Now let's read from the book
of Luke, Luke chapter 23. I don't know of any message I've
prepared lately that has interested me and I think been a help to me
and a blessing to me more than this one I'm going to bring you
today. The title of the message is this. Is faith revelation or reason? Is saving faith revelation or
reason? Luke 23, verse 33. And when they
were come to the place which is called Calvary, the place
of the skull, there they crucified him and the male factors, one
on the right hand, the other on the left. Then said Jesus,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they
parted his raiment and cast lots. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with them derided him, mocked him, saying,
He saved others. Let him save himself, if he be
Christ, the chosen of God. And the soldiers also mocked
him. coming to him and offering him
vinegar, and saying, if you be the king of the Jews, save yourselves. And a superscription also was
written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew, this
is the king of the Jews. Now note carefully, one of the
male factors, one of the thieves, which were hanged, railed on
him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the
other, but the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, Dost thou,
dost not thou fear God? Seeing thou art in the same condemnation,
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our
deeds. But this man hath done nothing
wrong, nothing amiss. And he said to Jesus, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto
him, Verily I say unto thee, today, today, shalt thou be with
me in paradise." If I were hunting for the single most significant
event, the single most significant event in the entire world's history,
us from creation to the present day. If I were looking for the
place, particular place in history from creation to the present
day, to which I might go and sit down and study and learn
and search for divine wisdom and holy truth, where would I
go? the single most significant event
in all of history, from creation to present day, the place to
which I may go and for one particular day sit, learn, listen, study,
and learn the most about divine wisdom, divine providence, and
divine truth, where would I go? Right here to Calvary. right here. I would be there
when the Son of God was nailed to that tree and sit there for
the entire day until they took him down. And being there, I
would see the accomplishment of the divine eternal covenant. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. Now,
I've said this to you so many times, and I repeat it again,
the word covenant is so important in the Scriptures. God is a covenant
God. He made a covenant with Abraham.
He made a covenant with Noah. He made a covenant with David.
He made a covenant with Israel. God has always fulfilled His
covenants. But the greatest covenant of
all is the eternal covenant of grace, to which he refers again
and again, that covenant made with Christ before the world
began, that covenant called the everlasting covenant, the eternal
covenant, the covenant of God's almightiest grace, whereby he
gave to his son a people, whereby Christ assumed the responsibility
of the sheep which the Father gave him. And we see at Calvary
the accomplishment, the fulfillment of that covenant. Hebrews 13
verse 20, Now the God of peace that crucified and brought again
from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make
you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you
that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory for ever and ever." Isaiah wrote, "...it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and be satisfied, and the pleasure or purpose of the
Lord shall prosper in his hand. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many." If I could sit down at Calvary and stay
for the crucifixion of Christ, I would see the fulfillment and
accomplishment of that everlasting covenant in every phase, in every
jot and every tittle. For when Christ gave up the ghost,
He said, It's finished. It's finished. All right, secondly,
if I could sit there and behold Him on that cross, I would behold
the fulfillment, the fulfillment of every picture, promise, pattern
and type of the Old Testament Scripture. I would see in Christ
suffering, I would see in Christ as the blood dripped from his
hands and from his teeth and from his head and from his back.
I would see the fulfillment of Abel's sacrifice. When Abel took
the knife and slew the lamb and put the blood on the sacrifice
way back yonder hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of years ago, I would see in Christ's death the fulfillment
of it and the ceasing of it. I would see in Christ's blood
and death the Passover lamb, when Israel, faithful to the
Word of God, slew the lamb, roasted it with fire, ate its body, and
then took the blood and walked out and put it on the doorpost
And then every year after that, they observed the Passover, slaying
a lamb and shedding its blood and eating the body of the lamb. I would see in Christ's death,
our Passover. Christ, our Passover. I would
see in His death, the smitten rock. As He was smitten of God
and afflicted, I would see the serpent lifted up. I would see
the fulfillment of the tabernacle. the Holy of Holies, the priesthood,
the atonement, the mercy seat, the incense, I would see the
fulfillment of every single one of these pictures and promises
and types in the Old Testament right there at Calvary. They're
fulfilled. Noah's Ark is there and fulfilled. Turn your Bible
one page to Luke 24. Luke 24. Somebody said the Old
Testament. The Old Testament. Here's the
New Testament in picture, in promise, in pattern. It's the New Testament concealed. It's all right there in the Old
Testament. And when we read the New Testament,
the Old Testament opens up like a budding flower, like a blooming
flower. It's all in the bud. And then
when we read the New Testament, it opens up, and there it is.
Look at Luke 24, verse 44. And He said to them, Christ said
to the disciples, Luke 24, 44. These are the words which I speak
unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be
fulfilled which are written in the writings of Moses, in the
writings of the prophets, and in the writings of the Psalms
concerning me." Then, what are these things concerning him?
I just told you about them. Even when Adam sinned in the
garden, God took that animal and slew it. and covered the
nakedness of Adam and Eve with the skin of the animal. The Lord
God didn't take the wool off the animal and make a coat. He
killed the animal. He shed blood. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no covering, there's no remission, there's
no atonement, there's no satisfaction. Sin, when it's finished, brings
forth death. And God is saying, when He slew
that animal, somebody's got to die for your sins. Your sins
are going to be punished. Sin brings death. And when he
took that animal's skin, the animal had... When you take the
skin, you've got to die. And he covered Adam and Eve.
He covered their nakedness. He's showing us the covering
of Christ's righteousness, the covering of His sanctification,
how that He covers our sins and blots them out and obliterates
them and covers them from the eye and view of God. He covers
our sins and He dies for our sins. You see that? The blood
and the covering. And that's what he's saying here.
And from that first moment, all the way through the Old Testament,
verse 45, he opened to their understanding, opened their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures. What are the Scriptures? You say, well, put your whole
name in your hand. The Scriptures are the Old Testament Scriptures.
That's what he's talking about. That you might understand. You
say, I never could understand the Old Testament. Christ is
the key. He's the key of knowledge. You
never will understand the Old Testament as long as you look
on it as a book of proverbs, a book of history, a book of
sayings, a book of events. You've got to look at it as a
book of redemption, revealing Jesus Christ, and then you'll
understand it. Look at verse 46. And he said unto them, thus
it is written in the scriptures, and thus it behoove Christ to
suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among
all nations, beginning right here in Jerusalem. And I'd see
it counted, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament. I'd see
in Christ the smitten rock, the Passover lamb, the brazen serpent,
the great atonement, I'd see all those things, there it is,
fulfilled. The Feast of the Tabernacles, the Feast of the Firstfruits,
and I'd see that all of those things aunted to Christ when
He died, they were fulfilled and they were put away, never
to be offered again, never to be observed again. He takes away
the first and establishes the second. Thirdly, I would see
in the death of Christ, as nowhere else, If I could go there, nowhere
else, and I see it here reading it, the full character and attributes
of the living God revealed. If you want to see the character
of God, don't look at the sun and the moon and the stars and
nature and the wind and the snow falling and the rain falling
and the breeze blowing through the trees and all the romantic,
sentimental, emotional things that talk about seeing God in
these things. You want to see God, you look
at Christ. Christ crucified. Christ crucified. Christ crucified. When I stand at the cross, it's
all there. The justice of God. The justice
of God. What's Christ doing? He's satisfying
the justice of God. God said, I'm a Savior, but I'm
a just God and a Savior. Christ is satisfying the justice
of God. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. That's the God revealed at Calvary.
I'll by no means clear the guilty. The soul that sinneth shall die.
That's the justice of God. He spared not His own son. When
I stand at Calvary, I see the holiness of God. God's holiness
wouldn't let Him spare His own son. Christ bore our sins, and
sin must be punished. God must have a righteousness. Now, I know this generation and
the world in general, and religion in particular, has a God. And
He's just a... He's just a God of imagination. He's a God that fits anybody's
foot. He's a God of the Mohammedans.
He's a God of the Protestants. He's a God of the Catholics.
He's a God of the Jews. He's a God of this, that, and
the other. He's a God of the pagan. He's a God of the heathen.
He's a God of the religionist. He's a God of the whoever. And
He just fits in. Our God just fits in. He's philosophy. But the living God. He's a God. He is our God. He's just and
He's holy. I don't like to hear people say,
our God is a God of love. I wish we'd just quit saying
that. Our God is love. We serve a God that's righteous,
no? God is righteousness and there's
none apart from Him. He is righteousness. You can't
know righteousness if you don't know God. There's no demonstration
of life or love or truth or holiness except In God, that's where it's
found. And you know it as you're in
God. You see what I'm saying? And when I see Christ on the
cross, I see the holiness of God. He must, He must be lifted
up. As Moses lifted up the serpent,
even so, must the Son of Man be lifted up. God's holiness
will be manifested. I see the love of God. God so
loved, He gave His Son. God, here in His love, not that
we loved God, He loved us. I see the sovereignty of God
at the cross. You know, we were reading along
a while ago, right here in verse 34 of Luke 23, and he said, Father,
forgive them, they know not what to do. And very just to the side
kind, it says, and they parted his garment and cast lots. Why did they do that? They did
it because they wanted to, but they did it in fulfillment of
the Old Testament Scripture. It said they parted his raiment
and cast lots. Why do you say, I thirst? He
was thirsty, but he said that the scriptures might be fulfilled.
Everything at Calvary was purposed and planned by God before the
world began. And all these fellas did, they
with their wicked hands crucified Christ. But as I sit there and
watch, and I see them nail him to the tree, and it says over
here, they pierced my hands and feet. I see them cast lots. I sit there and watch them. They
cast lots for his garment. And I look back here. Hey, that's
what it says in Psalm 22. I see when he thirsts, they give
him gall, vinegar mixed with gall. That's what the Scripture
says. I see the sun refuse to shine,
that's what the Scripture says. I go all the way through this,
and everything they're doing, God said they would do. See,
God's sovereign. Our God's sovereign. And I'll
tell you this, like Paul's got out there, when you put that
out there yesterday, on the Lord has made all things for himself,
Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." Every man is going
to serve God's purpose. He said, Pharaoh, I raised you
up for this purpose, to show my power in you. Judas, purpose. Solitarius, God's purpose. This
sinner, God's purpose. I'm going to serve God's purpose.
God will restrain the wrath of man. The wrath of man will praise
the Lord, and the rest of it he'll restrain. He'll work it
all into his purpose and will. You see that at Calvary. And
as they laughed and mocked him and ridiculed him, that's what
it said they would do. Oh, the grace, how great a debtor.
And then, fourthly, I see this at Calvary. As I sit there, listen
to me now. I would see as nowhere else the
true character and nature of this human race. You know, we talk about the paganism
of the Roman Empire, and the paganism of cannibals and heathen,
and the paganism of this, that, and the other. And you say, you
talk about mothers having babies and throwing them in the garbage
can, and in the big cities, and all of this demonstration of
rottenness and filth, and the gas ovens in Germany, and Hitler's
regime, and all these things. Let me tell you something. There's
nowhere in human history you see man's depravity like at Calvary. I'll tell you why. You see, here
at Calvary is God. God in human flesh. This man
they're spitting him on is God. And man has God for the first
time and the last time in his hands. I hear preachers say,
well, Jesus is in your hands. Oh, no. No, we had him in our
hands one time. The first and last time. And you know what
we did? We spit on him. And then we did everything in
our power to increase his agony and soul-suffering and pain.
Here is a man who is true, perfect holiness. You say, oh, if someone
would just come to this earth, someone perfect and pure and
holy and without one bad motive, thought or word, we'd all follow
him. Oh, we'd put him on a cross. Exactly what we do. Oh, you say,
not me. Yes, you and me. We put him on
a cross. We couldn't stand him. His holiness
would expose our unholiness. His truth would expose our lies. His submission to God's will
would expose our rebellion. We couldn't stand him in our
nature. And that's the reason they hated
him. He said, they hated me without a cause. There was no cause for
this. There was absolutely no cause
for this. Pilate said, I found no fault
in him. I found no fault in him. What evil
has he done? Crucify him. I'll tell you the
reason we don't want him around. He's too holy for us. He's too
good for us. Nail him to a cross. We'll not
have this man reign over us. We're not going to have holiness
reign over us. We're not going to have God reign
over us. They so despised him. You know, Today, a criminal is
hanged or else electrocuted or put in a gas chamber. And it's
a solemn occasion to have the minister walking behind him,
reading, you know, and to have the newspaper reporters all in
silence. It's a real solemn occasion when
they nail Christ to the cross. Our nature, so despised it. We laughed at him while he died.
We weren't content with crucifixion. We had to laugh at him. We had
to mock him. Everybody there was laughing
when he died, mocking when he died, ridiculing him. If you're
the Christ, come down! That's human nature. They hate God, try to kill God,
and then mock him. while he suffered. He suffered
as no man ever suffered. He looked down into their faces,
and they looked up laughing and mocking. Now, you could sit there a while,
couldn't you? And then fifthly, as I sit there and listen and
learn, I learn something else, and this is where I'm coming.
I learn how the Lord God of glory saves a sinner. Now, you can
just throw away all your denominational guides and all your how-to books
and all your do-this-and-be-saved books. Just throw them away.
If you want to find out how God saves a sinner, come to the cross,
because that's where He saved one. That's where He personally,
personally, by Himself, individually saved a sinner. He saved a sinner. Right there at the cross. I read
it right here, didn't I? He saved a sinner. He not only
so perfectly saved him, but as soon as he died, he took him
straight to glory today. That's right. I'll ask you two
or three questions. First of all, who was this man?
This man here. Who was this man hanging on the
cross with Christ? Well, I'll tell you who he was.
He was a sinner. He was a son of Adam, just like
you and me. No difference. Watch this now. He was but an outward manifestation
of what we are inwardly. Did you know that? That fella
hanging on that cross with Christ was nothing in the world but
an outward, you say, was a thief. That's what we are in here. Yeah,
but he was a murderer. That's what you are in here,
and I am. You ever despise somebody badly
enough that you'd like to kill them? Maybe you wouldn't want
to, but somebody else could, and you wouldn't feel too bad.
If he got run over by a truck, you wouldn't feel too bad. You'd
sense some flowers, but you wouldn't feel too bad. This man was a
liar. That's what we are. You see what
he had done. Now here's what, here it is.
This man who died on that cross next to Christ had allowed the
inward nature to express itself to a point that he must die for
it. The only difference between you,
me, and that man is we've restrained it and he let it all hang out.
And they killed him. That's it. If our every thought,
now watch this, hold it, hold the phone. If our every thought
had been expressed in a deed, we'd been in prison a long time
ago. Or else, hanged. Now come on. Or shot. If our
every thought, now come on, if our every imagination had been
expressed in a deed, you'd been dead a long time ago. Well that's
the reason he's on the cross, he expressed it. You thought
it, and he did it. And they killed him. That's right. All that's sinning comes short
of the glory of God. There's none good, no, not one.
All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. And what I'm saying here is Jesus Christ the Lord
saved that sinner. He saved sinners. Christ died
for sinners. Do you understand that? That's
what I see. I sit here and watch this. There
were a lot of people at the cross. There was a religious fellow
with his full garment. There was all these other fellows
at the cross, women, some of them crying, weeping. But our
Lord turned His attention to a sinner and saved him. Just an old no-good, low-down
outcast, the outcast cast out and saved him. And let me read
you something. The hardest lesson, the hardest
lesson for us to learn, even those who preach, is to learn
of all lessons taught in the Word of God that Jesus Christ
died for sinners. Can you learn that? It's a hard lesson. We say we
believe it, we profess it, we preach it, we pray it, but deep
down in the human heart, that old human reason and righteousness
says the sinner must do something, be something, say something,
or give something. in order for God to save him.
That's right now, don't we? But he saved sinners of his own
will, according to his own purpose, for his own glory, with nothing
in return. This man on the cross, who chose
whom? Who loved whom? Who sought whom? Who called whom? Who saved whom? Christ saved the sinner. All right, look at the text again.
Luke 23. This man was a sinner. Bonafide,
genuine, self-confessed sinner. No frills, just a sinner. I wonder
if there's one here today. I wonder if there's a sinner. You know a sinner's hard to find?
Yes, sir. Yes, sir, they're hard to find.
We're they which justify ourselves. The sinner's hard to find. One
old writer said, a sinner is a sacred thing the Holy Ghost
hath made himself. And I'll tell you this, and you
hold on to your seat now, and you can quote me. Jesus Christ
is going to save every sinner. Every sinner. That's right, I
believe that. We should preach everybody's a sinner. Ask them. Find one tomorrow at work. Come
on now, you find one. They're hard to find. Sinners
are hard to find. I mean sinners. Bonafide, genuine,
unadulterated, self-confessed, hell-deserving, ill-deserving
sinners. Like the thief on the cross.
Who have nothing, know nothing, can do nothing. They're hard
to find. Say something else. My Lord's going to save every
lost sinner. Every one. A preacher. Everybody's lost. Ask Him. Now
you ask Him. I'm asking you. Are you lost?
I mean, plenty lost. Well, I'm as good as most folks,
I see what I'm saying. A sinner's not. He's not good
as anybody. A sinner's the chief of sinners. A sinner's the lowest
lap. A sinner is a leper. A sinner
is undone. A sinner's cut off. A sinner's
a candidate for the judgment and wrath of God, deservedly
so. That's what a sinner is. If I could find one, God help
me if I could find one, I'd tell him point blank. Eyeball to eyeball,
Christ died for you. He died for the ungodly. Anybody
here ungodly? That's a word we just don't use
in reference to ourselves. But listen to what this man said.
What did he acknowledge? Well, first of all, verse 40,
he acknowledged that he feared God. He said to his friend, don't
you fear God? Don't you fear God? He's talking
about Christ there because he said, we're in the same condemnation.
God is hanging on a cross, and we're hanging here with Him.
Revelation? That man had revelation. God
revealed who Christ Jesus is to that man. Yes, He did. He confessed His sins, and He
said in verse 41, and we are hanging on a cross justly. We're
getting what we deserve. Verse 41, we receive the due
reward of our deeds. This is what I deserve. That's
true conviction. That's true conviction. He confessed
the fear of the Lord. I fear God. He confessed the
deity of Christ, the same condemnation. He confessed His sin, we indeed
justly. He said, I have no claim. I have
no bargaining power. I have no plea. I'm getting what
I deserve. I'm getting what I deserve. What do you believe about Christ?
Now, you have to attribute this to divine revelation. Somebody
said this. When did he believe all this?
When did this man, when he said, don't you fear God, seeing we're
in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly, we're getting
what we deserve, this man's done nothing wrong. This man's God.
Hey, Lord, you're not going to stay dead. You're coming into
their kingdom. I believe that. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom." When did he believe all this? When did he say all
this? Well, he said it and believed it at a time when, to all human
reason and all appearance, Jesus Christ had no power to do anything.
This man watched Jesus Christ carry that cross through the
streets of the city and saw him stumble, staggered unto the cross,
and finally just collapsed. And they called a fellow out
of the crowd, Simon the Cyrenian, and made him bear the cross.
And Jesus Christ walked to Calvary and laid his hands out, and they
nailed him to the cross, lifted him up in the air. His disciples
had pled. The sun had not yet refused to
shine. Darkness had not yet covered
the land. The rocks had not yet rent or
quaked. The veil had not been rent in
the temple. Darkness had not arisen, the
Father had not forsaken, none of those supernatural signs had
been done at all. It was before all these signs
that God's grace was magnified and revealed to that sinner,
and he believed Christ alone without any supportive signs.
That's right. If there was ever an hour when
a man would be justified in saying, this man is not the Christ, it
would have been right now. But when he healed people, they
said, he's the Christ. When he rode triumphantly into
Jerusalem, they said, he's the Christ. When he gave sight to
the blind, they said, he's not just the Christ. Here's a man
who's told me all I've ever done. He's not just the Christ. This
man didn't see all that. This man saw a weak, frail, helpless
son of a human woman hanging on a cross, being laughed at
and mocked and ridiculed, and looked like he had no strength
or power to do anything. That's what he said. Lord remember
me." That's when he bleeds. You see, this is heart faith.
And this is faith that's born not of reason, this is faith
born of the Spirit. The head goes by sight, the heart
goes by faith. Now I'm going to illustrate that. I'm going to illustrate that
a couple of times. You see, faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And this
man hanging on that cross, to his heart, God revealed, this
is the Christ. This is the Christ. At a time
when a man would have been justified saying, he's a failure. He's
a failure. Peter, one night they were out
in the boat. And Peter was sitting in the
boat with the rest of the disciples. And they looked up, and Christ
came walking to them on the water. And they were just astonished.
And Peter stood up in the boat, and he said, Lord, bid me come
to thee on the water. And the Lord said, well, come
on, Peter. And so he stepped out of the boat, and he walked
on water at the word of his Lord. He believed the word of his Lord.
He believed in revelation. And then Peter's head took over.
His head took over. He began to reason. He saw the
waves. And his ears heard the wind.
And he got to reasoning, what am I doing out here on this water?
I can't walk on water. And down he went. As long as
he looked and listened to Christ, as long as his head didn't reason,
he walked. by revelation. But when he began
to reason, he began to say, Abraham. Abraham came out of his father's
house at the word of the Lord. God said, leave your father's
house, go to land I shall thee. And he came out, took his wife
Sarah by the hand in gladness and faith, believing only revelation. That is not reasonable. Abraham,
you're 75 years old. You've been here all these years.
You're in your father's house. You're comfortable. There's nothing
out there. You don't even know where you're going. That's not
good. Now wait for another sign. No. Revelation. He went. And
he got in this country where this powerful king was. And the
powerful king took a shine to Zabra. And Abraham's head took
over. And he began to reason. And he
said, Zabra, he said, now you're beautiful. And he just wanted
me and a whole lot of him. Why don't you just tell him you're
my sister?" He got along fine. Then he began to reason. God
promised Abraham and Sarah a son. And he believed God. She believed
God. And the years passed, and they
began to reason. And she said, now you're getting
older, and I'm getting older, and this son's... Why don't you
take... See how we reason? Reason? Reason? If you read Hebrews
11, the list of the faithful in Hebrews 11, you will find
this faith was based not on human reasoning, but on revelation.
Noah built an ark on dry land. That's unreasonable. Abraham,
offer your son, take the son whom you love to the mountain
and sacrifice him. That's unreasonable. Joshua, get your troops and march
around the city of Jericho. March around it seven times and
bang on those pipelines and blow the horn. That's unreasonable.
David came down to the valley where Israel was at bay, held
at bay by the Philistine army. And there stood that nine or
ten foot giant Goliath. And young David, the stripling
of a lad, probably in his late teens or early twenties, said,
I'll go out and fight him. Is there not a cause? So he took
his sling and his rocks and the soldiers began to reason with
him. They said, now wait a minute, hold on, hold on. Let's go in
the tent here. And they put Saul's armor on
him. That's human reasoning. It just makes sense. If a guy's
going to get killed, he ought to get killed dressed up, you
know. And so we're going to put this, and take this sword. He
can hardly lift it, but take it. That's reasoning. And David
said, no reasoning. Only revelation. I'm going to
meet the giant. That's unreasonable. You're crazy.
That's unreasonable. Moses, lead Egypt's wealth. Come
back here forty years later as a shepherd and lead Israel out.
That's unreasonable. Kill a lamb, put the blood on
the door. That's unreasonable. Smite the sea and it'll divide.
That's unreasonable. Lift up the brazen serpent. That's
all unreasonable. Human reasoning. And I'll tell
you this. It's where the preachers of today
have got us in trouble. Reasoning. Instead of just believing
God. Here's a man hanging on a cross.
Looks over to the weakest, frailest, dying human being. And God tells
him in his heart, that's the Christ, believe me. There the
justice and honor and righteousness of God is put. Don't reason now.
Don't reason. Just believe. Don't read. Don't go off in the corner now
and start reasoning. Just believe. Spurgeon said, it's unfashionable
nowadays to believe the old doctrine of the atonement. Modern culture,
modern religion has erased it and altered it to such a way,
in such a way that no atonement's left. People today are too advanced,
too modern to believe the old-fashioned gospel. But as for me, I tie
forever the scarlet line in my window. And I stand by the revealed
truth of God, once delivered to the saints. My declaration
of faith is this, I believe in a real, literal substitution
of Jesus Christ, who died for the unjust that he might bring
us to God, and I refuse to reason with you. Is that all right? In the midst of a thousand new
Gospels, none of them is worth the breath that speaks them.
I hold to that ancient gospel of the prophet Isaiah, the chastisement
of our peace is upon him, and with his stripes I am healed.
Beloved believer, if the doctrine of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
in his substitutionary blood be indeed your hope, believe
it, avow it, preach it boldly, and let there be no mistake about
it in these evil times of human reason. Tie the scarlet line
in your window, and if nobody else will see it, God sees it. If nobody else will smile upon
you, God will. No man that I know of saw the
blood on the Lindland side post in the dead of night in Egypt.
Who can see blood on a door in the middle of the night? God
saw it. God saw it. And God said, when
I see the blood, I'll pass over you. You see what I'm trying
to say? It's not reason, it's revelation. I believe it. And then in the last place, and
I close, what happened to this man? In verse 43, my Lord said
to him today, right now, you shall, it's as positive as God
rules, be with me, with me with perfect holiness, with me in
paradise. And after all, is that not my
goal? I'll be satisfied when I wake
with his likeness, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. But I'll tell you how I'm going to get there, the same
way this fellow did. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. There may I, just as vile as
he, wash my sins away. Thank God he died for sinners.
Let's sing 228. 228. My faith hath found a resting
place, not in reason, but in Christ.