Tonight I'm going to be speaking to you on the subject, The Seven Truths About Christ's Death. Now, there are more than seven truths about Christ's death in this message tonight, but I'm only going to bring you or give you seven. We're going to be looking at seven great truths concerning the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me, as I begin and start out to clear this up, though I speak of the death, and of course that's the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, I don't by any stretch of the imagination sever the necessity of the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by that death. That was a necessity. The reason I say this is because some people have a tendency to put the stress on the death, and they don't emphasize the blood as it should be. But when I speak of the seven truths about Christ's death tonight, I'm looking at his death from the standpoint of the shedding of blood. I believe that he had to die in a way in which his blood would be shed, because that's the plain teaching of the Word of God. So I want you to understand tonight, every time I speak about the death of Christ, that I'm talking about, and including in that the shedding of his precious and powerful blood. That's a necessity according to the Word of God. And having said that, I want us to look now at seven things concerning the death of Christ, or seven great truths concerning the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. When you look in the Bible, you'll find that one of the things that the Bible says about the death of Christ is the death of Christ is referred to as an atonement. An atonement. In other words, as a covering for sin. Now, atonement is basically, for the most part, an Old Testament word used over 70 times in the Old Testament. I don't have the exact count, but I know that it's used over 70 times. In Numbers chapter 28 and verse 22, there's an example. And it's talking about offerings here. It's talking about one goat being offered up. It said, one goat for a sin offering to make an atonement for you. And you could go and look in the Old Testament and you'd find where there was an animal offered up, the shedding of blood, for an atonement. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ's death is referred to as an atonement, and the Old Testament sacrifices, pictured, the shed blood of Jesus Christ for an atonement, are covering for sin. And that's the first thing I want us to get. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, which includes the shedding of His blood, is referred to in the Scripture by the Holy Spirit. God says to us it is an atonement. All right? And I want us to understand that because That's very important. If it hadn't been important, the Holy Spirit wouldn't have put it in there. And it's one of the things that God wants us to know. It's one of the things that God wants us to be aware of. It's one of the things that God wants us to store up in our heart. All right? Now, the second thing about the death of Christ tonight I'm going to share with you is that, according to the Scripture, the death of Christ is also called a substitutionary death. A substitutionary death. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ died as a substitute. for lost sinners. To me, these truths are very precious. Romans, chapter 5, and we'll look at verses 6 and 8. Romans, chapter 5, verses 6 and 8. We'll look over there and read those scriptures. We'll begin at verse 6. Romans, chapter 5, verses 6 and 8. It says, For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Don't you see that? Christ died for. He died in the place of the ungodly, as a substitute for the ungodly. And then, of course, in verse 8, he says, But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Now, these aren't the only two verses in the Bible where we'll be told that the Lord Jesus Christ didn't die for Himself. He died for us. He took our place. He was a substitute for you and for me. And so, as we've looked at the first thing I want you to get tonight about the death of Christ, it was said to be for an atonement for our sins. And also, in the Scriptures that we've just read, in Romans 5, 6, and 8, it says that Christ died as a substitute for you and me. In other words, He stepped in and took our place and took what rightly would have been ours. And to me, this is very precious to my heart. Also, that the Lord Jesus Christ would do such a thing as that certainly changed everything for me, not only in my life, but for all eternity. And I praise God for that great truth concerning the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some people don't think the death of Christ was something that would be acceptable because they picture somebody dying for somebody else's sins and somebody forgiving the other person because that person died in their place. But when it comes to the Bible, it comes to God. That's exactly what God said. God sent His Son into the world for the purpose not of dying for His own sins. Everything He went through, including His death and the shedding of His blood, was for your sins and for mine, so that He might redeem us. Now, I don't understand, you know, the greatness of what He did. I'll admit, I understand something of what He did, but I don't understand the greatness of what He did, you see, because only God knows to the fullest extent what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us. But I do grasp enough of it that it's a blessing to my heart. I do grasp enough of it that it causes me to be grateful to Him and to thank Him so much for taking my place. And it just seems sometimes I'm so small and so insignificant and to think that the God who created the universe would go to this much trouble in order to save my soul, that He would send His Son, and that that Son would willingly come and die for me on the cross and bear the judgment of God in my place for sin. To me, it's just, I can't get hold of that, folks. I know it's true, and I know it's true, and I certainly believe in it, and I certainly trust in Jesus Christ, but it remains a great truth for me today. That's just beyond my grasp. There are some things that I believe, some things that I accept, that I do not fully understand, both in the natural realm and in the spiritual realm. But this is one of them when we come to the death of Christ. So, first of all, the Bible speaks of the death of Christ as an atonement for sin. Now we've seen that the Bible speaks of the death of Christ as a substitutionary death, Him taking the place of lost sinners. And next, I want you to consider the death of Christ that is spoken of as a propitiation, a propitiation in God's Word. Now, 1 John, chapter 2 and verse 2, the Holy Spirit there tells us that thing about, that truth about the death of Christ. 1 John, chapter 2 and verse 2, it says, And he, speaking of Jesus Christ, is the propitiation for our sins. and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Now, that word perpetuation, when it speaks in reference to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, gives us all, or carries a thought with it, or emphasizes a fact that God was satisfied with the offering up of Christ himself. Satisfaction with Christ as the offering for sin. In other words, it's another way of the Holy Spirit assuring us as believers that we can rest with complete confidence in the One that we trusted in. Because when He offered Himself up in our behalf, in our stead, and we trusted Him as our Lord and Savior, we need never question whether or not His offering, His sacrifice, was sufficient. Because when the Holy Spirit uses the word propitiation in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2, it carries with it the idea that God was satisfied with the offering of the Lord Jesus Christ in our behalf. And so since He was satisfied with Him, it means that He met all the requirements for you and for me. You know, sometimes I'm aware of the fact, I believe that Christians are more concerned about eternity than lost people are. Most lost people are not that concerned about eternity. But I believe that Christians are very concerned about eternity. And you know, the devil came to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, if you be the Son of God, do this and so and so. We're not getting into that tonight. But if he comes to Him, and if he came to Him and said, If thou be the Son of God, he knew who he was. But the devil is a questioner. Because, dear people, to question something, if you can question something and get somebody doubting it, then you make a crack in their defense. And you can cause them some problems. And so the devil, likewise, comes to me, and I'm sure he comes to you too, and he says, now what if, you know, what if Christ is not able to do what the Bible says? What if? And the Lord says here in I John 2, verse 2, he's a propitiation for our sins, which means that his offering for sin was acceptable and God was satisfied with it. And that's the way the Lord would have us to answer the devil when he comes to talk to us and question our salvation and what it rests upon. And if you rest upon the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're not immune. The devil can't ever get your soul. If you're saved, you're saved. But if he can keep you so confused and uncertain about whether or not you are saved, then he certainly will keep you from being very much for the Lord, because you're going to be all the time circling that tree. And you can never do anything for God. As I say, circling that tree, it'll keep you like, and I think I've told some of you this, my uncle and aunt years ago, and you know, my uncle got to the place to where he had diabetes and he couldn't see too well, so my aunt did all the driving. And she was sometimes kind of a wild driver, and so they got this traffic circle in Alexandria, and you know how that traffic circle is. And she got on that traffic circle, and she went around that thing I don't know how many times, just going round and round. But she was getting nowhere fast. I mean, they were riding high, but going nowhere. They got to Alexandria, but that's as far as they got, and they were still circling. And so after a while, my uncle just calls her by name and says, Well, take a road somewhere and get off of this thing. We are not doing anything but just running around and around this thing. And thinking about what the devil can do to a Christian is, if he can get you circling, like my aunt was circling that traffic circle, you are never going anywhere but on that traffic circle. And you're always running around trying to deal with the matter. Well, am I sure I'm saved? I mean, has the Lord really saved me? Have I done what the Lord said? And I don't know, and I don't feel. Well, let me tell you, dear people, tonight, I want to just make this very plain to you. One of the worst and cruelest things the devil's ever done to Christians is make them base their salvation on the feeling. You base your salvation on the fact that you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation. Christianity is a religion of faith. And faith and feeling are two different things. There's a lot of folks that have felt, and I in my life have felt sometimes, you know, that certain things were true only to find out they weren't true. You see? And so feelings, they're not acceptable as assurance. But the Word of God is acceptable for assurance. And you'll find that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself emphasized to us on the Mount of Temptation that the Word of God was what we've got to build on and what we've got to stand on in everything in life. If you don't, of course, you never get anywhere. Never get anywhere at all. Now, so we've looked at the death of Christ as being an atonement. We've looked at the death of Christ, of course, as being substitutionary. Now we've looked at the death of Christ as being a propitiation, the Bible says. And the Holy Spirit, of course, through the Bible, says to us as Christians tonight. So let's look at the fourth thing that the Bible says about the death of Christ. It says that by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner is said to have been redeemed or purchased. That's what the Bible says. Now, O brother Peter, the Holy Spirit through O brother Peter over in I Peter, Chapter 1, verses 18 and 19. If you can't keep up with me, you can jot it down and read it later if you'd like to. 1 Peter 1, verses 18 and 19. Here the Holy Spirit says to you and to me, anybody who wants to read it, it says, For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. So the Bible says the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the shedding of his precious blood, has redeemed us, redeemed us from the slave market of sin. That's where God found me, you know. God found me grinding at the devil's mill. That's right. Grinding at the devil's mill. And if the Lord had not come seeking me, and the Lord came seeking me, there's no question about that. then I would still be lost. And I sometimes sit around the house and try to think every once in a while. You know, it's good when you get old to keep thinking. I try to think just to stay in practice. I try to think, you know, just to be sure that I can do it like some other people can. And I think, where would you be if you hadn't been saved by the grace of God? And you know, Brother Charles, I don't know where I would have been. I don't know what I would have been doing at this age now. I don't even know if I'd still be alive at this age. What could I have turned out to be? Well, the possibilities are staggering what I could have turned out to be. There's no question tonight. There's no question whatsoever. The Lord made such a difference in my life. So I could stand here by the grace of God and say, well, most all of my life, the greater portion of it, has been used in the service of my God. And you know, I said to the Lord the other night in prayer, I said, you know, dear God, you saved my soul. And not only that, but you called me to preach. And you know, if you didn't give me any rewards whatsoever one day, that would be all right with me. You save me and you let me preach for you. You call me to preach and let me hold that office. Well, I couldn't ask any more than that. But you're going to reward me one day according to my service for you, and I appreciate that, and I don't ever want God think that I'm trying to put anything down that He has said He's going to do. I don't want to be arrogant in my trying to tell Him how much I appreciate Him, but I appreciate what the Lord did for me. Oh, listen, dear people, He not only saved my soul, but He saved my life. Nobody will ever come to me and say, now I want to show you what would have happened to you if God had not saved you. I want you to see what would have happened to you. I don't ever want to see that. I wouldn't care to see that. If somebody said, this is the way it would have gone, I'm not interested in that because that's a waste of my time. But I'm so grateful tonight that God saved my soul. I'm so grateful that I've logged in so many years in the service of the Lord. Now, I just wish, you know, that they had been more perfect or better or more faithful to Him. I guess every Christian, I've never read behind a preacher, old preacher, men of renown that didn't have some regrets also, because if you're really saved by the grace of God, you're never what you'd like to be. You never reach perfection. You never get to the place to where you can say, I've finally arrived. And I guess that's one of the glories of being called home to be with the Lord. There's a sort of a negative side to dying, and there's a positive side to dying. And I guess one of the positive things about dying is that if you're a real born-again Christian and you don't really like sin against your God and you'd like to live above sin, that you can say, well, there's one of the things that I won't do anymore. I'll not draw my last breath. I'll never know what it means to stand against my God anymore. I'll never know what it means to feel guilty or be guilty of breaking His law, of displeasing Him. I'll never know what it means to be guilty of grieving the Holy Spirit. You know, I don't know how it is to live like that because I'm a human being. And every human being you know knows that they, and this is true of Christians for sure, knows that they don't live perfectly. And it doesn't make you feel good. And you don't enjoy that. I mean, it doesn't brighten your world. And I'm glad that the Lord said, when we sin as Christians, we confess that sin. He'll forgive us because that helps to lighten the load when you're living in this old fleshly body in this world. How many times has that refreshed me? All right. So that we've been redeemed, we've been purchased, and not with silver and not with gold, but with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the fourth thing about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit wants us to know. Then the fifth thing is that Jesus Christ, by His crucifixion and death, of course, has also purchased reconciliation to God. The word reconcile means, you know, to make peace. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 10, Listen, it says, for if, when we were enemies, and you know, dear people, that's a sad thing to know. And it's not with a lost world, let me say that. that this letter was written to Christian people. This letter to the Romans was written to the New Testament church in Rome. These people had been lost one time, just like you and I that are saved had been lost one time, and now they were saved. So they know what it means. They know what it means to be lost, and they know what it means to be saved. And he said, he said, if when we were enemies, and I'm sure that when they thought, said, you know, I was God's enemy. Well, can you imagine being God's enemy? What kind of a fool would want to be God's enemy? How great he is. Well, I wouldn't want to be God's enemy. I'm going to tell you something right now. I fear God. I'm saved. He's my Heavenly Father. But I have a holy fear of God. Paul says to these people in Rome, he said, if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. In other words, what I want you to notice in this verse at this time is we've been reconciled to God. In other words, the enmity between us is gone, and peace reigns between God and the believing sinner. Now, I'm no longer the enemy of God. Instead, I'm the son of God. I'm the child of God. Boy, that's a big change. You know, there's a big difference between being somebody's enemy and being their child. I've got some daughters and grandsons and so forth. And, you know, I don't look at them as enemies. There's a great deal of difference. I've got some enemies. And I look at my enemies and I look at my And their enemy is because of the stand they take, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not their enemy. I don't set out to be their enemy. But I think differently about my children than I do my enemies, Brother Jones. And I'm glad the Lord does that, too. I've been reconciled to God. The Lord Jesus Christ, through His death and the shedding of His precious blood, has made peace. between me and God. And I tell you, God didn't have any problems, but I sure did. I had some big problems. The Lord didn't have any problems. You know, God doesn't have problems, folks. You and I have problems. When you're God, you don't have problems. But boy, if you're an enemy of God, you've got a big, big problem. Somebody that controls your life, somebody that controls your health, somebody that controls everything going on, everything that you will ever see, this side of eternity and the other side too, Well, you don't want to be at enmity with Him. You want peace. But you see, dear people, you don't have that peace until you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. And I'm not just talking about making a profession. I mean doing it with all your heart. And you know well what I'm talking about when I say do it with all your heart. I mean, not trying to, you know, pull any of these little fancy things that I've seen people do before when they made professions of faith. You know, get your name on the church roll, go through the ritual of baptism so they can go on back to being what they want to. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about that life-changing kind of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you're never the same. You see, you're never the same. You know you're never the same. Your mind, you have a different mindset than you had before. And so the Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, He purchased reconciliation for us. I have peace with God. There's peace in the valley. There's, you know, peace in the valley between me and the Lord. And I was the one that needed that peace in such a desperate way. And the Lord said, okay, I'll take care of that. Isn't that wonderful that God, He's the only one that could. He's the only one that could do it. And He was willing to do it. And I tell you what, I was thinking of that old leper that's coming up in our Sunday School lesson for next week. And he said to the Lord, he said, if you can, if you, I mean, if you will, you can heal me of this leprosy. And the Lord said, you know, we only just reached out there and healed him. And you know what? There are people, if you want the Lord to save you, He can, and He's willing to save you. If you trust Him, He'll save you. Trust Him as your Lord and your Savior, He'll save you. That's a promise from God's Word. That's, it's in writing. And he says that many, many times in the Bible, not to mislead you, not to give you a false hope, not to make you depend on him and then jerk the stool out from under and let you fall. I'll tell a story. One time of a daddy that was playing with his little boy and said, he said to the little boy, he told somebody, he said, watch me. And he put the little boy up on a stool and he said, here son, jump in daddy's arms. And the little boy, of course, Just hauled off and jumped his arm just before he got there. He just jerked his arms out of the way and he hit the floor. The fellow said, Well, what in the world are you doing? Said, You told that boy to jump. And said, You moved your arms. Don't you know that he won't trust you? He said, I'm teaching him never to trust people. People are his enemy. Now, God's not doing that. He didn't hold out his arms to you. And say, he'll save you and keep you saved and jerk him back sometimes and let you hit the ground and disappoint you. He'll do what he says. You can jump. On the other hand, dear people, many times, not in any dangerous way, I've said to my girls and everyone, I'd say, now, you just come on ahead and jump in Daddy's arms. And we were close where they wouldn't get hurt because, you know, I didn't want my girls to fall and I'd hit their head. And I felt like they might have enough problems back there, you know, coming with the bloodline they did. that they will protect that head, you see. So I'd say, of course, I'm kidding there, but I'd say, jump, girls, and I'd catch them every time. And you know, after I did that for a while, they trust me. They just, Daddy's going to catch me. When Daddy says, jump, Daddy's going to be there. I mean, I can jump with complete confidence in Dad. And I never drop one of them yet, and I never jerk my arms back. Well, I can completely trust the Lord when He says He'll save me, if I trust the Lord Jesus Christ. that Jesus Christ should take him up. I can trust him. Now, there may be a lot of things I don't know about tonight, but my salvation is not one of those things. That's settled. Listen, that old song, I don't know who holds tomorrow. I don't know about tomorrow, but I know who holds my hand. Let me get it right there. It's true. I know. There are some things there. That's one thing I know for sure. That's one thing I know for sure, is that the Lord saved me. All right? As we go to the sixth thing tonight about the death of Christ, God says that Jesus Christ, by His death, ransomed us. And that word ransom there means just what we think the word ransom means. In Matthew chapter 20 and verse 28, let's listen to what the Holy Spirit says. And you keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is telling us about what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. Matthew 20 and 28, it says here, Even as the Son of Man, that's the Lord Jesus Christ, came not to be minister unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." To give his life a ransom for many. Ransom. In other words, dear people, he ransomed you. The ransom price was too high for me to pay. The ransom price was too high for you to pay. That's why Jesus had to come. He could not ransom me from sin. unless he came and did it himself. There wasn't anybody in heaven who could do it, because angels were created beings. Only God could meet God's requirement, and God was willing to do it. And so the second person of the Godhead, the Lord Jesus Christ was the one who willingly came. And now the Lord tells us. He's telling us all these scriptures. We've read six scriptures tonight. We've talked about six themes about the death of Christ. You know why that's in the Bible? Because the Holy Spirit wanted us to know that. He wanted us to know that. He wanted us to rest upon that. He wanted that to comfort our hearts. He wanted that to bless us. And He also wants all sinners to know that if He trusts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, all these scriptures are His in a very personal way. All right, now let's look at the seventh thing tonight about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, by His death and through His shed blood, washed us from our sin and cleansed us. That's something that the death and shed blood of Christ did. And of course, this is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible, in Revelation 1, verse 5. And it says there, from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own, let me get that, in his own blood. Loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Revelation 1 and 5. The seventh thing about the blood of Christ tonight that I wanted to point out to us tonight. Washed in his blood. Now I'll tell you, dear people, tonight, When the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin, you are clean. You can be sure that your record is clean. And that is our standing before God tonight. That is why I was yesterday, I am today, and will be throughout eternity a child of God, because I have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins on the cross, and what He did has been applied to my account. I have imputed righteousness. In other words, I didn't have any myself, so he put his on there for me. And I go to heaven, not because I'm righteous, but because I have the righteousness of Christ. And He is my righteousness. Well, that's wonderful tonight. I've had folks say, well, Preacher, you don't know how bad I've been. Man, you don't have any idea, Preacher, how bad I've been. I'll have to get better to be saved. And when I get better and I quit some of these things, then I'll come to church and I'll be saved. I've talked to people. They don't understand. Boy, when I talk to them about being saved, I'm talking to them about being washed in the blood of the Lamb. When I'm talking about being washed in the blood of the Lamb, they don't have a sin that just the blood of the Lamb can't cleanse. I mean, God can save them. And they don't understand that. They're blind. And that's a sad situation when you've got somebody who's lost with a mistaken idea in spite of the fact that you explain it to him so carefully. And yet they'll say, well, preacher, I mean, the Lord, you mean to tell me that if I turn to the Lord and trust Jesus Christ as my Lord and say that all my sins will be forgiven, you realize what I've done? You've never been as bad as I am. No, but I've been washed in the blood of the Lamb. And I know in the Bible some characters in there are pretty bad fellows, and they've washed in the blood of the Lamb. I know a man who wrote most of the New Testament, and he just hunted Christians down and had them jailed and voted for them to be put to death. And his name was Saul at that time, and he was saved by the grace of God. And, boy, the Lord used him mightily. The Lord can save. The Lord can cleanse. He can clear the record. He can clear the record. If you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, He does clear the record. Oh, I know sometimes, you know, We look back in our life and we say, I wish I had done that even after you saved. I wish I had that to do over again. I guess every person that's ever lived has got something in their life they wish they could go back and do it again when you can't. But I'll tell you something better than that, that's trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and His blood will cleanse you from all sin. If you really and sincerely do that with all of your heart. That's wonderful tonight. He's talking about a clean slate. That's the only way you can really get a clean slate in the way that it matters. is by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. And all these things that I have said tonight will apply to you. What did I say? The Scripture refers to the death of Christ as an atonement for sin. The death of Christ is also called a substitutionary death. The death of Christ is also spoken of as a propitiation in God's Word. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is said to have redeemed us. And the death of the Lord Jesus Christ has purchased reconciliation for us. And the death of the Lord Jesus Christ has ransomed us. And the death of the Lord Jesus Christ is shedding His blood. Through that shed blood, He cleanses us from all sin. Seven things tonight. Seven is the number of completion. And I'm telling you tonight, when you can look at all those verses and say, That's mine, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine, that's mine. Then, folks, tonight you have complete confidence that the Lord has done the job. And the Lord has done the job well.