I began studying for our meeting
tonight, looking in 1 Peter chapter 1, and I read verse 14, as obedient
children. And then this verse came to mind,
and I recalled that last week somebody asked the question,
why do believers suffer? The Lord Jesus said, remember
the word that I said unto you, the servants not greater than
his Lord. He said, if they've persecuted
me, they'll persecute you. If they've kept my saying, they'll
keep yours. We're told to look unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him
who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest
you be wearied and faint in your minds. So I thought of this text,
Hebrews 5 verse 8. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered. and being made perfect, He became
the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him. Christ Jesus is the Son of God
like no other. He is God the Son, the second
person of the Trinity. One with the Father and one with
the Holy Spirit. The scripture says, being in
the form of God, he thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He is God, the Son of God. Yet though he's the Son of God,
in order to perfect righteousness for his people, and to justify
his people from their sins, in order to magnify the law, of
God and to make it honorable. In order to declare the righteousness
of God in the salvation of guilty sinners, He came and took upon
Him flesh, a body, to suffer as a man. Galatians 4.4 says,
When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. Here's what I want you to get.
Why do believers suffer in this world? As our Savior learned
obedience by the things which He suffered. In this world, every
believer shall learn obedience by the things which we suffer." This is an amazing thought, an
amazing word. If this wasn't written in the
Word of God, I wouldn't dare say it. But here it is, Hebrews
5 verse 8, Though he were a son, the Son of God preeminently and
like no other, yet as a man." As a man. This is what we're
talking about. As a man. He learned obedience
by the things which he suffered. Now, what is obedience? We look a few weeks ago over
in John when the Lord said, No man takes my life from me. I
lay it down of myself. Obedience is free, willing, voluntary
submission to the will of another. Now, he is the only man who was
ever free from sin besides Adam. The only man that was ever free
from sin besides Adam. And Adam was the first representative
of man. He was the first father as a
man of the human race. And as the father, he was the
legal representative of the whole house. And the father is the
one from whom the children are born. And in that, he's a picture
in representation. As far as representation goes,
he was a figure of Christ to come, Adam was. He was a father
as both a legal representative and a father from whom the children
would be born. And so when Adam disobeyed God,
all whom he represented became judicially that is legally guilty
because he's the legal head of the family. Guilty. And being born of his seed, everyone
that was conceived, every man, woman, and child in this earth
that's been conceived in their mother's womb was conceived by
corrupt seed and was conceived in sin. That's what we are by
nature, sin, sin. God's of two pure eyes to look
upon iniquity. We have to be made completely
holy to be accepted of God. Well, Christ Jesus is the father,
the everlasting father. It's what Isaiah declared. He's the everlasting father. He's the last Adam of everyone
that he represented. And what he did is legally imputed
to his children. And through him, through the
Spirit, his children are born of incorruptible seed. He partook
of the nature of his children to make his children partaker
of his divine nature. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, that's Adam, so by the obedience of one, that's
Christ, shall many be made righteous. This world comes down to two
men, Adam or Christ. Adam or Christ. Now this is the
gospel, this is the simplicity we're talking about here, the
singleness of this gospel. You are either going to leave
this world in Adam, dead in your sins and your trespasses, Are
you going to leave this world believing on Christ Jesus and
being found in Him, not having a righteousness that is of you,
but the righteousness which is by the faith of Christ Jesus
the Lord? the righteousness which is of
God, whereby He created you anew, gave you a new heart, gave you
a new spirit, He gave you faith and repentance and made you willing
in the day of His power to believe and enter into this union with
Christ Jesus wherein you've been made new in the inner man, born
again, so that you're vitally in Him. and will be found in
Him. You're going to either come in
one of those two men. You're going to come to God in
Adam or you're going to come to God in Christ. One of the
two. One of the two. Christ's obedience. The reason He came and what He
perfected. Christ's obedience is the unchangeable,
immutable ground of the believer's acceptance with God. I don't
even like to say it's the ground of His acceptance with God. He
is our acceptance with God. What Christ did and who He is,
His glorious person, what He did is a manifestation of who
He is. And what we do is a manifestation
of who we are. We don't become sinners because
we sin. Sin is the result of what we
are. Let me show you that. Turn over to Ephesians. Ephesians
chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 1 says, You hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Those are acts. Trespasses and sin. Where in
time past you walked, that's how you walked, he said. According
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience, among whom we all had our conversation, this
was our way, this was our life, this was, it was death, but this
was our way. What in times past, this was
it. Where'd it come from? How come
we walked and how come we performed those things that were nothing
but trespasses and sins against God? Where'd it come from? Look
at the next verse. In the lusts of our flesh. It was the result
of what we are. Fulfilling the desires, the will,
the craving of the flesh. It's all we were. Nothing but
this fleshly, sinful sin, that's all we were. Of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others, hated God. not at enmity against God, enmity
against God, hatred against God, that's what we were. And so everything
we did was hatred against God. We can outwardly be moral and
still be hatred against God. We can go through all of the the outward forms of religion,
we can still be hatred against God, having done all those things. Holiness is something that is
created, that a sinner is made to be. And then, from a new will,
from a new desire that's not of the flesh, that's not of man,
that's not of us. That is the creation of God and
the power of God. Then, by God's grace and by God's
power and by God's strengthening, we desire to obey Him. And the fruit of that is from
an inward work that God has done, that He has worked, that He has
worked. Well, Christ Jesus was free of
sin and He came here in order to do a work God gave Him to
do. In order to do it, the Son of
God had to assume a body like our body. He had to come in that
body that was prepared for Him and He had to live under the
law as a man in perfect obedience to the Father voluntarily. He had to be willing constantly. Even unto death. But not just
any death. The death of the cross. That
death which would make Him have to be made a curse. That death that would make Him
who knew no sin to be made sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. That death that would require
Him who is just to die for the unjust. Not for folks who were
good, not for folks who had a little bit of righteousness about them,
not for folks who wanted him to die for them, but for folks
who hated him with every fiber of their being. This is obedience. This is obedience. This is the
death he came to die. Look over at Philippians 2.5.
I want you to see this. Philippians 2.5. What we're learning in this life
as believers is this right here. It's right
here, Philippians 2. Philippians 2. And it's not that we're trying
to learn it. We're gonna learn it. We're gonna
learn it. God the Father's teaching it. Here it is, Philippians 2. Verse
5, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. He said, therefore doth
my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take
it again. No man takes it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment I received of
my Father. He said in another place, that
the world may know that I love my father, even as he gave me
commandment, so I do. And he also said, father, that
they might know the love that you've had for them. I lay down my life. The father loves him because
of what he did voluntarily. The world knows that he loves
the father because of what he did voluntarily. He manifests
his love for the father by what he did voluntarily, and he makes
his children to know this is the love of the father because
of what I'm doing for you. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. This is
love, not that we love God, not that we did God a favor, but
that God loved us and sent His Son, His Son, to be the propitiation,
the satisfaction for His children. The things that His children
experience in this world, the things you experience in this
world, the things I experience in this world, is what our Savior experienced
in this world. As God the Son, He's God. But
as the Son of Man, we read this. Look at Luke chapter 2. I know this is... It's not easy. It's not easy
for us to understand these things, but we're talking about God in
human flesh here. But as a man, as a man, this
is what the Scripture says about him. Luke 2, verse 40. The child grew and waxed strong
in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon
him. That's said of Christ Jesus. That's telling us He was a man,
a real man. A real servant of the Father. A real faithful one following
the commands of His Father. Read it again. The child grew
and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of
God was upon him. This one is the one who knew
no sin. This is the one who was that
holy thing from the womb, so that his suffering, which is
what I was trying to convey to you the other day and several
other messages, We don't understand sin and we don't understand what
it is because we've never known anything but sin. But He knows what sin is because
this is One who knew no sin. That's what makes His suffering
unto death and His obedience one of the most mysterious and
amazing works that you'll ever try to enter into. This one knew
no sin. And so he knew what sin is. He suffered a contradiction of
sinners against himself. Do you suffer that? Have you
ever suffered that as a believer? If you're a believer, sooner than later, you're going
to suffer a contradiction of sinners against yourself. You're
going to meet with somebody very soon that says, well, I don't
believe that. I don't believe that. I don't
believe any part of that. And yet he delighted in the midst
of that to do his father's will. He said, I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
we boast of our will, that's the thing that men defend in
religion, is their will. This one who is set before us
as the perfection of all that God is, This one who sat before
us as the perfection of what a perfect, faithful, holy, and
just, and righteous man is. This one said, I'm not here to
do my will. I'm here to do the will of my
Father who sent me. Not my will, but His will. though he suffered the contradiction
of self-righteous men against himself. Look over at John 12. Let's see what he said. John 12. We talk about his obedience. Let's hear what he did. John
12, verse 49. He said, I have not spoken of
myself. But the Father which sent me,
he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should
speak. And I know that his commandment
is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. When he suffered being tried
by Satan, you know how he spoke to Satan and everything that
Satan tempted him with, you know how he answered? You know what
the one sword he wielded was? It is written. He just kept saying that. It
is written. It is written. It is written. when he suffered the betrayal
of one who claimed to be his friend. And that was real suffering
for him. It was a real suffering for him.
When he suffered the betrayal of Judas, he said this, but that
the Scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. Look over Look over at Matthew
26. Look at Matthew 26. Sorrow and sweat were the first
effects pronounced in the first garden. The first effects of the curse
of sin that were pronounced in the first garden was sorrow and
sweat. That's what God told Adam. Cursed is the ground for your
sake, and sorrow shall you eat it all your days. In the sweat of your face, that's
the effect of sin. Sorrow and sweat is the result
of the curse. Look here in Matthew 26, 38.
This is in the second garden. This is in the garden of Gethsemane.
Then saith He unto them, My soul, He made His soul an offering. He said, My soul is exceeding
sorrowful even unto death. Have you ever been so sorrowful
that you almost died? You were about to die because
of sorrow? This is what he bore in his own
body. Look with me at Luke 22. Luke
22. Sorrow was the first thing pronounced
after the curse. Sweat was the second thing pronounced
after the curse. Look at Luke 22, 44. And being in an agony, he prayed
more earnestly, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops
of blood falling down to the ground. You ever been in that
kind of an agony? He was made a curse for us. He was touched with all the feelings
that are due to our sin. And yet, in the midst of it,
he never sinned. He never sinned against God.
He was made sin. He was really and truly actually
made guilty. He had to be in order for God
to be just in pouring out punishment upon his son, wrath upon his
son. He had to be guilty. God will
not punish an innocent person because he's just. And God will
not clear a guilty person because he's just. And if God was going
to clear me, who am nothing but guilty, He's got to make His
innocent Son guilty in my place and lay the wrath that was deserving
unto me upon His Son that He might justly be merciful to me. Or else God's not just. And if
God's not just, I have no hope. And you have no hope. Because
if God's not just, if He poured out His wrath upon an innocent
one, He can do it again. but His justice won't allow Him
to do that. He's holy, and His justice is
holy justice, and He won't punish an innocent person. Our God is
a holy, just God, and He will not punish an innocent person,
and He will not clear the guilty. But because He poured out His
wrath upon His Son, and His Son willingly, obediently suffered
in my room instead, that very same holy justice demands, absolutely
demands, that God be merciful to this sinner right here. Demands
it. And I get some joy out of that.
I get some joy out of that because He was obedient unto death. He has justified me in having
been born of the Spirit of God. He's recreated me in righteousness
and true holiness so that I can enter into what He's done for
me. And I can rest here knowing that
because God's holy, He will not allow me to perish. And if you
knew me like I know me, you'd know why that's such a glorious
good news to me. I got a feeling you know what
I'm talking about. We're sinners. We're all together
full of sin in our flesh. The lust of our flesh is still
with us. But because by the power of His
grace, we've been brought under grace. And He promises us, sin
shall not have dominion over you. You're not under the law,
you're under grace. The Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from that law of sin and death. because
He came and He did what I couldn't do. He did what no sinner whom
He represented could do. This is obedience. This is obedience. And then those that He loved,
He suffered when they turned their back on Him and left Him. when He was doing for them the
most wonderful, loving, gracious thing anybody could do for them. Have you ever suffered when you
were trying to do something that you knew was for the good of
somebody? As He was suffering this, We
were plucking out the hairs of his beard, spitting in his face,
mocking him, despising him, rejecting him, taking away all the truth
of who he is, slandering him, hiding our faces from him, and
went all our days, all our days, doing that to him. And you that
don't believe Him right now, that's what you're doing every
hour that you're not trusting Christ. You're treading underfoot
the blood of the Son of God wherewith He was sanctified and counting
it just an unholy, common thing. And yet, He voluntarily did what
he did. He voluntarily suffered what
he suffered even on the cross when he cried
out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Look at Psalm
22. Psalm 22. He cried that out and he justified God for doing it. He said, My God,
my God, verse 1, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so
far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Oh my
God. I cry in the daytime, but thou
hearest not, and in the night season am not silent. But, but
thou art holy, thou art holy. Thou that inhabitedst the praises
of Israel, that's why God forsook him. because he's holy. And he said
it, thou art holy. Thou art holy. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and
were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded. But I'm a worm and no man. A reproach of men and despised
of the people. He justified God for forsaking Him, saying, Thou
art holy. Thou art holy. Verse 9 of our text. Hebrews 5 verse 9. And let me add this to you. I
just thought of this. Even right up to the last word
He uttered on the cross. He was obedient to His Father. He said, Father, I commend my spirit into Your
hands. And He gave up the ghost. I'm trusting You, Father. And He laid down His life. What he accomplished by that?
Verse 9, and being made perfect. Now, don't misunderstand the
scripture. There's nothing imperfect about
our Savior. But, He perfected obedience. He was perfectly consecrated
as the perfect, holy, faithful man of God. And being made perfect,
He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey Him. He's the author of faith. He's
the finisher of faith. He's the captain of our salvation. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He's made our completion unto
us. We are complete in Him. We're
made to behold the glory of God in His face. We're made to behold
that in what He suffered, is the very righteousness with
which God receives us without anything else to be done whatsoever. That's the good news that the
Spirit of God bears witness to in the heart that He's made new
of everyone that Christ died for. That's what He's going to
make them to know in the heart. That's who He is. That's what
He's done. And when He does that, and you
behold Him, and behold what He accomplished by His sufferings,
and behold His obedience unto the death of the cross, you know
what He makes it a joy for you to do? Obey Him. To obey Him. Alright, let's see
what we can learn from this. So why is it that we suffer? Why is it the believer, the child
of God, suffers? Well, Hebrews 12, 5 says, no
child of God. Turn over there with me, Hebrews
12, 5. Though he were a son, he's the
son of God, preeminently in a way no other is. We're sons of God
by adoption. We're sons of God by election.
God's children are sons of God by predestination, sons of God
by being born again of His Spirit. This one is the only Son of God
who was with Him in eternity. The only Son of God who was born
of a virgin. The only Son of God who did only
that which pleased the Father. The only Son of God who delighted
to do the will of His Father perfectly. The only Son of God
who perfected obedience. And yet He suffered. He suffered. He suffered. He experienced what
it is to suffer. No child of God is going to be
without suffering. But suffering is to the child
of God the evidence of our Father's love. My son, Hebrews 12, 5, you've forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him, for whom the Lord loveth. See there, for whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Look down at verse 10. He does it for our profit that we might be partakers of
His holiness. Of His holiness. It's not... Pleasant when it's going on.
Nevertheless, afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby. Everybody here hears the word
that we're looking into tonight. You all hear it. I hear it. I'm hearing it. I believe. I believe the Lord. Do you know
when I'm going to believe it? I'm going to believe it when
He's brought me into the experience of suffering and taught me how
to be obedient. Taught me what obedience is.
That's what I'm going to learn. In other words, Scott says, John,
now listen, I don't want you Doing whatever, you're going
to get in trouble, and it's not good for you. When you're going
to learn that is when you've come into the experience of it,
and you fall flat on your face. And you learn from what your
father taught you. You learn. This hurt me. He was right. This hurt me. And
when your father chastens you and snatches you away from that
which is going to cause you death, cause you harm, it may be something
that you don't think is anything very significant right now. But
if it keeps going, it may end up being so far. You know, when
you're laying up a plumb line and you're going to draw a straight
line, If it's off just a little bit, it doesn't look like much
right here where it's off, but the further you go out, the further
off it gets. It needs to be nipped in the
bud before it gets more, grows up to be more. And it's not pleasant when it's
happening, but afterwards, you behold, this was the best thing
for me. The best thing for me. The Psalmist
said, before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now, I've
kept thy word. Now I've kept thy word. I know,
O Lord, that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness
hath afflicted me." In faithfulness. Well, look over at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Through suffering we
learn obedience. And obedience is the character
of the sons of God. It's the character of the sons
of God. When Peter says here, verse 14, as obedient children,
not fasting yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance,
but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all
manner of conversation. This is the character of a believer.
This is more than a precept. Do you know that? It's more than
a precept. Look at Hebrews 2, I mean, 1
Peter 2. Look at verse 6. I'm sorry, verse five. Ye also
as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. See where it says ye also as
lively stones are built up a spiritual house. Just another translation
from what that's translated from could be be ye. Be ye. Same word that we just read,
be ye holy. Be ye holy. Ye also as lively
stones, be ye built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood. Made holy by God the Father,
by God the Son, and by God the Holy Spirit. A completely, totally
passive thing that's been worked for you and in you. And the result
of it is, you offer up spiritual sacrifices. Just as really as
passive as you would think of when you think of a house being
built with stones. Those stones are being put right
in place, and when they're put there, they have been put there,
and they are what they are, where they are. By His grace, His people have
been made holy. And that's the reason They follow
after that which is holy, which is the Father's delight. It's
the character of Him. If we're going to obey Christ,
we must yield to our Heavenly Father in unquestioning universal
surrender to do His will in all things, even unto death. How could we do that? How could
we be that willing to follow somebody without questioning
them? If we have eternal life, if we
know that if this house, this earthly house, this earthly tabernacle
is dissolved, that we have a house not made with hands in the heavens,
made by God, We know that this is not our life. We know that
whatever it is He calls us to let go of, we can let go of.
It may cause us great suffering. Our Lord suffered. He suffered. But those that have been made
willing to follow Him are willing to suffer for Him. I don't think
I could do that. I don't think I could do that
under death. You can't. You can't. But by His grace,
you can. By His grace, you can. And by
His grace, somebody else won't suffer for you. You'll suffer
it. But you'll do it by His grace. Well, here's the third thing.
Obedience to God is going to cost us. It's going to cost us. Look at 1 Peter 2. David said this. He said, I will. He went to a
threshing floor a man had. A man knew it was King David.
He said, I'll just give you this threshing floor. And King David,
he wanted to sacrifice there. And David said, I'm not going
to sacrifice that which cost me nothing. Not going to do it. If it didn't cost me something,
it's not worth anything. Well, I thought salvation is
free. It is absolutely free. And that's what makes a sinner
willing to spend and be spent for Christ. Because it didn't
cost me a thing. And everything I have, I have
by free sovereign grace because He's given it to me freely. All
things spiritual and all things temporally. And this obedience
is going to cost us. How do I know that? Look at 1
Peter 2.19. For this is thankworthy, if a
man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully,
for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults
you shall take it patiently? But if when you do well and suffer,
you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even
hereunto were you called, because Christ also suffered for us. leaving us an example that he
should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Who his own self, this is another
way of saying, even unto the death of the cross, When He said,
Father, if it be possible, take this cup from Me, nevertheless
not My will, but Thy will be done, He wasn't praying to be
delivered from what He came into this earth to do. He was praying
for the strength to endure what He was called into this earth
to do. to be able to leave the garden of Gethsemane. He said,
my soul is sorrowful exceedingly unto death. I'm about to die. I ain't got to the cross yet. I'm about to die. And he was
praying for the strength to make it to be able to walk right into the
hands of his enemies and suffer everything he was about to suffer
and then be nailed to a tree and suffer the wrath of God.
He was praying not to die before he got there to die. That's what he's saying here.
He committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously, who His
own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we,
being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
ye were healed. That's what makes us obedient,
willing to pay the cost. For the joy set before Him, that's
what He endured. And for the joy set before His
people, Run the race set before you, looking where? To the joy
set before you. Christ Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith. Tread in his steps. Here's the
last thing. Turn with me over to Romans 8. Romans 8. This suffering is to remind us
of what our Savior endured infinitely more than what you and I will
suffer. And this makes us want to suffer
with Him more as we behold that when He finished His suffering,
as the faithful God promised Him, He entered in to His glory. And His promises to you and I
after we've suffered a while, will enter into that glory with
him. Now look here at Romans 8, 17. He says here, if children, what
we're talking about, why do the children suffer? If children,
then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. This
is that inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away,
that is reserved in heaven for you, ready to be revealed. if so be, that we suffer with
him. What's going to happen when we've
suffered with him? You know, we're going to suffer
what he suffered. Not like he suffered, but we're
going to suffer death. We're going to suffer that. We're
going to die. That's where we're coming to,
coming to the end. We're going to suffer. If we
suffer with Him right to the end, we'll be glorified together with
Him. You mean the glory He's entered
into, I'll enter into? That's exactly right. Be glorified
together with Him. So, what do we say to that? What do we say to that? I'm learning to say, if my enemies
want to crucify me, go ahead. Just go ahead. I'm not going to defend myself.
I'm not going to try to stop it from happening. Because I
know this, He opened not His mouth, He endured it, and from
it, God manifest His glory, glorified His name, and saved His people
from their sins. You know what will happen? when the believer in this earth is crucified. You know what'll
happen when we endure suffering in this life? Just keep our mouth
shut and bear it. You know what'll happen? God's gonna glorify His name,
and it's gonna be to save His children from their sin. That's all I want. It's all I
want. Is that all you want? Art and
I were talking about this the other day about how that all
these things are teaching us that there is one thing that's
important. There's one thing that we're
put on this earth to do. One thing. He's done the work. He's done the work. finished
the work of making us accepted with the Father. He's finished
the work. Our work now is to just hold
up the banner that has those three words written on it. It
is finished! You know what happens when the
war is over? They run that flag up so everybody can see. Victory! It's finished, and you
know what happens? All the troops that are out there
that's been fighting and laboring and warring and out there, they
all rally to that spot because the flag been lifted up and the
victory won. He said, hold up the ark. Hold
up the ark. And I'll dry up the Jordan, and
you'll just go across on dry ground. So let's just hold up
the banner, hold up the ark, and be as he was. Murmur not
amongst yourselves. All that the Father hath given
to me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, unlike
the Pharisees who were looking and trying to find something
so they can cast you out, I will in no wise cast out. Why? Because if they come to him,
he said, it's because my father has drawn them. Drawn them. Leave them alone. They're mine.
So we can rest there. Right there. All right.