There to do this, that we deserve
salvation in it. That's not what he's talking
about. Let me let me put it, let me see if I can explain this
to you in remembrance Christ person. You can't remember somebody
you've never met, can you? Can you? Sure, you can't. No, you can't. You can't remember
somebody you've never met or somebody you've never known.
Can you imagine the outrage and indignation you would feel if
somebody came to the funeral of one of your relatives? Who
had never met him or her and who began to feign sorrow and
sadness. Can you imagine the outrage and
isn't that what these preachers are doing today? Huh? They hover over the beds of sick
people. They're wolves. Our Lord named
them right, didn't he? Wolves in sheep's clothing. They
hover over. You know, wolves prey on the
sick and the old. But these wolves, these preachers,
hover over the sick beds of people in the hospital. And then when
they die, they may not have known them from, as my father-in-law
says, Adam's fox. Whatever that is. They may not
have known him at all, but yet they come to the funeral and
they feign sadness. You'd be outraged, wouldn't you? Well, anyone who does not know
and love the Lord Jesus Christ cannot remember him, can they?
And this is the sense in which he says, you're not to participate
in this table. I read an interesting verse over
in Exodus 12. You don't have to turn there, but remember it.
Mark it down for future reference. He said this in Exodus 12 concerning
the Passover. This is where we get this. The Lord ate the Passover. And
this is a continuation of that. He said this in Exodus 12, verse
43. He said this, listen, the Lord
gave strict commandment. He said, this is the ordinance
of the Passover. There shall no stranger eat thereof. So that's what it means. To eat
of this, not discerning, not believing, not knowing this Christ,
not truly being a stranger to your sin. Anyone who's a stranger
to their own sinfulness, a stranger to faith in Christ, a stranger
to the person working for Christ, can't partake of that. That's
what he's saying. And that's to drink, to eat and drink it
unworthily. And we're to examine ourselves,
know ye not your own selves, how that Christ be in you. Now,
nobody is worthy. And listen, we're up and down. We're up and down, certainly. I think we know whether or not
we believe the Lord or not. We better not participate if
we don't we know, in part, listen for your for your comfort, young
believer, listen to me now. We know, in part. There's nobody
in here knows the Lord. That much, really. Paul once
said that when he said, we know, in part, we preach in part. which is not much at all, but
anyone who has truly heard his voice in the gospel, very really
heard his voice, believed him, and believed this gospel, they
know him. It's like a little child doesn't
know a whole lot about their parent, but they know him. They
know her. They've heard her voice, his
voice. They know. Don't know much, but they know.
They know. And that's why we're here. To
learn more about him, isn't it? That's why we're here. To get
to know him a little better. All right, Christ's person, his
personality. There are many of... To remember
his personality. There are many of you people
whom I have spent a great deal of time with. And I have gotten
to know very intimately and become well acquainted with you and
grown to love certain aspects of your character. I've grown
to steer clear of certain aspects, but nevertheless have grown to
know and love you. And there are things that I will
remember and think upon you about you when you're gone. Won't you? There are things about different
people that you will think upon and you'll remember when they're
gone. Somebody that is especially a gentle person, a sweet person,
a thoughtful person, a kind Someone's smile. Someone's countenance. Well, let me tell you about somebody. Let me tell you about this one
we're here to remember tonight. You know anything about his person,
his personality? You think of gentle people. If
you take the gentlest person who ever lived. and multiply
that person one million times, you'll have the Lord Jesus Christ. The gentlest person, a true gentleman. A gentleman. Gentleman. You ever met a gentleman?
Anybody ever met a true gentleman? It ain't nothing un-macho, but,
well, yeah, you don't need to be macho. But we need to be,
if we're going to be like Christ, we're going to be gentlemen.
Polite, thoughtful, gentle, kind, meek, yet strong. Authoritative. A real man. Isn't that what Pilate said about
him? Behold the man. The only real gentle man who
ever lived. A gentleman from start to finish. A gentler man has never lived
than Christ. What about his sweetness? Have
you ever known anybody real sweet, just a sweet, tender, kind person,
somebody very sweet, a very sweet disposition, a meek, humble,
and always kind person? Have you ever known anybody like
that? I know there's some here like that. The song says, Majestic
sweetness sits enthroned upon the Savior's brow, His head with
radiant glory's crown. His lips with grace, he's got
sweet lips. Says grace pours from his lips.
His words, when he spake, there were sweeter words heard by sweeter
carols never sung, the song says, than the words that poured from
his sweet lips. Solomon described his cheeks
as even being sweet. Spices, like beds of spices. Sweeter man never lived. A sweeter
man never lived than the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't wait to see him. I can't
wait to kiss those cheeks and have him kiss mine. I just
kind of believe he will. What about his countenance? There
are those people, there are some people who are always pleasant
looking. People who always have a pleasant look about them. You
never feel threatened by them. You never feel uneasy around
them, people you're very comfortable around, very kind, very tender,
very hospitable disposition. You enjoy being around them.
You know anybody like that? Some of you are like that. Well,
let me tell you about somebody. It says that sinners, even the
roughest, the rankest, the lowest, the commonest, were drawn to
him. Sinners were drawn to him. They
didn't feel uneasy around him. Just the opposite. They felt
welcome. They didn't feel uneasy. They
didn't feel like he was looking down on them. He got down on
their level. Remember the woman he stooped
down to? I've heard that voice, haven't
you? Woman, where is the accuser? Doesn't no man accuse thee? Sinners were drawn to him. They
didn't feel threatened by him. They felt welcome. Never uneasy. He said, and I can't imitate
that voice, but he said, come unto me. All you that labor and
are heavy laden, come on. I'll give you rest. Oh, you're
full of turmoil and trouble and heartache and sin, aren't you?
Come on. Come on. Just come here. Come
here. I'll give you rest of heart,
peace of mind. Come to me. I'm meek and lowly.
Look at me. I won't condemn you. I'll save
you. Come on. Come, ye sinners, poor
and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. He stands ready
to save you, full of pity, love, and power. He can do it. We talk about his gentleness,
his sweetness, his kind countenance. I'm trying to whet your appetite.
I want you to go out of here saying, I want to die now and
go see this woman. What about His Majesty, though?
We talk about His gentleness, His sweetness. What about His
Majesty? You remember the Queen of Sheba when she beheld Solomon
walking up those temple steps of the temple and saw the train
or his courtly, his courtly retinue, is that the word? Or his attendants
and all that were behind him and his robe and the beauty of
that temple. And he walked up, ascended those
steps in dignity and majesty. Never a greater king ever lived
on the planet up till that time. But she saw it and she said,
the half has never been told. She was in awe of greater than
Solomon has been here. Greater than the temple. He he
he overshadows the beauty of the temple. When you see him,
you don't pay attention to the temple. Just him, his majesty,
his dignity, his honor, his distinguishing manner. The psalm says, I stand
amazed in the presence of Jesus of Nazarene. Such majesty, such
glory. What a man, what a man. What
about his love? What about the love this man
would show? The love of Christ is greater
far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest
star and reaches to the lowest hell. Could we with ink the ocean
fill, and were the skies of parchment made, and every stalk on earth
a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of
Christ above would drain the ocean dry? And could the scroll
contain the whole? It couldn't go stretched from
sky to sky. The Scripture says, greater love
hath no man than this. Nobody's love like this man.
Behold how he loved them, the bystanders say. Behold. And I
love that verse in John that says, and having loved them,
he loved them to the end. I like that. Greater love. Time doesn't permit us to remember
Talk about his mercy, his grace, his long-suffering, his kindness,
his character, and in those respects. But we'll see it all in his person.
I mean, in his work, don't we? We've looked at his person a
little bit, his personality. What about his work? Well, the
true character of a man comes out in his life. He can say what
he will, but where the rubber meets the road is how he walks,
right? His life. his work. What will
last when he's gone is his accomplishments, right? That's what will last. And all of the glorious character
of the Lord Jesus Christ was brought to its fullest revelation
in his work of redemption, which began with the covenant, continued
in his birth, his life, and his death. And we're only going to
fully realize it when he comes again. We will only truly know
him when he comes again. But think about these things
for a few minutes. Remember him and his covenant.
I just like that word. I'm glad the Lord put that in
the scriptures. Covenant. That just kind of sounds
like it's written down and a pact has been made and an agreement
and it's a sure thing. Covenant. sealed, ordered and
sealed, and as good as done. I like that, don't you? Well,
think about the Lord in his eternal covenant. Think about this. Now,
this covenant took place before man was ever created, right? It's an eternal covenant that
took place billions, trillions, who knows how long before man,
in the beginning, whenever that was. Even though God looked down
through time, Christ looked down and saw man's willful rebellion,
yours. He saw Henry Sowers shaking his
fist, and I won't have you, God, don't need you. And others, Violet,
all of you, everybody, me. Even though he saw our willful
rebellion, and he knew what corruption and iniquity and sin we'd get
into, wallowing in that sin. in the gutter, wallowing, seeing
us gutter-sniped, knowing what it would take to redeem us, he
sat down with the Father in that covenant, sat down, counted the
cost. The Father said, It's going to
take a great work, son, the most tasking, trying, torturous, difficult,
greatest work ever done. The cost is tremendous. It costs
you your life, your life's blood. And even in light of these maggots,
he said, I'll do it anyway. You ever thought about that?
In considering, knowing what you'd be like. He did it anyway. He decided to do it anyway. I
would have changed my mind, you know? If I could look down through
time and see and say, you want me to die for that guy? No! I'll find me somebody worthy!"
No, that's not what he did, was it? Think about that. He decided to do it anyway. And
then he said his love—he had to set his love on such filthy
creatures. He had to set—now understand,
our love is conditional. Right? We love those that love
us, and we love those that are part of us, our children, our
wives, husbands, and so forth, our family. We love them because
of some condition. Right? There's nothing lovely
about us. There never was anything. Right? And he had to, Barbara, he had
to say, I'm going to love that gal. She was, she's, I'm going
to do it anyway. But she's, oh Lord, she's shaking
her fist in your face. She don't want anything to do
with you. She's living her life like you don't even exist. I'm
going to love her freely. And I'm going to love her for
all time. And I'm going to love her so much I'm going to make
her love me. Set his love on. And he willed to save the worthless.
He wholly committed himself to lowly creatures. That was a covenant. You ever thought about that?
A covenant. He had to sit down and count the cost. Now, what
am I going to get in return for this? He didn't. He really didn't.
That wasn't a consideration. But for the joy that sat before
him. Glorifying the Father and making you his people, he said.
And then his birth shows me something. He's a marvelous person, character,
his work, his birth. The king became a pauper. People,
for us to sell all of our worthly goods and to move to the lowest
place on earth would not be nearly as condescending as Christ, what
he did. The king became a beggar, a pauper,
a worm. The object of angelic worship
became the object of man's hatred. God became a man, and he did
this And I see something of his wisdom and his power. I want
to think a little bit about his wisdom and his power. Because
of that covenant, he came down here not to try to save, not
to make an attempt, not to be an example, not to be a martyr,
not to be just a good man, but to be a substitute. Like I said,
he thought about what it would take to redeem us. It'd take
a bloody substitute. It'll take an object of God's
wrath. It'll take a scapegoat. Everybody
uses that term. Don't you ever use that term,
folks, in reference to anything. You hear people talk about use
that term today. They're making a scapegoat out
of it. Don't you ever use that term.
That belongs to one person. That's one of his glorious titles.
He was our scapegoat. In other words, we lay the hands
of all the sins of all the people on him and carry him out into
the wilderness and he takes our sin away. He became our righteousness,
and every step he took was eternally ordained and planned and purposed.
And he did that to fulfill the requirements of the law, to live
an acceptable life before God. Then he took all the sin of God's
people on himself and went to a cruel and a torturous death,
bearing the shame, the guilt, the blame, the punishment, the
wrath of God that was due to us against us. Every hour of
his life, this is what we're trying to remember him. I'm trying
my best right now to make this real to him. I can't do it. But
every hour of his life was spent in justifying us. Phil, think,
every hour, every waking hour was spent in making us acceptable
to the Father. We better remember him, just
for a little. Can we let her watch for an hour? Every drop
of his precious, sinless blood was poured out unto death in
sparing us. It took every drop to save us. And if we can't remember him
and what he did for a little while, I doubt very seriously that we'd
know him. And what a person! What a person I have, the half
hasn't been told. I talk about his person. You take all of the sweetest,
kindest, gentlest, most beautiful, precious, tender, beautiful,
good things everywhere in people and wrap them all up and multiply
them a million times, you've got Jesus Christ. And that unspeakable
work that he did, that lips, mortal tongue, cannot convey
what he did on Calvary's tree, what he did before Calvary's
tree, what he is doing now. And we don't meet together, like
I said, to remember a dead man, but a living Lord. We're not
feeling sorry for Jesus. We're remembering him. Remember,
this is a memorial, but not of a dead person, but a living Lord,
and who, though he said—that's what he said about himself, wasn't
it, to John? He said, I was dead, but I'm
alive again. I'm living. And he said he's
going to come again to receive us to himself. And I hope these
things have caused you to think on him just a little bit. Calls
you to say, even so, come, Lord Jesus, I look forward to your
coming. Come quickly, hurry while I'm
thinking about you. Well, he said he would. He said that when you partake
of this table, didn't he? He said, I'll be right there
to supper with you. This do and remembrance of me.
All right rather than come up and service the brain.