Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the gospel according to John chapter 19. John 19. I'd like to look at two verses,
verses 17 and 18. I want us to carefully consider
these two scriptures. They are absolutely filled with
the fulfillment. of God's Word, and we see the
absolute surety of Scripture. We see the satisfaction of the
law. We see the obedience of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We see the fulfillment, finished
work of redemption. We see the will of the Father
to show mercy to those that He has everlastingly in Christ. It's all recorded in these two
verses right here. They are so blessedly full. What a debt of thanksgiving we
owe to the God of all grace, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, I want us to look. I'm telling
you, if there was two verses that you had, you could have
two verses out of Buddy, this would be two verses that you'd
want to hold on to right here. Let's look at these two verses. And he, bearing his cross, went
forth into a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called
in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two other
with him, on either side, one, and Jesus in the midst. Now, just a few minutes, let's
look at this, and I pray the Spirit of God give us some understanding. And He bearing His cross. Now, here's the glorious fulfillment
of Almighty God's promise. has spoken by the Spirit of God
through Abraham to his son Isaac, and he bearing his cross. You remember the question. We've
gone over this verse of Scripture so many times, but let's listen
to this again. And Abraham took the wood of
the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son, and a knife. And they went both of them together,
and Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father.
And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went,
both of them, together. My son, God, will provide himself
a lamb. What does this scripture say?
And he, bearing his cross. You know, I noticed it didn't
say that he was bearing a cross, though he did. He was bearing
a cross, but it says He bearing His cross. This is His cross. This is His work. This is His
performance. This is His doing. Isaiah 42,
1 says, Behold My servant. My servant. Here we see the depth
of humiliation. by the Lord Jesus Christ, that
death to which He submitted Himself, bearing His cross. Now, here
is God. Here is the Lord God of heaven,
made flesh. God providing Himself. God providing Himself a Lamb.
He provided the Lamb, but He provided Himself. You know, I
read where part of the punishment of a criminal that was going
to be crucified, part of that punishment was that he had to
bear his own cross when he went to be executed. Someone would
say, well, but the Lord wasn't dying for his own sin. Well, I'll agree with you. He
knew no sin. holy, harmless Lamb of God. But he was made sin. And he said in Psalm 40, mine
iniquities. Now, knowing that he has been
made sin for us, that is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.21. He has made him sin for us. Mine iniquities. They were made
His by an act of indescribable mercy and grace. God made Him
sin. And sin is going to be dealt
with. And He must suffer. For me to have any hope, He must
suffer. And the Scripture says, Here
He is bearing His cross. I know by the Jews, I mean, we've
read, we've been considering the blasphemous acts of hatred
and resentment by the Jews toward him and the way that he was treated. Scripture says this, here he
is bearing his cross. And he's bearing his cross because,
well, humanly speaking, Pilate said that, you know, crucifying. Here's your king. Here's what
you want for your king. Take him. Do what you want to
do with him. Surely he was despised and rejected
of men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it
were, our faces from him, and he was despised, and we esteemed
him not. But all the while, what does
the Scripture say in Acts 2 concerning the crucifixion of our Lord?
Acts 2.23, him being delivered, By the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain." Here he is, bearing his cross, accomplishing
the will of the Father, laying down his life. And what does
the Scripture say that he did, bearing his cross? Well, it says
he went forth into a place. called the Place of the Skull,
which is called in Hebrew Golgotha, a place outside the city. Here he was. He went forth. He proceeded, is what the Scripture
says. He proceeded, bearing his cross. Here was the Lord of Glory. I
know this. There's the name of God. God
Himself giving Himself. as the Lamb. There I know the
fulfillment of God. But what did He do? He did it
obediently, in submission, obeying the will of the Father. My meat
is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish the work.
And so He proceeded. He went forth, shed His face
like a flint. He wasn't driven. He wasn't drugged. By those that
hated him, he just went. Proceeded. Here is the fulfillment
of what had been pictured for hundreds of years on the Day
of Atonement. It is the Day of Atonement. Here
is the Day of Atonement. And here is the Lord of Glory,
the Lamb Himself. That pictured Lamb for hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of years on the Day of Atonement.
Remember, priests would go and they would take Him. Two sacrifices. One of them was one to be sacrificed,
one of them was escaped. One of them was going to be killed,
one of them had his priest's hands placed upon him and he'd
be led out. Taken those sins, pictured, taken
them away. Out to a far place. Gone. Gone. By the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace established. Here, you
know, Scripture says concerning That day of atonement, Hebrews
13, 10 and 12, we have an altar, whereof they have no right to
eat which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore, where did the
Lord go? He was going forth to a place
called Skull, outside of Jerusalem. Wherefore, Jesus also that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. Here was the Lord of Glory, God
Himself, approaching the altar of His divine nature. Now, understand
something. He is the altar. We have an altar. We have an altar. What is the
altar? Well, remember this. He is God. He is the just God. And here
is the Lord of glory, God, man. As God, He must be just. And here is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the author Himself, satisfying His own demand for justice. I'm a just God. His justice demanded
payment. The law was broken. And all for
whom he is dying, his people, they have come short of the glory
of God. What is he going to do? He must
die. And miraculously, bearing his
cross, he is the altar that he demands payment be made on. He's just, and here's the just
God. We have an altar. He said, I'm
the altar, but I'm the sacrifice. I am the sacrifice. And here's
His humanity laid perfect, holy, holy, holy, Lord Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin. This is my
beloved Son, whom I'm well pleased. He is the altar. And he's the
sacrifice, and he administered the sacrifice. He said, I laid
down my life. I'm the one that did it. The
altar, the sacrifice, the priest. And he goes forth outside the
gate suffering, outside the observance of all these fanciful attainments
of reconciliation before God by the works of the law. And
the scripture says it's here that we're commanded to go forth
unto Him, believe in Him, believe in the legal ceremonies. Oh,
may we ever be found willing, if need be, standing with our
Master at whatever the cost, taking up our cross daily, following
Him. Verse 17 says here is the fulfillment
of Scripture God will provide Himself. Where did He go? Outside the camp. Verse 18 says
they crucified Him and two others with Him on either side, one
and Jesus in the midst. Now remember the exactness of
Scripture. The Scripture is saying that
the Lord Jesus Christ must be crucified. We read that where
they crucified him. You remember the type of execution
by the Jews was stoning, but it was prophesied. It was prophesied. And here's prophecy being fulfilled. Here's the promise of God, the
Word of God that cannot lie, cannot change. Where they crucified
him thousands of years before. This is what was prophesied in
Psalm 22, 16. For dogs have compassed me, the
assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and
my feet. That was written hundreds and
hundreds and hundreds of years before this day, right here.
What did the Lord of Glory say? As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
That's John 3.14. Here He was being crucified. Not stoned, not hung, not... He was crucified. And two other,
the Scripture said, either side. Two other with Him on either
side won, and Jesus in the midst. Isaiah 53.12 said this, He was
numbered with the transgressors. There had to be two thieves there. There had to be. He could not
be crucified by himself. Why? Because God Almighty had
said there was going to be two others with him. Two transgressors
with him. But even in the hour of his death,
Almighty God displayed His sovereignty. Truly, truly, Exodus 33, 19,
the Lord said this, and Paul reiterated again in Romans 9,
18, Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hearteneth. The Scripture says, Two other
with him, on either side one, one here, one here, and Jesus
in the midst. On one side of him, was an object
of His mercy. There was one there everlastingly
known in electing grace. There was one there that Almighty
God had chosen before the foundation of the world to show mercy. There was one on one side that
the Lord Jesus Christ as the surety had given to Him that He had
taken to Himself and had obediently come into this world to save. There was one that He knew personally,
just like He told Jeremiah, before I formed you in the belly of
the womb, I knew you. Before I formed you in the womb,
I knew you. Here was one that He knew. Here was one of His sheep. Here
was one for whom he was laying down his life. Here was one for
whom he was made sin. Here was one that he must present
to the Father. Here was one that the Father
had everlastingly loved and had purposed, this one is going to
be holy and without blame before me in love. There was one like
that. On the other side, There was
one that God had chosen to leave to Himself. How do you know? Well, what happened? What happened that day? Let me
read what happened, and I can tell you what God Almighty said
He had eternally purposed to do. There were three crosses
that day. Between two thieves was the Lord
of glory, dying for sin, paying the debt that was owed to God's
broken law for somebody. He was dying for somebody. He
said, so many times I have read this, John 10, 15, I lay down
my life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep.
I lay down my life for the sheep. Here's the Lord. On one cross
was a man dying in his sin. He was dying in his sin. Those
two thieves at one time, one of the writers say that both
of them were railing on him at the same time. Both of them were
railing on the Lord. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All have sinned. There's not
one ounce worth of difference, humanly speaking, in one sinner
and another sinner. We're all dug out of the same
slew of the spine. The Lord left to himself. The potter has the right, this
is Romans 9, the potter has the right to make one vessel unto
honor and another vessel unto dishonor. And he's got the right
to do that. And here was one that he left
to himself. And I know this. There was a
group of people, John 6, you read this. The Lord had said,
No man can come unto me except that were given unto him of my
Father. No man can. No man can. No man has the ability. No man has the ability to do
it. And here was one that even in his dying hour was rebelling
against God, refusing to cry out for mercy, and died in arrogance. But on the other side, there
was one dying to his sin. Obviously, by the grace of God,
Almighty God, had imparted life, and had given him faith. And
this wretched sinner, and I don't know, I don't know, this very
possibly was the first time that he ever heard the gospel. But the Lord spoke from the cross,
and he heard the Lord. He heard the Lord. He heard the
Lord speak. And whatever this man had heard,
I know he heard the gospel because the gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. You must hear the gospel. And
this thief said unto the Lord, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. This is what he knew. Here was
the Savior. Here was the Lord of Lords. This
is God. in human flesh, dying, this is
the king, because when you come into your kingdom, this is the
one that can save me. This is the only one that can
save me. Lord, remember me. Would you think upon me? And
this was the words that this thief right here died with. This is the words that he died
with. Verily I say unto thee, today
shalt thou be with me in paradise." Almighty God promised him, you're
going to be with me today. Now, I want you to ask yourself
something. What if we knew today is the
day? Today you're going to be with
me in paradise. You will be with me in paradise. I wonder if I would not be looking
every second on a clock. I'm going today. I'm leaving
today. Today I'm going to be with Him
in paradise. Lord, grant that I might live
every day believing today could be the day. Today is the day
of salvation. It's going to be a day like today. It's not going to be tomorrow,
because every day is today when He gets there. It's going to
be right now. Bless these words to our heart
for Christ's sake.