His own way, body, blood

You know, I enjoy testimony meetings like that and I could have sat and listened for another 45 minutes God working Something that's real you know, it's It's easy to say you're saved But just saying you're saved doesn't make you saved It's faith in Christ. But then there is a there is a life that is lived After Salvation's Day and that's what we're hoping for this evening. Not just so you can have a night say yeah, I'm saved But there's a reality to it.

There is real salvation that takes place and we trust that tonight will be that night when perhaps a Another testimony meeting like this if the Lord preserves us and spares us that you can get up and say it was on that Saturday night at Blue River Conference After the testimony meeting that I Understood I was a sinner and I put my trust in the Savior I want to read just three passages very quickly in the first part of this part of the meeting The first one is found in Isaiah chapter 53 Isaiah chapter 53 Very well-known passage. We're just going to read two verses Isaiah 53 verse number 5 Verse 5 Says but he was wounded for our transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes. We are healed All we like sheep have gone astray We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Now, let's just go to the New Testament, please to first Peter chapter 2 First Peter chapter 2 And we're going to look down at verse number 24 first Peter 2 verse 24 Who his own self? bear our sins in His own body on the tree That we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness By whose stripes you were healed For ye were as sheep going astray But are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls now one last reading just over in the book of the Revelation, please Revelation chapter 1 Revelation chapter 1 verse number 5 and From Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness the first begotten of the dead the Prince of the kings of the earth Unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood Now that's all we'll read tonight and we trust God will add a blessing to these wonderful scriptures that we have read from The Word of God now what's on my mind tonight? Just very quickly in opening this part of the gospel meeting I want to think of things that are very personal You know when it comes to salvation salvation is a personal thing Salvation is something that happens to you.

You're it's the only thing that you can really be selfish about in this world and it's okay Because when it comes to salvation, it's only you yourself That can come to know the Lord Jesus you can't oh you might be able to point someone else to it But listen friend, this is something that is very personal It is between you and God and even though there is a nice crowd here tonight And we're glad for those that have stayed and maybe you are finding safety hiding amongst the crowd I Want you to understand tonight that God is seeing you as an individual God is looking down and he sees you and he knows all about you. He knows you very Personally, and so I just want to from these three passages I want to talk about some very personal things whether it's about us or whether it's about the Lord Jesus Christ The first passage we read there in Isaiah 53. We read something there that God has to say about us God is going to get very personal when it comes to his description of you and me You know for most of us We are brought up and you know, we're saying well If you can't say something nice about somebody who don't say anything at all And sometimes, you know, we meet people we can't say a word Because we know about them and we don't want to offend them or we don't want to say something that you know is very apparent But when it comes to the need of our salvation God is not worried about hurting your feelings You know we live in a very politically correct world where you know if you just say the wrong thing people rise up in arms and and They're going to they're going to sue or they're going to go to the press and and it becomes a big political thing Listen here God is going to tell it like it is and the reason he doesn't beat around the bushes The reason he gets to the point is because he understands the eternal consequences of a soul going out into eternity without a senior and God wants you tonight to understand exactly what you are and He's told us here.

He is going to get very personal in this verse here in Isaiah 53 Oh first he is going to speak in general terms And you know we find comfort in Generalities don't we so we don't mind being included in a number of people in a group of people there There seems to be safety in numbers, and so he is going to start out that way here in chapter 53 down in verse number six he says there you know all we all We like sheep have gone astray, and you know it's not hard for people to say yeah You know I'm just like everybody else You know I've sinned You know I'm no different and really you know the old adage is to to air is human that just is what we are And we sort of take a sense of pride in the fact that I'm I'm just like everybody else I'm all we're all in the same boat and because of that we think that everything's gonna be okay You know what there was what a few thousand people in the same boat. It was called the Titanic and Most of them went down and so there's no safety being in the same boat And so even though he is going to speak in general terms all we like sheep have gone astray the Bible repeats that He says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. He tells us that again in Romans.

There's no difference He levels the playing field we all are same before a holy holy God But he's going to bring it in now He's going to make it more personal and this is where people get Uncomfortable and friend would to God tonight you got uncomfortable about your sin The the problem so often with this world and with the unsaved is that we don't see sin the way God sees it God looks at sin and to God sin is heinous to God sin demands Punishment and and we get so comfortable with it that that we don't understand there are Consequences to sin friend. There are consequences to your sin tonight and Here Isaiah. He is going to go from generalities and He's going to get personal And turn I want to get personal with you tonight.

I Want you to understand that if you're not saved you are the problem Not your neighbors not your friends not your family you alone are the problem You alone are the one that has a problem with God the problem of your sin And so he's going from this general term. He is going from all we like sheep have gone astray Now he's going to make it personal. We have turned everyone to his own way You know when it comes right down to it In this meeting today, I am sure that those are brought up in a Christian home like we were hearing like myself very protective very Isolated from the outside world and we didn't know all those things that were out there But listen, I was just as much a sinner as my buddy that would run the street night and day Oh, I might have sinned in a different way in a more refined way But I had gone my own way Just like he had gone his own way and friend tonight wherever you are tonight in relation to eternity If you're not saved the road you are taking it's your way You won't be able to blame anyone else about that road that you are on because it is your own Way a personal way and yet all those ways that are not the way to heaven are Going to take you to that place called hell You know, we can notice here when it comes to this way understand this that it's an individual way It is an individual way.

It is our own way as we're on that broad road. See that broad road that's leading down Yeah, there's all sorts of it. There is the immoral person There is the wicked person that there is the the gambler the drug addict all those people are on and you say well I'm not them But you know, I'm that same way on that same road.

There's the Sunday school student There's the child of Christian parents living in that living in that sheltered life and yet without Christ They are still on that same road That's taking them down Friend tonight understand the way you're on if you've never been saved you're on a way. Oh, yes It's different than anybody else's way as far as the the course you are taking but it is a way that is taking you down to a lost eternity But understand this not only is it an individual way If you are not saved tonight, whatever way you are taking it is a godless way It is a way that you have chosen to take without any thought of God without any acknowledgement of God and not understanding the consequences of ignoring God a Godless way, you know, the very essence of godliness is going our own way Doing our own thing. That's what happened there in the Garden of Eden There was no there was no gross moral sin It would seem in the Garden of Eden and yet just the act of taking that fruit against the express command of God Was a godless way a way that took them away from God And dear friend a way that's taking you Away from God And maybe you think tonight because you're younger Maybe tonight you think that because you know, because you have lots of time that that you can spend time idling on this way Our friend don't be Don't be deceived Because the end of that way the end of that way is death.

I Think of two girls tonight Brought up in a Christian home in the Sunday school and they have gotten out into the world and their way I Can hardly understand I can hardly believe The choices that they are making a way that's taking them away from God You couldn't believe it. You wouldn't believe it and you say well, I would never do that listen, they were in the same position you are and Tonight they are away from God on a godless way and yet it is an individual way away That they have chosen you see what they don't understand that Although it's a individual way and a godless way understand this. It's a perilous way This is a way that leads to destruction.

This is a way that leads to separation from God for all eternity This is a way that even in this life leads to suffering the consequences of sin that is indulged in and sin That is enjoyed for a few moments as they travel on that godless way that perilous way They don't realize the truth of the Word of God it's been true in their lives many time and it will be true in your life that it says the way of the Transgressor is hard and all those that get into that sin those that refuse God those that take their own Way in rebellion against God they find out it is a hard way But oh, not only is that way hard as far as this life is concerned The end of that way is destruction There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof Are the ways of death Friend what way are you on tonight? What the road you are traveling in your life? Where is it taking you if you've never trusted Christ and it's not the road that's leading up to heaven and home But old friend if you are lingering in your sin If you are bound and bent on that individual way that you are taking that godless way that is a perilous way You are only a heartbeat from being in a place of destruction Separated from God for all eternity You see we are not playing church when we preach the gospel This isn't about making bad people better. This isn't about you know, making us better citizens This is about preparing you for eternity Preparing you to meet God because if you meet God in your sins You will be lost forever Separated in the darkness of hell and ultimately the lake of fire There's a way There's a way it says here all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone To his own way, you won't be able to blame anybody for it It's a choice that you have made it's it's a conscious decision that you have entered into and Determined to stay on that way that is leading away from God Our friend don't be foolish That God has made provision God has made it able so that we who have sinned we who have come short of the glory of God so that we can Know for sure that our sins are forgiven and that heaven is our home.

How is that possible? How is it possible that we who have decided to take our own way? Could ever have the forgiveness of sins it's because the Lord Jesus entered into our problem and And when I come to the problem of our sin the Lord Jesus took that sin very personal He didn't stand and look at our sin from a distance He wasn't aloof to the problem and the position of the sinner But what we read there in in first Peter 2 and 24 it says who his own self Bear our sins in his own body on the tree And here's the Lord Jesus Christ the very Son of God The one who knows your sin the one who condemns your sin and yet has love for your soul that he came into this world born of a woman born of Mary growing up to the age so that he Could go to that place called Calvary and there on that cross Take your sins on his own body You know when you think of how personal your sin God to the Lord Jesus Understand what took place in the darkness of Calvary We've been hearing a little tonight About the six hours of physical suffering when the Lord Jesus was nailed to a cross But oh, let's just let's just for a moment delve into the darkness when the Lord Jesus Christ suffered the wrath of God for your sins The the Old Testament so full of prophetic Insights into what the Savior suffered and and the words that are used. It's it's like an overflowing flood Save me Oh God For the waters have come in into my soul I sink in deep mire where there is no standing all thy ways Have gone over me and there on that cross the Lord Jesus in his own body He suffered the wrath of God for your sins and for mine Isaiah tells us God laid on him the iniquity of us all Sin to him was real he felt the weight of your sin of my sin when God laid on him your iniquity and Tonight perhaps you're sitting there thinking that there is no Consequences to sin that that that sin is fun that sin is something to lightly be looked at listen ask the Savior Is it something lightly to be looked at ask the Savior? Is there no consequences to sin? Oh Friend listen from the darkness my God my God. Why? Has thou Forsaken me and on the cross the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and bled and died because of your sin because of your rebellion because we had chosen to go our own way and There God laid on him our sins But not only do we read about his own body We read in Revelation chapter 1 about his own blood Unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own Blood, you know Blood is a theme from the very first of our Bible from the very front From Genesis to Revelation.

It literally is a book that is bathed in blood. Why is that because God said the wages of sin is death the Consequences for sin must be that innocent blood will be shed and of all those Thousands and millions of sacrifices that shed their blood. They were just pointing forward.

They were just a little picture of the Lord Jesus the Son of God who would get so personally involved with the problem of our sin and It says he shed his own blood Shed his blood for a sinner like you and A sinner like me We read in Hebrews. It says without the shedding of blood There is no remission God can't forgive sin unless there is a suitable sacrifice not just any sacrifice It was the sacrifice of his own son and the Lord Jesus Shed his blood he entered into death to satisfy God as far as your sin is Concerned your sin. No, not the person beside you.

No, not not someone else You know friend tonight understand this your sin He suffered and shed his blood for your sin on Calvary's Cross and that is the only Payment that God will recognize as far as your sin is concerned But who friend there is no other payment available And and the payment is free that the payment is there It's been paid in full on Calvary's Cross when the Savior said tis finis Everything was fully done and God recognized the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus and it has Satisfied the throne of God so that God tonight Can forgive you of all your sins John told us in his epistle He says the blood the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son Can cleanse you? From all sin from without the blood you are lost In spite of good works in spite of good living in spite of whatever else you might think you can offer to God The only thing God will accept is the precious blood of his Son You maybe heard this story remember back in April of 2015 over there in Kenya at the Garish University in Kenya was a Christian University and remember there when the students had gathered in the main auditorium for morning devotionals and Those men came in with their ak-47s. They had been casing out the place for weeks before and they knew exactly when the most of those students would be together when they could inflict the most damage and as those men came through the doors of that auditorium with their Machine guns blasting shooting everything and anything that moved by the time it was all over a 143 students as well as the four gunmen were dead Afterwards they were interviewing a young lady. Her name was Helen Helen Titus and She was in that auditorium when those gunmen came She heard the sound of the machine gun She heard her friends Screaming and moaning in pain as they dropped the section She was in as they stood up to run her friends had fallen because they've been hit by bullets They fell on top of her and she was under the pile And she said she stayed there as quiet as she could and as those men came around Looking at the groups of students if there was any movement, they would shoot some more She says they came to where I was and they moved on And they said why why do you think you survived? And she said when they looked where I was I was covered in blood But it was the blood of my friends How do your friend the only reason I have life tonight Is because I'm covered in blood and it's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ The blood of Jesus Christ God's son can cleanse you tonight from all your sin that road that you are on that has taken you to a lost eternity that Singular route that you have chosen.

Listen, you can get off it tonight You can get off it by trusting Christ and Christ alone and come into the value Come into the benefit of what he did when on his own body He bore our sins on the tree and through that precious blood that was shed Cleanse can cleanse you tonight from all sin. It wouldn't it be wonderful if you could Speak in a very personal way tonight When this meeting is over and be able to say like those people there at the beginning of Revelation chapter 1 Unto him who loved me Unto him who loved me and washed me from my sins in his own Blood why not trust him tonight? You could be saved