Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 3. And Christ is, for the believer,
our advocate. He's our advocate, beloved. He's
the one mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Zechariah here, we look at these verses here, Zechariah
3, verses 1 to 10. We see in verses 8 to 10 that
our Lord is spoken of in one of his titles. We'll see there
as the branch. And what this passage brings
forth is the anticipation of Christ, of his coming. Look at this in Zechariah chapter
3 verses 1 to 10. And he showed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing
at his right hand to resist him. See, Satan's the accuser of the
brethren. We saw that, we see that in the book of Job, don't
we? But he can only do what God allows, beloved. He's not omnipotent. He's not all-powerful. He's a
created being. And the Lord said unto Satan,
the Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuketh thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? Now look at this. Here's Joshua. Here's him in
his natural state. Look at this. This shows us the
natural state of man. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. That's us. And do you
know that every believer is a brand plucked out of the fire? We're brands plucked out of the
fire. Look at this. So he's standing
there with filthy garments. Look at this. And he answered
and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, take away
the filthy garments from him. Take away the rags of his self-righteousness. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee. It's gone. Your sins are forgiven. And I
will clothe thee with the chains of raiment. What's the chains
of raiment that we've been clothed with as believers? The righteousness
of Christ. So this is a picture right here
before us in the Old Testament of God. And who's doing the clothing?
It's at God's command, isn't it? Joshua's not putting the
garment on himself. It's put on him. Oh, beloved. God's so merciful
to us. He's so merciful. He clothes
us in the righteousness of Christ. And then I said, let them set
a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head and clothed him with the garments. of the Lord stood
by, well, that's Christ. And the angel of the Lord protested
unto Joshua, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, if thou wilt
walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou
shalt also judge my house, and thou shalt also keep my courts,
and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Hear now, O Joshua, the high
priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they
are men wondered at, for behold, I will bring forth my servant,
the branch." There is the Messiah. There's a name of Christ. He's
called the branch. What do you say? I'm the vine
and you're what? The branches. But that's singular there, isn't
it? It doesn't say there's many who's
the branch. It's singular. Christ is the branch. He's the
vine. And we're simply the branches.
And without him, we can do nothing. For behold, the stone that I
have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes.
Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts,
and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. Christ
accomplished our salvation on Calvary's cross, right? In one
day. He died upon Calvary's cross.
Oh my. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, he shall call every man his neighbor under the vine and
under the fig trees. So we see here in verses 8 to
10 that our Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of in one of his titles
in the Old Testament. He's called the Branch. And how
the saints of old anticipated the coming of the Messiah. They
anticipated the Messiah coming. And how the people of God, the
true born-again people of God who were alive at the birth of
Christ anticipated The coming Messiah. The coming Messiah. They look for his coming. They
look for the day when they would see him. Job proclaimed this,
for I know that my Redeemer liveth. Job said, I know my Redeemer
liveth. I know he lives. Now, have we ever seen Christ?
No, but we know he lives, don't we? We know he lives by faith. We know he lives. Job said, I
know my Redeemer liveth. You know, Job had the same faith
we have. He was looking to, while our bodies are in the grave,
decomposing, the minute we breathe our last breath as believers,
we're going to be in the presence of the Lord. We'll get our glorified
bodies when the Lord comes back, if we die before he comes back. Oh, my. My, oh, my. My, oh my, it's wonderful. He
says this here, he says, if thou will walk in my ways, and if
thou will keep my charge, then thou shall also judge my house,
and thou shall also keep my courts, and I'll give thee places to
walk among those that stand by. Now, the religious legalists
of this day, of the New Testament, one time bought a woman before
Christ. Woman who was caught in the very
act of adultery. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
eight. Now these, these religious legalists
were always trying to trap our king, beloved. They were always
trying to ensnare our king somehow, some way. They were always trying
to do it. They wanted to trap him. They didn't know he's God
in the flesh. They didn't know he could, he
knew their thoughts. And they said, Moses and the
law requires that she be stoned. This woman, by the law, needs
to be stoned. And then they asked the Lord,
what do you say? And if the master had said stone
her, put her to death, they would have thought that would discredit
his reputation for mercy and compassion. So either way that
he answered, they were looking to ensnare him either way. Let's
read this wondrous text here. Look at this in John 8, verses
1. This is a great encounter. This is by divine providence
that the Lord would encounter this woman. Look at this. Now, God's not the author of
sin. Man is. But this didn't catch God by
surprise, what happened. Not at all. Not at all. What does God have to do for
a man to go to hell? Just leave him alone. What does God have
to do for a man to go to glory? Everything. Everything. Let's read this. John, verse
1 of John chapter 8. Jesus went unto the Mount of
Olives. And early in the morning he came
again unto the temple, and all the people came unto him. And
he sat down and he taught them. That's what our Lord would do.
He'd go to the synagogue and he'd teach. People who would
listen. And here's the religious scribes
and Pharisees. Look at this. And the scribes
and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery. And
we know that they caught her in the very act. And when they
had set her in the midst, they said unto the master, this woman
was taken in adultery in the very act. And you could just
hear their legalistic condemnation. We caught her in the very act. And then now they're going to
scold the Lord on what the law says, they think. Remember, the law and the prophets,
they testify of him. But the Pharisees don't know
that. They have no clue. And they say this, now Moses
in the law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what
sayest thou? So they've already concluded
her guilty and that she needs to be stoned. And remember who these people
are. These are self-righteous Pharisees who think they do nothing
wrong. I'll tell you, I can't tell you
how many people I've talked to who are religious people, when
I say, well, we're all sinners, they're, oh, well, no, we are. We're all sinners, and we who
are saved are saved sinners, and we know that, don't we? See,
man, natural man is in denial of who we really are. Who we
really are. Look at what it says here. Then
they, or this they said, tempting him that they might have to accuse
him. But Jesus stooped down with his
finger and wrote on the ground as though he heard them not.
Look at that. Now, if he answered forgiver,
then they thought that would vindicate their claim that he
was just a lawless rebel. If he had said, well, forgiver,
they'd say, well, see? See? He's exactly what we told
you, a lawless rebel. He has no concern for the law
of God. But no, Christ does not. The law and the prophets speak
of him. They testify of him and his holiness. Now, they thought
they could ensnare him with this. And it was a real problem. Indeed,
it's a problem that must be dealt with. How can the Holy Lord God
be both merciful and just? How can he be both gracious and
true? How can God both forgive sin
and yet honor his law? How can he do that? And we see
here in verse 6 that the Savior stooped down and wrote on the
ground as though he had not heard them. in verse 7, they continue
to badger him. They don't let up. They're looking
for an answer, and our Lord stands up and says these words, which
I'll tell you what, they cut right to the soul of these men. He said, he that is without sin
among you, let him first cast a stone at her. Look at this. So when they continued asking
him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, he that is without
sin among you, Let him first cast a stone at her. So if any of you are sinless,
that's what he's saying to them, if any of you are sinless, then
let you be the first to pick up a rock and throw it at her.
Oh, my. Oh, my. And remember who's saying
this to them. It's God incarnated in the flesh.
It's not no mere man. It's not you and I calling each
other sinners. This is God saying this, saying, if you're without
sin, you pick up a rock and you throw it at her then. And then what did he do? He stooped
down again and wrote on the ground. So he lifted himself up. He said those amazing words. He that is without sin among
you, let him first cast a stone at her. And then he stooped back
down and wrote on the ground. We don't know what our Lord wrote
on the ground. I'm not even going to speculate on what our Lord
wrote on the ground. I've heard many people speculate on what
he wrote. We don't know. We don't know what he wrote.
But they who heard his words were convicted by their own conscience,
weren't they? These self-righteous legalists
were sent packing. Why? Because not one of them
was without sin. Not one of them. And note they left beginning
with the eldest, and the woman was eventually left alone. The
eldest, probably the most wise among them, was cut to the bone. Remember the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It divides,
it cuts through marrow and bone, doesn't it? It gets to our souls,
beloved. And look at verse 9, and they
which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience. They
were convicted by their own conscience that they were sinners. Went
out one by one, they left one by one. Beginning at the eldest,
the eldest would probably put his head down and just start
walking away. Convicted by his own conscience. even unto the last. And Jesus
was left alone and the woman standing in the midst, in his
midst, in the midst. So here's the Lord left with
this woman. All her accusers are just vanished. They've all left. Now this is
a divine appointment, right? This lady who's an adulterer,
who's a sinner, just like you and I, sinners. I'll tell you,
in the eyes of God, sin is sin. See, we categorize sin. We have
degrees for sin. Sin is sin to God. It's sin. My, oh, my. It's all sinning against his
law and sinning against him. That's who we sin against. When
we sin, we sin against God. So these self-righteous legalists
are convicted by their own conscience, and they went away one by one,
from the eldest to the youngest. And then note the compassion
that flows next. Note the compassion of our Lord.
Note the mercy of our Lord flowing forth in verse 10. When
Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said
unto her, Woman, where are thine accusers? Now he's not asking
this for information. He already knows where they went
and he already knows why they left. This is for our learning,
beloved. This is for our learning. This
is for us to learn and to grow. Hath no man condemned thee? Where'd they all go? All these
accusers, where'd they go? And again, he's not asking for
information. And listen to what one grace
preacher says about the fact that our Lord stooped down twice.
I thought this was interesting, because our Lord stooped down
twice in our text there. The fact that our Savior stooped
down twice is significant. It has a direct connection to
what he said to the adulterous woman. The Son of God stooped
down once to become a man, right? He stooped down to be born of
a virgin. and rose from infancy to manhood,
that he might bring everlasting righteousness for sinners by
his perfect obedience to God. Then he stooped down a second
time when he died in the room and place of sinners. Stooped down a second time, burying
our sins in his own body on the tree. And then what happened?
He rose. He arose. Why did he rise? To declare redemption
accomplished by the satisfaction of divine justice. Scripture
says he's raised for our justification. Why? Because it was a perfect
salvation as we looked at in Sunday school. The Greek word,
when the Lord cried, it is finished, the Greek word there brings forth
that it's a work of perfection. Not only did it, the Greek word
doesn't just mean to be brought to an end, it means to be brought
to perfection. When he cried, it is finished,
he's saying, it's perfect. The work is, that's what that
Greek word means, to be bought to perfection. And remember this, I mentioned
this earlier, I'm gonna mention it again. That work was done
by he who is the perfect man. See, we're sinners, right? We're
incapable. of saving ourselves or producing
a salvation for ourselves or for anyone else. But the perfect
man obtained eternal salvation for us by a perfect work. And
his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. And all who trust him, all who
look to him by faith will be saved. What did Paul say to that
Philippian jailer? He said, what must I do to be
saved? He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall
be saved. My, isn't that wonderful? It's absolutely wonderful. So the basis of the finished
work of redemption, when he lifted himself up the second time, he
spoke to the woman words of forgiveness, didn't he? Which again, the second time
pictures his work on the cross. My, look at this. Look at verse
11. She said, no man, Lord. All my
accusers are gone. They're all gone. And I'll tell
you, this is one of the Lord's sheep. This is one of the Lord's sheep.
And we're going to find out that in the next few verses here,
or in the rest of this verse. She said, no man, Lord. Notice
she called him Lord, too. She didn't just call him Master.
She called him Lord. Lord, no man, Lord. No man, Lord. And Jesus, look
at this. This is God in the flesh. Look
what he says. Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. This
is one of one who he's going to die for. This is one who was
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. She don't even
know it. And look what he says to her. Neither do I condemn
thee. Go and sin no more. Now, did she sin again? Yeah. She did. Did God count it against her?
No, because she was cleansed in the precious blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Again,
it's not a license for us to go out and do whatever we want.
It's not. But God's people are so forgiven of their sins. His work was a perfect work.
He saved our souls, beloved. And he says to this woman, go
and sin no more. Now, she's like us. She's going
to go and she's going to sin, but she's going to sin more than
she wants to. She'll be convicted of her sin
now. But in God's eyes, she's clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. Remember Joshua with those filthy
garments? Now this is a sinner, isn't she? Just like you and
I. Sin is sin in God's eyes, right? How much sin does it need
to be performed in order for someone to go to hell? Just one,
whether it be a lie or stealing a paperclip, right? It's the intent of our
hearts. Why do men kill? Because we're
sinners. Because we're sinners. Why do
men steal? Because we're sinners. We do those things because we're
sinners. Why do we lie? Because we're
sinners. These are marvelous lords. What
does the Lord say, or what does Paul write? There's therefore
now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus who walk not
after the flesh, but after the spirit. And how can our Lord
say, neither do I condemn thee? So he doesn't condemn them. God's elect will not be condemned.
All those outside of Christ will. but not those in Christ. And
he says, God himself in the flesh says, neither do I condemn thee.
This is wonderful. See, we could go buy these things
and read them and say, oh, well, he didn't condemn. This is God
saying this. And you know he says the same
to us. Neither do I condemn thee. You're
bought with my blood. You're purchased with my blood.
It's wonderful. Our Lord, first of all, had silenced
her accusers. We saw that. He silenced her
accusers. And then what does he do to her?
And she's obviously guilty, isn't she? She's obviously guilty.
She's broken the law of God, just like every one of us is
in our lives. She's an outright lawbreaker. And Christ says to her, neither
do I condemn thee. This is the giver of the law,
too. This is no ordinary man. This is the one who gave the
law. This is his law that she broke. And he says, neither do
I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. Now, the justice of God demands
satisfaction for the sin that we commit, doesn't it? Just as
it did for her. It demanded satisfaction. And
it finds us guilty every time. No way out of it by our works.
And it demands to be satisfied. It says the soul that sinned
must die. Must. And Christ dies in our room and
place, the perfect one, the sinless one. satisfying the law of God. He
shall see the travail of his soul. Isaiah wrote about Christ's
work. God sees the travail of Christ's
soul and shall be satisfied. It's wonderful news. Absolutely satisfied. And so
God, God, has silenced the justice of God. Christ, by his death
on the cross, has silenced the justice of God that cries out
for our condemnation. He silenced it, beloved, by his
perfect sin-atoning work. When he died on Calvary's cross
as our substitute. My, it's wonderful. He ransomed our souls. He purchased
our eternal souls. And so now, this woman is clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. She's full and freely forgiven. Did she ask for it? No. Did she
deserve it? No. Did she merit it? No. By her very acts, she broke the
law of God. By her very sin, just like we
have. Do we merit the salvation we have? Do we merit full forgiveness?
I mean, full forgiveness, too. There's not one sin that's not
covered. We don't deserve that. We don't
merit. We don't even ask for it. Until God makes us will in
the day of his power, then we look to Christ, don't we? But
in our natural state, we have nothing to do with God. But this lady, she cried out,
Lord, Lord. She said, no man, Lord. And our
Lord said, neither do I condemn thee. God incarnate in the flesh
says, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. My, oh, my. She's fully forgiven. She's freely forgiven. And this
forgiveness is not conditional. It's not based upon anything
we do. It's full. It's free. It's complete. And it's all in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. He saved us. How? By dying on the cross for us,
by shedding that precious, precious blood of his. The blood of the
God man, which ransomed our eternal souls, purchased our eternal
souls. Oh my. And now we walk in his
ways, don't we? We who are the born again people
of God, now we walk in his ways. Now we desire to walk in his
ways. We sin more than we want to. We desire to walk in the
ways of Christ. We desire to hear the gospel.
We desire to be with God's people. One of our dear sisters says
she wished she could just sleep here all week and just be with
God's people all week and not have to go out in the world. My, oh my, to hear the gospel
every day. It's wonderful. And I understand what she's saying.
She's saying this is the place where she feels comfort in hearing
the gospel and the fellowship that we have each week when we
gather together. It's sweet. It's very sweet. And oh my, this woman's now clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. She's full and freely forgiven.
She's washed clean by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
from all her sins. And our Lord says, go and sin
no more. My, her sin's not counted. not counted against? So turn,
if you would, to Romans chapter 4, verse 8, and we'll see this
truth brought forth. Romans chapter 4, verse 8. This is just wonderful. I'm going to read a little bit
from the first verse to get the context of this verse for us,
too. What should we say then, verse 1? That Abraham, our father,
as pertaining to the flesh, hath found. For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory. So if a man's justified
by something you do, we're going to glory in it. We're going to
glory in it. I'll tell you what, we will. We even have to fight that as
believers. My. But not before God. Now, he may find glory amongst
men, but not before God. No. God will not share his glory
with anyone. No one. Now, here we go. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now the hymn that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace,
but of death. But the hymn that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Look at now, here it is, verse
seven, look at this. Remember our Lord said, go and
sin no more, right? Look at this verse in light of
that. Saying, blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven. and whose sins are covered. Iniquity's
forgiven? You mean all of them? All the
sins covered, how? By the blood of Christ. By the
blood of Christ. And look at verse six, even as
David also described the blessedness of the man under whom God imputed
righteousness without works. Without works, so all these people
that are trying to gain righteousness, which is favor with God and merit
and to be clothed in his perfect righteousness. They're trying
to gain that by something they do. It says here that God imputes
righteousness without works. Oh my, it's freely given. And
it's the righteousness of Christ. Again, saying, blessed are they
whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not, what, impute sin. It won't
be counted against him. Why? Because Christ paid for
it all. He paid for it all. He did it all. He did it all. My. Now, the charge given to Joshua
in the text that we read And that which is given to the adulterous
women is the same charge given to us, the charge we must keep.
It's evidence of saving grace. Not a condition that we must
meet to obtain grace, no. Because we've been made partakers
of the Holy Spirit, for we are made partakers of Christ if we
hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end, trusting
and resting in Christ. And that's what we do. We trust
and rest in the Christ. Scripture says, as you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. It means just walk
in him, trust in him, look to him each day. And the angel of
the Lord said to Joshua, I have taken away your sin and I've
clothed you with the garments of salvation. He's saying, you've
been made righteous in my sight. How? By his righteousness. My, look at Zechariah verses
8, Zechariah 3 verses 8 to 10. We see here Christ anticipated. Oh Joshua, the high priest, thou
and my fellows that sit before thee, for they are men wondered
at, for behold, I will bring forth my servant the branch.
For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one
stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, he shall call every man his neighbor under the vine and
under the fig tree. So we see here that the angel
of the Lord, which is Christ, tells Joshua and his fellows
that everything pointed to in vivid picture of God's saving
grace, which is described in verses 1 to 7. These men had been wondered at.
They'd been wondered at. And we see in these verses a
great messianic prophecy that speaks of our Savior's coming.
He's the branch. Look again. Look again at verse 8. Here now,
O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before
thee, for they are wondered at. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant, the branch. In Christ we saw in our past
studies, when the fullness of time was coming, he was born.
And it's God who brought him forth. God prepared a body for
the word of God, the second person of the Trinity. We know him as
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this in Isaiah, it
says this, and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of
Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit
of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
and the spirit of counsel and might, and the spirit of knowledge,
and the fear of the Lord, Isaiah 11, verses one and two. So Messiah
is prophesied as being the branch. Again, he's the vine, we're the
branches, right? And without him we can do nothing,
nothing at all. And look at verse nine again.
For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua, upon one
stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will move the iniquity
of that land in one day. The Lord Jesus Christ, the great
high priest, the great high priest, who having our names engraved
upon his heart, He's our almighty advocate. He's interceding for
you and I as believers right now before the father. He's our intercessor before God.
And look at the latter words of verse nine, and I will remove
the iniquity of that land in one day. Well, the Lord Jesus
Christ spoken of in this passage is the branch and the stone is
the one who's coming. the Messiah who's coming, and
we know he's came, and he's accomplished salvation, perfect salvation. It says he would take away the
iniquity of his people in one great day of atonement. How?
When he died on Calvary's cross, one day, took it all away. The iniquity of a number that
no man can number. And here they are mocking our
king at the cross. They're mocking our great God.
They're mocking our king. They're saying, well, he saved
others. He can't save himself. And he's there dying on the cross,
saving a number that no man can number. And marvel at this. Wonder
of wonders. We who are his people were included
in that number. My. They have no clue who he
is. No wonder the centurion said,
truly, this is the son of God. My, Christ the servant, the branch,
removed the iniquity of his people when he died on the cross. He's
the great sin remover. He's the great sin bearer. He's
the great high priest. He's the great advocate. He's
the great intercessor. He's the one who pleads our cause
with the Father. He's the one who has obtained
our salvation. He's the one who keeps us from
falling. and will one day present us faultless
before his throne. Why? Because it pleased him to
do so. My, where's bride, beloved? And
the sacrifice is that the priests were sinful men, and they were
required to offer a sacrifice in the Old Testament for themselves
as well as those who they represented. We've looked at that before in
many messages. And the sacrifices these priests
offered, they were inadequate. They could never take away sin. But see, Christ was sinless.
He didn't have to offer a sacrifice for himself. He was sinless.
So he offers himself up as a sacrifice for our sins. My. And his sacrifice was perfect. of infinite value, of infinite
value, makes him the priest and the priest we need, makes him
the advocate we need with the Father. Scripture says this in
Hebrews 9 verses 11 to 14, the Scripture declares this, but
Christ being common high priest of good things to come by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
not to say of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood." His own blood. He entered in
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. He obtained it by his perfect
sacrifice. He has it, and he can give it
to whomever he pleases. Marvel, if you're a believer,
marvel that he's given you that. And he's given me that. That's
incredible. We didn't ask for it. We didn't
deserve it. We could never work enough to
merit it, and yet he freely gave it to us. Oh, a wonder of wonders. It says, for the blood of bulls
and goats and the ashes of heifer sprinkling, the unclean sanctified
to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood
of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself up, what? Without spots. That means when
he was dying and when our sin was placed upon him, he was sinless. He was without spot. He was perfect. He's holy even in his death. Now he's bearing our sins and
iniquities, but he's no sinner. He's saving sinners. He offered
himself up without spot. Who did he offer himself up without
spot to? The scripture says, to God. And it says, purge our
conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Now we
desire to serve God as believers. Now we desire to serve him. My, in the one great sacrifice
of Christ, our great high priest is perpetually accepted and effectual. is so perfect, nothing ever needs
to be done. Nothing ever needs to be added
to it. Not by anyone. Again, it is perfect
means it's bought to a perfect end. Bought to perfection in
the Greek. And when he was done, what'd
he do? He sat down, didn't he? Right now, he's seated at the
right hand of God. The work's done. The high priest never sat
down in the Old Testament. There's always something they
had to do. Christ finished the work, and now he's sitting down.
And he's interceding for you and I as believers. Oh, it's
wondrous. And one day, we're going to see
him. By God's grace and mercy, we're going to see him face to
face one day. It'll be absolutely incredible. Let's close looking at verse
10, where we see that the born-again, blood-washed believers are to
enjoy life. We're to enjoy our lives here on this earth. In
that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man and his
neighbor unto the vine and unto the fig tree. Let us walk in
the truth, beloved. Let us think about this this
week. Let us walk in the truth that our sins are fully forgiven. Fully forgiven. They're forgiven
in Christ. He's put them away, beloved.
He's put them away. He who is the prophet, priest,
and king of our salvation, he's put them all away. He who is the advocate of his people,
he's put away our sin. He who is God incarnate in our
flesh, he put away our sins. He who gave the law and we broke
it, says I don't condemn you anymore because I satisfied my
own law in your place. What a savior. You ever heard
of a king doing that for a bunch of peasants? Never! Yet the King of Glory did that
for you and I. Poor, bankrupt sinners. It's marvelous. Christ is the one who's put away
our sin. And now we enjoy. Now we enjoy that fact, don't
we? We live in this world and we're going to have ups and downs
in this world, but we can have a peace. knowing that all our
sins are forgiven, knowing that when we breathe our last breath,
we're going to be in the presence of the Lord. And we celebrate
that with one another, don't we? We rejoice at that fact. And we love the fact that salvation
is of the Lord. There's nothing we do. If it
had anything to do with us, we'd mess it up. But praise be to God. Salvation
in Christ is perfect because the perfect man, the perfect
man obtained eternal salvation for us. Hallelujah. What a savior. And if you're
a believer, may God edify you with this truth this week. May
you think upon this truth this week. And if you're one outside
of Christ and do not know Christ, may the Lord give you faith to
look to him. I mean, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
to trust him and rest him. And we who are God's people are
but safe sinners. The only one who's made us to
differ from any other sinner in this world is God. May God
be pleased to do that for you if you do not know him. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your mercy.