Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. What can bring
the believer comfort? Amen. The message of grace, right? The message of grace in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. People in this world look for
comfort in all different things, people, places, jobs, money,
but that comfort is fleeting. True comfort, true comfort is
only found in Christ. True comfort comes from our God
and it comes to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. God's preachers are commanded
to comfort his people. But in and about ourselves, we
cannot comfort anyone. I need comfort just as much as
you need comfort. But God commands his preachers
to comfort his people. And the only way we can do that
is by God's grace and mercy, his strength, and by preaching
his word. Isaiah chapter 40. God says this,
Comfort ye my people, saith your God. Verse 1. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem. Now Jerusalem again is a picture of the church here. And cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished. Who are we at war with? God. We were at war with God. We were
enemies in our minds by wicked works with God. Look at this. Tell her that her warfare is
accomplished. It's finished, eh? And look at
this. That her iniquity is pardoned. That's wonderful, isn't it, brother?
That's forgiven, pardoned, paid in full. Never to be seen again,
never to be brought up again. Never to be brought up again. So why should we bring it up
in our minds when it's dead and buried? Right? It's forgiven, it's gone. So
I say church, your iniquities pardoned in Christ. Pardoned
in Christ. For she hath received the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Blessing upon blessing upon blessing
in Christ Jesus our Lord. And note, our Lord says here,
my people. Not the whole world. I could stand up and preach in
front of thousands of people. But the only ones who can be
comforted by that word are those who the Lord has saved or has
drawn to him and will be saved. Because otherwise, they'll just
fall on deaf ears. But that doesn't stop me from
preaching to everyone, does it? Just whosoever will. That's right.
The Spirit and the bride say come, don't they? Lord Jesus
said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden. I'll
give you rest. How does he give us rest? Your iniquities are
pardoned, Brother Dave. Oh, man, that gives us rest, doesn't it?
That gives us rest, what a good God. Oh, he's a great God, isn't
he? Oh, my people, my people. God's people are called here
by God, my people, saith your God. My people, people of my
choice, a people of my redemption, a people who I will comfort,
who I will save, and who I will keep forevermore, and who will
be with me, my people, forever. My people, saith your God. Not
saith Wayne, not saith Dave, not saith someone else, saith
God. He tells us we're his people,
brother Dave. Woo, my, that's comfort, that's
comfort. Her iniquities pardoned, she
has received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. My,
oh my, my people, not everyone, my people, say the Lord. Well,
what does the scripture say about Jesus Christ, right? He shall
save his people. Well, Christ is God too, right?
Yeah, the Holy Spirit's God as much as the Father's God, the
Son's God as much as the Father is. So God of the Father's people
is the Son's people and is the Holy Spirit's people. And scripture
says that Christ was sent to save his people from their sins.
Their iniquities pardoned, woo, my, gone, gone, by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, how this warms the heart
of the believer. And we gospel preachers, we have
one message to proclaim. Christ and him crucified. Dying
for sinners. That's the only message I have.
I'll come at it from different texts, but I play a one-string
fiddle, beloved. My, oh my. He's the only hope. How are God's people comforted
that our iniquities are pardoned? Only through Christ. Not through
anything we do. We can't save ourselves, brother.
Can we? No, but in Christ, our iniquities
are pardoned. Pardoned, all things are possible
by him, amen. My, so he commands his gospel
preachers, comfort ye, comfort ye my people. The only way I
can do that is to preach Christ. That's the only way, that's the
only way, one message. Oh, and I, brethren, when I came
to you, I come not with excellency of speech. I'm a Canadian fella
from way up north. I don't come with excellency
of speech. I'm not trained to speak in all these fancy words.
Eh? That's right. I'm not, though.
I'm just a normal fella. Man, I can understand when Paul
says, I come not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. Now,
Paul, he had a lot of wisdom. Declaring unto you the testimony
of God. For I determined not to know anything among you save
Jesus Christ and him crucified. That's what's most important.
That's the message I've been sent with. Christ and him crucified. Tell them, tell the church, tell
the church, her iniquities pardoned. How? Through the precious blood
of Christ. Through the Christ being risen
from the grave. Heaven died and be risen from
the grave. Her iniquities pardoned. God satisfied with that sacrifice. Oh, and only the preaching of
the gospel of God's free grace will bring comfort to God's people.
Well, because we're all sinners by nature, by choice. My, my,
oh, my, oh, my. By nature, choice, we're just
a bunch of sinners. But now, we who are God's people
are iniquities pardoned by the blood of Christ. We're safe sinners.
We're safe sinners. Oh my. Here we are. Here we are sinners who can't
pay for one of our sins and yet all our sins are gone in the
eyes of God. They're all gone in the precious,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, we say hallelujah. Oh, so we say sinners can't find
any comfort in anything we do. We look to Christ who's done
it all. He's done it all. Now, do we want to go out and
live a crazy life? Go out and live an ungodly life? No! I don't know one believer
who wants to do that. Do you, Brother Dave? I don't
know any. We get constrained. We feel guilty over our sin.
Conviction. Never heard that before. Sin
was like water. Give me a drink. Right? Now it's not. Yeah, now we drink
the living water. Amen, Brother. Amen. Yeah? And no amount of money in this
world can redeem one soul. Not one. So people can't, you
know, people, you can have all the money in the world and die
and go to hell. So for what shall profit a man
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Nothing. There's
not one thing, the most precious thing on this world, The most
precious thing in this world you cannot offer to God for the
payment of your sins. Not at all. God won't accept.
He will only accept the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
will only accept those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the only way we believe is ye must be born again. It's a work
of the Holy Spirit of God. So what comfort God's people
find in this text. Look at this again. Speak ye
comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her. Don't be silent.
Cry unto her. Oh my, that her warfare is accomplished.
It's finished. No more works. No more works
is accomplished. If our salvation's complete,
if it's accomplished, then nothing for us to do. And then the glorious
news of this, that her iniquity is pardoned. And I mean, there's
nothing left. As I've said oftentimes, the
wrath of God against us has been absolutely extinguished by Christ.
There's not even a puff of smoke coming up off the flames. It's
gone. It's gone. The wrath is satisfied. You know why? Because God said,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. He gave his
life on Calvary's cross to save sinners. Are you a sinner? That's
the question. Can't find sinners a whole lot
anymore. I'll tell you why. You've got
a chief over here. Yeah, I've got a chief here too,
brother. Oh, my! I've got two chiefs right here,
brother. Two up there. Yeah, two up there.
Oh, amen. A whole bunch listening. A whole
bunch listening. That's a bunch of chiefs. We're
all chiefs. Chiefs of sinners, eh? Oh, my. So I hope and pray
this message will be a comfort to us, that our sins are all
forgiven, beloved. They're all forgiven. Do you
know that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily?
And we are complete in Him. Complete. If we're complete in
Christ, there's nothing for us to do, is there? There's nothing. Complete. And complete there,
in the Greek means to fill up to, you can't get another drop
in it. It's a labyrinth, brother, amen. One drop would make it
leak. And it's all Christ. Notice you're
complete in Christ. You're not complete in Christ
plus something we do. We're complete in Christ, hallelujah. In Christ. which is the head of all principality
and power. And oh, the Bible proclaims a
wonderful savior, who's mighty to save. He can save, he saves
anyone who comes to him, right? Does he ever turn one away? Well,
I'm proof he did not turn me away. And I'm a vile sinner,
saved by the grace of God. My, he won't turn anyone away
who comes to him. Oh my, he shall save his people. Why? He's already redeemed us,
brother. It's already done. We're bought and paid for. We're bought with a price. The
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, redeemed by the lamb. And he's redeemed us. What's
he redeemed us from? Well, the wrath of God, the justice
of God, the law of God, and from our own sins. Oh, my. People right away go, oh, my
sins. Yeah, but don't forget. Don't forget the wrath of God.
It's extinguished. Don't forget the law of God.
It's satisfied. Don't forget the justice of God.
Justice of God says, I got no hold on him. That person's in
Christ. Yeah. Oh, and then our sins. Well, what does it say in the
text? Pardoned. Pardoned. Woo, my, pardoned. And pardoned there means pardoned.
Liberty, freedom in Christ. Oh my. So we who preach Christ,
we've been comforted by being saved ourselves. I can't preach
Christ unless I've been saved. And praise God, he saved my soul.
And so I preach the other way. Here, I'm one beggar saying,
here, to a whole bunch of other beggars, here's the bread. Here's
the bread. It's free. Come and dine. It's free. We can eat all we
want. It's already made. It's already done. Nothing like
a fresh loaf of bread, is there? My oh my. Amen. The bread of life there. That's
not like no normal bread. I'll tell you that right now.
That's the bread of life right there. Oh my brother. So we preach
Christ in Him crucified. And then we preach a risen Savior. He went to cross. He died. He
was put in a grave. And he rose from that grave three
days later. He's not dead. We went into a
restaurant the other day. And I said, oh, there's that
dead Jesus on the cross again. He's still hanging there. Poor
guy, yeah. That's not my Jesus. My Jesus
is gone. He's not on that cross. That's
a false Jesus on that cross. Yeah, because people worship
those crosses. put him up there for superstition, up in good
luck. It's just like a rabbit's foot,
it's all just false. No such thing as luck in this
world. My oh my, there's providence. Divine providence, that's right
brother, amen. My oh my. So what we see here
even in our text is the all-sufficiency of the Savior. Right? Not only in Christ is our warfare
accomplished, we're reconciled now to God, we got peace with
God through the Lord Jesus Christ, but this wonderful text says
that our iniquities pardoned. Now I'll tell you what, that
is the best news I've heard, Dave, in my whole life, right
there. Ever, ever. Her iniquity pardoned. We put
my iniquities pardoned. Because if you're part of that
heavenly Jerusalem, right? If you're part of the elect of
God, then that means your iniquity is pardoned. No more change. And we're new creatures in Christ.
And we're not to be conformed to the image of this world, but
now we're transformed. I was listening to a preacher
this week, Dave. You know how we talk about the butterfly? He says,
man, the old man pictured in that caterpillar. And he gets
woven up in there, right? And then all of a sudden, born
again. And what comes out of that, what comes out of that
cocoon later on? This whole different, a whole different, it's a butterfly.
It went in a caterpillar and it comes out a butterfly. Complete. What a, that's a total transformation,
total transformation. And it's a finished, yeah, it's
finished. Woo, man, I was shocked when I was listening to that
message, Dave. I'll tell you what, I was thinking about you
too with that. Oh my, it's wonderful, wonderful. Oh, all that a sinner
needs is found here in Christ, because in Christ, all our iniquities
are pardoned. Those who trust and rest in Christ,
all our iniquities are pardoned. Sinner friend, if you're laden
down with sin, if you feel like, oh my gosh, it can never be forgiven,
look at we sinners who are preached in the gospel, look at we sinners
who are saved, and our iniquities are pardoned. And your sin's no greater than
ours was. Because every saint I know, we're not holier than
thou people, are we, Brother Dave? We're like, my Lord saved
me? Yeah, he did, hallelujah. And look at this, look at this,
let's read it again. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, speak
ye comfortably to the elect, and cry unto her that her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. I mean, it's gone. pardoned, for she hath received
the Lord's hand double for our sins." I like to say this now,
because I read this by Spurgeon, and it's so true, the unmitigated
wrath of God is poured out on Christ. God held nothing back. He held nothing back that we
deserved, and poured it all out on the Savior. Therefore, His
whole wrath is extinguished. It's gone. Isn't that wonderful? And God deals with us in Christ.
He doesn't deal with us according to our sins. He doesn't deal
with us according to our frame. We're but sins. We're but dust.
But He deals with us in Christ, beloved. And because now we've
been transformed like the caterpillar to the butterfly, now we don't
want to be conformed to the world anymore. We don't want to do
the things. We're new creatures. Those things
don't have a hold on us. They used to have a big hold
on me. They don't have a hold on me anymore. My, I'm not saying
I don't struggle with sin, I still struggle with sin. Absolutely,
everybody does who's a believer. But it doesn't have that dominion
it once had over us. My, oh my. And I have to ask
you this. If we're complete in Christ, and He's perfect, can
you add anything to that perfection? Nothing. Why do men try to work
their way to heaven? They got a God of their imagination.
They've rejected what the Word of God says. They think that
they're good when they're sinners. And I'm not saying anything that
I didn't feel before, too. Yeah, brother Dan. We were there,
brother. We've discussed it so much. We were there. Praise God
He didn't leave us there. Oh my, He didn't leave us there.
Turn if you would. He shall save His people. Amen. Turn if you
would to Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Look at this.
My oh my. We're going to see here in verse
9, it proclaims we're being made perfect. We can't save ourselves. We lack the ability to save ourselves.
We lack the ability to redeem ourselves. But the believer in
Christ has been shown, it's been revealed to us by the Holy Spirit
of God, that we who have fled to Christ, we've seen our need.
Let's start in verse 5. So also Christ glorified not
himself to be made a high priest, But he said unto him, Thou art
my son, today have I begotten thee. As he saith in another
place, Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek,
speaking of Christ, who in the days of his flesh, when he offered
up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears
unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard
in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned obedience
by all things which he suffered. Now see, Christ was absolutely
obedient to the Father. Now, we've talked about this
before, Brother Dave, and I've talked with other believers about
this. He, Christ, Christ never had to submit Himself to anyone
before. Everyone was submitting themselves to Him. And now He's,
He's, everybody had to be obedient to Him. And now we see here,
we see here, He learned obedience. He submitted Himself to the Father's
will. That's, we, we just can't even understand that. But that's
what it says. Believe it, because it says,
by the things which he suffered. So all the things he went through,
all the things he suffered, right? The lashing of tongues from all
the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the religious who's who and
all the whipping and stuff he went through before his crucifixion.
All that he suffered. By all that he learned obedience. And that's as a man. As God,
you can't learn nothing. But as a man, he learned that
as a man. which he suffered. And look at this, in being made
perfect, he never sinned. He's the perfect man. He's the
sinless, spotless Lamb of God. Look at that. He's made perfect.
When he came out of that womb, when he was conceived, he was
perfect. When he was conceived, he was perfect. Made perfect. He became the author, look at
this, of what? Eternal salvation. Well, he's
already the eternal God. So who's he making eternal salvation
for? His people, brother, that you mentioned earlier. Oh, that's
comforting, isn't it? Eternal salvation unto all them
that obey Him. Oh my, that's the people of God.
That's the born-again, blood-washed saints of God. Called of God
and high priest after the order of Melchizedek. That's our King.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. My, and again verse 9 says being
made perfect. He's perfect. He's spotless.
I was contemplating this. He was made sin for us and yet
he's perfect. He offers himself up without
spot. It has to be imputation. He, our sins are imputed to him
and yet he's still perfect because he's offering himself up without
spot. And yet he becomes, he's made sin for us. Well he's still
sinless. But that sin is laid upon him,
beloved, and he bears it. He bears it for us. And he pays
everything that God demands. He's the great substitute. If
we were playing hockey, Dave, and I was a center iceman, you
came in, you'd be my substitute. You'd take my spot. That substitution. He took our spot. before God's
wrath, before God's law, before God's justice. He was made sin
for us, our sins were imputed to Him, and yet He's the sinless,
spotless Lamb of God. My, and the only way that our
sins and iniquities could be paid for was by a perfect man,
a sinless man, a spotless man. He could not sin. There's a doctrine
called the impeccability of Christ. I totally believe He could not
sin. He was tempted yet without sin. He could not sin. He's God. He's God. Our Savior. Now this is comforting. That
He's perfect is comforting. Because we know that our salvation
is not dependent upon us. But it's dependent upon the God-man
who's perfect. Right? And He offered Himself
up without spot. My! And you know what he made? He made a perfect atonement,
beloved. He made a perfect atonement. Oh my. And his blood was the
blood of the everlasting covenant. My. And look at these marvelous
words. Cry unto her. God's people is
a church. And it says, cry unto her, that
her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned,
for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins. How is this accomplished? How
is this accomplished? How is our warfare against God
accomplished when we cannot reconcile ourselves to God by anything
we do? How is our iniquity pardoned when we can't pay for one of
our sins? How does the church receive of the Lord's hand, of
God's hand, double for all our sins? Well, only through the
perfect, sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That's the only way.
Only through the Lord Jesus Christ. Only through the one who is fully
God and yet fully man. The one who died upon Calvary's
cross, shed his precious, precious blood in the room and place of
sinners, of us, of the elect of God. Put your name in there.
Oh my. My, oh, my. I remember Henry
saying that. He was preaching on Isaiah 53.
He says, by his stripes we're healed. He said, put your name
in there. By his stripes, Wayne's healed. And that's not physical
healing. That's spiritual healing, brother
and sisters. That's spiritual healing that
we need, because we're born dead in trespasses and sins. We need
to be made alive, and we're made alive by the regenerating power
of God, the Holy Spirit. And so it's only through the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's only through the perfect
substitute, the perfect Redeemer, the perfect Savior. And His name
is the Lord Jesus Christ and He is the Messiah sent by God
to save His people from their sins. And the scripture says,
He shall save His people from their sins. There's not a doubt
and there's no dependence upon anything we do. It's He, He,
He shall save His people. Not me. He shall save His people. He. We're not even in the equation
except his people. That's the only place we are.
We're sinners. He shall save his people. Mercy beggars, the whole bunch
of us. So let's look at four things
that make up a message of grace. The first one is a perfect atonement. Perfect, I mean absolutely perfect.
There's no blemish in this atonement. There's no spot in this atonement.
It's a perfect... When the Israelites were to bring
up these sacrifices, these lambs for the slaughter, they were
to be without blemish. They would not have one spot
in them. Well, what does God offer? God offers up a perfect
lamb. A spotless lamb. A sinless lamb. My oh my. He offers up his own son. My. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
died, he took, I still, this is true, he took all the sins
of all God's life. All my sins, all your sins, brother,
all your sins, my dear sisters, and put them on him. God put
them on Christ. All of us. And Christ died he
took the sins of all the elect upon himself they were imputed
to him and laid upon him just like the high priest used to
put his hands on that lamb and lean into that lamb in that picture
the imputation of our sins or the sins of israel in onto that
that land oh my our sins were imputed to christ and think on
this All of our sins, I mean every one, omission, commission,
spoken sins, heart sins, lust sins, everything, all laid upon
Christ. For all the elect, whoever lived,
we weren't even born then, beloved. We weren't even born then, and
our sins were laid upon Christ. That means all my future sins
are forgiven too, doesn't it, brother? Because all our sins
was future, weren't they? See, I preach a work already
done. Amen. It's accomplished. That which was purposed and planned,
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, comes to pass in
time and space, doesn't it? I'll tell you what, this just
gets better and better and better and better, doesn't it? It's
absolutely amazing. All the elect of all the ages,
before we were even born, He died for us. Oh my, all the elect
from the past, up to His death, all the elect who had not been
born, all the way to the end. All those. Scripture says, a
multitude that no man can number. We can't even put a number on
all them people. Oh my. And the scripture says, for the
transgression of my people was he stricken. In Isaiah chapter
53. For the transgression, God says,
for my people. The very ones that he tells me
here. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. In Isaiah he calls
them my people. Christ was stricken for my people.
Also, what comfort that can give us. What a message of grace. A perfect atonement has been
made for my sins and for yours, brethren. My. 2 Corinthians 5 21 says this,
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, didn't
know any sin. Our sins were imputed to him
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. All the sins of God's people
were placed upon Christ. He bore them all. He bore the
wrath, the entire wrath. He bore the justice of God for
all our sins. And let us remember He was perfect.
He was spotless. He had no sin. And yet all our
sins, all the sins of all the elect are placed upon Him. No
wonder He said, no wonder He dropped great drops of blood.
Because at that time they were being laid upon Him, brother
and sister. And he said, nevertheless, not my will, Lord, but thy will
be done. So didn't he say, if it be possible
that this cup pass me, nevertheless, not my will. Remember? Obedience.
He's obedient to the Father to save us from our sins. Hallelujah. Oh, and you know, Scripture says
this. Listen to this. 1 John 3, 5. This is magnificent. And you know, this is something
God's people know. That He was manifested. That means He became a man. This
is His incarnation. He was manifested. He was born
of a virgin. He was manifested. Why? Why?
What's the one reason He was manifested? To take away our
sins, Brother Dave. Take away our sins! And in him
is no sin. So he was manifest to take away
our sins. And the scripture says, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord. Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. How? Through the precious blood
of Christ, who was manifested to take away our sins. How can
we not praise him, brother? How can we not but give Him thanks
and give Him all the glory and all the honor and all the praise?
My. Oh, He put away our sins. He
put them away. He took our sins upon Himself
and He paid for them completely. He completely satisfied all the
good, every demand that God had for the payment of our sins,
He absolutely satisfied. This is a perfect atonement,
beloved. Scripture says, God, he shall see the travail of his
soul, being Christ, and shall be satisfied. Isaiah 53, 2. I think verse 12, that is. He
shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Shall. There's not maybe, right? Since we've all discovered this
word, it's showing up everywhere. Shall. And that's a legal binding
word. Shall. it won't be broken. No wonder he says, no wonder
he says, your iniquities are pardoned. Oh my, see, this is
the greatest message in the world, isn't it? The gospel message
is salvation in Christ. It's the greatest message that
we've ever, greatest news, the good news, greatest news we've
ever heard in our lives. Oh, it goes on. It says, By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. That means
we can stand in the presence of God. For he shall bear their
iniquities. The sinless one shall bear their
iniquities. And he did, didn't he? What did
he cry, Brother Dave? What was his cry? It's finished. It's complete. It's done. Finished
means finished. It means like the end of the
line. I remember Big Don saying one time, he says, it's like
when you get to the end of the line, it's the end of the line.
You can't go any further. It's finished line. You can't
go any further. It's the end of the line. It's
done. My, my, amen. Oh, redemption's accomplished.
It's accomplished. We're redeemed. Right now, we're
redeemed by the blood of Christ. It's already done. It's been
done 2,000 years ago. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And that redemption,
what's it called? It's called eternal redemption.
Does that mean we can mess it up? Nope. It's eternal. It's in Christ. If it was in
us, we'd be... Spurgeon said we'd fall a thousand
times a day. Yeah, we'd be totally lost. Amen,
brother. My oh my. Now the second point of the message
of grace is how God's people can be comforted by this too.
The second point is perfect forgiveness. Perfect atonement. Perfect forgiveness. I mean perfect. Let's read this
text again. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. I love that. My
people, sayeth your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished and that her
iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Now here we go. Our text proclaims
that the preacher is to comfort God's people by preaching Christ
and proclaiming that her iniquity is pardoned. That's perfect forgiveness. That's not, oh, I'm going to
remember what you did to me 40 years ago and cut you out of
my will. Right? Or I remember something
you did to me, I'm going to get you back eventually. Nope. This
is perfect forgiveness. The sinner is, now let's sit
here, perfectly forgiven. All their sins are forgiven. All of them. I write unto you,
1 John 2, verse 12. Now listen to this. John's writing
this. The Holy Spirit authored this.
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven
you for His name's sake. Why are we forgiven? For Christ's
sake. That's the only reason. And listen
to those words again. I'm going to read them again.
Listen. I write unto you, little children, God's people, because
your sins are forgiven. It's not they might be if you
do this or you do that. How are our sins forgiven? By
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, by the perfect atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. And
then David wrote this. He wrote this, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Paul
quoted that in Romans chapter four, verse seven. Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Every
one of God's people can say, my iniquities are forgiven because
this scripture also tells me that my iniquities pardoned. And the only way it's pardoned
is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. So if it's pardoned,
and God says it's pardoned, and then he says again in Romans,
blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. Well, pardoned
is forgiven. I'm totally forgiven in Christ.
And whose sins are covered. How are our sins covered, David?
Amen, brother Dave, by the precious blood of Christ. Amen, brother.
By the blood, nothing but the blood, right? What shall wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And those who are forgiven, those who are the redeemed of the Lord
are blessed because our sins are covered by the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have a perfect forgiveness. I mean perfect, you can't add
nothing to it. We are totally forgiven. And
then we're clothed in that perfect righteousness of Christ. My,
my, oh my, oh my. We've had that revealed to us.
We've had revealed to us that the law condemns, and by the
grace and mercy of God, we were given the ability to flee to
Christ. People should be made will in
the day of God's power. Remember what I said on Sunday? God, the
Holy Spirit, has made Christ irresistible to us. We can't
do anything but run to Him. And we do that for the rest of
our lives, don't we? My, oh my. Here's the good news.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. For it's written, cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Galatians 3.13. The law demands perfection. Christ
is perfect. The law demands to be fulfilled.
Christ perfectly fulfilled the law for his people. The justice
of God, it examines Christ and finds no fault in him. Christ
lived in perfect obedience to the law of God as our representative,
as our substitute in the place of his people. Turn if you would
to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, look at this.
Verses 19 to 22, it says this. Now we know, this is something
God's people know. Now we know that whatsoever things
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and that all the world may become guilty
before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, in God's sight.
For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there's
no difference. What comfort this brings God's people. We have
perfect forgiveness. For by one man's disobedience,
that's Adam, we fell in Adam. Many were made sinners. So by
the obedience of one, that's Christ. shall many, shall, shall,
oh, Romans 519, for, for as by one man's many, by one man's
disciplines many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man
shall many be made righteous. There's that word again. It just
keeps popping up all through the scriptures, shall. Oh my,
so we're clothed in that perfect righteousness which is being
imputed to us. Our sins were imputed to Christ and his righteousness
was imputed to us. Now the third point of the message
of grace is this. Perfect imputation and perfect
righteousness. I mean perfect righteousness.
The only way we can stand before God is to be perfect. How perfect
does one have to be to stand before God? As perfect as God. Spotless. Sinless. Without blemish, brother. Amen.
Without blemish. How are sinners How are sinners
made righteous? We can't make ourselves righteous,
can we? But you know what? God can make us righteous, clothing
us in that perfect righteousness of Christ. And this is perfect
imputation. Our sins are imputed to Christ,
and his perfect righteousness is imputed to us. I used to call
it the great exchange. Our sins are placed upon Christ
and his righteousness is placed upon us. It's pictured when the
father sees the prodigal and says, bring forth the best robe
and clothes him in that best robe. That's a picture of the
father clothing us in the righteousness of Christ. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 4. And I'll read what Paul said here. Paul writes this
in Romans 1, 16 and 17. I was thinking about this too. I read something on the internet
the other day and it said, well, what is some old doctrines that
you'd like to see preached more? And what came to my head right
away was righteousness, being the righteousness of Christ.
See, because man is going about trying to establish their own
righteousness. But our own righteousness can't gain us entrance into heaven. Only through the righteousness
of Christ, which, do you know the righteousness of God is revealed
in the preaching of the gospel? It says this in Romans chapter
1, verses 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. to everyone
that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Look at
this in verse 17 of Romans chapter 1. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. It's revealed in the gospel.
From faith to faith. For it's written, the just shall
live by faith. So the righteousness of God is revealed in the preaching
of the gospel because he who is the righteousness of God is
Christ. and we're clothed in his perfect
righteousness. Now turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 4. Romans
chapter 4. Do you know that Abraham believed
and it was counted for him for righteousness? Perfect righteousness. Look at this. Romans chapter
4, verses 3 to 8. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now the him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of debt. So that tells us right there we can't work our
way to heaven. because it's not grace. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. See, we've ceased from our labors.
God's people, we've ceased from our labors. We know we can't
justify ourselves before God, that we can only be justified
in Christ. And it says in verse 6 of Romans
chapter 4, even as David also described the blessings of the
man unto whom God imputed righteousness without works. Brother Dave,
we've been saved. by the precious blood of Christ,
and God's imputed righteousness without anything we've done."
Woo-hoo, man! That was, that perfect righteousness
has been, that's what, that's what, that's what Paul's writing
here. He's saying David said this, I'll read it again. Even
as David also described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed
righteousness without works, saying, and I mentioned this
earlier, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose
sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. See, he won't impute sin to us
because he's imputed our righteousness to, or Christ's righteousness
to us, and he's imputed our sins to Christ. It's finished. It's perfect. It's done. So righteousness
is not imputed on the basis of faith. Faith comes after. You must be born again. Righteousness
is imputed to us based upon Christ's faithfulness, based upon Him
as our representative. And this imputed righteousness
is received by faith, God-given faith. Righteousness is imputed
to us without works. No one can work to receive this
righteousness, this righteousness that God gives us, that's proclaimed
in the gospel, the righteousness of God, which is in Christ. No
man can earn it by anything they do. It's given without works. Lord, let me trumpet this to
the whole world. My righteousness without works. What a gift. Freely. And the imputation of the righteousness
of the believer is unconditional and irrevocable imputation. It
cannot be taken back. So much so that David said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. He won't impute
sin to his people because Christ already paid for it. My, the
last point in the wonderful message of grace is perfect liberty. Perfect freedom. Not the freedom
to sin, But perfect freedom. Perfect freedom. Perfect liberty. If the sun shall set you free.
Amen, sister. Ye shall be free indeed. Amen. Okay, let's read that text
again. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Isaiah 40, verse 1. Isaiah 40,
verse 2. Speak ye comfortably to Jesus.
I mean, cry, cry unto her. That her warfare's accomplished.
She's been reconciled. That her iniquity's pardoned.
Pardoned by a perfect atonement. Pardoned with a perfect forgiveness.
Pardoned with a perfect righteousness. Pardoned by a perfect imputation.
For she hath received the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
Now she has perfect liberty. Perfect liberty. Since justice
has been satisfied, since the law has been honored, since righteousness
has been imputed to us, God's elect are perfectly free from
all possibility of condemnation. I'm going to say that again.
Let it sink into our heads, OK? Just listen. This is wonderful. God's people have perfect liberty. Let us think upon this, that
since justice has been satisfied, is fully satisfied, God said,
I've seen the travail of my son's soul, and I'm satisfied. Right? The law is being honored. I mean,
it's being honored perfectly by Christ. And righteousness
has been imputed to us. Perfect righteousness, the righteousness
of Christ, has been imputed to us. So God's elect are completely
free from all possibility, and I mean all possibility, of condemnation. Who shall lay any charge to God's
elect? It's God that justifies. You
know, Paul wrote this a long time ago. He said when people
were condemning him and stuff, you know what he, and now I understand
why he said this. He said, I counted a small thing to be judged by
you. And you know why? Because there's now therefore
no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. Man can pop off all they
want. You know what? Man can find fault
with everybody, right? Let them find fault with us.
They're going to find fault with us. Right? There is therefore now no condemnation
to those in Christ Jesus. Freed from all possibility of
condemnation. Oh my, oh my. Let's close with
this. You ready? Romans chapter 8,
verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. For the law and the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do,
can't justify us, in that it was weak through the flesh, because
of our flesh, God sending, sending, sending his own son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, the
perfect one, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. Hallelujah. Fr. Dave, can you
close us in prayer? Beautiful day. Oh, to hear the
word. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Oh, Lord, thank you through Christ
and through the blood that you can call us thy people. Yes.
Be with thy people. Comfort them, Lord. We have many
worries, we have many cares, and you know all of them. And
we know that all things are complete indeed. the blood of Jesus Christ. It is in whom our precious, precious
name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Brother Dan.