I bless you and thank you all for coming out. I tell you, I look forward to hearing Brother Doug preach and we had some good conversation the other day as I told you this morning. And I think that we might coach him into sing the song, if not tonight, maybe sometime, and found out that Anita can sing. So ladies, y'all need to be getting on to her. But one thing about it, around here it don't take too long to get you involved. And that's good, isn't it? Don't want you to forget about the Love Loud announcement in your bulletin. Anybody that's interested in signing up for that Love Loud Week then there's information there how to do that and also the free yard sale if you have anything that you want to put in the love loud yard sale then It's got the information on there about that as well But tomorrow evening at 530 is the meeting at First Baptist Belfry and that's open to anyone that wants to go Gets you free dinner And we'll be a special missionary there tomorrow night from a missionary to the Middle East. So looking forward to hearing him speak. But anyway, it's open to all that would like to go. But let's welcome Brother Doug Salyer to our pulpit tonight. Would you help me welcome him? He is a retired military man and self-employed and is a Bible student graduate from South Point, Ohio. And so we really look forward to hearing you, Brother Doug. I want to first of all thank the pastor and thank you all for this opportunity to be able to speak to you tonight about the unsearchable riches of God's grace. And I want to share something with you. Pastor Tim made some comments this morning in his sermon that really hit home with me when he talked about the cross shows who gets the glory. You think of that. The cross that God ordained from the foundation of the world because it said in Revelation that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. There was no other way, my friends. Because we don't serve just a holy God. Our God is holy, holy, holy. And oh, how often we soon forget that, don't we? But the cross shows who gets the glory. And Romans 11, 36 says, for of him, through him, and to him be all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. It's all about him tonight. Matter of fact, it'll be all about him tomorrow. I think the Kentucky Derby proved that, amen? Everybody was rooting for journalism, but sovereignty won. Amen? Come on now, the phone's ringing, pick it up. Amen? Folks, we serve an awesome God. We serve a great God. We serve a loving God. We serve a gracious God. But we serve a holy God. I told the pastor this morning, I said, I believe you was spying on me when I was doing my sermon notes because my message just builds on his message this morning about the cross and about the finished work of Christ. If you want to turn with me in Colossians chapter two and go ahead and mark your place there, By way of introduction, let me say to you this evening that Proverbs 18, 13 says, He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is a folly and a shame unto him. So I want you to hear me out before you prejudge this message. Let's give God the glory. And let me tell you what, if you get anything out of this tonight, You praise Him for it. All right? But if I say something you don't like or I mess up or I make a mistake, then you can hit me with a song book because it's my fault. But if the Lord touches your heart tonight and the Lord blesses you through and by His Word and through and by His Spirit, then you give Him the glory. For of Him, through Him, and to Him. are all things to whom be glory forever. We men are just mere vessels sent to execute and to fulfill the great commission and to proclaim the message of God's sovereign grace. That being said, you must understand, we are finite, but our God is infinite. We are frail and feeble, but our God is holy and perfect. We are but a servant, but he is the sovereign king and creator of the universe. So we as humans are going to make mistakes. Don't be too quick to judge until you've walked a mile in another man's shoes. I thank God for his grace. Brother, I know you do too. After hearing some of his stories in the military, Thank God for his grace. And I can look at my life now and I know that God has had his hand of protection on me. He's had a hedge up around me because he has brought me here tonight for such a time as this. Because it's about him. The sovereign creator. Well, church, I'm going to tell you something tonight. I've got good news and I've got bad news. I asked my wife, I said, what will they say? My wife says, well, I always want to hear the bad news first. So you know what? I'm going to go with what the boss says. So I'm going to give you the bad news. All right. Before I read the text, let me give you some of the bad news. We have churches all up and down our land and country filled with people who have no idea what salvation is really about. They think it's all about them. They think it's all about their good deeds, their works, their self-righteousness, everything that they do, and they have no idea the cost that it took. to reconcile man unto God. They think it's about them. Oh, that is so sad. That is so, so sad. I like what the pastor said this morning about Jesus being the perfect God-man. 100% God. When he was quoting you that passage out of Galatians 3, all right, 100% God. born of a woman, made under the law so that he might redeem us. Amen? Folks, there's a penalty for sin. There's a price that has to be paid. Jesus was the perfect God, man. Now, I don't want to get too technical because my wife gets on to me when I do this, all right? It's called the hypostatic union. 100% God. But at the same time, 100% man. He was the perfect God man. The only one qualified. The only one. You know, Jesus said of all men born of women, there's none greater than who? John the Baptist. But John the Baptist wasn't even qualified. Jesus, 100% man, 100% God. fully qualified. The book of Hebrews says, for such a high priest has become us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, Oh, my friend, the perfect God, man, 100% man, 100% God. Can you just see a 12-year-old Jesus coming into Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph, and he gets kind of sidetracked, gets pulled off, and he starts ministering to the Pharisees and the lawyers? Now, I'm not, this ain't Bible, but I could just see this happening. Somebody come up to him and say, young man, how old are you? Well, on my mother's side, I'm 12. But on my daddy's side, I'm everlasting. before Abraham was, I am. Woo! Thank the light. All right. Jesus, are you thirsty? Amen. On my mother's side, I thirst. But on my daddy's side, I am the living water. Amen. Once you drink that, you'll never thirst again. Amen. Are you hungry? On my mother's side, I hunger. But on my daddy's side, I am the bread of life that cometh down. Think about it. That's the God we serve tonight. We don't serve some meek, mild, lowly Jesus who was a victim at the cross. No, my friend, we serve the sovereign king of the universe that inked himself and being found fashion as a man came for us. He came for us. to abuse that. I don't want to try to add to it and I definitely don't want to try to take away from it. I just want to embrace it and say, thank you, Jesus. Thank you for what you've done. Thank you. Before I read your text, let me tell you that there is a word in your Bible It is in your Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. It is 2098. It is found 76 times in your New Testament. And it is the word gospel. Gospel. And in the Greek, it is pronounced euangelion. That's beautiful, ain't it? It's beautiful if you believe. But the bad news is there's so many people that don't believe. And do you know why they don't believe the good news? Because nobody has ever told them the bad news. And that's what I'm going to tell you first tonight. The bad news. Because in order for the gospel to be sweet and precious and beautiful to you, It's got to be good for some reason, right? But you've got to be made to know the bad news. And that you just keep in mind, our God is like holy, holy, holy. You see, he can't, like the pastor said this morning, he can't just brush sin aside. He can't sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. dealt with in order for God to maintain His holiness. If God just turned a blind eye to sin, He would not be holy. Our Bible would be a lie, our faith would be in vain, and everything we believe would be false. But we know that's not the case. Because His Spirit bears witness with our spirits so that we know we are the sons of God. We know because I'm not your teacher. The Holy Spirit is your teacher. He will lead. Be like the Bereans. Don't just take my word for it and say, boy, you know, he's spot on. No. receive the word with joy, go home, search the scriptures, and see if the things that I say are true. Be more noble than those at Thessalonica. Be like the Bereans. You and Gilead, they don't know the good news because they've never been made to know the bad news. Well, let's read our text, and then I've got some bad, bad news to tell you. Let's all stand tonight in Colossians chapter 2. We are going to read quite a bit, but I'm not going to preach on all of it, I promise. All right. Colossians chapter 2, verse number 1. The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Colossae, for I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love. And unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, for though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit. joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." Verse 8, here's a warning. Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him, who's the him, church? Jesus Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. and being dead in your sins, at the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him. Oh, I love this next part. Having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink. or in respect of holiday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. You may be seated. Let's pray tonight, church. Our good and gracious God, Lord, we thank you for this word. That is God-breathed, inspired. Every word of it, Lord. And it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for instruction and correction. God, we thank you for that. And Lord, we thank you for your spirit in this fine church and these people, Lord, that have come out tonight to hear your word. Now, God, I ask you tonight to touch my heart, my body and my mind. Empty me tonight, Lord, of myself. Lord, that I may expound upon this text and magnify and honor Jesus Christ. And God, we give you the praise and the honor and the glory in Jesus' name. And amen. One of my professors at Tri-State Bible College said the wonderful book of Colossians is probably the most Christ-centered of all of Paul's letters. You've got so much in here about Jesus, about the preeminence of Christ. It says in this text, my friend, what Jesus done, but the problem is, is there's so many people that don't fully understand why he had to do it. I've been there. I've done that, got the t-shirt as a little boy in church, told the pastor my testimony. 11 years old, went through than the cow that jumped over the moon. Y'all got Humpty Dumpty the other night. Tonight you get the cow that jumped over the moon, amen. But I thank God that when I was 28 years old in the desert, God sent a man my way. I've heard people use that phrase all the time, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I believe that 100%. But there's more to that text than that. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how can they call in whom they've not believed? And how can they believe in whom they've not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can he preach unless he be sent? Well, in my fullness of times, God sent me a preacher. And he told me the truth. And I didn't like it, Pastor. I was a good boy. I grew up in a good Christian home. My daddy was a pastor of a church. I knew the scriptures. I'd studied them my whole life. But oh no, it was more than that. Because I had never been told who I really really was. If you want to turn with me, keep your place marked in Colossians, because we're going to go back and exegete three main points in that text I read to you that I want to read to you from Romans chapter 3. So if you want to turn with me over to Romans chapter 3, let's read what the Apostle Paul said about our situation. And this is both to the Jews and to the Gentiles. Can I share something with you tonight? Romans chapter one, Paul gives the evidence against all mankind just by mere creation itself. He said they're without excuse. Romans chapter 2, Paul gives a condemnation of all mankind just by the mere conscience, whether accusing or excusing one another. And in Romans chapter 3, Paul sums it up. Not only with the law, but he lets us know, because every man, are you ready for this? How does a bird know to fly south in the winter? Evolution? No, it's called innate nature that God put in that animal. Amen? How do turtles know to swim back to the exact same beach every year to lay their eggs? Evolution? No, it's called innate nature. You see, I can't buy that evolution stuff. Once I was a tadpole short and thin, then I was a bullfrog with my tail tucked in. Then I was a monkey swinging from a tree. Now I'm a professor with a PhD. I can't buy that monkey tail. Well, I'm going to tell you something tonight. Every human being on the planet knows moral right and wrong. They know these things. Do you know why? Because God has given it to them. It's innate nature in us. We know. And you know what? You know who we got it from? I'm going to tell you who we got it from. We got it from old Adam. Amen? Because Adam knew it. As soon as the fall took place, Adam knew it. He goes, uh oh, what have I done? I'm going to beat up on you men tonight. My wife will like this one. You know, when Adam got confronted with the whole situation, who did he blame? That woman. No, he didn't. He blamed God for giving him the woman. Come on now. Hey, Lord, it was the woman that you gave me. So who was Adam really blaming? blaming God. You think of that. But now I'm going to beat up on you women. God never told Eve not to eat of the tree. He told the federal head, Adam. He put him in the garden. Adam named the animals. And then God saw that it was not good for man to be alone. And made him a helpmate. And he said, I'll call her Eve, woman. bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, and what God hath joined together, amen, let no man put asunder." Jesus even re-quoted that in the Gospels. He said, God made male and female and joined them together, and what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. So where did Eve get her information from? Because old Satan come to Eve as the tempter the serpent, and he said, have God said. Well, you know the first thing that went through Eve's mind probably was, you know what, I never did hear God tell me that. I got that from old Adam. So what was Satan trying to do? Destroy the family. And that's been his ploy ever since. Because I'm going to tell you something, church. If Satan can destroy the family, he can destroy the church. You see, God only ordained four authorities on the planet. And all power, Romans 14, all authority and all power comes from who? comes from the sovereign Creator. He ordained it. God told Daniel over there, He said, I'm the one that raises up kings and I put them down. I establish kingdoms and I overthrow them. I will do all my pleasure and none can stay my hand or say unto me, but doest God ordained four authorities, my friend, and we worship by proxy. We obey God by proxy. When we are obedient to those four authorities that God ordained, we are honoring and worshiping and glorifying the sovereign king. You say, what are those four authorities, Brother Doug? Number one, the family. Husbands over wives, parents over children. You think it's cute when your grandbaby back talks to you or tells their mommy or daddy to shut up? They're in defiance of Almighty God. And so are you if you don't correct them. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Amen. Now that'll preach. No matter what church you're in. God also ordained the authority of civil government. We have that authority, civil government. We are to pray for the rulers of our land. We're not to disrespect them. You may not agree with them. You may not agree with them at all. I want you to imagine a man. I don't know exactly how old he was, but he's probably, I'd say in his teenage years. He's got. Three of his Jewish friends. And they get carried away in 586 BC. They get carried away into Babylon captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. And accordance with the prophecies, they know they're going to be there. How long? 70 years. And you ever notice in this book of Daniel, every time O Daniel was called in there to O Neb, you know what Daniel said? Oh, hell can't live forever. The proper respect for the proper authority, because God is the man who ordained that man and put him in power. And if you read Daniel chapter four, you'll see that after God used Nebuchadnezzar in his wicked years to chastise Judah, God saved him. Amen. God, I believe I'll see old Nebuchadnezzar in glory. I know I will. Because He confessed Him, He believed. And when mine understanding returned unto me, I blessed the Most High, who reigneth and ruleth forever and ever, whose kingdom is everlasting, whose dominion is forever. And He doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou? That's Nebuchadnezzar's testimony. And Daniel 434, God ordained civil government. But you know what God also ordained? He ordained the authority of the local, hmm, some of y'all might not like this. That's the good thing about visiting preacher, new broom sweeps clean every time. If y'all don't like me, you just don't have me back. God ordained the authority of the local church. Elders. Posture. That's the New Testament system, my friend. That is it. And Paul said, no you're not. That you're going to govern, rule angels? Why are you squabbling amongst yourself over these little things? You're saints of God. One day, you're going to rule and govern over angels. Wow. I would want to take my case to a civil court. and have a lost man decide my fate. If I have a disagreement with a brother in the church, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to bring it. First, I'm going to go to him. We can't make it right. Then by the mouth of two or three witnesses, I'll take a couple of witnesses with me. And I'll go to him and I'll say, look, brother, you've offended me. This is what's going on. You say, I don't like that preacher. Well, then you don't like what Jesus commanded us to do. He commanded, this is the way we're to handle it. And then if he still won't hear you, you know what I'm going to do then? I'm going to take it to the local church. I'm going to take it to my elders and my pastor. And I'm going to say, this is what's going on by the mouth of two or three witnesses. And you know what? They're going to come in, they're going to hear it, and they're going to decide. And I'm okay with that, brother. I'm okay with that. Because there's a text in Matthew that Jesus uses, and he's talking about church discipline, and in that same text, he says, whether two or three are gathered together, agreeing on any one thing, boom! That's church discipline. People say, well, that's revival, you know, we pray, God's everywhere. He said that David said, if I make my bed in hell, God is there. No, that's in the context of that passage. It's dealing with church discipline. What's bound on earth will be bound in heaven. What's loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven. Amen. Read your Bible. Context is the key. Do we have any realtors in here? Anybody dabble in real estate? What's the key word? What's the key rule in real estate? Three of them. Very important. Location, location, location. Well, what is it in hermeneutics? In basic Bible interpretation? Context, context, context. Oh my. This is where we are, Romans 3. Let's read this right quick. Verse 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. Verse 12, they all have gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of Asp is under their lips. Verse 14, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery is in their ways. In the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. You see, when Adam fell, we fell. And whereby one man's sin, death, entered into the world and death was passed upon all men. say also in Romans, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That word is the study of sin is harmoniology. And the word picture for sin there in the Greek is a man. The Greek word picture is a man that shoots a bow and arrow at the target. of his might, and he releases that arrow. And that arrow comes to the target, and every time, that arrow falls short. He continues to try again, and again, and again, and again, but he always, always misses the mark. That's what it means to miss the mark. What? is the mark to be right with God. Complete holiness. Complete righteousness. Complete glory. And all have sinned! Phew! Armatea missed the mark and come short! fell short your efforts, your deeds, your self-righteousness, all of your good works, Isaiah says, in the eyes of God are but filthy rags. You have missed the mark. You have fell short because you inherited that sin nature from Adam, the federal head for all mankind. That's the bad news. That's the bad news. And God's got to deal with that. He can't just say, okay, and don't take this the wrong way. Don't be offended by my language here, but God just, they're ignorant. One time God linked that ignorance, but now he has commanded all men to repent. So Brother Doug, I'm really not that bad now. I go to church every Sunday. I give to the poor. I tithe. I do what's right. I don't take the Lord's name in vain. I don't do any of these things. I keep the Sabbath. You got a problem right there. Because Christ is our Sabbath. Amen? And if you really keep the Sabbath, it would be from Friday evening until Saturday evening. Amen? I thank God we're not under the law. I thank God that we're not required to maintain every little thing of the moral law. Because can I just tell you a secret? Now you can look this up too. There ain't just ten. There's ten main ones. And there's a reason there's ten. Maybe if y'all have me back, maybe I'll tell you about it. There are 635 commandments in the Old Testament. Moral law. You say, well, what about the New Testament, Brother Doug? Is there any commandments in there? Well, isn't an imperative a commandment? An imperative is an order to do something. There's 1,050 in the New Testament. But you know what Paul says in Galatians? If you broke one, you're guilty of it all. It's a unit. It goes together. And like the pastor told you this morning, it flows from the holy nature of God. Paul even tells us in Romans that his law is holy. God don't make mistakes. God does everything for a reason. He has a purpose behind everything. His ways are far above our ways, amen? And who are we to question Him? I've already quoted you that verse in Romans, and wherefore, by one man's sin, death entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death was passed upon all men, for all have sinned, all have missed the mark. There's none righteous, my friend. None of us. And you know what? I thank God tonight that I'm saved by grace, but I'm going to tell you something, I'm a sinner saved by grace. I haven't reached my final destination yet. I haven't reached glorification, which is sinless perfection. I hear these people say, you know what? I just, I thank the Lord. He saved me from a devil's hell. Can I just share something with you? I thank the Lord He saved me from sin. That's what I'm thankful for. He changed my want to. Amen. He changed my desires. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are becoming anew. A perfect present tense in the Greek. That means once it starts, it All things are becoming anew. How many of you are married here tonight? Raise your hand. Let me ask you just a question, and please don't answer audibly. Your wife might smack you. All right? Do you love your wife more now than you did when you first put that ring on her finger? You better answer yes. Why? He said, well, preacher, I've got to know her so much better. I've got to cherish her and love her and appreciate her. Yeah, we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. I hate the days when we're both off work and she gives me the honey-do list. And I hate when she corrects me when I'm wrong. But, oh, preacher, I love her. I love her so much more now than I did when we first got married. Could you say the same thing about the Lord? Can't you tonight? You better be able to, my friend. Because if there's no growth there, if there's no increase in that love, in that passion, it'll be evident by your fruit, but you better need to check your root. Amen. Come on now. I love you tonight. I love each and every one of you. And I want you to know that your goodness ain't gonna Let's go back over into Colossians now. We've seen the bad news. You know, Martin Luther wrote. He didn't actually write it. Someone else wrote it. But he talked about this concept, this precept around 1529, 1530. He called it the unholy trinity. The unholy trinity. He said these three things right here is the enemy against God and against all And the unholy trinity is sin, death, and the devil. Sin, death, and the devil. But let me show you what the Lord done through the work of the cross. Back in Colossians chapter number two. I want to go back to verse nine and I want to talk to you about in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Isn't that amazing? The Bible said it pleased the Father, that in Him should all the fullness dwell. Philip said, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus said, Philip, have you been with me this long that you do not know? If you've seen me, you have seen the Father, because I and my Father are one. the hypostatic union, the perfect God man. Verse nine, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and ye are complete in him. I love that. We're complete in him. If we're in Christ, we're complete. The law has been fulfilled. Righteousness has been imputed. Now I don't work to be saved. I don't work to stay saved. I work because I am saved. Amen. This is the way God designed it. Because we can't cut it. You see, he lived a life that we should have lived. And he died the death. that we should have died. And now God, by His amazing grace, has imputed that righteousness of His only begotten Son unto my account. Oh, I love it. You think of that. Verse 11, in whom you are circumcised, with the circumcision made without hands. This is not the circumcision of the covenant of Abraham. This is a, that circumcision was a physical circumcision to picture what God would do in the new covenant. What do you say he's going to do? So I'm going to take out that old stony heart of flesh. And I will put in you a new heart of flesh. And I will write my laws upon your heart. And I will cause you to walk in my ways. And I do this not for you, but I do this for my holy namesake. Who's his namesake? nor the name given among men, whereby they must be saved. And that name is Jesus. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, every tongue shall confess of things in earth, of things below the earth, that he is Lord to the glory. of God the Father. That's the Father's namesake. His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, in whom you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands and putting off the bodies of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Number one, by the work of the cross, Christ defeated sin. Right here. He defeated sin. He said, well, how in the world did he do that, Brother Doug? 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Let me tell you what. If you love people and you want to get people saved, memorize that verse. Memorize that verse, carry it in your pocket until you do get it memorized. And be able to walk around and tell people, for He, who's the He, God the Father, hath made Him, who's the Him, God the Son. had made Him to be sin for us. The doctrine of imputation. God the Father imputed sin upon His Son. No, His Son did not become a sinner. It was charged to His account. He was still holy, harmless, and undefiled. And then the Father poured out His full measure of wrath upon His only Son. I was telling the pastor on the phone the other day, I said, the Lord has got me going. I said, I know Easter's over, but my goodness, because he lives, I live too. I want to know more and more about my Jesus. Amen. Now I was reading and studying the synopsis of the gospels and going over in John and reading and studying this. And I noticed how Matthew, Mark, and Luke talked about darkness for the space of three hours. from 12 noon till 3 p.m. Matthew said it was dark over the land. Who's Matthew writing to? The Jews. The Jewish people. They don't care about nobody else. They proved that. They don't care about nobody else. So he said over the land. Mark says there was darkness over the entire Land. Now Mark is writing to the Romans, who had what? Who had control. Who had control of the government system, the roadway, the financial system, everything. They had power and control of that. Well, that hit home with the Romans over the entire land. That's everything we control, my goodness. But Luke, who wrote to the Greeks, The intellectual Greeks, because John wrote to the normal Gentile, the common day Eastern Kentucky hillbilly, amen? A gospel so pure and so simple that a five-year-old could get down in it and wallow around in it and not worry about drowning. But at the same time, an elephant can take a bath in it. That's how glorious John is. But Luke wrote to the Gentiles, and notice what Luke said. There was darkness for the space of three hours over the entire earth. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. But when the Father took the sin and imputed it to his son. I like what you said this morning, too. A cup of wrath. That's what he was praying for. Let this cup pass from me. Because you know what? Yes, the cup of wrath entailed death. Amen. But for the joy set before him, he endured the sufferings of the cross. Amen. He knew what death meant. It was that wrath. wrath he didn't want. Because that wrath meant what? For the first time in all of eternity, he was going to be separated from his father. And when that hour happened, I know the Bible don't say this, but I have to believe this, because this is the only explanation. God the Father could not look upon that. And what happened? Darkness in the daylight. Father. But in the darkness, my God. My God. Why? Has now forsaken me. That's what it cost. And it accomplished. buried with him in baptism. Verse twelve and let me just say friends, there ain't a drop of water in that verse. Come on now. I'm wetter than that verse. and don't worry. This is holy ghost With him in baptism, therein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Christ defeated death. Not just physical death, through and by the resurrection, but mainly this text is talking about spiritual death. That's what this text is talking about. How many of you know who R.G. Lee was? He pastored Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis. He was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention back in the, probably the 60s. For several, several years, R.G. Lee took a trip to Jerusalem. And he's there. They was at the site where they believed that the Lord was crucified. And it was time for the tour group to move on. And the tour guide said, come on, come on, let's go. Let's go to the next site. And R.G. Lee says, I would like to go to the top. And the tour guide basically tried to beg him. He said, no. He said, you don't want to do that. It's a steep climb. You're an elderly man. He said, no. He said, I've got to go. R.G. Lee climbed. to the top of what's believed to be Golgotha. And approaching the crest of the hill, Lee removed his hat. He bowed and lowered his head, obviously greatly moved. The tour guide said, sir, have you been here before? Lee replied, yes, 2,000 years ago. He understood Colossians chapter two. And he understood what the work of the cross accomplished. It not just defeated sin, but it defeated death, both spiritual death and physical death. But look here at our next verse, verse 13. and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you? Does it say all brother? I thought it was just up to the point where you got saved and then everything else was up to you. Or maybe it's just, you know, just some of them. No, it's all. And this was written long before you were saved. This was written long before you was even a lustful thought in your father's mind. Amen. This was written many, many generations ago, probably around 60 to 62 AD. and under divine inspiration of God, the Holy Spirit, moved Paul to pen these words and says, the work of the cross and the finished work of Christ has not forgiven you of just some of your sins, of just up to the point where you get saved, you aren't even born yet, but he has forgiven you all trespasses. Christ defeated Satan through and by this next verse. He has spoiled principalities and powers and he made a show of them openly. You say, well, now how in the world did he spoil and defeat Satan through and by that verse right there? Well, let me tell you what he does. And you don't listen to them fruitcakes on the internet that said Jesus went into the place of torment. Suffer not, my holy one, to see corruption. No, he entered into paradise. He entered into the place where the Old Testament saints were. All right? And he proclaimed to Telestai, it's finished, it's done. Where was Lazarus at? You remember Lazarus? Where was he at? He was right there waiting on Jesus. Where was the rich man at? He was below in the place called Sheol, the place of torment, looking up. So who did he see in her paradise? He saw the Lord of Glory. Everybody in Sheol, in the lower part of Hades. saw Jesus walk in and drop the old thief on the cross off. He said, "'Cause today you will be with me in paradise." And he proclaimed the euangelion, that it's done, it's finished. I have accomplished redemption. And the Bible says in the Gospel of Matthew that after he arose, firstfruits of the of the saints bursted open. Whoo! What is that, preacher? Whoo! That's the wave offering. Whoo! But ain't you glad, church, we're the harvest? Ain't you glad we're the harvest? And those that are saved after the rapture of the church, during the tribulation, before the second coming, that's the reaping stage, where they go in, or the gleaners go in. Oh, the resurrections go right in with the Jewish harvest. But Christ is the firstfruits, because he conveyed it. And you say, well, where does principalities and powers come in there? Well, read the book of Peter. You'll see that those angels that kept not their first estate, but done that awful sin back there in Genesis chapter six, God reserved them in chains until the day of judgment. Where was they at? They was right there in chains, in torment, right there with the rich man, right there with Pharaoh, right there with Esau, right there with those who died outside of the faith. And when Jesus proclaimed that message in paradise, they heard it. He spoiled principalities and powers and made a public shame of them openly. You said, well, how do we know that? Because he got up. He rose victorious with the keys to death, hell, and the grave. Oh, he defeated the unholy trinity. He won our victory. He lived our life. Perfect holiness. My sins. Now, because of the grace of God and the faith that I have exercised in the person and the finished work of Christ can never, ever, ever, ever be punished again. Because Christ took my punishment. transgressions. He bore my iniquities. So how in the world could it be my good works? That saves me. How in the world could it be my own righteousness when I have no righteousness? But now, and I love this, this word reconciliation. That's got so much power to it, just like the word redemption. That's to be bought, to be bought off of a slave market of sin. But there's actually three words for the English word, redemption. There's agonizo, ex-agonizo, and litro. But in the English, it's all translated, redeemed or redemption. But I've been redeemed, I've been reconciled, which is an accounting term. It's an accounting term. Jesus took my slate over here. God imputed my sin, punished my sin in the person of Christ and through it by faith in Him and His finished work, God takes the blood of Jesus and He wipes my slate clean. And now through and by faith in Him, He imputes, Jeremiah 23, 6, the Lord God, our righteousness, Jehovah, sith, canoe, He imputes to my account. He makes this paperwork over here match the paperwork of Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. So now He takes His righteousness, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, so that we might be made the what? The righteousness of God, which is of Christ. And he imputes it by faith over to my account. All through by the work of the cross. Now let's bring this to a close. Because I'm way off track here. I'd have been hunting, I'd have been on 14 different rabbit trails tonight. Done shot and killed five turkeys and four deer. All right? Let me share this with you. That reconciliation goes, that is a Hebrew term used in the Old Testament going all the way back to balance two accounts. It's a bookkeeping for accountants and auditors to balance two accounts. It's also a word used in the Greek word pictures of the exchange of currency. In other words, you give me 50 yen and I give you what's worth in U.S. dollars, we're reconciled, we both got the same amount and there was something exchanged there. Do you understand what's exchanged through and by faith? For by grace are you saved. Through what? Through faith. Faith in what? Faith in yourself? No. Faith in the church? No. Faith in the Pope? I hope not, because they're still trying to decide who the next one's going to be. Faith in the Jewish priest? Read Hebrews. The priest could not continue because of death. And from the time of Aaron to the time of Caiaphas, there was 87 of them. And none of them could, but we have a high priest from the order of Melchizedek. And he said, the father said, unto which of the angels have I said, sit on my right hand until I make all your enemies. You think of that. That's who we serve tonight. But that's who emptied himself and came for you. He defeated sin. He defeated death. And he defeated Satan. The second death has no power over you. Physical death, natural death has no power over you if you are in Christ. Brother, you was in the military. Do we have anybody else in here that was served in the military? You know what it feels like when you get promoted. Well, it feels good. I went from E3 to E7, all right, in 15 years, and then done another five after that and retired at 20. So I retired a sergeant first class. There ain't nothing in the world that feels like a promotion. Not only do you get a pay raise, but you get a little bit more of authority, and you get more rank to wear. You know what death is for us? It's just a promotion to glory. That's all it is. It's just a promotion to glory. Why would you be afraid of it? Why? Oh my goodness, I want to see him one day. You know, Paul said, I'm a stranger to each too. I don't know whether to go or whether to stay. He said, but if I stay, it'd be better for you. Oh, you think of that. No, I don't believe we need to rush matters, Eddie, amen? I still know we need to be obedient to his will and do exactly what he wants us to do until he calls us home, amen? But oh, how I long to see him and just thank him for about 10 or 15 million years for what he done. An old wretch like me. An old young boy from the hills of Eastern Kentucky who was raised in a church family that thought he was pretty good. And then God got a hold of me through it by the power of the gospel. And I got a hold of the bad news. And the Holy Spirit broke me down like an old double barrel shotgun. And I kind of felt like old Peter did. Jesus said, will you also go? Peter said, Lord, where are we gonna go? You have the words of eternal life. Have you been made to know that tonight? Is there still any part of you trusting in yourself? Is there still any part of you at all that's trusting in your own goodness? Or have you surrendered it all? Let us bow our heads.