There's a line that's been drawn
through the ages. On that line stands an old rugged
cross. On that cross, a battle is raging. On one side are the demons. ? The angels of glory ? ? Can they
be under our prophecy ? ? The sun paid his ends to shine
? ? For their names got sung in the darkness ? ? And then
through the darkness he cried out to God ? it is it is and Jesus of my own making. I didn't know that the war had
been won. And I heard that the king I had fought all my battles for
me. And that victory was mine for
the claiming. sing it with me With me here to John 19, and
let's begin reading in verse 28. John 19 verse 28, it says, After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
said, I 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. That's good, isn't
it? It is finished. It is finished. I want to tell you a story that
I believe those of you who attend here in Sellersburg will very
much enter into. When did you get into this building? Was it last year or the year
before? 21. OK. 21. We got into our building
in 22, the first Sunday of June. in 22. That's the first time
we met in that building. We spent three years working
on that building. And some of the reason was COVID. It shut everything down. But
most of the reason is, we didn't hire much out. We worked on it
ourselves. We didn't work Monday through
Friday. We were weekend warriors. And You know, every Saturday
we had a workday and whoever could come that day would show
up and the ladies would take turns bringing us lunch. All
right? Well, right there at the end,
just before we got into our building, we were looking at things and
we had a workday scheduled and I was talking to the guys who,
you know, knew more than I did. And they were saying, well, this
is done, and this is pretty well done. So we realized we don't
need to have a work day. And I texted one of our ladies
who was scheduled to bring lunch to us on that particular Saturday. And I told her, I really appreciate
it. But after looking at everything,
we're not going to have a work day. There's nothing for us to
do. And you know, you don't need
to prepare this, you don't need to bring lunch. Her reply to
me, her words in her text were, she said, well this is a first!
Exclamation point. And what she means by that was,
this is the first Saturday that we don't have a work day. This
is the first Saturday where we don't have to all spend our day
working. And I responded to her, I said,
I know, it's kind of nice, isn't it? Exclamation point, exclamation
point. And she said, yes it is, exclamation
point, exclamation point, exclamation point. And for a minute there
we had a little back and forth just glorying in it being finished. It's finished. Well, I got to thinking about
that, and I got to thinking about the reality of our situation,
okay? And it brought an illustration
to my mind of the difference in man's works and God's works. The difference in false religion,
idolatry, lies, error, A false hope of salvation. And the truth
of God's Word. The truth of God's Gospel. The only truth that actually
saves. The only truth that actually
saves. And that illustration and that
truth of our Kingsport Sovereign Grace's reality was this. When
our sister and I were rejoicing together over nothing to be done,
nothing to be done, we're done! You know, we were sending all
those exclamation points and all those smiley faces and all
that stuff. This is what that meant for us.
It meant we still had to have an inspection. That's where we
were. And I knew they were going to
find something. I knew it. And I knew we were
going to have to go back and fix it. And then we're going
to have to have another inspection. And then if it finally worked
out to where we got a CO, once we got the certificate of occupancy,
we're going to have to empty the other building and carry
all of our stuff over to that building. OK? And we were going to then have
to start maintaining the building we just built. We needed a sign by the road,
which one year and one month later, we still don't have. We
have a banner, but we don't have a real sign. I knew that we have a basement
in our building, and there's no staircase between the upper
and lower thing. It's just sealed off right now.
At some point, we gotta have a staircase. And the basement is studs and
insulation. At some point, we're going to
have to finish this entire basement. We don't have a kitchen. That's
going to be in the basement. OK? But it's finished. OK? We're done. Oh, it feels so good
to be done. Honestly. We're finished. We just still
need to finish it. That's the reality of where we
are. We're done, it just still needs to be done. We planted
all this nice shrubbery and landscaping that we've already started maintaining.
Cleaning this building. Monday, two of those men are
gonna meet me at the church and we're gonna go through and make
a list of things that need to be done. Now, I'm telling all of us, that
is false religion. That is false religion. It claims a finished work that
is not really done. It claims to rejoice. Everybody
is all excited up there. They get that old time religion
and they rejoice over a finished work that is not really finished. It claims a salvation that is
not actually accomplished. That's no salvation at all. If
it's not really accomplished, it is no salvation at all. If I have to work to maintain
my finished work, then it's not a finished work. Honestly. With man, it will never be a
finished work. Are you still working on this
building? That's what religion's doing.
They're working on a building. With man, it'll never be finished.
If it's not a finished work, there's no hope for man. Charles
Spurgeon said, if I were standing at the threshold of heaven, if
Christ did everything that had to be done, but that last step
was up to me, he said, I would never make it in. I'd never make
it in. If Christ did not finish the
work, start to finish, there's no hope for us. There's no hope
for us. It's impossible for man to finish
the work. It's impossible. Man will try,
and he will try, and he will work, and he will work, and it
will never be finished. Thank God, God's ways are not
man's ways. Thank God. When God says, it
is finished, it's finished. I mean it's finished. All right,
now just hold on for one second here. Let's just think about
this. Christ said he finished the work of salvation, but let's
make a list. That's what we did, that's what
we're still doing. All right, let's make a list.
What else really has to be done for us to enter into true rest. What else still has to be accomplished
for us to enter into true rest? Let's make a list here. I mean it's finished. To cry that salvation is finished,
but there's still a work that needs to be done. is to call
God a liar. God said, it's finished, and
it is. Now let's take notice of some
of the things that Christ finished when he said, it is finished,
okay? Turn with me if you would to
Romans 10. This is such good news to me,
honestly. This is such good news. If God
will let us get a hold of this, this will be such good news to
us. Romans 10 verse 1 says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge, and that is the problem for so many people. They have
a zeal of God. They do. But they're not truly
worshipping Him according to the truth of what He has said
in His Word. What has He said in His Word?
It is finished. That's what He said. Verse 2,
I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. What does that mean, righteousness?
That means rightness. It means correctness. It means
obedience according to the law. Verse 3 says, they being ignorant
of God's correctness, God's obedience according to the law, and going
about to establish their own correctness, their own obedience
to the law, have not submitted themselves unto the correctness
and obedience of God. Verse 4 says, for Christ, why
did Christ come? What did Christ do? What is the
good news concerning Him? Christ is the end of the law. Christ is the fulfillment of
the law. Christ is the correctness of
the law. Christ is the obedience of the
law. Christ is. We're always looking
at this flesh. We're always looking at this
flesh, worried, saying, God's not going to be happy with me.
God is not going to be happy with me. I tell you this, I'm
not even happy with me. How could God be happy with me?
Really, I'm not happy with me. As long as He's looking at me,
He can't be. He can't be happy. But if I'm
in Christ, if I'm in Christ, He's not looking at me. That's
what you said last night. If I'm in Christ and if Christ
is in me, He's not looking at me, He's looking at Christ. This
is the glory and the beauty of the Gospel. Somebody else. God the Father is looking at
Christ's correctness, Christ's obedience to the law. And when
Christ said, it is finished, what He was saying was, I have
fulfilled the law for you. I have satisfied the law for
you. I have fulfilled and finished
correctness for you. In me, God is happy with you. That's just, this is the truth.
In Christ, God is happy with you. That's true. Take a break. Take a break. Have a seat. Sit down. God has. The work is over. It is finished. It's over. Look with me at Romans
8. Romans 8, if you look at the
end of verse 9, it says, The Spirit of Christ. This is speaking
of the Spirit of Christ Himself. And to understand this a little
more clearly, every time we read the Spirit here, I'm going to
say Christ. The Spirit of Christ, okay? So, Romans 8, look at verse
3. It says, For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, and that
means by a sacrifice for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after Christ. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after Christ,
the things of Christ. For to be carnally minded is
death. but to be Christ-minded is life
and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh,
but in Christ. If so be that the Christ of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, He's none of His. And if Christ be in you, the
body's dead because of sin, but Christ is life because of righteousness. Somebody says, well, now you're
going to have to have a righteousness to stand before God. That's right. And Christ said, He's finished.
He's finished. Turn with me to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 11, it says,
Every priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes
the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. They just
keep working and working and working and working. Verse 12
says, But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Perfected
forever them that are sanctified. When Christ said it is finished,
what he was saying was, in my blood, By the one sacrifice of
myself to God on your behalf, you are forgiven. Your sins are
purged. They are gone. Your sins are
gone. That's what he was saying. It
is finished. Your sins are gone. Verse 17 right here says, and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. They have
to not be there for God to say that. They have to not be there
for the all-knowing God to say that. You say, how could they
not be there when I'm still committing them? How could they not be there
when I'm still committing them? Christ said, from the cradle
to the grave, all of your sins, all the sins of the life of His
people, cradled to the grave, all your sins have been washed
away in my soul-cleansing blood. By my blood remission has been
made. That means release from the bondage
of it. In my blood you have been released
from the bondage of your sin, given liberty. Set free. And he said, it's not on you
anymore. It was on me. It was on me. Removed from you,
laid on me, and I put it away forever. Look here at Hebrews
9 verse 12. It says, Hebrews 9 verse 12. It says, Neither by the blood
of goats and calves, But by His own blood He entered in once
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And I love this verse. Look at
verse 28. It says, So Christ was once offered to bear the
sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear
the second time without sin. Unto salvation. It is gone. When our Lord cried,
it is finished, what He was saying was, your correctness is finished. Your forgiveness is finished. Now look with me at one more
here. Go to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1 verse 6, To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. Your acceptance is finished. Your acceptance is finished.
By the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, we already have acceptance
with God. We already have it. Look at Ephesians
2 verse 6. It says, And hath raised us up
together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Hath. He's already done it. Already
done it. We are already seated with Him. You hear this for the first time
or you hear it for the 10,000th time and you say, I don't understand.
I don't understand how this could be. In my flesh, I don't either. But God said that's how it is
and therefore that's how it is. That's how it is. In Christ, our righteousness,
our goodness, our obedience is finished. Our forgiveness, our
appeasement, our satisfaction is finished. Our holiness, our
worthiness, our acceptance is finished. So what does that leave
for us to do? What does that leave for us to
do? We're going to make a little list here. What does that leave for us to
do? Concerning us, here's the question. Concerning us, what
did Christ leave undone? Concerning us, what did Christ
leave undone? Nothing. What did you say takes the load
off or takes the something? I don't know. It takes the pressure
off. Doesn't that take the pressure
off? That takes the pressure off.
Well, now you add this and that, but He said this and I go, hold
on now. No! Nothing. Nothing. He left nothing undone. People
say, well, if I believed that, I'd be the greatest sinner on
this earth. I already am the greatest sinner on this earth,
and He overcame that the first time. And it's finished. Rest. He came here, He did the
work, He left nothing undone. Rest. Rest. How many scriptures
are there that say it's not by our works, it was by His, and
He finished all the work that the Father gave Him to do. Rest. Rest. I want to close with Hebrews
4. Turn with me if you would to
Hebrews chapter 4. Our Lord said that if this truth
of the finished work of Christ was ever revealed to a man or
a woman, He said it will set that man or woman free. That's
what He said, it will set that man or woman free. Free from
the bondage of the law, free from the bondage of sin, and
they will rest in the freeing liberty that's in Christ. The
Lord set us free. That's the prayer. The Lord set
us free. Reveal this truth to us and give
us rest and set us free. Look with me right here in Hebrews
4 verse 9. It says, There remaineth therefore
a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he hath also ceased from His own works as God did from
His. Now I love verse 11. I think
this is about one of the most interesting verses I've ever
read. Let us labor, therefore. That means work, work hard, try
hard to do what? Sit still. Hard as you can. Every time you
have an inkling to move a muscle, fight it. Let us labor therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief. That means trust Christ. He said it's finished. It's finished. I pray God will give us rest
in those three words. It is finished. Thank you, brother. All that good news. It's finished. Oh, Brother Maurice, that hit
me in the heart when I was young. Go sit underneath the shade tree
and eat a ham sandwich. Calm down. It's done. It gets
better than that. That doesn't get old. And that's true. It's finished. What is? How long do we need
to explain what's finished? Can we exhaust it? It can never
happen. Never can. Turn to John 14. And I know,
the Lord, I believe He's sent His Spirit here this weekend.
And it's good. And I'm happy. But every one
of us has a Monday morning coming. I always tell our folks, there's
going to be a Tuesday morning at 927 AM. That's coming. And I'm going to forget. I'm
going to have to be told again. I'm going to get fearful and
troubled. I want to tell you about the
way to the place for troubled people. The way to the place
for troubled people. Our Lord had just told Peter,
He was talking to those eleven for several chapters here in
John, all in that same evening. And He just told Peter, Peter
said, I'll never forsake you. I'll die for you. I'll lay down
my life for you. I'm with you. And He said, before
that cock crow, you're going to deny me three times. He was telling the truth wasn't
he? He says in John 14 verse 1. He's speaking here to Peter,
but he's speaking to those other ten, and boy he's speaking to
us too. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go in that hour, on that cross, I go to prepare
a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, you may be also. And whether I go, you know, and
the way you know. I'm so thankful for Thomas. Thomas
saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest. How can
we know the way? Jesus said unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. If ye had known me, ye should
have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him
and have seen him. These apostles, those 11 are
sitting there with their Lord on that night as that hour comes.
And their hearts were troubled. A man told me one time, I said,
somebody that's a Christian ought not have a troubled heart. I
said, well, I'll not. I sure do to you. That's our experience. We have
heart trouble. And we have life trouble and
car trouble and all those things, air conditioning trouble, heart
trouble. Well, it has to give a new heart
for us to have heart trouble, don't it? They were troubled. They
thought this was going to take place here and what the Lord
was telling them. They believed what He said. They believed Him. They knew
the Lord. But they didn't know what was going on. They didn't
know how this was going to transpire, what was going to take place.
They thought He was going to build an earthly kingdom here. They were confused. They knew Him, but they didn't
understand what was going on. Is that me? Is that you? I know Him. What's He doing?
I don't know. I know what to tell my friend
of the day. I know what the Lord has done.
I don't know what he's going to do. I still live in this world. And they were troubled. They
were troubled. They were like, our brother preached
so not, they went out in that storm and arrow and here's professional
fishermen on the sea. And they're scared to death.
And what's what would go through my mind? Lord, I went where you
You constrained me to go. I'm doing what you told me to
do and this boat's sinking. They were troubled. Job believed,
but he didn't understand what the Lord was doing. He knew the
Lord and his children, gone. All his cattle, gone. All his
possessions, gone. All his servants, gone. Land,
gone. Everything. And he arose and it was troubled.
He rent his mantle. He tore his clothes off of him.
He shaved his head. He fell upon the ground, troubled. And in that trouble, it says,
and he worshiped. And he said, naked came I out
of my mother's womb, and naked I will return thither. The Lord
gave, the Lord's taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He was troubled. Later on, in Job 13, he says,
though he slay me. That ain't going to be a trip
to Camden Park. That ain't going to be a trip
to the amusement park. Though he slay me, yet will I trust
him. He believed, but he was troubled.
He was troubled. These disciples were troubled.
And the Lord told them. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. You want assurance? What if God
looked you in the eye and said, you believe in God? Would that
ease your troubles? He said, you believe in God.
believe also in me. I'm God. You know that. You believe me. You believe me.
In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so,
I would have told you. Many mansions. People are so
worried here on this earth about mansions. And they're so worried
about the great beyond mansions. about mansions, and they are
working so hard for these things, for these mansions. They work
so hard for the mansions here on this earth, and they are working
so hard for those mansions they thank are to come. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth,
he said, For other foundation can no man lay that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. If any man build upon this foundation
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble, You know what I can build upon
that foundation? Gold, silver, precious stones. I can take gold,
I can take silver, precious stones, and I can put fertilizer on them,
and I can water them, and that gold ain't gonna grow. It ain't. I can take wood, hay, and stubble,
I can fertilize that, put water on it, and that can grow. It'll
look like I did something. That's gonna burn. That's gonna
burn. What the Lord gives, what He
sustains, what He creates, that's what's lasting. He didn't do
it and it's going to burn. It won't be there. Mansions literally
mean dwelling places here. Residence, an abode. In the Father's
house there's a whole lot of room. How much room? Enough for the sands of the sea
that no man can number. There won't be an empty space
and there won't be nobody standing out in the rain. Therefore, I
can go to all the world and say, come to Him. There's corn in
Egypt. You ain't going to starve to
death Come on! He's faithful. Whosoever, come
to Him. But the Master says, I go, there
at the end of verse 2, I go to prepare a place. There's many
mansions, but I'm going to prepare a place. He didn't say I'm going
to prepare a mansion. He said the mansions are there,
I'm going to prepare a place. This is very important. We have
a place in our natural state. We got some rights to some property.
We have a place in our natural state born of Adam. In that first
Adam, we have a place. That's what they spoke about
of Judas there in Acts 1. And they were praying. They said,
Lord, you know the hearts of all men. Show us who you've chosen
to take this place of Judas. They said that he may take part
of this ministry and apostleship from which Judas, by transgression,
failed that he might go to his own place. That was Judas' place. He had a place to go. He went
to his own place. Jacob, he went and got Rachel.
And he served seven years for her. And he got Leah. And he
loved Rachel. So he served another seven years.
He finally got Rachel. And then he stuck around a little
longer. And his wages got changed ten times. And whatever kind
of sheep could come out, that was the kind he wasn't allowed
to have. On and on and on. And he was finally getting out
of there. Going to his home. And his father-in-law Laban come
with him. Pursued him. The Lord said, don't you touch
him. Don't you touch him. So he came and he said, I've
decided not to touch you, Jacob. How kind of you, Laban. But Laban
rose up early in the morning when he knew he couldn't have
Jacob and his family back. He kissed his sons and his daughters
and he blessed them. And Laban departed and returned
unto his own place. He had a place. Job had three
miserable comforters, didn't he? His three friends. They heard
all this evil that was come upon him and they came, everyone,
from their own place. Outside of Christ, All of Adam's
offspring, everybody born of man, we have our own place. Outside of Christ we have a place.
The average person thinks that this earthly carpenter was going
to heaven to build a subdivision and pave streets of gold and
fashion some pretty chandeliers and hang some gates out of precious
stones. No, that's not what he's talking
about. The preparation of this place, we just saw the place
that natural man comes from and goes to. The place he went to
prepare, that's a place of acceptance in the sight of a holy God we
offend. To prepare this place, this acceptance
in the sight of the Father, it took the Lord Jesus Christ's
obedience. That's what it took. Not our
obedience, not our doing. It took His finished work. He
had to do it. Be born of a woman, just like
us. Can you imagine that? Somebody says they can explain
that, run from them. The Almighty Godhead in a body came to this
earth, was born, grew in stature and understanding. He learned
obedience that He performed. And this was His obedience, His
righteous, the acts of a holy nature. Perfect, sinless perfection
for us. And he took that obedience and
he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Never
opened his mouth like a sheep before shears is done. Why? Because
he was guilty because it was my guilt. It was yours wasn't
it? He bore that in his body on a
tree. And God punished God. He saw,
I was telling our folks that his face was marred. His mother
didn't even, his vision was marred beyond comprehension. His mother
didn't know who he was. And I've seen these people marred pretty
bad. And I thought about that a lot. And I thought, it wasn't
just he was beat up, he was swelled, and he was cut, and he had some
bruising. He looked like me in the sight
of the Father. By one man's disobedience, I
was made sin. That's what I was. It was imputed, it was imparted,
and it was enacted. I wish enacted started with an
I. It'd be real nice to write that down. I did it. He did it. I did it. I did it in him. It
was given to me. It's mine. Any way you cut it, it's mine,
my disobedience. By one man's disobedience, I
was made sin. And by the obedience of another,
I was made. Righteous. Frank said that the
other night. It wasn't like a coat, where
it's a robe of righteousness, but it ain't one size fits all.
You go down to Walmart and, well, if you don't want it, I can give
it to this one. It was made, made righteous. He made that
place of acceptance, a place of righteousness, a place of
holiness, a place of glory, a place of eternal rest in the presence
of God. Restoration isn't it? By His
obedience, by His death, by His resurrection, His intercession
now. He ever lives to intercede for
us. That is to prepare a place for
me and a place for you that believe. By nature we have a place, it's
hell. And this place prepared by the Holy One of Israel. It's
a place of God's favor. That's what we fell out of. Probably every second of my mind
isn't totally concentrated to Him. We have a place of favor
in the sight of God. Outside of Christ, He's angry
with the wicked every day. I heard a man tell me one time,
he said, I think the time and place for fire and brimstone
is gone. I think it's more needed now
than it's ever been. There's a bunch of people walking
around this world thinking everything's okay. No, it ain't! God's holy. We ain't. We've offended him.
We can't do nothing about it. We're dead. We're crippled in
both feet. But God, Christ came and lived for his people and
died for his people and ascended for his people. He's talking
about coming out of that tomb. Neatly folded those grave clothes.
He wasn't in no hurry. He knew exactly what he was doing.
For us. We're not born in God's favor.
We're born of trespasses and sins. Look at verse 3, John 14,
3. And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Where
I am, there you may be also. If he doesn't go, the Holy Ghost
ain't going to come tell us anything. That's what the scriptures say,
isn't it? Why? There's no good news to declare. There's no place
prepared. There's nothing finished. There's
nothing accomplished. He has to go. This has to come to pass. It says in verse 4, Whether I
go, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we
know not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way?
How can I know the way? What's that? Need. Thomas was
expressing a need, isn't he? I need the way. I don't even
know where it is. I don't know nothing about it. You don't have to tell me. Ain't
that wisdom? They said, poor Thomas, don't
know. That's wisdom. You don't have to tell me. Jesus said unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. What's the context? Everybody
says, well, he's the way, the truth, and the life, so you don't
bumper stick or something like that. What's the context of that? I'm going
to prepare a place. We got a place. of our own, He
would prepare a place for us, a place of acceptance. The way,
the truth, and the life. We're going to have to have a
way to get there. It's going to have to be in truth, it can't
be pretend. And that life's going to be eternal. Can I look at
those backwards with you? If you go take Ephesians 1, start
there in verse 9, and work your way backwards, that's the way
we experience it, isn't it? The Holy Spirit abounds towards
us. I always say, like a linebacker you can't get away from. charges
you. And he gets a hold of you and
says, wait a second, reveal some things to you. Who's this Christ
that redeemed me? That purchased me? Why'd he do
that? Well, the Father purposed it.
You work your way back to Ephesians. Let's work this backwards. Real
quick, I'll be brief. The life, the truth, and the
way. The Lord said, I'm the life. Adam lost a lot in the garden.
A whole lot. This earth was without thorns
and thistles crabgrass, bugs that eat your tomatoes. He lost more than that. There's
three things that stand out what was lost in that garden. The first way was life. Turn
back to Genesis chapter 2 if you want to look with me. Life
was lost in the garden. Here in Genesis 2, verse 15.
Genesis 2, 15. And the Lord God took the man
and he put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep
it. That's before the fall. We had a work life then too.
We sat around in hammocks and drinking umbrella drinks. Adam
dressed it and kept it. And the Lord God commanded the
man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely
eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not
eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt
surely die. That's what he said. That's so,
and I want to be as plain as I can, he ain't lying. The Lord
said it, he ain't lying. Then we get confused, don't we?
One of the biggest hindrances to mankind being us not understanding
spiritual death is that we're physically breathing. How could
I be spiritually dead? I'm alive. We died in that garden. Adam ate it, so I didn't die.
You died spiritually. You died spiritually. That's
what you lost. You lost life. That's what happened in the garden.
That's what happened when I was conceived and I came forth from
the womb speaking lies. Death, not life. Paul said in
Colossians 2, he said, and you being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision in your flesh, he's quickened together with
him and forgiven all your trespasses. Quickened, he gave life. We were
dead in trespasses and sins. We were dead. We lost life in
that garden. Our Lord said, the thief cometh not but for to steal
and to kill and to destroy. He goes, I am come. He came for
that hour is why he was come. He came to make that place for
us. I am come that They might have life. A good shipper came
to lay down his life for the sheep. And that they might have
it more abundantly. What about this eternal life?
It's whatever you can imagine, it's more abundant than that.
It's not just a garden and good fruit and you got all the corn
you can eat. More abundantly. Life was restored. He went to prepare a place. He's
the life. And he's the truth. He's the
truth. Look here in Genesis 3 verse
1. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat
of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, ye shall not surely die, your heart will keep ticking.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your
eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and
evil. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food and it was pleasant to the eyes and
the tree would be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit
thereof and did eat and gave it unto her husband with her
And he did eat. I thought about this a lot. Before
that happened, a lie had never been told. If the Lord went to
Eve and said, did he lie to you? Well, it's a lie. I don't even
know what that means. A lie had never been told, has
it? It wasn't really that Eve believed the lie, though that's
the action that she presented. She believed the serpent over
the word of the Lord. That's the problem. What's truth? Christ is truth. What's a lie? Anything else. Anybody else. He's so. He said down in verse
17, he told Adam, he said, I've done this because you hearken
unto the voice of your wife. That's the problem. You didn't
believe me. Truth evaporated from you. It's
gone. Look at verse seven. And the
eyes of them both were open, And they knew that they were
naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
aprons. Now we're lying with our covering. They never got
sunburnt, they never got cold. All of a sudden, buddy, guilty
conscience do some back crazy things. They're covering themselves,
fig leaves. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam
and his wife, they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord called unto
Adam and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, troubled, troubled,
because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told
you you was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree,
whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the
man said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave
me of the tree, and I did eat. Was that factual? Yeah, that's
a lie. Blame shifting. There's no truth
in it. Did you see what happened? Here
was a man that was morally innocent. Didn't even know what a lie was.
Keeping a guard. Walking with God in the cool
of the day and evening. Speaking with Him. Had the presence. In
favor with God. He had a place. In favor with
God. Sin entered. And now he's casting
blame and deceit. And he's self-promoting. He's
casting blame and deceit on God. Now he's charging God foolishly.
Remember what we read, I read to you about Job. He said, the
Lord gave, the Lord take away, bless me in the name of the Lord.
It goes on in the next verse, it said, in all this Job sinned
not, nor charged God foolishly. David wrote here in Psalm 58,
the wicked are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon
as they are born, speaking lies. We don't have to teach our children
how to lie. Nobody teach me that. I come from that fallen garden.
There's a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof
is the ways of death. There's no life, there's no truth,
but we only know the way. That's trouble. We're in trouble.
But God, we only know what truth is. James said, Of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. The word of truth. It occurred
in John 17. John 17 said, They are not of
the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through
thy truth. He's praying to the Father in
that high priestly prayer. Thy word is truth. God's words are true. That's
so. He said it. He ain't lying. We
may not understand it. We may not have a good handle
on it, but that's so. He said it's so. Just bow. and pray he'll
give you an understanding later. But his words are true because
he is true. He doesn't just say what is true.
If he says it, that makes it true. We'll figure it out later. If he's pleased to teach it.
If he says it, it's true. But we're given life. We're given
spiritual life by the word of truth. That word of truth. Who's the word? In the beginning
was the word. The word was with God and the
word was God. The same was in the beginning with God and all
things were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made. In Him was life. That's what we started with.
That's what we lost. Now He's life. And the life is
the light of men. And the light is the truth. Christ
shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. He's the
life. Christ is the truth. And He is
the way, so I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Did you
catch those definite articles? He's not a way, He's not a truth,
He's not a life. Well, that's a pretty good life.
He's not a life. The, the. We don't use this much anymore.
Potentate. That's not a authority, it's
the authority. He's the potentate of life and
truth and the way. But He's the way. He's still
in Genesis 3. Look here in verse 17. Genesis 3, 17. And unto Adam he said, the Lord spoke
to Adam, because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, thou
shalt not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake, and
sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns
and thistles shalt bring forth unto thee, and thou shalt eat
the herb of the field, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou
eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it wast
thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.
The Lord cursed the ground for his sake. He said, you're going
to sweat the rest of your life until you die to get bread. I'm
not just going to give it to you. In this body, in this body
of death. And then the Lord took those
fig leaves off. He made them coats of skin, and he clothed
them. We needed a covering. I heard a man gardening video,
a fella's talking, and he's half trying to preach while he's doing
it, but telling you how to garden. And he said, I looked out in
the woods, and he said, I noticed there's a covering on the ground.
And everywhere you scrape the ground, it's barren. It's the
sun burns it. But if there's a covering, then
things will grow. They'll be life. And I was like,
keep going, buddy. Poor fella, all he had was good
tomatoes. I wish I could have preached to him. The Lord made
a covering of him. He killed a lamb. A lamb had
to be slain. from the foundation of the earth
to cover our nakedness. Verse 23, therefore the Lord
God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, out. He went forth from
the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.
So he drove out the man and the place, how's he going to get
back? Is there a way? And the place at the east of
the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned
every way to keep the way of the tree of life. I can work
my way back. No, you can't. I can think my
way, I can reason this out. No, you can't. People say, even
Google or Wikipedia said, contrary to popular belief, cherubims
are not plump little white babies with wings. Bump into one of
them, buddy. Go read about it. And that's just the tool the
Lord uses to establish mankind can't come back to Him. There's
no truth in us, there's no life in us, and there's no way you
want to do it yourself. What are we going to do? What's
the way? I don't even know the way. He
said you believe in God, believe I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm
the life. That ain't complicated. Children
are saying, wait, how do I get outside? You go that way. You
have to be alive to go that way. And if I was lying to you, you
ain't going to make it. He's telling the truth. We can read
there in Numbers 22, God's anger was kindled because we went and
the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against
them. Now he was riding upon his ass,
and two servants were with him, and the ass saw the angel of
the Lord standing in thee way. And a sword was drawn in his
hand, and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went in the
field, and Balaam smote the ass and turned her into the way.
But the angel of the Lord stood in the path of the vineyards,
a wall being on this side, and a wall being on that side. It
was hedged about Balaam's trying to get in there. That angel of
the Lord stood in thee way. So that same way, because he
is our way, that we had no acceptance with God, no place of favor,
That exact power, that sovereignty, that wisdom, and it being just,
and He justifies us, that same power is what keeps our enemies
away from us. Eat your ham sandwich. It's fine.
It'll be all right. Sit down. The Lord's doing this,
isn't He? How are we going to go? How are
we going to know the way? How are we going to get to that way
of reconciliation, of restoration, of acceptance? We can't do it
ourselves. Zechariah said, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd.
That's the call. That's the call. Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall
be scattered, and I will turn my hand upon the little one.
And it shall come to pass that in the land, saith the Lord,
two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall
be left therein. And I will bring. I don't know
the way. I ain't able. I can't walk. I can't do nothing. I will bring
the third part through the fire, the way of fire. And we'll refine
them as silver is refined, and we'll try them as gold is tried. That ain't wood, hay, and stubble.
That's his business. They shall call on my name, and I'll hear
them, and I'll say, it's my people, and they shall say, the Lord's
my God. Did you do it? Nuh-uh, he did,
and I'm happy about it. You are too. Back in our text here in John
14. You know, a way is from one place to another place, isn't
it? You see what Christ has finished
for us? You see where we were? And the way He had to do everything,
where we're going to be, won't be long now, that fast. We'll
be with you. John 14.1 With that in mind, let not your
heart be troubled. Don't let your heart be troubled. If you believe in God, believe
also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. What a place that is. That's
where He is. Where He is, He's in totality.
And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto Myself that where I am, there you may be
also. Where is He? He's at the right
hand of the Father seated, isn't He? The right hand is the place
of acceptance, the place of love. That's where you are now and
you'll figure it out later. You realize we've been there
always because He's there, we're one with Him. Whether I go, you
know the way. Thomas said, Lord, we know not
whether thou goest, and how can we know the way? He said, I am
the way, I am the truth, the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should
have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know Him
and have seen Him. You've seen Him. That's who did
it. If all that stuff didn't suit
you to this point, who did it? He did. That's the person. That's the work. You get tired
of that? I don't. I was thinking of that
when Gabe was preaching. I was like, I might throw these
notes away. I swear I didn't set off that fire alarm. I was
trying to try and cure me and say, I didn't do this. But if
somebody stood up and said, I'm going to speak on an attribute
of the Lord, I'm going to talk about his omnipresence. That's a conviction
sentence to anybody else. God looks on the heart. But for
his people, he says, I'm with you always. Don't get tired. Tired ain't
nothing. He's prepared a place for us. He's the way. He's truth.
He's life. I hope that was a blessing to
you.