Today, the believers that are
here, that have been born of the Spirit of God, confess Christ
in believers' baptism, who can truly discern the Lord's body,
discern that our worthiness to come to His table is Christ and
Christ alone, the same as our worthiness to come into glory
is Christ and Christ alone. those will partake of the Lord's
table, because it's commanded of the Lord." He said, this do,
this do. And He said this do in remembrance
of me. And so we're taking this walk.
In the first hour we took a walk to the Lord's table with our
Savior. Now we're going to take a walk
from Gethsemane to Bethany with the Savior. And our Savior tells
us where we're going to go, what we're going to see on this walk
with the Savior. Let's be refreshed here and read
this again. Verse 17, And Jesus, going up
to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way. Wouldn't
that be something? If today the Lord took one of
His, took Him, took Him, and took Him apart, took Him out,
away from everything else, away from his vanity and his falsehood,
and took him away and put him in the way. Wouldn't that be
something? And he said to them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.
We're all going up to Jerusalem. We're going to stand in the heaven
of Jerusalem before God in the last day in judgment. We're all
going there. And he says, And the Son of Man
shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes,
and they shall condemn him to death. and shall deliver him
to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him. And the third day he shall rise
again." Now we're seeing here how gracious the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ is, how he's God and he's man in one person.
He's gracious, he's loving, he's tender to his people. And we
see also that by this work He has accomplished the redemption
of His people. He's fulfilled everything that's
written. These are the things we're seeing now. Now we've come
to the night of our Lord's betrayal. Turn over with me to Matthew
26. They observed the Lord's table. They sang a song together. And now we go to the Garden of
Gethsemane. Matthew 26, 36. Then cometh Jesus with them unto
a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit
you here while I go, and pray yonder." Isn't it something that
the first sin was in a garden? And now there's going to be a
temptation in another garden. But this second Adam, we're going
to see he's faithful. He's faithful to God. He can't
be turned from faithfulness to God. And he told them, Sit ye
here while I go and pray under. And he took with him Peter and
the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very
heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Carry ye here and
watch with me. Now there's no doubt that Satan
was throwing everything he could at Christ to tempt Him to turn
Him away from God. That's what he did in the first
garden, and he succeeded. And there's no doubt he's doing
that in this garden. But the exceeding sorrow that Christ
endured that was almost unto death, it almost caused His flesh
to perish, was the thought of being made sin before the Holy
Father whom He loved. Christ was without sin. He knew
no sin. He was without sin. He never
thought sin. He had no heart of sin. He was
not conceived in sin. He never thought sin. He never
spoke sin. He never did sin. He was without
sin. And sin, to Christ, was an abomination. It was an abomination. It was
a filthy, filthy thing. But now Christ must be made the
sin of His people. I don't know anything that we
could use to sort of compare and get our own minds in the
mindset of what this was like for him. This won't compare.
It's the closest thing I could think of. But I was thinking
of what would it be like to you to fall into a full septic tank, go under, and have to try to
stay afloat in that full septic tank? I see some of you making
a face. It's because you know that septic
tank is an abomination. It's a sulfurous stench. That's what Christ was about
to endure for his people. And in fact, between the garden
and the cross, Christ would pass over the Brook Kidron, which
was the sewer line that ran out of Jerusalem. Christ knew that
when he was made sin, not only would he bear the shame of what
he hated before the father he loved, but also God is holy. And that father he loved, in
righteous judgment, as his God, must forsake him. He must forsake
him. God must forsake him to declare
himself just. It's not so much in God not clearing
us that the justice of God is manifest. It's in the fact that
when His Son was made sin for His people, God would not spare
His own only beloved Son. He would not. He would not. So the human nature of Christ,
His fleshly nature here is engulfed in this sorrow that we cannot
compare, we can't enter into it, we can't, it's unparalleled. It's suffering we can't imagine.
It's suffering that caused him to be in such an agony that the
manly part of him, the human part of him was wilting under it. He sweat
blood, great drops of blood. I've never suffered anything
like that. It was so bad that involuntarily it's making his
body sweat great drops of blood. It's making the flesh wither
in the midst of what he's enduring. And yet even as his soul is exceeding
sorrowful even unto death, we see the perfect sinless faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ toward the Father. In verse 39, he went
a little further. and fell on his face and prayed,
saying, Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou will. What perfect faith. What perfect
faith. It's not sin to say, Lord, you
can do all things. So if it be possible, let this
cup pass from me. But you remember Christ told
His disciples, if any man will come after me, He said, let him
deny himself. And Christ said, but not as I
will. And Christ said, and let him
take up his cross. And Christ said, but as thou
will. Because it was the Father's will
that He bear this cross. And He said, and follow Me. Oh,
that He would give us grace that this might be our heart all the
time. To deny ourself. And to take
up whatever cross He's put before us, whatever suffering He's put
before us, and to bear it knowing, and consenting, and submitting
to the fact that God's way is the best way. Always. He knows what's best for you.
He knows what's best for His people. He knows what's best
to glorify Him. He knows what's best for the
cause of His name. He knows what's best. But only
God knows what's best. Only God knows. Oh, that we could
just trust Him. Trust Him. And then again, we
see the patience and the tenderness of our Savior, even in the midst
of His unparalleled suffering. This astounds me that even while
He's, you know, when we're suffering, if you had the flu, you know,
you lay down in bed and you can't do anything else. I mean, that's
it. You're resolved to just, I got to get well before I can
do anything else. There he is in this garden, sweating
great drops of blood in his agony, and he's helping his disciples.
Look now, verse 40, and he cometh unto the disciples and findeth
them asleep. And he said to Peter, What, could
you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, he said, that
you enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. You see, Christ is experiencing
this. He's God. And as God, He knows
all things. But as a man, now, He's experiencing
just how weak the flesh is. Not that there was any weakness
in Him. Not that there was any lack of willingness in Him. There
was perfect willingness in Him. The mere fact of the matter was,
just like your body, your flesh fails you, when you're sick. Well, his flesh was just failing
in soul sickness. It was failing. And so he was
able to say, the Spirit indeed is willing, but this flesh is
weak. Nothing good about it. It's just
weak. That's all it is. I've heard men quote that, say
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak to excuse
their sin. That's not what Christ was doing.
Christ was saying, because indeed the spirit's willing, but the
flesh is weak, this is reason why you ought to watch and why
you ought to pray that you enter not in temptation, because the
flesh is not going to profit you anything. Why pamper it? Why go to sleep? Stay awake and
pray to God to save you and help you in the face of temptation,
because the flesh is not going to help you. Then Christ went
back two more times to pray. And verse 42 says, He prayed,
O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except
I drink it, Thy will be done. Thy will be done. God didn't
remove His suffering. He was suffering there in that
garden, and God didn't remove it. And He didn't remove that
cross that He was going to. He didn't. I'm of the opinion,
and this is my opinion, it's not worth much, but I'm of the
opinion Christ was merely wanting grace to get out of that garden
and get to the cross. Because He was under such suffering.
He was about to die right there in the garden. And God, I believe,
was showing us right here His faithfulness on that cross. He
was showing us how faithful He was when He got to that cross
by what He did, what happened right here, what happened right
here. But God didn't remove it because it was for God's glory
and it was for the good of His people. And now, because God
sent an angel and strengthened Christ in grace to Christ, He
sent an angel strengthening Him So that, and Christ went on,
he got up and went on about his business. So that now, as God,
he knows what his grace can do. But as man, now he has experienced
just how weak our flesh is. so that he both has power as
God to do everything that we need to comfort us, but as a
man, he can also, he also knows what it's like. And he knows
firsthand how sufficient his own grace is. That's amazing,
but I've told you this before, Christ is preeminent in everything. He's preeminent in knowing how
sufficient his own grace is as a man. Because he was given grace. God sent him an angel and strengthened
him. So now when we're like Paul, and we're praying three times
for the thorn to be removed, Christ can say, I've done that. I've done that. And I can tell
you, my beloved, my grace is sufficient. For my strength is
made perfect in weakness. He can say that, Mike, from experience. He can say that having And having
God experiencing His own grace. That's astounding. He knows that
He's preeminent in everything. Preeminent in everything. And
here Christ shows us that He's the one that's protecting us
all the time and not we ourselves. Look at verse 45. Then cometh
He to His disciples. They were asleep just like they
were each time He came back to them. And they didn't hear what
he's saying. They didn't hear what he's saying
here. This is not him being sarcastic. This is Christ just telling them
there. He says unto them as they lay
there sleeping, sleep on now and take your rest. Behold the
hour is at hand. The Son of Man is betrayed unto
the hands of sinners. He's letting them sleep because
he said the hour is at hand and you're going to need your rest.
You're gonna need it. And so Christ, who has not slept
since the night before this night, Christ who's about to go through
a whole nother day of bearing the most horrible suffering that
anyone could even, that we can't even imagine, and knowing that
he's fixing to do it, he says, you sleep on. I'll stay awake
and I'll guard you and I'll protect you. I'll protect you. And he didn't wake them up until
he looked out through the darkness and he saw the torches coming.
And then he woke them up. Verse 46, and he said, Rise,
let us be going. Behold, he's at hand that does
betray me. There's just something amazing
about that to me. Believer, when you see the faithfulness,
and you see the patience, and you see the long-suffering, and
you see the grace, and you see the tenderness, the care that
Christ took, when He's under this tremendous load of suffering
Himself, and He did that for His people, then know, rest assured,
and know that now that He's seated in peace at the right hand of
the Father, with all power in heaven and earth and all deep
places, with everything put under His feet, to be head over all
things to His church, know He'll surely be faithful and patient
and long-suffering and gracious and tender and caring to you
in need. He surely will. He surely will.
So now let's wake up and let's be going to the scene of our
Savior's betrayal. Verse 47, Matthew 26, 47. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas,
one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with
swords and staves. And here's why they come, with
all these carnal weapons, because they came from the chief priests
and elders of the people. That's why. Because carnal religion
doesn't use any other kind of weapon but carnal weapons. It's
all they got. because they're gods themselves.
The power they work in is themselves. The strength they have is their
own flesh. And they've got to have something
for an equalizer because the flesh is so weak it's not worth
anything. So they've got to do something.
They've got to use carnal weapons. Now, verse 48 says, Now he that
betrayed him gave them a sign. And he said, Whomsoever I shall
kiss, that same as he, hold him fast. Christ warned us to beware
of wolves that come to us in sheep's clothing. That's what
He's doing. They always betray with a kiss.
And He's coming in sheep's clothing. But inwardly, He's a ravening
wolf. And it's sad that such men only tell sinners to hold
Christ fast when they're betraying Christ into the hand of sinners.
That's the only time He ever advised a sinner to hold Christ
fast. Look now at verse 49, And forwith
he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. And Jesus
said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Now Christ is
not saying this for his own benefit. He's saying it for Judas. Friend,
whom I have done absolutely nothing but good unto, wherefore are
you coming? Why are you coming here? You're
coming to betray God. You're coming here to betray
the only one who can save you from your sins. You're coming
here to betray the only one who can present you to God faultless,
without blame, perfectly righteous. That's probably, that little
intimate moment right there, is probably what stuck in Judas's
craw and he couldn't get out. And it made him go to those chief
scribes and Pharisees and throw down the silver and go out and
hang himself and go to hell. Then came they and laid hands
on Jesus and took him. And behold, one of them which
were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and
struck a servant of the high priest and smote off his ear.
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place,
for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Christ even, in another gospel, he even healed this soldier's
ear. He reached out and healed his
ear for him. His enemy, he healed his ear for him. And then he
turned to Peter and he says, Peter, put this sword up. If
you try to fight by this sword, you're going to die by this sword.
Because the weapons of the believer's warfare is not carnal. It's not
carnal. It's mighty through God. It is
God. It's the Prince of Peace. He's
our weapon, as we saw Thursday night. And he's saying this to
us not to forbid carnal weapons. That's not why he's saying it.
He's saying it to tell us that the Kingdom of God is not going
to be built by your will and my will and our wisdom and our
work and our fleshly strength. That's not how it's going to
be done. For then it wouldn't be done in righteousness. It's
going to be done by the righteousness of God. It's going to be done
by the Spirit of God. It's going to be done by the
Gospel of God. The Gospel. It's going to be
done in righteousness. And he said, verse 53, Thinkest
thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently
give me more than twelve legions of angels? Christ is in control
of everything taking place here. He could stop it at any time.
He don't need Peter with a sword, and He don't need me and you
with our sword. I wish we could get this across to men. He does
not need you to try to straighten out anybody. He don't need me
to try to straighten out anybody. Not the preacher, not your fellow
brethren. God's doing it just fine himself. And for us to step over that
line and think it's our place to do it proves we're not bowing
to him. Bow to him. I'm saying bow to
Him. He's in control of everything,
just like He was right here. He is right now. He is right
now. Isn't that just what Robert said?
Isn't that comforting? It's comforting. But verse 54,
here's why He didn't do that. Here's why He don't resort to
our wisdom and our work and our strength. But now, how then shall
the Scriptures be fulfilled? That thus it must be. It must be. In that same hour,
Jesus said to the multitudes, Are you come out against a thief
with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you
teaching in the temple, and you didn't lay hold on me. He's saying
to them, What makes you think you're able to lay hold on me
now? You think it's going to be by these swords and these
staves? He made the metal that made the sword. He made the leather,
he made the animal that made the leather that swords in. And
he's giving them breath and holding up them right there where they
are. When he spoke his name, he showed it, they all fell on
their rear end right there in front of it. And he said, you
think you're coming to get me by these swords? And he stayed.
The same power that's letting you get me now is the power that
didn't let you get me when I was in the temple. His power, his
power. Verse 56, but all this was done
that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. How many
times have we seen that today? Christ said, no man takes my
life. I lay it down on myself. He's God. He's got complete control
because the scriptures must be fulfilled. Now look at this sad
note here at the end of verse 56. Then all the disciples forsook
him and fled. Or it means they didn't just
leave. It means they ran away like a
bunch of cowards is what it means. This was written in scriptures
too. He just told them. He just quoted this to them a
few hours ago. He said it's written in the Scriptures. He said, tonight this is going
to happen. It's written in the Scriptures, Awake, O sword, against
my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith
the Lord of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep
shall be scattered, and I'll turn my hand upon the little
one. All these Scriptures that were written, do you know that
the Jews today, who don't believe Christ, believe that the Messiah
will fulfill all these things? They do. They believe the Messiah
when He comes. When He really comes, they say,
He's going to fulfill all these things. And we're seeing He's
come and done every bit of it. But when He told them that, you
know what they said? They said, we're not going to
forsake you. You know what they're saying? They're saying we, of
our strength, are going to be able to do something that scripture,
written hundreds of years ago, said we were going to do today.
You think they're going to be able to do it? You think they're
going to be able to stop themselves from tucking their tail between
their legs and running away like a stray dog? No. No, because
God's going to show me and you, standing right here right now,
what we are the moment He takes His hand off of us. And He showed
us by that why He does not trust this work into our hands, why
He does not trust it into our wisdom, why He does not look
to our will to do anything that must be fulfilled for Him, which
is everything. And the reason He doesn't is
because we'll run. We'll run. And he just, they
saw him knock them on their rear end with a word. He just said
to them, he told his soldiers, he said, take me and let these
go free. Substitution. Take me. You can
take me. I'm willing. I'm going to lay
down my life, but you can't take them. Let them go free. They
just heard all that. And yet, he hears, turn around
and they're gone. They're gone. Brethren, we can't
depend on ourselves. We can't depend on our carnal
wisdom, our carnal works, our carnal wisdom, our fleshly nothing.
When God took his hand off, they ran. Secondly, now we go to meet
Caiaphas, the high priest. Now we're going to be, he said,
I'm going to be betrayed of the Jews. Now we're fixing to meet
that betrayal. Verse 57, Matthew 26, 57. And they that had laid hold on
Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest. Here's the man
that's in charge, Caiaphas the high priest. Where the scribes
and the elders were assembled, this is all the so-called theologians
and students of the word, those who consider everybody straight.
Peter followed him afar off into the high priest's palace, and
he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. He wanted to
see what took place. Now the chief priests and elders
and all the councils sought false witness against Jesus to put
him to death, but found none. Though many false witnesses came,
yet found they none. Can you just picture that? They
got all these false witnesses in place by their power, by their
finagling. They got them all sitting there
in the jury, in the auditorium now. And they're just going to
say, has anybody here heard this man or seen this man do anything
that's against the law of Moses? And these men are supposed to
stand up and start talking, singing like songbirds about all these
false things and these false accusations. And they do this.
and ask them, and it's their cue now, you're supposed to stand
up when we say this, and nobody stands up. And at last came two false witnesses. And listen to what these men
said. And they said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the
temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose, and
he said unto him, answerest thou nothing? What is it which these
witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. Why? Because it's written, as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. And
the high priest answered and he said unto him, I adjure thee
by the living God. Standing there and saying this
to the living God. I adjure thee by the living God,
that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus said unto him, thou
hast said. But he said, now let me tell
you something else. Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall
you see the Son of Man. Sitting on the right hand of
power and coming in the clouds of heaven Christ made sure they
understood that the son of God is God the son and that that
man called Jesus of Nazareth is the son of man whom Together
in one body the God man shall be raised and have all reigning
power in heaven and earth over his church And look at what happened. Then the high priest rent his
clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy. And what further need
have we of witnesses? Behold, now you have heard this
blasphemy. What think ye? They answered and said, He is
guilty of death. And then did they spit in his face, and they
buffeted him, and others smote him with the palms of their hands.
And they said, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ. Who is he that
smote thee? Let me speak to the man that's
trusting in his law keeping. Any unjust anger in your heart
is a violation of the entire law of God. Is there anybody
here that could endure what Christ did without any unjust anger
in your heart? Anybody? The scripture said,
when he was reviled, he reviled not again. And when he suffered,
he threatened not, but he committed himself to him that judges righteously.
We're commanded to do that by him, but he did it perfectly.
Now, is there anybody here that can say, I could do that? If
you can, you don't need Christ. God will receive you. But if
you can't, and you know you can't, and I know I can't, it makes
me mad reading this. It makes me unjustly angry just
reading what they did to him. All right, thirdly, now we go
before Pontius Pilate. We can go toward the Gentiles
now. Verse 11, And Jesus stood before the governor, and the
governor asked him, saying, Art thou the king of the Jews? And
when he was accused, And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest. And
when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered
nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest
thou how many things they witness against thee? And he answered
him to never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. Pilate just marveled at this.
And then Pilate asked them, he said it was a tradition, the
political tradition that they release a prisoner on the feast
day. So he asked them, who do you
want me to release? And they went to yelling, Barabbas, Barabbas,
Barabbas. And he said, what do you want me to do with this Jesus
of Nazareth? And they said, crucify, crucify,
crucify. And we've seen that picture.
We've seen Barabbas down there in that jail cell here and Barabbas,
Barabbas, Barabbas, crucify, crucify, crucify. So he thinks
he's fixing to die. But they come down there and
they unlock his jail cell and they said, you're free to go.
Jesus Christ is taking your place. That's substitution. That's substitution. He laid down his life in the
place of his people. Verse 26, Then released he Barabbas
unto them, and when he had scourged Jesus, beat him with a whip with
bones and spikes and things in it, beat him. He delivered him
to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the common hall because they thought he was just
common. They're like these who think that Christ died for all
men without exception and his blood didn't really accomplish
a thing. They think his blood's common. They thought he was common.
And they took him to the common hall and gathered unto him the
whole band of soldiers. and they stripped him, and they
put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had plaited a crown
of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right
hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying,
Hail, King of the Jews. They all will do it again. They'll
all do it again. They did it then, not knowing
what they're saying, but they're going to do it again. Every knee
is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess, He is the
King of the Jews. He's the Lord of Lords and King
of Kings, to the glory of God. Verse 30, And they spit upon
him, and they took the reed and smote him on the head. And after
that they had mocked him. They took the robe off from him,
and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
Now next we're going to walk with the Savior to Golgotha.
Verse 33, Matthew 27, 33. And when they were come unto
a place called Golgotha, that is to say a place of the skull,
that's what it means, they gave him vinegar to drink mingled
with gall, and when he had tasted thereof he would not drink it.
And they crucified him and parted his garments, casting lots, that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. They parted
my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots,
And sitting down, they watched him there and set up over his
head his accusation written, this is Jesus, the King of the
Jew. Had no idea what they were writing.
Writing the truth. Writing the truth. This is Jesus,
King of the Jew. And then were there two thieves
crucified with him, one on the right hand, another on the left.
And these men They're going to throw it in his teeth as we see
again. They're going to join in with all the mob around there.
But that one thief sitting there, he's reading what's written,
he's hearing what's being said, and God's using everything that's
being said. He's using asses to declare the
truth about Christ, just like he did with Balaam right here. And he's going to save one of
those thieves. Even then, when He suffered on the cross, Christ
still being merciful and saving His people. Never give up hope
for your lost loved ones, brethren. If He saved His thief in the
last hour, He saved them in the last hour too. Verse 39 says,
And they passed by and reviled Him, swagging their heads, and
saying, Thou that destroyedst the temple, and buildest it in
three days, save thyself, if thou be the Son of God. Come
down from the cross. He is the temple and he was speaking
of it. He told them, destroy this temple
and in three days I'll raise it again. He's that temple that
he was talking about. And he did it. He did it. Verse
41, likewise also the chief priest came by mocking him with the
scribes and elders and said, he saved others himself he cannot
save. They didn't mean to say that,
tell the truth, but that's the truth. He's saving others, and
therefore he can't come down off that cross. He's got to bear
what they deserve. He's got to bear what those he's
saving deserve, so he cannot save himself. This thief's sitting
here hearing all this. If He be the King of Israel,
let Him now come down from the cross. We'll believe Him." Men
still seeking a sign. There right in front of them
is the sign, producing the greatest sign that God could ever give,
showing how He's righteous to put away the sin of His people
by the sacrifice of Himself. There's the Lamb. There's God
providing Himself the Lamb. There He is, right there. And
still they're saying, if you'd give us a sign, we'd believe
you. Verse 43, he trusted in God.
Let him deliver him now if he'll have him. For he said, I'm the
son of God. Again, they unknowingly declare the truth. He did trust
in God. And God will have him. And he
is the son of God. And God will save him. Verse
44, the thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same
in his teeth. But he saved one of them. He
saved one of them by his grace and said, today, you're going
to be with me in paradise. That thief looked over to the
other thief and he said, why are we sitting here throwing
this in his teeth? We're getting what we deserve. He took sides
with God against himself. That's the first thing that's
going to happen when God works grace in your heart. And the second
thing is, he's going to take sides with Christ against other
people and everybody else. And he said, this man has done
nothing wrong. He's righteous. And he said,
who are you? He said, do you believe? He said,
I believe. He said, you'll be with me today
in heaven. That's what he meant. You'll
be with me today in paradise. And so then Christ faces that
hour of all hours. It says there from the sixth
hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth
hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 22 says, but thou art holy,
and I am a worm and no man. God is righteous. God will by
no means clear the guilty, not even when it's His own Son. But
by this very work, God also declares He is the justifier. This is
God hanging on the cross. This is God fulfilling the law
for His people. This is God making His people
righteous. This is God forsaking God. Verse
47, And some of them that stood there, when they heard that,
said, This man calleth for Elias. And straightway one of them ran,
and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on
a reed, and gave it to him to drink. The rest said, Let me,
let us see whether Elias will come to save him. Now Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice, he said, He's finished. It's finished. It is finished.
And he yielded up the ghost. He said, into thy hands come
in thy my spirit. And he yielded up the ghost.
Now I've been saying to you, Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. I've been saying, Christ is the fulfillment
of everything that was written in these Old Testament scriptures.
The law wasn't meant for you to take it into your hands and
try to save yourself. These Old Testament scriptures
weren't meant to give you some Moral platitudes for you to live
your life by so that you can somehow make yourself higher
and more mighty and more pleasing to the appearance than other
men. It wasn't for that. It wasn't so that you can work
and work and by your works get a reward in heaven so that God
will give you a mansion and from your balcony in heaven you can
look down on some poor other saint while he's cleaning out
your gutters. That's not what it was for. It was for to tell
you and me we're sinners and we can't do a thing. And it was
to tell us Christ is all. He's the fulfillment of everything.
Now that's what I've been saying. That's what we've been seeing
in all this. Now look what happened. And behold, verse 51, and behold
the veil of the temple was rent and twain from the top to the
bottom. You know how thick that thing
was? That thing was this thick. It was double woven, triple woven.
I mean multiple weavings to hold that thing together. And God
split it from the top to the bottom. to say, it's all finished. It's done. It's complete. Here's my high priest. Here's
my mercy seat. Here's my altar. Here's my lamb.
Here's my temple. Here's my tabernacle. Here's
the New Testament. Here's the One who's perfected
forever His people. Here it all is right here in
this one right here. Go to Him, leave that camp, go
without the camp like He did and be crucified to this world
and this world to you and lay hold of Him and be saved from
all your sins for all eternity by another, by the work of another. That's what He said by that. And the earthquake and men came
out of the ground after His resurrection and that one that was sitting
there, Look here in verse 454, Now when the centurion and they
that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and
those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
Truly, this was the Son of God that is within you. Can you say
that? Can you bow and say, Truly, this is the Son of God. This
is salvation. This is God. There is not another. Not another. Every other religion
is trying to imitate this one right here, what he did. And
it's a knockoff and it's a bad imitation. Now let's walk with
the resurrected Savior. Turn over to Luke 24, 13. I'll
try to hurry here, but this, I want you to see this. This
ends on such a good note. Luke 24, 13. The Jews, for fear of breaking
the Sabbath day, took him who is the true Sabbath down off
the cross so they could get on with their vain religion. Even
though the veil rent, they just said, oh, we'll fix it. Why not?
They fixed everything else. But Joseph of Arimathea came
and asked Pilate for his body, and he gave it to him. So he
went and buried him in a tomb and put a stone on it. Pharisees
put guards around it, hired people to say somebody stole his body,
did all these things. It didn't matter. Whatever vain
folks do, just ignore it. It don't matter. It don't really
matter. Now, verse 13. And behold, two of them that
same day... Let me back up. And behold, two
of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which
was from Jerusalem, about three score furlong. And they walked
together of all these, and as they talked together of all these
things which had happened. And it came to pass that while
they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself flew near and went
with them. But their eyes were holding that
they should not know it. And he said unto them, What manner
of communications are these that you have one to another as you
walk and are sad? And the one of them, whose name
was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass in these days? And he said unto him, What things?
The Lord's got a sense of humor, don't he? What things? Tell me
about them. And they said unto him, Concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed, and
word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and
our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified
him. But we trusted that he had been he which should have redeemed
Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since
these things were done. Look down at verse 25. Then he
said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning Him. Would you like to have heard
that message? And they drew nigh unto the village where they went,
and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained
him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the
day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it
came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and
he blessed it, and he break, and he gave them to eat. And
their eyes were opened, their eyes were opened. And they knew
him, and he vanished out of their sight. Vanished out of their
sight. Verse 32 says, And they said
one to another, Did not our heart burn within us while He talked
with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?
That's what will happen if He opens to us the Scriptures. Our
heart will burn with fervent love as He opens to us the Scriptures. Verse 33, And they rose up the
same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered
together, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is
risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. And they told what
things were done in the way, and how he was known of them
in breaking of bread. And as they thus spoke, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and said unto them, Peace
be unto you. You know Christ can stand in
our midst right now just like he did then. He was standing
in their midst when they didn't see him, the same as he was when
he made himself visible to them. And this is how we're gonna have
peace with God. He's gonna stand in our midst
and say, peace be unto you. And he's gonna create peace in
our heart, faith. But they were terrified and affrighted,
and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them,
Why are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see, for a spirit
hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have. And when he
had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while
they yet believed not for joy and wonder, he said unto them,
Have you here any meat? And they gave him a piece of
raw fish and of a honeycomb, and he took it and did eat before
them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake
unto you while I was yet with you. This is what I was trying
to tell you the whole time I was going up this way with you to
Jerusalem. I was trying to show you this, teach you this, that
all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. And then he opened their understanding. that they might
understand the scriptures. You see, we have to have our
understanding continually open, and it continually opened by
him. Because as Martin Luther said, we forget the gospel every
day. We do. And he said unto them, thus it
is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission
of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem. He always began with those with
Israel. And then he went out to the Gentiles.
And when he's finished with the Gentiles, it's done, brethren.
Then all Israel is saved. And so all Israel shall be saved. That means after this manner,
all Israel shall be saved in Romans 11. That's what it means.
And he says, and you see that preaching this gospel is part
of what must be fulfilled too? Just as much as all that other
stuff was, this gospel must be preached too. Now if we have
no power and wisdom and strength to do it, that means God's going
to see to it that his gospel is preached. Christ is going
to give the messengers, he's going to open the way, he's going
to lead the path, he's going to bring up to his people. He's going to
get the glory. And look now, and ye are witnesses
of these things. And behold, I send the promise
of my Father upon you, I'm going to send the Spirit upon you,
but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power
from on high." And he led them out as far as Bethany. That's
why I say we're going as far as Bethany. And he lifted up
his hands and he blessed them. And it came to pass while he
blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. Now listen, in Acts 1, two men
appeared and they said, you men of Galilee, why stand you gazing
up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you've
seen him go into heaven. I know somebody sitting here
right now says this is all too far-fetched for somebody so smart
as I am. And I pray God makes you the
dummy you are before this day is over with. I pray he reveals
to you just how ignorant you are. Because he's coming again. He's coming again. And all I
know is, is in that day of judgment, when you hear that applause go
up and praise go up to Him, with every clap of every hand of every
multitude that you can't number, you're going to be hearing, we
told you, we told you that you were just too condemned smart to listen. But those who hear, verse 52
says, and they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with
great joy, and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing
God. And Mark 16 says, and they went
forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. Confirming
the Word with signs following. Now the Savior, look at Matthew
16, 24. I'm going to end with this, Matthew 16, 24, 25. The Savior said, if any man will come after me,
verse 24, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. Christ lost his life for our
sake, and we just watched him find it. forever. Now he says,
you lose your life for my sake. I guarantee you'll find it. We
must deny ourselves, not my will, but thine be done. We must submit
to his rule and authority and give him all the glory in this
thing, because we got nothing to glory in. We must take up
his cross. We're going to have to suffer
with him. We're going to suffer with him, both in his things
justly and in his chastening. If we'll be without suffering,
we're bastards and not children. And we must follow Him. We saw
today some of this suffering that's involved in following
Him. Sinner, will you come after Christ? And the believer, can we now
remember Him? Can we now remember Him? May
He give us grace to do that. Amen.