If a man is called of God to
the work of the gospel ministry, it is the greatest work and the
greatest responsibility that God could call a man to. I am
honored to come before you this morning with the message that
God ordained his preachers to declare And that is the incarnation
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the humiliation of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who
is our Savior came from heaven to save us. He had an existence
prior to his birth in Bethlehem. He is the eternal God. From generation to generation,
from everlasting to everlasting, He is the Son of God. He has
all power and all dominion over all things. And He's had that
from old eternity. But in His incarnation, He came
into this world joining Himself to our flesh. Surely it's one
of the greatest miracles, and may we never weary of reading
and hearing that He who was rich, rich with God, rich with all
of the attributes of God, rich with all the characteristics
of God, He who was rich, He became poor that we, through his poverty,
might be rich. Our Lord Jesus left his throne
of glory and he stepped into what we would call time. As he
came into the womb of the Virgin, He said, a body thou hast prepared
me. And our Lord took unto himself a human soul
and a body, born in a manger. Oh, glorious miracle. That infant
in Mary's arms, He's the hope of our salvation. All of our
salvation rested upon Him. He came on a mission of mercy
to save poor sinners like us. That's His incarnation. Don't
ever get over the awe of that. Don't ever get over the wonder
of that. the Lord of glory came. And not only did he become incarnate,
but he also became, by sacrifice, the savior of sinners. By his
death, he honored God's law and God's justice. Most of us know
that the wages of sin is death. because that's what Romans 6.23
says. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. He who came and was born in a
manger grew up into adulthood, a preacher of the gospel. He grew up in order to suffer,
bleed, and die for sinners. That's his humiliation. He humbled himself, Philippians
chapter 2 says, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. Why did the Lord Jesus die? Was his Agonizing death upon
the cross, was that an event that He could have escaped from,
or was it something that He had to endure? Know this, He had
to endure. He had to suffer, He had to bleed,
He had to die. You remember those who mocked
Him said, if He be the Son of God, let Him save Himself. But if He saved Himself, He couldn't
save us. Oh, the glory of God's salvation! Poor, sinful, wretched creatures
like us were ordained to eternal life, and that life would be
ours through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, through His
humiliation. He who is life died. Can you
comprehend that? He who is the eternal God breathed
his last breath. Can you understand that? He who is God over all, blessed
forever. He felt in his very soul the
heat of the wrath of God. The wrath that would have fallen
upon those in whose stead He died, but we will never feel
the heat of God's wrath. God will never be angry with
those for whom Christ died. He died to save His people from
their sins. That's what Matthew 1.21 says. The angel said to Joseph, thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. And that's what he was doing
upon the cross of Calvary, saving his people. By enduring in his
own body, not only the agonies that men heaped upon him, But
all of the wrath of God, he felt that in his very soul. The very
fire of the vengeance of God against our sins, our Lord Jesus
experienced that deep down within him. To such an extent, he said,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And the reason He
was forsaken was because He bore our sins in His own body on the
tree. Understand this. It's a definite fact somebody's
going to die for sins. Either you're going to die in
your sins and die forever, or the Lord Jesus Christ died for
your sins upon the cross of Calvary. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death. And our Lord bore our sins, and
He died under the wrath of God. What humiliation! He who is life,
He who is the source of life, He who gives life laid down His
life in order to save sinners. How utterly amazing. What humiliation
is this? What love is this? In John 15, the Savior said,
Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life
for his friends. He died in the stead of those
who were his enemies by nature, but those who by grace he loved
with an everlasting love. And he bore our sins and when
he took our sins upon himself, he was obligated to die the death
that the law of God demands for those who bear sin. And for a bit, he was separated
from God. And then, having finished the
work of redemption that God sent him to do, he said, it is finished. He cried out with a loud voice,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he gave up the ghost. Men didn't take his life from
him. He laid down his life on his own. What humiliation amidst the mockery,
the spitting, and all the rest of the degrading things that
the multitudes heaped upon him. Our Lord Jesus absorbed it all. And then he took all that God's
justice could possibly pour out upon him. Till the vengeance
of God against sin flooded his soul. And then he was over. And he died. and he was put into a borrowed
tomb. He was borrowed because he wouldn't need it very long.
Just long enough for it to be established beyond question that
he actually died. He didn't fall into a coma. He
didn't pass out. He died. He died according to
his own will. This is the incarnate savior. And we have his humiliation. But he didn't stay dead long. And his resurrection began what
we might label his exaltation. Incarnation and humiliation and
exaltation. He tore the bars of death asunder. Having satisfied justice, the
stone was rolled away. He's like the prisoner who has
paid his debt, not to society. Our Lord Jesus, bearing the sins
of his people, paid our indebtedness to God. And the evidence that he paid
in full all of the indebtedness of all of his people was this. He arose from the dead. He didn't
break out. He could have pulverized that
stone that was laid, rolled to the entrance of his tomb. He
could have just willed it and it would turn into a pile of
gravel. But no, it was rolled away indicating
the prisoner has paid the debt that was owed. How do I know
my sins were put away? How do I know that God's justice
was satisfied? How do I know that God in heaven
was thrilled? and accepted the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ in my stead. How do I know? The resurrection
of our Lord, the fact that the stone was rolled away, our Lord
arose. And here in Matthew chapter 28,
we have Matthew's record of the resurrection of the Savior. It's
very interesting as you read through the four gospel narratives,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All four writers go into minute
details about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, here's
a monumental event. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. And he died. to give us everlasting
life. And he who died arose again because
he had satisfied divine justice for us. At the end of the Sabbath, it
says in Matthew chapter 28, in the end of the Sabbath as it
began to dawn toward the first day of the week. I love the firsts in the Bible,
and this is the first day after our Lord Jesus had accomplished
redemption. And while this was the first
day after his resurrection, the day before was the last day,
that is the last Sabbath. Because you see, the Sabbath
was a day that people honored in order to worship God. But
as it says here, at the end of the Sabbath, this is the end
of the Old Testament legalistic period. All those sacrifices,
all of those offerings, all of the things that the people did
in accordance with God's law, those were all in the past now. This is a new era. It's the era
of grace. It's the era in which people
come to Jesus Christ, the crucified, buried, risen Savior. We worship
Him today. We honor Him today. Not as one
who is dead. not as one who is gone and we'll
never see him again. We worship him as that one who
redeemed us, who's gone back to heaven to represent us before
the heavenlies, that is before God himself, who will someday
come and gather us unto himself, that where he is, there we may
be also. The Sabbath day as a legal day
to be honored, is gone forever. Now we believe and rest in him
who is our Sabbath. We don't observe a day. I wouldn't
want to offend you, but let me tell you something. This is not
a holy day. Christmas is not a holy day. Easter is not a holy
day. Someone told me this week, said,
you know, this is a holy week for the church. In that sense,
every day is holy. Every day is to be separated
for the worship and honor of God. But we don't honor a day. We honor the Savior. And we come
on the first day of the week because that's the day our Lord
arose from the dead. We come together to bless Him.
This is Easter is not a holy day. Please know that. Nowhere
in the Bible are we told to observe either Easter or Christmas. Those are both of pagan origin. Just do a little reading in history,
you'll find that. And yet I would hasten to add
this, in the purpose and providence of God, these days exist And
I'm glad they do. I know there's a lot of superstition
involved with Christmas and Easter. But at least two times a year,
everybody's got to think to some extent that there was a time
when Jesus of Nazareth lived, He was born, He grew up, He died,
He was buried, and He arose again the third day. Two times a year,
everybody, whether they want to or not, whether they desire
to do it or not, everybody is virtually forced to acknowledge
the existence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are some of
us, by the grace of God, who know why He came. He came to
save us. He was my substitute. In my place,
He came. In my place, He lived. In my
place, He died. In the stead of me, He laid down
His life. I grew up in church, and under the teaching of the
Bible, as our pastor understood the Bible, And I remember him
saying Christ died for sinners. But I don't remember him ever
saying Christ died as the substitute for sinners. Do you remember when Isaac was
taken by Abraham to the mountain? to be offered as a burnt offering? That's what God said, wasn't
it? Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, take
him to a mountain that I'll show you and offer him as a burnt
offering to me. A burnt offering? That's an offering
that was put up upon a pile of rocks. having had wood laid across
it, and then the offering was strapped to the wood and the
stones, and then the wood was set afire, and the wood and the
offering were consumed in the fire. Do you realize what God
told Abraham? Offer your son as a burnt offering
to me. So why did God do that? That was a test of Abraham's
faith. It was also an illustration of what it takes for God to save
the sinner. Because you see, once Isaac was
up on the wood and strapped to the altar, and he raised the
sacrificial knife, believing, according to Hebrews chapter
11, that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead. ready to
kill his own son and then set fire to the wood, he was ready
to bring that knife down and God said, stop! It's evident that you believe
me. And the Lord said to Abraham,
you see that ram over there hung up in the briars and the bramble
and the bushes by its horns? Got stuck by his horns. You go
over there and get that ram. And offer that ram, listen now,
in the stead of, in the stead of Isaac, as the substitute for
Isaac. There was no way that both Isaac
and the ram would die. You agree? There's no way they'd
both die. because the ram was to die in
the stead of Isaac. And our Lord Jesus died as the
substitute for his people in the stead of. He died, if he
died for you, you're not gonna die. If he died for you, Joe,
you're not gonna die. And I go all the way around the
building. I say to those who are watching right now, if by
the gift of the Spirit, you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, I assure
you that you will not die. And the reason you're not gonna
die is not because you believe him. You believe him because
he did die. And you believe him because he
was your substitute in the stead of. One of the heretical doctrines
preached all over the world is that there are some people in
hell for whom Jesus Christ suffered, bled, and died. That's a horrible thought. I love the words of Augustus'
top lady who wrote Rock of Ages. He was a great preacher, too.
He said, twice payment God will not demand. First at my bleeding
shirt, his hand, and then again at mine. Christ died for his people. And
they buried him. And his body rested in the tomb. His soul went back to God. And now here in Matthew 28, As it began to dawn toward the
first day of the week, two women came to the sepulchre,
Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. Mary Magdalene was the woman
who had seven devils. She was last at the cross, first
at the tomb. You dear ladies, God pronounced
his blessing upon one of your sisters who was a sinner in her
own right, in her own self. And it was a woman who got this
all started in the Garden of Eden, Adam's wife. But now, the one who's last to
see him at the cross, is a woman who was a sinner. And first at the tomb is this
same woman who was a sinner. Ladies, let sinners come to Christ. Come on to Him. You see, Mary
Magdalene is evidence of the fact that Christ receiveth not
only men, but women. Come on to Christ. And as they were coming, behold,
there was an earthquake. And the reason for the earthquake
was because an angel of God came. He descended from heaven, verse
2, and he came and rolled back the stone from the door and then
just sat down on it. And this angel, verse 3, says,
his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow. He rolled that stone away and
then he just sat down on the stone. And the guards, in verse 4, for
fear of him the keepers did shake. Scared them to death. And these
soldiers had seen all kinds of things. These were tough, grizzled
men who had seen lots of stuff during their lives. But they're
scared to death. They became his dead men. It's interesting that during
the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, people didn't fear him then.
But now, after his death, and when his resurrection is being
revealed, they're scared to death. Reminds me of the passages of
scripture that tell of how people are gonna be so full of fear
when Christ comes again, takes His seat upon the throne of judgment.
And great and mighty men are gonna call on the rocks and the
mountains to hide them from the face of the Lamb of God. Say, Jim, where can I hide from
the wrath of God, the judgment of God? The only place to hide
from God is to hide in God. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
loved sinners. He died for sinners. He arose
for sinners. He intercedes for sinners. And
if I could find a sinner, I'd tell him some good news. And
well, right here's one. What's the good news? Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I am chief. Well, the soldiers, they're scared
to death. And then the angel said something
to the women, Mary Magdalene and that other Mary. That angel
said, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. I know whom you seek. You seek
Jesus, the Savior. the intercessor, the son of God,
the one who rescues the guilty, the one who died as the substitute
of poor sinners. I know whom you seek. And I would
ask you right now, whom do you seek? Whom do you seek? He was crucified, but he's not
dead anymore. We don't have a mass in here
every Sunday. That's the killing of Christ
all over again. The Bible specifically says in
Hebrews chapter 10 that he died once, once for sin. And the angel said to them, he's
not here, he's not here. For He's risen, as He said, as
He said He would. He's not here. I know a lot of
people want to go visit Israel, visit the Holy Land, and I understand
the historical significance of that land, the places where our
Lord walked. But I'm not really interested
in going to see where He walked. I want to go to see Him where
He is now. That's where I want to go. I
want to enter into His holy presence and see Him on His throne of
grace and bow before Him and in my heart render honor and
glory to Him. Don't you? That's what I want.
When I breathe my last breath on this earth, I fully expect,
believing the Word of God, that I'm gonna be absent from the
body and this tabernacle will die, but my soul, it won't miss
a beat. I'll immediately be in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be with Him and be glory. And our Lord's angel, his messenger,
he said, you come see the place where the Lord lay. And then
go tell his disciples. They're so sad. You know, that
last Sabbath, it had to be a sad day for them. Because they saw
him agonizing on the cross. That'd break your heart. I mean,
we see one another suffering, hurting. I made a couple of visits
this week and I saw people that were in bad shape. And my heart
just goes out to them. We're touched when people are,
we're touched to the heart when people are in pain, in agony. I'll tell you what. One of these
days we're gonna leave all this pain and agony behind and we'll
see him in glory. And oh the joy that that will
bring us. Rejoice in the Lord, saints of
God. He who came, incarnation. He who suffered for us, the humiliation. And he who arose for us, his
exaltation, he reigns in heaven for us. And he said, I'll come
again and receive you to myself. That where I am, there you may
be also. This is a day to rejoice. His
resurrection was the beginning of his exaltation. And the very
The top stone of His exaltation is He's coming again. And every
knee is going to bow to Him. Everybody's going to acknowledge
He's the Lord of glory. And I'll tell you what I pray
for you is that in this life you will acknowledge Him to be
the Lord of glory. And you'll worship Him and rejoice
in Him. 214 as I close the circuit.