Would you turn with me to the
19th chapter of the book of John? While you're turning there this
evening, we're going to be observing the Lord's table together. The
Lord said this do. in remembrance of me. This do. Not this stay away from, but
this do. And the subject is faith, the
receiving grace. Faith, the receiving grace. I've entitled the message for
this morning the seamless robe. The seamless robe. Let's begin in verse 23 of John
chapter 19. Then the soldiers, when they
had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts
to every soldier apart, and also his coat. Now the coat was without
seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves,
let us not rend it but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that
the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the
soldiers did. The Seamless Robe. Now this robe
is first alluded to in Exodus chapter 28 verse 32 as the ephod
of the great high priest. It was seamless woven from the
top with a hole in it that the high priest would put over him. And David spoke prophetically
of this event 1,000 years before it took place. We just read that
in Psalm 22. Now the soldiers, before they
crucify the Lord Jesus Christ and nail him to that cross, they
rip his clothes off. All he has on is a crown of thorns. He was stripped naked that we
might be clothed. After they lifted the cross up
in the air and dropped it in the stand with our Lord nailed
to it, they tore apart his outer garments. Perhaps they'd heard
that people who touch his clothing had been healed and they thought,
we can make some money out of this. There's some advantages
in having his clothes. tore apart each part and gave
every man a part. What a wicked, hardened bunch
of men. Past feeling. And then they look
at his inner garment, this robe, seamless. It was worth something. It was a very expensive piece
of clothing. And they said, let's not tear
it up, let's cash lots for it. Cold and calculating, heartless
and cruel, they ripped the Lord's clothes off of him, nailed him
to a cross, gambled for his clothing, all in a day's work. Now, I want to give you five
things that I see in these two verses of scripture. The seamless
garment. The first thing I see is that
this book we're looking at right now, the Bible, is nothing less
than the very Word of God. This event that took place was
prophesied 1,000 years before it took place. It says the men who pierce the
Lord's hands and feet, they're going to strip his garments off,
they're going to rip his outer garments, and then they're going
to cast lots for his vesture. It's almost like these soldiers
read, what are we supposed to do next? And they did it. Everything
happens that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Turn back to Psalm
22. This has been called the Psalm
of the Cross. Let's read some verses from this.
Psalm 22. Now this is David speaking, and
he says, My God, My God, Why has thou forsaken me? And this is David speaking. And
he felt as if he had been forsaken by God. He felt as if God had
just left him to himself and just removed his hand from him
and said, you're on your own. What a horrible feeling. And
David felt that. And which of us haven't felt
that ourselves. But who is the primary speaker here? These are
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He said those words from the
cross. Let's go on reading. Why art
thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?
Some people say that the Lord quoted this entire psalm while
I was hanging from the cross, and indeed he may have. Verse
two, oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hear us not,
and in the night season, and am not silent, but thou art holy. Oh thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee.
They trusted and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and
were delivered. They trusted in thee and were
not confounded, but I am a worm. This is the Lord Jesus speaking.
The Son of God. The Creator. And yet, what does
He say of Himself? I am a worm. Literally, a maggot. Not even
fit to be called a man. Remember when He said, My God,
My God, why hast thou forsaken Me? You know, David said, I've
never seen the righteous forsaken. And that's still true. The righteous
are never forsaken. The sins of God's people became
His. And God forsook Him. That's why
He says, I'm a worm and not even fit to be called a man. Verse 6, a reproach of men and
despised of the people. Oh, they that see me laugh me
to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord that he'd deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted 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 breasts. 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 compassed me about, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me
round about. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I'm poured out like water.
All my bones are out of joint. My heart's like wax. It's melted
in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a pot shirt and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. And thou has brought
me to the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me. The
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and
my feet. Is there any doubt who this is?
I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me. They
part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture." Now,
the soldiers did not realize this. They were doing what they
wanted to do. They didn't consult to the Scriptures to find out
what they were supposed to do next. They were doing what they
wanted to do freely, uncoerced, uninfluenced. This is what they
did. But they did exactly what God's Word said they would do. is the Word of God. And what
you think of Jesus Christ Himself is seen by what you think of
this Word. Look back at our text in John
chapter 19. Verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. And oh, how thirsty he was. But yet he said this, that the
scripture might be fulfilled. Look in verse 32. Then came the
soldiers and broke the legs of the first and of the other which
was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and
saw that he was dead already, they broke not his legs, but
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side. And forthwith
came out blood and water. And he that saw it bare record,
and his record is true. And he knoweth that he saith,
True, that you might believe, for these things were done, that
the Scriptures should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken.
And again, another Scripture, they shall look on him whom they
pierced." Now, did that man who pierced the spear in our Lord's
side, did he know, well, God determined I'd do this? No, he
didn't. But he did it that the Scriptures might be fulfilled. So the first thing I see in this
story, the Bible. is the inspired Word of God. Here's my second point. In this
story, I see the absolute sovereignty of God and I see the complete
responsibility of men. Absolute sovereignty and complete
responsibility. Now, when the soldiers did this,
when they ripped his clothing off and tore it apart, giving
each man a part, and then they saw this valuable, seamless robe
that was worth a lot of money, they said, now, let's don't re-end
it. Let's cast lots for it. Who's it shall be? They didn't
know they were doing this because the scripture said they were.
They were evil men doing what they wanted to do. But I want
us to look at the language of verse 24. John 19.24, Then said they therefore
among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it,
whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which say,
If they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they
did cast lots, these things therefore the soldiers did. And do you
see that? The reason they did this is because
God said they would do it. Because God determined for it
to be done. Now they did what they wanted. had no idea that this was determined
for them. They did exactly what they wanted.
They hated Jesus Christ. They were cruel, heartless men.
They just did what they wanted to do. They were wicked men.
They were uncoerced in this. They weren't forced to do this.
They weren't manipulated into doing this. They did exactly
what they wanted to do. And yet the reason they did it
is because God determined for it to be done. Now both of these
things are true. God is absolutely sovereign and
men are completely responsible for their actions. Now, somebody
says, how can that be true? How can you reconcile those two
things? How can you reconcile the fact
that God is the first cause behind all things? And that's what God's
sovereignty means. Let me tell you what God's sovereignty
means. It means God has a will. God has the power to make sure
His will comes to pass. And God always does make sure
His will comes to pass. Everything that happens is the
will of the Lord being done. He's the first cause behind everything. He's sovereign in creation. He
spake this world into existence. He's sovereign in providence.
That means that everything that happens, happens according to
his determined counsel. And he's sovereign in salvation.
That means if you're saved, it's because he decided to save you.
And if he decides to pass you by, he's absolutely just. He
is sovereign. That's who God is. Anything less
than that is a false God. unidle the figment of men's imaginations. This is who God is. He's absolutely
sovereign and men are completely responsible for their actions.
If you sin, you can't blame God and say, well, God's the first
cause behind it. He's in control. I mean, He could have prevented
me from it. It's ultimately His fault. I can't be held responsible.
No, no, no. When you sin, you do exactly
what you want to do. Uncoerced, uninfluenced, you
do what you want to do. God is sovereign and men are
responsible. We see that these men did what
they wanted to do. And we see the reason they did
it is because God determined before for it to be done. Both
of those things are true. Now, listen to me real carefully.
If I in any way deny God's absolute sovereignty, His control of all
things, if I deny that He is sovereign in salvation, He saves
whom He's pleased to and He passes by whom He's pleased to. If I
deny that, I've really never asked for mercy because all of
a sudden mercy becomes an entitlement. I got it coming to me. If I deny
responsibility, if I somehow blame God for my sin, I'm a victim. If I'm a victim, I don't ask
for mercy. It's only when it's all my fault that I ask for mercy. So we see both of these things
are true. Somebody once said to Spurgeon, how do you reconcile
God's sovereignty and man's responsibility? He said, you don't need to reconcile
friends. They're both true. I can't figure out how it all
comes together. I don't need to. Neither can you. I remember
one time somebody said to me, they said, I understand God's
sovereignty and man's responsibility. I said, you do not. You do not. You're crazy. We believe. We certainly do that. But as
far as being able to figure out all this stuff, God's God. I believe what he says. I believe
what he says. So in this, we see God's sovereignty
and man's responsibility. Now, these men ripped apart his
outer garments and divided them into parts. Men would have Christ in parts. What do I mean by that? Well,
there's several things I mean by that. First thing I thought of
when I thought about this is denominations. You got Baptists,
you got Presbyterians, you got Catholics, you got Methodists,
you got Episcopalians, you got all these different parts within
the body of Christ, different divisions, different denominations. You can't get any scriptural
support for any of that. This is not a Baptist church.
This is not a Catholic church. This is not the Methodist church.
This is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every church is
just what it is. It's a church, a grace church.
We believe grace. Denominations, they're wrong.
They're wrong. Where can you get any scriptural
support for any kind of denomination? You can't. Men would have Christ
divided into parts. He's part just, part sovereign,
part merciful, all makes the whole. Men would have His truth
divided into parts. Let me show you. Turn to Romans
chapter 8 for a moment. Here we have the great chain
of salvation. Five links. Verse 28. Paul says, And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did
foreknow, them he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. There's foreknowledge and predestination.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. whom he
called, then he also justified, and whom he justified, then he
also glorified." Now, there we have the great chain of salvation.
God's foreknowledge, God's predestination, God's calling, God's justification,
God's glorification. He's done all these things. Now,
which part of this can you leave out? Which chain can you remove? Five
links. You take away one and you have
a broken chain. It won't do you any good. Men
would have the truth of Christ divided into parts. Another thing
I thought about, I thought about that story of Solomon. Remember
Solomon, the wise king, wisest man to ever live? There were
two women. Both of them had a baby. You can read about this in 1
Kings 3. Two women had a baby. Each one
of them had a baby. They went to sleep with their
baby. One in the night rolled over on her baby and smothered
it and killed it. And she woke up with that dead
baby. And she looked at that other woman with her baby still
alive. And she took her dead baby and
she placed it in bed with that woman who had the living baby.
And she took that woman's living baby and put it in bed with herself. And in the morning when that
woman woke up and saw that dead baby, she said, that's not mine.
That's yours. And she said, no, it's not. The
living baby is mine and the dead one is yours. And so there was
a conflict. And so they went to Solomon to
settle this. And Solomon said, here's what
we'll do. Somebody bring me a sword. Somebody
brought him a sword and they took that living baby and they
said, let's cut it in half. You can have half and she can
have half. We'll have part here and part
there. Now, who was it that agreed to
do that? The one who had no love for that
baby. She said, okay, that sounds fair.
Who was it that refused? The one who loved that baby. She said that she can have it.
She can have it because she loved it. She could not bear that that
baby be divided in parts. And if I'm a believer, I cannot
bear that the truth of Christ should be divided into parts.
It's all one unified whole. The gospel of God's grace. You
leave out any part of the gospel and you no longer have the gospel.
Somebody says, well, he's sound here, but he doesn't believe
that. No, you believe all the gospel when you believe the gospel.
We believe God's absolutely sovereign. We believe men are dead in sins. We believe God elected a people.
We believe Christ died for the elect, accomplished their salvation.
We believe the grace of God is irresistible and invincible.
We believe all God's people will persevere all the way to the
end. We believe the whole gospel. Which part can you leave out?
If you leave out any part, you no longer have the gospel. Men
want to divide Christ in parts. Here's my fourth point. The Lord Jesus Christ was stripped
naked that we might be clothed. You'll remember After the first
fall of our parents in the Garden of Eden, what was said, it says
concerning them that they knew that they were naked. Now, before
the fall, before their sinfulness, they were naked, but it wasn't
an issue. They had righteous natures, innocent natures. They wouldn't have had sinful,
shameful thoughts regarding nakedness. But now, after the fall, they
know they're naked. And when they hid from the Lord,
he said, why did you hide from me? He said, well, we knew we
were naked. He said, who told you you were naked? He knew they'd
eaten of the fruit, and now they have these defiled, evil natures. Now, our Lord, when he was stripped,
oh, he was stripped. The shame. He felt all the shame
of nakedness. He felt the shame of my sin.
All the evil and the wickedness that's in me was made to be in
Him. And He felt the shame of it and
the humiliation of it. He was stripped. Stripped of
everything. Stripped of His righteousness.
Stripped of His peace. Stripped of everything. When
my sin became His, that's what He became. He was stripped that
I might be clothed. I see substitution. He was stripped
that I might be clothed. And this leads me to my last
point. What is this seamless robe woven
from the top throughout. What's this robe all about? It
was a very expensive, costly robe. I'm sure somebody gave
this to the Lord. It was His most valuable possession,
His robe. The weaving started at the top.
This is the Lord's work, woven throughout. What does this robe
represent that could not be ripped? It was seamless. Well, turn with
me to Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61. Verse 10, I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. For he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. This robe is the robe of his
righteousness. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
19. Revelation chapter 19. Verse 8. And to her. The Lamb's bride, every believer,
his wife, to her was granted that she should be arrayed in
fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints. Now, this robe, it's the robe
of righteousness. It's the righteousness of the
saints. It's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And this robe is like no other
robe. Let me tell you why. Now, this
robe is a covering. It covers you. This is the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. It's His obedience. It's His
law keeping. Now, this righteousness, this
robe is like no other. Now, if I've got a dirty body,
if I've got a stain on my body, And I put a robe on. You can't
see it. I can't see it. It's covered. But has the stain gone? Has the filth gone? No. It's just covered. But with this robe we're speaking
of, the robe of the Lord Jesus Christ, this seamless robe, when
you put this robe on, You know what happens to your filth? It's
gone. You're clean on the outside.
You're clean on the inside. Turn with me to Psalm 45. Let
me show you this. Psalm 45, beginning in verse
eight. This is speaking of the church and her clothing, the
Lord Jesus Christ. All thy garments smell of myrrh
and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces whereby they have
made thee glad. King's daughters were among thy
honorable women. Upon thy right hand did stand
the queen in gold of ophir. Harken, O daughter, and consider,
and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people
and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire
thy beauty, for he is thy lord, and worship thou him. And the
daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. Even the rich among
the people shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is
all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought into the
king and raiment of needlework. The virgins, her companions that
follow her shall be brought unto thee with gladness and rejoicing
shall they be brought and thou shalt enter the king's palace. The king's daughter is glorious
within. Outside, perfectly clean, perfectly
righteous. The righteousness of Christ,
my covering. The righteousness of Christ imputed
to me. That's my covering. Inside, the
righteousness of Christ imparted to me a new and a wholly clean
nature. Now, there's a disconnect. If
I've got a wholly clean nature, why do I appear to be so filthy?
I look within and all I see is sin and evil. How is it that I have a holy
nature? Good question. The Bible says we do, and it's
the holy nature that sees the evil nature. Really, if all you
had was one nature, you couldn't see that. It's the holy nature
that sees the evil nature. Now, you still have that evil
nature, and it's never going to get any better. And you'll
have it until you die. But the King's daughter is all
glorious within. Now this robe of righteousness,
listen to me, there's no such thing as imputed righteousness
and imparted righteousness. No such thing. But there is righteousness
imputed and there is righteousness imparted. Both of those. You can't have one without the
other. It's the work of Christ for you and the work of Christ
in you. This garment is the garment of
His righteousness. Now I want to look at two, briefly,
two parables that speak of this garment. Turn to Matthew chapter
22. And Jesus answered and spake
unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven
is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his
son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden
to the wedding, and they would not come. Again, he sent forth
other servants, saying, Tell them what you're bidding. Behold,
I've prepared my dinner. My oxen and my fatlings are killed,
and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. But they
made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another
to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants
and treated them spitefully and slew them. But when the king
heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies
and destroyed those murderers. and burned up their city. Then
saith he to his servants, the wedding is ready. But they which
were bidden were not worthy. Go therefore into the highways,
and as many as you shall find, bid to the marriage. So the servants
went out into the highways and gathered together, all as many
as they found, both bad and good. And the wedding was furnished
with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he
saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. Now in
those days, If someone wanted to display his wealth, and this
is what was going on right now, the king was making a marriage
for his son, and the king provided the wedding garment. You would
come in at the door, and this garment would be given to you,
and you'd put it on, and you'd go into the wedding feast. Now,
the king comes in, and he sees these guests, and he spots a
man without a wedding garment. Now this man, I guess he came
in and they said, here's the wedding garment. And he said,
well, I like mine. Okay. I mean, it looks just like
that one. It's close. Who's going to know
the difference? So he comes in, but I'll tell you who knew the
difference. The king knew the difference. He spots this man,
look in verse 11. And when the king came in to
see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding
garment. And he said then to him, friend, How camest thou
in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless, perhaps
for the first time. Did, said the king to the servants,
bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer
darkness? There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. That's what happened to that
man without the wedding garment. Now turn to Luke 15. Verse 11, And he said, A certain man had
two sons. And the younger of them said
to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth
to me. Give me my inheritance right now. And he divided unto
them his living, And not many days after, the younger son gathered
all together and took his journey into a far country and there
wasted his substance with riotous living. He lived in the moment,
he partied, he had a good time. He wasted his substance, all
the money he had, with riotous living. And when he had spent
all, there arose a mighty famine in the land And he began to be
in want. And he went and joined himself
to a citizen of that country, and he sent him away into his
fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled
his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man
gave unto him. And when he came to himself,
he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough
and despair, and I perish with hunger? I will arise and go to
my father and will say unto him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before thee,
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy
hired servants." I wouldn't dare presume to be called a son anymore
after what I've done and what I've been. And he rose, and he
came to his father. But when he was yet a gray way
off, his father saw him. and had compassion, and ran,
and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him,
Father, I've sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more
worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants,
bring forth the best robe, and put it on him. and put a ring on his hand and
shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and
let us eat and be merry. For this my son was dead and
is alive again. He was lost and is found and
they began to be merry. Now, I just read two very important
passages of scripture. The first one tells me this,
I've got to have this robe to be saved. I've got to have it, this wedding
garment, this seamless robe, no seam in it, perfect righteousness. I've got to have it or I'll be
thrown out. I'll be cast into outer darkness
if I don't have this robe. And the second thing I see is
this robe is for sinners. It's for prodigals. It's for
those who sinned against heaven and in everybody's sight and
are not worthy to be called sons. It's for sinners. And everybody
that comes to the great father, like this prodigal did, they hear this, bring forth the
best robe. And He doesn't say, hand it to
him. He says, put it on him. Put it on him. The seamless robe. Let's pray.