Well, my text this week is Luke's
gospel again, but it will sound like we're going a long way backwards.
It's Luke chapter 9 and verse 24, but you don't need to turn
to it. Stay where you are in Luke 18, I presume, because Luke
18 is what is going to illustrate the text. The text is this, Luke
9 verse 24. Jesus said this, Whosoever will
save his life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life
for my sake, the same shall save it. And that text is illustrated
by the passage in Luke chapter 18, verses 28 to 34. And that's what I'd like you
to have open before you. Luke chapter 18, following on
from what we looked at last week, and verse 28. And in verse 28
we read, Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all and followed
thee. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, there
is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife,
or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not
receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world
to come, life everlasting. Then he took unto him the twelve,
and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, And all things
that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall
be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and
spitted upon, and they shall scourge him, and put him to death,
and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none
of these things, and this saying was hid from them. Neither knew
they the things which were spoken. We had just seen the account
of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus, and do you know how
he came? He came full of his own righteousness, his own self-righteousness,
his own self-confidence, his religion. He came confident,
talking about the kingdom of God, that he was in the kingdom
of God, that he had eternal life. Because he came full of what
he was and what he had done. He chose to keep those things
that were dear to him, and as Jesus said, it cost him his life. He lost his life. He kept the
things that were dear to him, and he lost his life. What was
it he clung to? He clung to his religion. His
religion was the system that gave him confidence that he was
just with God. and that therefore he had eternal
life, and therefore he was going to heaven. He had that confidence
that he was just with God. His religion was a Christless
religion. His religion, though it was the
Old Testament religion of the Jews, Though in every picture
and type of the temple it illustrated how Christ would save his people
from their sins, he saw none of that in it. All he saw was
legalistic obedience. All he saw was what he already
was by virtue of that religion. He did not discern the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, his religion was
worthless. His religion did nothing for
him. When we partake of the communion of the bread and wine, those
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, when we take of that
If we're discerning the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're
understanding that our standing before God is entirely dependent
on who Christ is and what Christ has done for his people. That
that is the basis of our confidence and nothing else. Christ alone
and him alone. And if we come with any measure
of confidence in ourselves, we're not discerning the body of Christ,
and we have a Christless religion. Whatever we might say, however
we might use the names Jesus and Christ, we have a Christless
religion if we don't discern what he came and what he did
for his people. This young man, the ruler, came
clinging on to those things that were dear to him, his religion,
his Christless religion, and also his worldly treasures, his
worldly concerns, the comfort of his riches. You see, he said,
as people look on the outside, I've kept all the law, so surely
I've done that which the law requires, and therefore I have
eternal life. And Jesus said this, just one
thing you lack. Go and sell all that you have.
Let's see how much you're grasping, you're gripping, you're clinging
onto the things that you have. Let's see whether you're holding
them in an open hand, whether you're grasping them. Because
if you're grasping them, you cannot have eternal life. You cannot And he went away sorrowful. And he said, you know, that well-known
thing, that it's easier for a camel to go through the tiny little
eye of a needle, which is impossible. than it is for a rich man. A
man who is rich in his own self-righteousness to enter the kingdom of heaven
easier. You see? And they said it can't
be done, it's impossible. And Jesus said, what is impossible
with men, what is impossible with the will of man, what is
impossible with the goodness of man and the righteousness
of man, What is impossible with those things is completely possible
with the grace of God. Ah, with the grace of God. That's
a different thing altogether. So, this young man refused to
forsake those things. He counted the cost too high.
He hadn't seen the pearl of greatest price. Have you seen the pearl
of greatest price? Jesus said in another place in
Matthew 13, he said, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchantman
seeking goodly pearls. He's trading in jewels, in pearls,
and he's looking for good ones, and no doubt he's got a big collection
of pearls. If you're going to trade in pearls,
you're going to collect a lot of pearls. But one day, he finds
the pearl of great price. He finds the one that's the absolute
perfect, great big, beautiful pearl. With that beautiful luster
of real pearls. And he goes, and for the sake
of that one, he sells everything he has, and buys it. And thereby,
lays up treasure for himself. He says that's what it's like,
that's what the kingdom of heaven is like. When you see, by faith,
what it is to look to Christ for salvation. When you see the
riches of eternal life, of acceptance with God that are in Him, in
the Lord Jesus Christ, everything else, all those worldly pleasures,
all those treasures that you grasp up, they all become, by
comparison, mere trinkets, mere baubles, mere trivia. treasure
in heaven. Jesus said lay up for yourselves
treasure in heaven. Seek first the kingdom of God
and lay up for yourself treasure in heaven. Now what is your situation? And obviously I'm not just speaking
to those gathered here today, but to those that will listen
later. But what's your situation? You might be a young person in
childhood, going into your teens, in your teens. You've got your
life ahead of you. You've got your career ahead
of you. There's a world out there to be grasped and to be experienced.
There are things to be done, places to go, people to see,
people to meet. You might be in midlife. You
might be at the height of your career. You might be earning
your salary, raising your family. You might have a growing position
in the world of business. You might be accumulating possessions. you might be in your later years,
you might be those in their senior years, you've got the comfort
of the pension pot, and the house being paid for, and years of
healthy leisure ahead, question mark, question mark, who knows,
who knows, who knows, we don't know, none of us knows these
things. The rich fool, Jesus said. He said, everything's sorted
for me now. I'm going to tear down my barns
and build bigger because I've got so much and I'm going to
take my ease and I'm going to eat, drink and be merry and I'm
just going to enjoy all of this that I've accumulated. And Jesus
said that God said to him, thou fool, this night thy soul shall
be required of you. When none of us expects it, This
is the situation. Jesus says to us all, as he did
to that ruler, are you prepared to give up grasping, he's not
telling us to go and get rid of everything we've got, but
he's telling us, are you prepared to give up grasping all of these
things in exchange for heavenly treasure? It's one thing to have
things, loaned to you by God. Abraham was a rich man, he had
things, he had riches that God had loaned to him for his sojourn
on earth, but he didn't grasp them. And if you grasp them,
grasping these, are you prepared to give up grasping these things
in exchange for heavenly treasure? In this passage that we read
in Luke chapter 18, we have a question posed, a promise pledged, And
the price paid. That's my three points. A question
posed. Verse 28. Immediately following
on, this rich young ruler going out, sorrowful, and Jesus saying,
it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And Peter said, lo, Well,
we've done it, we've left everything. I was a fisherman, I was doing
quite well, I've left it all, I've left everything to follow
you. We, the twelve, have left all and followed you. And in
Matthew's Gospel, in Matthew's account of this, Matthew 19,
27, we read that he adds the words, what shall we have therefore? That's the question posed by
disciples. Yes, we have left everything,
we have followed Christ, so what shall we have therefore? We disciples
have abandoned everything to follow Christ. Unlike that ruler
who wouldn't, he grasped onto the things that he wanted to
keep hold of. We can't walk away, says Peter.
We followed you, we can't walk away. You know the other occasion
when Jesus said, when lots of people were leaving him, and
he said, will you also go away? And Peter said, to whom shall
we go? We can't go anywhere else. Why?
You and you alone have the words of eternal life. We can't go
anywhere else. So what is our recompense for
this loss that others are not prepared to make? The rich young
ruler wasn't prepared to lose those things that were dear to
him. What's our recompense? We who have left them and followed
Christ. What's our recompense for this
loss that others are not prepared to make? Have you followed Christ?
Have you experienced loss as a result of following Christ?
What do I mean by that? I mean friends, I mean, those
that you counted your friends who, the more they know about
the Christ that you trust and believe, the more they know about
the one who is your king and master, the less they want to
know about you, and the less they want to have contact with
you. You've experienced loss, friends, family, worldly advancement. Yes, it's good to get on and
God puts, God puts his people in positions of business competence
and power and success. But you know so often, so often,
the fact of what you believe and whose you are and whom you
serve will cause you loss in this world. Advancement, status,
riches. Have you felt the loss? Experienced
it? Subtle persecution. You know,
you find out that all the colleagues have been invited to go to that
event, but they conveniently chose to forget about you going
to it as well. You experience loss, subtle persecution,
suffering, rejection from those who are dear to you. What shall
we have, therefore? asks Peter. It's not a selfish
question. If it had been, Christ would
have rebuked him, but he didn't. There was no rebuke following
from Christ. What shall we have, therefore?
A question that is posed. Secondly, a promise that is pledged. Look what Jesus says to him.
Verse 29, And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There
is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife,
or children for the kingdom of God's sake that for the sake
of the reason being the kingdom of God, they've left those things,
who shall not receive manifold more, loads more, loads more,
lots more, who shall not receive much more, in this present time
even, and in the world to come, life everlasting. That's a promise. That's a promise from the lips
of the Son of God to his people, to those who follow him. manifold
more than all that we left behind all that we left behind for the
kingdom of God's sake manifold much much more we shall have
in this present time and in the world to come eternal life life
everlasting is this is this promising you know this false religion
all around false religion all around especially in North America,
there's false religion, the tele-evangelists, and they offer and they promise
health and wealth and happiness as a reward for making a commitment
to Jesus. What they actually mean is as
a reward for giving loads of money to me. That's what they
usually mean. It's not the health, wealth,
and happiness of false religion peddled by those wolves in sheep's
clothing that call themselves pastors of those religions, not
at all, no. But what he's saying is that
much more than the things that you've forsaken, you will receive
in this present time in spiritual blessings. primarily talking
about physical material things, spiritual blessings, spiritual
blessings. Philippians chapter 4 and verse
19 is a good verse to remember. My God, says Paul to the Philippians,
my God shall supply all your need according to his riches
in glory by Christ Jesus. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory Not, you know, like
if a rich man gives you 50 pence, then you're not particularly
impressed. But if he gives according to his riches, he gives in proportion
to his riches. He gives out of the great, vast
treasure store of his riches. He shall supply all your need.
And what is your need? What do you need? What do you
need? You say, oh, well, I need a new
such and such a thing, and I could do with something. No, I tell
you, the day is coming for all of us. The day is coming. When
there will be one thing that you will scream out for more
than anything else, believe me, believe me, you will need righteousness. You will need the righteousness
that God will accept. You will need the righteousness
which is the holiness of God, the righteousness of God. That's
what you'll need. You'll need righteousness. You'll
need the Lord. our righteousness as your Lord.
You'll need the righteousness that comes only from Him, because
only then can God say, come, ye blessed of my Father, enter
into the kingdom that was prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. You need righteousness. What
about your sins? You need redemption from your
sin. You need your sins' debt to the
law of God to be paid, and in Christ it has been paid. You
need that. Oh, that's your need. And He
shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. You need holiness to God. You
need holiness, sanctification to God. dedication, set apart
to the service of God. You need daily grace in this
world of sin. Daily grace. Daily you need grace
to live in this world as a servant of God. He shall supply all your
need. Where? according to his riches
in glory. How? Only, only, only by Christ
Jesus. No other way, no other way. Only
by Christ Jesus does he supply all of your need. Remember what
I said about the Christless religion of that rich young ruler, which
is the Christless religion of so many in this world today who
call themselves Christians and yet they know nothing of the
redemption that is in Christ, of the salvation that he has
accomplished. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
6. I want to read a few verses from here. Matthew chapter 6,
in the Sermon on the Mount, and verse 19. These are well known
verses, but they bear looking at again. Jesus is saying to
his people, to his disciples, Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves
break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves do not break through or steal. For where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. the assurance of righteousness
and wisdom. Wisdom from God we need, don't
we? Wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
These are the things we need. Lay up that treasure for yourself
in heaven because where is it? In Christ, for he is of God made
unto us. Wisdom from God and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. Where your treasure is, Is it
spiritual heavenly treasure? There will your heart be also.
There will your affections be. There will be those things that
come the last minutes, the things that you really want to cling
on to. You know, we prioritize, don't we? You know, in a crisis
we prioritize. We get rid of the things that
matter least to us. What's the one that matters most?
Ah, where your treasure is. There will your heart be also.
Is your treasure in heaven? Is that where your heart is?
In eternal life? If the light of the body, sorry,
the light of the body is the eye, if therefore thine eye be
single, thy whole body shall be full of light. Are you in
a state of confusion or is it a single eye looking just to
those things of eternal life? If thine eye be evil, thy whole
body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is
in thee be darkness, how great is thy darkness. That darkness. How many people we see all around
us and the light that they have in them, the light of this world
is darkness. Nothing other than darkness.
No man can serve two masters. He will either hate the one and
love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon. We were looking at that
a couple of weeks ago. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought
for your life. He's not telling you to be careless.
He's not telling you to be foolhardy. But he's saying don't be anxiously
concerned about your life, what you shall eat, what you shall
drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not
life more than meat and the body more than raiment? Behold, the
fowls of the air. the birds of the air. They sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
can add one cubit to his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin cloth. They don't make cloth to dress
themselves in. And yet I say unto you, that
even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothed the grass of the field which
to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, Shall he not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought,
saying, What shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal
shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth
that ye have need of all these things, but seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. And all these things that you
need shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for
the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of
itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Seek first,
seek first. All these things, the things
that you need, shall be added to you. but be prepared to lose
all and God will supply all that we need and much more. Manifold
more in this present time. Not just material, physical,
but grace for times of trouble. He provides all of these things.
Romans 5.3, we glory in tribulations also. We glory in tribulations.
What's your need? To get rid of tribulations. No,
we glory in tribulations as the people of God, knowing that tribulation
is for our good. It's part of the chastisement
of God. It works patience. 2 Corinthians 12 verse 10, Therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities. What do you need? To get rid
of these infirmities. No, says Paul, I take pleasure in infirmities,
in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses
for Christ's sake. Why? Because it teaches me this,
when I am weak, then I am strong. When I am weak and have no dependence
left in my flesh and in those around me, when I am weak, teaches
me to depend on Him constantly, all the time. Romans 8, 28, you
know it well. We know that all things, what
all things? The good things and the bad?
No, all things, all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. That's why you love God, because
he first loved you. If you love him, you love him
because he first loved you. You're the call according to
his purpose, and if it's his purpose, it doesn't matter what
happens. It's all for your good. He that
spared not his own son. Think of the price he paid for
our redemption from sin, but delivered him up for us all.
How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Just
compare the contentment The contentment of the saved sinner. The contentment
of the saved sinner. With the anxious pursuit of riches
and experiences and possessions of the worldling. Who is the
richest? Who is the richest? The saved
sinner. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. And he says, even now. Even now. Let's illustrate it again. From
the psalms. Psalm 37. Psalm 37, verse 16. And this is echoed in the book
of Proverbs as well. Psalm 37 verse 16, a little that
a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.
Read the article by Henry Mahan on the back of the bulletin about
Lot in Sodom and why he was there and what he was seeking. and
how God had to go in and bring him out of there, and how he
must have thought, oh, how a little plot of scrubland on a mountainside,
if I could have worshipped God with Abraham, how much better
that would have been, how much richer I would have been than
the lushness of the plains of Sodom, the rich, abundant farm
of the plains of Sodom. A little that a righteous man
hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms
of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous. And so it goes on. You could
read that right down to verse 25. The same sort of thing. God
looks after his people. God, in this present time, what
shall we have therefore? We have the pearl of greatest
price in the gospel of God's grace in Christ. It's the most
valuable thing in eternity. If you have that, there is nobody
in this world who is richer. The richest people that have
ever lived, they all, in the end, come to a sorry state, for
they're all clay. They all crumble. All their riches
are of no use to them. There are no pockets, as they
say, in a shroud. They all go the way of all the
earth. They all die and return to dust.
What shall we have therefore, says Peter? The pearl of greatest
price. The most valuable thing. The
greatest thing in this universe. More valuable than the greatest
worldly treasures. But, but, this is the next thing. Not just for free, not just without
a cost, that's the word I was looking for. Not without a cost.
There's a price that had to be paid. This is the third thing.
Look at verse 31. Jesus took them aside. He took
unto him the twelve and said to them, Behold, we go up to
Jerusalem. And all the things that are written
by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and
spitted upon, and they shall scourge him, and put him to death,
and the third day he shall rise again. And they understood none
of these things, and this saying was hid from them. Neither knew
they the things which were spoken at that stage. What will procure,
what will secure, what will confirm the blessings that our Lord has
just promised? Manifold, more than you've ever
given up in this life and in the life to come, everlasting
life. What will procure the blessings
promised? Can the Holy God just give such
blessings to sinners without violating his eternal justice? What does God say about sin?
He is holy. He dwells in unapproachable light.
He's a purer eyes than to behold iniquity. And the soul that sins,
and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, there
is none righteous, no, not one, or are sinners, what does his
law say? The soul that sins, it shall
die. It must die. An eternal death. Not just the death of the body,
but an eternal death. Can God just give the blessings
that Christ has promised to sinners without violating his eternal
justice? He would cease to be God if he
did. Of course, something must be done. Propitiation is needed. Have you ever been the wrong
side of the law of the land, or the wrong side of an angry
parent, or the wrong side of an offended employer? And you've
known what it is to feel the wrath and the anger of them.
And the thing that you want above all else in those situations
is this word, propitiation. Do you know what it means? It
means the turning away of the anger. It means, in the ark of
the covenant, in the holy of holies in the temple was this
wooden box which contained those symbols of the covenant of grace
and over the top of it was the gold mercy seat and the word
for mercy seat is the same one as propitiation. The place where
the anger of God that his offended justice is turned away. We need
propitiation. How, how are we to get propitiation? How is the anger of God, the
just anger of God, to be turned away? Satisfaction is required. There must be satisfaction made
to the law. The law must either be fulfilled
in perfect obedience or, or the law must be fulfilled in death. the death of the one who offends
the law, mustn't it? One or the other, cannot be both,
one or the other. The law must either be fulfilled
in perfect obedience, not even offending in one point, because
as Jane tells us, he who keeps the whole law and yet offends
in one point is guilty of all. It must either be kept perfectly
in every, every, every respect, or It must be kept. The law must
be kept by the death of the offender, by the death of the sinner. Death,
death silences the law's demands concerning sin. Death silences
those demands. But who shall pay it? Who shall
pay the price of sin? Who shall do this? The benefits,
the blessings that Christ has outlined are made over to his
people abundantly in this life, in this present time. Who shall
pay it? Ezekiel says this, God speaking via the prophet Ezekiel,
chapter 18 verse 32, he says, I have no pleasure, God's saying
this, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, says
the Lord God. And the Arminians treat it like
this, it's as if God's sitting on the sidelines of what he's
created and he's wringing his hands in sorrow going, oh dear,
why won't they accept me? Oh dear, I really do wish they
wouldn't go and die when all they've got to do is make a choice.
And it's completely wrong. What that means is this. Satisfaction
is not made by the death of him that dieth. It needs an eternity
of death and still then satisfaction is not made. Eternal death is
not enough for the law to say enough. It goes on and on and
on. What shall pay? Can I pay for
ourselves to be redeemed? for propitiation to be made.
Can another one, Psalm 49 verses 7 and 8, none of them, people,
people like you and me, none of them can by any means redeem
his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption
of their soul is costly, costly, far super abundantly costly above
what you can ever imagine, and it ceaseth forever. There's no
hope of it, is what it means. There is none good enough, none
able to be a substitute for his brother, is what that verse says.
Except one. Except one. And the Old Testament,
what's it for? It's to point, it's God pointing
to that one. That one in whom satisfaction
to the law of God, the offended law of God, is made. Isaiah 42,
verse 1. Picture the people looking around
in bewilderment. And God says this, behold, look
at my servant. Behold, who is he talking, he's
talking of Christ, the Messiah, who would come. Behold my servant,
whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. This
is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. I have put my spirit
upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. What does that mean? He shall
bring forth satisfied justice to the Gentiles. Even to Gentiles,
He shall bring forth satisfied justice. Does that not? We're
Gentiles in this room. He shall bring forth satisfied
justice to Gentiles. He shall do that. And it's echoed
in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 12, verse 18, concerning Christ. Behold my servant. Matthew quotes
that text in Isaiah 42, verse 1. Talking of Christ, behold
my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is
well pleased, the servant who is God, infinite, sinless, holy,
harmless, undefiled incarnate. God incarnate. God in flesh. God incarnate. In a body prepared. A body was prepared because God
himself in spirit, in the essence of his Godhead, could not redeem
sinful man. He couldn't do it. God in his
holiness, in his spiritual state, could not redeem fallen man. So he had to become a man himself,
in order to redeem. He had to come in a body prepared,
so that, again, Isaiah chapter 40, say to the cities of Judah,
behold, your God. He's here, this man walking amongst
you, is your God, come to redeem. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people.
God made man, why? So that he might keep the law
for his sinful people. How did he keep the law for his
sinful people? That stops you, doesn't it? That
makes you question. How did he keep the law for his
sinful people? I'll tell you. He kept the law
for his sinful people by dying on the cross for them. The law
said the soul that sins it shall die, and he kept the law for
them by dying on the cross of Calvary. He took their sins in
his own body. He who knew no sin was made sin
for them, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
That's how he did it. That's how he kept the law for
his people, by dying for them. You look at it again and again
throughout the New Testament, it's by his death that he procured
the righteousness of God for his people. By his death. Because
his death satisfied the law of God for all for whom he died.
So the law cries out, enough, it's finished. enough there's
no more he was born in Bethlehem as the prophets foretold as Micah
said Bethlehem which Bethlehem there was more than one we in
this country we've got several places with the same name but
they're not the same place and so Micah says Bethlehem Ephrata
Bethlehem in Judah that Bethlehem the city of David he was born
he became a man there in Bethlehem made of a woman made under the
law when the fullness of the time was come that he might redeem
that he might purchase his people who were under the law. To do
what for them? To give them the adoption of
sons. To make them not his enemies,
but his children, in grace. To redeem, then, look what Jesus
says, then, verse 31, He took unto him the twelve and said
to them, Behold, this one born in Bethlehem, in Judea, and raised,
and grown up, and gone into his ministry, and is now Getting
towards the time. Behold, we go up to Jerusalem. Why must he go up to Jerusalem?
He must go up to Jerusalem because there he must redeem. He must
satisfy the law. He must keep the law for his
people by dying for his people. All things that are written in
the prophets. What things? Well, for example,
Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, he must go and keep
all those things. What does that talk about? It
talks about a lamb before his shearers is done. It talks about
him bearing the sins of his people, bearing their transgressions,
carrying their transgressions away, satisfying the justice
of God. All of those things, he said,
I'm going to accomplish. What does John say about the
true preacher? He that says Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
of God. He means that this man, this very man, Christ Jesus,
Jesus of Nazareth, is the one who was promised of God in the
Old Testament and fulfills it in coming to redeem his people
from their sins. All things written in the prophets,
explicitly stated in the New Testament. In Hebrews where it
talks about the Old Testament sacrifices and how Christ has
fulfilled all things, accomplished, satisfaction made to the law's
demands. This is the price of the promise
pledged. This is question, promise pledged,
what shall we have? A promise pledged much more than
you ever give up. And what's the price of it? This
is the price of it. We're going to Jerusalem to accomplish
redemption. The riches believers have now
in this present time and the ones we shall have in the world
to come have been paid for. in full. In this world of debt
and credit and buying things on tick, isn't it good to hear
of something that's been paid for in full beforehand? Christ
has done it. He's paid for it in full and
here we remember it in communion as we share bread, unleavened
bread and wine. Symbols of that perfect, sinless
body of Christ, broken for us. That body that God took upon
himself so that he might purchase his church with his, God's, own
blood. We remember it in communion.
We have no spiritual life outside of what the bread and wine represent,
the broken body and the shed blood of Christ. For in his broken
body and in his shed blood, he has kept the law for us. The law says the soul that sins,
it shall die. He has died for his people that
we might be the righteousness of God in him. Do you see it? Bless God if you do. Do you know
these apostles, these were the apostles, well, eleven of them
were, not Judas, but eleven of them were, and do you know they
didn't see it? They had all of the Old Testament
scriptures, they had three years of the ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ, they'd heard everything he'd said, but at that time they
didn't see it, they didn't see it. Apostles, And they got the
benefit of all of the Old Testament pictures and types, but they
didn't see it. Does it not show us how inherently
weak we are? How inherently weak they were
in themselves? You know, Jesus didn't put his
confidence in Peter as the rock of the church at all, that's
just Catholic myth. Not a bit. We're nothing. Without
him, we can do nothing, we are nothing. What about us? We've
got the full light of completed scripture, we've got the New
Testament as well, but we're always weak, aren't we? We're
always weak. We're constantly dependent on
our God and Savior to keep us and save us. Well, may God help
us to seriously think on these things. Whosoever will save his
life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake,
the same, shall save it.