I'll turn back with me to John's
Gospel again. I just want to read two verses
in John 19 and pray the Lord might help us to enter into the
wonder of this robe that was woven from above. John 19 verse
23 Then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier apart, and also his coat. Now the coat was without
seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves,
let us not rend it, let's not tear it. whose it shall be that the scripture
might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among
them, and from my vesture did they cast lots. These things,
therefore, the soldiers did. Don't you love the way how God
describes what they did as a therefore of the scriptures being fulfilled?
That is the first thing I want us to see in this, and we've
looked at it again and again, but don't you love the fact that
the word of God is true and sure? It's a pure word, it's tested
and refined. It is. It is just amazing when the Lord
takes his word and it just becomes spirit and life. There is real
spiritual life in the word of God. I'm so thankful that his
word cannot be broken. I'm so thankful for what Psalm
138 says. It says, I will worship toward
thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness,
which is the Old Testament word for grace, and thy truth, for
thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Lord, do that for us. Do that
for us again. We see the scriptures being fulfilled. In John 17 we keep, I want us
to keep going back and being reminded of the prayer and the
words in that prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ says in
John 17, I have given them the words which thou gavest me and
they have received them. If he gives the words then they
will receive them. I want to receive the words of
God as the words of God. In verse 14, John 17, I've given
them thy word and the world hath hated them because they are not
of the world. The world is typified there in
Jerusalem. That's why they cast him out. sanctify them through thy truth
thy word is true and then his prayer for us in john 17 20 neither
pray i for these alone but for them which shall believe on me
through their word i want us to look at this glorious picture
of the garments of the lord jesus christ The Scriptures are being
fulfilled and it's a therefore. These men, as did Pilate and
everyone else, did exactly what they wanted to do. They weren't
coerced into doing this. They weren't forced. They did
what they wanted to do. And our God is absolutely sovereign
over the uncoerced and freely chosen activities of sinful man."
Don't you love it? I just love that that's the case.
That he sovereignly rules over all things. God holds them accountable
for what they did. We'll look later on at the wonder
of those words of the Lord Jesus Christ from the cross, isn't
it? Father forgive them. Don't you love that he said that?
Father forgive them, they know not what they do. And six weeks
later, 3,000 of them were saved in one day. And days later, weeks
later, there's another 5,000 saved. The victory of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a stupendous, stupendous victory. But the scripture
that's fulfilled is in Psalm 22 when we read that earlier.
They parted my garments among them. These people who are described
as the strong bulls of Bashan, the dogs, they parted my garments. John 22 verse 18. I can tell
all my bones. They look and they stare upon
me. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture. And then he says, but be not
far from me, O Lord. My strength hasten to help me. This coat, the Lord Jesus Christ
is here. earthly possessions. You think
about that. He had nowhere to lay his head. All the sustenance for his life
was actually provided by other people. And here is all of the earthly
garments of the Lord Jesus Christ. His outer garments were of four
parts according to these verses here. Every soldier made four
parts, so they were the outer garments. And this garment that's
being spoken of here is the one that was without seam and was
woven from top throughout. It's woven from above. It's a
glorious description of the finished work and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. This covering for sin... was
woven in heaven and reaches to the earth. He was righteous in
heaven, he was righteous on the earth, he's righteous under the
law, he's righteous in his bloodshedding and he's righteous in heaven
right now. Don't you love those pictures
in the Gospel accounts from that woman who'd been bleeding for
all of those 12 years? And all she'd done would get
worse. She'd been to every religious institution she could and she
only got worse. And she said in her heart, in
Matthew, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I shall
be whole. I can just touch the hem of me
garment. Mark chapter six, he entered
into all these villages and the people besought him that they
might touch, if it were, of his garment, and as many as
touched him were made whole. This garment, this robe of the
righteousness, this robe is the robe of the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ which is put on the very saints of God
in heaven. Like the high priest, when he
went into the Holy of Holies with his own blood, the Lord
Jesus Christ, prior to this, had been wearing those robes
of man's supposed royalty, mocking him, and they put a crown of
thorns on him, and a purple robe on his back, purple robe on him,
and then they gave him a reed. And we mustn't think that this
is a pathetic little reed. It was like a walking stick. And
that was the reed with which they hit the crown of thorns
into his head. and beat him, but as he's being
taken to the cross of Calvary, they take off all those robes,
and you can imagine what would have happened to all of those
wounds on his back and on his face. This garment, and they
put this garment back on him, and it was a bloodstained garment. It shed blood Blood was shed
upon it in the Garden of Gethsemane when his heart was broken. This garment signifies salvation
and healing and cleansing and reconciliation. It's a seamless
robe. It was woven from head to bottom. It's a seamless robe. The robe
of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ is woven from top
to bottom. It is seamless. You can't add
anything to it without defiling it, and you can't take anything
away from it without defiling it. I think it was Spurgeon who
said, if there is one stitch of your works in the robe of
righteousness with which you come before God, the whole lot
will fall apart on the Day of Judgment, not one stitch. We'll
look at that a bit longer. It's of one piece. It's all the
work of Christ alone. It's woven from top throughout. This inner garment, this seamless
inner garment of one piece, is that which touched His holy flesh. This inner garment is the inner
garment which covers the shame of nakedness. Therefore this coat pictures
the covering needed because of the fall of man. I want us to
look back through the Bible at some pictures of this covering. We won't have time to look at
all of them, but they get more and more glorious as we go along.
But the beginning is the beginning, and we need to look at the beginning
again. And I just love what the Lord did to Adam and Eve when
they had sinned, and the Lord comes to them. And they say to
him, We heard your voice and I was afraid because I was naked.
I hid myself. They weren't naked, they'd covered
themselves with fig leaves. But such was the depravity of
the fall that they hid in the garden of God from the voice
of God. and wove for themselves a covering
for their shame, and all of Adam's children have spent the rest
of human history doing exactly the same. Unless, unless God
comes, it's a glorious picture of the gospel, isn't it? We have
a promise in Genesis 3.15. that the serpent's head is going to
be bruised, but in that bruising the Lord Jesus Christ will have
his heel bruised, exactly what happened on the cross. But I
love what he did. He brought them to himself by
his word. He called them out to himself
and they stood before him. In verse 21, and Adam called
Sorry, verse 21, unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord
God make coats of skins and clothed them. In the original, it's coats
of skin. They were both clothed with the
one coat. It's a beautiful picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And what he does in the salvation
of his children, he brings them to himself by a word, a powerful
word, and he brings them out of the darkness. He brings them
out of the greater darkness of their self-righteousness, and
he brings them to himself, and he strips them naked, and then
he clothes them with a lamb. Clothes them with the blood of
a lamb. It is pictured, and Lord willing
we'll get to look at it next week, but it is pictured in all
of the extraordinary robes that Aaron and his sons were given. They had their amazingly decorative
royal robes, in a sense of amazing beauty and regalia, and on that
Those glorious robes of Aaron was that breastplate, and on
the breastplate, close to his heart, he had the names of the
elect, the 12 tribes of Israel, and he had their names engraved
on his shoulders. But when he went into the Holy
of Holies, when he went in to take the blood, he'd taken those
off and he just had this linen garment. It's a picture of the
incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, that someone must come,
a human being must come, fully human, who perfectly obeys the
law of God, who perfectly loves God with all of his heart and
all of his soul and all of his mind and all of his strength,
who perfectly fulfills the law of God, fulfills all the word of God,
and so that all the promises of God are now yes and amen in
him. They are, this robe in, you can
turn with me if you like, but I can read some of these verses
out to you, but I love how Isaiah speaks of this robe. In Isaiah
chapter 61, verse 10, he says, I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
has covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with jewels. Such is the glorious work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah chapter 52, just before
that wonderful chapter, Isaiah chapter 53, he says, Awake, awake,
put on strength, O Zion, put on thy beautiful garments, O
Jerusalem, the holy city, for henceforth there shall no more
come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Solomon has
many glorious pictures of the the covering of the bride and
what she wears. But I just love what Psalm 45,
when they say that David wrote the summary and then Solomon
wrote the book. Psalm 45's a glorious picture
of the bride of Christ. He says in verse 13 of Psalm
45, the king's daughter is all glorious within. Who sees within? God sees within. He sees the hearts of people.
The king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought
gold. She shall be brought into the
king in raiment of needlework. The virgins, her companions,
and that follow her shall be brought into thee. With gladness
and rejoicing they shall be brought, they shall enter into the king's
She's all beautiful. She's all beautiful on the outside
and she's all beautiful within. They parted my garments among
them, and they cast lots for my vesture." This coat, this
inner garment of the Lord Jesus Christ, it can't be rendered,
it can't be torn. The righteousness of Christ is
one. It can't be divided, and it can't
be torn apart. And this garment becomes, if
you read our text again, I said, we're not going to tear it. It's
a seamless robe and it's a precious robe. It's a valuable robe. Let's cast lots for it. Let's
cast lots for it. Who gets to own and wear this
garment? God decides. That's exactly what
casting the lots is in all of the scriptures. It's God decides. The most random thing that we
can possibly imagine in our world, in a sense, isn't it, is a lot,
a die, dice. You throw them up in the air
and they bounce on the floor and they roll and roll and they
come up with numbers. What does God say about that?
You think of all the people who are gambling around the world
now. God says, The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. Whether it's two ones or two
sixes or any combination in between them all. Men do the most random
things, don't they? And yet we don't see God in it. I love how many pictures there
are in the New Testament of this robe. It's the robe that is worn
by the saints in heaven. Revelation chapter 19 verse 8
says, listen to how God describes it. Let's go back a little bit. And a voice came out of the throne,
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honour to him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife
has made herself ready and to her this is how she made herself
ready listen and to her was granted to her was given by god wasn't
it to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen
clean and white for the fine linen is of the saints. It's actually
the righteousnesses of the saints. It doesn't say this is the imputed
righteousness to the saints or this is the imparted righteousness
to the saints. Those phrases are not in the
scriptures. It's always righteousness imputed
and righteousness imparted. Get it the right way around. but it is the righteousness of
the saints. All of our righteousness is displayed
in this robe. It covers shame in the garden,
it covers Sin in all of its ways. This robe, don't you love the
story of the prodigal? I love the story of the prodigal.
We won't go and read it, but you know what the prodigal did.
He came to himself. What a wonderful thing to do.
He came to himself and he realized that in his father's house, the
servants lived better than him. There he was in religion. He
was feasting upon the food of the swine. And when he comes
to his father, his father runs to meet him. And what does he
say about the robe? What did he smell like? A filthy,
stinking pig pen. The lowest of the low that any
Jew could possibly imagine. And he says, you put the robe
on him. You put the robe on him. The wearing of this robe is all
of grace. The weaving of this robe is all
of Christ. It's all of Him. I love the fact,
it's one of the great glories of the gospel, isn't it? That
all of my righteousness now is in a man sitting on a throne
in heaven. And the men of this world can
take away my righteousness here in a heartbeat. and I'll be exposed
as a sinner yet again. Frail, feeble, failing. But no one can take my righteousness
away from me in heaven. That's the great freedom. I don't
have a righteousness to establish. I don't have a righteousness
to defend except His righteousness. Christianity, true Christianity,
true faith is the sinner's faith, isn't it? There is a wedding to come. There is a wedding garment. You
might recall that parable in Matthew 23, 22. You can turn
there if you like. But in Matthew chapter 22, the
kingdom of heaven. Kingdom of heaven is like under
a certain king which made a marriage for his son and sent forth his
servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding and they
would not come. Again he sent forth other servants,
saying, Tell them which are bidden. Behold, I have prepared my dinner,
my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come
unto the marriage. But they made light of it and
went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And
the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully
and slew them. But when the king heard thereof,
he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those
murderers and burnt up their city. Then he said to his servants,
the wedding is ready. But they which were bidden were
not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways,
and as many as you shall find to the marriage. So those servants
went out into the highways and gathered together all as many
as they found, both bad and good, and the wedding was furnished
with guests. And when the king came in to
see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment. Just to paint the picture more
clearly, if someone was wealthy and providing a wedding feast
for his son, he provided the robes. As you arrived at the
wedding, you were given this robe. They were white linen robes. This man was given one. or had
one there, and he rejected it. And he saith unto him, Friend,
how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? and he was speechless. Then said
the king to his servants, bind him hand and foot and take him
away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few
are chosen. The gospel comes from God as
a command. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent. Come unto me. It's wonderful to think that
the Lord makes his people willing in the day of his power. And
when he says come, all of his people follow him. And they follow
him all the way to Calvary, and they see that this glorious robe
which touched the holy flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ is the
robe with which they need to be robed, they need to be washed
in in His blood, they need to be robed in His righteousness.
And they just keep coming. They keep coming and they keep
believing and they keep laying their hands on the head of the
scapegoat and saying, I'm just a sinner. The only robe that
is accepted in heaven is the robe of the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a robe, as I said, woven
from top to bottom. It was a robe that was woven
in heaven. It's a robe that was woven on
this earth in perfect righteousness and perfect love. It was a robe
that was taken from him as he hung naked on the cross of Calvary. And his shame was exposed and
all the sins of all of his people were there. to be seen in the
shame and the blood in the humiliation of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we're washed in his blood. He, by himself, purged us from
our sins. By himself. Don't you love the
by himself? He's the brightness of the glory
of God. He's the express image of his
person. He's upholding all things by
the word of his power. When he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
I pray that we will come to him as he commands. We'll come as
sinners and we'll come as mercy beggars to the throne of grace
to find help in time of need. What a glorious saviour. What
amazing love. What an amazing gospel that we
have. That God robes his people in
the perfect righteousness of his son. Everything that He requires
of me, He looks to His Son for, and He's pleased. It pleased
the Father to bruise Him. It pleased the Father to raise
Him from the dead. It pleased the Father to make
you His people, brothers and sisters in Christ. What a glorious,
glorious God and Saviour. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we do pray that You would work so work in our hearts that we
would just love your son because you first loved us that you would
cause us heavenly father to rejoice and be glad that you see your
children the bride of the lord jesus christ all glorious within
robed with a coat which is the very righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, our Father, we thank you
that there's a wedding feast coming, and we pray, Heavenly
Father, that you would cause us to look away from anything
of our own doings or our own righteousness ever. Take us like
Adam and Eve, bring us to yourself, tell us what we are, and show
us the glory of God. Robus, robus in his righteousness,
we might we stand before you, faultless and blameless, unapprovable
in your sight. We thank you again, Heavenly
Father, for the glories of your dear precious Son and his finished
work and his precious blood. Bless your word to the hearts
of your people wherever they meet our Father. We pray in Jesus'
name and for his glory.