Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 13. Hebrews 13. I think it was two weeks ago I spoke out of Hebrews 13.20, and
we looked at the first part of that verse,
now the God of grace. And this evening I'd like to
try to just finish that verse. We come to the end of this chapter,
or this book, and the blessed writer to Hebrews
is leaving these believers some thoughts. And in these last
few verses, there's a precious, precious amount of truth. And I'd like for us to just look,
these next few Wednesdays, as we finish up this book, I'll
read the verse, Now the God of peace that brought again from
the dead Our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,
through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in
every good work to do His will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
forever and ever. Amen. That 21st verse was a continuance,
and I wanted to go ahead and read it. But we'll just look
at verse 20. God the Father is set forth in
this verse as being the God of peace because of what said about
what He did. It says, the God of peace that
brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus. Now from that truth set forth,
we know this. We know that the Lord Jesus died. He that was brought forth, brought
again, I'm sorry, brought again from the dead, died. And according to His Word, He
died for the sheep. There's no debating. I know, I know what the world
believes. I know that. They believe that
the Lord Jesus Christ died for everybody. Died to make salvation
possible. Died for the sins of every man
and every woman without distinction. And Scripture refutes that. John 10, 15. We've read it so
many times. John 10, 15, I lay down my life
for the sheep. Our Lord died willingly. He said, no man takes my life
from me. And He died as the bearer of
sin for His people. And the Scripture says that he
died knowing no sin personally, 1 Peter 2.22, who did no sin. Neither was guile, that is, neither
was deceit, neither was treachery. There was no guile found in his
mouth. Now from that statement, that
truth, that verse, we know this. We can believe Him. We can believe
He who is the truth. I was talking today to a very dear
pastor, and he said, He said someone, well
I was talking to him and someone walked in, into his office and
he said, let me call you right back. Someone walked in. And
he called me right back and he said, and I knew who he was,
I knew who he was talking about and I talked to the person. And he said, this person just
came in and told me that we won't, he said, we won't be back, won't
be back anymore. He said, why? She said, because what you're
preaching contradicts what I've always been taught. And he said,
well, let me ask you this, what you've always been taught, can
you show me that in the Bible? And this person said, no. He said, you're telling me that
you're going to leave. You're going to walk away. from
what these Scriptures clearly set forth. He said, is there
anything that I've preached that you can show me that's not in
the Scriptures? She said, oh, no. No, everything
you've said is absolutely so. He said, you're going to leave
because I'm leaving because what I've always been taught is not
what I'm hearing here. And she said, I just can't I
turned my back on it. He said, you're breaking my heart. The Scripture says that there
was no deceit, there's no treachery in his mouth. Our Lord is the truth. He is the Word of God. The Word
that shall judge every man and every woman is Word. And the Scripture says that 2
Corinthians 5.21, He died for this reason. Now listen to this
Scripture. I saw something today, and I've
read this Scripture, and I want to say I know this, but it just
seems as though Carl, it hit me. It hit me today. 2 Corinthians
5.21, For He, that is the Father, hath made Him, the Lord Jesus,
to be sin for us who knew no sin. And here's the reason. Here's the reason because of
the wording of the rest of this verse. Here's the reason. that
He was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. There was a reason that He was
made sin, that He bore our sin, the Scripture says, in His own
body. And I've told you this before,
that word bear, it's the word gravid, which means pregnant. bore in His body the sin of His people. I've heard
men say, well, when He died, it was a legal thing. He wasn't
really made sin. It was just kind of hovering
on His shoulders or something. And God, it wasn't that He Himself
was personally affected. I beg your pardon, that's wrong. He was personally affected. He
was made sin. He was made sin. I don't even want to try to explain
it, because the Scripture sets forth. He was made sin. If I'd say He was made wood,
or He was made something else. Maybe we could understand, but
He was made sin that in order that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. For God's people to be holy,
this was God's purpose, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of sons that we might be Holy, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in life. For God's people to be holy without
blame before God the Father in love, in person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, their sin is going to have to be dealt with. And it's
not going to be a legal thing. That sin was actually Who could do this but God? The
sin of all of God's elect, past, present, future. When He died
for all of us, they were all future. But before God's elect
were ever born, before they were ever conceived, That which Almighty God knew
that they would commit. Known to the Lord all of His
works, all things. He knows the end from the beginning. He who is omniscient, who knows
every thought of rebellion that I would think. He knows. He knows. We've said before,
we think way too low of Him. But everything that His people
would commit, He bore. He bore our sins in His body and
paid the debt and paid it in full. Believer, He died. putting away the guilt of his
people. And there is no debt. There's no debt left. No debt
to pay. Sin. There's sin. Sin's there. If we say we have
no sin, we make God a liar. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners.
Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? but the sin that we're aware of and those
things we're not aware of. He paid the penalty. He paid
the debt. He paid that which was owed to
God's law. He paid it. That is the reason
God Almighty can justly, He's faithful and just to forgive
us our sins. He justly forgives them. Why? Christ paid the debt. How do I know? How do I know
that God Almighty is the God of peace back in Hebrews 13.20? How do I know that God has been
appeased? How do I know that propitiation
is so that He's appeased? How do I know? Here's how I know. He brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus. That's how I know. God is appeased. He raised Him from the dead.
And from that statement also, I keep correcting myself. What
I need to do is look at the words and quit trying to think about
what I'm saying. Now, the God of peace that brought
again from the dead, our Lord Jesus. Do you know what he just
said when he says, brought again? I looked this up. Brought up again. You say, okay,
but what are you saying? I hear what you're saying, but
what are you saying? The Lord Jesus Christ was raised
in the same body in which He was buried. The God of peace that brought
again raised that human nature of Christ. The body in which
He was buried is the body that He came out of the grave with.
Now, I'm going to tell you the significance of that. His resurrection reveals He as
the firstfruits His resurrection reveals something of how His
people are going to be raised. I want you to mark your place
right here in Hebrews. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
15.20. 1 Corinthians 15.20. We'll look at a few verses here
for a minute. 1 Corinthians 15.20. But now is Christ risen from
the dead. And as I said, remember, when
you see Christ, you realize that Christ is God-man, the Messiah. When you see Christ, remember,
that's descriptive of His divine and His human nature, Christ. But now is Christ risen from
the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. Now, when He was raised, He was
raised in a representative character. What I mean is this, His resurrection
is the pledge of how His people are going to be raised. His resurrection
is the proof of the resurrection of His people. Just as the firstfruits,
the crop, that's a promise. That's a promise that there's
going to be a harvest. When you see the firstfruits,
the first indication, Those first fruits that are on the vines,
on the branches, out there in the corn, whatever you're growing,
the first fruits is a promise that the rest of it is going
to be just like it. And that there's going to be a harvest.
Now His resurrection did the same. We're going to be raised
to life like Him. I'm coming back to 1 Corinthians
15, but look at Romans 8. Romans 8. Romans 8. 22 and 23. For we know
that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together
until now. And not only they, But ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves
grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit, the
redemption of our body. I'm talking about the resurrection
of our body. Back in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians
15 verse 21, the Scripture says, For since by man came death,
that just what Paul is saying, that just like as a causal relationship
between the death of Adam and all of mankind, just like there
is that relationship between Adam's fall and all of the descendants,
all of us, it's like we fell in Adam. There is that causal
relationship between the resurrection of Christ and His people. Look at 1 Corinthians 15, 41
to 44. 1 Corinthians 15, 41. There is one glory of the sun,
another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars. One star
differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection
of the dead. Here is what I am saying. He
died to rise to life and to die no
more. That's what we're going to do. This body, verse 42, so also
is the resurrection of the dead. It's sown in corruption. It's
raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. It's sown in weakness, raised
in power. It's sown a natural body. It's
raised a spiritual body. There's a natural body and there's
a spiritual body. It was the God of peace, the
Father Himself, that brought again from the dead. Back in
Hebrews. Turn back there with me. Brought
again from the dead. Look at this. our Lord Jesus. He is the Lord Jesus. But to His people, He's their
Lord Jesus. He's their, and I looked up the
word Lord again. I've told you before, it's so
important. You know, look the words up.
You know, you say, well, do you know what the word Lord means?
You say, well, yeah. Okay, what? You see, I'm like
you. I forgot. I had to look it up
again. You know what the word, there's
quite a few, but you know what the main definition is, Carl? Mister. Mister. Mister. Sir. Sir. I told you when we would be in
Mexico and we'd go into these pueblos and maybe Brother Walter,
Brother Cody would call on one of the men to say an opening
prayer. And of course, I can't understand,
but usually one word, Mitch, and as they're praying in Spanish,
I'd catch this word, Senor. Senor. Senor. And they were saying, Lord. Sir. Sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Whenever my dad, when I was growing
up, I'm telling you, I've told you this before, but so help
me, I'm telling you the truth. Man, I'm telling you, when my
dad called me, The answer better include the word, sir. It's either
yes, sir, no sir, or sir, sir. Man, if my dad would have called
me and I'd have said, what? Oh, man, that wouldn't have been
fun. Mom, I mean, really. You don't know. You don't know. Sir. Respect. Respect. Don't you answer. Don't you answer, what? Huh? No. My. Our Lord Jesus. Sir Savior. Our Lord. It's wonderful to say
He's the Savior of sinners, but to say that He's my Savior, That
He's my Lord, my peace, my husband, my mediator. He's my righteousness. That I stand before God complete
in Him. That His blood was shed for me. That His Spirit bears witness
with my spirit. That I'm His child. And that
His Spirit would teach me that when He died, At Calvary, he
died with Marvin Stoniker on his heart. He told Jeremiah, before I formed
you in the belly, I knew you. I knew you. That he would say
to me, Marvin, before I formed you in the belly of your mama,
I knew you. And I loved you. And I ordained
you to be a preacher. Our Lord Jesus. When He died at Calvary, the
Scripture is so precious here. Acts 2, 28 sets forth this glorious
truth. Acts 20, I'm sorry. Acts 20,
28. And when He died, The Scripture sets forth that
it was the blood of God. The blood of God. Acts 2, 20, 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made
you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased
with His own blood. You might say, well, God can't shed
His blood. God said He did. God said He
did. When He was raised, God was said
to have raised Him. Acts 2.24, whom God hath raised
up. That's what Scripture says. And
back in Hebrews 13. The one that was raised was that great shepherd of the
sheep. The great shepherd of the sheep.
You know, the Scripture said that He was going to come. They'd
been looking for Him. Isaiah 40. I'll read this to
you. Isaiah 40, verse 10-11. The Scripture says, Behold, the
Lord God will come. With strong hand, his arm shall
rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him,
and his work before him." I mean, when he came, his reward, salvation
is with him. He's going to give it to whomsoever
he will. He shall feed his flock. Ever notice how distinguished
this is? Who's going to feed his flock? Like a shepherd, he
shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom
and shall gently lead those that are with yon. He's the great shepherd of the
sheep. We brought this out before, but
you know, sheep. When we talk about sheep, and
a believer loves that term. That's such a term of endearment.
his sheep. But there is nothing that is
more helpless, more stupid, wayward, ignorant,
wandering a sheep. They are just ignorant,
ignorant animals. They just don't mind what's going
on. They just and eat and walk and
just, you know, they need a shepherd. The great shepherd of the sheep. And the one that raised, that
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, our precious Savior, Let me tell you about the great
Shepherd of the Sheep. The Scripture says that God calls
him His fellow. He is my fellow. God Almighty, human flesh. Here is what the Scripture says
about him. One that humbled himself, made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of sinful flesh, yet without sin. He's the mighty God, everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace, the government of everything on His shoulders. I think when
Mary carried the infant in her womb for nine months, that infant that she carried
for nine months was running everything. You say, how in the world can
that little infant that came forth just like every other child,
started as an embryo, just grew, grew, grew, grew, nine months
later came forth, born just like every other child is born? And
the government was upon his shoulders. That's the mighty God. That's
the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father. And His name is Wonderful
Counselor. That's our Lord Jesus, the Great
Shepherd of the Sheep. Notice who He's the Great Shepherd
of. Not of the world, not of the
goats, not of the wolves. He's the great shepherd of the
sheep. Isn't it amazing how exact the
Spirit of God is when He writes just every word. There's not
a word out of place, not one word too many, not one word lacking. It's just exactly that great
shepherd of the sheep. It's not going to fail. That blessed peace that has been
established has been established, the scripture says, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant. How has peace been established? Let me tell you this. It has
not been established through the baptismal pool. It has not
been established through praying in tongues. It's not been established
walking down an aisle. It's not been established by
me exercising my free will. The Scripture says, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, that covenant that David said,
this is all of my hope, this is all my salvation, this is
all my desire. I don't want, I don't want to
talk about it. There is no other salvation.
Salvation by the grace of God, that everlasting covenant that
God Almighty, Father, Son, Spirit, made with Himself, that eternal
counsel, no beginning, no end, no repeal, the merit of that
everlasting covenant, His blood. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood. I am so thankful that he didn't
say, when I see Marvin's faithfulness, when I see his ability to pray
as he ought, to study as he ought, to preach as he ought. No, when
I see the blood, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Oh, the miracle of God's grace
that Almighty God would have mercy upon one such as I, the
Great Shepherd of the Sheep. The Scripture says that the God
of peace brought up again from the dead, our Lord Jesus. That great shepherd of the sheep
through the blood of the everlasting covenant. By his sacrifice for his people,
he hath perfected forever. Them that are sanctified, set
apart for God. Set apart for God's purpose.
Set apart for God's will. set apart for God's salvation.