Alright, brethren, let's turn
to John 19. Good to have our visitors with
us this morning. We're going to have a meal afterwards
and I hope you'll be able to stay and enjoy that with us. The scene in which our text is
taken is when Christ was hanging upon the cross. The darkness
had passed and this is almost the last thing our Savior said.
And we read here verse 28. 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 he
gave up the ghost. As the God-man hung upon the
cross, he knew, he knew when that time had come, when he had
accomplished all things that God the Father sent him to accomplish
for God's glory and for his people. Jesus knowing that all things
were now accomplished. And to show us that he accomplished
everything in every last detail. Jesus knowing that all things
were now accomplished that the scripture might be fulfilled
said I thirst. That was written in the scripture
that he would say that. And to show us that he fulfilled
everything God sent him to fulfill, everything that was written,
he said, I thirst. So when he had received the vinegar,
he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and he
himself willingly released his spirit and commended his spirit
to the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
successful Savior. The prophecy in Isaiah said,
He shall not fail. He is the successful Savior. Now, if you ever hear a preacher
preaching and he says, Christ has done all He can do and now
there's something that's up to you. That preacher is not preaching
about the true Christ of Scripture. If a preacher makes that statement,
he's talking about an idol. He's not talking about the successful
Lord Jesus Christ. Concerning all the work that
God the Father sent Christ His Son to accomplish for His elect,
all the work that God sent His Son to accomplish for His elect
people, Christ accomplished all things. And He declared, it is
finished. The work is finished. When He
said that, He was declaring what He declared in that high priestly
prayer when He said, I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished
the work which Thou gavest Me to do. What did Christ finish? What did he accomplish? That's
what I want to show you today with five points. I believe I
got five. I might have one more. Round
five. Here we go. First of all, Christ finished
the transgression and made an end of sins for all his people. When I say His people, I mean
everybody for whom Christ died on Calvary's tree. He said, I
laid down my life for the sheep. That's what He said. I laid down
my life for the sheep. Now, those for whom He laid down
His life, He finished the transgressions and made an end of sins. God is holy. Now, you know, everybody
has heard God is love, and God is love, but God is holy. And therefore, God told Moses,
I will by no means clear the guilty. Every sinner that sins will die. Period. Because God's just. And He will not sweep sin under
the rug. He will punish sin. He will. The soul that sins,
it shall die. It shall die. That means all of us, because
everybody here, everybody under the sound of my voice, died in
Adam. We all transgressed in Adam.
We all came forth sinners from a mother's womb, and as soon
as we were able, we began to transgress and sin against God,
and that's all you've ever done in your flesh, and that's all
I've ever done in my flesh. That's it. Of us, we've never
brought forth anything good. In Genesis, the Lord God looked
on the whole earth and He said, the thoughts of their heart is
only evil continually. Now see, if you're judging by
me, if I'm your standard, there's a lot of you here that probably
say, well, I'm a lot better than that fellow. But I'm not your
standard. God is. And to compare ourselves
with God, we're going to come up short. We're going to come
up short, every one of us. Well, everybody God's going to
save is a sinner. And if God won't clear the guilty,
if He will by no means clear those who are guilty, and we're
all guilty, all those God shall save are guilty, how then can
God be just and pour out wrath on us and yet at the same time
justify us? How on earth can that happen?
How can God make mercy and justice kiss in harmony? How is He going
to do that? Turn over to Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1
and look in verse 21. When the Holy Spirit spoke to
Joseph, He said this to comfort Joseph concerning the the child
in Mary's womb. He said in Matthew 1.21, she
shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus. That means Savior. And here's
why he said you're going to call him Jesus. This is what it means. For he shall save his people
from their sins. That's how God can be just and
the justifier of His people. He sent forth His Son, the Lord
Jesus, and He shall save His people from their sins. Hebrews
9.26 says this, Now once in the end of the world hath He appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He came with this
work to do, to put away sin. completely, totally, by the sacrifice
of Himself. That's what Christ came to do.
Whenever our Lord, we're going to, believers here, this is an
ordinance for believers that have all their worthiness in
the Lord Jesus Christ, that wholeheartedly agree with the message you're
going to hear today. We're going to partake of bread and wine
here. And when our Lord instituted
this table, He said, this bread is a representation to remind
you of My body which is given for you." He's speaking to those
He had called by His grace who believed on Him. He said, this
represents My body which is given for you, given in your room instead,
given in your place. He said, and this wine is My
blood which is shed for you. You see, that's substitution.
Giving His body in the place of His people. Shedding His blood
in the place of His people. That's what was transpiring on
the cross 2016 years ago. God came in human flesh, made
like unto His people, made like unto His brethren, the God-man
to work out a righteousness for them and put away their sin and
finish all their transgression by giving his body to be broken
in their place and shedding his blood in their place. That's
what he was doing. Our substitute willingly gave
himself. He's holy. He was spotless. That's
why he was born of a virgin. He's not like you and me. You
and me came from Adam. And so we're corrupt by nature.
He's the last Adam. He's the only other man beside
Adam that came forth into this earth holy and upright. He's
the Son of God. And He came forth, and as that
spotless Lamb of God, He came forth and presented Himself to
the Father, and the Father laid the iniquities of all His people
on Him. He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree, and He did that so that God might be just to
pour out all the fury of His divine justice. All the wrath
of divine justice upon Christ in the place of His people. You with me? You with me now?
I'm trying to show you how God can be just and justify His people. Christ went there and He shed
His own blood for the remission of our sins. He did it that He
might fulfill the will of God. Romans 3.26. Go there with me.
I want you to see this. Here's the will of God right
here. This is why Christ came first and foremost. Before God
could do anything for you and me, the sinner, He had to do
something for Himself. Look here. Romans 3.26. Christ was sent forth to declare,
I say at this time, His righteousness. That's what I mean when I say
God's holy. He will by no means clear the
guilty. He came to declare God's righteousness. that God might be just, and that
God might be the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
Now listen carefully to what he says there. God is just because
He poured out justice upon Christ, and when He poured out justice
upon Christ, He poured out justice upon everybody for whom Christ
represented. Everybody for whom Christ died,
He poured out divine justice upon them. And when Christ died,
they died. Every one of God's sheep died
when Christ died. And He's the justifier because
that was God laying down His life for His people. You see,
When you believe on God, that's not what justifies you. Faith
is the instrument through which you receive the justification
that He already accomplished. When He said it is finished,
He said, I declared God just and the justifier. I finished
the transgression. I made an end of sin. Listen
to what the Scripture says. When He came, He said, a body
hast thou prepared me. And all those burnt offerings,
those sacrifices for sin throughout the Old Covenant, you didn't
have any pleasure in those. Those never made satisfaction
for sin. Never once. Then he said, Lo,
I come, in the volume of the book it was written of me. It
was written of Christ all through the Old Testament. And he said,
I came to do thy will, O God. And when he said he came to do
God's will, he means he came to make a sacrifice for sin so
that he pleased God, he pleased justice, he satisfied justice,
he declared God the justifier, and he put an end to that old
covenant and he established that new everlasting covenant of grace
of grace now listen to this listen to this by his will we that is
everybody he laid down his life we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time. Just one offering
was needed. He accomplished it. He accomplished
it. He finished it by that one offering. He, listen to this, priests,
he says, every priest stands daily. There's men today standing
who call themselves priests and they're ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. Never. But listen, but this man,
after he offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at
the right hand of God. No priest ever sat down in that
holiest of holies in that old tabernacle because they never
made a satisfaction for sin. But when he had by himself purged
our sin, when he by himself, by his one offering forever sanctified
his people, he sat down. because the work was finished.
From henceforth expecting till all his enemies be made his footstool,
because by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified." He did it. He did it. He perfected forever
by his one offering all his people. He did it. When Christ said it's
finished, here's what he meant. Sin's condemnation is gone for
all his people. Sin's curse is ended. Sin's judgment
is ended. Sin's consequence is ended. Sin's
guilt is ended. Sin's death is ended. The end
of all our sins, past, present, and future is ended for all whom
He died. Now listen to this. Sin don't
even exist anymore before God. Ain't that what Scriptures say? Listen. You know that He was
manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. In those days and that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel will be solved for,
and there shall be none. The sins of Judah, they shall
not be found, for I will pardon whom I reserve. Blessed is he
whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And that's so because Christ
said, It is finished. You believe Him? You believe
Him? Why did He send me here to tell
you this? Because He's got a people He did this for, and some of
them may be here. It may be the first day He's
made your path cross with the sound of this gospel, and today
He's going to bust your stony heart and give you a new heart
and make you say, bless God, He did that for me. He's going to do that for everybody
for whom He did this. He must, because the same justice
that once demanded we die, now demands that we be made alive.
That's right. Justice is our friend. It demands
we be made alive. All right, secondly, when Christ
cried it's finished, He declared that He finished the work of
making reconciliation for iniquity for all His people. You see,
when we sinned against God, and every day, it's just like if
you had somebody who was your worst enemy. And they're just slapping you
every day and spitting in your face every day and cursing you
every day and coming over to your house and taking your stuff
every day and pillaging your house and using everything you've
got and just blaspheming you constantly. That's what we were
doing to God. All that he's going to say, that's
what we were doing to God. So reconciliation had to be made.
Reparation had to be made to God because We had to be reconciled. We had to be brought back into
friendship with God. Now listen to what the Scriptures
say. 2 Corinthians 5. Let's go there. 2 Corinthians
5.17. When He said, It's finished by
His blood, by the sacrifice of Himself, by His sufferings and
His death, He made full reparation to God for all the injury done
by all our iniquities. Now look here in 2 Corinthians
5.17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature." That means a new creation. He'd been created
anew. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. And all things are of God. Watch this. God who hath reconciled
us to Himself by Jesus Christ. He did it. He finished it. He
reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ. And He'd given us this
ministry of reconciliation. I'm preaching to you reconciliation. I'm telling you Christ accomplished
reconciliation. He reconciled all His people
to God. To it, God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
hath committed unto us this word of reconciliation. Let me help
you with that word, world. Men read that and they say, see
there, Christ died for the whole world. He reconciled the whole
world. If He did, now hear me carefully, if He did, He so succeeded
at it, everybody in the world is the friend of God. Judas,
who betrayed Him with a kiss and went to hell, God poured
out punishment on him a second time. That means God's not just. You see, that can't be so, brethren.
There's people who perish every day in unbelief and in sin who
have not been born anew and not been made new. When He says the
world, the Jews thought they were the only ones who God did
this for. And when He sent forth His preachers
preaching, Christ sent forth the gospel, He sent forth declaring,
I have a people scattered all over this world. I would elect
people all over this world. I've got people, he had some
people among Israel, but not all of them were Israel. He says
that in Romans 9. But He has a people among the
Jews that are His elect people. But here's the point. Christ
so finished the work that every one of them that are His, He
reconciled them to God. He brought them into friendship
with God. God will not impute trespasses
unto them anymore. He just won't do it. Now He's
given us this word of reconciliation. Why? Read verse 20. Now then
we are ambassadors for Christ. I'm standing here as though God
did beseech you by us. I'm standing here praying you
in Christ's stead. I'm standing here in the place
of Christ telling you, now be ye reconciled to God. Here's what I'm saying to you.
God was in Christ and He reconciled all His people to God when Christ
died. You lay down your shotgun and
quit firing shots at God and surrender. And if God blesses
that word to your heart, it's the only way you're going to
do it. You'll melt your shotgun and you'll say, I'm a friend
of God. Bless God, He made me His friend.
If when we were enemies, if when we were enemies, We were reconciled
to God by the death of his son, much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life. He's going to save everybody
he reconciled because he's alive and he's sending this gospel
and he's going to save them. And we right now rejoice because
we have already received this reconciliation by his grace.
Thirdly, Christ finished the work of bringing in everlasting
righteousness for us. You know, the thought just occurred
to me, when you read these things, why on earth would anybody reject
this? I mean this is the best news
anybody could hear. This is declaring Christ is all. He did it all. This is declaring
Christ is salvation. This is declaring God gets all
the glory and all the praise and all the honor. And we're
going to magnify Him and honor Him all our days because this
work is accomplished by God and His Son. Who would reject that? Everybody that He hadn't given
a new heart. That's proof to you that in our
nature, we're sinners. Anybody that can reject this
good news is insane. That's what he is. That's proof
to you sin has made us clueless in our brain. Now look here.
He finished the work of bringing in everlasting righteousness
for us. For His people, our Savior restored
that which He took not away. He established righteousness. How did He do it? He magnified
the law and He made it honorable. He magnified the law. Listen
to this. In 2 Corinthians 5.21, if you're
still there, He hath made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Like I said, I'm not the measuring
line. If you're just trying to measure
it up to my righteousness, you can go way beyond that. We need
the righteousness of God. That means you have to be as
righteous as God to enter into God's presence. You can have
never disobeyed His law in thought, word, or deed, ever. You have got to have fulfilled
His law beginning to end from a holy heart in perfect righteousness. Both are required, a holy heart
and perfect righteousness. As by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. That one is Christ. When he said,
it's finished, he declared, I'm the one who's made my people
righteous. Righteous. The law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. And men are going to the law of Mount Sinai and trying
to earn a righteousness by the Ten Commandments, by obeying
the Ten Commandments. And they don't realize that if
you read the scriptures, Romans 3, Romans 5, Galatians, tells
you the law was given as a ministration of death. It's the law of sin
and death. It was given to declare everybody
is guilty. He was given to shut every mouth
and make us all hit our face at God's feet and say, Lord,
have mercy on me. I'm nothing but a sinner. I'm
dead in my flesh. I need you to save me, you to
make me righteous, you to bring me to yourself. I can't do it
myself. The Spirit of Life, when He regenerates
His people and gives you life and brings you to the feet of
Christ to lay all your care upon Him, He makes you to know that
He's made you free from the law of sin and death. Because what
the law could not do, Not that there was a problem with the
law, but what the law could not do in that it was weak through
our flesh. We couldn't keep it. We couldn't
obey it. Everybody that tells you that
a man before he's converted or a man after he's converted can
keep the law of God, anybody that tells you that is bringing
the law down to a level that he can make a man think he can
obey it. The old timers used to say, I can jump over a barn
if you let me build the barn. God don't bring His law down
to our level. Christ came and fulfilled it.
God sending His Son. in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the Spirit." Now listen to what I'm saying.
Our righteousness was earned by Christ's obedience. Our righteousness
is bestowed by His grace. Our righteousness is freely given
and received through the gift of faith that He gives us, whereby
we lay hold of this righteousness. And our righteousness is everlasting
righteousness, and our righteousness is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what I'm saying. That
means By God's effectual grace, believing on Christ, we have
submitted ourselves to that person who is the righteousness of God. Listen to this. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Now
hear what he said. Christ is not the righteousness
of the law. He's not the end of the law for
righteousness to the man who's still going back to the law of
Mount Sinai and trying to make himself righteous or to sanctify
himself by his so-called obedience to the Ten Commandments. He's
not the end of the law for that man because that man don't believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's only the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes on Him. And all
the way we do that is by His grace. By His effectual grace
teaching us, it's finished. It's finished. It's finished.
It's finished. It's finished. I'm not trying
to keep the law, brethren. Not trying to. I've kept it. I've kept it. I've established
it. Through faith, I don't make the
void law, the law void. I'm not, they call me an antinomian.
Everybody around here says I'm lawless, I'm without law. Oh,
you're just without law. Cause you don't preach the law
and tell sinners they gotta keep the law. I'm telling you, you
gotta keep the law. I'm just telling you, you're
not gonna keep it like they're telling you you're gonna keep
it. The only way you're gonna keep it is the same way Abraham
kept it 430 years before the Ten Commandments was ever given.
Through faith in Christ. That's it. And by that I have
established the law. So if you who believe on it,
because it's finished. Now fourthly, Christ finished
the work of sealing up the vision and the prophecy. What does that
mean? He said, think not that I have come to destroy the law
or the prophets. I have not come to destroy. Oh,
see there, the law is still in effect. You better get under
the law. Now wait, that's not where he stopped that statement.
He said, don't think I came to destroy the law of the prophet.
I did not come to destroy. I came to fulfill. That cup's not full. If that
cup was full, you couldn't put one more drop in it. That's filled
full when you can't put anything to it. You can't add a thing
to it. That's what he did to the law. That's what he did to
the moral law, that's what he did to the ceremonial law, that's
what he did to the whole law. That's what he did for his people.
And if that's not what it means, if it means we still have to
fulfill it, then that means you also got to fulfill prophecy
because he said I came to fulfill that too. No, it means he fulfilled
the law just like he fulfilled prophecy. He sealed up the vision
and the prophecy. He said in the volume of the
book, it's written of me. Everything in that law and in
the prophets was written of Christ. Everything. Everything. This
book is not about how to be moral and live a moral life and be
an upstanding citizen. It will teach you how to do that.
There's nothing wrong with what it teaches you concerning morality.
But this book is concerning God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, how
He is the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption
of His people. How He brings all His people
to glory in the Lord and not in ourselves. That's what this
book is concerning. He's the seed of woman, God said
in the garden, is going to crush the serpent's head. He's the
lamb represented by that able brought whereby he was accepted
of God. He's the ark that was covered
in pitch inside and out, atonement inside and out, so that not a
drop of the justice of God's reign touched anybody inside
that ark. That's a picture of Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ is the high priest that entered into the
holiest of holies. He's the lamb and the blood that
was carried in. He's the mercy seat, the propitiation
where satisfaction was made to God. He's the altar on which
the sacrifice was laid. He's everything. He's the temple. He's the tabernacle which the
Lord pitched to not man. Everything in that old covenant
was to typify Him. And if we throw Him away and
lay hold of the of the priestly garments and the gold stuff and
all that and say, well now we're worshiping God. No, you're not.
You're playing. You've thrown God out and you've
rejected Christ and you've held on to the husk. You've held on
to the picture that was given to show you Him who is the express
image. Don't forsake the express image
for a shadow. You can't lay down in a shadow.
You can't rest in a shadow. You can't be held up in a shadow.
You can't be carried to glory in a shadow. You've got to be
carried in the bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest in Him. All the Law, all the Prophets,
all the Promises. Paul said in Romans 1.1, The
Gospel of God is that which He had promised afore by His Prophets
in the Holy Scriptures concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. He said there in our text, knowing
all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled.
He said our third. Everything was written. He had
to fulfill it. And if you go through and look
at all the places it says that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
everything that was taking place with his enemies, he was controlling
everything that was taking place. If you read it, sometimes it
looks like they had a checklist and they were just going out
and saying, okay, now we're supposed to cast lots for his garments. Okay, let's do that. All right,
we're not supposed to break a bone. Let's don't do that. It looks
like they were going out and saying, now let's do this. but
it was Him fulfilling everything. Everything that was done was
done by His determinate counseling for knowledge. When He said it's finished, Scripture
says, now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even that righteousness
of God which is by the faith and fidelity and obedience of
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. That's where you see it. And
it's witnessed all through the Law and the Prophets. That's
why I pick up the Old Testament and we just preach out of the
Old Testament just like we do out of the New Testament. It's one message.
We're preaching Christ all the way through. I got this outline,
most of you probably know by now, I got my outline from Daniel
9.24. That's a prophecy. And in that prophecy he said,
there's a determined time set upon thy people and thy holy
city which Christ will finish the transgression, He will make
an end of sins, He will make reconciliation for iniquity,
He will bring in an everlasting righteousness, and He will seal
up the vision and the prophecy. And there's one more thing it
says there. It says, He will anoint the most holy. John 19.30
says, When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, He
said, It is finished. And He bowed His head and He
gave up the ghost. Hebrews 9.12 He didn't give up
the ghost to Satan. Some people say He went to Satan.
He bore the hell of the cross on the cross. He bore the hell
of hell on the cross. He bore the death that never
dies while He was alive on the cross. Separated from God. And when He died, He commended
His Spirit to the Father. And Hebrews 9.12 says, Neither
by the blood of bulls and goats, goats and calves, but by His
own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, the most
holy, the holiest of holies, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. When Christ cried, It's finished,
and He commended His Spirit to the Father's presence, the old
earthly veil, There was a temple, you know, a temple and there
was that veil, thick, thick veil. And to get into that holiest
of holies, that veil made the holiest of holies. Inside there
was where the Ark was supposed to be, used to be. And that priest,
that high priest would go under that veil with that blood of
that lamb once a year to make atonement. But when Christ said
it's finished, that veil split. right in two, right down the
middle. And everybody looked in there, and there wasn't even
an arc in there anymore. That arc pictured Christ. Everything
they'd been doing for all those years was just a mock, just a
show. Because it was all done away
with. But that showed you, brethren,
when that veil rent, the Lord was declaring, that's finished.
There's a new way to enter into God's presence. I've anointed
a new way into the Most Holy. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 with
me. Christ is going to come to His
child and He's going to anoint His Most Holy Child. You see,
there's a holy place in heaven at God's right hand and then
His His church, His temple, His people is a most holy place too. And when He anoints you with
the Holy Spirit, He writes a new covenant of grace on the heart.
It's called the Law of God. the law of Christ, the law of
faith, the law of liberty, the law of faith, the law of love,
and He teaches you that He's taken away that first old covenant
of works and He's established the new everlasting covenant
of grace where everything, every I is dotted, every T is crossed,
Christ has fulfilled it all. We just get to joy and rejoice
that it's finished. What work do I have to do? No
have to. Work must I do, no must to. It's all if you want to. And I tell you what, when you
see what he's done, you want to. You want to. What law is
it? Tell me men, you men here. You
got laws written out at home on your wall that tells you how
much you need to give for your wife for a birthday present,
and how much you need to spend on her, and how often you need
to take her out to eat. We might need that. But really
and truly, you do what you do for her. Why? Because you love
her. And you do everything and things.
I'll tell you one time I was in a, when me and my wife were
just about to get married, I went into a store and I'm going to
buy her a, I'm going to buy her a new dress to leave the church
building in. And I go in there and I didn't
have any money. And I went in there and there
was this beautiful dress, most beautiful dress. I thought that
is, that's the prettiest thing. That is beautiful. But it was,
it was expensive. I think it was somewhere, I won't
tell because I don't want her to know, but it was expensive.
More than I had. And I'm sitting there looking
at that dress and I'm walking around in there and I think there
must have been somebody up there behind the window somewhere watching
me. And you remember that old R&B song, ain't no woman like
the one I got. That song came on, on and over
the speakers. And I said, that's right. Ain't
no woman like the one I got. And I went up there and I paid
the money down. And I was, when I saw her in it, it was worth
every penny. I didn't even think about the
money. You know why? I love that woman. You see, when
you're constrained by the love of Christ, you don't have to
have a law making you do something. Everybody that ever tried to
do anything under that old covenant, without God's grace giving them
a heart to want to, they hated every minute of it. It was drudgery
to them. Paul said, you don't hear the
law. Well, even our fathers couldn't keep that law. But when he gives
you this new law, the law of liberty, the law of love, the
law of faith, the law of constrained by his love, you want to serve
him because of what he's done for you. Now, here's that new
way. Look here, Hebrews 10.19. This
is what it teaches you. Hebrews 10.19, "...having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way, which He has consecrated for us through
the veil." That is to say, through the veil of His flesh. Not that
old cloth veil. Through His flesh. through His
cross, having a high priest over the house of God, Christ our
high priest. Let us draw near now with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. I believe God's going to receive
me in that holiest of holies. Why? You put any confidence in
you? Nope. The full assurance of my
faith is Christ's blood, Christ my high priest, Christ my new
and living way. He's consecrated this way for
me. Draw near with the full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
What's that evil conscience? Thinking there's something you're
going to do or must do to please God. That's it right there. You've
been sprinkled from that. And what he said before, how
much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. I'm entering now
Sprinkled from that evil conscience, my body washed with pure water."
Now here's what we sing. Wrath is finished. Judgment is
finished. Sin is finished. Righteousness
is finished. Redemption is finished. Justification
is finished. Sanctification is finished. Salvation
is finished. And therefore, God our Father
says to you who are the most holy by Christ our sanctification,
He says, welcome into My holy presence. And we come there giving
thanks unto the Father who has made us meet, fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. Isn't that right? What
needs to be done more than it is finished? Would you tell me
that? Well, now preacher, I've got
to try to work up a little more holiness. You can't come. If that's how you feel, you're
not welcome. That's that evil conscience.
You've got to be purged from that. It is finished. It is finished. His people are
fit to enter in. They're fit to enter in. Now
let me ask you something. Is Christ your only worthiness? Your entire worthiness, right
now, where you sit, if you died this minute, is He your worthiness
to come into God's presence in Him alone? If He is, by God's grace, if
He is, He's your worthiness for partaking of this table. But
let me say something now. Let me tell you what He said.
He said, if you think there's anything you have to do, you're not worthy to come to
this table. Let a man examine himself. Examine myself to see if I've...
I got sin. You got sin in you. I got plenty
of that. That's not a disqualification
on this table. That's a qualification for this
table, if you know it. But if you know Christ has put
it away, and Christ is your wisdom, your righteousness, your sanctification,
and your redemption. If all your glory is in Him alone,
He says, this broken cup right here, broken bread right here. He took it and he held it up before him.
A picture of his body. All his people in him. And he
broke it. He broke his body. He said, this
represents, it's not turning into my body. He made one sacrifice
for sin. It's not turning into his body.
It's picturing his broken body. And he said to everyone that
believes, it's broken for you. And then he took that cup and
he said, this is my blood, the new covenant in my blood, written
in my blood, ratified by my blood, death of the testator, so that
now This is My blood which was shed for you." And He said, you
drink this cup and eat this bread in remembrance of Him. You can't
remember somebody you've never met. This was for His people. This is for those who find all
their worthiness in Christ. And for us, He says, you do this. This is an ordinance just like
baptism. It's not optional. He said, you do this, and you
do it in remembrance of me. Alright. Brother Kevin, will
you pass this out?