Good evening, everyone. If you would open your Bibles with me to Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians three, we'll begin our reading in verse 13.

Wherefore, I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

All right. I'm sorry to tell you, Shawn and Jonathan are both out of town, so you're stuck with me tonight, leading the singing. So if you would, for our first song, turn to page 352. 352, Jesus, lover of my soul.

Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly.
While the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high,
Hide me, O my Savior, hide,
till the storm of life is past.
Safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last.
Other refuge have I none,
hangs my helpless soul on thee.
Levi, leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed.
All my help from thee I bring.
Cover my defenseless head
with the shadow of thy wing.
Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find.
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint,
Heal the sick and lead the blind.
Just and holy is thy name.
I am all unrighteousness.
False and full of sin I am,
Thou art full of truth and grace.
Plenteous grace with thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin.
Let the healing streams abound,
Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life, the fountain art.
Freely let me take of thee.
Spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity.

Okay, now over a few pages to page number 359. 359, my faith looks up to thee.

My faith looks up to thee,
Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine.
Now hear me when I pray,
Take all my sin away,
O let me from this day be wholly Thine.
May thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart,
my zeal inspire.
As thou hast died for me,
O may my love to thee,
pure, warm, and changeless be,
a living fire.
While life's dark maze I tread,
and griefs around me spread,
be thou my guide.
bid darkness turn to day,
wipe sorrow's tears away,
nor let me ever stray from thee aside.
When ends life's transient dream,
When death's cold, sullen stream
Shall o'er me roll,
Blessed Savior, then in love,
fear and distrust remove.
Oh, bear me safe above
a ransomed soul.

All right, now if you would open your Bibles with me to Exodus chapter 28. Exodus chapter 28. We'll begin our reading in verse 15.

And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment With cunning work, after the work of the ephod, thou shalt make it. Of gold, of blue, of purple, of scarlet, and a fine twine linen shalt thou make it. Four square it shall be, being doubled. A span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones. The first row shall be a sardis, a topaz, and a carbuncle, This should be the first row. And the second row should be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. In the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. In the fourth row, a barrel, and an onyx, and a jasper. They should be set in gold in their enclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, 12 according to their names, like the engravings of a signet. Every one with his name shall be according to the 12 tribes.

And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreath and work of pure gold. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And thou shalt put the two wreath and chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. And the other two ends of the two wreath and chains thou shalt fasten to the two ouches and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod before it.

And thou shalt make two rings and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. And two other rings of gold thou shalt make and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath toward the forepart. Therefore over against the other coupling thereof upon the curious girdle of the ephod. and they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof, unto the rings of the ephod, with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.

And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place for a memorial before the Lord continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they should be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually."

We'll end our reading there. Let's bow together. Our Father, we come into your presence this evening with great anticipation. that tonight maybe you would be pleased to meet with us, that you would enable us, Father, to hear a word from thee, that you would give us the eyes of faith to see more of the glory of Christ our Savior, of his unspeakable love for his people.

Father, we are amazed that the holy God has it in his character to love sinful men and women such as we are. Father, I pray that you would use that to break our hearts tonight, that you would enable us to leave here tonight reveling in and joying in the unspeakable love of God for his people. That love that moved you to send your son to put away the sin of your people by sacrificing himself in our place.

Father, we thank you. And oh, how we pray that you'd bless us in our attempts to worship and see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let his name, his character, everything about him be lifted up and extolled and magnified here tonight. And Father, what we pray for ourselves, we pray for all of your people. wherever they're meeting together tonight.

Father, bless for your great namesake, for the good of your people, certainly. But Father, for your namesake, cause your gospel to run well wherever it's preached tonight. And Father, we hold up before you those who are sick and afflicted, those that you have seen fit in your wisdom and providence to bring into the valley of trouble. Father, we pray you give them a fulfillment of your promise that your grace is sufficient, that you'd be with them during this time of trial. Father, as soon as it could be your will, that you would deliver, that you would bring out of the valley, that you'd heal, that you'd comfort, that, Father, that you would teach us what it is that we're to learn and that you'd bring us out.

Father, we thank you for the many, many blessings of this life, how you have blessed this congregation. Father, we're so thankful. Pray that your continued hand of mercy and leadership and guidance and protection be upon us. Father, all these things we ask in that name, which is above every name, the name of Christ, our savior. Amen.

Well, I've titled the message tonight, Christ, the loving, High Priest. The breastplate being worn over the heart of the High Priest shows something about the love of Christ, our great High Priest for his people. And how it's tied to the ephod that we looked at last week.

You remember we looked at the ephod, it was a cunning work, a glorious work, that garment that showed all those different colors woven into it. Depending on which way the priest turned or which angle the sun or the light was coming at him, you'd see all those different colors. Maybe you'd see all blue or all gold or all red or all white or a mixture of one or two of those colors. And that's a picture of all the different facets of the glory of Christ our Savior, all found in one high priest.

And I hope you remember that the ephod was two pieces worn over the the head and the shoulders of the high priest. And those two pieces were joined by black onyx stone buttons that were on his stones, that were on his shoulders. And the names of the children of Israel were carved, six on this, six tribes, six on this shoulder, six on this shoulder, which is a picture of Christ bearing the burden of his people, bearing the burden of the salvation of his people. And he bore it all on his shoulders.

The Lord Jesus Christ came as the servant of his father to do all of the work that it took to save his people from their sin. He bore the burden of his people. How he puts us on his shoulder and carries us all the way home. He bears our burden. He bears the burden of our sin. He puts up with the burden of our sin and our weak faith and our failures. He bears all of that on his shoulders to accomplish the eternal will of his father in the redemption of his people.

Well, tonight we're going to look at the breastplate that was worn over top of that ephod, worn over the heart of the high priest. And several things I want us to see about this breastplate. I spent all last Wednesday talking about that burden that was on the shoulders of our Savior, that he bore the burden of the sin of his people away. But the first thing I want us to see about the breastplate is this.

Christ our Savior, the great high priest, doesn't just carry the burden of his people because he's forced to. He does it because he loves his people, because he loves them. He carries the burden of his people, carried the burden of our sin away, just carries us on his shoulders in great love for his people. It was love that made him happy to do whatever it took to save his people from their sin. He's happy. He said, heaven rejoices when just when one sinner repents. Well, you know, he does too, because he loves his people.

And the best example that I can think of is parents. Parents, typically, I mean, I know there's some that aren't, there's some exceptions, but typically speaking, you find parents who are very happy to sacrifice of themselves, to not have things for themselves so that their children can have what they need. Parents are just so willing to sacrifice of themselves, their time, their money, to help their children. And it's not a duty that's forced upon us. You do it because you love them, because you love them.

That's Christ our Savior has done everything that he's done for his people because he loves them. And that's what you see all throughout this breastplate that he wore over his heart. Now, from what I read, I guess it's because of the 12 precious stones that are put upon this breastplate. It's the most costly garment that would be the most expensive or the most valuable if you broke up all the pieces of it that the high priest would wear, of all the different pieces of his garments. It shows us the preciousness, the value, the just unspeakable preciousness of the love of Christ for his people. I hate to even try to put words to that. How precious is it that the holy son of God loves sinners like you and me?

And his love means something. His love means he's going to come redeem those people from their sin. He's going to gather them together. He's going to have them where he is. You can just forget about this thing. Well, Christ loves somebody, but they didn't love him back. So they went to hell anyway. No, sir. The love of Christ means something. And everyone that he loves has their sin put away. And one day he's going to gather those people to himself because he loves them. There can't be any salvation of any sinner without the love of Christ for sinners. And that's what moved him to do everything he did for his people. It's love.

Now, the second thing is this, that we see this in this breastplate. Christ only loves his people. Christ doesn't love all of mankind indiscriminately. He loves his people, and only his people. You know, the breastplate wasn't very big. It's a hand-breadth square, and it was like they folded it in two, like a little bag. And on the outside of that breastplate, There were 12 precious gems that we read about all 12 of them there. And they were set in order on this breastplate by the birth order of Jacob's sons of those 12 tribes of Israel. Those were the only names on that breastplate, just the names of the tribes of Israel. So that everybody could, it's just obvious to everybody, that high priest wearing that breastplate with those 12 names on his heart, on his shoulders, and on his heart, he's only representing the 12 tribes of Israel. He's not representing, when he goes in to make a sacrifice, he's not making that sacrifice for any Philistine. It's just for those 12 tribes of Israel. He's not putting the coals and the sweet incense on the golden altar in the holy place and that incense going up to make intercession for the Amalekites. It's only for the 12 tribes of Israel.

Christ loves his people. He loves his people and only his people. And those people shall be saved. And you see the certainty of their salvation because this breastplate is attached to the ephod on those buttons by those that talk about the power of Christ to save his people. That's the power of the love of Christ to save his people. That is what's on his shoulders and what's over his heart are connected. He loves his people. And I don't care what Israelite you are. And you read the history of Israel, and my goodness. I mean, it's embarrassing, isn't it? It's embarrassing to me because I see myself in them. You see rebellion, you see unbelief, you see faith that's so weak, it's practically non-existent.

But if you're an Israelite, you're a member of those 12 tribes. And regardless of how pathetic you might think you are, your name's still on that over the heart of the high priest. Every Israelite was over his heart. He loved them in spite of themselves.

You remember the time that, you know, this wasn't just ceremonial. Aaron loved Israel. He is their high priest and he loved Israel. You remember that time that the Lord was sending the plague, and it was just sweeping across the wilderness, and it was killing everybody it came in contact with. And Moses told Aaron, now go make an offering, make an intercession, and bring it out before, you know, to stop the plague. And Aaron ran. He ran. And you know what the people did to bring this plague on themselves? They were murmuring against Moses and Aaron. They had sinned against Moses and Aaron, and Aaron didn't take his sweet old time to let as many people die and suffer as possible. He ran to make an atonement to stop that plague so that those children of Israel would live. He loved those 12 tribes. As he represented them, he did it, and he loved them.

Now Aaron is just a weak picture. The best any man could be is just a weak picture of Christ. But I don't care where you are, where you might find yourself in the camp of spiritual Israel, where are you? You're over the heart of Christ our great high priest. And despite of our embarrassing rebellion and our unbelief and our weak faith, Christ still loves his people with an everlasting love.

And everywhere Aaron went, where he is wearing that breastplate, he carried those 12 tribes over his heart. And we'll come back to this more in just a little bit. But everywhere that Christ our Savior went, he went in love for his people. Everything he did, he did in love for his people, and only his people, only his people.

The third thing I see about this breastplate is this. Every believer is secure in Christ's love for his people. The names of the 12 tribes that are written on these stones, they weren't just written in ink that could eventually be rubbed off. They were engraved in there so that they stay, those names stayed in there. And the stones that were held over the heart of the priest were attached by chains. And those chains were wreathed in chains, is what we read. They wound those chains up to give them extra strength. And they bound those to those buttons, those stone buttons on the ephod, so that they couldn't be torn off. See, it says at the end of verse 28, you attach it to the rings of the ephod with laces of blue. that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod. They made sure that breastplate could not be separated from the ephod. The love of Christ for his people can't be separated from his power to save them. They always go together. And every child of God is secure in the love of Christ.

You know, we look at each other, we look at believers in other places and believers down through history, and we think, wow, I mean, the Lord really blessed them. The Lord really blessed that one. The Lord really blessed that one. We tend to think, we ought to never think this, but I've heard this said, well, God doesn't love me like he loves them. Yes, he does too. Yes, he does too. He loves all of his children with that everlasting love, and they're bound to him by those chains, by those cords of love that tie to the power of God so that God's people cannot be separated from the love of Christ.

Let's read about it, Romans chapter eight. One thing that you hear people say, and it gets on my last nerves, but it's true for people. They say, well, I used to love you. And a human being can do that. They can feel the emotion of love now and not feel it later. A man can say, well, I married my wife and I used to love her, but I found a better model now. Christ our husband will never say that. and himself could never be separated from his people.

Romans 8, verse 35. Now who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we're killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I'm persuaded, Paul said, now I've added this up, I've looked at this, I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

Our Lord. How Christ loves his people. And the thing that makes that so amazing to us, the reason this is recorded in scripture, and we read it over and over and over again. Have you read Romans 8 like 10,000 times in your life? I bet you right now it's just as sweet as it ever was, wasn't it? Because we have to be reminded, we think of ourselves, I'm unlovable. I'm just unlovable. But God loves his people. Christ loves his people and he'll never stop loving his people. And those people that he loves, they're precious to him.

You think of the people that you love. Now they're precious to you. They're precious to you, aren't you? God's people are precious to him. Look over at Malachi chapter three, the last book in the Old Testament. You know, these stones, these precious stones. You think, where did they get those? Well, I'm sure that they got them from Egypt. Remember when the people were just giving them all their gold and jewelry and all their things and telling them, you know, just get out of here? Those stones were gathered from all over the world through Egypt, being trading partners with people in all over the world. And that's where they got those jewels to put on the breastplate.

Now look what God calls his people here, Malachi 3, verse 17. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels, my special treasure, my jewels, and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. God's people are his jewels, and he says they're precious to me. They're precious to me. I'm gonna spare them because I love them. I love them as my own son. Now what word are you gonna use to describe that? Amazing grace, amazing love. The almighty God would love a sinner like me and make a sinner like me one of his precious jewels. That's precious to him. There's just no words. How is it we can be precious to the holy God, but that's what he calls us And that's what we are every believer now Now that's true. I can't stress that enough you take that and comfort your heart Everywhere you go. I don't care what it is. You're going through persecution famine nakedness peril sword You can't be separated from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus, our Lord. You're his precious tool.

But now let's just not be getting too full of ourselves here. I had a man tell me one time, you people believe in election, why you believe you're just special people. Well, yeah. God made a difference, but it's nothing in me. Before we get too full of ourselves talking about what precious stones we are, let's just remember this. A precious stone is useless unless there's light from above that it can reflect. That diamond's not beautiful until it's cut, cut just right. and the light shines on it to make it beautiful. And I don't know about all those precious, other precious stones, but I know enough to know this, they're only beautiful with light from above. And the only reason any of us, every believer, you're God's jewels, but the only beauty that there is in us is reflected in the light of Christ our Savior. Isn't that right?

Now here's, I said all that, now those are the things that you see taught in picture, in the breastplate, Christ's love for his people. Here's the thing I really wanted to get to tonight. Everything that the Lord Jesus Christ did during his earthly ministry, he did in love for his people, motivated by love. In eternity, when the father elected a people to redeem, and he gave them to his son to redeem, The son looked at those people, they're sinful, they're fallen in Adam, they're just as wretched as the rest of Adam's race. And he said, Father, I'll redeem them. I'll make them mine. I will come in the flesh and do everything that it takes to save these people from their sin, because I love them. And they've been in his heart ever since, electing love.

And when the time came, the Son of God came in the flesh. That's such a great mystery. A mystery only rivaled by the Son of God dying. That the Son of God, who the heavens cannot contain, was made a microscopic embryo in the womb of the Virgin. He humbled himself to be made in the likeness of his creatures, just to be made an embryo in Mary's womb, and to grow, just like we did in the womb, and to be born, and to be dependent on his mother's milk. Now she was dependent on him to give her the milk and her breast, but yet he was dependent on her to give it to him. He was dependent on her to take care of him or he would have died. I can't explain that, I just know that so. But he humbled himself to do that because he loved his people. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. He came in the flesh and humbled himself to do it. There's never been a trip taken a further distance than this, that the Son of God was made flesh. But he did it because he loved his people.

And you think about our Lord, our Savior, growing up as a boy. Teenagers are famous, aren't they, for thinking that they know more than their parents. We were talking about that at the men's lunch last week, and just, you know, thinking we knew more than our parents. And then we grew up a little bit and realized, oh, you know, our dads were so wise, weren't they, you know? This was a boy who was wiser than his parents. And he obeyed them. He obeyed them perfectly. He submitted himself to obey his creatures in everything that they ever told him to do. He humbled himself to put himself in subjection to his creatures. The humility of that is beyond our comprehension, but he did it because he loves his people. He loves his people. He had to obey his parents, didn't he? in order to make his people righteous, he had to obey all the law, and so he did it.

And then you think of this little boy, and even all through adulthood, right before he was crucified, he kept all the ceremonies, all the feast days, everything required by the Old Testament law. And he could see better than anybody that they become void of worship. He comes to Jerusalem to observe the Passover. There's no wonder in being delivered by the blood. There's no wonder of the Lord saying, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. It's a money-making scheme now. They're selling, you know, sheep and goats, and they're selling all these religious trinkets, you know, there in the courtyard of the temple. He could see it was devoid of true worship, but he went anyway, because he's required by law to do it, and he did it because he loves his people. Because if he didn't do it, if he didn't go, if he didn't obey the law, there's no righteousness for his people.

And you think about our Lord and his earthly ministry. He walked everywhere he went. Except for, I guess, that time that they put him on the and let him through the streets of Jerusalem, get ready to crucify him, but as far as I know, everywhere else, he walked. He walked in a hot, dusty, dry climate. He got tired, he got thirsty, he got hungry, but he never stopped.

Look at John chapter four. One day he told his disciples that he must needs go through Samaria. And you know the story of the Lord coming, sitting there on Jacob's well, and talking to this woman, and had all these husbands, and living with the man she wasn't married to now, and all the things that he dealt with her. And you know, we think about this. He must need to go through Samaria for that woman, for that one woman. He revealed himself to her, right? But you know, it was more than just her. It was many others.

John 4, verse 28. This is after the Lord got done talking to the woman, and the woman left her water pot and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, come see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? And they went out of the city and came unto him. Now skip over to verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, for the saying of the woman was testified, he told me all that ever I did, So when the Samaritans were coming to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them, and he abode there two days, and many more believed because of his own word. And they said to the woman, now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we've heard him ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the savior of the world, and they believed on him.

Now to a Jew, Coming and talking, even just talking to a Samaritan, doing business with a Samaritan, much less be merciful to a Samaritan, is the most abhorrent thing they could think of. And our Lord must needs go through Samaria, not just to pluck one poor woman out of there, but many Samaritans. All those people that the Jews looked down their nose on so bad, the Lord loved them. And he went and taught them and revealed himself to them And they believed him because he loved those people. He loved them.

And then when the Lord healed the sick, and you know the different stories that sometimes he would go and heal one person. Maybe he'd raise somebody from the dead or he'd heal someone. Sometimes we read he just spent all day healing every person that had need of healing, that they would bring to him. He spent all day healing them. And the only reasons you could say he'd spend all day doing that is because he loved those people. He had pity on their suffering, he loved those people, and he healed them.

And I also know this, every single one of those physical healings that our Lord ever performed, they're all pictures of spiritual healing. How he gives spiritual life to the dead, how he gives the spiritually lame feet to walk and legs to walk and legs to follow him. He gives the spiritually blind eyes to see Him and the spiritually deaf ears to hear Him so that they believe Him. I know that's the most important teaching of those things. There are pictures of what happens when the Lord saves a sinner from their sin. He heals them from all their spiritual diseases. But don't forget this, He did it in love. He did it in love.

I'll show you two examples of that, Mark chapter two. Mark two, verse three. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was. And when they had broken it up, they let it down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy was lay. This man's paralyzed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee. And you know, later on, he healed the man. He told him, arise, take up your bed and walk, and he did. But look how the Lord talked to him. Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. This is the only place recorded in scripture that our Lord called a man son, son.

Now Jan and I raised two daughters. And now I got two sons. They're husbands. They're not my sons at all. They're my sons. And recently I was talking to one of them. And I said, son, here's what we got to do. That was a term of endearment. I love that young man. That's a term of endearment. When our Lord called this man, he lay in there paralyzed, can't do anything for himself. I bet you he stank. I bet he was dirty. I mean, just, you know, somebody's got to take care of him. And Lord looked at him in love and said, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. And they were because the Lord loved this man enough to the short order, go die for him.

Look over a few pages at Mark chapter five. Verse 30, you know the story here, the woman with the issue of blood, she crawled up behind the Savior. She thought, if I can just touch the end of his garment, I'll be healed. And she came and touched him, verse 30, and Jesus immediately, knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, who touched my clothes? And the disciples said unto him, thou seest the multitude thronging. You know, dozens of people touching you. And say, is that who touched me? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace and be whole of thy plague. And like I said, Jan and I raised two daughters I know about daddy's girls. I know about that. And when I talk to one of them, call them my daughter, I'm telling you, that's a term that carries weight. I love them. I would do anything for them. My daughter, the Lord looked at this poor suffering woman and called her my daughter. It's the only time in scripture recorded that he did it. And I'm telling you, he healed her and he healed that other man and called them my son and my daughter because he loves them.

I'm looking at sons and daughters of the king. Our Lord knows exactly where you're at. You're his daughter. You're his son. He knows where you're at. He's not taking his eye off of you. He's not forgotten. You know, sometimes we think, well, I'm going through this horrible trial that the Lord's forgotten me. No, sir, no. He loves his children. And he'll always love. He'll provide everything that that's necessary for us.

And then the pinnacle of love. When Christ, our savior, went to the cross to suffer and die for his people. He went there in love. He told his disciples, John 15 verse 13, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And he went and gave them a demonstration of the pinnacle of love, where he willingly suffered and died to put their sin away.

Look at 1 John chapter five. John saw it. John was an eyewitness to this thing. And John knew there's never been a clearer display of pure love than this. 1 John 5 verse 9. In this was manifested the love of God toward us because the God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we love God, but they sent his son to be the propitiation, the sin covering for our sins. John saw that sacrifice and that's what he concluded. You wanna know what love is? John said, here it is. The Savior willingly laid down his life for everyone that he loves. And like I said earlier, the love of Christ means something. Whoever it is he laid down his life for, their sins is put away and they have eternal life.

But you know, the Lord didn't stop there. He stayed on that cross, so he gave up the ghost, and he died. And two men went and took him down from the tree and laid him in the tomb of a rich man. He went to the tomb because he loved his people. He went to the tomb so that they'd never have to go and stay there again. Because three days later, he came out. And when he came out of the tomb, he came out in love for his people. Because our Savior came out of the tomb, the tomb couldn't hold him anymore, could it? because sin was gone. When you and I one day are laid in the grave, one day we're coming out, the grave's not going to be able to hold us either. We must have eternal life because our Savior came out of the tomb. We must too, because he put our sin away. He came out of the tomb in love.

And then he returned to the Father in love for his people. You know, sometimes I think I wish the Lord was just right here. Janet said this to me times. I wish the Lord just sit down here at my living room, in my kitchen table and tell me what's going on. And we think we'd like that. But you know why he went away? In love for his people. So that right now, we have an advocate in heaven. We have a mediator with the Father right now. He went there because he loves his people. And one day, he's coming back. He's coming back because he loves his people. And he's going to gather all those people to himself. So not only will we be with him, but he'll be with us for eternity. All of us, this number that no man can number, we'll all see him and be with him face to face all at the same time because he loves his people.

Now the only explanation there can be for that kind of love, that the holy God could love sinful men and women like us is the character of God, that he has the capacity to love sinners and to make them holy and righteous and spotless so they can be in his presence.

And then one more thing. This Urim, look back at our text, verse 30. This Urim and Thummim is a thing that fuzzes up people for ages, but look at this. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before the Lord. And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually.

Now these were two stones, and we don't exactly know how it was that they were used, but they were used to determine God's will in important matters. What we kind of think is, as Aaron would say, you know, Lord, should we do this or this? And then he'd draw one of the stones out and would tell him, you know, we don't know that for sure, but that's what we think. But those two stones were used to reveal the will of God and the providence of God in the lives of his people. What it is that his people should do, which way that they should go.

Now that's a, That actually happened, but here's the picture how this applies to you and me. Every event that's ever happened in the history of this creation has been directed by God Almighty in love for his people. Those two stones are right over the heart of the high priest. God has directed everything in his creation because he loves his people.

When God created this universe, he created a perfect world. And he put Adam in it, and he gave Adam a help meat, and Adam and Eve were in a perfect world, sinless, perfect, they were innocent, there was no sin around them, there was no death, no decay, everything around them was perfect. And God allowed Adam to fall. And I don't say God allowed Adam to fall, like, you know, oh, I didn't know Adam was gonna fall. No, it was the purpose of God for Adam to fall. And look at the destruction. 6,000 years of destruction after Adam fell. Death, wars, hatred, sin heaped upon sin. And we think this is so awful. Why did God allow Adam to fall? Why was this the purpose of God that Adam would fall? Because he loves his people.

If Adam fell and he plunged everybody he represented into death, Now Christ can come and everyone he represented will be given eternal life. The father did that because he loved his people so that they could be saved and never lost again. If Adam had never fallen, you and I would be on our own right now. And I promise you we wouldn't last and we wouldn't fare any better than Adam did. We'd fail, we'd sin, we'd be sent to hell because there's no savior. But if Adam fell, our representative. He sinned as our representative. Christ can come as our representative and make us righteous and give us a salvation that we can never lose.

Now you just apply that to every historical event and every event in our lives and I just I want to show you just one of them. Just think of one of them. Like I say, every time you run into something, you can apply this same principle to that. But what about our trials? What about our heartaches? I mean, we look at the destruction that Adam's seen cause, but what about my trials? What about these things that come upon me? I think they're gonna crush me. This heartache, it's too big for me. The sorrow, the depression, the anguish, the heart and body and mind and soul that these things cause, I just... Why? It just feels like I'm being crushed.

The Lord sent it in love. He sent those things to us on purpose in love. And you know, the thing that we talk about, and it's very true, I mean, why the Lord sends trials? I have no idea. Of all the things that God's doing and all the reasons, I have no idea. I do not pretend to know what God's doing and why He's doing it. But I do know this. Every trial is sin. To teach us something. To teach us to trust the Lord. To take away everything else that we trust in so that we see all there is for me to trust in is Christ. to increase our faith in Christ. So that we find out, you know the only way you're gonna find out that God's grace is sufficient? Is if he puts you in such a deep, dark hole, the only thing to bring you out of it is God's grace. The only thing that can comfort, that's the only way we learn God's grace is sufficient, is when he takes everything away from us. And we see his grace really is sufficient. And it's such a blessing to us. I know that's behind every single trial, that God's ever sent.

But you know, there's many, many, many things going on when the Lord sends a trial to one of his children. We may never fully see all the results of it. You know, we love that scripture, all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. But you know what? It might not necessarily be my good. I might not see the good that comes from it. And I'll give you an example. Look at Acts chapter eight. Acts chapter eight. And even if I don't see the good in it, I know this, God's working good in it.

Acts chapter eight. Verse one. And Saul was consenting unto his death, unto Stephen's death. I mean, what a horrible, awful thing that they stoned this man to death. It's awful. And Saul was consenting to it.

And at that time, there was great persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem. I mean, people lost their jobs. They lost their homes. They lost everything they had. They escaped out of Jerusalem with the clothes on their back. No food, no supplies, no nothing. I mean, horrible persecution. If you didn't get away, you were tortured and killed.

And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some of these Jews that hated the Samaritans, they had to go to Samaria to find refuge, you know.

And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. They were so sad.

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church. entering into every house and hailing men and women and committing them to prison. I mean, Paul just come in in the middle of the night and just grab people up out of their bed that they claim to believe Christ, and he'd throw them in prison. And they probably wouldn't last long there till they're executed, you know?

I mean, this is horrible. This is God's children. God's children are suffering like this. They're suffering this persecution. They're being put to death. They're having to run to the hills and just, You know, no clothes on their back or nothing. They don't have any food. They don't see how they're gonna survive the day.

I mean, what horrible suffering. Why did God do that? It's because he loves his people.

Verse four, therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preach Christ unto them. You reckon those folks would have gone to Samaria and preached Christ to those awful Samaritans? Not on their own they wouldn't. And God drove them there because he must needs go through Samaria again. In his gospel, he had people there he loved and he sent his gospel to them.

And whatever it is that drove God's people to go there and preach Christ to them, That's good, isn't it? It's the best good that could ever come to those people, that they heard of Christ and believed Him. And next time that we find ourselves in the midst of a trial that we think is just so horrible, we don't see any good out of it, just know this, the Lord is bringing good out of it, whether I see it or not, because He loves His people, because He loves His people.

And I hope that'll be helpful Next time we find ourselves in that lobe. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you for the love of Christ for his sinful people that moved him to come establish a perfect righteousness for them, to put their sin away through the sacrifice of himself. Father, how we thank you. How we thank you that you're still directing everything that happens in this world for the good of your people because you love them. Because you're still sending your gospel to your people. You're still mixing faith with those who hear the gospel and saving your people and calling them out to yourself because you love them. Father, how we thank you.

And Father, I pray that you would cause this knowledge how Christ loves his people. He'll always love them. He's loved them eternally. He'll never quit loving them. He'll never leave them nor forsake them. Father, cause this to comfort our hearts, to encourage us and strengthen us and cause us to love him more, to trust him more, to be found even more faithfully and fervently at his feet. clean to Him, loving Him, and trusting Him. Father, it's in Christ's name, for His sake and His glory, we pray. Amen.

All right. Let's turn now in our Bibles to 304. Page 304. And we'll stand as we sing,

Savior, more than life to me.
Savior more than life to me,
I am clinging, clinging close to Thee.
Let Thy precious blood apply,
keep me ever, ever near Thy side.
Every day, every hour,
let me feel thy cleansing power.
May thy tender love to me
bind me closer, closer, Lord, to thee.

Through this changing world below,
lead me gently, gently as I go.
Trusting thee, I cannot stray.
I can never, never lose my way.
Every day, every hour,
let me feel thy cleansing power.
May thy tender love to me
bind me closer, closer, Lord, to thee.

Let me love thee more and more,
till this fleeting, fleeting life is o'er.
till my soul is lost in love
in a brighter, brighter world above.
Every day, every hour,
let me feel thy cleansing power.
May thy tender love to me
bind me closer, closer, Lord, to thee.