(Missions Conference Shoals) - Part 2 — Paul Washer

The Infinite Glory of Christ

And preach Christ as he ought to be preached. And though I heard no word, I knew, son, even then you will not preach Christ as he ought to be preached. All the choruses of glory, all the choruses and corrals of heaven, strain with every fiber of their spiritual being to lift a word that might be worthy about the Christ.

And after all is sung, and after all is cried out, they bow their heads knowing they have not even begun to climb the foothills of the Himalayas of the glories of Christ. Oh, that your heart would be warmed, that your heart would be warmed.

The Gravity of Sin and the Holiness of God

In Romans chapter three, verse 23, for all have sinned. That does not shock us today. It does not terrify us. It does not scare us or frighten us. And it should, it should, it should. One man fell, one man sinned, our father Adam.

And one sin was enough to crash an entire universe into condemnation, was enough to set this entire world almost into a whirling spiritual and moral chaos, physical chaos. One sin, one tiny sin is so grievous against a holy and loving and gracious and compassionate God that it takes down a universe with it.

And then there we are. We stand and we multiply sin upon sin upon sin upon sin. We are a people of unclean lips and we dwell among a people of unclean lips. We have no idea the gravity of sin. If you're older here, you might have caught yourself saying, well, let me put it this way.

I'm not wanting to attack young people tonight, but let me just give you an example to show how dull we can become to sin. We can come to be with regard to sin. The things that are worn by your culture, the things that are worn at the beach by your culture, that even you as Christians wear.

If that had been worn by a person, even 60 or 70 years ago in public, they would have either been thrown in prison or placed in an insane asylum. And yet we do it today with no shame whatsoever. Just in a matter of 60 years, look how dull we have become to what is wrong.

How can we as a people understand the gravity of sin? When we swim in it, we drink it down as though it were water. Everywhere you look, it is used, it is promoted. And so when the Bible says for all have sinned, we see nothing frightening about it.

And yet we do not know that creatures far more splendid than us, angelic beings with one revolt in heaven, with one turning away from God in heaven, they were cast out and an eternity of destruction awaits them without one hope of salvation.

Creation’s Obedience and Humanity’s Rebellion

It's as though God standing on the day of creation, He speaks to stars that can swallow up 6 ,000 of our sons. And He says, you stand in this place and you move in this way until I give you another word.

And then He speaks to planets and He tells them, put yourself in such and such orbits and stay there until I command another thing. And they all obey Him. And then He says to the mountains, be lifted up.

And He tells valleys, be cast down. And they march to every word with perfect obedience. He pours the rain out on the ground and the ground obeys by turning to mud. He brings the sun out from behind the clouds and the ground dries in obedience to the Lord.

He tells monsters of the deep the ways that they should move, the waters that they should stay in. He tells the deep itself, you will come here and you will go no further. And they all obey Him. And then He looks at you and says, come, and you go, no.

We have no idea the gravity of sin because we have no idea of the greatness. I think sometimes I agree with a psychiatrist, Jung, who said, hurry is not of the devil, hurry is the devil. Now, I believe in a personal devil, but the point I'm trying to make is that one of the works of the devil is to keep the people of our culture so entertained with frivolous, trifling things that they know not who God truly is.

And then there are pulpiteers who do not know God themselves. And so allow the people to participate in trifles while they march their way into hell. But, oh, my dear friend, if only I could pull back the curtain.

If only I had hours with you tonight to take you through every step of Scripture and show you what God sees when He sees sin. And to show you the passionate, yea, even violent, furious hatred of God that comes against sin.

It is so hard to preach on sin unless you have spent several, several weeks preaching on the attributes of God. Unless you have preached on the law. Someone asked a preacher one time, he said, why don't you preach on hell?

I never hear you preach on hell. And he said, well, it's pretty much useless to preach on hell. Everybody believes in hell. The problem is no one believes they're going there. So I preach on the law. Oh, my dear friend, young people, the vileness and the wretchedness of sin.

So many people today are appalled when I speak of hell. And yet if they truly understood the glory, the beauty and the kindness and the love of God, and they truly understood their own vileness, they would quickly understand that hell is a just place for the ungodly.

Do you realize, my dear friend, that there is enough in you apart from Christ, that if it were not for the restraining grace of God, you would make Hitler look like a choir boy. For all have, what a terrifying statement.

The Restlessness of the Human Heart

It leaves us dead. It leaves us corralled. It leaves us on the ground without any hope whatsoever. For all have sinned. Now, when you're catechizing your children or reading through the Westminster, you come to understand that sin is lack of conformity to the law of God.

And when we say that, that's an impersonal thing. And it doesn't sound too bad. Sin is breaking a rule. It is not conforming to law. And that's not such a terrible thing at first until you understand that the law to which you are not conforming is God's law.

And that to break God's law is to dishonor deity, to lift your clenched fist in the face of God and proclaim to him that you will not have him to be God over you. And if you could, you would storm through the gates of the throne room of God.

You would tackle God and slaughter him. That's what it means when the Bible says, for all have sinned. And that's why any type of good work we think we could lift up to God in order to make ourselves right with him is absolutely, well, not only preposterous, it's blasphemous.

He says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory. Now, what does this mean? In the context of Romans, the first three chapters, I think it first of all would mean this. We did not esteem God to have any worth whatsoever.

Although they knew God, they did not honor him as, and come to the point where even fighting against him, he's not even worth enough to fight against. Just simply ignore him. You say, well, those are pretty hard words.

No, they're pretty true words. There is not a man, woman, or child in this building tonight, including this preacher, who has esteemed God as he ought to be esteemed. Who has shown gratitude to God as he ought to see from his creature.

I mean, you are able to turn almost anything, an inanimate object, a car, a house, into an idol and lift it up above God. Give it more worth than God. You're able to take clothing and give it more worth than God.

You're able to take your own reputation, your own time, everything, and make it of greater worth than God. You do it every day. Here we were created for him. We were created by him, but we were created for him, for him, for him.

We receive breath. Every breath we receive comes from the Almighty, and it is given to man only to return it to him in praise. Every beat of our heart is given. By the sovereign decree of God, so that our hearts might beat for him.

But as I was praying in the pastor's office, Lord, this heart of mine, so prone to wander, so prone to leave the God I love. When we look at the human race, the only thing I can say, if I were to pick out one word, it would be ingratitude.

That everything you are, every good and perfect gift you've received, everything of pleasure, everything of joy, everything that's ever been of any good whatsoever in your life has come from him. Now, people always talk, theologians, talk about the problem of evil.

If you're biblical, there is no problem. The problem of evil. Why do bad things happen to good people? That is not the question at all. That is not the question. Why do bad things happen to good people?

The problem, the philosophical problem within the context of Scripture is why is there anything good on this fallen world? God should have left us nothing of joy, nothing of beauty, nothing of peace, nothing of life.

The question is, how can he still be so gracious to a people that hates him? And all men are born haters of God until they are regenerated by the power, fallen short of the glory of God. And where has that left us?

Where has that left us? A hollow husk of a people. One thing that I try to get across and that I want to get across so much to my sons is that, sons, you were made for him. And as Augustine said, your heart will be restless.

Your heart will have no peace. Yea, until you find him. Isn't it amazing? Let me speak to the Christians for a moment that are here. Isn't it amazing that we are the wealthiest, most protected Christians in the history of Christianity with more at our disposal than all the other Christians put together down through the history of the church?

And yet, if you go into a Christian bookstore, most of them, you will find out that more than half of the volumes are dedicated to fixing how empty we are. Now, isn't that a marvel? And why is it that we are so empty?

For the same reason that Jesus never was. He said, I have food to eat that you know not of. And that food is to do the will of my Father who sent me. There is a real sense in which God has placed eternity in your heart.

Justification by Grace Through Faith

There is a real sense in which your heart, there is this infinite hole in your heart. And if you know anything about mathematics, you cannot fill, or philosophy, you cannot fill infinite space with finite matter.

This world, as great as it is, all its wealth, all its beauty, all its fame, all its fortune, take the whole thing, rob every other human being on the face of the earth and take all of that and put it in your heart and your heart will still be empty.

And that is why so many people are so miserable today. And that is why so many people are like the walking dead. They breathe, they think, they speak about things that they do not possess. The difference between a secular philosopher and a theologian is this.

The secular philosopher will constantly speak about beauty and truth and life and peace and purpose and meaning. But for him, it is nothing more than the writing of poetry. It is nothing more than a dream.

He does not have it, nor can he find it for anyone else. The theologian says, yes, all these things exist, but they exist in the Godhead. They exist in deity. They exist in God, the Almighty Creator of the heavens and the earth.

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now this presents a most tremendous problem. A most tremendous problem. And I want to speak for just a moment. We are all aware of the movie, The Passion, that has come out.

I have no qualms whatsoever with the film. Many preachers and things have written me asking me my opinion, what should they do and all sorts of things. And most of them, I've responded this way. I don't have a problem with Mel Gibson, nor do I have a problem with his film.

But I do have a problem with the Southern Baptist preachers who are going to use that thing in all the wrong ways. You see, you take a look at that film, which I yet have seen. I'm afraid to see it. I'm just afraid.

I don't know if I can bear it. But when you see the physical sufferings of Christ, what is not communicated by the preacher in the modern day pulpit is that is a small reflection of the greater pain that the Christ suffered.

We are going to see tonight that it wasn't whips and thorns and crosses that were the true pain of the cross. And we're also going to see that it wasn't those things alone that save us. But we're going to see something much greater, much more horrifying behind what can be seen with the eye.

It says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now, this presents a tremendous problem. I'm going to read a text to you. He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.

Now, I'm going to shorten this. It says, he who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. That's Proverbs 17, 15, one of the most important verses in the Bible because it explains just about the full context of everything that's going on in the Bible.

He who justifies the wicked is an abomination, a hateful thing, a loathsome thing in the sight of God. And that there, my friend, is the greatest problem in the entire Bible. When we go back to Romans 3, verse 24, after hearing in verse 23 that all men are wicked, and wicked indeed, we come to verse 24 and it says, being justified, an action done to the wicked by God.

God justifies the wicked. And yet we read in the book of Proverbs, we read in Scripture, and Scripture cannot be broken, what do we read? It is an abomination to the Lord to justify the wicked. And yet now in Romans we hear that God is justifying the wicked.

What do we do with this passage? This is what the entire Bible is speaking about. This is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. If God is just, He cannot pardon the wicked. And we are wicked, therefore we are without hope.

See, in a land that knows nothing of law, or the philosophy of law, or justice, or righteousness, a corrupt people, children of evil deeds, that's what we are. Ignorant of greater weightier matters, that's who we are.

We cannot understand Scripture as it should be understood. That if God is the just judge of all the earth, and if God must do right, and He must be consistent with His character, that's what it means to do right, then God cannot forgive the wicked, but must measure out to them the judgment that is due them.

And the question of the entire Bible is, how can God be just, and at the same time justify wicked men? If you look in verse 26, you have that, so that He would be just and the justifier of the wicked.

Now, let's look at this passage, being justified. Everything, my dear friend, I want to come down there and I just want to shake you. Every... if you study contemporary or comparative religious studies, if you do comparative religious studies, the different religions in the world, you'll find out that there are really only two.

You'll find two truths, actually. First of all, you'll find out that every real religion is setting out to answer one question. How can a man be right before God? That right there ought to be proof to an anthropologist or a sociologist that there's something to the Bible if everyone on the face of the earth believes that they are wrong with God.

And the question of all these religions out in the world is, how can I be made right or declared right with God? How can it happen? And that's what justified means. Speaking about Christians, He says that they are justified.

That means that the Christian who believes in Jesus Christ is declared to be right with God. That God forensically or legally declares that believer to be right with Him. To be right, not wrong, not sinful, not out of balance, not out of turn, not in rebellion.

And again, I present the problem to you. We're not right. So how can a just God declare us to be right? Hold on to that question. And He says, being justified as a gift. Now, I said you can say two things about comparative religions.

First of all, that they're all seeking to know how to be right with God. But then you can say another thing. When you study religions all around the world, you'll come to the conclusion that there are really only two religions.

There are really only two religions. Christianity, a religion of grace. True Christianity, a religion of grace. And all the other religions have one thing in common. They all seek to be made right with God through their own virtue, their own merit, their own works.

All of them, without exception. Take them all, put them all together, you will find this to be true. All the religions outside of genuine biblical historical Christianity believe that they can somehow make themselves right with God by their own virtue and their own merits.

Which shows you, first of all, that they're great as thin as idolatry. Because they're calling something God that is not God. Because if they knew the true God, they would know His holiness and understand their sinfulness and realize that they could never gain a right standing with God through their own works.

But he says being justified, being declared right with God, reconciled to God, at peace with God. How? As a gift by His grace. As a gift. This is the same word that is found. This is very important, listen to me.

Sometimes where I preach, someone will get up and sing a song that's the eternal question, I can't understand why God would love me. And when they sing that song, I'm like in the back going, oh, pick me, I'll tell you why.

If you're always wondering why God would love, what is it that God sees in you that causes Him to love you? Let me answer that question for you. Absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing. As a matter of fact, everything that God sees in you, apart from His grace and the work of Jesus Christ, would only bring judgment and wrath against you.

You see, when the Bible says for all have sinned, it doesn't mean that prior to coming to Christ, you were a pretty good person who made some mistakes or every once in a while sinned or sinned every once in a while.

That's not what it means. It means that prior to coming to Jesus Christ, the only thing you ever did with every breath was sin against God. And he goes on and he says justified as a gift. Now, there is a passage that Jesus quotes in the book of Psalms.

It says they hated, the Gospel's quoted, and they hated Him without a cause. Scripture's fulfilled. They hated Me without a cause. Now, let me ask you a question, Christian. Does anyone, I mean, could anyone stand up and say they have a right reason for hating Jesus?

You could search the world over and over and over again, and you will never find a person who even has one reason for hating Jesus. And that's the same word that's used here by the Apostle Paul. Justified without cause.

He declared you right, and you gave Him no reason whatsoever to do it. But he not only says that, he says justified as a gift by His grace. Now, Paul has said something and iterated. He's become redundant, it seems.

It's as though Paul is saying you have been declared right with God as a gift, as a gift, as a gift, as a gift, as a gift, as a gift, as a gift, as a gift, as a gift. And if we read in the book of Galatians and throughout the book of Romans, we understand the book of Ephesians, he's always saying the same thing.

He's always hammering the same truth home to the people. Your salvation is a gift by grace. It's a gift by grace. It's a gift by grace. Now, why does he have to do that? Because men hate grace. You say, what?

I've never heard of such a thing. Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is when God is kind to you even when there's no reason for it. Grace is when God treats you with favor when you've done just the opposite and deserve wrath.

Why would anyone hate that? Why would anyone hate unmerited favor? Because it is unmerited. And if it is unmerited, it means that in order to receive it, you have to acknowledge what Romans 3 .23 is saying.

You have to acknowledge in order to come to Christ, you have to acknowledge that there is absolutely nothing in you that could motivate a holy God to be favorable to you. And that if you are declared right with Him, you are only declared right with Him because of a working and a thing coming out of Him that has nothing to do with you.

Men do not want to humble themselves. If I were a preacher of works, I could have a church of 30 million people. If I were a preacher of religion, I could have a church as large as any church in the world.

If I was a preacher of works, because men love to hear that they're good enough to get to heaven. Men love to say that they have done something in order to merit God's favor. And then they don't stop there.

I mean, you give a sinful man an inch, he'll take a mile. To the point where finally he has placed his throne over God and God has become his debtor. That's why men hate grace. That's why men hate the song.

Nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I claim. Well, surely there's some worth in me, isn't there? No! That's what men, he says, whom being justified as a gift by His grace. How can he do this?

Redemption, Propitiation, and the Justice of God

How can God declare the wicked to be right when they are not right? God uses two words. One of them is almost unspeakable. It's not theatrics when I tell you that I'm almost afraid to say this word. Redemption.

We are a people who plays, we play marbles with the diamonds of God. We throw out words, we speak them, we yell them, we scream them, we sing them. And oftentimes we know not what we do. I know that this is not exactly a wonderful display of God's attributes.

I'm going to say something a bit human that in a human way about God, which doesn't really apply directly, but as an illustration, what do you think would go through the mind of God when He hears the word redemption?

A word that we read quickly. A word that we just sing out thoughtlessly. And yet what would go through the mind of God when He hears such a word? Would it be His only begotten Son crucified over a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem for the sake of a bunch of people who can't even begin to understand the cost?

How is it that we are declared right with God? Because blood was spilt. The blood of God's only begotten Son. What a gift. This Father has given unto us. I remember after my first boy was born, whenever I thought and taught and studied on the cross of Jesus Christ, my attention was always given to the Son, to the Son, to the Son.

And the sufferings of the Son. I never thought much about the heart of the Father until I had a son. I would die a thousand deaths for my boys. I would do everything in my power to defend them from harm.

I would rather be tortured with torture unspeakable than to see harm befall them. And as I was driving down the road in my old truck, I began to think the Father and what He gave. If I, being evil, and that's what Jesus said, can love my boys with such a passion, what is the love of the Father toward His only begotten Son?

And yet to give Him up, to be crucified over a garbage dump, for His blood to be spilt, so that wicked men who hate God might be reconciled to Him. Redemption, a price that is paid to bring deliverance to a slave, to bring deliverance to captives.

And that is what God has done. The word redemption. One of the things that seem to haunt me is this. I have been bought with a price. Not with gold or silver or trinkets from temples, but I have been bought with the precious blood of the Lamb of God.

I am now not my own. I am a prisoner of love. Now we go farther and He speaks about this redemption. And He says in verse 25, speaking about His Son, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation. Whom God displayed publicly.

God, as Martin Lloyd-Jones says, placarded Him, ordained that He die in a most public display for a purpose. And what was that purpose? That purpose was to reveal the true character and nature of God and to vindicate that character.

To demonstrate once and for all who God truly is. You see, you need to understand something. When you talk about Christ dying for men, you can say a hearty amen. But understand that first of all, Christ died for God.

And for God's glory. And for God's revelation. And for God's vindication. And you need to understand something. Everything God has ever done, He has done it for His Son. And everything the Son has ever done, He has done it for His Father.

We are beneficiaries, but we are not the center of the universe. Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation. A sacrifice that does what? A sacrifice that takes sin away. That removes guilt once and for all.

But more than that, a liberal will tell you that. Not only just taking guilt away, but satisfying justice. And appeasing the fierce, holy, violent wrath of Almighty God. That's what a propitiation is.

Now let's get back to the great divine dilemma. As we could say that we saw in the book of Proverbs chapter 17 verse 15. To justify the wicked is an abomination. So how can God justify the wicked without being an abomination?

The only one way. There is only one way. Through this propitiation, this sacrifice of God's Son. In ancient Castellano, in Spanish, in La Reina Valera. Which is an old translation that we often use in South America.

It's used in Spain. When the publican or the tax gatherer is praying in the temple. He cries out. Se propicio a mi. Se, which means be. Propicio, propitiation. Propicio a mi. Be propicio to me. The word means literally this.

Be merciful to me. Now you say, well that's a wonderful thing and God is a quite merciful God. No, there is a terrible theological and philosophical problem here. Let me explain it to you with a vulgar illustration.

Let's go back to Valladolid in the 16th century. Valladolid, España. And the punishment for a slave. At that time for stealing from his master. Would be death. Instant death, no appeal, death. So the master comes home one day and he finds the slave stealing.

He grabs him by the back of the neck and is dragging him to the gallows. Because the law declares that the slave must die. That's the law. And the slave, knowing he's going to the gallows. Falls down on his knees and cries out.

Se propicio a mi amo. Be merciful to me, master. You say, well now it is up to the master to decide whether to be merciful or not. No, there is something much deeper here. That we don't understand and we need to understand.

The law demands that he dies. When the slave asks for mercy. He's asking the master not to obey the law. He's asking the master to look away from the law. And ignore righteousness and justice. Let me give you another illustration.

Let's say that you go home tonight and your entire family has been slaughtered on the floor. And you see the man who's done this with the blood on his hands. Running through the back door. And you go through the front door and you come around the house.

And you knock him to the ground and you take him to the police. And the police take him to the judge. And the judge looks down at him and says. I'm a loving judge. I forgive you. The first word that's going to come out of your mouth.

The very first words will be. I demand justice. This is not fair. You're going to write congressmen and senators. You're going to write the newspaper. You're going to call up the radio and television stations.

You're going to do all in your power. You're going to cry out that there is a judge on the bench. Who is far more wicked than the criminals he allows to go free. A judge must do right. He must do justice.

We demand such things from our own judges. How much more the judge of all the earth must he do right? You see God is holy. And God is just. He cannot be inconsistent within himself. He cannot turn away from his own justice.

And just forgive the wicked. I hear preachers sometimes saying. God could have been just with us. But instead of being just he was loving. They're saying that God was unjust. That he was wicked. That he became an abomination in the name of love.

No my dear friend. And then there are others who say. That God must conform to the law. God must carry out the law. As though there's a law higher than God. No that's not true either. God cannot forgive the wicked.

Just like that. Not because there's some law over him that's higher. But because the law flows out of his very nature. God cannot be inconsistent in his own being. He cannot say. I'll be loving today and not just.

Or I'll be just today and not loving. God must be both just and loving. And he is in our salvation. For he sent his only begotten son. To die in our place. And pay the price. And become the just and the justifier.

Of those who have faith in him. Now there's something you need to understand about this son. First of all he is a man. God became a man. Wonder of wonders. That Mary should give birth. To the one who created her.

Wonder of wonders. That manna should take on human form. Wonder of wonders. That the God of glory should become a man. And why does he need to become a man? It is man who has sinned. It is man who must die.

The blood of bulls and goats will not take away sin. And so if we are to be saved. A man must die in our place. But that man must also be God. And why is that? There are several reasons. First of all.

Salvation is of the Lord. The Jehovah Witnesses. They do not understand what they're doing. When they say that Jesus Christ is not God in the flesh. Here's what they are saying. That God created or made a creature.

I'll be it very special. They say Jesus is nothing more than a created being. A creature. So God makes a creature. Sends that creature down. To win for us salvation. That creature becomes our savior. And salvation is no longer of the Lord.

God will have none of it. All the work of salvation on behalf of man. Is a work of God. And God became man to do that work. He was God. Some other reasons. Possibly. You could think about. Who but God.

Could withstand. The wrath of God. Have you ever thought about that? Before His anger. Before His wrath. The mountains melt. But only God. Could go to a tree. And withstand. His very wrath. Against our sin.

And our crimes. Another thing that's very interesting to think about. In order for us to be saved. Someone has to lay down their life. But here's something I want you to think about. And then college students always ask me this.

They say well. You know how can one man. Dying on a cross. For a short period of time. Suffering the wrath of God. Pay for a multitude of men. And save them from an eternity in hell. I love that question.

The answer is this. Because that one man. Dying on that cross. Is worth more. Than everyone else put together. He is worth more. Than planets. And stars. And angels and people. And crickets and clowns.

And dust and dirt. And mountains and seas. And the monsters of the deep. All that ever has been. All that ever will be. Every created thing. Flowing from the fingers of God. Put it all together on the scale.

And put the Christ on the other side. And He outweighs them all in value. He outweighs them all. Now. We need to speak about one thing. Now. And it is this. I was in a seminary in northern. It was in eastern Europe.

Last year. A Germanic. Seminary. All the volumes were in German. I was kind of looking around. I was teaching there. And I had a break. And I was looking around. To find something I could read. And there was a book.

On the cross of Christ. And now. If you have read as many books. As I have. You kind of learn to open the thing up. Go through it really fast. You can find. Really quick. What the book is all about. You just have to know where to look.

This is what that book said. God looked down. At the sufferings of His Son. On that cross. That were being inflicted upon Him. By the hands of men. And He counted that suffering. As payment. For our sin.

That is heresy. That my friend. Is heresy. In the greatest degree. Or you'll hear preachers that will say. The Father looked down from heaven. And He saw the suffering of His Son. At the hands of men.

And it was so vile and so horrid. That the Father out of love. Turned away from His Son. And could not bear to see His suffering. That is heresy my friend. To the greatest degree. My dear friend. If you are saved here tonight.

Penal Substitution and the Wrath of God

You are not saved. Because the Romans and Jews rejected Jesus. You are not saved. Because they beat Him. With a cat of nine tails. You are not saved. Because they nailed Him to a rugged cross. You are not saved.

Because of what men did to Jesus. If you are saved. You are saved. Because when He was on that cross. He bore your sin. And the Father in heaven. Crushed Him under the weight of His own wrath. That is the thing.