Transcription downloaded from https://legacy.freechurch.org/sermons/2701/salvation-great-in-its-execution/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Thank you, Mr. Varnes. Can I just say that I've been enjoying joining with you, but listening to you in your singing of these psalms, some of you may not be accustomed to them.

[0:10] They are metrical versions of the Book of Psalms, and the versions that we sing were in fact prepared by various people, and they were published in 1650 to provide a common book of praise for the churches of the three kingdoms, England and Scotland and Ireland.

[0:37] They were looking forward at that time to eventually having one church that had the same form of worship right through the three kingdoms, but history tells us that for various political reasons that never came about.

[0:52] But these psalms have been used, not just in Scotland, but in many parts of the world for these hundreds of years.

[1:03] And of course, the singing of psalms goes right back to the time of Jesus. I was going to say that many of our people now don't know them the way they once were known, but I have met in my lifetime two people who knew all the psalms, every verse of all the psalms of my heart, the magical psalms.

[1:26] One of them is the principal in our college, Principal Graham. He's due to retire this year, but that's not because he has now learned the Book of Psalms of my heart.

[1:37] He learned the Book of Psalms when he was very young, and we sing the psalms quite frequently. We have worship every day after lunch in the college, and we sing a portion of these psalms, and it's noticeable that the principal never has to open his Bible or his psalm book because he knows them all, no matter where we sing from.

[1:55] The other person was an old lady that I met in a place called Ness in the island of Lewis. And she was doubly blessed because she not only knew all the psalms, but she knew them, she said, in the language that was spoken in Eden, Scottish Gaelic.

[2:14] Now, I would like us to turn to God's Word, to the New Testament Scriptures, and to the Gospel of Christ according to Matthew. And Matthew chapter 27, where I want to read the account we have there of the crucifixion of Jesus.

[2:34] Matthew chapter 27. And we will read from verse 27. Matthew 27 and verse 27.

[2:46] Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe.

[3:00] And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews.

[3:11] And they spit upon him and took the reed and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him and put his own raiment on him and led him away to crucify him.

[3:25] And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, him they compelled to bear his cross. And when they would come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall.

[3:45] And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.

[3:56] They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down, they watched him there, and set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

[4:12] Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself.

[4:29] If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests, mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others, himself he cannot save.

[4:43] If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God.

[4:56] The thieves also which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

[5:08] And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

[5:24] Some of them that stood there when they heard that said, this man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink.

[5:38] The rest said, let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.

[5:50] And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. And the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, and the graves were opened.

[6:01] And many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly, this was the Son of God.

[6:29] Amen, and may God bless to us our reading of his holy and infallible word, and to his name we give thanks for it. Now we'll join together in prayer and seek God's presence with us and his blessing upon us.

[6:42] Let us join together in prayer. Almighty and eternal God, we thank thee that thou art the true and living God, and that thine ear is open to our cry.

[6:58] We thank thee that thou art also the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who came into this world to seek and to save that which was lost, the one who was chosen of thee to be the saviour of a people who would live to the glory of thy name in time and throughout all eternity.

[7:22] We praise thee for him, and thank thee that his very name speaks to us in our sin, in our lostness, in our uncertainty, and in our need, that his name Jesus means saviour.

[7:40] And we thank thee that we are invited by thy word in the gospel to put our trust in him, and that the assurance is that none shall ever perish who trust him.

[7:53] We thank thee, O Lord, for each one who has gathered here this evening under thy word. And we pray that thou will give patience of heart, clarity of mind and understanding, and a desire after thyself to each one of us.

[8:10] We thank thee that every difficulty we encounter in life, every burden we carry and bear, every doubt or fear that ever possesses us, the wonder of what we are and who we are, where we have come from, and where we are journeying to.

[8:29] We thank thee that all our thoughts are known to thee. And we thank thee, O God, that thou carest for us. We thank thee that we come tonight to the God who, from eternity, even before the beginning of the world, chose a saviour who is Christ Jesus.

[8:51] And in that saviour chose a great multitude of people to eternal and lasting salvation, a great multitude which no man can ever number, but which the Lord Jesus numbered when he bore their sins in his own body on the tree.

[9:11] Where we do not understand, we ask thee, O Lord, to help us from thy word this night. Help us to understand our selves and our sin and our need.

[9:23] And help us to understand thy grace and thy mercy and the saviour who is Christ, the Lord. Bless each one of us then in the homes, the churches, the communities we represent.

[9:37] And be with us because we ask all in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Now I want to return this evening to the theme that runs through this meeting and which is placarded above the platform here, So Great Salvation.

[10:03] And the theme comes from, as we were saying last night, from a text, one verse in the Bible, in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 3, where God says, how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?

[10:21] And my main concern is that we see that the very greatness, the wonder, and the majesty of the salvation which is freely offered to us in Christ, that its very greatness lays a tremendous responsibility upon us.

[10:41] All who hear this salvation, all who hear about it, all who are brought face to face with it, are obliged by God to think very seriously about it.

[10:54] And they are warned that if they neglect it, there will be no escape, there will be no salvation for them at all. Now, last night, we were looking at the salvation proclaimed in Christ, this great salvation, as we have it in its conception.

[11:15] And we were simply looking at the fact that salvation comes not because of any desire in man to return to God, but salvation comes to us because God has reached out to lost man.

[11:30] It comes, I was saying, let me just remind you, it comes because of a divine determination. Before the world began, before there were men in actual existence at all, before there was sin, before there was lostness, before there was the kind of world in which we live, and which so urgently needs God, before the world began, God had already chosen his own son who was with him from all eternity to be a savior of a fallen human race.

[12:11] We were looking at the scripture teaching on that. We can trace back salvation, the gospel of God's grace and mercy, we can trace it back to its very source in the mind and heart of God, a divine determination.

[12:27] And that finished up in a divine revelation. We were looking at the very beginning of Hebrews, how this book begins. God, that's where it all begins, with God, the same as the world did.

[12:39] In Genesis we read, in the beginning God. And when it comes to the gospel and our savior and sin and ourselves and our need, this is where salvation also begins, with God.

[12:53] In the divine determination and then the divine revelation. God, that God has spoken. Spoke to the prophets in the past. He's spoken to us and our generation in this last age over the last two thousand years in his son, Jesus.

[13:11] Now, I want to go on this evening to look at the greatness of salvation as we find it in its actual execution. It is because God purposed salvation that salvation was effected and worked out for us.

[13:32] I want to go back to the text we were looking at last night. In fact, it was part of our overall text, but words in verse 3 about Jesus of chapter 1 in Hebrews.

[13:43] Now, God had spoken in his son. His son was the brightness of his glory. Remember last night the outshining of the glory of God. And he is the very image of God's substance.

[13:58] He shares the same nature. He is God. And he is the one who created all things and upholds them by the word of his power.

[14:09] Now, I want to go on to the next words with which verse 3 ends. When this one who is the very God of very God, when this one had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

[14:33] And because of the one who did that and because of what he did, purging our sins and sitting down on the right hand of the throne of God, we have a great responsibility not to neglect such a glorious salvation and such a glorious saviour.

[14:56] I want to pause there. Last night we were looking at the sovereignty of salvation. salvation. That it begins with God.

[15:07] That it comes from God. That it is God intruding himself into our human and sinful experience. God purposing to do that.

[15:20] And purposing to do it not for anything else, but for our salvation to his glory.

[15:30] this is the marvel of the gospel. Not just that God can save sinners, sinners of the very worst kind, but that he can save them to the glory of his name.

[15:44] Now I'm bold to say this, there is no one in here who is such a desperate sinner that he or her has sinned beyond the reach of this God.

[15:57] He saves sinners of all kind. And he does it just as God. He does it in a way a majestic God should do it.

[16:10] He does it sovereignly and kingly and powerfully. Now I want to emphasize that because tonight I want to speak on something which is not contra to that, which is not against that, which does not disannul that, but which is parallel to it.

[16:30] the Son of God fulfilling the Father's purpose and deepening man's responsibility. The sovereignty of God does not cut out your responsibility and my responsibility.

[16:49] The sovereignty of God establishes it. It puts a platform under us and it makes us responsible to God that we believe and that we trust and that we do not neglect so great salvation.

[17:08] Now then I want to come on to this added sphere or added theme, this theme that adds to the marvel, the marvel of God's salvation and our own responsibility and that is the working out of it by God and specifically by his Son Jesus Christ in our nature.

[17:36] Now the last thing I spoke about last night, I'd been speaking about divine determination, divine revelation and then the last thing I had spoken about was divine incarnation, the Son came and he was like one of us in everything except one thing, he was without sin.

[17:57] Now I want to focus on the main part of that Son's work and that was what we read about his death on the cross for sinners.

[18:09] all that Jesus did was done for the salvation of sinners. I want to emphasize that, not merely his death on the cross but everything he did was to earn the salvation of sinners and the fulfillment of the Father's determination.

[18:32] But supremely, all that came to the crisis, the supreme crisis in his death for our sins. Now, we're accustomed to the idea that the death of the Lord Jesus was one that was violently inflicted on him.

[18:51] And we're very familiar with the fact if we read the Bible at all or if we go to church or if we talk with other people about Christianity and about Jesus and the cross, we're very familiar that Jesus was taken and as it was put by Peter in the day of Pentecost, he was by wicked hands, wicked men, he was crucified and he was slain.

[19:15] We're used to the idea, it's in all the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that he was tried by the Roman governor, Pilate, and that he was tested by the priests, the religious and social leaders of Israel.

[19:32] and we're used to the idea that when he had been tried he was sentenced and he took that lonely long way out to Golgotha, the place of a skull, little hill outside Jerusalem, carrying his cross, that terrible things were done to him.

[19:54] What am I saying? We're used to the idea that terrible things were done to Jesus and that he accepted them very meekly, that he was submissive and that he went to the cross, silent, uncomplaining, that he was a victim.

[20:11] And you know, there are people who look upon Jesus from that point of view and they say, ah, he was a victim of circumstances and he was just like all the rest of us men.

[20:25] The circumstances in the world around him and the forces that were working against him were too much even for Jesus of Nazareth. And they bore down on him and they took his life from him in suffering and shame in a thing within an instrumentality that spoke of the curse of God upon the world for sin.

[20:48] Now, all that seems to lie on the surface of the gospel. And you know, there are teachers and there are Christian believers who never get beyond that surface appearance of things.

[21:04] I want to emphasize at the very beginning this evening that while all that is plain and clear and true, it is only the surface appearance of things.

[21:17] There is another side to all the events that happened at Calvary. these things did happen. Jesus was a victim.

[21:32] But Jesus was not the helpless victim of circumstances which he could not control. Let me say that again. Let me emphasize it. My Bible teaches me that Jesus of Nazareth was not a helpless victim of circumstances over which he had no control.

[21:54] my Bible takes me beyond these circumstances. It takes me back to the counsels of God that I spoke about last night. Do you remember the very first text I quoted to you from Acts chapter 2?

[22:10] Calvary took place because of the predeterminate counsel and foreknowledge of God. That means that these circumstances circumstances of which so often people think Jesus was the victim.

[22:24] They were providences. They were circumstances set up by the purpose of God the Father. But we can say more than that.

[22:35] the Bible makes us say more than that. The Bible makes us look upon this from a completely different angle.

[22:47] And that's what I want to do. I want to do basically three very simple things. I want us to look at the cross of Christ as a priestly activity.

[22:58] That's the first thing I want to do. And then I want to look at the cross of Christ as a personal offering. And then I want to look at it as a perfect sacrifice. And we can go through that quite quickly.

[23:12] So let's look at the cross and Jesus in his suffering and death on the cross as a high priestly activity. And what do I mean?

[23:25] I mean that there is more than the fact that Jesus was a victim. We are used to that perhaps from many portions of scripture that speak of his submissive obedience to the father's will.

[23:41] For example Isaiah 53. Prophetically 800 years before it happened Isaiah said he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before a shearer's is done so he openeth not his mouth the submissive quiescent obedient son ah yes but he's not merely the lamb he is also the priest who is going to offer the lamb Isaiah 53 has that in it too and we tend to forget that.

[24:20] Listen to Isaiah 53 again in verse 12 he says he poured out his soul unto death not too sure that that's verse 12 I think I've given you a wrong reference there Isaiah 53 he poured out his soul he was doing something it's not just that something was being done to him but he was doing something and you know that idea runs right through the whole of the new testament and it runs far more strongly than the other idea of mere passive submission he is not merely one who is being acted upon he is one who is acting let me give you some texts another very brief few minute bible study same as we did last night last night we were looking at the text and scripture that speak about salvation and the determinate purpose and mind of God before the foundation of the world that make us take salvation away back into it end now I want us to look at some texts that emphasize that Jesus was active and that he was active along very set specific lines in his death on the cross

[25:37] Ephesians 5 and verse 21 he loved the church and he gave himself for it Christ also loved the church and he gave himself for it I'm going to keep the references very short so you don't really need to look them up but keep them in your mind Christ says Paul loved the church and because he loved the church he gave himself for it Galatians 2 and 20 Paul takes that same thought and he personalizes it and he brings it right down to the level of me and he invites every Christian to do the same Galatians 2 and 20 and Paul says this he loved me and he gave himself for me do you see not merely for the whole church but for every individual person now that makes the sacrifice of Christ very particular and very personal

[26:40] Peter has that in mind when he says in chapter 2 when he says this of 1 Peter 1 Peter chapter 2 Peter says this he bore our sins not just our sin which is a conglomerate but our sins which are the outcome all the sins you have ever done if you are a believer in Christ all the sins you have ever committed have been taken and their guilt has been born in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ that is implied that is necessarily implied in what Paul says when he says he loved me and he gave himself for me the church there is very a very particular grouping in Ephesians 5 21 he loved the church he gave himself for it he loved me and he gave himself for me come back to our text in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 when he had by himself purged our sins do you see what that means that means that he not merely paid a price for sin but when he had purged our sins sins and the word comes from the

[28:02] Old Testament economy it comes from the priesthood of the Old Testament and there the priesthood and what the priesthood achieved was spoken of as the purging away of sin it's got the idea the element of cleansing of taking a stain and cleansing it until the stain has absolutely gone that's the fundamental idea here that Christ by himself purged our sins you got that not just that he made it possible for God to forgive you sin on a just basis but Jesus did something very positive if I can put it like this he reached forward through time because he's an infinite passion and he laid hold of the sins which were yours and mine and he made them as though they were his own they were accounted to him and his death dealt with them in such a way that they were purged cleansed made to be as though they never had been now we'll look at that a bit more closely in just a moment or two he purged our sins now I want to hold on to the idea that purging comes from the Old

[29:27] Testament and is a priestly activity the purging away of sin was a priestly activity the the activity of Jesus when he died on the cross and when in his death on the cross he purged our sins is therefore a priestly activity now I would love if I had time to go through Hebrews and show you that Jesus is not merely the victim of death but he is the priest who brings death about in the victim he is both lamb the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and he is the priest who sacrifices the lamb now one text in Hebrew Hebrews tells us that every priest every priest who is a valid priesthood is ordained of God

[30:28] Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 1 every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God and the Bible tells us that Jesus was ordained a priest go on if you've looked up Hebrews chapter 5 go on saying to verse 5 where you read this so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest the high priesthood was a glorious office and Jesus being a high priest was not a demeaning office at all it was a glorious office but it was not himself who glorified himself to be made an high priest but he glorified him in making him a high priest who said unto him thou art my son today have I begotten thee that's a quote from a psalm he's speaking of the father it was the father we are told in psalm 110

[31:34] I mentioned it last night it was the father in psalm 110 verse 4 that said thou art a priest a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek what was that that was God setting up his son before the foundation of the world to be the high priest of his people what was the great function of a priest it was to offer sacrifice to God its primary aspect was a Godward one and that is the primary aspect of the cross of Christ God has sent his priest and his priest is doing a work which will stabilize the pillars of a foreign universe a universe that has been invaded by the mystery of iniquity and has left the kind of world in which you and I live God's priest making one sacrifice for sin forever and sacrifice is first of all

[32:37] Godward it is taking in the character of God it's taking in the holy just demand of God that all men be holy creatures and that they live toward a standard of perfection what is the standard of perfection that God demands of men and that he has the right to demand of men it is the standard reflected in his own character we have it as the shorter catechism puts it summarized in the ten commandments the moral law how you say I'm not under law I'm under grace grace right I'll take you at your word if you're a Christian believer you're under grace I'm glad you are you need it when you come over into the new testament and you get men and women who are under the economy of grace what's the standard what's the demand be ye perfect for I am perfect be ye holy for I am holy who's speaking

[33:45] Jehovah God be perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect that is the law that's laid in every Christian believer that's the law that only grace can meet is it very different from the ten commandments how do I know how holy God is how do I know how perfect my father is I know because his character is reflected in the moral law a standard of obedience what is sin sin is a transgression of God's character revealed in God's law what's holiness which is the opposite sin it is obedience to the revealed will of God holiness is nothing else but that obedience to the revealed will of God where is his will revealed in his word be perfect for I am perfect and every Christian yes even every Christian who is under grace fails there and he has to come back every day to one thing a sacrifice was made

[34:57] Godward which satisfied divine justice praise God for that a sacrifice sacrifice to satisfy to satisfy divine justice a sacrifice which satisfied all the righteous demands of an infinitely holy God and you know Jesus set out another standard for men thou shalt thou shalt love thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy mind and with all thy soul everything you have and your neighbor as yourself and he is the only man who ever fulfilled that dual standard and he fulfilled it to the uttermost as he was offering on the cross there was worship this priest who was making this sacrifice was worshiping God with all the heart he had never loved the holiness of the father and the demands of the father as he loved him then he was loving the father with all the mind he understood and he knew the holy antagonism of the divine mind to sin he understood why God demanded what he did demand his very life and he loved the father because of that demand someone has said and rightly said

[36:29] Thornton an American theologian of last century God was never worshipped as he was worshipped by the man Christ Jesus in his priestly offering of himself he was loved with all the heart and with all the mind and with all the soul nothing was held back as he offered himself God word but he offered himself man word too it was for your sin and my sin and if ever there was one who loved his neighbor as himself it was Jesus and even although the neighbor were those was the one who spat in his face and who mocked him he loved them too and he loved you and he loved me he loved sinners and he said father forgive them for they know not what they do he loved the people that God had loved from all eternity and he loved them again let me say it with all his heart and all his mind and all his soul so great salvation and it's a priestly thing now we've been used to the idea that Christ suffered let's get equally used to the idea that Christ also offered he suffered yes oh how he suffered and the bodily sufferings were the least of them all you know the very first time I preached was in a very little cottage meeting way back in 1957 in fact it was 56 the very end of 56 and I spoke in that text

[38:24] I've mentioned already 1 Peter 2 24 is it he bore our sins in his own body on the tree and all that I spoke of at that meeting as I remember it was the physical bodily pain and suffering of the Lord Jesus as he bore our sins on the cross and yet over the years although that's still true I see that there was a suffering that was far deeper than that Augustine put it like this he said the soul of his suffering was the suffering of his soul as he was made sin who knew no sin that's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 and he could only have been made sin because he knew no sin you can't make one sin who is already a sinner as he was made sin and came into conjunction with the foulness of you sin and of mine and as he bore the punishment which you sin called on from a holy and a just

[39:32] God how he suffered but listen he not only suffered he offered and he offered gladly and he he offered as God's anointed priest that priest is set up not only for God but set up for sinners to deal with to deal for us on our behalf in things pertaining to God have you got a priest many years ago I sat down in a railway train I wasn't as I often did then wearing a clerical collar but I sat down beside a lady who not very long afterwards began to talk about religion and it turned out that she was a Romaness she was a Roman Catholic and after a little while she asked me if I was also a Roman Catholic must have been something about my face or something I don't know and I said no no no

[40:34] I'm not no I'm not a Catholic oh she said you poor soul that means you don't have a priest you've got nobody to go and pray for you to God for you oh yes well never said I'm that kind of Catholic right enough I do have a priest oh do you other she said I thought you weren't a Romanist oh I said I'm not a Romanist but I'm a Catholic and I do have a priest I said in fact I've got the most important priest that that's in the whole of the land and I was able then to go on and explain to her that I didn't need any man to be my priest now because I had a man who was my priest and that man was in heaven's throne the man Christ Jesus and she was amazed she never had it not long ago I was hearing hearing a story about a young Christian man who went to work in Fort William up near Inverness many years ago too and he was put into digs where there was a

[41:40] Roman Catholic landlady and the very first evening he was in she was complaining about the priest they had you know this she said that priest never comes but he's asking for something and he stays so long that I dread his visits she said do you have do you folk where you come from do you have a priest oh yes he said we have a priest too and he said the funny thing is he said my priest when he visits me he doesn't seem to stay long enough and my priest when he visits me he doesn't want to get anything away from me in fact he always brings something with him and I'm always very sorry when he goes away he was talking about the Lord Jesus his great high priest he not only suffered he offered and he offered in suffering and suffered in offering and he offered himself and that takes me to this second main point I want to make the cross was a personal offering what did this priest offer who when he had by himself purged our sins and that himself is very important if we were to go to

[42:54] Hebrews 9 14 we would find that there the the he was victim he was he was priest but he was also sacrificed now remember who Jesus was he was God and he was man and because he was both God and man he was able to make a very special offering in death now he offered in death what was death for the Lord Jesus well let me ask this question what is death for any one of us death physical death is the separation of soul from body right the soul leaves the body the person is dying now with every one of us with every ordinary man death comes to us and no matter what we do we can't stop it modern medicine with its marvels it can stave death death off we think for longer or shorter periods but ultimately it is appointed unto man once to die and we become victims of death

[44:07] I have been with people that I would have loved to live and they have died in my arms and nothing I could do I can remember the night my father died in 1957 I was holding in my arms I would have done everything I could to have saved his death I could do nothing he was a victim to death death Christ was not a victim in that sense death did not creep up on Jesus and wrest his soul from his body but rather Jesus was active in his own death as no ordinary man can be it's as though he took his human soul in one hand and his human body in the other hand and himself thundered them separated them and then death took place you read the narratives of the gospel of the crucifixion and you find that Jesus said this father into thy hands

[45:18] I commit my spirit remember what he said as the good shepherd John chapter 10 verse 18 I lay down my life of myself no man takes it from me I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it again but nobody takes it from me this commandment have I received of my father Jesus yielded up his own life and as I was saying the other day at the conference I was speaking at it's as though when he had separated soul from body he held his soul in the presence of God with one hand and his body in the grave and it was still linked to his Godhead nature death came across one bond that it could cut between his soul and his body and then the sword of death hit a cord that it could not cut the cord that linked his human nature into his divine nature and the sword of death was quenched he lives now in the power of an endless life and finally

[46:35] I want to go on to this thought a perfect sacrifice the cross brings us a high priestly activity the cross brings us a personal offering he offered himself and it was the self of the son of God and that means a perfect sacrifice he purged our sins now the perfection of the sacrifice is brought out in the next words of that text who when he had by himself purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty and high he sat down on the throne of God he was given a place of privilege priestly privilege and priestly exaltation and priestly authority and priestly power on the throne of heaven he went from the cross to heaven's throne and tonight and all the nights forevermore there's a man on heaven's throne who lives in order to save his people to save all that the father brings to him and to all who are brought to trust in him and he saves all kinds of people he saves people who have a lot of theological and biblical knowledge thank God he saves them they need it and he saves people who have no theological knowledge at all perhaps he saves people who perhaps are strangers to the word of God he saves us as sinners then he begins to teach us and to make us like children teaches us about himself and he intercedes for us one of the things that priest does as I've indicated already is to offer sacrifice to satisfy divine justice another thing a priest does is to intercede with God for us to make continual intercession for us and in heaven's throne that's what

[48:54] Jesus our great high priest does he's enthroned there to plead your cause and to plead mine so great salvation great because it comes out of the very heart of deity great in its conception but great also in its execution the father sending the son a priest and a sacrifice and the son giving himself into death and the place of the curse for our sins to bear away the guilt tomorrow night in the good will of God we want to look at the greatness of the salvation in its application all this that we have spoken of so far is true how does it relate to me that's what

[49:58] I want to speak about tomorrow night from the father through the son by the holy spirit God calls sinners to his priest God calls people like you and me and he does it in a myriad ways to bring us to Jesus and the moment we are brought to Jesus and to believe in him we are made new creatures in Christ Jesus now I don't want to preach tomorrow's sermon now but I want to leave that with you but the very framework of the salvation which is ours is a trinitarian it involves all the passions of God the father gave the son the son gave himself and it is the spirit alone who quickens but I don't want you to go away perhaps you're not able to be here tomorrow night perhaps you don't want to come back for any more of this kind of preaching I don't know so I don't want you to go away without saying this to you that even what you've heard tonight has laid a responsibility upon your mind upon your heart not to neglect this salvation how do you avoid neglecting it by trusting the saviour who's at its very heart and its very centre it's as simple as that it's as profound as that upon a life

[51:35]  I did not live a life of perfect obedience that was lived out by the saviour jesus upon a life I did not live upon a death I did not die the death of sin bearing and sin offering unrighteousness before God upon a life I did not live upon a death I did not die another's life another's death I stake my whole eternity let me finish with this very same words of one of the psalms that I finished last night none perish none perish no matter who he or she is not one perishes who trusts on him may God bless his work and teach us his ways now we're going to close the meeting