to attend the family radio conference,
and I've enjoyed it so very, very much. And I know that eternity alone will reveal the
blessings that Brother Harold Kemping and family radio and
television and all of its personnel and supporters have been to thousands
of God's sheep all over the world. You just have to wait till the
Lord Jesus comes and then you'll know what a blessing family radio
and television have been to people all over the world. I've been
listening to folks talk who are here from all over this country
about how they came to know the Savior listening to family radio. I've been on the Monday Night
Echoes program a few times, and I've received mail from all over
this nation. And one Sunday, four young men
drove down to Ashland and spent the weekend with us. One Saturday
they came in and spent the weekend. heard me preach on family radio. They came down to visit with
us. That's just such a thrill, such a blessing. You hear it
here and there, but you'll never know until the Savior comes. What a blessing you've been to
people all over this nation. and I'm thankful for you. I wish
I could remember everybody's name. I've met so many dear,
dear people, dear, dear friends, but I used to could remember
names. I'd associate them, you know,
and my wife tried that one time. We had a Mr. Cooney in our church,
a new man, and she's, you know, identification, Looney Cooney,
Looney Cooney. And you know what she called
him the first time she saw him. I preached with an elderly preacher
down in Florida one time, and he spoke my sentiments. I wasn't
quite as old then as I am now, and I can identify more with
him now, but he was up in years. He got up and he said, but I
can see through my bifocals, and my hearing aids work just
fine, and I can live with my dentures, but I sure do miss
my mind. Some of you are laughing to keep
from crying, aren't you? I am too. I want you to turn for just a
moment to the book of 1 Kings, chapter 18. Just a moment. I want to look at a scripture
here. As I grow older, there are three
subjects that mean more to me, I believe. One is faith. Lord, increase our faith. One
is love. I want to love people. I want to love Christ. I want
to love others. I want to preach the gospel in
love. And I long to know something
about prayer. Don't you? I wish I could pray like Elijah. I read this prayer over here
in In 1 Kings 18, I think about it every time I get up to preach.
Elijah, in 1 Kings 18.31, he took 12 stones. 1 Kings 18.31,
and according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob,
unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be
thy name. And with the stones he built
an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the
altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he
put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid
him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and
pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood, four barrels
of water. And he said, Do it the second
time, and they did it the second time. He said, Do it the third
time, and they did it the third time. And the water ran round
about the altar, And he filled the trench also with water. And
it came to pass at the time of the evening, the offering of
the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said,
I want you to listen to this prayer. The prophets of Baal
had prayed all day long. They had gone through all kinds
of gyrations and excitement and cut themselves and just everything
they could think of to try to get their God to answer by fire. Elijah prayed a 63-word prayer. Listen to it. Lord, God of Abraham,
Isaac and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art
God in Israel and that I'm thy servant. and
that I have done all these things at your word." Isn't that something?
Let it be known that you're God, and I'm your servant, and what
I've done, I've done according to your word. Hear me, O Lord,
hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God,
and that thou hast turned their hearts back again. That's it. And the fire started. The fire
started. Isn't that something? Oh, my! To be able to pray, to
call on God, to hear from heaven in these days. I want to begin
my message tonight with five questions. I have five questions
that I want to ask all of us. Five questions. The first one
is this. What would it mean to you, personally,
individually, what would it mean to you to know that every sin,
every sin of your past present and future. Every sin, past,
present and future, is forgiven. What would it mean to you to
know that every sin of mind, heart, tongue, hand, soul, imagination,
omission, commission, every offense, known, secret, unknown, is totally,
completely forgiven? And on the books of God, there's
not one mark against you. What would that mean to you?
Here's the second question. What would it mean to you to
know that the Holy God, and how holy is God? Eshurah, Isaiah's
friend, King Uzziah, Eshurah, Isaiah's friend who went into
the temple to offer a sacrifice, and God turned him into a leper.
How holy is God? What would it mean to know that
the holy, omnipotent, righteous, living God is totally reconciled
to you? That there's no wrath, there's
no enmity, there's not even a frown, that He's your Father, and that
He loves you, and that He has with you a perfect peace, peace
with God that passes under statues. God is not angry, he is reconciled. Wouldn't it be wonderful? Thirdly, what would it mean to
you to have a new heart, a new heart, a new nature? Not this
old heart patched up, but a brand new heart, a brand new nature,
spirit. A nature and spirit which is
as inclined to God as the old nature was inclined to evil. A new nature which really loves
God, doesn't just profess to love God, but does love God and
love holiness and righteousness and actually desires to do the
will of God. And obedience, and that new heart
which makes obedience a choice, not a duty, a choice. I'd rather
do the will of God. Wouldn't that be something? Fourthly, what would it mean
to you, now listen to me, what would it mean to you if, to know
that every trial, every trial, and we've had some
tough ones, haven't we? Every trial. My wife and I were in Florida
back in 1969. on vacation with our three children
who were home. Our son had just gone to Vietnam. He'd been there eight days. And
I received a visit from two army officers. And they said, your
son's been killed. Now, that's deep water. at the dark valley. And some
of you have been through those things. Your hearts have been
broken so many times. What would it mean to you to
know that every trial, every trouble, every heartache, every
broken heart, every problem, as well as every blessing And
the trials of blessings, as we just knew it, at the time. But you know, if it didn't hurt,
it wouldn't be a trial. It's got to hurt. Trials have
to hurt. There wouldn't be trials if it didn't hurt. If you could
just throw it off, you know, it wouldn't be a trial. It has
to accomplish that for which God sent it. Let patience have
her perfect work. That's what he said. Leave it
alone. pray for one another and say, Lord, lift the burden. No,
leave the burden there till God finishes what he sent the burden
for. Don't be in too big a hurry to get rid of it. And that takes
time. I don't expect us to lay hold
of that all of a sudden. But what would it mean to know
that every trial, every blessing is actually ordained of God,
your loving Father? and purposed by God for your
eternal good. When it's taken place, you can't
see much good. But you know, that boy's death
made me a better preacher. It gave me a broken heart. It helped me to comfort those
with the comfort wherewith I've been comforted. It helped me
to understand others. It helped me to grow up. Made me a better pastor. So it
was good, wasn't it? It's not only for my eternal
good, but right now it's good. And you could say to any foe,
you can say to any foe, like Joseph said to his brother, you
meant it for evil. God meant it for good. And it's
all right, I'm not mad. You're just the second cause.
We need to remember that, that these, that our so-called enemies
are not the first cause, they're the second cause. God's the first
cause. Nothing happens in a believer's
life without the permission of his loving Heavenly Father. Satan can't touch you without
God's permission. He had to ask God to let him
touch you. They couldn't even go into the
pigs without my Lord's permission. Let us go into the swine." And
he said, all right, that's a good place for you. What would it mean to you to
know that old age and illness and even death is the best thing
that can happen to you? That's right. It'd be the best
thing. Paul said, for me to live, to
me to live is Christ, but for me to die is Jesus. He said, I'm anxious. I have
a desire to depart and be with Christ and underscore these words,
which is far better. Far better. Better than what?
Better than anything. Better than anything. Far better. What would that mean to you?
Well, I'm sure that everyone here in answer to those five
questions would reply, Preacher, there's nothing in all the world
that I'd rather have than those five things. Nothing, absolutely
nothing in this world that I'd rather have than assurance of
forgiveness, my sins put away, reconciliation with God There's
nothing I'd rather have than to know that my God ordains everything
that happens in my life, that my steps are ordered by God,
and to have a new heart and a new nature that loves him and loves
his word and loves his law and loves obedience to his commandment,
and to have a good hope of eternal life, to know that when Christ
comes, I'll be with those who go to be with him. Well, these are the things we're
preaching here every morning and every evening. These are
the things we're dealing with. These are the promises we have
in Christ. This is what every believer has
who loves Christ. This is not the exception, this
is the rule. Everybody here who's redeemed
by his blood has every one of these blessings right now. They're
true of you. These are the things that we're
preaching. These are the very promises of our God in Christ
Jesus. Listen to the word. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from what? All sin. You know, I was preaching one
time in a place and I made that statement. I said the blood of
Christ cleanses us from all sin, past, present, and future. And
a fella got up and left. He got angry. And he let me know
later that he objected to any preacher telling people that
their future sins are put away. And I said to him, I said, well,
how many of my sins were future when Christ died? They were all
future. I wasn't born then. When Christ
died and paid my sin debt, he paid it all. All the dead I owe. Sin left the crimson stain. He
washed it white as snow. And they were all future. Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God. We're not going to have peace
with God. We have peace with God. Christ is our peace. Christ
made peace with God through the blood of his cross. God was in
Christ reconciling us to himself. We're reconciled. Our Lord Jesus Christ worked
out that perfect righteousness and shed his precious blood. Every believer is reconciled
to God. Now then, Paul said, as an ambassador
to Christ, I'm preaching to the sheep. I'm looking for the sheep.
Somebody said one time to Mr. Spurgeon, said, you believe in
election? He said, yes. You believe that God's ordained
everybody, as many as are ordained to eternal life will believe
that the elect are going to be saved, all of them, and only
the elect." He said, yes, I know that. He said, well, why don't
you just preach to the elect? The virgin said, well, you go
around and put a mark on them and I will. But I don't know who they are.
Do you, Brother Otero? I preached to everybody, everybody. The elect hear me. My sheep hear
my voice. They believe. Now as an ambassador
of Christ, I'm preaching to people and I'm saying to his elect,
whoever they are, God is reconciled. Be ye reconciled to God. Christ Jesus through his blood
put away God's wrath. The Holy Spirit in regeneration
puts away my wrath." Isn't that right? Sinners hate God. The
natural man hates God. Christ said, my brethren, don't
be amazed at the world hates you. They hated me before they
hated you. They hated me without a cause.
Did you ever hate God? Oh yes, sure you did. You loved
yourself and hated God. hated the living God, the God
of the Bible. We didn't hate our idol God.
We did our own gods that we cut out with our pen knives, you
know, and put on the shelf. And we didn't hate, but we hated
the living God. But the Holy Spirit came and
destroyed that hatred and shed abroad His love. I love Him because He first loved
me. See that? Hebrews 10, look at this in Hebrews
10. Oh, I tell you, I'm like Brother
Otero. I love Hebrews, I tell you. We had a Bible study week just
a few weeks ago. He just lights up every time
he mentions Hebrews. But we had a Bible study week
and we have vacation Bible school at our church, have had for years.
And several years ago, I was watching the people bring the
children to church Vacation Bible School and saw parents bring
their children and grandparents bring their grandchildren and
let them off, you know, and drive off. And then I'd be out there
when they came to pick them up and I thought, why don't these
people stay and let me teach them while the children are studying?
And it was, I tell you, one of the greatest blessings that ever
took place. Years ago, I said, got up next
year when the Vacation Bible School rolled around, I said,
The children, four years to 16, are going to have vacation Bible
school, but you parents, when you bring them, stay and we'll
meet in auditorium and I'll go through a book. My goodness, I have more adults
than I do children. And this year, I did Hebrews
again. I tell you, I've done it about
every three years since we just go back to Hebrews. The Hebrews
10, listen to this. He tells us in Hebrews 10, Listen
to this, verse 14, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, for after that he hath said before, this is
the covenant, this is the covenant I will make with them after those
days, saith the Lord. I'll put my law in their hearts. I'll write it on their hearts,
not on tables of stone, cold hard stone. I'll give them a
new heart and I'll write my law on their heart so they'll love
my law and they'll write my law in their mind so they'll, they'll
think on my law. Think on it and love it, written
on the heart and the mind. And their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more. That's that new heart. And then
Romans 8, 28, as far as these trials are concerned, I know,
we know, these are things we know, I know. Not a doubt in
my mind. I know that all things, all things
in heaven, all things in heaven, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, angel,
ministering heirs to, ministering spirits to those who will be
heirs of salvation, are heirs of salvation, will come to salvation.
Principalities, powers, rulers in the darkness, spiritual wickedness
in high places, all things in heaven, all things in earth,
Friends and enemies, good things, bad things, failures, successes,
sicknesses, health, poverty, wealth, all things work together,
are working together, not separately, but together for my good, eternal
good, to those who love God, to those who are called according
to Him. That's right. And then Revelation says this,
blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, from henceforth
that they may rest from their labors." Ah, that's what we're
preaching. Those are promises to believers,
promises to those who love Him, promises to those who hear and
believe His gospel. Now, let's take a shot at preaching
this gospel. Turn to Romans chapter 3. This
is the gospel whereby those mercies and blessings and promises are
ours, believing this gospel. Romans chapter 3. Now, you know
God is holy, immaculately, infinitely, immutably holy. I asked a young preacher one
time, we were ordaining a young preacher, I asked him this question,
what is the chief attribute of God? The chief attribute of God. Now most people today would say,
love. God is love. And God is, God
is. The love of God, how rich, how
pure, how merciless, how strong. It shall forevermore endure the
saints and angels' song. Could we with ink the oceans
fill? Were the skies of parchment made? Were every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
God above, and drain that ocean dry? Nor could the scrolls contain
the whole, those threshed books out of time. His chief attribute
is his holiness. God is holy. Holy and reverent
is his name. This book is called his holy
Bible, not his loving Bible, his holy Bible. His angels are
called his what? Holy angels. When the high priest
went into the Holy of Holies, he didn't wear God is love. He
wrote holiness to the Lord. That's why he was going there.
That's why he had that sacrifice. That's why he had that blood.
God is holy. That's what he saw. Holiness
to the Lord. He took the sacrifice into the
holy place. Into the holy of holy. God is
in his holy temple. And the love wherewith he loves
us is a holy love. And that's in Christ. The only
way that God can love a sinner is in Christ. Not out of Christ.
And be holy. That's why he's holy. And that's
the reason Job kept asking this question before I read Romans
3. Turn to Job just a moment. That's the reason Job and his
friends kept asking this question. In Job chapter 9, verse 2, they
asked this question. I know, I know. Job 9, verse
2. Now listen, this is important.
I know it is so of a truth, but how should man be just, righteous,
holy with God? God is holy. We're sinful. God
is good. We're evil. God is light. We're
darkness. God is life. We're death. Our
sins have separated us. How are we going to be just with
God? Look at Job 15. They ask it again. Job 15, verse 14. Do you have
it? What is man? That he should be
clean. And who shall stand in his presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. Who shall ascend
into the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his presence?
He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who's never lifted
up his soul to vanity, who's never sworn to sin. That's nobody
here. That's Christ. Nobody here. And that's what Job would experience.
What is man, that he should be clean? He that's born of a woman,
that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. The heavens are not clean in
God's sight. That's the reason he's gonna
burn them up. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinks
iniquity? Watch the water. Job 25, listen to him over here.
Isn't this supposed to be the oldest book in the Bible, Job?
That's what somebody told me, the oldest writing in the Word
of God. This has been a question raised
a long time ago. Job 25, verse 4, How then, how
then, tell me, preacher, how then can man, sinful, wretched,
depraved, dead? Like the preacher said it once,
dead, dead. Even a bird dog knows what dead
means. dead and trespasses again. Tell me, how can man be justified
with God? How can he be clean that's born
of a woman? Behold, even to the moon it shineth
not. Yea, the stars are not pure in
his sight. How much less man that's a wiggling
maggot. That's what that word is. Thy
worm, Jacob, thy wiggling maggot. I'm going to tell you, over here
at Romans 3, it's good news. I wouldn't want to quit there,
would you? That's depressing. Spurgeon wrote
a little thing one time, said, I looked to Jesus and the dove
of peace flew in my heart. And then I looked in my heart
and the dove flew away. Every time I look in here, I
get in trouble, because I don't like what I see. Oh, wretched
man that I am. So when I look to Him, I like
what I see. My Savior. That's what we're
going to talk about here. Romans 3, verse 19, and we, now
we know that what things forever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law. See that? That's everybody in
the universe. Everybody in God's universe is
subject to God's laws. Isn't that right? What the law
says, it says to them who are under the law, if we're not in
Christ, if we're not redeemed from the curse of the law and
the condemnation of the law, we're under the law, isn't that
right? To them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped. Stop, but preach it, stop. Yeah,
but stop. That every mouth be stopped. When I look to Him, I like what
I say. That's what we're going to talk
about here. Romans 3 verse 19, and now we
know that what things forever the law sayeth, it sayeth to
them who are under the law. Who's that? That's everybody
in the universe. Everybody in God's universe is
subject to God's laws. Isn't that right? What the law
sayeth, it sayeth to them who are under the law. If we're not
in Christ, If we're not redeemed from the curse of the law and
the condemnation of the law, we're under the law, isn't that
right? To them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped. Stopped, but preach it. Stopped.
Yeah, but stopped. That every mouth be stopped. And all the world become guilty. Guilty. Guilty. before God. Guilty before God. Our Lord said,
you are they that justify yourselves before men. But that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination to God. We're guilty before God. God
save us. Old George Whitefield said this
one time, he preached a sermon And he said, a man has not repented
until three things take place. A man has not repented until
three things take place. One, he repents. He repents of
what he is. What he is. A sinner by nature,
by birth. A sinner in heart. What I do
is because of what I am. A man doesn't become a thief
because he's steeled. He's steeled because he's a thief.
He's already a thief. He's born a thief. That's why
we do what we do, because of what we are. You see that? A man doesn't, he goes and kills
somebody and says, now he's a murderer. No, he's already a murderer.
That's why he did it. The son of Adam, that's why he
did it. You don't have to teach your children to hate. They're
born knowing how to hate. You don't have to teach him to
be selfish. One of the first words they learn
is mine. You go in the nursery and there'll
be 20 blocks around and one guy's got them all. Just two years old, but he's
a terror. His mother and dad didn't teach
him that. He knew that and he came out
of her womb. That's what he is. He's a little snake, that's what
he is. Oh, that's a beautiful little innocent child. You wait
and see. Every one of you were sweet little
innocent children one time. Look what happened to you. What I am, God helped me because
of what I am. That's the way I am. God has
to make me a new creature. What I am cannot enter heaven. I repent of what I am." And then
he said, I repent of what I've done, my sins. David said, my
sins are ever before me. God blocks them out, but I remember
them. He said, I remember them no more, but I do, don't you
brother? I remember every one of them nearly. They bothered
me still. That's right. My sins, David
said, are ever before me. Against thee have I sinned. I
may do you wrong, but I sinned against God. Sin is against God. Sin is a transgression of His
law. My sins are against God that
He might be justified when He can do them and clear when He
judges. I justify God. He sends me to
hell. That's exactly what I deserve.
Anybody here agree with that? If he opens this platform up
right now, except for Christ and His grace, and drops me into
hell with my shoes on, I'm getting just exactly what I deserve.
That's right. The wages of sin I've earned,
that's there. The gift of God's eternal life.
If I go to hell, it's my fault. If I go to heaven, it's God's
fault. That's right. I repent of what I am. I repent
of what I do and did. And then he said, hold on to
your chair now. A man has not repented, so he
also repents of his righteousness. That's right. Repents of his
righteousness. I told you this the other night.
Old Bishop Rutherford said, there's enough tender material in the saint nearest
to heaven to light the fires of hell if God permitted his
fire. That's enough. My prayers need
to be repented of. My repentance needs to be repented
of. My tears need to be bathed in
the blood of Christ. The best sermon I've ever preached
has enough health in it and vanity in it to damn me. and the best
gift. I wish I could worship God with
all my heart, don't you? I wish I could worship God without
any thought of anybody around me or any thought of anything
interfering. I wish I could set my affection,
that's not plural, that's singular, my affection on things above
totally and not on things of this earth, don't you? I've never
been able to do it yet and I'm 68 years old. Someday I will. I'll be like
him. The best gift we've ever given
had a whole lot of sin. Oh, yeah. Sin, guilty before
God. Therefore, and I'll tell you
verse 20, Romans 3 says, therefore, because of what we are and what
we've done, and because even our righteousness is a filthy
rag, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh
be justified. No flesh. Justified. What does
justified mean? It means just as if I'd never
sinned, not guilty, free from sin. That first thing, all our
sins put away and no judgment, no wrath. You can't get that
by the deeds of the law or by the works of religion. By the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. We may be justified in the sight
of our friend. Our mama thinks we're the greatest
thing that sent cornflakes. But God knows better. We're justified
and hurt. No mama ever had a bad boy and
no daddy ever had a bad girl. Did you know that? Women tell
me my boy's a good boy. He hates God, but he's a good
boy. He just drinks too much and hangs out all night, but
he's a good boy. I pray she got a good heart. Oh, my. Justified in his sight. For by the laws and knowledge
of sin, I read on, but now, oh, here we come, listen, but now,
right now, stop listening, the very righteousness of God, without
the law, without my obedience to the law, without my perfect
obedience to the law. without my keeping it personally,
the righteousness of God. And we're not talking about God's
essential righteousness here and personal holiness. We're
talking about a holiness and righteousness which He purposed
and planned and gave to us and which Christ performed and purchased
and worked out for us and which the Holy Spirit brought to us
in regeneration. That's the righteousness we're
talking about here. holiness of God, the righteousness
of God, which He purposed and gave to us in His Son. Right
now, right now, that righteousness without the law is manifested. It's revealed, it's set forth,
and it's witnessed by the law and the prophets. Moses and the
prophets, Moses and Elijah. To Him give all the prophets
witness. same gospel this morning, Brother
Otero talks about people are saved today by the blood of Christ.
Moses was saved by the blood of Christ. Abraham was saved
by the blood of Christ. There's only one way of saving
sinners, never has been, but one gospel. Never has been, is
not now, and never will be, but one gospel. One gospel. Let's turn to Romans
1. That's just back one page. Let me show you something. I
never will forget way back in 1950, when I learned the gospel,
a preacher gave a message on this scripture right here. It
meant so much to me. See, Christ said, Moses wrote
of me. Abraham rejoiced to see my day.
He saw it and was glad. Isaiah said he was wounded by
that grace. David looked to Christ. Everybody
before the cross looked to the coming Redeemer, and we look
to the Redeemer who's come. The whole Old Testament has one
message. Someone's coming. Someone's coming. He'll be the seed of woman. He'll
be the root of Jesse. He'll be of the tribe of Judah.
He'll be of the house of David. He'll be a priest like Melchizedek. Someone's coming. And the full
gospel says, there he is, behold, the Lamb of God. That's what
the camping talked about this morning. In AD 29, there he is,
behold, the Lamb of God. And the epistles say, he's coming
back. That's what this book, it's a
hymn book. Did you know that? H-I-M. Someone's coming, the
Old Testament says. The evangelist said, he's here. And the epistles say, look for
him, he's coming back. And look here at Romans 1, Paul,
a bond slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
to the gospel of God. Now leave verse 2 out just a
moment. That's a parenthetical statement.
See the parenthesis? Just lift it out. You can do
that. These English teachers tell me I'm doing damage to the
sentence by lifting that out. And read it now, verse 1 and
3. Listen. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, separated to the gospel of God concerning his son. That's what the gospel is all
about. It's his son. It's concerning his son. The
gospel's not who you are, it's who he is. It's not what you
do, it's what he did. It's not where you are, it's
where he is. The gospel's concerning Christ. I hear these people say they've
got a gospel quartet. There ain't no such thing as
a gospel quartet. Christ is the gospel. It's concerning his son, who
he is, what he did, why he did it, and where he is now. Now
look at verse 2, which this gospel of God was promised afore by
his prophets in the Holy Scripture. Same gospel. I'm preaching Moses'
gospel. Somebody said, you've got a first
century gospel. It's older than that. It's as old as the beginning. Same gospel. Oh, listen to this, the witness
for the law and the prophets. When our Lord was glorified on
that Mount of Transfiguration, who appeared with him? Moses.
Law. Elijah. Prophets. Law and the
prophets. What did they talk about? You
talk about a summit. Master. Law and prophets. And
here they are together, manifesting, sitting in front of their prophet.
And they were talking. Do you know what they talked
about? He tells you, Luke. They talked about His death on
the cross in Jerusalem. That's what the law talks about.
That's what the prophet talks about. That's what the master
talks about. His death! Oh! My listen to it go back to the
tape But right now it's chapter 3 of Romans verse 21. I'll hurry
but right now the righteousness of God the holiness of God without
the law Now whether that's not without obedience to the law
he obeyed it We didn't he did He was born of a woman. He was
made of a woman made under the law. I The God-man, bone of our bone,
flesh of our flesh. And as a man, he was circumcised. As a man, they offered the certain
sacrifices of Israel. As a man, he went to the tablet,
to the temple. As a man, he kept the Passover.
As a man, he did all these things to fulfill this righteousness.
He never offended, no sin in it. Perfect righteousness for
us. We'll preach on that tomorrow
night in Romans 4, I believe. Witness for the law and the prophets
and I look at verse 22 if even the righteousness of God Which
is by faith by the faith of Jesus Christ If by the faithfulness
of Christ and it's unto all and it's upon all that believe this
righteousness of God I Try to help our young people sometimes
by illustration I Told them one time I said here I am Flesh and
bones and blood. Christ came down here. Bone of
my bone, flesh of my flesh. Made in the likeness of sinful
flesh. Took upon himself the form of a servant. My sins were
on me. They were very heavy. Very many,
very black. They totally separated me from
God. My Lord came down, a man. He took all my sins in his body. Transference of guilt. He was
made sin for us. One little boy said, well how,
how could one man bear the sin of so many? It's who he is. You see, who Christ is made effectual
what he did. Who he is. This little boy asked
his daddy that. They were walking along the road,
and his daddy had a hard time answering him. He tried to say
who he is, but finally, they came up on a grasshopper. And
the dad stopped and picked up the grasshopper. He said, what's
that, son? He said, grasshopper. He said, how many grasshoppers
were there to his daddy? Why, he said, all the grasshoppers
in the world are not worth one little boy to his daddy. He said,
the scripture says, God sits in the heavens and considers
the inhabitants of the earth as what? Grasshoppers. The Savior, the Lord Jesus, is
worth all us grasshoppers. It's who He is. He took our sin,
yours and my sin, in His body on the tree, and the wrath of
God fell on Him! On Him! That's when He cried,
My God! Isaiah 59 too. Brother Otero
dealt with it. He said, why have you forsaken
me? Your sins have separated you
and your God. And he paid for it. Put him away. And he rose without
sin. And now he doesn't have them
anymore. He paid for it. And I don't have
them. Where are my sins? God said,
I've separated them from you as far as the east is from the
west. Remember them no more. Cast them into the depths of
the sea, behind the back of God, wherever that is. Put away. Old Barabbas was sitting down
there in the dungeon waiting to be executed, waiting to be
crucified, defeated. And the soldiers came down and
when they walked into that dungeon, he shook like a leaf. And they released his shackles and chains
and he dropped off. They laid him up those iron stairs.
Got him to the top in the daylight, and his eyes blinked. He rubbed
his eyes. He just scared to death. He knew
he was going out there on that hill to that cross. And when
they got to the top of the step, they said, you're free. He said,
I'm what? You're free. Yeah, but I'm guilty. I'm supposed to be crucified.
See those three crosses over there? That center one's yours.
And there's a man called Jesus of Nazareth on that cross in
your place. And you're free. There's a man called Jesus Christ
who died on my cross. That's what that is. That's the
gospel. I once was lost and now I'm found.
By God's grace I'm heaven bound. But my only hope, my only plea
is when he died, he died for me. Let's look at our text and
quit. Romans 3 again. One more time.
Look over here. It says in verse 20, Romans 3
verse 20, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, but being justified, just as if I'd never sinned, not guilty,
sins put away freely, no payment on my part, by his grace, through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth. He set him forth in the covenant.
He set him forth in the pipes. He set him forth in the flesh.
He set him forth on the cross, and he set him forth tonight
in the gospel. and set him forth in that he foreordained him.
He set him forth to be a propitiation, a mercy, see, back in the Old
Testament, a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
whose righteousness? Yours and mine? No, his righteousness. God's righteousness. Listen,
for the remission of sins of the past. What's that talking
about? It's talking about the sins of the Old Testament people.
through the forbearance of God. You see, while the cross, all
these sacrifices were being offered. They didn't put away Isaiah and
Abraham's and Isaac and Jacob's sins. They were waiting to Christ. They were pictures till Christ
came. And God, through his forbearance, waited till Christ came. When
Christ died, he died for their sins too. I say all sins of all
the elect of all generations of all ages through the forbearance
patience of the long-suffering of God to declare This is so
important out here. What's the death of Christ? What's
the obedience of Christ declaring? His righteousness that God might
be just and the justifier Of him which believes in Jesus Now,
my friends, and every one of you know this, and we preachers
know it, God's holy and God's just. But God's merciful and God's
loving. Now, how's the justice and the love of God going to
meet on my behalf? How can God be just and send
me to hell and be merciful and keep me out of it? Just one way.
Mercy and truth met together on Christ. Righteousness and
peace kissed at the cross. Righteousness of God, the holiness
of God, the justice of God was satisfied at the cross, and the
love and mercy of God was manifested. And now God Almighty, the just
judge, should look upon me, the guilty sinner, and say, not guilty,
because my substance is guilty. He's already died, and the law
has no claim on us. There's no judgment to them who
are in Christ. There's no condemnation to them who are in Christ. In
Christ, there is no sin. If you're in Him by faith, you
don't have any sin. You don't have any sin. No sin. It's God. It's paid for. And
payment, God's justice, cannot twice demand it. First at my
bleeding shirted hand, and then again at my hand. Isn't that
good news? Good news. All right, let's pray.
Our Father, thank you for the good news. Good news for the
guilty. We're guilty. Mercy for the miserable. Cleansing for the filthy. Salvation
for the lost. Justification for sinners like
us. We thank you for Christ our Lord.
We trust him. Believe him. We confess again.
He's the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He's our Lord and
Savior. Our high praise are justified. Our thanks are our redemption.
In Him we rest. In His name we pray. Amen.