Well, it is my delight to be
with you. I've been looking forward to
this opportunity. I trust that our God will be
pleased to meet with us these two nights and speak to your
hearts by His Word. Our brothers both, in their reading
and prayers, spoke of God's gospel being the power of God unto salvation. That word power If it were transliterated
rather than translated, that is, if it had just simply been
written out from Greek into English, is the word dynamite. That's
a good description of the gospel. I don't know whether you all
watch the old Clint Eastwood movies or not. Once in a while I do.
I like a good shoot of upbeat western. And I especially like
it when he takes a cigar and lights dynamite and just throws
it. That's what you do with dynamite. You don't have to aim it. You
don't have to defend it. You don't have to protect it.
You light it, throw it, and get out of the way. That's the best
kind of preaching I know of. I don't have any intention of
defending anything. I don't have any intention of
protecting anything. I simply want to declare to you,
as best I understand it, the message God's given me. Turn
with me, if you will, to 1 John, the fourth chapter. 1 John, chapter
four. I want us to read together an
astounding, amazing statement. Were it not written right here
in the book of God, if you just heard me say it, or I heard you
say it, I'd say that can't be so. That is unbelievable. It cannot be so. But here it
is in the book of God. 1 John chapter 4, verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because,
now here it is, as He is, so are we in this world. That can't be. That just can't
be. But it is. That is a true, accurate
description of every man, woman, and child in this world to whom
God has been pleased to grant His grace to believe on the Son
of God. If right now, if this very second,
for the first time in your life, God gives you grace to believe
on His Son, right now, As He is, so you are in this world. Now, lots of times folks read
things in the Scriptures and they try to hedge it and constrict
it. I like to take it just as far
as you can take it. And I promise you, any word from
God, any plain, clear statement from God You can take it just
as far as your mind can possibly take it, and you've just begun
to scratch the surface. We recognize, according to Romans
8, 29, that God's object in predestination, His ultimate object in divine
providence, is that all His elect be conformed to the image of
His Son. Here, the Apostle John is inspired
of God to tell us that God's purpose is accomplished, at least
in measure it is accomplished, right now. Because as he is,
so are we in this world. Every believing sinner's heart's
desire, his soul's great ambition, is that we may be made conformable
to our blessed Savior in his death. Here, the Holy Spirit
assures us that that which our hearts most ardently desire is
right now true. Because as he is, so are we in
this world. And let's look at that statement
together in its context. And I hope you will follow me
carefully through the scriptures. It is insignificant what I think
about the Scriptures. It is insignificant what you
think about the Scriptures. It only matters what the book
says. First, John has been telling
us in this context about God's marvelous, infinite love for
His own, His eternal love for His elect in Christ Jesus. God's
love for us is revealed in the sin-atoning sacrifice of His
darling Son on our behalf, and it is revealed in that sin-atoning
sacrifice as that sacrifice is made real to us in the experience
of His free grace. God's love is not revealed in
nature. His power is revealed there.
His wisdom is revealed there. God's love is revealed in the
person and work of His Son. And John begins this chapter,
or chapter 3 rather, with these words, Behold what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called
the sons of God. Down in verse 16 of chapter 3,
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His
life for us, And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Chapter 4, verse 9. In this was manifested, in this
was brought to light the love of God toward us. Because that
God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God. We didn't. We couldn't. We wouldn't. but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Now, we tend to
think about love in an emotional way. That's because we're emotional
people. We tend to think about love in
lots of ways that feel good. And that's just fine. That's
alright. Certainly the love of God feels good in the experience
of it. Certainly the love of God stirs
our emotions. But God's love for us is not
a passion of God. It is not an emotion in the triune
God. But love, I keep trying to find
some way to define it. Let me see if I can give you
a synonym. Commitment. That lady sitting
there? I've been committed to her for
40 years. Committed to her. Committed to
her. That means every fiber of my
being committed to her. You want to get my danger up?
You just find me an opportunity to hear you say something about
that gal, or opposing that gal, or seeking to harm that gal.
You will get my danger up and you will know it. Why? Because
I am committed to her. Committed to her. Will you hear
me? God Almighty, has made known
to us the total commitment of His Holy Being to us in the sacrifice
of His Son. No wonder Paul said, He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things? Some years ago,
15 now, 16, a fellow came over and asked my daughter's hand
in marriage. And being a proper southern father, I felt it my
responsibility to make him a little uneasy doing so. So I tried to
make him real uncomfortable, make it hard for him to ask.
But I was too fickle to death to give him my daughter's hand
in marriage. They got married. I performed the ceremony. They
came back from their honeymoon. When they got to the house and
visited with us, as soon as they came back from their honeymoon,
I gave him keys to my truck, my wife's car, gave him keys
to the house, took him out to the tool shed, the garage, showed
him where my tools were, took him over to the office, my library,
showed him where everything was there. I said, now that's yours.
You just help yourself. Took him to my gun cabinet, opened
it up, anything you want, there it is. Anything. Just help yourself. Somebody actually asked him one
time, did he really do that? You really think? I just gave
Him my daughter. Can you imagine me not giving
Him a monkey wrench? God gave us His Son. He didn't just give His Son for
us, He gave us His Son. And with His Son, freely, constantly
gives us all things because of His utter commitment to us, revealed
in His Son. The Apostle tells us in 1 John
4, verses 7 through 16, that if we are born of God, we love
one another. And that's an indisputable fact,
plainly revealed throughout the Scriptures. God's saints truly
love one another. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth
in us, and his love is perfected in us. That is to say, our love
to one another is the reflection and the fruit of God's love for
us. But in verse 17, it seems as
though John shifts gears. He says, herein is our love made
perfect. If you have a marginal translation,
a marginal reference in your Bible with a marginal translation,
you'll notice an alternative translation. that was given by
our translators. The text might better be read,
Herein is love with us made perfect. John Gill tells me that the Syriac
translates it this way, Herein is love with us made perfect. And the Latin Vulgate says, Herein
is God's love with us made perfect. And I'm sure that's accurate.
Hold your hands here and turn to Romans chapter 5. I'll show
you. Romans chapter 5. When the Apostle says here, herein
is our love made perfect, quite literally he is saying herein
is God's love with us made perfect. Here in Romans 5 verse 1, Paul
has just declared that Christ was delivered into the hands
of divine justice because of our sins that were made his. He was raised again because of
our justification accomplished by his sacrifice. being justified. Now, I don't often have anything
to say that would suggest any kind of question about the King
James translation, but punctuation is only given in our English
translations, and punctuation must be determined by the reading
and the context. The worst problem, the absolute
worst mistake, in my opinion, in the translation of scriptures
into the authorized version, is the placing of the comma right
here. Our King James reads, therefore being justified by faith, comma.
Just erase that in your mind. Therefore being justified, comma. By faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our exercise of faith, our experience
of faith, the gift of faith brought in us has nothing to do with
the accomplishment of justification. By faith we receive peace from
God because of justification accomplished. We have peace with
God believing on the Son of God, verse 2, by whom also we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Back here in
1 John, if you will. The love of God shed abroad in
our hearts is the revelation of God's love to us that accompanies
the gift of faith. We hear these days, folks tell
folks all the time, God loves you, God loves you, God has a
wonderful plan for your life. That's a horrible thing to declare
to men. That is a horrible thing to declare
to men. No sinner has any right to be
suspicious that God might possibly love him until God reveals Christ
in him. And it is the revelation of Christ
in you that is the declaration of God's love for you. God's
love toward us, which is shed abroad in our hearts by the knowledge
of Christ, is made perfect in us when we are made to see the
full complete perfection of salvation in Jesus Christ. Herein is God's
love made perfect in us that we may have boldness in the day
of judgment. Boldness in the day of judgment. I don't know about you, but there
was a day when I had nightmares about the Day of Judgment. There was a day when I would
have committed suicide, I was so miserable, if I hadn't had
terror of the Day of Judgment. There was a day when I quaked
at the thought of meeting God in judgment. And religion, almost
every brand from papacy to Islam to the three-wheeled Baptist,
the fundamental Baptist, the Presbyterian, the Pentecostal,
religion of almost every brand, keeps folks in line with fear. Free grace is delivered to delivered
men from fear. There's no reason For anyone
who trusts the Son of God to have any terror with regard to
judgment, we are convinced by the Holy Spirit in the gift of
faith, convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Not convinced
that judgment is coming. You were born that way. Convinced
that judgment is over. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. He says that we may have boldness
in the day of judgment. Oh, but Brother Don, I'm afraid
God's going to get me for my sins. He did 2,000 years ago. It's over. He says, fury is not
in me. There is nothing for the believer
to dread with regard to facing God Almighty. We face Him in
the person of a substitute with his righteous garments on, holy
as God's old Oh, I would have thought I could communicate that
to every man, woman, and child who hears me preach. Faith in
Christ is freedom from terror and freedom from wrath. Well,
what is it that gives us boldness in the day of judgment? Read
the next slide. So many times when you're reading
scriptures, rather than getting out a dictionary and looking
up words and getting the concordance out and looking them up and getting
the commentary out and looking them up, oh, Oh, what does that
mean? Just read the next line. Just
read the next line. That we may have boldness in
the day of judgment. Because. Here's the because of
the boldness. Here's the because of the confidence.
Here's the because of the freedom. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. Oh, God helped you to get hold
of this. It'll sail your boat through
troubled waters, I promise you. As He is, so are we in this world. The text does not say, as He
is, so shall we be. The text does not say, as He
was, so are we. The text says, as He. that man
on God's right hand who is God our Savior as He is. Can you in your mind's eye picture
Him seated in the glory of heaven as He is? As He is, so are we
right now and forever. But what all does that mean?
Let's see if I can find out. Is Jesus Christ The begotten
Son of God? Well, sure He is. As our Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Mediator, is the begotten Son
of God, so are we. But Brother Don, don't you know
He's the only begotten Son of God? Of course I do. Of course
I do. Being the only begotten Son of
God, the Son of God by His nature, in the essence of His being,
He stands alone. But we are the sons of God by
adoption of grace, begotten of His grace. The man Christ Jesus,
our Mediator, is called the firstborn among many brethren. And we are
His brethren, the sons of God. And He's not ashamed to call
us brethren, because we truly are the sons of God with Him. Behold what manner of love the
Father have bestowed on us that we should be called the sons
of God. Before the world was, He named us His sons. He named
us His sons. And beloved, now are we in the
experience of grace, the sons of God. He chose us to be His
sons in eternal election. And in the new birth, He gives
us the nature of His son. Turn to 2 Peter 1. Look at verse
3. according as his divine power,
hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness,
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, these promises given to us by the call of grace, these
promises made between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit before
the world was, that by thee ye might be partakers of the divine
nature. Made gods? No. But made partakers
of Him who is God, the God-man, our mediator, coming and taking
up residence in us so that Christ lives in us and we live in Him. We were begotten of God in the
new birth by the power and grace of His Spirit. Because you are
sons, Paul said, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Yes, we are the sons of God. Turn to John 17. Let me show
you something else. John chapter 17. As he is, we
are God's begotten children. And as he is loved of God, have
you still got in picture that one who came here in human flesh?
That one who lived in perfect obedience to the Father, that
one who brought in everlasting righteousness, that one who died
in our stead at Calvary, that one who put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself, that one see he yonder in glory. Because as he is, so
are we in this world, as he is loved of God. That's just how
you're loved of God. As he is loved of God, my brother,
my sister, that's just how you are loved of God. John 17, verse
23. Our Lord Jesus is speaking to
His Father as our mediator. I in them and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, now watch this, and hast loved them. as
thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, the glory which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world. As Christ is loved
of God with an everlasting love of complete complacency, ceaseless
delight, utter satisfaction, so We are loved of God from eternity
by God Almighty with a love of ceaseless delight. Utter complacency. Utter satisfaction. Loved of
God. With Christ. In Christ. As he loves Christ. You see,
God loves his own in Jesus Christ our Lord. Everything in this
book, everything in this book of which God speaks concerning
blessing and mercy and grace and love, every benefit, every
goodness that God Almighty gives to sinful men is in Christ and
because of Christ. He loves us because we are one
with Christ, our mediator. Try to grasp the meaning of these
words. He is loved of God from eternity with this unalterable,
unvarying, perfect, immutable love. So we are loved of God. We were accepted in the beloved
before the world began. Accepted in him who is described
in this book as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Paul tells us, before the world began, we were justified and
sanctified in Him, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
You say, well, that's the way God sees things. It is. And let
me tell you something, however God sees things, that's how they
really are. That's how they really are. So,
well, that's how God sees it. We need to learn to see it as
God sees it. That's how it really is. He looked
on his son and declares his son the Lamb slain from eternity.
Well, that can't be. It is. Did Abraham kill his boy? No, he did too. Read this book. Abraham received his son, one
raised up from the dead, though he never drew his blood, but
in his heart he killed him. And before the world was from
old eternity in covenant grace, as Christ struck hands with the
Father, as our surety, redemption was done before ever the world
was made. And the world was created as
a stage on which He works out the wondrous drama of redemption
for the display of His glory. We were loved of Him from eternity.
And when we sinned in our Father Adam, His love never changed. Why do you reckon He didn't kill
Adam on the spot? Why do you reckon it wasn't? He said, Adam,
in the day you die and see it, eat of this fruit, you're going
to die. Adam ate the fruit and there's
James. He's not dead. Oh, but he died spiritually,
but he wasn't dead. He died morally, but he wasn't dead. He's still
walking on the earth. Why didn't God kill him? Because
God had in His loins a chosen people of the first Adam who
was really first. The second Adam who was to come,
whom He had loved with an everlasting love, and He preserves them through
the Adam fall. We come forth from our mother's
womb speaking lies. We have all the days of our lives
with our fists shoved in God's face. Not one of you wouldn't
have killed him if you could have. Not one of you. The preacher
included. If you could have got your hands
on him, you would have murdered God at any moment in your life. But his love never changed. Never changed. He's called us
now by his grace. Given us life and faith in his
son. Taught us by his grace. Preserved and upheld us. And
in the midst of all our ups and downs, our falls and our crimes
against Him and one another, our love turns to ice and His
love burns with the same utter commitment as He had for us before
the world was. Because He loves us in Christ. He loves us for Christ's sake.
Now, hang on till you see. Tell you something else. He loves
us for the same reason He loves Christ. For the very same reason.
For the same reason He loves the God-Man, our Savior. You
remember what our Savior said in John chapter 10? He said,
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life
for the sheep. You mean the Father didn't love
the Son for eternity? Of course He did. But the Father
loved the Son as the God-Man, our Mediator. The Father loved
the Son as our surety. The Father loved the Son as the
shepherd of His sheep because of His perfect obedience unto
death for the glory of God. And He loves us for the same
reason. He loves us for the same reason, to the same degree, from
eternity, immutably, with an everlasting, perfect, free love,
and yet a love that is totally earned, altogether undeserved
by us, but fully deserved by our mediator. God loves us without
beginning, without cause, without end, and without change. Here,
O my soul, is sweet water. Draw now this sweet water from
the wells of salvation and refresh your soul. Here's another thing. Jesus Christ is described in
this book as God's elect. He is elect and precious. The Lord God speaks of him and
says, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect, and whom
my soul delighteth. That's what he says in Isaiah
chapter 42. Now listen to what he says to you and I who are
his in chapter 43. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable. That can't be. That's my friend
Stephen Bittner. Honorable in my sight. In God's
sight? Can't be. Wait a minute. There's my Mediator, Jesus Christ. One with Christ. Did you hear
me? One with Christ. Did you hear me, child of God?
One with Christ. That makes you honorable before
God. Honorable. He says, because you
were precious in my sight, you have been honorable and I have
loved thee. Therefore, look at this. Just listen. Isaiah 43, 4, if
you want to look it up later. Will I give men for thee and
people for thy life? Now there's a hard not for free
willers. Therefore, because I've loved you, because I've chosen
you, because you're honorable and precious to me, I'll sacrifice
anything and anybody else for you. I'll give men for you, people
for your life. Now who was it you said I ought
to be afraid of? What was it you said, Alistair? I'll give
men for you and people for your life. These days there's a lot
of talk about what folks call common grace. Let me tell you
something about common grace. It's common nonsense. It's common
nonsense. There's nothing common about
God's grace. Oh, but He causes it to rain on the just and unjust
like He does. But the reason the unjust get
a little water down there is because they live next door to
me. He sent the rain for me. Well,
that's common grace. That's kind of like saying when
God sends a tornado and some believers lose their houses and
the unbelievers don't lose their houses, that's common judgment.
That's kind of nonsense, isn't it? No, no, no. God's grace is
fixed on His people. The only reason the sons of Ham
exist is that they may serve God's purpose. for the sons of
Japheth and the sons of Shem. I will give men for you and people
for your life. Christ Jesus was chosen of God
to be our surety and we were chosen to be His people. He's
chosen to be our head and we're chosen to be His members. He's
chosen to be the Redeemer. We're chosen to be the redeemed.
He's chosen to be the foundation stone. We're chosen to be the
building built upon Him. Christ be my first elect, he
said, then chose our souls and Christ our head. Let's move on. Let's move on. Turn to Matthew
chapter 17. I want you to see this. Matthew chapter 17. You
just look at the passage here in the opening verses. Our Lord
Jesus is with Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration.
When Peter and James and John saw him transfigured with Moses
and Elijah standing beside him, talking to the Savior. Peter
was just delighted. He wanted to build three tabernacles,
one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for the Savior. Don't
fuss too much about that. I would have done the same thing.
You too. He was mistaken, but he was zealously
mistaken. He appeared to place the law
of God and the prophets of God upon equal ground with the Son
of God. What a mistake that is. But God
stepped in. He said, no, never. He said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. I reckon why
he said that. I look at my grandson, my granddaughter,
and I see them do something that I just am so proud of them. Forgive
me, I don't know any other way to put it. I'm just so thankful
and proud of them. They're mine. I'm just delighted
with the way they behave. What to do? I say, Son, I'm so pleased
with you. Even my five-year-old grandson
would look at me kind of funny if I looked at him and said,
Son, I'm pleased in you. The Word is chosen deliberately.
This is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. God Almighty
is pleased with His Son. And He's pleased with everybody
in His Son. Always. You mean God's always
pleased with what we do? No, what David did displeased
the Lord and He showed it. I don't know what fool would
ever think such a thing. But pleased with us because we are
in His Son. God Almighty is pleased with
no one and nothing but His Son. After God spoke in verse 8, when
they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Oh, blessed is that blindness
that is called by sunburnt eyes. They saw no man but Jesus only
as the object of God's delight, the object of God's pleasure,
that one in whom God is satisfied and God is glorified. Blessed
are those people who sit under a preacher who sees nothing but
Jesus only in all things. Now be sure you learn these two
things from the Mount of Transfiguration. God is pleased only with His
Son. Only with His Son. God's not
pleased with our creeds and confessions and catechisms. He's not pleased
with our works. He's not pleased with our denominations.
He's not pleased with our churches. He's not pleased with our theories.
He's not pleased with you and He's not pleased with me. He's
pleased with His Son. Only His Son. Having said that,
God Almighty is pleased with the sacrifice, the obedience,
the merit, the worth, the righteousness, the being of His Son. But blessed
be His name. He's pleased with us because
we are in His Son. Turn to 1 Peter 2. I want you
to see this. Robed in His righteousness, washed
in His blood, He hath made us accepted in the beloved, accepted
from eternity, accepted right now, accepted at all times, accepted
immutably, accepted forever, yet more. He's well pleased with
what we offer to Him because we're one with His Son. Look
at verse 5, 1 Peter chapter 2. He also has lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices. Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. God Almighty takes our puny efforts offered with our dirty hands
and honoring Him and accepts our praise Our prayers, our preaching,
our attempts to spread His name exactly as He accepts the sacrifice
of His Son. That's called free grace. Free
grace. Accepts it as the sacrifice of
His Son because where He is. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. I travel a good bit. Back years ago, I'd been on the
road a little while. And my daughter was just, oh,
four years old, maybe not quite that. And back in the days of
CB radio being real popular and I called home and I'd go on top
of the mountain and tell my wife I'd be home in a few minutes. And
I got home. Faith was sitting out on the front stoop waiting
on me. She had her hands behind her back. It was in the spring
of the year. Do you all have dandelions over
here? Love them, don't you? She had gone out and picked those
fuzzy dandelions. Picked me a whole handful of
them. And when I drove up, she jumped up and came running with
her dandelions just beaming. And by the time she got to the
truck, her fuzz had all blown off her dandelions. And she looked
at those dandelions and handed them to me just bawling. And
I reached and took them just bawling. How come? I'd give you a thousand dollars
for one of them right now. I'm dead serious. She picked
them just for me. Just because she loves me. And God Almighty accepts your
stinking dandelions of effort to honor Him. As He accepts the
sacrifice of His Son because He washed us in His blood and
we are one with His Son. Let me show you something else.
Turn to Romans chapter 6. Yonder in glory sits our Lord
Jesus Christ. Freed from sin. Freed from sin. As He is, so are we in this world. Romans 6 verse 6. Knowing this,
talking about our baptism in Christ, our old man is crucified
with Him. that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he
that is dead, he that is dead, dead, we died with Christ, dead
to the law, dead to any consequence rising from the law's guilt upon
us, dead is freed from sin. Well, that's really better translated
justified from sin. That'll do. That'll do. What
is to be justified from sin? Freed from sin. Back years ago,
see if I've got a bulletin here. Yeah. Back years ago, I used
to write a bulletin articles. And you see how nicely that line,
that side lines up with this line? Before the days of computers,
I'd write them, Shelby would type them, and then she would
take a ruler and draw a straight line down here, and she would
count out spaces and type them again and hope you didn't make
any mistake with the mimeograph machine. And by doing that, she
made this side over here look just exactly like this side over
here. It's called justifying the right-hand margin. Right
here is God's holy character. revealed in the law and the gospel. God's holy character revealed
in all the book of God. God's holy character revealed
in the sacrifice of His Son. And right here we are, in His
Son, perfectly justified before Him. Not just as if I had no
sin, without sin. Without sin before God. Without
sin. Nothing but sin in me. Without
sin in my substitute. Nothing but sin done by me. Without
sin in him. That's what it is to be justified
and freed from sin. Are you sure that's what it means?
Let's see. Turn over to the book of 1 Peter.
1 Peter. Our Lord Jesus was manifested
to take away sin. And in him is no sin, what John
said. You remember on the Day of Atonement, Aaron was required
to take two goats, cast locks on them. One the Lord's goat,
the other a scapegoat. And he confessed the sins of the people
over both goats. He slit the throat of the Paschal
Lamb, offered his blood upon the mercy seat. And he came out
and he put the scapegoat, the other goat, having the people's
sins confessed on him, into the hands of a fit man. And he sent
him away. I can almost see the whole congregation
of Israel watching that man and that goat walk away. After a
while, there's two dots going over the horizon. In a little
while, here comes one dot. There comes that fit man without
the scapegoat. All three are Christ our Lord.
He's the Lamb sacrificed for us. He's the scapegoat who carried
our sins away He's the fit man who comes back from death without
sin. Without sin. Now look here in
1 Peter chapter 4. For as much then as Christ hath
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind. For he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin. And that's not a period. goes
right on, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in
the flesh to the lust of men, but to the will of God. In this
one sentence, the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ suffered
in the flesh. Now he says, arm yourselves with
this confidence. He that hath suffered in the
flesh hath ceased from sin. has put away sin, but we suffered
in the flesh in Christ, and he did it that he should no longer
live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men."
That's not talking about Christ. That's talking about Ian Potts. You mean when Christ died, we
actually suffered all the horror and terror of God's wrath and
justice until at last justice is no more. Did he truly, with
one tremendous draft of love, drink damnation dry? Bless God,
he did. We who have suffered all the
wrath of God to the full satisfaction of justice have ceased forever
from sin. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Our Father, O God our Father,
thank you for our Redeemer. Make your word now effectual
to the hearts of these whom you have gathered in this place.
for their everlasting good, for the consolation of their souls,
that these, your people, may walk before you in the joy of
faith, confident of absolute forgiveness in Christ our Lord. Confident of absolute good day
unto day unto eternity. And I ask, my Father, that you
might be pleased for those here yet dead in trespasses and in
sins, to grant Your grace, reveal Your Son, give them life, do
for them what they cannot and will not do for themselves. What
we cannot do for them, turn them. Turn them by Your omnipotence
for the glory of Your Son into the way of life and liberty in
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Thank you for your attention.