Turn with me to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew 27. Let's begin with verse 33. Matthew 27, verse 33.

And when they were coming to a place called Golgotha, that is to say a place of the skull, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall. And when he tasted thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him, parting his garments Casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, they parted my garments among them, upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down, they watched him there."

Who watched him? Who watched him? Well, the chief priest. and the elders, those that had taken counsel to put our Lord to death. There were others there. There was Pilate. You know, we read that Pilate was sitting, sitting on the judgment seat, and it was Pilate who said to the people that were gathered together that day, whom would you that I release unto you? Whom would you that I release? If you know a man argues about free will, that ought to just put it to rest right there, shouldn't it? Barabbas or Jesus? That one which is called the Christ. And when Pilate asked that question, the people cried out, let him be crucified. Release Barabbas. Give us that, give us that criminal and crucify the Lord. And Pilate tried to reason with him. He said, what has this man, what has he done? And the people cried out the louder, let him be crucified.

Did any run to His defense? How many times have we heard men say that, if I would have been there? There was none. None to help. They said this, they said, let His blood be upon us and our children. You can read that back in Matthew 27, 25. It means this, let the responsibility and the punishment for his murder be upon us."

Peter, who had denied the Lord, you remember that Peter? He would later say in Acts 2 verse 22, you men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you. You're also self-knowing, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You, you have taken by wicked hands and have slain, crucified and slain the Lord of glory.

Now in all that's going on here, What we're reading here in Matthew, God foreordained. God determined it to be done. He purposed it. He planned it. He predestinated it. He willed it to happen. This wasn't an afterthought. This wasn't a backup plan. Christ is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, a man approved of God. He was delivered into the hand of the people, but done so by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, purposed and planned from before the foundation of the world.

You know what that means. It means God is God. God's who He says He is. He does what He will, when He will, with whom He will. Acts 15, 18, known unto God are all His works from the beginning. Everyone who was there that day, not one of them was there by accident. They weren't there by chance. And that truth has not changed today. Everybody here tonight, everybody listening who will hear this message now or later, it's no accident. Think about that. Think about that. God has brought everyone in here this night as he's done all things by his sovereign will. His providence. He does things on purpose. Everything he does, he does on purpose. And man can disagree with that if he wants to. Man can refuse to believe it, but it does not change the truth. Almighty God is sovereign. He works all things after the counsel of his own will. The Lord Jesus Christ came into this world in the fullness of time. Think about all those things.

There was no room for him in all places in an inn. There was no room for him. So they took him out to the stable and they put his mother in a barn where he was born. He came at the appointed time. That star was right over top of that manger. And there was an angel that appeared to the shepherds out in the field. An angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God, saying, Glory to God in the highest and on peace, goodwill toward men.

And those shepherds, they looked at each other when they heard that. And this is what they said. Let's go to Bethlehem. Let's go and see this thing. which has come to pass, that which the Lord hath made known unto us.

Born in Bethlehem, he walked this earth doing what God gave him to do, doing the will of his Father. He said to his earthly mother and father, he said this, he said, wished ye not that I must be about my father's business? He went to the cross and he died at the precise time appointed by his father. And yet men did what their wicked hearts desired to do. They did what, in all that, they did what God determined to be done.

Who else was there? We read that the Lord's mother was there with Mary Magdalene and some of the disciples. There were also a couple thieves there. There he hung between two thieves and one of them, he said, if thou be the Son of God. He questioned who he was. If thou be the Son of God, save thyself. and to us.

And the other thief, he rebuked him, didn't he? He said, do you not fear God, seeing that we're in the same condemnation and we indeed justly, we're getting what we deserve, we're getting the due reward of our deeds, but this man, He hath done nothing amiss. And he looked to the Lord, and he said unto him, Lord, remember me. You just sang that, huh? Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And our Lord looked to him. He looked at him and he said, verily, today, this day, you're going to be with me in paradise.

There were throngs of people there questioning who he was. And among those were some of those soldiers, those that stripped him. They put a scarlet robe upon him. a crown of thorns on his head. They mocked him. They mocked the Lord of Glories. They put a reed in his hand and then they pretended to bow to him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews.

Those soldiers, they spat upon him. I can't think of anything more disgusting than to be spat upon. They spat upon our Lord. And then they took that reed out of His hand and they smote Him with it. And they parted His garments and they cast lots to see who would take it. And again in Matthew 27, verse 36, it says, sitting down, they watched him there.

What did they see? What did they see? Listen to these words from Lamentations 1, verse 12. It says, Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold, behold and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow, which is done to me. Wherewith the Lord, who afflicted him? The Lord afflicted him in the day of his fierce anger.

We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Those that sat, what did they see as they sat there and watched him? They saw a man who was unrecognizable. Brother John, you read that in the study just a little bit ago. Unrecognizable. the beating he had endured. It says, many were astonished at him. They saw him and they were astonished. They were stunned. I've never seen anything like that before. As many as were astonished, his visage was so marred more than any man in his form, more than the sons of man. Unrecognizable after the beating and punishment he endured. A man whose lifeblood was completely poured out. A man who endured the shame and humiliation of the cross. And for sin is not his own.

Turn with me to Psalm 22. Hold your place there in Matthew, but turn to Psalm 22. Let's look beginning with verse 1. Often referred to as the psalm of the cross.

Verse 1, it says, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me? Why art Thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearst not. And in the night season, and I am not silent, but thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praise of Israel.

Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, despised of the people. All that, see me, They laughed me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head saying, he trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him. Seeing he delighted in him.

But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly.

Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none, none to help. Many bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me. They've gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and roaring lion.

I'm poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melded in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws. You've brought me to the dust of death.

Dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They've pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me.

as they sat there, as they looked upon Him. What did they see? There on the cross hangs the Son of God, forsaken, forsaken by His own Father, forsaken by God. How can God How can God forsake God? Why would God forsake His Son at such a time? There was no cause in Him. Why then was He forsaken? As He hung there on the cross as our substitute, He bore the sins of all His people. All our sins laid on Him. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sin of many. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He endured death, judgment, hell, being separated from God.

What did they see? Could they see Christ enduring every cruelty of man? Every insult? Listen, He bore the contempt of man, but He also bore the wrath of God for the sins of His people. Again, back there in verse 11 of Psalm 22, you'll see the Savior. It's Him alone. None. None to help. None could help, and none would help. He must tread the winepress of God's wrath alone. He's the lamb slain, the lamb slain from the beginning, from the foundation of the world. He must die. He must bear the sin of his people. Our Lord has a people. The people he he prays for, but listen. As our substitute, he must die for us, he must lay down his life, and he did. Behold Him. Behold a man's suffering like no man ever has suffered or ever will suffer. His condition, His suffering greater than any other. And the greatest suffering was the suffering of His soul. The agony of His soul. Isaiah 53. It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make thy soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify the many, for he shall bear their iniquities."

His death on the cross, indescribable agony. Spent like water, that's what we read there, poured out on the ground. That pain, we read that his heart melted like wax. His strength completely dried up. His tongue stuck to the top of his mouth. All of his bones just sticking out.

Before I go to the next point, consider this. In his agony. An agony we could never enter into. A suffering we could never enter into. But listen to this, as He hung there on the cross and suffered agony like no man ever, listen to His words. That crowd that mocked Him, that group of wicked people that nailed Him to the cross, this is what He said, Father, forgive them. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And yet, sitting down, they watched Him. They watched Him.

My third question, do you see Him? Would the Lord enable us to see Him? Let me ask you another question. What think ye? What think ye of Christ? You know, there are those that think much of a lot of things. They think much of their doctrine. They think much of their family lineage. They think much of their denomination, their church, their pastor. Just go on down the list. But none of those things can save a man. none but Christ.

Paul wrote, he said, None of these things move me, neither count I my own life dear unto myself, so that I might finish the course, that I might finish my ministry, which I received of the Lord Jesus to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. that which He promised, that which He prophesied in the Old Testament was fulfilled on the cross. We read that Christ should suffer, and He did, didn't He? And that He should be the first to raise from the dead, and that He should show light unto the people and unto the Gentiles.

Listen, this Word, it's all about One person, isn't it? It's all about Him. What think ye of Christ? I don't want to answer like Agrippa. I don't want to say almost. I want to say altogether. At the Passover, what mattered? What mattered? One thing, wasn't it? The blood. The blood of the Lamb. That Lamb slain and the blood applied. It's the blood. It's the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Nothing. What can wash away my sin? Nothing. Nothing but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Turn with me to Galatians 6. One thing. Look at Galatians 6 verse 14. God forbid. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. Shouldn't that be our chief glory? To rejoice, to delight in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Not myself, not my works, not even anything the Lord in His mercy Be pleased to even let us do. But Christ and Christ alone. Not in the wood of that cross. But the one who hung on that tree, the one who suffered and died in my place. The Lord Jesus Christ, our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, Christ is all.

And he gave his life a ransom. He paid the price. He paid the price. Isn't that what we say? Jesus paid it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

Let me ask you this, what have we even given to begin with? Huh? That's an easy question to answer. Nothing. Huh? Christ gave Himself. He gave Himself. What do we have to offer in light of that? Thanksgiving. Praise. Honor. God forbid that I should glory in anything save in the cross of our Lord Jesus.

Sitting down, sitting down, they watched him.

Now listen, there was much to see, wasn't there? There were a bunch of folks there and there was a lot to see, but I pray the Lord would Let us see these three things before we leave here tonight. And I'll be quick, I promise you.

And the first is this, man's sin. Not just man's depravity and not just man's wickedness, but sin. He died on the cross. The wages of sin is death. And that sin was laid on Christ and He suffered for it. He suffered unto death. He suffered once for sin. He suffered the just for the unjust. It was there on the cross that He was made sin. The Lord Jesus Christ was made sin. I can't explain that. But it's what God's Word declares. And I know this, when He was made sin, I was made righteous. He bore our sins. He bore our sins in His body on the tree. And when that sin was found on Him, when God found that sin on His Son, He slew Him. He was wounded for my transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Chastisement of my peace was upon Him. And by His stripes, what's the rest of it? We're healed, aren't we?

I can see man's sin. Can I see mine? Lord, make me to see my sin. Make me to see my need of the Savior.

Can we see something of God's purpose? God's purpose in saving sinners. There on the cross, the Lord Jesus was nailed to the cross according to the eternal purpose of God. He's that Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, before this creation existed, before there was any matter, before there were any stars, when there was nothing but God. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. He was still the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He came into the world. The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world for this purpose. What? To save sinners. If I'm a sinner, that's pretty good news, isn't it? Could there be any better news? Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And He was buried. And He rose again according to the Scriptures.

Man's depravity. God's purpose. And then listen. We see Christ's love. Or we see His holiness. We see His love. God's love and Christ's love. God so loved that He, what? He gave. He gave His only begotten Son. Listen to His prayer again here in Luke 23, 34. It says, and let me ask you, could anything short of love explain these words? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. He laid down His life for His sheep. Listen to these words from the book of John. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

Sitting down. Sitting down, they watched him.

I want to see him. I want to see him. To see him there, on the cross, to see my sin, to see his purpose, to see his love. And beholding him is seen throughout the scriptures. Back there in Isaiah, he said this, he said, look, look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. I'm God, there's none else. In the book of Hebrews, we read this, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, He despised the shame, and He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. And listen, in eternity, what will we do in eternity? Behold Him. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we'll be like Him. For we shall see Him. We'll see Him as He is.

Sitting there. Sitting there, they watched Him.

Lord granted that we could see Him, that we could behold Him.