Okay, turn to 1 Peter 1. We're
going to continue in our study in 1 Peter. 1 Peter 1, and we'll
read verses 10, 11, and 12. All right, 1 Peter 1.10. Of which
salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied
of the grace that should come unto you. searching what or what
manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and
the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that
not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things
which are now reported unto you, by them that have preached the
gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
which things the angels desire to look into. Our title is The
Sufferings and Glory of Christ, and the Bible, the Word of God,
is a book with one message. It's the message of redemption
and righteousness and eternal life in Jesus Christ. That's
the message of the Bible. And it testifies of redemption
that should come in another, a chosen seed. And the Word testifies
that Jesus Christ is that chosen seed, elected of God, raised
up of God, sent of God, chosen of God before the foundation
of the world, that Christ should be the Lamb of God that should
sacrifice Himself to put away our sins. And we see it witnessed
of Christ, spoken of by the prophets, thankfully, with the New Testament
and His Spirit so that we can see now and rightly understand
what the prophets were saying concerning the coming Christ.
And we see Him redeeming His people from their fall in Adam.
We fell in Adam. We sinned, every one of us, in
Adam. and were fit for hell right then and there. So Christ was
chosen and elected of God to be the propitiation, the means
of forgiveness for his people. God had already determined it.
Before we even fell, he had already determined how he would save
us and protect us and deliver us from the coming destruction. For Christ makes his people righteous
by shedding His blood and washing them in His blood to put away
their sins, and He gives them eternal life in Himself. And
the Lord sends this message, this good news, this message
to His church, through the church, that His people will be called
unto Christ by this gospel. We'll have four divisions. First,
salvation of our souls, the grace that should come unto you. Third,
the sufferings of the glory of Christ and then fourth, we'll
look at this continuing ministry that we have. All right, so first,
the salvation of our souls. Peter starts off this verse here
saying, which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently. And before we get too far, I
want to look at what does this salvation mean? I remember when
I was younger, I had a heart, what seemed like a heart for
Christ. I wanted to know Him. I wanted to be saved by Him. But people, you know, when I
would speak of Christ, I really didn't know what I was talking
about. And so people would say to me, I remember one person
in particular said, Saved from what? What are we saved from?
What are you talking about? And I realized then and there,
I had a huge gap in my understanding because I didn't know what to
say to them. I could barely get out the words, saved from our
sin. Something like that is all I
could do. What are we saved from? Well, in verse 3 of this book
here, Peter starts off saying that we're begotten again of
God. And that's the same words that
Christ used when he spoke to Nicodemus saying that ye must
be born again. Which tells us that we're dead
in our trespasses and sins. We don't know God by nature.
We must be born again. There's something wrong with
us to begin with. and he's making it known to us that we don't
know Christ by nature, by our natural birth, by our own natural
understanding and our own intelligence and our own study and our own
wisdom. We must be given life by the
Spirit of God, because in Adam, just as God said, that you shall
die in the day that you eat of that fruit, Adam, you shall die. And Adam died, just as God said,
because he was severed from fellowship with God. He no longer knew God,
in spirit. He died spiritually and he doesn't
know how to worship God or approach unto God or please God. And all
of us, being in Adam, died in Adam. We were cut off then and
there so that we don't know him naturally. We must be born again,
given life from the dead. He says there in verse three,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again. So that we can see that in the
beginning, before any of us has life or a hope in Christ, it's
God who must do that work first. He must be the one who acts upon
us, who gives us salvation in Him. It's the Lord who initiates.
It's not us who initiates things with God. It's God who initiates
things with us. And then he speaks of a lively
hope there in verse 3 saying that God has given us a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ so that one of the blessed
effects that Christ gives us is a love for him. He gives us
a living hope in him. It's not just a dead like, oh,
that's really nice. Yeah, I believe in Jesus. Like
most of the religious world, they believe in Jesus and they
give lip service to Jesus and say, yeah, well, I believe in
Jesus. But no, he gives us a living hope because we have his spirit
now so that he causes us to desire him and to yearn for his righteousness
and for what he has done for us. We desire to know him and
to know him more and more and what he does is he causes us
to rejoice in him, giving us a living hope. And in verse five
he tells us that we're kept by the power of God through faith
unto this salvation. So that we understand that just
as it's God who begins the work of salvation in us, so it's God
who continues to preserve that salvation in us. So that we're
not now left to ourselves to figure it out and to bring this
thing home to this salvation home, but no, he's the one doing
all the work from beginning right on through to preserving us even
now and we'll see in the future, verses eight and nine, whom having
not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing,
ye rejoice with joy and speakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your fate, even the salvation of your souls. It's all of the Lord, from beginning,
middle, And it's all the work of God that saves us. If anyone
is saved, it's the work of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. So that's what we're going to
see. That's what he's going to teach each and every one of us. If we're
going to learn anything, we're going to learn that salvation is of the
Lord. So what is so great about this
salvation? What's so special about it? Why
do we need to be saved? Saved from what? I alluded to
it a little bit earlier, that in Adam, we sin. We all fell
in Adam. We were there in Adam. We all
come from Adam. And when Adam sinned, we were
in Adam's lawns. Just as it says of Abraham that
when he paid tithes to Melchizedek, Levi was in his lawn. So that
all of that was Levi that gave the tithes. He gave up his inheritance.
there to Melchizedek. So in the same way we were in
Adam's lawns, we're a seminal, we come from him seminally or
from his seed, we have that same corruption that's in Adam as
in each and every one of us. so that we don't know the Lord
God by nature. It says, Paul said this to the
Romans in 512, wherefore as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. Yes, we all sin today, but yes,
we sin in Adam, right there, we disobeyed God, right along
with Adam. So when Adam perished, we perished
in him. We did it. We disobeyed God,
ourselves. We took part in that rebellion. So that now, Paul tells us, we
are all children of wrath. Children of wrath. Here what
the psalmist says, Psalms 7, 11-13, says that God judged the
righteous, or God is a righteous judge, And God is angry with
the wicked every day. If he, that is the wicked one,
if he turn not, God will wet his sword, or God will sharpen
his sword. He hath bent his bow and made
it ready. He hath also prepared for him
the instruments of death. He ordaineth his arrows against
the persecutors. And the scriptures use these
terms that the Lord is a man of war. That's what it says in
Exodus 15. The Lord is a man of war. And
it uses language to describe him as one who's in battle armor
or able to make war against us. It says, And Isaiah 59, 17 and
18, for he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet
of salvation upon his head. And he put on the garments of
vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak according
to their deeds. Accordingly, he will repay fury
to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies, and to the islands
he will repay recompense. What we see in the scripture
is that this world, it's coming to an end. Its ways and its days
are coming to an end and God shall destroy it. The Apostle
John said that this whole world lieth in wickedness, lies in
wickedness. So that Paul even said to those
that despise the hope of God, the hope that we have in God,
those that despise the salvation that God has provided. He says,
after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God who will render to every man according to his
deeds. What's he going to render to
them? Unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but
obey unrighteousness, that is, they don't want to hear about
Christ. They don't want to believe that Christ is their righteousness.
They might want to hear what they can do. how they can please
God by their own works of the law or how they don't need God
and just cast off all shackles and all things concerning God,
unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but
obey unrighteousness, God's going to pour out on them indignation
and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doeth
evil. So brethren, this is the lot
of the world. All those who do not know Christ,
all those who don't love the Lord Jesus Christ, who don't
believe what God has testified concerning Christ, that He is
salvation, they're under the wrath of God. And God has provided
the means of salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ, so that He's
already, God is a merciful God, He is gracious and kind. He didn't
leave us to ourselves. He could have destroyed us all
right there in Adam, right then and there, and threw us all into
hell. But He's a kind and a gracious God. He knows what we are by
nature. He's provided that salvation
in His Son, Jesus Christ. There's the salvation. That's
what we're saved from is this coming wrath of God against our
wickedness and our unrighteousness. All those who hate Christ shall
have to pay the price themselves. But all those who flee to Christ,
who look to Christ and Christ alone, there's safety, there's
peace and forgiveness forevermore in the Lord Jesus Christ. So
God's provided the salvation, that's what we're saved from,
is this coming destruction against this wicked world. Christ said,
he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abideth on him. So that's why we who know this,
we greatly rejoice, as Peter said. We greatly rejoice. We
have a living hope in Him because we see this. We see it more and
more plainly. We see it in our own hearts by
nature of what He saved us from. We see it in the world of what
He saved us from. So we greatly rejoice as we see
it more and more clearly. We greatly rejoice in what Christ
has done. So then next Peter says in 1
Peter 1.10, He says, of which salvation the prophets have inquired
and searched diligently. And the reason why is because
there's a great urgency to these things, brethren. There's a great
urgency to these things, but we are not to be lulled to sleep
and think that there's nothing going on or that everything's
just gonna go on as it always does, but rather we ought to
be moved and motivated by the diligence that we see in the
Lord's servants and in his people. You know, there's many that,
you know, hear us speak of the things of Christ and they think,
well, why? What's the big deal? What's so
important about this? But it says there in 2 Peter
3, 4, Peter says, this is what they say, where is the promise
of this coming? For since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. But what does Paul say to that
spirit, to that that thought that I don't think God's going
to ever come. I don't even know if this stuff is true because
everything seems to be normal to me. You know, everything seems
to be going on the way it's supposed to, to me. But Paul says, when
they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh
upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not
escape. So the prophets and the apostles,
they all moved with great diligence and great urgency. They understood
that there's a coming end and that the days are short and that,
you know, we must hear these truths concerning the salvation
that is provided in his son Jesus Christ alone, brethren, because
It's true, and it's real, and the Lord will make it real to
us so that we see it. So I ask, what manner of persons
ought we to be? If they were urgent and diligent,
how ought we to be in our day? Noah, it says this of Noah, that
by faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house,
by the which he condemned the world and became heir of the
righteousness which is by faith. So consider, brethren, what it
is that we've been saved from and rejoice in that, that we've
been put into Christ, for in Christ his blood is salvation. His death is our life. His blood is our peace and our
reconciliation with God Almighty who is a man of war and will
destroy those who try to come to him in their own works and
in their own righteousness. All right, our second point,
the grace that should come unto you. And this will be a briefer
point. But Peter says in 1 Peter 1.10,
of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently,
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. So this
grace that was prophesied that should come unto us is the coming
and the salvation provided for us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's in Christ. In Deuteronomy 18, if you turn
there, Deuteronomy 18, and we'll read three verses. It's four
verses, 15 through 18. This is Moses speaking to the
children of Israel, and he's prophesying of that grace that
should come unto us. Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, the
Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst
of thee of thy brethren like unto me. Unto him ye shall hearken
according to all that thou desirest of the Lord thy God in Horeb
in the day of the assembly saying, let me not hear again the voice
of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire anymore
that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They
have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them
up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and
will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them
all that I shall command him. And that's exactly what God has
done by providing for us a mediator, one who can stand between us
and the holy, righteous God. Because we can't approach unto
God. If we try to approach God in our own works, the works of
the law, trying to please God by these things, it'll be like
coming to that Mount Sinai which was on fire and lightnings and
thunderings where they said, if a beast or a man so much as
touch the side of the mountain, let him be thrust through with
a dart. We can't approach God in our own works and in our own
righteousness. We can only come to God through
a mediator and that's why he's saying that right there. They've
well spoken that which they have spoken because when we see the
terrors of the Lord, when we see that he is holy and righteous
and in and of ourselves we can't please him. We see and know we
need a mediator and that mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the one who's provided of God to do this work. And Paul said
to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 2.5, there is one God, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And we know that
this is that one, that Christ is that mediator that God promised
to send, that we should be delivered from the wrath of God. It's in
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know it because there on the
Mount of Transfiguration, what do you say when the cloud came
over and overshadowed them? said this is my beloved son in
whom I'm well pleased hear him listen to what he says he shall
tell you the words of life he's the one in whom you'll have life
and peace and can approach unto me It's in Him, under His blood. And that's exactly what our Savior
did, right? When Moses said, I will raise
up to them, or the Lord said to Moses, I will raise them up
a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and I will put
my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that
I shall command him. And did Christ do that when He
was here? Did He teach us His words? Did
He teach us the words of God? He did, in John 17 verse 8, I
have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them, and have known surely that I came out
from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. So Christ
is the grace that was prophesied that should come unto us. Christ
Jesus is that grace that should come because he is salvation. All right, now next, the sufferings
and the glory of Christ. Peter says there in 1 Peter 1,
10 and 11, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and
searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come
unto you, searching what or what manner of time in the spirit
of Christ, which was in them did signify, when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should
follow. So I want to look at a number
of scriptures here this morning and we'll see how Christ suffered
according to the scriptures and how Christ was glorified according
to the scriptures. So in Mark 8 31, it says that
Christ began to teach the disciples. They had to know this because
naturally what were they looking for? They were looking for a
mighty conquering Messiah that would come in there, just roll
on into town and that the Jews would follow him and they'd rise
up and throw off their enemies and step on their necks and be
almighty conquerors in the world behind Christ the Messiah. But
that's not how Christ was to come. Christ was to come low
and meek and humbly bearing the sins of his people to put them
away and that he would suffer for these things. Man would reject
him. The world wasn't going to receive
him. And so he began to teach them that the son of man must
suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief
priests and scribes and be killed and after three days rise again. And he speak it openly because
they had to know and understand that when these things come to
pass, that they're not confused and wondering, I thought that
this was the one, I thought that this was the Messiah, but they
had to know that he was going to be rejected of men and that
he was going to suffer. You know, when they were there
witnessing what Christ was doing, they surely thought, like, how
is this man going to suffer? Everything this man does prospers.
Everything he does is wonderful and great. Surely the people's
hearts are after him and they all desire him to be their king. And they must have thought, this
is great. What is he talking about that he's going to suffer?
And there was a time when he healed a child that had a devil.
He cast the child out that had this devil. And it says, the
people there who witnessed all that, that they were all amazed
at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered, and
everyone, at all the things which Jesus did, he turns to his disciples
and he says this, Let these sayings sink down into your ears, for
the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. So don't be fooled, he says,
don't be fooled and and taken up by this wonder that everybody
has and this amazement that everybody has in the works that I'm doing
because the son of man is going to be turned over to the hands
of men to do with him whatever they want. And this was all because
he had to fulfill that which was spoken of by the prophets. So let's just focus at this point
here where the Lord began to be betrayed. So when Judas would
betray Christ, the psalmist writes of this, he says in Psalm 41,
9, Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did
eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. And Christ
spoke this to the disciples, telling them that one of you
is going to betray me. He told them before it happened,
in John 13, 18 and 19, He says, I speak not of you all. I know
whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me
hath lifted up his heel against me. Now I tell you before it
come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am
he. And we do well to read his word,
to look at his word, because he's telling us things that shall
shortly come to pass, that we would know them and not be overtaken
by them and overrun by them or confused and wondering, why is
the Lord doing this to me or why is this happening? It's because
the Lord loves us and he's telling us these things that we might
know him and be found in him safe and secure from all harm. We may be harmed in this life
in our body, but we shall not be harmed in the next. For Christ
has fully satisfied the wrath of God. He's fully satisfied
all things that we may appear before God, holy, righteous,
and accepted in him." So, that's exactly what happened though,
right? After Christ said that, Satan filled Judas went into
his heart and Judas left and he went off to betray Christ
and he comes back leading a band of soldiers or Jews or whoever
they were back to Christ and he said, hail master and kissed
him. Now turn over to Matthew 26 and we'll see a few, just
stay there Matthew 26 and 27 we'll look at a few passages
there. Matthew 26 verse 55. Matthew 26, verse 55. It says,
In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes when they came
out against them with Judas, Are ye come out as against the
thief with swords and staves were to take me? I sat daily
with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. But
all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.
Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. So Christ was
betrayed and forsaken by his disciples and then he's taken
off to Caiaphas where he's falsely accused of blasphemy that they
might put him to death. And this is where he began to
be turned over to the will of the people. You know, so many
people, they love free will. They believe so strongly in the
free will of man. And that's like, if you notice,
that's pretty much the cardinal doctrine of man that usually
people don't know much about Christ. But one thing they know
or they believe in is that man has a free will. And you get
real offended when you talk about how man doesn't have a free will,
but that man is bound in his sin. And all he can do is that
which is sinful and evil. He may think and feel like he's
doing that which is of his own heart, and he is. He is doing
what he wants to do. And it's evil, and it's darkness,
and it's sin. It's not pleasing to God. And
so here Caiaphas turns him over to the will of the people. He
begins it by saying in Matthew 26, 66, what think ye? They answered and said, he's
guilty of death. And then they spit in his face and buffeted
him. And others smote him with the
palms of their hands. This is God Almighty being smacked
by a puny little man. Can you imagine smacking God?
And yet that's what we are by nature. Left to our own will,
that's what we would do. to Christ. And we would have
been right there with them, mocking him, spitting in his face, and
treating him wrongfully. And they said things like, prophesying
to us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee? And this was
all done according to the prophets. Just as the prophets said, Isaiah,
I'll read it, Isaiah 50 verse 6 says, I gave my back to the
smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I
hid not my face from shame and spitting. And it didn't even
stop there. It says the next morning they came, they got him,
all the chief priests and elders of the people to counsel against
Jesus to put him to death. And when they abound them, they
led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.
So now in Matthew 27, verse 16, and it says that they had there
at that time, a notable prisoner called Barabbas that was there
for insurrection and murder and Pilate asked the people, again
turning Christ over to the will of the people so he could see
the free will of man. What would man do if he can save
Christ? What would he do? And it says,
therefore when they were all gathered, Pilate said unto them,
Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus which
is called Christ? It's amazing how the Lord just
kept on putting it in their face, that this is Christ, this is
Christ who you're doing this to, this is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the promised seed that should come, this is Christ. And it
says in verse 20 there, Matthew 27, 20, but the chief priests
and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for rabbis
and destroy Jesus. These were the same people that
were amazed and wondered at all the works that Christ had done,
and yet they could be persuaded so easily by the chief priests
put him to death and crucify him and the governor says in
verse 21 answered and said unto them as if he's to say pardon
me that I hear you guys correctly who you asking for and whether
of the whether of the two will you that I release unto you and
they said Barabbas and Pilate said unto them what shall I do
then with Jesus which is called Christ they all say unto him
let him be crucified and the governor said why what evil hath
he done but they wouldn't even answer him. But all that they
said at that point, in verse 23, they cried out the more saying,
let him be crucified. And so Luke records saying that
Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison when they
had desired. But he delivered Jesus to their
will. Do you have any confidence in
your own will? Is your will free? Do you think
that you can just freely do that which is right versus that which
is evil? The scriptures show here how,
when left to our own free will, that's exactly what we would
do, crucify the Lord of glory. We despise God by nature, we
don't know him, we don't love him, we don't want to follow
him or hear his words. We get bored and tired of hearing
these things, but it's only by the Spirit of God that He keeps
us and shows us our need of Christ and brings us to see Him in our
need of Him. Isaiah 53 says this, that He
is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows. And we see
it in our own heart, brethren. We see it in our own flesh, how
weak the flesh is. He's acquainted with grief and
we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and
we esteemed him not. So we begin to see just a sense
of what our Lord was suffering and what he was bearing in the
days of his flesh year and his humiliation is what the old writers
call it when he came and took upon him our flesh. It's a humiliation
for the Lord of glory to do that and then on top of it to suffer
the things that he suffered at the hands of men who claimed
to be lovers of God and claimed to be his people. They showed
that they're not. It says in Psalm 22, verses 16
and 17, dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have
enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell
all my bones, they look and they stare upon me. And it says that
there, when he was there on the cross, Matthew 27, 39, it says
that they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and
saying, thou that destroys the temple and builds it in three
days, save thyself. If thou be the son of God, come
down from the cross. Thank God that he did not come
down from that cross. He could have showed them that
he's God almighty. He could have come down from that cross and
he could have told them, he could have prophesied to them who was
spiting him in the face. He could have come down from
that cross, but then all of us would have no hope whatsoever
because we can't save ourselves. That Christ there hanging on
the cross is our hope. He is the hope of our salvation
because it's by his death that he justified us. By his shedding
of his blood that we are reconciled to God Almighty. Likewise, also
the chief priest mocking him with the scribes and elders said,
he saved others, himself he cannot save. That's true. If he be the
king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we will
believe him. And that's not true. That's a lie. They still wouldn't
believe him. And it would do them no good,
because if Christ had come down from that cross, we would have
no salvation. He trusted in God, let him deliver
him now, and if he will have him, for he said, I am the son
of God. And the psalmist records the
words of our Savior while he hung there on the cross, saying,
But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despise of the people. Christ thought that of himself.
What ought we to think of ourselves? We who think that we are somebody. Christ himself there, bearing
our sins, said, I am a worm and no man. All they that see me laugh 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. So that psalmist that wrote this
many hundreds of years before Christ was crucified, there it
is in Christ there bearing witness, showing that he is the Christ
that should come. In Psalm 22, verses 1 and 2,
we have the words that Christ said there from 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 roaring,
oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not in the night
season, and am not silent. And he did all this for his sheep
to put away our sins, to deliver us from the hand of God, the
wrath of God, which would justly come against us for our own unrighteousness
and our wickedness. But he did that to deliver us
from the snare, to deliver us out of the hand of God Almighty,
who would otherwise have righteously judged us for our own sins, where
we could never pay them off. Isaiah 53, 5 saying, he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him And with His stripes,
we are healed. And so through all that suffering,
we see the faithful Lord Jesus being faithful to God, never
wavering in His faith and trust to God Almighty. While He was
there, bearing us in His body, bearing our sins in His body,
putting them away, He remained faithful and perfect trusting
the Father that God was with him, that he was doing the work
that God sent him to do, and that God would raise him from
the dead. He trusted in God perfectly.
Even when he was forsaken of God, he trusted in God perfectly,
fully. He never sinned. He never did
that which was unrighteous. There was no guile found in his
mouth. Nothing wicked he did. He only did that which was right
and pleasing to God. through it all, for he delivered
his people from their sins. Psalm 22, three and five, this
is the Lord still speaking. 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. And Christ would not be delivered
from that hour. He faithfully went, laying down
his life, trusting that God would raise him from the dead so that
he wouldn't see corruption in that day. All right, so that's
the sufferings that our Lord bore. That's just a snapshot
of some of the sufferings that our Lord bore for us, that we
might be delivered from the wrath to come. Now let's look at the
glory of our Lord which followed. Turn over to Luke 24. Luke 24
and go to verse 25. Christ comes to the disciples
that are on the road to Emmaus, and he says unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So that after Christ's ascension
to the Father, the apostles were made to know that Christ had
risen from the dead, that he filled them with their spirit,
that they would go forth preaching the resurrection of Christ, that
we might know that just as Christ was given life from the dead,
that he's been raised up, so we, too, who hope in him, shall
have life in him and be raised from the dead ourselves. Peter
said it this way, Acts 2.23, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken him by wicked
hands, have crucified and slain. whom God hath raised up from
the dead, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not
possible that he should be holden of it. And that's according to
the psalmist. In Psalm 16, 10, which said,
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine holy one to see corruption. So that Christ was raised from
the dead. and it's glorious that he was, what he did in accomplishing
the salvation of his people and that he was raised to life from
the dead. The psalmist says this, the Lord
said unto my Lord, after he rose from the dead, the Lord said
unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. And Daniel captures this vision
for us. He shows us a snapshot of Christ
coming in to heaven after his ascension into the heavens. It
says, you know, they look, and watched him being taken off in
the clouds. He was raised up into the clouds.
And Daniel says, So that brethren, Christ has
the dominion. He is the king. He's not the
coming king. He's not waiting to be king.
He is the king. Then and now so that all authority,
all power, all rule is given to him so that we are his subjects. The Lord has control of all things
and he's just working all things to bring about the salvation
of his people. And then he shall return. Paul
saying this, then come at the end, when he shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even the father, when he shall have put
down all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign
till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy
that shall be destroyed is death. And Paul wrote to the Philippians
saying that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things
in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. So, Christ is His King, He rules,
He's glorified now, even with the Father, so that we know that
salvation is ours. We believe in Him and trust in
Him. And Revelation captures it this
way, saying that the nations, when Christ comes, they're angry.
They're angry because all their will, all their thought, all
their desires that they've thought that they've accomplished in
casting off Christ, casting off these things that they thought
they were done with Him, they're angry when He returns, because
all their thoughts and all their hopes and their joys will come
to an end when Christ returns. And it says, they're angry, for
the wrath of God has come, and the time of the dead that they
should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy
servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that
fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which
destroy the earth." So brethren, I labored through that scripture,
all those scriptures with you. I know it's a lot of scripture,
but I wanted us to see the sufferings of Christ, the glory of Christ
that followed that. We should know that this very
one, this Lord Jesus Christ, is the promised Christ. And that
what the prophets have said in the scriptures, that the wrath
of God is coming, it's no joke. it's real that God is going to
judge this world and that he's provided that salvation for us
in his son Jesus Christ. I wouldn't want us to think that,
you know, don't be discouraged because Christ takes his time
in coming. He's only tarrying, he's only
waiting because he's patiently waiting for all his people to
be brought in so that now even now here, the purpose for us
to be on this earth isn't for us just to go do our thing, but
our purpose here is that we would unite under Christ, that we would
send forth the gospel of Jesus Christ, because that is the salvation
of his people. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, that's
who he has provided. He said, I am come a light into
the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. So that he's given to us this
ministry of reconciliation. And it's so simple. That's why
people don't even understand why you need to hear it each
and every time because it's so simple. That salvation, reconciliation
with God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing more
to it than that, but that He fills us with His Spirit. He
gives us a hope in Christ so that we lay down our lives here
in this life that we might serve and minister to one another,
raising up and exalting the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, because
that's where God meets with us in peace. He preaches to us reconciliation
and forgiveness in His Son. Turn over to Acts 5.31. Peter speaking to the chief priests
and the ruling Jews, he declares this of Christ. Acts 5 31. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses
of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath
given to them that obey him. So that Now we see these things,
we're filled with his light, we're filled with the spirit
that we would know and are assured that it is the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Colossians it says this,
that, we give thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. So brethren, the prophets
labored to bring this word to us, the apostles labored to bring
this word to us, the people of God labored to bring this word
to us, right? The churches that were faithful
to Christ were faithful to bring forth this word, that it's Christ
in whom we have salvation, laying down their lives that we might
have this very gospel, that we too might know the truth of God
as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. so that we don't go around in
darkness and in confusion thinking that there's something that we
must do, something more that we must do, but that we might
be made to rest in Christ knowing of a truth, of a surety that
we have salvation in Christ. And Paul says because of this,
because he's so convinced that salvation is in the Lord, he
laid down his life and he said to Timothy, therefore I endure
all things for the elect's sake. that they may also obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. So the best thing that we can
do for the elect, because we don't know who they are, but
the best thing that we can do for them is just to preach Christ
and be faithful to support the ministry, be faithful to come
as often as we're able, that the Lord would unite our hearts
together, that we would be faithful. Sometimes we get discouraged
because we think, well, there's not much that I do. I'm not able
to do much or serve much at the church. But you have no idea
what a comfort it is to the Brethren when you just show up. When you
show up and you come, as often as we meet, it's a real encouragement
to the Brethren because we can get discouraged too, you know,
because we're laboring. We're laboring these things day
after day after day. And you don't always see, you
know, numbers by the thousands or hundreds or even tens. coming
to believe on the Lord in a given day or even in a year. You don't
see these things transpiring, but know that the Lord knows
them that are his. He knows how to save his people,
and he's going to start just by establishing the gospel with
us here and sending it forth faithfully through us. So remember
that the Bible here, this Word of God, it's a book with one
message. It declares redemption, righteousness,
and eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every time you
open this book, be looking for the Lord Jesus Christ, because
that's who it's speaking of. And I'll close with this from
Isaiah 52, 6 through 10, that we might remember that our purpose
for being here is to send forth the gospel of Jesus Christ. It says, therefore my people
shall know my name, Therefore they shall know in that day that
I am he that doth speak. Behold it is I. And Isaiah 52
7 says, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him
that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth
good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith undesigned,
thy God reigneth. Thy watchmen shall lift up the
voice, that is, the voices preaching the word of God, with the voice,
that is, the voice of the Lord attending that word. Together
shall they sing, for they shall see eye to eye. When the Lord
shall bring again Zion, break forth into joy, sing together,
ye waste places of Jerusalem. For the Lord hath comforted his
people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy
arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God. I pray the Lord will bless
his word to the hearts of his people, helping us to see that
Christ is our salvation. Let's pray and then we'll have
the Lord's Supper. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank you for the salvation that you've provided in Christ. We see how our Savior suffered.
We see the glory that followed and how you have blessed him.
He now has all authority and rule. Lord, we pray that you
would cause his spirit to dwell in us. Lord, give us life from
the dead. Awaken us out of our sleep. Help
us to see that Christ is all and our need of him. Lord, bless
this body here. We ask that your spirit would
be upon us. that we would faithfully serve you and serve one another
in the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray this in
Jesus' name, our Lord and Savior. Amen. We're going to take the Lord's Supper now.
I would just say that, you know, It's for you who rest in Christ. It's for you who believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ, that He has put away your sins. And you love
Him, and you thank Him for it, and you rejoice in what Christ
has done. If you don't know the Lord, don't feel any pressure
to take the Lord's Supper, just to fit in with us. We love you
that come here. We're thankful that the Lord
brings the people that He brings here. Don't feel any pressure. Just to take it just because
everybody else is taking it but you who love the Lord You know,
even though you know yourselves to be sinners and unworthy Christ
has made you worthy to take of his body and his blood and Let
us remember the Lord now, you know as we take of this bread
and the wine which are a symbol of his body and his blood that
was broken for us and shed for us so Let's remember the Lord
in this time now, in taking of the supper. So, you guys normally
hand it out first. Paul wrote in to the Corinthians
saying, For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered
unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was
betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks,
he break it and said, Take, eat. This is my body which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. And after the same manner
also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup
is the new testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink
it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread
and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Let's pray and then we'll take
this together. Our gracious Lord, Father, we
thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ, and that he allowed
his body to be broken for us, and he shed his blood to reconcile
us to you, Lord, that we might have peace with you. Help us,
Lord, to remember our Savior always, to think about what he
did for us, and Lord, that you would Indeed, bless this people
to remember Christ always. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen. So Brother Carl will come and
close us in hymn and then we'll be dismissed after. Our closing hymn will be 204.
204, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus. O soul, are you weary in trouble? A light in the darkness you seek? There's life for a book and a
Savior, And life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look
full in His wonderful face And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace Through heaven
to life everlasting We pass and we follow Him there, For us sin
no more hath dominion, For more than converts we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look
full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace His word
shall not fail you, He promised Believe Him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look
full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. You're dismissed.