All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Daniel chapter 10. Daniel chapter 10. Now in this passage of scripture
before us, Daniel 10, we'll read the first nine verses together.
It says, in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing
was revealed unto Daniel whose name was Belteshazzar. And the
thing was true, but the time appointed was long, and he understood
the thing, and had understanding of the vision. In those days
I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant
bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did
I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And the four and twentieth day
of the first month, as I was beside the great river, which
is a decal, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked and behold
a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with
a with fine gold of UFAS. His body also was likened to
Barrow, his face as the appearance of lightning. And his eyes as
lamps of fire, and his arms his feet like the color of polished
brass. And the voice of his words like
the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the
vision, and the men that were with me saw not the vision. But a great quaking fell upon
them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was
left alone. and saw this great vision. And there remained no strength
in me, for my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I
retained no strength. Yet I heard a voice, the voice
of His words, and when I heard the voice of His words, then
was I in a deep sleep on my face and my face toward the ground. And this passage we see before
us in this vision that is given to Daniel. I want you to see
this. That is the pre incarnate Lord
Jesus Christ. There's no doubt about this.
This is not a guess. This is not opinionated. This is a very plain fact. In fact, if you were to go to
Revelation chapter one over there, And you see the similarities
of this vision that John saw of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 12, Then I turned
to see the voice that spake with me, and as I turned I saw the
seven golden candlesticks. And amidst the seven candlesticks
one likened the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot. What? Isn't that the linen garment
that he just saw? And notice this, he was girded
about his past with a golden girdle. Isn't that what the same
thing that Daniel saw? His head and his hairs were white
like wool and white as snow and his eyes were a flame of fire,
his feet like into brass. as if they burned in a furnace,
and His voice as the sound of many waters. You see this, that
their comparison is almost identical in their vision of this appearance
of Christ. We see that this is the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know, one way to know it's
Jesus Christ, listen, they always fall on their face. Daniel said
I was failed it and it's like I went into a deep sleep You
know what John says in that chapter in chapter 1 he says I failed
his feet is dead This is the Lord Jesus Christ
that appears unto Daniel and I want you to see that Daniel
is the only one that saw this now there were men with him I'll
tell you what he was the only one that saw him You know, there's
only those beloved of God that to see Christ. Only we are able
by faith to see Christ. He only makes His glory revealed
to His people. Those men, they were afraid and
they ran off. Daniel wasn't allowed to run off. He fell at His feet
like a dead man. Isn't that how you fell at His
feet? When you saw Him the first time? You fell as a dead man. That's how we see the Lord Jesus
Christ. This evening, I do pray God give me such boldness and
ability to express the importance of this vision. You know, as
I was in my office, I was praying this, that God would be gracious
enough to let us see what Daniel saw. That we would be able to
understand this vision. Because it reveals something
about the Lord Jesus Christ to us. And as we're going to see,
this clothing that he has as he appears before Daniel surely
gives us an understanding of his office, of his office. And I hope that the Lord gives
us this tonight, but I've entitled this message A Vision for Sinners,
A Vision for Sinners. And the first thing I want you
to see this, is Daniel was in a state of mourning. Before this
vision came, he was in a state of mourning. And this actually,
you begin this back in chapter 9. This mourning began in chapter
9. Go back over there and look at
verse 5. Wait, I'm sorry. Look at chapter
10. You can see that. I'm going to read it to you.
Look at this. In those days, Daniel was mourning
three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither
came flesh or wine to my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at
all till three whole weeks were fulfilled. This vision was so
in tuned into Daniel that he even gives us the very day it
took place. He said in the four and 20th
day of the first month as I sat by this river gives us the place
and the time, you know. No other so-called book of God
does this. Only the Bible gives specific
days and times and dates and places of where they see things.
Very specific, but this man, Daniel, I want you to see three
full weeks. I tell you what, there are some
times that I have mourned day, maybe a maybe a couple of days
and constant mourning. But three full weeks. Constant
mourning for three did not eat anything. Now, Daniel was not
a beggar. Daniel was a governor. He was
a governor of King Cyrus, and yet he allowed none of these
pleasures. Now, why? Because he was mourning. He was mourning and I want you
to know the first thing he was mourning over was sin, was sin. Go back to chapter 9 and see
this. Look at verse 5. Listen to Daniel
as he confesses this. He says this, we have sinned.
We have sinned. We have committed iniquity. We
have done wickedly. We have rebelled. even by departing
from thy precepts and from thy judgments, neither have we hearkened
to thy servants, the prophets, which spake in thy name to our
kings, our princes, our fathers, and to all the people of the
land. David, I mean, Daniel was mourning
for sin. In this chapter, you see, he
opened the book of God and he understood. understanding was
given to David understanding what of his sin now notice this
he did not could just confess his people sin but David was
a himself a believer and notice this he includes himself in this
we have seen we have seen He inclined his ear to understand
the book of God and he understood this. He and his nation needed
forgiveness. They needed forgiveness of God.
So he bent his face toward the ground and recognized that God
is righteous and that he is a sinner. And this is true of all who believe
on Jesus Christ. You who believe on Christ. Are
you a sinner? Not were you a sinner. Are you
a sinner? Are you right now a sinner? Or
are you finished with that? You're good enough, you got that,
that's been taken care of, I'm done with that. Don't make no
mistake that people laugh, I'm telling you this is some religion
they really believe that they're done. You know, they're never
going to fall into that sin again. You know, they've excelled to
a certain level, okay, and that they are past that. I'll tell
you, you believe that, you're a fool. Every believer is capable of
any sin save blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. And the only reason
we don't commit that one is we are kept from it. If you don't
believe that, look at the life of David and tell me. David committed
adultery and murder when he was old. Not when he was young. Was he over that? Was he done
with that? Did he excel to a certain Christian
life to say, okay, well, I'm at a plateau now and I'm really
good. Listen, you believe that, you're a fool. Ain't no doubt
about it. And I know this, if you're God's
people, he'll show you that. How many times have we been shown
that? I've been shown that over and
over and over again. Man, I ain't ever gonna do that
again. Every time I think about it,
I wanna bite my tongue off when I say it. Because if the Lord
keep me from doing that, I will. That's it, that's the only hope
for me. It's not my spiritual strength or my spiritual growth. I just grow so much spiritually
that I just don't even, like I said, if you, I've seen people like that, I'm
telling you. And as they turn out, I mean the worst things
happen because they don't believe that. But this is true of us.
Daniel here, he's confessing. He's confessing. He was a sinner.
And we who believe confess this, that in my flesh dwelleth no
good thing, as Paul said. And then what did he do then?
He began to beseech God for forgiveness. Look at this in verse 8. O Lord,
to us belongeth confusion of faith, to our kings, our princes,
our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. To thee,
O Lord, belong what? Mercies and forgiveness, though
we have rebelled against him. Look at verse 16. O Lord, according
to Thy righteousness I beseech Thee, let Thine anger and Thy
fury be turned away from Thy city Jerusalem and Thy holy mountain,
because for our sins and for our iniquities of our fathers
Jerusalem and Thy people are become a reproach to all that
are about us. Now therefore, O Lord God, hear
the prayer of Thy servant and his supplications and cause Thy
face to shine upon the sanctuary that is desolate. for the Lord's
sake. You see, he's asking and pleading
for forgiveness. But when this answer comes, it
doesn't come as he thought. It doesn't come
as he thought. In fact, he does give a blessed,
this angel comes to him and he pronounces the gospel to him.
which is truly glorious. He says, verse 24, 70 weeks are
determined upon thy people upon the holy city to finish the transgression,
to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity and
to bring in everlasting righteousness and seal up the vision and the
prophecy to anoint the most holy. That's great. He's pronouncing
the coming of the Messiah. This is a great message, a glorious,
this is the answer to His prayer, is it not? The end of iniquity,
the end of transgression, the anointing of the Holy One. But
notice this, know therefore and understand that from From the
going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
unto the Messiah, the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore
and two weeks, and the streets shall be built again, and the
wall even in troubleless times. And after threescore and two
weeks shall Messiah be cut off. Isn't this astonishing? Yes,
He's going to bring an end to sin. Yes, the anointing of the
Holy One. But how is it going to take place? It is going to
take place by the death of the Messiah. Didn't think it would come this
way. But this is the revelation. This is the gospel message that
he would be cut off, that the people that he was praying for,
they would be the ones cutting him off. And he understood that
the nation of Israel, the ones for whom Messiah was sent, would
be the ones to cut him off and cast him. And he would come casting
off the nation of Israel. He's cut off, but not for himself. And the people, the prince that
shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. You imagine
this city and sanctuary that he was praying for. He says,
when Messiah is cut off, it's going to be destroyed. Israel was going to be cast off
as a nation. And the end thereof shall be
with the flood and the end of the war. Desolations are determined. And this brought to Chapter 10,
this again brought Daniel to another point of great despair. He understood the vision, what
it tells us in verse one, He understood the thing and had
an understanding of the vision. And listen, what did He do? He
mourned. He mourned. He wept. He mourned over the
sin of His people. He mourned over the destruction
of the city. He mourned that the Messiah was
to be cut off. He mourned over sin. Would to
God that men would mourn over sin. How many today in our generation
really weep over their sin? How many of God's people weep
over their sin? Would to God that He would put
this upon us to show us that we would mourn seeing that God
would open our eyes. And then we would see the exceeding
sinfulness of seeing. The exceeding sinfulness, Paul
says in Romans, go to Romans nine. I mean, Romans seven. Only seven. Paul gives his account
here, he says, I was alive without the law once. But when the commandment
came, sin revived and I died. Paul said, look, I thought I
was alive. I thought I did everything right. But when the commandment came
in power, sin revived and something revealed to him, I died. It wasn't
that he wasn't dead before this. We were all born dead. But then
he realized his death. He realized that he was dead. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin taking
occasion by the commandment deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore
the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good was
then that which is good made death unto me, God forbid, but
sin. that it might appear sin, working
death in me by that which is good, that sin by the commandment
might become exceeding sinful. Everyone that is without Christ, the law is good. The law is good, just and holy. But the law cannot save you.
The law has a purpose. It does have a purpose. To show
you the exceeding sinfulness of sin. The exceeding sinfulness
of sin. Sin is not a mistake. It's not
an accident. It is an outright rebellion against
God. It is treason. Therefore, would to God that
sinners see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the result of it
is death. The wages of sin is what? What
is it? Death. What was the wages of
our father's sin? It was death, and death passed
to us all. Wages of sin is death. And if
man continue in his sin, he will be given the just reward of his
sin, which is eternal death. Eternal death. And to us who
are believers, that we might, by grace, look
not at our sin as a trifling thing. The temptation of the
believer is to look at sin as a trifling thing. But let us see that our sin,
what it cost Christ. We should always keep this in
mind. What did our sin cost Him? It cost Him this, that He was
cut off. He was cut off. Sin, is sin a
small thing to God? We view things as big sins and
little sins. We see, oh, that's just not,
that's not a big deal. God don't see anything like that.
Is there such a thing as a small sin to God? There isn't. Let
me ask you this, was it a small thing that his son suffer and
die? Because every sin, where we rank it in our scale, doesn't
matter. It cost the son of God his life.
Awake, O sword, and smite the shepherd, the man that is my
fellow. Every sin deserves the stroke
of God's holy, eternal wrath. Every sin. And when Christ bore our sins
upon the cross, What did he say in Psalm 69 concerning himself? Save me, O God, for the waters
are coming to my soul. I sink deep in the mire. I am
coming to deep waters where the floods overflow me. What is he
talking about? He's talking about the wrath
of God. He's talking about the justice of God. What our sins
cost Christ. He must have endured the wrath
of God for our sins. Oh, that we would mourn our sins
and pray like Daniel for forgiveness. Men today, they long to hear
about the goodness of man. They don't want to hear about
sin. They don't want to hear about it. Don't tell me about
my sin. I already know that. Do you?
Do you and I really know the depths of our depravity? Do we
really understand how far man had fallen? How far we had fallen? Do we know? I imagine if God revealed that
to us, I imagine we'd all just commit suicide. It would just
be that bad. To the believer, anyway. To us. It'd just be... It's a weight we couldn't bear.
Men long to hear about goodness. They long about how to get better.
How to get better. Just... Don't tell me about my
sin. Just tell me how to get better. They long to be a better man.
I tell you this, I long to hear of my sin simply because it must
be exposed. How many sins do we commit that
we don't even know? And we're doing. What about pride? A lot of times we just we chalk
that up as a zeal. What to God that we would be
like Daniel and be exposed, Daniel was confessing His sin and His
nation's sin. He was longing for the forgiveness
of God. And so what do we need? What
today, what do you and I still need? You are believers, what
do you need? I need forgiveness. I need mercy. I needed it yesterday. But I tell you this, I need it
right now. I need it right now. I need forgiveness today. That's
why I know this believer that our sins are forgiven. The blood has cleansed us of
all of our sins. We know that we read this. But
I'll tell you this. John said, if we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Listen,
I know my sins will take care of Calvary, but I'm this is talking
about the experience of it. I need to know that right now. That I am forgiven. I need to
know it. And so we what do we do? We confess
our sins. When do we stop confessing our
sins? You stop whenever you stop sending about that. When are
you going to stop sending in this world? You won't. You won't. I know religion tells
you you'll get there something you're going to get a little
bit better, a little bit better. No, you're not. Now, the outward
may be better. You may appear better. Nothing
wrong with that, but look at the Pharisees. They appeared
great. A lot of people like to wash the
outside of the cup. I'm wrong with that, but he said, make
the whole cup. I'm just the outside. And I like
that. He is faithful and just. And
I like this, He cleanseth us from all our sins. That means He's constantly doing
it. Constantly cleansing us. Isn't that good news? That's
good news to who? Only one group of people. Sinners.
Only one group of people need forgiveness. Sinners. Jesus said
this, I came not to call the righteous, but what? Sinners
to repentance. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.15,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners of whom I am
right now chief, that's present tense, I am chief. He's confessing
just like Daniel did, confessing. So the only, when Daniel recognized
and mourned over his sin did Christ appear. and manifest himself. And so as we confess our sins,
we pray unto God for forgiveness. And you know what he does? He
comes. He comes to us. And he reveals
his glory to us. It's what he did to Daniel. And
so it's what he does to sinners. He comes and reveals Himself.
Now the vision of sinners. Here it is. Go back to your text.
The vision of sinners. Daniel's mourning over his sin.
He's mourning over the sin of his people. He understood that
Christ would be cut off, that Jerusalem would be destroyed.
He's eating no pleasant bread. He's fasting. He's mourning. But then Christ comes to him.
And I want you to see this vision of Christ. Look at verse 5. Then
I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed
in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphrates. Now this vision is of Jesus Christ.
This vision of Christ is one here using prophetic language,
and is not to be looked at so much as a literal fashion, It is necessary that when he
appears. That he that the spirit of God
implants this on Daniel to see this linen clothed and this girdle,
these two things, and I don't have time to go into all the
rest of it. There's a whole bunch of things that are after this.
But I just want to show these two things and show by these
two apparels of garments, we see the the offices of our Lord
Jesus Christ in these things. Now he sees this, and these words
were chosen by the Spirit, they best describe the office and
the person of Christ. Yet they are still human words
and used to help us to understand. Now these words, if looked at
in light of the Scripture, we see very clearly they're useful
to show us Christ. And the first thing is this linen
clothes. That's what he sees. I lifted up my eyes and a certain
man clothed. And linen. Linen garments were
the garments of the high priest. This is what the high priest
would use after he had put off after he had killed the sacrifice,
he was to put on these linen garments. Clean and white. And so as we see these garments
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, this manifests to us His priestly
office. This is a very important office,
especially for those who are grieving overseeing. This is the message of hope to
those who see themselves as hopeless to stand before God. Why? Listen, because there is no worship
of God without a priest. There's no worship of God without
a priest. You understand what the office of a priest is? It
is the office of a mediator. That's what it does. The priest
stands between God and man and offers for man sacrifices unto
God. He is a representative man. And
he brings sacrifices for those he represents. He brings those
sacrifices to God for them. So there is no approaching unto
God without a priest, without a high priest. And so then if any man tried
to go to God without a high priest, what will he find? What will
he find? Death. Death. What would happen to someone
in that old dispensation, remember, when someone were to go in to
the Holy of Holies that wasn't the high priest? Scripture says
he'd be killed. You remember that man Uzzah,
right? That man Uzzah. Now, he was a
priest, but you remember, he touched the Ark of God without
blood. You see, the priest must come
before God for the people, but he cannot come without an offering.
He cannot come without blood. And when Uzzah put his hand to
the ark, he had no blood, and God killed him. If you come to
God with your works, God will kill you. That's a simple truth. You come to God with your religious
zeal, your good works, God will kill you. Friends, we need a
high priest. We need one to come before God
presenting an offering acceptable unto God. Only the high priest
could go into the ark and not without blood. And see, the office
of the high priest is a mediator between God and men. Go to Hebrews
chapter 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Look at verse 1. It says, For
every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sin. This was the office of priest.
Now consider Christ as the great high priest. He was taken from
among men, wasn't He? He became a man so that he might
be our high priest. Only a man could be a high priest.
Angel couldn't be a high priest, had to be a man. And he had to
be ordained of God. And listen, Jesus Christ was
ordained of God to be our high priest. He was, as Paul says
later, an high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He was forever ordained to this
office. He became a man so that he might
take this office and offer gifts and sacrifices for men to God. That's what a high priest did.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, as he wears this linen garment,
he is testifying to Daniel and to every sinner. Listen, I'm
the high priest. I'm the high priest. I'm the only one that made an
acceptable sacrifice to God. Christ is the only one to make
that sacrifice. The only one to make an acceptable sacrifice
to God. When Jesus Christ was ordained
by God, He offered not the blood of bulls and goats, but He offered
His perfect, precious blood. Remember those priests. How many
sacrifices did those priests offer? I was talking to a woman just
today, And she was asking about witnessing to Jewish friends.
She had some Jewish friends. And she said, I don't know really
how to witness to them or explain what's what's missing from their
religion. I said, one thing. Blood. There you go. You want to you
want to confound a Jew, ask him where the blood is. From the
sacrifice of God in the garden, from that point on, everyone
worshipped God by blood. Paul says the whole Jewish tabernacle
and ordinances were sanctified by blood. Listen, without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission. But where's the blood? I'll tell you this, those Jews
in the Old Testament, they had a lot of blood. But none of those sacrifices
atone for sin. Now, listen, I've I've read even
some reformed men who believe that those sacrifices had some
efficacious value. Hogwash. The Scriptures are very
plain that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin,
period. So just throw those people out.
That's garbage. Those sacrifices did nothing. They were necessary and God punished
them if they didn't do it simply because they represented His
Son and His offering. And to blight them would blight
His Son and His offering. That's why they were punished.
Some of those sin, it says in Hebrews 10, 11, every priest
and a daily ministering offering oftentimes the same fact sacrifices,
listen, which can never take away sins. That's your interpretation. I like that. It says that those
are plain words. I say, I don't know, sometimes
I get a little perturbed when they say things like that. Sometimes
I want to say, are you a moron? You not understand English language.
This is translated right there. It's very plain to you. Listen,
those sacrifices did not avail anything. Nothing. They only pictured the sacrifice
that did avail something. It is a sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
our great high priest. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins. Wherever sat down at the right
hand of God. henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool for by one offering listen he hath perfected forever this is a comfort then to every
one of us who believe Christ alone those people that offer their
works and their religion they can never Have enough. Why do you think religious traditions
are so full? I mean, these books, we could
fill this whole building with books on traditions and rules
and laws. Why? Because enough is never
enough. But for us, we know this, Christ's
offering was sufficient for God. And I'll tell you what, that's
enough for me. God is satisfied with the offering of this high
priest once and for all. So you that weep for sins, look
now to the one clothed in this linen garment who is your high
priest. For his blood alone has purged
our sins. put them away scripture says
listen as far as the East is from the West so have he removed
so far as he removed our sins from us how far your sins removed
from you it's an infinite distance He bore our sins in His own body
on the tree. Those sins of omission and those
sins of commission. The ones we knew about and the
ones we didn't. Christ bore them all as our high priest. Now look
at this next part, the girdle. The girdle, go back to your text.
Scripture says that He was clothed in linen, His high priestly office,
whose loins were girded with fine gold of you fast now a girdle
a girdle This speaks to us of the prophetic
office of Christ, you know in 2nd Kings chapter 1 in verse
8 That's how Elijah was described. I mean you think about this He
the king is gonna die and he he's asking about this prophet
that put a curse says look you're gonna be you're gonna be dead
God's gonna kill you and that king he He said, describe this
man that said that. He said, well, he was dirty and
he had a linen girdle. Oh, that's Elijah. I don't know
why it is, but it's true in scripture, your prophet, he's recognized
by his girdle, his linen girdle. That's how they recognized John
the Baptist. That's how they described him. He said, this
is one who wore camel's hair and girded with a leather girdle. So this girdle here, we should
see that this pictures Christ as our prophet. Isn't this what
Moses said? He said, God will raise up a
man like unto me, a prophet like unto me. Him shall you hear. You need to hearken to this one.
Hearken to this prophet. Now what is the work of a prophet?
The work of the prophet is simply this, it is to be God's mouthpiece. What it means? It means that
he's God's mouthpiece. He hears the word from God and
delivers the word of God to man. That's what he does. The high
priest offers sacrifices for man to God, but the prophet receives
the word of God and delivers it to man. Now, consider Jesus Christ, who
is our high priest, is also our prophet, the one This is good
because the one that offered the sacrifice is the same one's
going to tell us about the sacrifice. What good would the sacrifice
be if he offered it and we didn't know about it? But this is the work of the prophet,
the prophet, the great prophet. You should hear him. He is Jesus
Christ. The Prophet has the Word of God
as to how the sinner can be reconciled. The priest is the means of our
reconciliation. The Prophet reveals the reconciliation. Are you interested in this reconciliation?
Now what group of people are interested in reconciliation?
Sinners. Sinners. Do you long to be reconciled
with God? If you are estranged from God,
there will there will be an interest in this. And this is what Christ
said. Go to Luke, Chapter four, Luke,
Chapter four. Try to move a little quicker,
move Luke, Chapter four. Look what Christ says about his
office here, he said, for the spirit of the Lord is upon me
because he has anointed me to what? Preach the gospel. Preach the gospel. Now we know
what that means, right? Gospel is good news. Christ has a message of good
news, but he has a message of good news again for one group
of people. Listen this. To the poor. To the poor. To those who are
bankrupt sinners who have nothing to pay. I came to preach the
gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken
hearted. Are you broken hearted over sin?
Well, Christ came to heal the broken hearted. To preach deliverance
to the captives. Are you captive? Do you need
deliverance? Is there anyone in bondage to
sin that needs deliverance? Christ came to preach to that
person what? Deliverance to the captives. Recovery of sight to
the blind. Are you blind? What the Pharisee
said about that he said are we blind also? He said if you were
then you'd see But because you say I see Therefore your sin
remains Set at Liberty them that are
bruised to preach the year of Jubilee Remember that year of Jubilee,
what that was that that Jewish slave, he was to be a slave.
And on that 49th year, remember that just you imagine that that
neck. Boy, how exciting it is next
year. Next year, Jubilee, I'll be free. Free. Year of Jubilee. Oh, do you need freedom? from
sin, from death, from God's judgment. Christ said,
I'm the prophet that's going to preach to you. Listen, we
preach, but we confess that we have no power to make it effectual
to you. Listen, the hour is coming and
now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that hear shall live. They that hear shall live. Hear the gospel of Jesus Christ,
how he came in humiliation. That he came as a perfect man,
obeying the law of God in the stead of his people. That he
came and offered himself a sacrifice for sins. hear His message of
His victory, that He actually accomplished salvation. I'm so
glad we don't worship a weak effeminate Savior who's trying
to save people. I'm glad we worship one that
is victorious. This is the message He preaches.
This is the message we preach. He came to redeem us who were
under the curse of the law that we might receive the adoption
of sons. Therefore, you that are sinners, now look to Christ.
in the midst of your mourning and hear his voice and believe
his word. You don't need to believe me. You must believe him. You must
believe him. And the third one is this. This
girdle wasn't made of linen, though, or this girdle wasn't
made of leather. It was made of gold. Made of gold. not just any gold,
but the gold of Euphrates, the greatest gold, the most pure
gold upon the face of the earth was the gold of Euphrates. This
here speaks to us then of the deity and kingship of the Lord
Jesus Christ. A prophet had a leather girdle
because that's probably all he could afford. A king alone could
afford a golden Our Lord Jesus Christ is King
because, listen, He is God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John said,
the Scripture says the Word was made flesh. He who was with God
and was God was made flesh and dwelt among us. He is God by
divine right rules over all things. Before Christ came into the world,
He ruled over everything as deity. Now listen, when he became a
man, he became subject to God, to the Father, became subject
to the law. But when he had fulfilled his
work, when he had accomplished his work, listen, he said this,
glorify thy son. Now was the son glorified? You bet he was. He who was King
earned the right to be King. I like it in Revelation when
he says he took the book, walked up to God and took it
by right. It was his. He earned it. All my friends, Jesus Christ.
You know why men like to see him on these crosses and see
him in the manger? Because they can move him. Take
that cross, you move it over here, you put it under a chair,
you put it over there. Why? It's not king. No power
at all. And like to have power over it.
Is it? Christ right now is ruling all
things at the council of his own will. Everything is moving right according
to schedule. Nothing happens by chance or
accident. And listen what this king is
doing, said, Father, glorify thy son that thy son may glorify
thee as thou has given him power over all flesh. Now you want
to know what he's doing? If he destroys this nation, if
he kills you and me, if he if he allows us to live, whatever
he does now, this is his purpose. To give eternal life to as many
as thou has given him, that's what he's going to do. Now, this
is a comfort to us. Who come to Christ as sinners?
We know this, that all Christ promised to do. As king. He will do. Go to Isaiah 46 and we'll close
up. I'll close out Isaiah 46. Isaiah
46 and look at verse nine. Leave it is verse nine and second. Yes, remember the former things
of old. This is Christ. I am God and there is none else. I am God and there's none like
me declaring the end from the beginning from ancient times
of things that were not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand. And I will do all my pleasure. And he gives that illustration.
He said, I'm going to call a ravenous bird. From the east, the man
that Executed my counsel from a far country. Yeah, I have spoken
it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it and I will also do it. You see. Even wicked men are under his
divine rule and he moves them wherever so he will. Why do you think we have a senile
old man in our office in our highest office? I mean, the man's
pretty much medically incompetent. Yet what? Who put him there?
Things by chance. You think wicked men rule this
nation by chance? I imagine that we probably wouldn't
let him watch our our dogs. And yet they're ruling our country.
Why? God put him there. God put him there. Why? Why would he do that? So that he will call his people
and give them eternal life, moving all things at the counts of his
own will. See, he put that ravenous man
in power to deliver his people. Know what he did? Matter of fact,
Daniel was under that very man. This should comfort us. This
should strengthen us. And listen, this man, this one
who appeared to Daniel, when Daniel came as a sinner, he fell
down at his feet as dead. But you know what Christ did
for this man, Daniel? He said this, O Daniel, greatly
beloved. Daniel was confessing his sin,
he was weeping over it, and he saw Christ, and Christ gave him
these comforting words. He says, oh Daniel, man greatly
beloved. You know what he says? He said,
be strengthened. And Daniel said, I was strengthened. Oh my God, strengthened. And God causes us to see our
sin and our need. And we confess, we fall at his
feet as dead, but seeing him as our prophet, our priest, and
our king, I tell you this, we are strengthened. Are you strengthened? I'm not strengthened by my zeal
or my works. I'm not strengthened by that.
I'm strengthened by his offices, his perfect Prophet, perfect
priest, perfect king. That's my hope. My hope of forgiveness
in Him. I pray God will bless this student.
Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Oh man. Father dismiss us with Your blessing.
I pray You'd bless Your Word. Forgive us our sins. I pray that
you would help us to see Christ clearly. I pray that you would
be with us and bring us back again to worship Christ's name.