Well, when you get as old as
I am, you can attribute things to that. I used to be the youngest out
of everywhere I went, but that's a long time ago. I was thinking
just a little bit ago when Brother Don was up here reading. I guess
I've known him longer than I have anybody here other than Brother
Brian Dufour. I've known Brian since he was a baby. Don and
I met about 33, 34 years ago. And I'm so glad God brought you
here. Turn with me, if you will, to Matthew chapter 2. Matthew chapter 2. I'm so thankful
God still speaks to me by His Word, and as I open this book,
He continually teaches me things, shows me things I hadn't seen
before. Back in July, I got studying this passage of And it just keeps
getting bigger all the time. This is, I think, the sixth message
I've prepared and preached on this passage in various places
since July. I hope it will be profitable
to you as it has been to me. Matthew chapter 2, verse 23,
And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be
called a Nazarene." He shall be called a Nazarene. Now, have
you ever considered where is this written in the prophets?
The word Nazarene, Nazirite, comes from a word that's used
frequently in the scriptures. The word is nexa, it means separated. A Nazarene or a Nazirite is one
separated and given up to God. But where in the Old Testament
is there any prophecy that says he shall be called a Nazarene? If you've tried to find it, as
I did several weeks ago, I'm sure you came away scratching
your head wondering where is this located? Because there's
no such prophecy given in all the Old Testament scriptures.
No such thing. The word is not found anywhere
in the Old Testament or anywhere else except here in Matthew 2,
verse 23. In fact, the city of Nazareth
was a little town so small, so insignificant, a little village
of Zebulun, that it is nowhere mentioned in all the Old Testament
scriptures. So where did Matthew get the
notion that our Lord was to be called a Nazarene according to
the prophecy of the Old Testament. Did he just take, as many suggest,
an oral tradition, pull it out of tradition, put it here as
a piece of divine inspiration? Of course not. Did he make a
mistake? No. No. Those questions can't
even be considered. Must we simply then say to ourselves,
well, the fact that we can't find where it's written is of
no consequence. After all, God, the Holy Spirit
who wrote this book, knows better than we do what he said in this
book. All those things are perfectly acceptable. Yes, indeed. If God
says that's what the Old Testament says, that's what it says. But
where is it found in the Old Testament? Let's look, beginning
in Genesis chapter 49, if you will. Genesis chapter 49. The fact is, all the Old Testament
scriptures, throughout the Old Testament, prophesy that the
one who comes to redeem us, the seed of woman, the one who comes
as the son of David, the one who comes to crush the serpent's
head, is himself the Nazarene, or the Nazirite. Bartimaeus understood
this very clearly. Do you remember what happened
when The Lord Jesus was passing through Jericho, and he came
to this blind man who was sitting by the wayside, and he heard
the commotion, and he said, he said, What's going on? What's
going on? They said, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, passeth by. And his immediate response was,
Jesus of Nazareth, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He understood. that the one who
comes as the son of David is the Nazarite, the one spoken
of in the scriptures who is separated, consecrated, devoted to God in
the entirety of his life, and is accepted because of his consecration. Now, if you look back here in
Genesis chapter 49, you begin to see where the prophecy is
given. Jacob is prophesying concerning Joseph, who was an imminent type
and picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he tells us here
in Genesis 49, he shall be called a Nazarene. Look at verse 1.
Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together,
that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last
days. Verse 26. Now these last days,
we're in it. This is talking about the days
when Christ would come, the days when the gospel would go into
all the world. Genesis 49, verse 26. Jacob's
continuing. He says, "...the blessing of
thy father hath prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors
unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall
be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him
that was separate from his brethren." Look at Deuteronomy chapter 33.
That word separate in Genesis 49-26 is the word nazarite, netzah. Here in Deuteronomy 33, Moses
is giving his blessing upon Joseph, again speaking by the direction
of God the Holy Spirit, and he uses the same word again with
regard to this one who is to come. He is speaking here about
the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush. He's talking about
God's first revelation of himself to Moses. And now in Genesis
33, verse 16, for the precious things of earth and the fullness
thereof and for the goodwill of him that dwelt in the bush,
when the Lord Jesus revealed himself in the bush, Let the
blessing come upon the head of Joseph and upon the top of the
head of him that was separated, there's the same word again,
that was Nazarited from his brethren. Remember now, Moses is referring
to Joseph, who is an imminent type of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's talking here about the first revelation he had of the pre-incarnate
Christ who spoke to him out of the bush. Now, turn to Numbers
chapter 6, and I want us to camp here for just a little bit. Jacob
and Moses both declared by the type of Joseph that our Lord
Jesus Christ, the great antitype of Joseph, shall be called the
Nazarite. And when God gave the law of
the Nazarite to Israel, as it is given in this sixth chapter
of Numbers, be careful in reading it. Be careful in reading it.
And read it very, very distinctly. Of all the laws given to Israel,
there were numerous, numerous ceremonial civil laws given to
the nation of Israel. Of all, this one is expanded
more fully than almost any of them. Wonder why? Let's read
and find out. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when either
man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to
separate themselves unto the Lord." Now, there are many things
here that we're going to read that clearly cannot be applied
to our Savior. Don't let that bother you. Sometimes
supercritical folks who think they're real smart, real pious,
if a pastor uses an illustration to illustrate a point. He said,
well, that's, they're things where the illustration breaks
down. Of course there are. Jesus called it an illustration.
You have types in the Old Testament. Joseph was an imminent type of
our Lord Jesus, but you're not going to make everything about
Joseph be a type of him. He's just a picture. When our
Lord gives parables, the parables are not intended to tell us many
things about the Kingdom of Heaven. They're intended to tell us one
thing about the Kingdom of Heaven. So there are many things in the
text that clearly cannot be applied to our Savior. For example, He
both touched dead bodies and drank wine, and was not made
unclean in doing so while He walked on this earth. But strictly
speaking, The only one of whom this civil law can speak, the
only one who can possibly be considered as having fulfilled
it, is the Lord Jesus Christ, that one of whom it is written,
He shall be called the Nazarene. And we know this particularly
because the law is never mentioned again until you get to Judges
chapter 13. Not another mention of it. Not
a word about any Nazarite until you get to Judges chapter 13,
where it speaks of another great Nazarite who was a type of our
Lord Jesus Christ by the name of Samson. All right, verse 3. If somebody comes along and says,
there, you've got to be a teetotaler, you can't have wine at the Lord's
table, or you can't have wine at your table, read the next
line. All the days of the separation shall he eat nothing that is
made of the vine tree from the kernels even to the husk. You
can't have grape juice or grape cedar, for that matter, if you
take this law in black. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about something else. He's talking about a man
who is specially separated to God, who is to take nothing into
himself that's considered unclean. Nothing into himself that's considered
in any way derogatory to manhood. Our Lord Jesus was solemnly set
apart by God the Father as the Nazarite, the separated one.
He says in John 17, for their sakes I sanctify myself, that
they also might be sanctified. I Nazarite myself. I separate
myself, that they also might be made Nazarites, that they
also might be separated, separated from all other men by the power
and grace of God in salvation. All right, back in number six,
verse five. All the days of the vow of his separation, there
shall no razor come upon his head. until the days be fulfilled
in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy,
and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow." Again,
our Savior fulfills the type very well. In the Song of Solomon,
we read our Lord's description of His church, and He describes
the beauty of His church. with which she ravishes his heart. And he said, your hair is like
a flock of goats. Now, Dan, I don't suggest you
do that with Jana sometime when you're interested in being real
romantic. That's not the best way to get her attention. Well,
you might get it, but not what you want. What's his name? How can this mean anything? Thick and full of life. Because he's speaking not of
physical beauty, he's talking about Christ beholding the beauty
of his church. And we are considered by him
as the thick, full, bushy hair of his head. But why is that
significant? What's the beauty in that for
us? You remember, Samson's strength and his glory was his hair. That was his strength and his
glory. That's kind of strange for a man, considering that throughout
the scriptures, long hair for a man is represented as a shameful
thing. It's represented as something effeminate. But Samson's strength
and his glory is his hair, because Samson is a Nazarite, separated
under God. And by special command, a razor
is not to come to his hair. And when he lost his hair, he
lost his strength. And when he lost his strength,
he lost his glory. Oh, now, there's another mighty
Samson, another Nazarite, whose strength and glory is his hair,
his bride, his church. And no razor of any kind shall
ever separate us from this great Nazarite's head. The hair, if
I am not mistaken, is the very last thing that dyes on the body. I'm surmising that from an experience
I had years ago. For some reason, I had to be
present when I was in West Virginia. I forgot why. Somebody requested
it. They were moving an old cemetery. And folks, you know, they try
to do that with great delicacy. And they pulled up a casket. And this gal who was in that
casket was buried back before they embalmed you by filling
you with formaldehyde. She was buried in Formaldehyde.
They put her in a big vault and she was just floating in Formaldehyde.
And there was a glass right over the top of her face. And there
was nothing there except bones and thick black hair. That's
all I could see. The hair was still there. I bring
that to your attention for this reason. I want you to understand
that we who are the glory of Christ The fullness of him that
filleth all in all shall never be separated from our great head,
because he lives forever." He's the Nazarite separated unto God
in whom and by whom we live. And therefore it is written of
every member of his church, her Nazarites were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They
were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was of
sapphire. Number six, verse six. All the
days that he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall come
at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean
for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister
when they die. Don't touch your nearest kinsman
when he dies, because the consecration of his God, the separation of
his God is upon his head. All the days of his separation
he is holy. He is holy, separated, sanctified
unto the Lord. Now Christ was made sin for us.
We'll see in a minute some connection here. But while he walked on
this earth, he knew no sin. Neither was guile found in his
mouth. He was ever holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners. Look at verse 9. And if any man
die very suddenly by evil, Paul said, and I want to quote
it the way it ought to be translated, I was crucified with Christ. He's not talking about an experience
he had in time. He's talking about that which
God revealed to him when God gave him life and faith in Christ.
When Jesus Christ was crucified, I was crucified with Christ. We died by God's Nazarite when
he died. And he hath defiled the head
of his consecration. Our Lord Jesus is one with us. And when we died with him, he
is defiled in that he has made sin for us. Then he shall shave
his head in the day of his cleansing. On the seventh day, Now, I'm
not given to placing too much emphasis on numerology in Scripture,
but there are some things that are obvious. Seven, throughout
Scripture, speaks of perfection, completion, and grace, throughout
the Scriptures. On the seventh day, the day of
perfection, completion, the day of grace, shall he shave his
head. And on the eighth day, the eighth
day is the day of new beginning. The eighth day is the day of
resurrection. The eighth day is the day of new life. On the
eighth day, he shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons,
to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other
for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him. For that
he sinned by the dead." by his contact with the dead. He didn't
do anything. He didn't commit any evil. He
just was in contact with one dead. He sinned by his contact
with the dead. And now he shall hallow his head
that same day. You remember in Leviticus 16? Here this Nazarite is required
to make an atonement for himself. And I'll say no more than the
Scripture says, but there's something profoundly deep and mysterious
here. Aaron, the great high priest,
when he goes in to make atonement for the children of Israel, must
first make atonement for himself and for his house. And the Apostle
Paul tells us about our Lord Jesus, who, when he was made
sin for us, on the third day was justified in the Spirit. justified in the Spirit. He went
into the tomb, a condemned, guilty criminal, and he comes out a
perfectly innocent, justified man. And we went into the tomb
with him, condemned and dead, and come out justified, risen
and free from all sin. Read on, verse 12. And he shall
consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation, and shall
bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering. But
the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation
was defiled. And this is the law of the Nazarite.
When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall
offer his offering unto the Lord, one he lamb of the first year
without blemish for a burnt offering, and one you lamb of the first
year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without
blemish for a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened bread,
tapes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened
bread anointed with oil, and their meat offerings and their
drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them
before the Lord. and shall offer his sin offering
and his burnt offering. He shall offer them, offer the
ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord with
a basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also his
meat offering and his drink offering, verse 18, and the Nazarite shall
shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. And so take the hair of the head
of His separation and put it in the fire which is under the
sacrifice of the peace offerings. When Christ died as our substitute
in all the fury of God's holy wrath, suffering all the terror
of God's law against our sin, now against Him, He takes and
puts His people in the fire with him, so that we, in the burning
of God's great sacrifice, suffered with him all the fury and the
fire of God's holy wrath. Oh, wondrous revelation of grace. You remember what happened when
Noah sailed through the flood. God built an ark. Noah built
an ark according to the pattern God showed him. And the pattern
was not a picture of an ark. The pattern was Christ out of
the deep. He built an ark and pitched it within and without.
And all the foundations of the earth broke up, and the heavens
broke up, and the waters covered the earth, and the rain beat
down upon the ark, and the ark takes the full brunt of the fury
of God's wrath. Noah endured with his family
all the flood of God's wrath and never got wet. He was in the ark. It never touched
him. Will you hear me? When Jesus
Christ died as my substitute, I endured in Him all the hell
of infinite justice. We sang it a little bit ago,
complete atonement Christ has made. The laws demanded price
he paid. God's wrath on me cannot take
place. I'm sheltered in his righteousness. You understand that? All right,
read on. Verse 19, shall take the sodden
shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket,
and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands
of the Nazarite, after the hair of his head of his separation
is shaven. And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering
before the Lord. This is holy for the priest,
with the wave breast and the heave shoulder, and after that
the Nazarite may drink wine." You remember what our Lord said
in Mark 14? He said, I'll not drink this
anymore with you until I drink it with you in my father's kingdom. The Nazarite shall drink wine.
This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed and of his offering
unto the Lord for his separation. Beside that his hand shall get
according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the
law of his separation. puts this offering in the hands
of the Nazarite. And I can almost picture the
Nazarite and the priest together. For it says the priest takes
it and waves it before the Lord. You see, Christ is both the sacrifice
and the priest making the sacrifice. He is the Nazarite and the high
priest. And the Nazarite and priest together
stand before God and wave the sacrifice. as if to acknowledge
the sin which is now on the Nazarite because he's touched the dead,
and to celebrate the blessing, complete removal of sin by the
sacrifice of this great Nazarite. Well, how can we be sure that's
what this is talking about? How can we be sure? Look down
at the last part of the chapter. Last part of the chapter. Sometimes
folks think we've stretched things a little bit, saying that all
these things speak of Christ. Well, just look in the context.
That's it. Just look in the context. This
last few verses, beginning at verse 22, is very commonly quoted
in various religious groups. It's quoted as a matter of ceremony,
and the preacher gets done at the end of the day and lifts
his hands like a priest to bless the people. And he quotes these
verses. I choose frequently to end a day of worship with these
verses, but I deliberately don't do so with any regularity, lest
anyone imagine that I'm a priest pronouncing blessings on God's
people. But when the Nazarite has finished all his work, and
when the sacrifice is weighed before the Lord in celebration
of sin put away, redemption accomplished, sin forgiven, God gives this
word to Moses, verse 22. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons on this wise, ye shall bless
the children of Israel. On what wise? Just like I'm fixing
to tell you. On the basis of what? On the
basis of what he's been talking about in the first 21 verses.
On this wise, bless the children of Israel because of this Nazarite
who shall come, in whom is redemption, by whom is salvation. The Lord
bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make His face to shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee, and give thee peace. Because of the Nazarites' finished
work, God Almighty says, Bless my people. God Almighty says,
I will commune with my people. God Almighty says, I here reveal
myself to my people. God Almighty says, now my people
have peace. Look at verse 27. And they shall
put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them. All right, let's look at another
passage. Judges 13. Judges 13. The word Nazarite is used to
describe Samson, who is another great type of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 5, For lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son,
and no razor shall come on his head. For the child shall be
a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. I think, if I'm
not mistaken, I may have preached a message here on Samson some
time ago. Let me just remind you, when
Samson was born, when God gave this word to Manoah and his wife,
they said this was to be done, when this man comes forth from
the womb, he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines. And Noah's wife ran and told
her husband, and they came together, and the angel of the Lord revealed
himself to them, and they offered a sacrifice. They said, we've
seen God. This angel is Christ himself. And his heart was still
set to go up to Jerusalem to suffer and die for us as our
substitute way back here. And when they offered a sacrifice,
they looked, and the angel of the Lord did gloriously. in the
smoke ascending up to heaven, as if to say, this is the day
I anticipate. This is that for which I shall
come into the world. And just as the angel of the
Lord revealed this to Manoah and his wife, the same angel
of the Lord said virtually the same thing to Mary concerning
that great Nazarite who was to come. He shall save his people
from their sins. Now, look in Isaiah chapter 11.
Isaiah 11. I told you there's no direct prophecy saying he
should be called a Nazarene. Well, here's an indirect one. Isaiah 11, verse 1. There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch. Guess what word that
is? A Nazarite. It's not the word
commonly translated, branch. I have no idea why the translators
chose the translated here branch. But here it is, the word nezar.
A Nazirite shall grow out of his roots. Verse 10. And in that
day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an instant a banner of the people, to which shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. The word instant. Anybody connected
with the military understands it's the company flag. It's a
banner. Raise the banner and the people
gather. Christ, the banner of the people,
the banner of His elect scattered among the nations of the earth
shall be gathered to Him. Now, let's go back to Matthew.
Matthew. And let me wrap this up. Give
me your attention for just a few minutes while I show you some
wonders here. I never cease to stand in utter
amazement at the great wisdom of our great God overruling and
using wickedness for our good. Overruling and using, even that
which appears to us in our experience to be evil. for our good and
his glory. Do you remember why it was that
Joseph fled down to Egypt with the young baby, the Lord Jesus,
and his mother Mary? Well, the Scripture said he shall
be called out of Egypt. They do indeed. But why did he
go down there? There was a barbaric, cruel king
a ruler by the name of Herod who had determined the best way
he could get rid of this child Jesus who was spoken of as the
king of the Jews. The best way to get rid of him
is to just kill all the babies in the land. And so he gave an
order to kill them all. And Joseph went down to Egypt. God Almighty uses the wickedness
of this man Herod to send the Lord Jesus down to Egypt that
the Scriptures might be fulfilled. A couple of weeks ago, I was
sitting in a restaurant with some folks from the church. There
was a fellow sitting over there. It was obvious that he was Jewish
from his attire and his physical appearance and beard and so forth.
He leaned over and asked me, he said, what makes you think
Jesus is the Messiah? And I said, well, sir, if you
don't mind listening for a minute, I'd be glad to tell you. and
appointed one of these passages just like this. Of whom else? Of whom else could it be spoken
in this day when the law, the scepter has departed from Judah
and this one comes out of Egypt? And God uses a heathen barbarity
in the cruelest of deeds to fulfill the scriptures. Joseph heard
that Herod was dead. And when he heard that Herod
was dead, he said, well, come on, honey, let's take the baby
and go home. that Herod's son, who was even more barbaric, Archelaus,
reigned in his father's stead. Look at verse 22, Matthew 2.
And when he heard, or but when he heard, that Archelaus did
reign in Judah in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid
to go thither. Notwithstanding being warned
of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. Now go back to Bethlehem now.
Now going back to Judah, turned aside into the parts of Galilee,
and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be
called a Nazarene. The demons of hell, when our
Lord Jesus confronted them, do you remember how they answered
him? They said, What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of
Nazareth? I know you, you're the Holy One
of God." They understood what the Scripture said. When Philip
came and found Nathanael, he said to him, we have found him
of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus
of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. This is he of whom Moses and
the Prophets wrote. Turn to John 18, John chapter
18. while our Lord was in Gethsemane,
the soldiers came to arrest him. And they used this name, affording
our Savior an opportunity to identify his power and authority
as our mighty Samson to deliver his people. John 18, verse 3. Judas, then having received a
band of men and soldiers from the chief priests and Pharisees,
Cometh thither with lanterns, and torches, and weapons, coming
to get a mighty, vicious criminal." Looked like they're looking for
somebody like that Osama bin Laden somewhere. Jesus, therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon him, wasn't hiding. This is the cause for which he
came into the world, for which he had arranged all things from
everlasting. Jesus, therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth and said to them,
he steps up and across these fellows, Whom seek ye? Who did you fellows come out
here looking for? This band of soldiers look like you're coming
after somebody that you're terrified of. Whom seek ye? And they answered
him, Jesus of Nazareth. Now watch this. Jesus saith unto
them, I am. He did not say, I am he. That's
added by the translator. That's reason it's in italics. He saith unto them, I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. And as soon as they heard, as
soon as he had said unto them, I am, they went away backward
and fell to the ground. And I don't have any idea what
happened between verse 6 and verse 7, but I've got a hunch Lord
Jesus snapped his fingers and ordered them to get up. And then
he asked them again, whom seek you? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And the Lord Jesus said, I told
you I am. And now that you know who I am,
what's this? Why did all this happen? Why
did all this happen? Now that you know who I am, if therefore
you seek me, I command you, let these go their way. You can't
have me and take them." And you know what they did? Let them
go. How come? Why don't that happen? "...that
the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake of them which
thou gavest me, as I lost none." The Lord Jesus loses none of
his own, and he orders all the affairs of men to accomplish
his purpose. And then Pilate, the Roman governor.
Pilate was a classic politician. He was good. He had a backbone
made out of wet spaghetti noodles. As if he were somehow constrained
to be a man, by power beyond him, as if he were somehow constrained
to do something, no matter what it cost him. Just because this
has to be done. As if he somehow is constrained
to take away the ignominy that he meant to put upon the Master.
Our Lord Jesus has a placard made. A large sign. And nailed to the top of the
tree. The Jew said, don't put that there. This is what I've
written, I've written. For the first time in his life, the man
acted like a man. What happened? He wrote a placard. And he wrote
it in three languages. This. is Jesus of Nazareth, the
King of the Jews. This is He of whom God from the
beginning spoke all the way through to this time, and now the Nazarite
has finished his work and is accepted of God. When Peter stood
on the day of Pentecost and spoke the Word of God, He pointed to
the men of Israel and said, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, a man approved
of God, delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by your wicked hands have crucified and
slain. But look here, he undersets Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, the man you crucified. And then they met
a fellow, in chapter 3 of Acts, a lame man. And Peter said to
him, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee
by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarite. Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
I say unto thee, And when the Pharisees accosted him, the Sanhedrin,
said, by what name and authority have you done this? He said,
in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, of Jesus Christ the
Nazarite, this man stands before you whole. And then our Savior
calls the persecuting Pharisee, who could not but know. If Bartimaeus
understood, I never cease to be amazed at things I read in
the Scriptures, I think, how did I miss this? That Bartimaeus,
that blind man, that blind man who never saw anything, that
blind man who never read anything, but he heard the Scriptures expounded,
and he knew that the Nazarite is the Christ. And Saul had processed
that keen Pharisee, that mighty learned Pharisee, and struck
down on his road to Damascus. And the Lord God breaks the man. And he looked up to heaven and
cried, Who are you? And the Lord Jesus said, I am
Jesus of Nazareth. Let me read it again exactly
as it would be best translated. I am Jesus, Savior, the Nazarite. I am the Nazarite, that one consecrated
to God, willingly, voluntarily consecrated to God as Jehovah's
servant from all eternity. When I gave myself as surety
of my people and gave my bond to redeem them, our Savior says,
I am Jesus, the Nazarite, whom thou persecutest. So from the
first dawn, of Revelation, back in Genesis, all the way through
the Prophets, right on through the Book of Acts, we see our
Lord Jesus set before us as Christ the Nazarene, the one man, devoted
to God in absolute holiness, whose service to God is accepted
for the deliverance of his people. from all their enemies forever. Now, by this man, we have access
to God. By this man, we are accepted
of God. By this man's obedience as Jehovah's
righteous servant, we are ourselves redeemed and blessed of God Almighty. Now, let me give you one more
passage. I think I may have mentioned
this to you, but I'm looking at it again. Turn to Romans chapter 12. I sure would like to be, as the Apostle Paul was, when
he was accused before the courts, a ringleader of the sect of the
Nazarenes. Look at Romans 12. If you haven't
seen this before, watch it carefully. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
whether Don read to us Romans 8, 28, 29, 30, going all the
way to the end of the chapter, Paul began in verse 26 there,
telling us about God's works of grace by which we are set
free. Tells us the wonders of providence,
God casting aside the physical nation of Israel to gather in
His elect from every nation. Goes all the way through chapter
11 and speaks of the wonders, mysteries of God's providence.
And he says, God did all this to save you. God did all this
to save you. gave his darling son to save
you, sacrificed the nations to save you. I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God." By the mercies of God, not because
it's a duty. If you try it as a duty, you'll
never do it. By the mercies of God. Not because
the law demands it. By the mercies of God. that you
present your bodies. Underline that word. Bodies. Bodies. A. Singular. Now just how on this
earth are you and I going to present our bodies, plural, a
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God? Come on, my brothers and my sisters.
Walk before God and present yourselves to Him continually, in the totality
of your lives, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God. I've been trying to do something
for Him today. Have you? And it's not fit for hell. Hang
on. Let's see. There's only one living
sacrifice. Holy and acceptable to God. And that one living sacrifice
is this Nazareth who finished holiness and redemption for us. And you know what God does? With
every sinner who loses his life to Him, He accepts you Nazarites,
holy, acceptable unto God, and blesses. Now, that's just your
reasonable service. Nothing else makes any sense. Nothing else makes any sense. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene, and wonder how he loved me, a sinner, condemned,
unclean.