We'll turn back with me to Zechariah,
and this week, chapter 12. Zechariah, chapter 12. And the
title of this message is Particular Redemption Accomplished. The
redemption of a particular people, the people of God, accomplished. In Matthew 1, you will know well,
verse 21, the angel appears to Joseph, betrothed to Mary, the
mother of Christ. And she's pregnant, and he's
thinking he needs to put her away. But the angel says, no,
this child is conceived of the Holy Ghost. And he says to him,
you shall call his name Jesus. Joshua was the Old Testament,
the Hebrew. Joshua, Jesus, you shall call
his name Jesus. Why? because that name means
saviour. He shall save, this is the key
thing, he shall save his people from their sins. He shall save
his people from their sins. And Zechariah 12 confirms that
message to his people. 550 years before Christ came,
Zechariah 12 confirms, the prophecy of Zechariah confirms that Christ
shall save His people from their sins. You see, there are lots
of messages around which call themselves the Christian gospel.
The world has plenty of false gospels, and false gospels make
offers. False gospels assign burdens
of religious duty to people, but false gospels give no assurance
whatsoever, because ultimately, have I done enough? Whereas,
whereas... in particular redemption accomplished,
the truth of God and the message of God to his people is that
God has saved his people from their sins. The gospel of God
is sure. The gospel of God is sure. He
shall save his people. He shall not fail, says Isaiah. His Israel, what is his Israel? Oh, you think that country in
the Middle East that's always in the news? No, no, no, no,
no. It's just national political Israel of a modern-day making.
No, no, not that. His Israel is Jacob, who was
named Israel. Jacob was the sinner. Jacob was
the cheat. Jacob was the scoundrel. But
he was made Israel, which is a prince with God. And not all
the people of God, Jacob's by nature, and all made princes
with God. Look at the start of chapter
12. The start of chapter 12 is the burden of the word of the
Lord, and you think of, oh dear, that's gloomy, but no, it actually
in this context means the weighty blessings of the word of the
Lord for Israel. The weighty blessings, the tremendous
blessings. He has blessed his people, it
says in Ephesians, with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. The weighty blessings of the
Lord for Israel. And who is it that's speaking?
Who is it that's speaking? The Lord which stretcheth forth
the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the
spirit of man within him. It's God our creator. God the
creator. It's... the one who gives life
to all people. He made man in his own image. He formeth the spirit of man
within him. But his favor, his blessings
are only for his Israel. The burden of the word of the
Lord for Israel, not for the world in general. It's the salvation
of a particular people. It's the salvation of a people
that God chose. Why? Because he's God and he's
sovereign. He says, I will, why have you
chosen them? God says, because I chose them.
I will have compassion. on whom I will have compassion
and I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. It's God's
prerogative to do this. His multi-ethnic innumerable
multitude of hell-deserving sinners who are made in this gospel of
God the righteousness of God in him. You say, some say, many
say, I don't like election. I was speaking to an old man
who'd been going to church and reformed Baptist churches all
of his life, and the man who was the pastor started to preach
a series as if it was one odd ball that we'll pick up and have
a look at on election. And I remember that old man saying
to me, oh, I don't like sermons on the doctrine of election.
What is this doctrine of election? It's unfair. But you know something,
you say it's unfair, the gospel says, whosoever shall call, it's
on our church notice board, whosoever shall call on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Don't rule yourself out because
God is a God of election, because the same God says, whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So what? Come to him believing. And if
free grace, why not for me? Come to him believing. Trust
your immortal soul to his eternal keeping. and find acceptance.
Where will you find acceptance? Not in anything you do, or say,
or decision you make, or resolution you make. You will find acceptance
in the Beloved. The Beloved. Capital B. Who is
the Beloved? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
the Son of God. It's God's Son, our Savior. He
will not refuse you. Jesus himself said, no man can
come to me except the Father draw him. No man can! But whosoever
comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. If you refuse him,
this is what Jesus said in Luke 13 verse 3 and in other places.
He said this, except unless you repent, unless you repent, you
shall all likewise perish. For all God's Israel are brought
by His Spirit to repent, as we'll see later. But here, in this
passage, we have firstly, a great divide. A great divide in the
people of the world. Secondly, a very personal call. And thirdly, an effectual fountain. So first of all, a great divide. In verses 2 to 9, we didn't read
them earlier, in verses 2 to 9 there's the message of the
prophet, the message of God by the prophet is, behold I will
make Jerusalem a cup of trembling. and that all the people round
about when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and
against Jerusalem and in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome
stone for all the people read it for yourself I won't read
it now for the sake of time but he goes on and on and on about
the distinction that he's going to make in the peoples of this
world in the history of the peoples of the world from Adam to the
end of time there is a great divide. A great divide between
the elect of God and the rest. The elect of God and the rest.
It started with Cain and Abel. Cain would not submit to God's
way of approach, even though God had defined it so clearly.
Jacob and Esau. Jacob have I loved, says God,
and Esau have I hated. What? Yeah, it's in the Bible. It's God's message to people.
Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. And I could go on and
on. I could go on and on. There's
a great divide. The phrase, in that day, you
see it appearing many times. It appears many times in the
prophecy of Zechariah. And in the passage this morning,
from verse 1 of chapter 12 to verse 1 of chapter 13, it occurs
seven times. In that day. I wrote a little
article in the bulletin, read that. It has many aspects. In that day, what day is he talking
about? In that day, it has many aspects. It is as Stephen read
earlier in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 2. For he saith,
I have heard thee, this is God, has heard his people in a time
accepted. And in the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. In that day, it's the day of
salvation. It's the epoch, it's the era
in which the people of God are saved out of this fallen world.
In that day, when His people, that innumerable multitude, are
individually apprehended by God's grace and are taken from the
darkness of ignorance of the things of God to the marvelous
light of the knowledge of God and the redemption that He has
accomplished. Will you listen? Will you be
apprehended by God? Or will you be like when Paul
was speaking to Felix in the Acts of the Apostles? And Felix
trembled, it says, at the things that Paul was saying. He was
greatly moved and affected by the gospel that Paul was preaching
to him. But what did Felix do? He said,
when I've got a more convenient time, then I will listen to you.
I'll call for you again. And did he ever? We never read
of it. This is what people do, they put it off. Isn't it in
Pilgrim's Progress, or the follow-up to that, that there's, you know,
he names his characters by characteristics, and there's Mr. Put-It-Off. Sounds
like a Russian, but Mr. Put-It-Off puts it off. He procrastinates. Procrastinate, push it down to
another day. No, no, today is the day of salvation. It is the day again, this day,
in that day, it's the day, it's the era in which people live
in this world. It's the era in which people
live in this time, space, state of this world, when the distinction
is made, the divide is made between the people of God, the elect
of God, the multitude that no man can number, and the rest.
It's the day when the Lamb was slain from the world's foundation.
Because as I put in that article, The triune God covenanted before
the beginning of time to save a people for God's own glory. And God the Father chose them.
And God the Son covenanted to come and pay redemption's price
to redeem them from their sins. And God the Holy Spirit covenanted
to come and quicken them and make them alive and give the
light of life and truth. It's the day when the way to
the tree of life. In that day, you could say it's
the whole of time, but it's characterized by particular points. And there's
that time right at the beginning of Genesis, just after the fall.
Well, in the fall, God said that the seed of the woman would come.
In that day, it's the day of salvation, when the way to the
tree of life was defined. At the end of chapter three of
Genesis, in verse 24, he defines there's only one way to the tree
of life. And that's through the blood
sacrifice of the Son of God. It's the day when the fullness
of the time was come, in the middle of world history. When
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son,
made of a woman, made under the law. Why? To redeem those who
are under the law. and give them the adoption of
sons, whereby they cry, Abba, Father, whereby sinners who want
nothing to do with God cry, Abba, Father. Daddy, Father is what
that means. It's the day when Christ died
on Calvary's tree. It's also for each individual. It's the day when God's Spirit
regenerates, gives new birth. You must be born again. It's
the day when God's Spirit comes and regenerates. No one knows
where the Spirit comes from. It's like the wind, you don't
know where it comes from or where it's going. God's Spirit regenerates
each one of God's elect, as it says in that verse in 2 Corinthians
chapter 6, in the accepted time. For each one there is an accepted
time. The day of salvation in that
day is also the final day. It's the day of judgment. That's
the day of salvation. It says that as each day passes,
our redemption is nearer, our salvation is nearer. As each
day passes, we get closer to that final day of judgment. when all things are drawn to
a close and when the final division, the great divide is made between
the sheep and the goats. And Jesus said, as judge he will
sit on the throne and he will divide the sheep from the goats
on his left hand and his right hand. And to the goats he will
say, depart from me, I never knew you. And to the sheep he
will say, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. It's that Armageddon
battle. It's that great divide. that
eternal divide. It's a savor of life unto life,
or a savor of death unto death. To some, it's the words of life.
You have the words of eternal life, said Peter. To whom shall
we go? Once you've tasted it, you cannot
go anywhere else. Once you know it, you know that
life is not worth living without it. You must have that life of
God, that light of God, the words of eternal life that he has.
And in Zechariah, Chapter 12, this is laid out for us. Jerusalem
is God's people. It's his church. It's his Israel. Read down those verses for yourself.
Read down the distinction that he makes. And then in verse 9,
he says this. In verse 9, he says, It shall
come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the
nations that come up against Jerusalem. In that salvation
day, In that era in which time unfolds, which we're in now,
of course we are, God will seek to destroy the rebellious world
that opposes his people. You say, I don't see that happening.
Oh, I do. I see it everywhere. You know
that the horses of the apocalypse in Revelation, Revelation chapter
6, you know, he sends forth, he calls forth, God calls forth
those four horses, the white horse of the gospel into the
world, that disrupts Satan's world. The red horse of war between
the nations, that disrupts Satan's world. The horse of vast economic
disparity, that disrupts Satan's utopian ideas of this world and
the pale horse of death, which no one can deny. The only two
certain things, death and taxes, they say, don't they? No, in
this world, God will seek to destroy the rebellious world
that opposes his people. He even looks on the weak and
makes them triumphant over the strong. He mentions in verse
eight, David, in that day, the Lord, shall the Lord defend the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. And he that is feeble among them
at that day shall be as David. And the house of David shall
be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. David? Where
do we come across him in 1 Samuel? David, a mere stripling, the
youngest of the sons of Jesse, not the strong grown-up ones,
the little boy, the lad, the lad with a bit of courage in
his heart. And there is the kingdom of Satan in the Philistines with
Goliath opposing them. And David, that's why he's mentioned
here, David representing the people of God, a mere youth,
yet he's triumphant with God's strength over Goliath. And the
angel is with him as the angel of the Lord before them. Hawker,
Robert Hawker, you know I like Robert Hawker. He summarized
verses two to nine like this. He said, it seems that everything
that is gracious and good is promised to Judah and Jerusalem,
i.e., the eternally loved people of God. And everything that is
evil in these verses is promised to their enemies. Which side
would you be on? Which side would you be on? Joshua. in Joshua 24. He challenged the
people. They'd come across into the promised
land, but he knew that the hearts of many of them still hankered
after the gods that they'd left behind, the gods of the heathen
around them. And Joshua challenged the people
to choose. He said to them, choose you this
day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will
serve the Lord. but all who choose to side with
the world against God and his kingdom. Look what it says in
verse four. In that day, saith the Lord,
I will smite every horse with astonishment and his rider with
madness. And I will open mine eyes upon
the house of Judah and will smite every horse of the people with
blindness. In that day of realization for
this fallen world, that they have rejected the kingdom of
God, that they have rejected the truth of God, he says they
will be smitten with madness and astonishment at their folly.
Well, let's move on to verses 10 to 14, a very personal call. We read these verses right at
the start. I'm talking about the call of God to his people,
his elect people. to embrace the redemption accomplished
for them. How does God bring his people
from their natural state as the children of Adam? How does he
bring them from that natural state as sinners, indistinguishable
from the unbelieving world, children of wrath, says Paul, even as
others? How does he bring them to willing trust? And how does
he bring them to a felt qualification for his kingdom? Is that not
what you want in this life? To feel whatever state you're
in, whatever age you're at, whatever state of health you're in, to
feel your felt, to feel your qualification for the kingdom
of God. Look at verse 10. I will pour. upon the house of David. That's
his people. It's symbolic of his people.
All of this is language that speaks of his people. I will
pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
those who know the peace of God. Jerusalem which is above, which
is free. Not that pile of stones in the
Middle East in 2025. We're not talking about that.
We're talking about the Jerusalem of God. the spirit of grace,
I'll pour the spirit of grace and supplication out upon them.
God will pour that on his people and they shall, how will they
respond? They shall look upon me whom
they have pierced. They shall look, it's God speaking,
they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall
mourn for him Doesn't say me then, he says him, he's talking
about his son. His son, he become man that he
might accomplish this. He will mourn for him as one
mourneth for his only son, as one mourns for his only son,
and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn. Holy Spirit quickening his people. causing them to have spiritual
life, the new birth, you must be born again. He gives, he gives
the gift of faith. By grace are you saved, through
faith. It's the grace of God that saves
you, you apprehend it through faith, but that is not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. He gives faith, he makes you
alive to the things of God, and he gives faith to see divine
truth. He puts in your heart a conviction
of sin. They shall look upon me whom
they have pierced and shall mourn for him. Their sin, my sin, is
what pierced the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. When
those nails went in, when that sword went in, It's that that
pierced him, it's that that killed him, it's my sin that caused
him to go to the cross and to die for my sin. The law demands
that the soul that sins it shall die and he did it for me, it
was my sin that put him there. For he was loaded with my sin
and the sins of all his people and only the sins of his people.
There's a sense of the holy being of God. generated within the
people of God, who were children of wrath, even as others, with
no thought of the things of God. There's a sense of the holy being
of God. It says in Hebrews about faith,
it says that the people of God must believe that he is. There's
a sense of the being of God and a desire to commune with God. The spirit of supplications,
that's prayer, that's supplications. And he gives eyes to look. They
shall look upon me. He gives eyes to look upon Christ. You say, I can't see him. By
faith you can. To look upon Christ, pierced
by my sin. It's like Peter said, preaching
on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.23. the Jewish leaders that were
there and the people that had gone along with them in the crucifixion
of Christ. He says that you did it, you
are guilty, you did it by guilty hands, you are utterly, utterly
responsible for your sin. But it was all according. to
the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. And so it is, all this,
the salvation of his people according to his determinate counsel and
foreknowledge. The Lord of glory was crucified
by wicked hands, but all to accomplish God's eternal purpose of grace
in clearing his people's sin debt. God grants to his people,
God gives gifts to his people, each in their day of salvation,
the spirit of mourning and bitterness. That's what he gives to his people.
He gives a spirit of mourning and bitterness. Blessed, said
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes, blessed are
they that mourn. Why? for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that mourn over
their sin, for they shall be comforted that their sins are
taken away. God grants, gives the gift of
repentance. Did you know repentance is not
a work that you do, though you do do it, it's the gift of God. It says in Acts 11 verse 18,
then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. Repentance is unto life, like
faith, faith and repentance. Like faith, it's not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. In the bulletin, there's the
piece by Henry Mahan, which I put in, let me just get it to read
it now. It's only short. True mourning
for sin has a distinct and constant reference to the Lord Jesus.
If I hate sin because I am exposed, I have not repented, I merely
regret that I've been found out. If I hate sin because of judgment
and hell, I've not repented, I merely regret that God is just.
But if I see sin as a hateful offense against my Lord, and
I see my sin as crucifying him whom I have pierced, Then I mourn
with a truly broken and repentant heart. True mourning is a great
bitterness as one mourns for the death of his firstborn. Someone
said, Lord, let me weep for naught but sin and after none but thee. Then I would, oh that I might,
a constant weeper be. A broken heart over sin is a
work of the Spirit of God and will be healed. This is the Spirit's work. This
is the Spirit's work. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. Turn to John chapter 16. John
chapter 16. And can I commend to you a series
that our brother Peter Mennie is currently preaching from John
chapters 14 through 16 at least. He might even go on into chapter
17. But that is a very, very good series and I commend it
to you. John chapter 16 and verse 7. The wrong page. Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, says Jesus to his disciples. because he's
told them he's going away, and they're sorrowful, and sorrow's
filled their hearts because he's going away. Nevertheless, he
says, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that
I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit,
will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. This is the promise of the Holy
Spirit, that he comes to his people. Verse 13, how be it when
he, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth,
for He will not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall
glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto
you. All things that the Father hath are Mine, therefore said
I, that He shall take of Mine and show it unto you. I commend
that to you, that series of Peter's. But it underlines the promise
of God throughout the Scriptures. We could look at so many, but
Isaiah 44, let me read you the first five verses of Isaiah 44. Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant,
and Israel, whom I have chosen, Thus saith the Lord that made
thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee. Fear
not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jezuran, whom I have chosen. This is all talking about the
people of God, the elect people of God. For I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty. spiritual water upon him that
is spiritually thirsty, and I will pour floods on the dry ground,
and I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessings upon
thine offspring, and they shall spring up as among the grass,
as willows by the water. One shall say, I am the Lord's. and another shall call himself
by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand
unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. We used
to know a family that had taken that last phrase literally and
called themselves, had their name changed by Deed Pole to
the Israels, Mr. and Mrs. Israel. Surname himself
by the name of Israel. It doesn't mean go and do that.
It means that you're all the true Israel of God, Jew or Gentile. For it says in the book of Joel,
the little prophecy of Joel, chapter 2 verse 28, God says
this, I will pour out my spirit upon the Jews. No, he doesn't
say that. He says I will pour out my spirit
on all flesh, all flesh. And it's applied to Gentile Romans.
Turn there with me to Romans 8. We often turn to Romans 8
because it's so rich. Romans chapter 8. And verse nine,
you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit. You Gentiles,
you Romans, you're not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If
so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man
have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ
be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life
because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken, make alive your
mortal, your dying bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live after
the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh,
ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, They are the sons of God. For
ye have not... You see, it's not the physical
descendants of Abraham that are the sons of God. It's those who
are led by the Spirit of God. Ye have not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears
witness with our spirit. We are the children of God. It's
our confidence. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. If so be we suffer with
him, that we may also be glorified together. For I reckon that the
sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory that shall be revealed in us. This turning
to God, this repentance, is intensely personal. Let me come back to
Zechariah. It's intensely personal. It's
individual. Yes, God's elect, all of them,
the innumerable multitude, come to repentance and faith, but
it's each one individually. Did you notice, as we read verses
12 to 14, it says, the land, the family of the house of David
apart. and their wives apart. The family
of the House of Nathan, apart, and their wives apart, apart,
apart. I can't repent for you any more
than you can repent for me. It's personal, it's deeply personal. It's between me and God, it's
between you and God. In Pilgrim's Progress, Christian
is alone at the start and he's burdened. And he's feeling the
heavy weight of his sin and the justice of his condemnation.
And he's repentant but he doesn't know where to go and he's desperate
for release. And he apart, he alone, as if
he's the only one, hears the gospel trumpet sound and believes
the truth and the burden falls off his back. You see, it's a
multitude but it's each one individually apart. Right, quickly. to the
effectual fountain. How is it that it's accomplished?
It's the effectual fountain, and that's why I added in, I
think the guy, the monk who divided the chapters, he should have
put verse one of chapter 13 with the passage we've just read.
For in that day, in that day, there again, in that day, there
shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. for sin and uncleanness, a fountain
opened. Turn with me to John chapter
seven. John chapter seven and verse
37. This is at one of the feasts
in Jerusalem and Jesus goes up there. His brothers said, are
you coming up? And he said, no, I'll come up later. And he comes
up and he appears and he's teaching. And verse 37, in the last day,
That great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying,
If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. But this he spake of the spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
There was the promise of Jesus about the Spirit of God coming,
and it being a fountain of living water. But it's a fountain that
works. It's a fountain that removes
every stain of sin. It's a fountain that washes clean
from the sin and satisfies the justice of God. Turn to Ezekiel
chapter 36. Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse
24, where God says again to his people, he says, I will take
you from among the heathen. See, this is calling them out
of the unbelieving world. And I will gather you out of
all countries. He's speaking to his people in
this day. And I will bring you into your
own land, the church of God, the kingdom of God. not a physical
place, but the kingdom of God. I will bring you there. Then
will I sprinkle clean water upon you, because you're defiled.
But if I sprinkle clean water on you, you shall be clean. From
all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse
you. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony, hard, stubborn, adamant heart out of your flesh and I
will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within
you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep
my judgments and do them. You'll believe the gospel, you'll
rejoice in the gospel. What is the agent that accomplishes
the cleansing? I don't want to be too trivial,
but if we're talking about doing the laundry, you want a washing
liquid, or powder, or whatever it might be, that accomplishes
the effect. You don't want it to go through
the washing machine and come out still covered in stains. What
is the agent that accomplishes the cleansing from all sin? You
know it. 1 John, chapter 1, verse 7. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. What is it that redeems? That
means, what is it that buys the release? What is it that pays
the price? to release sinners from the curse,
the just curse of the law, the soul that sins, it shall die. Cursed is everyone that hangs
on... What is it that buys the release from the law's curse?
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, it says. Galatians
3.13, for Christ has redeemed us, has brought us back, has
brought our release from the curse of the law. by being made
a curse for us when he shed his precious blood. Ephesians 1 verse
7, Colossians 1 verse 14, they both say exactly the same. In
God's dear son, in our Lord Jesus Christ, we have redemption. How? Through his blood. Even the forgiveness of sins. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the
whole. is nailed to his cross, and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. Hebrews 9 verse 12, by his own
blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. God himself, him alone, he purchased
the release of his sinful people from the curse and condemnation
of sin. And in what currency did he use?
The currency of his own blood. God, it says in, Paul says to
the elders of Ephesus, in Acts chapter 20 verse 28, look after
the church which God has purchased. God purchased it, what with?
His own blood. How did God purchase? the church
with his blood. God doesn't have blood. Our God
became man so that God had precious blood. The life is in the blood
and the infinite God, the infinite God, the one who we read at the
beginning of Zechariah chapter 12, the one who stretched out
the heavens, the one who upholds all things by the word of the
power of Christ, the one who is our creator, the infinite
creator, that holy God, the infinite God, God contracted, as the hymn
says, God contracted to a span, to the span of a little baby,
and then here, 30-odd years later, in a broken human body at the
cross of Calvary. God, infinite God, contracted
to the span of a broken human body. And that's the stumbling
block that the Jews couldn't see. God didn't come down in
a majestic body, in a majestic body with a kingly crown on his
head and rule and destroy the Romans and give them liberty.
No, he came in a broken human body. And in that broken human
body for his people poured out his own, God's own lifeblood
to satisfy the just demands of divine justice. that the soul
that sins, it shall die. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ. And once satisfied,
once paid, payment cannot, as that hymn says, God cannot demand
payment twice. Once at the hands of Christ and
then again at the sinner. He cannot do it. The sinner for
whom Christ died is free from the curse of the law. The ransom
has been found. I have found a ransom, says God.
Release the sinner from going down to the pit that he justly
deserves. Why? I have found a ransom. What
was the ransom? It was the blood of Christ, the
precious blood of Christ. This fountain, Zechariah 13 verse
1, is opened, it says, look, to the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for their sin and uncleanness. That's
who it's open to. That is God's particular people. That is the people of God, the
Israel of God, Galatians 6.16, called from every tribe and tongue
and kindred. It's them particularly, it's
them alone that God has redeemed. It's their sins and their sins
alone that Christ is born. Why? Because as we sang in the
first hymn, it's their names that are engraved on his heart.
Jesus said, I pray not for the world, but for those you have
given me out of the world. He suffered for those people.
He cleansed those people from their sins and their sins alone. Has God's Holy Spirit revealed
that to you? Have you believed? Have you repented? Have you called? Have you come
to Christ? If you have, then you rest in
the full assurance of faith, 100% sure of your eternal state,
and that is a blessed state to be in for life. Amen.