If the Lord God wants Balaam to hear his voice and to hear his word, he can speak as easily through Balaam's ass as he can through an angel or a man. And he did. Sometimes in his infinite sovereignty, our God uses lost, unregenerate, spiritually ignorant men to proclaim gospel truth as plainly, as clearly, and as powerfully as any prophet inspired of God. Sometimes he does. And those men still remain as lost, unregenerate and spiritually ignorant as they were before.

I'm saying this for a couple of reasons. One is this. I want you to understand that if God is pleased to speak to your heart through the voice of this preacher, this preacher is nothing. God can speak anyway, through anybody. Oh may he be pleased now to speak through these lips. Those through whom God speaks become the voices of God by whom he makes known his truth.

Now let me give you a couple of examples. Turn to John chapter 11. I'll have you read just one or two of them. John chapter 11. The Jews, the religious leaders, were getting together discussing how they were going to put to death the Son of God. And there was one fellow there who had no knowledge of God. He was the high priest, but he didn't know God. Just because a man's got religious office doesn't mean he knows God. This man Caiaphas, the high priest, in verse 49, speaks to this group of folks trying to decide how to handle Jesus of Nazareth.

Verse 49 of John 11. One of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he, look at it now, not of himself, But being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation and not for that nation only. but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

In other words, Caiaphas, the high priest, he said what he did not himself know. He spoke what he did not himself understand, but he prophesied because God spoke through him. He said Jesus Christ must die for his elect to gather together his elect, both among the Jews and the Gentiles scattered afar off. Pilate, when he sat as judge over the Son of God, said, behold, your king. And he spoke the truth. He said, when he wrote the superscription overhead of the Lord Jesus, declaring that for which he was condemned, this is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

Turn to Numbers 23, Numbers chapter 23. In verse 5, we read that the Lord put a word in Balaam's mouth. Now, Balaam was a false prophet. There's no question about that. He was a lost man. He had no knowledge of God. But I want to tell you something. There was never a prophet who spoke a more blessed word than what Balaam spoke when God put a word in his mouth.

Listen to what it said. Numbers 23, verse 19. God is not a man that he should lie. neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Behold, I have received commandment to bless, and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

Now look at verse 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel, The Lord his God is with him, and the shadow of a king is among them. It was wicked King Saul, who, as he was pursuing David to death and destruction, made the prophecy, saying to David, blessed be thou, my son David, thou shalt both do great things and also shalt still prevail. Saul, while he was attempting to slaughter David, said, God's made you king, I recognize it. God's gonna make you prevail.

Now in our reading this morning, we saw several examples of this. God speaking glorious gospel truths by men who themselves knew nothing of the things they spoke. Repeatedly, as they mocked and derided the Son of God, they said, hail King. They worshiped him, hail King, mockingly, but they spoke the truth.

Down in verse 39 of Mark 15, are you there? Mark chapter 15 in verse 39. There's a centurion with the blood of the Son of God all over him. And he listened and watched. And that centurion heard the Lord Jesus cry with a loud voice and breathe out his life. And this is what he said, truly, this man is the Son of God. There are not many religious folks in the world today who understand that yet. He spoke the truth of God, and you better understand it. This man who died at Calvary under the wrath of God Almighty, having been made to be sin for us, this man who was forsaken of God, this man is himself God the Son, eternal equal with the Father.

Now then, there's another example in verse 31. And here in verse 31, you will find the title of my message and our subject for this morning. In the angry, bloodthirsty, jeering mob, we hear the religious leaders of the day joining in the hellish revelry. Though they spoke with a hellish hatred for the Son of God, these scribes and chief priests spoke the plain truth of the gospel clearly. And this is what I want to preach to you this morning.

Likewise, also the chief priest, mocking among themselves with the scribes, they said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. Because the Lord Jesus Christ came here to save his people from their sins, because he came here to save us from the wrath of God, he could not, I have chosen my words deliberately, he could not save himself from being made sin, and he could not save himself from the wrath of God. Now this is the essence of the gospel. Listen carefully and be sure you get it. Be sure you get it. The holy Lord God could never save sinners, not one, apart from the satisfaction of his law and his justice on account of sin. Satisfaction made by the obedience and death of him who is himself God in human flesh.

Now, God didn't have to save anybody. He chose to save a multitude. He didn't have to. His choice is altogether a matter of free grace. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy. He is gracious to whom he will be gracious, and whom he will, he hearteneth. But having chosen to save some, There is no other way by which the holy Lord God could save anyone except by the sacrifice of his son for the satisfying of his justice. He could never say to any, deliver him from going down to the pit until he says, I have found a ransom. And this is what Paul says in Romans chapter three. I want you to understand the gospel has not been preached until it has been preached in the context of the justice and righteousness of God's holy character.

Romans chapter 3 verse 24. The apostle says we're justified freely by his grace, without a cause on our part, without any cause found in us, without any price paid by us, we're justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 25. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation. The word means an appeasing atonement. a justice-satisfying atonement through faith in his blood. Now look at it. To declare, smile, God loves you. That's not what this book says. To declare God's love. No, that's not what this book says. This is what he says. Jesus Christ was set forth to be a propitiation for our sins, to declare God's righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God.

Now just in case you didn't get it the first time, he says it again. to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he, the Lord God, without any compromise of his character, without any compromise of his law, might be just and the justifier of him that believeth. Now, lest I don't get it said later, I want you to understand, you who are sitting here without the knowledge of God's grace in Christ, you who are here without Jesus Christ, believe on the Son of God. Cast yourself now upon the merits of Christ's shed blood, being made the righteousness of God in Him now. I'm telling you, God is just to justify every believer. And I'm telling you, you'll walk out of this house justified if you look to Him. Because Christ died to put away the sins of all who look to Him.

Now the passage before us this morning, in Mark chapter 15 sets before us. the most wondrous, most glorious event in the history of the universe. Indeed, this is the reason why God made the world in the first place. We had before us the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sinner's substitute. Here, the infinite love of God is set forth most magnificently in the display of his perfect holiness, justice, and truth.

the sufferings we read about in this passage of scripture would be shocking to behold under any circumstances. I can think of no one in recent memory more despicable to society than Jeffrey Dahmer. But if I were standing here with an apprehension that that man justly deserved to die, And I watched that vile man suffering such a death as this. I can't help but to believe my heart would be moved to compassion for him. Can't help but to believe. And he fully deserved it.

But here is a man suffering the most horrid, ignominious, shameful death imaginable. And this man, Bobby Estes, is God himself. This man is the eternal God. This man came here in human flesh on purpose to suffer this death at the hands of men and for the sake of man. Oh, I'm astonished. And here's something even more astonishing. He suffered it all willingly. The Lord Jesus willingly took upon himself our sins. Yes, he was made to be sinned by divine imputation. He was made to be sinned by legal transfer of sin to him. But he willingly took our sins upon himself. He willingly went to the cross. He willingly died this shameful ignominious death. He willingly became the object of his father's wrath and indignation.

The Lord Jesus Christ willingly took the cup of wrath, and with one tremendous draft of love, willingly, he drank damnation dry. Why? There's just one answer. Because he loved us. Here is the love of Christ that passeth knowledge. God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Herein is love. Not that we loved God, James, we didn't. We wouldn't, we couldn't. But that he first loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us.

Now I want us this morning for just a few minutes to simply observe in these verses here in Mark 15 the things which our Lord Jesus suffered for us. I want us to follow the Son of God step by step from his condemnation and being delivered to the soldiers to his last breath when he gave up the ghost. And may God, the Holy Spirit, give us blessed instruction as we do. I have nothing profound, nothing deep, nothing mysterious to say. I'm going to speak to you in the simplest terms I possibly can. I'm convinced that with such a subject, striving for oratory would be next akin to blasphemy.

Let us remember, as we follow our Savior through his sufferings and his death, that everything he suffered, all the hell he endured, and the death he died, was ours. Can you get hold of that? That which he endured, the hell he endured, he endured because of our sin for the saving of our souls. He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus Christ, his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree, and we being dead to sins. Now, live unto righteousness, for by his stripes we are healed. The Lord Jesus Christ once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, and he did it for this reason, so he might bring Buddy Dardy to God. that he might bring Don Fortner to God, for there's no other way he could bring us to God.

All right, here we see the Son of God delivered into the hands of Roman soldiers, condemned to death, to be crucified as a common criminal. Look at verse 15. willing to content the people. Luke tells us Pilate delivered Jesus to their will. If there were no other condemnation for the worship of will, no other condemnation for the doctrine of free will religion, this is sufficient. Pilate released Barabbas unto them and delivered Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. Now you try to picture this. Here is that man who is God before whom one day soon you and I will stand to be judged. Here is that man before whom every man will one day stand at the bar of God, the whole world to be judged of him. But now he is judged, judged by men, judged to be worthy of death and delivered up to be executed by the hands of wicked men.

Do you ask why? I hope you do. It was that he might deliver us from judgment, from the pit of destruction, and from everlasting death in hell. It was that he might, he was judged guilty, judged guilty of sin, judged guilty of crimes, worthy of death, in order that he might have us judged not guilty, and that we might never be judged for sin. that he might present all the host of God's elect, holy, unblameable, unreprovable before the presence of his glory at his great white throne. No wonder the psalmist wrote, blessed is the man, oh, blessed is the man, unto whom the Lord will not impute sin. Maurice Montgomery, God imputed our sins to his son and judged him for. That means we will never be judged for sin. Never. And how far can you take that? Just as far as your imagination can go. Never, never. God will never transfer sin again from the surety to those for whom the surety suffered his wrath.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? God justified us. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Jesus Christ the righteous is here mocked, jeered, insulted, and made the laughing stock before all the world. In verse 16, we read that the soldiers led him away into the judgment hall called Praetorium. They called together the whole band. Let's all get in on this. And they clothed him with purple, plaited a crown of thorns, put it on his head, shoved it in his head. They began to salute him, hail, king of the Jews. They smote him on the head with a reed, did spit upon him, and bowing their knees, they worshiped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him and put his own clothes on him and led him out to crucify him. Verse 29, and they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads. This is almost impossible to conceive. Here's a man, butchered, hanging on a tree, suffering horribly. And these folks all pass by and they shake their heads and they say, ah, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it again in three days, save yourself. come down from the cross. Likewise, also the chief priest, mocking, said among themselves with the scribes, he saved others. Himself he cannot save. Let Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him. Our Lord Jesus became the song of drunkards, harlots, and what the world calls holy men, pimps and priests, sots and scribes, folks who wouldn't speak to each other on any other occasion. They all joined together for the reverie, the reverie of hell, as they nailed him to the tree and watched him die. Even the two bees, one hanging over here, one hanging over there, found some relief from their torture by joining in the hellish party and they mocked him. The Son of God was made to be utterly contemptible before men. He was made to be the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things. You ask why? I'll tell you why. It was so that we who are indeed the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things. I'm talking about you and me. I'm talking about your wife and mine. I'm talking about your mama and mine. I'm talking about your daddy and mine. I'm talking about your children and mine. So that we who are indeed the filth and the offscouring of all things, vile and contemptible, that we might have honor and glory and eternal life by his blood, that we might stand before God himself and pronounce an honorable thing, that we might be clothed with his righteousness He wore a crown of thorns that we might wear a crown of glory forever. He wore the spit of men on his face that we might wear the kiss of God on ours. He sunk in humiliation that we might be raised to triumph and glory.

Here's the third thing. The Lord Jesus was stripped naked before men, exposed in open shame to all his enemies. Verse 24 says, when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. Harry Haynes, in humiliation, naked, for everybody to look at him, laugh. How come? It was that we who have no righteousness might be clothed with his perfect righteousness. That we who are ourselves naked and shameful, defiled with sin, might wear the wedding garments of his salvation and sit as virgins beside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the angels of God, without the least bit of shame forever. That we might wear the white robe of his righteousness, clean and white, before our great God.

The Holy One of God was reckoned a transgressor and a sinner. In verse 27 and 28, we read that he was numbered with the transgressors. He who did no sin was reckoned to be sin. He was reckoned himself a sinner. Martin Luther was exactly right. He said the Lord Jesus Christ died as the greatest sinner who ever lived. God Almighty heaped upon him the awful, horrid mass of all the sins of God's elect at one time. And Merle Hart, he stood before God as a sinner, as a sinner. Our sins were made his, numbered with the transgressors. How come? So that we might stand before God numbered with the saints with no sin, numbered with the righteous, perfectly holy.

The son of God in verse 34 cries out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? At the height of his obedience, I think about Mark with his boy sitting there beside him. I remember as a boy, you try to, every once in a while, I didn't do it often, but every now and then I tried to do things just to get a little pat on the head from my dad. I mean, just a little bit. I tried to, once in a while, do something, this is what he wants me to do, this is what I want to do. And boy, when you mess up, you'd be heart sick. I was just heart sick. I remember one time cleaning up his tool shed, and he had so many boxes of nuts and bolts and nails. I thought, man, this is a big mess. I put them all in one big box, cleaned that thing up. Believe me, he did not congratulate me when he came home. And my heart sunk to my feet. I just, oh, what's this? Here's the son of God at the height of his perfect obedience. perfect obedience, forsaken of his father. Why? So that we might hear God himself say, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And he won't.

The Lord of glory was crucified upon the cursed tree. They crucified him. He died that death, which was reserved for the most vile of felons. No common criminal could be crucified. No ordinary murderer would be crucified, but just the most vile of felons crucified under Roman law. He died that day, the only death recorded in scripture, which is specifically identified with a curse. How come? He was cursed that we might ever be cursed. He was counted accursed to take the curse from us that we might forever be blessed. Listen to the book. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. For it is written, being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.

In verse 37, we read that our Lord Jesus, our substitute, voluntarily laid down his life. Voluntarily died when Jesus cried with a loud voice and gave up the ghost. Why did he do that? In this was manifested the love of God toward us. That's why I did it. That's why I did it. Oh, could we with ink, the oceans fill. And were the skies of parchment made where every stalk on earth the quill and every man ascribed by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole who stretched from sky to sky. Oh, wondrous, amazing, redeeming love. He loved me and gave himself for me. And the blood atonement made by his death, under the curse of God's holy law, by the merit of his sacrifice, the Son of God ripped the veil in the temple from top to bottom. Just ripped it in two. By his blood, he opened up that which separated symbolically God from man. No man could go into that temple except on penalty of death because there showed forth the glory of God. And now the Son of God takes that which was the symbol of separation, God's broken law, God's holiness, God's justice, God's truth, and he ripped it open. Why? So we could come in. Come on in. The Son of God has opened for us a new and living way by which sinners confessing their sin may come in with boldness, with full assurance of faith, of confident acceptance, because Jesus Christ has died to put away the sins of his people. Amen.