Turn with me back to Luke 23,
and I want you to look down in verse
33, Luke 23, 33, and look at the place. She said, I will always
lift mine eyes up to Calvary. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, the place called Calvary, there
they crucified Him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and one
on the left. Now our Lord Jesus Christ had
been put on trial. Pilate had Him. Send him to Herod. Herod's men, if you will, look
up here in verse 11 and see how they treated the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we'd have been there,
we'd have made no difference in us. And it said, and Herod
with his men of war, men of war against one man, men of war, Set him at naught. Do you know
what it means to be set at naught? To be considered nothing and
treated as nothing. Set him at naught. He ain't nobody.
This is what he deserves. He's getting what's coming to
him. And then they come to that place
called Calvary And there they crucified him. Pilate was a very weak man. He was governor over Galilee
sent by the Romans to govern the Hebrews, the Jews. And they came to him and begged
him to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says there in
verse 24, And Pilate gave sentence. He passed the sentence. Passed
the sentence. He tried to turn him loose three
times. Three times he said, I find no fault in this man. But they
wouldn't have it. And gave sentence. That it should
be as they required. And down there in verse 26. And as they led him away. They led the Lord Jesus Christ
away. You notice they didn't push him,
they didn't drag him, they didn't beat him as he went to make him
go. They led him. He is led as a
lamb to the slaughter. They led him and he let them
led him. He said, I could call twelve legions of angels, but
I didn't do come to do that. But Pilate is an incredibly weak
man. And it's the time for our Lord
Jesus Christ to be offered, time for the Lamb to be offered. But
even though Pilate and all these wicked people got together to
deliver the Lord Jesus Christ up, we first see that it was
God Himself that delivered His Son up. God did this. God is doing this to fulfill
His purpose. Now, you keep this and look with
me in Acts chapter 2. Look with me in Acts chapter
2. I want you to see this. They're just fulfilling God's
will. That's all they're doing. Fulfilling God's will. But look
here in Acts 2 and verse 22 with me. and we'll see what I'm talking
about. You men of Israel, Simon Peter
is preaching on the day of Pentecost. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by the miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you and you yourselves know that
it happened. But listen to this, now him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. They didn't know they was doing
God's will. They was doing just exactly what they wanted to do.
Pilate gave them sentence. And they was doing what God determined
before to be done. And yet they were responsible.
Now look over in Acts chapter 4. Look over in Acts 4 in verse
26. You know the scripture says that
God freely, freely delivered up his son. Shall he not also
with him freely give us all things? But look what it says here in
verse 26, Acts 4. The kings of the earth stood
up And the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. This is out of Acts chapter 2,
Psalm 2. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. I'm certainly thankful these
men are going to face God for what they did. They're all going
to face God with wicked hands they crucified and slew the just
one. But yet at the same time they
were doing what God determined before to be done. But they all
done just exactly what they wanted to do. They had the enmity, they
had the hatred, they had the despising, they had everything
that natural man has against God and against Christ. And yet
they were doing God's will. That's a mystery. But I know
that's what the scripture said. But thank God that he did it.
I stand here today a saved man because what they did and what
God determined that they should do. I stand here righteous man
because God determined for them to do that. So I want us to look at this
thing called the time, this place called Calvary. I've got several
little points I want to make about it today if I can. First
of all, this place called Calvary, it was a place of guilt. Look
down here in verse 32. A place of guilt. And there were
also two other malfactors led with him to be put to death. And our Lord, when they crucified
him, there was already two thieves out there already crucified.
There was two men that was taken with the Lord Jesus Christ and
they took them out there and there was three crosses there.
And the one in the middle is the one that everybody paid attention
to. These two men are guilty. They
are guilty. They said they were guilty. And
they were between, and I, Lord Jesus Christ, hanging between
these two men who are guilty. And I'm going to say this, and
listen to me. Our Lord Jesus Christ was guilty too. These
men were guilty for what they did. Christ was guilty for what
we did. The scripture says that the law was
given that every mouth may be stopped. You want to face God
on the basis of works and law and merit? And your sufficiency
in what you've done and your righteousness? God said this,
He said, oh listen, I gave it that every mouth shut up. And
the whole world become guilty. Where at before God? And I tell
you, guilty. And I tell you, when people would
pass by there, they would see those three men on those crosses,
and they'd see that one in the middle and they'd say, he's there
because he's guilty too. And I tell you, he was guilty.
But not for anything that he did. He was the just. for the
unjust, the innocent for the guilty. Ain't that what it says? And these two men on these crosses
were there for their own crime. Christ is there for His peoples.
For His peoples. You need to see this in Isaiah
53. One verse of Scripture. I could
quote it to you, but you need to see it. Isaiah 53. Our Lord Jesus Christ It was written of Him all the
things that He would do. But Isaiah 53 and verse 12. You know if Christ has not borne
your guilt and your sin, your guilt and your sin, then you'll
have to bear it yourself. Now ain't that right? I certainly
don't want to face God bearing what I've done. patiently for
who I am or anything I've ever thought. And people say, they
think that when the judgment comes, God's going to put everybody
there and He's going to bring them forth one at a time. God
don't have to do that. He's already judged everybody
with just that quick. And if God ever judges you and
you become guilty, you'll understand you're under the judgment of
God. And what a wonderful way to get out of that. Judgment is
through the Lord Jesus Christ, bearing your judgment, bearing
your guilt, bearing your sin. And if you don't, if you don't
bear your sin and your guilt and your condemnation and your
judgment, you'll have to bear it yourself. Isn't that right? Ooh, I don't
want to do that. And I don't want you to do that.
I don't want you to have to do that. But look here in Isaiah
53, in verse 12. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong. Why? Because he hath poured out
his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors.
One on the left, one on the right. And watch this, and he bare the
sin of many. And you'll see it here in a little
while, and he made intercession for transgressors. You know,
there's three imputations in the scriptures. To impute something
to somebody means to charge them with something. And I was three
imputations in the scriptures. Adam's sin was imputed to us. Now, when was it imputed to us?
When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden. That's when his sin
was charged to our account. And not only was his sin charged
to our account, but we got his nature, his fallen nature, his
sinful nature. And then our sin was imputed
to Christ. On Him were laid the iniquity
of us all. He was wounded for our transgression.
bore our chastisement. Everything about us was charged
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Our sin, Adam's sin and all the
sins that we ourselves have committed was charged and put on and charged
to the Lord Jesus Christ. God made him who knew no sin
to be sin for us. And I tell you, our Lord said
about Himself, my sins are more than the hairs of my neck. and our Lord Jesus Christ and
then you turn around and then His righteousness is imputed
to us and as He has Adam's nature when Christ imputes His righteousness
to us and then He regenerates us and gives us the new birth
then we not only have His righteousness but we have His nature. What I lost in Adam I got 10,000
times over in Christ. You know, they say, well we lost
in Adam, we lost a lot, but we gained. Listen, I lost everything
in Adam, but I gained 10,000 times more in the Lord Jesus
Christ. I didn't just lose, I didn't
just gain life in Christ, we gained abundant life in Christ. We wasn't just charged with Adam's
sin and Christ just bore that sin, but he bore every sin that
all of his people would ever commit from Adam to the last
one here, past, present, and future. I don't know how, I don't have
any idea how many sins I've committed. And how many more I will. Just
living has caused you to be a sinner. I asked Joe this morning, I said,
how are you doing? He said, I'm no better, don't expect to get
any better. And I said, he's telling the truth. But oh, listen. Oh, what we lost in Adam. 10,000 times 10,000 is more than
Christ. Oh, listen. And I'll tell you, not only is
it a place of guilt, Thank God Christ bore my guilt. It's wonderful
to have your guilt to be gone. You know doctors, psychiatrists
and psychologists and social workers make hundreds of thousands
of dollars a year treating people for guilt. For guilt. Christ took care of my guilt
just like that. I don't have to pay a doctor
to do it. Oh, not only is it a place of
guilt, but look here, it's a place of compassion. It's a place of
compassion. Look what our Master said here
in verse 34. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. Father, forgive them,
for they know... Oh my, what a prayer. I just told you that he made
intercession for many. Well here he is. He's interceding
for many. Right here. Father forgive them. They don't have any idea what
they're doing. They don't know what they're doing. They don't
know who they're crucifying. They don't know why they're crucifying
me. They don't know what is taking
place on here today. They don't know what. But what
a prayer. What a revelation of the grace
of God, of the mercy of God, of the love of God towards sinners
when Christ, there on that cross dying, says, Father, Father,
my Father, our Father, Father, forgive them. Forgive them. They don't know what they're
doing. Huh? He said, if the princes of this
world had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.
And I tell you what, God commendeth His love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All, all are in need
of forgiveness. All are. All are. It's hard for
us as human beings to forgive people. It really is hard for
us to do it. We'll figure out a way to get
around it. We'll figure out a way to say, well, take them out to
dinner instead of saying, I'm sorry. Buying them a gift instead
of saying, I'm sorry. But all need forgiveness. He said, the Lord said, if thou
should have marked iniquity, who would be able to stand? If
God start that marking iniquity, who would be able to stand? But then the last verse of that
130th Psalm says this, but there is forgiveness within. Oh, to be forgiven? Not only
forgiven, but forgiven for all sin. All of them. And I tell you, everybody needs
forgiveness. And I tell you, thank God for
forgiveness. But look what it says here. Then
said Jesus, there in verse 34. Then said Jesus, after having
been betrayed by Judas for 30 pieces of silver, after having
been denied of Simon Peter three times, after the agony that he
went through in the garden of Eden and garden of Gethsemane
and he prayed till his sweat became as it were great drops
of blood then they came and got him with 500 men carried him
and put him on trial put a purple robe on him a crown of thorns
on his head and then they beat him unmercifully they beat him
then after being scourged Then, after being set in naught by
those men of war, after being hated, after being despised,
after being rejected, after being nailed to the cross, Father, forgive them. Oh, they don't know what they're
doing. Father. Oh, Father, what a tender
word. What a tender word. Father. Oh, what a tender word. Here
he is, the sinner's advocate, even on his deathbed, as he's
dying. Here he is, a sacrifice for sinners. Crying out for God to forgive
him. Crying out, oh Father, forgive him. And bless his holy name. Thank
God, God answered his father, answered that prayer. I stand
here as an answer to that prayer today. Huh? An answer to this
prayer was answered immediately. When that one thief, our Lord
said, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. God forgave him
that immediately. And then 3,000 on the day of
Pentecost. 5,000 another time. And us sitting
here today, that Christ prayed for. Huh? Oh my. You reckon He's prayed
for you? He not only prayed for me there,
but He prays for me now. Intercedes for me now. Huh? Oh, what a tender word, Father.
And then it was a place of mockery. It's a place of derision. Look
what it says here in verse 35. place of guilt, place of compassion, then a place
of mockery. And the people stood beholding. I have no idea how many people
was there but there was a four or five hundred come out after
him to take him to put him on trial. I'd say that all of them
were there. I know the Tranhedron was there. And the people stood beholding,
stood just looking, just looking. And the rulers also with them,
oh my, the rulers the rulers with him derided him saying he
saved others let him save himself listen to this if he be the Christ
the chosen of God and not only did the people and the rulers
mock him the soldiers also mocked him coming to him when he said
he was thirsty and offered him vinegar to drink and saying if
thou be the king of the Jews save thyself and us Everybody
that was anybody went against our Lord Jesus Christ that day.
And for those days. Everybody that was anybody. Next
time you see a bunch of big shots and ought to be shots up on the
stage. Next time you see a bunch of
big shots, hot shots and ought to be shots. But when you see, next time you
see a bunch of big shots and hot shots and them up on a big
old stage and they're the rulers and the mighty and the strong
and the powerful and the wealthy and they all stand up there and
everybody's hanging on to all the words that they're saying.
Those were the people that took our Lord Jesus Christ and mocked
Him and made fun of Him. We got politicians that make
fun of the Lord Jesus Christ, make fun of the people with religion. So they're going to do away with
it if they can. And if you want to vote for me,
you don't have to have any religion. I'll tell you what, we got a
heapsot more of religion. Religion, everybody's got a little
of that. But we have Christ. Christ didn't come to set up
a new religion. The Pharisees had religion, Sadducees
had religion, Herodians had religion. Christ come to set up a kingdom. Come to save a people. Come to
rule over a people. To die for a people. To put away
the sins of His people. We don't call ourselves religious.
We call ourselves believers. We call ourselves saved. We call
ourselves free gracers. We call ourselves sovereign gracers.
We call ourselves after the Lord Jesus Christ. What's your religion? Christ. How did you get saved? Christ
saved me. That's what everybody wants to
know. What's your religious affiliation? I ain't got any. Christ. They got badness associations.
I'm associated with Christ. And his people. Start asking
folks like that. Next time they ask you, I'm going
to take a minute and tell you something. I met a fellow last
night. He'd been a colonel in the Air Force and retired. And
he told me his credentials. He had credentials that long. Masters degrees and his wife,
he had two masters and PhDs. His wife had two or three masters
and she went back to school and got another PhD. I said, boy,
you're all overachievers. But he started telling me about
all the churches he had established, where all he had established
them at, and all the things that he did. And then I was talking to somebody
else sitting at the table and said, what do you do? I said,
I'm a pastor at church. You do? Yeah, 40 years I've been
there. That's a long time. That's a long time. But the rulers,
they mocked him. And as the rulers go, that's
the way the people go. That's why all those people were
there, because the rulers were there. Well, our rulers are against
him, so surely, surely because they're our leaders, we're supposed
to follow them. And oh, they said, if you be
the king, save yourself. People look for signs, for evidence,
and here they are trying to bargain with him. If you can save yourself,
why don't you save us? That's what one of them said.
Save thyself, they said there in verse 37. Their words were
full of ridicule, contempt. He was the object of their ridicule. Solomon said this, he says, the
tender mercies of the wicked. They're cruel. Oh, they're so
cruel. And they said up there in verse
35, He saved others. Let him save himself. He did
save others. He did save others. He saved
the woman at the well. He saved Zacchaeus. You know
what he told Zacchaeus? Come on down out of that tree.
I'm going to your house today. I must go to your house. That's
what he said. I must go to your house. For
salvation has come to you. Barnabas! Bring him over here. What do
you want? Oh my. Lazarus! Come out of there. Mary Magdalene! Wept at his feet after he put
out seven devils out of her. Oh, he saved others. Oh, he saved
others. How many others did he save?
And I'll tell you what. He saved a multitude that no
man can number. Somebody said one time, said,
boy, I said, you don't believe that God's only going to save
a handful. I do. I do believe He's going to save
a handful, but you got to think how big God's hand is. When He upholds the world just
by the word of His power, yeah, He's going to save a handful.
But it's God's hand. And if you're in His hands, He
said He'll never, ever let anybody take you out of them. Oh, if our Lord Jesus had saved
Himself, He could not have possibly saved anyone else. But oh, thank
God He didn't save others. He didn't save Himself, He saved
others. Then our Father didn't save Him.
His Father didn't save Him. The angels didn't save Him. He
could and would, so He could and would save me and you. He
said, Father, should I say save me from this
hour? For this cause came I into the world. Now is my trouble,
soul trouble. Let me hurry on. Here's another,
not on a place of guilt and compassion. A place of ridicule and contempt.
But it is a place of testimony. Testimony. Look what it says
there in verse 38. And a superscription, or an inscription,
put into a board, something over his name, over his cross. They
put it on his cross. It wasn't on the other two crosses,
it was on this one. And they read over him in letters
of Greek, because there's Greeks there, Latin was what the Romans
used, and the Jews used Hebrew. And he put it in everybody's
language of that day, this is the king of the Jews. That was
his crime. That was his crime. He's a blasphemer. You see, he was king. And Caesar
would come away and take our nation if somebody else tried
to usurp his authority. And then Caesar would be upset
if I would have any other king but him. You keep this and look
with me over in Acts chapter 17. I want you to see this. Acts 17. This I told you all
the other day about preaching from this years ago in a fundamentalist
church and got excluded for preaching that Christ is king now. A lot
of folks say he ain't going to be king until he comes. But here
he said he's the king of the Jews. And he told Pilate, he
said, Pilate, you know, he said, don't you know I've got power
to crucify and let you go? He said, you ain't got no power.
He said, you ain't got no power. The power you've got is my father
had to give it to you. He said, are you then king? He
said, oh listen, I've got a, I've got a, if I, if my kingdom
were of this world, my people would fight. But my kingdom's
not of this world. That's why we're not of this
world. But look what he said here. Now Paul went into Thessalonica
and they had a big uproar down there. And Jason was the one
who run the synagogue. And it says in verse 7, Whom
Jason hath received, and these all, listen to this, these all
do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, and saying there is another
king, Jesus. Oh, he said I'm sent to Albuquart.
Oh, let's upset Caesar. Oh, we don't want Caesar to be
upset. No. And they put it there, Pilate
and them put it there to mock him. If you're the king, if you're
the king of the Jews, save thyself. They put it there to mock him.
And yet the words were absolutely true. God makes the wrath of
man to praise Him. Look over here in John chapter
19. I want you to see this too. John 19. You know, talking about,
you know, they put it there to mock Him. And boy, these Jews,
it really upset the Jews. They took Him out to Golgotha.
There was people crucified with Him. And here in verse 19, John
19, 19. Pilate wrote a title. He put
a title. Gave him a title. Gave Christ
a title. And put it on a cross. And the
writing was this. This is the title he gave the
Lord Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. The King of
the Jews. This title then read many of
the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh
unto the city and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
Then said the chief priest to Pilate, write not the King of
the Jews, but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered,
what I have written, I have written. Oh my, they didn't like that.
Let's just say he says I'm the King of the Jews. So Pilate wrote
it and put it over his cross. You know who really put it there? You know who really wrote it?
God did. God put, God, He done just exactly
what He wanted to do, but God was just, I want you to write
on there, King of the Jews. I want you to write it in Greek,
I want you to write it in Latin, I want you to write it in Hebrew,
so everybody will know who this man is. He's King of the Jews. He's King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. And oh my, he was the one that
really put there. And they testified that they
crucified their king, their Messiah, the son of the highest. And their
king come just exactly like it was written of him. Riding meek,
riding on a boat of coke, the feet full of an ass, meek and
lowly. That's how he came into Jerusalem. But now here's what I really
love this right here about this place called Calvary. It was
a place not only of testimony, of mockery, compassion and guilt,
but it was a place where salvation was accomplished. Look here in
verse 33, 39 through 43. And one of the malefactors which
were hanged railed on him. saying, If thou beat the Christ,
save thyself and us. But now watch what happens. The
other in answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God,
seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due rewards of our deeds. And then he said to the Lord
Jesus, And he said, Lord, that's the first word out of his mouth,
Lord, you're Jehovah God. And he knowed that when he seen
that king of Jews over there, he said, he really is the king. How did he know that? How did
he find all that out? Lord, remember me. Remember me. When thou comest into thy kingdom. Well, what did our Lord say to
him? I say unto thee today not tomorrow
not next week today shalt thou be with me in paradise today
shalt thou be with me you know this teaches us this this man
was saved one was left in his sin one was saved from his sin
and one was dying for sin And you know what this tells us here?
By this one man being saved. Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. That salvation is entirely by the grace of God. Who made the difference that
day between those two men? Why did one rail on him and why
did one know who he was? Why did one ask to be remembered
and one said save thyself and save me too? When this man asked
the Lord Jesus Christ, you saved me. I don't care what you do
with the other fellow, please save me. Lord, please remember
me. I know you've got a kingdom. And you're fixin' to enter into
that kingdom. And you're fixin' to sit on your throne. Right
beside God himself. A place of power and authority.
And Lord, when you get there, remember me. I fear God. And I'm here because I really
did what I did. He said, I'm here because I'm
here justly. What I did was wrong and I sinned. I'm here, that's what He said,
He said, I'm here justly. I'm just getting the due reward
of my deeds. But this man, this Lord Jesus
Christ, this King said to me, He ain't done nothing. Oh, so Lord, when you do, enter
into your kingdom. Remember this old miserable wretched
sinner dying today for my sin, dying for my crimes. Oh, have
mercy on me. That's what he's saying. And
I'm telling you something. That the only way this thief
could be saved like God saves everybody else, by grace. The
only way he knew that Christ was who he was, by revelation. The only way that he knew that
God would do anything for him, was through that man on that
cross. Anybody here think that they,
when you as a sinner, do you think that if God would have
sent you and you would have perished, that he would have been just
in doing it? Oh, let me tell you something. This is the first man, the first
man to enter into heaven itself by the actual blood shedding
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first one. Our Lord Jesus Christ, so evidently
when He went to the grave, took Him off that cross, His spirit
went into the paradise, went into the presence of God. And
he told that thief, he said, I'm going to take you with me
when I go. And the sum of our Lord's redemptive
work is in these two words, with me. Today thou shalt be with
me. He was with him there on the
cross. He was with Him and He's dead. Oh, that's the thing that we
people, you know, talk about. I'm going to go see Mama again.
I'm going to see Daddy again. I'm going to see my brother.
I'm going to see my little baby that I lost. They say, I'm going
to go see this one, see that one. But the only thing in the
world a believer wants to see is to see the Lord Jesus Christ.
We want to be with Him now We want Him to be with us. We want
to be with Him now, with me. He said, with me. We want to
be with Him now. And we want to be with Him forever. The only reason I want to go
to glory is to see Christ and be with Christ and enjoy Christ
forever. Ain't you? But oh my, you know it's by being
with Him When He was the Lamb slain, it's by being with Him. When He lived His life, it's
by being with Him that He died on the cross. It's by being with
Him when He was buried. It's by being with Him when He
was raised up. And one of these days, we'll
be with Him forever. Oh my! Oh, we have represented
Him in His life. Reconciled by His death. Resurrected
with Him. And He said, I say unto thee. You know the only person that
can give you assurance of your salvation? Is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And if He gives you assurance,
you got it. He said, I say unto thee. I'm
telling you this. And when he speaks to your heart
and I say unto you that you're mine. Jackass, note him by name. Barnabas, note him by name. Lazarus,
note him by name. Mary, note her by name. He knows
his sheep. And he gives them a holler one
time. He gives them a holler. He gives them a holler. Come
on out of that tree. Come on out of that false religion.
Come on out of that false profession. Come on away from your self-righteousness. Come on out of there. Okay, Lord,
I'm coming. I'm coming. Then there's a place of miracle.
I've got to hurry. Oh, there's a place of miracle. Oh bless our Lord. Bless His
name. Oh my. Be with me. That's the
first thing I think of whenever a believer dies. I say, they're
with the Lord right now. It's the most glorious moment
that they'll ever experience. You want somebody to close their
eyes? Draw their last breath? That quick they're with the Lord.
That's the first thing I think of. It's the first thing I think
of. I guess somebody tell me so-and-so,
some believer died. Oh, thank the Lord, praise the
Lord. Oh, bless God, they're going
to be with Christ. You know, when we had Mary's
funeral here, this place was so full. And my brother and sister-in-law
and my sister came down here. And she goes to a Lutheran church. She said, I've never been in
such a thing in my life where people actually rejoiced about
somebody dying. At a funeral, had a big time,
rejoiced and was happy. He said, every funeral I've ever
been to, it was just so morbid and so sorrowful and so mourning
and everybody seemed like they had long faces. She said, I've
never experienced, I didn't know anything like this ever existed. So that's right. You can really sing then when
you go to somebody's gravesite. You can really sing. It is well,
it is well, it is well with my soul. I got to move on. Place of miracle. Look what it said here in verse
44 and 45. And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth
hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was
rent in two. Now it says about the sixth hour,
that's noon. They crucified Christ at nine
o'clock in the morning. He'd been on that cross for three
hours. And when he cries out and gives up the ghost, it turns
dark. It turns dark. God hides the
Son. Why does He hide the Son? To show how awful sin is. God looks on sin. Even when He
sees His Son, it's symbolic of the darkness. You know, you think
it was dark that day. Our Lord says there's an outer
darkness. and out of darkness. But what a miracle that day.
God's symbolic severity towards this awful scene against sin
and God's justice against sin. And oh my, turned out the sun.
He didn't want people to see our Lord Jesus Christ, his son,
that way. And then it says the veil was,
the sun was darkened in the veil. was for three hours it was dark
on the face of the earth see three hours over that land it
was dark and oh my you remember when it was dark down in Egypt
and the angel went through there and slew all the firstborn here's
God slaying his firstborn offering our Passover slaying
his firstborn and when he sees his son, Christ
our Passover sacrifice for us. And that rending of the veil
was a symbol of God making the way into his presence through
the death, the blood, the dying of our Lord Jesus Christ and
his blessed cross. That darkness declares his severity
against sin That red veil is God opened away and we Christ's
suffering and then to the holiest of holies by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We can go in God's presence right
now through our Lord Jesus Christ. That veil was opened up. And
let me tell you something, when that veil was opened up, them
Jews was terrified. Do you know why? Because there
was no mercy seat back there. There was no ark back there.
There wasn't nothing behind that veil and they knew it. They just
done that to let those folks, keep fooling those folks, thinking
that, you know, there's something special behind this veil here.
But they've done lost all semblance of God. And God opened it up
and said, hey, now see, there ain't nothing behind. That's
kind of like the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy finally got, she looked
behind that veil, there's an old man sitting there. An old,
old man talking. You know, you're a wizard? Had
everybody scared to death. That's what they thought there
was wizards. They opened up that thing and there wasn't nothing
there. But when God opened it up for us, we get to go into
the holiest of holies by the Lord Jesus Christ. Then let me
wind this up here with this one. It was a place of death. Look
what it says there in verse 46 and I'll wind it up. And when Jesus had cried with
a loud voice, he said, Father, there he said, Father again,
Father, into thy hands, I commend my spirit, and having said thus,
he gave up the ghost. Now it said here he gave it up.
He said, no man takes my life from me. I've got the power to
lay it down, I've got the power to take it up again. He died
by his own power. He said, Father, I'm dying. Here's my spirit. I'm giving
it up to you. He yielded his life into his
father's hands and he cried with a loud voice. Everybody could
hear him. Everybody could hear him. He's still in control. Those people around him are not
in control. Him and his father's in control.
And becoming obedient unto death, you know what happened? When
he became obedient unto death, he abolished death. He abolished
it. He abolished it. He abolished
death. You know, that's what we call
having life. We have life. This body is going back to the
grave, but I'm going to live with the life I already got.
And look what it says here. And in being made sin, He put
an end to sin. Sin's gone by being made sin. Here is life and immortality
brought to light through our Lord Jesus Christ's death. And
then look what it says there in verse 47. Oh, it's a place
of death, the death of Christ. Look at the reaction that different
people have. In verse 47, now when the centurion
saw what was done, the darkness, the temple being rent, Christ
speaking with a loud voice, now when the centurion saw what was
done, he glorified God. Oh, you see what was done there,
you'll glorify God too. And you know what he said? This
certainly was a righteous man. Oh, he's righteous, yes he is.
And then look what else happens here. And then in verse 48, and
all the people that came together to that site to see this death,
to see this crucifixion, to see this man die, and were beholding
the things which were done, smoked their breast, beat on their breast,
You know there's a man that beat on his breast one time and you
know what he said? God be merciful to me the sinner. And that's what these folks say.
We smite our breast. Oh God be merciful to me the
sinner. Some still smite their breast.
Well to Calvary with Christ we go. Was ever grief like his? Was ever sin like ours? There's three who died on Calvary
that day. There's three crosses. There's
three who died on Calvary that day. Christ died that day. I
died that day. And the world died that day. At a place called Calvary. Place called Calvary. Oh, our blessed, blessed Master,
our gracious God in heaven, our Lord Jesus Christ, thank You
for Your abundant mercy and grace given us in Him before the world
ever began. God bless You, Word. Lord, use
it to Your good and the glory of these folks gathered out here,
for Your glory and the good of these people gathered out here
today. Father, meet the needs of their hearts, needs of their
soul. Save such as should be saved. Bring glory to yourself. We ask in Christ's name. Amen. 222, a couple of verses
of that.