Good morning. If you like, you
can join me again in Acts chapter 2. There are times when we have messages that are I don't
know, more deep than other times, I guess is a way to say it. Dive
into something. And then there are phrases that
catch your attention. And over the last little bit,
Gabe has mentioned several times in a message. What happened at
the cross? He said it a few times. It caught
me and became my basis this morning. And it's a deep subject, but it's
a foundational subject. It's a kindergarten. You need to know
what happened at the cross. We need to know. We need to be
reminded. Some 2,000 years ago, our king,
our lord, was taken. He was beaten. He was nailed
to a tree. He was crucified. He shed his blood. He laid down
his life. Everybody knows this. It's a
fact. It's a historical, factual record
that this occurred. Well, what happened on that cross? Did our Lord die as a martyr
for a cause? Did he suffer and shed his blood
as an example for others to follow? Or did he die victoriously? Did
he accomplish what he said he would come to do? Did he save
his people? We just read part of Peter's
sermon there on Pentecost. And look with me back at verse
22. Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs,
which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also
know. Him, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having
loose the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. May our Lord be pleased through
his word to reveal to us that on that cross, our Lord fulfilled
the eternal purpose of God. His covenant was accomplished. Secondly, the true altar of God
was revealed. The Lamb of God was provided and our ark of salvation bore
us safely home. First, let's go to that cross
and gaze upon the man so marred more than any man. beaten, bloodied,
blood shedding from his hands and his feet, blood shedding
from his head with a crown of thorns upon him, blood from his beard being plucked
out by those cruel soldiers, pouring out from his back that
had been plowed by the whip. Here we see the everlasting covenant
of God being carried out in time. Verse 23, Jesus Christ being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. Who delivered Jesus of Nazareth
to that tree? Did Pilate, John 1911, our Lord
said to Pilate, thou couldest have no power at all against
me, except it were given me from above. Who delivered him? The determined, the ordained,
the appointed counsel, purpose of God. What was the determinant counsel
of God? It was His covenant. It was His
promise. And who did it concern? You don't
need to hold your place in Acts. Turn with me to John 6. Who did this covenant concern? John 6, verse 37. John chapter 6 verse 37. Our Lord is speaking here and
He says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. I love how affirming, how declarative
that statement is. All given to me shall come to
me. and him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will
which hath sent me. Of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up at the
last day. Everyone which seeth the Son
How many, how many saw him in his day and never saw the sun? How many today hear the gospel preached? and
never see the sun. May the Lord have mercy upon
us and give us eyes to see the Lord Jesus Christ as he is. Here in John 6, our Lord reveals
the eternal covenant, the promise of the triune God, The father
chose out of Adam's fallen race a number of sinners that he would
delight to show mercy to. And he gave them to his son. He committed our eternal welfare
to God the son. But there was a price. A price
that had to be paid. And that price was the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. Our redemption price is death. We read in Leviticus 17, the
life of the flesh is in the blood. Blood must be shed for the salvation
of those given to the son. There upon Calvary's tree, Our
Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the requirement of our redemption,
fulfilled the requirement of that covenant. There he proclaimed,
it is finished. And we read in Hebrews, our high
priest, by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy
place. having it's done, it's finished,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. Now it goes without saying our
carnal minds are not able to grasp the enormity of what happened
upon that cross. But God has been pleased to record
for us in type and in picture, things that we can enter into,
things we can, to an extent, relate to, to see just a glimpse
of that holy transaction that occurred. In that eternal covenant, God
the Son promised to secure the eternal redemption of all those
given to him by the Father. And as I just quoted from Hebrews,
Christ fulfilled the picture of the high priest. And when we talk of the high
priest of old, there are things that come along with that high
priest. The altar and the sacrifice. And when I think of the altars,
all those Old Testament altars, there are two that always jump
to my mind. And the first is found in First
Kings. Turn with me to First Kings chapter
18. I'm sure most everyone in here,
in fact, I'm sure everyone in here has heard this account.
Briefly leading up to this altar, there was three years of drought
in Israel. And at the end of those three
years, the Lord told Elijah to go up here before the king. And
Elijah had all of Israel gathered together, including the prophets
of Baal. And he issued a challenge to
them in 1st Kings 18.21. It comes before all of Israel. And Elijah came unto all the
people and said, How long, Halchi, between two opinions? If the
Lord be God, follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not
a word. They didn't know. Elijah then said in essence,
let the true God prove who he is. Each representative will
prepare a sacrifice without putting fire to the burnt offering. And
he said to the prophets of Baal in verse 24, And call ye on the
name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord.
And the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and
said, it is well spoken. The prophets of Baal went first
and from morning until evening, they performed their rituals.
Then at the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah called all
the people to him. He repaired the altar of the
Lord. He built a trench around it. He had twelve barrels of
water poured out upon the sacrifice, so much so that that trench was
filled with water. And then in verse 36, And it came to pass at the time
of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah the prophet
came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel,
let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that
I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy
word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that
this people may know that thou art the Lord God. and that thou
has turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell
and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and
the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. I think of that scene. It's a
scene that for me just my imagination just pictures it. I just can
go there. I can relate. And I consider
all these people of Israel who were so greatly blessed of God. They had the law. They had the
prophets. God had placed his name among
them. And yet, is the Lord God or is Baal God? And they answered him not a word. Speaking as a man, you go and you give yourself
to someone. You're kind to them. You do all
you can for them. And then, in a little while,
you need something, or you hear, this person has abused your kindness. It happens. That's who we are. Do we turn the blind eye? Do we? It's all right. They didn't really mean it. Or
do we get vengeful? And even as we do, our heart
smites us, but we're still what we are. Thanks be to God. He said, my
thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither my neither your ways,
my ways. Instead of his wrath falling
upon Israel that was gathered there. He provided an altar. a target,
if you will, that his wrath fell upon and his wrath consumed that
altar rather than those rebellious people. There on Calvary's cross, hangs
our Lord Jesus Christ, bearing the sin for his lovingly elected
people. And he became the target upon
which almighty God's wrath fell for those that he chose and those
that he loves. And there our Lord constrained
that wrath so that it didn't come upon these sinners. Because our Lord bore our sin,
He became the target that was upon us. And when the wrath fell
upon Him, rather than this altar that was pictured here, Rather
than him being consumed by that wrath, he consumed the wrath
until every sin debt was paid. Turn with me over to Genesis
chapter 22. Another altar I think of. Genesis chapter 22. Genesis 22 verse 1 and it came
to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said
unto him Abraham and he said behold here I am and he said
take now thy son thine only son Isaac whom thou lovest and get
thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass,
and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son,
and claimed the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and
went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the
third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar
off. And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood
of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he
took the fire in his hand and a knife, And they went both of
them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and said, My father? And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And
Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering. So they went both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham
built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound
Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And
Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his
son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven,
and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he
said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything
unto him. For now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from
me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket
by his horns, And Abraham went and took the ram and offered
him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. I love
that account. There are so many types and pictures
and the gospel just plainly declared. But we're here looking at this
altar and the happenings about it as it applies to our Lord's
death on the cross. Look again at verse 9. And they
came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built
an altar there. I can't help but think of our
Lord's words in Hebrews, A body hast thou prepared for me. God prepared himself an altar. Continuing in verse 9, And Abraham
built an altar there, and laid the wood in order. There's one thing that sustains
God's wrath. That is sin. Often in the picture,
in the Old Testament, God's wrath is depicted as fire. Wood is fuel for fire. This wood represents our sin. Without sin, Adam and Eve enjoyed
the companionship and the fellowship of God. But Adam sinned, and
he lost that relationship. Adam died, and we died in him. But, before Adam ever sinned,
God laid the wood in order. God prepared his altar to bear
our sin in his body upon that tree. Verse 9, And laid the wood
in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar
upon the wood. Isaac, before he ever arrived
to this point, obviously unbeknownst to him, He was already condemned. We read in verse 2, And God said,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, and offer him there
for a burnt offering. Isaac represents me here. He
represents the condemned sinner. We who are born dead and trespasses
in sins, who in our daily life drinketh iniquity like water,
our sin and just condemnation is laid upon us just as Isaac
carried that wood up to the burnt offering. What happened upon that cross?
God's eternal purpose was fulfilled. God's altar was revealed, and
God provided Himself our Lamb. Verse 10, And Abraham stretched
forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. We children of a rebel and rebels
ourselves deserve the judgment of death that is against us. But oh, thank God, he delights
to show mercy. When neither Abraham nor Isaac
was looking for it, a ransom was found. Verse 13, And Abraham
lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught
in a thicket by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram
and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son, his substitute. What happened upon that cross?
The Lord Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us. I sinned, I was condemned, I
should have died, but in loving kindness the Lord Jesus Christ
came and took my sin, my shame, my judgment, and he shed his
precious blood to pay the debt that I could not pay. There upon Calvary's cross Fulfilling
the eternal covenant, our altar, our lamb, bore the wrath of God. But what about me? What of those
for whom Christ shed his blood? Where were we? Upon that cross,
the wrath and judgment of God fell in like manner as it did
in the days of Noah. Turn with me to Genesis chapter
7. Here in Genesis 7 we read how
Noah, his wife, his sons, and their three wives entered the
ark. In Genesis 7 verse 16, last part
of the verse, Noah and his family entered the ark as God commanded
him. Salvation is of the Lord from
the beginning to the end. It's all his. And the Lord shut him in. Noah didn't pull that door closed. He was shut in. And the flood
from below and above, for verse 11 says, the fountains of the
great deep were broken open and the windows of heaven were opened. Verse 23, and every living substance
was destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both
man and cattle and the creeping things and the fowl of the heaven
and they were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only remained
alive, and they that were with him in the ark. The judgment
and wrath of God fell upon the world, and it fell upon that
ark, but it never touched Noah. Noah and his family were kept
safely and all those in the Lord Jesus Christ, all of those that
the father gave to him, all of those that he said I will be
surety for them, all of those are ever kept safely in the Lord
Jesus Christ. What happened on the cross of
Calvary The Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest, prepared
himself our altar, provided himself as our lamb. He consumed the
wrath of God on our behalf, and he entered into heaven itself
with his own blood to fulfill his covenant promise. In short,
what happened upon Calvary's cross? Our Lord Jesus Christ
saved his people from their sins forever and ever. All glory,
all honor, all praise be to him forevermore. Amen. Pray the Lord will make that
a blessing.