Greetings, friends, and welcome
to another broadcast of the Old School Primitive Baptist with
Elder Don Martin, Sr. Stay tuned for another Gospel
message of God's free and sovereign grace. The Gospel of John, in
chapter 18, we find that according to the determinate
purpose and foreordained design of God Almighty, that Jesus Christ, after he had
bowed in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed, that he was then
taken by the wicked and cruel hands of the Jews and Romans,
as led by that one Judas the betrayer, And he was taken before
the high priest. And in verse 28, chapter 18 of
John, I'll begin reading. Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas
unto the hall of judgment, and it was early. And they themselves
went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled.
but that they might eat the Passover. Now Pilate then went out unto
them and said, What accusation bring ye against this man? Pilate, who was the one who was
set up as judge in this circumstance, of which Jesus Christ was taken
before, He says, what is it that you've got against this man,
this man called Jesus? And the Bible says that they
answered and they said unto him, verse 30, if he were not a male
factor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee. Then said Pilate
unto them, well take ye him and judge him according to your law.
The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us
to put any man to death, that the saying of Jesus might be
fulfilled which he spake, signifying that death he should die. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again, and he called Jesus and said unto him, Art
thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered him, saying,
Thou this thing of thyself, saying, Thou this thing of thyself. In
other words, who informs you of this thing about me being
king? Are you saying this of yourself
or somebody told you this? Or did others tell you thee of
me? Pilate answered and said, I am
a Jew. Thy known nation and the chief
priest have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? And Jesus answered, My kingdom. My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered
unto the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that
I am a king. To this end I was born, and for
this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto
the truth. Every one that is of the truth
heareth my voice. Pilate said to him, Are you a
king? Jesus said, Who told you that
I was a king? And then Jesus went on to say,
He said, Thou sayest that I am a king, and to this end was I
born. Jesus admitted that he was a
king, but he is not a king of anything in this world. You see,
Pilate was inquiring about him being a king of the Jews. And he says, I am a king, but
I'm the king of a kingdom that is not of this world. I am a
king, but not a king of Israel, as you have supposed that some
say that I am. I am a king of another kingdom
of which men know nothing about, for if you had truly been shown
that I'm the king of this kingdom of which I'm telling you about,
then you would know the truth of the matter. But it goes on
to say in verse 38, Pilate said unto him, What is truth? And
when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith
unto them, I find in him no fault at all. He went out and to the
Jews and to those others that had taken Christ captive and
brought him there before that judicial court, and Pilate questioned
him and interrogated him, and he goes out and he says, look,
look here, brethren, I find nothing wrong with this man. And he says,
I don't see any fault in him. In verse 39, but ye have a custom
that I should release unto you one at the Passover. In other
words, there was two men that were brought to be judged by
Pilate. And it was their custom that
one was going to be released because of the Passover. And
the Bible says that, "...then cried they all again, saying,
Not this man, but Barabbas." Now, Barabbas was a robber. In other words, they cried out
and they said, No, not this man Jesus! We don't want him released
because of the Passover. We want Barabbas released. And the Bible says in verse 1
of chapter 19, Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him,
and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head,
and they put on him a purple robe. and said, Hail, King of the Jews.
And they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went
forth again, and he said to them, Behold, I bring him forth to
you, that you may know that I find no fault in him." In other words,
you know, you've asked me to do this. You've asked me to set
Barabbas free and take this one called Jesus, who I find no fault
in, and here I'll bring him before you again. And here he is now
with a crown of thorns on his head. He's been scourged. And
he says, I bring Jesus here before you and behold the man. Here's the man. Here's the one
you wanted. And when the chief priest, therefore,
and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him!
Crucify him! And Pilate said unto them, Take
ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. Pilate
said, Look, Look, I have ruled on this situation, I have said
I find no fault in him, but because of your dominant desire and request
to have Barnabas set free and this one Jesus to be put to death,
then you take care of the matter. And the Bible goes on to say
that Jews answered him, we have a law and by our law he ought
to die because he made himself the son of God. He didn't make
himself the son of God. He always was the son of God.
Though he said he was the son of God and had offended the Jews,
that was their biggest problem they had against him. They said
he was deity. Jesus come and he said, if you've
seen me, you've seen the Father. For I and the Father are one,
according to John chapter 14. But the Bible says that the Jews
hated him because he said he was God. And that was their big
opposition. The chief priests, they were
envious of Jesus because he had a following. Because he'd done
signs and wonders. He's healed the sick. He'd made
blind eyes see. He'd made people who were crippled
from their birth able to walk again. He'd raised the dead as
he did in John chapter 11. when Lazarus was in the grave
and lay there three days, and Jesus said, remove the stone
from that tomb. And when they did that, he said
unto Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth. And that man that was dead, he
was raised from the dead. And that they hated Him because
of who He was. And in God's divine, sovereign
purpose, it had been from the beginning of the world that His
Son come, be hated of the religious of the world's system, and be
put to death for our sake. Jesus had to lie. Let's read
on here in verse 8. When Pilate therefore heard that
saying, he was more afraid. He would, he'd become more fearful
of the fact that he's having this man that is innocent here
given over to these folks who were going to kill him. And it
says, and went again into the judgment hall and he said unto
Jesus, where art thou? In other words, who are you?
Where are you from? What's going on here? And he
says, but Jesus gave him no answer. Jesus didn't say nothing to him.
Jesus kept his mouth shut. According to Isaiah 53, the Bible
says he went before his slaughters as a sheep. And it says here
that in verse 10, then said Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto
me? knowest thou not that I have
power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Now listen
to this verse right here. Verse 11, listen to this verse.
Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against
me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that
delivereth me unto thee hath the greater sin, and we're talking
about Judas, the betrayer, the one who was designated, designed,
and born into this world to betray the Son of God, that he be taken
and judged and crucified. That was all part of God's determined
purpose, that he would come to give his life blood for sinners
and seek and save them. Those who God the Father had
chosen before the foundation of the world to be the heirs
of grace and the bride church of Jesus Christ throughout all
the ages of time. And listen now, verse 12, And
from henceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews
cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's
friend. Pilate said, Hey, I've got to
let this man go. They said, if you let him go,
you're not King Caesar's friend. You are enemy to the government.
And the Bible goes on to say that whosoever maketh himself
a king speaketh against Caesar. Jesus said that he was king,
didn't he? But Jesus said that he wasn't
king of anything in this world. He's the king of the kingdom
of God, which is a spiritual kingdom. And my kingdom is not
of this world, Jesus said. And when Pilate therefore heard
that saying, he brought forth Jesus and sat down in the judgment
seat in a place that is called The Pavement. But in the Hebrew,
it is Gapatha. And it was in the preparation
of the Passover, and it says, and about the sixth hour, and
he said to the Jews, Behold your king. And they cried out, Away
with him! Away with him! Crucify him! Pilate said unto them, Shall
I crucify your king? In other words, Pilate still
really didn't get it. He didn't understand it. He knew
that Jesus was a king, But he didn't really fully understand
what he was king of. He was telling the Jews, he says,
this guy here is your king. You're going to kill your king?
And the Jews, they were ramming out, he ain't our king. We don't
know nothing about him. And remember what Jesus said,
that if you knew me, you would know the truth. But none of them
knew. who he was as far as his kingship
of the kingdom of God, which is from heaven. The Bible says
the chief priest answered and said, we have no king but Caesar.
We don't have no king, especially this one called Jesus. He ain't
our king, and they were right. He ain't their king, but he's
the king of those who have been blessed to believe upon his name
in this time world as we speak even now. He's the king of us. He's the king of the kingdom
of God of which we have been made heirs of, of which we have
been appointed a citizenship into. We have a dual citizenship,
folks. We have a citizenship in this
time world born of our mother's womb with a birth certificate
that says I was born at a certain time, a certain date, at a certain
place, that my mother's name is so and so. I have got a citizenship
in this United States of America, but in 1971, when God came into
this sinner's heart and transformed my love and my desires towards
the things of the heavenly kingdom, I became a citizen of another
kingdom. I have a dual citizenship, and
my second citizenship is a priority to me above my first citizenship. And I'm going to leave my first
citizenship right out yonder here in the backyard in the cemetery. But my second citizenship is
going to be brought about by a new body, an immortal body,
an incorruptible body, a body made like unto Him who is the
King of the Kingdom, Jesus Christ. who was raised from the dead,
seen among more than 500 brethren for 40 days after he was resurrected,
and ascended into heaven, and was taken up into glory. And
that same Jesus that was ascended up into heaven's glory, seen
by the Nazarenes that were standing there around about, and when
the angels of God said, why do you men stand here gazing upward? You men of Galilee? for the same
Jesus that you've seen that ascended into heaven in the cloud is coming
back again. He's coming back for a church
without spot nor wrinkle, bought and paid for by the blood of
the crucified one that these folks had taken and had went
and arrested and brought before Pilate to be judged and to be
crucified. The Bible says we don't have
no The king said to the Jews, accept Caesar. Then delivered
he, Jesus, therefore, unto them to be crucified. And they took
Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went
forth unto a place called the Place of the Skull, which is
called in the Hebrew, Golgotha. That's Calvary. Mount Calvary,
Golgotha, that hill that overlooked Jerusalem. That's where Jesus
Christ took and he walked up with that cross and where they
crucified him and two others with him on either side, one
and Jesus in the midst. There's where you get the three
crosses. You had two thieves there and you had Jesus in the
midst. The King of Kings. That was what the placards said
that they put above his head. King of Kings. Oh, little did
they know that they put the truth when they put those words up
there. The King of Kings. He is the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. He, in his sovereign design,
brings kings into their lofty thrones and takes them down the
same. Saddam Hussein was taken and
put in a lofty place in Iraq, which is the place where the
Assyrians and the Babylonians Arabs had kept Israel captive
for 400 years over in that neck of the woods. And there was Saddam
Hussein in Iraq. The king had all the lavish gold
and all the beautiful carpentry work in his palaces and in the
places that he was there, set upon as king of the nation, and
then he was taken and found in a spider hole in the ground by
American troops and brought out, and then was hung by the neck.
You see, God determines the kings of the nations, and he determines
when they are to be brought down to their lowest state. And God,
Jesus Christ, is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords. There is none higher than Him.
The Bible says that God had given Him a name above every name,
and that at the name of Jesus Christ shall every knee bow and
every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory and honor
of the Father. That it prays God. They give him that name above
every name. And the Bible says that they
took Jesus. And they took and they put him
on a cross. And on either side of him, in verse 18, there was
each another man. In verse 19, Pilate wrote a title
and put it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth,
the King of the Jews. Well, he put the title up there,
the King of the Jews, but they denied that he was their king.
But Pilate put it up there to satisfy them. Pilate was a compromiser. Pilate was a pleaser of people. Listen to what went on here now.
This title then read, many of the Jews, for the place where
Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. It was near Jerusalem,
like I said. And it was written in Hebrew
and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priest and
the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that
he said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered and said, what
I have not written I have written. Then the soldiers took, they
had, Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took
the garments and made four parts for every soldier apart, and
also his coat. And now the coat was without
seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves,
let us not rend it, but cast loss for it. Whose it shall be,
for the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. That is a
fulfillment of scripture found in the Psalms when the prophets
spoke that they would take and they would part my vesture and
they would cast lots for it. And these things therefore the
soldiers did. Isn't that amazing? that a thousand
years before Christ's crucifixion, it was prophesied that they were
even going to take his garments and part of them and then they
were going to cast lots to see who got what part of it. And
then it says in verse 25, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus
his mother and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleophas and
Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by, And you notice it says, and
the disciple which was standing by, you know who that disciple
was? It was John. John, the writer of this here
book. John, the disciple whom the Lord
loved, the Bible says. John was one who adored the Lord
Jesus Christ. He loved Him with unfeigned love. And it says, and he stood there
and John stood by there, whom he loved. And he said unto his
mother, Woman, behold thy son. Mary, he said, Woman, behold. Behold, look at your son. Look
at your son with the crown of thorns upon his head and blood
streaming down his face. Look at his hands with nails
and spikes driven through the palms of his hands. Look at his
ankles, look at the nails driven through his ankles holding him
onto that cross. But behold thy son, then saith
he to the disciple, behold thy mother, and from that hour, that
That disciple, John, took her into his own home. John took
Jesus' mother, Mary, into his own home and took care of her
after his crucifixion. The Bible says in verse 28, after
this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished,
that the scriptures might be fulfilled, saying, I thirst.
And now that he was there on the cross, he was still alive. He looked down and he said, I
thirst. And now there was set a vessel full of vinegar. And
they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it up with hyssop on
a stick and put it to his mouth that his mouth might be moistened
with vinegar. I mean, that would be a nasty
taste in the stuff, wouldn't it? And it says that when Jesus,
therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished. He said,
It is finished. What's finished? All that God
had predestined to occur. in the coming of his son, in
the ministry of his son, in the signs and wonders of his son,
and now even the crucifixion of his son, in behalf of all
of God's people, had he bled and died on that cross as a sacrifice
for our sins, to redeem us unto himself, to be our advocate and
our mediator. The Bible says, Jesus said, it
is finished. It's complete. I've bled the
blood, O Father, is what he was saying. I have paid the price. My body, my mortal frame has
given up the ghost. But the Bible says, and he bowed
his head and gave up the ghost. And then verse 31, 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, Because it was a Passover time of the year, if you recall.
They sought, Pilate, that their legs might be broken, that they
might be taken away. They would take, because of time,
those who were on the cross, who were not yet dead, they would
break their legs, that they would die quicker. But Jesus had already,
in the mortal body, said it was finished, and gave up the ghost.
They didn't break his bones. It was prophesied in the Old
Testament that not a bone of his body shall be broken. And
the Bible says in verse 32, Then came the soldiers and broke the
legs of the first, and then of the other which was crucified
with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was
dead already, they broke not his legs, Oh, they didn't touch
the bones of our Lord Jesus Christ, because it was prophesied not
a bone of his body be broken. But one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood
and water. Blood and water came out of the
side of the Lord Jesus Christ as his spear pierced his side. And the Bible says, and he that
saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that
he saith what was true, that ye might believe. For these things
were done that the scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of
him shall not be broken. That's just what I told you,
wasn't it? And the Bible says in verse 37, and again, another
scripture says, they shall look on him whom they pierced. They
had to pierce him. Because if I don't prophesy,
they're going to look upon Him who they pierced. Not only with
a thorn or a crown, not only with the nails in his hands and
in his feet, but also with a spear, they pierced his side. Now in
verse 38, And after this, Joseph there, Matthias, 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 give him
leave. And he came, therefore, and took
the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus. You remember Nicodemus in the
third chapter, John? He was a Jew. He was a Pharisee. He was of the chief priests,
and he came to Jesus by night. You know why he came by night?
Because he didn't want to be seen in the daytime talking to Jesus.
He came to Jesus by night. And he says, well, he says, Jesus,
what is this that you're preaching and teaching about here? And
Jesus said to him, if you recall, in the third chapter, He said,
well, you're a teacher of the Jews. You're a Pharisee. Why
is it that you're asking me what I teach? He said, don't you know
what I'm teaching about? What I'm talking to you about
is things that are spiritual things. And that's when Jesus
said to him, Nicodemus, you must be born again. I say unto you,
you must be born again to see the kingdom of heaven. Jesus
said, I say unto thee, ye must be born again to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. Nicodemus came, which at first
came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about a hundred pound weight to prepare his body for burial. Then they took the body of Jesus
and wound it up in linen clothes and with the spices as the manner
of the Jews is to bury. And now in the place where he
was crucified there was a garden. And in the garden a new sepulcher,
a new tomb wherein was never man yet laid. It was prepared
for a wealthy man who had donated it to have the Savior of sinners
to be put into. And it says, and there they lay
Jesus therefore because of the Jews preparation day for the
sepulcher was nigh at hand. Oh, let me tell you something. All of this takes us to Acts chapter 2 and verse 21. Acts chapter 2 and verse 21. What I've just read to you from
John 18 and 19 is the record of Christ's betrayal, His judgment,
His crucifixion, His suffering, His physical death, and then
of course we know that He was raised from the dead the third
day. but that all this might be fulfilled that is now recorded
in the Acts of the Apostles chapter 2. You see the Acts of the Apostles
were after Christ's resurrection and after he ascended into glory.
This is what occurred after the Spirit of God came down upon
those that believed and endowed them with power to be witnesses
of God's grace and of the kingship of Jesus Christ and His salvation
which is so rich and free and has sent them out to preach this
gospel. And the Bible says in verse 23
of chapter 2 of Acts, Him, Jesus, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. He was delivered to the
Jews by the determined counsel of God. That means that he was
delivered by the divine, predestined will of God Almighty to be crucified,
and to be taken, and by the wicked hands have crucified and slain. Now Peter is preaching here on
the day of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts. He says, whom
God had raised up having loosed the pains of death, because it
was not possible that he should be holden of it." Death could
not hold him. Hell cannot hold him. He has defeated both death and
hell for our sake. And for them to believe on Jesus
Christ have life everlasting. They have sins forgiven. They
have grace that is unmerited favor. They have peace past understanding. They have joy that is unspeakable. They are blessed with that blessed
hope that Jesus Christ is ours. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. And with the earnest of that
Holy Spirit, God has blessed everyone that believes upon Him
with the power to become and live as the sons of God in this
time and present world as we live. That's where we differ
at with those who call themselves conditionalists. We do not believe
that there's any conditions laid upon God's people to inherit
the blessings of God. We believe that God Almighty
blesses His people to O be obedient to His will and
fulfill all righteousness which is by Christ Jesus living in
us, causing us to both will and to do of His good pleasure. Jesus, that has begun a good
work in us, shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
I'll preach that to any conditionalist that will give me an ear. You
cannot argue with that scripture verse, that it is Christ the
Performer that we are blessed with that calls us to live the
Christian life. It ain't what we do that gives
us and merits blessings, it's what He does in us. That is the
blessings of God. If there's ever an amen to be
said, that ought to be when it is. Amen and amen. God blesses
us to walk in obedience. We don't obey God to get a blessing. We are blessed to walk in Christ
Jesus. And that's the truth of the matter.
I've set before you a crucified Savior, the King of kings and
Lord of lords. One who came to die. when he
came to get himself. He told, you heard what he told
Paul? He said, hey, look, you think you've got power to put
me to death? He said, you've got another thing coming. He
said, no man hath power over me. For he said, I have power
to lay my life down, and I have power to take it up again. And
on that third day, brother Gus, Jesus took it up again, defeating
hell and death for our sake. And as I said, he was seen for
more than 40 days after his resurrection by the disciples at various times. At first place on the upper room
where they was there with the door closed. And the Bible says,
there they were up there weeping and lamenting over the fact that
Christ had died. And whoa, there he stood in the
midst of them. He came through the door without
opening it up. He walked in that room and stood
in their midst and he said, peace be unto you. It is I, it's Jesus,
I am here. And they were so amazed. And
if you remember, Thomas wasn't there with them at that particular
occasion. But it was a matter of a few days later when Thomas
said, Oh well, I know what y'all are saying, but I don't believe
it unless I see it with my own eyes. And he was standing there
in the midst of them in that room and there came Jesus again.
And he stood there and he said, Thomas, Thomas, thou doubter! Oh, look at me, Thomas. Take
your hands and feel these scars in my hands, these holes in my
hands. Oh, take your hand and thrust
it in my side and feel the wounds here. Oh, let me tell you something. This just ain't some old wives'
tale. This isn't just some old fable
that somebody dreamed up and wrote by a bunch of men of old
time. This is the Word of God. This
is the Word of God that is forever settled in heaven. This is the
Word of God that I have laid my life upon as truth because
God's faith has caused me to believe it. That substance of
things hoped for, that evidence of things not seen. That miracle
of faith that God gives his children to live by, day by day. I pray
that God may bless the reading of his word and what comment
may have been brought from this preacher's mouth, may he be some
prophet, that it may be of some comfort, that it may be of some
hope to someone here, even myself, to whom I preach to as much as
any. So may the Lord bless his word. as it has been set forth. Would
you pray with me? My Father and my God, in that
blessed and holy name of thy darling Son, Jesus Christ, Father,
I thank you for your mercy and your grace and your kindness
towards us. Undeserving as we are, I thank
you, God, that you have allowed us again to take another look
at the book, that precious holy book by divine word. Oh, may it be that which is sweet
as honey to the taste of our spiritual tongue. May it be,
Lord, those things that cause us to rejoice, that we are not
merely captive to this world, that we are, Lord, looking for
that new kingdom. We're looking to enter into that
new realm called glory. And Lord, help us, oh God, to
be mindful of the fact that it's all because of Jesus, who paid
it all, who said, it's finished. I paid for them. I bought them.
I own them. And they're my people. I love
them with an everlasting love, and I shall lose none. To Him
be the glory and honor and praise is my humble prayer. Amen and
amen.