Our study today will be based
on the things that we've been studying all the way through
Luke chapter 23. And as we recap on this wonderful
chapter, and I say wonderful because it records the crucifixion
of our Lord. And it covers his trial beforehand
and some of the most important things that are the very basis
of our hope contained in this chapter. So as we recap this
wonderful portion of scripture, I want us to see some lessons
learned at Calvary. What have we learned going through
this chapter? But people ask me from time to
time, well, where'd you come up with that? I'll make a statement.
Well, where'd you come up with that? Where'd you get that from? My reply is not so much in a
certain verse or a passage, but lessons learned over many years
of study. That's where I get it. That's
where it comes from. It don't just pop in my head
one day. These are lessons learned. We've
got a lot of timber guys in here. You didn't learn to cut timber
overnight. It took a while. And it does, it takes a while.
There are 56 verses in Luke chapter 23, and it's not my intention
to go over every verse again, just to review some of the highlights. And there are seven established
truths Seven principles. What do I mean principle? A fixed
law. A principle. Something that governs. Something that is the very basis.
And there's seven principles of life. There are seven lessons
that I hope when we leave here today will spill over into our
daily walk. That it'll spill over in how
we think. You know, situations arise and
they take you by surprise sometimes. These things govern how we think
and how we react to those situations. Believers are sojourners in this
world. That's the word the scripture
used, the ancient term. They're sojourners. Abraham was
a sojourner. He looked for a city that had
foundations whose builder and maker is God. He lived his whole
life and raised his family in tents. He lived here a while,
lived there a while, lived over here a while. His intention wasn't to stay
here. His intention was to go and be
with God. And we're sojourners. Believers
are sojourners in this world, just pilgrims passing through
the land. But it's a desert land, a harsh
land, and its inhabitants are not very friendly, especially
when they understand what you're all about. So this morning, as
we look at these things, I pray that the Holy Ghost will be our
teacher. Luke 23 begins with an enraged
multitude stirred up by false teachers and priests and want-to-be
representatives of God. It's easy for men to talk about
being servants of God. That's the first thing those
Jews, when Christ started to preach to them, they said, whoa,
wait a minute, wait a minute. We'd be not born of fornication. God is our Father. You're talking
about those heathens over there. We're not like them. We have
God our Father. That's the people here where
this multitude, this enraged multitude, they were stirred
up by wannabe representatives of God. They didn't know God,
but they thought they did. And everybody around them thought
they did. That's why they obeyed them. They're taking the only hope,
this enraged multitude. these pretenders of religion,
these priests, Pharisees, High Council of Israel. They're taking
the only hope there is for four sinners and they're going out
to watch him be put away from them forever. That's what they're
doing. Now here's the first lesson at
Calvary. First lesson that we're going
to learn if we read this report and understand it and study it
and God reveals it to us. The first lesson at Calvary is
God both rules and overrules all things for His glory and
the good of His sheep. Everything. I don't care what
man's intention is. I don't care what his purpose
is. If you were to study all the religions of the world, it
would take you a lifetime. Golly, you pass through Texarkana,
how many churches is there? You couldn't get them all on
a sheet of notebook paper. Multiply that times the world.
Well, you'd spend your lifetime just trying to understand what
this and that and this one. But when it all boils down, they're
just two religions, works and grace. That's it. Turn with me to Romans
chapter 8. Romans 8 begins with the believer
having the mind of Christ, understanding that the judgment and justice
of God has been satisfied for all those represented by Him,
and who have been given faith and walk no longer after the
flesh but after the Spirit. They have some understanding.
He goes on in Romans 8 to talk about being led of the Spirit
and what that means. His Spirit bearing witness with
our spirit, identifying us as heirs of God and children of
God. He talks about present sufferings. He talks about the preservation
of creation and the order of it and the purpose of it. He
talks about our groaning within ourselves. What are we groaning
for? We're waiting on the adoption,
the redemption of our bodies. And the Spirit, he says, is making
intercession for us because of our ignorance of what we need.
And then he makes this statement, Romans 8, 28. And we know. Do we? And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the cause according to His purpose. And the good that is working
for them is the good of their souls, their salvation from sin,
and the gift of everlasting life. Paul said in Ephesians 111, we
have, by his working, obtained an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. So our great God and Father rules
and overrules all things for our good and His glory. We look
around out here and things just, it's like a maze, isn't it? You
see a little bit into it and a little bit more maybe down
the road, but you don't see very far. And all the things that
you're seeing out here, all these obstacles and all this opposition
and all these things, it just And then you look into the Word
of God, and it's so deep. And it just seems impossible,
don't it? It seems insurmountable. And
yet God, in the midst of all these things, is doing exactly
what He wants to do. Peter said to the Jews at Pentecost
that God hath made that same Jesus whom you crucified both
Lord and Christ. And He used these enraged Jews
and sinful priests and deceived multitudes and heathen rulers
and hardened soldiers to do, Acts 4.28, what His hand and
His counsel determined before would be done. All at the same
time. You couldn't get a Jew and a
Gentile in a common conversation if you wanted to. But here they
are now holding hands, crucifying the Lord of Glory. Everybody there was doing exactly
what they reasoned and willed to do. Did you know the Scripture says
that He was delivered to their will? They were doing exactly
what they willed to do. And yet God overruled everything
to accomplish his will, his redemptive will. Oh, our great God and Father,
teach us to see your hand and your counsel and your will in
all things and give us the patience to wait on it. Wait on him. Wait on him. All right, here's the second
lesson. Now, we learned that first lesson, all you have to
do is study Calvary, just like we did in this chapter. And God will show you His hand
over all things. All right, here's the second
lesson. The Scriptures, which one? All of them, must be fulfilled. There's no possibility that a
scripture is going to go unfulfilled. I learned that at Calvary. My
soul, go back and read. If you'll follow, he says over
and over and over, they said this, they did this, he went
there because it was written. If you'll go back and trace those
back and see where it was written, you'll find them all the way
back in the book of Genesis. And you'll find throughout the
Old Testament these prophets at different times, different
prophets. foretelling the Messiah. He's coming. Here's what he's
going to do. Here's what he's going to say. Here's what he's
going to wear. Here's where he's going to be born. All the way
through there. And at Calvary, we see all those
things coming to pass. Every one of them. There was at least 39 books established as Holy Scripture
and read and taught as the Word of God. And in these books were
the prophecies of the coming Redeemer, whom they called Messiah.
And they foretold everything about Him. Paul said this, talking to the
church at Rome. He said, Whatsoever things were
written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. What's he talking
about? He's talking about a hope knowing
that those scriptures are going to come to pass. And as we've seen concerning
Christ and Him crucified, many of these prophecies fulfilled,
we need to take comfort and have strong assurance that the unfulfilled
scriptures concerning believers will also be fulfilled. Did you
ever look at it and think about it in that respect? God says
His coming into this world was to save sinners. Do I believe
that? Huh? Do I believe God's actually going
to do that? Oh yeah. Yeah. Why? Because He said it. He said
it's going to come to pass. Has to. He said he's long-suffering to
us-ward, talking about his elect, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. Do I believe that? Absolutely,
I believe it. You really believe that's going
to come to pass? As much as I believe what comes to pass when Christ
died on that cross. Scriptures tell us that God hath
from the beginning chosen us to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto is then a man
like Paul to preach the gospel, that you might also obtain the
benefits of the glory of Christ. You might be a beneficiary of
that glory. Do I believe that? Absolutely
I believe that. We believe that the church is
the pillar and ground of the truth. Ground zero for the dunamis,
the dynamite of the gospel? Do I believe that? Do we believe
that the ascended Christ has left in this world evangelists
and pastor-teachers and that the ministry is effectual to
the saving of men's souls? It has to come to pass because
God said it. He said it. All the Holy Scriptures
must be fulfilled and these ancient prophecies Peter said, are reported
to you by them who have preached the gospel unto you with the
Holy Ghost. He's the author. He's the spirit
behind the Word of God. And oh, how the events surrounding
the death of Christ give me an assurance that everything prophesied
in this book shall be fulfilled. Every sermon delivered shall
accomplish its end, and every means ordained will be effectual. We got no reason to doubt these
things. We see Him from the beginning
of time, we see His Word fulfilled. Not one time ever failed. Not
one thing God ever said was going to come to pass that didn't come
to pass. Did you know that a prophet in the Old Testament, here's
how they secured this man as a prophet. He said if he says
anything and it don't come to pass, take him out and stone
him, he's a false prophet. Pretty rough, eh? But that's exactly what he did. Here's the third lesson we need
to learn at Calvary. The bodies of God's saints should
be treated with honor and be buried. Boy, that's getting to be controversial
in our day, isn't it? I was asking my nephew's wife,
this was during my sister's funeral. And she married my sister's oldest
son. And I was asked by her if cremation
was biblical. And I told her what the scripture
records about dead saints and that it appeared to me to be
a denial of the resurrection. Cremation. Not one example in
all the scripture of any saint being cremated. But millions
of people have already made it their decision to be cremated
after death because it's cheaper than being buried. Well, I hope there's more goes
into thought in my funeral than how much money I got. Don't you? If I ain't got anything, just
take me out in the backyard and stick me in a hole, but don't
burn me. have some honor. You see what
I'm saying? The bodies of crucified felons
were either left on the crosses to rot or cast into an open pit
to rot or be eaten by scavengers. And I want to say something here.
It needs to be said. The body of the thief on the
cross was not buried. It was either left on that cross
or cast into the pit, and he died the death of a felon, even
though he went into paradise. Now, I don't even know how many
martyrs were burned at the stake. They were burned to cinders,
burned at the stake. Is that going to hinder God at
all in the resurrection? Not one bit. But remember this,
what they did was the act of rebels. Sinful, ignorant heathens. We don't want to act that way. These were acts of sinful men,
ignorant men. But the scriptures teach us to
treat dead saints with honor and respect to their faith and
examples set before us going way back. They didn't burn Abraham. No, they buried him, didn't they? Jesus Christ, listen to this.
You want an example? Here it is. Let's see what God's
going to do. Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and He'll overrule
all tradition, all laws, all imagination, all wills, and He'll
have His Son buried in a tomb. That's enough for me. What about
you? Here's your example, right? I know no passage anywhere in
the scripture that dictates the burial of saints, but the lessons
learned by example and at Calvary teach an honorable burial. That's
what they teach. And isn't it something, of all
the pictures that Christ has out here of our salvation, The
one that he uses for our profession of faith, our confession of faith,
in baptism is what? Burial. We're buried with him
in baptism, raised with him to walk in newness of life. The bodies of God's saints should
be treated with honor and buried in light of a promised resurrection. Alright, here's the fourth lesson
learned at Calvary. No saint has any reason to fear
anything in death. Now I ain't talking about any
man. I'm talking about a saved man. You're not a saved man,
you got everything in the world to fear about dying. But a saved
man, a sanctified man, a man that God has chosen and God has
redeemed in His Son, he's got nothing to fear in dying. Now
I may fear the process. I'm telling you, just since I've
been in the ministry, I've seen this from the time I was a child,
but I've seen more of it in the ministry. I've seen men suffer
for years before they die. And I might look on that and
fear that, but I don't fear death. He said to be absent from this
body, is to be present with the Lord. He said, don't fear men. All
they can do is stop this body. They can make this body quit
breathing. That's all they can do. Fear
God, because dying doesn't affect Him at all. He can make you suffer
for all eternity. He can destroy your soul. Huh? All right, people. That thief
on the cross, the Lord said, he said, remember me when you
enter into your kingdom. The Lord said, you're going with
me. This day shalt thou be with me in paradise. When he came into glory, walked
into glory, he walked in with a thief. Isn't that something? We learn in Calvary that none
of us has the ability to look on the heart of another. Now
if you just, from a natural standpoint, a
natural man, he's going to read this account. He don't know anything
about religion. He wasn't raised in it or anything.
And he just reads this account and goes through there. And from
his own ideas that he's gleaned from the world about good and
bad, you know what he'd do? He cut off most of the saints
that were saved that day, and he'd usher in most of the rebels.
That's exactly what he'd do, because he can't look on the
heart. Now, if you and I was there,
here's Nicodemus. He won't have anything to do
with Christ. He won't be seen with him. He avoids him in public.
If Christ was walking down the road, he'd go to the other side,
go around him. Nicodemus. But he'll come to Christ at night,
and he'll talk with him. Here's Joseph of Arimathea, a
rich man. He's a member of the High Council
of the Jews. You'd think he'd be identified
with Christ? No way. But secretly, he was
his disciple. You can read it in the Scripture.
Well, if we'd have saw that, we'd have said, that man ain't
saved. Huh? We've been guilty of it already,
ain't we? That guy ain't safe. Be careful. Be careful. We learned this at Calvin. Here's
this man, he's up on the cross and he's casting the same thing
everybody else right into the teeth of Christ. He's lambasting
him and making fun of him until God worked on his heart. But he's up there waving them
arms, I'm telling you. I'd have etched him out of the
book, wouldn't you? No, he's one God's elect. He's
one God's elect. I tell you, if you study this
and look at it closely, here's what you're going to come away
knowing. I'm not fit to weed God's garden. I'm not fit. Now, we have to make judgments.
Open sin in the church, Paul told the Corinthians, judgment
has to begin in the house of God. You can't tolerate that.
I won't tolerate some things in my own home. I'm just not
going to tolerate it. Somebody comes in there and starts
lambasting me and my wife and my kids and the ministry. Hey, out the door, bud. You ain't
staying here. You have to make judgment. But
what I'm talking about is just looking at people, looking down
your nose and saying, he don't know God. Be careful. Be careful. We learn at Calvary
that none of us has the ability to look on the heart of another. Man looks on the outward countenance.
God looks on the heart. Why does he look on the heart?
Because that's where he does his work. That's right. And you can look
at the thief on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, the
centurion, the whole of his disciples for that matter, they all left. How many saints would we have
cut off and how many rebels would we have ushered in where the
subject argued? And I'll say this, the fact that
I don't see grace there doesn't mean that there is no grace there. Grace goes beforehand, don't
it? Works beforehand. We're specifically commanded
not to separate tares from the wheat. Also, in Romans 14.1,
we're told to receive the weak in faith. Who's that? Well, they're weak in the exercise
of faith. They're weak in faith itself.
And to be weak in faith describes some who believe in God's ability
to save but question His willingness toward them. They're always throwing
their hope out with a purge venture or maybe or something. They never say anything for sure. Paul said, God hath saved us. That's what he told Timothy.
Wasn't a maybe. There are many men and women
weak in the faith. And our Lord said to His apostles,
these are the apostles. These are the writers of the
New Testament. Here's what He said to them. Oh, ye of little
faith. Huh? Faith's not our Savior, Christ
is. And faith is effectual because
it lays hold of Him. The thief on the cross went into
paradise with infant faith, didn't he? Well, think about it. Infant faith walked into paradise. The centurion gave a good confession
with baby faith. He learned what he learned sitting
watching what was going on on the cross. Made a good confession. All right,
6thly, that's enough for that. Here's another lesson we learn
at Calvary is that salvation is all together by the grace
of God. The hope of every believing soul
is Christ in you. There is no other hope. Christ
in you. We walk, serve, sacrifice, worship
with the mind of Christ. And nothing we've ever done or
hoped to do can be acceptable to God on our merits. We offer
up spiritual sacrifices, Peter said, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ. God make full provision for chosen
sinners by grace. He said, by grace ye are saved,
Ephesians 2.5. And then in Ephesians 2.8, he
said, by grace are ye saved. You saved in the purpose of God
before the foundation of the world. You're saved in time by
faith. And everything leading up to
and including the death of Christ at Calvary was a provision of
grace. Here's what the Lord said. He
spoke to his apostle Paul and Paul told Timothy, he said, God
has saved us and called us with a holy calling not according
to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. And then the Sabbath. Here's
the final lesson learned at Calvary. Is that the Sabbath was a day
of rest and Christ is our Sabbath. His body, the body of our representative
and substitute, laid in rest, having satisfied the demands
of a holy God, and did all that God willed to be done for sinners. And he rested. We rest in Him, who is our Sabbath. Read Hebrews chapter 4 and see
if that ain't what it teaches. We rest in him in whom God first
rested. That's what it says over there
in Ephesians 1-12. Who first rested in Christ. That's
talking about God. In whom you also trusted after
you heard the word of truth. You entered into that rest. And I'll add one more thing.
We learn at Calvary that God knows the best time to bring
forth his servants to do the work they were ordained for and
the best means to secure that work. Joseph had no idea. I'm talking about Joseph of Arimathea. He came to beg the body of Christ. That man had no idea that the
Son of God was going to rest in this tomb when he was having
it hewn out of that rock. He had no idea. He was just working and working
and working, getting his tomb ready for himself. Nobody in their right mind would
have had a grave made for himself where the Romans crucified criminals. But the Bible tells us there
was a garden close by and a tomb. God put it in his mind and in
his heart. Here's my sweet spot. Here's
where I'm going to die. And he does his time. He had
no idea at the time that the Son of God was going to rest
in that tomb. But he did. He did. He never had a single thought
as he prepared himself to be a council member. He was a member
of the High Council of the Jews. He had no thought as he prepared
himself to be a council member that being a council member would
give him the right to come and see Pilate and be heard, have
an audience by Pilate where he could actually go in and talk
to him about the body of Christ. He had no idea. what was going to come to pass. But when he was needed, God had
him ready for the service he was chosen to perform. And every
evangelist, every pastor, teacher has a story like this to tell.
Every one. God purposes them for a work,
and when the time is right, they're ready to do what God purposed
them to do. And everything in their life
leading up to that point was geared for that. May the Lord
be pleased to teach us these lessons and then enable us to
teach others.