Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. While you're
turning, our pastor and janitor, as you know, are traveling. So
keep them in mind in prayer as they travel. Romans chapter 8, we're going
to read beginning in verse 32. I believe it was brother Eric
that quoted this scripture the other day and I got to think
about that word freely. It's in this text, freely. And
of course it means freely with no cost from us. It also means
freely without restriction. One of my first jobs when I was
working in a nursing home, part of my responsibility was snaking
out the drain lines when they got clogged. They get clogged
up into the hallway and in some cases we'd have two inches of
water in the hallway and we'd get that snake run down there. Once we got through that clog,
that water ran freely, without restriction. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely, without restriction, give us all things? Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is ever
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or sword, As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the
day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Brady has volunteered to lead
the singing for us this evening. Brady? If you would, turn your hymnal
to page 255. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine Heir of salvation, purchase
of God Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood This is my story,
this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story,
this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long Perfect submission,
perfect delight Visions of rapture now burst on my sight Angels
descending bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love This
is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all the day
long This is my story, this is my song Praising my Savior all
the day long Perfect submission, all is at rest I and my Savior
am happy and blessed Watching and waiting, looking above Filled
with His goodness, lost in His love This is my story, this is
my song Praising my Savior all the day long This is my story,
this is my song Praising my Savior all the day long Turn with me now, if you would,
to Genesis 1. Genesis 1, we'll start in verse
24 and read through the end of the chapter. And God said, let the earth bring
forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping
thing, and beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle
after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth
after his kind. And God saw that it was good.
And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of
God created he him. Male and female created he them.
And God blessed them, and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply,
and replenish the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, behold,
I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face
of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of
a tree yielding seed. To you it shall be for meat.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air,
and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherefore there
is life, I have given every green herb for meat, and it was so.
And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was
very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. Let's pray together. Our heavenly father, it's with
humble reverence that we bow before your holy name. knowing
who we approach and yet we're able to approach boldly for Christ's
sake. We come to the throne of mercy
boldly for Christ's sake. We pray that your name be glorified
here and that your throne of mercy for Christ's sake be declared. That it edify your saints and
call centers to repentance. I pray that you be with me, that
this be your message that you deliver it to the hearts of your
people. We pray for your will in all
things. We pray for your will with those
who are not with us this evening, that your will be done, that
you comfort where comfort is needed, heal where healing is
needed, give traveling mercies where that's needed. Lord, you
know the need in all things. You know the need. We pray that
you provide and supply as you promised and as you always have.
We thank you for this time that we have together. I pray that
you'd be with us. It's in Christ's name that we
pray. Amen. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart, Not be all else to me, save that Thou art, Thou
my best thought, by day or by night. Waking or sleeping, Thy presence
my light. Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my
true word, I ever with Thee And Thou with me, Lord, Thou my great
Father, I Thy true Son. Thou in me dwelling, and I with
Thee one. Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise, Thou mine inheritance, now and always. Thou and Thou only, first in
my heart. High King of Heaven, my treasure
Thou art. High King of heaven, my victory
won, May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun, Heart
of my own heart, whatever befall. Still be my vision, oh ruler
of all. Thank you. Turn with me back
to Genesis in chapter two. Genesis chapter two, starting
in verse 15, we're going to look this evening and focus on one
word. That word is, is surely, surely
Genesis chapter two, starting in verse 15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the
garden, thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Surely. Now look over in Genesis chapter
3, starting in verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle
than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. He said
unto the woman, yea, hath God said he shall not eat of every
tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent,
We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the
fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God
hath said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it,
lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the
woman, ye shall not surely die." Surely. Our first introduction
to Lucifer gets right to the heart of the matter. Our Lord,
our God, is either surely or he is not. Lucifer gets right
to the heart of the matter in our first introduction. We have
two verses from two different sources saying two very different
things. One is God saying to Adam, in the day that thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. We have Lucifer telling Eve,
thou shalt not surely die. Surely. Whenever I'm asked to speak,
I mean, I think of you all, of course. I also think of my kids. And I think, I want to get to
the conclusion real quick while I got their attention. That's
why I think, while I still got those two's attention right there,
I want to get to the conclusion real quick. And the conclusion is, he who
spared not his own son, how shall he not freely give us with him
all things? How shall he not freely? That's
our comfort, is that when our Lord does anything, he does so
Surely our comfort is in his sure justice. All of every religion, every
belief since this time has been one of these, these two things.
It's either been thou shalt surely die. And we did in our nature
from Adam on till now still. has listened to thou shalt not
surely die. We are either brought to the
throne of mercy, agreeing thou shalt surely die, agreeing to
bowing before God's sovereign throne, saying, yes, I deserve
to die. My soul deserves to die for what
Adam did. I deserve to be banished because
he's my father and I have his nature. Everything I've ever
done since then deserves to be banished. And we come to the throne of
mercy agreeing, I shall surely die, and we beg for mercy. And
if that's the case, what did Christ say to Simon? Flesh and
blood didn't reveal that to you. If you come for mercy, flesh
and blood didn't reveal that to you. But that's revealed to
you from our Father from above. And that's our comfort. Everything
else is some version of thou shalt not surely die. Works is
a version of thou shalt not surely die. Confidence in the flesh
is some version of thou shalt not surely die everything outside
of absolute sovereign mercy is Thou shalt not surely die you
have some hope you should surely die. That's what that's Lucifer's
telling Eve You have some hope If our belief if my belief is
anything having to do with I have some hope I've done exactly what
Eve has done. I've done exactly what Adams
done, which is thou shalt not surely die Everything is one
of those two. And we do deserve to surely die.
No question about it. That's the message. Now we'll
go through and we'll look at that. Our human language can never
describe, of course, what God's actions and who he is. It's not
possible that in our language, in our understanding, we could
accurately describe surely, That's like accurately describing eternity,
which we've been talking about. How in the world can we think
forever? How has God ever existed before time? We can't describe
that. That's beyond our human language.
But by God's grace, we do see. We see through a glass darkly,
right? But we do see. As we're focusing on this word,
surely, and how that word relates to our God Almighty, we think
about how permanent and unchangeable that word surely is. We really
have nothing in our lives that we can relate that to as an example. But I thought about some analogies.
I'm trying to think of some analogies. What do we have in our life that
relates at all to this word, the finality of this word, surely,
and how it's used here? And I know what it does not mean.
It does not mean maybe. It doesn't mean maybe. We've
been remodeling our house. And for months I've been saying,
surely the countertops are coming today, right? That means hopefully. That means maybe. That's not
this word, surely. Surely, that means I hope or
maybe. That's not this word, surely.
It's closer to this. Again, thinking about the finality. I've been thinking of the sound
that a gavel makes when the judge declares a sentence and that
gavel hits. That's closer because that has a finality to it, right?
No more argument can be made after that gavel hits. No more
arguments can be made. No more information can be presented.
It's final. It's sure. The verdict is read.
Boom. But then in our world, there's
still room for appeals. That's not quite what this word
surely means. This word surely means forever
certain. Forever certain. So it's closer. It's closer. if you've ever watched
an old Western and they built the scaffold, they're going to
hang a criminal, right? That word surely is closer to
the sound that the gallows make when that door opens. Boom. And
that trap door opens, and there's no stopping it now, right? Sentence
is getting ready to be carried out. There's no stopping it.
When that criminal heard that trap door open, the noose was
getting ready to hit. This word surely is closer to
that. It's the sound of certainty. It's the sound of finality. It's
the sound of, it is finished. That's with that word, surely.
And I use those analogies because I'm making a presumption that
I think you all are a lot like I am, that I tend to forget things. Through the week, as I've been
studying this, those sounds have come back to me. When I hear
the cupboard door slam, I hear it. When I hear the car door
shut, I hear it. And I think of that word, surely,
and I'm blessed again by it. So I share those analogies with
you in the hope throughout the week you hear that sound and
you think of the word surely and you're blessed again by the
fact that our God does all things surely and it is finished. And I pray that you remember
that and are blessed by it again the way I have been throughout
the week. That's why I share those analogies. Forever certain. That's what this word surely,
that's how it's used in our text. Forever certain. And our Lord
will give us comfort, I pray that he does, in his unchanging
forever certainty in these four things, in His sovereignty. God has the authority and has
the right to command Adam just as He does today, right now.
He has the authority and the right to command men just as
He did Adam, just as He does today. God has the right to sentence
death. God has the right to breathe life. He has the right, surely. That right is forever certain.
Two, God's justice. God fully punishes sin. There's
not one sin left unpunished. Unflinchingly, without exception,
God punishes sin surely. It is forever certain. Three,
Christ's power. Christ destroyed sin for all
for whom he died. Christ will surely deliver his
people. That deliverance is forever certain. And four, Christ's eternal
goodness to all his people. David says, surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Surely. Christ is eternally
good. From before time began until
after time ends, Christ is eternally good. Surely. Forever certain. Paul says, let us labor, therefore,
to enter into this rest. Let us labor. I pray as we look
more in depth at who Christ is and how he surely accomplished
all his work, that we are comforted by that. And we do enter into
that rest. Turn over into Isaiah with me. Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. The Bible
begins with, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the
earth. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
God owns all things because he's the creator. And he's the sustainer
of all things. Isaiah chapter 40 here, here
in verse in verse 12, who has measured the waters in
the hollow of his hand, meted out heaven with the span, comprehended
the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains and
scales and the hills and the balance who has directed the
spirit of the Lord or being his counselor has taught him with
whom took he counsel. and who instructed him and taught
him in the path of judgment and taught him knowledge and showed
to him the way of understanding. Behold, the nations are as a
drop of a bucket and are counted as the small dust of the balance.
Behold, he taketh up the aisles as a very little thing." Our
God's sovereignty is sure and it's certain. It's our God's
right to do with his creation exactly as he sees fit. because
he created it and he rules over it, just as it's God's right
to do with mankind, just exactly as he sees fit because he created
man and he rules over man. Back in Genesis chapter two,
in our text, chapter two, verse seven says, and the Lord God
formed man, formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life. And man became a living
soul. God owns his creation. God owns
man. His power and his sovereignty
is sure. It's surely, if you will. As
an owner, he has the absolute right to do over his creation
exactly as he sees fit, because God's in full control. My dad
used to say this, and you all have heard this saying before,
that power corrupts. But absolute power corrupts absolutely,
right? You all have heard that saying.
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And that's
true of man. Every instance I can think of,
the more power a single person gets, the more corrupt that person
is. You think of the evil kings that our world has seen over
the years and years. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That's
not true of God. That's true of man. That's not
true of God. His ways are higher than our ways, right? His thoughts
are higher than our thoughts. With absolute control over all
of man and all of creation, God chose to bless us. Not like us,
who with absolute control comes corruption. With absolute control
over everything, God chose to bless Adam. Look back here in
Genesis again, chapter 1. We're talking about the goodness
of our God. With absolute power and absolute
control, our God, who could do anything, chose to bless. Chapter 1, verse 27. So God created
man in his own image. In the image of God created he
him. Male and female created he them. and God blessed them
with absolute power and absolute control. Our God chose to bless.
God blessed Adam and Eve. He provided them with everything.
He communed with them. You ever had a cucumber right
off the vine, right out of a garden before? I used to hate tomatoes
when I was a kid. Then I planted a garden, and
I had a tomato right off the vine. I said, oh, this is different,
right? This is different than what you
get when it's been in the grocery store sitting there for three
weeks. Adam and Eve were planted in the middle of it, of a perfect
garden in a sinless world. Can you imagine just how good
a fruit or vegetable grown in a perfect earth must have tasted?
And that's how God blessed Adam and Eve. God provided. God, who
is in complete control of man and creation, used that authority
to bless Adam and Eve. So in Genesis 2.17, there when
when God told Adam, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou
eatest of it, thou shalt surely die. This one restriction, this
one restriction was a reminder to Adam that God is in control. God provided all of this for
me. Every time he or Eve saw that
tree, it should have been reminded. Our God, who is in complete control,
has chosen to be so good to us. They should have been thankful
for it. thankful heart. A thankful heart would have seen
that restriction and would have smiled at being reminded that
that God who controls all things has provided all of this for
me. And I've heard that. I've heard
the tree spoken of so irreverently, just terribly, that it was some
sort of trick God played. I hesitate to even say this,
but this is the way you hear it described. Some trick played on Adam or
a temptation or a, like he put a stumbling block there in front
of Adam. That's not the author of sin. That tree was a reminder
of God's sovereign goodness and a thankful heart would have seen
it and been thankful for his sovereign goodness. Romans nine, let's turn over
to Romans, Romans chapter nine. Excuse me. A thankful heart would
bow to God's sovereignty. What does Romans chapter 9 say
in verse 20 and 21? Nay, but, O man, who art thou
that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor? A thankful heart bows to God's
right. gladly recognizes again that
with all of his power, God chose to bless us. Not like the sinful
rulers of this world who set themselves up in castles, live
off the sweat of their servants. We used to drive through West
Virginia and Dad would, years ago, Dad would point up at the
hill and you'd see the big house on top of the hill and all those
little shacks all the way down to the bottom that didn't even
have running water. Because that person owned that
hill, that coal mine. And dad would point that out.
Nothing wrong with that person living in a nice house on top of the
hill. That person has a responsibility to provide better for all the
people living down that hill. Not our Lord. Not our Lord. With
all that power, he chose to bless us. He chooses to bless us. God, our King, blesses us. He
has a right to. Surely, he has a right to. And
he's done so. That tree of the knowledge of
good and evil represents God's sovereign goodness. So in chapter
three, when the serpent said unto the woman, thou shalt not
surely die, this disputed God's sovereignty. You rebelled on
God's sovereignty and it disputed the sovereignty and it disputed
his goodness. Lucifer said, thou shalt not surely die. That's
a rebellion against God's authority. And it's a rebellion against
God's goodness. When God had shown us in Adam, had shown Adam
nothing but goodness. He'd shown nothing but goodness
and power to Adam and Eve. The Lucifer said, thou shalt
not surely die. And that disputed everything
they'd ever seen. And they believed it. We believed it. Everything that he'd ever seen
was goodness and power. Thou shalt not surely die. Disputed
everything they'd ever seen. And in direct rebellion to all
of all of God's goodness, Adam took the fruit and he did eat.
And again, I've heard that described as if our Lord, our King, were
somehow being petty. I've heard people say, isn't
that a pretty harsh punishment for just stealing a piece of
fruit? As if God were somehow cruelly setting a trap for Adam.
That tree represented God's sovereignty and God's goodness. Taking that
fruit, eating of that fruit, was in direct rebellion and disputed
God's goodness and his sovereignty. Lucifer said, you shall not surely
die. Not surely. Is he really sovereign? Adam,
can he really kill you? Does he have the right? Does
he have the power? Adam had never even seen death before. Could
God even do it? Would God really be right in
doing it? Is God really sovereign? Is God really sovereign? It's
an attack on God's sovereignty. It's an attack on God's sovereignty,
just as Not just as disputing election,
right? God's eternal right to choose
a people and His eternal right to damn a people. Disputing that
is an attack on His sovereignty. He shall not surely die. Is God
really good? Because if He's good, if He's
perfect, He cannot change, right? Changing your mind is an admission
that you either made a mistake or you have to conform to something
that's outside your power, right? Every time we change, it's either
an admission that I made a mistake or I have to change to react
to something else. That's not our God. A couple weeks ago, Frank and I
said we're going to put a faucet in his kitchen. And after working
on it for quite a while, we changed our mind. Because we don't have
the power. I didn't have the knowledge,
the power, the strength. Couldn't do it. So we changed. That's
not our Father. That's not our God. Ye shall
not surely die. Is God really good or will he
change his mind? That's what Lucifer said. He
shall not surely die. Lucifer said, ye shall not surely
die. God will punish sin, but will
I surely die? Not me, right? I mean, I understand
that God is sovereign. God is good. He sees that I'm
not really that bad, right? I mean, this is me. Ye shall
not surely die. That's what Lucifer says. God
says, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Here's a, bear with me, this
is a silly story that I added to my notes, but I wanted to
show the silliness of our dead nature. One of my favorite movies
is The Princess Bride. Those of you that have seen it
already know this is a silly story. In The Princess Bride,
the hero dies, and a comedian says, He's not completely dead,
right? He's not totally dead. And he
brings our hero back to life. It's a silly movie, because that's
silly. You can't be partially dead. You're either dead or you're
not. But that's man's religion, which
is summed up in ye shall not surely die. You still have some
hope, right? You can do something. No, you
can't. You can't do anything. Come to
the throne of mercy and bow and beg for mercy. And even that
is because the Lord has drawn us there. Have faith to believe
in our Lord Jesus Christ. That faith is a gift. Flesh and
blood hasn't revealed that we have no room to boast. We're
surely dead. It's not. We're surely dead.
Surely. When Adam ate that fruit, he
rebelled against God's sovereignty, rebelled against God's goodness
and God and his sovereign goodness. spiritually killed him and he
spiritually killed all of us in Adam. So we cannot approach
him and we're banished. We're banished because God is
sovereign. He has the right and the authority to do so. God is
good. There's no reason for him to change and he will not change.
God is surely sovereign and good. God's justice to God's justice.
Back in back in chapter two, verse 17, God told Adam in the
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely When Adam rebelled
against God, it was an act of treason. It was an act of infidelity,
of cheating on God's goodness, if you will. And that can never
be made right. Adam's banishment and our banishment
from God's presence, it's not meant to teach us a lesson. Sometimes
we withhold things from the kids to teach them a lesson. In our
house, it's usually the Xbox or screen time. We'll withhold
that to teach them a lesson, to get their attention, to change
their behavior. But it isn't permanent. It's
used to teach a lesson, right? We're withholding something to
teach a lesson. Adam's banishment and our banishment in Adam is
not meant to teach a lesson. It's justice. We've sought to
overthrow God himself. Took that fruit and sought to
overthrow God himself. Our father Adam and we in him
are no longer allowed to walk with God as Adam did. Lucifer
said in his heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God. I will also sit in the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high
God. And Christ said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from
heaven. That wasn't teaching Satan the
lesson. That was justice for treason. What Adam did is no
less rebellious. What we did in him is no less
rebellion. All of human race was killed in Adam, not as a
lesson, as right justice, right justice. Banishment wasn't a
lesson. It was not payment for the crime.
It can never pay for the crime. Adam can never pay for the crime.
Our eternal separation from God can never pay for that first
sin of taking the fruit. All of our eternal banishment
from God forever will never satisfy, will never satisfy that first
sin let alone all that we've committed because of our nature
since then, not that person, all the banishment for all of
mankind, for all of eternity, never cover that first sin. Now,
bear with me. We're getting to this. Comfort
is here. We have to see the state that we're in. Comfort is here.
The banishment isn't a lesson. It's not payment. It's justice. That's where our comfort is in
God's justice. God will surely punish sin. You're
familiar with Ezekiel 18. Behold, all souls are mine. As
the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine.
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Even that death can never
pay for sin. Satan said, you shall not surely
die. Must be something you can do. Satan is very subtle. That
comes out today as God sees that you mean well, you go to church.
My sophomore roommate at Kentucky said to me, you do a lot for
God. So he said to me, you're a Christian, you're a
good person. Or even the more subtle, God is love, meaning
a loving God couldn't possibly punish you. And look, I'm not
belittling all that. I'm hurt because I recognize
that inside of my sinful human nature also. If our soul is troubled, good. Our comfort isn't in thou shalt
not surely die, which is what all those statements are some
variant of. Thou shalt not surely die. Lump all those together
under you shall not surely die. And they're collectively works.
You should not surely die. There's something you can do
to open the door of reconciliation with God. If you're good enough,
God will see that there's some difference between us and our
father Adam, and he'll accept us. But isn't that ridiculous?
The fact that we are still drawn to that just goes to show we're
no different than We're no different than our father, Adam. Still,
that belief is still in every one of us. It's simple and it's
wrong, and it shows that we're just no different. We're still
trying to put ourselves on equal footing with God and kick him
off his throne. Even if we did genuinely want reconciliation
with God, why would he want reconciliation with us? God's justice is surely, it's
absolute, it's forever certain. Thou shalt surely die. What's
our comfort here? Thou shalt surely die. God is
surely sovereign. He's surely good. Absolutely
and unchangeably. God is surely just, and he will
surely put away sin. Absolutely and unchangeably.
If we stopped right there, God would be just and right, and
he'd be worthy of worship. You know, I've quoted this before,
but this song sticks out in my head all the time. If we stopped
right there, we would sing What can wash away my sin? Nothing. What can make me whole again?
Nothing. For my cleansing, this I see,
nothing. For my pardon, this my plea,
nothing. If we stopped right there, God
would still be just and good and worthy of worship. Turn over
to Isaiah again, chapter 53. With full sovereignty, because
he is right, And with full goodness, because nothing has changed and
with full justice, because it's right that he did this. God laid
the sin of his people in and on the Lord, Jesus Christ, who
bore the deserved, the deserved justice of our banishment. And is even now at the right
hand of God, the father making intercession for us in there
in Isaiah 53, starting in verse three. Sorry, I got to talking and didn't
turn to it. 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 and carried our sorrows.
Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Our comfort is in surely. Hear that gavel again. Hear that
trapdoor again. Hear that. It's forever certain. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and 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. With his stripes we are healed. You can read that. Child of God,
you can read that. He was wounded for my transgressions.
He was bruised for my iniquities. The chastisement of my peace
was upon him. With his stripes I am healed. Surely. Our comfort in thou shalt surely
die is found in Christ who bore God's justice. Justice wasn't
prevented, perverted, diverted, deflected, or minimized in any
way whatsoever. Not at all. All the punishment
that was deserved, was found in, thou shalt surely die, was
made to meet on Christ. John 19 says, after this, Jesus,
knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture
might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar. They filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, hath received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. It is finished. Bowed his head
and gave up the ghost. Satan said he shall not surely
die. He thought he had God trapped between goodness and justice.
How can God be just and justify sinners? How can God forgive
me and still be right? Look over, turn to Romans three
with me. Romans chapter three. starting there in verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness 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. down to verse 31. Do we make, do we then make void
the law through faith? If God justifies me, does that
make Satan right? Did I not surely die? Did I surely
die? Surely what does Paul say? God
forbid. Yay. We established the law.
We established the law. God really did. He really did
bear the sin of his people. Surely, surely he had born our
grief and our sorrows. We take comfort in God's justice.
Surely God is surely sovereign. God is surely just. Christ's
power is sure because Christ is the son of God and Christ
is God. He has the power and right to deliver all of his people
and he will deliver. Surely that is all of his people
from, from all of their sins. He's left nothing undone. Micah
chapter two says, I will surely assemble. Oh Jacob, all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant
of Israel. I will put them together as the
sheep of Basra, as the flock in the midst of their fold. They
shall make great noise by the reason of the multitude of men.
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. Hear that gavel, hear
those gallows. Surely, surely Christ has paid
it all when he said it is finished. It is finished in sovereignty.
It is, is finished in goodness and it is finished in justice.
Justice is served. Payment has been made and the
banishment that Adam earned is over. Hebrews four says, seeing
then that we have a great high priest that has passed into the
heavens, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast our profession
for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feelings of our infirmities. He has been touched with the
feeling of our infirmities. but was in all points tempted
like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore, therefore based
on Christ, let us, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of
God that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time
of need. Christ's justice is sure. Christ's goodness is sure.
Christ's eternal goodness. Finally, Christ's eternal goodness
is sure. Turn over to Psalm chapter 23 with me. Christ's eternal
goodness is sure. Starting in verse one of Psalm
23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Maketh me to
lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou prepares the table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely,
surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Hear
that gavel again. Surely hear the gallows here. Here it is finished. Because
this is sure this is certain. Surely I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. This is unstoppable. Because our God is is surely
In closing, surely, surely forever, certainly sovereign, sovereign
to save through Christ, good to save through Christ, just
to save for Christ's sake, merciful to call us to Christ. Surely,
surely forever. Certainly. He's surely powerful
to bring us to glory for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father, I pray that your name was glorified here
this evening. Put your word in our heart. Bless the message
for your holy name's sake. Bless the message. Be with us
through the remainder of this week. Father, be with us. Pray these things. Thankfully,
in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. If you would, open your hymnals
to page 17. Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet
sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon
it, mount of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come. And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home Jesus saw me when a stranger Wandering
from the fold of God He to rescue me from danger Interposed his
precious blood O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained
to be Let Thy goodness, like a phantom, find my wandering
heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it, prone to leave the God I love. here's my heart oh take and seal
it seal it for thy courts above