Ecclesiastes chapter three. Now
I would remind us that the word vanity is written in Ecclesiastes
28 times. And every time that it is, it's
talking about man and man's efforts and man's thoughts and man's
wishes and man's everything. It's all vanity. And we don't
have hope until we see that the reason he's seen that everything
is vanity and that he has no confession of his own wisdom
is because Christ is being made, has been made his wisdom. Christ
has been made his confessions. And that's the only thing that's
not vanity is Christ. In chapter three, it starts out
and tells us that there's times, there's a time to every purpose
under heaven. And I'm not going to read all
of these, but it literally tells us all of the time that's supposed
to be or things that are ordained on time for war, time for peace,
to give starch contrasts as love, hate, time to live, time to die. And so we could say, okay, now
he's telling us that all of this is vanity. And then all this
time that we have and everything that we do is vanity. My initial
reaction or thought would be, is this just a morbid type mentality
that Solomon has? And the answer is no. It would
be if we could only see ourself If we are only able to view ourself
and our actions in our life, then we would see that it's all
vanity. But in seeing yourself as the
chief of sinners and being disgusted with yourself and seeing yourself
as being the rich is part of the Lord revealing the glory
of Christ, the beauty of Christ. And he does that for his people.
We see ourself as vanity. We see him as righteous and glorious. And we have a hope in him. Our
only hope is in him. So the Lord is giving us an understanding
of what life would be like without Christ or what a life is like
without Christ. That's what he's showing us here.
Now, in verse number nine is where we're going to start reading.
He says, what profit hath he that worketh in that wherein
he laboureth? I have seen the travail which
God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He
hath made everything beautiful in his time. Also, he hath set
the world in their heart. so that no man can find out the
work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I'll read
that again. He hath made everything beautiful
in his time. Also, he has set the world in
their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good
in them, but for a man to rejoice and to do good in his life, And
also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good
of his labor, all his labor. It is the gift of God. I know
that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can
be put to it nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it. I've actually titled this message,
God doeth it. That men should fear before him.
Here's an echo of the first message that we heard this morning. That
which has been is now, and that which is to be hath already been,
and God requireth that which is past. And moreover, I saw
under the sun the place of judgment, that there was wickedness there,
and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there. I said
in my heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked,
for there is a time there for every purpose, and for every work. No man can
find out the works of God, which the Lord maketh from the beginning
to the end. It's God that doeth it. It's
the Lord that reveals it. That's the message this hour.
God doeth it. No man can find out God, yet
men try. Men try to get to God. Every
Religion is trying to accomplish the same thing. Did you know
that? Men are trying to go to heaven. Men are trying to find
a place of peace and tranquility in the life to come. Perhaps
some religion don't believe in the afterlife, and so I wouldn't
be referring to those, but most religions are trying to get to
heaven as their end goal. They're trying to get to a place
of eternal rest. They're trying to get to a place
of eternal peace, eternal happiness. Most men fabricate a heaven that's
reflective of this life in so many ways. I am so thankful that
heaven is nothing like this earth, aren't you? I am so thankful
that heaven, we won't have any former memory of our sin. We
won't have any former memory of our sorrow and our hurt. All
things have passed away. Behold, all things will become
new. The Lord Jesus Christ will cause us to see His glory for
eternity, perfect peace. perfect harmony. If we remembered
things in this life, we would cry. We would mourn, wouldn't
we? If we remembered our loved ones that had passed away, that
weren't there with us in heaven, we would be crying for them,
would we not? And so therefore, we have no
memory of those things. Nobody can look down through
a portal and see us on the earth that's in heaven and say, okay,
I'm looking over you. I'm watching after you. That's
not in the Bible. It's not true. See, that's a spiritual realm
that we're talking about, not a physical realm. We will know
as we're known, we will see one another, and we will have one
thing on our mind, and that is the rejoicing and worship of
God forever. Perfect peace, perfect joy, perfect
righteousness will be robed in his righteousness, just as we
are now. We'll see him and be made like him, for we'll see
him as he is. Men want to go to that place. They want to go
to heaven. They want to go to the place
of peace, but men will not come to Christ to do it. naturally speaking, will come
to Christ that they may have eternal life. That's what Christ
tells us in his scripture. Christ said, I am the door to
the sheepfold. Christ said, I am the way to
eternal life. I am the truth. No man cometh
to the father but by me. Yet men will not come to Christ. They will not have this man.
Turn with me to John chapter five. I'm explaining to us this morning
that if salvation is going to be accomplished, God is the one
that must do it. God is the one that must do it. And he did for
his people. Now, this is a account of an
impotent man, impotent means without strength, he was unable
to accomplish something in order to be healed. He had no strength. He's at the pool of Bethesda
in Jerusalem. And we find that this man is
sitting at this particular pool because at a certain season,
the angel would come down and trouble the water. And if one
could get into the pool at the troubling of the water, he would
be healed. And Christ looks at him. And he says in verse seven
of John, chapter five, the impotent man or verse six, I'm sorry,
when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time
in that case, he said unto him, will thou be made whole? The
impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man when the water
is troubled to put me into the pool. But while I am coming,
another step down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take
up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man was made
whole, took up his bed and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath
day. He asked him this question, wilt
thou be made whole? What is the impotent man's response
to that? The impotent man didn't know
who he was speaking to, did he? He didn't know that that was
God that he was talking to. There's no way he could have
known that unless the Lord would have revealed it to him. But he said, sir,
I have no man. What's his confession? It's the
same confession as every believer. I have no hope in myself. And
I have no hope in another other than the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is our only hope. He's saying, I'm without strength.
I'm impotent. And I have no one that can cause
me to enter into the pool. No one can help me do this. I
have no man. What did the Lord say? Rise,
take up thy bed and walk. Is that your hope? Is that your
hope, that the Lord would come to you where you are in your
impotent state, dead in trespasses and in sin, and say unto you,
wilt thou be made whole? We're dead. We can't even respond
to that, can we? And yet he says, rise, take up
thy bed and walk. And immediately he was made whole.
Immediately. If the man has no hope of a man
helping him and he has no hope of getting into the pool, why
is he sitting there? Think about that. Why would this
man sit there if he has no hope of getting in the pool and no
hope of somebody helping him? Because he thought maybe one
day, maybe one day I'll get in the pool first. Maybe. It was
the only place that he could have hope in, wasn't it? Is that
not true? Do you know why you keep coming
here and We are alike in this regard. The only time that we
believe that we're believers is when we're sitting under the
sound of the gospel saying, truth, Lord, truth, Lord. And even then,
if we were to ask, you would say, I hope so. I believe what
he's saying, but I hope I'm one of his. That's what we say, isn't
it? So why do we come here? Because this is the only place
where the water is troubled. This is the only place that Christ
passes by. That's why that man was sitting
there. That was the only place that he could hope in. This is
what we hope in, isn't it? This place where the Lord said,
here, I will meet with you. Place where his gospels declared.
That's why we come here, to hear him. Now look in verse 16 with
me. Therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things
on the Sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, my father worketh
hitherto and I work. Therefore, the Jews sought the
more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. Now, we've been made to know
and love the Lord's law, because we see Christ as the fulfillment
of that law, don't we? We know that Christ is the Sabbath.
He told the people, I am Lord of the Sabbath, Christ Jesus,
He is the Sabbath that we rest on. That's what our hope is,
is that He, that the Father rested on the Lord Jesus Christ, worked
for His people, and that you and I work on the, we rest on
the finished work of Christ as well, the Sabbath. But yet these
men had their customs, didn't they? They had their righteousness. That's what these customs were
that they were doing. He said, it's unlawful for you to heal
this man. It's the Sabbath day. Christ is the Sabbath day. And
they couldn't see that, could they? See, it's not that we do
something and are saved. It's that God doeth it. God is
the one that must. He must intervene. He must intercept. Men do not want the truth. Men
want to be told what makes them happy. Men want to be, men, women
want to be told what makes them feel good, feel better about
themselves. This gospel does not make you feel good about
your physical wellbeing, does it? It doesn't make me feel good
in my flesh to think I'm doing a pretty good job, yeah, because
of this gospel. No, it strips us of all of our
righteousness. It leaves us completely naked.
It leaves us with no hope other than the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what this gospel does. We want the truth. because we've
been made to know the truth is the only thing that sets us free.
I can give you an example of what
I'm describing. A man was speaking to me about Romans chapter eight,
and I quoted what he said in my notes here. He told me, he
says, that doesn't mean God chose us. Romans chapter eight, he
says, that doesn't mean God chose us. Now I'm gonna read you Romans
chapter eight, not the whole chapter, of course, just a verse
too. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
he called. Whom he called, he justified.
And whom he justified, he glorified. That sounds to me like God does
the choosing, doesn't it? That's crystal clear. And that's
the truth of it, isn't it? If you read that and say, well,
that doesn't mean God chose us. You're denying the truth at that
moment. That's what's happening. Men do not want the truth. Men
will not come to the truth that they may live. Men will not come
to the truth that they may have life. Why? It's revealed, isn't
it? We're made to believe. Lord calls
me again to believe you right now. Calls me this hour to believe
you. Calls me to confess you. Reveal yourself to me again.
I will be made a fool, Lord, but you're the one that's going
to have to do it. It's going to have to be God that doeth
it. God that doeth it. I love the thought that we have
been eternally justified. That's actually a controversial
issue in some churches. It's not a controversial issue
here. God is the one that justified us from the foundation of the
world. He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
We've been justified in God's eyes. eternally. If there's a
time where we're not justified and then we become justified,
then God changes. It's not possible. We've been
justified before time ever began by the person, Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how much the father trusted his son. The Lord said, I will
redeem them. And he's always seen us as justified. We're viewed
as glorified right now. The Lord sees us as glorified,
seated on his right hand. This is the truth of what his
gospel has done. There's nothing left for us to
do. It takes men out of the equation. Takes men out of the equation.
And yet men hate Christ today just as much as they did here.
See, it's not about our purpose. It's about His purpose. It's
not our plan. It's His purpose, isn't it? We've been made to
know that. It's His sovereign will, not our choice. And yet
He tells us in our text, no man can find out the work that God
hath done. Scripture says he shall work
and who shall let him? He shall work and who shall let
him? The Lord doeth whatsoever he will. It is God that doeth
it. I look in verse 37. Then the father himself, which
hath sent me, hath bore witness of me. You have neither heard
his voice at any time nor seen his shape, and you have not his
word abiding in you. For whom he hath sent him, you
believe not. Now understand something, he's
telling us here that the reason that they believe not is because
they don't have the word of God abiding in him. If they would
have had the word of God abiding, if they would have had the faith
of Christ, they would have believed on him. He's saying, I'm not
giving you the word to believe. That's what he's telling them
here. Search the scriptures, verse 39, for in them you think
you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of who?
The Lord Jesus Christ from Genesis to Revelation. It's all about
him. And you will not come to me that you might have life. You will not come to me that
you might have life. I receive not honor from men, but I know
you, that ye have not the love of God in you. The Jews did not
like the fact that Christ, number one, healed an impotent man on
their Sabbath day. Understand it was their Sabbath.
their righteousness. It was what they were cleaving
to as their hope. They were upset that God would
infringe upon their righteousness. I mean, really, that's what happened.
And the second thing that happens is the Lord tells them, here's
why you don't like me doing that. He says, you won't come to me
that you might have life because my word doesn't abide in you.
You won't come to me that you might have life because my love
doesn't abide in you. That's what he's telling them
here. And they did not like this. tried to kill him, but they couldn't. They couldn't kill him. It wasn't
his time. Everything written in this book,
brethren, is because of the successful Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything's been written of
him Men hear this and they want to add to or take away something.
You remember in our text, it says you can't add to it and
you can't take away from it. This is confirmed in Revelation
22 as well. He says, he that adds to the words of the book
of this prophecy, I'll add unto him the plagues that are written
in this book. He that taketh away the words of the book of
this prophecy, I'll take his part out of the book of life. Does
that concern you? Whenever I first read that, especially
being in religion, I thought, okay, well, he means I have to
make sure that I have only this Bible, this particular version
of the Bible. That's the only one I can add to or take away
from it. And then I thought, okay, well, maybe I have to make sure
this or make sure that what is he saying? He's saying, if you
add one thing to the finished work of Christ, the plagues will
be added unto you. If you take one thing away from
the finished work of Christ, your name is not written in the
Lamb's book of life. That's what he's saying. Thanks
be to God, the elect cannot and will not add to or take away
one thing. Why? Because you're kept by the
power of God through the faith of Christ unto salvation, ready
to be revealed at the last time. It's Christ that keeps us. It's
Christ that keeps us. Adding something means Christ
is not enough. He's not sufficient. He wasn't
successful in taking away the sin of his people. And taking
away from something that Christ did is calling God a liar, saying
that you won't take that part, that you don't want that truth.
That's what taking away means. The believer can't do this. By
God's mercy and grace, he has caused his people to say truth,
Lord. Amen. Truth, Lord. Every word
that proceeded out of your mouth is my hope. Every deed that you
did is my only righteousness in standing before the Lord.
All the glory goes to God. God is the one that doeth it.
We've been made to know that he's the only one that can do
it. He's the only one that can save. He's the only one that
did. Otherwise, we're lost, aren't
we? We're lost. Ecclesiastes chapter nine, we're
gonna go back in a minute, but he says, I beheld all the work
of God, that no man can find out the work that is done under
the sun, because though a man labor to seek it out, though
a man labor to seek it out, He shall not find it. Yea, further,
though a wise man think to know it, though a wise man think to
know it, yet he shall not be able to find it. That's the two
that he kept talking about in the first hour. That's the Epicureans
and the Stoics, those who are doing and those who are thinking,
those that are gaining knowledge. He's telling us that a wise man
shall not be able to find it. And the man that labors, he shall
not be able to find it. Men try their best to do those two things
to get to heaven. That's the end goal for men.
They want to get to heaven and it's all vanity. This is the
same exact mindset that's been from the very beginning, even
in the Garden of Eden on. We see that in the sacrifice
of Cain and Abel. We see that man, they present
themselves. What did Adam and Eve do? Did
they come confessing their sin before God or did they put fig
leaves on? They put fig leaves on. That was them working, trying
to cover up their own nakedness. They were trying to have their
own righteousness. It's from the very beginning,
from the very beginning. And this was the same mentality
that's found in the Tower of Babel. Turn with me to Genesis
chapter 11. Now I was studying this, not knowing that my wife was
gonna be teaching the young ladies this morning, the Tower of Babel.
So everybody that has a young lady, make sure to ask them questions
about the Tower of Babel. Hopefully we can be clear and
it's harmonious and what the glorious gospel is here and what
it represents. Now look with me in Genesis 11
verse one. whole earth was of one language
and of one speech and it came to pass as they journeyed from
the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they
dwelt there and they said one to another go go to let us make
brick and burn them thoroughly And they had brick for stone
and slime had they for mortar. And they said, go to, let us
build us a city and a tower whose top may reach into heaven. And
let us make a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face
of the earth, the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see
the city and the tower was the children of men building. And
the Lord said, behold, the people is one. They have all one language
and this they begin to do. And now nothing will be restrained
from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down
and confound their language, that they may not understand
one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad
from thence upon the face of all the earth, and they left
off to build the city. Therefore, the name of it is
called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the language
of all the earth, and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad
upon the face of all the earth. Now, We've heard this story,
this account, probably a lot of us since childhood, and I
had never heard the gospel from this. Well, I guess I wouldn't
have as a child. I wasn't raised under the sound
of the gospel, but I've heard gospel preachers preach on this.
It's a glorious picture of man's self-righteousness. We see that
The very first goal that they had is the same goal that we
started out with in Ecclesiastes. It's heaven. Let us build a city
that reaches unto heaven. That's what they're saying, right?
Let us build us. Let us make us. Let us do this
in our name. Let us get a name, they say.
Not the name of Christ, not honoring glory unto him, but let us do
us. Let us make something for us.
They were the doer of it, not the Lord. Now, I have a question. Is our
gospel the true gospel? If there is one thing that we
must do, that we produce, our gospel is not the gospel. If
there is one thing that we must do to please God, our gospel
is not the gospel. Everything that pleases the Lord
is found in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
required for our salvation Christ Jesus successfully accomplished
it in his life, his death, his burial, his resurrection. Christ
Jesus is all in salvation. Men believe that they must do
something to get to heaven. Men by nature believe they must
do something to please God. This is what is represented here
by the men getting bricks together. They're getting man-made bricks
and man-made fire to build this city. I would remind us that
bricks no doubt came from clay. It came from dirt. Where do men
come from? We come from dirt, don't we?
What are they offering up unto God? The works of their hands,
the same dirt that they are. And the Lord said, I'm not pleased
with that. I'm not pleased with the works of your hands. And
what else did they get? They got slime, didn't they? Now I'll remind
us the word slime here is the same word for atonement or covering. The word slime is the same word
pitch that's found in Genesis chapter six, when he tells us
about the covering of the ark, pitch it within and pitch it
without the covering. The atonement, that's what this
word means. So they're taking their own righteousness by the
works of their hands, and they're slapping it together with their
own atonement, not the blood of Christ, and they're doing
it in the Valley of Shinar. The Valley of Shinar is a desert.
You know what happens to slime and to tar in a desert? It melts, doesn't it? It melts,
it would fall apart. It's just gonna, it wouldn't
hold anything together, would it? That is so men in their own
righteousness, isn't it? They've now got bricks that they've
made with their own fire, good bricks. We've got exactly what
we need to get to God. Now let's hold it together with
our own atonement, with our own righteousness. Let's put it together
in this desert, in this place called earth. We're going to
get to God. The Lord says, no, I'll disannoy your government.
I'm gonna confuse your language. I'm gonna confuse your language.
That's exactly what he does. Men would take the dirt of this
earth and make bricks thinking that they're getting to God or
they're working their way to God rather than the rock of ages.
See, we have a sure foundation. We have an anchor of the soul,
both sure and steadfast. We don't come into the Lord with
bricks made with hands, do we? We come declaring that he is
the rock that we must have. He is what we must be standing
on. Scripture tells us there's none holy as the Lord, for there
is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. They didn't come confessing the
rock of ages, did they? They wanted to get to heaven
on their own works. What is our confession? Christ, on Christ,
we're going to sing this in a minute, on Christ, the solid rock, I
stand, all other ground is sinking sand. That's all that it is.
We have to be on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is God that do with it.
It's the Lord that did it. David said, he's pulled me out
of the mire, and he's put my feet upon a solid rock, and he
established my goings, and he put a new song in my heart, even
praise unto the Lord. David said, I was in the miry
cesspool of sin, and God pulled me out of there and put me upon
a solid foundation. We have something to stand on
in a very shaky world, don't we? We have something that's
certain in uncertain times. It could be two titles of messages,
couldn't it? Something certain in an uncertain time. Christ
Jesus is that something certain. He is that sure foundation. He
is that rock. He is that rock that we stand
on. Lord's people are not trying to make bricks. We're not trying
to work. That's what that represents. The making of bricks is they're
working. We are resting on Christ the rock. Our only hope is the blood of
Christ. Other men may take the blood
of Christ and say that it's plus something or minus something,
but it is only the blood of Christ that is our confession before
the Lord as his people. Why is that? Because he's made
us to confess that it's by his blood alone. Did you know that
there's 4,000 different religions in the world? This is by Google
now. You just take it for what it
is. You know, everything's true on the internet, right? 4,000 religions
is what Google popped up. Now, I don't know how true that
is, but that's a lot of different languages, isn't it? That's a
lot of different men and women saying that this is how you get
to heaven. This is how you have a utopia. This is how you live
eternally, perhaps, or this is how you have a happy life. 4,000
different, that's a whole lot of different flavors, isn't it,
for certain? Men will try one and it may not please them, so
they'll go to another one. Men will find one that they like
and they will stay in that religion until they die, unless the Lord
causes them to see that it's not by religion. There's one
religion and it's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
what he declared. All these things are is confused
language. Men are not speaking what God
speaks. Do we see that? That's what he means when he
says, I confuse their language. He left them to their self to
do whatever they wanted to do. They weren't confessing what
God confesses. That's what he requires. That's
what he requires. He required the impotent man
to say, I have no man. Will thou be made whole? Yes. Yeah, I would be made whole,
but I have no man. I have no confidence in my flesh. I have
no help from another man. This is an issue that God must
take care of. God must be the doer of it. Or
I have no hope. That's what he was confessing.
And that's what you and I confess. Everything else is confused language.
There's only one faith. There's only one Lord, and there's
only one baptism. We've been made to believe that,
haven't we? There's not 4,000 ways to God. There's only one
faith. There's only one Lord, and there's only one baptism.
There is only one salvation, and Christ Jesus successfully
saved his people. There is no common ground unless
it's upon the Rock of Ages, unless it's upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no common ground with others. I found this interesting, and
I don't even remember how I came across this, but there is literally
a religion called Confucianism. Confucianism. And I thought,
well, that's appropriate. It's an ancient Chinese belief,
which focuses on the importance of personal ethics and morality.
It's an ancient Chinese religion belief that focuses on the importance
of personal ethics and morality. Is that not the same message
that's preached in every Baptist church all over? I mean, it is.
Think about it. Men preach ethics. They preach
morality. They preach Christian living.
They preach living for Jesus, leading a life that's pleasing
unto God. I would remind us it is impossible for you to live
a life that God is pleased with. What do I mean by that? Meaning
that if you're looking at your life, the way that we live as
our righteousness before God, it's all vanity. What does the
Lord please with? The life of Christ. So how do
I live a life that's pleasing unto God? Looking unto Jesus. Is that not the truth? That's
how we live a life. That's the only way. That's the
only thing the Lord is pleased with is us being caused to look
unto Christ. Men that are in the flesh cannot
please God. Men are confused, aren't they?
Men are confused. We were confused, were we not?
The only thing that prevents you from being confused is the
truth. Did you know that? Everything else, all lies, it
doesn't reveal truth. It's confusion, isn't it? That's
all a lie can begat is another lie, is another lie. Whether
it's a white lie or a black lie or whatever color lie that it
is, it's still gonna be confusion, isn't it? The only thing that's
going to set you free, the only thing that's gonna set us free
is the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it. Everything
else is confusion. The truth is we are dead. We
must be made alive. We are empty and we must be filled.
We are broken beyond repair. We cannot fix ourself. We need
Christ. We require Christ to fix us.
We have no man. We have no trust in ourself.
We have no hope in ourself. And the gospel comes and says,
wilt thou be made whole? Lord, if I am to be made whole,
you're gonna have to be the doer of it. That's exactly what Ezekiel
said, wasn't it? The Lord said, can these bones
live? Lord, thou knowest, if they're gonna live, you're gonna
have to be the one that does it. That's exactly what we believe, isn't
it? The Lord is the doer of it. Now back to our text in Ecclesiastes
chapter three. Ecclesiastes chapter three, look
at verse 14. I know that whatsoever God doeth,
it shall be forever. nothing can be put to it, or
anything taken from it. Do you believe that? If you believe
that, it's because the Lord has made you believe that. There's
no other explanation. Everything that the Lord does,
there's nothing that can be added to it, and there's nothing that
can be taken away from it. That's faith. That's by the grace
of God that we see that. Anything taken from it and God
do with it, that men should fear before him. That which hath been
is now, and that which is to be hath already been. God requireth
that which is past." God is the one that does it. So we see the
gospel as being this, the Lord requiring perfect righteousness,
the Lord requiring a sinless sacrifice, the Lord requiring
that our sin be paid in full, not a partial payment, but paid
in full. The Lord requires perfection.
The Lord requires holiness. And you and I can't produce anything
that I just mentioned. So what did he have to do? The
Lord Jesus Christ became a man. robed in flesh, God became a
man, and the Lord took our sin unto himself, and on the cross,
he put away the sin of his people. That is our hope. Now, you and
I cannot add one thing to that, and you and I cannot take away
anything from that, and you and I don't want to, do we? We're
hoping to be made partakers in that. That's our only hope. Lord,
make me a partaker of your grace. Lord, make me a partaker of your
blood, your redemption, your salvation. Lord, you're the one
that has done it. You're the doer of it. And we
bow to that, don't we? Anything else is just confused
language. If there's anything to be done in salvation, God
must be the doer of it. And we have been made to believe
that. Christ did it all. Now in closing, I want to tell
you the account of Joseph. It's a beautiful picture of what
the Lord has done for his people. We may turn there, I'm not certain
yet, but Joseph was the 11th son born into Jacob and he was
born by Rachel. I would remind you that Jacob
worked to marry Rachel from Laban for seven years and was tricked
on his wedding day thinking he had married Rachel. But because
the ceremony was going into the tent in the dark, he didn't realize
that it was Leah, not Rachel till the morning came and now
he's married to Leah. So what happened? He had to work
another seven years, didn't he? In order to get Leah, in order
to get Rachel. And he did. And the Lord shuts
up Rachel's womb and she can't have children. Finally, the fullness
of time came according to the Lord's providence and beautiful
mercy and grace. And she bore a child named Joseph.
You can imagine how much Joseph was esteemed above his peers,
and you can see it in the scripture plainly. His father made him
a coat of many colors. Understand, it wasn't like going to Walmart
back then and picking up a coat on the shelf or getting different
dyes and things like that. They had to make the colors back
then. So a lot of effort had to go into this coat to begin
with, just in the colors. And so what happened? The brothers
became jealous naturally, didn't they? They became jealous and
they wanted to kill him. Thankfully, whenever they put Joseph in a
pit and they sold him into slavery, they weren't allowed to kill
him. And it wasn't because somebody
stood up and said, hey, let's not kill him. That happened,
but it was God's providence, wasn't it? If the Lord would
have left him to himself, every one of them would have killed
Joseph, wouldn't he? Just like everyone, Think about this. If we would have been there the
day that our Lord was crucified, do you think we would have cried
out to have mercy upon him? Not unless the Lord gave us the
grace to do so. We would have been screaming
crucifying like the rest of them. See, we hate, by nature, we hate
everything about God, by nature. And only the Lord can cause us
to love him and to love his law and to love his gospel. He must
do that. Joseph's a picture of that, isn't
he? Being sold into slavery. Christ was sold for 30 pieces
of silver. Joseph was sold for 20 pieces. Now it was about 1300
years in between the two. So I guess inflation may be pretty
close to being the same price. It's a picture of the Lord being
sold, wasn't it? Picture of the Lord being sold.
And so what happens? He goes down to Egypt and he
finds himself the servant of Potiphar. Potiphar is a captain
of the host of Pharaoh. He's a very powerful man in Egypt. And we see that the Lord calls
his Joseph to be exalted. The Lord allows Joseph to have
good favor in Potiphar's eyes, and Joseph takes care of the
business of Pharaoh, and I'm sorry, Potiphar, and tends to
his needs as his servant. And then we see that Potiphar's
wife sets her eyes on Joseph, doesn't she? Potiphar's wife
sets her eyes on Joseph, and Joseph doesn't concede to that,
doesn't consent, should I say, and so therefore she lies upon
Joseph, and Joseph's cast into prison, cast into prison. What's
that a picture of? That's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ being innocent, being innocent until he drank
of the cup of our sin before God, before his father. And what
happened? Joseph is now in Egypt, separated
from his father, just as Christ was separated from his father.
And it was our sin that caused him to be forsaken. It was our
sin that separated him from his father. So that it pleased the
Lord to bruise him, Why? Because he was putting away the
sin of his people. He was honoring the covenant
of grace. He was fulfilling salvation. He was accomplishing salvation
for his people. That's what Joseph being in the
prison represents as the Lord. The scripture says, as Jonah
was in the belly of the well three days and three nights,
so shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three
nights. We see that the Lord went to hell for his people on
the cross, didn't he? And that's what it represents,
Joseph being cast into prison. Now, I was gonna see whether
we had time or not. I believe we do. Turn to Genesis
chapter 39 with me. Last place we'll turn. Look at verse 21, Genesis 39,
21. But the Lord was with Joseph.
Boy, aren't you? That's I hope that that is what
is said about us. Is that your hope? The Lord was
with Joseph. If the Lord was with Joseph right
then, the Lord was always going to be with Joseph because he
said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you to his people. The Lord was
with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight
of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison
committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the
prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked
not to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was
with him, and that which he did, and the Lord made it to prosper. Now it tells us that the Lord
was with Joseph and had mercy upon him. Do you know the only
way that the Lord can be with you and have mercy upon you is
that the Lord was not merciful unto his son upon the cross,
that the Lord executed his son, his darling son, that whenever
Christ bowed his head upon Calvary's tree, that he said it is finished. The Lord had satisfied his justice
by his son. That's the only way you and I
can have mercy. That's the only way that the Lord can be with
us as he had to forsake his son and he did for his people. We
see Christ entering into this prison and everything that transpired
in the black abyss upon the cross of Calvary. God was doing business
with his son. We see that just it says here
everything that happened in that prison, Joseph was the doer of
it. Christ is the doer of it. God
is the doer of all the things I've been mentioning. Everything
in salvation, God is the doer of it. What does that mean? He
gets all the glory for it, doesn't he? He gets all the glory for
the salvation of his people. God is the doer of it. Everything
that was done was done because of Christ. Christ has conquered
everything, everything for his people. He had gotten the victory. He said, call his name, Jesus.
What should we call him? Call his name, Jesus. You're
gonna have a child. Call his name, Jesus, for he
shall save his people from their sin. The angel of the Lord did
not say he's going to try. He didn't say that, did he? He didn't say he might. didn't
say that. He said he shall save his people
from their sin. God is the doer of it. Christ Jesus saved his people
from their sin. The Lord hath done this work
for his people. We have this affirmation by those
precious words. It is finished. It is finished.
It's done. Everything required