Now, if you would open your Bibles
with me to Genesis chapter 30. Genesis 30th chapter. We'll begin reading in verse
25. Read down through the end of the chapter. And it came to pass when Rachel
had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, send me away
that I may go into mine own place and to my country. Give me my
wives and my children for whom I've served thee and let me go.
For thou knowest my service, which I have done thee. And Laban
said unto him, I pray thee, if I found favor in thine eyes,
tarry. For I've learned by experience
that the Lord has blessed me for thy sake. And he said, appoint
me thy wages and I'll give it. And he said unto him, thou knowest
how I have served thee and how thy cattle was with me. For it
was little which thou hast before I came, and it is now increased
unto a multitude. And the Lord hath blessed thee
since my coming, and now when shall I provide for my own house
also? And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said,
Thou shalt not give me anything. If thou wilt do this thing for
me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. I will pass through
all thy flock to-day, removing from thins all the speckled and
spotted and all the brown cattle from among the sheep, and the
spotted and speckled among the goats, and of such shall be my
hire. So shall my righteousness answer
for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before
thy face. Everyone that is not speckled
and spotted among the goats and brown among the sheep, that shall
be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, behold, I would,
it might be according to thy word. And he removed that day,
the he goats that were ringed, ring-streaked and spotted, and
all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that
had some white on it, and all the brown among the sheep, gave
them into the hand of his sons. And he set three days journey
betwixt himself and Jacob, and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's
flocks. And Jacob took him rods of green
poplar and of the hazel and chestnut tree, and peeled white streaks
in them, and made the white appear, which was in the rods. And he
set the rods, which he had peeled before the flocks and the gutters
and the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that
they should conceive when they came to drink. And the flocks
conceived before the rods and brought forth cattle, ring straight,
speckled and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs
and set the faces of flocks toward the ring straight and all the
brown of the flock of Laban. And he put his own flocks by
themselves. and put them not under Laban's cattle. And it
came to pass, whence whoever the stronger cattle did conceive,
that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the
gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. And when the
cattle were feeble, he put them not in, so that the feebler were
Laban's and the stronger, Jacob's. And the man increased exceedingly
and had much cattle, and made servants and menservants, and
camels and asses. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we've come together
this evening to worship you. We've gathered together out of
the world to hear a word from thee. Father, we've come together
to do that which we cannot do by nature. It's impossible for
us to worship, it's impossible for us to hear word from thee,
unless you would enable us to worship, and enable us to hear. As we've just sung, Father, we
need you every hour, and especially we need you this hour, that you
might give us a heart of worship, that you might give us a heart
that hungers and thirsts after Christ, and that you might enable
us to have that thirst quenched, by hearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ, hearing with the ear of faith, believing and resting
in him. Father, I pray that you'd move
in power, that you'd get glory to your name this evening by
enabling us to one more time see the Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
give us faith to believe, cause us to rest in him, find our joy,
peace and comfort in him. Father, we thank you how you've
Bless this congregation over so many, many years. You blessed
us with your gospel. You blessed your word as it's
been preached. And Father, we're so thankful. And we pray you
continue to bless us, not for our sake, but Father, for thy
great namesake. That you might get glory to your
name by continuing to feed your sheep here, call out your sheep
by the preaching of the gospel. We know it can only happen by
thy will, thy power, And Father, we continue to pray
for those that you brought into the time of trouble and trial,
their sickness and pain and heartache. Father, we pray that you'd be
with your people, that you'd heal, that you'd comfort, that
you'd give those that treat our loved ones wisdom and understanding,
that you might use them as a tool to help relieve their suffering,
that you might enable us all to again worship together. Father, we pray for our country
and our world at this time, it seems, humanly speaking like
it is hopeless, but we know it's not because you're on the throne.
Father, we pray you'd order things here below for your glory and
for the good of your people, that we might continue to have
peace in the land. Father, we ask you to forgive
us of our many sins, ask you to forgive us for our much speaking,
that you'd see us and hear us only in our Lord Jesus Christ.
is in his blessed name, for his sake we pray, amen. I've titled
the message this evening, For Christ's Sake. The story we just
read is one of those passages that are very hard to understand,
at least it is for me. I never have felt like I had
any understanding of this passage, because as I read it, I just
didn't see Christ there. I felt like I had no understanding
of it whatsoever, I mean, how does the color of sheep born
in Laban's flock have anything to do with being a picture of
Christ? I mean, just couldn't see it. But I believe this week,
the Lord's given me a little bit of understanding on it and
hope it'll be a blessing to us, bring glory to his name. Now,
understanding this passage, the key phrase to understanding it
has to be the phrase found in verse 27, where Laban says to
Jacob, I pray thee if I have found favor in thine eyes, Terry,
for I've learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me
for thy sake. Now Laban knew that the Lord
has blessed him for Jacob's sake. It's on account of another. It's
not because of who Laban is or what Laban has done. It's on
account of who Jacob is. It's on account of Jacob's relationship
with the Lord. Now that I understand, don't
you? That's a clear picture of Christ. God's elect are blessed. for Christ's sake. No sinner,
believing, unbelieving, anywhere, no sinner is ever blessed of
God because of who they are or what they've done. Sinners are
always blessed on account of another, on account of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who He is, His relationship with the Father,
and what He's accomplished as the Savior of His people. And
that truth is taught all through the Bible. It was pictured so
many times in the Old Testament Potiphar was blessed for Joseph's
sake. Mephibosheth was blessed for
Jonathan's sake. Remember when David finally came
to the throne and what the king would normally do is kill all
the sons and grandsons of the old king so there'd be no rivals
to his throne. But instead of doing that, David
said, is there yet any left of the house of Saul that I may
show him kindness? For Jonathan's sake. Because
he and Jonathan made a promise And they went and found Mephibosheth.
They brought him up to David. He was so afraid. He was so sure
the king was gonna kill him. And David so tenderly said, Mephibosheth,
fear not. I'm surely gonna show thee kindness.
For Jonathan thy father's sake. It's not because of you. It's
because of Jonathan. Because my promise to him, because
of my love for him. And that's a picture. The only
way any of us could ever be blessed is for Christ's sake. It can't
be because of anything we do, can it? Everything we do is sinful. Of course God's not gonna bless
us for our sinful action. But oh, how a sinner is blessed
for Christ's sake. Look over to Ephesians chapter
one for a minute. God's people are so blessed in
Christ that in him, for his sake, they have everything. The father
began his purpose of salvation by electing a people into salvation
And he chose those people to save for Christ's sake. Look
at Ephesians 1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who had blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as he had
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself. according
to the good pleasure of his will, and here's why he did it, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved. When the father chose sinners
to save, he chose the worst that could be found. The father chose
to save the worthless, and he did it for Christ's sake, for
Christ's sake. See, the father chose the most
vile the most low down, the most worthless, the most helpless
sinners, because saving those sinners is going to give his
son the most glory. I mean, think about if Christ
saved those that just needed some help, you know, they did
some and he finished the job. Well, then Christ wouldn't have
all the glory, would it? He'd have to share his glory with
the person that did some of the saving. But if Christ saved those
who need him to do all of the saving for them, they need him
to save them, they need him to keep them, they need him to glorify,
they need him to do everything. Then Christ is gonna get all
the glory, because he did all the work. Now I'll show you a
picture of that in our text here in just a minute. But if you're
still there in Ephesians, look over chapter four of Ephesians,
verse 32. Our sin is forgiven. for Christ's
sake. Verse 32, be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. Why is our sin forgiven? It's
for Christ's sake, because he shed his blood, put away the
sin of his people. John said the same thing. First
John 2, 12, he said, I write unto you, little children, because
your sins are forgiven for his namesake, for Christ's namesake. And bankrupt sinners are made
rich for Christ's sake. We're made rich because Christ
took our poverty and he traded us and gave us his riches. He
gave us the riches of his righteousness to make us perfect, the righteousness
of God in him. He gave us the riches of his
grace, the riches of the redemption that he bought. He bought it
with his precious blood and he gave it to his people freely
and enriched them in redemption. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8
verse 9, You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich. See, God's elect are all blessed
for Christ's sake, because of what Christ has done and because
of the relationship between the Father and the Son. If God has
blessed us, we're blessed because of who the Lord Jesus Christ
is and because of a supernatural work that God has done for us
and in us to redeem us from our sin. All right, now look back
at Genesis chapter 30. I'll show you a few pictures
of this from our text. First is this. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ who earned and who purchased every blessing for
his people. Look at verse 31. And he said,
Laban said, now what shall I give you? Jacob, you just ask, whatever
you want, I'll give you so you'll stay. And Jacob said, thou shalt
not give me anything. If thou do this thing for me,
I will again feed and keep thy flock. And Jacob says, Laban,
you're not giving me anything. If I have anything from you,
I'm gonna earn it. And Laban, he liked hearing that. Laban thinks the only way he's
gonna get rich is hang on to what he's got. He didn't wanna
give away anything for free. He didn't wanna give away something
and not get anything in return. So Laban likes the sound of this.
You and the father and the son began talking about the redemption
of God's elect. The son said the very same thing
to the father. The son said, father, your justice
will not allow you to give me anything for free. And my nature
won't allow you to give me anything for free. This thing's got to
be right. It's got to be just. It's got to satisfy every attributes
of God. Your holiness and your justice
will not allow you to save those people that you chose to save
from their sin unless their debt is paid in full. And the only
way their sin debt could be paid in full is by me, by my precious
blood. So Father, I'll become a man.
I'll earn salvation for my people. You're not giving it for free.
I'll earn it for my people. I'll become a man. I'll earn
a perfect righteousness by being made a man under the law. I will
obey your law perfectly. I'll earn a righteousness that
I freely give my people. And I'll earn their redemption
by sacrificing myself, by sacrificing and shedding my perfect sinless
blood to put away their sin. And the father and the son agreed.
And that's exactly what God the son did. He became flesh and
he earned the redemption of his people. He earned it by satisfying
every attribute of God. Now it's done. It's done. God's elect are blessed with
every spiritual blessing for Christ's sake. Because the father
promised it to the son and the son earned it. The son earned
it and purchased it with all those blessings by the sacrifice
of himself and he freely gives them to his people. Never one
time because we did anything right. It's because he did everything
right. It's for Christ's sake. All right,
here's the second thing. Christ came to save the most
worthless of sinners. Verse 32. I will pass through
all thy flock today, removing from thins all the speckled and
spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the
spotted and speckled among the goats. And of such shall be my
hire. So shall my righteousness answer
for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before
thy face. Everyone that is not speckled
and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that
shall be counted stolen with me. And Laban said, Behold, I
would and might be according to thy word. And he removed that
day the he goats that were ring-streaked and spotted, and all the she
goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had
some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave
them into the hand of his sons. This is one of those things that's
so confusing to me. I had no idea why this was going
on. And after this week, I've done
a lot of reading about this. I'm still no shepherd by any
stretch of the imagination. But I can tell you I did learn
two or three things. Most sheep are solid white. Most goats are solid brown. That happens about 75% of the
time. They're a solid color. And the
solid white sheep and the solid brown goats They're the ones
who are considered the most valuable. So this is what Jacob is telling
Laban. He says, my wages will be the less valuable of the sheep
and goats. I'll take the ones that are less
valuable. The spotted and the speckled and the rink straight
sheep and goats, those all belong to me, the less valuable ones.
The solid color ones, the more valuable ones, Laban, they'll
belong to you. Laban thinks, this guy doesn't
know what he's talking about. He said, this is a good deal.
Laban wants Jacob to stay. God's blessing him for Jacob's
sake. And Laban thinks, I'm gonna still get 75% of the sheep, 75%
of the goats, and the ones I get are gonna be the most valuable
ones. The 25% I don't get, they're not worth really anything anyway.
I don't care if Jacob has those. Now do you see the picture here?
The portion that the father gave the son. was the worst. The father gave the son the worthless
ones. Gods elect by nature are absolutely
worthless. And that's what the father gave
the son. Spotted sheep. That's a good way to describe
you and me. We're the spotted sheep. And we don't just have
color splotches, you know. Our spots our spiritual wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores were covered with. They haven't
been treated in any way. They haven't been covered up
with a band-aid. They haven't been treated with
Neosporin or anything. They're just open sores, oozing
pus that look bad and smell even worse. That's our spotted lambs,
the spotted sheep that the Father gave the Son to save. And in
order for those sheep to be redeemed, The spotless lamb of God had
to come and be sacrificed for us. That's what had to happen. The spotless lamb of God had
to take our place, had to become the substitute for those spotted
lambs and put away their sin, put away their wounds and their
bruises and their putrefying sores, put away their stench
before God with his precious blood. And that's what he did
to Lord Jesus Christ. Do you think about this? He came
and he did all the work of redemption. He paid a price that we can't
calculate. His precious blood. And he did
it so he could buy a bunch of worthless spotted lambs. Now
you think of that. That doesn't seem like a very
good business deal, does it? To pay an infinite price for
a bunch of worthless lambs? But you know what? They were
valuable to him. because they're His lambs. They're the sheep
that the Father gave Him to save. And Christ willingly suffered.
He willingly shed His life's blood, suffered and died to pay
an infinite price for sin for those worthless people because
they're valuable to Him. He loved them. That's why He
gave Himself for them. He loved them. You know what
He calls those worthless lambs? He said, they're my jewels. He
doesn't talk about them being worthless, does he? He said,
they're my jewels. So he paid the price with his
precious blood to redeem those worthless people. The Savior
bought those people and they became his. He bought them, they
belonged to him. And Christ came as the good shepherd
of the sheep. And you know what he said he
came to do? He's coming to seek and to save those worthless,
speckled and spotted sheep. That's who he's seeking, that's
who he's saving. and he's gonna find every last one of them.
They belong to him, he's not gonna let them go. He's gonna
find them and he's gonna bring every last one of them to glory. When he was still here in his
earthly ministry, he said, other sheep I have, which are not of
this fold. This fold's full of speckled
and spotted sheep. I've got other ones just like them. Them also
I must bring and they shall hear my voice. There should be one
fold and one shepherd. And they're going to be a fold
of sheet that he is all made perfect in him. All right, here's
the third thing. The redemption price that had
to be paid to justify God's people is the death of Christ. Verse
36. And he said three days journey
betwixt himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's
flocks. Jacob and Laban, they separated
the flocks. They separated all the spotted
and speckled ones, and they separated them from all the solid colored
ones. And they put a three-day journey between those two flocks. So nobody could ever think Jacob
is breeding these speckled ones and spotted ones and ring-streaked
ones for his own profit. If they're separated by three
days, we're sure no accidents will happen. That's why they
did it this way. Now, you've got a flock of these
solid colored sheep, solid colored goats. If a bunch of spotted
sheep and spotted and speckled goats are born from them, something
special happened, didn't it? That's why they did it this way.
Now here's the picture. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the sin of his people. When the Savior gave up the ghost,
his body died. Life itself died. I can't explain that, but that's
what happened. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
came and they begged the body. They were going to bury the body
of Christ. Those men took a dead body down from that tree and
they wrapped it in the burial clothes and the spices and they
took that dead body and laid it in Joseph's tomb, the tomb
of a rich man. And they went and rolled the
door in front of the cave and they skedaddled back home because
tomorrow's the Passover. They couldn't be out doing that
kind of thing on the Passover. After the Lord Jesus Christ died,
He took a three-day journey. Where'd he go? I have no idea. I just know his body was dead
in that tomb, and he wasn't there. Where was he? I don't know. But
here's what I do know. I love this. This is one of my
favorite Brother Henry quotes. Let's stick to what we know.
Here's what I do know. After three days, he rose again.
He came out of that tomb. He rose from the dead. And do
you know why he rose from the dead? He rose from the dead to
show the world His death justified His people. He was delivered
for our offenses and He was raised again for our justification.
As the evidence, His death put away all the sin of His people.
Death couldn't hold Him anymore. Sin's gone. His people are justified. The death of Christ took away
all of the sin of all of the elect that the Father gave Him
to save. That's what His resurrection
means. Now, the Lord Jesus really died. He laid in that tomb for
three days, dead. You know, you couldn't say, well,
he laid there a few hours and then he rose again because, I
mean, you know, he really wasn't dead. He was just knocked out
or whatever, you know, he revived. No, he lay there three days.
Nobody can question that's a dead body. He's dead. And then he
arose again. Now that has to tell everybody
something very special happened. Christ arose from the dead because
the salvation of all of God's elect was sealed forever. The
resurrection of Christ means all those spotted, all those
speckled, all those rings, straight sheep that the father gave him
to save, they're all made pure and perfect. They're not spotted
anymore because Christ took their sin away. See, God's elect are
blessed with eternal life. You have, you who believe, Sitting
right here tonight, you have spiritual, eternal life. Your soul is able to feed on
the Word of God, to hear these things of Christ and fed and
strengthened and helped. Why do you have that life? Because
Christ died and rose again for you. That's why we have that
life. You know, the Lord told Jonah,
He told us, He told the Pharisees that Jonah, That's not just a
children's Bible story. The Lord said, that's a picture
of redemption. As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The Lord
told us this is a picture of redemption. And these three days,
I'm confident, picture the same thing. God's elect are justified
because of the death of Christ. Death, burial, resurrection of
Christ. All right, here's the fourth thing. God's elect are
worthless. By nature, they're completely
worthless. But Christ makes them valuable. Verse 37. And Jacob took him rods of green
poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree, and peeled white
strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the
rods. And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks,
in the gutters and the watering troughs, when the flocks came
to drink, that they should conceive when they drank. And the flocks
conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle, ring-streaked,
speckled, and spotted. And Jacob did separate the lambs,
and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-streaked, and
all the brown in the flock of Laban. And he put his own flocks
by themselves, and put them not into Laban's cattle. And it came
to pass, whencever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob
laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters,
that they might conceive among the rods. And when the cattle
were feeble, he put them not in, so that the feebler were
Laban's and the stronger were Jacob's. And the man increased
exceedingly and had much cattle and maidservants and menservants
and camels and asses. Now this is a weird thing. This
has absolutely nothing to do with how you reproduce your cattle
and your lambs and so forth. This is, it's a supernatural
thing that happened. Jacob took these limbs from these
three different trees and he peeled the bark off of them. He put those limbs in the water
troughs and when he did, the sheep that came to drink, they
produced spotted and speckled lambs. And when he didn't put
those limbs in the water troughs, the sheep produced solid colored
lambs. Now, Jacob's, you know, he's a smart guy. I mean, you
can't, this guy's smart, he's industrious, So he watched for
the strongest, healthiest, you know, fittest, you know, lambs
came. He put those rods in the troughs so that when they produced
these speckled and spotted and sheep and so forth, they were
stronger. They were the better ones. Now
Jacob's spotted and speckled lambs ended up being the ones
who are most valuable because they're the biggest and strongest
and healthiest. And the sheep that were feeble, well, he didn't
put those in there. So all the feeble ones, even
though they're solid colors, they're worthless. Those are
the ones that belong to Laban. Now, I can't say with 100% certainty
what these limbs from these three different trees mean, but I do
see a picture here. It will not harm scripture in
any way, and I believe it will be a blessing. The picture I
see is this. These three different kind of
trees, the limbs from those three different kind of trees. It's
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity. God's
worthless, spotted, speckled sheep. How are they made valuable?
How are they made precious? It's by the work of the Trinity.
It takes the work of all three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Father chose a people unto salvation just because he would. He set his love on those people. He separated them out from the
mass of Adam's fallen race and he set his love on them. Now that makes them valuable.
It makes them valuable. And then the son came. He suffered
and died for those worthless spotted sheep. He shed his blood
to pay for their sin. He washed them in his precious
blood and washed them white as snow. That makes them valuable. And Holy Spirit comes and gives
them life, gives them faith in Christ through the preaching
of the gospel. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in their hearts
so that scripture calls a believer the temple of the living God.
Now that makes them valuable. That's the work of the Trinity.
Your man told me one time, He said, you fellows that believe
in election and believe the gospel that you preach, you just believe
that the elect are special. The only thing I can think of
to say to that is, you're right. You're right. But not because
of anything I've done. How special are you that the
Father said His love It's not something we did, it's what he
did that made it special, isn't it? That's the work of the Trinity. Now, there might be other pictures
of Christ there, but this one, the work of the Trinity, that
sure fits the rest of Scripture, doesn't it? It fits salvation
in Christ. And the point I want us to remember
is this. God's elect are made perfect. They're kept perfect. They're preserved for Christ's
sake. They're made strong. They're
made strong in faith, they're kept strong in faith for Christ's
sake. Now what is it to be strong in
Christ? What is it to be made strong
in faith in Christ? It's being kept dependent on
Christ. That's how the Spirit makes us
strong in faith is by keeping us dependent on Christ. And he
does that for his people for Christ's sake. See, if Christ
would lose one of them, he'd lose all his glory. So he keeps
them, preserves them for Christ's sake. And then here's the last
thing I want us to see. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
successful victorious savior. Verse 43 says that Jacob increased
exceedingly. He had much cattle and maidservants
and menservants and camels and asses. Jacob, remember how he
came to town? He came to town with nothing.
I mean, he was on the run from his brother. He came to town
with what he had on his back. That's what he had. When Jacob
came to town, you know Laban had a flock. I mean, you know,
but by no stretch of the imagination was this man a wealthy man. Remember
when Jacob first met him? Rachel could keep the flock all
by herself. This is a little teenage girl. She'd keep the
flock, but there couldn't have been very many of them. Now Laban's
got a huge herd. And Jacob's getting ready to
leave town, and he's leaving town with a larger, healthier,
stronger herd than even Laban had. This man became wealthy,
for Christ's sake. See, this is done as a picture
of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the successful victorious
Savior. When he came to this earth, it
didn't appear like much, but almost everybody did it. He's
the rod of Jesse. the root out of a dry ground.
I mean, the house of David was down to nothing. I mean, it was
down to Joseph and Mary, who were so poor, they had to go
to a cattle stable and stay in a cow barn when they went back
to be counted in the census. I mean, they're so poor, they're
just dirt poor. Our Savior grew up in Nazareth, working in his
father's carpenter shop. You know, living paycheck to
paycheck, just doing everything they can to scrape by. This is
a son of God working in a carpenter shop, getting calluses on his
hand, working with the wood and stuff. I mean, this looks like
a nobody from nowhere. You know, people would say, can
anything good come out of Nazareth? I mean, I'm not going to listen
to this guy just based on where he's from. I mean, nothing good
can come out of this place. But even though the world didn't
see it, Oh, he accomplished something fantastic, didn't he? He fully
accomplished God's eternal will in the redemption of his people.
He did the job that the Father sent him to do perfectly. And
then he suffered. And then he died like nobody's
ever suffered before. They say that he did not even
look like a man. His visage being marred more
than any other. They made him suffer more than
anyone else they ever crucified. There's glory in this man. I
mean, you think of the shame of this death. This is everybody
knows being crucified. This is a cursed death, a shameful
death. This man dying in such shame.
This is the one you trust. Yes, sir. That sacrifice is my
only hope. And in his death, our Savior
saved a people, a number of people that's so great, men cannot count
them. And then just like Jacob, it
came time for him to return to his own place, to his own home.
And he left rich. He left rich. He was rich in
mercy. He left rich in grace. He left
rich in glory. Oh, the homecoming that must
have been when the Savior appeared in glory. And the father said,
sit here on my right hand. Don't make your enemies your
footstool. Oh, the glory he must have received. It's what he earned,
isn't it? It's what he earned because he
bought to himself a large kingdom and he filled it with his people.
In closing, look over at Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. Look at verse 10. Yet it pleased the
Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief, when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed. He's not doing this for nothing.
He shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. He shall
see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he
shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death. And
he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. See, this is Christ,
the mighty conqueror, the successful savior. And his people, oh, they're
the spotted and speckled and ring-streaked sheep, no doubt
about it. But in Christ, they're made more than conquerors. They're
made victors in him who loved us. For Christ's sake. If you have
any idea of your own worthlessness, and the own worthlessness of
what you can do for God, that's the best news you ever heard.
Blessed for Christ's sake. All right, let's bow together.
Our Father, we thank you for this time that you've given us
to look into your word, to hear of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
Father, I beg your blessing upon it, that you'd apply your word
to our hearts, that we'd take these things with us and feed
on them and rejoice on them, that you'd cause them to take
root in our hearts that we might see more of the glory of Christ
our Savior. Father, it's in his name. For
his sake, we pray. Amen.