[0:00] Our scripture reading today is Genesis 22.! Early the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.
[0:46] He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
[1:01] He said to his servants, Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you. Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac.
[1:16] And he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, Father, yes, my son, Abraham replied.
[1:31] The fire and the wood are here, Isaac said. But where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
[1:44] And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
[2:00] Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham. Here I am, he replied.
[2:12] Do not lay a hand on the boy, he said. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.
[2:26] Abraham looked up and there in the thicket, he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
[2:39] So Abraham called that place, the Lord will provide. And to this day it is said, on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashores.
[3:10] Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies. And through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.
[3:23] Then Abraham returned to his servants and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba. Let's hear the word preached.
[3:33] We're studying the goodness of God. And so far in our study, we've seen that God is good.
[3:44] It's his nature. And what he does is good. It's his actions. We've seen his goodness in the creation, what he's made. We've seen it in the laws that he's given to Adam and Eve, to mankind.
[3:58] We saw it in his covenant with Adam, his promised reward for obeying, his threatened punishment for disobeying. God was good and was doing them good big time in the garden.
[4:13] And then we saw God's goodness under satanic attack in the garden, resulting in the fall of Adam and Eve and all their offspring, the whole human race as it was piggybacked on Adam so that when he fell, we fell.
[4:31] And so their sin has plunged themselves and their world into misery. And for the first time in the existence of the world, there was guilt, there was curse, there was suffering, there was evil, there was death, and there was disorder.
[4:47] And that's the world we now live in. And none of this took God by surprise. It was all part of his plan.
[4:59] A plan that was meant to lead to a far more astonishing display of his goodness in redeeming man. So if we thought God's goodness in creation was amazing, and it is, as they say, you ain't seen nothing yet.
[5:21] For his goodness in redemption is infinitely more breathtaking. Let me illustrate it this way. My son John and nephew Ben work for a manufacturing company in Syracuse.
[5:35] And they make first-class outdoor furniture out of plastic so it doesn't rot and need to be replaced. But they don't just order up a bunch of plastic that's already the pellets to make their chairs.
[5:53] They also take old milk jugs and plastic containers that used to hold your soda and spinach and shampoo. And now even from the oceans they're harvesting.
[6:06] That which pollutes the oceans and washes up upon the shores of our land and elsewhere. They recycle it.
[6:18] They restore it. They redeem it. They melt it down and remake it. Now, to make useful things out of normal manufacturing resources is good.
[6:31] But will you not agree that it's a higher good to take trash and to turn it into treasure? Treasure. Or at least chairs. They're not treasures. But they cost about as much as a treasure.
[6:45] It's not cheap to gather plastics off the shore piece by piece. But the point is to recycle, to take what is bad and to turn it into something good is even a higher goodness than just creating something good in the first place.
[7:04] And that's what I want you to sense today as we think about God's goodness in redemption. Yes, God's goodness in creating man in this world was glorious. But we're in a whole nother level of goodness as we now come to consider his goodness in redeeming man.
[7:27] Creating man was very good. Recreating him is infinitely higher. And is that not what happened? That this glorious creation that God made that was very good and oozing with the goodness of God has been trashed by sin.
[7:46] It's not cursed. It's subject to frustration and to the decay. Bondage to decay. All because of sin. It's awaiting destruction by fire at Christ's return.
[7:57] And human beings, the highest of God's creation. We too have ruined ourselves by rebelling against God so that we too are ruined.
[8:08] Our nature is ruined. And we now hate what we ought to love and love what we ought not to hate. And we're under the curse of death. And one day our bodies will be separated from our souls.
[8:22] And we're under spiritual death. Not only separated from God in this life, but forever and ever in conscious torment of body and soul in hell.
[8:33] That's what sin left humanity in. It's ruined. And all of it so deserved. It was perfect justice. If you were just and you looked upon the curse of sin and death upon the world and had the mind of God, you'd say, That's punishment that perfectly matches the crime.
[8:59] That is exactly what should be done to someone who sins against God. And if we think it's unfair, if we think it's unjust, if we think it's overdone, it only shows that we don't have a clue how holy God is and how offensive our sin is to that holy God.
[9:22] Everlasting hell is exactly what sinning against the everlasting God deserves. Never was a death penalty more well deserved. Because in eating the forbidden fruit, they were despising God's authority.
[9:37] They were treating him as a nobody. And his command as a nothing to even be concerned about. In eating the forbidden fruit, it was the grossest ingratitude.
[9:48] God had heaped goodness upon them. How shall we give thanks to God for his goodness? Oh, I know. Let's rebel against him. That's what they did. What ingratitude for all the goodness that God had heaped upon them.
[10:01] They sided with the enemy. They were in league with Satan, God's arch rival. They were discontented, which is devil-like.
[10:12] They weren't satisfied with their position. They wanted to be like God, just like Satan wanted to be like God. They treated God as a liar.
[10:23] Oh, I know he told us that we would die if we ate of this tree. But he really didn't mean it. He's just trying to hold us back from something good for us.
[10:35] And so our pride and arrogance of thinking that we knew better than God what was good for us. And spiritual adultery and that sin as they turned from their true lover, God, and turned to someone who claimed to love them more than he, the devil.
[10:51] They ruined all of God's good creation by their sin. And they became an accessory to Satan's crime of murdering the human race as this sin, their sin brought death, not just to themselves, but to all their descendants.
[11:07] Their selfishness is seen in putting their own pleasure ahead of God's pleasure. They despised the promised eternal life as if it were not worth having compared to having the fruit on that tree.
[11:22] And so I say they proved themselves to be fully deserving of the sentence of immediate death and hell. And even after their sin, consider their behavior after their sin.
[11:34] There was nothing in that to allure God's goodness to them, but rather everything to provoke his wrath even further. Because instead of humbly coming to God in full confession of their sin and disobedience, they hid from God.
[11:50] They ran from God and tried to cover up their sins with fig leaves among the trees, treating him as if he's a know-nothing. And we can pull the wool over his eyes.
[12:00] And even when flushed out of the trees and confronted with their sin, there's no humble confession even yet, is there? But rather, excusing themselves and blaming others.
[12:15] So Adam blames Eve and blames God for having put her there in the garden with him. And Eve blames the serpent. This is their behavior after their sin.
[12:26] And it only adds more sin to their sin. And yet what we find in Genesis chapter 3, almost had it read again the third time for you this morning, but what we find is God's goodness is even greater than all their sin.
[12:44] That where sin abounded, the goodness of God's grace super abounded. It abounded even more. And it was then when they were helpless, unable to save themselves, powerless, without strength, guilty, vile, and helpless.
[13:05] We with no righteousness of their own, no strength to obey, no power to remake themselves any more than they had power to create themselves in the first place.
[13:16] And it was then at their most desperate hour that God's heart overflowed in goodness and promised a savior who is mighty to save.
[13:28] It's like just when the policeman is caught up with his criminals and found them red handed and knowing the punishment threatened for disobeying God's law.
[13:39] They fully expect to hear the sentence, depart from me into everlasting fire and fully expect to receive the sentence then of death falling down dead at once.
[13:49] But instead they hear a gospel promise. They hear good news of a coming redeemer. And it comes in God's word of cursing to the serpent.
[14:02] Genesis 315. God says, I will put enmity between you serpent and the woman between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
[14:16] You see, the enmity now as it stood after sin was between God and the woman. How would it been? Well, you had God and the woman in friendship.
[14:29] No sin, no problem, nothing separated. But now there's enmity between God and Eve, the woman. If this is enmity, hostility, it's now between God and the woman.
[14:41] But what this promise says is he's going to move the enmity. He's going to rearrange things so that the enmity is not between God and the woman. He says to the serpent.
[14:53] Yes, you. She's over here now with you. But I'm going to put the enmity between you and the woman. And I'm going to do that by reconciling herself, her to me through this single male offspring of the woman who will crush your head even as you bruise his heel.
[15:18] And in so doing, I'll move the enmity from separating Eve and myself to where the enmity is between you and her, your offspring and her offspring.
[15:32] What grace that God would do that. And bring Eve back over to his side. And if such a gospel promise doesn't shock us with God's goodness, then something's wrong with us.
[15:46] If we can read verse 15 of chapter 3, having understood what went before it, we've missed something, brothers and sisters. Because the wages of sin is death.
[15:59] And they sinned and God had already announced the sentence of death. He could have struck them dead on the spot, sending them to their deserved hell at once. And though death was immediately at work in their bodies.
[16:12] And though it was separating their souls from God. Yet God was so good in delaying the full penalty. That they might have time to repent.
[16:24] And to seek the Lord's mercy. Believing this promise of a coming victorious male offspring of the woman. Who would set them free and bring them back to God.
[16:37] That's grace. Grace is God's goodness to the undeserving. And it was the sheer goodness of God to delay this penalty. Paul picks up on this theme in Romans chapter 2 and verse 3.
[16:53] Talking about the goodness of God. His goodness. His patience. His kindness. His kindness. It's meant to lead you to repentance.
[17:09] Has it? Or has his delaying the punishment rather strengthened you in your sin? And now you just think, well, it doesn't matter to him. He obviously isn't coming in judgment.
[17:20] I guess he never will. Well, the most common thing for sinners is to misinterpret God's patience. The goodness of God. But no, it's his purpose in delaying the punishment.
[17:33] Are you alive? You've not been struck dead? You sin? The wages of sin is dead. He's been patient with you. And it's meant to give you time to repent. And to turn to God.
[17:43] Don't let his goodness deceive you into thinking he doesn't care. Let it chase you into the arms of Jesus. This one who was promised to Adam and Eve as soon as they had sinned.
[18:00] Now, there is in the gospel promise then eternal life being offered. The very life they had just forfeited by their sin. The covenant with Adam was if you obey, you get life.
[18:12] But if you disobey, you get death. And yet here is God in goodness delaying death. And once again offering life in the coming of the Redeemer.
[18:25] I wonder if we're so used to the gospel offer of eternal life that it doesn't strike us as shocking. But God didn't owe them a second chance. He didn't owe them another way to gain eternal life.
[18:40] He didn't owe them a promise of a Redeemer. Of a covenant of grace. A rescuer. A savior. To crush the head of the serpent and set them free.
[18:51] All he owed them and us was death and hell. And if we ever forget that, we'll be all out of sorts. That's the foundation. That's where we've got to start in our thinking.
[19:04] Is that I deserve everlasting torments from God. And if I ever get anything but that, it will be the overwhelming goodness of God.
[19:15] To me, the undeserving. So God's amazing goodness and promise of a Redeemer is seen. And that he didn't provide a Redeemer for the angels.
[19:27] Have you thought of that? Peter tells us. 2 Peter 2.4 God did not spare angels when they sinned.
[19:40] But sent them to hell. Putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment. Jude tells us. The angels who did not keep their positions of authority. But abandoned their own home.
[19:51] These he has kept in darkness. Bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day. Hebrews 2.16 says of Jesus. For surely it is not angels he helps.
[20:04] But Abraham's descendants. Human beings who have the faith of our father Abraham. Do we understand just how good God has been to us.
[20:16] Fallen men and women. Boys and girls. I don't care who you are. Whether you're in Christ or not. God has been amazingly good to you. In that he has sent a Redeemer for you.
[20:31] He has promised one who could take you to heaven. He didn't make that offer to the angels when they fell. But cast them into hell.
[20:45] Think of it. Not one fallen angel has ever and will ever be redeemed. Oh, but a multitude. Of ungodly. Men and women.
[20:57] Boys and girls. Will be redeemed. By this coming Redeemer. He didn't owe us one any more than he owed the angels one.
[21:08] We were just as deserving of immediate death and hell as the angels were. And yet he sent us a Redeemer. Isn't God good? Hasn't he been good to us? God's goodness in redemption far exceeds his goodness in creation.
[21:24] Secondly, because it overcame greater difficulties. Think about the difficulty in creation. God has to create something out of nothing. That's hard.
[21:37] Not even manufacturers today can do that. But it's not as hard as redeeming. A creature once it's fallen. Because in creation there was nothing to resist God's work.
[21:50] God called us out of nothing into something. And there was nothing to resist him. He just spoke and it happened. But in redemption.
[22:01] In recreating fallen man. Man's entire nature is now resisting God. His mind as he thinks about God. He doesn't think God being good. Oh, he's evil.
[22:11] He's coming to get me. He's all out to just judge me. He has no mercy for me. His affections, as we said, are bent on sin. And away from God.
[22:22] His will, his heart, his choice. Refuses to submit to God and his law. So to redeem such a one as that. To come to the place where they're remade and recycled.
[22:34] To the place where they will love and serve God gladly. That is a far greater difficulty. Wouldn't you agree? That's more goodness in redemption than in mere creation.
[22:48] And closely related. Thirdly, this greater goodness in redemption is seen in its far higher cost. To create only costs God a word. To redeem will cost God the blood and suffering and torments and death of his own son.
[23:13] That's infinitely greater goodness. Far more expensive goodness. One day after Martin Luther had married Katie, the nun.
[23:25] He was reading Genesis 22. To her aloud. The very passage that we had read for us. And we need to remember that those were the days when the word of God was rare.
[23:37] There weren't Bibles in every house like there are in yours. And so it could very well have been that that was the first time Katie had ever heard this story told to her.
[23:50] How that after being made to wait for many years until he was a hundred years old. Finally, Abraham had a son.
[24:02] And he had sufficient years to enjoy him as he's growing up. The delight of his eyes. And then the Lord comes to Abraham. And says, take your son.
[24:15] Your only son. Isaac. Whom you love. And go to the region of Moriah. And sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.
[24:28] And Katie was so shocked. She came right off of her chair. And she interrupted Martin. And said, I can't believe God would require that of Abraham. He wouldn't do that to his own son. And of course Martin replied, oh, but Katie.
[24:44] He did. For God so loved this world that he gave his one and only son. The son of his delight.
[24:57] He gave him. He gave him. He only had one son. And he loved him infinitely more than any human father's ever come close to loving your children. He was more valuable to God the father than a million worlds.
[25:11] And yet he gave him to the hellish cross as a sacrifice for sinners. And there was no lamb to substitute like there was for Isaac. Because he was the lamb.
[25:25] He was the appointed lamb of God. He was the only one that could provide forgiveness of sins. This was the Lord's provision of the lamb.
[25:35] It was his own son. The father's own son, Jesus. And he dies in the place of rebels who had ruined themselves. Didn't want anything to do with God's law and his authority over them.
[25:50] So at Calvary. That was the mountain of the Lord. On which. The lamb was provided. It was Mount Calvary. And there the father treated sinners with greater goodness than his own son.
[26:03] Let me say that again. On the cross, God treated sinners with greater goodness than he treated his own beloved son.
[26:17] He gave him wrath that we might have mercy. He didn't spare him in order that he might spare us. And when his son pleaded with his father.
[26:32] If there is any way possible. Let this cup pass from me. Father would not let it pass from him. That it might pass from us.
[26:46] And he wounded him. That he might heal us. Can you see that the crucifixion of Christ was a channel of goodness deeper and wider than anything yet seen in creation?
[26:59] There is no goodness like this. Even in the creation of the world. Nothing even close to redeem man would not be cheap. Heaven would have to empty its greatest treasure.
[27:11] Its highest good. God's own son. God's own son. Now he could have destroyed the whole world. He could have destroyed Adam and Eve and the whole world and created a new one at far less cost to himself.
[27:27] He had no need of creating us. And far less need of redeeming us. Yet he put his own son through hell on the cross. That sinners might be redeemed.
[27:39] Remade. Recycled. And to worshipers of the living God. You fathers wouldn't give your sons up to be tortured and die for your enemies.
[27:52] Who's ever even heard of such goodness? Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. The outflowing of his indescribable goodness.
[28:04] What goodness. And fourthly think of what cost it was to our savior himself to redeem man. He became man for us.
[28:16] That's where it began. He took our body. Our human nature. And became one of us. What condescension. The eternal God. Becoming a man.
[28:28] The lawgiver. Now born under law. So that he could be tempted in every way like we are. And yet perfectly obey. For us lawbreakers.
[28:42] And he becomes man for us so that he could die for us. And having become man for us, he became sin for us.
[28:52] That we might become in him the righteousness of God. That's the goodness of God. He took our sin. Gave us his righteousness. Took our disobedience.
[29:03] Gave us his perfect obedience. And so becoming man for us. Becoming sin for us. He then took that sin to the cross. The place of punishment. Where he became a curse for us.
[29:17] Galatians 3.13. For Christ redeemed us. You see. He recycled. He restored. He redeemed us. How? By becoming a curse for us. Because it's written.
[29:30] Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. That's what it costs to redeem us. The cursing of Christ. The damning of him.
[29:40] So in going in for us. Standing in our place. The curse falls. That we might be. Everlastingly blessed.
[29:51] Is God good or what? He would rather be cursed and forsaken on the cross. Than to see us cursed and forsaken forever in hell. He becomes poor.
[30:02] That he might make us rich. So the goodness of God bubbled up in blood. At Calvary. There's nothing like it.
[30:12] Anywhere. Surely this ought to melt our hearts. In repentance. In love. In faith. What a love. What a cost.
[30:23] We stand forgiven. At the cross. And there's a fifth way. That the goodness of God shines in redemption.
[30:36] Consider God's goodness. In making a new covenant with man. After the first covenant was broken. In all human history. There's only been two ways for man to gain heaven.
[30:51] Two plans. Two arrangements that God has made. Two contracts or covenants. That God has made. Whereby man can enter heaven. There's the covenant of works in Adam.
[31:05] And there's the covenant of grace in Christ. Now the first way. The covenant of works in Adam. The first way for man to gain heaven. Was given in the garden of Eden.
[31:16] To unfallen Adam. And the stipulation was obey and live. Disobey and die. Now.
[31:27] A couple important things to point out. About this covenant that God made with. Adam in the garden. Number one. In this covenant. Eternal life. Was offered to Adam.
[31:38] If he would obey. But it must be perfect obedience. Just one sin. Makes you a lawbreaker.
[31:48] As we saw recently. And. Will mean death. And for this reason. This covenant has been called a covenant of works. Because it depends on.
[32:00] Adam. Obeying God. He didn't earn heaven. Remember we talked about. There would be no amount of obedience. For Adam to ever earn heaven. He was his. He's God's servant.
[32:10] He owes God already his obedience. But God was so good. That even in the covenant of works. He says. If you just go on obeying. I'll give you eternal life. But a second thing.
[32:23] To remember. Is that this way to gain heaven. Was never offered to sinners. Never. No. It was only offered to our sinless first parents.
[32:35] Adam and Eve. While they were righteous. As God had made them. And so God comes to them and says. You just. Continue to be righteous. You pass the test.
[32:46] With perfect righteousness. And heaven. Eternal life. Will be yours. Now you know what happened. They broke the covenant. They ate the forbidden fruit. They sinned. And so they forfeited.
[32:56] The promised eternal life. In heaven. And came under the curse. Of death. And damnation. So once man sinned.
[33:09] This way to heaven. Was forever closed. Do you see that? It's forever closed. It's no longer an option for mankind.
[33:20] To get to heaven by his own works. Why? Because man is now a sinner. This way was made for. The righteous. To continue in their obedience.
[33:32] Never for a sinner. Because. Our sin. Brings us death. And forfeits. Life. By very definition. There's no salvation.
[33:45] Anywhere. Offered to sinners. On the basis of their obedience. Only for a sinless Adam. That's why it's such folly. For sinners today. To think. That if by obeying. And trying to do good works.
[33:55] Maybe I can make it to heaven. Folks. That ship's left. There's no more salvation. That way. There never was salvation. That way. For sinners. It was only for a sinless Adam and Eve. We come into the batter's box.
[34:11] With three strikes against us. We've inherited Adam's sin. Which requires. Death. The forfeiture. Of life. The covenant of works.
[34:28] It was a good arrangement. It was filled with God's goodness. But I want to tell you. That the covenant of grace. Is far better. Upon sinning.
[34:40] The way to heaven. Was no longer opened. To sinful mankind. But rather than leave us all. To perish in our sins. God in amazing goodness.
[34:51] Opened up a new way. A new way. Whereby we could draw near to God. And go to heaven. And enjoy eternal life. With him. A new covenant.
[35:02] A way for unrighteous sinners. To now be right with God. And go to heaven. It's the covenant of grace. It's a far greater goodness. Is this new covenant of grace.
[35:14] Than creation's covenant of works. Good as that was. Indeed the New Testament. Says it's a better covenant. That means more good.
[35:25] Gooder. A better covenant. With a better mediator. Based on better promises. Better stipulations. And terms in the new covenant.
[35:36] What was required of man. In the covenant of works. Perfect obedience. What's required of man. In the covenant of grace. Faith.
[35:46] In Christ's. Perfect obedience. Isn't that a better covenant? Isn't that more goodness. To man. Rather than requiring. Perfect obedience.
[35:58] To require. Faith. Just putting your trust. In Jesus. Perfect obedience. In order to enjoy. Everlasting. Life. Trusting only.
[36:11] In what Christ. Has done for sinners. Not in what we do. For ourselves. Did you ever wonder.
[36:24] What is that curse. That Christ endured. On the cross. Why. Why is it that. That he can only redeem man. By becoming a curse for us. Where is that curse coming from?
[36:35] Folks. That's coming from the first covenant. That God made with man. In which he said. Obey and live. Disobey. And die. And he cursed man with death.
[36:48] Genesis chapter 3. Did you know that in order for us. To be saved by Jesus Christ. He must fulfill the covenant with Adam. That was broken by Adam.
[37:00] He must. He must come as the second Adam. And he must succeed. In every way that Adam. Failed. And in the covenant of grace. That's what God did.
[37:10] He sent a redeemer. God became man. The law maker. Becomes. The law keeper. And he kept every commandment.
[37:21] Perfectly. So. What does he. Deserve. From God. He should have eternal life. That's what the covenant with Adam said. Obey and live. So he qualifies.
[37:33] He has eternal life to give. But there's a second thing. That he must do. If ever life is to come to us sinners. And that's to take the punishment.
[37:45] What is this punishment of hell. That hangs over our head. It comes from that old covenant of Adam. Do and live. But if you don't. Death.
[37:57] And if we're not in Christ. We're still in heaven. And we still owe perfect obedience. And we still. Have to pay the punishment.
[38:09] Of death. And the second death. The lake of fire. And so Christ goes to the cross. Why? Because as. As this redeemer of man. He's going to.
[38:19] He's going to pay the penalty. Of. Of fallen man. So he keeps the law for fallen man. He. He pays the penalty for law. For. For a sinful fallen man.
[38:30] So. So. So. So. So. He's able to give to us his perfect righteousness. And the merits of his blood. So that the father will forgive our sins.
[38:42] And say they're already paid for. By the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't the new covenant much better than the. Covenant of works. Isn't God's goodness far more. Put on display.
[38:54] By having us come in our helplessness. And just cast. Our only hope and all sufficient hope for heaven. On Jesus. This God's provided lamb. Oh how it magnifies the goodness of God.
[39:07] Are you kidding me? That even when you had forfeited life. God would send his own son. And curse him. That you might escape the curse. Oh where is this God?
[39:18] I want to know him. Where is this God? I want to repent of my thoughts of him. I want to turn away from my old will. I want to come and surrender to him.
[39:29] Is he that good? That he would receive Adam. And he would receive me. Oh there's something beautiful. About the goodness of God and redemption.
[39:42] And that's why in Adam all die. If you're not in Christ this morning. You're still in Adam. And you still owe perfect obedience. And you still owe hell. And so in Adam all die.
[39:53] But all in Christ. Are made alive. Our sins are already punished. Life is already won for us.
[40:09] Upon a life I did not live. Upon a death I did not die. Another's life. Another's death. I rest my whole eternity. That's the new covenant of grace. Because Jesus kept the old covenant perfectly.
[40:23] That all who trust in him. Might not perish. But have everlasting life. And that's why folks.
[40:39] Since the fall. No one has ever made it to heaven. On their own good works. Why would anyone ever think they could?
[40:52] Pride. Self-righteousness. Not willing to beg. But the truth is. If you won't come. As a helpless beggar.
[41:03] And beg life from Jesus. Totally undeserved. If you're too proud to beg. You're too proud to be saved. You're too proud to go to heaven. We all must come and beg.
[41:16] It was said that Martin Luther died. With a piece of paper in his pocket. And he pulled it out. And said we are beggars. It is true. That's all we are Katie. We're beggars. We come and we beg.
[41:29] Life. At the expense. Of this promised redeemer. And that's why as soon.
[41:41] As soon as Adam. The representative of the human race. Had fallen. God appears with a gracious promise. Of life. Through a redeemer. God. Because there's no other way.
[41:54] So we're back to. Where we start. God's decision to redeem. And recycle. A ruined humanity. It would have been easier. To damn the whole human race.
[42:04] To hell. And start over creating. A new humanity. Than it was to redeem. Them once fallen. Far cheaper. Far cheaper. Far cheaper. Far cheaper. To God. But God doesn't do.
[42:15] What's easier. And cheaper. But he does. What most glorifies. His goodness. Do you know. He's designed. The way of salvation. In a way. That will make. His goodness sparkle.
[42:26] And why. Why would he do that? Well. For several reasons. Because that's his glory. His goodness. Is his glory. And men seeing it. And acknowledging it. Is amazing.
[42:39] But also. To allure men. To come to him. Because what's the natural. Response to the sinner. Once they've sinned against God. It's to run and hide. We've heard his sentence of death.
[42:51] And we run and hide. We're afraid to come to God. But you see. God has so designed. The plan of salvation. In a way. That draws us. He's a good God. He could have sent us to hell.
[43:03] I'm still alive. He's offered us. Another way. Of salvation. For sinners. He's damned his own son. That we not be damned. And I'm allured.
[43:13] And I'm pulled. Godward. The goodness of God. Leads us. To repentance. I wonder if it's led you. To God. Are you still cowering?
[43:24] And running from him? Look again. At Calvary. And see. The goodness of God. And the open arms of Jesus.
[43:34] Willing to have you. This morning. Came as a sinner. Under wrath. You can rejoice. As you leave. Under his grace. Remember.
[43:47] We talked about our problem. Of shrinking thoughts. Of God's greatness. When we. We. I think we're starting. The. The series. On God's providence. We said that our thoughts.
[43:57] About God's greatness. Are like pizza dough. And you roll it out. And it starts to shrink. As soon as you've rolled it out. And your big thoughts. Get smaller. And we said. So we. We need the rolling pin.
[44:07] Of God's truth. To. To. To. To stretch. Our thoughts. Of God's greatness. Well. The same problem. Exists. In. In God's goodness. We.
[44:17] We can think. Of God's goodness. And then we start thinking. And it starts to shrink. And so we need the rolling pin. Of. God's truth. To stretch it. Stretch our thoughts.
[44:28] Of his goodness. As well. And there's no rolling pin. Like Calvary. To. To show us. How good God is. The. The covenant of grace. In Jesus Christ.
[44:40] So get to. Get to the cross. Run there daily. To keep your heart full. Of a sense. Of God's goodness. His goodness. In Jesus Christ. To us.
[44:51] Consider him. Who hangs there. Hung there. For you. So that you don't grow weary. And forgetful. Consider his. So great salvation. All your sins forgiven.
[45:02] Restored. Peace. With God. Restored. Freedom. From our bondage. Recycling. Our misery. Into gladness. And joy. Remaking us. In God's image. A new destiny.
[45:14] Glory. Instead of our shame. Giving us. God is our portion. And inheritance. Forever. What's not good about that? Ransomed. Healed. Restored. Forgiven.
[45:25] Who like me. His praise. Should sing. Is that not. The new covenant. Jesus. Not worthy of a new song. Of praise. That we sing. Even again. This morning. With new love.
[45:36] In our hearts. For this savior. For this. Redeeming God. Who would send his son. And even as we sing. With gratitude.
[45:46] For his love. And his goodness. He's glorified. I like the song. It reminds us. That. This is.
[45:56] A song. The angels. Cannot sing. Redemption. Redeemed. It's only a song. That redeemed. Sinners can sing. In heaven.
[46:06] And it fills. Heavens. It fills. Heaven. And it echoes. On earth. The lamb.
[46:17] That was slain. Worthy. Worthy. Is the lamb. And these words. His favorite song. Of all. Is the song. Of the redeemed. When lost.
[46:27] Sinners. Now made clean. Lift their voices. Loud and strong. When those. Purchased. By his blood. Lift to him. A song of love. There's nothing more. He'd rather hear. Nor so pleasing.
[46:38] To his ear. Than this greatest. His favorite. Song. Of all. Have you been redeemed? Are you being recycled? From the ruined.
[46:51] The garbage. That we were. Because of sin. Into a real treasure. That he will make up. His.
[47:02] Treasures. And call them to himself. When he comes. Let's sing. Let's sing. To his praise. And to his pleasures. Number 175. Hallelujah. What a savior.
[47:14] What a goodness. What a far greater cost. To him. Than in creating us. Stand with me. And sing. 175. 175. God. Pray with me.
[47:34] Father. Hallelujah. What a. What a goodness. In your heart. In your son's heart. In your. Your spirit's heart. And. We.
[47:45] Stand and sing. As those. Who have been. Ransomed. And reclaimed. And redeemed. From what. By sin. We had. Made ourselves. So keep this song.
[47:57] In our hearts. Let Satan's. Fiery. Darts. Of doubt. Of your goodness. Find us. Delighting. In a savior. Slaying. For those.
[48:07] Who have never come. Overcome. Their doubts. About your willingness. To save sinners. Give them to see. The lamb. That you provided. To take away.
[48:20] Their sin. Forever. Draw them. By your goodness. To repentance. We ask. In Jesus. Good name. Amen. Thank you.
[48:43] Thank you.