much comfort in that song. Turn with me now to Matthew 27. Matthew 27, let's read from verse
33 to 36. And when they were come unto
a place called Golgotha, that is to say a place of a skull,
they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall. And when he
had tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified
him and parted his garments, casting lots that it might be
fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet. And this is Psalm
22. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down,
they watched him there. I have something here that I've
been thinking about for weeks and maybe even months. Anytime
that I go through a book, I try to read ahead and you know, think about what's
coming and ponder things and something caught my attention
here. And I just keep looking at it
and keep looking at it. And I believe the Lord finally
opened it up to me and gave me something from it. And I pray
this will be instructive. I pray it will be helpful, but
I pray this will be a real word of comfort for us. I'm hoping
this will be a blessing. I'm relying on the Spirit of
the Lord to make this not just a head understanding. I want this to be a heart understanding. I want this to be a heart thing.
And so I'm asking the Lord to make this clear, but this is
something that, uh, just was really impressed on me and I
can't move on until we look at it. See if you can get this scene
in your mind. Okay. Verse 35 says, and they
crucified him and they crucified him. Now, before we get into
this as a little side note, who crucified him? Well, the soldiers crucified
him. They were the ones who, verse 35, parted his garments,
casting lots that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by
the prophet. They parted my garments among
them and upon my vesture did they cast lots. The soldiers
crucified him. Why did the soldiers crucify
him? It's because Pilate told them to. Pilate gave the commandment to
crucify Him. Why did Pilate give the commandment
to crucify Him? It's because all the people demanded
Him to. All the people crucify Him, crucify
Him. Why did all the people demand
for Pilate to crucify Him? It's because that's what God
Almighty predetermined before the foundation of the world to
be done. By the people, by Pilate, by
the soldiers, mankind in all of his sinfulness thought he
was having his way with Christ. Those people thought they were
having their way with Christ, but they were actually having
God's way with Christ. God was having his way with them.
That's what was happening. Pilate thought he was having
his way with Christ. Little did he know the king's
heart, the ruler of this land's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turns
it whithersoever he will. Just look, hold your place right
here and look at John 19. John 19, verse 10, then saith Pilate unto
him, unto the Lord, speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou
not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release
thee? Jesus answered, thou couldest
have no power at all against me, except it were given thee
from above. Our Lord said, Pilate, you're
only going to do what God Almighty has predetermined for you to
do. I wish we could remember that. Start to finish, this thing was
of the Lord. It was of the Lord. Now, with
that being acknowledged, let me get to the main focus of the
message here. Go back to Matthew 27, verse
35, and they crucified him and parted his garments, casting
lots, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophet.
They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did
they cast lots. Verse 36 says, and sitting down,
they watched him there. Again, try to get this scene
in your mind. Try to get this picture in your
mind. The Jews, the Greeks, everybody. Pilate, the soldiers, the Pharisees,
the scribes, the people, all of them demanded that he be crucified. And all of them were curious
about him. Once he was, they crucified him. And then they said, let's see
if he can get himself off that cross. At one point, they thought he
was crying out for Elijah to come and help him. And somebody
ran to get him some vinegar to drink. And they said, hold on,
wait a minute. Let's see if Elijah comes. Let's just wait and watch
for a second. Let's just see if Elijah shows
up. They had point blank asked him,
are you a king? Are you the Christ? Are you the
son of God? They ask him that question. Who
are you? Verse 36 and sitting down, they
watched him there. They were curious about him and
they sat down and just watched him and just sat there, just
wait and see what happened. And that's what man has been
doing ever since. Just watching him. That's what
takes place in false religion. That is false religion. People
are watching him. They are curious about him. Those
people right there knew that he was this man, Jesus. They knew that he was this man
called Jesus. They were about to know that
he died on that cross. They were about to realize he
was buried and then he rose again on the third day. And with all
that being said, they were missing something. They were missing
something. And I want to show you what they
were missing in the definition of a few words. And this is why
I said, I hope this is not just a head knowledge thing. I want
us to really enter into this with the heart. And I pray that
If anyone here has never seen or realized this, the Lord would
reveal it tonight. Show us this tonight. I'm going
to give you some definitions of a few words here, and this
is not just splitting hairs. This is salvation. This is the
difference in saved or lost. This is the difference in eternal
life or eternal death. Having Christ or missing Christ. Everybody's going to be in one
of two boats come the end of this. We're either going to have
Christ or we're going to miss Christ. And it's exposed right here.
Look at verse 36. Sitting down, they watched him
there. Let me give you the definition
of the word watched. This will tell you what they
were doing, what was in their mind, what was in their heart.
The word watched means they observed him. They were observers. They observed him. They kept
their eye on him as though they were guarding him to see what
he would do. That's what the definition is.
They observed him sitting down. They observed him. That's what
this world does. This world naturally observes
Him. That's a heart that is far from
Him. That's a nature and an action
of a condemned soul. That's what almost all the people
did on the day that they crucified Him. They sat there and watched
Him. They just observed Him. But thank
God, that's not what a few people did. That's not what his disciples
did. Look at verse 54 with me. Matthew
27, verse 54, it says, now when the centurion and they
that were with him watching Jesus, and that's the same word, They,
the centurion and those that were with him, they were watching
him. They were observing just like everybody else. It says
when the centurion and they, that were with him watching Jesus,
that next word says Saul, when they saw the word Saul means
perceived, experienced. discerned clearly. Do we see the difference in those
two words? They were observing and that's what everybody's doing
who comes to church and they have no idea what's going on.
They've heard of this man Jesus and yeah, he hung on a cross
and laid in a tomb and a rose and that's what people are doing.
They were observing him. But all of a sudden, they saw. Verse 54, when the centurion
and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and
those things that were done, they feared greatly saying, truly,
this was the Son of God. When they saw, fear entered them. Faith entered them, they said,
what truly means is, this is fact, you can't convince us otherwise. Truly, this was the Son of God. There's a difference. There's
a difference. There's a difference in observing
Him and fearing Him. Believing on Him. Look at verse
55, it says, and many women were there beholding. That means to gaze with wide
open eyes at something remarkable. It means to consider, it means
to ponder. That's what they were doing.
A far off, they were standing a far off just pondering this,
considering this, seeing this scene, seeing him hang there
just beholding, gazing with open eyes at something remarkable.
Who was doing this? Verse 55, many women were there
beholding afar off which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering
unto him, among which was Mary Magdalene. And Mary, the mother
of James and Josie and the mother of Zebedee's children. That's
three ladies. And we know from John's account
that Mary, the mother of our Lord in quotes, she was there
also. And for her, everything that
was told to Mary concerning this child that would be born of her,
who he was, what he would do, the scripture says, she pondered
these things in her heart. I wish I would ponder these things
in my heart. I wish more men and women, boys
and girls would ponder these things in their heart. She didn't just observe them,
she beheld them, she pondered them. And this is what her pondering
caused her to believe and to confess. Look at Luke chapter
one with me. Luke one, I love this account. This is the announcement to Mary
that she is with child. The angel came to her and announced
that she was with child and that her cousin Elizabeth was also
with child of John the Baptist. And Mary, after the angel left,
Mary goes to visit her cousin, Elizabeth. And as soon as Mary
walks in, John leaps in Elizabeth's womb. And Elizabeth cries out. And
Mary does too. Mary cries out too. The Spirit
of God moved these women. And this is what Mary said. Look
at verse 46. And Mary said, my soul doth magnify
the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in
God, my savior. That's what she was beholding
in that moment of the cross. God, her savior. She wasn't just observing Jesus. I don't know if this is making
sense or not, but it's making sense to me right now. There's a difference here. She
wasn't just observing Jesus. She was beholding God, her savior. Verse 46, Mary said, My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Savior, for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. Listen to her, I know she's saying
this while he was in the womb, before he was ever born, but
listen to her saying this at the moment of the cross. This
is her heart in the matter, watching him, seeing him on the cross.
Verse 48, he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,
for he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy
is his name. And his mercy is on them that
fear him from generation to generation. He hath showed strength What do you see when you look
at the Christ hanging on the cross? Mary said, here's what
I see. Verse 51, he hath showed strength. He's made bare his holy arm.
He showed strength with his arm. He had scattered the proud and
the imagination of their hearts. He had put down the mighty from
their seats and exalted them of low degree. That's the accomplishment
of the cross. He hath filled the hungry with
good things, and the rich hath He sent away empty. He hath helped
His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy, as He spake to
our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. Do we see the difference right
there? The difference in just watching Him and seeing him beholding
him lord open the eyes of our hearts that we may see open the
eyes of our souls that we may behold look back a page or two at mark
15 mark chapter 15 This is the word that Mark used
to describe what was taking place in these women. And it's the
exact same meaning as what we just looked at. Beholding. It's
actually the same concordance number, same meaning. Okay. Verse
39, Mark 15, verse 39. And when the centurion, which
stood over against him, saw that he so cried out and gave up the
ghost. He didn't just see the rocks
rend and the earthquake. He saw the Savior cry. He heard His Word as He cried
out. And he watched Him give up the
ghost. When he saw Him die, he said, truly, this man was the
Son of God. Verse 40, there were also women
looking on. And again, that that's the same
meaning as beholding. They were looking on him. They weren't just watching. They
were believing on, they were trusting in God, their savior,
the strength of all their hope, the mighty provider of all their
grace and mercy. I want to look on him. I want
to look on him. Turn with me to Luke 23. I just love this right here.
Luke 23. Now you you know the verses we
read Psalm 22 for a scripture reading. You know that those
who watched. Of all the people there that
day, those who watched. They mocked him, they reviled
him, and they wagged their heads at him. Okay, that's what those
who watched did. But those who saw, every soul
that beheld, this is what they did. Luke 23, look at verse 47. Now when the centurion saw what
was done, he glorified God, saying, certainly this was a
righteous man. And all the people that came
together to that site, beholding the things which were done, smote
their breasts. in return. Do we see the difference? That's the difference in watching
and seeing, watching and beholding, watching and looking on, looking
unto. This is what our Lord said. He
said, look unto me and be ye saved. Salvation is in a look. It's in a behold. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. He said, I'm a just God and a
Savior. That's what they saw in the cross
of Calvary, a just God and a Savior. I pray that's what we see in
the cross of Calvary, not a martyr, not a good man showing us an
example, not a just God and a savior. It's not just an event to witness. It's the holy transaction of
a just God and a savior to be perceived and experienced. and clearly discerned and hoped
in and trusted in and believed on. It's something to glorify
God for. And it's something to smite self
for. That's the difference. That's
the difference. Turn over to 1 John 1. I'll close
with this. 1 John 1. 1 John 1. My prayer is that God
will reveal this to every soul here. I mean that every soul
in this room right now. I pray that there's not a soul
on this earth in this room. That leaves this earth. Not having
had this revealed to him. spiritual eyes that's what we
need spiritual eyes to see this difference in just the difference
in just seeing him with our eyes and looking upon him with our
hearts okay really look at these words right here first john 1
verse 1 it says that which was from the beginning which we have
heard which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon. Well, John, isn't that the same
thing? If you see him with your eyes and look upon him, isn't
that the same thing? No, it's not. We heard him, we
saw him with our eyes, but we looked on him. Our hands have handled of the
word of life. There's a difference. Everybody
sitting there that day watching him saw him with their eyes,
but only his chosen vessels of mercy, the ones that he loved
and chose to salvation through that death on that cross. They're the only ones who received
faith to look upon him. Salvation is in looking upon
him. Look unto him and be ye saved. Verse 1, that which was from
the beginning, which we've heard, which we've seen with our eyes,
which we've looked upon, and our hands have handled of the
word of life. For the life was manifested and we have seen and
bear witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with
the Father and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen
and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship
with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father And with His
Son, Jesus Christ, in these things write we unto you, that your
joy may be full. I pray that our joy may be full
in seeing Him, looking on Him, beholding Him. May God truly
open our spiritual eyes and reveal to us what that means. If you
don't know what that means, ask Him to reveal it to you. Lord,
I don't know what that means. Reveal it to me. I believe He
will. For Christ's sake, amen. Let's
all stand together.