This morning's message will be
brought from Mark chapter 8 verse 31. The title of it is Things
Christ Must Do. Let me read the scripture to
you. In verse 31, And he began to teach them that the Son of
Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders,
and of the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after
three days rise again. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
come into this world to get a following or the approval of sinful men.
He came on a divine mission. He came to accomplish his Father's
will, which was to save his people from their sins and bring them
home without spot or blemish. We read in the Gospels that the
Son of Man must accomplish some things. There are things he must
do and places he must go. And this is what I want to look
at this morning. It is written in Luke chapter 2, verse 49. I must be about my Father's business.
Christ was sent into this world on business, and it would do
us well to find out what that business is all about. What is
so important that the Son of God, the second person in the
Trinity, would come into this world of sin and evil to do?
David said, What is man that thou art mindful of him, and
the Son of man that thou should visit him? Now I know this, the
first thing that he must do is fulfill the scriptures concerning
himself. The whole Bible is about Jesus
Christ. The Old Testament says someone's
coming. The Gospels say that he has come. And the epistles
say that he's coming again. If a person can read the Bible
and not see Christ from Genesis to Revelation, then that person
has missed the purpose and the message of the Bible. Christ
said to those scribes, ye search the scriptures, for in them ye
think ye have life, but they are they which testify of me.
And Luke 24, 44, and he said unto them, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses,
and in the prophets, and in the songs concerning me. He said
in Mark 14, 49, I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and
you took me not. But the scriptures must be fulfilled.
The scriptures which are the word of God must be fulfilled
to the letter. What God has spoken and what
God has written must come to pass. His word will not return
to him void. God must be true to his word.
Listen to these scriptures. In Psalm 119, 89, Forever, O
Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. God will not go back
on his word. It says in Psalm 138, 2, For
thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. God is only
as good as his word, and he is good for his word. Now, what
God said concerning Christ in the scriptures must come to pass.
In Genesis, God said that the serpent would bruise the heel
of the woman's seed, and the woman's seed would bruise the
serpent's head. Christ must come. and destroy
the power of Satan. He is the woman seed that is
going to destroy the power of Satan. God said that there would
arise a priest like Melchizedek who has an unchangeable priesthood.
Christ is that Melchizedek. God said that a deliverer would
come and turn ungodliness away from Jacob. Christ is that deliverer.
God said that he would give a sign, a virgin shall conceive and bear
a son, and this happened. This happened when Mary was found
with child of the Holy Ghost. Also, the types that were set
forth in the scriptures must be fulfilled by Christ. Christ
must answer all the types and pictures that spoke of him, and
he did. When he came into this world,
he fulfilled all the types and the pictures. He must become
bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Let me give you two
reasons why. First of all, that he might be
a proper mediator between God and man. Everything God does
with sinners, all that he communicates to sinners, And all the communication
that sinners do with God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the only mediator between God and men. Mary is not a mediator. She needs the blood and righteousness
of Christ as much as I need it. We do not pray to Mary. We do
not go through Mary. I've heard it said, Mary, mother
of God. Mary is not the mother of God.
Nothing about Mary entered into the person, the body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He was begotten by the Holy Spirit. God only used her womb. He only
used Mary's womb because he would give a sign that a virgin would
conceive and bear a son. Who ever heard of a virgin having
a child? You know that in the scriptures
the Lord Jesus Christ never called her mother. He always called
her woman. Go look it up. He always called
her woman. And we don't pray to departed
saints. That's not of God. Jesus Christ
is the only mediator between God and men and nobody else.
And no one, no one else. And then he must become a man
in order to be a proper substitute. By man sin came into the world,
and by man, the God-man, Christ Jesus, satisfaction must be made.
The same nature that sinned and broke God's law, The same nature
now that did that must come and render satisfaction to God's
law and justice. The true bread from heaven must
come down and be broken that we may eat thereof and not die.
The true Passover lamb must come and make atonement for our sins.
The Son of God must come and establish an everlasting righteousness
for his people, the Lord Jesus Christ himself. is the righteousness
of his people. That's why he's called the Lord
our righteousness. And then secondly, when he comes, there are some
places he must go. It says in John 4.4, I must needs
go through Samaria. Why? Divine sovereignty had ordained
that. Divine sovereignty ordained that
he must go there because there is a sinner there that he must
save. He must cross the path of his sheep at the appointed
time and reveal the gospel to them and save them from their
sins. He said in the scriptures that he came to seek and to save
the lost. And there was a lost sheep in
Samaria and he's going to save her. We know her as the woman
at the well. In Luke 19.5 he says, Zacharias
come down. This day I must abide at thy
house. Why? Why must he abide at his house?
He said because he also is a son of Abraham. He is a promised
son. Everyone whom God saves is a
son of promise. That's why he must need to go
through Ashland and Huntington, Lexington, wherever his sheep
are he must go through. He is on the trail of his sheep
until he saves the last one and takes it home. Everywhere our
Lord went was divinely ordained of His Father. He did not walk
around at random. Every step was ordered of God. In John 10 16, he said, Other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring
in. It was a charge given to him
by his father. The shepherd must go after the
lost sheep, put it on his shoulders, and bring it home. The lost coin
must be found, and the prodigal son must come home. Now listen
very carefully to this scripture. In the Gospel of John chapter
6 verse 39, And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day. Christ will not lose one
sinner that he died for. Now thirdly, he said there in
Mark 8 verse 31, The Son of Man must suffer many things, There
is no way to be saved except the Son of Man, who is the Son
of God, suffer in my place. He proved this when he was in
the Garden of Gethsemane, when he said, Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. It did not pass, because there
is no other way for God to be a just God and a Savior except
through the substitutionary sufferings and death of his Son. No other
way. He must suffer the things that
I suffer in order for him to be a high priest that can be
touched with the feelings of my infirmities. He must suffer
hunger and thirst as I do. He must be tempted in all points
as I am, yet without sin. Also, he must suffer, it says
here in this verse, he must suffer rejection by the chief priests
and the elders. They must turn thumbs down on
him. And he must be spit on, he must be stripped naked, he
must be striped, for by his stripes we are healed. He must suffer
everything that I deserve to suffer at the hands of God's
justice. That brings me to this point.
He must suffer at the hands of justice. Not just at the hands
of men, but at the hands of divine justice. The scripture says,
Awake, O sword, against the man that is my fellow. God drew out
his sword of justice and plunged it into the heart of his son. That's what happened at Calvary.
It says in Daniel 9.26, Messiah shall be cut off, but not for
himself. He's cut off for his people.
That's who he's cut off for. He must be lifted upon a cross
in order to bear the full curse of the law against sin. Cursed
is every one that hangeth on a tree. That's what it says in
the scriptures. Everything about his suffering and his death had
a law curse attached to it. A curse that was on every one
of his people was laid on him. And then he must die. He not
only must suffer, he must die. He must really be put to death. The scapegoat, the Passover lamb,
must bear away our sins. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die. Therefore, being the substitute
of a multitude of sinners, he must die in their stead for them
to live. He must be made sin for me. that I might be made the righteousness
of God in him. That has to happen. But death
is not the ending. Death is not the ending. It says
he must rise the third day. A dead Christ cannot save anyone,
but a living Lord can. It says in Romans 4.25, he was
delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. If Jesus Christ is not risen,
then no one is justified, and this is all a sham, and there's
nothing to it. But Christ, the Son of God, is
risen from the dead. He's not dead. He's not in that
grave. Right now, there is a man seated
at God's right hand. There is a man in glory who has
who is accepted of God and is seated right there at God's right
hand. And you know what he's doing sitting there? It says
over here in 1 Corinthians 15.25, It says, for he must reign till
he hath put all enemies under his feet. He's sitting there
reigning and ruling over the whole universe. Right now, everything
is under the power, control, and authority of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, all breath has been given to my hands. The breath
of everything, all flesh is in his hands. He has the authority
over the whole universe. And He must rule and govern all
that the Father has given to Him. If you want to do business
with God, you better go to Christ. If you go to Mary or some other
departed saint, you better go to Christ. Don't go to your preacher,
go to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the mediator. He's the Savior
of sinners. And last of all, He must increase
and I must decrease. I must fade into the shadow of
His wings until only Christ is seen. He must increase in our
love and devotion to Him. He must increase in our worshiping
to Him. Oh, I pray that God would this
day and forevermore make Christ increase in our hearts. Until
next time, may God be with you.