I just told some folks a little
bit ago, Pastor Gary Vance is here from Grace Baptist Church
in Dingus, West Virginia. Some things I remember well.
I am at that stage in life where I forget a lot. But I remember
most anything I ought to forget. And I remember a few things that
I am glad I remember. First time I went to preach at
Dingus after Brother Hap Yates became pastor. Brother Gary was
one of the men serving in the congregation, along with Brother
Roland Browning, who's with him. And he read scripture and prayed.
And in the course of his prayer, this is what he said. I remember
it exactly. He said, Brother Don's just a
man. Preach him, Lord. And how I pray he will, else
my time with you is meaningless. You turn, if you will, to John
chapter 19. And just hold your Bibles open
there for a few minutes. Before the world began, the triune
God entered into a covenant, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
called a covenant of redemption, a covenant of peace, a covenant
of love, called in the Scriptures repeatedly the new covenant,
this everlasting covenant. And in this covenant, Our eternal
salvation was agreed upon and arranged through the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, who struck hands as our surety. He stepped forward,
as the old writers said, and took our place as our surety
in that covenant. And when he struck hands with
the Father, before the world was made, redemption was done. He's called in this book the
Lamb slain. from the foundation of the world.
The scriptures declare in Romans chapter 8 that God works all
things according to his will for the good of those who love
God, those who are called according to his purpose, and then he describes
his purpose. Speaking of those whom he foreknew,
he predestinated, and those he predestinated he called, and
those he called he justified, and those he justified he glorified. And all those things are spoken
of as already done They were done in eternity when the father
struck hands with his son as our covenant surety and trusted
him Ephesians 1 12 the Apostle Paul explains this by inspiration
He tells us about God's electing love, blessing us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, making us accepted
in the beloved according to his boundless free grace. And when
he gets to verse 12, he says he did all this that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Before the world was, the triune
God turned over everything. His glory, His purpose, His people,
everything to His Son. You remember how our Lord Jesus
prayed in John 17? The hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. He said, you've given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. And then He said this. He said,
glorify me. with the glory that I had with
thee before the world was." What's he talking about? He's talking
about his soon exaltation and glory as the God-man visibly
risen from the dead and visibly ascending up into heaven glorified,
having possession of power, dominion, authority, the right to rule,
to govern, and to dispose of all flesh to the saving of his
people. Now Roland, that glory The father
gave the son before the world was. But understand something. In his eternal deity alone, as
God the son, the father never gave him anything. He is one
with and equal to the father in all his glorious being. But
before the world was, Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, was our surety, and the Father put in His hands
all dominion as that One who is our surety for the saving
of His people. And He ruled the world He had
created for 4,000 years, until in the fullness of time God sent
forth His Son. And Jesus Christ, our surety,
The God, our Savior, God the Son, He who is the eternal God,
stepped into this world of time in human flesh. He took on Himself
our nature, became one of us, so that when He came forth from
His mother's womb, He came forth from his mother's womb, crying,
Lo, I come to do thy will, O my God, to do what was agreed on
back in eternity. His name is called Jesus, for
he shall save his people from their sins. And he walked on
this earth, the full age of a man to the full maturity of manhood
for thirty-three and a half years. in perfect obedience to God as
a man. He knew no sin. He did no sin. He was not in any way deceitful. In his mouth there was no guile.
He's holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. This
is the God-man. who by his obedience unto the
Father throughout the days of his manhood worked out a perfect
righteousness, a perfect righteousness as a man. But he didn't work
it out for himself. He worked it out for his covenant
people because we cannot get to glory without that righteousness. He worked out a perfect righteousness
which is imputed to all those whom he represented and whom
he represents today in glory as our mediator. This righteousness
he makes so really and truly ours that he whom we call the
Lord our righteousness looks on his people and calls us the
Lord our righteousness. You can read it in Jeremiah 33,
16. He looks on us as exact replicas of himself. Now, we often say
concerning things, well, this is how God sees it. I said, Brother
Moody, God sees him perfectly righteous. Well, I got better
news for you than that. The way God sees it, that's the
way it really is. Well, I don't see that. Well,
you don't see like God does. You don't see things like they
really are. God sees that you're perfectly righteous. That means
you're perfectly righteous. Absolutely righteous. No matter
what you experience or do to the contrary, if God declares
a man's righteous, he is righteous. Righteous because of his union
with Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness. But righteousness
is not all that's demanded. Perfect obedience is not all
that's demanded. The Lord Jesus Christ, His obedience
is the obedience of infinite worth for His people. But His
obedience alone could never bring anyone to God except to be obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, because every soul
that sins must die. Justice must be satisfied. And
so in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. When the due time
came, we find the Savior going to Gethsemane. And there, as
he anticipates what he must suffer and what he must endure, he cries
and cries again and cries the third time with a broken heart. erupting blood through the pores
of his skin. Oh, my father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. He wasn't fearful of dying. That
wasn't the problem. The reason he made this world
to start with was to go to Calvary. It wasn't that he now has second
thoughts. No, no. He set his face like
a flint, determined to go up to Jerusalem to suffer and die
instead of his people. Well, what is it then? Here he
is, this holy man who is God. And to be honest with you, not
one of us here and no man walking on this earth has any idea what
I just said means. This holy man who is God. We don't have any concept what
it is to be holy. This man was. There's one thing
his soul abhors. One thing he despises with every
fiber of his being. One thing that is absolutely
abhorrent to him. Abhorrent to him. And that one
thing is sin. And as he anticipates being made
sin to redeem us, His heart breaks within him and he cries, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me. Not the cup of wrath,
not the cup of judgment, not the penalty, but the act of himself
being made sin. Nevertheless, not my will. Not
my will. This is what I want. This is
what I want. But justice cannot be executed
against a man who knows no sin. Guilt cannot be placed upon one
who is guiltless. One who has no sin cannot be
punished for sin, not in the court of heaven. He must be made
sin for us. And so as he finishes praying,
Judas came leading a band of soldiers and he had agreed with
them as Zechariah said he would for 30 pieces of silver. He said,
now when you see me kiss him, you bind him and hold him fast.
And so Judas walks up and kisses him. But the Lord Jesus stopped
the soldiers. He said, who are you looking
for? Whom seek ye? What a glorious picture. He is
declaring to us who he is, even as he stands in Gethsemane. Whom
seek ye? They said, we're looking for
Jesus of Nazareth. You remember what he said next?
He said, I am. And they fell away backwards.
Fell away like dead men. He said, I am he. And he calls
them to the feet again. And he said, now, exactly who
was it you said you were looking for? I can almost see those soldiers
trembling in their sandals. And they said, well, what did
we come here for, fellas? We've come seeking Jesus of Nazareth.
He said, now that you know who you're dealing with, if you seek
me, let these go their way. because you can't have me and
my people. And thus he shows us the picture
of redemption. The Son of God says to divine
justice, take me and let my people go. You can't have both. And so they led away the Savior
to Pilate's judgment hall where he was examined and examined
and examined and declared to be an innocent man. And Pilate,
like that high priest in John chapter two, or chapter 11 rather,
that high priest that year prophesied by the Spirit of God, not knowing
what he said when he said, it's expedient that one man suffer
for the people and the whole nation perish not. Pilate spoke
as the prophet of God. As though he had read this entire
book from cover to cover. from Genesis 1 to the end of
Malachi, read every word of the prophets. And this book speaks
about a man, a man who must come, a man who must redeem his people,
a man who must reign as king over all. And Pilate stands him
out and he says, behold the man. Here he is. His soldiers beat
him and mocked him, put a mock garment on his naked body that
they'd stripped and beaten, shoved a crown of thorns on his head,
put a reed in his hand and said, Hail King. And they led him through
the streets of Jerusalem. And a hellish parade followed
along. They brought him to the place
called Calvary, the place of the skull. Religious folks have
pictures and have throughout The age in which we live this
last 2,000 years had pictures, scenes of Calvary, supposed to
be. And they're all peaceful, serene pictures. I've never seen
one that didn't kind of look like a place where you'd like
to just build your house and sit on your back porch and sip
tea. That's not Calvary. Calvary was a rugged hill outside
Jerusalem. It was a garbage dump. the garbage
dump for human bodies that had been executed cruelly, skulls
and bones sticking out everywhere. That's the reason it's called
Calvary, Golgotha, the place of the skull. And they took the
Lord Jesus and they had a hole in the ground. They nailed him
to timber, cross pieces, picked it up and shoved it in the ground. And they sat down and watched.
All hail through a party. Jewish priests, scribes, Pharisees
and Herodians, all the sects of the Jews, the Roman soldiers,
prostitutes, drunks from the streets, folks walking around
with their children, all followed their way up to Calvary, and
they all sat and watched him as he suffered all the fury of
God's holy wrath. In the middle of the day, he
cried as the sun was darkened, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He looked on this crowd and he
said, Father, forgive them. for they know not what they do. He heard a thief crucified beside
him who had been mocking him with the rest of the crowd, who
cried, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
And he said to that thief, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
And then we get to John chapter 19 and verse 30. At the end of
the day, when Jesus therefore received the vinegar, He said,
It is finished. It is finished. It is finished. O Spirit of God, with the finger
of omnipotent mercy, write these words on our hearts and make
us hear them forever. It is finished. Now I want, if God will enable
me, to declare four things here. The fact of it. It is finished. The fact of it. The result of
it, it is finished. The experience of it, it is finished. And the cause of it, it is finished. Now here's the fact. Turn to
Daniel chapter nine. I'll ask you to turn to a few
passages of scripture tonight. Daniel the ninth chapter. When
our Savior said, it is finished, what on earth does he mean is
finished? Don't listen to me and don't listen to anybody else
except they speak to you or I speak to you right out of this book.
If what I have to say tonight comes from this book, hear it.
If what I say tonight does not come directly from this book,
mark it down. I'm a false prophet. Don't hear
me tonight. Don't hear me ever again. And
find yourself somebody else to listen to. But if what I've got
to say tonight is verified by everything we read in this book,
you better hear this man. I'm speaking for God. Daniel
9, verse 24. When our Savior says it is finished, He's
declaring first and foremost that the work of redemption is
completely done. It's finished. Nothing is left
undone. Nothing more needs to be or can
be done. Christ came into the world to
redeem a people unto himself. And they are redeemed. These
days folks talk about Christ providing redemption, Christ
making redemption possible, No, sir. Christ redeemed somebody.
Daniel 9, 24. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. Number one, to finish
the transgression. That's what redemption does.
It finishes transgression. Number two, and to make an end
of sins. Number three, and to make reconciliation
for iniquity. Number four, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness. Number five, and to seal up the
vision and prophecy. Number six, and to anoint the
most holy. What did our Savior mean when
he said it is finished? He means for us to understand
that all the types, promises, and prophecies of the Old Testament
scriptures were then and there fulfilled and finished forever. The Old Testament scriptures
speak only of Him. That's what the Old Testament
is all about. I know we live in this day of prophecy idiots.
I mean prophecy idiots. And I'm being as nice as I can
be. You remember when they had the first Iraq war, Desert Storm? Folks in Bible colleges and seminaries
and religious folks wrote books, wrote books, put them out, sold
hundreds of thousands of copies. This is it. This is it. When
Y2K came along, man, everybody was scared to death. They even
had Bill Gates and Microsoft scared. Boy, this is going to
mess everything up. Started sending out programs
to fix stuff. People hired companies to come fix their computers in
case they might have got out of whack. Delta Airlines completely
revamped their computers. I know because I'd be flying
beside a fella who was getting paid hundreds of thousands of
dollars to do it. And, you know, Y2K came and went,
and my computer just kept on buzzing. It just, it worked just
as good as it did the day before. And yet, those same fellas wrote
books there, wrote books with Desert Storm. This thing with
Saddam Hussein came up in Iraq a few years ago. Had that terroristic
bombing in New York, that destruction of the towers, those jets flying
into the towers in New York. Those same fellas wrote more
books. This is it. This is it. And they
went around to the same idiots in the same churches and sold
100,000 copies each. And I'll tell you what's going
to happen next year. Some towel head is going to say something
or do something. Over in the Middle East, something's going
to happen over there. And they're going to write more books. And the
same fools will buy more books about the same thing. Oh, this
is it. This is the end of it. This book,
and I'm talking specifically now about the Old Testament scriptures,
don't have a thing on earth to do with what's going on over
in Palestine. You don't interpret this book
by the newspaper. This book speaks of Christ the
King. our Lord and our Redeemer. All
the types and promises and prophecies of the Old Testament were finished
when Jesus Christ came into this world. Scriptures speak plainly
of a prophet like Moses who would deliver his people like Joshua. Christ is that prophet. They
speak of a king, a king like Aaron, not a priest, a priest
like Aaron and a priest like Melchizedek. Christ is that priest. They speak of a king. A king
like David and a king like Solomon. Christ is that king. The scriptures
speak of a lamb. A lamb who must be slain. A lamb
of sacrifice. And they speak of a scapegoat.
Another lamb that wasn't sacrificed. Christ is both. They speak of
a dove, a dove that was slaughtered and his blood squeezed out in
a basin and another whose wings were dipped in that blood and
sent flying into the heavens. Christ is both. The scriptures
speak of an altar and a tabernacle and Christ is both. The scriptures
speak plainly of a mercy seat and show bread. Christ is both.
The scriptures speak of a sacrifice and a sacrificer. Christ is both. And that's what the Old Testament's
all about. When our Lord Jesus said, it is finished, he meant
that all the typical sacrifices, all the ceremonial law was completely
fulfilled and forever abolished. I chose my words deliberately. abolished. People these days
speak of Judeo Christianity, and the Judeo Christian ethic,
and our country being found on Judeo Christian principles. If
it's Judeo, it ain't Christian. And if it's Christian, it ain't
Judeo. At home, I don't know about you folks, but at home,
when they have, there's various ceremonies about things, You
know folks actually talk about observing the Lord's Supper and
they pretend to be keeping the Passover? Because they want to
identify with the Judeo-Christian principles. Judaism, Judaism,
since our Savior cried, it is finished! Judaism is just as
pagan as Romanism or Hinduism. Just as pagan! Our Lord Jesus
Christ will never Never be worshipped on a Jewish altar again. It won't
happen. He is the only altar on which
men worship God. God saved me when I was not quite
17 years old. You know, one of the first things
I remember here, when I was in Bible college, Springfield, Missouri,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, they taught it. They insisted
on it. You know, they've already got the rocks in the ports in
Jerusalem fixing to rebuild that temple. Get you a Schofield reference
Bible, one of those been messed with, and read the notes. They
talk about God being worshipped again on a Jewish altar, in a
Jewish temple, with Jewish sacrifices and a Jewish priest. If that
ever happens, we worship an imposter. Either our Lord finished all
the Old Testament wrote, or he finished nothing. One of the
two. All the law ceremonies and sacrifices were fulfilled and
forever abolished. That's what Hebrews chapter 10
is all about. This man, after he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down. He sat down on the right hand
of the father, expecting to his enemies be made his footstool.
Tell you something else is finished. And I want you to turn here to
Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10 when our Lord Jesus cried
it is finished he means for us to understand that all the commandments
of the moral law of God all the 10 commandments as they're called
were now perfectly fulfilled and the rule of the law was forever
ended Romans chapter 10 The Apostle is writing by inspiration, talking
about those who are totally ignorant of the righteousness of God,
going about to establish their own righteousness. And he says
this, said, don't you understand? Don't you understand? Christ
is the end. Don't you know what that word
is? It's the very same word spoken of John chapter 19, verse 30,
finished. Christ is the finishing of the
law. Christ is the finishing of the
law. Somebody said, well, the Lord
Jesus said he didn't come to destroy the law. He didn't destroy
it. He fulfilled it. There's a big difference. He
didn't destroy it. He ended it. There's a big difference. Christ is the E-N-D of the law. Now, nobody would have any trouble
understanding that. Nobody would have any difficulty
with it if they read it in a newspaper, if they read it in a book. And
so that's the end of that story. Well, close it up then. That's
the end of it. That's the end of that event.
Well, let's go home. Last night I went back to the
room and flipped on a football game I was hoping would be better
than it was. And a fellow started walking out about three and a
half minutes ago. They didn't wait till the end.
Me neither. I changed the channel. And then
I flipped it back over there a few minutes and it's all over.
I knew the game was at an end. No point looking for it anymore.
It's ended. It's finished. Christ is the
E-N-D of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. God's
people no longer live under the yoke and dominion and rule of
the law. We live under the sweet yoke
of a blessed Savior and we're ruled by his love in our hearts. Those who give from a willing
heart give generously, and you're a fool if you try to get them
to tithe. Those who rest in Christ don't
need orders to keep the Sabbath day. They rest all their lives. They rest in Him who is our Sabbath.
Those who love Christ don't need the ball and chain of the law
to make them do what's right. They do what's right for the
glory of God. I travel a lot. And my wife loves me dearly. What do you suppose she would
do if I were to say to her, now, honey, I know you love me, and
this is not because I don't trust you, but I bought this chastity
belt, and I'd like to lock it on you before I leave home. Now
don't misunderstand me, I know you love me, but just do this
to show your love for me. That little woman would beat
me to death with that chastity belt. What are you talking about? What are you talking about? God's
people don't need the belt of the law. Strapped on their hearts
to hold them tight with the rigor of the law They walk by faith
motivated by the love of God Revealed in their crucified Redeemer
Don't talk to me about law works and Sabbath keeping don't talk
to me about it folks who do are ignorant of the righteousness
of God When Christ cried it is finished He declared the way
of access of He's open for sinners. He cried out, he's finished.
And over in the temple, a ways off of the hill, there was a
Jewish priest standing inside the Holy of Holies in Solomon's
second temple. Do you know what those priests
had been doing for nearly 500 years? Read the book carefully. You'll
find out that after the destruction of Jerusalem, the sacking of
that city by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, and the destruction of
the temple, never again, even in the second temple which was
built by command of God, that second temple that was built,
never again did they have the golden altar or the light candlesticks
or the mercy seat or the Ark of the Covenant but those priests
kept faking it. They just faked it. I'm talking about generation
after generation just faked serving God. Just faked worshipping God. Just faked offering sacrifices
to God. And I guess the fellow standing
there smoking his pipe and sipping on a Coca-Cola or something.
I don't know what it was but I can tell you why he was doing it. Same
reason preachers do today. Scared to death of losing position,
power, and money. They're just faking it. Can you
imagine how that fellow's face must have looked? Our Savior
cried, it is finished, and God split that thing wide open. From
top to bottom, and there he stands. And the Lord God, by splitting
that veil, said, the way's open. A way by which sinners can approach
God in his holiness with no fear and no dread and no quaking but
with boldness in the full assurance of faith. Every sinner, every
sinner who looks to Jesus Christ the Lord, every sinner has access
to God because the way is open. It is finished. It is finished. What's the result of it? Turn
to Romans chapter 3 and I'll show you. Romans chapter 3. I'll get to it in just a second.
Just hold your Bibles open. Since it is finished, God Almighty
can be just and justify the ungodly. The work of that covenant I spoke
of in the beginning is now completely ratified. The scriptures describe
it in Hebrews chapter 9 as a testament. And a testament. A few years
ago, Shelby and I got a friend of ours, a lawyer, to write up
a testament for us, the last will and testament. We got a
little insurance. If we both die, it goes to our
daughter. Makes good sense. But no point
in her bringing that and sticking it in my face. And trying to
get the money now, number one, I hadn't got it. And number two,
if I had it, she doesn't have any claim to it till I'm dead.
Doesn't have any claim to it till I'm dead. But after I've
died, no court in the world can deny it. Can't be denied, it's
hers. Rightfully and legally so. When
the Lord Jesus cried, it's finished. The testament was finished. And
now, all the blessings of the covenant may flow freely to God's
people throughout the world on the basis of his finished work.
But not only did he make the testament and die to ratify it,
he lives to enforce it. He's sitting on the throne enforcing
the testament. The preaching of the gospel is
sort of like the reading of the will. One of the old Scottish covenanters,
a young girl, nine or ten years old, was on her way to worship.
And of course, they were worshipping in seclusion, hiding. And as
she was going to worship, she saw some of the Queen's troops
coming. And she prayed that God would give her wisdom to deal
with this and not deny her Lord. And the troops came and accosted
her roughly, said, young lady, where are you going? And she
said, I'm going to a meeting of the family. Our elder brother
has died. And I've been called to the reading
of his will. Here we are, at a meeting of
the family, and the preacher's business is to read his will.
Oh, I hope he named you in it. It's the reading of his will,
put in force by his death. Because our Savior cried, it
is finished. God Almighty, now in his perfect
holiness, is both just and the justifier of all who believe. Look at Romans 3, 24. Being justified
freely by his grace. That word freely is the same
word he uses back in Hosea when he says, I will love them freely.
He loves us without a cause. And he justifies us without a
cause. That's by his grace. But don't
ever imagine that justification was accomplished without a cause.
and accomplished without cost. We're justified freely by His
grace, but this free grace flows to us through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be, watch
it now, a propitiation. He's the propitiation for our
sins. He is a propitiation, a justice
satisfying sacrifice through faith in His blood. Our faith
in His blood has nothing to do with His satisfaction of justice
and His making propitiation for us. But faith looking on the
crucified Redeemer sees that His sacrifice has propitiated,
fully satisfied the fury of God's holy justice. Read on. To declare
His righteousness. His righteousness. Not his love. Not his love. People get on television. God loves you and I do too. Isn't
it amazing that fools believe that? He doesn't even know my
name. He doesn't love me. But fools believe that. God loves
you. Smile. God loves you and has
a wonderful plan for your life. This book doesn't talk like that.
Ask the folks in hell if God loves them. If he does, he's
got a strange way of showing it. Well, what's he talking about?
The blood of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ is the revelation of
God's love to folks who believe, but it is love made known to
us through righteousness. And it can't be known any other
way. God's son died to declare that
God is righteous. His righteousness, watch it now,
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. I've got a comment on this. I
read an article last week. Somebody sent me from some preacher
out in Louisiana. He said when God lifted up David's
sins, he lifted them up, but he didn't put them away. And
David wasn't righteous because the Lord Jesus wasn't in heaven
yet. That's called limbo. That's the Roman Catholic doctrine
of limbo. It's exactly what it is. No, no, no. declares that
God was righteous to remit the sins of Adam and Abel and Noah
and Abraham and Zechariah and Malachi even back yonder because
of this Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now read on. Through
the forbearance of God to declare I say right now today at this
time His righteousness. Now this is what that means.
Pastor Tom Harding It's a right thing for God to save you. It's a right thing for God to
have mercy on you. It's a right thing for God to
forgive your sin. It's a right thing for God to
remember your iniquities no more. How come? To declare his righteousness
that he God Almighty might be just and the justifier of him
which believeth in Jesus. Again, our believing in him has
got nothing to do with him justifying us. No, our faith receives that
which Christ has done in our consciences and God declares
us just in the court of conscience. But his righteousness is now
declared to faith believing on His Son. God said, God said,
He that believeth on the Son of God hath everlasting life. That's what it said, isn't it?
That's what it said. How could God give me everlasting
life? How could He do that? How could
He do that? I struggled under the guilt of
sin with a heavy load. My soul in bondage, my heart
in darkness, condemned before God, condemned before God, scared
to death of going to hell, and did everything I could possibly
do to try to take off of me the horrible, oppressive yoke of
bondage and the terrible curse of God's law, my conscience screaming
all the time, guilty, guilty, guilty, and I could not lift
the load. God caused me to see something
I had never seen before. And man could not show to me. He caused me to see His Son bearing
my sin in His body on the tree. And as soon as I looked, my conscience
said, not guilty. Not guilty. Do you hear me? I'm not guilty. I'm not guilty. I'm not guilty. Christ put away
my sin. And God says his blood's enough.
And my conscience, looking on him by faith, says that's enough.
All right. Now, let me show you something
else. The experience of it. When our
Savior cried, it is finished. This is the message we proclaim.
Turn to Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40. This is God's commission to every
preacher in every generation. This is the responsibility of
every preacher in every generation. It doesn't matter whether your
pastor is standing here preaching or I'm standing here preaching
or Brother Roland, you stand up and preach here. Are one of
you men stand up to teach the word? It doesn't matter what
the circumstance. It doesn't matter whether you're talking
to folks who've been believers for 50 years or 75 years. Are you talking to folks who
don't know God from a gourd? This is the responsibility of
every preacher every time he opens this book to speak for
God. Comfort ye. Comfort ye, my people, saith
your God. How on earth can you do that?
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. The word is speak to the heart
of Jerusalem. I can't do that unless God will
preach me. Speak to the heart of my people.
Speak to your heart. To your heart. To your heart. And this is what you tell them.
Cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. That her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. Brother Moody and I were
talking today. I didn't realize that he and
Anthony are a bit of Civil War buffs. Well, I'm a southerner. And I'm so southern, if I wasn't
southern, I'd at least be ashamed. I visited Appomattox Courthouse
years ago and one of the saddest pictures I ever saw hanging on
a wall was a picture of Lee signing terms of surrender at Appomattox
Courthouse. And another picture of the Union
soldier standing at attention, I'm sorry, the Confederate soldier
standing at attention with their arms stacked in front of them
saluting the conquering army. as it rode by. But I got a feeling. Back in 1865, this will surprise
some of you young folks, they didn't have e-mail, cell phones,
or even cans on wires to talk through. The only way of communication
they had was somebody passing the word along. I just got a
hunch all through the country there were little pockets of
folks still fighting that war. And I can just picture some little
band of ragtag Southern boys. They've used up all their ammunition,
and they hear the Union troops coming, and they run out with
one last cry, realizing this is going to be it. Well, sure,
they'll be slaughtered, but they take their sabers and their rocks
in their hands, and they go out to attack that army as it rides
by. And the fellow says, wait, wait!
The war is over. You can go home now. Oh my soul,
good news. God the Holy Spirit comes by
the preaching of the gospel and declares to rebel sinners, the
war is over. Come on home. It's over. She's
received to the Lord's hand double for all her sin. Do you know
what a double portion is? You remember When Elijah asked
him, he said, what do you want? He said, I want a double portion
of your spirit. What did that mean? I won't be
twice the prophet you were. No, no, no. A double portion is the portion
given by God's law to the firstborn. What have you received? You received
that which Christ the firstborn earned for you. A double portion. A double portion. Your iniquity is forgiven. And you are righteous. And by His Word that He sends
to His people at the appointed time of love, He heals them,
declaring to them the gospel of their salvation. And they
are delivered from destruction. What's the cause of it? Why did
the Son of God go yonder to Calvary and suffer all the painful, shameful,
ignominious death of the cross under the terror of divine justice? He loved me and gave himself
for me. And I shall be with him forever. And I know I shall because it
is written of Him, He shall not fail. Did He come to save me? Saved I must be. Did He come
to save you? Saved you must be. Did He come
to bring His sheep to glory? He says them also I must bring. Saved they must be to the glory
of God. Amen.