And as I prepared the message
for this morning, the key thought was this. How does a person, either brought up in religion,
brought up in the church, or a person who's never attended
church, who's never had any religious background, how does a person
really learn the gospel? There is but one gospel. Paul
said, Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. The gospel is the gospel of God.
The gospel is the gospel of His grace. And he said if anybody
preached any other gospel other than this gospel, even if it's
an angel from heaven, let him be accursed. You see how serious
this is. How does one learn the gospel?
If I stood here this morning for the first time, and the last
time to address this congregation. Where would I start? That's a
good question. Where do you start? How are we
going to be faithful to our charge, leave men without excuse, faithfully
warn sinners, preach so that God's sheep will hear his voice?
That's a tall order. And I know this. This is the
first thing I know about this whole situation. that apart from
divine revelation, nobody is going to understand the gospel.
Now, they may hear it with these ears. Christ said they have ears,
but they don't hear. They have eyes, but they don't
see. Hearts that do not understand. Blessed are your eyes, they see,
and your ears, they hear. He said to Peter, flesh and blood
didn't reveal the gospel to you, but my Father which is in heaven.
So I know if my voice is the only voice you hear, no matter
how much logic or understanding or reasoning or natural wisdom
I employ, nothing of any eternal value will be accomplished. That's
a fact. Actually, it will only add to your condemnation. If
my voice is the only voice you hear, it will only add to your
condemnation. We've got to hear him who speaks from Heaven. We've
got to hear God who speaks through his work. That's what it says
in Romans 10 here. It says in verse 13, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how
are they going to call on him, or in him, on Christ, in whom
they've not believed? And how are they going to believe
in him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear
without a preacher? So let me speak. God doesn't work apart
from the mind. God reveals his gospel through
the Word. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. You've got to hear the Word of
God. The Holy Spirit uses the word, it's the seed. A sower
went forth to sow, the sower is the son of man, the seed is
the word. God has begotten us into a living hope, the resurrection
of the dead, a hope of eternal life through the word of truth.
of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. The word is
the seat. Nobody is ever going to be saved
unless he hears the gospel. It pleased God with the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. But it's preaching in
the power of the Holy Spirit. They shall all be taught of God,
and every man that hath heard and learned of the Father will
come to me. So we're dependent on the Holy Spirit, but we do
preach to the mind. We do preach to the thoughts.
We preach to the mind in the hope that God will give a heart
to understand. We preach to these ears in the
hope that God will give effectual ears of faith so that a man can
hear. We set forth these things before your eyes, praying that
God will enable you to see with faith the redemptive glory of
Christ. Let me show you a passage in
John chapter 12. In John 12 verse 37, talking
about the prophet Isaiah, in John chapter 12 verse 37, First, it says about our Master
in verse 37, though he had done so many miracles before them,
they didn't believe. Just because a man sees a miracle
doesn't mean he's convinced. Because a man hears some truth
doesn't mean he received it. The Master himself, the Lord
of glory, was on this earth, in this world. He was in the
world where the world was made by him, the world knew him not.
He came on his own, his own receiving him, but Christ was in this world,
raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, performed many miracles
and wonders. They did not believe. You see
what that says? They did not believe. That the saying of Isaiah,
Isaiah, which is Isaiah the prophet, might be fulfilled, which he
spake, Lord, who hath believed our message? And to whom has at the arm the
power of God been revealed? Oh, they see the miracles of
God, they see the majesty of God, they see the wonder-working
power of God, but not the gospel redemptive power of God. They
don't see it. That's only seen in Christ. Therefore,
they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, he blinded
their eyes and hardened their hearts. that they should not
see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted,
and I should heal them. These are the things Isaiah spake
when he saw his glory, and spake of him. These are the things
he said. When he saw the glory of Christ,
the redemptive glory of Christ, he spake of these things. Well,
I select five words this morning, five words, to try to present
the gospel in these five words. to try to help us to learn the
gospel. I say us. I don't want to miss the gospel.
I don't want to be given the job of keeping the vineyard and
neglecting my own. I don't want to be given the
job of preaching to others and myself become a castaway. I don't
want to stand up here before you as one who has all the answers.
I hold in my hand a book that has the answers. My faith and
confidence is in a Lord who is the answer. So we learn together,
first word, here are five words, I'll give them all to you first
and then I'll come back. The first word is sovereignty.
Second word is sin. The third word is substitution. The fourth word is satisfaction.
The fifth word is submission. We learn the gospel, we learn
those five words and what they mean. First word is sovereignty.
Turn to Psalm 115. Let me show you something here,
Psalm 115. It describes the heathen God, it describes the living
God. Psalm 115. In verse 1, David says, not unto
us, Psalm 115, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for
thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, now where is your God? See the question? Now where is
your God? We know where our God is. Our
God is where we left him last Sunday morning. Our God is on
the shrine where we placed him. Our God is in the tomb. Our God
is hanging around our necks. Our God is in the rabbit's foot
or cross that we carry in our pockets. Our God is in the St. Christopher statue on our dashboard.
We know where our God is. Now, where is your God? I ask
you that this morning. Where is your God? Well, David
replied. He said in verse 3, is in the heavens. That's where
he is. He inhabits the heavens. The
heaven of heavens can't contain him. The earth is his footstool.
Our God's in the heavens. Our God reigns and rules. The
heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament showeth his
handiwork. Our God is in the heavens. What's
the next line? He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. That's our God. Infinite, sovereign. That's our
God. That's where you start. You want
to learn sin, salvation, whatever you want to learn. You'll never
make any progress until you start with where you're supposed to
start, where the Bible starts. Where does the Bible start? In
the beginning, God. That's where the Bible starts.
It starts with God. Where does the book of Genesis
start? In the beginning, God. Where does it end? A coffin in
Egypt. That's man. A coffin in Egypt. We're going
to have to find out who God is. Well, the evil king over here
in Daniel 5, Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar, he found out who God is. Nebuchadnezzar
boasted about the Babylon which his hands had built, his own
strength and power and glory. And God said, I'll tell you,
Nebuchadnezzar, they're going to put you out in the field. Your hair is going to grow like
feathers. and your nails like bird claws,
and you're going to live with the animals until you learn one
thing, that God reigns and rules. And when he came to his senses,
verse 34, Daniel 4, you got it? At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned
to me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored
him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion.
And his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth.
None can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? That's
when a man has true understanding, when he finds out who God is. Turn to Isaiah, if you will,
Isaiah 45. Let me show you a scripture here.
Isaiah 45, let's begin reading with verse 5. What I'm saying,
my friend, is this, only at a sovereign throne, or the throne of a sovereign,
and I mean God is sovereign, almighty, omnipotent in all things,
creation, providence, and salvation. I don't mean that God is sovereign
in some things and not in others. I'm saying that he's God in all
things. He worketh his will in heaven
and earth and under the earth. All things are accomplished according
to his will. Our Lord taught us to pray that
way. He said, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
You cannot pray unless you can pray in God's will. Only at a
sovereign throne will a man worship. A man will bargain with an equal,
he'll debate with an equal, he'll quarrel with an equal, he'll
make promises to an equal, he'll say, if you do this, I'll do
that, I'll do this, you do that. But when a man comes before a
sovereign, almighty, omnipotent God, he falls down and shuts
his mouth and worships God. Only at a sovereign throne will
a man receive salvation, because salvation is a free gift. Salvation
is not purchased, earned, or bought, it's given. Only on a
sovereign throne will a man find comfort. I was just in a home
last week down in Georgia where I stayed while I was preaching
in the meeting. Thursday was their little granddaughter's
birthday. She would have been four years old. This past winter,
the babysitter took her out for a drive and a drunk hit and killed
everyone up, the babysitter and her husband and the little three-year-old.
Thursday was her birthday, she'd have been four years old. The
mother and father attended all the services. But they, they,
why do you comfort somebody like that? It's just one way. It wasn't
an accident. It was in God's will. It was
in God's purpose. I can't explain it, I just know
it's God's will. And the second thing is this, she's with Christ.
She's reached a goal and attained a goal that I have. She's with
Christ. But here's the foundation, God
does everything on purpose. If you don't have that, you don't
have anything. If all you've got is blind faith and chance
and luck, you're in trouble. But when you have God, I mean
a sovereign, omnipotent God who reigns over all things, even
the cinders in the air, even the specks of dust in the sun
ray. Even the sparrows who can't fall
to the ground without the Heavenly Father. Even the eagle who puts
his claws on a nest in the mountain. God Almighty reigns over all
things. The evil and the good. He works
the evil for his glory, too. The wrath of man will praise
the Lord. That's what Scripture says. Isaiah 45, listen to it,
verse 5. I am the Lord. There is none
else. There's no God beside me. I girded
thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the
rising of the sun and from the setting of the sun. There's none
beside me. I am the Lord. There's none else.
I form the light. I create darkness." How does
God create darkness? Withholding the light. I make
peace and I create evil. How does God create evil? Withholding
good. Leaving a man to himself. God
doesn't have to predestinate anybody to hell. Men are already
going to hell. Predestination is to be conformed
to the image of God's Son. God doesn't elect anybody to
hell. We studied in history class yesterday, they even had that
double predestination fight back in the 5th century. It's nothing
new. John R. Rice didn't invent that.
He just resurrected it. God elected some to heaven and
some to hell, that ain't so. God didn't elect any man to hell,
he was already going to hell. Christ didn't come into the world
and condemn the world, he was already condemned. The only way in the
world, the only thing God has to do to create darkness is leave
you where you are, you're already in darkness. Create evil, leave
you where you are, you're already in evil, you were born in evil.
But good only comes from his hand, by an act of sovereign
mercy. That's what he says, I do these
things, I the Lord do all these things. That's where you start
if you're going to learn the gospel. You don't start with
a little helpless Jesus that's got a ring in his hand because
folks won't let him save him. You don't start with a God who
has a will that he can't accomplish or a way that he can't perform
or a desire that he can't accomplish. You don't start with a frustrated,
defeated, disappointed Savior if you're going to learn the
gospel. You start with him who is Lord. He said, you call me
Lord. You say, well, so I am. He turned
to those who followed him to the cross, weeping and lamenting.
He said, don't you cry for me. If you've got some tears to shed,
shed them for your children. Don't cry for me. Don't weep
over the remedy. Weep over the disease. Don't
weep over the cure. Weep over the cause. You've got
some tears to shed, don't waste them on Christ. He's seated.
He's not up leaning over the banisters of heaven waiting to
see what you're going to do. He's seated, expecting till every
enemy becomes his footstool and every son becomes his joint heir.
That's so. He shall not fail. He shall see
the travail of his soul and be satisfied. That's what the scripture
says. David said, our God's in the heavens. He does what he
pleases. what it pleased him to do. Buy your concordance.
You know it looks like when somebody turns to Psalm 115 and sees that
scripture. God does as he pleases. Psalm 135 says it again. In the
heavens, earth, and under the earth. He does as he pleases.
Looks like somebody would be motivated to buy a concordance
and read the word pleases and see what it pleased him to do.
Well, I did. It says in 1 Samuel, I'll just
give you these briefly, 1 Samuel 12, 22, it pleased God to make
you His people. You didn't make God your God,
He made you His people, He's already your God. You don't make
Christ Lord. I hear preachers say, make Christ
your Lord. God beats you to it. He's ever man's Lord. He's ever
man's Lord. And every knee's going to bow
and every tongue's going to confess that He's Lord. It just depends
on when. You see what I'm saying? It's
when you're going to confess Him. You don't make Christ Lord. God made Him Lord by decree,
by design, and He accomplished it by death. He died that He
may be Lord of the dead and the living. You acknowledge Him as
your Lord. He's already Lord. Everything
belongs to Him. Everything was created by Him
and for Him. You know what Scripture says?
I don't know where preachers get this little pitiful Jesus
they're preaching. Having folks weep and mourn over
this pitiful Jesus because he wants so badly to do some things
that he's not able to accomplish. That's not the Lord of the Bible.
He's sovereign. It pleased him to make you his
people. Listen to this. Colossians 119, it pleased God
that in Christ should all fullness dwell. All fullness. No emptiness
in Christ. All fullness. No just partial
things in Christ. All fullness. All redemption,
all wisdom, all sanctification, all righteousness is in Christ.
All of it. All of it. All that God demands, all that
the law requires, all that justice demands, all that the sinner
needs is in Christ. Sufficient. It's all there. Now watch this. Isaiah 53.10
says it pleased God to bruise him. But I thought the Jews crucified
Christ. They did what God determined
before to be done. They did what they wanted to
do. They did what they designed to do. They did what their wicked
hearts prompted them to do. The Romans drove the nails. But
if you want to buy your Bible and go through the Old Testament,
you'll read where everything they did, God Almighty prophesied
and decreed. They plucked out his beard. God
wrote about it. Judas sold him for thirty pieces of silver,
eighteen dollars, God wrote about it. Before he ever did. Judas
went out and hanged himself, bought the money and threw it
on the floor and they bought a potter's field and God wrote about it.
Before ever. They cast lots for his garment,
the foot of the cross, God wrote about it. They spit in his face,
God wrote about it. They put nails in his hands and
feet, God wrote about it. Before they ever did. You know
it looks, you'd think those soldiers were saying, now what are we
supposed to do next? It's all there. No, they didn't
read a Bible. They knew nothing about a Bible.
They just did what their wicked hearts wanted to do, and they
did what God determined before it to be done. It pleased God
to bruise him. It pleased God to reveal him.
Paul said, God separated me from my mother's womb. He was pleased
to reveal his Son in me. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. God's sovereign. Turn
to Romans 9. Let's go back a page. Romans
9. He saves whom he will. Moses
says, show me your glory. God said, here it is. Here's
my glory, it's my goodness. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful. Our Lord said that in Luke 4 when he stood before
that crowd in Nazareth. He said, while there were many
widows in the land of Israel in the days of the prophet, God
didn't feed any of them. He fed a Gentile over there,
a widow of Serepta. Why, he said there were a lot
of lepers in the land of Israel in the days of Eliseus the prophet.
God didn't heal one of them. Not a one of them. He healed
Naaman, a Syrian, a Syrian general of an enemy army. And that bunch
of religious Jews got up on their feet and they said, we'll have
salvation but not sovereign salvation. We'll have grace but not sovereign
grace. We'll have healing but not sovereign
healing. And they took him out there and
would have murdered the preacher. even though he was the son of
God. That's how men hate it. You look at Romans 9, here it
is, verse 11, the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, still in their mother's womb, at the
purpose of God. And brother, you get a hold of
one word, you'll get a hold of a key to this Bible. P-U-R-P-O-S-E,
purpose. God does everything on purpose.
There are no accidents with God. Nineteen-fifty, thirty-two years
ago, when I was twenty-four years old, a preacher used that word
right there. He said, Purpose. Purpose. Find
out what it means, and find out what the word says. And I got
a hold of that, and it opened the book of Romans to me. Purpose. That the purpose of God, God
has a purpose, and that purpose is according to election, that
it might stand, not of works, But of him that calleth, it was
said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger." Not if he
wants to. He shall serve him. As it is
written, Jacob, have a love, he's an object of my affection,
I set my affections on him in Christ. Jacob was a cheat. Jacob
was a troublemaker. Jacob was a mama's boy. That's
right. Sissy. Esau ever hated. Esau was a man's man, a hunter,
an outdoorsman, a man of principle, naturally speaking. But that
which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God.
And God will save whom He will. He said, Not many mighty, not
many noble are called. God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world. God hath chosen the objects of
contempt. to bring to naught the things
that are, that no flesh should glow in his presence. I'll save
whom I will, God said. What shall we say then? Verse
14. It's not fair, that's what we say. There's unrighteousness
with God. God have mercy. That's what Paul says. God forbid. God forbid. He said to Moses,
he told you. 2,000 years before Christ died,
I'll have mercy on whom I will. He said that to Moses. Moses
asked him, show me your glory. He showed it to him. I will have
mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, it's not of him that runneth, it's of God that showeth
mercy. Now if you're in the mercy business,
that's of God. If you're in the merit business,
that's of man. If you're selling merit, preach man. If you're
selling mercy, preach God. That's the difference, Joe. If
you want your people to have merit for salvation, and merit
is their hope, and human merit is their righteousness, preach
merit. Preach man. But if you're preaching mercy,
which this center needs, and I think some of you need, that's
of God. And not of him that willeth,
no. The Scripture says, if you didn't like that, you sure ain't
going to like this. Verse 17, the Scripture said to Pharaoh,
for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my
power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore have mercy on whom he will, and whom
he will, your heart. God says I'll get glory even
from reprobates. I'll raise them up and get glory
out of them. I'd rather be an object of mercy.
So that's where you start, all right? Where do you go from there?
Second word, sin. I'll try to move more quickly,
but that's... So if we're going to stay for the longest time,
we ought to stay on sovereignty, because salvation is of the Lord.
And that's what Jonah learned in the belly of the fish. He
cried unto God, and he was deliberate. If you'll quit looking in your
own heart, looking to the preacher, and looking to your theology,
and looking to the front of the church, and looking to the mourner's
bench, and looking to the sacraments, and looking to baptism, and go
to look into the sovereign fountain of life, maybe you'll be saved.
That's where it is. I tell you, if I wanted something,
I'd go where it is. I'd go where it is. And if you
want salvation, turn to Him. If you want mercy, turn to Him.
If you want salvation, turn to Christ. He's the fountain of
life. He's the source of mercy. He's a sovereign Lord. It's like
the leper came to him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make
me well. You can make me whole, if you will. And if he will, he can. He's able. Second word is sin. There's but
one place to learn the reality, the depth, and the nature of
sin. The average person does not know what sin is. To the
average person, sin is an act. And that's all. My friends, the
wrong acts we do are but results of the sin, the sentence. You've
got it twisted around. Sin is not the act. Sin is the principle that promotes
the act. Sin is the nature that produces
the act. I'm telling you the truth. That's so. And you haven't learned
sin until you find out sin is a nature. Sin is a principle.
It's the same thing. Somebody said one time, I wonder
how Moses got to be so holy. He didn't have a picture show
not to go to. He didn't have a television not
to watch. He didn't have bad magazines not to read. He didn't
have liquor not to drink. He didn't have a dance not to
go to. No bingo not to play. You see what I'm saying? Well,
how did he get so holy? Holiness is a principle. Sin
is a principle. This whole thing started back
in the Garden of Eden, turned to Romans 5. I don't know what
preachers would preach on it as far as sin is concerned back
in Moses' day, or back in the days of Enoch and Adam. My friend,
sin is against God, it's not against people. Sin is against
God. Now, the result hurts people.
The products hurt people. The acts hurt people, but the
attitude is against God. The motive is against God. Principles
of nature of sin, the body of sin. In Romans 5, verse 12 says,
By one man sin entered this world. Now listen to me. God only sees
two men. The first Adam and the second
Adam. The word Adam is man. Adam is a man. God, the first
Adam and the second Adam. The first atom is of the earth,
earth is, the second atom is the Lord from heaven. Both are
representative, both are federal heads, that's so. God never created
but one man. You weren't created, you were
generated and produced and born. But God created Adam, made Adam. And everybody's come from him.
Even Eve came from him. If Eve had fallen and Adam hadn't
fallen, I wouldn't be falling. I didn't fall in Eve, I fell
in Adam. I came from Adam. By one man, Adam, sin entered
this world. The imputation of it, the impartation
of it. Adam's my daddy. The only thing
you can get out of a rotten fountain is rotten water. The only thing
you can get out of a fallen man is a fallen son. Adam was created
first in the image of God. I can't explain. I know that's
what Scripture says. It's better than that monkey deal. It makes
a whole lot more sense than that to me. I can easily see how God
created a man in his own image, but now to raise a tadpole into
a man, that's stupidity as far as I'm concerned. There's no
light there. There's no truth there. But God
made man in his own image. He created him holy and upright.
And Adam was tempted by the evil one who had fallen before and
led a third of the heavenly hosts, they say, following him. And
when he tempted Adam through Eve, They both fell. Adam took the fruit and fell.
Now, before Adam fell, he was naked and was not ashamed. After
he fell, he became ashamed. Before he fell, he didn't know
any fear. After he fell, he became a man of fear. He said, I was
afraid. Before he fell, he knew only love. After he fell, he
began to charge Eve with his plight. He hated her. Before
he fell, he walked with God. After he fell, he hid from God.
Before he fell, He gave God the glory. After he failed, he blamed
God for his fault. He said, the woman you gave me,
it's your fault. You see, everything about Adam, Adam went out getting
drunk, Adam went out shooting craps or playing cards, Adam
went out smoking marijuana. What he wrote, he was a sinner.
You see what I'm trying to say? He had a battle with God. He had a conflict with God. His nature was contrary to God. He was filled with fear and hate
and malice and self-righteousness and shame and all these things. He changed! He lost spiritual
life. You see, God doesn't fear. God
is not in shame. God is holy, righteous. Adam
was, too, before he fell. But he lost the nature of God,
and he got a nature of evil. And when he had a son, that son
got a nature of evil and killed his brother. You see, when Cain
killed Abel, when he struck the blow, he destroyed his brother,
he shed his blood, he brought grief to his mother and father.
But he had already sinned, he hated his brother. He had already
sinned when he didn't bring the Lamb. What he did to his brother was
a result of the conflict, Charlie, he had with God. That's what
made him do that, truth be told. That conflict, that hatred for
God, that love of self, that self-righteousness led him to
bring that fruit instead of the lamb. And this other thing was
just the outcropping or outgrowth of that nature, that terrible
hatred in his heart for God. Brethren, this is what I'm talking
about, about sin. Sin is a nature. Look at verse
12 again, Romans 5. By one man sin entered the world,
and death by sin. What kind of death? Well, you
say, Adam died. He didn't die for 800 years,
Ed, 800 years, physically. And his physical disease and
sickness and suffering and death was a result of his sin, but
he died right then, spiritually, separated from God. He lost the
way, the truth, and the life. Christ said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. And so death passed upon all men, spiritual
death, sin. In that all sin, we sinned in
Adam. You say, I won't have that. I just won't have representation. How can God hold me responsible
and accountable? How can God Almighty judge me
and cause me to stand in judgment because of what happened to a
man 6,000 years ago? Are you going to hang on to that?
Yes, sir, I'm going to hang on to that. I don't believe it.
Read verse 19. Let's see how long you hang on to it. By one
man's disobedience we were made sinners. Even so, by the obedience
of one shall we be made righteous. Oh, oh, if you're not involved
in the fall of a man, how can you be involved in the restoration
of a man who died before you lived? You say, I'm not going
to stand with Adam. Then you ain't going to stand
with Christ. That's representation two. That's headship, too. That's substitution, too. That's
what we're talking about, and it's all the way through this
book. In Adam, we died. By the disobedience of one, we
were made sinners. Made sinners. We received the
nature of sin. Now, the sin is our own. The nature is there, and when
we're born, we're born speaking lies. The lies come out of our
mouth. Adam didn't lie for me. I lied. You see that? I got the nature from him, but
I'm responsible for everything I've ever done. I did it. You
say, well, it's wrong if you do it willfully. Most everything
I've ever done has been willful. I don't know about you. I think
that's true of you, too. We did it. We got the nature
from him. And the nature is evil. That's
what got... All right, sin. That's the problem
we're in. S-I-N. Turn to Romans 3. Romans chapter
3 says, as a result of that fall. Romans 3.10, there is none righteous,
no, not one. There's none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way,
they all together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. All right, here's the third word.
Now, you've got two words. You've got God's absolute sovereignty,
unchangeable, immutable, infinite, unchangeable. holy, righteous,
just, it won't change. You've got man in the gutter,
in the cesspool, in the mire, in the pit. You've got him hopeless,
helpless, dead. The Scripture says without God,
without Christ, without hope in this world. unable to change
himself. Now, here's the word you've got
to come to, substitute. When you have some understanding
of God's holiness, God's holy law, which requires perfection,
God's justice, which requires satisfaction, and man's bankruptcy
and inability and deadness, then you've got to have somebody between,
a substitute. That's the next step you have
to take. Now, the Catholic Church made
it Mary. The Church of Christ made it baptism. The Greek Orthodox, Bruce, made
it intellectualism, I guess. Somebody else makes it something
else. God made it Christ. God made him Christ. That's the
substitute. That's what I'm saying. If we're to have a perfect righteousness,
if we're to be cleared from the law, satisfied in our stead,
if we're to be justified in his sight, somebody's going to have
to do for me what I can't do for myself. Turn to Romans 3
again, right there where I left off. We talked about none good,
none righteous, no not one. Look down at verse 19. Now we
know that whatsoever things God's law says, and brother it says,
it says to everybody that's under that law. And that's every one
of us. If you're in the universe of
God, you're under the law of that universe. That's right. If you're a subject of his kingdom,
you're under his law. And everything the law says,
love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and
your neighbor as yourself, that law says it to you, Bill, to
you, Richard, to you, Sheila, to you, Shaq, says it to me,
every one of us. That law speaks to you boys, John, Aaron, and
Kate, every one of you. That law says you're going to
obey God's law or else. That's what it says. Read on.
That every merit may be stopped, no alibis, no excuses. I haven't
obeyed it. I haven't kept it. And all the
world become guilty. Guilty before. But she's such
a good woman. Guilty. But he's such a fine man. Guilty.
But he served his country. Guilty. But, but, but, guilty,
guilty, guilty. All the world become guilty.
All right. Therefore, because of that guilt, violation of God's
law just takes one act to make a man a criminal. Just takes
one sin to make a man a sinner. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, by the works of the flesh, shall no flesh be justified,"
here's the key, "...in his sight." Now, I know we justify ourselves
in our own eyes and the eyes of others. No mama ever had a
bad boy and no daddy ever had a bad girl. We're justified in
their eyes. We're justified in the eyes of
every but God. Justified means clear, not guilty. Justified means a right standing.
We don't have it. And the law is not going to get
it. For by the law is the knowledge of sin, not the cleansing from
it, not the freedom from it, not the salvation from it, but
the knowledge of it. Now read on. But now, right there,
the righteousness of God, the holiness of God, the holiness
provided, the righteousness with which the law says The righteousness with which
the justice of God says, accept it. It's now manifested. Boy, you mean there's such a
righteousness? And let me show you three words
here. It's without the law. It's without my obedience. Now,
it's not without obedience, but it's without my obedience, because
I can't obey it. You can't either. But it's by
that substitute's obedience. That's what we're going to see.
It's without my obedience. It's manifested. It's revealed.
It's right here. If you're interested, God's interested.
He's not going to have you without it. Our Lord said to the disciples,
if your righteousness doesn't exceed that of the Pharisees,
you're not going to enter the kingdom of God. So the righteousness
of God, without the law, without my obedience, is manifested and
is witnessed by the prophets. God's been talking about it.
Isaiah said, the Lord's our righteousness. Jehovah said, Kenu, the Lord's
our righteousness. He said it a hundred times. Even
the righteousness of God, which is by faith, by faith in and
by the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's unto all
and upon all that work their fingers to the bone, to all that
try their best, to all that do the best they can, to all that
believe. There is no difference. I have
proved, He said before, that all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, and if we're justified, if we're cleared,
if we're without blame, if we're forgiven, it'll be freely, freely,
freely, freely by His grace through not your works or church membership
or baptism, but the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. That's
where it is. Now, if that's not clear, I can't
make it any clearer. It's like when you're watching
the football game and a guy goes running out there with two or
three fingers in the air and the referee sends somebody off
the field. That's a substitute. He took that fella's place. And
my Lord Jesus Christ came down here and here was a weak, undeserving,
ill-deserving, hell-deserving, incapable, fallen, depraved,
mass of corruption, and he took my sins that I might have his
holiness. The just died for the unjust,
he might bring me to God. He took my hell and gave me heaven.
He took my place and responsibility before the law and obeyed it
perfectly, and every jot and tittle went to the cross, and
the wrath and judgment of God was poured out upon him in my
place. And because he paid the debt,
I don't owe it. And because he satisfied the law, I have a right
standing. That's substitution. Now, the fourth word, quickly,
satisfaction. Satisfaction. I'm satisfied with
Christ. Now, here's the question. Is
God satisfied with Christ? Now, that's the question. He's
my substitute. See, God is holy. Unquestionably,
infinitely, immutably, unchangeably holy. I'm the fallen sinner. Now, say I have a substitute.
Well, I'm satisfied with him. But that ain't the question.
I hear that song, I am satisfied. I'm satisfied. You heard that
with Jesus? Well, I am. But that ain't the question.
The question is, has the Father accepted him? Because that's
where the business is done at the throne. at the judgment,
will he be pleased to receive it?" That's the question. It's God's law that's been broken,
not mine. It's God's justice that must be satisfied, not mine.
It's before God's presence that I'm going to have to be presented.
Now, here's the caveat. Watch it. God put a tabernacle
out there in the wilderness, 45 feet long, 15 feet high, and
15 feet wide. And in that tabernacle was the
holy place and a great heavy veil. And back here in a cubicle,
15 by 15 by 15, called the Holy of Holies, there was one piece
of furniture, the Ark. It was two and a half feet long
and so wide and so high, and in that Ark, Ark of the Covenant
they called it, were three things. Aaron's rod that budded, a picture
of manna, but here's the main thing. The tables of stone were
in that Ark, the law. The broken law, the tables that
Moses broke when he came down from that mountain were in that
ark. The broken law in that ark. We broke them. We seen it. God
Almighty's judgment rests upon us. Over that ark was a gold,
what they call, mercy seat, a gold mercy seat. And over that mercy
seat were the cherubim, like this, winged creatures. And God
said he dwelt in that holy of holies. God's presence was there. Nobody could come in. One fellow
sneaked in one time to drug him out dead. Nobody could come in. Once a year, once a year on a
designated day, There was a lamb slain out yonder and burned on
the altar, and the priest came and washed his hands at the laver,
representing sanctification. And he came in where the table
of showbread was and the candlestick, and then the incense altar burned
24 hours a day, 365 days a year, representing Christ's sacrifice,
Christ's prayer. Well, that high priest would
bring that blood of that lamb once a year. And he wouldn't
open the door, he'd crawl under that veil. That veil was solid,
four or five inches thick, heavy from top to bottom. He'd crawl
under that veil, and he'd come into that place, and he didn't
see very much because the smoke filled the place, that incense
burning just covered everything. But he had that blood. He came
fearfully, carefully, reverently. And he approached that ark of
the covenant, wherein was the broken law, and that golden mercy
seat. And the mercy seat means propitiation,
doesn't it, Jack? And he'd come to that once a
year, and he'd take that blood, and he'd pour it on that mercy
seat. And that blood would run down off that mercy seat. That
blood covered that broken law. Covered it. God said, when I
see the blood, I'll pass over here. Well, let me tell you something. On that cross of Calvary, when
the great high priest, the Lord Jesus, died, Scripture said that
veil was rent in two, from top to bottom. Because he went not
into the holy place made with hands, which is a figure of the
truth, not with the blood of an animal, but into heaven itself.
And there his own precious, pure, spotless, holy God blood in the
form of man was put on the mercy seat of glory, covering all my
sins, all my sins. And I'm free.