The Three Robes of Christ

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

If you would, open your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 27. Gospel according to Matthew chapter 27.

00:07

This is first in the New Testament record in our Bibles. We're in Matthew chapter 27.

00:17

Actually, I want to start today in verse 15 and read through verse 31. So as you get there, we've been doing an expositional working through the

00:26

Gospel according to Matthew verse by verse. And we chose this particular

00:31

Gospel because this particular Gospel is so filled with references from the

00:38

Old Testament revelation. In particular, Isaiah, that is so much in the back of Matthew's mind.

00:44

Obviously, it's his narrative of what took place in the life of Christ, his ministry, his life, his death, his resurrection and ascension.

00:52

But there is behind this Gospel, this Gospel record, the eyewitness account we have here, there's behind it the

01:01

Old Testament revelation, rich in Old Testament revelation. In particular, of course, Isaiah.

01:07

So we are in Matthew 27. We'll start in verse 15. Hear now the word of the living and the true

01:13

God. Now at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted.

01:20

And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered,

01:25

Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas or Jesus who is called

01:31

Messiah. For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.

01:37

Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, Have nothing to do with that righteous man.

01:46

For I have suffered much because of him today in a dream. Now the chief priest and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy

01:54

Jesus. The governor again said to them, Which of the two do you want me to release for you?

01:59

And they said, Barabbas. Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called

02:05

Messiah? They all said, Let him be crucified. And he said,

02:11

Why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, Let him be crucified.

02:18

So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying,

02:28

I am innocent of this man's blood. See to it yourselves. And all the people answered,

02:35

His blood be on us and on our children. Then he released for them

02:40

Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers of the governor took

02:46

Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him, and they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.

02:54

And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying,

03:03

Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.

03:08

And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

03:16

Thus far is the reading of God's holy and inspired Word. Let's pray as God's people. Lord, thank

03:24

You for Your Word. Thank You for the gift of Your Word. Thank You, Lord, for Your revelation to us.

03:29

Thank You, God, for what You've done in history to save Your people from their sins.

03:36

Lord Jesus, we are so humbled and grateful. Lord, as we read this record to us from You, we're humbled to think about what

03:46

You endured for us. And Lord, we can't help but reflect on the incomprehensible nature that You did it for the joy set before You.

03:57

It was out of Your great love for us. Lord, You know our names and You endured all of this horror and trauma for us, for me.

04:10

And so, Lord, we give You glory. We praise You. Please bless the proclamation of Your Word today by Your Spirit.

04:16

May everyone forget me and remember You and what they've learned from Your Word. In Jesus' name, amen. This is a powerful moment.

04:24

So this is sort of a part two of what we did before, but I wanna expand more because I truly believe that what's in the text before us, if you look at the gospel witnesses, when you're looking at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you have eyewitness accounts of the life and the ministry, the death, the resurrection, the ascension of Jesus.

04:42

All of this, again, was no novelty in history. It was what was expected. God had promised all this was gonna take place, not just with direct prophecy, but with layers and symbol.

04:53

God pointed towards this time in history where He'd save His people from their sins. And you have these multiple witnesses in the historic apostolic record of the life and the ministry of Jesus, multiple witnesses, oftentimes talking about the same thing, but maybe one gives more details.

05:11

Maybe one leaves a particular portion out because it's not really what they're aiming at. But when you pull them together, you get this glorious story, and this is the revelation of God.

05:20

When we think about what is before us, these are not the words of mere men. Yes, men wrote this, but they spoke and they wrote these things as they were carried along by the

05:31

Holy Spirit of God. What you have in your hands is revelation from the one and only true and living

05:38

God. This is God's story in history. And what I find entirely remarkable about this particular moment, just this one piece of the passion of Christ and His trial and the beating and the crucifixion, just this one piece, if you look across the multiple accounts of the eyewitness record of the scene here in history, you have different elements that are portrayed.

06:03

And we talked about this. In Matthew, in this one moment, you have Jesus as He's being beaten by this battalion of soldiers, 600 men.

06:16

600 men. I mentioned that none of the cinematic portrayals of this moment are even close to correct, right?

06:25

I mean, if you think about it, if you've even seen the movie, The Passion of the Christ, in the moment of the beating of Jesus, if you watch that scene,

06:33

I'm not trying to promote the movie, but just in terms of what happens, if you watch that scene, you can see just they don't have the ability,

06:40

I mean, with the actors and cinematography, even in that moment, to really display the horror of this moment.

06:46

600 Roman soldiers who kill and maim for a living are giving

06:51

Jesus this beating. But Matthew's account, Matthew emphasizes the fact that Jesus is wearing what color robe?

07:00

He's wearing a scarlet robe. But if you look at the other Gospels, people have tried to say, and I stressed this last time, they tried to say there's an inconsistency in the eyewitness accounts.

07:11

Well, the first thing I would say is that in eyewitness accounts about an event, you would expect, if they're being honest and not merely copying off each other, differences in terms of that moment of observation, the angle of observation, those sorts of things.

07:26

But people have tried to allege that there is a discrepancy between the Gospel witness because in Matthew's Gospel, Matthew has

07:33

Jesus at a part of the beating by the battalion wearing the scarlet robe.

07:39

But in Luke's Gospel, Luke has Jesus delivered from Herod back to Pilate, and he's wearing a white robe, obviously to mock

07:48

Jesus. They put a white robe on him. But then in John and in Mark, you have Jesus in a purple robe.

07:55

And in John's Gospel, John specifically mentions that when Jesus is presented to the crowd by Pilate, these are

08:03

Jews now, who are calling for His crucifixion, even though He is innocent, Pilate's washing his hands as a

08:11

Gentile governor in the day, washing his hands, saying, I find no fault in Him.

08:16

I'm washing my hands. This is on you. And the Jews there say, His blood be upon us and our children.

08:22

But John mentions that when Jesus is presented before the people of God, the covenant people of God, Jesus is wearing a purple robe.

08:32

And so in this entire horrible moment, glorious, horrible moment, you have the eyewitnesses giving the accounts of somehow what was taking place in history, the white robe, the scarlet robe, and the purple robe, all that's in the record.

08:52

And what we know about the world, about life, about God, is that God is the sovereign, amen?

08:59

He's truly sovereign over every detail. As a matter of fact, it was the prayer of the early church in the book of Acts, that we've said it so many times before, that you have

09:06

Herod gathered against Jesus. You have Pilate gathered against Jesus. You have the Gentiles gathered against Jesus.

09:12

You have the people of Israel gathered against Jesus to do what? To do whatever your hand,

09:18

God, had predestined to occur. Now they're culpable. They murdered

09:23

Jesus. They wanted to kill Jesus long before this. Multiple times in the record itself, you see that they tried to kill

09:30

Jesus, but it wasn't his time. Jesus said, no one takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord.

09:38

No one has authority over him or his life. It wasn't until God determined now, at this time, this is where it'll take place.

09:47

Now I will allow you to do what is in your heart to do. And we have, of course, this incredible symbolism in the eyewitness record of a white robe, a red robe, and a purple robe.

10:00

I wanna argue that those three different robes, the three robes of the Messiah in this moment in history really tell the bulk of the story of the identity of Jesus, of his work, of what he ought to mean to all of us, because God predestined this moment of trauma, wrath, brokenness, evil, and murder.

10:23

And while they were doing what was in their hearts to do, mock Jesus, God was telling his own story the whole time.

10:33

A white robe, a scarlet robe, a purple robe, that tells so much of the story of Jesus.

10:39

And in particular, it's something that the Jews should have understood. They have the

10:45

Old Testament scriptures. They have the Torah. They have the promises of God, his revelation about Mashiach in history.

10:52

What was he going to accomplish? And here before him, them, they are walking through this moment with so much evil and darkness in their hearts, and yet the entire time, it is screaming the symbols of the

11:06

Messiah right to them the entire time. All the way down to the moment, the powerful moment, and James talked about this this week on the dividing line, that powerful moment where Jesus is on the cross.

11:18

It says over his head that he's the king. He's wearing the very sign and symbol of the curse and the fall itself, thorns, on his head.

11:30

And at that moment when he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? These Jews know their

11:35

Bibles. If they would have just started singing with Jesus, that Psalm, Psalm 22, they would have been singing about the very events that were transpiring in front of them at that very moment.

11:45

There is so much depth and richness here. It is incomprehensible. It truly is.

11:52

And it's hard to even unpack all of this because there's so much here, but I want to emphasize as much as I can the glory of Jesus and his righteousness and his being the sin -bearer and him being the king of kings, the expected king.

12:08

Now, here's what's important. When you look at this, the danger. So often people have been afraid of symbolism in the

12:17

Bible. And why is that? Well, when you think about liberalism of the last century and the liberal school of theology that's been so destructive to the

12:26

Christian faith, you have people who handle the Bible in ways where it is just infinitely malleable.

12:33

They just do whatever they please with it. They'll say, well, I take this, I disregard that. I don't think

12:38

I need to believe this or that. Or they take symbolism and they just make what they want of it.

12:45

But the challenge is this, is the symbolism in Scripture cannot be avoided.

12:51

God is huge on symbol. You can't get away from it. It's just the way that God is and it's what he's given to us.

12:59

Throughout the Old Testament, all of what God gives to them in these rehearsals and practices for the

13:05

Messiah was all rich in symbolism. It's real historic narrative. They really did these things.

13:11

It was actual blood. It was actual atonement. It was an actual solid temple. It was an actual priest.

13:17

It was an actual holiest place. All of that in the day of Passover or on Passover, when that's taking place, there is a real lamb, no spot, no blemish.

13:27

Don't break its bones. There is real blood poured over doorposts. There is real escape from slavery, going into the promised land.

13:34

There's a real wandering in the wilderness, but all of it is rich, rich, rich in symbol.

13:40

God gave them something fixed and hard to touch and to feel and to taste, but it was supposed to teach them a larger story.

13:48

It had more depth to it and they were supposed to understand it. Jesus chastises the disciples on the road to Emmaus for being foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken.

14:01

They should have understood that the Messiah was to be cut off, that He was gonna die for the sins of God's people and then

14:07

He would prolong His days. He would rise again from the dead. They were supposed to understand that.

14:13

And John the Baptist, when he is in his introduction of the Messiah Himself, what does he say?

14:20

He says something that was supposed to immediately connect. He says to the people of God, he says, behold the what?

14:28

Lamb of God who does what? Who takes away the sin of the world. So when

14:34

John the Baptist introduces Jesus, he's not simply saying, look, Messiah.

14:40

He actually goes for the rich depth of meaning in that symbol and he says, behold the

14:46

Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That symbolism is important to God.

14:52

And of course, as I said, as Christians we've been fearful often of people who will go too far with symbolism.

15:00

They'll not allow the symbol to be anchored in what God actually defines.

15:06

Now I wanna say this, we should always interpret the Bible in a way that is glorifying to God. You've learned from your pastors that we should focus on exegesis.

15:15

That means drawing out of the text. What does the text say? Who was the author?

15:21

Who was the original audience? What is the context of this passage? What is the meaning of these words?

15:27

You unpack those things and you compare it to all of Scripture. You let Scripture do the talking.

15:33

That's how you protect yourself from the abuse of symbols in Scripture. But I'm gonna argue that this moment that we have of Christ, the

15:42

Lamb of God, who's taking away the sin of the world, who is coming now to do exactly what he was predestined to do, this moment is filled with rich and deep symbolism about who

15:55

Jesus is. Yes, this is an historic event. Yes, this took place in history. There is no doubt of that fact.

16:02

But God was telling a large story in every heartbeat of this moment.

16:08

And the amazing thing to me is that they're so lost in their sin. They're so full, as Pilate sees here, they're so full of envy and hatred of the

16:17

Messiah that they can't even see what's right in front of their faces. Here is

16:23

Jesus, the righteous one. The governor himself is saying, I find no fault in him.

16:30

He's blameless. He's guiltless. You see to it. They can't even see in the crown of thorns smashed into his head.

16:39

They can't even see in the sign over his head that he's the king. They can't even see in the color of robes that he's being presented in that he is their long -anticipated

16:50

Messiah. Why? It's not that the Scriptures weren't clear. It's that they are so filled with malice and envy and hatred for their own

17:00

Messiah that they missed every part of this. So I want to talk about these three different robes because especially as we go into this new year, especially as we go into the new year, it's very important for us to continue to communicate the truth about Jesus.

17:15

Who is he? Why does this matter? I was having a conversation with somebody recently.

17:22

They were asking the question, what's the point? You know, you'll travel even around our own city.

17:30

You'll see churches with the name of Christ on it and you'll have big rainbow flags and you'll have people who deny the very words of Scripture and they do it every

17:44

Lord's Day. They make a mockery of God's Word. They make a mockery of Christ and the question is, what's the point?

17:52

What's even the point? If you don't believe that this is the authoritative Word of God, why are you pretending?

17:59

Right, what is your message to the world about Christ? Because he had a clear message about himself, a message that was devastating to his hearers, so much so that at times where his crowd grows and it looks like this movement is finally getting somewhere, he makes the crowd disperse by cutting them with words and letting them know that they have to be willing to come to him and to die.

18:24

They have to be willing to let everything go as they follow him as Lord and Savior. He has a very specific message, a message that's exclusive that is so rejected today, a message that is so clear it is incontrovertible.

18:38

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.

18:44

Christ is the only way to salvation. The only way to salvation. If you do not confess

18:50

Christ as Lord and Savior, the Bible says that you remain in your sin and the wrath of God abides on you.

18:57

You will die in your sin apart from Jesus Christ. That was his message. And we live in a day where there's this constant push to muddy the message of the gospel, to compromise on the message of the gospel, to compromise on the message of God's law, and we're reaping the consequences of all of that, dismissiveness about Christ and who

19:17

He actually is. The Bible's very clear about who Jesus is, and you see it in this glorious moment, this painful moment, this awful moment where you have, as I mentioned last time, it seems the whole creation itself is revolting against their

19:36

Creator. Here He is in the flesh, and everybody is revolting against Him.

19:43

And you have this moment where this battalion is beating Jesus, spitting on Jesus, putting a robe on Jesus that they think is mockery.

19:55

And what they didn't understand is that white robe, that scarlet robe, that royal robe, that purple robe, that crown of thorns, and that reed in His hand was

20:08

His glory. It was His glory. They attempted to mock

20:14

Him. What they meant for evil, God meant for good.

20:20

In this moment of the brutalization of the Messiah, they are telling the story of the

20:27

Messiah, unwittingly, of course, filled with malice and envy and hatred and darkness, and they are telling

20:34

His story before the watching world that He is the blameless one. He is the one who is worthy of that white robe.

20:43

He is the one who is the sin -bearer. He carries the sins of God's people.

20:50

God counts Him as the guilty one, and He counts God's people as the righteous because of His righteousness.

20:57

And He is the long -anticipated King of kings, the ruler of the kings of the earth.

21:03

That's who Jesus is. And as we go into this new year that God has given to us, none of us are promised tomorrow, but we have a new year, so praise

21:12

God, amen? Yes, we have a new year. What will you tell the world about Jesus?

21:18

Who is Jesus? Well, a better question to ask is, who are you in Christ?

21:27

Are you His enemy? Are you one who mocks Him? Are you one who does not trust in Him?

21:34

Are you one who compromises on His teachings and His commandments? Or are you the person who bows in need to Christ, confesses

21:43

Him as Lord and King, and obeys Jesus? I'm gonna say that all of, really, earth's history, the story of earth's history, in a way, in a capsule, is summed up in just these three robes testified to in the passion of Christ and what's taking place here.

22:05

He is the righteous one. He is the one who carries the sins of God's people. And He is the one, because of what

22:12

He's purchased, who is actually the King of the world. He's the one with all authority.

22:17

And by the way, this has massive implications. Because if you believe these things about Christ, it has to change you.

22:25

If it hasn't changed you, you should examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith.

22:32

Because all of creation, all of history is not about you.

22:41

It's not about our moments in history. We're gonna come and we're gonna go. It's a vapor.

22:47

It's a vapor. All of history is about Jesus Christ. It's summed up in Him. And I promise you this, the way that this story ends, all of eternity is about Jesus Christ.

22:59

For all of eternity, we'll be extolling the glories of God in the righteousness of Jesus, the fact that He took away our sins, and the fact that He is the one with all authority, and He's the

23:10

King. That's what everything's about. And I'm gonna tell you this, if that story bothers you or bores you, repent and believe the gospel.

23:20

Because God's people see that as the supremacy. They see that as the most glorious story, the greatest story ever told.

23:28

And it's all testified to in just the simple moments. What we see as a simple step in the text.

23:34

Just a little moment about a crown of thorns, a scarlet robe, a reed in His hands.

23:42

It's a powerful moment. So just to talk for a moment about the timeline, because it's important.

23:49

Atheists have a hard time reading the Bible consistently anyways, and so they're always looking for what they say are biblical contradictions.

23:57

But we talked about the timeline last time. We talked about the fact that Matthew 27 -28 says that it was a scarlet robe, that John 19 -2 and Mark 15 -17 say that it was purple, and that Luke 23 -7 mentions

24:12

Herod putting this glorious or splendid white robe on Jesus before sending Him back to Pilate.

24:18

We talked about the fact that Isaiah is so much in the background of Matthew's gospel.

24:25

He's quoting from Isaiah. He's pointing to Isaiah. It's really so underneath Matthew's gospel.

24:32

We talked about scarlet, and how scarlet in history was made from a female insect, and it was actually a color, a dye, that was very, very hard to get out of clothing.

24:43

And when you think about what we all know, that famous verse, though your sins are as what?

24:51

Scarlet, they shall be white as snow. That doesn't mean a lot to us today, because we're not doing a lot of dying of clothing very personally.

24:59

We don't live in that era, in that time period. This is a difficult color to not only make in many ways, but also to get out of clothing.

25:07

So all the more meaning for you and for me when God says in His Word to His people, though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.

25:19

That is a deep, connected dye that is hard to get out. And so God is saying to His people, you know how hard that is to get out?

25:26

Once it's in, it's in. I'm telling you that if your sins are even like that, I will make them white as snow, no stains.

25:36

And just think about even in terms of the color of the robe and the clothing, white is a very, it's a difficult thing to wear, right?

25:45

I mean, how many times, guys, have you worn like a white dress shirt, and you know, and as soon as you put it on, you're walking out the door and you recognize,

25:52

I got a stain on it already, I dropped something on it already. It's so easy to see the mark. It's so easy to see that it was marred.

26:00

You're wearing splendid white, and all of a sudden, a small thing in the air, something dropped, all of a sudden, it stains the shirt for the rest of the day, and it's so obvious, it's so obvious.

26:11

That's why I love wearing black, right? You're not gonna see all the stains, because I dribble and I make mistakes all day long.

26:19

But white is so obvious to see the stain, and that's the point of the color.

26:26

White, pure, blameless, no stains, and that's what that color, that robe of white, is supposed to actually testify to.

26:36

That's what it's supposed to say, but scarlet was that color where God says, though your sins are as scarlet, they should be white as snow.

26:45

In the timeline, we see that the timeline works in Scripture as Luke 23, 11.

26:53

Herod sends Jesus away to mock him wearing a splendid, glorious, white robe.

26:59

He meant it as mockery. It was to his shame and to Christ's glory. And in Matthew 27, we have this moment where there was a moment where the battalion puts a red robe on Jesus, and they mock him with the crown of thorns and the reed in his hands.

27:16

And in John 19, too, we see that Jesus, and 19, 4 through 16, Jesus is actually brought before the covenant people of God, professing

27:25

Jews, and he's wearing the royal colors, the color of royalty, purple.

27:33

It's a powerful, powerful thing to think about, and I wanna talk a bit about Matthew and his drawing from Isaiah.

27:43

We talked last week, last time I spoke, we talked for a moment about the fact that Matthew had already quoted from Isaiah 42.

27:53

This is the promise that, by the way, it's one of my favorite sections of Scripture in terms of our hope for the future and our fight for righteousness and justice in the world.

28:04

It says that the righteous servant of God, he will establish justice in the earth, and he won't grow faint or weary until he has done so.

28:14

That's a process, that's a process. No question about that. It says a bruised reed he will not break.

28:23

A bruised reed he will not break. So this promised Messiah is the one who's gonna establish justice in the world, but he is this humble, quiet Messiah, a bruised reed he will not break.

28:36

That's already been quoted by Matthew, and now Matthew has you in this moment of the beating of Jesus with the crown of thorns, with the robe of scarlet, and he has in his hand a reed.

28:49

They're mocking him. They're mocking him. Rather than this long staff and gold -plated, heavy, beautiful thing that the king would come out with, this scepter, this thing,

29:01

Jesus is given a reed in his hand, and they beat him with the reed itself, not even understanding what they were trying to do to shame

29:10

Christ and to mock him was to his glory. That's the story that God had told about the

29:17

Messiah. It's a powerful, powerful witness, but I want to talk specifically about these colors as we talk about Christ, and we proclaim his gospel, and his excellency and supremacy in the world.

29:30

I wanna just talk about those symbols and that color in Scripture, and what it testifies to about the identity of Jesus.

29:38

Number one, Jesus is sent away with that white robe. Now, this is something that is rich in meaning in the

29:47

Bible. So just a smattering of verses here in terms of not allowing a symbol to be abused, but to say how does

29:55

God talk about this in Scripture? Because a symbol has meaning. God meant something here. It has meaning, but what does it mean according to the

30:03

Bible? Couple verses. Luke 9 .29, and while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming.

30:16

Mark 9 .3, and his garments became radiant and exceedingly white, and no launderer on earth can whiten them.

30:24

So this is an intensely bright white. In Daniel, Old Testament, 7, verse 9, it says,

30:32

I kept looking until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His vesture was like white snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.

30:42

His throne was ablaze with flames. Its wheels were a burning fire. Now from Revelation, but you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

31:00

In Revelation 3 .18, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed.

31:16

Revelation 4 .4, around the throne were 24 thrones, and upon the thrones

31:22

I said 24 elders sitting, clothed in white garments.

31:29

Clothed in white garments. This testimony goes on and on throughout

31:35

Scripture. Revelation 7 .9, after these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the

31:47

Lamb clothed in white robes. Clothed in white robes.

31:53

And palm branches were in their hands. Revelation has a lot of this. Revelation 7 .13,

31:59

then one of the elders answered saying to me, these who are clothed in white robes, who are they and where have they come from?

32:07

On and on we have in Scripture the testimony to this symbol, the meaning of the white robe and righteousness.

32:19

But what's important to note is this specifically. The Messiah who was being presented to Israel had particular marks of his identity that they should have been prepared for and they should have noticed.

32:31

I mean, we've talked many times before but the fact that the Bible actually tells you the identity of Messiah before he even comes.

32:38

Isaiah 9, six through seven, it's El Gabor, it's the mighty God. It's the eternal one who is coming to save his people from their sins and to establish his throne and his kingdom and justice and righteousness forevermore.

32:53

They should have expected the fact that God himself was coming as a son and as a child. His very identity is prophesied in Isaiah itself.

33:02

They should have recognized the Messiah himself was of course gonna be the one who drew the nations up to God's mountain.

33:09

He was gonna be the one who would bring all tribes, tongues, peoples and nations to God.

33:15

They should have recognized that. Yes, of course, but they should have also recognized that the one who was going to have the obedience of the nations,

33:22

Genesis 49 .10, the one who was gonna actually have the offspring of Abraham like the stars and the sand of the sea, this one was also going to be, listen closely, the suffering servants.

33:39

But here's what's important, not just the suffering servants like Israel, suffering under persecution, though they are not truly righteous, they are sinful.

33:50

He was gonna be the suffering servant who was the actual righteous one, who was suffering for the sins of God's people.

33:58

Here's what's clear, listen close to this, it's very important. Israel is called the servant of God in the

34:04

Old Testament. Did you know that? Israel is called the servant of God. If you look in the book of Isaiah, you'll see that, that actually

34:10

God is referring to Israel, the people of God, as the servant of God. But then all of a sudden you get to a passage like Isaiah 53 and we're talking about a servant of God who doesn't actually resemble

34:21

Israel in terms of their sinfulness. And I want you to see something, when

34:27

Herod tries to mock Jesus and he sends him away to finish this horrible trial in a white robe, he was giving to the world testimony as to who

34:39

Jesus actually was. In other words, if the Jews were looking with their Bibles, they should have immediately recognized, this is him.

34:49

This is him. This is who we're expecting. Why? And I want you to have this in your toolbox.

34:55

So go to Isaiah 53, it's a passage we've been to many times before, but as we talk about the colors of these robes and the symbolism that is in place in this moment,

35:09

I want you to see something very important. It's in Isaiah 53, as you get there, remember that this is revelation from God that was laid down long before Jesus' earthly ministry.

35:25

This is revelation from God that's given to us centuries and centuries before Jesus comes.

35:34

We have a record of Isaiah, I've mentioned before, in the Dead Sea Scrolls that you can look at today that predates

35:41

Christ by about 200 years. And this testimony is in there. It's about Jesus.

35:49

But you'll notice something. In Isaiah 53, after all the testimony of him like a root out of dry ground, no beauty or no form or majesty, we should look upon him, it says in verse three, he was despised and rejected by men.

36:09

Despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not.

36:20

Here it is. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

36:28

Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. In other words, they're gonna think that the

36:34

Messiah is dying for his own sins. But what's the text say? But he was pierced for our transgressions.

36:43

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.

36:49

And with his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.

36:55

We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

37:04

Do you see it? He is the righteous one. They were gonna abandon him.

37:11

They thought he was being punished for his own sins. And yet God was laying on him the iniquity of us all.

37:19

Jesus, the truly righteous one, who was carrying the iniquity of God's people.

37:25

What do you see there? You see the white robe and the scarlet robe carrying the sins of God's people.

37:32

It was all right there before them in Isaiah. If they were simply thinking and looking with their

37:37

Bibles, they would have understood. But their hearts were dark and full of envy and malice and evil.

37:44

And so of course, as God promised, they even abandoned him. But I want you to see this particular part about Mashiach and what was promised about him they should have seen.

37:56

It says this, in verse nine, after he's cut off out of the land of living,

38:01

Messiah has to die, very important. Messiah is gonna die, why? For the transgressions of God's people.

38:07

God lays on him the iniquity of us all. It says this, verse nine, and they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man and his death, although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.

38:23

Stop, come back. He had done no violence.

38:29

There's no deceit in his mouth. Now, if you've read Isaiah, something should strike you as peculiar about that.

38:38

Why? Because in Isaiah chapter six, when Isaiah has this famous encounter where he actually is impacted by the holiness of God, this is that famous scene where the angels are saying what?

38:52

Holy, holy, holy. He's the thrice holy God. It's a way of shouting and exclaiming and screaming the holiness of God.

39:03

Holy, holy, holy. What's Isaiah, who gave us this revelation from God, what's his response to being confronted with the

39:14

Holy One of Israel? What's he say about his lips?

39:23

I'm a man of what? Unclean lips. So the one who's confronted with this vision of God's glory and his holiness and all of God's splendor and majesty, he's immediately aware of his own guilt, his own sin, so that he says,

39:41

I'm a man of unclean lips. But what he says about this one who's coming is that he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.

39:56

They should have recognized the entire time that Mashiach was coming to die for the sins of God's people.

40:04

And now it's taking place before them and Herod, this wicked man, puts this splendor and this glorious white robe on Jesus, sends

40:14

Him away to mock Him. And what's he doing the whole time? He's just shouting to the world. He's the righteous one.

40:20

He's the blameless one. He's the one with no spot and no blemish. He's the one taking away the sins of God's people.

40:28

These wicked people, they think that they are thwarting God. They think that they can hurt

40:33

God's Messiah. And what's Psalm 2 say about people who take their stand against God and His anointed?

40:39

What's God do? He has control of every single detail, even down to their envy and malice.

40:49

Their sin only led to God's victory for you, if you know

40:57

Him, if you're in Christ. So, further testimony to the righteousness of Jesus is the very,

41:05

I love this, by the way, I know I've said it a lot, I hope it impacts you the way it impacts me. I think it's amazing that as a matter of record in history, you have testimony to Pilate when he has

41:17

Jesus, right, on trial, and like, what's he guilty of? What's he say? I find no fault in Him.

41:25

So as a matter of record in history, there's a record of the fact that Jesus is actually blameless and righteous.

41:34

Even as they tried to bring together false witnesses to accuse Him and to tell tales out of the schoolyard and lied about Jesus, they couldn't get it to work.

41:43

He was that blameless. He lived His life like that in such a way that they couldn't even get it to work.

41:50

And Pilate has to say, look, you see to it. Pilate's a coward, by the way. He's so afraid of a riot.

41:56

He's so afraid of the mob that he actually says, well, we'll just pervert justice and go ahead and hand

42:02

Him over to the mob, such is the way of this world and the evil of this world and the injustices of this world.

42:10

But I wanna just point out something else. I hope this captures your heart like it does mine.

42:17

If you've been with us through this study, through the gospel according to Matthew, you know that one of the things that I've stressed repeatedly is that Matthew has the

42:26

Old Testament. He has God's revelation underneath this historic narrative.

42:32

And so, of course, he's telling his story, but he knows the backstory. And so that's underneath it all.

42:37

Those themes are all there. And so when Matthew starts his gospel off, how does he start it? He starts it in a way that bores most modern

42:44

Americans. He starts it off with a genealogy that we all skip, right?

42:51

We skip it. Matthew's not gonna skip that. He knows how important that is to the story of God's faithfulness in history, that God promised that he was gonna bring

43:00

Messiah through this particular line. And he says, here's the evidence that this is Jesus' family tree. He has the royal right to the throne.

43:07

And so he starts his gospel right away with Jesus is the king. Let me prove it to you. Here is his ancestry.

43:13

Here's where he comes from. This is his royal right to the throne through Joseph, his adopted father.

43:19

And then he starts telling the story of Jesus in a way that the Jew goes, ah, that sounds like Moses.

43:27

That sounds like Israel. Yeah, really happened in history. But everything that Moses was doing and Israel was doing and the

43:33

Old Testament was telling us about was ultimately summed up in Jesus. And here he is now, presented to the world, walking among us.

43:41

It's powerful. But I mentioned two particular aspects that I just think we cannot miss.

43:47

Don't miss it, because I don't think Matthew wants us to miss it. And that's that Matthew takes you into the journey where John the

43:55

Baptist says the kingdom of God has arrived in history. So what you were expecting about the

44:00

Messiah, that's kingdom of God. It's near. It's right here at the fingertip reach. The rule of God in history.

44:07

Here we go. Here's Jesus. And what's he do? He goes into the wilderness.

44:15

Israel was supposed to be God's servant. And they fail God repeatedly and sin against God.

44:22

They go into a wilderness and they wander for 40, disobedient and sinful.

44:27

How many of them actually got to go into the promised lands? Their sin just prohibits it constantly.

44:35

So as a servant of God, God's chosen, they go into the wilderness and they sin and they wander.

44:41

They fail. They don't trust God. They're not obedient to God. And now enter Jesus. And his story is,

44:48

Matthew says, he's the true and the perfect Israel. Where Israel is unrighteous, Jesus the

44:53

Messiah is the righteous one. When he goes into the wilderness for the 40, what does he do?

44:59

He is obedient. He is faithful. He obeys the Father. He does what Israel didn't do.

45:06

And then of course, Matthew has you on the journey through the ministry of Jesus to a garden.

45:12

And in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus, that perfect Adam, has victory over the trial and temptation that he's enduring in the garden.

45:23

What Adam was supposed to do, Jesus does. He yields to God the

45:30

Father. He yields to him. He obeys him. What Adam was supposed to do, Jesus does. All that's there.

45:36

In other words, Jesus is the righteous one. He's the righteous one.

45:42

Why does that matter? And here's where you have to take pause. Because these can just be all symbols and concepts and you can just, you know, you can check off the boxes as a

45:52

Christian on a theological exam and say yes, white robe, and yes, righteous, and yes, blameless, and yes, pierce through for our transgressions.

45:58

You could do all that, okay. But what does it mean? What's it mean? Well, it means everything.

46:07

Because we are awful. We are.

46:15

And we live in a time where that is especially minimized. Just how sinful human beings are.

46:21

You live in a time where people want to coddle other people, even within Christian churches, in their sin. I can tell you stories that would raise the hair on your neck of counsel given from local pastors to people in adulterous relationships and all the rest.

46:36

Essentially compromising and sort of yielding to the sin and just saying, just let it be. Pastors who are unwilling to even discipline people who are in grotesque, overt, public sin, because they just want to be a community of grace.

46:52

That we miss the glory of the righteousness of Jesus in the first place. What's it even matter? It matters a lot.

46:58

Because here's the important thing. You are going to die.

47:05

You're going to die. I promise. You're going to die. You're going to face God, and so am

47:11

I. And the question is, how will you be standing? You know, it's interesting, because pastoral ministry is,

47:22

I always say, you've heard me say a lot of times, I think, when I have young men, when

47:28

I say young men, I don't mean like 15 -year -olds, but I say 30. Gosh, I'm getting old. Not as old as some people, but I'm getting old.

47:40

No, I agree with you. We should age gracefully and be proud of it. Yeah, I'm trying.

47:48

But I usually tell men who feel like they're called to be a pastor, I usually tell them, don't do it.

47:56

I usually try. And actually, I don't know if I've ever told Pastor James this. Years ago, it was like 2004, maybe,

48:03

I don't know, five, I was listening to Pastor James on the Divine Line. He was talking about how he would tell men who felt like they were called to be a pastor, he would try to talk them out of it and say, if you could do anything else and be happy, do that.

48:17

And I remember that when you said that, I was so mad at you. I was angry. I'm not mad anymore, OK? It was such wisdom, but I was so young and stupid and foolish.

48:27

I was like, he's talking guys out of being pastors. Like, why would you do that? Like, we could have great men in the pastorate.

48:32

He was right. He was right. This is awful from a human perspective.

48:41

If you do pastoral ministry faithfully, it is an all day, every day traumatic experience.

48:50

You go from glory to pain all day, one wave to the other, because you're ministering in a fallen world with God's people who are being sanctified.

49:01

You are dealing with disease. You are dealing with sin. You are dealing with death. I have done now so many funerals that if you ask me how many we've done,

49:13

I don't know how many I've done. I've done funerals for people who were in front of me one day getting counseling, and then the next day they're dead.

49:20

And I'm doing their funeral that weekend. And here's my point in saying this.

49:26

In terms of the righteousness of Jesus and what does that matter, I think now in my life, my own experience, even in pastoral ministry,

49:35

I can see the glory of the righteousness of Christ and what He's accomplished for His people in ways that I could never have understood as a younger man.

49:45

The fact that life is so fragile, it is so fragile, that we are so easily broken, that we are so temporary, right?

49:57

So temporary. The fact that, let's be honest, 200 years from now, 300 years from now, no one's going to be talking about you.

50:06

No one's going to care. Life's going to go on without you. And so what counts in this world and in this life?

50:14

I'll tell you what counts the most, the work of Christ and His righteousness. I was just on the phone last night with somebody that is in danger of death.

50:26

That really will impact you when you have to consider that this person was well one day and then now

50:33

I'm talking to them in the hospital and they're on breathing apparatus and all this stuff and we don't know what the future holds.

50:41

We trust God, but at any moment we'll be taken away. And so here's the question, where are you at with Christ?

50:49

Because that white robe, that righteousness, that blamelessness that He actually is, is what matters the most.

51:00

So have you turned from sin, recognizing that this entire moment of brutality was necessary to reconcile

51:11

God and sinner? That there had to be death, death of a righteous one, a righteous substitute in the place of God's people.

51:23

There are people today who have died outside of the righteousness of Jesus, hiding in His righteousness.

51:32

Died outside of reconciliation and peace with God and they have an eternity apart from God, an eternity separated from God.

51:40

Why? Because they don't have that righteousness that's only provided by Jesus. It's something that the

51:45

Apostle Paul, we talked about when we did our study on Philippians, it's like the most important thing to Paul. When he talks about his resume and all that he's accomplished, he starts talking about his pedigree, like Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised the eighth day, tribe of Benjamin, as to the law of Pharisee and he says all this, it's nothing.

52:05

He says, I want to be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but the righteousness that comes from God through faith.

52:18

What righteousness is that? It's the righteousness that's only provided by Christ, the one who actually wears that right robe, white robe and it's right to put it on Him.

52:28

Next, the three robes of Christ, white, red. I talked already about the fact that we were to see in Mashiach, in the

52:37

Messiah, that he was the one who would carry the sins of God's people. Isaiah 53 clearly testifies to that, that he'd be counted among the rebels, that he would justify the many as he would bear their iniquities, that the

52:51

Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all. Do you catch that? I wasn't quoting the

52:57

New Testament. Here's where I want us to wake up. I was not quoting the New Testament revelation there.

53:04

I was quoting the Old Testament revelation. I was quoting Isaiah 53. That is so clearly

53:10

Jesus, you can't miss it. And by the way, you cannot talk about another person in that way, even in the

53:18

Old Testament. Moses can't take your sins. David can't take your sins.

53:24

Solomon ain't taking anybody's sins. Right? You name your heroes.

53:31

Okay, who else can be a sin bearer? Is it Isaiah? He's a really great prophet. He's already told you.

53:38

I'm a man of unclean lips. You can't even have Isaiah. Name your hero, can't take your sins.

53:44

God can't lay your sins on the Apostle Paul. He wrote much in the

53:50

New Testament, and he's not worthy to take away your sin. Neither is Peter, neither is

53:56

John. So how in the world are we talking about somebody in history that God lays our sin on, who can actually be the righteous substitutes?

54:08

But that's the theme, isn't it? Isn't that the theme of that Old Testament system when

54:15

God was saying, do the temple like this, do the priesthood like this, do the animal sacrifices like this?

54:21

All of it was supposed to basically tell them a story that was gonna fully unfold with Jesus, but they have like blood spilling, violence, violence, blood spilling, death.

54:35

Something has to die as your substitute. That's what the story was saying.

54:41

There has to be bloodshed. There has to be a substitute. There has to be a death in your place.

54:46

For what you've done, something has to die. That's what it was saying to them. Has to be blameless, no spot, no blemish.

54:54

All that was there. And then you have the priest who actually comes and he places his hand on this animal, presses down and he confesses in the sight of all of God's people.

55:03

He's confessing the sin of God's people on this animal, confessing. And they're watching the priest who is confessing the sins of the people onto this scapegoat.

55:13

And then they take that goat and they drag it away from the people of God after the sins have been placed onto that scapegoat.

55:19

They watch that thing go off in the distance away from them as far as the east is from the west and it disappears.

55:25

They watch their sin, what's bearing their sin. They watch it just disappear off in the distance. That whole story was supposed to say something to them.

55:33

And now Jesus, wearing the scarlet robe, carrying their sin.

55:42

It's an incredible thing. That God is so sovereignly in control of every detail that every moment of this is

55:50

God telling His story. Human beings think they're having victory over God and His purposes and God's telling

55:55

His story the whole time. I wanted you to see the testimony of Scripture about what I'm saying about the scarlet robe and Jesus carrying our sins in 1

56:03

Peter 2. Go there, 1 Peter 2. 1

56:12

Peter 2, testimony from the apostle Peter in 2 .24. By the way, this is powerful.

56:25

I don't wanna miss this. I'm gonna go ahead and start 23. I hadn't planned on it, but I want you to see it, how it leads up to this.

56:32

In 23, he says, when He was reviled, this is Peter talking about Jesus on the cross, okay?

56:38

When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten. How?

56:44

But continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. So how does

56:49

Jesus endure all of that on the cross while He's being mocked and reviled? All that's happening.

56:54

Peter gives you divine insight as to what was going on with Jesus. It says that He kept entrusting

56:59

Himself to Him who judges righteously. Take that false accusations. And you remember that, brothers and sisters, when you are falsely accused, in this world you will be slandered, gossiped about when you have false accusations.

57:12

God knows they're false and you know they're false. How do you not revile in return or react?

57:18

You entrust yourself to the one who judges righteously. Jesus perfectly trusts the Father. He knows that He's a just judge and that the

57:25

Father knows the truth. But here, there's more. It says in verse 24, He Himself, Jesus, bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

57:42

By His wounds you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

57:52

Does that sound familiar? Did you catch it? Does that sound familiar? What's Peter quoting from?

57:59

Come on now, show me you're alive and awake. Isaiah what? 53.

58:06

He bore our sins. That's what was taking place in history.

58:12

And Peter knows, Isaiah 53, that was the purpose of Mashiach. He was gonna be the one that bore the sin of many.

58:19

He was gonna be the one that interceded for the transgressors, pierced through for their transgressions. That's who Jesus is.

58:25

But the point is that He's blameless, that He is holy, that He is the righteous one, and He carries the sins of God's people.

58:32

White robe, scarlet robe. The story was all there. And one more verse to have in your toolbox in terms of the testimony about who

58:41

Jesus actually is. 2 Corinthians 5. This is one of my very favorite. Verse 21.

58:50

2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. This is the identity of Jesus. This is who He is. This is what

58:55

He's accomplished. It says, for our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

59:07

In Christ, we have His righteousness. That white robe, that blamelessness that you and I need to have peace with God, to be free from condemnation, that's in Christ and in Christ alone.

59:21

Brothers and sisters, pause here for a moment. That's why the world needs Him because we're all sinful, we're all broken, we are all estranged, we are all rebels, we are all going the other direction.

59:32

Every human being you'll ever cross paths with, everyone is part of God's creation, everyone in the image of God, and everybody needs to be reconciled and have peace with God.

59:44

And God has provided one righteousness, one who can bear the sins of many.

59:53

It's what every person in this world needs the most. Isn't that amazing?

01:00:01

Because in this story, this little moment in the narrative, you have the crown of thorns, the reed, you have the different robes, you have a death taking place, and then you have a resurrection.

01:00:13

And listen, that entire story is everything that every human needs. Why? Because all of us are unrighteous, all of us have stained robes, all of us have sin that needs to be dealt with, and all of us have, are you ready?

01:00:27

An enemy. Death. All of us.

01:00:33

And what does Jesus accomplish in this moment? He is the righteous one who bears our sins.

01:00:40

He has victory over death and he rises again from the dead. It's everything you and I need.

01:00:47

He's everything. Final word here on the purple. I do think that it's powerful, personally, that it's

01:00:58

John's gospel that announces that Jesus is brought out by Pilate before the crowd.

01:01:06

It's like a last -ditch effort by Pilate. Like, here he is, and Jesus, when he's presented before Israel, when he's presented before the covenant people of God who are so envious and so evil and they want him dead, he's wearing purple.

01:01:24

They said that they wanted Mashiach. They said they wanted the king. And here he is.

01:01:30

Here he is presented before them. Here he is, the righteous one, the sin bearer. Here's the king who ultimately is gonna bring all the nations to God and establish justice in the earth and bring redemption and peace and salvation and eternal life.

01:01:45

And Pilate has him coming out wearing purple. He's the king.

01:01:52

White, scarlet, and purple tells the whole story of who Jesus ultimately is.

01:01:59

And what I think is so powerful here in this moment, I think I mentioned this. I may have had a conversation about it.

01:02:05

I think it's so powerful that we live in a world where in politics you have to build a narrative, right?

01:02:15

People have, I did say it last time, people have handlers, right? People have handlers.

01:02:21

People who are supposed to control how things look. So many times, even over the last year, and many of you guys know what

01:02:28

I'm talking about, you'll see even the president, President Biden, you'll see him being protected by his handlers.

01:02:40

When he's making mistakes, they're trying to stop people from seeing the mistakes, where he's forgetting where he's at or what he's gonna say, all the rest.

01:02:49

The handlers are in place to block the media, to control the narrative, why? To make him look powerful.

01:02:57

Now, I'm gonna just say in fairness, that's not just happening to political parties on the left.

01:03:02

That's happening also on the right. You wanna sort of build the narrative, show strength, show professionalism.

01:03:08

You just have to control that, why? Because you have to exhibit authority, professionalism and power.

01:03:15

That's how human beings think, right? You gotta look the part. You gotta look the part, look like you can lead and let you know, have all the answers and that you're strong and you have authority.

01:03:25

Isn't it a glorious thing that when God becomes a man, he goes to the lowest place? That when he's presented as the king in that purple robe and he's shown to be who he truly is, he's broken, he's bleeding, he's been spit upon, he has gone to the lowest place.

01:03:48

I think that is truly one of the great glories of the Messiah is that point there.

01:03:54

That when Jesus comes to win the world, he does so by accomplishing it in such a way that it is stunning to human beings.

01:04:02

It goes against everything we would normally expect of somebody who's trying to be king.

01:04:10

He comes as the one who gives his life as a ransom for the other. He comes to serve.

01:04:17

That is so different. The book of Revelation 17, 14, this is over and over again in the

01:04:25

Scriptures, but chapter one, verses four through five, listen closely because I think this is relevant to what we're doing as a church in the next year in our personal lives and our families or out in the world.

01:04:36

When we talk about the authority of Christ and his kingship, I am really gonna end on this.

01:04:44

That's offensive. This is important.

01:04:52

Christ goes from righteous, sin -bearer king, dies, rises again, ascends and is seated on his throne.

01:05:03

And through the rest of the New Testament, what do you see about Christ? All authority in heaven and on earth given to Christ.

01:05:10

He's the king of kings. He's the Lord of lords. He has all authority.

01:05:16

And get this, in Revelation, he is the ruler of the kings of the earth. That's who

01:05:23

Jesus is now. He's no longer that weak, fragile, newborn.

01:05:35

He is no longer that one who is capable of being beaten and betrayed.

01:05:41

Jesus is now the promised king on his throne, ruling and reigning, making his blessings flow as far as the curse is found.

01:05:52

He is the one now who is bringing his dominion and his salvation and rule to the ends of the earth.

01:05:58

And you and I, if you know Christ, are part of that story. If you're a believer in this room today, you are clothed in Christ's righteousness.

01:06:07

He has taken away your sin. He counts you as righteous, and he was counted as the guilty one.

01:06:14

And he is the ruling and reigning king today, which means when we go out into the world today as believers, we go out with the confidence that we are the ones who are ambassadors, who are going into the world with the message of the king, calling the world to repentance and faith.

01:06:32

Not in a vague way, not in a compromised way, not in a half -Christian way and a half sort of conservative way.

01:06:39

We have to be Christian through and through. Jesus said what? Whoever is not with me is what?

01:06:46

Against me. That's how Christians are called to go into the world. Not with one foot under Christ's rule and one foot still in the world.

01:06:54

We are called to be ambassadors of Christ and to call the world to repentance and faith and obedience to Jesus.

01:07:01

When you think about what that color purple meant, it meant that he was king, not just king over Israel, king over the world.

01:07:09

What was the expectation? They were singing about it. It's at the beginning of their hymnal. Psalm chapter two.

01:07:14

What's the father say to Jesus? What's he say in the Old Testament? He says, ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, the very ends of the earth for your possession.

01:07:24

That is the story of the gospel. Make no mistake about it. So much talk today about Christians who are trying to make the entire nation

01:07:34

Christian. Like that's shocking to the world today. That has always been the mission of the church.

01:07:41

It has always been the mission of the church. The charge of the Great Commission is what?

01:07:46

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. And he says on that basis, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

01:07:56

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and doing what with them? Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

01:08:03

What's my goal as a pastor? To win the nation to Christ. And not in a vague way, not in a sort of surface level

01:08:13

Christian way, but actually to win the nation to Christ in such a way that the nation is because of the spirit of God pleased to obey

01:08:22

Jesus. What are we trying to do ultimately? We're trying to extend that rule and dominion and reign of Jesus over the entire earth through his gospel of peace.

01:08:33

He is the righteous one, he is the sin bearer, and he is the royal king. And our mission as the people of God, whether it is moms in homes, raising families, building homes, homeschooling kids, or whether it is men out building businesses, whether it is us fighting in the public square, our mission is to win this entire world to Jesus Christ through the proclamation of the good news.

01:09:00

How is it even possible? Because he is the righteous sin bearer and he's the king. And how is it gonna take place in the world?

01:09:07

Well, the encouragement for us in 2022 is the promise is he will not grow faint or weary.

01:09:13

He will not grow faint or weary until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands are waiting for his law.

01:09:24

So the final word I have to you about that is this, have you turned to Christ from sin to trust in him?

01:09:32

You have to really think about that brothers and sisters, examine yourself, especially kids raised in Christian homes, kids, young kids, teenagers in the room listening right now.

01:09:42

You may have heard this message a million times, faith in Christ, faith in Christ, but think about it, you need that righteousness.

01:09:48

You need your sins to be dealt with. Do you know Christ? Have you turned to him in faith?

01:09:53

Are you trusting in him as Savior and as Lord? Because this message may sound beautiful and glorious, all of that, but it is entirely meaningless to you if you haven't bowed to need of Christ, if you're not trusting in him.

01:10:08

So I'm gonna call you to that now, trust in Christ and live, let's pray. God, we thank you for your word, we thank you for the testimony in your word about the righteousness of Christ, him being our sin bearer, and the fact,

01:10:28

Lord Jesus, that you're the King. Lord, I pray for anyone in this room that does not truly know you, and is not truly trusted in you, and been reconciled to you through faith in Jesus.

01:10:39

I pray that you'd open the eyes of the blind even now, change hearts that are hard towards you, make them soft, and grant repentance in faith.

01:10:49

We pray, God, that you'd bless us as a church as we go into the world this next year to preach the gospel.

01:10:57

Grant to us boldness and humility and love. Grant to us perseverance and discipline.

01:11:04

And we pray that you'd be glorified in all that we do. In Jesus' name, amen.