music, so that's all right. It's actually Derek Kern. All right. Let's open our Bibles tonight. Some of you are looking like, what does that have to do with anything? All right. Let's get a little more serious tonight. Psalm 22. And I'm going to change what I announced this morning. I'm not going through verse 31 tonight. The more I looked at this, there's five things to look at in the verses I want to read tonight. Tremendous blessing when we understand what the Word of God is showing us here, especially when we understand it as a child of God. In Psalm 22, let's begin reading in verse 22. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation while I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him. But when he cried unto him, he heard. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows unto them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever. Let's look to the Lord in prayer this evening. Heavenly Fathers, we bow before you tonight. We thank you that we can come to you in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. knowing that our sins have been pardoned through his blood, and through his blood that we have access to your presence to come before you in prayer. And we thank you for all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us and is yet doing for us even now. We ask, Lord, through your Holy Spirit, help us, Lord, to focus our minds solely upon you and upon your word tonight. Show us the things that you have for us, the glories of the accomplishment of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll thank you and praise you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. The triumph of Christ. This psalm, as you know by now, presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the good shepherd of the sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. And in the last verses of this psalm, from verse 10 down through verse 21, we see the work of the cross itself. The verses before that lead up to the cross and point to it, but those verses specifically are totally about the Lord Jesus Christ and his sufferings on the cross. Remember that his sufferings for us are substitutionary. He did not suffer for his sins, but he suffered for our sins. So important to keep in mind. In verse 20 and 21, that section concludes the work of Christ with two petitions that he makes to the Father. is for, in verse 20, is for deliverance. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. The second one is in verse 21. Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn. We concluded with that, especially verse 20 last time. When I look at that, I just want to remind you of some things as we get into this next portion, because we're looking at the accomplishment or the triumphs of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He died, He said it's finished, and the statement that He was making was not just saying, I'm done. It was a victory cry. That expression that He used is literally a victory cry. He accomplished a great victory, a triumph, by his work on the cross of Calvary. And he concluded it with asking for deliverance. That is, the idea of to snatch away, to deliver his soul. In other words, snatch it away from the sword. And so he gave up the ghost. He commended his spirit unto God. And so then we have also salvation. This word saved that is used here speaks of the aspect of salvation that has to do with to be free, to set free, is literally what this word means, to be set free from danger. In this case, it's danger of the lion's mouth. Thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorn." Two animals there are made to picture something else. They're metaphors. We know that the devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he would devour. He tempted the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of his ministry, and he never ceased to hound his steps. It's on the cross of Calvary. that Satan bruised his heel, but Satan's head was crushed by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So he had the victory over that. The horns of the unicorn, he mentions previously about the bulls of Bashan. This word here means wild bull. Unicorn, literally a Hebrew word, means a wild bull or wild bulls. Some have thought, and very possibly so in this word used in the Word of God, This unicorn lost people, mocked it, well, that's just a mythological beast. No, if anything, it's talking specifically about a rhinoceros. Believe it or not, that's probably the most dangerous animal out in the wild. And so, that's the term that's used here for that, a wild bull. In Hebrews chapter 2, And verses 14 and 15, we have this statement in the Word of God. And it has to do specifically with the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same. He took part of flesh and blood. That's His incarnation. So he became a man with the same human aspect that we have, yet without sin. He did not have a sin nature like we have. But he became one of us that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. The devil who walks about as a roaring lion. He destroyed his power. You say, well, he still has, he still exercises plenty of power. Yeah, but he's defeated. And so then he goes on to say, "...and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." How do I know he's defeated? Because by experience I know what it is to be dead in trespasses and sins and for the Spirit of God to regenerate me and to be made a new creature in Christ Jesus. The only way that happens is because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And He was raised from the dead because when He died on the cross of Calvary, He accomplished everything that the Father gave Him to do. He wrought a complete work and had complete victory on the cross of Calvary. Our salvation and our deliverance is by His deliverance. He prayed to be saved and He was saved. He didn't need to be saved from His sin, but He was saved from the work of the cross, bearing our sin. He was delivered, given freedom. Well, He accomplished that for us, bearing our sin. He prayed to be delivered, He prayed to be saved, and He was. This psalm that began with here, In verse 2 of this psalm it says, O God, I pray in the daytime that thou hearest, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. Thou hearest not, but God did hear. At that point, God was not answering him, but God did hear, and God did answer. So it concludes, it begins with that, and it concludes with this last stanza of the psalm, if you will, which says, save me and deliver me, and concludes with words of triumph. And so when you look at verse one, I want you to consider with me tonight five things, five triumphs, five victories of the Lord Jesus Christ through his work on the cross of Calvary. In verse 22, it says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation while I praise thee. That verse should sound familiar to you. It's an intimation, if you will. It's a foretaste. That is, there's something that happened. This verse is talking about something that happened that has even a greater accomplishment eventually. When you look at In other words, it began at a point, there's at one time when it happened, but it's going to happen again. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 11. Hebrews 2 and 2 and chapter verse 11 says, for both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are both are all of one. So you have the one who sanctifies us and you have the people That is, the children of God who are sanctified. The word sanctified means to be set apart. The work of the cross of Calvary makes us a holy people. We have a holy God, a gospel that is a holy gospel. The work of the cross is a holy work. The Son of God is the Holy Son of God. He's God's Holy One. And we are made holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. The sanctification that is being talked about here is the accomplishment of the blood of Christ on the cross of Calvary. We are made a holy people, set apart unto God. The greatest progress of sanctification is also involved in that. That is by the work of the Spirit of God applying the word of truth to his people, especially far greater than any other place. in a way that is never accomplished quite any other place, and that is in his church. In this verse, he says in verse 12, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church, I will I sing praise unto thee. The Old Testament word that's used here in verse 22, in the midst of the congregation, will I praise thee. An interesting side note on that. In Tyndale's translation of the New Testament, he translates the word that we have, ecclesi, he translates that congregation. Wonder where he got that. It's because that's what the Lord's church is. Let me just say this, I'll take a moment just to go on beyond that. Let me just say something. When you hear something, I don't care if it's a Protestant or a Baptist, I don't care who it is, it irritates me in a way. Not that I'm mad at them necessarily, but it troubles me. When Baptists shoot themselves in the foot by undermining the validity and the authority of the Word of God that we hold in our hands with silly statements, like saying that Ekklesia ought to be translated assembly. No, that's not true. It's not just an assembly. When I was in high school, we used to have these assemblies before football games or before basketball games. We'd meet in the gym and have an assembly. We'd have a special speaker going to speak to us in school, so we'd have an assembly. That's not what this is. This word is a called-out assembly. It's an assembly of called-out people. people who have been called by the power of the Spirit of God working in their hearts and bringing them repentance and faith. as the gift of God. That's God's effectual call, and those people are placed in His church. So it's a called-out assembly. It's a congregation, is a better word as the way it's expressed in this passage. And by the way, the word church didn't start with your 1611 King James Version of the Bible. It was used before that. As a matter of fact, I'm going to take up too much time if I get going on that, but it goes way back before that. So people will say, oh, this is just the word that's put in here by the King James translators because they didn't believe in the church as a local congregation and they were trying to influence people and make it hard for people to understand the doctrine of the church. That's just flat not true. It goes back way before Luther that that German word was used in the German Bibles. So that being said, don't let people tell you that nonsense. It's not true. Now, but the Word of God tells us in the book of Hebrews in the midst of the church, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise unto thee. There's only one time in the Word of God where it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ singing. That's not because it's the only time he ever sang. But when it's in the Word of God, it has an importance to us. One time when it speaks of him singing, Matthew chapter 26 and verse 30, he had given them, he had taught them up until through his supper and instituting his supper. And then he prayed what is really the Lord's prayers, John 17. That's his high priestly prayer. And before they went out into the night, it says they sang a psalm in Matthew chapter 26 and verse 30. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. Who's they? It's the 11 apostles that were left. He sang in his church, which of course was before the day of Pentecost. So the church didn't start on the day of Pentecost. He sang in his church before the day of Pentecost. This verse says that. So the church began before the day of Pentecost. It began in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He sang and fulfilled this Old Testament prophecy. And Hebrews 2, verse 11 tells you that. This is part of the triumph of His cross. is the sanctification of His people, especially and in the greatest progressive way, because we are experiencing progressive sanctification as the children of God. We're increasingly being set apart in holiness under God to make us fit for His service. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 26, in speaking about the church, speaks of how that we are sanctified as well by the water. which is, he says, the Word. In John chapter 17 and verse 17, Jesus, in that prayer I mentioned, said, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth. So there's the sanctification that is settled for us by the work of Christ through His blood, and there's a progressive sanctification that takes part in our lives now by the work of the Spirit of God, using the instrumentality of the Word of God to effectually work in our lives. In the only place where the whole of the truth of the Word of God is preached as far as the ordinances, especially in the Lord's Church, is in the Lord's Church because it's the only church that has those things. The triumphs of the work of the cross of Calvary, the sanctification of His people and His Church through His Church. Verse 23 says this. Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him and fear Him, all ye the seed of Israel." Verse 23 talks about the entirety of the redeemed of God and their general character. He settled the salvation of all the people that the Father had given to Him. Every one of them. It's the entirety of them. Notice what it says again. Ye that fear the Lord, praise Him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him and fear Him. All ye the seed of Israel. He begins with, ye that fear the Lord. They fear God. It's expressed twice in this verse. The general overlying character The evidence of a child of God is this particular kind of fear of God. In Hebrews, the Word of God speaks of those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bonding. But the Lord Jesus Christ said that in Him will be set free, that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free, not only in knowing Him who is the truth, but as we increasingly know more of the truth of God, we're set free. And so we're set free from death, the power of death. We're set free from the bondage of death and the guilt of sin that brings death. We're set free from that. But the Word of God says of us, we still, we are those who fear God. What is the difference? Well, it's a fear that is fitting or befitting, if you will, of a son or a daughter of their father. There's a kind of fear that's proper, in other words, and is fitting for a child to have of their parent. It's a reverence, the Word of God speaks of, for a parent. But there's a certain fear about that, not fear of death, not fear of dying, not fear of torment, not that kind of fear, but it's a godly fear. It's a fear of a parent. I mentioned, I think it was on Wednesday night or this last Wednesday night of the week before, but yeah, I feared my dad. Sometimes he didn't have to do anything. He just had to look at me. And I realized it's time to pay attention. The next time will be a bad time. There's going to be some more severe chastening come the next time. Better pay attention to that look. I wasn't scared of him in the sense of fear of death or even torment or abuse. But I knew that when he said something, he meant it. And he meant it the first time. I reverenced him. That's what's involved in that. It's obedience, but it's not obedience like a servant that's afraid of his master. but it's like a son who has a certain fear, but it's what's called a filial fear. In other words, it's a fear of a parent. It's a reverence. It's mixed with love. You know that they love you. You know that what they do, they do for you, for your benefit, and because they love you. That's a godly fear. and it's put into the hearts of God's people at their spiritual birth. In other words, if you're a child of God, the instant God regenerated you, the instant you were born again, you had a godly fear of God. It changed from fear of death and eternal punishment To reverence for God, it's this kind of reverence. It's a godly fear. It's the whole of the redeemed that have it. There are no exceptions. If a man is in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. We have a new nature. We have a new awakened conscience, heart, and spirit towards God. The Bible says we love Him because He first loved us. It's a consciousness of a love of God, an infinite, eternal love of God for us that causes us in turn to love Him and to honor Him and respect Him in a special way. And so that's put into the hearts of God's people. And that's all of God's people without any exception. Jew and Gentile makes no difference. But then He goes on to say this. Here in verse 23, he says, "...all ye the seed of Jacob." Now, that's Jacob's name by his natural birth, but Abraham had a name by his natural birth, too. But this isn't talking about all of those that are the physical seed of Jacob, although it is talking about those that are the physical seed of Jacob. But it's only those who have the fear of God that a regenerate person has. In other words, it's the line of Jacob that have the spiritual character of Jacob. Not the character he had when he came into this world, a surplanter. No, not that one. It's the people who have the faith of Jacob. The people who walk in the steps of Jacob in his regenerate condition. Like it talks about people who have the faith of Abraham, who walk in the steps of our father Abraham. We have the character that's like him. The characteristics, the people who... Jacob, after God regenerated him, he began to more and more glorify God. Still had a lot of big problems in his life. But God changed him to the point where when he stood before Pharaoh, he did what it says here, He returned glory to God. He said, I am a stranger and a sojourner in the earth. Many an evil have been my days. But it says he blessed Jacob, blessed Pharaoh. Think about that. The Bible says the less is blessed of the greater. Jacob wasn't a king of a nation, but he was better than Pharaoh was. He could bless Pharaoh. Pharaoh could not bless him. He didn't have any ability. He didn't have anything to bless him with. All he had was material stuff and earthly stuff, an earthly kingdom. Jacob could speak to his sons in chapter 49 of the book of Genesis and pronounce blessings upon them. In the chapter before that, he could talk to the two sons of Joseph and bless them. And the blessing he pronounced stuck. It was real. Because God gave it to him. It was prophecy. Same thing when he gave blessing to his 12 sons. Those were prophecies. And they don't change. It's God's Word, in other words. He gave them God's Word. Then it speaks of the Israel of God. That's their national name. That's the name that was given to Jacob as a new name to him. It means Prince with God. And so the nation became known after those 12 sons that came out of Jacob that he pronounced the blessing on. The nation became known by that name Israel. And when I come to the book of Romans chapter 11, I find the apostle Paul talking about the fact, matter of fact, even before that chapter 10, he begins to talk about there is an earthly seed of Israel, and that's a spiritual seed of Israel. There's a seed that are called according to election of grace. That's a seed that are going to be given, some are now, but in speaking of the nation as he is in chapter 11, There's those out of that nation that are going to elect God's people according to the election of grace also. So a nation that came of Him and one day will fear Him as a nation. I mentioned this the other day, but I'll mention it to you tonight. The Bible says we ought to pray for the peace of Israel. There's only one way Israel's going to have peace. We're told to pray for the peace of Israel. Now get this, there's only one way that nation's going to have peace. They're certainly not going to get it from the UN. You know, they're out to get them. And it's getting more and more difficult to have any confidence in the United States. And oh, by the way, they're supposed to not trust the Gentile nations anyhow. When they learn what it really means to trust God because they come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, when they see Him and a nation is born in a day when they are born again in a day and they have this character, then they'll have peace with God. And we ought to pray for that peace. So now we come to verse 24. All of this is accomplished by the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Now the third thing we find in verse 24. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Who's that talking about? You see, most of all of God's people at some point in time, we all suffer affliction as the people of God. We suffer affliction for the name of Christ and for the righteousness of God as a child of God. But who's this talking about? He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither and neither hath he hid his face from him. Him. Not them. First of all, it's him. Jesus prayed concerning his affliction and he was hurt. We've seen the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. God heard him. The Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary did not sense the presence of the Father. He had been cut off from that because of our sin. But God heard his prayer. It's showing us that substitution brought forgiveness. The prayer of Christ concerning his affliction was heard. This is part of the accomplishment of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it has its benefit to us. He was afflicted. Why was He afflicted? He was afflicted in our place. Isaiah 53 and verse 4, Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Our griefs or because of our sin and living in a sin-cursed world that came into us that way because of man. Our sorrows, the same thing. Yet we did esteem Him. Here you have the depravity of man. He was afflicted for us. He bore our sorrows and our griefs, but blind sinners did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. of God, in other words. That's what sinners do when they look at the Lord Jesus Christ. You wonder why they use his name in vain? You wonder why his name doesn't mean anything? As a matter of fact, all you have to do is bring up his name and you'll start getting looks at nothing else, if you don't get more than that. Just bring up his name, inject it into the conversation, especially as he's the solution to this problem, he's the only solution to this problem, especially your sin problem. You can bring up Muhammad, most people just shrug. You can bring up Buddha, oh well. You can bring up the Hindu gods, the plurality of gods, oh well, it doesn't matter, that's okay. Why is it? Because none of those were afflicted with their sins. But Christ bore our grief and He bore our sorrow. The cross of Calvary shows the condemnation of man's sin born by the Lord Jesus Christ and is a testimony to the guilt and what man's sin deserves. God afflicted him by the hands of wicked men, but God also heard him in his affliction and answered his prayer. Men abhorred him and still do, but God heard him. because His Son on the cross of Calvary was the Holy Son of God. Here's the cause of the fear of His people. We talked about that just previously. How is it that God's people, how is it that we as God's people have the kind of fear that we have and not the fear we had before God saved us? Psalm 130 and verse 4. Listen to this verse carefully. Psalm 130 and verse 4 says this. but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." A lost person who does not know the forgiveness of God does not fear God. A person who does not fear God is a person who does not really know the forgiveness of God. That's what that verse is saying. There is forgiveness with thee, that is with God, that thou, God, mayest be feared. What is he talking about? It's not a fear like I mentioned before then because there's forgiveness with God. It's not a fear of death. But that thou mayest be feared with a godly fear. A godly fear. It's because of the hope of forgiveness. In Christ, there is forgiveness with God because by the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, He has cleansed us from our sins. We can confess our sins and He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins because of His work on the cross of Calvary and God will always be faithful to the work that Christ accomplished on the cross of Calvary. He will never not be faithful to that. We can always, as a child of God, know that we can confess our sins and He will be faithful and just. He will not do disservice, injustice to the work of His Son on the cross of Calvary. He will always be faithful in His justice. And therefore, God's people have no need of a slavish fear of death because there's forgiveness with God because of the work of Christ on the cross of Calvary. The prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ was heard. Again, in Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 7, it tells us, "...who in the days of His flesh," that is, incarnate deity, "...in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears." Oh, when He was in the cross of Calvary. Listen, I believe He did this many, many times. But it culminated in the Garden of Gethsemane, rather. It culminated in the Garden of Gethsemane as he anticipated going to the Cross of Calvary. He offered up supplication. How? Strong, crying, and tears. Under such pressure because of the anticipation of our sin being placed upon him and the agony of that. In his agony, he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. He agonized in prayer. When I think about that, I think how shameful my prayer life is. How little I agonize in prayer. You know, real prayers work. Many times we don't pray like we ought to because it's too much work to really pray. Not to just say our prayers. I mean, that's easy. Say the same thing we say all the time. but to stop and really worship God and pour out our heart to God and plead with God and give our reasons to God that are biblical reasons to God, agonize in prayer with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save him from death and was heard and that he feared. He feared. He had a fear of God. He had a fear of his father. He wasn't afraid of his father killing him. He knew from all eternity who his father was. But he had the greatest respect. He knew what the justice of God was going to be on the cross of Calvary. And he was willing to bear the justice of God. He dreaded the death of the cross, but He also dreaded even having our sin placed upon Him and being seen by His Father as guilty under our sin. But He accomplished everything that needed to be accomplished by that. The fourth thing I want you to see in verse 25. My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation. My praise shall be of Thee. He sang in the midst of the congregation, in the midst of His church, and now it says, My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows. Do you understand then that it would be valid to say in the midst of the great church? It's a great church. It's a great congregation. My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear Him. Pay my vows. You realize the Lord Jesus Christ made some vows. He committed Himself, in other words. He did not come to this earth and live a laissez-faire, hip-hip-hooray, easy-come-easy-go life. He came to this earth 100% committed to do nothing but the Father's will and to complete all of the Father's will, including humbling himself under the death of the cross. There's no one who's ever been as committed to the work of God as the Lord Jesus Christ. But he says to praise Him in the great congregation. All of those, I believe, in his church from Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18. Let me clarify this just a moment. But in Matthew 16 and verse 18, when he said, upon this rock, I will build my church. He's talking to those men that he was talking to right there. Previously, he had appointed them as apostles. That's an office in his church. You can't have officers in a church if the church doesn't exist. His church began in his earthly ministry. And from that point until Revelation 21 verse 2 where it says, And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And it goes on and expresses it that way more times. All of those redeemed of God in the Lord's churches gathered together in one. That doesn't mean that they're the only ones that are redeemed. Not by any means. Because there are many more. Listen, the reality of it is, no one is ever redeemed after they're in his church. They have to be redeemed, they have to be born again before they can even be baptized. So every one of us was a born-again child of God, the redeemed of God, before we were baptized. And if there's someone who thinks they're Baptist and God ends up saving them later on, they got to get baptized again. Why? Because they're not in His church. You can't become a saved person by being in the church. Of course, there are many people who are redeemed, born again children of God, that are not in His church. And He'll receive them into glory. But the greatest glory of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth is in His church. His praise is of His God. That is, the Son of God. His praise is of His God. God having heard Him, He praises His Father. Well, it's here recorded in the Word of God, isn't it? And He's going to still do that. He's going to praise His Father who heard Him when He prayed. He's going to praise Him who raised Him from the dead. He's going to praise Him who gave Him glory and honor. He's going to praise Him who set Him at His right hand. The Lord Jesus Christ prayed in John chapter 17, Father, glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also might glorify Thee. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God the Father, always glorify one another. They're one unity and they exist to glorify one another. And He will glorify Him. He is glorifying Him now and He will continue to glorify Him. His vows are the commitments that He made in God, in the eternal counsel of God. He committed Himself to do what the Father desired to have done on our behalf, to save us from our sin and give us eternal life, to sanctify, set us apart as a people worthy to serve God. All that He committed Himself to do, He will present before His Father, and we'll see that. Ultimately, we'll see it all. And you can see a sketch of that, a vision of that outlined in the book of Revelation. Now last of all, in verse 26. See, there's so much that can be said about all these things, but we're just going through and touching what they're about tonight. Verse 26 says this, the meek, I want you to catch this very closely, the meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek Him, your heart," your heart, that is meek, your heart, the meek, that are satisfied, that praise the Lord and that seek Him, your heart, shall live forever. Now I want you to notice some things about from the Lord Jesus Christ in His own mouth. The Lord Jesus Christ made a commandment to men in John chapter 6 and verse 53. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood. That's a metaphor of what it means, what real faith is. It means to take it all in and ingest it. Make it part of you. It's like when you eat, that food becomes part of you. That's what this is talking about. This becomes part of you, spiritually. Except you eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. You have no life in you. This says the meek shall eat and be satisfied. First of all, who is it that the Bible says here, actually eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood. That is, they have this kind of faith in Him that they just completely take Him in. The meek are those that have a true sense of their sins. Sometimes we exchange, we interchange meekness and humility, but there's a difference between them. Meekness includes obedience. This meekness is a people who have a true sense of their sin and their sinfulness. You follow me tonight? Not only that they have sinned, but their sinfulness. We not only need to be saved from our sins, we must be saved from our sinfulness. There are a lot of people, just about, you can get just about anybody on the street, if you define what sin is, some sin, you can just about get anybody to recognize they've committed some sin. Well, if you want to call it sin, even if they just say, well, if we want to call it sin, then yeah, I've done that. And they'll admit to that, but that's just admitting something. There's no meekness involved in that. Meekness involves conviction, a real sense of sin. and sinfulness. Sinfulness is what we are. It's our nature. It's what we are before God. It is not only what we have done before God, it's what we are before God. Meekness is a people who have not only a sense of their sins before God, but their sinfulness before God. That's who he's talking about when he says, the me. God must bring that realization, that sensibleness, if you will, not a head knowledge, but a real sensibleness to us. It becomes real to us. It becomes a conviction to us. When He, the Spirit of God, is come, He will convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come. That's conviction. The meek, then, are people who have partaken of Him by faith and are satisfied. Now, there are people who say they have trust in Christ, and they're not satisfied. How do I know? Why do I say that? because they still think there's something they have to do to finalize their salvation. There's something they have to do to keep themselves safe. They're not satisfied with the good work of Christ. There's those that believe that there's a whole bunch of stuff, there's a whole list their church tells them they got to do. Sacraments is what they call it. They don't mean what some of the old Baptists used to use that term, they didn't mean the same thing. They mean it's some way that brings grace to you. Something you do that brings grace to you. Something you do brings grace to you. It's not grace. It's a contradiction of terms. But the meek have partaken of Him by faith alone, and now their soul is satisfied. Before, they walked in a dry and barren land in their soul. Never could be satisfied. partook of all the things their lusts could desire and hunger after, never satisfied. But then in their sin came to the Lord Jesus Christ, and now they're satisfied. I got to look it up. There's a song about that. I got to look that up. Tremendous song, comes to my mind. Those who are satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ, in other words, they need nothing but Him. He's all I need. Two things are enough for me. The Word of God is enough and my Savior is enough. Nothing else. I don't need anything else, but I do need Him. And because I need Him, I don't need Him to save me again, but I need Him to keep doing the work of grace in my life. And therefore, we seek Him. That's who the seekers are. People who've been born again of the Spirit of God, they're satisfied with the Lord Jesus Christ, so they want to know more about Him. They want to walk in fellowship with Him. So they seek Him, they look for Him in the Word of God. You know what it is to read your Bible, looking for something that shows you something more about the Lord Jesus Christ? God's people seek Him. They daily feed upon Him. That's where they find their satisfaction on a daily basis. Then the Word of God says they have eternal life. John chapter 6, not how they earned eternal life, they have eternal life. And that's why they do this. John chapter 6 and verse 57 says, as the living Father sent me and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. We are saved by faith. We continue to walk by faith. We are born again of the Spirit of God. We have been given faith, and we continue to live by faith. We feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and feeding upon the Lord Jesus Christ fills our soul and satisfies our soul. There's nothing like coming to the Word of God, learning some more about the Lord Jesus Christ. and sitting back and thinking, that's wonderful. That's tremendous. What the Lord Jesus Christ has done for me, what he's doing for me, and what he's yet promised to do for me. And to be satisfied with that. I don't need anything else. Don't need any other religious works. I just need that. It'll move us to serve God, but not to desire to have something else and be dissatisfied with what God has already given us in the Lord Jesus Christ, because he's given us everything there is to be given. There's nothing more can be added to it. When the Lord Jesus Christ said it's finished, it was a victory cry. So I ask you tonight, are you satisfied? Have you in meekness come to the Lord Jesus Christ partaken of Him, and your soul is satisfied, and you satisfy it daily on feeding on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's stand and have a word of prayer. Gracious God and Heavenly Father, it's a joy tonight to be able to meditate upon the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, to think about all that He's done for us and is yet doing for us even now. We thank you, Father, for the promises that you've given us in Christ, your great love for us, the love of the Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. And Lord, we ask you to help us then now to love you more and to love the Lord Jesus Christ and seek to honor and glorify your name in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.