song this morning because I want
you to come with me once more to Mount Calvary. I want you to gather close around
the foot of the cross and I want to talk to you in
real Particularly, I want to talk
real plain to you who are here without Christ, without life,
without faith in God. That man who loomed upon that cursed tree, the object of man's scorn and
hatred, That man hanging there naked, so beaten by men that he appears
to be more like a butchered beast than a man, bloody, covered with
spit, dirt, all the foul things that he ate on him. That man nailed to that thirst
tree is God Almighty. Is God Almighty. God is conscious. God is flesh. He is suffering all the agony,
the horror, the terror of God's horrible plan. And he's suffering
as a sinner. He's suffering as a sinner under
the wrath of God, though he never knew sin. He never was acquainted
with sin. He never experienced sin. He
never did sin. But he was holy, harmless, undefiled,
and separate from sinners. Yet, there he is, suffering all
the horrible wrath of Almighty God as a sinner, because he was
made to be sin for us. I frankly can't imagine all this contained in a verse.
He was made to be all that sin is, and all the
sins of all his people, at one time were heaped together, and
by the hand of God were imputed to Jesus Christ, so that Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, was made to be sin. He was made to be
a horrible, ugly, mass of iniquity before God. And because he was
made to be saved, God poured out his wrath on him without
mercy. You see, God, who is of purer
eyes than to behold iniquity, when he spotted sin on his son,
turned his back on his son so that his son cried, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? And the answer is, because he
was made to be seen. He was made to be seen. Our Lord Jesus, because he was
made to be seen, suffered all the infinite, indescribable wrath
of God for us. And at last, he died. Me, I thought he died from weakness.
Men thought he died from exhaustion after suffering so horrible a
death. Men thought that he had died
from the natural causes of the crucifixion. But he did not die
from the hands of men. He did not die as a martyr or
as some kind of a helpless victim at the hands of a godless crowd. But rather he died willingly.
by an act of his own almighty will, when he had suffered all
the wrath of God, when he had drunk the last bitter dredge
of the cup of divine justice, when he had endured all the horror
of hell in the place of his people, when he had suffered everything
that justice required, that holiness required, that righteousness
required of one who was made to be sin, when he had done it
all, He cried, if you sinnest, and then we read in the scriptures,
he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and having
said thus, he gave up the ghost. This is not a scene of defeat,
but of victory, of triumph, of conquest. The Son of God died
the painful, shameful, ignominious death of the cross. but he died
by his own hand according to his own will. He gave up the
ghost. The sword of justice slew him,
the God of glory cried, Awake, O sir, against one that is my
fellow, and smite him, and slay the separate. But it was his
own hand which shoved the sword of justice into his infinite
soul. God the Father gave him up to
be sacrificed. God the Father gave his own dear
son, but he laid down his life in sin. Why? Why was Christ made
to suffer so? Why was he made to be sin and
suffer the horrible death of the cross? Our Lord Jesus Christ
suffered as he did upon the cross. and died this death for only
one reason. And the cross of Christ can never
be understood. It can never be explained apart
from this fact. Christ died for sinners so that
sinners might be spared the wrath of God, that we might live forever
with the Holy Lord God. That's why. You say, well, how
does that explain it? Because there was no other way
for us to be saved. There was no other way that we
might live. There was nothing that could
possibly satisfy the justice of a holy God except the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's own dear Son. Listen to what our Lord
taught Nicodemus in John chapter 3. When Nicodemus came to Jesus
by night and began to question him about the things of the kingdom
of heaven, Our Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, first of all, that
he must be born again. And he told Nicodemus how that
the new birth was accomplished by the sovereign power of the
Spirit through the revelation of Christ. But listen to what
he says in verse 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That's a very strong word. Our Lord Jesus says to Nicodemus,
as Moses raised up that serpent in the wilderness, so that the
children of Israel might look to that serpent and be healed
of the plague of the fiery serpent's bite, so Jesus Christ, the Son
of Man, must be lifted up, lifted up upon the cursed tree. Lifted
up to die as a sinner's substitute. Look at what he says. That, that
whosoever, that is, he is lifted up for this purpose, Jesus Christ
was crucified for this purpose, that whosoever believeth in him,
should not perish, but have eternal life." In other words, there
was no way possible for you and me to live before God except
Christ be lifted up as our substitute. For God so loved the world. God so loved the world. Wicked, perishing, lost, undone,
condemned, justly condemned, sinful men and women scattered
throughout the world. that he gave. He gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life." Now, I want you to stay right here
at the foot of the cross, and I want you to hear the Son of
God. I want you to hear the Lord Jesus, who died upon the hear
what he has to say to himself. Are you listening? Are you interested? Are you interested in hearing
the words of the crucified Son of God to you? If God has given
you ears to hear, these words are spoken from the lips of Jesus
Christ himself to you. If you can hear it, you can hear,
these words are spoken from the lips of Jesus Christ himself
to you. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transmissions, and as a cloud thy scenes, return
it to me, for I have You will look at it as we go
along with the text of Isaiah 44 and verse 22. Now, my message
today is not my message at all. It is the message of Christ himself. I'm only the messenger, but I've
given the message this title for you who may be taking notes.
Redemption, the motive of repentance. The motive and basis for repentance
is the redemptive work of Christ. And our Lord Jesus here calls
for sinners to return to him because of his accomplished work
of redemption. Now, I call your attention to
four things in this text of Scripture. First, there is an implication
of need. Though it is not directly stated
in the text, the text implies that those to whom it is addressed
are unneedy people. A people in great need of mercy,
grace, and forgiveness. And the implied need is twofold. It is a need arising from sin
and arising from straying. The implied need arises from
those two things. Jacob had sinned against the
Lord. Israel had strayed from her God. And Jacob and Israel are the
representatives of us all. We are all sinners in need of
forgiveness. Sin is our nature. Sin is the
plague of our hearts. Sin is the leprosy of our souls
that separates us from God and will separate us from God forever
unless it is removed. Are you aware of your need as
a sinner? Are you? Are you aware, really,
that you are a sinner in need of forgiveness? Has the Lord
God shown you your sin? Before you answer, let me explain
to you what I mean. Has God caused you to be aware
of your utter depravity at heart? The utter depravity of your heart. It's one thing to talk about
sin and say, well, I'm a sinner, everybody's a sinner, you know
that. It's another thing And this is it, this is it. Sitting here looking
at the oldest lady in the congregation, and one of the youngest. The
oldest man, and one of the youngest. This is how God describes your
heart. From within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness,
all these things come from within. That's what's in your heart. Has God shown you the depravity
of your heart? The utter depravity of your heart? You'll never have any interest
in what I'm talking about. You'll never have any interest
in the free grace of God. I can talk to you about Christ
crucified, and you can sit and look out the window, or count
the cracks in the ceiling, or you can sit and twiddle your
thumbs, or you can sit and sleep, until God makes you to know the
depravity of your heart. Oh, but if you ever come to see
yourself, before the Holy God, you'll begin to see mercy. I
promise you that. Has God ever caused you to feel
the weight of guilt? You know, I think probably the
most horrible experience in the world is guilt. Guilt. Not guilt before men. Guilt before
God. Guilt to an awakened conscience. Guilt is a weight, a millstone
crushing and dragging your soul down to hell and you know that
it's a just, just reward for your own transgression. Does
God make you feel the weight of your guilt? Paul said, sin
revived and I died. He said, when the commandment
came, when God called me to see the the holy requirements of his
law, sin revived in me, and I died. And he cried, O wretched man
that I am, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this thief? That's the man he felt the weight
of guilt. Do you know how completely and
utterly helpless you are before God? These are things God showed me when he began to deal with my
soul. I knew I had done a lot of bad
things. I knew that. It didn't take much
to convince me of that. But honestly, I never knew I
was a bad person. I never knew that I was corrupt
at heart. I never knew that my heart was
weak. That was my problem. I never
knew that the evil idea arose from a corrupt heart. And God
made me to see the corruption, the depravity of my heart. And
made me to feel the weight of my guilt and my sin pushing my
soul down to hell. And last, he made me to see my
utter helplessness. What could I do? What can you do? What can you
do? You keep thinking, well, I can
pray a little bit, I can go to church a little bit, I can read
my Bible a little bit, I give a little money, I do this, I
do that, God will accept that. You can't do anything to please
God. What are you going to do to please Him? Do you really
think that God Almighty is going to be pleased with any sacrifice
you bring to Him, with any deed from your hands? You're utterly
wrong. The law of God is given, not
so that you might try to work your way to heaven, but so that
you might stop trying to work your way to heaven. It's given
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the will become guilty
before God, knowing that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh
be justified in God's sight. Let me ask you something else. Can
you justify God in your own condemnation? What do you mean Pastor? I mean
can you take sides with God against yourself? God help you to hear me now.
I'm not talking about I'm not talking to you just to
hear my brain rattle and I'm not just Raising a rhetorical question.
I want you to answer it Can you, sitting where you are,
justify God in your own condemnation? If ever you do, you will sit
where you are below. You will plead to Christ. To
justify God in your condemnation, to take sides with God against
yourself, is to recognize that when God condemns your soul,
It's exactly what you deserve. Exactly. You understand that? When God sends you to Him, it's
exactly what you deserve. When God says to you, depart
you thirsty, I never knew you. It's exactly what you deserve.
You understand what I'm saying? Do you see your desperate need
of grace and forgiveness? We are all sinners. All of us
by nature are sinners and as sinners we have all strayed from
our God. The Lord calls and says return
to me. He says return because you strayed.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We turned everyone to
his own way. We went astray in the fall of
our father Adam in the garden, and we all went astray as soon
as we were born, speaking lies, and we continue to go astray
all the days of our lives. We all strayed into a path going
this way or going that way, but into a path going to destruction.
One straight into a path of licentiousness. Maybe you haven't strayed into
that path. But don't be too proud. I haven't done this, I haven't.
If you haven't strayed into a path of licentiousness with someone
else, maybe your brother or your sister has, but you haven't.
So don't, don't get too proud. Someone else strays into a path
of religious self-righteousness, and another strays into a path
of philosophical morality, but we have all gone astray from
God. That's the issue. That's the point. It doesn't
matter what keeps you from Christ. It doesn't matter whether it's
adultery, fornication, and drunkenness, or whether it's tithing and saying
your prayers and kneeling at an altar somewhere. Whatever
it is that keeps you from Christ is spreading from God and will
carry your soul to hell. Do you understand what I'm saying?
We're going to stay here. We've turned everyone to his
own way. We're going to stray from God and live unto ourselves. Let me pause and talk to you,
we're believers for a minute too. Sometimes, sometimes believers are damn
straight. When we deal honestly with ourselves,
we acknowledge things that we say a whole lot more than we'd
like to admit. But sometimes believers don't
deal honestly with themselves. And they stray. I see so many. And I hope, I just hope, I hope
that they are those lots who set their hearts on the world but whose hearts are yet set
in heaven. Inconsistent but true believers. But I tell you, my friends, I
tell you, and I tell you plainly, if you are of God's child, if
you are a believer, and you join Life Down in Sodom, You're bringing
upon yourself great trouble in this world. You're bringing upon
yourself great heartache and great misery. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. Because if you're
his, man, God loves you. He's not going to let you stay.
He's not going to let you become one of the sodomites. Not if
you're his. Not if you're his. He won't do it if it means he
has to kill your whole family. Are you paying attention to me?
Are you paying attention to me? If you belong to Christ, He's
going to get you, and He's going to keep you, and He's going to
have your heart if He has to kill your whole family to have
your heart. I'm done. Jesus. Read the Word
of God and see if I'm not telling you the truth. I see you whom I love
and whom I believe. are many women who love Christ
and love the gospel of His grace. Many women whom I believe are
born of God. But I see you gradually cutting
off yourselves from the worship of God, and from the fellowship
of God's saints, and from the ministry of the word, and seeking
more and more and more of this world. war. Give to the gods what you
want them to give to you. Not that he threatens to punish,
but that he loves and he will chase you, and he will rebuke
you. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. My daughter's 21 years old, so she's passed the
days of expecting and paddling. She's passed that. When she was a little girl, if
she walked in disobedience to me, she courted pain. She just
courted pain. She didn't just court pain, she
was dead sure going to get it if I found out. Why? Because you're such a mean daddy.
No. Because I love that girl. I love
that girl. And I'm not going to let her
get by with disobedience for her sake. For her sake. Today
she's a young lady, but I still have a little influence. I still
put some of the reels, and I still insist on certain things. We
sat at the table and talked last night. She knows, she knows to walk
contrary to my God, and to walk in disregard of my God, His Word,
His truth. is to court severe consequences
for me not because of me because I love that girl you understand
what I'm saying? and you who are loved of God
court severe severe severe difficulty in your life if you disobey what
you know to be the will of God So be aware. I can handle a little
bit of this. I can handle a little bit of
that. I can get over here so close
I won't cross over the line. Oh, you be aware. These hearts
of ours are prone to wonder. We were born strange creatures.
That's our nature, our flesh. Prone to wonder. Lord, I've seen
it. Prone to leave the God I love
is my heart. God takes you from sin, seal
it for thy courts above. Have I described you? Are you a sinner straying from
God? Then listen to the Lord Jesus. He makes a declaration
of forgiveness. Look at this next line. I have blotted out as a thick
cloud thy transgressions and as a cloud thy sins. Our sins and transgressions are
compared to clouds because of their meaning and because of
their nature. Like the clouds arise from the
earth and the sea, our sins arise from our hearts which are in
the troubled sea. As the clouds separate the earth
from the heaven, so our sins separate us from our God. As
the clouds arise up to heaven, so our sins arise up to and are
the threat to the holy God of glory. As our clouds in the sky
threat the earth with a storm, so sins the forerunner of God's
wrath. But hear what the Savior says,
I have blotted out as a thick cloud my transgressions and my
sins. That simply means I have forgiven
your sin. I have forgiven your sin. Now,
this word of grace is addressed to you who are believers. And
it is God's Word to you by which He encourages you to walk with
Him. It is God's Word to you by which
He encourages you not to sin, not to stray from Him. And He
promises, even before you do, that He has forgiven the sin
you haven't yet committed. Now, that's grace. He says, I
have blotted out as a big cloud thy transgressions, as a cloud
thy sins. If any man sin, we have an advocate. Not since you have sinned, we
have an advocate, but if you do sin, we have an advocate with
the Father. Jesus Christ, the righteous,
and he's the propitiation for our sins. The Lord Jesus has
blotted out our sins. But this is also God's word to
you who yet are not part of his city. To you who yet are without
faith in Christ. If the word comes to you, I'm
not talking about to your ears. I'm talking about if the word
comes to you. Say, Pastor, how will I know
if it's come to my heart, you know? How will I know if the
Lord's talking to me? You'll know the difference between
my voice and his voice. I guarantee you. If the word
comes to you, Jesus brought it out. And so, the Lord Jesus speaks
to sinners, and he urges sinners to come to him on the basis of
forgiveness. Clouds can be blotted out by
two things. When the sun breaks through,
the clouds are blotted out. And Christ the Son of Righteousness
has arisen from the death of the cross, arisen from the at
his original being in his wings. He's dissipated from the cloud
of our sins by the sacrifice of himself. And clouds are blooded
out. They are dissipated by the blowing
of the wind. And the Holy Spirit of God, who
is compared to wind, blowing whithersoever it lifteth, comes
to the heart of the sinner, redeemed by Christ, and he causes that
sinner to have the blood of Christ applied to his heart so that
the sinner understands from God's Word that his sins are blotted
out, they've been taken away by the blood of Christ. And when
clouds are gone, then the sky is clear, the sun shines in its
brightness, and everything is pleasant. God has dealt with
me in Holy Spirit conviction, making me to know my sins. No words can describe what that
hell was like. No words can describe it. But
you know, the most blessed, the most blessed, the most delightful
day that ever dawned on my soul was the day when the Lord God
caused me to see, caused me to know, caused me to understand
that he had plotted out my sins. For the first time, I saw God
in Christ, God of love, mercy, and grace for guilty sinners. For the first time, I saw clearly
the person and work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. For the
first time, I understood that I, through the blood of his cross,
was reconciled to God, and God to man, and there was peace.
Oh, peace. A peace of forgiveness. Peace. Have you ever, have you
ever had your conscience torment you? I mean really torment you.
Torment you because you've done something that you know you ought
to have done, and you, you try to deal with it, you try to deal
with it, you try to deal with it, not but one way to deal with
it, And that's to get the thing straight. You go and you get
it straightened out. And the one against whom you
have committed the transgression forgives you, receives you, and
embraces you. Oh, my conscience. My conscience with the weight
of guilt. Heard the Lord Jesus say, I have
bought it out. Oh, unbelief! For a burden was
lifted from my soul. Peace, the cloud of my sin, had
been blotted out, and the Spirit of God began to speak comfort
to my heart. The comforts which the Holy Spirit
gives, the comforts of Christ are these. He takes the things
of Christ and shows them to us. I began to see by his word, the
blessedness of justification, arising from redemption, arising
from election, arising from predestination, arising from God, is love. Do you love me with everlasting
love? And my heart's full of comfort. Now third, I want you to see
that in our text, There is an invitation of grace. The Lord
Jesus says, return to me. Return to me. I realize that some of my brethren
might object to my use of the word invitation. And if you prefer
to call it a summons, a call, or a command, that's all right,
because it's all a fact. But as these words stand in our
text, I think the word invitation is better. Return to me. Return to me. I hear tenderness in those words. I hear sympathy in those words. I hear love in those words. I
hear pathos in those words. Return to me. Return to me. These are the words of a lover
whose wife has grown like a gober after her lovers. But his heart
is still with her. He says, come on. Come on, honey. Return to me. Return to me. These are the words of a father
whose son has run the path of the prodigal, but his heart is
still on his son, and he says, return to me, return to me. These are the words of a mother
whose daughter has run in every way contrary to her, but her
heart is still with her child, and she says, come on, return
to me. Let's break down the barrier.
Let's break down the wall. embrace one another again, return
to me. Our Lord Jesus speaks plainly
like this. He says, hold everyone that thirsteth,
come to the water and drink. Is anybody thirsty? Let him come
to me and drink of the water of life that I'll give to him.
He says, come to me. All you that labor and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for my yoke is easy, my burden is light. You'll find
rest unto your souls." The gospel does come as a command, because
we are responsible to obey it. And if you refuse to obey it,
God will judge you accordingly. But it also comes as an invitation,
because the Savior wants all who hear his voice to come to
him, and come to him willingly. He will have no servants, but
willing servants. So he says, return to me. Return
to me. What do those words imply? Return to me in repentance. Listen
to this word from the wise man. You don't have to turn there.
It's in Proverbs 28. Proverbs 28 verse 13. The wise man Solomon
speaking He says, he that covereth his
sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them
shall have mercy. Now you keep on covering your
sin if you want to, but you'll go to hell covering your sin.
Or you can confess your sin and forsake your sin and find mercy. He says, return to me in repentance,
except you repent You shall all perish. Except you repent, you
shall all perish. If you would come to Christ,
you must come like the prodigal who says, Father, I sinned against
heaven and against me and no more worthy to be called my son.
That's how you come to Christ. If you would come to him, you
must come to him like the publican. God be merciful to me, the sinner. If you come to him, you got to
come to him like Job. Job said, I've heard of you with
the hearing of the ear, but now might I see you. Wherefore I
abhor myself, I repent, and sackcloth, and ashes. Behold, I am fire
before such a God. That's how you come to Him in
repentance. Someone said repentance is a
change. It is a change of mind. A change
of mind about God and myself, about sin and about righteousness,
about judgment and about eternity. It's a change of mind. And it's
a change of masters. It is turning from the rule of
myself to the rule of Christ. It is turning from the rule of
Satan to the rule of Christ. It is turning from the rule of
custom and tradition and peer pressure to the rule of Jesus
Christ. And it's a change of motives.
is desiring no longer to please myself and please him, desiring
no longer to have my own way but him have his way. It's change,
returning to me in faith, in faith. Don't come to Christ doubting
either his ability or his willingness to save you, but trust him. He is able by virtue of his blood
He is able to save unto the uttermost all them that come to God by
Him. He's able and He's willing. He says come to me, return to
me. If you will believe, if you'll trust Christ as your
Savior, trust His blood, for the only atonement of your sins.
Trust His righteousness for your only acceptance with God. Trust
His intercession, His power and His grace to bring you to glory. If you trust Him, you'll see
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You'll see God's
glory in saving your soul. You'll see God's glory in the
redemption of sinners by the sacrifice of His Son. He says, return to me. Those
are much the same words as Paul spoke to the Philippian jailer.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Return
to me in repentance. Return to me in faith. Return
to me in love. As I said earlier, the Lord Jesus
will have no servants, but willing servants. He won't have any other
time. He won't have any other time. If you come to Christ, you've
got to come to Christ like He came to save you. Oh, I come. Oh, I come. I delight to do thy will. Oh, my God. Yea, thy laws are
in my heart. That's how you come to Christ.
A willing servant to the glorious Master. Delighting to do His
will. Like the bond slave, who in the
Old Testament, before all the elders of the city, had his ear
bored through with it all, so that he says, I have willingly
given myself and my all to my Master, cause I love Him. Cause
I love Him. Come to Christ. give yourself
to Jesus Christ. Brother Barnard used to tell
a story about a fellow years ago in Alabama who had his slaves,
and one of the black men who was on his plantation was a believer,
one who was a faithful witness to Christ. The old man got concerned about
his soul, and got concerned about judgment and eternity, got concerned
about salvation, and so he went to this black man, he's the only
man he really respected as far as his religion and his profession
was concerned, and he said to him, he said to him, he said,
what have I got to do to get saved? This black fellow looked
up at him there, he stood with his white suit on, and his white
hat, Rightful looked up at him. He said, what are you talking
about Master? He said, I'm serious Sam, what
have I got to do to get saved? You know God don't. He said,
oh yes. He said, what have I got to do to get what you've got?
He looked at him and he said, well Master, you've got to get
in that hog pen with them hogs. He said, what? He said, you've
got to get in that hog pen with them hogs. He said, I can't do
that, what good is that going to do? He said, Master, you've
got to get in that hog pen with them hogs. And he started to
walk off, came back. He said, now Sam, don't joke
with me. He said, what have I got to do
to get saved? He said, Master, you've got to get in the hog
pen with them hogs. And so the fellow walked over and started
over the fence. He said, wait, Master, you ain't got to get
in. You just got to be willing. You just got to be willing to
bow to the rule of Jesus Christ. That's all. And you're going
to bow to it. You're going to bow to it. one
day you will bow to Him. Either now, willingly, or in
the day of judgment, but bow to Him you will. Now then, look
at this last thing. Here is the motivation for repentance.
Our Savior says, return unto me for I have redeemed thee. I've listened to a preacher And he was trying to persuade
folks to come to Christ with fear. And fear is justifiably used. But our Lord doesn't say, return
unto me or I'll slay you, does he? Not here anyway, as no one
has said. He doesn't say, return unto me
and I will redeem you, as though somehow his work of redemption
lacked some finishing touches that must be added by your impotent
hand, which would leave you in helplessness. But he says, return
unto me for I have redeemed thee. If he calls you, if he calls
you, He's redeemed you. That's right. He calls you. I started preaching a little
bit ago. Some of you have been praying for, for sitting and
ignoring what I've got to say. And now you're paying attention. Maybe He's called you. Is He
calling you? Is He calling you? If He's called
you, He's redeeming you. That's right. If you come to it, if you come
to it, Don, what on earth do you mean, come to it? I mean,
you said right where you are. I'll wait for some invitation
song for me, son, so you can get up and walk down the aisle
and say, I believe in Jesus. I mean, right where you are,
from your heart, by faith, you come to God through Jesus Christ. So I don't understand how you
do that. I'm sure you do. I'm sure you do. Shelby and I were, let's see,
we were 700 miles away from our daughter last week. And just
like that, our heartbeat would lessen. Just like that. You know
what I'm talking about. Just like that. I mean, just,
see, that ain't there. And this is what our Savior says.
He's not asking you to physically come to Him. That's impossible.
He's calling you with your heart. Come to Me. Return to Me. If you do, He called you and
He redeemed you. You would not and could not come
had He not called and redeemed. Now if He has redeemed you and
He has called you, you may come to Him being assured that he
will receive you. He sure will. He sure will. Why, he's even received me. He'll
receive you. Ah, but preacher, you don't know
what I bid. He'll receive you. But you don't
know what I've done. He'll receive you. If he called
you, If He redeemed you, so that you come to Him, I guarantee
you, He'll in no wise cast you out. He says so. He says so. Our Savior says, return unto
Me, for I have redeemed thee. I have redeemed you with My blood
and redeemed you from all sin and all its consequences. I have
redeemed you from the law and all its curses. I've redeemed
you from death. I've redeemed you from hell.
I've redeemed you from the grave. I've redeemed you from practicals. Oh, may God now call you to hear
these words. Oh, I pray that if you're without
Christ, you will hear these words ringing in your heart until you
cannot resist and you must return to Him. For you, who are my brothers
and sisters, who have been strayed like Jacob
at Israel, when you hear the Savior's words, he says, return
unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Return to me. I bought you. I bought you. Let me ask you something. Have you ever found anything
out there, anything, anything out there worth forsaking myself? Have you ever found anything
out there separating yourself from your
God and having him withdraw from you the smile on his face and
having him hide himself from you. Have you ever found anything
out there worth that? Have you ever found anything out there
to compare with the redeeming love and the redeeming blood
of Jesus Christ your Savior? Well, does it make any sense
at all to keep seeking after things in this world that are
no avail? That just doesn't make good sense,
does it? That just does not make good sense. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto the Lord, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. Return unto me, for I have That's the master's message to
you, who hear his voice. Amen.