if you would join me here in
this wonderful Gospel according to Ezra. This last week I looked
out on the field and I noticed that there was part of our field
that hadn't been plowed quite deep enough. My dad told me that about an
area I was plowing in his field one time. You didn't set the
plow quite deep enough. So let's set the plow just a
little bit deeper in several of these verses that we've already
looked at in the book of Ezra chapter 7. Not that we didn't
have something there, but there's more to be had. I remember that
dear pastor that came to us one time and said, I think there's
just a little bit more meat on this bone. So let us look here
in the book of Ezra chapter 7 and we're going to start in verse
11 of this chapter and go down through here again and our message
is Ezra a type of Christ or as found in the book of Hebrews
chapter 7 and verse 3 with regard to Melchizedek one like unto
the Son of God. Now when we look at Ezra, Ezra
was but a faint shadow. of the substance. He's just a
faint shadow. But when we start looking through
the Old Testament and we look with eyes looking for Christ,
we're going to see in the priests and the prophets and men like
Joseph and Abel, there are going to be types and shadows and pictures
about each one of those that reflect on the person that is
the substance and that's our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now Ezra was a faithful preacher of the gospel. We know that.
He was a faithful scribe of the word of God. He didn't discover
his knowledge and wisdom by study, but it was revealed to him and
then the word of God took hold of him and truly the blessings
were there in the word that he may have and would not have ever
seen before. He was the substance we know
as our beloved son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He it is this
passage truly describes here in the book of Ezra chapter 7
May we take a look and see what the Lord through his spirit Now
we depend on the Spirit of God to lead us into the truths that
are here he has promised us a goldmine and Over time he reveals to us
the precious Savior the Lord Jesus Christ in his word We're
thankful for those who have gone on before and have written things
about the Word of God. But it is the Spirit of God that
reveals the truth of God unto the saints of God. And we look
forward to that as we study and as it's revealed unto us. Ezra
as a type of the Savior. Would you look there in verse
11 of the 7th chapter of the book of Ezra. Ezra chapter 7
and there in verse 11. Now this is the copy of the letter
that the king, Artaxerxes, gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe,
even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord
and the statutes to Israel. Is not our Lord the true priest
and scribe of the word of God? Now Ezra was a wonderful, faithful
minister of the gospel, no question about that. But he would say
himself, I pale compared to the true scribe and to the true priest
of the most holy God. Our high priest, our great high
priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, and truly the scribe of the word
of God. We find that the word did not
need to be learned by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the word
of God, and God had already, before the foundation of the
word, had every word that he would ever have written down
by his faithful scribes throughout the Old Testament and the New
Testament. He had every word before the foundation of the
world put in order. It was in order and then given
as he purposed upon these faithful scribes. The Lord is, we learn
in the word and so blessed with the spiritual sense of the word
of God. Our Lord is truly the word of
God and he is spiritual. I was thinking about this last
week. a friend of mine that I've never met, and we often have
those that live in other places that we've never met, except
I met him through the Zoom. And he talked about, someone
had written a short article about the book of Galatians, a passage
of scripture in the book of Galatians. And the essence of that article
is something that we know, that the book of Galatians is a spiritual
book. And as the book of Revelation,
it's a spiritual book. As the book of Daniel, it's a
spiritual book. And when we start to look at
it in the flesh, or only looking at it through human eyes, we
make grave mistakes, and we detract from the glory of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. So we look at the Lord and we
find out that he is speaking spiritual things and only those
that have been born again can Grasp even the faintest amount
of those things in our flesh We don't we notice over in the
book of Romans chapter 8 Would you turn there with me in the
book of Romans chapter 8 as Ezra was a faithful priest and a faithful
scribe? we find out that our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ is the true and Scribe and the true priest
and here in the book of Romans chapter 8 We find God's faithful
servant again many many years later in much the same way as
as Ezra We don't read about Ezra's call, and we don't read about
Ezra's salvation But we know from what the Word of God says
he was not saved by some act of sacrificing an animal. He was saved by the grace of
God just like you and I are saved. He was saved when God brought
him the gospel. Someone presented the gospel
to him, declared the Lord Jesus Christ to him and God saved him
by his mercy and by his grace and how we rejoice in that. We
may not have to read the story but we can rejoice if they are
at point B and that is they know and preach Christ. There is a
It is such a blessing to know that somewhere along the line
they heard the gospel and God saved him by his grace Here the
same is written. We can go back to the road to
Damascus and read about The Apostle Paul or Saul of Tarsus and as
he wrote these words to the Romans under inspiration of the Holy
Spirit it says there in Romans chapter 8 and verse 5 for they
that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh and Isn't
that the truth? They that are after the flesh.
I remember in religion, we never could get out of the... Out of
the pit, we couldn't ever get out of the realm of thinking
about things in the flesh. We just couldn't get to a spiritual
thing, because we don't have that nature given to us. We don't
have the Holy Spirit in us. So here he goes. They that do
mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. You know, the Lord was always
spiritually minded. He never had to deal with that
fleshly mind that we grew up with. He's always been spiritually
minded. He's always had the blessing.
He's the Son of God. He is glorious in His being. He's glorious in eternity past.
He's glorious in now and He's glorious in eternity in the future.
So he is not carnally minded, never has been, and we find out
that the gift that he gives us is to be spiritually minded.
That's what blessed the people of Israel was a scribe and a
priest that was spiritually minded. And his spirituality and his
blessing pales compared to what we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's only a type and a shadow and a picture of what we have
there. And again the Apostle Paul was led to write over in
the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 2 Would you turn over there with
me 1st Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 13? 1st Corinthians chapter
2 and verse 13 Which things also we speak not
in the words which men's wisdom teach us no It would have been
a blessing to be in the presence of Ezra as a minister of the
gospel, as a preacher of the gospel, as a priest of the Most
High God, as a ready scribe of the Word of God. It would have
been a blessing to be there. But he would say that the blessing
is not him, but the blessing is the one he's speaking of.
And here we have those very thoughts brought to our attention, which
the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Oh, what a blessing it is that
God would share with us His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, And every
activity that he went through and performed was to lead us
from spiritual blessing to spiritual blessing that was hidden to so
many, but revealed unto those that belonged to him. Spiritual
blessing was spiritual blessing, as we heard in the lesson this
morning. And then in verse 14, but the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of That's one thing we don't
ever have to be concerned about with our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
He never was a natural man as we are. He never was a person
that had sin in him. He always was spiritually minded. He was always, and for they are
foolishness unto unto him, neither can he know them, because they
are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. And so truly
the Lord Jesus Christ is that one that fulfills what Ezra pictured. He is the scribe of the word
of God. He is the giver of the word of
God. He's the interpretation of the word of God. He is the
one that we compare scripture with scripture and we see him
in all of those rich blessings that are in Christ. Now, if you'd
go back with me to the book of Ezra chapter seven and verse
12, Ezra chapter seven and verse 12, We have in this passage of
scripture again a wonderful picture of Ezra as a type of Christ. Here in the book of Ezra chapter
7 and verse 12. It says here, Artaxerxes king
of kings unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God
of heaven, perfect peace at such a time. In this verse we are
shown who commissioned Ezra for the work before him. It was the
king that commissioned him. And what do we find out about
the Lord Jesus Christ? Did not our Lord receive his
commission for his work from the eternal counsels halls of
eternity, where he sat as king of kings? He is the true scribe
of God, not only knowing the word of God, but giving the word
of God as no other. Ezra, Paul, or any preacher of
the gospel, they pale in comparison. But a true preacher of the gospel,
sent by Almighty God, will agree with the word of God in all things. We may make mistakes. You know,
I've heard preachers have Jonas swallow the whale, and you know what they had to
say? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm wrong. We make mistakes, great errors
at times, but the Lord will bring us back to Christ, and we look
at Him. We find out As we look at the
scriptures, and as Mike has been bringing out to the book of Luke,
remember what is written in the book of Luke about him. Turn
with me to the book of Luke again. Book of Luke, chapter 2. In the
book of Luke, chapter 2, as we read about the commission, who
commissioned the Lord? God. Who commissioned Ezra? God. Ezra would say himself, I pale,
he must increase, I must decrease. That's what John would say, that's
what Ezra would say. But here in the book of Luke
chapter two, we read these wonderful words about the Lord Jesus. Remember
the account that he's traveling long after they've been up to
Jerusalem, and then his parents, Mary and his stepfather Joseph
said, where is he? They looked around through all
the relatives that were traveling together, and they realized he
wasn't there So they go back to Jerusalem now notice here
in Luke chapter 2 verse 45 in Luke chapter 2 and verse 45 We
find him and this is what is going on and when they found
him not they turned back again to Jerusalem seeking him and
it came to pass that that after three days they found him in
the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing
them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished
at his understanding and his answers. My goodness, don't we
stand astonished at the Lord every time we read the scriptures
and we have them opened up to us? We're astonished at his word. We're astonished at his glory.
We're astonished at his sovereignty. We're astonished. We're among
human realm and we find out about this great God of heaven, the
Lord Jesus Christ. the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, and we are astonished. Our chins drop when we hear the
glories of the Word of God. It makes our heart burn because
of what is said about Him. Those folks that were asking
Him questions, they were students of the law of God, and yet it's
written here, a 12-year-old, this God-man, at 12 years of
age, in human years, What does it say? I like that song. On
my mother's side, I'm 12, and on my father's side, I'm eternal.
That's what we have, the God-man. And they're astonished at his
understanding and answers. You know, I'm sure that there
were people that came to Ezra as they're preparing to go back
to Jerusalem and asking him questions. And by the grace of God, he could
say, we're going back by the grace of God. And the king is
giving us permission to go back by the grace of God. And here
we find that they're asking the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and they were astonished at his words. Great astonishment. Look again here in Luke chapter
4. Luke chapter 4 and there in verse 31 Luke chapter 4 and verse
31 we read these words and it says and came down to Capernaum
a city of Galilee and taught them on the Sabbath days and
As brother Mike brought out, and he's had a five-part series
from this The doctrines of grace, that's what the Lord Jesus Christ
preached now believing the doctrines of grace never saved a soul I've
been among people that say, they almost intimate that because
we believe it, that means we're saved. No, we're saved because
of Christ. And Christ reveals us these great
truths. What does it say right here?
And they were astonished at his doctrine. They were astonished.
You know what he preached? He preached total depravity.
And he's the one that gives life. He preached all of those sweet
doctrines of grace, and if we're not acquainted, we're not brought
to the position, we're not made to know in regeneration that
we are depraved and totally depraved before our thrice holy God, we
don't know the first thing about spiritual things. God has not
brought us to salvation if we don't understand that. We're
not going to be arguing about it. We know wholeheartedly where
we came from. We know where the rock we're
hewn from. And over time, we see it's worse
than I thought. I'm a worse sinner than I thought.
I'm a chiefest of sinners, not just one of those mediocre things
that some of those Pharisees talked about. The Lord teaches
us these great things, and we're astonished at Him. There were
those that came to Ezra, and they talked to him about going
back to Jerusalem, and I'm sure they walked away and said, this
is astonishing. I've never heard anything like this. Well, when
we speak to the Lord Jesus, or He speaks to us, we say with
great astonishment, the words of Ezra are fulfilled in this
one, in this Savior, the Lord Jesus. And if you back up there
in chapter four of the book of Luke for just a moment, in verse
21, Luke chapter 4 verse 21 and he began to say Unto them this
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears and all them bear
him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth Those Pharisees didn't know the first thing about
grace those temple priests in their religion knew nothing about
the grace of God. And here is one that his entire
message is filled with the grace of God. His entire message is
filled that God's grace is absolutely necessary, that without the grace
of God, and that is that he would give us any attention at all
is not because of us, but because of him. Oh, the grace of God,
how rich it is. And he brought to them these
gracious words. Well, the next thing they're
trying to do is kill him because of his gracious words. You mean
to tell me that my works are not, have any effect on my salvation? And he said in his gracious words,
not one whit are they toward your salvation. and they pick
up stones and ready to stone him. This great Savior, like
Ezra, a wonderful preacher of the gospel in his day, and he
is where the Word of God is proceeding from, there in Babylon. He was
born and raised there, but that religion did not take hold of
him forever I I can't help but think that there were some times
that he said well that religion of Babylon is just as good as
those that religion of Israel they keep talking about over
there in Jerusalem and yet God is pleased to bring him the gospel
and God is pleased to give him the new birth and God is pleased
for him to share that gospel with others and he is a picture
of Jesus Christ leading us to New Jerusalem. Let's go on here
in verse 13 of the book of Ezra. The book of Ezra chapter 7 in
verse 13. Ezra chapter 7 in verse 13. Oh, my chin just about dropped
when I saw this verse. I just was so elated. I have to tell you, I was in a
wrestling match this week, because I thought we'd be speaking about
one of the later verses in here about the punishment that's going
to be meted out to those who didn't follow the law. And I
wrestled, and I wrestled, and I started reading back through
it, and I said, oh, I missed a whole bunch here. Let's go
back. I make a decree, verse 13, I make a decree that all
they of the people of Israel and of his priests and Levites
in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go
up to Jerusalem, go with thee. Did you notice those last three
words? Go with thee. Now you're not going alone. You're
not going on yourself. You're not going by a family.
You're going back to Jerusalem with this Ezra, or you're not
going at all. And you know the truth of that?
We heard that read this morning in Acts chapter 4 and verse 12.
Brother Mike, you didn't read my notes, but they're right here.
Acts chapter 4 and verse 12. There's none other name given
under heaven whereby you must be saved. There is no other name. There is no other salvation. There is no other blessing but
in Jesus Christ. And we will not get to New Jerusalem
without Him. We cannot go on our own. The
road is perilous. There are no markers along the
road. we must be led, just as the children
of Israel were led through the wilderness. There was the fire
by night and the cloud by day, and that is the very picture
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that leads every one
of his elect ones to new Jerusalem, through the person Christ Jesus.
He is the Savior of his people, and there is no other. Ezra the
second, has the same thing written about him as Artaxerxes said
about Ezra the first. You will take him. And oh, the
blessing when God's people are given the truth of the gospel
and they realize that it is only through the Lord Jesus Christ
we will make it to Jerusalem. Oh, we just can't get there on
our own. And he reveals that to us. all
those whom had been given the will. Did you notice that passage
of scripture there? It says there, of the realm which
are minded of their own free will. I don't know how many times
recently I've been in a discussion over that very thing. Free will,
oh, that is the God of religion. That is the God of religion.
Every religion in the world will agree on that. They may cut each
other's throats over everything else, but they will agree on
that. The Muslims, and the Baptists, and the Presbyterians, and the
Chinese religion, and the Japanese religion, and every religion
of the world will agree on this that we have a free will. And
when we press the mark, When we press that and take people
to the Scriptures, they will say without exception, that's
wrong. And they'll say, we have a free
will. Well, let's just talk about that
for a moment, because those who were given a free will to go
to Jerusalem went back with Ezra. Those who were given a free will.
went back with Ezra, all those whom have been given the will
to return, all spiritual Israel, all the elect, will go back. The will of man is so stubborn
of itself that we must be made willing to go. We are so stubborn
in our religion. We're so stubborn and set upon
our ability to choose a god or the, we're talking about the
god, we, but Our, after we're saved, our rock is not that old
rock, is it? Our rock is not their rock. We
have the blessing of Christ. The will of man is so stubborn
of itself that it must be made willing to go. Without election,
the invitation to whosoever will would go unheeded. There would
be a bunch of empty chairs in heaven if it wasn't for God's
elective grace and causing us to turn to him. People will go
from religion to religion, but they will not and never will
come to Christ on their own. The Bible doctrine of whosoever
wills does not imply the freedom or ability of human will to do
good. In our natural state, we may
do some things that are good. We may benefit some others. But
I'll tell you one thing, and I just see this all the time.
If someone does something good for someone else, what's the
first thing that that person's going to do? They're going to
tell somebody about it. That's the first thing. That's
the only reason they did it. They're going to benefit from
it some way. That's what we do with our free
will. We benefit from it, but we never
will turn to Christ. We'll never turn to God. The
doctrine of whosoever will the human will is free, but it's
freedom is written within the limits of fallen human nature
Our will is free, but it is limited John chapter 5 and verse 40 you
remember that verse of scripture John chapter 5 and verse 40 the
Lord Jesus Christ said ye will not come to me that you might
have life You know You have your will, but you will not come to
me. You have your will, but you will
not come to God, the God of the Bible. We'll trade religion after
religion after religion. We'll go across the world to
find a religion that we can agree with, and once we get there,
we find out there's a whole bunch of hypocrites in that religion,
so we're going to go to another one. We will never choose Christ
salvation through trust in a crucified Christ is a stumbling block to
the Jew and foolishness To the Gentile to the Greek turn with
me to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 if you would 1st Corinthians
chapter 1 in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 again that ready scribe
that pastor that missionary That preacher of righteousness, 1
Corinthians 1, verse 23, he declares this as the Holy Spirit led him.
And that's one of the things about Ezra, the Holy Spirit led
him. That's one of the things about Abel, the Holy Spirit led
him. That's one of the things about
Joshua, the Holy Spirit led him. Anybody in the Old Testament
that was saved, the Holy Spirit led him, just like he leads his
people today. The Holy Spirit led the Apostle
Paul to write these things to a church that was having some
problems. And the issue was always Christ. Here in the book of 1
Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 23, but we preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified. Now,
if I was someone who was reporting for a newspaper, and I read into
something, ran into something like that, that verse of scripture,
just like that, we preach Christ crucified, I'd have to ask the
question, who? Christ, who's Christ? What about
Him? When, where, and why? We're just not going to skip
over that passage of Scripture if the Holy Spirit's leading
us. Who is this? This is the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord Jesus Christ we're writing about, and we find out He was
crucified. Well, it turns out that the problem
with natural man, the problem with His elect ones is so severe
that He must It's not an option. He must send the very best, and
the very best was the Son of God. He's the only one that can
take care of our problem. He's the only one. There is not
a man on the face of the earth Even Ezra, a ready scribe, a
ready preacher of the gospel, one who is prepared to lead this
group of people from Babylon to Jerusalem, he is not able
to pay the price for one of his sins, not alone the sins of the
other people that are going with him. We must have someone. This must be. This is the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the God-man. This is
the Savior. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. This is the
Savior we're talking about there. And what about it? Before the
foundation of the world, it was determined that there must be
a Lamb slain. And this Lamb is our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. What? He must be slain. There's
no option. The gospel has no option. I heard
a preacher one time saying, if you want to be saved, you either
have to keep the law perfect or you have to trust Christ.
Oh my goodness. That's not an option. There's
none other name given under heaven whereby you must be saved. There's
not an option about keeping the law because we can't keep the
law. Well, and when? Before the foundation
of the world and about when he was about 33 and a half years
old. That's when, you know, we read about him, we read about
his life. My goodness, that book of Luke has just been a blessing
to me as we've heard it taught, as we go through it and we see
the very blessed things of the Lord Jesus. But every miracle
he performed, Every message he ever preached, everything he
ever said, every place he ever went, every person he ever met.
Not one of those things could take care of one sin that we
had committed against a thrice holy God. He must go to the cross. That is an essential. And even
his disciples got into that and says, not so Lord, not so Lord.
And he said, get thee behind me adversary. He must go. He set his face as a flint to
go to the cross. And where was it? It was right
there in Jerusalem. Outside of Jerusalem this took
place. It was all prophesied. It was
not predicted. It was prophesied. It was declared
by the prophets of old where it would be in the religious
place of Israel that he had spoken to throughout the Old Testament.
And it was here that national Israel took and crucified and
slain. Even as we read concerning this
in the book of Acts, when Pilate was ready to let him go, you
crucified and slew him. Why? Because all his elect were
terrible sinners. We preach Christ and Him crucified,
all of His elect, not one, not one. And you know, when God saves
us, before we're saved, before we even come to that understanding,
we're not as bad as all that. But once the Lord saves us, we
find out why He must come. Every cell of our body is affected by the fall. As Mike
said one time, every atom of the universe is affected by the
fall. We don't have the ability. So,
unto the Jews, a stumbling block. You mean our religion is not
effective? You mean what we're doing here, all the calves we've
slaughtered, all the prayers we've made, all the supplications
we've had, all those things are not enough? And Paul says, this
is what Christ said about the matter. Don't believe me. This
is what Christ said about the matter. unto the Jews a stumbling
block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. We have our religion, that's
good enough, and we agree on free will. Well, but unto them
that are called, notice that next verse, but unto them which
are called. Oh, God is so gracious that in
time, somewhere along the line of our life, at the appointed
time, he calls us out of that nonsense that we're in by nature. Unto them which are called, both
Jews and Greeks. Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. We realize it took all that power,
the same power it took to resurrect Jesus Christ from the grave is
the power that it takes to raise us from the dead that we're in
by nature. We don't have a will that's willing. We don't have the necessary power
to do that. For just a moment, just think
about a corpse. Here's a physical corpse. It is free to get up
and walk around. Is it free to get up and walk
around? In one sense, yes, because there's nothing on it that's
preventing it. It's not tied down. It's not bound. There is no external restraint. When we preach to people dead
in trespasses and sin, there is no physical restraint from
getting them to come. Now, using psychological words,
preachers will get people to come forward. But there is no
physical restraint upon a person that's dead in trespasses and
sin, just like there is no physical restraint upon a corpse to rise. But in another sense, that corpse
is not free. It is hindered by its natural
condition. In its nature, it is to decompose
and to go back to the dust. It is not its nature to stir
about. John chapter 3, we read, Jesus
told Nicodemus, you must be born again. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is
spirit. So we have a group of folks that are preparing to go
back to Jerusalem with Ezra, only with Ezra. He's the leader. He's the only one that has the
standard. He's the one that's been authorized
by the king to lead him back. And we have a group of them.
We have a relative good estimation of how many went back. It was
a set number. We know that. It was a number
that I don't know because it's a number no man can number, but
it's a set number that are going to go back to Jerusalem, New
Jerusalem, with the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are
made willing in the day of His power. Because without that,
we'll not move a step towards God. We'll move a step towards
religion, and we'll relish in our free will. But once God saves
us, we find out He must make us willing when it comes to spiritual
things. We'll never move a whit. We can't
move. There is nothing in us to stir
us. We find the word used sometimes
in the Old Testament, I bestirred them. I bestirred them. God bestirs
us. God gets involved, and we're
thankful for that. In the book of of John there
in chapter 20. Would you turn with me there? Before we do that, go back to
the book of Ezra. I want to go to the next verse here. The Lord never had to say, oh,
I'm sorry, I made a mistake. Ezra no doubt did. He was a ready
scribe, but he would, oh, it's in another book. Let's go over
there. Well, let's go back to the book of Ezra chapter 7 and
verse 14. Ezra chapter 7 and verse 14.
And it says, therefore, as much as thou art sent of the king,
and of his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and
Jerusalem according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand."
Notice that in the very first phrase there, for as much as
thou art sent of the king. Ezra as a Jew has been in captivity.
He's been in Babylonian captivity. We read that a number of years
earlier, the 70 years were over, but they're still a group of
of Israel in captivity and Ezra is one of them and God by his
infinite power overshadows this pagan king and decrees once again
that these folks are going back but it says there for as much
as thou art sent of the king turn with me if you would to
the book of of John chapter 20 Ezra the second Fulfillment of
Ezra the first he's just a shadow just a shadow of a Black and
white picture and in not very good focus But through him he
preached Christ notice with me over here in John chapter 20
in verse 20 John chapter 20 in verse 20 After his resurrection
Now it says here, and when he had so said, he showed unto them
his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
peace be unto you, as my father has sent me. Now where did the
Lord get his commission? The father sent him to be the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He already had
graven on the palms of our Savior's hand, metaphorically, pictorially,
he'd already graven all the elect's names. He had put it on his shoulders,
the names of his people, on his breastplate, the names of his
people. put those names on there, but
the Father before the foundation of the world, and in His commission,
and being sent, He said, these are who you will die for. Well,
the Lord put it this way, all that the Father giveth me. Now,
those are the names graven on the palms of His hand. They're
names written down in the Lamb's Book of Life, but they're also
written on the Lamb. They're on his hands, graven
on his hands. Every step of his earthly ministry, he knew exactly
who he would die for. He didn't have them tattooed
on his hand, but he knew. And for us to just barely comprehend
this, it was as if he'd had all those names, that's what it means,
to be graven on the palms of his hands. God gave him. All
that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh
unto me I will in no wise cast out. Well, here he says, Be unto
you as my father has sent me the father sinning With all those
names on purpose to this earth at the right time in the right
place According to all that was written in the Old Testament
They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And every day he knew exactly who he would
save. There were a multitude that had been saved by the grace
of God throughout the Old Testament that he's already going to die
for. There were some during his own
public ministry that he was going to die for. And then there were
some after his public ministry, after he ascended back to the
Father. And we know this, that after the last one of those that
were graven on the palms of his hand After that last one, here's
the gospel, and the Spirit of God regenerates them, this whole
thing will fold up like a tent, and it will be over, and we'll
see Him in His glory. And we'll hear words of grace,
like words of grace He preached, welcome. Thou faithful servants
come unto the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world What a blessing and then he goes on to tell us here
in verse 21 Even so sinned I you even so sinned I you father sent
me I send you and that's a True child of God one that
the God of heaven has dealt with and And that's the truth about
a minister of the gospel, Ezra, as an example. Sent by God. Sent by God. Sent by God to preach
the gospel. Sent by God to lead these folks
from Babylon to Jerusalem. And he's the only one that was
authorized to do it. There's no others. Now, there
are other leaders that are going to go. We call them, there's
Levites and there's other priests and so forth but this man is
the leader that will take them back just as Jesus Christ he
has his he has his people oh you know we're thankful for those
who brought us the gospel I'm thankful for that man that came
out from Kentucky to Oregon and preached the gospel and I know
the reaction and you know I almost read my reaction in a letter
recently If I'd have written down things about that man, I'd
have written down some of the things that I read in a letter
recently. And those things, you know, they were just so wrong. I'd have found fault with that
preacher. He's just not smart enough. He's just not tall enough.
He doesn't comb his hair right. He doesn't do this right. But
you know what? When God saves us, we look at
that person who brought us the gospel and we say, thank you,
Lord. Thank you, Lord. Let me look at just one other
verse and we'll close and we'll pick this up next time. I didn't
think I'd get through this, but would you turn with me back to
the book of Ezra? Well, no, we're not going to
go there. That next point is just going
to take too much and we'll just encourage you to be with us next
time, but I would like to read it back in the book of Ezra.
Ezra chapter 7 and verse 15. I was just overwhelmed when I
read this and saw some of the thoughts that are here with regard
to our Savior, the Lord Jesus. It says, and to carry the silver
and gold which the king and his counselors shall freely offer
unto God. And you look at this in the person
Christ Jesus. The silver and the gold. The
gold is his glory. Oh my, we could spend our life
looking at the glory of the Son of God. And then that silver
pictures the subject of redemption. And He's the only Redeemer that
actually redeems His people from their sins. So the next time
we meet, we will look at this verse, verse 15, and speak about
the redemptive price, the redemptive price, the Lord Jesus, as he's
mentioned in scripture. But we'll close here for today,
and we'll have a few minutes to visit and fellowship, and
we're just so thankful for everyone. May we look to the Lord once
again. Father, we pray your blessing upon us for Jesus' sake. Amen. All right. Let's have a little
time.