Let us commence our service this
afternoon by singing together hymn number 95, the tune is St
Bernard, 219. And did the holy and the just,
the sovereign of the skies, stoop down to wretchedness and dust,
that guilty worms might rise. Hymn 95, tune St Bernard, 219.
? And in the holy and holy joy ? the suffering of the strife.
Still, though tear-rich in wisdom, just and guilty, and light-blind, Yes, the Redeemer left His throne,
His radiant throne of light. Surprising, we'll see the unknown,
to suffer, greed and time. He took the time in treacherous
ways, And suffered in His stead. O man of spirit, girl of grace,
? Forever sleep ye peace. ? ? Dear Lord, God help me. ? ? Understand. ? ? Indiana. ? burning love. Why this, O sinners, search from
hell, where pebbles fall to stone? What glad returns can I imply,
For famous, so divine? O, take my Lord, Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in Psalm 22. Psalm 22. This psalm is often
called the psalm of the cross and so that we read it with understanding
we must understand that the psalmist is speaking by the spirit of
the Lord in the person of Christ. So though it's the psalmist that
wrote it, it's actually Christ that is speaking in it and it
speaks of his sufferings and his agonies and sorrows. on the
cross. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me, and from the words of my Rory? O my God, I cry in the
daytime, but thou here is not, and in the night cease, and am
not silent, but thou art holy. O Thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel, 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 am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. All they that see me laughed
me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighted in him. But thou art he that took me
out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the
womb, Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from
me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls
have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joints. My heart is like wax, it is melted
in the midst of my bowels, my strength is dried up like a pot
shirt, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought
me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierce my hands and
my feet, I may tell all my bones, and they look and stare upon
me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. Be not thou far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste thee to
help me deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the
lion's mouth. Save me from the lion's mouth,
for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. And now
the language changes and we have the resurrection of Christ. I
will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the
congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise
him. All ye seed of Jacob, glorify him. And fear him, all ye seed
of Israel, For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of
the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him. But when
he cried unto him, he heard. My praise shall be of thee in
the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them
that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that
seek him. your heart shall live forever.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord. It's the spread of the gospel
and all the kindreds of the nation shall worship before thee. For
the kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor among the
nations. All they that be fat upon earth
shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the
dust shall bow before him. and none can keep alive his own
soul. A seed shall serve him. It shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come
and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born
that he hath done this. May the Lord bless the reading
of his own precious word Grant to us a spirit of real prayer. Almighty, most merciful and eternal
God of heaven, we do desire a thankful heart as we gather together around
thy word. Thankful that we have the liberty
to do so. Thankful that we have the privilege
of our own little church. Thankful, O Lord, for the open
Bible and for every mercy of thy kind providence, but above
all, thankful for Jesus Christ. Thankful for the eternal word
that was manifest in the flesh. Thankful for that holy life he
lived as a man here upon earth and that holy law he has fulfilled
on behalf of his people. Thankful that In that perfect
obedience is the everlasting righteousness of thy people.
Our hope, O Lord, is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. We're thankful, O Lord, for Calvary,
for Gethsemane, those solemn places of humiliation and sorrow
and grief and pain, for our precious Redeemer. but we're thankful
that He suffered in our room, in our place and in our stead
to deliver us from the condemnation, from the curse of the Lord, He
being made a curse for us. We're thankful, O Lord, for that
precious blood that He has shed, that blood that has power to
cleanse us from all sin. We're thankful, O Lord, He loved
not his life unto death, and he gave his life a ransom for
all. He paid the ultimate price to
deliver us from sin and Satan's power, and death itself. And
on the third day, he rose again for our justification. And as
bodily ascended into heaven, and sitteth at thy right hand,
for such an high priest have we, who is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God. Oh, we do thank thee for Jesus,
the Son of God. We do thank thee that he sits
on no precarious throne, nor borrows leave to pay. We thank
thee that we have a great high priest that we can pray unto
and call upon his great name, and that he is able to do abundantly
more than we can even ask or think. O Lord, fill our hearts
with gratitude, with thanksgiving for all thy tender mercies and
thy wonderful loving-kindness toward thy people. Thy loving-kindness,
O how free! Gracious God, we do pray that
thou wouldst fill our hearts with gratitude and thanksgiving,
that thou art a God that changes And that we do pray that thou
would look upon us here this afternoon as we gather around
thy word. We come to confess our sins and
our wanderings and our backslidings. We leave undone things that we
ought to do. We do things that we ought not
to do. We find a law within our members
that when we would do good then evil is present with us. We have
to say again and again with the dear apostle, O wretched man
that I am, For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, there
dwelleth no good thing. But our hope is in thee, in the
finished work of Jesus Christ, in what he has done. We thank
thee that through him we know the love of our eternal Father,
and through him we receive that wonderful gift, power and grace
of the Holy Ghost. Oh, to feel that power this afternoon,
and may the power that brings salvation be exerted in the word
we do humbly beseech of thee. We pray that through the mercies
of God we may present our bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable
unto thee which is our reasonable service and be not conformed
to this world but may we be transformed by the renewing of our minds
that we might know what that good and perfect and acceptable
will of the Lord is. We pray for any and any trouble,
or trial, or perplexity, or sorrow, or sadness, or bereavement. We
pray for the sorrowing family in the Midlands, but with the
loss of their dear son and grandson. Lord, we commend them to thee,
and pray that thou wouldst bring comfort where there is great
sorrow, we do humbly beseech of thee, the arms of thine everlasting
love may be placed around them. We pray, most gracious Lord,
that thou in thy precious mercy would graciously bless the little
ones and the children. We thank thee for them. Do bless
them with that rich grace that is in Christ Jesus. Do bless
them with the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.
Do bless our young friends. With that rich grace that is
in Christ Jesus, bless them with light and understanding in thy
word, and the entrance of thy word giveth light and understanding
unto the simple, and do grant it unto our dear young friends,
the light of thy truth. We pray, most gracious Lord,
that thou wouldst be with them and guide them and direct them.
And we pray that we may see the fulfilling of that great promise,
Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest
make princes in all the earth. Lord, we pray that thou wouldst
be with parents and give wisdom and grace to bring up their children
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We pray, most gracious
Lord, for parents that they may be guided and directed by thee. And dear Lord, we do pray that
that was blessed the families as they gather in the home, and
that thou wouldst graciously cause the prodigals to return. Lord, there are those that lay
close to our heart, and we humbly pray that thou wouldst stretch
out thy almighty arm, that thou wouldst cause them to be in want
and cause them to return. Lord, hear us, we humbly beseech
thee for thy great names We pray, most gracious Lord, to remember
those of us in the evening time of the journey of life, and graciously
prepare us for that great change which must soon come upon us. Remember our dear aid sister,
Ina, and bless her indeed. We do humbly beseech thee. Remember us as we gather round
the table of the Lord, and grant, O Lord, that thou wouldst Grant
thy presence and grant a time of sweet remembrance of our blessed
Redeemer, of his precious blood and righteousness, that he is
indeed the bread of life. Oh, do hear us, Lord, we pray
thee, and be with us now, we beseech thee, and guide us through
this service, and graciously guide us during the coming weeks
and undertake for each one of us, we do humbly pray thee. Lord, we pray that the glory,
the light, and the power of gospel truth may shine into this village
and the surrounding villages and hamlets and farmsteads. Many,
many, many precious souls may yet be gathered in that we may
see a building of the wall of Jerusalem. Arise, arise, O God
of grace, into thy rest descend thou in the ark of thy strength,
and let thy priests be clothed with salvation, and thy saints
shall shout aloud for joy. Lord, abundantly bless the provision
of thy house, and satisfy her poor with bread. We do humbly
beseech of thee. Come and touch one's lips with
a live coal, From off the heavenly altar, we ask with the forgiveness
of all sin, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 982, The tune is Lord 677. It is finished. Sinners hear it. Tis the dying
victor's cry. It is finished. Angels bear it. Bear the joyful truth on high. It is finished. Tell it through
the earth and sky. Hymn 982. The tune is Lorde 677. It's the time we've been waiting
for. It is finished, it is finished,
I have to be out. ? Blest is the man of quotation
? ? Blest is the man of quotation ? ? Blest is the man of quotation
? ? Such may their grace show ? ?
Praise and glory ? ? Praise and glory ? ? Forever and ever ?
? Heav'n and Lord himself be glory
? ? Full of hope he reigns in thee ? ? And in the zero shall
despair ? ? His joyful hymns to hear ? ?
Angels sing to you ? ? Angels sing to you ? ? Here come with
the bride ? Let the cherished love eternal,
Eternal, now from this day. ? And it shall end ? ? As the victory
? ? Cross the day ? ? Here is the victory ? ? Here is the victory
? ? Of the risen Lord ? ? And the rising of the morning
? ? Gives me hope and joy ? ? In the highest heaven above ? ? Silent night ? ? Angels soar
high ? ? Angels soar high ? ? Through the perilous fight ? Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to Psalm 22 and
we will read the last clause of verse 15. Psalm 22, the last
clause of verse 15. And thou hast brought me into the dust of death. And thou hast brought me into
the dust of death. This is Christ speaking. Speaking of his own crucifixion. We have a deeper insight here
in this psalm into the sufferings of Christ than we have anywhere
in the Gospels. The psalmist here, speaking by
the Spirit of the Lord, is speaking in the person of Christ. Even
the words that were uttered on the cross, My God, My God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthan. Why hast thou forsaken me? And
then as we look through the whole psalm, we see the humiliation
of Jesus, the Son of God. This morning we tried to speak
on the glory of the Son of God, that He is indeed the Eternal
Son of the Eternal Father. But just think of those words,
He humbled Himself. became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. He humbled himself, Christ did,
when he was here as a man. He humbled himself when he became
a man, when he took into union with
his divine nature, a sacred holy human nature, in the womb of
the Virgin Mary. He humbled himself then. to become a man and to live here
upon earth as a man. He humbled himself in that he
wasn't born in the palaces of the great and the powerful and
the rich, no. He was born to Joseph and Mary
who lived in poor and humble circumstances. They were of the seed of David
and as it was promised in Holy Scripture so many times that
Christ would be born of the seed of David. And yet Christ himself said,
I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning
star. You would think that that's a
contradictory statement, wouldn't you? How can he be the root and
the offspring? And yet we see that in those
two glorious natures that are in Christ. that he is God and
man in one person. It's a profound mystery, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh
and we cannot comprehend. How does the almighty and the
eternal as he lives forever and ever and is infinite in his wisdom
power in his very being and yet he became a man. What a profound
mystery that God, the eternal God, was manifest in the flesh
and that he humbled himself to be born in such poor circumstances. He humbled himself that there
was not room in the inn. He was born in a stable, laid
in a manger, See how the dear Savior humbled himself. He made
himself of no reputation. Such a fullness in the humiliation
and sufferings of Jesus Christ on the behalf of his people. He humbled himself that when
he was made a man, He was made of a woman made under the law,
the holy law of God, the Ten Commandments. Christ, as a man,
lived under that holy law and became subject to that holy law.
And indeed, one of the main purposes of Christ being here and living
as a man here on earth for 33 years was that he would fulfill
that law. And that is exactly what he did
as a man here upon earth. What you can't do, what I can't
do, we can't fulfill God's holy righteous law. Why can't we? Because we're born in sin. We're
born in sin, we're shapen in iniquity, we're unrighteous.
That's our very nature. And we see this in all of mankind
round about us. We're all born in sin. We're
all shapen in iniquity. And the only way that we can
ever be delivered from that sinful state is in and through the precious
blood and righteousness of Jesus, the Son of God. And the things
that he passed through. And when he cries out on the
cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? We need to
answer the question, why hast thou forsaken me? We have to go to Isaiah 53. And we find there why he was
forsaken. He laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. The iniquity of the church was
laid on Christ. And that is why he suffered and
bled and died. It is said of him that he did
no sin. Christ did no sin. Christ never
broke God's holy law. He lived a life that was righteous
and perfect. and thereby making his people
righteous. He fulfilled the law for them,
on their behalf, in their room, in their place and in their stead.
That's what Christ has done when he lived here as a man upon earth.
What you can't do in that perfect life, in that
perfect obedience that Christ performed when he was here upon
earth is what is called the active obedience of Christ. He actively
obeyed the law and fulfilled the law. You might say, why was
that so necessary? Because we broke it. We broke
it. And we're incapable of fulfilling
it. And the word of God is abundantly
clear. Cursed is every man that doeth not all things that is
written in the book of the law to do them. We're under a curse. Every one
of us by nature. We're under a curse. God's curse. That curse will damn us forever.
Unless we're delivered from it. And there's only one way of deliverance
from that curse. It's in and through the precious
blood. and righteousness of Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me, but by me. Christ is the way, but this is
the way. Just look here at verse six,
and bearing in mind who Christ is, and then bearing in mind
what a worm is, what a worm is. A worm is one of the most lowly
of all creatures. We tread it underfoot. When we
walk, when we dig, we kill worms. We just tread them underfoot.
They're one of the lowest forms of life. But this glorious person of Jesus
Christ, the eternal son of the eternal father, he walked a path
of such deep humiliation here upon earth. He was constantly
contradicted by the scribes and the Pharisees and the rulers
of the Jews. They opposed him wherever he
went. He was constantly tempted of
Satan. It says in Isaiah 53, he was
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. A man of sorrows. This is Christ. Christ is the
man of sorrows. And he came to that place when he was to come into Gethsemane
with his disciples. And there was something that
was performed there. A great and tremendous transaction
was performed by our eternal father, at Gethsemane and you
might say what was it? He laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. That is what happened in Gethsemane.
It's when the father laid upon the son the sin of the church. It's a wonderful sacred doctrine,
the doctrine of imputation. You young ones you may find it
a little bit complicated but actually it's very simple. doctrine
of imputation which we have in the gospel is the two ways on
the one hand our eternal father he took the sin of the church
and he lifted it off of the church and he laid it on his son son
of god manifest in the flesh and when the act of lifting it
off the church and laying it on christ That is called imputation. That's what it means. He imputed
our sin to his Son who was perfect and pure and spotless and holy. He imputed our sin to Christ. What an exchange, wasn't it? So, we are relieved of our
sin. Word of God says their sins and
their iniquities will I remember no more. But that is the reason
why Christ suffered so great and so profound. That is the
reason why we read of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and
it says and he being in an agony sweat as it were great drops
of blood falling down to the ground. Why such agony? Why such grief? Why such sorrow? Why such pain? Or as it's called in scripture,
travail. He shall see of the travail of
his soul. Why? Because our sin was laid
upon him and he suffered what we should have suffered. You
know friends, we can never plummet the depth of the sufferings of
Christ. He suffered What the Church should
have suffered in a never-ending eternity, in the pit of hell,
Christ suffered for our sins, the just for the unjust, the
righteous for the unrighteous. What a wonderful, profound thing
the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. The Apostle says he took our
sins, and he nailed them to his cross. Christ took our sins and
that is why he allowed himself to be taken by the hands of wicked
men and to be set at naught and humiliated
before Pontius Pilate, before the leaders of the Jews, before
Herod the King and he was humiliated before them all and this is where
this language, I am a worm, utterly like a worm, trodden underfoot.
I am a worm and no man. He felt himself to be less than
a real man. You know, we cannot, as it were,
hardly understand, can we, the depths of the humiliation of
our Lord Jesus Christ. All they that see me laugh me
to scorn, And if you read in the Gospels, especially in Luke,
this is all recorded. All they that see me laugh me
to score. They shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying, he trusted in the Lord, that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighteth in him. And then we have this language
of Christ. But thou art he. This is his
prayer to his heavenly Father. but thou art he that took me
out of the womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's
breast I was cast upon thee from the womb thou art my God from
my mother's belly be not far from me for trouble is near for there is none to help there
is none to help you know friends what a depth there is isn't there
and the reason here that we have and thou hast brought me into
the dust of death. Christ is the living one. Christ
is the way, the truth and the life. Christ said, he that believeth
on me hath everlasting life. But look what he had to pass
through. to give that life. We come to
the Lord's Supper this afternoon and the reason that we come is
because we are commanded to of the Lord. We come to partake
of the bread and of the wine. And Christ himself said, this
do in remembrance of me. For as often as ye drink this
cup and eat this bread, ye do show the Lord's death. The Lord's death. and thou hast
brought me into the dust of death. You see, it goes on, for dogs
have compassed me, speaking now of the wicked, the Roman soldiers,
the Jews, in particular the Jews who hated him. For dogs have
compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.
They pierce my hands and my feet. When you think that this was
probably written 700 years before, They pierce my hands and my feet.
I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. That's
when Christ was exposed on the cross. They look and stare upon
me. They part my garments among them
and cast lots upon my vesture. All these things were performed
and done. But be not thou far from me,
O Lord. He prays to his Father O my strength,
haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword,
my darling, he's speaking of his soul, my darling, from the
power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth,
for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. And then
we have resurrection. I will declare thy name. unto
my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee."
That's resurrection after death. But he entered into death. Now
when Christ himself was speaking of death, he speaks of his own
death. And he said to the disciples,
they didn't understand until afterwards. He said to them,
I have power to lay my life down. is he speaking on? You know as
the son of God he cannot die, God cannot die and the glorious
person of the Son of God cannot die but as God manifest in the
flesh in that holy human life that he took in the womb of the
Virgin in that life he could die And
when he says I have power to lay my life he's speaking of
his human life. I have power to lay my life down.
I always think one of the most beautiful and clearest of the
doctrinal expositions on the sufferings of Christ and the
person of Christ is found in the second chapter of Paul's
epistle to the Hebrews. And there in that second chapter
is clearly open to us. There's first a quotation from
the Psalms, it says in verse 6, but one in a certain place,
this is Psalm 8, what is man that thou art mindful of him?
Or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him, this is
man in general, thou madest him a little lower than the angel.
Thou crownest him with glory and honour, and set him over
the work of thy hands. And in the book of Genesis it's
clearly stated how that Adam named all the beasts of the field.
And everything was under his hand. The Lord said to him, it
was all under his hand. Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet, for in that he had put all in subjection under
him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we
see not yet all things put unto him, but we see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels. In other words, he became
a real true man, a little lower than the angels. You might say,
what does it mean to be a little lower than the angels? Well,
there is God, who is pure, simple spirit, eternal, infinite, almighty,
ever has been and ever will be, uncreated, he is the eternal
God. And then there are angels, and
we're told in the Hebrews, are they not ministering spirits,
minister to those that are to be the heirs of salvation. So
angels are spirits, but they're created spirits. There are two
types of angels. There's elect angels, And there
are fallen angels and Satan is a fallen angel. And then there
is man. Man has a physical body which is the tabernacle of his
soul, a spiritual soul. That is what it means when he
says he was made a little lower than the angels. He took true
human nature, having a body and soul. But we see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels, and he tells us why. For the suffering of death. And
we have in our text, that brought his knee into the dust of death. Christ was condemned to die. One of the principal accusations
against him, which was so false, he made himself Son of God. He was rejected as the Son of
God and he was crucified because he made himself the Son of God. For the suffering of death we
see him crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of
God should taste death for every man. Then it speaks in verse
10 of his divinity, for it became him for whom are all things and
by whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For he that sanctifies and they
who are sanctified are all of one. Christ died for his people. They're all of one. They're his
people. When he lived here upon it, he
lived for them, to make them righteous. He suffered and bled
and died for them, to take away their sin. He was punished in
their place. He says here, quotation from
the book of Psalms, indeed from the Psalm in which we are, I
will declare thy name unto my brethren in verse 12. In the
midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Then it speaks in verse 14 of
the true human nature that the Son of God assumed. For as much
then as the children, that's the children of God that were
chosen by the Father, for as much then as the children are
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself, that's the Son
of God, likewise took part of the same, that through death
might destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil. So whereas the devil stood by,
no doubt witnessing the condemnation of Jesus Christ and the terrible
sufferings of Jesus Christ and he rejoiced. I've got him. I've destroyed him. That's what
he thought. There's no doubt about it. But
instead of the destruction of Christ. It was the destruction
of Satan and the power of Satan. And this is what we come together
this afternoon to remember, the tremendous victory of Jesus Christ
over sin and Satan's power. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death that is the death of his
human nature, he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil. You see, in verse 17, it says,
wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people, for
in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to
succor them that are tempted. And thou hast brought me into
the dust of death. There's another deep mystery,
my beloved friends, and it's a very important one. We know that God cannot die.
We know that the Son of God cannot die in His divine nature. But the Son of God in that mystery
of the sacred holy human nature that he took, in that nature
he could die. And when the body was taken down,
the body of Christ taken down from the cross, and I have no
doubt whatsoever on this, in that body, united to that body,
was the Son of God. The hymn writer puts it this
way, the Lord of Life experienced death. He says, how it was done
we can't discuss, but this we know, it was done for us. There was never any separation
between the divine and the human, not even in death. Christ was
there, the Son of God was there, in the grave for three days and
for three nights. And on the third day, He rose
again. He destroyed death, and him that
had the power of death, that is the devil. Oh, the wonderful
victory of our suffering Saviour when He rose from the grave.
And as the Apostle puts it so beautifully in the Romans, He
rose again for our justification. What does it mean? You know,
these terms are constantly used. What does justification mean?
It means a person that is justified is declared to be without sin. That's the meaning of it. Why? Because Jesus has justified
them. The apostles are therefore being
justified by faith. By faith in Jesus Christ. We
are justified, we are declared free from sin. That's exactly
what the Apostle means in Romans chapter 8. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Why? Because they're declared
free from sin. That their sins were put away
in Christ. In Christ. I think it's the Apostle
Peter, he speaks of it in his own first epistle, the second
chapter, and he says, verse 21, for even here unto were ye called,
because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example
that ye should follow in 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 judges righteously who his own self who the son
of god the son of god that's what it means his own self who
his own self bear 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 for ye were a sheep going astray but are now returned
unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls who his own self
bear our sins in his own body on the tray. What would a Wonderful
way of putting it. Jesus, the son of God, suffered
and bled and died for our sins and satisfied all the demands
of divine justice. We read in Zechariah, a Waco
sword against my shepherd and the man that is my fellow. That
is the sword of divine justice that should sweat the whole election
of grace to eternal perdition. But it found a substitute. And
that substitute was the holy God-man, the man Christ Jesus. And therefore, our sins and our
iniquities have all been put away. They're swallowed up in
the everlasting love of God in Christ. And thou hast brought
me into the dust of death. He was. There was a reality in
his death. But it all seems to me a very
sacred thing that the Son of God, that union that was made
between the divine and the human in the womb of the Virgin Mary
has never been dissolved, not even in death. There in the grave
was the Son of God, the Lord of life. experience
death, it's a profound precious truth of our most holy faith,
and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. May the Lord add his blessing.