I'm proud and free, and every
day, I'll live a life of my own. It's all that I give myself always,
it's all that I can give. Okay, let's look at Matthew 20. Let's read these three verses. Matthew 20, verses 17 through
19. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem,
the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed
unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death. and shall deliver him to the
Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him. And the third
day he shall rise again." These few short lines which seem
to be the Lord merely making some passing remarks to His disciples. These few lines are a summary
of the whole Bible. A summary of all that is written.
All things written in God's Word point to this event which the
Lord is foretelling. His death and His ultimate resurrection. Christ crucified and risen. That is the story of this book. In verse 17, the Lord, it says,
Jesus going up to Jerusalem. Jesus, the man called Jesus of
Nazareth, supposedly thought to be of Nazareth, son of Joseph,
son of Mary, supposedly, son of man. He calls himself the
son of man, son of mankind. He was headed toward Jerusalem.
Now, why was he going there? He was going up to Jerusalem. Why? Well, his whole life was a journey to Jerusalem. Up. It says he went up to Jerusalem. Now, turn with me to Luke chapter
2. Luke's Gospel chapter 2. I want
you to notice with me the earliest stories, recorded stories of this son named Jesus. Luke chapter 2. Stories of his
childhood all center around Jerusalem. There are two stories recorded
of him, one when he's a babe in arms and another when he's
a preteen. Both of them are at Jerusalem. He's at Jerusalem. And there's
a reason for that. Look at Luke 2, verses 21 and
22 with me. 8 days were accomplished for
the circumcising of the child. His name was called Jesus, which
was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification,
that is Mary, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished,
they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, to
present him to himself, to present him to the Lord. Look at verses,
so he came, he's brought to Jerusalem, he's brought, they just decided
to bring him, this babe, he himself, though a babe, purposed this
whole thing. Verses 25-30, there was a man in Jerusalem whose
name was Simeon. The same man was just and devout,
waiting for the consolation of Israel. The Holy Ghost was upon
him, and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he
should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. and
he came by the spirit into the temple and when the parents that
is Joseph and Mary brought in the child Jesus to do for him
after the custom of the law to fulfill all things written in
the law. Then Simeon took he him up, this babe, in his arms,
and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation." I'm looking at your Christ. Look at verses 40 now. Go down
to verses 40 and following. So he's brought to Israel as
a babe, and now 12 years later, verse 40, the child grew and
waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of
God was upon him. Now, his parents went to Jerusalem
every year at the Feast of the Passover. If you're going to
have a Passover, you've got to have lamb. Well, he was there every year. When he was 12 years old, verse
42, they went up to Jerusalem. Now, geographically, Jerusalem
is in the highest part of the land of Israel. It's right up
in the mountains there, geographically. It's literally higher than the
rest of the land. They brought him up to Jerusalem
again after the custom of the feast, and when they had fulfilled
the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in
Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother knew
not of it. They, supposing him to have been
in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him
among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. You remember later on our Lord
said, Who is my mother? Who is my father? Who are my
family? Read on. And when they found him not,
they turned back again to Jerusalem. That's where you're going to
find him. Seeking him. And it came to pass, after three
days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors,
both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that
heard him were astonished at his understanding and answer.
And when they saw him, they were amazed. His parents said it.
And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt
with us? Behold, thy father and I have
sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is
it that you sought me? wished you not that I must be
about my father's business." And they understood not the say
in which he spake unto them. He's about his father's business. And now in our text, go back
to Matthew. Thirty-three years old. That's 21 years later. He's going
up to Jerusalem again for the last time. And as I said, Jerusalem is geographically
higher than the rest of the land, but in reality, spiritually speaking, the Lord
Jesus Christ is ascending. He's beginning to ascend now.
He's going up. This is no play on words. The
Lord God wrote this exactly as it is written. He's going up
to Jerusalem. He's going up to a much higher
place than Jerusalem. As we read back there, he grew
in wisdom and stature. He grew up. But in a much greater
way. His whole life was an ascension. He started out the lowest of
the low, didn't he? This one named Jesus. Started
out in a cheap, manger, lowest of the low, and his whole life
he began ascending higher and higher. From his lowly birth he began
ascending toward Jerusalem, and from there though he is going
to go even higher than Jerusalem. Why is he going to Jerusalem?
Later on, our Lord told his disciples on that road to Emmaus, all things
must be fulfilled which are written in the Law and the Prophets and
the Psalms concerning them. All things that are written.
They said this is Jesus. Look at chapter 21, Matthew 21. Look
at this, verses 10 and 11. And when he was coming to Jerusalem,
when he got into town, all the city was moved, saying, Who is
this? And the multitude, nearly everyone,
said, This is Jesus. Do you know who this is? It really
is? I think you do. I think most
of you do. Do you know why he was coming
to Jerusalem? I think you do. Malachi prophesied of him, didn't
he? Malachi 3, verse 1. This is the Lord who shall suddenly
come to his temple. And the first place the Lord
visited when he came into Jerusalem as a 33-year-old man, where did
he go? To the temple. Straight to the temple. And the
first thing he did was cast out, verse 12, the abomination that
was in there. This abomination of desolation
is in his temple. His temple is desolate of the
glory of God. Desolate of the truth. Desolate
of a true prophet. And here he comes. And he cleanses
this abomination that's in his temple. And I love this. In verse
13, he said, it is written, my house. This is my house. The Lord shall suddenly come,
did you hear it, to his temple. This is my house. That's what
this whole building is about. It's about me. That babe, they
brought him to his house. His father's house. That boy,
he came into his house. I must be about my father's business.
It's my father's house. Now, as a 33-year-old man, he
said, this is my house, and I'm going to clean it. You've made it filthy. I'm going
to clean it. I'm going to clean the house.
I want to purify the temple. I want to purify my people. Jerusalem, you are the temple
of God. Christ in you is the hope of glory. Purify your hearts
by faith. Well, he said, this is my house.
That's because Malachi said that. So he's going up to Jerusalem.
Go back to the text. He's going up to Jerusalem, the
Lord of glory, where he first will enter his temple to do what
he did. He first goes into his house,
but he's not going to stay there. His work is not going to be done
in that temple. He's going to go outside of He's got to go outside of the
camp to do his work. He comes to Jerusalem to do what
he did, and then he's got to go outside of Jerusalem. He's
still in Jerusalem, but he's outside the walls of the city,
outside the camp, where he's going to go even higher. John,
he's going to start ascending even higher. He's going to walk up a mountain.
It's called Mount Calvary. And he's going to ascend the
throne. They wanted him, they tried to
make him king to sit on this little two-bit throne down the
middle of that filthy city full of rebels. That's not why he came. But he
came to be lifted up alright. He came to be crowned, not with
a golden crown or laurels of man, but with a crown of thorns.
A crown of shame, which was really his glory. A crown of ignominy, but it was
really his honor. A death that was reserved for
the lowest of the low, but really it exalted him to his highest
form. He's going up to Jerusalem. God's
Word is amazing. He's going up to Jerusalem. Well,
as always, a large crowd followed him, followed Jesus wherever
he went. They heard of him. He's a famous
person, just like any famous person. If any famous person
in our land was going to be anywhere near our city, there would be
flocks of people to go see him. be private, could not keep to
himself. Wherever he went, people heard
of it and they came out to see him. And verse 17, it says he
took, in the middle of this multitude, he took the twelve disciples
apart in the way. He took them apart separately
and said something to them. There's this vast multitude who
want to see Jesus, the healer, the humanitarian, the miracle
worker, and so forth. Want to see a miracle service.
Want to see a Holy Ghost revival miracle service. A vast multitude
of people come to see this miracle service. See what Jesus can do
for them. Are you with me? A vast multitude. But He takes
His twelve intimate disciples apart from this maddening crowd,
apart from this Jesus crowd, and privately, intimately to
them, and them alone reveals to them why He came. The grand
purpose of God Almighty, the glory of God, His own glory,
the will, the mind, the purpose, the good pleasure of God, why
He came to them and them only. And from this day forward and
the rest of their ministry, their preaching is going to be about
this. because he revealed it to them. Stan, he keeps telling them this,
doesn't he? He keeps telling them this over and over and over
again. And you know, they didn't hear
him. Deborah, they heard him, but they didn't hear him. They
didn't understand. Luke's gospel says this was hid
from them. That's on purpose. They have
to forsake him. See, Irene, the shepherd is going
up to Jerusalem with his sheep. The shepherd's got to be smitten.
The sheep got to scatter. That's because God's Word said
that. He's got to die according to Scripture. This proves who
he is, the right guy. But he takes these twelve disciples.
apart, privately, that is, he separates them from the crowd
and privately, separately, intimately, talks to them, tells them why
I came, what this is all about. Here it is. Here's the son, children. This is why I came. This is it. This is the whole point of my
coming here. Would you listen to me? How many times does Scripture
say that? Behold. Isaiah more than any other. Behold. That
means stop and think. Stop and consider. Stop. That
means stand still and see something. Does that sound familiar? Stand
still and see something. Here. I wish I could say that
to all of religion today. Stop this stuff. Stand still. Everybody shut up. And listen. And see the salvation of the
Lord. See His glory. See His honor.
See who Christ really is and why He came. You're so blessed. We're so blessed,
aren't we? My, my. And you know, the Lord
does the same today with His disciples. All of His disciples.
Those are hand-chosen. His disciples were hand-chosen,
these twelve. One of them was chosen to be
a devil. Wasn't it? It's still that way. Now that
should make us tremble. It should make every one of us
say, is it I, Lord? One was chosen to be a son of
perdition. The rest were chosen to be sheep. True disciples. That ought to make us pray without
ceasing. Because, Margaret, we're not
really going to know until we die. I mean, really. It ought to make us pray without
ceasing. Lord, is it I? I heard everything the rest of
the disciples heard, but am I a son of perdition? Oh, Lord. That's why the Lord
says pray without ceasing. When you stand beside Christ
in glory, you can quit praying. Paul said, I haven't arrived
yet, but this thing's pressing to me. I'm going to forget yesterday. I'm going to pretend I was lost
yesterday. I think it's saving today. Huh? Behold, stop. We'll go up to
Jerusalem. Thirteen went up to Jerusalem.
Thirteen, including himself. One went up Golgotha's hill. We, he said, we go up to Jerusalem. Thirteen went to Golgotha. Thirteen
went to Jerusalem. One's going to go up a mountain
alone. He must. Does that ring a bell? Remember
the story of Abraham? He took his young men with him
to the Mount Moriah, and he said to them at the foot of the mountain,
you all stay here. I am the lad. I am the son. The father and the son are going
up to the mountain to worship. The father is going to kill his
son up there. But in prophecy, Abraham said, and we're both
going to return. Just wait on us. We'll be back.
Thirteen went up to Jerusalem. One went up, all got this hill
alone. Behold, we go up. Verse 18, it
says, and he said, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto
the chief priest and unto the scribe. The Son of Man shall
be betrayed. They supposed him to be the son
of Joseph and Mary, man born of woman, born of born under
the law, made of woman, made under the law, shall be betrayed. Who betrayed him? It says he
shall be betrayed unto the chief priests. Who did it? Judas? Yeah,
he did. Judas did what he willed and
purposed and wanted to do because he was an evil man. Son of perdition. He did what his will told him
to do. But who really betrayed the Lord
into the hands of the chief priests and scribes? Listen to Lamentations
1. Listen to this. I'll read it
for you. Lamentations 1, verse 14. The yoke of my transgressions
is bound by his hand. They are wreathed and come up
upon my neck. He hath made my strength to fall,
the Lord hath delivered me into their hands." That's not Jeremiah speaking
there, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, God hath delivered
me into their hands. Often they tried to take him,
didn't they? Often they tried to take him, but his time wasn't
coming. They couldn't. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down on myself, willingly, voluntarily. And here
in the end, the Lord, God, delivers him up into the hands of these
evil men to do with Jesus as they will. But what the Lord
is doing is delivering him up for us all, his people. He's delivering the Lord up for
his people as their substitute. And it says, verse 18, "...they
shall condemn him to death. He shall be betrayed into the
hands of chief priests and scribes, and they shall condemn him to
death." Now, when the Christ child was born upon the earth, when Jesus was born upon this
earth, King Herod made the decree condemned him to death. King
Herod heard of the Christ child being born. He wanted him dead.
But he didn't know where he was. He had some idea he was in around
Bethlehem. So he put out this decree that
every child from two years old and under, about the time he
was supposed to be born, was to be killed. King Herod made
that decree, trying to kill the Christ child. But it was not
to be. He cannot kill this Christ child. No way. He killed a lot of other
children. He didn't? You know, folks ask, what happens
to babies that die? Let me ask you something. All these thousands of babies
that died in the place of the Lord Jesus Christ, what do you
think happened to them? In the same sense, everyone he
dies for. The Lord is just. Every one of these babies were
sacrificed unto Christ. They're all sitting with him
in glory. Every one of them. It was extreme. sorrow and sadness
and anxiety and Rama weeping, Rama, Rachel weeping for her
children, for they were not. Extreme weeping, but in heaven
there was great joy. God sparing these little ones
from the evil to come, from a life of evil and sin. You tell me,
what do you think happened to him? Well, here's the point. The king, Herod, decreed Barbara
that he should die, but it wasn't his time yet. But I'm telling
you from Scripture, long before that, before the world began,
the king, God, decreed that this man die. Long before the world began,
God Almighty set forth this decree. This man must die. He came to
live, yes, but he came principally to die. Why? Do you know? The heart, the sum,
the substance, the core, the crux of the gospel. The soul
that sinneth. It shall surely die, Scripture
says. So what did God make his soul? What does Isaiah say? Thou hast made my soul. And now
he made his soul an offering for sin. He was made sin for
us. Who knew no sin? All have sinned. Listen to Romans 5. You know
these passages. Well, you've heard them. Maybe
you don't know. Romans, see, death passed upon
all men for all have sinned. Even babies die. Why do babies
die? They're sinners. That's what the Scripture says.
Death passed from Adam to Moses over them that had not sinned
at the similitude of Adam's transgression. That is, babies. Willfully and
rebelliously and so forth, like Adam did. But they die. Why? It's consequences of sin. It's
a result of sin. They're born sinners. You don't
see it. It's there, but you don't see
it until later. But they're born sinners. It goes on to say, so by one
man's offense, death reigned by one. Death reigns by one man's
offense. All die because all are sons
of Adam. In Adam all die. All in Adam
die. Young, middle-aged, all die. It's pointed on the man who wants
to die. By one man's offense, death reigned
by one, much more. They which receive abundance
of grace. You see, salvation is by grace.
It's a gift. It's given to you. You say, these
babies didn't. No, they didn't. They didn't
do anything. Neither did we. It's a gift, isn't it? Abundance
of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one. Caiaphas, the high priest, didn't
know what he was saying, but he prophesied that one, it's
expedient that one die for the people. Yes, it is. That's the
whole purpose of God before the world began. That this one come,
this man, God's son, holy one of Israel, come to die. To die. Condemned by man. Our Lord said, they will condemn
me, but who was it that condemned him? There was no sin in him. God did. He pleased the Lord
to bruise him. God condemned him to death. Not
for his own sin, but for mine. God condemned him to death. So
there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
Whoever he was doing this for and whoever he, who walked by
the Spirit, whoever he sends the Spirit to show them their
need of such a one, there's no condemnation of them. We shouldn't
be. Whatever the law says, it says to them under the law are
guilty, condemned to die forever but God. If He shows you this
wand, causes you to look at this wand, your substitute, there
is no condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. And here in verse 19, it says,
And they shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge. And you read with me Isaiah 50,
didn't you? That says, Spit on him. Everything
has got to be fulfilled. written in the scriptures concerning
him. Pluck out his beard. You read that with me. Pluck
out his beard. Everything that happened to him was prophesied
in the scriptures to prove who he is. This is indeed the Christ. That's what that centurion at
the foot of the cross said. Folks, I've only been preaching
for 28 minutes. 28 minutes on the story of stories. The theme of this book. The glory
of heaven. The Lord said, They shall deliver
him, the son of man, to the Gentiles, to mock, to scourge, to crucify,
to spit on, to pull his beard out. This is what Scripture says
of Him all through the Old Testament. It tells and declares who Christ
is. This is indeed the Christ, the centurion at the foot of
the cross. After seeing Him do what He did and say what He said,
His majesty, His glory, His honor, His royal regal bearing upon
that cross. No man, even Pilate said, that's
a man. And hanging there and then bowing
his head, giving up his life. being killed, not dying as a
result of injury. No, no, he bowed his head. His
work is over after he said, it is finished. Then he bowed his
head. Whatever he came to do, he finished
it. Whatever the Father sent him to do, he finished it. He
got the job done. Doesn't it behoove us to know
what he did and who he did it for? Now, he said he bowed his
head. You know, angels in heaven must
have stood and gave an ovation to this work. It says the rocks
were rent. It says the veil in the temple,
God ripped the curtain apart from top to bottom. The whole
earth did shake. The sun refused to shine. The graves opened. People came
out of the graves and came into town. Listen to me, young people.
You may be skeptical about things written in the Scripture. Listen
to me. You may be skeptical. You say,
how do I know this is true? How do you know this is true? And the whole world is skeptical
about this stuff. Now, here's the one point that
you must face, that all people must face. Here it is. Here's
the one thing. Who is this man here? Everybody
knows he came here. Jesus. The whole world talks
about this Jesus. Who is this? Just a man, just
a Jewish man 2,000 years ago died. They put him on a tree
and they put him in a grave. And his bones, if we go looking
for them, we might find them somewhere. Is that so? You know,
he said a lot of things. This is what it's all about.
who this man is and what he said. Now if everything that he said
is true, he's gone and we're all going to stand before him
some day. If he went to that cross and died and then put his
body in a grave and three days later he walked out of the grave
and is now seated on a throne in glory reigning and ruling
over all flesh and every one of us are in his hands, that
He is who He said He is. This is not a lie. This is all
about Him. It's all about Him. This whole
book is about Him. He's either the biggest liar
and imposter to ever walk on this planet, or the whole world's
in a heap of trouble. Because the Scripture says God
will judge all flesh in righteousness by that man whom He ordained.
That God purposed this whole ball of dirt to spend in heaven
because of Jesus Christ. And he said, you better kiss
my son. This is what God says. Are you
a mad preacher? No, this is what God says. You
better kiss my son and you better do it now. Because everybody
is going to bow the knee and every tongue is going to confess
that this is my son. And all that don't want anything
to do with him, all that are incensed against him, I'm going
to snuff them out. They have no reason to exist.
They are a stench in my nostrils. But everyone that bows to the
sun, and everyone that kisses the sun, see the moon shines
for his glory, the sun shines for his glory, the birds sing
of his glory, the trees clap their hands at him, and if a
puny worm called man, some teenage kid or whatever, says, I don't
believe that stuff, you're in a heap of trouble,
boy. You're in a heap of trouble because
Jesus Christ, who He is, He said these things. Jesus Christ said,
I'm ascending somewhere. And I'm telling you about it.
I'm not telling everybody about this. I'm revealing to you who
I am. I'm revealing to you the mystery
of godliness. The whole mind and purpose of
God. It's me. Christ says it's me. You know me, you bow to me, you
call upon me, or you die. That's all there is to it. Trust me, look to me, you'll
find infinite mercy, grace, love, beyond description, joy, peace. All is good and wonderful and
you'll be in heaven, even on earth. That's it. Not? You're not going to have any
peace. You're going to live a long life. You may accumulate things. You're
going to lose them all in. And then what do you have? Nothing.
Be without God, without hope, without life. Either have the
Son or have the life. Say, I've got my whole life ahead
of me. Maybe not. Most knock thyself off tomorrow.
I told you about pulling my best friend's dead body out of the
building, 15 years old. As far as I know, he had no interest
in God at all. He never went to worship. Thank
God my parents took me. That boy never, he never went
anywhere. And I pulled his dead body. Fifteen,
he died. He died. He's foaming at the
mouth, asphyxiated. He's dead. That was an eye-opener
to me, boy. That's me there. That's my bosom
buddy. That was an eye opener to me.
Scared me to death for a little while. Just for a little while. It's all about Jesus Christ.
He either is who he said he is, or he's not. And if he is, he
behooves us to find out and ask him to show us himself. Ask him If he's a real person
seated on the throne, it behooves every one of us, men, women,
and children, to ask him personally, Lord, would you reveal yourself
to me? Because I don't know you. I doubt that you even exist.
Lord, would you please? I don't believe you. Would you
give me belief? Would you give me faith? Huh? And if he's not,
I'm the first out of here. Man, I've wasted my whole, you
know. It's been a good job. See you later. Let's go eat,
drink and be married. Tomorrow we die. If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable.
The whole world's living it up. But Christ said, dying, they're
dying. But he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Do you believe this? You see
what this is about? You see who this is about? Him. And our Lord said finally, finally, to his disciples, his intimate
disciples, he said, now we go up to Jerusalem. There the Son
of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of the Gentiles,
chief priests and scribes, and be delivered into the hands of
the Gentiles to be scourged and mocked and crucified. Christ
came to be crucified. Christ crucified. And they're
going to put his body in the grave. That's what that soul
that sinned must die. They put him in the grave. Now
he's stinking. No, not him. Not this one. No, no, no. He's not going to
suffer corruption. He's not going to suffer corruption. This is the Holy One of God.
This is the Eternal One, the I Am. He says, Behold, I live
forevermore. You killed me, yes, but I live. Three days later, he said, he
shall rise again. And later he says, you're going
to be sorrowful while I'm gone. Oh, but when I return. And this
is a prophecy that all his people, yes, he's gone 2,000 years removed
from this planet. And all these disciples. They
were there, except Judas. He's gone, long gone. In the
end, it brought him out. But all these disciples are standing
up on a mountain. Again, now he's ascended, gone
up to Jerusalem, went outside the camp, walked up even further
still with a load, a burden on his back. And it wasn't just
a cross. It's our sin. And he's lifted
up even higher as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
So the Son of Man must be lifted. He's ascended even higher. And
then later on he went up to another mountain and he went higher.
He went as high as a man could go. right to the right hand of
the majesty where? On high. Now everything is lower
than him. He's put it all beneath his feet,
John. And there's only one thing to
do. Kiss his feet. And he said, Behold, I'm coming
again. Yes, I am. I told you I would
rise and I did. And I'm coming again and He will.
He said, You wait on me. Terry of Jerusalem till I come.
Jerusalem? Coming back there again? Yes,
the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple. Gay, have you ever heard anything
like this? Isn't that amazing? Three little verses. You know,
when I first read this, I thought, well, there's something there. Let's get past that and go on
to Blind Bartimae. That's the glory of God in three
verses. I'm coming again. You tarry at
Jerusalem. I'm coming back to Jerusalem.
To my temple. I'm never going to leave. Never
going to leave. We're going to stay together
forever in the temple. Jerusalem. New Jerusalem. Alright, let's
sing a hymn and close it. What number is this? Hymn number 143, let's sing. Let's sing the first, third,
and fourth verse.