Open your Bibles with me to Hebrews
chapter 4. Hebrews 4. We'll read this as we prepare
for the worship service, beginning with verse 1. Let us therefore
fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into that rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was
the gospel preached, as well as unto them. But the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
that they shall enter into my rest, although the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in
a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did
rest. the seventh day from all his
works. And in this place, again, if they shall enter into my rest,
seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter in therein. And they to whom it was first
preached entered not in because of unbelief. Again, he limiteth
a certain day, saying in David, today, after so long a time as
it is written, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not
your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest,
then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that
is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own
works, as God did from his. He cried on the cross, it's finished.
Let us therefore labor to enter into that rest, lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief. For the word of God
is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the
joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, for all things are naked and
open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do. that we have a great high priest
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us
hold fast to our profession. For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted, like as we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. If you would turn in your bulletin
to the call to worship and we'll stand as we sing. Come, let us sing a song of songs,
the glory which to Christ belongs. the Lamb, for He was slain. Slain to redeem us by His blood,
and makes us kings and priests to God, to cleanse from every
sinful stain. for he was slain. Among a thousand hearts and songs,
his sacred name fills all our tongues. All power in heaven
and earth Proclaim worthy the Lamb, for He was slain. Long as I live and when I die,
this song of songs shall be my cry. And while in heaven with
Him I reign worthy, the Lamb, for He was slain. Okay, if you would now turn in
your hymnal to song number 118, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of Glory died, My richest gain I count
but loss. and for contempt upon all my
pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast, save in the death of Christ my God. All the vain things that charm
me most I sacrifice them to His blood. See from His head, His
hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did pair such love and sorrow
meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown? Were the whole realm
of nature mine That were a present far too small Love so amazing,
so dear She mans my soul, my life, my
all. Open our Bibles to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. We'll begin in verse 1. Who hath believed our report,
and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.
He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him there
is no beauty, that we should desire him. He is despised and
rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and
we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we're healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before
her shears is done, so openeth not his mouth. He was taken from
prison and from judgment. Who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide with him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong, because he hath
poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors,
and he bear the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors. Brother Wayne's going to lead
us in prayer. Bow together in prayer, please. Our great God and Heavenly Father,
we thank you for bringing each one of us here this morning.
A place where we can know that the gospel will be preached.
These faithful men you provided. Pray that you be with Eric as
he comes to stand before us and open a word to us. Cause him
to have clear recall of the studies he's prepared. Cause us as we
sit and listen to hear the message, to be blessed by it, and to worship
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for his atoning work, the blood that
was shed to atone for sin for us, the work that he did that we
cannot do ourselves. Cause us each day to be thankful
for the precious gift of your son, the blood that was spilled
to atone for sin. cause us to wake knowing that
our only hope is Christ and to lay down at night to know that
he's our only hope. Thankful for him. Pray for those that are going
through difficult times and troubles and trials. Help them and through
these times, comfort them with your grace. Pray for safe return
from Frank and Janet, this trip they're on. Bring them back to
us safely. As we leave here, go out into
the world, we pray for your hand and direction in our lives each
day. Give us wisdom and decisions
we need to make. Cause us to walk in a way that's
pleasing in your sight. Give us patience and to know
that all things that happen, Charles, you send our way the
good days, the challenging days are from your hand and they serve
a purpose. Give us comfort in that. Let
us have patience in all things. Again, we pray for another time
of true worship here. Let the name and work of our
Lord Jesus Christ be exalted from this place. As soon as we
ask and pray in his name, amen. No work of mine may take, dear
Lord, the place of Thine. Thy blood hath pardoned, bought
for me, and glorified I too shall be. It justified, O blessed thought
And sanctified, salvation wrought Thy blood hath pardoned, bought
for me And glorified I too shall be Complete in thee, no more
shall sin Thy grace hath conquered pain within, Thy voice shall
bid the tempter flee, And I shall stand complete in Thee. Yet justified, O blessed thought,
And sanctified, salvation wrought, And blood hath pardoned but for
me, And glorified I too shall be, Complete in thee, each want
supplied, And no good thing to me denied, Since thou my portion,
Lord, wilt be, I ask no more, complete in Thee Yet justified,
O blessed thought And sanctified, salvation wrought Thy blood hath
poured above for me And glorified, I too shall be Dear Savior, when
before Thy bar All tribes and tongues assembled are Among Thy
chosen, will I be At Thy right hand complete? Yet justified, O blessed thought,
And sanctified, salvation wrought, Thy blood hath parted, and bought
for me, And glorified I too shall be. Let's open our Bibles to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. 2 Corinthians 5, we'll look at
verse 21. Before I begin, my desire this
morning is twofold. One, I pray the Lord would enable
me to preach the gospel by the power of his spirit to preach
the gospel to you. And second, that he would enable
us me and you alike to hear that gospel, to hear that gospel. A couple weeks ago, just a little
over two weeks ago, I attended a funeral for a young girl. She's barely 20 years old. And it occurred to me, I don't
know if I'd ever really thought about this before, I'd like to
think that I had, but I don't know that I had. What if this
was the last time? As we've gathered here this morning,
what if this was the last time? What if this was the last opportunity
we had to hear the gospel preached? Would I pay a little closer attention?
Would I be a little more attentive to what was being said? Would I listen closely to the
word that's being preached? Or would I be like Felix of old? Remember that when Paul preached
to him over in Acts? He said Paul reasoned of righteousness
and temperance and judgment to come. Felix trembled. He didn't tremble for very long,
did he? He said this. He said to God's minister, he
said, go thy way for this time. And when I have a time more convenient, I'll call again for you. That time may never come. Another thought occurred to me. What if this was the last time
I was enabled by God's grace to preach his gospel? Could I say as Paul did to the
elders at Ephesus? He said, I take you to record
this day. I'm pure from the blood of all men. I've not shunned
to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Serious matter, isn't it? This thing of preaching the gospel,
this thing of hearing the gospel. We've been blessed for so long,
for such a long time to have a place to come and hear the
gospel preached. I fear sometimes we take it for
granted, don't we? I certainly speak of myself. I want to be faithful. I want
to be faithful in preaching, as we are every time we stand
in this place. Truly, who is sufficient to declare
the truth of God's word? I want to be faithful this morning
to declare the gospel to you, the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I can't think of a clearer
passage of scripture than 2 Corinthians 5.21. It's on the front of our bulletin. We have a chance to read that
every time we pick up a bulletin. Do you have 2 Corinthians 5.21? Here we have the gospel in one
verse of Scripture. Follow along with me in your
Bible. It says, hath made him to be
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Let's look at this passage of
scripture just for a few minutes here this morning. I'm guessing
some of you, if not all of you, have heard of the five W's. I
can remember being taught this early on in school. And it's
five questions that we use to gather information about something.
Okay? Here they are, if you've not
heard of them before. Who? We ask the question who? We ask
the question what? We ask the question where? We
ask the question, when? And we ask the question, why?
The five W's. So I want us to look at this
passage of scripture with these five questions in mind. And the
first one, the first one is who? Who is mentioned in this one
verse of scripture? There are three people, okay? Are you still looking at verse
21? The first one is He. He. Who is He? Who is this He spoken of in Scripture?
It's God Almighty. God Almighty. Isn't it appropriate
that we start with Him? All things begin, all things
begin with God. Go back to Genesis 1. In the
beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God Almighty,
the true and living God, the holy God, the holy God. Listen, he that sits upon his
throne of holiness. God, who back in the book of
Exodus, he appeared unto Moses in that burning bush. And he
told Moses, he said, put your shoes off your feet for you're
standing on holy ground. And Moses, we read, hid his face
for he was afraid to look upon God. That same God who spoke
to Moses and he said this, he said, I've seen the affliction
of my people. He said, I've heard, this is
Almighty God speaking. I've seen the affliction of my
people. Why would he even take notice of us? Because we're his
people. He said, I've heard their cry.
He hears the cries of his people. He said, I know their sorrow.
And I have come to deliver them and bring them up out of the
land and bring them onto a land flowing with milk and honey. If we're going to know anything
about the gospel, we must be taught who he is. God is absolutely holy. Habakkuk said, they are to pure
eyes than to behold evil. And listen, the God of the Bible
is holy. He is sovereign. He is absolutely
sovereign in all things, absolute power, absolute authority. He's not controlled by man's
will. He's not dependent upon man to make a decision. He's
not controlled by faith. He's not controlled by anything.
He's God. He orders and directs all things.
Psalm 50 verse 21 says this, Thou thoughtest I was altogether
such a one as thyself. Nebuchadnezzar said this, he
said, I blessed the most high and praised and honored him that
liveth forever and ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom from generation to generation. And listen, all. Every last one of them, all the
inhabitants of the earth, are reputed as nothing. And he, he,
this same he that we read about in 2 Corinthians 5.21, he doeth
according to his will in the armies of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? He, Almighty God, He, the holy
God, sovereign God, sovereign in all things. His sovereignty
is not limited. His sovereignty is in all things.
He's sovereign in creation. He's sovereign in providence.
He's sovereign in salvation. He's the God of eternal predestination. In Ephesians 1 verse 5, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself, according to the pleasure of his will. He chose us in Christ
from before the foundation of the world, chosen in Christ out
of Adam's sinful, sinful fallen race. He predestinated us. He determined,
listen, to make us like his son. And as such, we are accepted
in Him. We're accepted in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He. Do you still have 2 Corinthians
5.21? Still looking at the question?
Who? He. Almighty God hath made Him. Him. Made Him who, listen, who
knew no sin. Him. the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is one with the Father. He's one with the Father. He
said, I and my Father are one. Him who is God. Jesus Christ
is God. In John 10, 32, he asked that
group of Jews, he said, many good works have I showed you
from my Father. For which of those good works
do you stone me? And those Jews, they answered, they said, for
a good work we stone you not. That's not why we stone you,
but for blasphemy. Because thou, being a man, makest
thyself God. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He's very God of very God. Yet this one who is overall God,
blessed forever, was made a man. He was made flesh and dwelt among
us. He's bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh. Scriptures declare a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. He identifies with his people.
He hungered. He thirsted. He grew tired. He wept. He was a man, yet he was He is
God. I think it was Scott Richard
that said that. He was as much man as if he was never God, and
as much God as if he were never man. He's the God-man. And our text declares this. He knew no sin. We can't even begin to enter
into what that means. Listen, no thought of sin. No thought of sin ever entered
his mind. We've sat here for 15 minutes,
and I guarantee none of us could say that. No thought of sin. He had no actual sin. He had
no sin of birth, no original sin. No sin. He was sinless. pure, perfect,
spotless, that lamb without blemish and without spot. Hebrews 4.15,
we read this earlier, we have a high priest which cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Who is this him in our text
that we read? He's the savior of sinners. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. Again, 2 Corinthians 5.21. Still asking the question, who?
Here's the third person. Us. Us. The sinner. Us, that's me and
you. How do the scriptures describe
us? A lot different than we would
describe ourselves. I warn you, most folks don't want to hear
the truth about man. In Romans 3 we read, there is
none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God, I had in my notes, I had
in my notes, they'll seek after their own pleasure. I changed that to we, us. We'll seek after our own pleasure.
We'll seek after our own comfort, our own glory, our own will. Christ said, you have not the
love of God in you. What else does God's Word say
about man? Well, there's none that doeth
good. No, not one. Romans chapter 3. Turn back there with me. Romans
chapter 3. Verse 11, Romans 3. There is none that understandeth,
there is none that seeketh after God. Verse 12, says they're all
going out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. None that doeth good, no not
one. Their throat is an open sepulcher,
with their tongues they use to see, The poison of Asp is under
their lips. His mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. The way of peace, have they not
known? There's no fear of God before
their eyes. Why is that? How can that be? Well, we don't know God. If a man does not know God and
if a man does not know anything about himself... You know, if
men truly feared God, as we should, they wouldn't curse Him, they
wouldn't be so flippant using His name, wouldn't question Him,
wouldn't question His power, His sovereignty, His will, wouldn't
make jokes, about him, if we truly did, if we truly knew who
God was, we'd do one thing. We'd fall at his feet. John said that in Revelation.
He said, when I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. When Isaiah saw him, he said,
I cried, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips. God's
word declares this about man, that from the, is there any goodness
in us? Oh, surely there's some goodness
in us. No, from the sole of the foot, the very bottom of the
foot to the top of the head, there's no soundness in it, nothing
but wounds and bruises, huge fine sores, they've not been
closed, Neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. The question, who? Who? He, Almighty God. Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Us, the sinner. Question two. Question one was a long answer,
okay? These next few are a little shorter,
all right? Question two, what? What did
he do? What did he do? Our text says this, he made him
to be sin for us. Made him to be sin. Made him to be something he could
never be. made us to be something we could
never, never be. Made him to be sin. Our Lord had no sin. He knew
no sin. He did no sin. He was perfect
before the law of God. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us as our substitute. You young ones know what a substitute
is. You go to school one day, and there's somebody up there
at the teacher's desk that you've never seen before. And they say,
hi, I'm your teacher today, right? They stand in place of the person
who's supposed to be there. That's what a substitute is.
Your teacher's the one who's supposed to be in that classroom.
But for whatever reason, they're not. So someone's there in their
place. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
sinner's substitute. He stands in the place of where
we deserve to be. Turn back to, we read this earlier
from Isaiah, but turn back to Isaiah 53. What did he do as our substitute?
Beginning with verse four, surely he hath borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. Verse five, he was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was made sin for us. The sin debt, it must be paid. God's justice. It must be satisfied. And he. Made him God, the father
made him made the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who knew
no sin, he made him to be sin for us. I can't explain that. Nor would
I, nor would I try. But I can tell you this. It's
not up for debate. It's only to be declared. God made the Lord Jesus Christ
to be sin for us. 1 Peter 2 verse 24 says this,
"...who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree." paid the ransom price. He paid the sin debt in full. And no other sacrifice, no other
sacrifice will do. Turn back to Isaiah 53. I should have had you hold your
place there. Look at verse 10 of Isaiah 53. It pleased, yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grieve, When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. Satisfied. By his knowledge shall
my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their
iniquities. What happened? Almighty God made
him, made the Lord Jesus Christ to be sin for us. My third question,
where? Where did this happen? At Calvary. There on the cross, our Lord
was listened. He was betrayed. He was bound. He was led away. He was denied by Peter. Remember
Peter? I'll never deny you. We could
falsely say the same thing. I'll never deny you. He was betrayed,
bound, led away, denied by Peter. He was judged by Pilate. He was
refused by that crowd. How's that for man's free will?
Would you be left to your free will? Would you choose? What did they
say? Give us, give us a Brabus. Our Lord was scourged and then
mocked. They say this thing of scourging
that many didn't even make it past being scourged. They died
in the process of being scourged. They never even made it to the
cross. It was so cruel and so wicked. They shoved that crown of thorns
upon his head, put a robe on him, mocked him. The chief priest
and the officers, they saw him and they cried out, crucify him. And they led him to Golgotha's
Hill where they did just that, crucified between two thieves. And while he hung there, the
soldiers, they parted his raiment. And in the ninth hour, at the
time of the evening sacrifice, as he hung there dying on the
cross, he cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Luther once said as he studied
this verse, God forsaken by God. Who can understand that? And when he cried again with
a loud voice, he healed up the ghost. Where did it happen? On the cross, there at Calvary.
Fourth question, when? When did this happen? Well, a
lot of people say it happened two weeks ago. That was the anniversary
of it, right? Three days after our Lord was
crucified. Some say it was 33 AD. That's what men say. God's word
says this, it happened in eternity past. It happened, it happened,
he was the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. This wasn't, listen, this wasn't
a backup plan. When Adam, this wasn't a backup
plan. This is what God had purposed
and planned from all eternity. Before there was a sinner, there
was a Savior. And then my last question, and
I'll close. The fifth question. Why? Why did He do it? Why did He, Almighty God, why
did He make Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, sin? for us. Turn to Romans chapter 3. Romans chapter 3, beginning with verse 23. for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified, how are we justified? Freely,
by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, a sin offering, Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness. It's a declaration. He is righteous
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that
he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus,
that he might be just and justifier. Listen, because of sin. By one man, sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, for all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. In Psalm 14, it says, the Lord
looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if
there were any, any that did understand, any that did seek
after God. What was the conclusion? They
are all together become filthy, filthy. None that doeth good,
no, no, not one. Why did he do it? His love for his people, to save
his people. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son. Why did he do it? That he might
bring us to himself. 1 Peter 3.18, I'll read it for
you. For Christ hath once suffered
for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Why did he do it? Turn back to
our text, 2 Corinthians 5.21. Follow along with me one more
time. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin. Why? that he, that we, that we might be made
the very righteousness of God in him. In him. In him we are, listen, we're
sanctified, we're holy, we're righteous, completely and eternally
saved. Salvation. Salvation by God's
free and sovereign grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me ask
you one more question. Who gets the glory in that? Who gets the glory? Jude chapter
1 verse 24 says this, unto him, unto him that is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence
of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory, majesty, dominion, and power both now and ever. Amen. Okay, if you would, turn in your
hymnal to the song number 323 and stand as we sing. More love to thee. More love to thee, O Christ,
more love to thee. Hear Thou the prayer I make on
bended knee. This is my earnest plea, more
love, O Christ, to Thee, more love to Thee, more love to Thee. Once earthly joy I craved, sought
peace and rest. Now Thee alone I seek, give what
is best. This all my prayer shall be,
more love, O Christ, to Thee, more love to Thee, more love
to Thee. Let sorrow do its work, send
grief and pain. Sweet are Thy messengers, sweet
their refrain. When they can sing with me, more
love, O Christ, to Thee, more love to Thee. more love to Thee. Then shall my latest breath whisper
Thy praise. This be the parting cry my heart
shall raise. This still its prayer shall be,
More love, O Christ, to Thee, More love to Thee, More love
to Thee.