This is the fourth message that
I preach from this. And I just want to finish it
up with this this evening. I read, Brother Steve read us
the text this morning. I want to refer to it. I want you to keep your Bibles
handy because I want to turn to other scriptures. But as you
read the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, if you'll read it carefully and
prayerfully, one of the things that dawns upon you is that Jesus
Christ has undertaken for other people. That what He's doing
in this chapter is not for Himself. That He's doing it as a representative. The forefathers used to call
it a public person, a representative. That's what we call our senators.
They're public people. They represent us. And as you
read the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, you realize that. Here is a man
that's doing something for other people. He says, there he hath
borne our griefs. He hath carried our sorrows. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. If we were to have peace, then
justice says somebody has to take a licking. Somebody has
to take a whipping. Then He stands up and says, I'll
take it for them. I'll represent them. I'll undertake
for them. That's why you see these verses
that says He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. He represented from His cradle
to His grave. He said, I came not to be ministered
unto. I didn't come for you to do something
for me. I didn't come to solicit a contribution from you. I come
to minister. I've come to represent you and
to do something for you that you could not do for yourself. He hints at this in verse 10,
in the last portion of it. Let me read verse 10 to you again.
It pleased the Lord. It pleased the Father. It pleased
God, to bruise Christ. He's put Him to grief. when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin." Now look at this. He
shall see his seed. The Father says, I'm going to
see what he's doing, and I'm going to see his people. See
them how? I'm going to see them saved. I'm going to see them justified.
I'm going to see them delivered. I lay down my life for the sheep.
To do what? To save them. to give them life
eternal. Through death He destroyed him
who had the power of death and delivered them. See why He died? He tasted death to deliver you
who all your lifetime was subject to bondage. You're His sheep.
You're His people. You're His seed. Everybody that
was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's His seed. And
the Father sees them. The Father sees them. And boy,
they're there in heaven. They're a number that no man
can number out of every kindred, tongue, and people, and tribe,
and nation. And what are they singing? They're
singing about their representative. About Him that undertaketh for
them. They sing, Thou art worthy, O Lamb. to take the book and
to open the seals. You were slain, and you redeemed
us to God by your blood. That's those He represented.
They're there in heaven. You see, the Father says, I saw
them. I saw them. As soon as you stood
up to represent them, I saw them. You see, in the New Testament,
you find this, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, you find
this doctrine every place. that Jesus Christ was a representative
of His people. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15-21. Since by man came death. By one man came death. What does
that tell us? That tells us the first Adam
represented us, doesn't it? He sinned, we died. He sinned, we sinned. What does
that tell you? He stood in our place. He was
our head. Even so, in Christ Jesus shall
all be made alive. All that are in Him shall live
by virtue of Him living, you see. He's our representative. Look over, hold Isaiah 53. And I want you to look over in
Romans chapter 5. I guess if there's a verse in
Scripture that says it any plainer, I don't know where it is. Here
it is in Romans chapter 5. And look in verse 18. Romans
chapter 5 and verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one, Adam, Adam offended God. And what happened when he did
that? Judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Even so,
by the righteousness of one, The free gift came upon all men
to justification of life. That is, all men who are in Him,
all men who believe in Him. Look at verse 19. For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, even so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. I wasn't a sinner
when I sinned. I sinned because I was a sinner. I was a sinner because Adam made
me a sinner. I'm not righteous because of
my own obedience. We're not righteous because of
any good things that we do. We're righteous because of Christ's
obedience. Ain't that wonderful? That's
the advantage of having a representative. That's the disadvantage of having
a weak one who failed and yielded and plunged us into utter ruin.
But that's the advantage of having one who didn't fail. One who
obeyed in all things by His obedience. He's our representative. When did Christ's obedience begin? When did He begin to represent
us? long before He came to this world. Lo, I come! In the volume of the book it
is written of Me. I delight to do Thy will. You
know when He said that? He said that a long time before
He ever came. You go back before the world
was, and there He stood before His Father in that covenant of
grace. And He says, Father, I'll go.
My son, will you go? My Father, I'll go. I'll do for
them what they cannot do and will not do for themselves. I'll
represent them. And the Father said, if you'll
do this, there are certain things I'm going to do. If you do this,
I promise you, I'll raise you from the dead. You die for them,
you be obedient to death, I'll raise you from the dead. I'll
exalt you on My right hand. I'll give you a name that's above
every name. I'll give you those people. I'll
make you My King, My firstborn. I'll give all power unto you
in heaven and in earth. I'll give you power over all
flesh. I'll do all these things for you if you'll do what I require
of you." And he said, Lo, I come. I'll go. And the Father said,
because you do that, I'll bless those people. I'll bless your
seed. I'll bless them for your sake.
And when I look upon them, it's as though I'm looking upon you.
When I look upon them, though they're weak and vile and contemptible
in their poor selves, I'll look upon them and I'll be pleased
because I'll see you. Now look over here with me in
a couple of places. Take your Bibles. Look over here in the
book of Psalms, chapter 69. Look in Psalms, chapter 69. If you have any doubt in these
Psalms of who they're speaking of, sometimes you can just read
the context and it becomes so plain. In verse 9, the zeal of
thy house has eaten me up. You know, we got that quoted
in John 2, verse 17. Christ said that. Over in verse
21, they gave me gall for my meat, in my thirst they gave
me vinegar to drink. This is Christ speaking. And
look here what He says in verse 6 through verse 8. Here's what
the Lord Jesus said, and He's speaking to His Father. Let not
them that wait on Thee, O Lord God of hosts, Be ashamed for
my sake. For my sake. I'm ashamed of myself,
aren't you? I'm embarrassed at myself. Before
I came to this pulpit this morning, I was begging the Lord, Oh, Lord,
don't let me bring shame on Your name. Lord, let me exalt Your
name. Don't let me discourage Your
people. I'm ashamed of myself. And you are too, aren't you?
But look here what the Son of God pleaded. He said, My Father,
let them not be ashamed for My sake. I'm ashamed of Myself,
but I tell you, I'm not ashamed of Him. Are you? And I'm not
ashamed to be associated with Him and found in Him. And when
the Father looks upon you, He's not ashamed of you for Christ's
sake. Let not those that seek Thee
be confused and distressed and disgraced, confounded." Don't
let them be disappointed. Let them find you. Let them find
you a merciful Father, a gracious, forgiving Father, for my sake,
O God of Israel. Look in verse 7, "...because
for Thy sake I have borne reproach." Their reproach. Their shame hath
covered my face. I am become a stranger unto my
brother, and an alien unto my Father's house." See what Christ
said. I'm going to represent them.
My seed. And my seed is going to come
to my Father. And I'm going to be there to
pray for them. And I'm going to say, Father, forgive them.
Father, accept them. Father, don't let them be confused
and ashamed and turned away. Do it for my sake. Why did He
forgive your sin? For Christ's sake. For Christ's
sake. Look over at Zechariah, just
over to your right. Look over at Zechariah. Go on
past Jeremiah. Go on past Ezekiel. Go on past most of the minor
prophets and you find Zechariah chapter. Nine. Look at this. He became our representative
back there in that covenant of grace. When He stood up and said,
Father, I'll go. I'll be their undertaker. I'll
undertake for them. I'll represent them. And the
Father said, My son, you do that. I'm going to see your seed. I'm
going to bless them. And right here is one of the
blessings. Here is the Father talking to the Son. Look in verse
9. Zechariah chapter 9. Look in verse 11. As for thee also, by the blood
of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
wherein is no water. By the blood of your covenant.
Because you've shed your blood. That's the way Christ sealed
His covenant, wasn't it? The Father sealed His by an oath.
I swear. He said, I swear. You're a priest
forever. I swear I'll raise you from the
grave. I swear I'll exalt you. I swear the enemy shall never
exact upon you. I swear you're a priest forever.
I swear I won't never fail in my covenant engagement. What's
the Son's part? What did He put down as a surety? His blood. He sealed His part
with His blood. And now the Father comes and
says, My son, by the blood of your covenant, I've sent forth
the prisoners out of the pit. Then He turns to us and He says
this, Turn you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope, for today
I declare, I will render double to you. That's what he does. He comes to all his elect of
all ages. And he says, turn to Christ.
Turn to Christ. Turn to my Son. He's a stronghold. When you and I read that Christ
was conceived in Mary's womb without sin, that He was born
into this world a holy thing, say this, there's my conception. There's my birth. That's me. Not in my person,
but in His person, my representative. Unto you is born in the city
of David, unto you and for you, and in your stead. One is born
to do a work for you. One is born to represent you.
That's Christ the Lord. There He is. There I am. There
I am. There I am in the virgin womb, in the person of my representative. When you read that the Son of
God grew up as this tender plant, that He went about doing good
and healing all that was oppressed of the devil, and that God was
pleased with Him, say, there I go. There I go, growing up,
look at me, as a tender plant, going about doing my Father's
will, pleasing Him. When you read that Christ said,
my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish
His work, then say to yourself, there I go, with a heart full
of zeal, burning zeal to glorify my Father. There you are, in
Him, in Him. You identify in Adam, don't you?
Why not identify with Christ? We say that Adam was our representative. And He failed us, but we were
there in Him. There we were in the garden,
and we sinned in Him. Well, why not say it about Christ?
You look at yourself in Adam, you'll despair. Look at yourself
in the second Adam. When you read that Christ was
in the wilderness, tempted forty days of the devil, and yet endured
those temptations and never sinned. Say, there I am. There I am. And when you read that Christ
was in the garden, sweating drops of blood, He was at the judgment
hall, being stripped of His garments, and His body whipped and mocked.
When you read and see Him there upon the cross in reproach and
shame and death, then say this, there I am. There I am. Not in my person, but in the
person of my representative. And how it went with Him, it
goes with me. as by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous." And brothers and sisters, that's
not a pin on righteousness now. That's not a pretend. In your
representative, you have perfect righteousness, a righteousness
God is pleased with and will accept because it's the righteousness
of His Son. And it's as much yours as it
is His. Unless you suppose he had to
work it out for himself that he needed it. He didn't need
it. He could stay in heaven with it. He became your representative. Christ did for us in His life
and in His death in order to deliver us. I want to emphasize verse 11,
if you'll turn back over there to my text. for just a few minutes. In verse 11. Isaiah chapter 53,
in verse 11. Here's what it says. The Father,
God, Jehovah, shall see of the travail of Christ's soul and
shall be satisfied. As our representative, God was
satisfied. He's speaking here now about
the cross, isn't He? That's where God saw the travail
of His soul. Not all of His life long, but
here at the cross. There's where He bore our sins
to the tree. There's where He was made a curse
upon the tree. He suffered for our sins on the
cross, the just for the unjust. And it's on the cross where our
sins were transferred to Him. God laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. And it was on the cross where
God looked upon our sins in Him, and God said, I'll punish you.
And punish you He did. The Bible says He made him a
curse. He cursed him. He smote him. He slew him on that tree. But
then when He did that, He said, I see your tears, your grief. I see how your soul is melted. I see my sword of justice bathed
in your blood. I see your lifeless form hanging
upon the tree. And the Father says, I'm satisfied. I'm pleased in that. The Son said, Thy wrath lies
hard upon Me. Thou hast afflicted me with all
Thy waves." And the Father said, yes, and I'm satisfied. I want
you to turn to some Scriptures with me. And I want to read them. I don't
want to comment much on them, but I want to read them. But
I want to emphasize two things. I want to emphasize the sufferings
of Christ. And I want to emphasize two things.
One, God was satisfied with his son, I mean in his suffrage and
his death, number one, because when he suffered and when he
died, his attitude about it all was an attitude of trust and
hope and confidence in his Father. I want you to see that. No man
ever died trusting God as the Son of God did. I want you to
turn, first of all, to Psalms chapter 16. Why was the father pleased in
the sufferings and the death of his son? Well, look at this. Look at his attitude. Psalms
chapter 16. And begin reading here with me
in verse 4. Now, the reason I stay in the
Old Testament when I talk so much about the sufferings of
Christ Because the Psalms and the Prophets are full of Christ's
suffering. If you want to know how He suffered,
go here. Do you remember when Paul was standing before Agrippa?
And the Jews had accused him of preaching heresy. And Paul
said to Agrippa, he said, I'm not saying anything, but what
Moses and the Prophets said should come. That Christ should suffer. and be the first to rise from
the dead." You mean Moses talked about the suffering of Christ?
The prophets talked about His suffering? Yes, all the time
they talk about it. When the Lord Jesus rebuked His
disciples for not believing when He suffered and died, Their hearts
have been so full of unbelief. He said, Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things and entered into His glory? And beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures concerning Himself. That is His suffering. His suffering. Peter said, The Spirit of God
moved upon the prophets of old and spoke to them of the sufferings
of Christ and the glory that should follow. Well, here we
have them in the book of Psalms. And we have His attitude under
these sufferings. And that's what pleases the Father.
His whole attitude. Look here then at verse 4, Psalms
chapter 16. Their sorrows shall be multiplied, but hasten after
another God. Their drank offerings of blood.
Chapter 16. Chapter 16. Their drank offerings
of blood will I not offer. That's what the Lord Jesus said.
nor take up their names upon my lips. The Lord is the portion
of my inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest my lot. O Father,
you uphold me. The lions are falling out unto
me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a godly heritage.
I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel. My reign shall
instruct me in the night season. I have set the Lord, Jehovah,
always before me. Because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved." Now look at this, "...therefore my heart
is glad, my glory rejoiceth, my flesh also shall rest in hope."
He said, they are going to kill me, they are going to crucify
me, they are going to put me in the tomb, but my flesh is
going to rest in hope. That's what he said about his
father. How can you rest in hope under such suffering? Look in
verse 10. For thou will not leave my soul in hell, neither will
thou suffer thine Holy One to seek corruption. You will show
me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of
joy. At your right hand is pleasures for evermore. That's what the
son said of the father when he was dying. Oh, Father, I've got
all the confidence in you. that you don't raise my body
up from the grave. Look at another place. Look at
Psalm 22, just over to your right. This is the Lord Jesus speaking
to you. Look what He says. You just see
the confidence. Let me just start reading. But my God, my God.
Verse 1. Why hast thou forsaken me? That's
what He said upon the cross. Why are you so far from helping
me, from the words of my rolling? Verse 3, Thou art holy, O thou
that havest the praise of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee,
they trusted, thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, they
were delivered, they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despise
to the people. All they that see Me life Me
to scorn, they shoot out the lip, they shake their heads,
saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him. Let
Him deliver Him, seeing He delighteth in Him. But Thou art He that
took Me out of the womb. Thou didst make Me hope when
I was upon My mother's breast. I was cast upon Thee from the
womb. Thou art My God from My mother's belly. Be not far from
Me. For trouble is near, for there's
none to help. Many bulls have come past me,
strong bulls of Bashan have beset me around. They gaped upon me
with their mouth as a ravening and roaring lion. I'm poured
out like water. All my bones are out of joint,
my heart is waxed like wax that's melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a poster. My tongue cleaves to my jaws.
You've brought me into dust of death. Dawls come past me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierce my hands and
my feet. I may tell all my bones. They
look and stare upon me. They part my garments among themselves
and cast lots upon my vessel. But be not thou far from me. O Lord, my strength, haste Thee
to deliver me, to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword,
my darling, from the power of the dogs. See how He continually
trusted His Father? Pouring out His soul in Him to
the Father to be delivered. How He trusted Him. Look in Psalms
38. Look over in Psalms 38. This is one of the most amazing
psalms, and it's the Lord Jesus speaking. If you'll apply this
psalm to him, it becomes amazing and sort of a paradox. Verse
1, O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath, neither chasten me in
Thy hot displeasure. For Thine arrows stick fast in
me, and Thy hand presseth me sore. And then he goes on talking
about his sufferings. And then he comes on in verse
17, I'm ready to halt. My sorrow is continually before
me. And look at this. I will declare
my iniquities. I will be sorry for my sins."
How in the world could he declare his iniquities? He had none.
It would be blasphemy to say the Son of God had iniquities.
Then what's he doing? Confessing them and saying they're
mine. And I'm sorry for them. There
are sins. And they were put upon Him. And
now He bears them as His own. And He suffers for them. And
look what he says, but my enemies are lively, they are strong,
they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. They also that
render evil for good are my adversaries. Look at this, because I follow
the things that good is. What a paradox. If he followed
the things that was good, and he never sinned, he had no sin. How could he confess sin? He
was good in himself. He did good, but oh, when He
took our sins, what a paradox. He was still good, but He had
our sins. Forsake me not, O my Father,
O my God. Be not far from me. Make haste
to help me, O Lord, my salvation. Can you see that? Can you see
His whole attitude while He suffered? He suffered so. with our sins
and the awful judgment of God upon him. But his heart poured
out to his father, with all the confidence in the world in his
father, that his father fulfilled his covenant engagements. Psalms 88. Look at this. One
more place. Psalms 88. Look in verse 7. He begins of
Thurman speaking in verse 3. My soul is full of troubles.
My life draws nigh unto the grave. I am counted with them. Look
at this. They go down to the pit. I am as a man that hath
no strength, crucified in weakness, free among the dead like the
slain. Verse 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest
pit, in darkness, in the depths. Your wrath lies hard upon me. Thou hast afflicted me with all
Your ways. Thou hast put mine acquaintances
far from me. Thou hast made me an abomination
unto them. I am shut up and cannot come
forth. My eyes mourn by reason of afflictions. Lord, I have called daily upon
Thee. I have stretched out my hands
unto Thee. Verse 13, But unto Thee have
I cried, O Lord. In the morning shall my prayer
prevent me. Lord, why castest thou off my
soul? Why do you hide your face from
me? My God, my God, why do you forsake me? I am afflicted and
ready to die from my youth while I suffer thy terrors. I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me. Thy terrors have cut me off.
And yet, what does he do? He says, Father, into your hands
I commend my spirit. Why is this so important? When
you see Jesus Christ on the cross and His trust in His Father,
His confidences in His God, why is that so important? Well, tell
me any man that ever died with sin upon him and the judgment
of God upon him that still trusted God for his deliverance. What
happened to the angels when God charged them with one sin? Did
they remain confident? No. God cast them down and they
are now still this day in chains of darkness and despair. Name
us one man, find one man who died with sin upon him and the
judgment of God as Christ did and ever went down into the pit
hoping in the mercy of God. You will not find him. There's
not one person in hell suffering under God's wrath that's there
saying what Christ did under God's wrath. My Father, my confidence
is in You. I know You'll raise me. I know
You'll deliver me. Only Christ died this way. I
saw the travail of His soul. I heard His prayers. I saw the
confidence that He had in me. I tell you, nobody believed God
like his son did. I think sometimes when my faith
is so weak, and all these blasphemies come into my mind because I've
just fell into such unbelief, I think sometimes that's alright.
My Savior believes God enough for both of us. Don't you ever
think that way? He just believes God enough for
me. When I can't believe, He believes for me. He honored His Father. He honored
His Father. He pleased His Father. I tell
you, nothing pleases God like faith. Hoping in Him in difficult times.
Casting your soul upon Him. Hoping in Him. That's what His
Son did. That's why He pleased Him. Secondly is this, and I'll
hurry and I'll let you go. The Father was pleased in the
travail of the soul of His Son for this reason. The worth, the
merit of His sufferings. My goodness, what's His blood
worth? When I see the blood, what must
the Son of God's blood be worth that the Father says, I see that
blood and I passed over your sins? But you hate sins, I do,
but I see the merit of that blood. And when I see that blood, I'll
pass over everything under it and everybody under it. He pleased
Him because He saw the merits of His Son. Bruce, don't the Scripture teach
that if a man dies under the curse of God for sin, that that
punishment, the consequences of sin is everlasting punishment? Don't the Scripture teach that?
It does teach that, doesn't it? We've lost the whole concept
of punishment, the brother said last night in Our Generation.
But the Lord Jesus says, these shall go away. and to everlasting
punishment. Why? You are workers of iniquity. What does iniquity deserve? Everlasting
punishment. As the tree falls, so shall it
lay. If a man dies in his sins under the judgment of God, he
will be punished forever. But why will he be punished forever? Because he has nothing to pay
his debt with. Remember when the Lord told that parable? If
you owe somebody something, and he's come to take you to the
courtroom before the judge, well, if you've got anything to pay
him, you pay him. Ain't that what he said? Your
adversary comes and says, you pay me what you owe me. You give
diligence to make sure you're delivered from him because he's
going to take you before the judge. And the judge is going
to investigate the evidence, and he's going to find you guilty
of owing a debt that you haven't paid. He's going to deliver you
to that officer. That officer is going to take
you and throw you in prison. And the Lord Jesus said, I tell
you, you will not come out of that prison until you've paid
the very last mite. Everlasting punishment wouldn't
be everlasting if we had the debt to pay. The reason the wicked
suffer everlastingly in hell is because they have nothing
to pay their debt with. But that's the difference in
Jesus Christ, you see. He died with our sins in His
own body, filling the guilt of it and the shame of it and the
judgment of God upon them because of it. But I tell you, He had
tucked away in His bosom the price of deliverance. And when
He lifted up His voice and said, It's finished! And they took
Him down from the cross and the Pharisees said, That man's in
hell. He died under the judgment of
God. He's in hell. And He would have been for all
eternity. But He didn't die like everybody
else. He wasn't like everybody else. He was the Son of God in
our humanity, full of holiness and merit and grace and goodness. And he got out the price of his
own blood. And justice took it. And justice
said, the price is paid. Let this man go free and everybody
that he represented. The price of blood, by the blood
of your covenant, I've not only rose you from the dead, but I've
sent forth all your prisoners out of the pit with you. They're
free. One of the most blessed truths,
I think, that I've ever thought about is when Jesus Christ came
out of that grave, I came out with Him. I didn't know it for
a long time, but I came out with Him. Paid the price. Paid the price. The Father said, I'm satisfied.
I'm satisfied. What was the price? It was the
value of His person. Because He was the Son of God
in our humanity, He was a very precious person, holy person,
righteous person, good person. And there was so much worth in
His person that He could represent a great host of people and do
for them what they couldn't do for themselves. Listen to these
scriptures. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us. One suffered the punishment,
redeemed the other from it. Christ hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust. If you're just enough, you can
represent the unjust and deliver the unjust to the boot. Once in the end of the world
hath He appeared to put away sins. by the sacrifice of Himself. Oh, what's He worth to put away
sin by His own blood, by His own dying? What is He worth? Can you estimate the worth of
God's Son? One sin would damn us forever,
just like it brought the angels out of heaven into hell and brought
Adam and Eve out of the garden into this sin-cursed earth. One
sin would do us that. How much merit must he have to
take a multitude of sins that no man can number and put them
away? If you want to imagine an impossible
task, imagine the worth of the Son of God. You weren't redeemed
with corruptible things of silver and gold, but with a precious
blood. This is my blood of the new covenant. which is shed for many to remit
their sins. The Son of Man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom. That's the worth of His person,
the worth of His blood. What about His obedience? By
the obedience of one man shall many be made righteous. You know
what He said? I do always them things that
please My Father. Ever thought he had all of his
motives, all of his words, all of his work, he pleased the Father. Perfect, perfect obedience. Christ gave Himself a price for
our sins according to the will of God. And the Father saw it
and says, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. Now let me ask
you a question, dear soul. And you think about this, and
think about it seriously. The Father says, I'm satisfied
with Him. I'm satisfied with all He did as a representative. You ask yourself this question,
and you ask it seriously, and I hope God will bear witness
to your answer. Are you satisfied with Him? When you're by yourself, away
from the congregation, at home by yourself, and you ask yourself
that question, what answer do you get? When you face death, when you
face eternity, when you face the curse of God's law, when
you face your sins, ask yourself this question, can
I face all of this? and be satisfied with Christ
alone. And may God give you grace to
say yes. May God bear witness to your
answer of yes. I've got nothing, I claim nothing,
I own nothing but Christ the Lord. I face life, I face living,
I face death, I face hell, I face God, I face the law with nothing
but the obedience of Jesus Christ my Lord. Are you satisfied with
Him? As dear brothers Thomas said,
ain't it strange that everybody is satisfied with Christ? The
Father is satisfied with Him. The Holy Spirit is satisfied
with Him. The saints in heaven are satisfied with Him. Everybody
is satisfied with Him but us. Ain't that strange? Let's pray.