I'll ask you, if you will, to
turn with me tonight to one of the minor prophets, Micah. Micah chapter 2. The only reason
these prophets are called minor prophets is because their prophecies
are not as large as those of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel,
and Daniel. Micah chapter two. This past week I was looking
for a document. I was looking in a filing cabinet
here at the church. And I didn't find what I was
looking for, but I did find a notebook, a loose-leaf notebook, paper,
small piece of paper with this sermon outline. Now, I haven't
used this type of paper in over 30 years, so I know it was an
old outline. What I'm not sure about is whether
it was one that I preached or if I heard someone else preach
this message. The text was Colossians 3 and
verse 11, Christ is all, Christ is all. There's five points,
five points. First, all the scriptures testify
of him. Luke chapter 24 and verse 27,
and beginning at Moses and all the prophets He expounded unto
them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Christ
is all. All the scriptures testify of
him. Second, he is all in the salvation
of God's elect. 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Christ is all. Christ is all
in the salvation of his people. Third, he is all in the hearts
of God's people. He is all in the hearts of God's
people. The psalmist in Psalm 73 and
verse 25 asks this question, whom have I in heaven but thee? And there's none upon earth I
desire beside thee. Christ is all in the hearts of
God's people. And fourth, Christ is all to
be loved. Christ is all to be loved above
all things and all beings. He that loveth father or mother
more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loveth son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Christ is all. And fifth, Christ is all in heaven. Revelation 5 verse 12, worthy
is the Lamb, that was slain to receive power
and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. One wonderful truth among many
about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is it doesn't change. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
8, the apostle said, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and
forever. Christ is the gospel, and the
gospel never changes. That was an old outline. I know
from the piece of paper that it was written upon. And whether
it was mine or someone else's, it was a good outline. Christ
is all. That's the message that I've
tried to preach over all these many years. And by God's grace,
I want to continue to preach that same message. Christ is
all. And praying about the message
for tonight, I kept thinking of this Old Testament type that
we find here in Micah chapter two and verse 13, the breaker,
Christ the breaker. Notice in verse 13, the breaker
is come up before them. They have broken up and have
passed through the gate and are gone out by it. And their king
shall pass before them. and the Lord on the head of them. I preached from this verse once
before. I do remember that because I
remember bringing a message after we had gone to the IMAX theater
for the first time down at the museum, down on Fannin or Main
Street, the museum there. A big screen, I've never seen
anything like that, a movie, a film on a screen like that. I mean, it's high, it's tall,
right? You've seen it, you've been there. And when the film began, it began
with a bang. It began with the light, the
film on the screen, and the surround sound, and it was a sound of
crushing. crushing, breaking, breaking. And as we realized what it was,
it was a ship, a ship that was designed, the United States Navy,
I believe it is, had this ship, several of them probably, but
a ship designed to break through the ice on the way to the North
Pole. The breaker, it was so impressive
to me. the film and the sound, and I
thought, well, I know the scripture speaks about Christ as the breaker. And then recently in reading
John Gill's chapter in his body of divinity on the ascension
of Christ when the Lord Jesus, after his crucifixion and resurrection
and after he appeared to his disciples for 40 days, showing
himself alive, as the scripture says, by many infallible proofs,
he ascended into heaven. And John Gill used this verse
and this type speaking about the ascension of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So for a few minutes tonight,
I want to bring to us some ways that Christ may be pictured in
type as the breaker, the breaker. First, In the fullness of the
time, Christ broke forth from the virgin's womb. In the fullness
of the time, God sent forth his son, made of a woman. In the
fullness of the time, Christ broke forth from the virgin's
womb. He broke forth in a very miraculous
way. Never happened before, never
happened since. When you open your Bibles and
begin in Matthew chapter 1, reading the first chapter there that
speak of the birth of our Savior, we have that genealogy, the genealogy
of Christ. And it's up through Joseph's
lineage. And we know it goes all the way
to Abraham there in Matthew chapter 1. And as you go through the
genealogy before you come to Abraham, and he's the top on
the list, you come through Ferris, Judah, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham. Ferris, Judah, Jacob, Isaac,
Abraham. The name Ferris, P-H-A-R-E-Z,
the name Ferris comes from the root word here, which is translated
breaker, breaker. In the fullness of the time,
the Lord Jesus Christ broke forth into this world from the womb
of the virgin. Now I want you to look back with
me for just a moment to Genesis chapter 38. And we read here
of the birth of this man, Pharis, Genesis chapter 38. Verse 29,
Genesis chapter 38 and verse 29. Now Rebecca is pregnant, not Rebecca, Tamar. Tamar is pregnant with twins. She's pregnant by Judah. And the scripture here says in
verse 29, and it came to pass as he drew back his hand, that
he is the first boy. She has twins. Let's look in
verse 27. Came to pass in the time of her
travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. And it came
to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand. And the midwife took and bound
upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. And it came to pass, as he drew
back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out, and she
said, How hast thou broken forth this breach be upon thee? Therefore
his name was called Phares. The midwife was taken aback. She had never witnessed anything
like this before. One child began to be born, but
then the other child, and she marked that first child with
that scarlet thread, but then Surprisingly, the second child
was born first. He broke forth. That's what she
said, wasn't it? How hast thou broken forth? That was it. He came forth from
the womb first. Midwife, she was astonished.
She never witnessed anything like this before. How could this
happen? Remember what Mary asked the
angel when the angel told her that she was going to have a
son. She asked the same question, how shall this be? Saying, I
know not a man. Mary, of course, was a virgin. She had never known a man. She
asked, how shall this be? seen I know not a man. And the
angel told her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Now listen, therefore that
holy thing, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God. That body and soul which was
prepared wasn't a person until he was united, that body and
soul was united to the eternal Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is not two persons. He has two natures. And that's
the reason for that word thing here. That holy thing which shall
be born of thee. It was a person when it was united
to God the Eternal Son, God coming into this world as a man. The breaker, the Lord Jesus Christ,
broke forth into this world of sin, and He broke forth into
this world of sin. Remember this on a mission. Remember
that show, Mission Impossible. They used to get their instructions,
you know, and then the instructions would somehow burn up or something.
I can't remember all of that. Mission impossible. Well, I tell
you what, for only a man, if the Lord Jesus Christ had been
only a man, then He would have been on an impossible mission. But because He is more than man,
He's God man. He came into this world on a
mission and nothing, nothing could deter him from accomplishing
the work which the father had given him to do. What a, what
a prayer. When the Lord God, the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking to his father said, father, I have finished
the work. which thou gavest me to do. What
was it? I have glorified thee on the
earth. We have all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He
finished the work, and in that work He glorified the Father. He broke forth in the fullness
of the time from the womb of the virgin. At his appointed hour, Christ
broke through all the enemies of his people. You know, the
cross was not an afterthought. It wasn't plan B. I've read some
men who, in fact, this past week, I read some men or after some
men who were teaching on eschatology, the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And actually said that if the
nation of Israel had accepted Christ as their king, then he
would not have needed to go to the cross. You just wonder how
anyone can read the Bible and teach something like that. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says, he's a lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. And the purpose of God, there
was a Savior provided before there was an actual sinner. Before
Adam sinned in the garden, there was already a Savior. But we
know that in the fullness of the time, He came forth, made
of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem us from
the curse of the law. And as you read through the Gospels,
you find on several occasions the Jewish leaders, along with
the people, would have destroyed Christ. But His hour was not
yet come. That's the way it's recorded
in John. His hour was not yet come. When the Lord Jesus Christ returned
to Nazareth after His baptism, you remember He went to the synagogue
there in Nazareth and they gave him the scroll of the book and
he began to read, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because
he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. And then
he illustrated the truth of God's sovereign grace by those two
examples, the example of the widow and the example of the
leper. And what was the response, what
was the reaction of those who at first had marveled This is
what the scripture says, right? They had marveled. We've never
heard anyone, the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
But when he showed by example, God's sovereign grace, that God
passed over all the widows of Israel and sent his prophet to
a Gentile widow. God passed over all the lepers
in Israel. and sent his prophet to a Gentile
leper. The people, what was their response?
Their hill, the scripture says their city was built on a hill
or a cliff, and they wanted to push him off. They wanted to
destroy him. But he passed through the midst
of them. But when his hour did come, remember, the scripture
says he set his face like a flint. to go to Jerusalem. When his
hour did come, he broke through all the enemies of his people. And when he cried there on the
cross, it is finished, he broke through. He had routed, he had
defeated, he had destroyed all the enemies of his chosen people. So much so that the apostle Paul
was able to write Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that
died, yea, rather, that is risen, who is even at the right hand
of God. Who is he that condemneth? It
is God that justifieth. The Apostle Paul tells us that
at that time, at that point, he spoiled principalities and
powers He made a show of them openly triumphing over them in
it. He broke down that middle wall
of partition. You read about this in Ephesians
chapter 2, don't you? Those Gentile nations like you
and I, Gentiles, far off from God. And that wall of separation
was the law, the ceremonial law, the law that God had given to
Israel at Mount Sinai. kept them separate until the
promised seed came. And the Lord Jesus Christ broke
down that wall of separation. He's the breaker. He broke down
that wall of separation. And now Jew and Gentile, there's
not two churches, there's not two bodies of Christ, a body
that's made up of Gentile believers and a body that's made up of
Jewish believers. No, we're all one in Christ. He's the head of his body. He
broke down the metal wall of division between Jew and Gentile,
and he did that, as Paul said, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross. He fulfilled the law as the servant
of Jehovah, Isaiah chapter 42, the prophecy was, he shall make
the law honorable. How did he make God's law honorable? First of all, just because he
was made under the law. He became subject to the law.
And just who he is, the God-man mediator, he made the law honorable. but he made the law honorable
also in his obedience to the law. Do you ever think about the fact
that that obedience, that righteousness, that's what he was doing. He
was establishing righteousness. He was bringing in an everlasting
righteousness by his perfect obedience. That righteousness is your righteousness. If you are a believer in Christ,
if you know Him tonight as your Lord and Savior, that perfect,
absolute obedience, that's your obedience. So much so that the
Apostle John said, as He is, how is He? The Holy Son of God at the right
hand of the Father as He is. So are we. He doesn't say so
shall we. So shall we be as He is. Right now, tonight. Accept the
Holy Son of God as He is. So are we in this world. At His appointed hour, Christ
broke through all the enemies of His people. And third, at
his resurrection, he broke through the gate, the bars of death. As this text here in Micah tells
us, the breaker, Christ, has come up from before them. They have passed through the
gate and gone out of it. We think of Peter, that night
he was asleep in the jail, prison. Herod had already put to death
James. He was going to slaughter Peter. Peter's over there in prison
wringing his hands, isn't he? Oh, what's going to happen to
me? What's going to happen to me? No. He was asleep. He was asleep. And the angel
came and had those two guards he was chained to. The chains
fell off. The angel opened the gate. Peter and the angel went out,
and they came to another gate, and the gate opened up. Peter
went out, and he thought he was dreaming. The Lord delivered
him from the prison cell. The Lord Jesus Christ, he was
in the prison of the grave for three days. But he broke out. I thought, maybe I should speak
about this as a prison break. the greatest prison break of
all time. When they laid his body down
in that tomb, rolled that stone upon it, sealed it, we're through
with him. We'll never see him again. We'll
never have to worry about him again. Well, on that first Sunday
morning, when they went out to the grave site, the stone was
rolled away. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
gone. He had broken out. He had walked
out of that grave. And you know, in Matthew's gospel,
in Matthew chapter 27 and verses 50 through 53, we read these
words. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
on the cross, Matthew says, Jesus, when he cried again with a loud
voice, You've probably maybe been alongside
someone who was leaving this world, and usually their voice
is very, very soft, very difficult to hear. Sometimes you try to
lean down and hear their last words. The Lord Jesus Christ,
he cried out with a strong voice, yielded up the ghost. He dismissed
his spirit. No man taketh my life from me.
I lay it down of myself, he said. But Matthew tells us this happened.
When the Lord Jesus cried with a loud voice and yielded up the
ghost, the graves were opened. He tells us the graves there
around Jerusalem were opened. And many bodies of the saints
which slept arose. and came out of the graves. But then he tells, he qualifies
that by saying after his resurrection, the graves were opened when the
Lord Jesus Christ cried out, it is finished. But those bodies
of the believers, the saints that were buried there, they
didn't come out until after his resurrection. Because you see,
he's the first fruit of them that slept. And he shall have
the preeminence in all things. But after his resurrection, after
he broke through the bonds of death, They appeared, they went into
the city and appeared unto many. Christ the breaker broke out
of the prison of the grave on the third day. And that prophecy
of him in the book of Hosea, he fulfilled. Oh, death. Death is a ugly thing, isn't
it? It really is. It's the death
of an animal. It's an ugly thing, as far as
I'm concerned. O death, I, who's I? The breaker. I will be thy plagues. I'm going
to take care of you. O grave, I will be thy destruction. Who's going to destroy? the grave,
the breaker, the breaker. And then fourth, at his ascension, the disciples were there with
him. And the scripture says, as they
gazed up into heaven, he was taken up from them. And you know,
the scriptures speak of the prince of the powers of the air. And
we can just imagine tonight as the Lord Jesus Christ broke through
those powers, those demon forces through the legions of devils
on His way to the right hand of the Father. And as our text
here declares, the Lord, notice that the Lord on the head of
them, or at the head of them, There goes a mighty host ascending
up, breaking through those demon powers and forces, breaking through,
and Christ at the very head. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord! The Lord, mighty indeed. He has taken possession of heaven. He's the forerunner. The scripture
refers to him in Hebrews chapter six as the forerunner. He's taken
possession of heaven for himself and for you and for me and for
all of his people. And just as sure as he's there
tonight, one day by the grace of God, all of his people, we
too shall be there with him. and fifth and last. At his return,
he will break through the heavens to receive his own. We look forward
to that day. We sang about it just a few minutes
ago. Christ returneth, hallelujah. Christ is going to come again.
This same Jesus, this is what the angels told his disciples
that day when he was taken up from them, this same Jesus, which
is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner
as you have seen him go into heaven. That's the blessing hope
that every child of God that we have tonight, that he is going
to come again. Let's read about it in 1 Thessalonians
chapter four, and we'll be through. 1 Thessalonians
chapter four. Beginning with verse 13. But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep. That is,
concerning believers who have already passed away. Paul said,
I wouldn't have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which
are asleep. Now their soul is not asleep,
you know that. Their bodies sleep in the grave,
turned back to the dust. But their soul, to be absent
from the body, is to be present with the Lord. But you sorrow not, even as others,
which have no hope. We have a hope tonight. Christ
is our hope. He's the breaker. He's the one
who conquered sin, Satan, and death. For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus
will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not precede or prevent them which
are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words. And what is our response? Even
so, Lord Jesus, come. Amen. Amen. We're going to sing
hymn number 269, Under His Wings. Number 269, Under His Wings.
Let's stand as we sing.