Alright, well, good morning once more. We find ourselves in the second week of Advent, and as such, we'll be continuing on in that series. If you were with us last Sunday, we actually started our series by looking at God the Son. God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. And we noted that He shared all the divine attributes, but we also noted that He has played and continues to play certain roles as God the Son. creator, sustainer. He was playing those roles before the Incarnation or the Atonement or the Resurrection. So we tried to look at a God the Son prior to, or maybe apart from in some cases, the actual Incarnation. And we also then looked at some instances where God the Son may have showed up in what is called a Christophany in the Old Testament prior to His incarnation in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, where God took on flesh. And we did this for one simple reason. If you don't know God the Son, then you don't know who came at Christmas. You just know about whatever who came. You know what they did, and you know what they were called. But you don't really know who came if you don't know God the Son. And so that's why we took the time to do that, and one of our primary conclusions is that our appreciation for the incarnation and the person of Jesus Christ scales up or down with our view of the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. So that's kind of where we started, and this morning I want to shift to describing the nature of the Messiah who's coming the people of God so eagerly longed for. And today we're going to look at that from the standpoint of the law. Next week, we will look at it from the standpoint of the prophets. So similar to last time, we will not be camping out in one particular text. Instead, we'll be moving around. But I have very carefully selected a passage from each book of the law to look at this morning. Genesis through Deuteronomy. And I want you to see that the hope of one to come, the hope of one to come does not originate in the prophets. It doesn't. It originates at the very beginning in the law, in the law. So having said that, we have five representative examples this morning. Again, we're going to interact with them briefly, but I hope meaningfully. Turn with me in your copy of the scripture to Genesis chapter 49. Genesis chapter 49. And in Genesis chapter 49, you may recall this is Jacob's blessing of his sons right before he dies, but his blessing actually takes a prophetic form. It takes a prophetic form. He's telling them what is going to happen in the future. Listen to the language of Genesis 49 1. Then Jacob called his sons and said, Gather yourselves together that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the days to come. It's the same Hebrew language that you'll get later in the prophets of latter days, actually. Let me tell you what's going to happen in the latter days. We need to tell you what's going to happen down the road is what he is saying for you all. Reuben is the firstborn, but we learn something peculiar. Because of his instability, he will not actually have preeminence among his brothers, which would have been a shock, and I'm sure it was a sad moment for poor Reuben. But that's just the way it was. Nor would it be the violent Simeon or Levi. And after moving past these three brothers, Jacob finally gets to one of the brothers named Judah. Judah. And what he says in his prophetic blessing over Judah compelling to say the least. In verses 8 through 11, we read this, Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your enemies shall be on the, excuse me, your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched like a lion, and as a lioness, who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples, the nations. Now there are a lot of very compelling things to point out here. We're going to have to rest content to point out three. The first is, Because of what will come in future days, preeminence will belong to Judah. All of God's people, symbolized here by the other brothers, Israel, right? All the other tribes, all the other brothers right here, all of them are going to bow down to the descendant of Judah. all of Judah's enemies are going to be pinned down by their necks under his powerful hand. Everyone will be in submission to the descendant of Judah. Number two, the ruling scepter will never depart from Judah. Power and royalty will belong to Judah, he says. It's depicted as a lion, which is a symbol for royalty. It's widespread in the ancient Near East and even in Israelites kings. You have that language. Think of Solomon's throne. You have the lions, right? This symbol of royal rule will not depart from Judah. And ultimately, people from all nations will come to obey him. People from all nations will come to obey him the obedience, he shall have the obedience of the peoples." And certainly we see this prophetic blessing fulfilled initially partially with the Davidic dynasty. David is a descendant of Judah. But even someone listening to the prophetic blessing here understands that there are certain things that are right here that are not fulfilled in David's dynasty. David never had the obedience of the nations, for example. Great king ruled. He was powerful. Never had, for example, the obedience of the nations. When does this happen then? What we are going to find later on in the story is that there is another descendant of Judah. There's another descendant of Judah from the line of David. a lion, as it were, from Judah, who would come rule his people in righteousness and call the nations to obedience. There was a ruler like no one had ever seen coming from the line of Judah. They were waiting for it. They were expecting it. Where is the ruler from Judah who will have the obedience of the nations? Genesis 49. Genesis 49. Turn with me one book over to Exodus. Exodus chapter 12. In Exodus chapter 12 that we heard read, we have the account of the Passover. Passover comes in a very special context within the story of Exodus. It comes after the ninth plague of darkness and immediately after the final plague is threatened, which is the death of the firstborn in Egypt, including cattle, including livestock. Small and great, all of it. No one is exempt from this. But God promises His people in Exodus 12, excuse me, Exodus 11, that they're not going to have so much as a dog growl at them? Well, how is that going to happen? How are they going to escape this fate? God says, there's not even going to be a dog who growls at you, so that everyone will know that I make a distinction between Israel and the Egyptians, despite the fact that they occupied the same real estate in this moment. Well, what do they do? Well, they're going to take a lamb without blemish, a year old, and they're gonna kill that lamb. They're gonna kill that lamb and have a meal, but that's not it. They're gonna take some of the blood of the lamb that was killed and they are going to put it on the doorposts and the lentils, so that's kind of the both sides of the door, the lentils, what goes on top, and they are going to cover in certain places the door, the doorposts and lentils with that blood of the lamb, ahead of enjoying a meal inside, prepared a very particular way and eaten in a very particular manner. And that night we read in verse 12 the following, I will pass through the land of Egypt, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And on all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood that is the blood that has been put on the doorpost shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt." The judgment of God was going to pass over the people of God on account of the Lamb's blood who was slain. That signaled to God obedience to what He had commanded, and the destroyer, verse 24, would not enter their home to kill. That's what it says. But we learn that there's more here. We learn this is not just a piece of circumstantial religiosity. This scenario, kind of actually a reenactment of it, was to become a central part of Israel's religious life and calendar. Because it told a greater story. It was always a story necessary for the next generation to hear. Go over to verse 25. We read this. And when you come to the land that your Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this service. That is to say, you shall continue this Passover meal in the manner so described. And when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service? You shall say, it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover. for He passed over the houses of the people of Israel and Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshiped." The meal was to be repeated and repeated and repeated and repeated, not only because it was a reminder, but also because it preached. It looked backward, yes, but it also looked forward. It looked forward to something the people could never have imagined. A firstborn, not saved, but sacrificed. But in that sacrifice, he would become 1 Corinthians 5-7, the final and ultimate Passover lamb for the people of God. He would be the lamb who takes away the sins of the world. He would be the lamb, Revelation 13, 8, slain from the foundation of the world. There was a firstborn who would serve as a slaughtered lamb in order to prevent God's judgment from falling on His firstborn. That is Israel, Exodus 4.22. Something was coming. Someone was coming for the people of God. a firstborn to redeem the firstborn by being a lamb who takes away the sins of the world. A lamb was coming to shield God's people from the judgment of God ahead of deliverance. Exodus 13, Red Sea. Deliverance. Salvation through judgment. Someone was coming to accomplish it. A lamb was coming. Exodus chapter 12. Turn with me one more book over to Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16, we have the Day of Atonement. This is a long chapter. Details another central event in Israel's calendar Yom Kippur the special day once a year where there was a very unique sacrificial procedure Carried out to atone for the sins of all Israel like everything. This is the most comprehensive atonement that happened in Israel's life and those paying the very closest attentions to very closest, excuse me, of attention to the scripture reading, will have noticed that sin is swept out the door, so to speak, on the Day of Atonement from inside to out. Did you catch that? So where do things start? In the Holy of Holies. Cleanse the Holy of Holies. Sweep it out. Okay, now we're in the larger kind of the tabernacle area. Cleanse that. Sweep the sin out. Now we're in the whole setup and there's the altar out there. Cleanse the altar. Sweep the sin out. Now we're out unto the people. Now, what are the people going to do? Well, the high priest is going to confess the sins of all the people and he's going to put a hand on the head of one of those goats. And he is going to send the goat off into the wilderness never to be seen or heard from again, putting the sins of the people and is swept out of the camp entirely from the inside to outside. That's the movement of the cleansing of sin on the Day of Atonement. And the outcome of the day of atonement is given very succinctly in verse 30. For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. From all your sins. Now, what I want to emphasize is the critical instrument. for the day of atonement to even get off the ground, for it to even get started. And that critical instrument I refer to, of course, is the high priest, Aaron, in this case. Aaron, being himself sinful, had to what? He had to offer a sacrifice for his own sin and bathe so that he could even begin the process of atoning for anyone else's sin. The process of intercession by which sin was dealt with to the fullest extent under the law, this right here, was guided by a man who himself needed the process. He needed it himself. Moreover, Aaron and the priests after him, they couldn't do it indefinitely. Why? Because they were sinners subject to death and so they would die. You had to get more sinners. You had to get more priests in there. Just in order to conduct the fullest pardon of sin available under the law, which still did not sufficiently and totally address sin. And so this is an example of a pattern that has a problem that kind of whispers or shouts its own solution. Doesn't it? In the words of one author you may have heard of, the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God. through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For indeed it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, But the word of the oath which came later than the law appoints a son who has been made perfect forever." Forever. Someone was coming. Someone was coming. This priest, these robes, these sacrifices, they were shadows pointing down the road. Something was coming. Someone was coming who could do for the people of God what no high priest and no sacrifice could ever do. And it was just built into it. What do we do when we sin? Another sacrifice. Another day of atonement. On and on and on. It was always next time. There was always next time. It was always moving forward. It was always pointing us forward to something, finally, where sin would be dealt with completely and there would be a perfect intercession where our sins would be cast as far as the east is from the west and a high priest who understood our weaknesses and yet wasn't sinful. He wasn't simple. That's what we needed. That's who was coming. That's who was coming for the people of Israel. The perfect, atoning High Priest. Leviticus 16. Turn with me one more book over in your copy of the Scripture to Numbers 24. In Numbers 24, we read the final two oracles of a wicked practitioner of divination named Balaam. Now, if you remember the story, which we don't have time to rehearse in full, Balaam is hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse the people of Israel. And after making his way through a talking donkey, Balaam ends up over there. And this guy, if you read the narrative carefully, is frustrated. He is frustrated by the Holy Spirit of God. He is not someone, he's out for money, he's not trying to be sensitive to the Word of God, although that's one way to read the passage. It's not what's happening. He is overtaken by the Spirit of God, and these three instances, instead of cursing the people of Israel, he actually ends up blessing them. And so you can understand that the king of Moab is, you know, understandably very frustrated. He's like, this is not, this is not what came here. It would have been better if you just didn't even come. And so he gets so frustrated that he decides to kick him out. Eventually he kicks him out after the third oracle. Done. This is the third time. Shame on me if I ask you to do one, one more curse because you're just going to bless them again. But the Lord has one more thing to say through Balaam, his puppet, his mouthpiece, just like he used a donkey earlier in the narrative as a puppet and a mouthpiece. And we read, interestingly, in verse 14 of chapter 24, the same language, the exact same Hebrew language from Genesis 49.1. He says, now behold, I'm going to my people. So you say, I am leaving, but come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days. Exact same phrase from Genesis 49. Exact same phrase from the prophets in the latter days. What's going to happen in the latter days? What is Balaam going to say? He took up his discourse and said, The oracle of Balaam, the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, the oracle of him who hears the words of God and who knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty falling down with his eyes uncovered, I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. It shall crush the forehead of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed. Seir also and his enemies shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly. And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of the cities." Whoa! What an oracle! What an oracle! This is about as explicit language as you can get that someone's coming. Someone's coming down the pipe. He's coming is certain, but it's not near. He says it's far off. I see Him, but not now. He will emerge from Jacob, Israel, as a ruler who is above all the others, and He will be royalty. He will utterly wipe out His enemies. And even what they have will be taken from them. You remember that language from a little further down? Even what they have will be taken from them. They will be dispossessed. They'll be dispossessed. And ultimately, this man who will eventually come from Jacob will exercise radah, dominion. Dominion. Do you recall the last time someone who was charged with ruling and having dominion? Same Hebrew word. Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion. Genesis 1.26. Genesis 1.28, fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Dominion. Unfortunately, we know the story instead of ruling and subduing Adam and Eve, but particularly Adam, was ruled and subdued instead, throwing the whole world and all of their offspring into a need for redemption. But there would be one who was coming that Balaam saw here, that he spoke of here, who was coming who would unlike Adam, actually exercised dominion. He would actually exercise dominion. He would rid God's space of enemies, not capitulate to them. He would take back everything that was supposed to be mankind, dispossessing the nations, judging the wicked. a righteous, ruling, royal son of Jacob who would succeed in exercising dominion in a way that no one else had before. Someone was coming. Someone was coming to God's people to exercise royal dominion. To do what was supposed to have been done in the garden. Numbers 24. Finally, turn with me to Deuteronomy 18, the last book of the law. Deuteronomy. We have Moses giving his final sermon. It's his final extended plea with the people before they take the land, and he re-delivers to them the law. It is, to be fair, a very stylized re-giving of the law, and even a very stylized accounting of the history since Egypt. You go back and read it, it's like, what's going on here? What's going on is it's a sermon. You have to read Deuteronomy sermonically or the law doesn't make sense. But here he is, shortly after the people will take the land under Joshua, Moses having been prohibited from going into the land due to his disobedience, his sin. And right in the middle of the book, basically, Moses tells the people something quite astonishing. He says that among the nations that they are about to dispossess, there are fortune tellers and diviners very much like Balaam, but he says they are not to listen to them. They are not to listen to them, verse 14. They are not to consult with them, like Saul will later do in 1 Samuel 28 when he goes to the witch of Endor. You remember that? explicitly says, you are not supposed to do that. Do not listen to them. But there is someone that they are going to listen to. There's someone that they're going to listen to instead. Verse 15-19, ahead of Moses, in the future, down the road, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like Me from among you. From your brothers. And it is to Him you shall listen. just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, Horeb meaning Mount Sinai, let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire anymore lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers and I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him and whoever will not listen to my words that He shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of Him." Someone was going to come for the people, from the people, and that person was going to be a prophet like Moses who spoke with God face to face and who delivered the word of the Lord while serving as a mediator between God and the people. He makes reference to the people being terrified at Sinai, seeing the presence of God, hearing the voice of God and saying, oh gosh, we can't see this anymore. And what he says, what he records there is the Lord told Moses, hey, they're right to react that way. That's like a proper reaction. But then there's a problem. Who is going to speak the word of the Lord way down the road? When are we ever going to get to the point where the people of God can behold the presence of God, but in some kind of form that's still mediated such that they can hear directly from the voice of God? How can that happen? How can that happen? There's going to be a prophet. I'm going to send a prophet to the people. He's going to be like you. He's going to know me in a way that no other prophet has. He's going to speak my words to the people. And in fact, this particular prophet, he will be so authoritative and his words so final that to disobey him actually renders someone subject to the judgment and accountability of God. God will require it of this person. Himself. So there would somehow be the presence of God, like at Sinai, but somehow in a way that it was mediated. Someone was coming for the people of God, a greater and a more perfect Moses, who was a prophet, who would deliver the word of the Lord. He would be the perfect mediator of a better covenant, who would write law not on the tablets of stone, but on the tablets of human heart while he proclaimed the word of the Lord and interceded for the people. And of course, brothers and sisters, That's why when we get to Acts 3, what does Peter step up and say? He steps up and says, Moses said, the Lord will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers who shall listen to him and whatever he tells you, and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people. All the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaimed these days. You know those latter days we've been talking about? These days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. God, having raised up His servant, sent Him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. Prophet greater than Moses is coming for God's people and Jews expected it by the way You go back and read with the expectation of John the Baptist. Are you Elijah? No, are you the prophet? Who are they talking about? Who are they talking about? Who is the prophet? This is what they're talking about. They're expecting the prophet to come Deuteronomy chapter 18 a prophet was coming for God's people So we look at this we think who could possibly be all these things Who could be all of this Who were God's people waiting for that could really fit the bill here? Of course, we're spoiled to be on the side of the history knows to know that the answer is Jesus. The answer is Jesus Christ, God, the son who takes on flesh, born of aversion, suffered, died, raised to life. Christ is our deliverance from the law, the law that prophesied to him. Christ does so much for us. He accomplishes so many different things with so many different implications when he comes. But one of the greatest is that the Christ about which the law prophesied would deliver us from the curse of the law. Now, that doesn't mean the law was bad. It wasn't. It had a good purpose. It was a custodian of sorts, guiding people of God forward toward the righteousness of Christ. A schoolmaster, you might say. But the law was a terrible Savior. A terrible Savior. Why? Because the curse of the law is that the laws that were delivered to Israel could not engender the obedience to God that was necessary for them to be appropriately handled. They held out a standard that could be obeyed at a certain level, but not a level that resulted in one standing perfectly righteous before God. The law had no power to create the fear of the Lord in someone's heart. It had no ability to do that. It couldn't change hearts. It couldn't establish righteousness before God. Because all fell short of it. The person and work of Jesus is the entire solution to the law. This entire solution. Lives a perfect life. Sometimes called the active obedience of Jesus. Theology people. Submitted to God's judgment even though He was innocent. Sometimes called the passive obedience of Christ. Crucified. Wrath of God. Our sin placed on Him. We wouldn't have to face the wrath of God. He was justified Himself in the resurrection, vindicated by the Spirit. And so Christ delivers us from the law by becoming a curse for us, and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And if you're in Christ, listen, Christ has perfectly obeyed for you so that when you don't obey perfectly, it doesn't change your status before God. Christ has obeyed perfectly for you, so when you don't obey perfectly, and maybe sometimes where you're just, I didn't obey perfectly, I just totally dropped the ball there. Your status before God doesn't change because your status before God is based on the righteousness of another to whom you're united. That's why you can be set free from the curse of the law. Instead, there is grace that overcomes your sin and calls you back over and over and over again. And Christ outgraces your sin. That's why it's one of the saddest things to see Christians who live like, functionally, they are under the law, they have been delivered from the law. They have been delivered from the curse of the law. Someone has already come to take care of that problem and yet, functionally, they still live like they are under the law. And one of the reasons is because we are evaluated by our performance and our efforts and our work in so many areas of life. We're evaluated by them and we're known for them. So what happens, you get that mindset, you have someone in this place where they understand that they're saved, you know, they're not going to hell. Okay, okay. But there's another courtroom where they're still guilty. It's the one in their own mind. See, that's the courtroom that really matters. The courtroom of my own mind and the courtroom of comparison. How do I stack up? Am I crushing it as a mom or am I really doing I'm just going to look left and right and see. How am I doing as a dad, as a husband, as a fill-in-the-blank? You've got other verdicts getting hammered out in your mind. Other judgments being rendered. So the fact that Christ has delivered you from the curse of the law, it's like, great! Okay! I have a little inner courtroom that really kind of moves the needle in my life. I need to hear the verdict. I need to feel and hear the verdict in there. That I'm not guilty, or that I'm awesome, or that I'm an overcomer, or that I'm strong, or whatever. And what I want to tell you is the most important courtroom verdict that has ever been delivered has been delivered in your favor if you're united to Christ. You've already been given the verdict. Righteous. Your courtroom doesn't matter. It doesn't. Nobody cares about it except you. Nobody. It is pride that says, I know that the most important verdict has been rendered in my favor, but my little courtroom is more of the Supreme Court of my life. and we're still waiting on that verdict to come in. If I have a couple good quiet times in a row, string it together, get a favorable verdict, feel good about myself. It's like you're living under the law. But Christ delivers us from the curse of the law. Does that mean we just don't have to obey at all? Hell, of course. That we're freed up to obey without condemnation. So I want to close with my favorite illustration. It certainly isn't a new one. But if I had a better one, I would come up with another one. I just don't. And I've told it before. It's about how to live under the law and how the law sets you free. And it involves my mom when I was a kid and her ability to get stains out of clothes. And so my mom was one of these people who was just thrilled by the opportunity to get a stain out of clothes. If you're like, you can't get this out, she's like, Yes, I can and she's got hydrogen peroxide and pouring stuff on it and getting it out there and It took a lot of effort I could I mean it took a lot of effort molt sometime multiple washings and he's got paste and scrubbing stuff with a toothbrush I'm it's crazy. If you want to learn how to get a stain us on call Alice Krug Okay But I understood the incredible effort that went into that I did and I understood the effect clean clothes. I And what that did simultaneously is two things. Number one, it made me not want to go out and somehow be cavalier or certainly not intentionally go stain up my clothes. Because I knew the work that my mom put in to keep them clean. And yet at the same time, I went out there not scared of what would happen if I happened to get a stain. Because I knew what was right behind it. Cleansing. I went out there not wanting to do that, trying not to stain my clothes, but not afraid of what would happen if I did. That's freedom. That's freedom. That's how Christ delivers us from the curse of the law. It's not to antinomianism and just nothing. It's to a kind of obedience without fear of condemnation because grace is always behind it. That's what we proclaim. That's what we embraced together. And all of this is made possible by whom? By the advent, the coming of the Messiah. To live in freedom, obey to the glory of God, but don't get out there being so petrified that if you sin all of a sudden you have a meltdown. There's grace right behind it that will outgrace your sin and your failure as a spouse and your failure as a parent and your failure as a co-worker and your failure in your own pursuit of Jesus, there is grace right behind that. So get after it, and then repent and believe the gospel. There's freedom there. Let's pray. Lord God, we rejoice that the Lion of Judah has conquered. We pray, Lord, even now that your kingdom would come here on earth as it is in heaven, that you would hallow your name in this city. That they would know us by our fruits. That we would embrace our identities as co-heirs with Christ. That the law, moral standard of what we should do would not be something that condemns us but it's something that we strive for so we can move past just knowing the standard to loving it. And when we fall, to have an opportunity to repent and embrace fresh grace. And so, Lord, I pray for people in this room, even right now, who just tend to be self-condemners. They tend to compare. They don't measure up what they think they should be or with other people to the left and right. The standard of their own mind is the one they really care about. And I just pray that the verdict you have announced in the divine courtroom in light of Christ would resonate in their ears and they could understand it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Free to obey with joy, without fear of condemnation. We ask these things in Christ.