Turn with me now to the Gospel
of Luke, chapter 23. Luke, chapter 23. This is the
day after so-called Christmas. And all thoughts of Bethlehem,
a manger, Jesus, a Savior and all, for most people, are completely
over and forgotten. It doesn't take long, does it?
It's back to what people really think on and live for, and that
is the world. But not for God's people. That
is, we continue again to look at Our Lord Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. God's people never get over. It's not a one day a year thing.
It's not a one day a week thing. Christ is our life. We live and
move and have our being in Him and we live by faith and walk
by faith and we think about Him and think on Him and call upon
Him and talk to Him and commune with Him and we worship Him. This is the Lord's day. We don't
have special services. Every time we meet, it's a special
service, a special time, a privilege. That's a good article by Joe
Terrell in the Bulletin. Greatest, highest privilege on
earth. That's what we're doing right
now. If you're here out of desire, a true desire, God's people worship
God in spirit. They don't go through the motions.
They don't go through all these, you know, have all of these special
days and they show up for candlelight. These candlelight services, that's
fitting, isn't it? That's about all the light men
have. I don't want candlelight. I want sunlight. What's the point? That's not in the script. You're
meeting around a candlelight service. That's a nonsense. We're here in the morning. The
sun has risen. We're here to worship the Son
of Righteousness who was crucified for us and risen with healing
in His wings. The story of our Lord Jesus Christ,
crucified, took place in darkness. That's fitting, isn't it? For
three hours. From noon, look at verse 44. The sixth hour, that's noon.
Twelve noon. That's when the sun's at its
highest. The sun's at its zenith. The
sun's at its highest point in the sky for all to see. And wasn't
this when Christ was hanging on the cross, wasn't that His
crown of glory? Though He was crowned with thorns.
That was the sun. hanging there. And yet it was
dark over all the land. Darkness. Scripture says in Genesis
1 that the earth was without form and void and darkness was
over the face of the waters. then and now, in the darkness. Isaiah was told to preach, but
he said, they have ears to hear, they won't hear. They have eyes
to see, they won't see. And he said, you go make their
ears heavy, that they should hear, and shut their eyes. He
said, preach. But they're not, I'm going to
hide these things from the wise and the prudent, but reveal them
unto whom I will. So men have eyes, but they're
in darkness, aren't they? In Isaiah 8, it says, men shall
look to the earth, look for some light. In this darkness, there
is none. So look to the earth. There's
all this anguish and dimness and vexation of spirit and darkness. But the next chapter, Isaiah
9, what happens in Isaiah 9? The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light. Well, what is the light? Well,
down there in a few verses it said, somebody's born. Somebody's
given. The Son is given. Light and darkness. Exodus 10.
Exodus 10 says there was light, I mean there was darkness throughout
the land of Egypt. This is Egypt. People were in
captivity. That's what Daniel was praying
about. All this evil has come upon us because we've rebelled
against God. And everything that happens in
this land and throughout the world is because man rejects
God, his maker. Man is rejected and has nothing
for Jesus Christ. And so darkness is over and man
is in captivity and confusion, to face it. And such were some of you. But
God. Some people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light. Upon them hath the light shined.
That's crying. How blessed we are. How blessed
we are. And it says there was darkness
over all the land. It was so thick that it could be felt.
You can feel it in Egypt. But it says the children of Israel
had light in all their dwellings. What dwellings? Well, the Lord
loveth Mount Zion, the gates of that city and that place more
than all the dwellings of Jacob. That's where the Lord loves to
be. That's where he said he would be in all the tabernacle. And
all the dwelling places of all of God's people, right now, Rocky
Mount, Virginia, and Kingsport, Tennessee, and you name it, wherever
the gospel is preached, God's people have light in their dwellings,
while the whole world is in darkness. Aren't we blessed? Greatly blessed. And it says in verse 45, the
sun was darkened. Alas, and did my Savior bleed,
and did my Sovereign die, would He devote that sacred head for
such a worm as I? Well might the sun in darkness
hide, and shut His glories in, when Christ the mighty Maker
died for man. Why would He do that? What is
man that you would think on Him? A rebel, a sinner, and that He
would visit him with such salvation? He well might the sun in darkness
hide, and it did when Christ was hanging on this crop. Now
listen to me, though. The sun was really not darkened. Man's understanding is darkened. There's a veil, there's a cloud,
there's a covering over the eyes of all people that they can't
see the sun. You know, the sun is never darkened. The sun is always shining. The
sun is always up. We say things like this, the
sun has come up. Oh no, you have. You've been turned. This earth
is rotating, it turns, it's in darkness for a while. Well, how
do we see the sun? Well, he turns us. The sun is
always there. The sun never moves. The sun
keeps shining, doesn't it? That's in what we live and move
and have our being. Life depends on that sun, doesn't
it? It's no accident, no mere chance
that God called in the English language His son, the sun. Sun, sun. But the sun was darkened,
that is, there was a cloud covering over everything, so men couldn't
see the sun. And they couldn't see who this
was hanging on this tree. Do you? Do you know who this
was hanging on the tree? See how blessed we are? There
were a few women at the foot of the cross that knew who this
was hanging on that tree. The sun was darkened. Then there
was a veil. We looked at this, verse 45.
The sun was darkened. There was a veil in the temple.
We looked at that. Do you know why there was a veil
between the holy... Do you know anything about the
tabernacle? The pieces of furniture? Is this
just interesting Jewish folklore? Is this useless religion? No,
God never created anything useless, anything that did not point to
His Son. Do you know anything about the
tabernacle? Sure you do. Our children do, at least in
their heads. There was a tabernacle. God said there's one way. Here
it is. In the beginning, man sinned
against God. All right? And God cast him out
of the garden and barred the way. He said you cannot come
back any longer. Before he did that, he killed
a substitute, an innocent lamb and covered that man, covered
their nakedness. and then sent them out with the
express commandment, you cannot approach me without blood. And he cast them out. Later on, God had Moses construct
a tabernacle, which is all a picture of Jesus Christ. And God had
a high priest, one man, called of God, chosen of God, to take
a sacrifice, a blood offering, a lamb, a substitute, typically,
and take that blood from the outer court, where all the common
people and priests were, beneath a veil. It was a veil between
the holy of holies, where God who is holy. Everyone can't come
in there. You just can't come in if you
want to, any old way you feel like. God said, there's one way
to approach me, there's one place I'll commune with you, at the
mercy seat. There was an ark, and I got to
go on. But there was an ark, a mercy
seat, inside the ark was a broken law, and that one man would go
within the veil, under the veil, mind you, this veil that separated
God, where God was, from the people. One man would go under
the veil, not without blood, but with blood, and would pour
that blood on the mercy seat, typifying that without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sin. We've broken the law.
And a substitute, his death, his death because we've broken
the law. This was punishment for our sin.
Pour that blood, covers the broken law, and God is propitiated. And we are, our sins are atoned
for. But now, it's impossible that
the blood of bulls and goats have put away man's sin. Man's sin. By man came sin, and
by man must come the atonement for sin. That's Jesus Christ. All right? He's the Lamb. He's
the Tabernacle. He is the place where this took
place. He is the mercy seat. He's the ark. He's the lawgiver,
the law keeper. He's that great high priest. When Christ, look at verse 45,
when Christ the mighty maker died, the veil of the temple
was rent in the middle, from the top to the bottom. We've
already looked at this, preacher. I know, isn't it wonderful? From
the top to the bottom, Showing us, and Hebrews 10 says that,
now we can come by one man's offering, we're perfected forever,
we're accepted by the offering, the blood of Jesus Christ. He
entered into the holy place, made without hand, with his own
precious blood, brother John. That's the Calvary, that's what
happened at Calvary. God shed his blood, the Lamb's
blood. And by that precious blood, Christ
went into the Holy of Holies for his people. And now God showed
us all this is over. All these Old Testament types
and pictures and shadows and symbols and emblems and animal
blood and all of that, and that place, there's no physical place
now God dwells in the midst of his people. And God ripped that
veil from the top to bottom, showing us we have boldness to
enter into the Holy of Holies. One way though, by faith in Christ. And all who come by Christ, all
who come pleading Christ and what he did at Calvary, God accepts. God accepts. There you have it. And so that veil was rent. That
veil was rent. Then in verse 46, it says, Our
Lord was hanging on the cross. He uttered many wonderful statements. Seven. There were seven sayings
of our Savior on that cross. Isn't that amazing? Seven is
perfection. Seven. And this was one of His
last, if not the last. It's next to last. It says, When
our Lord Jesus Christ had cried with a loud voice. Matthew, Mark,
and Luke do not mention this is finished. But John does. One of four. Why is that? Have
you ever thought about that? This is vital isn't it? John
wrote that when he cried, it is finished. He gave it up to
God. Why do they not? We know He said
it, don't we? We know He said it. Three out of four, it's hidden.
We know He said it. It doesn't say what that animal
was in the garden that was slain, do it. We know. In Genesis, we know it was a
lamb. How do we know? Because in the
Revelation it was a lamb. Christ came as a boy, 12 years
old, in the temple. This is the messenger of the
covenant that will suddenly come to his temple. Christ came as
a boy and the first recorded words of our Lord as a human
being were, wished you not, don't you know? He said this to Mary. Doesn't Mary have divine understanding? Not yet. She's just a sinner
saved by grace too. It's going to have to be revealed
to her. She's nobody special. But our Lord said to His seem-to-be-earthly
mother, wished you not, don't you know why I'm here? I must be about my Father's business. I'm here on business. All through
John, he says, he's the sent one. This is life eternal, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. What? To do what? Christ came
into the world to save sinners. How? By his own precious blood. By his righteousness. To bring
in, Daniel wrote, to bring in an everlasting righteousness.
To make an end of transgression. To finish the work. of redemption, typified, signified
ceremonially in types and symbols and all that, all in the Old
Testament would testify of the Christ who would come to put
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And Christ as a voice
said, that's why I'm here. And now His life is over. Well,
not really. But His work on earth is over,
isn't it? And so His last dying words were,
with a loud voice, it is finished. What is finished? Everything
he came to do. Everything scripture prophesied
that he would do. See our Lord, see it's another
gospel that says Christ came to try to save you. Christ came
to die for everyone and whoever accepts it. No, sir. He came
to finish the transgression. He came to put away sin, not
make an offer, make an atonement. It's not an offer to man. This
is why it's the highest blasphemy. It's another gospel. Anybody
who believes any form of that doesn't know God, doesn't know
sin, doesn't know the truth, doesn't know Christ. They don't
need Christ. He's just part of the work. And what He did is
just part of it. And your will decides it. That
is blasphemy. When Christ hung on that cross,
He said, It is finished. What did He mean? He meant what
He said. What's finished? Everything.
All that needs to be done for salvation. All that God prophesied
of. All that God purposed to do.
All that God put in that covenant to be done for the forgiveness
of God's people's sin, all that God purposed to do, all that
was prophesied of Christ, everything, every prophet ever wrote concerning
Christ was finished, fulfilled by Jesus Christ. Oh, I wish I
could preach this like it needs to be preached. Many have tried. We've all failed. The half hasn't
been told. This is the good news. It's done, it is done, the great
transaction's done. Christ put away sin and he cried
that for heaven, earth, and hell to hear with a loud voice. You say, you know, it seemed
to be some confusion there. Did he cry that with a loud voice
or Father in thy hands I commit my spirit? Which is it? Both. It's the second time he cried
with a loud voice. What's the first time? First
time when he cried, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 22. He cried that with
a loud voice for all to hear. Why is this man forsaken? God
can't forsake the righteous. David said, I've never seen the
righteous forsaken. And there he is, this righteous
man. We're going to see the centurion say, this was a righteous man.
It's the only one. And yet he's crying out with
a loud voice for everyone to hear, God has forsaken me. Why? Because God hath made him to
be sin. That's not everyone. No. Those who know they're sinners,
those who know they have no righteousness, those who know that all that
belongs to us is confusion and rebellion and sin. That's who
Christ came for. It is finished. For people to say there's anything
left, that God's done all He can do, and now it's up to you,
is another gospel. It's blasphemous to say that
Christ lied when He said that. God hates it. I hate it. We hate
it, don't we? He said it's finished. This is
our hope. This is our only hope. Did He finish it? Is there anything
left to be done? finished his works of creation,
what did he do? That's right, Mike. He rested. When Christ finished his work,
what did he do? God put him in a grave for two
days. He rested. He laid in the tomb,
sister, on the Sabbath. Why? Because we're dead to the
law by the body of Christ. And we rest not in a day, but
we rest in person. He's the Lord our Sabbath. He
finished the work. We're not here on Sunday because
it's required of us. We're here because we want to
be. We need to be. We love to be.
To worship the Christ who finished. Oh, it is finished. It is finished. And they said
there in verse 46, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
Into thy hands I commend my spirit. You know, we can't say that.
We do. We do, we say, in a sense, we
say, Lord, I commit all that I am and all that I have, my
soul's in your hand, my life is in your hand, my salvation
is in your hand, everything I am, everything I have, everyone around
me, all that I have is thine by your grace, belongs to you,
and Lord, it's all yours. And I know you, and we cast all
our care on him for he cares for us. But we can't, we can't,
someone else has to commend us to God. The word command means
to present for approval. That's what command means, to
present for approval. Are you with me? This is the end of our Lord's
crucifixion. And Isaiah 53 says, God's going
to see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Prolong His days. How long? Without
end. Accepted. So we're accepted. That's the same word as commend.
In the Beloved. In the Beloved. We're commend. It's not he that
commendeth himself that's approved, but he whom God commendeth. And
Christ, when God, Christ commended himself to the Father, you know
what he's doing? Because we were crucified with
Christ. We were buried with Christ. And now Christ is seated. You
know, we're seated with Christ. Like a baby in a womb. You know,
we were in Christ when he was being crucified. Baby in a womb,
wherever that mother goes, the baby goes. Whoever loves the
mother has to love the baby. Whoever accepts the mother has
to accept the baby. Right? Everything the mother
does, the baby does. That's what it is to be in Christ. Crucified with Christ. We're
in Christ. Nevertheless, I live, but not I. I live by the faith
of Him that loved me and died for me, lives, ever lives for
me. So when Christ commended Himself
to the Father, He's commended His work, He commended all that
He had done for His people, His people. He called Him Father,
didn't He? And He told us through His disciples,
I go to my Father and your Father, your Father. And then he bowed
his head. I love this. He gave up the ghost.
It's John, I believe, that said he bowed his head. Our Lord didn't die of heart
failure. Our Lord didn't die from loss
of blood. Our Lord didn't writhe in anguish
and pain on that cross. No, sir. It doesn't say that
in the Bible. Our Lord didn't fall beneath His cross. Our Lord
didn't cry out in pain and agony. He only cried out when God forsook
Him. And he only cried out when he said, it's finished. Our Lord
did not, his head did not drop as one who suddenly his soul
is taken from him like we will. The moment our God comes, God
says, I kill, I make a life. The moment when our God comes
for us, we will drop like that. You know that? We'll just, it's
over. Our Lord takes a bow, says he
bowed his head. You see the glory here? As one
who has done a wonderful work and bows his head to the acclaim,
to the applause, standing ovation. Surely all the angels and everyone
in glory were standing at him who had done such a work.
He bowed his head and gave up the ghost. It's taken from us.
He gave himself. He gave it up. He said, no man
taketh my life from me. I lay it down. I have this power. And when the time came, he took
it up again. See, this is our sovereign Christ,
isn't it? And this is salvation. He does what he will with whom
he will, just because he will. That's glorious. Now, there's
a man standing there at the foot of the cross, a centurion. And
he saw what was done. He was in on it. Why is this
centurion here? Verse 47, the centurion, he saw
what was done. Why was he here? He's part of
it. Was he the one plucking his beard
out? Was he the one spitting in his face? He was one of them.
Wasn't he? That's why he's there. Was he
one of the soldiers torturing our Lord? Didn't believe on Him? Spitting, mocking, laughing,
bowing the knee in mockery? Was he? Yes, he was. And so were
we in so many ways. Right? There was a time we cared
about Christ. We were there. Everyone this
day was there. And this soldier was in on it.
Like a thief. the thief on the cross, this
man, this centurion, centurion means captain of a hundred, centurion,
hundred, captain of a hundred, one out of a hundred, all of
a sudden, hearing, he heard everything our Lord said, he's right there,
he heard everything he said from the cross, he saw what he was
doing. I believe, And you can't prove
me wrong. I believe this was the one who
got that vesture. Those soldiers cast lots for
his vesture. You say, how do you know that? Everyone whom
Christ died for is wearing his vesture. That's how I know. All
right? I believe that's the man. The
lot is cast to the left. The whole disposing thereof is
of the Lord. You can't prove me wrong. I believe
he's standing there with his bloody garment on him. Whether
it's material or not, he's got a garment on him all right. Blood
soaks. He's got a covering. And now
all of a sudden, hearing His voice and seeing
His glory. That's His glory, what Christ
did on that cross. He says His whole mind is changed. His heart is broken over sin.
His heart is full of amazement and wonder and worship. And He glorified God. What do you mean he glorified
God? These men are killing this man, innocent man, and men are
doing their laughing and mocking. This is a mob scene and all this
bloodshed. God's in the middle of this.
God is doing this. men with wicked hands are taking
and crucifying the Lord of Globes and doing what God determined
for them. God is doing that. It pleased
the Lord to bruise his son. God is doing this to his son.
And this centurion sees that. God, this hearing His sovereignty, seeing
His majesty, seeing His power, seeing Him in all this pain,
not wincing, not weeping, not crying, but sovereignly, majestically,
powerfully, In full control of everything. His words. Ordering
His words. Ordering people. Though His hands
are nailed to the cross, He's ordering John. He's ordering
Mary. He's ordering the soldiers to do everything. He's ordering
it all. Seeing that. This is no mere
man hanging here. He said in John's Gospel, Matthew
and Mark, He said, Surely, surely this is the Son of God. No one, no man spake like this
man. No man could do what he did.
No man could endure what he did. No man could say things and they
come to pass. This is the Son of God. And here
he said, certainly, without a doubt, certain, it is certain, this
was a righteous man. John, he had no interest in God
or righteousness before this centurion. But now he does, all
of a sudden. Where does he see the hand of
God? Where does he see the glory of God? Where does he see the
righteousness of God? Where does he see that? In that one hanging
on that tree. Certainly. Have you? Some in here haven't seen that
yet. My heart's prayer, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
you is that He will. Let me show you. All the people,
verse 48, it says, all the people that came together at that site
beholding these things. Everyone in this room beholding,
hearing this. Our young people are hearing
this. Having ears to hear, but maybe not hearing. Some adults
maybe hearing this, but not really hearing. Seeing, you're looking
at the verses, you're looking. And in your mind's eye, you're
picturing what happened there. You see, you're beholding this
thing. He says, these people smote on
their breath. Smote on their breath. Very few instances in
Scripture of people smiting on their breaths. One is in the
Gospel of Luke where this publican was standing in the temple, way
back in the back. He felt so ashamed, so sinful,
too sinful to come up front like that Pharisee. And all he could
do was, back in the back, he would smite on his breath. Like
there's something in here he couldn't, he wants gone. Like
his heart's breaking. Like, what's wrong with me? You
ever done that? And Ezekiel, I believe, it says,
you'll smack, hit your thigh. Like, what's wrong? You ever
done that? These people hearing this, beholding
this, seeing Christ on the cross. Oh my God, all of them. But they
left. They returned. They left. They
left. Then where'd they go? Went back
to their job. Went back home. They felt a little
bit of it, but it was soon gone. Right? Like right now. Some people in here may have
somewhat touched with this, but tomorrow will you have forgotten
it completely. And now there's some women, a
few women. at the foot of that ground, and
his acquaintance, those who knew him well, those related to him,
and some women. Look at verse 49, I close. All
his acquaintance. All his acquaintance. Are you
acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you? You know, all
these women, sister, you know, all these women were married
to this man. This was their husband. Dying for them. You know, this
is their kinsman redeemer. Rahab, this is you, woman, forsaken
from your youth, this is He, who with great mercy has drawn
you." Where? To the foot of His cross. All these women, who are they? Who are these women at the foot
of His cross? Well, they followed Him from Galilee. There was one
in a little town called Magdala. And this woman had spent her
life, sold herself to sin. She didn't know God, didn't know
Christ, didn't care. She lived for pleasure, lived
for money, brought great reproach to her sin upon herself, upon
everybody around her, but God. Her name was Mary. It means bitter,
bitter. And had not Christ come to her,
had not Christ chosen her, had God not chosen her and given
her to Christ, she'd have died in bitterness. She'd have died
without God, without Christ, without hope. But God chose her
and sent our Lord Jesus Christ to reveal Himself to Mary Magdalene. And He cast out seven devils.
And she was sitting at his feet from that day in Galilee, and
she followed him everywhere he went. Didn't she have a job? Didn't matter. She doesn't need
too much money. She needs him, though. And wherever
you find our Lord, you find Mary. It seems like she was weeping
all the time, but it seemed like everything she had of any value,
she'd bust it over his head or his feet. And her glory, her
hair, that's nothing. He's my glory. He's my love. He's my life. He's my everything. And our Lord said, this is the
good part. It will not be taken from her.
And she's there right now at His feet as she was there at
the foot of the cross. Have you? Have you been chosen
over in Revelation? In closing it says, in Revelation
it says, all that were with them. It says they're going to make
war with the Lamb. In Revelation 17, Pilate and
Herod and all the people were gathered together against the
Lord. Who? They were making war with God's
Son. Old Brother Scott used to say, boys, you better stack your
guns. I used to love the way he'd say,
boys, stack your guns now. Surrender. You can't win. That's what one of the old, was
it Caiaphas? The high priest said, if we're
fighting against God, it's a useless battle. You better surrender. But now he's the one hanging
there. We're free. Oh, it's the other way around. We're doing
this to him. Oh, no. Hold on now. You're in
his hand. His hands are nailed. He's still
in his hands. They'll make war with the Lamb,
it says in Revelation 17. Close this whole thing out. The
end of the book says they're going to make war with the Lamb.
The Lamb shall overcome them. He's Lord of Lords. He was Pilate's
Lord. He was Herod's Lord. He's king
of kings. They wrote that in mockery. Oh,
no truer words were ever written. No title was ever given to a
man of absolute truth than King Jesus. He's the king. Sovereign, true sovereign. And
they that are with him, like these women, over in Psalm 45,
it says the king's daughters are among the women there. They're all glorious in apparel. Where did you get this apparel?
King's daughters? The women of the king? He made them. And it says they
that are with him are called chosen. And what? Faithful. These women were right
there. They're not leaving. From the time he called them,
they were right there with him. To the time he's hanging on that
cross and died, they're right there at his feet. Why? Because he's their life. He really
is. That's the one they love. That's
their redeemer. That's their hope. And the rest
of this chapter, we're going to look at Wednesday night. And
those days, we look at it, in those days, they were the darkest
days ever for the disciples, those two or three days. We know
the end of them. And we can look at the rest of
this through all that darkness with great anticipation. for them. I can't wait to see
this through Mary's eyes when our Lord says, Mary, he's not
dead. He died, but he's not dead. And the greatest day is yet to
come when the Son of Righteousness arises. Oh, as sad as this was
for them, as dark as it was for them, and I'm getting back in
my message, but I can't wait. It's with great anticipation.
And this is a good point, you see. We live in a land of darkness. Darkness covers the land. Earth
is without form and born in it. Confusion of faces. But brethren,
this is exciting. He's about to come. The sun's
about to shine. And no more darkness. Won't that
be something? Alright. Brother John, you come
lead us in closing here.