God the Just and the Justifier of the Wicked - Paul Washer

father we come before you name of your son we worship you for your mercy your kindness we thank you for the years that have gone by your unfailing faithfulness there is no God like you in the heavens of the earth or under the earth there is no person among men who can compare to you Oh God were gathered here tonight in the name of your son we know Lord that every thought of ours of him about him it's too small there are no words that can be comprehended or spoken to do justice to who you are who your son is what you have done through him but I pray Lord that by your spirit you would speak what cannot be spoken you would make clear to the hearts of all of us just how precious Christ is to you and ought to be to us warm our hearts Lord instruct our minds change us Lord light so fleeting only a vision of your son can keep us from wasting our days only a proper understanding of his gospel can keep us from condemnation only the power of your spirit can enable us to proclaim him father please help us tonight help us and if there is someone here tonight Lord that does not know you that maybe even is confused or embittered or angry rebelling knowingly unknowingly whatever their case lord whatever their cause pray that you would show them the gospel they would be healed father please help us Jesus name Amen whenever I come somewhere for the first time I do one thing and that is I teach the gospel some of you may have come here tonight because you saw something on YouTube something shocking or extravagant or a man who will say things that other men won't say none of that is worth anything the only thing that matters is the Lord Jesus Christ and a clear understanding of who he is and obedience in his name if you here tonight because you think something will happen because I'm here I can assure you that it most certainly will not happen because God does not tolerate idolatry in any form in his church there's only one hero in this story and it is Jesus Christ the rest of us are needy sinners and the best of us would only be fodder for hell if it wasn't for the blood of Jesus Christ and none of us have served him as we ought and yet we're not walking in condemnation with a filthy conscience because his blood was poured out for us on Calvary men are just men and if God speaks through them it's only his proof that he still speaks through rocks and donkeys and that's all tonight I'm not going to shout I'm not going to criticize anyone I'm not going to point out a false teacher if that's what you came for preach about my beloved you know sometimes people have gone on the internet and they said you know seems like you always preach the same thing I say yes I always preach the same thing and I never get tired of it never and even though I write books and work on things and publications for different publishing houses and all sorts of things and have to spend a great deal of time in my study every day hours and hours and hours there is one thing that I do almost every day of my life and that is spend a few hours for the last 25 years doing nothing but studying the gospel now you would think you know the gospel it seems that we and North America are able to condense the whole thing into a little track I've heard people say well what's the big deal about the gospel I mean I understood the gospel when when I was converted I mean now shouldn't we go on to bigger stuff there is no bigger stuff and no you do not understand the gospel and neither do I nor Gabriel or any other Archangel in heaven the only one who can fully understand the gospel of Jesus Christ is God because it is that profound it is that infinite in wisdom and glory I often tell students who are bantering back and forth about the second coming I tell them you'll understand everything about the second coming on the day that it happens but you'll be an eternity in heaven 10,000 eternities and you still will not have comprehended in its fullness the glory of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ and it's not that you have to you know discover something new every day like the hymn writer said that old old story it never gets old it never gets old to the believer Jesus shed his blood for me you want to grow in sanctification you want to grow in godliness this is the mystery of godliness this is the great mystery that leads to all godliness you know let me tell you this I love the law of God I believe that all of the Bible is inspired I believe the dust of the book is gold but nothing promotes sanctification and growth in love for God and love for Christ and a desire of holiness at least for me like spending three or four hours simply studying gas M&E or calvary are those few hours of pitch blackness i want so much for you to grow in Christ as I want to grow in Christ and I know that you're like I am in many ways you lament the fact that you've been so many years in the faith and you haven't grown quite as much as you thought you would at the first I can tell you this the greatest way to motivate the genuine believer the greater and greater godliness and greater and greater passion for God it's to know more about what God has done for us in his son and the worth of that son so you know this is my first time in this area of Canada it's very beautiful now that I'm working with some brothers that I feel privileged to even know I don't suppose a barring from God taking me home that this will be my last turn here and so I plan to start today what may be a lifetime at least what I have left of coming back to this area to build upon what I'm going to teach today that is the cross tomorrow night the cross and the next night the cross and when I come back the next time the cross and maybe in somewhere around 35 years we'll get somewhere to family and things like that but I guarantee you this if you understand the cross you will be a better husband and a better wife a better father better for better mother better son and daughter you understand the cross you'll be transformed a lot of people hear me on YouTube and they think I'm the meanest man that ever walked the planet that may be true but when they come to my church they'll sometimes well group came to my church one time it's a church I attend and the elders had asked me to preach and after I got done preaching they came for several weeks and I was preaching several Wednesday's they went up to one of the people in our church and said his brother washer compromised and the elder said why goes well we've been here for several weeks now listening to him preach and all he's preached on is the love of God the pastor said yes the love of God that's primarily what Paul preaches on it's just someone else puts all those mean sermons on YouTube my point is this if you are an unconverted church person and with a number of people that are here tonight there's probably some of you here you're in church you may have been in church 20 years but your unconverted it's all tradition it's all just by rote for you it's no passion for Christ then the more I teach about Christ the more you will either tune me out or the more angry you will become that's what the gospel of Jesus Christ does to people who just have religion but if God has regenerated your heart and made you spiritually alive and the Spirit of God is is dwelling within you then the more you hear about Christ the more you will be changed and the more you'll want to know about Christ so tonight I want to start with some fundamentals of understanding the gospel and I want you to open your Bible to the book of Exodus the book of Exodus chapter 34 we're going to kind of March our way through several passages until we get ourselves into the New Testament because I want to show you the reason for the gospel the reason why the gospel is absolutely necessary and also when you when you learn this or when maybe you know this and this is iterated in your mind and heart I want you to think about this this is what the world doesn't understand and this is what must explain to the world you see some of you who are my age and maybe even younger 55 I'm 55 and on up you were born at a time when even back in the 80s you could share the gospel and people would understand you to some degree because there were some remnants of ideas of evangelicalism even in the secular mind they understood some things about God and sin but that's not the case today and you know that very well whenever you try to share that gospel especially on a college campus I have discovered that I can't simply say man is a sinner doesn't matter or even begin to to talk about certain things that everyone used to know about God people don't know them anymore so you need to explain why there is a gospel why the need of a gospel and that's what we're going to look at look at Exodus 34 in this passage we have one of the greatest self revelations of God in the entire Bible this this Exodus 34 passage is sometimes looked over and Isaiah 6 is given more prominence in Isaiah 6 is an amazing passage but this is also a great revelation of God look in verse 5 the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him that is Moses as he called upon the name of the Lord then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness and truth who keeps loving-kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity transgression and sin now if I were to read that on even a secular television show I probably receive applause because I'm saying all kinds of things that even secular people think that they believe about God God comes down and what does he tell Moses he tells Moses a lot of very very good news it's going to be good news to AB lutely anyone he says this the Lord the Lord God compassionate now before we get too passionate look at the repetition here the Lord the Lord God now what is going on I mean why is he doing this first of all you must understand that the Bible does not open the door for any God other than the god of scripture and that is God of Yahweh that God of the Bible now I want you to look at this for a moment this is what you're going to see in evangelicalism in the next 15 years you are going to see a great many people even considered conservative evangelical who are going to waver on this because the great crime in the next couple of decades is going to be this not saying that Jesus Christ is a savior or that the God of the Bible is a God the great crime against humanity that some of you will commit is this in saying that not that Jesus is a savior or that God is a god but that Jesus is the Savior and God is the god that's the first thing that you must understand God establishes his deity at the very beginning and if someone doesn't submit to that if they do not grab a hold of this one great truth that God alone is God then you have no gospel you have nothing so don't think that that later on in life especially some of you young people you're going to be able to hang on to some of your Christianity and at the same time be friends with the world because these first few proclamations the Lord God the Lord God will be enough to get you sent to jail but if you compromise on this there is no gospel the Bible teaches there are not many God's there is not the same God with many different names there is one God he's the god of he brews he's the God of Abraham he's the god of Moses he's the God of David he's the God of the prophets he is the God who reveals himself supremely and uniquely and exclusively in the person of Jesus Christ now who is this God who is he it says here he is compassionate and gracious come in Latin with passion suffering suffers with he's a God who cares for the weak he is a God who has pity he is a compassionate God he is gracious some people have defined mercy and grace in this way mercy is when God does not give you what you deserve and grace is when God gives you what you do not deserve and that's who he is and not just to his people all over the world everywhere you look we see that God is compassionate and God is gracious you say brother Paul how can you see that are you blind are you blind you see all the evil in the world the wars and the storms the climactic changes and all the things that are going on the abuse and the death and the crime and the murder and everything else going on how can you say God is compassionate because God didn't murder anyone all all the crime all the death all the evil you see in this world comes from one simple source your heart your heart yes there's enough evil in the world that if in one moment the world was made crystal clear again immorality would abound just with the evil coming out of your heart God is compassionate think about it Adam and Eve sinned and the entire world was brought under judgment and yet in that judgment there was still grace now let's multiply the sin of Adam and Eve over and over and over into billions and billions and billions countless billions of crimes against God the question is not why do bad things happen to good people the question is why does anything good happen at all I see people today especially when I'm on a college campus and they're going how can you say God is compassionate look all this going on do you realize all of us have sinned and because of that sin there should be nothing in this world but sadness and darkness and pain and misery the fact that there is still joy that grass is still green that parents still have babies that there is still rejoicing in marriage that all these wonderful things happen is a work of God's compassion God is a compassionate God God is a merciful God and he demonstrates that mercy every day so Moses he says to Moses hear the Lord the Lord God compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding and loving kindness and truth slow to anger since 1961 or 62 in the United States of America we have killed somewhere over 60 million babies slaughtered them in the womb I don't know how many Canada is killed or Europe is that not enough for God to have already destroyed the world countless times in a flood of Noah is that not enough right there for God to strike every every human being on the planet for the crimes that we have committed against his own creatures God is slow to anger slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness look what else it says abounding and loving kindness and truth verse 7 who keeps loving-kindness for thousands who forgives iniquity transgression and sin what kind of God is in the Bible this kind of God he forgives iniquity transgression and sin now why does it pile those three terms together it's very important to understand this in the Hebrew mind we have what's called Hebrew parallelism when a Jew wants to emphasize something in ancient literature he doesn't write it in bold what does he do he repeats it he says it over and over and over again and here we see this God forgives every type and kind of sin that's who the God of the Bible is now thus far the revelation of God to Moses is very clear very beautiful it's good news we have a god over this world who is slow to anger who's abounding and loving-kindness and truth who is compassionate and gracious and merciful so merciful that he forgives every type and kind of sin but now let's go on to the next section in verses 7 he says who forgives iniquity transgression and sin yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished here we have the gospel right here you now understand why Christ had to die on a tree look at the text look at what it says on one hand God forgives all types and kinds of sin on the other hand it says God will punish every type and kind of sin now the great question in the Bible is how can God do both things and that is what the entire Bible is about that is what all scripture is coming to throughout Scripture we see this problem beginning even from Adams fall to the very crucifixion of Christ one great question is found in the Bible if God is just how can he forgive sin if God forgives all types and kinds of sin and then says he will punish every type and kind of sin how can both things be and the answer is found in Jesus Christ you see the great problem in this world is not just that man is a sinner the great problem in this world is that God is holy and if God is holy and separates from sin and if God is just and will always punish the sinner then how does God forgive the sinner and draw him back in the communion how can those two things be that is the great question in all of the Scriptures he forgives all types and kinds of sin he will punish every type and kind of sin how does he do that 2,000 years ago God becomes man in the person of His Son Jesus Christ he has the merit and the worth the infinite worth of God he lives on this planet for nigh on 30 years he lives an absolutely perfect life and on Calvary he takes the sin of his people upon himself and every ounce of Wrath every drop of punishment that should have been measured out to God's people is poured out on the head of Jesus Christ thus Isaiah says it pleased the Lord to crush him how can God forgive all types and kinds of sin among his people because he punished every one of those sins in his son Jesus Christ on Calvary if God is just how can he forgive sin God can be just and forgive sin because he punished that sin when he crushed his son under the full force of the wrath that was due his people that is why when Jesus Christ was on the tree right before he died he said it is finished what does he mean it's paid God cannot simply forgive sin sin must be atoned for God's justice must be poured out it was poured out on that day on that tree and when Christ had suffered according to the decree of God the exact measure that God decreed was finished God can now be just and say that he has punished all types and kinds of sin yet God can say that and be just because he punished all types and kinds of sin no not upon you but upon His Son Jesus Christ who stood in your place many many years ago there was a young man converted that I know very very well he was kind of a big guy on campus I'll never forget this guy I mean he just he was just the big guy and one day someone told him about the gospel of Jesus Christ and he was graciously and powerfully converted the next day someone gave him a Bible and he started reading that Bible a few days later to his friends horror they found him standing in the middle of the campus he had gathered a bunch of tracks from a preacher that had given them to him he was standing out on campus and he was handing out tracts and he was preaching about Jesus a total transformation his friends grabbed him pulled him aside and said what are you doing people are laughing at you girls are making fun of you everyone thinks you've lost your mind what are you doing and the young man said this did he die for my sin did he die for my sin did he pay for my sin they said well yeah everybody knows that kind of stuff that's what you know he yeah Jesus died for sins that young man then said well then what else can I do if he died for me I must live for him even though he had not been schooled in theology he did not know the original languages of the text what had happened the Spirit of God had revealed one simple truth to him he was guilty guilty guilty he must die die die but Jesus died in his place and he was never the same man again I know him I can testify it's been the same ever since just growing stronger now let me ask you a question have you ever weighed this fact that you are truly sinful enough to languish under the judgment of God for all eternity have you ever grasped that in your mind have you ever sat down for a moment pulled yourself away from TV all the noise of our culture and just looked in the mirror at your heart and realized what you are and then have you ever grasped the fact that the precious holy son of God died for you well I can tell you if you've grasped that to any degree I can tell you how you'll know have you changed as anything changed have the affections of your heart changed or have you remained the same of a young man he was converted in this way he don't know how he doesn't really know how he got back to his apartment one night still a mystery to him but he woke up at about 5:00 in the morning it was still dark the cold linoleum on his face laying on the floor felt sticky dirty fixing mouse self off the floor and a drunken stupor goes over to what he thought was the bathroom sink flipped on a light discovered he'd slept the entire night in his vomit and then remembered something someone told him Jesus died for sinners he was never the same again you see you can read this passage and you go oh this is wonderful he forgives all types and kinds of sin and then you go on and you read and he punishes all kinds of sin if the Spirit of God is truly moving in your heart you're going to say hold it if he punishes all types and kinds of sin he must punish mine and him if he must punish me to the degree that I deserved and there is no hope for me and you'll either be left in despair or the Spirit of God will draw you to look upon the gospel and in looking upon the gospel you will find freedom and not only will you find freedom you will find life and in that life you will walk and you will live and you will grow am i describing you or do you just have some religion or are you just a good person sort of I don't want to know if you're faithful to a church I want to know if you love him because of who he is because of what he's done for you God forgives all types and kinds of sin God punishes every sin but for those who trust in his son the sins they have committed have already been punished and for them they're no longer remains any wrath let's go on I want you to look for a moment at the book of Proverbs look at chapter 17 verse 15 here's another one of these verses that is something like what we saw in Exodus he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous both of them alike or an abomination to the Lord now look at that look at what it says he who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the Lord God is saying in his holy word and his word cannot be broken anyone who justifies a wicked person and that means declares a wicked person to be right that person is an abomination to God is an abomination and that word in Hebrew that's about the worst thing you can be now here's the problem God says that anyone who justifies the wicked is an abomination to him and yet the New Testament tells us that God justifies the wicked God justifies sinners how can God do both things only in the person of Jesus Christ the moment you believed if you believe savingly in Jesus Christ the moment you believe God legally declared you to be right with him and from that moment he treats you as right with him but the fact of the matter remains you're a sinner you were a sinner from birth and even after your conversion you continue sinning how can God justify you and not be an abomination if everyone who justifies the wicked is an abomination to God again the answer is found in the person of Jesus Christ on Calvary your sin was imputed to him when we talk about justification many times people only tell half the story they say this the moment you believed in Jesus God declared you to be legally right with him and that's true that's true but that's only half the story justification is this the moment you believe savingly in Jesus Christ God declared you to be legally right with him and he from that moment on treats you as legally right with him he will never again see you as an enemy he will never pour out even a drop of wrath upon you even when God disciplines you he disciplines you as a loving father and his disposition of love does not change so the moment you believe in Jesus God legally declared you to be right with him forever and he began to treat you as perfectly right with him how can he do that because on the cross your sin was imputed to his son God legally declared him to be guilty and treated him as guilty have you never heard my god my god why have you forsaken me have you never read Isaiah 53 and it pleased the Lord to crush him you and I because of our sin should be separated from God throughout all of eternity but in order to save us from that separation God became a man bore our sin and was separated in our place you and I should suffer the wrath of God throughout all of eternity in order to save us from that raff God couldn't simply say I do not punish you I'm no longer just no God took care of your sin what did he do your sin was placed upon Christ and all the wrath of God that should have fallen upon you and me fell upon him until payment was complete let me give you an example let's say that you go home tonight and you find your family murdered on the floor and you find the murderer standing over your last child wringing the last drop of life out of their body and you control your sense of revenge but you run across the floor and you throw the murderer to the ground you tie him up and call the police and he the police take him to the jail and then after a while he's brought out of the jail and he's going to appear before the judge all the people in this town know of the devastating murder the heinous crime that was committed and so they're all in the courtroom and they're standing there and the murderer of your entire family is standing there with blood on his hands and the judge says this I am compassionate and gracious slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness I forgive all types and kinds of crimes therefore I forgive you you're free to go what would you say would you say justice had been served would you be pleased with the verdict no you would say that the judge on that bench is far more criminal than the very man who murdered your family you'd begin to write politicians and governors and and prime ministers and whatever sort of leader you have in political office in this town and you begin to say I demand you remove this judge why because a judge must do justice the God of all the earth must he not do justice have you not committed crimes is it not true that every sin the wage of it is death eternal death and you've committed more sins than you could count with a calculator your sins are heaped up over your head you're drowning in them they all cry out for your condemnation creation itself comes together and cries out demands justice that you be brought to justice if God is just he can't simply forgive you he must do justice and there are two ways of doing it justice can be poured out on you or you can receive mercy because the justice do you was poured out on his son let's look for a moment in Micah one of the most beautiful passages in the whole Bible Micah chapter 7 verse 18 listen to what Micah says who is a God like you who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession he does not retain his anger forever because he delights in unchanging love again it starts out just like exodus telling us all these wonderful things about the love of God but is God not just can God simply turn his face away from sin can God pass over sin cover it up put it under a rug can God just say I'm not going to deal with it no he is holy and he is just so what does it say in verse 18 verse 19 he will again have compassion on us he will tread our iniquities underfoot yes you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea I want you to think about this how many songs have been written about this text Micah seven look what it says he will tread our iniquities underfoot I can't since the 1980s how many songs I've heard about God treading our sin under his feet and they're beautiful songs but then goes on he will cast all our sins into the depth of the sea countless songs are written about that and rightly so because it's beautiful it's beautiful to know that God has taken all my sin and he is treaded upon them it is beautiful to know that God has taken all my sin and cast them far away from me into the sea the problem is we don't understand this text Christa logically God didn't take your sin off of you throw it on the ground impersonal ground and stomp it God didn't take your sin off of you roll it up in a ball and cast it into the sea and watch it drop to the very bottom that's not what this text is teaching God took your sin off of you and placed it on his son and crushed his son under his feet under the wrath of God God took your sin off view and my sin off of me and placed it on his son and hurled his son into the sea of the wrath of Almighty God that changes it quite a bit doesn't it but that is what had to happen do you remember when they're crossing the sea basically these disciples who knew Jesus was a carpenter basically their attitude is kind of like this now Jesus we're going to you want to cross the sea we're going to help you don't worry you're a carpenter we're fishermen we know this sea like the back of our hands we got this under control you just go in the bow and go to sleep he goes across the gray storm comes up they are terrified he comes out and he rescues everyone and tells the sea to be calm and you think of what a marvelous story it is a marvelous story and it does demonstrate his deity and his power over creation but you've got to see it in the context of redemption remember the Book of Jonah where was he when the sea came roaring in and the bow of the boat asleep where was Jesus when the sea came roaring in the bow of the boat asleep what did Jesus say about Jonah or rather what did Jesus say about himself one greater than Jonah is here is he Jonah everyone knew in the Hebrew story that this is a disobedient prophet and so he gets in this boat running away from God out of the will of God and God sends a storm against him now before they get in that boat what are all the Pharisees saying about Jesus what's going on here false prophet disobedient prophet at best don't you think that's kind of ringing in the ears of those disciples I mean all the religious leaders are saying this guy's false they get into a boat Jonah got into a boat jesus said go the other side Jonah's going to the other side Jesus is sleeping in the bow Jonah was asleep in the bow and a great storm comes up could those disciples have been thinking oh no maybe the Pharisees are right this is a Jonah what are we going to do Jonah said throw me in throw him into what into water that water wasn't dangerous because it was water it was water because it was stirred up by whom by God and what did it represent the wrath of Almighty God Christ though comes out of the boat does he say throw me in absolutely not he has not sinned what does he say be calm and it was and say well what's the parallel Calvary where Christ willingly took the place of the sinful and threw himself into the wrath of Almighty God is he you need to understand something about judgment and you need to understand something about sin that is often overlooked people will always tell people your great problem is sin that's not necessarily true your great problem is God now why is that a great problem sin would not be a problem if God was different than he is let me explain to you let's say there's a mafioso from from Sicily he's been caught in a crime terrible crime and so he's caught by the police but the police think it's kind of strange because he's smiling they put him in jail he just smiles he's not bothered a bit about going to jail the day they're leading him into the courtroom before they get into the courtroom he's kind of telling jokes he's laughing he's nonchalant why because he knows the judge and he knows that the judge is just like he is the judge is just like him he is a corrupt judge so when he walks into that courtroom his crime his sin is not a problem why because the judge is just as just as corrupt as he is but the terror of that mafioso when he walks into that courtroom and realizes they've changed the judges and he's no longer looking at a judge like himself corrupt and vile and sinful and criminal he's looking at a judge that is notorious for perfect justice that crime of that mafioso was not a problem for that mafioso until it brought him before a righteous judge in the same way you've got to see something God truly is love you cannot say it enough you can't say it loud enough you can't say it as much as you should God is love God is love God is love God is love I can say that at any time anywhere to anybody God is love and have to apologize because I haven't said enough about it God is love but God is just I have heard evangelist say this I've heard them tell people instead of being just with you God was loving well if you've studied logic that means God's love is unjust but God's love is not unjust God is love but God is also just and he cannot lay aside his justice even in the name of love he must punish sin and he must punish the sinner and if you choose to stand on your own before God you will be punished even though as God punishes you he will still be love manifesting itself in righteousness but God's love is also manifested itself in mercy and that God gave a substitute his son Jesus Christ Christ took your place I have been preaching now for 34 years I preached a lot I have a family I love my family the closest thing I come to idolatry is my wife and my children and even though I am 55 years old I have a six-month-old baby surprise surprise surprise I love my family I have to leave them all the time I left them today I will leave them next Friday for Hong Kong and then the next week I will leave them for Frankfurt and then paris and i will miss them there's only one reason that would cause me to do this my substitute that's what i want you to get into your mind everything you do you don't do it because it's right you don't do it because it'll somehow give you your best life now you don't do it because it's good you don't even do it for a good reputation everything you do you do for this substitute without him you have nothing and that makes him everything you do whatever you have to do as long as you have to do it you sacrifice as much as you have to sacrifice you do what he calls why without him you have nothing before god nothing our religion is different than all the other religions in the world they all follow a teachers teaching they live in light of a teacher's teaching we live in light of a teacher's life and death and resurrection we don't save ourselves by following him we are saved because he died in our places our substitute that's what mike is getting it here now let's go to one last place go to the book of romans chapter 3 a chap for a verse that you have read from the Book of Psalms probably countless times and you've rejoiced in it but you haven't maybe realized what you're reading look what it says blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account hold it God covers sin what do we call a judge who covers sin corrupt we say at least in America maybe our judges are more corrupt than yours but we say he swept the crime under the rug he made it disappear he made it go away lifted up the rug swept it under covered it nicely no one knows it's there we call that a corrupt judge and yet the Bible has us rejoicing in the fact that God covered our sin now know you've read that many times and you've sang songs about it you've said oh this is wonderful but you haven't realized what it took for this to happen how can God cover sin he can't turn his back on sin he can't ignore sin throughout all of Scripture he says I must punish sin why must he punish sin because he's forced to by some external force absolutely not he must punish sin because of who of who he is he is holy and he is just so how can he cover sin he can cover the sin because the sin was punished how in his son you see in every one of these texts there is no answer until you get to the son and the answer is found the only way God can save you is because Jesus died instead of you the only way God can save you from his own wrath is because God became a man and suffered that wrath in your place and in suffering that wrath he extinguished it and he satisfied justice and now God can declare you right with him and treat you as right with him not because you follow some teaching perfectly but because you have cast yourself upon the son who died you've cast yourself upon him in my country I don't know and it's also I know in other countries they do this I don't know about Canada but when a governor or a president is leaving office he is granted with some restraint the power to pardon people who are in jail now he can't do it abundantly without bringing suspicion to himself but he can pardon people that he wants to pardon so can the governor and a lot of times I've heard evangelists say that's what God did with you no that's not what God did with you you see many people who are actual criminals who have actually committed crimes but have been pardoned it has been noted that they many of them have lived the rest of their life and misery some of them have even committed suicide they were pardoned they were set free why do they live in misery why do they commit suicide because of their conscience what's wrong with their conscience they're free but the crime was never paid they're free but the crime eats at them and eats at them and eats than them because they had never paid it it would have been better that they too stayed in prison served the entire 20 years because then they when they got out at least society would have said you have paid in full and their conscience could be clean that's not Christianity you as a Christian have been pardoned though you were guilty but you can have a clean conscience why the crime is not outstanding the crime was actually paid for it was paid for it is no longer in the books no outstanding crime no guilt perfect freedom declared righteous by God and God is just in declaring you righteous why because he himself paid for your crimes God in his justice declares you and me guilty guilty and objects of his wrath God in His love becomes a man lives a perfect life takes your sin and my sin upon himself and in suffering the wrath that we deserve his demands of justice are fully satisfied and now God can do what Paul talks about in chapter 3 verse 26 of Romans God can be both just and the justifier of wicked people because he himself paid for their crimes that's what the gospel is all about many times when I'm sharing the gospel on an airplane on a college campus to a truck driver ditch-digger doctor doesn't matter I will begin with this do you want to know what the greatest problem and the Bible is do you know what want to know what the entire Bible is written about I mean from Genesis all the way to the end you want me to summarize what the whole thing is really about and they'll say yeah if you can do it quickly okay it's about this if God is just he can't forgive you and immediately the wheels start what do you mean God can't forgive me God's love isn't he yeah he is but he's just your criminal he forgives you he's not just that's what the Bible is all about that's what Paul's argument in Romans three is all about how can God be just and the justifier of wicked men because Jesus Christ the Son of God died for wicked men and when he said it is finished he paid the price in full now what must men do to be saved I know about modern preaching I know that if I was a modern preacher and I'm not that what I would do is now call up some music people I get you to bow your head and close your eyes I may even have you repeat a prayer after me and if you pray that prayer and you're really sincere then I will just push lis declare you to be saved I will declare you to be saved and then I'll go to my next meetings and brag about how many people got saved in this town but then most of the people who got saved won't ever show up in church is that not what happens and then they're called carnal Christians and they live their entire life in sin drunkenness immorality and everything else but the preacher who pronounced them saved in church that day 20 years later will also pronounce them in heaven and by doing that he will continue one of the greatest false teachings that's ever come out of the United States of America how are men saved well I think we ought to go with Jesus on this one don't you repent of your sins and believe the gospel brother Paul whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord yea with repentance and faith because he says also many will call upon me on that day and I'll say depart from me I never knew you what is repentance I mean what really is repentance I mean the Bible is clear mark chapter one the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe the gospel and don't just think that was some different dispensation because Paul and preaching in Acts said God's calling now every man everywhere to repent he said I taught you repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ that was Paul's preaching but now we just tell him repeat a prayer you know I heard one evangelist do this honestly I heard him do it I told the guy you want to go to heaven the guy said yes he said we'll pray and ask Jesus Christ to save you and the guy said out loud he said yeah he goes well I really don't know how I don't feel comfortable praying the Evangelist said well I tell you what I'll pray it you repeat after me the man said well there's people around I feel uncomfortable you know the Evangelist finally said okay here's what we'll do I'll pray the prayer and if it's what you wanted to say to Jesus squeeze my hand when I'm done behold the power of God in American evangelicalism Jesus said repent and believe the gospel salvation is not of works it is a gift from God you can add nothing nothing thing to save yourself it is totally of grace Jesus made it click quite clear repent and believe the gospel and both of those are a work of the Spirit of God in the heart of a person that cannot be manipulated or created by some evangelist the Evangelist can only preach it is the Spirit of God that must make your heart repent cause your heart to believe wake up your heart give it life it's what's called being born again what is repentance it means change the mind well that sounds superficial well if you use your mind it won't sound superficial you're all sitting here very calmly right now your pulse is not racing why because you don't believe this auditoriums on fire and it's not but if you thought if your mind changed if your mind changed and you thought this auditorium was on fire what would happen everything absolutely everything about you would change would your emotions change absolutely your emotions would change would your will change your will would change would your actual actions change yes they would change you would no longer sit there calmly you jump up and run through the door run over people jump out a window but you would get out of here you see the mind is the very control center of everything you are your will your emotions your actions for the mind to truly change about something makes everything change let me give you an example greatest example of repentance I know in the Bible the Apostle Paul Saul of Tarsus he left Jerusalem for Damascus in his mind he believed that Jesus Christ was the greatest false prophet that ever walked the planet in his mind he believed that the Christians were enemies of the people of God and enemies of God should either be imprisoned or killed that's what he fought with his mind and that's the way he acted he went to hunt them down he stood there at the stoning of Stephen and agreed with it because he thought in his mind that Jesus was a false prophet and that Christians were the enemies of God on the road to Damascus what happened to Paul his mind changed it was cataclysmic wasn't it I mean it was unbelievable standing before him is the resurrected Jesus Christ the one he had been persecuting blaspheming Hey he realizes Paul the Apostle realizes that he is wrong about everything the very fabric of reality tore apart that moment for the Apostle Paul he was wrong about everything do you see that in his mind everything he thought was important he was wrong he thought Jesus was a false prophet the greatest false prophet only to find out he's the Messiah and the son of the Living God he thought Christians should die or it best be imprisoned and he finds out that he has become the greatest persecutor of the people of God he was wrong totally and completely wrong what happened he goes to Damascus believing in Jesus Christ proclaiming Jesus Christ and giving his life for the people of God he repented it wasn't a work it was a change of his heart change of his mind just like faith has works or it is dead so repentance has works John was very careful about that bring forth fruit worthy of repentance it doesn't mean that you repent and work it means that if you have truly repented your emotions your actions your will everything will change just like Paul now let's put this in modern day a young guys hockey player he's lived all his life lifting weights everything else hockey hockey hockey it's an idol it's an idol it's everything it's everything he's now a teen man he's college he's just doing it everything looks like the pros are his he lives eats drinks and sleeps hockey it's everything to him then one day as he's getting ready to go into the auditorium the hockey ring there's a silly little teenage preacher handing out tracts at the door and before he's chased away he's able to give that rising star Trak kid puts it in his bag at night he's a little bored he's sitting at home he's sore pulls the track out and just begins to read it out of curiosity the Spirit of God begins to move what happens he realizes he's wrong about everything everything he thought was important is wrought and what happens he changed his mind and everything else changes doesn't necessarily mean he stops playing hockey although it may mean he stops playing hockey now he's under new direction there's a new Lord there's a real reason to be alive young girl she's 15 she's beautiful she knows that everybody does I mean she is gorgeous stands in front of the mirror every day he's looking at the mirror thinking about clothes reading magazines thinking about boys and prom in school and one day she sees a girl sitting in the cafeteria that's kind of the ugly duckling of the class she seems to be reading something she walks over to make fun of her but all of a sudden she sees it a Bible and she sits down and she says just what are you doing and the girl humbly and meekly tells her the gospel story she's really troubled she tries to laugh it off she's with her friends that night she's pretty miserable she drinks more than usual goes home looks in the mirror and sees nothing but ugliness and sin and vanity and filth and rot everything and her mind changes she begins to live for Jesus Christ businessman he's lived all his life man he everybody in town knows him he's got the best cars his families go to the best schools they got the biggest house they got everything they own the businesses they're respected they're feared one day to track up off the desk of one of his employees it's about to get angry about that fanaticism that seems to be spreading in his business but he decides to take a look at it just to get some information so he can deal with the employee and he realized that he is the biggest fool who ever lived that he has sold his own soul for a few pennies he realizes he's wrong about everything and everything changes that's repentance but it's not just realizing you're wrong it's throwing yourself upon Christ the Christian is utterly and totally convinced that they have only one hope of heaven Jesus Christ died for their sins I can't tell you how many people in evangelical churches Methodist churches Presbyterian churches Baptist churches independent churches Bible churches that I've been in that they will tell me and there's a bit of caution in spirit they'll say well yes I'm a Christian I'm believing in Jesus I am and I go now are you really sure well I'm doing my best well are you really what's that all about well I'm working really hard in it and eventually you see they're not trusting in Christ at all they've never really come to understand if I died right now after 30-some years of preaching after being a missionary for ten years in the jungle after everything I've been through if I died right now I would go to heaven for only one reason Jesus Christ shed his blood for sinners that's all not one shred of self-righteousness to boast in my very best moment in life if God judged me in my very best millisecond of life it would only earn me hell as a matter of fact if God took the finest second of every believer who ever walked on the planet in folded up into one person and judge that one person for the sake of the rest it would still only earn us hell what are you trusting in because if you're trusting in one shred of self-righteousness or a good work or something you have done you are not yet trusting in Christ are you trusting in Christ alone we've seen that God is just we've seen that God is holy and we've seen that although God is love he will not lay aside his holiness and his justice to do so would bring self-destruction to God but he has satisfied his justice in the death of his son and the only way you can draw near to God is through what his son has done for you on Calvary he died for your sins he rose again from the dead he reigns from heaven he offers salvation to all now do you realize you are wrong about everything and do you see now that your only hope is Christ Christ ice-t-- we're not going to have a song not because I don't want to see people saved but because I don't want to manipulate people we'd have a prayer we're going to dismiss but if there's someone here tonight and you're concerned about your soul I won't pray a little prayer with you upfront but I may be willing to stay with you until six o'clock tomorrow morning to work through this I won't deal with you like a number I won't treat you superficially and get you to pray a little prayer and make a cross over you and pat you on the back and say welcome to the family of God but I will tell you I will take you in the scripture and show you what repentance is and then the Spirit of God will show you if you've repented I will take you in the description and show you what faith is and the Spirit of God will show you if you have faith because the Spirit of God using the scripture is the only one who has the right to tell you you're saved not some preacher you should be telling the preacher you're saved not the preacher telling you when the Spirit of God is truly working let's pray father come before you tonight and I pray it would work in the heart of people these precious precious people I pray that Christians would be strengthened in their understanding of the gospel pray that if there's someone here tonight who doesn't know you or is unsure about their knowledge of you or someone who knows they desire to be saved but are still confused father I pray draw them to yourself and give us minister strength to love them enough to counsel them long if necessary lord help us tonight to deal with your people and those who are yet your people Jesus name Amen

Channel: I'll Be Honest

Views: 183,721

Rating: 4.8472872 out of 5

Keywords: Gospel, Justification, Salvation, Paul Washer

Id: IsMRIHWqQVw

Length: 74min 48sec (4488 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 19 2016