Romans 5, look with me at verse
10. For if, when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only
that, but we also join in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have now received the atonement." We want to talk
about atonement. Atonement. By whom we have now
received the atonement. That word atonement here means,
if you look in the margin, it means reconciliation. This is
the only time that you, in the New Testament, need reconciliation. The word atonement appears seventy-seven
times in the Old Testament. Seventy-seven times. Here, just
one time, and it means reconciliation. But the word was so prominent
in the Old Testament, and just only mentioned once here in the
New. The word atonement in the Old Testament is used so much
differently than it is now. It was in the way they use it
now. In the Old Testament, you know, in the Day of Atonement,
in Leviticus 16, it's mentioned 16 different times on the Day
of Atonement. That's one day a year where the
high priest, you remember, he took the blood and went behind
the veil and he put the blood on the mercy seat. And the people
waited outside to see if God was going to receive the blood,
receive that sacrifice, and not kill that priest. And he had
those bells on the bottom of his garment, so they could hear
him move around in there. And when he came back out, and
they seen that God had accepted the atonement, then they rejoiced. But that was just from one year
to the next. Just one year to the next. In
the Old Testament it stands for just one spiritual experience,
and that's what it happened. It happened once, and again it
happened, and that's what it means, just one time. But today,
today when we talk about the atonement, today when we talk
about reconciliation, when we talk about Christ and atonement
and In reconciliation, it covers everything, the whole of our
Lord Jesus Christ's life, His work, and His redemption. So when we say atonement, we
mean concerning the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, His whole
life, His sacrificial death, and everything that He did in
His life. That's what we're talking about.
You see, beloved, the work which our Lord brought out for His
people, was so great, so far above anything that happened
in the Old Testament, so far above any sacrifice that was
offered, so far above any high priest. Our Lord, when he wrought
out for his people, was so great and so glorious and so varied
so varied in all of its aspects. That's why we cannot plumb the
depths of Christ in Him crucified, Christ in His person, Christ
in His offices, Christ in His sacrifices, Christ in His tithes,
Christ in His promises, Christ in His prophecies. You just cannot
plumb the depths of it. It's too varied. And you see,
not only that, but it's downward. That's the first thing we've
got to understand about the atonement of Christ, the death of Christ,
the work of Christ. First thing, it was for God.
That's the first work we've got to understand, that what Christ
did, it was for God. Scott said it so many times,
God's got to do something for Himself before He can ever do
anything for us. And when Christ did whatever
He did to finish the work that God gave Him to do, then it works
for us. It works for us. And oh, I tell
you what, so one word One word, whether it's atonement, whether
it's sacrifice, whether it's substitution, whether it's satisfaction,
it cannot fully explain and tell out the work of our Lord Jesus
Christ. One word can't do it. But I'll tell you what, we're
going to use this word atonement and deal with it just a little
bit. Look what he says there, by whom, in verse 11, by whom
we have now received atonement, who? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'll tell you the reason
we needed atonement. Look down there in verse 12.
Wherefore, as by one man sin is at the end of the world, and
death by sin, that's why in the world we live in atonement, because
of sin. S-I-N. S-I-N. I repent not of bad things I've
done, mistakes I've made, I repent of sin. Sin, sins I've done because
I'm a sinner. Why in the world a man sins?
Because he's born a sinner. And there's no time, let me tell
you this, there's no time in history, no place on this planet
where there was population, where there were people, where men
didn't offer sacrifices when they approached their gods. And
every civilization, every culture, Every place on this earth, whether
they was naked, or whether they was clothed from the top of their
head to the sole of their feet, like the Arabs are, and like
the Israelis were, I'm telling you, no matter what happened,
when they approached their God, they dared not approach Him without
a sacrifice. I mean, you can't go no place
now. You can go into the Papua, you
can go into New Guinea, where they still wear bows in their
nose, you can go to Africa, you can go any place in China, any
place you want to go. And they've got some God that
they're offering a sacrifice to if they're going to approach
Him. That's just human. They've got to do it. And then,
you know, they offered even in the Old Testament and all through
history, they've offered human sacrifices. You go to Mexico,
you go to Brazil, and they've got these altars down there.
And they offered human sacrifices on those altars. They offered
virgins. They offered their firstborn,
they bring animals, some bring food. Man by his nature knows
that something's wrong with him. And when he needs the help of
God, little Gene, he always brings a sacrifice. Now I tell you what,
they always have, they always do now, and they always will.
And I need every, that's why you're here today. You know why
you're here today? Because you feel a need to approach
God. And I tell you what, you're either
going to approach God by something you do or something Christ did.
You're either going to approach Him by either your own goodness
or you're going to approach Him by Christ and His blessed blood. You can't approach God, and I
tell you, men are going to bring something. They're going to bring
something. They got something, they know
something's wrong with them. He knows something's wrong with
him. And if it's nothing but his own
goodness, his own morality, his own sense of self-righteousness,
he's going to approach God on the basis of something that he
is, he's done, or he's accomplished, or he's going to give, or a promise
that he makes. And let me tell you this, men
approach their God on the basis of two things. If you approach
God, you approach Him on the basis of two things. First of
all, your concept of God. You approach God on the basis
of how you perceive God to be. Is that not right? And then secondly, you approach
God on the concept of yourself. If the concept you have of God
is wrong, and the concept you have of yourself is wrong, Then
you ain't approaching God at all. You're approaching an imagination.
Do you understand what I'm saying? If your concept of God is wrong,
and your concept of yourself is wrong, then you're in trouble. What's your concept of God? Now
our immediate concept of God is, He needs my help. He needs
my cooperation. He can't do anything unless I
let Him. The Chinese concept of God is, is that I'll bring
you some oranges, I'll bring you some fruit, I'll bring you
something. And the concept of the Pentecostal
God is, is that I've got to get up here and I've got to speak
in tongues, I've got to give evidence of the Holy Spirit.
And then the concept of others is, if you can't be a Christian,
if you don't have this mark, another mark, and this kind of
mark, and that kind of mark, and beloved, so they'll do anything
in the world besides coming to God on the basis of a holy, sovereign,
righteous God and Jesus Christ, who made His atonement by His
blessed blood. And I'll tell you this, I've
heard this so many times, and you have too, and you've probably
done it, and I've done it. I promise, Lord, if you'll get
me out of this, You get me out of this trouble.
Save me from this trouble. Get my wife back. Get my children
back. Save me from this trouble. Get
me out of jail. Save me from this down here.
I promise if you save me, then I'll serve you. And then just
as quick as the promise is made to get out of the trouble, You
know why they approach God like that? Because that's their concept
of God. That's their concept of the sound.
Now, if you feel good about yourself, then you feel good about the
God that you approach. And there's a God, you know that.
Let me tell you, I just, I just hear milk cow God. I call him
milk cow God. What do you mean by that? I mean
a milk cow God is a God like a milk cow. You only need Him
when you need milk. He's the concept of an animal.
When you need food, you go to Him. When you need something,
you go to Him. But when you need it, and then
as you get it, you forget Him. You forget Him. And I'll tell
you Romans 3.23 says we've all sinned. Anybody in here want to raise
their hand and say, We've proved before, both Jew
and Gentile, all are under S-I-N. And look what it says there in
verse 10 here, Romans 5. For when we were enemies, we were enemies. Paul said in
Colossians that we were enemies of God, alienated from God. When we were enemies, what were
we enemies of God? Well, I'll tell you some things
that men are enemies of, and I was. Enemies of His sovereignty. Enemies of His sovereignty. I
mean, God is sovereign. That means that there's going
to be one that can reign in this world. Only one's got all power. Only one's got all authority.
Only one's got all the rights. Only one's got all the power.
And that's either you or God. And men are enemies of His sovereignty. enemies of His grace? Oh, I believe
in grace, but. I believe in grace, but man's
responsibility. I believe in grace, but I tell
you what, I tell you I don't believe in a disgrace. We don't
put no butts on grace. It's either grace, free grace,
or it works. It's no middle ground. It's either
free grace, and God saves by grace, and grace alone, and it's
free. You cannot earn it, you cannot
pay for it, you cannot merit it if you're not worth it, but
God freely gives grace. And I want to say, what else
is there to be denied of each election? Well, that ain't fair. God's going to say some pass
by others, that ain't right, that ain't fair. The enemy's
up, he's elected, grace. Well, then you won't be mad at
him if he don't elect you then, will you? If he's not fair, and
you don't like him, and you're an enemy about him, well, you
shouldn't get upset if he don't choose you. I'm surely thankful he chose
somebody, and I'm one of those. If he hadn't listened, if he
hadn't elected to choose someone, not one soul on this earth would
have been saved. If it had been left to our will,
left to our cooperative effort, left to our good, left to our
own efforts in any way, even today, if you're here, if you're
here, trying to give something to God instead of coming here
for God to give you something. If you're here to impress God
instead of God giving you grace, then you're, you know, that's
what I'm saying, you're an enemy of God. And I tell you, enemies
of His Son, enemies of His righteousness, enemies of His will. I don't
like His will, especially if His will crosses mine. That little
old great-grandson of ours, he's just 11 months old, and you say,
he gets into something, and you go, ah, ah, ah, and he just flops
down and starts doing this, right here, and just crying, and gets
mad. He's just 11 months old already, and he crosses his wheel,
and it upsets him. And that's born that way. Now,
what if God crosses our wheel? I'll tell you what, I'm glad
that he not only crossed my will, but he invaded my will, and he
broke my will, and he made me will it in the day of his power
to say, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. Huh? Oh, listen, let me give you the
meaning of atonement. So that's why we need an atonement
is because of sin. Oh, sin's an awful thing. I thought
about sin laying in bed last night and trying my best to repent
of it. Oh my, trying to repent of it, your mind wanting to hear
you under it everywhere else. Sin is so deceitful, so despicable,
that you can't even approach God to ask forgiveness of something
without your mind wanting it. That's how awful sin is. Do you
all have that problem? You're trying to pray, you're
trying to ask God to forgive you of something, telling just
exactly what you've done, and, oh, just confess it, and, oh,
my, didn't you no sooner get through confessing it than what
you're confessing does right back here. That's how awful sin is. It's
just there. It's just awful darkness. It's
just awful disease. This horrible thing that's in
us that comes out and lets our imaginations, and lets our mind,
and lets our wills, and lets our emotions, and lets our affections,
and lets our intents, and lets our desires, and lets everything
about us just go haywire and go all wrong, but at the same
time we're asking God to save us from it. Oh, it's a horrible thing. Oh,
it's an awful thing. Oh, we don't have it. Oh, it's
the ugliest thing that's ever been. God save us from it. And oh, let me tell you the meaning
of atonement. It means to cover up. It means
to cover up. That's what it means. Let me
show you. In Genesis, you keep Romans 5, and then look with
me in Genesis chapter 6. It means to cover up. Atonement
means to cover up. And the first time this word
is used is in Genesis 6, verse 14. You know, that's why David said,
Blessed is the man whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. But look in Genesis
6, verse 14, and you'll find the first time the word atonement
is used. And it means to cover up. Genesis
6.14, Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Through shall thou make
him the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch. Now that word pitch is the same
word as it's open. Within and without. Cover it. Cover it inside, cover it outside. And what that means is that that
ark was made judgment proof. It's made judgment proof. You
know, when that water came down on that bank, it was covered
with fish on the outside and water wasn't going to get in.
Covered with fish on the inside and water couldn't come through
on the inside. Judgment, that rain and that
flood was God's judgment. And it was judgment proof. God's
judgment failed. Failed. And it fell on everybody
on the earth. It even fell on Noah and his
family. But they were covered. They were
atoned for. They were in the ark. And so
they were saved, judgment-proof. God said, I'm going to judgment-proof
you. So when this judgment and this
flood comes, it's going to destroy everybody but you. Everybody
but you. It means that sin is so covered
that God regards it as neutralized, disarmed, and it cannot arouse
His anger anymore. Let me show you another in Genesis
32. Look here in Genesis 32. Here's another illustration of
it. Genesis 32 and verse 20. This is where Esau, and Jacob's
going back home, and he's afraid his brother Esau is going to
lead him and kill him, because he heard Esau was coming with
several hundred men. And so look what Jacob does. And say ye moreover, behold,
thy servant Jacob is behind us. He sent a bunch of people in
front of him to offer gifts and that to his brother. For he said,
I will appease him. This is what Jacob's saying.
I will appease him with the present that goes before me. I will appease
him. I'll satisfy his anger. I'll
take his anger off of me. And how am I going to do it?
Offering all these gifts. And for a picture, when I see
his face, his face, my face, he won't be mad at me, and my
face will be covered, and he won't bother me. And that's why
he sent all those things for. Oh my, the offended brother,
the person he saw, would no longer see the offense. That's why he
did it. And that's why when the high priest went behind the mercy
seat, and he sprinkled that blood before the mercy seat, when he
went in, first thing he done, he sprinkled blood seven times
before the mercy seat. Then he put it seven times on
the mercy seat. And that mercy seat behind the
veil, remember, it was a little ark. It had these gold things,
gold ridges around it. And it had a chair of them that
come out like this, solid gold, and they touch fingers up here,
wings like this. And there he's standing before
this golden, solid gold, this golden ark. And he's standing
before that, and that mercy seat's on top of that ark. And he sprinkles
that seven times. And why that satisfaction might
be given to God himself, and why? The mercy seat hid those
two tablets of stone. If you had listed that mercy
seat, there was the two tablets of stone, the law, love God and
love your neighbor as yourself. And all that law was in there.
And that was evidence of Israel's guilt. And beside that ark was
the evidence of everybody's gift, and the mercy seat that appeased
God. One more year, one more time.
And let me tell you this, beloved, in the death of Christ, There
was satisfaction. Satisfaction. Give to the righteous
anger of God Almighty. And I say righteous anger. God
is righteous to be angry at sin. God's righteous to be angry at
rebels. God's righteous to be angry with
those who despise Him, who are His enemies, who won't bow to
Him, who won't submit to Him, who won't believe on His Son.
He has that right. It's righteous for Him to be
angry. But I tell you what, our Lord Jesus Christ, that was such
satisfaction given to the righteous anger of God, that God's anger
was taken away from those for whom Christ died. The work of
our Lord Jesus Christ was more thorough at the cross than anything
that had ever taken place before. There was no temporary, there
was no partial dealing with sin. Not like in the Old Testament.
They put sin away. If a man sinned, he could bring
a lamb. And that Day of Atonement, it just made a remembrance of
sin again for the next year. But our Lord Jesus Christ, His
death on the cross was no partial or temporary removing of sin. See, the work of our Lord Jesus
was not to pass over or overlook sin. You know what it did? It
actually took it away. It took it away. If you look in Romans 5.10 with
me again, Romans chapter 5. Oh my, it takes it away. You
see, you know, in the Old Testament they said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over. And God, He said, in the atonement
for more seer, He said, I'll put sin away, and I won't deal
with them on the basis of sin for another year, until the next
atonement. But Romans 5-9, watch what it
says. Much more than being now, listen
to this, justified. Justified. Being now. Being now. Justified. Cleared of all guilt. justified, made righteous, declared
righteous in the sight of God. We shall be saved from what?
Wrath. How? Through Him. For if, when
we were enemies, listen now, we were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son, if He reconciled us by much more than being reconciled,
as long as He lives, we're living. We shall be saved by His life,
if He's dead. took away the wrath of God and
He's living, reconciled us to God, how much more then shall
we be saved because He lives at the right hand of God? Huh? Look at Hebrews 10 with me just
a moment. Oh, I wonder if God would make
this real to... You know, Behold, that's what
John said, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin
of the world. John, 1 John 3 says this, you
know that he was manifesting to destroy the works of the devil
and put sin away. Look what it said here in Hebrews
10, 1. For the law, the Old Testament,
the sacrifices and the priesthood and all the types, for the law
was just a shadow. of good things to come. And oh,
what good things did come. Oh, my. And they weren't the
very image of those things. A shadow's not an image. And
those images could never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year, continue to make the comers there unto perfect.
Now, they come year after year after year. And they were just
shadows. They weren't the image of Christ.
For then, if they had put away and made the comers their own
perfect, then would they not have ceased to be offered? If
you have a perfect sacrifice, would you not have to offer another
one? If your conscience was clear
and you was made perfect in the sight of God, if they were made
perfect, then wouldn't they have ceased to offer those sacrifices?
Because that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience
to sin. If you had a sacrifice that could
have purged your conscience, then you'll have no more conscience
of sin. But in those sacrifices, listen to this now, there is
a remembrance made again of sins every year. Oh my! Now look down here with me now
in verse 10, verse 11. And every priest stands
daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sins, can never do it. Every time you
see a priest or a pope on television, you're seeing an imposter. You're
seeing an imposter. You're seeing somebody that thinks
he can put away sins, thinks that people go to him, and they
think if they give it to you before you die, they can say
things over you, sprinkle water on you, and they absolve you
of your sins. People get in lines to get some
preacher to lay hands on them, you know, so that preacher can
forgive them of their sins and heal them of their diseases.
But now listen. But this man, they offered oftentimes
the same sins, sacrifices which can never take away sins. But
this man, what man? The Lord Jesus Christ. After
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down on the right
hand of God. Oh, listen now, from his forth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, listen to
it again, for by one offering he hath perfected forever, then
sins are sanctified. Listen now. And the Holy Ghost
witnesses to us. He tells us these things, proves
these things to us, puts them in our hearts. And this is what
he said before. And this is out of Jeremiah 32. This is the covenant that I will
make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my laws. I'll put all my word. I'll put
my laws in their hearts and in their minds. I'll write them.
Listen to it. And their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now, where payment of these sins
are, there's no more offering for sins. If the sin's been paid
for, you don't get another offering. I don't need nobody to make another
offer for me. I don't need to bring another
one. Christ's already for all of us. Christ brought Himself. He offered Himself without spot
to God. He entered once into the holy
place and there obtained eternal redemption for us. He, by the
sacrifice of Himself, put His way to sin once in the end of
the world. Oh my, the author is under the
law, all they did was cover sin, but did not take away sin. God
passed over these sins, and our Lord's death puts sin away completely. God doesn't see them, God can't
find them. Oh my, that's just, that's the
gospel. That's the gospel. That Christ
satisfied and offered God such a sacrifice for sins in Himself. that God Himself, He said, that's
such a wondrous work that God Himself said, I don't even remember
their sins. Can't find them. And oh beloved,
the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ just doesn't pardon sin,
but cleanses all that. Oh, let me show you something.
Now you keep Romans fine. Look with me, Colossians. Chapter
2, just a moment. I hope I'm not taking too long.
Colossians chapter 2. Colossians 2. Talking about putting away all
of our sins. Look at Colossians 2.13. Colossians
2.13. Talking about Christ putting
away all of our sins. And you being dead in your sins,
And the uncircumcision of your flesh, or the filthiness of your
flesh, now listen to this, hath quickened together with him,
given you life together with Christ. Listen to this, have
he forgiven you all? Trespass. How many trespasses have he forgiven
you of? How many times do you reckon you trespassed? You know,
I don't know how many times I've went places and I seen no trespassing
signs up on there. I just went ahead and crawled
over the fence anyway. You know, the fellow caught me.
You know, I said, Oh, yeah. Did you see that sign? I mean,
you don't have to lie. But that's what it is. Fear is
a transgression of the law. You trespass it. God's got a
line. And don't go over that line.
We just keep going over it, going over it, going over it. Trespass,
trespass, trespass. And God said, every trespass
you ever made, I've forgiven you all of them. You say, well,
did you go trespass again? I don't want to, but I will.
I know my nature. And that don't say He's going
to forgive you the trespasses until you trespass again. All
of them. And this is what's so glorious
about the gospel. Christ's not going to take care of my past
sins. He's going to take care of my sins today, and He'll take
care of my sins tomorrow. He'll take care of my sins until
the day that I close my eyes in death. My sins are all gone. We sang that song, they're all
taken away. They're all taken away. And they
really are all taken away. They're all gone. They're all
gone. Now I'll tell you what, I don't
know how that affects you, but that blesses my heart. What would it take? What would
it mean to you to know that all your sin, every sin you ever
did, Every sin of your mind, every sin of your action, and
you know there's a, that's called a sins of ignorance and willful
sins. There's sins we commit that we
don't even know we commit. And then every sin after that
is a willful sin. Well, I didn't do that willfully.
I didn't sin willfully. There's no such thing as not.
You mean you just, somebody made me do it? No, no, no. Listen,
if we sin, it's a willful act. And what I'm saying is, is that
what would it mean to you to know that all your sin, all your
sin, from the day you're born to the day you die, is all gone. That God Himself will look at
you and say, I see no sin. I see nothing but righteousness.
I see nothing but holiness. I see nothing but perfection.
I see nothing but complete salvation. When I see them, all I see is
perfection. When I see them, I don't see
any sin. When I see them, I see nothing but righteousness. What
would it mean to you to have that before God? What would that
mean to you? To know that they're all taken
away. All gone. I tell you what, it means the
salvation. That's what it means. Now let
me tell you quickly the story. I told you what atonement was. Perhaps we had it because of
sin. What it is is a covering up that Christ did so much more
than cover up. He actually puts it away. He
didn't cover it. It's gone. Now who's the source
of the atonement? Look at Isaiah 53, and I'll show
you the source of the atonement. Who produced this atonement?
Who gave this atonement? Why do we have an atonement?
Why is it? Where did it come from? You know, it was God Himself.
That's who did it. God Himself. Not man. Man didn't come up with an atonement.
Look what man offered. Look what Cain offered. When
he came before God, he offered the works of his hands. He offered
the fruit of his ground. And God rejected him. The Pharisee,
when he went into the presence of God, do you know what he offered?
He said, I thank Thee that I'm not his other man. I thank Thee
that I fast, I pay tithes, and I'm a good rider. You know, it
starts off with how good he was. that there was two men there
at the same time. One talked about how he was bragging before
God, the other was nodding his breast and begging before God.
Be merciful to me, the sinner. And look here in Isaiah 53. Where
did this atonement come from? Look in verse 6. All we like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned everyone to his own way. Now listen to this.
And the Lord, Jehovah, laid on him, who's him, by whom we have
received the atonement, laid on him the iniquity of the Son. Laid on him. Put it on him. Now look down in verse 10. I
can't read that because it hurts my heart. that it took God to
make an atonement for him. It took God to give his son.
In verse 10, Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. It was God
who hath put him to grief. It was God that made his soul
an offering for sin. And it was God who said, I'll
see his seed. He shall prolong his days in
the pleasure of the Lord, for prosper in his hand. Oh my, The
atonement comes from the Lord. Oh my, look back over in Romans
5. Let me give you this. Let me give you this here right
quick. In Romans 5. Oh, why the atonement? God, the
source of it comes from God. God laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hung on that
cross. It was God doing that. But why
the atonement? I'll show you why. Look in Romans
5. But God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Let me ask you something. This is a simple question to
ask. Are you really a sinner? Are you really a sinner? Would
you say to yourself in the sight of God, yes, I'm a sinner. Before
God, I'm a sinner. If you can say that in your heart,
you can also say, Christ died for me. You can say that. If you can
say, in my heart, rād me hāṁ, I know I'm a sinner. Before God,
I know I'm a sinner. If you can say that before God,
you can also finish that up and say, He died for me. He died
for me. Now that's, it's that simple. It's that simple, honestly. It's not more complicated than
that. Christ died for sin. The Lord laid on Him than they
would ever saw. It pleased the Lord to bruise
Him. It pleased the Lord to put Him to grief. And there He was, without sins
on Him, on that cross. And everyone for whose sins he
was on there, he said, I'll die. When we were yet without sin,
Christ died for the ungodly. And God said, I'll love. I'm
going to commend my love. I'm going to prove my love. I'm
going to commend my love for sinners. I'm going to commend
it for sinners. I'm going to commend it. How
are you going to commend your love for me? Christ is going
to die for sinners. Now that means, beloved, if you're
a sinner, if you're a sinner, if you're a sinner, if you're
a sinner, if you're a sinner, Christ died for you. And you can't say that until
you're a sinner. But if you ever become a sinner, oh my. And let me show you the
method of the atonement. Look down here at the method
of the atonement. In verse 9, much more than justified
by his blood. He took blood, and the method
of it was blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. By his own blood, he had everyone
sinned to the Holy Spirit. God makes an atonement offering
the blood upon the altar to make an atonement for the soul. I warned Jesus Christ when He
took that cup when He sat with His disciples. And He says, this
is the blood. This is the blood which is shed
for you. My blood, which I shed for you. And He said, here, take it. And Moses, when he stood before
God and asked God to cease glory, he says, Moses, you can't do
it. He said, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll put you over here
in this rock, in this cliff, in this rock, and I'll put my
hand over you, and then I'll pass by you. And, beloved, may
God open. Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. Oh, my. And let me tell you the
essence of the atonement. What is the essence of it? Look
what it says there in verse 11. Not only so, but we join in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom? By whom we have now
received the atonement. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the atonement. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the one who put away sin. And I'm going to say some things,
and I want you to pay attention to them. I'm winding it up. Our Lord Himself is our atonement.
Our Lord Himself is the one who shed the blood and put sin away.
It's not the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ that saves
us. It's not even the dead is the atonement, but the person,
in whom, the person of the Son of God, in the sufferings and
in the death. You see, He's the perpetuation,
He's the atonement. That's why, beloved, people say,
I trust the finished work of Christ on the cross. I trust
Christ who finished the works. There's a big difference in that.
You trust the finished work, or you trust the one who finished
it? I'm trusting the one who finished it. And I tell you what, you see,
it's not, now listen, I've said this so many times, it's not
how much suffering, but who suffered. There was two other men on that
cross beside our Lord Jesus Christ, and they both died. They both
suffered. They both shed blood. But our
Lord Jesus Christ, who was it that died on that cross? That
was God. That was the Son of God. That
was the Lamb of God. That was the person that has
all merit, all righteousness. And listen, beloved. It's not
how much suffering, but who suffered. Not how much blood was shed,
but whose blood was shed. It's not death itself, but it's
who died. And that's what I'm talking about.
And it's Christ. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the result of the atonement is salvation. That's what it is. You see, in the Old Testament,
if it just covered sins, imagine what Christ, when He come and
put away sins. And let me close with this right
here in verse 11. Oh, God give you eyes, God give
you eyes, God give you eyes, God give you heart, God give
you faith, God give you grace to believe. Look what He said
here, not only so, But we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. What does that mean? We joy in
God? That word joy means to boast. That word joy means to glory
in. And we boast in, we glory in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Why do we do that? Because He
did it all. All to Him I owe. He did it all. All to Him I owe. Let's turn to that, 125.