Go back to Luke 18 now. Luke
18. This follows what we just looked
at. Nearly everybody in here except
our young people was here listening. After He said all that He did
to the disciples, verse 31 says, Then He took unto Him the twelve
said unto them and began to tell them what things were going to
happen to them. Now everything our Lord said
and did was purposed before the world began. There's nothing
random. It's all written. It was all
written. Nothing random. It's all purposed for him to
do. He had a work to do. Everything down to the steps
he took, where he went, who he found, what he said, everything
he said was written in the book. And he came to accomplish everything
that was purpose for him to do. He took these 12 men under them
and it began again, he was telling them again, the gospel. In these three verses, we're
going to see the gospel, how Christ died. for our sins, for
the sins of his people, according to the scriptures. That's the
gospel. When Paul in 1 Corinthians 15
said, I declare unto you the gospel, how that Christ died
for our sins, the sins of his people, according to the scriptures.
That's what he's going to say. Okay? Now, none of these men
knew him before he came to them. None of them sought Him. None
of them called on Him. None of them believed Him until
He called them. It says He took unto Him the
twelve. He came for these. That's what
Wesley read. For the transgression of my people
was He stricken. And so Christ came for these
men. He came calling. When He came
calling, something happened. And this is what we were just
dealing with. They were born again. 11 and 12, you know, Judas
was a son of perdition from the beginning. The Lord chose him
to be the betrayer. But they were born again. And how you know they were born
again is they left everything. That's what we just looked at.
That's the miracle of new birth. With man, it's impossible. It's
impossible, but it's certain with God. That rich young ruler
said, a certain man. It's certain. And always, in
every case, every person that's born again, the Lord accomplishes
salvation in them. He accomplishes. He creates a
new creature. They have a new heart. It wasn't
there before. They love God. They love the
things of God. They love the people of God.
They love the truth. They didn't love it before. They hate it
now. They love the truth. They have a new, two new desires. David said, one thing that I
desire, and that's what I seek. It's there. It wasn't there before. Simon Peter and all of them,
they didn't desire Christ. They weren't even looking for
him. If they heard of Him, no beauty that they should desire
Him. Well, they do now. They have new eyes. They see things differently now.
They see unseen things. They have ears. They hear His
voice. Many left Christ, walked no more
with Him, and He said to His disciples, Will you go away?
They said, To whom? This is life. You're life. You're our life. They love nothing
more than to sit and listen to his voice and follow him everywhere. Just follow him everywhere. They're
so happy. Like a dog. Just like dogs follow their master. He was their master. It's still
the same for everyone. He gave them a new language.
A new language. They had a new family. A new
family. It happens to every single child
of God whom he calls. They will leave all. And in the
end, they will not leave him. They will not leave him. They
will not. They will keep coming. He calls,
they keep coming. They'll keep calling. They'll
keep seeking. They'll keep crying. They'll keep believing. They'll
keep cleaving. They'll keep rejoicing in this
gospel. It's just so. Do you still rejoice
after all these years? Some of you have been here for
a long time. It happens. It happens to all like Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress. That's why I put this in our
bulletin this morning. It began and Bunyan said, I saw
a man, he had a book in his hand which gave him a burden on his
back. It made him heavy laden. With what? My sin. My sin, this
burden called sin. It wasn't there before. He was
married with family and children and all that, and that was his
life. But when the Word came, it convicted him of his sin. It was like a heavy burden on
his shoulders that he couldn't get rid of it. He was dressed
in rags. He saw that, you know, I don't
have a covering at all. It's filthy rags. He may have been religious, but
when God, through the Word, convicted him, he said, I'm dressed in
rags, I've got this burden on my back, I can't remove it. And
he cried, What shall I do? And then God sent a preacher,
the evangelist, and the evangelist said, See yon wicked gate? Straight
is the gate, narrow is the way, few there be that find it. He
said, Go into that wicked gate. Go through that gate. See that
gate? Don't look to the right, go straight
to that gate and go through that gate and it'll be told you what
to do. Well, he did. The same evangelist said, there's
a cross on yonder hill. Look. He said, look. And the
pilgrim went through that wicked gate. He did. But what he did
was he left his home. He's leaving his home with his
burden on his back, his book in his hand. He's leaving his
home with all his family. His wife, his children, everybody
are begging him to stay. And what does he do? He puts
his fingers in his ears and crying out as he's running, life, life,
eternal life. And he went on to say his neighbors
and friends and some people began to mock him and deride him and
say, you're a fool and all that. Life, life, kept his eye on it.
And he went through, John, that straight, narrow way. The Lord
caused him to find it. And he went through it, and he
came to that hill. He said, I saw this place whereon
was a cross, and at the foot of the cross was a tomb. And
he said, when he got to the foot of that cross, that burden rolled
off his back. and went down the hill and rolled
into that tomb, and a stone covered it, and it was never seen again.
His sin was gone at the foot of the cross. That happens to
every single child of God. Christ crucified. All right? So the Lord now tells him, you've
left your family. You've left your home. You've
left everything. And nobody and nothing could
deter them from it. Why? Because God's in this. Because
they're born of God. Now he's going to take them to
the cross. Are you with me? Now he's going
to take them to the cross. And this is why he came. And
this is a purpose. This whole book is about a cross. Christ crucified. The whole book.
It's about Christ. Crucified. The whole book. You
know why we don't have a big crowd here? Because all we preach
is Christ crucified. But you know who will come here?
Those that need Christ crucified. Those that see all their riches,
all their hope, all their salvation, all the wisdom of God, the power
of God, the glory of God, all they need in Christ. That's what
they want. And our Lord is going to show
us in these three verses all things. Or in Him. Who He is. Why He came. What
He did. Who He did it for. And it's glorious. Three verses.
I couldn't. Brother John came to visit me.
John Davison. And I said, I couldn't get past
these three verses. I hope you'll be glad we didn't. Alright, look
at verse 31. It says, He took unto Him the
twelve and said unto Him, Behold, we go Are you with me? This is 12. 12. He called them. There He is. He took unto Him. He called them unto Himself. They came to Him, okay? And He
tells them, first thing, Behold, we're going up. This is the will of God, that
everyone that seeth the sign, believeth on Him, might have
everlasting life. And Christ said, I will raise
them up in the last day. You remember Exodus 3? God said,
I have heard their affliction by their task. He said, I am
come down to bring them out. To do what? To bring them up. We're going up. You know the
way up? This is a paradox. The way in
is out. We go to him outside the camp.
The way up is to be brought down. To be high, you've got to be
made low. To have everything, you've got to be nothing. You've
got to lose everything. To be rich, you've got to be
poor. To see, you've got to be blind. Our Lord made that man hear one
time. You know what he did? He stuck
his fingers in his ears. He made him hear by sticking
his fingers in his ears. Now that won't work. It did the
Bunyan's pilgrim. When he heard his voice, he didn't
want to hear anything else. My dad completely lost his hearing
the last day. Completely gone. No. My sheep hear my voice. He never quit calling him. He
couldn't hear any more human voices. Doesn't need to. We're going up. Look at Mark 10. This is the
same story as found in Mark chapter 10. Look at this. I love this. We've been through all four Gospels,
some of them more than once. But I remember this so well.
Mark 10. Look at it again. This is wonderful. Just wonderful. Verse 32. Mark 10, verse 32.
It says, They were in the way going up to Jerusalem. Are you
in the way? Are you? What's the way? Are you in Christ? If so, you're
going up. The new Jerusalem. Brother John,
you're going to see it coming down. The new Jerusalem out of
heaven. Glory is the glory of God. If
you're in Christ, the way. Read on. And Jesus went before
them. He was always out in front of
them. Why? Because He's the captain of their
salvation. He went before them. He faced
Satan in the wilderness, didn't He? Before He called His disciples,
He faced Satan for them. He faced the mob in the garden.
Remember? Do you love that? He went out
in front of them that came. If it hadn't been for Christ,
they'd have taken them all and crucified all of them. As it
is, they were all crucified in one person. But the mob came
for him, and he went out before them, and here's what he said.
Do you remember this? He said, Whom seek ye? And they said,
Jesus of Nazareth. He said, If you seek me, you've
got to let them go. You take me. You can't have them. He went before them. He went
before God's people to the cross. He went before us to the grave.
And He came out. Nothing to fear. He went before
us into heaven itself. That's where He sits right now.
On the right hand of God. And He's coming back for us. And look at verse 32. It says,
They were amazed. And this is a message. They were
amazed. Amazing Lord. What an amazing Lord. What an
amazing grace. And it said they followed. That's all a dog can
do, isn't it? Follow. But they were afraid. That's us, isn't it? Fearful
followers. Well, we follow him. We follow
him. Well, it says he took them again.
He took them again. Look at verse 32 there in Mark
10. He took again the twelve and
began to tell them what things should happen unto him. Now go
back to Luke 18. Go back there. He took again.
He took them again. He had already told them why
he came and what he was going to do. They didn't understand
it then. They don't understand it now.
They don't fully understand it. And you know what? As many times
as I've been preaching this, as many times as you've heard
this, we don't either. If we really understood, if we
really knew what He'd do, we couldn't contain ourselves. You
could not listen with a dry eye. You couldn't be silent. You'd
be shouting, Hallelujah, thank you, Lord Jesus, realizing what
He did. He took them again. I'm going
to show you again. You remember when John's in prison and he
sent the two disciples back and said, are you he that should
come or do we look for another? John believed him. John preached
him. But John needed confirmation
again. He needed to be told again and
again. Do you need to be told again
and again and again the gospel? Do you need to hear the same
things over and over again? That's what you do to your own
children. You tell your children the same
things over and over again. And our Lord sent back word.
He said, you go show John again. John, John, John, do you want
to hear this again? Who Christ is, why He came, what
He did, where He is now. Do you want to hear it again? I thought you never asked. This is the good news. This is
the Gospel. And if people aren't sinners, they don't need to.
People really don't love pride, or they do. All right, now look at it. In
verse 31, He took unto them the twelve, and He said, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and all things, all things, all things
that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall
be accomplished. All things. Now, I show this
to somebody. Go to Luke 24. If you have Luke
24, if you have the same Bible that I have, Cambridge, and many
of you do, Luke 24, and keep that Luke 18 right there. Just
fold it back. I want you to see something.
I want you to see something. All right, Luke 24. Now, if you
look at Luke 24, verse 25 and 26, 27, it's an exact spot at Luke 18,
30 and 31. It's exact spot, it's exact same
thing. When it's all over, when Christ
died and rose again, He began to preach. Luke 24-25, it said,
O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and enter in His glory. It's the same spot on
the same part of the page. And He's telling them again,
in the beginning, in the middle, in the end. He's telling them
this is it. This is why I came. This is what
it's all about. The whole thing. Did you see
that? Brother Kelly, the translators
didn't just say, oh, let's put that right there, no. Do you tell me, don't sometimes
you can't remember where the scriptures is because you know
what side of the page it's on? Huh? I don't know where it is,
but it's right there. Huh? And maybe that didn't impress
you, it did me. The Lord had that written down right where
he put it to show us the same things. In the beginning, he
began to tell them in the beginning what he was going to do. He told
them in the middle what he was going to do. And after he arose
and preached to them, he told them what he did. He preached
Christ. He preached himself. All right,
it says he All things that are written by
the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished.
And in Luke 24, I've been looking forward to getting to that, so
I'm not even going to wait. He began at the books of Moses
and the prophets and the Psalms and expanded unto them all things
concerning Himself. All things must be fulfilled.
To Him give all the prophets witness. the law and the prophets,
all witness of Christ. They are they, Christ said, the
scriptures which testify of me. All things written. Genesis,
he's the creator. This is God our creator. He's
the light of the world. Entrance of thy word, giveth
light. Who's that? Christ. Did you hear
the radio message? Paul didn't see the light. It's
not a thing to see, it's a person that shines on you. Christ, the
light, shines in your heart to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in him. In him. He's the light, he's
the woman's seed. Why is everything the way it
is? Why are women like they are, men like they are, and the world
like it is? It happened in the garden. And the whole answer
to this whole mess is Genesis 3.15. The woman's seed. A virgin-born son of man. Now he keeps calling himself
the son of man. Why? Why? Because he was made
a woman, made under the law. Why? Can you quote the rest of
it? To redeem them that are under
the law. To be made flesh. and to be made sin, to be made
a sacrifice for sin, to condemn sin in His flesh. He was made
flesh, but not to see the man, but to see God. A woman to see. He's the Passover lamb, Exodus.
God said, when I see the blood, what did Adam and Eve see? They
saw a lamb slain. They were covered with that lamb's
skin. God stripped the lamb naked to
cover their nakedness, shed its blood. One died that they might
live. They lived another 900 and some years. Why? Because
that's Christ. What's the tree of life in a
garden? What's the tree of life in a garden? Do you know what
it is? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The tree of life is the cross
which Christ hung upon. It's Him. He is the tree. The brazen serpent. in numbers,
the brazen serpent. Look, everybody's bitten. Look,
that's why Christ came. He stood one day and said, look,
come unto me, all you labor and heavy laden, everybody bitten.
Everybody got a burden on your back. Look unto me. Who? As Moses lifted up the serpent
and the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And all who look to Him, Christ
crucified. burdens are lifted at Calvary.
It was there by grace I received my sight, and the burden of mine
rolled away. He's the scarlet line in the
window for harlots, isn't he? Tie that line in the window,
harlot, I'm coming back for you. He's Joshua. He's a greater than
Solomon. He's the provider of His people.
He's the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. He laid
down His life for His children. And on and on again. All things. He began to tell them what all
things are about. It's about Him written in the
Prophets concerning the Son of Man. Now look at this. Look at
our text. It says in verse 31, All things shall be accomplished. Accomplished. Now he had already
taken them, three of them, up on the mount and transfigured. Remember? They saw light. Him. The light of God. Glory. And
they saw two men talking with him. Remember? Moses and Elijah. That's the law and the prophet.
What were they talking about? You remember? You know what it
said? It says they were talking about the death, the deceased
that he should Accomplish. Accomplish. The gospel, the good
news is that Christ accomplished salvation by Himself. He purged the sins of God's people. Isaiah said it long before he
came. He said, You comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. Comfort ye. Speak ye comfortably
to them. Tell them that warfare is what?
Accomplished. That Christ, the captain of the
salvation of God's people, is coming and is going to by Himself
cut the giant's head off. That was Genesis 3.15. Then you go over to 1 Samuel. David,
with the sword, did just that. That's Christ. Accomplished. The good news is
Christ accomplished salvation for His people. Isaiah said he'll
see the travail of his soul and be satisfied, accomplished, what
he was sent to do. He said he shall not fail or even
be discouraged. He shall accomplish. Salvation
is accomplished. That's why any so-called gospel
that has Jesus dying for everybody, and some of them going to hell
anyway, is not the gospel. It's another gospel. It's another
gospel. Men that say He tried and failed
and He wants to and can't, that's not an accomplishment. That's
a failure in Him. That's a God who cannot save. Well, here's
the gospel. Here's the good news. That what
God sent Christ to do, He accomplished. Those that God sent Christ to
save, He saved them. Every last one of them. Those thou hast given me, Christ
said, I've lost. I've kept them. I've lost nothing.
Accomplished. Oh, I love this. I love his accomplished
work, don't you? Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, the Lord be magnified. Look at verse 32. He shall be delivered unto the
Gentiles. Who delivered him? Who delivered him? God did. He being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, Peter preached at Pentecost,
you have with wicked hands have taken and slain, but you did
what God determined before to be done. This is the Christ description.
This is the gospel. This is the truth. There is no
other. It began with God purposing, not a plan. It doesn't say plan
in the Bible. It says purpose. He said, I purposed
it. I will accomplish it. I will
do it. I've spoken it. I will finish it. And what did
Christ say on the cross? It's finished. I'll do it. I purposed it. I'll do it. He
gave Christ a people to save before the foundation of the
world. Yes, He chose them. Yes, He elected them. I'm glad
He did, aren't you? If He hadn't, nobody would be
saved. But everybody God chose and gave to Christ will be saved.
And He gave them to Christ to capture their salvation. The
covenant head, the second Adam, come from above. their righteousness, their Redeemer,
their Savior, the Son of Man, yet Son of God, the Shepherd of the sheep. And
He said, I have come to give that they might have life. And those given to Christ, He
lived for them and God pleased with His righteousness and imputed
that to them. And then Christ went to Calvary's
tree where He was made sin for them. What does that mean? It
means all the sins of all of God's people, all the iniquity
of all of God's people from Adam to Zerubbabel, to the last sinner
whom God chose, every single sin they had, do, and will commit
was laid on Christ, the iniquity of them all. and God punished every single
one of their sins, like Bunyan was put in a tomb, cast out of
God's sight, never be seen. He said the iniquity will be
sought, it won't be found. Gone. Accomplished. He accomplished that. He put
away the sin. He didn't try to, he didn't make
a down payment, he made full payment for the sins of God's
people. God delivered him out. He that
delivered him up for us all. Who's that? Us all. That's Romans 8. For whom he
did foreknow, he did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, he called.
Whom he called, he justified by his blood. Whom he justified,
he glorified. That is, to see his glory. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifies. Who's he that condemned? Christ
died. Now, he that delivered him up for us all. How shall
they not with him? freely give us all things. He was delivered unto the Gentiles. Read on, verse 32. He said, He
shall be mocked. You know, God is not mocked.
They tried Him. They mocked Him. They ridiculed
Him. They put a reed in his hand. They put a crown on his head.
No one ever wore a more royal crown. No one ever wore a more
majestic crown. Do you hear me? Nobody ever wore
clothes more wonderful than the bloody rags that he wore on his
body. Nobody! Oh, we see his majesty, don't
we? We see his glory, that crown of thorn like that ram caught
in the thicket, that, oh. Lacerate his image marred more
than any man? No, no. That image is the most
glorious thing you'll ever witness. Mocked? No, he's not mocked.
The angels are listening and watching in amazement. The guy's
not mocked. They tried. Not mockery. This is his greatest glory. He
saved others, himself he can't save. That's right. If he'd be the Son of God, let
him come down for the cross. He's sinning right now. He can't. But he is coming back. He is. You're going to see. Everybody's
going to see. He's not mocked. Men try to make
a mockery of him. No, no, no, no, no. The wrath
of man shall praise him. The mockery of man praised him.
They spit in his face. Look at that. They said he was
spitefully intrigued and spit on him. That's the most, the
thing that you'd show your most utter detestation of somebody
or something is to spit. You know, the scripture says
our throats by nature are an open sepulcher, a poison of asps
under them. Human beings always spit. He didn't have that in his mouth.
Grace poured from his lips. The spittle of his mouth healed
a blind man. And man spit in his face. Miriam
one time got all lifted up and the Lord said, I ought to treat
you like your father spit in your face. That's exactly how
he treated his son. Why would he do that? Are you
with me here? Do you understand the glory of...
He let man spit. He let them. They couldn't have
done it. Why is he doing that? He didn't
open his mouth. Like a sheep before its shearers
is dumb, he opened his mouth. He spoke not a word. He's done
better than spit in his face. They mocked him. Put a crown
on him. Why? Because that's what I deserve. He's silent. It is glorious. This is what I'm going to do.
And they're going to scourge him. They're going to whip him.
They're going to whip him. Cords. Cords of love, though. Because the chastisement of our
peace is laid on him. They'll scourge him. Whip him. Whip of the law. And they're
going to put him to death. Who is? Who is? God put him to grief. God killed
his son. Christ said, no man taketh my
life from me. I lay it down. I lay it down. God shall put
him to death. Yes, he is. Because the soul
that sinneth will surely die. And his soul was made an offering.
All right? But the third day, he's going
to rise again. The third day, he's going to
rise again. And I never get tired of it. Like when the high priest
went into the Holy of Holies with the blood, and there was
a bunch of guilty sons of Jacob, and he went in the blood. When
I see the blood, God said, pour it on the mercy seat. For the
transgressions of my people, go in there and pour that blood
on the mercy seat. Where are those bells and pomegranates?
Go beneath the veil and put that blood on the mercy seat, and
if I accept it, you'll come out alive and the people will rejoice."
Christ said, I'm coming back the third day. I'm going into
the Holy of Holies, not with the blood of bulls and goats
or lamb, that can't put away sin, but with His own precious
blood and pour it over the mercy seat and make an end of transgressions. And he said, I'm coming out.
And you know when he did that on the cross, remember the veil
was rent from top to bottom? And Christ, three days later,
came out of that grave and said, I accept it. God accepted. What? Me. You're bad. All that I did, I accomplished
it all. And now in glory, every single
person He's going to be singing of Him that loved us, loved us,
mind you, washed us from our sins in His own blood. That's what everybody in glory
is singing. And it starts now. Now look at verse 34. They understood
none of these things. And this saying was hid from
them. Neither knew they the things which were spoken. I just don't
understand. You say, why? Weren't they saved?
Yes. And I think I'm going to do a message real soon on when
is a man saved. They were saved as soon as Christ
came and called them. Right there. They were sure saved. When He called them, they were
saved. I'm not going to give it away, that's my next message.
Okay, but they didn't fully understand what he was saying, and we don't
either, like I said. We don't either, I don't. I couldn't
contain myself if I really understood what Christ has done. And I understand a little bit.
We do understand that the Son of God has come and given us
a little bit of understanding. We might know Him that's true,
and we're in Him that's true. This is life eternal. And I'll
tell you this much, why they didn't fully understand, it was
head-prone, because he's got to go to the cross. Simon Peter,
remember he took out that sword in the garden. He's going to
cut everybody's head off. He's going to defend his Lord. No.
They got to smite the shepherd. Christ has got to go to that
cross. Nobody can stop him. All 11 of them would have tried
to keep him from going to the cross. Peter did. Remember Simon
Peter? The same story. Simon Peter said,
no, Lord, don't be a far from me, no, no. And he turned and
said, get behind me, Satan. This is why Christ came. And
nothing and no one can stop it. He's got to go to the cross.
Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Don't you see
the glory of God? It's no longer hidden from us. All right. We'll try it again
Wednesday. Come, John. Sing a hymn.