Many of the hymns we sing were
written by Fanny Crosby, many of our better hymns. Two
of those hymns express desires that ought to arise in our hearts
every time we come to the house of God. We come here, I hope,
to worship God and to hear his word. I hope you've come here
today Seeking to hear God speak. Seeking a word from God. Desiring
that the eternal God might be pleased to visit you. What a wondrous thought. If so, let this be your prayer. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry. while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by." God's going to speak to somebody here, maybe
you. He's going to speak to somebody,
maybe God Almighty will be pleased to speak to you. Let this be
our prayer when we meet together in this place, that God would
pass us not by. And let this be the desire of
every heart as they come listen to this man preach. Not just
this one, but any other. But as you've come here, I hope
you've come with this desire, that I might respond to this
request, also written by Fannie Crosby. Tell me the story of
Jesus. Write on my heart every word. Tell me the story most precious. sweetest that ever was earned. Now, I've come here to tell you
that story. I want one more time, by the
assistance and grace and power of God the Holy Spirit, to tell
you the story of Jesus Christ, our God and our Savior. Jesus
Christ, our Redeemer, our Lord and our King. One reason for
which I am thankful that in God's good providence, We observe,
or by tradition observe, this time as the day of our Lord's
birth, that is, the day of his human birth, the birth of his
human body and soul. Our Lord Jesus came into this
world two thousand years ago, and at least once a year, at
least on Christmas Day and during the Christmas season, men and
women everywhere are compelled to face up to the fact that the
Son of God came into this world. The Son of God came into this
world. God Almighty invaded time. God Almighty came down here where
you and I are, and He did something. He accomplished something. And
you and I will one day meet that God who came into this world
in judgment. Now today, everywhere in the
world, men and women are in one way or another thinking about
the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the God-man.
And I want today, by God's Spirit, through the Word of God, to show
you why He came and what He did. I want to tell you this wondrous,
wondrous story, but this won't be anything unusual here. I do
it all the time. As a gospel preacher, this is
my great desire. I want every time I preach, no
matter where I preach, no matter who the audience I want, every
time I preach, to preach the gospel of Christ, just to tell
you the story of Christ. In fact, that's my determination.
I'm determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, so that wherever I go, I never tire of preaching
Christ crucified. The apostle wrote to the Philippians,
and he said, for me to write the same things to you indeed
is not gracious. And so for me to come back to
you one more time with this wondrous story is not in the least measure
grievous. If you're a believer, if you
know the Lord Jesus, if you love Him, if you've been born of God's
Spirit, if you've ever seen the glory of God, you'll enjoy hearing
it again. You won't get tired of hearing
this message. I love to tell the story for
those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like
the rest. You want to hear about it? The
Son of God, who He is, what He did, that's what we've come here
to talk about. Our sons and daughters, you that
are yet without the Savior, you who yet don't know our God. Listen to me now. You need to
hear this story. I've had the privilege of teaching
young people this morning. I don't often get to do that.
You need to hear Him. You need to know Him. You need
to seek Him. And so I come here to speak to
you from the Word of God. I pray from the heart of God
to your heart concerning that which is dearest to God's heart,
His darling Son. Now listen, listen carefully.
If you never come to know the Son of God, you're going to perish
under the wrath of God. You've got to know Him. You've
got to hear the Word. You've got to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Or it may be that God will be
pleased. this day to drop his hand into
your heart and give you life and faith in Christ. Oh, that
God may come down and visit you and make you to see his Son.
And I know this, if he does, if God's pleased to save you,
if God's pleased to give you life, if God's pleased to give
you faith, it'll be by hearing this story. It'll be by the preaching
of Jesus Christ, Him crucified. We are born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. That's the reason Why public
worship and the public ministry of the Word ought to be such
a vital, vital part of your life, so that you spend your life developing
your life around the ministry of the Word, because this is
God's means of grace. This is the means by which God
is pleased if He is pleased at all. This is the means by which
God is pleased to give life and faith to chosen sinners. Oh,
may God be pleased now to speak to you by his word. And those
who are in your sunset years, you still need to hear the glorious
old, old story and need to hear it often. We need comfort and
nothing comforts like the story of Christ and him crucified.
We need strength and nothing will strengthen our souls like
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. We need some assurance. And nothing
gives assurance like the person and work of Christ the Lord.
These cold, cold hearts need reviving. Oh, how they need reviving. And nothing revives them like
the knowledge of Christ's love. Nothing will stir our hearts
like His love stirs our hearts. Nothing will move our souls like
His love moves our souls. Now I've been preaching for a
long, long time. I've been preaching, I typed this message out and
I thought, it can't be that long. I've been preaching for better
than 29 years now. And I've preached to a lot of
people in a lot of places. I have had the privilege in God's
providence and grace of traveling the length and breadth of this
country numerous times, preaching the gospel. I've preached the
message of God's free grace in almost every English-speaking
country in the world, and in some that weren't English-speaking.
I've preached the gospel in hospitals and in hotels, in houses and
in prison houses. I've preached the gospel in cow
pastures, and I've preached the gospel in horse stables. I've
preached the gospel in a lot of places to a lot of people.
Some folks real smart, some folks totally illiterate. But I never,
ever look for something new to preach. I never look for something
intriguing. I never look for something that's
spellbinding. I never look for something that
will arouse curiosity. I never, ever, ever do it. I
never seek anything new because the message I preach is constantly
new. I never speak anything new because
the message I preach is the message you must hear. It is the message
which God has ordained for the saving of them that hear it.
My concern when I preach, when I sit down to prepare a message,
is simply that I know nothing among you say Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. I leave deliberately I leave
the complicated moral, social, political, philosophical, and
theological issues that trouble the minds of men, for men whose
minds are so small that they enjoy that trivia. And I use
the word trivia deliberately. I listen sometimes with a little
disgusting humor as I listen to imaginary theologians discussing
details of theology they don't have a bit more understanding
in than the man and the mother. Now here's some fellas talking
about the Lapsarian views of God's decrees and they don't
even know what Lapsarianism is. They have no idea what it is,
but they talk about it because it sounds big and impressive.
Oh, were it to God, preachers would quit trying to impress
men with what they know and just tell about Christ. That's the
business of preaching. It's simply to proclaim Christ
to sinners. It is to make known to sinners
who Jesus Christ is and what Jesus Christ did. That's all
preaching is. That's the business of the preacher.
As for me and my house, that is, as for me and the house of
which I'm the father and husband, and the house of which I'm the
pastor, we will serve the Lord. This is what we're going to do.
We will employ no other means. We will worship God in the spirit. We will rejoice in Christ Jesus. We will have no confidence in
the flesh, in the building of God's kingdom. We will build
God's kingdom in God's church. We will seek the edifying and
the increase of God's kingdom only by the preaching of Jesus
Christ crucified. I once more make this solemn
pledge to you. I promise. I promise it. You seek opportunity. Bobby,
if God lets you bring your family and your neighbors to hear the
gospel, I promise you, buddy, if you'll have opportunity to
encourage folks you work with to hear the gospel, every time
I stand in this pulpit, you'll hear the gospel. Every time.
I make that pledge. I will preach nothing but Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. No matter where we open the book,
no matter what the reason is for our gathering, if we come
here for a worship service, for Bible study, for Sunday morning
worship, Sunday night worship, Tuesday night worship, we come
here for a funeral service, or we come here for a wedding, I'm
going to preach the same message. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That's the subject of Holy Scripture. The message of this book is Jesus
Christ the Lord. The story of redemption, the
story of grace, the story of salvation is the story of Christ
and his love, and it's the story of this book. I want you, at
your leisure, again, to read Acts chapter 13, what we read
earlier. And notice again how that in that chapter when the
Apostle Paul stood to preach in the synagogue, he summarized
the whole of God's dealings with men in the Old Testament and
brought them to this point that Jesus Christ is that man by whom
alone we're justified. That's the whole message. That's
the whole message of Scripture. Now I want to tell this story
to you one more time with utter simplicity. And I prepared this
message like I was taught to write when we were studying literature
in school. This is way back a long time
ago. This is when I was in high school. Some of you folks who
take writing and take literature now will kind of appreciate it.
In every story, you've got to have a plot. Let me talk to you
first about the plot. The plot for this story was drawn
up in the council chambers of God Almighty before the world
began. The story begins in the covenant
of grace, that covenant made by God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit on behalf of chosen sinners before the
beginning of time. Now the plot has these three
parts. First, the determination of God. Secondly, the dilemma
of grace. And thirdly, the deliverance
that's found. Let's look at them one at a time.
First, the determination of God. You can look at it later, but
in Exodus 33, 19, when you remember Moses said, Lord, show me your
glory. And this is what God declares. This is what God declares. First
thing out of his mouth. We're going to tell Moses who
he is. We're going to tell Moses his glory. This is the first
thing he says. I will be gracious. Oh, what a determination. God
says, I will having determined that he would
be gracious. An election was made. God says,
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And he identifies
who those people are to whom he will be gracious. He identifies
them to such a degree that he inscribes their names in a book
of life from the foundation of the world. He says, I will be
their God and they shall be my people. And the work was done.
So that God Almighty, from the beginning of time, determined
to be gracious to a people whom he chose to save by his bounteous
free grace. That's the plot of the story.
Now we know that God does not, and did not, do these things
in a sequential order. Sometimes the theologians talk
about how God first decreed this, and then secondly decreed that,
and then thirdly decreed the other thing. Well, don't pay
too much attention to that because that's the only way we can think.
Just because our brains are punitive doesn't mean his is. He's God
Almighty. With God, everything's at once.
God sees all things at once. God knows all things at once. With God, everything is immediate. Immediate. So that from eternity,
God determined to save and determined whom he would save. These things
are revealed to us in a in a sequential order, and they're spoken of
in a sequential order only because that's the only way our teeny
brains can get a handle on it. That's the only way we understand
it. Why, if God didn't speak to us in the language of a man,
we wouldn't know anything about God. We couldn't comprehend anything
about Him. God's the infinite Spirit, and
we could not know Him. We cannot begin to think as He
thinks, not in this moral frame. But God Almighty, from the beginning,
made a determination of grace, and he elected a people whom
he was determined to save, and predestinated all things necessary
to their salvation." And listen now, all of God's determination,
all of God's election, all of God's predestination were eternal,
imminent acts of God Almighty. Done, just like that. Done, just like that. I've never
watched Rex go about laying out his plans for a remodeling job,
but I just got a feeling, even with that big computer he's got
over there, you've got to put some time in it. You've got to
lay that thing out, and you've got to go back and scratch out
that, well, you don't scratch them out with computers anymore,
you delete it, but you go back and scratch that thing out and
redo it, because you do stuff. And you couldn't think of everything
at one time, with God Almighty. Nothing's ever scratched out.
Nothing's ever deleted. Nothing's ever changed. He's
the infinite God. Can you get a hold of that? Can
you get a hold of that? When people talk about the plan
of salvation, it's not a proposal of salvation, it's the predestined
work of salvation. And this work was done from eternity. But there was a dilemma. The
dilemma of grace is this. As God the Lord planned and purposed
our redemption, our fall in our father Adam was anticipated and
planned by him as well, for all things are of God. Now you can
do what you want to with that, but I'm not about to back up.
God Almighty wasn't taken by surprise when Adam ate the forbidden
fruit. Somehow he didn't look at that
and say, oh, what has been done? That was a fully anticipated
thing for which God made plans before it ever happened. You
see, that fall of our race in Adam presents God with a dilemma. How can God, who is and must
be holy, forgive sin? How can He do it? How can God,
who says the soul that sinneth it shall die, be merciful to
build on it? How can God both maintain his
honor as God, and never bend his law, and yet justify the
ungodly? And he found the answer. He said
in Job 33, 24, I love this text, looking at his elect in Christ,
he looks at his son, the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, and he says concerning God's fortune to deliver him
from going down to the pit, I found a ransom. That's how God can
be just and justify the ungodly. A ransom was found. A justice-satisfying
substitute was provided by God Almighty in the person of His
dear Son for the putting away of our sins by the satisfaction
of justice. You understand that? That's how
God can be just and yet justify the ungodly. Several years ago, a friend of
mine had some ladies over to the house. Just chatting, you
know, on Monday. On the way home from church on
Sunday morning, this little boy, five, six years old, asked his
mama a question. He said, Mama, why'd Jesus have
to die? And she said, well, he died because
he loved us. The little boy said, you love me, don't you? And she
said, well, yeah, he died so it'd take us to heaven. He said,
but why did he have to die to take us to heaven? And this lady
said to a friend of mine, she said, for the first time in my
life, I was confronted with that question, and I don't have any
idea what the answer is. I've been in church all my life.
What's the answer to that question? A friend, Brother Larry Brown's
wife, she said, the answer is, because God's got to punish sin.
That's the answer. Do you understand that? Jesus
Christ had to die if God saves sinners. Because God can't save
you unless He punishes your sin. God cannot forgive you unless
He punishes your sin to the full satisfaction of justice. And
the only way that can be done is through the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So the deliverance was found.
In the covenant of grace, the Lord Jesus stood as our surety
and substitute. And God the Father looked upon
Christ, who said, I will go. I will satisfy justice for them. I will bring in an everlasting
righteousness for these people, my Father, whom you've chosen
to save. I will be their Redeemer. I will
bring them to glory. Give them to me. Give them to
me. And Chuck, God Almighty, before
the world began, trusted your soul. He trusted him. Show me scripture
for that, pastor. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1.
Ephesians chapter 1. You see, this whole affair of
redemption, this whole affair of salvation, is a thing that
takes place by the work of God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit as a result of a covenant made from eternity. Back here in Ephesians chapter
1 and verse 12, that we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted Christ, who first trusted in
Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Now what on earth
does that mean? I mean, Burlhart, before the world began, God the
Father chose you and trusted Christ to save you, that we should
be to the praise of his glory. And in the appointed time, you
also believed, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation. Let me show you another text.
Turn to John chapter 6. John chapter 6, verse 37. Our Savior speaking, he says,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. Now, I've called your attention
many times to the fact that's in the present tense. All that
the Father giveth me now in grace. Oh, God gives some to Christ
now. I tell you, who's going to believe
on Christ before I get done preaching? All that the Father giveth All that the Father given me
shall come to me. Read on. For I came down not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will. This is God's will. This is the
will of God, which has sent me, that of all which he, get it
now, hath given me. That took place in eternity.
God gave them like sheep to the shepherd to save and to care
for and bring them back home in the end of time. All which
he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. You see that? God the Father
trusted his Son as our Savior long before we trusted him. Trusted
him to redeem and save us. Christ Jesus was our surety and
our good shepherd before ever we came into the world. He says,
other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be
one fold and one shepherd. Actually, when the covenant of
grace was made, once it was established, the whole story of redemption
was finished, it was done. Back up. Before ever God said,
let there be light and there was light. Before ever God created
an angel into heaven to minister to those who should be the heirs
of salvation. The whole story of redemption was written out
in a book, written with the end and without it on the back side
and sealed with seven seals. You can read about it in Revelation
chapter 5. The Lord Jesus comes, the Lamb
of God. No man can open that book, the
book of God's purpose, but he takes the book out of the hand
of him that sat on the throne. And he opens the book and loosens
the seven seals thereof. And he says, this is what God
said he was going to do for me. The whole purpose of grace was
finished And insofar as the mind and purpose of God is concerned,
our redemption, our salvation, our everlasting glory as God's
elect was finished, complete, and perfected when He said, I
will be their God and they shall be my people. Let me show you
the Bible. 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy
chapter 1. I don't want to take my word
for this. Several years ago, I was a young
man preaching. I was talking along this line,
and I'd made some statement concerning this business of the eternal
accomplishment of salvation by Christ, and an older preacher
came up to me and said, well, that's just a point of logic. And I said, no, it's a point
of Scripture, and right here's the Scripture. 2 Timothy chapter
1, verse 9. There's not any way on the earth
you can get that to read, God will. God hath. It doesn't even read, God does.
It says, God hath saved us and called us with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, get it now, which was given us in Christ Jesus,
when? Before the world began. He hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, according as He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. Listen to this. We know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to His purpose. Purpose. The purposes. If you ever get hold of this,
you'll understand the mysteries of this book. What is the purpose
of God according to which all things in time are performed
by the hand of divine providence? What is that purpose? Here it
is. All you've got to do is read
the next verse. For whom he did foreknow, them
he also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called, and whom
he called, then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he
also glorified. Already, back yonder, in his
eternal purpose, it was done. And now, he's just accomplishing
in time what he purposed in eternity. In fact, if you've got your Bible
still open here at Second Timothy, Chapter 1, when we come to faith
in Christ, when a believer is born again of the Spirit of God
and is given faith in Christ, if right now, for the first time,
you look to Christ, you believe Him, you confess your sins, you
say, God be merciful to me this afternoon. This is what's happening.
This is what's happening. You just come into the blessed
realization and experimental enjoyment of what God accomplished
in eternity. Look at 2 Timothy 1.9. But is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality,
look at it now, hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. He's come now with the Word and
given you life to understand what He did for you before the
world began. Well, that's the plot. Who will
be saved? God's elect. How will they be
saved? By the obedience of Christ. What
secures the salvation of those chosen redeemed sinners? The
sovereign rule of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. Now, here's
the introduction. Turn back to Genesis chapter
1. Genesis chapter 1. I want you
to do this. Hold your hands right there in
Genesis chapter 1. Just stick your finger there.
Genesis chapter 1. And then turn to Malachi chapter
4. Here's the plot. Genesis 1, in
the beginning. Malachi 4, 6. And he shall turn
the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of
the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse." There's an introduction. Right here. You looking? Right
here between my hands is the introduction to the story. The
whole Old Testament. That's what the Old Testament's
all about. So it's all about. So many times, many women in
churches express this concern, this bewilderment. They say,
I don't read Leviticus, Numbers, and I don't read the historic
books, and I don't read the prophets, because they don't make any sense
to me. I don't understand them. That's because they're trying
to figure out what shape the mitre was on the priest's head.
That's because they're trying to figure out what the robe looked
like. That's because they're trying to figure out what the
tabernacle was shaped like. trying to figure out how the
temple was built. It's the sizes and the shapes of everything.
Just forget it. Just forget it. Those things
are relatively insignificant. The issue is, of whom do these
things speak? They speak of Christ the Lord.
Now, if you open this book and start looking for him, Oh, what a difference that'll
make when you read this book. I promise you it will. Jesus
Christ crucified is the key that unlocks the treasure chest of
Holy Scripture. And the only way that you ever
understand it is to insert the key in the treasure and it opens
up. That's all. That's the simplicity
of it. Now I want to show you this.
The entire Old Testament is the introduction to this story of
redemption by Christ. When Paul tells us that Christ
died for our sins according to the scripture, he's telling us
that Christ died for our sins according to the Old Testament
scriptures. That's all he had. He was writing
the New Testament. So when he says Christ died according
to the scriptures, he's talking about from Genesis to Malachi.
You mean picture that was talking about the death of Christ? Now
you got it. That's what it was talking about.
It wasn't talking about the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel
was just a sideline. It wasn't talking about Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are
just the beneficiaries. It's talking about Christ crucified. That's the message of the Old
Testament. The Scriptures tells us about Philip who came to Nathanael
and said, I have found him. of whom Moses and the Laws think. The Lord Jesus is that one of
whom Paul says to him, When Peter spoke on Acts chapter
2, he summarizes the Old Testament with Jesus Christ crucified.
When Stephen spoke in Acts chapter 7, he summarizes the whole message
with Jesus Christ crucified. When Paul spoke in Acts chapter
13, he summarizes the whole of Old Testament history with Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Looks to me like somebody would
get the hint. The book's talking about Christ.
Christ is the message of the Old Testament. I got a Christmas
card yesterday from Brother John Preet, and in it he had, I presume
he had this printed somewhere, he had most of these things down.
I have a longer list, but I'll give you an abbreviated list
here that he gave. In Genesis, Christ is promised
as the woman seen. In Exodus, he's described as
the Passover In Leviticus, he's the atoning sacrifice. In Numbers,
the smitten rock. In Deuteronomy, the prophet of
whom Moses was but a title. In Joshua, he's set forth as
the captain of our salvation. In Judges, he's the mighty deliverer. In the book of Ruth, he's the
kinsman redeemer. Our Lord Jesus is described in
the books of the kings. That is, in 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings,
and 1-2 Chronicles, he's described as the king of peace and the
king of righteousness. In Nehemiah, he's the restorer
of all things. In Esther, the great advocate.
In Job, he is the daysman of whom Job desired. Psalms, he
is Christ our song. He is described in Proverbs as
our wisdom, and in Ecclesiastes, he's described as the teacher
of wisdom. In the stone of Solomon, he is Christ our beloved. In
the prophets, he's the coming Messiah. In the gospels, he's
the God-man. In Acts, the exalted Lord. In
the epistles, he's the head of the church. In Hebrews, he's
our great high priest. And in the book of Revelation,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lamb, worthy of praise, adoration,
and worship. Now this is what I want you to
see. All the scriptures speak of him. Turn to Luke chapter
24. that blessed, blessed passage.
Our Lord was walking with the disciples after the resurrection
on the road to Emmaus. And here in Luke chapter 24,
after he's departed from them, they realize that he, beginning
at Moses and in all the prophets, expanded unto them in all the
scriptures things concerning himself. And then in verse 45, He said unto them, These are
the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me." Now, if you were a Jewish reader of
the Old Testament scriptures, and you heard that reference,
you'd know exactly what the Lord was talking about. The Jews divided
the Old Testament up into the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms,
the poetic books called the Psalms, and the Prophets, all the Prophets,
and then the Law, the five books of Moses. So our Lord was saying,
all the Old Testament scriptures, all of it, all of it, talk about
me. Verse 45, Then opened he their
understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures. Ron, Christ is the Word of whom
this Word speaks. That's it. That's it. This is
not a book of prophecy. It is not a book of morality.
It is not a book of history. It is not a book of theology. It is a book about Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. And if you'll start reading it
that way, I promise you, it'll open up to you. In the Old Testament, every law
of Israel pointed to him. Every event recorded in the Old
Testament spoke of him. Every priest, his garments, his
services, his sacrifices, even his washing of himself and his
nighter, referred to the Lord Jesus Christ. the tabernacle,
the temple, the ceremonies, the covenants, all spoke of Christ. The scans that God made for Adam
and Eve, the sacrifice that Abel gave and offered to God, the
sacrifice that Abraham made in the stead of his son Isaac, the
Paschal Lamb, all the sacrifices made morning and evening for
all the sins of Israel in all the Old Testament, all of them
pointed to Him who is to come, Christ, the Lamb of God, slain
for our sins. That's the plot. Now here's the
body of the story, or that's the introduction, rather. Here's
the body of the story. The body of redemption story
was written in the incarnation, the life, and the obedience of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Philippians chapter 2.
Philippians chapter 2, verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. This mind of humility, this mind
of self-sacrifice and service. Most people today in the church
and out say, I'll do my thing, and the rest of you can do what
you want to, this is what I want to do. Not the Son of God, not his people.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who
being in the form of God, not robbery to be with God, but made
himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself still, and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every
name. that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and things
in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth,
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Turn back to Galatians
chapter 4, and let me give you the body of this story in just
a few brief words. What is the story? How does this
thing actually worked out in time, Galatians chapter 4. But
when the fullness of time was come, when did Christ come? In the fullness of time. He came
exactly at the hour when God the Father from eternity said
he would come, in due time. When the time was right, which
God had appointed, Christ came. Who sent him? Fredonia. God sent
forth his son. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world on an errand of mercy from God his Father. Now listen
carefully, listen carefully. God the Son is in every way equal
with God the Father, but in the covenant of grace for the accomplishment
of redemption, he voluntarily subjected himself to do his Father's
will. So that throughout the days of
his earthly life, and in all the references to his earthly
life, our Lord Jesus says, I must. I must. I must. I must be about
my father's business. I must do the work of him that
sent me. I must bring my sheep. I must do these things because
he agreed to do it. And he came here on this errand
of mercy sent of God to redeem his people. How did he come?
Redone. He was made of a woman. Made
of a woman. You don't believe that virgin
birth stuff, do you? Oh, yeah, I sure do. I sure do. Jesus Christ was conceived in
the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost without
the aid of a man. Yes, sir. Well, you folks worship
Mary Cole. No, she was just a sinner saved
by grace. Mary worshiped the God who was
in her womb. She wasn't worshipped as God,
that's idolatry. But we recognize that God Almighty
brought His Son into the world without the instrumentality of
human seed, because the Son of God comes here, the Holy Son
of God, without sin to redeem us. Either he's the virgin-born
son of God, or this book's a myth, and Christianity's a myth, and
you'd be better off to throw it all away and chunk it and
forget it. That's right. Either you believe this thing
that Jesus Christ was made of a woman, or you don't believe
God at all. How did he come? Made under the law. We couldn't
fulfill the law. We had broken the law. We had
violated the law. We still do. There is not one
commandment written in the book of God that any of us have ever
begun to start keeping. Not one. Not one. Which of you kept the name of
God holy? Which of you have no other gods? Which of you never
committed adultery? Which of you never were deceitful?
Which of you never had your hearts burned with envy, lust, and jealousy?
Which of you never coveted anything from your neighbor and never
stole? Which one? Raise your hand now and speak
boldly! Oh no, we've never obeyed God's
law. We cannot obey God's law. It's not possible for us to obey
God's law, and God will not accept our efforts at obeying His law.
He demands obedience to His law. Christ was made of a woman, made
under the law. Oh, bless God in Him. In Him,
by His obedience, we have obeyed What for? Why did he come? Why
was he made of a woman? Made under the law? Look at it!
To redeem them that were under the law. To redeem us who were
cursed by the law. What's the result of that? That
we might receive the adoption of sons. And that goes back to
what I said in the beginning. God the Father, before the world
was made, adopted Mark Henson. He said, he's my son. He adopted
it before the world was made. But Mark Henson could never enjoy
the privileges of adoption until redemption was accomplished.
And Christ came and he redeemed us out from under the curse of
the law, satisfying the justice of God so that we might receive
the adoption of sons. Not so that it would be possible
for God to adopt us. but so that it would be possible
for you and I, in consistency with God's justice, to be accepted
of him as his son. Now, here's the climax. The climax
of the story was the death which our Lord accomplished at Jerusalem.
Turn to John chapter 12. I'll hurry here, but I want you
to look at it. John chapter 12. Our Lord Jesus went to the cross
deliberately, voluntarily, to accomplish his death. When Moses
and Elijah appeared to him on the Mount of Transfiguration,
they spoke to him about the decease which he should accomplish at
Jerusalem. Now, that could never be said
of any other man. Never. Our dear friend, make the coffee
last week. did not accomplish her decease.
She just died. And when I leave this world,
I will not accomplish my decease. I'll just die. I'll just die. But the Lord Jesus accomplished
his decease. And this is how he did it. John
chapter 12 and verse 31. Now is the judgment of this world. Now that word judgment might
be translated three ways, and all three of them are accurate.
It could read, now is the crisis of this world. You know what
the crisis is. Someone goes in the hospital,
you have surgery, they've done a triple bypass, person's had
a heart attack, and doctor comes out and says to the family, now
the next 24 hours are critical. They're critical. In other words,
what he's saying is everything hinges on these 24 hours. Everything. This is the practice
of the world. Listen to the children of God.
Listen to the you who are not. Everything in God's universe
hinged upon the sacrifice of Christ. Everything. It's the turning point. Everything
in the past looked to it. Everything in the future looks
back to it. Everything's accomplished for it. The word judgment might
also be translated judgment. That is, now is the condemnation
of this world. Christ, by his death at Calvary,
condemned the world for crucifying him. And the word might also
be translated justification. Now is the justification of the
world. That is, the justification of
God's elect throughout all the world. And then our Savior said,
now shall the prince of this world be cast out. He led captivity
captive. He took him who held the world
in darkness and superstition and idolatry and cast him out
so that Satan no longer holds his usurped dominion over the
minds of men with the powers of darkness. But the gospel goes
forth and is diffused into all the world. And then our Savior
says, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all
men unto me." Like a great magnet, we uphold
Christ crucified. He's talking about the death
which he died. He was lifted up and now we lift him up and
we hold him before men. And like a great magnet, the
Lord Jesus draws out sinners chosen. draws all men, not all
men without exception. Of course not. Of course not.
There's some folks already in hell when he died. He's not talking
about drawing all men without exception. He's talking about
drawing all men without distinction or qualification. That is, he
draws men from every race, blacks and whites, red and yellow. He
draws men of every, of every crime. He draws men of every
category. He draws men out of every condition.
the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, men and women,
young and old. I'll draw men unto me." It means
he will draw all elect men. That's exactly what it means.
I'll draw my chosen out of all the world. I'll draw them. He
will draw them to himself irresistibly. Oh, son of God, now draw centers
to you. Draw, draw centers by the effectual
power of your free grace. And the conclusion of the story
is in three parts. First, the resurrection of Christ.
Our Lord was raised from the dead, and when He was, He declared
our justification accomplished. And then our Lord took His seat
on the right hand of the majesty on high. He sat down in heaven
because his work was finished. You sit down when you get done
working. There was no place in the Holy of Holies for the high
priest to sit down, but the Lord Jesus sat down on the right hand
of God because his sacrifice was enough. His sacrifice satisfied
justice. And there he sets ruin, everything. for the saving of his people,
making a discretion to God which cannot be refused. And then one
day, he's coming again. Soon, oh, very soon, the Lord
Jesus Christ shall appear in the brightness of his glory,
and he will then consummate our redemption and all the purpose
of God. The order of events, you can
read it for yourself First Thessalonians 4, but the order of events in
that day will be something like this. I don't know, maybe you
can juggle them around different ways, but as I understand the
scriptures, this is what the order of events appear to be.
If they're different, that'll be all right. I won't object,
but this is what I think will happen. The Lord will appear. Just like that. And when he appears,
the dead in Christ, all of them, will rise first. Or, I don't
have any idea that it's going to take more than a twinkling
of an eye, but for just a split second, the whole world's going
to stand in astonishment. What on earth's going on? God's
saints are raising. That's what's going on. Now you
don't believe that. Oh yeah, I do. I sure do. Oh,
you mean, you mean that dust that has, that body that's gone
back to dust and been washed away in the ocean and has been
scattered across the seas and now lands on another shore. You
mean it's all coming together? That's exactly right. It's just
like that. The dead in Christ will rise
first. And then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up with together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And we will come with our Savior. to this earth. In all these things, the scoffing, unbelieving, rebel
world will be whole. Reckon how you gonna look at
me then? I preach to folks and they, some
of you sit there and look at me like a cat looking in a new
cage. You don't know what's going on. And you think, well, that
crazy old man, he talks nonsense. Oh, I wonder how he's going to
look at me then. The whole world will stand and watch. And when Christ comes with ten
thousands of his saints, with the brightness of his glory,
he'll set this ball on fire and destroy this earth everybody
in it. And He'll make everything new.
Everything. He'll make all things new and
set up His kingdom right here where He was despised and rejected
of men. And then the last thing will
happen. 1 Corinthians 15, He will deliver the kingdom to God,
the Father, that God may be all in all. Now, this is what that
means. First Corinthians 15, verses
25 through 28, I think it is. The very last work that Christ
will do is our surety. He'll take Bobby Estes and all
the host of God's elect, all of us. He'll say, Father, here
they are. The folks you trusted me to save,
people I pledged to redeem, that the people for whom the covenant
was made, not one of them is lost. Lo, I and the children
which thou hast given me." Now one last thing, the message. Oh, I love a story
with a message, a good message. And the story of Jesus Christ
has got a threefold message. Turn to John chapter 3, verse
35. John chapter 3, verse 35. Listen
to it now. Here's the message. The Father
loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hands. Everything
that God has And everything that God is, is in the hands of the
Son. Everything. You can't get anything
from God but death, except from his Son. That's right. All that the Father hath is given
to the Son. If you would get life, you got
to go to the Son. If you would get forgiveness, you got to go
to the Son. If you would get eternal glory, you got to go
to the Son. Here's the second thing. He that
believeth on the Son hath, I love that word, hath everlasting. This text does not say, nor does
any other text teach, He that believeth on the Son shall have
everlasting life. You see, our salvation is not
the result of our faith. Our faith's the result of our
salvation. Understand the difference? We
don't have eternal life because we believe. We believe because
God's given us eternal life. If you believe on the Son of
God right now, you have eternal life. Here's the third thing. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall not receive life. Oh, what a word. But the wrath of God abides on him. Will you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ? Or will you perish? Will you
trust Christ? Or will you go to hell with your
fist in God's face? I wonder which you'll be. God
helped me to believe.