believe on the Son of God. And
life eternal is yours in Him. Because of His finished work.
God sends his spirit, the promise of God to those who are redeemed
by his precious blood. So that every sinner bought by
blood shall at last be brought to God. Truth and justice make
it plain. Jesus did not die in vain. None for whom the Savior bled
can be severed from their head, called by grace, kept forever. Jesus is a mighty Savior. God give you grace now to come
to him. This I know. If God gives you
grace now to believe him, it's because for you Christ died at
Calvary and cried, it is finished. And let me talk to you briefly
about the experience of it. I had put down a lot of things
in my preparations today. I'm going to skip all of them
and give you just One thing with regard to the experience of it.
It was written by John Newton a long time ago. In evil long,
I took delight, unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck
my sight and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on
a tree in agonies and blood. He fixed his lankward eyes on
me as near his cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath
can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. My conscience felt and owned
the guilt and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins, his blood had
spilt, and helped to nail him there. A second look he gave,
which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom
paid. I die that thou mayest live. Thus while his death my sin displays
in all its blackest hue, such is the mystery of his grace it
seals my pardon to. Finished. The work was done when
the Savior died. The work was done when he cried,
it is finished. But you know nothing at all about
it until you experience it by the power of his grace. Now,
you can't much tell it from my accent, so I have to tell folks
everywhere I go, I'm a Southerner. And I like that. Now, if I wasn't
Southern, if I couldn't be Southern, I'd at least be ashamed. I'm
a Southerner. But back during the days of the Civil War, they
didn't have email, and they didn't have cell phones, and they didn't
have All the conveniences we have, it took a long time for
word to get around. A long time ago, I was preaching
over Appomattox, Virginia, and I had to go to Appomattox Courthouse.
I just had to go. It's a shameful place. It's where
Lee surrendered to Grant, and the armies of the Confederacy
surrendered to the Union armies. But that didn't get around very
quickly. I can just picture. I've seen
it in movies. John Wayne movie, I forgot which
one it was now, but some Union soldiers came up and Confederate
soldiers sprang on them with nothing but rocks. And they killed
some before they could even stop this. Don't you know the war's
over? And the fellow said, what? The
war's over. Mr. Lee signed surrender three
days ago. Can you imagine what joy They
found in their hearts, when they found out, the war's over. It
had been over for a while, but they didn't know it. Now we can
go home. Now we can drop our rocks. Now
we can go back to our land. Oh, sinner, hear me. It is finished. The warfare is over. The Lord
God says, declare to my people her iniquity's pardoned, her
warfare's over. She received of the Lord's head
double for all her sins, forgiven and made righteous in Christ
the Lord. God give you grace to believe
it. Well, why? Why did Christ die
such a death? I'll give you two reasons. Number
one, There's no other way for God
to save sinners. There's no other way for God
to justify the ungodly. Christ died in our stead under
the wrath of God, bearing our sins in his own body on the curse
tree, that God might in justice justify me. It is a righteous thing for God
to forgive me. It is a just thing for God to
pardon sinners. It is a legal thing for God to
forgive transgressors because Christ has died. And if Christ
died for me, it would be unjust of God not to forgive me. Christ
died because there's no other way for God to receive sinners.
If righteousness could come by the law, if righteousness could
come by something you do, then Christ died for nothing. Here's
the second reason. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 46 years ago, I had pretty well
convinced that pretty blonde I'm married to was going to say
yes when I asked her to marry me. This makes it 47 years ago. And I went to the jewelry store,
and I was looking for a ring for her. Wasn't much, the best
I could do. And the fella showed me a diamond
ring. And it didn't look like much, frankly, in the case. But
he pulled it out and put it on a piece of black velvet. And
he laid that, that velvet was big. And he laid that little
ring right there on that velvet. And he stood back to get out
of the way of that bright, bright spotlight shining right down
on it. And he held it up like that. And showed all the sparkles
in it. And you know what he was doing?
He was commending the ring to me. It looks best against this
backdrop in this light. Why did Christ die for us? God commendeth His love to us. And while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. That's why He died. That's why
I died, because of his indescribable, infinite love for my soul. He redeemed me. Oh, may God grant
you the blessed, sweet experience of his grace and redemption by
the blood of his son. Amen.