The Sufficiency of Scripture and the Gospel - Paul Washer

How can a sinner be reconciled to a holy God? Of all of life's questions, this is the most important. Various answers to this question have been given by the world's religions and philosophies and many people are even confused about what the Biblical answer is. The Bible teaches that humans are so sinful that we can do nothing to save ourselves and must look to Another to rescue us. That Rescuer is the Lord Jesus Christ and only he can reconcile sinners to a perfectly holy God because of his perfect life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection.

The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Paul Washer with the message, The Sufficiency of Scripture and the Gospel. Of Scripture and the Gospel. It is a great privilege to be here, to be able to share, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I said last night that it was the most difficult task. It is the greatest and the most difficult task.

When you take your text to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, you can be assured that you will end in failure. Who are we? How can a man, Even those creatures in heaven that have voices of angels, how could they even begin to describe the glories of God in the face, in the person, in the work of Jesus Christ? I have learned so much this week, so many important things. But I tell you this, because I believe it, there is nothing, There will never be anything more important, more splendid, more beautiful, more necessary than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Everything that is said and done here has no power, no effect, no heavenly good apart from Christ and what he did for us on that tree. Men speak much of the great doctrines of the faith. And there are many, so many that are beyond me. But let me share with you something. One of The most controversial is eschatology.

But I can assure you on the day that Jesus Christ returns, you'll understand everything you need to understand about eschatology. But I can also assure you this, that You will spend an eternity of eternities in heaven, and you will not even begin to comprehend or climb the foothills of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That will be, if not now, It will be then your magnificent obsession to pass throughout all of eternity, tracking down the glories of God and what He has done for us on that tree. I would pray that above everything you would be men, women and children, totally consumed, Your bodies, your will, every fiber of your being consumed with one thing, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that will be enough.

That will be enough. I'm to preach on the gospel and the sufficiency of scripture. I think the best way to do that is to preach the gospel. But I have to add one thing. Since yesterday afternoon, and throughout the night, I have been overwhelmingly burdened about this one fact.

I'm looking at, I don't know how many people, a great mass of humanity. Within a hundred years, the fate of everyone in this room will have been decided. Listen to me, young people, you're my greatest burden tonight. Within a hundred years, some of you will be so glorious because of your relationship to Jesus Christ that if you could see an image of the way you will be, If you could see that now, you would have a tendency to want to fall down and worship. And young people listen to me.

Some of you within a hundred years will be grotesque, depraved monsters in the bowels of hell. And the only thing that can make a difference is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your homeschooling cannot save you. Your culture and your refinement cannot save you. Your dress cannot save you.

Your ethic and your manners that stand out above the rest of the culture, they will be wrought on that day that you stand naked before God and your destiny is decided. I'm not here tonight to preach about the gospel. I'm here tonight to preach the gospel, because although I'm not a prophet nor the son of the prophet, I can tell you this. I am looking at people, some of which will stand before God. And be declared, reprobate and spend an eternity in hell.

And therefore, you need to hear the gospel. Let's turn in our Bibles to Romans chapter 3. For all have sinned, Romans 3, 23. For all have sinned. Young person listen to me, Does that frighten you?

It should. As the Puritans used to say, You have not sinned against some tiny magistrate of a small village. You have not even sinned against a great king of some commonwealth or state or country. But know this, when you have sinned, you have sinned against the God of glory. The one who deserves absolute worship and praise and obedience.

You have spurned his law. You have sinned against Him so many times it cannot be counted. Even in your young age of just a few years, your sins abound over your head and they swallow you down. Do you understand me? You should be terrified that you have sinned.

Let me put it for you this way. Let's imagine there on the day of creation. God commands the sun to put himself in a certain place in the sky and that great fiery ball bowed down, worshipped and obeyed. God told the stars to fix themselves around that mighty sun and to move in certain directions and they all bowed down and obeyed. God told planets to move at a certain speed and to turn and turn and turn and they obeyed and have not stopped obeying since that day.

God looked at the earth and He told the mountains to be lifted up And they obeyed. He told the valleys to be cast down and they obeyed. God looked at the brave sea and he said, you will come to this place and no further. And the sea bowed down and worshiped. And God looks at you, young person, and says, come and you go, no.

And therefore, all of creation stands up against you. And apart from repentance and faith, all of creation will stand up on that day and applaud your condemnation. Because the God, the judge of all the earth has done right by you. All have sinned. To cut against God, to rail at his throne, to refuse his law, to cleanse your fist in the face of God and shake it.

With a strength that comes to you from the very God against whom you rebel. All have sinned and he sees it. Do not think you can hide a filthy heart behind a beautiful, flowing dress. Do not think, young man, you can hide a filthy heart behind. Good manners in front of your father.

Because there is a God that sees everything you are and everything you have done. All have sinned. I want you to imagine, Imagine for a moment, try to cry out with all your might what these words mean. Let's go for just a moment to the book of Genesis. Chapter six.

Verse five. Then the Lord saw the wickedness of man, that it was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continuously. One of the greatest maladies today is that men are not preaching regarding the radical depravity of the heart of men. It is not that prior to coming to Christ you were basically a good person who made some moral mistakes or every once in a while sinned or rebelled. No, you need to understand something.

Prior to coming to Christ, you have done nothing but rebel. If I could take out your heart and again, let me say this, I'm going for you tonight young person. If I could take out your heart, Every thought you've ever had, everything that ever passed across your mind, and you grabbed a hold of and relished as your own. If I could take out every thought of your heart and I could put it on a DVD tonight and I could show it up here on a film strip, I assure you, you would run out of this building and you would never show your face here again. Because you have thought things so vile, so depraved that you could not even share it with your closest friend.

As a matter of fact, if your closest friend knew your thoughts, they would no longer be your closest friend. If you knew that I was about ready to flip the switch on the camera and show your life up here, your thoughts, you would do everything in your power to overpower me, to stop the camera, because you would be so ashamed, even though you know that those of us who would be looking on are just as sinful as you. Yet you would be ashamed even in the presence of sinners like yourself. You would be ashamed. Now, let me ask you a question, young person.

How do you think it will be when you are standing before the blazing, white, hot, holy throne of an almighty God, whose eye pierces to the deepest part of your soul. What will it be to stand before Him? Let's go on to Genesis chapter 8 verse 21. And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and the Lord said to himself, I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth. My dear friend, there is a sense in which the flood did somewhat of a cleansing of the earth, but I can assure you it takes more than a flood, a worldwide flood to cleanse the heart of a man.

Look what it says. Just look at what it says. The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth. What does that mean? Do you have to teach a child to lie?

Absolutely not. Do you have to teach a child to be self-centered and selfish? No, they learn it on their own. And they don't even learn it. It's inherent.

It's something that springs forth as soon as it has the strength and the opportunity to do so. I submit to you that the condition of a man's heart is in this way. That if you're holding an 18 month old baby in your arms and that baby reaches for the watch on your hand. And you refuse that little child your watch, they will scream. They will flail their arms in the air.

They might even seek to strike you in the face. And I would assure you that that 18 month old child had the strength of an 18 year old man. That child would slaughter you. Where you stand, rip the watch off your arm and walk out of that room leaving bloody footprints without an ounce of remorse, except for the common grace of God. You say, Brother Paul, you shock me.

I'm telling you the truth. This is the condition of The heart of a natural man. This is the condition of the heart of all those who are left to themselves apart from the grace of God. What do you think separates you from a Hitler? Have you ever asked yourself that question?

Why was Hitler as evil as he was? Why was Hitler not more evil? Why are you not like him? Even though you reject Christ, why are you not like him? Why are you not so evil that you make Hitler look like a choir boy?

It is only this. It is the common grace of God restraining your evil. But one day If He turns you over, I assure you, you will make Hitler look like a choir boy. That is the condition of your heart apart from God's sustaining grace. I believe that God sustains this world with common grace and holds back its evil so that throughout history he can do a work of redemption, save men and get glory for himself.

But if God were to turn us all over to the designs of our own hearts, we would destroy ourselves in a mad immorality. That's what the Bible testifies regarding men. That is what the Bible testifies regarding you. Now let's go to Isaiah chapter 64 verse 6. For all of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.

Look at that text. What is it saying to us? I want you to realize this. It's a good possibility it's speaking about the leper. Have you ever been around lepers?

I have. A full blown, untreated case of the worst kind of leprosy is one of the most horrid things you could ever imagine. A body of wounds and sores and pus and blood and body fluid. You would smell a leper before you even walked into this hall if one was standing behind this pulpit. Let's say that all of us wanting so much to change society and culture.

That we went to the finest store we could find in the area, and we bought the finest, most pristine silk, as white as snow, and we came and we wrapped the leper, His entire body up in that silk to make him presentable. It would last for only a moment. And why is that? Because the corruption of the man would bleed through the cloth. And the cloth would be just as filthy, if not more than the man himself.

That is why good works will not save you. Young people, listen to me. I've watched you here in amazement. I've rejoiced in your lives. I've been amazed at the way you dress, the way you carry yourself, the way you speak, your maturity.

I could go on all night to tell you of the apparent and external virtues that I have seen while I have been here. But I want you to know this, if your heart has not been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, you're a filthy, disgusting, sinful leper. And there is nothing in you that is pleasing to God, but everything in you causes all of righteous creation to cry out for your condemnation. I have benefited much from this ministry. The magazines, the catalog, the teachings, And I affirm so much of the beauty.

But young person, listen to me. If you don't understand in all of this, that the teachers are trying to tell you that none of this has any worth apart from the Gospel. If you don't understand that, you'll just be a well-dressed, two-fold son of hell. Is there inward reality of Christ? If you love morality, I tell you this, it's idolatry.

You must love Christ. Do you love Victorian virtue? I applaud you. But if that's what you love, it is idolatry. You must love Christ.

I would rather have a wild man, unkept and unmannered, who was passionate for Christ than the lot of all of you if all you have is nice clothing. You must have Christ. It must be Christ and nothing but Christ. Do you love Him? Do you long for Him?

Do you like your lifestyle or do you love Jesus? Let's go on. Romans, back to Romans. Chapter 3 verse 10, There is none righteous, Not even one. The wisdom of the Spirit of God in penning the Scripture.

Because I believe if he'd have said there's none righteous, someone, many would have stood up and said, Yes, I know there's none righteous, but. But he says, no, there's none righteous. No, not one. No, not one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God.

Now, young person, listen to me. Listen to me. Do you seek God? I'm not asking you if you know how to behave. I'm not asking you if you've read books on courtship.

I'm asking you this, do you seek God? Do you desire Him? Let's go on. Verse 12, all have turned aside, together they have become useless. There is none who does good.

There is not even one. The great majority of people in this world believe that somehow they are right with God because of some goodness in themselves. Don't you understand that to be in the presence of God, you must be perfectly righteous without the slightest inkling of a sin. Question I love to ask children is how many times did Adam and Eve sin before they were cast out of the presence of God and with their judgment came Chaos, universal chaos. Thus is the righteousness of God.

How many times did they sin? Only once. How many times have you sinned? You can't even begin to count it. All have sinned.

I want you to look down at verse 19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. My desire in preaching this, I believe was Paul's desire in writing it. To strip you of every hope in the flesh. To shut you off from every hope whatsoever of somehow making yourself right with God by your own virtue or your own merit.

Do you see that? Paul labors with everything he has in his mind, every fiber of his being under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit being carried by him. Paul labors in the first three chapters of the book of Romans to do one thing, to condemn the entire world. Because such is the heart of man that he will not seek salvation in God until every other hope is cut off from him. Oh that the Spirit of Almighty God would come down upon this place and show people their sin before Him.

That every hope in religion, every hope in refinement, every hope and Christian virtue would be destroyed. So that everyone in this room would cry out for Christ and Christ Alone. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The contemporary view of this statement is that God had a wonderful plan for your life, but because of your sin, you've ruined it. But that's only a tiny part of what Paul was intending to write.

This is not about you, it's about God. You were created for one purpose. Listen to me, you were created for one purpose. And that is the glory of God. For Him, and for Him alone.

That's what you were made for, don't you see? So many, even here tonight, that are probably walking in misery and confusion. They feel like a joint that's been dislocated. They wonder what their purpose is. Young person, I can tell you what it is.

It is to live your life in submission to the law of God, for the glory of God, believing in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. That with every breath you take in, it is only one reason, and That is to give it forth and praise to God that every beat of your hearts belong to Jesus Christ. And I'll be careful of idolatry, especially the religious kind. I do not love my wife primarily for the sake of my wife. I do not seek to be a good husband or a good father primarily for the sake of my family, for that would be gross idolatry.

I do it for him. Everything for him. Judge every standard young person of what you are doing by this. Is it really truly for him? And if he took it all away and left you only with him.

Would you still possess joy unspeakable and full of glory because your hope has been, it is in him, all have sinned and fall short to the glory of God. To the glory of God. Now, being justified, he says in verse 24, being justified, What does that mean? He is speaking about the Christian, the true Christian, the true convert, the true believer, the child of God, that they are justified. What does that mean?

It does not mean that the moment you believed in Jesus Christ, you became a perfectly righteous being. Or that you were infused with a magnificent portion of the grace of God, so to live a standard that would be acceptable to him, That's not what that means. Justified is a legal or a forensic term. It means that the moment a man believes in Jesus Christ, he is declared righteous before the throne of God, legally or forensically. Not on the basis of his own deeds, but upon the basis of Christ and the cross of Calvary.

You see, everything is there. Everything is there for us in Calvary. Now, he goes on and he says, being justified as a gift by his grace. This word, this phrase, as a gift, is taken from a Greek word that's found in another place and it says this, Speaking about the people's hatred toward the Messiah, it says they hated Him without a cause. That Christ never gave anyone a cause to hate Him.

Here it means this, God declared you right with him, though you gave him no cause to do so. But it was a gift, it was by his grace. The person who has truly come to a mature faith in Jesus Christ, they marvel, they marvel in Christ alone. And if you were to come near to them and even suggest that they had something to do with their salvation, they would become so nauseous as to vomit. They would say, depart from me, leave me alone, the things you are saying are grotesque errors, they are blasphemies.

I am saved because he shed his own blood for my soul. That is the rock upon which I stand. You see, my dear friend, there's really only two religions in the whole world, a religion of law, religion of works and religion of grace. If we go to the Orthodox Jew and say, if you died right now, where would you go? He may say, I would go to paradise.

Why? I love The law of God. I am obedient to the law of God, and therefore I have won my place. In the way of the righteous, you go to the Muslim and say, if you died right now, where would you go? I would go to paradise.

Why? I love the Quran. I have made the pilgrimages and the prayers. I have been a faithful man. Then you go to the Christian, the true Christian, and you say, if you died right now, where would you go?

He'd say, I go to heaven. Why? And then comes the surprise answer. He says, In sin I was born. In sin did my mother conceive me.

I have broken every law of my God. I deserve the greatest of judgments heaped upon my head throughout all of eternity. And you stop him and you say, but sir, the other two men I understand, they're going to heaven because it's exactly what they deserve. But you tell me you are going to heaven and yet you do not deserve such a thing. How can that be?

And the Christian smiles and says, because I am going to heaven based upon the virtue and the merit of another Jesus Christ, my Lord. And Him alone. Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption. There are some words that should only be said with a trembling lip. Redemption is one of them.

To pay a price, to set free a slave or a captive. God has a claim on all men by right of creation. He made you. You're His. But He has a claim on some men by right of redemption.

His Son shed His blood for you. And it is this double claim upon your life that ought to drive you. Christ died for me. In a way the Christian is the freest of all men. In another way the Christian is a slave, but a joyful slave to this.

I am no longer my own. I was bought with a price. You young men out here today, those of you who hope for the ministry, dark days are coming upon our land. Apart from a revival, you will see persecution and maybe imprisonment, maybe exile, maybe death. It's going to take more than excitement about the ministry to drive you.

You are going to have to be captured by two days. The day when Christ hung before men, and the day when all men will kneel before Christ. Oh, that you would become owned. That you would become owned by this controlling truth that Christ died for your sins. And he bought you for God.

In the 26 years that I have served Him, my only regret is that I have not given more. And if I live another 30 years, my only regret will be that I have not given more. What's the purpose of eyes except to see Him? What's the purpose of ears except to hear Him? What is the purpose of a heart nothing more than a blood pumping muscle except to beat for Him?

And idolatry will never be eradicated from our lives until every ounce and fiber is given to him because he shed his own blood for our soul. Redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Oh, I love this phrase. I love Ephesians chapter 1. For just that little preposition in.

And that great name, Christ. I was preaching one time years and years ago, and after I was preaching on the glories of Christ, a young man came up to me and said, You are right, brother Paul. All that we need is Christ. And I said, No, young man, all that we have is Christ. Apart from Him there is nothing.

Do you see that? Apart from being in Christ, there is nothing, nothing for you. Except Him. He's everything. He's absolutely everything.

He's everything. He's absolutely everything. Nothing. Creation. None of it has meaning except in Christ.

Because it was all made by him. It was all made for him. And one day he will return, as Abraham Kuyper said, and when he does he will stretch forth his hand upon everything that is on this planet, and he will cry out, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. Because it is, rightfully, his. And now we come to this.

Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. God displayed him, placarded him, as Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones used to say. Placarded him. Placed him outside of the city, at the crossroads of the universe, at the principal religious city of the world.

He nailed him to a tree for all to see. But what is the purpose? What is the purpose for it all? Why? Why?

I'm going to show you the greatest problem in all the Scriptures. I'm going to show you what the Scriptures are all about. The reason for everything that is you are about to discover. Turn with me for a moment to the book of Proverbs. Chapter 17 verse 15.

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord. That is the greatest problem in all the Scriptures. He who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, then how can the Lord Himself justify the wicked? The greatest problem in all the Scripture is this, if God is just, He cannot forgive you. Have you ever thought that?

My dear friend, that's the very heart and center of the gospel. If God is a just God, He cannot forgive you. Sometimes when I stand before university people, I know that I'm a marked man when I get up on the platform. And so I go to them knowing they think that I'm a Puritan dinosaur from the past. And I say this to them, you have a great problem.

It is your greatest problem. And this is it. God is good. They reel back in their chairs at the shock of it. What problem should I have with a good God?

Your problem is God is good. Why is that a problem? Because you're not. You see this, my friend. Criminals, criminals do not fear corrupt judges.

Because they are alike. They can deal with one another. But criminals are terrified of righteous men. If God is a righteous God, if the judge of all the earth is to do right, then how can he declare the wicked legally right with him when they most certainly are not? Let me give you an example.

Let's say that you were to go home from this conference and find your entire family slaughtered on the floor. And you saw the criminal, the assassin, over your children, wringing the life out of your last child. And at a fit of rage, You ran across their bodies, you grabbed the man and threw him to the ground and tied him up. And then you called the police and the police took him away to the jail. And then all the townspeople awaited his appearing in court.

And the day finally comes. And as that man who murdered, slaughtered your entire family stands before the judge, the judge declares, I am a loving judge. Go free. You're pardoned. You would scream out appalled.

You would write to every congressman, every senator, every president. You would be in touch with the media, the newspapers, the television. And you would be crying out, gathering people together with petitions, that there is a judge on the bench far more wicked than the criminals he justifies, because a judge is to do righteousness. Back to the question. If God is a just God, how can He declare you to be legally righteous with Him when you are not?

And that is why we have this word, Propitiation. It refers to a sacrifice that satisfies the demands of justice. That appeases the wrath of God and makes it possible for a just and holy God to forgive, to pardon, to declare wicked men righteous and yet still be just. Propitiation. But let me say something here that is very important.

Some people misunderstand this. When I say that God must be just and justify the wicked, I am not saying that there is some law, universal principle higher than God to which He must submit. There is not some overarching principle of justice that God must bow down to before He forgives the sinner. No, the justice He must satisfy is His own. He is a just God.

And He cannot deny His attribute of justice, even in the name of love. That justice must be satisfied. I have sometimes heard preachers say, rather than being just with you, God was loving. So my only conclusion logically is that God's love is unjust. No, my dear friend.

God must be just. If he is to be loving. I want to talk to you for just a moment, young person, listen to me, about the hatred of God. There are scriptures no longer preached in our day and age that this God of scripture hates. A lady said to me one time, This is an impossibility.

God cannot hate because God is love. I said, madam, God is love, therefore He must hate. Do you love children? You must hate abortion. You can't be neutral about it.

Do you love Israel? Do you love the Jews? Then you cannot be apathetic towards the Holocaust. Do you love the African? You must hate slavery.

God is just. God is good. God is loving. And He zealously loves all that is good, all that is like Him and His excellency. To the same degree God hates with a holy and just hatred.

All forms of evil. And He will, He has, He will, and He will again deal with the evil of this world. And He will deal with the evil of every man, woman, and child hearing my voice tonight. He will either do so through the cross of Christ, or He will do so through your condemnation in hell, but he will deal with your evil. Now.

That is the necessary. Dark side of the Gospel. Why do I preach it that way? I'll tell you why. For your good and for the glory of God.

Let me ask you a question. Where did all the stars go this afternoon? Did some cosmic giant come by and put them all in a basket and carry them to the other side of the world? Where did they go? They went nowhere.

Why could we not see them? Because of the light. Because of the greater sun we could not see them. But when the night is pitch dark black, without a competing luminary, then the stars can be seen in their greatest glory. I preach the darkness of men because it's true.

I preach the darkness of men for the good of men. They must hear it. But I preach the darkness of men because it serves as a backdrop to make the grace of God, the cross of Christ and the salvation there found absolutely glorious. I care for your soul, but I have to admit that I have a greater care. And it is the glory of Christ and his gospel.

Let's look at that for just a moment. I want you to go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Now, this is extremely important. Please listen.

My dear friend, you can spend an eternity just studying, considering one aspect of the person of Jesus Christ. There's enough in one line of the gospel of John to propel you throughout all of eternity with a passion and a beating heart for him. There is one thing that particularly amazes me. It is his impeccability as a man. His sinlessness.

I want you to think about this. Now think. Think! There has never been one time, not even one moment, or the fraction of a moment, never once have you loved God as He ought to be loved. Never once.

There was never one moment that Christ did not love God as God deserves. Do you want to talk about being good enough to go to heaven? These are some of the requirements. If you plan to do that based on your own virtue and merit, understand this, it would require that you love God as God ought to be loved. Every waking moment without exception from cradle to grave.

You have never done it one time. And yet this Christ, this covenant keeping Christ who had obeyed God in absolutely everything. The only true witness of Yahweh. The only true servant of God. What does it say about Him?

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin. What does that mean? You say we just say these things, don't we? You say these things and you wonder how can I get excited about such a small statement? It is what lies within the statement.

He who knew no sin, God made him to be sin. What does that mean? Does that mean that on the tree of Calvary, somehow Christ's nature became corrupt and defiled so that he actually became a sinful being? No. He was always the impeccable, spotless Lamb of God.

Then what does it mean that he became sin? He was made sin. What does that mean? I want you to look at the last part of this verse. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

How does the believer become the righteousness of God? Does it mean that the moment we believe in Jesus Christ, we become these perfectly spotless, perfectly righteous, sinless creatures by nature? Absolutely not. What does it mean? It means this, the moment we believe in Christ, we are legally declared to be right with God, and we are treated as such.

We are treated as those who are right with God. Oh, believer, if you could only grasp this truth, you would be the most joyous human being on the face of the earth. That you are treated as perfectly righteous by God. What does it mean that Christ was made sin? It means that on that tree, all the vile sin, the filth of His people was imputed to Him.

Considered to be His. It was laid upon Him. And then, listen, this is the part. He was treated as guilty. You are guilty.

And you should be treated as guilty, which means that you would be an object of the infinite wrath of an Almighty and all holy God. But on that tree, Christ bore your sin. And He was treated as guilty before God the Father. Before God the Father. Now, please bear with me a few more minutes, please.

On that tree, Jesus Christ became accursed before God in bearing your sin and your guilt and being treated as you ought to be treated. The Bible says in the book of Galatians, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law so as to perform them. Under a curse, every one of us, What does that mean? What does it mean? Looking through Scripture, the only way I can illustrate it is this way.

To be under a curse for violating the law of God means that before a holy heaven you are so vile, you are so loathsome, that the last thing you will hear on judgment day when you take your first step into hell is all of creation standing to its feet and applauding God because God has rid the earth of you. Do you understand something of the heinous nature of sin? But what does the Bible say? On that tree, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. He bore your curse because he bore your sin.

He bore your curse before God. Now, what does that mean? Have you ever read, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Have you ever read it?

The Beatitudes. Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall seek God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.

Let's take that text, the Beatitudes, turn it completely around and apply it to Christ on that tree. The blessed are granted the kingdom of heaven, but the cursed are denied and refused entrance. The blessed are recipients of divine comfort. The cursed are objects of divine wrath. The blessed are satisfied.

The cursed are miserable and wretched. The blessed receive mercy. The cursed are condemned without pity. The blessed shall see God. The cursed are cut off from his presence.

The blessed are sons and daughters of the living God, and the cursed are disowned in disgrace. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In the 27th and 28th chapters of Deuteronomy, we have something very, very interesting in the nation of Israel. The tribes are divided up. One set, one group of the tribes are placed upon Mount Gerasim, and from there they are to proclaim the blessings that are fought to fall upon the head of the covenant keeper.

The others are placed on Mount Ebal, and from there they are to cry out the curses upon the covenant breaker. That is you! All the curses of Mount Ebal should be poured out on your head. But all of them were poured out on Christ, on your behalf, the only covenant keeper. If God is just, his justice must be satisfied.

A sacrifice must be made. And so it was on that tree. Now, I want to take for just a moment and I have to to tell you that the this study that I am now doing was propelled by simply hearing a sermon by Dr. R.C. Sproul, I believe it was 2008, about Christ dying under a curse.

It caused me to just go into Scripture day after day after day. So let's take these curses of Mount Ebal and see how they are placed upon the head of Christ as he is on that tree. When Jesus cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Since he hung on that tree bearing our sin. The father slammed the door of heaven and cried back to him, God, your God, damns you.

And then the curses. The Lord send upon you curses, confusion and rebuke, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly. The Lord smites you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart and you will grope at noon as the blind man gropes in darkness with none to save you. The Lord delights over you to make you perish and destroy you and you will be torn from the land. Curse shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the field.

Curse, shall you be when you come in and curse, shall you be when you go out? The heavens which are over your head shall be bronze and the earth which is under you iron, you shall be a proverb and a taunt and a horror among the people. Let all these curses come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and his statutes, which he commanded you. This should be yours. This should be your destiny.

This should be your final breath. But on that tree, Jesus Christ bore the sins of his people and suffered the curse of a righteous God on their behalf. As Christ bore our sins upon Calvary, let's continue. He was cursed as a man who makes an idol and sets it up in secret. He was cursed as one who disowns his father or mother, who moves his neighbor's boundary mark or misleads a blind person on the road.

He was cursed as one who distorts the justice to an alien, an orphan, a widow. He was cursed as one who is guilty of every manner of immorality and perversion, who wounds his neighbor in secret or accepts a bribe to strike down the innocent. He was cursed as one who does not confirm the words of the law by doing them. The sage of Proverbs says this, Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not alight. There was no cause for a curse to light upon Christ, for He was in fact the only obedient covenant keeper, but on that tree He bore the sins of his people, and the curse of God alighted upon him.

The book of Romans says, How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. Yet on the cross the sin imputed to Christ was exposed before God and the host of heavens. He was placarded before men and made a spectacle to angels and devils alike. The transgressions he bore were not forgiven him, and the sins he carried were not covered.

If a man is counted blessed because iniquity is not imputed to him, then Christ was cursed beyond measure because the iniquity of us all was imputed to him. He was treated as the covenant breaker. I want to read to you a passage from the renewal of the covenant in Moab, taken from the law of God. Listen what it says about the covenant breaker. The anger of the Lord and his jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven.

Then the Lord will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in the book of the Law. And yet, all these things fell upon the head of our Savior. I want to clear up a misunderstanding that I have heard so many times that it disgusts me. When Christ is in the garden and He cries out three times, Let this cup pass from Me, let this cup pass from Me, Let this cup pass from me. Let this cup pass from me.

I have heard even preachers say that that cup was the pain that would be inflicted upon him by the devil himself. And it made Christ tremble. I have heard other men say that Christ looked ahead to the suffering that would be heaped upon him by the Roman soldiers. That they would beat him without mercy. That they would leave him without water.

That they would strip him of his clothing and leave him in shame, that they would mock him, that they would beat him on the head, that they would place a crown of thorns upon his brow, that they would nail him to a tree with nails. They would pierce his side with a lance. I want you to know that's not true. It's not true. Although I will not take anything away from the excruciating physical sufferings of our Lord that is not what caused him in the garden that night to cry out, Take this cup from me.

Let me just prove it to you. After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, literally thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Christians were martyred for their faith. Many of them were crucified. Many of them crucified upside down. Many of them not only crucified, but covered in a crude form of kerosene and set on fire to provide lights for the streets of Rome.

And yet history tells us that those very disciples of Jesus Christ went to those Roman crosses singing hymns, joyfully worshiping God with gladness because of the opportunity to die. Are you going to tell me that the disciples of Jesus Christ had more fortitude than the very captain of their salvation? Do you think it was a cross that our Lord feared? What did he fear? Listen to this from the book of Psalms.

For a cup is in the hand of the Lord, and the wine foams. It is well mixed, and he pours out of this. Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs." Jeremiah, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, says to me, Take this cup of the wine of wrath from my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink and stagger and go mad. What was in the cup?

The wrath of Almighty God was in the cup. I was teaching years ago in Europe and I went into a Germanic seminary looking for something to read. I had a break and I was looking all around. I don't read German. Finally I found a book in English, The Cross of Christ.

It wasn't John Stott's, it was another. And I opened it up and I started looking through it, and this is what the man said. He said, God the Father looked down at the sufferings of his Son, the sufferings that were inflicted upon him by the hands of Roman soldiers, and he considered that as payment for our sin. That's heresy. Again, although the sufferings, the physical sufferings of Christ were necessary because it had to be a bloody cross, blood had to be shed.

I want you to understand this. Our sins were atoned for because on that tree our sins were imputed to the Son of God and all the wrath of a holy, just God that should fall upon us fell upon him and crushed him. Have you never read, But it pleased Yahweh to crush him. I want you to imagine for a moment a dam damming up a huge amount of water. Let's say, for the sake of showing the power of it, 10, 000 miles high and 10, 000 miles wide, and filled to the brim with water, and down below is your tiny village just an eighth of a mile away.

And then all of a sudden, in a fraction of a second, that dam is pulled away. It breaks with a shattering thunder. And you look up, the water racing toward your village, you are going to be destroyed. The fleet of foot cannot outrun it. The strongest swimmer cannot stand against the current.

You are going to die and no one will ever find you again. But right before the water reaches the border of the town, the ground opens up and swallows it all down so that not one drop of water is left to splatter upon your pant leg. So did Christ on that tree open himself up and swallow down the justice of God against all our iniquity. And he drank every drop so that there is not one smidgen or spot left for the believer. For those who have cried out, Rock of ages, cleft for me, may hide myself in thee.

Imagine for a moment a millstone, 10, 000 pounds strong, and another millstone up on top of it, and they're both turning counter to one another. And you take a small grain of wheat and you throw it into the middle of them. It lasts only for a second. The insides crushed under the mighty force, the mighty weight, exploding the outer hull. And it comes around the other side and there's nothing left even to view.

So Christ bore the wrath of God. What saves man? What drives man? It's a heavenly vision of knowing his iniquity and knowing what Christ did. It is an inescapable reality that will propel you through jungle and through fire and through prison and through scoffing and through battle after battle after battle.

It is not that you are a courageous man, it is just that you are a captive to what God has done for you in Christ. This is the power of the Gospel. I want to bring this to an end with a my favorite of all writers. John Flabel. Oh, I could only know a fraction of what he knew about Christ.

By his volumes, read them, especially volume one. I'm going to give you the Father's bargain. That's what I've named it. It's a thing that Flavell did. It's a conversation between the Father and the Son regarding the salvation of God's people.

The Father speaks. Well, first, Flavell says this, here you may suppose the Father to say, when driving his bargain with Christ for you. The Father, my son, here is a company of poor miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves and now lie open to my justice. Justice demands satisfaction for them or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. Do you see what I'm saying?

Young person, listen to me. If this was just about you getting the best out of this present life, I would not be here tonight. I would be doing something else more important. This is about eternity. Do you understand me?

This is about eternal reality, Life, death, heaven, hell. Do you not realize that apart from the covering, apart from the blood of Jesus Christ, you are undone, utterly undone? Do you think in your boldness that on the day of judgment You will stand before God toe to toe and deal with him. I want you to know you will melt before him like a tiny wax figurine before a blast furnace. Don't delay.

Do not wait. It is Christ and only Christ, for you are utterly undone apart from him. Then the son replies, Oh, my father, such is my love to and pity for them That rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their guarantee. Now listen to this, Christian. Bring in all thy bills, that I may see what they owe thee." Do you see what's going on?

This is not like some who become engaged or are married thinking they are full of love only to discover, Oh my, what have I gotten myself into? I did not know it would be like this. I want out. No, Christ said to the Father, Before it is to be done, Father, bring in all their bills. I would know exactly what I must pay.

And knowing to the very might exactly what he must pay. So was his love for his bride. So was his love for the sinner that he gladly went to that tree to pay every price. It goes on and he says, Lord bring them all in. Now listen to this, that there may be no after reckonings with them.

Do you see what he's saying? Father bring it all in. I may know it. And then when I pay it, I pay it in full, so that there will never be dealings again with my people. Their crimes will be paid for once and for all.

And then he goes on and says, At my hands shall thou require it, and I will rather choose to suffer their wrath, the wrath do them, than they should suffer it. Upon me, my father, upon me be all their debt. The Father, but my Son, if thou undertake for them, thou must reckon to pay the last mite. Expect no abatements. When you are on the Amazon, we had this always just makeshift crafts and without roofs.

And when you would see a cloud burst coming down the river, you knew that you had to make it to the shore. Because if that cloud did not abate, if the storm did not dwindle or quit or lessen in any shape, form or fashion, it would sink your boat in a matter of five minutes. You would cry out for an abatement. Let it be lessened. But here he is saying, My son, if you undertake for your people, expect No abatements.

And then listen to what Flabel says. This is so strong. The Father says to the Son, If I spare them, I will not spare you. Does that do anything to you? Or am I just addressing your fallen head?

Has the Spirit of God made no application to your heart? Do you hear what's being said here? My son, if I spare them, I will not spare you. The Son content, Father, let it be so. Charge it all upon me.

I am able to discharge it. The captain of our salvation, proof there of divinity, who but God could discharge such a thing. I am able to discharge it and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it. Now, I close, I've gone very far over, I understand, but I do not apologize. An old man is commanded by the voice of God to take his son to a mountain and to there slaughter him.

The old man obeying that voice takes his son Isaac to that place named. It says this, Take now your son, listen, your only son, your son whom you love. Do you think God is speaking of something future? Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you. When the old man does his duty, ties his son, he is ready to give in his will to that of God, ready to bring the knife down upon the breast of his only son, His son, the son whom he loves, and his hand is stayed.

And God says this to him, Abraham, Abraham, do not stretch out your hand against the lad and do nothing to him. For I now know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, Your only son from me. And then the old man turns and finds a ram in the thicket caught by his horns and says Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. Be careful of ever using that terminology except as applied to Jesus Christ. We all hear that story and we think, what a wonderful end.

We all breathe a sigh of relief. The boy is saved. What a beautiful ending to the story. It was not the ending to the story. It was the intermission.

When the curtains open again, Several generations later, they open to the Son of God. God's Son. His only Son, whom He loved, hanging upon a tree. There is no ram in the thicket. There is no substitute to take his place, for he is the substitute.

And the father lays his hand upon the brow of his son, and takes the knife from Abraham, and thrusts it down in his breast and kills his only begotten son. Offer up the sacrifice. Creation sends forth a call. Offer up the sacrifice, one life to pay for them all. Offer up the sacrifice, The innocent one must be slain.

Offer up the sacrifice. Bring man back to God again. He died. He died. Do you want a heavenly vision?

You want some motivation to propel you to greater godliness? You want something to draw you to God? This is it. This is all you get and everything you get at the same time. It's Him.

He died, but He did not stay dead. On the third day, He arose from the dead. Then he ascended up to the right hand of the majesty upon high, where he sits in glory, reigning now as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And his gospel is being preached to all the nations, and God commands all men everywhere that people in all places must repent and believe the gospel. I am not asking you to repent.

I am not begging you to believe. I am commanding by the authority of God that you do both. That you repent, that you turn from your sin, that you throw yourself upon Christ and Christ alone And then I counsel you this if you have truly believed unto salvation the evidence will be a continuing work of Sanctification so that little by little as you battle against sin there will be progress You will grow in Christ's likeness and you will know His presence. This is the Gospel. I will give no invitation, no song, no raising of hands, but I will promise you this.

It is ten o'clock. I will stay here till tomorrow night at the same time to counsel anyone who is troubled in their soul. We have men here. Child, if you are troubled, go to your father. Father, if you can't help your child, bring them here.

The worth of a soul. For the glory of God, young person, please, I beg you, don't trust in your trappings, your education, your refinement, your homeschooling, your manners. It's done. Trust in Christ. Throw yourself on Christ.

You will not disappoint me.