Today I would like you to turn in your Bible to the book of Lamentations. The book of Lamentations, chapter 1, verse 12. Let's read this verse together. The book of Lamentations, chapter 1, verse 12. And the prophet Jeremiah says, Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me. Wherewith the Lord had afflicted me, in a day of his fierce anger."

Now, we know that all Scripture, all Scripture, all the Word of God, the whole Bible was given by God. Holy men of old spoke as they were moved and driven by God. All Scripture was given to teach us, not to entertain us, but to instruct us and to teach us and to comfort us with the gospel of God's grace and glory. in the Lord Jesus Christ and to point us to the only Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only Savior of sinners. And certainly this text that we have this morning is no exception.

Down through the centuries, the church has used this text to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it is true that Jeremiah is weeping and lamenting the devastating destruction of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was undergoing a siege by the enemy. The temple had been ransacked and burned to the ground. The temple that David dreamed of and the temple that Solomon had built had been ransacked and its treasures taken and burned to the ground. All the priests were put to death. Thousands had been slaughtered and others were taken captive. King Zedekiah, king of Israel, had been taken captive himself and his sons were killed before his eyes. Zedekiah was kept in prison until the day of his death.

But my friend, it's not my desire to give you a history lesson this morning. It's not my desire to point you to a city destroyed and besieged, but rather to point you to the only Savior of sinners, Jesus Christ crucified and risen and exalted, God our Savior, seated at God's right hand. In whom is salvation? There is salvation in no other. We can rightly and truly take this text, the words of Jeremiah, a prophet of God, and apply them to the prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary.

Now, look at this text again, and can't you hear our Lord say from the cross as he hangs there in all the bloody gore and mess, he can rightly say from the cross, is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in a day of his fierce anger."

Now, my friend, the question this morning is very vital, and I pray that you'll give me a hearing. What happened at Calvary? That's the question this morning. What happened at the cross? Most know, most people know something of the historical facts. They know someone named Jesus of Nazareth that died, but few have any interest to really find out what happened there. I believe this scripture will reveal and describe much of what God was doing that day at Calvary.

Now, four things. Here's the first thing. We see the Son of God, the lovely Son of God. suffering like no other. Behold, he says, behold, gaze upon this sight and see if there be any sorrow, any sorrow like unto my sorrow." Here's unparalleled suffering. No one suffered like he did. Isaiah called him the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. The Lord of glory, God Almighty, subjected himself to scorn, the scorn and ridicule of men, the mocking and the beating of the soldiers. The ridicule of the Pharisees, the unjust treatment of Pilate, who wasn't man enough to release him. The false accusation of the high priest. He submitted himself to execution by the godless Romans. He endured the howl of a jeering crowd that said away with him, crucify him. We have no King, but Caesar. He dies a death reserved for the most vile felons.

But listen, my friend. His physical and mental anguish is unparalleled. No one suffered like He did. In Isaiah 52, we read that His visage, His image was so marred more than any man. He didn't even look like a man hanging there on the cross, stripped and beaten and mutilated by wicked men.

My friend, I would not minimize His physical sufferings, but if that's all you can see, If that's all you know, come back and look again. Sit down at the cross this morning and let's look again at the Lord Jesus Christ until you can see that He poured out His soul unto death. God made His soul an offering for sin. His physical pain pales in comparison with His soul agony. He endured the holy wrath of God, of an angry God against sin, that's why He cried out. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

And consider this, he's the only one who never deserved to suffer. Such a high priest became us who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sin. He never deserved to suffer. And consider this, he had the power to prevent sufferings, yet he suffers like no others. He had the power to prevent these sufferings. You remember when he was arrested in the garden and Peter took out the sword and cut off? an ear of one of those servants of the priest, and the Lord Jesus Christ told him, put up your sword. Put up your sword, Peter. Don't you know I could call 12 legions of angels to wipe out these men? That's 80,000 angels. The Lord had power to prevent these sufferings, and yet He submitted to these sufferings.

Secondly, we can see this. We can see that these sufferings are the work of God. Look at the text again. Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me." Done unto me. We can see that his sufferings, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in a day of his fierce anger. We can see these sufferings are the work of God. Wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me. The Lord Jesus Christ looks beyond the instruments of the cross to the author of the cross. and says this is the work of God.

Remember these things, these three things about Christ crucified. The first one is this, God planned the cross. It's recorded in scriptures that the Pharisees went out and held a council how they might destroy Him. But remember, God in the council halls of eternity determined to send Christ to die as a Lamb, the Lamb of God. Calvary was not an accident. He was not a helpless victim of unjust men. He was the appointed sacrifice of a holy God. Listen to Acts chapter 2 verse 23. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel. That's God's decree. God's purpose. Determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. Yes, they did what they wanted to do. They did what their wicked heart designed. and desired to do, but they did what God determined before to be done. Remember that. God planned the cross. This is His appointed Lamb. This is His sin offering.

Secondly, remember this about the cross. God presided over the cross. Maybe perhaps you thought Pilate was in charge that day. Pilate thought he was. In John chapter 10, John chapter 19 verse 10, Pilate said to the Lord Jesus, don't you know I have power over you to crucify you or to let you go? And the Lord corrected him. He said, Pilate, you don't have any power over me but that which is given to you of my father. Our Lord said plainly, no man takes my life from me. I lay it down on myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again, this commandment have I received of my father.

Remember, God planned the cross. God presided over the cross. Thirdly, and most importantly, God participated in the affliction of the cross. The soldiers, we know, were pleased to bruise Him. They mocked Him as king and priest and made fun of Him. The Pharisees were pleased to get rid of this Nazarene. They were pleased when He was crucified. But we must always remember that it pleased God to bruise Him. That's what we read in Isaiah 53 verse 10. It pleased God. to bruise Him.

You see, my friend, the work wicked men performed that day at Calvary was not sufficient to accomplish our redemption. It's what God was doing at the cross. That's our hope. It's what God did that day. God poured out on Him His wrath.

Thirdly, why did God afflict Him? Why did the wrath of God fall out on the lovely Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ? I believe we have the answer to that in the text. Listen, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Now, the cross is seen as a display of man's anger, and it is. But few have seen the cross as a display of God's anger. Now, we're about to get to the heart of the matter. What happened at Calvary? How can the Holy God be angry with His Holy Son?

We know this, God can only be angry with sin. It says in the scripture in Psalm 5, 5, thou hatest all the workers of iniquity. In Psalm 11, verse 7, Psalm 11, Psalm 7, verse 11, God is angry with the wicked every day, Psalm 7, verse 11. He is too holy to look upon sin with favor, we read in Habakkuk. His anger is a result of His holiness stirred in activity against sin. So how can God be angry, a holy God be angry with His holy Son? If then His Son is an object of God's wrath, He must be guilty of sin. But the Scripture has declared He had no sin. He did no sin. He knew no sin. Did we miss something? Even His enemies testified that He had no sin. Judas said, I betrayed innocent blood. Pilate said, I find no fault in Him. Did we miss something here?

My friend, He was indeed guilty of sin, but not His own. Listen to the Scripture. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. In a word then, what happened at Calvary? What happened at the cross? In a word, can you describe it? One word describes what happened. Substitution. He is indeed guilty, but guilty only by imputation. God laid on Him. the iniquity of His people. God made Him to be sin for us, we read 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made Him to be sin for God's people, God's elect, God's sheep. And He knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He dies in the room and the stead of His people, sinners. And He takes their guilt, being laid on Him, being imputed and reckoned to Him. And my friend, as a substitute, he makes satisfaction through the holy justice of God. He redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. When the sin of God's elect were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ, he made sufficient payment to the justice of God to set the sinner free. That's why we read, there is there now, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah wrote of him, he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.

What happened at Calvary? Why did God afflict his son? He was made sin for us.

Now in closing, let me ask you this question. What is your estimation of Jesus Christ crucified? It says in the text here, is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? What is your estimation of Jesus Christ crucified? Is it nothing to you?

I know this, God leaving us to our own wicked thoughts, our own carnal wisdom, our own fleshly understanding. Our reply would be simply, it's nothing to me. It's nothing to me.

We read in Scripture the preaching of the cross. To them, the preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness. Christ crucified under the Jew, it's a stumbling block. Under the religious self-righteous, it's a stumbling block. Under the Greeks, it's foolishness.

Now listen to me, to approach God upon any other foundation, any other sacrifice than Jesus Christ crucified is to charge God Almighty with foolishness in the death of his beloved son. That's what Paul said in Galatians 2.21. If righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Indifference, my friend, to the gospel is deadly and damning to your soul. Paul wrote this, if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be cursed of God. In John we read, he that believeth not the wrath of God abides on him.

To some, Jesus Christ crucified is nothing. It's nothing to them. In their very life, their attitude reveals that it's nothing to them.

To others, though, Christ crucified is something, but not everything. To others, he's something, he's a fire escape. or an insurance policy or a doormat.

But my friend, to those who were chosen by the grace of God in that covenant of grace, to those who are redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in whom we have redemption through His blood according to the riches of His grace, to those who were called and quickened by the Spirit of God, God who saved us and called us with a holy calling, Christ is not something, my friend, those who are redeemed and chosen and quickened by the Spirit. Christ crucified is everything. Christ is all and in all.

To the believer, He's everything. Christ crucified is everything. That's why Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Jesus Christ crucified is our righteousness before God. It's our hope. It's our salvation. We say with the Apostle Paul, God forbid. I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."

Now if you'd like a copy of this message from Lamentation chapter 1 verse 12, I would gladly send you a copy at no charge. You can write me and I'll send it to you. Request a copy. 6088 Zebulon Highway, Pikeville, Kentucky, 41501.