Good to see everybody out this
morning. Remember those who requested prayer, especially Kathy Robinson,
who has four stage liver cancer. She's opted not for any more
treatment. The last treatment she had with chemotherapy, she
had an anaphylactic shock and messed up more vision in her
left eye. So she said, the doctor told her she had six months to
a year with what it is, but she's opted not to have any more chemotherapy
because it made her so sick the last time. So she asks that you
remember her in your prayers. She's still Full of beans, as
Kathy always has been. We talk to her about once, twice
a week. So remember her in your prayers. Dee Parks is doing about the
same. I don't know the results of the
new treatments she's having. But remember them Patsy Ledford
is in bad shape. Has she? She's in the Mountain View Manor in
Verizon now. They going to put her in there for good? I don't know. OK. That's where
Peggy Lambert is. uh, Mountain View. That's up
on that hill way back in the woods. Clara was there, wasn't
she? Clara was there for a while,
yeah. Okay. And the family of Aniah, Aniah
Sampson. Aniah died this week, so remember
them in your prayers. Seek the Lord's help for them.
Now, these books here, Sovereign Grace Hymnals, is what we're
gonna sing a first song out of. First hymn is, uh, And Can It
Be. We'll sing all five verses. Loosen
up your vocal chords, there's some high ones in here. And can it be that I should gain
an inch ? The Savior's blood ? That He
for me ? Who caused His pain for me ? Who Him to death pursued
? Amazing love, how can I that thou, my God, shouldst die
for me. Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Tis mystery all, immortal
dies, who can explore his strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph
tries to sound the depths of love divine. ? His mercy all let earth adore
? No more amazing love. How can it be that thou, my God,
should strive for me? He left his father's throne above
So free, so infinite is grace of all but love and bled for
his own chosen race. Tis mercy all immense and free
for oh my God it found out me. Amazing love, how can it be that
thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Love, my imprisoned spirit, Then I diffused the quickening
ray, I woke the dungeon flame with light. My chains fell off, my heart
was free. Amazing love, how can it be That
Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? No condemnation, Jesus and all in Him is mine. Alive in Him, I live in. And clothed in righteousness
divine. ? Bold I approach the eternals
? Some fine words in that song. Some fine words. I'm going to sing Christ to the
cross next on the sheet paper you've got in your pews. If you
have your Bibles, turn with me to Acts chapter 20. Beginning
with verse 17, we'll read through verse 28. I'm going to take my
text from verse 27 this morning. And from Aelitus, he sent to
Ephesus and called the elders of the church. When they would
come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that
I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at
all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind and
with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying
in wait of the Jews. Now I kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught
you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the
Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith
toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And now behold, I go bound in
this spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall
befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnessed in every
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things
move me, neither can I my life dear to myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy in the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that
ye all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God
shall see my face no more. Wherefore, I take you to record
this day that I am pure, from the blood of all men, for I have
not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take
heed, therefore, brethren, unto yourselves and to all the flock
over which the Lord Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed
the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You that we can read
such words from Your Apostle so full of confidence that though he knows when he
goes to Jerusalem he's going to be bound and ultimately cast
into prison, that these things mean nothing
to him. All that means anything to him is the declaration of
the gospel of peace, the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. We are thankful that such an
example is set before us of one who willingly spent all and spent
himself in a singular, plain, and straightforward life that
centered on and majored on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are thankful that somewhere
along in our adventures you sent someone with such a heart and
such a vision to set forth the gospel of peace to us, and you
gave us ears to hear and eyes to see, opened our hearts and
our minds, gave us life, faith and repentance, brought us to
the feet of the Savior. We thank you, Father, because
we know you did it all, and you are to be praised and thanked,
and all glory belongs to you. Lord, we pray for those who are
sick. Remember them, Lord. Comfort their hearts and strengthen
their bodies. Help us to remember each other
in prayer. Call out each other's name to heaven. It's a wonder
that your children have this privilege that we can actually
speak to you about our brothers and sisters in Christ. uplift
them and seek their strength and their welfare. We're thankful,
Father, that we can come together as a body of believers and worship
you in spirit and in truth. I pray you give us worship this
day as we consider these things that are before us. We pray this
in Christ's name and for his glory. Amen. The Christ of the Cross On a hill far away Died the Christ
of the cross He yielded to suffering and shame And there in His grace
He died in my place The purpose of God to So I'll cherish the Christ of
the cross And before His throne I'll bow down I will cling to
the Christ of the cross For He is the King I must crown Christ of the cross, so despised
by the world, has a wondrous attraction to me. He, the dear Lamb of God, lent
his glory above to bear all my sin on the tree. ? So I'll cherish the Christ
on the cross ? And before His throne I'll bow down ? I will
cling to the Christ on the cross ? For He is a King who was crowned
? The Christ of the cross ? And His blood so divine ? A marvelous
beauty I see ? For He opened my eyes ? That long have been
blind ? To behold Him now on His throne ? So I'll cherish
the Christ of the cross ? And before His throne I'll bow down
? I will cling to the Christ of the cross ? For He is the
King I must ever be true His shame
and reproach gladly bear For in love He constrains Till all
shall be gain His glory forever I'll share ? So I'll cherish
the Christ of the cross ? And before His throne I'll bow down
? I will cling to the Christ of the cross ? For He is the
King I must crown I'm going to stand and Steve will receive
the office for me. Remember, next Sunday is the last Sunday
of the month, so we'll be having morning service at the Lord's
Table, and dinner, and no evenings, afternoon service, so that's
next Sunday. Let us pray. Our Father, again, we approach
in the name of Jesus Christ, the Christ of the cross, we are thankful that you have
shown unto us that we must preach Christ and Him crucified, For
therein is the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
For there the matter of sin was settled forever for the elect.
God, our Father, was satisfied in His intractable, inflexible
law. His justice was satisfied by
that perfect death. And through that what he has
done, and through him who did it, we have received all things. We bless you for such an opportunity
to return unto you what you've given us. Thank you, Father,
in Christ's name, amen. much attention back to x chapter all statements to the effusions
concerning him not caring about the fact that you can put in
bonds as a result of their fear they had received a vision that
he was going to be put in and they were talking trying to talk
him out of going so he wouldn't be put in bonds and he said no
that bothers me i've got a job to do i've got a thing to do
it And what he called them to record that day was that what
he had done in their presence in preaching from house to house
and in every village, the gospel of God's grace, that when he
stood before God giving account for their souls, he wasn't worried. He wasn't worried at all. He
was actually pure or free. from the blood of all the men
that he had preached to. That's quite a statement when
you think about it. I've told you precisely what you need to
know. I've been exacting and set forth
these things in a manner that you can never call into question.
That's what he's saying. Your souls welfare and say there
was any problem that was due to me I'm pure from the blood
of all men everyone to whom he's preached this is an astonishing statement
in verse 27 in verse 26 it says for I will take you to record
this day that I am pure of the blood of all men for I have not
the reason I'm pure The reason I can't be charged is because
I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Paul boldly says that if anyone
to whom he has preached perishes in eternal damnation, no blame
can ever be laid at his feet. No one who ever heard Paul preach
could ever say to him, You didn't tell me everything I needed to
know. Or say to him, You left out something
in your sermons that was necessary for the salvation of my soul. Paul proclaims and calls men
to record on this, that to hear him preach is to hear everything
necessary to be heard about salvation. Quite a statement, isn't it?
Quite a statement. This is the heart of every true
preacher of the gospel because he stands as one who must give
account for the souls that are put in his charge. That accountability
is singular in its scope. The preacher is not a governor. He is not a counselor or a social
director or anybody's best buddy. He is a publisher of the record
that God has given concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
And that is His job, that is His duty, and that is His privilege
and His pleasure. If He must rebuke or reprove,
it is done in the light of the gospel, not as a personal matter. He never employs the inventions
of men. He does not use chicanery or
psychology, nor does He handle the Word of God deceitfully. What He does is foolish to the
world, and it is food to the saints. What he does makes him
pure or clear from the blood of all men to whom he is preached. I stand before you and say what
Paul said, so does every true minister of the gospel whom God
has sent. How can such a claim be made?
Paul says that he is pure from the blood of all men because
he has not shunned to declare all the counsel of God. The word
shunned here is the same word translated kept back when he
said, I have kept nothing back from you. In verse 20, I have
not, Paul says, kept back any of the counsel of God. I have
declared unto you all the counsel of God. Now, that is a term that
piques the interest of theologians." It sounds big, it sounds huge,
it sounds magnificent, and it is, but this is one of those
phrases that captivates and ensnares the minds of would-be theologians.
I cannot tell you the number of times I've been accused of
NOT preaching all the counsel of God because I didn't preach
the law as a means for justification or rule of life. Or the times
my good Baptist buddies have charged me with not preaching
all the counsel of God because I was not Baptist enough in my
ecclesiology. Or the times I've been accused
of not preaching the counsel of God because I did not preach
enough about the responsibility of man. Or the times I've been
called on the cover for not preaching all the counsel of God because
I refused to take a particular side in some theological pugilism. I don't preach the law for justification
or rule of life because neither of those things is part and parcel
with the counsel of God according to what Paul says. I preach the law as fulfilled
by Christ in His death and fulfilled in His people by His Spirit through
the preaching of all the counsel of God. Last time I preached up in Winston-Salem,
I got a hint. Some of the things these fellows
said, they were kind of leaning toward a little bit of legalism.
I didn't say anything to them, but I did say this from the pulpit.
I love the law. I love the law. I put flowers
on its grave every time I preach the gospel. I'm dead to the law. and the law is dead to me. And
if being a Baptist was part of the counsel of God, I'd preach
it. I do preach ecclesiology, church
doctrine. Here's my ecclesiology. Christ
is the head of the church, which is His body, the fullness of
Him that filleth all. That's my ecclesiology. I don't preach
the responsibility of man as men would have me do because
I've found over the years that what men mean by responsibility
is little more than their regurgitation of personal religious convictions
by which they mean to have others adhere to in order to govern
men's lives. I do preach responsibility. I
keep nothing back. I declare that God has commanded
all men everywhere to repent and has commanded all men to
believe the gospel. I've kept nothing back. Repentance
toward God is the LIFE of the believer. It is the LIFE of the
believer. It means to radically change
your mind about what recommends you to God. It begins with faith
in Christ and continues every day as the believer seeks to
turn from his idols, whatever form they take, and serve the
Living God. Faith in Christ is the impetus
of repentance because it is trusting and relying on Christ as the
only merit upon which God will receive a man and accept a man
in his presence. Faith is the evidence of things
hoped for, the substance of things not seen. It is impossible apart
from faith, saith the scripture, to please God. Men talk about,
and I heard Billy Graham's son this morning on TV in a commercial,
talk about put your faith and trust in Jesus as if you had
it before you knew Jesus. You don't have it unless you
know Christ. Well, faith and repentance is
IN Christ, and it's granted BY Christ for those whom He has
raised from the dead and given life. Put your faith and trust
in Christ. You don't have faith and trust
until you're made alive in God. The heart of idolatry is the
worship of another god, we know that. Repentance toward God and faith
in Lord Jesus Christ according to this passage is all the scripture
all the counsel of God. He said that He said that The heart of our dollars I said
is the worship of another God since there is but one God There's
only one and he is the sole proprietor of all that is an Idol must be
an invention of man's imagination Remember the root word for imagination
is image. That's the root word. I know
that our first thoughts of idolatry are stone gods and wood gods
and crosses and such. These are all idols but do not
truly address idolatry. Since man is the maker of the
idol and does so that he can have a God he can please, that
God is merely a reflection of himself. which is what the Lord
said in Romans chapter 1. The first image they make is
a man, a person, their own selves. Men do not trust the idol they
make. They trust themselves for having
made the idol. They love themselves and worship
themselves. Their idol is the God they seek
to please, and that's themselves. To repent toward God and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ is to seek to please God and not yourself.
What an odd thing to think. Please God and not yourself. Seems just the opposite of the
way the world is going today, doesn't it? Christ said, if any
man will follow me, let him deny himself. That doesn't mean self-denial.
It means saying, in your heart and your mind, I have no part
whatsoever in the salvation of my soul. That is denying yourself. None. No part. What does Paul mean
when he speaks of declaring all the counsel of God? He is not
talking about the secret things of God. Those belong to him.
He is not talking about finding out things about God by searching
that cannot be found out. He is not speaking of some dark
mystery hidden in a corner. And certainly not speaking of
revival that's tearing up a whole city in which Christ's name is
never mentioned. There's a whole lot about the
Holy Ghost. Clearly, if you're under the
inspiration of the Spirit, He claims to preach all the counsel
of God. All the counsel of God. Then
God has a counsel. God has a counsel. And all the
counsel of God can be proclaimed because He said, I've proclaimed
it. So we don't reach into the ethereal heights of academe and
go into the great theological books and look up for new stuff.
Paul said, I preached to you and I've kept nothing back from
you. I preached to you all the counsel of God. This makes me
pure from the blood of all men. He's not speaking of great swelling
words, which he said he didn't have. the great swelling words
of man's wisdom. So this counsel has nothing to
do with man's wisdom or the span of man's philosophy, which has
led the greats among men to contemplate their navel or to sit in a forum
of intellectuals and ponder ethereal mysteries that give occasion
to use big words. The word counsel is generally
translated this way, purpose. God's counsel is God's purpose. There are some things we can
know about the purpose of God according to Isaiah chapter 14
verse 24, 26, 27. He said, What I have purposed,
I will do. The purpose I have purposed on
the whole world is what's going to be done. He has declared the
end from the beginning, he says in Isaiah 46. He has declared
the end from the beginning, and His word shall bring all things
to pass. he's declared it. What does that mean? Before he
started this thing, he had already written the last chapter. That's already taken care of.
Brethren, we should not be people who despair because we've read
the book. We know how it's going to end. Those who worry about
this and that and about the destruction of Mother Earth and the sun Breaking
off, I read this week, somebody said part of the sun broke off.
How stupid is that? And think they're going to, one
man said he's going to send a, he's working on an invention
that will send a cloud over the Arctic. Cover the whole Arctic
that will, that will reflect the sun's rays back away from
the Earth. And that will keep the sun cool
and keep from overheating. A piss ant, that's what that
is. or what would be called a pismire, thinking that he can invent something
that will control the weather. You talking about audacity? Talking
about hubris? You talking about unmitigated
gall, which Jim had his taken out? Think about that. God is in control of all things.
Nebuchadnezzar said that, didn't he? When he came back to his
right mind, he said the dominion of God is going to stand forever
and ever. He shall do according to his
will. According to his will, whatever he wills to do, whatever
he desires to do, whatever he plans to do, whatever is in his
counsel, according to His will, in the
armies of heaven and among us, the inhabitants of the earth,
and nobody can stop Him. Nobody can stay His hand. Nobody
can even ask Him a question as to what He is doing. It is not
our business. Job 33 says, He does not give
account of His matters. God is greater than man, and
He does not give account of His matters. He does not answer to
YOU. You answer to Him. From these few verses here in
the text, it is clear that God's purpose WILL be done, that none
can change it or disrupt or disannul it, and it is about God's pleasure
and what pleases Him. And since the Bible declares
in certain terms that God DOES as He pleases and HAS done as
He is pleased, what pleases Him had to do with this counsel,
which Paul says also is the gospel of God's grace. I've kept nothing
back unto you, I've preached the gospel of God's grace. What
pleases God? Me shopping at a store that doesn't
sell wine? Does that please God? Me not smoking cigarettes or
drinking alcohol or going to the movie show, does that please
God? What pleases God? Do I please God? No. What pleases God? Jesus Christ
pleases God. There's our acceptance. There's
the counsel of God. All of it. All of it. What pleases
God? His Son pleases Him. What pleases
Him has to do with His Son. Faith pleases Him because faith
is in His Son. The word counsel means purpose.
It comes from the combination of several words, which means
deep, fixed mind. The counsel of God is the deep,
fixed mindset of God concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. Paul says
that he is not shunned to declare the deep, fixed mindset of God. That sounds huge, doesn't it?
What is that? It's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Again, this ensnares the theologian
because he just loves the idea of something different and new,
something that no one has yet discovered. Paul says that he
kept nothing back that was profitable. He declared it all, and the result
was that no man could ever charge him otherwise. The deep mindset
of God, all the counsel of God is both understood and believed
and possessed by the awakened elect, the elect of God. and is found to be all that they
need and all that they want. All that they need and all that
they want. All the counsel of God is all
that God has revealed concerning His Son. Paul has a very narrow
vision, and people call me narrow-minded. I take it as a compliment because
I am. I am narrow-minded. Paul's doctrine
was the doctrine of REDUCTION. God's doctrine is a doctrine
of reduction. Men get all kinds of ideas and
write books and come up with all kinds of things like that.
God just keeps narrowing it, brings it down to one thing.
You ever realize how gracious that is for God to do that, just
make it one thing? I know theologians and religious
people say, well, it ought to be more than that. No, no, no,
not for an old wretched sinner who's dead and trespasses sin,
has no hope whatsoever in this world. You've got to give them
just ONE THING! I can get a hold of ONE THING! I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. The doctrine of reduction brings all things in this book
to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ, from Genesis chapter
1 to Revelation 22. It's about Jesus Christ. It's ALL about
HIM! That's the doctrine of reduction.
What about Abraham and Sarah? That's about Christ and His Church.
What about Adam and Eve? That's about Christ and His Church.
What about the creation of the world? That's about the new creation,
Christ and His Church. It's all about Christ and nothing
else. This book is about Him. His doctrine was the doctrine
of reduction. He's not speaking of a seminary
course where He speaks declaring all the counsel of God. He's
defined what all the counsel of God is in many places and
has declared it everywhere He went. And the result is that
He's pure of the blood of all men. because He has done so. What is all the counsel of God
is what Paul and every preacher preaches. I preach Christ. The world has wisdom, but God
has ordained and purposed in His counsel that the world, by
its own wisdom, can never know God. We preach Christ, the POWER
and the WISDOM of God. Christ and Him crucified, and
that's it. The glory of God shining in the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We don't handle the Word of God
deceitfully, Paul said. We tell you the truth. So we'll
be clear in the conscience of all men. And the devil's going
to hide, the God of this world's going to hide the Gospel from
the Son, but God hides it from the Son too, and uses the devil
to do it, I expect. But God has created, just like
He created the world, created the light to shine in the world.
He's created the light to shine in our hearts to reveal the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's the counsel of God. All
the counsel of God. The counsel of God is the gospel.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. What did he mean
by that? He meant, well, that's what saved me. Why should I be
ashamed of something that saved me? The gospel has always brought
life and light to my life. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel for it's the power of God, the dunamis, the dynamite,
the dynamic of God. The power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. For therein, in that gospel, in that counsel of God, in that
purpose of God, therein is the righteousness of God Which is
Jesus Christ revealed from faith to faith? All the counsel of God is the
gospel. This is the beautiful sound upon
the mountains of the feet that come bearing good tidings of
good things, publishing peace and publishing salvation, saying,
Thy God reigneth to Zion It is the record. It's not something
that's new. It's not something that changes.
It's not something that happened yesterday. It's something that
is a record of something that's already happened. It happened
years and eons ago in the Council of God's Grace. It is the record,
the declared record, the declared record that's done of how God
HOW GOD HIMSELF GLORIFIES HIMSELF IN THE SALVATION OF THE ELECT
BY THE SUBSTITUTIONARY, PROPITIATORY, SUCCESSFUL WORK OF JESUS CHRIST,
HIS DEAR SON. That Graham fellow this morning,
he said, Jesus, God sent His Son to die for our sins and shed
His blood for our sins, but he didn't say anything about actually
accomplishing anything. Did it? Oh, yes, it accomplished
all the counsel of God. It's the record how Christ answered
the demands of the law, satisfied God's wrath, and fixed it so
that God Almighty, the thrice holy God, whose eyes are too
pure to behold evil, could then be JUST and justify sinners. How in the world can that be?
Only if God is completely SATISFIED for His law's demands and His
justice. all the counsel of God is as
narrow and as wide as the gospel. All the counsel of God is bound
up in the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist said the Lord
loves the Son. The Father loves the Son and
He's put all things in His hands. He says it another way in John
17 when our Lord prayed to the Father, Thou hast given me authority
over all flesh. to give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given me. For to this end he rose and resurrected,
that he might be Lord of the living and the dead." That's
everybody. He's the Lord of everybody. All
the matter of life, of history, of time, of tide, of the universe. is one thing everything's about christ i noticed
the other day that you're trying to change the phrase or the two
letters we use to determine what year it is and a domino it's
the year of our lord they want to change that and remove him
from it and uh... and they say have a b e or a
b r that has something to do with something revealed or opened
up They want to change that wine. They don't like the fact that
He is Lord over all, but He is. He is. God created the world. How'd He do that? He spoke and
it was. God made man out of what He had
created, the dust of the earth. Man sinned against God and plunged
the entire human race into utter ruin. The entire human race. Man displayed his innate depravity
and his progeny was born into this world without any interest
or inclination toward God, born with an actual hatred for God
in their hearts. Left to himself, man would have
stayed this course until he wound up in eternal hell. Barnard said,
You'll go to hell if you can. But God chose some out of this
fallen race. an innumerable company of fallen
creatures to be the trophies of His grace. God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, covenanted, struck hands, if
you will, to accomplish the salvation of those whom God has chosen
unto salvation. Christ became their surety, that
is to say, before they even existed as a thing. before the world
existed, before the dirt from which they were formed existed,
He became the surety of a people that only existed in His counsel
and purpose. What did that mean? That He signed
His name to their sin debt before they ever sinned. And they, the elect of God, out
of this fallen race, came into this world, guilty as all get
out, sinful men, God-haters all, but
they came into this world never having the responsibility to
pay for their own sin. Their sin had already been signed
over to Christ. as their surety, their guarantor
that the sin debt would be paid by him. God never looked to Malcolm
to pay for his sins. He just didn't. He ought to have,
shouldn't he? No, he shouldn't have because
he gave it to Christ. Christ became our surety, our
surety of the New Testament, the New Covenant. assume the responsibility what
was the responsibility to die that was your responsibility
that's how you keep the law by the way that's the only way you
keep the law is to die the law says the sinner must die doesn't
say the sinner must do right it says these are the things
that will get you punishment if you do wrong Never says the
law's not about doing right. The speed limit sign out there
is not about doing right. It's about catching you if you
do wrong. You see, there is no imputation
of sin where there is no law. There isn't. It says that in
Romans chapter five. Without a law, you can't charge
somebody with something. For years in this country, women
were stalked. but they could never charge men
for stalking them. Though they were, sometimes they'd
kill them, they'd charge them for killing them, but they couldn't
charge them for putting fear in their life and standing outside their
house and knocking on the corridor. They couldn't do any of that.
Why? There's no law. Didn't they make a law that a
man couldn't stalk a woman? And now, if you stand outside
the house and knock on her corridor, they'd put you in jail. Why?
The law is for the unrighteous, those who have transgressed the
law. The law was added because of transgression. The law reads
your sentence when you're sitting in the electric chair. That's
what the law does. This is why you're being punished, because the law said you shouldn't
do that. God Almighty in the person of His Son died
the death that was due in order for us to pay the law. God predestinated
those men and those women to be like His Son. He adopted them
and would give them this thing called the new birth, and that
would be by the Spirit through the preaching of the Word. Christ
came into this world and lived without sin for 33 years. At
the time appointed, He made His soul an offering for sin. Go
ahead and try to figure that out. Go ahead and try to explain
that theologically. He was made to be sin for us.
I know people try to do that. Don't bother. Leave it like it
is because it's too big for any of us to mess with. He was made
to be sin. Isaiah 53 said He made His soul
an offering for sin. I can't imagine. He hung suspended between heaven
and earth on the cruel cross. By His sacrifice, He put away
the sins of His elect. He paid the uttermost farthing
of what they owed. He finished their salvation.
He redeemed, justified and sanctified them and became their righteousness.
In time, God would send some of those He had redeemed to tell
others of what He had done. They came declaring the counsel
of God plainly and simply, and by the gospel men were called
to repentance and faith. They were given faith and granted
repentance and are kept by the power of God unto salvation.
Everyone for whom Christ paid the debt was redeemed and shall
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for all that God requires
of them. Nothing profitable has been held
back from them. they've all had the counsel of
God declared unto them. First John chapter five verse nine says, If we receive
the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. for this is
the witness of God this is what God says folks which he has testified of his
son that's what he testifies of he that believeth on the son
of God hath the witness in himself remember it says I will write
my laws in their hearts for those whom Christ has perfected forever
by his sacrifice he that believeth not God says God's a liar because he believed not the record
that God gave of His Son. And this is the record that God
has given us. This is the record that God has
given us, eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath
the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. You cannot get much more narrow
than that. It is just one or the other.
One or the other. He that hath the Son hath life.
This is the record. This is the witness that God
has given of His Son. This is the record. Don't vary
from this. Don't run away from this. Don't
try to add to this or take away from this. Just by God's grace
lay hold of it and never let it go. This is the record. The record. Done deal. Published. Written. by the hand of a ready writer,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, bless us to our understanding.
We pray in Christ's name. We thank you for your counsel.
We thank you, Father, for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, how
powerful indeed it is. We bless you for being so merciful
and kind to us. Thank you, in Christ's name.
Amen.