I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. And in the nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. That's one of the hymns I want
sung at my funeral. That and Come Thou Fount. I never
grow tired of hearing those. I distinctly remember that being
one of Brother Bill Clark's favorite songs the last time he was here, the last time we saw him. We
sang that hymn, and I remember him commenting on that. Do you remember that? And his
old, his Irish accent, particularly like that verse that talks about,
he said, "'Til all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin
no more.'" Matthew 27, go over there with
me, Matthew 27. We've been in this chapter looking
at the Lord Jesus Christ's crucifixion. The Lord is being crucified,
Christ crucified. What is this all about? Why is
he here? That's what, when Pilate said,
what hath he done? He'd ask the same question. Well, in verse thirty-nine here,
we're going to look at just this one verse. It says in verse thirty-nine,
And they that passed by reviled him, mocked him, wagging their heads. Anybody ever done that to you? Wagging their head, shaking their
head, they that pass by. When the Lord was crucified,
it was a national event. No one was ignorant of what was
going on here. We talked about that man from
Cyrene, Simon. He was a thousand miles away,
but when he came into town, he was confronted with this because
the whole world, as some of them say, has gone after him. what
was going on. What's going on here? This man
that's hanging on this tree, being crucified, what has he
done? What's his crime? And this thing of Christ being
crucified, what we've come to, this story, is the sum and substance
of the gospel. Truth, the heart and soul of
salvation. The Old Testament, all of the
Old Testament, all of the symbols, types, prophecies, all point
to this one event, this time, right here. All point to it. The Old Testament said this is
what we all culminate in, pointing to. That's the end of all of
this. And then the epistles and everything
in the future are everything in the epistles and now look
back to that we're looking back at this what we're doing we're
looking back studying this what's going on here. Our Lord Jesus
Christ. Once made this statement he said.
What shall I say father deliver me from this. That is going to
be crucified what shall I say deliver me from this he said
for this cause. came I into the world. This is
why I came, Christ said, to be crucified. And 1 Corinthians
15 talks about the gospel, says this is the gospel, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures prophesied. It all points to this. Why? Why
was Christ crucified? Now listen carefully, the first
thing is because God is holy. You don't see the love of God
first. That's not the first thing you learn when looking at Christ
crucified. That's not what you first see.
God is killing this man hanging on a tree. God's killing him.
That's what Scripture said, please the Lord to bruise him, to kill
him. Making his soul an offering, Isaiah said. God is killing this
man. Why? God is holy. God is just. He said, I will
by no means clear the guilty. That's what God said. That's
the God of the Bible. God is angry. Please stay with
me. This is what it's all about.
I never preach another message. May not. You may not hear it. Another message. God is angry. That's what the scripture says.
Scripture says God is angry with the wicked every day. It doesn't
say he loves them. It says he's angry. God is holy. I said God is holy.
And sin is a wretched disease that is in us. came in this planet by one man's
hand entered in the world, so death passed on all men for all
that all have seen. Sin is a wretched disease like
leprosy. Scripture talks about sin like
leprosy, doesn't it? It uses leprosy as an emblem
of A type of sin, leprosy, always got worse and worse and worse.
It was a fatal disease. It always got worse and worse
and worse until that person, that flesh, you were unable to
be around it. It's just awful. From the sole
of the feet to the top of the head, that person, there's no
sound in the center. That's what God said in Isaiah
1 about all people. That's what it says. All have
sinned, have this leprosy called sin in them. When Genesis chapter
six, one of the brethren read this yesterday in the medium
of the Drew Deeds, and it says, God looked down, Genesis six,
and saw that the imagination of man's heart was only evil
continually, and it repented God that he made man, and he
said, I'm going to destroy him. Sin is like rabies. The first bitten, it doesn't
show itself too much, but if something's not done, you'll
go crazy and it'll kill you. Right? There's an old story.
Brother Barnard used to tell this story about a father who
had a young child with a dog that they dearly loved named
Shep. A family pet named Shep. Must have been a shepherd of
some kind. And a little kid came in one day and said, Daddy, something's
wrong with Chef. I went out to pet him and he
growled at me. And he said, and Daddy, he said,
he's foaming at the mouth. And his dad, a child's dad, knew
immediately and he walked up over the mantle of the fireplace
and grabbed his shotgun, grabbed it down. The little kid, horrified,
said, Dad, what are you doing? He broke it open and put those
shells in it. He said, Son, I've got to kill
Shep. Shep's gone mad. If I don't kill
Shep, Shep's going to kill you. See, sin is always fatal. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. It's not just religion. This
is the truth. And this death it talks about
is eternal. Separation from God. God whose
life, God whose love, God whose grace, God whose mercy, kindness,
goodness, gentleness, separation from all that. For the worm dieth
not. Sin. God is holy. God is righteous. Scripture says,
The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. That's his character. Scripture says, He hateth iniquity.
God is just. God is just. That means he will
punish sin. He must. He must. God must punish sin, must put
it away like an old ship. Got to do something about it.
Uh, not daughter works in surgery. And she'll tell you that most
people, most complications do not arise from surgery itself,
but infection. Infection. Most people die, not
from the surgery itself, but from infection. And the chief
killer is one little germ. What is one little germ? And
if it gets in, it's killed many people, staff. Is it wrong for that surgeon
to demand a sterile environment? You must get rid of this, it'll
kill you. Sin permeated this earth. It's killing us all. There's
only one way to deal with it. God is just, he must punish sin,
he must. Turn back to Lamentations 1,
Lamentations chapter 1 that we read. God is holy, God is just,
God is angry. The whole world knows, basically
knows one verse, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. Very
few people know the last verse in that chapter. verse thirty six or two verses
from the first thing very few people know the last verse is
he that believe it's not the son the wrath of God abides upon
him not the love. Yes God loves some but not all
the wrath of God abides upon some it can't have both God can't
love you and the wrath of God abided upon you can it. The wrath of God abides upon
some John three thirty six Romans one eighteen says the wrath of
God is clearly revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness
and sin. The wrath of God. Then don't
see it. People don't see that. Preachers,
these hucksters, these liars, these deceivers, they won't tell
people that because they don't believe it. They don't believe
God's holy and just and angry and don't believe he's angry. I don't believe he's a God of
wrath. That's what Malachi said. Where's the God of judgment? That's what Elijah said. Where's
the God of wrath and judgment? God is holy. Death is proof. Death is proof God is holy. Death is proof God is angry.
Destruction is proof God is holy. God is angry. Isn't it? You don't
destroy things you love. The flood is proof of the original
flood that destroyed the whole world full of people except for
eight people. The flood is proof that God is
angry. The ark is proof that God is
love to some, not all. The ark is proof that God is
merciful. The ark is proof that some found
grace in the eyes of the ark is proof of the sovereign mercy
and love and grace of God on some. They didn't deserve it.
It was quickly evident after the flood wasn't no ham. He sure
didn't deserve it. No one is. Noah was a sinner
and Noah found grace where. Where was the mercy of God, where
was the love of God, where was the grace of God, where was the
goodness of God's name? It's in an ark. And Romans 8, 39 says the love
of God is in Christ Jesus, Christ and him crucified, of which that
ark is an emblem, a symbol. That ark bore the wrath, the
flood. Don't throw a scourge of God's
wrath against an unbelieving, a sinful world. But those that
were in it, they didn't feel a drop of rain, not one drop. There is therefore now no condemnation,
not one, to them that are in Christ Jesus. They didn't feel
a drop of rain. Some of you are smiling. Why? Because the Ark got it all. is a picture of Christ crucified.
Christ is the Holy One. For Lamentations 1 there, he
said in verse 12, the last part of that verse, says, The Lord
hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. You see
that? Anger. This man, whoever's speaking
here in Lamentations, God's angry with him and God's killing him
and God's afflicting him. God's punishing him. And whoever that man was hanging
on that tree, Scripture says, Peter stood up that day before
all and he said, you with wicked hands have taken and crucified
him, but you did what God determined before it be done. Isaiah prophesied
long before he said, the Lord hath put him to grief. The Lord
bruised him. God's killing this man. Why?
For his own sin? No. He had none. Christ is holy. Christ is harmless. Christ is
separate from sinners. Scripture said, undefiled, not
like us. He's the righteous one. Christ
is unblameable, unreprovable in God's sight, without spot,
without blemish, no sin in Him, nothing to deserve this. The
wages of sin is death. He has no sin. He earned acceptance,
love. He earned it. He's the righteous
one. He's the holy one. He's the perfect
one. Scripture says he's an altogether lovely one. God looked at him
and he said, I'm well pleased. He's lovely. God who is holy
said, here's a holy man. I love holy things. I love this
man. Well pleased for his righteousness.
Peter got up that day and the first words out of his mouth
to that crowd was, this is a man approved of God. well-pleased, a perfect man, and therefore
a perfect sacrifice, a perfect substitute. That he
hangs on this cross, he's been killed by God for sin. Why? Not
his own. Someone else's. The reason the Son of God hangs
on the cross is not, as I said, not because men put him there,
but because God put him there. And Scripture says, God hath
made him to be sin. Scripture says, God hath laid
on him iniquity, a substitute. Who did he do this
for? Everybody? his people. That's what the announcement
was when he was born. It said, Call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins by being the substitute. His
people whom he said that the Father had given him, all which
thou hast given me, I will lose nothing. Save them. And in a minute we're going to
see how you know who they are. God hath made him to be sin for
them. God hath laid on him their iniquity. God hath made Christ
their substitute. Look at verse twelve. Now hear
what our text there in Matthew, and here it says, Is it nothing
to you, all ye that pass by? All ye that pass by. When our Lord was hanging on
that tree, many, many people passed by. Some, it says, sat
down there in Matthew 27, sat down to watch him there, but
many passed by. There's not room to see a big
crowd, but many passed by. It was like sport. Out of curiosity,
they would pass by, many, thousands upon thousands and ten thousands. That's right. It was like sport.
They passed by. And here in Lamentations it says,
is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by, behold, and see,
stop, think, consider what this is, that pass by. Would you turn
with me to Romans chapter ten, Romans ten. Romans chapter ten. Scriptures always speaks in language
like this. It came to pass. It came to pass. It came to pass. Then. All of us come into this world,
but the child is about to be born, a child has been born.
Other children about to be born by the will of God, by the grace
of God. We pray more. That child will
come. And the years are like a vapor,
life is like a vapor and it will come and it will pass. Until
and unless the Lord return, a child will grow old and frail, like
Brother William did, and will put their body in a casket and
then pass away. It's like that. My child is now
a mother. It's like that. It seems like
we should be going to the hospital for you to give birth, man. It's
like that. to pass. We all come and we pass. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
lived 33 years. He came. He came to do something. He did
it. Came to pass. Everyone on this
earth comes to pass. We're passing through. We're
born, we live, we die. Everything, everyone on this
earth is passing through. And everyone, listen to me, everyone
on this earth has been or will be confronted with this. Like
all these people back then, they all were, they were all there.
And everyone in this earth will be confronted with this, Christ
crucified. That's right, look at Romans
ten. You know, there's no getting around this. Verse sixteen, Paul
says, They have not all obeyed the gospel. Isaiah said, Lord,
who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard?
Verily, yes, verily, their sound," what's that? The sound of the
gospel, who Christ is, went into all the earth, and their words
unto the end of the world. Doesn't he say that? Whose words? Somebody's coming, who? The crucified
one, the substitute, Savior, Redeemer, the Lamb of God's coming. Have they not all heard? Verily.
Now, Paul wrote this 2,000 years ago, before the day of mass communication,
right? Before airwaves. There were airwaves. But God doesn't need airwaves. Had they not all heard? Yes,
they had. And back there in Lamentations,
Jerry, that's way before Paul, too. He says, Is it nothing to
you, all you that pass by? All have been confronted with
this one who came, the Lord Jesus Christ. And all will respond.
You cannot remain indifferent. You cannot. No one is indifferent. You remember old Pilate tried
to be? He didn't. Old Pilate said, I'm innocent.
You've already said he was a just one. Your wife even warned you. You heard him speak. You heard
him. You heard him. You can't be innocent here. You
can't be indifferent here. You can't wash your hands of
this thing. You're in it. You're either for him or you're
against him. Either died before you or he didn't. That's right. Can't be indifferent. It's impossible. Something of
this magnitude. You know, back during the Civil
War, that war affected the whole known country, didn't it? Didn't
it? But eventually, I mean, out west,
they knew what was going on. Lots of people went out west
to escape it, you know. There were people living then,
out west. And I heard about it was it affected
the whole country north south and east and west well there
were states like the Commonwealth of Kentucky you know that tried
to remain neutral. At the time. Remember what old
brother Worthington said to me that. Brother Terry Worthington
old son of the Confederates I was down visiting him in Georgia.
And he's a Civil War buff, and he had books all over, and I
said, Brother Terry, I've never been interested in the Civil
War. And he said in his slow drawl, he said, where are you
from? I said, well, Kentucky. He said,
well. He said, they weren't interested
when it was being fought. Kentucky tried to remain neutral.
Remember, at first, we're not in on this. We're not getting
in on this until it converged on them. You're in it. And then they went with the South
for a while. And then they went with the North
for a while. But they were in it. No way of
getting out. The World War II. World War II
is a world war. All of Europe, everything was
under attack. People were dying. thousands,
millions of people dying. The United States said, well,
we're not in it. This doesn't affect us. Until
the bombs dropped. Wait a minute. It does affect
us, doesn't it? You can't remain indifferent.
This affects everybody. You can't remain indifferent,
can you? When we preach Christ crucified,
listen, when we preach, I'm preaching right now, I'm not asking anybody
for a decision. We never do that. We never try
to get a response. No, sir. No, sir. We don't have an altar call.
That fellow rebuked me the other day because apparently I didn't
give an altar call, didn't give people a chance to No, sir, we don't do that. We're
not told to do that. God said, like to Moses, to the
people that were bitten with that serpent, you know, the dime.
He said, make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole. He said,
Moses, put it on a pole, and here's what you do. Just lift
it up. Just lift it up. That's all you
do. Don't beg, don't plead, don't
say, would you all please, don't offer them, don't bribe them,
don't do anything, just lift it up. Just stand there. Here it is. John 3, 14, which old Brother
Barnard said, now here's the gospel. Not verse 16, verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Christ crucified. Now, whosoever believeth in him
should not perish. Death, substitute. Lift him up. Don't bribe, don't beg, don't
plead, just lift him up. I'll draw him. Christ said, If
I be lifted up, I'll draw my men to myself. Didn't he, Sam? Isn't that what he said? Just
declare it. If he don't declare it, go to
those dry bones and just say, Behold thy God. Declare it. Just declare Christ. Declare
the truth. My people will be willing in
the day of my power. Stand back. Can these bones live,
Ezekiel? And here's what people argue,
you know. How are you going to get people
to come if you don't do this, if you don't do that? Well, you
know, if I'm trying to get people to come, Brother Roy, if I'm
going to get people to come, that's what I'd do. I'd bribe. If I'm doing it, you understand
me? If I'm going to get people, this is the way I would do it.
I'm a man. This is the way I'd do it. Sammy, would you come
up here a minute? Oh, come here. I've got $20 for
you. I ain't kidding. Come here. All right, anybody else. Let us see if I'm going to do
it. I'm going to get you to come.
That's what I'm going to have to do. But I'm not doing it. Salvation's not up to me. Are
you with me? It's up to the Lord. And God
says, I will set you to the north wind. Just lift it up. Just declare you're God. Just
declare me. Huh? Isn't that what he said?
Preach Christ high and lifted up and watch him come. Who? My people. We shall be willing
in the day of my power. Psalm 110 verse 3. How are you going to get them
to come? I can't. How is God going to? This is
how. Now does it make sense? Sammy, I'll be borrowing twenty
dollars off you soon. We don't bribe people. God brings them. God brings them. We preach Christ. We're not asking
for a decision here. We're not asking for a decision. And you know man has already
made one. Here's the thing about it. Man has already made a decision.
Have they not all heard? Yes. And they've made their decision.
Honestly, folks, when I grew up as a young man, you know,
before I... I made my decision. I'm not interested. Huh? Isn't that the natural decision
of every man born and every young person when the gospel is preached?
I'm not interested. All you that pass by, see they're
all are confronted with this. What's their first response?
What is man's response? His natural response? I'm not
interested. I went twenty years. Aren't you coming to church?
Oh, man, I'm not interested. No. Wagonhead. Is that you, Sam? Cherry? I'm not interested. Is
it nothing to you? No, it's nothing to me. I'm not interested. Well and
you're forced to God you know God leads captivity captive he
makes you a captive audience we better hope that that God
brings people. We can't do it we try and we
try we better hope he does well he does and he makes them a captive
audience and most of the time when somebody comes and hears
it for the first time. I wish I had gone on. You start saying things, strange
doctrine, that they've never heard before. It's just true
doctrine. It's just Bible doctrine. It's just old, old doctrine,
which they've all gotten away from, the old pattern. And it's so old, it's strange
now. It's just that God is God, you know. They've heard so long that you
must let God be God. They actually believe in that.
They've heard so long that you must let him be your Lord and
Savior. They actually believe in that. They've heard so long and
how much God loves everybody and all this is the devil's work
to actually believe in that. So strange. When a man stands
up and says, God says, I kill Deuteronomy 32, 39. I make a
lie. I wound. I make sick. I heal.
I the Lord do all these things. I create peace. Isaiah 45, 7.
I make evil. I create evil. Isaiah 45, 7.
The Lord has said these things. I do all these things. I'm angry. God hateth all workers of iniquity."
Where is that written? Strange, because men that are
hirelings don't preach it, because you can't get a hearing that
way. You can't get a hearing that way. God does. They're one of his
people. That's what they want to hear.
And they're going to be thankful. So fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. Everyone whom God saves, he makes them first fear
him. To this man will I look, God
said, he that is poor and of a contrite heart, and trembleth
at my word. God is holy. God is just. God
is angry. No, no, I don't believe that.
Believe God. You're in danger of the judgment.
No, Noah said that to his generation. Noah said that for 120 years.
Noah said judgments come. Oh, no, no, no, no. Nobody believes
like that. God is love. God wouldn't do
that. Prove it, Noah. Ah, wagging her head. Don't believe
that. Your only hope, get up, stand
up, preach God, your only hope is that God Almighty purposed
before the world began to show you mercy, that God Almighty
chose you, that God Almighty elected you. Yeah, he has an
elect. That's what he said more than 27 times in the New Testament. If he said it once, you better
believe it. God has an elect. If you're one of his elect, then
you're accepted and a beloved. Christ is the only one God approves
of. He doesn't approve of you. In your place of no good thing
no good thing nothing lovable about nothing in you to do to
make God accept nothing in you at all one person ever lived
a God's pleased with the he said and I said no no no I don't believe
that I'm worth saying I'm worth loving God ought to save me ought
to give me a chance to say he can get great things out of me. That's everybody's response isn't
it isn't it brother Henry isn't it that's your response when
you first heard the Here's this man, this substitute. I'm holy, I'm just, and I'm going
to kill him. And that's you. That's what I
ought to do to you. I'm going to kill him in your place. This is your substitute. I don't
believe that. I don't believe God's that holy.
I don't believe I'm that bad. I don't believe God's that just.
I believe he just forgives. That's all. That's the natural response.
Is it nothing to you? No, nothing. John 19. Go over there and I'm
going to close with this. John chapter 19. John 19. John 19. You know the verses in Ephesians
2. Many of you, your favorite verses
are Ephesians 2. Don't you, Mac? Don't you love
that chapter? says and you were dead and trespasses. Children of wrath even as others
walk in according to the course of this world Prince of the power
of your children of wrath even as others despise hate and mistrust
and you. Gospel free and you. Have he quickened? It says, and you. In verse 4
of Ephesians 2 it says, but God. Here's salvation in two words.
But God. Here's the response of every
single person when they hear it. Is it nothing to you? Nothing. But God. For his great love with which
he loved you. Who? You see? Look at this. John 19, look at this, John 19,
verse 25, all right? Now, there stood by the cross
of Jesus, his mother and his mother's sister, Mary. Mary,
his supposed earthly mother, and his mother's sister, Mary,
the wife of Cleopatra, and Mary Magdalene. Mary, don't you love
your name right now? There's a Mary in here, ooh,
Mary. These three women. Well, when
Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by
whom he loved. There stands John. See, there was a time this man
named John, just an old fisherman, just an old fisherman. The Lord
Jesus Christ had been walking the planet thirty years. Everybody
heard of it. And this John and his brother
named James were fishermen. It was their life. They were
in their daddy's business, fishing business. They loved fishing.
It was their life. They weren't religious. Oh, they
probably went to the synagogue on the Sabbath. You know, it's
what every good Jew does. And they went with their daddy,
you know, and did their little, I started to say Hail Mary. They didn't
do that, but they went through the motions. of religion, you
know, but they weren't, they didn't know God. Somebody said, have you heard
of that Jesus of Nazareth? Somebody says he's a Christ.
Nah, not interested. But God. One day passed by. Yes, God manifest
in the flesh. Jesus Christ is in that. Emmanuel,
God with us. He passed by. A lot of boats
out there, weren't there, Brother Lot of boats. Lot of boats in
a fishing village. And this Lord and this God, this
Christ, passed by their boat and looked directly out at these
two certain men, James and John, and said, follow me. And from then on, somebody say,
is it anything to you? He's everything to me. Not until then. He chose him. John here, John stands, OK? A
lot of people passing by. John stops. A lot of people passing by. John
stops. He says, I'm staying right here.
A lot of people wagging their heads.
They say, go by now. I don't like him. John has his
mouth. You know it did. of people just curious John's
concern. He's not leaving. A lot of people out there out of
sport just to watch John's there to worship. Who made the difference? A lot of people wagging their
head. John's hanging his head. John believes. John worshiped
John loves the Lord. John loves this one hanging here.
Why? Why does John love this man hanging
here? Why? Because God first loved
him. That's why. And everyone God loves will pass
by a while, but eventually he'll say, You're stopping right here, and
this is where you're staying. You're going to stand right here
from then on, Teresa, and stand amazed in the presence of Jesus
the Nazarene and wonder how he could love you, a sinner condemned
unclean. And from that day forward, far
from being nothing to you, he will be all and in all. And you will say, and you do
say, you can have it all. This is all I want. How? Why? Who? The sovereign mercy
and grace and love of God Almighty. The disciple whom Jesus loved. Is it nothing to you? If it is, smile. God loves you. All right, let's sing in closing
number 452. I stand amazed. We got to stand while we sing. I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene. And wonder how he could love
me A sinner condemned unclean How marvelous, how wonderful
And my song shall ever be How marvelous, how wonderful It's
my Savior's love for me Last verse When, with a ransom in
glory, His face I at last shall see, Will be my joy through the
ages, Whose Savior is love for me. How marvelous, how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be. How marvelous, how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me.