Bibles now turn to Mark chapter
15. Over the last three or four weeks
we've been looking at those things that led up to the cross and
to his crucifixion. And today I just want to concentrate
on one verse of scripture here in Mark chapter 15 and devote all of our time to
this. In verse 37, after everything that was said
and done, the salvation of the one thief, the witness of the centurion,
when all those things were done, it says, and Jesus cried with
a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. He died. He died. I've been hearing about
the death of Christ since I was old enough to know what words
mean. I've heard my father and my mother,
my grandparents, their friends, people at the church, talk about
the death of Christ. But they talked about his death
in a sympathetic way. They talked about his death in
such a way that you want to feel sorry for him. You remember the
women that followed him, they were crying, and he said, don't
weep for me. Weep for yourselves. Don't weep
for me. He died. And the death of Christ
is preeminent in the gospel. It's not just an important part
of it, it's preeminent. There is no gospel apart from
the death of Christ. What good news could we possibly
have to give to mankind apart from the death of Christ? It's
preeminent. No gospel without it. Paul defines
the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 saying that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures. That's the gospel. He died for
our sins according to the scriptures. And then he was buried and rose
again the third day according to the scriptures. I'm gonna
keep repeating this, that Jesus of Nazareth Died on the cross
some 2,021 years ago. He didn't pass out and then come
to after they put him in the tomb. He didn't slip off into
a coma temporarily and then wake up the next day in the tomb. He died. He died. He tells us in John 10, 15, he
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. No man taketh it from
me. I lay it down freely of myself. This commandment have I received
from the Father. He said, I have power to lay
it down, and I have power to take it up again. It was the purpose of the Father
that he take upon himself the seed of Abraham, flesh of our
flesh, bone of our bone, and that he die as our substitute
and redeemer, that he be hung up between heaven and earth.
You remember in John 3 what our Lord said, if I be lifted up
as that serpent was in the wilderness, if I be lifted up, I'll draw
all men. unto me. It was the purpose of
God the Father that he hang between heaven and earth till he drank
the cup of God's wrath dry, right down to the bitter dregs. Everything
that stirred God inside with fury of his broken law and dishonoring
to him, he had to drink it all. He had to drink even the bitter
dregs of God's fury. He had to satisfy God's justice
and he had to establish the righteousness of God in our salvation. Now let's read a few verses of
Scripture. Turn with me first of all to
Luke 18. Luke chapter 18. And verse 31. Then he took unto him the twelve,
and he said unto them, Behold, I go up to Jerusalem, and all
things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of
Man shall be accomplished. I love that word. They're not gonna be hinted at.
They're not gonna just be declared. They're going to be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and
spitted on. And they shall scourge him, and
put him to death. And the third day he shall rise
again. And if you care to do so, you
can read the same thing in Matthew 20, verses 17 through 19, and
Mark 10, 33 through 34. He did not walk into the snare
of the ungodly. He didn't ignorantly fall into
some trap that they set for him. He went up to Jerusalem to fulfill
the will of God as God foretold it by his prophets. And so he
did, word for word, deed for deed. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 10. We're talking about the death
of Christ on the cross being the eternal purpose of God. This is what God purposed to
do. I know man has his hands in it.
I know man had his will in it. I know man had his anger and
spite in it. But here's what it says in the
Book of Acts, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, you have taken him with wicked hands,
have crucified and slain. He was delivered by God, and
this is what I want us to see, the death of Christ on the cross
being the eternal purpose of God for the salvation of chosen
sinners. And this purpose is just over
and over and over stated, declared in the scriptures. Now in Hebrews 9, let me just
point out something. We're told, I'm just gonna give
you the gist of the chapter. We're told that the Old Testament
economy, which consisted of lambs and sacrifices, and holy days
and ceremonies and the washing of water and also a priesthood. And he tells us here in chapter
9 that these things were a figure, that was their purpose, they
were a figure, they figured something, they pictured something, they
were typical of something. That's why he gave them. He didn't
give them things to take away sin. He give those things to
teach us what's involved in the forgiveness of sins. They were figures for the time
then present. patterns, he goes on to say,
of things in the heavens. And then he begins in chapter
10 by telling us that the law, having a shadow of good things
to come, this ceremonial law, these sacrifices, the priesthood,
the law had a shadow of good things to come. walk outside
on a sunny day and you see your shadow down there, you don't
see eyes, you don't see your nose, you don't see all the particulars,
but you do see an accurate outline. It was a shadow. And the law
set forth something accurate, very accurate concerning the
Son of God. Something very particular concerning
the Son of God. It cast forth a shadow, which
shadow lies there by the light of God. And it lights these things
for the Old Testament saints. The law, having a shadow of good
things to come, and not the very image of those things, can never,
with those sacrifices which they offered continually, year by
year, take away sins. It's not possible. You can't
slay a goat and burn its body on the altar and pour its blood
in there on the mercy seat and have forgiveness for sins. Only
the blood of Christ can do that, but that goat can typically set
that forth. You see what I'm saying? It can
picture that. And these things were given to
show or picture how Christ would be set forth as the propitiation
for our sins. You can read about it in Romans
chapter three, verses 24 and 25 are talking about Old Testament
saints. But now, stay right with me here
in Hebrews. Hebrews 10, four, it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore,
when he cometh into the world, He say a sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Not just
a physical form to see and move about. Not just a body that you
can talk to or he can talk to you. That's not what this body's
about. It's a representative body. It's
a substitutionary body. It's a sacrificial body. Verse six, in burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure, not ever. Not
ever, not from the very first lamb. He never had any pleasure
in these things. Then said I, lo, I come. Now watch this. In the volume
of the book. What volume? Everything from
Malachi back to Genesis. Because there was no New Testament
yet. In the volume of the book, it's written of me to do thy
will, O God. That's why he came. And that's
what he did. And that's what he accomplished
on that cross. He said above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offering and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not, neither hath pleasure therein, which are offered by the law,
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first. He takes away the goats, takes
away the bulls. He takes away the priesthood.
He takes away the entire old economy. He tells you in chapters
8 and 9 of Hebrews that that old economy was waxing old. And something new was about to
come to pass. And here he tells you what it
is. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second.
By the which will, that is the accomplishing of the purpose
and will of God, we are sanctified, set apart through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. One sacrifice. And every high priest standeth
ministering in off times and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins. There was no chair
in the tabernacle because their work was never done. And these priests stood and ministered
and oftentimes offered the same sacrifices which can never take
away sins, verse 12. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God expecting till his enemies become his footstool. He accomplished
the sovereign purpose of God in the salvation of sinners.
He went to that cross and he suffered all that he did to fulfill
the redemptive will of God. And so say all the prophets. He said, I'm going to Jerusalem
and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the
Son of Man will be accomplished. He's not going there to do the
best he can do. God's done all he can do. I'm
so sick of hearing that. He's done the best he can do.
Now it's like, no, he didn't go there to do the best he could
do. If he did the best he can do and you're not saved, you
don't have any hope. because nobody else could do
it but the Son of God. He didn't go there to try or
attempt or any other word that leaves poor sinners standing
in the dark. He said, I'm going there to accomplish
what my Father gave to the prophets to tell you. Now atonement, when we talk about
atonement, it's not a work in progress. That's not something that God's
continuing to do. When you talk about atonement,
it's a work accomplished, accepted, and guaranteed. His death is the will of God. When the Son of Man on that cross
gave up the ghost and died, he said it is finished. What's finished? Everything he came to do. It's
finished. It's the fulfillment of scripture.
In Psalm 69, 21, he said, they gave me also gall for meat, and
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. In Luke 23, 36, it
said the soldiers mocked him, offering him vinegar to drink. Well, this man said this 800
years before Christ came. Isn't that something? He foretold exactly what they
were gonna do. And these guys that sold him
out knew this. They could quote it to you. They
knew everything that God said about his coming redeemer. And
here he was, word for word. He's fulfilling these things.
Gentiles fulfilling these things. Jews are fulfilling these things.
And nobody there had a clue. Just a little handful of believers. And number six, the Holy Ghost
tells us plainly that a Nazirite, one wholly dedicated to the Lord,
could not have anything from the vine. He could have no vinegar or anything
that came from the vine, not even the kernels or the husk. Nothing that come from the vine.
And they were mocking him when they gave him the vinegar to
drink. But so long as his bowel was active, he couldn't have
any of that to drink. He couldn't have vinegar. He
couldn't have grape juice. He couldn't even eat the holes.
He couldn't eat the seeds. Nothing. Nothing from that body.
And they did that to mock him and to expose him as an ungodly
man claiming to be a Nazirite. But he wouldn't have it. He wouldn't
take it. He wouldn't drink it. He wouldn't
touch it until he accomplished everything that he came here
to accomplish. Then the soldier standing by poured some vinegar. He said, I thirst. And then he
poured some vinegar back on some hyssop and gave it to him. And
he drank. He drank when it was all done. In John 19.21, it said, after
this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished,
that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, I thirst. And there
was set a vessel full of vinegar, and he filled a sponge with vinegar,
and put it upon Hyssop, and put it up to his mouth. And when
Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it's finished. It's done. I did everything I
come to do. His death was the fulfillment
of scripture. and his death is where his love
is commended by God. This is how God commends his
love to us is his dying son on that cross. People go everywhere,
I listen to preachers, I read articles, I hear them talk on
television and radio and they talk about the love of God and
they go running off to this and running off to that. The love
of God is discovered on the cross. It's not discovered anywhere
else, it's seen on the cross. He that spared not his own son,
that's how much he loved you, he spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all. Now how shall he not also freely
give us all things? If he didn't spare his son, what's
he gonna spare, a cheeseburger? Give me a break. He's not gonna
spare anything. In Romans chapter eight, Paul
takes the death of Christ, who was given us by the Father, giving
him for us, and he suffered in our stead, and he makes that
the foundation of our assurance before God. We're justified before
God. Now, who's gonna bring something
against you? God justified you. Somebody gonna go up before the
supreme judge of the universe and argue? I don't think so. It's God who justify. And then
he hurries in the next verse and tells us, it's Christ that
died. You gonna say that's unjust?
You gonna say that's unfair? You better take another look
at the cross. He paid everything that God charged he paid. Everything that God required,
everything that holy justice required, Christ paid it in full.
That's the foundation of our love. Now, Paul says, you consider
what I've just said. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who's going to separate you from
the love of God? If your sins have not separated
you from God, And He's made atonement for your sins and spared not
His own. Who's going to separate you from... Somebody told me, yeah, none
of them things, but you can separate yourself. Come on. The love of God secures His people. Nothing can separate you from
the love of God. Nothing. It's not this stirred
up kind of affection that men call love. That's not what it
is. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it. That's love. When a man knows
something about the love of God, then he knows what it is to give
himself. And that's why he gives himself. Oh my. If God delivered him to the cross
and spared not his own son, how shall he not with him also freely
give us all things? And what's going to separate
us? Distress? Petty earthly troubles? Persecution? Famine? Nakedness? Peril? Sword? All these things were more than
conquerors through him that loved us. So then Paul said, I am persuaded. What persuaded him? The death
of Christ. I'm persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, archangels or little angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The apostles saw his death as
wrongdoing and a sinful act on the part of the Jews. They saw
his death as a loss to their hopes in the Messiah. They said walking along that
road to Emmaus, we thought, we thought, we hoped that was the
Messiah. They'd lost all hope in the Messiah.
They saw their sacrifices going down the drain. They'd left all
to follow Him. But they never, till the Lord
arose and came to them and opened to them the scriptures, saw that
the cross is the great God embracing His
people. That's what that cross is. It's
the love of God, embracing his own, embracing his elect, embracing
his bride. Carelessly for a righteous man
will one die. Peradventure even for a good
man, some might even die. But God commendeth his love toward
us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died. He died for us. They couldn't see it then, but
oh, how they saw it when he opened their hearts and minds. Listen
to John. Behold, he said, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Can you look in the mirror and
say that? You can't look at yourself and
say that. You have to see him. But if you see him, you can't
doubt that. You can't doubt that. He said, beloved, let us love
one another. For love is of God. And everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God. And my friend, God is sovereign. He is. It's declared throughout
the scriptures. And His sovereignty is displayed
on the cross. There was no getting around the
cross. And yes, God is just, and His justice is seen on the
cross. God is righteous, and His righteousness
is established upon the cross. But nothing to me shines brighter
than the love of God on that cross. Listen to Paul, and we were by
nature children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy, now listen, and for that great love wherewith he
loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace, he said, ye are saved. Not only did he quicken us together
with him, but he raised us up together with him and seated
us together with him in heavenly places. That's our guarantor
sitting at the right hand of God. That's our guarantee. Now if he's not there, you got
reason to doubt, but I've not got any reason to doubt that
he's there. He's there. Hanging there, near death, beaten,
swollen, in pain, beyond recognition, he takes the time to make arrangements
for his mother. That's love. He said, woman, behold your son. And points over
here to John, and he said, behold your mother. Now you take her
home, take care of her. Hanging on a cross in untold
agony. Oh my, and the death of Christ
is a clear and gracious revelation of the love of God. hearing his
love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his
son to be the propitiation for our sins. He cried, and with
a loud voice, and then he gave up the ghost. The death of Christ
on the cross is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believes. That's my righteousness, that
man. I don't have a righteousness
other than him. I don't look to the law for righteousness. I don't look to my behavior for
righteousness. I don't look to anything else
but him. He's my righteousness. He's my
righteousness. Oh, may the Lord press this on
our hearts and on our minds that we think of it always. Thank
you.