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  THE WAY OF FORGIVENESS OF SINS
  by Al Martin
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Summary: The sermon emphasizes the central blessing of the gospel as
forgiveness of sins, which is found only in connection with the Christ
of Old Testament prophecy and New Testament history.

Duration: 54:29 Topics: "Forgiveness Of Sins", "Gospel Message"
Scripture References: Matthew 28:19-20, John 14:6, Acts 13:16-39, Romans 3:22

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DESCRIPTION
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In this sermon, the speaker begins by addressing the audience,
particularly the children and young people, emphasizing the importance
of following the directions of the signpost to the celestial city. He
compares the obsession with idols like Michael Jordan to the fleeting
nature of wealth and fame, highlighting the ultimate importance of
standing before the signpost and taking its directions. The speaker's
second purpose is to equip the audience to communicate the gospel to
others, providing them with a working knowledge of relevant texts. The
sermon concludes with a focus on the central blessing of the gospel,
which is forgiveness of sins, as demonstrated by the redemptive work of
God throughout human history.

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CONTENT
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Last Lord's Day evening, we began what will be a relatively brief series
of messages entitled, Simple Signpost to the Celestial City. Taking the
term Celestial City from Bunyan's immortal Pilgrim's Progress, used as a
graphic synonym for heaven, this series of sermons will be an attempt to
preach and to apply some of the most simple and clear texts in all of
the Word of God, which indeed constitute signposts to heaven. Texts
which address the great issues of sin and of grace.

Texts which call us to repent and to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Texts which contain the heart of the whole message of the Bible
concerning the great and pressing question, what must I do to be saved?
And if you ask why am I embarking upon this series of messages focusing
upon these simple, basic gospel texts, I answer unashamedly that I do so
for two reasons. First and foremost, it is because I desire to preach
that gospel which is the power of God unto salvation in the faith and
hope and, I trust, biblically grounded expectation that God will be
pleased to call many to Himself through the preaching of the Word,
particularly from the ranks of our own children.

Those of you who are here through no choice of your own, you are here
because mom and dad mandate that you are found in the house of God. But
you are not only here under the sound of the Word. Your name is brought
daily, sometimes many days, before the throne of grace with earnest
prayers that you would be brought to know Jesus Christ in a saving way.

And I feel it only right that every generation rising within anything
that claims to be a gospel-preaching church should have its walls
reverberate with these great, epitomizing gospel texts which God has
through the history of His church often made in a very special way the
instrument of imparting saving grace and mercy to sinners. But then I
have a second purpose, and that is in keeping with the function of a
pastor-teacher, namely to help equip the saints unto this particular
work of service, namely communicating the gospel to others as God gives
you opportunity. And I want to furnish you with a working knowledge and
acquaintance with the kinds of texts that you ought to use in your
witness to others and be able to sit down and to open them up and one-
on-one or one in a group of a family proclaim the blessed, saving word
of salvation and mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week our first simple signpost was composed of the very words of
our Lord Jesus as found in John's Gospel, chapter 14 and verse 6, in
which our Lord declares, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one
comes unto the Father but by Me. And while I have yet to hear of any who
points to that message as the instrument of His conversion, I am
delighted to say that during the week one of our members called me and
said, Pastor, I'm so thankful you preached that text.

I was able to preach it at the bedside of my dying lost father, and I
had a clear gospel message to preach to him as I gave to him in the
solemn scene of a deathbed the very message that was preached in my ears
on Sunday night. Well, tonight we're going to fix our attention upon
another simple signpost to the celestial city, a signpost taken from a
sermon preached by the great Apostle Paul. Now, have you ever wondered
what it would be like to have heard an apostle preach the gospel? As I
have read biographies, I have wished that somehow I could be shot into a
time capsule and taken back to some of the open fields in England and
hear the great Whitefield preaching Christ with such passion, with such
earnestness and burning, almost seraphic eloquence.

I have wished that I could have heard Spurgeon as I have read his
biography and accounts of everything from the captivating, mellifluous
voice with which he spoke to the earnest, tender passion with which he
pleaded with sinners. But I must confess that beyond the yearning to
hear Whitefield and Spurgeon and other greats of the past, I have wished
that I could have been somewhere to have heard Peter preaching, to have
heard Paul or one of the other apostles. Well, in the book of Acts, God
has given us a few at least shorthand summary statements of several of
the sermons of these great apostles.

And one of them is recorded in Acts chapter 13. And it is to that
chapter that I direct your attention and from which we shall, God
helping us, discover another of these simple signposts to the celestial
city. Here in Antioch of Pisidia, we have the record of Paul's sermon
preached in the synagogue beginning in verse 16 of Acts 13 and
continuing through verse 41.

And it should not surprise us that this sermon has three very clearly
marked divisions. Now, not all of the recorded sermons or all of the
shorthand versions of the sermons have clear divisions, let alone clear
division, three divisions. But this one does indeed have such divisions.

You will notice Paul begins in verse 16, and Paul stood up and,
beckoning with the hand, said, Men of Israel and ye that fear God,
hearken. Here is a man determined to be heard. He raises his hand to
gain their attention, and then he solicits the commitment of their ears.

Hearken. And then, through verse 25, he sets forth the history of Israel
up through the coming of John the Baptist in preparation for the coming
of the Lord Jesus. So his first heading of his sermon in the synagogue
in Antioch of Pisidia focuses upon Israel's history in preparation for
the coming of Jesus.

Then in verses 26 to 37, his second heading is the history of how God
fulfilled his promises to Israel in the death and resurrection of Jesus
of Nazareth. Notice in verse 26, Brethren, children of the stock of
Abraham, and those among you that fear God, he is again addressing his
audience. He is fearful perhaps he has lost their attention since he
raised his hand and said, Men of Israel and you that fear God, listen.

They were perhaps getting a little weary, so like a good preacher he
calls back their attention and says, Brethren, children of the stock of
Abraham, those among you that fear God, to us is this word of salvation
sent forth. And then he gives the history of how God fulfilled his
promises to Israel in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Then his
third heading begins in verse 38.

Be it known unto you therefore, Brethren, having completed his
statements with respect to the history of the death and resurrection of
Jesus, he now makes an announcement that the great blessings of
salvation are now available to men and how they can obtain them. Be it
known unto you therefore, Brethren, that through this man, or more
literally this one, is proclaimed unto you remission of sins. And by him
every one that believeth is justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken in the
prophets. Behold, ye despisers and wonder and perish. For I work a work
in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe if one declare
it unto you.

Here then in verses 30 to 48 is that portion upon which we shall see
etched a simple signpost to the celestial city. And I want to make a
direct appeal as Paul did, not to men of Israel and you who fear God,
but especially to you children and young people within these walls
tonight. If I were to say to some of you teenage guys who are very much
aware of the great shockwave that went through the athletic world upon
the news of Michael Jordan's retirement, hey guys, all of you guys
obsessed with hoops to whom Michael was your idol of idols, listen to me
and if you follow my directions, I can guarantee you in six months you
can jump and soar and dunk and make people ooh and ah and pack away the
millions like Michael.

Would you listen to me? You thought I wasn't just giving you a line,
would you really listen to me? Would it be important enough to you, you
who lie upon your bed and fantasize about the first time you're going to
be able to just touch the rim, let alone stuff it down from two and a
half feet above the rim. And I would say to you, listen to me guys, I'm
going to give you a surefire way in six months you'll be Michael's
replacement. Would you listen? There's some of you that would.

I would say to some of you young women, listen to me, listen carefully.
If you listen to me carefully, I guarantee by the time you're 25, you'll
be marrying a guy handsome enough to be a movie actor, strong enough to
make Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a wimp, wealthy enough to make the
Rockefellers go on welfare. Would you listen? Guaranteed! I say to you
guys, if you listen to me, I guarantee by the time you're 25, you'll
have the dream woman on your elbow, a ring on your finger and yours on
her... Would you listen? In other words, what's important to you? What
would you listen to? If I could hold it out and say, listen and heed and
follow through and this will be the end.

Well, I say to you kids and young people, listen, I don't care whether
it's Michael stuffing the ball through the hoop from two and a half feet
above it, whether it's wealth and fame and money, there's a time coming
when all of that will be dust and ashes and only one thing will matter
and it will be whether or not you stood before this signpost and took
its directions. Only one thing will matter! Did you stand before God's
simple signpost to the celestial city and read carefully what it said?
And by the grace of God, take its directions! And all of the memories of
Michael Jordan and the Rockefellers and the wealthy and the beautiful
and the bold and all the rest have passed into nothingness and the
awesome eons of eternity will have broken in upon us with everlasting
bliss or everlasting horror and torment. Kids, young people, children,
men and women, in the name of the God of heaven who has given you an
ever dying soul, come with me and gaze intently upon this simple
signpost to the celestial city.

And the first thing we notice as we stand before it is this, that the
forgiveness or the remission of sins is the central blessing held forth
in the gospel. When we get excited about the gospel, when we get excited
about the grace of God, what is it that lies at the very nerve centers
of the gospel that gets us excited? Well, if you look at our signpost,
we read in verse 38, Be it known unto you, therefore, brethren, that
through this man is proclaimed unto you not how to jam a ball through a
hoop, not how to land a bold and beautiful one, but is proclaimed unto
you remission of sins. And in those words there appears on our simple
signpost to the celestial city the truth that the forgiveness or
remission of sins is the central blessing of the gospel.

Now the gospel is like a many faceted diamond. It has many planes and it
shines in many ways because our needs as sinners are many and there is
no need that we have as sinners which is not addressed in some marvelous
facet of gospel privilege in Christ. However, shining out of the deepest
center of that diamond and radiating to every plane of every facet is
its most marvelous provision and that is the blessing of forgiveness of
sins.

And hence when the apostle in his sermon there in that synagogue comes
to bring that sermon to a conclusion having demonstrated in his first
heading how God prepared the world through the history of his ancient
people Israel for the coming of his son and how under his second head
his son had come in fulfillment of those prophecies and had died and
been raised from the dead now on the basis of that mighty redemptive
activity of God he says be it known here is the great blessing procured
by all of this work of the mighty gracious saving God throughout human
history. This central blessing of the gospel even forgiveness or
remission of sins and our Lord Jesus had this estimation of the gospel
for when he commissioned his own as recorded in Luke chapter 24. Notice
how it takes the central place Luke 24 in verse 45 then opened he their
mind that they might understand the scriptures and he said unto them
thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the
dead the third day and that repentance unto remission of sins should be
preached in heaven.

In his name among all the nations beginning from Jerusalem as they are
commissioned to preach the gospel what is the central blessing there to
hold for it is the remission or the forgiveness of sins that word for
remission comes from a verb that means to send away and means nothing
less than the complete removal of our sins. From the reckoning of God
and from God's dealings with us as a righteous and holy judge and when
sin is removed we have no more guilt and when guilt is removed there is
no more wrath and there is no more condemnation. And God delights to
extol how thorough is that central blessing under the gospel when he
uses such language as we find in Psalm 103 and verse 12 as far as the
east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

We have a north pole we can locate it precisely we have a south pole but
we have no east or west pole and one can chase the east to the west or
the west to the east and never overtake the one with the other as far as
the east is from west so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
In that wonderful word in the prophecy of Micah chapter 7 and verse 19
he will again have compassion upon us he will tread our iniquities
underfoot thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
Think of it we are told in some places miles deep is the ocean God says
he will cast our sins into the depths of the sea of his forgetfulness or
in the language of Psalm 130 and verse 4 if thou O Lord shouldest mark
iniquity O Lord who could stand if you should gaze upon iniquity with a
view to calling it to remembrance.

And in calling it to remembrance view it in terms of it's just guilt and
deserved wrath O Lord who could stand not a one of us were God to call
to mind one act of iniquity and deal with it in pure justice and
righteousness one act of iniquity would be enough to forever damn us.
But the psalmist exclaims there is forgiveness with the complete total
irreversible irrevocable forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be
feared so then as we think of this signpost to the celestial city in
Paul's sermon we must first of all see that it sets before us the
central blessing of God's gospel provision and privilege in terms of
forgiveness of sin and I say by way of an aside to you my dear preacher
brethren while I trust we are increasingly committed to proclaiming the
whole counsel of God and are prepared to defend every particle of God's
truth with our life's blood if necessary. And while we with our people
must range over the full wide field of inscripturated revelation let us
never never never get so sophisticated that we do not come back again
and again and again and again in our own secret place with God in the
selection of our hymns and in the selection of our text to take our
posture as joyfully forgiven sinners proclaiming to our fellow sinners
that there is a way for their sins to be forgiven in this simple
signpost to the celestial city there is first of all this statement
forgiveness of sin is the central blessing held forth in the gospel.

This Paul says is what we proclaim unto you that through him there is
remission of sins but then there's a second line on this signpost that
we're considering tonight and it is this that this forgiveness is found
only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and New
Testament history.

Now you must not miss that it's not enough to see on the signpost there
is forgiveness for needy sinners look at the second line it says this
forgiveness is found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament
prophecy and New Testament history you see that in the text look at it
again be it known unto you therefore brethren that through this man or
this one is proclaimed unto you remission of sins and by him everyone
that believe it is justified from all things from which you could not be
justified by the law of Moses through this one and by him now to whom is
the apostle referring well if we read back to the first two heads of his
sermon it's very plain to whom he is making reference it is the Jesus
who was the great magnet of all of the Old Testament prophecies it is
the Christ of

Old Testament prophetic foresight and utterance the prophets speaking of
the coming one who would be the deliverer of God's people under his
second heading he is demonstrating that it is Jesus of Nazareth to whom
John pointed and bore witness of whom David had spoken that his flesh
would not see corruption it was this one verse 31 who was seen for many
days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are now
his witnesses you see what Paul has been saying he has not been holding
up some nebulous ephemeral mystical Jesus concept some new age guru that
you can make him whoever you would make him so long as you find meaning
by having trust in him never in this simple signpost to the celestial
city there is clearly printed the statement forgiveness of sins is the
central

blessing of the gospel but then underneath it printed with equal clarity
is this statement that this forgiveness is found only in connection with
the Christ of Old Testament prophecy and of New Testament history for
the simple reason that true forgiveness deals with the true God and with
real sins that can only be dealt with with the real Christ of real
biblical revelation we're not dealing with philosophical ideas kids
we're not dealing with religious theories the very God the consciousness
of whom you cannot drive from your mind though it would make life a lot
easier for some of you if you could the haunting awareness that he's
there at your elbow wherever you go in the secret chambers of your
thought life he's there and conscience is activated when you think those
thoughts of

dishonesty and lust and meanness and conscience is there the eyelash of
God brushing over your moral consciousness for that's what consciousness
is the eyelash of God it's not some inherent thing programmed in from
the primeval slime it's an evidence that you are an image bearer of God
albeit a marred image bearer and you kids listen to me don't listen to
all of the nonsense that says that you are an image bearer of God your
sense of guilt when you do wrong has been imposed upon you by your mom
and dad in your church and if you're going to come of age throw it all
off that's the surest way to sear your conscience and go to hell you
dear young people listen carefully that's real guilt you feel because
there's a real God against whom you've committed real offenses and the
only way for those

real offenses against a real God to be really dealt with is that there's
a real Christ who came into this real world by a real womb of a real
woman named Mary and who was born in a real stable and who lived up in a
real place grew up in a real place called Nazareth and who as a real man
of maturity was plunged into the real water of a real river Jordan and
was really and truly anointed with the spirit and with power and went
about raising really dead people and healing really sick people and
opening really deaf ears and opening really blind eyes and went to a
place called Gethsemane and wrestled with a real cup not a physical but
a real cup full of the wrath of God against the sins of men a cup so
ugly so full of the stench and vileness of the seething wrath of God
against our sins that

our Lord sweat as it were great drops of blood while he was seeking to
save us he was seeking to embrace with his whole soul what it would mean
to drink that cup and he went to a real place called Gabbatha and a real
place called Golgotha and real nails were put in his hands and in his
feet and upon a real cross he was lifted up between a real earth and a
real heaven and the real vials of the wrath of the real God was poured
upon him until he cried my God my God why have you abandoned me because
there is a real hell that was poured out of heaven upon the son of God
when he hung on the cross the real hell to which you will go if you miss
the signpost dear young people we're not dealing with ideas and notions
and religious concepts we're dealing with the stuff of reality just as
real as

that little lip you stuck out and pouted when you broke the fifth
commandment yesterday when mom asked you to dry the dishes and you
wanted to go play with your dogs that was a real pout that was a real
defiance of the real law of the real God who tells you to honor your
mother and your father and that will bring upon you real wrath and a
real hell forever unless you get God's real way of real forgiveness
through the only real Savior that is there's the signpost it tells us
forgiveness of sins is the great and central blessing set forth in the
gospel it tells us secondly that this forgiveness is found in the blood
of Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus
Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus

Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus
Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus
Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus
Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus
Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ Jesus Christ
Jesus found only in connection with the Christ of Old Testament prophecy
and New Testament history but then there's a third line on this simple
signpost

look at it in our passage Paul goes on to say be it known unto you
brethren that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins
and by him everyone that believeth is justified from all things from
which you could not be justified by the law of Moses what's the third
line on this simple signpost it's this this forgiveness is received in
Christ by faith alone this forgiveness is received in Christ by faith
alone and again for our preacher brethren you kids hang in there for a
minute I'll come back to you the English translation somewhat weakens
the crucial emphasis of the original Alexander suggests this very
helpful translation and from all things from which you were not able to
be justified in the law of Moses in this one everyone believing is
justified you see the emphasis

upon everyone believing is held to the last to give it tremendous impact
upon the mind and the spirit from all things from which you were not
able to be justified by the law of Moses why that's all of my sins for
the law cannot justify me forgive me pardon me give me acceptance with
God with reference to one of my sins from all things from which I cannot
be justified by the law of Moses in this one yes in this one but how in
this one everyone believing is justified the third line upon this simple
signpost of the celestial city says this forgiveness is received in
Christ by faith alone one very perceptive writer has perceived the
reality of this text and spoken as follows in these two short verses we
have the book of Romans and Galatians in a nutshell justification by
faith alone sola fide

is an endless inexhaustible theme the way to salvation so slowly and
with such difficulty prepared for us slowly through the time of
preparation in the old covenant head one of Paul's sermon with
difficulty through the bitter suffering and death of Jesus head number
two in his sermon yet so short and so pleasant for us to travel short
for all we need do is to embrace the cross of Christ by faith pleasant
for here we find remission of sins life and salvation now I don't know
what else to call that but beautiful that's not only true dear people
that's beautiful think of what it meant for God to procure this
salvation head one of his sermon traced out history spanning centuries
head number two focused upon history involving the bloody sweat and the
agony and the forsakenness of the son of

God and the miracle of resurrection but on the ground of that I can have
full free eternal irreversible pardon for all of my sins remission of
all of my sins how? upon believing upon believing hear the text by Him
everyone that believeth is justified yes it will always be a penitent
faith in which the sins for which I seek forgiveness will be detested
and loathed and forsaken it will be a submissive faith that disposes me
to embrace the Lord Jesus not only as my sin bearer but my sovereign and
my master yes that is true and we take second place to none in affirming
and preaching and defending that truth but my dear sinner friend and my
dear preacher friend let us never never obscure the glory of sola fide
by grace are you saved through faith and Paul does not put a big
parenthesis of

course I mean penitent faith, submissive faith faith that leads to a
holy life faith that leads to a sincere embrace of the Lord that's all
true but he dares to say by grace have you been saved through faith he
dares to say in this synagogue as he is etching this simple signpost to
the celestial city right in a synagogue made up of Jews and of Gentile
proselytes by Him everyone that believes is justified you see it is the
unique nature of faith that it is totally receptive it takes what is
offered by another it receives what is provided by another therefore it
is likened to drinking of the water of life it is likened to eating of
the bread of life it is likened to looking upon the serpent of brass it
is the unique capacity of faith to have nothing in itself upon which to
rest and to go

totally out of itself into another to find all of its needs met in that
other and that other is the Lord Jesus and you dear children one of my
greatest fears in you young people is that because you have been soundly
and properly instructed and catechized and doctrinally sensitive and you
must be and ought to be if we parents are to do our tasks but my great
fear is has the enemy taken what should have been your means of blessing
and salvation and used it to get you all in a muddle and you say faith
and obedience and repentance and I can't sort my dear young man young
woman here's the issue do you see yourself a sinner and as a sinner
exposed to the real wrath of a real God who could send you to a real
hell this night if he took your life then I'm warranted as I stand by
this simple sign

post to tell you if owning the reality of your sinnerhood owning the
reality that there's nothing you can do to scrub away your sins to make
yourself acceptable to God you're prepared to throw yourself kids into
the lap of Jesus and say Jesus everything that has to do with my sin
problem I'm willing to entrust it to you I'm willing to entrust it to
you in the light of what you did when you died on the cross and rose
from the dead oh Jesus everything that has to do with cleansing me from
my sins of lying and pouting and disobeying and strapping with my
sisters and cheating at school and being nasty on the playground and
talking dirty words and passing around dirty jokes and you older ones
I'll not describe your sins but you know them are you prepared to go to
Christ stinking and raking

with the foul stench of your sins and say Lord Jesus take a stinking
rotten foul smelling sinner like me and wash me in your own precious
blood cleanse me in that blood that you shed upon the cross Lord Jesus
I'm prepared to entrust myself to you to do all the saving this sign
post on which is written the words forgiveness is the central blessing
in the gospel the words this forgiveness is to be found in connection
with the Christ of biblical history and prophecy it also says that this
salvation is received in Christ by faith alone faith alone and that's
the great stumbling block of the gospel isn't it that's the great
stumbling block of the gospel man wants to have something plus Christ
something plus faith alone will give him the grounds to have something
plus Christ because faith alone

is the empty hand that takes a full and inadequate Savior faith alone is
the parched mouth that drinks of him who is the water of life now I must
hasten to look at the fourth line there on our simple sign post and it
is this look at it in the text by him everyone that believes is
justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the
law of Moses and what did Paul do with that truth back up to verse 38 be
it known unto you therefore brethren that through this one is proclaimed
unto you remission of sins the fourth line in our simple sign post says
this this forgiveness in Christ by faith is freely and sincerely
proclaimed to all without distinction this forgiveness in Christ by
faith is freely and sincerely proclaimed to all without distinction when
Paul said be it known

unto you therefore brethren that through this man is solemnly declared
is the sense of that verb I'm not just shooting off the mouth because
it's my job as an apostle to talk about Jesus I am solemnly testifying
as one who stands in the presence of the living God that there is no one
here in this synagogue within the sound of my voice whether you are of
the stock of Israel after the flesh whether you are part of those
Gentiles who had come to embrace the God of old covenant revelation
whatever your background, whatever your sins, whatever your blindness
whatever your perversity I solemnly declare to all of you freely,
sincerely, without distinction and then he moves from the general to the
specific that everyone by Him everyone that believeth to all is the
proclamation made but the

promise must be embraced one by one would to God we could bring you in
in twos and fours and sixes would to God we could get you in on mom and
dad's apron strings there's no godly parent who doesn't wish for the
power to bring his children in with him I've never asked for miracle
powers for this, that or the other if there's one thing I could ask God
for be Lord give me the power to bring my kids in but God hasn't given
you that power they've got to go in on their own you children, you've
got to go in on your own you've got to go in on your own you've got to
stand by the simple signpost and you've got to see that the God who has
etched these directions on the signpost is saying to you as you stand
before it tonight this is solemnly declared to you little ones,
teenagers, preteens,

postteens midlife, old men and women it matters not forgiveness in
Christ by faith is freely and sincerely proclaimed to all of you without
distinction it's promised only to believers it's proclaimed to all what
keeps you? there is only one way you will ever lay hold of Christ and
that's to lay hold of Him in the word and promise of the gospel don't
wait for something else you won't get it and if you think you got it, it
will be a spirit of delusion you hear me? some of you, again, this is
the great stumbling block you say but Pastor Martin, this is all I've
ever heard from the time I was a little kid I've never known anything
else, I have no reason to doubt it well then why not embrace it with all
your heart and begin to live in the confidence of it but you say I won't
know whether I

will save then or then or then well who cares believing now you can know
that now you are saved and saved now you'll be saved tomorrow and saved
tomorrow the day after tomorrow and saved in the day of the Lord Jesus
as you go on believing oh dear children, dear children don't make it
more complicated there on the signpost, God is saying to you to you
forgiveness in Christ is yours if you will believe those are the four
simple lines that God has etched on this simple signpost of the
celestial city if you've got them in your mind line number one says
forgiveness is the great blessing held forth in the gospel forgiveness
is to be found only in the Christ of biblical revelation forgiveness is
found in Christ only to those who believe forgiveness is sincerely
offered to all and you are urged

to believe but then as I look down at the bottom piece of that simple
signpost there's an asterisk and you know what it says it says warning
warning this simple signpost concludes with a warning look at it in the
passage behold or beware therefore verse 40 beware therefore beware is a
word of warning you come up to a house you're going to a friend's place
and it says beware of the dog beware of this danger the word beware
means there's a danger lurking about and this simple signpost ends with
an asterisk on the bottom and a warning beware therefore lest that come
upon you which is spoken by the prophets behold you despisers and wander
and perish for I work a work in your days a work which you shall in no
wise believe if one declare it unto you and here the apostle takes a
quote from the

Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint from
Habakkuk 1 in verse 5 Habakkuk had predicted judgment on unbelieving
Israel and Paul concludes his gospel sermon his simple signpost to the
celestial city with an asterisk and with a warning and the warning is
against the greatest sin of all and you know what the greatest sin of
all is that will keep you out of heaven it's not the sin of lying
there'll be many many forgiven liars in heaven thank God I'll be one of
them there'll be many forgiven murderers in heaven there'll be many
forgiven adulterers and homosexuals and pedophiles and child abusers and
every vile kind of sinner in heaven but there's one kind of sinner that
won't be in heaven you know what that is an unbelieving sinner the
crowning damning sin is the sin of

unbelief beware therefore Paul says lest that come upon you spoken by
the prophets behold you despisers and wonder and perish I'll work a work
in your days which you'll in no wise believe if one declare it unto you
in other words they were listening to the word of the prophet in a
spirit of cynical unbelief and he says such unbelievers will perish you
know the New Testament counterpart of that don't you he that believeth
not shall be damned he that believes not the wrath of God abides upon
him and I would conclude our study of this second simple signpost to the
celestial city by saying to every one of you kids and men and women and
friends gathered here tonight look at the asterisk on that sign we've
looked at the four simple statements that constitute this signpost to
the celestial city

but here's the warning beware beware beware of going out and saying oh
that was nice and I like that imagery of the signpost and that was
clever how he my friend I don't care what you think about the sermon my
concern is will you go out with the Savior or without Him that's the
concern beware beware lest having heard again you say either I don't
need such a Savior or such a Savior is unwilling to receive me in either
case it's unbelief about what God says you are or unbelief about what He
says His Son is and you've got to believe what God says you are a hell
deserving sinner whether you're three years old or thirty or ninety and
that Christ is the only Savior suited to any sinner three, thirty or
ninety don't go out in unbelief but embrace the offered Savior stand by
that signpost and say

oh God thank You for planting it in Your Word for bringing me near it in
the preaching oh Lord I see beyond the preacher and beyond my mom and my
dad and the friends and the visitors around me oh Lord I see that I
stand before You covered with my sins I see that there's no way to have
them removed unless Christ takes them away I see that Christ alone can
take them Christ is willing to take them and I want them taken what do I
wait for just as I am without one plea but that Thy blood was shed for
me and that Thou bidst me come to Thee oh Lamb of God I come just as I
am in waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot to Thee whose blood
can cleanse each spot oh Lamb of God I come may You make haste to Jesus
let us pray Our Father how we thank You for Your Holy Word thank You
that You have

given us in the Scriptures a sure and a certain Word revealing Your
saving mercy to hell-deserving sinners and as we have stood before this
simple signpost pointing us to a better world and how to be prepared to
meet You and stand before You may Your Spirit take the truth concerning
Christ and make it effectual to bring sun this night to embrace the Lord
Jesus oh God renew us in the confidence that we ought to have in the
Gospel renew us in our expectation that You will make it in our day Your
instrument of power unto salvation may we dare to let it loose in all of
its pristine simplicity and all of its saving beauty oh Lord deal with
us Your people that our sinfully silent tongues will be loosened that we
may as You give us opportunity and as we make opportunities be bold to
speak forth

so glorious a message of life and salvation thank You our God for this
day in Your courts thank You for Your presence thank You for Your people
thank You for all of Your institutions all of Your ordinances oh Lord
our hearts are full we give You praise and ask Your continued blessing
to rest upon us as together we commit ourselves and Your word to Your
care in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/7/SID7172.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/al-martin/the-way-of-forgiveness-of-sins/
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