Last Saturday night, after the
services in Dudley, Shelby and I went back to the hotel and
decided to go down and get a bite to eat. Most of the places there
that you want to eat are pubs, so there's always a lot going
on. We sat after ordering a sandwich,
or what it was we had, and I was watching people. They had some
kind of a big shindig going on. I have no idea how many people.
The place was full, and the dining halls next to us were full, and
the patio and the hallways just full of people partying, having
a good time. And Shelby said to me, what's
on your mind? And I said, I was just watching
these folks with their distractions. Everybody has got to have their
distractions. Many of you live for distractions. People call it entertainment.
It's distractions. You attempt to distract your
minds from the realities ever pressing upon you that you wish
weren't there. Soon you're going to die. Soon
you're going to meet God in judgment. And you will spend eternity either
in the torments of the damned in a place called hell that no
tongue can describe and no mind has imagined. Forever isolated from God and
good, keenly aware of your just damnation, with no eye to pity
you, with a fully awakened conscience tormenting you, with all your
lust raging within you and no satisfaction. You hating everybody
and everybody hating you forever. Or you will spend eternity in
the bliss of a place called heaven, in the glory of God, a place
of which the scripture tells us, I have not seen nor ear heard
and neither have entered into the heart of man the things that
God has prepared for them. And despising God and his grace,
refusing to bow to Christ, eternity bound sinners try to silence
the voice of God in their soul. suppress the truth of God with
distractions. In the light of those facts,
I want you to listen as I try to address five questions, five
questions. Let's begin in Hebrews chapter
one or chapter 10 in verse one. In verse 22, the Apostle Paul
speaks about the full assurance of faith. Do you know anything
about that? Do I? Let's read about it. Hebrews chapter 10. The law having
a shadow of good things to come. Not a shadow of evil things,
but a shadow of good things. but it was just a shadow of those
good things to come. And Brother Lindsey pointed out
this morning, the law only directed our thoughts toward Christ and
his salvation. The whole purpose of the law
is to direct us to Christ and his salvation. The law having
a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the
things. can never, with those sacrifices
which they offered year by year continually, make the comers
thereunto perfect. Not even the law of God and the
sacrifices God required in the law. could cause those who came
to worship in the tabernacle and in the temple at the altar
of God, the sacrifices of the law that they brought by God's
command could not make them perfect, could not make them whole. Read
up. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered, he asked? Of course they would. because
that the worshippers, once purged, should have had no more conscience
of sins. Once sin is put away, once it's
purged, once justice is satisfied, you have no more conscience of
sin. Not that you don't have a conscience
of the reality of your sin, not that you don't have a consciousness
of the fact that you are sin, but no more consciousness of
guilt before God that forces you to play with distractions. No more conscience of sin. But
in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins
every year. He's speaking particularly now
of the Paschal Lamb. That Paschal Lamb brought to
God's high priest by the families of Israel and offered as a sacrifice
to God for the sins of his people, blood sprinkled on the mercy
seat. All that Lamb did was say, we've got to come back next year.
We've got to bring another lamb. We've got to bring another offering.
God has not put away our sins. We're still guilty. We don't.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. Now, please understand what God
tells us here. Even the Passover lamb, even
the red heifer, Even the morning sacrifices, even the evening
sacrifices offered in the most precise manner through God's
appointed high priest on God's altar at precisely the time God
required. Those things could never put
away a single sin. And you think you're going to
make up to God by something you do? by something you give, by
sacrifice you make, what a fool you are to think so. Oh no, that's
the reason that no matter what you do, no matter how much you
try to atone for your sins, no matter how much you attempt to
please God, no matter how much you try to make a way of acceptance
with God for yourself, you're never satisfied because God can't
be satisfied with it. Verse five. Wherefore, since
those sacrifices and the law and the ceremonies of the law,
which those sacrifices could never take away sin, wherefore,
when he, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, God's darling son, cometh
into the world, he saith, sacrifices and offerings thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. What a word that is. God prepared a body for his son
in the womb of the Virgin without the aid of a man by the overshadowing
of the Holy Ghost. a human body with a human soul,
just like you, just like me, but a human body and a human
soul without sin, a human body and human soul in which dwelt
divinity, God, in all his fullness. Now, you've prepared a sacrifice. You've prepared a sacrifice.
When it is offered, this sacrifice will purge conscience, will purge
sin, will silence the guilt of the conscience screaming constantly
against you, will ease your soul because God has accepted the
sacrifice. The Lord Jesus says, as he's
coming into the world, a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure,
no satisfaction, but it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Then
said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book. In the volume of
this book right here, this right here, in the volume of the Old
Testament scriptures, in the volume of the book of God's eternal
decrees, it is written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. above when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. I come to bring
in everlasting righteousness, to put away sin, to save your
people. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. Now read that just exactly as
it's written. He taketh away the first in its
totality. All the types and shadows of
good things to come, he takes them away. All the commandments
and ordinances and ceremonies of the Old Testament law, he
takes them away. All the covenant of works that
said do this and live, do this and die, he takes it away. I
don't mean to suggest that somehow he sort of Put it in the background. I don't mean that somehow he
sort of laid it down under your feet. Somehow it's by your side. No, no, no. He takes away the
old covenant in its entirety. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. He can't bring
in the second. except he take away the first.
But what it says, he taketh away the first for this purpose, that
in order that he may establish the second. The only way the
new covenant of grace, the only way God's covenant of salvation,
of grace, of life and peace for his people can be fulfilled,
can be established, is by the fulfilling of the old covenant
and takes it away that it may bring in the second. Verse 10. By the which will. That is, by
our Savior's fulfilling the will of God, we are sanctified. Sanctified. Get your concordance and understand
what it says. By the which will, we are holy. By the which will, we are made
holy. I don't mean some of us are. I mean every sinner redeemed
by the blood of Christ, every sinner who believes on the Son
of God is holy. Not some holy and some holier
and some holiest. Holy. Holy as God himself is
holy. Holy, made whole. by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,
one time with finality. And every priest and daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. He sat down because there's nothing
else to do. He sat down because his work
was finished. He sat down because he's entered into his rest. He
sat down because he's finished all that he came to do. From
henceforth, what's this? Expecting. Expecting. Yonder sets the Son of God in
the ease of sovereign serenity on the throne of the universe
with an expectation expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. That means every knee shall bow. and every tongue confess of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth. Every
angel, every human being, every demon of hell and Satan himself
shall bow to his feet and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. That means you're gonna bow.
You're gonna bow. You're going to confess that
Christ is Lord and that it's right that he be Lord. You're
going to confess that he is indeed the Christ of God and acknowledge
him as such, either as you bow now and seek his mercy. or as you shall be forced to
bow in the day of judgment and say amen to your own damnation
as it cast you into hell. Read on. Expecting till his enemies
be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected. Oh, what a good word. He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. There is a word used in the New
Testament that's translated saved. Saved. That same word is translated
whole. Thy faith hath saved thee. Thy
faith hath made thee whole. Both words are exactly the same.
Exactly the same. Because you see, when Christ
Jesus comes into the life of a sinner, He takes that center
that's not complete. That center fallen in our father
Adam is not complete. He's not a whole man. He's described
in scripture, both metaphorically and literally in the pictures
of men and women who were healed by our Savior as lame. and blind,
and deaf, and dumb, and hot, and withered with the palsy. And the Lord Jesus, when He healed
them with the touch of His hand or with the word of His mouth,
made them whole. Christ Jesus comes in saving
grace and makes sinners whole. them that are sanctified, them
that are made holy. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
witness to us. He witnesses to us both in his
word and in our soul's experience. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them. I go down to Dublin
Wednesday, Brother Russell Smith asked me, he said, what does
that mean? What does that mean? I'll put
my law in their heart and in their minds I'll write my law. What does that mean? It does
not mean, it does not mean God will cause you to know what the
commandments are. God will cause you to know what
he requires. God will cause you to know his
holiness. God will cause you to know right
from wrong. That's not what it means. You
have all of that by nature. Everybody here knows that. For as long as I can remember
knowing anything, I knew not to lie. I did it, but I knew
not to do it. For as long as I can remember
knowing anything, I knew it was wrong to take something that
wasn't mine. You're born with that kind of law in your heart.
It's called conscience. When God says, I will put my
laws in their hearts, I will write them upon their minds.
He's saying, I'm going to put myself in. I'm going to put Christ
in you, the hope of glory. I'm going to make you partakers
of the divine nature so that my law is your law. My commandment is your commandment. This is that new man created
in righteousness and in true holiness. Read on. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. Their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. That's just almost beyond imagination,
Fred. How can God, who knows everything,
not remember our sins? The omniscient God, Donald Ranere,
doesn't remember your sins. How can that be? Because they're
God. God can't remember what he's
not. And he hasn't just pretended
that we've not sinned. He's fixed it so that God says,
we've not sinned. He has put away our sins. I will remember them no more.
No more. No more. Past, present, and future. Now, where remembrance of these
is, or rather where remission of these is, there is no more
offering for sin. That means Babi Estes You don't owe God anything because
of your sins. You don't owe God anything because
of your sins. We owe Him everything because
of His grace. We owe Him everything because
of His mercy. We owe him everything because
of his love. We owe him everything because of his blood. We owe
him nothing because of our sin. Nothing. How can that be? There's
no more offering for sin that's not there. There's no more offering
for sin that God's put away. Having therefore, brethren, boldness,
boldness. Boldness to enter in. Enter into
the holiest, the holy of holies, by the blood of Jesus. That is
boldness to enter into the throne room of God. Boldness to enter
into the presence of God. Boldness to enter into God's
dwelling place. Boldness. The word is freedom. Freedom, complete liberty, no
sense of apprehension. Little baby starts to walk. That little baby might be afraid
at the sight of other people. Afraid at the voice of another. Afraid at the sight of another
man or another woman. But if Daddy's there, that little
baby not afraid. That little baby crawl up on
Daddy's lap with a dirty diaper Daddy can't hardly stand the
smell of. And it doesn't bother that baby one bit. How come?
That's Daddy. And the baby has no sense that
Daddy's not going to accept it. No sense that daddy is going
to push her aside. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. This
is my daddy. When God the Holy Spirit comes
in saving power and grace. giving life to sinners whom he's
adopted from eternity, declaring to them they're his sons by faith
in Jesus Christ the Lord. We call God Father, Abba Father. We have boldness then to enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living
way, not by the old carnal ordinances of the law, not by what we do,
not by what we bring, but by that way which he hath consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, by his
life, his obedience unto death as our substitute. And having
a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with
a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience so that we no longer have a tormenting
guilty conscience because the blood of Christ offered at Calvary
is sprinkled upon our hearts and our bodies washed with pure
water, washed by the Spirit of God in regeneration. Trust in
Christ, the Lord Jesus, our great high priest, our sin-atoning
substitute, Paul says, let us draw near with a true heart. Oh, God give me a true heart. God give you a true heart. Conviction of sin is found in
a true heart. Faith in Christ is found in a
true heart. Prayer is found in a true heart. Worship is found in a true heart. A true heart is a heart such
as Job describes God had given him. He said, God maketh my heart
soft. God's promise in the covenant
is I'll take away the heart of stone and give you a heart of
flesh. I'll take away that hard heart He describes it in Zechariah
7 as hard as adamant. I'll take away that hard heart
of stone and give you the soft heart of life. I've tried to do a little research
about the adamant stone. I don't know that it was a literal
stone at any time, but it was mentioned often in ancient writings.
I think it was probably a mythological stone. But Zacharias says your
heart's like adamant, like adamant. The adamant stone was a stone
that nothing could cut and nothing could break. That's a pretty
good description of you. That's a pretty good description
of your son, your daughter, your husband, your wife, your mother,
your father, your grandmother, and your grandfather. Nothing
will break it, nothing will break it. Adamant, adamant, adamant. Folks say, well, you know, I
could just speak to my daughter and break her heart. No, no,
no. It would cause her to cry a little
bit, wouldn't break her heart. Might make her afraid a little
bit, wouldn't break her heart. No, no, no, no, no. You're not going
to break any natural hearts. Adamant. Nothing could penetrate
it. Nothing. Danger. Fear, compassion,
mercy, near death experiences. No, nothing will penetrate it. Nothing can break it. Adamant,
adamant. But according to legend, the
only thing that would soften the adamant was the blood of
a goat. Now, as I said, the whole thing
may be mythological with regard to the adamant stone and the
bloodsgoat, but I know this, this art would not be penetrated and would
not be broken and could not be crushed and could not be made
soft. until the blood of the Lamb of
God was sprinkled on this heart, and that dissolves it quickly. It softens the heart. God hath
made my heart soft. Oh, that's what makes the true
heart. If I have a true heart, a heart
made soft by God's grace in Christ Jesus, if Christ is my great
high priest, if I trust the Son of God, This text tells me that
I can and should draw near to God in all his glorious holiness
in full assurance of faith. Now, let me wrap this up with
these five questions. Number one, what would it mean
to you to know? Lindsey, that's a huge, strong,
mighty, powerful word. Know. To know. To know. I don't care what kind of training
you have and what field of study you have been educated or how
great your mind is, there is very little that you know. Very little that you know. You guess about most everything
and presume about far too much, but no. What would it mean to
you to know that every sin you've ever committed, every sin of your life, past,
present, and future, is forgiven, blotted out, and remembered no
more forever. Every sin of mind, heart, tongue,
head, hand, and soul, open sin and secret sin, known sin and
unknown sin. What would it mean to you to
go home today knowing that in the books of God in heaven,
there is no sin recorded against you and none ever can be. What would it mean to you? Will
you listen to me? Right where you are right now, young and old, Religious and
irreligious. Will you listen to me? Will you
listen to me? If you, right now, believe on the Son of God, you
go home knowing all your sins are gone. What does the book
of God say? The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Listen to what God says. I, even I am he that blotteth
out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember
thy sins. Put me in remembrance. What a word! God says, you come
to me and put me in remembrance. Remind me what I said. Remind
me of what I said. Remind me of what I said. I blot
out your sins and I won't remember them. And the word is a continual
word. Not, I am he that blotted out.
I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions and will not remember
thy sins. The blood of Jesus Christ not
cleansed us, though that's certainly true, but the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin so that it's
not possible that sin be imputed to God's elect. There was a man
by the name of David who took the wife of one of his most loyal, faithful
servants. And when he was about to be found
out, in order to cover his sin, David murdered that man. Now, Merle, as far as our minds
can rationalize things, those are two of the most heinous crimes
imaginable. Is that right? Two of the most heinous crimes
imaginable. And on the day that God's prophet
Nathan came to David, and exposed his sin on the day that God graciously
forced David to confess, I have sinned. He went home and he wrote
the 32nd Psalm and this is what he said, blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute sin. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute sin. If we confess our sin, he's faithful
and just to forgive us of all sin. Second, what would it mean
to you to know that the eternal, holy, righteous, and just God
has totally reconciled you to himself. Turn to Colossians chapter
1. Colossians 1. What would it mean to you to
know that there's no wrath, no fury, no anger, no enmity in
God toward you? Not even a frown. to know that you're accepted
in love and peace. I'm not talking about a sham,
preteen religion peace. I'm talking about peace God bestows
himself. Our Savior says, my peace give
I unto you. Now that's peace. Rex, what kind
of peace do you suppose the Lord Jesus has right now with God? What kind of peace do you reckon
that is? The peace that he earned as our all-sufficient effectual
mediator. He says, my peace give I unto
you. He didn't just say, peace I give
you. He said, my peace I give unto you. My peace. The very
peace that he has so that You to whom he gives this peace. There's never a possibility of
God frowning on you, or being displeased with you, or punishing
you, or holding anything against you. That's what every believer has
in Christ. Look at Colossians 1.20. having
made peace through the blood of his cross. By him, I say,
to reconcile, I'm sorry, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled. Nothing between my soul and my
Savior, so that His blessed face may be seen. Nothing preventing
the least of His favor. Jesus is mine. There's nothing
between, nothing between. Third, what would it mean to
you to have a new heart? A new spirit. A new nature. A nature that really does love
God. A nature as truly inclined to
God as this flesh is to self. A new nature that hates sin and
loves the things of God, the Word of God, the people of God,
the worship of God, finds it no greater delight in the world
than to be in His will and in His presence. That's the heart
and the spirit and the nature of all who are saved by God's
grace. Believe on the Son of God. and you go home partakers of
the divine nature. God give you faith in his son.
Trust Christ and you go home new creatures in Christ. It is
written old things are passed away and all things are become
new. That nature is described in 1
John chapter 3. John tells us plainly, now with
regard to what we are by nature, that doesn't change. And I'm
not going to tell you it does. I'm not about to suggest such
a thing. Oh, no. If you believe on Christ right
now, if God gives you his grace and makes you partakers of the
divine nature right now, before you get done saying thank you,
your old lust will arise against God. because the old nature is
there with us until we leave this world. But that which doeth
not righteousness, John tells us, is not of God. That's of
the devil. That's Satan's work. That's hellish. That's what we
got as a result of Adam's fall under the assault of Satan in
the garden. No, no, no. That's not of God. But whosoever
is born of God doth not Say it. It does righteousness. And that which is born of God,
he that's born of God only does righteousness. So that we can
say honestly, I love thy precepts, O Lord. I love thy precepts, O Lord. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. God's people are given a new
nature, a nature that truly loves God. I acknowledge to you, to myself, and indescribably
more importantly, I acknowledge to God, I am sin. And I come to God in the name
of his dear son and acknowledge to God and rejoice to do so. I am righteous. I am holy because I am God. That's what God declares. And
He calls on us to reckon ourselves dead indeed into sin just as
God reckons us dead to sin. Here's the fourth thing. Turn
to Isaiah chapter 3. I've got to hurry, but I want
you to see this. Isaiah chapter 3. What would it mean to you to
know that every trial and every failure every joy and every sorrow. Every good day and every difficult
day is ordained, desired, and purposed and ordered of God,
your heavenly father, for your eternal good and his glory. That all things that come to
pass in your life and in the life of your family It's for
your good to know, to know that. Look at Isaiah chapter three
and verse 10. Say ye to the righteous that
it shall be well with him. Let's stop right there for a
minute. We'll come back to the last sentence in just a minute. Say
ye to the righteous that it shall be well with him. The righteous. made righteous in free justification
with the righteousness of Christ imputed to us. made righteous
in regeneration, that is in sanctification, by the new birth with the righteousness
of Christ imparted to us. These are the righteous ones,
not those who make themselves righteous or pretend they're
righteous. Say to the righteous, made righteous in the sweet experience
of God's grace, that it shall be well with them. Read that statement, my brother.
Read that statement, my sister, as broadly as your heart's imagination
can carry it. There are no conditions to the
promise, no qualifications to the promise. Say ye to the righteous,
It shall be well with him. There are no limits to the promise. Our God, who cannot lie, made
the promise. Our hearts ought to respond. If God has said it, then it is, has been, and always
shall be, well with me. It's well with my soul. Indeed
it is. It is well with my soul. When
the righteous live in this world, the Lord God will have us to
understand that it is well with us now. I recall as a young man,
a young believer. I was just 17 years old. And I don't now remember what
the trial was with any clarity. But I was going through a severe
trial. Now, you might laugh at that,
but you've got to understand that when a baby is learning
to walk and that baby falls down and scratches his knees, that's
about as much trouble as it has. That's a real trial. And this
baby, when he was 17 years old, A babe in God's grace going to...
Brother Claus, I just thought, well, it's all over. This won't
last any longer. I thought it's all been for nothing. And I was searching the scriptures
and I came to this text of scripture. You can look at it later in 1
Thessalonians 5. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Now, whatever it is that you
experience yesterday, today, or tomorrow, if you're one of
God's righteous ones, this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you. what David and Teresa and their
family are going through right now. While we feel and hurt with you,
I want you to rejoice in this. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. It is well with the righteous
right now. It's well with the righteous when everything seems
to be ill. Who could imagine walking up
to Job Here's Brother Job. In one day,
in one day, Job lost everything he possessed. And he was a filthy
rich fellow. He lost everything he possessed. And he lost every one of his
children, all of his sons and all of his daughters. And he
lost his health. All in one day. And he lost his
name of reputation and respect all in one day. Until his wife
said, Job, why don't you cuss God and die? Now you walk up
to Job, just after his wife says to him, why don't you cuss God
and die? And say to Job, oh Job, things are going well for you,
buddy. Looks like you're getting along pretty good. Job, might
justifiably, if he had the strength to do so, bloody your nose. But
that's not what Job did. For his wife urged him to cuss
God and die. And Job said, oh, no. No, no,
no. Naked came I out of my mother's
womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord giveth, and
the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Now you read the next chapter,
Job had some struggles. But Job, the righteous one, understood,
it is well with my soul. It's well with the righteous,
even when it's ill to everyone else. There was famine in the
land, and the widow of Zarephath was perishing with famine, but
God sent his prophet to take care of her. When temptations
come, it's still well with the righteous, for with the temptation,
God makes a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. When
trials come, it's well with the righteous, for he that endureth
temptation shall receive the crown of life. And it's well
with the righteous, even when Satan buffets." Ruth just sang
about it, all beat down by Satan, weak. And he begged the Lord
to forgive him, to take it from him, and the Lord said, Paul,
My grace is sufficient for thee. It's well with the righteous
when we sin and even when we fall. I don't want to reproach God's
name. I don't want to do anything dishonor
my God, but I am fully aware that I'm
capable of any evil any other human being might do. I'm fully
aware of it. And I'm fully aware that there
are folks all over the world who'd be tickled to death to
find out Fortner had really messed up. I'm fully aware of that.
I recognize that. If I'm out with you folks at
dinner Everybody has a glass of wine and enjoys themselves.
That's just fine. I might have it here at the house
if I'm spending the night with you, but not out there. I'm not going
to touch a sip for just one reason. I wouldn't get in the car and
drive home from your house after supper with wine on my breath,
lest I might possibly even be charged with driving under the
influence. Can you imagine what would happen
in the Danville paper the next day? Ah, look it, I did it! Always
knew he was that way. Look at it. Listen to this. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy, when I fall. I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord
shall be a light unto me. I will bear the indignation of
the Lord because I've sinned against him until he plead my
cause and execute judgment for me. He will bring me forth to
light, and I shall behold His righteousness." You righteous ones, you who are
born of God, it shall be well with you as long as you live
on this earth, and well with you in the hour of death. Oh,
but not all believers die with peace and joy. You're right,
they don't. They don't. It's still well with
the righteous. Spurgeon told of a man in his
congregation, faithful man, faithful man, just loyal, dependable,
faithful, believing man, good witness, had four sons, all grown,
who were rebels. And he prayed for them relentlessly.
And he told his pastor, he said, I want my sons to be with me
when I die. I want them to see how a believer
dies. Maybe that will be used of God
to persuade them. And they were. His sons watched
him die, but he didn't die, Oscar, like he thought he would. He
died in darkness. questioning whether he knew God,
questioning whether God would have him, he died in utter desperation. Just utter desperation. No comfort
could he find. It was well with him. He got
just exactly what he had asked God to do. After his death, his
oldest boy called the three younger sons together and he said to
them, if our father such a believing man as our father, died so horribly,
how will it be for us? And they were, each of them,
eventually converted by God's grace. It's well with the righteous
in the hour of death, no matter how it comes, and no matter what
we experience in it. And it will be well with the
righteous in the day of judgment. when our God says to the righteous,
come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. When our God says to the righteous,
well done, thou good and faithful servant. And it shall be well with the
righteous forever. How can you be sure of that?
Look at the next line of our text, that text in verse 10.
Isaiah 53, chapter 3, verse 10. For they shall eat of the fruit
of their doings. How can that be? They shall eat
of the fruit of their doings? God's going to judge you and
me for our works. At the great white throne, And
all the damned shall eat of the fruit of their doings. And all
who believe on the Son of God shall eat of the fruit of their
doings. For we who are his, while he
walked on this earth, lived in perfect righteousness
and did all the will of God perfectly. and believed him through darkness
like Gethsemane, and darkness like being forsaken of God at
Calvary, and darkness of agony and woe, yet believed him perfectly. And when he died and swallowed
the sword of justice, we took the sword of justice ourselves. We were indeed baptized with
the baptism with which he was baptized at Calvary. And now
God says, say to the righteous, it shall be well with him for
he shall eat of the fruit of his doings. One last question. What would it mean to you to
know assuredly that growing old and dying is the very best, most
wonderful thing that could happen to you. Children of God, ask God to teach
you to think rightly about death. To think rightly about death.
Yes, We sorrow at the loss of one we love, and that's perfectly
all right. I can't imagine not sorrowing
at the loss of somebody I love. I can't imagine not sorrowing,
but not as others which have no hope. Don't think of death
like that. We who believe should have no
apprehension concerning death. I tell Dr. Hendrickson often,
I, and if other doctors, death is not a problem. Dying is not
a problem. That's not a problem. It's the
process I'm paying you to help me through. I want to avoid the
process if I can, but death is not a problem. The best thing
that can happen to me, hear me my God, the best thing
that could happen to me is for me to die now. This second, the
very best thing that could happen for to be absent from the body
is to be present with the Lord. How can you say that? I believe
on the son of God. Believe on the son of God. and go home today rejoicing in
His goodness in all things with full assurance of faith. I draw near to God in faith,
calling on God in prayer. When the moment comes when I
shall indeed enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus
Christ as he himself has, I shall enter in with boldness, with
confidence, and with joy. I know. because I believe on
the Son of God. Oh, God give you faith in His
darling Son. Amen.