You would open your Bibles again
to John Chapter 11. The title of the message this
morning is Substitution and Satisfaction. Now, whenever the Gospel is preached,
people are always affected. It's impossible for you to hear
the Gospel and leave unaffected by it. One way or another, we're
affected when we hear the Gospel preached. There'll be some reaction. It will either be belief or it
will be unbelief. Either your faith will be strengthened
or your hatred and unbelief will be strengthened. Either your
heart will be softened and broken or your heart will be hardened
like Pharaoh's was. That's what happened when our
Lord raised Lazarus from the dead. Martha and Mary, their
faith was strengthened. We saw they had faith in Christ.
They believed him. But their faith wavered and was
weak. Just like all of us, we understand. And their faith was
strengthened. Some of those mourners that came
saw the miracle that our Lord did. Some of them believed. But
some of them hated Him even more. In verse 45, this is what we
read, many of the Jews which had come to Mary and had seen
the things that Jesus did, believed on Him. But some of them went
their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had
done. They were hardened. And you have
that hardening. can be subtle and not make you
uncomfortable while it's happening. As far as I know, I don't think
I've ever eaten lobster. I've certainly never seen it
cooked. But they tell me that the water that they use to cook
a lobster is heated up very gradually so that the lobster never becomes
uncomfortable. But in the end, it sure is cooked.
And being gospel-hardened happens the same way, or can happen the
same way. Leave a person knowing the right
doctrine, knowing the right things to say, but still hating Christ. We're going to see an illustration
of that this morning. And thankfully, Christ saves
his people from all of that. He saves us from our sin. And
he saves us from our nature, from the dominion of sin that's
in our nature, so that Christ is revealed to us and Christ
is revealed in us, so that we love him and we trust him and
we follow him. And it's all because of his substitutionary
work, what he's done for us and what he's done in us. So because
these folks ran and told the Pharisees what things our Lord
had done, verse 47, then gathered the chief priests and Pharisees,
the council, and they said, what do we? For this man doeth many
miracles. If we let him thus alone, all
men will believe on him and the Romans will come and take away
both our place and our nation. Now this is a meeting of the
chief priests. And in that group, there are Pharisees and Sadducees.
They had very different doctrinal views on some things, and they
strongly disagreed on these points of doctrine and were practically
enemies. But they joined together on this
one issue against Christ. And all this, if you look back
at Psalm chapter 2, this council has been gathered together at
the eternal will of God. They thought they called this
council. God called it. to accomplish his eternal purpose.
In Psalm 2, verse 1, why do the heathen rage, and
the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against
his anointed, saying, Let us break his veins asunder, and
cast away their cords from us. God's the one that called this
counsel. I mean, they thought they were doing it, but it happened
at God's eternal will to accomplish his purpose. And they gather
this council together and this is the question, this is the
topic of the council. What are we going to do with
Christ? Isn't that the question in false religion, Arminianism
today? What are you going to do with
Christ? They got the wrong question. The question is not what are
we going to do with Christ, the question they should have been
asking is what's he going to do with us? You know, they ask
this question like the Lord was only doing these miracles because
they let him, you know, like they could stop him from doing
it any time they wanted to. Now, that's the blindness and
the deadness of our nature. Now, they've spent all this time
up to now trying to discredit the Lord, discredit his miracles
and say that they really didn't happen, but they finally realized
they can't do it. Even these wicked men who hate
our Lord realize the miracles are genuine. But rather than
bow to the Lord, they wanted to kill him. Now this fact is
very obvious. Faith, saving faith, never comes
from seeing a miracle. Faith does not come by someone
presenting us the evidence, and based on the preponderance of
the evidence, we decide to believe. Saving faith never comes that
way. Saving faith is a gift of God. You believe because you
can't help it. Because God gave you a nature
of belief. You believe without seeing one
shred of physical evidence. Whom having not seen, you love. These men admitted the Lord's
miracles were legitimate. But they still refused to bow.
Seeing miracles does not save anybody. The only means God ever
uses to save His people is His Word. That's the only means.
The preaching of His Word, the declaration of His Word, that
incorruptible seed that gives life and reveals Christ, the
Incarnate Word, to the heart. A rebel will never be conquered
with the preponderance of evidence. He'll only ever be conquered
by God's grace. God will never use anything to
save anybody but His Son, His Word, and His sovereign grace.
And these men were not conquered. They're religious hypocrites.
The thing that they are most concerned about is this. I'm
going to lose my place. My place of power and my place
of prominence in my society. That's what they said. The Romans
are going to come away and take away our place. This is what
they're concerned with. Now, when the Romans conquered
a people, they largely let those people govern themselves. You
know, as long as they pay their taxes and, you know, follow some
certain principles of Roman government, they let them along. The Romans
were never going to come destroy Israel and take away the Pharisee's
place because of anything our Lord said. Our Lord never said
anything contradictory to the Roman government. He did say
he had a kingdom, but he said it's not of this world. I'm not
interested in taking their kingdom. My kingdom is not of this world.
He didn't have any interest in taking power or things away from
Rome. He said render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar.
If there is, give them to him. Pay your taxes. Be a good citizen,
be a good neighbor. The Romans were never going to
come and destroy Israel for anything our Lord taught. But I tell you
what would make them come destroy Israel. If they ever found out
what was going on with the Sadducees behind closed doors, that would
make them come destroy Israel. All they were concerned about
was getting out from under the Roman boot. Any way, by any means,
except the Lord. The real problem for the Sanhedrin
is not that Rome's going to come take away their place. The real
problem is this. If Lord Jesus keeps doing what
he's doing, they're going to lose their place because people
are going to follow him and not them. And they're not going to
submit to that. They're not concerned with the
glory of God. They're not concerned with the
good of the people that the people come to know God. All they're
concerned about is keeping their status and keeping their power,
keeping their hold over the people. Now the church does not exist
so men can have some authority and some position. The church
does not exist for that reason. The church is believers. The
church exists for God's glory and for the good of His people
here on earth. That's the sole reason the church exists. The
church is where Christ is revealed. The church is where Christ is
preached. The church is where Christ is worshipped. And all
these men have is a religious organization. And they're fine
with it, but that's all they have. It's a dead organization
because they refuse Christ. But look at verse 49. And one
of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year,
said unto them, You know nothing at all. For consider that it
is expedient for us that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation perish not. Now Caiaphas was the high
priest that year. Now the office of high priest
was not an annual appointment. They didn't hold, you know, new
elections and things every year to select a new high priest.
The office of high priest was a lifetime appointment to one
of the sons of Aaron. But at this time in Israel's
history, the office of high priest was an annual appointment to
whoever, the king or whoever, you know, somebody appointed
it And it was bought with bribe money. Probably just like, you
know, our elections today. You ever spend the most on, you
know, special interest groups and advertising, gets elected.
Same thing with the high priest. So Caiaphas, who's been elected
that year, he says, you fellows are worried about how to shut
this man up and keep him from doing miracles. We don't need
to shut this man up. We've got to put him to death.
That's the only way we're going to keep our position is put him
to death. There's some high priest. You
know, a high priest must be concerned with mercy and sacrifice and
worship. We need to put this man to death,
not shut him up. Now Caiaphas was a Sadducee.
I'll tell you what really was getting him about this, because
he's a Sadducee. The Sadducees didn't believe
in the resurrection of the dead. So our Lord raising Lazarus from
the tomb is a real problem for this man. We've got to get rid
of him because he's taken all the underpinning of my theological
doctrine away. There is such a thing as the
resurrection of the dead. He raised Lazarus from the dead.
So Caiaphas, he's not speaking as a high priest. He's not speaking
as God's prophet. He's speaking as a politician
to keep his place. And God never uses politicians
to lead his church. Ever. God always uses shepherds. Sheep follow shepherds. They
don't follow politicians. They follow shepherds. The shepherd
might not be as slick as the politician, but sheep follow
shepherds. And Caiaphas, he makes such a
great statement here, but he has no idea what he's saying,
because false prophets usually don't. They don't have any idea
what they're saying. Balaam has held up to us in scriptures,
preeminent example of false prophets, and Balaam did the same thing.
He tried his best to curse Israel, but he could only say the word
God put in his mouth. And the Lord put this word in
the mouth of Caiaphas, this wicked man, and it's a message of the
gospel to us. We see that in verse 51. Now, this spake he not of himself,
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that
also he should gather together in one the children of God that
are scattered abroad. Now, Caiaphas is a wicked man. He had devised this wicked plan
from his wicked heart. He is proposing the greatest
crime that's ever been committed on the face of this planet. But
you know the greatest crime that was ever committed on earth brought
forth the greatest blessing mankind has ever known. Now Caiaphas
is wicked, he's talking about an evil plan, but at the same
time God used him to preach a good gospel message. He preached the
message, and I'm going to show you that he gave us a good outline
that clearly shows us the gospel truths of substitution and satisfaction. Now, Caiaphas didn't mean it
that way, but God meant it that way. And Caiaphas actually ends
up praising the one that he hates the most. And these verses 51
and 52, the Holy Spirit gives us a parenthetical explanation
here of the gospel truths in Caiaphas' statement. So first
we see this. Why did Christ die? Now that's
a good question. Why did he die? He died as a
substitute. Christ died so that his people
would live. He died that his people will
not perish. Christ died because he was a
substitute. And as a substitute, he was made
to be sin for his people. Now if Christ was not made to
be guilty, actually guilty of the sin of His people. I got a letter this week accusing
me of saying that Christ is a sinner. Nobody in their right mind would
ever say that. Christ was not a sinner. Scripture
never says that. But He was made to be sinned.
Scripture does say that. And if He was not made guilty,
This is just some play-like activity that God's doing. God the Father
is unholy and He's unjust if He put His Son to death if He
was innocent. Christ died as a substitute.
He was made to be guilty of the sin of His people. Christ was
made to be sinned. He was made to be guilty and
He suffered as our substitute. All the punishment, every drop
of punishment, that sin deserved. Christ suffered it and he died
for it so that his people live. He died that the nation perish
not. Christ suffered and died as a
substitute and he put that sin away under the blood of his sacrifice. That's so. Did everybody agree? You can read scripture and tell
that, right? Christ put the sin that was placed on him away under
his blood. His blood paid for it. Then there's
no reason for his people to perish, none whatsoever. Sin's gone. God can't say it anymore. God
doesn't remember it anymore. Then his people will have eternal
life because Christ died for them as their substitute, as
a substitute for sinners who deserve to die because of their
sin. That's who, that's why Christ
died. All right. Second question. Who
did Christ die for? He died for somebody. He's a
substitute. Who did he die for? Christ didn't
die as a martyr. If we're going to understand
who Christ died for, we have to understand this. Christ didn't
die as a martyr. He died as a substitute, as a substitute for somebody
specifically. See, if Christ just died hoping
somebody would believe on him, that's a martyr. You have to
feel sorry for the martyr, you know, but that's not how Christ
died. He died as a substitute for specific
people. Christ died for his people. He died at the place of his people.
He died to pay the sin debt of his people, and his people are
God's elect. He died, the Holy Spirit says
here, for the children, that he might gather all the children
together. Christ died for his family. His
family is his elect that God gave him. There are children
of the devil. Then our Lord told the Pharisees,
hey, you're children of your father, the devil. There's children
of the devil and there's children of God. Christ died for the children
of God. Christ didn't die just for that
Jewish nation. The Jewish nation is not just
the children of God. He died for the whole body of
Christ, all of God's elect. John said that, and not for that
nation only, but he should gather together in one the children
of God that are scattered abroad across the whole earth. Christ
died for true Israel, for spiritual Israel that comes from every
nation, every background, every language. Look in Romans chapter
9. Christ died for spiritual Israel,
not just the physical seed of Abraham, the physical descendants
of Abraham, but the spiritual seed of Abraham. In Romans 9 verse 6, Not as though the word of God
had taken none effect, for they are not all Israel which are
of Israel. They are not all true Israel which are of that physical
nation Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham
are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be
called, and the son of promise shall thy seed be called. That
is, they which are of the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. And this is the word of promise. At this time will
I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but
when Rebecca also is conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. For the children, being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now what shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God? Is God unrighteous to choose
one and pass another by? Is God unrighteous to do that?
God forbid. For He said to Moses, I'll have
mercy in whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion in whom
I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth. It's not of him that has a certain
physical pedigree, but it is of God that showeth mercy. Salvation is a gift. God's mercy,
a mercy that he gives to his people, that he chose out of
Adam's fallen race. That's who Christ died for. And
every one of those people will have eternal life. Look back
in Isaiah chapter 49. This was told to us, prophesied
to us in the Old Testament. 700 or 800 years before Christ
came, Isaiah wrote this prophecy. God is so rich in mercy. The
salvation extends even to Gentiles. Aren't you glad? Every one of
us here is a Gentile. God's mercy is so rich it extends
even to heathen like you and me. Isaiah 49, verse 6. And he said, it's a light thing
that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee
for a light to the Gentiles. that thou mayest be my salvation
at the end of the earth. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer
of Israel, and His Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to
him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers. Kings
shall see and arise. Princes also shall worship because
of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and
He shall choose thee." It's not you chose Him, He shall choose
thee. even of the Gentiles. That's
how rich in mercy God is. Christ didn't die to make salvation
possible for as many people as would decide to accept him as
their personal Savior. That would make him a martyr.
Christ died to obtain salvation for his elect. One more scripture,
Isaiah 53. Christ died to obtain salvation all his people. Verse 8, he was taken from prison
and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. He died.
For the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he shall,
verse 11, see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He died that those people, his
people, would live. And I'm telling you, he got the
job done. Before he was born, what did
the angel say? Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shalt,
not he might, not he'll make it possible, he shalt save his
people from their sins. Christ died as the great substitute
for sinners, for his people. And the death of Christ means
this, that everyone he died for has life. is given His life. He took our death and gave us
His life. My only hope, my only hope, is
Christ died as my substitute. That's my only hope. If Christ
did not die as my substitute, hell, I'm gone. That's my only
hope. If I have to do In order to make
Christ's sacrifice effectual for me, if I've got to do something
to ratify His blood and to get His blood applied to me, I'm
going to hell. My only hope is that Christ died
as a substitute for my sin and put that sin away. Now, substitute. What's a substitute? Well, substitute
takes your place. Now, you kids that play sports,
out there playing and the coach has to put somebody in substitute
for you. You're tired, come out and rest.
Well, the coach sends in a substitute. You've got to get off. You've
got to get off the court, off the field, do whatever. You've
got to get off. There's only room for one of
you. Isn't that right? Just one. When
I was playing high school basketball one time, this kid come in as
a substitute. Whoever he's supposed to come
in to, he really didn't want to leave. And he didn't. And there's
six of us out there. It would look pretty good for
a minute, so the referee counted them and called it, there's ten
of you, called ten of us. There's just room for one of
you. That's the way salvation works. There's just room for
one. Just one. It's either Christ
or you. It's either Christ's work or
your work. It's either Christ's death or
your death. It's either Christ's righteousness or your righteousness.
I don't know about you, but that's an easy choice for me. I want
Christ to stand for me. I want Him to be my substitute. The last thing I ever want is
to stand before God myself. I'd have no place. He'd cast
me into hell for eternity. I'm so thankful for this blessed
truth, this wicked mankind has said it. If Christ died for me,
if He died for me as my substitute, then I'm saved. And you are too. If Christ died for you, you'll
never die. Well, that's who Christ died
for. He died for his people, that
they might live. Well, what's the result of Christ's
death? What's the result of Christ's
substitutionary death? It's satisfaction. Christ didn't
die to make salvation a possibility. Christ died to make salvation
certain, ensured. And that salvation is certain
because he satisfied the father. He satisfied the law. He satisfied
justice. Now, his people are born lost
in Adam. But they're not going to remain
lost. They're not going to remain scattered and lost from God.
They're going to be gathered together, John says here, in
one. In one. They're going to be gathered
together in one body. They're going to be made one
with Christ. Now they're from different nations.
They're from different generations. Some of them aren't even born
yet, but eventually they're going to be all gathered together in
one. There's going to be one fold and one shepherd. I want
you to look in Hebrews chapter two, show you how important this
is and what a great, great blessing this is. They're going to be
called to be joined to Christ. They're going to be called so
that they are one with Christ in this vital union with Christ.
And we call this a vital union because there's no life otherwise.
If you're not joined to Christ, there's no life. All his people
are going to be called to be made one with Christ. Look at
Hebrews 2 verse 10. Where it became him for whom
are all things and by whom are all things and bringing many
sons to glory. to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctified,
and they who are sanctified, are all of one, for which cause
he is not ashamed to call them brethren." He that sanctified,
he that makes his people holy, and they who are sanctified,
who are made holy, they are all one. They are all what Christ
Christ holy? You are too. Is Christ righteous? You are too. Is Christ eternal
life? You are too, if you're joined
in Him. What He is, you are. Made one
family with one Father and one Shepherd. Now that's substitution
and satisfaction. Caiaphas didn't mean to, but
that's the gospel that he preached. Our Lord could say the same thing
to Caiaphas. St. Hedron that Joseph said to
his brethren, you gather this council together. You meant it
for evil, but God meant it for good. Save as it is this day
many people alive. Ultimately, God's going to let
them have their way and they're going to put God's son to death
so that many people will be saved alive by his death. All of his
elect. In the end, it's not the life
of Christ or the miracles of Christ that caused the destruction
of Israel. It wasn't the miracles of Christ
that caused the Pharisees to lose their place. It was the
death of Christ. The death of Christ brought an
end to Israel. You could say the Sanhedrin died
by their own plan. The death of Christ put an end
to the law. put an end to the ceremonies
and took away the Pharisees' place because everything's fulfilled
in Christ. There's no need for any of that
stuff anymore. They fell into their own trap. Just like David
so often prayed for his enemies, let them fall into their own
trap. That's exactly what happened to the Pharisees. They fell into
their own trap. The death of Christ brought an
end to Israel. In verse 53 in our text, John
11, from that day forth, they took counsel together for to
put him to death. Now this meeting of the Sanhedrin is a waste of
time. They're just absolutely wasting their time because our
Lord had already decreed the day of His death. He determined
not only who He would die for, but He determined the moment
that He would die for them. And this Sanhedrin trying to
bring it to pass any earlier is a waste of their time. Our
Savior is the sovereign Savior. And that's not just doctrine.
You know, that's just not just something, you know, we like
to make sure we've got that, you know, in every message. Christ
is the sovereign Savior. Brethren, that's our comfort.
There's not one going to be lost. There's not some accident going
to happen and one perish. He's the sovereign Savior. He
accomplishes His will in His time. And it always comes to
pass successfully. Now, verse 54, Jesus, therefore,
walked no more openly among the Jews. but went thence unto a
country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and
there continued with his disciples." Now the Lord knew the secret
minutes of this meeting before it ever took place. But it wasn't
time for him to go to the cross yet, so he just didn't walk anymore
openly among the Jews. Sadly, this is so sad, this always
frightens me every time I read of it, he withdrew himself from
Israel. That nation that had his presence,
he gave them the law, the prophets, the priesthood, the tabernacle.
He withdrew himself and they never to this day had his presence
again. He withdrew himself. But during
this time, maybe the most blessed conversation of our Lord that's
recorded is given to us. John 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 are some
of the words that God's children have clung to and been blessed
by for generations. This brought this great conversation
that John recorded for us that we'll see in the coming weeks.
Look at verse 55. And the Jews' Passover was nigh
at hand, and many, when out of the country, up to Jerusalem
before the Passover to purify themselves. Now this is the hypocrisy
of religion. It's all an outward show. And
that's another thing that frightens me. And I pray often that God
will deliver us from this and outward show of religion. You
know, that we don't just come here because that's what we always
do or, you know, it's not so we can impress people. It's to
worship. These people are so concerned
with the ceremony that they actually thought the ceremony, whatever
ceremony it is that they would go through before the Passover,
they actually thought this would purify them. All their wicked hearts, all
the while, their wicked hearts are plotting to murder an innocent
man. And they think that's religion.
They think, yeah, that's good religion. They cleaned outside
the cup and platter all the while. They've got this wicked plan
they're trying to work up. God help us to avoid that wicked
way and that wicked thought. Now, we do desperately need to
be cleansed. But we don't need a physical
cleansing. We don't need some religious rigmarole, you know,
we go through this somehow makes God happy with this. We need
a heart cleansing. We need not just a cleansing. We need a new heart. God to give
us a new heart, a cleansing that can only come from the blood
of Christ. It's never from religious ceremony
or it's the blood. It's the blood. It's the blood.
It's the blood that cleanses us from all sin. In verse 56,
the insult they for Jesus. I was reading over my text this
morning and I prayed, Oh God, that you'd send somebody this
morning seeking the Lord. Then sought they for Jesus. They
spake among themselves as they stood in the temple, what thinking?
That he'll not come to the feast? Now those who sought our Lord,
in very short order, they're going to see his greatest glory.
When he's lifted up and slain as a substitute, as a sacrifice
for sin. I wish, I pray the Lord to cause
us to seek the Lord. Not seek the activities of religion
and all these things, but to set our affection upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. Not on all these other matters,
not on using the gospel to beat people up and show how wrong
this one is and that one is and that one is, but to worship,
to worship the Lord in this beauty of holiness. I pray God to make
us like little children. Just to come to be taught and
worship at his feet, because his children, those are the ones
he's going to gather. They're scattered. He's going
to gather them together. And they wondered, well, will he
not come to the feast? Oh, yeah. He's coming to the feast. He's
coming in power to fulfill the picture of the feast. This is
going to be the most powerful, most memorable Passover of them
all, because this is going to be the last. After Christ goes
to the cross and he dies for that nation, for his nation,
his elect, spiritual Israel, all these types are going to
be done away. There'll never be another Passover. Oh, they
went through the ceremony, but there's never another one. Because
Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. The blood's been offered. God's going to Passover and sin
of his people because the Passover lamb has been sacrificed. There'll
be no more high priest needed. You know, they're going to elect
one every year, but they're never going to have another one. Because
the sacrifice that does put sin away has already been offered.
The function of the high priest is obsolete. The sacrifice has
been offered. There's not another one ever
going to be offered. Once for all, the sacrifice has been offered.
There'll be no more altar. Christ is our altar. We have
an altar. Whereof they have no right to
eat. that serve after all these manners of the law. Christ is
our altar. All that other is done away.
We don't have an altar down here. We've got a table we can put
stuff. We don't have an altar. But we have an altar, don't we?
It's our Lord Jesus Christ. There's no more Sabbath day to
observe because Christ is our rest. No more are we blocked
off from the presence of God at the mercy seat. Because at
the moment he gives up the ghost, that veil in the temple, that
separated the holy place from the holy of holies was torn in
two. God did it from top to bottom,
showing us the way to God is wide open in the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ. You can come before God accepted
because of substitution and satisfaction. God won't put any sinner that
comes to Him in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ to because
Christ has already satisfied God for you, and you come accepted
because of substitution and satisfaction. Caiaphas didn't mean to, but
he gave us a great outline, didn't he? Isn't that a good outline
of Christ our substitute? So let's bow in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for your Word, even though this Wicked man Caiaphas did not mean
to glorify our Savior in such a way. You put those words in
his mouth and recorded them in your word. Your Holy Spirit gave
us an explanation of them that we might in awe and reverence
worship. And how we thank you for a substitute
that puts away the sin of your people. How we thank you for
a substitute who stood in our place so that we don't have to,
that we're accepted in Him because He satisfied every requirement
for us and had His life. Human language cannot express
the greatness of such a blessing. But in our meek and weak way,
Father, we thank You. How we thank You. We pray for
a heart that worships, a heart to seek after the Lord Jesus
Christ, that we may be accepted in Him, in His life, in His death,
in His resurrection. It is in the precious name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that great substitute for sinners, we give
thanks.