I invite your attention to the
gospel according to Luke chapter 23. The gospel according to Luke chapter
23. God willing, next two or three,
four weeks I'd like to do a few messages on the death
and the burial and the resurrection and the gospel of Jesus Christ. But then again, do we ever come into the pulpit
and not preach on his death and burial and his gospel? God forbid, but I want to zero
in on a couple of points this morning. Gospel of Luke chapter
23, my text is found in verse 33, my subject is There they
crucify him. Begin reading in verse 1, Luke's
Gospel chapter 23. And the multitude, the whole multitude
of them arose and led Jesus unto Pilate. Pilate was the Roman
governor in Jerusalem. He was the top official in the
land. And they began to accuse him,
Jesus, before Pilate, saying, We found this fellow perverting
the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying
that he himself is Christ the King. Well, he never forbade
them to give tribute. And Pilate asked him, saying,
Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus answered Pilate and
said, Thou sayest it. Then Pilate said to the chief
priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man. Pilate is not concerned about
any man who claims to be king of the Jews. I find no fault
in this man. I've heard every charge you brought
against him and I find no fault in him. And they were the more fierce,
saying, He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry,
beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee,
he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon as he
knew that he belonged under Herod's jurisdiction, Herod was the legitimate
king of the Jews, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, who himself also
was at Jerusalem at that time. It was a high feast. And when
Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to
see Him of a long season, because he had heard many things of Him,
and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by Him. Herod questioned Jesus with many
words, but Jesus answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes
stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod with his men of
war set him at naught, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous
robe, and sent him again to Pilate. And the same day Pilate and Herod
were made friends together. For before they were at enmity
between themselves, at enmity against each other, but in Jesus
they had a common enemy. And Pilate, when he had called
together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, said
unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me as one that perverted
the people, and behold, I having examined him before you, have
found no fault in this man, touching both things whereof ye accuse
him. No, nor ye inherit, for I sent
you to him, and lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I
will therefore chastise him and release him, parenthetically
relieved, for of necessity he must release one unto them at
the feast." One prisoner got a pardon. Pilate intended it to be Jesus. And they cried out all at once
saying, away with this man and release unto us Barabbas, parenthetically
we read, who for a certain sedition made in the city and for murder
was cast into prison. Pilate, therefore, willing to
release Jesus, spake again to them, but they cried, saying,
Crucify him! Crucify him! And he said unto
them the third time, Why, what evil hath he done? I have found
no cause of death in him. I will therefore chastise him
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices
of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence
that it should be as they required. And he released unto them him
that for sedition and murder was cast into prison, whom they
desired. But he delivered Jesus to their
will. Watch carefully. He delivered
Jesus to their will, and they claimed to have free
will. Do you want to know what man's
free will does? Look at Calvary. That's what
man's free will does. And as they led him away, they
laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian. Coming out of the country and
on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus.
And there followed him a great company of people and of women,
which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them
said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves and for your children for behold the days are coming
in the which they shall say blessed are the barren and the wounds
that never bare and the paps which never gave suck then they
shall begin to say to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover
us for if they do these things in a green tree what shall they
do in the dry And there were also two others, malefactors,
led with him to be put to death. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Look in verse 33, the middle
of the verse, four words there They crucified
him. That's my text. The subject of my message has
four words. There, they crucified him. My message has four points. There, they crucified him. But if you know anything at all
about the him whom they crucified, you know he is the most important
part. We've got to begin with him,
the one who was crucified. We will take the four points
of the text in backward order, beginning with the word him.
There they crucified him. whom and what is Him. He is the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the theme of the entire
Holy Scriptures from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation
and all throughout. This book is about Jesus Christ
He says the scriptures testify of me. On another day he preached
a message beginning at Moses and in all the prophets. He expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. When we read this book, pick
up any page and start reading, very soon Jesus Christ is going
to be seen very clearly in the text. That is, if you know what
he looks like and if you can hear his voice, he's there. He's
the theme of the entire scriptures. Go to the books of the law. What
was the law? The law showed the holiness of
God and the sinfulness of man. And Jesus Christ is the only
remedy for sinners. And the law was a schoolmaster
to point us to Christ. When you read the law, it will
point you to Christ. When you come to the book of
the Psalms, 150 of them, and all of them speak of Jesus Christ. Go to that first Psalm. Blessed
is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law
of Jehovah, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And
he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth
forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Who is that blessed
man? It's Christ. It's Christ more
than anyone else. He is the blessed man. We should
imitate Him. But you read all 150 Psalms. It's just about a few Psalms
here and there. He's the theme of the entire
book of Psalms. The book of Psalms is a hymn
book and He is the hymn of whom they sing. The prophets prophesied
Him. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son. Thou shalt call his name Immanuel. Unto us a son is born, and unto
us a child is given. And the government shall be upon
his shoulder. Of whom does it speak? Read the
prophets. They're telling you he's coming.
You've been singing about him in the Psalms. He's coming. The
Gospels tell us he's here. He has arrived. Four of them
tell the story. Go to the epistles. What do they
do? They explain Christ. They explain His death and His
burial and His resurrection and the salvation that resulted therefrom. Go to the book of Revelation.
What do you find? Behold, I come quickly. I'm coming
back. This book is all about Jesus
Christ. You want a biographical sketch
of Jesus Christ? I dare say the best brief biographical
sketch of Jesus Christ that you will find in the Scriptures is
in Acts 10, verses 38 through 43. I do not have the time to
read it to you now. But we dare read of how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth, who went about doing good, healing those who
were sick, delivering those who were oppressed, and the other things he did. But one phrase sticks out at
me. Jesus of Nazareth went about
doing Good. Did he ever do bad? No, never
did. Never did. Everywhere he went
and everything he did, he was doing good. You could follow
the steps of Jesus by looking at the goodness that was along
the way. The miracles and the signs that
were done. Let's go looking for it. We go
looking for Jesus Christ. We ask a certain man, Sir, have
you ever heard of Jesus Christ? Have I ever heard of Jesus Christ? His voice was the first voice
I ever heard. I was deaf and mute when he came
to my village. I could not tell him what my
problem was. I was mute, but he knew. I could
not hear what he said, but he put his fingers in my ears. Then he touched my tongue and
he said, Be open! And I heard. His voice was the
first voice I ever heard. His praise were the first words
off of my lips because That man went around doing good. Have
I heard of Jesus? Oh, I've heard of him. Which
way did he go? That way. So there we go in that
way. We look for another man. Sir,
have you seen Jesus of Nazareth? Have I seen Jesus of Nazareth,
you ask? Yes. I have seen him and his
face was the first face I ever saw. For I was blind, sitting
by the road, begging alms, heard a commotion, asked what it was,
and they said, Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. And I cried out,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And they told me
to shut up, and I just cried out a little louder, Jesus, thou
son of David, have mercy on me! He told them to bring me to him,
because I could not find my way there. Remember, I'm blind. He said, what do you want? Well,
sir, I'm blind. What does a blind man want? I
want to see. It is as you said, your faith
has made you well. My eyes were opened. The first
sight I ever saw was Jesus of Nazareth who went about doing
good. Well, which way did he go? He
went that way. So we go looking for him. Sir, has Jesus Christ walked
by this way? Has he walked by this way? Yes, He walked by this way, and
proof of it is that I am walking now this way. For you see, I
was paralytic, could not walk. Jesus came to the village. He
was in a man's house. I just knew that if I could get
in to be with Jesus, He could cure my paralysis. No getting
in though. But I had four friends. Four
of the best friends I ever had. They put me on a pallet. Attached
four ropes to the four corners of the pallet. Removed some of
the tiles of the roof and lowered me down. Jesus was there with
the throngs of people. They lowered me down right in
front of Him. And he looked up and he saw the faith of my four
friends. They believed he could heal me.
He looked in my eyes and he saw the faith. I believed he could
heal me. But you know what? He did something
strange. He said, Son, your sins are forgiven. I came to be healed. He forgave
me. Well, that caused a ruckus because
his enemy said nobody can forgive sins but God. Well, that's true. That's true. But then he did something they
could not dispute. He said, man, get up off your
bed and Go for a walk. And I did. I did. I'm paralyzed. I'm a paralytic. He told me to
get up and walk. I did. Has he walked this way? Yes. I walked because he walked. Which way did he go? He went
that way. Well, a commotion has been raised. We find that here come many people
wanting to tell us about Jesus, who went about doing good. There's
a man, he says, I was a stark, raving, mad, lunatic, demoniac,
possessed of a legion of demons. They tried to chain me, I broke
their, or the people tried to chain me, I broke their chains. I was the terror of the whole
neighborhood. Nobody walked near to where I
was because I went after them and attacked them. Naked as I could be, mad as I
could be, raving lunatic, terror of the neighborhood. And then
one day I saw this man walking. He looked a little strange. I
had not seen him before. He evidently did not know about
me, so he's coming my way and I go charging toward him. He
did not flinch. He did not run like everybody
else did. He just stood there. I walked or I ran up to him.
What's your name? The demons said, we are legion,
for we are many and you are but one. And Jesus said, leave that
man. And I tell you, every one of
the legions of demons fled me. He clothed me. He put me in my
right mind. And the raving lunatic was now
sitting at the feet of Jesus. because he went about doing good. Another man says, I was a leper,
an outcast, unclean. No one would come near me. But
Jesus came near and he did the forbidden. He touched
me. Jesus touched a leper and healed
me of my infirmity. Everywhere he went, he went about
doing good. And here's a woman, and she says,
I had an issue of blood, a menstrual flow, twelve years. It was not
just for a few days every month, it was twelve years non-stop. Spent every penny I had with
physicians and none of them could heal me. And one day I heard
that Jesus of Nazareth was walking through my village, and I thought, I'm unclaimed. I should not touch
him. But if I could just touch the
hem of his garment, and I did. I very discreetly just touched
the hem of his garment, and my menstrual flow stopped. And he
said, who touched me? How could he know? Somebody had
just touched him. I felt the power leave me. It
was the power that healed me. He went about doing good. Here's
a man who says, I was ruler of a synagogue. My daughter became
very, very sick. I went to Jesus. I went to Jesus. to beg him to
come to my house to heal my daughter. He's walking with me back to
my house and on the way, someone comes to my house and says, let
the master go, your daughter's dead. Before we could get to
my house, my daughter was dead. But Jesus said, come along, we're
going. You keep believing. I did believe. We walked into
my house, the mourners were there. He told them, why are you making
so much noise? She's only asleep. They laughed
him to scorn. But he took my wife and me and
three of his disciples, walked into the room and my lifeless
daughter lying there on the bed. He says, Talithi Kumi, little
girl, arise. And she did. My little 12-year-old
girl just sat right up in bed. He not only could heal the sick,
he could raise the dead. Another woman says, yes, I'm
a Samaritan, an outcast of the outcasts. He came to my village
looking for me because He knew I would not come to Him, but
He came looking for me. He had to go through Samaria
right to the place where I was. That man told me everything I
had ever did. He knew every sordid detail of
my life. I trusted Him. He saved me from
my sins. People are coming and talking
about All the good that he did, he went about doing good. How much did he charge? Nothing. This physician never charged
a fee? Never. In fact, when he healed
us, he would tell people, do not tell anyone I did it. Was there any infirmity he could
not heal? Never. What was his success rate? 100%. He went about doing good. He went about because he made
house calls. He made village calls. He went
to where they were if they could not come to him. And he preached
the gospel Not as the scribes and Pharisees, but as one having
authority. And the common people heard him
gladly. They understood him. What good
is preaching if people cannot understand you? Everybody understood
Jesus. That was the problem with his
preaching. Some people did not like what they heard, but he
went about doing good. Second point. There they crucified him. Crucified him. What a shameful
way to die. It was shameful in the eyes of
men. The Romans crucified non-Romans. It was a way of killing, executing
the lowest sorts of people. It was shameful in the eyes of
God, for cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." And it was
more shameful due to the fact that Jesus is crucified between
two malefactors of the three. He's the worst. It was not only
a shameful way to die, it was a painful way to die. He was
scourged by the Roman soldiers until the very bones of his body
were visible through the bleeding flesh. He was crowned with thorns
and then they took a reed and smashed it to the crowned thorns
to make sure that it pierced his brow and would not slip off. He was beaten by the palms of
soldiers, not the palms of women, not the palms of men, soldiers. strong, sturdy, stalwart men
who bruised him with their palms. He was forced to bear his own
cross even though by this time he had lost so much blood and
strength he could not carry it. He was laid on his cross. His cross was laid on the ground. He was laid across, straddled
across and there Lying on his back, astraddled across, they
drove spikes through his hands and through his feet. Painful
as it was, it got worse. They lifted up the cross and
dropped it down into the hole that had been dug for it. His
joints are coming undone. He's got to breathe. and every
breath is agony. Every breath is agony. It was
the most painful way to die and it was the worst way to die. No one ever died a worse death
than this one. Because all the sins of all God's
elect were laid on him. And for three hours, God's justice
and wrath smote him. This is for most parts. This is for, and for three hours,
for three hours. No one ever died like this. No
one ever died under the rod of God, under God's justice, and
under God's wrath. For three hours, he suffered
every flame of hell. that God's elect ever deserved
and we deserve it for all eternity. The pain of eternal hell for
every one of God's elect was laid on Christ and for three
hours he suffered it. And only because of his divine
nature could he have done so. And because God laid help on
one who is mighty, he died as their substitute. There they
crucified him. There they crucified him. That's my third point. Who is
they? In Acts 4 verses 27 through 28 we
read that truly against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and
your purpose determined before to be done. Did you notice this? The death of Jesus Christ was
predestined, predestined, predestined to be done by Jews
and Gentiles, rulers and common people. He was crucified by the
Roman soldiers who nailed him to the tree. He was crucified
by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate who directed them to do
so. He was crucified by the Jewish
Sanhedrin that condemned him to death. He was crucified by
the Jewish King Herod who approved of his death. He was crucified
by the people who shouted, crucify him, crucify him. And he was crucified by you and me. You and me. Well preacher, I
was not there. If you had been there, you would
have joined in with them. The scripture says, he himself
speaking says, they shall look upon him whom they pierced. Him whom they pierced with the
nails in His feet and hands, the spear driven into His side. Have you ever rejected Him? Did
you ever disbelieve in Him? Your disbelief was a spear driven
into the side of Jesus Christ. They shall look upon him whom
they pierced. I pierced him. My unbelief. I pierced him. My unbelief. There they crucified him. Every one of us. Every one of
us is guilty of his crucifixion. And then the fourth point. There
they crucified him. Where is there? It is called Calvary translates the word Golgotha. Golgotha means the skull. The skull was a promontory outside
the gate on a public road leading into Jerusalem. It was evidently
the place where criminals were executed. Calvary Isn't that not a beautiful word?
Calvary. There they crucified Him. Calvary was a public place. By a road and those who passed
by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, you who destroyed
the temple and built it in three days, save yourself! A public
place! The crucifixion of Jesus Christ
was not done in private. It was not done in secret. It's public. It was a shameful
place. It was outside the gate and outside
the camp. They ascertained that the death
of Jesus would not be within the city walls. near the temple. Take him outside the camp. Take
him outside the gate. Calvary not only is a public
place and a shameful place, Calvary is a blessed place. A blessed place because one day I walked by Calvary and for the first time I saw Him there where they crucified
Him. Calvary is where I found Jesus Christ
ready to save me from my sins. What a sweet place. What a blessed
place. I love that word Calvary. We
sing Jesus is the sweetest name I know, but yes, I disagree not,
but Calvary. The place where they crucified
Him. The place where He died for me. The place where He suffered
God's wrath is my substitute. There they crucified Him and
there He saved me. He saved me. I would hope that every one of
us here today will find what it is to go to Calvary, to see Him who was crucified
there, to see what our sins have done to Him, and to see His glorious
victory justifying us through His blood, in the death that
He shed, saving us from our sins, shouting glorious victory, it
is finished. Where is it finished? Calvary,
where they crucified Him. If you've never trusted in Him
before, do it now. Do it now. O God, our Father,
be pleased, we pray, to bless this Word to the glory of your
crucified Son. In His name we humbly pray. Amen.