Let's begin tonight in John 6. John 6, verse 6 to 9. This is Peter's confession. After
multitudes who professed faith in the Son of God walked no more
with him. They were offended at his doctrine
and they left him. They followed him just because
it was convenient. They followed him because they'd
had a little experience. They followed him because they
had tasted the loaves and fishes, but they never knew it. And the
Lord Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and said, Will
you also go away? And Peter said, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And then he
made this statement, We believe and are sure that thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. That's what our faith confesses. But are you really sure? There
are many, many others who have claimed and many others who will
yet claim to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the
Savior of the world. Perhaps it would be good for
us this evening to ask of the Lord Jesus what John the Baptist
asked Him. You remember when John was in
prison, he sent two of his disciples to the Lord, and he had them
to ask, Art thou He that should come, or do we look for another? Now, this is the question I want
to address, not to raise doubt. That's never my purpose. It is
a question I want to address because I want to answer it with
absolute affirmation, to give you some basis in the scriptures
for identifying and clearly testifying to others who Christ is according
to his own word. How do you know that Jesus is
the Christ? Just suppose. You ran across,
as some of you perhaps have or shall, a Jew, and you were witnessing
to him, and he were to say to you, well, can you show me from
the Old Testament scriptures, the only scriptures he would
recognize, that this Jesus of Nazareth that you Christians
worship is indeed the Christ of God? Can you show it to me
from the Old Testament scriptures? Well, indeed, we can. I want
us to look at Psalm 40, verses 6, 7, and 8. Psalm 40, verses
6, 7, and 8. And I want to show you from the
Old Testament Scriptures, of course we will look at New Testament
interpretations of those Scriptures, but I want to show you clearly
from the Old Testament Scriptures that Jesus of Nazareth, the son
of Joseph and Mary, who was crucified at Jerusalem 2,000 years ago
and a little more, He is indeed the Christ, the Son of the living
God. Now, I believe you'll want to
jot down some notes as we go along. This is one of those messages
that's taken a little time in preparation, and I think it will
be profitable for you. Let's look at Psalm 40, verse
6. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. You never wanted them. Mine ears
hast thou opened. burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required.' Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume
of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart." Until recent times,
by recent times I mean until this, what's called the Christian
era, until this time after the coming of Christ, all the Old
Testament interpreters of law, All the Jewish writers, the Talmud
and the Jewish commentators would interpret this passage that we
read as being words spoken by the Messiah and spoken of the
Messiah that could be claimed only by the Messiah. Now, modern
day writers among the Jews try to make it something else. But
all the old writers, all the ancient writers of the Jewish
commentators said this must be the Messiah. Well, we know for
certain that God the Holy Spirit says that the one speaking here
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Because in Hebrews chapter 10,
hold your hands here and look at Hebrews 10 one more time,
the Holy Spirit tells us plainly the one speaking here is not
David, but the Christ of God. David wrote by the spirit of
prophecy. He wrote as though Christ himself was speaking by
him because Christ himself was speaking by him. And here in
Hebrews 10, verse 5, after describing the futility of hope of salvation
based upon legal sacrifices and ceremonies, the scripture says,
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice
and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. That body prepared in the womb of the virgin by the overshadowing,
miraculous work of God the Holy Spirit. In burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I,
Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me,
to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldst
not, neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away
the first. He takes away the old, the ceremonial,
the carnal, and brings in the new, the spiritual and the true.
He takes away the legal and brings in grace. He says He taketh away
the first that He may establish the second, because the second
can't be established until the first is taken away by the which
will. That is, by his obedience to
God's will as our substitute, we are sanctified, made holy,
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now, back here in Psalm 40. In
these three verses, the psalmist tells us four things by which
Messiah is clearly identified. Four things must take place when
Messiah comes. Until these four things have
taken place, Messiah has not arrived. When these four things
have taken place, the One who is present and fulfills all these
things is indeed the Messiah, the Christ of God. Let's look
carefully at the Scriptures. Everybody loves the story of
Cinderella. You remember she was gorgeously arranged. She
danced with that handsome prince and she had to be home. She rushed
out after the dance and lost her glass slipper. And the prince
went everywhere looking for her, and he carried that slipper.
And he tried to find the foot that would fit that slipper.
And when he found the right gal, he knew that was her. Well, this
book tailors a garment that will fit just one person. Just one
person. Just one person. If you're interested
in knowing who that Christ is, find him who alone this book
fits. Find him who alone this garment
fits, and you'll find Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of the living
God, the Savior of the world. All right, here's the first thing.
David tells us back here in Psalm 40 that when the Messiah has
come, all the sacrifices and ceremonies of legal worship would
cease forever. Okay, it says, sacrifice and
offering thou didst not desire. Sacrifice and offering wouldn't
satisfy a holy and just God. Sacrifice and offering would
not propitiate God's justice for sin. Sacrifice and offering
could never put away sin. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. The sacrifices, the ceremonies
and the rituals and laws of the Mosaic economy were never intended
by God to be a means of salvation, a means of grace, or a means
of sanctification, except in a ceremonial picture. They were
intended, they were designed, they were given by God specifically
and only to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ, the necessary substitute
who must come to redeem and save his people. The law had a shadow
of good things to come, but it was just a shadow. And those
sacrifices could never put away sin. The law given by Moses was
designed by God to identify and expose sin. It was given by Moses
to deter men from deeds of iniquity. It was given by Moses to show
the necessity of someone else to come and fulfill all that's
required in the law. But once the law had served its
purpose, once it had been fulfilled by Christ, then it comes to its
termination point. The Scripture says Christ is
the E.N.D. Reckon what that means. Just
exactly what you think it means. Christ is the termination of
the law. He fulfilled the law. He satisfied
the law. He ended the law. He magnified
the law and made it honorable. I didn't say he destroyed it.
No, no, no, no, no. He said, I come not to destroy
the law, but to fulfill the law. But he ended the law. The Old
Testament scriptures constantly reminded the Jews that God had
no regard for their sacrifices and their ceremonies and their
rituals except as they typified, foreshadowed, and pointed to
Christ. Now, you can't possibly miss this. You remember what
Samuel said? To obey is better than to sacrifice. Hold your hand here in Psalm
40 and turn to Psalm 50. Let's look at two or three psalms.
You're familiar with Isaiah chapter 1. The Lord says to what? Purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices. I didn't require these things
from you. Look here in Psalm 50, verse 7. Hear, O my people, and I will
speak, O Israel, and I will testify against thee. How come? Because you trusted in the picture,
not the person. Because you trusted the ritual,
not the righteous one. I will testify against thee.
I am God, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy
sacrifices or thy burnt offerings to have been continually before
me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out
of thy flocks." Do you really think these things are going
to make a difference with God? What a peanut God he must be
in the minds of men who think that something that they give
God will somehow fulfill some need in him. I will take these
things from you, look at this, for every beast of the forest
is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all
the fowls of the mountains and the wild beasts of the field.
If I were hungry, I wouldn't ask you for a piece of bread.
If I were hungry, I wouldn't tell thee. Look at Psalm 51,
verse 16, as David confesses his sin before the Lord. The
Old Testament saints, they didn't see these things. Oh, yes, they
did. The Old Testament saints did. The Old Testament religious
folks didn't, but Old Testament saints did. David says in verse
16, Thou desirest not sacrifice. Lord, if you wanted sacrifice,
you'd amen. I'd give it. Else would I give it. Thou delightest
not in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. The Old Testament scriptures
constantly showed the absolute uselessness of sacrifices except
as they pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the Mosaic Covenant,
what is commonly called the Ten Commandments, was only designed
to be a temporary covenant. You remember Jeremiah 31, he
speaks of taking away the old, bringing in the new. And Hebrews
chapter 8, the Holy Spirit tells us that first covenant had its
faults, and therefore there was a need for a new covenant to
be established. The law of God as a covenant,
as a rule of life, and the revelation of God's righteous requirements
for men was only designed, now please understand this, when
God said, that we should love God with
all our heart, soul, mind, and being. When God said we must
love our neighbor as ourselves, when God required us to keep
the Sabbath day, when God required us to observe these various ordinances
with regard to obedience before Him, when He required sacrifices
as well as when He required that we honor our parents as well
as when He required that we honor men's lives, all those things
were intended by God to drive us to Christ by exposing our
sin. Now let's see if that's what
the book says. Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3. You all have met my sixth grade
teacher, Bob Spencer, a man with a withered arm and had polio
in his right arm. when he was a boy, just has that
withered stem there. But he was a right stout fellow,
at least he was in my eyes when I was 12 years old. He was my
schoolteacher. He was the schoolmaster. He had
rule over me. And if he decided that I needed
a good whipping, if my mother found out about it, I'd get two.
She'd say, amen, give me the belt, and I'll take over when
you get tired. One day, he came in, caught me doing something.
I forgot what it was. I reminded him of it a while back. And he
didn't even remind me. But he caught me doing something
out in the school, in the hallway. Went to an old school full of
all that stuff that they say will kill you. And the walls
were the old sheetrock walls. That fellow grabbed me by my
belt and just shoved me with his left arm. And my fanny was
sticking in the library and my feet were dangling in the hallway.
And I couldn't do a frazzling thing about it. You know why?
He was in charge. Now he wouldn't dare think about
it anymore. He wouldn't dare think about
it anymore. He hasn't the ability. But more than that, he hasn't
the authority. That's what the law was. You
understand that? The law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ. Look at this, Galatians 3.24.
Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that
we might be justified by faith. In other words, the law kept
pushing us. The law kept forcing us. The
law kept constraining us, saying, no, this is not enough. My works
won't do. My sacrifices won't do. It was
pushing us into the arms of Christ that we might be justified by
faith. But after that faith has come, we're no longer under schoolmaster. The law no longer has any authority
over God's people, neither to rule nor to condemn. And when
Christ came, the sacrifices and ceremonies of the Old Testament
did indeed cease. at least a thousand years before
the incarnation of Christ, intimated back here in Psalm 40 that when
he came, he would accomplish what no sacrifice, no ceremony,
no law could accomplish. He would do what they only pointed
to. Those sacrifices offered on Jewish altars year after year
after year, every morning, every evening, every Sabbath day, those
sacrifices that were offered every holy day, those sacrifices
offered on the Day of Atonement could never take away sin. Therefore, they continually were
offered. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
came and with His blood, the Lamb of God, offered one sacrifice
for sin forever, When he cried, it's finished, something happened. By which God Almighty publicly,
visibly declared to all who had eyes to see and ears to hear,
law is over! Because that veil that separated
the holy of holies from the outer core of the temple was rent.
And rent in a very strange way. It did not rip from the bottom
to the top. You look at that and say, well,
it was just worn out. After all those years pushing
it back and forth, it got worn and was torn. Not likely. I think nearly a foot thick.
What happened? Well, when our Savior said it's
finished, that veil split from the top to the bottom and said,
now Sinners have access to God as they never had before. Now,
the sacrifices are over. Now, justice is satisfied. Now, sin has been put away. Behold,
the throne of God is open to sinners by the blood of Jesus
Christ. All right, there's something else. First, the sacrifices ended. The ceremonies ended. The law
ended. And then secondly, We're told
here that the Messiah, the Christ, must be a man who is Jehovah's
voluntary servant. Now, not long ago I preached
to you from Exodus chapter 21, verses 1 through 6. You remember
the law of the bond servant, the bond slave. That law was
given not to teach the legitimacy of slavery. That's a joke, a
sad joke, but a joke. The law was not given to teach
that it's a proper thing for men to take other men into captivity
and make slaves of them. But this law was given to point
to one who is indeed Jehovah's voluntary servant, who loves
the Lord God and loves his children and will not go out free until
he's accomplished all his master's will. It is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is indeed Jehovah's servant. Now, does that mean that he's
something less than God? Oh, no. It means he is God. You see, he who is Jehovah's
voluntary servant must himself be God. You and I, and all other
rational creatures, angels and men, are morally obligated to
be Jehovah's servants. We're dependent upon him. We
draw all things from him. And we owe everything to him. But the Lord Jesus was not dependent
about anything. He's God Almighty. He owed nothing. He possessed everything, equal
with the Father. But he who is Jehovah's voluntary
servant came here to accomplish a specific mission. We read it
over here in Matthew chapter 1. Look at it one more time.
One more time. Matthew 1. He came here and his
name is called Jesus to save his people from their sins. That's what he came here to do.
That's the purpose of the incarnation. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. The word Jesus,
of course, means Joshua, Deliverer, Redeemer, or Savior. And it doesn't
say he shall save those who shall be his people. It says he shall
save his people. They were already his. And it
doesn't say he might or he'll try or he'll do his best or he'll
provide salvation for his people. It says he shall save his people
from their sins. And either he did it or he's
not the Christ. And we must look for another.
What does the scripture teach us? Throughout the Old Testament,
the Messiah was promised, he was looked for, he was trusted
as that one who would come to restore his fallen people, to
bring forth liberty to the captive, and to establish those who were
alienated justly from God into God's everlasting favor. In Isaiah
61, you turn to Luke 4 if you will, Isaiah 61, the prophet
says, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. because the Lord
hath anointed me to preach good things to the meek. He hath sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of the vengeance
of our God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint to them that
mourn in Zion, and to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. Now in Luke 4, our Lord Jesus
is sitting on the Sabbath day in the synagogue, and they handed
him the scripture and said, how about you having scripture reading
today? And he opened up the scroll to that place which read like
this, verse 18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. What place
is that? Isaiah chapter 61, we just read
it. Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight to the
blind, to set at limit to them that are bruised." And he sat
down and said, this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears. He said, look here boy, I'm the
one this is talking about. And they were enraged. Now either
Jesus of Nazareth has effectually redeemed and saved God's elect,
or he is not the Christ. This is the horrid blasphemy of the religion
of this age. Call it Arminianism, call it
free willism, it doesn't matter. That religion which declares
that salvation is yet somehow dependent upon or conditioned
upon something in you, denies that Jesus Christ has saved his
people from their sins, and thereby denies that he is Christ, and
tells and presents before us a false Christ. The Scriptures
declare plainly that he did what he came to do. Listen to this. All that the Father giveth me,
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it
up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life. and I will raise him up at the
last day. He said, Other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. By the witch will, that is by
his obedience to the will of God, we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So here
are two clear evidences of our Lord's Messiahship. First, he
is Jehovah's servant. He is that one, I'm sorry, he
fulfills the law in all its details and brings it to its end. And
secondly, he is Jehovah's servant. Now here's the third thing, and
bear with me a little bit. Think just for a minute. When
the Messiah, the Christ, has come, the volume, what you're
holding in your hand right there, that book right there, the volume,
of Old Testament scripture would be fulfilled. Let's see. The volume of the book certainly
may refer to the book of God's eternal decrees. I understand
that. But clearly it refers to this
book of Old Testament prophecy. The writings of the Old Testament
gave us predictions of the Messiah, the Christ. This is God's promised
Abraham, in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed.
When Jacob blessed the tribe of Judah, he spoke of Shiloh,
to whom the gathering of the people would be. Moses spoke
to Israel of a prophet God would raise up, whom the people would
hear. In the Psalms and in the prophets,
Messiah is given Just numerous titles, I can't give them all
to you, but he's called the Anointed of the Lord, the King, David's
Lord, the Child Born, the Son Given, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, God's Servant Whom He Upholds,
Messiah, the Prince, God's Elect in Whom He Delights, the Branch,
the Lord, Our Righteousness, the Desire of Nations, and the
Messenger of the Covenant. Now all these names and titles
belong to the Messiah. But they are all fulfilled in
Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Let's see if that's so. If they
are, then he is the Christ. If they're not, we must look
for another. Let me show you several things, specific things,
that were written in the Old Testament that identify Jesus
of Nazareth as the Christ. Number one, the time. The time
of Messiah's coming was marked out specifically, distinctly,
and clearly in the Old Testament scriptures. Now God told no one
the day or the hour of his coming, but he did identify the time
in history when Messiah would appear. Those looking forward
to the coming of Christ could not predict it, but those looking
back can't mistake it. Christ has come. Here's the time. Right there in Genesis 49 verse
10, you don't need to look at it, just jot it down. Before
the destruction of civil government in Judah, Messiah must come. Because Jacob said, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet until Shiloh come. In other words, the Messiah,
the Christ, must come between the time that Jacob makes this
prophecy and the time that Israel ceases to exist as a political,
civil nation. Secondly, he had to come while
the temple was still standing. Turn back to Haggai, Haggai chapter
2. The time when the Messiah must
be born in the world, the time of the incarnation has got to
be while Israel is still a civil, political nation. And it has
got to be while the temple, the physical temple in Jerusalem,
is still standing. Haggai chapter 2, and we'll begin
at verse 6. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens
and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake
all nations, and the desire of nations shall come. And I will
fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver
is mine, the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory
of this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith
the Lord of hosts. And in this place will I give
peace, saith the Lord of hosts." So Messiah must come while Israel
still stands as a nation. Messiah must come while the temple
is still standing. And thirdly, the Messiah must
come in the middle of Daniel's 70th week. Now, we won't read
that ninth chapter of Daniel, but Daniel 9, 24 through 27 describes
this clearly. The 70th week of Daniel had to
be somewhere between 453 and 457 years after the rebuilding
of the temple at Jerusalem, which began in 30 AD. The year that
Christ died, 37 years later, was 70 AD. Jerusalem was destroyed. Destroyed. God sent his armies,
70 AD. So those were Roman armies, they're
God's armies. Armies of hell are God's armies.
He sent his armies and leveled that city to the ground. And
Messiah, the prince, was cut off in the middle of the week.
Here's another thing. The place. Messiah had to come
in this time frame, in the middle of Daniel's 70th week, he had
to come And while the temple's still standing, he had to come
while the nation of Israel is still a nation. And then he had
to come to this place. He had to be born in Bethlehem.
Micah 5, chapter 5, verse 2, specifically says that Christ
is to be born in Bethlehem of Judah. Hmm. You reckon how God's
going to arrange that? Won't be any trouble. He'll just
cause a pagan king to do a foolish, ignorant thing for collecting
taxes. That's all. And at the time when the Lord
Jesus was coming into the world, Mary was compelled by law to
go with her husband Joseph to Bethlehem, and there Messiah
came through the virgin's womb into this world. The family was
clearly identified. We read it earlier. He is the
son of David and he is the son of Abraham. The Lord Jesus Christ
is that one who was predicted through the ages of time throughout
the Old Testament prophets as being the son of David the king
and the seed of Abraham. That one who is God's covenant
head for his people. And the Lord Jesus is both. And
his coming would be identified by miracles, wondrous miracles. The prophecy of Isaiah, particularly. The book of Joel. Speak of blind
men seeing, and deaf men hearing, and dumb men speaking, and lame
men leaping, and that's it. And when the Lord Jesus came
on this earth, And John sent his disciples and said, art thou
the Christ, or look we for another? The Lord Jesus said, tell you
what you do. You go back to John and you tell
John, the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, and the
poor have the gospel preached unto them. He said, you go tell John, all these
things are done. And by these wondrous miracles
that were performed, unexplained miracles, miracles that none
could contest, the Lord Jesus was identified as the Christ
of God standing here in human flesh. Today, many pretend to
perform these miracles. And their pretense, and even
if the miracles performed were proved to be true, The signs
and wonders they perform are signs and wonders of men who
are messengers of Antichrist. Read 2 Thessalonians 2. They
are not of God. I don't care. I don't care if
you saw some fella stand out here right beside us here and
speak a word and cause a man who had been dead for 10 years
to get up and walk and cause flesh to grow on his bones again.
His message must be determined whether or not you believe him,
not his miracle. The miracles confirm the Christ
of God having come to accomplish redemption. More than that, the
Messiah must be one who comes as a king. But he comes to take
possession of his throne as no king ever did, in meekness and
humiliation. You remember the Jews, was it
in John 6, they wanted to take the Lord Jesus by force and make
him a king? He didn't come here to be their kind of king, Merle.
That wasn't his purpose. He said, oh no, my hour has not
yet come. When his hour had come, and he was about to take his
throne, the throne which was symbolized by the throne of David,
the throne of grace on which he now sits in glory, the Lord
Jesus said, he said, boy, you all go into town, and you'll
find an ass and a young colt, a Tahitian colt right over there.
And you bring it to me. And he comes into Jerusalem,
riding on a colt, the foal of an ass. And they said, this is
the king. Hosanna! Glory to God in the
highest! Here he is. This is the Messiah,
the king. They had no idea he was fixing
to go to another throne than they ever imagined. But they
recognized that his claim was validated. More than that, it
was prophesied that the Messiah must suffer and die by the hands
of wicked men. Daniel says Messiah shall be
cut off, but not for himself. Isaiah spoke of it so clearly
in Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed.
Our Lord's tormentors, when he was crucified, if you
read the narratives in the gospel, sit down sometime and read all
four gospel narratives at one time and read what was done on
that last evening and the preceding evening of our Lord's death and
the evening preceding it. And you'd think those fellows
in Egypt had got a concordance and looked up the Scriptures
to see what they were supposed to do next. I mean, they did everything. Exactly. I want to betray the
master. And back here, Zechariah said,
I need 30 pieces of silver. Give me 30 pieces of silver and
he's yours. What are we supposed to do? Let's
give him vinegar. and myrrh to drink, because this
is what Psalm 22 says we're supposed to do. Let's cast lots for his
garment, because the scripture says we're not supposed to tear
his garments. Let's hang him on a tree. Because the Scripture identifies
only one kind of death, being the death of a cursed man. Cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Let's not stone him to death,
much as we'd like to do it. We'd like to sink our own hands
in his blood and take his heart out with our hands. But the Scripture
says we've got to give it to the Romans. What? What do you mean? I mean
every word was fulfilled because he was delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God into the hands of wicked
men who crucified and slew the Lord of glory. And the scripture
declared plainly that the Messiah, having been cut off in the midst
of the weak, must rise from the dead after he had been in the
grave for some time, but before his body had seen corruption. Psalm 16. Thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to
see corruption. And our Lord Jesus spoke of Jonah
being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and
so, or in the belly of the whale, so the Son of Man must be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. And the Lord
Jesus, on the third day after his death, He died and was buried
away in the tomb. He went to that tomb as a condemned
criminal, a felon who had died under the wrath of God because
the sins of his people were put upon him. But then three days
later, he came out justified in the Spirit, having put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. And then the prophets plainly
asserted that the Messiah, the Christ, would set up his kingdom
among the Gentiles. Let's look at Isaiah 49 for just
a minute. Isaiah 49. Joel 2 spoke of the outpouring
of God's Spirit upon all flesh. Now this is important. This is
needful. This is needful. Let me pause for a minute here
and let you take a breath and get this. It was never God's
intention or purpose. to establish Israel as a nation
on the earth over which Christ would rule and give them preeminence
and precedence over other people. It was never God's intention. That was never his intention.
All these prophecy idiots who come out with all their predictions
and say, now look at Israel, what's happening to Israel, forget
what's happening to Israel. Just forget that. God has his
elect among them, and he'll save his elect among the Jews, just
like he'll save his elect among the Africans and the Americans,
but he won't save them any other way. It was never God's intention
to set his son on a little peanut throne over in Palestine. It
was never his intention. His kingdom is bigger than that.
The nation of Israel existed and was given and established
in the Old Testament specifically and only to be a vehicle through
which Christ would come and bring the gospel to his people through
all the world. Let's see if the book will make good on that.
Isaiah chapter 49, verse 5. Now saith the Lord that formed
me from the womb to be his servant. to bring Jacob again to him.
Though Israel be not gathered yet, shall I be glorious in the
eyes of the Lord. My God shall be my strength.
And he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved
of Israel. Watch this now. I will also give
thee for a light to the Gentiles. that thou mayest be my salvation
unto the end of the earth. When I was in Bible school, both
the schools I attended, we were taught that the Lord really came
here and made a bona fide offer when he came into Jerusalem riding
on that donkey's coat that he really came to be king, but they
wouldn't let him be their king. He saw that plan A wasn't going
to work and he switched to plan B and decided to send the gospel
to the Gentile world. God doesn't have plan A and B.
And God's purpose is not contingent upon what men do. It was always
his intention to send the gospel to the Gentiles to you and me
in exactly this manner by the outpouring of his Spirit. And
that's what took place in Acts chapter 2. When the king had
ascended and David had possessed his throne, when David sat down
on his throne, the Lord said unto my Lord, set thou my right
hand, or I make thy foes thy footstool. What he did was he
poured out his spirit on all flesh and caused the gospel to
go into the Gentile world, gathering his elect as he is to this day. Now, here are the evidences.
The Lord Jesus Christ, when he came, put an end to the ceremonial
law, put an end to legal worship. When he came into the world,
he came as Jehovah's voluntary servant and fulfilled all that
the Old Testament prophets had said he would. Now, I've got
to be brief, but I've saved the best to last. Here's the fourth
thing. The Christ, the Messiah, whoever
he is, must be one who perfectly accomplishes the will of God. He said, I delight to do thy
will, O my God. We know that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Christ of God because he and he alone has fulfilled
all the will of God. He fulfilled all the precepts
of God's revealed will in his law. He brought in everlasting
righteousness. He fulfilled and yielded himself
to all the performances of God's providential will as a voluntary
servant. He said, not my will, thy will
be done. For this cause came unto this
hour. What shall I say? Father, save
me from this hour? Oh, no. Father, glorify thy name. And the Lord Jesus Christ made
complete satisfaction and propitiation to God's justice, satisfying
the penalty of the law as our substitute. And doing these things,
he accomplished complete salvation for all his people. Call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. How
do you know that Jesus is the Christ? I know because he fulfilled
all that God said Messiah would do. I know because he's been
revealed in me by the power of his Spirit in saving grace. I
know because his blood applied to my heart has purged my conscience
from all guilt. And I know, I prove him to be
true. Because I trust Him. I trust
Him. We believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the Living God.