Turn with me again to Hebrews
chapter 6. This will be a stepping stone
into the message for tonight. Hebrews chapter 6. Look down at verse 18. The writer of Hebrews says that
by two immutable things, unchangeable, never changing. Two immutable things. The Word of God and His oath. Two immutable things. The Word
of God, Jesus Christ. Two immutable things. that by two immutable things
in which it was impossible for God to lie. If he ever lied,
it wouldn't be God, would it? It would destroy everything. In which it was impossible for
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. I want to just use
that consolation there as a stepping stone into our message for tonight. But the word consolation is the
exact same word as Jesus said that he would give us the comforter
who is the Holy Spirit. The comforter. Consolation. the comforter we have great comfort
from God as a matter of fact such great comfort that if you
turn to Isaiah chapter 40 such great comfort when you look
here in verse 40 he gives double he gives double he says in Isaiah 40 verse 1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received the Lord's hand double for all
her sins. double for all her sins. Augustus' top lady in his song
Rock of Ages said, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself
in thee. Let the water and the blood from
thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure, save
from wrath and make me pure. Two things, save from wrath and
make me pure. The Lord is going to give double. Isaiah says that again in Isaiah
chapter 61 in a different way, but the same thing. Isaiah 61,
beginning in verse 4, speaking about those who would
come back the remnant, those that are the elect, verse 4,
and they shall build the old waste, they shall raise up the
former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations. And strangers shall stand and
feed your flocks, and the sons of the aliens shall be your plowmen
and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the priests
of the Lord. Men shall call you the ministers
of our God ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their
glory shall ye boast yourselves for your shame double For your
shame ye shall receive double, and for confusion they shall
rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they
shall possess the double. Everlasting joy shall be unto
them. For I, the Lord, love judgment.
I hate robbery for burnt offering. And I will direct their work
and truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
and their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their
offspring among the people. All that see them shall acknowledge
them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful
in my God. Notice, for he hath clothed me
with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
righteousness. There's the devil. He has clothed
me with the garment of salvation. He's covered me with the robe
of his righteousness. You know sin causes shame. Sin causes, actually with sin
there is no comfort. There is shame. As a matter of
fact, instability is part of our shame because the double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways. Every man at his best state is
altogether vanity. If the Lord should mark iniquity,
who shall stand? but there is forgiveness and
blessed redemption with the Lord look at Psalm 31 with me for
just a moment before we continue on Psalm 31 we'll be going to several scriptures
Psalm 31 And verse 10, David writes and says, for my
life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing, my strength
failing because of mine iniquity, my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all mine
enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and fear to mine
acquaintance that did see me without fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man
out of mine. I'm like a broken vessel. Those are the sinners that need
comfort. That's me. And I need the comfort
that only God can give. You know, men hide themselves
just like Adam, in sin and shame like Adam, in Adam as a matter
of fact. As our federal head, in Adam
when he sinned. In Adam when he hid because of
his shame. They think And I heard this just
this last week. Well, I'm as good as anybody
else. And I looked at him and said, you sure are. You sure
are. The Bible says there's none good,
no not one. That's where you stand. That's
where I stand. They think by their works that
they can please God, but Paul said, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. They think that if they'll do
like Adam, they'll just blame somebody else, make themselves
feel better, make themselves look better. Who art thou, O man, that judges? With what judgment you judge,
it shall be meted to you again. We're all naked before our God. He sees all. He knows all. He hears all. There's not one
thing that's done that He does not know about. He is omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent. And we need to understand that
it's sin that separates a man from God. Your sins have hid
His face from you, Isaiah said. And we need someone. We need a Savior. We need that
double cure that Isaiah told us about. We need that double
of grace that God gives. Grace for grace. Don't you like that? Grace for
grace. You just can't get enough. It
just keeps on coming. Grace after grace. You see, we
need a Savior. Because we're sinners. We have
no hope within us. We need a Savior. And our Savior is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look with me in Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter 10 and go down
to verse 12 But this man, speaking of Jesus
Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
to his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
witness to us, for after that he said before, This is my covenant
that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I
will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write
them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." I'll
remember them no more. Now that's a choice of the Lord.
He can remember anything He wants to. But that's his choice. I won't remember them against
my elect. I won't remember them against
those that are sanctified and those that are perfected. I just
won't remember them. I'm not going to bring them up.
But we do ourselves, don't we? We do ourselves. We bring our
own sins up and we browbeat ourselves. Sometimes I get up in the morning
and I think, how in the world God could love someone like me?
And then I think, well he don't even remember those things. He died for them. He paid for
them. He purged them. They're rid of. Turn back one page there, one
chapter there in chapter 9, verse 24 of Hebrews. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as a high priest enters into the holy place every
year with blood of others, for then must he have often suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, Hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself, as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this
to judgment? So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin. on the salvation. I need that Savior. I need the
Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot do without Him. At night
when I lay down and think about my day, I wonder how many awful
things that I've done. I can think of quite a few of
them. But you know what? The Bible says even the plowing
of the wicked is sin, and I just wonder if some of the good that
I thought I was doing was not good at all. As a matter of fact,
before him it wasn't. No good at all. He was made to
be sin for us who knew no sin. And like Adam, in a certain sense,
there was innocency. But innocency wasn't enough. There had to be something else.
And that's what the Lord did for us. Justice had to be satisfied. Righteousness had to be fulfilled.
The prince of the power of the air must be defeated eternally.
And the Lord Jesus Christ did that for his people. I need a righteousness that will
stand eternally. When God says, be thou holy for
I am holy, I realize that's not me. When God says, be thou perfect,
for I am perfect, I realize that's not me. I need a righteousness
that's not my own, that's imputed, given to me, that I may stand
before a holy God and a perfect God. I cannot stand of my own
self. I'm without hope, without God
in this world, without Christ. And the Bible says He is the
Lord our righteousness and to enter into His presence He was
made to be sin for us that knew no sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. On the cross He suffered and
died for His people. There was the climax of a perfect,
obedient life. There was the consuming of the
wrath and the fire of God, a just God, upon sin as He was made
to be sin for us. And there at the end of the ordeal
of the cross, He cries out, It is finished! Will you allow me to say it in
Greek? Paid in full. It's just like when
you made a bill and you're paying on it in time. When you finally
make that last payment, they stamp that thing paid in full. Here there on the cross he took
every sin of all his people of all time. And he paid it in full. No wonder he won't remember them. They're paid for. God was satisfied,
Isaiah said. He redeemed his people from the
curse of the law. And then he was raised for our
justification. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. and whose spirit is no guile,
remember Nathanael? He was invited to come and see
Jesus. On his way there, the Lord Jesus
spoke to him and said, Behold an Israelite in whom is no guile.
He referred to this verse. Nathanael was one of his chosen. One of his chosen. Blessed is
the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto thee. My salvation is wrapped up outside
myself. It's wrapped up in a person who's
right now sitting on a throne, governing everything until all
of his enemies are made or put at his footstool. He's doing a lot more than that
on the throne too. We'll see here in just a minute.
There's comfort. There's comfort. My sins are
all gone. The wrath of God is not upon
me. Let me show you another double.
I have several here, but I don't think we're going to have time
for all of them. Let me show you another double. Go with me
to Exodus 39. Exodus 39. Double for our sins.
Exodus 39. Go to verse 8. We're making the robes and things
for the high priest. In verse 8, the one that was
doing it, and he made the breastplate of cunning work like the work
of the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twine linen. It was four square. They made
the breastplate double. There's a picture. of our high
priest the Lord Jesus Christ wearing the breastplate that
was doubled now on that breastplate were the names of all the tribes
of Israel which represented all his people on his chest the people
of his love and it was also on his shoulders all their names
on his shoulders The people that he holds up. The people that
he strengthens. The people that he keeps. The
people that he holds on to. The government shall be upon
his shoulders. You see, this speaks of our high
priest. Of his love and of his keeping
power. The Bible says, Paul said it
this way, there's one mediator between God and men, the man. Christ Jesus, our substitute,
this mediator, this high priest did the unusual thing. All the
other high priests brought the Lamb. He was the Lamb. All the other high priests killed
the Lamb. He gave up his own life. All
the other high priests bled that lamb. He bled and died for you
and me as our substitute. He was the sacrifice. for you
and me and there he sits on his throne right now interceding
for us the Lord Jesus Christ interceding for you and me he
bare the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors
Isaiah said wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost that
come unto him come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for us but there's double there's the Lord Jesus Christ
who makes intercession for us but there's the Comforter the
Holy Spirit who intercedes for us too you'll find both of them
in Romans chapter 8 the Holy Spirit interceding for us Romans
chapter 8 verse 26 and 27 and the Lord Jesus interceding for
us Romans chapter 8 verse 34 He's touched with the feeling
of our infirmities. He's able to super help those
in times of trouble. And because of Him, we're able
to come to the throne of grace, there to find help and mercy
in time of need. I don't know what greater comfort
we would need. There we find mercy. There we
find grace. And the sinner, you know, must
be reconciled to God. And so, by his own precious blood,
he reconciles the sinner to the Lord. By his irresistible grace,
he brings that sinner to himself. The Lord Jesus is our comfort.
The Lord Jesus is our peace. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2, let's begin
with verse 14, which says plainly, He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
for He is our peace, who hath made one, and hath broken down
the middle wall partition between us, having abolished in His flesh
the enmity, even the law and commandments contained in ordinances,
to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace. and
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to
you which were far off, and to them that were nigh. For through
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore
ye are no more strangers, foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the cheap cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in
whom ye also are builted together for inhabitation of God through
the Spirit. There is a beautiful illustration
of those last few words right there, found in Zechariah. Would you turn there
with me please? Zechariah chapter 4. Zechariah
is the next to the last book of the Old Testament. Malachi
the last, Zechariah just before that. Zechariah chapter 4. Zechariah chapter 4, let's begin
with verse 6. There are four main characters
that are involved in these words that we read here. Nehemiah,
who was the cup bearer. Ezra was the priest. Zechariah
was the preacher. Zerubbabel was the builder. Verse
6. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith
the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain,
divorced and rubbable? Thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth a headstone thereof, with shouting, crying,
Grace! Grace! unto it. The headstone
is Jesus Christ. Double grace! Double portion! Grace! Grace! That's the sound
that we hear. That's the shouting toward the
Lord Jesus Christ, the only one who is full of grace and truth. The only one. Now it says in
verse 9, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this
house. His hands also shall finish it. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. Is that rubbable started
it? The rubbable will finish it.
The Lord started it, the Lord will finish it. Just as simple
as that. And aren't you glad that the
Lord is the one who does it. We'd mess it up somehow. We surely
would. We surely would. There's another one I want to
talk about. Another double in here. If you'll turn with me
to Deuteronomy chapter... Let's go to Numbers chapter 3
verse 13. Numbers chapter 3 verse 13. Numbers chapter 3 and verse 13. You remember at the first Passover and then
the Exodus that the Lord required them to have a lamb, keep it
up for three days, shed its blood, and with the blood put it on
the door panels. And he said, when I pass through Egypt this
night, when the blood's on the door panel, I'll pass by them. When we're trusting in the blood
of Jesus Christ, what he did for us in his death, burial,
and resurrection, what he shed for us, he passes by. He don't remember. Don't remember those sins. They're
all purged. They're all gone. All our sins
are gone. Now in verse 13, He talks about the firstborn.
He says, because all the firstborn are mine. For on the day that
I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed
unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. Mine shall they be, I am the
Lord. All the firstborn are His. Well,
who are the firstborn? Who are the firstborn? Turn to
Colossians. Let's see. No, let's go to Hebrews
chapter 12. Let's start there. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 22. Hebrews 12, 22. But ye are come
unto Mount Zion, but ye are come unto Mount Zion, unto the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and the church of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men. made perfect and to
Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of
sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel the
church of the firstborn I'm looking at a lot of firstborns
I'm the third born in my family when the Lord chose me he chose
me as a firstborn And you know what the firstborn gets? Jot
this down somewhere and you can look it up in Deuteronomy 21,
15-17, he gets a double portion. The Lord gives us a double portion
of His grace, of His wonders, of all that He is. Oh my, what
a blessed Lord we have. What a blessed Lord we have. He is the double grace that I
need. He alone pardons. He alone purges. He alone puts away sin. He alone
is paid for all my sin. He alone is my righteousness. I stand complete in Him. No wonder Paul said to that Philippian
jailer who was about to take his life, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The psalmist David
said it this way in Psalm 83 times he says this, Turn us again,
O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be
saved. Thank you Heavenly Father for
your word. Thank you for what you've done
for us. So undeserving we are, and yet you chose us. You chose
us among sinners, and we are sinners. You made us to be our Savior, and then we are made the righteousness
of God in you. Father, thank you for so great
salvation. Amen. Let's stand and sing amazing
grace how sweet the sound. Sweet child, sweet