It is not that I did choose thee,
Lord, for Lord, that could not be. Yuba-Sutter Grace Church
would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Rick
Warda. We currently meet at the Yuba
County Library, located at 303 2nd Street in downtown Marysville,
California, on the corner of 2nd and C Street. Weekly services
are held on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the library. For more information,
visit our website at ysgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Rick Warda. The scripture for our sermon
today is found in Matthew chapter 17. Jesus is with his disciples. And while they abode in Galilee,
Jesus said to them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the
hands of men, and they shall kill him. And the third day he
shall be raised again, and they were exceeding sorry. And when
they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money
came to Peter and said, Doth not your master pay tribute?
He said, Yes, and when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented
him. That means anticipated his words. Jesus said, What thinkest thou,
Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth
take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers?
Peter said to him, Of strangers? Jesus said to him, Then are the
children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should
offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast and hook, and take up
the fish that first comes up. And when thou hast opened his
mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money, that take and give
to them for me and thee. I have entitled this message,
Ransomed by a Sovereign Savior. There are at least five lessons
taught in this scripture. First, our Lord Jesus Christ
speaks here of His imminent death, which He would soon accomplish.
Soon he would give himself into the hands of wicked men in humiliation,
in suffering, and in death. But on the third day, he would
rise again. The second lesson is that as
the Son of God, Christ is not obligated to any man. Moreover,
all of his people are sons of God, and they also are free. Third, nevertheless, by example,
Christ shows that it is better to bear personal cost to avoid
offending men in matters of indifference, lest insignificant matters become
a stumbling block between them and the gospel of Christ. Fourth,
by the coin Jesus provided for Peter and himself, he shows that
he is the all-knowing, sovereign God who rules over the smallest
details of creation and providence. And fifth, though Christ is free
as the sovereign Son of God, yet He Himself paid the ransom
price God required to redeem His people. Let's consider these
lessons one at a time. First, in these verses, Jesus
tells His disciples that He will soon accomplish redemption for
His people by His suffering and death. In the first part of this
chapter on the Mount of Transfiguration, he discussed his death that he
would accomplish at Jerusalem with Moses and Elijah. Now it
is about to be done. May we ever see that Scripture
is about Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the salvation of
His people to the glory of God. If you see this in Scripture,
you have seen the message of the Bible. If you understand
this and are persuaded that Christ, in His sin-atoning death, is
your justifying righteousness and eternal salvation, if you
come to God by Him, trusting Him as your sovereign Savior
and your only answer to God, then you believe the message
of God's own Word. God makes Himself known and makes
His glory known to His people in the Lord Jesus Christ by His
redeeming death. This is why this statement of
Christ to his disciples is so important. It is the message
of all of scripture. By this, Christ saved his people
from their sins. But why did the Lord Jesus Christ
tell his disciples about his soon coming death? In Matthew
17 verse 22 through 23, Jesus told them that he must soon lay
down his life. I believe it is because that
as God, He always declares the end from the beginning. Isaiah
46, 9 and 10. God tells us what will happen
before it comes to pass because He is God. And He told them this
because He wants them to know that He is the Lord Christ. He
is not a victim. He willingly endured the humiliation
and suffering and death of the cross in the place of His people
according to the will of God. He offered God His life for theirs. It is His offering to God that
will obtain their eternal redemption. Hebrews 9.12 says, By his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Christ's blood obtained redemption,
and the redemption he obtained is eternal. He offered himself
to God once, and by that one offering he obtained eternal
redemption for all for whom he shed his blood in ransom payment
to God. By the Spirit of God, the Apostle
Peter wrote, you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. And in John 10, Jesus said, I
lay down my life for the sheep. Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man takes it from me. I lay it down of myself. I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my Father. Thus, we see that
Jesus' suffering and death were obedience. By His obedience,
He made His people righteous with an everlasting righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5.21 Second, our
Lord teaches here that as Son of God, He is not obligated to
any man. Moreover, all of His people are
sons of God, therefore they also are free. The tribute collector
asked Peter if Jesus paid the half-shekel tribute. But Jesus
told Peter that kings do not collect taxes from their children.
Now, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the heir of all things. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. He is greater than the temple.
Therefore, He is not under any obligation to any man. Moreover,
because all who believe Christ are children of God, they also
are free. Believers are the children of
God. Galatians chapter 3 verse 7 says,
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the
children of Abraham. Therefore believers as children
of the King of Kings are free from all men. Every true believer
is a son of God in three ways. First, by eternal adoption. God the Father chose his sons
in eternal election before the world began. Ephesians chapter
1 verse 3 says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
Jesus Christ his Son. Secondly, believers are children
of God by the redeeming work of Christ. We were under bondage
to sin, to God's law, to the world, and to Satan, but Christ
redeemed us out of all bondage that we might receive the adoption
of sons to which God the Father predestinated us before the world
began. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 says,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God
has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. God sends His Spirit into the
hearts of His adopted and redeemed sons. And when He does, they
cry, Abba, Father, my Father. Third, believers are children
of God by spiritual birth. By the sovereign will of God
the Father, the Spirit of God causes us to hear and believe
the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. All who believe Christ
have been born of God. The evidence of new birth is
faith in Christ. In James 1.18 said, of his own
will begat he us by the word of truth. It was the will of
God the Father, not the free will of man. It was the truth
of the gospel, not any other truth, by which God the Father
birthed his children by his own spirit. All those Christ redeemed
are free from sin, free from God's law, free from the damning
doctrines and the judgment that will come on this evil world,
free from death, free from the grave, and free from bondage
to Satan. The third lesson taught in Matthew
17 is that though Jesus Christ is Son of God and King of Kings,
and therefore under obligation to no one, though all must answer
to Him and serve Him, yet He made Himself a servant to God
and His people for their eternal salvation. In Matthew 20, verse
28, Jesus said, the Son of Man is not come to be ministered
unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. The word minister means to serve.
If Christ had refused to pay the temple tax because he was
not obligated to men, it would have offended them. Being offended,
they would not be able to hear him. In this, we see that Jesus
Christ, the Lord of Lords, is meek and lowly in heart. He did not come to assert his
freedom or his rights. On the contrary, he made himself
a debtor to God in the place of his people to save them from
their sins. He bore the cost of the tribute
tax for Peter and himself to avoid making his personal rights
a barrier to the gospel. Payment of the tax was an insignificant
matter. We also must not make an issue
out of matters of indifference. We should bear personal cost
to ourselves for the good of men's souls. As Paul the Apostle
said, though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant
to all, that I might gain the more. 1 Corinthians 9.19. The fourth lesson taught in Matthew
17 is that Jesus Christ is all-knowing God, sovereign over the smallest
details of creation and providence. Though he was not there when
the tribute collector talked with Peter, Yet he knew every
word that was spoken. And to pay the temple tax, he
directed the exact time and place for one fish out of all the fish
in the open sea to come to Peter's awaiting hook. Psalm 135 verse
6 says, Jesus Christ rules heaven and earth, the seas and all deep
places. He prepared that one fish beforehand. to locate and pick up and hold
in its mouth a coin of the precise amount needed to pay the tribute
for Peter and himself. He sent that one fish to the
exact place where Peter would drop his hook. He ordered the
fish to open its already full mouth and take Peter's awaiting
hook. And Jesus told Peter to go to
the sea and cast in his hook and draw up that little fish,
though he did not tell Peter where in the sea to go. Nevertheless,
he directed Peter's steps to the exact spot where that fish
would be waiting. In all of this, Christ demonstrated
that he has all knowledge and all power. out of His sovereign
power He provided for both Peter and himself. In the same way,
He orders and provides all things for His people at all times.
The smallest details in creation and time, even the seemingly
random circumstances of our life, are ordered by our sovereign
Master for the good of His people to His glory. We should therefore
reverence and adore and trust Him for all things small and
great. And the fifth lesson, taught
in Matthew chapter 17, is that though Christ is free as the
sovereign Son of God, yet by Himself He paid the ransom price
God required to redeem His people from their eternal debt to God's
law. The tribute that was collected
in this account originated from a half-shekel ransom that God
told Moses to collect from the people when they numbered Israel.
Our Lord Jesus fulfilled the original law God gave to Israel
by Moses which required them to pay a ransom for their souls
when they were numbered. Let's consider that law, because
it gave rise to the temple tax here in Matthew 17. By His death,
the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the law of the half-shekel ransom
that God required of His people when they were numbered. In Exodus
30, verses 12-16, we read, When thou takest the sum of the children
of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man
a ransom for his soul to the Lord when thou number'st them,
that there be no plague among them when thou number'st them.
This they shall give every one that passeth among them that
are numbered half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary.
A shekel is 20 giras. And half shekel shall be the
offering of the Lord. Every one that passes among them that are
numbered from 20 years old and upward shall give an offering
to the Lord. The rich shall not give more,
and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they
give an offering to the Lord to make atonement for their souls.
And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel,
and appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation,
that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before
the Lord, to make an atonement for their souls. The first thing
we must understand about redemption is that we are debtors to God. We are in debt to God for our
eternal souls, yet we have nothing to pay. God's law requires our
obedience, and it requires a compensation for our sins. Therefore, by sinning,
we have forfeited our lives, our immortal souls. Romans 6.23
says, the wages of sin is death. And Ezekiel 18, 4, the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. We therefore owe God our immortal
souls. In Old Testament scripture, God
gave laws that allowed a near kinsman, a relative, to pay the
debt that another relative owed to a man. A person in debt might
be required to sell himself as a slave to pay his own debt.
Now our sin has put us in debt to God. God is our creditor. Yet the price God places on our
soul is so high that no man can pay what God requires. Payment
to God for a soul requires payment of an eternal debt. The price
God requires to redeem a man's soul is a price higher than any
mere man can pay. Psalm 49 says, Psalm 49, 7 and 8. The second
thing we must understand from Exodus 30 is that every person
numbered in Israel must pay a ransom. If a ransom was paid, then the
person for whom it was paid was counted in Israel. If no ransom
was paid for any person, that person was not part of the numbered
in Israel. The third thing we learn from
Exodus 30 is that the ransom was paid to God, and it was an
offering that made atonement for their souls, that no plague
would come upon them when they were numbered. God is our creditor. The ransom is an offering. The
payment of ransom made atonement to God. Only those who were part
of the nation of Israel were numbered. For all who were numbered
in Israel, a ransom must be paid. Therefore, only the chosen nation
of God, Israel, were counted, and only those who were numbered
and redeemed by ransom were counted in Israel. All for whom a ransom
was paid were numbered. You could not be part of the
number unless you were part of the chosen nation and paid the
ransom. The sum of the ransom was the
sum of the people who were numbered. One ransom payment was provided
for every numbered soul. No ransom was overpaid and no
ransom was underpaid from what God required for each person.
Every soul required the same payment or ransom by offering
that made atonement to God. Payment of the ransom prevented
the plague from coming on Israel. Now, in all of this, we see the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, by his death, fulfilled
this law. He offered himself to God. It was an offering of his life,
his life for the life of the people. It was a just payment. He made an equivalent restitution
to God for the sins of his people. By payment of his blood, the
debt his people owed was remitted. God's law received compensation
in full satisfaction to His justice. The curse was removed, Peter
said. We were redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. And Paul in Galatians 3.13 said,
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. Jesus shed his blood for his
people, the sons of God. God chose them in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Because they were chosen in him,
he offered himself to God for them, a ransom payment. He took
their sins. He shed His precious blood in
full payment to God's law for them. Ephesians 1.7 says, In
whom, in Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of His grace. As in the law of
the half-shekel ransom, only those in Israel could be counted,
even so, only God's elect, the children of promise, are counted
for the seed." Romans 9.8. Just as everyone who was counted
in Israel must pay a ransom, and only those for whom a ransom
was paid were counted, even so Christ only shed his blood for
those God gave to him. All for whom he died are numbered
in the redeemed. All who are not numbered as God's
people are never redeemed by the blood of Christ. All who
were chosen by God and given to Christ in eternal election
were also redeemed by Christ. There is no difference between
the elect of God and those Christ redeemed by His blood. Jesus
said in John 639, This is the Father's will which hath sent
me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again in the last day. In all that
we have considered in Exodus chapter 30, we now come to this. Our salvation rests in God's
sovereign will, in His sovereign choice, in Christ's redeeming
blood, and the sovereign life-giving power of the Spirit of God when
we hear the Gospel. Jesus did not die for any man
who will not also be given eternal life. That is His Father's will. Hebrews 9.12 By His own blood
He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Jesus Christ as Sovereign Lord
humbled Himself to complete the work of redemption for everyone
given to Him by His Father. And that is what He did. He finished
the work. He obtained their redemption. It is eternal. By one offering,
offered once, He eternally redeemed His people. Salvation is not
a possibility. It is a certain accomplishment
because it is Christ that died. He finished the work. He fulfilled
the will of God. But you may ask, and I may ask,
how can I know if I am one of God's numbered, ransomed, redeemed
people? How can I know if Jesus Christ
the Lord paid the ransom of His atoning blood to God for my soul? Our Lord gave this answer in
John 6, verse 40. This is the will of Him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. Is Christ my only answer to God
for my sins and for my obedience? When I think of standing before
God in judgment, when I search my conscience for an answer to
give to God for myself in that day, when faced with the guilt
of my sin in my conscience even now, When I see the foul corruptions
of my mind and motives, my words and my actions, what answer do
I bring to God? Do I run to a time when I made
a decision? Or do I think of a prayer that
I prayed? Maybe I think back to feelings
I felt. Or do I rather say in my utter
helplessness and barrenness of my soul, Lord Jesus, answer for
me. Be my answer. Is my only answer
and standing and hope before God the answer my Redeemer gave
and even now gives? If Christ is all that I have,
then I have God's answer for sinners. I am accepted by God
in all of His holiness because He looks to Christ for me. Christ
will answer for me in judgment, but if I have any answer in addition
or in place of Christ and Him crucified, I will stand naked
before God in all the guilt of my sins, speechless, with no
defense, before an angry God whose holiness will demand my
eternal damnation. Oh, may God give to you and me
today to come to Him even now, looking to Christ alone. All
whom Christ redeemed are given by God to come to Him by Christ's
redeeming blood. And to every foul, ungodly sinner
looking to Christ, God's own word says, when we were yet without
strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God made known his love toward
us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,
much more than, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through him. Romans 5, verse 6 through 9.
Tis not that I did choose thee, Lord, You've just heard a sermon by
our pastor, Rick Warda. You may contact us by email or
by phone, or download a copy of this sermon by visiting our
website at ysgracechurch.com.