Well, it's certainly been an interesting week in the household of the Tummels and Kempers and Clappens. And we're certainly very grateful for the God and thankful that everyone got out, hopefully safely this morning and out back to Illinois this afternoon. And as I was talking to Larry earlier this week and not knowing exactly what the schedule was going to be, but knowing that he and Pauline were leaving and he asked me to preach, I said, well, I can't promise that I'll preach, but I'll make sure it's absolutely taken care of one way or the other. And as the week profolded, I just was drawn more and more into the scripture. And then finally, when we got news Friday night, My heart and my mind just went to one verse. And I'd like to turn, if you would turn with me to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. We're going to focus this morning on verse 23. For the wages of sin is death. but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord and it's interesting as I was thinking about the events that we're going through but also the events of the congregation or even as a people on the new year and the happy new year what is a better way to start the year but to refocusing and giving ourselves and our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. And when you go through experiences such as the family is going through, through death, these things bring us back to the center focus of what we are as people, as the people of God and what God has given to us. And as I was drawn more and more into this verse, seeing the contrast of what is laid out before all of mankind, that sin ultimately leads to death, and yet Jesus Christ leads to eternal life. And that is our purpose, that is our being, that's our aim and our strength, and all that He's given to us. So we're going to take this hour, we're going to look at this passage, we're going to come before the Lord's table at the end of the message, and we trust by these things that we will be cultivating the very presence of God, that He would minister to our hearts through His Word and through what He has given to us. that we would be strengthened by the very power of Christ, that He has not left us, but He has promised that He will be with us well even to the end of the age. As we draw near this morning, let us draw near with the promises that we are simply not meeting a few of us within this small room in this building, but we are drawing near to the presence of God being led by His Spirit, knowing that His presence would be in this place and that we would glorify him with what is said and the things and the thoughts that come into your mind and I implore you and I ask you that you would be very active in the worship of God. We've gone through many activities in the past few weeks, whether it was through the Christmas season and through the Happy New Year and the wonderful Florida Gator win victory over the University of Cincinnati, which wasn't even close. As we celebrated Tim Tebow's last game as a college player, but now as we come to the more serious things of the gospel of Christ and seeing what he has done for us, let us give all that we have to him. And what I'd like to do is a lengthy passage, but I want to read all of Romans 6. There is so much truth in this passage that this should be the proper fuel. to fire up our hearts as we come to Him and as we deal, as we honestly deal with the sins of our own hearts, but then we also honestly deal with the gift that God has given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you would please follow along with me as we read Romans chapter 6. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. Isn't it interesting? For a time, death did have dominion over Christ, because Christ allowed death to have dominion over him. Yet Paul goes and says, no longer, for he has been raised from the dead. Verse 10, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit of holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. That is a remarkable passage that Paul gives to us here in Romans 6, and giving that wonderful summary statement, for the wages of sin is death, yet the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. For those of you that may be visiting with us, this may be the first time that you hear of Christ and His working within the Gospel. I'm about to tell you that what you are about to hear is no doubt the most marvelous, wonderful message you could possibly hear in the entirety of your life. And I say that not because of me, of who I am, or because of this church, or because of what we believe. But we say these things because it is the message of hope, the only message of hope that is given to man, and that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's through Him that we celebrate. We celebrate His life, We celebrate his death. We celebrate his resurrection. We celebrate his ascension. And even now, though we gather within this room, we believe in the depths of our heart by the gift of faith that God has given to us, that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all lords. He is the king of all kings. He has all power, rule and authority and majesty belong only to him. And now we're coming before Him and we're acknowledging who He is by the faith that He has given. I have never heard His voice. As I was coming into church this morning, we were listening to a few newsboys of the Adoration CD, and Jackson asked, is that a lady's voice? And I said, no, that's actually a man's voice. It's very high. I said, it's a guy's voice. And he turned to me and said, that's God's voice? I said, no, that's not God's voice. That is a guy's voice. We've never heard God's voice, and we will not hear God's voice until finally Christ comes and He will ransom all of His people to Himself. And then we will not only hear with our ears, but we will see with our eyes the brilliance of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we come this morning, that's the message that's being presented to you if you're outside of Christ. For those of you that are inside of Christ, there's no better place to be. No matter what you're experiencing, no matter the difficulties and trials or the things that you're enjoying and rejoicing through, there is no better place to be than other in Christ Jesus, because you have been given, as we've been promised and as we're going to see this morning, you've been given eternal life. Though you die, and though you go through that chasm, even as our grandmother has, even in recent days, yet eternal life is granted unto you, that you might know Jesus forever. And here we find ourselves in Romans 6, and all of these things coming through, and Paul goes through a litany of truths that give us the mindset of where we come now into verse 23, and he says that the Christian is united in Jesus, as it's found in the first part of the chapter, experience in recent days of baptism, of being united with Jesus Christ, that we are united in his baptism, we are united in his resurrection. And Paul goes on and says, not necessarily that you need to only focus on eternal life in the future, but Paul draws it back closer to us and says, as Christ was raised up, and as you have been baptized in Christ, and as you have been united with Christ, now you need to live a life under the newness of life. You need to live a life now that is free from sin, and you're giving yourself unto Christ. As you've been baptized, you are understanding and acknowledging that the old man has been buried and been put away, and now there is a new man, there is a new creation that has taken place within the depths of your soul, and now you desire to live unto Christ. And he says that we are no longer to let sin to reign over us, for we are mindful of those verses that come to mind along these lines when Paul writes, to the Ephesians, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. That's where we reign, and that's where we go after these things, and God reigns in us, and we wrestle and we struggle in these things. And those of us that are in Christ, we understand the power of sin, because though we are in Christ, and though we confess Him, and though we know Him, and though we believe in Him, and though we have put our trust in Him, yet still there is this sin and this struggle that takes place within our hearts, because we find ourselves tempted to sin, and yet we want to obey and believe God. And at the end of the day, we acknowledge that far too often We sin, and we give ourselves to the temptation. But ultimately, it comes down to the point of who is your master? Is sin the master of your life, or is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of all authority, is He your master? And remember what Joshua comes and says to the people of Israel before they're going into the Promised Land. And he says, And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Every one of us within this room right now is serving somebody. You are a servant. You are a slave, whether you know it or not. You are either a servant and slave of yourself and of sin itself, or you are a servant and slave of the Almighty God. And though we wrestle with these things and though we sin, yet ultimately every one of us must choose whom will you serve. The Lord God Almighty who has all power and authority from all of creation forever and ever. Or are you going to serve the lusts of your own hearts and the sins that so easily tempt you and draw you away? And you may not even realize it, but you're so blinded by the temptations and by the sins that you're gleefully, joyfully going down the path of unrighteousness and sin, all along being the very slave of that sin, and yet you don't even know it. And yet Paul brings this before us and says, you have to ask yourself, who are you going to serve? Are you going to serve that sin and be a slave of that sin? Or are you going to serve the Lord Jesus Christ? And Paul reminds us that we are no longer to be the master, that sin will no longer be the master of us, but that we will be a slave of righteousness. And it goes right in parallel with what Jesus taught himself in his ministry when he says, no one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God in mammon. You cannot serve God in money. You cannot serve God in yourself. You cannot serve God in sin. You cannot serve God in your career if it's an idol in your life. You cannot serve God in your family if it's an idol in your life. You must alone be the slave of God as He is your master and as you are His people. This is not common language. This is not language that we hear even in general Christianity today. It's not the things that we know and that we are accustomed to, certainly in the workplace and in the world. But the reality of the matter is that we must be slaves, and it is true to the Word of God, it is true to Jesus' teaching, it is true to what God has for the plan and purpose of your life, that you are indeed to count yourself as a slave. to righteousness to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Paul gives to us. And you say, Brian, that seems awfully hard at times. Why? This is, I'm living in the United States, the 21st century, and we know of freedom and liberty and all of these things, and all of those things are good as they lead to godliness and as they lead to holiness. But the reality of the matter is that what is being set before us this morning and what is set before us in Romans chapter 6, there are only two choices. There is death on one hand and there is eternal life on the other. There is no middle ground, there is no third option, there is no other place that you can go. But you will either find yourself at the end of the day when you are on your deathbed, you will either be entering in, even if it might be by pain and anguish and difficulty, yet you know by the grace of God that you are to be present with the Lord, or you will be upon that deathbed wishing and desiring for one more moment and one more breath of air, one more hour and one more moment, because you are not ready for your eternal state. And yet Paul brings us now to verse 23 when he says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And I have very simple two headings for this morning's message. Very simple. The first one is sin leads to death. And we'll take some time in taking a look that sin leads to death. And secondly, we will look On the flip side, that as sin leads to death, we will look that Jesus leads to eternal life. So first and foremost, sin leads to death. The reality is that all of us are sinners, and I think we all know that. We see that it has an effect on us, and as we look at the passage, it's interesting how Paul says it. He says, for the wages of sin is death. So he takes, obviously, for granted that sin exists, and he deals with that elsewhere, but it is very interesting the phrase that he uses, isn't it? When he says, the wages of sin is death. There's one way that you can look at it and say, if I sin, then the wage that will be given to me is death, which is a true statement. But you can also look at it as, my master is sin, and because he is my master, he will give me the wages that are due me as his slave, which is death itself as well. Isn't that interesting? Both are true, and as I read the commentators, they all agree that both perspectives are right. That one sense, sin, leads to death because it's the wages that are due the work that we perform. But it's also true that sin is a master over all of humanity, apart from those that are inside of Christ. And as the master of humanity, and as sin rules and reigns in the hearts of the sons of Adam, the wages that will eventually be given by that master is death. And sometimes it is a very slow and prolonged death, and sometimes it is a quick and fast death. But ultimately, death is to be understood in separation of body and spirit, and it's certainly to be understood in the separation between God and His creation, where there is that final state where no longer will there be a relationship between the creature and the creator. apart from the wrath that is poured down upon the creature for its disobedience. Sin is a very, very, very important concept for you to understand, if you are ever to understand the relationship of the Lord Jesus Christ. As I was going through this and as I was preparing, I pulled out holiness by Ryle in his first chapter within this book, Deals with Sin. Listen to what Ryle says. The plain truth is that a right knowledge of sin lies at the root of all saving Christianity. Without it, such doctrines as justification, conversion, sanctification are words and names which convey no meaning to the mind. The first thing, therefore, that God does when he makes a new creature in Christ is to send light into his heart and show him that he is a guilty sinner. The material creation in Genesis began with light, and so also does the spiritual creation. God shines into our hearts by the work of the Holy Spirit, and then spiritual life begins. Dim or indistinct views of sin are the origin of most of the errors, heresy, and false doctrines of the present day. If a man does not realize the dangerous nature of his soul's disease, you cannot wonder if he is content with false or imperfect remedies. I believe that one of the chief wants of the Church in the 19th century has been, and is clearer, fuller teaching about sin. If that's true about the 19th century, certainly it is true about us today. That we cannot have a true understanding and appreciation of Jesus Christ and of the works of our religion of the graces of our religion as well if we don't understand that first and foremost sin has affected every aspect of our lives. Sin is expected every aspect of your life, and every aspect of my life. We are not born saints. We are not born sinless. But we are born full of sin. And as we have gone, as many of us have gone through now, the experiences of parents, and you bring forth the baby, and in the hospital, and it looks like that beautiful little cherub, and you think to yourself, oh, it's so innocent, and it's so perfect in every regard, and here's, in my case, my boys. And there is many things to be thankful of, but it does not take long, does it? It does not take long for that child to grow, and then you begin to realize that that child does not have a heart of pleasing his parents at all times and pleasing God, but there is enmity even bound up within the heart. And hence the Proverbs come, that the rod comes to drive the foolishness out of the heart. Our hearts are full of foolishness. Our hearts are full of sin, of iniquity and transgression, brings us to the understanding of what sin is and how is sin defined. Sin is anything that causes us to fall away from God. It's transgression, both in Adam originally and in ourselves as well. It's not only transgression, but it's the idea of missing the mark, that God has set a certain standard and that because we cannot hit that standard, we are full of sin. And John says, all unrighteousness is sin. The slightest speck of unrighteousness within your life is sin and you fall short from the glory of God. Not only is the idea of transgression for sin is the transgression of the law for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It's also missing the mark, but it's also the very idea of iniquity, of turning away from God and embracing your own lusts and your own desires, the things that are of your own flesh. And Isaiah reminds us all we Interesting, isn't it? The universal application, all we, like sheep, have gone astray, and we have turned everyone to his own way. And yet the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Even back in Isaiah's time, there is the understanding, the wages of sin is death. Yet there is coming one that will take the burden, will take the pain, and he will be laid upon him the iniquity of his people, and he alone will be sufficient to bear it up. Iniquity, transgression, sin, falling apart from God, falling away from God, every one of us is condemned unto death as we are born because of the sins of our own heart. And we need to have a heightened sense and sensitivity of sin in our own lives to understand first and foremost the grace of God but also the desire and unction that we should have for the sanctification of our own souls, that we might present ourselves before God, not by the merits of our work, but by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ working within us. And as I studied this, and as I didn't have as much time as I would normally do in preparation, Yet as I went through this, I was simply struck in my own heart how little I spend in evaluating the sin of my own life. how little time I spend evaluating the sin of my own life. I can remember in my college days, and for whatever reason it seems, and I hope this isn't the case, but it just seems like the height of my spirituality was in my college days, but yet the lack of experience and wisdom and discernment would certainly be profound if I saw it. But I think in the college days it's a unique time of life because Whether you think it or not, college students, you actually have more time during your college days than you do any other time in your life. It's amazing. It doesn't feel like it, I know. And you're going to think I'm a liar, but I'm not. It's true. You have more time during your college days than you do any other time. And I tried to use it. I didn't use it as the best that I could at times, but I can remember during those times that I would take myself and I would begin to feel pretty haughty about myself and how good I was as a Christian at the University of Florida and I'm not doing all the other things that the sinners are doing. And then I would go into my room and I would simply close the door and I would turn off the lights and then I would just take about 10 minutes and I would just meditate through the Ten Commandments and I would just go one after one and you know I just got to the first one and that would be enough to slay me right there as it was but I would literally just go one after another through the Ten Commandments and I would go humble and I would get more and more and more and more and more and more broken and I would realize that by God's mercy He has forgiven all of those sins and it wouldn't be of my whole life it would just be what did I do that day? What were the actions I did that day? And the Ten Commandments would come. Do I have any Lord or any God before me? And I would just go through them. And at the end of it I would realize that I'm a sinner. Saved by God's grace and he would come with his love and he would build me up and he would strengthen me But the reality of the matter is sin is not something that we simply deal with before we come to Christ But sin is something that continually affects us and it has the disease Within our own hearts and that we know these things are true Let me ask you, is there anyone in this room that would possibly imagine for the slightest moment that sin either doesn't exist or sin doesn't exist in your heart? And I would certainly hope that would not be the case. I would hope that every one of us hearing my voice would acknowledge that sin does exist. And sin does exist in my heart. And it is ugly at times. And it is violent. And if I were to be true with those that are around me, that if they saw Oh, I say to myself for a moment, if Jessica even knew just five minutes of the sin that's in my mind at times, how would she possibly love me? Because the sin that we commit in our minds and our hearts is just as potent. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, it doesn't matter whether you're doing it by your body and by your acts, or whether you're thinking it in your mind or in your heart, you are still sinning. And you are still opposed to God. And you are still doing those things that are displeasing unto Him. And the Lord Jesus sees and knows every thought, every word, every whisper that we perform that is against His Word. And He is opposed to it, because He is opposed to the sin that's within our hearts. We have all sinned. Our conscience testifies of these things. And yet, ultimately, what testifies of sin more than death. And that's what we find within this passage. The wages of sin is death. Death is very unnatural. It is not supposed to be this way. And yet because of sin, because of sin within the creation, ultimately death comes. And Jesus reminds us, and John, those who have done good, they raise to the resurrection of life. And those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. Those that are righteous, only the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is the merit that come before us and that we know of these things and that we know of His power and of His presence. Death doesn't feel right. It's unnatural to our experience. We see the agony of all that was taking place and in the original creation all was beautiful, all was perfect in every regard. Everything was given to man and yet sin entered into that creation and it marred the entire existence of all of humanity, even to this day. Depending on what statistics you look on the internet, approximately 150,000 people die every day across the globe. If you could see for a moment in your spiritual eyes as the Lord sees, you would see this globe, beautiful of water and of creation and of land, of the earth and its existence. But on that globe, on that terrestrial being of that globe, There's 150,000 souls going into eternity on a continual basis, leaving that creation. And yet there is even slightly more than that coming into the creation, being born under the curse of Adam. And as we see those things, and a hundred, think about it for a moment, 150,000 souls every day, entering into eternity. either into eternal life or eternal damnation and condemnation. And yet we're brought the wages of sin is death. Whether you like it or not, apart from the Lord's coming, there is nothing that you will be able to do to keep yourself from experiencing death. Spurgeon said he hoped that Christ did not come in his lifetime because he wanted to feel the full experience and awareness of Christ through death. And by God's grace, that's what he did. But there will be an experience that you will have as you leave this place. Some of us may be young. Some of us may be very old. And in our grandmother's case, whether I believe it's 86 years old, it does not matter whether it's 86, 96 or 106. Death is still very difficult. It's very harsh. And yet it will capture all of us because of the sin that we've committed. That's how serious God is about sin. The wages of sin is death, and there is no way to avoid it in any regard. Man will not be given a second chance. He will not be judged by your good works, for Paul reminds us, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should be boastful. There will be no second chance, as the writer of Hebrew says, and as it is appointed for men to die once, But after this, the judgment. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. You go through death, you are separated from your body and your spirit, either anticipating the coming of Christ, or if you die without Christ, you have the anticipation in your spirit for that length of time, knowing that the fulfillment of your punishment has not been fulfilled, and yet there is coming a time where you will be reunited with your body, as Jesus says, even of the resurrection of the unrighteous, only to have the fullness of the totality of the punishment to be delivered, not only in your spirit, but in your body, and it will be forever, and there will be no relapse, there will be no break, there will be no recess, but there will be the continual gnawing of the conscience, as Jesus described, where the worm does not die, the conscience does not die, but you are continually reminded of how you rejected Christ, And yet the fire will not go out, the flame and the anguish will not go out. And yet it's also been told that it's in utter darkness. How these things can be true, I do not know. But I know they to be true because they are in the Word of God. That is the reality of where we are. That is the reality of where you are, either within Christ or outside of Christ. And I cannot implore you strong enough that if you are outside of Christ, you are in a very dangerous, very dangerous state. For you know not what brings forth, but this could be the last breath that comes into your mouth, because it is the God who has given the breath that has given it to you to breathe even this day. It's the seriousness of these things. And we are told even by Solomon, that then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God, to whom gave it. God is the one that has given you your spirit, and God will require it back at the end of the days. So the wages of sin is death. I know not how much more I could say upon that subject, but the reality of the seriousness of the matter, wages of sin is death, and it has affected all of us. And yet, that's not the end of the story, is it? It's not the end of the story, for he goes on to say, but then the gift of God, is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And this is our second point. Jesus leads to eternal life. The ultimate desire of all men should have eternal life. I can't think of a single person that if you were to ask them, if I were to grant you eternal life, would you take it? I think the answer to that would absolutely be yes. And yet Jesus says in his wonderful words concerning the things of this life, he says, Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Well, what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to their works. Jesus says there is a choice given to you this day, that you can either go after the pleasures of your own life, that you can even seek after the whole world. And we know there are men and there are women that own more than we could possibly imagine, more than we could possibly aspire to for the rest of our lifetimes commutatively within this room, because they have so much money, and so much power, and so much fame. Yet at the end of the day, Jesus says, what gain, what has it gained that man to have all of those things? And he had to lose his own soul for all of eternity. And Jesus says, you have to ask yourself, what are you willing to do? And Christianity is not an easy religion. It is not an easy religion in the sense that if you want to gain these things and if you want eternal life, and Jesus is not ashamed in saying these things, but if you want eternal life, it is going to cost you the most precious thing. It's going to cost you yourself. You're going to have to deny yourself. You're going to have to confess the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to have to take up your cross on a daily basis. Now, the basis and the merit of our salvation is not in the things that we do, but it's the fruit of the outcome of what Jesus has done Himself, that because we come to Christ and that we know Him, now we are willing and able to deny ourselves, to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, and to bear the cross that he has put upon us, that we would live our entire lives, not as the things of this world, but giving ourselves to the things of Christ and for his kingdom. That's the desire of all men, should be to have eternal life, and only Jesus Christ can give it, for as we see in our passage, how is it that eternal life is earned? Well, it's not. It's not possible to earn eternal life, because Paul is very specific. He says, the gift of God is eternal life. I love this comparison. I love what he uses. He says, on one hand, the wages of sin, if you're trying to earn anything, if you're trying to earn your way to God, if you're trying to earn your way in anything in this life, the ultimate reward and the wage of that earning is death. And yet on the other side, the most glorious side, he says, compared to earning things and trying to attain unto these things and to gain them, I'm telling you, it is a gift of God. It is something that God will give you that you will not earn, that you are not possible to take upon yourself. There is no work on the face of the earth that you're able to do, but simply God is willing to give it to you in its eternal life. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing that the God of all the universe could have done whatever He desired as long as it wasn't contradictory to His own nature and to His own being? He could have made us do certain tasks every day of our lives, and yet ultimately He says, that is not possible. That is not possible to restore our relationship as I am your Creator, as you are my creation. It is not possible for you to restore that relationship. I have to do it. I have to do it. I have to be the one that gives you the gift of eternal life, that brings you back unto myself because your sin, your sin is so consuming, it's so putrid in my eyes. I am a holy God. I am a righteous God. I am a merciful God. I am a powerful God. But I will not allow sin to come into my presence unless it has been atoned for. Because I am a perfect, holy, beautiful, lovely God. And there is no other God besides me. There is none above me. And there is none below me. I will not share my glory with any other. But I am perfect in my essence. I am perfect in my being. I am perfect in every regard of what I am. And because of my perfection, I will not allow you to come into my presence unless I give you that gift of eternal life. And I restore that relationship because I am the only one. That can do it. I'm the only one that can do it. Jesus is the only one that can do it. God is that holy. Our sin is that putrid. There is an infinite chasm between the two. And there is no one that is able to do it. There is no mediator between God and man. But who? The man, Christ Jesus. God comes, Jesus comes, takes the hand of God, he takes the hand of man, he brings them together, and says, I will do it, and I will give you this gift of eternal life. Thomas Whitelaw, in his essay, The Biblical Conception of Sin, he said, The ultimate removal of sin from the souls of the believing and pardoned is left by scripture in no uncertainty. It was foretold in the name given to the Savior at his birth. Thou shalt call his name Jesus because he shall save his people from out of their sins. It was implied in the object contemplated by his incarnation. He was manifest to take away our sins. It is declared to have been the purpose of his death upon the cross. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. It is held up before the Christian as his final destiny, to be conformed to the image of God's Son, to be presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, and to be a dweller in the heavenly city into which there can enter nothing that defiles. The ultimate destiny of the Christian is to come and to live the life as Christ would have him or her to live it, to enter into death, to experience that death, to go as the Spirit into the immediate presence of God as Jesus promised to the thief on the cross. Today you will be with me in paradise, but he was in paradise and his spirit is alone because his body lay in the earth. And yet, as we say in that place, ultimately Christ is coming, in his second coming, he will give us our bodies, we will be resurrected unto the newness of life, and then Jesus will take all of his souls, there will not be a single one missing from his elect, but he will bring all of them together as the bride of Christ, the church for the first time ever will have no schism. It will have no controversy. It will have nothing that would cause fighting and bickering within itself, but it will be purified. It will be beautiful. It will be glorious. Jesus will bring his church unto the Father, and he will own the church as the bride of his own heart, and he will present us before the Father himself, and we will be with him forever. That's the destiny that Jesus Christ has for you if you're in Christ. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. When Jesus came to redeem us from our sins and to be bloodied on that cross and to be resurrected, it wasn't simply for us to have an enjoyable, prosperous life on the face of the earth, but it was for us to have eternal life with Him uninterrupted, perfect communion, glorious testimony and fellowship with Him forever. Forever. Forever. God does not change. God will not improve. God will not be advanced because of His elect. But He is willing, more than willing, to open up that fellowship that we might enter into His presence and to experience God in the fullness of time forever. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to me. No man, excuse me, comes to the Father but my name. There is no other way for us to come into the Father except through the Jesus Christ, our Lord. He says you need to have faith. If we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him up from the dead, you will be saved. We need to have faith on one hand. If you confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We need to have repentance. on the other. Faith, confessing and knowing that Jesus Christ alone is the mediator and the sacrifice that is sufficient for my sins. Repentance, turning away from my sins and embracing Christ and coming unto Christ, confessing these things to be true, but only knowing Him as my Savior and as my Lord and as my God. And as we're given the faith and as we're given the repentance, then we come into the presence of God and we have the fullness of that union and that relationship not only the days of our lives, but for all of eternity, uninterrupted, perfect communion, perfect fellowship with God the Almighty. As I was going through this, and I'll close with these thoughts, I couldn't help, I just could not help but going away from the picture of the thieves on the cross. Here's Jesus Christ being lifted up and he says, I will be lifted up and I was all man to myself. There was no other way. There was no other way for that relationship between the Creator and the creation to be restored other than the shedding of blood of the Son of God himself. And as Jesus hung on that cross, we're mindful of Luke's passage. One of the criminals who was hanged, blasphemed him, saying, If you are the cross, Christ, save yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? And indeed, justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done nothing wrong. Then he said to Jesus, some of the most precious words of all scripture, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus said to him, assuredly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. One was blaspheming him, cursing the Christ, the Son of God. And for all of eternity, that man will regret that he was within feet of the Savior, and yet he died in his own sin. And yet the other man, Acknowledging his sin. Acknowledging that he was a sinner. Acknowledging even that the punishment of crucifixion. He was hung on a cross. And he yet says, this is the right punishment. Do my acts. And he turns to Christ and says, Lord, remember me in your kingdom. He had greater faith in the disciples at that moment. The disciples were confused. They had no idea they were expecting a earthly, powerful, physical, political kingdom. And yet they're scattered like sheep that the scriptures might be fulfilled. And here is this criminal hanging on a cross. being crucified justly for the deeds that he performed, and he turns to Jesus, who is in the same state as he, bloodied and bludgeoned with a thorn of cloth on his head, and all of these things done to him, and yet he says to this man that's within hours or moments of his death, without any understanding of his power, Lord, Lord, remember me in your kingdom. That's amazing. That's amazing faith. That's a gift of faith that was not earned by that man, but it was a gift that God gave to him at that moment to acknowledge that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And then Jesus assures him, today you will be with me in paradise. And that man died knowing that he would be with Christ. in paradise, and within just a few moments, hours at the absolute most, he was with Christ in paradise, and he has been there ever since. That's what I lay out before you this morning. From these things, I simply ask you that you humble yourself before the presence of God, that you humble yourself, that we all humble ourselves, acknowledging that we are at best sinners by our own nature, But on the other hand, I ask of you that you be thankful to God for what He has done for you that are in Christ. And as we come now before the Lord's table, it will be very simple, it will be very brief this morning, but I trust that it will be a time for us to cultivate the presence of God, knowing that He is drawn near to us. And I would simply give one warning. I would ask of you that if you are in Christ, please partake. If you are not outside, if you are outside of Christ, let the plate pass. It is better for you to spend time contemplating your presence and your relationship, your need of a relationship with Christ, than to partake of these things unnecessarily. So I'd ask the two men to come. We will distribute both of the elements. We will partake, we will pray, and we will close with one hymn tonight. So men, if you could please come and distribute the elements.