As you know, yesterday, Ben and
I and Daisy and her family were at the funeral of Daisy's grandfather. And I'd like us to have the opportunity
to hear something of the message that I wasn't able to bring up
there in any fullness. So I trust that you'll indulge
me and that maybe Daisy and her family might get to hear something
of what I wasn't able to say. What a glorious hymn that was,
Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus. I love what Revelation 1.5 says,
isn't it? We are gathered and we are separated
from this religious world because of what we say about the Lord
Jesus Christ and him crucified. We want to answer those great
questions that the scriptures give us answers to that this
religious world knows nothing of. in their darkness and blindness. Who was it? You know, we know
that verse and we quote it often. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Who was made sin? Well, none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government's upon his sole shoulders. He shall
be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. He was made sin, this man, this
man born of Nazareth, this man who lived for those 33 years
upon this earth, never sinning against man or God, this man
who did the very works of God to prove that he was the Christ
of God before men, works that no one other than God could perform,
works of creation. works of salvation, works again
and again which pictured his absolute sovereignty over all
things, and which pictured again and again that he had a particular
love for a particular people in this world. That's who was
made sin. That's who was made sin, he who is holy, the holy
one of God. And who made him sin? The answer
is extraordinarily clear in the scriptures. Who made him sin? hath made him to be sin for us. Of course we want to declare
abundantly clearly and as often as we possibly can that we are
not declaring for one tiny millisecond or even hinting that the Lord
Jesus Christ ever sinned in himself. But he was made sin by his father. He bore the sins of all of God's
elect people in his own body on the tree. And when did he
make him sin? He made him sin on that cross
of Calvary. And what was done to the Lord
Jesus Christ when He was made sin? When God the Father found
sin on His Son, the entirety of eternal, infinite wrath of
God was poured out upon the Son of God. Why? Was he made sin? For whom was he made sin? The
answer is abundantly clear, isn't it? For his people! not for all of the world. He
was made sin for a particular people. He died as a sovereign
saviour. He died because of the covenant
union with a particular people that he and the Father and the
Holy Spirit entered into before the foundation of the world.
He was made sin because of the union with them to be our redeemer,
to be our husband, to be our saviour. That's why he was made sin. And what are the results of him
being made sin? The results of him being made
sin is the salvation of every single person that he died for. Our God reigns solemnly. Now those things are as clear
as day. as the works of the Lord Jesus
Christ were clear to anyone who had eyes to see upon this earth. And yet we read in this extraordinary
passage in Luke chapter 3, we read of the Lord Jesus Christ
upon Luke chapter 23, we read of the Lord Jesus Christ being
taken to Calvary's tree, having been through a fake trial, having
had everyone declare him, except the religious world, declare
him a righteous man. Pilate said he's done nothing
wrong. Pilate's wife said he's done nothing wrong. And yet, on this cross, the Lord
of glory, who seems to be defeated is a reigning sovereign monarch. We mustn't think that the Lord
Jesus Christ went to Calvary's tree as a victim. We mustn't
think that he went there as someone who had lost control of things.
Everything that he did in his earthly life was pointed towards
this cross. Everything in all of redemptive
history in the scriptures points to this one particular event.
The reason this universe existed is that he would be hung on this
cross outside Jerusalem. And the reason this earth still
continues is because the fruits of that work of his on Calvary's
tree have not finished. He will see, he will see his
seed, he will see them and be satisfied. In Luke 23 we have
a glorious, glorious picture of salvation by our Saviour in
the most extraordinary circumstances. It's a picture like so many of
the other pictures in the Scriptures. You have this glorious picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ and on His left hand is one part
of all of humanity on the right hand is another part of all humanity.
Every single human being is in this story. So let's read from
verse 23, verse 32 of Luke 23. And there are also two other
criminals, two other malefactors. Malefactors mean workers, evildoers, led with him to be put to death.
And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary,
there they crucified him and the malefactors, one on the right
hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, then said Jesus,
Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And they
carded his raiment and cast lots and the people stood beholding.
And the rulers also with them derided him saying, he saved
others, let him save himself. If he be the Christ, the chosen
of God, And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and
offering him vinegar and saying, if thou be the king of the Jews,
save thyself. And a superscription was also
written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This
is the king of the Jews. And you might recall that they'd
offended the religious leaders. They wanted to have Pilate change
it. He said he was the king of the Jews and Pilate And one of the malefactors which
were hand-grailed on him saying, if thou be the Christ, save thyself
and us. But, and here's one of the glorious
buts in the scriptures. There's so many glorious buts,
aren't there, in the scriptures. You've got dead in transgressions
and sins. But, but, but is so often a word so powerfully descriptive
of the operations of grace by our God. But the other answering
rebuked him, saying, does thou not fear God, seeing thou art
in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we
receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man has done
nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said
unto him, verily I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. And I will read on because I
think this is significant and we'll look at it a bit later
on. And it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over
the earth until the ninth hour and the sun was dark and the
veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And when Jesus had
cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. Life wasn't taken from the Lord
Jesus Christ, he laid it down of his own volition. And now when the centurion saw
what was done, he glorified God, saying, certainly this was a
righteous man. And all the people that came together
to that site, beholding the things which were done, smote their
breasts and returned. And all his acquaintance and
the women that followed him from Galilee stood afar off beholding
these things. And you might recall that there
were four people beholding these things there that day, weren't
there? Three Marys and John. And I can't help but think, as
we look through John's Gospel, we have a glorious picture here,
haven't we, of this light that shineth in the darkness, and
the darkness comprehended it not. In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by
Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. And this
light shineth. And in the salvation of this
malefactor, in the salvation of this evil worker, is a glorious
picture of God's salvation of every other sinner saved by grace. See, there is without light from
heaven, One of the remarkable things
is that in the darkness, it doesn't matter how much evidence is laid
before someone, when they're in utter darkness, they will
not see anything. People think that you can give
evidence to people, and then somehow having having used the wisdom that they
have and using the minds that they have, they can somehow bring
themselves to a place where they'll have saving faith. And I read
the commentators and sometimes I'm amazed at the commentators
speaking on this verse and so often they want to talk about
how this man had an improved and a gradually improving understanding
and he had a gradually improving heart. The picture here, new creation, it's a new heart,
it's a new, it's someone born from above that sees, it's someone
born from above that believes, it's someone born from above
that has given eyes to see and there must be a light from heaven,
and a light from heaven alone illuminates that darkness. One of the verses that's really
struck me, and I have on my desk a lovely verse from Psalm 18,
it says, For thou wilt light my candle, and the Lord my God
will enlighten my darkness. And one of the things that's
really interesting in that psalm regarding darkness and the light
that shines in the darkness, it speaks of our God in verse
nine, and it's a remarkable description of him, isn't it? He bowed the
heavens and came down and darkness was under his feet. And then he goes on to say in
verse 11, he made darkness, place. His pavilion round about him
were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. Now the darkness
speaks of the judgment of God and the darkness obviously speaks
of the transaction between God the Father and God the Son and
there was a darkness over the land because the only light that
you'll have in the understanding of what happened on Calvary's
tree is the light of the Word of God, a light from heaven to
reveal the secret transactions that were going on between God
the Father. There was a darkness so the prying
eyes can't pry into it. There's a darkness also to show
that the only way you'll see, the only way you'll see the Lord
Jesus Christ is for a light to come from heaven. So you picture
it here, isn't it, as the psalmist, David, He bowed to heavens, verse 9,
he bowed to the heavens also and came down, and darkness was
under his feet. And so the picture, of course,
is that there you have God who lives in light, inapproachable,
in the most extraordinary light. And here we are on earth, and
what is between us in this picture is the darkness that God brings. How do you get to see God? in that situation. How do you
get to know God? How do you get to see anything
with clarity from God? The only possible way is that
he who is light brings light. And here in the picture of this
man, we have a glorious picture of a light that shines I want us, I want us to be grateful,
I want us to be thankful to our God for shining a light, because
the evidence all around us is this world is incomplete and
utter God regarding the person of God. And the fruit, the fruit
as we read in Isaiah 54 is that you sing. You sing. If you're
barren, you have no works of yourself and you can't produce
anything of yourself, then you sing. And it's the fruit of lips
that God creates, isn't it? And the simple response People think the response to
salvation is working. And it's a thankfulness that
only comes from God's recreation, God's new creation, a new creature. A new creature sings, a new creature
is thankful because only a new creature, a new creature created
in righteousness and true holiness, a new creation, a new creation
will see the Lord Jesus Christ and see him as our salvation. I love what Hebrews 13 says of
him. He says in verse 12, wherefore
Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate. Let us go therefore unto him
without the camp. That's without the camp. free will religion. You go out
without the camp, but outside the camp you bear his reproach. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. You think of the words of that
thief, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He
was given eyes to see that the Lord Jesus Christ, who was hanging
there naked, bleeding and dying before him, was not only God,
was not only the Lord, but had a kingdom and was a coming kingdom.
Where did he learn that from? Where did he learn all that from? He was taught of God. We seek one to come by him, therefore
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. What's the sacrifice of praise
to God? you should, both of them, all
the time. No excuse for wickedness of any
sort. But by Him, this is His work
in the hearts of His people, let us offer the sacrifice of
praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips,
giving thanks to His name. See, on the cross, the name of
God, the character of God is revealed in all of its glory,
His holiness, His sovereignty, His justice. You take every attribute
of God and you take them to the cross and you'll see them magnified
in the most glorious way. You'll see them enlightened by
the scarlet blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll see love
and grace and mercy. You'll see justice and justification. You'll see forgiveness giving thanks to his name. And I love what he says, now the
God of peace. Verse 20, it's a glorious verse,
isn't it? That brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep. So here on the
cross we see the Lord Jesus being a shepherd. Here on the cross
we see him. one of his own, to save one of
those that he loved from all eternity. The great shepherd,
the great shepherd of the sheep. It's a lovely description of
the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? Who is responsible for the
sheep? God the Father owns the sheep.
Who is responsible for the sheep? If you own some sheep and John
Newell was your shepherd, and you sent John Newell out with
100 sheep, and he only brought 50 back, whose responsibility
is it? Do you go whipping 50 sheep,
or do you go to say, John, where are these 50 sheep? The Lord
Jesus Christ was given some sheep, and not one single one will be
lost, not one bone of his will be broken. The great shepherd,
the great shepherd, he's not a trying shepherd, he's a great
shepherd of the sheep. Through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, without an understanding from God, Lasting Covenant, there
is no understanding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a creative work, isn't
it? Verse 21, make you perfect in every good work to do his
will. He makes you, and then he goes
on to say even more, doesn't he? Working in you that which
is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. create surprise.