Let's go back to Psalm 22. My subject is Christ and his
seed, Christ and his seed. Underneath Psalm 22, we see that
this is a Psalm of David, a Psalm of David. He is the inspired
writer. Words of this psalm in many cases
can certainly be, would fit David. Some say that David wrote these
words when he was hunted by King Saul. Others say that it was
when his son Absalom had turned against him and rebelled against
him. But there are some things in this psalm that couldn't be
said of anybody else except our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice verse 14. He said, I'm
poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My
heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of
my bowels. Look at verse 16. For dogs have
compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me,
they pierced, they pierced my hands and my feet. And then verse 18, they part
my garments among them and they cast lots upon my vesture. I would say to those who would
argue that this is, and some do argue that this is, these
are the words of Queen Esther. Some say this is, especially
the Jewish commentators, that this is all of Israel speaking
when they were in captivity. But I would say this is, This
is all about, as Philip said to the Ethiopian
eunuch, this is about some other man. This is about our Lord Jesus
Christ. All of these things happened
to him. And certainly the very first verse of this psalm, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And why art thou so far from
helping me and from the words of my roaring? Those are words
spoken by our Lord Jesus when he was dying upon the cross of
Calvary. And if you look down to the end
of this psalm, look down at this last verse, verse 31, they shall
come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born
that he hath done this. If you ever look at any other
translations, and I suppose some of you do, the Revised Standard
Version says, he hath wrought this. He hath wrought this. And if you read any in the Amplified
Version, it says, He hath finished this. And indeed, our Lord Jesus,
when he hung on the cross, some of his very last words that he
spoke from the cross was, it is finished. It is finished. This psalm presents us, number
one, the agonies of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he experienced
when he suffered and bled upon the cross of Calvary. But it
also sets before us his victories, the great triumphs of our Savior
upon the cross of Calvary. And I'm going to direct your
attention tonight especially to verse 30. A seed shall serve him, a seed
shall worship him. A seed shall adore him. By the word seed, we're to understand
his offspring, his children. You say, well, the Lord Jesus
doesn't have children. Oh yes, he does. You say in order
for him to have children, he has to be the father. He is the
father. In Isaiah chapter nine and verse
six, he said to be the everlasting father. And the everlasting Father,
our Lord Jesus Christ, has an everlasting seed. He has an everlasting
posterity. He has everlasting children. And those are the children given
to Him in the covenant of God's free grace. He has a seed. It was for this
seed that He came into the world. It was for this seed that He
laid down His life. Our Lord Jesus came to save His
people. Put there in Matthew 1.21, just
put this word in, you get the same thing. And He shall save
His seed. His seed. And He did save His
seed by His accomplishments upon the cross of Calvary. The Bible
has many things to say about the seed of Christ, the offspring
of Christ, the children of Christ. Turn over to Psalm 89. Let me
show you just a few verses here. In Psalm 89, look at verses 3
and 4. Psalm 89, verses 3 and 4. I have made a covenant with my
chosen. I have sworn unto David, my servant,
thy seed, thy offspring, thy children, those given to thee
in the election of grace, thy seed will I establish forever. How long will this seed be his
seed? Forever. and says, and build
up thy throne to all generations. And Selah. Look further into
this Psalm, verse 28. My mercy will I keep for him
forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His
seed. We keep coming face to face with
this seed. His seed will I also make to
endure forever, and His throne as the days of heaven." How long
will the seed last? As long as the throne of Christ
lasts. His is an everlasting throne.
He has everlasting power over all flesh to give eternal life
to His millions of fathers given Him. His throne shall last forever. That's exactly how long His seed
will last. Notice what it says in verse
three. If his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgments,
if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then
will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity
with stripes. Nevertheless, my lovingkindness
will I not utterly take from him. nor suffer my faithfulness
to fail. My covenant will I not break,
nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn
by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall
endure forever. Those who believe that salvation
can be received and then lost, know nothing of the Scriptures.
The seed of our Lord Jesus Christ shall endure forever, just as
long as, and you notice how so often here in this passage, the
seed of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's tied to the very throne
of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it says here. His throne as the
sun before me. It shall be established forever
as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven. And then he
uses the word Selah. Now you stop and think about
that. You need to read that and give some great consideration
to it. You see, Christ said, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Know this, as long
as our Lord Jesus sits upon the throne of the governments of
the nations of the world, that reward given Him for His work
of redemption upon the cross of Calvary, as long as He sits
there in regal splendor and delight, that's exactly how long His seed
will last forever. Go back to the text there in
Psalm 22. There's another word here in
the 30th verse that I want to call your attention to. He says,
a seed shall serve him, that is shall worship him and adore
him. It shall be accounted, it shall
be credited. It shall be credited to the Lord. Who gets the credit for the salvation
of this seed? He does. It says it shall be credited
to the Lord for a generation, for a special people that are
his own people. Let me say several things about
this seed. Number one, this seed in this
generation, this is a chosen generation, a royal seed. You have read numbers of times
in 1 Peter 2 and verse 9 about a chosen generation. You see, we have been regenerated
by the power of the Spirit through the word of the gospel. But regeneration,
that is the new birth, the new birth or regeneration does not
make you to be the seed. You're the seed, you're the offspring
of our Lord Jesus Christ first, that is eternally, and therefore
you're regenerated. Therefore you're born again of
the Holy Spirit. This is free and sovereign grace.
Isaiah 65 in verse nine says, and I will bring forth the seed
out of Jacob. and out of Judah an inheritor
of my mountains, and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants
shall dwell there. The elect seed shall inherit
heaven's everlasting glory. That's in store for all the seed. That's what God has purposed
for us, and nothing can break his purpose. Nothing can frustrate
that which he has ordained. The seed shall inherit everlasting
glory. And not only is this a chosen
generation, a chosen seed, but secondly, this is a redeemed
seed. Now for this, I'd like for you
to go with me to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah into that special
gospel chapter, Isaiah chapter 53. And I shall begin reading
with verse four. So this is a chosen generation,
a chosen seed. These people who make up the
seed of our Lord Jesus Christ, this chosen generation, we didn't
just choose to be his seed. We didn't choose to be his chosen
generation. This is a choice that was made,
but it was a choice of God. And secondly, this is a redeemed,
a redeemed seed. Isaiah 53 verse four. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions,
that He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray, We have turned everyone to his own way, and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed,
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers
is done, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison,
and from judgment, And who shall declare his generation? Who shall declare the greatness
of his generation? Who shall declare fully the redemptive
profits for the generation? He was cut off out of the land
of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. because he hath done no
violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. It satisfied God to bruise him. You see, God bruising sinners
in hell, that doesn't satisfy him. But the bruising, the affliction,
the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary,
that pleased God. That satisfied God. He hath put
him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall see. Who did he see when he was upon
the cross of Calvary? He saw all those given to him
in covenant electing grace. He saw his seed. He shall prolong
his days. There's the resurrection of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. Do we believe a prosperity gospel? Absolutely. Not that we're gonna
be rich in the things of this world, but we believe that our
Lord Jesus Christ, when he laid down his life, it was a death
of prosperity. He won for us the victory over
our sins because He saw His seed. Upon the cross of Calvary, our
Lord Jesus saw all of His seed. He saw all of His generation.
He knew what we would be, and He knew what He was doing for
us. He redeemed us by His power. The third thing, go back to Psalm
22. Back in Psalm 22, here's the
third thing I want to point out to you. This is a called seed. This is a called seed. 22 verse 30, a seed shall serve
him. It shall be accounted to the
Lord for a generation. And then look at the next verse,
they shall come. They shall come. They shall come
when they're called. Now make no mistake about it,
before the seed are called, before the effectual call of grace comes
to us, we were already His seed. But we didn't know anything about
it. We didn't know anything about His gospel. We didn't know anything
about the strictness of the justice of God. We didn't know anything
about why Christ was manifested. He was manifested to take away
our sins. We didn't know about any of those
things. But then the Spirit of God, through
the gospel, he himself called us to Christ Jesus. We're a called seed. A seed shall serve him. A seed
shall worship him. And they shall come. all of the
seed of our Lord Jesus Christ, this chosen generation, this
redeemed seed, they shall all be brought to our Lord Jesus
Christ. They shall be confronted with
the gospel. If you're a believer tonight,
you have been confronted with the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ as God the Spirit used that preached word to teach you
the gospel and miraculously created life within you. You're born
again of the Spirit of God. This is a called seed. And having been called, they
shall come. There's no possibility that the
seed would not be called. There's no possibility that some
of the seed would fail to hear the call of the gospel and then
perish in their sins. That's impossible because they've
always been his seed. We've always been his seed. We've
always been a chosen generation and a redeemed generation. The
next thing I point out to you is this seed will believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter four, Talks
about the seed, the seed shall be brought to believe. Not some
of the seed, but all of the seed. All of the seed of our Lord Jesus,
all of the generation shall be brought to believe him. We receive
Him, we believe Him, we embrace Him, we hug up to the Lord Jesus
Christ, we lean fully upon Him, and we see He's the only Savior,
and He saved us by His redemptive work upon the cross of Calvary.
There's no way that you can know, however, that you are among His
seed unless you have been brought to believe Him. and to rest in
Him. And I'll tell you something else
about this seed. This is a justified seed. You
don't have to turn to this, but in Isaiah 45, 25, in the Lord
shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. What does it mean to be justified?
Justified is a legal word in the Bible. whereby God Himself
declares the seed of Christ Jesus to be pure, innocent, and righteous
before Him. Everybody who believes on Christ,
everyone is brought to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because
we've been justified. Legally accepted by God. Because
remember this, God cannot deal with anybody except on the basis
of perfect righteousness. And He's not going to accept
your worship, He's not going to accept you, except upon the
basis of His justice having been satisfied. You've got to be righteous
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you something else
about this seed. And for this, I want you to go to 1 John 3.
This is a seed that is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at 1
John 3. 1 John 3. Let me read the first
five verses to you. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Or you could put another word
in there, the seed of God. You could put another word in
there, the generation of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. Now are we the seed of God. Now
are we the generation of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall
be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every man that
hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committed sin transgresseth
also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. And
you know that he was manifested, You know He was manifested. And
actually most of the people in this, at least in this country,
especially this time of the year, acknowledge that He was manifested. That God came down here. They
don't understand the reason He came down here. They don't really
understand who He is, who He was, and what He did and why
He did it. But they know that He was manifested
Watch it. To take away sins? No. Better read that again. He wasn't
manifested to take away sins. He was manifested to take away
our sins. This is a particular people.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save the people
of His choice. He came to save, to redeem, to
reconcile to God a seed, a generation, the children of God. Continue
reading. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not, neither sinneth, or whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither
known him. Look at verse seven. Little children,
let no man deceive you. He that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Now look at verse 9. Whosoever
is born of God doth not commit sin. Why not? For his seed, the seed
of Christ that I've been talking about, the generation of the
Lord, his seed remaineth in him. And he cannot sin because he
is born of God. There is only one place in all
the universe where there is no sin in a man, the man Christ
Jesus. There's no sin in Him. We all
agree on that. Well, by the grace of God, we're
found to be in Christ Jesus. And if we're in Christ Jesus
and He has no sin, then we have no sin. See, that's the argument
of the Apostle John. Our Lord Jesus came and took
away our sins. John is saying to us here, all
who are in Christ, all who are in Him, all of the seed, all
of the generation, being in Him and He has no sin, then if we're
in Him, we don't have any sin either. This is the argument
of John. Now, am I a sinner? Do I have
sin in me? Sure. Do you have sin in you? Yes. But in Christ Jesus, he
having paid our sin debt, being in him, we have no sin. And you see, the Word of God
is very clear. This standing that we have before
God, being in Christ Jesus, is not a standing that we have in
and of ourselves. You see, God in old eternity
put us in Christ Jesus. We were in Him when He came,
we were in Him when He died, we were in Him when He was buried,
we were in Him when He arose from the dead, and we were in
Him when He went to heaven. We ascended to heaven in Him. The seed of our Lord is in Him,
and in Him we have no sin. We're righteous before God, even
as Christ is righteous. Because I remind you, God cannot
have any fellowship with anybody unless they're righteous in Christ. You know, in the New Testament,
the word seed is found some 42 times. And 37 times it means
offspring, generation, Posterity. Where can you find
the seed of Christ? Where can you find the generation
of Christ Jesus? In Him. In Him's the only place
of safety. In Him's the only place where
there's no sin. We're in Him now. We were in
Him when He came. We're in him even as we live
and we'll be in him when we leave this world and go to be with
him. We're in him and we will be with
him in heaven's everlasting glory. The reason we're accepted, the
reason we're righteous is because we're in him. And as far as God's concerned,
we cannot sin. Because we're born of God. And we're born of God because
we're in Christ. And in Christ there is no sin. Rejoice, child of God, in what
God has done for you. In old eternity He put you according
to His saving purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ. And from Christ
you will never be separated. You're a chosen generation, a
redeemed people, a called people by the power of the Holy Spirit.
You are complete in Him. In Isaiah 45, 24 it says, Surely
shall one say, In the Lord, in the Lord I have righteousness
and strength. Where is righteousness and strength? In the Lord. That's the only
place you can find righteousness and strength. Look back to Philippians, the
third chapter. Let me show you this. Now, this
is Paul's great desire. And he never got away from this.
Philippians chapter 3 and verse 8. Yea, doubtless, Philippians
3.8, and I count all things but loss, For the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things and do count them but done, watch it,
that I may win Christ and be found, where? In Him. Where? In Him. There's no righteousness to be
had anywhere else except in Him. And that's where all the seed,
all the generation of God's people are. We're in Him. Go back to my text now. Psalm
22. In verse 30, A seed shall serve Him, a seed
shall worship Him, a seed shall adore Him and fear Him. Watch it, a seed, they shall,
they shall serve Him. Is there any possibility that
any of the seed, any of the generation shall fail to worship and adore
and serve our Lord Jesus Christ? No possibility whatsoever. Don't you love the shalls of
the Lord? And God, through the inspired
writer David, assures us a seed shall worship Him. A seed shall
adore Him. Who will see to that? The Redeemer
Himself. And it shall be accounted, it
shall be credited to Him. You don't think you're going
to get any credit, do you? We're all in agreement on this.
We don't get any credit for being in Him. All of the glory, all
of the credit for the salvation of the seed of this chosen, redeemed,
called generation, all of the credit goes to Him who deserves
it, in whom we're found. Psalm 112 verse 2 says of this The seed, his seed shall be mighty
upon the earth. The generation of the upright
shall be blessed. I know at any one time and any
given time, I should say, the seed seems to be very small.
The generation doesn't seem to be greatly numbered. But I'll
tell you what, when all the seed get together in heaven's everlasting
glory, It shall be found to be a seed, a generation that no
man can number, but the Lord has numbered us. He knows all
of his seed because he chose us. He bought all of his seed
because he redeemed us by his blood. He sent his gospel to
us and called all of his seed to faith in him. And the last thing that I'll
give you is this. And I just read this verse to
you. You don't have to look back at it, but in 1 John 3 2, beloved,
now are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be. We don't know much about what
we gonna be in glory. In fact, we don't know a whole
lot about heaven. And that's all right. We know
Him who is heaven. We know Him who is the Savior.
We know Him who chose the seed, chose the generation, and redeemed
us unto God by His blood. And in Him, in Him, all the seed
are righteous. We're made the righteousness
of God in Him, never outside of Him, but in Him. And it says here, beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. You say, Jim, am I one
of the seed? Am I one of this chosen generation? Am I one of these redeemed ones? One of these called ones? Well,
the question to ask then, and better do what Peter says in
2 Peter, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.
Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as He's revealed in the
Word of God? And if you do, you've been brought
by grace to look to Christ for everything that you need. For
forgiveness, for righteousness, for acceptance, if you believe
Him, it's a sure thing. You're among
the seed. You're among the generation of
those that fear Him and worship Him. Let's close the service
by singing a hymn