Luke 23. We're going to deal
with what he read there this morning. I am so blessed. I have been so blessed here this
weekend. It's been absolutely wonderful.
One of the requirements and one of the gifts that God gives his
preachers and their wives is that they're lovers of hospitality.
And Gabe and Hannah are that. A preacher early on, his home
is just everybody's house. It really is. And you know, some
of my best memories are all the people that stayed in our home.
We fed lunch one time on a Saturday, 31 people in our house at one
time. I've had as high as four preachers
stand there at one time. Henry Mahan, Scott Richardson,
Bruce Crabtree, Daniel Parks. I mean just, that's living. That's living. Paul Mahan, she's
been there when she was a little girl. And there's just nothing
like the Lord's people. Just absolutely nothing like
them. And thank you all very much. And you folks listen so
well. The Lord's blessing this work
so much. I'm so thankful. I tell you, it's been my blessing,
my blessing. But I want to bring a message
this morning just called Calvary. That's all I want to call it,
just Calvary. And it tells us here in verse 30 to 26 that they
led him away and laid upon Simon the Cyrenian coming out of the
country. They laid on him the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ that he might bear it. Our Lord was so
weak in body, crucified in weakness, raised in power, but he was weak
and had been so mistreated that they found a man on his way out
of town going towards Calvary and they took the cross of Christ
and they laid it on him. Now when we talk about a cross,
it's not one of these things you see in a picture, you know,
great big four by four post and that. It was one of two ways. It was just a tree. and they
would crucify him like this with hand over foot or else it was
a tree and they nailed a little cross member to it. They weren't
very big, they really weren't, and they wasn't very far off
the ground. But he was so weak and so beaten and so mistreated
that they had a man to help him bury his cross. And then there's
Pilate. He was the consummate politician. He was afraid of his office and
his position And the scripture said in verse 24, he gave sentence
as they required. He told him four times, I find
no fault in this man. Four times. He said, I find no
fault in this man. Finally, unless I get in trouble,
less Caesar deal with me. He said, well, you fellas, this
is what you want. This is what you get. This is
what you get. and they did desire to murder
in verse twenty-five, and He released unto them that sedition,
and murder was cast into prison. They would rather let a murderer
go and crucify the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and look
what it says there in the last part of verse twenty-five. This
is free will at its very best. But He delivered Jesus to their
will. You want man's free will? There
it is. Turn God over to them. Turn Christ
over to it. Turn me and you over to it. And that's what will happen to
us. Free will will always deliver up Jesus. Free will will deliver
up Jesus to the will of man, to the decision of man, to the
power of man, to the rights of man, to exalt man. And that's what He did. He delivered
Him up to their will. And then it says in verse 26,
and as they led him away, as they led him away, you find that
so many times in the scriptures, as they led him away. He was
led as a lamb to the slaughter. They didn't have to push him.
They didn't have to drag him. He just walked along quietly,
calmly, submissively, obediently, and as it's his hour, This time
for the Lamb to be offered. It's time, it's the day of atonement
when sin will be finished once and for all. And though Pilate
is an incredibly weak, sinful man, and these men are doing
a horrible deed, It is God, His Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
who is delivering His Son up to the will of the people. Now
you keep Luke 23 and look in Acts chapter 2 with me just a
moment. Let me show you what I mean. They're doing just exactly
what they want to do, but in doing that, they're actually
fulfilling and doing what God ordained to do before the foundation
of the world. He said he would make the anger
of man to praise him and man's anger here at our Lord Jesus
Christ, their hatred for our Lord Jesus Christ. And all that
ended up to be ultimately for the praise of the glory of God
and the salvation of His elect on this day. And look what it
says in Acts 2.22. God's doing this. You men of
Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God. The only man you'll ever find
approved of God. by miracles and wonders and signs
which God did by him in the midst of him, and you know this happened,
he says. Him, this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
approved of God, miracle worker, wonderer, God blessed him and
used him immensely. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel. Oh, Pilate, I'm going to deliver
him to Jesus. Him being delivered up by the
determinate will, counsel and foreknowledge of God. He said,
but you, God did this, but then he turned him over to your hands
and you by your wicked hands have crucified and slain. God
just letting man, they're just doing what God willed for him
to do. And yet he blames them for what they did. Now look in
Acts chapter four and verse 26. God, the scripture says, delivered
him up freely for us all. And look what it said here, and
this is, they're praying here, this is a prayer. And they're
quoting from, they're praying from Psalm, the second Psalm
says, the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were
gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. Bob, they had both hands lifted
up. For of a truth against thy holy child, Jesus, whom thou
hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles
and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy counsel determined before to be done. Oh, I tell you that this, you
know, and this is, I know this, That if I'd have been there,
I would have been in that mob. I would have been in that mob.
And I'll tell you, let's look together at this place called
Calvary. Look down verse 33. And they led him away. And when
they were come to the place called Calvary, there, they crucified
him and the malefactors one on the right hand and the other
on the left. First thing I want to say about
Calvary is this, that it was a place of guilt. is a place
of guilt. It says there, you know, that
in verse 32, there were also two other malefactors led with
him to be put to death. And when this place of guilt,
and what happened was these two malefactors and our Lord Jesus
Christ were crucified. And these two malefactors were
thieves, murderers, seditionists, and they were guilty of great,
great crimes. And our Lord was hung between
these two thieves, As if he was the greater criminal. And I tell
you what, and when people would pass by, they would see three
crosses there. And on those crosses, they knew
that these men were guilty of some crime or they would be being
crucified. Now those two men on these crosses,
they were the one on either side of our Lord Jesus Christ. They
were being crucified for their crimes. FOR THEIR SIN FOR THE
THINGS THAT THEY WERE ACTUALLY GUILTY OF. BUT OUR LORD JESUS
CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED THERE NOT FOR HIS OWN GUILT NOT FOR HIS
OWN CRIMES NOT FOR ANY SIN HE DID HE WAS THERE BECAUSE GOD
PUT HIM THERE in the place of His people to bear their guilt,
to bear their sin, to bear their shame on that cross. And our
Lord is guilty, but it's not His guilt He's bearing, it's
my guilt and your guilt if you believe on Him. And that's what
the scriptures tells us. In Isaiah 53, He was numbered
with the transgressors. And he bare the sin of many,
and by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. And I don't know this, and down
here in verse 41, look what I said, look at these fellas talking
about them being there for their own crimes. And they said, we're
here indeed justly. We receive the due reward of
our deeds. Have you ever felt that if God
gave you the due reward of your deeds, what would happen to you?
I felt my guilt desperately when I saw Christ in the cross in
my room and place. And I'm telling you, that's one
thing about it. If you don't see Him bearing
your sin and your guilt and that cross, I'm telling you, you'll
bear your own guilt and your own sin in eternity. He's either
bearing it or you're going to bear it. He's either dying for
you or you'll die for yourself. He's either bearing your sin
or you'll die in your sin. And that's the way it is here.
And I tell you, if our Lord Jesus Christ didn't bear my guilt,
then I have no hope at all. And there's three things we need
to understand about this. You know, Adam, we so related
to Adam, the first man, that our sins, he sinned and when
he sinned because of our union with him and our relationship
with him, we became sinners. We were born sinners. HE SINNED
AND WHEN HE SINNED WE SINNED. WHEN HE FAILED WE FAILED. WHEN
HE REBELLED WE REBELLED. FOR IF I WAS ONE MAN, ONE MAN
AND THAT ONE SIN ALL MEN BECAME SINNERS. AND DEATH PASSED UPON
ALL OF US. WHY? BECAUSE WE ALL HAVE SINNED. And then our Lord Jesus Christ,
because of our union with Him, because of the relationship God
gave us to Him from eternity as He stood as the Lamb slain,
God charged Him and laid on Him and bruised Him for all of our
iniquities because of our union with Him. And then, because of
our union with Him, when He died and because of His obedience,
His righteousness is given to us and put on us and put in us
in any way you want to look at it, we have the righteousness
of Christ. He got our sin, we get His righteousness. I love it. I love it. God made him to be
sin. He didn't know any sin that we
might be made the very righteousness of God in him. And I tell you,
beloved, this righteousness is as real This righteousness, that's what
gives us the confidence to come in the presence of God. What
gives us the confidence that we can call on God? What gives
us the confidence that God has saved us? What gives us the confidence
that we can look up and we can actually worship God? It's that
righteousness and that nature that He gave us that we never
had before. I never thought of God. Everything
I ever thought of God before He saved me was bad. And after
He saved me and gave me His nature and gave me His righteousness,
and how does this happen? You're going along and you're
just living your life and then one day you wake up and you start
thinking about eternity. You start thinking about your
sin. You start thinking about what am I going to do? Life is
just overwhelming me. And then, you know, how do you
come, how is it that God brings you to where you cross your path
with the gospel? How is it that God brings you
to where you believe and brings you to hear the gospel? These
things are all, and God does all of that. And there's a time
you ain't, the next thing you know you are. A time you're lost,
then you're found. A time you're dead, then you're
alive. A time you're blind, and then
you see. I'm glad he does it because I
can't figure it out. I'm just rejoicing it. Oh my. Well, let me go to tell you another
thing. Not only is it a place of guilt, but it's a place of
compassion. Look what our Lord Jesus Christ
said in verse 34. He's crucified there on that
cross. He's between the right hand and the left hand of those
two malefactors, evil men, sinful men, criminals. Then said Jesus,
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And oh
my, what a place of compassion. He said, Father, see all these
people here? how mean they are, and how cruel
they are, and how wicked they are. He said, Father, forgive
them. They do not understand what they're
doing. And I tell you, what a prayer.
Our Lord Jesus Christ on a cross, suffering bodily, mentally, and
there He is on that cross, and He starts praying. And He's praying
not for Himself, Not for any, he prayin' for those. And what
a revelation of the grace and the mercy and the love of God
towards sinners. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And oh my, how we need forgiveness. And if you ever read the 130th
Psalm where it says there in verse five, Lord, if thou shouldest
mark iniquities, who would be able to stand? You know, if you kids go to school
and they give you the, you know, they'll mark your paper up and
they'll mark it, you know, good, bad, 90%, 80% and they'll go
marking it up. Well, if God took me and you
and graded us, just, just a great big check mark, zero, nothing,
nada. But I'm going to tell you something.
He did mark our sins and you knew where he marked them at?
Marked them on his son. But the next verse says this,
but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Oh listen, our Lord Jesus Christ,
and this says then, then said Jesus, Father forgive them, then,
after he had that agony in the garden of Gethsemane and he prayed
till he sweat were great drops of blood. Then after Judas came
in there and kissed him and betrayed him. Then after Peter denied
him three times and the cock crew. Then after having a mock
trial and beaten and ridiculed Then, after being scourged until
his bloody back was laid open. Then, after being hated, despised,
rejected. Then, after being nailed to the
cross. That's when he said, Father,
forgive them. They don't know what they do. And Father, what a wonderful
word, what a tender word. What a blessed word, Father.
Father. Father. Oh, Father. My Father. Oh, Father. What a blessed word. What a tender word. Daddy. Father. And here He is. He says, Father, here's the sinner's
advocate. Here's the sinner's sacrifice.
Here's our Lord Jesus Christ answering for us. And I tell
you, this answer to this prayer was immediately answered. You
know that? That thief on the cross, our
Lord Jesus, says, Today you'll be with me in paradise. That's
one that was saved. That centurion, right then and
there, said, This is the Son of God, and He glorified God.
He was saved, I believe. And then on the day of Pentecost,
a multitude of them were standing there, 3,000 of them, and Peter
preached to them. And he says, you were there,
you know what happened. And 3,000 people there were saved
at one time because of this prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
you're sitting here and you're saved because our Lord Jesus
Christ said, forgive them. They didn't have a clue how bad
they were. Huh? And I tell you, and let me give
you another thing here about the Calvary. In verse 35, look
what it says. It's a place of derision, ridicule. And the people stood beholding,
and the rulers also. with him, derided him, saying,
He saved others, let him save himself, if he be Christ the
chosen of God. If he says he's God's elect,
God's chosen, if he be the Messiah, let him save himself. And the
soldiers also mocking him, coming to him, and offering vinegar,
and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself, save
thyself. Here comes the rulers, People
who've been in positions of power, they came by and they derided
him, mocked him, ridiculed him, showed contempt for him. And
then come the soldiers and they mocked him. They ridiculed him. And the people got together and
they all did it. And they said, if you be the
king, save yourself. If you be the chosen of God,
save yourself. If you saved others, why can't
you save yourself? And you know, that's what people
want to know. They want signs. If you really are Savior, why
don't, if you're going to save anybody, why don't you save yourself?
If you're going to do anything for anybody, it seems like you'll
do something for yourself. Give us a sign. If you're really
the Messiah, come down off that cross. If you're really the Christ,
come off that cross. If you're really the King of
Israel, come down off there and take your proper place. And they
said, save yourself. And their words were full of
such ridicule, such contempt. A man told me one time that Christianity
and religion was for weak people, people that couldn't make it
on their own. I said, you're exactly right.
I said, you figured me out real quick, didn't you? That's exactly
who it's for. It's for people who cannot do
anything for themselves, can't save themselves, can't keep themselves
safe. CAN'T DO ANYTHING TO GET A BLESSING. Hustlebee and Gabe was talking
and we've had such wonderful conversation. You know not one
believer on the face of this earth has ever merited one blessing
from God. And all since you've been a believer,
you've never done anything to cause God to bless you. If He
ever blesses you, He does it just because for Christ's sake.
You ain't prayed enough, you ain't preached enough, you ain't
listened enough, you ain't gave enough, you ain't been sincere
enough, you ain't had a good enough thought. You ain't never
done anything in your life that God would have to say, I'm gonna
look down on, bless him, because he did that. But all what blessings we have, all blessings. How many God got? Well, I know one thing, He got enough
for me for all my life and for eternity too. And oh listen,
He saved others. He was the object of their ridicule.
And the proverb says, the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
And they said He saved others and they told the truth about
that. He did save others. Zacchaeus, come out of that tree. I believe, you know, I'm going
to leave preaching and tell you what I think. I believe when
he come out of that tree, he had skin come off of him coming
out of that tree. I come out of there so fast,
oh man, but that don't make no difference. And oh, listen, Lazarus Oh Lord, don't, don't, please,
please don't take that stone away. He's been dead four days
and it'll stink so bad. It'll stink so bad. He's so corrupt.
Don't take that stone away. Take it away. Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead, came forth. And all the lepers he cleaned.
Mary Magdalene had seven devils. Can you imagine what kind of
woman she was that she had seven devils? What kind of woman would it be?
I know some of you probably met some women and men that's just
you can't believe that they'd be the way they are. But you
take somebody with seven devils in her. My goodness. My stepmother was, she was tough. My mother wasn't much of a mother. You know, she just had children,
and that's about all it amounts to. But anyway, my stepmother,
she smoked a cigarette all the time. She had a stain on her
lip from smoking so much. She'd light one off the other,
carried a bottle of vodka around this hand, and just turned that
thing up and drank it. She'd fight like a man. You didn't dare cross her. Of
course, she died lost, but what I'm telling you is, Mary Magdalene
was probably seven times worse than that. And you know where
you find her at so many times? Sitting at the feet of our Master.
You know where you find her at the last time you see her? Looking
in that tomb and run tell him, he's not there. And she's all
looking around for him, everywhere for him, with big tears in her
eyes. And she asked that, she thought it was the gardener,
and it was the Lord Jesus. He said, Sir, wherever you've
taken him, just please show me. I want to see him. I want to
see his body. She was crying. And you know what the Lord Jesus
says, Mary, it's the Lord, it's the Lord. He calls these people
by name. Oh, she fell down. Oh, my. That's what I'm telling. Bartimaeus,
oh, and if he saved himself, he did save others. If he saved
himself, he couldn't have saved anyone else. and bless his glorious
holy name that he didn't save himself from all that he was
subjected to his father didn't save him the angels didn't come
to save him and he if he had saved himself he could not have
saved you and he could not have saved me and as a corn of wheat must die
when it's put in the ground must die before to bring forth much
fruit our Lord Jesus Christ had to die And out of that one death,
a multitude that no man can number come out of that one seat. And then it's a place of testimony.
Ain't you thankful he stayed on that cross? He told him, he
said, Oh, listen, if my kingdom were this world, I got 12 legions
of angels standing right up there and they'll come down here and
they'll put you and everybody else in this world out of business.
But I didn't come for that. I came into this world for this
hour and I'm going to face my hour. And oh, it is a place of
testimony. Look what he said in verse 38.
And there was a superscription also was written over him in
letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the
Jews. And you know, this is the crime
they charged him with more than anything else that he claimed
to be a king. And they thought if he claims to be king, Caesar
will come in here and he'll upset our little apple cart. And so
they said, and they kept telling Paul, they said, he says he's
the king. You can't, Caesar ain't gonna put up with that. We're
not gonna put up with that. And Caesar will be upset if we
have any king but him. And Paul stood up and he said,
this is one thing they accused him of, that he preaches that
there's another king other than Caesar. And there is another
king other than Caesar. And one thing, let me just take
a minute here. You know, premillennialists and dispensationalists, they
have Christ, he ain't going to be a king until he comes back
and sits on his throne in Jerusalem. He's always been king. He's always
wore the crown. And I got excluded from a church.
For preaching that. They said, no, Jesus ain't king
now, he's a coming king. I said, if he ain't king now,
you tell me who's reigning and running this world right now. No, he's coming king. And they,
after three or four go arounds about that, they said, everybody
here that thinks he's a heretic, I want you to raise your hand.
1978, raise your hand. Even the kids raised their hand.
They said, all right, he's a heretic, you're excluded. We've been marrying
the kids, you know, Doogie and Lenny, we all walked out. And
then about 10 days later, they sent us a letter so we could
join another church in good standing. But they were so enamored with
premillennialism and a coming king and a kingdom set up in
Jerusalem and a throne over there that they missed Christ. They
were thinking way, way out yonder and we're dealing with Christ
right now. And then you listen, you read Mr. Bunyan's City of
Mansoul, and when Emmanuel took the City of Mansoul, they said
that when Emmanuel walked down the avenue of the City of Mansoul,
everybody watched how Emmanuel walked. as he walked and they
watched him walk understanding and emotion and affection and
all the things that makes up a man the wheel and all and he
said they watched him walk up and they watched him ascend the
throne of that heart and he sat there so wiggly as he sat on
the throne of that heart and ain't you grateful beloved that
he come and he absolutely took you and subdued you and put his
soul in you and took the throne of your heart and you say now
Lord take it keep it preserve it and use it please don't never
ever leave me to myself sit right there Lord Jesus sit right there
rule and reign right there Amen? Oh, he's king! Bless his name. And they put
it there to mock him. Yet the words were absolutely
true. Look over in John 19 with me
just a moment. These words are absolutely true.
He is the king of the Jews. But look, and the king of all.
But look what had happened here. I think it's John 19, 19. That's
what I want to look at. Talking about this. And it says here in verse 19,
and they crucified Him, one on either side of Him, and it says,
And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross, and the
writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title
then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified
was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek
and Latin. Then said the chief priest of
the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that
he said, I am king of the Jews. Now listen to what Pilate said,
just put up there, he said he's king of the Jews. And Pilate
answered and said, what I have written, I have written. And
why did he write that? Pilate did it, but God directed
his very hand. He said, no, no, we're not gonna
say he said, That's what we're putting up there and that's what's
going to stay. And the Holy Spirit was the one who really had it
put there. And they crucified their King, their Messiah, the
Son of the Highest. And the difference that they
was looking for a King with a crown and great power and majesty and
glory. But the scripture says their
King would come unto them meek and lowly riding a colt, a foal
of an ass. He didn't come riding a big white
horse and a robe on him and a crown on his head. And they've missed
him by a million miles because of that. And let me hurry up
and tell you another thing about Calvary. It's a place of salvation. Place of salvation. Look in verse
39. And one of the malefactors, which
were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save yourself
and us. But the other, answering, rebuked
him, saying, Don't you fear God, seeing you're in the same condemnation? You're ridiculing Him? All you're
wanting is some relief from the suffering you're having. He said,
this man's done nothing. We're here because we deserve
to be. And don't you fear God? Seeing that we're in the same
condemnation, the same judgment. And he said, we're indeed justly.
We're here because we're justly here. We deserve to be here.
And then he says, we just received the reward of our deeds. This
man hath done nothing amiss. And then look what our Lord said.
You're talking about salvation. And he said unto Jesus, Lord,
how in the world did he know he was Lord? How did he know
he was the Lord? Nobody else in that crowd knew
he was the Lord, but John and four Marys. Four people had a
conversation with him there. But I tell you what, he said,
Lord, remember me. Remember me. When you come into
your kingdom, remember me. Remember me. And look what, you
know what our Lord said to him? I say unto him, Jesus said unto
him, truly, honestly, clearly, plainly, I say unto thee, today,
today, today, you're gonna be with me in paradise. Now if this is not salvation
by sovereign free grace, there's no such animal. Now this man,
what could he do? He couldn't Get on his knees
to pray. He couldn't give an offering.
He couldn't read the scriptures. He couldn't do any work because
he is nailed to a cross. There's nothing he can do. And the Lord looked at him and
says, today, today, you will be with me in paradise. And you
know that he was the first, first, first sold to enter paradise
by the actual bloodshedding of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first one to go. Everybody
else was looking forward to the cross and we all looked back,
but this man went with him that day. And that's the sum of our Lord's
work, redemptive work is in these two words, with me, with me. With these two words, today thou
shalt be with me. You see, it's by being with Him
in eternity past. By being identified with Him,
chosen in Him. That's how we live, by being
with Him. Represented by Him in His life.
Reconciled by His death. Resurrected with Him. And everything
that we have is because with Him. With me. With me. And I tell you, one of these
days, you know, He said this, He said, I'm going to come again
and receive you unto Myself, unto Myself, that where I am,
there you may be also. I'm coming to get you. I'm not
sending nobody else to get you. I'm going to do it. And I believe
He... You say, well, I'll tell you,
there's an awful lot of people. Our Lord is so great and so glorious
and so wondrous in His power and His glory that He can save... don't tell how many people He's
saving right all over this world today. And He's a Savior to each
and every one of them personally, individually. And He can come
and get all of His people when it's time to get them. He can
come and go into a bedroom and take somebody home to be with
Him and at the same time be saving somebody somewhere else and ruling
and reigning in heaven because He is so glorious! And here's
another thing, when we get to eternity, you know I got two
kids and a whole bunch of grandkids and great-grandkids, when I go
and get ready to split up everything, everybody's going to get just
a little sliver, just a tiny sliver. It's going to be split
up so much that, you know, you're going to say, well, Pop didn't
do much, did he? They might be able to go to a
movie and buy some popcorn, but it's going to be split up. But
here's what we have in Christ when it says, with me, when we
get to glory, We get all the inheritance like it was only
ours and ours alone. He ain't going to cut up the
pie and say, here's your piece and here's your piece and here's
your piece. We all get it like it's ours and ours alone. And
everybody gets the same inheritance. And our Lord is so glorious. So,
oh, so glorious. We get it all. And this fellow here is going
to have as much as anybody else had and he's dying at his last
hour. He's going to get what Paul did
after he labored for many days. That fellow that started to work
at six o'clock in the morning got to the end of the day and
got a penny. That last fellow, he worked one hour and he got
a penny. That's what's called grace. Everybody gets the same. And oh my, and then there's a
place of miracle. Look down here in verse, oh listen,
today, today you're going to be with me. That's salvation,
being with Christ. And I'll tell you something else.
He said, I say unto thee that thou shalt be with me. And the
only person that can save you is Christ. He said, I say unto
thee. And the only person that can give you assurance that you're
saved is the Lord Jesus Himself. Nobody else can give you assurance.
And a man's a fool who tries to give anybody assurance. Oh
yeah, I know you're saved. I was there. Oh, I felt the witness
of the Spirit. Well, you live like you're saved. Oh, no. If you get any assurance,
there ain't but one person to give it to you, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. You know, Rob, people are always
trying to give people assurance. Preachers are trying to give
people assurance, keep them coming to church, keep them coming and
all that. It's because they're trying to
give some assurance for themselves. He said, if these folks are like
this and if I don't get them to talk back into it, then what
does that mean for me? So they're trying to give assurance
to give themselves assurance. But boy, if the Lord gives you
assurance, ain't nobody can take it away. Far away in the depth
of my spirit is peace, and there's not no
one can ever mine it away. And then look at this place of
miracle. And it said here in verse 44, And it was about the
sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the
ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and
the veil of the temple was rent in two. Now here's a miracle
going on. I said, wasn't that an eclipse?
No, no. God just pulled down the curtains of heaven. Said
something's fixing to take place that no human eye can see. And
what this is, we see God's justice towards sin. The darkness of
the sun was God's symbolic of God turning his face, hiding
his face. Nobody can see it. And then hiding
his son from the ridicule of the world. And oh God's severity
towards this awful, awful scene of the Lord Jesus Christ bearing
our sin. And then it says the veil was
rent in the midst. And that's a symbol of the goodness
and mercy of God. When that veil was rent, that
means that the way was opened up. Nobody went behind that veil
but the high priest. And that veil was split down
the middle and opened wide up. And everybody now shows that
everybody's got the same access by one way, the new and living
way, through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that darkness
shows our Lord's severity against sin. And I tell you, we go into
that veil. In fact, here's what's wonderful
about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not have to have
anybody take us there. We can go by ourselves into the
presence of God by Jesus Christ Himself. Now you know how many
Catholics are going to meet and they're going to have to have
some preacher say some hocus pocus to them. Lutherans are
going to meet and the priest is going to have to pray for
them. Going to sprinkle water on them and do all kinds of rigamarole.
Preachers and people are going to get on altars and they're
going to have preachers get down and pray for them, try to get
them saved before they get out of there. But because that veil
has been opened, we go into the holiest of holies by a new and
living way. by the Lord Jesus Christ's blood.
Huh? Oh my. We go into God's presence. And here's the thing about it,
we all can go at the same time and He's got room for all of
us up there at the same time. Let me show you another thing.
And I'll be done here in a minute. Look what it says in verse 46.
Not only is it a place of miracle, but it was a place of death.
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father. Again, He says, Father. Can you
imagine how that, what it, what, you know, what
His Father thought when He said, Father? Imagine what His, you
know, Father said, Lord. He said, Father. Imagine what
his father thought, what his father felt. I know God don't,
I know, but yet he said, Father, oh, Father, oh, Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit. And said that, he gave up the
ghost. And when it says he gave up the
ghost, he yielded his life up into his father's hands. He died
at His will, at His time. Nobody took His life from Him.
He would not have died at all had not God appointed to this
place, had He not bore our sin. And when it was time for Him
to go, the Scripture says there that He gave it up. In another
place He said He yielded up. He, by an act of His own will,
by an act of His own power, He said, Father, here I am. And
he just yielded up his life and yielded it up to his father.
Yielded it up to his father. And you know when it says he
cried with a loud voice, that shows us that he still is in
absolute control of himself and everything around him. He wanted
everybody to know that you may have, you know, I may be here,
but I'm still in control here. And he cried with a loud voice.
And in becoming obedient unto death, He abolished death. In being made sin, He put an
end to sin. And here is life and immortality
brought to light through our Lord Jesus Christ's death. And
oh my, that was the place I died. That's the place you died if
you're in Christ. And I'll tell you what, and look
what happens at the reaction of this death. And these things
still happen in some people's hearts. Now, when the centurion
saw what was done, look what happened. He glorified God. He glorified God. There are still
people, when they see what happened, they glorify God. And then look
what else. And all the people, I tell you
what, He glorified God. And then it says down, And all
the people came together to that site, beholding the things which
were done, and smoked their breasts. Not everybody, some did. Some
did, they smoked their breasts. And this still makes some men
smite their breasts. Oh Lord, bless your name. Blessed be your name. We like
that publican. smote his breast, couldn't so
much as lift his eyes up to heaven and said, Lord, be merciful to
me, the sinner. This is where I want you. This
is where I need you, right here, right here in my breast. And
I'll tell you, beloved, in closing, there's three people died on
Calvary that day. I know not there was those three
men, but there's three people cried on Calvary that day. Christ
died on Calvary that day. I died on Calvary that day and
the world died on Calvary that day to me. The world holds no more attraction.
Did you die with him on there? Did you die with him on Calvary?
Did you die to the world? Yes, if you've seen him on his
cross. The world don't hold no attraction
for you. You have to go out there and work in it. You have to listen
to a lot of foolishness in it. But right here is where you come
and get it all, get your balm, get your healing, get your strength,
get your encouragement. There's folks down home, you
know, they said, I don't like, it's all I can do to make it
to Wednesday. And they get to Wednesday and say, oh my, I can
hardly wait for Sunday. Preacher, you can say this same
thing tonight. Preach it again next Sunday, will you? And how many times have you come
and they thought, oh boy, I should have, you know, I don't feel
like coming. I'm too weak to come. I'm too tired to come.
I'm too troubled to come. And you come and you always go
away blessed. So thankful you did. Calvary. Calvary.