Let's open our Bibles this evening
to Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30. Did you ever hear of a man's
travail? Did you ever hear of a man travailing
in birth to give birth? On one occasion, there was a
man who travailed with the pains of birth and gave birth. We read about it here in Jeremiah
chapter 30. May God the Holy Spirit show
us something about it. The title of my message tonight
is When a Man Gave Birth, Jeremiah 30 verse 6. Ask ye now and see
whether a man doth travail with child. Who ever heard tell us such a
thing? A man in travail with a child? Wherefore do I see every man
with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail? Obviously, the prophet is talking
about something altogether unnatural. He's talking about something
Altogether spiritual not carnal Ask you now and see whether a
man doth prevail with child And then he raises another question
Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins?
like a woman Holding herself because of the great pain and
giving birth straining to give birth as a woman in travail You
see, every man seeks to bring forth righteousness for himself
with great travail. He seeks to give himself life
before God by his works, by his obedience to the law, by his
choices, his decision. Man seeks to give himself life
before God and stumbles over the stumbling stone. Christ Jesus,
who is the end of the law for righteousness unto everyone that
believe it. And when they do, all faces are
turned into paleness because they never succeed. They can
never do so. Alas, for that day is great so
that none is like it. What day is this? This day when
there is a man who travails with child. That man is our Lord Jesus
Christ, our mighty Jacob. This day is great. There's none
like it. It is even the time of Jacob's
trouble. The year of the vengeance of
our God. The time of Jacob's trouble spoken of here is not
referring to some tribulation period that somebody's cocked
up in their minds and and they've decided this is how we interpret
the word of God. It's not about talking about some future day
when Antichrist is going to come and everybody receives the mark
of the beast. You do business with credit cards and all that
nonsense. This time of Jacob's trouble is the time when our
Jacob was in trouble, in trouble with life and death struggles
in his own soul to give birth. And he shall be saved out of
it. Oh, blessed Savior. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is that man, the God man who prevailed for his
children. In order to take away our sins,
our Lord Jesus had to endure. He had to fully experience every
curse that was brought upon our original parents in the garden
back in Genesis chapter three. Turn back there for a moment.
Genesis chapter three. Let's go over these curses that
God put upon Adam and Eve. He had to suffer the curses of
the triune God upon Adam and Eve and remove the curse by his
sufferings when the curse was fully exhausted upon him. And look what the Lord God said,
Genesis chapter three, verse 15. God promises a redeemer. He promises Eve that the Lord
Jesus, the woman seed will come and crush the serpent's head.
By that he would deliver him sit deliver her from the curse
and look at this I will put enmity between thee and the woman between
thy seed and her seed It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt
bruise his heel The Lord says to the serpent Christ is coming.
You're gonna crush your head when you bruise his heel He'll
crush you to death when you crush his heel. I Unto the woman he
said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall
rule over thee. And unto Adam, he said, because
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife and hast eaten
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not
eat of it. Cursed is the ground for thy
sake. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it
all the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground. For out of it
wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return. God says to Eve, you're going
to have great sorrow in conception and in childbearing. He says
to Adam, you're going to earn your bread by the sweat of the
brow. And you're going to find that
the earth yields nothing for you except thorns and thistles
as long as you live upon the earth. And you're going to return
to the dust from which you came. These curses, the Lord Jesus
must experience if he would remove. These curses, he must himself
endure if he would save us from the curse of the law, if he would
deliver us by the ransom price of his own precious blood. In
fact, we're told Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law, being made a curse for us. He was made to be, Bill,
everything involved in God's curse upon man being made a curse
for us for it is written to be written. Cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree. Our Lord Jesus Christ in his
body, in his holy humanity, he assumed our nature into union
with himself. God became one of us so that
the Savior in his sinless body, in his unspotted heart, in his
holy soul might literally and truly bear every curse of God
against our father Adam and his sin. In sorrow, he ate his bread
all the days of his earthly pilgrimage so that he is distinctly called
by way of emphasis the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He is distinctly the man of great
sorrow, the man who all his life is acquainted with grief. He
alone sweat the bloody sweats as a man in Gethsemane's dark
garden. He was who was crowned with thorns
from the cursed earth. And he said to his father, thou
has brought me into the dust of death. so that he takes on
him all the curse that's involved in the sin and fall of our race
in the garden. He takes on himself all the sorrow,
all the pain, all the affliction, all the heartache, all the difficulty,
all the death that comes as a result of sin. But how shall the curse
be removed from the woman? The distinct curse God placed
upon the woman was that she would in sorrow conceive and give birth. She was promised that the seed
of the woman would come to crush the serpent's head. And when
she had her first son, she thought, oh, God's given me the redeemer. She's I've gotten a man child
from the Lord, not knowing she had just brought forth the devil.
Her son came. Eve thought, however, the Lord
had fulfilled his promise. She gave birth in sorrow and
she lost lived long enough to bury that young man in sorrow. Our mother, Eve, endured this
curse because of sin. How can that curse be removed
from the woman? Listen to this. He. Shall see. Of the travail of his soul. and shall be satisfied. Not he
shall see the travail of his soul. He shall see of the travail
of his soul. He shall see that which is the
result of his soul travail and shall be satisfied. Thus, by
the travail of his soul in death, the Lord Jesus gave birth to
and brings all his children under glory. Now, let's read our text
again. Ask you now and see whether a
man doth travail with child Is there one who who gives birth
a man who gives birth? Wherefore do I see every man
with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail and all faces
are turned into paleness this man this man who came into this
world through the womb of the Virgin now gives soul travail
and brings forth children from his travail. But every man refuses
to trust him. Every man refuses to bow to him.
Many of you sitting here refuse to trust the Son of God because
you hold your hands on your loins trying to press out of yourselves
life before God and you shall perish in the tribe. But this
one, alas, for that day is great so that there is none like it.
Even a time of Jacob's trouble. But he, our mighty Jacob, shall
be saved out of it. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. And let's look at five things
this evening with regard to our savior's travail. First, his
travail itself. What is our Lord's travail of
soul? Did the Lord Jesus really sustain
in his body, in his soul, a travail like those throes of nature that
a woman experiences in the pangs of birth that bring her down
as it were right to the grave? Now, obviously, I don't have
a clue what I'm talking about in that regard. Most of you ladies
do. Somebody said one time years
ago, if men had to give birth, there'd only be one child in
any family. But the pain, the travail, the
crushing pain that a woman goes through to give birth. Did the
son of God endure such travail? Did he? endure those throes of
horrid pain to give birth to our souls, to the souls of his
redeemed? Indeed he did. Listen to the
scripture. Psalm 18 verse 5, the sorrows
of hell come past me about. The snares of death prevented
me, went before me. Psalm 116 verse 3, the sorrows
of death come past me and the pains of hell get hold upon me.
I found trouble and sorrow. Those are the words of our savior
and stronger expressions of pain and travail can't be found. Isaiah
53 contains the whole of the gospel and expresses the very
essence of our Lord's redemptive work, the wondrous mystery of
redemption. When Isaiah says he shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied, the prophet
declares both the sufferings of our savior and the glory that
followed his sufferings on our behalf. If the angels desire
to look into these things, The angels desire to understand the
mystery of redemption. If the angels desire to know
what transpired on Calvary's tree when Christ died in our
stead, how much more ought we desire to know something about
these things? Everything stated here is true
and wonderful, sublime and mysterious, and everything is infinitely
important and absolutely necessary. The illusion is obvious. Turn
over to John chapter 16. John chapter 16. In this passage, our Lord is
talking about Holy Spirit conviction and the work of the Holy Spirit,
who gives us life in Christ Jesus, convincing us of sin, of righteousness
and judgment. John 16 verse 21. A woman, when
she is in travail, hath sorrow. because her hour is come. But
as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no
more the anguish. How come? For joy that a man
is born into the world. What did he say? A woman is in
great anguish. She's in the throes of birth
pain. And as soon as she gives birth,
she forgets the pain. So let's have another one. Now,
now, well, not our modern women, but women who know something
about the blessed privilege of womanhood. Let's have another
for the joy that a man is born into the world. Again, can't
speak from much experience. As you know, Shelby and I had
just one child. My quiver got full quickly by
God's appointment. But I remember well the experience. We waited around. I made runs
back and forth to the hospital to make sure I could get there
in time. I'd bite my nails and paste the floor. And I couldn't
get her to go to the hospital. And finally came time, she said,
let's go. And we went to the hospital. So on Saturday night,
I was scheduled to preach the next morning. And about one o'clock
in the morning, Faith was born. And Shelby went through great
pain. Faith was a big baby, eight pounds,
six and a half ounces, 24 inches long. Shelby wasn't but 26 inches
long. Just horrible pain. And I didn't
go back there. And if I lived in this day, I
wouldn't go back today. I'd have fell out on the floor.
I wasn't interested in being there at that time. But just
as soon as I could, I saw her. And Rex, she was smiling like
I never saw her smile before. Totally different smile. She
got that baby laying on her breast. Oh, the joy a child brought into
the world and the pain. It's been 41 years. 41 years. I've never heard her mention
it. Never heard her say a word about it. How come? Because of
life coming from the pain. Hell, that's what Jeremiah is
talking about. That's what John's talking about. That's what Isaiah is talking
about. Our Lord Jesus in travail gives
birth. and never mentions the pain. For joy that a man is born into
the world. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah were
inspired by God the Holy Spirit to use this very strong, striking
comparison with regard to the risen Savior. Speaking of him
as a woman delivered a child. In each case, there is suffering.
In each case, the suffering is followed by pleasure. And in
each case, the pleasure is looked upon as a complete recompense
for the suffering. A woman goes through the pains
of birth, all the discomfort, those months of pregnancy, all
the sickness she bears in her body, and then gives birth and
is fully repaid. with the child she holds in her
arms. So the Son of God goes through
all the sorrow of manhood in all the age of a man, all the
trials and temptations we endured, all the curse of God upon him,
all the fury of God's wrath poured out on him. And the pain is indescribable. But the result is more than a
recompense for the pain. And he sees of the travail of
his soul and dissatisfied. Turn a couple of pages to Lamentations
chapter one. When we're in pain, we all tend
to think that our pain is the greatest pain a man can know.
When we're in sorrow, we think our sorrow is sorrow like no
other sorrow. And I understand that. Understand
that I've been there But the Lord Jesus truthfully declares
there's no sorrow like his sorrow lamentation 1 verse 12 Is it
nothing to you? All ye that pass by behold and
see if there be any sorrow Like unto my sorrow wherewith or which
is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger From above hath he sent fire into
my bones, and it prevailed against them. He hath spread a net for
my feet. He hath turned me back. He hath
made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by his hand. They are wreathed and come upon
my neck. He hath made my strength to fall. The Lord hath delivered me. into
their hands from whom I am not able to rise up. Two things here tell us of the
greatness of his sufferings. It's called travail. Not pain,
travail. Not trouble, travail. This is
a word that's only used, as far as I can recall, in connection
with giving birth. It's not used anywhere else except
in connection with giving birth. It's used in connection with
the death of the Son of God by which he gives birth. And it's
used in connection with women giving birth. Never talk about
a man being in travail. I'm sure you fellows who had
kidney stones, I've never had them. Brother David Peterson,
I understand, has been in hospital this weekend with kidney stones.
And I remember seeing my dad go through it. I can picture
something. But I never dreamed and I never
heard of anybody else dreaming of comparing it to travail. No,
it's just pain, excruciating pain, horrible pain, worst pain
you ever saw. All those words never travail.
But the Spirit of God uses this word travail, not just trouble,
travail, not just pain, travail. And the second thing that shows
us something of the depth of this Agony and suffering is the
seat of travail He shall see of the travail of his soul Solomon said the spirit of a
man will sustain his infirmity But a wounded spirit who can
bear Doctors will tell you that frequently
men and women survive things that kill others just because
of their spirit. Just because they have such a
strong will, they call it. Solomon calls it the spirit of
man. A strong spirit can endure the difficulty. But when the
spirit is wounded, and no hope, he's gone. He's gone. While all
is calm and firm within, external trials can be bored with comparative
ease. Then we're troubled on every
side, yet not distressed, like a ship at sea in the midst of
a storm. The water all around the ship
doesn't do anything with regard threatening the safety of the
ship. But when the water breaks over the bow and starts to fill
the ship, Then everything's turned upside down. Our Lord's travail
is travail of soul. David speaking prophetically
as our Lord Jesus said, My bones are vexed. My soul also is sore
vexed. Oh, my God, my soul is cast down
within me. Our savior sufferings. Cast down
his soul. Our Savior's sufferings are called
the travail of his soul. Without question, our dear Lord
suffered outwardly. With regard to outward distresses,
he was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But even
his outward sufferings affected him inwardly, as things don't
normally affect a man. When he was at Lazarus tomb,
he wept and groaned within himself. He groaned within himself. I've
been to a lot of funerals. I don't recall ever seeing a
man or a woman groan at a funeral under Brother Mahan's daughter
Becky died. And we chatted after the funeral
for a while. And he wept like a baby. And
when he couldn't talk anymore, Merle, he just groaned. that
darling child, he was so hurt in his soul, he groaned. The Lord Jesus at Lazarus' tomb
went and groaned within himself. Some seem careless about their
reputation and they can bear it with steel, but he said, reproach
hath broken mine heart. Some are stricken and grieved,
but they make their faces harder than a rock. But our Savior,
in the days of his flesh, made supplications with strong cryings
and tears. What was the source of all this?
You don't need to turn to that very familiar passage of scripture.
Second Corinthians chapter five, he hath made him to be seen for
us. See him in Gethsemane's garden,
sweating great drops of blood. Brother Don, how often are you
going to press this? Until my soul understands it
with some experience. As he anticipated Death upon
the cursed tree. He said, I am sore, amazed and
heavy. My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death. Now, some have the idea that
our Lord somehow was anticipating being crucified, and that was
the cause of his agony in Gethsemane. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Other men had been crucified, crucified in his name
and kissed the cross on which they died. That wasn't the case. It wasn't just the physical agony
and torture of being crucified. Oh no, it was the anticipation
of his holy soul being made sin for us that crushed him in the
garden. He bare our sins in his own body
on the tree. The Lord hath laid on him The
iniquity of us all. Surely he had bored our griefs
and carried our sorrows. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes, we are
healed. His soul was made an offering
for sin. He was made sin for us. Rex Bartley, you and I can't possibly understand those
words. You see, we don't know what sin
is. And we cannot know what sin is. Sin is what we are. We're accustomed to it and by
nature love it. We don't know what it is. We
don't know what it is. We can't have any real apprehension
of what sin is before God Almighty. But this man is the only man
who ever lived who knew sin. He knew no sin by experience.
He did no sin. He had no sin. But this man is
God. whose holy heart loathes iniquity. This man is God whose very being
abhors sin. This man is God who is nauseated
by the iniquity we drink like water. This mystery I cannot enter into.
But he travails being made sin to give birth. No man ever knew such pain. Even the damned in hell cannot
know such pain. Does a man travail? One man did, our body Jacob to
give birth. And then third, the scriptures
tell us that our Lord Jesus was declared to be the son of God
with power by his resurrection from the dead. So that he was
declared to be the son of God by virtue of the fact that when
he arose from the dead, He bear our sin in His body on the tree. He who bear our sin in His body
on the tree arose without sin unto life everlasting justified
in the Spirit. And He being made free from sin
dies no more. And we being one with Him arose
with Him and are made free from sin and shall die no more. Here we're reminded of our great
debt to our Savior. You remember how when the Gentiles
came to the Lord Jesus in John 12 and They wanted to see the
Lord Jesus and Philip and Andrew I believe it was Went to the
Savior and said these Gentiles desire to see thee and the Lord
looked at those Gentiles and was Immediately made to think
of the fact that the Gentiles his elect among the Gentiles
shall be gathered unto God by his death And he made this statement
barely barely I say unto the you except a corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die and It abideth alone. But if it die,
it bringeth forth much fruit. You take a little grain of corn,
and you can hold on to it. And you got a little grain of
corn. Or you can put it in the ground, and it dies, and it comes
to life again, and you got a stalk of corn, two ears to the stalk,
full to the end, hundreds of grains of corn now. Hundreds
of grains of corn from that one grain that died and came to life
again that's What the Savior did what he gave birth for our
souls he died and buried in the heart of the earth and three
days later he arose and this grain of corn buds with life
for multitudes untold his seed The seed that shall serve him
is numbered like the stars of the sky, or the sand by the seashore
for multitude. No man can number them. He sunk
beneath our heavy woes to raise us to his throne. And now all
the gifts his hand bestows are gifts that cost his heart a grow. Now fourth, turn to Hebrews chapter
12. Hebrews chapter 12. This salvation, that's the result
of his death, the salvation of all his elect, was the joy set
before him for which he endured the cross, despising the shame. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassionate about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Looking to this great crowd of cloud of witnesses. No, that's
not what it says Those witnesses described in Hebrews 11 those
faithful men in the hall hallmark of faith. They they are as Witnesses
at our Olympic Games cheering on the runners in the race, but
we're to run the race looking unto Jesus the author and finisher
of our faith and watch this who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down with
the right hand of the throne of God. Was there some joy about the
Savior's death? None. He had gall and vinegar
to drink, reproach and sorrow, pain and agony. Traveller so
no joy at all in his sufferings and death But there was something
joyous in the prospect of his death on the cross Refer again
to a woman and child This lady Caught my eye first
time. I saw her you understand why
and she's beautiful and charming Still is, beautiful and charming.
But there was a time when she had something that she never
had since. When she was expecting our daughter,
she just glowed with life. She's just been with life. Sick,
but just being with life. in pain, just uncomfortable,
but just beaming with life. A woman expecting the child,
there's a beauty about her that is never there except as she's
expecting a child. Now we're getting close to our
Savior's travail. What is that that causes the
woman who is, she knows she's fixing to endure horrible pain,
but she's happy. She knows she's about to go into
horrible pain, but she's beaming with life. Why? Because she's
got something of a joyous prospect soon. She's going to be delivered
a child. The joy set before the Son of
God for which He endured the cross,
despising the shame, was David Burge, with Him in glory. He, for the prospect of having
me with Him in His glory, endured the cross. joyfully, counting
the travail of birth, nothing, despising the shame, the cause
of the joy of giving birth to our souls in everlasting life. Now, now, we're talking about
love that can't be described. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. Satisfaction. That's the last
thing. Our Savior's suffering is sure
to have success. He will see his seed justified
and sanctified and glorified, safe and secure in him. And he
shall be satisfied. What can be so exciting, so delightful
to our souls as the satisfaction of Christ? Our Redeemer, the great lover
of our souls. Paul writes to the Thessalonians
and he says, ye are our glory and our joy in the Lord. Our glory and our joy. Baptized your daughter a couple
of weeks ago? All right, that's joy, this pastor, that's joy.
But that's nothing. That's nothing. Our Lord Jesus,
in that parable in Luke 15 I referred to this morning, speaks also
of the shepherd going after his sheep that was lost. until he
finds it and he lays it on his shoulders and he carries it all
the way home and he calls for his friends to come and rejoice
for my sheep that was lost is found and he says so there shall
be joy in heaven over one lost sheep that's found. Joy in the presence of the angels. What joy is he talking about?
His joy. The joy of the triune God. And
He will at last present us before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy. Joy. Does the Son of God rejoice to present His own before God
in heaven? The ransom of his soul? The salvation
of his hand? The work of his glory? Is that
his glory and his joy? How much more ought it to be
ours? Joying in God our Savior who
prevails to give us birth. Hail Almighty Lord Jesus. The trophies of your grace and
your redemption correspond to the greatness of your name. And so all Israel shall be saved
by this man who travailed and gave birth, giving us life everlasting
with God Almighty. Amen.