Luke chapter 9 again. Luke 9.22 Verse 21 and he straightly charged
them and commanded them to tell no man that thing Saying the
Son of Man must suffer many things And be rejected of the elders
and chief priests and scribes and be slain And be raised the third day Now think about this verse verse
22 and In verses 18 through 21, we have
the Lord establishing who he was. And who he was is who he
is, and always will be. But you remember that, when he
was alone praying, his disciples were with him. He asked them,
who do people say that I am? And they said, John the Baptist,
Elijah, one of the prophets. And he said to them, but who
say you that I am? And the Apostle Peter was given
the grace to know and to answer rightly the Christ of God. And
he straightly charged them that they tell no man that thing.
Now that's who Christ is. He's God's Christ. He is the
anointed of God. He is the one that God sent to
save his people. His name is Jesus because he
shall do that very thing. He's God's lamb that takes away
sin. He's that one child born, son
given, whose name should be called wonderful. Counselor, the mighty
God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and the
whole government of God. The government of the universe
will be on his shoulders. That's who he is. He's God's
son. He's God in human flesh, come
to accomplish the redemption of his people. And when he accomplished
it, he said, it's accomplished. That's who he is. Now in our
verse 22, he's going to tell them what he's about to do. What he's about to do. It sounds
like things being done to him, doesn't it? He's going to suffer. He's going to be killed. He's
going to be... Sounds like other people doing things to him. No,
it's not. It's him accomplishing what he came to accomplish. It
is the death that he should accomplish that they talked about on the
Mount of Transfiguration. That's what we'll look at today
mostly, but I want you to see something else. He began to reveal
to them here more and more as he illustrated in Mark 8.22 in
the same context of this same story He healed the blind man
there in Mark 8, 22, and he cleared his sight by degrees. When he
first began to see, he said, I see men as trees walking. And
then the Lord opened his eyes to where he could see clearly.
And this is what he's doing here with his disciples. He speaks
to them concerning his ways, his work, and his will. Now think about these three things
with me. Christ crucified. The things that are supposed
to happen to him, that would happen to him, that he talked
about in verse 22, that's God's way of salvation. Think about
these three, way, will, and work. God's way of salvation. Christ
said, I am the way. And it's the one who must be
crucified, the one who died for his people. It's him as the Lamb
of God. He is the way. He's the way to God. He's the
way from enmity and under the condemnation and wrath of God
to communion and fellowship and the love of God in Christ. He
is the way. The disciples in the book of
Acts preached Christ and him crucified. And their enemies
called them what? Those of this way. That's God's way, God's way of
saving his people, God's way to himself for sinners. Hebrews
10, 19, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way. Christ is the
way to God for a sinner. How can there be a way to God
for sinners? Christ, his precious blood, which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. Christ crucified is God's work of salvation. Oh wait, I
thought we did that. No, he did that too. On the Mount
of Transfiguration, it says in Luke 9 that as our Lord prayed,
the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was
white and glistering. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory.
And spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. That was the subject of our entire
Bible lesson this morning. The desire accomplished. There
it is right there. Christ accomplished it on Calvary.
That's the desire. Every other desires really have
to do with that one. The desire for a sinner. The
desire for God to save a sinner, He's willing and able to save.
But our desire, by His grace, to have fellowship with Him.
That desire is accomplished right there on Calvary. Moses and Elias had always talked
about that in their prophecies, in the books that they wrote
in the Bible. They spoke of Him. Moses wrote
of Me, he said. But now they knew a lot more
about Him. They're in glory now. They knew everything about Him.
And they appeared and they said, He's about to accomplish salvation
with His death. Christ crucified is God's will
in salvation. Your will has nothing to do with
salvation. Man's will has nothing to do
with it. In John 4, 34, Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to
do the will of Him that sent me. He said in another place,
this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that he's
given me, I should lose nothing. How is he going to accomplish
that? Our text in Luke 9.22 this morning. By the death that he
should accomplish. You see how all of this revolves
around this tag. This is key. This is key. John 6.37, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. I came down from heaven not to
do my own will. But the will of him that sent
me, and this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing but raise
it up again at the last day." The only way he's going to raise
up sinners from the dead is by himself dying and rising from
the dead. He's the first fruits of them
that slept. We're not coming out of the grave unless he does. And how's he going to come out
of the grave unless he goes into the grave? Oh, he's everything, and he's
everything. So we have in these two, in this
passage, these two parts, the gospel, who he is and what he
did. That's the gospel. And all that's left here now
then is what does that have to do with you? What does that have
to do with you? Did he die for you? Is his purpose
to save you? That's the last part here verses
23 through 26. Let's look at it. We won't look
at this much today But I want you to see the progression here
who I am. Let's establish that right off the bat If you're going
to know What it means that he's going to be Abused what does
it say? He's going to suffer many things
And he's going to be rejected of men despised and rejected
as Isaiah prophesied in chapter 53 And he's going to be slain? If that's going to mean anything
to you, first of all, you've got to know who he is. That's
why he started with that, didn't he? Who he is, what he accomplished,
what he did, and now what has that got to do with you? Then
said he in verse 23, if any man will come after me. This is what
it has to do with you. He's going to have to be, indeed,
to you, God's Christ. who accomplish salvation. And
you're not ever gonna, you're not, to whom shall we go then?
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross daily. You got to renounce everything
you are, everything you've done, and everything you have. The rich young road, you gotta
get rid of all of it. And come follow me. Got to deny
yourself, got to deny your work, got to deny your will. You've
got to deny the fact that your will has anything to do with
salvation. Religion talking about it's up to you, you've got to
deny that. You've got to be able, by God's grace, in your heart
to say, I know better. It's not up to me. He did, he
finished it on Calvary. Got to deny himself, take up
his cross, in other words, die to self. And follow me, for whosoever
will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his
life for my sake, the same shall save it. If that rich young wheeler
had indeed went and sold everything he had and given it to the poor
and come and followed the Lord Jesus Christ, would he be a loser
or a winner, you think? Would he know what life was or
lose life? He had lost his life. But he
didn't know what life really is then you're not gonna know
what life is till you lose your life Verse 25 for what is a man advantaged
if he gained the whole world and lose himself Or be cast away
for whosoever shall be ashamed of me in my words of him shall
the son of man be ashamed When he shall come in his own glory
in his fathers and of the holy angels you see now Who he is,
what he did, what's that got to do with me? This is a beautiful
passage of scripture. Do you know who he is? If you do, then you're following him. You're following him. If you know who he is and what
he did, you're not sitting there wondering should I follow him
or not, you already are. To know him is to pursue him. This is the experience of His
salvation now. His salvation is who He is, what
He did for you, and it's what He does in you, which is you
following Him. That's His work too. That's not,
oh I see what you're saying Chris, my part of it is to follow Him.
No, that's Him too. It's who He is, it's what He
did for you, and it's what He does in you. It's all Him. That's why we're
going to praise Him throughout eternity and not be puffing out
our chest like we do down here. By degrees we learn this, don't
we? First we learn who He is. That's primary, isn't it? We
can't see anything until we see Him, that He personally is salvation. Then all of our lives He teaches
us concerning what He did. I'm still learning what He did
on Calvary, aren't you? I don't even understand it, but
what I know of it, what I see of it by his grace is delightful. He took my place under God's
wrath for my sin, and he did it just because he wanted to.
And he wanted to because he loved me. Why did he love you, Chris?
I don't know, I gotta stop right there. I'm not sure we'll know that
in eternity, you reckon? It's just, that's just a reason
that he had in himself. I don't know. I know this. Here's
what I know about it. It wasn't because I was better
than anybody else. Oh no. No, he set his love upon the
worst of the worst. And I don't know why. I don't
know why. I'm not sure there is a why to
that. I'm not sure there's an answer to that. But we learn,
we're still learning aren't we, what he did for us on Calvary.
And in all of our lives he's teaching us now what he did.
And I'm still finding out all of his life and his ways and
what he accomplished. And then I pray in his time,
we his sheep, his children, his elect, I pray that we'll actually
sell out to him. That comes after, doesn't it?
It don't start there. It don't start there. It starts
with him revealing his love to us, revealing to us who he is. And then one day, I hope to be
able to just pull himself out to him. But let's start with the beginning.
Do you know him? Whom do you say that he is? That's
the question now. He brought it home to them, didn't
he? And we gotta bring it home to us. He's got to bring that
home to us this morning. Who do you say that he is? The
Apostle Peter said he's God's Christ. He's the Christ. He's
the Messiah. He's the Redeemer. He's God's
Lamb. He's God's Son. Almighty, Sovereign, the Prince
of Peace, everything Isaiah said he was. God's only begotten,
eternal, holy Son. Can you honestly answer that
you know him that way? As his invincible, the invincible,
victorious, Almighty sovereign gracious son of God Who did John
say he is he's God's lamb that takes away sin. Do you know him
in his redemptive character? If you're gonna have your sins
forgiven put away taken away there's one that's got to do
that There's only one that can do that. You can't do anything
about your sin If you try to do something about your sin,
you've just added more sin to the pile. I He's got to take
it away. He's got to wash us from our
sins in His own blood. Here's the question now, is that
who He is to you? Who do you say He is? He's God's
Lamb. He's the Lamb of God that took
my sin away. You see, you can't just believe
that He's the Lamb that takes away sin. He's got to be your Lamb. Understanding doctrine and truth
is great, but you've got to know him, you've got to own him as
your lamb now. You know everything there is
to know about food, but you're going to have to eat some of
it if you're going to live. Exodus 12, 5 says, your lamb
shall be without blemish. Your lamb. You've got to have
a lamb. It's got to be a spotless lamb,
and there ain't but one of those. Will you escape God's wrath against
sin? Do you have a lamb? Do you understand
that the only lamb that God will accept is his beloved son, the
Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know that if you're going
to be redeemed, it's not going to be with corruptible things,
such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb. Without blemish and without spot.
The woman of Canaan in Matthew chapter 15 said he's the master. Who do you say he is? You woman
of Canaan? Well, I'm a dog that needs a
crumb from the master's table and he's it. She begged at his
feet. Is that who he is to you? Have
you submitted to the Son of God in your heart? Submitted to his
will every day. You see, I have to stress now
that this is not just an understanding of doctrine. Oh yeah, I believe
he's sovereign. Do you bow to him every day? His will, not
yours? Are you going your way or his
way today when you leave here? Is that who he is to you? Do
you think he owes you something? The woman of Canaan said, when
he said, I don't owe you anything. It'd be wrong for me to give
you the children's rest. She said, that's right. Is that who
he is to you? Who do you say he is? And yet she begged for mercy
from who? The master. The master. Have you done that? Who do you
say that he is? The centurion in Matthew 8, he
knew him as the one who has authority to just speak the word and it's
done. Is he that to you? He himself
said, I have power on earth to say thy sins are forgiven thee,
and they are. Is that who he is to you? Or
has he done all he can do and now it's up to you? I hope they're
not. I'm pretty sure there's not anybody
in here that would say that. He forgives sins as it pleases
him to. He don't leave anything up to
anybody else. He's the only one that can accomplish
anything. Do you know him who has the authority,
the one who has authority by virtue of his own holy righteousness
and his only precious sin-cleansing blood to forgive sins? He can forgive your children's
sins. He can forgive your sins. He can forgive whatever sins
he's pleased to forgive. He just says so and it's so.
Do you know him as the one who said
from the cross, Father forgive them? They don't have any idea
what they're doing. Even for murdering the prince
of life, forgive them. You hear that and you think he's
making excuses. There are no excuses for our
sin if you don't think about it a little bit. Father, forgive
them because they don't know what they're doing. They can
be forgiven because they don't know. No, that's not what he's
saying at all. He's saying forgive them in spite
of the fact that what they're doing is so horrible that they
don't even have any idea how horrible it is. Forgive them
anyway. That's how powerful his precious
blood is. We can be forgiven even of murdering
God because of that precious blood that he shed. Thomas, who you say he is. My Lord and my God. You didn't say he's God. You
said he's my God. All of my worship. You know what
that means? All of my worship. is for Him. All of my devotion is to Him. All of my gratitude, everything
I have, spiritual and physical, belongs unto Him. He's my all
and end all. He's my Lord and my God. Has
He shown you who He is and has He shown you what He must do?
That's what he did in our text here. He began to show his disciples
all that he must accomplish. You know, Paul went into the
synagogues later. Paul is his enemy at this time. But he went
into the synagogues later in the book of Acts, it's recorded,
and he opened and alleged that Christ must needs have suffered. After the Lord had accomplished
his death, Paul said, that's what had to happen. In order
for sinners to be saved. That's what had to happen. Is
he showing you what he must accomplish what he did? Accomplish is he
revealing that to us? Our Lord didn't come to this
earth to try to do anything or make anything possible to make
anything available. He came to accomplish some things.
He said I must. The Son of Man must suffer. The Son of Man must be rejected. The Son of Man must be slain. And the Son of Man must rise
again. He came to accomplish these things.
He said in Luke 2 49, I must be about my Father's business. What is his business? All that
he describes in our text. All of it is in fulfillment of
the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. He came to fulfill
all righteousness. Luke 18 31 says, Then he took
unto him the twelve and said unto them, Behold, we go up to
Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning
the Son of Man shall be accomplished. We got to go to Jerusalem. That's
where he's going to be. He's going to suffer many things
and the chief priests and the scribes and the elders are going
to reject him. They've been rejecting him all along, but their rejection
of him is going to come to fruition there. And he's going to be slain
there. And everything that all, notice
what he said, all things that are written by the prophets concerning
the son of man are going to be accomplished there in Jerusalem.
I'm fixing to accomplish them. I'm about to fulfill all of the
scriptures. If you read this book and do
not see that all of it from Genesis to Revelation concerns Christ
and his accomplishment of the salvation of his elect by his
life and death as a man, as God's man, then pray that God will
open your eyes. There is no corner of it. There
is no text that does not teach that. Read it again, keep hearing
it, because you've missed the scriptures, you've missed the
message of the word of God. If you see a lot more in the
Bible besides Christ, you see too much. You see things that
don't exist. You've missed the message of
God. You're blind as a bat. John 5, 38, you have not his
word abiding in you. For whom he hath sent, him you
believe not. Search the scriptures for in
them you think you have eternal life and they are they which
testify of me And yet you will not come to me That you might
have life every word from god says go to him and you will not
go to him All of the old testament types
and pictures are fulfilled by christ in genesis, he's the woman
seed that shall crush the serpent's head. His heel's gonna be bruised,
but the serpent's head's gonna be crushed by the woman's seed.
He's Abel's more excellent sacrifice. In the book of Genesis, he's
Joseph, the one who's in charge of the storehouses of life. Life
and death depends on whether you get something out of that
storehouse or not. Who opens the door? Joseph does. That's
Christ. And he opens it freely to his
brothers, though they were richly unworthy of it. Though they deserved
richly to be cut off and condemned to death. He said, come on in. Come on in. The storehouses are
open to you. From Genesis to Revelation. In
Genesis, he's all those things. In Exodus, he's the Passover
lamb. You're not getting out of Egypt
until that blood is put on the door. You're going to die there, but
when I see the blood, you live. In Leviticus, he's the scapegoat
upon whose head all of the sins of all the people was laid. The
priest leaned all of his weight upon the head of that scapegoat
and all the sins he prayed and all the sins of the people went
on that scapegoat and he was led away by a strong man into
the wilderness and never seen again. My sins are gone because
God has laid on his son the iniquity of all of his sheep. In Numbers He's the serpent of
brass, lifted up between heaven and
earth. And God's prophet says, look and live. Look to Christ
crucified and live. All of the revealed and unrevealed,
for that matter, purpose of God in saving sinners is fulfilled
and accomplished by Christ. Is he beginning to show us that?
It says he began to show them. These things and all that he
came to do. Think about this now. Everything
he came to do. He did it for me as me. He took my place. He became what
I am. He lived for me. He died for
me. Righteous, he lived for me. Why?
Righteousness was required of me, not him. Why did the Lord
Jesus Christ come down here to live on this earth? He's sitting
on the throne of glory. Why has he come down here? Why
does he become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh? Why is
he born of a woman made of the seed of David? To establish righteousness
for one thing. Why does he need to do that?
He's perfectly holy. He came down here to establish
righteousness for me. It's His righteousness. But I'm
going to be saved. I'm going to be holy in the sight
of God because of Him and what He did. His life. He came to
die for me. Why did He do that? Well, to
pay for sin. He didn't have any of it. But
I did. I was full of it. You see what I'm saying? He did
what He did for me in my place. He died for my sins according
to the scriptures. He took my place on Calvary. The death was the debt that I
owed, not him. But he paid it for me. He's my
representative, my substitute, my mediator, my vicarious sacrifice
for sin. For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive. He simply came to save
his people from their sins. His name means I'm going to save
you if you're one of mine. That's a good name and what he
describes in our text is how he accomplished that. He must
be tempted, he must be Tested he must be tried in all points
like as I am Yet without seeing I am tried in my sin is discovered
I'm weighed in the balances and found wanting He had to come
down here and be weighed in the balances and found sufficient If I'm gonna be saved He must
suffer not only the shame and disgrace that men can heap upon
him in the first part of our text. He must suffer the wrath
of God in my place. That's what death means. No man
took his life from him. He must fulfill Isaiah 53. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. And therefore because our iniquities
was on him he fulfills the other verse 10 of Isaiah 53 it pleased
the Lord to crush him You look up that word bruised you say
well Chris it says it pleased the Lord to bruise him look it
up the word means to crush He hath put him to grief when
he shall make his soul an offering for sin He shall see his seed
and he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
If you read our text in Proverbs again this morning, the desire
accomplished is sweetness to the soul. The definition of that
is what we just read. That's the desire accomplished
right there. He shall see of the travail of
the soul of my Savior my substitute my Redeemer and be satisfied
It's sweet to him and it's sweet to me and sweeter all the time
Sweeter all the time What happened on Calvary is that God destroyed
his son? Because my sin was on him He
is the Passover by whose blood we are saved. He's the scapegoat
bearing our sins away. He's the serpent of brass lifted
up, having been made what we are. Why a serpent? Because I'm
a snake. Why a serpent of brass? Why is
Christ pictured as a serpent? Because the poison of sin is
under my lips, that's why. And he's got to be made like
unto his brethren. Serpent of brass lifted up having
been made what we are and to whom if only we just look if
we just look away from ourselves Look away from the problem look
away from our own ideas of how to solve it. Just look to him
and live Do you see what else he said
he must do after three days rise again he must rise again why
because he's the sinless son of God If not, if he became a sinner,
if he himself is defiled, he don't come out of that grave.
The soul that sinneth dies. And that's all he does. He dies.
But because he's the spotless lamb that took my sin and put
him away, he got to rise again. He got to rise again. Sin had
no claim upon him. Death had no claim upon him.
Why? No sin. He took my sin, and he really
did do that. But they were always my sin.
And he put them away. I don't understand that, but
I know it's the truth. And it's my hope. It's all my
hope. His blood was sufficient to satisfy God for those sins,
and so he must rise again. He must rise because my sins
are gone if they're not and they're still owning he's not coming
out of the grave He must rise because his sacrifice is accepted
and redemption obtained Hebrews 9 27 as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment so christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look
for him shall he appear the second time. You know the next two words? Without sin. Where'd they go? That's like asking, why does
God love me? If you can answer one, you can
answer the other. Where'd my sins go? They're gone. They're
gone. I know how they're gone, because
His blood was worth that much. His blood is of infinite value. I was redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ as of the Lamb, without blemish and without spot.
I know how they're gone, and I know why they're gone. For
God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son. I don't know where they're gone.
I don't much care to you. They're gone. They're gone. That's
what matters. Oh, they're gone. They haven't
gone anywhere. They don't exist. He's got to rise again now because
they're gone. And having risen again, our Lord
ever liveth To make intercession listen to this hebrews 7 25 wherefore
he is also able to save them to the uttermost that come to
god by him Seeing that the one that died Is pleading on the
basis of that sin atoning blood for me He's making inner. He never liveth to make intercession
for them You what do you think he's in
it? How do you think he's interceding? How do you think our advocate
stares before the throne of God saying? Well, he's not all that
bad No, it's his precious puppet Is the basis upon which he intercedes
and that's successful He said in Revelation 118. I am he that
liveth and was dead and behold. I am alive forevermore Amen,
and don't miss the last part. I The keys of hell and of death
are in the hand of the one who died for sinners. Everybody he died for, come on
in. If he didn't die for you, it's
hell and death. It's hell and death. The key is in his hand. First Corinthians 15, 20, listen
to this. This is so good. We'll close
with this. But now is Christ risen from the dead and become
the firstfruits of them that slept. Well, wait a minute, Chris. A whole lot of people died before
the Lord did, humanly speaking, you know, in time on this earth.
Yeah, but he's the firstfruits of them that slept because he's
the first one to come out of the grave. And he really died first too,
didn't he? For since my man came death,
my man. You hear the significance of
that? Because man sinned. Man had to not sin. And man had
to pay for sin. And man had to rise from the
grave. by man came also the resurrection
of the dead. It behooved him to be made like
unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God. For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all die. Wait a minute, and Adam all died
and every one of those are going to be made alive? No, no, no,
no. We know better than that. We know that from the Word of
God that not everybody that died in Adam is going to live in Christ.
So what's it saying? As in Adam all died, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive. Sounds like everybody going to
heaven. No, all that he represented. Everybody that Adam represented
died. And everybody that Christ, everybody
he prayed for in John 17, Father, Will that those that you've given
me be with me where I am Every one of them are made alive in
Christ But every man in his own order
Christ the firstfruits afterward they better Christ's At his coming
You talk about wonderful now when the Lord Jesus Christ comes
back down here We're coming out of the grave. We're coming out
of the grave. Then cometh the end when he shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,
for he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his
feet. Has he taught you this? Has he taught me this? Who he
is and what he did. I pray that he has. And then,
Lord, give us grace. What does that have to do with
me? What, who he is and what he did? What does it have to
do with me? Oh, give us grace, Lord, to deny ourselves, to take
up our cross, and to pursue you with every ounce of energy and
every breath we have. As we are living our lives, what we call our lives. Are we living for ourselves or
have we renounced our lives? He that loseth his life. Have
we renounced ourselves and all that we've ever done and all
that we ever will do, all that we are for his sake, for his sake. Can we honestly say with Paul,
for me to live is Christ. And to die is even more Christ. That's the only way you can understand
that. What is gain? If you have Christ, what is better
than that? More Christ. Christ with no sin
in between. Christ with no limitations of
the flesh. Christ face to face. That's what gain is. If to live
is Christ. The gain is to be with Him. So may the Lord teach us simple gospel truth. All we need to know is who He
is. It doesn't sound like that. All we need to know. That's all
there is. That's all there is. And you're not going to know
Him. You're not going to know Him unless He knows you. unless he loves you and reveals
himself to you. And if he does, he'll say with
the Apostle Simon Peter, to whom shall we go? What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? If you ever see him, There's
nothing really to give, is there? There isn't anything but Him.
May He open our eyes and hearts to Him. Let's pray.