Christ as our Covering

[00:00:01] I'd like to read some words together, first in the second letter of the apostle Paul, two Corinthians and chapter eleven from verse one. [00:00:24] Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed ye do bear with me, for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. [00:00:45] But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. [00:01:06] I want the burden on my heart is to do with our relationship to the Lord Jesus in these last days, because it seems to me that as we move into the last era or phase of world history, the enemy is going to try to do every single thing, to corrupt believers, to compromise believers, to alienate believers not only from the Lord, but from one another. [00:01:46] And the end or goal of all our service, of all our work, of all church life, is that we should be presented at the end, a pure virgin to Christ. [00:02:08] If that does not happen, then our service has failed. Our church life has failed, our knowledge of the scriptures has failed. [00:02:20] Everything has proved to be faulty, because the end of the Lord is that you and I should be finally wed to the lamb. [00:02:37] And so the goal of all the ministries and of all our fellowship and of all our work and service is this matter of being presented to our Lord Jesus as a pure virgin. It's interesting, these two words, simplicity and purity. [00:03:05] The apostle says he is so afraid for these believers at Corinth that the enemy should corrupt their minds from the simplicity and purity which is toward Christ. [00:03:22] In other words, this literal translation, this simplicity which is toward Christ, this purity which is toward Christ, is a something to do with a relationship to him, an intimate, real, living relationship toward him. And we can never have that relationship unless there is a simplicity about us. Now, this simplicity doesn't mean necessarily that we're puritanical in the sense that we are severe. [00:04:02] What it means is a singleness. The greek word is a word that means single. It is the opposite of the word double. [00:04:13] It means that there should be a singleness of heart, of vision, that is the simplicity. [00:04:22] It is not just a question of our way of life or our dress or these kind of things. They may be symptomatic, but that is not the real issue. The real issue is whether you and I have a singleness of heart and mind which is toward the Lord Jesus all the time, which keeps us toward the Lord Jesus all the time, just because it is a singleness of heart and a singleness of mind, it, as it were, turns us all the time toward him. He is kept in our mind. It's kept in our vision all the time. Another word for this is unaffectedness. [00:05:10] Unaffectedness. How many christians are affected? [00:05:16] They have an affectation. [00:05:18] They project an image that they feel would be pleasing to the rest. But it's not the real person. [00:05:28] Most of us, given a year or two in Christ, become affected people. We are no longer those unaffected, real people we were when we were saved. [00:05:43] The most delightful thing in any fellowship is when folks get saved. Because when people first get saved, they're totally real, totally unaffected. They say the most outrageous things, not out of malice, but simply because they're unaffected. Of course, we wouldn't dream of saying things like that later. We may still think them and we may still feel them, but now we know how to present a picture of what we think is acceptable to everybody. [00:06:18] This simplicity is an unaffectedness, no affectation, real and genuine. And this purity is a purity from defilement, an uncontaminated spirit. [00:06:39] Now I have one or two matters to do with the relationship to the Lord Jesus that I would like, by the grace of God, to communicate to you. [00:06:53] I wish we could cover all the various and important aspects of relationship to the Lord Jesus, but I'm just trusting the Holy Spirit to kindle in my heart those particular aspects that will perhaps supplement some of the things that have been said already and, as it were, keep our hearts focused on him. And I want to begin this morning by speaking about a relationship to the Lord Jesus as our covering. As our covering. I'd like to read a few more scriptures, if I may, in this second letter, corinthian letter, chapter five, verse 21. Him who knew no sin, God made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Now I'll read that again. Him who knew no sin, he that is God, made to be sin for us or on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Turn to the Old Testament, to Isaiah 53 four, six. [00:08:36] Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed all we, like. Sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own. [00:09:16] And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And then back to the New Testament. Romans, chapter eight. I will read the first four verses, and then from verse 31. [00:09:35] There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Christ Jesus. That's covering. [00:09:46] Let me read it again. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin, of death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin condemned sin in the flesh, that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. Verse 31. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? [00:10:49] He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea, rather, that was raised from the dead. Who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us? [00:11:23] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [00:11:27] Shall tribulation or anguish or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword. [00:11:39] Even as it is written, for thy sake we are killed. All the day long we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. [00:11:47] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [00:12:29] Let's just have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we want very simply to recognize in your presence that without the ministry of your holy spirit, our words will be of no avail. [00:12:45] We thank you, heavenly Lord, that you have said yourself, the spirit of truth shall lead you into all the truth. [00:12:56] We want, Lord, speaker and hearer alike, to thank you for the anointing which is ours in our Lord Jesus. We take it by faith this morning. Will you grant, o Lord, that our time shall be an anointed time, so that your word comes to dwell in us richly? In all wisdom and knowledge? We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. [00:13:28] I said I want to speak about the knowledge, the inward knowledge of Christ, as our covering now, this word covering, I've used the word covering because I wanted for a moment just to get away from some of the more theological words we use. Justifier or justification or being clothed with righteousness or atonement. In actual fact, in Hebrew, the word atonement in Hebrew means covering. It just means covering. The day of atonement is the day of covering. [00:14:20] When an animal was sacrificed for atonement, it was for covering, for the covering of our sins that we might come into the presence of God and these marvelous scriptures. May I underline the necessity of knowing the Lord Jesus as our covering, as our justification? This matter is so often relegated to the kindergarten spiritually. You know, christians tend to think, well, what do we want to talk about? This? We all know this. We're converted, we're saved. I mean, we all know Jesus is our coveting, this is kindergarten business. This is superficial. My dear friends, there could be nothing more untrue, nothing that will lead into greater error than considering that the matter of Christ as our covering is kindergarten. [00:15:24] It is foundational. Now, that is a very different matter. [00:15:31] It may be elementary, but it is foundational. In other words, every single thing in the christian life, in our salvation, in our christian life, in our serviced, in our church life is founded on the simple fact of the finished work of the Lord Jesus, that he is our covering. [00:16:03] Now, when we have this mentality that this matter is a kindergarten matter, we tend never to consider it. We go on to what we call the deeper things. We go on into the whole question of what it means to be crucified with Christ, what it means to know the indwelling of Christ, what it means to be disciplined by the Lord, what it means to serve the Lord, what it means to be the church of God, what it means to be built together as living stones, what it means to worship the Lord. But because what we consider the matter of Christ as our covering as kindergarten, we have a fatal weakness right at the heart of our whole life, whether it is personal or corporate, and the enemy knows it. [00:17:01] He will come at us with all kinds of condemnation, raking up the past, bringing before us weaknesses and failings, past or present. And in some cases it gets to such a state that people think of it as future. [00:17:21] There are people that are bound by future guilt complex. They thought, oh, I'm going to, I'm going to fail. I know I'm going to fail. [00:17:32] I'm so unworthy. I just know that I am going to fail the Lord. So they won't do anything. They will never worship. They will never contribute, they will never participate. They will never expose themselves to their brothers and sisters because they're sure they're going to fail anyway. [00:17:48] My dear friends, I am now old enough in the Lord and have travelled far enough, I think, at least in christian work and in the circles of believers, to know one thing. [00:18:07] This company here today, I have no doubt, is filled with guilt complexes. [00:18:18] I have no doubt, if we were absolutely honest, there's almost a guilt complex to every individual in this assembly. [00:18:30] There are skeletons in the cupboard, locked up in the cupboard, never brought out, obviously, but they are there, skeletons in the cupboard and they haunt us. [00:18:55] It is this matter that brings a sense of unworthiness all the time, a shadow over our relationship with the Lord and our relationship with one another. [00:19:10] That is why I say, to know Christ as our justification, to know Christ as our covering, to know Christ as our garment of righteousness, to know what it is to abide in him that is foundational. [00:19:40] It is vitally necessary to each one of us and to the church, to know Christ as the one through whom we are justified, that is, the one through whom it is just as if we never sinned. [00:20:06] To know him as the one in whom we are covered completely, not partially, completely, past, present and future. [00:20:22] To know him as the one through whom we are closed in a way that we can come into the presence of God without self consciousness, spontaneously, joyfully, reverently, and know in our heart the spirit of God shed abroad crying Abba, Father, to know Christ as the one through whose work we are made to righteousness of God. [00:21:07] You know, I think it is an incredible statement when you really sit down and think about it. Him who knew no sin, God made to be sin in our behalf. Have you ever thought about it? Him who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us. Not just made to be the one who bore away the sin, but made him sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. [00:22:01] Can you believe it? [00:22:04] Listen to it again. It's better than my preaching. Him who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us, that we, you and I, might become God's righteousness, divine righteousness in him. It blows the mind. [00:22:34] If it wasn't the word of God, we would think it's some strange celtic teaching. [00:22:39] It can't be true. We would say, does it really say that the Lord Jesus was made to be sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in him? [00:22:55] How can it be so? [00:22:58] But that is what the word says. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace. Guilt complex, skeletons in the cupboard, accusations, condemnations, shadows from the past, chastisement of our peace, no peace in the conscience the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed all we like. Sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way. [00:23:48] And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity, not just the sin, not just the transgression, but the abomination of evil, the most depraved, the most vile, the most filthy sin and transgression. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. [00:24:25] Thats why the apostle said, if God be for us, who can be against us? [00:24:34] Who is he that condemns? He said, who can lay any charge? [00:24:44] Who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is Christ who died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who ever lives to make intercession for us. [00:25:06] Oh, my dear friends, to know Christ in this way is all important. [00:25:13] I don't believe any of us are going to come through these last days unless you and I know inwardly and deeply and ever more fully, Christ as our covering the enemy will find out something that he will trip us up with, something that he will besmirch us with, something that he will run a sword right through us with. [00:25:40] This is not kindergarten business. [00:25:43] This is what it meant when the apostle Paul said at the end of that ephesian letter, be strong in the Lord. In the Lord there's your covering. And in the strength of his might there is your covering. Put on the whole armor of God, there is your covering that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against hosts of wicked spirits in heavenly places. [00:26:19] There is a covering. [00:26:21] It can protect us. Don't relegate this to evangelistic meetings. [00:26:28] This is a gospel in which the whole counsel of God is contained and which every believer needs to hear again and again and again and again in Christ. What a glorious position. I remember years ago when I was young in the Lord, one of the first times I ever heard that beloved servant of God Austin Sparks, he said, the whole New New Testament is summed up in this little phrase, in Christ, that's where you and I are. If you and I have been saved by the grace of God, if you and I have been born of the spirit of God, if we have been justified through the work, the finished work of the Lord Jesus, we are, by God's positioning in Christ, not just related to him somewhere up there. We are in him. That is our sphere. That is our realm. That's why the Lord Jesus said again and again and again, abide in me. Or the word is, remain in me. Remain in me. That's where you're placed. Don't get out. Stay where you've been placed. Abide in me and I in you in Christ. [00:28:03] In these last days, we need to know the Lord Jesus in this way. [00:28:10] If you and I are going to overcome by the grace of God and stand at last in his presence, it will only be through the blood of the lamb. [00:28:28] That is what John saw in those great apocalyptic visions in revelation. He saw Satan, the great accuser of the brethren, cast down upon the earth because his time was short, going everywhere accusing, accusing, accusing, accusing. [00:28:50] Do you think that you and I are going to stand up to him with our pathetic righteousnesses? [00:28:58] You think that we can stand up to him and say, well, I'm a devoted believer. He will see to it that we come up against other believers that rob us of our devotion. [00:29:09] Oh, but I. I am this. I am that. And the enemy will see to it that our circumstances rob us of all joy, of all power, of all freedom of action. [00:29:23] He has very little time. [00:29:25] And then come these wonderful. [00:29:28] They overcame him by the blood of the lamb. [00:29:35] That doesn't just mean shouting or using the phrase the blood of Jesus as some kind of charm. [00:29:47] I've heard people say, the blood of Jesus, the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus. As if that's going to do anything. A kind of christian Hinduism or Buddhism. [00:29:59] It's nonsensical, it's superstition. [00:30:02] What does it mean, they overcame him by the blood of the lamb? It means that when they said and spoke out the words the blood of the lamb, they understood it was the finished work of the Lord Jesus. [00:30:13] They understood at least something of what he had done for them, that he was their covering. And every accusation and the enemy found its target. Not enamored in the Lord Jesus, for he was made sin for them. He was the one who bore their sins and their transgressions. All their iniquity was on him. So every accusation found its tongue target in the Lord Jesus. For he had taken their place, that he might become the focal point for enemy accusation and condemnation. [00:30:54] And those, dear believers had become the righteousness of God in Christ. So that with the shield of faith every fiery dart of the enemy of the evil one was deflected. [00:31:08] It never found its mark. [00:31:17] How few people understand the work of the Lord Jesus. [00:31:22] I think one of the greatest sadnesses amongst believers today is that so few of us understand the finished work of the Lord Jesus. [00:31:38] I would just like to take a few scriptures. That's all I will do. I will take a few scriptures that I believe are probably known to everyone in this place, or nearly everyone. [00:31:51] And I just want to underline them and pray that the spirit of God will lead us to the heart of this matter through these statements of God's word. Dear friends, I'm very conscious. I can tell you that Christ is your covering. I can tell you that he was made sin for you on your behalf. I can tell you that you have been made if you have believed in the Lord and trusted in the Lord, the righteousness of God in him. [00:32:23] But my dear friends, I know very well that it can remain mere theology or theory. [00:32:31] Only the Holy Spirit can free your heart and your mind from guilt complexes. They are so insidious, like an octopus. They have at least eight arms, everyone wrapped around some part of you. [00:32:50] And the only word that I know of that can free a person from those skeletons in the cupboard, from those shadows, from the past or from those guilt complexes which bind us so terribly is the truth. [00:33:07] Jesus put it very simply. And ye shall know the truth. Not recognize it, theorize about it. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. [00:33:26] That is when the Holy Spirit takes the truth and suddenly opens the eyes of your heart. So that you see in that moment you are freed. [00:33:36] Those guilt complexes, those skeletons in the cupboard, those shadows will never have the same power again. [00:33:45] They are gone. [00:33:48] Here is the first scripture. You know it so well I hardly need to turn you to it. John, chapter one and verse 29. Behold the lamb of God who beareth away or taketh away the sin of the world. [00:34:04] These. This was the declaration of John the Baptist. When he saw Jesus, when he saw the spirit of God coming down upon him, and when he understood by that holy spirit coming down in the form of a dove that Jesus was the sacrifice of God for sin. [00:34:27] In that moment he said, behold the lamb of God who beareth away the sin of the world or who taketh away the sin of the world. Now, I think all of you know that there is nothing more beautiful than a lamb. Is there any small creature in the world that symbolizes something more cuddly? More sort of innocent, more pure, more sweet, more fresh, more new than a lamb. [00:34:54] I mean, I think a baby horse is a beautiful creature, but somehow a baby horse is not quite cuddly like a baby lamb. Now, I know I'm speaking from a rather disadvantage because you don't really have so many sheep in the United States. States. [00:35:12] I don't know what it is. You. You begin everything. You go for beef. [00:35:21] When I was in New Zealand, I'd never seen so many sheep in all my life. [00:35:27] I think there must have been, I don't know how many. Hundreds to every inhabitant. [00:35:31] They were everywhere. I'd never seen so many. Britain is a country of sheep, and especially Ireland and Wales and Scotland. And of course, Israel is a country of sheep, too. I'm used to sheep diving, baby sheep. There's nothing more cuddly than a baby. I mean, a baby goat just isn't cuddly in the same way. The baby goat is very intelligent, but he's not cuddly. But a baby lamb, a little lamb, is one of the most beautiful things. It just makes you realize how wonderful God is. How he ever thought these creatures out, I don't know. I often think how marvellous it is to know the Lord that someone could create things. I mean, when you think of an alligator and then you think of a lamb, and God created them both. And then I think of a hippo. I can't think of anybody who could create a hippo without humor, I mean, and even a camel. I once heard a camel described as a horse put together by a committee, which I think is a rather unfair statement, because the camel is a most remarkable creature. A baby camel is a very beautiful thing. But there is nothing in the world that so symbolizes purity, innocence, sinlessness, harmlessness, non evil. [00:37:02] As a lamb. [00:37:06] Behold the lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world. And the word in Greek is not behold the ram of God, a good large old sheep, but a lamb. [00:37:34] It represents the sinlessness of Christ, his virgin birth, the fact that he was tried in all points like as we. Yet he was without sin. In the whole of his 30 years, they could not bring one single charge, his enemies and antagonists, one single thing from 30 years of life. [00:38:03] They could not wake up one single thing about him. [00:38:12] He was without sin. [00:38:18] If you turn in the same gospel to John, chapter three, John, chapter three, and verse 14, we read these words. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. That whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life. [00:38:52] My dear friends, there is nothing in the whole world more different to a lamb than a snake. [00:39:02] I know there are some people who like snakes. [00:39:05] I mean, I know people who keep them. [00:39:09] I personally would never be able to keep a snake. It would take a miracle of grief for me. I was with the group a little while ago, and we went to what they called a serpentarium. [00:39:24] And I was amazed at these dear. Some of them old white haired sisters, they wanted to stroke these snakes. [00:39:31] And when the keeper took them out, violently poisonous ones from the desert and held them, they went, can we touch them? [00:39:46] For me, it's going to be a marvelous thing when one day in the world that is to come, the child plays with an adder and sits around the viper's nest. [00:40:01] I think that's an amazing thing. But for now, there is nothing in this whole world that is more different to a lamb than a snake. [00:40:14] The way a snake moves, the way that awful little forked tongue out all the time, the way it eyes. [00:40:26] There's nothing more unlike a lamb in the whole world than a snake. [00:40:32] Now, don't you think that perhaps John has made a mistake? [00:40:37] He said, behold the lamb of God who beareth away the sin in the world. Later, John, the writer says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. What did he mean? He meant this, that the lamb had to become the serpent lifted up. Something had to happen to the purity and the innocence and the beauty of the lamb, whereby he became, as it were, the uplifted serpent for salvation. [00:41:20] When Jesus was made sin for us, it was not merely that as the lamb, he took that sin upon himself, but he took the very poison that has entered into the bloodstream of mankind, which has resulted in all the murder and strife and wickedness and immorality and unhappiness of world history. He took that poison that is in the bloodstream of mankind, right into himself. [00:41:48] And in the sight of God, the lamb became the serpent. [00:41:55] All we, like sheep, have gone astray, returned every one to his own way. [00:42:00] And the Lord hath made. In Hebrew, the word means has caused to gather. [00:42:09] Hath caused to gather on him the iniquity of us all. [00:42:20] Not just something superficial, dear friends, get displeased. Not just something superficial. People. That's why people treat them the matter of their salvation in such a familiar way. They think that Jesus, just in a skin deep way, took their sin upon himself and passed it over. [00:42:38] My friends, your sin and my sin entered into the very being of our Lord Jesus, and the lamb became the uplifted serpent. So that I can give you the next scripture. It is in mark, and it is chapter 14 and verse 27. It will smite the shepherd, or Isaiah prophesied. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. [00:43:14] When Jesus took your sin and my sin into himself, when he took the poison, not just the things, not only the penalty of the things, but the actual spirit, the whole thing, into himself. God struck him. [00:43:32] God struck his own son. [00:43:41] I will smite the shepherd, the Lord. [00:43:53] It pleased the Lord to bruise him, to crush him, to put him to grief. [00:44:10] Are you ready for the next scripture? [00:44:13] Mark 1534. In that moment, for the first time in all his being, I don't mean his life from Bethlehem, but for the first time in all his being as God the son, Jesus knew what it was to be alienated from his father. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [00:44:49] Jesus passes into darkness. [00:44:53] Nobody will ever fathom what happened. Nobody. Not in all of eternity. Only the father and the spirit. [00:45:05] Only they know what jesus went through. It's as if he passes out of our sight into a darkness that he had never known. It was this darkness when in the garden of Gethsemane, when the devil bought it before his vision, he said, if this cup can pass from me. My dear friends, it wasn't the physical torture. If it was, then jesus was. May I say it, reverend, a coward. [00:45:34] For there are many saints that have suffered far more physical torture than jesus did a few hours before the cross and 6 hours on it. My friends, I know people who have suffered, dying three days on the cross. [00:45:50] I know people have been tortured and tortured and tortured till not a bone in their body was unbroken. [00:45:57] Is that what Jesus had let this cupboard know? My friends, that wasn't what bothered the Lord Jesus. It was the fact that he was going become the serpent, that the lamb was going to become the serpent, and that the father would strike him and that he would pass out into darkness where now one would be able to understand. [00:46:18] So great was the darkness that even the sun was darkened. People stupidly say that was an eclipse. [00:46:27] My dear friend, there's never been an eclipse as long as that. There's no way it was an eclipse. [00:46:34] Because as Brother Stephen said yesterday, all things hold together in him. When God made his son to be sin for us, it was as if something happened in the actual physical universe and the light for a moment failed. [00:47:02] Did you know that Jesus did this for you. [00:47:07] It says in hebrews he tasted death for every man. Now I think that's an amazing statement, because it doesn't say he tasted death for man. You see, we just think, oh, Jesus had a few hours on the cross because he was God. He didn't suffer that much because he was God. He could bear it, we couldn't have done it. But he did it because he was God. He conveyed it more easily. We think he just tasted death for man. Doesn't say that. And it doesn't say he tasted death for all men. It says he tasted death for every man. [00:47:42] That is, he tasted spiritual death for every single human being. Condensed within those 6 hours on the cross with all the sin of world history, all the personal sin, the national sins, the racial sins, every kind of sin. [00:48:04] He tasted it and God smote him for you. [00:48:17] That's what you should have borne. It is what I should have borne, but he bore it for us. Now, my dear friends, are you ready for the last scripture? It's in John 19 and verse 30. [00:48:37] He is perhaps the shortest one of all. [00:48:42] I think everyone here knows it. [00:48:49] When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. [00:48:56] And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. [00:49:03] The other gospels say he cried with a loud shout, bowed his head and died. [00:49:17] John tells us that shout was a word. He was near enough to the cross to hear it. [00:49:27] Finished. [00:49:32] Not, I am finished. [00:49:36] Not my expectations are finished, but finished. [00:49:45] And Matthew says, in that moment, the veil of the temple, that great veil that was so many hands thick from top to bottom, was rent. [00:49:58] And the way into the holiest place of all was opened. [00:50:11] What was finished? [00:50:14] Your sin. [00:50:18] What was finished? The work of your salvation. [00:50:23] What was finished? [00:50:27] The right for you to have a legal, an eternally legitimate foundation in the presence of God. [00:50:44] Now, my dear friend, are you going to tell me that you are an exception to this? [00:50:52] And that God is going to despise the work of his son and the suffering of his son and he's still going to rake up sins in your life? [00:51:03] Do you really believe that? I'm not saying you can live in sin. [00:51:08] Get me clear on this. I'm not saying you can live in sin. But what I'm saying is I cannot believe that the Lord Jesus who died for you, whoever lives to make intercession when the enemy comes to God and says what about this? And what about that? And what about the other and this man, your servants life, I don't believe God is going to say, oh yes, yes, all right, Jesus is there. [00:51:37] He intercedes. [00:51:39] He says, father, they are mine. [00:51:46] Remember I bore their sins him who knew no sin, God made to be our sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Oh, listen to the words. I sometimes think the Old Testament is more evangelical than the new. He had blotted out as a thick cloud your transgression, blotted out your sins and your iniquities. Will I remember no more. [00:52:24] The very records most of us imagine that somewhere in the kingdom of God there is a kind of register, and in the registry are recorded all the crimes and sins and failings and weaknesses and everything else we've ever done. They're forgiven, but they're still there. [00:52:46] They're forgiven. But if God wanted to, he could rake the thing up and say, well, now look, don't you remember? [00:52:56] It's not true, my dear friend, it's not true. [00:53:01] There is a register, and it's a register of all the crimes and wickednesses and iniquity and sin that you can imagine. And on the COVID it says Jesus. [00:53:19] And if there is any register for you, your name has got the righteousness of Christ. [00:53:30] That's how God sees you. [00:53:32] Oh, my dear friends, is there any way you and I going to come through? How are you and I going to come through in these days that lie ahead? We shall never be presented to Christ as a pure virgin unless we're hundred percent clear on our justification. [00:53:49] We're going to be knocked out. The enemy's going to knock us out. He's going to see to that. [00:53:55] He may wait years, but he'll knock you out in the end. [00:54:00] Unless we are 100% clear on this matter of justification. May I say something else? [00:54:07] Nobody will ever be unaffected unless they understand their justification. You see, all this affectation is that we are insecure. [00:54:19] We're not really sure that we are accepted for what we are. [00:54:26] So we try to project an image that will be acceptable to one another and to God. Have you ever noticed in prayer meetings, I always think prayer meetings are the best way of gauging, and now this affects some of your to death. [00:54:38] But prayer meetings are the best way of gauging someone's temperature spiritually, or even a fellowship's temperature spiritually. You know, you see these great big men, they've got voices like thug horns. I mean, and when they get into prayer, you can't hear the word they say. [00:55:04] I can't believe it. [00:55:06] You see, some of these girls that could well, honestly was, we say they're like fish rides. I mean, they've got voices that could be heard down at the James river, but when they get into the prayer meeting, they're all so meek and sweet, you wouldn't believe it. Who are they kidding? [00:55:31] You see, they've got the idea that if they project an image, God will say, oh, what a humble brother. [00:55:41] What a humble brother. Listen, how. How quiet he is. [00:55:47] What a. A broken sister. [00:55:53] You're not deceiving God. [00:55:56] You see, we've got some idea that we're not really accepted by God. Therefore, we have to project something. We are affected, my dear friend. It's only a real inward understanding of Christ as our covering. That means that for the first time, you and I can become real people. [00:56:15] We can be unaffected. [00:56:17] We can be ourselves, even, if I may say so, with our weaknesses and fear, failings and thoughts which need to be corrected and disciplined and everything else. But we can still come into the presence of God unaffected, because we know he has saved us. [00:56:37] We have a foundation under our feet when we understand the justification that is ours in Christ. [00:56:50] The Holy Spirit cannot even deal with us. He can't expose our need. He cannot break us. [00:56:57] He cannot discipline us with safety if we are not clear on the matter of justification. For once the Holy Spirit begins to bring out the real depravity of our nature and the real needs that are within us, we would go to pieces because we think God will forsake us. [00:57:17] But if God is going to do something in you and me, he has to start to uncover what we really are. He can't do that if we're not clear on our. On Christ as our covering. It is this very knowledge of ourselves that drives us to the Lord. Like the dear apostle when he began by speaking of himself as a least of the saints, an end in his last letter, of speaking of himself as the chief of all sinners. [00:57:44] The further he went on with the Lord, the more he knew how roughly he was. That he went on because he knew Christ as his covenant. [00:57:54] So, my dear friends, we must finish this sense of sin, this sense of weakness due through to imperfection, this sense of failing, this sense of unworthiness or this sense of inadequacy, these are the things the enemy will trip us up with. [00:58:21] Unless you and I know Christ as our covering, that's the only way we shall overcome. [00:58:32] Thank God for the Lord Jesus. I pray that God may open your eyes to see in a way you have never seen before, what Jesus did for you on the cross. [00:58:48] And may it burn into your spirit. In such a way that it becomes the foundation of your life for the discipline of God in your life, for the work of the cross in your life, for the power of the Holy Spirit in your life, for your service, for the work God gives you to do, for your fellowship with other believers, your participation in the life of the church. [00:59:25] May God want that we may all overcome by.