Alright, let's begin our services,
opening our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And next
Wednesday, the Lord willing, Brother Don Fortner will be here
to preach for us. He's on his way to Pikeville
and to Dingus, and he's going to stop here, the Lord willing,
to preach for us next Wednesday. So, I know you want to be here
for that. Also, many of you probably already
know our sister, Bonnie Imes, The providence of the Lord has
been called home. Her funeral service will be Friday,
visitation will be from noon to two, and the service will
be at two o'clock. So we want to remember that dear
family in our prayers. All right, 1 Corinthians chapter
15, we'll read the first 11 verses. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have
received and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according
to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose
again the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the 12. After that, he was seen of
above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain
unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he
was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all,
he was seen of me also, as one born out of due time, for I am
the least of the apostles. Then I'm not mean to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the
grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach, and
so you believed." We'll end our reading there. Turn to number 112. Up Calvary's mountain One dreadful
morn Of Christ my Saviour Weary and worn Facing poor sinners
Death on the cross, that He might save them from sinless fall. Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer,
seems now I see Wounded and bleeding, Your sinners
fleeting, Life dead, unheeding, Dying for me. Father, forgive them, Thus did
he pray, meanwhile his wife, love, all passed away. Praying for sinners, While in
such woe, No one but Jesus Ever loved so. Blessed Redeemer, Precious Redeemer,
Seems now I see On Calvary's tree Wounded and
bleeding Poor sinners pleading Blind and uneeding Dying for
me Savior and friend. How can my praises ever find
Him who hears a number My tongue shall praise Him forevermore. Blessed Redeemer, Precious Redeemer, Wounded and bleeding, your sinners fleeting,
blind and unheeding, dying for me. over to 117. 117. For our transgressions He bore
our sins In His body on the tree For our guilt He gave us peace
From our bondage gave relief and with his stripes our souls
are healed. He was numbered among transgressors,
We did esteem him forsaken by his God. As our sacrifice he died, that
the law be satisfied. And all our sin, and all our
sin was laid on Him. We had wonder, we all had wonder. Of the shepherd, of the sheep. But He saw us where we were On
the mountains bleak and bare. And brought us home And brought
us home And brought us all safely home to our Who can number His generation? Who shall declare all the triumphs
of His cross? Billions dead, now live again. Periods follow in his train. Victorious Lord, All right, if you would, now open your Bibles
to Psalm 102. Psalm 102. We'll read the first 21 verses. These are the verses I hope to
be able to deal with this evening. Psalm 102. Hear my prayer, O
Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not thy face from
me in the day when I'm in trouble. Incline thine ear unto me. In
the day when I call, answer me speedily, for my days are consumed
like smoke and my bones burned as an hearth. My heart is smitten
and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. By
reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin. I'm
like a pelican of the wilderness. I'm like an owl of the desert.
I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. My enemies
reproach me all the day, and they that are mad against me
are sworn against me. For I've eaten ashes like bread
and mingled my drink with weeping because of thine indignation
and thy wrath. For thou hast lifted me up and
cast me down. My days are like a shadow that
declineth, and I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord,
shalt endure forever, and thy remembrance unto all generations.
Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion for the time to favor
her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure
in her stones and favor the dust thereof. So the heathen shall
fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth by
glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his
glory. He will regard the prayer of
the destitute and not despise their prayer. This shall be written
for the generation to come, and the people which shall be created
shall praise the Lord. For he hath looked down from
the height of his sanctuary. From heaven did the Lord behold
the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those
that are appointed to death, to declare the name of the Lord
in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem. We'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for this, another opportunity to meet together with our brothers
and sisters and to worship you. Father, I pray that you would
meet with us tonight in the person of your spirit and that you would
enable us to have a true hour of worship, to worship you in
spirit and in truth, to be able to forget about all the goings
on of this life, whether they bring us sorrow or happiness. And Father, in this hour, let
us set our affection, our heart upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I
pray that you'd cause the name of Christ to be lifted up and
magnified in the preaching of your word this evening. That
you'd give us hearts to believe him, that you'd give us eyes
of faith to see him, that you'd cause your people to leave here
this evening rejoicing in Christ our Savior and the full and free
salvation from our sin that's found in Him. Father, how can
we ever thank you enough? How can we ever praise you enough? We can't even begin. But we do
praise you. We do thank you and desire this
opportunity to worship you. And Father, we thank you for
the many blessings of this life, how richly you have blessed us. Yet we freely confess our total,
complete dependence upon thee every second of every day. And
in this flesh, we confess we are poor and a needy people. We need you every hour. And Father,
I pray that you be with those who are in times of great trouble,
heartache, and sorrow. Pray a special blessing for the
Iams family at this time, that you comfort their hearts with
your presence Thanksgiving of a good hope through your grace.
Pray that you'd be with Jackie as she recovers and others, Father,
who are so hurting. We pray for Carter. Others, Father,
who need you. You know the need of your sheep.
We pray you'd be with them. Pray that you would watch over
those who are in the path of this hurricane, that you'd keep
them safe. And we know the storm is in your
hand. Both the physical storm and the
storms of our trouble and trial, they're in your hand. Father,
we pray that you direct them for our good and that you deliver
your people when it's time. All these things we ask. And
we give thanks in that name which is above every name. In the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Why did they nail Him to Calvary's
tree? Why, tell me, why was He there? Jesus, the Helper, the Healer, Tell me, why was he there? Sing it with me. All my iniquities
on him were laid. He nailed them all to the tree. Jesus, the debt of my sin fully
paid. He paid the ransom for me. Why should He love me, a sinner
undone? Why, tell me, why should he care? I do not merit the love he has
shown. Why, tell me, why should he care? All my iniquities on Him were
laid, He nailed them all to the tree. Jesus, the dead of my sinfully paid the ransom for me. Should I linger apart from His
love? Why, tell me, why should I fear? Somehow I know I should venture
and Why, tell me, why should I fear? All my iniquities on Him were
laid, He nailed them all to the tree. Jesus, the debt of my sinfully
paid, He paid the ransom for me. She would open your Bibles again
to Psalm 102. Every once in a while, Jan and
I will be getting ready to come to the service, and the eternal
weight of what we're about to do, especially those times when
I'm about to preach, will hit her, and she'll look at me and
she'll say, Frank Tate, what are you doing? I've been working
on these notes since Monday morning. And one more time, before I left
for the service, I sat down to look at my notes, and I looked
at my title, and I thought to myself, Frank Tate, what are
you doing? The title of the message this evening is Why and How Christ
Suffered. What a subject. I thought of
Bro. Henry's advice to me one time.
He said, when you someday find yourself getting ready to jump
into the deep end of the pool, he said, dive in. Dive in head
first. Swim around about 40 minutes
and get out. So Lord willing, that's what I'm going to do.
Why and how Christ suffered. Now, the title of this song says
it's a prayer of the afflicted. He's overwhelmed. And when you
read this song, you have to see that this is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking from the cross. Now, about everybody you meet
knows Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross about 2000 years ago.
He spoke from the cosmic. Almost everybody you meet knows
that. But what I want us to know is why Christ was there suffering,
how he suffered, and what is it that he accomplished in his
sufferings. First, why Christ suffered. Verses one and two.
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. Hide not
thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Incline thine
ear unto me, And the day when I call, answer me speedily."
Even when Christ was made sin and He was suffering under the
wrath of the Father, He never quit trusting the Father. Even
as He suffered, He prayed to the Father. Now, everything that
the Lord said from the cross is not recorded for us. Certainly,
if there's any private prayer going on, that's not recorded
for us. But we do know several things that the Savior cried
from the cross. And these statements tell us
a whole lot about why it is that Christ is their suffering. He
cried, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. He
cried that because the Savior died bearing the sin of his people
so that their sin could be forgiven. Here's why Christ suffered. So
the sin of his people would be forgiven by his blood and by
his death. That's why he suffered. Then
he said, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? The Savior
knew full well why the father had forsaken him. This was their
purpose, the father, the son. He cried this so we would know
that the father had forsaken him because of the sin that was
laid upon him. The only reason the father ever
could have forsaken his son was sin. So here's why the Savior
died. He died so that his people would
never be forsaken. If the Savior was forsaken as
our substitute, bearing our sin, God will never, no never, no
never leave or forsake his people. And we find ourselves in that
day of trouble and we cry, He'll hear. He'll hear you. He's not
forsaken you. He'll never forsake you as Christ
died as your substitute. Then the Savior cried, I thirst.
He's talking about more than thirst. I need a drink of water. I'm
sure his mouth was parched, but he's talking about more than
that. You know the Lord talked in the Sermon on the Mount about
the blessed people. The blessed people are those
who hunger and thirst. After what? Righteousness. Righteousness. David talked about
being thirsty. He thirsted for the presence
of the Lord. He said, as the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so pained with my soul after thee, O God.
He's thirsty for the presence of God. That is how the Savior
is thirsting at Calvary. He thirsted after righteousness
because he'd been made sin for his people. He thirsted after
the presence of his father because his father had forsaken him. And with the father was still
there. What? that Calvary, the father was
still there. He was there in judgment and injustice, but he
withdrawn his loving, supportive, merciful presence from his son.
And here's why Christ died to believers comfort. Since the
Savior thirsted as our substitute, he could come and promise his
people and tell you you're blessed if you hunger and you thirst
after righteousness. You're blessed because since
Christ died for you, you'll be filled. You'll be filled with
His righteousness. Then, as he hung there, he looked
down. All his disciples had forsaken
him. His mother was there, wasn't she? His mother was there. The
Apostle John had made his way there. And he looked at her,
he said, Woman, behold your son. He wasn't telling her to look
at him. He's saying, Behold your son, John. Now you count John
as your son. And he told John, Behold your
mother. Now you count her as your mother.
The Savior died fulfilling the law. He died fulfilling the law
that required the oldest son to take care of his parents.
And he did. He provided, didn't he? He provided.
But you know, as he died, he did a whole lot more than provide
for Mary, didn't he? The Savior died providing every
need that his people had. He died providing forgiveness
in his blood. He died providing righteousness
and His obedience. He died providing life in His
death because He fulfilled the law for His people. Then to that
thief the Savior said, Verily I say unto me, Today, today thou
shalt be with me in paradise. Adam's sin closed God's way to
God or the man's way to God. But Christ came and He opened
the way to God for His people in Him. And no amount of sin,
no matter how great we think it is, there is no sin that's
so great that the blood of Christ can't wash it away. Now, you and I tend to think
that dying thief was one bad dude, don't we? But if we're
honest, he don't have nothing on us. He got nothing on us. Matter of fact, As we sit here
tonight, in all of our advancement, whatever you want to call it,
as a society, and we're so refined, our sin is greater than his. That's exactly right. We've sinned
against greater light. Yes, there's no question about
it. He deserved to die. I have no problem with him being
put to death. He robbed and killed folks. He
ought to have been put to death. But you and I have done worse.
We have refused to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every person in this room, without
exception, has heard Him preached many times. And we've refused
to believe Him. By nature, we refuse to believe
Him. I'm telling you, that's far worse
than that thief. But here's why Christ died. The
death of Christ is so effectual. Salvation in Christ is so certain
because of his suffering, because of his perfect righteousness,
that the sin of God's people is taken away and the way to
God for them is wide open. It is so certain that to be absent
from this body is to be immediately, immediately in the presence of
God in paradise. Dwayne, that takes a sting out,
don't it? At least some of it does. It takes some of the sting
out. To be absent from the body, oh my, is to be immediately present
with the Lord because of Christ's suffering. Then he cried, it
is finished. Oh, I love that statement. He
wasn't just talking now about his suffering now being over.
He's talking about redemption. Redemption is finished. It's
accomplished. The eternal will of God, the
eternal purpose of God concerning the salvation of His people is
finished. It's all done. Salvation has
been purchased for God's elect. The redemption price has been
paid in full. Now here's why Christ died. So
that there is absolutely nothing left for His people to do to
make it effectual. It's done. It's done. You quit
your working. Whatever it is, quit. If you
start to say, but quit. Just quit. Trust Christ. Just trust Him. Salvation is
finished. It's complete. Now you believe
Him. You'll be saved. Then he said, Father. Now earlier
he cried, my God, my God. He's crying to the judge of all
who was meting out justice to him. But now, The price has been
paid. Now he says, Father, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. See, I commend my spirit to you.
He said, no man could take my life from me. I've got to lay
it down. And he laid it down when there
was no more wrath to endure because sin had been put away. And the
Savior's last act of obedience was to obey the law's demand,
death for sin. And he laid down his life. so
that the salvation of his people could be complete. He laid down
his life in complete faith, complete trust that his father would accept
it because he'd accept his perfect sacrifice. He knew he would because
the sin that had been laid on him is gone. Here's why Christ
died. So that the father can just as
gladly accept everyone for whom he died. so he'll accept us completely
in Christ. See, why did Christ die? To satisfy
the Father, so that God could be both just and justifier. Second,
Christ died to accomplish the eternal salvation of his people,
so that when we see him lifted up in the preaching of the gospel,
we see him with the eye of faith, our heart will be irresistibly
drawn to him, and we'll believe him, we'll come to him, We'll
find forgiveness of our sin. We'll find righteousness and
eternal life in him. That's why Christ suffered and
died. So his people would have life in him. The father would
be satisfied. All right. Second, how did Christ
suffer? Well, first, verse three tells
us he suffered as the burnt offering. He says, for my days are consumed
like smoke and my bones are burned as in hearth. Now he talks here
about it being consumed like smoke, he's referring to the
burnt offering. The burnt offering was completely
burnt, so there was nothing left but ashes, and every part of
that burnt offering was offered to God, with the exception of
the ashes. The sacrifice completely belonged
to God. That burnt offering is a picture
of Christ, how He suffered, both body and soul. His whole self,
offered to God as a burnt offering, to accomplish the redemption
of his people. That's what it took to pay for sin. The burnt
offering, the consuming of his body and his soul. Verse 4 tells
us about his soul suffering. He says, my heart is smitten
and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. Now
soul suffering, soul suffering is worse than bodily suffering. I remember earlier this year
watching my daughter in great, great pain, just pain like I
have never personally seen. And I would have given anything
to take her place because watching it for her daddy would have been
worse than suffering it, just that emotional suffering. And
that's an extremely poor illustration. The Savior made His soul. He made His holy soul an offering
for sin. That was worse than His bodily
suffering. You think of His bodily suffering.
Scripture tells us His visage was marred more than any other
man. They didn't treat anybody as
badly bodily damage than they did the Lord Jesus. And His soul
suffering was even worse than that. The Holy Son of God who'd
always had union with His Father, always had the loving presence
of His Father. He tells us in Proverbs was His
Father's delight. The Father took the sword of
justice out of its sheath and plunged it into the heart of
His Son. And He took pleasure in doing it. Christ suffered
and died at the hand of His Father knowing he was getting exactly
what he deserved. Exactly. And the fire of God's
wrath burned. It burned in his heart. It burned
in his soul. So that the Savior said he's
consumed. He's consumed like grass when
it's on fire. But here's the believer's comfort
now. Christ suffered all of the Father's wrath against the sin
that was laid on Him. So there's no wrath left in the
Father. Christ suffered it all. And all that's left in the Father
for His people is mercy, and grace, and peace, and love. Never any wrath. Now remember,
all the burnt offering was offered to the Lord. Body and soul. Picture
the suffering, body and soul of Christ. We've seen His soul
suffering. Now here is verse 5, His bodily
suffering. By reason of the voice of my
groaning, My bones cleave to my skin. This is talking about
how the Savior's body was stretched out between heaven and earth
upon the cross. They say that a person who was
crucified, the bones would come out of joint, they'd just hang
there and hang there and hang there, get stretched out. And
what would actually happen is they'd suffer to death. They'd
be so far stretched out, their abdomen couldn't go in and out
enough to make them breathe. stretched out between heaven
and earth, naked, for men to mock. Stretched out so far, nothing
was hid. You could see all of his bones
sticking through his skin. And before that ever happened,
before his body was stretched to its limits, they'd taken him
into the soldier's hall and they'd beaten him with their fists.
They blindfolded him and hid him just upside the head. And
say, you're a prophet? Tell me who hit you. They put
that purple robe on him and mocked him. Then they took it off and
they beat his back with a cat of nine tails. 39 lashes. They grabbed hold of his beard.
Plucked it out by the handful. Just skin and all, just plucked
it out. I think, how am I going to stop
that bleeding when I cut myself shaving? They plucked his beard
out by the handfuls. They gave him his cross to carry.
He went away and physically he could not carry it any further.
They had to find some other man to carry it for him. After that,
they got to the hill and they laid him down on that hunk of
wood where they drove nails the size of railroad spikes through
his hands and through his feet and picked that cross up and
let it drop down into the hole prepared for him. He just racked
his body with pain and there he hung. They gave him vinegar
to drink. It was supposed to dull the pain,
maybe make the victim's life last longer so they could make
fun of him longer. He wouldn't taste of it. He wouldn't
taste of it. He wouldn't have anything dull
that pain. Nothing. He was going to endure it all.
How did Christ suffer? He suffered everything, body
and soul. His people deserved to suffer.
And the result of that is, There'll be no suffering like that ever
for God's people because Christ suffered it all. Second, how did Christ suffer?
He suffered alone. Verse six, I'm like a pelican
of the wilderness. I'm like an owl of the desert.
I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. You notice
the animals David uses here as examples. They're considered
to be lonely, sad animals. That was our Lord. He was all
alone. His disciples deserted him first.
His friends deserted him first. Then the Father deserted him.
Nobody ever suffered as alone as the Lord Jesus Christ. Even
Peter, who swore, I'll die with you. Even Peter. Not only did Peter desert him,
Peter not even knew the man. And the Lord, this was not a
surprise to the Savior. He knew this must happen. He
told His disciples it would happen. But you know, it still hurt.
It hurt enough for Him to mention it, didn't it? But you know,
it's a good thing. We can't be too hard on the disciples.
First of all, because if we were there, we'd have done the same
thing. We'd desert them too. Because it had to be that way.
Everybody had to desert the Savior at this time. Because if a redemption
is going to be accomplished, The Lord Jesus is going to have
to do it all by Himself. It's got to be a work He does
alone. Because if any man touches anything
about this sacrifice, we'd have defiled it. And that sacrifice
wouldn't have been able to save anybody. The Savior willingly
suffered alone. Because He alone can save His
people from their sin. His obedience alone can make
His people righteous. His blood alone can atone for
sin. And it's important that Christ
suffer alone because He's the only one who can save. But it
occurred to me, it's just as important that you and I trust
Christ alone. We've got to trust Him alone
for all of our salvation. Salvation is not Christ plus
our morality, not Christ plus our faithfulness. Not Christ
plus our giving. Salvation is in Christ alone. It's in Him alone. So trust Him
alone and fight to lay down every other sin which does so easily
beset us. And by sin, I mean what you think
you've done is good, your righteousness. Strive to lay down so we can
trust Christ alone because it's all in Him. That's why He suffered
alone. Thirdly, how did Christ suffer? He suffered at the hands
of men. Verse 8, he says, My enemies
reproach me all the day, and they that are mad against me
are sworn against me. Now this shows us what man thinks
of God. Man, the nature of man hates
God. The torture, the crucifixion
of Christ shows just what man thinks of God. Look what we did
to Him, the very first chance God ever gave us to put our hands
on Him. We showed how much we hate God. Man by nature hates
God. And somebody might be thinking,
wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't hate God. No, I love
God. No, I love Jesus. No, I don't hate Him. No, you
don't either. Just let me tell you point blank,
no, you don't either. Not unless God's done a work
of grace in your heart, you don't. Because man by nature hates God. Yet Christ died for us. Get a hold of that. While we
were yet His enemies, Christ died for us. Man by nature hates
God so much, we lie on Him so He'd be convicted. We spit in
His face to show our contempt of Him. We beat His body to a
pulp just in a fanatical rage how much we hate God. We want
God off the throne so much We nailed Him to a cross and put
the accusation over Him. Here's why we're crucifying this
man. He said He's my King. Man by nature hates. This is
at the heart of all sin. I told you this Sunday. Is hating
God's sovereignty. That He reigns over me. Nailed
Him to the cross. They put the accusation over
Him. And then they mocked Him and said, look at Him now. I
don't have to fear Him. I don't have to beg Him for anything.
He'd not reign over me one bit. The Savior was crucified in His
office as King. He was mocked and made fun of
in His office as King because that's what man hates the most.
Of course people don't hate like Brother Henry said, that sweet
little Jesus boy they made up. Of course they don't hate Him.
He couldn't hurt anybody. But man by nature hates King
Jesus. They hate Him. And man's hatred
is what caused the Savior real bodily suffering and emotional
suffering. The reproaches of His enemies,
they're mocking, they're cursing Him, they're ridicule of Him.
That hurt the Savior just like it hurt you and me. It hurt Him. The Savior could have come down
from the cross if He'd wanted to. He could have just come down
just to show them He had the power to do it. He could have
come down from the cross and just struck them all dead. But
He didn't do it, did He? He endured their mocking. He
endured their hatred because He must suffer everything He
suffered, even suffering at the hands of men, to redeem His people
from their sin. Fourthly, how did Christ suffer?
He suffered justice at the hands of His Father. Verse 9, he says,
for I've eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping
because of thine indignation and thy wrath, for thou hast
lifted me up and cast me down. Now, the real reason for Christ's
suffering was not man's hatred. It was not men finally concocted
their plan where they could take this man. The real reason for
Christ's suffering was the father's wrath against him. It was the
father's will being done. He's telling us, I'm suffering
like this because of the father's indignation and the father's
wrath against the sin of my people. The Jews' hatred, that was nothing
compared to the father's wrath against him. It was nothing.
God could have wiped the Jews and the Romans out who were doing
that to his son, just wiped them out just with the breath of his
nostrils and been no problem. God could have done away with
him. But the problem of sin is still there. Something's got
to be done with this matter of sin. God's wrath against sin
cannot be ignored. God's wrath against sin can only
be satisfied with the death of the substitute, with the death
of the perfect sacrifice. So the father sent his son, the
only perfect man to ever live, to be the sacrifice for the sin
of his people. And when the time came, Father
made His Son sin for His people. I want to tell you, He wasn't
playing games. He wasn't playing games. People
love to try to talk about and debate and figure out, what does
it mean that Christ was made sin? I don't know. We can't fully know. Christ was
not made a sinner, I know that, or He couldn't, His sacrifice
then would not have been able to put away sin. Scripture says
He was made sin itself. So that when the father looked
at his son, at Calvary, all he saw was sin. And he poured out
his wrath for that sin upon his son. And he kept pouring it on. And he kept pouring it on. And
he kept pouring it on. Until all that sin was gone. Put away under the perfect blood
of Christ. And the Father's wrath only stopped. He only stopped pouring His wrath
on when the reason for His wrath was gone. When sin was gone,
the Father quit pouring out His fury because there was no more
fury left in Him. Sin's gone. And as I said a moment
ago, this is the comfort for God's people since all of the
wrath of the Father was poured out on Christ our substitute.
Then there's none left for His people. because our substitute
and our sacrifice bore it all. Fifthly, how did Christ suffer?
He suffered unto death. Verse 11. He says, My days are
like a shadow that declineth, and I am withered like grass.
Now, the Lord Jesus had to suffer, but then he had to die. He had
to actually die. Life itself, the prince of life,
had to die. Scripture describes the days
of our lives as a shadow. It's so fleeting, there's no
substance to it. And at Calvary, the Savior described
his life the same way, as a shadow that will quickly end. That's
the Savior speaking as our substitute. He was made what we are, so his
life was a shadow, just like ours is, and he had to die. Scripture also describes our
flesh as grass. At Calvary, the Savior described
His life the same way, as grass. It had to end. He's speaking
as our substitute, and He was cut down as easily as you cut
down grass when you're mowing. I cut my grass last night, I
was thinking about that. My goodness sakes. He said, I'm like grass. He was cut down to die. But still yet, He had to lay
His life down. When justice was satisfied, and
sin was paid for, the Lord Jesus laid down His life. He laid it
down. He gave up the ghost. It wasn't
taken from Him. He gave up the ghost as a last
act of obedience. Death for sin. Sixth, how did
Christ die? How did He suffer? Successfully. He suffered successfully. Because
of Christ's suffering as the perfect sacrifice, He died. But He didn't stay dead. Verse
12, but thou, O Lord, shalt endure forever in thy remembrance unto
all generations. Christ died, but three days later,
he rose from that tomb. He rose from the grave as the
evidence. His sacrifice justified his people. The man died, but the Lord's
going to endure forever. He's going to endure forever.
He's going to live forever, ruling and reigning the death, the burial,
and the resurrection of Christ. has given eternal life to his
people, people from all generations. All generations have heard it.
Right, and here's the third thing. We've seen why and how Christ
suffered, and here's the results of Christ's suffering. The first
result of Christ's suffering is mercy. There's mercy for everyone
for whom he died, all of God's elect. Verse 13, Thou shalt arise
and have mercy upon Zion. for the time to favor her. Yea,
the set time is come. Like I said a minute ago, God's
going to have mercy upon his elect because Christ removed
all the sin that made him angry. All that's left in God for his
people is love and mercy and he's going to show mercy upon
them. And this gives me such hope and
confidence as a pastor, as a Father is someone that loves people.
When is God going to have mercy on His people? When is that going
to happen? Well, He tells us here at a set time. At a set
time. At the time eternally appointed
by the Father, He's going to pour out His mercy upon His people. See, because of the death of
Christ, this thing of salvation and mercy and righteousness and
everything that goes with that is certain. Wayne's not left
a chance. At God's set time, he's going
to have mercy upon his people. You just wait and watch. All
right, here's the second result of Christ's death. It's God's
people will take pleasure in the Savior. Verse 14, he says,
for thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favor the dust
thereof. Now we know the Father's pleased
with the sacrifice of Christ. That's why he raised him from
the dead. But you know what? His people are pleased with that
too. I mean, they're pleased with
it. God is reconciled to His people in Christ. And because
of that same sacrifice, God's people are reconciled to God
in Christ. Why is it the Apostle Paul said,
be reconciled now. You be reconciled. Just stack
up your arms, surrender and be reconciled to God. Why should
I do that? The sacrifice. The Father had
made Him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. Hearing that gospel, that's what
draws God's people to Christ and reconciles them to God. And
nothing makes God's elect have more pleasure than hearing the
gospel preached. Than hearing one more time the
sacrifice of Christ. How many times, some of you,
how many times have you heard How many times have you heard
of the sacrifice of Christ and you find yourself thrilled all
over again? Why is that? Because God's people have pleasure
in the sacrifice of Christ. That's all my hope. The third
result of Christ's death is the heathen. The worst of sinners
will be saved. Verse 15. So the heathen shall
fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth by
glory. God's elect are born heathens. They're children of wrath, even
as others. And the kings here he's talking about, I don't think
that that really refers to kings that sit on thrones around the
world or all the important people, you know, the world. Some of
those people certainly have believed. Tell you what I think these kings
mostly refer to. It refers to the chief of sinners,
the king of sinners. That's us. But God, is going
to send his gospel to those kings, those chief of sinners. And he's
going to give them faith to hear it, faith to believe it. And
they're going to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And they're going to believe
him. Even the worst of sinners. Matter of fact, I shouldn't have
said even, only, only the worst of sinners have been made righteous
by the death of Christ. All right, here's the fourth
result. The Lord's going to build his church. with those people
for whom Christ died. Verse 16, when the Lord shall
build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. Now God is building
his church. And the church is not a building.
The church is not even a local church, a local assembly. The
church is all of God's people from all generations. Peter refers
to them as lively stones, living stones. And God is still building
his church. He's still saving people. When
we see that God, hear that God's still building his church, this
is what that means. God's still saving his people.
It's still the day of mercy. And you know how I know that?
You know how I know God's still saving his people? Because the
gospel's still being preached. This thing hadn't been closed
up yet. God hadn't wrapped it up as a vest or put it away yet.
The gospel's still being preached. And that makes me so thankful.
Every one of us here has loved ones, friends, that we pray for,
that we're brokenhearted over, that they don't know the Lord,
they refuse to, they just refuse. Well, I tell you what, be thankful
for this. There's still hope for the lost. God's still building
His church. The Gospel's still being preached.
And if God can save me, God can save you, He can save them. Isn't
that right? All right, here's the fifth thing.
Fifth result of Christ's suffering. The Lord will hear the prayers
of his people. Verse 17, he will regard the
prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer. Now, the
father would not give our substitute his loving, gracious presence
so that he could give it to the people of his love. And because
of the suffering, the death of Christ, God always hears the
prayers of His people. He doesn't always immediately
answer them and grant them with what we want, do we? Does He? But He always hears the prayers
of His people. They're destitute. Destitute
of any goodness in them. They're unworthy in themselves.
But the Father hears the prayers of His people for Christ's sake. And I don't know what to tell
you. When you find yourself, you think,
I'm the destitute one here. What does the title say? I'm
the afflicted one who's overwhelmed. And I cry. And the Lord hasn't
answered my prayer. And He's left me in this situation. I'm destitute. I'm afflicted. I'm consumed. I don't know what
to do. I don't know what to tell you other than this. You keep crying. The Lord hears
the prayers of his people. He said so. All right, here's
the next thing. This gospel will be preserved
and preached to all generations till Christ returns. Verse 18
says, this shall be written for the generation to come and the
people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. Someone
may ask, why do y'all keep preaching? Why do you keep preaching the
gospel? Nobody's listening anyway. It's not making a difference
in anybody's lives anyway. People still go on and do whatever
it is they want to do anyway. Why bother? Well, that may be
true. It may be true. Nobody's listening.
It may be true. Seems like not making a difference
in anybody's life. But you know, the Lord's responsible for those
results, not me. Our commandment is to go into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And I personally, You cannot
think of a better place to start than right here with the next
generation. You can't think of a better place
to start. To preach the gospel to our children
and what a gospel we've got to tell them. How and why Christ
suffered. But the generation I know he's
speaking of here is his people. You preach the gospel, just preach
the gospel. God's people are going to hear
it. They're going to be born again. This next generation to
come, this shall be created, That's God's people. They're
going to be born dead in sin, but God's going to give them
life. He's going to create a new heart in them, and he's going
to do it through the preaching of the gospel. You just keep
preaching. The next generation will hear it. All right. Seventh, the result
of Christ's suffering is the prisoners are set free. Verse
19. For he hath looked down from
the height of his sanctuary. From heaven did the Lord behold
the earth. To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those
that are appointed, to death. God looked down from the height
of His sanctuary and He heard the cries of His people. He saw
them in bondage and He sent His Son to set them free. He came
to set the prisoner free from the law, free from justice, free
from sin by suffering the death sentence for them and they're
free. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus came to do in His very first public message from Isaiah
chapter 61 He said, this day, this scripture fulfilled in your
ears, I've come to set the prisoner free. And he's done it. In Christ,
you're free. And if the Son shall make you
free, you're free indeed. And then last, here's the result
of Christ's death. The glory of God and the salvation
of his sinful people is going to be declared. Verse 21, to
declare the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem. Now, the only way to see the
true glory of God is by seeing Christ crucified for the sin
of His people, as the substitute for His people. It is the death
of Christ that enables God to put on display His greatest glory,
sovereign mercy to sinners. And it can only come through
the suffering of Christ, Him suffering what our sin deserves. And that's the gospel that God's
given us to tell one another and to tell the next generation.
Well, that's a joy, isn't it? That's a joy to have this glorious
gospel that tells us how and why Christ suffered for his people. All right, let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, we feel like Moses of old on
holy ground. It seems almost wrong to add
human words to this glorious description of how and why the
Savior suffered, what it is He accomplished for His people,
what He accomplished for your name, the glory of your name
in His suffering and His death, and how we thank you, how we
thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, how we thank you for
His sacrifice, how we thank you for His blood. Father, I pray
that you would Take your word and make it effectual to the
hearts of your people to enable us each to leave here tonight
believing in and resting in Christ our Savior. It's in His precious
name and for His glory. Let's stand and sing 118, number
118. When I survey the wondrous cross On
which the Prince of Glory My richest gain I count but loss,
And for contempt all my pride. Forbid it, Lord, that I should
boast Same in the death of Christ my God. All loving things That charming
oath, I sacrifice them to His blood. See, from His head, His
hands, His feet, Sorrow and love flowing Then e'er such love and
sorrow meet, Or thorns compose so rich a crown, Of nature mine, That were a present
far too small, Of so amazing, so divine, He meant my soul,
my life, my all. so so you