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The following presentation is
brought to you by Faith Presbyterian Church Reformed. Delivering today's
message will be Dr. Richard Bacon. Day of 53-8, a
couple weeks ago, basically what we saw is that when Christ was
taken from prison and from judgment that that's Isaiah's language tantamount
to him saying that he rose from the dead, that he was taken out
from the prison of the grave, he was taken out from under the
judgment of God and vindicated, demonstrating that his offering up of himself was accepted
by God, this being shown forth in the resurrection or being
taken forth from the judgment. We want to look at another doctrine
this week in which we see that Christ is being risen, having
been taken from prison and from judgment, Christ being risen
lives a numberless term of years, or what we characterize in Isaiah,
or what Isaiah characterizes as who can tell his generation. The implication being no one
can tell his generation. It's a numberless term of years.
He endures forever. And we say that He is not only
enduring forever, but that He is doing so with the Father in
glory. Now, say, well, what's been added?
Don't you know that Christ was always eternal? Christ has been
around, that is to say, the second person of the Trinity. God the
Son has been around forever, will always be around. What has
changed to say that there is a numberless term of years now
to His life? Well, just this. We're not speaking
simply of Christ as God. but we're speaking rather of
Christ as mediator. Some of you have heard me make
that distinction before. I hope most of you will hear
me continue to make that distinction because Christ has a providential
kingdom or a kingdom over which he reigns as God. And what does
that include? Well, just everything. Just includes
everything. But there is also a Kingdom over
which he reigns as mediator and that kingdom was given to him Upon the completion of his resurrection
and ascension he sat down on a throne Now we're going to see
as we study through the book of Hebrews in our morning services
that he sat down as a priest also But when he sat down as
a king he sat down to reign specifically over Zion Thou hast set thy holy
king upon what hill? Zion Hill, upon the holy hill
of Zion. And so in setting down upon the
holy hill of Zion, he became the mediator. He wasn't always
God-man, was he? He wasn't always the mediator
as God and man in one person forever. We talked about that
a little bit this morning. And what did we say was the big
long name of that doctrine, children? in incarnation, because he took
upon himself flesh. Now that means that he took upon
himself a human nature. So now he is reigning not only
as God, but as God-man. In order for him to reign as
God-man, he has to reign not only in his nature as God, but
also in his nature as man. And how does he do that? By being
raised from the dead, that is by being taken from prison and
from judgment, and now who can tell his generation or by being
given a numberless term of years. We see that set forth before
us in the book of Hebrews in chapter 7. And here's where the author of
Hebrews is comparing the life of Christ and the life of Melchizedek. And he's saying, look, if all
we depend upon is an Aaronic priesthood, then we don't have
anything more than what we've already had. But with Christ,
there is something added. There is a Melchizedekan priesthood. So he's explaining who Melchizedek
was, and he's explaining that Melchizedek was greater even
than Abraham. But Abraham was greater than
Levi, and Levi was greater than Aaron. Therefore, Melchizedek
was greater than Aaron. And one who's in the Melchizedekian
priesthood, therefore, has a better priesthood than the Aaronic priesthood. That's the burden in chapter
7. I realize we're getting seven chapters ahead of ourselves from
our morning sermons, but that's the burden of chapter 7. Now
in that context, here's what he says in verse 3, that Melchizedek
is without father, without mother, without descent, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the
Son of God. He abides a priest continually. Now, That's not to say that Melchizedek
didn't have a mommy and a daddy. Rather, it's that we don't know
who his mommy and daddy were, and it doesn't matter that the
priesthood began with him, that everything we need to know about
his priesthood we find in him. We don't need to know about his
descendants, about his sons or his grandsons or his great-grandsons,
without descent. Everything we need to know about
him is found in him. Now, who was Melchizedek? Maybe
it was a Christophany. Maybe Christ actually appeared
to Abraham. Could have been. Christ did appear
in the Old Testament from time to time, didn't he? Maybe it
was Shem. Remember Ham, Shem, and Japheth? Right? Shem, one of the sons,
the eldest son of Noah. And if you figure the genealogies,
and if we take the numbers in the book of Genesis, as I think
we ought to, in a fairly literal fashion, we find out that the
years of Shem are such that he was alive at the same time as
was Abraham. And if his city was Salem, the
city of peace, then who else would have been the king of Salem
but Shem? And who else would have been
known as the king of righteousness but that one who was still alive,
who had come over the flood? So Melchizedek, by the way, means
King of Righteousness. That's why I say, who else would
have been known as the King of Righteousness, the King of Salem,
or what would later become known as, who knows? Jerusalem. So was it Melchizedek? I mean,
was it Shem? We don't know. Was it a Christophany?
We don't know. Was it somebody completely else
that we haven't mentioned yet? We don't know that either. And
that's the point that he's making here. We don't know. But we do
know that he had a superior priesthood to Aaron's, because he blessed
Abraham. And without doubt, he says, the
lesser is blessed by the greater. So Melchizedek is greater than
Abraham. But Abraham is greater than Levi,
because he's his granddaddy. Great granddaddy. Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, Levi. great-granddaddy and Levi is
greater than Aaron because Aaron is his descendant so we take
all those greater thans back and Melchizedek is a greater
priest than Aaron so he's without father without mother without
descent having neither beginning of days nor end of life but he's
made like unto the Son of God now who is that Christ And what's
special about him? He abides a priest continually. He has a numberless term of office. When did the high priest lose
his office? Was his term of office one year,
five years, ten years? How long was his term of office
in the Old Testament? Anybody know? Life! Now that means, really, death. Right? He was a high priest as
long as he lived. it ended when he died so when does Christ the
high priest's office end never because he doesn't die who can
tell his generation he lives forever he abides continually
like the Son of God he abides a priest continually Hebrews
7 3 y'all get that one in your notes that's an important one
isn't it okay drop down a little bit farther into Hebrews chapter
7 Verse 16. Well, I'll back up to 15 again
because once again we're talking about Melchizedek. It is far more evident for that
after the similitude of Melchizedek there arises another priest who
is made not after the law of a carnal commandment but after
the power of what kind of a life? endless life so how is he made
a priest by what power is he made a high priest not after
a carnal commandment not after a fleshly commandment not after
the fact that the the way of all flesh is to die but rather
after an endless life right what happens what is the way of all
flesh all flesh is as grass So if we have a carnal commandment,
if we have a fleshly commandment, if I'm only a high priest for
as long as I'm in the flesh, then how long am I high priest?
Till I die. But now, how long is Christ high
priest? Forever, because he has the power
of what? Of an endless life. And then
finally, in verse 24, well, again, let's back up to
23, because he's going to make the analogy, he's going to close
the analogy, between the Melchizedekan priesthood and the Aaronic priesthood.
They truly were many priests. How many? One? More than one. More than one. Many, many priests.
Because why? Because they were not suffered
to continue by a reason of death. Not allowed to have a dead person
being your priest. When they're dead, we bury them.
And so they weren't allowed to continue by reason of death.
When death came, their priesthood ended. Now here's the analogy.
But this man, this Jesus, because he continued with ever, hath
what kind of a priesthood? An unchangeable priesthood. Now, specifically, where did
the priesthood change? Whenever there's a change in
the priesthood, there's a change in the law, right? So was there
a change in the priesthood from Aaron to Melchizedek? When we
move from the Aaronic priesthood to the Melchizedekan priesthood
of Christ, is there a change in the law? Well, you tell me.
How many sheep have we drawn to the front of the church and
slaughtered? So far today, none. So is there a change in the law?
Right. How many burnt offerings? How many mink offerings? meal offerings. How many meal
offerings? None, right? Why? Because whenever
there's a change in the priesthood, there's a change also in the
law. But now this priesthood is what kind of a priesthood?
A changeless priesthood. And how do we know it's changeless?
Because he lives forever. So you see the importance now
of him being taken from prison and from judgment. And who can
number his years? Who can tell his generation? You can't tell his generation.
He lives forever. And that's the importance of his everlasting
life, is he continues to apply the work of his priesthood to
his people by means of sending the Spirit. We'll look at that
in just a moment. Three reasons. First of all,
at the resurrection, three reasons that we know that he lives for
a numberless term of years. At the resurrection he was cleared
of liability. Remember we said that that prison
house in which he was contained was what kind of a prison? It
had what in common with a debtor's prison? What did it have in common
with the debtor's prison? There was a liability that was
due on our account. So when the debtor is released
from debtor's prison, what does that show forth? No more debt. The debt's been
paid. So his being taken from the prison house is a demonstration
that he has been cleared of liability. Romans 5.12 tells us that the
wage, not the wages of sin is death, but wherefore is by one
man death passed upon all men, so by... Every time I try to do that,
what do I do? Romans 5, 12. Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. So
what does it take to pay the debt of sin? Death. So when Christ died and then
rose again, what is that a demonstration of? Well, again, we point back
to 1 Peter 4.1, that he canceled sin in the flesh. Thus he's justified by the Spirit,
1 Timothy 3.16. Remember, he was manifest in
the flesh. God manifested in the flesh. We looked at that
this morning, didn't we? But then what else do we see? What
happened? He wasn't just manifested in the flesh, He was also justified
in the Spirit. He was raised again and the Spirit
showed forth, justified Him that He had done the work and that
He had received the approbation of God. Christ has the keys of
death in Romans chapter 6 and verse 9. knowing that Christ, being raised
from the dead, dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over
him. Death had dominion over him for
a short time. How long is a short time in Scripture?
Three days. Had power over him for three
days. But, now that he's raised from the dead, does death have
any dominion over him? No, Romans 6, 9. And, as he says
in Revelation 1, 18, is it 1, 18? He has what? The keys of death and of hell. Is that right? Did I get that
right? Some of you are looking at me like, I am he that liveth and was dead. Okay, who is that? yes Jesus if if he's living and
was dead then he's been raised from the dead and behold I am
alive for evermore right so he lived he died now he's alive
forevermore amen and I have the keys of hell and of death okay
now If he has the keys of hell and of death, who is it that's
going to go to death or to hell? But those whom he chooses to
go to hell and to death. If he has the key to hell and
to death, how many prisoners is he letting out? Many as he
wants. But how did he earn that? Earn
that? Granted, did he have that right
as an absolute sovereign? Yes, he did. But as God-man,
he earned that by his resurrection. He says here, I was alive, then
I died, now I'm alive again forevermore. And it's on that basis that I
have the keys to death and to hell. I can understand the objection
that might be raised. Well, how can we say that Christ earned
something that was already his prerogative? That's fine. If
you come up with a better word, I'll use that one. You know,
earned is fine. Okay. So now, secondly, that's
the first thing. If the resurrection is cleared
of liability, and he is now the giver of life and of death, he
is the determiner of life and of death. But secondly, I want
us to see that he is the fountain of life to those who have him
as their mediator. He has a numberless years of
life. He has a numberless term of life. Who can tell his generation?
And being all living, living forever, he also is a fountain
or a source of life to all those who have him as mediator. In
other words, he shares his life with us. He gives us his life. Let me show you some things that
maybe have been misconstrued to you in the past. Let's start
at 1 Thessalonians 5.10. You know, the fact that we have
heard verses misused or abused in the past has perhaps made
that misuse or abuse distasteful to us. Well, here's the wrong
reaction to that, is to quit using those verses correctly.
Quit understanding them correctly. Leave the verses alone. How many
Arminian verses are there in the Bible? No Arminian verses. So the fact that some Arminian
has used them incorrectly doesn't mean that we should have a distaste
for the verse. We should have a distaste for
the abuse of the verse. So look at 1 Thessalonians 5.10.
He died for us, that is, Lord Jesus Christ died for us, that
whether we wake or sleep, We should live together with Him. Exactly. So where is
our life hid? Our life is hid in Him. So whether we wake or sleep,
the application here seems to be whether we're alive or dead.
Whether we wake or sleep, where is our life? Our life is with
Him. Now, what comfort is there in
that if He doesn't live forever? Very little. But because He does
live forever, then if our life is with Him, how long do we live?
There's the comfort. There's the comfort. And then
turn with me over to 1 John 5, 11, and 12. And these are the
verses that I was telling you had been sorely abused over the
years. there's a tendency amongst Arminians
to try to help someone else have assurance of faith, as though
either assurance were the substance of faith, or you have to trust
what you just did for salvation to be effectual. whatever it
might have been. You know, you shook the preacher's
hand, or you walked the sawdust trail, or you signed the decision
card at the Billy Graham rally, or whatever it might have been.
Because you've done that now, you have to understand that you
can't go around thinking that maybe you don't really have life.
You have to have assurance now. Well, this verse is often used
in that context 1 John 5, 11, and 12 is often used in that
context. Well, you just asked Jesus into your heart, didn't
you? You just prayed the sinner's prayer, didn't you? Therefore,
you must have life, right? And of course, we don't want
to disagree with our counselor at the Billy Graham crusade.
And so we say, right. And perhaps we spend the rest
of our lives believing that. Whether we've actually trusted
Christ or not. Now that's the danger of using this verse incorrectly.
However, We need to remember that there is truth in this verse.
And here is the truth. He that hath the Son hath life. Why? Well, this is the record
that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is where? It's in His Son. This Son who
was raised from the dead and who now lives forever is now
the fountain of life to all those who have Him their mediator shall
I say that again was that confusing Christ who has a limitless number
of years is now the fountain of life and gives life to all
those who have him as their mediator and then verse 12 he that hath
the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God is hath
not life." On what basis do we have life? If we don't have the
Son, we're walking corpses. We don't have life if we don't
have the Son. Why? Because God has given it to His
Son to have all life in Himself. And if we would have life, we
must have that life from Christ else nowhere. So that's the second
thing. He is now the fountain of life
to all those who have Him. their mediator. Remember what
he said in the graveyard when they called him to, well Lazarus
was sick I guess when they called him, come heal Lazarus, but he
delayed long enough that by the time he got there he could teach
them another lesson. So when he got there he didn't
just say, I am the resurrection. What else did he say? I am the
resurrection and and the life. You see, there is a being raised
from the dead, but there is a continuing on in life after that. And if
we would have Christ, He must be not only our resurrection,
but also our life. And then third, first was that
at the resurrection He was cleared of liability. Secondly, and if
He's cleared of liability, and the liability of sin and death,
then how can He die again? That was the first one. The second
thing was that he is now the fountain of life to all those
who have him as mediator. To be the fountain of life, he
must have life in himself. Then the third thing is that
he now performs all the other acts of mediatorship. The key
act of mediatorship was his death upon the cross and then his resurrection
from the dead. But he now performs all the other
acts of mediatorship And all those other acts of mediatorship
require him to live how long? Forever. And we saw that in Hebrews
7, 16, 7, 24, where we saw his mediatorship, or his priesthood,
if you will, compared to that of Melchizedek. That he is not
a priest after an order of those who die, he is a priest after
the order of those who live. Therefore, Christ is continually
gracious toward his people. As the law accuses us, what does
Christ do? Christ comforts us. Christ intercedes
on our behalf. So there is a continual and ongoing
aspect to the priestly work of Christ. You all know the Shorter
Catechism, question 25, how does Christ execute the office of
a priest? Christ executed the office of a priest and is once
offering up himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and
that's all. Well, there's more? That's right,
and in making continual intercession for us. You see, there's more.
So this is a part of Christ's priesthood, that he goes on making
intercession for his people. He continually intercedes on
our behalf. He is continually being gracious
toward us. So that brings up the question,
and I hope it would be a question and not an objection. I want
to answer it as a question and not as an objection. And that
is, and children, this is the kind of thing that I would wonder
about if I were three or four or five. Maybe you wonder about
it too. Well, what's he doing? Whenever you're away from me,
I kind of wonder what you're doing. So Christ is away from
us. Do you ever wonder what He's
doing? Well, the Bible tells us some of the things. He's doing
three things. Yes, He's interceding for us.
Very good. He's interceding for us. Hebrews 7.25. And what does
that mean? Well, it means that He is interceding
for the application of His merit to our sins. He continually intercedes. Be careful that we don't think,
well, every time I sin, I sit back. And if I confess it, Christ
intercedes. And if I don't confess it, Christ
doesn't intercede. Some of my sins are forgiven.
Some of my sins aren't forgiven. No, all of our sins are forgiven,
past, present, and future. Every sin has been laid upon
Him if, in fact, we are one of His people. However, that merit
does need to be applied to us continually, doesn't it? that's
part of the intercession, is that there is a constant appeal
for application of his merit. Now, do you remember once again
in the graveyard, when he's raising Lazarus, he prays, Father, hear
my prayer, and then he goes on to say, but I'm saying this for
them because I know you always hear me. John 11 42, if you want
it in your notes. John 11, 42, I know that thou
always hearest me. What does that mean? It means
that God always grants him his requests, doesn't it? Now, if
God always grants Jesus Christ his requests, and if he's in
heaven praying right now for the application of his merits
to us, what does that mean? That the Father is indeed sending
the Spirit to apply the merits of Christ to us. Is that a comfort? Amen. Secondly, he's administering
his kingdom. He's interceding for us. Secondly,
he's administering his kingdom. So he's being a priest. And what
else is he being? A king. That's right. He's being
a priest and he's being a king. He is administering his kingdom. How long? Until his enemies become
his footstool. That's how long, Psalm 110, 1
Corinthians 15, 25, Revelation 17, 14, right? Those that are
with him are faithful and sanctified. Faithful and called, yeah. Faithful
and something and called. Faithful and chosen. Faithful and chosen and called.
Yeah, how could a Calvinist forget that? Well, one Calvinist didn't. faithful
and chosen and called. And so he's presently administering
his kingdom, how? Through his church by means of
those who are faithful and called and chosen. Those are faithful,
chosen, and called. We see that in Revelation 17, 14, 1 Corinthians
15, 5, that his enemies shall become his footstool. And this is an important thing.
Remember how Sarah's womb, Sarai, remember how her womb was characterized
early on, oh, say, for the first 90 years or so, as dead, right? Hebrews chapter 11. Though her
womb were dead, yet what did Christ draw out of her womb?
A living thing, right? Isaac. So he's able to draw a
living thing out of a dead thing. Why? Because he is life itself. He is our life. And by the same
way that he can draw life out of Sarah's
dead womb, so also he draws life from us. He causes us to come
to life even though we were dead in the same way. How much did
Isaac have to do? What could he have done? Surely
he had to make a decision. Not at all. Not at all. When Christ will draw life out
of death, he does it. Sovereignly. That's how he administers
his kingdom. He administers his kingdom by
giving life to that which was dead. When he said, Lazarus,
come forth, Lazarus had to put one foot in front of the other,
didn't he? But before Christ raised him from the dead, he
couldn't put one foot in front of the other. First comes life,
then comes walking with Christ. So secondly, he administers his
kingdom. And let's see, so that's priest. And King, are there any offices
left that he might be administering as our Redeemer, as our Mediator? Can you think of any others?
Prophet. So he dispenses the necessary
gifts to the church for his will to be known amongst men. Ephesians
4, 8. Turn to Ephesians chapter 4.
Remember, he led captivity captive and dispensed gifts to men, right? Is that Ephesians 4.8? Do I have
that right? Is that a result of his ascension as a result
of his eternal life? Is that a result of because he
rose from the dead and now has a numberless term of years, he
now has gifts to give to men? Where am I? Ephesians 4.8, is that? See,
the same idea is set forth in both Ephesians and Colossians,
isn't it? In Ephesians 4.8, Wherefore, he saith, when he ascended up
on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Well,
what kind of gifts? If we drop down to verses 11
and 12, he gave some apostles, prophets, some evangelists, some
pastors and teachers. What kind of gifts are those?
Those are gifts by which he makes his will known. And what do we
call that office by which he makes his will known for his
salvation, for our salvation? We say that that's how Christ
executes the office of a prophet. So as he is in heaven, what is
he doing? Children, he is executing the
offices of a prophet, a priest, and a king, which he did not
only in his estate of humiliation, but also in his estate exaltation
is that shorter catechism question 23 that sound right some somebody
do that yeah long in there right long in there I think question
number 23 both in is a state of humiliation and it is a state
of exaltation so now that he is in his estate
of exaltation what's he doing what's he busy yet he's busy
and in his offices of prophet, priest, and king. I told you
that we would try to wrap this up at 3.30. By my watch, we have
four minutes left. So let me just very quickly bring
you a couple of uses. And I've got about a page and
a half of those. So maybe we can save some of the uses for
next week. Remember in the book of Revelation,
it's in chapter 22, in the book of Revelation, where does the
fountain, where does the stream come from, that stream of life?
Remember that stream of life is coming from the throne, it's
coming from God, it's coming from Christ. So we see that stream
of life, remember scripturally we have to understand a stream
as meaning what? life, living, yeah, that which
gives life, that which brings forth life. As we were driving
out through the West Texas desert and farther out west through
Arizona and Southern California, you could always tell from miles
away, just a trickle of water, you could tell because all of
a sudden there's just a band of green. Why? Because that water means life.
Where there's water, there's life. Where there's water, there's
food, right? And so what's coming forth from
the throne? Water. There's a river coming from the
throne. There's life coming from the throne. And what is it that
we're sharing in? What is that life? That's the
life of Christ. That's the life that Christ has
an unlimitless amount in an infinite quantity. All right, well, I want to cover some of these
uses, but some of these uses get kind of involved. You have to kind of
follow with me to see how this is used. For example, well, for
information, there's no question. We can understand that easily
enough, right? What does it mean? to say that there is an application
here for our use for information. Well, it means that our life
is found exclusively where? If we would have life, where
must we find it? In Christ. So now, let's stop
and make that one application. Children, if you would have life,
if you would have eternal life, if you would have abundant life,
grown-ups, moms, dads, if you would have it, and if you would
share it with your children, Where must you find it? In Christ. How about in the Presbyterian
religion? No, we want to be Presbyterians. There was a famous Presbyterian
of the last century. He said, there are Christians who are
not Presbyterians. And he said, sadly, there are
Presbyterians who aren't Christians. But he said, make no mistake
about it. It's best to be both. Well, we want to understand that,
first of all, our life does not come from the Presbyterian Church,
from the First Presbyterian Church. It doesn't come from the preacher.
Where does our life come from? Where does our life originate?
Our life originates in Christ. So if we would have life, we
have to prepare to Him. We have to rush to Him. We have
to fly to His arms. Not to anything that we can do.
Not to anything that we can bring. Now listen, y'all have heard
me make fun of people who think they can go forward at a church
meeting and be saved. People who think they can sign
a decision card and be saved. People who think they can shake
the preacher's hand and be saved. And you know what? None of those
things will work by themselves. But let's be careful that we
don't think, oh well I know my catechism. So I must be saved. Or I go to the Presbyterian church,
so I must be saved. Or I sing the right songs, so
I must be saved. Listen, salvation is not in what
we do, even if what we do is the right thing for the matter
of it. Even if we are doing what God's, and most of us don't,
But even if we were doing what is right for the matter of it,
that's not what saves us. How many of us are saved by the
works of the law? No flesh, right? We talked about flesh this morning,
didn't we? No flesh, no flesh shall be justified by the keeping
of the law. That means you, means me. Well, if we're not justified
by the keeping of the law, if we're not justified by what we
know, by what we understand, by what we've memorized, by what
we've done, then how are we saved? Isn't that what the jailer cried
out? Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul and Silas just took
it away from him. They said, believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. and thou shalt be saved in thy
house. This becomes the occasion of
your justification. This becomes the occasion at
which time God imputes the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The life of
Christ becomes yours when you believe in Him. When you quit
trusting the arm of the flesh and instead trust Him who was
manifested in the flesh but justified in the Spirit. Let's stand and
call upon Him.
Christ's Numberless Years
Series Isaiah
| Sermon ID | 83120175537630 |
| Duration | 40:21 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Isaiah 53:8 |
| Language | English |
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