And let us have of His presence. Let us have of His presence.
I know He doesn't have to do that. But I am sure, grateful, and
look to Him to do it. I've titled my message this evening,
How Does One Learn the Gospel? How Does One Learn the Gospel?
How do you know you know the gospel? If you don't know the
gospel, you don't know God. If you don't know the gospel,
you don't know Christ. And that's what the Apostle says here, starts
in Romans 1.14. He said, I am debtor, both to
the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise.
So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel. to
you that are at Rome also. And this is the gospel that he's
ready to preach. He's not going up there just to socialize. He's
not going up there to make the church grow. He's not going up
there to make himself well-liked by everybody. To be a good administrator,
he's going up there to preach the gospel. For I am not ashamed. Verse 1, I'm not ashamed. Evidently,
there was somebody somewhere that was ashamed of the gospel.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It does not embarrass
me. It does not shame me. It does not make me want to back
up because I'm afraid it will offend somebody, hurt somebody's
feelings. I'm not ashamed of it. I'm not
embarrassed by it. And he goes on to say, for it
is, it is the gospel. It's the very power of God. The
power of God unto salvation, not unto service, unto salvation. To every one that believeth,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek, and here is where
the power of the gospel lies. For therein, in the gospel, is
the righteousness of God revealed. What that means is that in the
gospel we see how God can be right, right to save sinners
and do it in a way according to his very righteous nature
and character. For the just shall live by faith.
Now, beloved, there's much I don't know. I'll own up to you. There's much I don't know. And
I'm sure there's quite a bit you don't know and you'd own
up to it. But there's something that we
all and everyone should make it an absolute necessity to know,
and that is the gospel. We ought to make that an absolute
necessity, to know the gospel, to believe the gospel, to embrace
the gospel. For the gospel is the power of
God unto salvation, because in that gospel, God reveals His
righteousness, His righteousness. God is infinitely, eternally
righteous. He will by no means clear the
guilty. He will not at all acquit the
wicked. I mean, he's righteous enough that he will not let a
man into his presence. He can't look at sin, can't do
it. And as we see the righteousness
of God, how he can stay righteous, be righteous as he is, and yet
save sinners like ourselves. And over here in verse 1 of Romans
chapter 1, look what it's called. It's called the gospel of God.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. He's the author
of it. It's the author of it. And then
he goes on down here to say it's concerning, in verse 3, concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Son of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, it concerns Him. It makes Him known. It reveals
Him to the hearts and minds of men and women. And this was made
of the seed of David. And then there's the gospel of
the ancient gospel. In verse 2 it says, "...he promised
the four by his prophets in the holy scriptures." This wasn't
an afterthought of God. Christ stood as the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. God promised in Genesis 3.15
a Savior. Before there was ever a sinner,
God had a Savior. Before there was ever a sin committed,
God had the blood atonement ready for Him. And you see, and it's
the gospel of grace to show its freeness. It's free. Gospel of
grace. God absolutely has nothing of
you, requires nothing of you, wants nothing of you. Absolutely
no conditions upon the gospel. Faith is not a condition. Repentance
is not a condition. The gospel is free. It's called
the gospel of grace because it's free. It's called the gospel
of God's glory because He gets all the glory. He receives all
the glory. He deserves all the glory. We
want to give Him all the glory. And we've also learned this by
experience that everyone, everyone who professes to be a believer
or to be a preacher does not know the gospel. I know this
by my own experience. There was a time I didn't know
the gospel. And I wasn't converted until I knew the gospel. I'll
tell you that without a reservation. But till I knew Christ in the
gospel of the grace of God, I was an unconverted man. I was a preacher,
but I was unconverted. I wasn't converted in Arminianism
and then grew in the grace of God. I didn't go to a higher
doctrine. God's only got one gospel. One
gospel that He saves His people by. He don't have a gospel for
the Armenians out there and you get saved there and you come
over here and grow in grace. That's not the way it's done.
Is it? God gets no glory out of that.
And beloved, listen, that's why Paul says, you know, I marvel,
he told the Galatians, I marvel that you are so soon removed
from Him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel. He said, because it's really
not another gospel. There is no other gospel. And
they said, oh, yes, you can have Jesus. You can have His blood. You can have His righteousness.
And as you said last night, if you ever put a butt to the grace
of God, the sovereignty of God, to any work that God does, you've
done messed it up. There's no butts. None whatsoever. And oh, beloved, and that's why
if we or an angel from heaven preaches another gospel unto
you, God curse that man. God curse that man. You know,
if a fellow goes in to rob a bank, and he's got a guy sitting out
in the car, the getaway car, and if they get caught, you know
that fellow that's just driving the car is going to go to jail
just like the fellow that went in there to rob the bank? So
if the fellow is lying to you, and lying on God, and if you
sit and listen to him and support him, you're going to be just
like the bank robber. You're driving the getaway car.
You're going to the same place he is. That's the truth. You're going to say, boy, that's
pretty tough, preacher. I said it as lovingly as I could. You know, when our Lord told
His church, He said, go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. Preach the gospel. Not water,
not works, not free will, not make your choice. When God gives
you a chance, go into the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He that believeth. Now, that believing there is
not coming up here and believing one time. If you ever believe,
you'll continually and constantly. It's always in the present in
believing. He that believeth. Not just he
that believed, he that believeth. Continually, constantly. Can't
help but believe. And if you ever do believe, you
can't help but believe. Try to not believe once you become
a believer. You can't do it, can you? And
oh, the gospel is what our Master would have all of us to preach,
all of us to believe by His blessed grace. You see, the gospel, it's
the word of peace, it's the word of reconciliation by His blessed
atoning sacrifice. The apostle said that, well,
he said in Isaiah 52, blessed are the feet upon the mountain
of him that publisheth peace, that bringeth glad tidings of
good things. And that's what we do at Seth-under-Zion,
thy God reigneth. We're publishing peace, peace
that honors God, peace that will satisfy your soul, peace that
will bring glory to His blessed Son and all beloved in the gospel. We have the doctrine of the free
and full pardon by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of
justification only by His righteousness. In the Gospel, we have the Gospel
of the complete salvation by Him. Complete salvation, perfect
salvation, full salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. And in
the Gospel, there's every doctrine. Every doctrine that relates to
His person as both God and man. God, He was love that came to
this earth. Emmanuel has come to be with
us. And then yet, He is a man. A man like us that could be touched
with the feelings of our infirmities. A man who could weep. A man who
could cry. A man who could be touched with
compassion. And yet, He was God Almighty
come to this earth. And in the gospel, beloved, there's
all that relates to his office as prophet to teach us, as priest
to atone for, as king to reign over and supply our every need.
In the gospel, we deal with his incarnation, him coming into
this world, of his sufferings, of his death, of his resurrection,
of his ascension, of his position at God's right hand with all
power and authority. And there, as he sits, he makes
intercession for his people. And oh, in the gospel, we hear
about his second coming to judgment. So, oh, we are to preach the
gospel. And I'll get into it in a minute. I will. Believe
me, I'll get to it. I'm not going to just talk about it. I'm going
to preach it. God help me. And every doctrine
in the gospel is every doctrine. Let me tell you something about
doctrine. Let me stop here just a minute and tell you this. In
the Scriptures, when it talks about the doctrine of God, it's
always singular. Always doctrine of Christ. The
doctrine according to godliness. But whenever it's men, it's always
doctrines. God's Word, God's truth is singular. It's one. It's united. Just one. And when it talks about men,
the doctrines of devils, the doctrines of men, because they've
got to have a whole bunch of jumbled up mess. But the doctrine
of God, the doctrine of Christ, it's just one unified truth.
It's just all one. We may call them the doctrines
of grace, but it's the doctrine of grace. It's the doctrine of
Christ. It's the doctrine according to
godliness. It's one, singular. And every doctrine relating to
the grace of God. Every doctrine relating to it.
Of the Father in electing grace, choosing His people in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Of the covenant of peace
that our Lord Jesus ratified by His blood. of the Son in coming
and redeeming us with His own precious blood, paying our sin
debt, of the Spirit coming and regenerating us and giving us
life from the dead and setting us apart by the gospel. And we
must, by the grace of God, publish, declare, proclaim these blessed
truths and do it in the freest, plainest, most open manner that
we can every time we get an opportunity. You know, I get through preaching
at home often, and I don't know how many will come to me and
say, Preach that again tonight if you want to. Be sure to preach
that again next Sunday. You know, the gospel is not something
we just take every once in a while and preach. It's something we
preach every service. Get to Christ in every service.
We really truly do. When we talk about the gospel,
it's not a religious cliché. And it's more than just the death,
burial and resurrection of Christ. That's facts concerning the gospel.
But the gospel concerns a person and what that person did, what
that person accomplished, who he accomplished it for, where
he is now and what he's doing for his people now. And we must
proclaim it with the boldness and faithful and continually
and constantly. We're like the jungle. I went
with Milton years ago down to Chiapas, and we drove down there,
and we stopped in this place called Palenque. And that jungle
would take that place in just a little while if there were
fellows out there beating the jungle back with machetes all the time.
And that's the way we are. Our hearts and minds are just
like jungle, and the gospel is what keeps it be bad. If the
gospel don't keep it cut off, the jungle will just swallow
us up. But now let me tell you something
about the gospel. You can't tell it if you don't know it. You
can't tell it. Henry May, I know you've heard
him say this many times, a preacher can't tell what he don't know
no more than come back from some place he's never been. And I
never forgot that. But how you know to know the
gospel, you must learn the gospel. You must learn the gospel. And
if you're going to preach the gospel, you must learn it. Before
you can publish it or preach it or even believe it, you must
learn it. You must know it. And let me
tell you something about the Gospel. It's a revelation. Our
Lord Jesus said in John 6, verse 44, No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Or no man can come unto the Father.
And as it is written, In the prophets they shall all be taught
of God, and everyone that hath heard and learned of the Father.
What does he do? He comes to me. God's got to teach you this.
God's got to give you eyes to see this. Simon Peter, who do
men say that I am? Oh, you're John the Baptist.
Some say you're Jeremiah because you cry so much. Some say you're
Elijah because you're performing miracles. And that's what everybody's
got something to say about Jesus. But he said, but who do you say
that I am? You're the Christ. You're the
Son of God. And he said, you're blessed because
flesh and blood did not make you know that, but my Father
which is in heaven. Now, I tell you, it's a revelation,
and that's why our Lord said in Matthew 11, 25, He said, I
thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have
hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed
them unto babes. Now, there's five words, five
words, that I believe if you understand them, if you know
them, if you believe them, if God's made them known to you,
you know the gospel. And if you don't know these,
you don't know the gospel. Sovereignty, sin, Substitution,
satisfaction, and submission. Oh my, let's take that first
one for instance. Sovereignty. You know what? God
is sovereign. He's not a pretender. He's not
a pretender. You know, and until a person
sees this, and sees God's absolute sovereignty, that just means
that God reigns, that God acts like God. And he'll never, until
a person sees this, he'll never learn the gospel. Now look over
here in Romans 9 with me just a moment. You know, until a person
sees the sovereignty of God, absolute utterance, absolute
sovereignty of God, God created the world. Did he need any help?
He spake and it was done. He commanded and it stood fast.
But yet, if you hear the average person talk about it, God can
create a world and uphold it by the word of His power. But
He can't get in your heart unless you let Him. He can't, you know, He's got
to give you a chance. And we know when you take chances,
you know, I've never bought a lottery ticket. And not a gambler. Never bought a lottery ticket.
Never. And I'm not boasting about it. You know, I'd say, if you
won't buy them, knock yourself out. But I never have. You know, that's taking a chance.
You spend a dollar, you take a chance that you'll win a lot
of money. That's the way most preachers present God. He's taking
a chance, you know, when He gives you your chance. He's rolling
the dice, and if you get your chance, and if you cooperate
with Him when He gives you that chance, When He gives you your
opportunity, if you'll cooperate with Him, then He'll save you. Then He'll do something for you. Then He'll show you how much
He loves you. But beloved, God's not a gambler. God's not rolling
dice. God's not saving men on chance.
God's saving men on purpose. And if you're ever saved, it'll
be because God come to you on purpose. And God must invade
a man's world. He must come in with power. He must come in with force. He
must come in with dynamite into a man's heart. He must subdue
a man's mind. He must subdue a man's will.
He must put his hand on his heart and bring him down. And that's
being God. He don't ask you if you want
to be saved. He makes you willing to be saved. And oh, the man who doesn't see
the sovereignty of God in his creation, in salvation, beloved,
you know what he'll have? He'll have a general love of
God. God just loves everybody. I don't even love everybody.
And lots of folks I don't even like, much less love. I don't. That's what they say.
You've got to love everybody. No, we don't. David said, I hate
them that hate you. I love them that love you. We need to get over this idea,
you know, that we're all wishy-washy and got this old sugar sweetness.
Sugar won't melt in your mouth, you know. Listen, I tell you,
beloved, God Himself said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. He hates the workers of iniquity.
Huh? All nations that forget God will
be turned into hell. And I'll tell you, look what
it says here now in Romans 9, 11. For the children, being not
yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. God
said the elder is going to serve the younger. Jacob hath a loved,
Esau hath a son. Oh, wait, that ain't fair. That
ain't right. That's just not fair. To love one and hate another?
Oh, God's unrighteous to do that. Oh, shut up. That's what Paul
says, shut up. You know, I'll show you what
God said about it. He said to Moses, He said to Moses, Moses,
you know what I'll do? I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I'll have compassion.
Now, since it's like that, it's not of him that willeth. I can
will. You can will. It's not of him
that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
I mean, he's out here running around trying to get something
done for God. Oh, let's get busy for Jesus. And oh, it's not of
him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but it's of God that
shows mercy. Huh? And either man's going to
be sovereign or God's going to be sovereign. And there ain't
but two doctrines of salvation. It's of man or God. It's of works or grace. And one
fellow asked a guy the other day, he said, what's the difference
in what you all believe and what you all preach than, you know,
the Methodist or the Pentecostals or the Southern Baptists or something?
He said, He said, you know, what's the difference in all them? He
said, there ain't no difference in them. They're all preaching
salvation by works. They're all preaching salvation
by man's free will. But, oh, beloved, if it's of
man, then we're in trouble. But if it's of God, oh, what
a blessed hope we have. If it's of grace, we'll be saved. If it's of works, we're all going
to be damned. And, oh, bless His holy name.
But you see, either man in this business of salvation, either
God is at the mercy of man, or man is at the mercy of God. And,
O beloved, when you talk about salvation by man, you'll either
mean by chance or oath to a man, if a man doesn't see the sovereignty
of God. Now, you can bargain with an
equal, but you've got to bow to a sovereign. You've got to
bow to him. You know, look over here, and
I want to show you this too. Look over at Psalm 135. You've
heard these quoted so many times, and I could quote it to you.
I could quote a bunch of verses concerning it, but I want you
to see it yourself. Look in Psalm 135 with me just a minute. And
we're talking about God's sovereignty. He created the world without
our help. He sustains it without our help. He governs this world
without our help. He saves us without our help.
I have never helped God do anything yet. I haven't. I like it like that. I love the fact that salvation
is not in my hands in any way, shape, form or fashion. Does the shepherd tell the sheep,
now you all take care of yourselves the best way you can? No, the
shepherd takes care of the sheep. He protects the sheep. He lays
down his life for the sheep. He gives his life for the sheep.
And here in Psalm 135, verse 5, it says this, For I know that
the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatsoever
the Lord pleased, has God's sovereignty. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
He had to stop and ask permission. Will you let me? I'd like to.
I want to. I heard a fellow say one time,
be a lady or a gentleman for Jesus and let Him in. Oh my, whatsoever the Lord pleased,
what pleased Him, satisfied Him, honored Him, that did He in heaven. He done it in the earth. He done it in the seas. And in
all deep places. And oh beloved, that's what I'm
talking about. Have you seen God's sovereignty? Do you rejoice
in those questions at the end of that bulletin tonight? Well,
let's make you happy. Listen, if you could change God,
would you change Him? Would you change Him? If you
could manipulate Him, would you? If you could get Him to change
His ways just a little, just to get your child converted? Would you do it if you could
change Him just a little bit so that you could get the ever
pew filled up? No, people that know God, They
wouldn't change you for 10,000 worlds like this. And you know
He's no better today than He was yesterday. Don't know more
today than He did 1,000 years ago and won't know no more and
be any different a million years from today than He is right now.
He's God. Now, let's look at this business
called sin. God's sovereignty. You've got to learn that. You've
got to know that, that God is sovereign. He's got the power.
He's omnipotent. He's got salvations of the Lord
from start to finish. And then sin. Sin. Let's look in Genesis 3. Just
a moment. Genesis 3. You know, there's no telling
how many people that have no idea how sin got into the world.
How did sin get into this world? How did sin come into this world?
Where did this curse come from that we have briars and thorns
and thistles and sage grass and these dry hills out here. Where
did these dry hills come from? It wasn't like that in the Garden
of Eden. Where did all this come from? Where did it come from
that we look at God and say, I don't need Him. I don't want
Him. I'm good enough. I'm doing the best I can. But
sin, beloved, it says here in Genesis 3, 6, And oh, the Satan come to the
woman and he told her, oh, how good she'd be. You'd be like
God if you could just eat this fruit. You'll be like God. You'll
be glorified. God's got this thing He don't
want you to know. And when the woman saw that the tree was good
for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit there and did eat.
And gave also unto her husband. And this is where we have our
trouble. He gave her to her husband, and
he did eat. Wherefore, as by one man, one
man, sin come into this world. Death passed upon all men because
of that one sin. This one sin of eating that fruit.
God said, everything is yours but that thing. And there wasn't
anything about that fruit that psychologically or physiologically
or biologically changed Adam. But the only reason God said
that is, I'm God and I told you not to do it. Just to be under
obedience to Him. That's all the thing about it.
And He said, I'm not. Now, beloved, He goes on to say,
and the eyes of them both were open. Didn't they have open eyes
before? Didn't they see what was going on around them before?
Didn't they see the trees, the garden? Didn't they see one another? Yes, they did. But their eyes
were open. Why was it open? And they knew they were naked.
They'd always been naked. God made them naked. Now all
of a sudden they see their nakedness. And instead of looking at it
and seeing it and not being condemned, not feeling guilty or anything,
now they feel guilty, they feel ashamed. And their nakedness,
beloved, they understand it's before God. Everything about
us open and naked before Him, which we have to do. And all,
listen, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves
apron. That's how sinful they became. And how sinful human
beings is. They took some fig leaves and
sewed them together and covered their nakedness. And they thought
that they could actually cover their nakedness with a fig leaf.
And everybody's got, there's fig leaves of badness, there's
fig leaves of morality, fig leaves of prayer, fig leaves of tithing,
fig leaves of believer's rule of life, fig leaves of self-righteousness
and pride, and oh my soul, everybody's got, but when you pull a leaf
off the tree, you know what happens to it? It begins to die. And
it's going to wither away and you're going to have to get you
another one. And that's what folks do in religion. They're
all the time pulling fig leaves. They never have any satisfaction,
never have any peace. Always trying to cover themselves
up. And then they heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day. Now that ain't
but one voice that God's ever spoke by. Only one person that
ever walked this earth in the presence of God and the power
of God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. And Adam and his wife
hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees
of the garden. Can you just imagine trying to
hide from God in a bush? Oh my, just hide and get down
there. Well, he won't find me. He won't
find me. He won't find me. God can't find me here. Before
they enjoyed his presence. Now they're hiding from him.
What happened? What happened? And the Lord God called unto
Adam and said, Adam, where are you? And he didn't want to know
where Adam was, he wanted Adam to know where Adam was. And I
ask you, where are you? God says, where are you? Where
art thou? Are you in your sin? Are you
in your rebellion? Are you in your self-righteousness?
Are you in your hypocrisy? Are you in your false profession?
Are you holding on to your fig leaves of morality and honesty
and integrity? What are you holding on to? What
are you trying to cover your nakedness with? God says, where
are you, Adam? And he didn't have no choice
but to say, I heard you. And I was afraid. I was afraid. Oh my, I was afraid. Because I was naked. And I hid
myself. And oh, here's another question
God asked him. Who told you you was naked? Nobody
told him. Sin exposed him. Sin entered
into his heart. Sin entered into his mind. Sin
entered into his nature. And oh, look what happens now.
Have you eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldest
not? And here's man at his best now. And the man said, the woman
you gave me, the woman you gave me, That's what my son told me one
time. He said, Dad, you have an excuse for everything you
do. You just said you're never wrong. And I laughed. I said, well,
you're right. Somebody said you done it. My wife done it. The
kids done it. Somebody done it. I didn't do
it. But oh, the woman you gave me. She gave it to me. And the Lord God said, what is
this you've done? The woman said, it's the serpent.
And ultimately what they ended up doing was they tried to blame
God for their sin. That was what they were trying
to do. They were trying to blame God. But now let me tell you
something about sin. God went on down here and expelled
them from the garden. Sin is not a misfortune. Sin
is not a misfortune. Evolution teaches that man started
at the bottom and he's slowly, slowly, slowly getting to the
top. But God and the Scriptures teach us man started at the top
and fell all the way to the bottom. Man is not a victim of his circumstances. Man doesn't need a shove in the
right direction. And oh my, people get up and
say, I have no sin in these hands right here. And as far as I know,
I don't have any sin and I'm ready to go. But every part of
a man's faculty, eyes, mind, Everything about him is ruined,
is dead, and trespasses and sins. And people think that sin is
something done with the hand, but it's something done with
the heart. It's an attitude, it's a nature, it's a principle.
Just like these children, your children, you don't teach your
children to sin, do you? But they do, don't they? Let
me tell you something about Arminianism, free willism. You know, they
believe that repentance and faith is a condition to be converted.
Well, how in the world do babies repent and believe? They say,
we preach babies in hell. Now listen, if a baby can't repent
and can't believe, he can't be a believer. And in the person's
age of accountability, what happens to him if he dies before he gets
to that age of accountability? Oh my, when you start taking
this free will Armenian doctrine to its logical conclusion, and
oh my, it's awful. But oh my, listen beloved, you
know, sin, this thing called sin, it's such an attitude. When
our Lord Jesus Christ, if I was to ask you, I was talking to
somebody the other day, if I was to ask you, what's the worst sin to you?
In your mind, what's the worst sin a person can commit? What's
the worst sin a person can commit? You say rape? Murder? Adultery? Leaving your husband or wife
and taking up with another woman adultery? Do you know what our
Lord Jesus Christ said? He said, for from within, out
of the heart, first thing He said precedes evil thought. Sin starts right up here. And
don't it? Evil thought. Everybody thinks all these things
that you do outwardly is a horrible thing, and it is. But it all
starts right up here, and it all starts right in there. And
whatever's in that fountain, that's what's going to come out
of the mouth. Whatever's out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh. As a man thinketh of his heart, so is
he. And sin has so darkened our understanding that men think
they can be holy in their own flesh, that they can be holy
and produce a holy life and be sanctified and become more holy
in the flesh. We have become so darkened by
sin that we think crying tears gives evidence that we have a
tender heart just because we shed a tear. That we've been
so blinded by sin that we think suffering in the flesh in some
way or another atones for sin. And it makes us think that everybody
else is worse than us. I've got my faults, but I'm not
perfect, but And when you confront them with God, you confront them
with themselves, you confront them with Christ, they'll get
offended and they'll say, oh my, I just don't believe that.
And as old, I believe as Shakespeare said, lies but a walking shadow.
A poor player that struts and frets his eye up on the stage
and then is heard no more. It's a tale told by an idiot
full of sound and full of fury. Oh, have you seen God's sovereignty? Have you seen sin? Do you know
what sin is? You know one of the parts of
the covenants of grace is that God said, I'll make you loathe
yourself. Have you ever felt the stench
of your own sin coming from you? Just so much you loathe yourself.
And you say, if there's a hole someplace, I'd go crawl in it
because I'm not fit company for anybody. You ever felt that?
You ever felt it in your soul and you could smell it and say,
I sure hope nobody else feels and knows what I go through.
And I'll tell you, beloved, if you knew what I was and you could
see into my heart and my mind and my soul, you wouldn't have
me in your house, you wouldn't have me at your supper table,
you wouldn't have nothing to do with me. You'd say, go to
Tennessee and don't come back if you knew what I was really
like. Oh my, I'm telling you, sin is a horrible thing. Sin
is so deep and ingrained in us. Sin is so part and parcel of
us that we do it without thought. We do it when we breathe. We
do it when we sleep. We do it when we eat. We do it
when we talk. We just do sin because that's
what we are. And if it wasn't for Christ,
we'd all go to hell, being proud that we were sinners, bragging
about it. Glory is what ought to be our
shame. Oh, that boy ain't going to leave you like that. Don't
want to leave you like that. Here's the next word. Substitution. I love that word. Substitution. Oh, my. Oh, my. 2 Corinthians 5.21. Let's look
at that. You know, here we are. We're sinners. God's sovereign.
God is absolute sovereign. And He'll have mercy on whom
He'll have mercy. That God devised a way, and this is where the
gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. We're born wrong,
so we need someone to live our life for us. A life of sinlessness,
a life of perfection, a life of obedience to God's holy law,
which we've all broken. God made His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and forced sin, condemned sin in the flesh. And
beloved, we were born wrong, so somebody's got to be born
sinless. Not any relation to Adam. Christ
came, no relation to Adam. We live the life of sin, so someone's
got to live a life of obedience, a life of righteousness. And
then we've got to die for our sins, so we need somebody that's
holy and sinless and perfect to die in our room instead to
bear our sins in His own body. And then, because we are so sinful,
we can't approach God, we need somebody to make us acceptable
to God, and that's only Christ the Lord of Glory. Huh? Look what it says here in St.
Corinthians 5.21. I've heard Don preach this. I
couldn't tell you the times. I don't know how many men I've
heard preach this. For He, God, and He's the only one that can
make a man to be sin. He, God, made Christ to be sin. Talked about sin. He became what
we are. What we are. That's sin that
was so odious to God. Christ became that. God made
Him to be that. And it's worse than being what
I am in sin. What's more worse than sin? Well,
that's what God made us to be, sin. Oh, the sin of all the elect
of all the ages, from eternity past to eternity future, east,
west, north, south. They came marching as great armies
to meet on the head of the Son of God. And God took all those
sins and made His Son to be that sin. What I just talked about,
that loathing of myself, that's what He made Him to be. And listen,
he's done that to somebody who knew no sin. Knew no sin. And who did he do it for? For
us sinners. I know this, if a man's a sinner,
he's a saved man. I know if a man's lost, he's
a found man. I know that without a shout.
He may not have the assurance of it yet, but it's a fact. And
that's what he said, that we, here we go, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Not just a righteousness,
the very righteousness of God. And it's not some, as Scott Richardson
said, it's not like it's pen, something you stick on. I mean,
it covers us from the top of our head to the sole of our feet.
It covers us from the inside to the outside. It's not just
something that God took and took us like a robe and just dropped
it over us, you know, to cover us up. No, no, when God declares
you righteous and makes you righteous, He, beloved, makes you righteous
from the top of your head. He gives you a righteous mind.
He gives you a righteous nature. He gives you a desire after righteousness
and holiness and truth and purpose and God's glory. It's an absolutist change. God
got us. Christ got us. He got our sin. He got our shame. He got our
guilt. And when he was on that cross,
and he cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God turned his back on him, and
the wrath of God come down and fell on him. And oh, beloved,
he consumed the wrath of God. And when he raised again from
the dead, and oh, beloved, all his obedience, all of his righteousness,
all of his sinfulness, beloved, is given to us, covers us, fills
us, Oh, save me from going down to
the pit. Why? I found a ransom. Oh, I tell you, let me look at
my watch here. Let me look at my watch. Oh, my God. Here we go. Listen, Jonah, those fellows
said, Jonah told them, he said, the only way you fellows are
going to be saved in this storm. God sent the storm. God prepared
a storm. And the only way you fellas are
going to be saved is if you throw me overboard. And the only way
we're going to be saved is when God sends a storm. And He's going
to send it. That's the way He's going to
get you. He's going to send a storm to your life. He's going to turn you
upside down. You've got to go, Jonah! Overboard
Jonah went. He got in the belly of hell,
is what it said. And he said, this one thing I
know, salvations of the Lord. And when he come up, God took
him and spit him out, and he walked that last hundred yards
to get to land. When God saved Jonah, He put
him out on dry land. And, oh, He don't give you heaven.
He put him in hell, brought him up out of hell, and put him on
dry land. And Christ, God, Christ went
to hell. He come up. And, beloved, when
He got seated in heaven, God took all of us with Him and set
us right there with Him. Huh? Together. Just look all
the way in the Scriptures. Together, together, together.
And, oh, Barabbas, huh? Barabbas. He was sitting there
in his cell one day. And they heard the fellows walking
down through there. He said, oh my, today's the day
of my death. They're coming after me. They've
got my cross ready for me. The fellow walked up there, you
know, put the key in his cell door and dungeon door. And he
heard them come down through there and said, this is it, this
is it, this is mine. They opened the door. And he walked out. And he thought he was going to
his execution. They said, Barabbas! Go free! You're free! Why? Jesus of Nazareth took your place. And when I face God, and we're
all going to face God in the judgment, but the only difference
between the sheep and the goats, those who know Christ and those
who don't, Christ is going to stand for us. Every single one
of us. He said, that's mine. The devil said, that's mine.
That's mine. Well, they've done this. I took
care of that. I took care of that. Do you know
all my sins were future when Christ died for me? Well, I'm going to move on. Satisfaction. Sovereignty. Sin. Substitution. Christ taking our place. And
we got what we are. We got what He is. Absolute exchange. And satisfaction. You know, beloved,
I think this is the most important substitution. Satisfaction is
the most two important things in the gospel. My personal opinion
is that. Now, satisfaction, the primary
purpose of the death of Christ, the first person, primary purpose,
the first person, purpose of the death of Christ, the first
thing it done was to satisfy God. To honor God. To satisfy His righteousness,
fulfill His law, honor His righteousness, magnify His truth, magnify His
law, and make it honorable. That's the primary purpose of
Christ coming here and dying. First to satisfy God. As Scott
Richardson said, God must do something for Himself before
He can do something for us. And that's what He done. You
see, man cannot satisfy God. Can't do it. But man can die. God cannot die, but only God
can satisfy God. So God, in the person of his
blessed Son, came into this world, and as man, he could die, and
as God, he could satisfy. And oh, beloved, God can be satisfied
with nothing less than himself. Whatever sacrifice is going to
satisfy Him, it must be equal to Himself. That's why it's impossible
for the blood of bulls and goats to put away sin. God must be
satisfied. He cannot take anything less
than Himself. It must be as holy as Him. It must be as infinite
as Him. It must be as righteous as Him.
It must meet every attribute, every demand of His heart and
soul and person. But I'll tell you what. Christ
met every demand, and nothing could satisfy Him any more than
His own Son. Now, I want you to see over in
Hebrews 9 with me just a moment, and I'll be done just in a minute.
Well, I say, you know, you've heard about the three most common
lies, haven't you? Let me tell you the three most
common lies known to man. The first one is, I'm from the
government, and I'm here to help. The second one is, the check's
in the mail. And the third one is, the preacher
gets up and says, I'm going to be brief. Oh, boy. Well, we have more fun
than anybody, don't we, Gene? We really do. And you know that's
what's so wonderful about the gospel. It just fills us with
such joy and peace. We enjoy one another. We can
talk about these things and really enjoy them and rejoice in them. Oh, we don't have to come in
here with all long faces, but oh, thank God. Now listen to
what it says here in Hebrews 9.24. God's satisfaction was
rendered to God. God saw the travail of his soul
and was satisfied. It says in Hebrews 9.24, for
Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are just figures of the true, or typical of the true.
But watch this, but in the heaven itself, and I always love where
I find this word now, now to appear in the presence of God.
When I read that tomorrow, it will still say now. I read that
ten years ago, it said now. I'll read it when I'm seventy-five,
if I live, and it will say now. Right now He appears in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of somebody else, the blood of bulls and
goats. If that was so, then he'd have
to suffer since the end of the world. But now, what in the end
of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself? How did he do that? He satisfied
God. Satisfied God. He paid the price
of sin. Now look down here in Hebrews
10 and verse 12. Oh, I just love this. Absolutely
love this. But this man, those priests offered
often the same sacrifice, never take away sins. But this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, forever, Forever
is a long time. My wife tells me all the time,
don't say forever. Ever is too long. I say, don't
draw no lines in the sand. Don't say I'll never. Oh, that's
too long. But when God says forever, He
means it. Sat down on the right hand of
God. Now watch this. From henceforth expecting till
His enemies be made His footstool. Now here's what I want us to
see. For by one offering He hath perfected. What? Perfected. What? Perfected. Forever. There's that word forever again. Them that are sanctified. You
know what sanctified means? Just set apart. Just set apart. Do you know holiness? The sanctification
is a state of being. You know, that's why progressive
sanctification is wrong. You know, can God be any holier
than he is? Well, if we're in Christ, we're
as holy as he is, right? It's a state of being. That's
why you can't get any more holy than just it's a state of being.
And you're sanctified means set apart. You're not going to get
any more sanctified than you are when Christ sets you apart.
That's just the way it is. You may be weaned from the world.
You may grow in grace. But you ain't going to get any
more holy. Alright, let me move on. Submission, that's my last
thing. Sovereignty. Sin. Substitution. Satisfaction. And oh my! Submission. There's nothing that a believer
delights in more, that knows the gospel, than to submit to
every bit of that and say, That woman, that Syrophoenician
woman, she came to the Master, and she said, Oh, I've got a
daughter. She's so grievously vexed with the devil. Our Lord
just ignored her. Just ignored her. You say, Boy,
I tell you, my Jesus wouldn't do that. Well, Christ the Bible
did. He wouldn't. He'd just act like
she wasn't there. She just kept on coming. Finally, He said to
her, Well, I'm not sent but for the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Well, that's fine too. That's wonderful. Oh, thank God
you do that. But my daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. He said, it's not fit to take the children's
bread and give it to dogs. She said, oh Lord, she agreed
with everything he said. But oh Lord, even the dogs get
the crumbs from the master's table. And I'm going to scoot
up under the table and take everything he gives me. I'm like old Scott,
I can go a long way on a crumb. And I'll be the Lord's dog. And
I'll say this, there's a girl come to our place and she came
two or three years, her and her husband, and I preached on that
one time about that woman being the dog. She got up and she walked
out the door and she said, I ain't going to be a dog for nobody.
And she ain't been back since. I'll be the Lord's dog. I'll
come before David. Oh, what am I? A dead dog is
me that's said before such a one as the King. uh... thank y'all appreciate