Many years ago, I can remember
being at sea in the Navy, and all I had at the time was a picture
of my wife and longed for that day when I got to come home and
be with her. I heard someone say recently
that watching the services online is kind of like kissing a picture
of your wife. There's something missing in
the translation. And I know that Daryl and Treva
and Bonnie would all three agree with me on that. They've been
watching online. Daryl is Trisha's brother. And we're just very thankful for the Lord's
grace, Daryl. We've been talking and a few
months ago, Darryl explained to me his experience and it sounded
like Saul of Tarsus. God just stopped him in his tracks
and they live in Pensacola. So the Murrays are not the longest
commuters today. Darryl and the Trivia drove here
from Pensacola to be baptized. And Scott and Christine came
from California because they were tired of kissing the picture
and wanted to be a part of the bride. And when they did, Christine's
sister Bonnie, who lives in Sebring, started listening and coming
up, and the Lord was pleased to save her. Bonnie's been here
a couple times, and all three, Daryl and Treven, Bonnie, asked
me if they could be baptized, and of course, believe with all
your heart that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, amen,
amen. We're going to change our order
schedule a little bit today. Treva has a very important meeting
that she must attend down by the airport, and so she's going
to have to get away quickly to be there in time for a business
meeting. And so we're going to have baptism
at the beginning of this hour, and then we'll have the Lord's
table afterwards. So Tom's going to come lead us
in number 190. in your hardback hymnal, and
then we will rejoice in baptism. We bless the name of Christ the
Lord, we bless him for his holy word, who loved to do his Father's
will, and all his righteousness fulfill. We follow Him with pure delight,
To sanctify His sacred right, And thus our faith with water
seal, To prove obedience that we feel. Baptized in God the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, three in one, with conscience free, we rest
in God, in love and peace through Jesus' blood. ? By grace we of a father cry
? By grace the comforter comes nigh ? And for thy grace our
love shall be ? Forever only Lord for thee Please be seated. I confess to you and before God
that Christ is his life and that he's And he resented that. No attention went to him on his
eighth birthday. We love you, brother. We baptize
you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen. I tell folks that our baptistry
looks kind of like a coffin, and it does, and I like it. If we could have a big building
with a built-in baptistry, I would want it, and I like this. But it does make it a little
bit difficult to get in and out of. We've been able to talk about
what we're hearing and just so thankful that we have an opportunity
to baptize you this morning in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. Buried with Christ in baptism. Raised to walk a new life. We had a good visit yesterday,
had a chance to talk about baptism and all the things that I preached
this morning we discussed yesterday. So I'm just so thankful. Bonnie's response was, well,
I'm in. I'm in. And I was very encouraged
with Scott's comments to me after Bonnie listened just the first
few times. He said, I think there's a lot
of things she needs to understand. With harps and with viols there
stands a great throng in the presence of Jesus and sings this
new song. To him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, unto him be the glory forever. Amen. All these once were sinners,
defiled in His sight, Now arrayed in pure garments, their voices
unite. unto him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, unto him be the glory forever, amen. He maketh a rebel, a priest,
and a king. He hath bought us and taught
us this new song to sing. To him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, unto him be the glory forever. Amen. Now helpless and hopeless
we sinners had been if he had not loved us and washed us from
sin. To Him who hath loved us and
washed us from sin, unto Him be the glory forever. Amen. ? Ah, how loud in his praises
our voices shall ring ? So that others believing this new song
shall sing ? To him who hath loved us and washed us from sin
? Unto him be the glory ever In Acts chapter 17, in verse
16, Paul was in Thessalonica and
the Jews caused so much trouble and ran him out of town. He went
to Berea and they went down there and caused some more trouble
and got him run out of town again. And Paul has went to Athens and
he's left Timothy and Silas there in Berea. And he told them, told
them people that had escorted him there, tell them to come
to me with all speed. So in Acts chapter 17 and verse
16, Paul is in Athens waiting on them. And his spirit was stirred
in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore,
he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews and with devout
persons and in the market daily with those that met with him
and certain philosophers of the Epicureans and the Stoics encountered
him. And some said, what will this
babbler say? Other some, he seemeth to be
a setter forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them
Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought
him to Eropagus, saying, may we hear what this new doctrine
thou speakest is. For thou bringest strange things
to our ears. We would know, therefore, what
these things mean. For all the Athenians and the
strangers that were there spent their time in nothing else but
to either tell or to hear some new thing. Then Paul stood in
the midst of Mars Hill and said, You men of Athens, I perceive
that in all things you are too religious. For as I passed by
and beheld your devotion, I found an altar with this inscription,
To the unknown God, whom you ignorantly worship, Him declare
I unto you. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth
not in temples made with hands. Neither is worshiped with man's
hand as though he needed anything, seeing that he giveth to all
life and breath and all things. Paul has brought these people
to ground zero. The sovereignty of God is the
bedrock that all the scriptures are founded on. Greg tells us
that what God requires, God provides, and that's true. My son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. She shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall
save his people from their sin. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain. And the one thing only a sovereign
God could do, He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no
sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This God, this righteous God,
will be our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Psalm 48 and verse 14. And he's gathered us here together
this morning for one purpose, and it's on that sign right over
the double doors. Sirs, we would see Jesus. That's why we're here. That's
why we're here. Father, we thank you that in
your grace and love and power and sovereignty, Father, that
you've chosen us before the foundation of the world, Father. You've
given us the grace, Father, to be holy and without blame before
you in love. You brought us here together,
Father, to to hear of Christ, we'd ask that you'd give us an
open mind, Father, an open heart, that you'd give Greg the grace,
Father, to bring us a gospel message. You'd strengthen him,
Father, in the ministry. We ask these things in Jesus'
name, amen. Let's all stand together once
more and we'll sing number 199, 199 from your hardbacked hymnal,
Christ Receiveth Sinful Men. Sinners Jesus will receive, Sound
this word of grace to all, Who the heavenly pathway leave, All
who linger, all who fall, Sing it o'er. and or again, Christ
receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Come and He will give you rest. Trust Him for His word is plain. He will take the sinful last. Christ receiveth sinful men. Sing it o'er. and or again, Christ receiveth
sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Now my heart condemns me not
Pure before the law I stand He who cleansed me from all spot
Satisfied its last demand Sing it o'er and or again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful men. Christ receiveth sinful men,
even me with all my sin. Purged from every spot and stain,
heaven with Him I enter in. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men,
Please be seated. I am so thankful for having a
little bit of understanding of what we just sang. For many, many years, I thought
being a sinner meant that I had committed some sins. And who
could deny that? Until the Lord made me to be
a sinner. I had someone ask me recently,
was it God's fault that we're sinners? Yeah. If we're made to be sinners,
now let no man say if he sinned that God made him do it. We sin
when we're when we're drawn away of our own lust, and lust is
conceived, and we're fully responsible for our sin. But when I say,
yeah, it's God's fault that we're made sinners, if the Lord ever
makes you to be a sinner, calls you to see yourself for what
you really are, that's God's work. And He has to do it. And when He does, you'll come
to this conclusion. I have nothing to offer God but
sin. The natural man thinks that,
well, yeah, I've got some sin, but I've got some good stuff,
too. Christ receiveth sinful men. Sinful men. He saves only sinners, and He
saves every sinner. Turn with me in your Bibles to
1 Timothy 1, please. 1 Timothy 1. Verse 15, this is a faithful
saying. Now sometimes when we use the
word saying, we're talking about some sort of wives tale or, you
know, just that's sort of a way to say something. But when this
word, when God says this is a faithful saying, this is a true truth. This is a true truth. Worthy of all acceptation. It's
worthy to be believed by everyone, and it's worthy to be believed
in its totality. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. That's all He came to save. He's
got to make you to be a sinner, and if the Lord makes you be
a sinner, the Lord saved you. It's like if the Lord gives you
repentance, the Lord saved you. If the Lord gives you faith,
you've been saved. Those are, you see, faith and repentance
and all those things, those are the result of salvation, not
the cause of them. Just like when a baby's born,
taking a breath is the result of life, not the cause of it. A baby's born alive, it's going
to breathe. All the things that God gives
us are the results of that work of grace in the heart when he
causes us to believe, to repent, to see ourselves as sinners,
to rest our hope on Christ alone for all of our salvation. Of
whom I am chief. Now that's every believer's experience.
One of the delights of being with God's people, particularly
compared to the experience that many of us have had in the pretentious,
self-righteous, condescending spirit of man-made religion is
that every believer believes themselves to be in need of grace
more than anyone else. They believe themselves. You
know more about your sin than you know of anybody else's, don't
you? And you do believe yourself to
be the chief of all sinners. So we're not looking down our
self-righteous nose at one another. We're esteeming others more highly
than ourselves. How be it for this cause, I obtained
mercy, that in me, first, Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering. The long-suffering of God is
salvation. He is salvation. And His mercy
endureth forever. That means that His mercy never
had a beginning, never has an end, and our God delights in
showing mercy towards sinners. He does. He delights in it. And
Paul says that my experience is a pattern for them which should
hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. The experience of
the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, the experience of
his rebellion against God prior to that, and the experience of
his new birth is, he says, is a pattern. In other words, it's
an example or a type of every believer's experience. When the
Lord knocks us off our high hoist and the voice of God speaks and
the light from heaven shines in our hearts, we're not talking
about an emotional experience, we're talking about a spiritual
truth that invades our hearts and causes us to say, what would
you have me to do, Lord? What would you have me to do?"
And God raised him up and sent a preacher to him, didn't he?
Ananias had to come to Paul in Damascus on the street called
Straight and preach the gospel to him before his eyes were opened. For a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting Now here's my text,
verse 17. Now unto Him, King. King. Christ Jesus the Lord is
King. He reigns sovereign. By His very nature of being God,
and He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, He has the sovereign
right to rule and reign over all the armies of heaven and
all the inhabitants of the earth but by virtue of his sacrificial
death on Calvary's cross as the God-man as the Christ God made
him as Peter said there in Acts chapter 2 God made this one whom
you crucified to be both Lord and Christ so God anointed him
as king over his people now unto the king eternal eternal. He's always been king. Immortal. He's not like us in any way.
And there's the thing, when God makes you to be a sinner, it's
only after you see Christ. You see Him lifted up, you come
to this conclusion. I am nothing like Him. There's nothing in my life like
Him. And if that's what God requires
for my salvation, then He's going to have to stand in my stead.
He's going to have to be my representative because I don't have anything
in my nature, in my character, in my works, in my will that's
like Him. He is the King, eternal, immortal,
invisible. People talk about having these
visions and experiences. No, no. No. The Lord Jesus Christ
is invisible to you. To the unnatural eye. To the
natural eye. One day we'll see him as he is.
One day we'll be made like him. One day we'll be given a glorified
body. Right now, the only way to see him is through the eyes
of faith. The eyes of faith. God has to
give us those eyes. He's invisible. He's the only
wise God To Him be all honor. He gets all the praise. He gets
all the glory. Why? Because I had nothing to
bring to the table but my sin. He did it all. He's the reigning
king. To Him be all honor and all glory
forever and ever and ever and ever And what do God's people say?
Amen. Amen, so be it. Yes, let it be
so. I don't want any of His glory.
He gets all the glory. He did all the saving. Turn with
me to Mark chapter 15. We've been studying the book
of Mark. To the King Eternal. In order for a sinner to know
God, there are three things that God must provide. Now, Robert, you brought it up. I love the statement. Everything
that God requires from a sinner, God must provide. And God only
accepts that which He provides. And everything He provides, He
provides in the person and work of His Son. There are three things
that God must provide in order for a sinner to be made right
with God. He must provide a revelation of himself. We have no way of
knowing God unless God reveals himself to us. God who at sundry
times Hebrews chapter 1 and in divers manners spoke unto our
fathers by the prophets That is how He speaks. He speaks by
the prophets, by the penman of scriptures, has in these last
days spoken unto us by His Son. The very God Himself was made
flesh and He dwelt among us and we beheld His glory as the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and full of truth in
Hebrews chapter 1 verse 2. Turn with me to that passage. Hebrews chapter 1. Halfway through verse 2, whom,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the revelation
of God. God must provide a truthful,
faithful, accurate revelation of himself in order for us to
know God. No man seeketh after God at any
time. All the images of God that we
have by nature are contrary to the truth. And every man is born
with an idol factory in his heart and in his mind. And he begins to forge out images
of God that are idols. God has to make himself known
to us. He does that through the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the preaching of the gospel.
He's pleased through the preaching of the gospel to save them which
believe, to open our eyes. Whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he hath made the worlds. In the beginning,
God said, let there be light. And it was God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was that light. And it was God that spoke all
things into existence. He had made the world. And God
had made him heir of all things. So that the Lord Jesus Christ
has been given all power, as we saw in the previous hour,
in heaven and in earth. All authority has been given
unto him. Who? The Lord Jesus Christ, being
the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,
and upholdeth all things by the word of His power, when He hath
by Himself purged our sins. All by Himself. He doesn't need
our help to accomplish anything. He's God. He's King. He's the Lord. He's the Christ. He's successful. He's not... Have you ever thought about how
many times the Lord told the people that He healed in the
New Testament, don't tell anybody. Don't tell anybody. I mean, if
we were trying to win the world for Christ, we'd be blasting
it from the rooftops. We'd be telling everybody about
these miracles. Why would the Lord say not tell anybody? Because
He wasn't looking for a following. He wasn't looking for a following.
He knows His sheep. He will call them each one by
name. He, He, Isaiah chapter 42 says
that, that, that, that He, He, well turn with me, I can't quote
it. Isaiah chapter 42. Verse one, behold my servant. Now that just means look at Christ.
He's the servant of God, whom I uphold. I uphold him, mine
elect, I chose him in whom my soul delighteth. I'm delighted
in my son. I'm not delighted in you, but
I'm delighted in him. And if you're in him, then I'm
delighted in you for his sake. I have put my spirit upon him.
He's the Christ. He came, that's what Messiah
means. He came in the power of the spirit
of God and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He's
not running around trying to get a following. He's king. He's Lord. He shall not cry,
nor lift up his voice, nor be heard in the streets. He's not
going around begging folks to let him have his way. He's not
strumming people's heartstrings, get them to walk an aisle and
sign up for the church and follow, you know, he doesn't have to
do that. He doesn't have to play emotional religious games with
men in order. No, when he speaks, his voice
is irresistible. A bruised reed shall he not break. Now, bruised reed, that's a hollow
piece of grass that's been bent. And that's God's people. We're
just a hollow piece of grass, not much to us, no substance. But God causes us to bow to the
king. A bruised reed, will he not break? A smoking flax, now flax was
used in oil lamps as wicks. And when the oil lamp ran out
of oil, the flame would lose, the wick would lose its flame
and it just began to smoke. And most folks would just put
it out and that's what he's saying, I'm not going to do that. This
is my people. And though they're just a smoking
flax, there's no heat, there's no light, there's nothing to
them, but I'm not going to put them out. Why? Because I'm king. He shall bring forth judgment
to truth. And that's what he did. When
he offered himself on Calvary's cross, the judgment and justice
of God was satisfied. And that's the truth. And there's
no truth outside of him. I am the way. I am the truth.
I am the life. Men look to three different sources
for their truth. They either look to themselves
or they look to others or they look to God. Everybody does. I wrote a little article, I think
it's in your bulletin this morning if you get a chance to read it.
They either look to their own conscience and try to decide
for themselves what's right, what's wrong, what's true and
what's not true or they look to the traditions of men and
the confessions and creeds that men write. And some of us came
out of a reformed religion where we said, Sola Scriptura, only
the scriptures. And yet we had men written creeds
and confessions that we used to test the scripture by. Or they will look to the word
of God. We'll say it's the scriptures. What does God say? That's all
I need to know. Just tell me what God says, preacher.
I've had many of you tell me. Just say, thus saith the Lord.
That's all I need to know. You don't have to defend it or
just declare it. Just tell me this is what God
says. Look what he says in the next verse. He shall not fail,
nor be discouraged. He's not trying to get folks
saved. He's not trying to get a following. He's going to save
everyone that God chose, everyone he died for. The Spirit of God
is going to accomplish the fullness of their salvation. Till he has set judgment in the
earth, and the isles shall wait for his law. A judgment's already
been established in heaven, but judgment's not established in
your heart and my heart in this earth. until the Spirit of God
causes us to bow to the King. Bow to the King. Three things
God has to provide. He has to provide a revelation
of Himself. That's the prophet. He has to provide an intercessor. An intercessor. Turn with me
to Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Verse 22, by so much was Jesus
made a surety of a better covenant. Now, in some professions, if
you work in real estate or in law, you might use the word surety
as a person who cosigns for something. But when the God uses the word
surety, He's not talking about just a cosigner. It's talking
about somebody who paid off the debt. He put his name on the
contract. He paid everything necessary
for that debt. And he's the surety. Remember
when Judah said, I will be surety for him, talking about Benjamin?
And if I don't bring him back, you hold me to an account. And
that's the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to the Father. If I
don't bring to you everyone that you chose, you hold it to my
account. Is the Lord Jesus Christ going
to stand guilty before God for not having saved all his people?
Oh no, he's not discouraged. He's king, he's prophet, and
he's our priest. Verse 23, and they truly were
many priests. He's talking the better testament,
the new testament of grace compared to the law is a better testament
For they truly were many priests because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death. There were many priests under
the law because they couldn't live forever. They would die
and when a priest died, another priest had to be chosen. But
this man, because he continueth ever. The Lord Jesus Christ,
Wait, what did they say the angel said to Mary when she came to
the tomb? You seek Jesus of Nazareth? He's
not here. He's risen. He's risen. He liveth forever. And he hath
an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able Now here's the truth
of the gospel. We're not able as sinners to
present anything to God for our salvation. He is able. He's able. He is able to save
them to the uttermost. Someone says, well, you don't
know what I've done, preacher. You don't know how much sin. You
haven't sinned to the uttermost. You've got ears to hear come
just like you are. The Lord Jesus Christ saves to
the uttermost. Truth is, truth is a person who
acts pious and sorrowful over the guilt of their sin is just
expressing their self-righteousness. They're expressing their self-righteousness.
Truth is, your sin's a whole lot worse than you think it is.
Whole lot worse. You know, we don't have a clue
how bad our sin is. He does. He bore the sorrow of
it. He expressed to God everything
that God required. As our priest, he interceded
for us. Three things God requires. He
requires a prophet. He requires a priest. One to
intercede on our behalf. One who's able to save to the
uttermost. that come, verse 25, that come
unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession. We need an intercessor. We don't
just need a word from God, we need someone to communicate back
to God. That's what a priest does. A
priest intercedes back to God. For such verse 26, and high priest
became us, who himself is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners, and now has been made higher than the heavens.
God has exalted him and given him a name that is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every
tongue confess. turn over just a page or so to
Hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews chapter 9 and look with me at verse 11,
for Christ being come a high priest of good things to come
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands
that is to say not of this building the tabernacle of the Old Testament
was a man-made building and the priest were men who ministered
in that building, but all of that was given as a type, a foreshadowing,
a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ would become so that when
God says He was made flesh and dwelt among us, that word dwelt
is the word tabernacled. The Lord Jesus Christ tabernacled
among us. We have a living tabernacle now,
not one made with hands. We're not looking to a building.
We're not looking to a place. We're looking to a person, a
person. not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of bulls
and goats. All that shed blood in the Old
Testament never put away sin. But by His own blood, He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. when the Lord Jesus Christ was
received by his father back into glory and took his rightful place
at the right hand of the majesty on high. He took with him the
names of those for whom he lived and died and he ever lives as
we saw in Hebrews chapter seven to make intercession. We have
to have a priest and we have a priest. We have an altar, not
an altar made of stone or of wood, We have a living altar,
one who is our surety, who stands before God in our stead. We must
have a prophet. We must have a word from God.
We must have a priest, one who presents himself back to God
on our behalf with a sacrifice that God's pleased with. Man,
people in religion talk about Jesus making an offer of salvation
to us. What he did on Calvary's cross
wasn't to us. It may have been for us, but
it wasn't to us. It was to the Father. He was
making an offering to God, and God saw the travail of his soul,
and God said, I'm satisfied. It's not an offer made to you
to accept or reject. It's an offer made to the Father,
and the Father accepted it. And God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass by you. We need a prophet. We need a
priest. And oh, we need a ruling monarch,
a king. Pilate put on the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Now, the scripture says that
the priest, the religious leaders, and the people who cried crucify
him, and the soldiers mocked the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
put a purple robe on him, they put a crown of thorns on his
head, and they smote him in the head with a rod, and they bowed
to him, and they said, look, look at the king. Pilate was not mocking Christ,
Pilate was mocking the Jews. When Pilate put Jesus of Nazareth,
the king of the Jews, he was saying to the Jews, there's your
king, there's your king. And they came to him and they
said, don't say that he's the king of the Jews, say that he
said he was the king of the Jews. And Pilate, an unbeliever, being
directed by God, said, what I have written, I have written. We'll
leave it just like it is. And Jesus of Nazareth, king of
the Jews, was in three languages. It was in Greek, it was in Hebrew,
and it was in Latin, Latin. Greek is the language for the
common man, and Hebrew was the language of religion, and Latin
was the language of the elites, intellectuals. And God is saying
right there on the cross to all men, regardless of what their
standing is in this world, Jesus of Nazareth is the King of the
Jews. So here's my question to you
this morning. Is the Lord Jesus Christ your prophet? Is He your revelation of God? You have no revelation of God
outside of Christ. In the volume of the book it
is written of me, everything in this book, it reveals Christ. All I'm ever going to know about
God, I'm going to know it through the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got
no place else to go to discover a revelation of who He is. Is
the Lord Jesus Christ your priest? Is he your intercessor? Is he
the only one that can represent you before God? Or are you like
many folks who attempt self-atonement? I'll present this to God or that
to God in hopes of You remember the story in Exodus
chapter 17 when Moses sent Joshua down into the valley to fight
against the Amalekites and Moses held up his hands and as long
as his hands were held up, the battle was to the favor of the
Israelites and when his hands got heavy and they fell, the
battle was to the favor of the Amalekites. All that picture is about Christ.
Joshua is Jesus and the Lord said, the battle is not yours,
it's the Lord's. I'm going to fight it for you. I'm going to
defeat Satan, I'm going to defeat death, I'm going to put away
sin, and I'm going to do it all by myself. Moses is a picture
of the law. Don't think that as long as I've
got my hands up in prayer I'm going to get victory over my
sin. I'm not saying don't pray. Pray.
Lord, lead me not into temptation. Deliver me from the evil one.
For thine is the kingdom and the glory and the power forever.
Lord, I can't handle temptation. Don't let me be tempted. Pray. But that's not the picture there.
As long as the law is upheld, we will have victory. But here's our problem. Every
single one of us are recovering Pharisees by nature and we have
a tendency to go back to the law. Aaron was the priest. He represented the Lord Jesus
Christ and then he lifted up the law to God when he ascended
back into glory as our priest. Her's name represented means
white, which is a picture of the holiness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. the Lord Jesus Christ who is
immortal, holy, undefiled, separate from sinners, in His holiness
He held up the law. As long as we see the Lord Jesus
Christ as the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth, we have victory. But it's when we go back to the
law, the strength of sin is the law. I'll tell you when you're
tempted to sin, same time I'm tempted to sin. When we start
thinking legally about our salvation, instead of looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ as the one who was in the valley, as the one who
held up the arms of the law, as the one who in his holiness
satisfied all of its demands, you're not under the law, you're
under grace. Grace, walking by the spirit
that we fulfill not the lust of the flesh is looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ as the law keeper. He satisfied the demands
of the law. And every time we're tempted
to think that salvation has something to do with what we do or what
we don't do, what we experience or what, that's when the hands
get heavy, isn't it? That's when the battle turns
for the Amalekites. Christ is our prophet. He is our priest and he is our
King, Jesus of Nazareth. Of Nazareth, remember what Pilate
wrote? King of the Jews. It wasn't just the Lord Jesus
Christ according to Isaiah chapter 9 was to be conceived in Nazareth,
where he was. He was to be born, according
to another prophecy, in... Help me out. Yeah. I don't know
what you said, but you know what you said. I just... And then he went back to Nazareth.
What was the significance of being from Nazareth? Well, he
was the Nazarite. How many times the Lord Jesus
Christ in the scripture is referenced to as a Nazarite? Philip said to his brother in
John chapter 1, we have found him of whom Moses and the prophets
have spoken, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth. Even when
Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, he He referred to
the Lord Jesus Christ as Jesus of Nazareth. He was the Nazarite. A Nazarite was one who was separated
unto God. You remember Samson? Samson took
a Nazarite vow, but he didn't keep it, did he? He wasn't to
drink of the fruit of the vine. He wasn't to touch anything dead
and become unclean. He wasn't to cut his hair. Those
are spiritual pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. He got all
of his joy and all of his strength from the Father, not from anything
earthly. We're the ones who need, we need
entertainment. We need vacations. We need levity. Why? We need all that. He didn't need
any of that. He didn't need any of that. He got all of his strength
and all of his joy from the Father. And the fruit of the vine represents
the joy that we have in this world. And then he wasn't unclean. He didn't touch anything. Oh,
physically he did. He raised people from the dead.
But he was holy, without sin before God, and hair It's a picture
of his strength, wasn't it? Strength of his glory as king. Three things God must provide
for you and me. He must provide a prophet, a
revelation of himself. He provided that in the person
of his son. He must provide a priest, one
who is able to intercede on our behalf and present himself before
God. And he must provide a king. one who reigns and rules sovereign
over his people. The Lord Jesus Christ is Jesus
the Nazarite, the king, king, eternal, immortal, invisible, now and forever and ever, king of the Jews. The true Jew is not the one who
is circumcised in the flesh, but the one whom God has circumcised
in the heart and caused to bow before the Lord Jesus Christ.
God came to save sinners, and He did that. He did that through
our prophet, through our priest, and through our king. When we
observe the Lord's table, We are doing the same thing we do
when we're baptized. We're confessing our union with
Christ. His life represented in that
unleavened bread. His life is my life. His shed
blood on Calvary's cross represented by that wine was shed as a covering
to put away my sin. And the only hope that I have
as a sinner to stand in the presence of God is the life and the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, as often as you
do this, do it in memory of me. I'm going to ask the men if they'll
come forward and distribute the bread and the wine. Tom, we're
going to sing number 17 in the Spiral Hymnal. Let's stand together.
No, just remain seated. Remain seated. See the table spread before you
See the feast of bread and wine These are symbols of our Savior
Tokens of His love divine Bread that's broken is his body, crushed
beneath the wrath of God. Wine poured out is a reminder
of our Savior's presence. Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us Let us never forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us home to glory. Praise his name. With this hope
and expectation We rejoice to keep this feast Celebrating our
redemption Till we lean on Jesus' breast You. Okay. Christ is all. He's all. His life is our life. As often as you do this, do it
in remembrance of me. Old Testament Judaism was a bloody
religion, sacrificing animals day in and day out. And none
of that blood put away our sin. But it all pointed to the one
who would shed his blood, and his precious blood would put
away all the sins of all of God's people. And it did. He's not
discouraged. He's successful. As often as
you do this, do it in remembrance of me. All God's people said, Amen. Amen. Let's stand together. Brother Wayne, would you dismiss
us please in prayer? in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Cause us now, Lord, to
go away rejoicing in all that you have done.