If you would, open your Bibles
with me to Romans chapter 15. I titled the message this morning,
It is Written. Romans 15 verse 3. For even Christ pleased not himself,
but as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproach thee fell
on me. That phrase, it is written, caught
my attention. And I wondered, how many times
is that phrase, it is written? How many times is that used in
the New Testament to explain the gospel in something that
was written in the Old Testament? It's quite a number of times.
Here in this verse, our text, the apostle quotes Psalm 69,
verse 9. We read that portion of scripture
to open our service. That's a prophecy. The whole
psalm is a prophecy of the suffering of the saved. how he would suffer
as a substitute for his people. And Paul, we looked at this verse
last week, tells us how God's people should follow the example
of our Savior to bear the weaknesses and firmities of our brethren,
just like our Savior bore our sins. Now I want us to look at
seven more times this phrase, it is written, is used in the
New Testament to show us the gospel. that's both in the Old
Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament and the New
Testament all have the same message. The whole message of the Bible
is salvation in Christ. So first look back a few pages
of Romans chapter 3. Here's the first thing I want
us to see that is written. All men became sinners in Adam. Romans chapter 3 verse 9. What then? Are we better than
they? No and no wise for we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles that they're all under sin. And
here's how we know that as it is written, there's none righteous. No, not one. This is a quote
from Psalm 14 verses one through three. This is what the Bible
teaches. This is what is written that
there's not one son of man, not one son of Adam who is righteous. I don't care who they are, what
their background is, both the religious person and the heathen.
people at the opposite ends of the spectrum, they are both unrighteous. Whatever form of religion that
they happen to follow makes no difference. This is not something
that's external. It's a matter of the heart. It's
internal. No son of Adam can be righteous
in himself. And people say, yes, but look
at their works. Look at their lives. Look at
how kind and gracious and giving. And look at everything that they're
doing. Stop right there. It is written. No, not one. No matter what we think we might
see about them. It is written. No, not one. Everything we do is sinful. Now, how do we get that way?
How do we get in this mess? Well, we got in this mess in
Adam. Look over page Romans chapter five. Verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. And that means all sinned in
Adam. And we all sinned in Adam. We
all did exactly what Adam did, because Adam was a representative
man. He represented everybody who
had ever lived descended from his loins. And we did exactly
what Adam did. Now, this matter of representation,
It doesn't mean that God just charged Adam's sin and his guilt
to us, even though we didn't do anything wrong. That's not
what representation means. Representation means that Adam
was our representative and we did exactly what he did because
we're in him. When Adam sinned, you and I sinned. That's how we became guilty.
Nobody is going to go to hell because Adam sinned and God says
you're guilty what Adam did. Nobody. God will never punish
anybody for what Adam did. God's never going to charge Adam's
sin to somebody, his guilt to somebody, even though they didn't
do anything wrong. No, we're all sinners and we're all guilty
because we actually did sin in Adam. That's what's written.
I show you that back in 2 Chronicles chapter 25. This is what is written. God only justly condemns sinners
who are actually guilty of their own sin. Second Chronicles 25 beginning in verse three. Now
it came to pass when the kingdom was established to him that he
slew his servants that had killed the king, his father, but he
slew not their children, but did as it is written. in the
law, in the law, in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded
saying, the fathers shall not die for the children. The father
should not die because the children did something wrong. Neither
shall the children die for the fathers because of the father's
sin. But every man shall die for his own sin. And that's exactly
what Paul is saying in Romans 5 verse 12. Everybody will be
punished for their own sin. God punishes people because they're
guilty. We became guilty because we actually
sinned in Adam. That's how we became guilty.
And this matter of sin, that we became sinners in Adam, is
total destruction, complete destruction. We're ruined in sin. When we
say we're lost in sin, we mean we're ruined in sin. Now, something
that is ruined can't be fixed up, can it? It's just got to
be thrown away. It's ruined. It's beyond repair.
That's what you and I are by nature. We're beyond repair. We're ruined in sin. And there's
no hope of anything. Any salvation can be found in
anything that we do because everything we do is sinful. That's what's
written. We all became sinners in Adam,
but there's hope, but there's hope. Here's the second thing
that's written. Look at Romans chapter nine. There's hope. Because God chose a people to
save. Romans 9 verse 11. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, the elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written. Here's why this is
going to happen, because it's written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. This is a quote from Malachi
1 verses 2 and 3. This is what's written. If any
sinner is going to be saved, we're ruined in sin. We all became
sinners and guilty in Adam. So if any sinner is going to
be saved, God had to choose to save him. That's just so obvious. A sinner can't please God. We
can't do something to make God choose us. A sinner cannot and
will not choose to come to God. He cannot choose to be saved
on God's terms because that's against his nature. So if a sinner
is going to be saved, God had to choose a savior. Isn't that
obvious? And God did. He did indeed choose to save
some sinners. And God chose those people that
he would save, but he set his affection upon them and chose
to save them. God didn't choose them because
they were better than somebody else. God didn't choose them because
they were more religious than somebody else, or they kept more
laws than somebody else, or they were more moral than somebody
else. They did something God liked. That's not why God chose
anybody. And he shows us here in what
is written. Who did God choose? Huh? Who did God love? God loved Jacob. Jacob represents
everybody that God chose. Now who is Jacob? Jacob is a
chief. Jacob is a scoundrel. He's a
no count mama's boy. He's weak. He's a coward. That's
who God chose to save, Jacob. He chose to save cheats and scoundrels
and weak people and cowards. That's who he chose to save.
He chose to save the people nobody else would want. If Jacob and
Esau were here this morning, nobody would want Jacob to be
their friend. We'd all want Esau to be our
friend. If you're Jacob's friend and you shake hands with him,
do something, you're going to lose every time, I'm telling
you. Nobody wants Jacob to be their friend. We'd all want Esau.
That's who God chose to save. No count. worthless people that
can't contribute anything to Him. That's who God chose to
save. See, there's never a reason found
in the sinner that would cause God to choose them. God doesn't
choose righteous people. God doesn't choose moral people.
God doesn't choose people because they're easier to save somebody
else. What did the Savior say? Who did He come for? He said
He didn't come to call the righteous. He came to call sinners to repentance.
He came to save sinners because that's who God chose to save.
Now, listen to me. This is a true statement. You're
not going to find right doctrine anywhere within driving distance
of this place. You're not going to find it. By God's grace, he's given us
that doctrine to preach his word. But nobody's saved because they
know the right doctrine. Are you listening to me? Don't
trust your salvation what you know, that you know the right
doctrine. No. People, God didn't choose
to save people that know the right doctrine. God chose to
save ignorant people, people who are in darkness, people who
are in the ignorance of their sin and unbelief. That's who
God chose to save. So we can't do something to get
God to choose us. The reason for God choosing a
sinner are reasons always found in God. Because God's good. Because the holy God has the
capacity to love sinners. He has the capacity to do something
we can't do. We're sinners. You'd think we
could love each other, but we can't because we're sinners. God has
the ability in his nature, the holy God has in his nature to
love sinners. God's good, God's gracious, God's
merciful. That's why God chose a people
to save. And that's what's written. And it's written to show us the
salvations of the Lord. This is written to show us we
are completely dependent upon God to save us. If we're going
to be saved, we're going to have to go beg him to save us because
we're dependent on him to do it. That's what's written. All
right, thirdly, look at Hebrews chapter 10. This is this is what's written.
The whole Bible is written to reveal salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Hebrews 10 verse seven. Then said I, lo I come, in the
volume of the book it is written, it is written of me, I come to
do thy will, O God. That's a quote from Psalm 40
verses six through eight. And the book that he's talking
about is the whole volume of the Old Testament. All the volume
of the Old Testament was written to reveal one thing. It was written
to reveal salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole
Old Testament is telling us someone's coming. Someone's coming who's
going to redeem Israel from their sins. Now, if you just go read
the Old Testament without knowing that the Old Testament is written
to show us Christ, You're going to start reading, and you're
going to find pages and pages and pages and pages of the law. The law is not just the Ten Commandments.
The law is pages of the law. And none of that law was written
to show us, oh, here's some things that you can do in order to be
saved. The law was written. All those pages and pages of
commandments were written to show us the utter impossibility
for us to keep the law. confounds the mind that people
think I can keep the law and be saved. Brethren, Adam. Now, would anybody argue Adam
was created better than us? He's smarter. He's stronger.
Adam couldn't keep one law. Couldn't keep one, could he?
What makes us think we can keep pages of them? It's because we're dead in sin,
going back to the first point. It's a mess we're in. All men
are dead in sin. If we're going to be righteous,
this is what the law, it's just so obvious. If we're going to
be righteous, somebody else is going to have to keep all that
law for me. I can't do it. In the end, when you get done
with the law, the Old Testament is filled with pages of religious
ceremonies. None of that was written to give
us a form of religion that we follow in order to be saved.
So God will accept us. If that was true, we better have
an altar down here where we're killing animals, right? That's
not why that was written. All those ceremonies were written
to point us to Christ who would fulfill all those ceremonies
and all those sacrifices and by it, make his people righteous. Look at Luke chapter 24. The
whole Bible was written to point us to Christ and tell us that
salvation is in him. And after our Lord's resurrection,
he taught that so plainly, you can't mistake it. Luke 24, verse
25. You know how these two disciples
are walking down the road, going to Emmaus, and they're so crestfallen
because the Savior, their Lord, had died. Luke 24, verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things in the inner and
in his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he
expounded unto them and all the scriptures the things concerning
himself. He showed them Christ and all
those Old Testament scriptures. And look down at verse 32. What
was their reaction to that? And they said one to another,
did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us, by
the way, and while he opened us the scriptures. Now, these
men were Jews. This is what I'm confident of.
They were in every Sabbath day. They're in the temple every Sabbath
day and every Sabbath day. Somebody stood up and read large
portions of the Old Testament. They'd heard those scriptures
right before, and it was just boring to them. I mean, they
were so bored. They just couldn't wait. Once she'd read faster,
we'd get out of here. They're so bored. Christ opened
to them the scriptures, and she said, this is all about me. our
heart burned within them. Because this is not just commandments
and Bible stories and, you know, a story like Aesop's fables.
These things are all written to show us Christ. And we see
Him, our hearts burn within us. He did the same thing for His
disciples. Look over at verse 44. When He appeared unto them,
He said unto them, Now these are the words that I spake while
I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which
are written, written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, in
the Psalms, concerning me, all those things concern him. Then
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. It said unto them, thus it is written. Here's why
all this is written. Thus it behoove Christ to suffer
and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance
and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all
nations beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these
things. And then they went and did just
that. From all those scriptures, they went and preached Christ.
turn the world upside down. Because nobody, I mean, some
people did, but few knew those things that were written, revealed
Christ. And when God gives us the sight
to see that, it changes everything. This is what the master did for
the disciples, what he's got to do for us. He's got to open
our understanding that we can understand the scriptures. To
see that the Old Testament scriptures were written To show us Abel's
land is Christ crucified, Christ sacrificed for us. And in that
sacrifice, in that one sacrifice, that's the only way God will
ever accept us. It's not in what we give and
what we bring, it's in who Christ is and his sacrifice. That's
how we're accepted. Noah's Ark. Jonathan and I were
painting yesterday, talking about Noah's Ark. The story of Noah
in the Ark is not in the Old Testament so somebody can sit
around and try to figure out how all the animals got in there
and how they stayed in there for 40 days and 40 nights. That's
not why that's written. If you're focused on that, you've
missed it. You've missed it. Go back and
look at it again. Noah's Ark tells us there's one
place of safety when God's wrath comes against sin. It's by being
in Christ that you get in Him. You flee to Him. The Passover
lamb. The Passover lamb is Christ. Christ, our Passover, sacrificed
for us. All that was written. Yes, Israel
went free on that night. Yes, they all left Egypt on that
night. But this is why this was written. This is why all that
happened. That we would see that when God sees the blood of Christ
apply to us, He'll Passover us. His wrath and his anger and his
judgment, he'll pass over us because when he sees the blood
of his son, he knows justice has been satisfied. I'm pleased
with that sacrifice. That's why that's written. The
Sabbath day is not given in the law as a ceremony that we have
to follow in order to be saved. You know that you can't go to
the store on Sunday, you can't play basketball on Sunday, you
can't do something enjoyable on Sunday and have a Christian
Sabbath day. You know, the Sabbath day is Saturday anyway. So, you
know, we've already blown that. The Sabbath day is not a ceremony.
The Sabbath day shows us a picture that there's a rest for the people
of God. There's a rest for the people of God in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this tells you how we are.
Labor to enter into that rest. Labor to quit working and rest
in Christ. David and Goliath. David and
Goliath is not a cute children's story. You go back and read that
story. David and Goliath is given to
us as a picture of salvation through a representative man. This was David and Goliath's
challenge. Two of us will fight. The armies aren't going to fight.
Just two men are going to fight. And whoever wins, their people
win it all. They get the whole victory. See,
all that was given to us, not as a story that some 16-year-old
boy killed a giant. That is given to us as a picture
of salvation in the representative man, Christ the second Adam,
the son of David. That's why this is written. That's
why this whole book is written. Now do what Brother Henry said
in that article I read to you. Trust Christ. You don't have
to understand it all. Just trust Christ to be all of
your salvation. That's what the whole Bible is
about. All right, here's the fourth thing that's written.
Look at Galatians chapter 3. Christ died as the substitute
for sinners. That's why Christ died. Now,
salvation, the salvation of a sinner, God's going to save a sinner.
It's got to be done in justice, doesn't it? God's justice, His
holiness must be satisfied. There can never be mercy for
a sinner unless there's first justice. Is that right? That
makes sense, doesn't it? Because of who God is. For Christ
died as a substitute for sinners. He died bearing the sins of his
people so he could satisfy God's justice for them. We can't satisfy
God's justice, but Christ our substitute can. Galatians 3 verse
10. For as many as of the works of
the law are under the curse, for it's written, cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things that are written in the book
of the law to do them. To do them. All of us are under
the curse of the law. Because we can't keep it. Keeping the law is not doing
your best. I remember when our girls were
growing up, we'd all the time tell them, just do your best.
Just do your best. That's all we ask of you. Do
your best. God doesn't say that. It's not
do your best. That's not what's written, is
it? No, what's written is do it perfectly. all the time. That's what's written. That's
the only thing God will accept. And if we don't do it continually,
we don't keep it perfectly continually, we're under the curse of the
law. So Christ died as the substitute for his sinful people. He died
bearing the curse of the law for his people. That's what verse
13 says. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it's written,
cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now that's a quote
from Deuteronomy 21 verse 23. Cursed is everyone who dies on
a tree, hanged upon a cross. Here's how you know that person's
cursed. They died upon a cross. God said in his law, that's a
curse. All of the law is fulfilled in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He took that curse away from
his people by dying as their substitute. And when he did,
he made his people righteous. through faith in him. That's
what verse 14 says. He died, he bore that curse away,
that for this reason, that the blessing of Abraham might come
on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Now, what was the blessing
of Abraham? What was the promise, the blessing
God gave to Abraham? It's being made righteous through
faith in Christ. Abraham had faith in Christ. We know he did. Our Lord said,
Abraham saw my day. And he was glad when Abraham
took his son Isaac to offer him upon that altar. And he was ready
to take that knife and quarter his son and burn his body. Right
as he began to quarter his son, God said, stop, stop. And he
saw a ram behind him, caught in the thicket. And he took that
ram. He took Isaac, took him off. Can you imagine the thrill that
old man had? Untying that son and taking him
off that altar and taking that ram. and putting him on the altar
and tying that ram on the altar and quartering that ram, watching
that ram's life's blood drain out and die. And Abraham lit
the fire and burnt that ram up, a burnt offering to God. Can
you imagine the thrill Abraham had when he saw that ram dying
in the place of his son? By faith, scripture says, Abraham
saw something more. He saw that's Christ. being sacrificed
in my place. He let me go free and he took
my place and satisfied justice for me. That was that was what
made him thrilled. And that is what's written. That's
why Christ died, bearing the curse of the sin of his people,
bearing it away as their substitute. All right, here's the fifth thing
back in Romans. Romans chapter one. Now, righteousness cannot come
from us keeping the law. We already saw that the pages
and pages and pages are we can't keep that righteousness can't
come by us following the right form of religion. Righteousness
is received by faith, by believing that the Lord Jesus Christ is
all it takes to save a sinner like me. Romans one verse 16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek, to anyone,
no matter what their background is. For therein, in that gospel,
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is
written, the just shall live by faith. That's a quote from
Habakkuk 2, verse 4, which says, Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not right within him, but the just shall live by his faith.
And what Habakkuk was telling us there is you cannot have spiritual
life by what you do or what you are. If your soul lifted up within
you because of that, you're not upright, you're not righteous.
But the just, if anybody's going to have spiritual life, the just
are going to have that life by faith, by faith in Christ. Righteousness
comes through faith in Christ, through union with Him. And that's
just so simple. It's too simple for the natural
mind to really think That's all there is to it. Yeah, that's
all there is to it. Just believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you shall be saved. If you believe on Christ, you
already have eternal life already. Now, Paul says your righteousness
is from faith to faith. I'll tell you what that means.
Salvation is earned by the faithfulness of Christ is from his faith to
our faith. Salvation is earned by the faithfulness
of Christ. And we receive that righteousness
by faith in Christ. The justified ones, those who
have spiritual life, they have it because of the faithfulness
of Christ, that he was faithful to do everything it took to make
them righteous. And they received that salvation
through faith in Christ. Look at Galatians chapter two.
This is Paul tells us this again. Galatians chapter two. The sinners are saved by the
faithfulness of Christ. to accomplish all of our salvation. Galatians 2 verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. And it doesn't just say faith
in Christ, it's the faith of Jesus Christ to perform everything
that was necessary for salvation, that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ and not by our works of the law. For by
the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. So the focus
of this phrase, the just shall live by faith, is that all of
our salvation is by faith. It's received by faith in Christ. It's his faithfulness to perform
it, and it's God-given faith to receive it, to believe it.
So from beginning to end, it's all faith. None of our works
are involved. Nothing about us is involved
in it. It's all faith. Now, faith. That seems like a
mystical thing, doesn't it? What is faith in Christ? Well, faith is not just believing
that God is. I mean, only the fool says there's
no God. I mean, faith is not just believing that God is. The
devils believe God is. I mean, they know God is, and
they're not saved. So that's not faith. Faith is
more than that. Faith is not believing what we call the doctrines
of grace, the five points of Calvinism. Anybody with any sense
is going to believe those things. I mean, it's just you ought to
believe something that's an obvious fact. I mean, you don't have
to look at yourself very long to know you're lost in sin, you're
depraved in sin. I mean, these things are obvious.
But facts don't save sinners. Facts don't save sinners. Christ
saves sinners. See how sweet that is? It's Christ. Faith in Christ is simply this. It's to rely on Christ. He's
all it takes to save me. I'm dead and I'm helpless, but
Christ is not. And he's able to save me. He's
the only one that saved me, can save me. So I'm going to trust
him to do it. That's what's written. If you
look at Matthew chapter four, I'll show you just an outstanding
example of this. Matthew chapter four. This faith in Christ speaks of
union with Christ. Matthew 4 verse 1. Then was Jesus led up of the
spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And
when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights and was afterward and
hungered. And then when the tempter came
to him, he said, if thou be the son of God, see the first thing
he's doing is calling question on the deity of Christ. He's
the son of God. If you hear that today, somebody
saying, well, he's not really, you know, God, he's like God
or he was a prophet. You immediately know that doctrines
of the devil. First thing he did is call question
upon the deity of Christ. If thou be the son of God, command
that these stones be made bread, do something to prove it. But
he answered and said, it is written, man should not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of
God. And it was interesting. Satan came to the Lord. the Lord
Jesus, and he tempted him a Sunday, just like he did. He. Adam and
Eve failed miserably at that, didn't they? Our savior did not
fail. Instead, instead of allowing
questions to be put upon the word of God and upon the commandment
of God, our Lord quoted the word of God. See this, this words,
our only defense, the word of God, he quoted Deuteronomy eight
verse three. If you read that, that talks
about the Lord feeding the children of Israel with manna. When they
were in the wilderness, they'd go out every morning and collect
the manna that had fallen or however got there that night.
They would go out and collect the manna in the wilderness.
And that's how they were fed all the time they were in the
wilderness. But even then, the Lord told them spiritual life's
not in the manna. No, spiritual life is in Christ,
the word of God. But this manna, this bread is
a picture of what this union with Christ that we're talking
about. Bread gives nutrients to the flesh. You eat bread and
you digest it and it goes out and it gives life and health
and all these things, whatever it gives you, to all the cells
of your body, your flesh. You're sustained. You live by
eating this bread. Well, Christ is the bread of
life. It's not manna. It's not something physical.
He's the bread of life. Spiritual life is given and that
life is sustained through union with Christ. That's what we mean
when our Lord said, he said, eating Christ, you eat my flesh
and drink his blood. He doesn't mean being a cannibal.
It means that when you eat something, it becomes part of you. It becomes
part of you. It turns into flesh and bones
and blood and things. Well, that's eating Christ. It's
union with him. Spiritual life is found in union
with Christ. So you come to him, come to him
for salvation. If you go home and read John
chapter six this afternoon, you'll find out that's exactly what
the Lord is teaching when he said, I am the bread of life. Salvation comes through faith
in Christ, through union with him. All right, back to Romans
again, Romans chapter nine. Here's the sixth thing that's
written. Everyone who trusts Christ, and I tell you, you come
to Christ, you trust him, you cast your soul upon him. Everyone who trusts Christ will
never be ashamed because they won't ever be found guilty. Romans
9 verse 33. As it is written, here's what's
written. Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of
offense and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. They'll never be confounded.
They'll never be found guilty. That's a quote from Isaiah 28
verse 16. And Isaiah there is talking about
God coming in judgment against sin. And he said, when that overflowing
scourge of God's wrath comes against sin, it's going to sweep
away every refuge of life. It'll sweep away every refuge
somebody's trying to hide in, but one, but Christ. So hide in Christ. That's what
Isaiah is telling us. Now, if you hope to please God
by your law keeping, you're hiding in the fact that you kept the
law better than somebody else, God's wrath is going to sweep
that refuge away. If you're trying to hide in your
morality or your religious ceremonies, If you're trying to hide in the
fact that you hold to the right doctrine, God's wrath is going
to sweep that refuge away. But if you run to Christ and
you hide in Him, you'll never be ashamed. Never be ashamed
because Christ made His people not guilty. That refuge of the
Lord Jesus Christ will never be swept away because brethren,
He already withstood the storm. At Calvary, He already bore that
storm, that fury of God's wrath against the sin of his people.
He already bore up under it. He already put it away. So you
hide in Christ. You'll be safe. You'll never
be ashamed. Just exactly like Noah was safe
in that ark. You hide in Christ and you'll
be safe from God's wrath. And here's the last one. This
is what's written. Look, Matthew chapter 26. This is what's written. You can
hold your seat now. This is what's written. God's
sovereign. Didn't surprise me by that, did
I? God's sovereign. And man's responsible. Both those
things are true. Matthew 26, verse 20. Now when
the evening was come, he sat down with the 12. And as they
did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall
betray me. Can you imagine? And they were
exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto
him, Lord, is it I? There's some light about a believer.
If Lord gives us any understanding, what would I do if he took his
hand off of me? Would I betray him? I sure would. That's why they said, Lord, is
it I? He answered and said, he that dippeth his hand with me
in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of Man goeth as it's
written of him. But woe unto that man by whom
the Son of Man is betrayed. It'd have been good for that
man if he'd never been born. Now, the whole Old Testament
prophesied that Christ must die. All those Old Testament sacrifices,
they all pictured Christ's sacrifice for sin. None of those sacrifices
took away sin. They just reminded people every
year of their sin. Every day, every time they'd
offer one of those sacrifices again, it just reminded them of their
sin. It reminded them that all those other animal sacrifices
didn't take their sin away. But there's use in those sacrifices.
Those sacrifices just kept hammering home, hammering home, hammering
home, hammering home. There's a sacrifice coming. God's
going to send a lamb that will take away the sin of the world
by his sacrifice for them. And the Old Testament, Old Testament
scriptures made this plain, too. Not only must Christ die, but
they made it plain that the Messiah will be betrayed by a close freedom.
Don't turn to this, let me just turn and read it to you. We read
it recently here in our studies through Psalms on Wednesday night.
Psalm 41 verse 9. Says, yea, mine own familiar
friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted
up his heel against me. Now personally, David was writing
that about Ahithophel, his close friend, his wise counselor. who betrayed David. He ate at
David's table and he betrayed David. He went with Absalom and
became Absalom's counselor. Personally, that's what David
was writing. But David wasn't just writing of himself. He was
writing a prophecy. Remember all those things in
the Psalms concerning the Lord? That might have been one of the
things he showed them that day, that he must be betrayed. David prophesied
of Judas, who would eat of the bread of the Lord's table. but
would betray the Lord Jesus. He must be betrayed by a close
friend because that's what's written. Now, I don't know why
God chose to do it that way, but that was God's will. And
he wrote it thousands of years before, so we know this is his
will. Now we know that Christ must die as a sacrifice for sin.
I mean, that's just obvious. That's God's eternal will. That's
written. Christ must die as a sacrifice for sin. Calvary, was the execution
of God's will. Calvary wasn't man's will that
they, you know, they finally just were able to do what they
wanted to do. No, Calvary was God's will being
carried out. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. This is how God purposed to redeem his people from their
sin. And the Savior knew it. He went there willingly. He went
as a sheep before a shearer's is dumb, so he opened not his
mouth. Calvary was the will of God. The will of the father and
the will of the son. The son went there willingly
to suffer and die to redeem his people. That's God's will. That
must happen if sinners are going to be saved. But woe to those
men who caused it. That's what scripture's saying.
God's sovereign. His will's going to be done,
but man's responsible. Woe to those men who crucified the Lord
of glory, who betrayed the son of God. Absolutely the cross
was God's will because God's sovereign. It wouldn't have happened
if it wasn't God's will. Only what's His will is what
happens. But woe to that man who did it. Because he did it. He didn't do it trying to serve
God. He did it in his sin. He did it in his rebellion. He
did it in his hatred and the blackness of his heart. He did
it of his own free will. Could that forever be the end
of us wanting our free will? Man's free will is wicked. It's to betray the Son of God
and to crucify the Lord of Glory. That's man's free will. God,
deliver me from my will and save me by your will. Give me a new
will. That was man's sin. God's going
to deal with him for that. But God's offering. This always
comes back to this. God's offering. He overruled.
They did exactly what they wanted to do. They didn't get out the
Bible and say, oh, well, here's the playbook. First we'll do
this, and then we'll do this, and over here it says we do this.
Sounds like they did it because they perfectly fulfilled everything
that was written, wasn't it? They did what their wicked hearts
wanted to do. But God saw them. He overruled
all that. He oversaw all that to accomplish
his will. Yet he still will hold them responsible.
Here's the good news of the gospel. Here's what's written. I don't
want God to hold me responsible for anything I've done to you.
I don't. Well, here's the good news of the gospel. Christ at
Calvary took the sin of His people and He took it on Him. Scripture
says He was made sin. He took the responsibility for
that sin. He took the guilt for that sin
and made it His own and He died because that sin was His sin.
And so now His people are set free from all the responsibility
of that sin because Christ took it. He bore it away. So can I tell you one more time?
Come to Christ. Come to Him. You're responsible
to come to Christ. That's the article, Brother Hinner,
I read to you. Today's the day of salvation. Come to Him. Well,
my faith is weak. I don't know enough. I can't
say this enough how much I love this. He said, you can be sure
you're a guilty sinner. Can you be sure of that? I can. Can you be sure Christ died safe
sinners? I can be sure of that. And come
to Him. Walk in the light that God's
given you and trust Him to give you more. I just think that's
just brilliant in its simplicity. Come to Christ. All right. That's
what's written. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how we thank you
for this precious portions of your word we've looked at. How
we thank you that all these things you've recorded and they're written.
They're written for our understanding. They're written for our good,
for our learning. Father, I pray that you'd teach them to us.
Be our teacher this morning. Apply your word that we've looked
at to our heart. This is what's written. Give
us faith to believe it. Give us faith to rest in Christ.
Apply your word to our hearts, we pray. Let us leave here this
morning like the disciples of old with our hearts burning within
us because you opened the scriptures to our understanding. Enable
us to see your son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
in his precious name we give thanks and we ask this great
blessing that you bless it to our hearts.