If you take your Bibles now and
turn back with me to Romans chapter 8. And in verses 33 and 34, the
Apostle Paul gives two great fundamental truths. And these truths are the basis
of our hope and our assurance before God. Some of the older
preachers, more mature preachers of the past, call this portion
of Scripture here, Romans 8.28 through the end of that chapter,
the golden chain of assurance. All of these things linked together
is what gives the believer his hope before God and his assurance. And he says in verse 33, he said,
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Now this is the same God that
he speaks of earlier in that chapter who has submitted all
creation into vanity. He subjected everything that
is into this vanity of sin. Back in the garden when Adam
fell, when sin entered into this world, and death by sin, this
whole world becomes sinful in the eyes of God. Everything. everything, all mankind. This is the same God who said
He subjected all creation to this vanity to deliver a people
from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of
the children of God. This is the same God whose Spirit
abides in us and makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot
be uttered and who causes us to pray according to the will
of God. We don't even know what the will
of God is. Now come on, be honest. Somebody
come up to you on the street, before you come to know anything
at all about the Lord Jesus Christ, just from your upbringing, just
from what you've heard from the time you were a kid, and somebody
come up to you and say, what is the will of God? You couldn't
tell them, could you? You couldn't tell them the first
thing about the will of God. Because you don't know what the
will of God is. My daughter had a, I guess what we would, what
people call accidents. I remember it was on a Sunday,
just before Sunday evening service, best I can remember, and the
neighbors had a little three-wheel motorbike out there running around
on it, and they picked my little one up and put her up there,
and they went right down over a hill and hit a pine tree about
this big around, and cracked her skull underneath from one
end to the other. And her head was like a basketball
with painted fixtures on it. You couldn't see her ears. Everything
looked like it was painted. She was that swollen in her head.
And they all gave her up for dead. And I remember my neighbor
coming in in tears and he said, don't blame God for this. Don't
blame God for this. God didn't have anything to do
with this. Oh, yes, He did. According to Paul, He did. According
to Paul, He did. This God controls all things.
All things. But what I'm saying is this.
He couldn't discern the will of God in this. I saw the will
of God in it. And this is what Paul says. You
in whom the Spirit of the living God dwells, you understand and
pray according to the will of God. You know what it is. And
you see that will as the good will of God which was for you
from the foundation of the world. Now, come on, he was the lamb
slain, the Scripture said, before the foundation of the world.
Why was he slain back then? Why did God consider his death
in the very beginning? Before there was ever a creation,
before ever a man set foot in this world, God declares this
lamb to have been slain. Let me set my notes aside and
turn with me to Revelation 5. Let me show you something over
here. Revelation 5. It says in verse 1, And I saw in
the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written
within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a
strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to
open the book and loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven
or earth was able to open the book, neither to look on this
book. This book was all the eternal counsels and purpose and will
of God. That's what's in this book. Sealed
were the perfections of God. If you open this book, And the
opening of it, the discerning of it, has to do with the doing
of the will of God, the accomplishing of the will of God. And nobody
was worthy not only to take it, they weren't even worthy to look
on it. They weren't worthy to understand it and perceive it
and to take it in their hands and declare it. Nobody, couldn't
find anybody that could do that. Take the sovereign, eternal,
omnipotent will of God, take those purposes from His hand
and loose those seals. They couldn't do it. And John
said he wept. He wept. And finally one said,
look down here, one of the elders, verse 5, saith unto me, Weep
not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the
midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having
seven horns, seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth." Here it is, back in the beginning.
The Lord Jesus Christ, as God's mediator, takes the book of God's
sovereign decrees and loosens the seals. And these seals are
seals of God's perfection. As He accomplishes this will
of God, it has to be done in the harmony of who God is. It
has to be done in the character of God, in the name of God. He
can't just accomplish these things any way He wants to. When he
spoke to them there in John 5, 6, and 7, he said, I'm not here
to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. I'm here
to accomplish His will. I'm here to open these seals
and to manifest these things. That's why I'm here. And the
things that I do, they must be done in His name. In His name. Everything He said that I do,
I don't do it in my name, I do it in His. I want you to see who this God
is. Who this God is. It says here
in Romans 8 verse 29, it said, For whom He did foreknow, and
I challenge you to look that word up in your concordance.
I'm no master of the Greek language or the Hebrew or Chaldean. I
have a concordance. If you look it up in there, they'll
give you the literal translation for this word. And if you look
it up, I challenge you to go do it. It is the exact word in
the original as foreordained. When he said, I foreknow something,
he's saying, I foreordain this thing. How can God say from the
beginning that he foreknew something? Most people think that's like
the seers of our day who claim an ability to look forward into
time and to prophesy things that they see out in the future. But
when God says He foreknows a thing, He's not a seer. He doesn't see
something that's going to happen off in the future. He declares
a thing and ordains a thing and arranges everything between here
and there so that that thing comes to be. Now you look the
Word up. I challenge you. And you won't
find this looking down the telescope of time theory to be in harmony
with the Word of God. In the very context here in Romans
chapter 8 that I just read to you a while ago, he uses the
term predestination, don't he? That's not looking down through
the telescope of time. Predestination is setting this
destination beforehand. That's what that means. And this
Word is foreordained. God foreknows all things because
He foreordains what is going to come to pass in time. For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren. Now, if you foreknow or foreordain
a thing to be a certain way, the only way that this thing
can be certain is to leave nothing to chance between here and there.
That's the only way it can be. If there's a circumstance or
an accident or something in time that evolves, it's going to change
the end. Isn't it? It's going to change
it. You can't sit here and say in
3,000 years this is going to happen unless you control everything
between here and there. Now that's God. This generation
don't know God, I'm telling you. They don't know God. I've floundered
around in religion all my life, playing my guitar and singing
and clapping my hands and singing I'll Fly Away and all that junk
and didn't know God. We have no concept of His sovereign
power and authority. He's God. He's not who we think
He is. He's who He says He is. He said,
I'm God, there's none like me. Why do you look at frogs and
snakes and animals and imagine a God? I'm God, there's none
like me. I declare the end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I'll
do all my pleasure. Nebuchadnezzar said he is so
sovereign that he does according to his will and on to the heaven
among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand
or even ask him what he is doing. He is God. He is God. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
1. That word predestination is used
twice in Ephesians chapter 1. First he uses it in verse 5.
having declared in verse 4 that He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world, and to this end that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love." That's the destination. That's where you're headed. That's election, and that's the
end of election. Paul told the Thessalonians,
he said, I've chosen thee unto salvation. That's what Paul is
talking about here. We are chosen into Christ to
be saved, to stand before Him holy and without blame, in love. That's the end. That's way out
yonder. That's the end. Now watch this. Verse 5, "...having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself according to the good pleasure of His will." Now if
you read these several verses here, You're going to find out
that He accomplished this predestination. He accomplished these means in
His Son. In His Son. He made us accepted,
verse 6, in the blood. Verse 7, gave us redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sin. Verse 8, abounded toward
us in all wisdom and sound reasoning. Makes known unto us, verse 9,
the mystery of His will. The mystery of His immutable,
sovereign, effectual, omnipotent will. That's what a believer
comes to see, comes to know. Because He wanted to, because
He purposed to, because He determined to, and out of His goodness and
kindness and love for His own, He abounded toward us in all
wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of
His will. Back, verse 10, in the dispensation of the fullness
of time, he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven, which are on earth, even in him. And
here again is that glorious end that God is foreordaining, fixed
by omnipotent decree. Now listen to this, verse 11,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Predestination is according to
him who worketh all things, who worketh, who arranges, orchestrates,
rules over, fixes things as he sees fit, worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. Now go back here to Romans
chapter 8. Look down here at verse 30. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. And whom He called, them He also
justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. Now, if God, this glorious Sovereign
of eternity, who holds providence in His hand, who declares the
end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that
are not yet done, who says, my counsel is going to stand and
I'm going to do all my pleasure and there's nothing you can do
about it. Now, if this God before us, who's going to be against
you? Huh? You? You think a God who
can control providence, creation, and eternity can't overcome your
little peanut will? Huh? You think the sovereign
God of glory can't transform a man and translate that man
out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear
Son? Is anything too hard for God? That's what the prophet
asked him. Anything too hard for God? If salvation is too hard for
your God, then you need to look to the living God. The living
God. If God be for us, This little
peanut God of our day that can't do anything, He's just wringing
His hands and He's looking over the banisters of heaven, hoping
somebody will just bow to Him and accept Him and receive Him.
That's not the God of the Bible. There's nothing out of His control. He said all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the what? The
called according to His purpose. God has a purpose in these things. And His purpose is going to be
done. That's what He said. And He gives
us the whole thing in outline form. Uh-huh. Whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate, He
called. Whom He called, He justified. Whom He justified, He glorified.
And that's the way it's going to be. Uh-huh. The Lord disturbed those men
on that day of the feast, and He said, if any man be willing
to do the will of God, he'll know the truth. When you become
willing to submit to His will, when you become willing to see
His will above yours, when you begin to see His will as omnipotent
in all things, then you're going to take care in the Scripture
to get in the will of God. Because it's His will that's
going to be done, not yours. And I want you to think about
this. There's only one way for you to be snatched out of the
hands of His deity, and that is for someone or something to
charge sin and make that sin to stick to your account against
you. But here He says in no uncertain
terms that God hath justified us. Huh? That pretty much takes all the
charges away, don't it? Is there a court higher than
God? Is there an authority higher than God? Paul said, it's God
that justifies. This God, this sovereign God,
in harmony with His purpose, in harmony with His name, in
harmony with His character, He's justified us. Who's He that can
do it? Satan would like to, but he can't. How can such rebellious worms
as we are be declared just before God? I can't read the Scriptures
without my mind wandering. I can't pray a prayer and focus
on everything that I want to pray. It will go a different
direction every time I open my mouth. Open my mouth, David said. My
own words will condemn me. They condemn me. rebellious worm like we are be
declared just before God, before the eyes of him who searches
the thoughts and intents of the heart. How can we be declared
just? Look here in verse 34, Romans
chapter 8. He said, Who is he that condemneth?
It's Christ that died. Oh! Oh! That's how God can justify. It's
Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. There's four things that every chosen sinner comes to
know by the grace of God. He comes to know what took place
in eternity. God had a purpose. and chose
one mighty, he chose his son as mediator or king and put all
things in his hands to accomplish. He knows what took place in eternity. He knows what happened in the
garden when man fell. He knows what happens on the
cross. And he knows what happens in
the heart of chosen sinners when God comes in and reconciles him
to God. That's what a believer comes
to know. And this morning I want to deal with this verse 34 of
Romans chapter 8 and build on this great foundation of the
death of Christ. Winston and I were talking last
week and he said, you know, this generation just don't know anything
at all about the death of Christ. And I agree with him. They don't. They wouldn't talk the way they
talk if they knew anything at all about this day. He said,
who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that dies. Yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Now, I dare say that
you'll be hard-pressed to find anybody, not just here, go to
Texarkana, go down to Bossier City, go anywhere you want to
go in this land, you're going to be hard-pressed to find any
man that will flat out deny that Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross. You're just not going to find
anybody. Everybody believes that, don't they? Everybody believes
that. You know anybody that would deny
that? It's an historical fact on which even time itself is
hinged, B.C. and A.D. The death of Christ,
time itself is hinged on it. But what happened as a result
of that death? What brought Him to the cross?
What did his death accomplish? Who required it? Who allowed
it? Was it by chance and circumstance? Was this a reaction of God to
something that happened in time? Or was it fixed in the eternal
counsels of God? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
chapter 15. It's not the fact that he died
that's of saving benefit to the believer. It's not an offer he makes that
men make a picture when they believe. It's an embracing of him who
died, understanding something of the whys and wherefores concerning
his death. That's what's of saving benefit
in the death of Christ. Look here in 1 Corinthians 15
verse 1, Paul said, Moreover brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received,
and wherein you stand, by which also ye are saved. Huh? That's what we're talking
about. What is it about this gospel that I must know to be
saved? Here it is. By which also you
are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless
you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received. Now listen, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures. That's a big difference, isn't
it? Well, I just believe. Well, it doesn't matter what
you believe. Well, I just think it doesn't matter what you think.
What does this book say? Now, that's it. It doesn't matter.
Opinions are like noses. Everybody has one. What does this book say? What
does God say? Now, Paul said that's how you
say it. Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. and that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. The death
of Christ presented in the gospel of God declares the death of
Christ as it was foretold from the beginning. God reconciled
Adam in the garden. He took an animal and slayed
it and skinned it. shed its blood and took that
cloak and put it on him to cover his nakedness. And then he gave
him the promise of the coming Redeemer. To be viewed, that
sacrifice and that covering was to be viewed in the light of
that coming Redeemer. And he established that again
with Abel at the altar. It was declared and foretold
from the beginning. It was illustrated in all the
figures of the ceremonial law. It was prophesied by every single
prophet from beginning to end. The apostle said to him, give
all the prophets witness that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive remission of sins. Now I want to give you
this morning eight things if I have time. I'm just going to
briefly touch on them. I want to give you eight things
declared in the Holy Scriptures concerning the death of Christ
that reveal that precious name which chosen sinners must call
on. None other name given among men
whereby we must be saved. But this name has to be declared,
and it's declared in His death. It's declared in His life. It's
declared in His resurrection. It's declared in His intercession
and glory. It's declared in His offices.
It's declared in the person of Jesus Christ. That's the only
place you can see it. Alright, here's the first thing. I want you to see that his death
was according to the eternal counsel of God. Turn with me
to Acts chapter 4. I want you to see this in the
Scripture. Paul said, this is how you're saved. You're saved
through this understanding of the death of Christ as it is
declared openly and revealed in the Scripture. Now, here it
is. Acts 4. Look down here at verse
26. You can read the whole chapter
at your leisure this afternoon if you want to give it some study.
But he's talking here about the death of Christ. And this is
a quotation, by the way, of the Psalms. But listen to what he
says. He says, "...the kings of the
earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against
the Lord and against his Christ, They were not angry. The Jews
believed in a Messiah, and they weren't angry with that Messiah.
They were angry with the Christ of God. You see what he is saying
here? The rulers were gathered together
against the Lord, against this sovereign Christ, against His
Christ, God's way of salvation. Verse 27, "...for of a truth
against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Both
Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of
Israel were gathered together for to do, now listen, whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. That's what's
taking place on the cross. Here's nations, rulers, individuals,
Here's Israel who despise the Roman government, but they're
together on this thing. Here's the Gentiles who were
dogs in the eyes of Israel, and they're together with them. They're
all in one accord here. And they're doing exactly what
they want to do. They want to get rid of him.
They want to put him on a cross and get him out of the picture.
They don't want this light of God. They don't want this Christ
of God. They don't want this sovereign
declaration of God. They don't want this thing. Put
Him on a cross. Get Him out of the picture. And
that's exactly what they did. But in their doing of it, they
did exactly what God said He was going to do from the beginning.
You see that? So the first thing I've got to
understand about the death of Christ is this thing was purposed
of God. I didn't have anything to do
with it. Now that makes it all a waste, doesn't it? Huh? That makes it the gift of God. This thing is according to God.
The death of Christ was according to the eternal decree of God. To this hour, Christ said, came
I into this world. And then secondly, look at this.
He died to purchase the right to rule over all flesh in order
to give eternal life to as many as God has given Him. Now, what
in the world does all that mean? Well, let me read the Scripture
for you first of all, over here in Romans chapter 14. Turn over
there, Romans chapter 14. I hope I'm not boring you with
these things, but these things are necessary. Things are necessary. Listen here in Romans 14, verse
8. And he's arguing here about our
attitude and our conduct before men that we ought to be merciful
to people, that we ought to be careful how we live and careful
how we act and careful what we say. And here's his argument. Now listen to this. He said,
for whether we live, we live unto the Lord. And whether we
die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we're the Lord's. Now watch this, "...for to this
end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be
Lord both of the dead and the living." Now what on earth is
he talking about? Turn with me to John 17. Gospel of John 17. I maybe can give you a little bit
of light on this. I don't know a great deal about
the deity of God, do you? He's God. I just sit back in
awe and thankful for what little revelations He gives me. I'm
in awe of it. But look here, this is His high
priestly prayer before He goes to the cross. These words, thank
Jesus, lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the
hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. Glorify me in this death I am
about to die, that in this death I might glorify you. You see
what he is praying here? As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Whoa! What right would Jesus
Christ have to work all things for your good. What right would
he have to pass by this man and show grace to you? What right would he have to take
Pharaoh and his army and dump them in the sea and save Moses
and that bunch of ragtag followers that followed him through the
wilderness? This is about a right to do what
he will with his own. That's what this is about. This
is about why he can show grace to this one and pass this one
by and still be just. That's what this is about. He said, to this end Christ both
died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the
dead and the living. In Psalm 2, God says, I will
declare the decree the Lord has said unto me, Thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee. That's not talking about when
he was born in Bethlehem. That's talking about the eternal
decree of God concerning his Christ. By God's decree, he becomes
Christ. He was begotten in the mind and
purpose of God. By His sovereign, eternal decree,
the Mediator-King was eternally born and assumed His power and
authority, given Him of God. And as such, He created the world,
came to Adam in the fall, was made promise of throughout the
Scripture, and then in time appeared on this earth. But to justify
this right to rule and give life and show mercy requires a work
to be accomplished. You see what I'm saying? I'll
tell you why he can show grace to his elect, because he died
for them. That's what right he had. What
right does he have to pass me up and choose this one? That's
not fair. Oh yeah, he died for this one.
Huh? To this end. To this end. He both died and was revived
and raised and sits at the right hand of God. His right to rule
must be demonstrated and proved beyond all doubt and be in perfect
harmony with the character and will of God. And because of his
selfless devotion, his unerring obedience, the giving of himself
completely to the will and way of God, God raised him up and
gave him a name. It says over in Philippians 2,
above every name, and every knee is going to bow to that. And
every tongue is going to confess that he's Lord to the glory of
God. You see what that authority is
all about? He bought the right to take the heathen and dump
them in the sea. He said, I've given nations for
you and people for you. What gives him the authority
to do that? He purchased it by his blood. By his blood. As a result of His death and
what it accomplished, He purchased the right to rule over all flesh
and thereby be right with God to give eternal life to as many
as the Father had given Him. Thirdly, Christ died on the cross
to declare God to be just in His justification of all that
believe. Look over here with me at Romans
3. This is the key to his dispensing
all the blessings in favor of God to guilty sinners. You go
through Romans 3, and Paul asked this question. He said, all the
Scriptures and the religion and the ceremonies and the law and
the favor of God and all those things to Israel didn't make
a bit of difference between them and the heathen Gentiles. He
said, is there any difference? He said, no. Because there is
none righteous, none good, and so on. You read through Romans
3. Look down here in chapter 3,
verse 24. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, a mercy through faith in his
blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God." That is Old Testament
saints that God saved. Verse 26, "...to declare at this
time his righteousness that he might be just and justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus." God is just in his justification
because that man's sins were taken care of by the death of
Christ. You see that God can and does justify believers because
His justice has been satisfied by the death of Christ on the
cross. Here is the fourth thing. By
the death of Christ on the cross, He has put away our sins. They
are gone. They are gone. What did He do with them? He
said He put them behind His back. He said He scattered them as
far as the east is from the west. That's infinity. My sins are
gone. They're gone. Let me show you
that. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
9. Now the book of Hebrews, for those of you who haven't studied
it, is a book about the Old Testament types. It's a book about the
priesthood of Israel. It is a book that talks about
Melchizedek that appeared unto Abraham after the battle of the
kings. It talks about the blood sacrifice. It talks about all
of these things being accomplished and all of these things as they
stand as pictures and types of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so now down here in chapter 9 and chapter 10, he begins to
sum all these things up. And here is what he said down
here in verse 24. Well, Christ is not entered into the holy
place made with hands. Now, if you read that whole chapter,
you'll find out that he's talking about that Old Testament type,
going into the holy place with the sacrifice of blood. But Christ
is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which
are figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others, that is, blood of the substitute. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself." Now here's what he's saying. Get the picture. The
old high priest of Israel. He approaches the tabernacle,
and he has the sacrifice, and he slits its throat, and he drains
that blood into a vessel. And he takes that vessel, as
only the high priest can do, and he takes it on behalf of
the people that are represented on his breastplate and on his
shoulders, the 12 tribes of Israel, true Israel, if you will. And
he takes this blood and he goes over there and there's a thick,
heavy veil that separates the common priest from the high priest.
And he goes beyond that veil and he pours that blood out on
the mercy seat. And he pours that incense out
on that altar. And that incense rises up to
God. And God says it's a sweet smelling
savor to him. He's talking about this work
of Christ. And that high priest comes out, everybody's eyes are
fascinated on that veil. Everybody that brought a sacrifice
and had an interest in the blood. In other words, everybody that
believed. They stood there and they watched for that high priest,
waited on him to come out. And pretty soon they seen that
veil move and the high priest come out and he raised up his
hands and he blessed the people. That's the atonement. Now listen
to what Christ is saying. One time, in the end of the world,
our high priest, he entered into a place not made with hands,
that is to say, heaven itself, and not with the blood of others,
but with his own blood. And he offered himself by the
eternal Spirit spotless before God. He offered that sacrifice
unto God. And now Paul said to everybody
that looks for him, Everybody that has an interest in his blood,
he's going to appear the second time. He's going to come out
from under that veil one more time without sin. Huh? Without sin. Unto salvation. Are you looking for the priest?
Huh? Are you looking for him? My sins are gone. My high priest
took my sins in before God and offered His own blood, and He
made atonement once for all. Read Hebrews 10. He perfected
forever them that are sanctified by that blood. Alright, here's
the fifth thing. The Scriptures declare that He
died to bring us to God. Ain't that what it says? 1 Peter
3.18. He said, Christ also hath once
suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the Spirit. Because of this redemption, purchased
by his death, comes the authority to call sinners out from under
the curse. Somebody comes down and pays
your fine at the jail, they can't keep you just because you want
to stay in. It's not a hotel. When the fine is paid, you have
to go. Now, here's what he's saying.
By this redemption that he accomplished in his debt, he's going to bring
you to God. There are no ifs, ands, and buts
about it. The curse is going to be removed. A fellow asked
me one time, well, I'm stuck down here all by myself, and
there wasn't nobody here to preach, and on and on and on. I hear
things like this from people all day long. Let me tell you
something, there are no accidents with God. He declared that up
front here in Romans chapter 8. He worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will, and when this sacrifice was accepted,
that sacrifice was sufficient to bring you to God. And He sends
His Spirit, and by His Spirit you're going to be brought to
God. You're going to come to see yourself for who you are
and see Him for who He is. He's going to do an effectual
work in the hearts of all those He calls. My dad had two calls. He had a general call, and he
had an effectual call. When he gave his effectual call,
I come. I knew he meant business. He died to bring us to God, and
then sixthly, he died to deliver us from this present evil world.
from the curse of it by our falling Adam, from the fleeting promise
of it, promises its comfort and riches and pleasures, from the
religion of it, which is altogether blind and ignorant of the gospel
of Christ, and from the reasoning and logic of it, which is called
vain philosophy and an abomination before God. He said what seemeth
right to a man is abomination before God. He died to deliver us from this
present evil world. Hard to imagine, isn't it? Everywhere
you go, it's like swimming in a sea of evil. That's what it
is. It's all around you. It's everywhere you go. It's
on the TV. It's in the bottle. It's in the
drugs. It's everywhere. It's like an ocean of evil. That's
what this world is. When a man comes to see it, he
falls out of love with it. He sees everything in it as a
harm to him. He sees everything in it as a
deterrent to him. But he sees him. And he sees
that city that has foundations who's builder and maker's God.
And he just pitched his tents here. You can read about it over
in Hebrews chapter 11. That's what Abraham did. He didn't
bother to build a house because he wasn't planning on staying
here. He just lived in a tent. The Lord didn't build a house.
He didn't have a house. He said the birds of the air
have nests, the foxes they have holes, but the Son of God hath
nowhere to lay his head. He didn't have anywhere because
he wasn't planning on staying here. Neither is the believer. Here's the seventh thing accomplished
by the death of Christ. He redeems us from all iniquity.
It says in Titus 2.14, "...who gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. As sin reigns unto death, even
so grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord." Now listen to this, here's the last thing. Christ
died to present us to God in sinless perfection and in the
image of His dear Son. That is the predestinating purpose
of God. You go down to Greyhound bus
station and you look up there and on the front window of the
bus it says New Orleans. That's where the bus is going.
That may go Lafayette first. It may turn north and go Shreveport. But it's headed to New Orleans.
That's where it's going. That's its predestination. The
predestination of God's elect is to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And that's how Christ will present
them in that day. Perfect. Perfect. In Colossians 1, verse 20, he
said, "...and having made peace through the blood of His cross
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 in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight."
That's what that blood does. That's what that blood is. That
blood accomplishes the predestinating purpose of God. It buys that right for God to
come and rule and fix all things unto the day that He raises you
from the grave or calls you up living in that day that you might
join with Him in no sanctuary called and make you perfect,
unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. That's what salvation
is. That's what saves sinners. A
right understanding of the death of Christ. Not just calling on
Jesus that we don't know anything about, but calling on that name
manifested by Jesus that he accomplished in his life and death.