1 Kings 8.62, and the king and
all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord. The king and
all Israel. The king and the pauper. The king and the lowest of all
the low. The king and some old fellow
like Mephibosheth that was lame on both his feet maybe. the king and maybe somebody that
suffered mentally and couldn't work and was poor. You know,
there were all kinds, there were millions of people. Beggars and the king and everybody in
between. You got to have a sacrifice before
the Lord. Got to have it. Everyone must
offer sacrifice before the Lord. The king on his throne, as much
as the worst sinner behind bars, everybody needs the savior. And
that's never changed. The Lord doesn't need anybody.
Everybody needs him. Without the sacrifice that God
has ordained to cleanse a sinner from his sins and make a sinner
acceptable in the sight of God, Every sinner must be damned forever
King and pawn alike And we see that here only the
precious blood of Christ can Put sins away and so the king
and everybody all Israel with him Offered sacrifice before
the Lord And in order for any of the blessings Solomon had
prayed for you remember the occasion of this offering of sacrifice
Solomon had prayed that That long and great prayer and had
given a benediction afterwards that was had a lot of prayer
in it, too May God never leave us In order for good God to look
favorably as he asked for Lord God When this happens, when that
happens, and we look to you, we look to Christ, we look to
the temple, we look to the shed blood of our Savior, hear our
prayer and help us. When our enemies overcome us,
be our Savior. When we fall and sin, forgive. Remember that word? How many
times did it say in Solomon's prayer, Lord, when you hear,
when you see, Forgive us. In verse 30, in verse 34, in
verse 36, in verse 39, in verse 50, forgive, forgive, forgive. God's forgiveness is in the sacrifice. If they don't offer the sacrifice,
then you just wasted a prayer. A prayer that you desperately
need to be heard and answered with a yes. The only way that
happens is by the sacrifice that God accepts for sin. Without
Christ, there's no forgiveness of sin. Pictured by this slaughtered
sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered sins the just For the
unjust that he might bring us to God The precious blood of
Christ Paul said you're not redeemed with corruptible things Like
silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot And his precious blood redeemed
all of the people of God when our Lord Jesus shed that blood
on Calvary It's very simple. Everything I've said is simple,
basic gospel truth, and yet 99% of the religion of this world
would already object to what I've said. Well, Christ made it possible.
No, not my Lord. Not my Lord. Christ made salvation
available. No, he saved somebody. He saved somebody when he shed
his precious blood. He redeemed his people. His name shall be called Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. His very name
is destroyed. If he doesn't save everybody,
he came to save. That's not complicated. People
despise the simple, basic truths of the gospel. They just hate
him. Christ and him crucified makes
no room for their goodness, for their decisions, for their religion. The word offered in the verse
Not sure why that, I guess it just came to mean offer, but
the word is literally slaughter. And that tells us something.
Christ in the manger, you can make it all as cute as you want
to, but he's not the savior in the manger. And to try to depict
him slaughtered on the cross, is idolatry, it's blasphemy.
It's not some image that man comes up with, some artist creates.
It's a person that gave himself for my sins. We wouldn't allow that with regard to anybody that we
love. We would not allow it. If somebody tried to depict the
moment of their death, We'd say, are you kidding me? Get rid of
that, burn that thing. Even out of just common decency,
and yet everybody wants to see some image. You think that's
a coincidence that the Lord said thou shalt not make any graven
image? The world is full of a bunch
of idolaters. And it comes out more this time
of year than at any other time. But the word there is slaughtered.
People love to think about, you know, Jesus trying this and Jesus
wants to help you. And they have pictures of him
with the sunlight beaming down on him and all that. Somehow
they figured out what he looked like, you know. You know what the word sacrifice
means? They offered sacrifice. They slaughtered sacrifice. What's
the word sacrifice mean? Slaughter. It's from the same
root word that offered is from. They slaughtered slaughter to show what our sin deserves
and what it took to satisfy God's justice against our sins. Our
substitute was ridiculed, falsely accused, tortured, humiliated,
and crushed. Not by men, but under God's holy
uncompromising wrath. It pleased the Lord to crush
him. That's that word bruised in Isaiah
53 10. Pleased the Lord to bruise him.
That word means he just destroyed his son. That's what sin does,
it destroys. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
perfect sacrifice for sin consumed the very fire of God's wrath
rather than the fire consuming the sacrifice. But he was slain,
his body was beaten and broken. He said, this is my body which
is broken for you. That picture's a reality that
we don't even want a picture. I don't want a painting of that. Now listen, it pleased the Lord
to crush him because only the death of Christ could satisfy
God for sin. Sin is gonna be punished. Your
sin, my sin, everybody's sin is gonna be punished. Either
Christ took our punishment or we will suffer it forever in
hell. Forever because we sinned against
the infinitely holy God and therefore our sin takes on the aspect of
being infinite. There's nothing infinite about
us except our sin because of who it's against. And so Christ
the infinitely precious son of God is able to pay for that sin.
But if he doesn't pay for your sin, if he hasn't and he didn't,
and you never know him in the forgiveness of your sin, then
you will pay forever because it never ends, there's never
enough. It pleased the Lord to crush
his son in that Christ's obedience, and only Christ's obedience unto
death, even the death of the cross, could honor God's law
in the positive sense. The negative sense is punishment
for that sin. He took the punishment, but also
he kept the law that we broke to bring the punishment. He died
that suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. So he died for
the unjust and took their place, and so he paid the penalty for
our sin, but he also is our righteousness in that his obedience unto death alone honors the law of God. God's not only gonna punish every
sin, all sin, each sinner, but his law is gonna be honored,
and it's gonna be honored perfectly. That's who God is now. That's
just who he is. It's gonna be honored perfectly
by man. He gave his law to man to be
honored, and it's gonna be, not by any of us. by his son. You see why it pleased the Lord?
Because in that obedience, the obedience of Christ included
his death. That's why it words it that way
in the scriptures, his obedience unto death, even the death of
the cross. And that obedience is God satisfied. And only that, nothing else adds
to that. God is utterly, perfectly, completely,
wholly satisfied with his son and what he accomplished on Calvary. In other words, he not only suffered
our wrath that the law demanded for our sin, but he alone honored
the law by his perfect obedience in life and in death. It pleased
the Lord, thirdly, to crush the lamb, which taketh away sin,
because it was God's will to take away sin. God said, I'm gonna have mercy.
He's gonna have mercy on somebody. Who is it, Lord? Whoever I want
to. That's a good answer, isn't it? I'll have mercy on whoever I
will. Most people will never see that God in this life. Isn't that just God? Isn't that
just the simple definition of God? I'm gonna have mercy on
who I wanna have mercy on. That's just who he is. My God
is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Simple, plain as the nose on
your face, and one of the most hated statements by this religious
world. I'm talking about all of religion,
Catholics, Methodists, Baptists, the church I came out of when
I was younger. They're not preaching that God. It's not complicated. God does
what he wants to do. He saves who he wants to save.
He damns who he wants to damn. We might debate about it if he
hadn't clearly said it. Whom he will, he hath mercy on,
and whom he will, he hardeneth, like Pharaoh. You reckon Pharaoh
is in glory tonight? All of the sins of God's loved
and chosen people could only be put away by the sacrifice
of Christ himself. That's why it says it pleased
the Lord. It satisfied the Lord to crush
his son. God is pleased with the results
of Calvary. He's pleased with the one who
accomplished it. And he's well pleased with what
he did. The mighty victory of Christ's cross when he obtained
eternal redemption for us. It pleased the Lord also in that
God does everything he does for his glory, and God's glory has
never been displayed like at Calvary. Nowhere is God seen in all of
his glory like in Christ crucified. Holiness, justice, wrath, love,
mercy, grace, forgiveness, wisdom, all of God's glory displayed
on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased the Lord. And notice they offered sacrifice
before the Lord. Before the Lord. This is something
that happened between the father and the son. when Abraham went
up Mount Moriah, he told that servant, he said, I'm gonna take
my son and we're gonna go up Mount Moriah and you stay here. This is between the father and
the son, nobody else. And that's what this is about
now. Sacrifice is offered before the Lord, not before the people
so that they could decide whether they wanted to be saved or not.
The death of our Lord Jesus Christ is not an offer to sinners. It's
an offering unto God for sinners, for all of his sheep. You see,
the issue is not, nor ever has been, whether you accept Jesus
or not. It's not offered to you. He's
not offered to you. The issue is, does God accept
you? And if he does, it's because Christ offered his own soul a
sacrifice under the Father for you, without you. It's God that must be satisfied,
not you. You know, everybody says, I'm
satisfied with Jesus. Well, I hope you are. It's not really the issue. If Christ shed his precious blood
for you, then you are acceptable unto God. That's the issue. He's satisfied with you and his
son. And if not, if he's not, then
not. When you're not saved, you're
not acceptable unto God. The whole matter hinges on Christ
and his offering, not on your will or your decision. That's
the simple truth. I highly recommend that every
sinner bow to the Son of God and believe on Him, but that
won't be you saving yourself, if you do. That'll be you acknowledging
and believing with all your heart that the Lord Jesus saved you
when He shed His precious blood, when He died for you. That'll
be God giving you faith and life in His Son, His gift, not of
works, lest any man should boast. In the next verses of this passage,
142,000 animals are slain. It's hard to even imagine that.
They slaughtered, slaughter. 142,000 animals in sacrifice
to the Lord. And what a reminder of how sinful
we are. It shows us what it took. It
gives us, it impresses upon us what it took to redeem us and what our sins
deserve. But what a reminder too, of just
how wretched we are and how sufficient Christ's sacrifice is. Hebrews
10, 11, every priest standeth daily ministering and offering
oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
They offered 142,000 of them in the dedication of the temple.
That didn't take away any sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them. All of those Old Testament offerings.
That was just in that one instance. I don't know if it was a single
day. They spent 14 days there. I don't know when all those sacrifices
were offered on how many days, if all of them or some of them,
but I know this. No Old Testament sacrifice. All
the rivers and oceans of blood that was shed. That wasn't to
take away sins. That was to impress upon them
and upon us that there is one who with one offering, one lamb,
takes away sins of all of those whom he shed his precious blood
for with one sacrifice for sins forever. He hath perfected the
same word he used from Calvary when he said it's finished. He
finished salvation for them whom he sanctified with that blood.
Again, simple. How plenteous is God's mercy
in Christ? Think about all those lambs,
all those animals slain, and yet it was one offering that
washed our sins away. And the Lord Jesus Christ did
not shed his blood for everybody. That's clear from scripture.
If you say or believe, or anyone does, that he did shed his blood
for everybody, then you believe that the blood of God's son can't
save. What does his death have to do
with salvation then? If Judas was just as much sanctified
by that blood as Simon Peter was, then what did the blood
have to do with it? It's absolute blasphemy, and
I submit to you that if you believe that, it's blasphemy and you
know it. You know it is. I know people that preach that
and they know it's blasphemy. And I think all of them do. I
think they know that's blasphemy. I really do. How could you not?
You cannot read this book and stand before God and say
His blood was offered for everybody, those that go to hell and those
that don't, without knowing that that's blasphemy. They say it
anyway, and here's why. Why do they say it then, Chris?
They say it because they prefer a false god who bows to their
sense of fairness to the god of this book. And they just simply worship
an idol. All of their hope, all of their trust is placed
in an idol of their own imagination. The Lord Jesus Christ died to
atone for the sins of his sheep and only his sheep. But I'll
tell you this too. I shouldn't even say but, I should
say and I'll tell you this too. He that cometh to Christ, he
will never cast out. How in the world can that be?
How can both be true? Well, he's God. He's God. If you struggle with
that, then you struggle with just the simple truth that God
is God. He's God. He knows the end from
the beginning because he determined the end from the beginning. John 6.37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. There's no
ifs in that, there's no contingencies. You remember him praying in John
17, Lord, those that you've given me. I don't pray for this world,
I pray for those that you've given me. And he said here, everyone
that the Father hath given me, they're coming to me. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. and he gets the job done. They're
all coming to him. Every one of them. And, not but,
and, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Well, that doesn't, you know,
how do you reconcile that? I don't. I don't. God said it, and that
settles it. The response to that is not, you know, let's just try to figure
out how that's possible. The response to that is, Lord,
then here I come. If you're saving sinners, out of my bondage, sorrow and
night, Lord Jesus, I come. These are the ones that the Lord
Jesus Christ interceded for as high priest. And those that he
gave himself for. Those that the Father gave him.
He said, I will, and you think about this part of John 17. I
will that those which you've given me be with me where I am. There's a lot of people left
out of that. There's a whole lot of people he said, I'm gonna
say to them, I never knew you'd get away from me. He don't want
them with him. But those whom he redeemed, those
whom the father gave him, he said, I want them with me. And
he gets what he wants, aren't you glad? He gets what he wants. Where does that leave everybody
else though? I will that those that you've given me be with
me where I am. How can that be a problem to
you? People say, well, that's not fair. Who is that? That's not fair. Oh, you're saying
you're one of the chosen few and I'm not, I'm not saying that
at all. I've got just as much reason to believe that you're
one of the elect as I am. No matter who I'm talking to,
I don't know who they are. I just know what God said by
his grace. And I know this, The only way
you can have a problem with that is if you hate God. Because otherwise,
you just come to him. He says, if anybody that comes,
I won't cast you out. How can you have a problem with
that when he clearly said, him that cometh to me, I won't cast
you out. Why did he say it that way? Have
you ever thought about that? Why did he say, and him that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out? Why would anybody ever
have the idea that somebody would come to the Lord and he would
cast them out? If they're coming to Him for mercy, a sinner coming
to Him for mercy, God be merciful to me. Why would anybody ever
get the idea? Why would He put it that way?
Because He knows how dumb we are. We hear the doctrine of election
clearly taught from Scripture. We think, well, oh, I guess if
I'm not one of the elect, then He won't have me. Read the Bible,
read the whole Bible. I'm talking to myself. Let's
read it. Let's believe God instead of trying to figure things like
that out. You're not God and I'm not God. And I don't need a God that needs
me. I don't need a God that's waiting to see what's gonna happen.
I know that much. But at the same time, how plentifully
he's revealed himself. to be a God that delights to
show mercy to sinners. He's long-suffering with sinners. And verse 66, in closing, shows
what happens when Christ is exalted in his redemptive character.
Look what happened. They offered sacrifice. They
slaughtered slaughter before the Lord. Is that what we do
when we come together? Christ is not crucified afresh.
There's a religion that does that. You know, you realize from
the word of God and from seeing what's going on in this world
that if there's any way that we could figure out how to mess
this thing up, we would have done it. Even that, the son of God is
crucified afresh and everybody drinking his blood. How blind. We would have figured out a hundred
ways to completely destroy all of our hope, a thousand ways,
if he hadn't preserved us. We would have made ourselves
so vile before God by now. But he has mercy on sinners. What happened there? They slaughtered
the sacrifice before the Lord. That's the gospel. We don't offer
him afresh, but we come rejoicing. We come, God be merciful, propitious
to me. Before the mercy seat, now on
the mercy seat, be propitious to me, I'm a sinner. We plead
his precious blood as our only hope. Except for the slaughter, I would still have all my sins
on me. Except for the slaughter, I would
have no righteousness before God. When somebody preaches the cross
which is what happened here they did that in picture and in type
I Don't know if Solomon said things, you know preach the gospel. We know that they did we have
that in the scripture. I suspect he did Declared to
everybody there what this is what's going on here? Somebody preaches the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ as it is in God's word, as he is. Somebody
preaches Christ and him crucified as God has taught in his word.
Sinners are gonna walk away saying, did you read verse 66? They're gonna walk away, we're
gonna walk away tonight, I pray, saying what? Look what God has
done for us. Not I've got a decision to make
now, I guess I better make that all important decision. What? Did we hear what God said? But look what God, joyful and
glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had done for us. David, his servant, and for Israel,
his people. You know the Lord Jesus Christ
is called David and the son of David in the word of God? David, Christ, and his people. Look what God has done. Because
of Christ, in Christ, we get in on it. In all of the
goodness of God. Everything good that God has
for sinners is in Christ Jesus May we go from here tonight walk
away go home Rejoicing in salvation accomplished for us by Him look
look at the goodness of the Lord for us What he has done for us by our Lord Jesus in the sacrifice
of the Lamb of God. May we have in our hearts better
than ever a sense of the truth that God the Son is himself salvation. That we might ever and always
look to him alone in all.