If you will, open your Bibles
with me to John chapter 19. John chapter 19. John 19, we'll start reading
in verse 28 and read down through verse 42. After this, Jesus, knowing that
all things were now accomplished and that the scriptures might
be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it up on
hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. The Jews therefore, because it
was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the
cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high day,
besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they
might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break
the legs of the first and of the other, which was crucified
with him. But when they came to Jesus and
saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. But
one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith
came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bear record,
and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith true, that
you might believe. For these things were done that
the scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith,
They shall look on him whom they pierced. And after this, Joseph
of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear
of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body
of Jesus. And Pilate gave him leave. He
came, therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came
also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night
and brought a mixture of myrrh and alloys and about a hundred
weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, wounded in linen clothes
with the spices and manners of the Jews to bury. Now in the
place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the
garden a new sepulcher wherein was never man yet laid. There
laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day,
for the sepulcher was nigh at hand." Our Father, oh, our God, our
great and glorious God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and
our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Redeemer, the one who loved
us and loved our souls, cleansed us from all our sin.
Lord, we bless you and praise you and thank you for the great,
great mercy For the great, great love were with you loved us.
And oh Lord, we ask that you'd come among us today. Lord, come
in the Holy Ghost power. Come in the presence of the preaching
and the presence of the hearing. Lord, it takes the Spirit of
God to preach, the Spirit of God to hear, the Spirit of God
to touch the hearts, the mind, the understanding. And Lord,
we're just men, so Lord, please do what needs to be done in our
minds, our hearts, our souls by the Spirit of God. And Lord,
we thank you for the grace of God you've given all of us in
this body of believers. Thank you for the truth you've
taught us, the truth we rejoice in, the truth that we rest in.
Find our souls to find comfort and solace in. And Lord, we ask
that you would, in your sovereign mercy, save your people in this
place, cause the gospel to run well, cause it to run well, well,
well, well. And our Father, we again pray
for those that we love, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren,
husbands, wives, sons, and daughters. Lord, it's on the hearts of the
saints of God that's here. Please be merciful. Send out
the Holy Spirit. Convince them and give them a
desire to start seeking you. Put in their hearts the fear
of God. Put in their souls the consciousness of sin, because
you're the only one that can. Blame glory to yourself in this
service today. We ask these things in our Lord
Jesus' name. Amen. Now, I want you to go back here
to John 19 with me. And what we were confronted with
and what I read to us was the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says there in verse 33, but
when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they
break not his legs. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out blood
and water. Can you imagine what kind of
people it took to walk up to a man that's dying and reach
up with a great big iron bar or hammer and break their leg
so they'd die sooner? just walk up and break their
legs. They're hanging there helpless anyway, nailed hand and foot
to a cross. And a man walks up, great big
hammer, smacks them right in the shin, their legs break, and
down they go. So they'll die. And all because
a bunch of self-righteous Jews wanted them off the cross by
six o'clock when the Sabbath day started. And those religious
people that told them to do that. Religious people. So, when we
talk about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, this is a subject that always,
always interests the believer. It's one subject they always
think about, they're grateful for, They blessed God for it. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ
and his resurrection, this is the believer's hope for time
in eternity. One old hymn writer says, my
only hope, my only plea that when Christ died, he died for
me. You know, alas, and did my savior
bleed and did my sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? Huh? Was it for crimes that I
had done he groaned upon that tree? Huh? Oh, my. For might the sun in
darkness hide and shut his glories in when Christ the mighty maker
died? And thus might I hide my blushing
face when his dear cross appears? Dissolve my heart to thankfulness
and melt my eyes to tears? Oh, the death of our Lord Jesus
Christ, what a subject. What a subject. We sang, oh, how many hymns have
we sung about the death of our Lord Jesus Christ? How many hymns
do we sing about his death? There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. Sinners plunge beneath its flood,
lose all their guilty stains. We sang, Jesus keep me near the
cross, there precious fountain. How many songs. We talk often
times about his death and the effects of his death, what it
accomplished. The effects of it, the effects
on him. how it affected us, what it accomplished
for us, what it accomplished for God. And we bless God, and
oh how often we praise God for the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the first mention of His
death is in Genesis 3.15. The Bible's full of the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ, His bloodshed. When God cursed the
serpent, He says, I'll put enmity between thy seed and the seed
of the woman. Said, you'll bruise his heel, but he's gonna crush
your head. And oh, look over, you keep this and look with me
in Luke chapter nine for a moment. Luke chapter nine. You know,
when Moses and Elijah appeared with our Lord Jesus Christ on
the Mount of Transfiguration, you know why they appeared to
him? You know the reason that they appeared to him in glory?
Look what it says here in Luke 9, 28. And it came to pass, about an
eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James
and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion
of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and
glistening. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elijah." Now listen to this.
"...who appeared in glory." They already had the glory. And this
is what they talked about when he appeared to him. And spake
of his decease, his death, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. Moses and Elijah, the law and
the prophets, came to talk to our Lord Jesus Christ about his
death and what it should accomplish at Jerusalem. So that's why they
came to talk with our Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord spoke of
His own death. How many times did He speak of
His own death? How many times did He do it?
I preached it the other day. He steadfastly set His face to
Jerusalem, to go to Jerusalem. He told His disciples, I must
go up to Jerusalem. I must suffer. And I must die. I must do it. And oh, and listen,
the Old Testament saints, they looked forward to the day when
the Lamb of God would come, that the scripture said that would
come to take away sin once and for all. And the angels, over
in 1 Peter, it says the angels desire to look in to the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ. One old hymn writer wrote it
like this, immortal angels, bright and fair, in countless armies
shine, At his right hand, with golden harps, they offer songs
divine. In all his toils and dangers
past, they did his steps attend. Oft paused and wondered, he outlasted,
the scene of love would end. And when the powers of hell combined
to fill his cup of woe, their pitting eyes beheld his tears
and bloody anguish flow. As on the tottering tree he hung
and darkness veiled the sky, they saw aghast that awful sight. The Lord of glory died. I got four things to say about
the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Four things to say about it.
The first one was this. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ
was a natural death. It was a real death. It was not
a phony death. It was not just something that
was, you know it says there in verse 33, and when they came
to Jesus and saw that he was dead already. It was a real death. Our Lord Jesus Christ was dead. How can this be? Martin Luther
sat at one time at his desk and he kept wondering how can God How can God die? How could God, a man who is God,
how could he die? And he just stood in wonder and
amazement. How could it be? And I tell you
what, we stand in wonder and amazement that who it was that
died that day, that really, really died. It was Immanuel, God with
us. that died. It was Immanuel, God,
manifested in the flesh. And I tell you what, and that's
why Peter on the day of Pentecost said he was delivered by the
determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. But you, you with wicked
hands crucified, crucified the Son of God. And I tell you this
is an amazing thing. It was Jehovah's fellow that
died. And Jehovah's fella, that means
this is the one that God had fellowship with, that God said
his approval upon. And not only that, but it was
the life of God in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do
you know that Acts 20, 28 says that he purchased the church
of God with his own blood, the church of God with his own blood. So it was God there. And I tell
you, look in 2 Corinthians 5.19, I want you to see this. 2 Corinthians
5.19. Oh, listen, our Lord Jesus Christ,
His death was a natural death. It was time for Him to die and
His time. And I tell you what, and this
is why death holds no fear for us and we'll see it later, is
because death took our Lord Jesus Christ And look what he says
in 2 Corinthians 5.19. I'm in the wrong place, 1 Corinthians
5.19. Look what it says here in verse
19, 2 Corinthians 5.19. To wit, this is the witness that
Paul's talking about, that God was in Christ. What did he do? Reconciling the world unto himself,
not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
unto us the word of reconciliation. What? God, he says, God was in
Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. So his life was
the life of Emmanuel. It was the life, it was a divine
life. And how in the world could the
Eternal One die? You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
always existed. Never was a time He didn't exist. Never was a time that, when it
talks about the only begotten Son, that talks about when He
came into the world. But He was all, He was as eternal
as His Father. There never was a time that our
Lord Jesus Christ did not exist. And He existed as God until He
became a man. And I tell you, how could the
Eternal One die? By becoming a man. by assuming
flesh, by being made flesh. And the scriptures tells us that
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. That very one that died on that
cross was the one by whom the worlds were made, by whom he
upholds the world by the word of his power. In fact, it was
so real, our Lord's death was that he was buried for three
days and three nights back over in our text. I heard Scott Richardson
say one time, and he read these scriptures, said these were God's
undertakers. These were God's undertakers.
Look down here in verse 38. These are God's undertakers,
the Lord Jesus Christ. After this, Joseph of Arimathea,
being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for the Jews, for fear
of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body
of Jesus. And Pilate says, go ahead, and
he came there and took the body of Jesus. We call a funeral home when somebody
dies at home, and they come and pick them up. If they're in a nursing home,
they come pick them up. If they're in a hospital and they die, somebody
comes and picks them up, picks up a body. That's why Joseph
said, listen, let me take his body. Take his body off that cross
and come, let me have it. And his body was cold and lifeless
and gray. And blood was all over it, and
bruises were all over it. And he said, that's what I wanted.
And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus
by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and alloys, and a hundred
weight, a hundred pounds. And listen to this. Then took
they the body of Jesus, wound it in linen claws, and with spices
in the manners of the Jews, to bury, to bury. And oh, they buried
him. And look what it says, and there
lay Jesus, therefore because of the Jews, and there was a
grave real close at hand. Buried. His death was a natural
death. Everybody's got to go through
it. Now our Lord Jesus went through it. But let me tell you something
else about it. It was not only natural, but
it was unnatural. What do I mean by that? It was
an abnormal death. I'll tell you what I mean by
that. Death had no claim on Him. The only people death has a claim
upon is people who have sinned. Death is going to claim every
one of us because of the curse, because of sin, because this
body meant to go back to the dust of the earth. But death
had no claim upon him. He was that holy one begotten
of God. He was that one that he says
the sinless one, the holy one, the harmless one, the undefiled.
And how many verses of scriptures tells us that he did no sin and
there was no God in his mouth. The scripture said in verse 1
John 3 verse 5 that he had no sin. Had no sin. Now you know we're going to die
because we are sinners. Death has a claim on us but had
no claim on Christ. The scripture said in 1 Peter
1.19 that he was the lamb slain before the foundation of the
world without spot and without blemish, for ordained to be the
lamb. And Pilate himself stood and
said, I find no fault in this man. I don't find any fault in
him. Let me let him go. He had witnesses, says, no fault
in this man. Herod said, I find no reason
of death in this man. And his wife came out and said,
have nothing to do with that just man. And Romans 8.3 says
this, that God sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Now he was a man, he had flesh,
he had a body like us. But it was just in the likeness
of sinful flesh because it had no sinful flesh. We got sinful
flesh. Ain't nothing we do that don't
have sin mixed in it. We ain't pray to prayer. We ain't
shed a tear. Ain't nothing we do ever, my
preaching, nothing we ever do that does not have sin mixed
in it. But our Lord Jesus Christ, nothing he ever did had any sin
in it. Nothing. No sin in him. So it was unnatural for our Lord
Jesus Christ to die because he had no sin. And so when he died,
it was because he willed to die. It was because he chose to die. He was willing to die. He joyfully
died. And look at the kind of people
he died for. Look at the type of people he
died for. Even some of those that was at
that cross that day hissed at him, mocking him, making fun
of him, ridiculing him, deriding him. Forty days later, Peter
stood on the day of Pentecost and some of those very same people
God forgave and they were saved by the grace of the very Christ
they crucified was the one they ended up trusting. That same
Jesus you crucified, God has made him both Lord and Christ.
Men and brethren, what must we do? And let me tell you something
else. First time I ever heard this word was E.W. Johnson up
in Ashland, Kentucky. He talked about preternatural.
Preternatural. And preter means something that's
determined beforehand. And our Lord Jesus Christ's death
was preternatural. That means it was determined
before it ever happened. Ain't that what it says? Revelation
13a says that He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Acts 2.23 said He is delivered
by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God. Known unto
God are all His works from the beginning And, Everett, I'm going
to tell you something. This has always blessed me. Always
blessed me. That God had a Savior before
He ever allowed sin to come into this world. He had a Savior provided
before He ever created Adam in the Garden of Eden. Before Adam
has ever poured down the dust of the earth and God breathed
in his nostrils the breath of life. before Adam ever partook
of that fruit and became a sinner, and we all failed, and our father
Adam became sinners. God had a savior before the first
sin entered into this world. Oh, oh my. I got a letter from a fellow
this week. I couldn't make head or tails out of what he's saying.
He's trying to tell me that Jesus died for everyone. You know,
everything I was saying was a lie. It was a lie. But I tell you
what, beloved, if God had to wait for us to sin and then all
figure out how to save us, then that means he ain't God to all.
If God didn't declare the end from the beginning and provide
a savior before there was ever sin, what kind of God would that
be? Huh? That means that sin slipped
up on God and said, now wait a minute, I gotta figure out
a way to straighten this mess out. But God don't straighten
out messes. He saves sinners. We're all messes. And we admit
that, we own that. We say, God, yes, my whole life's
a mess. But thank God Christ was the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And God said, you're
my mess. And I'll give my son for you. And all the scripture said, he
was the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty.
Oh, listen, look over in Acts chapter, keep John and look over
here in Acts chapter four. Luke and Acts chapter 4. Our Lord Jesus Christ, before the world ever began,
he knew the foundation of the world. When God put the world
on a foundation, before that was, Our Lord Jesus
Christ knew that He was going into this world, coming into
this world. And He knew who He was coming
into this world for. He knew what He was coming into
this world to do. He knew that He was coming to
be a sacrifice for sin, an offering for sin. And He knew that the
only way sin could be put away was by His death. And the only
way that God could ever save a sinner was for God to be just. And how can He be just? And justify
us by coming in the person of His own blessed Son. And therefore
He's just because He offered His own self in the person of
His Son. And that man whom He died for,
when they believe on Him, He justifies them. Because Christ
done put the sin away. We were justified, the gospel
tells us that we were. Now ain't that right? Faith don't justify us, Christ
justifies us. And I believe He did. Look here in Acts 4.26. Talking
about determined beforehand. Our Lord Jesus Christ's death
determined beforehand. The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. Boy, some big shots. For of a
truth, against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together, listen to this, for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Oh my, as God viewed our Lord
Jesus Christ as the Lamb slain, that's how he justly passed over
the Old Testament saints' sins. And Romans 3.24 says that He
passed over the transgressions of them that are past. All them
Old Testament saints, their sins weren't actually put away until
Christ actually died. And that's why they all looked
to Him. That's why everyone was looking
forward. It says that they looked forward to the cross. They looked
forward to when Christ Himself would come. That's why Abraham
said to his son, God will provide himself a land. And they looked
forward to it and it was just like God passing over with the
blood. God passed over all the Old Testament
saints until Christ died. No sin was ever put away until
Christ died. Abraham's sins weren't put away
until Christ died. And I tell you, not only all
the Old Testament saints sins were put away, but I'll tell
you all the New Testament saints sins were put away at the same
time. People hadn't even been born yet. So this, this blessed sacrifice,
this sacrifice, this lamb before the foundation of the world,
it reaches from eternity to eternity. Oh my. And let me tell you something
else about it. Not only was it foreordained,
but his death was a supernatural death. That means that it was
different than any other death that was ever, any other death
of anybody on the face of this whole earth from all eternity.
You saw our Lord Jesus Christ has the preeminence in all things.
He had the preeminence in his birth. Said, He unto us this
day is born in the city of David, Christ the Lord. This was the
Son of God that was born. He was preeminent in His birth.
His birth was announced. Men came from afar to offer gifts
to Him at His birth. He was the only man ever born
of a virgin. So He had the preeminence. And
He had the preeminence in His life. The Father says, this is
my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. This is my beloved Son.
Hear ye Him. He says no man can come unto
the Father, but He had the preeminence in His life. And he had the preeminence in
his death. His death does something for
a multitude that no man can number. How can one man's death and how
can one man in just a few short hours save a multitude that no
man can number and cleanse them from all their sins and justify
them in the sight of God? I'll tell you how it is, because
who it was that died, how worthy he was that died. And I tell
you, His life and His birth and His death was different than
anybody else's that ever existed. Ever existed. Look over here
in John 10 and verse 17. Look what our Lord Jesus Christ
says, Therefore doeth my Father love me. Why does he love him? Because I lay down my life. We
love him because he laid down his life. But he says, my father
loves me. Why? Because I lay my life down. He says, no man takes my life
from me. He says, these fellas think they're
killing me. And they did, they're blamed
for it. They say we suffer the, we're guilty of it. But yet he
says, listen, I lay down my life. And he says this, he says, my
father loves me that I lay it down. And he loves me because
I can take it up again. I can lay it down and I've got
the power to lay it down. I've got the power to bring it
right back up out of the grave. And ain't that what he says?
No man takes it from me. No man. I lay it down of myself. I have the power, I have the
authority, I have the right, I have the might to lay it down. And I have the power to take
it again. And my father commanded me to
do this. Now he loves me because I did
his will. And oh, beloved, I tell you our
Lord Jesus Christ did two things. And the first thing about our
death of our Lord Jesus Christ was who first? It was for God
before it was for anybody else. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. God was
satisfied with the Son of God. God was satisfied with his life,
satisfied with his death, Satisfied with his blood, satisfied with
his offering, satisfied with his sacrifice, satisfied with
his son from the day he come into this world to the day it
satisfied God. And we can sing all we want to
about, I wonder if God's satisfied with me. No, he's never been
satisfied with any son of Adam. He was satisfied only with his
son. And that's why the scripture
said he is a sweet smelling saver unto God. He's a sweet smelling
saver. And the second thing he did,
and this says God was satisfied, then God can do something for
us that thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall. What's he
gonna do? Save his people from their sin. How many sin you got? As far as God concerned, you
ain't got any. Don't that bless your heart? God said there's sins and iniquities
I will remember no more. David said I have sinned. Wash
me, cleanse me. God said I will. Make me whiter
than snow. I will. How you gonna do it? I'll offer
my own son. I'll offer his blood. I'll offer
his life. I'll offer his soul. Oh my, let me give you seven proofs,
seven proofs of our Lord Jesus Christ that he laid down his
life, that they didn't take it. They laid down his life. They
didn't take it. And I tell you what, the first
thing was his arrest. When they came to arrest him
in the Garden of Gethsemane, and you can read it yourself,
but you know, he knowed that they was coming out. He said,
arise, today they've come to take me. They're here. And John
8, 13 says this, they led him away. They led him away. He never opened his mouth. He
was led as a lamb, ain't that what it says in Isaiah 53? Led as a lamb to the slaughter,
to the slaughter. He never resisted, never resisted. And look over here, I'll tell
you something else he did. And look with me in Matthew 27,
Matthew 27 and see this. Our Lord Jesus Christ, people
think this man was a weakling. And that he didn't, look in Matthew
27, 46, for just a minute. It says, you know, rise. Let us go, behold, he's at hand
that betrayeth me. Betrayeth me. He knowed what
was gonna happen. Then in Matthew 27, 50, look
at this. Matthew 27, 50. Jesus, when he
had cried with a loud voice, cried with a loud voice, yelled
it up the ghost. What did he cry? It is finished.
And then he willingly died. He yelled it up his life. Life's
gonna come and get, death's gonna come and get us. Death didn't
come get Christ. Christ gave himself up to death. It's going to come. It's going
to come and get us. And oh, he wasn't exalted. Now
why does the Holy Ghost say he wasn't exalted? His strength
had not failed him. He was still master. He wasn't
conquered by death. He was yielding himself up to
death. The scripture said, I have laid help upon one who is mighty,
one I've exalted, one chosen out of the people. And God laid
help upon this mighty one, the Lord Jesus Christ. And back over
in our text in John 19, our Lord Jesus Christ said in verse 28,
he said, I thirst. I thirst. Why did he say that? That the
scriptures might be fulfilled. Ain't that what he said? He says
that the scriptures might be, knowing all things were now accomplished,
that the scripture might be fulfilled. He said, I thirst. It was written
of him that he'd say this. And he had such control of his
faculties that he said, I thirst. Complete control. One, that scripture
said Him knowing all things was going to occur. This is proof
that He laid down His life. Nobody took it from Him. And
then He says there in verse 30, He said, when you receive the
vinegar, watch this, it is finished. And watch what it says, and He
bowed His head. And watch what it says, and gave
up the ghost. Gave up His spirit. Gave up the
spirit. So for Him to bow His head, that
means it had to be erect. His head was held up. He was
looking. He'd had several, he'd had conversations
with two people, two groups of people while he was on that cross.
So his head was held to right, straight up, erect. And to prove
it, it was time for him to die, he just bowed his head. He said,
it is finished, and he bowed his head and died. Wouldn't you like to go like
that? Wouldn't you like to just be able to say, oh, it's time
to go. I believe I'll just bow my head and say, Lord, thank
you. And just go. Wouldn't that be wonderful to
do that? And I tell you, he consciously,
calmly, reverently bowed his head. And that's why that centurion
said, surely, surely, truly, this was the Son of God. And
he says this, he said, in Luke 23, you don't have to look at,
I commend my spirit. He said, Father, I commend my
spirit to you. And the scripture says that he
gave up the spirit. He said, Father, I yield my spirit.
I give up my spirit to you. I yield myself up to you. And
then there in John 19, where we're at now, they came to break
his legs. You know, a death by crucifixion,
it took a long time. It took, most of the times, it
took two to three days for a man to die. But our Lord Jesus Christ
died after six hours on the cross. Just six hours. They had to break
those other fellas' legs so they could die real quick. When all
their inwards, their heart and everything, they just quashed
together until they can't breathe. Until they can't get a breath.
And their lungs and heart and everything is squeezed together.
And they're, they're hanging there and all their, their insides
just squash on one another until they just hurt so bad that they
die. They can't breathe. The hearts is just pressed on. And let me show you another thing
here. I'll tell you that. And they came to break his legs
and they couldn't, but let me show you this. And this is the
last thing I'll show you. Matthew 27 again. There was a phenomenon, you know,
great phenomenon that came on at our Lord Jesus Christ's death,
Matthew 27, 51. Look what he says. There's a great earthquake. And here's the first thing that
happened. And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two
from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake and the rocks
busted in two. First of all, the veil, what
does that mean? That means that God Himself,
this veil is about four inches thick, that means that God Himself
reached down there and ripped that thing in two and opened
it up so that the way into the holiest of holies was now made
accessible only one way, through our Lord Jesus Christ. There
ain't nothing behind that veil that can do anything for you.
And Christ, when that veil was opened, Everybody could look
in there. There ain't no ark. It's gone. It's been gone for centuries. There ain't no mercy seat behind
there anymore. They don't do that. Just ceremonies
and rituals. There's nothing there could do
anything for you. And said, oh, he's showing us
now the ways made plain. That access to God is by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And look what he says, and the
earth did quake. Shaken to its very foundation,
the earth itself was ashamed of this awful deed that men did
to our Lord Jesus Christ that we did. Abel's blood cried from
the ground for vengeance. How much more shall the blood
of Christ cry out? And look what it says in the
rocks. Great old big rocks busted and just busted. Just broke in
two. And look what else happened. And the graves were opened. And many bodies of the saints
were slept of rose. What kind of body was this in?
That body that our Lord Jesus Christ given. Huh? Oh my. I tell you, the power
of Satan. You know why the graves were
opened? To show you that death was conquering. that people are
actually gonna come out of the graves, and people will see them. They went into town, let everybody
look at them. No wonder it says, truly, truly,
this was the Son of God. Oh, you reckon He died for you?
You reckon the Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood for you? How can I tell, preacher? Do
you believe Him? Do you trust Him? Do you cast
your soul on him? Do you do like the disciples
said, Lord, whom to whom shall we go? You've got the words of
eternal life. Do you feel like that you ain't
got no place else to go, that nobody else can receive you,
nobody else can put your sin away, nobody else can have mercy
on you, nobody else will accept you the way you are? Our Father, in the precious,
precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing
us to preach the gospel today. Thank you for allowing us to
hopefully honor our Lord Jesus Christ and bring glory to his
name. The Lord calls this gospel to find places in the heart,
places in the heart who ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.