Good morning. We welcome you
to these services. It's a delight to be here. Glad
for each one that's here. And I pray that you will pray
for the services today. We are going to do a couple of
messages this Sunday and next Sunday, next Sunday being Easter.
We're going to do a couple of topical services, a couple topical
sermons. Normally we don't do this. We
normally in a book and I'll go into the book verse by verse,
which has been a blessing to me and I trust it has been to
those who listen. But today I'd like to spend a
little time in starting in the book of Exodus in the Old Testament.
Last week there was a bulletin article that touched my heart
and led eventually to our message today and is found in the book
of Exodus chapter 25. The book of Exodus chapter 25
has to do with the articles or several of the articles that
were going to be in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. And
it talks about the construction of these articles here in the
book of Exodus chapter 25. And there are three items listed
here in this passage of scripture in the book of Exodus chapter
25. The first one is the ark that is mentioned in verses 10
through 22. The construction, the materials
that were going to go into the ark, and they Every time we look
here in the Old Testament, we're going to find pictures and types
and shadows of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And it makes it that
much more valuable when we hear the Lord say himself, Moses wrote
of me. Moses spoke of me. When Moses
was writing, he was writing about the creation by inspiration of
the Holy Spirit. And he spoke about Christ. Christ
is the creator. He's the initial creator of heaven
and earth. And he's the initial creator of our spirit. our salvation, our regenerated
being. It is because of Him, and we
find these beautiful types and shadows throughout the Old Testament.
Well, here in the book of Exodus, chapter 25, is no exception,
for we find here a number of particular blessings with regard
to our Savior, the Lord Jesus. In chapter 25, and I'm going
to be speaking particularly from verse 31, but just to mention,
there's the ark is mentioned here, the table of showbread
is mentioned here. And when we look at the ark, the mercy seat,
we find that it typifies the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ
who took blood to procure our redemption and the blood of Jesus
Christ prevents our rebellion and our rebellious attitude by
nature from reaching the throne of God, because inside of that
box was three items that simply spoke of rebellion. The manna,
the golden pot of manna, and the table of stones, and Aaron's
rod that budded. Every one of those items were
as a result of rebellion by the children of Israel. So I'm so
thankful that all my rebellion has been put under the blood
and I trust that you are too. And then we find the golden lampstand
or candlestick is mentioned in this chapter, chapter 25 and
verses 31 through 40. Now when we look at this passage
of scripture as in other passages with regard to the Tabernacle
in particular we're going to find that it is a picture or
it's a Rendition of what Moses saw in the mount It tells us
over in the book of Hebrews chapter 8 and I'm just going to go over
there before I read any there in Exodus chapter 25 over here
in the book of Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 5 it tells us this
account gives us this account of having a pattern, and there
is a pattern. Now if you and I today were privileged
to look into heaven, If we were able to look into the throne
room of God, we would not see a wooden mercy seat with golden
cherubims over the top of it. We would not see a mercy seat
filled with these three items. But our mercy seat is Christ.
We would see Christ, the mercy seat. We would not see in heaven
a table and on it showbread, for the Lord Jesus is our living
bread. He is the bread of life. Those
great loaves that were placed on that table of showbread certainly
demonstrate that the bread of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is all-sufficient. He is enough, even as it says,
where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. He is able
to take care of all our needs. He's able to take care of all
of our spiritual food needs. It's an abundance that He has.
And then we find that there's also this lampstand that is mentioned
here, and if we looked into heaven, we would not see that lampstand,
but we'd see the light, the glorious light of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So all these things are remembrances of the one who saves his people
from their sins. In Hebrews chapter 8, and there
in verse 5, the word says, who serve unto the example and shadow
of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he
was about to make the tabernacle. For, see saith he, that thou
make all things according to the pattern showed thee in the
mount. So there was a pattern given
to Moses in the mount about all of this tabernacle, all the furniture,
the boards that went in the outside, the curtains, the coverings,
and all of that It was mentioned to Moses in the mount and these
things were built according to that pattern. But the reality
is the person Christ Jesus, the Savior, the Messiah, the Christ. And so as we look over here in
the book of Exodus, we're going to be looking at pictures, not
reality, not the real. If you have a picture of your
grandparents, that's a picture is wonderful, but it is not the
very grandparents. It's not holding their hand or,
or hugging them. It's just a picture. We like
the reality. We like the fulfillment. We love
the Christ. So in the book of Exodus chapter
25, there in verse 31, we have these words recorded for us.
Exodus chapter 25 and verse 31, and thou shall make a candlestick
of pure gold. Now I want us to notice there
that as the words are given to us, it's pure gold. There is
no alloy here. There's nothing mixed with this.
This is pure gold and it's in some form, and it's of a beaten
work, shall the candlestick be made. His shaft and his branches,
his bolts and his knops, and his flowers shall be the same. Now, if we turn with me to the
end of that chapter, there is a verse of scripture that we
would like to read, and that's verse 39. In chapter 25, verse
39, it says here, chapter 25, And verse 39, of a talent of
gold, pure gold, shalt thou make it with all these vessels. So we have a talent of pure gold. Now, according to my friend,
John Gill, I find that he says that a talent,
a holy talent, weighed 120 pounds. or 1,440 troy ounces. And today, gold at about $18
an ounce, that's over $2,500,000 worth of gold. There's quite
a substance of gold here. It is pure gold. And then we
notice there in verse 31, how this lamp stand, this candle
stand is to be made. And it tells us there in chapter
20, excuse me, chapter 25 of the book of Exodus chapter 25
and there in verse 31. I'd like us to read that again
as it shares with us how this candle stand was to be made. Exodus chapter 25 and there in
verse 31. It tells us there and thou shall make a candlestick
of pure gold of beaten work." A candlestick of pure gold of
beaten work. Beaten. What must happen then? If we think about this, what
must happen? What must happen about this? Now we know that
the gold speaks of the great value, the glory of our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. He said to his father in his
great high priestly prayer, restore unto me the glory that I had
with you. When he came down to this earth, he did not leave
his Godhead behind. He was God the very God, man
the very man, the man without sin. He lived among sinners. He was made after man, yet without
sin. No taint of sin on him. He was
among sinners. He visited with sinners. He prayed
for sinners. He saves sinners, He heals sinners,
but He did not have that sin upon Him. He did not have that
sin in Him. Perfect. This word beaten, this word is
a noun indicating hammered work. It describes work that has been
hammered out. So when we look at this lampstand,
it is to be a beaten work. It doesn't tell us that they
were to melt that gold and then form it, cast it in the sand
or some cast. It doesn't tell us that they
were to do anything with it except beat it out. It's a beaten work.
This process so represents the work of our Lord Jesus Christ
in order to redeem his sheep. Sin is the culprit. And Christ
is the solution. Sin separates. Christ reconciles. Sin darkens. Christ is the light. And sin requires death. But Christ can give, and does
give, eternal life to His people. What a glorious thought we find
with regard to our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And yet, in order
for Him to redeem us, in order for Him to save us, in order
for Him to have a Positioned back with the father in this
great covenant of grace. He had this responsibility placed
upon him and we might say at this point in our message this
morning that Redemption is an agonizing work
and We find with regard to our Savior the Lord Jesus that it
was an agonizing work He was going to be a representation,
or this candlestick was going to be a representation of what
was going to happen to him as he saved his people. This candlestick
was going to be made not by casting, not by pouring, but by beaten
work. It was going to be beaten into
that form. There was going to be one lump,
and it was going to be beaten into the form. It was a glorious
lump of pure gold. It was going to have a hammer
taken to it by an artisan that knew what he was doing. There
was a man that was assigned to this responsibility, and he was
going to take the gold, and he was going to beat it until it
was what was required, and that was this lampstand. Christ must
be beaten. The gold must come under the
great hammer of justice. This pure, glorious gold, the
Lord Jesus, must come under the great hammer of justice. Christ
must endure the torments without limit to free one from sin's
due. He must endure this, and He promised
to endure this. He didn't come down here for
any other reason than to lay down His life, a ransom for many,
to go to the cross. Spare the sinner and pour all
the punishment on me. That's what we hear the Lord
saying in essence. Spare the sinner, spare my elect,
spare my lambs, spare my lost sheep, and lay all the punishment
on me. God in his great grace consents. And here we have the beforehand
report. Now I'm going over to the book
of Isaiah chapter 53 here. In Isaiah chapter 53, some wonderful
statements about the Lord Jesus, and it is almost as if it was
happening at that time. This whole scenario of the Lord
Jesus Christ redeeming his people is mentioned here in Isaiah chapter
53, and yet Isaiah was written about 800 years before Christ. It just seems as we're reading
the news as it was happening at that time. Isaiah chapter
53 puts us at the scene and yet it's 800 years before what took
place there in the New Testament. In Isaiah chapter 53, we have
one who has seen the Lord high and lifted up. Isaiah saw the
Lord high and lifted up in the year that King Uzziah died. I
saw the Lord high and lifted up And that's one thing that
we find throughout the scriptures that the Savior, the Savior of
his people, the Redeemer of his people, the Redeemer of the lost
sheep, the one who buys them all back and pays for them in
full without one sin being left behind, this one is the high
and lifted up one. He is the sovereign of the universe. He is the creator of heavens
and earth. So it is a wonderful thing. that
we find the Lord Jesus is spoken of here in the book of Isaiah
in such terms that it is if that great artisan was taking the
gold that was assigned him, that gold that was assigned him to
make this candlestick and it was to be a beaten work, we find
that this great artisan is going to take this from a picture standpoint
and we're going to look at it as the person Christ Jesus. Isaiah
chapter 53 was written long before the events, but those events
are just in our minds as we look back on them. This heavenly gold
took on the form of a man for this great beating by the Father's
justice. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit in covenant mercy determined this is the
only way that a man, a woman, a boy or girl could ever be saved.
They must be saved by the Savior. Not one whit of their righteousness
will be used in this great purpose and plan of God. In Isaiah chapter
53 and verse Isaiah is brought to the truth
about this whole revelation here of this, who hath believed our
report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. What a
statement is made here as the Holy Spirit gives Isaiah those
words. And we find that the Apostle
Peter, the disciples and particularly the Apostle Peter was asked one
time about Who do you say, what's the world say I am? And who do
you say that I am? And Peter responded to that and
said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
Christ did not stop and say, well, that's very good of you.
You've learned that lesson well. Jesus Christ did not stop and
say, I appreciate what you have to say. And your teachers have
taught you well in Sunday school or your preachers been very faithful
to preach to you about me. But he said this, flesh and blood
hath not revealed this unto you, but my Father which is in heaven."
Now we love faithful preachers and we love faithful Bible class
teachers. We love faithful people, but
the revelation comes from God. The revealing of Jesus Christ
comes from God. As we heard this morning in the
Bible class, one planted, another watered, but God gives the increase. And there's no greater place
to see that truth than right here as the prophet, the pastor,
the ambassador, Isaiah was declaring it. Now in Isaiah chapter 53
and verse 3, it says, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces
from him, for he was despised and we esteemed him not. We notice
right off in this chapter that Isaiah is used to write the words
of God, the words of the Holy Spirit, and declare what is going
to happen to the Redeemer, to the substitute, to the Lamb of
God, that in the covenant of grace, there is only one way
that sin can be handled, and it is so far gone, man is so far gone,
that it is going to require the blessed Son of God to redeem
him, and he is the only one that can. Sin is so terrible, so horrible,
so even when he came, And there were those who anticipated his
coming through the prophets of the Old Testament, but he came
unto his own and his own received him not. He came into the world,
the world received him, had nothing to do with him. And I've got
that a little bit confused, but you'll forgive me, won't you? Here it
says he is despised and rejected of men. He's a man of sorrows
and he's acquainted with grief. entire ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is among the tombs, if you
please. And he knows that he's going
to go to this tomb and raise someone spiritually from that.
He's going to save a certain one here. He's going to save
a certain one there. He knows where to go. He knows
what to preach. He knows the gospel. He is the declaration
of the gospel. And people will be saved. But
he doesn't waste his time in some of the false tombs. He doesn't
go there. He goes to the places where his lost sheep are. Well
here, Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 4 we have a word stricken and
we have a word smitten to lay the hand upon or smitten to strike
to smite to hit to beat There in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse
4, surely he hath bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, and
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. When we
view this, we're going to find out it wasn't the Romans. Yeah,
they participated as it was purposed by God. It wasn't the Jews. It
wasn't the Sanhedrin. It wasn't the high priest that
did all of this. But they did what they did on purpose, as
was assigned to them by the Holy Spirit of God, to do that. It
was on purpose. And here, we did esteem him stricken
and smitten of God. And we noticed that to lay the
hands upon him, to strike, What happened over there to that gold
that was pounded into a candlestick? It was hammered with a hammer.
It was stricken. It was smitten. And here we find
the striking and the smiting is of the Lord, is of God. And
then it goes on to tell us in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 5,
he's wounded. He was bore through. He was pierced. He was bruised. He was beat to
pieces, break and crush. chastisement is correction, discipline,
and rebuke, and stripes to bruise, to wound, and to blow. These
words that are used in Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 5, but he
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes
we are healed. They all indicate in very clear
words what was taking place with that gold to be beaten into that
candlestick. Here we have it applied to the
Son of God. long before it took place. But
the prophecy is here, and as if we are standing there at the
scene watching this go on. In Isaiah chapter 53 and verse
6, it is laid on him, all we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone his own way, and the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all. That's all the sheep and no one
else. Laid on him. God the Father,
against whom we have sinned, has laid on Christ his own son
the sins of all his elect ones. All sins of all his were collected
together and made one and placed on him from all the generations
before the time of Christ, during the time of Christ, and all generations
after the time of Christ, every elect one in all that mass of
folks. all their sins was laid on him
that day when he was on the cross. God was able to amass the sins
of all the people that he had chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world and lay it on him. I can't comprehend that, but
I'm thankful it is so true. By this means, the law and justice
of God had full satisfaction. Only because of this it wasn't
going to be because men and women were going to do a good job or
do a good thing But it was because of this ministry of God the father
on his son on the behalf of his people in Isaiah chapter 53 and
verse 7 we find he's oppressed it is there was a required payment
a Required payment is upon him and afflicted to bow down to
be humbled Isaiah 53 and verse 7 it says he was oppressed and
was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he is brought as a
lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shears is
dumb so he opened not his mouth in verse 8 he was stricken he
was struck he was wounded All of these things in these verses
share with us a little bit of what went on with that gold over
there in the book of Exodus chapter 25, that that gold was beaten. Here we read various words in
different manners and different means are shared with us in doing
what was required in order to set his people free. He truly
was bruised for our transgressions. That means he was beaten. It
was required. Sin requires drastic measures. It's either will be us or him. Either he's the substitute or
we'll pay for it ourselves and those on the left hand side will
never be able to pay completely and fully because they continue
to sin throughout eternity. Verse 10 of this chapter says,
yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. to bruise, to crush, to
beat down. Can you see a grape or an olive
or a grain of wheat under this kind of pressure? When Jesus
Christ went to the Garden of Gethsemane, in that was a place
where they crushed olives to get the oil out. It was stone
around and then they had this great wheel that they rolled
over the top of those olives and crushed them until the oil
would drip out and they could collect it. He was going to suffer
many things. As we look at this scene in Isaiah
53, this scene is forwarded to the New Testament, so turn with
me, if you would, to the New Testament, to the book of Matthew
chapter 16. In the book of Matthew chapter 16, we find the Lord
speaking about these very things. In Matthew chapter 16 and verse
21, Matthew chapter 16 and verse 21, we have these words, the
words of the Lord Jesus with regard to what was going to happen. Matthew 16, verse 21, it tells
us he's instructing his disciples that these words, From that time
forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must
go to Jerusalem. That word must. This is in the
covenant of grace. He did not come down here to
set up an earthly kingdom. Where I grew up He came down
here, he was rejected from doing that, he had to go to the cross,
blah, blah, blah. Well, that's not what God said.
God said, this is all done on purpose. All things work together
for the good of them that love God, to those who are called
according to his purpose. This is the purpose of God. He
must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and
chief priests and and be killed, and hallelujah, be raised again
the third day. He fills the whole thing in.
He shares with us as what is happening in Isaiah 53 is brought
up here in the book of Matthew. Again, just go ahead, just one
book to the book of Luke chapter nine, verse 22. Luke chapter
nine and verse 22, we have these words brought out. as the Lord
again saying the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected
of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be slain and
raised the third day. He is going to Jerusalem and
when he gets to Jerusalem he is going to be arrested. He is
going to be tried and you can talk about all how manipulated
that trial was and how foolish it was and how unlawful it was. Books are written on that nonsense.
But this is actually God's eternal purpose being carried out. Pilate was appointed. Judas was
appointed. The disciples were appointed
to refuse him, reject him. This is all happening according
to purpose, as it tells us in the book of Acts, several places,
and as well as throughout the rest of the scriptures. Nothing
is done by happenstance when it comes to God. Here in the
book of Matthew, going back to the book of Matthew to chapter
20, In chapter 20 and verse 19, we read these words, the Lord
Jesus Christ shares with us. Matthew chapter 20, verse 19.
Shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge to crucify
him and the third day. He shall rise again This is all
foretelling the events that are going to take place. They're
all prophesied in the Old Testament Isaiah 53 declares that Psalm
22 and many many other places in the Old Testament Declare
what is going to happen? He will be pierced. He will be
crucified He will be brought before as a sheep before shears
is dumb. Open not his mouth. He didn't
defend himself. He just said, I am, I am the
king. Well, as it goes on here in Matthew
chapter 20 and verse 28, the word of God says, even as the
son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, now notice
this with me, notice this, and to give his life a ransom for
many. Oh my, if there was ever an opportunity
for Christ to say anything else but this about who he was going
to save, this would have been it. But you know what he had
to say about the issue? It doesn't matter what other
preachers are saying. It doesn't matter what you believe.
You may believe that Jesus died for everybody in the world, and
if that's so, many people that he died for are going to hell.
But he said, right here, he died to ransom many. Oh, he's saying
the truth right there. He came to ransom many. Now, we find that when he went
to Gethsemane, he's in a place where that great olive press
is, and it's indicative of what he's going to go through. Sweat
as it were, great drops of blood there. It's very pictorial. It shadows what's happening. In the book of Matthew here,
Matthew chapter 27. Would you turn with me to the
book of Matthew chapter 27? In Matthew chapter 27, we read
here in verse 33. Matthew chapter 27 and verse
33. The scriptures share this. Matthew
chapter 27 and verse 33. And when they were come to a
place called Golgotha, that is to say, the place of the skull.
Now this is after the trial, this is after he's been betrayed
by Judas, been taken. I have to say just a moment here,
we bring this up often, that Judas kissed him, identified
him, and he said, whom do you seek? They said, Jesus of Nazareth,
and he says, I am, and they were on their face. They no more had
any power over him than a fly. They were just there to carry
out the purpose of God, and he demonstrated to them he's in
charge of this. He's taken and tried. He's moved
to this place and that place, Pilate, Herod. They finally,
they finally scourge him. Pilate's ready to let him go.
He's traded for Barabbas, and then he's let out. He is treated
as a common criminal. He's treated as a thief. He's
treated as a robber. And he's going to be crucified
between two thieves. But as it says here, they took
him to the place of a skull. This is a common place for crucifixion
outside of Jerusalem. And in fact, the Old Testament
throughout the books of Moses there, Leviticus and Exodus,
Deuteronomy, Numbers, various places, he would be taken without
the gate. And some of those sacrifices
were without the city. They gave him vinegar to drink
and mingled with gall. This is supposed to be a bitter,
not only a bittering agent, but an agent to prevent pain or to
help with pain. And he had tasted thereof, he
would not drink. And they crucified him and parted
his garments. They crucified him. Now there
was someone made those nails, someone brought that tree, someone
pounded those nails, someone jabbed me with a spear, all appointed
by God to do this very thing. This is what man wanted to do
with the God, the very God. They had their opportunity to
do this, and they did it, but Jesus Christ is on the cross
on purpose. He is there to save his people
from their sins. He's there to purchase them,
to redeem them, to ransom them, just as he said. They crucified
him, parted his garments, casting lots. that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots." Now, as we follow
this scene, we're going to see that the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lord of heaven, the darling Son of God, the one appointed to
be The substitute for his people, this one, is going to have what
appeared over there in the book of Exodus, chapter 25, as they
took that pure gold. He is going to have this applied
to him. He is going to be a beaten work. Isaiah wrote of it. Isaiah did
not just predict it. Isaiah wrote about what was actually
going to happen as if it was happening while he was writing.
And then we get to the New Testament. We find the Lord Jesus Christ
was lifted up. Here between heaven and earth
on a cross There's a time early in his life there the Man came
in and lifted him up that had decided her knew Of a fact that
he was not going to die until he'd seen the Lord's Christ when
he saw him He said my eyes have seen my salvation. He was lifted
up here. He's lifted up in a very different
way He's going to be lifted up as a sacrifice before God the
Father as a sacrifice before God the He's going to be lifted
up and God is going to deal with them as is written in the book
of Isaiah. He is going to be the beaten work. He is going
to face the justice of God, the justice of the law. Man cannot
come into the presence of God with vile sin. They must be come
in as innocent and the only way that that can happen is their
sin must be taken care of. Sin that is within them, sin
before the were born, sinned after they're born, sin all their
life, everything, even the sin that they don't even know about,
must be taken care of. Sin against God, against thee
and thee only have I sinned, but we've sinned against our
brother, we've sinned against our family. Those all must be
taken care of, every bit of them. And they're brought from all
parts of the world, in a spiritual sense, they're brought from everywhere,
and all of them are placed upon him there on the cross. It tells
us here that in Matthew chapter 27 and verse 46, the Lord cries
this great cry that's recorded over in the book of Psalms, Psalm
22. The Lord shares with us here
in verse 46 in about the ninth hour. Now remember that it's
darkness over the face of the earth. Darkness I can I can just
imagine that you could feel it's a darkness that was down there
in Egypt in Egypt but they had light over here in where the
Israelites were but this is the darkness that you can feel this
is a darkness over the whole earth as this great transaction
takes place as This one the Lord Jesus is taken upon by the justice
of God by the hammer of justice as God pours out his intense
wrath upon sin, as the Lord Jesus Christ is covered with our sin. He is placed upon Him. It's imputed
to Him. He did not become a sinner, but
He took sinners' sin upon Him. And God the Father pours out
His righteous judgment upon Him, as He would pour it out on us
for eternity if we didn't have Him as Savior. Here we have Him
as a spread out before God on that cross, as sin is placed
upon him, then he is going to feel the hammer. He becomes the
beaten work, as we read over there in the book of Isaiah.
And here, in the book of Matthew, chapter 27, and in verse 46,
the scriptures share this. And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice, saying, and this is as close as we can
get to the torment that he was going through. Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani, that is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? We can't get any closer to the
terribleness of sin. Now we know how terrible it is,
but when the Son of God cries out to God, why hast thou forsaken
me? When sin had become so oppressive,
when the beaten work, and yet as purposed in the covenant of
grace, this too would come to an end. There was a time when that man
that was beating that talent of gold into the candlestick
finally said, it's finished. It's ready to be put into the
holy place. It's finished. All has been done. It's complete. This gold, which
was once just beautiful gold, has been hammered into this golden
candlestick. It's going to provide the light.
Well, there's a time during this time that the Lord Jesus is going
to say, God the Father is going to say, God the Holy Spirit is
going to say, it is finished. The beaten work so beautiful. Redemption is so beautiful. The
light that it gives to his children is so wonderful. The glory is
so delightful. Everything about this is so perfect
that redemption has taken care, redeeming, the redeeming qualities
of the blood of the Lamb have taken care of. So we find there
in verse, chapter 27 and verse 50, Jesus, when he had cried with
a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. His statement is, it is
finished. The bruising is over. All that
was to be meted out to him as is prophesied by the prophet
Isaiah in Isaiah 53 and all the other passages found throughout
the scriptures about what must happen to him as he recorded
it before his disciples, I must go to Jerusalem, I must suffer
many things, I must be crucified. We find that he yielded up the
ghost after it said, it is finished. The gold of great value had been
beaten. A great savior is declared. He shed his blood to redeem a
people, a specific people, his people. We are ruined by the
fall, so ruined, so ruined that it required the Son of God to
come redeem us. We are redeemed by the blood
of Christ, by the blood of the Lamb, purchased, bought back. Not one sin is left because he
has purchased it with his own life, with his own blood. the
beating that justice required. We are regenerated by the Holy
Spirit. And after He cried this cry,
He was buried. Now the promise is, as He said
in all those other places, Jesus said during His own life, three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth, the Son of
Man will come out. Here He shared with His disciples.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Brother Craig read this this
morning. I want to read just a couple of verses here. In 1
Corinthians chapter 15, as the gospel is so declared here, it's
not a formula, it's a statement about the mighty work of God.
That Jesus Christ truly bore our sin. He truly was a beaten
work before God. That he truly, because he became
sin for us, didn't become a sinner, but he had sin imputed to him,
that this great work of redemption was completed. Here in Isaiah,
or excuse me, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 3. For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures. and that he
was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. This is God's eternal purpose,
that Jesus Christ would be successful in what he came to do. that He
would lay down His life, a ransom for many, that He would have
the wrath of God imposed upon Him. As that talent of gold was
beaten into a fine piece of furniture, the Lord Jesus Christ was beaten
by the Father in a sense, as justice was poured out on Him.
And he became the head of his family. He became the redeemer
of his people. He became the savior of his people.
His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. So he's buried. Now his disciples
didn't realize this at the time. We look back and we say, oh,
thank God, just as he promised. Because we look back after it
all took place. Lord willing, next Sunday we'll
look at that resurrection, that glorious resurrection and the
benefits of that resurrection. But there were some disciples,
when they saw him, didn't know who he was, there were some disciples
that when they saw him, they were concerned. And when they
couldn't find him, they were concerned. There was lots of
concerns. But he took care of it all because he had promised
that after three days and three nights in the heart of the earth,
he would come out victorious over sin, death, hell, and the
grave, and we could stand with him as sinners saved by grace. Thank you. May God bless you.