She's pregnant all over. They're
going to have a big party for her this afternoon. We're so
happy for them, I tell you. I've watched that child grow
up and watched all of Marlene's kids grow up and Kim's. Oh, I just love them so much
and thank God for them. She used to sit right there where
Bill sat for years and years and years. She'd sit right there.
Kayla would, and I appreciate it. I love her so much. Philippians
2. It says in verse 5, ìLet this
mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.î Do you
remember when Lucifer says, ìYou know, Iíll ascend above the throne
of the Most High.î He tried to become God Himself. Well, he
robbed God, and it cost him. He became the devil. He went
from being the son of the morning to becoming the devil, Satan. But Christ did not rob God to
be equal to him because he was equal with God. He never took
anything from God. God was manifest in the flesh
in him, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him
the form of a servant. and was made in the likeness
of men." When you saw him, you saw a man. When you looked at
him, you saw a Jew. When you looked at him, he had
no form or commission about him that you should desire. When
you saw him, he was servant. He washed his disciples' feet. He waited on other people. And
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death. And this is the title of my message.
even the death of the cross. The death of the cross. That's
what I want to talk about. The death of the cross. And wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which
is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under
the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The death of the
cross, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ is directly mentioned
in the New Testament alone, 175 times. I don't count all the
times it's mentioned in the Old Testament. But 175 times the death of our
Lord Jesus Christ is mentioned directly, 175 times. And when
you look at all the great doctrines of the Bible, all the blessed
things that we hold dear, all the great doctrine of the Bible,
the Holy Spirit lays every single one of them at the foot of the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are identified with Christ
and His cross. You look at God's sovereignty.
It says that God made Him to be sin, who knew no sin. I can't
make anybody to be sin, and Christ had no sin, but God in His sovereignty
made Him to be sin. God in His sovereignty by His
determinate counsel and foreknowledge. Christ was delivered of it. And
then you want depravity, man's uttered absolute ruin and sin. You look at what men did. They
said, Pilate asked them, I find no fault in this man. Crucify
him. Crucify him. The two thieves
on either side of him, when they were dying themselves, What did
they do? They cursed the Lord Jesus Christ. Railed on Him. Dying men cursing
a man. They lay dying and cursing somebody. When all of you die, oh my, this
says He was numbered with the transgressors. That's how desperately
lost a man is and how desperately in sin he is that it took Christ
to be numbered with transgressors in order to save him. He was
wounded for our transgressions. And then, sovereign mercy, unconditional
election. He looked at one thief, two thieves,
one on either side of him. He looked at one thief and says,
today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Sovereign mercy, unconditional
election. One was saved, and only one,
that none should despair, but only one that none should presume. And oh, beloved, listen, then
the revelation, the doctrine of the blessed doctrine of revelation
and regeneration. There's those two thieves on
the cross. They're both cursing the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
all of a sudden, one of them began to defend him. One of them
began to say, don't you know that we're in the same condition?
And we're in here indeed justly. He admitted to the justice of
God. And then he says, but this man here has done nothing amiss.
He saw the sinlessness of Christ. And then he says, Lord, you're
the Lord. You're the sovereign. You're
the creator, sustainer of this earth. And he says, remember
me when you come into your kingdom. You've got a kingdom. What happened
to him go from cursing the Lord Jesus Christ to calling him king,
calling him Lord, and owning his own guilt and sin? Just that
quick. What happened? Solved. Regeneration. God opened his
heart. Made him see what he was. And
oh, and then there's particular redemption. An effectual calling. Only one of those men was redeemed.
Christ died for that man. He says, today you'll be with
me in paradise. What was that? Oh, this is one
of my sheep. Which I must bring into the fold,
one of those sheep that I died for. And then effectually called,
even while he's on the cross, the Holy Spirit called him to
Christ while he's on the cross? You think God ain't gonna get
his people in their last dying moment? Here's a man that with
his eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute and fifty-ninth second.
God saved him like that. Oh, my. Oh, one died for Him that day.
And the other one was left in his sin. And oh, there are justifications
laid at the foot of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
was delivered. God delivered Him up. Sent Him
forth for our offenses. Crucified Him for our offenses.
And He was buried, but He was raised again for our justification. Justification that God accepted
Him. That our sins are gone. And our
beloved, reconciliations at the cross, having made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself. Reconcile to God. God reconciled
me to Himself. I lived a life of hatred and
enmity against Him, cursing and blaspheming. In my flesh nothing could ever
please Him and still can't, and yet God reconciled me to Himself. I didn't go and make peace with
God. God made peace with me on that cross. I didn't walk in
the aisle and make my peace with God. God made peace with me on
that cross. I didn't say, God, I want to
come and be your friend. God's come and made friends with
me through His blessed Son by reconciling me to that cross
and slew that enmity in my heart. And then, oh, resurrections laid
at the foot of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God raised
Him from the dead. And then the Lordship, I read
there, the Lordship of Christ. Be it known unto you therefore,
men and brethren, that this same Jesus whom you crucified, God
hath made Him both Lord and Christ. And when they heard that, they
were pricked in their hearts. All of these things. All of these
things. are in Christ and Him crucified
in the death of the cross. That's why the scripture says,
Paul said, I'm determined. I'll make it my purpose in life. I'm determined to know nothing
among anybody I go among, save Christ and Him crucified. God
sent me to preach the cross, not with wisdom of man's word,
lest the cross be made of none effect. That preacher this morning
made the cross of none effect. If Christ, if you tell everybody
in the study that God loves them, and Christ loves them, and Christ
died for them, you tell me what good is that going to do anybody? I got nothing to worry about.
Preacher told me that God loves me. Preacher told me that Christ
died for me, and if Christ died for me, that's impossible for
me to go to hell. Or else the blood and death of
Christ absolutely has no power to it whatsoever. Now, ain't that right? We'll
leave it in God's hands who He's going to love. We'll leave it
in God's hands who Christ died for. But I will tell you that
He didn't die for everybody. And I will tell you without fear
or favor that whom He died for, they will be saved. I know that. Christ and His cross are represented
as one. When you see Christ, you see
the cross. When you see the cross, you see Christ. They're always
regarded as one. One. They were nailed together. Christ and His cross. You can't
have Christ without His cross. And you can't have one without
the other. Let me show you. You keep Philippians. Let me
show you over here in Matthew 22 what I'm talking about. Or
excuse me, Matthew 16. what I'm talking about. Matthew 16 and verse 21. Here's
what I'm talking about. They're represented in one. They
were nailed together. You can't have Christ without
his cross. You can't have the cross without
Christ. Down at the cross where the Savior died. From that time
forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must
suffer and go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things of the
elders and chief priests and scribes. Now listen, and be killed
and be raised the third day. Now watch what happens. Then
Peter began to rebuke him, saying, being far from the pity
thyself, Lord, This is not going to happen. This is not going
to happen. No, no. That's what he wanted. He wanted Christ without a cross.
He wanted Christ without suffering. He wanted Christ without death.
He wanted Christ without a sacrifice. He wanted Christ without blood.
He wouldn't care to have a king. He wouldn't care to have him
as Lord. But he wanted him without his death. Then Peter, but he
turned. Then the Lord turned and said
unto Peter, get thee behind me. Watch what he said. Satan? Was
Peter Satan? No, but Satan spoke through him.
The devil spoke through him. You're an offense unto me. You
offend me. You don't savor the things. You
don't delight in the things of God. Let that be of men. You want to be saved, but you
don't want to be saved. by me and me alone. And, oh,
beloved, to glory in the cross is to glory, to glory, to rejoice
in that grace that God gives to sinners through the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ, where sin has been put away and the
enmity of the human heart has been slain. Now, listen to what
I'm going to tell you now. This is so key. This is so key. The death of the cross, where
it says he was obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. The death of the cross is the death of sin itself. Sin died when Christ died. Sin was put away when Christ
died. Sin was, what did the scripture
say? Have we become dead indeed unto
sin because Christ died to sin once? Sin's dead. Dead to who? Us. It's just like
a woman being married to a man. When the man dies, she's free
to marry another man. And that's what the law's dead
and sin is dead, so now we're free to have Christ. And Christ
is free to have us. And oh, beloved, now we can approach
God by the one who gave himself for us. And listen, not only
is this the death of the cross, the death of sin, but the death
of the cross is the death of death itself. Death died when
Christ died. How do we know? He was raised
again from the dead. He went death. He conquered death. He defeated death. He took the
sting out of death. He took the drug out of death.
He took the anxiety out of death for those who trust Him and know
Him. Death died when Christ died. That's what he says. You know, Martha says to him,
Lord, if you'd have been here, our brother had not died. He
said, he'll live again. I know he will. That's the resurrection
at the last day. You know what he said? I'm the
resurrection. I'm not gonna be, I am! I mean, you believe in me? You
gotta lie! Death got no power over you! Death can't hold you! I've been
feeding death! That's why we can go to bed at
night and lay on that pillar of satisfaction and not fear
what's gonna happen tomorrow, huh? Oh, the death of cross is
the death of death. And may God help me. God help
me to speak of such a death as this, the death of the cross.
I've got four things I want us to talk about this morning. Four
things. The death of Christ is a shameful death. The death of
Christ is a voluntary death. The death of Christ on the cross
is a predestinated death. And the death of Christ is a
substitutionary death. Christ, which was obedient unto
death, the death of the cross. The death of the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ was a shameful death. Why do I say that? Because He became obedient unto
death, the death of the cross. Now, beloved, do you know why
men were crucified on the cross? Only criminals were crucified.
That's why there were thieves on either side of it. Barabbas
was a murderer. He was an insurrectionist. And
crucifixion was for the worst criminals, for the worst of the
committed crimes in those days. And I'll tell you something,
you know, they always put up, they put a sign up there for
the crimes that they were being crucified for. And, you know,
they put a sign over the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, King
of the Jews. And those Pharisees said to him,
say, he said he was King of the Jews. And that was the crime
they were crucifying him for because they said he'd blaspheme
it, said he's the king of the Jews, which makes him God, and
he's a blasphemer, and we want him dead. And so they charged
him with blaspheming, they charged him with being Jeans, they charged
him with being somebody he said he wasn't. And so they rode it,
and they had this cross there. And not only that, beloved, when
they took somebody to crucify Him, you know what they did?
They took all their clothes off of them, stripped them naked. Now here is Christ Himself hanging
there naked. Can you imagine anything more
shameful than to treat the Son of God this way, to treat the
Lord Jesus Christ this way? And not only that, that they
stripped him naked, but while he was hanging there naked, they
had his garment there at the foot of that cross, and those
soldiers were gambling for that garment. I don't know if they play cards.
I don't know if they throw dice. I don't know how they gambled,
but they gambled. They said, we'll make a wager
on this. We'll gamble for this garment
here. This is some special garment. This is a wonderful garment.
This garment will close us when we're naked or cold, keep us
warm in the winter. I want this garment. Well, if
you get it, you're going to have to win it from me. And they gambled
for his garment. And not only that, they stripped
him naked, they numbered with him the transgressors, one on
either side of him, putting him to an open shame. And the scripture
says in Hebrews 12, 2 that he despised the shame for the joy
that was set before him. What does it mean he despised
that shame? He knowed he was going to be shameful. He knew
he was going to be humiliated. He knew that they were going
to mock him. And he despised it. You know
what that word despised means? That he ignored it. Act like
it didn't exist. Just turn his head away from
it, instead of being, this was his glory. This is our glory. And to be crucified, to abound,
to be crucified is to be accounted cursed of God. Look with me in
Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy chapter 21, just
a minute. To be crucified is to be accounted
cursed of God. Deuteronomy 21 and verse 22. You know, he bore sin. And in
bearing sin, he bore the shame of sin. Sin, you know, that's
one thing that we find. And of course, I was ashamed
of my sin when I was unconverted either. I didn't become ashamed
of it until God convicted me of my sin. But I know this. that
one of the things that we find so distasteful after God saves
us, people do not seem to have any shame anymore over anything. The shame, what should be ashamed,
is what they brag about, what they glory in. You know how you
can become famous in this world and make a million dollars? Do
something really, really awful, write a book about it, and you'll
get your fame. Yeah? Yeah, you'll get your fame. And say you don't write the book
for yourself, somebody will write about it and they'll get rich
off of you. Just do something very, very shameful. Something
despicable. But here in Deuteronomy 21, 22,
And if a man hath committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put
to death, now watch this, and now hang him on a tree. That's
not talking about hanging him by a rope. It's talking about
nailing him up there. His body shall not remain all
night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that
day. And didn't they take Christ down
and bury him that day? For he that is hanged is accursed
of God. Christ was made a curse for us
to redeem us from the curse of love. Who cursed him? The law
did. God did. Justice did. that thy
land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for
an inheritance." So God, He was counted as a cursed of God on
that cross. You think sin ain't bad that
God would curse His own Son and count Him as a curse and treat
Him as if He was cursed when He hung on that cross because
of sin? And oh beloved, the most shameful
thing, the most shameful thing about the death of the cross
of the Lord Jesus is who it was that was crucified. Who was this
He crucified? He was holy. He was harmless. He was undefiled. He was separate
from sinners. He was higher than the heavens.
And Paul said if they had known, they would have not crucified
Him. Who? The Lord of glory. Huh? The Lord of glory. Now, here's a shameful death.
I'll tell you the second thing. It was a voluntary death. Voluntary
death. He'd done this willingly. Look
with me over here in Hebrews 10. You know Hebrews 10. I read it
to you there out of Hebrews 10 and 5. I read it to you there
out of Psalm 40 where he says, The law is written within my
heart. Our Lord's death was voluntary.
No one made Him do what He did. He was in the bosom of the Father
and He came. The will of God was written in
our Lord's heart every day, every moment of every hour of every
hour of every day of every month of every year for all 33 and
a half years that He lived on this earth and died. But it says
there in verse 5, but in those sacrifices Wherefore, when he
saith, when he cometh into the world, when Christ cometh into
the world, he saith sacrifice and offering, that's not what
your will was, that you would not, but a body hast thou prepared
me. Why did he prepare him a body? A body by which he could suffer
in, a body by which he could bleed in, a body by which he
could be an offering for. He never had a body before. He
dwelt in glory. He dwelt in the presence of God
Almighty. But the Word was made flesh sent
to dwell among us. He prepared Him a body and He
burnt offerings and sacrificed for sin that never had any pleasure,
that never had any satisfaction. Then I said this, oh, I'm coming,
I'm coming in the volume of your book, in the volume of your precious
Word, in the volume of your eternality, in the volume of your will. It's written about me. It started
writing about me from the beginning of the last things about me.
And I delight to do thy will. O thy will, O God, is on my heart. So above, when he said this before,
sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin,
you would not. Neither had a satisfaction therein
which were offered by the Lord. They brought them over and over
and over again. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will. Oh
God. He takes away that first, that
law and all the sacrifices that he may establish the second.
Now watch this. By the which will, what will?
The will of Christ. The will of God that Christ delighted
to do. By the which will we're sanctified,
made holy. Watch this now. Through the offering
of the body that was prepared by God for Christ through the
body of Jesus Christ. How long? Once. For all time. For all sin. For all purposes. John 10, 17. Oh, you'll have
to look there. But our Lord Jesus says then,
Herein doeth my Father love me. Because I lay down, lay down
my life for the sheep. No man takes it from me. I've
got the power, I've got the authority to lay it down and take it up
again. And you know Pilate told him,
he says, don't you answer me. Pilate kept asking him questions.
He said, don't you answer me. He said, don't you know I've
got the power to crucify or let you go. You know what our Lord
said to him? He told him, he says, you've
got no power against me. Except he'd be given you from
heaven. And he says, you know, I could call twelve legions of
angels. Just like that. Oh, it was a voluntary death. Had he not been laid down, had
Christ not laid down his life, It would not have been a sweet
savor to God as an atonement for sin. He freely offered himself
to God. He appeared once in the end of
the world. He entered once into the holy
place with his own blood and obtained eternal redemption. Oh, even his life, his life was
a voluntary life. He willingly came into this world.
He willingly came through the womb of a virgin. He willingly
submitted himself to poverty, to flesh, to humanity, to subjection,
to humiliation, to grief and sorrow. He willingly submitted
to all when he was born into this world. He willingly submitted
to be born in a stable. He willingly submitted to be
laid in a manger. He willingly submitted to his
father and mother. He willingly submitted to be
poured all the days of His life. He willingly submitted Himself
back to be smitten. He willingly gave His back to
the smiters. He willingly gave His face to
those who plucked off the beard. When they came to get Him that
night in the garden of Gethsemane, He said, who are you looking
for? Jesus of Nazareth? He didn't call Him the Lord.
Jesus said, all He said was, I am. Over 500 men fell back. If He wanted to not die that
day, if He was resistant to dying, and He just absolutely had to
do it, He could have walked away right then and there. But they all got composed again,
got back up, and He said again, who are you looking for? Jesus
said, I am. And what's this? If you want
me, let these go. Oh, and look, the scripture says,
and they led him away. He was led. They didn't drag
him. They didn't push him. He was
led as a lamb to the slaughter. And oh, beloved, and oh, we should
never separate His life was voluntary. We never separate His obedient
representative life from His death, because His obedience
in His death is what saves us. He became obedient unto death. And His obedience in death is
one offering. His sacrifice, because it was
voluntary, because He laid down His life, is a sweet-smelling
savor unto God. Huh? God smells that. And I ask you, not till you ever
believe her. He's a sweet smell of sacrifice, too. We open this
blessed book and we hear about Christ and His death and what
He accomplished in His death. And oh, it smells so good because,
beloved, it answers to my conscience. It answers to God's justice.
But we preach it to other folks and they don't see nothing about
it. That fellow that mocked the particular redemption death of
Christ this morning, said he didn't believe in the living
atonement. He doesn't smelt no sweet savor in Christ. I do. I do. That's what these men pray for.
That's what you come for. These men pray, say, God help
the preacher. Make us to see more of Christ. Not only was it a voluntary death,
but listen to this. A shameful death, but it was
a predestinated death. I want you to look at two places
with me. First of all, I want you to look
at Revelations 13.8. Revelations 13.8 is a predestinated death. a lot of people in this world
that believe that God intended to save the Jews one way in the
Old Testament, and He tried to save them a new way in the New
Testament, and He offered Christ as a sacrifice strictly for the
Jews, and they rejected Him, so then He devised another plan,
so He was going to save some Gentiles, but when it's all said
and done, what happened was that God was called off guard. And he had to devise another
plan since he was rejected of the Jews. Well, that won't hold
water in the life of Scripture, will it, Gary? Watch this. Look
in Revelation 13. And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him, who? The dragon, whose names are not
written in the book of life of the Lamb. See how that's capitalized? Behold the Lamb of God. The Lamb
slain. From when? From the foundation
of the world. Look over here at 1 Peter 1,
verse 20 with me, just a minute. Oh, that means that God had a
Savior before Adam ever fell, before there was ever sin entered
into this world through Adam. God had a Savior. God had a Redeemer. God had a Substitute. God has
someone to die for those that God would give unto Christ. We
sung it in that blessed song this morning. This covenant was
made between Christ and His bride. Signed, sealed, and ratified. And all things ordered well.
Look here in verse 19. 1 Peter 1.19. We were redeemed with such corruptible
things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb, without blemish and spot, who verily or truly
was foreordained before the foundation of the world. But watch this,
but he was manifest in these last times for who? You. Who
are you? Who by him do believe in God. and raised him from the dead.
That's who he was slain for and ordained for. Oh, don't that
make your heart sing, dance and shout a leap of joy? It does
mine. Oh, my. I've got to show you
one more. In Acts chapter 4. I've just
got to show you this. Acts chapter 4. You know, it
was a predestinated death. And when those men crucified
the Lord Jesus Christ, they were just doing the will of God. They
were fulfilling the will of God. They were just carrying out God's
purpose. In Acts chapter 4, verse 26, look what it says. These fellows are praying. Peter's
got let out of jail, and they're all praying. In verse 24, and
they heard that, they lifted up the voice with one accord
and said, Lord, our God, which has made heaven and earth to
see it all that in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant David
hath said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine
vain things? Now watch it. The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. 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, they all got together."
Now watch this, "...for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done." Oh, my! Those men were doing
just what they wanted to do, what their natures were inclined
to do, and yet they were fulfilling the eternal purpose of God. You know, the Lord Jesus, even
Judas, when the priests and that were trying some way to take
Christ and put Him to death, and they were afraid of the people.
Satan entered into Judas' care, and he came to him and said,
How much will you give me? if I deliver him up to you."
That's what he said. How much will you give me if
I deliver him up to you? Because he knowed that he often
went across Brook Kedron and went over there to pray. And
he knowed he'd get him away from the people and he'd deliver them
up. They said, well, we'll give you 30 pieces of silver. That
sounds pretty good, like a pretty good deal to me. And then when Pilate said to
him, he says, don't you want me to deliver this man back to
you? He said, why do you want to crucify him? I found no fault
in him. And they cried out the more, crucify him, crucify him. The priest stirred up the people,
crucify him, crucify him. And then it says that Pilate,
willing, Pilate willing to please the people, delivered unto them
Jesus. And there was never one of them
doing just exactly what God said. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
as a sheep before his shearers. He was dumb and he didn't open
his mouth. Oh, beloved, there was a Savior
before there were ever a sinner. And I bless God for that. I didn't
know anything about the death of Christ. Didn't know anything
about what the death was for. But our Lord Jesus Christ was
slain on purpose, and the purpose was the purpose of God. He became
a man for the purpose of dying. And I'll tell you this, beloved,
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the glory that should follow,
that's the preeminent message of this Bible, of this blessed
book. When our Lord Jesus went up on
the Mount of Transfiguration, He has transfigured before everybody
there. There appeared with him Moses
and Elijah, and you know what they appeared with him for? To
speak of what his death would accomplish. And our Lord Jesus Christ, He
was offered up, and that's His glory, that He should suffer
and be raised again. Here's my last point, and this
is the most important one of all. He was a substitutionary
death. What do I mean by that? That
he wasn't dying for himself, he was dying for somebody else.
Just like the life he lived, he didn't live for himself, he
lived for somebody else. You know, when it says that God
made him to be sin who knew no sin, who was he making him to be sin
for? Oh my! He Himself bore what? Our sins upon His own body on
that tree. Look with me over in 1 Peter
3.18. 1 Peter 3.18. You know, It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It pleased the Lord to make his soul an offering for sin. 1 Peter 3.18 says this, Also, hath once suffered for
sins. Sins. The just for the unjust. You took that just one, that's
what I feel charged with. You took the just one. The just
one. And crucified him. The Prince! God's made Him a Prince and a
Savior. Look what else He goes on to say. And the just for the
unjust. I'm the unjust. Christ is the
just. That He might, what's this, bring
us, not invite us, not beg with us, not plead with us, not conjure
with us, not to just make salvation possible, not to open a door.
That He might bring us. bring us to God. Now watch this,
being put to death, that's what he had that body for, being put
to death in that flesh, but given life, raised from the dead by
the Spirit. And oh beloved, the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ in the sinner's stead is God's
final and irrevocable settlement with sin. Do you hear what I
said? I said the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ in the sinner's stand, in His people's stand,
is God's final and irrevocable settlement with sin once and
for all. Let me show you in Genesis. We've
seen this so many times, but I know some of you haven't, but
in Genesis 22. Here's what happened. This is a perfect illustration
of what happened. Genesis 22. Now, when this was a perfect
exchange, here's what happened. I was born in sin and shaped
in iniquity. I sinned all the days of my life. I mean, it's what I am. It's
what I do. Pride, self-righteousness, arrogance,
blasphemy, lying, cheating, cumminess. You name the sin, I'm guilty
of it. Whether anybody ever sees it or not, I know it. I know
it. My mind, all the things that
goes through my mind, all the things that goes through my heart,
all the things that I would do if God didn't restrain my flesh
sometimes. But oh, listen. God took Christ
when He called me to be punished for my sin, to be punished for
my faults, to be punished for my actions, to be punished for
my crime, to be punished for my blasphemy, for my pride and
my self-righteousness and my arrogance and my wickedness and
my imagination and all the evil things that I've done. When God
called me to be judged for, Christ was put in my place. And God
judged him and punished him by that death on the cross for what
I am, for what I did. God made him to be my sin. And then what do I get? He was
buried. And when he was buried, he carried
my sins away. He was punished for them, so
they can't be on Me anymore. So He gets my place, and I get
His place. I get His righteousness. I get
His obedience. And He gets my sin in absolute
and perfect exchange. And guess what? He lives right
now at the right hand of God to ensure that I get what He
died for. Genesis 22 here, this is the
story of Abraham taking his son Isaac upon the mountain. And it says there in verse 9, it says that they
came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built
an altar there and laid the wood in order, and watch this, and
bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood."
Foods under that, getting ready to set the match. Got the fire
with him. Got the knife. He got the knife,
threw it back, fixing to slay this son. Now watch this. And then the Lord called unto
Abraham and said, Abram, Abram, he said, here am I. And he said,
lay not your hand upon the land, neither do anything unto him.
For I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld
thy Son, thine only Son. And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and behold, and looked, behind him a ram caught in a thicket
by his horn. Now this is what took place. Abraham went and
took the ram, and offered him up as a burnt offering in the
stead of his son. We was on the altar, fire was under us, the
knife of God's justice was raised up over our breasts, and we were
bound. And we couldn't get loose. But
the Father took His blessed Son, the Lamb of God, without spot
and without blemish, took us off, put His Son there. And we
came off that mountain, and now we worship God. Oh, no sacrifice could ever take
away sin, but Christ sacrificed death. He appeared once in the
end of the world, and by the sacrifice of Himself, He put
away sin once and for all in the end of the world. And you
know what the Scripture said? God says there are sins and iniquities. I will remember no more. Why
can't He remember them? Because there ain't none to remember.
He can't look at me and say, I do remember what you was. I
remember what you did. I remember. But God looks at
me and says, I don't see nothing but holiness. I don't see nothing
but righteousness. I see my son. I see nothing but
obedience. That's all I see. And because
of that great sacrifice, our sins and iniquities are gone.
Now listen, and I'll be done. God would not and could not accept
anything less than the death of His Son, sinless sacrifice, sinless man,
holy man, righteous man. God could not, would not accept
anything less, and I'll tell you something else, there couldn't
be anything more for payment of sin than the holy
spotless soul. He made His soul an offering
for sin. He poured out His soul unto death. And beloved, God made His soul
an offering for sin and is satisfied with Him and is pleased with
Him. And the question I ask you is, are you? Is He enough for you? Or are
you pleased with Him? Are you satisfied with Him? That's
the question. That's what the cross means,
the death of the cross. Are you satisfied with Him? Are
you pleased with Him? God is. Oh, the peace that would flood
your soul if God would bless you to get ahold of that and
see that. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing us this
time to meet here today, to meet with the children of God, to
gather around our Lord Jesus Christ, to worship him, to speak
of him, to magnify his holy name. God bless this word to the hearts
of the hearers. Lord, I can't make an affection.
I can reach the ear, but, oh Lord, you can reach the heart.
I can reach the mind, but only, O Lord God, You can reach the
soul. And I ask You, God, to do it for Christ's sake. In His
name we pray. Amen. Jesus, King, Redeemer of the
world.