What's glad to see all y'all
here tonight. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 61, Over the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus
fast Unmeasured, boundless, free Rolling as a mighty ocean In
its fullness over me Underneath me all around Is the current
of Thy love Leading onward, leading onward To my glorious rest above
Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus Spread his praise from shore
to shore How he loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore
How he watches o'er his loved ones, dying to call them all
his own. How for them he intercedes, watches. from the throne. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus,
love of every, love the best. Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
tis a haven Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus
Tis a heaven of heavens to me And it lifts me up to glory For
it lifts me up to Thee Team number 477, Matt Cowley. Years has been in vanity and
pride Caring not my Lord was crucified Knowing not it was
for me he died On Calvary Mercy there was great and great There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. By God's word at last my sin
I learned. Then I trembled at the law I'd
spurned. Till my guilty soul imploring
turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. Now I've given to Jesus everything. Now I gladly own him as my king. Now my rapture song can only
sing of Calvary. Mercy there. and there was multiplied to me
that my burden so found liberty at Calvary. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was not applied
to me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. That's a good singer for that
small group. Quintet there, that's pretty
good. Exodus chapter 32, gonna read
five verses, or six verses of Scripture, 33 to 35. Exodus 32,
30. And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people,
ye have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord,
pray adventure, I shall make an atonement for your sins. Moses
returned to the Lord and said, oh, this people have sinned a
great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou
wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out
of thy book which thou hast written. And the Lord said to Moses, Whosoever
has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore
now go, lead the people into the place which I have spoken
unto you. Behold, mine angel shall go before
thee. Nevertheless, in the day when
I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued
the people, because they had made the calf which Aaron made.
Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we are
thankful for your great mercy and grace. Likewise, we are thankful
that you are who you say you are, a God who is just and holy
and must punish sin. We are thankful for our substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who stood in our room and stayed, having
been made sin for us and received the punishment that was due us.
and died the death that was necessary to pay the sin debt and satisfy
your holy law and justice. We are thankful that by his sacrifice
he put away our sins forever, put them behind your back, buried
them at the bottom of the sea, separated them from us as far
as the east is from the west, so much so that you will remember
them no more. Because his sacrifice was not
only sufficient, it was efficient, to put away our sins. You have
said there will be no more sacrifice for sins. We thank you, Father,
that it was a finished work, complete and true. Father, we
pray for those who are sick and going through trials. We ask
Lord your help for them. For this young woman, Guyana,
who's in this wreck and facing this operation, we pray you be
with her and be with Sharon. She ministers too. Pray for David's brother, Randy, as he's
recovering from this operation and his pancreatitis. Pray also
for Kathy Robinson as she's recovering from her operation. Pray for
the Terrell family and the Morrell family at the loss of this loved
one, the trial and sorrow that they face. Help them, Lord. Help brother Drew as he preaches
the funeral service and brother Parks as he does also. help us
lord remember each other and remember also father we are sinners
nothing keeps us from doing our worst to save your withholding
hand help us lord to seek your face in all things bow to your
wisdom wherein we can understand we know that you do all things
well and the judge of earth and all the earth shall do right
help us now in this hour to worship you in spirit and in truth, we
pray in Christ's name, amen. Now this is the account of Moses
approaching God in hopes of making atonement for the sins of the
people because they had made a molten calf and they'd been
worshiping it. Now Moses' love for the people is revealed in
his willingness, even his desire to be killed if the people were
not forgiven. He says in verse 32, Yet now
if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me, I pray thee,
out of thy book which thou hast written. He had slain an Egyptian
for hurting the Israelite. He had led his people out of
Egypt, and his affection for his people seemed to exceed even
the care for his own life. Paul the Apostle expressed the
same kind of affection for Israel in his letter to the church in
Rome when he talked about his kindred according to the flesh
in Romans chapter 9. He said this in verses 1 through
3, he said, I say a truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience
also bearing witness of me in the Holy Ghost, that I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. where I could wish
that myself were accursed from Christ for my brother, my kinsman,
according to the flesh. So it was the same type of love
for the people that Moses had and Paul had for the believers
in Rome, especially among his people. And the blotting out that's spoken
of in this passage, if you're reading along with me, the blotting
out thereof is not the Lamb's Book of Life. It talks about
being blotted out of the book. It's not talking about the Lamb's
Book of Life. Those names were written in the Lamb's Book of
Life before the foundation of the world. It is a book of the
living. It is just another way to say
those who have possessed temporal life, their life will be ended. That's the language of scripture.
I'd like you to look at a few scriptures, Psalms after 69. in Psalms chapter 69 and verse
28. It says this, Let them be blotted out of the book of the
living, the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. Let them be blotted out with
the book of the living. Over in Ezekiel chapter 13, same
kind of language is used. In Ezekiel chapter 13 and verse
9 it says, In mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see
vanity and that divine lies, they shall not be in the assembly
of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of
the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land
of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God."
Moses spoke this way in Numbers chapter 11 when he was troubled
by the fact that such a weight had been laid on him to take
care of these people in Numbers chapter 11. numbers chapter 11 verse 15 Moses
said and if thou deal thus with me kill me I pray thee out of
the hand out of hand if I haven't found favor in thy sight and
let not me see my wretchedness he was talking about the struggle
he was having taking care of this multitude of rebellious
people because they were rebellious all the way through the wilderness
now the old testament does not refer to or rather does refer
to blotting out of sins in isaiah forty three twenty five the lord
said i will blot as a great cloud out thy transgressions but the
old covenant the old testament speaks of that but the old covenant
speaks of blotting out people and that's what this is talking
about blotting out people now moses' desire was that the lord
would forgive his people He would not approach God with the law,
but he approached God suing for mercy and grace. If thou wilt
forgive, that's the language of grace and mercy. The Lord
told Moses that he would not forgive these people for their
sin, but in due time would punish them for their sin. He would
blot them out of the land of the living. Three thousand had
already been slain, and calamities and pestilence and famine and
plagues would follow these people throughout their history. the
sin that they had committed, to which the law was added, was
the calf that they had made and Aaron had made. That's what it
says in verses 33 through 35. Now Moses' desire was to make
atonement for the people's sin. That's what he said in verse
30. He said, and Moses got him to the camp. He and the elders
of Israel... I've got the wrong... in verse 30, and it came to pass
on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned
a great sin, now I will go unto the Lord peradventure, I shall
make an atonement for sin. However, the very thing that
is absolutely necessary for the atonement is not found in the
text that he uses. Leviticus 17 11 says that blood
shall make atonement for the soul. and it is the blood that
represents death and how atonement is made. And the Old Testament
word for atonement translates over in the New Testament to
two words, expiation and propitiation. Propitiation means satisfaction
or appeasement of God by the death of Jesus Christ. And expiation
means the putting away of sin by the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Moses would approach God with prayers and pleas and
supplications, but such shall never make atonement for the
soul. We pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We pray
for those we want the Lord to save. We pray for our children
and for their well-being and for hopefully that the Lord will
do something for them, but our prayers don't avail to their
salvation. It may be somehow in God's purpose and plan to
use them. I don't know how He uses them, but we pray for God's
glory for our souls and for the souls of men because we know
God alone can save them. That's the foolishness of the
false religion. They say they pray for God to
save the people, but then they say God can't save them unless
the people let Him. So they ought to be praying to
the people instead of God. The word atonement means to cover.
that's what it means you find in the old testament which is
what's in the new testament it means reconciliation in that
instance in Romans chapter 5 and verse 11 it means reconciliation
but in the old testament it means covering the word uh... when noah pitched the ark within
and out with pitch that word pitch is the same word atonement
covering he covered the ark within and without so that uh... it means to cover and suggest
that the blood atonement serves as a shroud as a shroud that
hovers between God and His people, like when the people painted
their doorposts and lentils in Egypt with the blood of the Lamb.
It was that blood that stood between the people and God, and
God said, When I see the blood, I will pass over you. It was
a picture of the blood of Christ, but atonement was not enough
for our salvation. The blood of atonement did not
put away sin. Though the sin was covered, the sin remained.
The sin remained. And this is exemplified in the
day of atonement that covered the sin for a year but actually
served to remind the people that they were still sinners. This
had to be done repeatedly. That's how Paul dealt with it
in Hebrews chapter 10 when he talked about the law and the
atonement. In Hebrews chapter 10 versus
one through three says for the law having a shadow of good things
to come they pictured something wonderful coming but not the
very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which
they offered year by year continually make the comers there unto perfect
so none of those so the end The end goal or the intent of God
is for a sacrifice that will make His people perfect and none
of these old sacrifices did. He said, for then would they
not have ceased to be offered if somebody had been made perfect
by them? Because the worshipers once purged should have no more
conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there
is a remembrance or a reminder again of sins every year. So
the covering of the Old Testament was a reminder that their sins
needed to be covered. There had to be something between
them and God that he could look at that he wouldn't punish their
sin and it was repeated every year. Now Moses, when asking
God to blot him out of the book, was not offering himself in the
place of the people. He was not actually a substitute
here. He simply would rather die than see any more die than
the 3,000 that had already been slain. It was as if he was saying,
if you won't forgive them, I don't want to see it. So just put me
out of business so I don't have to see it. But I want to draw
your attention tonight to one word found in this passage, which
I found extremely important. The word is found in verse 30.
said it came to pass on the more than most said yes in the great
sin and now i will go to the lord perventure i will make an
atonement for sin perventure perventures that were in this
word lies the truth in the air the distinction between the true
and false gospel this work perventure the root word for this is desire
desire and that means you want something but didn't necessarily
mean There's nothing positive as to the outcome, but rather
a desire for a favorable outcome. That's what this word peradventure
means. Is this not the cardinal doctrine
of what is called gospel preaching in this day? Is it not the preaching
and practice of Christianity so called in this day? Is God
not presented as the solicitor who wants and desires what is
best for you in peradventure? you will accept his desires for
you and make them occur. Isn't that the way he's presented
in this world? I remember many years ago, I
was watching Sunday morning TV, just flipping through, and I
got on where they was having a little Sunday school lesson
with Jimmy Swagger and several of the men in his church. One
man said, God will not overcome a man's will to save him. God
is a gentleman. and I think it was Swagger who
said, God is so solicitous. You know what that means? Beg.
He's a beggar. He begs people to let him save
them. The God of this so-called gospel
today is a God who wants to save people and perventure they might
be saved if they let him do it. Are men not told that Christ
died for them? Indeed died for all men and made salvation possible. And peradventure men will by
their fervent decision make what he did effectual." That's what
men are told. It's peradventure. Do not pulpiteers
pontificate that God loves you and has a stupendous plan for
your life. Peradventure you by your will
may find out what it is. Do men not say that God's hands
are tied? he has done all he can do, peradventure
you will loose him from his shackles and peradventure you will let
him save you. This word peradventure, he said,
peradventure I'm going to make an atonement. Don't know whether
it's going to happen or not. That's the doctrine of today
in religion, the false doctrine. It's not the invitation system
and the altar call. A giant peradventure that waits
on the wills of men the whole thing is given invitation
looking out to raise your hand, close your eyes, do this, do
that, come down front peradventure the whole thing is peradventure
something will happen nothing is guaranteed nothing is guaranteed
Moses said peradventure I will make an atonement for your sins
he desired his efforts to be effectual but he had no idea
if they would be it's what he wanted He wanted God to forgive
their sin. Peradventure, He might. Such
is not the case with Jesus Christ. There is no peradventure in salvation
that Christ accomplished. There is no peradventure in the
cross. What He wanted, He achieved. Let's look at a few verses of
Scripture. Hebrews chapter 10. you'll be hard, you'll be absolutely,
it's impossible to find a concept of pure adventure in this, in
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12, but this man, after he had
offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right
hand of God, having finished the work, that's why he sat down,
there's nothing more to do, from henceforth expecting or waiting
until his energy made his footstool, for by one offering, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. do
you see a prayer adventure in there? There's no such thing. Verse 17, And their sins and
their iniquities I will remember no more. Now where's remission
of these is? There is no more offering for sin. There's no
prayer adventure there. Something happened. Something
happened. So when I preach the gospel,
I'm not worried about it not working. I know it works. I don't
know who it's going to work on. I don't have any idea, but I
know this. The gospel always does what it's
supposed to do. There's no prayer adventure in it. I don't say
if you'll do this, God will do this. I'll tell you what God
has done for His people. And if you're one of His people,
that will find a home in your heart. That will find a place
in your heart. The work He undertook was not
His part of salvation. Peradventure, you would do your
part. I've heard people talk that way. God's done His part,
now your part. That's a peradventure. My work
might not. My get saved might not. That's
not the language of Scripture. at all. John 17 said, I have
glorified you, I have finished the work which you gave me to
do. On the cross, at the end of his suffering, he cried with
a loud voice, It is finished! And then he paid the price. He
gave up the ghost and paid the price for sin. By his sacrifice
he has made peace by the blood of his cross to present you unreprovable
and unblameable in his sight. Any prayer adventure there? any
possibility that's not going to happen. He said this is what's
going to happen. He's not hanging over the banners
of heaven peradventure. His finished work would be effectual.
In Isaiah chapter 53 it says, He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied for by his skill my righteous
servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities.
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2 says, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him
endured the cross, despised the shame, and is set down on the
right hand of the Father. He finished the work of salvation,
finished the work of salvation. Philippians chapter 2, he became
the fashion of a man and was obedient even to the death of
the cross, wherefore God is highly exalted to him, giving him a
name above every name. that in the name of Jesus every
knee should bow and every tongue confess that he's Lord to the
glory of the Father. He's not waiting peradventure,
men will come to him. That's what the preacher said,
won't you come? They beg and they cry and they
beseech and they give hymns and they sing invitation hymns and
they do all this shenanigans in church to get people to come
down to the front of the church to make some type of profession
of faith. There's no peradventure in coming to Christ. And the
Lord said, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and
him that cometh to me I will know when I am cast out. For
I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. And this is my Father's will which is
sent me, that I should lose nothing, but raise it up again in the
last day. And then it goes on to say in
verse 45, And all that are taught of the Father, everyone that
has learned and are taught of the Father, comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he says, My sheep hear my
voice, and they follow me. There is no peradventure. in
the salvation that God offers. There's no desire that He has
that it's not going to be fulfilled. He wants to save you. It's because
He's already redeemed you by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Timothy 1.9 it says, God
has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according
to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which
was given to us in Jesus Christ before the world began. Ain't
no pure adventure there. No pure adventure. What Christ
came to do, He did. He came to save His people from
their sins and His people are saved. Bless His holy name. Father,
bless us to understand Him, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.