Open your Bibles if you will
to the book of Habakkuk. This morning we're going to go
back to Habakkuk Chapter 1. There is nothing in all the world
so tormenting as guilt. A guilty conscience, I believe,
is the very fires of hell that cannot be quenched. Relentlessly
fueled by the indescribable sense of guilt before God, tormenting
the soul. The worm that never dies in the
pit of the damned, that, underlying, that undying worm that forever
gnaws upon the fully awakened conscience of the sinner in hell
is guilt. Nothing torments like guilt.
Some of you struggle with guilt, the guilt of a screaming, damning
conscience. It will not allow you to rest
at night. It causes you to toss and turn,
uncomfortable through the night and to live uncomfortable through
the day. Guilt. The guilt of a screaming, terrifying
conscience. You try to ease it with religion. You try to ease it with a show
of hypocrisy. You try to ease it with a pretense
of faith. You try to ease it with religious
ceremony, but still before your guilty conscience, your refuge
of lies is swept away. The bed you've been stretching
on, you found too short. The cover's too narrow, and there's
no comfort for your soul. Some of you who are God's people,
some of you who are believers, true believers in Christ. I have
no doubt at all, you, many of you who are born of God yet struggle
with guilt. You know that Christ paid your
sin debt, but you still carry the weight of the debt. Oh, how
unbearable it is. You know that the Lord Jesus
has redeemed you from the curse of the law, but you still carry
the weight of a condemned man in your soul. You know that Christ
is the Lord, your righteousness. You know that you believe that,
you know, that you are made the righteousness of God in him.
And still you're filled with a sense of guilt. Why? I can tell you, because you're
keenly aware of your inward lust and sin, and you still bear your
iniquities in your soul, and as often and as much as you look
to yourself for something in here that will give you peace
and acceptance with God, you will find nothing but guilt. Pay no attention. Pay no attention
to those deceivers of your soul who would have you look in yourself
for peace and assurance and acceptance with God. You look in here, you
find nothing but reason never to imagine you know anything
at all of God. And if you think you find otherwise,
it is a self-righteous pretense of hypocrisy. There's nothing
in you and nothing in me to give us any peace before God. The
only relief there is for a guilty, screaming, damning conscience,
the only relief for an accusing, condemning conscience is faith
in Jesus Christ our Lord. You'll never know the joy of
faith. the blessedness of peace, the
sweet comfort of God's peace in your soul until you believe
on the Son of God, until you rest your soul on Jesus Christ
the Lord, until God gives you faith in his Son, revealing Christ
in you. John Newton expressed it in a
hymn that I often quote because I love it. It's not found in
very many hymn books, and when it is, it's usually messed up
by somebody who tried to pervert it. But the words are words of
sweet, sweet remembrance and joy. In evil long I took delight,
unawed by shame or fear, till a new object struck my sight
and stopped my wild career. I saw one hanging on a tree in
agonies and blood who fixed his languid eyes on me as near his
cross I stood. Sure never till my latest breath
can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. my conscience felt, and owned
the guilt, and plunged me in despair. I saw my sins, his blood
had spilt, and helped to nail him there. The second look he
gave, which said, I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy
ransom paid. I die that thou mayst live." That hymn describes The most
wondrous thing God Almighty ever did. The most wondrous thing
God Almighty ever did. But you won't believe it. The title of my message this
morning is A Work You Won't Believe. A Work You Won't Believe. You
won't believe it. Look at our text, Habakkuk chapter
1. Six hundred years before our
God performed the mighty work of redemption, he spoke of that
great work he would perform, this wondrous thing called redemption
by Christ the substitute and said, you won't believe it. You
won't believe it. Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 5. Behold, I'm sorry, chapter one,
verse five. Behold ye among the heathen and regard and wonder
marvelously. Behold now among the heathen.
And the heathen, we'll find out just a little bit, included both
Jews and Gentiles. The heathen is talking about
unbelievers of both because the heathen among the Jews saw this
thing and they were displeased. And the heathen among the Gentiles
saw this thing and they believed not. Behold ye among the heathen,
the Romans and the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes
all joined together in one hellish work. put the son of God to death
upon the cursed tree. Behold ye among the heathen and
regard and wonder marvelously for I will work a work. Not the Jews. Not the Romans,
not the Gentiles, not the Pharisees, not the scribes, not the Sadducees.
God says this is my work. I will work a work. in your days,
talking about this gospel day in which we live, which ye will
not believe, though it be told you. Who hath believed our report? That's what Isaiah cried, wasn't
it? Who hath believed our report? And he answered the cry, to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed? You will not believe, though
a man declare it to you, unless the Lord speaks to you. Brother Ralph Barnard used to
say, if the only voice you hear today is my voice, you will have
had nothing beneficial to your soul. Nothing of eternal value
will be accomplished. Oh, God speak to you by his word. This is a prophecy about God's
coming judgment upon a nation who knew him not. A nation though
benefited and greatly blessed providentially with the knowledge
of God's worship, benefited and blessed providentially being
the only nation in the world to whom God sent his prophets.
blessed beneficially and providentially, being the only nation in the
world among whom God had established the outward symbols of public
worship. The only nation in all the world
who had an altar on which God was worshipped. The only nation
in all the world who had a mercy seat where God said, I'll meet
you. And yet they had turned the very
things that God set forth in his word to be pictures and types
of redemption by Christ into base idolatry. And God said,
I'm going to destroy you. He sends Nebuchadnezzar to take
Israel into Babylonian captivity for 70 years. But when Nebuchadnezzar
destroyed the temple at Jerusalem, the outward symbols of divine
worship were permanently destroyed. The temple was rebuilt, but never
again was the mercy seat found in the Holy of Holies. Never
again was the Ark of the Covenant there. God, by this act of judgment,
permanently destroyed the physical emblems of worship in the Old
Testament, and the Jews just kept on pretending for the next
500 years. Just kept on pretending. the
Pharisees and the priests going through their rituals and ceremonies,
just as though there really were a sacrifice and really were a
mercy seat. Because men love religion. Men love religion and they care
nothing for God. And that speaks to some of you.
Pastor, you don't dare talk to your congregation that way. If
it speaks of every one of you, I talk to you that way. Speaks
to some of you. You love religion, but you hate
God. Love religion, but hate God. Love forms and ceremonies
and a show, but won't worship God. Won't have it. Won't have
it. The Lord God says, however, I'm
going to perform my work anyway. This work that I'll perform in
the days of the gospel, and you won't believe it, though men
declare it to you. Are you sure this is what that's
talking about, Pastor? Turn to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter
13. There's no mystery about this
at all. The subject is the sacrifice
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The only other time this text
is mentioned in all the scripture is here in Acts chapter 13. And
the Holy Spirit here gives us his interpretation of what God
told the prophet Habakkuk in Habakkuk 1 5. Verse 13, the apostle
Paul is wrapping up his message and it says, be it known, I'm
sorry, verse 38, be it known unto you, therefore, men and
brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sins and by him. All that believe are justified
from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses verse 40 Beware therefore Beware therefore Are
you listening? Beware therefore Lest that come
upon you which was spoken of in the prophets behold ye despisers,
and wonder, and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. Beware. Bill, I've been preaching
this message to you for 32 years. Hear what the prophet says. Beware. Beware. All right, now
let's turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And I'm going to declare this
wondrous thing to you one more time, if God will let me. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse
21. For he hath made him to be sin. Notice the words to be are in
italics. I'll come to that in a minute. He hath made him to
be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. The first time I preached to
you, I preach to you from this passage
of scripture. And I preach from this passage
more to you and around the world than I have from any other, I'm
certain. And I keep praying that before I die, God will let me
one time preach this message here declared in this text of
scripture as it ought to be preached in the power of his spirit. Maybe
today, maybe. I remember when Brother Mahan's
commentaries were first published by Evangelical Press in England,
Brother Henry was in our house when the first reviews came out. And I remember one of the reviews
distinctly. Book reviews are not always real
pleasant to read. They're not always things that
you would like for someone else to say about you. And there was
one review in particular that came up And the fellow thought
that he was really slamming the book real good. He said, all
Mahan does is tell us what the text says. That's what he said. All Mahan
does is tell us what the text says. Well, that's exactly what
I want to do. Just tell you what the text says. Tell you exactly what it says.
and today in the very words that the text says. So you hold your
Bibles open to 2 Corinthians 5, and we're going to look just
at verse 21, and then we'll go back to Habakkuk. The text begins with this tremendous
connecting word, for. We often neglect those little
connecting words, for. That connects verse 21 with everything
the apostle has said all the way back to the first verse where
he's beginning to just call on sinners to come to Christ, to
believe on Christ, and lays the foundation, speaking of the immortality
of the soul, of heavenly glory, of judgment to come. And then
he speaks of the new creation accomplished by God's grace in
Christ for every sinner who believes on him. And then in verse 20,
He speaks of something God did in Christ Jesus. He says, for,
now then, we are ambassadors, Paul says. Ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. And that very call is based on
what it says in the preceding verse. This word of reconciliation
we preach. To wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself. How did he do that? Not imputing
their trespasses unto them. And hath committed to us the
word, the message of reconciliation. What's that? We go and proclaim
repentance. Not proclaim that you ought to
repent, but proclaim that repentance has been done. Not proclaim that
you ought to turn to God, but that God, by the sacrifice of
his son, has turned somebody to him. That's what this word
reconciliation is. God in Christ reconciled the
world to himself by the sacrifice of his son. Not everybody in
the world, but some folks all through the world. Not everybody
in all the world, but some in all parts of the world. His elect,
male and female, Jew and Gentile, black and white, bond and free,
learned and unlearned. God's elect through all the world
at one time turned to God by the sacrifice of His Son. The
Lord Jesus reconciled them to Him, satisfying justice on their
behalf. And now, because the work is
all done, I'm calling on you with God's authority as God's
ambassador. Be reconciled to God. Quit fighting
God. It's a losing battle. Quit fighting
God. If you fight him till you die,
you're going to hell. Quit fighting God. Lay down your
weapons of warfare. Bow to Christ. I recall, as I've
told you many times, over in Appomattox, Virginia, that picture
of Lee's surrender to the Union troops is a sad picture for me,
but it's a picture that portrays what needs to be done by you
and be done by me. Those Southern loyalists were
standing with their arms stacked. Sabres and rifles and their guns
and their powder horns and their bayonets everything stacked in
front of them and stand and salute as the conquerors ride by Merle heart we must bow Stacking
arms before God bow to him. That's what it is to be reconciled
to God Not by an outward show, but in your heart, raise the
flag of surrender. We beseech you, be reconciled
to God, because there's nothing for you to do. The work is fully
done. Look at the next line, or the
next word, rather. He. He. The triune Jehovah. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
All three persons in the Godhead are always actively involved
in the business of saving God's elect. The next word, hath. For he hath at one time in the
past, never to be repeated, he hath made. made. This word means wondrously,
mysteriously, unexplainably caused to become. People ask me to explain things
that I can't explain, and they want to debate about things they
can't explain. I know a lot of you folks use
Facebook and that's fine, that's fine. I have no objection. Please
don't misunderstand what I'm about to say. I don't because
I'm a pastor and I'm a preacher. And I would urge every pastor
and preacher in the world, don't do it because it's demeaning
to what we do. the internet, Facebook, or anything
else, and start to debate the things of God, you bring the
standard down right to the gutter of human reason. There's no place
for it. There's no place for it. How
do you debate what you can't explain? How do you debate that
which is so profound that God himself declares it to be mysterious
and can be known only by revelation? This word made means wondrously,
mysteriously, profoundly, unexplainably, calls to become. He hath made
him sin. The words to be are not in the
translation, are not in the text. They're in the translation because
the translators of the King James, unlike modern translators, The
translators of the King James, unlike modern translators, were
honest men. And when they would put words
into a text to make it read more smoothly, they simply put them
in italics so that when you read the text, you look at it, so
this makes it read more smoothly. But the translators are telling
me there's nothing corresponding in the original text to those
words. And if the words could be translated just as accurately
in another way, They'll put your marginal translation, giving
you another translation. And what they're saying is, this
could be translated this way, or it could be translated this
way, and the context doesn't determine which way. We simply
have to give you what it says. The text should read then, for
he hath made him sin. But then that takes the edge
off of it, doesn't it? hath made him sin." No explanation. No adjective. Nothing given to give some word
or some thought by which we might say, now this is what he meant. I recall when I was in school,
hadn't been in Bible college very long, and I was in one of
Bob Cox's classes on evangelism, and I raised a question, and
this gal sitting up front, ladies forgive me, but women make poor
theologians. But the younger they are, the
worse they are. This gal sitting up front, she said, Mr. Cox,
I think what Brother Don is wanting to say is, And I said, what Brother
Don's wanting to say is what he just said. If I'd wanted to
say something else, I'd have said something else. Well, what
the Lord's trying to say, he's not trying to say what he wanted
to say is what he said. He hath made him sin. What? The triune God has made
Jesus Christ The God-man, our mediator, God's darling son,
sin. That awful mass of iniquity,
that obnoxious, hideous, ugly, vile thing that God hates. The text doesn't say sin was
imputed to him, though it was. The sin could not be imputed
to him were he not made sin. Not justly. Not justly. Justice cannot impute that which
is not true. Eli imputed drunkenness to Hannah,
but Hannah wasn't drunk. Eli did that because Eli was
a man and men misunderstand things. You and I impute things to other
people that are not true. Happens to me all the time. Because
we're human beings, and men and women, human beings just don't
see everything. We don't know near as much as
we think we do, and sure don't know near as much as we talk
like we do. Just don't understand. They don't understand. How could you say that sin's
imputed to him, and yet, Sin's not made his. Can't be. Doesn't say he was made an offering
for sin. It is true, Christ is our sin offering. But that's
not what this says. This text does not say that he
was treated as though he were sin. The text does not say he
bore the effects of sin. The text does not say he was
reckoned to be a sinner. The text says he hath made him
sin. Say it. All that sin is, all that's involved in sin, iniquity,
transgression, sin. Go to Gethsemane and behold the Son of God. As
he cries, my God, my God, Why, I'm sorry, forgive me. And he
cries, oh my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. Three times, Bob, three times. Luke, the beloved physician,
records this. The third time he sweat, as it
were, great drops of blood falling to the ground. What is it that
crushed his soul? What is it? Oh, the thought of
all he had to suffer. In no way, in no way, think little
of our Lord's human sufferings. But do you know there are folks
who suffered worse than he did physically? The martyrs did. The physical
torment of being burned, and burning for hours? And do you
know what they did? They kissed the faggots as they
were about to be lit. Well, was the Lord Jesus less
of a man? Less bold, less courageous? Oh, no. But here, as he anticipates
death, he cries, if it'd be possible, let this cup pass from me. He's
not asking that God would deliver him from the cross or that God
would deliver him from physical death or that God would keep
him from going after all to death and to the grave. That's the
reason he came into this world. His holy soul quakes within him. as he anticipates being made
sin. I can't even imagine what must
have gone through his heart. But we can read it. Psalm 69.
Psalm 69. Thou hast known my reproach and
my shame and my dishonor and my adversaries are all before
thee. Skip, this is the Lord Jesus
speaking prophetically. There's no question about it.
The Psalms, his prayer calling for judgment upon Judas. And
the Lord Jesus says here in verse 19, Lord, you've known my reproach. My shame. My dishonor. And all my adversaries. He owns
these things as his own. Verse 20. Reproach. Had broken my heart. And I'm
full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity,
and there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. And then he's
taken and nailed to the cursed tree. Turn back to Psalm 22. Hold your hands in 2 Corinthians,
but turn back to Psalm 22. And here he is at the apex of
his obedience to the Father. Jehovah's righteous servant fulfilling
the very last task he must perform Doing the very last thing he
must do before he goes to glory And he cries my god my god Why
hast thou forsaken me? And through the psalm if you
want to read the whole psalm and I urge you to do so He through
the psalm he repeated and says Lord You heard others Other men
prayed, and you heard them. Others called on you, and you
answered them. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? From the words of my roaring,
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in
the night season, and am not silent. And then he answers his own plea.
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
Back in Habakkuk 1, the prophet Habakkuk said the same thing.
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look
on iniquity. Look here at verse 6, Psalm 22.
The Savior continues, but I'm a worm and no man. I reproach
a man and despise the people. Verse 14. I'm poured out like
water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax
is like wax is melted within in the midst of my bowels. My
strength is dried up like a potsherd and my tongue cleaveth to my
jaws and thou has brought me into the dust of death. Look
at Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Master says innumerable evils
have come past me, verse 12. Innumerable evils have come past
me. Innumerable evils have come past me about... Are you reading it? Do you see
what it says, John? Mine iniquities. My iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're more than
the hairs in my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me. No wonder, he said, reproach
hath broken mine heart. Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow wherewith the Lord God hath afflicted me,
he cried. Who is this one who's made sin?
Him who knew no sin. The infinite God. The holy man. Only he who is God could offer to God a life of
obedience and the sacrifice of infinite worth. of infinite merit
on the behalf of perishing, hell-deserving, doomed, damned sinners like us.
He who dies in our state must be of infinite worth. He is the
infinite God, our Savior, God the Son, and the holy man. Holy because he never knew sin. He never knew sin. Our text here,
2 Corinthians 5 21 says he knew no sin. He knew no sin. He was born without a sinful
nature. He is conceived in the womb of the Virgin by God, the
Holy Spirit brought forth without the aid of a man given by God
Almighty, by a special supernatural work came into this world, a
man without any evil tendencies. but tempted in all points like
as we are, yet without sin. But he never had a... Rex, I can't imagine this. He
never had a thought he shouldn't have had. He never had a passion that was
wrong, not a one. And this man made sin for us,
offers himself one sacrifice for sin. And at one time, takes
the whole of God's wrath on himself and consumed all the wrath of
God. In the Old Testament, fire used
to fall on the sacrifices and consume the sacrifice. This sacrifice,
Donald, consumed the fire. So that God says, fury is not
in me. He who knew no sin, this holy
one, He is the only man in all the
world, the only human being who ever walked on God's earth who
really did know what sin is. He knew no sin, but David, he's
God. He's the only man who had any
idea how God looks on sin. And when he's about to be made
sin, his soul breaks within him. He made sin. By God, the father in eternity. Made sin when he took our place
at Calvary in the fullness of time and bear our sins in his
own body. God, the son took our sins voluntarily,
willingly to be his own. And he made sin in the experience
of grace. Made sin in every believer's
heart and conscience when God the Holy Spirit comes and creates
faith within. When he, the spirit of truth,
has come, our Lord said, he will reprove the world. That is, he
will convince God's elect, wherever they're found in all the world,
of sin. Of sin. I can't convince you what you
are. I keep trying. I keep preaching. I try to lay it plain as I can,
what the book says about sin. I can't convince you what you
are. Oh, but if God Almighty ever shines the light to the
gospel of Jesus Christ in your soul, he'll convince you of your
sin and of righteousness. of righteousness finished, finished
by the obedience of Christ. He said he'll convince you of
righteousness because I go to my father and Jehovah's servant
could not go back to the father where the work not done and he
will convince you of judgment. Not of judgment to come, but
of judgment finished because the prince of this world's cast
out so that Forty-four years ago, God calls me to see something, things I'd never had a clue about
before. I'd made professions of faith
and I'd done a little preaching when I was a young boy, they
called it preaching anyhow, and I lived like hell the rest of
my life. My conscience was terrified.
Terrified my soul. Night and day, week after week
after week after week. And I tried to soothe my conscience. I tried to read and pray and
make a bargain with God. I tried everything I could. I
tried to straighten up my life. My conscience kept screaming.
tormenting. Not enough! Guilty! Until one day I heard a man preaching
the gospel of God's free grace. And I heard the gospel of my
salvation. And it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son in me. And my conscience been telling
me something for 44 years. Christ is enough. What does God require? Christ. What does God require? Christ. What does your conscience require?
Christ. What does righteousness require?
Justice require. Holiness require. Christ is enough. And now, no matter how no matter how lifeless, no matter
how cold, no matter how indifferent, my conscience still declares
Christ is enough. And all this was done that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. The word made
here is a different word. This word is talking about a
present continual passive experience. So that we are made the righteousness
of God, certainly when Christ died for us, reckoned righteous,
the book says so, justified by his grace. But you cannot separate
and should not desire to separate justification and sanctification
and resurrection and glorification. The work of redemption is one
work. We were justified at Calvary. God says they're righteous. In
regeneration, the work of sanctification is performed, and God comes and
gives us a new nature, that holy thing created in you, called
Christ in you, the hope of glory. And then in resurrection glory, Frank, we're going to be raised
in his likeness. Raised up just like the Redeemer. And this, all together, by God's
grace, us being completely passive, made the righteousness of God
in him. Now, turn back to the text in
Habakkuk. The book says, made the righteousness
of God in him. We're really and truly one with
him. Oscar, do you kindly sort of
maybe believe that? One with Christ, really one with
him. One with him. And so one, like
the members of the body, yes, that's a, that's a comparison
given. But if you severed that finger from this body, the body
go on living. Sever the hand from it, the body
go on living. But if you sever Oscar Bailey
from Christ, he can't go on living as your mediator. Read Ephesians
1, 3. He won't lose one of his members
and you can't go living. He said, because I live, you
live also. Our life is one with him from
everlasting to everlasting. And whatever, whatever could
be said of Don Fortner. Whatever could be said of Don
Fortner, in matter of guilt before God, Christ made himself to be. And bless God, whatever can be
said of Jesus Christ, God's Son. I am in Him. Can you get a hold of that? No wonder Paul said, wondrously, profoundly, mysteriously,
unexplainably caused him to be sin. Now, our text says, Behold ye among the heathen, and regard and wonder marvelously,
for I will work a work in your days which you will not believe, though
it be told you." Acts 13, Paul said, beware that you don't fulfill
the prophet's words. And Alan, some of the folks didn't.
Isn't that something? There were some folks right there
in Acts chapter 13 in Antioch. They heard that message and they
believed. God said, you will not believe.
But some of them did. In verse 48, we read, and as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Go home in peace. Believe it. Believe it. He was manifested
to take away our sins. Can you complete the verse? Anybody? And in him is no sin. Amen.