I invite you to turn in your
Bibles to the fourth chapter of the book of Romans. The fourth
chapter of the book of Romans. I want to read beginning with
verse 14 and read down through verse 25. verse 14 through verse
25. For if they which are of the
law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none
effect. Because the law worketh wrath,
for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it
is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed,
even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things
which be not as though they were, who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations. According
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, when
he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he
was able also to perform. And therefore, and therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his
sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom
it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised
again for our justification. There are indeed many, many difficult
and hard circumstances in the lives of many believers. I remember
this story about Abraham and Sarah, and I think of it often
in regards to their trial and regards to their believing God,
how they staggered not at the promise of God. Staggered not. Have you ever staggered in your
life? Well, many of us have staggered
a great deal. But Abraham and Sarah staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but they were strong
in faith, giving glory to God. They were strong in faith, giving
glory to God. And I remember back in the 17th
chapter of the book of Luke where our Lord Jesus was talking to
the disciples about offenses coming and about forgiving those
who offended us. And he said, if they offend you
seven times in one day and repent, saying forgive us, then forgive
them. And I remember where the disciples
said, Lord increase our faith. increase our faith. This is difficult. This is a great trial. It's hard
to do these things. And so Abraham and Sarah are
examples to us of those who had an impossible situation. But
yet they believed God in spite of it, and God, sure enough,
did bless them and deliver them. And we see the remarkable statement
made in verse 22. And therefore, because they were
fully persuaded that what God promised He was able to perform,
therefore, therefore it was imputed to Him for righteousness. Now, beloved, I recognize that
we're living in a day when we've heard all kinds of things, and
many of them have been wrong in regards to faith. Some people
do not feel maybe that faith is important in the life of a
child of God after he initially trusts Christ. He trusts Christ,
he's born again, regenerated of the Spirit, or he's regenerated
of the Spirit, he's enabled to trust Christ, and then maybe
he doesn't feel it too important after that in his walk with God
to really trust God and believe God, his everyday and daily experiences. But we see where that was not
the case in Abraham's life. Abraham was called upon to believe
God and his believing God in the various difficulties and
trials of his life. The scripture says this faith
was imputed unto him for righteousness. And how important is it to believe
God? My friend, listen, believing
God is no small thing. Believing God, I say, is no small
thing. It is the evidence of a heart
that is reconciled to God. That's what it is. When a person
believes God, it's evidence of a heart that is joined to God's
heart and is in union with God and is in full acceptance of
God as He is, God in His working of His providence. It is the
proof of our being winged from our own works and from our own
deeds. It is proof of the fact that
we've come to the end of ourselves and that we're leaning on our
God to provide for us what he has demanded of us in his word. Now in the 24th verse it says,
but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him
that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. We believe that
our Lord Jesus Christ was raised up from the dead by the power
of the Father, and that because he was raised, the Bible says
that he was delivered to that cross for our offenses, for our
sins, for our transgressions, and he was raised again from
the dead for our justification. Now we believe that, do we? Don't
we believe that? Is that not what we claim to
believe? I was reading yesterday in the first chapter of Luke
where Luke was writing to Theophilus and he said, I'm writing to you
about things that are most surely believed among us. And I asked
myself at that time, I just wonder how much is surely believed among
us that is taught in the Word of God. Do we really believe
what the Bible teaches? Well, it is a clear sign when
we believe God that we've been truly convicted of our sin and
that we see ourselves as we are and as God has always known us
to be. We have believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now faith is honoring to Jesus
Christ. We read in the 11th chapter of
the book of Hebrews in verse 6 that without faith, but without
faith it is impossible to please God for they that come to him
must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those that
diligently seek him. And we say that faith is the
essence of true worship. That if a man don't believe God,
he cannot worship God. You believe God, you worship
Him. Abraham was a great worshiper of God. And the way he worshipped
God was in his heart. He believed God. He trusted God
in his heart. And I think it's the root of
all sincere obedience. Don't you think so? Believing
God. If a man believes God, then that's
the root of all of his obedience in his life. Now the person who
believes God in spite of his sin and his infirmities, who
believes God, come what may, gives the Lord God more honor
and glory than the cherubims and the seraphims in their continual
adoration of the Lord at his throne. Now I say that without
fear of anybody contradicting me. I believe that we honor God
more by believing Him than all the host of God honors Him above. Do you believe God? If so, you
honor God. Do you think it is a small thing
to believe God? Well listen, how is it then that
our Lord said, He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life. If faith is a small thing, why
is it that the Bible says that it's that man that believes on
the Son, it's that soul that believes on the Son of God that
has eternal life? How is it that a whole nation
perished in the wilderness for no other cause than unbelief? If faith is not important, if
faith is not something that is very important before God. Now
is it that we're saved or that we're said to be justified by
faith? And he that believeth not shall
be damned, the scripture says. Faith, I believe, is the parent
grace. Whatever we put in second or
third place, faith must have the first consideration. The
Bible tells us that faith is a gift of God. I know that men
exercise faith once they are enabled to exercise faith by
regeneration. But faith is the parent grace.
For it is no small thing to believe God. The Bible says it is your
life. It is your life. It is your eternal
life. It is your life in this world.
It is the way you honor God. It's the way you glorify God.
It's the way you get rid of your misery and have some peace. It's
by believing God. If you can believe all things,
the Bible says, are possible to him that believeth. John Flavel
said the soul is the life of the body, and faith is the life
of the soul, and Christ is the life of faith. Now it doesn't
make any difference where you go, here or any other place. It is remarkable, it certainly
is to me, how much unbelief there is among the professing people
of God, in the family of God, how much unbelief, how much we
still fear, how much we still doubt, how much we still tremble
before Satan all the time. Unbelief in the unregenerate,
I really do not have any trouble understanding, knowing what I
believe about depravity, knowing what the Word of God teaches
about the state of the unregenerate. But unbelief in God's people,
those who have the Bible to read, who have the Bible to study,
who hear the Bible preached, Those who have been made alive
to the things of the Spirit of God, it is somewhat of a mystery
to me how it is that we're still so full of unbelief. You know, our Lord on one occasion
in dealing with the disciples, He marveled at their unbelief. Marveled at their unbelief. And
I'm sure that He marvels at our unbelief. I consider the unbelief
of a child of God to be much worse. than the unbelief in an
unregenerate person, because in a child of God there does
not seem to me to be any excuse for it. That is, if we really
know God, if we really are in touch with the God of the Bible,
if we feel that he really is, has taken up our cause and that
we're more than conquerors through him, then our faith is definitely
inexcusable. Now, it means that faith comes
by hearing, and we're told that in the book of Romans, chapter
10, verse 17. It says, faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. There are three things this morning
that I want to give you that I hope will help you that will
increase your faith. You know, we're either on a good
foundation, or we're on a bad foundation. The scripture talks
about some being built on a foundation of sand, and others being built
on a foundation of stone. And Paul talked about, as a wise
master builder, how he had laid one foundation, and that foundation
was Jesus Christ. Now I believe, and certainly
this is important to me, and I believe it's important to you,
that every one of us, that we look at our foundation this morning,
the foundation upon which we have been built, the foundation
that we set on this morning. And I believe that if we have,
and I realize this morning we have all of the little ones here,
and it certainly would be wonderful if we could say something that
would be of help to them. But I would like to see us all
examine our foundation to see whether or not we really know
the gospel, whether we're squarely, solidly on the rock, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now the first thing I'd like
to say, and these things as we simulate them into our spiritual
system, they will help us a great deal to believe God in our daily
lives, in our circumstances, in our life. Now the gospel,
let me say this, is not just another hard way to get to God.
Now these statements that I'm making are basic statements that
I want each one of us to listen to this morning. The gospel is
not just another hard way to get to God. Now the law was a
hard way to get to God. It must have been because nobody
ever got to God by the law. We read here in Romans Verse
14 of the fourth chapter, For if they which are of the law
be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none
effect, because the law worketh wrath. For where no law is, there
is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, therefore
it is of faith, that it might be by grace to the end, that
the promise might be sure to all the seed. So we see that
being reconciled to God, having faith, that this comes by the
grace of God. Now in Romans 8 and verses 1
through 4, if you have a Bible there in your hand, turn over
there and listen to the reading of these four verses. There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the
law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Now because of our weakness in
the flesh, no son of Adam could get to heaven by law keeping,
by law obedience. Nothing wrong with the law, bear
that in mind. The problem is with me and you. The problem is because of the
weakness of our flesh. The gospel does not depend upon
us. This is important to remember.
A man will never really be able to trust God and believe God
unless he understands this basic principle of the gospel. The
gospel does not depend upon us. but upon Christ who is able. It depends upon the Lord Jesus.
It's just not another system that depends upon the works of
the flesh. No, no, a thousand times no. Now in verse 4 of Romans 8, we
read concerning, listen to what it says again, let me read that
fourth verse again, that the righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit. Now in order that the righteous
requirement of the law might be fully met in us, now as for
as the record stands, hear me now, of every believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ, I never was happy till I understood this,
never was really happy till I believed it, And I never really understood
the gospel clearly until I understood this principle that I'm talking
about right now. As far as the record stands of
every believer in Christ, there is no record of them of ever
breaking the law of God. There is no record now of me
having ever broken the law of God. Christ never broke the law. He never broke the law. When my standing is in Him, when
I'm accepted in Him, then there is no record of me ever breaking
the law either, because I'm in Him who has never broken the
law. Now if this is not true, then
we're all damned to hell. We cannot possibly escape the
judgment of God that fell on the Lord Jesus Christ ourselves
unless we believe that we were in Him when that judgment fell
on Him. Now this is not hard. This is
not hard. This is believing that the gospel
depends on Christ and not on us. Working, trying to work out
our way to God, this is hard. And the Bible says, not by works
of righteousness which we've done, but according to His mercy
He saved us. Now the law says two things about
us as believers. Number one, it says that as we
stand in Christ, we are righteous. We are holy, we are perfect before
God. Number two, it says that that
sinful unbeliever that we were has already died and that the
law has accepted the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on our
behalf as the full penalty of our sin, as the paid penalty
of our sin. Now that's what the law says.
Now the soul that sinneth, the Bible says, it shall die. How
have we met that requirement? Well, Paul said, I have been
crucified with Christ. I was crucified with Christ.
Now you see, if you haven't been crucified with Christ, then my
friend, what you have to look forward to is the day when you'll
stand before the judgment of God and be sentenced to eternal
hell. You'll be sentenced for the wrath
of God to be executed upon you throughout eternity if you haven't
been crucified with Christ. Now it's wonderful that Paul
made that statement. He said, I've been crucified
with Christ. The law received the death of
Christ for Paul in his place, nor in reality in the flesh. Paul wasn't there on the Gethsemane,
he wasn't there on Calvary, but spiritually he was there in Christ. God had put him in Christ and
he was crucified there. And the law received the death
of Jesus for Paul. And the law has received the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ for all believers. When Christ
died, God saw every believer on that cross in Him. And oh,
how important it is for you to see that. If you don't see that,
my friend, you're a very miserable soul today. I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live, and beloved, that's the good
news. That's the good news. I live. I live. Christ died. I live. And that's the good news
for any sinner. The only way I can be crucified
and live Hear me now, how can a man be crucified and live?
It's only in Jesus Christ on that cross, and that brings us
back to what we're told here in verse 24. of Romans 4, but
for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believed on
him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered
for our offenses, raised again for our justification. You see
what I'm talking about? I'm telling you this morning
that the only way that you can suffer the penalty of your sin
and stay alive is to suffer and die in a substitute and God laid
our sin upon the Lord Jesus and then he was taken to the cross
and he was crucified on that cross and then he was buried
in a tomb and God raised him up from the dead. I believe that
as much as I believe that my name is John Mitchell. I believe
that as much as I believe anything else that I read in the Word
of God. I believe that God raised Jesus
from the dead. And beloved, the scripture says
that you've got to believe that. And if you believe that, then
that His righteousness will be imputed to you. Do you believe
that God raised up Jesus from the dead? Now then, that's the
only way you can suffer the penalty of your sin and stay alive, is
to suffer and die in a substitute. You've got to do it in a substitute. Thank God that we can live and
yet the penalty has been met. There is no more. There is no
more condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus. Oh my soul,
are you able to see that? Are you able to grasp that? Can
you receive that and assimilate that into your very soul, into
your very being? Well then my friend, if you are,
you can believe God. You can trust God. You can rely
upon Him. You can depend upon Him. You
see what He's done for you in the Lord Jesus. In Matthew 11,
28, it says, Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Why were these people laboring?
Why were they heavy laden? Why were they? Well, I believe
the reason they were, they were laboring and heavy laden is because
they were carrying around the two tablets of stone. The two
tablets of stone, they were trying to fly with stone on them. And the Lord Jesus said, come
unto me, leave Moses, and leave the law, and you come to me.
And he said, I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Now if you
can believe that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth, then my friend, you can have freedom
in soul, freedom in spirit to serve the Lord and to believe
him and to trust him and to focus your whole attention upon your
obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying, Jesus said, I met
Moses, and I met the law, and I didn't back down from either
one up. I didn't back down from the demands of either one up.
Moses said all he wanted to say, the law said all that he wanted
to say, and I met every demand that they made of me, and then
I suffered the penalty of that law, I said I'm not guilty of
breaking any part of the law, but I'll meet the demands of
it, I'll die and suffer the penalty of it, because my people have
broken that law, they are guilty, they stand as judge, guilty! And I assume their obligation,
I assume their responsibility, I assume their penalty, I assume
their sin debt, and I'll pay it! to the full and he said you
come to me you come to me and I'll give you rest I've already
met Moses and I met the law and I took care of it I've satisfied
both of them I don't know whether you'll ever believe that or not
but my friend if you ever come to believe in it you'll be saved
you'll be saved if you ever come to believe in it You'll be reconciled
to God if you ever come to believe in it. You'll be happy in time
and eternity if you'll ever come to believe just what I've been
preaching to you this morning. Now we all know what it is to
have weariness of soul. Every one of us knows something
about that. Some of us know what it is to have some rest also.
And beloved, I attribute any rest I've ever had to what Jesus
Christ is talking about and what the gospel provides, what he
said to me and what he provides for me through his death on Calvary. Now listen to me, any message
which takes or tends to take your soul away from rest towards
works is not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you get
me straight. I want to try to comfort you
if I can. I want to try to encourage you to believe God and not wilt
and give up every time that a storm comes into your life. I'm trying
to get you to see that if God tries you until you're a hundred
years old, And it drives you to the point where you feel that
it's utterly impossible that anything will ever work out for
you in this world. That you'll just keep on believing
on God. You just lean on Him and trust
Him whatever happens. Now then, any message which tends
to take your soul away from rest towards Legalism is not the gospel
of Christ. Any message which tends to put
a believer under the sense of fear and bondage with no hope
is not the gospel of Christ. Any message which gives a sinner
something to do, some action to perform, some righteousness
to perform, some qualification to meet, in order to be saved. This is not the gospel of Christ.
This is not the gospel. Any message which appears to
you to make it hard to get to God is the wrong message. Listen to me, it's easy for any
sinner to get to God, come through the Lord Jesus Christ. John 14
and verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes to the Father except by me. You come to Christ, you
come to Christ, hear me, and you are to God. Come to Christ
and you are to God. Anybody says it's too hard to
get to God, it isn't hard to get to God. Come to Christ, come
to Christ in your heart, in your soul, and you are to God. The
gospel was provided so that you and I could not, that who could
not do anything could get to God. Somebody said, well, preacher,
I've never got to God. Well, we'll blame you for it. We'll blame you for it. I believe that everybody's responsible
to trust Christ. I believe they are. I believe
in inability. By the fall, I know that no man,
no man can come except the Father draw him. I know, I believe in
inability. I don't think anybody's got the
ability to do it, but they're responsible to do it. And you'll
go to hell if you don't do it. You must believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. You work it out, get on your
knees before God, and you cry to God until God gives you the
faith of a grain of mustard seed, just big enough enough to where
you can say to this mountain of sin, be thou removed and be
thou cast into the sea. And it'll be gone. God will take
it away. He'll take it away. Work it out. You're responsible. But God only
can give you this faith and his salvation. Now then, I said the
gospel was provided so that you and I who could not do anything
could get to God. Boy, that's really good news
to me. That helps me. That helps me. That's glorious.
So I could get to God. So this old sinner could get
to God. This poor sinner, struggling sinner could get to God. That's
wonderful. Okay, the second thing. I want
to say this because it's so true and we must have it in our foundation. God's primary characteristic
is grace. It's grace. I want you to turn
with me to the book of Micah, chapter 7. and verse 18, the
book of Micah, chapter 7, and look at verse 18. Who is a God
likened to thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth
not his anger forever, because, because he delighteth in mercy. Now the false gods of this world
they are known at least by what men say they do. Now the God we worship What is
he known for? What is he, the God that we worship,
what is he really known for? What characteristic of our God
is the most eye-catching to you? Well, verse 18 says, who is a
God liken to be? Our God is a God of grace, a
God who forgiveth sins, he pardons iniquity, and he passes by the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage. God has found
a way whereby he can pass by the transgressions, the sins
of his chosen people. He's found a way. Well, men,
listen to me now. I know that the people of this world, they're
worshiping a different God than we are. I've always said the
God of the Arminians is a different God than the God of the Bible.
And I truly do believe that, and you know they talk about
God being, their God being gracious. But the God I'm preaching to
you today, he is a gracious God. He is a gracious God. He is the
God of all grace. And these Armenians do not have
a gracious God. Anybody that believes that God,
the God of the Bible, would save a man and then turn him out,
that he'd start something in a man and then quit the work,
could give up on it. He was God from all eternity.
He knew everything I'd do before I ever done it, before I was
ever born. God knew everything I was gonna
do, and God's not gonna give up on anybody's case. You know,
we read that verse last week, and we had this awful situation
that took place down in South Carolina. We read that verse
about Zion said, uh... which is a type of jerusalem
zion said the lord is forsaken us and god said back he said
well a woman might forget her suckling child and we saw an
example of how that a woman could take two beautiful little boys
and take them and strap them in a seat in the back of a car
and drive the car off into a lake and drown those boys we saw that
and heard that this week but to get the lord said he said
i'll not forget you lord said i'd never do that one of my children
i'm not going to forsake my children i'm not going to forsake my people
i won't do it and the god of the bible is he can't lie he
can't lie he cannot lie i'm telling you something if you want somebody
who can't lie worship god worship god he cannot lie well i know
he's a god of wrath and judgment but he said This is his strange
work. You know what he said? He said,
it's my strange work. And in the last line of verse
18, he said, I delight in mercy. He said, he'll not retain his
anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. Now, if you were sovereign
and you could do whatever you like to do, what would you do
the most of? What would you delight to do?
Well, I think you would just do just what you're delighted
to do. If you was a sovereign, you could
do whatever you wanted to do. The most you would do, I mean,
what you would do the most of is you would just do what you're
delighted to do. And this scripture says that God delights to show
mercy. He delights to be merciful. Now
God will save a multitude, the Bible says, which no man can
number. A multitude that's more numerous than the sand of the
seashore. He is indeed a God of grace and
mercy. Now if God wants to send men
to hell, he don't have to do this himself. He just leaves
men to themselves. He just leaves them alone and
leaves them to themselves. and a man will send himself to
hell. He don't need God to push him over. He don't need God to
choose him to go to hell. God doesn't choose men to go
to hell. God does pass by sinners and
leave them to themselves. They send themselves into hell. God delights to show mercy. The
effort and work was done by Christ and it came to mercy to our souls. It was mercy that saved us. Any message which does not say
That there is hope for the vilest sinner out of hell is not the
message of grace. There's hope for any sinner here
today. I told you the story about that little poem, as long as
the lamp holds out to burn, the vilest sinner may return. I told you that that came from
Napoleon's day, when Napoleon was conquering the world and
he would go to a village and he'd hang a lamp out on the gate
of the village and say, as long as that lamp burns, if you'll
surrender, then I'll spare the city. I'll spare you. And if
that lamp goes out before you surrender, then judgment's coming.
And as long as the lamp holds out to burn, the vilest sinner
may return. God delights to show mercy. And I think that's wonderful
to know that God delights to show mercy. There ain't anybody
around here that needs to run around and say, well, you know,
I'd just like to have mercy from God, but I can't get it. Oh,
my friend, if you're out of hell this morning, you've had mercy.
You've had mercy. And there's more where that comes
from. God is a God that delights in mercy. Cry to Him. Pray to
Him. Believe Him. Believe Him. Now
listen, there's another thing, and I'm going to close, and that
is this. I want to make this, and it may
sound like it's similar to what I've just been saying to you,
but I want you to get this. Grace, mercy, and salvation is
the direction that God is going. That's the direction that the
stream is flowing, the flow of the river. For the people of
God is not to hell, it's not to judgment, it's not to wrath,
but it's to heaven. Ain't that wonderful to know
that God has purposed an end for his people, and it's not
evil, it's good. God has a purposed end for every
one of his children, and it's good. You know what he said?
Romans 8, through the Apostle Paul, he said that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them that are
called according to his purpose. The river is flowing in the direction
of good for the people of God. That's the direction it's flowing.
Don't ever entertain an idea that somehow or other God's got
it in for you and that he's going to run you before it's over with.
Don't ever get that idea. Don't get it in your head. I
know what it is to get it in and how hard it is to get it
out. because many, many times providence
seems to indicate that maybe, just maybe, God's got it in for
you and that he's going to put it to you and he's going to make
your life just as miserable as he can. But beloved, the scripture
teaches that the flow of the river is away from judgment,
wrath, condemnation, and it's toward good and it's toward heaven
and it's toward blessing. in an eternal way for God's people.
And we need to believe that. And if Abraham didn't believe
that, brother, he'd have give up when he was a hundred years
old. He'd have give up. Now his faith wasn't perfect and mine
isn't either. And nobody else that I know of
ever had a perfect faith other than Christ. but I will tell
you this that the flow of the river you know the scripture
says in Romans 8 and 32 that God spared not his own son but
delivered him up for us all and how shall it not also through
him freely give us all things that is a great birth and that
versus scripture tells us that uh... fall is in the direction
grace and good toward the lord's people he said i'll freely give
mall i gave my best i'd be the best thing i had i'd gave them
the son of my love i'd gave him the lord jesus christ sparing
up and read anything else that I'll spare the Lord's people. Shame on us for not praying more
and asking God for the things that we need. Shame on us. Shame
on us. Well, don't forget old Abraham. He believed that the flow of
the river was toward him and toward a blessing. He just believed
it. Now, I want to say clearly, best
I can, that God has not laid one obstacle between us and Jesus
Christ. Is there any reason that you
can think of this morning in the light of the Word of God,
in the light of what we said to you this morning, that would
indicate maybe that God would not save you or indicate that
God would not deliver you if you're in bondage or if you're
in trouble. Would indicate that somehow or other that you just
cannot have Anything from God is there anything to indicate
that God's never laid one obstacle between you and Christ There's
not one obstacle. Don't bring up your sin because
your sin we've told you before can never keep you out of heaven
It's your self-righteousness and your rebellious heart and
your indifference to Christ that will send you to hell. Your sin
won't. Christ died for our sins. He paid our sin debt. Do you,
this morning, can you think of anything? that could indicate
that God would not save you. I don't know of anything that
would disqualify any of you here this morning or myself from getting
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The very things that you would
think would disqualify you this morning would qualify you. The very thing you think would
disqualify you. Because I know what you're going
to bring up. You're going to bring up just what we mentioned
a few minutes ago, your sin. That's what you're going to bring
up. You're going to say, Preacher, it's my sin. If it wasn't for
my sin, I could just rest. I could have some peace. Well,
I've told you as plainly as I can this morning that Jesus Christ
was made sin for us and that God dealt with your sin in your
substitute and you believe it and God will give you some rest.
God will give you peace. Well, preacher, I don't think
I've repented enough. God help us all if we ever get
to the place where we think we've repented enough to get to heaven.
My friend, it's not our repentance that gets us to heaven. It's
Jesus Christ and His finished work that gets us to heaven.
Well, if you have any good left in you, then you're not a candidate
for the Lord's salvation. And the only way you'll ever
get anything from God is coming to the place where you feel yourself
shut up to the merits, the worthiness, and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then when you're through
with everything else, then my friends, before we close, upon
a high and distant throne in glory God doth set. Yet all of
those who are his own he never will forget. Lift up God's praise,
his child below. Rejoice with heart and voice. He'll never forsake his own,
we know, the people of his choice. Our names are graven on His hands
and deep within God's heart. His love, like mighty iron bands,
will never let us part. For us, God sent His Son of Love
to shed His blood and die, to raise us to new heights above,
and to dwell with Him on high. The children of the Heavenly
King are safe, secure, and blessed. The Lord will never fail to bring
us to eternal rest. Well, since Christ died for our
sins, none for whom he died will die in their sins. You know, if we were able to
believe this today, I just think it'd help us to believe God about
the details of our life, the circumstance of our life. It'd
help us to do what Abraham did, what Sarah did, just able to
believe the Lord about the things that happen. And there are a
lot of hard things to believe God about in our personal lives. But I think we got the foundation,
and if we can meditate and cogitate as the word is, and try to work
this into our spiritual systems, Pray for the God of all grace
to work it into our hearts. I believe we'll be able to deal
better with the various afflictions and trials, pressures, stress
that comes into our lives. Father, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, receive the glory, the praise, the honor this morning
for all that's been accomplished in this service, and may Christ
be revealed to some poor sinner's heart. In Jesus' name, amen.