All right, we're going to open
our second service. Jonathan Tate's going to come
and read scripture for us and lead us in prayer. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of the Revelation, chapter five. Revelation, chapter five. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside
sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. And no man, no man in heaven nor in earth,
neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to
look there on. And I wept much because no man
was found worthy. to open and to read the book,
neither to look there on. And one of the elders saith unto
me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and
to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld and low in the midst
of the throne and of the four beasts and in the midst of the
elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth
into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and foreign 20 elders
fell down before the land, having every one of them harps and golden
vials full of full of odors, which are the prayers of the
saints. And they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take
the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and
has redeemed us to God. by thy blood out of every kindred
tongue and people and nation and has made made us under our
God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And
I beheld, I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne
and the beasts and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000
times, 10,000 and thousands and thousands saying with a loud
voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him, unto
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and
ever. And the four beasts said, amen.
and the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth
forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray together. Our most holy heavenly father,
our God, we pray that your name be honored, magnified, and lifted
up as it ought in this place this morning, that you bring
unto yourself glory and honor praise this morning that your
name be worshipped this morning as it should we thank you that you've seen
fit through your son to call a people oh oh what what is man
that thou art mindful of us we thank you father that you
would that you would turn an eye to us and show us grace through
Christ worthy is the lamb We pray that we see him again this
morning. One more time through this weekend,
as you've been so gracious to us, so gracious to give us a
clear view of Christ through this weekend. We thank you. Prayers answered, that our hearts
have been blessed, our ears opened. We thank you. We pray that same
blessing that you bring glory to your name and bring sinners
to Christ and comfort your saints. wherever your word's being declared
this morning, that you bless your word, that go forth in power.
I pray that you be with us, be with us as we listen. Father,
I pray that you teach us to pray, for what things to pray for,
of course, but that you bend our will to yours, that
we would seek your will and pray for your will that you would keep us, and call
us, and draw us, and never stop, Father, never stop. You know
that we're grass, that we're dust, that we, without your breath,
without your life, without Christ, we'd wither away. We pray for
your restraining and keeping hand, comforting hand on us.
We pray for our children, that you bless as you see fit, according
to your will. We would that they know you,
Father. We would that we know you, Father. Continue to draw
us. Leave us not alone. We pray for
these preachers that have been here this weekend. We thank you
for them. Thank you for blessing the word.
Pray that you be with them as they return to their congregation.
I pray that you bless their congregation and continue to be with them. I pray that you give traveling
mercies. Thank you, Father. It's in Christ's name alone that
we pray. Okay, if you would please stand
and turn to song number 495. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, wealth that can never be told. Riches exhaustless of
mercy and grace, precious, more precious than gold. Precious, more precious, wealth
that can never be told. O the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold! O the unsearchable
riches of Christ, who shall their greatness declare? Jewels whose luster our lives
may adore, pearls that the poorest may wear. Precious, more precious,
wealth that can never be told. All the unsearchable riches of
prize, precious, more precious than gold. Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ, freely, how freely they flow. Making the souls of the faithful
and true, happy wherever they go. Precious, oh, precious, wealth
that can never be told. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. Oh, the unsearchable
riches of Christ, who would not gladly endure? Trials, afflictions, and crosses
on earth. Riches like these to secure. Precious, more precious, wealth
that can never be told. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ, precious, more precious than gold. If you would continue
standing and turn to song number 56. 56. Loved with everlasting love Led
by grace that loved to know Spirit breathing from above Thou hast
taught me it is so O this full and perfect peace O this transport
all divine In a love Which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine. In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine. Heaven above is softer blue Earth
around is sweeter green Something lives in every hue Christless
eyes have never seen Birds with blathered songs o'erflow, Flowers
with deeper beauty shine. Since I know, as now I know,
I am His and He is mine. Since I know, as now I know,
Now I know I am His and He is mine. Things that once were wild
alarms cannot now disturb my rest. Closed in everlasting arms
Pillowed on the loving breast Hold to life forever here Doubt
and care then self-resign While he whispers in my ear I am His
and He is mine. While He whispers in my ear,
I am His and He is mine. His forever only is, who the
Lord and me shall part. Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart. Heaven and earth may fade and
flee, First born light in gloom decline, But while God and I
shall be, I am His and He is mine. But while God and I shall
be, I am His and He is mine. Well, in a habit that I like
to keep, Pastor David Edmondson, pastor of the Bible Baptist Church
in Madisonville, Kentucky, gonna close our meeting. I always like
to have David put a bow on it, wrap it up, and Todd says now
he can correct everything he's heard wrong. But David, I'm so
thankful that you, I don't know it's a long way, but we surely
appreciate it. Pray the Lord bless you as you
come speak to us. Well, I don't really know where
to begin. Last time I preached at Todd's,
Donnie went before me. And Todd had the, they have one
of those risers too. And Donnie got up there and you
could just. And Donnie said, did you raise
your pulpit? And of course, Todd got up and
took it off. And then I was next. We forgot
to put it back on. So when I got up, I said, have
you lowered your pull pin? And Todd said, OK, that's it.
From now on, you guys, you're on your own. So I have learned over the last
10 years or so just how much work goes into a meeting like
this. And I feel that I just have to
say from experience now, just how appreciative we as preachers
who come are for that hard work. And I've learned this. There's
nobody that works harder at a meeting than the pastor's wife. And I've
seen it firsthand. with you, Janet, and with my
wife. And it's, I thank you. I thank all you ladies for what
you do. And it's just, that's what God's
people do. And what a blessing. The music
has been outstanding. The hymns, the songs that's picked,
the scriptures that have been read, the prayers that have been
prayed. This has just been a special weekend. And, you know, we say
that quite often. I remember there towards the
end when I would go to Rocky Mountain and preach, Brother
Mayhem would always say after the message, that's the best
message I ever heard. And, you know, at first I was
kind of like, well, thanks. And then, of course, you know,
I found out that he said that after every message. And isn't
that right though? Isn't the last message a believer
hears, isn't that the best message that we ever hear? The last one
is the best. It's the same message. I was,
as I listened this weekend, I've been so comforted by the messages. And I was so comforted by that
message you preached. You know, the Lord providentially
sent Donnie home so you could preach that message. And it was
a comfort to me and I know to others here. But it's the same
message. You're not going to hear anything
new from me over the next few minutes than you just heard from
Frank and heard yesterday and the day before, because it's
the same message. I have a man in my church who's
a contractor, and he was building a house in another county, just
the next county over. And it just so happened that
a cousin of mine, first cousin, works for a real estate company
there, and she found out that he went to my church. And she
said, first she asked him if I was a good preacher, and he
never did tell me his answer. But next, she asked, well, what
did he preach on this past Sunday? And he said, he preaches on the
same thing every week. And she says, oh no. But see,
she didn't understand. It's the Gospel. It's the same
message. It's Christ and Him crucified
week after week after week. That's all a believer wants to
hear. Because that's what gives us hope and that's what gives
us comfort. And that's why you're here and that's why folks drive
from New Jersey all the way to Kentucky to hear this glorious
Gospel. That's why you're here on a Friday
night and on a Saturday morning, because you love this message
and you love the one who this message is about. Aren't you
glad God has given you that interest? And God's given you the gospel,
and it's so obvious when you visit here. Well, okay, I told
you I had a lot there. I want you to turn with me first
this morning, if you would, to the Old Testament book of Leviticus
chapter 17, and then we'll quickly go to another passage in Hebrews
chapter nine. But I want you to look here at
Leviticus chapter 17, verse 11. For the life of the flesh, now
mankind's natural physical life is in the blood. That's what
it says. For the life of the flesh, the
life of this body is in the blood. Our natural bodies are dependent
upon blood to live. And then the Lord says, this,
he said, and I've given it. Speaking of blood, to you upon
the altar to make an atonement, to make a covering, a cleansing,
a forgiving, a purging, a pardon. That's a word we've heard a lot
this weekend. You'll hear some more yet today.
All meaning remission, to make an atonement for your souls. For it's the blood that maketh
atonement, an atonement. It's the blood that provides
remission for the soul. Now one definition I found for
the word blood was simply a two-word definition. It said vital fluid. I thought, that's a good definition. It certainly is that. Blood is
vital to life, but blood circulates in our bodies and delivers essential
substances like oxygen and nutrients necessary to sustain the cells
that are in our body. And I looked that up, I didn't
know that. But most of the time when we
hear about the shedding of physical blood, This loss of blood is
usually associated with directly with being hurt or injured and
even dead. So physically speaking, we see
the importance of blood and how we can't live without it. But
that's not all that the Lord says here. Matter of fact, God
changes gears almost immediately to get to the real heart of the
matter when it comes to blood. Yes, our natural bodies are dependent
on blood to live, but then the Lord says there in the second
part of that verse, in verse 11, and I have given it to you
upon the altar. What a thought that is. God has
given blood on the altar. Why? Why has he done so? To make atonement, to make a
covering, to make a cleansing, to make a forgiving, a purging,
a pardon of sin for yourself. Blood. What makes atonement for
the soul of a sinner? Look at it, for it's the blood
that maketh an atonement. It's the blood. Now, I've got
to immediately interject this. Not just any blood. Not just
any blood, no. It's the blood, do you notice
that? Not a blood, not some blood,
it's the blood, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
word blood is mentioned as many as 375 times in the Bible. So we know that it's important. 375 times we have referenced
the blood. What's the importance of blood
in the Bible? Well, the Lord speaks very clearly
from the scriptures, the necessity and significance of blood as
we've already seen both physically and spiritually here in Leviticus
chapter 17. God gave his blood. You know, when I stop and think
about that, growing up in religion, you know, I heard about the blood,
the blood, you know, but I never thought about it being God's
blood. How horrific is my sin that it
took the shedding of God's blood to put it away. The blood of
God Himself. He gave it. He gave it upon the
altar as a sacrifice. He gave it to make atonement,
to provide forgiveness. It's the blood that makes remission
of sin. Now, if you would turn with me
to Hebrews, Chapter 9 you let your place go there in Leviticus
Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22 You're familiar with this verb Hebrews
chapter 9 verse 22 And almost all things are by
the law purged or cleansed with blood. He says almost all things,
because some things were, as Frank said earlier, were cleansed
and purged by water. So almost all things are purged,
or all things are by the law purged. But here's the thing
that we must understand. Without the shedding of blood,
No remission. Again, those words, there is,
are italicized. There's, without shedding the
blood, no remission. Absolutely no remission. Physically speaking, when someone
has a deadly disease, and we say that they're in remission,
and we're always thrilled about that. They've gone through the
treatment, and what we mean by that is that after the treatment
they received, there's no more signs of the disease within. They're in remission. That person,
that patient, is said to be in remission. Well, here's the title
of my message. I came up with this last night
all on my own. I am in remission forever. Forever. I'm in remission forever. Spiritually speaking, in order
for the soul to be healed and perfected, there's a condition
that must be fulfilled. Now, don't throw a hymn book
at me yet. If there is no shedding of blood,
Christ's blood, there is no remission, no forgiveness of sin. That's a very direct statement. It's very precise. Without the
shedding of blood, no remission, no cancellation of sin debt,
no pardon for the crimes that we've committed, no forgiveness
for our sin that's against God and Him only. Sin is horrific
because it's against God. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, David said. You're
justified when you speak against me. If you condemn me, you're
right in doing so, because my sin is against you. God is holy,
and listen to me, dear friends, he's gonna remain holy. He's
gonna remain holy. He's gonna remain that way. God
is just and will forever be. His justice demanded that sin
be punished. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sins, it shall die. But I've got more good news for
you this morning. More good news if you're a mercy
beggar. Are you a beggar of mercy? With
the shedding of Christ's blood, There is a remission for sin.
There is. It's certain, it's for sure. With the shedding of Christ's
blood, the debt of sin has been paid. With the shedding of Christ's
blood, the penalty against sin, which is death, has been canceled. With the shedding of blood, the
charges have been dropped. Pardon has been granted. The
sin debt of his people's been paid in full. God's law perfectly
kept. God's justice fully satisfied. And there is remission. I'm in remission forever. The
blood of Christ is the proof, the salvations of the Lord. You
ever really thought about it? All the blood of those bulls
and goats, well, they could never put away one sin. Not one sin. No. It's the shedding of Christ's
effectual blood that gives pardon and remission and forgiveness
of sin. It's the blood of God the Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, that cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1. And I want you to think about
this too. The remission of sin is the remission of all sin. All of it. All of it. The blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses us from all sin. Remission, forgiveness, it's
not partial. Remission, pardon, is not cooperative. And what I mean by that is, is
that we don't have any doing in the matter. We don't cooperate
with God so that he might save us. My, my. Christ's blood cleanses
us. That's what I want to say. Nothing
is said about what we do for ourselves. The Scriptures don't
talk about what we do for God. I run into folks all the time,
and of course, when folks find out you're a preacher and find
out you're a pastor, they love to begin to tell you what they
and their church are doing. Listen, I don't mean to be respectful,
disrespectful, but that's not the issue. The issue is not what
you're doing for God. The gospel of your salvation
is what God has done for you. When do we really see that salvation's
of the Lord? When we see that we have no sin
to call our own. You know, we've got such a bad
habit, that's what it is, of looking within instead of looking
to Christ. and will never ever find any
comfort, never find any rest, never find any spiritual blessing
when we look within, because all spiritual blessings are in
Him. So I've got to look to Him. Look
to the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. Christ's
blood cleanses us. Frank, so, referred to that song,
It Is Well With My Soul. I love that part. It says, my
sin. My sin. Not in part. Not just
partially is it taken care of. But the whole. What did God do
to it? He nailed it to the cross and
I don't bear it anymore. And you don't bear it anymore.
So why do we look within? Why do we look within? We don't
bear it anymore. I have no cause to fear punishment
for sin. None. It's nailed to the cross. I don't
bear it anymore. Praise the Lord. It's well with
my soul. Everything with me and my God
is all right. And that's why we say and pray
like we do, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. You have my
best interest at heart. You always do what's best for
me and all your people. Lord, you work all things. How many things? All of them. You work them after the counsel
of your will. You work them by your power.
You save me by your grace. You keep me by your power. Whom
on earth do I have beside Thee? Whom in heaven but Thee, for
Thou, Lord, are good and ready to forgive. He stands ready to
forgive. You know, My children, I have
five children, and any time that any of them have offended me,
and I knew somewhere down the line that there's more than likely
an apology coming, because my wife had probably all told me,
you better call your daddy and apologize, because you know how
he is, he's a big baby. But I'm ready to forgive them. Oh, I'm ready to forgive. Why? Because they're my children.
I love them. God is ready to forgive. Isn't
that a blessing? You're ready to forgive and plenteous
in mercy unto all them that call upon you. Will you call upon
Him? Call upon Him. I love the promises
of God, I do. I love this one in particular.
God said, your sins and your iniquities will I remember no
more. You know why he don't remember
them anymore? Because they're not there. That's the quick answer. That's
the quick answer. God don't remember what we can't
forget. And we can't forget our sin because
it's ever before us. We live with our sins, don't
we? God can't remember our sin because
Christ shed his blood to put them away. And he really did.
And they're really gone. God can't remember what never
was. Christ is the lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. And dear believer, there is remission. There really is. There really
is. And God has to reveal that to
us. There is pardon. I have no cause
to fear God's punishment. You know, most people don't fear
the judgment of God because they really don't believe that God
will punish sin. They don't. Well, God loves too
much to punish sin. No. God's too holy not to. God's
too holy not to punish sin. With the shedding of Christ's
blood, there is remission for sin. That's what free pardon
from God is, not just as if I've never sinned, but in Christ,
I've never sinned. And that's so hard, I know, for
us to wrap our heads around, but it's the shedding of Christ's
blood that gives remission, the shedding of Christ's blood that
put my sins away. The first time I ever heard Brother
Eric preach, it was on CD. It was right here in this pulpit.
And in that message, he touched on a lot of things that you did
this morning. I think you talked about a presidential
pardon in that message. If I remember correctly, Eric
was comparing a presidential pardon to our pardon of sin in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way, that was an excellent
message. Eric was unable to see and to
present to you that which every believer sees. And that is, there's
no comparison between the pardon of man and the pardon of God
for sin. No comparison whatsoever. Now, I did a little research
on it after you preached that message. I wanted to see if the
things you were telling me were so. I'm a noble Berean from Madisonville,
Kentucky. But, and I did, and there are
conditions involved in a presidential pardon. I just wrote down a couple
three to quickly give you. First, to obtain a presidential
pardon, one, the guilty one, must demonstrate some worthiness
of their own. There's a waiting period, first
of all, five years, and in that time frame, that person seeking
this pardon must demonstrate some worthiness to even be considered
for such a pardon. Put another 10 for me, I guess.
Spiritually speaking, it wouldn't matter if it was five years or
500 years. Demonstrating ourselves to be
worthy of God's forgiveness and God's reconciliation is something
that we could never do. That's what makes grace grace.
It's unmerited. That's what makes mercy mercy. We don't deserve it. Secondly, a presidential pardon
does not erase the conviction. Frank said that the conviction
stands for as long as time lasts. The conviction can never be taken
away. Thirdly, justice is never really
satisfied. In a presidential pardon, the
sentence is cut short, the crime is partially unpunished, And
in some cases, true justice is never satisfied. Can't be that
way in God's court. I know that some people are innocent
and they've been wrongly accused and convicted and sentenced and
served for years. We see that occasionally on TV
where a man, because of DNA or something, has been proven to
be innocent. Years in prison, so sad when you see that. And
they were pardoned because they were actually innocent. But now
I'm talking about those who are pardoned who were without a doubt
guilty, proven guilty. The evidence was compelling against
them. They're guilty, guilty, guilty. And if I've got to demonstrate
some worthiness, then I can never be pardoned in a court in which
God presides. There's none good. None. None righteous. None. None that
seeketh after God. How many? Zero. None. None that are worthy of mercy.
None that are deserving of God's grace. There's none that seeketh
after God. We've all gone our own way. We've
all gone that way that seems right unto us, but the end of
that way is the way of death. The pardon that the convicted
criminal desires to receive from the president, if it doesn't
remove the conviction, if it doesn't remove the guilt, if
that pardon doesn't take my felony away, all it does is just free
me naturally, but never inwardly. My sin follows me all the days
of my life. And I die under the suspicion
of being a criminal. Folks are always going to think
you're guilty, even if you weren't. But they're right. Guilty before
God. God simply excuses my sin. He ceases to be just. And He
ceases to be God. Now that's just how serious this
is. God can by no means clear the
guilty. No means. Can't do it. He's too just. He's too holy.
The wages of sin is death. Sin's got to be dealt with. Your
sin's got to be dealt with. My sin's got to be dealt with.
Can't just be swept under a rug. How's it dealt with? Shedding
of Christ's blood. He who was crucified in my place. He who took my sin and forever
put it away. And my remission is forever secured,
and I am in remission forever. Forever. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
this wretched man who stands before you full of leprosy is
in remission forever. Not because of anything he did,
but for what Christ did for me. He shed his blood in my room
instead. If I'm not really clean and perfect
in God's sight, then I'm doomed because God will by no means
clear the guilty. But if I've received remission
for sin, God will not condemn one who's perfectly innocent.
And in Christ, that's exactly what every child of God is. And
if I receive a pardon from a king or a president or a governor
unjustly, then justice has gone unsatisfied. If the crime goes unpunished,
my pardon would not only be unjust, but it would be incomplete. And
at best, my pardon would be just partial. That's not the case. That's not the case. What you,
me, and every sinner needs is a complete and a perfect pardon. And I need a pardon that requires
no worthiness or righteousness of mind. Why? Because I don't
have any. I don't have any, I need a pardon
that puts all my sin away, all of it. And if all my past sin
and all my future sin are pardoned, what about my future? Or all
my past and all my present sin are pardoned, what about the
future? Taken care of. He died for all our sin, past,
present, and future. And then, of course, you know
you've got folks that are going to say, well, preacher, that
kind of preaching will give men and women a reason and a license
to sin. I don't know if God's shown you
this yet, but you don't need a reason or a license to sin.
We do that pretty good on our own, don't we? We sure do. With the shedding of Christ's
blood, my sin is gone, gone, gone, forever gone. That should
make us smile, shouldn't it? Some of you are smiling because
you know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about. God doesn't take silver or gold.
God doesn't take cash or credit. God takes a shedding of blood
and it's a shedding of his beloved son's blood. And I suppose that
the inscription on the very vault of hell itself is probably inscribed,
no remission. Horrible words. No remission. No forgiveness, no pardon. What do these words mean? Well,
first, those words mean that God is still angry with the wicked
every day. You know, God's angry with the
wicked every day. No remission. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. You know, that's John 3.36. All
my life, growing up in a freewill Arminian church, I heard John
3.16, but I can't ever remember a preacher preaching on verse
36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And then they just shut their
ears. But he that believeth not, shall not see life, but the wrath
of God, God Almighty, the God of heaven and earth. He who spoke
the worlds into existence. He's who's on his throne ruling
and reigning and working all things after his own will. He
says he's angry. The wicked are objects of God's
daily wrath. My, no remission. How hopeless. Secondly, these
words, no remission, means that those without remission are in
constant peril of suffering God's anger, wrath, and judgment to
the fullest. How could you ever have any peace?
How could you ever have any comfort with that hanging over you? That's
why God's people rest. You know when you really, really
rest? When the work's over. When the work's finished. God
created the heavens and the earth, and then on the seventh day,
he rested. Why did he rest? Because the
work was finished. Not because he's tired. It's kind of, I don't know what
made me think of this, but since I did, I'll tell it and hope
that it was right. Hope that it was the Lord that
put it in my mind. You know, I used to mow a lot
of grass, as you were talking about, Adam, and I didn't mind
it. But, you know, my thing was,
and the thing that upset my wife was, is the time I'd get the
grass mowed, there wasn't nothing left for me to weed it. I mean,
I was just plumb give out. And then after you weed it, you
got to blow all that grass. So it never looked finished.
My yard never looked finished. And by the time that I had enough
energy to weed it, well, it was time to mow again. So I resolved
that. I hired me a guy to mow my yard.
And he comes once a week. And he's there about 20 minutes.
And he's gone. And it looks so good. It's all
manicured up. I still don't know why I told
that story. But thirdly, the wrath of God
brings forth eternal death and eternal condemnation. I know that's not a pleasant
subject. It's just not. Nobody likes to talk about it.
But you know what? It's nonetheless true. Need to be honest with folks
about this. God will by no means, under no circumstances, clear
a guilty man or a woman. The soul that sins, it shall
die. It shall die. The wages of sin
must be paid. God will remain holy and just. There's certainly no hope for
a sinner being reconciled to a thrice holy God without the
remission of sin. And there's remission for sin.
And that's the gospel, that's the good news. There is remission
for sin without the shedding of Christ's blood. There is no
remission, but with it there is. God doesn't say without works,
no remission. God doesn't say without your
will, no remission. God doesn't say without your
cooperation, there's no remission. He doesn't say without a decision
from you, there's no remission. God doesn't say without your
sacrifice, no remission. He says without the shedding
of blood, my blood, God's blood, no remission. No remission. righteous blood, holy blood,
perfect blood, Christ's blood. There's no remission, no pardon,
no forgiveness without the shedding of it. Have you ever wronged
someone and you knew you did, you knew you did, and it just
ate you up inside? You're like, I shouldn't have
done that. I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have said that.
And you couldn't rest. You couldn't rest until you got
that person's forgiveness. And you go to them and you plead,
you pour your heart out. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have
done that. And isn't it such a relief when they forgive you?
And you know that they do. You know they truly forgive you.
Not the kind of forgiveness that says, I forgive, but I don't
forget. but the kind of forgiveness that
comes in Christ where there is nothing to forgive or forget. Christ has shed His blood and
died and there is remission. The iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for and there shall none be found. How much will
be found? None. Absolutely none. None to be found. And the sins
of Judah, what about them? Oh, they were a multitude of
sin in Judah. They shall not be found. And let me tell you something,
if God can't find them, they don't exist. King Hezekiah said, Lord, Thou
hast cast all my sins behind Your back. God is forever present. You can't go back there. That's
where my sin is. David said, as far as the east
is from the west. So far hath God removed our transgressions
from us. You know, that's an infinite
distance. You just keep going east. Now,
I'm not talking about around the globe, but you just keep
going east and you keep going west and the two will never meet.
That's how far my sins have been separated from me. Isn't that
wonderful? I'm talking about the sinner
for whose Christ blood was shed. is the sinner who gets remission
for their sin. They get a clearance for this
penalty by the shedding of His blood in my room instead, by
shedding His blood and dying for me. I have no reason whatsoever,
and I'm being redundant on purpose because I want us to get this.
I don't have any reason to fear sin's damning power because Christ,
who is my ransom, shed His blood for me. And where there's shedding
of blood, there is remission. God's everlasting love. I've loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
will I have drawn you. I've drawn you. God's everlasting love for us
is the reason He drew us to Himself. It's our sin that separates us
from God. It's our sin that Christ came
to save us from. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sin. Don't you love
those verses? The certainty of it. The certainty
of it. Why, before you and I had ever
done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not a word. Not what you did, but of him
that called. I've loved thee with an everlasting
love. That's why I draw you. You know,
as soon as Adam sinned, God taught him what he teaches all his people,
and that is that he needed a sacrifice and a substitute. Adam and Eve,
they tried to cover themselves. They grabbed them fig leaves
and they sewed them together by the work of their own hands
and they covered themselves. And I'm sure they did their best
at it, don't you think? But God wouldn't have it. God's
not gonna have it because there's got to be the shedding of blood.
With Cain and with Abel, only one of their sacrifices did God
accept. God had no respect for Cain's
sacrifice, the fruits of the earth, which, by the way, just
represent the works of man's flesh. That's all. And I can
assure you, I would love to have seen those fruits and vegetables
that Cain brought. I'd bet they were the best. God wouldn't accept them. Why? No shedding of blood. And that's been the teaching
of truth through the ages. All the saints of old found acceptance
with God for remission of sin only by the shedding of blood. The Mosaic Law revealed the need
of a sacrifice. The sacrifice must be without
spot or blemish. Guess what? Ours is. The sacrifice could only be made
in the tabernacle. The tabernacle is the only place
that the atonement could be made. It's made within the holy of
holies. It's made upon the mercy seat. Christ is all those things. He's
my tabernacle. He's my mercy seat. He's the
sacrifice. He's the high priest that offers
it. That's what atonement means.
It means to be reconciled to God. It means that we've been
restored back to Him. It means that we've been brought
back into divine favor with God Almighty who we've been alienated
from. I want to be one with Christ. I want to be reconciled back
to God. Child of God, you've heard the
words of Abraham. He said to Isaac, my son, and
he says to you, my son, my daughter, God will provide himself a lamb
for burnt offering. That's the only way pardon can
be provided, by God, for God. Salvation was by God and it was
for God. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. Christ came into the world and
He came to save sinners. And I know that's a simple, simple
message. But yet impossible to believe
unless God divinely gives you life and eyes to see and heart
to believe and ears to hear and everything. Because you're dead
in trespasses and sins. He's got to give you life first. By God, for God. God who was offended by my sin
condescended to become my sacrifice for sin. God took upon Himself flesh and
blood, a human body, spotless and free from sin, and He lived
as a perfect man. He was a very God, a very God,
and when the appointed time came, Christ offered Himself upon the
altar as the one acceptable sacrifice for His people's sin, and by
the shedding of His blood, there is now remission. It is therefore now No condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Why? Because they're a tradition.
Christ's blood was innocent blood. Do you remember what Judas said?
He betrayed the Lord. And he said, I've betrayed innocent
blood. The very one that betrayed Him.
Pallet. He wasn't with the Jews on this,
but he went out and he took some water and he washed his hands
before the people and he said, I'm innocent of the blood of
this just person. And the people answered, his
blood be on us. His blood be on our children.
We know he's guilty. Crucify him regardless of what
you think. You're a Roman, we're the Jews,
we know what we're doing here. Pilate said, I don't find any
fault in Him. His blood was innocent blood,
it was the blood of God that was shed, the only blood that
could remit full payment for sin, and that remittance that
God's holy law and justice demanded could only be accomplished by
the shedding of my Savior's blood. God has to die in the room instead
of sinners. And God, the Son, Jesus Christ
did. And that's what we've been here
to proclaim this weekend. There is remission. It's whatever
message this week has said. There's remission. But it's only
in one place. And that's where you've got to
get. In that one place. You know, I'd love to think about
the Lord Jesus voluntarily offering Himself as the one and only sacrifice
for sin. He voluntarily did. Whoever trusts
in Christ and comes to Him shall have immediate remission. Salvation is not conditioned
on us doing. Salvation is unconditional. But
salvation does have some conditions. I think you put that article
in the bulletin this morning. Our salvation is conditioned
upon our need. Now, do you hear me? God's love
is not conditioned on us. We love Him because He first
loved us. But our redemption is conditional
on our need of Christ. Those that are well, those that
are whole, have no need of a physician. You know who does? Those that
are sick. The great physician's treatment
for our sins depended upon one thing, and that is the patient
being sick. Have you ever gone to the doctor
just because you like him? Well, I'm not going to give him
$40 just because I like him. It's probably more than that
now, isn't it? But no, we go to the doctor when we're sick,
when we have a need. They that are sick, they that
are diseased, they that are dying, they have a great need of the
great physician. You know, over there in Revelation,
I believe, whosoever is thirsty can freely drink. But there's
a condition. You've got to be thirsty. Let
him that is a thirst come. Whosoever will, let him take
of the water of life freely. But the condition for drinking
freely is thirst. Are you thirsty? If you are, then drink freely.
Those that are hungry for spiritual nourishment may eat from Christ
the bread of life. But the condition for every sinner,
the condition for eating the bread is hunger. Are you hungry? Coming to Christ is all about
our need. Not His. He doesn't have any
need. Do you hunger and thirst for
righteousness? I've got good news for you. Christ
is the bread of life. Christ is that fountain that
never shall run dry. Let him that's hungry come. Let
him that's thirsty come. Let them that are sick come. Come, come. Are you hungry, thirsty,
and sick? Then come to Christ, as Todd
told us Friday. The shedding of His blood is
the remission of sin. Well, I'm out of time, but look
down at verse 26 here. Well, I'm looking in chapter
10, that's why. You ever do that? Okay, I'm sorry. Chapter 9, verse 26. For then
must he, speaking of Christ, often have suffered since the
foundation of the world, now look at this, but now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared, why? To put away sin
by the sacrifice of himself. He appeared to put away the filth
of sin, the guilt of sin, the penalty of sin. Christ appeared
and by the shedding of His blood, He put away all my sin and all
my guilt and all the penalty of it. And put it away He did. To His Father He said, I've glorified
Thee on earth and I've finished the work. you gave me to do."
And that's where every child of God's hope lies, in His finished
work. I love that word, finished. It's
finished. It is finished. That's what Christ
said, and God said, that's enough. That's enough. Pain and full. Can't extract any more justice
from this perfect man. All the sin of all God's elect
throughout all time is finished. Immediately. His remission is
given. The blood of Christ being shed
for me proves that there's no other way for me to save. If
anything else would have sufficed to save us, God would not have
required the blood of his son to do so. This blood has nothing
to do with what I do. It has everything to do what
Christ has done for me. And you know what I say? Thank
you, Lord. Thank you for shedding your blood.
Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the remittance
of my sin. Lord, thank you for doing for
me what I couldn't do for myself. I need you. I need you. And never in all the scriptures,
never in my experience, of 66 years in this life have I ever
seen the Lord deny His mercy and grace to salvation to a needy
sinner. Never once. Okay, find it in
the book. What a company. Bill, again,
I thank you so much for having me. I don't want to go home yet. But I guess I ought to head back. I love you so much. Thank you
for having me. Thank you, Frank. If that pardon and that remission
depends on any merit of ours, like David said, it'll never
happen. But if it depends on the worthiness of Christ, It
sure, I come to him. Oh, it just takes all the pressure
off, all the burden off coming to him. David, thank you for
coming. I just, I so appreciate you coming,
and you had to come without Teresa, but we sure appreciate it. I told him, well, I said, well,
you know, we want Teresa to come, but we'll take you anyway without
her. I know it was more difficult
without her, but I appreciate you coming. And I'll say it again
later, but to this congregation, I thank you so much for making
this weekend go so smooth. And the only way something like
this goes smoothly is somebody put in so much work. And I appreciate
you so much. I thank God for you every day.
I'll thank you again, but it just felt like I ought to now.
I thank you. Before Sean comes and leads us in the closing hymn,
let's bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
this weekend. Thank you for answering our prayer. We prayed and asked that you
would send us the gospel, that you'd bless these men in preaching,
and that you'd show us your glory through the preaching of your
word. Father, you've so abundantly, so abundantly answered that prayer.
We're thankful, we're grateful, knowing we don't deserve the
least of thy mercies, yet how you've showered us with your
mercy and your grace and your blessing. Father, we thank you.
Thank you for this food that we're about to eat as you bless
it to our bodies. Father, for those that are traveling,
we pray that you give them traveling mercies as they go back home.
Father, for David, we pray as he goes back home, he gets there,
that you continue to bless your ministry there. Bless him in
a mighty way that your sheep there might be called out and
fed and strengthened and comforted by the preaching of this gospel
that we've heard this week. Bless him in a special way, we
pray. All these things we ask in that name which is above every
name, the name of Christ our Savior, amen. Now, our ladies
have us some good food prepared, so I hope you can stay and have
a bite to eat. And the men will set up some tables here after
we sing, and you stay and enjoy a meal with us. And a little
time of fellowship for everybody's got to go back to the salt mines
tomorrow. So Sean, you come and lead us in a song. Okay, if you could stand and
turn to song number 496, Victory in Jesus. I heard an old, old story How
a Savior came from glory How He gave His life on Calvary To
save a wretch like me I heard about His groaning, of His precious
blood's atoning. Then I repented of my sins and
won the victory. O victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever! He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and
all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I've heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing power revealing, How He made the lame to walk
again, And caused the blind to see. And then I cried, Dear Jesus,
come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought
to me the victory. O victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever! He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me and I knew Him, and
all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about the mansion He
has built for me in glory. And I heard about the streets
of gold beyond the crystal sea. about the angels singing and
the old redemption story. And some sweet day I'll sing
up there the song of victory. O victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever! He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me and I knew Him, and
all my love is to Him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood.