Alright, in Micah chapter 2. I've taken the title of the message
tonight from verse 13, the last verse of this chapter. The breaker
is come up. The breaker is come up. Now the
breaker there, if you don't understand that, the breaker there is one
who breaks through to do and accomplish a certain task, a
certain mission. And of course, that is a type,
it's a description, an identification, and certainly a prophecy of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so what we have here is the
close of Micah's first message, actually, here. and it closes
with the hope of the future. Now, this chapter can be divided
very easily. The first 11 verses of Micah
chapter 2 speak vividly and realistically and very sternly of the guilt
and punishment of Israel, the punishment that sinners deserve. as we understand the reality
of sin, the reality of unbelief and rebellion and idolatry, all
these things that have been described by the Word of God through the
prophet Micah, actually not only in this chapter, but in chapter
1. And of course, Micah is going to continue with that message
of judgment. And what it says, it's a vivid
description of man, all men, all of us, in a state of nature,
in a state of sin. And especially directed towards
Israel and Judah, the people of God under the Old Covenant,
And remember, as we've already covered the first six verses,
I won't go back into them, but just remind you that they're
in verse 4, how this one statement is just really astonishing, and
it helps us, if we understand it, to understand how God dealt
with these people in the Old Testament, in the Old Covenant,
that nation, and how much better and how differently it is for
God's people, spiritual Israel, under the New Covenant. when
he says there in verse four he had changed the portion of my
people and you remember i preach this past wednesday night on
our portion does not change our portion that cannot change and
the reason that our portion and our portion is salvation our
portion is christ himself and all the salvation and blessedness
that he has come in gained for us by His obedience unto death,
the reason that that portion cannot change is because of Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. It's because the breaker has
come up and He's broken through, and we'll talk about that. But
the Old Covenant, that Old Covenant, remember this now, that Old Covenant
was an ever-present reminder of the sin and depravity and
the failure of men to maintain their status of blessedness within
that land of promise. God gave them that land of promise,
but even having given it to them by His power and His goodness,
it was not even possible that they of their own wills and of
their own goodness and power could maintain that land. And
therefore, that's another great picture of the futility of salvation. eternal salvation and eternal
blessedness based on our efforts to keep the law. We are a pitiful
bunch. Now, I know people don't like
to hear it that way. I know they feel insulted by
it, but I'm talking about when it comes to a relationship with
God, when it comes to being blessed of God, when it comes to saving
ourselves and keeping ourselves saved, we are a pitiful bunch. We're sinners who need mercy. And not just one time. Not just
in a day or a week or a month. We are continual mercy beggars. And even at our best moments,
when we go to the Lord in prayer, we must go on the basis of the
fact that we have a high priest, a great high priest, who has
passed through or you could say it this way, has broken through
unto the heavens. Jesus Christ, the righteous,
who is our advocate. And our problem is not just one
sin, but the abundance of sin, a multitude of sin. Because we
can say and identify with this passage in Romans 5 and verse
20 where sin abounded. Well, it abounds here. It abounds
in me. It abounds in you. But we can
take rest and joy and peace in the fact that where sin abounds,
grace does much more abound. And grace reigns through righteousness. And we who know Christ and are
found in Him, we have one. And it is ours. Not because we
produced it, not because God enabled us to do it, Not because
we helped Him to do it, but because the breaker has broken through
and come upon this earth and went to the cross and died on
Calvary to save us from our sins, to put our sins away. He took
them away. He took them away. My sins are
all taken away. How far did He take them away?
Well, I'll tell you what, God does not hold them against us. God casts them behind His back
wherever that is. That's what the scripture says.
And if they're out of God's sight, then you can rest assured they
can never be brought back up again. Think about this. Look at verse 6. As Micah began
to bring the revelation of God's judgment upon this people, it
was clear as in the case of every prophet that God sent to his
people, that this was a message that they did not want to hear. And so they cry out in verse
6, prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy. Don't
tell us that message. Don't preach to us about sin
and depravity. Be like that fellow on TV who
just smiles all the time and tells us about our gleaming potential. and what we can do if we'll just
fan the flame or the spark of goodness within us. They shall
not prophesy to them that they shall not take shame. Don't make
us ashamed. You see, what they're avoiding
there is conviction. What they're avoiding there is
confession. The confession of what I really
am in myself and my need of the mercy of God in Christ. We don't
want to be shamed before men. We don't want to be shamed before
God. That's the flesh. That's depravity right there.
If you want to talk about depravity, that's it right there. Man lifting
himself up and saying, don't tell me that I'm a sinner. Don't
tell me that I'm totally depraved. Don't tell me that I can't in
some way or to some degree at some stage make myself acceptable
to God. Don't tell me that. And certainly,
certainly don't tell me that all the good things that I think
recommend me unto God are evil deeds. Don't tell me that my
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Don't tell me that the
only thing that can wash me clean is the blood of a substitute.
That's just not dignified. That's just not the power of
positive thinking. Prophesy ye not to me. Well,
this is the case then. Look at verse 7. He says, O thou
that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straightened?
Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him
that walketh uprightly?" What he's asking here is this. You
claim to be the family of Jacob, the house of Jacob. You're proud
of that name. You know, they would say, we
be Abraham's children. We walk and preach and act in
the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But God's Word
exposes you for what you are. Your pride is misplaced. Your pride should be turned to
shame. And so he asked this question,
is the spirit of the Lord straightened? You might see in your concordance
the word shortened. What that means is this, God's
spirit, His word is not restricted or limited or restrained by what
you want or what you think you need. Somebody says, well, I
don't want to hear this part of God's Word, but I want to
hear this part. God's Word is not restricted to you and your
desires and your preferences. God has His Word for His people
when He, in His wisdom and in His sovereign providence, knows
they need His Word. God knows what I need better
than what I think I need. God knows what I need to preach
to you and to myself. more than what we know by nature
and what you think by nature. God's Word is not restricted.
His ways are not restricted. And the doings of these people
were not God's doings. They weren't walking by God's
Word. He says, are these His doings?
Is this what God told you to do? Did He tell you to be lifted
up with pride and go about trying to establish your own righteousness?
Is that what God said to do? You know, anytime you see in
the Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, any word that commands
or encourages obedience in any fashion by God, His law, whatever,
it is never, never a command from God for sinners to try to
save themselves or to earn God's blessings for themselves by their
works. God has never commanded any sinner to try to be saved
by their works. Now, I told that to a fellow
one time, and he said, well, what about the rich young man?
Christ told him, he said, well, keep the commandments, and you'll
have eternal life. That wasn't Christ commanding
him to do that in order to gain eternal life. That was Christ
exposing the reality that that man refused to see, that you
can't keep the law perfectly. Because you remember what the
man said when Christ said that. He said, well, I've done that.
And so Christ said what? What did He say after that? He
said, well, let's put it to the test. Let's put it to the test. Go
and sell everything that you have and give it to the poor.
And you live in poverty. Huh? Now you say, well, is that
what He requires for salvation? No. No. But that would be the
only proof that a sinner loved his neighbor as himself, which
we don't. Which we don't. And so that man
went away sorrowful. And you remember what the disciples
said when the man went away sorrowful? They said, if he's not saved,
who can be? Remember what the Lord said?
He said, well, that which is impossible with men is only possible
with God. Salvation's of the Lord. They
were working. He says, but you're not doing
God's words. And then he says, do not my words
do good to him that walketh uprightly? What is it to walk uprightly
in the sight of God? It's to walk by faith in Christ. It's to believe God. Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. Abraham
gave glory to God. Abraham worshiped and served
God. And no sinner who's trying to be saved by their works is
walking uprightly. His standard is too low. His
goal is too low. The standard is righteousness
and holiness that we find only in Christ. Well, my friend, if
you're aware by the Spirit of God of what you are by nature,
then you won't have any problem with the prophet of God speaking
to you this way. I'm a sinner. I'm a poor sinner. And that's it. I'm a mercy beggar. That's what I am. I'm a needy
sinner. And so he tells them, God's word
is not an offense to those who walk uprightly. Look at verse
8, he says, even of late my people has risen up as an enemy. The
very people of God whom he delivered out of Egypt and gave this land
and blessed so much out of his abundance had turned on him and
become his enemy. This kind of reminds me of what
Paul wrote in Colossians chapter 1, even of the eternal children
of God. God's spiritual elect people
in Christ by nature as we're born in this world, we're enemies
of God. He said, you're alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works. But yet now hath he reconciled
us by the cross, by his death on the cross. But they become
his enemy. And he says, you pull off the
robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men
averse from war. Just like warriors coming from
a big victory and you want the spoils, you've heard this saying,
he'll steal the shirt off your back. That's what this is. Just
like warriors coming from a victory. You think you're victorious and
you think you deserve this, so you'll take it. That's what he's
saying. You'll take it. You think you deserve more than
these other people, so you'll take what they have. And that's
what self-righteousness and pride, verse 9. Look, he says, "...the
women of my people have you cast out from their pleasant houses."
He's talking about widows here. These widows. You've cast them
out of their houses, and from their children have you taken
away my glory forever." Talking about orphans. Not only these
issues of sin and depravity, but how they treat the oppressed,
how they treat the downtrodden, the poor and the needy. bad treatment
of widows and orphans. You know why that's such an issue
that comes to the forefront in the Word of God? Let me show
you why. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 1. Listen to this. Think about it this way in a
spiritual sense. Back then, the most destitute
people in that area would have been a widow who had no visible
means of support, no income, and no family to take care of
her. She was just cashed out and down
fraud. Same with an orphan. They didn't
have orphanages. They didn't have government programs
or anything like that. Those were the most destitute
people that you can think of. Now let me ask you a question.
What are we spiritually? We're the most destitute beings
in the universe, like widows and orphans. And therefore, God
made it clear that how you treat such people who are destitute
and downtrodden and cannot take care of themselves, are incapable,
impotent, like we are spiritually, that's a reflection on how you
view yourself before God. That's why he said, blessed are
the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. What do I have in the
abundance of what I have that I deserve to earn from God? That
God didn't give me freely and yet I would hold on to it and
treat others who are destitute wrongly because of my pride and
self-righteousness? Well, look here in verse 16 of
Isaiah 1. He says, wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil." This is Isaiah
116. And that washing there, that's
seeking to be clean before God. And he says, learn to do well. What is it to do well? He says,
seek judgment. That is, justice. Relieve the
oppressed. Judge the fatherless. That is,
do justice to the fatherless, the orphan. Plead for the widow. Don't treat the widow in a bad
way, in a wrong way, but step in on her behalf and take care
of her. And look what's right after that.
Verse 18, come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as garland,
bright, shiny red, not hidden now, not from God, You might
hide them from men. They might be hidden from you,
but not... Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white
as snow. Now, how are my sins, which are
so scarlet and glaring, how are they going to be white as snow?
He says, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,
white as wool. How is that possible? Well, he
tells us. all through the Bible. He tells
us in the book of Isaiah how that's possible. The only way
that sins can be washed away, the only way that a sinner can
be made clean is by the sovereign mercy and grace of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ, washed in His blood and clothed in His
righteousness. And I don't have any power to do that for myself. Just like a widow or an orphan
doesn't have any power to take care of themselves physically.
They don't have any power to earn their food, earn their shelter,
earn their clothing. They are totally dependent upon
others to help them. That's what he's talking about.
Well, that's the way it is with us and God. That's the way it is
with our salvation. We are totally dependent, just
like an infant, just like a child. He said, we are totally dependent
upon our Heavenly Father for all our spiritual salvation,
redemption, blessedness, righteousness, life, and glory. We can't earn
it. We don't deserve it. That's what
he's saying. Look back at Micah chapter 2. So don't oppress them. Realize
what you are. Realize that everything you have
is a gift from God. That's what he's saying. Look
at verse 10. And when he says, you've taken away my glory forever,
from them, what he's talking about is you've taken away what
I've given them. It's God's glory to give. Did you know that? It is God's
glory to give. And the highest manifestation
of God's glory is the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and salvation by Him. That's the highest of God's glory.
So that when you take what God has given away from somebody
who cannot earn it or doesn't deserve it, you're taking away
His glory. You're not glorifying and honoring Him. So look at
verse 10, he says, Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest.
Now, you do these things, but you have an assurance, you have
a peace, you're resting as if everything's okay. You're not
following the Lord, you're not believing Him, you're not resting
in Christ, but he says this is not your rest. He says because
it's polluted. My friend, for salvation, Whatever
we rest in or whoever we rest in, it or he cannot be polluted. It cannot be polluted. Because
if it's polluted, there's no rest there with the Lord. He says, it shall destroy you.
Pollution, sin will destroy you even with a sore destruction. Not just an easy one. This is,
don't rest in your works, don't rest in your labors, don't rest
in your supposed holiness or righteousness, don't rest in
anything but Christ and Him crucified and risen again. That's the picture
here. He is our Sabbath. Somebody asked
me one time, do we keep a Sabbath? Yes, we do. His name is Jesus
Christ, the Lord our righteousness. Read it in Hebrews chapter 4,
he is our rest. He's our rest from all sin because
he put it away. He's our rest from all our labors
because the law requires nothing of us in order to attain or maintain
salvation. He is the Lord our righteousness.
Verse 11, if a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie,
what he's talking about there, he's talking about a man who's
claiming to speak in the spirit And he speaks falsehood and he
lies, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong
drink. He shall even be the prophet
of this people. What he's saying here is the
same thing Jeremiah said in his day of false preachers. In Jeremiah
5.31, here's what he said. He said, the prophets prophesy
falsely, the priests bear rule by their names, the priests support
them, and my people love to have it so, and what will you do in
the end thereof? That's what he's saying. This
wine and strong drink that he's speaking of here is their lies
that they tell that send men by nature into a drunken stupor
of false refuges and false joy. You know, wine in the Bible a
lot of times is a picture of joy. And what he's saying is
when these false preachers come along and tell you what you want
to hear instead of what you need to hear, you rejoice in it, just
like a drunk man. He's happy, whatever. You know,
he's 10 feet tall and bulletproof, isn't he? And he's happy. He
doesn't feel the pain right at the moment, does he? And the
same thing with the strong drink. That's what he's talking about.
These false preachers, they serve up the wine of their false doctrine,
and you get drunk on it, and you rejoice in it, and you say,
now there's my preacher. I'm going to follow that person. I'm not going to listen to old
Micah here. He tells me I'm a sinner, and I don't want to hear that.
I've heard that enough. You know you can't hear that
enough. I can't hear that enough. Now, I'm not just talking about
preaching hell, fire, damnation, or brimstone. I'm talking about
preaching Christ. So now, there's the state. There's the condition
of the people. There's the total depravity of
man. There's man at his best state, altogether vanity. What hope is there? What hope
is there? Well, here it is. We need someone
to break through. All of that. Break through into
this world. Break through our sin. Break
through our depravity. Break through our pride, our
self-righteousness. Break through our bondage and
redeem us from our sins. That's what we need. Now listen
to the language of verse 12. He starts off here with the redemption
and the salvation and the ingathering of the remnant of Israel. Here's what he says, and notice
who's doing the work here. Verse 12, he says, I will surely
assemble. Now, who's doing the assembling
here? This is God. I will surely assemble. He's not waiting on sinners to
assemble of their own will. of their own goodness. He said,
I'll do this. I will surely assemble. This is a certainty. This is
an assembly that's going to take place. And who's he going to
assemble? Old Jacob. All right. All of thee. I will surely, listen, there's
another I will. I will surely gather, who? The remnant of Israel. God still
has a people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation, Jew
and Gentile. And then here's another one,
I will put them together as the sheep. What's the picture here?
A shepherd going after his sheep. I will put them together as the
sheep of Basra. Basra was an area where the sheep
were known to be of high quality. And he says, "...as the flock
in the midst of their fold..." They're going to be safe in the
shepherd's fold, alright? "...they shall make great noise
by reason of the multitude of men." They're going to make a
great noise. What's he talking about here?
Well, the Shepherd of Israel. We read about it in Psalm 80. Christ the Great Shepherd. John
chapter 10, he said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
does what? Gives his life for the sheep. The good shepherd
goes after his sheep. The good shepherd brings them
home. He picks them up and brings them home. Brings them into the
fold. And he has some sheep among the Jews. And he said, other
sheep I have that are not of this fold. Them I also must bring. Because they're his. They're given to him. He redeemed
them by his blood. He died for them. We read about
that in the book of Ezekiel, how he's going to send his shepherds
to gather his people in. We, like sheep, have gone astray. We've all gone our own way. We
can't find our way home. That's the nature of a sheep.
A lost sheep cannot find his way home. Can't do it. He's gone unless the shepherd
goes out and finds him. Isn't that right? And the shepherd
has to pay the price for the sheep. It's not free. And what
is the price? The precious blood of Christ
is the price for the sheep. How is man in a state... This
is a state of grace here. We talked about that this morning.
This is a state of grace. What is that? Assembled? Who? Jacob. What's Jacob? What's Jacob
a symbol of? Sinners saved by the grace of
God. Sinners who have no goodness
of themselves, who have no righteousness of themselves, who have no holiness
of themselves. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. What is it to be
in a state of grace? It's to be assembled. It's to
be gathered. It's to be put together in the
sheepfold and to be brought to make a great noise. What is that
noise? It's the song of the redeemed.
It's worthy is the lamb that was slain. It's I must decrease,
Christ must increase. He must have the... This is how
man in a state of grace is described here. Look at it again. Number one, he's assembled and
gathered by God. Salvation of the Lord, I will,
I will, I will. That's what he said. You know,
every time you see a prophecy of the new covenant, that's what
God says, I'll do this. I'll bring you out of the nations.
I'll redeem you. I'll pick you up. I'll wash you
clean. I'll give you a new heart. I'll
put my spirit within you. And you can go on and on and
on. Christ came unto his own and his own received him not,
but to them which received him, to them gave he the authority
and right to be called the children of God, not by the will of man,
Not by the will of the flesh, but by the will of God. They're
assembled and gathered by God. Secondly, notice he says here,
I will surely assemble, O Jacob, and notice that phrase, all of
thee. All of thee. And who is the all
here? It's the remnant of Israel. What
is that remnant? It's the remnant according to
the election of grace whom God chose and redeemed by the blood
of His Son, justified by His blood and His righteousness.
This is not a reestablishment of an earthly nation under an
earthly conditional covenant in an earthly land to obtain
earthly blessings. It's an assembly and in-gathering
of the remnant of Israel, God's elect out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. Not one whom God chose and for
whom Christ died will be missing. All of them will be in this fold. All Israel shall be saved. Who is all Israel? Well, Paul
says the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Who
are the children of the promise? All who believe and rest in Christ
for salvation. Thirdly, he says he's going to
gather them together. We're going to be together. How
are we going to be together? Well, we're all going to be together
in and by Christ. He's the head of the church.
He's the heart of the church. He's the foundation of the church.
Do you know that every one of us sitting here today, tonight,
who are saved, We're washed in the same blood, washed clean. Our sins are equally taken away
and removed by the blood of Christ. Our debt equally has been paid
by the work of Christ, by His redeeming blood. We all are clothed
in the same righteousness, the imputed righteousness of Christ.
Your righteousness is no better than mine, and mine no better
than yours, because it's the same. And it's the only one that's
worthwhile. It's the ground of every saved
sinner's salvation. We're together in Christ. When
he died, we all died with him. He is our representative. When
He was buried, we were buried with Him. When He arose again
the third day, we arose with Him. And when He ascended unto
the Father and is seated at the right hand of the Father ever
living to make intercession for us, we ascended with Him so that
we can openly and honestly say that as He is right now, so are
we in this world. Not in our own persons, but in
the person of Christ. That's why, you know, that's
why we can sing songs like, hymns like, My Sins Are All Taken Away.
That's why we can sing, my hope is built on nothing less than
Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's why we can say, we dare
not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
And on Christ the solid rock, we stand together. You stand
on the same rock I stand. If you're saved, Jesus Christ
in Him crucified. And then fourthly, he says they'll
make that great noise. We'll rejoice in Christ and worship
Christ. Listen, we are the circumcision. You know what that is? That's
Israel. Spiritual Israel, Philippians 3, 3. We worship God in spirit. That's the noise we make. We
give glory to God in Christ. We lift up Christ. We brag on
Christ. We glory in Christ. And all that
he accomplished on Calvary. And we rejoice in Christ Jesus
and have no confidence in the flesh. We're together. And we
make that noise, worthy is the Lamb. We're under the blood of
Christ. We're clothed in His righteousness.
We're under His headship and His lordship. We're people who've
been redeemed. Now, how is all that possible?
Because when he describes verse 12 here, when he describes the
state of grace, people who have been graced by God, is he talking
about a class of people somewhere on earth That's just better than
the ones he described up to verse 11 there? Chapter 1 and 2? I mean, is this just people who
have just, because they're not as stubborn as the rest of them,
not as rebellious as the rest of them, who have just decided
to make a decision for Jesus or to cooperate with God? Is
that what he's talking about there? No. How is that possible
that a sinner could be described in such a way as assembled? and as gathered and as brought
together into the sheepfold and worshiping, believing, resting
in Christ. How is that possible? Well, verse
13 is the answer. Somebody broke through. Somebody
broke through. You didn't break through. I didn't
break through. Breaking through is not walking
an aisle. Breaking through is not joining a church. Breaking
through is not being baptized. Breaking through is not singing
in a choir. You didn't break through. I didn't
break through. Who did? The Lord Jesus Christ
broke through. Listen to it. This is the ground
of all this blessedness described in verse 12. The Messiah is identified
here. And he is identified as the one
who breaks through and removes every obstacle for the complete
salvation of His people. He broke through sin. He broke
through Satan. He broke through the curse of
the law. And because He broke through, let me tell you something,
because He broke through, every one of His sheep will break through
and pass the gate and follow Him, our King and our Lord. That's right. The breaker is
come up before them. Notice that again, look at verse
13. The breaker is come up before them. You know what that's teaching
us? Is this, when it comes to salvation,
now let me tell you something, and let's get this in our mind,
let's pray that the Lord will seal this in our minds and our
hearts. In order for us to be completely saved, there are some
things that must take place that are necessary. For example, we
must be born again. You're not going to be saved
unless you're born again. That's what Christ told Nicodemus.
If you're not... Listen, he said you must be born
again or you can't see or enter the kingdom of heaven. Is that
not right? You must be born again. You must be regenerated and converted. That's the work of the Holy Spirit
in us. It's necessary for salvation.
Without it, you will not be saved. I will not be saved. All right,
second, we must be preserved. We've got to be kept. Christ
did not... He not only started this thing,
He finishes it, you see. When we're born again, then we
live a spiritual life. We've got to be preserved. We
can't keep ourselves. It's by the grace of God that
we're kept. So that has to take place. And then we must be glorified. We must enter heaven's glory
being united to a new spiritual body, which I don't know a whole
lot about, but I know it's so. It's like Him, like Christ. Now, if you listen to what I've
just said, you may be thinking to yourself, and you're right,
I left out something, didn't I? Something that must take place. It's the first thing that must
take place. It's the most important thing that must take place. It
has the preeminence in all of salvation. And what is that? That's the work of Christ on
the cross. You see, in order for us to have something done
in us by the Spirit, there must first be something done for us
by the Son of God. And that's what this is teaching.
The breaker is come up before them. What is that teaching?
That's teaching the preeminence of Christ and His finished work
in salvation. You see, without Christ doing
His work on the cross, His work of redemption, His work of putting
away sin, His work of establishing righteousness, there is no life
for the Spirit to give. That's what the Spirit does in
regeneration and conversion. He gives us life. He imparts
life. into our hearts, our minds, affects. Well, without Christ doing His
work on the cross, without His death, there is no life. Life
comes from Him, and the Spirit applies it from Him. He has the
preeminence. You see that? Without Christ
doing His great work on the cross, washing our sins away, making
us righteous, justifying us before God, there is no preservation.
There's nothing to preserve. What did Christ say in John chapter
12? He said, except a seed of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it will not bring forth fruit. But He said, and I, if
I be lifted up, will draw all men. But He has to be lifted
up first, isn't that right? He told His disciples in John
chapter 16 and verse 7 when He was beginning to describe the
work of the Spirit in conviction, that He will convict us of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment, that's the new birth. First thing,
he said, I must go away. For if I go not away, the Spirit
will not come. What does he mean, go away? He
means go do his work on the cross, die, be buried, raised again
the third day, and ascend unto the Father. You see, the work
of Christ for us and the work of the Spirit in us are both
necessary in salvation, but not for the same reason. The work
of Christ for us is the ground of salvation, the cause of salvation. The work of Christ, the Holy
Spirit in us is the fruit, the result. And that's what he's
talking about here. The breaker is come up before
them. Christ came up as the preeminent
one. And listen to what he did. Now
listen to this. Christ broke forth into the realm of humanity
and was made flesh. The breakers come up. The Bible
says in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 16, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. He had to be made flesh and dwell
among us. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham."
Who's that? That's old Jacob, all of them.
Spiritual Israel. And he says, "...whereof in all
things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."
Sins put away, righteousness established. Christ broke, the
breaker has come up. He came up out of the womb of
his mother. God-man. That was necessary. Secondly, Christ broke forth
and fulfilled all righteousness by his obedience unto death.
Micah knew, by revelation from God, that the only hope for Israel
and for any sinner was and is in God's sovereign grace and
mercy accomplished in the promised Messiah. who would come forth
and break the bands of sin and death for us." What did he say?
I'm the good shepherd, I give my life for the sheep. His death
is our life. Isn't that right? His death is
our life. His death is our righteousness,
which demands life. For he was made sin Christ having
our sins charged to Him. Christ who knew no sin and He
did it for us in order that what? That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He broke forth on the cross and
put away sin. He broke forth on the cross and
defeated Satan. He said, now is the prince of
this world judged. Now is he cast out. He did all
that. He broke forth the law, the curse
of the law on the cross. He broke forth and kept the law
and satisfied justice and brought in everlasting righteousness.
Thirdly, Christ broke forth from the grave as He was raised from
the dead. The grave couldn't hold Him.
God would not suffer His Holy One to see corruption, the Scripture
says. And it's by Him, not the law of Moses, that we have the
forgiveness of sins and eternal life and glory. Fourthly, Christ
broke forth into the heavens where He now is seated at the
right hand of the Father. ever living to make intercession
for us. So that when we sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And
so we can boldly say, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ that dies. And who is it that inspires and
enables us to make those statements? God the Holy Spirit as he gives
us life and drives us to Christ. wherefore he is able to save
to the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for him." And then it says here in
verse 13, that breaker has come up before them and then it says,
they have broken up and have passed through the gate and are
gone out of it. Now there's the work of the Holy
Spirit in us, there's the new birth. What that means when it
says they have broken up, it means they've broken out and
they've passed through They've passed through the bondage of
sin and Satan and the curse of the law. We pass through as we
are redeemed by and as we follow the Lord, it says they broke
through and have passed through the gate and are gone out by
it. And how'd they do it? Well, first
of all, look how that statement is surrounded. First of all,
the breakers come up before them. He did his great work. And then
secondly, it says, "...and their king shall pass before them,
and the Lord on the head of them." He came up before us and did
His great work, established the only ground of salvation, sent
the Spirit to do that great work in us as a result of His work
for us, and now He leads us out as our King and our Lord. You
see, Christ breaks forth by His Spirit into our hearts, by His
Word. and convicts us of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment and brings us to repentance of
dead works and idolatry and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He
breaks us up, you might say. He breaks us down only to lift
us up to convict us of sin and drive us to Himself. And that's
how, following Him, we break through the bonds of sin and
liberated. when we come to Him and see His
glory. And I'll tell you what, that's
grace. And I'm convinced that if you want anything in your
life or my life that will give us liberty and freedom to serve
God and obey God and to curb sin and fight sin properly, it's
not the law, my friend. It's not legalism. It's the grace
of God in Christ. It's seeing the glory and the
majesty and the power of that breaker who has come up and broken
forth and made the way into the presence of God by his accomplished,
finished work.