with me to the Gospel of Saint
John chapter 10. I was thinking as we were reading
I was impressed by the Lord to mention this to you. William
Cowper who was one of the hymn writers that were greatly used
of the Lord, writes some of the hymns we have in our book. At
one time in his life, him being a Christian, he was very depressed,
became greatly discouraged, and had every intention of committing
suicide. And one night in London, England,
he called for his driver and coach to come around and he got
into the coach and instructed the driver to take him to the
Thames River. And he had every intention of
jumping off the bridge and drowning himself. And there was a thick fog that
night very very thick the driver drove and drove and drove for
two hours finally confessing to Mr. Kalper that he did not
know where they were at and he could not find the river and
so being disgusted Mr. Kalper got out of the carriage
and in just a little bit realized that he was right at his doorstep.
The driver had driven for two hours. He ended up right back
to Mr. Cowper's doorstep. So being convicted
by the Spirit of God for his foolishness, knowing that the
Lord had mercifully spared his life, he went in and he sat down
and he wrote the words to the song that says, God works in
mysterious ways his wonders to perform. He plants his footstep
in the sea and walks upon the storm. You fearful saints, fresh
courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are full of mercy and will break with blessing on your head."
That was tremendous. I thought that was great. You
ever been discouraged? You ever been to the point of
despair? You ever been greatly distressed?
Just remember that God is able in a moment's time to change
everything in your life. And those clouds, you look at
them and you dread them. But fresh courage take. The Lord's
able to make them clouds break with blessing on your end. If you have your Bible open at
John chapter 10, most of you that know me know that I use
this chapter a great deal. I love this chapter and someday,
I don't know when, but I'm going to preach on the doctrines of
grace as they are suggested to us in the 10th chapter of the
Gospel of John. But I keep going back there for
a text And these verses in this chapter are very instructive
and a great blessing to me. But I want to read this morning
verse 17 and verse 18. Verse 17 and 18 of John chapter
10. Therefore doth my Father love
me. Nobody here would question that
the father loved the son. The father said, this is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. The Lord Jesus is the only begotten
son of the father. He was full of grace and truth. The law came by Moses, but grace
and truth came by the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore doth my father
love me because I lay down my life. I lay down my life. What a statement. That I might take it again. I
lay it down that I might take it again. No man, verse 18, taketh
it from me. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power, I have the authority
to lay it down, and I have power, I have the authority to take
it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father. There were certain people during
the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ who became so upset
with him that they sought to kill him. We remember Herod and
how that when Herod heard that one Jesus who was born King of
the Jews, he got so upset that when the wise men did not come
back as he instructed them and tell him exactly where this Jesus,
who was to be king of the Jews, where he could be found so he
could go and destroy him, that he issued an edict that all of
the male babies under two years old would be destroyed. And he
went out and destroyed, only God knows the awful, awful destruction
of life in the days of King Herod only because he felt so threatened
that Jesus, the King of the Jews, was born into the world. And
so there are those that, in various places in the Word of God, you
can find where that there are those that tried to kill the
Lord Jesus Christ. One time when he had spoken the
Sanhedrin and had read the scriptures, they led him out to the brow
of the hill after he had discussed and illustrated the grace of
God by talking about election, how that God had chosen the Gentile
widow of Seraphim and how that the Lord had chosen Naaman the
Syrian to heal him of his leprosy. They became so upset they led
him out to the brow of the hill and they would have cast him
down and killed him, but he miraculously escaped out of their hand. So
there are those that would have killed the Lord Jesus Christ
if they could have. if they could have. Now I want
you to notice here in verse 18 the forcibleness of these words
where he says, No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down
of myself. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself." He's speaking here of his life. He makes it clear in this passage
that no man has the power or the authority to take his life
from him. the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. He that was as much God as he
was man, as much man as he was God. In this world, on a mission,
being sent of the Father, no man can take his life. You and
I cannot say this. You and I cannot say this. Men
could take our lives in any number of ways. Our life could be snuffed
out. You and I cannot say this, I
say, because we're not God, and we're not in the position, you
see, to retain our spirit. Now, in verse 11, I want you
to notice this. In verse 11, he says of this
same chapter, I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth. The
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Notice his control
over his life. He's the good shepherd and he
giveth his life for the sheep. And in verse 15, he says, I lay
down my life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep. Now you and I do not do that,
death overtakes us. You hold your finger here and
turn back with me to the book of Ecclesiastes, if you will,
chapter 8. I'd like to read a verse of scripture
here to you. Ecclesiastes, chapter 8. And it's verse 8. Ecclesiastes
8.8, listen to what it says, There is no man that hath the
power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit, neither hath he power
in the day of death. And there is no discharge in
that war, neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given
to it. Now this is a powerful verse. It tells us that there's
no man that has the authority over his spirit to retain his
spirit. He cannot hold his spirit in
his body. No man has the ability to do
that. Neither have the authority in the day of death to say, I'm
not going. I'm not leaving this world. I'm
going to stay here. I heard a story one time about
a woman that was waiting for some relatives, she was near
death, waiting for some relatives to come over from a foreign country
before she would die. And she kept telling everybody,
I'm not going to die until they get here. I'm going to stay here
until they die. Well, and some preacher told
her that not even God could take her out of the world until she
wanted to go. He lied to her. He lied to her. Only God can take us out of this
world, but when He decides to do it, my friend, or anybody
got the power in the day of death to retain their spirit or their
soul. Now you see, this is what makes
and sets us aside so greatly from our Master, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Death overtakes us, but in verse
17 he repeats, I lay down, I lay down my life that I might take
it again. I have the authority, he says
in verse 18, to lay it down and take it again. We're talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ who said, I have all authority in
heaven and in earth. He has all authority, he has
all power and so he can do what he will and do exactly as the
purpose of God dictated for his life. He says I've got the authority
to lay it down and to take it again. Now Jesus Christ did not
have his life taken from him and even when he died on the
cross He was voluntarily giving His life. That must be understood. That even when the Lord Jesus
Christ was nailed to the old rugged cross, that He was voluntarily
laying down His life. No man was taking His life from
Him. Now had He wanted to, He had
the power to withhold any threat ever on His life. And he did
withhold the threats on his life until that hour came, until that
time came when, in the purpose of the Father, he must die, must
be hung between heaven and earth, and suffer in the room instead
of his people. Now, if he had not given his
life, he never would have died. The Lord Jesus, did you get that
statement? If He had not given His life,
if He had not voluntarily laid down His life, then He would
never have died. He was a victim by intent. A victim by intent. He was a
Redeemer by resolve. He was a Savior by purpose. how that needs to be understand. Behold, the Lord Jesus Christ
going to the slaughter as a sheep in patience, but not like a sheep
for knowledge and purpose. No, the Lord Jesus Christ knew
exactly what he was doing when he laid down his life. He knew
what death meant. You think he didn't? He knew
exactly what death meant, and he knew why he must endure the
terrible, terrible death of the cross. Lama Sabbatini was in
its meaning. My God, my God! Why hast thou
forsaken me?" This was known to him before he ever uttered
the cry. He knew what it meant when he
would lay down his life. He knew that it meant separation
from God Almighty. He knew that it meant that he
must suffer the vengeance of Almighty God and that he must
deliver his people by suffering death. He foresaw the death of
the cross. He was made a curse for us, knowing
what the curse meant. He knew what the curse meant,
and he was the lawgiver himself. And he knew that the soul that
sinneth, it must die. And he knew that God would exercise
vengeance upon all lawbreakers. And Jesus knew immediately when
he took upon himself our sin that the curse of the broken
law would visit him and that he would suffer under the vengeful
hand of God, that the sword of God's justice would be pulled
from its scabbard and would be sunk deeply into his very heart,
into his very soul. But when he was made a curse,
he knew what the curse meant, and he calmly resolved to bear
the curse for this deliberation of love. I believe that he's
to have our inexpressible gratitude and love, Jesus Christ knowing
what he was doing. I mean, it's not that he was
hoodwinked into it. It's not that somehow or other
by slight of hand he ended up on the cross. He went there willingly,
voluntarily, laid down. It was a deliberate act of love. He needed not to die at all.
The scripture says Messiah was cut off, but not for himself. Not for himself. He wills to
die. He wills to die, I say. No, you
don't will to die, but he will to die. Now, no man, he says,
can take it from me. It must be an act of his own
will. He's the one that's got the authority. He needs not die because he has
no sin of his own. He has never broken God's holy
law. He did not have the sin of Adam
in his veins. The Lord Jesus came forth from
the seed, the scripture says, of the woman. And the woman,
you all know, has no seed. And the seed that brought him
forth was the seed of God. And so therefore he was not a
sinner, and he committed no sin, and he need not die. But he was
cut off for his people to redeem his people. So herein is love
indeed, free love, it's deliberate and it's resolute. See the bullocks
going to the altar of the temple. They're poor, they're dumb, they're
driven cattle. They know not what they are to
be, they know not that they are to be a sacrifice. They cannot
put into their deaths the merit of devout intent. Do you see
that? These dumb cattle, they cannot
put in to their death devout intent like our Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered in our room instead
in our place. The climax of this is seen in
the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I just read select
passages to you. Notice in Matthew 27.50 he says,
he yielded up the ghost. It means that He dismissed his
spirit, means he said to death, it's all right now for you to
take me. This is the hour for which I
came into the world. This is the hour that I've been
predestinated to die. I am the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world in the mind of God, and in the process
of time, I'm to suffer death. And so he yielded up the ghost
and said to death, it's all right, now for you to take me. In Mark
15 and 37 it says that he gave up the ghost, the accent on giving
it up. He gave it up. In Luke 23 and
46 it says, a father into my hands I commit my spirit. Having
said this, he gave up the ghost, but he commended his spirit into
the hands of the Father, he being in control of his own death. Now you see, we need to understand
this if we're ever going to be able to worship the God of the
Bible, if we're going to be able to understand who this Jesus
is, and who we're talking about when we're talking about the
Christ of God. Now in John 19.30, the repetitious
statement again, he gave up the ghost. He gave it up. He just
simply yielded up the ghost in the hour of God's time. Now I want you to turn with me
back, you can leave the 10th chapter of John now, and turn
with me back to the book of 1st John, chapter 3, and I want you
to notice with me, and I want to say some things to you about
verse 16. And we'll build the rest of our
message around this 16th verse of 1st John, chapter 3, where
it says, Hereby perceive we the love of God. You'll take note
that of God is in italics, meaning that it was not in the original.
Hereby perceive we the love, and certainly it was the love
of God that was in reference. It's the love of God that was
being spoken of. And then he went on to say, because
he laid down his life for us. because he laid down his life
for us. In other words, we perceive,
we see God's love demonstrated. We see the proof of God's love
in that that Jesus laid down his life for us. Well, there's not one long word
in this sentence. It is all as simple as it can
be. and it is simple because it is sublime it is so simple
because it is sublime he laid down his life for us now little
thoughts require great words to explain them little thoughts
you take note how that some use big words And really what they're
trying to explain is just such a little trifling thing, but
they use such great words. Little preachers need Latin words,
somebody said, to convey their feeble ideas. But great thoughts
and great expressors of those thoughts are content with just
little words. And so, beloved, in this text
of scripture this morning, he laid down his life for us. Very
simple, very sublime. Well, what then shall I do with
a statement like this? He laid down his life for us. With such truth as this, what
can I do with such truth as this? I say to you, believe it, my
friend. Believe it. He laid down his life for us. Believe it and be saved. It's
the difference between heaven and hell. It's the difference
between salvation and damnation. It's the difference between hell
and heaven, my friend. You must believe that He laid
down His life for us, and that He did so voluntarily. He did
so freely. He did so with intent and purpose. He did so deliberately lay down
His life for us. One writer who had a way with
words said it like this. He said, what shall I do with
a statement like this? I need not employ my wit to dissect
it, nor my orator to proclaim it. Let me exercise my adoration
to worship. Let me prostrate all my powers
before the throne and like an angel when his work is done and
he has nowhere else to fly at his Lord's command, let me fall
the wings of my contemplation and stand before the throne of
this great truth and meekly bow myself and worship him that was
and is and is to come, the great, the glorious one who laid down
his life for us. That's well put. I don't know
whether you think it is or not, but it certainly gets my attention.
Hereby perceive we the love of God. Now my friend, listen to
me this morning. There are three lessons that
I see here in this text of scripture, in this phrase, he laid down
his life for us, that I'd like to discuss with you seriously
this morning. And I trust that the Lord will
give us the ability to do so, and you the ability to hear what
we have to say. Three things. Number one is,
did he lay down his life for us? Then how great must have
been our sins that they could not have been atoned for at any
other price. How great must be the sins of
God's people, of the sheep of Christ, if He must lay down,
if He, the God-man, if He, the perfect One, who is the Lamb
without spot or blemish or any such thing, if He must lay down
His life for us, what a great sinner we all must be. Now my
friend, I am fully persuaded that there is no way of salvation. There is no way of life apart
from the Son of God. There's no way of salvation apart
from the life of Christ laid down. You cannot be saved any
other way. I shut you up to that. There
is one door and that door is open at the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is to be had in Him
and in no other. But my friend, listen to me this
morning, how great is our sin if it demanded that the life
of the spotless Lamb of God be laid down for us. I've seen my
sins in different and various light. Have you seen your sins? Have you ever been made to see
the awfulness of your sin? First of all, I have seen my
sin by the light of Sinai. I think that most of you know
what that statement means. It means by the law. is the knowledge
of sin. And most of us in reading the
Holy Law of God, if the Spirit of God has given us any sensitivity
to what the Law of God says, not only the letter of it, but
also the spiritual intent of it, if we have any inclination
at all about what the Holy Law of God is talking about, we have
been made to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin by the reading
of the Law. and by the looking into the law,
and even as I stand firmly on the Rock of Ages, even as I stand
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive all of the
benefits of his death, and his resurrection, and his intercessory
work, at the right hand of God. Still, when I read the holy law
of God, I tremble inwardly because of the demands of that law. You cannot read the law of God
with a clear mind, with a heart that's real and true, and not
have that law to lay hold of you. And it will kill you if
you just keep on focusing on that law. That law is holy, my
friend, and that law reveals a hell of iniquity within our
souls. Our hearts so vile, our hearts
so deceitful that we are desperately wicked because our hearts have
turned away. We have sinned against God. We
have broken His law. All have sinned. All have come
short of the glory of God as is revealed in the holy law. And so as we view ourselves,
no wonder life had to be laid down. No wonder that Jesus' blood
had to be shed. No wonder that he had to come
that was willing to die in my room instead in place. No wonder.
Well, also I've seen my sins in the light of God's holy character. As I begin to view the character
and all the purity of God's character, my friend, do you know who God
is? Do you now know how holy, how
spotless? He said, I am holy, be ye therefore
holy. God has not the ability in nature
to commit a sin. He is so holy and pure that he
cannot think a thought that is contrary to absolute holy wisdom
and holy righteousness. He is, his character is perfect.
I never knew the heatiness of my own guilt until I saw the
brightness of his holiness. I did not know how far astray
I'd gone. until I begin to measure myself
in the white righteousness of a holy God. As I begin to think
about a holy God and meeting Him in the day of judgment. Oh
my friend, you talking about trembling, you talking about
standing in awesome awe. at the holiness of his character. I did not know how far I'd really
gone. I did not know that the Mitchell
family all the way back had drugged from generation to generation
such corruption and such absolute defilement until I began to look
at the character of Almighty God and began to measure the
Mitchells with God Almighty. How far are we going to stray?
How far down we are? Only an innocent one, a perfect
one, a spotless one, laying down his life can ever recover such
sinners as we are in a state of nature. And then another thing
that I looked at my sin in the light of his loving kindness
to me in Providence all my life long. God Almighty has been good
to me. The Lord, all the scripture says,
knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance.
Do you despise the goodness of God, the forbearance of God?
Listen, my friend, God's been good to me. He's been good to
me. God don't owe me anything. He owes me absolutely nothing. Oh, my friend, it is true that
we sometimes pity ourselves, but God Almighty doesn't owe
us one thing. He has been merciful in Providence,
all His goodness to me, all His mercy to me. How profoundly kind
the Lord has been to this poor sinner. How good the Lord has
been. What ingratitude, what ignorance
fills the heart of this preacher. Well, when I began to see the
loving kindness and the goodness of my God who had spared me all
the days of my life and who had sustained me and fed me and preserved
me and put me in the family, put me in, say what you will
about them. Somebody talked about their relatives
used to hang by the tail. Well, some of mine might have
hung by the neck, but I'm still glad to be who I am and I'm glad
the Lord did exactly what he did. It was right and proper. It was the thing to do. And I
focus on it and give glory to God for his mercy. Things are
as well with me as they are. I could have been born, I could
have been born Jesse James. And they wouldn't know yet whether
I was dead or not. They'd still be looking to find
out whether I was gone or whether I was still among the living.
You know, this world is a dangerous place. There ain't nobody going
to get out of it alive. It's a dangerous place. Well,
so much for that. But I want you to understand
that when I begin to view God's goodness and loving kindness
to me, oh, how my heart trembled within. Because, you know, we're
drinking God's water in this world. We're wearing God's clothes
in this world. We're eating God's food in this
world. Say what you want to. That's the way it is, my friend.
And you're wearing God's clothes. Don't forget it. All of this
is God's mercy, God's goodness, and God's blessing. And I want
to tell you why. You go through this world, thumb
your nose at God all the way, and keep on eating all of his
goodness and mercy and all of his benefits, and then face him
in the judgment. Well, you go ahead if you want
to, but not me, my friend. Not me. God's been good to this
sinner, and I repent. I repent. Oh, my friend, I curse
sin from my heart when I see how good God has been to me.
Curse sin from my heart. Oh, but that was not all. That
was not all. I also saw sin one day in the
light of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. One day I saw one
hanging on a tree in agony and blood. And I cried out, who is
this sufferer? Who is this sufferer and why
does he suffer thus? Why? A voice answered from heaven
and said, this is my beloved son and he's on that cross because
I love you, sinner. I love you. He's hanging there
between heaven and earth. He's shedding his blood. He's
suffered these wounds. Because you wounded me. You wounded me. And He has taken
your place. He's bearing in His body your
awful sin to the tree. That's what He's doing. He had
to lay down His life because your sin could not be put away
any other way. He had to lay down His life. All right. Have you ever seen sin in that
light? I'll tell you it was at Calvary that God dotted his eyes
and crossed the T's of his law. It was at Calvary where we see
God's vengeance on a sinner. Christ withering in anguish and
pain. See his quivering flesh as it
hangs on his bones. See the blood as it dripped down.
on that bloody, bloody tree. See it, my friend. And see your
sin. See your sin. See your sin. See what sin brought to Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God, and see how He suffered
on that cross. You're going to hell. And the
justice of God will, as you are sent off into that awful place,
the justice of God, forever and ever, His lash will be on your
back. Then, my friend, you will be
in torment forever and ever because your sin is not put away. Well,
that's the first lesson. The second lesson is this. He
laid down his life for us, then how greatly he must have loved
us. how greatly He must have loved
us. Now here in 1 John, the fourth
chapter, look with me at verse 9 and 10. It says, And this was
manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His
only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
This is the way God manifested His love toward us. I want you
to see this. You say, well, I've been looking
at the trees, preacher, been looking at the beautiful scenery,
and how the earth is greened up, and I've been delighted,
and I've been greatly refreshed. Wonderful! But there's one place,
my friend, you can see the love of God. One place. And that's
that Jesus was manifested to take away our sin and that we
might live through him. In verse 10 it says, hearing
is love, not that we love God. Not that we love God. Here in
His love, we're talking about God's love. And if He laid down
His life, how much must He have loved us? Here in His love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us. And that He sent His
Son to be the satisfaction for our sins. He sent his own son
to satisfy himself on the behalf of his people. God is satisfied
on the behalf of all of those that he gave to Christ in the
eternal covenant. Now think again with me of the
providence of God. We suggested a few moments ago
that God threw out providence. Providence is the working out
of the will of God, the decrees of God that were established
in old eternity. Providence is the outworking
of those, and you think about that. Is the love of God manifested
in that, in your life? In all providence, good providence
really, being that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.
Think of predestination. Was not the love of God there
when God predetermined that you, oh hell-bound sinner, that you
would be rescued and brought out? of the chains of sin and
brought into the liberty and life of Christ Jesus. Wasn't
the love of God there? Wasn't it manifested there? Recall
your life story. Wasn't the love of God, hadn't
it been there? Say your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. It
was penned there before the foundation of the world. Glorious to have
a little assurance in it. Glorious to know that your name
is down in the Lamb's Book of Life. I couldn't rest at night
if I hadn't by the Holy Spirit, if God had not said to me, I
am by salvation, I couldn't rest at night. I don't know about
you, whether you've ever seen yourself as I have, but I'm telling
you this. You'll never rest if you haven't
had God to speak to you. I am your salvation. Your name is penned down in the
book of life. Now, my friend, is not the love
of God there? Could not God have saved us and
left us all of our days without one ounce of assurance? Could
he have not done that? He could have, but he did not. The love
of God moves him to give us some heaven on this side of heaven
in order that we might be able to rejoice and glorify his name. Think of your regeneration, your
birth from a love. Well, some of the old primitives
say, well, there's some people that are the elect that never
have a new birth. But there ain't no truth to that.
Think of your birth in the spirit, regeneration. Wasn't the love
of God there the day he called you out of your grave, your spiritual
grave? I'm telling you, I'm looking forward. Listen, I'm looking
forward. You say, you think you'll be there, preacher? I think I'll
be there, my friend. I'm looking forward when the
Lord comes on resurrection morning and wakes me up out of the grave
of death. wakes me up and I go off yonder
to be with the Lord for all eternity. I expect to know about it. I
expect to feel it. I expect to be resurrected and
have the blessing of God's Spirit on me for all eternity. To be
in a glorified body. Don't you? That's part of our
hope. Well, the love of God is there, is it not? Won't you shout
for the love and glory of God when you come out of your grave
of sin? Oh, you will, my friend, you will. Oh, His death for us,
God so loved that He gave. His only begotten Son. He gave
Him to be a satisfaction. He laid down His life for us. Oh, what incredible love! The poet said, Dissolved by thy
goodness, I'll fall to the ground, And weep to the praise of the
mercy I've found. That's the second lesson. If
He laid down His life for us, how much must He loved us? And then the third lesson, the
last, is He laid down His life for us, how safe are we? He laid down His life for us,
just how safe are His sheep? How safe are His people? We who
know the gospel, you listen to this statement, we who know the
gospel see in the facts of the death of Christ a reason that
no strength of logic can ever shake and no power of unbelief
can remove. Why? That we should not be everlastingly,
did you get the word? Everlastingly saved. Christ die for a man and him
be lost? No. No, my friend, no. Christ
dies for a man and then God sends that man to hell? No way! No way shall it be. Christ suffers
in a sinner's stead and then God condemns that sinner after
all? Where is the love and justice
of God in all this? My friend, God will not condemn
a sinner that has trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ ever to
hell. The doctrine of Holy Scripture
is this, that God is just. that Christ died in the stead
of his people, and that as God is just, he will never punish
one solitary soul of Adam's race for whom the Savior shed his
blood. Now you call me what you will,
and you say, that sounds like Augustinian Calvinism to me. Say what you want to, call me
whatever you want to. That's exactly what I believe. I'm telling you that he will
never punish one solitary soul of Adam's race for whom the Savior
shed his blood. He laid down his life. Well,
did he lay down his life for you? If not, then you have no
substitute. You have no one who's died in
your place, and you must face the awful payment for your sin.
You go to hell, my friend, when you refuse to believe the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If he died for you, who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died. There
is not one sin. Now hear me, this gets where
that it'll do you some good if you won't turn away from it.
There's not one sin in God's book against anyone that believes. Not one sin. There is no sin
in Him. Where are you, my friend? Are
you in Him? I told you last week that in
our experience, sin may be in us and also on Christ. But it's not so with God. All
of our sin has been laid on Him. All of it. And there's no sin
in him. And so I say there's not one
sin in the book of God against anyone that believes the gospel
of Jesus Christ. There's not one sin that a believer
ever committed that has any power to damn him. Not one sin. How's that so? Christ took the
damning power out of sin by allowing it to damn himself. Now, how
do you like that? You say, well, you got reason
to say it? I got reason to say this. He laid down his life for
us. That's my reason. And he took
the damning power of sin, he suffered that vengeful sword
of justice in order that there would be no damning power left
to damn me. He took it out. He took it out.
Just like a fella illustrated this one time of talking about
a bumblebee. Took a bumblebee and pulled a stinger out of it.
And handed it to one of his boys and said, there son, there's
your bumblebee. Boy was real scared. Father said,
well he can't sting you. Stinger's been taken out. Already
been taken out. He can't hurt you. He ain't gonna
bother you. He ain't gonna hurt you. Sin no longer can damn the
child of God. The sting has been taken out. The sting of sin is death. Eternal
death. And it's been removed by the
Lord Jesus Christ. He took the stinger of death
in himself. He laid down his life for us. And inasmuch as sin condemned
him, sin cannot condemn us. Poor soul filled with unbelief,
I asked you this morning, how safe, oh, how safe we are. How safe we are. Here's pardon, the poet said,
for transgressions past. It matters not how black their
cast. And oh, my soul, with wonder
of you, for sin to come, for sins to come, Here's pardon too. With Christ's spotless vesture
on, holy as the Holy One. Jesus, thy mercy, I was made
to cry, never dies. Thy mercy never dies. Listen
to these words and I'm done. when from the dust of death I
rise, to take my mansion in the skies, even then shall this be
all my plea, Jesus hath lived and died for me. Bold shall I
stand in that great day, for who ought to my charge shall
lay, while through Christ's blood absolved I am from sin's tremendous
curse and shame. He laid down his life for us. You know, in that that he laid
down his life for us, I think we ought to lay down our lives
for him. I remember the words of Jonathan Edwards. He wrote
these words in his journal when he was 18 years old. He said,
resolved, all men should live for the glory of God. Then he
said, Resolve secondly, that if all men do not, I will. I will. Father, in the name of
Jesus, we ask that you might bless today the hearts of these
dear ones that have heard about He laid down His life for us. And that this might be a turning
point in some poor soul's life. And Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest how we got here
this morning, and Thou knowest all about, all about, all of
our situations, and the trials, and the difficulties, and the
stresses of life, and how Satan plagues, and how Satan torments,
and how Satan tries to rob us of the blessing of the cross.
And I pray this morning Thou would own this message, and that
Thou will, our Father, as it were, take one of Satan's right-hand
men today and make him a servant of God. Make him live for thy
glory. Take these young people and snatch
their lives out of the hands of the devil and don't let them
live a day any longer in the service of Satan. Deliver these
young people. Deliver them He laid down His
life, and it is Thy business, O God, to put potency into the
cure which Thou hast given. Save, save for Jesus' sake. Amen.