Thank you. That was excellent.
Let's go to the book of Luke today for a little bit. Luke chapter 23. Luke chapter
23. I'm thankful to see each of you today
and we also welcome those who are watching. by the internet
and I know we have several who do. We refer to them as those
who are in the pajama church and we hope that the service
will be a blessing to those folks and to each of you as well. We
do meet together today to observe the Lord's Supper. This is a
supper our Savior instituted just the evening before He died
on the cross. And it is by this supper, by
the bread, and by the wine that we remember the Lord's death
until He comes again. As I was thinking about this
occasion that brings us together and especially this ordinance
that we will partake of. I was thinking about all the
events that happened at Calvary and I'll just use the last song
that we sang. I'll use that as the very title
for the message this morning at Calvary. Luke chapter 32 I'm sorry, 23 and verse 32. Chapter Luke 23, 32. There were also two other malefactors
or evil doers. That's what the word means. They
were led with Him to be put to death. Our brother read to us from Isaiah
chapter 53. He was numbered with transgressors,
and indeed he was. He was to die on the middle cross
for they considered him to be the most guilty, the worst of
the three men who would die. Then we're reading in verse 33,
and when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, There they crucified Him, and
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left."
Note those words at the beginning of verse 33, when they were come
to the place. Not any place, the place, which
is called Calvary. It's the only location in the
Scriptures where this word is used. We speak much about Calvary,
at Calvary, what happened at Calvary, and yet this is the
only place in the scriptures where the word is used, and it's
very much akin to the word Golgotha. That is found in Matthew, Mark,
and also in John, because it means the place of a skull. Our Lord then has come to die
at Calvary. There have been many efforts
to kill Jesus of Nazareth. They've all failed. You know,
after our Lord was born, Satan entered into the heart
of Herod. He was jealous of Jesus, who's
the king of the Jews, and when the wise men came to Jerusalem,
they began to ask people, they said, where is he that is born,
king of the Jews? Immediately, the literal king,
King Herod, he wanted to put him to death, put the son of
God to death. So he issued an edict to the
Wise men. And He said, when you locate
Him, you let Me know and then I'll go and worship Him. And
of course, what He wanted to do is He wanted to kill Jesus
of Nazareth. The Lord informed the wise men
that this man was no good. And so of course, they didn't
come to Him. of Jesus of Nazareth. And Herod was so angry that he
said, okay, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to issue
this statute that all the male babies throughout the land die
who are two years old and under. The Scripture says there was
great grief in that part of the world. There was an effort put
forth to murder Jesus of Nazareth, but it failed. Throughout our
Lord's earthly life, they often tried to put Him to death. We
read that they sometimes tried to stone Him. In Luke chapter
4, they took Him up on the very top of the temple where He was
led there. And then they were ready to kill
Him. And He escaped through their
midst. And other times they tried to
stone Him to death. And just over and over again,
Every effort was made to kill Jesus of Nazareth, but they all
failed. They all failed. For you see,
in the purpose of God, it had already been ordained that He
would die in a place called Calvary. He's not going to die anywhere
else. He's not going to die until God
the Father says it's time for Him to die. The purpose of God
determined he would die at Calvary. The heart of God designed Calvary
and the very hand of God brought about Calvary. He must die at
Calvary, the place of a skull. Make no mistake about it, it
was to this place called Calvary that our Lord Jesus had been
aiming throughout his earthly ministry. As soon as he was baptized,
he was ultimately going toward Calvary. When Satan made him
in the wilderness and he was bombarded for 30 days and 30
nights by the devil with all kinds of temptations, he was
on his way to Calvary. When he was at Jacob's well and
he was led there to save a sinner, a harlot. When he showed her
that he was the Messiah, he was the Son of God, he had the water
of life, the water of salvation, he was on his way to Calvary.
Later when he healed a man who had been lame for 38 years, he
was on his way to Calvary. When on his last leg of his journey,
He was getting near to Jericho. He saw a man who was blind and
he was begging and the man said, Jesus, thou Son of David, have
mercy on me. Our Lord Jesus stopped. He gave
him his sight and forgave him of his sins. And our Lord went
into Jericho and in Jericho, all the while on his way to Calvary
now. He looks up into a sycamore tree
and sees a man by the name of Zacchaeus. And he says, you come
down to the day I must abide at thy house because this day
salvation has come to you. Our Lord was on His way to Calvary
when He entered into the city of Jerusalem riding upon an ass's
colt. Amid all the shouts of Hosanna
to the Son of David, blessed is He that cometh in the name
of the Lord, Hosanna to the highest. He's on His way to this place
called Calvary. Hosanna means save us, be propitious
to us, be merciful to us, be our mercy seat, be the satisfaction
of divine justice for us. Hosanna, Hosanna. To the Son
of God, to the Son of David, they cried. The night before
He died, when He sat with His disciples in the upper room,
and He finished the last Passover meal, and He instituted the Lord's
Supper. He took the bread and He took
the wine. He broke the bread and gave it
to them. He poured the wine and gave it to them. He's on his
way to Mount Calvary. Our Lord Jesus really, He's been
on His way to Mount Calvary since before the world was made. And the thing He did, and He
didn't say, He desired it. He wanted it. Because this is the only way
God could save sinners. When I think about Calvary, I
think about the awfulness of that which nailed Him to the
cross. And the only thing that could
put it away, sent away, His own death. I know that sin has put
us under the wrath of God. The Scripture says, for the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. through
Jesus Christ our Lord. We read, "...the soul that sinneth,
it shall die." I know we quickly utter the word, S-I-N, sin, but
it's an awful thing. Every, every single sin is an
awful thing. And here's the thing, here's
the thing folks, I was watching a television program this morning
for a little bit, and this lady said, I know each of us has broken
at least one Ten Commandments. And she said, many maybe have
broken even two. This is what people fail to understand. It isn't just what we do. It's what we say. It's what we
think. It's what we imagine. And really,
it's what we are. What we are. Our Lord Jesus one
day was talking to His disciples and the disciples said to Him,
they said, Lord, You've offended the Pharisees, the religious,
the really religious people, the people that, you know, they
went to church real frequently. They gave of all that they possessed.
They fasted. Their religion was for others
to see. And they said to Him, You've
offended them. And our Lord said, don't you
understand that which goes into the body doesn't defile it. Now listen, you should be responsible
as to what you put in your body. Moderation in all things, that's
what the Scripture teaches. But this is not our dilemma. This is not our real problem,
what we put into the body. The real issue is what's coming
out of it. Coming out of the heart. And
the Lord Jesus said, for out of the heart proceed evil speaking. All these other things, they
all come forth from an evil heart. So I'm saying this, don't ever
speak lightly of sin. It's an awful thing. It's a transgression
against God. God who made you. God who provides
for you. God who sustained you. Every
mercy you receive every single day, God gives them to you. Do
you know that? You look beside of you and you see a family member
that you love with all your heart. God gave you that family member.
You think, I've been so blessed to have a good job. Those of
you who have earned your retirement and now you're enjoying the golden
years, Thank God. God gave you that
job. God gave you the wisdom. God
gave you the strength. God gave you the ability to do
what you do. All of these things God has provided abundantly for
us. And the thing of it is, how have
we rewarded God? If the Scripture says God is
not at all in our thoughts, We're much like, you know, I was raised
out in the country and used to raise pigs and had an oak tree
and they'd eat those acorns. But they never did look up to
the oak tree as if to say, thank you for dropping the acorns so
I can eat them. No. And you know, we're very
much like that. We consume all the good things
that God gives us every day. All the mercies that God gives
us every day. And I know God isn't gracious
to everybody, but He's merciful to everybody. His mercy is over
all of His works. But we don't think about God.
We don't render to God the glory that He deserves. Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God with all thy mind and soul. All your
heart and all your strength. Love your neighbors yourself.
But that's not the way we are. Now come on, let's just be honest.
We're not like that. You know what that makes us?
It makes us sinners. That means we're all sinners.
It doesn't matter who you are. It starts with me. It starts
with me. I am guilty. Sin's an awful thing. You know, it's rebellion against
God. It's lack of thanksgiving. It's
lack of worship. It's not doing what God told
us to do. It's doing what God told us not
to do. It's having an evil imagination.
It's having wrong motives. The Bible says that our motives
should always be for God's glory. Everything for God's glory. Being
aware of and very much conscious of God's glory. Thank You, Lord,
for giving me the ability to lift up a fork, to lift up a
glass of water, to embrace my family. Thank You, God, and I
do this, I receive this, I think this, I say this for Your glory. But do we do that? Let's be honest
now. We don't do that. You know what
that makes us? Sinners. Sinners. We've defined God. Oh, what an
awful evil sin is. And if you want to know just
how bad it is, look what it took to put it away. Now, that's where
you go. I can say, oh, sin and all of
its blackness, sin and all of its awfulness, But really, if
you want to know how awful sin is, look to the price that had
to be paid to put it away. It took the death of the Son
of God. It took God coming down here. Think of that. God coming
down here. God who spoke all things into
existence in six days. He made the heavens and the earth
and all that in them is. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 11.
He is our great creator. He is our great giver. He is
the giver of all things. Every good gift and every perfect
gift comes from above. James chapter 1 says that. And this great God, in order
to save the guilty, in order to do something about this issue
of our awful sinfulness, which like a barrier stood between
us and God, God had to come down here to do something about it.
That's how bad sin is. He's got to leave heaven above,
the very Son of God. He's got to join Himself to our
nature. He must be born of a virgin.
He must enter into this world that didn't receive Him. The
world didn't say, oh, wonderful, wonderful, He's finally come.
No, the Scripture says in John chapter 1, He came unto His own. And His own received Him not.
His own received Him not. His own world that He had made,
that He provided for, His own received Him not. His own nation,
His nation that He had given to them His Word. He had given
to them the tabernacle in the wilderness. He had given to them
all of the sacrifices. He had given to them David and
Solomon. and all of the other kings of
Israel. He had given to them the prophets. He had given to
them the Word of God. Israel, the people of God, a
nation that God had blessed. They didn't receive Him either.
And His own family, His own family, they didn't receive Him either.
God comes into this world and the whole world turns thumbs
down on Him. and all of the religious leaders. I mean, we're talking about the
who's who in religion. The big dogs of religion. The
big wheels. I'm not talking about peons like
me. I'm not talking about little
people. I'm talking about world-renowned religious leaders. They all said,
we will not have this man rule over us. Why did he come down here? Because that's what it's going
to take to do something about this single issue. But it's not
enough for him to just enter into the world. He's got to die. He's got to die. You say, I've
seen pictures of him dying. I've read of his death. Why did
he have to die? Here's the reason. Because God
in His justice, God in His absolute holiness, He must punish sin. God is a righteous judge. You say, but God is love. Yes,
He is. God is gracious. Yes, He is.
God is merciful. Yes, He is. And God is also holiness. And God is also righteous in
all of His ways. And God has a law. And the law
says the soul that sins shall die. And nobody is going to live
forever unless there is a suitable sacrifice to die in the stead
of guilty folks like us. That's why he came into the world.
That's why he had to die. That's what Calvary is all about.
At Calvary, we sang it a while ago, at Calvary, at Calvary,
years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified. knowing not that for me He died
at Calvary. I didn't know that. I didn't
realize that. I didn't know why He had to die.
But now I do know why He had to die, so that God might be
just and justify the ungodliness. That's the reason. That's why
there had to be a Calvary. Many years ago, a religious A
man of great religious standing went over to Jerusalem and he
stood at the location where supposedly Jesus had died. And he said,
I'll tell you, if I'd have been here, I'd have put a stop to
the whole thing. He had to die. Don't you see
that? That's what that preacher did.
And I feel so sorry for somebody that doesn't understand that,
doesn't comprehend that. to die, if we're going to live,
if we're going to live forever, if all those He represented,
all those for whom He died, all those for whom He shed His blood,
if we're going to live in heaven forever and ever and ever in
wonderful, blissful, everlasting life, then Jesus of Nazareth
must die and He must suffer everything that all of our sins demand.
And he did. That's why he died at Calvary. At Calvary. It was no easy thing
to put sin away. Throughout the Old Testament,
you begin even in Genesis chapter 4. You go all the way to the end
of the Old Testament. And even into a good bit of Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, up until our Lord died. You know what
happened? Animals were sacrificed. Offerings galore. I mean, rivers
of blood. Rivers of blood flowed. The Scripture
says, the blood of bulls and goats could not put away sin. couldn't put away sin. All of
them together couldn't put away sin. Because if they had put
away sin, the Lord Jesus wouldn't have died. He wouldn't have gone
to Calvary. No work of man can put sin away. I'll be a better person, you
say. Well, yeah, you ought to be a better person. I hope I'm
a better person. I've met some wonderful people.
My nurse is here this morning. One had attended to me so tenderly. My wife and I said, the Lord
sent us an angel. Like an angel came and she took
good care of me. And I'm thankful for everybody
who provided for me and for all the good work that she did and
others did for me. I'm thankful for the doctor who
attended to me. And we're still trying to put
me back together. I'm very thankful for them and
I'm thankful for the good work, the good labor. I'm thankful
for those who ministered to you when you were in the hospital
a couple of days ago. And others of our congregation,
I'm so thankful for the good works that they did. But you
know what? Good works can't put sin away. Listen, you should
be a very tender and kind people. And I admonish you to be... You
should be the best neighbor on your street. You should be the
very best worker at your job. Yeah, I do believe that. But
let's not misunderstand anything here now. That doesn't put you
in good standing with God. We ought to be that way with
one another, right? We should be. We should be a
kind people, a caring people. I hope I am. I want to be. And
I hope as a result of going in the hospital and the things that
I've endured and the things that I've watched and beheld, I hope
I'm the better for it. I hope I'm not so hard-headed.
I still can't. learn a few things and be better
off for some of the afflictions that God sends me, and the same
for you. But if we did nothing but what
we call good works the rest of our life, it wouldn't put even
one sin away. Not one. For by grace are you
saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. That's
what the Scripture says. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but by His mercy He has saved us. Listen,
if we did something to get us into God's good standing, to
get us to heaven, when we got to heaven, people would never
hear the end of it. Well, let me tell you what I
did to get here. But the fact of the matter is,
everybody who goes to heaven goes the very same way, by the
grace of God, through the sacrifice of this one who died at Calvary. Right? We all go the same way. And in this congregation and
those of you who are watching, there aren't big sinners and
little sinners. We're all sinners in need of
the grace and mercy of God and it's only to be found in one
place. That's the Lord Jesus who died
at Calvary. And I bid you come to Him. He's
an able Savior. He's an able Savior. But works
can't put sin away. I'll tell you something else.
Faith can't put it away either. I do admonish you to believe
God without faith. It's impossible to please God.
I admonish you to repent. Except you repent, you shall
all likewise perish. But neither faith nor repentance
can put sin away. Why not? It cannot satisfy God's
justice. That's the thing. You see, and
I know salvation is experienced. And we rejoice that God reveals
Christ Jesus to our hearts, but it's very much a legal matter. It is a legal matter. Everything's got to be made right
with God. God will not compromise His law
and His justice, not even to save you. He's got to strike out against
sin, doesn't He? He's got to strike out against
sin. Because sin is so opposed to God. It's so against God. And I'll tell you, talking about
putting sin away, even God Himself can't just say, okay, sin, get
out of here. He can make a world by saying
the word. You're talking about something
mind-baffling. God spake! And it was all done. Marvelous! He spake! He just
had to say the word! There was all darkness, and then
God said, in this one light, be! And all of a sudden, the
lights came on. All around the world, Like me. All he had to do was say the
word. But he can't just say the word and get rid of sin. Can't
do it. Contrary to his character. He'd
have to give up the idea of being God to do that and that'll never
happen. If sin is to be put away, it
must be removed and put away by the sin atoning death and
sacrifice of the mediator Christ Jesus the Lord. He's got to endure
the very penalty for sin by dying in our room, in our stead, and
in our place. The scripture says that all the
sins of God's people were made to meet on him. You read the
scripture, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned
everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. The Lord has made to meet on
him the iniquity of us all. He removed our sin from us as
far as the east is from the west. I love that verse of the The
song that we sing quite often, it is, Well With My Soul. The
verse that says, My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I
bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. No judgment for us. Why is there
no judgment for us? Because judgment was poured out
upon the Son of God. This is a very blessed Old Testament
illustration. On the great day of atonement,
Israel's day of atonement, Aaron the high priest, he would take
two goats Two goats. Just regular goats. One of them,
He'd cast lots for them. One of them would be for the
Lord. And then the other one was nicknamed the scapegoat. The goat that was for the Lord
had to die. That pictured the death of our
Lord Jesus. There's all of Israel. They all
deserve death. The goat dies in their stead.
Aaron catches the blood, goes into the Holy of Holies. There
within the Holy of Holies is the Ark of the Covenant, that
box. On top of that box is the golden mercy seal, the lid. Having captured that blood, he
goes into the Holy of Holies and he takes a bunch of hyssop,
he dips it in the blood. He shakes it seven times. One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven times on the mercy seat. That's substitution. Satisfaction. Then he goes out and all the
host of Israel, they're just breathless, watching as he represents
them. Because he pictures the Lord
Jesus, our great high priest. And he goes out and there's that
other goat. That first goat died. That's
the goat for the Lord. The second goat is the scapegoat. He takes that goat and he puts
his hands on the head of that goat. He says, oh God, forgive
the sins of this people. And in a, not a real way, but
a symbolic way, the sins of all of Israel, they were transferred
to the goat in a symbolic way, which speaks to us of transference
of our guilt to the Lord Jesus. See, that goat did nothing wrong,
just like our Lord Jesus did nothing wrong. We did all the
wrong. He's the innocent victim. And all of our sins have been
transferred to Him. All the sins of the people that
God gave to Christ in covenant grace. Well, Aaron transfers
the sins of Israel in a symbolic way, putting his hands on the
head of the goat. And he looks through the congregation
and he says, I'm looking for a fit man. You there, brother
so-and-so, come down here. And here's all these thousands
and thousands of Israelites. And they're just quiet as can
be. You could hear a pin drop. And here comes this fit man. And
Aaron says, now you take this goat. And you take this goat
out there in the wilderness. I want you to go so far that
we can't even see you anymore. When you look back and you can't
see us, then you can let this goat go. And you come back without
him. So he leads that goat out of
town. There they go, and everybody
watches. Out of the camp of Israel, everybody watches. But he's all
the way out of sight. And nobody moves. There isn't
an intermission. Nobody's dismissed. Everybody's
just watching. And here in a little bit, here
comes that fit man walking back by himself. They say, where's
the goat? Oh, He's out there in the wilderness
somewhere. We say, what is that picture? That picture is the
result of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. What did He do? He put
our sin away. He took them plum away. They'll
never be brought up against us. You say, for whom did He die?
Well, He died for His elect. They're called His sheep. They're
called those the Father chose. He died for sinful people like
you and me. He died for the needy. He died
for those who are spiritually poverty stricken. And I want
to say this to you today. If you need this Savior, if you
need this salvation, if God the Spirit has worked in your heart,
then I just bid you come to Him. In fact, the Spirit of God, if
He's working in your heart, He will bid you come. He will draw
you to Him. He is an able Savior. And I'll
give you an illustration of that from this very passage of Scripture.
The thief on the cross. Believing thief. You know what
our Lord said to him? In response to the man saying,
Lord, remember me when you come into your camp. The Lord Jesus
said, verily I say unto you, verily. He used that word when
he was preaching. Remember, so often when our Lord
was preaching, He used the word verily. Here He is at the cross
preaching. He says, Verily I say unto you,
today you will be with Me in Paradise. And if there are any
thieves in here, thieves, those who are guilty, He is the Lord
Jesus Christ who died in the stead of sinners. And oh, what
good news! He didn't stay dead, but He arose.
and He ascended and He ever lives to make intercession for us.
I want us to sing a song and then we'll have the offering
and then we'll have the