But it is for revenge, when Christ,
the mighty Maker, died for man, the creatures stand. But drops of grief can ne'er
repay The debt of love I owe. Dear Lord, I give myself away,
Tis all that I can do. OK, let's look at Matthew 20. Matthew chapter 20. Let's read these three verses. Matthew 20 verses 17 through
19. And Jesus going up to Jerusalem. took 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's merely making some passing remarks.
Through his disciples. These few lines are a summary
of the whole Bible. Summary of all of this 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. He went up to Jerusalem. Now turn with me to Luke, chapter
two, Luke's gospel, chapter two, I want you to notice with me
the earliest stories, recorded stories of. This son named Jesus. Luke, chapter two, stories of
his childhood. all center around Jerusalem. There are two stories recorded
on him one when he's a baby 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 chapter 2 verses
21 and 22 with eight days were accomplished for the circumcision
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, to Jerusalem. He himself, though a babe, purposed
this whole thing. Verses 25 through 30. There was a man in Jerusalem
whose name was Simeon, the same man who 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,
Ben Simeon took he him up, this babe, in his arms and blessed
God and said, Lord, now let us 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. Well, 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 be, have
been in the company, went a day's journey. They sought him among
their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 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, that is.
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 ye not that I must be
about my father's business? And they understood not. The
site in which he's spoken he's. About his father's business. And now in our text go back to
Matthew thirty three years old. That's twenty one years later.
He's going up to Jerusalem again 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, 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
ascended toward Jerusalem. And from there, though, he's
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 of the Prophets and the Psalms. All things that are written.
They said this is Jesus. Look at chapter 21, Matthew 21. Look at this, verses 10 and 11.
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? 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 thing, you know,
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 20, 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 the truth. 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,
my father's house. Now, as a 33-year-old man, he
said, this is my house, and I'm going to clean it. He made it filthy. I'm going
to clean it. I'm going to clean the house.
I'm going to purify the temple. I'm going to purify My people,
Jerusalem, and you are the temple of God. Christ in you is the
hope of glory. Purified 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. 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. 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 go, 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 to be thrown down the
middle of that filthy city full of. Rebels. That's not why I came. But he
came to be lifted up all right. He came to be crowned not with
a golden crown of laurels man but with a crown of thorn. 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. Are you with me? 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. He could not 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 this middle of this multitude. He took the twelve disciples
apart in the way he took them apart separately and said something
to them, 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? That's most of it. 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 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. 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 must gather. 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, That is, he separates them from the crowd and privately,
separately, intimately, talks to them, tells them, like, what
this is all about. Here it is. Here's the son, here's
the children. This is why I came. This is it. This is the whole
point of my coming here. So listen to me. How many times
have you heard them say, Behold, Isaiah more than any of them?
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 the religions of this. Stop this stuff. Stand still. Everybody shuts
up. And listen. And see the salvation of the
Lord. See His glory. See His honor.
See who Christ really is. You're so blessed. We're so blessed. And you know the Lord does the
same today with his son all of his disciples he knows are hand
chosen his disciples were hand chosen these twelve one of them
was chosen to be a devil. One. Still that. That should make
us. To make everyone of us say is
that I. One was chosen to be a son of
perdition The rest were chosen to be. That ought to make us
pray without ceasing with Margaret we're not really going to know
till we die. I mean really it'll make us pray
without ceasing or does it. I heard everything the rest of
the disciples heard but. Am I a son of prediction. 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. This thing's pressing to me. I'm going to forget yesterday. I'm going to pretend I was lost.
Yesterday ain't saving today. Huh? Oh, my. 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. One's
going, I mean, 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 and the
lad, I and the son, the father and the son are going up to the
mountain to worship. The father's 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. God 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. Son of man shall be betrayed. They supposed him to be the son
of Joseph and Mary man born of woman born of. One of the law
made of woman made under the law shall be betrayed. Who betrayed him. Says he shall
be betrayed unto the chief priests who did 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. It's not Jeremiah speaking, 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. His time wasn't
cut, 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, they shall, he said,
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
he was born, 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.
and 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 The Rama weeping, the 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 them? 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 psalms,
the substance, the core, the crux of the gospel. The soul
that sinneth, it shall surely die, the scripture says. So what
did God make his soul? What does Isaiah say? Thou hast
made my soul. 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
the result of sin. They're born sinners. You don't
see it. It's there, but you don't see
it till later. But they're born sinners. But it says, it goes on to say,
so by one man's offense, death reigned by one. Death reigned
by one man's offense. All die because all are sons
of Adam. In Adam all die. All in Adam
die. That's what it said. Young, middle-aged,
all die. Pointed unto man who wants to
die. by one man's offense death reign by one much more. They
which receive abundance of grace you see salvation by grace it's
a gift. It's given to you. So these babies
didn't know they didn't do anything. Neither do we. It's a gift. Abundance of grace
and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one. Kappas the high priest didn't
know what he was saying and he said that he prophesied that
one is expedient that one died 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. 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. God condemned him to death, not
for his own sin. There is therefore now no condemnation. To them that are in Christ Jesus,
whoever he was doing this for, and whoever he 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 should 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 one, causes
you to look at this one, your substitute, there's no condemnation. There's 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's
got to be fulfilled. written in the scriptures concerned
plucked out his beard you read that with a plucked out his beard
everything that happened to him was prophesied in the script
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
twenty eight minutes twenty eight minutes on the story of stories 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 Old Testament. Tells the cleric who Christ.
This is indeed the Christ centurion for the crop 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. Oh man even
Pilate said that's a man. And hanging there and then giving
up bowing his head giving up his life not being killed not
dying as a result of injury knowing about 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? He said he bowed
his head. You know, angels in heaven must
have stood and gave an ovation to this. It says the rocks were ramped
it says that. It says the veil in the temple
God ripped. Apart from top to bottom the
whole work that you say that the sun refused to shine the
graves open people came out of the grave and came into town
listen to me young people you may be skeptical about things
written in the scripture. Listen to it you may be skeptical
what How do I know this is true? How do you know this is true? And the whole world is skeptical
about these things. And 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 is talking
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 they were, 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 God and we're all going to stand before him someday.
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, then 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 spin 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's
going to bow the knee, and every tongue's 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're a stench in my nostrils. But everyone that bows to the
son, and everyone that kisses the son, 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 this thing. 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, it's me. You know me. You bow to me. Call
upon me, or you die. 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. You know where the peace live
a long life may accumulate things will lose them all and then what
do you have nothing be without God without hope without life
either have the sun. So I got my whole life ahead
of me maybe not. Most not by several tomorrow
I told you about pulling my best friend's dead body out of the
building fifteen years old. As far as I know, he had no interest
in God at all. I never, he never went to work. 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. Scared
me to death for a little while. Yeah, 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 to see it 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? 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 a grave. And that's what the soul that's
in it 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 said, 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 he all his people. Yes, he's got 2000 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. It wasn't just a cross. It was 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. He said,
you wait on me, tarry at Jerusalem till I come. Jerusalem? Coming
back there again? Yes, the Lord whom you seek shall
suddenly come to his temple. Gabe, 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 Barton Lake. 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. I'm
never going to leave. We're going to stay together
forever in the temple. Jerusalem. New Jerusalem. All right, let's
sing a hymn in closing. What number is this? M number 143, let's stand. We'll
sing the first, third, and fourth verse. Rejoice! The Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore. Rejoice, give thanks, and sing
Him triumph evermore. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice,
again I say, rejoice. His kingdom cannot fail He rules
over earth and heaven The keys of death and hell Are to our
Jesus' skin Lift up your heart Lift up your voice Rejoice again
I say Rejoice Rejoice in glorious hope, Adore the just.