I want to ask you to turn in
your Bibles to the book of Zephaniah. And we're going to be in chapter
3, and I want to look at one verse in chapter 3 of Zephaniah. I believe that this is a Christmas
gift. Remember, last two Sundays, we
talked about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the first
Sunday, we talked about Christ, who is the one is uniquely, in
all of time, in all of eternity, in all of heaven, and in all
of earth, is unique because He is both God and man. by God's
appointment to be the mediator for his people. So that is who
Christ is. And he is the prophet to his
people. He's called the Word of God.
He is the high priest, the priest to his people. He's the one who
has offered himself to God for their sins. So he has taken away
their sins and he's the king of his people in order to deliver
them from their enemies and to give them the inheritance which
he purchased for them by his own blood. Now all these things
are true of Jesus as the Christ. And that's what we saw in that
sermon a couple of weeks ago. And then last week, we looked
at Matthew 121 again, because that verse of scripture was a
promise made by God that Jesus, the Christ, would save his people
from their sins. That's what his name means. The
one whose name is Jesus. is given that name because it
means He shall save His people from their sins. And that's what
He was sent to do. That's what He did. He did not
fail. And so that really is the reason
for the birth of Christ, that He came to save His people from
their sins. Now, Because that's the reason
for the birth of Christ, I wanted to bring a message today which
I've entitled, Is It Really True? Is It Really True? And for that,
I want to look at Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 13, one verse there. And I asked Brad to read from
Galatians 4 to help us understand what this means here in Zephaniah
3 and verse 13. He says in verse 13 of Zephaniah
3, the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies,
neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for
they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. All right, so there's the text
of Scripture that I want to look at here. According to Galatians
chapter 4 and also Galatians 3 and Romans chapter 2 and many
other places in scripture, the people who are called the remnant
of Israel are not the people who are born to Abraham physically. They're not the natural descendants
of Abraham, but they are those who are called the children of
Abraham spiritually. In other words, when God made
a promise to Abraham, He made the promise to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who would be Abraham's special seed. As a special son,
God gave all of the promises to Abraham, and those who are
Christ's are the true seed of Abraham. There are no children
to Abraham according to God's counting. not mine, but according
to God's counting, there are no spiritual children of Abraham
unless they are those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. They
are the seed of Abraham, the children of Abraham spiritually.
And so when we read here in Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 13, the remnant
of Israel, he's talking about a very small part of a nation,
a physical nation, born physically to Abraham, called Israel, who
lived in the land of Judah and Jerusalem. And that nation was
very disobedient. They were an idolatrous people,
people who served idols. And yet, in that nation, even
though all of them were sinful, God had chosen before to preserve
a small group of them called a remnant, a residual, a little
piece of the nation, just a small number of that nation, and save
that small number so that the entire nation would not be destroyed. But as we just read in Galatians
4, that small group of that nation of Israel represented the entire
group of all of God's people called the elect of God. And
that's called here the remnant of Israel. He says, and if you
were to look, and you don't have to turn there, but in Romans
chapter 9, he says this about God's elect. In verse 11 of Romans
chapter 9, he says, speaking of Jacob and Esau before they
were born, he said, for the children, twins. These were twin boys in
the womb of their mother, Rebekah. So the children be not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil. So this was not based
on what God saw in them. Neither good nor evil. So before
they were born, having done neither any good nor evil, that the purpose
of God, here's why, that the purpose of God, according to
election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said to her, the elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. And he goes on, as it is written,
I just read that, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Is God unjust? Because he chose
to save Jacob and did not choose to save Esau when they were yet
unborn? He says, no, God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Now, this is God's Word, and what He's saying here is that
salvation is not by our will, and it is not by what we do,
not by striving, not by running. And if it were, if salvation
were by my will or your will, I know especially my will, or
if it required our running in order to obtain it, do you know
what would happen? None of us would be saved. All
of us would be lost, because our will is fickle and changing,
and we can't understand. We will not choose God. It says
in Romans 8, verse 7, that the carnal mind, that's the way we
think and the way we are naturally, is enmity, hostility against
God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. And Jesus said in John chapter
8 verse 45, you will not come to me that you might have life.
And so all these things, actually that's John chapter 5 verse 39,
he says you will not come to me that you might have life.
And this is the way we are naturally. But in Romans 11, now not Romans
9, but in Romans 11 he says this, even so then at this present
time also there is a remnant Same word as in Zephaniah, a
remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then
is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. So salvation
then is entirely of God's grace. It is not given to us because
of something we do, and it's not given to us by something
we don't do. Nor is it given to us by something
that we might do someday, or that we could not do. It's only
dependent upon God's gift. what God would do freely. And
so back in Zephaniah, then, we understand that these words,
the remnant of Israel, doesn't mean just that small group in
that physical nation who were preserved. It's speaking now
of the Jews and Gentiles chosen to salvation by God when God
chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's
the remnant. The remnant of Israel is not
only the elect of God out of the nation of Israel. It's all
those chosen in Christ by God before the foundation of the
world. And you can read about that throughout
the New Testament especially. The Apostle Paul said this so
clearly when he said in Romans chapter 3, is he the God of the
Jews only, is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles
also, seeing it is one God In other words, he doesn't have
two different natures. He's one God, and one will, and
one salvation. One God that shall justify the
circumcision, the Jews, by faith, and the uncircumcision, the Gentiles,
through faith. In other words, God saves Jews
and Gentiles. You and me are Gentiles. Aren't
you glad that God saves Gentiles? He saves the Gentiles in the
same way that He saves the Jews, who are physical descendants
of Abraham, and that way is by Christ alone. He chose them to
salvation by choosing them in Christ, and they are called the
elect of God. Now, notice here in Zephaniah
chapter 3 and verse 13, the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity. They shall not do iniquity. Why? Why does God say this? God cannot
lie. God can't lie. He can't say something
is true when it's not true. Can He? Does He just make things
up and say them and then we're supposed to believe it just because
He decided it's the way it is even though it's not true? No. God doesn't lie. Whatever He
says is true. And He says here that the remnant
of Israel, God's elect, chosen in Christ, shall do no iniquity.
Why? How can this possibly be? Well,
think about this throughout the Old Testament. And you know these
men throughout the Old Testament. Think about Noah. Was Noah one
of God's people? Yes, it says in Genesis that
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And what else? Remember
about Noah. He was found after the ark, after
he came out of the ark and after the flood and God had dried up
the waters, he was found in his tent drunken and unclothed and
he was shameful, so his two sons, whose two sons had to back up
putting a cloth over him and covering him to hide his shame.
He had committed this sin. So Noah was a sinner. In fact,
before he found grace in the eyes, he was a sinner because
grace is given to those who don't deserve God's favor. What about
Abraham? Remember Abraham? He was in a
land of sinners, those who were idolaters. And he came out, and
at one point, he exposed his wife to danger by lying in order
to save his own life. When Pharaoh, or the king of
Egypt, saw Sarah Abraham's wife, and he wanted to have her. Abraham
had said, she's just my sister. So he thought, I can have Sarah
too in my group of women as my wife. And he almost took her,
and God prevented him. And so this happened on two occasions. So Abraham was a sinner, an idolater,
someone who, to save himself, had told his wife to just say
she was his sister. And then what about Lot? Remember
Lot? He was in the land of Sodom and
Gomorrah. When God destroyed those cities,
God had to bring him out. The angel had to grab a hold
of him and bring him out. Otherwise, he would have been
destroyed in the same city. And David, King David, who was
who wrote the Psalms and wrote much of Scripture. He also had committed murder
and adultery. Isaiah said, I am a man of unclean
lips. Woe is me. Job said, I am vile. Peter denied Christ three times. And the apostle Paul said, I'm
not worthy to be called an apostle. I'm the least of the saints.
I am the chief of sinners. These men were God's people. So when the Lord says here in
Zephaniah chapter 3 that his people, the elect, the remnant
of Israel, shall do no iniquity, how can the Lord possibly say
this without changing the way things really are? Because, here's
the reason, God sees no iniquity in his people, not because there
is none in their experience, but because Christ took away
their sins by his suffering and his death. The Lord Jesus Christ
took the sins of his people on himself. He had no sin, but He
bore their sins, and He bore them as the sinner, and He endured
the punishment of God for those sins, and He made satisfaction
for the sins of His people, made that satisfaction to God. And
so he fulfilled in that act, in his sufferings, in his death,
in bearing the sins of God's people as his sins, in order
to satisfy the justice of God and to pacify the wrath of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ bore their sins. And in doing so, guess
what he also did? He fulfilled righteousness. It
was an obedience that God accepted as the fulfillment of all of
his law. To the nth degree, every jot
and tittle of God's law was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ and
done so by his love for a sinful people according to the will
of God when he voluntarily gave himself for their sins and endured
the punishment they deserved for their sins. He both took
away their sins before God and he fulfilled their righteousness
on one day. When He died on the cross, He
made them clean from all their sins before the Lord on that
day. And the gospel truth is this.
Here's the truth. This is the question, the answer
to the question. Is it really true? Is this true? Well, God says here that the
remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity. This is the gospel
truth. All that Jesus Christ did was
done by his people in him." No, not in their own personal action,
but when he did it, it was done by them in him, in their representative
head. You see, God receives everything
from Christ when the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins. What he did for his people, they
did in him. Christ did it all in their name,
and because God counts it that way, it's theirs. And because
God sees it that way, that's the way it is. And notice that
this is true of the Lord Jesus Christ. how God speaks of this
in Scripture. The Apostle Paul says this throughout
the New Testament Scripture. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21,
he says, God has made Christ to be sin for us, Christ who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. You see, there's the plain statement.
Christ did it. He bore our sins and that bearing
of our sins made us the righteousness of God in Him. You see, now this
is also true, also said in Romans chapter 5 where the Apostle Paul
says that all of God's, all of people born throughout time were
born to Adam and because they were in Adam, when Adam sinned,
they sinned in Adam in the same way. In the same way, God's people
were in the Lord Jesus Christ, and what He did, they did in
Him. In Romans chapter 5, I want to
read this text of scripture to you. Romans chapter 5. Listen
to these words in Romans 5 about the obedience of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says in verse 19, Romans 519,
as by one man's disobedience, that's Adam, many were made sinners,
so by the obedience of one, the Lord Jesus Christ, many shall
be made righteous. Christ's obedience, not mine.
But his obedience was given by God to all of his people as their
obedience, an obedience which was counted by God as righteousness."
And this is the clear statement of Scripture. Now Peter also
says this, the Apostle Peter says this, when he speaks of
the Lord Jesus Christ's accomplishments as ours. In 1 Peter chapter 2,
I want to read this text of scripture to you, 1 Peter chapter 2. Listen
to these words in verse 24. He says this, who, speaking of
Christ, who his own self, notice how God
stacks up the pronouns here, who, His own self bear our sins
in His own body on the tree. Is there any mistake? This is
speaking about Christ alone. We didn't do this. He bore our
sins in His body on the tree. Okay? Now listen to the next
part. This is amazing. Is this really true? This He
did, bearing our sins in His own body on the tree that we
We, being dead to sins, wait a minute, I didn't die on the
cross, did I? That's what God is saying here.
When Christ did it, when He bore our sins on the tree and He died,
we died. that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness. Do you see this? Because the
Lord Jesus Christ died and all of our sins on Him were completely
satisfied. God's justice was completely
satisfied for those sins. Therefore, God raised Him from
the dead and justified Him. He said He's righteous. And all
of his people then were justified that we should live, he says,
unto righteousness by whose stripes we were healed. So Peter here
freely exchanges believers with Christ when he speaks of our
sin, of his sufferings, of his death, and of his life. Peter
says our sins were made Christ's sins. You see? And Peter calls
Christ's accomplishments our accomplishments. He says the
results of Christ's sufferings and death are our results and
our blessings. He speaks of all that Christ
did as ours, done by him, but blessed to us. Who his own self,
bear all of our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, we
being dead to sins, should live to righteousness by whose stripes
we were healed. You see, Christ bore our sins.
He bore our sins. Therefore, He died. That's why
He died. Not because He committed sins,
but because He bore our sins. And therefore, we are dead to
sins because of His relationship to us and our relationship to
Him, which God established before time. That's what it means. When
God chose us in Christ, He took us It's true that Christ is a
substitute for his people. It's true that Christ is a representative
for his people, a surety, a guarantor for his people. He's the Redeemer
of his people. But there's such a close relationship
to the Lord Jesus Christ and his people that they are one. So that whatever Christ did,
We did it in Him. Whatever our sins were, He bore
our sins as His own sins. And His obedience in doing this
was our righteousness. That's what He's saying here.
We died to sins because of this relationship. And all that He
did, we did in Him. That's the way God says that
it is, and that's what really happened. You see, God so united
us to Christ by His eternal act of electing grace that all Christ
did from His birth to glory. was done for us and it happened
to us together with Him. Not separate, but together. We
were joined to Him by God's election. We have had a being in Christ
from eternity by what God did. God sees it that way, though
the fulfillment of it in our own personal experience has not
occurred yet by God's act. Imputation. Our sins were charged
to Christ and His righteousness is credited to us. He bore our
sins as His own sins. We committed our sins in our
body, didn't we? He bore them in His body, didn't
He? He became guilty of them. Just
as we died because we were guilty of Adam's sin, Christ died because
He was guilty of our sin. And His death was our death because
we were in Him. We died with Him. And by His
merit in His sufferings and death, our sins were discharged before
God. He satisfied God for our sins. He died to sins. Therefore, we
are dead to sins because we made satisfaction for our sins in
Christ. In the death of Christ, God's
justice was satisfied for us. Christ was taken, he was beaten,
and he bore that chastisement necessary to make our peace with
God. He bore the stripes our sins
deserved, and by God's act, our sins were made his sins. And he owned them. When the high
priest on the Day of Atonement laid his hands on the head of
the scapegoat, he confessed onto the head of that goat all the
sins of all of the people of Israel. The high priest put those
sins on the head of that goat, and then that goat was sent out
into the wilderness to a place uninhabited. That high priest
is the Lord Jesus Christ. That goat is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, as the high priest, confessed
the sins of His people, and He put them on His own head as the
Lamb of God, and He bore them, and He was driven out, forsaken
by God, buried, our sins were put out of mind, and then God,
being satisfied for our sins, raised Him from the dead. You
see? All that Christ did, all that
He did from birth, He took our obligations from eternity. This is why when we sinned in
Adam, it was already charged to Christ. This is why God's
elect sins were put on Him so that when He came, He bore them
in Himself. Those people born before the
cross, Their sins, who were God's elect, their sins were placed
on Christ at the cross, and all of God's people who would be
born after the cross, their sins were placed on Christ, and He
died for their sins, and they died with Him. And then when
He rose, they rose with Him. So we have had this being in
Christ from eternity. God sees it that way, and that's
God's act. He became guilty of what we did. He died for what we deserved. We committed the sin in our body,
He bore it in His body. And by His merits, in His suffering,
and in His death, our sins were completely taken away from before
God. He died to sin, we are therefore
dead to sins, having satisfied for them in Christ. Christ was
taken, He was beaten, He bore the stripes our sins deserve.
And this act of God made our sins His and made His obedience
our righteousness. Now that's what God is saying
here when He says in Zephaniah chapter 3, the remnant of Israel
shall do no iniquity. You see? All of this is because
of our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
did nothing to contribute to our sin. We did nothing to contribute
to His righteousness. You see? He had no sin. We were sinners. We had no righteousness. He's righteous. He took our sins. He bore them. That was an act
of obedience in righteousness, and that was given to us as our
righteousness. And it happened completely outside
of our experience. You weren't born yet, were you?
And yet if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, all that Christ
did for His people is yours in Him. It is ours because God put
us in Him as our eternal covenant head. And this is true and stated
throughout scripture in many ways. You see, There's a place
in 1 Peter also, in 1 Peter chapter 4, let me read that text to you.
It says in 1 Peter 4 verse 1, for as much then as Christ has
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind, for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased
from sin. You see, who suffered in the
flesh? Christ did. What happened because
he suffered in the flesh? He ceased from sin. Sins were
no longer on him. He took them. He bore them. His
sufferings then, he suffered no more. He died to sin. Sin
no more was charged to him. And so Peter speaks of Christ's
sufferings as our sufferings. And the completion of his sufferings
are the end of our sin. The ceasing of our sin is because
Christ suffered for our sins. So our sins were put away. And
by His resurrection, God says, we are justified. We were delivered,
Romans 4.25. He was delivered for our offenses,
our sins. Christ was delivered. He was
delivered up to death by God for our sins, or because of our
sins. That's what Romans 4.25. Because
of our sins, He was delivered up to death. And guess what?
Because of his righteousness, we were raised with him. We were
justified. Romans 4.25 says, he was delivered
for our offenses, he was raised again for or because of our justification. So here, in his resurrection,
we are risen and justified. We are accepted by God with him,
and we are accepted by God as him. You see, as Him. There's no separation. Before
God, there's no separation between Christ and His people. In the
book of Philemon, let me read this to you. Based on this, the
little tiny book before the book of Hebrews, in the book of Philemon,
chapter 1, verse 12, the apostle Paul, writing to Philemon about
Onesimus, his slave who had run away, The Apostle Paul says,
I have sent him again, thou therefore, listen to these words. The Apostle
Paul, speaking to Philemon, the slave master, concerning Onesimus,
the runaway slave. Receive him, Onesimus, that is,
mine own bowels. The love of Paul's heart. Now where did Paul come up with
this idea? Because Christ pleads as the advocate for his people,
for his people before God, he says, receive them as my own
bowels. They are my own bowels. That's what he's saying. In verse
17 of Philemon, he says this, if thou count me a partner, receive
him as me. Receive him as myself. If he has wronged thee or oweth
thee aught, anything, put that on my account." Now, Paul said
that to Philemon concerning Onesimus because Christ had taught Paul
the mystery of the redemption that Christ appealed to his father
in the covenant of grace that he would stand for his people
and plead himself for them. Receive him, that is, my own
bowels. Receive him as myself. And then
in Philemon, he goes on in verse 21, having confidence, Paul says
in Philemon's obedience, having confidence in thy obedience,
I wrote to thee knowing you will do more than I say. You see,
Paul is saying, not only to Philemon, but he's teaching the gospel
here, that because Christ went to the Father for his people,
pleading for them, offering himself for them, he was confident that
God would do more. than anyone could ever imagine,
because all of heaven and earth was put into the hands of Christ
for his people with him. It says in Romans chapter 8 verse
32, that if God has delivered up his son and did not spare
him, how shall he not with him also? freely give us all things. You see, the relationship between
Christ and His people is so near and so inseparable that in Romans
chapter 8, God says, Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, or famine, or persecution, or pestilence,
or death, or life, or things present, or things to come? No! Nothing is able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. God's act giving us to Christ,
putting us in Christ, and then receiving from Christ, laying
all of the responsibility on Christ's shoulders for His people,
so that even though we were sinners like everyone else, having no
merit of our own and no ability to do one thing, not the will,
not the running, nothing, God received from Christ for us as
from us with him. And God gave to him, not to him
only, but to him with us, together with him. And this is what he's
saying here. In these words, Christ suffered
for us in the flesh. Arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind. He that has suffered in the flesh
has ceased from sin. We've ceased. God says in Zephaniah,
they shall do no iniquity. And that's God's word, isn't
it? Is it really true? Is it really
true? You see, we either believe... What our own minds conjure up,
or we take God's Word as the way things are. And God's Word
lays it out in such a way that He doesn't just say it, He explains
it to us. Look, I've laid all of your sins
on Him and my justice fully vented, my wrath upon Him and received
satisfaction. Not only that, But a superabounding
merit came from that act of obedience, so that His righteousness in
doing that merited everlasting life for all of His people. So
that He gives them His Spirit, and they then believe on Him.
And believing Him, God gives them what Christ earned for them.
And it's all there. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
What a wonder. Faith given to us by God brings
this truth from the gospel of Christ's accomplishment in history. from God's Word to our conscience
and in all of our thinking. You see? And this is why in Zephaniah
3, he goes on, he says, "...the remnant of Israel shall not do
iniquity, nor speak lies." We won't speak lies. Why? Because
God has given Christ, who is the Truth and the Righteous One,
and a perfect salvation so that we know now this is what God
says is true. And so we don't speak lies because
we're going to say what God has said, that the Lord Jesus answered
God in truth for our sins and for our righteousness with Himself. And so what do we say? We believe
this, don't we? We've been persuaded. I am such
a wretched sinner. The longer I live, the more wretched
I appear. to myself and my conscience. I can't avoid the very sins that
I hate, and I can't do the very good that I would do. And what
am I going to do? I'm shackled with the guilt of
my sin. I'm faced with the condemnation
of my sins. And now I'm under the enslavement
of my sin. I can't rid myself of my sins.
Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And when a lawyer in our day,
when a lawyer represents a client, In court, the lawyer goes to
the judge. The client sits there at those
tables. You know, you've seen the defendant
in the movies. Maybe you've not been in court.
But if you've ever gone to court, this really happened. In fact,
I have to go in January. Here's the person who's been
accused of the wrong. And they don't say a word, do
they? In fact, if they speak up, the court's going, what are
you doing? You're just condemning yourself.
You better shut up. The defendant says nothing. The
lawyer speaks. And whatever the lawyer says
to the court, the court receives what the lawyer says as if it
was from the client. And the answer of the court to
the lawyer is the answer of the court to the client. Now, God
has made Christ our advocate, our lawyer, and He presents our
case to the court of heaven. He argues God's covenant, His
eternal covenant. He argues God's acceptance of
Himself to be our surety. And He doesn't argue our innocence,
but He agrees with God's law that says we're guilty. And he
argues that God's law has allowed him to remain under the law and
answer God's law in precept and in penalty to suffer the curse
instead of us. He refers to what happened in
Genesis 44 when Judah pleaded for Benjamin to Joseph and said,
take me instead of the lad and let the lad go free with his
brethren back to his father. And so the advocate, the Lord
Jesus Christ in the court of heaven Now, we're silent, we're
guilty, and the advocate pleads the righteousness of God's law
and the righteousness of God's will that he would appoint an
advocate, a redeemer, a surety for his people. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ then willingly has made sin for us and the curse
of God's law is discharged upon Him for every sin that we committed. And He is the propitiation for
our sins because He makes satisfaction to God and His wrath is taken
away. And therefore, his answer of
himself in sacrifice to God for our sins satisfies the court. And the court discharges every
sin and the accusation against us. And this is what it says
in Romans 8, "...who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It is God that justifieth, and
who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died." And
so, His meritorious sufferings, the Lord Jesus Christ, His meritorious
sufferings have fully discharged every sin before God, and now
we are forgiven for Christ's sake. Listen to these words in
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 30. Verse 32 of Ephesians 4,
Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Do you see? It's for Christ's
sake. And then in chapter 5 of Ephesians
verse 2, Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given himself
for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God as a sweet-smelling savor. God smells the sacrifice of Christ
and He is so pleased that He releases His people for the love
Christ had for them that He bore their sins and made satisfaction
to God. And guess what? Truth is upheld. The truth of God is upheld in
heaven's court. And what does it say here in
Zephaniah 3? The remnant of Israel shall do
no iniquity, not in Christ, nor speak lies, because when the
gospel comes to them in power, they say the same thing as what
God has said in His Word. Truth is upheld in the sacrifice
and the obedience of Christ, and grace is abundantly lavished
and everlasting life is freely given because of the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no lie. There's no lie
in all of this. There's no lie about our sin.
There's no lie about God's justice. There's no lie about God's law.
Christ answered all. That's why he's called the truth.
And his answer is the answer of his client. The advocate speaks
to the judge, the supreme court, the supreme judge of all. And
he speaks to him. For us who are sinners and under
the wrath of God by nature, no different than anyone else, dead
in trespasses and sins. And God says, release them. Release them from death. Give
them life. He's received an answer from
His Son. God's answer is that He raised
Christ from the dead and set Him on the highest throne with
all the authority and the glory of His Father. We are so much
in Christ that when God God has quickened us. He's given us life
together with Him and raised us up together with Christ and
made us to sit together in heavenly places with the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2 and verses 5 and
6. All that Christ did, we did together
with Him, inseparable from Him. We didn't do it. Not in our own
person. But we did it in our head. We
did it in our surety, our redeemer, our representative, our substitute,
our husband. As a husband takes the obligations
of his wife, her debt, and he answers for her and defends her.
All that goes on between a husband and wife, they are one. God said
this in the beginning. One flesh, one body. We're bone of his bones and flesh
of his flesh, it says in Ephesians chapter 5, in verse 30 through
32. with the Lord Jesus Christ, so
that all that he did, we did with him, inseparable from him.
Christ is the truth, and he upheld the truth, and now we believe
the truth, and we tell the truth. We don't lie. Christ has finished
all. Yes, we're guilty. Yes, we were
idolaters. We were more guilty than Noah,
and Abraham, and Job, and Isaiah, and Paul, and Peter, and David. You know who you are, you know
you are, don't you? You know things about yourself
you would be ashamed if anyone knew. Your closest friend, let
alone all of creation, standing before God, exposed in your sin,
and yet the Lord Jesus Christ has fully put away the sins of
his people. And who are these? Who are these? These are those God has chosen,
those God has given His Spirit to know these things. He makes
an open manifestation of His work for them in Christ when
He preaches the gospel to them and they believe the gospel.
As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. This is in Acts
13, 48. My sheep, Jesus says, hear my
voice. I know them, and they follow
me. They believe me. They hear my
words. They hear the gospel, and they
latch on. They lay hold. They hold it fast.
They continue in it. They have no other hope. There's
no one else who can save them, and no one else who would save
them, and they cling to Christ. And then it says in Zephaniah
chapter 3, verse 13, They shall feed and lie down, and none shall
make them afraid." You see, God gives faith to all he chose in
Christ and ordained to eternal life. This is the faith of God's
elect, you see. Titus 1.1, the faith of God's
elect. It's not the faith of the non-elect. It's not the faith of Esau. That's
not the faith of Pharaoh. It's not the faith of Judas.
This is the faith of God's elect. It was given to them. Only elect
have it. 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 2 it
says, not all have faith. Faith is not the gift to everyone.
Why would God choose me? Don't look for a reason in yourself.
You have to answer that because God chose us in Christ and received
all from Christ. So therefore, if you have this
faith then, what do you do? You look to Christ. You have
been born a child of God by the Spirit of God. He has taken Christ
and Him crucified and made Him known to you. He whose name is
Jesus who saves His people from their sins, He has made Him known
to you. He's God, Emmanuel, God with
us. And He's man, the one who was
given for our sins to die. And yet He's God who purchased
us with His own blood. We've been redeemed by Christ's
blood. We've been chosen in Him before the foundation of the
world. And faith is God-given sight. and God-given persuasion
that Christ is my all before God. It's like two men, both
of them standing on the ship looking at over the sea, the
ocean, and there's nothing to see except a horizon as far as
the eye can see. They're in the middle of the
ocean. There's nothing out there. And one of them says, look, there's
a ship. And the other one says, I don't
see it. What's the difference? One of them is looking through
that telescope, or that whatever it's called, the thing they hold
up, that glass. And he says, it's just right there. I can
see it. You see, that's the gift of faith.
God has given us the eyes of faith that takes the things of
heaven and brings them into our reality. So though we're sinners
and we have every reason to fear that we'll stand in judgment
and be condemned, Christ has said, whoever believes on me
has passed already from death to life, and he shall not come
into judgment, not come into condemnation. That's John chapter
5 verse 24. Christ is my all. That's what
faith says. He answered all for me. And that's who I'm trusting. I'm trusting Him. I'm accepted
because He was accepted as the Beloved who gave Himself according
to the will of God for our sins. All of this is by God's sovereign
act who put me in Christ. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus.
And this God-given faith does for my soul what eating does
for my body, doesn't it? It satisfies me. It gives me
life. And I take it and I eat it and
I drink of Christ by faith. Christ crucified is my answer,
like the water of life coming to me as a sinner who has no
hope and every reason to fear, and yet I take Christ and say,
this is the truth of heaven. The righteous one advocates with
himself for me, the sinner. And Christ is risen for my acceptance. And Christ is reigning and interceding
as my savior for my salvation to the uttermost. And I live
upon him thus. And so, believing Christ, we
rest. He says in Zephaniah 3, 13, they
shall They shall feed and lie down."
We rest, don't we? Like sheep, we lie down. None
will make us afraid. Those who see Christ as all of
their salvation, none can make us afraid. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Who can
charge us? God has justified us. Christ's love casts out all fear. And though the earth itself be
removed, we will say this. Look at this in Isaiah chapter
54. This is the Lord's Christmas gift to you. If you want a gift
from the Lord, this is it, Isaiah 54. And verse, look at the last
verse of this chapter. Beautiful verse of scripture.
And I want you to see this. Actually, look at first verse
10. Isaiah 54 verse 10. For the mountains shall depart. It's going to happen. What's
going to happen next year? Don't worry about it. God's got
it under control. The mountains shall depart, so
expect it. The mountains shall depart, and
the hills be removed. But my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Look at verse 17. Isaiah
54, 17, no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. Every
tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. And this is the heritage of who? The servants of the Lord. Their
righteousness is of me. saith the Lord. They didn't do
anything to make it happen. God did it all in the Lord Jesus
Christ. What an unspeakably glorious
Savior we have in Christ. What an unspeakable salvation
He has accomplished for us. What unspeakable grace He has
given to us that God made Christ our substitute, our surety, Our
mediator, our advocate, everything, our redeemer. What grace that
Christ accomplished all in our place. Amazing, isn't it? When I see
Christ as my all, I am not afraid. If I don't, it's because I have
something I think I can do to contribute. Like Brad was reading
to us, there's two kinds of people, two covenants, two cities, two
cultures. There are the Lord's people.
And there's everyone else. And who makes them? Who makes
us God's people? God's grace, God's will, God's
purpose of love, to save and to do so for His namesake. We're
either trying to do what we do in order for God to recognize
us and show us favor, or we're trusting Christ that God will
show us favor for what He did. That's the two kinds. We're either
under the law, like Hagar, the bondwoman, or we're under grace,
like Sarah and Isaac were. And that's, those people are
either in the Jerusalem here on earth, or, that's the lost,
or they're in the Jerusalem, which is above, which is in glory.
May the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who is the Savior of his people,
give us this grace at this time of the year to honor him and
worship God because of him. We are the true circumcision,
which worship God in the Spirit, have no confidence in the flesh,
and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank you
for your glorious salvation by our glorious Savior. And the
fact that he reigns now on high proves to us that all he did
was successful. All for whom he died shall be
with him in glory. Not one of them shall be lost.
If it were any other way, we would be lost. But because it
all comes down to him, what you think of him and what he did,
and all of His ability, and His obedience, and His purity, His
holiness, and His faithfulness, and His truth, and His life,
everything that Christ is, is ours. Our only hope, our salvation,
our confidence, our assurance. Thank you for Him, Lord. Cause
us to know this in our heart. Give us this life to lay hold
on Him. Cause us to love Him. beyond
life itself so that we would deny ourselves for his sake and
to love one another, forgive one another as you've forgiven
us for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.