I suppose in my lifetime there
have been few preachers, religious leaders in this country that
are known than Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Virginia. I don't,
he's dead now, has been for several years, and I haven't ever in
my life with any regularity listened to religious nonsense on radio
or television. I just, I don't read garbage,
I don't eat garbage, and I don't listen to garbage. But sometimes
I need to be informed about things, and I'll read or listen to something
that I think may help inform my mind. And sometimes I do so
just to get my blood boiling so I can get my mind working.
One Sunday night many years ago, we went home after services and
I was just flipping through the channels and see if there's anything
I wanted to see. Mr. Falwell popped up and he
made this statement. He said, when I got saved, anytime
you hear those words you can bank on it, he didn't. When I
got saved, I didn't know anything about God or about redemption
or about Jesus Christ or about salvation. All I knew is somebody
told me there was a man in heaven named Jesus who died for me and
wanted to save me, and if I'd believe him, he'd save me. Now,
that sounds real simple and nice to folks. this is what the scriptures
say, Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of
God. I John chapter 5 verse 1, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Who is a liar? Who is a liar? I John but he that denieth that
Jesus is the Christ. I want you to know, to believe,
to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, God's son. I want you to be saved
by God's almighty grace in his son. And I want you to understand
that you cannot be saved if you don't know who Christ is. You can't believe an unknown
Christ. You can't trust an unknown Christ. You can't be saved by an unknown
Savior. The preaching of the gospel is
to make Christ known, to make known the riches of God's grace
in Jesus Christ the Lord. I know that folks everywhere,
perhaps some of you sometimes wonder why I'm so dogmatic, so
insistent. Because, Jimmy, you've got to
know the Christ or you're going to hell. And there are multitudes of false
Christ preached all over the world. And almost everybody you
know believes in a false Christ. a helpless, defeated, frustrated
Christ. This season of the year, everybody
talks about the virgin birth or some things that might be
likened to the virgin birth or the incarnation and talk about
Jesus and Bethlehem and Christmas season, all that stuff. Wonderful,
wonderful. Seize the opportunity to tell
them about the Christ. The title of my message this
morning is Identifying the Christ. Identifying the Christ. We read
in Matthew 24, our Lord Jesus warned us and warned us and warned
us of false prophets and false Christ. False prophets and false
Christ. So great is the deception of
Arminian freewill works religion. presenting a false Christ, a
Christ who wants to save but can't, who tries to save but
can't, who wants to redeem but can't, who wants to make you
holy but can't, unless you do something to help him. He's not
the Christ. He's not the Christ. He's changed
my life. No, he didn't. No, he didn't.
He turned that fellow from a drunk to a godly man. No, he didn't.
No, he didn't. Just gave him a religious hope.
That's all. Nothing else. Nothing else. Who
is the Christ? Turn with me, if you will, to
the Gospel of Daniel. The Gospel of Daniel. Right after
Ezekiel, right in front of Hosea. Daniel. We'll begin in Daniel
chapter three. Back here in the third chapter
of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar took Daniel's three companions, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, and cast them into a fiery furnace for
their destruction. This man, Nebuchadnezzar, the
mighty king of Babylon, had made a huge image of gold and commanded
that everybody in the kingdom should bow down and worship at
his image at a given signal. Anyone who refused to do so was
to be cast into the midst of a burning and fiery furnace,
we're told in verse six. Either you worship this image
or I'm gonna kill you. That was the king's decree. Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego refused to do so. Nebuchadnezzar heard
about it. He said, I'm gonna give you one
more chance. And they said, we don't have to have a business
meeting about this. We're not gonna worship your image. And
Nebuchadnezzar was furious. He commanded that Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego be cast into the burning, fiery furnace. The furnace
was heated seven times hotter than it was designed to burn.
And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were bound and cast into this
horrible furnace by the biggest, strongest men in the realm. The
fire was so intense that when those men threw them in, it consumed
the men who threw them in. Now let's pick up in verse 23,
Daniel 3 verse 23. And these three men, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning,
fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar, the king,
was astonished. He was astoned. Astoned, that's
a good, good old English word, astoned. Something that's so
shocking it just turns you to stone. Astonished. And rose up
in haste and spake and said unto his counselors, did not we cast
three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and
said unto the king, true old king. He answered and said, lo,
I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and
they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is
like the son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near
to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, Ye servants of the Most High God, come forth
and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
came forth of the midst of the fire, and the princes, and the
governors, and the captains, the king's counselors, being
gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire
had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed. Neither
were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed
upon them. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and
said, blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath
sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in
him and have changed the king's word and yielded their bodies
that they might not serve nor worship any God except their
own God. Therefore, I make a decree that
every people, nation, and language which speak anything amiss against
the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in
pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there
is no other God that can save after this sort. Then the king
promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. Now, as I read this third chapter,
Daniel, I see a clear, instructive picture of God's great salvation,
the salvation of sinners by the sin-atoning death of our Lord
Jesus Christ, our great Savior, in whom the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God shines forth to the souls of men in the revelation
of his grace. What a picture we have before
us. other God that can deliver after this sort. He who is God,
our Savior, he who is the Christ, saves his people exactly the
same way that he saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the
burning and fiery furnace. In order to do so, he became
one of us. He became one of us. Our Lord
Jesus Christ The word was made flesh. God became one of us. And doing so, he obeyed the Lord
God in our stead. He suffered all the fury of the
fire of God's wrath for his people at Calvary. And the Lord Jesus,
suffering the wrath of God in our stead, consumed all the fire
of God's wrath. He didn't make it possible. He
consumed all the fire of God's wrath. He so thoroughly saves
his people from their sins that not even the smell of hell is
upon us. This is how our God saves. He
so thoroughly saves us that as these three Hebrews suffered
nothing because of the fire, So God's elect, all those for
whom Christ died at Calvary shall suffer no loss because of all
that transpired as the result of the fall, or even their own
sins. Isn't that amazing? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
the only thing they lost in the fire were the cords that bound
them. That's all. And all we lose in
all things by the fire of God's wrath satisfied at Calvary are
the cords that bind us in this body of flesh, nothing else. The same is true with regard
to all the trials, heartaches, and afflictions God's people
endure in this world. The Lord sends the trial. He
sends the heartache. He sends the trouble. He sends
the pain. He sends the affliction. Only
to loose the cords that bind us. And God's salvation is such
that God connects inseparably His honor, His name, His glory
to the saving of His people. You've often heard preachers,
maybe you haven't, I hope not, but if you listen to folks on
radio and television and read the stuff they write, they talk
about what a shame it would be that Christ died for so many
who are in hell, that so many go to hell because God tried
to save them, he couldn't. So many go to hell because God
wanted to do better, but he failed. Oh, what a shame it would be
to God. The Lord God says in Psalm 106,
verse eight, that he saves his people for his namesake. He tells
us three times in the first chapter of Ephesians, he does all his
work of grace for his namesake. God's name, God's character,
God's glory is by God himself inseparably connected with the
saving of his people. Now, go to Daniel 4. Having this
revelation of God's great grace and glory in Christ in redemption
by divine substitute. Nebuchadnezzar said I've got
to tell the whole world how God revealed himself to me. I've
got to show you how the only true God saved me. I've got to
tell you who God is. And that's what he does in Daniel
4. Look at verse 1. Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto
all people, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth.
Oh, what an attitude. I've got to tell everybody in
the whole world, peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to
show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward
me. How great are his signs and how
mighty are his wonders. His kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom and his dominion is from generation to generation. Now
you who are in this place, who regularly attend worship here,
know well the story of Nebuchadnezzar. The Lord God set out to bring
this proud, haughty man down in the dust before him. The Lord
God determined to break him, to make him bow, and to make
himself known to Nebuchadnezzar. And he did. He did. He took away
Nebuchadnezzar's mind and the king of the mightiest kingdom
in the world, the mightiest man in the world in his day became
an absolute lunatic, an absolute lunatic. He was put out of his
kingdom and driven from society for seven long, miserable, torturous
years. He grazed in the field like an
ox. For seven long, torturous years,
this insane man lived as a beast. And then after seven years of
lunacy, God restored Nebuchadnezzar's reason to him, gave him his mind
back, restored him to his kingdom, and Nebuchadnezzar was a changed
man. God taught him what all men sooner
or later must learn. And sooner or later, you're going
to learn it. Either now, by the revelation of his grace, or in
the day of judgment. But sooner or later, everybody
is going to learn and acknowledge that which God taught Nebuchadnezzar.
He learned that God really is God. And he alone is. Look in verse 4, or verse 34,
Daniel 4. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven. and mine understanding
returned unto me. And I blessed the Most High,
and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion
is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. and none can stay his hand, or saying to him, what
doest thou? Verse 37, now I Nebuchadnezzar
praise, and extol, and honor the king of heaven, all whose
works are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk
in pride, he is able to abase. Nebuchadnezzar says, I want the
world to know, What God taught me, God is God. He who is indeed God is God indeed. He rules everywhere all the time,
and you're nothing before Him, worthless before Him. You have
no say in the matter. You have no control over anything.
You don't dare slap God on the wrist and say to Him, what do
you? Oh no, He who is God is God, and you'll either worship
Him as God or you'll go to hell. There's no alternative. Now,
look at chapters five and six. Sadly, Nebuchadnezzar's son,
Belshazzar, didn't believe God, but he continued in the proud
sinful ways of the Babylonians, worshiping the works of his own
hands as almost everybody does, mocking and blaspheming God.
In chapter five, the Lord God appeared to Belshazzar in the
handwriting on the wall. He saw a hand. He's throwing
a big party. He's going down. He said, y'all
go get the cups and the dishes that my daddy brought out of
Jerusalem where they worship God. When my daddy destroyed
their temple and brought up the instruments that God ordained
for his worship, you go get those things and we'll throw a drunken
party right here and celebrate our gods. And as they were doing
so, a hand reached out and wrote on the wall. And that fellow's
knees knocked and he quivered and he was terrified. Belshazzar
saw the handwriting on the wall while he was mocking God for
his rebellion and his idolatry, for his ungodliness. And the
Lord God killed him that night. And God made Darius the Midian
king over the kingdom. Darius, or Darius as some call
him, Darius was already 62 years old when he took the kingdom
of the Chaldeans. This Midian king promoted Daniel
to the highest office in the land under the king. And then
in Daniel 6, we're given another marvelous picture of God's salvation
of sinners by Christ. Darius commanded that no man pray except
to his God. except to hear him as God. And
Daniel disobeyed the order. But it was sealed by the law
of the Medes and Persians. Those Daniel's opposers, those
who hated God and hated Daniel for worshiping God, they devised
a plan and said, Darius, let's make this decree. Everybody's
got to worship you. I said, pretty good. I said,
pretty good. They said, now seal it. Seal
it with your ring, with the law of the Medes and Persians, so
it can't be altered. That sounds even better. It's
done. And then Daniel, whom Darius loved, is found worshiping the
God of Israel. He's found worshiping the God
of Israel. What a man Daniel must have been. Do you know what
would have taken Bill for him not to have been caught? All
he had to do was leave the shutters closed. That's all he had to
do. He didn't leave his shutters
closed, but it came time to worship God. And Daniel threw his shutters
open, as he always did, and bowed toward the mercy seat and prayed
to God. Oh, God, make me such a man.
And he came to the king. And the king said, Daniel, have
you done this? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And Daniel, by the
law of the king inside, was to be cast into the lion's den.
And Daniel's accuser said, now, King, you can't go back on your
word. The law can't be changed. It's the law of the Medes and
Persians. It can't be altered. And Darius, because of his love
for Daniel, wanted to deliver him. But his word couldn't be
broken. If he broke his law, he'd lose
his rule. If he broke his law, he'd cease
to be king. And so Daniel's cast into the
lion's den. And Darius, after laboring all
night in prayer and worry and fretting, carrying on, praying
to his gods and pacing the floor, finally he comes out the next
morning. He couldn't find a way to deliver Daniel. Daniel's in
the lion's den. And he says, oh, Daniel! Daniel said, don't
pay any attention to anything, King. My God has delivered me. Daniel was cast into the lion's
den. And when he was cast into the
lion's den, the law was satisfied. And Darius now drew Daniel out
of the lion's den. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
and died in our stead because God's law cannot be altered. It cannot be broken. God cannot
and will not violate his law. He that is just cannot be unjust. He that is righteous cannot be
unrighteous. He that is holy cannot be unholy. He who is God cannot change. And he said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. And the Lord Jesus Christ, our
great substitute, takes us into union with himself. and takes
himself into union with us and suffers all the fury of God's
law in our stead. And now the law is satisfied. And when he's raised up from
the grave, we're raised up with him, justified before God. After Daniel was delivered from
the lion's den, Darius like Nebuchadnezzar said, there is no other God that
can save after this sort and he too worshiped and praised
God, our Savior. Look at verse 25, Daniel 6, 25.
Then King Darius wrote unto all people, nations and languages
that dwell in all the earth. I've got to tell everybody about
him. I've got to tell everybody about
him. Nobody's well, nobody's safe, nobody's saved, nobody. Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree. that in every
dominion of my kingdom men tremble in fear before the God of Daniel,
for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, and his kingdom
that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even
unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and
he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath
delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. Then in chapter
seven and eight, Daniel tells us of great prophetic visions,
visions he had during the days of that wicked king of Babylon,
Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's son. So great and terrible were
the visions that God gave Daniel that he fainted and was sick
for many days. Concerning those visions, I can't
tell you how many books I know of that have been written about
them. Countless sermons preached about
them. I have a novel suggestion. This is a new thing. This is
novel. You won't hear this just anywhere.
I recommend that we might be wise simply to bow to God's purpose
and wait for Him to explain what the prophecies are when He accomplishes
them. That's the only way you're going
to know what they are. I was sitting here this morning before
anybody got here back in my office and looking at Daniel again. I wrote something down, you'll
see it in the bullets in a week or two, well, a month or so.
I've already got the other ones done. Prophecy in the Old Testament
scripture was not given so that you could anticipate the future
and predict the future and know how things are gonna be worked
out in the future. Folks, you read commentaries
on the book of Daniel, book of Revelation especially, and they'll
get you time charts, and they'll have maps and figures and say,
now at this time this is going to happen, this time this is
going to happen, this time this is going to happen. The prophets of Scripture are written
in such a way that you can't possibly understand them until
they're accomplished. You can't possibly understand
them until they're accomplished. Who would have dreamed that Joel
chapter 2 was talking about what took place in Acts chapter 2
just by reading Joel 2. You'd have never figured it out.
You'd have never figured it out. The Jews who quoted Joel 2 understood
what Joel said precisely, but they didn't have a clue what
Joel said because they had no experience of God's grace. Peter,
on the other hand, upon whom God poured out his spirit. Peter,
whom God made to be one of his spokesmen. He said, this is what
Joel said was going to happen. And when it comes to prophecy
and mysterious things in scripture, look for Christ. Look for Christ. Don't let those things, you know,
folks get concerned about the big horns and the little horns
and this nation and that nation and horns full of eyes and all
that. What does all that mean? You might have some understanding
of the things, comparing scripture with scripture, but don't get
wrapped up in that. Don't get wrapped, what's it
say about Christ? That's the issue. You got to know Him. You don't have to know what that
little horn represents. You don't have to know what those 70 weeks
speak of. You don't have to know what that
middle of the 70th week is. You don't have to know that.
You've got to know Christ. And everything Satan uses in
scripture to take your heart and mind away from Christ is
but a ploy of Satan to destroy your soul. You understand that?
Daniel shows us something more than stuff about horns and days
and times and weeks. We should never presume we know
that which is written in the book of God until God makes it
manifest by what he works for us and in us in his providence
and grace. Let us rather rest in this fact
revealed in scripture. Everything said here concerning
our Redeemer and His kingdom should satisfy us, and we should
always be fully satisfied with God's revelation. We're not here
told that our Lord Jesus is coming at a certain day, talking, giving
a specific time for his incarnation, though when he came, you go back
to Daniel's weeks and you say, this is the time Messiah must
come. But it wasn't given to predict the time when he was
to come. But rather, we're told here that
he who is the Ancient of Days, the Son of God, our King, has
a kingdom. that's an everlasting kingdom,
a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, a kingdom that rather
than being destroyed will at last destroy and consume all
the kingdoms of the earth in time. He's the king who is our
savior. This kingdom and his dominion
and his greatness shall be given to the people of the saints of
the most high. When we read the book of God
then, Always look for the Savior. Everything spoken here is designed
to teach us to look to Christ. In Daniel 9, we have Daniel's
great, great prayer, which he offered to God for himself and
for the children of Israel. And he makes a confession. He
makes a confession. Brother Lindsey, when he was
teaching the class on Moses' song this morning, slipped up,
as we often do when we're trying to say something, you got one
word in mind, another one comes out, and he said, this was a
congressional song, a congregational song. I said, wouldn't it be
wonderful if it was a congressional song? A congressional song. Oh, would to God. We might have
somebody in the land, in the power and position Daniel was
in, who would pray like Daniel prayed here. I believe I'd give everything
I have in my hands, every possession I have, to hear some national
leader lead the nation in a prayer just exactly like this. What God might do. What God might
do. He confessed his sin. And he
confessed the nation's sin. And he confessed the king's sins. And he confessed the priest's
sins. And he confessed the prophet's
sins. And he confessed the sins of the fathers of the nation
and begged for mercy. While he was praying, the man
Gabriel appeared to him. and assured Daniel of the coming
of Christ and the accomplishment of God's salvation by God's Savior,
God's Son, our Redeemer at the appointed time. Look in verse
20. And while I was speaking and
praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel,
and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God, for the
holy mountain of my God. Yea, whilst I was speaking in
prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision
at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me. Now
watch this, about the time of the evening oblation. One of
these days, I think I'll go through the scriptures and study every
place where that phrase is used. About the time of the evening
oblation or the evening sacrifice. You can mark this down. Every
time it's used, it's referring to something that speaks of that
evening oblation made by the Son of God at Calvary. 2,000 years ago. About the time
my Redeemer would die, about the time redemption will be accomplished,
about the time the Son of God would satisfy justice, and he
informed me and talked with me and said, oh Daniel, I now come
forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning
of thy supplications, the commandment came forth. And I am come to
show thee, for thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand
the matter and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. Seventy weeks. obviously referring
to 70 weeks of years, so that the prophecy would be fulfilled,
had to be fulfilled at exactly that period of time in which
the Lord Jesus Christ lived on this earth and died. Had to be
fulfilled at that time. He says, 70 weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. These 70 weeks are
determined in which the Christ, He who is the Christ, He who
is the Messiah, He who alone is the Savior, He's going to
do something to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, and to
make reconciliation for iniquity. and to bring in everlasting righteousness,
and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
holy. Now here are six things, six
accomplishments by which the Christ of God can be identified. I want you to hear me now. I want to speak so plainly you
can't possibly miss it. Mark, Daniel, The Christ you
used to worship did not accomplish these things. He did not accomplish
them. And you were raised in religion
all your life, am I right? Raised to free will badness all
his life. Free will badness missionary, he and his wife. Sweet couple. Had a good reputation, I know.
Had a good reputation. Sacrificed much to go to Africa.
You wanna try it? You wanna try it? You wanna go
live in the Ivory Coast of Africa? Which one here? I'll pay you
tickets. Who wants to go? That's terrible sacrifice. Terrible
if it's for a terrible cause. Go to Africa to preach that idol
who could not put away sin, who could not make an end to transgression,
who could not make reconciliation for iniquity, who could not bring
in everlasting righteousness without your cooperation. That's
called idolatry. That's called idolatry. And I'm
here to tell you, if the Jesus you worship, the Christ you worship,
the God you worship, can't do what he promised to do without
you, he's an idol. And you'll go to hell worshiping
him. That means you, your mama, your daddy, your brother, your
sister, your husband, your wife, your son, or your daughter. Brother
Don said, my daddy's in hell. No, I didn't. You concluded that
from what God said. There's a big difference. Now
let's see what God says. And God give us grace as he did
Nebuchadnezzar and Darius. Oh God give me grace to make
all people in all the earth know who he is. Make everybody know
Jesus Christ who is the Christ. He who saves after this sort,
and he alone is God our Savior. He alone is the Christ, the Messiah. First, Gabriel told Daniel that
when Christ appeared, when the Messiah was cut off, crucified,
slain at Jerusalem in the midst of the 70th week, he would, by
the sacrifice of himself, finish the transgression. Now you'll
notice that Gabriel tells Daniel about transgression and iniquity
and sin. Those three terms by which sin
is identified in the scriptures. Transgression, God puts up his
law and you say, get out of my way. You run into a fence out
here, a gate down there that says no trespassing and you say,
Who says I can't? And you just bust through the
gate. That's called transgression. Called transgression. It is the
willful, deliberate breach of God's law. The willful, deliberate
attack upon God's sovereignty. The willful, deliberate, vile,
base assault of man upon God. Iniquity. Iniquity. That's what
folks do when they try to do good. We get the word inequity. God says, be holy. I'm going
to do the best I can. God says, be perfect. I'm gonna
give it my best shot. I'm gonna go to church three
times a week, read my Bible at least an hour a day, and pray
at least three times a day, and I'm gonna give tithes of everything
I have, just everything, everything. I'll bring one chicken out of
10. I'm gonna do everything I can to do good. I'm gonna treat folks
good, and I'm gonna quit drinking and cussing and chewing and running
around. I'm gonna start doing, I'm gonna turn over a new leaf
and start doing good. It's called iniquity. You can't reach the
mark of sin. That's what you are. That's what
erupts in your heart. That's what comes from this cesspool
called the heart of man. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
make an end of sins, of transgressions, and that's just what he did.
when our blessed savior took our transgressions upon his own
shoulders, took them into his own being and made them his,
he bore them and he bore them away in the stream of his precious
blood when he made satisfaction for us. Oh my God, how I have transgressed
your law. I lived all my life kicking down
one fence after another. God, get out of my way! And Christ
made an end of it all so that not one transgression shall ever
be laid to my charge. Second. The Lord Jesus came here
in our flesh to make an end of sins. He finished the transgressions
and made an end of sins. Our blessed Savior abolished
the sins of his people forever when he paid to the full the
price of our ransom by the sacrifice of himself. What do you mean
made an end of sins? He made an end of sins condemnation.
An end of sin's curse. An end of sin's judgment. An
end of sin's guilt. An end of sin's death. He made
an end of all the evil consequences of sin. So that we will suffer no loss
for having sinned. He made an end of sins. He made
an end of sin's existence for His people. For in Him is no
sin. No charge can be brought against
us. No curse of the law can reach us. No sentence of the law can
be executed upon us. No punishment inflicted. We're
entirely, completely saved from all our sins and all the evil
consequences of sin by Jesus Christ, our Savior. Oh, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Third, the Son
of God came into this world to save his people from their sins
by making reconciliation for iniquity. That word reconciliation
is the very word that we would use when we talk about atonement
or the word we would use when we talk about propitiation. Let's
use all three. By His sacrifice, the Lord Jesus
took us who justly deserved God's wrath and fury forever and brought us to God. He reconciled
us. He reconciled us. Reconciled
us to God's law, God's justice, God's holiness, and God's truth. He made atonement at one minute,
at one with. By his blood. The Son of God
took all his people and so thoroughly put away all our sins that he
made us to be at one with God. Propitiation. How to do that? By satisfying God. By satisfying
all his holy requirements. all his wrath and all his justice. The Lord Jesus made reconciliation
for iniquity. And then we're told that our
Savior came here to bring in everlasting righteousness for
his people, to restore that which he took not away, righteousness
by which he magnified the law and made it honorable. I don't know why religious folks
and preachers and folks who think that theologians want to divide
up the word of God, get everything. What do you mean by this? All
that Christ is, that's righteousness. All that he is, his obedience
to God from the womb to the tomb is righteousness. This righteousness,
the perfection of his character, the perfection of his life, the
perfection of his being, sealed up with his own blood, made a
sacrifice for sin, brought in everlasting righteousness, which
he has made us to be by his almighty grace. Made the righteousness
of God in him. Can you get hold of that? Made
the righteousness of God in him, so that in Christ, All his people
are perfectly righteous. I love the illustration given
by our Lord himself of the prodigal son. The prodigal came to his
father and he made a feast and he had the fatty calves laid
and he said, he said, bring the shoes, put them on his feet and
bring the ring to the covenant, put it on his finger and bring
the best row, put it on him. I'm getting skinny as a rail.
I'm down to a size 52 long now. Look at that, perfect fit. That's
the righteousness I need. The righteousness Christ put
on me and put in me and gave to me so that I stand before
God in righteousness. Number five, by his obedience
unto death and his resurrection from the dead, our Lord Jesus
sealed up the vision and the prophecy. Now I keep telling
you this, hoping that you'll get it, and once you get it,
just jump up and down from the inside out with joy. What does
that mean? That means everything that was
written in the book of God from Genesis chapter 1 to Malachi
chapter 4, he who is the Christ has fulfilled. He's going to
fulfill. He has fulfilled. Everything
this book said the Christ must do, He who is the Christ has
done. Go across the street and ask
that fellow if he has. Go to the next church building
down the road and ask that fella, if Jesus Christ of Nazareth actually
did put away sin, make an end to sin, make reconciliation,
justify, sanctify, make holy a people who deserve his wrath,
ask him. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
you can't go that far. He made it possible. He did all
he could. He's not the Christ. He who is
the Christ fulfilled all the visions. All the vision. And you can't know God if you
don't know Him. And you don't trust Him. One
last thing. Watch this. And to anoint the
most holy. What's that talking about? If
you got one of those Scofield reference Bibles where they're
going in and mess things up real good, you'll have the idea that
Lord is going to build another temple over in Jerusalem and
He's going to have another priesthood, another altar and He's going
to anoint that holy place again. Oh, won't that be wonderful?
Won't that be wonderful? Psst. What nonsense. The Most Holy is the most holy
people which is His temple. The most holy are you who are
redeemed by his blood. He doesn't come in saving grace
to justify and sanctify you. He doesn't come in saving grace
to make you acceptable to God. He comes in saving grace to declare
that you are. and have been from eternity because
of His obedience. He anoints the Most Holy. He
gives His Spirit. And when He gives His Spirit,
He gives you faith in Him. Who is the Most Holy? You who
are His people. Listen to the Scripture. Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us, That according as it is written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. Why did he do that? That the
blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles. That the blessing
of Abraham might come on God's elect wherever they are through
Jesus Christ. What's that talking about? That
we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith in
Christ. Do you believe that Jesus is
the Christ? Do you rest your soul on the
doing and dying of the Son of God, He who is the Christ? If you do, God's salvation is
yours. Believe on the Son of God. Believe on this one of whom Gabriel
spoke to Daniel so long ago, this one. of whom God has spoken
today. Amen.