Morning, everybody. It's good
to see you again. If you would turn to Nehemiah
chapter one. If you're unfamiliar with Nehemiah,
don't feel bad. It's kind of an obscure book, but if you find
Chronicles, then you'll have Ezra after that, and then Nehemiah. And if you hit Esther, you've
gone too far. Nehemiah 1, we're going to consider
the whole chapter this morning. It's only 11 verses. It helps
me when I look at these Old Testament stories to understand what's
going on in the world when these stories are taking place. Sometimes
we pick up with a scene and my mind wanders and wonders, how
did we even get here? So I want to tell you about what's
going on, how we got to this point with Nehemiah. So somewhere
around 586 BC, that's when Nebuchadnezzar leveled Jerusalem. The Babylonians
came in. Judah was a vassal state of Babylonia
and they rebelled. They stopped paying tribute to
Nebuchadnezzar. So he went in there and he leveled Jerusalem,
destroyed the temple, destroyed the walls, took everybody captive. There's a series of leadership
changes that take place after Nebuchadnezzar. It goes from
the Babylonians onto the Medes and finally onto the Persians.
And we finally end up about 70 years later with King Cyrus.
He's a Persian, and he has control of this great empire that encompasses
Judah. Cyrus, interestingly enough, was prophesied of by Isaiah about
150 years before he took power. Isaiah said, this one Cyrus is
going to take power, and he's going to do the will of the Lord,
and he's going to restore Jerusalem. Just like the Lord said, this
Cyrus comes to power. And Cyrus sends Ezra and all
the Jews back to Jerusalem. He says, repopulate it. and build
the temple. Rebuild it. And so they go. That's
what the book of Ezra is all about. It's all about the rebuilding
of the temple after it's been leveled. About 70 years after
that is when Nehemiah comes on scene. Nehemiah is serving under
the current Persian king. It's Artaxerxes. He's in his
court and Nehemiah feels compelled by the Lord to rebuild the walls
of Jerusalem. That's what the entire book of
Nehemiah is about. Now, We're going to read this
entire chapter through once just so we get a grasp of what's going
on. Nehemiah is a very powerful type of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and his writing is very, very simple. So when you read these
words, it's a first-person account from Nehemiah. Read them as the
words of Christ. It'll make sense to you. So pick
them in verse one. The words of Nehemiah, the son
of Hacaliah, and it came to pass in the month Chislew. That's
the ninth month. in the 20th year, as I was in
Shushan, the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he
and certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews
that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning
Jerusalem." Now, we'll find out later in this chapter, the very
last verse, that Nehemiah has a very particular job that he
does for the king. He is the king's cupbearer. So what does that mean? What
does the cupbearer do? It's very simple. When the king wants wine,
Nehemiah pours the wine. He gives the wine to the king.
That's his job. And so somebody might say, well,
that's kind of a lowly slave-like job, isn't it? No. This is a
position of great honor. This is a position of great power.
He has the ear of the king. Artaxerxes is a great leader,
and he does what every great leader does. He surrounds himself
with people he trusts. So Nehemiah, yes, he's the cupbearer.
He's the one who's going to pour the wine for the king. He's also
an advisor. He is there. So when the king
says, what should I do right now? Nehemiah, what do you think?
He's sitting at the right hand of the king. He's in the king's
palace. And from this position of honor
and this position of power, he asked this question, what's the
status of my people? My people, all these ones that
have gone back, They came out of the captivity, they've gone
back to Jerusalem. What is their status? Well, what is their status? Look at verse three. And they
said unto me, the remnant, the ones that are left, that are
left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction
and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is
broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire. Nehemiah says, what is the status
of my people? And Hananiah says, it's not good.
They're greatly afflicted. They're reproached. They're disgraced.
And their walls are all burned down. They are absolutely defenseless.
Their enemies can have at them anytime they want, and they have
absolutely no defense. How does this affect Nehemiah?
Look at verse four. And it came to pass when I heard
these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days
and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." Nehemiah
loved these people, didn't he? Nehemiah doesn't have any needs.
Nehemiah is in the king's court. Nehemiah is fine. He's content.
He has everything he could possibly need. He has the praise of the
king, but he asked this question, what's the status of my people?
They're ruined. And he begins fasting. He begins
mourning, he begins praying. He loved these people so much,
and he's gonna do something about this. Look down at verse five.
And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and
terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love
him and observe his commandments. Let thine ear now be attentive
and thine eyes open. And we should stop there for
a minute. Not only does he say, Lord, give thee attentive ear,
But open your eyes. Look with that all seeing eye,
that eye that sees things as they really are, that eye that
penetrates every single layer and looks at the very crevices
of the heart. Open it. Look at me and know whether I'm
one you'll receive prayer from." That's what he's saying. That
thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before
thee now day and night for the children of Israel, thy servants.
and confess the sins of the children of Israel, listen to this, which
we have sinned against thee, he prays as in us. Both I and
my father's house have sinned, here it is again, we have dealt
very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments,
nor the statutes, nor the judgments, but thou commandest thy servants,
Moses, he prays as in us, for him and his people, and this
is what he says, we have sinned, we have sinned against you, and
we have no excuse. That's what he says. He lays
out exactly what the case is. But now he will make a petition
for mercy. Recognize what grounds he comes on. Look at verse eight. He begins with this word, remember. Remember, I beseech thee the
word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, if ye
transgress, I will scatter you abroad from among the nations.
But if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them,
though there were of you cast out under the uttermost ports
of heaven, yet will I gather them from thence and will bring
them under the place that I have chosen to set my name there. He comes, he comes begging mercy
for his people. And what grounds does he come
on? On the grounds of a covenant. Lord, you said, Lord, you made
a covenant, Lord, you promised, do as you have said. He comes
on one grounds, one grounds alone, on the grounds of a covenant,
covenant God made. Not only this, look at verse
10. Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou hast,
past tense, redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. Not only does he come on the
grounds of a covenant, Lord, do what you said you would do,
honor your covenant, he says this, don't look to the future,
you just look to the past. These are the people that thou
hast redeemed. You see, everything that is necessary
for them to be redeemed, it's already been done. Don't look
to the future, look to the past. Now, look at verse 11. O Lord,
I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer
of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to
fear thy name and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and
grant him mercy in the sight of this man, for I was the king's
co-bearer. Now, when I first started studying
that chapter, two things came to the forefront of my memory,
two things every believer knows Two things we hear constantly,
but it became alive again to me. These two solid facts, and
here they are. Number one, the message of the
gospel, the message of scripture, is both singular and consistent. This is a big book, but it doesn't
say a whole lot of things. It says one thing. It has one
singular and consistent message. It just says it over and over
and over again in different stories, in different illustrations, in
different letters, in different types. One message, one singular
and consistent message. And that message is very, very
simple. It's not complicated in any way. Now, I will say this. The message
of this book, it can only be spiritually discerned. I can
make good on that. This is 1 Corinthians 2.14. It
says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned. To understand and
be able to comprehend intellectually, to believe it in the heart, to
recognize what's being said, you have to have a new man. You
have to be born again. There must be a new man, the
very Spirit of God dwelling in you, to recognize this message
and to believe that message. But it's not a complicated message.
It's deep and it's mysterious. It's beyond wonder, but it's
not complicated. What is that message? This is
it. Jesus Christ is the successful
Savior of His people. That is the message that is told
over and over and over again in this book. He has a people,
a particular people. He is the surety for those particular
people. He accomplished salvation for
those people. His Father sent Him on a task
to save those particular people, and He did what His Father sent
Him to do. That is the message of Scripture.
Jesus Christ is the successful Savior of His people. That's
it. I left one part out. One part. You know what Nehemiah's name
means? It means Jehovah Comforts. Now,
what I just said is glorious. It declares the very glory of
God. Jesus Christ, singularly, by
himself, saved a wicked and wretched and evil group of people. He
did this single-handedly in a manner to where God could remain just
and show mercy on these people. That's what he did. It declares
the very glory of God, but it doesn't give me any comfort.
And it's for this reason, because I don't know through that whether
I am one of those people or not. It is good news for somebody,
but is it good news for me? Now, you cannot read this book
with any level of honesty and not recognize that it tells us
that before time began God the Father chose who would be saved.
It's called election. It's called the very sovereignty
of God. God being God. You can't read Ephesians chapter
one with any honesty and not see that that's the case. Here's
what it says. according as He, the Father, hath chosen us, the
elect, in Him, the Christ, when? Before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Is there any other way you can
take that? No, it's not. If you read it with any level
of honesty, God chose a people before the foundation of the
world. He gave them to Christ. Christ accomplished their salvation.
Who are they? Paul tells us. 1 Timothy 1.15,
I probably quote it to you every single time I preach to you.
It's one of my favorite verses, but here it is. This is a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. of whom I am chief." If you want
to know whether you're one of these people, that has to be
your title. If you are a sinner, you're one
who can't come up with the goods. You can't bring anything before
God that he would be pleased with. You can't make up for what
you've done. You can't keep the law. You give me one thing to
do. God will save you if you. That's
not going to work for me. My only hope is grace. Grace,
that's it. If you're a sinner, be rest assured, everything this
book says, the message of this book, it's for you. It's for
you. Christ died for you. Christ accomplished your salvation. This is all for you. And you
know what? Everything I've just said, it's
all bore out in Nehemiah chapter one. That is the message of Nehemiah
chapter one. In very plain and clear language,
it tells us exactly what I just said. Now consider it. Verses
one through four, this is where we are introduced to Nehemiah. Where is he? Nehemiah is in the
palace of the king. He is serving the king. He is
sitting at the right hand of the king. He has no needs. He
lives in complete and utter pleasure. Wherever the king is, there is
peace. He has no needs. Him and the king, they are independent.
He's enjoying the pleasure of the king, the acceptance of the
king, and from this position of honor, this position of power,
he's right there with the king. He asks this question, what is
the status of my people? Is this not the Christ? Isn't
it? What is the concern of the Lord
Jesus Christ, his eternal concern? The concern is his people. He's
always concerned with his people. He said this to Jeremiah, The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. You know what an everlasting
love is? It's a love that doesn't have any beginning. and it doesn't
have any end. That's an everlasting love. We're
talking about here, this is giving us a type here, of things that
took place in eternity past, before the foundations of the
world were ever built. There was Christ with his Father,
with God the Holy Spirit, enjoying one another, completely independent.
And Christ makes this inquiry. We have another group, there's
another eternal group, they are the elect, eternally joined to
the Lord Jesus Christ. What will become of them? What
is their status? The Godhead knows. It's according
to the purpose of God. He knows they're going to fall.
That's according to purpose of God. So the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ will come about and the Godhead will be greatly
glorified. What is the status of my people? What will come
of them? They're going to be ruined. Absolutely ruined. This is their state. It uses
three words, three phrases really, to describe the Lord's people.
This is them. Number one is this. greatly afflicted. Now, if you go home and you look
that up, this is literally what that means, greatly afflicted.
It means evil. That is the direct definition
of it, is evil. And you know what? This book
has a lot to say about man being evil. This is what it says in
Genesis 6-5, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually." I like how the writer in Genesis
there, he says, we're not even going to work about the outward
works right now. We're not even going to worry about the outside
of the cup. We're just going to talk about where everything flows
from, where it all begins, the heart, the seat of emotion, the
seat of will. the seat of intellect. We're
going to go straight to the heart. What's going on in the heart?
In that flash pan of the heart, what goes on there? Evil. That's
what goes on there. Evil continually. That's every
man born into this world, born with a fallen evil nature. And
that flash pan of the heart where nothing but evil comes across
there, evil and wicked motivations, evil and wicked intentions, it
plays out in the actions. This is what John says, And this
is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.
Because that fountain, because that heart is evil. That means
everything that comes out of that heart, every action, every
word, every thought, it's evil. And somebody says, well, what
if I do something nice for my neighbor? What if I give somebody a birthday
card? What if I make an offering to my church? You tell me that's
evil? Yeah, because of the motivations, because of the intentions. self-serving,
self-glorying. And to be self-serving and self-glorying
is to hate God, is to war against God. That's the nature. That's
the evil nature, a wicked nature that is against God. And this old wicked man, this
evil nature, don't think he goes anywhere when the Lord saves
a man, because he doesn't. That old nature remains. Now
when the Lord saves a man in his experience, he gives him
a new man. He gives him a new nature, a holy man that does
not sin, that knows no sin, that loves God, that believes God
in every way, shape, and form. But that old man, that old man
is still there, and he never gets any better whatsoever. This
is what the Lord said in the Sermon on the Mount. He's looking
at his disciples when he said this. These men had been converted.
If ye then, listen to these words, being evil, Know how to give
good gifts unto your children. How much more shall your father,
which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?"
He looked at these disciples, these men who had been converted,
and he says, you then being evil. And finally this, it is only
a man who has this new nature, that has this new God-given nature
that knows that he is, in fact, evil. You have to have a new
nature to recognize the old nature. And you think about Isaiah. Isaiah,
in those first five chapters, he says over and over, woe unto
them, woe is them, woe unto them. And you get to chapter six, when
Isaiah sees the Lord, when Christ reveals himself to Isaiah, you
know what he says after that? Woe is me. I'm undone. The problem's with me. I'm a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips.
My eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. See, it takes
a new man to recognize that I am, in fact, evil. Only the believer,
only the man that's given a new man, that's been made righteous,
recognizes that he's, in fact, evil. That's my title. I don't
flinch at that. Evil, that's absolutely right.
But here's the beauty, here's the glory in all this. This is
what is said in Luke 6, 35. He says, but love ye your enemies,
and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again. And your reward
shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the highest,
for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Who does the
Lord save? Who is he kind to? Who does he
shower his mercy upon? He says right there, the unthankful
and the evil. I'm an evil man. I'm a sinner
before God. You know, if you know that about
yourself, that's very evidence he's had mercy on you. Because
the natural man doesn't know that. He doesn't own that title.
But if that's you, you're a sinner before God and your only hope
is Christ and Him crucified, you've been born again, born
from above. Not only does he say they're
evil, he says they're a reproach. They're disgraced. You know,
this thing of disgrace, it has something to do with at one point
having a position of honor and then falling from that position
of honor. And we had a great position of
honor in Adam. before the fall. Adam was made
upright, and he was made innocent before God. Everything was provided
freely for him in that garden. And then he sinned, and he rebelled
against God, and plunged us all. All of human nature fell, took
on this evil, wicked nature. We had a position of honor made
in the likeness of God, and we've disgraced ourselves. They're
a disgrace. And he finally ends with this.
He goes, and they're defenseless. They don't have any walls. Their
enemies just attack them day and night. There's nothing they
can do about it. And that's what we are, defenseless. There's
absolutely nothing we can do about our sin. That's our enemies.
Our enemies are our sin. There's nothing we can do to
make up for our sin before the Lord. I can't keep the law. I
can't make up for what I've done. Absolutely defenseless. And you
know what? Christ, he saw that. He knew
it. He knew that was the state. And
so what did he do? He took action. Look over here. I want you to look at Nehemiah
chapter 2. Nehemiah's going to take some
action here. He's going to go to Artaxerxes with a petition. And
it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of
Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him. And I took up
the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been before
time sad in his presence, Wherefore, the king said unto me, why is
thy countenance sad, seeing that thou art not sick? This is nothing
else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid and
said unto the king, let the king live forever. Why should not
my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my father's
sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed
with fire? Then the king said unto me, for
what dost thou make request? What do you want, Nehemiah? So
I prayed to the God of heaven. Now, I want to point something
out. He's going to continue to talk to Artaxerxes. In this,
Nehemiah doesn't stop and start praying to the Lord. He continues
the conversation with Artaxerxes. So why would the Holy Spirit
put that in there? So I prayed to the God of heaven. This is
a flashing neon sign that says, this is an illustration. This
is a type. You need to pay attention to
this. This is Christ going to his father. He has a petition. There's something he wants to
do. He's going to bring this before his father. Now let's see what
Nehemiah wants to do. Look at verse five. And I said
unto the king, if it please the king, and if thy servant have
found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah,
unto the city of my father's sepulchers, that I may build
it. You see Christ in this? Going
to his father, my people, they're ruined. are greatly afflicted,
they're disgraced, they're defenseless. Send me down to Judah that I
might build it, that I might reconcile them, that I might
redeem them. When I read that, the first thing I thought of
was Judah talking to Jacob. Send the lad with me. That's
what Judah said. He went to Jacob. He made that
covenant, that surety covenant. This is what he said. Send the
lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and
not die, both we and thou and also our little ones. I will
be surety for him of my hand, shalt thou require of him. If
I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let
me bear the blame. Forever. It's exactly what Nehemiah
is saying here. Send me. They're ruined. Send
me. I'm going to go and I'm going
to build it. He's going to go and he's going to build a wall.
This is what the scripture says about the wall. This is Isaiah
26. One in that day, shall this song be sung in the land of Judah?
we have a strong city, salvation will got a point for walls and
bulwarks. Any question about what's being
illustrated here? No. This is Christ going to his
father. Now, something interesting here. Every time I have thought about
the covenant of grace between the father and the son, I've
always viewed it as something that the father initiated with
the son. These are your people. I'm giving them to you. I'm sending
you on this errand to save them, to do everything that is necessary
to save these people and bring them back to me." And I think
of the son saying, I accept the responsibility. That's not how
the illustration poses it. That's not how the illustration
poses it between Judah and Jacob. Nehemiah went to the king. Judah
went to Jacob about Benjamin. Send the lad with me, I'm volunteering. Nehemiah says, send me down to
Judah. What do you make of all that?
I think it simply makes the love of Christ and his work that much
sweeter to his people. It's one thing to be tasked with
something and say, well, that's my responsibility. I'm going
to go do it. This is Christ going to his father saying, they're
ruined. They're evil. They're disgraced. They have no defense. Send me
to go rebuild them. Send me to go make them right
before you. And the father says, you know
what it's going to cost. You got to keep the law. You
have to be made their sin. I have to turn my back on you.
I have to pour out my wrath upon you. You have to die. You have
to suffer the eternity, the equivalent of an eternity in hell times
ten thousands and ten thousands and thousands and thousands.
That's what has to happen. Christ said, send me. I'll go. I'll rebuild Judah. Send me. And that's weak. Now, verses one through four
tells us about the covenant which led to salvation. Verses six
and seven tell us how salvation was accomplished. Let's reread
this, look at verse six again. Let thine ear now be attentive,
and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy
servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night. for
the children of Israel, thy servants, and confess the sins of the children
of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Both I and my father's
house have sinned, we have dealt very corruptly against thee,
and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments,
which thou commandest thy servant Moses. Now notice he prays as
a we. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ
did for his people, he did as a we, as an us, in that eternal
union. Now, here are two things you
can't separate. You cannot separate justification
and the idea of the eternal union the Lord Jesus Christ has with
his people. You can't separate those two things. Now, what is
justification? That's what we must be. We must
be justified. For God to accept you and me, I must be just before
God. What does that mean? That means
I've never sinned, and I've always kept the law perfectly. That's
what it means to be justified, to have a perfect standing before
God. Sinless, righteous, always kept
that perfect and holy law. And how that could be, that I
could be just before a holy God, it can only be seen through union
with Christ. Now, what is union with Christ? It's something that our Lord
actually prayed for. Turn over here, turn over to John chapter
17. I'll show you this. Our Lord is going to pray to
his father for union, for union with his people. Look at verse 20 of John 17.
The Lord says, neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through
the word. He spent the previous verses
talking about his disciples. He's saying, I'm not just talking
about my disciples or praying for them. I'm praying for all
my elect. I'm praying for everybody who
God the Father has purposed to be saved by the message they're
going to preach. Because the gospel message never changes.
How is a man saved in his experience? The Lord saves him through the
preaching of the gospel every single time. He says, I'm praying
for all those. Everybody that the Father purposed
they would be saved through the preaching of this gospel. All
my elect, that's who I'm praying for. Look what he says in verse
21, that they all may be one as thou father are in me and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou has sent me. Now the father and the son,
they share a union. He's one God in three distinct
persons. God, the father, what's he like?
Well, he's holy, he's immutable, he's righteous, he's just, he's
sovereign. Many, many attributes. What's
the son like? All those same attributes because
they share the same attributes. It is one God in three distinct
persons, but they have a union together. And Christ here is
praying for his father. He says, I want them to be one
in us. I want to make them just like
us, holy, and unblameable, and unapprovable, and immutable,
and in a state that cannot change. Just like that, I want them to
be one in us. Look down here, here's where
this union leads to, verse 23. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. This is what union leads to,
union with Christ, that we might be made perfect. How did that
take place? It's exactly what we confess
in Believer's Baptist. When you stand above that water,
what are you confessing? When Christ lived, when he kept
God's holy law, and he kept it perfectly, that's when I lived.
I lived in him. When he kept the law, I kept
the law, and I kept it in him. That's my hope. When you go under
that water, what are you confessing? When he died, he was made my
sin. I was in Him. The soul that sinneth
must surely die. I must die. When was I punished? I was punished in Him. When He
went to the cross and He died, I died in Him. When we're raised
again from the water, what are we saying? When He was raised,
because He had put away all the sin of everybody He died for,
He was justified, I was raised just in Him. That is my hope
of salvation, that I'm in Him, and what He has done, I did.
I did it in him. This is about the best way I
can sum it up. For all the elect, everything Christ has done, we
did. And he was the doer of all of
it. I'm not going to try to explain that statement. I'll just say
it again. For the elect, everything Christ did, we did. And he was
the doer of all of it. He's the cup-bearer. That's Nehemiah's
job, isn't it? He's the king's cup-bearer. Well,
someone had to do salvation. Someone had to be the cup-bearer
of the Father. Where does that cup come in?
This is what our Lord said in the Garden of Gethsemane. He
said, Oh, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. What was in the cup? The sins
of the elect. What was in the cup? The wrath
of God for sin. That's what was in the cup. He
said, Lord, it would be possible to let this cup pass from me,
but there was no other way. Someone had to be the cup bearer. Christ was the cup bearer. He
drank the cup. He became the sin. He died under
the wrath of God. He put all the sins away for
everybody he died for, and he was raised again just and for
our justification. He's the king's cupbearer. Everything
he did, we did, but he was the doer of all of it. Someone had
to put his hand out there and do it. He's the cupbearer. And
it sheds some light, a little different take on Matthew 20.
Turn over there real quick. I want you to see this. This is a familiar story. Matthew
20, and look over there, verse 20, once you get there. Matthew 20, 20. Then came to
him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshiping him
and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her,
what wilt thou? She saith unto him, grant that
these my two sons may sit, the one on my right hand and the
other on my left, in my kingdom. But Jesus answered and said,
you know not what you ask. Now he's going to turn to the
sons of Zebedee, he's talking to them now. Are you able to drink of
the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? They say unto him, we are able. Now these boys had absolutely
no idea what he was talking about. What he was talking about is
this, can you drink my cup? Can you bear the sins of thousands
and 10,000 times 10,000 in your body and have no effect on your
spirit and your character? Can you suffer under the wrath
of God? Can you be that sacrifice that consumes the fire instead
of a sacrifice that is consumed by the fire? Can you do that?
Can you be baptized with the baptism I'll be baptized with?
Can you drink this cup? And you would think the Lord
would hotly rebuke these boys, wouldn't you? Look down there,
look at verse 23. And he saith unto them, Ye shall
drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that
I am baptized with. Folks, that's union with Christ
right there. He's the cupbearer. He drank
the sin. He put the sin away. He kept
the law. And you know what? Everybody
who has that eternal union with Him, we did it. We did it in
Christ. He's the one who did it, and
we did it, too, in Him. That's our hope for salvation.
Justification is real. It's real because of union with
Christ. Now, finally, I want to conclude with this. Verses
8 through 10 of our text, it speaks of Christ, His present
intercession for His people. So go back to your text. Let's
read this real quick. Verse 8, he says, remember, I
beseech thee, the word thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, if
you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations.
But if you turn unto me and keep my commandments and do them,
though there were of you cast out from the innermost part of
heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them
unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these
are the servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy
great power, and by thy strong hand. Now, when the Lord Jesus
Christ, as he presently, this very day, makes intercession
for all his people, he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he ever liveth to make intercession for them, what grounds does he
make intercession on? Father, remember your covenant. We met a covenant. I said, send
me down to Judah. Have me rebuild it. Send the
lad with me that we may go, and I'll bring them back. We entered
into a covenant that if I go and I do everything that's necessary
to make them acceptable, you will in fact accept them. Now,
Lord, do what you said you would do. Honor your covenant. And don't look to things in the
future. Everything you need to be just and still show them mercy
and accept them has already been done. These are those that thou
hast redeemed. Already did it. Everything is
necessary to make you acceptable. Make you acceptable. Already
been done. And folks, this is the hallmark
of the gospel. He's asking the Lord, don't look
to the future. Look to what I've already done.
It's all sufficient. It's all pleasing to you. And
we're gonna do the exact same thing. If you are a sinner, this
is what you are to do. You don't look to the future,
you look to Christ and what He already has done. Thou hast been
redeemed. Not you will be, if you do this
and you do that. Thou hast been redeemed. Enjoy
that. Rest in that. And keep on looking
to Him.