Thank you, Ron. Let's go to Exodus
this morning, the 22nd chapter of the book of Exodus. I've recently had some very encouraging
conversations with people who live a great distance away. folks who've been blessed by
being able to watch our services by way of the internet, and I'm
thankful for this means that God has given to us. Yesterday,
I spoke to a brother out in Colorado, and he and his wife and children
watch us watching this morning, I presume, and it was just so
delightful to speak to him. Loves the gospel of grace. Many
years ago, his father listened to Brother Mahan and was so blessed
by the ministry, and then he remembered how his dad talked
about the ministry of 13th Street Baptist Church, And so roughly
a year ago, he looked us up on the internet. And he and his
family have been watching ever since. And that's very encouraging
to us. It is to me, and I'm sure it
is to you as well. And then late last night, I got
an email from another brother And he kind of said the same
thing, how the services are always a blessing. He and his wife and
his son watch the services, and they're so thankful for the ministry
that God has given us, and what a blessing it is to them. Asked
me to remember them. God would cause them to grow
in grace, asked me to remember his boy, that God would be pleased
to touch him with salvation. And listen, it's due to the,
first of all, the goodness of God enables us to have a ministry. We know that. But it is also
due to the goodness, the generosity of our church family that makes
it very possible that we can send forth the gospel by means
of sermon audio and by featuring a message, and these things are
not inexpensive, but it is indeed money well spent, and we're so
thankful that we can have a ministry that extends, well, first of
all, right here, And we're thankful we have a ministry that extends
beyond our walls here and crosses the borders of states and even
into other nations. I hear from people. I recently
heard from a minister in Brazil and one in India. And I've heard
from others as well. I just wanted to kind of tell
you those things so that you'd be encouraged as I am. And it was with those things
in mind that I read those verses to you this morning, because
I read them. And it's a blessed remembrance
that as we set forth the gospel of God's grace, His Word is going
to be effectual. His Word is going to accomplish.
his purpose in whoever's heart that he sends it. My desire is, Lord, send it to
me and send your word to all of you. To those of you who are
watching by way of the Internet, I pray that God will send his
word to you. It's such a privilege to stand
and set forth the word of God, and it's a tremendous responsibility,
and I stand before you. I would echo the words of Paul
when he said in the book of 1 Corinthians, he said, I was before you in
fear and trembling, and yet I do come before you with boldness
because I've got the right message. It's the message that honors
God. And so we pray that the Lord will be pleased to speak
to each of us. I need to hear a word from God
today, don't you? I know you do. And so do you
folks who are watching by way of the internet. So let's ask
God to once again take his word and speak to us for the glory
of his name and for our spiritual good. We thank you, Father, for the
grace that you have given us in Christ Jesus before this world
began. And this grace is sovereign,
it's free, it is effectual always, it always does the job that you
intend for it to do, for it is indeed your grace. The word says, your word says,
your grace is sufficient for all of our needs, spiritual needs,
temporal needs, material needs, emotional needs, family needs. Lord, we are needy people. There's no question about that.
But your grace is mighty. And as we consider the subject
of the God of grace, and then as we consider a very similar
subject this evening, abounding grace. Lord, we gather together
to bless you, to praise you for your everlasting kindness and love
and provisions for the people of your covenant of grace. Lord, we make our boast only
in you. We've come to hear of the ministry
and the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Open our eyes. Lord, as you did open the eyes
of those 11 apostles, in Luke chapter 24 and you gave them
understanding of the Word of God, may it be so that wherever
we look in this book, we see Christ Jesus, we see his sacrifice,
we see his success, we see how effectual the blood of the Savior
is and has always been to put away all of the sins of your
people. It is such a privilege, such an honor to gather together
around this open book. Lord, speak to us. May we be
ready hearers. May we, like Samuel, say, speak,
Lord, for thy servant heareth. We ask on behalf of those who
are under the sound of my voice that they would be quickened
from the dead if they haven't already. Lord, only you can save. Only you can rescue. We're debtors
to your mercy. We are mercy beggars. We have
nothing of which to boast. The Pharisee did that, and he
did not fare well at all. We're like the publican who just
In humility, he smote upon his breast and said, God, be merciful,
be propitious unto me, the sinner. Lord, show
mercy on the cow of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
praise you for his blood, the blood that cleanses us from all
sin, the blood that satisfied you. and we rejoice in this glorious
Savior. We worship Him who lived and
died and arose for us, and whoever lives to make intercession for
all of your people. Now we wait for the working of
the Holy Spirit. We will give forth the word of
God as accurately and correctly and truthfully as we can But
we know that only the spirit of grace can direct the word
of God like an arrow to the target of the hearts of
men and women and young people. We do thank you for the ministry
that you've given us. Thank you for all of these folks
who've been so faithful during the years, so encouraging, so
generous to suppliers of the financial needs
of our congregation. You've blessed us abundantly,
and you've given us the means to continue the ministry that
was begun so many years ago. Oh God, keep us faithful. Keep
us all looking unto Jesus, who's the author and the finisher of
our faith. We bless you this morning for your grace, and we
pray that you'll minister to our needs now for the glory of
your name and for our good. In the name of the Lord Jesus
and for his sake, amen. As we get into the book of Exodus
and especially beginning with Exodus chapter 20, God gives
to Israel many laws and statutes and regulations and rules regarding
their conduct before him, regarding honoring God only. Then he gives
instructions that did pertain to relationships and how to get
along with one another. Of course, these statutes and
rules and laws, they go on through the end of Exodus chapter 31. All of this is going to take
about a year. They have been led by the pillar
of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night to arrive at
Mount Sinai. And there they will make camp. And it's going to be a long encampment. I'm sure that when they got there,
they had no idea that the Lord's going to leave them there for
nearly a year. But there's much that they need
to learn. There's much that they need to
be taught. God's going to take Moses up
into the mount. He's going to give him... all
of these statutes, and of course, toward the end, and in just a
matter of three or four Sundays, I think, we'll get to the laws
regarding the building of the tabernacle. And of course, that
tabernacle speaks to us of our Lord Jesus Christ, who tabernacled
in the flesh. And God says, that's where I'll
meet with you. Now, up until this time, God
has been meeting with his people whenever they built an altar,
wherever they built an altar. With the Israelites, wherever
they stopped, wherever they chose to encamp, they would offer to
God a sacrifice. It was typical of, pictured,
the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. But the worship
of God was not confined to any one area. but it was just wherever
the people of God wanted to worship God, an altar was built, just
a very simple altar, and then an animal was killed, a life
was forfeited, which pictured the Lord Jesus forfeiting his
life, laying down his life for sinful folks like you and me.
But as we get deeper into the book of Exodus, we're going to
find out that while Moses was up on the mountain, God gave
him instructions regarding building a tabernacle. And that tabernacle,
it was just a tent. But oh, what a tent. Now, from a long distance, it
didn't didn't make a big impression upon anybody because there wasn't
anything unusual or no exquisite beauty about it from the outward
appearance. But within, it was marvelous,
it was beautiful. And God told Moses, this is the
way it's going to be made. And then the Lord instructed
him and he said to Moses and to all of Israel, that's where
I'm gonna meet with you. No longer could you just build
an altar anywhere. God said, I'll meet you there
at the tabernacle. And I'm not going to meet with
you anywhere else. And of course, that teaches us that God only
meets with us. He only speaks with us. He only
blesses us. He only deals with us in mercy
through that one sacrifice for sin, that one who did tabernacle
in our flesh in this world, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
not going to receive you, he's not going to accept you, he's
not going to welcome you, he's not going to bless you except
in through and by Christ Jesus. We need to understand that. So that portion of scripture
regarding the tabernacle awaits us. We'll get to that here in
just a few Sundays. But as for today, I want to draw
your attention to one verse of scripture especially, though
I'm going to mention several verses here, but it's in verse
26 and 27. I said one verse, two verses
actually, but one phrase. Exodus chapter 22, and now look
at verse 26. If thou at all take thy neighbor's
raiment to pledge, thou shall deliver it unto him by the sun
that goeth down. In other words, if a neighbor
owes you something and about the only thing valuable he's
got is his coat, well, you can take your neighbor's coat, but
you gotta give it back when the sun goes down. And the reason
is in verse 27, for that's his covering only. In other words,
it's not only his covering during the day, but he uses it as a
blanket at night. It is his raiment for his skin
wherein shall he sleep. And it shall come to pass when
he crieth unto me that I will hear, and here's the phrase that
I'm looking for, for I am gracious. You know, it's quite marvelous
here in the middle of all of the statutes that God gives. He will, in a very few words,
announce to Israel by means of the mouthpiece of Moses, God
will say, I am gracious. I am gracious. Now we've already
studied that through these verses of Scripture, the subject has
been restitution. Restitution. When wrong has been
done to someone, that wrong has to be corrected, has to be made
right. If you have damaged a person's
goods, then you've got to make restoration of the goods or else
you're going to have to give them fourfold of the goods. All of these laws, God has given
the laws of restitution and really, the laws of restitution which
we studied last week, the laws of restoration, the laws regarding
payback, they all teach us one great lesson. And that is that
there is restitution due to our God because of all the wrongs
done against him. Now, I don't want to overemphasize
our sinfulness to the exclusion of the grace of God. I think
sometimes we can set forth our depravity and spend a whole lot
of time doing it and then just kind of tack on the grace of
God at the end. I don't want to do that. But
it is a fact that you and I, we have wronged God many times. multiple times. You have no idea
how many transgressions that have been accumulating in your
life, even this very day. I'm sure it would leave us all
astounded if it were brought to us by the Spirit of God how
many times already this very day that we have transgressed
God's law. We certainly haven't loved him
with all of our hearts and minds and souls and body. We haven't thought of God as
we ought to this morning. We've had scattered thoughts
of him, and all of us had, and in heaven, indeed, we're reading,
we've read the word of God, we've prayed, you've heard the word
of God read by me to begin with. Brother Ron read it then. He
sought God's face in prayer. I've sought God's face in prayer.
So the things of God are indeed fresh in our memories and are
being brought to us this morning. But yet we know, all of us know,
and if you don't know, you need to know it, that our full attention,
our full devotion to the God of grace and glory, it hasn't
been given to Him. We are absolutely incapable of
perfect worship. And one of the glories about
heaven is going to be that we will worship the Lord without
sin. without a wayward mind, without
thoughts of what's going to go on today going through you. going
through your mind. It's going to be more blessed
and more glorious than we can ever imagine to get into the
presence of the Lord Jesus and to look on Him whose face we
haven't ever seen in person, but we've seen Him in the Word
of God. It will be wonderful to see Him
face to face and then to worship Him, to join in singing, worthy
is the Lamb that was that was slain, who redeemed us to God
by His blood, and then our minds never wonder. You cannot and
I cannot possibly fathom what it's going to be like to perfectly
worship the Son of God. But one day we will. One day
we will. We're sinful people. But as I'm going to show you
this evening from Romans chapter five, where indeed our sins have
abounded, grace has much more abounded. And the Lord, right
here in the middle of these statues, and he's teaching about restitution,
making things right. And then right in the middle
of these laws regarding restoration, payback, paying your debts, settling
up with your neighbor when you've wronged him, whether accidentally
or on purpose, things have to be made right. Right in the middle
of God teaching these people of how to make things right with
your neighbor whom you've wronged, right in the middle, God then
says in verse 27, the reason I give you all of these statutes
of restitution is for this reason, I am gracious. God is saying, learn of me. I'm gracious to you. when we have wronged God, and
that's many, many times, as I've already said. God is faithful. God is just to forgive us our
sins. That's what Scripture says in
it, 1 John 1 and verse 9. That's written to the people
of God, by the way. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and He's just to forgive us our sins. washes, cleanses
from all iniquity. Well, on what basis does he forgive
us? It isn't because we say we're
sorry. We are sorry for our sins. I
apologize to God. Lord, forgive me. I'm sorry.
I've sinned more times than I know of. Few of my sins I know about,
good many of them, most of them I don't know anything about.
Sins of ignorance, for which in the Old Testament there was
a sacrifice provided. But Lord, I acknowledge my sinfulness. And He says, He's faithful and
just to forgive us. What does that mean, He's faithful
and just to forgive us? He forgives us on the basis of
restitution. You see, the average person today
thinks, well, if I've sinned, if, if I've sinned, and most
people only look at the big wrongs of life, well, God forgive me,
I'm sorry, Lord. They just think God forgives
on the basis of you being somewhat sorry. He doesn't forgive on
that basis. That's no foundation for forgiveness. A holy God says to men, if you
wrong one another, you got to make it right. And I would say this to all of
you, to those of you who are watching. If your neighbor wrongs
you, I don't know, I don't know how he wronged you, but he did.
Well, don't you think it's only fair, it's only right, that he
would make it good? He has, okay, he's out plowing
his field with his tractor and he doesn't see as good as he
used to and he kind of swerves over with his tractor. He knocks
down a couple of your fence posts and knocks down part of your
fence. Don't you think he should make it right? Well, of course
he should. Of course he should. I mean,
if you just go to him and say, I sure am sorry. Now, he may
be such a nice guy, he might say, hey, don't worry about it,
I'll fix it back. But really, the right thing to
do is to repair it, make it like it was to begin with. And there
are a lot of people, when it comes to the sins against God,
they think all they've got to do is just say, I'm sorry, and
God will forgive. But God can't forgive on the
basis of you being sorry. God can only forgive on a basis
of justice. He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. And there's got to be restitution
to God for all of our wrongs. for all of our sins against Him.
And this is where we see the magnificence of and the glory
of the Lord Jesus in His first advent to this world. He came
to seek and to save that which was lost. He came to save His
people from their sins. Their sins have got to be answered
for. I know we can't make restitution
to God, that's for sure. We can't pay God what we owe
Him, that's an impossibility. And yet the justice of God demands
that things be made right. You see, that's what's being
taught here, and that's the instruction, especially of Exodus chapter
22, making things right. Well, who's going to make things
right with God? That's the question. And I do
know this, you can't, and I can't, and no other fallen son or daughter
of Adam can as well. None of us can. If restitution
is going to be made to God, if God's going to, if His honor
is going to be restored, If He's going to be paid in full for
all of our transgressions that we committed against Him, that's
a debt we can't pay. It is a debt that the Lord Jesus
Christ paid. And you see, His death upon the
cross of Calvary, we write about it, we sing about it, we preach
about it. His death upon the cross of Calvary
was Him making restitution to God for all of the sins, all
of the transgressions, all of the iniquities of all of His
people of all of the ages. He made things right by His death
upon the cross of Calvary, and I know He did. His resurrection testifies to
that. and His exaltation now being
seated at the Father's right hand. So that's what this is
all about. And right in the middle of these
laws that pertain to the Israelites, God just announces, the reason
I teach you these things about restitution is because I am gracious. I'm gracious. Listen, if he weren't
gracious, we'd all be in hell because that's what we deserve.
The wages of sin is death. Now let me show you a passage
of scripture in the New Testament. I invite you to go to the book
of Hebrews with me and the second chapter. So let this be understood, and
I'm sure you do, but I'm going to I'm going to insist upon this
again, try to drive this into your minds and ask the Spirit
of God to drive it into your hearts. The only restitution
that a holy God will accept for our iniquities is the sacrifice
of a worthy substitute in our stead. When we wrong others, Things
must be made right. We all agreed on that. Farmer knocks down your fence,
say, hey, fix it back, neighbor. We'll get along just fine. That's
only right. Make restitution. But now let's elevate that way
yonder, beloved, above your neighbor wronging you. Let's elevate it
to this. You've wronged God. You've transgressed His law.
You've sinned against Him. And His law and His justice must
receive full payment. Now, that's actually what's being
brought out here in Hebrews, the second chapter. Look at chapter
2 of Hebrews, verse 1. Hebrews 2 and 1, therefore we
ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip, we should let
them pass by us. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense or restitution, or payback of reward. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard it? Now the word spoken by angels,
what was the word spoken by angels? By the way, he spent a good bit
of time, those of you who are very acquainted with Hebrews
chapter one, you know that Paul, assuming he's the writer of this
epistle, Paul has spent a good bit of time showing the superiority
of the Lord Jesus Christ over the angels. Angels are not to
be worshiped, angels are not to be adored, Don't build an
idol of an angel and then fall down before it. There are a couple
of folks in the Bible that bow down before a heavenly messenger,
and the heavenly messenger said, don't do that. I'm just a servant
of God like you are. The angels of God are vastly
inferior to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's really what is set
forth in Hebrews, the first chapter. And you see, there is, in some
mysterious way, I'll give you a couple of references you can
look up, jot them down, read them later if you want to, but
in some mysterious way, the angels had something to do with the
giving of the law of God. And you can read Stephen's comments
on this in Acts chapter 7 and verse 53. and also Galatians
chapter 3 and verse 19. They had some They had something to do with
God giving the law to Israel. I don't know what they had to
do with it because the scriptures aren't specific. But Stephen,
by divine inspiration, referenced the angels and what they had
to do in their involvement in the giving of the law of God.
And then, of course, in Galatians chapter three, Paul mentions
the same thing. Now, here's what he's teaching
us. That the angels of God, over whom Christ is vastly superior. The angels who had a part in
giving the law of God to the Israelites, they also announced
in some way the judgment of God when these laws were broken. And you can read the laws of
God. You can begin reading in Exodus
chapter 20 and read on through, even past the passage of scripture
we're dealing with this morning. And you'll find that God had specific punishment that
was due to the offenders, the offenders of the law, they had
to be punished. There was a vengeance that God
demanded. But these angels, now let's go
back to the angels now. These angels, they are nowhere
near the excellence of the Lord Jesus. They're his creatures. He made them to be ministers
of those who shall be the heirs of salvation. But to none of
the angels did the Father say, sit here on my right hand till
I make you enemies of your footstool. He only said that to the Son
of God. So in the very first chapter
of Hebrews, and of course we know in Hebrews the key idea
is Christ is better than everything. He is superior to everything
and everybody. I mean there isn't anybody anywhere
close. He has the eternal honor as the
Son of God. And in chapter 1, He specifically
said alongside of the angels, and the Father says, this is
My Son. The angels are ministering spirits. But the Son of God is God Himself. God called Him God. He is the Lord of glory. Christ
is. The angels are just His servants.
But in the hands of the angels, God in some way gave to them
his laws and then they gave them perhaps to Moses or perhaps to
the elders of the children of Israel. The angels took bodily
form sometime and taught them the laws and then the punishment
for violating the laws. Now, He says in verse, look again
at verse two, if the word spoken by angels was steadfast. And
every transgression, and this is set forth in the law of God,
every transgressions and disobedience received a just recompense of
reward. The angels in giving forth the
law of God not only gave forth the statutes, but then gave forth
the punishment for breaking those laws. You understand? That's
what's being set forth here. But then contrast that with the gospel of grace, which wasn't
given by the angels. It was given by the Son of God.
Again, look at verse 3. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation that is the gospel of the grace of God, the
gospel of the salvation of sinners? Well, who spoke that? It was
spoken by the Lord first. The voice of the angels gave
the law and the punishment for breaking the laws. The voice
of the Son of God is heard in the gospel of grace as he declares
his righteousness and his justice in his own death and then saves
the sinners for whom he died. Now, if that law given by angels
If you broke that law and you suffered severe consequences,
what's going to happen to you if you disobey the gospel of
the grace of God which was given by the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the comparison that's
being drawn here. If the word of the angel received
a just recompense of reward when you broke that law of God. What
is going to happen to you if you neglect, if you do not believe
the voice of Him who speaks to us? First of all, He speaks to
us from Mount Calvary, for His death declares the righteousness
and the judgment of God against sin. Why did Christ die? He died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. He bore our sins, therefore the
justice of God said, I've got to have restitution. And if you're
going to bear all the iniquities of all of the elect of God of
all of the ages, then I will be made right, the law says,
I will pour out my judgment on you, and then their sins will
be forgiven. Somebody's got to make restitution
to God. That's what this is all about.
Somebody's got to make things right. And I go back to what
I said a little bit ago. For you to say, well, I sure
am sorry I've sinned against you, Lord. That don't cut it.
That's not going to work. And the reason that most people
have no understanding of this salvation by grace through the
doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ is because they
have no concept of the justice of God. And that the justice
of God has got to be satisfied. God is teaching us there in Exodus
chapter 22, I've got to have restitution. because you've wronged
me. And then God announces he's gracious,
and he's going to make restitution. He'll take care of that himself.
This is not something you take care of. He's going to do this,
and he'll do it by giving his only begotten son to live and
die and be raised again for the justification of his people. I'll tell you, there will be
no escape for you. I love you. You're a fine bunch
of people. Several that are watching by
way of the internet, I'm thankful for you. Some of you I know and
probably many of you I don't know. Maybe never will meet in
this life. But you cannot escape the judgment
of God if you neglect If you just let the gospel just go right
on by you, the justice of God is going to
catch up with you one day. And God is going to get restitution
from you, except He won't get full restitution. That can't
be done. Not by your death. Oh, it was
done by the death of the Lord Jesus. He died the just for the
unjust to bring us to God. Isn't that wonderful? To bring
us to God. But if you neglect this great
gospel, this great salvation, this great news that Christ is
the one who gave His life, who laid down His life to satisfy
the justice of God, the requirements of God, if you neglect that message,
there's no hope for you. There's no hope for you at all.
And your death will then have to be forever because you can't
make restitution to the justice of God. See, only one could do that.
Only one death would satisfy God for the putting away of sin. Only one man suffering and bleeding
and dying. But that man had to be a perfect
man, and that man had to be the divine man. He had to be the
God man. Only his death would avail nothing,
nobody else's death. So if you die, and you sin. Oh, hear me. Hear the Word of
God. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? First preach to us not by an
angel from heaven, but by the Son of God Himself. He went forth preaching the gospel.
Your death will have to be forever, because you can't ever make restitution
to God. You can't make things right.
Now turn with me to the book of Proverbs. Let's see, I jotted
this reference down here somewhere. Look at the book of Proverbs
chapter 30. Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs
chapter 30. Look at verse 15, Proverbs 30
and 15. The horse leech, the bloodsucker. That's what this is talking about. The leech, the bloodsucker has
two daughters crying, give, give. The horse leech, it is said,
had a forked tongue and one tongue poked the hole and the other
tongue was sucking the blood out. It was never satisfied, the horse
leech. He just sucks blood and sucks
blood and sucks blood till he bursts. And then he says there are three
things that are never satisfied, yea, four things never say it
is enough. The grave, the grave never says
it's enough. It opens up its mouth to receive
fresh victims, many, many times every day. The grave never says,
that's enough. No, never. And the barren womb,
it's never satisfied because it's always longing for a baby
to be formed within her. And then he says, and the earth
that is not filled with water, the parched earth is never satisfied
even after receiving an abundance of rain or snow. It still thirsts
for more. But look at this last one. And
the fire, the fire that saith not, it is enough. The fire will
never say it's enough. You see, when our Lord Jesus
died upon the cross of Calvary, you remember He said, it is finished,
John 19.30. It is finished. It's enough. I can just imagine,
if you bear with me, with my imagination, as He looked up
to the Father in heaven, He said, it's finished, it's enough. And as He looked upon the host
of angels whom He created, the angels of light who gathered
around Him, He said to them, it is finished, it's enough,
it's accomplished. and He looked down upon all of
the people that He's dying for throughout all of the ages and
He says to all of us from Abel, the very first man who died,
to the last one who'll die and be a child of God, He says to
all of us, it's enough! That's wonderful, isn't it? It's
enough. It's finished. It's over. Bow his head and die. But if we die in our sins, the fire of hell will never say,
that's enough. Okay, you've suffered enough.
Okay, Cain, you've been in hell 6,000 years. That's enough. He won't ever hear those words,
Larry. He will never hear those words,
it's enough. It'll never be enough. You see,
that alone that will put away the infinite sins and the infinite
guilt of a sinner has to be an infinite sacrifice to God. That means he's got to be God
and he's got to be man. Let me give you another reference. Turn back to Proverbs chapter
27. Proverbs chapter 27, verse 20. Proverbs 27, verse 20, hell and
destruction are never full. Proverbs 27, 20, hell and destruction
are never full. Now, that word hell means the
grave. The grave is never full. The
grave never says, well, that's enough deaths. No. It's appointed unto men once
to die. After this, the judgment. But
destruction, now that's the punishment of the wicked, separated from a holy God forever. So death and everlasting destruction
are never full and never satisfied. No wonder then that in Hebrews
chapter two, Paul says, how shall we escape? if we neglect so great
salvation this glorious gospel which was first preached to us
by our Lord. If the laws of God given through
the ministry of the angels in some mysterious way that God
wasn't pleased to tell us about, except we just know they had
some part, If those laws had strict consequences, strict penalties
for breaking those laws, such as in Exodus chapter 22, the
laws of restitution, making things right. Angels of God said, okay,
here it is. If you, okay, you borrow a man's
whatever, you break it, you lose it, you steal it, you gotta pay
back. The angels demanded that in the
giving of the law of God. Well, how much more severe is
going to be the penalty for those who have no interest in, who
have no love for, who have no confidence in the Son of God
and His justice satisfying death and resurrection? Thank God He's gracious. And this is what we want to take
away from these laws of restitution. The Lord is gracious. He didn't
leave us, He didn't leave His people to the judgment that we
deserve naturally. No, He heaped all that judgment
upon His Son in our stead. And he did it because the Lord
is gracious. The Lord is gracious. You read
that in Psalm 111. The Lord is gracious. Thank God
he is. Well, this evening, if you have
an opportunity this afternoon, I'm going to be preaching this
evening from Romans chapter 5. And I hope that you'll take the
time to read the passage of Scripture and we'll talk about the grace
of God in more detail this evening. Oh, may God direct our steps,
the steps of our soul, to the Lord Jesus Christ, that we not
neglect so great salvation. Don't neglect it. But you will if you can. So the only hope you've got and
the only hope I've got is the sovereign grace of God to raise
us from spiritual death and grant unto us repentance toward God
and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, bless the words that
have gone forth. We thank you and we bless you
that you are gracious. Thank you for sending such a
glorious Savior to die in the ruined place instead of a fallen
and guilty people. Oh, it's right that we emphasize
our sin, but our praise soars as we think about the grace of
God in the giving of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the sacrifice
that you offered to yourself for the salvation of your people.
And that offering that once for all offering was successful.
Therefore, he was raised from the dead. He ascended back to
glory. And that one who made restitution
father unto you for all of the sins of your people, He sits
at your right hand, even this very moment. And he makes intercession
for all of you children. And he is our advocate. He is
our mediator and our go-between. Thank you, Father, for your marvelous,
wonderful grace. Bless us with the knowledge of
yourself. For Christ's sake, I pray. you