Let us commence our service this
afternoon by singing together hymn 802, verses 1 to 6. The
tune is Norricum, 887. Jesus, while he dwelt below, As divine historians say, to
a place would often go, near to Keatron's brook it lay. In
this place he loved to be, and was named Gethsemane. Hymn 802,
singing verses 1 to 6. ? He fell in love ? ? As divine
historians say ? ? To the place where love can grow ? ? Is a gift of heavenly grace ? ? In His face came out to live
? ? And water and seraphim ? ? Water God, water God, water God, water
God ? of spirit, and heavens above,
and earth, and heaven from earth to heaven. ? Shepherds on red trees ? ? Then
from the woods she heard them sing ? ? Then her soul drank
from her cup of wine ? ? Never by their master close ?
? His disciples never stay ? ? Ever every dream he chose ? ? Watch on me ? ? Day for day ?
? As well as me ? ? Is it true ? ? Yes, it is true ? ? In thee, O God, the children
? ? All my joy will rise to thine ? ? O God, let us welcome Joseph
? of his hand. O take still, then,
Caesar, thee, to that deep and serene field. ? Billions strangers danced in
tune ? ? The pamphlets of Easter's tune ? ? Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way ? ? Angels sweet ? ? Yet how beautiful
? ? Heaven's sheer ? ? Why angels ? ? Can't spell a thing ? ? Then all mountain and dust waste
? ? On his coffin that he tore ? ? Facing him, legends are traced
? Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God in the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 53. Prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 53.
We will actually commence our reading at verse 13 in chapter
52. It's really part of the same
prophecy. Behold, my servant shall deal
prudently, that is Christ. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high, as many were astounded at thee. His visage
was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons
of men. So shall he sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths
at him, for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Who hath
believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed. For he shall grow up before him
as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground, he hath
no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see him, there
is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. and we
hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
are we healed. All we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a
lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before her shearers is
done, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he
was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his
soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he
bear the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. May the Lord bless that portion
of his precious word and grant to us a spirit of real prayer. Holy, holy, holy Lord God almighty,
which is an art, an art to come. We desire to bow before thy great
majesty, the almighty, the eternal God. We come in that precious
and holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, We thank thee for those
precious words of grace. There is one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave his life
for ransom for all to be testified in due time. We pray as we gather
round thy word that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the love of God our Father and the sacred fellowship of the
Holy Spirit may rest and abide upon us. What is the house, O
Lord, to me, unless the Master I can see? O, we come, Lord,
in hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We come
and seek and hope to find a portion for our soul. We pray to be led,
taught, guided, directed by the Holy Ghost. We pray that the
preached word, the read word, the sung word, there may be,
O Lord, a divine unction and power of the Holy Spirit that
shall reach into our souls and penetrate into our hearts. As
the dear apostle said, ye are our epistle, written not with
pen and ink, but by the finger of the living God upon the fleshy
tables of the heart. Oh, that it may be so this afternoon. The precious fullness of the
gospel of Jesus Christ may be breathed into our souls. We may
catch a glimpse of the glory of his person, that as one declares,
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. Oh, we do thank thee, Lord, for
that grace and that truth, for that wonderful mercy that flows
through Jesus Christ our Lord, a door of hope is open wide in
Jesus' bleeding hands and side. Do bless us as a church and as
a congregation and do work mightily, powerfully and effectually among
us. Do bless our brethren the deacons and give wisdom, grace,
guidance and direction in all matters. Do bless each one of
our brethren and sisters in church fellowship I want to graciously
continue to unite us together in faith and love. Increase our
faith, increase our love. O Lord, we do beseech thee. Remember
our dear brother and sister in Holland. Remember them for good. Remember those, O Lord, that
would normally be sitting at the table with us this afternoon
that are not able to be here. We lovingly commend each one
to thee and to the word of thy grace. Remember all in the path
of affliction and sorrow and sadness and bereavement. Remember
those away seeking rest and change and grant that they may be returned
home at the appointed time in peace and in safety. Gracious
God, do incline thine ear. We do beseech of thee. Remember
us as a church and as a congregation. and that richly bless us, Lord,
we do beseech Thee. Make us more spiritually minded. Sow the seed of the word in the
hearts of the young. A generation may be raised up
to call Thee the Redeemer blessed. Gathered into Thee, fold here
below. Made manifest as being the sons
and daughters of the Lord God Almighty. Made manifest by their
walk and their conduct and their conversation. Lord, may it be
so. We do humbly beseech thee. May
we not lightly regard thy ordinances, the sacred ordinances of the
gospel, but may they be laid with a weight and power upon
our hearts and minds. We do humbly pray thee, and that
we pray most gracious Lord that thou wouldst indeed bless parents
and give them wisdom and grace to bring up their children in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord and graciously undertake
for each one all in the midst of the journey of life to have
mercy upon each one and remember those of us in the evening time
of life's journey. Remember us for good and preserve
and keep us each from the temptations and the power of the enemy who
goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We
pray to be delivered from his power and from his influence. We do beseech thee. Oh, we pray,
most gracious Lord, that thou wouldst mercifully bless us and
lead us forth in that right way unto a city of habitation whose
builder and maker is God. Oh, we do pray, most gracious
Lord, that thou would send out thy light and thy truth among
us as a church and congregation and in this village. The power
of gospel truth may be known and felt. The distribution of
the word may be richly blessed of thee. That thy abundant blessing
may rest, that we may see that glorious truth fulfilled, for
I am returned unto Jerusalem with mercies. May bear thine
holy arm in the gospel, O Lord, we pray thee. Bring our sons
from far and our daughters from the ends of the earth. For thou
has promised they shall come. Thou has promised I will work.
Gracious God, let us see the fulfillment of thy promises in
this day in which we live, that many may be turned from sin to
righteousness, from ungodliness to godliness, From darkness to
light, oh, do grant that it may be so. We do humbly beseech of
thee for thy great namesake. We thank thee for the sacred
ordinances of thy house. Be with us this afternoon as
we meet around thy table and grant thy blessing. Grant, dear
Lord, a spirit of love and union and communion Grant that spirit
of faith to receive of these precious elements that it may
be to the glory of thy name. This is my body broken for you. This cup is the New Testament
in my blood, this doing remembrance of me. Gracious God, may we rightly
in faith keep the sacred ordinance of thy house. We do beseech thee. We pray, most gracious Lord,
that thou wouldst, in thy infinite mercy, remember all thy servants
as they labour in word and doctrine upon the walls of Zion. Guard
them with all sufficient grace. Guide us, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrims in this barren land. We are weak, but thou art mighty. Hold us by thy powerful hand. We do humbly beseech thee. May
the bread of life be broken, May the Lord Jesus be exalted. May the spirit of faith be an
exercise in our hearts. May we be given the eye of faith.
May we be given ears of faith and hearts with faith that we
may look and live and feel the power of thy redeeming love and
thy precious blood. We thank thee, O Lord, then for
the sacred glories of Christ and the fullness of that salvation
that is in Him. We thank Thee for the precious
blood of the Lamb that cleanses from all sin. We thank Thee for
that glorious everlasting robe brought out by God the Son every
stitch in that holy life that He lived. And we thank Thee,
most gracious God, that He rose again for our justification and
has now ascended into glory and sits at Thy right hand. We thank
Thee for our house of prayer. We thank Thee for the word of
God. We thank Thee for the gospel of Thy grace. We thank Thee for
the infinite love of our eternal Father. We thank Thee for the
gift of the Holy Ghost. We thank Thee for every mercy
of Thy kind providence. And we ask all for Jesus Christ's
sake. Amen. Let us continue singing in hymn
802, and we will sing verses 9 to 13. The tune is Norwood,
505. Verse 9. Came at length the dreadful night, Vengeance with its iron rod stood
and with collected might bruised the harmless Lamb of God. See
my soul thy Saviour see groveling in Gethsemane. Hymn 802 singing
verses 9 to 13. In Jesus' name, amen. O'er the ramparts we watched,
were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the
bombs bursting in air, See, my soul, my Savior see,
How clean in Christ's memory ? You give me that golden breast
? ? Sweet and round with well-being blessed ? ? Here I make a deep
distress ? Give us, Christ, the words of
God. Then reclaim God's sinless name,
Chains in our testimony. O disciples, help me now. Bless the love in aching hands. Bless the faith in broken hands. ? Of this glorious graduation ?
? Tis of the proud graduates' day ? ? Good Shepherd, where
to find you? ? ? And you won't find it no place
now ? ? At the bitter end of sins ? ? God will mercy call
you home ? ? Of her kiss and sweat of blood
? ? Who can I leave but the city ? ? Of the cold next summer ?
? Thank God for all the years ?
? His true grace can be believed ? ? But the promise which he
left ? Causing us to become sheep. None can get it straight to me. No cow dog can sever me. greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, I would direct your attention to the Gospel
according to Luke chapter 22. And we'll read from verse 41. Gospel according to Luke chapter
22 verse 41. And he was withdrawn from them
about a stone's cast and kneeled down and prayed. The name Gethsemane, Joseph Hart
was a very learned man. He knew the original tongues
of Hebrew and Greek. You'll notice as we sing in that
lovely hymn of his on Gethsemane, He says, Gethsemane the Olive
Press. And apparently that is the meaning
of the name Gethsemane, the Olive Press. Just as when they have a mill
to grind wheat and they have a mill working in exactly the
same principle to grind olives. the grooves on that stone are
far deeper than what you would find on a flour mill. And so the olives are pushed
in between those great stones and they are crushed and they
catch all the olive oil that comes out of them. And what an
apt description of our Lord Jesus Christ in the place that is called
Gethsemane the olive press it says here in verse 39 he came
out and went as he was want to the Mount of Olives and his disciples
also followed him he went as he was want again his heart brings
out in that hymn that thither he often went and that if we
Just look for a moment into the chapter 21 and the verse 37. And in the daytime he was teaching
in the temple. And at night he went out and
abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives. And all the people came early
in the morning to him in the temple for to hear him. It's a place that he often resorted
with his disciples. And what wonderful things must
have been taught them from the lips of their Redeemer as they
resorted to that quiet place. It's just over the Kidron River. You come down out of Jerusalem
and down to the River Kidron. It's a very small river. It's
more like a brook. And you cross over the River
Kidron and you go into the Mount of Olives which is right on the
borders of that river, the olive grove that was there and where
he often resorted. And to this day there are olive
trees in that exact same place and they're over 2,000 years
old so it would have been the exact place where our Lord Jesus
Christ resorted with his disciples. And, you know, friends, what
was done? The reason I read in Isaiah 53,
because we're given by prophecy there, what was done in Gethsemane? What was fulfilled in Gethsemane? It was a mighty transaction. Something that was so momentous
that, as we have here in this passage of scripture, and It
says in verse 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. Why? Why this agony? Why this grief? Why this pain?
Why this sorrow? His disciples, they slept. Each time he came to them, it
says they slept for sorrow. You read in verse 45, and when
he arose from prayer and was come to his disciples, he found
them sleeping for sorrow. They had a sense given to them
of that deep and profound sorrow that the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
the Son of God, manifest in the flesh, what he was suffering. But what made him suffer? What
caused him such pain? What caused him such grief? because
it was there in the Garden of Gethsemane that was fulfilled
what we read in Isaiah 53. He laid upon him the iniquity
of us all. You think we spoke this morning
of that the Church of God gathered from all nations and as it says
there for every tribe, every kindred, every tongue, every
people A number that no man could number. And as the Lord spoke
to Abraham, in thee shall all the families of the earth be
blessed. And that is because Christ would be born of Abraham's
seed. And all the families of the earth
would be blessed. You just think of the tens and
tens of thousands of people that were blessed in Christ. It's a number that no man can
number. Drawn from every generation, from every nation, every kindred,
every tongue, every tribe and every people. And the Lord in promising to
Abraham, He said, Thy seed shall be as the sand that is by the
seesaw. That is not the seed of the flesh.
Just literally Israel itself. It's the spiritual seed of Christ
also. They're Abraham's seed. And they
would be blessed in Christ. And hence, because Christ was
born of the seed of Abraham, he says, in thee, in thee shall
all the nations of the earth be blessed. Now, just think of
that vast number of redeemed people. And then think of their sins. And we hope and pray your sins
and my sins were laid on him. We cannot even begin to conceive.
You know, for someone to bear such a vast load, it had to be
the Son of God. No mere mortal man could carry
that crushing load of the sin of the whole church. This is
Jesus, the Son of God. the mighty God, the everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, He could bear that load. And
He did bear that load when our Eternal Father lifted our sin
off of us and laid it on His Son. And His Son redeemed and
delivered His people in that glorious, sacred, precious sacrifice
of Calvary. But before He was to go to Calvary,
In this place of Gethsemane is where the sin of the church was
all. I can't really convey to you
the vast, vast nature of that sin that was laid on Christ.
Of the whole church of God from Adam's day to the end of time
was laid upon our Lord Jesus Christ. When he was in the the
place, he said unto them, pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them
about a stone's cast and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father,
if thou be willing, remove this cup, this tremendous cup from
me. No hint of rebellion? No. if thou be willing tremendous
cup, tremendous weight he was to have laid upon him if thou
be willing remove this cup from me nevertheless not my will but
thine be done you know we think of the spirit of Christ if any
man have the spirit of Christ we read and this is the spirit
of Christ in the The willingness of our Lord Jesus Christ to suffer,
bleed and die. The willingness of our Lord Jesus
Christ to have the sin of the church laid upon him. The willingness of Jesus Christ
to lay down his life for his friends. To suffer, to bleed
and to die on the cross of Calvary. That is what divine justice demanded. It demanded a perfect, holy sacrifice. The only person that could ever
give that is Jesus Christ, a perfect, holy sacrifice. Or that the Lord would, as it
were, open just a little of this profound truth onto our hearts,
of this tremendous weight that rested upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Bearing in mind that he is the
eternal son of God, it says here in verse 43, and there appeared
an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. Now, we need
to be very clear, it was his human nature. Some people say
that you shouldn't distinguish between the divine and the human.
We must, friends. the son of God in his divine
person never needed any angel to strengthen him. It would be
utter nonsense to say that he did. He's the eternal son of
the eternal father. He said all power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth. He's lord of all. He's the king
of kings. He's the lord of lords. And all
power is given unto him as the son of God. But here, under the
tremendous weight of the sin of the church, his human nature
was suffering 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 so great was the pressure the weight that
was resting on him of the sin of the whole church that it caused
him to sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to
the ground. You know the nearest I can think
of anyone, and it doesn't even begin to describe what the sufferings
of Christ were. When one of our children was
born, my wife had a very heavy labor, and so intense was that
labor that she literally had little blood blisters all over
her face. And that was from the intense
pressure that she was under in bringing forth that child. Now
that, in a very tiny little way, It describes a little bit of
Christ, only far greater, far greater. He that was pure, He
that was holy, He that was righteous altogether, He that did no sin,
neither was guile found in His mouth, and yet our eternal Father,
in infinite love to the Church, laid upon Him the iniquity of
us all. And so great and tremendous was
that weight that he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood
falling down to the ground. Oh, my beloved friends, we cannot
even begin to understand and there appeared an angel unto
heaven, unto him from heaven, strengthening him, strengthening
that human nature that the Son of God had. But we have another
occasion in the temptation in the wilderness where our Lord
Jesus Christ was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights. He had
nothing to eat. And he was under the tremendous
temptations of Satan. It weakened his human nature.
And this is where we see the reality of his human nature.
And again at that time we read, and there appeared an angel from
heaven strengthening him. You see my beloved friends, these
things are are written for our instruction. He had a human nature,
same as ours, without sin, pure and holy and righteous altogether.
And upon Him was laid the iniquity of us all. You know, this truth,
this substance of our message this afternoon is the very heart
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's the very heart of the
promises that are found in the Gospel. Their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more. Why? Because they've been
paid for. The redemption price has been
paid. His people are free. Free from
sin. Free from condemnation. You think
of those lovely words of the Apostle in Romans 8. There is
therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Why? Because Christ has taken all
their sins. Christ has redeemed them from
the curse of the law. Christ has redeemed them completely
and absolutely and they're delivered. If the Son shall make you free,
then shall you be free indeed. Not free to sin, free from sin,
free from its power, free from its curse. Christ, that's what
the Apostle means when he says in the Romans, Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness. You and I, as we read in Romans
this morning, we shall never produce a righteousness of our
own. We can't. Why? Because we're born in sin,
we're shaped in iniquity. We're unrighteous altogether.
We are. But this man who did no sin,
neither was guile found in his mouth. The other thing that is
nice to look at is the willingness, the willingness of our Lord Jesus
Christ to suffer, bleed and die for the sins of his people. if thou be willing remove this
cup from me nevertheless not my will but thine be done it
was the will of his father that he would drink that cup of suffering
he would drink that cup of sorrow to redeem his people and that
is what he came to do and that is what is prophesied there in
that beautiful precious chapter you know we've often said the
Puritans they said the Isaiah is called they called it the
gospel of Isaiah and there in Isaiah 53 it speaks of the sufferings
of our Lord Jesus under the weight of the sin of the church and
We started our reading in chapter 52 verse 13 Behold my servant
as Christ as Christ You'll find it in Isaiah 52 as well. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. And here he says, behold my servant. Behold him in your wretched room
and place and stead. Behold him as your redeemer.
Behold him as that one that has taken away your sin. Behold him
as that one that has suffered and bled and died for your sins. That's why he went to Calvary. That's why He suffered and agonized
on the cross of Calvary because our sins was laid upon Him there
and those sins had to be atoned for and the atonement had to
be pure and holy and righteous altogether. As many were astoned
at Thee, His visage was so marred more than any man and His form
more than the sons of man. You just think of that. That
was under that tremendous weight of the sin of the church. His visage was so marred, more
than any man. And under that tremendous weight
of the sin of the whole church, as it laid upon him, and as the
apostle puts it so beautifully in one of his epistles, he took
our sins and he nailed them to his cross. He took our sins and
He nailed them to His cross. And it says here in verse 3 of
53, and it says, He is despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. See, despised and rejected of
men. a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. You know in Gethsemane was probably
the depths of his grief when that tremendous weight of the
sin of the church was laid upon him by his eternal father and
how willing he was it should be laid upon him, how willing
he was to come into this sin-cursed world and live as a man here
upon the earth, how willing he was to fulfil God's holy righteous
law on the behalf of his chosen people, and how willing he was
to take this tremendous weight upon him and then to have it
nailed to his cross. He said, didn't he, to Peter,
when Peter smote off the ear of this servant of the high priest,
He says, the cup that my father hath given me, shall I not drink
it? Shall I not drink it? This tremendous
cup of suffering, of grief and of sorrow. And here in Isaiah,
you see, it says in verse four, surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded. Think of those
nails that pierced his hands and pierced his feet. He was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. You think of that scourging before
he was nailed on the cross. Pilate had him scourged. He was
bruised for our iniquities. That's why he was scourged. The
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes
we are healed. With those sufferings of our
precious Redeemer, that is what heals us. We sing that lovely
hymn, don't we? Heal us, Emmanuel. Here we are,
waiting to feel Thy touch. Deep wounded souls, to Thee repair,
and Saviour, we have sought. Heal us. Oh, the healing balm
that flows from Calvary, the precious blood of the Lamb, that
cleanses from all sin, that cleanses from all sin. With His stripes, we are Him. See, and all we, and this speaks
of every single one of us, all we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. And under the tremendous weight
of that sin, it says here, doesn't it? He was oppressed under that
tremendous weight of the sin of the church. It says elsewhere,
he was made a curse for us when he was hung on Calvary's tree.
It's that precept in the law, curse it is every man that hangs
upon a tree, that points us to Christ. He was oppressed and
he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before a shearer is
done, so he opened not his mouth. It was in reading that scripture
that the Ethiopian eunuch had come to when the Lord sent Philip
to join himself unto his chariot. And at the eunuch he pointed
out to Philip in this scripture, he said, of whom speaketh the
prophet, of himself or of some other man? And then there's that
beautiful word, and beginning at the same scripture, he preached
unto him Jesus. Jesus the sin-bearer. Jesus the
Saviour. Jesus that has made an end of
sin. Jesus that has redeemed his people. Jesus that shed every drop of
his precious blood to take away the sin, to purge away the sin
of his people. That's the blood of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. It's of infinite worth and infinite
power. that the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin, from all sin. You may say, was it for my sin? He was taken from prison and
from judgment and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut
off out of the land of the living and then he tells us why, for
the transgression of my people was he stricken. That's why he
suffered, that's why he bled, that's why he died. And it's
important, my beloved friends, that we should recognise that
he laid down his life. No man taketh my life from me. Some would portray the Lord Jesus
Christ in great weakness and out of control under those tremendous
sufferings. It wasn't anything like that.
I have power to lay my life down. That is that sacred, holy, human
life that he assumed in the womb of the Virgin Mary. I have power
to lay my life down. I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father. You see, he was
oppressed. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. But who shall declare his generation
for he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
of my people was he stricken and then there's a remarkable
verse in verse 10 yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him what a
remarkable word that is our eternal father it pleased the Lord to
bruise him what does it mean? it means that it pleased the
father that he should suffer, bleed and die for the sins of
his people that he would stand in their wretched ruined place
instead and that he would give his life a ransom for all to
be testified in due time. Isn't that beautiful what the
dear apostle says when he writes to the Galatians and he speaks
so beautifully there, who loved me, who loved me. Speaking of
our Lord Jesus Christ in Galatians chapter 2 and He speaks of the
deliverance from the law. He says in chapter 2 verse 19,
for I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live
unto God. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. O foolish Galatians, who hath
bewitched you? What the Apostle is saying there,
we trust alone in a crucified Saviour. God forbid, he says
to the Galatians, God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, yet put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. You see, his sacred, holy human
soul was an integral part of that holy offering. It's an essential
part of that holy offering. If Christ had no human soul and
we reject that completely, then our soul has never been redeemed.
The work of Christ is a substitution work. If he only had a body,
then only our body is redeemed. And the most noble part of it
is lost forever. But my beloved friends, that's
a complete error. It's a heresy to say that Christ
had no human soul. It says it here in before us,
when thou shalt make his soul, the greater part of his sufferings
was in his holy human soul. The tremendous weight and burden
of that sin was in his holy human soul, when he suffered and bled
and died for his people. And then, Immediately after that
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He says, he shall see his
seed. Resurrection. Life. He shall
see his seed. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. It says in the next verse, my
righteous servant, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify
many for he shall bear their iniquities. You see, my beloved
friends, and he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast
and kneeled down and prayed. You see, the dear Redeemer, as
he bore our sins, as he carried our sins, as he bare our sins,
as he carried them to Calvary, as he was punished for our sins,
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. You see, my beloved
friends, this is the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And, oh, the language of the
living soul is, give me Christ, or else I die. The language of
a living soul is, was it for crimes that I had done, He hung
and suffered there? Was it for me? Has He redeemed
me? Was he, did he bear my sins? Did he suffer for my sins? Did
he die for my sins? Did he rise again for my justification? Real religion is something that
is very personal. Father, we might be brought to
truly realise this. May the Lord add his blessing
to these few remarks that we have made.