Again, this is called The Fabric
of Grace. Sometime back, as I mentioned,
I was watching How Do They Do That show on one of the Discovery
channels or something. They had a machine that was making
stockings, seamless stockings. It made a pair of stockings in
just a few seconds. These machine arms just went
round and round and round and had these spools of whatever
they make them out of. It just went faster than your
eye could follow and voila, there was a pair of stockings in it.
It was seamless. It just reminded me of grace,
the seamless, and it reminded me of the scripture in John chapter
19, which was right after the Lord was crucified, but He hadn't
yet given up the ghost, and they nailed Him up. nailed up there, crucified to
pay the penalty for the sins of his people, but he hadn't
yet given up the ghost. Section in John chapter 19 verse
23 and 24 says, Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus,
took his garments and made four parts to every soldier a part,
and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam,
woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves,
let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be
that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things,
therefore, the soldiers did." Now, a couple of comments about
that. The soldiers didn't know that
they were fulfilling Scripture, certainly. This coat had some notoriety
about it, this robe, this garment. I think we mentioned before that
back in Matthew chapter 9, there was a woman that, she said, if
I just touch the hem, I'll be made whole. And then in Matthew
chapter 14, verse 36, a multitude of people, crowded around him and touched
the garment, and many were made whole. Now these soldiers no
doubt were aware of that, but I'm sure they just attributed
it to it being a magic robe and not to the fact that the Lord
of Glory was inside of it, and thus the miracles. It struck me that in this scripture
there that it makes special mention of this. This prophecy is mentioned
in all four of the Gospels. But it certainly has a lot more
detail given to us in John chapter 19 about the part of it being
the coat was without seam woven from the top throughout. The
rest of them just mention that they gambled for his clothes
and not that specific really. So special mention made here
regarding that garment and whenever we see something like that where
it says a certain man or a certain widow or a certain priest like
we had in Luke Sunday and Zacharias draws our attention to that and
we always mention here in are declarations of the gospel
that all the scriptures in some way, shape, or form speak of
the Lord Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly through
types or shadows. And the fabric of grace, that's
not a scriptural term, but it just fits here in the code of
the Lord we're examining here. It's just such a scripture. It
speaks to us in types and shadows about the Lord of glory. It testifies
to the sovereignty, the electing love of God, the decrees of God,
the foreknowledge of God, the completeness of God, the goodness
of God, and the grace of God, just to name a few. And in the book of the gospel, according
to Luke, The Lord appeared to those men that were on their
way from Jerusalem after the crucifixion and the death, burial,
and resurrection of the Lord. They were on their way to Emmaus
and they were just depressed because They thought it was all over
and the Lord appeared to them and another person on the road
and asked them what was wrong. They said, where have you been?
Haven't you heard that the Lord was crucified and it's been three
days? And he said, O fools and slow
of heart not to believe all the prophets said. And then, beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself. That's from Luke 24,
27. Well, we take a look at this
scripture and it's mentioned specifically in the Old Testament,
the one that we're looking at here in John. And with the descriptions
we have and what's written in the Old Testament prophecies
in Shadows and Types, I think we can certainly gain a greater
understanding of the infinite grace of God in Christ by what's
represented here and symbolized in this special garment. Firstly, in the text, this coat
or vesture was without seam, and it kind of gives us a picture
of no beginning and no ending. Secondly, it was woven, and watching
that machine, all these threads come together and they're all
interlaced. all touching one another, and
this weaving, an ancient process by which threads, yarns, strands,
or strips of material are interlaced to form a fabric, material, or
cloth, and every thread is connected in unity with every other thread
to form a whole. And thirdly, it's woven from
the top down. It said, symbolizing divine direction
and skill administered in the creation of the garment for the
Lord. And then it was precisely foretold
of a thousand years before the events that are reported in John
chapter 19 and the other Gospels. Psalm 22, 18 gives us a graphic
detail of the description of the crucifixion
and all the things that the Lord went through in His agony and
humility that He endured for the redemption of the people
that the Father had given Him in the covenant of grace. In
Psalm 22, He said, I'm surrounded by strong
bowls of bastion. delivered to them by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God to be crucified and slain
by wicked hands, it tells us in Acts 2.23. And he says, they
gaped upon me with their mouths. And that's just a way to say
that he was being verbally abused as he hung there suspended between
heaven and earth. And in Luke chapter 23, verse
35, 35-37, and the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also with him derided him, saying, He saved
others, let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of
God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering
him vinegar and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save
thyself. And then I think if you read
a little bit more, even the thieves that were crucified on either
side of him cast the same in his teeth at the beginning. until
the fabric of grace appeared, and one of them said, this man
has done nothing. Remember me when you come into
your kingdom, Lord. And in Mark chapter 15, verse
29, it says, they that pass by railed on him. wagging their
heads and saying, oh thou that destroy the temple and build
it in three days, come on down, save thyself if you be God. The next thing it tells us in
that psalm is the Lord foretells hanging there, stretched out,
in such a form so that he could, he said, I can tell all my bones. It's a word that means they all
stuck out and he could see them. that word is used somewhat in
our modern vocabulary. Like in poker, they say, you
have a tell. I can see what you're thinking,
what you're going to do. It's a revealing kind of a word. He said, I can tell all my bones.
Every one of them were visible. It was just stretched out. They pierced my hands and feet. And then they part my garments
among them and cast lots upon my vesture." Psalm 22, 18. Now
I reported all that to show the detail and accuracy of what was
foretold a thousand years before about this garment and what would
happen. And that the soldiers, they said, let's not rend it.
It couldn't be rent. These things, therefore, the
soldiers did, it says. They could do nothing else. The determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God the Father had ordained it from eternity and recorded
it a thousand years before it occurred in time. What a thread
in the intricate fabric of grace. And the scripture doesn't really
elaborate on the color of the garment, but in the Old Testament,
if you go back to Exodus chapter 39, verse 22, Exodus 39, 22,
and Moses is getting the instruction on the garments for the high
priest. And he made the robe of the ephod
of woven work, all of blue. And there was a hole in the midst
of the robe as the hole of a habergeon with a band around the hole that
it should not rent. This word habergeon is a medieval
term that English term. It actually has a French variation,
but it has to do with the male chain armor that goes around
the neck and protects. It means to defend the neck.
It's a compound word that means to defend the neck. That's not what it was, it just
says that's what it kind of looked like. as it were, the whole of
a Habergen with a band around the hole that it should not rend,
made tough, durable. And I think that in the Old Testament,
the word that they that they translated this Habergen from
is an Egyptian word, actually. It's got Egyptian orientation
about it that describes a garment that the Egyptian soldiers wore
that was made out of heavy-duty material. Anyway, the main feature was
it was made not to be rent, and that picture's this garment that the Lord, he's
our high priest, it says in Hebrews, we have such a high priest. And
so I think this garment that the high priest here wore kind
of represented what the Lord, maybe a little more decorative
or something. It had some other things to it,
but the main of it was that it was woven, a woven work that
would not be rent. And again, the feature which
indicates divine direction in God and the manufacturer, it
was without seam woven from the top, made not to be rent. Without seam calls our attention
to so many things about our Lord in the grace of God with no seam,
no beginning, no ending. It was just a uniform, complete
fabric It just symbolizes the eternal
nature of the Lord. The scripture says, unto God
all of his works are known. for the foundation of the world.
And of Christ, it says, without father, without mother, without
descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but
made like unto the Son of God, and abideth the priest continually.
As to all the works of grace interlaced to bring about the
redemption of the Lord's church in time, He directs all those things.
I was trying to think of a word that describes the all-encompassing
of it. It just permeates every aspect
of our existence. Who knows all of the things that
have been directed since before the foundation of the world,
so that in the fulfillment of time, one of the Lord's people
is born, becomes intersected with the gospel through a myriad
chain of threads. I'm sure everyone here has a
story of how their life led them here and there, and things happened,
and eventually they were They were intersected with the Gospel
and the Spirit of God breathed new
life into them. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. Romans 8, 28, that's
one of our favorite scriptures and I think it just typifies
these threads in this without seam, woven from the top. Every thread of grace is working
for good to them who are the called according to his purpose,
for whom he did foreknow." There's a thread. The foreknowledge of
God. He also did predestinate, the
predestination of them, the foreordaining of them to be conformed to the
image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
And He says in verse 30, He says, more than that. If that wasn't
enough good news, if that wasn't enough threads in the fabric
of grace, Whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom
He called, them He justified, and whom He justified, them He
glorified." What should we say to these things? That's just
in the salvation end of it. And then, if God before us, who
can be against it? We have an advocate. If we sin or have problems, we
have an advocate. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. So
many of those threads, they start here and then they weave around
and they touch a thousand other threads. A lot of fabrics, the
quality of them is rated by how many threads per inch. I can't even imagine making something
like that by hand. trying to get a thousand threads
per inch, or three hundred, or seven hundred, or whatever they
have. It's unbelievable. But, woven intricately and interlaced
according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. You know, you think about, a lot of times we just, we have
such a small view of our lives and things we do, but who knows
how those things through the fabric of grace, interconnect
with someone else. Norm mentioned here last Sunday
that I think we've had a thousand downloads on sermon audio. A
thousand people have listened to his sermons on sermon audio. Who knows what... And interesting
enough, when he was at Ashland, he met three people that had
listened from Texas that he'd never met before in his life.
They'd just come across the parking lot and said, we just drove 16
hours to hear the gospel. How wonderful that is. What a
memorial of grace that is in their lives that those things
would intersect and they would come to hear that. Each thread in that is a memorial
of grace, and each part adds to the strength of the whole.
Individually, you know, so many in religion try to rip those
threads out one at a time. Well, I don't like the thread
about election. Well, I don't like the thread about sovereignty.
Or I don't like the pen knife in the Old Testament, where I
don't like that page, I'm just going to cut it out. Well, the
garment of grace cannot be rent. Let us not rent it. They said
that because it can't be rent, because God decreed that it not
be rent. The Roman soldiers said, let's
not rent it. And these things, therefore,
the soldiers did because it was written in the Old Testament
that it would not be rent. Let's cast lots for it. It also seems to represent the
completeness of the gospel in Jesus in fulfilling all the requirements
to satisfy the righteousness of God. There wasn't a lack of
threads in that garment. There wasn't too many threads
in that garment. It had the perfect number of threads in it to be
complete. As Dr. Hawker put it, Truth,
however, like the seamless coat of Jesus in the lot of everyone
where Christ is given, is a complete whole. It admits nothing be taken
from it, neither admits anything to be added to it. A whole sinner
needs a whole Savior. Christ must be all or nothing.
And blessed are they who thus have the Lord for their God.
So sung the church, and such will be the song of every individual
of Christ's body." People that pluck those threads out of a
garment, it's not the garment of grace that they are doing
that. They are plucking it out of a system of works. They are
plucking it out of a self-righteous garment that they have created.
The garment of grace cannot be rent. All of the aspects of that
garment speak to the aspects and attributes of God and grace. Sovereignty is clearly displayed.
It's woven from the top down. It was foretold a thousand years
before. In Isaiah the 46th chapter, beginning
in verse 9, it says, Remember the former things of old, for
I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times,
a thousand years in this case, The things that are not yet done.
This garment had not been made a thousand years before when
it was recorded in the Psalms. My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far country.
Those men from Rome were from a far country, and they executed
the counsel of the Lord, because they said, let's not rend it.
because he had foreordained that it would not do it. I have spoken
it. I also will bring it to pass.
I have purposed it. I will also do it. It's without seam. It's complete. When you take a piece of cloth
and you Just take a straight piece of cloth like this tablecloth,
for example, it has a beginning and an end, and if you artificially
put them together and stitch them together, then it would
still have a beginning and an ending, but when it's woven completely, It has no ending. It has no beginning. Not one extra thread left out. Not one necessary thread left
out. Not one thread deleted or no
extra ones added or needed. It's perfect in every respect. Complete in every way. Woven
in eternity by the hand of grace. And it just strikes me every
time I think of that. It just boggles my mind to think
of all the things through time. None of my family was particularly
religious. My mom sent us to vacation Bible
school just for a little peace of mind for two weeks. Not in
any hopes that anything good would come up, I think, but it
was just a babysitting deal that they provided every summer. But other than that, we never
set foot in a church. I never heard the gospel. But
the fabric of grace had a thread that went all the way to Alaska.
And then back to here in the dells. So we'll stop there. When I originally had started
this, I thought, it's everywhere. The fabric of grace is everywhere.
And I was talking to Norm about it. And we just started shouting
out all the fabrics of grace that we could think of. He said,
the robe of righteousness, yeah, and Joseph's coat. the fabric in the tabernacle,
all these things came to mind. So, but it kind of got time-wise
out of hand for one lesson. So maybe the next time we get
together, we'll take a look at another one of the fabrics of
grace and the robe of righteousness, white. You know, that's an interesting
color. White reflects every color. When something's white, it reflects
all the spectrum. That's interesting to me. They're
arrayed in white robes. We'll stop there and next time
we'll take a look at another one of these. Thank you for your
attention and be free.