Good morning. Tony, we have a big family, don't
we? The love of the brethren and sisters, there's nothing
like it. I feel it here. So thankful for the prayers that's
been offered up this morning, the scripture reading, Singing
of the hymns. It's been a good service, been
a blessing to my heart. And it's so good to see all of
you. Some old friends among you don't know all of you. Well,
some of you, I know pretty well, but it's always good to be with
God's people, worship together and worship our elder brother,
our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we all esteem and adore and love
and bow before. We did have a meeting last month
where your pastor came and spoke for us along with David Edmondson.
And being the first time we were able to have a meeting because
of the virus, I guess there was something special about it to
begin with, but the preaching blessed that congregation unmeasurably,
immeasurably. We really rejoiced in the preaching
of the word as Gabe, your pastor, preached to us and Brother David.
And you're all very blessed to have Gabe as your pastor. And
I love him. I know you love him. I know you
miss him being here this morning, and I miss him being here this
morning. I'd much rather be sitting out there listening to Brother
Gabe or one of you men. But I appreciate the opportunity
and I hope God blesses our time together as we look at his word
and endeavor to worship, endeavor to close out the cares of this
world for a few minutes and look at the eternal word of God. We don't look on the things that
are seen, but the things that are not seen, which are eternal.
The eternal word of God. My text is found In Hebrews chapter
nine, brother asked me what my title
was. I guess I do have a title for this message. It would be
Eternal Redemption. Eternal Redemption. And we read
this in Hebrews chapter nine, beginning in verse 11. But Christ being come and high
priest of good things to come by greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Let's go to God in prayer. Oh, our kind and gracious and
merciful Heavenly Father, we join our hearts together as one
this morning with praise and thanksgiving and adoration for
your great goodness and mercy given to us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. How we do thank you for him,
our dear Savior. Lord, we seek to honor him this
morning. First of all, He alone is worthy
of honor and glory and praise, might and majesty. And we bow
before Him, we bow at His feet, and we look to Him to supply
our every need, to help us in this service, help us to worship,
engage our hearts, to love and adore Christ, Anoint our eyes
with eyes of faith that see Him clearly. Save the lost among us, we pray.
Call out your sheep. Leave us not to ourselves, lead
and guide us and help us. As we go through this service
and as we leave this place, continue to go with us and we'll give
you the praise and the glory for all things in Christ's dear
name. Amen. This portion of scripture we
just read is so rich and it's so full and it's truly worthy
of our thought and attention. And as often is the case, when
you look at the word of God, you just stand in awe and wonder. And as I studied this, that's
what happened to my mind, is just stand in awe and wonder
at it. And I pray that the Lord will
thrill our hearts this morning with his precious word and give
us a glimpse of our blessed Redeemer. And I desire that every believing
heart this morning will leave this place rejoicing in him. That's my prayer. And that those
yet to believe, no doubt there's some here that are yet to believe
that they be given a view of our savior. that would enable
them to come to him, to lay hold on him, to lay hold on eternal
life, even Christ himself. I have four points this morning
as I deal with these texts, these verses. My first point is redeemer,
the word redeemer. The second thing I'd like to
talk about is his own blood. Thirdly, that word wants. And
then fourthly, that word eternal. That's another big word, eternal. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
has many, many titles that speaks of his person, of who he is. He's called the Shepherd, the
Good Shepherd. He's called the Prince of Peace. He's called many things, Savior,
Lord, But Redeemer is one of my favorite
titles. I don't know if that's yours
or not, but I know you love that one. That's one of my favorites,
one that I love to hear. It speaks of one who engaged
himself on my behalf to pay that awful price that must be paid
for my redemption, my Redeemer. What a blessed title. We sing
that song up Calvary's mountain, one dreadful morn, while Christ
my Savior weary and worn, facing for sinners death on the cross,
that he might save them from endless loss. Precious Redeemer,
blessed Redeemer. Praying for sinners while in
such woe, no one but Jesus ever loved so. And what an awful death
it was. Oh my, what an awful suffering
he endured. Can you see him hanging on that
cross for you? Dying for you? Not just dying
for some people, but for you, for me. Do you see him receiving in his
body what you deserve? You know, we think we're getting
pretty good folks. We are not. Just look at his suffering. Our sin was laid on him and he
suffered for our sin. See what God poured out on his
son when my sin was laid on my savior. In 1st John we read, herein is
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his
son to be the propitiation for our sins. And this is a great
mystery to me, that he loved us. And this is what is so wondrous
about God's salvation of his elect, that he loved us. Way
back in eternity past, wherever that is, he set his love upon
us. Could find no cause in us to
love us. The cause was found in himself.
Isn't that a mystery, how God could find love for sinners in
his heart? his enemies, loved his enemies.
And that wondrous love that he found in himself is why he died
for us. Purpose to save us and could
not be moved from his purpose. See, God's not like we are. I
love my wife because I see something beautiful in her that I love.
I find it in her. God loves us not because of what
he sees in us, but because of that love that he finds and found
in himself. What kind of love must that be?
It's nothing like we know anything about. And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be
lifted up. Why? because of his purpose, because
of his love, wherein he purposed to save us by the lifting up
of his son on that bloody tree. God's eternal purpose, think
of that, God's eternal purpose was engaged in the accomplishment
of our redemption. God has purposed it and he's
done it for his own glory. and for the love of his people.
You know, I'm reminded of when our Lord was hanging on the cross,
the chief priests were mocking and scoffing at him, and they
said, they made this statement that we read in Matthew 27. They said, he saved others, himself
he can't save, mocking him. If he be the king of Israel,
let him come down now from the cross and we'll believe him.
You know these chief priests not knowing it, but they spoke
the truth. Truly, if he were to save others, he couldn't save
himself. It was my sin that held him there. We sing in that song. If he came
down from that cross, we're lost. And he cannot save himself and
save his people. They spoke the truth. His own blood, we read of his
own blood, he entered in with his own blood. In 1 John, we
read that the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us
from all sin. His blood is effectual blood.
His blood is atoning blood, sinless blood. Look in verse 24 of Hebrews 9. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often As the high priest entereth into the holy place
every year with blood of others, for then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Up in verse seven we read, not without blood, where he entered
into the second behind the veil as the high priest went in alone
once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself
and for the heirs of the people. The high priest did not enter
in without blood, but it wasn't his own blood. That blood never
took away one sin. It pictured the blood of Christ
that was to come, that would be shed, that sinless blood which
would take away sin. We read in verse 14, how much
more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purged your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. You see, he's that
perfect sacrifice, which is the only thing, that
perfect sacrifice, the only thing that God will accept. It is Christ
that died. It's who died. It's whose blood
that was shed. And this is our hope that Christ
offered himself as our substitute. And because of who he is, we are accepted of God because
of whose blood it was. Who was it that offered his blood? And then we read the word once
back in our text. He entered in once into the holy
place. It was once and it cannot be twice because
it was so effectual that one offering made atonement for the
sins of his people. It was no act of temporary consequence,
but he, by the one sacrifice for sin, obtained eternal redemption. Eternal redemption. But this
man, over in Hebrews 10, this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, for by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. It's whose blood that was shed,
but one offering, one sacrifice. I heard this statement recently
in a message He said, there is no such thing as a redeemer of
unredeemed men. You know, religion says that
Christ died for everybody, but that can't be true according
to the scripture. How wonderful it is to know him
who hath redeemed us. And we must never allow, never
allow that thought that Christ attempted to redeem every man
who ever lived. There's nothing right about that
statement. It's dishonoring to God. It's
blasphemous that the blood of Christ could have been shed and
not saved those for whom he died. That his redemption fell short
in any way is blasphemous to God. And we must never say that Christ
ever attempted anything. Christ is God who purposed all
things from all eternity and accomplished redemption for his
people. Eternal redemption. And then there's that word eternal. Having obtained eternal redemption, Another long word and it's a
strong word. We cannot grasp what that must
mean, eternity. We're creatures of time, we live
in time, but eternity is beyond anything we can imagine. And
I often think about our eternal God who inhabits eternity and
his decrees and purposes are eternal and not bound by time. and the fact that he doesn't
change and has declared the end from the beginning. How mighty
must our God be? How big must our God be? Our eternal God. From everlasting
to everlasting, the scripture says, thou art God, eternally
so. But as eternal relates to our
text this morning, eternal redemption speaks of permanence. Not something that can ever be
lost. Eternal redemption. But even further than that, it means that it always has been
and it shall ever be. And I ran across this verse a
while back and I'd like you to turn to it with me and let's
look at it together. Ecclesiastes chapter three. Ecclesiastes 3, and look at verse
14 with me, talking about our eternal God. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor
anything taken from it, And God doeth it that men should fear
before him. Oh my, God is an eternal God
and whatever he does shall be forever. If God has saved you, you're
eternally saved. If Christ has redeemed you, you
are eternally redeemed. Nothing can be added to it, nothing
can be taken from it. The eternal God is thy refuge. We can surely find a place of
rest here, can't we? Find a place to repose ourselves a place of certainty and a place
of peace, a sure hope and expectation from our eternal God who eternally
saves and we may be content and rest
right there. How shall we ever be lost for
whom an eternal ransom has been paid? Oh my, think on this. Never to
be lost. Is it a possibility that he who's
laid a hold on Christ, trust on Christ, shall ever be found
wanting? Not possible. If it were possible,
we would have no gospel. We would have no savior. Those
he saved are saved. They're eternally saved and eternally
redeemed. And that's our hope. That's our
peace. We can't add to it. We can't take from it. If Christ
has redeemed us, we're eternally redeemed. For whatever God doeth,
it shall be forever. Can we not rejoice in that? And only an eternal God can eternally
redeem. Our eternal God must do the work. Eternal redemption, our ransom
has been fully paid. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin, all sin. There's that word again, three
letters, but it's a big word, all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Oh my, the word of God
is such a blessing to a sinner, a sinner in need of a savior,
a sinner that needs to be redeemed. When our Lord entered into that
holy place, he had by his sacrifice dealt
with eternal things. You know, we can't deal with
eternal things. We're bound by our nature, which is bound by
time and the things of time. But sin has every man eternally
bound by its power and its working eternal death
and final separation from God. And we can't break free of those
chains that bind us, the sin that binds us. These are frightful,
fearful, eternal things with eternal consequences. And no man has the power to deliver
himself, which means we're without hope
and we're without God. But Christ Jesus, the God-man,
engaged himself. And he came to set the captives
free, deliver us from our bondage, deliver us from sin, deliver
us from eternal death and judgment. In Psalm 107, we read, he brought
them out of darkness in the shadow of death. We dwelt in the shadow
of death. and He break their bands in sunder.
Our Lord Jesus Christ set us free and redeemed our souls,
redeemed us from sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died. It's He
who died that is our hope. Eternal safety is found in Him. Dear believer, can you hear that?
Can you let that sink into your heart? Eternal safety, eternally
safe. You're in Christ, eternally secure. Can never be lost. Because God
has saved us. God has eternally redeemed us
and paid the price. But we live in a world that's
temporary. That world where there's no place
of rest. Had the grandkids at a birthday
party a while ago and they had them a bottle of bubbles. You
put the thing in the bubbles and blow and the bubbles is floating
out there and they go to grab him. As soon as they go to grab
it, it's gone. That's kind of how the things
in this world are. We reach out to embrace something
and it's taken from us. Everything we see in this world
is fading away. It's temporary. It's dying, it's
decaying, it's rotting. Everything in this life is temporary. There's no soundness in anything
in this world. And that's why we must come to
where the eternal word of God that endures forever is studied
and read and preached and speaks of our eternal God and our eternal
savior who worked out eternal redemption. You know, God, give
us an interest in eternal things. Our flesh is interested in fleshly,
carnal, worldly things, and we battle with that daily. It's
a burden. It's a burden to deal with this
old sinful flesh and its yearnings and its desires. May God continue
to give us a burning interest and desire in eternal things. The allurements and the riches
of this world, as we know, they're deceitful. They promise what
they can't deliver. And the scripture says that man's
heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Who
can know it? But the natural eye doesn't see
that. It doesn't see the corruption. in this world, the corruption
in their own heart. Only by God's spirit enlightening
our eyes and our minds to see it, can we see these things and
flee to him, our eternal God. Our eternal God must eternally
purpose to eternally redeem us or else we have no redemption
and we have no peace. and there's no salvation, and
there is no hope, we might as well just go home. Look over with me in 2 Timothy. In chapter one, beginning in
verse eight, Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who hath saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles. He has abolished death and God
has purposed it and given his people to Christ before the world
ever began. Come and rest in God's eternal
salvation that He purposed before the world began. There was no
cause in us. We had not even come into existence
when God purposed to save us. Before there was ever a sinner,
there was a Savior. Set forth and eternity passed. And come and rest in this eternal
redemption. Your warfare is accomplished,
your sin is pardoned, and you are free. Come, come and enter
into rest. Come and be at peace and come
boldly, come confidently. I read this some time ago from
one of the old writers. I can't remember which one of
them wrote this, but it says, when I look at myself, I don't
see any way I can ever be saved. But when I look at Christ, I
don't see any way I can ever be lost. And I like that. So we need to fix our eyes on
him, our eternal redeemer. Don't look to the right. Don't
look to the left. Scott used to say, put them blinders
on like they used to put on the horses. Put them blinders on,
see Christ only. There's where our hope is. We
can't find it anywhere else. But Israel shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed
nor confounded, world without end. That sounds pretty secure
to me. When the word of God says they
shall be saved with an everlasting salvation. Salvation full, salvation complete,
it is finished, our Lord said on the cross. This is the good
news of the gospel, not due but done, accomplished. Come and rest your eternal soul
in this eternal salvation that our Lord and Savior provided
for his people. Did you know that nothing is
required of you and me? Did you know that God never looked
to you? He never looked to me for anything.
Nothing's required of me. Nothing's required of you. What
can you add? What can you contribute to what
God has done? God's salvation is free. But, sad to say, men won't have
it. Men, by nature, reject God's
free and full eternal salvation. As we said earlier, a man would
have to be insane, and he is, by nature, insane, who will not
believe God and trust God. Men reason in their minds it's
not fair for God to elect a people. I will not have that God. And
I heard Bruce Crabtree say this one time, that proud men criticize
our sovereign God for not giving them something that they don't
want. And that's insanity. They don't want free salvation.
And they criticize God for not giving it to them. Do you need free salvation? God
will give it to you. It's free. Come to him and ask
him. Plead with him. Become a mercy
beggar. God have mercy on me. Then there are those who are
fatalistic and say what shall be will be and never cry out
to God. for themselves. May God impress
upon your heart your need of a Savior. As I said before, we
need a Savior and there is a Savior, Christ Jesus the Lord. We need
a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer, blessed
Redeemer. Do you see God's eternal salvation
through Christ being worked out for you, outside of you, as your
only hope? Have you said in your heart,
if God doesn't save me, I'm lost? Have you heard the call of the
gospel that proclaims full and free, complete salvation in Christ? Have you heard the word say that
Christ died for the ungodly? Are you ungodly? ungodly completely. Christ died for the ungodly.
Is that you? Does your sin deserve what he
endured? Come to him as you are. Scott
used to say we come to Christ with a rope around our neck.
Lord, I deserve to be punished. I deserve to die. Will you have
mercy on me? You know what you'll hear Christ
say? Welcome. Welcome center. Welcome. Come and sit at my feet and enjoy
what's been prepared for you from all eternity. Do you ask yourself this question?
Am I one of his sheep whom he had chosen? Our Lord himself
said this about his sheep, my sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. If you've heard his voice, I
would run to him, call on him, believe him, follow him. Can we answer that question one
more time this morning that I asked earlier, can a man ever be found
wanting who is trusting the Lord? Emphatically, no. If it were
otherwise, we have no gospel and we have no salvation, but
we have a sure hope. We call it a sure hope. We have
built it on the rock, Christ Jesus, which cannot be moved. And in closing, let me read something
here I've read from, some of you may know this J.C.
Philpott. I think he sums it up pretty
nicely. He says, we are saved by grace,
free grace, rich grace, sovereign grace, distinguishing grace,
without one atom of works. without one grain of creature
merit, without anything of the flesh. Oh, sweet grace, blessed
grace, oh, what a help, what a strength, what a rest for a
poor, toiling, striving, laboring soul to find that grace has done
all the work, to feel that grace has triumphed in the cross of
Christ to find that nothing is required, nothing is needed,
nothing is to be done. Only believe. Lord bless His
word.