I am constantly aware and often reminded of how indebted we are to our
Lord for what he has given us here in this place. And I desire, I would almost say above all things,
And may God grant it, that as long as this building shall stand, and as long as this pulpit shall
stand, and as long as worshipers, true worshipers, who worship
God in spirit and truth, and the Father seek as such to worship
him. as long as true worshippers shall
frequent this place, that the subject preached at all times in every gathering
shall be the person and work of our precious Lord Jesus Christ,
and that the songs sung and the prayers prayed and the testimonies
given forward shall always point to Him and bring men to love
Him and believe Him, don't you? Christ Jesus, in His infinite,
indisputable deity, His glory, is inexhaustible, unsearchable
glory. Very God of very God. Thy throne,
O God, is forever. When Isaiah saw his glory, he
couldn't do but one thing. He spake of him. And you wonder why preachers
do not magnify and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only
one answer. They haven't seen his glory. Not only in his glory, but in
his true humanity. was made flesh and actually dwelt
among us. Can you comprehend that? He who
made the world was in the world, and the world didn't know him.
He came into his own, and his own received him not. He's our
glorious representative, numbered with the transgressors. May it
be preached that Christ Jesus is crucified, risen, and ascended,
our blessed atonement, by whom we have right now, by the grace
of God, received an atonement. The atonement, the only atonement,
He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him. By stripes we're
healed. But God raised him from the dead.
And when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. And as our glorious full
reverend, he has entered within the veil. And he's waiting to
gather all of his elect together and show forth the riches of
his grace. Won't that be something? Christ
Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, unto whom God hath
given all authority and all power over all flesh. Jesus Christ
is worthy to receive honor, power, glory divine. and blessings more
than I can ever give, O Lord, be forever Thine. I covet and I desire above all
things that in the days to come from this place might sound forth
as never before the glories of Christ in His person. and in his work. And I tell you
this, no true believer ever tires of hearing the glorious gospel
of Jesus Christ. Now if you're weary of the subject
of Christ, there is a genuine problem somewhere. Paul said
to speak the same things to you, to me, is not tiresome. And for you, it is most profitable.
Let me ask you, who among us has ever complained of having
too much sunshine? You ever complained of having
too much sunshine? Well, I tell you, when we see
the sun rise each morning, we rejoice to see it rise, don't
we? And Malachi said, under you that
fear my name. Shall the son of righteousness
arise with healing in his wings, never weary of the light of the
sun. And he, the son of righteousness,
is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I ask you again,
who among us complains of the monotony of bread? We sat down at lunch today. And
Brother Bill Clark was directly in front of me. And the bread,
the rolls, were brought and set on the table in the fancy little
basket with the, you ladies know, the cloth covering. And Bill
reached over and pulled the cover off. Now he's nearly as old as
I am, whether he admits it or not. And you think, how many,
how many, how many times that Irishman converted into a Frenchman
has opened a bread box. How many times? You just think,
in all his 175 years, that he's opened a bread box. But he opened
it so delicately, and like this, you know, and he reached in there
and took out one of those rolls and held it up, and then he put
butter on it, and he put it in his mouth, and he said, He'd been eating bread all these
years. But he ate that bread at noon like he'd never seen
a roll before. And I joined him. And I ate nearly
as many as he did. But now who among us ever worries
of bread? Do you ever tired of bread? I
don't hear anybody griping about the monotony of bread. Doris
puts bread on the table every meal. Bread, bread, bread, bread. I'll tell you this. I never weary of the bread from
heaven. I open this book up tonight like
I never opened it up before. Like Bill uncovered those beautiful
rolls, I uncover this bread of life again. And John read it.
I've read that scripture, John. I know, I can't say how many
times, but it just came fresh tonight, didn't it? The bread,
the word of God, the bread of life, Christ, my strength and
my redeemer, redeemer, my redeemer. I read about him again. I just
feasted on the bread again tonight. Did you? You're never tired. I don't hear anybody fussing
about water, too much water. Boy, thank you. Appreciate it. I've had a drink before, you
know. That's just as good as the first one. Isn't it? Who's the water of life? Don't tell me that you've ever
tasted the Lord, that he's gracious, and your appetite is not just
as keen for him now as it was the first time you tasted him.
Huh? That right, eldest elder? Just as keen. the water of life. Who can tire of Christ our light? Who can tire of Christ our bread? Who can tire of Christ the water
of life? Who can tire of Christ the hope
of glory? Who can tire of Christ the rose
of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the fairest among ten thousand? So tonight on our table, I've
got the same prayer. It's bread and water. It's bread
and water. And I want you to turn to Romans
chapter 3. But oh, what bread! And oh, it's
the clearest crystal fountain of life. He that drinketh this
water will never thirst again. Never thirst again. he that eateth
my flesh, and drinketh my blood, shall have everlasting life."
Here's our text tonight, Romans 3 verse 25, listen. It says,
Whom God hath set forth, underscore that word, set forth, two words,
to be a perpetuation, underscore that word, perpetuation, through
faith in his blood, underscore that word, blood, to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus. Verse 25 again, what was that
word we underscored first? It says, whom God hath set forth. God hath set forth, God hath
set him forth. The word set forth, what does
it mean? God hath set forth his son, whom
God hath set forth. Well, you've got a little number
there, if you've got a Cambridge Bible, maybe another Bible. that
refers you to the center reference and the word there is foreordained. And that's right. Nothing wrong
with that at all. The word set forth means several
things though. It not only means that God foreordained
him. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
did not take this office upon himself to be our charity, our
shepherd, our redeemer. He didn't take this office upon
himself any more than Aaron took upon himself to be the high priest.
But he who said unto him, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee, he ordained him. He foreordained him. He predestinated
him. God the Father made Christ our
surety. That's clear, isn't it? God hath
foreordained him. God hath predestinated him. Almighty God hath ordained him
to be a surety of a better covenant. But this word set forth means
something else. It means something else. It means
this. Now, write this down somewhere
in the margin of your Bible or at least upon your heart. It
not only means God hath set him forth, or foreordained him, or
predestinated him, or designated him to be our surety, our representative,
our mediator, our atonement, our righteousness, our propitiation.
But God hath actually placed him in public view. That's what
it means too. God hath placed him in public
view in that office. in that work. God had placed
him in public view. God hath, in other words, exhibited
him in a conspicuous manner in this office. That's exactly what
it is. God, listen to this, Christ be
my first elect, he said, and then he chose his people in their
head. God set him forth. God Almighty
set him forth. God placed him in public view
and exhibited him in a conspicuous manner to be the Redeemer, the
perpetuation. How do you mean that picture?
Well, go back yonder to the promises in the Old Testament. In the
Garden. He was set, when Adam fell, in
the Garden. When God said, the seed of woman
shall bruise the serpent's head, at that very time, Tom, God sent
him forth in public view, in a conspicuous manner, he's going
to have to be the seed of woman. This Redeemer, this representative,
is going to be the seed of woman. Behold, the Lord himself will
give you a sign, a conspicuous sign, a virgin shall be with
child and bring forth a son. Thou shalt call his name Emmanuel,
God with us. That's pretty conspicuous, isn't
it? And then also, is not this a picture of Christ? When the
people of Israel were in Egypt, and God would lead them out of
Egypt, and his servant Moses came to them and said, go out
and select the lamb. Now there were two or three million
Israelites. Can you imagine that day when
all those Israelites were out, every head of a household was
out looking over the lambs, or the rams. And he was carefully
selecting one. He got one and took him out,
and he laid him over here and put him in a pen and kept him
there for four days. That's pretty conspicuous. Everybody,
all the Israelites have got lambs around in every place in little
pens. And then on that day, they slew
a lamb. and took its blood, now let's
put it conspicuous, and smelled it on the door. What is God saying? Christ our Passover is sacrificed
for us. God set him forward, conspicuously,
noticeably, noticeably. And then one day when the heavens
were angry, The wrath of God was rolling like dark clouds
and the fiery serpents were all over the camp biting the people
and they were falling and dying and wailing and weeping and Moses
stood out there and took that old brazen serpent that he had
made in the likeness of the serpent bitten the people and put it
on a pole and raised it up to heaven. And they were healed. Pretty conspicuous. What's God
doing? As Moses lifted up that serpent
in the wilderness, even so one day men with cruel hands and
wicked heights and hammers of steel drove nails in the hands
of a man called Jesus Christ and then raised him up to heaven
and the storm clouds rolled and the sun refused to shine and
he screamed, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's pretty
conspicuous. God set him forth. See what I'm
saying? God, in a conspicuous manner,
in public view, placed out for all men to see, exhibited his
propitiation. That's what I'm saying. The manna from heaven, people
going out and all over the ground as bread. Bread everywhere. They gathered it up. Gathered
it up. And then it was gone. A rock
one day was smitten and floods of water came out, enough to
furnish water for two million people to bathe in, wash their
clothes and drink and cook with. That's a lot of water. That's
about as much as flowing down here in this Ohio River or more,
but it was a lot cleaner. And then one day, Almighty God
hung a star over a little village called Bethlehem. little old town, thou Bethlehem
smallest of all, unrecognized and unknown, a bunch of sheep
herders and shepherds. But one glorious night, Almighty
God calls the star just to stop, the brightest star the world
has ever seen, right up over a manger where a Jewish couple,
Joseph and Mary, were spending the night because the world didn't
have any room for them. And that night she gave birth
to a baby boy without the aid of a human father. And out yonder
on the hillside the angels of God came down and the heavenly
choir sang, We bring you good tidings of great joy unto you
is born this day, what a day, conspicuous wasn't it, in the
city of David, a Savior, a Savior, Christ the Lord, and there's
a star. Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace, good will. And that star rested over his
birthplace and one day when this man called Jesus had left Nazareth
and gone out to preach. There was a prophet of God born
supernaturally from old parents, the forerunner, the last of the
prophets, and he pointed and said, Behold, the Lamb of God. There he is. God set him forth. You see what I'm saying? He didn't
just foreordain him. He didn't just predestinate it,
he set him forth, not smack in plain full view in a conspicuous
manner, Jim, that cannot be denied. A man who doesn't see him doesn't
want to see him. A man that doesn't believe him
doesn't want to believe him. If all the light you've got's
darkness, how great is that darkness? There's nothing like willful
ignorance. It's nothing like willful unbelief. And one day,
the voice from heaven came and said, This is my son! Heaven! That's Fred Plain, isn't it?
He set him forth. And he walked this earth, and
his works testified of him. When he spoke, the clouds ceased
to roll, the rain stopped falling, the rains quit dashing, and he
lay down at his feet like a shepherd dog. What manner of man is this,
they said, that even the winds obey his voice? God set him for. And one day he willingly bore
his cross to Calvary, and all scripture fulfilled. The sun
refused to shine, and when he cried with a loud voice and yielded
up the ghost, and yielded up the ghost, What sign showest
thou, O Lord, that this is the High Priest, this is the Mediator,
this is the Great Atonement? Almighty God reached down and
took hold of that veil, that thick veil that had stood in
that temple all these decades and millenniums, and separated
the presence of God from the people. That veil that required
only the priest of God once a year, entering into the Holy of Holies
with the blood, only the priest, to offer an atonement on the
mercy seat. That veil which kept men away from the presence of
God, God took and tore it in two, from top to bottom. and said, seeing we have such
a great high priest over the house of God, let us all, as
kings and priests, come bold into his presence. God set him
forth. How do they miss it? Bill said,
they're blind. Yeah, they're blind, but they're
willfully blind. I don't pity sinners. I don't
pity them. I feel sorry for him, I don't
pity him. Because if any man will to do his will, he'll know
the will of God. Is that right? My Lord said that. And then my Lord raised him from
the dead. Listen, turn to Acts 17, verse
31. Verse 31. God set him forth. God set him forth. From all eternity,
God set him forth. Through the Old Testament, if
you want to see, you can see. If you want to hear, you can
hear. God set him forth conspicuously in a manner that cannot be denied. God set him forth to be a propitiation. And God raised him from the dead.
That's never been done. Acts 17.31, Because God hath
appointed a day into which he have judged the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance,
he hath given evidence unto all men, in that he raised him from
the dead. Right, John? He raised him from
the dead. They went to that tomb. Sunday
morning to anoint his body, and the angel said, He's not here!
You didn't expect him to be, did you? Didn't he say unto you,
On the third day I'll rise from the grave? He's not here! Why
do you seek the living among the dead? He's risen! God set him forth. God set him
forth. And now tonight again, The merciful, gracious God has
set him forth in the gospel that's preached to you. Oh, I know it's
not preached in every place, but it's preached in this place,
so men are without excuse. God set him forth. To you is
this word of salvation said. Christ is the word of life. Christ
is the gospel of your salvation. God has set him forth. Look back
at our text, Romans 4. Can you see that? Whom God has
set forth, foreordained, sure, predestinated,
undeniably so, God has set him forth in his purpose and plan.
Christ is the fulfillment of all things. God has put everything
into his hand. But Almighty God in his mercy
has set him forth again. And again, and again, and again. He said, the works that I do,
they bear witness of me. My Father hath borne witness
of me. The scriptures bear witness of me. And you will not come
to me that you might have luck. Or you'll go to a water pool.
You'll even go to a preacher. And these television hucksters
will tell people, Take this phone number and they'll go to a counselor.
We've got counselors standing by to help you. That's the last
fellow you need is a human counselor. You need him whose name is counselor. They'll go anywhere. But you
will not come to me. And my Father has set me forth.
Well, look at the next word I told you to underscore. The Father
set him forth to be a propitiation. A propitiation. What is a perpetuation? Well, the word means mercy-seek. Mercy-seek. And I take you simply,
simply, I take you back to the tabernacle. And God give me brevity. But you know that old tabernacle
stood out there in the wilderness. God gave it, God gave every every
detail of the design to picture Christ, every detail, even the
sockets on the pole show something about Christ, even the bells
on the priest's garment, even the white linen fence, even the
colors in the veil, everything's Christ. And that old tabernacle
stood there in the wilderness, in it two compartments, the holy
place wherein was the bread and the candlestick and the incense.
And then that veil. And within that veil, the awesome,
awesome, fearful, holy of holies. And in that holy of holies, that
Ark of the Covenant. And in that Ark of the Covenant,
the broken law, the tables of stone that God wrote with his
own finger, broken law, was in that in that ark. And over that ark, the beaten
gold cover, a covering, was the mercy seat. That's the mercy
seat, huh? The mercy seat. In that covenant, in that ark,
was the tables of stone. And over that ark, the mercy
seat. And here's where the glory of
God stood. The Shekinah glory of God was
over that mercy seat between the cherubim. The Shekinah glory
of God was over that mercy seat. And here's where the high priest
came in once a year with the blood and the censer of incense,
which is the prayers of Christ, and he sprinkled the blood on
that mercy seat. On that mercy seat. And there
man, the sinner, came and met God at the mercy seat. And there
God came in his infinite, immaculate, incomprehensible holiness and
met that sinner in the blood of the mercy seat. Huh? Would
you meet God? You'll meet him at the mercy
seat. You'll meet Him at the mercy seat. That's propitiation.
Mercy seat. You'll meet Him in Christ. Would
you meet God? Would you meet God? He has set forth Christ,
His righteousness and atonement, His mercy seat, where God can
meet you. God in His glory, God in His
undeniable glory, His uncompromising glory can meet a man nowhere. but at the mercy seat. He never
met any man anywhere but at the mercy seat. And that not without
blood. You can meet God only here. We
sing an old song. We like to sing about heaven.
I wish we loved to sing about Christ, because Christ is heaven. We sing an old song, meet me
there, meet me there, where the tree of life is blooming, meet
me there. on that happy golden shore where
the faithful part no more. Meet me there. Now, I'll tell
you where I'd love for you to meet me. At the mercy seat. That's where
sinners meet God. That's where God's grace flows,
and God's mercy flows, and God's justice is honored, and God's
law is satisfied. Meet me at the mercy seat, and
there we together will meet God. That's the only place you can
meet a forgiving God, is at the mercy seat. That's what Christ
is. God has set him forth as a mercy seat. Huh? You with me? God set him forth conspicuously,
undeniably as a mercy seat. But you know, propitiation is
not just a mercy seat, but it is a covering. Did you get that? A covering. A covering. That mercy seat, that beaten
lid of gold, covered something. And with that blood on it made
it impossible to see that something that was underneath there. And
that something underneath there was nothing in the world but
the broken holy law of God. But when that blood was put on
the mercy seat, it provided Cecil a covering. A covering, and that
Shekinah glory, that searching Shekinah glory, that glory from
which nothing can be heard, that all-seeing, sovereign-eyed God
who tries to hide, being there on that mercy seat, and the blood
covered our sins. Huh? Would you have a covering? You don't have one without the
blood of Christ. God has set him forth to be a mercy seat
and a covering. My sins are great, David said,
they're ever before me. I've justified God in his condemnation. But I'll tell you this, he can't
see my sins under the blood. They're covered. Now the preacher
of doctrine will set forth for you a creed, but a creed won't
cover. And the preacher of excitement
and emotion and experience will set forth for you a feeling.
Don't you feel good? Huh? You feel it? But feeling
won't cover that broken law. After you quit feeling good,
you've got the awesome task of meeting God in judgment and the
consideration of your sins and my sins. And we'll feel pretty
bad then. And the preacher of law sets
forth a work, as Bill said, with his ten-pronged whip of law. And the preacher of reward sets
forth a reward, but law and works and reward won't cover. God sets
forth Christ, our mercy seal. Huh? He sets
forth Christ, our propitiation. He sets forth Christ, our covering. Oh, look at it again. What good
news? Whom? God. Ain't nobody else
can do it. Whom? God. And when He does it,
nobody can change it. Whom? God. In mercy and grace,
have already, not going to, set forth. Brought out to public
vision in an undeniable manner. Him. Christ. to be a propitiation,
a mercy seed, a covering. All right, watch it now. Through
faith in his blood. It doesn't say anything about
faith in a babe. Oh, there's no blood without
the babe. It doesn't say anything about faith in the stranger of
Galilee in that first song. If you know him, he ain't no
stranger. It doesn't say anything about faith in the healer, but
it says faith in his blood. Faith in his blood. I know this
world with its emotional religion wants to talk about everything
in the world about Jesus Christ, but his blood. And it's the blood
that makes atonement for the soul. Without the shedding of
blood, there's no remission. He lived that I might have a
perfect righteousness. He was nailed to the tree that
my sins might be nailed to the tree. He died that all my guilt
might die in the curse of the law. He was buried that my sins
might be buried. He arose that I might rise to
newness of life. He ascended that I might ascend. He was received by God that I
might be received and accepted in the Beloved. He reigns that
I might reign. I refuse to lower the standard.
It's faith in his blood. Oh, surely God will let people
in if they are sincere through faith in his blood. Yeah, but you know, preacher,
if a man gave his life to the church and to the work of the
church, you know, through faith in his blood, why you want to
change it? Yeah, but you know, if a fellow
or a woman treated a neighbor right, you know what God told
us to do? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?
Through faith in his blood. Why don't you leave it alone?
whom God has set forth, undeniably, conspicuously, God set him forth. Everything God's done has something
to do with Christ ever since he started doing it, for our
knowledge. And he set him forth to be a propitiation, to be a
mercy-seeker, to be a covering through faith in his blood, just
as I am without one bleak but that thy blood was shed for me,
O Lamb of God, I come to thee. Let others go where they will,
I come to thee. Just as I am, and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark blot, to thee whose blood can cover
each spot, O Lamb of God, I come to thee. Just as I am, thou wilt
receive, will welcome, pardon, cleanse, cover, Relief! Because thy word of promise I
believe. Lamb of God, I come. And that'll
do to live by, Juanita. And that'll do, Gary, to die
by. And nothing else will, huh? I was reading again the other
day, and I think about, I said on television this morning, I
weep for this generation. They are the pawns of professional
preachers. My generation is being mistreated,
misused, and misguided. My generation is being fleeced
by men who claim to be the representatives of God. When will we quit supporting
them? I was reading the other day about
old Abraham who took Isaac out there to the mountain. And that
old man, walking up that mountain, he said to the men he left below,
he said, we're going up there, the lad and I are going to worship
God. We're going up there and meet God. We're going up there
and talk to God. We're going up there and fellowship
with God. And Isaac was listening to all that. He didn't say anything. He was an obedient, quiet son. And they started up that mountain,
and the father handed him the fire, he had it on a something
he carried like that. He put that wood on his back,
and the old man was going up the mountain, and that boy walked
along beside him. And that boy was doing some thinking.
And after a while he broke the silence, he said, my father, what is it boy? Here's the fire,
and here's the wood. You say we're going to worship
God. Where is the Lamb? Where is the Lamb? And I wonder
when I hear preachers preach. I see a lot of fire and I see
some pretty big buildings built out about a jungle of trees and
wood. And they say they're going to
meet God. But I wonder, where is the Lamb? And fire is no good. That's strange fire and that's
strange wood without the Lamb. I'll tell you a true story. Right
here in Catlessburg, Kentucky. A few years ago, there was a
young man, unhappy. He'd been in church. He'd been
a member of a Baptist church. He'd been a lost professor of
religion and finally just quit church. He got married. Got concerned about his soul.
So he bought a Bible. He didn't go back to church,
he bought him a Bible. Went down to the store and bought
him a Bible. And he started reading in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. Just reading, reading. And you
know what he discovered? As he read the Bible, he discovered
there was a whole lot of talk about a lamb. A lamb, a lamb
of offering, a burnt offering, a sin offering, an offering of
sacrifice. There was never any worship of
God, or fellowship with God, or any man coming to God without
a lamb. He told his wife, he said, we
got to have a lamb. We can't go to God, we can't worship God,
we got to have a lamb. We don't have a lamb. And he
went to see a preacher. He told the preacher what he'd
been reading and the preacher said, we don't sacrifice animals
in this day. So he went back home and kept reading
about that lamb. This is a true story, you've
heard it. Kept reading about that lamb. That you've got to
have. You've got to have a lamb. You
can't come to God without a lamb. He saw that without the help
of any preacher, prophet, or evangelist. One morning at 9.30,
he turned the television on, and this preacher came on, and
I announced my topic. I said, I'm going to preach this
morning on Behold the Lamb of God. And he hollered, Cappy! Come here! This fellow is going
to talk about the Lamb! She came in and sat down. I went
back yonder to the Garden of Eden when God slew a lamb and
covered man's nakedness. And I came up to Abel when he
slew a lamb and worshiped God. God accepted his sacrifice. And
I came to Egypt when they slew a lamb, put the blood on the
door. I came to the tabernacle. I came to Abraham then. I thought
about that lamb. I came to the tabernacle when
they sacrificed the lamb. He said, that's it. There's the
lamb. And I came to John the Baptist
and I said the same thing. There's the lamb of God. Behold
the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He said,
that's it. Jesus Christ is my lamb. And Tuesday morning he came driving
by this church. I came in the office. I was sitting
there reading. He said, can I talk to you? I
said, yes, sir. And he told me that story. He
said, I finally found out who he is. Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God. You going to preach here tomorrow
night? I said, yes, sir. He said, I'm going to be here.
He's named David Adkins. He's now pastor of a church in
North Carolina. And you know what he preaches? Would you have any doubt what
he'd preach? You know what he talks about?
Every time he gets up to preach, he'll be here this week, you'll
get to hear him. I bet you a dollar a hat and a count of cash, he
talks about the Lamb of God. And I won't lose that bet. That's
a sure thing. Because when Isaiah saw His glory,
he spake of Him. And you can test it. Next time
anybody walks up here, opens his mouth, if he's seen his glory,
he'll speak of him. Behold the Lamb of God. Our Father, may we, may we, with
eyes of faith, with eyes of the soul, in those deep recesses
where no man but you can look, May we, every one of us, in honest
and sincerity, perseverance, see the Lamb of God. And not
only see Him, but love Him. And trust Him. And be able to
say, though He slay me, I trust Him. Because I know my Redeemer
liveth. And He has stood on this earth. And with these eyes, I'm going
to see Him. And it's like our brother said tonight, and
that faith, and that faith will become sight, and that hope will
become reality, but that love for Christ will never change. In His name we pray and for His
glory. Amen.