open your Bibles with me this
morning to Isaiah, start to say Hezekiah, Isaiah 38. Isaiah 38. Gary, this thing he went through
is a great blessing to him. It said it helped him immensely,
having that defibrillator. Is that what it's called? Defibrillator.
That's if your heart stops, it starts it again. That's a pretty
good thing to have it inside you. Don't have to wait for the
ambulance to get there, you know. Oh, it's amazing what the Lord's
blessed men to do now. Start reading with me here in
verse 9 of Isaiah 38. The writings of Hezekiah, king
of Judah, when he had been sick and was recovered of his sickness.
I said in the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates
of the grave. I am deprived of the residue
of my years or the rest of my years. I said I shall not see
the Lord, the Lord in the land of the living. I shall behold
man no more with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed,
and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent. I have cut off like a weaver
my life. He will cut me off with pining
sickness. From day to night wilt thou make
an end of me. I reckon till morning that as
a lion, so will he break all my bones. From day even to night
wilt thou make an end of me. like a crane or a swallow, so
did I chatter. I did mourn as a dove. Mine eyes
fell me with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed. Undertake
for me. What shall I say? He hath both
spoken unto me, and himself hath done it. I shall go softly all
my years in the bitterness of my soul. O LORD, by these things
men live, and all these things is the life of my spirit. So
wilt Thou recover me, and make me to live? Behold, for peace
I had great bitterness, for Thou hast in love to my soul delivered
it from the pit of corruption. For Thou hast cast all my sins
behind Thy back. For the grave cannot praise Thee,
death cannot celebrate Thee. They that go down into the pit
cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall
praise thee as I do this day. The father to the children shall
make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me,
therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all
the days of our life in the house of the Lord. For Isaiah had said,
let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon
the boil and he shall recover. Hezekiah also had said, what
is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? Back
with me in Isaiah 38. And there in verse 17 is where
I want to get my text at this morning. Isaiah 38, 17. Behold,
for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love, that's
what I want to talk about, saving love, love to my soul. But thou
hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption,
for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. Now Hezekiah,
a king, one of David's sons, had trouble. You know, all the
tribe of the kings came from Judah. Hezekiah is a good king,
but Hezekiah had trouble upon trouble. Now you keep this where
I'm at and look over here in chapter 36 and verse 13. He had trouble, trouble, and
up on trouble. He's a great, great army surrounding
Jerusalem. Great army was surrounding this
85,000 strong is how many it was. That's how many ended up
dying. But it said here in verse 13 of Isaiah 36, Then Rabshakeh
stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said,
Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus
saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not
be able to deliver you. Neither let Hezekiah make you
trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us.
THIS CITY SHALL NOT BE DELIVERED INTO THE HAND OF THE HESYRIAN.
So there he's got this great army, and this man standing there
telling them, don't listen to a thing, Hezekiah's got saved,
we're taking this place over, we're going to conquer Israel,
we're going to conquer Israel. Now look in verse 1 of chapter
38, let me set the picture for you if I can. So he had trouble
upon trouble, had this great army out there. And then it says,
in those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet,
the son of Amos, came unto him and said unto him, thus saith
the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and
not live. So that's where Hezekiah's at.
Got this great army around him. And then it says he was sick
unto death. He had a sickness that's going to kill him. A sickness
that he is going to die from. And one of these days, we're
going to have that news. Set your house in order. Set
your house in order. Get all your affairs taken care
of. Make sure everything's done. Get all your affairs set in order.
Get your wheels in place. Get everything set in order because
you're going to die and not live. We're all going to hear that
one of these days. Wise man Solomon says, Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for no man knoweth what a day may bring forth. We don't know
what tomorrow is going to bring forth for the rest of the day.
It's like Job. Job was praying, got up from
praying, And all of a sudden, a man came running into his house,
and he says, You know, we was plowing with the oxen, and the
sabians fell upon us and slew all your servants but me, and
I'm the only one left. And they took all your oxen.
And while he was yet speaking, another came running up and said,
You know, they fell upon us and took all your asses. We had a
thousand, and they took all your asses and gone with them and
killed all your servants. I'm the only one left. And while
he was yet speaking, here come another one. He said, They fell
upon us and took all your camels, and killed all your servants,
and I'm the only one yet. And while he was yet speaking,
another one came to him and said, A great wind fell upon the house
where all your children were, and all of them's dead. Four
times, while he was yet speaking. While he was yet speaking. While
he was yet speaking. But as children of the one true
and living God, we don't know what the hand of our father may
bring upon us. We just don't know. We don't
know. And really, it don't make a whole lot of difference because
whatever he sends, he's going to give grace. Whatever he sends,
he makes us ready for it. But as God dealt with this king,
we don't know why he's going to bring upon us, but as he dealt
with, deals with us, and as this king, as he dealt with this king,
that's the way he deals with us. And here's a good picture
of God's saving love towards poor sinners like ourselves. And he says there in verse 9,
he said, Oh, the writings of Hezekiah. But look here in verse
17. Let me see if I can get a few
things out of this that may help us and may help you. And if you're
not converted, may God this day speak to your soul. Hezekiah
said, He's the king now. You've got to realize he's the
king. He'd been a good king. Lived and did like David. Behold
for peace. I had great bitterness, but thou
hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption,
for thou hast cast all my sins behind my back. First of all,
he was brought into a helpless condition. If God's going to
save a man and manifest his saving love toward that man, the first
thing he's got to understand is, and God will make him understand
is, that he's in a pit. And not only is he in a pit,
but he's in a pit of corruption. And when you're in a pit of corruption,
it's a helpless, helpless condition. He says, in the pit of corruption.
Now we all know what corruption is. We've seen physical corruption
and sores and things in people's body, all the things that can
come out of the body when you get a bad infection in it. And
then we talk about all of the corruption among the politicians
and how corrupt the government is and how corrupt people are,
but all to have corruption before God. to God to view us as we
are outside of Christ. As God looks upon men and women
outside of Christ, it's corruption. And not only is it a corruption,
but it's a pit of corruption. And all the filthiness and the
rottenness and the corruption and the nastiness that would
come full of wounds and bruises and putrefying sores, who can
heal it? And we all outside of Christ
are full of corruption. God said when he saw, Man, that
the thoughts of man was only, only evil continually. Do you
know that? Now listen, people say, well
that's not true. Outside of Christ, that's all
a man can do is think evil. He can't think any other way.
He can't think any other way. Everything about Him is evil.
And we people say that's not the right thing to say to people.
That's what God says about us. He calls us worms and grasshoppers. And He looked down on the sons
of men and said all the thoughts of their mind was only evil continually. You're talking about evil. I
mean the thoughts of self, self-love, self-preservation. God's not
in their thoughts. They don't care about His Word.
Don't care about calling. Only time they're interested
in God is when they get in trouble. And if they get out of the trouble,
then He's gone. How many religion, how many men
got religion when they was in a battle? How many peoples got
religion when they get on their sickbed? How many people get
religion when they got no place else to go? I know a fella, you
know, he's getting ready to die, and he said, oh, listen, and
he got ill and hateful and contrary with everybody around him. And
he got ready to die, and he said, well, and I went down to talk
to him one day, and he said, well, I said, you know, I've
been, I made a change. He said, I made a change. He
said, I've been meaning to make a change. You know what the change
was? He got put in somebody's bad history. And He called that
a change. Now, you tell me that that ain't
evil. You tell me that that ain't corruption. And oh, beloved,
listen. This is what we do. This is what
man does outside of Christ. God gives us blessings. Gives
us life. Gives us strength. Gives us ability. Gives us work. Gives us all the
blessings in this life. A home. Wives. Children. A good living. And what do we
do with it? We corrupt them. Say, we got
all this by our own doing. We got this by our own power.
We got this by our own strength. And He gave us His Word. What
do we do with it? I've often said this, and I don't
mean to be funny, but if everybody in the Cumberland County picked
up their Bibles at one time, there'd be a dust storm. Now
ain't that right? Pick them all up at one time
or it'd be a dust storm. Everybody likes to have them
on their coffee table. And they like to have them open
and they like to have them pretty pictures for everybody to see
when they come in. I got a Bible. I got a great big one. And it
sits right on my coffee table. Oh, and he gave us his son. God gave us his son. And what
in the world did we do with him? You know what? Our Lord said,
is it nothing to you that pass by wherewith God hath afflicted
me in the day of His fierce wrath? Is it nothing to you? And we
said, when He came, we said, we'll not have this man to reign
over us. And I, you know, and one of these
days, one of these days, I'm going to join the church. But
it says He was in a pit, a pit of corruption. Let me tell you
something about this. You can't climb out. And everybody
outside of Christ is in it. And this is what God does. You
say, that's a strange way for God to manifest His love. That's
one of the first things He does. It's like Larry Criss said last
Saturday morning. He said, a man's got to get lost.
Until a man's lost, he's not interested in anything. And God,
in saving love, if He's pleased to bring you into a pit of corruption,
we bless Him for that day that He brought us there. And when
you're in this pit, you can't climb out. And everybody's in
it. And nobody's outside to help
you get out of it. Oh, I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll exercise my free will and out of there I'll come. That's
what I'll do. That's how I'll get out of this
pit. I'll exercise my free will and out of there I'll go. Oh,
I know what I'll do. I'll tell you how I'll get out
of this pit. I'll tell you how I'll get out of this pit. I'll
work my way out of this pit. I'll work, and I'll work, and
I'll work, and I'll pray, and I'll fast, and I'll tithe, and
I'll do all the things necessary. And I'll get out of that pit.
Oh, I know how I'll get out. Oh, I'll think positive. I'll think positive. And all
this positive thinking, it's going to get me up out of here.
I was at a person's house one time and they had a, you know
how these magnets you put on refrigerators? They had a big,
a nice new Lincoln on the refrigerator and had it stuck up with magnets.
And they said, that's going to be my next car. I said, how do
you know? He said, power of positive thinking. If I see it, I can get it. But
you know how you get a new Lincoln? Money. think all you want to. But oh, that's what they think.
Boy, positive thinking will get me out of here. And oh boy, if
I can get my esteem high enough, if I can get my self-esteem high
enough and feel good enough about myself, I can get out of this
pit. And I tell you, I know another way to get out. I'll cooperate
with God. Me and God, I'll start cooperating
with Him. And I'll say, I'll do this, if
you do that, and I'll do this other thing, and we'll get, that'll
get us out of here. And oh, I've got good intentions,
good intentions will surely, surely get me out of this pit.
No, what's gonna, how you gonna get out of this thing? Oh my,
that's what men are outside of Christ. Look what it says here
again in this verse. He had a miserable, miserable
experience. He said, behold, for peace, I
had great bitterness. This is what God does in love.
You know, here people say, what a strange way of love. But this
is what God does. And when He has saving love towards
a person, this is what He does. He says, for peace I had great
bitterness. Now He said He knew what peace
was once. He knew exactly what peace was
once. You know, everybody has some
sense of peace in some things. I've known people that faced
eternity without, didn't even face them to think about going
into eternity without God. Didn't even face. But he says
for peace. I mean, I know what peace was.
I know I've experienced peace before. I've experienced peace
of mind. I've experienced peace of soul.
I've experienced peace in the home. I've experienced peace
with my children. I've experienced peace with my
neighbors. I know what it is to have peace.
And he had peace once and enjoy it. No doubt he enjoyed it very,
very much. But then he says, in this peace,
I had great bitterness. I had great bitterness for peace. What took over peace? He said
disappointment. Bitter disappointments of life.
Oh, bitter, bitter disappointments of life. And I tell you, there
is some disappointments in life. But they'll either make you bitter
or make you grateful, one or the other. God uses them either
to teach us or to break us, one or the other. And I tell you,
then there's bitter that he had lost this peace. He got bitter
because he had lost his peace. And he got bitter because he
lost his place as a king. And here's the king, he is bitter
because he is always in a good position. And he's in this high
position and in this powerful place and in this powerful position. And all of a sudden, he finds
out that he's just exactly like everybody else. Poor people,
the people he reigned over, they had bitterness as so. And I tell
you, the king found out that I'm just like everybody else
in my kingdom. I had great bitterness for deliverance. And oh, look what he, I'll tell
you something else that made him bitter. Look back over here
in verse 10. This something made him bitter.
This made him bitter. Oh, bitterness is awful. Bitterness
is a horrible, horrible thing. And Paul, Paul talked about a
root of bitterness springing up, springing up. Beware of a
root of bitterness springing up in you. And oh, bitterness
is awful. You know, Have anybody ever tasted
a quince? Anybody in here ever tasted a
quince? Them things, ooh, they're awful. And some people like lemons and
like limes. If they're only into lemon juice
and lime juice, I don't want to bother them. They're awful. They'll make you taste bitter.
Bitter? How many of you took castor oil?
I bet you all just said, oh, mama, I appreciate it. I love
that castor oil. Give me another dose. That's
not the way it was. No, no. No, you held your nose
and took it. And here, look what he says here
in verse 10. And this is what made him bitter,
his life being too short. And his was about over. I said
in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the greats of the
grave, and I'm deprived of the rest of my years. Deprived of
his years? You know, people say he died
too young. Nobody dies too young. Nobody
ever, nobody ever is deprived of one day of their life. They
may be deprived, they may lose some quality of life, they may
lose some health during their life, but there's not one person
who has ever left this world that left one minute too soon
and stayed one minute too late. You know why? Because we all
have an appointment. We're all going to the house
appointed for all the living. And that's what showed him that
he was bitter. I don't want, this is not right.
I don't want, this is not, this is not, this is not the way that
things are supposed to happen. How many years have we been promised?
How many years have we been promised? 70. And if you make it 80, that's,
God said, that's a great, that's a great, that's by the strength
that he gives. And oh, listen, so that's the
first thing that made him bitter. Life is too short. And then look
what he goes on to say. And I said in verse 11, I shall
not see the Lord. Oh, he got so discouraged. He
got so bitter, said the Lord. I said, I won't even get to see
the Lord in the land of the living. I shall behold no man no more
in the habitus of the world. Oh God, I'm not gonna see anybody,
I'm not even gonna see the Lord in the land of the living. And
then he saw, look what he says. And oh, I was young and strong
and now my age has departed from me. My age has departed, I'm
getting old and what's gonna happen to me? And is removed
from me as a shepherd's tent. I have cut off life. I have cut
off like a weaver my life. He will cut me off with pining
sickness. And from day to night, He's gonna
make me an end to me. God's gonna end up making an
end to me. Oh, He was in a bad shape. He
was bitter. And I reckon till the morning,
I thought about it in the morning, and I reckon till morning that
as a lion, God's gonna come and break all my bones. From day
to night, you're going to make an end to me. He asked twice.
He said, God's going to make an end of it. And then look what
he done. Look how he reacted to this.
Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter. And I mourned
like a dove. Mine eyes fell me for looking
up. I'm looking to the Lord. Oh, Lord, I'm oppressed. Undertake
for me. What shall I say? He has both
spoken unto me and himself has done it. I shall go softly all
my years in the bitterness of my soul." Oh my. So that's why he was bitter.
Life is too short, too much trouble. Here I had all this great peace
and I enjoyed it and now all of a sudden I'm bitter. So bitter. So bitter. But oh, look what
happens to him now. Back here in verse 17. Look what
happens to him. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness. But look at this great salvation,
this great deliverance. But thou hast in love to my soul
delivered my soul. In love to my soul delivered
it from the pit of corruption. And oh, God's got to put you
there. And do you know why He saves you from it? Because He
loves you. I know people say that all the
time, God loves you and I do too. But this is what Hezekiah,
in saving love to my soul, in saving love, not just in love,
in saving love, all whom Christ loves and all whom Christ God
loves, you'd mark it down, God in saving love is going to deliver
them from that pit of corruption. He's going to do it. And that's
what he says, Thou hast done it. This is God's work from start
to finish. I tell you, look with me over
in Job 33 with me. Look in Job 33. Just look in
Job 33. Talking about being delivered.
Oh, you know, I've preached from it several times. Well, not several,
but a time or two, and quoted all the time. The 40th Psalm
where David said, you know, I cried unto the Lord, and He heard,
and He inclined His ear unto me. And he brought me also up
out of a horrible pit. and set my feet on a rock and
established my going. But he brought me up out of a
horrible pit. And that's what he says, in saving
love to my soul, my soul, not my body, my soul. It's the soul
that lives forever. It's the soul that's eternal.
God made man a living soul and his soul inhabits in a body,
inhabits a tent. And then look what he said here
in Isaiah 33 and verse 24. Job 33, 24, Then he is gracious
unto him, and saith, Deliver him, save him from going down
to the pit. Why? I found a ransom. It's going to cost something
to get him out of that pit. It's going to cost something
to save him from that pit. But what is it? What is it? It's
going to cost Christ his life, Christ his blood, Christ on the
cross, Christ the wrath of God, Christ the justice of God. And
look what he goes on to say. And when I bring him up out of
that pit, and look what he's going to say here. His flesh
shall be fresher than a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He's got a new birth. He starts
out as a child. Oh, this is God's way. This is
God's way. And let me ask you to look at
another place with me. And Greg Elmquist preached for
here, Isaiah 51. Greg Elmquist preached for here.
You know, this is a great, great deliverance, a great salvation.
Oh, in love, in love to my soul, thou hast delivered me from the
pit. You know, the bodies, once it
goes to the grave, that's where it's going to stay until Christ's
resurrection. But the spirit returns unto God who gave it.
And that's the soul, the spirit, that's what's gonna go. That's
what we commune with God. This body hinders us. Don't this
body hinders us from worshiping God from our souls and our hearts
the way we would? And why do we so long to be done
with this old fledge? Why do we so long to be delivered
from this earthly tabernacle, be clothed upon with that tabernacle,
that house made with hands from heaven. Look what he says here
now. Oh, this is what we're talking
about, salvation. Hearken unto me, ye that follow
after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Look unto the
rock, which is you, and the hole, to the hole of the pit, pit,
that I dug you out of. You know, Jeremiah was put in
a pit. He was put in the pit for preaching
the gospel. They dropped him down in the
pit, and every once in a while, they'd put a little water down
there, a little piece of bread. And you know what God said? He told
one man in the court, he says, you go over there, and you get
Jeremiah out of that pit, and you bring him back into the court
of the king's palace. Get him out of that pit. And
that's what he says here. Go get out of this pit. God has
brought us up out of this pit. Now look back with me over here
in verse 17. O thou hast delivered my soul
from the pit. And look what he says in verse
18 now. And I want you to really pay
attention to this. For the grave cannot praise thee,
death cannot celebrate thee, they that go down into the pit
cannot hope for thy truth. And what he's saying here, that
if God in love doesn't save you and deliver you from that pit.
You die without Christ, your death won't praise Christ. Precious
in the sight of the Lord is the death of who? His saints. Paul
said, oh, to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the
Lord. I'm in a straight between two, wanting to desire to be
with Christ, but this bar star better stay here with you. And
oh, he says, but listen, death cannot praise thee, and oh, the
grave cannot do You go into this pit, and if you're not saved
from that pit of corruption, there's no, what did he say,
no hope for thy truth. This idea that a man can be saved
after he's dead, that he can go to some place called purgatory,
that you know he can get down there, somebody pray for him,
get him out after a person's gone, ain't no sense praying
for him ever again. You don't pray for the saints
that's gone, do you? You don't pray for the believers
that's gone. Why would you pray for an unbeliever? And that's
what he says. I said, oh listen, if you go
down in the pit and God don't save you from it, there's no
hope for the truth to ever do anything for you. If it don't
do you on this side of the grave, it ain't gonna do you nothing
on that side of the grave. Ain't gonna do it. Ain't gonna do it.
That's how important, that's why we're here this morning preaching
the gospel. That's why these people pay the
bills and bring their money in here and attend this place is
because so we can tell men these blessed truths, huh? And I want
to show you salvation in three tenses. You know, He hath saved
me, He is going to save me. You keep Isaiah 38 in your left
hand and turn in your right hand to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. This
is what salvation is. This is the way God saves a man.
2 Corinthians 1 verse 9 and 10. When he talks about deliverance,
deliverance means salvation. Same word as salvation. Deliver
somebody means that you know they can't deliver themselves.
And so look what he says here. In verse 9, 2 Corinthians 1. But we have the sentence of death
in ourselves. And oh listen, only God can enable
a man to do that. And this is what the sentence
of death, when you have it in yourselves, is that we should
not trust in ourselves. That's the first thing God teaches
us. You know, you don't trust yourself, do you? Not about your
salvation, but all we trust in God, which raises the dead. Now
listen to this, who delivered us from so great a death, that
death of sin. That's second death. Every death
that was against us, Christ saved us from it. And He yet doth deliver. He still saves us. Doth saves
us, delivers us, day in and day out. And oh listen, one of these
days we're gonna save us once and for all. And whom we trust
that He will yet deliver us. Yet save us. Oh He has, He is,
and He shall. And that's what Jeremiah, in
love, Hezekiah said, in love, Thou hast saved my soul. Now back over here in verse 17.
Verse 17. Oh, look at God's gracious, gracious
motive. You know, it's a merciful motive. Look what He says. He says, In
love to my soul. In love to my soul. Now, look
what it says in the margin. It says, Thou hast loved my soul
from the pit. Loved my soul. Oh my! He delivered me. David said it like this. He delivered
me. Why David? He delighted in me. He found
great delight in me. And I'll tell you something.
You know, God loved us before we ever existed. You know, how
do I know that? Because He said, I love thee
with an everlasting love. How long is an everlasting love?
How long is it? How long God is. everlasting and oh my this is
astounding to me that before I ever was God sent his affection
on a people and he loved those people he loved those people
oh my soul you think we know something we don't know anything
about love like God knows love Oh, listen. And He loved us before
we were. And listen to this. He loves
us knowing what we would be. Knowing what we would be. He
knew what we think, how we would act. He knew every motive, every
desire, every sin, every corruption, everything we'd ever do. He said,
I loved them. And not only that, but He loves
us as we are right now. We're not going to do... Why
does He love us like this? I said, I'll love them freely.
If God loves us and does anything for us, it's got to be done freely. You know why it's got to be done
freely? Why would we be paying for it? And oh, and bless his holy name. He loves us as we will someday
be. In fact, he loves us that he's
going to make us like his blessed son. one of these blessed days,
huh? No wonder we're saying, how can
it be, how can it be, how can it be, how can it be that thou
hast loved me? Loved me? Oh, I could understand
him loving some people, but I, loving me? One of the most unlovable,
hardest, cruelest, cold-hearted, mean, ill, hateful, despiteful,
impatient, ill-tempered human beings on the face of the earth
and he still loves me? How can it be? Oh, in love he
predestinated us. In love he came Christ to die
for us. Why, we were yet sinners. No
greater love than a man hath this, that he lay down his life
for his friends. And all this is my last point.
Look at this. In verse 17. Oh, what a blessed
motive thou in love has delivered my soul from the pit. And look
what he says. For thou hast cast all my sins. All my sins. Where'd you put
them? Behind your back? Well, where's God's back at?
You ever seen God's back? Where's he back at? Since he's
everywhere, where's his back? He said he cast them as far as
the east is from the west. Oh my. And not only did he cast
them, all of them behind thy back. He says he remembers them. No more. No more. Look what he
says over here in Psalm 85. Oh, this is the most wonderful,
this is why, this is why it's such a wonderful, wonderful thing
that we, we don't have to, you know, God in love saved us from
that corruption, saved us from that pit of corruption. In love
He gave us His blessed Son. In love He predestinated us. In love, He keeps us day in and
day out. And oh, look what He says here
in verse 2 and 3, Psalm 85. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from
the fierceness of thine anger. Oh my, Jeremiah said it like
this. God said, I will remember all
their iniquities and their sins will I remember no more. Don't
say a man needs to know the Lord for they shall all know me and
all their iniquities and all their sins I will remember no
more. Now I remember them. I remember
them. That's what David meant when
he says my sins are ever before me. Oh, I can remember sins when
I was just 12, 13, 14 years old. Oh, they're awful. Awful. And
I remember them, but God don't. And that's the thing I say, Lord,
why do I remember them and you don't? And they're all gone. All of them. The ones that I
will commit today is already gone. Gone. None of them's left. You know where they're gone?
You know how God got rid of them? He laid them all on His Son.
And when they was all laid on His Son, you know what He did
in justice? He wounded His Son. What for? for our transgressions. God said
He'd please the Lord to make His soul an offering for sin. And so if God in justice took
our sins and Christ says, listen, give me their sins and I'll bear
them. Give me their death and I'll bear it. Pour out your wrath
on me and I'll bear it. Take your justice and inflict
it on me. And everything due them, give
it to me. and everything that I earned
by my obedient life and righteous death, you give it to them. And
if God justly punished my sins and your sins on Christ, can
He come back and get us for our sins? If He bore them, that means
I don't. And if He didn't bear them, then
I still have them, no middle ground. So if He bore them, then
I ain't got them. And that's why God says there's
sins and iniquities. Well, I remember no more. You
know why I don't remember them? Because we don't have any. Where
are they gone? Christ took them all away. And as a father, as a father,
God deals with us as children, as sons. And sometimes He chastises
us. He loves us that no other son
who may receive, He chastises. He'll lay the rod to you every
once in a while. He'll deal with us pretty severely
sometimes. But, O in love to my soul, thou
hast delivered me from the pit of corruption, and cast all my
sins behind thy back. Our Father, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for allowing us to
meet here this morning. Thank you for your gospel. Thank
you for the blessed truth. And Lord, we're not on a fool's
errand. We're not on a fool's errand. We know the Holy Spirit
will take what's been said and will use it where it pleases
him to use it, and will apply it where it pleases him to apply
it. and will speak to the heart who
it pleases He to speak to. And so, Lord, we thank you and
bless you. Keep these saints as they go
their way for the rest of the day till tonight. We ask these
things in Christ's name. Amen. 57.