Look forward to being with you
folks, and I trust that God will be pleased to meet with us tonight
Your pastor read Isaiah 55 where the prophet Calls on us to come
if we're thirsty if we're hungry to eat and drink the Lord Jesus
Christ promising the sure mercies of David and then brother Gary
read Isaiah 40 God's command to his servants Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Declare to my people that her
iniquity is pardoned, her warfare is over. She received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. Promising that he will
cause every valley to be lifted up, exalted, smoothed out. Every hill of difficulty laid
down, smoothed out. So that the way is straight,
the crooked made plain. Turn to Isaiah 53 and I'll show
you how God leveled the mountains raised the valleys and made crooked
things straight Isaiah chapter 53 just put your bookmark here
we'll look at some other scriptures but this will be where we'll
come from tonight Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? The answer to both questions
are the same. If you believe the report God's
given, it's because God has revealed his mighty arm to you. And if
God has revealed his mighty arm to you, you believe the report. For he shall grow up before him,
that is the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He shall
grow up before him as a tender plant. the tender baby nursing
at his mother's breast as a root out of dry ground a plant so
tender you wouldn't even expect it to live he hath no form nor
comeliness Nothing nothing about him attractive nothing about
him that would cause you to Have your attention drawn in his direction
matter of fact he's called the Nazarene about as contemptible
a term as could be used to describe him and When we shall see him
There's no beauty that we should desire him He is despised and
rejected of men always has been he was when he came he has been
through the ages of history and he still is now except to you
to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed I remember when
he was despised and rejected of you but now the arm of the Lord has
been revealed read on a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief all he ever knew in this world sorrow and grief and
we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and that's
exactly how we thought he ought to be we esteemed him not now
watch this surely he hath borne Don Fortner's
griefs and carried Don Fortner's sorrows. Can you read it that way? Can you read it that way? Bless
God if you can. Yet we did esteem him though
he bore our sorrows and our griefs Don Fortner esteemed him stricken
smitten of God and afflicted but he was wounded somewhere
if you take notes be sure to write this down the word is profaned,
polluted, broken, stained, tormented he was wounded for Don Fortner's
transgressions he was bruised, crumbled like a stale piece of
bread crumbled like a cracker beneath your feet crumbled like
a piece of stone smashed with a hammer beat to pieces crushed
bruised for Don Fortner's iniquities and the chastisement of my peace
was upon him and with his stripes I am healed all we like sheep have gone astray
we've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid
on him made to meet on him the iniquity of us all all we whose
iniquities he bore all we for whom he was wounded and bruised
and put to grief he was oppressed And 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 dumb, he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. Who shall declare his generation?
This young Jewish man, 33 years old, never been married, dying
without any posterity, dying without a generation, a seed
to follow him, to carry on his name? Oh no, oh no. No psalmist
in Psalm 22 says a seed shall serve him. Who shall declare
his generation? Hang on, we'll find out. 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 why is that singular? the transgression of my people
because all our iniquities on him were laid as one huge obnoxious
load the transgression of all 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 it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him
to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin
now let me give you something here it will help you Every time
you read the word sin offering or offering for sin anywhere
in the Bible every time no exceptions The word is sin or guilt or guiltiness Thou shalt make his soul sin
Make his soul guiltiness Make his soul guilt Now just make him to be sin,
make his soul sin. Make his soul guilt. Soul being put in scripture for
the life of the man. Make the totality of his being
sin. He shall see his seed. When you make his soul sin, he'll
see his seed. And for the joy set before him
in due of the cross, despising the shame, he'll see his seed
whom he loved from eternity, whom he chose from eternity,
for whom he stood in surety from eternity. He'll see his seed
redeemed and justified and forgiven and sanctified and saved by him
being made sin for us He shall see his seed and he shall prolong
his days that is he's gonna rise from the dead give it three days
and behold he's risen again for our justification risen again
because of justification accomplished by his blood put death as a transgressor,
put to death as one whose soul is made sin, buried as a polluted
thing out of God's sight, but on the third day justified in
the Spirit, risen, cleared from all sin, ascended on high because
he's put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And the pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. What's that mean? That means
that that man who died in our stead at Calvary, who put away
our sins by the sacrifice of himself sets on the throne of
sovereign dominion monarch of the universe always performing
God's pleasure always accomplishing what God from eternity was pleased
to ordain always performing God's goodwill in all things cause
he has power over all flesh to give eternal life to as many
as the father has given him he shall see of the travail of his
soul and shall be satisfied 30 no 40 years ago 40 years ago
I was sitting in Bible College Winston-Salem North Carolina
and rarely did we have anybody there who came close to preaching
anything like the gospel but they had a fellow who they were
interviewing for a professorship a Welshman by the name of Thomas
George Lawrence and he came to chapel one day and he preached
from Galatians chapter 6 verse 14 God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and one of the reasons
he gave why he must glory in the cross of Christ was this
he said the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ shall never be discovered
a miscarriage and I shouted Amen the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
shall never be discovered a miscarriage he shall see of the travail of
his soul all the agony he endured to give birth to his people he
shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied satisfied I don't suppose maybe I'm wrong
there's ever been a father or a mother completely satisfied
with a child mostly satisfied by and large
satisfied completely satisfied I know one who is the Son of God is completely
satisfied with every one of his own he shall see of the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied read on by his knowledge I keep wanting
to try to read that by knowledge of him but that's not what it
says it says by his knowledge his knowledge by his knowledge
of who he is What he came here to do, what he has done, what
he has accomplished, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many What many? Those many for whom he shall
bear their iniquities, for he shall bear their iniquities Therefore
the Lord God says, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit say concerning
this God-man I mediate to the Lord Jesus therefore because
of his accomplishments upon the cursed tree because of his accomplishments
in death therefore will I divide him Divide him a portion with
the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because
he hath poured out his soul unto death and was numbered with the
transgressors and bare the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressors now read one more word sing O sane children of God, you to
whom the arm of the Lord is revealed, you to whom this gospel of God's
free grace is made known, you to whom God has given faith in
his dear Son. Now back up to verse 6. Verse 6. Here's our text. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his
own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all
I want to talk to you as best I can about iniquity laid on
our substitute Iniquity laid on the Lord Jesus Christ Iniquity
laid on the mediator. Iniquity laid on the Son of God. Made to meet upon Him. Put on Him. Made His. The three gospel truths revealed
in this verse. Three gospel truths that are
believed, received, embraced, and confessed by every sinner
who is born of God. Every heaven-taught soul, every
sinner taught of God believes these three things. Brother Don,
I know folks who don't believe them. I'm sure when I made the
statement concerning the first you'll say well I know a lot
of folks who don't believe that. I do too. A lot of folks. Most
folks don't. Everybody taught of God does.
Here they are. Number one original sin. All we like sheep have gone astray. They're all gone aside. They
are together become filthy. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. By one man sin entered into the
world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for
that all have sinned. We call it original sin because
it's the origin of sin in the human race. This is where sin
began. When our father Adam lived in
the garden by God's decree, by God's design, by God's will,
in order that he should be a similitude, a picture, a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, Adam was a representative man. He represented the whole
human race. As a legal federal head, he represented
us. Not only that, he represented
us in a seminal way. We all have our being in him
and from him by nature. Adam then was our representative.
Folks, tell me, well I don't like that. That's not fair. Take
it up with God. That's the way it is. That's
the way it is. I'm tired of trying to defend
God. I'm not going to do it. If you want to argue with God,
argue with him. Go to hell arguing with him. That's the way it is.
Adam's sin then was imputed to all of us. When Adam sinned,
we sinned in him. When he committed transgression,
we committed transgression in him. Well, I just don't like
that. Have you done any better on your
own? Why argue about the way God did
it? God declares Adam to be your representative. Thank God that's
how you got in the mess you're in. that implies maybe there's
hope for you to get out of this mess by somebody else doing something
and that's what it was intended to picture Romans 5 14 tells
us Adam's transgression then was imputed to us and by natural
generation that is by natural birth all of us have received
our father Adam's nature it's called flesh called flesh, sin,
depravity, corruption. That's our nature. We're born
with it. That's the reason you don't have
to teach your babies to lie. They just know how naturally. That's
the reason you don't have to have anybody prove to you the
corruption of your heart. Because you know that out of
your heart proceeds every evil thing that's ever been committed
in this world. You may suppress the truth, but
you know it. That's the reason you're tormented
in your mind when you think about eternity and think about judgment
and think about dying Because you know that man brings nothing
but death and sin That's all man ever brings. All right. Here's
the second thing personal depravity In Adam we suffered a great fall
and a great loss. We have fell from God's favor
into condemnation. We fell from a state of sinlessness
into a state of sinfulness. A state of being full of sin.
We fell from righteousness into guilt. We lost all spiritual
life and died in our father Adam. But we're all sinners by personal
choice too. This is personal depravity. We have turned everyone to his
own way. We have turned everyone to his
own way. Because the heart of man at birth
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We are
all estranged from the womb. We go astray as soon as we're
born speaking lies and it never improves. Doesn't matter what
the society is. Doesn't matter what the environment
is. Doesn't matter where you were educated or how you were
educated. Doesn't matter whether your mother was a prostitute
and your daddy was a drunk or you didn't know which one you
had. It doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if you were born
the son or daughter of a great preacher, son of a daughter of
a great eminent saint, or you were born the son or daughter
of some idolater. It doesn't matter. Your heart by nature
is desperately wicked. You can't know it. You can't
know it. Well, if I know my heart, you
don't. You don't. I promise you, you don't. I know
you don't because God says you don't. Then it's dead sure nobody
else does. All you know about your heart
is the corruption that oozes from your heart. And you go astray
as soon as you're born speaking lies. We've turned everyone to
his own way. We reach whatever state in life
you reach where you start making decisions on your own and you
choose this path. Some choose a path of rebellion
and profligacy and vile outward evil because that's what they
like. That's just a choice. Some choose
a path of morality and discipline and self-worth and they feel
good about themselves. Some choose a path of religion
and religious morality, but it's all your own way. A way that
seems right to a man. But the end thereof are the ways
of death. We've all turned each one to his own way. That's our
personal depravity. yet there's hope for sinners
there's hope for these straying sheep and it's revealed in the
next thing here redemption by substitute and the Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all I'm sure your pastor like myself
and others in recent months has preached a good bit to you on
the subject of Christ bearing our sins. Can you grasp the reality
of this? God against whom we have sinned,
God whose law we have broken, God whose very character we would
violate, God whom we have robbed from our infancy of his glory
the God against whom we have sinned father son and Holy Spirit
has gathered together as one enormous massive guilt all the
sins of his elect and made our transgressions to meet on his
son and made him sin for us who knew no sin our sins had been
laid on Christ our substitute and by his death dying under
the load the heavy, heavy load the load that must have sunk
our souls to hell dying under the load he has satisfied God's
justice and now God looks on him and pardons us as a just
God and a Savior Now let me make six or eight statements I won't
be long but I want you to get these Number one Our iniquity itself was laid
upon the Lord Jesus Not just that he was made to
bear sin Not just that he was made as though he were guilty
of sin Our iniquity itself was laid on him God Almighty was
not in any way and is not in any way obliged to show mercy
to anyone I've heard folks all my life all my life as a believer
Talk about God's love and they talk about God's love like this.
Well, there was just a great vacuum in God Because God is
love. He had to have someone to whom
to express his love. So he created man What happened
to God's independence and self-sufficiency? God Almighty doesn't need you.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dwelt together in the ineffable
glory of perfect love, one for the other, in the persons of
the Godhead from everlasting. No, God didn't need someone to
whom to express his love. But God Almighty, to show forth
his glory, just for the display of his glory, loving a people,
chose to redeem them. Now, having chosen to redeem,
there's only one way he can do it. He must find a way to satisfy
justice and he must find a way to satisfy justice for all his
people at one time That way is Christ the Lord but there's only
one way under the sun Jesus Christ God's Son the God-man our mediator
can satisfy justice He's got to be made sin Cause he can't
be punished for sin except he be made sin Turn to Proverbs
17 verse 15 I don't want you to take my word for this and
I don't want you to take your pastor's word for it I want you to take
God's word for it If there was some other way that
righteousness could be established If there was some other way sinners
could be made righteous without a violation of God's character,
without a violation of God's justice. If there was some way
that sinners could be made righteous before God, apart from Jesus
Christ being made sin and bearing the wrath of God in the full
extremity of God's furious justice, then Christ died for nothing.
Christ died in vain. Galatians 2.21 says so. Look
here at Proverbs 17 verse 15. He that justifieth the wicked. Now wait a minute. There sits Tom Hardin. A wicked
man. Justified. That can't be. How can he be justified? If he's
a wicked man. Justice won't allow that. God's
character who cannot and will not lie won't allow that. God
says he that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just. That's Christ dying the just
for the unjust. But wait! God says that if a
just man is condemned even they know those who justify the wicked
and those who condemn the just are an abomination to the Lord.
Be sure you understand this. God Almighty could never justify
you, Lionel, until He made you righteous. He couldn't declare
you just until you are made just. You got that? God's not a liar. If God says
you're just, you're just. And His saying you're just is
not what makes you just. You must be made just in order
for God to declare you just. And God Almighty could never
have drew forth the sword of his justice and smitten his darling
son until his just one is made unjust. Until the just one is
made guilty. Until the righteous one is made
sin. God the Father looked upon our
Lord Jesus Christ as our surety in the covenant of grace before
ever the world was made and he says concerning all of God's
elect in him deliver him from going down to the pit I have
found a ransom the Lord Jesus the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world is that one whom he found whom he made sin for
us all the sins of God's elect are made his Our Lord Jesus, you remember
in John chapter 2, turned water into wine. Brother Scott Richardson said
years ago, reading the scripture I was preaching with him, he
said the Lord didn't paste pictures of wine on the water pots. And
he didn't make the water taste like wine. And he didn't make
the water look like wine. And he didn't treat the water
as though it were wine. He made the water wine. And when God
Almighty made His Son sin for us He made His Son sin And that's
what crushed His heart in Gethsemane That's what crushed Him Back in June I was preaching
in Kansas City, Missouri I got a call just as I started to leave
to go to services on Friday evening first meeting from Mark Henson,
one of the men in our congregation, his wife Regina young, thin,
healthy lady had had a massive heart attack and they were airlifting
her at the time to UK Med Center doctors didn't expect her to
live and they did all kinds of tests and ran all kinds of examinations
on her, couldn't figure out what was wrong the doctor came out
and asked Mark some questions, seemed strange at the time said
has your wife lost a mother or father just recently? Brother
son daughter as she had something to break her heart Something
to break her heart He said Recently it had been well established.
They have another name for it. But this is name. He gave it
Said we think your wife has broken heart syndrome You mean somebody could die of
a broken heart, oh, yes. Oh, yes happened more often than
you might imagine I know one who said reproach hath broken
mine heart the reproaches of them that reproach thee have
fallen on me and when he did he broke out
into a bloody sweat in Gethsemane after crying three times oh my
father if it be possible that this cup pass from me Brother Gary, I don't have a
clue what all that means. I wouldn't, I wouldn't attempt to enter into
it, but he wasn't afraid of dying And he wasn't afraid of paying a
debt And he wasn't afraid of being charged with a crime But
the scripture says he was heard in that he Anybody know what
it says? Hebrews 5 second and that he felt he was the only
man who ever lived on God's earth who knew how God looks on sin and he had never known sin and
he's about to be made sin now is my soul exceeding troubled
even unto death he said this is how he speaks of it turn to
Psalm 40 Psalm 40 verse 12 When you read the Psalms, somebody
said that's a Messianic Psalm. There's a hundred and fifty Messianic
Psalms. When you read the Psalms, understand
the agonies of the one spoken of, many times it's so plainly
written that you think, so that can't be anybody but Christ.
That cannot be anybody else. Well sometimes you look at it
and say, well that couldn't be David talking. That couldn't
be quite a Don. This psalm, the Spirit of God
tells us in Hebrews chapter 10 is talking about our Lord Jesus
Listen to what it says in verse 12 Innumerable evils have compassed
me about mine iniquities, mine iniquities My God, I could never have dreamed
of such a thing were not written right there the son of God says
friend with regard to your iniquities my iniquities my iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look
up they're more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart
faileth me In Psalm 69 verse 5 he says, O God thou knowest
my foolishness, my perversities, and my sin is not hid from thee.
And when the Lord God made to meet on him the transgression
of us all, our iniquities, our sins, our transgressions, our
breaches of his law, our corruptions of nature, our depravity of life,
God made all to meet on him as one and he cried awake O sword against
the man that is my fellow smite and slay the shepherd and so
the Lord God drew forth his holy sword of justice and the Lord
Jesus takes it and shoves it into his own heart until justice
says that's enough and iniquity is forever removed Alright, here's the second thing.
I might just make two statements. It really was laid on him. Our
iniquity really did become his iniquity. So how could that be brother
Don? I don't have a clue. I don't have a clue. So we believe
the Lord Jesus Was treated as though he were sin. He was. But more to it than that. That
wouldn't break anybody's heart. We believe the Lord Jesus had
our sins charged to him. They were. But more than they
could be charged to him, they weren't his. God can't charge
you with being righteous if you're not righteous. Can't be done. Can't be done. Justice won't
allow it. He actually was made sin. And the word means, it carries
this idea. If I were to say to you that
brother David has on a greenish shirt. You didn't see the shirt. It would carry an idea. It would
carry the idea of green. It might be bottle green. It
might be olive green. It might be a bluish green. It
might be a yellow green. It might be a pastel green. But
it's got the idea of green in it. Often times in translating
words in scripture, you look up a word and you look up Strolls
Concordance and it says it means made, created, caused to be,
and that's what the word means. It means all those things. But
what you don't see if you just pull down the dictionaries, the
etymology, the usage of a word. Words carry ideas. I called a
friend of mine I met back in Kansas City in June. He's a brilliant
linguist. I study these things but he's
brilliant. He knows Greek like I know Greek. Oh I better not
know English. But he's a brilliant linguist. And he said it carries the idea
of wondrously made. Mysteriously made. Profoundly
made. Unexplainably made. That's it. That's it. I understand it. If you can understand your God,
He's too small. I don't know how God became a man and never
ceased to be God, but He did. I don't know how God who is life
died at Calvary and God never died, but he did. Read Acts 20,
28. God in the flesh did. And I don't
know how God's darling son who never knew sin, never had sin,
and never did sin could be made sin. But he was. He was. and it really did become his
by his own act and his own choice. Several years ago when we first
came to Danville for nine years Shelby and I rented a house from
a fellow named George Grider. He owned a business right across
the street from where we lived Grider Furniture Store. He'd
been there, he's dead now, but he'd been there for a hundred
years when I met him. He'd had business there for a long time.
And, uh, he told me something one day. I was over there visiting
with him. I went over to pay the rent bill, and, uh, he was commending
me about Shelby taking care of the house and all the same, but
I got to talk to him about being a businessman. Tony, he said,
uh, he said, you wouldn't believe some things happened to me in
business. He says, this fella here in town,
he didn't give me his name, no need for me to know, Who had
done business with me for years. Done business with me for years.
I'd known him all my life. And his son and his son's wife
had been married a while and they built him a big new house.
And he came in and asked me, said, George, my son and his
wife built this house and they'd like to furnish it with new furniture. Would you let them charge it
to store here and pay it off a little at a time? I said, they'll
take care of it. I can guarantee you they'll take
care of it. And George said, well, on your word, of course
I will. And they came in there and bought $10,000 worth of furniture. Now, to me, that's a lot of furniture
today. I don't know. But that seems
like a lot of money for a sofa bed. That's just a lot of money. And this was a long time ago.
And the fellow paid it off every month, just like he said he would.
Whatever it was, whatever the amount was, every month is right
there. After about three or four months, the father came back
in. He said, this is George, and my boy paid his bill. Yes
sir, every month, just like he said he would. He said, I'll
tell you what I'd like to do. His wife and I have been talking
about this. He said, I'd like for you to take everything he
owes and put it on my account under my name. What happened? Something happened that couldn't
be done by anyone in any court of law anywhere except that man
himself do it. Had George just simply charged
it to him? Well, that's illegal. That's
illegal. The man came and took the whole
debt and made the whole debt his own debt so that now he owes
the debt. His son owes nothing. Doesn't
owe a dime. George said, you know what he
did when he left here? He said he went right straight to the
courthouse down there on 4th Street and filed bankruptcy. He said, you know what that left
me with? I said, looks to me like it left you with nothing.
He said, Preacher, it was against the law for me to even pick up
the phone and call his son and say, would you consider paying
some of that? The man had no debt. Because his father had
assumed the whole debt and squelched, cheated the man God's darling
son took my sin and made it his own and paid the debt in full and
now with his stripes we are healed Christ gave his bond as our surety
in the covenant of grace before the world was and the Lord God
looked on him as our surety the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world and looked for satisfaction nowhere else he never once looked
my way for it and never will. Blessed is the
man to whom God will not impute sin. How come? Because they're
forgiven. You know what that word forgiven
means in Psalm 32? Blessed is the man whose transgressions
are forgiven. They're lifted up and carried away. Lifted up and carried away. Jesus Christ God's darling son
lifted up the load somehow the words can't explain made his soul sin and he was buried out of God's
sight and he was raised again justification
accomplished justified in the spirit ceased from sin and when
he ceased from sin we did too we don't preach something must
be done oh no that's the gospel workmongers heretics preach We
preach something done. Redemption accomplished by the
sacrifice of God's darling son. Who is it that laid sin on Christ?
None but Jehovah could do it. You can't. You can't. No. You can't lay your hands on him
let alone your sin. God the Father laid our sins
on his son. and poured out on him all the
vials of his holy wrath God's own darling son Jesus Christ
our Lord laid our sins on himself he took our iniquities he came
here and took part of flesh that is he became what we were that
he might taste death for us And now this one who has tasted death
for us has experienced in his holy being everything we can possibly experience
as a result of sin. Our iniquities, our diseases,
Our transgressions, our miseries, our woes, our troubles, our sicknesses,
our iniquity, our transgression, our sin. He's experienced it
all. More than any man ever could. And now he's touched with the
feeling of our infirmities and he's able to succor. Charles, that's one of the best
words in the English language. Sucker. We don't use it much. We think
it means help. That's how modern translation
is translated. That's not what it means. It means to help with
feeling. It means to help with passion.
Because he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He
remembers we're flesh. He remembers we're dust and he
helps with feeling. One of our men was playing with
his 18-month-old grandson in his backyard a couple of weeks
ago. Just rolling the ball at him, he was kicking the ball.
And a little fella kicked over the ball and got twisted and
mangled up and fell down and broke his hip. He broke his hip. We got him in a body cast for,
what is it, six weeks he had to be in it? Six or nine weeks,
whatever. And Ron's out there, some of y'all know Ron Wood,
he's out there playing with his grandson. I'll guarantee you
he didn't walk over there and pick him up like that. I'll tell
you I picked him up. Oh son. And that boy's squalling and
his heart breaking cause that's his son. That's his grandson. He's touched with his pain. That's why Christ became what
we are. So that he might be able to succor, to help with feeling
them that are tempted. And that he might make us the
righteousness of God in him. What did God give him? When it poured out on him all
the hell of his wrath. What did it give him? He gave
him exactly what he deserved. That's what sin deserves. Exactly
what justice demanded. Death. violent execution by the
sword of God. And what does God give you when
he takes you to glory? One of these days he's going to look
me in the eye and he's going to say well done thou good and
faithful servant because the righteousness of Christ really
is mine and heavens everlasting glory will be exactly what I
deserve by the merit of him who sits on the throne and possesses
it as my head. Oh God make this blessed surety
yours in this sweet experience of His grace. Amen.