Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Matthew chapter 26, and reading
from our text, verse 54. Verse 54. But how then shall
the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must be? Matthew 26 and verse 54. And what is upon my spirit are
those things that must happen in order for the Scriptures to
be fulfilled. Our Lord puts a great emphasis
on the need for the Scriptures to be fulfilled. Now we've sung
in our middle hymn of the Lord's counsels, His purposes, His plan
of salvation. And we know that right through
the Old Testament Scriptures, the Lord has revealed that plan
to His saints of old. They viewed it, they heard it,
They saw by faith, they died in faith, resting upon what the
Lord had said would happen, what was his plan of salvation, how
man should be saved. Those Old Testament Scriptures. We have, of course, all of the
Scriptures, and what our Lord is saying here applies just as
much to all of the inspired Word of God, from Genesis to the Revelation. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. What the Lord has said must come
to pass. What if it didn't? What if there
were things in the Old Testament? What if there were things in
the Holy Word of God that it could be proved this has never
happened, never come to pass? God said it would and it never
did. But our Lord says heaven and
earth shall pass away. but my words shall not pass away. And what we have in our text
first is the Lord's very high view of scripture, high view
of what had been written before, what had been gone before, and
that those things that were happening now, that they must happen according
to what already had been written and appointed, and that nothing
could stop that happening. He does give, you might say,
a possibility, because he says in the verse before, Thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently
give me more than twelve legions of angels, but How then shall
the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be so? A legion
were 6,000, that is 72,000 angels. They could have prevented his
apprehension when they came. The Lord said, Whom seek ye? And they fell backwards. He had
a power over them. Other times they sought to take
him, to cast him down from the brow of the hill, and he went
through the midst of them. He had proved very clearly what
he had said. I lay down my life, no man taketh
my life from me. I lay it down of myself. And
here is a willingness, a freewill offering, a willingness to offer
himself, but in so doing, he is saying here that the thing
that is primarily before him and what then comes before us
is that the scripture be not broken, that it be fulfilled,
that that wonderful counsel and plan and purpose and the whole
design of scripture is not rested and twisted and comes to nothing
at this important point when all of the types and all of the
shadows made in the actual sacrifice of the Lamb of God at Calvary. How vital that this is. Now, this doesn't just apply
to our Lord Jesus Christ. It applies to His people in their
experience as well. It applies to world history as
well. It is a wondrous plan. But a
plan, once it is revealed and unfolded in the holy, sacred,
infallible Word of God, nothing will change, nothing can prevent
it from coming to pass. And here the Lord is saying,
I have power to prevent it, but I will not prevent it. No, not
to relieve my sufferings, not to change the plan now, not to
find another way, because the Scriptures must be fulfilled. How but how then shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be so? And then we read in verse
56, But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets
might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook
him and fled. So twice in these verses, we
have reinforced the importance of the scriptures, the word of
God being fulfilled. So I want to look with the Lord's
help this evening at four points. Firstly, things that must happen
in the world. And then secondly, things that
must happen to Christ. And thirdly, things that must
happen to his people. And then lastly, some uses of
these truths that are here in this verse that can be a real
help to us in our lives. But firstly, things that must
happen in the world. We must never think, well, the
world goes on in its course, and the Lord and his people,
they go on in their course, and there is no joining between them
at all. As if the Lord would put a barrier
and just let the world go on its way. and the people of God
on theirs. No. The Lord very clearly speaks
of the world. He says, I am not of the world.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Whosoever
will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God. The world
that lieth in sin and wickedness. And yet in the midst of that
world there are all of God's people as they're born in sin
and shaped in iniquity, and they're brought out and separated and
sanctified. But the happenings in the world
are all under the Lord's appointment and command. They can say, like
Pharaoh did, who is the Lord that I should serve him? that
Pharaoh was raised up so that God would show his power to that
nation, to Egypt, and to a ruler that, as it were, shook his fist
at the Lord. And the Lord reduced Egypt to
ruins. No nation, no ruler, is of greater
power than the Lord. We read there that it was the
Lord that was hardening his heart. In the couple of chapters before
where our text is, the Lord speaks of what shall happen throughout
the world. In Matthew 24, the disciples
had asked him what should be the sign when the temple should
be destroyed. What shall be the sign of thy
coming and of the end of the world? And we see the Lord's
coming and the end of the world is bound up with the Lord. It's
not with man or with rulers or those that have power over men
to make war. He says, there shall come in
my name many saying I am Christ shall deceive many. You shall
hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you be not troubled.
In other words, these things are in my plan. For all these
things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. They
must come to pass. Our Lord has said they will come
to pass. So they will come to pass. A
nation shall rise against nations. Kingdom against kingdom, there
shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. Here in the Scriptures, here
in the Word of God, the Lord is saying, what will happen? And when we think then of the
Word of our text, that the Scriptures must be fulfilled, these things
must happen in the world. The Lord cannot just say, well,
that was a bit harsh, but there won't be any more wars. No more
earthquakes, no more famines, no. The scriptures, they must
be fulfilled. We think of what was said to
Abraham when God blessed him in Genesis 15. He says that his
seed should be a stranger in a strange land. They shall afflict
them 400 years and afterwards he shall bring them out. The
Lord telling Abraham 215 years before it came to pass what he
was going to do in Egypt, and then 215 years before what he
would do to bring them out of Egypt. And a hundred or so years
before they came out of Egypt, we have Joseph saying, God will
surely visit you. And you shall be brought out
of this place, carry up my bones from hence. He was able to speak
of those things that were going to happen relative to that nation,
to Egypt and to Israel. We think of going down into Babylon,
70 years accomplished in Babylon, the Lord using Nebuchadnezzar
to chasten his own people. And we see, if we go back to
the first chapter in Matthew, we have the genealogy, the line
to Christ in the kinship line, which is starting at David. We might say, well, the scriptures
there, they start at Abraham with the promises of Christ.
And he says there's 14 generations from Abraham to David, and from
David to the carrying away into Babylon, 14 generations, and
from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ, 14 generations. happenings in the world, major
countries, major kingdoms, and they are part of God's plan and
purpose, and they're featuring in the line unto Christ. And so we know, we know and we
can apply this word of our text in this way, here of course is
the Romans, and appointed by God at that time over the Jews,
and the time of the Lord's coming, and all the circumstances were
all known and all appointed. And so, but how then shall the
scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so? The Romans must
have their position over the Jews at that time. Our Lord must
be crucified, not stoned, and it must be that he be delivered
unto the Gentiles and those nations that are mighty in the earth. By me, kings reign, princes decree
justice, that wisdom which is from above. The Lord lifteth
up one and putteth down another, You can send Jonah to Nineveh
and declare that they shall be destroyed in 40 days, but when
they repent, the Lord doesn't destroy them. And of course,
the who can tell, the gospel was in the 40 days, the holding
back of the judgment and the sentence of wrath. What an encouragement
to us. But things that must happen then
in the world, that the scriptures might be fulfilled, especially
as our Lord has told that there shall be wars, there shall be
these things happening in the world. The world really only
exists and continues because God has a people on this earth. When the last one of his people
has been born and born again, then there is no reason for this
world to continue. And the Lord shall come again
with power and great glory, and the angels shall gather his elect
from the four corners of the earth. Those that remain and
are alive shall be caught up with him in the clouds. So shall we be ever with the
Lord. And so the world events are subject
to the scriptures, subject to what God already has in His plan
and counsel and purpose revealed and set. Really, we might say
set in stone? No, set in heaven. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
my words shall not pass away, and all that happens upon this
earth, we may find it to be truly enrolled in the purposes of God. And then secondly, the things
that happen to Christ, Emmanuel God with us, The seed of the
woman that should bruise the serpent's head, the first promise
given in the Garden of Eden. It intimated there was to be
suffering. He would bruise the serpent's
head and thou shalt bruise his heel. And then the offerings,
the sacrifices were instituted. The Lord clearly showing with
Cain and Abel what sacrifice he approved of and what he didn't.
Where there was no blood, the Lord had not respect unto that
sacrifice. But where there was, as in Abel's
case, he had respect. That showed what the coming Messiah,
the seed of the woman, should do. Without the shedding of blood
there is no remission, another scripture that must be fulfilled. We think of especially the book
of Psalms, Psalm 22, written some thousand years before our
Lord suffered, before he uttered these words upon the cross. There
they are recorded in verse one in Psalm 22. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? There it is recorded. Then we find in verse 17, I may
tell all my bones, They look and stare upon me. Who decided
to not break the legs of our Lord? Roman soldiers. Did the whole scriptures rely
on just the whim of a soldier? No. Divine appointment. What about
the whole crucifixion? Peter sums it up. He that was
delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of
God, ye have taken and by wicked hands crucified and slain, not
excusing the guilt of man, the wickedness of man, but showing
very clearly it was done, as our Lord says in our text, that
the Scriptures be fulfilled. The Lord alone has the ability
to bring good out of evil. He did so with Joseph's brothers. He meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. He did so with his crucifixion. He did so with the cursing of
Balaam. Three times he must go and offer
sacrifices, seven perfect sacrifices, really three times, Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost of Trinity. turning the curse into a blessing. We must never sin that grace
might abound, but God has an ability and he does turn wickedness
and sin to work for good. The whole fall Without the Fall,
there'd be no need of the Saviour, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Without sinners, there's no need
of a Saviour of sinners. It doesn't take away our guilt
and our rebellion and our listening to Satan. But it does exalt the Lord in
a salvation that turns sin evil, rebellion, and turns it about
to his honour and glory. In verse 18, Psalm 22, they part
my garments among them, cast lots upon my vesture. A thousand
years later, they did just that with the clothes of our Lord.
His garment, his vesture was without a seam. They said, let
us not rent They cast lots for it. My life's minutest circumstance,
subject to His eye. We think of Psalm 69, and we have again the scriptures
that describe the time of our Lord's sufferings, and right
the way through that psalm. Really, it is the breathings
of our Lord, Verse 9, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up. The reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon
me. We have these scriptures set
before us. They gave me also gall for my
meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. These scriptures must be fulfilled,
they were. fulfilled. Then what about the
prophecy of Isaiah? How clear in Isaiah 53. Surely he hath borne our griefs. Who has? He that was despised
and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
We hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All that is set
before us here, making his grave with the wicked, with the rich
in his death, fulfilled in how that he was buried, in Joseph
of Arimathea's tomb, the scriptures must be fulfilled. These scriptures
in Isaiah, 700 years before these events took place, and yet they
must take place, they must be brought to pass. Going back to
the Psalms, in Psalm 68. Now in verse 18. Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for
men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might
dwell among them. Our Lord ascended up on high. The gifts of grace, the gifts
of eternal life, I give unto them eternal life. They shall
never perish, the Lord has received for men. And the scriptures then
had already set forth all that Christ should suffer. Every sacrifice
that was offered, the rock that was smitten, they drank of that
rock that followed them and that rock was Christ. All of those
things. were foretelling of what was
going to come to pass at this time, as the Lord enters into
the Garden of Gethsemane, and as He enters into that time when
He bears the sin of His people, pressed down with the great weight
of those sins, takes them to the Judgment Hall, and then carries
them to Calvary, and there they are put away by the sacrifice
of Himself. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. But in this work that he was
doing, and entering upon here, what is before us this evening,
is the absolute necessity that those things that were being
done, painful as they were, distressing as they were, seeming to warrant
an interference of divine magnitude, yet they must be done, because
the Scriptures must be fulfilled. How then shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled? If I use my power, if I escape
the cross, how shall the Scriptures be fulfilled? And the Scriptures Pointed to
salvation. Abraham saw my day and rejoiced
at it. Sorry Abraham, it's come to Christ's
day and he's not going to do what you saw on Mount Moriah.
He's not going to be a substitutionary offering. He's not going to lay
his life down. He's not going to be God will
provide himself a lamb. No, at the last moment he will
go back from that. God forbid. God forbid that that
should be so. When the Lord says something,
when the Lord had intimated it, it shall most certainly come
to pass. The scriptures must be fulfilled. But then in the third place,
things that must happen to his people That also is set forth
in the Scriptures, isn't it? And that also must happen. What
must happen? Well, they're not only born into
this world, but they're born again. You must be born again. That must happen. Born of the
Spirit, quickened and made alive, that the Scriptures be fulfilled. I am come that they might have
life, that they might have it more abundantly. It must be fulfilled that there
be those that convicted of their sin brought in as sinners. Every Israelite convinced of
his sin that picked out a lamb from the flock and brought it
to the and brought it to the tabernacle and laid his hand
on it and identified with it and had it sacrificed, he was
saying, I have sinned. My sins need atoning. My sins
deserve death and this lamb is going to die instead of me. And in the experience of God's
people, they will be brought as the Apostle Paul was under
conviction of sin. When the commandment came, sin
revived and I died. Like as he describes it, the
law was given that the offence might abound, that all the world
might be brought in guilty before God. And it is the people of
God that are brought down as sinners. The whole have not need
of physicians, says our Lord, but they that are sick. There's
no greater sickness than the sickness of sin. Though all sickness
comes because of sin, but every heart knows its own
bitterness. What about tribulation? The Lord
has said, in me ye shall have peace, in the world ye shall
have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world. The disciples, they took this
up to encourage the brethren. They said, he must, through much
tribulation, enter the kingdom. Because it's written in the scriptures
what child of God can say. Not tribulation for me, Lord. I don't want my life to be fulfilling
the scriptures. I don't want my life to have
to be conformed to what is written. about tribulation? What about
that path that we can't bear ourselves? The Apostle Paul prayed
three times that the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan,
might be taken away from him. The Lord said, no, but my grace
is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. By grace are you saved? Through
faith. that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God, saving grace and grace in all the way. In
all that we pass through, we need grace. It's painful to be
feeling weak, but the apostle says, I'll therefore magnify
and be joyful in my afflictions and infirmities. When I am weak,
then am I strong. This is the path that is set
before us in the Scriptures for the people of God. What about
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord has said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. The people of God must come that
way. It is the only way. No man cometh
unto me except the Father which sent me. Draw him. That must
come to pass. Because it is written, the Scriptures
declare it so. Man might devise many different
ways. Oh no, we like a different salvation. We don't need to be conformed
to that. No, you do. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. God has already, our Lord has
already set forth how it shall be. The people of God will be
saved. Remember your reading years ago
of the founder of the Netherland Reform Congregations, Reverend
Kirsten, and his mother caught him in the early hours with his
light on. She said, what are you doing?
He said, well, he says, I'm searching, he said, to see how God saves
his people. And really, you might say, one
thing he knew, was that how God saved his people was revealed
in the scriptures. The scriptures told how he does
it. And he wanted to know what the scriptures said about how
God saves his people. And yes, there's that variation. They're not all like the Philippine
jailer. Some are like Lydia. They're
not all like the apostle Paul. It's all as he was. Some are like Ruth. that have
a love to the people of God and cleave to them and join themselves
to them gently. But in each case, if the Saviour
is to be precious, and that's another thing that must come
to pass. We read in Peter's epistles,
unto you which believe he is precious. The Lord will be precious
to those who are saved through him. The Lord said of A five
hundred pence debtor. A hundred pence debtor. Who? Who will love him more? There was a woman washing our
Lord's feet with the hairs of her head and with her tears. She has been forgiven much, and
so she loved much. And these things are set before
us as concerning the experience of God's children, how he brings
them to himself. They shall walk. How shall they
walk? By faith, not by sight. How shall they run the race that
is set before them? They shall run it looking unto
Jesus. The very path is all explained
and set forth before them. What about death? Death remains
before us, before every believer. The Lord has taken away the sting,
taken away the bitterness. He has said, I will come again,
receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be
also. Gain the curse, turn to a blessing. We cannot escape that way it
has appointed. Unto man wants to die. and then
the judgment. But those that are found in Christ,
like Noah in the ark, and all of the wrath and all of the death,
destruction round about them, and they are safe, safe in Christ. He is the refuge. He is the great
anti-type of the ark. He is the one that we need to
be found in Christ. not having our own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is of faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I've only touched upon these
things, but I do pray that the very thought, the teaching that
is here might really remain with us. The importance of the scriptures,
the great value that our Lord places upon them. May we have the same high opinion
of the word of God. Every word of God is pure. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable. Today men, even those that have
a profession of religion, have low views of the scriptures.
Some don't care, don't really look into what translation they
have, whether it's faithful or not. Discard the Old Testament
as irrelevant and just have the New. And then they only take
care over the words in red as being those of the Lord and despise
those of the Apostle Paul. And yet we have in the Revelation
But if we were to take away from the words of this book, the whole
of the book of God, then our part shall be taken away out
of the book of life. And if we add to it, then shall
be added unto us all of the plagues that are in this book. And these
things also are written. I believe all of the people of
God will have a high view of Scripture, a view that is the
same as our Lord's. And we'll not just go through
it and say, well, that doesn't matter if that's not fulfilled,
if that is not walked out, if that pattern is not realised. Our Lord is saying here, the
Scriptures must be fulfilled. How then shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be? What a thing to ask ourselves. If we're going to do something,
if we're going to change or do something different, maybe in
the house of God, to examine it with the Scriptures,
we may need to ask this question. If we do this, if we change this,
If we walk after this course, is it going to be said then,
but how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled that thus it must
be so? Thinking of the people of God,
and bring them under the banner with the Church of God as a whole,
ye must through much tribulation is taking up the cross, is following
the Lord. That which our Lord says of the
last to his people, well done thou good and faithful servant. Faithful to what? Faithful to
the scriptures. Faithful to the Lord. Not well
done thou good and prosperous servant. Or well done thou a
good and popular servant is faithfulness. And our Lord
was faithful unto death. He charged his dear people and
they walked that path like dear Stephen did as he was stoned
for his faith and as he had gone right back through the scriptures
and rehearsed before all of those Jews all what God had done and
what he'd commanded, and what had been foretold, and what had
come to pass at Calvary, they wouldn't receive it. Well then in the fourth place,
let us think of some of the uses of the word of our text here. Obviously the first one is that
it should make us to have. a high view of Scripture, of
the interaction of one Scripture with another, comparing Scripture
with Scripture. The Bereans were more noble than
those of Thessalonica, in that they searched the Scriptures
daily, whether these things were so. May we have a high view of
Scripture, as the Lord did. May it also be as an explanation. Explanation to a path that sometimes
we think, why, Lord? Why this path? Why this trouble? Why this providence? Why have
these things happened? Why have they come to pass? The
answer will be that if they hadn't have come to pass, then the Scriptures
could not have been fulfilled. There's a needs be for what the
Lord does. Needs be. We know that Satan
hates the Church of God. We know that he resists and he
stands at the right hand of his servants to resist. But the Lord
shall lift up a standard. against him. When the enemy comes
in like a flood, then the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard
against him. Wise is the hymn writer, through
darks and paths we go, we may know no reason, yet we shall
each hereafter know, each in his due season. It took a long
while before dear Jacob could understand what had happened
to Joseph, And along while with Joseph, before he could say,
it was not you that sent me hither, but God, to save your lives by
great deliverance. We read in Psalm 105, until his
time came, the word of the Lord tried him. The scriptures, the
word of the Lord tried him. How can that word come to pass?
Remember what his brothers had said? Let us kill him. And then we'll see what will
become of his dreams. Then we'll see if this comes
to pass, what he has said. Within their very acts, they
were instrumental in bringing it to pass, and it did come to
pass. But we see the need for these
things. And so, dear friends, you might
be in a bitter path, a hard path, path of sorrow, of grief, perplexity,
at this present time. You think, why? Why, Lord? Dear friend, may you know the
Lord does have a plan, and he does not do anything without
a purpose and a reason. And here in our text, he sets
before us a reason that the Scriptures must be fulfilled. What about answers to unanswered
prayer? How many of us have been fried
over this? We've asked the Lord. for something,
and he's been silent. He hasn't answered us at all.
Why? Well, if the disciples here have
said, Lord, they have said that you're able to pray the Father
and give the 12 legions of angels, please do so. Please put forth
this power The Lord says, how then shall
the Scriptures be fulfilled? That it must be so. Maybe what
is written over your hard path, bitter path, or path of a sorrow
at this time, that it must be so. The Lord would not have done
it otherwise. It must be so. May we also be confirmed and
strengthened in God's plan. He does have a plan. A plan that
is not deflected by man, by his own suffering, by what his people
go through. He kindly, as he did with the
martyrs, gave them grace, gave them help even in the fires. because it must be so in his
plan. You shall be hated of all men
for my name's sake, and because it is written, it will be so. May this word be of a real help
to us tonight. like our Lord had to his Father's
will, may we have it to our Father's will as well. He has never promised
and said to his dear children that I will show you and tell
you and explain to you all the way before it happens. He tells what
shall happen but not the minute details of it. He mentioned about
Abraham And the Lord telling him his seed should go into Egypt,
but he didn't tell Abraham how it would happen. Couldn't be
conveyed to Jacob. Look, Jacob, you don't need to
worry. Your son is still alive and God
is bringing about his purposes. It had to be walked through.
And what you and I go through as well needs to be walked through. That part of scripture needs
to be fulfilled as well. that what we do as we walk, we
lean upon the Lord, we trust His wisdom, His skill, His love,
His kindness, His favour, and not our own, would we want things
to be in any other hand than the hands of the dear Redeemer,
that were to be nailed to the accursed tree, to suffer, bleed,
and die for us, and to put away our sins, by the sacrifice of
himself. The Lord here is in the garden
and just about to be taken, taken to judgment and then to the cross. And here he says when saying
he has the ability to stop all that suffering and all that path,
but how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must
be. May the Lord bless the Word and
make it real help to you in your afflictions, your trials, my
trials, those paths that we walk in. Every heart knoweth its own
bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.
May the Lord add his blessings Hi, man.