This morning, I began working
on a message to bring to the preacher school in Mexico, where
the apostle Paul gathered the Ephesian elders together. His
last message to them. And he told them, Brethren, I
have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. Well, that took a while, didn't
it? What's the whole counsel of God? What they just sung. It's Christ alone. Everything
that has anything to do with salvation, eternal life, righteousness,
peace, justification, glorification, is Christ alone. Christ is the
whole counsel of God. Well, I won't preach that message
now. We've got another one. Let's look at Isaiah chapter
25. I've entitled the message this evening,
A Feast of Fat Things. Now, there's no doubt that this
passage has reference to the time when the Jews will return
to Jerusalem after they've been in captivity in Babylon. But
if all we see is the joy of that historical time, I'm sure it
was a time of great joy to those Jews. If that's all we see, we've
missed a great blessing. Now, that happened because of
God's providence, because of God's will. He brought that historical
event to come to pass. But there's a feast of the gospel.
in these verses, and it would be a great shame if we missed
it. I hope the Lord will enable us
to end 2014 and begin 2015 feasting at this table He describes in
these verses. We begin in verse 6 of Isaiah
25. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all
people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees,
of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees Now, here's
my first question. Where will this feast be found?
Scripture says in this mountain. Now, that mountain is God's church. Now, usually in Scripture, especially
in the Old Testament, when the Scripture is referred to a mountain,
it's referring to a kingdom. Unless it's speaking of a specific
mountain, it's in picture a kingdom. This feast will be taking place
in Mount Zion. It's God's church. It's the place
where God reveals his redemptive glory to his people, Mount Zion.
Look back at Psalm 2. I'll show you this. Psalm 2. Verse 6, Mount Zion is where
Christ has revealed himself to his people in redemptive glory.
Psalm 2, verse 6, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of
Zion." If we're going to see God's King, it's going to be
in his church in Zion. I will declare the decree. The
Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. Ask of me, I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost part of the
earth for thy possession. Now, where's that going to be
declared? In Mount Zion, where Christ dwells. Look over at the
page of Psalm 9, verse 11. Sing praises to the Lord which
dwelleth in Zion. Declare among the people his
doings. Look down at verse 14. That I may show forth all thy
praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in thy
salvation. The daughters of Zion, those
are the ones who rejoice in thy salvation because it's in Zion
where Christ reveals himself in his redemptive glory to his
people. Now, I point out which mountain this refers to, because
if you're going to eat this feast, you've got to come to the right
mountain. You can't go to Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is always
a picture of the law. Sinai is where the law was given.
Well, don't go there. Now, there's no feast in the
law. The law has nothing but condemnation for sinners like
us. There's no grace in the law.
There's no forgiveness of sin in the law. There's no righteousness
to be had in the law by us trying to keep the law ourselves. There
can be no feast for sinners like us in the law. Don't go to Sinai. Go to Calvary. Go to Mount Calvary. That's where the whole Church
of God goes, to Calvary. You go to Mount Calvary and you
see the glory of God and the salvation of sinners. Go to Calvary
and see God's sacrifice for sin. That's how God saves sinners.
Through the bloody sacrifice of His Son. You go to Calvary
and you see Christ made sin for His people. So that His people
can be made the righteousness of God in Him. That's a feast.
You go to Calvary and you see Christ willingly be made sin. He willingly suffers and dies
as a substitute for His people. You can only see that at Calvary. You go to Mount Calvary and see
sin put away through the sacrifice of Christ, through what we're
going to observe in picture this evening, His body broken and
His blood shed under the wrath of God against sin. Go to Calvary. That's where the feast is. At
Calvary, we see God's glory in saving sinners by grace. Saving sinners by sacrificing
His Son. by torturing and killing his
son as a substitute for them, that's grace. Go to Calvary. That's where God's grace is seen.
That's where this feast is to be found. It's at Mount Calvary.
Well, second, who will make the feast? Somebody asked, Cecil's
carrying in a thing tonight. Somebody asked, did you make
that? He said, yeah. I said, well, if he did, he better have
been under close supervision. I want to know who made that,
because that will let me know if it tastes good. Who made this
feast? Who made the feast? The Lord
Himself. He makes the feast. He prepares
the feast. And He's going to be the host
of the feast. Now, in a minute, we'll see what He sets out upon
the table. But everything on this table, every ingredient,
the Lord Himself has prepared it. It's all homemade. There's nothing store-bought
on this table. He made it all. The Lord is going to prepare
the feast and the Lord Himself will be the host of the feast.
The Lord is going to sit at the table with His guests and eat
this feast. Do you know how glorious that is?
This man received sinners and eats with them. The Lord of the
feast is going to sit at the table with His people. You see,
this is the Lord's table, just like the table we're going to
observe this evening. It's the Lord's table because
he instituted it. It's his. He said this to him.
And it's his table that he instituted so that we can eat it and remember
him. It's the Lord's table. And this
table that we're going to observe this evening pictures our Savior
saving his people from their sin. by sacrificing himself,
by giving his body to be broken, by giving his blood to be shed,
poured upon the altar before the Father. This table reminds
us one more time how the precious, perfect body of our Lord Jesus
Christ was broken in punishment for the sin of his people. He
took the punishment that his people deserved and his body
was broken for it. And his precious blood was shed
as a payment for the sin death of his people. Now that's a feast. That is a feast. Well, who's
this feast for? Who's invited to the feast? Well,
our text says all people. Now don't be confused by that.
You know the gospel is not an invitation to all people. Someone
can decide whether to accept or reject an invitation. An invitation
is optional. The gospel is not an invitation.
The gospel is a command of God to repent and believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. The command of the gospel is
not optional. It's a command from the King.
But this does say to all people, doesn't it? Well, that word people,
it actually means kindred. This is God's children, all of
God's elect, His kindred. Well, who are the elect? Well,
there are all sorts of people, all sorts of different kinds
of people. It's both Jew and Gentile. God's so gracious, He's
going to save Gentiles too. Can you imagine such a thing?
He's going to save Gentiles and they will come to Christ. Christ is going to save them.
But when God saves all sorts of people, When he saves even
the Gentiles, when he does that, God will be no respecter of persons.
What that means is God's no respecter of persons. That means God will
not save anyone based on who they are or what they've done.
God's going to save sinners, and it doesn't matter whether
you're famous or whether you're completely unknown. Either way,
you're going to be saved by grace. It doesn't matter whether you've
been religious or whether you've been heathen. Either way, you're
going to be saved by grace. It doesn't matter what you've
done or what you haven't done. It doesn't matter. Either way,
you're going to be saved by grace. You could grow up being taught
lots and lots and lots of scripture. Or you could not know the first
verse of scripture. It doesn't matter. Either way,
You're going to be saved by grace. Now you're going to come to hear
the word. You're going to love it and believe it, but your background
with it makes no difference whatsoever. Either way, you're going to be
saved by grace. God saves his people without
any regard to their flesh. And you want me to tell you why
that's good news? God saves his people without any regard to
their flesh because our flesh is unworthy. It's corrupt. It's horrible. You can't do anything
with it. But our unworthiness does not stop God from saving
us by His grace. Isn't that good news? Sinners
can't do anything to make God save them. But nothing about
our sinful flesh makes us so bad, God won't save us either.
No respecter of persons. Salvation is by grace. Alright,
these people, they're sinful. They're corrupt. They do nothing
good about them. How are they going to come to
the feast? Look in Luke chapter 14. How are they going to come
to the feast? God's going to bring them, that's
how. Look in Luke 14 and verse 16. Then said he unto them, unto
him, a certain man made a great supper and bade many. And he
sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden,
Come, for all things are now ready. And they all with one
consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have
bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it. I
pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought
five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them. I pray thee have
me excused. And another said, I have married
a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and
showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house,
being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets
and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed,
and the halt, and the blind. And the servant said, Lord, it
is done as thou has commanded, and yet there is room. And the
lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways, and into
the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be
filled. For I say unto you that none
of these men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." None
of those that were bidden ate at the feast, did they? They
didn't even taste of it. Who did eat at the feast? Well,
it says here, the poor. The poor and the maimed and the
halt and the blind. That's who ate at the feast.
You see, their unworthiness and their inability didn't stop them
from coming to the feast, did it? What stopped them from coming
to the feast? Ability. Those who had the ability
to find a wife. Those that had the ability to
go buy some land. Those that had the ability to
go buy oxen. They couldn't come. The only
people who came were people without any ability. No worthiness whatsoever. Those people came and filled
the house and they all had plenty to eat. Our inability will never
keep us from coming to Christ. Our sin will never keep us from
coming to Christ. It's always our righteousness
that keeps us from coming to Him. So that's who'll come to
the feast. Well, when they get there, what's
on the table for them to eat? Everything good. Everything your
heart can wish is on this table. And everything that is on this
table I mean, it tastes so good. This is a feast of fat things. Now, Janet tells me there's some
people that disagree with me on this, but I say if you disagree
with me on this statement, it's because you taste something's
wrong with the taste buds. Things with fat in them taste
good. Now, if you take the fat out, they just don't taste good.
Things with fat in them taste good. There's a lady I used to
work with, and she said if you want food to taste good, She
said, you've got to use genuine hog lard. That's the way you
make food taste good, she said. She's a good cook. She knew what
she was talking about. Our Lord has used the genuine
fat of His grace and His mercy and His love in everything on
this table. And it makes it taste so good.
It'll make us fat. Now, in the day that Isaiah was
writing, everybody knew when they saw a fat person, this is
a wealthy person. He has to be wealthy, because
nobody had the means to get enough to eat. If you're fat, you had
the riches to be able to get enough to eat. And they considered
you healthy. We don't consider a person healthy
today if they're fat, but they did in this day. Everything at
the table of our Lord, it tastes good and it's good for you. It gives you life. It gives you
spiritual fatness. God's grace. Grace for the guilty
is a fat thing. Grace is sweet to the taste of
the sinner. It's God's grace that gives us
the forgiveness of sin. What a fat thing. Oh, it just
tastes so good. Can you get enough of God's grace? God's mercy is a fat thing. Mercy gives life to a sinner. If you're guilty, Just take a
big bite of God's mercy and just let it roll around on your tongue.
Just eat it slow. Let it roll around. Just get
all the flavors in your mouth. God's mercy is a fat thing. Redemption
in our Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption from all of our sin. From which we could not be redeemed
by keeping the law. But redemption freely given to
us in the Lord Jesus Christ That's a fat thing. That tastes good.
Eternal life is a fat thing. Now remember, eternal life is
not just to live forever. Eternal life is to live forever
with Christ. Forever beholding His face, being
made just like Him. That's a fat thing. That tastes
good. We come to this table. The Lord's
sitting at the head of the table. Communion with God is a fat thing. How good does it taste to be
able to have boldness, to enter into the very throne room of
God and pour out your heart before God? That's a fat thing. Oh,
that tastes good. Righteousness is a fat thing.
To be made righteous is to be born in the image of Christ.
It's to have the righteousness of Christ that can never be lost.
That's a fat thing. How good does that taste to be
made righteous? Holiness is a fat thing. You
can't see God without it. And in Christ, you're holy. What
a fat thing to be able to taste and enjoy. And listen, come to
the table and take all you want. I remember when I was a kid,
all the family was there. You know, you had to sometimes
you had to spoon stuff out and wait and make sure there was
enough to go around. You'd never have to do this at this table.
You take all you want. There is plenty for every hungry
sinner. This is the feast the Lord's
prepared. Not only did He prepare each ingredient richly with fat,
the table's overflowing. You just won't get to the bottom
of it. You come eat all you want. David said, oh, taste and see
that the Lord's good. Taste the fatness of His table. See that the Lord's good. Just take a big old bite of all
these fat things. And don't worry about making
you fat. It's good that you be made fat. The Lord's provided
these things. You take them and enjoy them.
They'll make you spiritually fat. And brethren, if we're not
spiritually fat, whose fault is that? Not the Lord's fault. He prepared a feast of fat things.
It must be our fault for not coming to the table and eating
enough. Only explanation for it. This
is a table full of fat things that taste good. And Isaiah says
it's a feast of wines on the lees. Of wines on the lees, well
refined. Now the gospel is compared to
wine. Because wine makes the heart
glad. And that's what the gospel does, doesn't it? It gives a
new heart and makes that heart glad. Look back at Proverbs chapter
31. Solomon says wine is good for
the broken hearted. That's the gospel. The gospel
of Christ is good for the brokenhearted. The gospel breaks the heart and
then heals the heart, giving a new heart. Look at Proverbs
31, verse 6. Give strong drink unto him that's
ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery
no more. You come and drink of the Gospel,
the wine of the Gospel. If you're ready to perish, it'll
give life. It'll revive your strength. Those
that be of the heavy hearts, the Gospel, the wine of the Gospel
is what comforts our hearts. It's such comfort and peace it
brings. You come drink of the wine of
the Gospel and forget your poverty. You come drink the wine of the
gospel that tells you, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor. He took our poverty that we might
be made rich in Him. Come drink the wine of the gospel. Has your sin made you miserable?
Has your guilt made you just absolutely miserable? Come drink
the wine of the gospel. It'll do away with your misery,
make you forget that misery because you'll be filled with Christ.
And Isaiah says this wine our Lord prepared is well refined. That means that this wine is
aged long enough that it's full strength. It's not weak, it's
full strength. And you get to the bottom of
it, there's no sediment at the bottom of it. From top to bottom,
it's pure, clear wine. That's the gospel. The gospel
is aged well. It's the ancient gospel. The
gospel is as old as God is. It's eternal. The eternal gospel. And it's full strength. It's
powerful enough to save even the chief sinners. And the gospel
is pure. It's pure and clear. It's pure
Christ. Pure grace. Pure mercy. Pure righteousness. The gospel
is pure. Crystal clear. The Gospel is
so clear, a child can understand the Gospel. You don't have to
have an advanced degree to be able to understand what I'm telling
you tonight from God's Word. The Gospel is clear. If it's
not clear, it's because the preacher intended it not to be clear.
The Gospel, the wine of the Gospel is clear. Now the lees that Isaiah
refers to here means the dregs. That's the thick stuff that gets
down at the bottom. It all settles down there. Well,
the only dregs that you hear about in the gospel are the dregs
of the cup of God's wrath. The cup of God's fury. We looked
at that Sunday morning. That our Lord Jesus Christ drank
dry. So His people are made clear.
Christ took all the dregs. He drank them. He put them away.
So His people are made clear. They're made holy and righteous
because Christ took our sin away. What a feast! That's the wine
of the gospel. Then Isaiah says, this is a feast
of fat things full of marrow. Now what that means is that the
food on this table, the chef took it and he just rubbed olive
oil all over it. Just rubbed it all over and rubbed
it in to rub that oil and that fat into all the ingredients
to give it flavor. You come to the Lord's table,
there's no fat-free dishes there. Champ bought some fat-free cheese
today. She gave me a taste of it. I
said, what do you think? And the first taste of it, that's not bad.
And then the longer I chew it, I said, oh, no, it's not. Fat-free
things don't taste good. Everything at our Lord's table
tastes good. It's fat things full of marrow. Now, marrow is the essential
part, just like our bone marrow. That's the essential part of
the bone, the bone marrow. The bone marrow, I didn't know
this, I looked it up Monday, the bone marrow produces blood
cells. And the word marrow here, this
phrase that Isaiah uses, it literally means blotted out. It means obliterated
so that it does not exist anymore. Well, the only thing this marrow
can be talking about is the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. There
is forgiveness of sin in his blood, the blood of his sacrifice.
The sin of God's elect is completely blotted out. It's obliterated
under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that is the essential
part of the gospel. The gospel is full of that good
news. And there can't be any good news
until the sin, our sin is blotted out under the blood of Christ.
What a feast. We sang that song, Nothing But
The Blood. Mike, that's one of our favorite songs. You know
why it's one of our favorite songs? There's no good news until
our sin is blotted out under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you this about
a good meal. This is the way I feel. I'll bet you'll agree
with me. A good meal is enjoyed best when you eat it with your
loved ones. This feast that's enjoyed is
enjoyed looking into the face of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look
at verse 7. And he will destroy in this mountain
the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil
that is spread over all nations. Now the veil that Isaiah is talking
about here, it's the veil of our flesh. It's the veil of unbelief. The veil of self-righteousness. The veil of blindness and ignorance. The veil of sin and enmity. This
is the veil of our flesh that stops us from seeing Christ.
Now, at one time, when Adam was in the garden, he could see God. He didn't have this veil. But
after Adam fell, Adam couldn't see God anymore. This veil came
over his eyes and over his heart. And every son and daughter of
Adam is born with this same veil over our eyes, the veil of flesh. And Christ came to remove that
veil. so that we could see Him. He
removes that veil that separates us from God. So in Him, because
of His merit, we can come right into the presence of God. Now
how is Christ going to destroy this veil? He's going to destroy
it by His death. You remember that veil that hung
in the temple that separated the holy of holies from the holy
place. Behind that veil was the Ark
of the Covenant. That's where God dwelt in the Holy of Holies.
His Shekinah glory shone between those wings of the angels over
top of the mercy seat. And there God's glory was. Now,
if anybody went behind that veil, they'll be struck dead. Unless
you're the high priest on one day a year, on the Day of Atonement,
you come bringing the blood. If you're the high priest, you
come bringing the blood as a sacrifice, you live. Otherwise, God's going
to strike you dead. Now what does that teach us?
That no man, none of us can come into the presence of the Holy
God as we are because we're sinners. We're born with this veil separating
us from God. This veil blocks our way to God.
But what happens when Christ our Redeemer shouted from the
cross, it is finished? What happens? Scripture tells
us the veil in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. It wasn't torn from side to side. It was torn from top to bottom. Showing us that now, in Christ,
because of His death, any sinner, I don't care what size you are,
how tall you are, how fat you are, whatever shape you are,
if it was torn from side to side, maybe I could come in, but Dan
couldn't. He tore it from top to bottom. So the tall guy and
the short guy can all come with free access in our Lord Jesus
Christ into the very presence of God. The veil is done away. And now, we don't have to wait
until one day a year to come into the presence of God. We
come at any time with boldness and confidence. Why such boldness? Why such confidence? Because
of the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. In Him we have all confidence. Why wouldn't we? He's perfect.
He's loved of the Father. He pleased His Father. In Him
we have confidence and boldness. Well, alright, I see how Christ
removed this veil by His death. But I'm born with this veil over
my eyes. How is this veil going to be
removed from my eyes? By the new birth. Through the
preaching of the Gospel. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
3. The Apostle Paul tells us that this veil, right now, is
over the eyes of all the Jewish nation by God's judicial appointment. They rejected God and in justice
of the judge, God put this veil over their eyes so they cannot
see. Well, can that veil ever be removed? Oh, absolutely it
can. How? The same way that that veil
will be removed from our eyes is by the new birth through the
preaching of the gospel. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 12. Now seeing, then, that we have
such hope, we use great plainness of speech, not as Moses which
put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could
not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But
their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the
same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament."
What that means is when the Old Testament is read, they don't
understand. They think it's law and history and ceremony. They
don't see Christ. Why not? The veil is over their
eyes. Which veil is done away in Christ? But even unto this day when Moses
is read, that veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it
shall turn to the Lord, when the Lord shall come to them in
mercy and turn them to him, that veil shall be taken away. It'll
be taken away. by Christ in the new birth through
the preaching of the gospel. I'll tell you what else this
veil means. It's the veil that they'd wrap around the head of
a corpse before they'd bury him. It's the veil that, well, it's the napkin our Lord
had over his face, and it's the napkin that was around the face
of Lazarus. He came out, he couldn't hardly
see, and the Lord said, take the veil off. That's the veil
that was on the corpse before they bury it. That's the veil
we're born with. Because we're born dead spiritually.
But when we're raised from spiritual death and given life, that veil's
taken away. Because we have life. And when
that veil's taken away, we see our Savior. And we come to the
feast. And we see Him sitting at the
head of the table. And enjoy this feast with the
one we love. But the one that's prepared for
us, that has prepared everything for us, and that makes it taste
so much better to eat this feast and enjoy it with the one we
love. Well, what else about this feast? Two more things. In this feast,
there's life. There's eternal life. Look back
at verse 8 in our text, Isaiah 25. He will swallow up death
in victory. There's no eternal final death
for God's elect. Why not? Because Christ died
for us. Christ died as a substitute for
his people so they could never die. He already died the death
his people deserve. Now, these bodies of flesh, they're
corrupt. They have to die. We've got to
do away with them. These bodies of flesh are going
to die. But all that will do for the believer is set us free
to go be with the Lord. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
15. And one day, when our Savior
returns, these bodies are going to be raised again in incorruption,
because Christ swallowed up death in victory. 1 Corinthians 15,
verse 42. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It's sown in corruption. It's
raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised
in power. It's sown in natural body. It's
raised in spiritual body. There is a natural body and there
is a spiritual body. And so it is written, the first
man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which
is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that
which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth,
earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy.
And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also
bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be in a moment, and
the twinkling of an eye at the last trump. For the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
who remain shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So in
this corruptible shall I put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall I put on immortality. Then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O
death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. He gave us the victory by swallowing
up death. So there is no death for the
believer, because Christ took their sin away. Where there is
no sin, there can be no death. Christ drank the cup of God's
fury dry, and when he drank that cup, as he swallowed every last
drop of that cup, he swallowed up death in victory, and he emerged
from that tomb victorious, and his people will never die, because
he died for them, and he rose again for them. Then last, in
this feast, there is comfort. He will swallow up death in victory,
and the Lord will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke
of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the
Lord hath spoken it." He will wipe away tears from off all
faces. Can't you just see our Savior
tenderly and carefully wiping every tear from every cheek off
all of his people? But more than that, more than
that, One day, we'll not have reason to cry ever again. Our Savior has taken away everything
that causes us to cry. So we truly have nothing to cry
about. Where there's no more sin, there
can be no more crying. Where there's no more being separated
from the presence of our Lord, there can be no more crying.
When there's no more heartache and no more sorrow, there can
be no more tears. where there's no more death,
there's no more crying. Our Lord, not only do we wipe
away all tears, He removes any reason for us to have tears.
He took our sin and death away. And the rebuke of His people
shall He take away from off all the earth. The rebuke of sin
is taken away from God's people when Christ has made sin for
us and He suffered all the punishment that sin required. The rebuke
of sin is gone. The rebuke of the broken law
is taken away because Christ gives us His righteousness. He
gives us His obedience to the law. So when the law looks at
God's people, He sees someone who kept the law perfectly. The
rebuke of the broken law is gone. Christ took it away. The rebuke
of God's justice is taken away. It's gone by the sacrifice of
Christ. The sacrifice of Christ satisfied
God's justice. So the rebuke of his justice
is gone. And even the rebuke of our own conscience. Does your
conscience ever rebuke you? The rebuke of our conscience
is taken away when we look to Christ. When we look to Christ,
we have a clear conscience. Oh yes, I sin. I'm corrupt. I'm filthy. I'm horrible. But
look to Christ. Go to Mount Calvary and see Him. Yes, I sin, but He's the forgiveness
of my sin. His blood put my sin away. I'm
accepted in Him. The rebuke of even our own conscience
is gone. And when Christ returns, even
the rebuke of this world will be taken away. God's people will
be vindicated one day. I know they ridicule you and
say, oh, you don't believe that election stuff, do you? You don't
believe God has saved one and passed another by, do you? Oh,
you're stupid. That's crazy. You don't even
read your Bible, do you? Ridicule. One day, you'll be
vindicated. Verse 9 says, we'll get into
this next week, but it should be said in that day, lo, this
is our God. We've waited for Him. How we've
waited for Him. This is our God. We'll be vindicated. How do you know for sure all
this is going to happen? For the Lord has spoken it. What comfort. What a feast. The
Lord has spoken it. Then it shall come to pass. He
purposed it in eternity. He bought it at Calvary. He bought
it with His, what we're about to observe, His broken body and
His shed blood and by His Spirit. He comes and applies it to the
hearts of every one of His people. And He will bring every last
one of them to be with Him. So we partake of this table in
just a moment. What we're saying is the Lord
Jesus Christ is all my hope. He's all my plea. I'll never
suffer any punishment for my sin because my sin has already
been punished in my substitute. My sin was punished. when his
body was broken and his blood was shed, when he suffered God's
judgment for me. I'm a great sinner. When we take
this table, what we're saying is, I'm a great sinner. I must
have a Savior. I can't save myself. I can't
make myself righteous. I can't please God myself. I'm
a great sinner. So when I take this table, I'm
confessing, I'm a great sinner. But my sin is forgiven through
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all my hope. Alright,
why don't you distribute it to Brad please?