Freedom In The Gospel: Part 3 | Paul Washer - Mississippi Prison

[Music] never [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] all know you never [Applause] [Music] some [Music] [Applause] [Music] praise well thank you so much that was that was beautiful that was that was amazing wow well let's open up our Bibles again to Romans chapter 3 and as you know we've we spent the last two sermons talking about the sin of man the judgment to come that if we any of us were to be judged by the best second of our life not just the best minute the best second of our life none

of us would enter into Glory none of us if I was teaching a Sunday school class as I said this morning of a bunch of little you know 15year old girls it would be the same thing the testimony of God is true for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death not just physical death but spiritual death Eternal death now the question comes to this how can people like us be saved how could we ever stand before God and be declared not just pardoned but perfect

how well that's what we're going to look to tonight and I think the answer will surprise you if you look in verse 23 of Chapter 3 of The Book of Romans we've already discussed this for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God that's the condemnation of the entire human race but then he's going to change now and he's going to begin to talk about the Christian and the Christian experience he's going to say something completely different in verse 24 he says being justified as a gift by his grace through the Redemption

which is in Christ Jesus what does it mean to be justified as I said this this afternoon it is a forensic term it is a legal term that someone stands Before the Throne of God and God declares them to be legally right with him now we know that to be legally right with God requires that we not have one sin not one sin and so how could any of us be declared before God in this life or the next how could any of us be declared legally right with him he has no problem whatsoever with

us now that's the question of all religions isn't it if you look at all the religions in the world or most of them it comes down to how can I be made right with God now if you were to go to Seminary and study a you know a class on religion you would be told that there are thousands and thousands of religions in the world but if you took a class with me you would learn that there's really only two there's really only two religions in the world there is one religion in the world that

is a religion of Grace yeah that men are saved by God's unmerited kindness that means a kindness that is displayed to The Sinner and it's not based on the sinner's Merit all the other religions in the world are if you want to go to heaven you have to earn it Merit it now let me give you an example so if you were to walk up to an orthodox Jew and said sir where are you going to die where you going to go when you die he may say something like this let's say I'm a reporter

and I walk up to him and I said sir when you die where are you going to go and he goes I will go to heaven I will go to the abat of God why well I love the Torah I love the law of God and I am a good man I have tried to live my life conformed to the law of God and I am a good man okay sir let's talk to someone else let's say that we talk to um a Muslim sir if you died right now where would you go I would

go to paradise why would you go to paradise I am a good man I follow the five pillars of Islam I give HS to the poor I am a righteous righteous man okay I understand that as a reporter you two groups you're going to heaven why are you going to heaven you're good men then I go to the Christian and I have to be careful here the real one I go to the Christian and I go sir I have a question for you yes if you died right now where would you go to he where

would you go and he says if I died right now I would go to heaven okay why he puts his head down and he says I was born in sin and in sin did my mother conceive me I have gone astray from the womb and I have broken every law that God has made and I'm a reporter so I stop him and I go hold it hold it I don't understand I understand these other guys they're going to heaven because they're really good people and they've earned it you're telling me you're going to heaven and

yet at the same time you're telling me you have no personal virtue or Merit how are you going to heaven I don't understand and he looks up and he goes I'm going to heaven upon the virtue and the Merit of another Jesus Christ my Lord for God so love the world people like me for God so love the world that he gave his son for me I have no glory I have no h I have nothing to boast of but Jesus Christ my lord it's why the Christian is the only person that can say they're

going to heaven and not be bragging or at least they're not boasting about themselves their only boast is Jesus amen amen always remember this don't exalt men don't exalt preachers there's no such thing as a great man of God there never has been there never will be there's only tiny little sinful men of a great and merciful god there is one hero in this entire story and it is Jesus Christ the lord so he says here being justified as a gift as a gift but he goes on and I was teaching you a bit about

Hebrew and about how the idea is also transmitted in the Greek is this idea of repetition when you really want to emphasize something and look what he says being justified as a gift by his grace what's he saying he's saying I'm declared right with God as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift that's what he's saying it's all a gift now it's very unusual here the word gift he uses the Greek word Doran Doran and what is

significant about this the word is used somewhere else in John 15:2 where it is where it is said of the Messiah where it is said of Jesus now listen very carefully they hated him they hated Jesus dorion without a cause they hated Jesus without a cause and so when he uses the same word he's saying you were Justified without a cause Jesus never gave anyone a reason to hate him and you and I never gave God one reason to save us we didn't give him one reason to declare us Justified before him we only gave

him reason to condemn us do you see that and yet here Paul is saying Paul the great Hebrew Paul the great Theologian and missionary Paul who would give his life for the gospel El he said God has Justified not just you but me without any cause without any cause we only gave him cause to condemn us but he has done something to justify us and he says we're justified by his grace so as a gift as a gift as a gift as a gift now I'm going to teach you something that is not new it

is from of old it's the Apostle Paul if you were to read Augustin Jerome the Patriarchs of the early church going up through the reformers and the Puritans and the early Baptist and Methodist and evangelicals you would heard this kind of thing that I'm going to teach you it would have been the most prevalent thing you would have heard when they were preaching the gospel and what's amazing to me it's almost never mentioned now and that's why people do not truly understand the gospel they can't see that in what I just taught you that there

is a tremendous theological problem as a matter of fact it's the biggest problem in the entire Bible many theologians have referred to it as the Divine dilemma and this is what it is how can God declare you right with him when you're not you're a sinner I'm a sinner we deserve hell we deserve condemnation how can God simply wipe all that away with a sweep of his hand and say I do not condemn you let me give you an example let's say that you you're out one day you're in church or at the mall or

you're shopping or something and you have a family a beautiful family and you come home and you see that your wife your children have all been slaughtered and you look and there's the criminal standing over your entire family and he's draining the life out of your last child you're able to restrain yourself but you run across the room you throw him to the ground you tie him up you call the police the police come and take him away and everybody not only you but everyone in your neighborhood they're awaiting the trial of this man who

killed your entire family red-handed I want you to think about that so the day of his court comes and not only you but your relatives all the people in your neighborhood that loved your wife and loved your children they're all in the courtroom the criminal is presented before the judge he looks down and this is what he says the judge I am slow to anger and I am abounding in loving kindness I forgive iniquity and sin and crime therefore I pardon you you're free to go what would you do would you go oh what a

wonderful judge with the with the neighborhood Who Loved your wife and your children what would they say oh what what an amazing judge this is this is abs absolutely astounding no it would be the very opposite wouldn't it you would be so angry and you would say that judge is more corrupt than the criminal he is pardoning you would write the mayor you would write the governor you would write the president and you would say there is a judge on the bench that is so corrupt that he will not do justice so so let me

ask you a question all of us are criminals how can God just say I declare you right that is the greatest theological problem in the entire Bible since God is righteous and God is good how can he forgive the wicked and still be righteous have you ever heard evangelists say something like this evangelists say a lot of silly things evangelist says well instead of being just with you God was merciful do you know what he's saying that God's mercy isn't just that God laid aside his Justice neglected his Justice in order to do Mercy but

what you have to understand and the reason why people fall into this trap is that they do not understand what we call theology proper they do not understand the doctrine of God there is a Simplicity in God and what that means is this you and I are very complex and we have a lot inside of us that contradict we're just a mass of chaos and contradiction God has certain Eternal attributes and those attributes do not fight one another they do not contradict they exist in Perfect Harmony so when God shows Mercy he will show Mercy

but never neglecting his Justice God will be kind to The Sinner but never ceases in his Holiness and so the great question in all the Bible is this how can God forgive The Sinner and still be just now I'm going to show you the problem so I want you if you if you have your Bibles cuz we really need to get into scripture tonight in Exodus 34 I'm going to show you this Exodus 34:5 the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him Moses as he called upon the name of the Lord this

is one of the greatest Revelations of God in the entire Old Testament it's right up there with you know Isaiah 6 in the that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord high and lifted up and the train of his robe filled the temple and above him stood the sarapin and each one having six wings with two they covered their face and with two they covered their feet and with two they did fly and one Cried unto the other holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts I mean this thing that we're seeing here in

in Exodus 34 is one of the greatest Revelations of who God is so he comes down on the mountain he descended in the cloud and stood there with Moses and this is what he said verse 6 then the Lord passed by in front of him in front of Moses and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God compassionate and gracious and slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness in truth who keeps for loving kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity transgression and sin first of all God declares his loving kindness and then he declares the result of

that loving kindness he says this he forgives iniquity transgression and sin what is he trying to say well you could go into the Hebrew and find out that each of those terms mean something a little different but that's not the idea in Hebrew when you pile one term upon another what he's basically saying is God is so full of loving kindness and compassion that he forgives every type and kind of sin there's no sin that you men have committed or I have committed that God cannot and will not forgive do you see that but now

we go further and we run into a problem says he forgives iniquity transgression and sin and then he says yet will will by no means leave the guilty unpunished hold it how do you do both of those things he's saying I forgive all types and kinds of sin I will punish every sin I forgive all types and kinds of sin but make no mistake every sin and every sinner will be punished for everything they have done do you see that both things things are affirmed here and we ask ourselves how can that be true well

we go back first of all since God is just truly just he will he must punish every sin that has ever been committed well if that's true then how is God going to forgive me here's what you need to understand all sin all your sin all Sinners will be punished with perfect Justice in two possible ways as I have said and it may trouble you there are men here who they and their sin will be punished throughout eternity in hell and it will never end but there's another group of men who sin and in one

sense they themselves their sin has been punished and paid for in the person of Jesus Christ make no mistake about it God will punish all sin with perfect Justice your sin can be punished on your own head throughout all eternity and it will never end because God Is So Glorious and so worthy that your sin is so heinous and horrible that the punishment for it will never never end you have sinned against the infinite glory of God and you will be punished for an eternity or your sin was punished on Calvary through your substitute but

either way it will be punished now I want us to go just for a moment to proverbs Proverbs 17 and I want to show you the same theological Point Proverbs 17 verse1 15 look what it says he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous both of them alike are an Abomination to the Lord now the word Abomination here it is about there's nothing worse there's nothing worse in the scriptures when you see Abomination so now I want you to look at something here's a problem and you need to look at the problem

he who justifies the wicked is an Abomination to the Lord and yet you sing songs all the time about how God justifies the wicked and you rejoice and it's true Paul the Apostle said says God justifies The Sinner but here it says anyone who justifies the wicked is an Abomination so again the question is how can God justify me a sinner and you a sinner without becoming an Abomination it's but it's because he did punish his people he did punish their sin in his son so let's go back to that judge and let's say it's

us standing there a murderer caught red-handed guilty and the judge says you're free to go and this illustration is not perfect but it's the best I can do the judge looks down says you're free to go and then the judge stands up takes off his robe comes down and dies in your place under the punishment that you deserved I was a wicked young man self-centered selfish all I cared about was myself I didn't care about religion or being moral or any of the things what got me was this and until today it's the same he

died and didn't just die he bore my filth my sin on that tree he became a curse God forsook his own son because God should forsake me someone had to suffer my forsakenness so I would never be Forsaken and he poured out all of his holy hatred against evil against my evil on his son and his son suffered wave after wave after wave of the wrath of almighty God until Justice was perfectly satisfied and it was finished he paid it all he paid it all I fear hell but it wasn't hell that drove me to

him it was what he suffered that I might be saved how do you turn away from that how do you turn away from that how does it not grab you and make you a prisoner of his love for what he did now I want you to go to a book maybe hard to find Micah and we're going to see this same truth again in the Book of Micah in Micah 7 verse 18 listen to what it says very similar to Exodus this is what it says who is a God Like You Who pardons iniquity and

passes over the rebellious Act of the remnant of his possession here we have it again a loving compassionate God he does not retain his anger forever because he Delights in unchanging love he will have compassion on us he will tread our iniquities Under Foot yes you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea now I hear people sing this and preach this you know they say he's tread our iniquities under his foot praise God he's cast all our sins into the sea wonderful praise God let's Rejoice let's laugh with joy stop you're

not understanding what's going on here he didn't grab your iniquities off of you like this and throw them to the ground and stomp them he didn't take off your sin like this hurl it up curl it up in a ball and throw it into the sea he took your sins off of you and he placed them on his son and he crushed his own son he took your sin and he placed it on his son and hurled him into the sea of Wrath until every sent was paid do you remember I'm sure you do you

know when you hear the story about Jesus says get in the boat and he goes to sleep in the bow and everything's going along nicely and then all of a sudden a storm comes up and then they say Jesus help us and Jesus comes out and calms the storm you've heard it a million times but has ever anybody ever explained it to you christologically in the context of Redemption all we usually hear is you know Jesus saved the today he has the power over nature I want you to think remember what he said a greater

than Jonah is here Jonah was a disobedient prophet he gets in the boat and where is he when he's in the boat he's sleeping right and what happens a storm comes up it's the wrath of God and what does Jonah say say the only way to save yourself throw me into the sea you see any similarities yeah so now it's the disciples they're in the boat they've heard all the rumors they're they're thinking that Christ that Jesus is the Messiah but they've also heard all the rumors from the Pharisees and the Sadducees this man's a

false prophet and possibly they said this is a you know something like Jonah he's a disobedient Prophet he's not with the rulers of Israel he's not with the Sanhedrin he's not with the Pharisees they probably heard that and so now he's sleeping in the boat there's no storm there's nothing they're Sailors they all know about the sea it's calm Waters let's go and all of a sudden a storm comes out of nowhere that's miraculous and it's very possible now the disciples are thinking well were the Sadducees right were the Pharisees right I mean just like

Jonah he's sleeping and now we're being engulfed in a supernatural storm Jesus and he walks out peace be still he's not a disobedient Prophet he's Messiah but then later on that cross he threw himself into the sea of God's Wrath the Wrath that would have taken down every one of you that would have taken down me that would have taken down the entire world he didn't have to be coaxed didn't have to be thrown he himself suffered the Wrath that you deserve do you see and tomorrow we're going to talk about what that really meant

now I want us to go to back to Romans chapter 3 well let's let's put one more nail in this go to chapter 4 in chapter 4 verse 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from the law so a man whom God declares righteous but he didn't earn it that man didn't earn it and so David in the Psalms blessed are those whose Lawless Deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered blessed is the man who sin the Lord will not take into

account now we read that but many times we read it and we're really not thinking think about what he's saying blessed are those whose Lawless Deeds have just been forgiven there's no justice it appears they're just yeah go on Whose sins have been covered some politician does something and what do they do sweep it under the rug they cover it do we think that's a beautiful thing no blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account yeah I know he sin but we're not going to worry about it does that sound

like justice to you no so you see all of this falls apart unless the there is Calvary where the justice of God is enacted and the wrath of God and the punishment of God is poured out until God himself says it's finished my Justice is satisfied now look at Romans so we're going to go back to 24 being justified that means The Sinner us is legally declared right before God and that legal declaration is a gift a gift a gift made possible through what the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus so God can declare you

right with him only because of what Christ did on calvary or it would be wrong and how did he do it through the Redemption now when you sing and you talk about Redemption and things like that I want you to do it with joy I want you to be happy but I don't want you to be superficial you know you hear a preacher bless God I've been redeemed the Puritans would say this there are some words that you and I should speak but only with a trembling lip and with bowed head I've been redeemed yes

how have I been redeemed by the blood the death of God's son whoa maybe I should think a little more before I just shout out a word as though it were a silly word do you know what Redemption is Redemption is a term that is used with regard to prisoners captives milit you know like War captives and slaves the word applies to all three groups and we are in all three groups we're all criminals another sense we're captives of War held captive by the devil but rightfully so because we gave ourselves to him you see

that criminals captives slaves before I became a Christian you know I would go out and do bad things and I'd come home at 3 in the morning or something and I would go I hate what I did I'm not going to do it again I'm not and then my friends would call and I would be right back out there at 11:00 again at night right A Slave a slave a captive a prisoner of war Redemption means that a price is paid for that slave so that they may have complete freedom in this case the slave

pays nothing it's the master who pays everything with his blood now a few years ago there was a a video going around around that a lot of people were impressed with but theologically it was very wrong so it showed this prisoner in a Cell chained up and you could see him and then all of a sudden you see this shadow of somebody coming and their hand starts to raise and there's a whip and it's going to come down on that prisoner and they say that Jesus that that whip was the devil and that he was

coming down upon us with that whip punishing us with that whip but Jesus stood in his stood in our place and he took the lashes and he paid the devil for all our crimes that is a lie it wasn't the devil coming out after you it was the righteousness of God coming after you and the thing that Jesus suffered on that tree was the wrath of almighty God that should have fallen on you and should have fallen on me do you see that he saved us for himself he also saved us from himself it was

the wrath of God because God is just now I want to go on and I want us to look at something so it says through the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus in the book of Ephesians that we have the longest sentence in chapter 1 it goes like 13 verses it's the longest sentence in the entire Bible and in it you see repeated over and over and over again in him in him in him in Christ in Christ and what Paul is saying is every spiritual blessing that we can

possibly have throughout all of eternity is found in one place in Christ if you are in Christ let me share with you something apart from Christ you have no part with God and God has no part with you it is in Christ it is our Union with Christ by faith the one who paid the penalty and the one who did far much more and so in Christ in Christ in Christ it's about Christ theology is important Doctrine is important where you stand what kind of church you go to is important but the thing that is

important above all other things are you in Christ or not and I can tell you this and it may make some of you extremely angry I do care but I'm still going to say it you're not going to get into heaven with one shred of self-righteousness if you think that you and Jesus gots your own thing going and you're both working together and he's contributing a little and you're contributing a little and maybe the church is contributing a little you are not Christian we go to heaven because of everything Jesus Christ did and here's another

thing this is not your story this is his this is his story he's the hero in [Applause] it he's when we're cowering when we're cowering and Afraid and hopeless he's our David that goes out and kills the Goliath not us he's the one that crushes the head of the serpent not us he is the one who lived the perfect life we could not live yeah and that's an interesting thought so I'm going to have to change course here for just a minute I want you to think about this hold your place in Romans but I

want you to go to Psalms let's go to Psalms 24 verse one the Earth is the Lord's and all it contains the world and those who dwell in it for he has founded it upon the Seas and established it upon the rivers now here's the important part who may Ascend into the hill of the Lord and who may stand in his holy place he who has Clean Hands and a pure heart who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood and is not sworn deceitfully the question is who can go to heaven so the answer

he who has Clean Hands let's just take a poll who here has Clean Hands that were never used for sin no one let's go on he who has a pure heart they can go to heaven any of you here he who's not lifted up his soul to falsehood the one who's not been an idolator you know what John Calvin said the human heart is an idol Factory so any of you qualify for heaven he who has not sworn deceitfully any of you not lied now here's the important thing it doesn't say just who can go

to heaven the man who's been pardoned and this is what a lot of people don't understand it's it says who can go to heaven the man who is righteous that's more than neutral it's not just that you've not done anything bad but that your whole life has been a life of righteous works so who can go to heaven and this is what I want you to see Jesus did more than die for you he lived for you and if you can learn this if you can if you can get this in your head it will

really help you he didn't just die for you he lived for you you see the moment that you trust in Christ all your sins past present and future are no longer taken to account because he suffered for them and died but here's something else the preachers don't talk about anymore he not only died for you he lives for you that perfect life that he lived from the moment of his birth to the moment of his death you know that perfect life for which the father always said this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well

pleased or even the people said he do it all things well guess what the moment you trust in Christ you're pardoned of all your sins past present and future they're no longer taken into account but not only that you are dressed in the righteous works of Christ all his righteousness is granted to you you don't go to heaven you don't stand even now before God just pardoned and naked but pardoned and clothed in the righteousness of Christ you see that's why he's greater than Joseph remember Joseph he had the coat of many colors and he

wouldn't share it with his brothers Christ takes his coat of righteousness and has dressed every one of you in that righteousness that have truly believed in Christ as your lord and savior so here's another thing that you need to [Applause] understand God will not see you positionally legally as more perfect in heaven than he sees you right now if you're trusting in his son now when you get to heaven you will have a glorified body and you will no longer sin but right now your legal position before God if you are truly a Believer is

full pardon and dressed in the right ous works of Christ so that the father can always look at you now I want you to think about that if it wasn't true there'd be no hope why all you have to do as a Christian is sin one time and you're out of Grace again but not this way not with true Redemption you have been sealed in Christ you're pardoned and you're righteous and the whole thing of the Christian Life is learning to walk in that kind of you could put it this way the Christian Life is

hey stop being who you no longer are and start being what you are praise God but see all of it is possible and only possible through this magnificent person who is our righteousness this magnificent person who is our savior who do you want to talk about brother Paul Jesus amen what else Jesus Jesus now let's go on verse 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation the word propitiation if I had to single out the most important word in the entire Bible it would be this word yet how many people go to church for 30

years and no one ever talks about it Martin Lloyd Jones Charles Spurgeon said this passage here was the Acropolis of the Christian faith it's the Strong City the Strong Tower of the Christian faith it is the most important passage in the Bible because it sets forth the theological issues in the cross and nothing like propitiation what is propitiation it is a sacrifice that is made to what it is a sacrifice that satisfies the demands of God's justice against someone and therefore appeases his is wrath for the believer there is no longer any wrath no wrath

now you all know according to Hebrews and many other passages that God will discipline his children but when God disciplines his children it is not punitive and it is not wrath it is an expression of his love because all wrath has been extinguished in the cross that's what propitiation means that on that tree Christ suffered bearing our sin to the degree that God's justice looked at it and said I'm satisfied the sins of all my people down through Through the Ages are paid for the sins of all my people into the future that I will

save they are paid for I'm satisfied and my wrath is aast now I want you to look at something it says whom God displayed publicly well first of all before we get to that I want to look at this a propitiation his blood through faith what is this now I know that sometimes this is taken too superficial too superficially what you need to understand is this it is the blood it is his blood which symbolizes and powerfully puts forth it is his death I have life because he died I'm free from sin because he bore

it I no longer have to fear wrath because he suffered it all it's faith in his death faith in his blood faith in what he did on that tree you must understand this I had I need no other argument I need no other ple me it is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me and as one old preacher used to say I expect to swing out into eternity on that thread on that one truth on that one hope now we've only got 10 minutes and I've really got to get going and I

want you to look it says in verse 2 whom God displayed publicly if we were all English the word we would use is God publicly placarded Christ you know if you're you're driving through the Smoky Mountains you can't see the Smoky Mountains for all the signs they placarded signs everywhere for you to see something they want you to see it you've got to see it it's so important and it says that God publicly display played Christ where in the religious center of the universe Jerusalem on a tree on Mount Calvary he put him there do

you know he could have done all this in a hidden room but he didn't do it all in a hidden room he did it publicly for everyone to see why is it and not everyone just in the human race it say angels long to look into these things he did it for everyone principalities Powers mights dominions God is publicly displaying his son on that tree now why does he do it he tells us this was to demonstrate his righteousness God's righteousness now why would God need to prove to everybody that he's righteous why would he

need to do that is there doubt that he's righteous yes why why would any anybody doubt that God is just or God is righteous he's going to go on and tell us because in the forbearance of sin he passed over sins previously committed what does that mean well I don't want to do a drama here but I'm kind of going to do one I want you to pay attention this is just a an illustration Satan sinned and what did he receive perfect Justice he was cast out he was eternally judged was it just perfectly just

now imagine Satan is the accuser not just of you but more importantly he's the accuser of God so here's Adam and Eve living dirt not some glorious Angel living dirt and they sinned they sinned can you imagine God what is this they sinned the wages of sin is death you said they would die I sinned I was cast out perfect Justice they sin and now right after that and it's in Genesis 3:15 you give them a promise a promise of someone who would come and take away their sin where's your Justice they should die yes

they should let's go on God where's your Justice Noah Noah see here's the problem Noah should have died in that flood too Noah was a sinner he proved that after the flood all his children were Sinners God where's your Justice you passed over their sin you passed over Adam's sin you passed over Eve's sin you passed over Noah sin oh and Abraham you call him a friend he did not believe you and he put his wife in Jeopardy you call him a friend he's a sinner he deserves to die where's your Justice where's your righteousness

oh Israel your people your beloved people they worshiped me in the desert they're idolators and every one of them should die oh David David your darling David a man after your own heart he's an adulterer in another sense he's a murderer where is your Justice and it goes on and on and on and on until one day again a drama imperfect illustration he's called front and center Before the Throne of God you want to know how I can give the Fallen parents of the human race a promise show them Mercy pass over their sins do

you want to know how I can call Abraham my friend do you want to know how I can save Noah from the flood you want to know how I can call David my beloved look to Calvary right now where my son dies for them all and he proved I do not pardon in offense to my righteousness I will be righteous but I will look at their sin I will condemn their sin and I will come down and take their sin upon myself and die in their place and then he looks at you some of you

and as Satan Slanders he goes you want to know how I can save him and him and him and him go back to Calvary where my son dies for them all William Bates in the 17th century wrote a book on the harmony of the attributes of God in the Cross of Christ and the whole point is this how do we harmonize God's justice and in God's mercy how can he be merciful without denying his Justice How can there be this Simplicity and Perfection and Harmony in the attributes of God how can he save wicked men

and not be an Abomination he can save wicked men without violating his Justice because he suffered the Justice in your place and mine now tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow we're going to focus on the cross how did I asked this question one time when I was a new believer I don't understand I believe that Jesus died for me but how are my sins paid for just because a bunch of Romans beat up Jesus and I'll hear preachers you know look at the crown of thorns look at the nails look at the cross look what he suffered and

I'm going yeah but how does that pay for my sin well it was part of what he suffered but our sins are paid for not because of what the Romans did to Jesus but because of what God did to to [Applause] Jesus as it is written in Isaiah and it pleased the Lord to crush him that the means of redeeming a people and also to maintain the Integrity of Justice would require the suffering and death of God's son and that's what we're going to talk about tomorrow may God bless his word remember what I told

you I did not come here to get you all on an emotional high and have you make emotional decisions I came here to teach you the truth so that maybe tonight in your room in your cell wherever you go back you go can it be that I should gain an interest in my savior's blood can it be oh Lord that for me you died oh Lord take me take me pardon all my sins pardon them all clothe me cleanse me of this filthiness and clothe me in your righteousness all glory honor and praise to Jesus

Christ God bless