Luke 23, 35, and we'll speak on this subject this
morning. This is the king. Luke 23, 35, and the people stood
beholding, and the rulers also with them derided him, saying,
he saved others, let him save himself. if he be 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
also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and
Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews. It says there at the very beginning
of verse 35, the people stood beholding. It says in Matthew
27, 36, and sitting down, they watched him there. And that refers to when he was
hanging on the cross at Calvary, sitting down, they watched him
there as the horrible Sin the perfect expression of
man's evil. That's the epitome Calvary is
the epitome of man's sin And crucifying the Son of God that
day as that The evil of what we did is representative of all
sin All sin is a hatred of God and his son and And this is the
expression of that. This is the end result of that.
And that's representative of all sin and all sinners by nature.
So also these ones who beheld him, they represent us in this
regard too, because everybody looked at him and everybody looks
at him. Everybody. Everybody has looked
to the cross. and seeing something, somebody. Not everybody sees the same thing.
It says, when the Lord asked the disciples, whom do men say
that I am? Those who didn't know who he
was said different things. But those who did know him, because
the father revealed it, as he told Simon, said, you're the
Christ. Those who see him rightly, to
see him rightly is salvation. That's what it is. It's the experience
of salvation. I see him. I know him. To know thee, this is eternal
life. To know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou sent, John 17 three. Looking to Christ crucified in
the right way is salvation. And so this is important. Everybody's
looked. Everybody has. John 3, 14, as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be
lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. In that verse, the Lord Jesus
is speaking to Nicodemus and he's referring to the time when
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, when all the
children of Israel had been bitten by fiery serpents, And they cried,
we've sinned. They told Moses, tell God we've
sinned. And God, they were dying like flies. And God said, Moses,
lift up a serpent of brass and put it on a pole and raise it
up above the earth. And everybody that looks at it
will live. You see why I'm quoting that
scripture this morning? They beheld him. They looked,
they watched him there. Numbers 21 8 what was it that
resulted in the salvation of those who were bitten by the
fiery serpents and the lord said unto moses make thee a fiery
serpent and set it up on a pole and it shall come to pass that
everyone that is bitten when he look at the opponent shall
live they looked at him they beheld him there they watched
him But the key word in John 3, 14, where we read there is
believeth, believeth. People, some say you're John
the Baptist, some say you're Elias, but who do you say? Who
do you, my disciples, those who know me, those to whom the Father
hath revealed me, who do you say? You're the Son of God. You're
the Christ, the Son of the living God. You're that Christ that
God promised. Whosoever believeth in Him, Salvation
is looking unto Christ by faith. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen by everybody else. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen by you before you had it. By God's grace, the substance
of things hoped for. It's to look to Christ by faith. Everybody, though, looks at him. Everybody looks at him. Many
saw on that day an object of pity. You remember not long ago,
we talked about that in this very chapter. They felt sorry
for him. They wailed and they beat on their chest and they
made a big, put on a big display, you know. And the Lord Jesus
gently rebuked him. He said, don't cry for me. Don't
cry for the solution. Cry for the problem. Weep for
yourselves. daughters of Jerusalem. Christ
crucified is not reason for sadness. In fact, if you look at him believing,
you can't help but rejoice. You can't help but glory in his
cross. Many saw an object of scorn.
This is the wicked pride of man. Not everybody was scorned. Those
daughters of Jerusalem that were weeping, they weren't scorning
him. But somewhere, it says they derided him. This is man wanting
the upper hand over God himself. We always have wanted that since
the garden, haven't we? And actually deluding himself
into thinking that he has it. We have the upper hand over God.
See if any of this sounds familiar to you. This is man saying, we're
not in his hands, he's in our hands. We're not the pathetic
ones, he's the pathetic one. He doesn't sit in judgment on
us, we sit in judgment on him. We make that all important decision.
Did you know that that's what passes for a gospel these days?
You make that all important. This is all up to you. Don't
wait on God, he's waiting on you. You don't hang on his mercy,
he hangs on your decision. This is no less mockery of his
godhood than the cries of derision that were heaped upon him as
he hung on Calvary. Many saw an out-and-out enemy
defeated. They were his enemy. They imagined
victory over an enemy that day. But how God-like, how God-like
that the Almighty Son of God won victory by defeat. He won
the throne by submitting. By the way, that throne was already
his as God, but as man. He's exalted to the throne by
the greatest condescension that's ever been known. How God liked that he spoke most
profoundly by opening not his mouth. He healed our diseases, our wounds. He healed all of our wounds by
bleeding from his own wounds. I don't know if I like the term
God-like, but I don't know how else to say it. I don't mean
by that that he's like God, he is God. I simply mean how like
him it is that he makes atonement, he makes atonement by being forsaken
by everybody, even his father. He gives life to the dead by
dying. How God-like that is. Some, by God's free grace, did
and still do, by faith, see all of that in Him. Victory, healing,
atonement, life. They don't see a martyr, they
don't see a tragedy, they don't see this only as evil being done
to him, but they see in this by his grace all good being done
by him. Everything that is good for sinners,
all good to sinners, all good that's ever gonna be in sinners
is accomplished here by him for them. What do you see? What do you see? I know you've
looked. Don't pretend you haven't. You've
watched him there. Everybody has. Everybody since
he died has beheld him there. Maybe just a glance without much
interest. You may not have looked long,
but you've looked. God has only ever saved sinners
one way, and that's by grace through faith in Christ crucified. We could speak on this only,
and in a sense, we do speak on this only. And we'll never be
done, will we? We'll never be done. Who is it? Who do you see when you look
to Calvary? These are just a few thoughts
this morning. As I said, in a sense, this is all we ever talk about,
and this will just be a few thoughts. By the free and sovereign grace
of God in revealing him, Who do you say I am, Simon? You're
the Christ, the son of the living God. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
that to you. My father in heaven showed you
that. No man can come unto me except
the father which had sent me. Draw him. If you came to Christ,
it's because the father took you from where you were and brought
you to his son. And by that grace, For whom he
died have seen do see and ever shall see on that cross all of
the scriptures fulfilled all of them all of them All of them
all of the Word of God he's exalted his word above his name and All
of it is fulfilled in our text Do you see him in that light
and In Luke 24, 26, you remember
the story there, there were those on the road to Emmaus that were
sad and the Lord Jesus Christ walked up beside them that day
and he hid himself from them so that they wouldn't know who
he was. And he said, why are you sad? Why are you talking
about these things and you're so sad? And they said, where
have you been? The one that we trusted, our
leader, the one that we believed on has
died, has been crucified. And listen to what he said. This
is his response to them in Luke 24, 26. Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things? Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things? When you look to him on Calvary,
ought not this be? Can you be sad about God's will
being done? Can you be sad about all of his
purposes of grace and mercy towards sinners being fulfilled and accomplished
there? Why are you so sad? That's a
good chapter to read, that whole chapter sometime, Luke chapter
24. He said, weep not for me, daughters of Jerusalem. And when
these disciples were walking along, they're sad. And I understand
that. But his question was, why are
you so sad? Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?
Listen, and to enter into his glory? He can't enter into glory as
a man until he suffered. I must go to my father. But he
went to Calvary on the way there. and beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, because this is the problem. Why are you so sad?
Don't you understand? Why didn't they understand? Here's
the remedy to that. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself. What was their problem? They
didn't know what happened at Calvary. They looked and they didn't see
what they should have seen. How did the Lord fix that? He
opened all of the word of God and said, that's me, that's me,
that's me, that's me, that's me. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things? This is what it's all about.
Everything that God ever said, wrote, promised and revealed
to sinners is fulfilled in Christ and His offering of His own soul
and offering for the sins of His people. I've got to say that
again because I say it for me and for you. Everything that
God ever said, everything He ever wrote, everything He ever
promised, all of His promises are yea and amen. All that he purposed, all that
he's revealed is fulfilled in Christ, crucified Christ. They beheld him there. What did
they see? What do you see? What do you
see? Everything is fulfilled in him
by God's grace, secondly, In Christ crucified, we behold salvation
accomplished. Salvation accomplished, not made
available, not offered, not provided, accomplished. If you don't see that in him,
look again, listen again, as Simon said, keep on listening
until the day star arises in your heart. Keep looking until you see in him salvation
finished. There is an eternal, vital difference
between salvation provided and salvation accomplished. The difference for you is heaven
or hell. If God gives you another chance,
you're a goner. If he saves you, you'll never
be a goner again. And that happened at Calvary
now, whether you like it or not. He may have saved you whether
you like it or not when he shed his precious blood
on Calvary. But I tell you this, he saved somebody. He saved somebody. It's why we're always careful
now to point this out, because it's an eternal, vital difference. The predominant, also for this
reason, the predominant religion of this world, and especially
in this country, declares that what Christ accomplished on Calvary
is that he made salvation available to all people for all time. If that's what he did, I'll see
you in hell. I can't say it any plainer than
that. Here is the believer's hope. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He died for us, he rose for us,
he appeared in the presence of God for us, he obtained our redemption
for us. without us by himself. John 10, 11 through 30. I always
skip through this, but I'm going to read this. If we have to quit
when I'm done reading it, I want to read all of this this morning. John 10, 11. John 10, 11. How beautiful, how
beautiful this is. This is my hope. This is my hope. When I look to Calvary by God's
grace, I see all of my hope there because my hope is that he accomplished
salvation for me. He accomplished it for me. John
10, 11, and again, this whole chapter, but listen to this part.
We'll read quite a bit of it. I am the good shepherd. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is in hireling, and
not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf
coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth. And the wolf catcheth
them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because
he is in hireling, and careth not for the sheep. That's not
me, he said. I am the good shepherd, and know
my sheep, and they know me too. I'm known of mine. "'As the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father, "'and I lay down my life
for the sheep. "'And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, "'them also I must bring.'" That's saying
it's not just the sheep that are gonna see me lay down my
life or who are following me right now. It's all of my sheep
for all time, throughout all eternity, before and after the
cross, in time. and they shall hear my voice. If he died for you there, you're
gonna hear his voice one of these days. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. He's the good shepherd, he's
the only shepherd, and there's one fold of sheep. And he knows
who they are and they know who he is. Therefore, does my father
love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me. That's
what's happening in our text. He's laying down his life for
his sheep. No man taketh it from me, but
I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. There was a division therefore
again among the Jews for these things. There's a division in
what different people see. Whom do men say that I am? There's
a division. Everybody looks at him, but there's
a division. There's a difference made. among
the Jews for these sayings, and many of them said, he hath a
devil. That's about as far away as you can get from saying he's
my shepherd. He's a devil. He's possessed
of a devil. And he's mad, he's crazy. Why
are you listening to him? Others said, these are not the
words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of
the blind? He just got through saying, my
sheep know me. My sheep know me. These don't sound like sheep,
do they? Well, let's see if he'll tell us something about that. Look at verse 22. And it was
at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter,
and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came
the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost
thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. The works that I do in my father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you
are not of my sheep. We already knew they didn't sound
much like sheep. If my sheep know it, the sheep
knowing me, they know me, he said. Well, it didn't sound like
they knew him. You know why? Because they're
not his sheep. And the reason they didn't know him is because
they're not his sheep. As I said unto you, I told you
who I am and I've said this to you too. My sheep hear my voice
and I know them and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life. Hmm, as he prayed there in John
17. Father, glorify thy son, that
thy son may glorify thee, as thou hast given me power, authority
over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given. The hour has come. And they shall never perish. What did I say this is? It's
my hope. The fact that the shepherd of the sheep laid down his life
for me, that's my hope. And he did that for all of his
sheep. Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. And in case you're confused about that, I
and my father are one. And I'm glad he said that because
I would be confused if he didn't tell it to me like I'm three
years old because spiritually I'm probably two Spiritually we're dead without
him we're dead without him He's got to reveal it to us now. We
depend on him to tell us everything and you know what he told us
in this He's the Good Shepherd He gave his life for the sheep
Not everyone is one of his sheep. The reason sinners don't believe
on him is because they're not his sheep, and not the other
way around. And everyone he gave his life
for has eternal life, and nobody can ever harm them or take them
away from him. That's a pretty good outline
of that chapter, isn't it? That's my hope. He's my hope. Who do you see salvation accomplished
is a person. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. There's a lot more to that than
I have a nice house and a nice car and plenty to eat. I shall
never want for anything in this life or the life to come. You
know why David said in that chapter? Because his goodness and his
mercy have been chasing me all of my life. All of my life. What did Paul say there in Philippians
three that we referred to already this morning? I've got to lay
hold of the one who laid hold of me. I shall not want. We look to Him
and we behold Him, we watch Him and we see everything because
He's everything. He has done everything and He's
the reason for everything. He did not just provide me with
righteousness and redemption. He has made into me righteousness
and redemption. God are you in Christ who has
made those things and others unto you wisdom righteousness
sanctification and Redemption and by God's grace and again.
I said this is just this is just a few thoughts this morning By God's grace we see the riches
You look to him there there You look to him there. What do you
see? If God gives you eyes You'll see the riches of his glory Faith is the evidence of things
not seen not many will ever see his glory Well, I say not many
not there be few that find it, but it's gonna be a number that
can't be numbered a Number that can't be numbered not by man
The riches of his glory turn to John 17 with me. We looked
at we quoted some of that but listen John 17 one We see the riches of the glory
of God Almighty in the face of his son and what he did for us there.
John 17, when these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes
to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come. The hour, the hour of all time. The hour. Glorify thy son, that
thy son also may glorify thee. What's the first thing he said
after he said, this is it, this is it. This is what all of it's
about. We've come to that time. This
is the hour. And what's the first next thing
out of his mouth? Glorify. What do you see there? May God give us grace to see
God in all of his glory, in all of his attributes, in all of
his mercy and love and grace towards all of his justice, all
of his holiness, all of his wrath against sin, all of his glory. Glorify thy son, because here's
what's gonna happen now, that thy son also may glorify thee. as thou hast given him power.
Now listen, this is part of that glory. This is how he's glorified. You've given to me the son of
man and son of God, a man born in Nazareth, born in Bethlehem
and raised in Nazareth, a human being, bone of our bone flesh,
that just happened to be God, the fullness of the Godhead in
a body. You've given me power, authority
over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Does that sound like somebody
that's fixing to go make salvation possible to you? Can you look
at him there and see that? I'm fixing to give eternal life
to everybody you gave to me. That's what he went to do. Can
you look there and see him? in all of his glory, in redeeming
who he came to redeem. He didn't come to try something
out. He didn't come to make a best effort. He came to finish a work,
and you know what happened? He did it, and then remember
what he said? It's finished. It's finished. And this is life eternal. This
is what eternal life looks like. That they might know you the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I tell you
this, that word and there can be translated even. That they
might know thee the only true God, even Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent. I tell you this, the only way
you know God is to know him, the Lord Jesus Christ. No man
comes to the Father but by him. In any sense of the word, Moses
said show me your glory. We have to refer to that. We
talk about the glory of God, don't we? And you remember what
God did? He set his feet on a rock. I
guarantee you that rock was Christ. And he put him in the cleft of
a rock. That rock was Christ. And he covered him there with
his hand. Who's the hand of God? Who's the right hand of God?
Who's the power of God? Christ. And he said, I'm gonna make all
my goodness pass before you. Here's what it looks like. I'll
have mercy on sinners like you. Everybody I wanna have mercy
on will have mercy for me. That's our text. Romans 9, 13
through 24. Let's turn there, we'll close
there. Romans 9, 13. What do you see? You've looked,
haven't you? Everybody's looked. What do you
see? You see Him, but seeing Him can
mean different things now to different people if God hasn't
revealed Him. If He's revealed Him, it can
only mean one thing, which is expressed in all of these things.
All of God's Word, all of His promises, all of His purposes,
Who was worthy to open the book? The Lamb. All of his promises to sinners
are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Romans 9.13, look at this with
me now. We're talking about the glory
now. Do you see the glory? All of God's glory on Calvary. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth. What is not of him that willeth?
Salvation, mercy. It's not according to the will
of man. It's not by the will of man.
Nor of him that runneth, and that word is striveth. It's not
by your efforts, it's not by your works, it's not by anything
you do or ever will do or don't do. But of God that showeth mercy. He has mercy on sinners just
because he wants to. I will, I want to, and so I will.
And he does. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean, I will. That's not complicated, is it?
People don't like that much. Salvation's by His will, not
yours. Not yours. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, verse 17, even for this same purpose have I raised thee
up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might
be declared throughout all the earth. Now God raised up Pharaoh,
he hardened his heart. Pharaoh defied the God of heaven
and earth. God said, let my people go. And
he said, who are you to tell me what to do? That's what happened
in the garden. God said, thou shalt not eat
of it. And Adam said, who are you to tell me what to do? It's
the same thing, and we've been saying that ever since. And God threw Pharaoh in hell
for it to make his power known, to show everybody that he has
the keys of hell and death, and when he wants somebody to go
to hell, that's where they're going. therefore verse 18 hath he mercy
on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth and
we know what people say about that don't we paul did too and
so he anticipated it and he wrote it out now what's saying that
enemy why did he yet find fault how can he find fault with me
if he made me like i am for who hath resisted his will if it's
all according to his will Then why can he blame me for it? Nay,
but old man, who are you that replies against God? When you see God as he is, sovereign,
doing what he wants to, when he wants to, with whom he wants
to, you know what your best bet is? Shut up. When Job said, I've
heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now I see it, you
know what he said to? I'm gonna lay my hand on my mouth
now. I've been talking about things I didn't know what I was
talking about and I'm gonna shut up now and hear God. Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel
under honor and another under dishonor? Is that not what our
Lord Jesus Christ said in John 17? As thou hast given him power,
you've made me the potter. I'll give life to who I want
to. I'll make a vessel under honor if I want to. I might make
some under dishonor. What if God, verse 22, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?
That's what he did with Pharaoh. He suffered him long, didn't
he? He didn't put him in hell right away when he said, who
are you? I'll do as I please. He didn't put him in hell right
away. But he did it exactly the way
he did it. Why? That he might make his power
known. He knows how to do that, doesn't
he? But he wanted to make something
else known too. And that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. Which he had aforeprepared unto
glory he predestinated them to be conformed to the image of
his son why? so that everybody sinners and
all angels and every Every eye could look and by his grace through
faith behold the glory of God the riches of the glory of God
in Christ crucified Even One of the things about his glory,
you see, is this. He's chosen the base and the
foolish and the most wicked of all. Paul said, I'm less than
the least of all saints. And then he went one better than
that. He said, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. I'm
injurious. I'm nothing. Didn't he say that?
Being Barnabas, we're nothing. And then after God showed him,
it takes a while, and it doesn't have to. God could show us overnight
what we are, but through the process of time. Have you gotten
any better? Anybody here getting better? You know what Paul finally said
about himself? Oh, wretch. They take that word out of the
hymn books because it's too strong, you know. To save the wretch
like me, they change it to save the soul like me. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall save me from the body
of this death? Even us whom he hath called,
not of the Jews only, but even us dogs, got in on it by his
grace. So in beholding God's Son as
the Redeemer of all for whom he died, as the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world, the Lamb that taketh away sin,
the blood of bulls and cats can never take away sin, but John
said, there's one that does. There's God's lamb that takes
away sin. We see God's word and all of
his expressed will and purpose accomplished. That's why it's
called the hour. Everything revolves around the
cross in time and eternity. Everything that God has revealed
about himself is fulfilled by Christ on Calvary. And we see by his grace now,
he's got to give us eyes. The seeing eye and the hearing
ear, the Lord makes both of them. You have one? Do you have an
eye that sees? Blessed are your eyes for they
see. It's revealed unto you, not unto them, but unto you,
he said to his disciples. What do you see? Who do you see?
By God's grace, we see God's salvation accomplished. And we see God's glory in all
of its fullness, as much as mortal eye can see. By grace through
faith in Him, we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. May we by his grace keep looking
unto Jesus. Everybody's looked, but are you
looking? Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our looking, our faith. That's what faith
is, looking to him. Faith has one object. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher Our faith and seeing in him by God's grace
all that we need and by his grace all we want Amen