Thank you, Brother James, for
the special. David, for your accompaniment.
Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 27. If you would, Matthew chapter
27. Look at verse 34 to begin with. Matthew chapter 27, verse 34. They gave him vinegar to drink,
mingled with gall. This was intended to deaden the
pain. When he had tasted thereof, He
would not drink. Our Lord Jesus had a great determination
to suffer and to bleed and to die in the stead of His people. All of the agonies that He must
feel, He was determined to feel them. And He would have nothing
to do with dulling the pain. Verse 35 says, "...and they crucified Him, and parted His garments,
casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture
did they cast lots. And sitting down, they watched
him there, and set up over his head his
accusation written, This is Jesus. the king of the Jews. Then were two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right hand and another on the left. They that passed by reviled him
saying or wagging their heads and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save Thyself, if Thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests
mocking Him with the scribes and with the elders said, He
saved others. Himself He cannot save. Sometimes even the enemies of
the gospel can speak the truth. He saved others. Himself He cannot
save. This is for certain. If He's
to save us by His substitutionary death and by His sacrifice, then
He can't save Himself. He can't spare Himself this agony
of the cross. But this is also certain, if
He had saved Himself, which is really an impossibility, But if he had saved himself,
he couldn't have saved anybody else. There'd be no salvation
for folks like us. This is the only way that a holy
God could save fallen sinners, is through the crucifixion of
our Lord Jesus. I recognize There are those who
say God could have saved any way He chose, but this was the
way that He landed on. Well, that is to accuse God of
the needless death of His Son. I read just a few weeks ago from
a commentary in the Gospel of John by an author that I have
great respect for. And he said this, he said, God
could have saved any way He wanted to, but He saved us through the
death of His Son. That's a horrible thing to say. That makes God, what Brother
Henry said, a monster. There was no other way. I say so often, and I make no
apologies for it, how can God be just and justify the ungodly? One way. The crucifixion of our Lord Jesus. If He doesn't die, If he doesn't satisfy the righteous
demands of God's law that says the soul that sinneth must die. If he doesn't die, nobody's going
to be saved. You know what the Bible says? He's the Lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. This was not God's knee-jerk
reaction to what men have done. It wasn't God's last ditch effort,
since man couldn't obey the law, since he failed there, and since
he fell under every previous dispensation, as the dispensationalists
say. Then God finally came up with
the idea He'd send His Son. But then when the Jews rejected
Him, then God said, well, I'll save sinners this way. Oh, no. This has always been the way.
This is God's way. This is a way of reconciliation. This is the way of the removal
of sin. This is the way that God brings
righteousness in for His people. I rejoice in the perfect life
of our Redeemer, but that's not how He established righteousness. You see, His perfect life, that's
how He showed He's qualified to bring in perfect righteousness
and be the sacrifice for sin, to be the offering for sin by
the sacrifice of Himself. If our Lord had lived the 33,
33 and a half years, maybe close to 34 years, if He had lived
those years and then just gone back to glory, would righteousness
have been established for us? Absolutely not. Would our sins have been put
away? Absolutely not. He had to die. They said he saved others. Himself
he cannot save. And I say, men, you're right. You're right. They said, if He be the King
of Israel, verse 42, let Him come down from the cross and
we will believe Him. He trusted in God. Let Him deliver Him now, if He
will have Him. For He said, and they said this
again, for He said, I am the Son of
God. All that so irritated them. You remember in John chapter
5, our Lord healed a man on the Sabbath day who for 38 years
had been lame. The man, he rose up at our Lord's
word of command and walked, rolled up his little mat, Rejoicing
in the goodness of God. And oh, the legalists. They said, oh, this is wrong. It's wrong for Him to heal this
man on the Sabbath day. It's wrong for this man to roll
up his bed and walk on the Sabbath day and then give credit to Jesus
of Nazareth. They were so upset. They confronted the Savior and
He said, My Father worketh hitherto and I work. And they rose up to stone Him.
They're ready to stone Him because He said God was His Father. When
He said He was the Son of God, they considered that blasphemy. I hear these same folks sitting
and watching Him being crucified. And that which is still an issue
to them is His identity. Who is this man? Who is this miracle worker? He says He's the Son of God.
He says He's a heretic. He's a blasphemer. And so, when He was nailed to
the cross, it says in verse 36, and sitting down, they watched
Him there. Here's my subject for my comments
this evening. Observing the crucifixion. Observing the crucifixion. As they observed, Jesus of Nazareth
hanging on a cross. They considered him to be a great
blasphemer, a seditionist. It had nothing to do with him. Other people, when they observe
the crucifixion, they see in the death of Jesus of Nazareth
a martyr dying, Someone giving his life to begin
a new religious movement. Some, as they observe the crucifixion,
they see no more than a man who willingly submits to death. Well, he did submit to death. No question about that. In fact,
He's the One who gave His life. He said, I give my life for the
sheep. He said, you can't take it from
Me. I lay it down on Myself. I'll take it again. This commandment
have I received of My Father. Oh, He was willingly submissive
to the will of God. But in observing this crucifixion,
I see much more than a martyr dying, don't you? And I see much more than a man
stretched out on a cross dying to set an example as to how we
ought to be willing to face death in an honorable way. Let me give you some things that
I observed in the crucifixion. And I've alliterated these. I'll
tell you this, I got some of this way back in the early seventies. We had a professor at the school
that I went to. I was there right after Rob Barnard
died. And he was from Winston-Salem.
And we had a professor who believed grace. One day in class, he said, men,
I'm going to give you an outline. Write it down. It has to do with
the crucifixion. And I wrote it down. I've had
it all these years. The only thing I did, I added
to it. Let me give this to you. As I
observe the crucifixion, here's what I see. I don't know what
you see, but I'll tell you what I observe. When I see Christ
crucified, number one, I see a compassion revealed. That's what I see. I see the
love of God. It was the love of God that led
to His death. God loved His people. He loved
His people with an everlasting love. I listened to a preacher several
years ago. He said Jesus Christ came into the
world and died so that God could love us. He said God hated us. Christ came and died so God could
love us. Is that right? That's just about
as wrong as a man can be, isn't it? No, the reason the Savior
died is because God loved us. God loved His people. God loved
His elect. Listen to what the Lord said
to Jeremiah. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore, in loving kindness,
have I drawn you. Oh, I do see a compassion revealed. If you want to see the love of
God, observe the crucifixion. See who dies on that cross and
see who He dies for. A chosen people, oh yes. A people set apart for God's
purpose, oh yes. But He's dying for fallen people,
for wretched people. He's dying for people who hated
Him. He's dying for people who are
a bunch of rebels. He died for sinners. I see a great compassion revealed. Secondly, I see a character revelation. You want to know the character
of God? Observe the crucifixion. See His justice. See how God's
holy. He's so holy, He spared not His
own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. See a revelation
of the very character of God. He didn't spare His only begotten
Son. Who killed Jesus? Well, you could say the Roman
soldiers, Yeah? You could say, the Jews? Yes. You could say, just Pilate along
with Herod passed judgment on him? Yes. Listen to the Word
of God. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. God put him to grief. You want to know who killed the
Savior? God Almighty did. God put His
Son to death. to save the lives of folks like
us. It's the only way He could do
it and remain a just and a holy God. Here we see the character
of God in full revelation. And I'll tell you this, if you
want to see the sinfulness of man, man's vileness, man's corruption,
observe the crucifixion. One time in all of history, one time, God had it arranged
according to His eternal purpose that men would get their hands
on Him and do with Him as they would. And look what we did. Look what we did. God came down
here. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God on earth. Emmanuel! God with us. He healed multitudes. There wasn't
a disease that He didn't heal. He raised the dead. Look what we did to Him. Pilate said, well, it's customary
every Passover, I release unto you a notable prisoner. Why do you say I release Jesus
of Nazareth? Oh, no! Release Barabbas. What then shall I do with Jesus
who is called the Christ? Let Him die the most horrible
death known to men. Let Him die the death of the
Romans. Let Him be crucified. Crucify
Him! Crucify Him! That's what they
said. And He said, Why? What wrong
has He done? But they cried out the louder,
Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Here's a revelation
of the character of us. You want to see our character
fully revealed? You don't have to go back to
the days of Noah. when men rebelled against God?
Every imagination on man's heart was only wickedness continually?
Do you not have to go back to Solomon Gomorrah? Go back to
Calvary. Observe the crucifixion. See
men's hands dripping with the blood of Jesus Christ and rejoicing,
having a celebration While he died, sitting down, they watched
him there. Oh, how hard-hearted we are! Oh, how calloused we are! Oh, how rebellious we are against
our God! What mercy! What grace is this! that God would give the gift
of His only begotten Son for the likes of us, put Him to death,
put Him to grief for folks like us. In observing
the crucifixion, I see a covenant respected, thirdly. You see, He died all because
of a covenant. He had respect to the covenant. Oh, most people don't know anything
about the covenant of grace. God the Father, Son and Spirit
covenanting together for the salvation of a multitude which
no man could number. When God, as it were, joined
hands with one another and God said, I will save. I will save." And God the Son received from
the Father the gift of this great multitude. And the Father said
to the Son, You're responsible for them. Bring them all safely
home to glory. And the Savior said, I will. I will. The bridegroom right
there in the covenant of grace. He said, I will. I receive the
bride. Father, the dowry. The dowry. And the father said,
the dowry must be paid for the bride. What is the dowry? Your blood. That's what it's
going to cost you. It's going to cost you death.
And the Lamb of God said, I come willingly. And as He entered
into this world, He said, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He met and dealt in mercy with
the woman of Samaria. And that just uplifted Him. While He was dealing with them,
the disciples went to town to buy food. They came back and,
here, we got lunch for you. He said, my meat is to do the
will of God that sent me to finish His work. This is my joy. Hebrews chapter 12, for the joy
set before Him, He endured the cross. The joy! What's the joy? Having us. redeeming us, saving
us, reconciling us, putting our sins away, making us the very
righteousness of God in Himself. Oh, this is a covenant respected
and I'll tell you something else, here's a completed redemption. He redeemed us by His blood.
No wonder he said, it's finished. It was over. It was over. Oh, holy law of God. Oh, divine justice. What is it that you require for
the release of the captives that you hold? The law of God said,
it's going to take more than a perfect life. It's going to
take a substitutionary death. That's what it's going to take.
And the Savior said, I give myself. Those soldiers came to arrest
him. They had their lanterns and their
staffs and clubs and so forth to beat him if necessary. He
said, who are you looking for? And he said, Jesus of Nazareth.
They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am He. I am. I am. And at His word, they all fell
backwards. They got up, brushed the dust
off. He said, who are you looking
for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, that's me. If you seek
me, let these go their way. And I'm telling you, that's what
our Savior said to the holy, righteous, justice of God. If you seek me, these have got
to go free. This is a perfect redemption.
This is a perfect salvation by our Lord Jesus. redemption completed. And I'll tell you, here's a conquest
realized. There was a war that took place
at Calvary, and a great conquest was realized. Our Lord conquered every one
of His enemies, every one of our enemies, He conquered. It was a conquest realized. You say, when is the victory
going to be won? It's already won. Romans 8, you read it, was last
week, we're more than conquerors through Him that loved us. He
conquered sin, Satan, the world, And then He arose from the dead,
He conquered the grave, He conquered death. Here's a conquest realized. Here's a curse removed. He was cursed in our place. There's
no more curse for us. There is no curse for us. Actually,
never has been. Never has been any curse for
the people of God. Our Lord Jesus bore the curse
and He removed it. And I'll tell you, here's a commission
received. This is what I observe in the
crucifixion. Here's a commission received. Go ye in all the world and preach
what? The Gospel. Just tell this story. Don't doctor it up. Don't make a Hollywood production
out of it. The more you try to doctor up
the gospel, the more fancy you try to make it, the less gospel
you'll be presenting. It's like over in the Old Testament
when the Lord said, when you offer up an offering on a rock,
don't you shine up that rock. Don't knock off the edges of
it, just plain old rock. Put an offering on it. Because
when you try to improve it, you'll ruin it. It's just the old, old
story of the substitutionary sacrifice of a Savior. And this is where we receive
our commission. Go out and preach the gospel.
And lastly, here's the Christian's rule of life. We live by the
cross. We're not under the law. We're not under the Mosaic law.
That doesn't mean that we're free to break it. No child of
God wants to break. of God's holy law. But we have
no fear of the law. The law doesn't condemn us. In
fact, the law doesn't have anything to do with the child of God.
Do you know that? The Scripture says the law was
not made for a righteous man. And I'm looking in the faces
of righteous men and women. You're not righteous in yourself.
You're righteous in the Lord, your righteousness. The law doesn't
have anything to do with you. The gospel is your rule of life.
We're motivated to live honoring to God by observing the crucifixion. We're constrained by the love
of Christ. We seek in all things to be conformed
to His example. What do you see as you observe
the crucifixion? This is what I see. I see a compassion
revealed. I see a character revelation. A revelation of God's character
and our character. I see a covenant respected. I
see a completed redemption. I see a conquest realized. I see a curse removed. There
is therefore now no condemnation. There is no judgment to those
who are in Christ Jesus. I see a commission received.
I see the Christian's rule of life. Love the Lord Jesus Christ. His work of redemption. He teaches
you how to live. You love Him, you're going to
love others. If you've received forgiveness
from Him, you're going to forgive. Everything you need to know about
living the Christian life and running the Christian race, you'll
learn from the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything you need. Let's sing. Bright thou the bread of life
before we partake of the Lord's supper.