Martin Luther once wrote, if
I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every
portion of the truth of God except precisely that, where that little
point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking,
if I profess every point God's revelation, except precisely
that point that the world and the devil are at that time attacking. I am not confessing Christ, however
boldly I may be professing Christianity. He went on to say, where the
battle rages, the loyalty of the soldier is proved. and to
be steady on the battlefield besides this one point. To be steady everywhere else
is mere flight and disgrace to the soldier if he flinches at
that one point. Now, there is one point of divine
revelation, one point of gospel truth. at which the whole world
assaults God our Savior. One point at which the whole
religious world assaults God our Savior. One point upon which
the whole of true Christianity stands or falls. The denial of this one issue
The denial of this one revelation, the denial of this one blessed
gospel truth is an utter denial of the faith of Jesus Christ. What is it, pastor? Particular
effectual redemption, limited atonement, the accomplished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If there is any place at which
men will pretend to believe all the revelation of God and then
compromise, it will be here. I have known men for 40 years
who profess to believe the gospel revelation of God's grace, speaking
of particular effectual redemption, the accomplished atonement of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who today are finding ways to excuse compromise
in this point, because this is the offensive point of the gospel. What do you mean by limited atonement,
particular effectual redemption? I mean, Bill, that the Son of
God actually did redeem his people. He didn't just try. He actually
did put away sin. He didn't just make it possible.
He actually did save His people from their sins. He did not merely
make it possible for men by the exercise of their wills to save
themselves trusting Him. He actually saved His people. Faith in Christ is not the cause
of salvation. Your faith in Christ is the result
of Christ's redemption. If you believe on the Son of
God, He bought salvation for you and bought this grace for
you. We believe, as the Scriptures clearly reveal, that Jesus Christ,
God's Son, died for a specific people called God's elect. Them,
all of them, and none but them. To suggest, to suggest in any
way, as multitudes do, as multitudes do, as almost everybody does,
that Christ died for people who go to hell anyway is to declare
that Jesus Christ died in vain. It is a denial of His very Godhead. To say that He tries to do what
He fails to do, that He makes a stab at what He doesn't accomplish,
that He wants what He doesn't have, that He wills what He doesn't
perform is to deny His Godhead. Jesus Christ shall not fail,
the scripture says. Shall not fail. Oh, what a travesty to have men
pretend to believe the word of God and pretend to preach it
who deny this. This past few days I've had contact
with a good many fellas. Had a preacher talking to him
about a missionary and I said Does he preach the gospel? He
said I don't know. I Have a why do you support him? Why send
him a dime? Now, let me speak to you in this
congregation and to all who have any connection with this congregation
who pay these messages around the world every missionary we
support Believes and preaches the gospel doctrine of limited
atonement If they didn't I'd pay them to come home, but I
won't send them a nickel to stay there I'm not about to support
somebody to preach on the mission field what I don't preach in
this pulpit is not going to happen Not so long as I have breath
to breathe and I'm pastor this congregation. It is not going
to happen What are you about all those other missionaries?
They don't teach folks to raise chickens and quit trying to preach
They got no business preaching. We don't have anyone in this
congregation Ever to call I don't I wouldn't call on a man to pray
to read scripture I wouldn't call on him to open the door
back yonder and let us in or out if he said I don't believe
in limited Toba. I I don't do it. I don't call
on anyone to do anything leading God's people in any way who are
not faithfully committed to the gospel of God's grace. These
folks who sing and read scripture and pray and teach, they're faithful,
dependable folks, believe the gospel of God's grace. If they
didn't, I wouldn't have them. Wouldn't have them do it. I'm
not going to do it. If my nearest kinsman walked in here, And I
knew he did not believe the gospel of God's grace, but he was religious
as all get out. I don't care if he'd been a missionary
in Africa for 50 years. I would not call on him to pray
or ask the blessing at the table. Wouldn't do it. Well, why? Because
I'm not about Jonathan to point you in the direction of a false
prophet and say, follow him. Well, that would be not about
to give approval to such things. If I recommend a preacher, these
places, look at me for a pastor, does he believe in the limits
of your tongue? If I give his name to you, yes, sir. Yes, sir. I don't recommend any others.
Why? Because, David, those who deny this gospel doctrine deny
that Jesus Christ is God. That's the issue. With the Apostle
Paul, I say, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm not talking about that
piece of wood on which he hung or some image of that piece of
wood you wear around your neck as a charm as idolaters do. I'm talking about the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And with that in
mind, turn with me to Isaiah 53. And I want to make one more
stab at asserting this sweet, blessed, God-honoring revelation
of the gospel. Isaiah 53, the title of my message
is Sin Laid on Christ. Isaiah 53, verse 6, God the Holy
Spirit tells us, the Lord hath laid on him the triune Jehovah
hath at one time in the past with finality laid on Jesus Christ
our surety the iniquity of us all. Now lest I fail to mention
it when I get to our text in a moment. Notice he refers to
us all. I read in Matthew all Judea and
they'd all gone after the Lord Jesus to be, or John, to be baptized
of him. All refers to many, not all.
And here, when he says the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all, Isaiah is talking about a specific people. He's
talking about all who believe on him, all who are redeemed
by him, all who are saved by him. But now notice this. He's
talking about a great multitude. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. looks to me like that ought to
read, the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all. But it's just talking about one
aspect of sin, iniquity, all right? But we all have them.
Looks like it ought to be plural. He hath laid on him the iniquities
of us all. But see, what it looks like to
human reason usually is not the case. What it looks like to human
reason is never the case. Why does God say the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all? Because God would have us
to understand that he gathered together all the iniquity, transgression,
and sins of all his people for all the ages of time in all parts
of the world and made them to meet on his son and made it all
his iniquity. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. All right. That's my subject.
That's my text. Sin laid on Christ. But let's
begin reading back up at Isaiah 53 verse one. Who hath believed
our report? I've been preparing this message
all week, looking forward to preaching it to you and trying
to get ready Yesterday and last night, this morning, I keep praying
God will cause you to believe. Who's going to believe it? Who's
going to believe it? Who's sitting here in front of
me is going to believe it? Who, who hears this over the next
days and months and years, various means we distribute it, is going
to hear it. Who has believed it? Read the next line, I'll tell
you. And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? If God reveals it to you, you'll
believe it. If God doesn't reveal it to you,
you'll just go in one ear and out the other. Just that simple. All my preparation, all my study,
all my diligence, all my efforts, be they what they may, will make
no difference whatsoever to your soul unless the Lord reveals
himself to you and in you. For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground, nobody impressive,
nothing to look at, he hath no form, no comeliness, And when
we shall see him, there's no beauty that we should desire
him. Everybody has these silly pictures. They're called pictures
of Jesus and they're religious icons and trinkets. That stuff
comes right out of Rome. I don't know why folks can't
see that. It's just idolatry. And all of them portray something
that's supposed to be a man as some kind of a light in a loafer's
effeminate thing and call it Jesus Christ our God and Savior. Those pictures in no way represent
Him. In no way represent Him. Isaiah
tells us right here, if you could get a picture of the Son of God,
you dead sure wouldn't want it hanging in your living room. You dead sure wouldn't want to
hang it in your dining room. Here he is, beaten, spit upon,
covered with the excrement of men's filth all over him, his
beard plucked out, blood all over him, all over him, a massive
clot of blood running down his body. Nobody would want to see
it. Forget it. There's nothing about
him to attract us, nothing about him to attract our eyes. When
we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. He's
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And we hid as it were our faces
from him. If you have a marginal translation,
read what it says. Our translators were honest men.
And when they thought there might be a better alternate translation,
they give it to you in the margin. The marginal translation reads,
he hid as it were his face from us. When he was made sin for us,
God darkened the earth that none might see. He was despised, and
we esteemed him not, cared nothing for him. Surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. He died in our stead, we said
good enough for him. He died under the wrath of God,
and we trampled his blood under our feet. He died in our room
instead, and we had no regard for him. But he was wounded,
profaned, broken, stained, defiled, polluted, tormented for our transgressions. He was bruised, made to crumble,
beat to pieces for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. Oh, we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord hath made, hath laid on him, hath made to
meet on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed. He was afflicted, yet he opened
not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dug, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. Because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet. Yet, this
one who'd done no violence, this one who was perfectly, completely
righteous and honest, this one who did no sin and knew no sin
and could not sin, yet it pleased the Lord. It pleased the Lord. Bob Ponce,
it was God's good pleasure. And there was no other way justice
could be satisfied God forgive your sin it pleased the Lord
to bruise him it pleased the Lord to crush him in his wrath
He hath put him to grief When thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin The Holy Spirit translates that the second Corinthians 521
when thou shalt make his soul to be said When thou shalt make
his soul to be said everywhere in the scriptures where you read
those two words, sin offering, everywhere in the scriptures. That offering referred to in
our English Bible as sin offering is the word sin everywhere. Here, when the Holy Spirit tells
us that our Lord Jesus is referred to here, our substitute, it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, We're told plainly in 2nd Corinthians 521
as Paul refers to this text when thou shalt make his soul to be
sin. Oh, what a statement. He shall
prolong his, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days. He will see his seed justified
and sanctified and glorified. He'll see him every one saved.
He shall prolong his days. He's going to rise from the dead
and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. God
will put in his hands the dominion of the universe. God will give
him power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the
father has given him. Read on. He shall see of the
travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. I hope I never forget When I
heard Thomas Lawrence declare that I was in school at Piedmont
Bible College in Worcester, Salem, North Carolina, they had a fellow
in. Once in a while, a fellow would
slip through the cracks, as they say, who actually preached the
gospel of God's grace. And he was preaching to us in
chapel one morning with a Welchman, and he said, I will glory in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ because the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ shall never be discovered a miscarriage. He shall see of
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. You know now, by
his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. It doesn't say by knowledge of
him, does it? By his knowledge, he shall justify. By his knowledge
of what he accomplished as our divine surety, fulfilling all
righteousness, putting away all sin, satisfying all the justice
of God, for the many for whom he lived and died, he shall justify
them, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I
divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul into
death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bared
the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. All right,
let's look at our text, verse 6. Verse 6. No, don't do that. Look back at the end of chapter
53. Read the next word. Sin. Sing! This is what gladdens the
hearts of God's people. All that Christ has accomplished
for us. Now, let's look at our text. In this short, clear, simple
declaration of God, we're given three blessed gospel truths revealed
by God the Holy Spirit that all who believe God, every saved
sinner, every sinner taught of God, the least of them to the
greatest of them, all the Israel of God, all the church of God,
all the people of God, every one of them, believe, acknowledge,
and confess these three things to be so. First, here is original
sin. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. You and I, our sons and daughters,
our mothers and fathers, our grandma and granddaddies, generations
past and generations to come, all the sons of Adam went astray
at one time in the sin and fall of our father Adam. It's called
original sin because that's the first sin. Wherefore as by one
man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death
passed upon all men for that all have sinned. This is what
the book says. In Adam all die. That's all. All you get from Adam is death. Death, the result of sin. Death, the just and right result
of sin. In Adam, all die. All are born
in iniquity. All are born in sin. All are
born sinners because in Adam, all die. Now, the fact of scripture
is very plain. Adam is the federal head and
representative of all the human race. In reality, God just deals
with two men. He just deals with two men, just
two. He deals with the first Adam and the last Adam. He deals
with Adam in the garden, who was a similitude, that is a type
and a representative of the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who came in time and fulfilled all the covenant of God's grace.
The first Adam was the head of the whole human race. The last
Adam was the head of God's elect. Read Romans chapter 5. Just read
it. It's as obvious as a nose on
your face. Adam's sin was imputed to all men. Imputed to us all
because with Adam's sin we sinned. In Adam we sinned. God does not
impute sin where there is none. God doesn't pretend that sin
exists where it doesn't exist. God doesn't pretend that people
are sinners and so punish them for sin. He imputed sin to us
because we sinned in our father Adam. A crime cannot be charged
judicially until the crime has been committed. God doesn't impute
sin until sin's committed. And when we sinned in our father
Adam, we died in our father Adam, God imputing sin to us. Adam's depraved nature then is
imparted to all his sons and daughters by nature. There sits
Ricky Dale, Bobby's grandson, Rick's son. The one thing you
contributed, Bobby, was sin. That's all. That's all. The one thing every child dead
sure gets from his daddy is sin. He may get his daddy's looks,
he may not. He may get his daddy's brains, he may not. He may get
his daddy's talents, he may not. The one thing dead sure every
son and every daughter gets from his daddy is his nature. So did
his heart. I know exactly what's in that
boy's heart. I know exactly what's in it. Because I know what's
in yours. And I know what's in mine. Because I know what this
book says. Out of his heart, we don't expect anything but
sin. Out of the heart come evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, blasphemies. That's what's in
the heart of man. The Son of God said so. Oh, but
we, we believe all men are basically good. That's because you believe
a lie. You've never been taught of God. We believe there's, we
believe there's some goodness in everybody. No, there's not.
Not any goodness in you. Read the word of God. Quit paying
attention to folks who don't. Read the scriptures. All have
sinned. And we inherit the nature of
our father Adam by natural generation. All right. Here's the second
thing. Clearly taught. personal depravity. In Adam,
we suffered a great fall and a great loss. We fell from God's
favor into condemnation. We fell from sinlessness into
sinfulness. We lost original righteousness,
fellowship with God, access to God, and all spiritual life and
all spiritual discernment. We fell from life into death,
from liberty into bondage, peace and enmity from light in the
darkness so that the natural man, his heart is enmity against
God. His mind is darkness. He has
no spiritual understanding, no spiritual knowledge, no spiritual
perception about anything, about anything. The natural man is
ignorant, ignorant, ignorant of all things spiritual. And
we're sinners. Centered by imputation, centered
by birth, centered by nature. But we're all centered by personal
choice. Look at this. We have turned
everyone to his own way. You who still live in rebellion
to God, you who still live with your fist shoved in God's face.
And that's that's the problem. That's the problem with unbelief.
Unbelief is not People say, well, do you want to go to heaven when
you die? I never met any fool who didn't. Did you? Did you? Well, surely you don't want to
go to hell. I never met anybody in my life,
Larry, who wanted to go to hell. Did you? Never. Well, believing
on Jesus must not just be a choice between going to heaven or going
to hell. No, the issue is not that at all. The issue, Don Renari,
is who's going to rule your life. Who's Lord? Who's master? You
will either bow to Christ or you'll perish in your sins. But
this is the way all men by nature choose. We've turned everyone
to his own way. Some turn to the high road of
morality, and everybody looks at him and says, oh, boy, look
at him. Oh, oh, darn, he applied himself when he was in school,
and he stuck with it, and he didn't run with the wrong crowd.
Look at him. Boy, he's made himself a fortune
and made himself a name. Others run the roadload of profligacy,
adultery, fornication, and drunkenness. And folks look at him and say,
ah, look at that dog. I knew him when he was growing
up. Yeah, this is what his teacher said he'd do. Turned out just
like we thought. And others choose the road of self-righteous religion.
But each chooses his own way according to the lust of his
heart. What the book says, what the
book says, so that if a man chases the bottle and dope all his life,
he's chasing his lust. And if a man chases riches and
fame all his life, he's chasing his lust. And if a man chases
religion all his life, he's chasing his lust, walking after the course
of this world under the influence of Satan. high society folks,
the low society folks, and the no society folks, all walking
after the lust of their hearts under the influence of Satan
straight to hell. And there's no difference. At
heart, they're all the same. At heart, they're all the same.
We have in this congregation doctors and folks who are carpenters,
folks who Do jobs that require a lot of education. Folks who
do jobs don't require a great deal of education. And some have
some money and some don't have any money. Some have good, strong
health and some don't. At heart, Mark Henson, every
one of us just alike. No difference. No difference.
No difference. None better than the other. None
more righteous than the other. None more sinful than the other.
at heart is what we are, is what we are. We choose each one his
own way, the way that seems right in his own eyes, best for himself,
living after his lust. That's the nature of man. God's
elect are like all other men by nature, ever going astray
from God, like sheep Foolish and ignorant, we ever stray from
the good shepherd and the fold of grace. We ever stray from
the path of peace and the way of life until we're sought and
found by the shepherd. He goes out and seeks his lost
sheep until they find it. And when he finds his sheep,
he lays his sheep on his broad shoulders and carries his sheep
home. He's the shepherd. He's the one
responsible for the sheep. And he saves the sheep. We would
never turn to the good way, but always to the dark and crooked
and slippery way, the way that seems right under man, the end
thereof being the ways of death and destruction. None will ever
return from his old way. until Christ the Good Shepherd
returns him. You were a sheep going astray,
but now you are turned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. Good to have Brother Todd, Larry's
son-in-law here. God planted a church down in
Nashville, put a pretty girl in your way. and caused you to
hear the gospel and returned you to himself. God returned you to himself or
you would never have turned to him. Lift your hearts to God
and give him thanks. And he keeps turning you to him
or you would soon turn from him. Here's the third thing. substitutionary
redemption. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Oh, what a wondrous, glorious
gospel truth. The triune Jehovah, the Lord
God against whom we have sinned, from whom we have strayed, whose
law we have broken, whose justice must be satisfied, has laid on
the Lord Jesus, his dear Son, all the sins of all his people. The Son of God was made sin for
us. God imputed our sins to his son. Do you remember what I said about
sin being charged us? God does not impute sin where
there is none. Justice cannot charge guilt until
the guilt has been acquired. It cannot charge a crime until
the crime has been performed. And sin could not be imputed
to our Savior until the Savior was made sin for us. When was
that? Before the world began. He's
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. What does our text
say? The Lord hath. But Brother Dodd, this was hundreds
of years before the Lord came into this world. This was hundreds
of years before Christ became incarnate. This is hundreds of
years before the Word was made flesh. I know that. There's a
little statement found in Hebrews chapter 4 at the end of verse
3 that I'd just almost be willing to pay to listen to preachers
all over this town, county, and state preach on. I would. I'd
pay good money to hear what they've got to say about it. I'd pay
good money to hear what they'd have to say. And if one of them
happened to be compelled to tell the truth, I'd pay real good
money to see what happened. Now this is what it says, Hebrews
4 verse 3. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. Adam doesn't say they were planned.
It doesn't say they were purposed. It doesn't say they were looked
after. It doesn't say this is what God wanted. It doesn't say
this is what God was hoping maybe would sort of possibly turn out
if Satan and hell and men were pretty pleased by their almighty
will, let him have his way. Take that God and kick him out
the door. That's Dagon. He ain't fit to be called God.
No, no. The works. We're finished from
the foundation of the world. For God to will a matter is for
it to be done. And the Lord Jesus Christ stood
forth as our surety before the world began. And he said, I will
redeem. I will suffer. I will die. I will put away sin by the sacrifice
of myself. And the father struck hands with
the son and the work was done. And the Lord laid on him our
iniquity when he died in our stead at Calvary, so that the
Lord Jesus in the fullness of time came, bearing our sin in
his own body on the tree, so that he was made sin for us in
the experience of the horrid wrath of God Almighty. made sin for us in the experience
of the fury and anger of God's justice, so that God cries awake,
O sword, against one that is my fellow, smite and slay the
shepherd. And God did so with no mercy. With no mercy when he made his
son sin for us. Tell you something else. He lays sin on the Savior. in the conscience of every sinner
given faith in his son. In Holy Spirit conviction, in
Holy Spirit conviction, he causes the guilty sinner to see his
sin laid on Christ. And there's nothing like that
in all the world. No soul comforting revelation
in all the world. My sin laid on my savior. He shall reprove the world of
sin because they believe not on me and of righteousness because
I go to my father. He'll convince you of your sin
and convince you that Christ has put away your sin and of
judgment finished because the prince of this world is judged.
He'll convince you that God has put away your sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. And you'll be like that publican
in the temple who cried, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Let me give you a literal, literal
translation of the publicans prayer. God, be propitiated for
me. God, look on Christ, the mercy
seat, the propitiation, the atonement. God, look on the blood shed by
your dear son. God, look on the finished work
of your son. Be merciful to me, the sinner. I am the sinner! I am the sinner! As if to say there's never been
one like me. Oh my God, there's never been
one like me. There's never been one like me. Know the next word you read about
that publican? This man went down to his house
justified. He obtained free, full forgiveness
on the spot in his own conscience. The Pharisee, the Lord's left him standing
in the temple bragging on himself. That's what he does with folks
who think they're good. Wonder if there's a sinner in
this place. A sinner. Doomed and damned justly so. You are. But you don't know it. You still think you're good. Oh, may God Scrape away your
veneer of goodness and make you to know your sin. Make you to
know your sin. If he will, if he will, you will
cry for mercy through Christ the Lord because Christ died
for you and he put away your sin. Amen.