Well, good morning again, everybody. Jared was kind enough to read
our text. Turn back over to Luke chapter 3. When I was reading these first
six verses, this thing stood out to me. John's message. This was John's message. He preached
the baptism of repentance for or concerning the remission of
sins, and that caught my interest. And what I'd like to do today,
if the Lord would enable, I want to preach John's message. We have a preacher school in
Lexington. My pastor, he leads it, and he
made this statement recently and spoke to me. It was a blanket
statement to everyone. He said, he goes, never hesitate
to preach another man's outline. It's better than yours. That
was a good statement. In a manner of speaking, I pray
to do, I would do just that this morning. I want to preach John's
message to you. But I want to go verse by verse
and look at everything that's here. Now, the first two verses, let's reread
those real quick. Luke 3, pick up in verse 1. Pontius Pilate being governor
of Judea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip
Tetrarch of Iteria and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias
the Tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests,
plural. The word of God came unto John. In these first two verses, there
are five political figures that are mentioned. And I heard a
preacher refer to these men one time as the who's who in the
hall of shame. And if you read the history of
these men, they were desperately wicked men. They were just like
you and me, but they were desperately wicked men and they presided
over a desperately wicked generation. More on that, if you notice here,
how many high priests are there right now? There are two. From the Old Testament account,
how many high priests did the Lord prescribe? One. Why? Because that high priest,
he's typical, he's a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great
high priest. There is one, there is one man
who can come into the Father's presence and find favor, and
that is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one. You and I
can't come into the Father's presence the way we are. We will
be met with nothing but wrath. But our hope is this, that we
have a great high priest and we're in him, so much so that
when he comes into his Father's presence and he receives all
the blessings that his Father had to give, we're in him. and
we're blessed in Him. And favor is found on us in Him,
in our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. But there
is only one man who can step into the light of His Father's
holiness, and that's Christ. Now this thing of there being
two High Priests, this is very significant because it illustrates
the times very clearly. Just as there was now two High
Priests, the Jews had instituted another High Priest, they also
thought they had found another way to God. in sinful air through
their works. The whole nation had deported
from simple faith in the Messiah which was to come, and they had
turned to their works. Their faith was not in Christ,
in the Messiah. Their faith was in keeping feasts,
and honoring Sabbath days, and abstaining from that which would
be considered unclean. The religion of Jews had deteriorated
into nothing more than this, do and live. Salvation by works,
a broad path that always leads to destruction. But in the midst
of all this darkness, the Lord holds true to his word, and he
doesn't leave this generation without a witness. The word of
God came to John. Now, John is a very special character.
Let me start by saying this, that John was a sinner, just
like you and me, no different. But he was specially used by
God. He was a special man. He bridged a gap. John was the
last Old Testament prophet, and he was the first New Testament
preacher. And I can't help but notice where
John is at when the Word of God comes to him. He is not in a
seminary. He is not out trying to build
his ministry, as we hear time and time again. He is in the
wilderness, alone in the wilderness. And folks, I'll tell you what,
this is the man I want to hear from. I want to hear a man where
the Word of God has come to him. And understand me when I say
this, I hope you will. That's the only thing I care about.
I don't care if our personalities match up real well or if I like
the guy all that much. All I care about, does this man
have a word from God? That's all that matters. That's
it. Now, what is John's purpose? Look at verse 4 of Luke 3. As
it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Now as most of
you probably know, the rest of our passage of scripture is a
quotation from Isaiah chapter 40. And we know from John 1,
verse 23, John tells us, I am that voice that's crying in the
wilderness. Isaiah 40, it speaks first and foremost of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But that voice crying in the wilderness, that's
the foretelling of John, no doubt. And this is John's purpose. Prepare
ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. What does
that mean? What does it mean to make his
paths straight? I actually looked at that group
of words. Effectively, you know what it means? It means to set
the record straight. Effectively, that's what that
group of words means. And we would be wise to stop here for
a moment and view this in the light of gospel preaching. John
had the same purpose every gospel preacher ever has had, to tell
the truth about who Jesus Christ is and how He saves sinners to
proclaim the truth and expose the error. And that was John's
purpose here. Now, what was John's message? Well, look at verse three. And
he came into all the country about Jordan preaching the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins. Now, John is called
John the Baptist. Why? Because he did just that,
he baptized. But John didn't just baptize,
he preached the baptism of repentance. What in the world does that mean?
What does it mean to preach the baptism of repentance? What I'd
like to do, turn over to Acts 19 and let's look at Paul's commentary
on John's message. Acts 19, look at verse 4. Then said Paul, John verily baptized
with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they
should believe on him which should come after him. That is on Christ
Jesus. In preaching the baptism of repentance,
John was preaching what every believer is confessing in believer's
baptism, simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone through
our union with Him. That's what John's message was.
That's what he was preaching. When we are immersed in the water,
what are we confessing? Confessing that when He lived,
when the Lord Jesus Christ lived that perfect life, and He honored
His Father's law in all things, and He walked all the paths of
righteousness, when we stand in that water, we're confessing
our only hope of righteousness is that we're in Him. And when
he worked out that perfect righteousness, it really is mine because I was
in him. When he walked the paths of righteousness,
I was in him. And that righteousness really
is my righteousness. There is one righteousness. It's
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that's my hope that I'm in
him and his is mine. When we are submerged all the
way under the water, we're confessing that when the Lord Jesus Christ
went to the cross, And when he was punished and when he died,
that's when I was punished. That's when my sins were punished
and that's when I died. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree and that's my hope. That my sins were lifted off
of me and they were put in him. And the wrath that was reserved
for me rained down upon him and he bled and died and put those
sins away. That's when I was punished. That's
when my sins were punished. That's when I died. And when
he was raised again, when we emerge out of the water, we're
saying when he was resurrected and brought back from the dead,
that's when I was resurrected. That's when I was brought back
from the dead. And what does that mean? That's so significant. What does
the resurrection of Jesus Christ teach us? It means the father
accepted his sacrifice, that we really are justified, that
we really are not guilty, that sins really have been put away
for every member of the elect and they are no more. You know
what that means? There is no reason for shame. There is no
reason for guilt. Sins have been put away, and
the Father accepted his son's sacrifice, and those sins are
no more. Now, baptism. Simple faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. If baptism represents faith, what always accompanies
faith? Repentance. Faith and repentance
are two sides of the same coin. The Lord never grants one without
the other. John preached the baptism of
repentance. Now, what is repentance? Repentance,
by simple definition, is a change of mind. A change of mind. And
what does the natural man need his mind changed about so desperately?
Many things. Many things. We need our minds
changed about who God is. about who we are, many things.
But chiefly this, John preached the baptism of repentance for
or concerning the remission of sins. This is what we desperately
need our minds changed about. How, why, and when God forgives
sins. Now any man who has any hope
of salvation whatsoever, he has a hope of this thing of the remission
of sins, of God forgiving his sins. And I don't have a better
way of saying it than this, but the natural man's got it all
wrong. He's got it all wrong. I'm gonna give you three cliche
statements that will probably fit into something you've heard
sometime in your life. Here's the first one. Listen
to this. If you just turn your life around
and do your best to be good, God will forgive your sins. He
will respond by forgiving your sins. Have you ever heard anything
similar to that? Everybody's like, yeah. Yeah, I've heard
something like that. Here's the first thing I noticed about that
statement. That is an impossible task. an impossible task. I'll give you the scripture for
this. Proverbs 21.4 says, the plowing of the wicked is sin. What more wholesome of an activity
could you ever think of other than plowing? A man trying to
plow the field and plant some vegetables to raise a garden,
probably the most wholesome activity a man could ever undertake, right?
Proverbs 21.4 says, the plowing of the wicked is sin, because
sin is not a behavior problem. It's a heart problem. It's a
nature problem. Genesis 6-5, God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil and that continually.
That's the truth about us. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. Everything I do, everything I touch, it's sin. It's sin because
of who I am, because of what I do, because of what I am. I've
got an old, wicked nature. If it comes from me, it's sin.
First, this is an impossible task. Second thing I noticed
in this scenario I've given you, where does the forgiveness of
sins fall? It falls at the end. It falls as God's response to
a man doing something by nature. That's how it falls. And that's
how the religion of this world will always pose the remission
of sins. God responding with forgiveness to what a natural
man does. That is salvation by works and nothing more. I'll
give you another scenario. If you'll just accept Jesus Christ
as your personal Savior, God will forgive your sins. Once
again, an impossible task. John 15-16, the Lord looked at
his disciples and said, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you. In this scenario, what they're
saying is a man must make a choice for God. By nature, we can't,
and we will not. Romans 8, 7, the carnal mind
is enmity against God. We have made ourselves the enemy
of God by nature, and by nature, we will not choose God. That's
why election is so necessary. It's absolutely necessary because
we know if he didn't first choose us, we never would have chose
him. Once again, in this scenario,
where does the remission of sins fall? falls at the end, right? God responding to a man invoking
the appropriate will. Salvation by works, nothing more.
Let me give you something more subtle, and you'll forgive me
if I can't remember the exact wording of this conversation
I heard this in, but I'm going to lay it out as simply as I
can. What if a man believes that of his own will and his own ability,
he has to muster the ability to believe. And he says, well,
once you muster the ability to believe on your own, God will
respond to you with the forgiveness of sins. He sees that you believe,
and he'll respond by forgiving your sins. Once again, this is
an impossible task. John 6, 44, no man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him, and I'll raise
him up at the end of the last day. You cannot believe by nature. I cannot believe by nature. It
is impossible. And once again in this scenario,
where does the forgiveness of sins fall? At the end. At the end of salvation, God
responding to a natural man's so-called faith. Now I want to
say a few things on this real quick and I want to be as clear
as I can. I want to start here. No man has any right to believe
the Lord has done anything for him apart from his belief in
the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Let's get that out of the way
first. But if a man believes that he came across that so-called
faith of his own will and his own ability, he's not looking
to Christ, he's looking to his so-called faith. His hope is
not in Christ. His hope is in his so-called
faith. And I want to say this carefully. My hope is not that
I believe the gospel. My hope is that Jesus Christ
stood as my surety before time began. My hope is he bore my
sins in his body on that tree and he bled and died and he did
it for me and I was raised again in him. That's my hope. My hope
is in Christ. Faith never looks anywhere but
Christ alone. It doesn't even look to itself.
Real saving faith. Now here's the truth. about the
remission or the forgiveness of sins. Here's the truth about
it. Salvation does not end, it begins. It begins with God, for
Christ's sake, freely, fully, and frankly, forgiving a man
of his sins. And everything we experience
after that is just the effects of God freely forgiving a man
of his sins for Christ's sake. Why do you believe? Because before
time began, Father freely forgave my sins for Christ's sake, because
he's the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world. And
in time, he gave me a heart that believes. Why do you repent? Because before the foundations
of the world were ever built, the Father freely forgave my
sins for Christ's sake. And in time, he changed my mind.
Why do you cry out for mercy? Because I've already been shown
mercy, long before I ever knew I needed it. Why do you love
God? because he first loved me, whom he did foreknow, whom he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he may be the firstborn among many brethren, because he first
loved me in Christ, and he freely forgave my sins for his sake.
And in time, he gives us a heart that loves him in return." Salvation
doesn't end with the forgiveness of sins. Salvation begins with
the free, full forgiveness of sins for Christ's sake. That's
the truth about the remission of sins. Now, somebody says, show me that
from the Scripture. I need a Scriptural reference
for that. Absolutely. I told you before the rest of
this passage is just an excerpt, a quotation from Isaiah chapter
40. And we can actually go back to Isaiah chapter 40 and look
at verse 1, and it tells us this point very clearly. So, turn
there if you would. Isaiah 40 and look at verse 1. Remember the statement, salvation
begins with the free forgiveness of sins. Isaiah 40, pick up in
verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her, that her warfare will be accomplished if she does
her part. Did I read that right? No, I didn't. And cry unto her
that her warfare is accomplished. Past tense. That her iniquity
is pardoned. Past tense. It's already been
pardoned. For she hath, past tense, received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Past tense. Tell her that. Tell
my people that. Tell them there's nothing left
to do, that there's no works left to perform, that I've already
done everything, that her warfare is accomplished. Who are her
enemies? Her sins and her iniquities? All those enemies have been put
away. They've been defeated enemies. Her iniquities have been pardoned.
You said, she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all
her sins. When did I receive it? When the Lord Jesus Christ
went to the cross. the baptism of repentance for the remission
of sins. We were in Him. And when He was
punished, that's when I was punished. That's when we received the Lord's
hand double. And she'd say, was the Lord Jesus Christ punished
more than was necessary for the sins of His elect? God forbid. He's a God of justice. He's a
God of holiness. No, what this means is complete
satisfaction has been made. She hath received the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. In foolishness and in error,
I constantly think this, and I can't help it, but I constantly
think this. When I get to Heaven, I'm going
to be there by the skin of my teeth, all just a barely scraped
through. Have you ever watched like an adventure movie, and
you see the hero, maybe he's running through a hole, and there's
a door that's coming down, right? And he's got to slide underneath
the door before it comes down, and that's how I feel. I'll just
barely slide in. Oh, that's wrong. That's wrong.
She hath received the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
Full satisfaction has been made. The door's wide open. Come on,
come on in. It's all already been done. Is
that joy your heart? That joy is my heart. Now, notice this though. This
message of comfort is not for everyone. It is for particular
people. Verse one says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. Now, am I one of these people? Am I one of these people he speaks
comfort to? Henry Mahan said this, he goes,
you can't speak comfort to a man whom the Lord has not already
comforted. We cannot speak peace to a rebel. But can I take this
home from me? Does he speak comfort to me?
Because if he does, I'm comforted. I'm comforted. I've got nothing
to worry about. And everything that happens between now and
the day of my death, whatever, I'm comforted. Am I one of these
people? How can I possibly know? These
people are commonly referred to in the Lord's word as his
sheep. And I want you to turn to a verse of Scripture, John
10, and look at verse 26. Who are these people that he
speaks comfort to? John 10, verse 26. But ye believe not, because you
are not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. Now there were seven markers
here. I pulled out of those verses
right there. Seven markers of these people, his people, his
sheep. Here's the first thing I noticed. There are chosen people.
There are sheep, and there are goats. There are wheat, and there
are tares. These sheep, they're a chosen people. And I love what
he says here. He says, but you believe not
because you are not of my sheep. He doesn't say you're not of
my sheep because you believe not. He says you believe not
because you're not of my sheep. Before the foundations of the
world were ever built, God elected a people whom he loved in Jesus
Christ. And he determined they would
be conformed to his image. And they were redeemed. They
were rescued. And it's all been done. But it's
for a particular people. Not everybody's a sheep. Number
two, they're hearing people. Hearing people, they've been
given ears to hear. They hear because they've been
given ears to hear. And what they hear, this gospel message,
it comes as good news to them. Now, this message of salvation
by free grace, grace alone, works excluded, that's good news to
one group of people, sinners. Grace is good news to a sinner
who can't provide anything, who can't bring anything good to
the table, that's good news to a sinner. This is bad news to
a man who seeks to be justified by his own works to the tune
of his own glory. But the sheep, this message of
free grace, come on, come on, free unmerited favor, that's
your grounds, that's great news to me, that's great news to me,
and it is to all the sheep. Third thing I noticed, there
are believing people, and this is the chief hallmark of the sheep. What they
hear, they believe. What do they hear? 2 Timothy
1.12, Paul says, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him
against that day. and every sheep. This is it.
We know whom we have believed. It's not a set of doctrines.
It's not a set of circumstances or facts. Our faith, our hope
is in a whom. This man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is in a whom. And I am persuaded, I am 100%
persuaded of this, that he is able. He's able to save me with
absolutely no help from me, simply as an act of His will, to the
tune of His glory, and I'm committed. I'm all in. I've got nowhere
else to go, and I want nowhere else to go. All my eggs are in
this one basket. I am totally committed to this
man. That's it. Now, this thing of His ability.
I love Paul's wording here, and I'll share this with you. I think
I've said it before. There are times, also in error, when I'll
sit there maybe by myself and I will think, is he willing to
save me? Is he willing? Look at everything
I've done and the evil imaginations that cross my heart. I can see
him saving my wife. I can see him saving my friends. Is he
willing to save me? And that's wrong. We should never
doubt the Lord's willingness to save a sinner. But Paul doesn't
address his willingness at all. What he says is, I am persuaded
that he is able. I believe, I know He is able
to save me with absolutely no help from me, simply as an act
of His will. And folks, that's faith. That's
saving faith. I am persuaded that He is able. There are believing people and
there are known people, or rather there are foreknown people. You
know what that means. These people are loved by God. You know, right now, if you believe
the gospel, If you're looking to Christ alone right now, and
this is a simple point but I'll never get over it, you have the
love of God. And the love of God is never
without effect. You can't get any more saved.
You can't get any more cherished by God. You have the very love
of God. There are following people. There
are two types of people. There are leaders, and there
are followers. There are those who are in command, and there
are those who are in subjection to those who are in command.
And we are a following people. We are in complete and utter
subjection to His will, and we love it that way. We stand before
the Lord. Hear my. Whatever you'll do with
me, it's just fine with me. You know what's best. You can
make me a ruler over a nation. You can make me a peasant. Whatever
you do, it's just fine with me because of who you are. You're
the sovereign. I sit in your hands. You can
do whatever you want. And we know this, too. We sit in His
hands in salvation. Every man does. We are in His
hands, and He can do with us as He sees fit. We are not owed
mercy. He can save us or He can damn
us, and it is right, just, and fair, whatever it is He does.
We've got no claims on God, but we beg, be merciful. Be merciful. And He is. We're a following
people, a lively people. They've been given eternal life.
What does that mean? I looked at that and I was like,
what does it mean to have eternal life? You know, these are words we
see all the time. We read this constantly. What does that mean? John 17,
3, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. If you're
a sheep, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone right
now, you know God. He has been pleased to reveal
himself to you, and you love him as he's revealed, as the
sovereign. You love his sovereignty. I love his sovereignty. I love
the fact that he's the first cause behind everything. I love
the fact that he has a will that trumps my will, and he can conform
me and twist me any way he wants. I love that. That's the type
of God I need. He's omnipotent. None can stay his sand or say
unto him, what doest thou? Whatever he wants, he just does. As an act of his will, he creates. He just speaks it into existence.
I love that about him. He's immutable. He never changes. He's the polar opposite of me.
I love that about him. I will change like the wind.
I will change determining my circumstances. He never changes. Yesterday, today, forever. He
is the same. He never changes. His promises
in this book never change. He never changes his mind. Whatever
he said, he's always said. And those promises stand firm.
It's done. It's finished. He's holy. Holy. What word could I possibly
give you to explain that? Other? unknown, unfathomable
perfection, something like that, and his standard is holiness,
unfathomable perfection. And here's what I love, I love
his standard. I will change the bar, I'll make excuses for myself,
I might even make an excuse for somebody else, maybe. He never
changes, and his standard is always the same, absolute and
utter holiness. And you know what? I've got no
fear of that standard. Jesus Christ met that standard. In
Him, I am holy, I am blameless, and I am unapprovable. And finally,
there are kept people. They persevere all the way to
the end, and not because they preserve themselves, it's because
He preserves us. Think about that for a second.
None of this hinges on us. I'm not even responsible for
preserving myself. He keeps me with his preserving
grace, and I'll never fall away. None of this rests on our shoulders.
It's simply time to rest. Now, turn to Isaiah 40 and look
at verse 4. Let's look at the effects of
the message. When the Lord sends this message
in power, out to a sinner's heart. What's the effects here? Isaiah
40, look at verse 4. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. Every valley
shall be exalted. What's a valley? It's a void. It's a low place. Every valley,
every void will be filled. And when the Lord sends his message
out in power to a sinner's heart, he finds all his hope in Christ. Colossians 2, 9 through 10, for
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you
are complete in him. We find all our completeness
in Christ. We say with David, I shall not
want. Shall I not want for rest? I shall not want for peace. I
shall not want for righteousness. I shall not want for a sin atonement.
I shall not want for holiness. I shall not want for anything
because of whom my shepherd is. Every valley shall be filled."
Here's the next effect. Every mountain and hill shall
be made low. A mountain, a high place. When the Lord sends this
message into a man's heart, effectually, those high places get tore down.
Those self-righteousnesses we clung so tightly to, those things
we thought were so good and so beautiful and so valuable, tear
them down and we see them for what they are. They're dead works,
they're filthy rags, that which cannot produce life. about this,
the person I think about this is Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is
a beggar, he's on the roadside, he's wearing a robe. Now, what
do we know about a homeless man sitting on the side of the street?
That robe was disgusting. It was filthy, it was dirty,
and he couldn't see it because he was blind. When he heard his
master's call, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. What's
the first thing he did? cast away that garment, that
filthy, disgusting robe of self-righteousness, cast that way, and he came to
Christ naked and exposed just as he was. And that's what happens
here when the Lord makes this message effectual to a man. That
robe of our personal righteousness is disgusting and it's filthy.
And we don't just gingerly lay it down, we cast it away. I want
to get away from that as far as I can. And we come to Christ
just as we are, naked and exposed, just begging that He would clothe
us. And the crooked shall be made
straight. Now this word crooked effectively means polluted. And
I have no doubt that this speaks of regeneration. This is where
the Lord gives a man a new heart, a new spirit, a new nature, the
very spirit of God dwelling in that man. Now, I don't remember
which preacher I heard say this, but this is absolutely true.
He said this, the best way to tell a crooked stick is to place
a straight stick next to it. And this is exactly what happens
when the Lord gives a believer a new part, a new man. He has
that old man, that crooked stick. The Lord gives that man a straight
stick, a new and holy nature. Those natures are put next to
each other and the new man recognizes and owns the sin of the old man. He recognizes that wretchedness
and that crookedness and that pollution. When that new and
perfect standard is there, he recognizes the wretchedness of
the old and it causes us to cry out, Lord, be merciful to me,
the sinner. A crooked stick and a straight
stick. And the rough place is plain, and this speaks of a path
which is impassable because of obstacles. And when the Lord
sends this message out effectually, all the obstacles leading to
Christ are removed. Now, if somebody has not come
to Christ, not believing on him, why? Why? Somebody says my sin. My sin
separates me from the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you the scripture.
Luke 15 verse 2, and the Pharisees and scribes murmured saying,
this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. This man receiveth
sinners. It will never be your sin that
will keep you from the Lord Jesus Christ. Sinners are the only
people who can come to him, that he calls to come to him. It will
never be your sin. This man receiveth sinners. It won't be your sin. Somebody
says, my weakness and my spiritual inability, that separates me
from Christ. Second Corinthians 12, nine,
Paul. And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore,
will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me." His strength is made perfect in your weakness.
Are you filthy? Are you a sinner? Are you disgusting? Are you vile? Are you unable,
impotent? Good. Good. It's the best place
you could possibly be. It's exactly the way you should
feel. It means the Lord's actually done something for you. It will
never be your weakness and inability that will keep you from Christ.
What will then? What will keep me from Christ?
What is the obstacle in the road that will be impassable, that
will keep me from Christ? It will be your stinking self-righteousness
will be the only thing that will keep you from Christ. It will
be my stinking self-righteousness that will ever keep me from Christ.
He receives sinners. His strength is made perfect
in weakness. But if a man comes seeking this,
he wants to stand in the halls of heaven and say, I'm here because
I fill in the blank. He'll be separated from Christ.
But if you're a sinner, if you're unable, if you're wicked, come
right now. This man receiveth sinners. Now, look at verse five of Isaiah
40, and we'll see how the story ends. Verse five, and the glory of
the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. This is how the story
ends, the story of this world. One day, every knee is going
to bow, and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's how the story
of this world ends. Now, there are only two types
of people that are in this world right now, only two types. There
are those who refuse to bow the knee to this king. That is the
first type. And if there's anyone here like
that, and I will say this to you, you will. You will bow to
this king. You will do it in this life if
the Lord is merciful and he reveals himself to you and he causes
you to bow. Or you will do it on the day of judgment if he
is not. But you will bow. You will bow
to this king. The other group, those who are
bowing in humble submission right now, in love and adoration for
this king, here's what you need to know. Your warfare has been
accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned, for
you hath received of the Lord's hand double for all your sins. I'm going to stop there. It's
been a real blessing to be with you all here today.