you will open your Bible with
me again tonight to Luke chapter 5, I want to pick up right where
I left off Sunday morning, Luke chapter 5. In verse 26 Luke tells us that
on a certain day during our Lord's earthly ministry a great number
of people spent a good part of the day in the presence of the
Son of God and when the day was over having seen four men take
a friend who was paralyzed and tear off the tile from the roof
of the building where they were, because they couldn't get near
the master. And they let that man down before
the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus, seeing their
faith, said to that man, Thy sins are forgiven thee. And when the day was over, Luke
tells us, they were all amazed and they glorified God and were
filled with fear, saying, we have seen strange things today. Strange things, paradoxes, things
that cannot be explained on the basis of anything human, things
that are uncommon, Things that are outside the realm of logic
and reason and ordinary day-by-day experience. Miraculous, wondrous
things. Sunday morning I spent our time
talking to you about the very things these people had seen. But those physical wonders and
miracles performed by our Lord and by Moses and Elijah and Elisha
before Him and by His Apostles after Him were all in the realm
of the physical. They were all in the realm of
the physical. Multitudes who saw those things
were never converted, never believed God, were never born again. The signs and miracles were not
given to give men faith. Nobody has ever believed because
he saw or even experienced a miracle in the natural realm. No one.
Not in any age. Faith is given by the hearing
of the Word of God, by the revelation of God the Holy Ghost, by Christ
being formed in you as the result of the new birth. Men and women
believe the revelation of God. Those signs and wonders were
given to confirm men as God's prophets and to confirm them
as messengers of that one who is indeed God. They were given
to give us an understanding that the Word written by these men
is the very Word of God. They were not given for any other
purpose. In fact, if you read carefully
in the Scriptures, you'll discover that some who experienced physical,
miraculous things, physical, miraculous things, I'm talking
about miraculous things, there were thousands walked across
the Red Sea who never knew God. There were untold thousands who
every day for 40 years ate manna, just dropped out of the heavens,
who never knew God. For 40 years they wore clothes
that did not wear out, shoes that did not wear out. following
God through the wilderness by the pillar of cloud and the pillar
of fire for 40 years, but they didn't know God. Miracles never
produce faith. Tonight, I want us to look at
some things revealed in the gospel. Some things that we experience
by the grace of God. Things that all who are born
of God And all who are taught of God know. They know by revelation
and they know by experience. Strange things they are. Paradoxes,
wonders, miracles of mercy, wonders of grace, signs of God's goodness. But these are things that all
who know them shall enter into glory. All who know them are
saved by the grace of God. All who experience them are people
who are born of God and taught of God. These things you cannot
know except you know God's salvation. And these things, if you know
God's salvation, you most certainly know. These are things that are
vital to your souls. Now I remind you, I have said
it many times, dozens of times in the last few months from this
pulpit. I remind you again, the apostolic
age is over. There are no apostles today with
the gifts to perform miracles, to receive a word from God, to
heal people, to speak in tongues. There's no one these days who
are apostles except false apostles. except those who are the messengers
of Antichrist, the beast. I urge you tonight or tomorrow
morning, read Revelation chapter 13, verses 11 through 18, and
understand, men do have powers given them by God's decree, given
them from hell itself to do wonders. They're astonishing. Pharaoh's
magicians did exactly what Aaron did when he cast his rod down. How do you explain that? God
gives Satan power to deceive men upon the earth that they
might be deceived. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and
Revelation chapter 13 plainly declare to us that in this last
day, in this day of the gospel preaching, in this gospel age,
in this day of grace, God sends a strong delusion and with it
sends men who have signs and wonders and powers that cannot
be explained on the basis of anything human, on the basis
of anything logical or reasonable. Signs and wonders they perform
that multitudes might be deceived who refuse to receive the love
of the truth. who believe not the word of God
and the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me call your
attention tonight to three aspects of things, wonders, strange things
revealed to us in the gospel. Things known only by those who
are taught of God and born of God. All who are taught of God
are born of God. And those who are taught and
born of God all know these three things. First, let me show you
some of the things revealed in the gospel, strange things revealed
in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If ever you beheld the
life and work of our Redeemer upon this earth, you've been
amazed by the many strange things revealed in Him. Jeremiah tells
us, The LORD hath created a new thing in the earth. A woman shall
compass a man. God, the Creator of all men,
Himself became a man. The infinite God, that One whom
the heavens cannot contain, became an infant of a span. He who made
all things nursed upon his mother's breast. He who fills all things
was laid in a manger. He who is the son of the highest
was born as the child of Joseph and Mary. He who is Lord of all
became servant of all. Truly, this is a strange thing. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He made Himself of no reputation. He emptied Himself. And He came
here in the form of a servant. being in the form of a servant,
he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,
so that this one who is himself God became one of us. This man, Jesus of Nazareth,
he's not like God, he's not a god, he's not merely a representative
of God. Jesus of Nazareth is himself
God incarnate. Now, there's absolutely no way
under the shining sun for anybody to explain that. There's no way
it can be explained. All we can do is read it, believe
it, rejoice in it, and wonder at it. God became one of us. In all things like we are, sin
alone accepted. He came here to be our Savior,
our Redeemer. He took on Himself our nature,
became one of us, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,
that He might bring us to God in life everlasting. God, who
at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
to us by His Son. God stepped into time in the
person of his son who is called the Word. The Word was made flesh. And God said, look here, this
is what I am. This is who I am. In that man,
resides the totality of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost bodily,
so that all of God we ever see or know is Jesus Christ, the
God-man. He's the mediator who is able
to lay hold of God and lay hold of man and bring the two together
in perfect union. None other could do so. God spoken
to us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the world, who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, When he had completely finished the work
he came here to do, he purged our sins. He expunged from existence
our sins. He sat down with the right hand
of the majesty on high. Second, this perfectly innocent,
just, and righteous man died as a vile transgressor, as a
common criminal. under the wrath of God, because
he was made sin for us. This is a wonder I'm reluctant to speak about.
I refer to it every time I preach, but I'm reluctant to speak about
it. I don't want to enter into debate and arguments and the
fuss folks raise about it. This is just too wonderful. The
book says, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And when
our Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for us, our sin was imputed
to him. Now understand the doctrine of
scripture. He was not made sin by imputation. That cannot be. That cannot be. That would be utterly unjust. That'd be utterly wrong. He was
not made sin by imputation. But when he was made sin, our
sins were imputed to him. There's a huge difference. There's
a huge difference. God deals with all men. Always in justice. Always in
truth. And he dealt with his son in
justice and in truth. He did not punish his son for
sins that were not his. He made His Son sin for us. And when He made His Son sin
for us, He imputed our transgressions to Him and slew Him in our stead. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5. I want you to see this one more time. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
21. Let's back up to verse 18. Paul's
talking to us now about reconciliation to God, calling sinners to believe
on the Son of God. He says in verse 18, all things
are of God. This whole business is God's
work. who hath reconciled us, not who's
trying to or going to or might, but who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ. When Christ died, we were reconciled
to God, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And this is what it is, that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world, the world of his elect
to himself. not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. How come? Upon what basis can we call upon
sinners? to be reconciled to God, to come
to God by faith in Christ, to quit fighting God, to give up
their warfare against God. Here it is, for he, the infinitely
holy God, hath made, justly and rightly made, made in a wondrous
way no man can understand. Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, His
own darling Son, to be sin. He made Him sin. He made Him
sin for us, you and me. Who knew no sin? He never sinned. He didn't sin. Sin, He couldn't sin. He had
no sin. He was the virgin-born incarnate
God, but He was made sin. The Lord God Almighty made Him
sin. And when He did, He imputed to
Him sin. So that Jesus Christ bearing
the sins of all his people from all ages of time in all parts
of the world died under the wrath of God as the greatest object
of wrath and anger and justice that's ever been because he was
made sin for us. And this is the reason. that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Wonder of wonders. The just died
in the place of the unjust, that the unjust might be made just. Truly, this is the strangest
thing, the most unexplainable thing in all the world. The death
of God's own dear son. The Lord Jesus Christ, our darling
Savior at Calvary, is that strange thing no man will ever be able
to explain. God who cannot die, He is life. He is life. God cannot die. He can't even change, let alone
die. God cannot die, but God purchased
the church of his elect with his own blood. Acts 20, 28 says,
when he died in our stead at Calvary. But pastor, God can't
die. No, he can't. But the God-man
can and did. The God-man was made sin for
us. The God-man bore the wrath of
God for us. The God-man satisfied the justice
of God for us. In our hymn book, we sing about
the cross, Isaac Watts' great hymn. But in every hymn book
I've seen in modern times, they've changed the wording. And Isaac
Watts took a good bit of abuse for the way he worded the song.
He was accused of heresy, just as I am often accused of heresy
for the things I'm preaching now. But Isaac Watts stated it
well. This is how he wrote that song.
I try to remember, and Lindsay, when we're singing, we all sing
it this way. Well, might the sun in darkness hide and shut
his glories in when God, the mighty maker, died, the man for
creatures sin? There's nothing wrong with saying
when Christ, the mighty maker, died. No, nothing wrong with
that at all, except when you're trying to change the doctrine.
when God, the mighty maker, died for man, the creature said. The
Lord Jesus hung upon the cursed tree, unjustly condemned by men,
praying for his executioners. Father, forgive them. They know
not what they do. He hangs there as that one who
could not save himself. How come? Luke tells us what
his enemies said concerning him. And they mocked him and derided
him, but what they said is exactly so. He saved others, himself
he cannot save. He could not save himself from
the wrath of God, except we perish. If he saved you and me, he must
die in our stead. Christ, the innocent one, died
while Barabbas, the guilty one, was set free. That's called substitution. Amazing love. How can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? And yet there's nothing stranger
revealed in the gospel than the choice of God's electing love. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
one. Read it with me again. Here's the choice of God's electing
love and God's saving grace. Let us remind ourselves and often
be reminded just who and what we are. For you see your calling
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called. Verse 27. But God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty and base things of the world. And things which
are despised hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not
to bring to naught things that are. Why on this earth has God
chosen to save such things as this? You and me. Why, Mark Henson,
would God Almighty entrust us with the treasure of His grace
to proclaim the Gospel to our generation? Why would God choose
to use such things as Bob Biestas and Don Fortner to spread the
gospel of His grace and save His elect, that no flesh should
glory in His presence. We need often to be reminded that we're utterly insignificant
and useless in ourselves, utterly so. And if God accomplishes any
good in this world by us, Merle, it's in spite of us, not because
of us. And God does it that no flesh
should glory in his presence. But of him are you, you who are
nothings and nobodies, despised and all scouring of the earth.
Of him are you in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. If we have any wisdom, any knowledge
of God, his ways, and his will, if we have any righteousness,
any righteousness, if we have any sanctification, any holiness,
if we have any interest in redemption, any interest in God's salvation,
it is because God has made Christ to be ours and he's put us in
his Son. He that glorieth then, let him
glory in the Lord. Strange things. Those are things
plainly revealed in the gospel. Now let me call your attention
to some strange things to be seen in our day. Strange things
that can be known and experienced only by God's free saving grace
in Christ. The things all of God's people
know. You may not be able to put them
into words exactly the right way. That's not a problem. You
may not be able to explain them, that's not a problem. You may
have been struggling with some of them yourself, that's not
a problem. But as you hear them and see
them in the scriptures, as you hear me tell you what they are,
you will find yourself, if you're born of God, saying in your soul,
saying in your heart, saying in your mind, that's just so. That's just so, that's just so. I have a dear friend who's with
the Lord now, Brother Elmer Harrell. He could hardly read. He was
one of the first deacons I ever had the privilege of serving
God with. His parents died when he was just a boy. When he's
seven years old, he's passed from pillar to post, picked cotton
for a living. And he lived in Lookout, West
Virginia. And he couldn't put much into
words, but man, you talk about understanding it. He had a clear
grasp of things that the most brilliant theologians never got
hold of. How come? Because he'd experienced
them. He'd experienced them. We've
seen strange things in our day. The Puritan William Guthrie,
told of a time when he went to visit a dying woman, utterly
ignorant of the gospel, unconverted. And he preached the gospel to
her. And as he did, she joyfully trusted the Savior. Before Guthrie
left, that sick woman died. And when he got home, he said
to his family before their evening meal, I've seen a strange thing
today. He said, a woman whom I found
in a state of nature, I saw in a state of grace, and I left
in a state of glory. Oh, what a glorious, strange
thing God has wrought in our souls, giving us life and faith
in his son. We have seen lost, ruined, depraved
sinners, made new creatures in Christ. If any man be in Christ,
old things, he's a new creature, old things are passed away. And
behold, all things are become new. When a person is born again, God performs before us an act
of creation. creation. When God saved you,
He didn't reform what you were born as. He didn't make your
nature better. Oh, no. When God saved you by
His grace, He performed a creation. He created a new man in you.
The man created in you is Jesus Christ Himself, so that you are
made partakers of the divine nature. You have in you Christ
in you. That's what gives you the hope
of glory. You have in you a new man, as Paul puts it, created
in righteousness and in true holiness. Holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord. I've heard all my life and read
all my life as a believer about how we ought to work hard and
try to be as holy as possible so that we can live good, holy
lives, because without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. And
folks, understand the text to mean this. If you don't make
yourself better, If you don't live like you ought to live,
if you don't do the things you ought to do, you can't enter
into heaven. And there's a sense in which
that's so. There's a sense in which that's so, but it's not
talking about you doing something yourself. That holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord is Jesus Christ Himself. He is made of God unto us sanctification. And in Him we have obeyed God
perfectly and satisfied God's law and justice perfectly. Read the 73rd Psalm. And you'll
understand that David went through the very same
things you and I go through. He said, I was as a beast before
you. He said, my step said, well, and I slipped. I was almost gone. I was envious at the prosperity
of the wicked. And I saw how the wicked prosper. And here I am with Absalom and
my house. And here I am with my friends. And here I am in my difficulties.
And here I am in my sin. And I said, it's a vain thing
to serve God. I almost said it. Until I went
into your house and I saw their end. and then I understood I
was as a beast before you. How often we act like beasts
and not believers. How often we find ourselves behaving
as ungodly wretches, not as men and women who have been made
holy in Jesus Christ the Lord. You see, the believer is a person
with two natures, constantly at war with one another. Constantly
fighting against one another. Flesh and spirit. The old man
and the new. Adam and Christ. Yes, we delight
in the law of God after the inward man. But we can't do the things we
would. Neither the old man nor the new.
Neither the old man nor the new. Because there's a constant warfare
going on. you find your hearts raging with
lust, cold with malice? Is there anybody here who doesn't
know what I'm talking about? Anybody? That's our nature as
believers, flesh and spirit. It's impossible to understand
the seventh chapter of the fifth chapter of Galatians, or the
third chapter of 1 John, apart from this understanding. By this,
the Lord God distinguishes and identifies those who are his.
We have in us by nature that which is sin and could do nothing
but sin, and that which is righteous and can never sin, and that which
is born of the flesh never does righteousness, but only sins.
And that which is born of the Spirit never sins, but only does
righteousness. We've seen self-condemned, helpless,
lost sinners completely justified by the Lord Jesus. Completely
justified. I just, I think I told you the
folks at Bethel Church asked me to do their bulletins. I just
put an article of me in the bulletin in March. Cody Henson, I asked
him to write for me and he got it in about the Pharisee and
the Publican. Those two men went to the Temple
to pray. And the Pharisee was good. Oh, he was good. He was a fine fella. He didn't
drink, smoke, cuss, or chew, and didn't go with girls who
do. He was a fine fella. He went to church every Sunday,
every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, every Wednesday night.
He didn't miss prayer meeting for nothing. He was always there. He paid tithes of everything
he had right down to his chickens. And he prayed three times a day
and fasted twice every week. And he said, God, I thank you
that I do all these good things. I couldn't do them without you.
That's what he said. I couldn't do them without you.
I thank you. I thank you. I'm good. I'm not like that fella. I'm not like him. And the publican
sat way back in the back trying to hide from everybody. And he
wouldn't so much as lift up his eyes but he looks down at himself
and beats on his breast, beats his own heart as if to say this
is the problem, it's in here. And he cried, God, be propitious
to me through the blood of your darling son. God, be merciful
to me, for Christ's sake, the sinner. And that man, went home
justified. Justified. He was justified by
God's decree from eternity. Justified by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But he didn't know anything about
it until he confessed his sin and God spoke to him and said,
you're justified. When God gave him faith in his
son, he went to his house justified. freely, completely absolved of
all guilt, freely, completely forgiven of all sin. We see sinners
freely justified by the grace of God. Now I'm telling you what
I've seen for myself. I'm not giving you secondhand
information. I'm bearing faithful witness to what I've seen and
experienced. The Lord God came to me in his
grace. My soul was in dreadful despair
because of sin and guilt. I was terrified of God. I knew that God could save me
or damn me. And I knew that Christ died for
sinners. And then God revealed Christ
in me. and gave me faith in his son
and I simply trusted myself to Christ. I'd been trying to believe
him for a long time. I'd been trying for a long time
to do something to convince myself now I'm ready to believe. And
God just kept breaking and stripping. He just kept pushing and pushing
and pushing until He got my face with my heart in the dust before
Him and I knew my sin. And confessing my sin to Him,
believing on His Son, the burden of guilt. He picked it up and threw it
away. Gone. Gone. and I've never been
bothered with it again except when I tried to find something
in here to commit myself to God. It's on the top, it's on the
top. I love the picture of Pilgrim
drawn by John Budgen in Pilgrim's Progress. He'd go one place and
another looking to get rid of the heavy burden on his back.
And finally, somebody told him to go to Mount Calvary. The evangelist
said, go to Calvary. And he said he went to Calvary.
And as soon as he looked up and saw that man dying upon Calvary's
cursed hill, he said, when I looked on him, the burden was loosed
off my back and fell into the abyss of a bottomless pit that
has never been retrieved. Look away to Christ, believe
on the Son of God, and go home justified. Some stout-hearted
rebels are broken and converted immediately, renewed by God's
almighty grace. Others, it takes a while. Some pass through long ordeal
of conviction, trouble, anguish, guilt. Some have been rescued
from a false hope. Some heard the word of God and
many years later, God applied it. You will bear me witness. I refuse to try to wrangle a profession of
faith out of anybody. I just don't do it. I just don't
do it. I refuse to speak peace to folks who have no peace. I'm
not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. I prefer to leave you
in God's hands and wait for God to work, because anything I can
produce is fake. What God performs is something
else. With God, all things are possible. There's a story, a
true story, something happened after George Whitefield had died.
There was an old man who was converted in his early 90s, in
his early 90s. I think the oldest person I've
ever baptized was converted from a 94-year-old woman, but this
man was in his 90s. And somebody asked him, to what
did he attribute his knowledge of the gospel of God's grace?
Because they knew he didn't go to church. They knew he hadn't
been known for living very well. And he said, when I was just
a small boy, my father took me to hear George Whitefield preach
the gospel. And I've never been able to get
away from what I heard. My word, God says, shall not
return to me void. It will accomplish that which
I please. It will prosper in the thing
where to I send it. And I'm prepared, Alan, to just
wait on God to do the work. Just wait on God to do the work.
What's our business? Cast your bread upon the waters
and wait. Proclaim the gospel and wait.
Preach the word and wait. And pray for the blessing of
God upon it. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
Thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell from whence
it cometh or whither it goeth. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. And I've seen a soul preserved
in spiritual life and faith by the grace of God amid great trials among many evil things. Some
of God's people are like bushes burning but never consumed. They
live in the midst of constant difficulty, trials, heartaches,
burdens, and yet their faith doesn't grow dim because they're
kept by the grace of God. I encourage you who are gods
to mark down things that you see happen. obvious that God
in His providence turns evil to good for you. Oh, my, what a strange thing.
I've seen God, if there was a way I could write a book about it
without getting Don Fortin in it too much, I'd write a book
about it. I've seen God throughout my life since He saved me. Just do wondrous things, strange
things. Things that can't be explained
by any account except God did that. God did that. Before I was converted, since
I've been converted, in my personal life, in my family, in our ministry
together, things that, how'd that happen? God did it. That's
all. God did it. Things from which
no one, no one benefited at all except those for whom God did
it. Of a truth His strength is made
perfect in weakness, and His grace is sufficient every day.
But there are some strange things yet to be seen. Strange things
that shall be seen at that great eternal day when Christ appears
in His glory. Strange things will be seen at
the Day of Judgment. On that day good, moral, religious
men and women will be sentenced to eternal damnation while vile,
wretched sinners who simply trust the Lord Jesus Christ shall be
brought into glory. Strange things will be seen in
hell. Men and women will beg for mercy
but find none. They'll long to die but not be
able to die. Men and women will cry and scream
and bawl like babies, but no one will cry for them. And the damned in hell will cause
no grief, among the redeemed in glory. That's something, Lindsay, I
just can't get my hands around. I have friends, family, like
you do, in hell, and my heart breaks for them.
But when our God makes all things new, there'll be no heart breaking
for them. We will understand and see things
as God does, and see his justice and his truth. And strange things
will be seen in heaven. We shall see his face. And when
we do, we'll be like him, for we shall see him as he is. John
Newton said that heaven will be full of strange things, He
said, when I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there. The
first wonder will be to see many people there whom I did not expect
to see. The second wonder will be to
miss many people whom I did expect to see. And the third and greatest
wonder of all will be to find myself there. And let me tell
you two more strange things to me. I find these two things incredibly
strange. I find your unbelief, if you
refuse to trust Christ, I find your unbelief incredibly strange. When life is to be had for a
look at the Son of God. He says, look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth. Why will you die when
life is at hand? That's strange. It can't be understood
except by what God says in his word. And something else is strange. My own lack of devotion to him, who has been from everlasting
and is today, and shall forever be utterly devoted to me." Maybe that's the strangest thing
yet. God give me grace to give myself
to him who gave himself to me. Amen.