Gone Astray

Q: What does the Bible say about going astray?

The Bible states that 'all we like sheep have gone astray' (Isaiah 53:6), signifying that humanity tends to turn away from God's ways. Isaiah 53:6 clearly articulates a profound truth about human nature: 'All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.' This depicts humanity's inherent tendency to deviate from God's commands and pursue our own desires. It emphasizes original sin and the fallen state of man since the Garden of Eden, where humanity has been characterized by turning away from God and seeking our own paths. This 'going astray' is not merely a wandering but a rebellion against our Creator, leading us into enmity with God.

Q: Why is the concept of substitutionary atonement important?

Substitutionary atonement is vital because it reveals that Christ bore our sins and paid the penalty in our place, satisfying God's justice. The significance of substitutionary atonement cannot be overstated; it is the foundation of the Christian faith. According to Isaiah 53:6, the Lord laid the iniquity of us all upon Christ, our substitute. This means that the sins of the elect were imputed to Jesus, who bore God's wrath on our behalf. His death satisfied divine justice, ensuring that we, who believe in Him, are freed from condemnation. This doctrine is essential as it underscores both the severity of our sin and the extent of God's grace in providing a way for reconciliation through Christ's sacrifice, offering us hope of justification and eternal life.

Q: How do we know original sin is true?

Original sin is confirmed through scripture, such as Romans 5:12, and it illustrates that all humanity inherits a sinful nature from Adam. The doctrine of original sin is thoroughly supported by scripture, particularly in Romans 5:12, which states, 'wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' This demonstrates that Adam's sin is credited to all humanity, affecting our very nature. Additionally, Psalm 51:5 echoes this truth, stating, 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.' These biblical passages affirm that original sin is a foundational doctrine that underscores our need for redemption through Jesus Christ, as it establishes the need for a Savior due to our inherited depravity.

Q: Why is understanding man’s depravity crucial for Christians?

Understanding human depravity is crucial as it reveals our absolute need for God’s grace and the transformative work of Christ. Grasping the depth of human depravity is vital for Christians as it lays the groundwork for appreciating the grace of God. From Genesis onward, Scripture presents mankind as inherently fallen and incapable of achieving righteousness on our own. As expressed in Jeremiah 17:9, 'the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,' which elucidates our need for transformation. Moreover, acknowledging our depravity fosters humility and deepens our reliance on God’s grace. Only by recognizing that we are powerless in our sin can we truly appreciate the saving work of Christ and the grace He freely extends to us, leading us to a deeper relationship with Him.

In the book of Isaiah chapter
53, I want to read verse 6. Very simple verse of scripture.
I made up my mind that I'd preach a very simple message this morning. I'm haunted by the words that
I heard just a short time ago come from a young lady I just
simply do not understand. I just simply do not understand. Having listened to me preach
the gospel all of our life, I just simply do not understand. Now, beloved, I will preach the
simple, plain gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of
God as long as I remain in this world, but we're shut up to the
fact that only God can reveal his gospel. Only God can make
it known. These truths, they seem so simple
and so plain, but yet people are stumbling around and not
able to understand them, not able to receive them. And I'm
sure this morning that if I were to go to each one of you, there
would be some in this room this morning that if with judgment
day honesty you were to answer me when I asked you, do you understand
the gospel? There would be some of you that
would have to say, I just simply do not understand. I don't understand. And so when we begin our message
this morning, we begin it with the idea in mind that we will
not be able, regardless of how simple and plain we preach, we
will not be able to awaken your heart and we will not be able
to show you Christ our Lord. Only the Spirit of God can do
that. Only God's Holy Spirit can reveal the truth to your
heart and make you to understand who Jesus is. And any preacher
that feels that he has the ability to reveal Christ, he certainly
has misunderstood the teaching of the Word of God. There's no
one able to reveal Christ but Christ himself. He must make
himself known. And that's what the scripture
means when it says that no man knows the Father but the Son. And no man knows the Son but
the Father. he to whomsoever he would reveal
him. And so this morning we're shut
up to Christ revealing himself to the hearts of sinners. Now
if you've turned with me to the book of Isaiah, let me read this
sixth verse again. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. Let us bow our heads in a word
of prayer. Father, we're grateful this morning that we have again
this opportunity, this privilege, Lord, of opening this sacred
book, this holy book, and being able to read therefrom, being
able, our Father, to take a text and to be able to preach thy
word, thy gospel. And Lord, we ask that you might
draw near this morning. The scripture says that where
two or three are gathered together in thy name, under your authority,
that you're there in the midst of them. And so our father we
come and we pray that we shall enjoy thy fellowship and your
presence in this meeting today. We do pray for the anointing
of the Holy Spirit upon the preacher that he might speak to the honor
and glory of God and that he might preach the plain gospel
in a simple way so that thy people would be edified and built up
and encouraged. And then our father we pray that
you might also anoint the year of those that hear. Oh this morning
that you might give clarity of thought and expression and that
those that receive the word that they might be able our father
to discern between that which is right and that which is your
gospel and that which is not. Oh that they might be able to
shut out all of those heresies that they've heard throughout
their lifetime, and receive the gospel of redeeming grace. Receive
the message of how that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, but have
committed unto us the word of reconciliation. How we thank
Thee that our Lord Jesus Christ has been willing to be made sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Receive the glory, receive the
praise, receive the honor that is due unto Thy name. We ask
it in Jesus' name, for His sake. Amen. Since the fall, in the garden,
man has done some truly senseless things. And there's four things
that I want to make mention of this morning at the outset of
my message here that man has done since the fall that are
absolutely, totally senseless. Number one, he has placed the
world and the things of this world ahead of God and the things
of God. To him, the important thing is
the creation, not the creator. The important things are the
things of this world and not the eternal things of God. Rather than love the Lord of
glory, in whom we live and move and have our being, man is in
love with everything that is opposed to God in this world. He's in love with things. He's
in love with the things of this world, the things of time, the
things of sense. And instead of loving Christ
with all of his heart, with all of his mind, with all of his
soul, and all of his strength, he loves the world with all of
his heart, with all of his soul, with his mind, and with his strength. Man is by nature a friend of
this world. Man by nature is anti-God, He
is anti-Christ. Now, we've become the very enemies
of God as we live in this world, as we live in God's world. We're
God's enemies. We're adulterers because we are
friends of a world that hates God. And man by nature is in
love with this world. We've gone astray. All we like
sheep have gone astray. We have wound up in a position
where we are enemies of Almighty God. Spirit of your heart is
at enmity against God. Now you don't understand maybe
and you don't believe that you're really an enemy of God Almighty. But by nature you are. Your old
flesh nature is at enmity against God. It's not subject to the
law of God and neither indeed can it be. Sanctify it. Become pious. Become holy. And still your old flesh nature
is at enmity against God. Number two, he has placed himself
before Christ. Though the scriptures teach us
to glory only in the Lord, yet every man is an idolater by nature. Every man is an idolater by nature. He does not love Christ supremely
and he does not worship him. He worships himself. He loves
and worships and lives for his own glory. Who should receive
glory? Should not the triune God receive
glory and praise from those that he's created? Absolutely. Should we not be living for the
glory of God? But a sinner, those that have
lived outside of Christ all their days, have not lived five minutes
for the glory of God since they came into this world. And many,
many times, you know, people think, well, I think I'm living
for the glory of God. But all the time, they're looking
out for their own glory. It's to bring glory to themselves. The old confession of faith used
to start off with this question, what is the chief end of man? And the answer was to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever. That was the answer, to glorify
God. To live for His praise, to live
for His honor. Reverence God, fear God, walk
before God, circumspectly, doing the will of God the best you
know it in your heart. But man will not glory in the
Lord, but he glories rather in himself. God is high, God is
holy. And when man exalts himself,
as he does by nature, he gets farther away from God all the
time. Now when a man humbles himself,
he gets nearer to God, and the lower that man sinks in humility,
the closer he gets to God. Do you ever notice that? I mean,
we exalt ourself, we honor ourself, and we think, whoa, we're getting
like God. God's high, God's holy, and we're
getting closer to God. You're not getting closer to
God. You're getting further away from God. Your proud heart is
at enmity against God, and you will not glorify the God of the
Bible. Now, somebody said just recently
that there were six things that made a goat different than a
sheep. six things. They didn't spell
out what the six things were, but they said that the result
of there being six differences between a goat and a sheep is
that the goat goes around with its tail straight up and the
sheep, the tail is hanging down. And my friend, it's true. God's
people are a humble people and they're a people that seek the
glory of their God. And they humble themselves and
walk before God and submit themselves to God. But the goats, oh the
goats, will not glorify God. They will not live for God. And
they've turned everyone, this scripture says, to his own way. Everyone has turned to his own
way. The number three thing is that
he's placed the body before the soul. Man, these senseless things
that man has done since the fall. He's placed the body before the
soul. Great care is taken to clothe the body, but no thought
is given to covering our shameful naked souls with the only garment
which God will accept, which is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. Food and drink are vital to us,
yet Christ The true bread which came down from heaven, Christ,
who is the water of life for thirsty perishing sinners, is
of no value whatsoever to us. We place no value on the things
of God, on the things of Christ. A man, we often times hear people
cry and lament that they're poor in this world. Oh, it's true
that many of us maybe are poor according to the world's standards.
But my friend, do you have a relationship with God? I mean, do you know
the Lord Jesus Christ? Has your sins been pardoned?
Do you know that you're justified before God, accepted of God in
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you ever had the
joy bells to ring in your soul? Do you know anything about what
it is to have the Spirit of God come to you and give you a song
in the night? Do you know anything about the
joys that come by walking with God Almighty in this world? Do
you know anything about that? My friend, if you have a relationship
with God, you are indeed a rich man. You're a rich woman, a rich
boy and girl. Even if you don't live in a $400,000
home, you are rich. And if you don't have the best
clothes, you're rich. You have the true riches. But
you see, we don't figure that the things of God, we don't figure
that the grace of God is of any value. By nature, we don't. And
we often catch ourselves, even those of us that have been in
the way for many, many years, catch ourselves minimizing a
relationship with God and exalting, as it were, those that are well-to-do
in this world. And you must remember, my friend,
somebody said recently, so-and-so, you know, is well-to-do. And
I thought to myself, well, does that mean he's doing well before
God? No. He may be well-to-do, but
that doesn't mean he's doing well before God. And I would
like for you this morning, those of you that are yet in a state
of nature, for you to understand that you must not Put the body
before the soul. You must remember that your soul
is going to live somewhere for all eternity. Physical health
is often attended to while the soul continues to be desperately
sick in sin and we're not doing anything about it. You say, is
it my obligation to do something about it? The Bible holds you
responsible. The Bible holds you responsible
to repent and believe the gospel. Now I know you're not going to
do either one of them until you're regenerated by the Spirit of
God, but you're responsible to do it. You're responsible to
flee evil and to avoid that which is evil in this world. And you're
admonished in the Word of God to be holy as God is holy. You're admonished to do so. A
comfortable home is a must for these dying bodies. Are they
not? Got to have a comfortable home
for these dying bodies. But no thought is given to an
everlasting shelter and home for an ever dying soul. If you
thought about where you're going to live for all eternity, this
thing is just going to last a little while. Truly the text speaks
the truth. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to our
own way. And we're shut up to it. We're just living for self
and honoring self. And we're ignoring God and his
truth and the things of God. Now the fourth thing is this,
that man has placed time before eternity. We're all inherently
preoccupied with this life and disregard that eternity which
is yet to come. We live for the here and we live
for the now. That's what we're doing, right
here and now. That's what's important. to about
everybody, and of course it's important to everybody that's
just a son of Adam that has no relationship with God, and you're
a peculiar and an unusual person if you're thinking about eternity
and the things of eternity. If you mind the things of the
Spirit of God, that's very unusual. Too many people doing that. Most
people, their God is their belly, and they mind earthly things.
That's what they do. We will associate ourselves with
the church of what's happening now. We don't want to know about
how it was, and we don't want to know how it's going to be.
We just want to know how it is just now. That's what we're interested
in. This is all we want to be bothered
with. Now the news used to be about
what happened yesterday, but now we have a ringside seat.
We just cannot fathom that what is seen in this world is temporal
and that which is unseen is eternal. Can you fathom that? Have you
laid hold of that? Have you grasped that? Have you
wrestled with that? What you see is temporal, my
friend. And what is unseen is eternal. And we must deal with that. We
must. Now this is placing time before
eternity. This is the way that seemeth
right unto a man, but the ways thereof is death. We live for the here and now
and forget that this life is but the vestibule for the vastness
of eternity. Oh we like sheep have gone astray,
we've turned everyone to his own way. Now friends and brothers
and sisters in Christ, You listen to me carefully. There are three
gospel truths that are experienced, that are believed, and confessed
by all who are born again by God's grace. Now regarding these
three points of doctrine, all true believers are agreed. They
are agreed. Number one, we all agree with
the doctrine of original sin. All we like sheep have gone astray.
Every one of us believe that are truly born of God, that have
been spirit taught to any degree, we believe in the doctrine of
original sin. We all went astray from God in
the sin and the fall of Adam. Psalm 14 and verse 3 says, they're
all gone aside, they're all together become filthy, there is none
that doeth good, no not one. Romans 5 and verse 12 says, wherefore
is by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
Now you say, well, Preacher, I wasn't there when Adam sinned.
And how is it that the apostle could say that sin entered this
world by one man and death by sin? Well, I wasn't there. Well, my friend, you might not
have been there, but you wait around and you're going to experience
the death that everybody experiences because all do have a definite
relationship with Adam. He's our representative, our
head, before God in the state of nature, and every one of us,
when Adam did what he did, we did too. Now that's simple, isn't
it? We were in Adam when he did what
he did. And that's how one man, with
one man, sent it into the world. I'm talking about original sin,
because it was the first sin of our race, and it was the source,
and it was the cause of all other sin. By God's appointment and
decree, Adam was the federal head. As we said, he was the
representative of all men. His sin was imputed to all men. So that all men become sinners
by his disobedience. All men, by Adam's disobedience,
become sinners. Romans 5 verse 18 and 19 says,
therefore by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to
condemnation. All men are lost in Adam. Every
man is lost in Adam and Adam's sin has been imputed. It has been accredited to every
son of Adam. Every son of Adam is lost and
under the condemnation of God until the second representative,
the Lord from heaven, comes and until all that we are in Adam,
all our sin is imputed to the second Adam, the Lord from heaven. So now, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift. What is the free gift? It's eternal
life that God promised before the world began. Free gift. The
free gift. God has promised eternal life.
All of sin that comes short of the glory of God, the wage of
sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. The gift of God is eternal life
through Christ. The free gift came unto the justification
of life. And verse 19 says, for as by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. And furthermore, Adam's fallen
and depraved nature, that nature is also imparted to all men by
natural generation. You say, well now, how did I
get in this fix? You got in this fix because you
were born of a woman. and because you had a earthly
father and by fleshly generation you're like David in Psalm 51
verse 5, behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my
mother conceive me. Now this is the testimony of
every spirit taught Child of God. In sin did my mother conceive
me. I was shapen in iniquity. And we come forth into this world
as sinners. Now the second gospel truth,
first of all it's original sin, and the second that we've experienced
and believed and that we confess to you this morning as the people
of God is personal depravity. We're all sinners by imputation,
that means it was accredited to us on the books of God. Adam's
sin was accredited to us. And then by birth, generation,
just as we mentioned a few minutes ago, and then our very nature. But we're all sinners by personal
choice, too. Every one of us. Somebody said,
I live, preacher, a good life. Well, you may live a good life,
but I'll bet you if we could trace your steps out of this
building this morning that we wouldn't have to spend very many
days and buy very much gasoline to find somewhere where you made
a personal choice to sin against God. Every one of us in this
room are sinners by nature and choice. We all have sinned by
choice. Now you say, Preacher, I wish
you wouldn't press that. My friend, you must be honest
with God, honest with your own soul. If we say we've not sinned,
we make God a liar, and his truth is not in us. We must admit to
the truth. Psalm 58 and three says, the
wicked are estranged from the room. They're estranged from
the womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born. Speaking lies. Speaking lies. Jeremiah 17 and nine says the
heart is deceitful above all things and it's incurably wicked. Desperately wicked, who can know
it? Now God's elect are like all other men by nature. Ever
going astray from God. Doesn't Ephesians chapter two
tell us that We're all the children of wrath, even as others. Absolutely. We're all the children of wrath.
Every one of us, we were born that way. Each one turns to his
own way, but never to Christ, who is the way, the truth, and
the life, until he is turned by almighty grace. Until he's
turned by the grace of God, man never turns from sin and the
ways of rebellion. Now some turn to the way of open
sin and rebellion, some to the way of morality, and some to
the way of self-righteousness, and some to religion. Modern
or old, doesn't make any difference. It's all the same. They turn
to it, and it's always a way that seemeth a right. to them,
but the end thereof are the ways of death. They don't know Christ. Man by nature is so thoroughly
depraved that he has neither the will nor the ability to do
anything but go astray from God. Can you take that? Can you accept
that? That's natural man's condition.
He doesn't have the will or the way to do anything except walk
away and go away from God in his heart. Yet there's hope,
my friend. Yet there's hope. Our text also
proclaims not only that we all, like sheep, have gone astray
and every one of us has turned to his own way, but it also proclaims
the substitutionary redemption. And this is where our hope lies,
my friend. And the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Aren't those blessed words? Praise
God, hallelujah, that's wonderful, that's a wonderful word to my
own heart. The Lord hath laid on Him, Christ,
the iniquity of us all. God, the Father, against whom
we have sinned, from whom we have strayed, whose law we have
broken, whose justice must be satisfied, has laid upon Christ,
His dear Son, all the sins of all of those that would believe
on Him, all the sins of His elect. Now the Son of God was made to
be sin for us, so that He might be justly punished for sin in
our stead, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our sins were laid upon Christ,
by whose death justice is satisfied, and our sins completely put away. There was no possible way for
God's elect to be discharged of their sin debt, but for Christ
to be made sin in their stead, in their place. Now I do not
say that it was necessary for God to put away sin. I do not
say that. There was nothing in us that
compelled God to be gracious, and he had nothing to be gained
from us by choosing to be gracious. God's purpose of grace and determination
to put away the sins of his people was altogether a matter of pure
sovereignty. A matter, I say, of pure sovereignty. That word bother you? It's a
matter of pure sovereignty. God's will to save us was a matter
of absolute freedom and sovereignty. He loved us because He would
love us. He is gracious because He will be gracious. But I do
want to say this one time. Once God determined to redeem
and save and elect people, He could do it only by the satisfaction
of His justice only by making His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be sin for us. If our redemption could be accomplished
by any other means, He would have found it. God did not sacrifice
His Son for nothing. God did not hang His Son on a
cross for no reason. He put his son on a cross because
he must become sin for us, and he must be that one upon whom
sin would be laid, who would become accountable unto the justice
of God for that sin. The only way possible for fallen
man to be just with God was for satisfaction to be made. God
must be satisfied. And the only way for satisfaction
to be made was for God's own son to become a man, for him
to establish righteousness in the room of his people and have
our sin accredited to him and suffer the full penalty of the
law even unto death. That must happen. From old eternity
in the covenant of grace, the Lord God looked upon his son
as our Redeemer and declared with regard to his elect, deliver
him from going down into the pit. I have found a ransom. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Now if you believe the first
part of our message this morning, you ought to be glad. God's found
a ransom. Deliver him, he said, from going
down to the pit. And God this morning, if he saved
you already, that's what he said about you. He said to his holy
justice, Deliver him from going down into the pit. My soul has
found a ransom. I'm satisfied and my justice
is free. Now to justify all those who
put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in his immutable purpose
of grace, he laid on him as the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, the iniquity of us all. And in the fullness of
time it was done. Christ was made to be sin for
us. You see, I'm a believer in God
taking his word and using it in the hearts of men and women.
I believe God uses his word. It does not bother me to go over
these things and to say them again and again and again. Because
I believe that God's going to unlock somebody's heart and put
these treasures in their heart. And I hope sometime that there's
somebody around here that will so get these things fixed in
their heart that they would be able to tell them forth and would
be able to speak these truths. Now this imputation of sin is
so real that our substitute claimed our sins to be his very own. Can you imagine such a thing?
Your sins, Christ claimed that they were his. They claimed they
were his very own sin. He said, listen to what he said. innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me, called him his own, his sin, so that I am not able,
he said, to look up. Now get a picture of that. Our
blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, holy, harmless, undefiled,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's beloved Son, heaven's best, in
this world and he says my sins got a hold of me and I couldn't
even look up. Couldn't look up. You ever been
that way? You ever been so ashamed of yourself you couldn't look
up? Have you? Well I have been and I'll tell
you what, that's exactly what happened to my substitute. when
he was made to be sin for me. He took all my sins and he owned
them all. And he said, I can't look up.
They got a hold of me, my sins have. There are more, listen
to what he said, there are more than the hairs of mine head,
these sins. Therefore my heart faileth me. Weighed it down My heart fails
me because all these sins are mine. Oh God thou knowest my
foolishness When was the Son of God ever foolish when? Never
was he ever foolish How about you friend? Have you been foolish? Every one of us has been every
one of us All of us have been foolish. How many times do we
call ourselves in a week's time? Just a fool Just a foolish person. So foolish. Well, now listen
to what he said. He said to God, My sins are not
hid from Thee. That's what he said. He said
that in the Messianic Psalms, Psalm 40 verse 12, Psalm 69 and
verse 5. There was no evil in him. No
evil committed by him. He never committed any sin of
any kind. And no possibility of evil in
him. Both as God and as man, our Savior
was holy, harmless, undefiled, and what else does it say? Separate
from sinners. Both as God and man. Yet the
Lord had laid on Him, separate from sinners, holy and harmless,
undefiled. Yet the Lord had laid on Him. the iniquity of us all. God gathered
up all the sins of all of His elect as one loathsome and hideous
bundle and laid them upon the Lord Jesus Christ. By a mighty
transfer of guilt, He transferred our sins entirely from us to
our Savior and punished Him in our stead. took him to Calvary
and punished him in our stead. You see? Christ suffering for
us. He died as the greatest sinner
who ever lived. That's exactly right. Cursed
is everyone that hangs on a tree. Jesus hung on a tree. Cursed
by God because he was there in my place and in your place. He
died as the greatest sinner who ever lived, for at one time all
the sins of God's elect were made to meet upon him. Now when
a man willingly makes himself a surety for another man's debt,
he assumes all obligations, responsibilities, and liabilities for the original
debtor. And in the eyes of the law, the
original debtor is freed of all obligation and accountability,
and the surety has become the debtor. Man who said, I'll sign
a note. He becomes accountable for all
the debt. All the debt. And Christ has
become accountable to God for all the debt. The law no longer
looks to the original debtor. No longer looks to the original
debtor. but to the surety to whom the
debt has been imputed for satisfaction. God said I'm making you to be
sin for all of my people and I'm looking to you for satisfaction
and he took it out on Christ on the cross. Christ gave his
bond as our surety in the covenant of grace and God having accepted
him as our surety laid our sins on his son. He cannot now look
for payment from us. He doesn't look for payment now
from us. In the eyes of the law, the original
debtor is freed from all obligation and accountability. Well now,
wouldn't that if you cut your, you know, like one fellow said,
cut his galluses and he'd just go up to the ceiling. I mean
the original debtor no longer looked to in this situation.
He's freed from obligation. He hadn't got any accountability
before God anymore because Christ has stood in for him. If he will
have payment for sin, he must have it from him upon whom hard
debt has been laid. If our sin is going to be paid
for, the debt was laid on Christ, he must have it from him. Justice
will not allow that the debt be paid both by us and by our
surety. If Christ our surety has paid
our debt to God, we must go free. And that's why the scripture
says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. No judgment awaiting them. Verily,
verily, I say to you, he that heareth my word believeth on
him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, shall not come into the judgment. But it is
passed from death unto life. And that is because Christ died
in his place. And notice, I want you to understand
what I'm saying here. This is so important. It was
the Lord God himself who made Christ to be sin for us. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He put him to grief. It was Jehovah himself who made
his soul an offering for sin. Now sin, I would say, is the
greatest burden in the world, and it's the most obnoxious thing
in the universe. Would you agree with that? Sin,
the greatest burden in the world, the most obnoxious thing in the
universe. The load that must have crushed
a world into hell, has been laid upon the God-man by God's own
hand. For sin is not his own, he died
to atone. He bore all incarnate God, could
bear with strength enough, but none to spare. What a load! What
a load has been laid upon the God-man by his Father's own hand. This great, mighty transfer of
sin from the sinner to the sinner's surety was conceived by infinite
wisdom, brought forth by infinite love, ordained by infinite grace,
and executed by infinite justice. None but Jehovah could do this.
Who but God could lay sin upon God? Who but God could punish God
for sin? Who but God could do that? Who but God could dispose of
sin for the salvation of His people? Some think that we lay
our sins upon Christ. Some think that. Man cannot even
lay his hand upon the Son of God, much less lay his sin on
Christ. If you imagine that your prayers
and your tears and your fastings and your mournings and your confession
and your repentance and your Bible reading can lay your sin
off yourself and on Christ, you're mistaken. You're beating the
air, my friend. To lay iniquity upon Christ is
the work of Jehovah God alone. It's His work alone. Now, be
sure you understand this, that God will never, He will never
make another transfer of sin. He'll never do it. Is that clear? God will never ever make another
transfer of sin. He transferred sin once upon
His Son, and He's never going to do it again. Never do it again. There's no moment in time, there's
no condition possible in which God will transfer sin back from
Christ to his people. He's not going to do that. It
only goes one way. off you and on to your substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin once laid upon Christ, the
scapegoat is carried away into the land of forgetfulness, never
to be seen or brought back again. This is the most wonderful, astounding,
amazing thing ever performed, and I say it without any fear
of being contradicted, ever performed by Jehovah God. The greatest
thing he ever done. Somebody said, well I thought
making the world was a great thing. Yes, it was a great thing.
But laying sin on Jesus, and Christ becoming accountable for
you poor sinners, for us poor sinners, was the greatest work,
the work of redemption, greatest work God Almighty ever done.
greatest work. I'm amazed that God made his
son to be a man, made him to be a poor man, a suffering man,
a crucified man. But when I read that he hath
made him to be sin for us, this is too wonderful, too sublime,
too mysterious, too divine for our puny brains to comprehend.
But it's true It's true. That's what the text says. I
haven't lied to you. I've not exaggerated. And any
of the older folks in the faith, we don't have very many old people
here, but the old folks in the faith around here, every one
of them would say amen, told you the truth. So you believe
it, you rejoice in it, give thanks to God for it, because it is
all our salvation. Our sins being weighed upon that
man who is God Almighty, has been affectionately put away,
and that forever. Sin, that's dealt with. Somebody
said, I'm still trying to get my sin situation regulated. My
friend, you will never regulate your sin situation. You've got
to reckon yourself to be dead indeed unto sin, just like God
looks at you. And God doesn't, He, now wait
a minute, now He's not looking at you, He's looking at Christ. Who was He looking at on the
cross? looking at his own son you just existed in the mind
of God at that time you had no existence except in the mind
of God but he was looking at Christ and Christ was being crucified
sin had been transferred to him and God looks at him and now
he looks at us he doesn't see in him there's no sin you stand
in Christ he doesn't see any sin in you All sin was transferred
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And bless God, He's answered
for it. He's answered for it. And may God give us the hope,
faith, that we believe, and that we know and would feel this truth
mightily in our hearts. Be amazed by it, and that we
would be stirred up to praise God forever. Praise Him forever. Forever and ever. Now folks,
listen to me. You may think, well that preacher,
he gets stirred up about this thing, about sin being transferred
to Christ, and about this substitution, this absolute substitution thing,
and he gets stirred up about this redemption thing. My friend,
let me tell you something. We're not suffering in our day
and time from people getting the fire built under them about
scriptural truths. We're living in a lackadaisical
world when preachers can either, I mean they can, you know, they
don't open up their whole mouth when they're preaching. They
just talk out of one side of their mouth. They don't say anything.
I can't talk too much about what God has done, you see. They want
to leave it with you as if you still bore the responsibility
and the obligation of putting sin away. You can't put away
sin, my friend. Either it was put away in Christ
or it'll never be put away. It was transferred one time,
never ever will it be transferred again. It's not coming back this
way. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord,
not coming back this way. Now, maybe you're not as big
a sinner as I am. But I'm telling you, that rejoices
my heart. It's not coming back this way.
Honey, it's went that way. It's not coming back this way.
Sin's laid on Him. And He suffered in my stead,
in my room, my place. He did it. He did it, hallelujah,
He did it. That's salvation. That's what
it means to live before God. It's to be in Christ and to have
this truth embedded in your soul. May God bless you.

Gone Astray

What does the Bible say about going astray?

Why is the concept of substitutionary atonement important?

How do we know original sin is true?

Why is understanding man’s depravity crucial for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

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Gone Astray

What does the Bible say about going astray?

Why is the concept of substitutionary atonement important?

How do we know original sin is true?

Why is understanding man’s depravity crucial for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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