The Putting Away of Sin

I would like for you to take
your Bibles now and open them to Hebrews 9. Just hold your Bible there in
your hand at Hebrews 9. We're going to get to some of
these verses in a few moments. The prophet Eli raises a serious
question over in the book of 1 Samuel 2, verse 25. He says, if one man's sin against
another, the judge shall settle the differences. And that's the
way differences are settled between men. If there's an issue raised
between two of you, the judge shall settle the difference.
But this is the question that he raises. He says, but if a
man's sin against God, who shall stand by him? You can't
settle that, the judge can't settle that. If a man sins against
God, who shall stand for him? I believe the older we get, the
less concerned we become with mysteries of theology. We are
interested in those things. A man has got to be interested
in what God says, understand it or not, the secret things
belong to him, the revealed things unto us. I'm not condemning a
spiritual curiosity. But I find the older I get, the
less really concerned I am with the mysteries of theology and
philosophy and prophecy and these things. What's going to happen
to Russia doesn't concern me nearly so much as what's going
to happen to me and to this congregation. And the more concerned I am with
the pardon and forgiveness of sin, my sin, your sin, the more
concerned I am about my relationship with the living God. It distresses
me to encounter people who are not concerned about this, who
flippantly regard death and judgment and eternity I was watching some
of the golf match this afternoon. They had a famous golfer on there. He was up in years, I suppose
70 years of age, 69 or 70. I don't remember his name, but
I listened carefully to what he was saying. He said he was
an honorary pallbearer for one of his friends who had died.
And to me, these things are not amusing. They're tragic. They
express the temperature or the note of our
times. He said he was honorary pallbearer
for a friend of his who had died. He said his friend liked fast
greens. He didn't like slow, soft greens. He liked fast greens. He always
complained about the greens not being fast enough. Well, he said,
I went out to the cemetery with him when he died. He told this
on national TV. And he said, I let everybody
leave. I stood off under a tree, and I let everybody leave. And
after they were all gone, I walked over to the casket, and I tapped
on it. And I said, Charlie, make sure
all the greens up there are fast for me when I get there. Well,
I'm sure everybody laughed like he did. It was amusing. It was
a joke. But I find nothing to joke about
in regard to death and judgment and eternity, and I don't know
how anybody else can find anything to joke about. I want to know
the Lord, don't you? I want to know that I know him.
I want the pardon and forgiveness of sin, and as days go by I'm
more conscious of God's holiness and majesty, awesome, reverent
glory, and I'm more conscious of my sin and my inability and
my insufficiency and my guilt before God. And this is the direction that
I want to move tonight. I want to deal with the subject,
how can sin be put away? My sin, your sin. When you consider
the putting away of sin, you have a momentous task. You have
a momentous task. I know all the Jewish sacrifices
would not do it. Look right down below at Hebrews
10 there. There were many, so many sacrifices. Think of all the sacrifices from
the Garden of Eden to the time when Christ came, 4,000 years.
of sacrifices, they were costly, they were elaborate, there were
many of them. Think of the rivers of blood that flowed over Jewish
altars. Sacrifices, burnt offerings,
atonements, all these things. And yet, all of them put together
would not put away sin. That's what God says. Verse 4,
Hebrews 10, look at it. It is not possible that the blood
of bulls and goats should take away sin. won't do it. Never has, never will. Couldn't
take away sin, then can't now. All the ceremonies and feasts
and holy days, think of all the holy days. The Jews had so many
holy days, ordained of God. These ceremonies, God-given,
reverently observed, sincerely All of these holy days and laws
and feasts and ceremonies and rituals, think of how many there
were, and how elaborate they were, and how precise they were.
They all were typical of something, but they couldn't themselves
put away sin. Not all of them, put together,
could take away one sin. They weren't ordained to take
away sin, they were ordained to portray that which could.
Even repentance won't put away sin. Don't be mistaken. Now, when God gives repentance,
there is forgiveness if it's true repentance. But no man is
pardoned because he's sorry that he sinned. No man is pardoned
because he repents of his sin. David is an example. If you read
Psalm 51, you'll find how sorry he is for his sin. He said, My
sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. I was born in iniquity,
shaped in iniquity, brought forth speaking lies. I am such an evil
person. And yet he turns right around
and says, Wash me. The repentance won't do it. The
sorrow won't do it. The confession won't do it. Somebody
says, Well, confession's good for the soul. It may relieve
the distress, but it won't relieve the problem. The sin is still
there. Confession will not put away
sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
them. He puts them away. The confession
does not put them away. You can go to confession every
morning and every noon and every night and still come away with
your sin still on your soul. And no form of suffering. Sin
is difficult to put away. No form of suffering in this
world can put away sin. Now there's a notion that people
have that God has pity upon people because they're poor. We got
a notion that all rich people go to hell and all poor people
go to heaven. We get that from Lazarus and
the rich man, but it's not so. All the suffering in this world,
all the poverty in this world, will not put away sin. You can
have a poor sinner and a rich sinner. You can have a naked
sinner and a well-dressed sinner. You can have a sick sinner and
a well sinner. It doesn't matter. No man ever
suffered like Job. Job finally wound up sitting
on the ash heap, scraping his skin with a piece of glass covered
with boils, and everybody had forsaken him, and everything
he had was swept away, he didn't have a dime left in the world,
and yet he calls upon his Redeemer. He said, I know my Redeemer lives.
Job had to have a Redeemer when he was rich, and he had to have
one when he was poor. suffering, bodily agony will
not put away sin. And you can go into a monastery
and you can afflict your body and you can fast and starve your
body and you can lie on a stone floor and you can pray all night
for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and it won't put away
sin. I guarantee you that. And you
listen to this. No amount of self-denial will
put away sin either. Will the Lord be pleased with
Thousands of realms, or with 10,000 rivers of oil, shall I
give my firstborn for my transgression? Shall I give the fruit of my
body for the sin of my soul? Will that put it away? No amount
of self-denial, no amount of personal sacrifice, no amount
of holy living will put away sin. He that would be saved by
the law is better to do the whole law. Death won't put away sin. Hell won't put away sin. Eternity
won't put away sin. Listen to this in Revelation
22, verse 11. He that's unjust, let him be
unjust still. He that is filthy, let him be
filthy still. Ten million years from the time
men are cast away from God into outer darkness, they'll be as
wicked as they were when he cast them out. You talk about putting away sin,
you're faced with a momentous task. The disciples asked the
Lord one day, well, who can be saved? He said, with men, it's
impossible. With men, it's impossible. Salvation
with men is impossible. The rivers of blood throughout
Old Testament days and Jewish sacrifices couldn't put away
sin. The ceremonies, the laws, the rituals, the holy days, the
feasts did not put away sin. Repentance cannot put away sin. No form of suffering in this
world will put away sin. Suffering here does not guarantee
you satisfaction in heaven. No amount of self-denial, no
amount of holy living, death, judgment, hell, and eternity
cannot put away sin. Now, if you really want the answer
to that question, How can sin be put away? It's answered right
here in Hebrews 9, and it's answered clearly, it's answered forcefully,
it's answered in a positive manner that cannot be mistaken. In verse
26 of Hebrews 9, the last line says, "...once in the end of
the world, in these latter days, hath he appeared to put away
sin." My sin, your sin. Now, if you want to mark something
in your Bible here that I'll be dealing with, look at verse
24. There are three appearances of Christ mentioned here. Now,
our Lord always appears. He is the eternal I Am, always
present. He does not go and come. He fills
all things. All things are in Him. But there
are three appearances, personal appearances. There are three
mountaintop appearances where Christ appears to deal with my
sin. It says he appeared to put away
sin, that's verse 26, he hath appeared to put away sin. Verse
24 back there says he now appears in the presence of God for us,
for us to intercede to put away sin. Verse 28, the last line
says, "...to them that look for him he shall appear without sin."
He's done something with it. Now, if you're a sinner, if you
have guilt, if you are an acknowledged, genuine sinner, not only sins
of actions but attitude, not only sins of manners but motive,
not only sins outward but inward not only sins of words, but imagination. You just know you're in the flesh
dwelling in no good thing. And the more you look into the
holy law of God, the more sinful you become, the more you see
and understand of the holy character of God, you cry like Isaiah,
woe is me, or Daniel, my comeliness melts into corruption, or Paul,
I'm the chief of sinners, I'm not worthy to be an apostle,
or Peter, Lord, depart from me, I'm a sinful man, or Job, I abhor
myself, I hate myself, I repent in sackcloth and ashes. If you
acknowledge sin and are aware of sin, and are conscious of
sin, and are concerned about sin, Then here's your answer. Here it is, right here. The three
appearances of Christ to put away sin. Now, first of all,
verse 26, it says, He hath appeared once in the end of the world,
in the last days. He hath appeared. And his task,
his mission, was to put away sin. Now, remember who it was
that came. He. Talking about the Savior,
my beloved Son. when he came, born of Mary, made
his appearance into this world, came down to John's baptism to
be baptized, and John said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. There he is. There's the Lamb. There's the Lamb of which all
lambs are type. There's the Lamb of which all
atonements are picture. There's the Lamb that taketh
away, not that glosses over, that takes away. Not that makes
us savable, but takes away our sin. Bath away is the word, our
sin. There he is. And while he was
being baptized and came up out of the water, the Father spoke
from heaven and said, this is my beloved Son. That's who he
is. He's the Son of the living God. In the fullness of time,
God sent forth his Son into the world. Now, my friends, Christ
would not have come into this world if there'd been some other
way to put away sin. The Lord Jesus Christ would have
never left the throne of glory and came down here and condescended
to walk in human flesh if there had been some other way to put
away sin. Christ would not have suffered. A man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief, We hid, as it were, our faces from him. There was
no beauty about him that we should desire him. He was wounded, he
was afflicted, he was smitten of God. That would never have
taken place if there was some other way to put away sin. It
wouldn't have happened. God would not have subjected
his son to such ill treatment, such agonizing suffering, and
to such a terrible, terrible death, even to the separation
from the Heavenly Father. Remember who it is. that hath
appeared. He hath appeared. Not an angel,
not a creature, not a man, God's Son. How did he appear? He appeared made of a woman.
He appeared made under the law. He appeared made in the likeness
of sinful flesh. He appeared a man of sorrows,
identified with, numbered with the transgressors. He came down
here in human flesh. That's how he appeared. He appeared
as a man. Well, let me ask you a straightforward
question now. If words mean anything, just
look carefully at this scripture. But now, once in the end of the
world, here's the question. Now, we know he hath appeared.
He, the Son of God, has come into this world. He hath appeared
to do what? To put away sin. That's the mission
God gave him to do. He said, I came to fulfill the
will of him that sent me. I came to do the will of him
that sent me. I came to perform a task." When
he died on that cross, he said, it's finished, it's fulfilled.
I've finished the work you gave me to do. What was the work?
To put away sin. All right? How did he do it?
Read it yourself. He appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. That's how he did it. Now, he
didn't put away sin by his birth. We see pictures of the child
and pictures of the virgin mother. We see pictures of the infant
child in the arms of the virgin mother. We see all kind of halos
over her head and halos over his head. That child and that
mother in that state have no power to put away anybody's sin.
Now you can celebrate Christmas and celebrate the virgin birth
and I believe in it and preach it. But I'm telling you, if Christ
had come down here and been born of a virgin and walked on this
earth and gone back to heaven, you'd still be in your sin. And
you can go to the virgin's statue and the virgin's picture and
go to the child, you can go through all your religious ceremonies
and all of your feeling sentimental and emotional and religious,
but Christ, by his birth, did not put away sin. And Christ,
by his example, his perfect life, he said, no man can convince
me of sin, no one can charge me with sin. He lived a perfect
life. He knew no sin. The Father said,
in him I'm well pleased. And yet if he'd gone back to
heaven after living a perfect life, our sins would remain on
us. nor about his teaching. No man
ever spake like this man. His words were words of authority,
words of the living God, words of life. But words won't give
life where death because of sin reigns. The only way that Christ can
put away sin is by the sacrifice of himself. Turn to Isaiah 53,
verse 4 through 6, and I want you to look at this. Isaiah 53
verse 4 through 6. Now this is the gospel. In Isaiah
53 verse 4 through 6. You can't say you've never heard
it because you're hearing it now. You can't say, well I don't
know what to do with my sins. I don't know what to do about
salvation. I don't know what to do about pardon. I don't know
what to do about life. Here it is right here. God gives
it to you loud and clear. Isaiah 53 verse 4. Now you put
your name in there. Everywhere you see our You put
in your own name, your own name. Let's read it. Surely he hath
borne my grace, and carried my sorrows. Yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded
for Henry Mahan's transgressions. He was bruised for Henry Mahan's
iniquities. The chastisement of Henry Mahan's
peace was upon him, and with his stripes Henry Mahan is healed. Is that the way it is? That's
what God says. And that's the only way. Turn
to 1 Peter, if you will, chapter 1. 1 Peter 1, verse 18. It says here, For as much as
you know, if you know anything about God's Word, if you know
anything about God's holiness, if you know anything about God's
character, you know this. that you are not redeemed with
corruptible things such as silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers, but you know this, you
are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. So there it is. It says in verse
26, look at it carefully, The last line of verse 26, the last
phrase, but now once. And don't leave this without
tearing just a moment and camping for a few minutes on that word
once. Once. Once. And he doesn't need to
be sacrificed in the Mass every Sunday. Once. Now once in the end of the world. Look over here at Hebrews 10
verse 12 a minute. Hebrews 10 verse 12. You need
to read this. But this man, now verse 11 said
these Old Testament priests, there were many of them, they
had many sacrifices, they stood, their work never finished, daily,
every day, ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
the same offerings, year after year, day after day, hour after
hour, which can never take away sin. There are many of them,
going through your masses and sacrifices and burnt offerings
and your candle burnings and all these things, never take
away sin. But this man, listen, after he'd offered one sacrifice
for sin forever, sat down on the right hand of God. He sat
down because he was through with what he came to do, he was finished.
The Old Testament priest in the tabernacle, there was no chair
in there, he never sat down, he was never finished. Look at
the next line. From henceforth expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected
Forever! Them that are sanctified, them
that are set apart, them that are marked out by God, he hath
by one offering. All right, there it is. How is
sin put away? What? What? In the latter days, he hath appeared,
he, the Son of God, on this earth in human flesh, and put away
sin. They are put away. How do you
do it? How do you do it? He did it with
the sacrifice of himself. That's how they put away. Now
where did he put them? I want you to look up four scriptures.
This will bless you. Write it down in your Bible.
Turn to Psalm 103, verse 12. Psalm 103, verse 12. Now this is remarkable. It says
he puts away sin, and I want you to see where he put them.
In Psalm 103, verse 12, it says, "...as far as the east is from
the west." So far has he removed our sins from us. Now, you know,
I remember a little bit about school, and I remember east is
east and west is west and something they'll never meet. One goes
that way, and I don't know whether I'm pointing. I've got no compass
up here, but east is one way and west is the other. And the
further you travel east, the further you get away from west
if you go straight out. Now, if you come around, you
meet, but you go straight out. And as far as the east is from
the west, God has separated my sins from me. Look up the book of Micah. That's one of those little minor
prophets that's hard to find, but I'll just read it to you.
Micah 7, verse 19. Listen to this. He will turn
again. He will have compassion on us,
He will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. Every time I think of this verse,
I think about when I was in the Navy. We didn't have garbage
pickup out there on the Pacific every morning. We took care of
our own garbage problems. There were a lot of men on the
ship, Navy, Marines. We'd get the garbage every morning
and just dump it off the fantail, right off into the sea. Now the
sea out there where we were around the Philippines, that's supposed
to be the deepest part of the ocean in the world with several
miles deep. And we'd take that garbage and
we'd dump it off the back and it'd sink, and it'd sink, and
it'd sink, and it'd sink, and it'd sink. It'll never be heard
from again. There's no way. that that garbage
that we dumped off the fantail of that ship will ever be heard
of again. It's gone into the depths of
the sea. And that's the way God has dealt
with our sin. Well, look at Isaiah 38. Isaiah 38. Listen to this. And I don't understand this scripture,
but this is what says, Isaiah chapter 38, verse 17. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness. But thou hast in love to my soul
delivered it from the pit of corruption." Isn't that beautiful?
Now read on. For thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. I don't know about where God's
back is, but wherever it is, that's where my sins are. God
sees everything, but I don't see anything behind my back.
And God doesn't see anything behind His back either. Even
God. And why he used that, I can't
tell you. I'll just challenge you with that one and turn to
another one. But now isn't that beautiful? He says, For peace
I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul. It wasn't
I love him, he loved me. Thou hast in love delivered my
soul from this pit of corruption and cast all my sins behind thy
back. If that one's hard on you, turn
to Jeremiah 31. Here's one even harder to comprehend
for these natural minds of ours, but he says here in Jeremiah
31, verse 34, the last line, he says, "'For I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.'" Now, I can
remember all my sins that I know about. A lot of them I don't
know about. A lot of them I'm not aware of. That's how desperately
sinful we are. We have secret sins that we don't
even know about, sins of omission that are just as deadly as sins
of commission. But God says, I don't even remember.
I don't even remember. That's how efficacious and powerful. Your water won't do that, but
the blood of Christ will. The sacraments won't do that,
but the blood of Christ is so powerful and so efficacious and
so sufficient and deals with the justice of God so effectively
that God can't even remember my sins. That's what it says.
I don't claim to understand that, I just believe it. I think some of these days we're
going to understand. He said, I see through a glass dimly.
I know in part, but someday I'll know as I have been known. I'll
understand these scriptures. I don't even profess to understand
them now, but I tell you, God has so extremely presented this. Your sins, your sins, I will
remember no more. Your sins are cast behind my
back. Your sins, I've buried them in
the depths of the sea. Your sins, I've separated them
as far as the east is from the west. Who did it? Christ did
it. How'd he do it? By the sacrifice
of himself. Now I dare any sensible, thinking,
understanding, semi-intelligent person to look
at that and still incorporate baptism or the Lord's table or
a profession of faith, or a decision, or anything else into this thing
of putting away sin. I know baptism has its part,
and I know good works have their place, I should say, not part,
but place. Baptism has its place, works
have its place, the law has its place, but in the place of Redeemer,
nobody but Christ. That's all. And that by the sacrifice
of himself. All right, look at verse 24 a
moment now. Here's another appearance. He
has appeared to put away sin. Verse 24, the last line, says,
now, right now, something's going on right now in reference to
me. He appears in the presence of God for us. He's still appearing. Yes, he finished his work. Yes,
he ascended to heaven. Yes, he sat down on the right
hand of God Yes, he's there for somebody Now turn to Romans 8 and Paul
tells you who it is and what he's doing Romans 8 verse 34
Now here Paul laid down the bold challenge of God's elect He says
in verse 33 of Romans 8 who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies." You know what it means to be justified? You can pardon sin, you can forgive
sin, but if you justify someone, you're saying they're not guilty.
That's what justification is, just as if I had never sinned.
I'm not only pardoned, I'm not only forgiven, but in Christ,
Bruce, I am acquitted. I'm justified. Our record is
as clear in the eyes of God through Christ's sacrifice, it's as clear
as if no mark was ever on it. Now, that's right. And he says
in verse 34 when he challenges heaven, earth, and hell, and
he says not only who can lay anything to our charge, but who
can condemn us. And here are the four marvelous
pillars of his faith and hope. He says, no one can condemn me
because Christ died. Now, brethren, it's not how much
blood was shed on that cross that makes it effectual, it's
whose blood. It's not how long he suffered,
but who suffered. You and I could shed our blood
forever and suffer forever and we could never satisfy an infinite
God. Christ can because he is equal
with God, equal with the Father. Christ died, listen, yet rather
he's risen again. His resurrection is a testimony
to the acceptance of his sacrifice. When that old high priest of
old went under the veil into the Holy of Holies and put the
blood on the mercy seat and came out, when he came out, Israel
knew that God had received the sacrifice or he never would have
come out. And when Christ died and was buried and rose again,
it is saying that his sacrifice is accepted. The Father is pleased. He has accepted his Son's sacrifice. If Christ be not risen, Paul
said, you're yet in your sins. But he arose, now read on, and
he is even at the right hand of God. The right hand in the
scripture is the hand of acceptance, the hand of honor, the hand of
power, the hand of love, the hand of affection, and he's seated
there on the right hand of the majesty on high. He's seated
and we are in him, seated, already seated in Christ. But now watch
this, who also, in addition to all this, He died, rather is
risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession." Constant prayer for us. He prays for us. He intercedes for us. He did
not die and leave redemption in the hands of men. He did not
die and leave redemption in the hands of a church, given to apostasy. He did not die and leave redemption
in the hands of a messenger. He bears our names before the
Father's throne as the high priest of old bore the names of the
tribe of Israel into God's holy presence. He's our mediator. Now, a mediator must be acceptable
to both sides. A mediator must have the interest
of both parties at heart. A mediator must present a suitable
solution. and an acceptable solution, and
that Christ does. He presents a solution acceptable
to the justice of the Father, to the righteousness of the Father,
to the divine purpose of the Father, and he presents a solution
that you and I can afford, because it's free. You see what I'm saying? It's free. It's free. Verse 28 says, look back at the
text. Verse 28 says, So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look
for him he shall appear on this earth the second time. Christ
will return. He's coming back. He said so
himself. He said to his disciples, If
I go away, I'll come again and receive you unto myself. The
angel said so. They said to the disciples as
they stood outside the city of Jerusalem and watched him ascend
back to the Father, the angel said, Ye men of Galilee, where
stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you
have seen him go. And Paul the apostle said, The
voice of the archangel, the trumpet of God shall sound, and Christ
shall descend from heaven with a shout. He's coming back. He
hath appeared, he doth appear to intercede, he will someday
appear. Now, I don't wear some silly
bumper sticker on the back of my car that says, Beware, back
there, if a rapture occurs, this car will be without a driver.
I think you can go into all of this. I hope none of you resort
to such undignified reference to the coming of our Lord. You
love Jesus. I hope you don't. I hope all
of our folks have a little more a little more confidence in Christ
and regard for his deity and dignity and holiness and awesomeness
of his presence without going into that sort of religious advertisement. But our Lord's coming back. I
don't believe a soul with a bumper sticker believes it any more
than we believe that he's coming back. And those two appearances
of Christ have much in common, much in common. Number one, they
were both personal comings. He came the first time personally.
He's coming back, this same Jesus. Secondly, they were both according
to promise. God promised his first coming,
God promised his second coming. Thirdly, they were both unexpected
by the majority of people. Most people didn't look for him
the first time. Simeon was looking for him, but not many more people. And some folks are looking for
him now, but not many. And then both of his comings
are a blessing to those who look for him. He said, to those that
look for him. Blessed are the eyes that saw
him then, and the eyes that will see him when he comes. Blessed
are the ears that heard him then, and the ears that will hear him
when he comes. And the hearts that loved him then, and the
hearts that love him now. And the lips that kissed him
then, and the knees that bowed before him then, and the knees
that shall bow before him when he comes. But there are some
ways that his second coming will be different. Totally different. About four ways I choose to mention.
Number one, he came the first time in poverty. He who was rich
became poor. But he's not coming back in poverty.
Coming back with all the riches, majesty, glory, and splendor
of his royal position. He came the first time to a cross,
but he's not coming down here to die the second time. He's
coming, a reigning king. He came the first time to suffer.
He's coming the second time to judge. And he came the first time to
bear our sins. And look at this line here. He
says, He will appear the second time without sin. They're gone. My sins are gone. Did you hear
what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you're free. They're all taken away.
While onward pressing my way to heaven, they're all taken
away. They're all taken away. That's the way sins are put away.
I have no conflict with modern-day religion. It's not my business
to be a condemner. Christ said, I didn't come to
condemn the world, but the world might be saved. The world's condemned
already. And what we're doing, we're not
out pointing out errors and pointing out the shortcomings of others. I'm simply trying to point to
the way God saved sinners. I have an immortal soul. I want
to be saved. I have sins. I want them forgiven.
I have iniquities. I want them put away. And somewhere
in this Bible, I hope some of you are led to say this tonight,
put no confidence in the flesh, yours, mine, or anybody else's.
But be like the man who said somewhere in this Bible there's
salvation for sincere sinners. And if it's here, I'm going to
find it. And he began to search the scriptures, and he found
it. God will honor a sincere heart.
Honest people don't wind up in hell. It's insincere, dishonest,
cunning people that wind up in hell that care more for their
denominational ties than they do a living union with Christ.
care more for their customs and traditions than they do for the
Christ. And I believe, as I look at this,
I've found the way of salvation. It says here, he hath appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And to those that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. I'm going to rest my soul on
that. I'm going to rest all of my eternal hope on that promise
of God right there. God can't lie. God can't lie. He said, He that believeth on
the Son hath life everlasting. I'm going to let everybody else
walk the aisles and talk about the water and the covenant and
all these different ways. I'm going to rest on that right
there. I'm going to set my soul on that. Christ is my Savior.
Christ is my Lord. Christ is my hope. If I go to
hell, I'll go to hell looking to Christ. If I go to hell, he'll
have to be there too, because I'm going to rest in him. Wherever
he is, that's where I want to be. Our Father, use the word
for thy glory and the good of these who've heard. And Lord,
grant that we have heard, not with just these natural ears,
but with our hearts. Lord, we're so blind by nature,
open our eyes. We're so ignorant by nature.
Give us enlightened wisdom. Open our hearts to receive that
which is written. And Lord, we want to do something
ourselves. And all of our doing is in vain. We want something
to do, to work out a righteousness for ourselves. You told us it's
filthy rags. Why can't we believe it? Why
can't we look to Christ? Look unto me and be saved. Believe
on me and have eternal life. Rest in Christ and cease from
your labors. Why can't we believe that? God
grant it. Grant saving faith to everyone
here. Thank thee for the putting away of our sins. Through Christ
our Lord. Amen.

The Putting Away of Sin

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The Putting Away of Sin

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