A lot of folks. Well, as I listened intently
to Brother Danny Parks as he preached to us here this evening,
I concluded in my heart and soul that that was a great sermon. That was a great sermon. exalted
Him whom to know is life eternal, exalted the blessed Trinity of
His persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And my heart burned within me
when He told the story of Naomi and Ruth, and how God could be
just and justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. What a wonderful
thing, God being just and justifier. I've oft times said, and I think I'm right, and I believe
that since I heard what Brother Park said, I believe my convictions
are greater still because of what you said. I believe that
God must do something for himself before he can do anything for
you and I. God, over all and above all,
none beside him, he's got to do something for himself. before
he can do anything for the poor sinner. Abraham and Isaac was there. They had the wood, and they had the fire, I think. But Isaac said, Father, where's
the lamb? And Abraham said, God, will provide
himself a lamb. And you made Isaac willing to
get up on that altar. So I appreciate what you've said.
It was a great help to me. But I also thought this, brother,
while you was preaching there, and it was so good and scriptural and all, I have a
friend over in Virginia and he's a mild
type man, doesn't have much to say, and likes to be at home
with his children and all. And he found out that I was going
to go to Montana. to hunt antelope and mule deer. So he got in touch with me and
asked me if I could afford another passenger. And I said, yeah,
I'd be glad for you to go. And so about five of us went
to Montana and got down on a man's ranch of about 3,000 acres. And the wind was blowing, spitting
snow. There's five of us sleeping in
the back of this camper, and it was dark, and the wind was
pushing the camper. And we'd hunted all day and was
tired. And finally, this friend of mine,
he said, in a real quiet voice, He said, what am I doing out
here? 3,000 miles away from home, I'm
no hunter. What am I doing out here? And
so I began to think, what am I doing here? I want to talk to you a little
bit, and I hope the Lord will enabled me to do so from the
14th chapter of the book of John. John chapter 14. Verse 6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, The life. No man cometh unto me, no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me. That's the text right there.
Four words. I am the way. I am the way. Four words. Now, it's pretty
hard for the greatest of preachers to measure out the sentence that
God is love, just those three words. For God is light. Now, who can know the length
and the breadth of this declaration that Christ is all? Now, the
whole gospel is condensed in these five words, by grace are
you saved. Now our text is just four words. I am the great I am. I am the way. Now the question
arises, how is he the way? He said, I am the way. How is he the way? Now, a way
supposes two points, from which to which, from here to there,
or there to here. Now, the Lord speaks here in
this context of a man coming to the Father. Now Christ, he
says of himself, I am the way. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
the way from man's ruin to the Father. Now all of us know where
the way leads and we know very well that the way will be of
no service or no value unless it comes to where we are by nature. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And every man, woman, boy, or
girl, whoever they may be, who is outside of the Lord Jesus
Christ, here this evening, is lost and far off from God, ruined
by the fall, and so far off from God that he or she cannot come
back by themselves. They'll never get back unless
he goes and fetches them all the way home. It's in that place of ruin and
nature. He's the way that leads from
the city of destruction to the celestial city, from the ruin
of our father Abraham right up to the glory of our father who
is in heaven. He's the way. Christ is the way. first from our defilement, our
guilt of sin. How is sin to be put away? Many attempts have been made
to remove it. Some have hoped for pardon or
forgiveness from future good conduct. a promise or vow they
might make in order to gain this favor with God. But we know that
a payment of a future debt can by no means discharge a past
debt. So even the perfect future obedience
of a man, could he achieve it? could not touch his past sins
or his past debt. Many attempts. Some hope much
from the mercy of God. But the Lord, our God, and His
holy law knows nothing of clearing the sinner's guilt by a sovereign
act of mercy. That cannot be done. It's an
impossibility. It would slight the justice of
God, and His law would be annulled. He will by no means, the scriptures
say, clear the guilty. Every transgression must have
its just recompense of reward. so that the absolute mercy of
God as such is not the way out of the guilt of sin. For that
mercy is blocked up by avenging justice. There is no way by which
a sinner can escape from the guilt of sin but that which is
revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pause and say here, if there
is someone here that has some self-hope or some self-confidence
or some self-duty, give it up. Give it up. The quicker the better. In reality, in reality, I believe
there is not a center that would ever go to heaven if God would
let him go to hell. Now God sent forth his Son, and
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and came under the
law. And upon that mysterious being,
who being God and man in one person, as much God as if he
was never man, and as much man as if he was never God, both
God and man in one person. And the Bible teaches there in
the book of Isaiah that the Lord God hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Some sing in days gone by, meaning
well, I guess, and they said, I will go and lay my sins on
Jesus. That's not so. The sins of his
people and transgressions that were laid on him were not by
accident. laid on him the iniquity of us
all, so that he was numbered with the transgressors and would
bear the sin of many. Now he voluntarily, he gladly
and willingly undertook to be the substitute and the covenant
head and the surety of the chosen that God hath sanctified and
separated and chose in Christ and preserved in Christ before
the world ever was. And in this way, by being their
surety, their savior, their substitute, their representative, and in
this way, By the transferring of sin from the sinner to the
Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner ceases to be regarded as a sinner
and his guilt is removed. Now, he is the way for that sinner
to come to the Father. For his sin is laid upon Christ,
who became his substitute, and he's the substitute for all sinners
that ever believed or ever shall believe on him. And the whole
mountain mass of the sins of the believer lies not on them
any longer but on Christ. He has taken their transgression. He has borne their iniquities. Their sins are moved from them
and laid on Him. But don't think that the sin
which was laid on the Christ of old lies upon Him now. It does not, for the day came
when the punishment for all of that sin was demanded, and the
sword of vengeance woke against human sin, and it would have
smitten the whole flock, and the sheep would have been destroyed,
but the Good Shepherd the Lord Jesus, came into the place of
the flock, and he bore the strokes of the sword the day of vengeance. If you'll turn with me hurriedly
here to the 61st chapter of the book of Isaiah. First chapter. And the second
verse. Here in the Word of God we have
some solemn displays of God's vengeance and God's wrath. But in this verse, this second
verse, it seems to say that there is but one day of vengeance. Well, if that's so, was it not a day of vengeance
when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah? To proclaim, he says, the acceptable
year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort
all that morn. Was it not a day of vengeance
when he drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea? Are not the damned
in hell, devils and damned spirits, feeling the day of vengeance?
What about that world of Noah when God visited that world? in a day of vengeance and drowned
all of them but Noah and his family. And what is that day
when divine justice unsheathed its sword and the wrath of God
with all of its inflexible fury fell upon the God-man mediator,
when all the sins of his people, which infinite wisdom had gathered
up, heart-sins, lip-sins, sins of ignorance, and put them on
the Lamb of God. Oh, that for which the wrath
was due. to those poor sinners like you
and I. He stood in their place and he
paid their debt. He paid all the punishment for
the punishment that was due against our sins. Someone said 16 ounces
to the pound, no more, no less. The whole of the wrath of God
due, yea, to millions of those who are redeemed by his blood,
was poured into the heart of the blessed Lamb of God. And that was the day of vengeance,
when justice exacted its uttermost, and solemn majesty in all of
its glory, paid the debt in full. Where is the sin of his people? Well, the Bible says, cast them
into the depth of the sea. He has cast them behind his back. Well, by bearing sin's due punishment,
He has caused it no more to exist. He has caused it to be as if
it never were. He has made an end of it, and
if it be searched for, it cannot be found. So by taking the sin
of His people, and discharging their liability that was due
to God from that sin, he has made an end of sin and brought
in everlasting righteousness for his people. Now, sinner,
if you would get away from sin, Christ is the way. This is the
way. by which you can escape from
it. Sinners we are in ourselves. I'm talking about believers.
But not sinners before God's judgment seat. Because He took
all of our sins and paid what was their due and made an end
of them. And He has made us clean. and made us whiter than the snow. Here's another verse that I want
to read to you. In 1 John, that is. 1 John chapter 4. He's talking about the love of
God. And in that 17th verse, he said,
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in
the day of judgment, because as he is, because as he So are we in this world. You think about that a little
bit. Because as He is, whatever He is, that's what we are. You can't
go no farther than that. I can stop right now and say
that's it right there. Because as He is, so are we. Well, he's talking about in the
future. He's talking about now. You say,
well, when's now? Now's now. Now's right now. As He is, so are we in this world
right now. Oh, listen. He's the way. consistent with
divine justice. Why? Because he meets exactly
what you and I need in every turn of the road. Now, lastly,
let me say this. You see, I'm the way is as true
concerning the wrath of God on the account of sin. The way to
escape from the wrath of God is to escape from sin which causes
the wrath. The way to escape the wrath of
God is to escape from sin which causes the wrath. Remove the
cause and you remove the effect. Now when the sins of God's people
were moved from them to Christ, listen to me now, when the sins of God's people
that transfer the fulfillment of the substitutionary work of
the Lord Jesus Christ on behalf of those that God gave him before
time ever was, Now, when the sin of God's people was moved
from them to Christ, the wrath of God went where sin is, and
it fell on Christ. If you would escape the wrath
of God, you must find a hiding place
And that hiding place is in the Lord Jesus. And the wrath of
God for your sin fell on him. When the bitter cup had been
drained of its contents, emptied, no more in it, it was emptied
forever. And there was not a drop left
in the cup for a believer to drink, not
a drop left for a soul to taste, much less drink. And at this very second, right now, When's now? Now's now. This very second,
there is right now, no angry thought in God's heart toward
a justified sinner. As He is, so are we in this world. God is not, and He cannot be
angry with the man for whom Jesus was the substitute. For he has
no sins for God to be angry with. You say, but does he not sin? Yes, he does, but they're not imputed to him.
He sins, but they're not imputed to him. Over here in Psalm 32,
isn't it? Let me read that and I'll get
out of here. Psalm 32. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Oh, bless God. Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. He sins,
but they're covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is
no guile. God has no angry thought in his
heart towards any of those who are found in Christ Jesus. They
sin, but their sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin, credit sin to. Oh, if you would know
him tonight, he's the way. He's the way, and if he's the
way, all other ways are lies. And
if he's the truth, All other things are untruths. He's the way and He's the life. And if He's the life, everything
else is death. I'm the way, the truth, and the
life. No man can come under the Father
except by me. Thank you.