I'llBeHonest.com. Well, good morning. I'm excited. A while ago when Pastor Tim first started to preach on Hebrews, I remember that sermon and that day he gave us a lot of exhortations, right? Like some of them was meditate on scripture. And he gave us some stories of some other men who had done this and how it had affected them. He told us to detach ourselves from social media, how we are so wound up in Facebook and Twitter and our cell phones that we fail sometimes to forget what life was like without it. And he told us about the benefit of men like Jonathan Edwards who could go out on horseback and just ride out and spend time alone with God and told us, detach from social media in some way, in some type of, whether it's completely or limited, whatever, just do that and get alone with God. That was another one. Just get along with God. Make sure that you take time out of your day and focus intentionally on spending time alone, just basking in the presence of the Lord. It was a powerful message. For those who were here, I mean, or those who have heard it, you know that was a message that you walked away with and it stayed with you. But there was one thing that stayed with me more than others, and that was meditate on Christ. Specifically, Christ as our, and then you fill in the blank. Like, there's many different examples and pictures that we can look at. Like, Jesus Christ as our high priest. Meditate on Christ as our high priest, having once for all made a sacrifice that was pleasing to the Father, and then he sat down. Meditate on that. Meditate as Christ as our Passover. Go into Exodus and read the story of the children of Israel and you see the blood upon the doorpost and how the blood protected them from the angel of death, as it were, going in and taking out the firstborn and Christ being our Passover with the blood of him being upon us, protects us. Meditate on that. You can meditate on Christ as our mediator. You know, 1 John 2, you know, we have an advocate with the Father, one who is right next to, as it were, constantly making intercession, making mediation, an advocate. Meditate on that. There's so many different examples in the scripture that we can meditate on in the beauty of Christ. I found great help in doing this, and I want to join along with Pastor Tim in exhorting you to do the same. And I want to focus our attention on at least two this morning that I have found great, great help in. I want to look to Christ as our Sabbath and as our shield. And I do a Bible study on Sunday nights, and we've actually already kind of touched on this, but it was such a great help, at least to me, and I got some feedback that I felt the Lord burdened me that it would be beneficial to us all to hear more or to hear it again if you've heard it before. Another reason I felt burdened to do this was, you know, there's a lot of bad preaching out there. There's the health, wealth, prosperity. There's the, you know, it's just love. You know, Jesus is some type of hippie. It's all about love. It's a lot of foolishness. In response to that, men of God have come with an abundance of strong preaching. saying, listen, examine yourselves. Do away with this sinner's prayer foolishness. You know, false convergence. A lot of sermons went forth like that and it was glorious and it was great help. But what I've noticed and what I've found is because so much of that has gone forth, at least one of two things have happened. Many people, myself included, have looked to our own works for confidence. We look to our own works for assurance. And we're a pitiful bunch. If you look to yourself for any type of encouragement, you're not going to find much. The other thing that happened is a lot of people, genuine believers, begin to doubt their salvation or begin to question everybody's salvation. And in response to that, I have seen many, again, men of God have said, let us respond to this with the gospel. And so much now has been the gospel, the gospel, the gospel. Look to Christ, look to the cross, find your assurance, find your confidence, find your hope in the cross, in the gospel, in Christ alone. And so in response to all of this, I want to just join along with what I think the Spirit is doing and let us focus on Christ. So let's first look at Christ as our Sabbath, okay? Well, starting off, we need to ask the question, what is the Sabbath? Right? Good place to start. What is the Sabbath? The first place we are introduced to the Sabbath is in Genesis 2, 2 through 3. So you can go there. Genesis 2. two through three. We're going to be going through a lot of scriptures, so I'll let you know, and I'll just start rattling them out, and you can jot them down. Genesis 2, 2-3, it says, And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation. So we see that the Lord God created the heavens and the earth in six days, right? On the seventh day, He rested from His labor. Doesn't tell us much more than that, just kind of gives an introduction, like, here is the Sabbath. Merely see, God worked, and then He stopped working. Now, we don't want to get too deep into, we don't want to read into that too much, because we know that the Lord never stops working, right? I mean, the scriptures say that He upholds the universe by the word of His power. All things are held together by Him. If God stopped working, all would be undone. So we don't want to read too much of that and say, well, God actually stopped doing. We can say that there was an intentional, specific six days where God was bringing into existence things that didn't exist, and then he stopped doing that. That's at least the most we can say about that. Again, we don't want to read too much into that. The Lord is constantly working. We see Jesus saying this. Look, my Father is always working, and I likewise. But the Bible doesn't stop there. We get more into what the Sabbath is. We go into greater detail Not only do we have an introduction to it, but now it's a commandment. We see in Exodus 20 verse 10 says. Exodus 2010 it says, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. You or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. I mean, that's deep, right? Nobody. Not even your animals. I don't know about you, but, you know, I look at the Ten Commandments. I mean, this is given by God on Mount Sinai from the mouth of Moses. When I look at the Ten Commandments, it makes sense. Like, you know, if I was to say, you know, what kind of laws would God make? It seems to flow well, but I always had an issue with the Sabbath. I was like, it just doesn't seem to fit. I don't know if anyone else ever felt like this. You know, when you're growing up, and you're a child, and they have those pictures. You'll have a picture of a basketball, and a football helmet, and a baseball bat, and then a sandwich. And they say, which one doesn't belong? I would look at the Ten Commandments, and I'd say, The Sabbath, I mean, you know, you got law one, you should have no gods, no other gods before me. And you got two, don't make any idols, any graven images to worship them, no idols. Three, my name is holy, don't play around with it. And then the Sabbath, okay? And then it goes on, you know, honor your mother and your father, don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't lie or bear false witness, don't covet. I mean, and I would say, man, the Sabbath, it just... But there it is. It's right there. But you know, like my mother says, there's no oops in God's vocabulary. This is not a mistake. This is not an error. This is very intentional. And as I've been looking at this, I see the genius of it. And it flows beautifully, absolutely beautifully. So we get the introduction to it. We get the commandment. And then we get to see the consequence. If someone does not obey the Sabbath, what happens? Exodus 31, 14 through 15. What does it say? It says, You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Now, it seems to get a little more confusing because, you know, there's the saying that all sin is the same. In a sense, yes, because it only takes one sin to condemn you because God is that holy. But in the Bible, certain sins had capital punishments tied to them. For instance, if you murdered you were to be put to death. If you committed blasphemy, you were to be put to death. If you dishonored your parents, if you committed adultery, you were to be put to death. Understandable. But when you profane the Sabbath, you die? You wouldn't even die if you stole. But if you profane the Sabbath, and how does one profane the Sabbath? By working. I mean, isn't that strange? I mean, work is a good thing, right? I mean, think about how many warnings do we have in the Bible for people who don't work? I'll read a couple to you. Proverbs 18, 9. Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. Proverbs 10, 26. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slugger to those who send him. And who can forget 2 Thessalonians 3, 10? For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, what? Let him not eat. Work isn't wicked. It's a good thing, but yet it's crystal clear. If you work on the Sabbath day, you will surely be put to death, says the Lord. You, your wife, your mother, your father, your children, slave, animal, anyone who works on the Sabbath day will be put to death. Imagine that. Imagine us here in San Antonio, we're living. Walmart, shut down, Sabbath. Gas stations, shut down, H-E-B. You can't get anything, everything stops moving on the Sabbath. Imagine that, week after week growing up in that. Month after month, year after year, decade after decade, seeing everything stop. That would definitely, absolutely be within you. That would be ingrained within your mind. So we get an introduction to the Sabbath, we get the commandment of the Sabbath, then we get a consequence, and then we get a very vivid picture of what the consequence looks like. This is in Numbers 15, 32 through 36. This is amazing. This is absolutely amazing. It says, while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Gathering sticks. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody. because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the Lord said to Moses, the man shall be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones as the Lord commanded. Wow. Wow, I mean, did you see what happened there? Back in Exodus, what, 31? We saw very clearly, God said, anyone who breaks the Sabbath, what are we supposed to do to them? Kill them, right? But what did the people do when they caught this guy? They put him in custody. They said it hadn't been made clear what should be done to him. God tells Moses, kill him. I think sometimes we read this and we kind of just gloss over it. I mean, it may impact us, but we don't really put ourselves in that story. So let's do that, shall we? Let's imagine this. There's a field out there. I'm out there picking up some sticks. Y'all see me. That's kind of strange. What's Tawfiq doing? Maybe I'm getting some sticks. I'm going to build something for my sons. Maybe, you know, we're going to have a barbecue or, well, I don't know, a fire, I don't know, whatever the situation is. But you see me doing it and you're like, well, the Lord said I'm not supposed to be working on the Sabbath, so y'all get me and you put me in custody, lock me in the bathroom or something, I don't know. And then you go to, you know, pastor Tim and the elders and say, you know, what should we do? And you think, well, maybe, maybe, you know, they'll understand. I mean, it's Tawfiq. He has some good intentions. He says, no, the Lord said stone him. Me and my wife were baptized. And everyone in the church came outside. It was hot. I was sweating with us. And afterwards, I mean literally, I got a hug or a handshake from every single member. It was great. But the Lord said the entire congregation stoned this one. You imagine that? Everybody here, everyone, gets stoned. It didn't say the children aren't involved, you're not part of the congregation. It didn't say, oh, your family members are excluded from this practice. It said, no, everybody, the entire congregation stoned him. This is what God commanded. And then it says, the entire congregation did just that. Can you imagine participating in something like that? That you would not forget. That would stay with you for all time, your entire life. Man, this man was working. He was picking up some sticks, and I held a stone, and I threw stuff. That's a lot of rocks. That's a lot of blood. That's a lot of pain. And this was the commandment of God on purpose. So we saw the creation, we see the command, we see the consequence. Now let's look at the cause for the Sabbath. Why was it ultimately given? What's the point of all of this? We see this in Colossians 2, 16 through 17. It says, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. See that? The reason for the Sabbath is to point to Christ. He is the fulfillment. There's a shadow, and then there's a fulfillment. We can relate to this. I don't know if y'all are, you know, into movies, but I like movies. And there's this movie coming out from the makers of Fireproof. It's called Courageous. It looks really good. And they have a trailer, you know. And in the trailer, there's scenes and certain pictures and, you know, it's not the whole thing. It's just pieces of it. And they want to give you an idea of what you're going to see when it comes. Now, when this movie comes out, I don't know too many people that are going to say, yay, the trailer. No, they're going to say, the film. People aren't going to go back to the trailer when they have the actual thing to watch. Christ is the fulfillment. We're not going to go back to the shadow and the type when we have the fulfillment. We can see exactly what the point. Some stuff is not clear all the way, but when the fulfillment comes, He makes everything crystal clear. And we can see everything exactly for what it's supposed to be. So we know this. We just read it. The Sabbath is meant to point us to seeing Christ. Remember the words of Christ? The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. It's always been about Him. He was telling us this before Colossians was even written. Sabbath, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. So what is the message of the Sabbath? If you work on the Sabbath, you will die. But if you rest on the Sabbath, you will live. What is the message of the Gospel? If you work for your salvation, you will die. But if you rest in the work of Christ, you will live. Let's think about what Jesus said in Matthew 11, 28 through 30. I'll read that to you. He said, I love this. Unless we are tempted to believe that Christ is saying, I know you're tired of working out in the field. You've been sweating. Come to Me and I'm going to give you a vacation. He makes it clear. No, you're going to find rest for your souls. Now, it would make sense that the kind of rest has to match the kind of work. You've been working for your souls. Come to Me and find rest for your souls. All of you who have been laboring for your salvation, you've been trying to climb the ladder of good works to get to heaven. Ah, no, you will die if you try to work. I am the Sabbath. Find rest in me. I have already completed the work. This is great news. Now to those who were born and raised with the Sabbath being practiced, two words that ran closely together was labor and rest. I mean, they got that. Labor, rest. We know that. That automatically triggers Sabbath. That automatically triggers whoever works on the Sabbath will be put to death. Rest. Automatically triggers that guy who was killed picking up sticks. All of this came flooding to the mind. Now we haven't been raised to keep these kinds of laws. We haven't seen these kind of practices. So when we see Sabbath, sometimes it can just gloss over us. Praise God for the scripture that gives us the entire picture of everything. Because we can see that we can find rest from our labor because Christ has already worked. and He has worked so beautifully, He fulfilled the law in perfection. Every jot and tittle down to the smallest iota, He fulfilled the law. There is no law keeping left for us who trust in Him because He already did it. He worked. If it was possible, it's not, but if it was possible for me to treat everyone here to lunch after the service. Take you all out. I say, you know what? It's on me. Get what you want. There's going to be some hesitation. Is he crazy? I mean, can you really do this? But once we get past the situation of, not only am I willing, but I'm completely able to treat you to whatever you want, the fun begins. I mean, I want this. I want this. Get the dessert. Oh, yeah, get some extra. You want the strawberry lemonade? Get that, too. Everyone just eat and drink their full. They're satisfied, right? And then I get the bill. You may be some curiosity to see what the bill's going to be, but no one's going to feel, OK, let me get my wallet. No one's going to be calculating, OK, I had this, I had this. No, because I'm going to pay it. I pay the bill, we leave. Imagine how silly it would be for you later on that day to go back to the restaurant and say, I had this, this, and this. I'd like to pay for it. And the guy's like, well, the receipt says it's already been paid for. infinitely more. Wouldn't it be foolish for us to try to work after Christ said, I already paid the debt. I already paid the bill in full. My work has satisfied it. Why are you trying to pay what's already been paid? It's silly. Because in Christ, listen, we all accrued a debt that none of us could pay. We sinned against the holy God who made us, and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the bill that we owed Him. Jesus satisfied the law and paid the debt in full by His sacrifice on the cross. It was received as a good payment by the Father, shown by His resurrection from the grave, and all who believe and trust in His payment can rest and enjoy the fruit of Christ's labor. But unfortunately, let's be real, what tends to happen when we sin? Isn't it true, at least sometimes, at least the temptation is there to feel like I gotta work my way back into God's graces? I'm not worthy to go back into the presence of God, as it were. I gotta do something. Maybe I need to read my Bible some, or, you know, I don't really feel, I mean, I remember, I don't even feel worthy to pray. I need to do something to try to get back in God's good grace. As though we were there before we sinned by our own efforts. We're in God's good graces because of Christ. It's only by Christ alone that we can even be accepted by the Father. It's never by us. The next question that comes is, what does this mean? We're to go on sinning that grace may abound? By no means. So where does works come in? Because I know we're supposed to do works, supposed to do something, right? As it says in Ephesians 2, you are God's workmanship created, let's see, don't mess up the quote, had it memorized, but. I'll just go there. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So there's works to be done. So when does it come in? I'm not working for my salvation. Well, why am I working then? I like stories. I know Jesus told a lot of stories. It helps me to understand. So bear with me if you don't like stories. You're in your home. You trash your home. You mess up everything. And then you leave for the day. When you come home, your loved one has cleaned the entire home. It's spotless. Everything you messed up, they cleaned up. Everything is pristine. And you see them sitting on the couch resting. You're not going to go and try to do some more vacuuming. You're not going to try, oh, let me clean the windows after they've already cleaned it. No. Your attention is going to go towards the person. And out of appreciation for what they did, Can I get you something to drink? You want to put your feet up? What can I do for you? Out of appreciation for the work that Christ has done on our behalf, out of appreciation, we go to work for Him. What do you want from me, Lord? Anything! I will give you everything because I appreciate what you have already done. I'm not trying to add to the work that you've done. It was done completely and perfectly. It's sufficient, completely sufficient and acceptable to the Father. I can't add anything to it. I don't want to. All I want to do is say thank you with my life. I just want to say I appreciate you and I love you and I'm going to show you how much I love you by the life that I live. So it says live a life that is worthy of the gospel. So again, Colossians 2.15 says it's about Christ. It's not to try to clean yourself up to get to God, you can't. It's not about trying to work your way into the good graces of God, you cannot. It's about being appreciative for the work that Christ has done, resting in the labor that He has performed. Second part, Christ as our shield. I had so much fun with this. It was so interesting to me. We're going to look at some scriptures, and I have quite a lot, so I'm going to read them to you. You can jot these down unless you're like really quick with going to it. So let's look at some scriptures where God is called a shield, okay? Genesis 15.1. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. Second Samuel 2, 3. My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my Savior, you save me from violence. Second Samuel 22 31. This God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord proves true. He is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. Second Samuel 22 36. You have given me the shield of your salvation and your gentleness made me great. Psalm 3 3. But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, the glory and the lifter of my head. Psalm 710, my shield is with God who saves the upright in heart. Psalm 182, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. And there's many others, many other scriptures that talk about God being a shield. And there's other scriptures that give the idea of a shield. Not using that word, but it kind of gives the same basic concept. We got a fortress. Psalm 31, two through three. Incline your ear to me. Rescue me speedily. Be a rock of refuge for me. A strong fortress, save me. You are my rock and my fortress. And for your name's sake, you lead me and guide me. Psalm 46, 7. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. Pause. Think about that. Psalm 59, 16 through 17. But I will sing of your strength. I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning, For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress. O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love. In Psalm 62 too, He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I shall not be greatly shaken. And there's others. Strong tower. Psalm 61 3. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. Proverbs 18 10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous man runs into it and is safe. and then refuge. Ruth 2.12, the Lord repay you for what you have done and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge. Beautiful scriptures. What do these images bring to mind? To me, protection. I mean, isn't that right? Wouldn't you say that at least, again, there's so many different things you can get out of this, but at least, wouldn't you say it gives forth a picture that the Lord protects? You know, you think about a fortress, you think about a refuge, a strong tower, and you can just see a soldier. He's galloping. He has an army behind him, and he sees those gates, those gates open. He's like, as long as I can get in those gates, I'm safe. He gets in those gates, and they close, and he is rescued from the enemy. You think about the same thing with the shield. You know, you have a man, he loses his sword, he loses his bow, he loses his dagger. All he has left is that shield. I mean, what's he going to do? He is going to put his entire being behind that shield. He knows as long as I'm behind this shield, I'm safe. As long as I can be Behind the protective cover of this shield I have nothing to worry about no matter what comes as long as I'm behind the shield I am good. I'm rescued But if any bit of them gets outside of that shield well, he's in trouble I Mean you got arrows coming at him, and he's protected all the way except for a leg that leg is destroyed but as long as his entire being is is behind that shield. As long as his entire being is inside that city of refuge, in that fortress, in that strong tower, he has protected. He has protection. And one thing, and this is where it started to get kind of fun for me, one thing that I never really thought about, I don't know if you ever did, is What happens to the shield? Like, people don't normally think about the shield, but the shield gets all of the blows, doesn't it? I mean, everything that was meant for the soldier, the shield swallows up. Every arrow, every blade, every anything that's coming at the soldier, the shield takes it all, and it takes it in full. So how does Christ and God as our shield connect? Well, some scriptures to think about. Romans 3.25. Some of y'all may already know where I'm going with this. Whom God put forward. This is talking about Christ. God put him forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. Hebrews 2.17, therefore, He had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Again, 1 John 2, 1 through 2. My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you do not sin, but if any of you do sin, He has an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Side note, read into that, see that as every nation, not just Jews, but the entire world, okay? Not every single person, because we'll see that Christ could not be the propitiation for the entire world. If that was the case, we'd be universalists, and we know that that is heresy. back for first john four ten in this is love not that we have loved god but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins now if you're like me i didn't grow up in church i had no clue what terms like that meant so let me explain what does this word propitiation mean it's not something that we use in our everyday language well some of us don't but It's a powerful word and it means to extinguish the guilt incurred by. In other words, to satisfy the anger of God. Jesus Christ extinguished the fire of God's wrath. How? How did he do this? And what does it have to do with Christ being our shield? Isaiah 53, 4 through 6. Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." You see that? We're behind this shield. He's crushed. He's afflicted. He's getting the stripes. He's being punished. We're getting peace. You know, another thing about shields is they differ, don't they? When I'm playing with my sons and they're fighting, I can use pillows to block their little blows. When I was growing up, we would use trash can lids when we would throw rocks at each other. That was a shield. If I need protection from a bullet, I ain't going to use a pillow. I'm not going to use a trash can lid. I'm going to need something like Teflon or something stronger. The idea is based upon what's coming at you depends upon what the shield needs to be made of. The Bible says that God is our shield. What kind of weaponry are we facing that we need a God's shield for? The wrath of God. We need a God's shield to protect us from the wrath of God. This is glorious. Jesus stood in the gap between us and the wrath of God, and he remained there until the entire fire was extinguished. You know, in battles, you know, archers, they have an abundance of arrows. The Father fired every arrow He had. Every arrow He had, and Christ took it all. Our shield, those who trust in Jesus Christ for salvation, bore every single arrow, every boulder that God's catapult launched, Christ took it all. Till there was nothing left. Father looks around, there's nothing left to throw. The son is like, that's everything. The father has nothing left to pour out on those who will trust in me. And he said the most beautiful sentence, it is finished. Man, that's beautiful. So again, to the believer who falls and thinks, man, God's angry at me now. I gotta make it up somehow. You know, I gotta punish myself. Somehow, I gotta try to atone for what I've done. You know, Christ as our Sabbath, we try to work back. Christ as our shield, we try to punish ourselves. Okay, now, I know I like doing this thing, and I'm not gonna do it now, I'm gonna punish myself, I'm gonna beat myself up, and oh, you're nothing, you stupid, beat yourself up, make you feel really bad, and okay, I think I've suffered enough, now I can get, No, Christ bore the wrath of God in full, so we don't have to. For those who trusted Him, we don't have to. You know, when Christ was in the garden, there was a cup He didn't want to drink. Did He drink it? Yes. You know, we can drink something. I have a bottle of water here. I could drink the whole thing and put it down and I can go back to it and say, oh man, there's like a little small film around the bottle of some water I didn't get. You know, we tend to think, those of us who are believers, we, you know, maybe God's not furious, like he's gonna send me to hell, but maybe he has a little drip, he has a little drip of wrath left for me. No, Jesus Christ licked the bottom of the cup. There's nothing left. He swallowed the wrath of God in full. It is finished. He rose from the grave, proving that the Father accepted both His work and His punishment as a pleasing aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, a perfect and sufficient offering, payment in full. Let us meditate on this. Let us rest in this. And you know, I'm almost done here. In the book of 1 John, we already read it. John, he uses the same argument there. Look, little children, I write these things to you so that you do not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's a propitiation. Why does he mention that? I'm thinking God in His divine wisdom knows that when we sin, we're going to try to make propitiation. He's saying, no, He is the propitiation. Let us find rest and comfort in that, that we can go there and say, ah, the Father has accepted the sacrifice of Christ. As I'm closing, I just I want us to remember this. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father spoke some glorious words about the Son. And I want to exhort us all to take heed to what the Father said. He said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him. So often we don't listen to the Son. We listen to ourself. We listen to Satan. We listen to our own rationale. But what are some things that the Son said? First of all, let's look at the fact that the Father is pleased, well-pleased rather, in the Son. Not well-pleased in us. He's well-pleased in the Son. So let's find comfort there. That if we're in Christ, we are well-pleased in the Father. But secondly, let's go back to the gospel and see what what he said. He said it is finished Listen to Christ. He said it's finished Listen to him. He said come all you who labor in our heavy laden. I will give you rest Listen to him. He said your sins are forgiven Most of all listen he said repent and believe the gospel as our Sabbath, to find rest, as our shield and safety. Jesus Christ is sufficient. Amen.