as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That, here's the must, the necessity,
that whosoever believeth in should not perish, but have eternal
life. It was absolutely essential that
God the Son become one of us, the Word be made flesh, and that
He die under the wrath of His heavenly Father and ours, His
God and ours, under the violent fury of God's just anger, because
there was no other way for justice to be satisfied and no other
way sinners could live before God. I want you, oh, I want you
to live before God. To have eternal life. Eternal life. And that eternal life is something
sinners take possession of. by faith in Jesus Christ. I want you, I pray God will cause
you to believe on His side. To believe on Jesus Christ the
Lord. Read on. For God so loved the
world, not just religious Jews, not just the children of Abraham,
but sinners north, south, east, and west, black and white, Jew
and Gentile, bond and free. God so loved the world, a fallen,
cursed, condemned world of sinners, that he gave his only begotten that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. I'm calling for you, eternity-bound
men and to believe on the Son of God. To come to Jesus Christ
the Lord right now, right where you are. And when you walk out
these doors tonight, to walk home in life forgiven of all sin, accepted
in the Beloved. To that end, I want to raise
Five plain questions, and I hope you'll give me your attention. What would it mean to you to know, I'm talking about know,
to know that every sin of your past, present, and future is
forgiven, blotted out, and remembered no more. I'm not talking about
a little religious excitement. What would it mean to you to
know that your every sin, past, present, and future, is completely
destroyed, blotted out, and forgiven by God Almighty? Turn to Isaiah
43. open sin and secret sin, sin to the heart, of the mind,
of the hand, of the foot. What would it mean to you to
know that in the book of God in heaven there is not one mark
against you? That's the privilege of every
sinner who trusts God's Son. Trust Him. Believe Him. And I'm telling you, there's
no mark against you in God's heaven. None at all. The Lord God says, He that believeth
on the Son half everlasting life. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Come now, let us reason
together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Look here in Isaiah 43, 25. I,
even I am He, that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance. I'm astonished
by that statement. God says put me in remembrance.
Let us plead together. Declare thou! Declare what? I believe that Jesus is the Christ. I believe on the Son of God. Declare thou that thou mayest
be justified. It is our God who speaks here,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases,
who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness
and tender mercies. The psalmist cries, If thou,
O Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Oh Lord, who shall stand? But
there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared. There
is therefore now, because there is forgiveness with God, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Turn to Jeremiah chapter 50, verse 20. Brother Don, you're
talking about things that are spoken of in hyperbole. These
things arenít as real as youíre making them out to be. Hear what
God says. Jeremiah 50 verse 20, ìIn those
days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel
shall be sought for.î Let me read that real personally, will
you? when all nations are gathered
before the bar of God Almighty in judgment. At that time, saith
the Lord, Don Fortner shall be standing
there, and the iniquity of Don Fortner shall be sought for, and there shall be None. And the sins of Judah, the sins
of Don Fortner, and they shall not be found, for I will pardon
them whom I reserve. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, has blotted out my transgressions, all my transgressions, and there
is not a mark in the books of God against this sinner. Not one. My sins are gone. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. Oh, my
soul, what a joy to hear such good news falling on the ears
of those who know themselves sinners. I told our folks recently,
back years ago, this is the early 70's, back before you found black
folks in church buildings with white folks very much. Once in
a while you would. I had a friend who pastored down in Lexington,
Kentucky And he told a story about this lady in his congregation,
Juanita. I never will forget her name.
I don't know that I ever met her. But she had started coming
to church there. Now, I don't know how it is out
here, but in the South, black churches get a lot of whoopee.
You know, they make a lot of noise. And they shout and carry
on. Women talk kind of like men do. And this pastor said to Juanita,
he said, Juanita, I don't want you ever shouting in church.
You don't do that. And he's preaching about God's
forgiveness of sin through Christ. And he looked up and she sat
back there about three-quarters back, about where the Bray is
now, and she had a finger brightening on it, waving her hand. Oh, my. God's forgiveness. I don't mean he pretends it doesn't
exist. I don't mean he acts like I'd
never sinned. I don't mean He treats me as
though I've never sinned. I mean God fixed it so that I've
never sinned. That's exactly what it means.
And no record against me. No mark. Number two, what would it mean to you to
know that the eternal, holy, righteous and just God has totally
reconciled you to Himself? That there's no wrath, no fury,
no anger, no enmity in God toward you. That God never even frowns
at you. That you're the recipient of
His love and peace, and you're accepted in love and peace. Not a sham, pre-ten peace. Real peace. The Savior said, My peace give
I unto you. Real, true peace. Peace that only the Son of God
can give who is our peace. Turn to Colossians chapter one. This is what every believer in
Jesus Christ has. Colossians 1 verse 20, having
made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile
all things to himself. I'm not suggesting that you make
peace with God. That's your problem. You've been
trying to do that. I'm telling you, believe on the Son of God,
and Christ has made peace through the blood of His cross. By Him to reconcile all things
to 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. I know that God's people have
never been the objects of His wrath. I know that God's elect
have always been loved of God, accepted in Christ. I'm pretty
well aware of that. And I know that in your mind and in your heart, every child
of Adam lived all the days of his rebellion with his fist shoved
in God's face and you'd have killed him if you could. You'd have killed him if you
could. You hate authority. You get upset every time somebody
suggests anything like authority because you hate God. That's
the nature of man. It's the nature of man. But you who believe He has reconciled to Himself. What happens when God gives a
sinner faith? You've heard it so many ways
the last few days. He causes the sinner to bow before
Him. He takes the fight out of him.
Causes him to surrender, to stack arms. Years ago I was preaching
over in Appomattox, Virginia. It's not a very pleasant place
for a Southern boy to visit, but I had to go. So I went to
the Appomattox courthouse where the Southern armies surrendered
to Mr. Grant and the armies of the aggressors
from the North. And there's a picture there. It wasn't a pretty sight. As
the Union troops rode down the road into Appomattox Courthouse.
The Southern boys were standing there with their arms stacked
in front of them at attention, saluting. That's called surrender. That's called surrender. God,
I've got nothing to say. I'm whipped. You win. My name's Jacob. And now, there's nothing between
my soul and my Savior, so that His blessed face may be seen,
nothing preventing the least of His favor. Jesus is mine. There's nothing between. Nothing to make me uneasy. Nothing
to give me discomfort. Nothing between my soul and my
Savior. Number three, what would it mean
to you to have a new heart, a new spirit, a new nature that really
does love God? I hear people say there's no
righteousness in a man. All our righteousness is at God's
right hand. Well, there's a sense in which
that's right. But you listen to me. Christ, our righteousness,
comes and takes up residence in His people. Our Lord saw Nathanael and said,
Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile, a perfectly
righteous man. A man without guile. And you
know what Nathaniel said to him? He said, how did you know me?
How did you know me? Who are you? How did you know
who I am? I know Philip didn't know me
like that. How did you know that? Because I'm God. Our Lord asked
Peter, said Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?
He said, Lord, you know I love you. Ask him again, lovest thou
me more than these? That's what he'd said. That's
what he'd said. He'd said, Lord, these letters
may forsake you, but I won't. I won't. And then the Lord said
to him the third time and used the strongest possible word he
could use for love. He said, Simon, let's get down
where the rubber hits the road. Let's forget about James and
John and the others. Do you love me? And Peter was
grieved in his heart. Because the third time he said,
Peter, do you love me? And Peter answered, Lord, you
know all things. You know that I love you. What would it mean to you to
be the possessor of a new spirit, a new heart, a new nature that
truly loves God, a nature as truly inclined to God as the
flesh is to self. A nature which hates evil and
loves the things of God, the Word of God, the people of God,
the Son of God, the worship of God, and finds no greater delight
than to be in the will of God and in the presence of God. A
nature that makes obedience a choice and a delight, not a command
and a duty. That's what every believer possesses.
It's exactly right. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. That's the heart, the spirit,
the nature of all who are saved by God's free grace. The psalmist
said, I love thy precepts, O Lord. Either he's lying or he's telling
the truth. One of the two. I was glad when they said to
me, let us go into the house of the Lord." Either he is lying
or he is telling the truth. Paul said, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man. He said, I know that in me, that
is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, but he said, I delight
in God's law. Somewhere down here inside me there is something
that delights in God's law. Something inside me, Peter said,
no matter what things look like on the outside, No matter how
I may behave for the moment, there's something in me, oh my
God, that loves you. And I know it, and you do. I
know it and you do, because you put it there. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Therefore,
penitent man, be in Christ. What's that mean? In Christ,
that's what it means. I can't understand that. Are
you in this room? Anybody in here who's not in
here? Well, brother John, that's kind
of redundant, isn't it though? Are you in Christ? If you're
God, you're in Christ. In Him eternally. In Him because
He put you in Him. In Him, in electing love. In
Him, as a covenant head and surety. In Him, as your mediator. In
Him, as your representative. In Him, as your head. In Him, as the members are in
the body. In Christ, by a living union
of faith. In Him, because God put you in
Him. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. He's a new creature. a new creation. That's all right. What's that
mean? Old things are passed away. God's
blotted out all those transgressions. And behold, all things are become
new. And all this God did it. All
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that
is, this is what I mean, that God was in Christ Reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed to us the word of reconciliation." He's committed
to us the preaching of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, quit fighting Christ. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be ye reconciled to God. Why should I surrender to Him? that made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. As He was made sin, we have been
made righteousness. Was He really made sin? Yes,
He really was. Is the believer really made righteous? Yes, he really is. He really
is. And a righteous nature has been
put in him. Number four, what would it mean
to you to know that every trial and every failure, every joy
and every sorrow, Every good day and every difficult day is
ordained, designed, purposed, and ordered by your Heavenly
Father for your eternal good and His glory. That all the things
that come to pass in your life, in the life of your family, in
the life of your nation, in the life of the world, is for your
good. That's the experience and the
heritage of every believer. Turn to Isaiah chapter 3. I want
you to see something. Isaiah chapter 3, verse 10. Say ye to the righteous that
it shall be well with him. Four. Do you see that? Say ye to the righteous that
it shall be well with him. And this is the reason. They,
the righteous, shall eat the fruit of their doings. What on earth is he talking about?
Who are the righteous? They are those who have been
made righteous by grace, made righteous by the blood of Christ
in free justification, made righteous by the grace of God in regeneration
and sanctified work of the Holy Spirit, made righteous in the
experience of grace by faith, receiving righteousness from
Jesus Christ. Say ye to the righteous, God
commands His prophet, that it shall be well with him. Now you
can read that statement. just as broadly as your heart's
imagination will allow. Don't put any limitation on it.
God didn't. Don't put any condition to the promise. God didn't. Don't
make any qualification for it. God doesn't. To the righteous,
God declares, it shall be well with him. Our hearts ought to respond,
if God has said it shall be well with me, then it is well with
me. It has been well with me, and
it shall be well with me. It shall be well with the righteous,
always, at all times, in all circumstances. Well with the
righteous now. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. It is well with the righteous
when all seems to be ill. When you cry with Jacob, all
things are against me, it's still well with the righteous. It shall
be well with the righteous when it's ill for everyone else. Everyone
else is starving to death. God provided for that widow Zarephath.
When temptation comes, it shall be well with the righteous. And
when Satan buffets, it shall be well with the righteous. When
trials come, it shall be well with the righteous. When we're
weak, it shall be well with the righteous. And when we sin, it's
still well with the righteous. If any man sin, watch out, God's
going to get you. If any man said, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He's the propitiation
for our sins. Oh, brother Don, if you preach
like that, folks are going to go out and live like hell. Let
them. I won't rob the children of God
of the blessedness of His Word in order to try to keep ungodly,
reprobate folks from acting like ungodly, reprobate folks. Well, what about when we fall? For the righteous, when he falls,
it shall be well with him, because he falls into the arms of free
grace. an omnipotent mercy and a loving
Redeemer? No, no. Let's see. Though he
fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth
him with His hand. God is good, good to His own, always good,
and nothing but good. So long as we live in this world,
it will be well with us. And when we leave this world
in the hour of death, it will be well with us. In the day of
judgment, it shall be well with the righteous. And in eternity
it shall be well with the righteous, for God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes. And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away." Perhaps you're saying to yourself,
well, Brother Don, I know that the promise is written in the
Bible, How can I be sure that it will be well with me? If you're
righteous, if you're a believer, if you're washed in the blood
of Jesus Christ, if you're born of God, robed in Christ's righteousness,
it shall be well with you because your greatest trouble is all
gone. Your sin and guilt has been removed. Your greatest enemy
has been defeated. Satan, the God of this world,
has been cast out. Your indwelling sin, that old
man, the flesh, is doomed. It's nailed to the tree. Your
God, He who made you this promise,
rules all things. And you who believe live upon
a bank that will never be broken. It's called the bank of grace.
And the Lord God says, let us therefore come boldly to the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
just as often as you need, in every time of need. More than
that, you're not alone. There's a divine comforter within
you, an omnipotent arm embracing you, a gracious God walking with
you, a Savior at your right hand at your elbow. Say ye to the
righteous, it shall be well with him. More than that, the very
justice of God demands it. Is that right? It's exactly right.
For he shall eat of the fruit of his own doings. If I deserve
it to be well, it shall be well. And Ted, I deserve for it to
be well with me. I really do. You know, Brother
Dodd, you're speaking beyond yourself now. I sure am. But
I'm not speaking beyond my representative. I am not speaking beyond my Redeemer. I have fully earned God's favor
all the time in my representative, in my surety with whom I am one,
Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh, children of God, we are well
fed, for we are fed upon the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ
our Redeemer. We're well-dressed, for we're
robed in His righteousness, well-housed, for the Eternal God is our refuge,
and well-wed, for we're married to Him who loved us and gave
Himself for us. Number five, what would it mean
to you to know for sure? Now, that's a big word. To know
something for sure, Brother Jesse, there's not many things I know
for sure. There's not many things I know for sure. But there's something I know
for sure. What would it mean to you to know for sure that
growing old and dying is the best, most wonderful thing that
could happen to you? That's the assurance Christ gives
to every believer. For me to live is Christ. To
die is gain. Now I can hear someone saying,
well, you wouldn't say it to my face, but you might be thinking
it. If you really believe that, if you really believe that, what
are you doing still standing here? Why did you go through all the
surgical procedures and the hospitalization and the ups and downs you've
been through the last couple of months? Well, I about didn't. I about
didn't. Last time I had to go to the
hospital, I was just about dead. I'd lost six bites of blood.
And I knew if I just curled up my feet into the bed one more
time, that'd be the end of this. And you know what I did? I curled
my feet up into my bed to die. And I laid there just very briefly. And I thought, Don, you can't
commit suicide. And that's what it is to refuse
help when it's there. You can't commit suicide. But
I'm going to tell you something. I am as sure, as confident, as absolutely certain of this
as I am that I'm standing here. Either that or I'm lying to you.
One of the two. And you can take your pick, and
Judgment Day will tell. the best thing that can happen
to me is to draw my last breath and leave this world. Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth. What's that mean? from the time
they die in the Lord, they are blessed. Blessed they are. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works shall follow them.
What would it mean to you to go home tonight knowing that
your sins are all forgiven, that God is not angry with you, That you have a new nature that
Christ dwells in. Oh, go home knowing that Christ
lives in you. Christ liveth in me. Knowing that all is well with
you. Knowing that death is the greatest of blessings. All these
boons of grace are promised to every sinner who believes on
the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. Believe Him. Believe Him. Where you are, believe Him. Well,
I'm not sure about yesterday. I may forget yesterday. Believe
Him. Believe Him. Brother Dodd, I've
made so many professions, been baptized so many times, I'd be
ashamed. I'd rather be ashamed than be in hell. Believe Him. Believe on the Son of God, and
you'll never be ashamed. Amen.