Jesus Paid It All

Over the weekend, my friend Thabiti Anyabwile tweeted a link to a clip produced by Together for the Gospel. I watched it, rejoiced, and then wept. The clip is a short section of one of Elder D. J. Ward’s, the then pastor of Lexington’s Main Street Baptist Church, sermons. He had pastored the Lexington church for 19 years before his death in 2008 due to complications from lung cancer. I have only found a little about him (John Piper’s tribute and a pastor attempting to collect his sermons) but what I’ve heard is worth learning more. His sermon will make your heart sing because the gospel makes our heart sing.

Below, I’ve attempted to transcribe most of this video, but please take a moment to listen and watch this clip from T4G. You won’t be disappointed!

Transcription:

I contend this morning that the death of Christ was not an attempt; it was an accomplishment. And now brothers and sisters, when one accomplishes something it means somewhere they had to have an assignment.

Well, what was the assignment? His name shall be called Jesus. For He shall save. Not attempt to save. Not try to save. Not hope to save. Not want to save. But He shall save His people from their sin.

Now I hear this, I hear this on television and I hear it in churches…that God has done all He can do. The rest is up to you. If the rest is up to you, then He didn’t accomplish it. If anything is up to you, He didn’t accomplish it.

I’ve even heard this: you’ve got to help God save you. He can’t do it by himself. If God cannot do it by himself, then He didn’t accomplish it. He’s a false god. He’s a liar and you best not trust Him. If He didn’t do it, then we ought to stop singing ‘Jesus paid it all’. Sing, ‘He paid some of it.’

Now brothers and sisters, if He did not accomplish it, we are here in vain. And you can have all the religion you want, if this was not accomplished, we are going to hell. It’s just that blunt, it’s just that simple, it’s just that clear.

But if He did do it. He doesn’t need your best and your works need not speak for you. If He did do it, you can leave here rejoicing that your sins are now under the blood. And He stands as your substitute, your mediator before God this morning. Pleading the blood. Pleading His blood. That perfect sacrifice that holy attainment, He’s pleading the blood. You can rest that all of my sins are under that blood.

Did He accomplish it? Did He fail? Do we need more having to come after Him? Do we need another prophet after Him?

I declare this morning He paid it all! He paid it all. Every drop of it. Every sin I was going to commit. Every sin I thought about committing. He nailed it to His cross and I bear it no more! Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

It is well with my soul.

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