with me in your Bibles, please,
to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew 27 tells the story of
our Lord Jesus Christ dying for us on the cross and especially
how he was treated. Matthew chapter 27, we're going
to begin with verse 11. And Jesus stood before the governor,
and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And when he was accused
of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said
Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness
against thee? And he answered him to never
a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. Now at the
feast, the governor was wont to release under the people a
prisoner whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner
called Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered
together, Pilate said unto them, whom will you that I release
unto you, Barabbas or Jesus, which is called the Christ? For
he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When he was set
down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, have
nothing to do with this just man, for I have suffered many
things this day in a dream because of him. But the chief priests
and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas
and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said
unto them, whether the twain will ye that I release unto you?
They said, Barabbas. Pilate said unto them, What shall
I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ? They all say unto
him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why? What
evil hath he done? But they cried out the more saying,
let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed
his hands before the multitude saying, I am innocent of the
blood of this just person. See ye to it. Then answered all
the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. Then released he Barabbas unto
them. And when they had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall. and gathered unto him the whole
band of soldiers, and they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet
robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his hand,
and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took
the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had
mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own
raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. And as they came
out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled
to bury his cross. And when they were come unto
a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of the skull,
they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall, and when he
had tasted, he would not drink. And they crucified him, and parted
his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken of by the prophet. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down,
they watched him there. and set up over his head his
accusation written, this is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Then were
there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and
another on the left. And they that pass by reviled
him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests,
mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others,
himself he cannot save. If He be the King of Israel,
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.
He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him,
for He said, I am the Son of God. The thieves also which were
crucified with Him cast the same in His teeth. Now from the sixth
hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that
is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Some of
them that stood there when they heard that said, this man calls
for Elias. And straightway one of them ran
and took a sponge and filled it. with vinegar and put it on
a reed and gave him to drink. The rest said, let be, let us
see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he cried
again with a loud voice, yelled it up the ghost. And behold,
the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the
bottom. And the earth did quake and the
rocks rent. And the graves were open and
many of the bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out
of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and
appeared unto many. Now, when the centurion and they
that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and those
things that were done, they feared greatly saying, truly this was
the son of God. Let's pray. Good morning, everybody. The
privilege is ours to be back with you and your privilege to
be here. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter three. Luke chapter three. Most of you
probably knows this, but my pastor, Todd Nybert, he puts on a preacher
school. And so once a month, the first Saturday of the month,
we get men from all over the different gospel churches come,
and Todd preaches messages to them about preaching. I mean,
it's a real blessing to us, a good time of fellowship. And what's
said there is invaluable. I remember one of the first times
I was there, Todd was speaking, and Obi, you might have been
there. He said this. He said, never hesitate to preach
another man's outline. It's better than yours. That
was a blanket statement he made to everybody, but he was looking
at me when he said it and I took it to heart. If the Lord's willing,
the Lord will bless us in this this morning, I'm going to preach
another man's outline to you. You know whose it is? John the
Baptist. That's probably a pretty good
outline, huh? Who'd he get it from? He got it from the Holy
Spirit. That's what we're going to look at here. Luke chapter
three, look in verse one and we'll read the first six verses.
Now in the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate
being governor of Judea, and Herod being Tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip Tetrarch of Iteria, and of the region
of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene. Annas
and Caiaphas being the High Priests. Remember that, High Priests.
The word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the
wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan,
preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, 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. Every
valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought
low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
ways shall be made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation
of God. Now, the first two verses here
give us the historical context of this passage of Scripture.
Five political figures are mentioned here, and I heard a preacher
refer to these men one time as the who's who in the hall of
shame. These were desperately wicked
individuals, and they presided over a desperately wicked generation. The world really hadn't known
darker times up till this point. If you'll notice here in verse
two, there are two high priests, two high priests. Now we know
from the Old Testament account, how many high priests did the
Lord command? One. There was to be one high priest
because of who he typified, who he represented. He typified the
Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest. We can't come into
the presence of the Father. He's holy. We can't come into
his presence on our own. The only one who can come before
him and his holiness is his son, Jesus Christ, and that's our
hope. That He is our Great High Priest. That we're in Him. So much so that when He goes
before His Father, we come as well because we're in Him. And
we find acceptance with the Father because of who we are in. Because
when He's looking at us, all He sees is His Son, Jesus Christ,
that One in whom He is well-pleased. He's our Great High Priest. That's
the significance of that. But if you notice here, The Jews
had instituted another High Priest. There were now two. There was
another High Priest. And this illustrates the times
very clearly. Just as the Jews had brought in another High Priest,
in sinful error they thought they had found another way to
God. And that was through their works. The whole nation had deported
from simple faith in the Messiah that was to come. and they had
turned to their works. Their hope was no longer in the
Messiah. Their hope was in keeping feasts and honoring Sabbath days
and abstaining from that which was unclean. They believed in
salvation by works. The religion of the Jews was
to do and live that wide path that leads where? Always to destruction. 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
in the wilderness. Now, John is a very particular
individual. He's a special individual. He
was a sinner just like you and me. Let me get that out right
now. But he was a special and particular individual. He bridged
a gap. He 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 came to him. He wasn't in a seminary,
and he wasn't out trying to build his ministry. John was in the
wilderness. He was alone. Until the Word of God came to
him, until his master gave him something to say, then he was
out preaching what his master had given him to say. Now, what
was John's purpose? Look up to your text in verse
4, and we'll see John's purpose. Luke 3, verse 4, 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 know, the
rest of this passage, verses 4 through 6, this is all a quotation
from Isaiah chapter 40. We know from John 1.23 that John
is that voice crying in the wilderness, that one Isaiah was talking about,
that voice crying in the wilderness, that is John. Now understand,
Isaiah 40 is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, just like the rest
of this book. But this voice crying in the wilderness, this
is John. And here's John's purpose. Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight. That's his purpose. Now, I looked
at those words, make his paths straight, to see what they actually
meant. And it literally means this. It means set the record
straight. And we would be wise to stop
here for a moment and view this in the light of gospel preaching.
John's purpose was the same purpose that every other gospel preacher
has. To proclaim who Jesus Christ is and how he saves sinners. claim the truth, and to expose
the error. Now, what was John's message?
Look at verse 3 of your text. 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 because he did just that, he baptized. But John didn't
just baptize, he preached baptism, the baptism of repentance. What
does that mean? What does it mean to preach the
baptism of repentance? Let me start here. Christian
baptism, as we know it, being immersed in the water, being
submerged completely under the water, and emerging again from
the water, Christian baptism, it is no different than the baptism
of John, the baptism of repentance. They are the exact same thing.
So what does that mean? What does it mean to preach baptism? Let's see what Paul has to say
about John's message, and I think we'll understand it. Turn to
Acts 19, look at verse 4. Acts 19 verse four. What was
John's message? This is what Paul said it was.
Acts 19 four. 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,
we're preaching what baptism represents. Simple faith in Jesus
Christ through our union with Him. That's what it means. When
we're immersed in that water, what we're confessing is When
he lived, that's when I lived. That perfect righteousness he
worked out, when he walked all the paths of righteousness, when
he honored his father in all things, he honored his father's
law in all things, that's when I lived. And that perfect righteousness
he worked out, that really is my righteousness before God.
It really is mine through my union with him. when he died,
when he went to the cross, and he was punished, and he died.
When we're submerged on the water, what we're saying is, when he
died, I died. My hope is that he bore my sins
in his body on that tree. And the punishment that he was
punished with, that was the punishment that was reserved for me. That
wrath that was rained down upon him, that was the wrath that
was reserved for my sins, and it rained down upon him. And
he bled, and he died, and that's when I was punished. And that's
when I died. Sin will not go unpunished. God
will punish sin. My hope that it was punished
in the person of Jesus Christ. And when he died, I died. And
then, we emerge from the water. What are we confessing? That
when He was raised from the dead, that's when I was raised from
the dead. And what does that signify? What is that evidence?
The resurrection of Jesus Christ evidences this, is that the Father
accepted His sacrifice. That sins, all the sins of the
elect, really have been put away. That the Father really is appeased,
and those sins are no more. The debt has been completely
paid, and we're resurrected unto a new life in Him. That's what
it means to preach baptism. It's a simple faith in Jesus
Christ alone. Now, my question. If baptism
represents faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, what always accompanies
faith? What can't be separated from
faith? Repentance. Repentance and faith are two
sides of the same coin. You can never have one. The Lord
doesn't grant one without granting the other. John preached the
baptism of repentance. Now let's spend some time on
this. What is repentance? What does that mean? What would the world
say repentance is? The world would say that repentance
is this. It's when you feel really, really bad about your sin, and
you promise never to do it again, and the depth of your sincerity
is seen in whether you commit that sin again. What sin have
you and I ever stopped committing in our heart? Now a man may clean
up the outside of the cup, and I'm going to use this as an example.
Let's say a man is having an adulterous relationship. Right? He's having
an extramarital affair. And he sees that that affair
is destroying his family, that it's causing his children, his
wife, all kinds of grief. And he sees the negative effects
of that and he says, you know what? I'm going to stop having that affair.
And he stops having that extramarital affair. He stops. He cleans up
the outside of the cup. When does he ever stop lusting
in his heart? When do I ever stop lusting in my heart? He'll
try to clean up the outside of the cup, but the inside of the
cup is still filthy. But that's not repentance. Repentance
is simply this, it's a change of mind. It's when God changes
a man's mind. And what do we have to have our
minds changed about? Many things. About who God is, about who we
are, but chiefly this thing here, the remission or the forgiveness
of sins. Who forgives them? When he forgives
them? Why he forgives them? He needs
his mind changed about this. Now, let's consider this for
a moment. What does the world say about the forgiveness of
sins? And I'm going to throw some things out there that you
may have heard in a roundabout way. The world speaking about
the forgiveness of sins. What if a man says this? If you
just turn your life around and do your best to be good, God
will then forgive your sins. You ever heard anything of that
nature before? Let's ask this first question.
When have I done enough? What's the standard? When have
I done enough? When have I abstained enough? When have I done enough
so-called good? When have I done enough? Furthermore, what an
impossible task. Proverbs 21.4 tells us the plowing
of the wicked is sin. Now let me ask you this. Is there
any more wholesome of an activity than plowing? You think of a
man trying to raise crops. He's out there with a plow. He's
plowing a field. Probably the most wholesome activity that
a man can undertake, right? Proverbs 21.4 says the plowing
of the wicked is sin. Why? Because sin is not a behavior
problem. It's not an activity problem.
It's a heart problem. It's a nature problem. Genesis
6-5, and 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 continually. The heart, the activities, the
thoughts, the imaginations, the motives, the will, every part
of the man, it's only evil and that continually. Everything
I do, everything you do, it's sin. It's sin because of who
does it? Because of that old man, because of that heart. Now
let me ask, in that scenario I just gave you, when are sins
forgiven? In that scenario, when our sins
are forgiven, they're forgiven at the end. In that scenario,
the remission or the forgiveness of sins comes at the end of the
equation. And it's in response to a man doing his part. What
is that? That's salvation by works. Let me give you another
scenario. Somebody says, if you'll just accept Jesus as your personal
savior, he'll forgive your sins. Have you ever heard that before?
In this scenario, what does the forgiveness of sins hinge upon?
What is it dependent upon? It's dependent upon a man making
a choice for God, willing, making himself willing. Let me give
you this scripture, John 540, and ye will not come to me that
you might have life. Now, another question. Once again,
in this scenario, when are sins forgiven? At the end. The forgiveness
of sins comes at the end of salvation and is conditioned upon a man
mustering the appropriate will. That ain't gonna work. John 5.40
tells us. And that is salvation by works.
That is God responding to a man with forgiveness of sins. It's
a lie. Now let me give you a little more subtle one. What if somebody
says something like this? What if a man poses the forgiveness
of sins as a response to the natural man being able to believe
the truth on his own? And he says, well, what you have
to do is you believe of your own accord, and then God sees
that you believe, and then he then forgives your sins. In that
scenario, where does the forgiveness of sins fall? At the end. And
it is dependent upon the natural man being able to believe. John
6, 44. And no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. And I'll raise him
up the last day. We can't believe. Now we issue the external call.
Come to Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. But we temper this. You can't.
Until you're given a heart of faith. Until the Lord sovereignly
comes to you and gives you a heart of faith. You can't. And if you
can, it's because he came to you first. Now what I have to
say about this, I want to say carefully and clearly. I want
to start here. No man has any right to believe
that the Lord has done anything for him apart from him believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He has no right to believe that.
But here's the thing, if a man thinks that he comes across that
faith naturally, that he made a choice to believe, that of
his own knowledge he gathered some facts and said, well, I
see that this is the truth. If he thinks he came across that
naturally, that man's not looking to Christ. His faith, his so-called
faith, isn't in Christ. His faith is in his so-called
faith. He's not looking to Christ. He's looking to his so-called
faith. My hope is not that I believe the gospel. My hope is that Jesus
Christ stood as my surety before the foundations of the world
were ever built. That my name was on his heart when he went
to that cross. That his father elected me in him before the
foundations of the world were ever built. I'm saying all this
to say this. Salvation does not end with the
forgiveness of sins, God responding to something a man does. Salvation
begins with the free, full, frank forgiveness of sins for Christ's
sake. And everything that happens after
that is just the effects of God freely forgiving a man of his
sins. Why do you believe? Because before the foundations
of the world were ever built, God, for Christ's sake, freely
forgave me of my sins. and in time he gave me a heart
to believe. Why do you repent? Because before the foundations
of the world were ever built, God, for Christ's sake, freely
forgave my sins and in time he changed my mind. Why do you cry
out for mercy? Because I was already shown mercy
long before I ever knew I needed it. Why do you love God? Because
he loved me first in Christ and he freely forgave my sin and
he gives me a heart that loves him in return. When you believe,
Your hope is not that the Lord Jesus Christ will do something
for you. When the Lord gives you saving faith, what you find
out is that He already has done something for you, long before
you ever knew you needed it. Now somebody says, that sounds
pretty good, but you gotta give me a scripture. I gotta see that
from the scripture. Indeed. As I told you before, the rest
of this passage of scripture is just a quotation from Isaiah
chapter 40, and we can pick up in verse one, and it leads right
into this point. So go over to Isaiah chapter
40, and look at verse one. Remember the point. Salvation
begins with the free, full, frank forgiveness of sins for Christ's
sake. Isaiah chapter 40, look at verse
one. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak
ye comfortably to Jerusalem. That means speak to her heart.
Yes, speak to her mind, speak to her intellect, but speak to
her heart and cry unto her that her warfare will be accomplished
if she does her part. Did I read that right? Go back
and read it. And cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. It's already done. That her iniquity
is pardoned. It's already finished. For she
hath Past tense received of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. It really is finished. There
really is nothing left to do. There really are no more works
left to perform. We just rest. Now, her warfare
is accomplished. Who are her enemies? I think
I got an idea. Turn to Psalm 23 and look at
verse 5. David had some enemies, and David
spoke of them in Psalm 23. And I want you to look at verse
5. David said, thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Now who are David's enemies?
Who's David's enemies? Who's David concerned about right
now? Is it a bunch of warriors that seek to defeat David in
battle? Seek to take his life? I don't think so. This is King
David. This is a man who slew a giant with a single stone.
I don't think he's worried about another warrior. What about it's
some sort of political figure that wants to dethrone David,
kick him off his throne? I doubt it. David is God's anointed
king. Who are his enemies? Who's the
enemy that David is talking about here? David's enemies were the
same enemies you and I have, and every believer has. It's
our sins. What David is saying here is, I am in the very presence
of my enemies, my sins, daily. And he's crying to the Lord.
Lord, don't you see all these enemies? Look at them. They're
all over. They've got me encompassed. They've got me surrounded. They're
all around. It's like a mighty legion of warriors. All my sins
stacked up against me. And the Lord says, hold on, let
me look. What are you talking about, David? David says, Lord,
you don't see him. You don't see all my enemies,
all my sins, all my iniquities all around me. They're accusing
me. They got their spears pointed at me. Lord, you don't see all
these enemies. Lord says, let me look again. I don't see a
thing. Sit down, David. Sit down at my table. You're
an honored guest. All you need to do is rest. You see that cup?
That cup? If you notice, that cup's overflowing.
That's the cup of my mercy, David. It's never gonna run dry. See,
although we see our sins daily, and we don't see them for what
they really are, let's be honest. We see the tip of the iceberg.
We don't see them for what they really are. But while we see
them daily, The Lord doesn't see them at all. Those enemies
are defeated enemies. And when he looks at every member
of the elect, you know what he sees? The very righteousness of God
in Christ. That's a blessing, isn't it?
Your warfare is accomplished. Those enemies have been put down. Your iniquity is pardoned, for
she hath received, hath, past tense, of the Lord's hand double
for all her sins. When did she receive it? on the
cross. When the Lord Jesus Christ bore
the sins of His elect in His body on that tree, when He was
punished, that's when I was punished. And when He died, that's when
I died. For she hath received of the Lord's hand double." Now,
was the Lord Jesus Christ punished more than what was necessary
for the sins of the elect? God forbid. God's a just God. He's holy. Now, what this speaks
of is absolute satisfaction. And here's what I think of when
I read this passage of Scripture. Sometimes in error, here's what I think.
If I do make it into heaven, it's going to be by the skin
of my teeth. I'm just barely going to scrape in. But that's
the wrong way of thinking. Full satisfaction has been made.
She hath received the Lord's hand double for all her sins. They've all been put away. All
the debt has been fully paid, and we're as right for heaven.
And this scares me a little to say this, as Jesus Christ himself
is, because we're in him, and the Father sees no difference
between us. Now, notice this passage of scripture, this message
of comfort, it's not for everyone. The Lord says, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, sayeth your God. speaking comfortably to Jerusalem. Well, I have to know, am I one
of these people? I have to know, is my warfare
accomplished? Is my iniquity pardoned? Have
I received of the Lord's hand double for all my sins? I have
to know, because if that's the case, I've really got nothing
to worry about. I mean, whatever happens between now and the day
of my death, it's whatever. But if that's the case, I really
have nothing to worry about. I have to know, who are these
people? They are often referred to as
his sheep. And I want you to turn to John 10 and look at verse
26. Who are the Lord's people? John 10, and look at 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 pluck them out of my hand. Now, in this
passage, there's some things we can see, some things we can
extrapolate about the Lord's people. Here's the first thing
I noticed. There are chosen people. Not
everybody's a sheep. They're a chosen and elect people.
Notice here in verse 26 what the Lord says about these people.
He says, you believe not because you are not of my sheep. It doesn't
say you're not of my sheep because you believe not. It says you
believe not because I didn't choose you because I didn't elect
you before the foundation of the world were ever built. Here's
the truth. The comfort is for the elect, a chosen people, chosen
by God and loved by him in Christ Jesus before the foundations
of the world, for whom he did foreknow that he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he may be the
firstborn among many brethren, a chosen and elect people. That's
the people here. That's the people of God, and
not everybody's a sheep. Here's the next thing I see.
There are hearing people. They hear because they've been given
ears to hear. And the gospel, the gospel of God's free grace,
salvation by grace alone, it's good news to them. Now, news
is relative, right? What may be good news to me may
be bad news to somebody else. But to these sheep, salvation
by grace, nothing left to do, nothing I have to bring to the
table, nothing commanded of me, just to rest. That's the best
news I have ever heard. Who's that bad news to? A man
who wants to be justified by his own works to the tune of
his own glory. That's who that's bad news to. A man who thinks
he's got something he can bring to the table. A man who wants
to stand in the halls of glory and say, I'm here because I fill
in the blank with whatever you want. But for a man who doesn't
have his own righteousness, a man who's nothing more than just
a needy beggar, this is the best news I have ever heard. This
is salvation for sinners, all by free, unmerited favor. There
are chosen people, there are hearing people, there are believing
people. And this is the chief hallmark of the sheep. There
are believing people. What they hear, they believe.
Turn to 2 Timothy 1 and look at verse 12. Second Timothy 1 verse 12. This
is Paul's threefold declaration of faith. What does it mean to
believe on Christ? For the witch calls, I also suffer
these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed,
for I know whom I have believed. When you believe, it's not in
a set of facts or circumstances. It's not in a doctrine. You believe
in a whom. Your faith is in a whom, the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's in a man, the man Christ
Jesus. Go back reading. 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. Now, that's saving faith,
folks. I am persuaded. I've been persuaded. I've been
persuaded by God Himself. There's no other way I could
have come to this. I've been given faith, and this faith knows
this, that He is able. He can save me all by Himself
with absolutely no help from me to the tune of His own glory.
I'm 100% certain that He's able, and I'm committed, I'm all in.
I don't have a plan B, and I don't have a plan C. This is all my
hope, that He put away my sins, and His righteousness is my righteousness.
And when God looks at me, He sees no one but His blessed Son. I'm all in. I'm going to tell
you something and kind of expose myself to you a little bit, and
it's right, wrong, or indifferent, I'm going to say it. There are times
when I lay on my bed and I start looking to myself. And I question
the Lord's willingness to save me. Is he willing to save a man
like me? I can see him saving my wife.
I can see him saving my friends. I can see him saving y'all. But
sometimes I have a hard time. Is he willing to save a man like
me? And we should never think that because he is always willing
to save a sinner. A sinner is who he saves. But
sometimes we doubt that. But that has nothing to do with
what Paul is talking about here. He never mentions the word willing.
He says, I am persuaded that he is able. You got any problems
with that? Is He able to save you with no
help from you whatsoever to the tune of His own glory? You got
saving faith. You're a sheep. They're chosen
people, they're hearing people, they're believing people, and
they're a known people, a known people, or rather a foreknown
people. These people were loved by God
before the foundations of the world were ever built, as they
are in Christ. And that's a simple point, but
I tell you what, I can't get over that. The more I ponder the idea,
if you believe the gospel right now, if you are trusting Jesus
Christ alone, you know you're loved by God. You have the very
love of God. Could the love of God ever be
without effect? No. Know everyone he loves, he provides
for, he saves them, and he delivers them, causes them to persevere
all the way to the end. There are following people, and
this has something to do with submission to his will. Here's
how we stand before God. Lord, hear my, hear my. You're
the sovereign, you're in control, and whatever you do is right,
whether you make me a king over a nation or you make me a peasant.
You make me a ruler over something or you make me a slave. Whatever
you do, it's right and it's best because you're the sovereign.
You're the one who's in control and you're holy. Submission to
his will. We know that we sit in his hands
and he can do whatever he wants with us. He can save us or he
can damn us and it is right, just, and fair. Whatever it is
he does simply because of who he is. Amen to that? Submission
to His will. We stand in complete submission
to His sovereignty. They're a lively people. They've
been given eternal life. Turn to John 17, look at verse
3. What is this thing of eternal
life? These people, they've been given eternal life. John 17,
3, and this is life eternal. that they might know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." These people
actually know who Jesus Christ is, and it's because he's been
pleased to reveal himself to them. God has been pleased to
reveal himself to you. They know him, and not just in
a sense that they can identify him, they know some things about
him, they love him as he's revealed. They love His sovereignty. I
love the fact that He is in absolute and utter control of everything
and everyone. That's the God I need. A God
who can conquer my will, who can conquer me, whose hand I
sit in. I love His sovereignty. His omnipotence. He's all-powerful. None can stay
his hand. So powerful, if he's willed something,
it comes into existence. Simply because he willed it.
And you know what? It's always been. Because he willed it. It's
eternal. You know any power like that?
Oh, he's all-powerful. He's immutable. I love this characteristic
of his. He never changes. You wanna know
why I love it so much? Because I change like the wind.
Depending on my circumstances, depending on what kind of day
it is, I will change like the wind, but He changes not. Yesterday,
today, forever, Jesus is the same. He is absolutely immutable
and He's holy. And what definition could I possibly
give you of that? Other? Unknown? He is unfathomably
perfect, and His standard is unfathomable perfection. And
in a world that will make exceptions for everything and everyone,
I love His standard. And every believer loves His
standard of holiness, because in Christ we've met that standard.
We have no fear of it. We are holy in Christ. And there are kept people. Everything
is done for these people all the way along the way. They're
not even in charge of keeping themselves. They persevere all
the way to the ends for one reason. It's because he preserves his
people all the way to the end. That's the people of God. Now
turn back to Isaiah chapter 40 and look at verse four. Let's
see the effects of the message. Isaiah 40, look at verse four. 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.
This is the effects of this message, salvation by free grace, when
the Lord sends it out effectually. Here's the effects. Every valley.
What's a valley? It's a void. It's a void in the
earth. Every valley shall be exalted,
shall be filled. Every needy sinner, every man
who's a sinner and he finds himself in need, he's filled, he's exalted,
he's filled, plumb up, he has everything he needs. Colossians
2.9, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and you are complete in him. I shall not want for righteousness,
I shall not want for redemption, I shall not want for holiness.
I shall not want for peace, rest. I shall not want for the food
on my table tomorrow. I shall not want for everything. Every
valley shall be exalted. Every mountain and hill shall
be made low. This is another effect of this
message when it goes out in power. Those high places, those self-righteousnesses. that we clung so dearly to, and
we thought were beautiful, beautiful shining things of gold. They're
exposed for what they are. We see them for what they are.
They are dead works. They are filthy rags. They're
that which cannot produce life. And we're exposed to that. And
you know who I immediately thought was Bartimaeus? Remember Bartimaeus? He's a beggar,
right? He's a homeless guy. He's living
on the street corner. And he's wearing a robe. Now homeless
people do not have clean clothes, let's be honest. And no doubt
that robe was disgusting. It was filthy, it smelled bad,
but he was blind and he couldn't see that. Until he heard his
master's call. Come Bartimaeus, what's the first
thing you do? He cast away that robe. The Lord gives a man sight. That's the first thing he sees
is that robe of my personal righteousness. It's filthy, and it's disgusting,
and it's putrid. And the first thing you want
to do is get as far away from it as you possibly can. And you
come to Christ just the way Bartimaeus did, naked and exposed, just
as he was. The crooked shall be made straight. Now the word crooked here effectively
means polluted, and I have no doubt that this speaks of regeneration.
Polluted. This is where the Lord gives
a man a new heart, a new spirit, a holy nature, the very spirit
of God dwelling in a man. Now this thing of crooked, I
heard a preacher say this once, and I don't remember who it was,
but it stuck with me over the years. The best way to tell a crooked stick
is to place a straight stick next to it. Only when you have
that perfect standard is the flaw of the crooked stick seen. And this is what happens when
the Lord gives a man a new nature. He puts in us that straight stick,
that holy nature, that perfect nature, the Spirit of God Himself.
And that new nature sees, recognizes, and owns the sin of that old
nature, that old man. The natural man can never see
his sin. He can never see his works for
what they are. The natural man just seeks to
justify himself. He seeks to defend himself. When a man is
given a new nature, a holy nature, that crooked stick is exposed.
that wretched man is exposed. And the new man actually owns
the sins of the old man, and that's what causes the believer
to cry out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. The new man
owns the sins of the old man, and he sees them for what they
are. and the rough places are plain. And this speaks of a path
which is impassable because of obstacles. And when the gospel
is preached effectively, the Lord actually blesses it and
sends it out effectually, all obstacles that lead to Christ
are removed. Now, Perhaps there is someone
here this morning who has not come to the Lord Jesus Christ,
who does not believe on Him. I would ask you, what stands
in your way? What obstacle do you perceive being in your way?
Somebody says, my sin. My sin is the obstacle between
me and Christ. Let me give you a scripture. Luke 15.2, and the
Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners. and eat it with them. Sinners
are the only men that he will receive. It's not your sin that
will keep you from Christ. He says, come unto me. All ye
who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. It
will never be your sin that will separate you from the Lord Jesus
Christ. Say somebody says it's my weakness and my spiritual
inability. That's what separates me from
Christ. 2 Corinthians 12 9, and he said unto me, my grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. It will never be your weakness.
It will never be your inability that will keep you from Christ.
His strength is made perfect in your weakness. Are you weak?
Are you incapable? Are you sinful? Good. The Lord's
given you eyes to see. The scales have fallen off your
eyes. You've already had something done for you because the natural
man can never see that. It'll never be your weakness and your
inability. The only thing that will ever stand between you and
the Lord Jesus Christ is this, it will be my stinking self-righteousness.
See, the gospel is only for sinners. It's only for men who have nothing
to bring and nothing to offer, who deserve hell and they know
it. That's who the gospel is for. And the only thing that
will ever separate you from Christ is your need to hold on to something
you did. Let's look at the end of the
story. Isaiah chapter 40 and look at verse five. Isaiah 40
in verse 5, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. And this is how the story of
the world ends. One day, every knee is going to bow, and every
tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
tune of the glory of God the Father. And in conclusion, in
closing, I want to leave you with this. I want to address
two types of people who could potentially be in this room right
now. Those who refuse to bow and those who are bowing right
now. Now, first, those who refuse to bow, I'll let you know this,
and I don't mean this to be offensive in the way I say it, but it should
be offensive to you in the sense that it comes from the scripture.
If you refuse to bow, understand this, one day you will. You will
bow to this king. You will bow to this sovereign.
You will do it in this life if the Lord is merciful and he reveals
himself to you, or you will do it on the day of judgment if
he is not, but you will bow to this king. Second group of people,
those who bow right now, I've got great news for you. Your
warfare is accomplished. Your iniquity is pardoned. You
hath received the Lord's hand double for all your sins, and
you can't get any more accepted than you are right now. Thank
you all for listening. I appreciate it. It's a blessing
to be here today.