Let us commence our service this
afternoon by singing together hymn number 982. The tune is
Lord, 677. It is finished. Sinners, hear
it. "'Tis the diinvictus cry. "'It
is finished, angels bear it. "'Bear the joyful truth on high. "'It is finished, tell it through
the earth and sky.'" Hymn 982. It is finished in the spirit,
Tastes the dark in victor's pride. ? It is finished, angels bearing
? ? All the joyful truth of life ? ? It is finished, it is finished ? Turn it through
the earth and sky. Justice from Morocco stays there,
as the sinner's peace no more. Justice built with affirmation
of the Saviour given to all. Grace and mercy, Grace and mercy,
Thou didst make a boundless store. Here the Lord himself may carry
all the work he came to do. Sinners in yourselves despairing, This is Thine, O Christ, the
King. Jesus prayed it, Jesus speak'st
it, praise our faith, the world's fair. It is finished, all is over. Yes, the cup of wrath is ready. Such the truth is thus discovered,
Thus the wisdom once obtained. Tis the victory His the victory, none but Jesus
could have made. And the mighty conqueror crowned
him, Who did things of strife or pain, In the highest heaven enthrone
him, And an angel's song let it say, Rage is flowing, Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in the Gospel according to John and chapter
19. John's Gospel, chapter 19. We'll
commence reading at verse 13 and we will read down to verse
37. Verse 13. When Pilate therefore
heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the
judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in
the Hebrew Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of
the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said unto the Jews,
Behold your king. But they cried out, Away with
him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto him, Shall
I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, We
have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore
unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him
away. And he bearing his cross went
forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called
in the Hebrew Golgotha. where they crucified him and
two other with him on either side one and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and
put it on the cross and the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King
of the Jews. This title then read many of
the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh
to the city and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not
the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the king of the
Jews. Pilate answered, what I have
written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his garments 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 but cast lots for it whose it shall be that
the scripture might be fulfilled which saith they parted my raiment
among them and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things
therefore the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross
of Jesus his mother and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleopas
and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto
his mother, Woman, Behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple,
Behold thy mother. And from that hour that disciple
took her unto his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
Hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. The Jews therefore, because it
was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day, For that Sabbath day was an high
day. He saw, Pilate, that their legs might be broken and that
they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and broke
the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified
with him. But when they came to Jesus and
saw that he was dead already, they broke not his legs. But
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith
came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bare record,
and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that
ye might believe. For these things were done, that
the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture,
saith, they shall look on him whom they pierced. May the Lord
bless that portion of his most precious word, grant unto us
a spirit of real prayer. Almighty, most merciful and eternal
God, do help us now to bow before thy great majesty. Lord, teach
us how to pray, for we know not what to pray for as we all. Oh,
but most blessed divine spirit of truth, pour upon us the spirit
of grace and of supplications with thanksgiving, and grant
that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father,
and the sacred fellowship of the Holy Spirit may rest and
abide upon us. That thou was open to us the
Scriptures, that we may delve into that deep that coucheth
beneath in thy holy word. We pray that we may know those
divine drawings of our eternal Father, For none come except
the Father draw. Oh, to know those sweet drawings
here this afternoon. And to feel the reality of that
beautiful word. Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. We pray, most gracious Lord,
that thou wouldst direct us into thy truth. Blessed divine Spirit,
open the word. to our heart and to our understanding,
give the preacher words to speak, the hearer's ears to hear, that
we may receive the word of the Lord. We do humbly pray that
it may be a sealing time when we are sealed by the Holy Spirit
of promise. We pray, Lord Jesus, that thou
wouldst come and stand in our midst, that we may truly worship
thee, that we may see thy countenance, for thy countenance is comely.
For, Lord Jesus, thou art the altogether lovely one, thou art
the chiefest among ten thousand, thou art the centre, the sum
and the substance of all our hopes and all our desires. Guide us into thy truth, we do
humbly pray thee. and open our hearts and our eyes
and our ears. We pray that thou wouldst bless
us as a church and as a congregation, that thou wouldst work mightily
among us, that thou wouldst grant signs to follow the preaching
of the word. We're not deserving, O Lord,
of any of thy mercies, but we come to thee in the name of Jesus.
All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We are all as an
unclean thing. And we often have to cry out,
O Lord, with the dear apostle, O wretched man, that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death. Lord, come and
speak to our hearts this afternoon. Come and open thy word, and grant,
most gracious Lord, a day of prosperity. We may see the fulfilling
of that precious word, for I am returned unto Jerusalem with
mercies. That we may see, O Lord, thy
work among us as a church and as a congregation. We thank thee
for our brethren and sisters in Christ, in church fellowship. We pray that thou wouldst graciously
grant that we may truly love each other, serve each other,
and bear each other's burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of
Christ. We pray, O Lord, that we may
esteem each other better than ourselves to be. We pray for
our beloved brother and his dear one, fellow labourer in the gospel
that is with us here this afternoon. We lovingly commend him to thee
and to the word of thy grace. Pray that they will support and
sustain and strengthen him day by day and that he may yet see
signs following the preaching of the word at Sheboygan. Let
thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children.
Grant that he may today feel a sweet savour of Christ upon
his spirit. We do humbly beseech thee. We
pray, dear Lord, that thou wouldst bless the whole of our congregation
and work mightily and powerfully and effectually among us. We
pray for the little ones, the children. We love to see them
and hear them in the sanctuary. And we pray that thou wouldst
richly bless them. And we pray that there may be
a generation that shall be raised up to call thee the Redeemer
blessed. We think of that sweet word instead of thy father's.
shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the
earth. Lord, do be gracious unto the little ones and the children,
and may we suffer them to come unto thee and forbid them not.
We pray, most gracious Lord, for each of the dear young friends.
Be with them, Lord, in their education. Be with them in all
the paths of providence. Graciously, O Lord, grant them
gainful employment and a partnering life journey, but above all,
bring them to living, vital, saving faith in Jesus Christ,
that they may become followers of Thee and of those who, through
faith and patience, inherit the promises. Lord, remember them
for good and grant that there may be a generation raised up
to call thee the Redeemer blessed. We pray thy blessing, dearest
Lord, upon parents and all in the midst of the journey of life
that thou wouldst graciously help, support, sustain, and strengthen. Bring each to faith in Jesus
Christ. Deliver us from the temptations
of Satan, whether he comes as a roaring lion to devour, or
whether he comes as an angel of light to deceive, Lord, we
have not the strength or the wisdom to stand against the wiles
of the enemy. We do pray that thou wouldst
graciously deliver us. We think of that precious promise.
When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord
will lift up a standard against him. May that glorious standard
be lifted up. Give parents wisdom to bring
up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Remember
those of us, O Lord, that are now in the evening time of life's
journey. Remember us for good. Make us
more spiritually minded. Set our affections on things
above. We especially thank the Lord
for our dear sister being able to come in her great age this
afternoon. and we pray that she may be blessed
in her soul and strengthened in her body, we do humbly beseech
thee. We pray that the glory and light
of the gospel may shine into this village, into the surrounding
villages and hamlets, that the power of thy truth may be known,
that we may see the pulling down of the strongholds of Satan,
the setting up of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus in the hearts
of sinners, Lord, remember all thy servants as they labour in
word and doctrine upon the walls of Zion. O send out thy light
and send out thy truth. We do humbly beseech thee, grant
that thy word may be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our
path. We pray, most gracious Lord, for truly thankful hearts,
for all thy tender mercies, thy loving kindnesses, thy great
good, Above all, we thank thee for the glories of Christ, and
the wonders of redeeming love, and the fullness of that salvation
that he has wrought out for his people. Oh, that we might catch
a glimpse of him here this afternoon, that we may touch the hem of
his garment, that we may behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. Lord, we thank thee for the glory
of his person, the fullness of his and the wonders of redeeming
love. Be with us now, Lord, as we turn
to thy word. Come and open thy word to our
heart and to our understanding. Come and touch one's lips with
a live coal from off the heavenly altar. Make up in giving where
we do so fail in asking, as we ask for Jesus Christ's sake.
Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 168. And the tune is Irish 160. I sing my Saviour's wondrous
death, he conquered when he fell, tis finished at his dying breath,
and shook the gates of hell. Hymn 168. O say does that star-spangled
banner yet wave O'er the land of the free ? Is the Lord in heaven ? ? And
shepherds watch over them ? ? Tis the evening of the Lord's birth
? O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, ? To his people ? ? His cross shall
show ? ? How they shall pay ? ? Praise her every age and to all
her days ? ? Give her all serenity and pride ? Oh, tell her of his love and
strife, Teach her how with joy he'll strive, O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to the chapter
that we read, St. John's Gospel, chapter 19, and
we'll read verse 30 for our text. John's Gospel, chapter 19, verse
30. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. What appeared to be the destruction
of Christ turned out to be his victory. I often think of those words here
in John's Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, I have power to
lay my life down. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. And that's exactly what is stated
in our text. that he gave up the ghost. It
was a voluntary act of Jesus, the Son of God, manifest in the
flesh. It's that profound mystery of
godliness that is so vital. God was manifest in the flesh. And it's a profound truth. You think of here in the beginning
of John's Gospel, And the word, that term, the word refers to
the divine nature of the Son of God. And the word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. And you know the Lord Jesus,
he said not long before he was to be crucified, To this end
was I born. For this cause came I into the
world. That this was the purpose of
him coming. That he might destroy death.
And him that hath the power of death, that is the devil. Christ
came to destroy the works of the devil. He came to deliver
his people from the curse of the law. From the bondage of
sin and corruption. from the power of death. It's
only Jesus, the Son of God, that could do that. But all the dignity,
all the power, all the worth of the sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ lies in this. He is the Son of God. He's the eternal Son of the eternal
Father. He is God manifest in the flesh. As the Athanasian Creed states
so simply, Very God and very man. Truly God and truly man. That is what we see. That is
the mystery that we see in the glorious person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We see one person, but two natures. The divine person of the Son
of God, who assumed a holy human nature. This again is a fundamental
doctrine. That human nature that the Son
of God assumed never belonged to anyone else. As soon as the
Holy Ghost overshadowed the womb of the Virgin, the Son of God
immediately assumed that nature. He became bone of our bone, flesh
of our flesh. It was his own personal human
nature. So, I know it's something that
is quite complex, but There are not two persons in Christ. There
is one person, the Son of God, who assumed human nature. It
was his own personal human nature. And it was a vital thing that
it had to be without sin. Hence the virgin birth. That
holy thing that shall be born of thee. It was holy. That's never been said of any
other child born into this world. We're all born in sin. We're
all shaped in iniquity. We're all unclean and unrighteous
altogether. But this man, I love that term,
it's used in the Hebrews on a number of occasions, but this man, this
glorious holy God man, the man Christ Jesus, There's a wonderful
emphasis in Holy Scripture, there's a distinction between those natures
is drawn. There is one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave his life
a ransom for all to be testified in due time. One God, one mediator,
one saviour, one redeemer. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. You see, my beloved friends,
there's a glorious oneness in the Trinity. I love that word
in Ephesians chapter two, verse 18, I think it is, for through
him we have access by one spirit unto the Father. What a beautiful
revelation of the doctrine of the Trinity. And then that lovely
word in the first epistle of John, these three are one. one blessed infinite and eternal
God. Jesus is the way to God. Jesus
is the way to bliss. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. This is what Christ came to do. He came to redeem his people.
and it was decreed and purposed. We spoke of it, I believe, last
Lord's Day morning, that God so loved the world, he gave his
only begotten son. He gave him to redeem his people. He gave that people to him in
eternity past, before the foundation of the world, a precious gift
from his eternal father unto his eternal son. In that glorious
eternal covenant, Sometimes some people speak as though God actually
made a a covenant with man But the eternal covenant of grace
is made in the Godhead and it's made before time began It's an
eternal covenant And our eternal father, you know,
sometimes I feel we don't dwell enough on that wonderful love
of the father It was the infinite love of the father that chose
this piece He chose them unto life and immortality in his Son,
Jesus Christ. And before the foundation of
the world, he gave that people to him. And in Proverbs 8, Christ is
speaking, and it says there, my delights were with the sons
of men. When? Before the foundation of
the world. My delights were with the sons
of men. He delighted to come. I delight to do thy will, O God,
yea, thy law is within my heart. It was the eternal will of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that these people
that were chosen, a number that no man can number, from every
nation, tribe, kindred, and people, from all the nations of the earth,
they were given as a precious gift unto Christ. And he agreed
in that eternal covenant that he would redeem them. That he
would take their nature. That he would become bone of
our bone and flesh of our flesh. That he would live as a man under
the law. We read in scripture that the
law was made for man. That was one of the reasons why
the Son of God became a man. I love the way the apostle puts
it in Galatians 4. made of a woman, made under the
law, that he might redeem them that are under the law. The Almighty
God, the Almighty Son of God became a man. One hymn writer
says, how it was done we can't discuss, but this we know. It
was done for us, that Christ became, the Son of God became
a man, lived as a Under the law, for 33 years, he did no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth. He lived a perfect life. One of the glorious names given
to Christ in Jeremiah 23, Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord, our righteousness. The Lord, our righteousness.
It's a beautiful name, isn't it? Jehovah Sidkenia. And it's that perfect obedience
of the holy God-man to the law. That is the obedience that is
given to the church. It's a wonderful, profound gospel,
isn't it? Divinely conceived and fulfilled
in Jesus Christ. that he fulfilled the law for
his people. That's why he's called Jehovah
Sidkenia, the Lord our righteousness. Again, that infinite love of
our eternal father in sending forth his son. But in taking
the sin of the church off of the church, it is called the
doctrine of imputation. And what our eternal father did
was he he took the sin off of the church. He lifted it off
the church And he laid it on his son Our Lord Jesus Christ
God manifested in the flesh You know friends that is why? That
is why Christ sweat as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground in the garden of Gethsemane. Because it was fulfilled in Gethsemane
what we read in Isaiah 53. He laid upon him the iniquity
of his walk. Hence that agony, that sorrow,
the sin of the whole church was laid on him. Doesn't the apostle say he took
our sins and he now them to his cross all the deep mysteries
and wonders of Gethsemane in that agony you know you think
he's the eternal son of the eternal father he humbled himself he
became obedient unto death even the death of the cross he became
our sin bearer but you know We must ever remember there are
two sides to the doctrine of imputation. On the one hand,
our eternal father, he takes the sin of the church and he
imputes it to his son as if it was his own. That is why he was crucified.
He bare our sins. He took our sins. That is a very
beautiful word that the spirit of God has left on record in
in the fifth chapter of the second epistle to the Corinthians and
how beautifully opens the gospel for he hath made him that's Christ
for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him how that beautifully
speaks of that imputation. On the one hand, our sin was
laid upon him. On the other hand, his righteousness is given to
us. We're clothed in that everlasting
robe of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We cannot and we
never will be able to produce a righteousness acceptable to
God. We're born in sin, we're shaped
in iniquity, we're unclean and unrighteous altogether. But this
man, but this man, the glorious holy God man, this is why our Lord Jesus Christ
was crucified. This is why he suffered and bled
and died for our sins. He laid upon him
the iniquity of us all. I shall never forget a time,
it wasn't far from here, when I was doing my secular employment,
and such distress of soul because of sin, and the burden of sin,
and oh, I cannot describe to you the sense, the awful sense
I had of that sin in my heart, in my nature. And the Lord dropped those words
into my heart with such sweetness and power. He was wounded for
our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed.
Friends, I had to stop the vehicle I was driving. I wept and I wept
so much. It was my sins that crucified
me. My sins were the nails and the
spear. You know, friends, it's a very,
very precious thing when we have a personal experience of these
things. It's one thing to hear about
it. It's one thing to speak about it. It's one thing to read about
it. It's another thing altogether to experience it and to feel
that your sins were laid upon him. And you know, friends, When
I was a young man, I knew much of the conviction of sin, or
I thought I did. I didn't know much at all, really,
but I thought I did. And that was under the law. But,
you know, I felt more the conviction of sin and the deep sense of
the awful nature of sin when I had a view of Christ suffering
in my room, place and stead. Oh, those sins were the nails
and the spear. My sins. It's something, friends, that
is beyond our comprehension, that the eternal son of the eternal
Father who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth,
and yet he suffered, he bled, He died. When Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. It is finished. It was really
just those three words that rested upon my spirit to bring before
you this afternoon, it is finished. In verse 28, it's a very, very
similar word, After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were
now accomplished. It's a very similar word to it
is finished, isn't it? Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, fulfilled. He knew he'd suffered what his
people should have suffered. He knew that he satisfied all
the demands of divine justice. He knew that he had redeemed
his people from their sins. Jesus, the Son of God, manifest
in the flesh. He knew what he'd done. All things were now accomplished. And therefore he voluntarily
gave up the ghost. That power he had. You know,
some people try and portray how Lord Jesus Christ is dying in
great weakness, etc. And under the hand of man, But
the scriptures do not say that. His death was a powerful death.
His death was an almighty death. His death was a victory. It was
a victory. It was the power of God in redeeming
his people, in delivering them from the curse, from the power,
from the dominion of sin, from Satan's power. But oh my beloved
friends, just think of the cost. You know, when we come to the
table of the Lord this afternoon, that's what we come to remember.
The cost, the tremendous cost of redeeming love, to save our
souls from sin and death. Our precious Redeemer became
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He did. He walked as a man here upon
earth, a man of sorrow. despised and rejected of men.
You know, Christ said to his disciples, if they call the master
of the house Beelzebub, how much more you? If they despised and
rejected our Saviour, how much more us? We shouldn't be surprised
if we are despised and rejected of men. That is the pathway. Some have to walk it more fully,
more deeply than others. The other thing here, friends,
it shows how willing, one hymn writer says, doesn't he, how
willing was Jesus to die. Years ago, reading in, especially
in Leviticus and what is known as the free will offering, I
couldn't understand it. I kept looking at it and I thought,
this is a free will offering. And I kept looking at the, the
person that was offering. But you know, once the Lord opened
my eyes, I saw it so clearly one day. It's Christ. Christ is the free will offering.
He freely offered himself for his people. That's the free will
offering. He gave his life a ransom for
all to be testified in due time of his own free will. He left
heaven, he came to this earth as a man, Well, of course, we
need to be careful there because he was still in heaven when he
was here on earth. We need to be careful the language
we use because he was still, he's still the eternal son of
God. And even when he was walking here upon earth, he was still
in heaven. He's God over all and blessed forevermore. But
he lived as a man here upon earth on the behalf of his people to
redeem them, to shed his precious blood. To this end was I born. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Oh, how precious is that blood.
The precious blood of the Lamb. But, you know, friends, the dignity,
fullness, the preciousness of it is in this, that he's the
Son of God. He's the Son of God. He did no
sin. He was pure. He was spotless. He was undefiled. And yet, he
poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors. We've read of it here with these
two thieves and that he was crucified between. He was numbered with
the transgressors. He was. He bared the sin of many,
of many. It is finished. You know, in both the hymns that
we've sung together, it's really expressed very beautifully, hasn't
it? What it means, it is finished.
All things are now accomplished. The church is redeemed. The last
enemy to be destroyed is death. And our Lord Jesus, he didn't
stop. It says, doesn't it? Repentance
shall be hid from mine eyes. after he'd suffered what his
people should have suffered, he then entered into death itself,
that he might destroy death and him that had the power of death.
It is finished. Or I would that the Spirit of
God would take these words and seal them into your heart. It
is finished. It's the finished work of Christ. And this alone, will stand in
the day of judgment, the finished work of Christ. It's what he
has done. He's made his people righteous.
He's taken their sins and he's nailed them to his cross. And
then he died for our sins and rose again for our justification. Have you ever stopped to think
of what that means, he rose again for our justification? Thomas
Goodwin, the Puritan, I'll never forget reading him one day and
he was commenting on those words in Hebrews chapter 9, as it is
appointed unto man once to die so after death the judgment.
And then he goes on, so that Christ was once crucified and
unto them that look for him will he come a second time And when
he put that a second time, he said, there's your justification,
child of God. I've never seen it before. The
fact that when Christ comes a second time is without sin. When he
suffered and bled and died, it was the sin of the church that
was laying on him. But the evidence that that sin
has been atoned for, the price has been paid, is the resurrection
from the dead. If one sin had not been atoned
for of the church, Christ would have never risen from the grave.
But we bless God. The evidence that he's paid,
and he's paid the redemption price, he's redeemed his people.
He saved his people from their sins, and the evidence, he rose
from the grave. He rose from the grave, he's
paid the price. And because I live, ye shall
live also. This work is finished, this work
is done. It says in the book of the Revelation,
isn't it? It's a similar word. It is done. It's done. Salvation's work is done. There's
nothing, poor sinner, that you can do. And there's nothing you
need to do. That's what the Apostle said
to the Philippian jailer. He said, what must I do to be
saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Jesus is the way to God. not any works of righteousness
of our own, but entirely what Jesus has done, what he has fulfilled. You know, the law demands and
it also curses, but Christ has delivered his people from the
curse because he was cursed for them. Hence he died. The soul
that sinneth it shall die. Christ took the sins of his people,
so he died. And that sacrifice, as Bunyan
calls it, the acceptable sacrifice, It was acceptable unto the Father.
When Noah offered that sacrifice when he came out of the ark,
the Lord having delivered them in that great flood. And he offered
a sacrifice of clean beasts. And we read that there was a
smell of a sweet savour. Why? Because he had his eye by
faith on Christ. That's why. That's what that
sacrifice represented. all the sacrifices and offerings
of the Old Testament pointed to one place, Calvary. That's
where it was directing them to, to the cross of Christ, to the
Redeemer, to what he should do and the sacrifice that he should
offer. I love that ninth chapter of
the Hebrews and it speaks so beautifully there. It says, doesn't
it, about that or in the 10th chapter it says, by one offering
he hath perfected forever all them that are sanctified. But
in chapter 9 we read, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience and dead works to serve the living
God? How much more You see, he's comparing
it with what went before when he's speaking of the sacrifices
and offerings under the law. Doesn't Isaac Watts, he says
so beautifully, doesn't he? Not all the blood of beasts on
Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or
wash away the stain, but Christ the heavenly lamb bears all our
sins away. A sacrifice of nobler name and
richer blood than they. It's finished. It's done, it's
accomplished, it's a completed work. This is where you'll find
peace, alone in Jesus Christ. Peace alone in his precious sinatone
and glad. Peace alone in his glorious everlasting
righteousness. In that lovely description of
Christ by the spouse in Solomon's song, doesn't it speak there
so beautifully? My beloved is white and ruddy. He's the chiefest among 10,000,
white, pure, holy, righteous, ruddy, his precious blood. In other words, my hope is built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That, and
that alone will stand in that great day. We read in Hebrews
chapter 10, He speaks there in verses 10, he says, by the witch
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. You know, all those sacrifices
of the Old Testament, they were all fulfilled in that sacrifice
of Christ on Calvary. Completely fulfilled. And every
priest standeth daily ministering oftentimes offering the same
sacrifice which would never take away sins, but this man, but
this glorious holy God-man, the man Christ Jesus, but this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he has perfected forever
them that are sanctified. Those that are sanctified are
those that are chosen by the Father, sanctified in those eternal
decrees of salvation, redeemed in Jesus Christ, and
then the Divine Spirit who proceeded forth from the Father and the
Son enters into each one of their hearts at the appointed quickens
their soul into life, convinces them of their sin,
shows them their lost condition, and then takes of the things
of Jesus and reveals them unto you. Oh, my beloved friends,
it's a sure, it's a certain, it's a perfect gospel in which
there is everlasting salvation. Those that are redeemed in Christ
will go to eternal glory because of what Christ has done for them.
Not by works of righteousness that I have done, but according
to his abundant mercy. Oh, the abundant mercy through
a crucified Savior. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up. May the Lord.