Come back to Matthew 27. Title of the message, Christ Crucified. Christ Crucified. Christ Crucified is the Gospel. He is the Gospel. It is the hope of every blood-bought
sinner. Christ and Him crucified. He's
our hope. He's our message. It is not Christ
crucified. He did His part. Now we set that aside and we've
got to talk the people into doing their part. His part is the whole
part. There are no other parts. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2,
verse 1 and 2, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not
with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you
the testimony of God. For I determined before I ever
came to you not to know anything among you, not that he wasn't
interested in them, not at all. But Paul said, we're going to
take care of business first. Business is going to be taken
care of first. For I determined not to know anything among you
save, except this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He's the message. He was the message of the prophets,
the message of the apostles, and He's our message now. And
He'll be the message until Christ crucified will be the message
until he comes. You know, when John was taken
to the third heaven, he said, I saw a lamb as it had been slain. He saw Christ crucified. That's what he saw. Now, we know through the scriptures
that God is holy and we are sinful. And God said, I will by no means
clear the guilty. I will by no means clear the
guilty. Which means that I have to bear
the guilt and punishment of my sins. Or someone, someone has
to be able to bear it in my place in such a way that God who is
holy is satisfied. And we have that someone in the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son. The good news of the gospel is
summed up in this, Christ crucified. Now it says in verse 33, and
when they were coming to a place called Golgotha, which we know
is Calvary, and it says here, that is to say a place of a skull,
an appropriate place, a place where they had put many others
to death, and evidently they had buried them there, just buried
them where they put them to death at. And there was a lot of bones
and skulls there, from what I have read. And that's aptly named,
place of a skull, place of death. And they gave him Vinegar to drink, mingle with
gall. We looked at that this morning.
And when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. But I want
you to see the fulfillment of this over in Psalm 69. But I want to read a good portion
of this psalm to you. We'll see this in verse 21. But
let me start in verse one. And this, it says the psalm of
David, but this belongs to Christ. This belongs to the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is Christ speaking here through David. Save me,
O God, for the waters are coming unto my soul. We get some insight
when we read Psalm 22, when we read this. We get some insight
of the agony that's going on in his soul. When we read this. I sink in deep mire where there
is no standing. I am coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying." Remember
in the Garden of Gethsemane, three times he went there, exceedingly
sorrowful, and he prayed. I'm weary of my crying. My throat
is dry and my eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that
hate me without a cause, see, this belongs to our Lord, are
more than the hairs of my head. There's all surrounded in that
whole band of soldiers All the chief priests and elders and
all the people there hated him. Being my enemies wrongfully are
mighty, then I restored that which I took not away. O God,
thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee. This is real substitution. You
can't say, well, verse four belongs to Christ and verse five belongs
to David. You can't say, well, this belongs to David, this belongs
to Christ. That belongs to Christ. That's real substitution right
there. He's calling my sins his. O God, thou knowest my foolishness,
and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait
on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel,
because for thy sake I have borne reproach. Shame hath covered
my face. I am become a stranger unto my
brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them
that reproach thee are fallen upon me." Here's our substitute. Here it is. Here he is. When
I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my
reproach. I made sackcloth also my garment,
and I became a proverb to them. They that sit in the gate speak
against me, and I was the song of the drunkards. But as for
me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time. O God,
in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy
salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and
let me not sink. Let me be delivered from them
that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the water
flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let
not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O Lord. For thy
lovingkindness is good. Turn unto me according to the
multitude of thy tender mercies. And hide not thy face from thy
servant, for I am in trouble." This is our Lord speaking. Think
of this. This is Him speaking. This is
our substitute. This is our Redeemer. I am in
trouble. Hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto
my soul and redeem it. Deliver me because of mine enemies.
Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor.
My adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my
heart. I am full of heaviness, and I
look for some to take pity. I told you this morning, not
one stepped forward and said, That's enough. That's enough.
They wore themselves out on him, and they took him to crucify
him. But there was none. And for comforters, I look for
someone to comfort me. to comfort me. I looked for someone
to pity me. But there was none. None! Not even His disciples stepped
forward for Him. But I found none. They gave me
also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink. There is a fulfillment of that
Scripture. And then we come to the profound
scripture. This is probably one of the most
profound scriptures in all the Word of God. And they crucified
Him. I wrote out in ink, in big letters,
it really happened. They crucified Him. The pain
of being crucified is horrible. It'd be hard to describe it,
and I'm afraid in describing it, you might start feeling sorry. But don't feel sorry for him. Don't pity him. He said to those
who were weeping, those women, don't weep for me. Don't weep
for me. Weep for yourselves and for your
children. If you don't know him, weep for yourselves. Weep for
your children. Don't weep for me. I'm victorious. Don't weep for me. I'm controlling
this thing. As that soldier was whipping
him, he was controlling the whipping. Who can understand this? Pilate's
standing there trying to let him go, and this man standing,
the man of Christ Jesus standing before him, not letting him let
him go. Don't feel sorry for me. Don't
weep for me. And sometimes when we describe
the pain of his sufferings, people start to feel sorry. And that's
the wrong thing to feel. is sorry. He did this willingly. He voluntarily did this. When they took him to crucify
him, they stretched him out on that cross, laid him on that
cross with his raw back, stripped him naked. And you know, I was
thinking about this today. Those soldiers had to be amazed. They never whipped anyone who
was so quiet. They never crucified anyone who just put their hands
out there. They didn't have to pull him
and tug and fight. He just, a hand over here, a
hand over here, willingly. I'm sure they had to be amazed
at the willingness of this man to die. They took his hands, stretched
them out and took those nails and drove them through his hands
into that wood and they drove them through his feet. But the
greatest pain, his greatest pain was bearing the wrath of God
for sin. He said in one place, thy fire
has entered into my bones. I was trying to think where I
read that at today. I couldn't remember. He's talking about
the fire of God entering into his bones, burning in him. But this was all done according
to the Scriptures. It says in 1 Corinthians 15,
3, For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which also
I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures. Everything that happened to him
was according to the Scriptures. The way that he died, the time,
the lead, the suffering, every bit of it was according to the
Scriptures. Like I said in reading Psalm
22, it's amazing. They just about quoted parts
of that Psalm verbatim. And they read it, the high priest
read it and read it and read it and read it. And then they
quoted it. there at the cross and they still
didn't get it. They still didn't get it. But this was all done
according to the Scriptures. When they crucified Him, now
listen, when they crucified Him, you believe the gospel, I believe
the gospel, they crucified me, they crucified you. Paul said
he was crucified with Christ. We were crucified with the Lord
Jesus Christ. His substitution was vicarious.
It was for someone else, not for Himself. All of our Lord's
sufferings were vicarious. He suffered not for His own sins,
but for ours. I'm going to read you several
scriptures, because that is what God blesses, His Word. It's not
my wordiness. He blesses His Word. So listen
to these scriptures. 2 Corinthians 5.21 For he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Galatians 3.13 Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Hebrews 9.28. So Christ was once
offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him
shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. 1 Peter 1.18 Forasmuch as ye
know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ." We have God's
Word on that. That's not my Word, that's His
Word. "...with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you." 1 Peter 2.24, "...who his own self bare our
sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. 1 Peter 3.18 For Christ also hath
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit." I would much rather have God's Word on this
than someone trying to just come up with something. To have God's
Word on this, man, this is something to hang your hat on. Listen,
Isaiah 53, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace, was
upon Him. That's what's happening here.
We are getting to witness what happened here. And with His stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to His own way and the Lord has laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare His generation? For He
was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression
I said his substitutionary work was vicarious for someone. It's
for a lot of someone's. It's for a lot of someone's.
For the transgression of my people was he stricken. He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death because he had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise him, to kill him. That's what's going on here.
The Father is slaughtering the Passover lamb for His people. My people. That's what He calls them. He
hath put Him to grief. You know, as you read this, you
see these soldiers. You see Pilate. You see the chief
priests. You see the elders. You see all
the people gathered around. You see them putting him to grief. You see them whipping him. But
listen, God's doing this. God's hand is in this. He, God, hath put him to grief. Yet it pleased the Lord, it says,
the Lord to bruise him. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, that's what's going on here. His soul is being
made an offering for sin. It's for some people. And he
didn't just do this and then hope somebody will accept it. I have to think that if somebody,
these preachers, because I know they're dead and Satan's in this. But if you really look at this,
you look at what God put him through. He suffered the torment
of God's wrath against sin. He suffered hell. The hell of
God's wrath against sin. He put him through this. And
then to say, now it's up to you. How stupid is that? I mean, that would be so I don't
even want to start describing it. God is infinitely wise. Henry said one time, such a price
ought to buy something. And it did. It did. Everything that he did, he did
for his elect. Everything. Every thought, every
word, every ounce of obedience was for someone else. And it's
given to us. And everything that they did
to Him was in fulfillment of the Scriptures. It's not a mob
out of control. It's a mob under His control.
What it is. And they parted His garments.
Casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by
the prophet. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. They took that
seamless robe, and they didn't want to tear it. They didn't
want to just toss it away. They looked at this and said,
why don't we gamble for it here? Why don't we cast lots for it
here and see who gets it? And they all threw their lots
in there, and there's someone that comes up with it. Do you know the garment that
we got out of it? His righteousness. His righteousness. Now, did he get the job done?
Did he get the job done? I believe the gospel. Do you
believe the gospel? Did he get the job done? If you believe it, you know he
got it done. You know he got it done if you
believe it. The Word of God says, now let's
go back to the Word of God. I said, yes, he got the job done.
You said, yes, he got the job done. What's the foundation of
that? Well, what foundation do we say
that? Well, let's go back to the Word of God. Isaiah 53. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him, and he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the travail of
his soul, and shall be satisfied. Every one of his children will
be born, not stillborn, alive. They'll come to the birth, and they'll be alive. He shall
see and prevail the birth pains of his soul. That's what that
is. That's the birth pains of his soul. And shall be satisfied
by his knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many. That's not an iffy-wiffy, maybe
it isn't. It says he shall. He shall justify
many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I
divide him a portion with the great, he shall divide the spoil
with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death.
He was numbered with the transgressors, they hung him between two thieves,
we'll see that in a second. And he bare the sin of many,
he made intercession for the transgressors. Hebrews 10, By the which will
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all, and every priest standeth daily ministering
and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take
away sin. But this man, oh, this man, this
man, who stood before Pilate, who stood before those soldiers,
who was beaten without mercy, who was crucified, this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever
them." Get that? He perfected them that are sanctified. You're perfect in Christ. If
you believe on Christ, you're perfect in Christ. Romans 8,
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life, and Christ Jesus, hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemns sin
in the flesh. Did he get the job done? Well,
the word of God says he did. The Word of God says He did.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is
God that justifieth. Who is He that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, even at
the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. The Word of God says He got the
job done. And that's all I need. I can hang on to that one. Just
hang on to it. Hang on to God's Word. He said
he got it done. And sitting down, they watched
him there, delighted in his death. Here's what they saw. Here's
what men saw. The chief priests, the elders,
the Roman soldiers. They saw what they thought was
a malfactor, a criminal of the worst kind. A blasphemer. A radical. A poor man. A beaten man. A crucified man. But, oh, he's much more than
that. He's much more than that. He's
the God-man. He's the Passover Lamb. He's
a sin-bearer. This is... Oh, Pilate finally
got a little... God gave him a little backbone
in verse 37. And they sit up over his head,
his accusation written, This is Jesus, the King of the
Jews. And this King right now is reigning,
ruling over all things. That gives me great comfort.
It does. This King is the King. This King is the King of Kings.
This King is the King of the Jews. This King is the King of
the circumcision. And Paul says, we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the
flesh. This is the king. This is our king. Our king. And it says here, and he was
numbered, the scripture says, he was numbered with the transgressors.
And here, here's where we see this in verse 38. Then were there
two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another
on the left. We see that one in the middle. He's the Son of God. He's the
Messiah. He's the Redeemer. But He's also me, hanging there,
right in the middle. There I hang between those two
thieves. He's numbered with the transgressors. Old Barabbas should have been
there. My rabbit should have been there.
But instead, they put Jesus Christ there. That's me hanging there
in Him. And they that passed by reviled
Him, wagging their heads. Wagging their heads. It's back
and forth. Back and forth. Look over in Lamentations. That's
after Jeremiah. Lamentations chapter 1. I'll tell you something, he felt this.
He felt their mockery. He felt the pain of this. Lamentations chapter 1, verse
12. Is it nothing to you, all ye
that pass by? Behold and see if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me," now listen,
"...wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger."
Is there any sorrow? They walk by wagging their heads,
and here he says, is there any sorrow? All you that pass by,
is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto
me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me? God putting His Son to death. That's amazing. And then the mockery continues.
And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in
three days, save Thyself. Save Thyself if Thou be the Son
of God. Come down from the cross. You're the one who said, They
twisted the Word of God. They said, He said He would destroy
the temple and build it back in three days. They said, now, and this is just
said in mockery, thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in
three days, if you're the Son of God, save yourself. Turn back to Psalm 69. I wanted
to show you, He felt this. I mean, he felt the pain of this.
In verse 20. Psalm 69, verse 20. Reproach
hath broken my heart. Have you ever looked at somebody
and just, ugh. One time he looked at Jerusalem.
He said, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered
you together and you would not. He meant that. He meant that. Reproach hath broken my heart,
and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity,
but there was none. I looked for comforters, but
I could not find any. Could not find any. No, not even
the chief priest who should have comforted him. He said, likewise
also the chief priests mocking him with the scribes and elders.
He said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. Boy, they never
made a truer statement in their life. In saving others, he could not
save himself. He could not do it. They're right.
They were right in saying that. In saving others, he saved others. You know, this is amazing. They
recognized that. They recognize that this man
saved others. They recognize his miracles. I mean, human depravity is just
so glaring here. He saved others. He didn't try
to save others. He did. Himself he cannot save. And you're right. In saving others,
in saving me, he can't save himself. He's got to die. He's got to
die. If He be the King of Israel,
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.
No, you won't. No, you won't. You've got Psalm 22. Go over
there and read it. If you're a scribe or a Pharisee,
go over there and read it. No, you won't. If He came down
from that cross, I mean, just came down from the cross, they
still would not believe on Him. Because without the new birth,
it's impossible to believe. Without a work of God, without
the operation of the Holy Spirit in the heart, it does not matter
what kind of miracle you see. Though one rose from the dead,
Abraham said to that rich man, he said, they've got the word
of God, Moses and the prophets. If they won't believe them, they
won't believe even if one rose from the dead, Or even if Christ
came down off that cross right in front of them. Because faith,
it says, is the gift of God. It's the gift of God. Well, they said he trusted in
God. They even recognized that. They recognized he trusted in
God. Let Him deliver him now. If He will have him, for He said,
I'm the Son of God. These very men right now, where
4,000 years have been witnessing. Yes, He's the Son of God. And
God will have Him. And God does have Him. And the thieves also which were
crucified with Him cast the same in His teeth. It says thieves,
plural. Those two thieves cast the same. They reviled Him. One found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. And he began to shut his mouth. And Sutherland kept
on going. But that one on the right, you
see, he said he'd put the sheep on the right hand and the goats
on the left. And that one on the right began to shut up. He began to observe. And he heard,
he heard our Lord. He heard our Lord speaking on
the cross. And God gave that man ears to hear. He heard, more
than just a man speaking, he heard God. He heard God. That man was given life. Right
there on the cross, was given life. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor. Daily, I'm constrained to be. Now, from the sixth hour, there
was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. Oh, the sun. This was not an
eclipse. This was not a lunar eclipse
that happened. It just didn't shine. However,
God did it. It was absolute darkness. Darkness. No light. No light. He's going through in this three
hours of darkness, he's going through hell. Hell is called outer darkness,
not a glimmer of light. There's not a glimmer of light
in that place because God is absent. Christ said, I am the
light. Not a glimmer of light. He goes
into this three hours of darkness And I mean it's three hours of
hell, dealing with the unmitigated wrath of God Almighty. And it's just like, it's almost
like the lights went out because we can't explain this, you know
what I'm saying? You can't see this, you can't explain, you cannot
enter into what happened. So we just turn the lights out. And about the ninth hour, and
I'm going to close. I'm going to pick up here next
week. And about the ninth hour, that's around noon, Jesus cried
with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Nowhere to be found. I mean,
this is the Father's dearly beloved Son. This is my Son, whom I love. Hear ye Him. This is my beloved
Son. You know, hell is the absence
of God. I know it's the torment of His
wrath, but it's the absence of His mercy, grace, And he says, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Forsaken of God. Who can declare
what that is? Who can declare? All mercy gone,
left alone in the darkness of hell, undergoing the fire of
the wrath of God. And to say that the end result
is left up to us, you've got to be dead to believe
that. And some of them that stood there
when they heard that said, yeah, this man's calling for Elias.
Straight away, one of them ran, took a sponge and filled it with
vinegar and put it to a reed and gave him the drink. And they
said, let him alone. I mean, here is, he's crying. And this thief, this one that
he saves, He hears this, my God, my God, why stop forsaking me?
And it comes into his heart and his mind, this is the Redeemer. This is the Messiah. My, my, my. Well, we pick up there.