Let's begin reading in verse
one. And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord, and the
Lord heard it. And his anger was kindled, and
the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that
were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried
unto Moses, and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.
And he called the name of the place Tiberias, because the fire
of the Lord burnt among them. And the mixed multitude that
was among them fell a-lusting. And the children of Israel also
wept again and said, who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember
the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers and
the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. And
now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all beside
this manna before our eyes. And the manna was as a coriander
seed, and the color thereof is the color of Bedellin. And the
people went about and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or
beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of
it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. And when
the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon
it. And Moses heard the people weep
throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent,
and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly. Moses also was
displeased. And Moses said unto the Lord,
wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have
I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of
all this people upon me? Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou
shouldest say unto me, carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing
father beareth a sucking child, unto the land which thou swearest
unto their fathers? When should I have flesh to give
unto all this people? For they weep unto me, saying,
Give us flesh that we may eat. I'm not able to bear all this
people alone, because it's too heavy for me. And if thou deal'st
with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I found favor
in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. We'll end
our reading there. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, once again, we bow
before your throne of grace, seeking your blessing in our
worship service. Father, how we beg of you that
you would send your spirit upon us and enable us to have a true
worship service, that you would enable each of us to worship
you from the heart. Father, I beg of you in this
hour that you would not leave me alone, that you'd uphold me
with thy spirit that you'd speak to my heart and that you would
open my mouth and enable me to rightly divide the word of truth. Father, I beg of you that you
would enable me to in clear and simple terms preach Christ and
him crucified. Father, I beg that each one here
would be enabled by thy spirit to hear and to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ as your gospel is being preached. Father, I
know we ask such a great blessing. We have so many needs. How we
come before you so often asking because we're in such need. We
can't worship without thee, without thy spirit. We can't be saved. We can't believe unless you act
upon us, do something for us and in us. Father, how desperately
we need you. And Father, we dare not. forget
to thank you for your many blessings. We are a poor and needy people,
yet how you've blessed this congregation. You've blessed us beyond every
people on the face of the earth. How you've blessed us with your
gospel. You've kept your gospel here for generations, you've
blessed your word, you've called out your people, fed and comforted
and edified your people by the preaching of the word all these
many years. You've been so gracious to us. And Father, we're thankful,
thankful that you've given us a taste of how sweet your mercy
is. And we pray your continued blessing be upon us. Father,
we pray you bless your word everywhere where it's preached this morning.
We pray a special blessing for our brother Eric, that you bless
him in preaching to that dear group there, that you give him
traveling mercies and bring him back home safe to us. Father,
for those that you brought into the time of trouble and trial,
we pray for them also. We're thankful to know these
things are not accidents that have come upon us, but they're
according to thy will, thy purpose, sent to your people for good,
according to your wisdom and goodness. And Father, we pray
you'd be with your people, that you'd heal, that you'd comfort.
We pray you'd comfort their hearts with your presence. Father, that
you would deliver as soon as it could be thy will. And all
these things we ask, and we give thanks in that name which is
above every name, the name of Christ our Savior. Amen. I titled
the message this morning, Why Hast Thou Afflicted Thy Servant?
I took my title from verse 11, when Moses said unto the Lord,
Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? And wherefore have
I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of
all this people upon me? Now the children of Israel, you
know, they're just like us by nature, aren't they? They were
so concerned with the flesh. that when something little happened
to the flesh, they could not trust the Lord to provide for
them. If they thought they could not provide for themselves, why,
they just didn't think the Lord could provide for them. They
seemed to forget how often the Lord had blessed them, how often
the Lord had wondrously, miraculously provided for them, and how the
Lord had promised, I'll bring you to the land that I promised
your fathers. When the slightest difficulty
came up in the flesh, it seemed like they'd forgotten. about
God's goodness to them. They forgot about the promise
of the Lord, and they just found they could not trust the Lord,
because all they could think about was their flesh. They just
couldn't see past it. And they complained about it.
And that attitude displeased the Lord. The way the word is
translated there, it displeased the Lord. In verse one, it was
evil to the Lord. That complaining was evil to
the Lord. and their attitude made their
leader Moses so miserable that Moses said, having to be the
leader of this people, that's an affliction from the Lord.
I must have done something I haven't found favor in God's sight that
he do something so awful to me as make me the leader of this
people. He asked, well, what did I ever do to deserve the
heartache of having to lead this people? And you know, the children
of Israel Constantly complained. I mean they just complained after
the Lord blessed him so richly look at verse 1 of Numbers 11
And when the people complained it displeased the Lord and the
Lord heard it and his anger was kindled and the fire of the Lord
burnt among them and consumed them that were in the uttermost
parts of the camp and The people cried unto Moses. How often do
you read this story as the children of Israel going through the wilderness?
They cried unto Moses And Moses prayed unto the Lord and the
fire was quenched. And he called the name of that
place Tiberias because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.
Now you've known complainers like these people. They constantly
complain about everything and everyone. I mean, just constantly. Now that complaining was evil
to the Lord. And you know, the children of
Israel could not be satisfied. They weren't just complaining
necessarily about circumstances. They were complaining about the
Lord's provision for them. They could not be satisfied with
what the Lord had provided for them. Look down at verse four.
And a mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting, and
the children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give
us flesh to eat? And skip verse five, we'll come
back to that in a minute, down to verse six. But now our soul
is dried away, There's nothing at all beside this manna. You
can just say, imagine how they said the word manna. There's
nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes. And the manna
was as a coriander seed, and the color thereof is the color
of bedellum. And the people went about and gathered it, and ground
it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made
cakes of it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh
oil. And when the dew fell upon the
camp of the night, the manna fell upon it. Now the people,
they're not starving to death here. Now they're complaining
like they're starving to death. They're not starving to death.
They had plenty of manna to eat. The Lord miraculously provided
this manna for them every night, every day. And that bread from
heaven, that manna from heaven, that's a picture of Christ, the
bread of life. And that wasn't good enough for
them. They wanted more. They wanted something more. They
wanted meat too. They complained about the lack
of meat so much, they wished they were back in slavery in
Egypt. Look at verse five. We remember the fish, which we
did eat in Egypt freely, and the cucumbers and the melons
and the leeks and the onions and the garlic. Their complaining
went so far as to say, we were better off when we were slaves
in Egypt. Now, I've read about slavery
in our country, in other places. It's just hard for me to imagine
somebody that had been a slave and is now free would want to
go back to being a slave. That's just hard for me to fathom.
I mean, when they said that, they must have forgotten what
it was like to be a slave. Pharaoh came in one day, sent
his army in, and killed all their boy babies, and there wasn't
one blessed thing they could do about it. Did they forget
that? Did they forget how Pharaoh got
angry one day and said, you got to make bricks without straw?
And if your count goes down, I'm going to beat you. Did they
forget? Did they really eat all the fish
there freely? No, they were slaves. They actually complained. I remember
Egypt being in bondage in Egypt. That's a picture of being in
bondage to sin, in bondage to the law. The picture here is
they actually complained so much. They said, it's better for me
to be a slave to sin than be free in Christ. It's better for
me under the law. The law actually provided for
me better than God has by his grace. It's no wonder Moses said,
leading this people is an affliction. Can you imagine having to lead
those people and be around those people? God's afflicted me and
having to lead this people. Now if you will for just a moment,
consider Moses as the pastor, the leader, leading this local
flock. I don't want to be the guy that
makes the pastor's job harder. I don't want to be the guy that
makes him miserable every day. Now I've been at this long enough
to know somebody will, Somebody's going to make his life miserable
every day. I don't care where he is. Somebody's
going to do it, but I don't want it to be me. Hold your place
there. Look at Hebrews chapter 13. I don't want to make life harder
for the man. I don't want to make the ministry
harder for a man who's doing his best to feed Christ to my
soul. That's the pastor's job. Look
at Hebrews 13 verse seven. Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose
faith follow, considering the end, the goal of their conversation,
which is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Look down at verse 17. Obey them that have the rule
over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls,
as they that must give an account, that they may do it with joy
and not with grief. for that's unprofitable for you.
Now how do you obey them that have the rule over you? How do
you obey the pastor who has the rule in the church? It's not
by him micromanaging your life, I can tell you that. It's by
believing the message that he preaches. Look to Christ, look
to Christ, trust Christ, cast your soul on Christ. That's our
message and that's how you obey that message. That's profitable
for you. That's profitable. God's servant
is seeking your profit, your benefit, not his. And it's unprofitable
if you don't believe that message. You don't believe on Christ,
you don't trust him. Well, that's unprofitable for
your soul, isn't it? Now, you take that same principle and
you apply it to your interactions with everybody else, especially
those here. Try to make life a little easier
for folks. Don't make it harder, because
you're so hard to get along with. You're constantly complaining,
you know. Listen, we got enough trials and enough heartaches
in this life. We don't need to make it harder
for our brethren along the way. It's hard enough already, isn't
it? Do whatever it is you can to make the journey through this
life easier for your brethren. Be a help to them, not a hindrance,
because it's hard enough already, isn't it? Now, that's something
very helpful. it will take heed to it. But
that's not the gospel. And that's not the point of this
text. Many of the writers you read,
that's what you get from it. The point of the text here is
Christ. There's a type of Christ here
who's better than Moses. Moses told us everything he couldn't
do, didn't he? Christ came and he did everything
Moses couldn't do. I'm gonna give you six examples
of that from our text, back in Numbers chapter 11. Number one
is this. The father afflicted his son
for the sin of his people. Moses wondered, Lord, what did
I ever do that you'd afflict me this way? Why have you afflicted
me this way? Oh, Christ was afflicted, wasn't
he? Oh, he was afflicted. The father afflicted him so severely
that he cried from the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Oh, he was afflicted. Sounds
like Moses saying why was I afflicted, doesn't it? Well, the son knew
why he was afflicted. The father afflicted his son
more harshly than he afflicted anybody before or since. And
the father did that to his son who did nothing but please him
during his earthly ministry. Proverbs, it talks about the
son being with the father in eternity, past being daily his
father's delight. And now he comes to earth and
he pleases his father fully. He honored his father, he honored
the father's law and magnified it. The father was so pleased,
he audibly spoke from heaven, said, this is my beloved son.
And he's well pleased. And now the father afflicts his
son more harshly than he's afflicted anybody before or since. Why
would the father do that? Moses asked, why have you laid
the burden of all this people upon me? Well, the picture is
this, the father afflicted his son because he laid the burden
of the sin of his people upon his son. The father laid all
of the burden of all of the sin of his elect upon Christ when
he made him sin for his people. the sin of God's elect actually
became Christ's. That's an affliction, isn't it?
For the Holy Son of God to be made sin? Oh, the affliction
of it. Just at the thought of it, he
thought he might die in the garden. At the thought of being made
sin, oh, the affliction that that was for the Holy Son of
God. Now, Christ never committed any
sin, but he became guilty of all this sin. Suddenly, all the
complaining of his people was his complaining. Suddenly, all
their sin against God was now Christ's. And the father punished
his son with everything that sin deserved. Look with me for
a moment at Lamentations chapter one. After the book of Jeremiah, Lamentations
chapter one, there has never been more harsh
punishment than the punishment Christ received from his father
at Calvary. Lamentations one, verse 12. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see, if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger, From
above, as he sent fire into my bones, and it prevailed against
them, he hath spread a net for my feet. He hath turned me back. He hath made me desolate and
faint all the day. The yoke of whose transgressions? My transgressions, not the transgressions
of my people. The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by his hand. They were wreathed and come up
upon my neck. He hath made my strength to fall.
The Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not
able to rise up. The Lord hath trodden underfoot
all my mighty men in the midst of me, hath called an assembly
against me to crush my young men. The Lord hath trodden the
virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress, and for these
things I weep. Oh, no one has ever suffered
like our Savior suffered. But in his sufferings, Christ
did, what Moses could never do. You know the story of Israel
as they come out of Egypt and they go to the promised land.
Moses had to constantly go to the Lord and intercede for the
people. Just like he did at the start of this chapter. The people
would sin against the Lord. They would fall into idolatry.
They would complain. Oh, and the Lord's anger was
kindled. Moses would go to the Lord to
intercede for the people. He'd offer a sacrifice. He'd
do what to make an atonement, you know. And the people would
say, I'll never do that again. Boy, just a drop of that, they're
doing it again, weren't they? Moses had to do it over and over
and over again. When Christ suffered for the
sin of his people, he suffered once. You know why he only suffered
once? Because his one sacrifice got
the job done forever. It put away the sin of his people. Christ, by his death, justified
his people. He made them to have no sin,
so there's no reason for God to be angry ever again. Sin is
gone. Moses had to do that over and
over and over again, didn't he? Christ just had to do it once.
And he'll never have to offer another sacrifice for sin. God's
not angry anymore. The one sacrifice of Christ put
away God's anger forever, put away that affliction forever. so that he'll never afflict his
people for their sin ever again, because he did it to his son,
Calvary. All right, number two, Moses, who's a picture of the
law. Moses and the law could never give anyone life, but Christ
gives his people life. In verse 12, Moses says, have
I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them? Moses said,
I didn't give these people life. How'd they become my responsibility?
I didn't give them life. Aren't you thankful that's not
what the Savior said? Aren't you thankful the Savior said,
I didn't give them life, don't afflict me with their sin. When
Christ died, he died as a substitute for his people so they would
live. They're already dead, they died
in Adam. Christ came to give them life and the way he gives
his people life is by dying the death they deserve. The death
of Christ satisfied God's justice against the sin of his leg. And
now that same justice, the justice that demand Christ be afflicted,
that demand he die, that same justice demands you live if Christ
died for you. It's the justice of God. And
look at John chapter one. That's why Christ came. He came
to die and to rise again, to ensure that all of his people
are given life. John chapter one. Verse 11. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born. They were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. They were born of the will of
God. Christ could say, I have begotten
this people. I did give this people life.
I did it by my death for them. Look at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. Verse three. Blessed be the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively, living
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Christ
is the one who's begotten all of his people. He gives all of
his people life because he died in their place. And Moses was
right. I haven't begotten his people
and I can't give him my life. Moses led at least three million
people out of Egypt, 3 million, maybe more. That might just be
the men. There could be more women and
children, but at least 3 million. Everybody in that group, 20 years
old and older, died in the wilderness. Moses couldn't keep them alive.
Moses could not bring them alive to the land of promise. He couldn't
do it, but Christ does. Christ gives all of his people
life. He gives them spiritual, eternal
life, and he gives them rest. He gives them rest in him. All right, here's the third thing.
Moses, the law, couldn't carry his people to the promised land,
but Christ does. Look at verse 12 again, Numbers
chapter 11. Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten
them that thou shouldst say to me, Carry them in thy bosom as
a nursing father, beareth a sucking child under the land which thou
swarest unto their fathers. Moses said, why have you given
me this people? I can't carry them across the
wilderness. That you promised to give them
a land, you promised their fathers you'd give them the land flowing
with milk and honey, but I can't carry them there. They're fighting
me every step of the way. I can't carry them, I can't drag
them there. Moses couldn't carry the people.
because he's just a man. But more than that, Moses represents
the law. Moses could not bring Israel
into the promised land. That promised land was the land
of rest, a land where everything was provided, flowing with milk
and honey. Moses couldn't bring the people
across Jordan into the promised land, because Moses represents
the law, and the law can't give anybody rest. I don't know why
anybody wants to look to the law to find out how they're supposed
to conduct themselves and how they're supposed to live. The
law never gives anybody any rest. Moses couldn't carry him there.
Oh, but Christ does. He gives his people rest. And
here's how he gives his people rest. He came and he fulfilled
the law. He fulfilled the law. He obeyed
it in every jot and every tittle, the most minute detail of the
law that you can find, Christ kept it. He obeyed it. And when
he obeyed the law, he took the law out of the way. The law used
to stand between us and God, didn't it? We can't keep the
law. We can't obey it. The law demands our death. Christ
came and obeyed the law, and he took the law out of the way.
If you want to know how to live and how to conduct yourself,
look to Christ. Look to Christ. He took the law
out of the way for his people. So there's nothing left to do. He obeyed it all. There's nothing
left for you to obey. There's nothing left in the law
for you if you trust Christ. Not one blessed thing. The way
God's people have rest is come to Christ and trust him. He already
finished the work. So there's nothing left for me
to do. See, Christ did what Moses and the law could never do. Christ
carries his people all the way to glory. Not only does the Savior
give his people spiritual life, spiritual rest in this life,
in this life, he gives his people rest from the law. You don't
have to work to keep the law in order to earn a righteousness.
Even though we still live in this body of sin, you have rest. You have rest if you believe
Christ. You're not worrying about trying to keep the law so God
will be happy with you. But we also worry about this.
We know our weakness. We know the weakness of our faith.
We know how easily I would go off on a tangent. If you're a
believer, this is what scares you. You know yourself enough
to know how easily I'd leave Christ, how easily I would. Well, here's our comfort. Christ
does what Moses could never do. He carries his people all the
way through the wilderness and all the way home. That's why
I read that parable in Matthew, the parable of the good shepherd.
He's got sheep. It's lost. What does he do? He
goes and finds it. Puts it on his shoulder. He doesn't
say, come on, I'll lead you home. Follow me now." He doesn't put
a leash on the lamb and pull it all the way home. The lamb
would get too tired, wouldn't it? It can't walk all that way.
The Savior puts that lamb on his shoulder and carries it all
the way home, rejoicing. The law couldn't do that. All
the law could do is keep beating you with a stick, saying, keep
walking, keep walking, keep walking, keep doing, keep doing, keep
doing. Christ says, Come here. Puts his lamb on his shoulder
and carries it home. Oh, I love what Christ does for
his people, don't you? By his love, by his grace, I
don't want anything more to do with the law. All right, here's
the fourth thing. The law can never feed our souls,
but Christ has. In verse 13, Moses says, when
should I have flesh to give all this people? For they weep unto
me, saying, Give us flesh that we may eat. Moses said, Where
am I going to find meat for all these people? He can never go
out here in the wilderness. I mean, this is not, you know,
like a rich hunting ground. He can't go out in the wilderness
and hunt enough animals to feed all these people. He can't do
it. Now, remember, Moses is a picture
of the law. The law can never feed our souls. It can't give
us life. and they can't feed our souls
to sustain life. All the law can do is condemn. They can only condemn me for
my sin. But Christ does what the law is not able to do. Christ
does feed his people and he feeds them all they want. Oh, he's
got a banquet house of grace. He says, come meet. The provision
of Solomon's table, just read that sometime. That's scraps
compared to Christ's table. Oh, come to His table and dine.
He says everything's ready. It'll satisfy all your hunger. Our problem is we're not hungry.
Isn't that the problem? It's the first thing the Lord
does for us. He makes us hunger and thirst after righteousness.
And then He feeds us. And here's what makes this so
special. Our Savior doesn't go down to the supermarket and buy
food. He didn't go out and hunt and find animals and bring to
us, you know, to feed us. The thing that makes this provision
of our Savior so special is he provides himself. He provides
himself as the meat for his people that satisfies their spiritual
hunger. Look at John chapter six. Christ provides himself
as the meat that gives life to the souls of his people. John chapter six, verse 24. And when the people therefore saw
that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took
shipping and came to Capernaum seeking for Jesus. And when they
found him on the other side of the sea, They said unto him,
Rabbi, whence camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, you seek me, not because you
saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and
were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth,
but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which
the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the Father
sealed. And he says, I'll give you this
meat which endureth everlasting life. And the first thing they
say to him after he says, I'll give it to you, is verse 28,
what shall we do that we might work the works of God? And he
just told them, I'll give it to you. And they said, what can
we do to earn it? What can we do to have it? And
Jesus answered and said to them, this is the work of God that
you believe on him whom he has sent. The self-righteous religionist
just wants to earn salvation. Well, I want to do the works
of God. And our Savior says, salvation is by grace. It's what
I do for you. It's what I give you by your
grace, by my grace. It's by God-given faith, not
by our works. Now, the Jews didn't understand
what the Lord was saying, that it's all in Him, that it's by
Him, that it's by believing Him, that it's by being joined to
Him. So verse 47, in the same chapter, The Lord tells them
plainly. This thing is the spiritual meat
that gives life to our souls is believing on Christ. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life. I am the bread of life. Your
fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and they're dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may
eat thereof and not die. I'm the living bread which came
down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread,
he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." The
Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. and I'll raise him up at the
last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. There it is, that union
with Christ. As the living Father has sent
me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. This is the bread which came
down from heaven. As your fathers did eat manna and are dead, He
that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Now, you know,
the Lord is not telling us that we've got to eat his literal
flesh, you know, like a, like a cannibal. He's not saying that
the bread of the Lord's table, you know, we pray over it and
it's miraculously turned into the actual flesh and body of
Christ. Eating here represents believing. That's what the Lord's
talking to them about. It's believing on Christ. It
represents a vital union with Christ. Just like the food that
you eat becomes part of your body. You can't separate it from
the cells of your body. It actually becomes the cells
of your body. You have union with that. Well,
that's salvation. A believer lays hold on Christ
by faith. He clings to Him. See, that's
how we have life, by being joined to Christ. It's by having Christ
dwell in us. So that's the union with Christ
in you, the hope of glory. And Christ does for his people
what the law can never do. He gives his people life and
they can never mess it up and lose it. The Spirit, if he gives
you faith in Christ, you can never die. But if you try to
earn it by the law, you'll perish. Christ does what the law can
never do. Fifth, Moses, the law, can't do this thing by himself,
but Christ does. Verse 14, back in Numbers chapter
11, Moses tells the Lord, I'm not able to bear all this people
alone because it's too heavy for me. And Moses says, Lord,
I can't handle this people on my own. They're too much of a
burden for me to carry. I can't give them a heart to
trust you. I can't make them follow you. I can't make them
follow me. I can't make them quit their rebellion. I can't
make them quit their complaining. They're too much for me to handle. And if you read on later in this
chapter, the Lord understands that and he selects 70 elders
to help Moses govern the people. But here's the picture, the point.
Christ our Savior needs no help. The burden of the sin of his
people would damn every one of us. we can't carry the burden
of our own individual sin. Christ took all of the sin of
all of his people and he bore the burden by himself. He put
away the sin of his people by himself. The writer to the Hebrew
said, when he had by himself purged our sins, he sat down
on the right hand of the majesty on high. For by one offering,
Just by the offering of himself, all by himself, by one offering,
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Christ our
Savior is so powerful. He's so precious. Our rock is
so strong. He saves his people by himself. And he calls them to him by himself. He said, I call my sheep. Remember
the sheepfold? I call my sheep. My sheep hear
my voice. They'll follow me. In another,
will they not follow? Christ saves His people and He
keeps them saved all by Himself. We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time. Christ saves His people. He keeps them saved. He brings
them through this world. And ultimately, He's going to
bring them to glory and glorify them all by Himself. He said, at the end of time on
earth, this is what I'm gonna say. Father, behold I and the
children God has given me. I brought every one of them by
myself and presented them faultless before your throne. Christ has
done for his people what the law can never do and he did it
by himself. Now that's somebody I can trust.
How about you? Then here's the last thing. The
death of Christ satisfied the Father like our death never could. Verse 15. And if thou deal thus
with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I found favor
in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. Now being
the leader of Israel was such an affliction to Moses, he said,
I'd rather die than keep doing it. Lord, a sign of your favor
is that you'd just kill me. and not make me keep having to
lead this people. Oh, I hope I don't ever do that to somebody,
don't you? But you know what? Even if Moses had died, it wouldn't
help Israel any, would it? But Christ came. And he did what
Moses could never do. Christ came, worked out a perfect
righteousness for his people. His people have a sin debt they
cannot pay. They have a mountain of sin that they cannot put away.
The stain of sin, the filth of sin is so in them, they can never
cleanse it. And he said, Father, give it
to me and put me to death. Put me, if I found favor in thy
sight, if you see me as the spotless lamb of God, the sinless sacrifice,
give their sin to me and kill me for them. And that's just
what the father did. and the death of Christ, like
I said earlier, took away the wrath of God against the sin
of his people, because the death of Christ put the sin of his
people away forever. Christ took away all the wretchedness
of the sin of his people so that the father does not see it. It's all been washed away under
the blood of Christ that he freely, willingly shed for the sin of
his people. Now what does the father have
left for his people? mercy and grace because of the
sacrifice of Christ. The law could never do that for
us, could it? The law could never give us life. All the law can
do is demand our death. The law can only condemn us.
But Christ did what the law could never do. When Christ died as
a substitute for his people, he guaranteed they could never
die. Christ has done for his people
what nobody else could do. And if you look at it honestly,
what nobody else would do either. Christ has done it. It's not
that he can do it, he's done it. Oh, I pray the Lord, give
us faith to believe him and trust him, don't you? All right, let's
bow together. Our Father, we thank you for
your word. We thank you for these pictures of Christ our Redeemer
that so clearly preached the gospel to us. Father, I pray
you bless your word to the hearts of your people, that you bless
it for your glory, that we might see your glory, believe on, trust
on, rest in Christ our Savior. Is it his blessed name, for his
sake we pray, amen. All right, Sean.