Well, I'll just say amen to what
you just heard. I don't know whether you realize
it or not, but God graciously just gave us a lesson in preaching. I have, in the past 49 years,
read everything I know that's worth reading on Judges 11, and
I've preached from it. I can't imagine telling you how
many times in various places around the world, and I had never
heard anything comparable. That was just outstanding. Thank
you, brother. Thank you. I came asking God to speak to
my soul by His Word, and I thank God He did. I want you, if you will, to find
your two places in Scripture for my text. Judges chapter 33. Judges 33, and when you found
that, find 1 Corinthians chapter 15. That's not, I've got judges on
my mind, don't I? Thank you, Todd. Let's try Job
33. Let's try Job 33. More than 200 years ago, a man
by the name of Jonathan Edwards, who should be familiar to you,
the first president of Princeton University, wrote a very, very
good book. called The History of Redemption. I suggest you read it. It's worth
reading again and again. I can't preach the subject nearly
as well as Mr. Edwards wrote about it, but I
borrowed the title of his book for the title of my message tonight.
I want to talk to you about the history of redemption. And when
I read things, I generally cheat a little bit. I like to see how
it starts and then I'll turn to the back of the book and find
out how it's concluded and that determines whether or not I'm
going to read the rest of the book. So let me show you how the history
of redemption begins and how it ends and then we'll read the
rest of the book. It begins back here in Job chapter
33 and verse 24. Elihu is delivering the message
to one of the earliest saints to walk upon the earth by the
name of Job. And he says, then he is gracious. unto him, and saith, Deliver
him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. Before ever time began, the Lord
God Almighty found in His Son, our Mediator and Redeemer, a
ransom for our souls. Now, if you look at 1 Corinthians
15, 1 Corinthians 15, This is how the history ends. I know this is how it ends because
verse 24 says, then come at the end. Then come at the end. When this whole history of redemption
is done, he shall have delivered up the kingdom under God, the
triune Jehovah, even the Father, when he shall have put down all
rule and all authority and all Now we have a terrible weakness
in our thinking. We are all inclined to think
about the things of God and things taught in the Word of God indescribably
too small. When we think of salvation, we
generally think of a believer's experience of God's grace in
the new birth, in the gift of faith, when you first come to
know the Lord Jesus. Salvation includes everything. Everything involved in the deliverance
of our souls from the pit of destruction into the glorious
liberty of the sons of God in the new creation. The same is
true with regard to the word redemption. The word redemption
is used various ways in scripture. We tend to think only of that
act of redemption by which our souls were purchased from the
curse of the law by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed
at Calvary. And that's wonderful. I wouldn't
take anything away from that. You can't begin to think of that
broadly enough or widely enough. But the word redemption is also
used to refer to the resurrection of our bodies. And the word redemption
is used with regard to the totality of salvation. So that the two
terms are somewhat interchangeable. Except that to redeem is to buy
again, or to bring back again, or to restore that which was
lost. And this word redemption describes the whole activity
of God throughout the ages of time beginning before time began
and ending when time is no more. The complete deliverance of our
souls and our bodies into the likeness of Jesus Christ our
Lord. Oh what a glorious glorious theme
to meditate upon and to preach upon. Redemption. Redemption
by Jesus Christ. Now listen carefully. Everything
God does or allows to be done, and I only said that to benefit
folks who get upset with me saying it the way I want to. Everything
God allows to be done, God does. God's never passive. God is never
passive. Everything God does, he does
for the redemption of his people. Everything God does, he does
for the redemption of his people. Everything. everything. I cannot begin to understand,
let alone explain to you how everything works together for
the redemption of his people. But I'm here as God's messenger
to your soul to tell you no matter what your pain, no matter what
your present heartache, no matter what your present disappointment,
no matter what your present disillusion is, Everything God does, he does
for the redemption of his people. And if it came to pass, God did
it. If it came to pass, God did it. Our God absolutely rules the
universe for the redemption of his people. Everything, everything,
everything, everything is totally subservient to the purpose of
God in the saving of our souls. Everything. I will cry unto God
most high, the psalmist said, unto God that performeth all
things for me, for my redemption, for my everlasting salvage. Oh
God help me to believe what I've just said. God performeth all things for
me. That ought to keep me from getting
upset with anything. That ought to keep me from being too troubled
about anything. That ought to keep me from being afraid of
anything. God performeth all things for me. Mr. Edwards was exactly right when
he wrote, God's main work in providence is redemption. The creation of heaven was in
order to the work of redemption as a habitation for the redeemed. Even the angels were created
to be employed in this work. As to the lower world, It was
doubtless created to be a stage upon which this great and wonderful
work of redemption should be transacted. One of the first
books of theology I was required to read and doing some graduate
work after I got out of school was titled The Unfolding Drama
of Redemption. The book wasn't much, but the
title was great. The unfolding drama of redemption. That's what we experience every
day in God's providence. The unfolding drama of redemption. This world was created to be
a stage upon which God would unfold to all his creatures the
marvelous drama of redemption getting everlasting praise, honor,
and glory unto himself. The scriptures teach us that
God has a five-fold purpose in this great work of redemption.
Five things God's determined to accomplish by the salvation
of our souls through Jesus Christ the Lord. Five things he's going
to accomplish. God is determined, number one,
to put all things under the feet of his Son. God's determined
to put all things under his feet. That means sooner or later, you're
gonna bow down to the Son of God. Sooner or later, you're
going to bow and kiss his feet and acknowledge that Jesus Christ,
our Savior, who is Lord, is right to be Lord, no matter what he
does. Sooner or later, you will either
bow to him now by him forcing you to bow to him in his grace,
and you won't unless he forces you. Blessed is the man whom
thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee, or you will
bow to him when he forces you in the terror of his wrath in
the day of judgment, but bow you will. God Almighty is determined
to put everything under the feet of the God-man, our Redeemer. God's goodness will at last be
triumphant. He has sovereignly arranged all
things so that Satan shall be confounded in all his works and
all his works shall be destroyed. for this purpose, the Son of
Man, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works
of the devil. What a word, destroy. I don't have that ability. I
can't destroy anything. I've tried a few times. I can't
destroy anything. I can burn it up. I still can't
destroy it. Destroy? Utterly obliterate so that it
is no more. And before God's done, he shall
wipe the slime of the serpent from his creation and Satan shall
triumph nowhere. Nowhere. The Lord Jesus shall
utterly destroy Satan and his works. It is God's purpose, secondly,
to retrieve his creation from the ruins of the fall. We're
told in Acts chapter 3 of the times of the restitution of all
things. The restitution of all things,
everything shall at last redound to the glory of God. Everything. Man's soul was ruined by the
fall. The image of God was marred in
man's nature. He was corrupted. He became dead
in trespasses and sin. It is God's design, God's purpose
to restore the souls of his chosen to life. to restore His elect
to the image of His Son in whose image we were created to begin
with. This He does by the new birth, by sanctification, putting
in us the very nature of the Son of God, that holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. And He does it ultimately in
glorification. Man's body was also ruined by
the fall. These bodies made to be corruptible
and mortal, decaying and dying. But these bodies too shall be
restored to the Lord Jesus Christ so that this mortal shall be
made immortal. This corruptible made incorruptible. This natural body I love the
way the scriptures use things that you just can't put together,
don't you? This natural body shall be raised
a spiritual body. A spiritual body completely conformed
to Jesus Christ, not only in heart and soul, but in body as
well. And the world was ruined by the
fall. as if it had been reduced to
chaos again, as in Genesis 1-2. But God has determined to create
a new heavens and a new earth. A new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Only righteousness. In this new
heavens and new earth, there will be Nothing but righteousness,
righteous God, righteous angels, righteous men, righteous God. Just righteousness, just righteousness. I repeat, Satan shall be triumphant
nowhere. The third design of God in the
work of redemption is to gather together in one All things in
Christ were told in Ephesians 1 and verse 10. All elect creatures in heaven
and in earth, elect angels and men, at last shall be perfectly
united to Christ our head. Now, we are united to him now. We have been united to him from
eternity, one with him. as really and truly one with
Him, as He is one with the Father, as undividable from Him, as He
is undividable from the Father. But we still have stuff that
separates us, stuff that keeps us from the blessedness of the
union. But when God gets done, we being
many, shall be totally united, perfectly united as one body
in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. And there'll be no schisms in
the body, not a rift, not an injury, not a pain. But that's not all. In the restoration of this creation,
The Lord God Almighty will cause all creation, everything that
is and everything that has been and everything that shall be,
everything, everything, everything to redound to the praise of his
glory. Everything's going to honor God.
Everybody's gonna honor God, and we're gonna see how. Everything,
everything. How can this be for God's honor?
I don't know, but I'm anxious to find out. How can this glorify
God? I don't know. Oh, but soon, soon,
I'm going to discover how everything redounds to the glory of my God.
And fourth, it is God's purpose to perfect and complete the glory
of His elect in Christ. Listen to this text of Scripture.
I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him. But God has revealed them to
us by His Spirit. What does that mean? Your eye's not seen it,
your ear's not heard of it, your heart's never considered it,
but God's revealed it to us by His Spirit. Mother Clare, He's
revealed to us the certainty of it. You ever lay in your bed
at night after your wife's gone to sleep and you just try to
imagine what heaven's glory must be? You think about no sin. No cold hearts. No defilements. No rebellion. Perfect conformity to the Redeemer. The glory of the new creation. God being glorified in everything. Satan totally defeated. Sin totally
conquered. God glorified. And when you've
reached Or you just, oh, Lord, I'm ready to go down. Or you
just reach the very height of your imagination. It's never
entered into your heart what God's got for you. You haven't even come close.
You haven't even come close. In all this work of redemption,
I repeat, God, is determined to glorify himself. We're told
in Ephesians 2, 7 that God, when he gets done with this work
of redemption, will show the exceeding riches
of his grace in his kindness toward us. through Christ Jesus. God Almighty is going to spread us out before wandering
angels and wandering saints looking upon one another and wandering
devils and wandering multitudes of the damned. And he's gonna
say, look here, Don Fort, look here, look here, look what grace
has done. And this he shall do with you,
my brother, and with you, my sister. Behold the glory of my
grace! Here it is in my redeemed, in
this marvelous work of redemption. As I've been saying, All things will ultimately praise
and magnify our God. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, but the remainder of wrath will thou restrain. Every wicked thing done by men, God Almighty sovereignly manipulates. Yeah, God manipulates you. I
don't like that, learn to love it. God manipulates you and he
manipulates wicked men in everything they do for his praise. And the wretched ungodliness
that's in you and in me and in that God won't use for his praise,
he won't let you do. The remainder of wrath wilt thou
restrain. The Lord hath made all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of judgment. All
things shall redound to the praise and glory of our God. Now, let
me give you the history of redemption very, very briefly in eight statements. The history of redemption begins
with our surety's covenant engagements on our behalf before the world
began. Turn to Ephesians chapter 1.
Ephesians chapter 1. Before the world was, the Lord
God looked upon his chosen and says, deliver him from going
down to the pit for I have found a ransom. If you read the fourth
chapter of the book of Hebrews, You'll find an interesting statement
concerning this whole work of redemption, salvation, and grace. The Spirit of God tells us the
works were finished from the foundation of the world. What? Finished. Finished. Christ is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. We are accepted in the beloved
from the foundation of the world. Justified, sanctified, called
and glorified in Christ before the world began. Saved from eternity. Oh, you can't say that. Let's
try it again. Saved from eternity. Done. Absolutely, fully, completely
finished from the foundation of the world. And God speaks
to us about it in a way that we can kind of get a handle on
it. You remember talking to your children when they're little
and you try to explain profound things to them. And you stoop
down and you say, honey, it's like this. And you use every
kind of almost ridiculous illustration to try to make clear to that
child what you're talking about. And they still kind of stare
at you like, I ain't got a clue. Well, God condescends to use
human terms. And He reveals Himself to us
in human terms as if acting like a man. And the reason He does
that is because we ain't got a clue. And He's making it so
we can just get a handle on it. In this finishing of the work
before the world was, God made a covenant. A covenant ordered
and all things ensured. by which he guaranteed our experience
of the salvation that was finished before the world began. And he
trusted everything to his son, everything. He said, you go,
redeem my people. Bring them back to me, holy,
sanctified, perfect, righteous, and pure. and I'll give you everything. And the son said, I'll do it. Struck hands with the father
and the father trusted his will and his glory and his purpose
and all his family into the hands of the surety and said, it's
done, rule the world. Rule the world. And our Lord
Jesus, when he had finished his work on the earth, said to the
father, I finished the work which thou hast given me. Now, Father,
glorify me with thy own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. So that Christ stood in that
covenant as our surety before the world was accepted as our
substitute and we accepted in Him and blessed of God in Him
with all the fullness of God's salvation. Now lest you think
Brother Don's lost his mind, let's read it. Ephesians chapter
1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Back in West Virginia, I used
to know a fellow who got a good dose of religion while I was
there, ran a business, and every time I'd see him, he'd say, the
Lord bless you. And I'd say, Bob, the Lord already
has, and he does, and I couldn't make him understand it. And these
days, it's even worse, everybody you deal with. I haven't been
in a liquor store since I was 15 years old. But I suspect if
you go to a liquor store and buy a pint of liquor, somebody
behind the counter will say, I'm blessed. Let me tell you
something. I'm blessed. And if you're God,
you're blessed. Blessed of God with everything
God can give you. blessed of God with everything
God can give you. Everything. Look here. He hath
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. How did he do that? According
as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him. Now, the commentary about all
of them say, God chose us to live a holy life. And that'd
be a pretty good trick if you could do it. Anybody? Anybody? I'll sit down and let you preach.
I'm interested in it. Anybody? Well, quit faking it. What's
this talking about? That we should be holy and without
blame before God. Now that's holy and that's without
blame. In love, he did this. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will, how come? To the praise of the
glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted. Accepted. Not acceptable. Accepted in the beloved. Accepted in Christ. Mary, Elizabeth said, thou art
highly favored of women. The angel said, you're highly
favored of God. That's the word. Accepted. so that God Almighty looks on
Dwayne Ives when care could shoot you between the eyes and smiles
with delight. Oh, my soul, God smiled on me
from everlasting. And God never changes. Sometimes He appears to frown.
Sometimes He appears to be angry. Sometimes He appears to be furious. But He's always smiling upon
me. For He sees me as I really am. As I really am in His Son. in His Son. That's how we really
are, holy and without blame before Him, accepted in His Son from
everlasting. I was born down close to where
Brother Rupert Reichenbach pastored, just about 10 miles from where
he lives in Bladen County, North Carolina. I was born in a shack
on a tenant farm. June 10th, 1950. And my mother
and daddy got together, I reckon they did, and decided on my name,
Donald S. Fortner. And I don't have a clue
why. Nobody in the family named Don,
except me. Nobody in the history of the
family named Don or Stewart that I know about, except me. Nobody. And the name Don means mighty
ruler, or little brown stranger, take your pick. And I don't even know what Stewart
means. Fortner, I've got after my daddy. I know where that came
from. You know why? You know why they named me Donald
Stewart Fortner? Because before the world was,
in covenant grace, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's darling son, as
my dear surety, assumed total responsibility for my everlasting
soul. And my name's written in the
Book of Life of the Lamb, Donald Stuart Fortner, before the world
began. What does that mean? What does
that mean? God hath saved me and called me with the holy calling,
not according to my works, but according to his own purpose
and grace which was given to me in Christ Jesus before the
world was. Not only did redemption begin
in covenant mercy, but the second great event in the history of
redemption was the incarnation and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. God became a man. God became a man. Now I've said that just exactly
like I intended to say it. I know the theology books warned
me not to. God didn't become a man, man
didn't become God. God became a man. This is what
the book says. assumed flesh. That's not what
it says. The Word was as though it became
flesh. That's not what it says. The
Word was made flesh. God Almighty stepped into humanity
and His name is Jesus of Nazareth, Emmanuel, God with us. In all things, our Savior is
one of us. Jesus Christ is God in our nature. God come to save. When the fullness
of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we who are His redeemed might now receive the adoption of sons. We could never enjoy this blessed
sonship except by blood atonement for the satisfaction of justice.
The third great event in the history of redemption was our
Savior's triumph over Satan. You're familiar with the Lord
Jesus being led of the Spirit as Matthew says. driven by the
Spirit of God, as Luke says, into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. Why? Why? Because the man of sorrows, if
he would be our mediator and our savior, must know all our
humanity experimentally. And Jesus Christ, God's Son,
was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. And when he was tempted of the
devil, Satan found nothing in him. He triumphed over him. When our Lord Jesus was about
to lay down his life in our stead, we hear him in gethsemane. Three times he cries. My father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass for me. If it be possible, let this cup
pass for me. He said, my soul was exceeding
sorrowful, even under death. If it be possible, let this cup
pass for me. And it broke out into a sweat
of blood. and said, not my will, thy will
be done. Father, glorify thy name. Satan, I do not doubt at all,
was assaulting our Savior with the horror, the horror of the
anticipation of being made sin for us. His soul drew back from the horrid load,
his heart broken in anticipation of what he must become for the
redemption of our souls. He speaks as a man, a real man. Now he knows what he could not
know otherwise. He bare our diseases in his body. And at last at Calvary, our sin
made his and he bare our sin in his body on the tree. Now, now. Now, Andy, he's able to sucker you
when you're tempted. Able to help with feelings. able to help with compassion,
no matter what it is. He's been there. He's been there. Wednesday morning, I spoke with
my baby sister, whose granddaughter took her own life Monday. And I had to say something to
her. I said, Patty, I can't imagine. I can't imagine what you're going
through. There's not one word I can say
to help. I can't imagine it. I can't imagine
it. Hear me, my brother. Hear me,
my sister. There is nothing you endure. Nothing you experience, nothing
that breaks your heart, not even your sin that your Savior doesn't
know. And he will help you in your
temptation for he conquered Satan in his and he didn't do it for
you, for him, he did it for you. Here's the fourth great event
in the history of redemption. The death of our substitute.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. The death of Christ gave complete
satisfaction to the justice of God. The death of Christ totally
removed our sins from us. So that now in Christ Jesus we
are freed from sin. And the death of Christ gives
peace to the believing sinner. When you realize that his blood
is an effectual atonement for sin. trusting Him as your Savior. Do you remember, do you remember the terrors,
the terrors, the terrors of sin and judgment in hell when your
screaming conscience accused you? Do you remember the long
nights and the dark, dark horror when you tried your best to figure
out some way, some way to make yourself accepted with God. Something
you can do. Promising everything, doing nothing. And then suddenly, God the Holy
Spirit takes the word of God and reveals Christ to you. And
looking to him, no more terror. no more dread, no more fear,
because he's come to convince you of sin, your sin, because you believe
hard on me, and of righteousness, his righteousness finished, because
I go to my father, and of judgment, judgment done, because the prince
of this world is judged. Now hear me, hear me. I'm not looking for something
to say, I want you to hear me. This man, standing in front of
you, I know to be the vilest of human flesh. And I'm more convinced of it
today, Donnie Bell, than I've ever been in my life. The vilest
of human flesh. And I, at one time, couldn't
think of God without terror. Now, I lift my heart to heaven
and say, my father. And another quiver in my soul.
How come? Complete atonement Christ has
made. And to the utmost farthing pain. All this sinner owed. Christ
Jesus has satisfied the justice of God for me. The fifth event in this history of redemption
is the resurrection of our Redeemer. He arose from the grave justified
in the Spirit. Peter said, He that is dead has
ceased from sin. But he's not talking about the
Savior. That's not what he's talking about. That's not what
he's talking about. He that is dead has ceased from sin, that
he should no longer live the rest of his lifetime in the lust
of his flesh. He's talking about us. We died
when he died. When he arose without sin, we
arose without sin. And he took his seat on the throne
of heaven to rule the universe, to give eternal life to as many
as the father has given him, pouring out his spirit upon his
people, giving us life and faith by the power of his grace, thus
saving us as the risen savior seated on his throne. The Lord
Jesus seated on his throne, has all power given to him over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given him. And then, soon, our Savior will appear. And redemption's work shall be
finished. Christ is coming. Behold, he
cometh. Behold, he cometh. Would to God we just have to
believe that. He's on his way now. He's on
his way and we ought to be expecting him all the time. Standing on
the tiptoe of faith looking for him in about 10 minutes, I'll
be heading out the door. And I'm going to drive back to
Danville. Shelby hasn't been able to be here this weekend,
and she hated it. But we had things happen she just couldn't
avoid, and she's home working. And I'll tell you what she's
doing. She's cleaning up a mess, just sawdust everywhere. But I'll tell you what else she's
doing. In about an hour and a half, she's going to be looking for
me. She was looking for me. And she'd been working all day.
All day. I went home to work a couple
hours this afternoon. She was working then. I left her. She was working
then. And about an hour and a half, she'll go out and look out the
front window of the house. She's looking for lights coming
down the road. And she won't see them. She'll go back. Go
back to where she was doing. She's probably fixing me some
macaroni and cheese. I got a hunch. And she's serving
me. She's serving me. All she's doing,
she's doing it for me. And she'll go out in a few minutes
and look down the road again. She won't see those lights. And
then she'll go back to do whatever she's doing, working, working,
working. And then she'll come look out
the window. There come those lights. She'll hear the mufflers.
Man, it sounds good coming down the road. She'll hear mufflers
on that truck. And she'll take her apron off,
and she'll look in the mirror. Make sure everything's just right,
hair fixed just right, and she'll run out the back door to meet
me. Oh, that's how I ought to be looking for my Savior. Standing
on the tiptoe of faith, looking for Him all the time, serving
Him with diligence all the time. He's coming, and when He comes,
redemption's done, because He will deliver the kingdom up to
the Father. And he'll say, like an obedient
servant, Father, here's my work. Lo, I and the children which
thou hast given me, to the praise of the glory of
God. Amen.